Possessive and Saxon Genitive

Here you are a post about this topic, which is one of the last points of gramar we saw. It is oriented to NA2 but other students with a high level of English might find this interesting.

There are some expressions in which you use possessives that are not familiar for Spanish students. Here you are two links to help you with special uses of Saxon genitive:

• this one from BBC Learning English: click here
• this is for unusual cases: click here

See you!

Listening practice

For different levels: click HERE
Intermediate level: clik here  and here
Short dialogues with natural English; although they say it's intermediate it could be considered higher because it's fast and with accent: clik here

Cartoons to learn English

One of your mates has given me this link to watch animation videos and you can use them to practise. They speak a bit fast and the level is high (especially for those who are in intermediate level) but it's fun to watch them. This is the link: click here (TheOdd1sOut).

But if what you need is to practice with exam format listening exercises, yu might go to this other link with different topics: click here.

Hope to be useful!

About phrasals

I prefer to speak about multi-word verbs or verbs with particles. However, I showed you in class how to distinguish phrasal verbs and this is useful to know if they are separable or not.

Here you are the link to see a bit more about what I explained in class:

• For a general explanation: the difference between prepositional and phrasal verbs: click here but if you want to have a much larger explanation, try this.

In my opinion, the best way to study this point of grammar is starting by the particle. There are more particles and more verbs, but here you are some links to start with:

• AWAY: here you are some
• BACK: here you have an explanation 
• DOWN: this one is in Spanish but very clear
• IN: click here
• OFF: click here and this one with translation
• ON: click here or here to see some of them with translation
• OUT: here you are some here some more
• OVER: as usual here you are some and a video
• UP: click here or here with translation

But you can also learn them in alphabetical order; the problem is that eventually you come across a complete dictionary. If you want to have a try, you can go to this link. Another not so depressing list is this one.

The other page you can use is this one which has exercises; don't worry if you don't know all of them. Try it from time to time to remember them: clik here. As I've already told you the best way is to practise with them so here you are a link with exercises and here you find some more and here.

If you want to do more exercises, remember to search them on the Internet: phrasal verbs exercises+B1 or B2, depending on your level.

See you in class!

Some problems with modals (NI1-NI2)

There are some modals which are tricky because their meaning is very similar or because they are different from what we say in Spanish:

• The difference between MAY and MIGHT: click here or here
•  TO BE ABLE TO and CAN: go to this link to see the little difference in meaning and to this video to see how to use it

NI1 - Revision of modals

In lesson 10C there is a new modal MIGHT but we're going to revise all of them to practise for the exam and to have them clearer.

First of all remember a modal is a verb used to say something in a determinate way (modal is Spanish means modo de decir as well). Then you should pay attention to the grammar characteristic: is it an auxiliary or not?. This means that not all the modals are auxiliaries:

• You don't have to wear a uniform at work but you can't wear tra CAN iners

As you can see HAVE TO needs an axiliary for the negative form whiledoesn't need it because it's itself an auxiliary. If you want to know more about their characteristics you can go to this link.

To finish with, keep in mind there are few of them which use infinitive with TO: HAVE TO, OUGHT TO and USED TO; the rest use bare infinitive, that is, without TO.

Here you are some links about grammar to help you with MODALS:

• this is a list of modals and their use: click here
• this is another list:
• can – ability, permission, possibility, request
• could – ability, permission, possibility, request, suggestion
• may – permission, probability, request
• might – possibility, probability, suggestion
• must – deduction, necessity, obligation, prohibition
• shall – decision, offer, question, suggestion
• should – advice, necessity, prediction, recommendation
• will – decision, intention, offer, prediction, promise, suggestion
• would – habit, invitation, permission, preference, request, question, suggestion

• to practise here you are some exercises:  exercise 1 (a list of exercises)  exercise 2    exercise 3 

NI1 - Unit 9A - Animals: vocabulary and 2nd conditional

If you want to know how to say your favourite animal in English you can go to this link. 

Remember there is a good exercise for speaking on the textbook (p. 69) with this topic and the use of second conditional. Here you are some examples and you can use other tenses as well:

• If you were an animal what animal would you be?
• If you went on a safari, what animals would you like to meet or take a photo?
• If you wanted to have a pet at home what would you like to have?
• Are you alergic to any insects? Have you ever been stung by an insect? Have you been bitten by an animal?

Many people think that animals are connected to personality so here you are a link for Chinese zodiac; have a look and see if you agree with the description: click here

The other typical problem is animals in danger of extintion: lynx, whale, polar bear, bees, panda bear, tiger, rhino...

Some animals are representative of a party or a group: an article about Donkeys and Elephants or the Black Panther Party.