B2 - Verbs followed by gerund or infinitive

This topic is quite important in English grammar but it's also very difficult for Spanish speakers. Let's work a little on this.

This is a good link with exercises to work on the topic and this one has explanations to start with, but pay attention to the level you need and/or want. Although you are in the intermediate level, I'd rather you use the basic level in the beginning to check you don't have any doubt, but, as you can see, you have many exercises to work with. Another good link is this one with different levels as well.

This is the video  from British Council to show you how the pattern verb works and this link is quite simple but it's a start to refresh the principal verbs followed by infinitive or gerund.

As a summary, you may use this diagramme:

• VERBS followed by:

• -ing form (gerund): verbs related to likes and dislikes, followed by preposition and with reference to past or previous actions; e.g.  I enjoy listening to music,   My father gave up smoking last year   or   She denied being guilty (compare it with the verb "to refuse")

• infinitive : related to future actions
• with TO:   I'd like/want to go with you   or   She refused to go there     
• without TO (bare infinitive):   She made me laugh a lot  or  Let me tell you something

• both (infinitive or gerund)
• with a change in meaning:   
• I always remember to buy some bread for my mother  (I never forget to buy some bread for my mother)
• I remember buying some bread with my mother as a child (it's a memory)
• without changing the meaning:   I began reading - I began to read

If you want to have a good review about this topic, go to Test English and then start with the exercises.

If you need more practice, try with these ones: exercise 1     exercise 2       exercise 3

This last exercise is a listening comprehension about your spare time; remember that most of the verbs related to likes and dislikes are followed by -ing: click here

Keep in mind the importance of the verb pattern when you use introductory verbs in Reported Speech:

• Reporting verbs + -ing: go to this link
• Reporting verbs + infinitive: go here

Usually, Used to, Be/Get Used to

 Let's try to see the main differences among these three forms, according to the tense and the meaning, and to the following form. 

The first difference is the TENSE they are used and it's meaning:

• USUALLY is for any tense but it's very likely to see it with present simple or habitual present and it's related to how frequent you do an action:
• She usually goes to work on foot
• USED TO is only past and it has the meaning of having done something in the past but you don't do it anymore, that is, habits or actions you stopped doing them.
• She used to go to work on foot but now she goes by car
• BE/GET USED TO: it's used for any tense as the form "used" is taken as an adjective, not a verb, so the tense is shown in the verbs "be" or "get".
• She's not used to going to work on foot anymore as she goes by car

The other remarkable difference is the form following the expression, especially between "used to" and "be/get used to":

• USUALLY+ present simple or other tenses: I usually had fish during my last holidays (pay attention it doesn't mean I don't do it now, just it was something habitual in that time)
• USED TO + infinitive:  I didn't use to have fish when I was a child (this fact happened in the past but not now)
• BE/GET USED TO+-ing form: I got used to having fish when I was in my twenties (notice that TO is a preposition here and not part of the infinitive, so it's followed by -ing form)

There is a little difference between using BE or GET in this last form: "to be used to" means you're familiar with that action while "to get used to" means you're in the process; if you want to practise with this, do this exercise

Just to finish with this difficult point, there is a blog with an entry in Spanish which works with more differences among these forms. If you feel confident enough to fgo a bit further with this matter, visit this link.

You should practise with written exercises but first have a look to this explanation in Test English and then do these exercises:    exercise 1  (there are 2 more exercises)    exercise 2    exercise 3

Once you've understood this, practise with these questions but do it as oral practice:

• What did you use to do as a child in your free time?
• What do you usually do to relax?
• What won't you get used to doing as an elderly person?

Revision of Tenses: Present Simple for Habits

I found this video by chance and I think it's a good example to practise with present simple. We usally think it's something we've already learnt but if you listen to these two people (by the way, British and American accent) you'll see there are many ways to improve your English, as when you're using such easy tenses as present simple. It's a bit long but I think it's worth a visit.

Once you've seen it, try to practise on your own by recording yourself while describing your daily routines. Remember to look up all the necessary vocabulary lke your profession or hobbies.

Just keep in mind this is a very usual topic: to speak about yourself, your hobbies, what you usually do... and it gives you clues onwhat to ask to the other people.

See you!

Learning English with Songs

 Everybody loves music and when you sing you feel better, don't you? But the fact is that when you're singing a song in another language this can help you in many ways: improving your vocabulary, fixing grammar structures and having better pronunciation.

But not everybody likes the same kind of music and maybe the songs you love are not the best for starting learning English. That's the reason why I've taken a selection based on the simplicity rather than kind of music. If you want to practise with a song, first try to find it with LYRICS (la letra) on the internet; then, try to choose ballads or slow music to be able to follow it as a karaoke, and finally try to sing it without looking at the lyrics. When you've done this, you'll see you've learnt new words, some structures and you'll be able to pronounce those words better. 

So let's start with these simple ones and little by little you can add as many songs as you fancy.

Old classic ones

• Love Me Tender by Elvis Presley : very slow and good for starting with pronunciation
• Father and Son by Cat Stevens : imperative and some typical expressions ("take it easy")
• What a Wonderful World by Louis Amstrong :  use of adjectives
• My Heart by Celine Dion : just Titanic!

 Modern singers

• What about Us? by Pink : present tense 
• Wake Me Up by Aviici : a bit more rhythm
• 7 Years Old by Lukas Graham : past and future tenses, comparatives 
• Someone like You by Adele : beautiful song, isn't it?
• The Lazy Song by Bruno Mars : with typical forms such as "wanna" (want to) or gonna (going to)
• Roar by Katty Perry : past tenses
• Perfect by Ed Sheeran : different tenses (past, present and future)

If you practise listening skills with songs you can go to these links: 

• Learn English with Songs : filling the gaps exercises
• This blog has a lot of exercises: click here
• ESL Video : with different videos and exercises

Improving your skills in English

 If you want to improve your skills, this is a summary with good links to help you:

LISTENING

• Elllo.org
• Test English
• This page has a lot of information on this topic
• British Council

WRITING

• Cambridge: Write and Improve
• Another tool for writing: Grammarly
• Hemingway app
• British Council
• Samples of wrting for B2: the ones for EOI (Asturias) and these ones for FCE Cambridge

READING

• You can use graded readings (with different levels of difficulty):  English E-reader
• Read many different texts, like news, articles, etc: CNN news, ESL Gold (articles for learning English- USA)
• Reading exercises: Test English B2
• British Council

SPEAKING

• Use different samples from CCAA, but not all of them have oral part : EOI Alcalá de Henares
• Record your speech and check it later
• Use Google oral messages or turn on subtitles on MEET: you should use any programme to convert an oral message into words; if the app/programme doesn't write your own words, that menas you haven't done it properly; try it again until your message is identical.
• Use a compilation of typical phrases for oral practice: This blog entry is a very long list so check it and take the expressions you feel more confortable with.

Hope this may be useful for you. Keep on enjoying English!

Adjectives ending in -ED or -ING

 As I explained in class about these adjectives, when you use -ED the meaning is a bit "passive" or you feel the consequences or result of the action, while when you use -ING adjectives they are "active" and you focus on the action itself.

We have something similar in Spanish, when we say "interesante" (interesting) and "interesado" (interested) or some more like "amante/amado" or "estresante/estresado". The problem is that in English this kind of adjectives are much more frequent and we don't have a similar adjective in Spanish, like "boring" or "tiring" (aburriente? and cansante?)

Compare these two sentences:

• She's a loving mother : she loves her children very much, so it's an active meaning, based on the action itself more than in the result.   
• She's a loved mother : she's loved by her children so the meaning is passive; she receives the consequences, the result of the action, not the actor of the action.

If you need further explanation, you may go to the this link of the British Council.

Here you are some exercises:

• exercise 1  (from Perfect English)      exercise 2  ( a list of exercises from agendaweb)       exercise 3  (from Test English)      exercise 4  (quite long but interesting)
• some other exercises to parctise just in case: exercise 1       exercise 2

I hope it'll be useful but remember to use these forms in spoken language as well so try to use these questions/topics to check how usual they are. Practise with some other mates or friends:

• What hobbies are you interested in? What hobbies do you find interesting? Why?
• Describe a thrilling activity you like doing.
• What are the most boring programmes on Spanish TV channels? Give reasons. And the most amusing ones?
• Tell me/us the most exciting place you've ever been to.
• Do you get tired/bored/excited easily? What for?

Keep in touch!

Contractions

 Contractions or no contractions? That is the question

We use a contraction in informal English and especially when we speak. To mark that there’s something missing in the sentence, we use the apostrophe (‘). We CANNOT use contractions with principal verbs but just with auxiliaries, as you can see in these examples:

• I’ve got a car (right)    but    I’ve a car (wrong)  I have a car (right)

• We’ve got to go (right)     but    We’ve to go (wrong)   We have to go (right)

• They’d like to go with us    but   You had to be careful (right)   You’d to be careful (wrong).

As usual, the only exception is with the verb TO BE because it’s principal and auxiliary at the same time (remember the negative and the interrogative forms of that verb) but when the verb “to be” is in a short answer, it can’t be contracted either:

• Aren’t they British? Yes, they are. They’re from Bristol.

The main problem with contractions is to know which verb is the one you’ve used and that’s easy if you pay attention to the following verbal form. Let’s see some examples:

• He’d like to go   (WOULD as it’s followed by infinitive without TO)

• He’d been busy   (HAD because it’s with a past participle; compare it with He’d BE busy)

• He’d have been busy   (WOULD as it’s a perfect infinitive: have been not has been)

• He’d better stay at home   (HAD, a special modal verb, also followed by infinitive without TO)

There are some contractions which are so frequent that it's difficult or weird (or even impossible like “o’clock”) to find them without being contracted. These are some examples but there are some more:

• Let’s…  You’d better…   I’d rather…   If you don’t mind…  What’s wrong/the matter?   I’d love to.

But there are some occasions where contractions are not used, no matter if they’re right or wrong; the principal rules are these:

• very formal/academic writing: I cannot accept that    or   Let us explain that issue further

• to give emphasis: I do not like that shirt (as when you say I do like it)

• in positive short answers: Yes, I am     but    No, I’m not.

• very old fashioned forms, especially in negative: shan’t    oughtn’t   mightn’t

If you need more explanations or you’d like to know more about this matter, you can visit these pages or links:

• Cambridge dictionary

• How to use contractions

• Grammarly (very short but clear)

• Contractions in spoken English (very specific and long)

To sum up, use contractions as much as possible, especially when you speak, because it sounds more natural; however, take into account that if you’re writing something formal or if you want to be emphatic, don’t use contractions.