compare and contrast

http://www.grammar-quizzes.com/compare.html

goodbye blog!

I'm no longer teaching in Canada so this blog will not be updated anymore!
Take a look, I hope it's useful for you in some way, either as a teacher or a student.

UppInt A: Conditional Structures

EVEN IF/ONLY IF/UNLESS:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/grammar/learnit/learnitv122.shtml
http://www.grammar-quizzes.com/9-7.html
http://esl.about.com/od/grammaradvanced/a/adverb_clauses_3.htm

UppInt A: Phrasal Verb: GO

to go out
1.to leave your house, especially in order to enjoy yourself
"Let's go out tonight!"

2. to have a romantic relationship with someone
"Tina used to go out with my brother."
"They've been going out for two years now."

3. Fire/Light- to stop burning or shining
"The lights suddenly went out."

to go over s.t. -to review/examine s.t.
"Before the test, she went over her notes."

to go through s.t.- to experience a difficult or unpleasant situation, feeling etc
"He's going through a divorce at the moment."
"She went through a lot last year and she was quite upset."


to go through
1- Law:  if a law goes through, or goes through Parliament, it is officially accepted
"The smoking ban in public places went through without any opposition."

2-Deal/agreement- if a deal or agreement goes through, it is officially accepted and agreed

"After months of negotiation, the deal finally went through."


3-Read/Discuss- to read or discuss something in order to make sure it is correct 
"We'll go through the details of the contract tomorrow."

4-Search-  to search something in order to find something in particular
"John went through his pockets looking for the keys."

to go through with s.t. - to do something you had promised or planned to do, even though it causes problems or you are no longer sure you want to do it
"I had no choice but to go through with it."

to go under -if a business goes under, it has to stop operating because of financial problems
"After only a few months, the business Rob started went under."

to go off- if an alarm goes off, it makes a noise to warn you about something
"The fire alarm went off at 3am."

IntUpp D: Describing people: character- Answers

38.1
1.clever- half-witted
2. extroverted-introverted
3. rude-courteous
4. cruel- kind-hearted
5. generous- tight-fisted
6. unsociable- gregarious

38.2
1. likes
2. likes
3. likes
4.dislikes
5. dislikes
6. dislikes
7. dislikes
8. likes

38.3
1. Di's very stingy
2. Molly's usually brusque/blunt.
3. Liz is quite unprincipled.
4. Sam can be assertive.
5. Dick's quite assertive.
6. I find Dave self-assured.
7. Don't you think  Jim's inquiring?
9. Jill is peculiar

38.4
1. sociable
2. pessimistic
3. assertive
4. inquisitive
5. extravagant
6. argumentative
7. sensitive

38.6
1.self-confident, self-centered, self-indulgent
2.bad-tempered. good-tempered, quick-tempered
3. narrow minded, single-minded, open-minded

IntUppD: Used To vs. Would

USED TO/WOULD

Adapted from Michael Swan’s Practical English Usage

Used to= past habits and states which are now finished

                I used to eat McDonald’s for lunch every day.

-refers to things that happened at an earlier stage of one’s life and are now finished. The situation has now changed.  Used to is not used to say what happened at a past time, how long it took or how many times it happened.

NOT I used to work very hard last month.  I worked very hard last month

NOT I used to live in California for three years.  I lived in California for three years

NOT  I used to go to Spain three times last year.  I went to Spain three times last year.

Would = regularly repeated actions in the past, in the same way as used to

When we were young, we would/used to go skating every winter.

When I was a baby, my mother would/used to sing me to sleep.

*BUT only used to can refer to past states

I used to have a lot of model cars. NOT       I would have a lot of model cars.

He used to be really skinny.                             NOT       He would be really skinny.

*we use used to NOT would to talk about regular and important habitual behaviour

               

Roberto used to play a lot of tennis.              NOT       Roberto would play a lot of tennis.

He used to smoke.                                              NOT       He would smoke.

IntUppD: Describing one's character

Today in class, we talked about how to describe s.o's personality and character and the positive (+) and (-) connotation that each word can carry. It is important to know which words have a positive (+) or a negative (-) connotation.  For example, we discussed the difference between ARROGANT (COCKY) & CONFIDENT.  Here are some more resources to help you expand your expand your vocabulary




 

"What is he/she like?"

A short list of personality adjectives
http://www.esolcourses.com/content/exercises/grammar/adjectives/personality/words-for-describing-personality.html






ALSO: (Describing physical characteristics)

"What does he/she look like?"

-Here is a website that talks about describing a person's physical appearance
 http://justmesuzanne.hubpages.com/hub/ESL-Describing-a-Person
-A short list of physical appearance adjectives
http://www.esolcourses.com/content/exercises/grammar/adjectives/appearance/vocab1.html

UppInt A: Wishes/Regrets-Notes

WISHES/REGRETS

WISH + Simple Past/Past continuous/could/would – Wish for the present/future (want to change a situation)

-I wish I had more free time (don’t)

-I wish I could buy a car (I don’t have enough $)

-I wish it would stop raining in Vancouver

-I wish I were sleeping right now instead of learning grammar.

 

WISH + Past perfect (had + past participle) – regret about the past

I wish I hadn’t drunk so much last night = I regret drinking so much last night

I wish I had been able to go outside yesterday .

Mixed Conditional: If I hadn’t drunk so much last night, I wouldn’t have a hangover now. 

If only – strong wish or regret (emphasis) - often used without a result clause

If only I hadn’t drunk so much last night!

If only I had more money!

Bus. Eng: Opening a can of worms

http://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/open+a+can+of+worms

Bus. Eng: Cool videos related to the environment

This website has various videos related to environmental concerns.
http://www.storyofstuff.org/ If you go to the website, you can watch the videos with subtitles.

Varities of English

Cool parody of Beauty and the Beast!

UppInt A: JLo & Conditionals

1) Watch the following 1999 JLo video "If you had my love" and pay attention to the conditionals that she uses...

2) Look up the lyrics and compare your answers: http://www.lyricsmania.com/if_you_had_my_love_lyrics_jennifer_lopez.html

UppInt A: Shopping Addiction

Today we will watch a video that deals with shopping addiction.



1)VOCABULARY: Before you watch, please look up the following words that will come up in the video. Follow the links to the dictionary to find a definition

-The urge to splurge

-For many Americans, shopping is a chore

-The act of shopping is a quick fix

-You get a rush when you buy something

-That’s a red flag that you could have a problem 

2) WATCH: Watch the video and answer the questions below


 1) What are some indicators that you are a shopaholic?
 2) What statistic is provided about the power of advertising?
 3) What makes up the equation of financial trouble
 4) What does this mean: "If you eat enough lobster, it tastes like soap."?
 5) What are the steps to resolving your financial crisis?

IntUpp D: TH pronunciation

This funny and popular commerical for Berlitz language school shows you the difficulty and "life-saving'"  importance of 'TH' pronunication. Enjoy!

 

UppInt A: Conditionals!

EXTRA CONDITIONALS PRACTICE
http://www.englishpage.com/conditional/conditionalintro.html
http://www.ego4u.com/en/cram-up/grammar/conditional-sentences
http://www.usingenglish.com/articles/english-conditionals-an-introduction.html
http://www.grammar-quizzes.com/conditionsum.html

Meaning of the “If clause”	Verb Form in the “If clause”	Verb Form in the “Result Clause”	Examples
0 Conditional (FACTUAL): Always true in the present	Simple present	Simple present	If I have enough time, I write to my parents every week.
1st Conditional (FUTURE): True in the future	Simple present	Will/be going to	If I have enough time tomorrow, I will write to my parents.
2nd Conditional (HYPOTHETICAL): Untrue in the present/future	Simple past	Would + base form	If I had enough time now, I would write to my parents.
3rd Conditional (HYPOTHETICAL IN THE PAST): Untrue in the past	Past perfect	Would have + past participle	If I had had enough time, I would have written to my parents yesterday.
Mixed Conditional (HYPOTHETICAL PRESENT as a result of HYPOTHETICAL PAST): Untrue in the past/present	Past perfect (PAST) Simple past (PRESENT)	Would + base form Would + be + ING (PRESENT) Would + have + past participle (PAST)	If I had finished all my work, I would be writing to my parents now. If I hadn’t drunk that last beer, I wouldn’t be hungover now. If I spoke Spanish, I would have gotten the job.

My Blackberry Is Not Working!

IntUppD/ UppInt A: Phrasal Verb: CALL (me maybe)

 to call s.o back - to return a phone call, for example because they were not at home or busy when you phoned last time
"He's not here right now. Do you want to call back in an hour?" 

to call s.o up -to call/phone s.o.
"I'll call you up tomorrow and we'll set up a time to meet."

to call in

1-(sick) to phone work/school to tell them you are absent due to sickness.
"Jane just called in sick, so someone has to fill in for her."
 
2- to phone a radio or television show to give your opinion or to ask a question
"Over 2000 viewers called in to the station with complaints."

to call s.t. off - to decide that a planned event will not take place
"The wedding has been called off because the couple broke up."  
  
to call s.t. out -to say something loudly
"She called out my name."


to call s.o out on s.t.-to point out s.o.'s mistake/bad behaviour, to let s.o. know that you know about their bad behaviour and your negative opinion about this behaviour
"I thought I could get away with going to work late, but my boss finally called me out on it. "
"My mother called me out on lying to her."
"Jane's friends called her out on not breaking up with her cheating boyfriend."

Follow LONDON 2012!

http://www.ctvolympics.ca/
http://www.london2012.com/

 

Fireworks!

 http://hondacelebrationoflight.com/

UppInt A: Future Time Clauses Answers

1-Discover the grammar
1.b
2.a
3.b
4.a
5.b
6.b
7.b
8.b
9.b
10.b

3-What's next?
2. They're going to move to a larger apartment as soon as Jeff get a raise.
3. After they move to a larger apartment, they're going to have a baby.
4. Sandy will get a part-time job after they have they have their first child.
5. When their child is two, Sandy will go back to work full-time.
6. Sandy will work full-time while Jeff goes to school./
Jess will go to school while Sandy works full-time.
7. Jeff will find another job when he graduates

4-Editing
Graduation is next month! I need to make some plans now because when exams start, I won't have any free time. What am I going to do when I finish school? My roommate is going to take a vacation before she looks for a job. I can't do that because I need to earn some money soon. I think that after I graduate, I am going to take a word processing class. As soon as I learn word processing, I will look for a job as a bilingual office assistant. It's hard to find full-time jobs, though. Part-time jobs are easier to find. Maybe I'll take a part-time job after I find a good full-time one. Or maybe I'll take a workshop in making decisions before I do anything!