The Passive Voice is used all the time in English, so it is worth taking time out to understand its form and use.
Let’s look at the example below:
I ate two slices of toast
This is known as an active sentence where the subject goes first (the person or thing that does the action), followed by the verb, and finally the object (the person or thing that the action happens to). So, in this sentence, the subject is ‘I’, the verb is ate and the object is two slices of toast.
Many students ask me if exams are important to measure their level of language. It is a good question and one which I will endeavour to answer. If you have managed to command a language to the extent that you can make yourself understood by a native, you have done well. But notice the word ´well´. Why didn´t I use very well or proficiently? Because making yourself understood doesn´t mean that you speak the language grammatically correct or use the most up to date vocabulary
The aim of this short lesson is to give 6-8-year-olds some picture visuals to match to the parts of the body. When talking about clothes, they use the verb “to wear”. For example “What clothes do you wear to school?”
There is no doubt that learning a new language has its complications. The main one being that we can never directly translate from our native language into the second language. For example, we say in English I am hungry but if we make a direct translation in Spanish Estoy hambre, it doesn´t make any sense as the verb they use is Tener (to have) not Estar (to be) = Tengo hambre.
Learning a second language can slow cognitive ageing (the speed at which the mental activity of the brain ages). Being bilingual could delay the onset of dementia for several years.
When we are suggesting something, we are endorsing it as a promising idea only. There is no obligation on the third party to follow through. When we are recommending something, we are advising what should be done in a particular situation which would benefit the third party. It holds more weight than suggest and makes the receiver sit up and take note.
A trend signifies a situation that is developing or changing. There are three specific changes I wish to highlight in this blog:
1) Financial (Sales, profits, costs, budgets)
Sales fell slightly last quarter.
Profits have risen 3% year-on-year.
2) Marketing (Market share)
We saw some growth in market share last year
Sales in the Asian market dropped by 10% last year
3) Economy (Inflation, interest rates, unemployment, house prices)
There has been a steady rise in inflation.
Unemployment has increased this year
House prices went up last year
We describe a trend as the way a situation develops or changes. Since COVID-19, Language Schools have had to adapt their styles of teaching. Classroom sizes have become smaller to allow for 2 metre distances between desks and students are obliged to wear masks and frequently wash their hands with hydroalcoholic gel.
If you cannot speak a word of English, come in and join us on our Beginner’s Course at our premises in Andratx. We start you off with the basics of Grammar and Vocabulary and help you little by little to gain confidence in Speaking.
Glued to our screens and using all the digital tools available to interact with our colleagues, virtual work is moving us more and more away from human contact.
We use the past simple for finished actions in the past e.g. We watched a good film on TV last night/I lived in Barcelona last summer.
The present simple is used to make statements about events at a time later than now, when the statements are based on present facts, and when these facts are something fixed like a timetable, a work schedule, or dates in a calendar.
Reading Graded Readers helps you to learn and understand vocabulary better. Why not start today? Buy or borrow a Starter level book and begin the journey to improving your level of English.
Jordan Friedman, a prodigious Stress Coach from New York has been developing stress management programmes for over 20 years. Some of the main stressors his clients talk about are money, commuting, and too much to do in too little time. He believes that we are more stressed today than we were 20 years ago.
There is no question that working and learning from home is the new era we live in today. Covid-19 has caused us to close the doors to our businesses and schools and those of us who remain open are obliged to follow strict norms so as not to infect or be infected.
Are you someone who gets up in the morning with the intention of learning something new in your day? Or are you the opposite? You get up in the morning, immerse yourself in your job or studies without giving a single thought to learning something new?
To learn the student needs a teacher and to teach the teacher needs the student. One cannot exist without the other. It is a symbiotic relationship.
The Japanese zodiac calendar is an integral part of Japanese culture and is based on the interpretations derived from the 12 animals of the zodiac which include the rat, the tiger, the rabbit, the dragon, the snake, the horse, the sheep, the monkey, the rooster, the dog, the pig, and the cow.
We are coming to the end of 2020 and what a year it has been! There have been so many changes in our lives that it is hard to recognise the “real us” anymore. Not only are our masks protecting us, but they are hiding us as well
Past time phrases can be confusing for ESL learners as there are so many! We use them to say when something happened in the past and they are always used with the Past Simple. They include expressions such as in 2019, last week, one month ago, on Monday, etc.,