QUANTIFIERS

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QUANTIFIERS AND PRONUNCIATION, by Angela Gonçalves
Find this and other quantifiers exercises in English Exercises .org

Real English series: How long does it take? and where do you live?

Last Tuesday my that's english blog published this post. I find it very useful and interesting so, take a look at it and practise. 

In the first video, passers-by answer a difficult question for students in lower levels: How long does it take you to get to work?

It is an impersonal question with the subject "it", so we'll be using auxiliary"does" for the 3rd person singular in the question.

The answers is also a bit funny: TAKE + PERSONAL OBJECT + TIME +TO-Infinitive.
It takes me 20 minutes to get to work.



You can watch the same video with subtitles on the Real English site here, where you can also do an interactive exercise here.

You can also practise this complicated structure with the following questions, most of which are related to household chores:
How long does it take you/your wife to make your bed?
How long does it take you to have breakfast?
How long does it take you to have a shower?
How long does it take you to read the newspaper?
How long does it take you to do the washing-up?
How long does it take you to cook dinner?
How long does it take you to get ready for work/school?
How long does it take you to do your English homework?

The second video is far less complicated, as passers-by answer the question Where do you live?, which also came up indirectly in the previous video. The difficulty here lies in identifying the place names speakers give, which might make it advisable to watch the video with subtitles on the Real English site here.



You can do an interactive exercise on the Real English site here.

Use fillers to avoid hesitation

From ieltsspeaking website comes this video that can help you in your speaking test.

Watch this ’5-Minute Functions’ video below to find out the various fillers you can use to give yourself a split second thinking time.

FILLERS:

• Well let me see
• That's a good question
• Well to be honest
• It's difficult to say
• That's a tricky one
• To cut a long story short
• It's funny you should ask

and now ... practise, practise and practise ;)

GOTYE - SOMEBODY THAT I USED TO KNOW

DANCING QUEEN BY ABBA

You can 1_____, you can jive, having the time of your life
See that 2______, 3_______ that scene, dig in the Dancing Queen.


4_______ night and the lights are 5_______
Looking out for the 6______ to go
Where they play the right 7______, getting in the swing.
You come in to look for a 8_______
Anybody could be that guy
Night is young and the music's 9_______
With a bit of rock music, everything is fine.
You're in the mood for a 10_______
And when you get the chance...


You are the Dancing Queen, young and sweet, only 11_________
Dancing Queen, feel the beat from the tambourine.
You can dance, you can jive, having the time of your 12______.
See that girl, watch that scene, dig in the Dancing Queen.


You're a teaser, you turn them 13_____
Leave them burning and then you're gone.
Looking out for another, anyone will do
You're in the mood for a 14_______
And when you get the chance...


You are the Dancing Queen, young and sweet, only seventeen.
Dancing Queen, feel the beat from the tambourine
You can dance, you can jive, having the time of your life
See that girl, watch that scene, dig in the Dancing Queen.


Key lyrics:


1.dance 2.girl 3.watch 4.friday 5.low 6.place 7.music 8.king 9.high 10.dance 11.seventeen 12.life 13.on 14.dance

6 minute English - Listening Activity

Have you ever wondered why the news is full of death and destruction?

Kaz and Finn decide to take a look at some good news in this week's 6 Minute English.

Click here to go through the BBC Learning English website and listen to the podcast. You can download the audio file, and also the transcript. In order to do that take a look on the right hand corner on that page.  

Present perfect

St George International School published new series on their blog to tackle basic grammar points. 

In order to revise the present perfect, go through this poster and read the explanations given.

It is an engaging fun way of learning and revising the present perfect. 

So, what do these sentences really mean…?

1. I haven’t bought lemonade since 2003.
2.I haven’t tasted sweet lemonade for almost 10 years!

There is a continuing period of time from 2003 up to now, where he did not drink any lemonade. He is thinking about the past and the present together.

If he was only thinking about the past (and NOT THINKING ABOUT THE PRESENT AT THE SAME TIME) he would say…

PAST SIMPLE: I drank lemonade in 2003

(This is a finished action that is not connected to the present time. He drank that lemonade and it exists no more)

Compare with….

PRESENT PERFECT: I haven’t bought lemonade since 2003. (He is thinking aboutall the time from 2003 until now, 2012)

Now, watch this Video story The Queen and her butler where the differences between the present perfect and the past simple are dealt with.

Transcript

Q = Queen
J = Jeeves

Q: Jeeves, have you polished my crown today?

J: No, Madam. I’m afraid that I haven’t had time to do that yet.

Q: WHy not? Then please tell me what have you done this morning?

J: Well, let me see. I got up at 5am and then the first thing I did was to iron your newspaper.

Q: Good.

J: Then at half past five I took your corgis for a walk. Then at 6 o’clock I took Prince Philip to the bathroom.

Q: Quite right.

J: From 8 until 10, I was cutting out pictures of Prince Harry from the newspapers… for the family album, of course.

Q: Oooh.

J: But then I discovered something in the palace.

Q: Yes, yes. What was it?

J: Well, Madam it is a rather delicate matter. I’m afraid to say that your beloved doggies have done their “toilet business” all over the royal throne.

Q: Oh no!

J: So, Madam, that is why I haven’t cleaned your crown yet. And may I ask your Highness, what have you done this morning? Did you meet the Prime Minister?

Q: No, Jeeves, no. I left the palace at quarter to eleven to go and open a supermarket… and I’ve just arrived back.

J: Well, Madam, you have definitely had an extremely difficult morning.

Q: Indeed, indeed.

PRESENT PERFECT

From The Machine Goes on blog comes this glogster (interactive poster) to explain the differences of usage between present perfect and past simple, while providing some activitities for students to practise this grammar point.

Click here to open the glogster.

CONDITIONALS

Here's a great explanation.

PAST SIMPLE

 Here there are some videos to watch to learn about the simple past regular verb pronunciation (d, t, id)  and irregular verb pronunciation.

SPEAK OUT

In our Speaking lesson on the 8th of February, we will deal with "Cinema". Watch the video and try to answer these questions:

• Do you like going to the cinema?
• How often do you go to the cinema?
• What was the last film you saw?
• What kind of films do you like?
• Who is your favourite actor or actress?Why?
• Which is your favourite film? Why?

SPEAK OUT

In our previous lesson on Speaking, we talked about Holidays. Here you have the podcast seen in class. Watch it again and try to answer also the questions:

• What kind of holidays do you like?
• How many different holidays are mentioned in the video?
• Where did you go on your last holidays?
• How many places are mentioned?
• Did you have a good time? Did the people in the video have a fantastic time?

PROVES DE CERTIFICACIÓ

Vos informe que en la pàgina web de la EOI ja podeu consultar les dates de matrícula i exàmens.

Escola Oficial Idiomes de València:

Alumnat matriculat en les escoles oficials d’idiomes de la
Comunitat Valenciana, durant el curs acadèmic 2012-2013:

El període perquè este alumnat s’inscriga en la prova de certificació comprendrà des del dia 25 de febrer de 2013 fins al 12 de març de
2013, tots dos inclosos.

Alumnat no matriculat en les escoles oficials d’idiomes de la Comunitat Valenciana, durant el curs acadèmic 2012-2013 o que ha efectuat renúncia de matrícula:

El període de matriculació d’este alumnat en la prova de certificació comprendrà des del dia 11 de febrer de 2013 fins al 22 de febrer
de 2013, tots dos inclosos.