Unreal past - Unit 09

The unreal past is used to talk about imaginary situation in the past. You can describe what you would have done differently or how something could have happened different if circumstances had been different.

examples:

• We use wish + past simple to talk about things, we would like to be different in present.

example:

            I wish you were famous.

• We use wish + past perfect to talk about that happened in the past that we wish hadn't happened.

example:

             I wish I had asked her out before she moves away.

• We use if only for emphasis, or to emphasize something,

example:

              If only I had my bill on time, now I owe more money

• We use wish + would to talk about things we want to stop because we find them annoying.

example:

             I wish the dog would stop barking.

When we want to express a wish or we want to refer us to something unreal, we can use some expressions which will help us to demonstrate a specific situation... for example: 

I wish you were here at this moment.

I'd rather you do the daily chores instead of me. 

If only I knew the correct answer.

Reflections 

These grammar structures are so useful when we are talking about regrets, past situations which we want to change or remind. In my personal opinion, sometimes these structures are confusing, because depends about what you want to say... depending of the intention of the speaker because isn't the same try to say "If only I knew the answer" that "If only I had known the answer", we have to identify what exactly what we want to express and be careful with which unreal past we want to use.

Reporting verbs - Unit 08

Reporting Verbs

We use reporting verbs to report what someone said in at specific time. People are used to use "say and tell", but there are a lot of verbs for reporting. Some reporting verbs follow an specific structure, we are going to see some of those verbs an how they work. 

• verb + infinitive:

                          agree, decide, offer, promise, refuse, threaten.

examples:

              They agreed to meet you on the Cafeteria. 

              He refused to eat, he was totally full.

• verb + object + infinitive:

                              advise, encourage, invite, remind, warn

examples:

              Ana advised him to go home early.

              He reminded me to telephone my sister.

• verb + gerund

                      deny, recommend, suggest 
examples:
              They recommended taking the bus because It is faster.
               She suggested meeting a little earlier;

• verb + object + preposition (+gerund)

                        accuse, blame. congratulate 
examples:
                He accused me of taking his money.
                They congratulated me on passing the quarter.

Reflections

When someone is learning a language, at the beginning this person will learn the most common words, the most common grammar structures, at the beginning that is correct but we are going to grow up in the language, so for the reason it is really important to know the exist a lot of ways to say the same sentence... we have to search a little bit about grammar and we are going to find lots of information related with any topic. for example in this grammar structure we have different "reporting verbs" and every reporting verb has its specific structure and we have to follow it. If we know how to use them it would be easier to apply them in any context and also we will gain more fluency in our speaking skill.

Verbs followed by infinitives or gerunds - Unit 07

Some verbs can be followed by an infinitive and gerund, but sometimes the meaning of the sentence changes.

We are going to see some example, and how in these sentences the meaning change.

Forget:

           I forgot to meet him.

In this sentence means: I didn't meet him, because I forgot it. 

           I forgot meeting him.

In this one means: I don't have memory of meeting him before. The meaning changes if we are using an infinitive or gerund.

Remember:

                 She remembered to visit her mom.

It means: She didn't forget to visit her mom.

                 She remembered visiting her mom.

It means: She had memories of this times.

Stop:

        I stopped to call you.

It means: I interrupted another action in order to call you.

        I stopped calling you.

It means: I stopped this action because I had something important to do. 

Try:

     I tried to open the window.

It means: I attended this action but I didn't succeed

     I tried opening the window.

It means: This was an option I sampled, maybe the room was too hot.

Reflections:

In the examples above, we could appreciate the differences in meaning when we use an infinitive or gerund. It is so important to understand how and when we have to use an infinitive or a gerund... 

Sometimes we can use both and the sentence would have the same meaning but there are some cases in which the meaning of the sentence will change according if we use an infinitive or a gerund. the only way to learn them is to memorize the partner verbs. If we could dominate them, we will have a better level of English (principally grammar and fluency). 

Clauses Whatever, Whenever... - Unit 06

When we don't want to refer to a particular pronoun, we have the Clauses Wh-, which can help us to do our sentences more fluent and without repeating a lot of times the same subject.

In the picture below we have some uses of whatever, and how we can apply it in different contexts.

example:
            Whatever the hour, he calls me.

This sentence means: It doesn't matter the hour, he will call her... "Whatever" is used because we don't know the exact time when he will call, he calls her to anytime

We have another way to say the same sentences without using Clauses Wh-, we can rephrased, the image above expain how we can use it.

example about Clauses Wh-:

                             You can have whatever you want.

It means: you can have anything that you want to.

                            Whichever person you ask, he will tell you the same.

It means: Any person you ask, you will say the same.

                          However you dress, you always look good.

It means: Any way you dress, you look good.

Reflections:

It is really important to understand the uses of Clauses Wh-, we can say the same sentence in different ways.. keeping the exact meaning. Sometimes we don't know who did something and we are used to say I don't know who was instead of saying Whoever did the action... these clauses are really useful in our vocabulary and fluency... if we want to sound much better we have to use them.

Thanksgiving..!!

Thanksgiving is a special holiday celebrated all over the world, almost every country has a similar tradition related with thank. In United States, Thanksgiving is celebrated on the forth Thursday in the month of November, there is not a specific date for celebrating it, every year the date changes.

This is a time for feeling gratitude. A curious data is the first Thanksgiving was celebrated in 1621.

 As part of the celebration, there are some traditions that people are used to do in this holiday.

For example families are used to join in a family's house for praying and thank for their health, family, friends, relationships among others.

Also there are some special dishes... the most famous is turkey almost in every house eats turkey, people are used to eat pumpkin pie, this dish is really traditional in Thanksgiving... another popular dish is  sweet potatoes and corn.

Thanksgiving means to feel thank for the good and bad things... in United States some people like to give food and clothes to homeless and share a time with them... these actions are ways that they found out for saying thank...

In my personal opinion I like these kind of actions it is a different way to feel grateful too. 

Emphasis sentences - Unit 05

For emphasising sentences we can use passive constructions.

example:
               The suspect was arrested by the police.

In this sentence we are emphasising "the suspect was arrested" in this case "by the police" is extra information,the most important thing here is tha the suspect was arrested.

Fronting

We can also change the clause´s order in the sentence, we can put it in the beginning,

example:
      What she thinks she is doing, I don´t know!

In this sentence the order was changed, normally we use this kind of sentence, in a different order. At the end as in the last sentence we are emphasising that she is doing somthing that we don´t.. the order was changed for emphasising the action.

Cleft sentences
This clause beginning with "it is, it was".

example:
              It was Juan who spotted the mistake.

In this sentence we are emphasising the person who did the mistake, who was Juan.

Reflections

When we want to emphasise something or someone we can use these three ways to do it... sometime we want to focus in who did somthing, so in that situation we can use the cleft sentence for emphasising who did the action... also we can use passive construtions for emphasising too... The main idea is to use this kind of sentences when we want to denote what happen or who did what. 

Future probability - Unit 04

Future probability - grammar 

For expressing future probability, we can use modal verbs "will, could, may, might" also with can use these modals with phrases, for denoting how sure we are about the issue.

• Will - we can use it when something will almost definitely happen, we use will for predicting based on the evidence.

• May/ Might - we can use them when something is likely to happen, there are posibilities that happen.

• Remote/ Doubt/ Slim/ Probabily won´t - we use these expression for denoting something unlikely to happen, when there are few possibilities.

• Inconceivable - we can use this word when we don´t have any possibility, when there is a zzero porcente that something will happen.

examples:

• I´m sure she´ll notice it´s missing // there is a 100% she will notice.
• There is a strong posiibility that today rains // there is a 75% of possibilities that today rains.
• There´s a slight possibility that I miss my keys // there is a 25% that I will miss my keys.
• It isn´t possible that we´llbe able to travel today // there is a 0% that we travel today.

Reflections

We have to learn how to use these modals of verbs, sometimes we just use I will or won´t for expressing future probability but in English there are a lot of ways to say the same sentence... we have to try to use them of we want to have more fluency, this is our challenge. The only way to get it is to practice them... It is easier to acquire when we try to apply them in context... not just knowing the meaning.

Cultures around the world

Country: Peru

 "Culture, here understood as the totally ok what a group of people think, how they behave, and what they produce that id passed on to future generations"(Jervis N., 2006).

Culture is the country’s essence, it describes the population’s behave and belief. Culture is related with their traditions, customs, slang and all the features related with a specific society group. Around the world there are lots of different cultures, it varies according the continent, and also inside the continent, it varies according the country.

"A culture is a design for living or, more precisely, a complex whole consisting of objects, values, and other characteristics that people have acquired as members of society. (Thio. A., 1991).

Peru has a vast variety of food, for its geographical location and its weather’s variety, vegetables and fruit have their particular size and flavor, and they are too different from other countries. Peruvian people use their vegetables and fruit to prepare different dishes, desserts, drinks among others.

Other attribute about Peru’s gastronomic is that it has jungle’s influence. Peru has a big variety of fruit, they prepare lots of desserts with them.  Some local fruit are lucuma (zapote), chirimoya, manioc root (mandioca)... these fruit are really consume by the Peruvians.

The most popular and use ingredient in Peru is potato, potatoes were originated there, there are more than four thousand different types of potatoes in Peru, so potatoes have an important role in Peruvian’s gastronomic, they prepare hundreds of different dishes using them.

One delicious dish is “Papa a la Huancaina”, this is prepared with potatoes and a special yellow sauce. It is served with a lettuce and a hard-boiled egg on the top. This dish is really typical in Peru, in any holyday, any activity they will prepare it.

Cultures around the world

Special cultural activities in Brazil

Brazil is the biggest country in South America… Brazil is a really fascinating country, particularly in terms of its vast and rich culture and history.

It is characterized by its traditions and celebrations related with dancing. In Brazil, the traditional dance is called “Capoeira”.

The “Capoeira” is the most important cultural expression in Brazil, the Capoeira name comes from an indigenous origin, which means “a clearing amid the jungles”. It was considered as piece of hope for the African native, slaves.

 It is a martial art, which was originated in 18^th century colonial era. During the history of the slave trade, more than two million slaves were brought to Brazil from Africa… these slaves had to work in sugar and tobacco plantations for long periods of time… the demand of these products originated that slaves worked for hours and hours in injustice and inhuman conditions. 

The captive Africans created the earliest from of “Capoeira” with the objective to increase their chances for liberty and independence. On the pretense of dance and religious issues, they practiced “Capoeira” as fighting techniques; this was they instrument for liberated themselves. (LUNA, 2008).

Capoeira is really important for Brazilians, it is an essential part of its culture. Brazil is truly famous for its carnivals, those carnivals take place 46 days before Easter. Carnivals are characterized by brightly-colored costumes, joyful music and lush decorations. Everybody knows that the best carnivals are carried out in Brazil.

Cultures around the world

Special cultural activities in Peru

Peru is one of the famous countries around the world... Peru has a lot of gastronomic, it has a lot of influence related with its food, and Peru has jungle, highlands and coast influence. Also it has a lot of traditions, those traditions are really interesting and it has a lot of cultural influence. As any country it has special activities for their celebrations and holidays.
There is one of the most significant cultural activity that is celebrated in Peru, it is called "THE LORD OF THE MIRACLES", this is one of the most important and crowded activity celebrated in this country.

 The Lord of the Miracles takes place in all over the country, principal in Lima, the Peru´s capital, on October 28th. This is a special procession which gather together the largest number of believers in South America.
"The Angolas a group of immigrants were members of brotherhoods who venerated different images, carrying out related religious acts in which they remembered their freedom and nostalgically sang the songs of their ancestors in their own languages; they also tended the sick, and gave their members a decent burial through the payment of small subscriptions by the brothers. In 1650 the various groups of Angolas united and created a joint brotherhood in the Pachacamilla district (located in Peru), where indigenous people from Pachacamac had previously lived, and where stands the shurch and monastery of Nazarenas and the building of the brotherhood of the Lord of Miracles. Their life conditions were those of absolutely poverty"(Simola M, 2008).

This is how the Lord of the Miracles tradition was born, according with Simola on Novenber 13th,there was a terrible earthquake in Peru, which affected and changed the face of Lima ans Callao, this horrible earthquake destroyed churches, buildings and houses in the Pachacamilla district everything was destroyed, except an image of Christ in the wall... 15 years later the wall had the picture of Christ was in perfect conditions, it was like the time hadn't passed in the wall.

So, the population started to belief that the preservation of the image was a real miracle, so, they thought that they didn;t have any hope but throughout the time the things was going better and better.
As in Costa Rica with the virgen of Los Angeles parade in Peru they celebrate the Lord of the Miracles festival every year throughout the time more and more people assist to the special festival.

Halloween's history! - movie

Halloween history...

Nowadays Halloween is one of the most popular holiday celebrated all over the world. Some people celebrate this holiday without knowing which is its origin or what it means.

Halloween is celebrated every October 31st, it is a day related with superstitions, Halloween is celebrated as a pagan holiday, honoring the dead, Halloween takes place as a Celts celebration called "Samhain", in this tradition people are used to light bonfires and wear costumes, they believed the souls of the dead roamed streets and villages at night.

The Celts celebrated their new year on November 1st, so, the day before, they believed that the boundary between the worlds of the living and the dead became blurred. Celts also believed that on October 31 st, the ghost of dead returned to earth. Celts thought that the presence of the otherworldly spirits made it easy for them to make future predictions.

This is the origin of this holiday, few people know about this issue.. but is really important to have a little bit of knowledge about it. 

Over time Halloween is characterized by children friendly-activities such as trick or treating, moreover, children are used to tell ghost stories and the population do parades related with the celebration.

The tradition of dressing costumes has an European and Celtic roots.
There are a lot of superstitions related with Halloween, for example many people believed that witches avoided detection by turning themselves into cats, another superstitions is not walk under ladders for the same reason.
Halloween is a tradition which is expanded all over the world, every year it is stronger than the last one. At the end of everything it is part of the american culture... so, if you no are agree with it, don't celebrated that's the solution... but respect this tradition!

Having + past participle - Unit 03

Having plus past participle means that someone's referred to have done the action of the verb. We use when we are talking about something that we have done.

example:
             Having lived in New York. She knows a lot about the culture.

It means that She has lived in New York, for that reason she knows about the culture.

We can use having plus past participle when we want to show a sequence, it is used in active and passive voice.

example:

		participle form	example
simultaneous action	active	present participle (ing-form)	Holding the hair-dryer in her left hand, she cut her hair.
	passive	past participle (3rd verb form)	Blown by the hair-dryer, her hair could easily be cut.
sequential action	active	perfect participle (having + 3rd verb form)	Having washed her hair, she cut it.
	passive	perfect participle (having been + 3rd verb form)	Having been cut, her hair looked strange.

Having washed her hair, she cut it. 

This sentence means that first she washed her hair, after washing it, she cut it. In this example there are sequential actions. "having washed her hair" was the first action in the sentence... "she cut it" occurred after..

Reflections

Having plus past participle is a different way to say that an action was finished, before another. Having plus past participle is really used for the Americans, is a shorter way to implement past perfect, in a sentence. As any tense it has active and passive voice, so, people can use in many scenarios.

In my personal experience sometimes is difficult try to implement "having + past participle" in my sentences, but if we practice it, we can use it more in differents context... and improve the level of our english. "having" doesn´t have a difficult structure, so, I guess it is easy to implement in our speech.

Compound adjectives - Unit 03

A compound adjective is a simple adjective made up of more than one word.The words in a compound adjective are often linked together with a hyphen.

example:

                Ana works part-time as an accountant.

There are some compound adjectives that don't have to use a hyphen. There is a rule that can help us to understand when we have to use it and when we don't.

When a multiword adjective comes before the word it modifies, hyphenate it. When it comes after the word it modifies, don't hyphenate it.

example:

               internationally recognized author.

In this example internationally describes the verb, when a word of the compound adjective is a -ly adverb, we don't use hyphen.

But if it is an irregular adverb we have to use hyphen.

example:

               Well-know actress.

If the expression comes after the modified noun, the hyphen won't appear.

example:

              The actress is well known.

In English there are a lot of phrasal adjectives.. It is really important to know their meanings.

In this link you will find a list of compound adjectives... and when you have to use a hyphen.

Reflections

Compound adjectives are words that are made for two or more words, in english as in spanish we use compound adjectives for denoting something specific... a characteristic of an object. There are lots of compound adjectives in English. In my personal opinion when someone wants to learn and improve their level of english, has to know how to use and create a compound adjective.. there is not a list of instructions for create a compound adjective. We can identify one compound adjective by the hyphen that almost every compound use, but not all of the compounds use it.

Gerunds and Infinitive - Unit 02

Gerunds

Gerunds are form with the base form + ING
example
              walking, dancing, eating

Infinitive

Infinitive are form with TO + the base form
example
              to walk, to dance, to eat

Uses of gerunds and infinitive

• Gerunds and infinitives can be the subject of a sentence.

Writing poetry is difficult.
To write poetry is difficult.

• Gerunds and infinitives can be the object of a verb.

I like playing volleyball
I like to playing volleyball

•   Only gerunds can be the object of a preposition.

We are talking about swimming this week.

Gerunds	Gerunds are often used when actions are real, concrete, or completed. For example: I stopped smoking. The smoking was real and happened until I stopped.
Infinitives	Infinitives are often used when actions are unreal, abstract, or future. For example: I stopped to smoke. I was doing something else, and I stopped; the smoking had not happened yet.

 Reflections

Gerunds and infinitives are so use in english.. english is a language that doesn´t have enough words, for that reason they use gerunds and infinitives for refering to differents things... gerunds and infinitives have different uses... 

We have to be truly careful when we are using them... because when we are using a gerund, we are saying a sentence with a specific meaning, but if we use an infinitive in the same sentence the meaning can change... (see the picture above).

In some cases the meaning doesn´t change but in the majority yes.

there are some rules that we can follow, those rules show us when wiyh have to use a preposition or an infinitive.

Formal E-mail - Unit 02

How to do a formal E-mail

There are some steps that we can follow for writing a formal e-mail

1. Use a short and accurate subject header

Date : October 15, 2014

Subject : Accounts Payable Meeting

   
     2. Use a proper salutation

 Dear : Ms. Vargas

      3. Write the actual message

I am writing you for confirming your assistance to AP meeting on October 15th. As a department requested, I need your confirmation before October 14th. Thanks for your comprehention in advance.

      4. Use a correct form of leave-taking

Kind regards.

      5. Sign with your full name

Kimberly Melgarejo Vargas.

Its is really important that we shouldn´t use contractions when we are writing a formal e-mail.
The formal e-mail would be like this.

Date : October 15, 2014

Subject : Accounts Payable Meeting

 Dear : Ms. Vargas

 I am writing you for confirming your assistance to AP meeting on October 15th. As a department requested, I need your confirmation before October 14th. Thanks for your comprehention in advance.

Kind regards.

Kimberly Melgarejo Vargas.

Here is an other example for a formal e-mail, in this case It is for for apology.

 Reflections

It is really important to learn how to do a formal e-mail, we use them in many aspects in our life, generally for work, or for a request in bank, or in the University, when we are writting a letter in english or in any language, it has a specific format that we have to follow for write it in that correct way (check the example above)..

An important issue is that in english is really common to ask for something in the letter, when we write a letter we have to go strict to the point, we don´t have to use redundant sentences... they don´t use the structure in formal e-mails

Perfect Tense - Unit 01

Perfect Tense

Past Perfect

We use the past perfect when an action is already completed before something in the past.

                    had + past participle

Examples

--- He had studied Portuguese before he went

 to Brazil.

In this sentence first, he studied Portuguese, after that he went to Brazil.

--- Ana didn´t have any money because She had lost her wallet.

Analost her wallet first, for that reason she didnot have any money.

Present Perfect

We use it when an action happened in the past  at unspecified time.

has / have + past participle

Examples

--- I have seen that movie twenty times.
 This sentence means that this person saw twenty times the movie, the person didnot emphasize when, but It could see the movie again.

--- I think I have met him once before.

I met him in the past, when is not important.

Future perfect

The future perfect expresses an idea that something will occur before another action in the future.

will has / have + past pasrticiple

be going to has / have + past participle

Examples

--- I am not going to have finished all my homework by 5 o'clock.

This sentence means that I guess I won´t  finish my homework by 5 in the future

--- By next November, I will have received my promotion.

It means the she guesses that by November, she´ll promote.



Reflections 

In english as in spanish there are a lot of tenses... when we want to refer to an action that happened in past and continues in the future, or happen before that another action, we have to use the perfect tense. this tense has tree times (past perfect, present perfect, and future perfect). 

It is use as in spanish, this is one of the most difficult tenses that exist in english as in spanish... 

In the USA is really used this tense so, to know how to use this tense is really necessary for communicating with people, and also for making sense our sentences... 

In my case, when I started to learn this tense in English was to difficult, Sincerely I didn´t understand that meaning an that use, but now, It is totally different, I know how to apply this tense when I  am talking.

Prepositions - Unit 01

Prepositions uses.

A preposition describes a relationship between words in a sentance. In english as in spanish, there are a lot of uses for prepositions.
for example

1. Prepositions for TIME

There are three prepositions of time : at, in, on.

We use at for hours, for a specific time.

example : I will be here at 6 p.m.

We use on for days and dates.
examples : Maria´s birthday is on Friday.  
                They ´ll have the meeting on Nov 12th
We use in for weeks, monts, years, seasons, during the day.
examples : She´ll go to the beach in a week.
                  He died in 2001.
                  Ana went to the gym in the morning.

Prepositions Exceptions

There are some exceptions for these rules
If we are going to refere for a speficic period of time, we use in.
                 I will arrive in 10 minutes.
Also if we are talking about things that we will do during the day, and we want to refer about evening, we have to use at.
                I´ll go out at night
 We have also others prepositions about the time.

We use since when we talk about a specific time

example : I have been working here since 2012.

We use for when we measure time

example : She lived in that house for four months.

      2. Prepositions of PLACE

We have a lot for refering a specific place... in the picture above we have some of them, also we have at, in, on. These prepositions have differents uses for example for time and places.

We use at for a specific address.

example : I work at Banco Nacional.

We use on for districts and street´s names.
examples : Ana´s house is on NY street.  

We use in for names of land-areas.
examples : She lives in San Jose.

      3. Prepositions with ADJECTIVES, VERBS.

There are some verbs, adjetives and verbs that are follow by a preposition.

--Adjectives follow by prepositions.

examples

Ana´s dog is really familiar with yours.

I was angry at you.

He was sorry for didn't go to your party.

I am too worried about the exam.

--Verbs follow by prepositions.

Verbs follow by prepositions are called phrasal verbs. It is a verb that has different meanings, according to the preposition that follow the verb, its meaning changes.

examples

I´m taking off, bye.

After two hours, she found out her keys.

Pedro trusts in her brother.

Reflections

It is really important to learn how to use prepositions... prepositions are a fundamental part of any language.. in english prepositions have different uses, we can use one in a lot scenarios, some prepositions have special rules that we have to follow for speaking grammatically correct, 
It is really important to identify when we have to use a preposition...  there are some sentences that don´t need it but some others need one.
As we saw at the beggining there are some steps which are so important to know, the funtion of prepositions is to help us to speak with more fluency.