The verbs of the senses

Five are the verbs of the senses (or six if we choose to trust certain movie) used to express what we see, smell, feel, taste and hear.

Find out more and revise, as always, with the slides.

Verbs of the senses b2.1 from Míriam

The passive voice

There is little left to post in here this course! Here I bring you the slides for the passive voice with some activities to practice.

Passive voice from Míriam

Elementary, my dear Watson

Although the famous British detective never said this phrase, this is what comes to mind (mine at least) when I think about speculation and deduction.

How can we make logical deductions from the evidence we have? Or even from our personal view? This is what we are going to find out these next days, and this is what I bring you so you can start revising on your own.

Modal verbs for speculation and deduction from Míriam

(By the way, the picture depicts Benedict Cumberbatch on the awesome BBC series Sherlock, which I strongly recommend!)

Are you used to...?

When I was a child, I used to play a lot. With my dolls, my cat, my brother... I was used to climbing trees. I loved it! I felt free and wild. Then I grew up... I don't usually climb that much ;)
With adulthood, we need to get used to a lot of different things: working, having responsabilities, living on our own... Now I'm not used to running, climbing, playing on the street, as I used to do, but being an adult also has great advantages!

How is your life different today to the one in the past? What moments in your life made your habits change? Leave your comments and share as I did here!

Used to; be used to; get used to from Míriam

Make sure to have further practice with these activities.

Gerunds vs. infinitives

Gerund or infinitive? Some verbs need only one of them, others make no difference, and other types of words like adjectives or fixed expressions require another. Make sure you revise them and use them, because their use it what makes them stick.

Gerunds and infinitives from Míriam

Have some practice on the Oxford website and with these extra activities.

Wishing

Related to conditional sentences, we can also make wishes. What things would we like to be different in the present? What regrets do we have about our past? These ideas can be expressed using I wish and If only, two easy structures that sure will come in handy.

Wishes from Míriam

Dealing with conditionals

Difficult as they may seem at the beginning, they're not so. After practising them, it's easy to use them and see how they can be applied in real-life situations. Conditional sentences are very useful to express realistic, unrealistic, and imaginary or hypothetical ideas and their consequences. So make sure you revise them, and use them as much as possible to consolidate the structures.

In the first presentation, you'll find the zero and first conditionals, together with the use of future time clauses. The second presentation is a revision of the previous conditionals and the introduction of the second and third. Moreover, enjoy the fragments of The Big Bang Theory using the second conditional and the song If by the Red Hot Chilli Peppers.

Let me know if you know of any other songs with conditionals!

Zero & first conditionals from Míriam

Conditionals from Míriam

Future tenses

Having revised the most basic tenses to express the future, it's necessary to know about the future continuous and future perfect. Make sure you revise the material uploaded and solve any doubts with me anytime.

Future tenses from Míriam

Such great work!

This is so easy that I don't think it will cause much trouble, but anyway I always share the material with you, so here you have the slides. Make sure you check the onlie activities at the bottom of this post. There are many more on the internet, but I copy these ones for your comfort.

So & such from Míriam

• So vs such
• Quiz So & Such
• So vs such
• So / such exercises
• Using so and such

Adverbs and adverbial phrases

Once again, I upload the slides so you can revise them. Remember that by clicking the link below them, a new tab to the Slideshare will open, and there you can download and print the presentation.

The position of adverbs and adverbial phrases from Míriam

You can also have some extra practice on the Oxford website, both in the section of grammar and vocabulary.

Present perfect tenses

Once again here I bring you the slides to revise and have some further practice.

Present perfect simple and continuous from Míriam

Making the most of auxiliary verbs

Here we are again, this time to bring you these (helpful, I hope) slides dealing with the special uses of auxiliary verbs. Feel free to download them, check them again and make sure that everything's clear.

Auxiliary verbs from Míriam

Questions and answers

Welcome everyone!

I didn't intend this to be the first post in our blog, but we'll take it and later on I'll update everything to give you the course information and so on.

You'll see that I'll upload any material seen or used in class, such as grammar slides, so you can have an extra look at home, or catch up with the rest if you've not been able to attend. So, here you have the slides from the first lesson and the activities that go with it. Remember to bring the exercises (click the link to open the document) done by Wednesday!

Question formation from Míriam