English Essentials 2


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If you make dinner, I’ll wash up.

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Hi. How are you? Do you remember the conditionals we learned some time ago? We are going to revise them for a few days.

If you make dinner, I’ll wash up.

  • Right, we studied this MONTHS ago. Do you remember it?
  • If + present tense + subject + will + infinitive.
  • I’ll = I will.
  • We use the present tense even though we are talking about the future (If you make dinner tonight, for example.)
  • You could also say “I’ll do the washing up,” like yesterday’s sentence.

A negative conditional tomorrow. For homework, try and remember how to say it. See you tomorrow!

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Text and audio © linguagum.com 2006-2008

Posted on Thursday, July 3, 2008 by Registered CommenterRichard | CommentsPost a Comment | EmailEmail

The washing up has been done and the house has been cleaned.

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Hi! And here it is - the last sentence in the series on the present perfect passive.

The washing up has been done and the house has been cleaned.

  • To do the washing up = to clean all the dirty plates and dishes.
  • Someone has done the washing up and has also cleaned the house.
  • It has been done very recently - that’s why use this tense.
  • It doesn’t matter who did it - what’s important is that everything is clean and tidy.
  • We could also say: “I have done the washing up and I have cleaned the house.”
  • The information is very similar but subtly different in the sense that, suddenly, I’m talking about MYSELF as well as the housework.

We are going to do a little revision over the next few days. Bye for now!

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Text and audio © linguagum.com 2006-2008

Posted on Wednesday, July 2, 2008 by Registered CommenterRichard | CommentsPost a Comment | EmailEmail

Have you ever been burgled?

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Hello, how are you today? Here’s the new passive sentence for today.

Have you ever been burgled?

  • Have you ever…? = at any time in your life up to and including the present.
  • To burgle = to go into someone’s house and steal their things.
  • The structure is: have + subject + been + past participle.
  • You could also say: “Has anyone ever burgled your house?”
  • But you don’t need to. It’s much more common to say this.
  • Another example? Have you ever been caught for speeding? (Caught = past participle of catch.)(Have the police ever caught you for driving too fast?)

We’ll look at the last sentence in this series tomorrow. See you then!

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Text and audio © linguagum.com 2006-2008

Posted on Tuesday, July 1, 2008 by Registered CommenterRichard | CommentsPost a Comment | EmailEmail

You’ve been told not to do that a hundred times.

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Welcome back. Continuing with yesterday’s theme, here’s the new sentence.

You’ve been told not to do that a hundred times.

  • This is the kind of thing parents / teachers say to children.
  • What the person really means is: “I have told you many times in the past not to do that.”
  • It also suggests that other people have told the child the same thing.
  • What’s important is that the sentence is about the CHILD and not about the ADULT.
  • “I have told you… ” puts the focus of the sentence on the speaker. However, we want the focus to be on the child. That’s why we use the passive form.
  • The present perfect (have been…) is used here to talk about a period of time starting in the past and continuing to this moment.

As always, another sentence tomorrow… don’t miss it!

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Text and audio © linguagum.com 2006-2008

Posted on Monday, June 30, 2008 by Registered CommenterRichard | CommentsPost a Comment | EmailEmail

This means that an ambulance came and took Jim to the hospital.

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Hello again. Here’s the latest sentence in the theme on passives.

Jim’s been taken to hospital.

  • This means that an ambulance came and took Jim to the hospital.
  • Because we are saying “he’s been taken”, this tells us that he is still in the hospital.
  • If he had come home again, we would have said: “Jim was taken to the hospital.”
  • Why do we use this structure? Because it is pointless to talk about ambulances arriving and taking him away - it’s unimportant.
  • What’s important is that Jim’s gone to hospital (and he didn’t drive himself there - someone took him).

That’s all for today. See you tomorrow!

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Text and audio © linguagum.com 2006-2008

Posted on Sunday, June 29, 2008 by Registered CommenterRichard | CommentsPost a Comment | EmailEmail

This is just like yesterday’s sentence, and is equally untrue.

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Welcome back. We’re continuing with passive sentences today using the present perfect.

Smith’s Computers Ltd has just been bought out by Microsoft.

  • This is just like yesterday’s sentence, and is equally untrue.
  • The structure: have + (just = very, very recently) + been + past participle (buy / bought / bought.)
  • What’s important in this sentence? Smith’s Computers.
  • Microsoft is of secondary importance.
  • If Microsoft were the important part of the sentence, we would say: “Microsoft has just bought out…”
  • Bought out, incidentally, is an expression / phrasal verb used for one company buying another company.

I hope you are starting to get this. We’ll continue with it tomorrow. Bye!

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Text and audio © linguagum.com 2006-2008

Posted on Saturday, June 28, 2008 by Registered CommenterRichard | CommentsPost a Comment | EmailEmail

A cure for the common cold has recently been discovered.

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Hello, how are you? For the next few days we’re going to look at the present perfect passive tense.

A cure for the common cold has recently been discovered.

  • Do you remember yesterday’s sentence “…which has never been climbed”?
  • “…has recently been discovered” is the same structure.
  • It is the present perfect passive and is structured like this:
  • Have + been (past participle of to be) + past participle of verb.
  • Basically, it is like saying this: “someone has recently discovered a cure for the common cold.”
  • The thing is, though, that “someone” is less important than, in this case, the discovery.
  • This structure is quite formal. A less formal way of saying the same thing is: “They’ve just found a cure for…”
  • By the way, it’s not true. I made it up.

Hope that made sense… we’ll take another look at it tomorrow - bye for now!

Search Linguagum for more English tips, check out our very useful links and our shop! And please, tell us what you think of us!

Text and audio © linguagum.com 2006-2008

Posted on Friday, June 27, 2008 by Registered CommenterRichard | CommentsPost a Comment | EmailEmail
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