Catching up...
Hi everyone,
You’ve been busy Adriana! Lots of interesting posts to read, thanks! :-) I meant to add the photo of Steven yesterday but didn’t have it on my computer at home so I put it in today… Well I don’t know about anyone else but I don’t think you should start writing just about grammar! I’ve really enjoyed reading all your posts and I feel like I know a lot more about Brazil now. One of my students at the moment is Brazilian and I feel like I can relate to her a lot more – it’s great! Thanks for the recipe for Torta Capixaba – even as a vegetarian it made my mouth water! How much does this recipe make though? 24 eggs?!!!! It must be huge! I’m looking forward to your special post on Saturday…
Okay, now the purpose of today’s post is really just to go over the homework I set on Tuesday (and the vocabulary), but before I do I just wanted to share something with everyone. In case you haven’t read through all the comments, Ana Paula suggested a great website where you can listen to interviews with authors, including some of the ones I mentioned in my post about Indian literature. It looks fab – I suggest you have a look if you’re interested in books and reading. Thanks Ana Paula!
Here we go – the conditionals homework. I Asked you three questions about the conditional sentences.
1) When is each sentence talking about? Past, present or future?
2) Which of these sentences would best fit your situation, the first time you flew to Brasilia for the exam?
3) What is the form for each of the sentences?
Let’s have a look at Adriana’s answers.
a) If I know the exam is cancelled, I won’t go.
The if clause is in the present and the main clause in the future
Yes, that’s correct, but the sentence is talking about the future – we don’t know whether the exam will be cancelled, but if it is, I won’t go. The form for this one is: if + subject + present simple/subject + will/not + bare infinitive. This is called the first conditional, as many of our readers have correctly identified.
b) If I knew the exam was cancelled, I wouldn’t go.
If clause in past simple and the main clause in conditional tense
Yes again – good, and the sentence is talking about the present. If, at the moment, I knew the exam was cancelled, I wouldn’t go (in the future). The form here is: if + subject + past simple/subject + would/not + bare infinitive
c) If I had known the exam was cancelled, I wouldn’t have gone.
If clause in perfect clause and the main clause in conditional perfect tense.
Almost. The first part of the sentence is actually in the past perfect. This sentence is talking about the past. I didn’t know the exam was cancelled, but if I had I wouldn’t have gone (in the past). The form is: if + subject + past perfect/subject + would/not + have + past participle.
The sentence which best fits your situation, Adri, is the third one – you didn’t know the exam was cancelled before you went, otherwise you wouldn’t have gone. Well done Adriana, and all our readers who got the answers right!
Adriana, you have also asked me to say a bit about the zero conditional. This is an example:
If you press that button, the toast pops up.
We use this form to talk about things that are generally true. If it rains, you get wet. If you step on my toes, it hurts, etc. etc. The form is:
If + subject + present simple/subject + present simple
Hope that helps!
Okay – that’s enough for today. I’m looking forward to seeing everyone’s sentences from yesterday’s homework and we’ll look at that tomorrow. Only a couple of days to go now until we say goodbye :-(
More soon,
Amy xx
Vocabulary definitions from Tuesday’s post
My heart went out to you: I felt a lot of sympathy for you
A fiasco: a disaster, not usually used to talk about natural disasters but rather when things go wrong unexpectedly
Intrigued: interested, wanting to know more
To branch out: to start looking at other areas, stop focusing on one particular thing
To digress: to go off the topic, start talking about something that isn’t relevant
An all-time favourite: most favourite thing of all
Prevalent : common
To be up to something: to be doing something
Faint-hearted: not liking things that are difficult, or needing effort
Comments
We´re sorry it´s time to say goodbye. Thank you so much for helping us to improve our English. We´ve learnt about your lovely family, your life and work in India... I hope the BBC gave us the opportunity to find you along with the permanent BBC English Teacher´s staff. Good luck with your soon-to-be baby. Best Wishes
Hi Amy! You´re welcome! I´m glad to know you liked the website:-). I hope our friends like it too. Oooh, it´s almost time to say good bye :-(. What a pity! See you tomorrow, Ana Paula.
Hi Amy! You´re welcome! I´m glad to know you liked the website:-). I hope our friends like it too. Oooh, it´s almost time to say good bye :-(. What a pity! See you tomorrow, Ana Paula.
Hello Amy! Time flies!!! I see the announcement of the incoming teacher blogger. It's time to bid farewell to each other (sniff). Amy, I would like to say many many many thanks to you for your great lessons and helpful homework, interesting stories about magic India, your beautiful home town village named Polperro with distintive seagulls'sound (Amy, I have heard it. It souds nice!) and especially about your family. I also thank you for the replies every week, and ansering to my questions (some were stupid :-)) You are very kind! Finally, I wish you, Ed, cute Louie and the baby a good health and happiness. PS: Thank you to Ana Paula for the fab website. Amy, Will you give your answer to the reported speech homework. I hope to see you again. All the best, Myen.
hi how do you do it took two month that ive start rading this blog and my first teacher was EMY its very exciting to thing every day about what you want to speak about and be share with you in indian experience i had decided to dont read this blog again becouse i am preparing myself for IELTS
hi how do you do it took two month that ive start rading this blog and my first teacher was EMY its very exciting to thing every day about what you want to speak about and be share with you in indian experience i had decided to dont read this blog again becouse i am preparing myself for IELTS and very i am very angry by my improvment i am very worry and must concentrate on reading,wrieting ,listening and speaking honestly passing IELTS is my only hope to live more but i cant resist my tempt to read your last blog and very opset to know this is your last blog any way very thanks specially for your intelligently comment and tips. special thanks for your indly answer of my comment. the best wishs for your cute son and your familly .something that is obvious you are very good teacher and i really envy your pupils it has lengthened excuse me.thanks thanks thanks BBC LEARNING ENGLISH: Please do not include contact details in comments. We have to remove all contact details before we publish the comments.
Hi Amy, The two months have flown away very quickly from Bison to Bollywood . Unfortunately I couldn’t participate at hundred per cent because of some holidays without computer and after that it was quite hard to catch the blogs backlog. Nevertheless I keep all of them as booklet reference (I print them in pdf) I do not like to say goodbye but “au revoir” Thanks very much for your explanations. All the best for you and your family. Antonio (from Spain) living in Belgium.
Hello, Amy! It's been a good experience being your student. Thank you very much for the lessons that were really helpful and I did learn a lot. Best wishes for you and your family! :) Rafique
Dear Amy, it's been a great time with you. I must say that BBC LE has an excellent selection of teachers. It was good to see your wedding photo and also how you and Ed had met for the first time and those chance meetings. We also read about your grandparents and saw your granny which was the lovliest part of your blogging. And most of all, your vocabulary and grammar lessons. Best wishes to you, Ed, little Luoie and his new sibling. Naheed:)
Hello Amy. I like very much your blog entries. I’m following your stories since the beginning. I have a friend who is also Brazilian and living in Holland that has been often in India and loves there. We are now often talking about that. Furthermore, I really want to convince my family to go to India on Holidays. We went in December to South Africa with our little boy but there were pair situations where we were really scared, although we lived in Rio and I’m Brazilian. He thinks that it will be the same in India. Anyway, I only want to say that was very interesting and useful the last two months. Although, I haven’t written you before, I made all my homework and I learnt a lot. I’m a bit virtual shy. Best wish!
my students often get confused between 0 and type 1 conditionals when we come to discuss prbabilities in real life which are simmilar to 0 type facts. any suggestions?
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