Degrees of Comparison: Revise and Check!

Dear students,

these are some sites where you can read about the use of the comparison in English:

1. Degrees of Comparison: summary + test

2. Equal, Unequal, Double Comparatives... etc. + test


After several years learning English, you must have a good grasp of the use of comparison, but I recommend you pay attention to the numbered comparatives, since they might be new for some of you.

Numbered Comparatives

Numbered comparatives can include such words or phrases as: half, twice, three times, four times, etc.

The phrase as much as is used for non-countable nouns and as many as is used for countable nouns.

The phrase more than is NOT used with numbered comparatives. It is incorrect to say four times more than, etc.

EXAMPLES:

• This rock weighs twice as much as that one.
• Ronald has four times as much money as Paul.
• The cat had half as many kittens as before.

Homework + key Grammar Bank 9 and 10

Dear students,

don't forget to do the last reading exercise for Thursday (pages 98-99). Also, read the rules of Grammar Banks 9 and 10 and do the exercises. I am posting the key below, since we are not doing them in class. You are welcome to ask questions, though. I will comment on them on Thursday.

LAY OR LIE?

Dear students,
as you've realized, the verbs TO LAY and TO LIE  can be a bit confusing, even for a person who has spent much time learning English. Therefore, we need to make an effort and try to memorize, once and forever, how these verbs need to be used.

The verbs lay and lie confuse people because:

• their meanings can be similar
• one of the verbs (lie) has two completely different meanings
• they vary between regular and irregular according to sense
• they vary between transitive and intransitive according to sense
• the present tense of lay is the past tense of the irregular lie

The following table summarizes these similarities and differences:

	lay	lie	lie
basic meaning	to put something down in a horizontal position	to recline; to be in or to take a horizontal/resting position	to say something untrue
regular?	irregular lay, laid, laid	irregular lie, lay, lain	regular lie, lied, lied
transitive? direct object?	transitive (must have direct object)	intransitive (no direct object)	intransitive (no direct object)
3rd person s	lays	lies	lies
present participle	laying	lying	lying
past tense	laid	lay	lied
past participle	laid	lain	lied

lay (transitive = you need a DIRECT OBJECT)

lay, laid, laid, laying
The main meaning of the verb lay is "to put (something) down in a horizontal position".
The important thing to remember with lay is that it is transitive, so it MUST have a direct object. You cannot just lay. You have to lay something. Look at these examples. You see they all have direct objects.

subject	verb	direct object
Something	lays	something	(somewhere).
Chickens	lay	eggs.
Our chickens	lay	their eggs	on the ground.
The nurses	laid	the wounded man	on the bed.

Here is a table of conjugation:

	present	past	present perfect
I	lay	laid	have laid
you	lay	laid	have laid
he, she, it	lays	laid	has laid
we	lay	laid	have laid
you	lay	laid	have laid
they	lay	laid	have laid

Here are some example sentences:

• The policeman told him to lay his gun on the ground.
• The police usually lay a sheet over dead bodies.
• This chicken lays three eggs every day.
• He opened the books and laid them on the desk.
• I have laid the carpet. You can walk on it now.
• The phone rang just as she was laying the new clothes on the bed.

lie (irregular, intransitive)

lie, lay, lain, lying
The irregular, intransitive lie means "to be in, or to take, a horizontal/resting position". This is what we do on a bed, for example. We lie on our bed when we sleep.
The important thing to remember with lie is that it is intransitive, so there is no direct object. Look at this examples. You see there is no direct object.

subject	verb
Something	lies	(somewhere).
My dog	lies	on this mat.
Mary	is lying	on the sofa.

You also need to remember that the past tense of this lie is "lay", which is the same as the present tense of to lay. Look at this table of conjugation:

	present	past	present perfect
I	lie	lay	have lain
you	lie	lay	have lain
he, she, it	lies	lay	has lain
we	lie	lay	have lain
you	lie	lay	have lain
they	lie	lay	have lain

Look at these example sentences:

• I feel sick. I want to lie on the bed.
• Usually I lie on the sofa and watch TV.
• My dog always lies on this mat.
• He loves this mat. Yesterday, he lay here all day.
• She has lain in bed since she got ill.
• After the aircrash, wreckage was lying all over the place.

Typical mistake

• I always lay on a bench to do this exercise. (should be lie)

Lie is something that we do to ourselves. Lay is something that we do to other people or things.

• I lie on the sofa when I'm tired.
• Mary lays the baby in its crib when it cries.

lie (regular, intransitive)

lie, lied, lied, lying
The first one above is easy. In the sense "to tell a lie, say something that is not true", lie is a regular verb and has no direct object. The past tense is always -ed. Look at these examples:

• Some people lie about their age.
• John lies about everything.
• "I'm forty-nine," he lied.
• We have all lied a few times in our lives.
• That's not true! You're lying!

	present	past	present perfect
I	lie	lied	have lied
you	lie	lied	have lied
he, she, it	lies	lied	has lied
we	lie	lied	have lied
you	lie	lied	have lied
they	lie	lied	have lied

The verbs lie and lay can have other meanings too. Only the most common are shown here. There are also several phrasal verbs made with lie and lay. They follow the same basic rules as shown on this page.

 

 

 Source: English Club

 

 

GERUNDS AND INFINITIVES: REVIEW!!!!

Here you are some extra resources to study the use of gerunds and infinitives in depth.
FOLLOW THIS LINK!

GIVING ADVICE + ALTERNATIVE MEDICINE

Dear students,

please download the grammar and vocabulary powerpoint we studied today in class:

CLICK HERE!

And here you are the speaking activity proposed by our native lecture: click here to download it.

Read more about "suggest/demand/insist/recommend" that + infinitive

Dear students,
remember these rules.
Regards,
r

Future Perfect

Some of you asked me to suggest some extra exercises related to the use of the Future Perfect. Well, here you are some FUTURE PERFECT ACTIVITIES.

Revise and Check: Time Clauses Exercises

Dear students,

here you are some extra activities regarding the use of time clauses such as "after", "as soon as", "while", etc. I hope you find them useful:

Follow this link for a brief explanation.

Follow this link to do some grammar exercises.

Adverbs of Manner

Dear students,

as you noticed, the grammar rules provided by the book regarding the adverbs of manner were not clear enough. So here you are a clearer explanation of how to use them.

Best,
reme

Narrative Tenses: Past Perfect Continuous

Dear students,

I know sometimes the use of the continuous tenses in English might be a bit confusing for a Spanish student. But this is just a matter of practice. Once you get familiar with the grammar, you can put it into practice without much effort. So, if you feel there was something tricky about the tenses we studied today in class, just try with the explanations and activities provided below. I hope you find them useful.

1. Present Perfect Continuous and related activities
2. Past Perfect Continuous and related activities

Adjective Order Activities And Other Links

Dear students,
here you are the extra activities we completed today and also an explanation about Adjectives available at the British Council website:

Adjective Order Activity

British Council: Adjectives

Present Perfect // Present Perfect Continuous

Some extra exercises and quizzes to learn to use these two tenses in a correct way:

1. Present Perfect Continuous // Fill in the gaps (with answers)

2. Present Perfect or Present Perfect Continuous? -a Grammar lesson and exercises

3. Have a look at this presentation if you still have doubts:

Present perfect versus present perfect continuous 

4. And, finally, some humour:

 

The More Double Comparatives You Use, The Easier They Seem To You

If you still have doubts concerning the use of double comparatives, watch this video. This is quite illustrative.

Some extra links with quizzes and examples:

Double comparative: exercises 1
Double comparative exercises 2
Double comparative: exercises 3

Follow-up Questions in Conversation

1. How do you mean exactly?
2. What does that involve?
3. How come?
4. What for?
5. What's it like?
6. What sort of thing?

Which of these follow-up questions would you choose in these situations:

A.  I'm going to Finland next week.
     Really? _________________?

B.  I bought a new outfit for the wedding yesterday.
    Oh, yeah? _______________?

C. Our sports club organizes lots of social events.
    That's nice. ______________?

D. My sister's got a new job working for a charity.
    Sounds interesting. ________________?

E. Maria ended up in Scotland.
    Eh? _______________?

F. What's your domestic situation?
   Er, _________________?

Questions: "Do you Speak English?"

Describing your language ability...

 

 

 

 

 

So when somebody asks you if you speak English, what is your answer?

I'm quite fluent.

I speak English reasonably well.

Well, I can get by.

Yeah, I speak English, though it's a bit rusty.

I wish I could speak better.

Grammar Activities: "So do I", "Neither do I", "So I am", etc.

Dear students,

in case you want to continue dipping into today's grammar lesson at home, here you are some links:

Brief explanation in Spanish and a Quiz
A longer explanation in English (with charts!)
ONLINE QUIZ: "So do I", "Neither do I" (and others)