Reported Speech

Here are some video lessons for you to learn about the reported speech

Click here to get lots of links to practise the reported speech (theory and practice).

If you want to watch any other video lessons with Jennifer, go to her blog, English With Jennifer.

Whether / If

[Infographic provided by Grammar.net]

Linking words

I hope this video lesson  - together with our classwork - will improve your knowledge about the use of connectors

Make and Do

When to use Do and Make is one of those things you will learn naturally if you  frequently read or listen to English but you will have to study the collocations with either one or the other, if you do not. These videos will help you to remember them, I hope

Video number 1 is an Expresso English video: it explains the general difference between Do and Make  and shows 60 collocations

Video number 2 is a video made by an English teacher called Vicki Hollett; she uses different expressions in a context to make them easy for you to remember. Click here to read the transcript:

Video number 3: common expressions with Do  and  Make. Click here to read the transcript

Grammar: Be Used To

Here´s a video from Luiz Otavio Barro´s blog to help you remember the grammar construction: be used to + -ing. There is no sound at the beginning of the video, just read and think about the questions the video asks.

Food for thought: International Women´s Day, March 8th, is coming and there´s a lot to say about it, considering the message behind this video

 

In the video before, the actions performed by the husband are introduced by "would". Watch the next video for an explanation of the difference between "used to" and "would"

Video: "I Am A Ukranian"

Watch this video, "I Am A Ukranian," about the protests in Kiev, the capital of Ukraine.

Why are people protesting? Read about it here - for the record, Maidan is the  central square of Kiev, the capital of Ukraine

 

To read more about the protesters, click here

Grammar tip: why do we say "a Ukranian" instead of "an Ukranian"? Read an explanation here.

Pronouns in English: Reflexive Pronouns

[Infographic provided by Grammar.net]

Peculiarities of English: Plural Words

A brief history of plural words in English, by American linguist John McWhorter: click on the captions to both hear and read  the lesson

Now, do some listening practice:

To do a multiple choice listening exercise, click here

Who vs. Whom

Let´s see if this infographic helps you  understand the difference between the relative pronouns who and whom

[Infographic provided by Grammar.net]

Conditional Practice

Choose one of the images below and either answer its question or explain its message; make sure you use the correct verb tenses.

Think of an original answer and make sure your explanation is long enough to be easily understood. Start your answer with the first part of the conditional sentence: If I .....

Linking Words

You all know the importance of linking words (= connectors) mainly for writing but, just in case, here´s a video to remind you of it

Click  here to be linked to a list of resources related to this topic

I Wish / If Only

"I wish" and "If only" are the two grammar constructions we have been revising 

lately. They are frequent constructions in everyday life according to the number of examples I have found.

Click here to read an article which was published in The Guardian about a year ago called "Top five regrets of the dying." Here is the list of the regrets they refer to. 

Top five regrets of the dying: 1. I wish I’d had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me. 2. I wish I hadn’t worked so hard. 3. I wish I’d had the courage to express my feelings. 4. I wish I had stayed in touch with my friends. 5. I wish that I had let myself be happier.

If you were asked to write a list like this, would you omit anything or include anything else?

Common Mistakes in English

Grammar goofs: how many of those mentioned in the infographic below are frequent in your writing? (or should I say "are no longer frequent"?)

Many of these mistakes are very often seen in the internet, mainly in videos, lyrics, comments... so make sure you know how to use the correct forms in all of these cases; remember that some of them are silly mistakes but they make your work look bad and be less effective.

Like this infographic? Get more content marketing tips from Copyblogger.

Irregular Verbs

Dear students, I have seen quite a few of you make big mistakes with the three forms of verbs and that is one of the things that makes your mark go down in written exams or essays. 

How can you learn the three forms of the verbs? Either through practice (through reading mainly but listening is useful, too) or just learning them by heart. There are lots of webpages that can help you, click here to get some links.

Also, I suggest that you should watch this video: you´ll see the verbs with their three forms and you will hear their pronunciation, which will help those of you with either verbal or musical intelligences or both.

Verbs in Touch

Here´s a song to help you practise one of the verbs in touch (= verbs + bare infinitive; verbs+to+infinitive; verbs+-ing)  from Unit 1: Elvis Presley´s Can´t Help Falling in Love

If you want further information about the use of this construction, "can´t / couldn´t help +-ing," go to this post in Ingles na Ponta da Língua, a blog for learners of English; it is written in Portuguese but I am sure you will not have any problems to understand it.