*** As a new feature, we are offering students 2 free English classes at our school in Dublin. In order to get these free classes you need to send in the correct answers for the exercise at the end of today’s lesson. ***

Good luck!

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29 May 2008 - Written by Jeanne

There are spelling mistakes in some of these sentences; correct them where necessary

1. Governments are starting to insure that their schools are online and have Intranets, but look at what the schools do with their sights.

2. No aspect of learning a foriegn language is more important than memory.

3. Swearing is part of expressive language; it is irational: yet, it forms part of speech and idiom

atic language.

4. Why shouldn’t adult EFL students have some introductory lessons on swear words if only to caution and counsel them on their offensive nature and meaning and inappropriateness in polite conversation?

5. There are two seperate pieces to the riddle.

6. Critics of language exams often say that they force students to learn an artificial form of standard English that is often at odds with the langauge used by many native speakers.

7. Understanding informal and colloquial pronounciation as compared to more careful, formal and “standard” English pronunciation is part of obtaining a better understanding and awareness of the English language.

8. The basis of the modern approach to classification and diagnosis of mental illness was instigated with a book published by Emil Kraepelin.

9. Throughout history languages have died out; I can’t see the point in trying to resurect something like Cornish here.

10. However, this is also one of its difficulties; having masterred the basics of English, many students then find it hard to reach the very high levels, because there are so many exceptions to everything and so many funny little rules.

11. Soon afterwords (1828) he published An American Dictionary of the English Language which eventually was regarded as the main authority on American English.

12. With the disclosure today that when a 13-year-old student handed in her essay, her teacher discovered it had been written entirely as a text message, the question arises about the effect of text messaging on literacy and the effect of technology on our childrens mental ability.

23 May 2008 - Written by Ronan

For those tricky conditionals here are some guidelines to help you.

The four main types of conditional are:

WILL - Condition (often called the 1st ‘conditional’)
- for FUTURE events.
- there is a REAL possibility that the condition will happen.
- use this for an intention or a prediction.

IF + present simple … (if-clause)
… WILL / WON’T verb… (main clause)

Examples:
(i) If I find your phone, I will tell you. (intention)
(ii) If you take the medicine, you‘ll feel better. (prediction)
(iii) If the train is late, we won’t arrive on time. (prediction)
(iv) I‘ll call you, if I have time. (intention)

WOULD - Condition (the ‘2nd conditional’)
- for PRESENT/FUTURE situations.
- the event is UNREAL or probably will not happen.
- use this to express imagination or give advice.

IF + past simple … (if-clause)
… WOULD / WOULDN’T verb … (main clause)

Examples:
(i) If I won the lottery, I would buy a new house. (imagination)
(ii) If I was you, I wouldn’t work for that company. (advice)
(iii) I would phone him if I knew his number. (unreal - I do not know his number)

WOULD-HAVE - Condition (the ‘3rd conditional’)
- for PAST situations only!
- the event is UNREAL, it did not happen!
- use this to explain or imagine a different past.

IF + past perfect … (if-clause)
… WOULD HAVE / WOULDN’T HAVE + past participle (main clause)

Examples:
(i) If I had seen you, I would have said hello. (I did not see you)
(ii) If I‘d known, I wouldn’t have asked you. (I did not know)
(iii) I would have rested, if we had been tired. (We were not tired)
(iv) If we had had time, we‘d have finished. (We did not have time to finish)

note:
We can use ‘d for had or would.

SIMPLE PRESENT Condition (sometimes called the ‘zero conditional’)
- for GENERAL situations ANY TIME
- usually TRUE, it always happens.
- use this for statements of fact

Examples:
(i) If I exercise too much, I get tired.
(ii) If it rains, it is a wet day.

21 May 2008 - Written by George

Summer is upon us and most of you will want to talk about sports and leisure. Many people get confused about which verb to put before the activity, but not anymore. All you need to do is follow three simple rules. There aren’t many exceptions.

(1) We use play with a game which uses a ball. Teams are usually involved, but not always.

Examples include; play volleyball, play soccer, play basketball and play golf. Can you think of another?

(2) We use go with a sporting activity ending in -ing.

Examples include; go fishing, go hiking, go swimming and go jogging. Can you think of another?

(3) We use do with a sporting activity, which is often an exercise activity. This activity shouldn’t end in –ing, if we are to use do.

Examples include; do yoga and do aerobics. Can you think of another?

The Exception

One exception that I can think of is to do boxing. Can you think of another?

15 May 2008 - Written by Jeanne

HR and Recruitment Discussions and Roleplay

Decide if you would employ the people below for a job in your company, and if so for which job(s). Would you need to ask them to change anything or explain anything about the job and/ or the company before you offered them the job and they started work?

1. In the job interview, this person told you lots of inside gossip about their present company, which is one of your chief competitors

2. This person has a tattoo in a place where it is very difficult or impossible to hide

3. This person has a pierced nose. Although you could ask them to take it out at work, you would still be able to see the hole if you look closely.

4. This person is a high flier with an exceptional educational background, but they spent the whole job interview boasting about their achievements

5. This person came to the interview wearing a nice suit but with a food stain on one sleeve and their shirt not properly tucked in

6. This person never stops telling jokes

7. This person mentioned several things that they think are wrong with your company that they would like to help change in the job interview

8. This person was wearing a very expensive suit and watch but was only applying for a starter level position

9. This person wrote down everything you said during the job interview and then asked you the 15 questions they had written, ticking off each one as you answered it

Roleplay the second interviews with the people above

13 May, 2008 - Written by George

When to use have and have got

(a) Both are used to express possession. Have got refers to the present and all time that follows. Have indicates and focuses on the present:

I’ve got three brothers.
I have three brothers.

(b) The negative and short answer forms are used for questions:

He hasn’t got a car.
He doesn’t have a car.

Have you got any sweets? Yes, I have.
Do you have any sweets? Yes, I do.

(c) In other tenses and verb forms, we use have, not have got:

I had a motorbike when I was twenty.
I didn’t have a car until I was thirty.

I’ve had a stomachache all day.
I’ll have a sandwich, please.

I enjoy having a pet.
I’d love to have another pet.

(d) We use have when talking about actions and experiences, not have got:

have dinner, have a shower, have a party, have a chat, have a talk with someone

(e) We use have got more frequently in spoken English and have in written English