Monthly Archives: May 2015
The days are getting longer, summer is right around the corner and more than one of you has holiday destination on your mind. But before you pack your bags, let’s take a close look at conditionals and talk about the sun.
Here’s a sneak peak at how/when to use conditionals:
|
Zero Conditional |
First Conditional | Second Conditional | Third Conditional |
|
Possible at any time, but mostly in the present or a fact (x=y or cause and effect) |
Possible in the future (thewarning/offer/possibility) |
Impossible in the present…possible but improbable in the future (hypothetical) | Impossible in the past (too late) |
| If + present & present | If + present & will (future —be going to, may, can, should)+ infinitive | If + past & would (could, might)+infinitive | if+ past perfect (past perfect continuous, might have, could have) & would have + past participle |
| If you press this key, the game starts | I’ll call the hotel, if you don’t have time.
If you don’t leave, I’ll call the police! |
If I knew the answer I would tell you
If I were you, I would do it (advice)
|
I wouldn’t have got wet if I had taken an umbrella. If you had been driving more slowly, you could have stopped in time.
|
Think of the Zero conditional as a FACT (Present Simple), The 1st Conditional refers to A HYPOTHETICAL FUTURE, the 2nd conditional is referring to the present or HYPOTHETICAL PRESENT and the 3rd conditional is the PAST or too late.
Now watch this video on how the sun sees you and see if you can create some sentences using conditionals. And most importantly, start wearing sunscreen. Madeleine recommended it to me and I cannot stop sharing it with all our students.
Key words to keep in mind:
Freckles (a small patch of light brown colour on the skin, often becoming more pronounced through exposure to the sun)
Sunspots (a spot or patch that appears from time to time on the sun’s surface, appearing dark by contrast with its surroundings)
Sunbathing (sit or lie in the sun, especially to tan the skin)
Sunscreen (a cream or lotion rubbed on to the skin to protect it from the sun)
Still confused with conditionals? Try this link: http://www.perfect-english-grammar.com/conditional-exercises.html
Happy sunbathing!
Recently, I was talking to some students about Transitional Words and Linkers and the question on punctuation came up. When do I use a comma? Should I use a comma? Period (Full-Stop)? Help!
So I thought I would dedicate this post to the question on punctuation, especially in today’s instant messaging world:
6 Punctuation Mistakes that drive us crazy!!!!! Helpful video included…
Your Punctuation says it all In this article, the author describes how your punctuation defines you as a person.
Punctuation that doesn’t make you look very good 16 examples of mistakes that do not make you look very professional
Finally, what can happen when you get punctuation wrong…Grammar and punctuation ARE important
