Friday, 16 December 2011

Moving, moving all the people...

When we speak about transport in general, we use BY + vehicle:
We went by car.
They travelled by train.
My cousins came by plane.
The same with by bus, by taxi, by boat, by ship, by bicycle, etc.
This in the equivalent of Spanish EN + tren, coche, taxi, autobús, etc.
Just like in Spanish, things change when you walk (al igual que en español, si caminas cambian las cosas): in English we don't use BY, in Spanish we don't use EN:
We are going on foot. (=a pie). By foot

Now two things where English and Spanish are not similar:

1-It is very common in English to use DRIVE and WALK instead of verb + by car/on foot:

At seven o'clock I drove to work. (Instead of I went to work by car)
He drove from London to Bristol. (Instead of he went by car from...)
How do you come to school? I walk. (=I go to school on foot)
By the way, DRIVE can also be transitive, i.e., have an object:
They drive their children to school every morning. (Instead of they take their children to school by car every morning).
This usage of WALK and DRIVE is very natural in English, but in Spanish we don't usually say conduje al trabajo, condujo de Londres a Bristol. ¿Cómo vas al cole? Camino. Conducen a sus niños al cole.

2-Use BY when you are speaking in general, when you are not talking about a particular car, train, bicycle, etc. If you use an adjective or phrase to refer to a particular vehicle, then you normally use IN for cars and ON for other forms of transport:
I went in my brother's car. (...by my brother's car)
I rode to school on my old bicycle. (...by my old bicycle)
She went on the last train. (...by the last train)
We came on the nine o'clock bus. (by the nine o'clock bus)

OTHER, ANOTHER, OTHERS


OTHER / ANOTHER

This is the basic information about these two words:

ANOTHER is singular, and it is used when there isn’t a determiner (article, demonstrative, possessive, etc.) before the noun:

She lives with another man now.
She lives with the other man now (there is a determiner, so we don’t use ANOTHER)
This is my other brother (there is a determiner, so we don’t use ANOTHER)
He took another suitcase (maleta)
He took that other suitcase (there is a determiner, so we don’t use ANOTHER)
Can I have another biscuit?
Can I have the other biscuit?
Another day we went to the countryside. (There is no determiner, so we can’t use OTHER)= Otro día…
The other day we went to the countryside. =El otro día…

OTHER can be singular or plural. In the singular it MUST (obligatory) be used with a determiner (article possessive, demonstrative, etc.). If there is no determiner, then of course we use ANOTHER.
I want other piece of cake is incorrect because there is no determiner. You have to say, depending on the circumstances:
I want the other piece of cake (quiero el otro trozo)
I want another piece o cake (quiero otro trozo)

In the plural, OTHER can be used on its own (solo, sin determinante que le acompañe) or with a determiner, depending on the meaning:

There were other museums.           
Were there any other museums?
Take those other umbrellas.
Other people don’t agree.
My other cousins are single.
They come from other provinces.

There is also OTHERS, with an –S. This is a plural pronoun, not an adjective:
The other doctors arrived later. (Adjective: no plural form)
The others doctors arrived later (Incorrect: adjectives don’t take –S in the plural)
The others arrived later (Pronoun)

Typical mistakes:

Other day we visited the Louvre  >>> ANOTHER day we…
He played with the others toys  >>> …with the other toys (adjective)

REGLA CASERA: si está sin determinante y en singular, necesito ANOTHER. En los demás casos, OTHER.

Wednesday, 14 December 2011

Translation no. 5

Here are answers and some comments about these sentences:

 1. Nunca llega tarde porque siempre tiene prisa. (Además de arrive, ¿qué verbo se puede usar? Pista: el que empleáis al disculparos por llegar tarde a clase).
2. No hace los deberes nunca.
3. Aquí no nieva casi nunca.
4. No solemos ir andando al cole. (We d… u… w… t… s…)
5. ¿Los llevo? [=¿Quieres que los lleve en el coche?] (S… I d… t…?)
 6. Está cansada y aburrida porque la película es aburrida.
7. Tiene unos críos muy habladores.
8. No le gusta ni fregar ni planchar. (Acordaos de no tiene hermanos ni hermanas).
9. ¿Qué tal si vemos la nueva peli de Harry Potter? Mmm, parece un rollo (la idea).
10. Son muebles muy bonitos, pero quiero tener los míos propios (=mis propios).

Thursday, 8 December 2011

Spelling: British/American and Y > i

1. Notice that some words have a different spelling in American English:

 British spelling:                                                                 American spelling:
centre, metre, litre, theatre (-RE)                  center, meter, liter, theater (-ER)
neighbour, colour, honour (-OUR)               neighbor, color, honor (-OR)
travelling, traveller                                      traveling, traveler
programme                                                    program

Both spellings are correct, but you have to be consistent: if you write CENTER (American), you should also write COLOR, TRAVELING, THEATRE, etc. For obvious reasons, in your book you will find the British spelling. It would also be strange if your accent was not American but your spelling was!

2. When you add and ending (añades una terminación) to a word that ends in -Y, we usually chage -Y to -i-:
story > stories      spy>spies     hurry>hurries     easy>easier     hurry>hurried     happy>happily
However (=¡ahora bien!), we do not change -Y to -i- after a vowel letter:
boy>boys     play>plays, played    key>keys     stay>stays, stayed     buy>buys
Conclusión: recordad que se cambia o no depediendo des si antes de la -Y hay vocal o consonante. BOYS es fácil de recordar, así que de esta palabra podemos deducir la regla. Vocal delante de la -Y >>> no hay cambio.

Tuesday, 6 December 2011

Listening: an English village?

This is a recording of the text you will find on page 40 of your student's book. See if you can understand it. Then listen again and try to repeat using the same rhythm, pauses, etc.

Prepositions p. 39

This is how you read the prepositions on page 39 of your student's book. In the example sentences, remember the sentence stress /el acento de frase, el ritmo de la oración) of there is... and there are...

There is / are: pronunciation

Listen to these sentences. Notice the weak pronunciation of there's and there are when the sentence is positive. This happens because these words have no stress. The stress is usually on the noun or adjective that follows. In the negative, the sentence stress is different because isn't and aren't are always stressed.

 There’s one. There isn’t one.
 There’s a balcony. There isn’t a balcony.
 There’s a washbasin. There isn’t a washbasin.
 There’s a wardrobe. There isn’t a wardrobe.
 There’s a rug. There isn’t a rug.
 There are three armchairs. There aren’t three armchairs.
 There are two cupboards. There aren’t two cupboards.
 There are some plants. There aren’t any plants.