Collocations with Prepositions

Collocations means an expression of two or more words together and it can be natural for people who already speaks English but, for those who are learning, it can be pretty difficult because they do not have the intuition to use all of them correctly.

For some people (including me) is hard to remember and understand we to use a preposition becoming one of the most common errors when we are talking and writing. One advise I can give people is practicing and reading a lot, because it´s gonna be the only way to remember and learn how to feel and use the correct preposition.

Everything depends on what you are talking about and the verb you are using and there is a huge list where you can find all the important verbs to keep in mind.

Examples:

Incorrect: "He refused to comment the problem".
Correct: "He refused to comment on the problem".
Comment needs to have "on".

Incorrect: "Can we meet to discuss about the policy changes?".
Correct: "Can we meet to  discuss the policy changes?".
Discuss needs to have "the".

Incorrect: "Graduates should consider on their career goals".
Correct: "Graduates should consider their career goals".
Consider does not need "on".

Incorrect: "There were asked to participate the interviews".
Correct: "There were asked to participate in the interviews".
Participate needs to have "in".

Incorrect: "Obviously you need to adapt changing circumstances".
Correct: "Obviously you need to adapt to changing circumstances".
Adapt needs to have "to".

Unreal Past

This is similar to the second conditional already studied. But, this can be even more unreal than the second conditional. Even when we use the tense in past it does not mean that it´s something that already happened or it is not real. We use the past because we are talking about something that is hypothetical and it might exist one day.

This happens also when:

1. We are using "if" (as a conditional).

What if we painted our room?

If I only had more money.

2. We are using the verb "to wish".

I wish I had more money today.

She wishes she was not sick.

We wish we could spend more time here.

3.We are using "I´d rather".

I´d rather you went there instead of me.

He´d rather you called my mom.

We´d rather you didn´t hunt animals.

Reporting Verbs

The easiest word people learn as reporting words are "say" and "tell" because they hear them since they are babies and it so much easier to remember them than the one they see in school and high school.

Example:
Thom told me I needed to pay more attention to him.
My mother says she will meet mu father later.
These are correct verbs however, there are a lot more that are able to describe so much better what someone says. They have a variety o structures and there are categories for them based on the sentence structure, some verbs are in more then one.

Verb - Object - Infinitive

Advised
Encourage: "Mom encouraged me to finish my studies".
Invite: "Julia invited him to her 16 party".
Remind
Warn

Verb - Infinitive

Agree
Decide
Offer: "She offered me a great opportunity".
Promise
Refuse: "My kid refused to eat his vegetables".
Threaten

Verb (THAT)

Admit: "Ana admitted (that) she took the pie"
Agree: "We agreed (that) we would split the bill"
Decide
Deny
Explain
Insist
Promise
Recommend
Suggest

Verb - Gerund

Deny: "He denied having news from the letter".
Recommend
Suggest: "She suggested everything was fine at home".

Verb - Object- Preposition - Gerund

Accuse: "Allan accused the boys of cheating on the exam".
Blame: "Ana blamed her husband for missing the flight",
Congratulate
Verb - Preposition - Gerund

Apologize: "He apologized for being late",
Insist: "She insisted on doing the washing up".


Fronting

Fronting means is being represented when a sentence is moved  to the beginning of the same sentence. This happens perhaps one part of this sentence is the object of it or it has another compliment, an adverbial even the main verb itself.

It is used a lot by writers when they want to emphasize or make a dramatic effect, it is very common. And it is important to recognize it when you see it but, there is no need to use them to demonstrate a "good English".

Some rules for fronting:


The subject and verb need to change their position when:
The main verb is "be".
"There is a small store room next to the kitchen" / "Next to the kitchen is a small store room"
The main verb is a verb of place (sit, live, lie, etc...) or movement (go, run, fly, etc...).
Example: "The robbers ran out of the bank" / "Out of the bank ran the robbers".
The subject and verb do not need to change position when:
The verb is transitive (it takes object).
The subject is a noun (he, she, it, etc...).
There are verbs different of place and movement.
There are continuous tenses.

Verbs followed by Gerunds and Infinitives

If you need to follow a verb with another one, you need to use either a gerund or an infinitive, depending on the verb you are using. See an example:

We resumed talking. (gerund – verb + ing)
I want to see a movie. (infinitive – to + base verb)
To do this, we need to learn a big list of verbs that are going to be followed by a gerund or an infinitive, this list is extremely important and the only way to know which verb is followed by what is memorizing it.

FOLLOWED BY A GERUND

FOLLOWED BY AN INFINITIVE

And there are a few verbs that can be followed by either of them:

Love: "I love this song" / "I am loving this song".

Prefer: "I prefer to sleep" / "I prefer sleeping".

Propose: "I try to propose it" / "I try proposing it".

Start: "It started to rain" / "It started raining".

Others: 

Begin

Can´t bear

Can´t stand

Continue

Hate

Like

But, we need to take into account that there are some verbs that chance there meaning when they are followed by a gerund or an infinitive:

Forget: "I forgot to meet him" (It means that you didn´t meet him because you forgot it).

The correct sentence is: "I forgot meeting him" (It means that you do not remember when you met him).

Go on: "He went on to learn English and French" (It means that he spent a time before this happened).

The correct sentence is: "He went on learning English and French" (It means that he is still learning both languages).

Quit: "She quit to work here" (It means that she quit another job to work here).

"She quit working here" (It means that she will not work here anymore because she quit this job).

Regret: "I regret promising to help you" (It means that I am sorry because I promised you something).

"I regret to tell you that we can not hire you" (It means that I am telling you now this and I sorry about it).

Remember: "She remembered visiting her grandmother" (It means that she did not forget to visit her).

"She remembered visiting her grandmother" (It means that she has memories when she did it once).

Stop: "I stopped to call you" (It means that I interrupted another action so I can call you).

"I stopped calling you" (It means that I was calling you but I interrupted).

Try: "I tried to open the window" (It means that I attempted to do it but, I did not happen).

"I tried opening the window" (This was one option I said because the room was hot).

Noun Clauses

This structure is user than we think, we usually hear them in movies and music but we do not use them a lot when we are practicing, maybe because we practice in books with formal conversations.

First of all, we need to understand what is a noun clause, it is a dependent clause acting like a noun, which means that this clause is performing the job of one part of speech, they can do a noun job, so they can be subjects, objects (direct, indirect and objects of prepositions) or predicate nouns.

For example:

Broccoli is fine with me.

The broccoli is a noun acting as a subject. And the way to see it as noun clause is:

Whatever you want is fine with me.
Here, the "whatever you want" is acting as a subject too.


We need to see that the adverb and adjectives clauses, noun clauses do not need to be modified, they act as nouns within the clause.

Some of this words act as clauses: whoever, whenever, whatever, however, whichever and whomever.

Logical Connectors

We can also named them as "contrast", they are very important because they make the difference between ideas. They are needed when you want to separate your sentences so people can understand you better when you are writing.

There are a lot of connectors, for example:

However: it contrast comparable thing with reality, it is similar to "but" and "despite". "I had my lunch; however, I still want pizza".
On the other hand: it compares two choices or two sides. "Saving this notebook can be a bad idea. On the other hand, I might need it some day".
Nevertheless and Nonetheless: they show contrast between reality and expectations.  "I had my lunch; nevertheless, I still want pizza".
Also: it is similar to "and", it usually appears after the subject: "My favorite colors are green, pink and turquoise; sometimes I also like purple".
In addition to: it is more formal than "and", so it is also used to join sentences and it appears before the subject. "The community is working to meet the needs of its citizens. In addition, the Parks Department has instituted a summer arts program for teens.
Moreover: we use it when we have two conclusions from a reason. "The Senator´s remarks have outraged the liberals; moreover, they have alienated the conservatives".

There are also another kind of connectors, for example: consequently, therefore, for this/that reason, hence/thus, in that case.

Modals

Modals are verb, special verbs, we use a lot. They behave differently because they show if we believe something true, probable or possible, or not at all. We also use them when we are doing thing like talking about ability, asking permission, making request or offers, etc...

Modals Verb:

Can (Not): "I can speak English".
Could (Not): "I could speak English".
May (Not): "I may speak English".
Might (Not): "I might speak English".
Must (Not): "I must speak English".
Need to: "I need to speak English".
Ought to: "I ought to speak English".
Shall (Not): "I shall speak English".
Should (Not): "I should speak English".
Will (Not): "I will speak English".
Would (Not): "I would speak English".

We need to take into account that:
We do not use and "s" when we are talking in third person singular.
"She can go to the party".
We use them to make questions so we need to do an inversion.
"Can I go?"
They are always followed by another verb which must be in infinitive without the "to".
"I must go"

There a lot of situations where we use them:

Probability: We can use them when we want to say how sure we are about something happening. That is why some people call them "modals of deduction".
"It´s snowing, so it must be very cold outside".
Ability: When we are talking about a skill or an ability.
"I can´t drive my father´s car".
Obligation and Advice: We use "must" or "should" when we mean something can be necessary or unnecessary or to give advice.
You should stop smoking.
Permission: We use verbs as "can", "could" and "may" when we are asking for a permission or when we say that something is not allow to do.
"Could I drive?"
"You may no use it today".
Habits: We use "will" and "would" when we are talking about habits or things we are used to do or did.
"When I was younger, I would often eat a lot of ice cream".
"Mary will always sleep late".

Uses of WOULD

Would is an auxiliary verb, we use it when we are talking about the past, future in the past and for express the conditional mood. We also use it to express desire, polite request and questions, opinions, hope, wish and regret.

Uses:

Talking about the past: "Even as a boy, he knew he would succeed in life".
Future in Past: "She met a man that she would one day marry".
Conditionals: "If he lost his job he would have no money".
Desire: "I´d love a glass of water".
Polite: "Would you open the door for me, please?".
Opinion or Hope: "I would imagine that they will by a new house".
Wish: "I wish I he would be here".
Presumption or Expectation: "That would be Jo calling, I´ll pick up".
Uncertainty: "He would seem to be getting better".
Derogatory: "They would say I came, wouldn´t they?"
Regret: "Would that it were true!" (This is rare, poetic or literary, it is not that formal).

Past Forms

This is one of the easiest forms for me, we need to be very careful because the verb chances depending on if it is regular or irregular.

The Regular Verbs are the easier ones; you just have to add an "ed" in almost all of them. It also chances when you are asking something or giving a negative answer.

For example:

Positive	Negative	Question
I waited. You waited. We waited. They waited. He waited. She waited. It waited.	I did not wait. You did not wait. We did not wait. They did not wait. He did not wait. She did not wait. It did not wait.	Did I wait? Did you wait? Did we wait? Did they wait? Did he wait? Did she wait? Did it wait?

"Have" is another irregular verb and it is very important to see that we only use the irregular verbs in statements. In negative forms and questions, we use "did" when we are talking in Simple Past.

For example:

Positive	Negative	Question
I had. You had. We had. They had. He had. She had. It had.	I did not have. You did not have. We did not have. They did not have. He did not have. She did not have. It did not have.	Did I have? Did you have? Did we have? Did they have? Did he have? Did she have? Did it have?

The verb "be" is also an irregular. But, apart from the other verbs, there are two Simple Past forms: "was" and "were." It also has different question forms and negative forms. Always remember that we DO NOT use "did" with the verb "be" in the Simple Past.


Modal Verbs
Modal verbs behave very strangely in the Simple Past. The most important verb to remember is "must." It becomes "had to" in the Simple Past.


"Must" becomes "had to":
I must call my wife now.
I had to call my wife yesterday.
This page has really helped me to understand the Simple Past and the differences between regular and irregular forms:   http://www.englishpage.com/verbpage/simplepastforms.htm

There is a little story created by me to practice Simple Past, you can see them underline


First Twins to Reach 125 Years Old

This report is going to inspire a lot of people, when they realize how charming our two grandmothers are.

These two great women just reached 125 years old, they do not even are two of the oldest people in the whole world but, they were given birth by the same girl. Unfortunately, they mother died when they were 10 years old so they were raised by their older sister when she was only 16 years old.

Now, they are resting with their families, grandchildren and great grandchildren in a huge house built by their father before they mother died. They lived, live and will live a happy life until God wishes, they say.



Compound Adjectives

I did not even know what a Compound Adjective means, I did not know it existed in fact. Have your heard when people say "a two-year-old girl"? This is a compound adjective, it is describing something or someone with two or more adjectives. All of them need to be hyphenated so people can understand easily and avoid any confusion.

 Examples:


This is a four-foot table.
Daniella is a part-time worker.
This is an all-too-common error.
Beware of the green-eyed monster.
He is a cold-blooded man.
I love this brightly-lit room!
Danny’s dog is well-behaved.
You have to be open-minded about things.
However, there are some exceptions to this rule, and it´s something I did not know until I research this grammar structure. It is important to know that if we combine an adverb and an adjective we are not creating a compound adjective so it does not have the same structure as them, we do not need to use the hyphen.

Examples:

It was a terribly hot day.
It is an amazingly good idea.

IDIOMS

An idiom is something that is hard to understand if you do not belong to the country where you are.

If you pay attention to Costa Rica people we say some phrases foreign people won´t understand so fast and easy as another people who leave here. Nobody knows the origin of these sentences but, for some reason they are very used.

And there even some idioms more popular that we can easily catch when we are watching a movie or talking to somebody else. For example: Between a Sword and a Wall.

The best way to learn new vocabulary and idioms is watching TV and listening to music. Movies are perfect to pay attention and enjoy at the same time, you will be surprised how many idioms you already know and how many you will learn if you practice. Here is a video where you can see I am talking about:

 IDIOMS -> Link

And there is also a link you can check to see a list of the most used idioms at the moment:

http://www.idiomsite.com/

Adjectives

Adjectives are use to describe a place, object, situation or anything you want. I wrote a little article about my favorite place in the world and the underline words are the adjectives I used to describe it.

ITALY

One of the most beautiful places in the world, surrounded by great beaches and history, a place where you can enjoy everything at the same time; Italy.

If you would like to travel someday to this European paradise, take into account this:

If you are visiting Rome, Venice, or Florence, you can stay outside the city, going in by train for a day trip and enjoy even two places in a day. You'll usually get better value accommodations and restaurants.

If you think about weather, summer in Italy can be hot and crowded, especially on the coast. So is better to consider traveling in spring or fall, you will see a few tourists around the country. But, if you like to spend more time indoors in museums, you can go ahead and try winter travel.

Many restaurants offer a reasonable menu at noon so you can eat your big meal then and have pizza or a picnic in the evening, enjoying the beautiful sunset. Shopping at local food markets not only helps you to save money but allows you to get along with locals. If breakfast isn't included in your hotel rate, go to a local bar for your coffee and pastry. In many cities, sitting at a table will cost more than standing at the bar.

Cellular are handy to have when traveling in Italy. If you want to keep in touch with people at home, phone ahead for reservations, or just have a phone for emergencies, taking a cell phone with you when you travel is a good idea. But, do not take any phone because can be expensive.

One easy solution is to purchase a SIM card for use with an unlocked GSM cell phone or renting and buying an unlocked GSM cell phone and prepaid SIM card from Cellular Abroad. You'll have a local Italian number for calls in Italy and free incoming calls.

PASSIVES

If you take a look at the pass and you realized of all the great things you have done, you will be amazed and will be proud of yourself. 

My biggest achievements

The greatest achievement I have accomplished so far is to complete my high school. It took me 6 years to finish but, it was a great experience because I met my second family there and I do not regret of spending the whole time being there. When I finished, I did not know what to expect or do. I had to look for my own and get a job to keep studying in an University here in Costa Rica. Thought it was a complete challenge, I was able to do it and I feel very proud of myself.

Passives

Passive Form was confusing at the beginning when I started my English classes a few years ago so I tried to look a way to understand better and practice it.

First of all, it´s better to clarify what is the Active Form because we always use it even when we do not realize of it. On this Form the thing doing the action is the subject  and the one receiving the action is the object. 

[Thing doing action] + [verb] + [thing receiving action] 

For example:

The professor teaches the students.

The Passive Form is when you think the object is more important than the subject, so in this case it will do the action. We usually use it when we do not know what/who the object is.

[Thing receiving action] + [be] + [past participle of verb] + [by] + [thing doing action] 

For example:

The students are taught by the professor.

Note: It´s very important to know that in Passive Form the verb chances, as you can see in the following list:

Active / Passive Overview

	Active	Passive
Simple Present	Once a week, Tom cleans the house.	Once a week, the house is cleaned by Tom.
Present Continuous	Right now, Sarah is writing the letter.	Right now, the letter is being written by Sarah.
Simple Past	Sam repaired the car.	The car was repaired by Sam.
Past Continuous	The salesman was helping the customer when the thief came into the store.	The customer was being helped by the salesman when the thief came into the store.
Present Perfect	Many tourists have visited that castle.	That castle has been visited by many tourists.
Present Perfect Continuous	Recently, John has been doing the work.	Recently, the work has been being doneby John.
Past Perfect	George had repaired many cars before he received his mechanic's license.	Many cars had been repaired by George before he received his mechanic's license.
Past Perfect Continuous	Chef Jones had been preparing the restaurant's fantastic dinners for two years before he moved to Paris.	The restaurant's fantastic dinners had been being prepared by Chef Jones for two years before he moved to Paris.
Simple Future will	Someone will finish the work by 5:00 PM.	The work will be finished by 5:00 PM.
Simple Future be going to	Sally is going to make a beautiful dinner tonight.	A beautiful dinner is going to be made by Sally tonight.
Future Continuous will	At 8:00 PM tonight, John will be washing the dishes.	At 8:00 PM tonight, the dishes will be being washed by John.
Future Continuous be going to	At 8:00 PM tonight, John is going to be washing the dishes.	At 8:00 PM tonight, the dishes are going to be being washed by John.
Future Perfect will	They will have completed the project before the deadline.	The project will have been completed before the deadline.
Future Perfect be going to	They are going to have completed the project before the deadline.	The project is going to have been completed before the deadline.
Future Perfect Continuous will	The famous artist will have been painting the mural for over six months by the time it is finished.	The mural will have been being painted by the famous artist for over six months by the time it is finished.
Future Perfect Continuous be going to	The famous artist is going to have been painting the mural for over six months by the time it is finished.	The mural is going to have been being painted by the famous artist for over six months by the time it is finished.
Used to	Jerry used to pay the bills.	The bills used to be paid by Jerry.
Would Always	My mother would always make the pies.	The pies would always be made by my mother.
Future in the Past Would	I knew John would finish the work by 5:00 PM.	I knew the work would be finished by 5:00 PM.
Future in the Past Was Going to	I thought Sally was going to make a beautiful dinner tonight.	I thought a beautiful dinner was going to be made by Sally tonight.

Prepositions

  To tell all the stories is very important to take into account all the prepositions and use them well. For example, I was confused a lot of time with "on" and "in".

What is the difference between "I´m on the bus" and "I´m in the car"? This is something that might be confusing for some people.

The reason is because we use "on" when you are talking about a public transportation and "in" when we are not. It is a little detail but, you need to be careful when you are trying to describe a place or explain something. And something that really helped me was paying attention to the letters song, movies and a list full of prepositions.

The following game is very helpful to improve your knowledge about this topic:

http://www.manythings.org/vocabulary/games/k/words.php?f=prepositions 

Is the world a stressed-out place?

What do you think about living with lot of rush or stress in our lives?

Please see the following link and think a bit of it:

World Stress Out

Living Abroad

Living abroad? Why? When? How long?

Nowadays, most of the people have the desire of living in another country or outside their home countries. Many cases are for the simple reason they would like to find a better job offer and the “easier” way for that is living in a foreign country.  These kinds of decisions in people’s life can bring several risks and challenges, as well as, they have to think in the diversity, culture, language and everything the country they would like to live in.

As I mentioned above, many developed countries have much diversity, different people and cultures;  i, In deed, I would like to live for a while in France since I love the way people are, how they live every day, how they react against any situation on their lifes, actually I went to France a couple of years ago and it is  definitely impressive, all the buildings and all the different places I knew, iIt was absolutely amazing, I will adore if I would have the chance to do that again but instead of visiting, staying there at least 3 years working and saving some money to get back to Costa Rica and buy a new home for my mom.

There are so many countries I would like to stay in, but the most beautiful for me is France, I remember when I visited the Eiffel Tower I went with my mother and she was so happy because she had this dream since she was 14. I simply loved seeing her face smiling and crying because one of her dream came true. I would like to live in  one of Europe’s oldest cities and France’s second largest city, Marseille because is a major Mediterranean seaport located off the southeast coast of France. Boasting an idyllic climate, Roman ruins, medieval architecture and distinguished cultural venues. Marseille is also a working city with several universities and industries, the perfect place to work, earn money, and study.

Living abroad brings a lot of hard things and it could give some people a new life. Living far from family could be sometimes difficult in your life, but; on the other hand, it would be to lead you to get new knowledge, such as how to accept cultures and traditions of other societies. Living abroad is a rare opportunity that you should get all of its benefits.

A t the same time, it would be new experience and memorable days, but through this period of time these will not be ordinary days. People who lived away from their countries usually face some effect; this essay aims to mention the three most common effects of living in a foreign country that can change people's personal lives, besides I know I will miss a lot of thing s from my country, but always a new experience is an opportunity to learn a lot of things and be a better person.

---

SuperHeroe

Hello,

Sometimes we all have the dream to have sometime no natural.

Some people live as a science fiction movie, thinking in things that wont have never ever in their life.

Most of the things they believe in can be find in the movies, television, magazines, comics.

Superheroes are examples of life for people.


Please find link for presentation of those I like.

Link:

SuperHeroes

Comedy

Hello

I would like everyone having access to take a look to the Comedy movie I like:

Please fo to the following link:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mq1rt4iKuYg


Thanks !  :)

Challenges - Oral Presentation