WRITING PART 1 (3)

19. Britain is a small island, so everywhere is near to the sea.

Britain is a small island, so nowhere is ................... the sea.

20. Never go for a long run without taking water with you.

Take water with you, if you‟re .................. a long run.

21. Look at a map of Africa if you want to find Zimbabwe.

You won‟t find Zimbabwe unless ........................... a map of Africa.

22. I became a policeman five years ago.

I ............. a policeman for five years.

23. I came to Spain in 2005.

I ................. in Spain since 2005.

24. My mother asked me if I wanted an ice-cream.

My mother said, „Would ............. an ice-cream?‟

25. Yesterday a photographer took my photo.

Yesterday my photo ................... a photographer.

26. My book is heavier than my brothers.

My bother‟s book isn‟t ................. mine.

27. At first, you‟ll have difficulty understanding the rules.

At first, understanding the rules will be ................ for you.

WRITING PART 1 (2)

9. I think you are right about the weather.

I agree ............. about the weather.

10. I think mobile phones are very useful.

Mobile phones are very useful ........... opinion.

11. We‟ll talk about the price first.

How ..................... about the price first?

12. Bill is too weak to carry the box.

Bill isn‟t ............. to carry the box.

13. In our school only a few students have blonde hair.

In our school, not ....................... curly hair.

14. My sister prefers milk chocolate to dark chocolate.

My sister likes milk chocolate ............ dark chocolate.

15. In our house, dinner is usually prepared by my father.

In our house, my father ...................... dinner.

16. My father said, „Come home at 10.‟

My father told .........home at 10.

17. Susan asked for paella in the restaurant.

In the restaurant, Susan said, „Can ............ paella, please?‟

18. Mary suggested that we order a pizza.

Mary said, „Let‟s ..................... a pizza.‟

WRITING PART 1 (1)

Complete the second sentence so that it means the same as the first. Use no more than 3 words.

1. Do you play basketball well?

Are you a ........................ player?

2. Does art interest you?

Are you ..................... art?

3. What is your age?

How .............. you?

4. Which is your favorite school subject?

Which school subject .............. like best?

5. How is that spelt?

How do ................. that?

6. Each lesson lasts forty minutes.

Each lesson ................. long.

7. What‟s the price of this book, please?

How ......... this book, cost, please?

8. I think Spain is a wonderful country.

Spain is a wonderful country ......... opinion.

WRITING PART 3 STORY

Your English teacher has asked you to write a story with the title:

A day in the city

Write your story in about 100 words.

Your teacher has asked you to write a story beginning with this sentence:

When the taxi arrived Susan was ready, dressed in her very best clothes.

Write your story in about 100 words.

Your teacher has asked you to write a story beginning with this sentence:

It was 5 in the morning and there was a knock at the door

Write your story in about 100 words.

Your teacher has asked you to write a story ending with this sentence:

I woke up and realized it had all been a bad dream.

Write your story in about 100 words.

WRITING STORIES PART 3

Useful phrases -(Writing stories)

 

Time phrases:

 

It all began

Shortly afterwards

Meanwhile

Not long afterwards

Some time later

Later that day

A little later

Finally

In the end

Eventually

 

Phrases for dramatic effect:

 

Suddenly

All of a sudden

Without warning

Out of the blue

Just at that moment

Quite unexpectedly

As if from nowhere

 

Direct speech:

 

“.....”, said Fred

“.....”, shouted Fred

“.....”, screamed Fred

“.....”, whispered Fred

“.....”, announced Fred.

”.....”, thought Fred

“.....”, cried Fred

“.....”, promised Fred

WRITING PART 3 PRACTICE

You receive a letter from your penfriend, Susan. Part of it says:

 

Tell me all about the job you did during the school holidays.

 

 

Tell her about the following:

 

where the job was

what kind of work you did

your workmates

what you thought of it

something unexpected that happened, what you did

 

Write your letter in up to 100 words

PRACTICE WRITING PART 3

You have joined a social site on the internet. Write a description of yourself to put on your page.

 

Remember to include:

 

your personal details, for example, name and age

what you do or study

things you like doing

 

You can write up to 100 words.

HELP WRITING A LETTER

Useful phrases for letters

 

Informal Letters 

 

- Greetings:

 

Dear Jim

Hello Jim

Hi Jim

 

Introductory sentences for letters:

 

How's it going?

How are you?

How are things with you?

How are things?

Thank you for your letter

It was good to receive your letter

 

An informal letter referring to good news:

 

Glad to hear about

I'm really glad to hear about

I'm very happy to hear about

I was very happy to read about

Great news about your

 

 

An informal letter referring to bad news:

 

I'm sorry to hear about

I'm very sorry to hear about

Sorry to read about

Goodbye sentences for letters:

Well, time to go

Well, it's time to go

Well, got to go

Write soon

Make sure you write soon

Love

Lots of love

All my love

Will write again soon

WRITING PART 3

Writing stories or letters

4 essentials for good answers

 

1. Answer the question

2. Plan

3. Use paragraphs

4. Revise your work

 

Make sure you answer the question exactly and no more.

 

It is essential to plan your writing. This should take at least 10 minutes to plan for each question.

In a relatively short piece of writing you will need 4 or 5 paragraphs. The first paragraph will be your

introduction. Paragraphs 2, 3 and perhaps 4, will contain the body of your answer, and the last

paragraph your concluding comments.

 

Allow at least 5 minutes for each question to check your answer. Look out for silly mistakes with

tenses, word order, spellings etc.

 

Advice

read instructions carefully

choose the one you like best

 

If you choose letter

 

plan your letter

write about the topic and nothing else

answer all the questions asked by your friend

 

If you choose story 

use title or first sentence to guide you

ask yourself questions Who...? Where...? When...? Why...? How did I/he/they feel? What happened in the end?

plan your story before you write

 

Always

plan

use separate paragraphs

read through to correct grammar or spelling mistakes 

write 100 words, or nearly 100, but not many more

WRITING PRACTICE PART 2

You want a classmate to help you to do something. Write a note to him or her.

In the note you should:

 

- Explain what help you want

- Suggest a time when your classmate can help

- Offer to do something for your classmate in return

 

Write 35 -45 words

WRITING PART 2 B1

Advice

1.

Read the instructions carefully and

imagine the situation.

2.

Make sure you write about

all three points

in the instructions.

3.

Remember to address your message to the person named (eg Dear John, Hi Sam).

4.

Don’t forget to write your name at the end.

5.

Don’t write less than 35 words or more than 45.

6. Check what you have written for silly mistakes

WRITING PRACTICE PART 3

This is part of a letter you receive from your penfriend James.
In your next letter, please tell me about the music you like.
What’s your favourite kind of music? Do you play an instrument?
Now write a letter, answering your penfriend’s questions.(100 words)

WRITING PRACTICE B1

Your family is visiting London next month. You have an English pen friend called Zara who also lives in London. You would like to meet here when you go to London.
Write an email to Zara. In your email, you should:

• say when your family is coming to London
• ask if you can meet up, and suggest a day
• suggest what you can do together.

Write 35-45 words.

ARTICLES EXERCISES

Here are some articles exercises.

ADJECTIVES EXERCISES

Here are some adjectives exercises. Take a look.

PREPOSITIONS EXERCISES

Here are some exercises you can do with prepositions.

MORE MISTAKES

Top 10 Common English Grammar Mistakes

10. Who, which or that? "Who" (or "whom") refers to persons. "Which" refers to animals or things, never to persons. "That" can refer to either persons or things.
Examples of correct usage:
The girl who was hungry.
The dog which bit the mailman.
The bus that goes to the station.
9. Anyone vs any one
"Anyone" means "any person," not necessarily a specific person. It could refer to multiple people simultaneously.
As two words, "any one" refers to a single person.
Examples:
Anyone can download my software. But a single-user software license can only be used by any one user at a time.
8. Commonly misspelled words
All right
Dependable
Independent
Recommend
Responsible
Separate
7. Don't put punctuation at the end of a URL
While not technically an English grammatical error, don't put a period or anything immediately after a URL reference. Doing so will usually invalidate the URL. You might call this an internet grammatical rule.
Place the punctuation after the closing anchor tag of the link.
Example: {note that the anchor tags are not actually used so you can see the syntax.}
My URL is {opentag} HREF="http://www.kemptonsmith.com">www.kemptonsmith.com{closetag}.
6. Software not softwares
"Software" can be singular or plural. Never use "softwares."
5. Do the quotes go after or before the period?
Put quotation marks after a period or comma. Put quotes before a colon. Put quotes after a question mark unless the entire sentence is a question. This is a US English standard. British English usage can differ.
Examples:
He asked, "Are you hungry?"
She replied, "Yes."
Did she say, "Yes"?
4. There, their, or they're
"There" is used in two ways. It can specify a place. It can also be used as an expletive or empty word to start a sentence.
"Their" is used as a possessive form of "they."
"They're" is short for "they are."
Examples:
There are nine planets in the solar system.
The two boys raced their bikes.
They're both tired after riding so far.
3. Overuse of Powerful
Too many developers describe their software as, "XXX Software is powerful, easy-to-use, ... ." I searched download.com and found 2149 descriptions or titles of software containing the word "powerful."
Powerful has several meanings, and usually refers to how effectively something is performed, as in muscular. A car with 450 horsepower is clearly more powerful than one with only 200 horsepower. But what is powerful software? If you mean feature-rich (like Adobe Photoshop), then say so. If your software does only one thing, but it does it completely or thoroughly (like CounterSpy), then say so. But please, no more powerful software.
2. Site or sight
A "site" is a location or place.
"Sight" refers to your sense of vision; not to a web site.
Examples:
A web site is a place on the internet that you visit with your browser.
A beautiful sunset is a marvelous sight.
And, finally, the most common English blunder by web authors is:
1. Its or It's
The possessive form of "it" is "its," not "it's." Use "it's" only when it means "it is." Unless you can replace "it's" with "it is," use "its." Never use "its'."
Examples:
It's raining today.
The dog wagged its tail.

COMMON MISTAKES part 2

26. Wrong	I promise I call you next week.
    Right	I promise I’ll call you next week.

27. Wrong	Where is post office?
    Right	Where is the post office?

28. Wrong	Please explain me how improve my English.
    Right	Please explain to me how to improve my English.

29. Wrong	We studied during four hours.
    Right	We studied for four hours.

30. Wrong	Is ready my passport?
    Right	Is my passport ready?

31. Wrong	You cannot buy all what you like!
    Right	You cannot buy all that you like!

32. Wrong	She is success.
    Right	She is successful.

33. Wrong	My mother wanted that I be doctor.
    Right	My mother wanted me to be a doctor.

34. Wrong	The life is hard!
    Right	Life is hard.

35. Wrong	How many childrens you have?
    Right	How many children do you have?

36. Wrong	My brother has 10 years.
    Right	My brother is 10 (years old).

37. Wrong	I want eat now.
    Right	I want to eat now.

38. Wrong	You are very nice, as your mother.
    Right	You are very nice, like your mother.

39. Wrong	She said me that she liked you.
    Right	She told me that she liked you.

40. Wrong	My husband engineer.
    Right	My husband is an engineer.

41. Wrong	I came Australia to study English.
    Right	I came to Australia to study English.

42. Wrong	It is more hot now.
    Right	It’s hotter now.

43. Wrong	You can give me an information?
    Right	Can you give me some information?

44. Wrong	They cooked the dinner themself.
    Right	They cooked the dinner themselves.

45. Wrong	Me and Johnny live here.
    Right	Johnny and I live here.

46. Wrong	I closed very quietly the door.
    Right	I closed the door very quietly.

47. Wrong	You like dance with me?
    Right	Would you like to dance with me?

48. Wrong	I go always to school by subway.
    Right	I always go to school by subway.

49. Wrong	If I will be in London, I will contact to you.
    Right	If I am in London, I will contact you.

50. Wrong	We drive usually to home.
    Right	We usually drive home.

COMMON MISTAKES part 1

1. Wrong	I have visited Niagara Falls last weekend.
   Right	I visited Niagara Falls last weekend.

2. Wrong	The woman which works here is from Japan.
   Right	The woman who works here is from Japan.

3. Wrong	She’s married with a dentist.
   Right	She’s married to a dentist.

4. Wrong	She was boring in the class.
   Right	She was bored in the class.

5. Wrong	I must to call him immediately.
   Right	I must call him immediately.

6. Wrong	Every students like the teacher.
   Right	Every student likes the teacher.

7. Wrong	Although it was raining, but we had the picnic.
   Right	Although it was raining, we had the picnic.

8. Wrong	I enjoyed from the movie.
   Right	I enjoyed the movie.

9. Wrong	I look forward to meet you.
   Right	I look forward to meeting you.

10. Wrong	I like very much ice cream.
    Right	I like ice cream very much.

11. Wrong	She can to drive.
    Right	She can drive.

12. Wrong	Where I can find a bank?
    Right	Where can I find a bank?

13. Wrong	I live in United States.
    Right	I live in theUnited States.

14. Wrong	When I will arrive, I will call you.
    Right	When I arrive, I will call you.

15. Wrong	I’ve been here since three months.
    Right	I’ve been here for three months.

16. Wrong	My boyfriend has got a new work.
    Right	My boyfriend has got a new job. (or just "has a new job")

17. Wrong	She doesn’t listen me.
    Right	She doesn’t listen to me.

18. Wrong	You speak English good.
    Right	You speak English well.

19. Wrong	The police is coming.
    Right	The police are coming.

20. Wrong	The house isn’t enough big.
    Right	The house isn’t big enough.

21. Wrong	You should not to smoke.
    Right	You should not smoke.

22. Wrong	Do you like a glass of wine?
    Right	Would you like a glass of wine?

23. Wrong	There is seven girls in the class.
    Right	There are seven girls in the class.

24. Wrong	I didn’t meet nobody.
    Right	I didn’t meet anybody.

25. Wrong	My flight departs in 5:00 am.
    Right	My flight departs at 5:00 am.

Common mistakes

10 Common Challenges Spanish Speakers Have When Learning English

While English is – supposedly – an easy language to learn (maybe), every native speaker of another language has his or her issues. Today we’re looking at the common mistakes that native Spanish speakers make when trying to learn English.
English learners, take a look – you might discover a mistake you didn’t even know you were making. ESOL teachers, bring this list with you to class. And everybody else, read over these mistakes and be a little understanding when your English-learning friend doesn’t get it quite right on the first try.
1. False Friends (i.e. cognates) —Librero (bookcase) and libreria (bookstore) are often confused with the English library (which in Spanish is, confusingly, biblioteca.) Aprobar (to pass, as in an exam) is often confused with approve, and familiar (having to do with one’s family) is often confused with the English familiar (something known.) There are plenty of funny Spanish learning equivalents, too: Embarazada does not mean embarrassed. But if you say you’re embarazada then you might actually become embarrassed, because you just said you’re pregnant!) So cut a learner some slack the next time they tell you they work as a “scientifico.” The word cientifico means “scientific” and “scientist” in Spanish.

2. Omission of the Subject – In Spanish, the verb tenses change with the subject, so actually saying “I” or “he” or “it” isn’t necessary. So learners sometimes forget that the subject is always necessary in English, leading to sentences like “is always a good idea to eat spinach.” The “it,” because it doesn’t refer to anything in particular, can be easy for a learner to forget.

3. Gender Confusion – Not that kind of gender confusion. While it’s more common for English speaking learners of Spanish to confuse of forget the genders of Spanish nouns, native Spanish speakers often get confused when it comes to words like him, her, because the Spanish pronoun “su” represents both the masculine and the feminine.
4. Order of Adjectives and Nouns – In Spanish, an adjective often comes after the noun, while in English that sentence construction would look like something “He had a dog brown.” So don’t be surprised when native Spanish speakers add the adjective as an afterthought.

5. Literal Translations – A common example occurs when learners use “I am agree” instead of “I agree” because they have too literally translated the sentence “estoy de acuerdo” from Spanish.
6. This/These – Native Spanish speakers often pronounce these two words the same so, in writing, tend to stick with “this,” leaving poor “these” for advanced learners.

7. Make/Do – In Spanish, the verb hacer means both “to make” and “to do.” This leads to sentences like “I make homework” as a native Spanish speaker learns their new language.

8. Pronunciation – Sure there are accent differences, but there are also a few very common pronunciation mistakes Spanish learners of English can make. Some tend to want to add an “e” to the beginning of words that start with s, making for words like “espaces” or “eschools.” Others forget or over-pronounce the “ed” on the ends of words, or have trouble mastering the “th” sound on words like “teeth.” (For fun, try pronouncing “teeth” without the “th” sound. You may not want to do this out loud.)

9. Shortened Contractions – Shortened contractions present another common pronunciation challenge. Native Spanish speakers will often forget to finish a contraction, resulting in “don” for “don’t” or “won” for “won’t.” What might at first sound like an accent difference will become more pronounced (no pun intended!) over time, so native Spanish speakers and their teachers should be on the lookout for this one!

10. Spelling – In Spanish, words are spelled exactly how they sound. They don’t have any of this “silent letter” nonsense found in English, nor do they have words that sound exactly the same but can be spelled three different ways. (We’re looking at you “buy/bye/by”). This can lead to native Spanish speakers trying to simplify English spelling in creative ways!

PREPOSITIONS

Prepositions of Place

Prepositions of place

Prepositions are difficult to understand as they don´t have a fixed meaning in Spanish. There are some expressions we have to learn by heart. We have already learnt expressions with "on", "in" and "at".
Here you have a picture to understand them in a better way:

Here you have a picture with some other prepositions:

Apart from these we have also learnt other prepositions such as:

far from                   .    ----------------------                 .
near to / close to        .  ----- .