Download essential grammar for senior students

ESSENTIAL GRAMMAR FOR SENIOR STUDENTS
PART I
UNIT I
PRESENT TENSES
1. PRESENT SIMPLE
FORM
I/you / we/ they work
He / she / it works.
I / you/ we / they do not work
He / she / it does not work.
Do I / you / we / they work?
Does he / she / it work?
USES
- presenting factual information, e.g. about company activities
Our company employs over 100,000 people, operates in many overseas markets, and
offers a wide-range of hi-tech products for the 21st century.
-
actions and situations which are generally true
Imperial Tobacco belongs to the Hanson group.
High taxation discourages investment.
We sell our products into many markets.
A good brand guarantees a certain level of quality to customers.
-
there are a number of verbs which are almost always used in the present simple
and not with - ing. These verbs usually refer to:
mental states: believe, doubt, forget, imagine, know, realize, recognize, regret,
remember, suppose, think, understand.
Likes and dislikes: admire, dislike, hate, like, love, want, wish.
Possession: belong to, contain, have, include, own, possess.
Appearance: appear, look like, resemble, seem.
Being: be, consist of, depend, exist.
Perception: hear, see, smell, taste.
-
Saying how often you or other people do things ( we usually use the present simple
with frequency adverbs):
I never smoke at work.
He plays golf every Sunday morning.
When she gets to the office she always checks her e-mail first.
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-
asking for and giving directions and instructions
How do I get to your office?
You turn left after the station, cross the bridge and it’s second building on your right.
Place the CD on the drive and click on the icon.
-
talking about timetables and scheduled events
The bus leaves at 8.35 tomorrow morning.
The exhibition opens on 25 January.
The legislation comes into force on 1 January.
( These actions are seen as fixed and the speaker is unlikely to be able to influence
them).
-
providing a summary or abstract at the beginning of a report
The first section of this report provides introductory comments, focuses on important
new developments and highlights some of the operations outside the United States.
The second section analyses the results for the group as a whole. The final two sections
address our consolidated cash flow and financial condition. The report concludes by
pointing out the need for further investment if the group is to continue its expansion
policy.
-
newspaper headlines ( the use of the present simple creates a sense of dramatic
impact).
Unilever sells coffee operations.
Russia doubles tea import duties.
PepsiCo link with Suntory.
Bank regulator blocks merger.
-
doing by saying ( We use the present simple with certain verbs which say what
their function is. When we say them we “perform” the action. For example, saying
“ I promise to meet you at the airport” is making a promise. Other examples
include:
I resign! I declare this meeting open. I admit I was wrong. I apologize. I
demand to see the manager. I advise you to look again at our proposal.
PRACTICE
1. Complete these sayings appropriately, using the following verbs: buy, believe,
believe, tend, promise, say, put, mean, talk.
1. Every time we ..... a foreign car we put someone else out of work.(Woodrow
Wyatt)
2. Money..... they.....; all it ever said to me was “Goodbye”. (Cary Grant)
3. Democracy .....government by discussion but it is only effective if you can stop
people talking. (Clement Attlee, British Prime Minister)
4. Politicians are the same all over. They .... to build a bridge even where there is no
river. (Khrushev)
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5. In a hierarchy every employee ...... to rise to his level of incompetence.( L.J.Peter)
6. Not all Germans .... in God, but they ....in the Bundesbank. (Jacques Delors)
2. Complete the introduction to this report, using the following verbs: highlight,
recommend, focus, call for, provide
This report...on the employment of women and children in a number of emerging
nations. In particular, it ..... the conditions endured by thousands of workers in places
where child labor, poverty wages and health risks are endemic. Each chapter..... an
analysis of the situation on a country-by-country basis.
The report .....that retailers should lay down tough rules to make sure overseas
suppliers pay sufficient wages to meet basic needs. It also.... companies to draw up a
code of conduct and employ inspectors to make manufacturers keep it.
3. Match the beginning and ends of the headlines.
a.
b.
c.
d.
e.
f.
Ford seeks to cut
Bourses slip
Sao Paulo debt crisis report
China renews attack
Pessimists foresee
Underwater venture needs
a.
b.
c.
d.
e.
f.
sends out shock waves
death of employment
on U.S. technology
backing to stay afloat
as dollar falls against yen
1bn IN COSTS
2. PRESENT PROGRESSIVE
FORM
I am working.
You / we /they are working
He / she / it is working
Am I working?
Are you / we / they working?
Is he / she / it working?
I am not working
You / we / they are not working
He / she / it is not working
USES
- talking about an event in progress at the moment of speaking
What are you doing? - I am trying to find a file.
I’m afraid Mr. Bansall can’t see you right now. He’s interviewing someone.
-
with the verbs of movement when the action has just started
I’m leaving. Can you tell Mary I’ll see her tomorrow?
Can I speak to John? - Sorry, he is out. No, hold on, he’s just coming down the corridor.
It’s 10 o’clock. I’m going to the canteen for lunch.
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-
describing current situations and ongoing projects
The time reference is at and around “now”, before and after the situations referred to.
But the situation may not be in progress literally at the exact moment of speaking.
We are waiting for permission to go ahead with the project.
Big Japanese companies are thinking again about uniform pay system.
My boss is dealing with your enquiry but you won’t get a rapid answer.
-
describing temporary situations ( when the present progressive is used in this way,
the situation described will not last permanently)
They are staying at the Crillon Hotel until the end of the week.
He’s working in Libya on a fixed-term contract.
They are offering a 20% discount for the duration of the trade fair.
-
changing, developing situations ( we use the present progressive to describe
changes which have not yet finished)
The number of people using the Internet is growing.
The Amason rainforest is disappearing at an alarming rate.
Consumers in the industrialized world are becoming increasingly concerned with healthy
living.
-
personal arrangements and plans ( we use the present progressive to refer to
future time when talking about the arrangements and fixed plans made before
the time of speaking. We often use a time expression unless we are sure that the
other people know we are talking about the future.
I’m seeing Mr. P. next weekend.
I’m taking the client to the best restaurant in town.
She’s got a new job so she’s leaving the firm in October.
-
talking about repeated actions
His daughter is taking diving lessons.
His wife is always telling him not to work so hard.
We are constantly monitoring our products for quality.
If we describe repeated situations using the present progressive with “always” , the
situation is often unplanned. Compare:
I always meet Marilin in the car park.( planned in advance)
I’m always meeting Marilin in the car park. ( by chance).
PRACTICE
1. Read these extracts about projects that various companies are currently involved in. Match
the extracts in column A with those in column B.
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A
B
a. Ford is aiming to corner 10% of car
Sales in the Asia –Pacific region within
the next 10 years.
a. The chief reforms are the elimination
of 900 jobs and the reduction of sales,
general and administrative expenses.
b. IBM in Europe chooses schools
with the technology to teach
collaboration, writes Della Bradshaw.
b. The firm is opting for external management training in a big way and is using
its purchasing power to push the business
schools involved into adopting the very
latest technology to deliver their courses.
c. Showa Shell Sekiyu and Cosmo Oil
are stepping up plans to cut costs and
improve cash flow.
c. After a slow start, the compact disc
version of the video cassette is now
selling well in North America.
d. The New Zealand government
has decided to sell the country’s
second-biggest electricity generator.
d. It currently has about 1% of the
region’s market but hopes
to significantly expand
its operations in China, Japan, Thailand
and India.
e. Sales of DVD video should take off
in Europe next year when nearly 500,000
players will be sold , according to a new
study.
e. It is seeking commercial advisers for
the sale of Contact Energy, which
produces 27% of the country’s energy
supply.
2. Which of these ideas do you associate with the present simple and which with the
present progressive?
1. regular activities...
2. temporary situations
3. fixed timetables
4. giving instructions
5. an event in progress
6. permanent and factual situations
7. a present arrangement for the future
8. mental states
9. trends and changing situations
10. doing by saying
Study these sentences and decide which example corresponds to each of 1-10 above.
a. I’m replacing Bill because he’s off sick.
b. The scheduled flight leaves next Monday at 8.15 from London.
c. The technician is mending the photocopier so you can’t use it now.
d. I’m seeing Bill Sykes tomorrow afternoon, I’ve got it in my diary.
e. The conference room measures 164 square metres.
f. I admit there has been a mistake.
g. I understand they have gone bankrupt.
h. Enter PIN number, select menu, choose language, press OK.
i. With the Internet the world is getting smaller.
j. We have a planning meeting once a month.
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3. Insert the present simple or present progressive.
1) Light...more quickly than sound (to travel).
2) I....deceitful; but I declare I ...you; I.... you the worst of anybody in the world. ( to be –
negative, to love-negative, to dislike).
3) He....best, who....last ( to laugh, to laugh).
4) I don’t interrupt people when they ....( to read).
5) I never .... him doing any work there, whenever I... . He .... behind a bit of glass all day.
( to see, to go in, to sit).
6) Actions .... louder than words( to speak).
7) Robert ...just now ... to my uncle, and they .... hands( to speak, to shake).
8) And now my written story ends. I look back , once more ,for the last time, before I
close these leaves. I ... myself with Agnes on my side, journeying along the road of life.
I ... our children and our friends around us and I ... the roar of many voices, not
indifferent to me as I travel on.( to see, to see, to hear).
9) I don’t feel the cold when I... with my children ( to play).
10) Every star ...its own orbit.(to have).
11) My tooth-brush is a thing that haunts me when I... and... my life a misery. (to travel, to
make).
12) This is Mr. Slush’s latest book. It... a wonderful sale( to have).
13) That’s the way she always ...(to talk).
14)I’m sure you’ll like him when you ... him( to see).
ENJOY YOURSELF
GRAMMAR IN RHYME
Three little words you often see,
Are Articles A, An and The.
A noun is the name of anything,
As School, or Garden, Hoop, or Swing.
Adjectives tell the kind of Noun,
As Great, Small, Pretty, White, or Brown.
Instead of Nouns the Pronouns stand,
Her head, His face, Your arm, My hand.
Verbs tell of something being doneTo read, Count, Laugh, Sing, Jump, or Run.
How things are done the Adverbs tell,
As Slowly, Quickly, Ill, or Well.
Conjunctions join the words togetherAs men And women, wind And weather.
The Preposition stands before
A noun , as In or Through a door.
The Interjection shows surprise, as Oh! How pretty! Ah! How wise!
The whole are called nine parts of speech
Which reading, writing, speaking teach.
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UNIT II
PAST TENSES
1.PAST SIMPLE
FORM
I/you/ he/ she/ it/ we they worked.
I/you/ he/ she/ it/ we/ they did not work.
Did I/ you/ he/ she/ it/ they work?
I/ he/ she/ it was late.
You/ we/ they were late.
Was I/ he/ she/ it late?
Were you/ we/ they late?
USES
-
talking about completed actions that happened in the past
Graham bell invented the telephone.
“Did you read the contract? “ “ Yes, and I sent it back to the legal department”.
-
referring to a definite moment or period in the past
I met the president yesterday.
I spoke to them an hour ago.
Ted Turner launched CNN in 1980.
The standard of living in Europe went up during the 1960s.
Did you discuss the problem at the last week’s meeting?
-
describing something, e.g. the history of the company
When George Eastman introduced the first Kodak camera in 1888, he wanted to supply the
tools of photography at the lowest possible price to the greatest number of people. The rapid
growth of his business made the large- scale production a necessity. The creation of ingenious
tools and processes for manufacturing film enabled the Eastman company to turn out highquality merchandise at prices that put them within the reach of the general public.
-
in reports, e.g. a company’s annual report.
( The past simple is used in annual reports when they refer back to the previous year’s trading:)
Last year was a tough year for our group. On the one hand, we earned more than a billion
dollars, we generated record cash flow and many of our businesses posted big gains in sales,
profit and market share. On the other hand, our total earnings declined, our overseas
subsidiaries experienced major problems and our US production facilities underperformed.
PRACTICE
1. Complete each paragraph using the verbs in brackets( have, say, begin, introduce,
open)
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In 1985 Simon Bell .... his computer business at the University of Southampton. In 1987 his
company ..... the Z5000 machine which the magazine PC Journal.... “may become the next
industry benchmark”. The following year he.... an office in the United States and soon
....offices in 28 countries.
(amount, decide, employ, run, go )
In 1989 Bell.... public. By now the firm ....750 people and sales .... to over $159 million. Then
two years later employees .... to celebrate 1 April by hanging a giant inflatable banana outside
company headquarters, the first of many publicity stunts. On another occasion the CEO .... the
London marathon.
( set up, launch, total, offer )
In 1992 Bell .... free installations software as a standard option and in 1993 ... the low-priced
Explorer PCs, one of the most highly praised systems in the industry. In 1996 Bell.... an
Internet computer store, through its website www.bell.com. Last year sales .... more than
$10million a day.
2.Complete the annual report choosing from the following verbs. There are more verbs than
necessary. ( delay, choose, improve, give, make, stabilise, hinder )
Last year the international situation in the hydrocarbons industry ... to some extent. However,
the volatile foreign exchange rates.......currency management more difficult and relatively
weak demand.... expansion projects. We therefore ...to focus our efforts on specific
opportunities where our know-how .... us a technical advantage over particularly aggressive
competition. As a result we propose doubling our dividend.
2.PAST PROGRESSIVE
FORM
I was working
You/ we/ they were working
He/ she/ it was working
Was I working?
Were you/ we/ they working?
Was he/ she/ it working?
I was not working.
You/ we/they were not working.
He/ she/ it was not working.
USES
-
emphasizing the duration or continuity of a past event
He was working on the report all day long.
During the 1990s computer scientists were trying to deal with the millennium bug.
-
describing a background event
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( We use the past progressive to describe an event which was in progress when it was
interrupted by another one. The second, shorter event, is in the past simple.)
I was just leaving the office when he arrived.
We were talking about safety procedures when the fire alarm went off.
-
for repeated events
He was visiting clients all last week and didn’t come to the office.( a number of different
clients).
Last month we were having a lot of problems with the production line. ( a number of different
problems).
(However , the past progressive is not normally used for the same action which is repeated, or
for habitual past actions.)
The production line stopped five times yesterday.
When I was at business school we often worked on case studies.
-
making polite requests
I was wondering if you could give me a lift downtown.
( There is no idea of past time here. The past verb form is a polite formula and makes the
request less direct.)
for events planned in the past which did not take place.
I was planning to visit the exhibition but I went to the football match instead.
She was going to phone them yesterday but didn’t have time.
PRACTICE
1. Read the following passage and choose where to insert these sentences.
a) Magazines such as “Fortune” and “Business Week” were all mocking him.
b) But it is true that Jobs was still losing money. In the early 1990s he was going
bankrupt at an alarming rate.
c) Pixar Animation Inc. was also bleeding cash fast.
d) His two businesses, Next ( a computer firm) and Pixar ( a computer animation
company) were rapidly going bankrupt.
Entrepreneurs can go through long periods of bad luck and fall on hard times. Steve Jobs, the
founder of Apple, is one of those people. Since enjoying tremendous success in the 1980s he
spent 11 years of humiliating failure.
After he was sacked by Apple, he lost millions of dollars by selling his shares at the wrong
time. ................ . Next had spent $180 million of its shareholders’ money and had nothing to
show for it. ........... .
For five years the criticism from the business press was universal and deafening. ................... .
The writer called Randall Stross published a book called ‘Steve Jobs and the Next Big Thing’
which accused him, among other things, of fostering false optimism on successes that didn’t
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exist and having no financial know-how. It was a humiliating attack. ............... . By 1995 he
had lost $200m out of fortune of $300m.
Now all that is behind him. Pixar now makes animated movies in partnership with Disney. Toy
Story was the third –highest earning animation of all time and the launch of the iMac was a
huge success. We haven’t heard the last of Mr. Jobs.
3. PAST PERFECT SIMPLE
FORM
I/ you/ they/ we had worked.
He/ she/ it had worked.
Had I/ you/ we/ they worked?
Had he/ she/ it worked?
I/ you/ we/ they had not worked.
He/ she/ it had not worked.
USES
-
talking about events that happened before other events
(In this extract the events in bold type refer to an earlier past)
had climbed into the dryer = before the accident
his employer had not given him proper training = before the accident
had been an unlawful killing = before the trial
had died = before the trial
Paul Bennett was killed after he had climbed into a giant industrial tumble dryer to free a
piece of cloth trapped inside. The machine started incidentally and he was spun to death at heat
of 43 C. It became evident that his employer had not given him proper training and a jury
decided that there had been an “unlawful killing” – it was satisfied beyond reasonable doubt
that Mr. Bennett had died as a result of manslaughter.
-
with “I wish”, “if only” and “I’d rather”
( we use the past perfect to talk about events that did not happen)
I wish I had been more interested in English at school.
If only I had bought those shares; they’ve gone up 27%.
I’d rather he’d asked me before taking my car.
( In the negative the sentence expresses a regret for events that did take place)
He wishes he hadn’t left his previous job. ( but he did).
-
emphasizing the recent nature and/or duration of actions
( if we want to focus on continuous activity taking place in an earlier past we use the
progressive form)
They had been testing the drug for years before it came onto the market.
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She had to take a break because she’d been working far too hard.
PRACTICE
1. Read the CV and complete the sentences about Susan George using these verbs.( develop,
market, be, obtain, spend).
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Before she went to Lancaster University, Susan......three “A» levels.
Before she got her degree in biology, she......three years in Lancaster.
Before she joined Fisons, she ....... on a marketing course.
Before she worked at Rootes AgriTech, she ....... disease-resistant rice plants.
Before she became a product Manager at Boots, she ...... . remedies for Alzheimer’s
disease.
2. Susan has been relatively successful but things didn’t always turn out as she hoped.
Change the verb form in brackets.
1.
2.
3.
4.
She wishes she .....(get) better”A”level grades.
She wishes she ......(to obtain) a distinction at degree level.
She wishes she ......(do) a doctorate.
She wishes the marketing course ......(last) longer than eight weeks.
4.PAST PERFECT PROGRESSIVE
FORM
I/ you/ we/ they had been working
working?
He/ she/ it had been working
Had I/ you/ we/ they been
Had he/ she/ it been working?
I/ you/ we/ they had not been working
He/ she/ it had not been working.
USES
-
talking about events that happened before other events
( Like the past perfect simple the past perfect progressive looks back to an event that took
place before another past event. The main difference is that the progressive form emphasizes
the duration of the first event. So, we normally use the progressive with an expression
indicating how long: for over an hour, for a long time, since 1999, etc.
I’d been trying to get through for over an hour before someone answered the phone.
He’d been thinking of going abroad for a long time and then he got a post in Singapore.
Before they closed down the subsidiary, it had been losing money for years.
-
finished and unfinished activities
Compare:
a) When I last saw her she’d been planning a new sales strategy.
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b) When I last saw her she’d planned a new sales strategy.
In sentence (a) the planning may or may not have been completed; we don’t know whether the
new strategy was abandoned or not.
In sentence (b) it is clear that the planning had reached an end-point.
Note that we do not use the progressive form with verbs describing permanent states,
perception, etc.
The man who said there was no future in computers hadn’t understood their significance.
PRACTICE
1. Complete the following sentences using either the past perfect simple or progressive.
1. My flight from Sydney arrived late because there .......(be) a bomb alert before the
plane took off. When we finally left we ...... (wait) for over five hours.
2. I............(work) hard all year so I felt I needed a rest.
3. I ..........(See) the designs before they went on show but they .......( not impress) me.
4. When I bough my BIP shares, their value .......(fall) for some time.
5. The merchant bank didn’t know that one of their traders......(hide) huge losses.
6. The employee was dismissed because he .........(steal) company property ever since he
was taken on.
7. It took me 20 minutes to realize I ......(look) in the wrong file.
2. Read the extract about Marcel Bich’s early career and complete the sentences. If it is
not possible to use the past perfect progressive, use the simple form.
Marcel Bich set up in business in 1949 and created France’s most successful company and its
third best-known brand after Dior and Chanel.
He was educated in Italy as a child, followed by two years at the Lycee Francais in Madrid. He
completed his secondary education in Bordeaux where he received the nickname “Baron” – a
title that he carried for the rest of his life. At 18, he began selling torches door-to-door and
later said that this experience was critical to his entrepreneurial success. At university he
studied mathematics and philosophy and after graduation began work as a production manager
for an office machine company. He then joined Stephens, a large French pen manufacturer, as
a production executive, but the Second World War interrupted his career and when it was over
he decided he wanted to set up on his own.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Before he died in 1994 he.......(create) France’s most successful company.
Before going to Bordeaux he .....(study) in Italy and Spain.
Before he went to university, he ......(sell) torches door-to-door.
Prior to becoming a production manager he .......(study) maths and philosophy.
Before the Second World War he (work) for Stephens as a production executive.
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UNIT III
COMBINING PAST AND PRESENT
1. PRESENT PERFECT SIMPLE
FORM
I/ you/ we/ they have worked
He/ she/ it has worked
Have I/ you/ we/ they worked?
Has he/ she/ it worked?
I/ you/ we/ they have not worked
He/ she/ it has not worked
USES
-
talking about recent results of past actions
( In this extract the impact of information technology over the last few years is described in
terms of its present significance.)
It has shaken up company structures just as much as external markets, says Vanessa Houlder.
To enthusiasts, information technology is forging a productivity revolution. It has changed not
just the nature of the markets and competition. Inside companies, it has changed behavior. It
has broken down the barriers of geography and time. It has flattened organizational
structures, eliminating vast numbers of jobs, while making others more demanding and
effective.
-
announcing news
( the use of the present perfect focuses on the current relevance)
Our fax number has changed.
We’ve just lowered our prices.
They have updated their website.
The government has announced a decrease in corporation tax.
Telecom Italia has asked its chief executive to complete negotiations over the company’s
plans to participate in a new digital pay TV system.
-
with time adverbs
( We use the present perfect simple to say how long a situation
lasted up to the moment of speaking).
that began in the past has
He’s been vice-president for 10 years.
He’s had the same job since 1996.
She’s always been a creative person.
-
talking about life experiences
He’s done many jobs in his time. He’s sold encyclopedias, he’s been a journalist, he’s worked
in a shoe factory and now he’s a trade unionist.
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(There is no focus here on when he did these things in the past. Only the experiences are
important).
-
with expressions referring to “time up to now”
Have you ever visited Beijing? ( ever = at any previous time up to now)
I’ve never seen the Niagara Falls. ( never = at no previous time up to now)
I’ve already had a word with Bruce. ( already = before now)
Hasn’t she yet decided what to do next? ( yet = until the present time)
We’ve had a good year so far. ( so far = up until now)
We’ve grown rapidly over the last few years. ( = recent years up until now).
-
after “ this is the first /second time”
This is the first time we have (ever) received a complaint.
It’s only the second time we’ve met.
-
referring to a completed event in the future after “when”, “ as soon as”, etc.
I can’t make a decision if I haven’t received all the data.
I’ll phone you when I’ve received confirmation.( or “when I receive”)
I won’t make a decision until I have spoken to the principal.( or “until I speak”)
I’ll leave as soon as I’ve finished.( or” as soon as I finish”.
PRACTICE
1. Choose between the past simple and the present perfect.
Stella McCartney, Paul McCartney’s daughter, joined/ has joined the troubled Paris fashion
house Chloe barely a year ago. It took/has taken her just one year to reverse its fortunes.
Previously Chloe was/has been virtually invisible as a major force in the world of fashion. But
almost single-handedly she transformed/ has transformed Chloe into the most talked about
fashion brand in the world. She increased/has increased sales fivefold. Paris didn’t see/hasn’t
seen anything like it since the young Yves St Laurent took/has taken the city by storm 30 years
ago.
When she was/has been appointed it was /has been clear she knew/has known what she
had/has had to do. “ I want to bridge the gap between consumers and the press. At the moment
fashion is just sort of stuck in the middle”.
So far, Stella stuck/has stuck to her philosophy of avoiding outrageous and uncommercial
catwalk creations. She kept/has kept to the simple philosophy of designing clothes that she or
her friends would want to wear. As her best friends are Kate Moss, Naomi Kampbell and
Yasmin le Bon, it also brings her big publicity.
2. Complete these announcements, read out today during a radio programme called “Business
in Action”. Complete each one, using these verbs in either the past simple or the present
perfect. ( agree, buy, give, issue, slump)
In a gigantic deal, BRITISH AMERICAN TOBACCO, the world’s second-largest
international cigarette maker, ....... to take over ROTHMANS ( the fourth-largest) for $8.7
billion.
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Shares in MARKS AND SPENCES, Britain’s biggest retailer,....... by more than 10% in the
last 24 hours after the firm ..... a profits warning.
Europe’s postal market is becoming increasingly competitive. Only weeks after the British
government ...... the state-controlled POST OFFICE greater commercial freedom, it .......
Germany’s third-largest private carrier. GERMAN PARCEL has a big distribution network
and a large stake in GENERAL PARCEL, which operates Europe-wide.
3.Look at Christopher Harvey’s CV and ask and answer questions using the present perfect
or past simple when appropriate.
EDUCATION
1997-1999
1993-1996
Master’s Degree in Financial Administration
Project: setting up an import company in Spain
Business Studies, Henley Management School
Project: market survey of perfume sales in France, Spain and
Italy
EMPLOYMENT
1996-1998
1994-1995
Steelcase Straford (Spain)
Marketing assistant reporting to the marketing director. I was in
charge of a dealer development programme involving five other
members of staff, responsible for the creation of a mail order
catalogue sent to 5,000 customers, creating a database on
competing products and planning roadshows for the launch of
new products.
American Cyanamid(Spain)
Export assistant in charge of order processing, customs
clearance, dealing with delivery delays.
LANGUAGES
Spanish: fluent
English :fluent
COMPUTER LITERACY
Windows, Microsoft Office, QuarkXpress, Photoshop.
Examples:
Live abroad?
Has he ever lived abroad? Yes, he has. He has lived in Spain for a number of years.
Study economics?
Has he ever studied economics? No, he hasn’t, but he studied finance.
Be in charge of the team?
Set up a business?
Have direct sales experience?
Use Excel?
Organise exhibitions?
Deal with export procedures?
15
4.Sort these words into two categories: Used with the present perfect and with the past
simple.
Ago, yet, lately, since, last year, over the last two years, for the past three weeks, yesterday, at
3 o’clock, during the 1990s.
5.Choose the correct adverbs.
1. I’ve yet/already/ so far spoken to Peter about it.
2. We’ve made a lot of progress over the past three years/ since three years/ during three
years.
3. We set up two years ago/ during the 1970s/ over the last two years.
3. PRESENT PERFECT PROGRESSIVE
FORM
I/you / we/ they have been working
working?
He/ she/ it has been working
Have I/ you/ we/ they been
Has he/ she/ it been working?
I/ you/ we/ they have not been working
He/she/ it has not been working
USES
-
talking about continuous activities
( We use the present perfect progressive when the focus is on an extended period of time. The
situation or activity started in the past and has been in progress for a period until now.)
Exports have been growing steadily over the past six months.
Foreign earnings have been moving ahead to record levels.
(The above situations are incomplete; the present perfect simple, on the other hand, tells us that
the action has finished.)
Compare:
I’ve been reading your proposal.
She’s been checking the calculations.
( the focus is on the activities)
I’ve read your proposal.
She’s checked the calculations.
( the focus is on their completion)
-
talking about the effect of recent events
“Why are your hands so dirty?” “I’ve been trying to repair my car all afternoon”.
“You look tired.” “ I am. I’ve been working on the report all day”.
(What is important is the present result or evidence of this activity- in the first example, his
hands are dirty; in the second , he looks tired.
-
talking about repeated actions
16
Compare:
Have you seen my wife? (I am looking for her).
Have you been seeing my wife? ( I suspect you’re both having an affair).
(But we cannot use –ing if we specify the number of occasions or quantity)
I’ve been playing a lot of golf recently.
I’ve played golf twice this week.
I’ve written 15 pages today.
PRACTICE
1. Answer these questions with reference to your own situation.
1)What projects have you been working on recently?
2)Who have you been working with?
3)What have you been trying to do, but not yet succeeded in doing?
2. What explanations could there be for the following?
1) Thomas always looks worried and in a hurry. He also finds it difficult to sleep
at night.
................ He’s been working too hard...........
2)There are fewer knives and forks in the canteen than a month ago.
.......................................................................
3)Top secret company information often gets reported in the press.
............................................................................
4)A lot of dead fish have been found in the river next to the chemical plants.
..............................................................................
5)Pamela was unable to speak any Spanish on her last trip to Madrid but now she can.
..............................................................................
3. Complete each of these sentences , using the present perfect simple or progressive.
1. How long (you/wait)?
.......................................................
2. I (play) tennis four times this week.
.......................................................
3. Look outside. It(rain); the pavement’s still wet.
.......................................................
4. “You look tired”. “I (drive) all day long”.
.....................................................................
5. I(know) John since we were at school together.
......................................................................
6. The government (announce) a drop in unemployment.
........................................................................
7. I(read) a book on negotiating skills but I don’t think I’ll finish it.
.........................................................................
17
8. He (work) as a consultant for three different firms in the same sector of activity; I think
there’s conflict of interest and he should resign.
.........................................................................
9. He (work) as a consultant for three different firms in the same sector of activity, but he
was fired from the first two.
.........................................................................
ENJOY YOURSELF
TWENTY SIX LETTERS
Twenty-six cards in half a pack;
Twenty-six weeks in half a year;
Twenty-six letters dressed in black
In all the words you ever will hear.
Think of the beautiful things you see
On mountain, riverside, meadow and tree.
How many their names are, but how small
The twenty-six letters that spell them all.
UNIT IV
THE FUTURE
FORM 1
There are a number of ways of making reference to future time. These include:
Present progressive:
Going to:
I’m seeing Kamil tomorrow.
We’re going to discuss the new secret deal.
Present simple:
Will:
His plane gets to Heathrow at 12.45.
It will probably arrive late owing to air traffic congestion.
Future perfect simple:
I’ll have arranged his hotel accommodation by then.
Future progressive:
He’ll be staying at the Mansion House Hotel.
Be + Infinitive:
You are to tell nobody of our discussions.
USES
- talking about plans or arrangements
( We can talk about plans using the present progressive)
I’m meeting Mr. Wong next week. He’s arriving on Tuesday.
-
talking about present intentions
18
( We use going to rather than will for plans, decisions and firm intentions).
She is going to leave in a month’s time. ( Avoid “She will leave...”)
When are you going to visit us next? (= When do you intend.....?)
How much money are you going to offer? (= have you decided to offer)
In general , we prefer a present form when the future event involves some sort of present plan,
intention or arrangement. We prefer will when we are not focusing on a present idea.
Compare:
He’s going to take early retirement. (present intention/arrangement)
He’s taking early retirement. He’ll have a lot more free time. (future situation).
- making predictions
(To make a prediction we can use either will or going to)
I’m sure you will/are going to enjoy your visit to our head Office.
( We use going to when there is present external evidence for a future event and will when we
state our own intuitions)
Look at those clouds – it’s going to rain.
I expect he’ll want to stay in the best hotel.( I know what kind of person he is).
- will is used to make a commitment for the future
“Could you lend me $50? I’ll pay you back tomorrow”.
I don’t know if I can finish the job by Friday but I’ll do my best.
- will is used (usually contracted to ‘ll ) when an offer is made at the moment of
speaking.
“ Are you going? I’ll give you a lift to the station if you like”.
“I haven’t got any means of transport”. “Don’t worry, I’ll lend you my car”.
-
for a future event based on an official calendar or schedule we use the present
simple. The event is unlikely to change between now and then.
The train leaves from Waterloo at 17.45.
Our next planning meeting is on Wednesday.
-
for events that will be finished before a time in future we use the future perfect
simple.
By the time they arrive we will have gone home.
At the end of the year we will have recovered our initial investment.
-
we use the future progressive to describe situations which will arise in the future if
things go on as predicted and follow their expected patterns.
No doubt the unions will be asking for more money.
She’ll be retiring at the end of the year.
Over the next few years the average temperature will be rising.
19
-
if an event is still in progress at a future time we use the progressive form.
This time next year I’ll be lying on a beach in the Bahamas.
During the seminar you’ll be learning about negotiation strategies.
(The future progressive is also used to talk about arrangements)
During your visit you’ll be staying at the Plaza hotel and meeting the commercial attache.
You’ll also be visiting some of the most important potential clients.
-
the future progressive can be used to ask questions without giving the impression
that we want to influence or direct people’s actions. Compare:
Will you be staying for dinner? ( an enquiry about plans)
Will you stay for dinner? ( a request)
-
in time clauses and conditional clauses after if, when, until, as soon as we use the
present simple to refer to the future. It is incorrect to use will in this case.
If you give us a discount we’ll place the bulk order.
Switch off the lights when you leave.
We won’t begin until everyone arrives.
I’ll give you a ring as soon as I get there.
-
if a condition has to be met before something else can happen, we use the present
perfect to refer to the future event in the time and conditional clauses beginning
with if, when, until, as soon as.
I’ll send you a fax when I’ve made all the arrangements.
I can’t go if I haven’t obtained a visa.
We won’t make a decision until we have consulted everyone.
I’ll get back to you as soon as I’ve spoken to my boss.
-
the infinitive is used to make an official announcement.
Lear Corporation is to axe 2,800 jobs.
The President is to visit Iran next month.
(The verb “to be” is often omitted in newspaper headlines).
Bonn to speed cut in corporate taxes.
Central America to get $6bn aid.
PRACTICE
1. These forecasts were made by the “Financial Times” at the beginning of 1999. Match
the questions to the answers. Did the predictions come true?
1. Which science will make the news?
2. Will PCs start talking?
3. Will international telephone calls cost less ?
20
4. Will recession hit the UK?
a) Yes. The Treasury’s forecast of 1 – 1.5% growth in 1999 will turn out to have
been too optimistic and economic activity will slow abruptly in the early part of
1999 as companies shed excess stocks of unsold goods.
b) Yes. As the world’s telecommunications markets open up, newcomers are using
price to take market share from the domestic operator.
c) The past year has been dominated by biomedical stories: genes, clones and
embrio research. No doubt they will hit the headlines again but there is a good
chance that physics, space and astronomy will get more media attention.
d) More potent microprocessors and further improvements in the various voice
and other technologies underlying computer “speech” will gradually enable PCs
to handle more complex tasks including speech. It probably will not be long
before computers speak rather than display messages.
2. How could you offer to help in these situations?
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
It’s really hot and stuffy there.
I don’t understand this English and need translating.
This desk is too heavy. I can’t move it.
Damn! I’ve missed the last bus.
I don’t know how I’m going to find time to prepare any slides.
3. Look at the timetable and ask the questions which elicit the following answers.
London Heathrow – Birmingham
Depart Arrive
Flight No.
.
10.40
11.25
BA 3277
11.40
12.25
BA 3287
London-Heathrow - Manchester
Depart
Arrive Flight No
10.55
11.55
11.55
12.55
BA 3266
BA 3276
1...........................................................................................................................
at 12.25
2..........................................................................................................................
An hour
4. You may not agree with these predictions but you can choose the right verb from
anyway. Choose between future perfect and future perfect progressive.
1. By 2020 the first men.................(land) on the planet Mars.
2. In the next 100 years, the Netherlands.......................(disappear) under water.
3. In the second decade of the 21st century people..............(eat) more genetically modified
food.
4. By 2030 Chinese ....................(become) the language of international scientific
communication.
5. Many people................(live) to over 100 as medical science advances.
5. A group of travel agents has been invited by a tour operator on a familiarization trip so
that they can find out more about the holidays they sell. Look at the itinerary and
complete the tour description using the future progressive.
21
Itinerary of a Group of Travel Agents on the Familiarization Trip Accomplished by a
Tour Operator
North India Tour
Day 1.
BA flight London Gatwick – New Delhi;
Check-in at Whispering Palms Hotel
Day 2
Exploration of ancient walled city of Old Delhi; visit to Jama Masjid, the largest
mosque in India
Day 3
Travel by coach to the deserted red sandstone city of Fatehpur Sikri
Day 4
Shopping in Agra; Taj Mahal at sunset
Day 5
return journey to New Delhi and return flight via Goa.
On the first day you’ll be flying British Airways to New Delhi. On arrival there’ll be a short
tour of the city with its wide boulevards and impressive government buildings. We will be
staying at the Whispering Palms, which is a pleasant four-star hotel. The next day we will be
exploring the city of Old Delhi and visiting Jama Masjid, the biggest mosque in India. Then on
the third day we will be taking a coach to Fatehpur Sikri, built by the Emperor Akbar as his
capital. We check into a hotel and the next day, after some shopping in the bazaar, we will be
visiting the Taj Mahal at sunset, the best time to see it in its full splendor. On the Friday we
will to Delhi for a flight to Goa Airport and transfer to another hotel for a rest before flying
back to London.
6. Complete these sentences using appropriate verb forms.( There may be more than one
possible answer).
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
I..............(get) in touch when I...........(return) from the Middle East.
If they...................(shut down) the plant, a lot of people ............(lose) their jobs.
We..........(start) until everyone .............(be) here.
He can’t make a decision until he.............(see) the president.
A project to create a bacterial cell from inanimate chemicals ..........(go ahead) as soon
as it ..........(receive) approval from an ethics committee.
7. Write suitable headlines for the first lines of these articles.
1. Bill Gates, chief executive of Microsoft, the world’s largest software company, has
announced initiatives to improve the group’s MSN website.
2. BMW has announced that it will now go ahead with $2.7 billion project to replace
Rover’s 200 and 400 models.
ENJOY YOURSELF
SOUNDS AND LETTERS
When the English tongue we speak,
Why is “break” not rhymed with “weak”?
Will you tell me why it’s true,
22
We say “sew”, but likewise “few”?
And the maker of a verse
Can’t rhyme his “horse” and “worse”.
“Beard” sounds not the same as “heard”,
“Cord” is different from a “word”.
“cow” is “cow” , but “low” is “low”,
“Shoe” is never rhymed with “toe”.
Wherefore “done”, but “gone” and “lone”,
Is there any reason known?
And in short it seems to me
Sounds and letters disagree.
UNIT V
REVISION OF TENSES
Exercise 1. Comment on the use of Present Simple, Present Progressive, Present Perfect
Simple and Present Perfect progressive.
1. Cousin Feenix rises, when the company have breakfasted and the servants have left
the room.
2. General is sitting in his library chair and his friend is sitting opposite him.
3. Gerald, if you are going away with Lord Illingworth, go at once. Go before it kills me.
But don’t ask me to meet him.
4. “You’ve lived here for about forty years, haven’t you?” said Devra.
5. My dear, I have been looking for you everywhere.
6. As she turns to go, she finds that Bella has entered and is staring at her and her father
with impassive hatred.
7. Bella is a Negro woman of fifty who has been in the Langton home for twenty-four
years and thus occupies a favored position.
8. When I’ve taken off my things we shall go into the next room and have tea.
9. “Tootie can’t get to sleep,” Agnes said. “I’ve been telling her stories and telling her
stories and she just can’t go to sleep”.
10. This will be the death of her when she hears it.
11. You have told my learned friend that you have known Mr.Pickwick a long time.
12. He is always breaking the law.
13. But I’m only being honest with you.
14. “I beg your pardon, Sir, but I think there have been trespasses here today. They have
been dining here, I think.”
15. I beg that you won’t make me giggle at tea if they haven’t all finished and gone out.
Though we have not known him long, he is no stranger in this part of the world; and
who has ever spoken to his disadvantage?
16. If I have the time to spare, I should like to walk once by the house where I took leave
of him.
17. Years have passed since we began this life.
18. I determined on retiring to some quiet pretty neighborhood in the vicinity of London. I
saw a house, which exactly suited my fancy: I have taken it and furnished it.
19. I cannot imagine why I’ve lived thirty years with a man I dislike so much.
20. I have just been telling him that we must have you down at Christmas.
23
21. We’ve been going to pictures about twice a week ever since.
22. I’ve flown a kite every Saturday afternoon ever since I was a kid, and I’m going to fly
a kite as long as ever I want to.
23. I know this is an old story, I don’t understand it myself and I set it down in black
and white it is only with a faint hope that when I have written it I may get a clearer
view of it.
24. Who is coming to tea?
25. You have been dancing, you are heated.
26. I’ve been telling you for how many years, that you are one of the most opinionated and
obstinate of women.
Exercise 2. Comment on the use of Past Simple, Past Progressive, Past Perfect Simple
and Past Perfect Progressive.
1. The cook used to snatch away the letters from home, before she had read them.
2. At one o’clock that night Mrs. Smith came down from the third floor, where she had
been unpacking Lon’s things.
3. We thought you must be dreadfully learned by now. You were always doing your
lessons.
4. After the girls went upstairs, Mrs. Smith got up and walked slowly through the dining
room into the kitchen. I saw that it was 2 o’clock. We had been sitting there an hour
and a half.
5. It had long been dark when Arthur rang at the front door of the great house .
6. Mr.Tupman and Mr. Snodgrass had seated themselves at the back part of the coach;
Mr.Winkle had got inside; and Mr.Pickwick was preparing to follow him, when Sam
Weller came up to his master
7. Every Sunday morning Ethel would read aloud while Ma Parker did her washing.
8. As he was in dinner dress Fanny asked where he had been dining.
9. Elsa was talking very loudly as she entered the room. I thought she was behaving
badly.
10. To take off her boots or to put them on was an agony for her, but it had been an agony
for years.
Here I saw this man, whom I had lost sight of some time; for I had been traveling in
the provinces.
11. My father was forty and had been a widower for fifteen years.
12. He spoke gently and raised his face to smile at her. It was then she saw that he had
been crying.
13. I suddenly felt angry with my father: he was being incredibly rude.
14. The moment the noise seized, she glided from the room; ascended the stairs with
incredible softness and silence and was lost in the gloom above.
15. It was about half past ten and Tootie had sung her entire repertoire of songs.
16. When Cowperwood reached the jail, Jasper was there.
17. Susan Nipper stood opposite to her young mistress one morning, as she folded and
sealed a note she had been writing.
18. The whole party arrived in safety at the Bush before Mr.Pickwick had recovered his
breath.
19. He had scarcely had time to form this conclusion, when a window above stairs was
thrown up.
20. A poor old man , who had once been an actor, used to come to us twice a week.
21. He was quite alone. Ethel had disappeared into the distant dining-room.
24
22. The clouds which had been threatening all day already yielded large drops of rain.
23. He had sat down with a child on his knees and was helping her to put the flowers in
order.
24. He had left the piano and was joining the others on the lawn.
25. George made no answer and we found that he had been asleep for some time.
26. Some years ago, when I was the Editor of a Correspondence Column, I used to receive
heartbroken letters from young men asking for advice and sympathy.
Exercise 3. Insert the Present Simple, Present Progressive, Present Perfect Simple and
Present Perfect progressive.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
I want to see how much he......since I saw him last(to change).
....you....any word from him since she left him? (hear)
He ....out of work for three months(to be).
Here’s my keys. I.....(to leave).
I requested them to suspend their decision until they....... my narrative(to read).
If I ..... still he will never see me(to sit).
I ....never really...... for fairy-tales(to care).
I must not let my eyes get all red and swollen, or Henry’ll know I....(to cry).
The sun...... with different degrees of heating power in different parts of the world(to
shine).He says he...... to the same tunes for fifteen years (to listen).
10. What are we going to say to the king when he .....(to come).
11. I can’t go to my brother while he...... his present life ( to lead).
12. You....here two weeks,......you..... your opinion of the South(to be, to change).
13. I..... Mr.Grandcourt has two places of his own
(to hear).
14. I..... happy. I .....always....happy.(to be, to be).
Exercise 4. Insert the Past Simple, Past Progressive, Past Perfect Simple and Past Perfect
Progressive.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
He .... no sooner ..... the rooms than he ..... to engage them ( to see, to decide).
His eyes opened wearily when his wife and children..... the bed ( to approach).
He rose to his feet, he......on the edge of the desk ( to sit).
He told me that an American Signore ....... there for three months.( to stay)
It was true that we...... one another almost intimately for five and twenty years.( to
know).
6. She .... mortally with my husband only ten minutes ago ( to quarrel).
7. He .....scarcely ..... outside the door when he heard Wardle’s voice talking loudly (to
get).
8. Susan thought that her father looked years older than when she ..... last.....him in the
Easter holidays.( to see)
9. He ran his fingers along the smooth surface of the key. He..... the front door with it for
almost twenty-one years.( to open).
10. A few seconds after the stranger .... to lead Mrs.Budger to her carriage, he darted
swiftly from the room (to disappear).
11. It was in this direction that her mind..... when her father sent for her to come to him in
his room. He...... home from his office early in the afternoon and by good luck found
her in. She ....no desire to go out into the world these last few days ( to run, to come, to
have).
12. He.... about half an hour ago ( to arrive).
25
13. I do not stop to say what adventures he began to imagine, or what career to devise for
himself before he .... three miles from home ( to ride).
14. The sun .... a long way up and it .... to get really hot( to move, to begin).
15. When she .... alone for a few minutes , her strength began to come back.( to be).
16. Mr. Smith .... in a chair by the wide living-room window and .... a cigar from his
pocket ( to sit down, to take).
Exercise 5. Insert the Future Simple, Future Progressive, Future Perfect.
I haven’t visited the place yet. I..... there tomorrow.(to go)
Our train starts at 8 p.m. tomorrow, so if you come at 5 o’clock we .... still...(to pack).
At 4 o’clock tomorrow we..... packing and by 6 we ....with ease. (to begin, to finish).
......you..... dinner by the time I come back?(to have)
Ring me up at 11, I .... yet ( to sleep –negative).
I..... on my round by the time you go, so I’ll say good-bye to you now ( to start out).
“I think you ....him”, said Elinor,” when you know more of him”.(to like)
“Shall we go downstairs and meet the man?” “Let us stay here; he... at our door in a
moment, you will see,” said Sylviane ( to knock).
9. I shall need you. I .... my breast stroke by tomorrow ( to forget).
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
ENJOY YOURSELF
The English Language
We’ll begin with box and the plural is boxes,
But the plural of ox should be oxen, not oxes.
The one fowl is a goose, but two are called geese,
yet the plural of mouse should never be meese.
You may find one mouse, or a whole nest of mice,
But the plural of house is houses not hice.
If the plural of man is always called men,
Why shouldn’t the plural of pan be called pen?
The cow in the plural may be cows or kine,
But a bow, if repeated, is never called bine;
And the plural of vow is vows, never vine.
If I speak of a foot, and you show me your feet,
And I give you a boot, would a pair be called beet?
If one is a tooth and a whole set are teeth,
Why shouldn’t the plural of booth be called beeth?
If the singular is this and the plural is these,
Should the plural of kiss ever be nicknamed keese?
26
Than one may be that and three would be those,
Yet hat in the plural would never be hose,
And the plural of cat is cats, not cose.
WE speak of a brother and also of brethren,
But though we say mother, we never say methren
Then the masculine pronounces are he, his, him.
But imagine the feminine she, shis and shim.
So English, I think you all agree,
Is the greatest language you ever see.
UNIT VI
CONDITIONALS
Finite adverbial clauses of condition are introduced chiefly by the subordinators if (positive
condition) and unless ( negative condition).
He must be lying if he told you that.
Unless the strike has been called off, there will be no trains tomorrow.
The latter means roughly “ if the strike has not been called off...”. But there is a slight
difference between an unless-clause and a negative if-clause in that unless has the more
exclusive meaning of “only if.... not” or “ except on condition that...”. It is thus the opposite of
the compound conjunction provided (that) or providing (that) which means “ if and only if...”.
Provided that no objection is raised , we shall hold the meeting here.
Other compound conditional conjunctions approximately synonymous with provided (that) are
as long as, so long as, and on condition that.
If and unless often introduce non-finite and verbless clauses: if ready; unless expressly
forbidden, etc. Also to be noted are the residual positive and negative conditionals pro-clauses
if so and if not.
Conditional clauses can show real and unreal conditions.
A real condition leaves unresolved the question of the fulfillment or non-fulfillment of the
condition, and hence also the truth of the proposition expressed by the main clause. In an
unreal condition, on the other hand, it is clearly expected that the condition will not be
fulfilled. Thus:
Real: If he comes, I’ll see him.
Unreal: If he came, I’d see him.
If she was awake, she certainly heard the noise.
If she’d been awake, she would have heard the noise.
If-clauses are like questions in implying uncertainty. They tend therefore to contain nonassertive forms such as any, ever:
27
If you ever have any trouble, let me know.
Clauses beginning with unless, on the other hand, lay stress on the excluded positive option,
and so normally contain assertive forms:
I won’t phone you, unless something unforeseen happens ( = I’ll phone you when something
unforeseen happens – but we can exclude this as unlikely).
For the same reason , unless –clauses are not usually unreal conditions. Hence the negative
unreal conditional clause “ If I had not arrived “ isn’t equivalent to “unless-clause”.
The combination if only is an intensified equivalent of if, typically used in preposed unreal
conditions ( with non-assertive requirement) to express a wish:
If only somebody had told us, we could have warned you.
The subjunctive or should is sometimes used in formal real conditions:
If he be found( should be found) guilty, his wife will suffer terribly.
The infinitive clause can be used conditionally:
You have to be strong to lift a table like that (=if you are going to lift).
He’d be stupid not to accept that offer(= if he didn’t accept).
Such clauses contain an element of purpositive meaning.
Conditional clauses (especially unreal) may have subject-operator inversion without a
conjunction.
Had I known, I would not have gone.
Conditional clauses have a number of uses.
-
stating a general rule
If can be used to say what generally happens when something else happens. Both verbs in this
type of sentences are in the present simple tense:
If you order in bulk you usually get a discount.
If the paperwork is incomplete the goods are often held up.
-
speculating about the future
If can also be used to speculate about the future consequences of a specific event. In this case,
the verb in the second part of the sentence is preceded by will:
If I do an MBA I’ll improve my job prospects.
If we break into the Indian market, our turnover will increase substantially.
If our main competitor goes bankrupt, we’ll increase our market share.
28
The use of the present tense in the first part of the sentence indicates that the situation is
possible;
Doing an MBA is feasible, breaking into the Indian market is seen as quite likely, the
competitor may well go bankrupt.
-
‘Unless’ often replaces ‘if ...+ negative expression’:
If you don’t wear a suit and tie you won’t be allowed into the club.
You won’t be allowed into the club unless you wear a suit and a tie.
We’ll stop the meeting now if there is nothing else to discuss.
We’ll stop the meeting now unless there is something else to discuss.
-
promising and threatening
Conditional statements can function as either promises, warnings or threats. ( But note that
unless cannot be used to make a promise).
If you order now you’ll get a free gift.
We won’t be able to do business with you unless you comply with our ethical
policy.(warning).
Unless we receive payment by the end of the week we will be forced to consider legal
action.(threat).
-
imagining
If + past simple is used to refer to less probable situations.
Would/ should/ could/ might are used in the principal clause.
If every piece of mail was personalized with your company logo or message, your customers
might be very impressed.
Imagine what would happen if all the world’s stock exchanges crashed
If we hired a factoring agency we could recover our debts more easily.
It is possible to use if I were or if I was in both formal and informal styles.
If I was rich I would buy a Ferrari.
-
bargaining
It is common to make hypothetical statements in negotiations. Compare:
a) If you give us a 5% discount we’ll make a firm order of 5,000 units( this is
almost a promise)
b) If you gave us a 5% discount we’d make a firm order of 5,000 units( this is a
more tentative offer).
You may therefore want to use if+past verb +would as an opening move in a negotiation in
order to test the ground.
-
provided that / so long as/ on condition that
29
When stating a condition it is also possible to use provided (that), so long as or on condition
(that). It is not necessary to say or write that:
Provided (that) they don’t go back on their offer, we’ll sign the agreement next week.
We’ll be happy to work with you so long as you pay half of the advertising costs.
We might be able to reduce the number of hours worked on condition (that) there is an
increase in productivity.
-
speculating about the past
When talking about the things which didn’t happen in the past ( and the consequences if they
had happened) we use if + past perfect together with would/ could/ might +have + past
participle:
If the price/earnings had been higher, I would have bought some shares.
If we had anticipated the crash, we wouldn’t have lost so much money.
The merger could have been succeeded if the management styles hadn’t been so different.
The presentation might have been better if she had felt more confident.
Note that in American English would have is possible in both cases:
I would have told you if I would have known earlier.
Not all sentences containing if follow the same patterns as those presented. The sequence of
tenses depends on the meaning that has to be conveyed.
If Robert wasn’t so lazy he could have been promoted ( he is permanently lazy which
explains why he failed to get promotion).
If you had set earlier you would be there by now. ( this is true at the moment of speaking; the
second part of the sentence does not refer to the past so would have been is incorrect).
If you will come this way I’ll show you to his office( will can be used after if in polite
requests).
I’ll lend you 1000 euros if I’ll help you set up your business.(there is nothing conditional
about this sentence; the advantage is the result of the gift of money. Here if means if it is true
that).
We would be grateful if you would send us your payment made out to the order of
“informant”.( a polite request)
If the red light comes on then turn off the machine immediately.
If Mrs. Olsen calls, tell her I’m in a meeting.
If you need it, ask for help( the verbs in both parts of the sentence are in the present simple
tense when giving a warning or instruction or when making an invitation).
PRACTICE
1. Match the sentence halves.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
If the government lowers interest rate
If you want to play golf well
If inflation is high
If the national currency is strong
If you have an offshore bank account
a) it loses market share
b) people tend not to save
c) it is more difficult to export
d) you get monkeys
e) you have to practice regularly
30
6. If you pay people peanuts
7. If a firm doesn’t advertise
f) it makes borrowings easier
g) you don’t pay income tax.
2. Write what you will or may do in the following situations.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
if your car is stolen
if a close colleague gets married
if you are offered a better-paid job abroad
if your firm is taken over by a competitor
if you have to give a presentation in English
if your computer is infected with a virus.
3. Complete each sentence with either if or unless
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
.......you don’t have persistence, you can’t be a good salesman.
We don’t employ people ..... they are flexible and keen to work hard.
....... you do business abroad, it’s a good idea to learn about the local culture.
....you encounter any problems with your mobile phone, we will provide a complete
rapid service.
.....you call to tell me you’re not coming, I’ll see you tomorrow afternoon.
Don’t promise anything...... you’re completely sure.
Your presentation will be better...... you make good eye contact with the audience.
..... you increase sales by over 20%, the company will pay you a performance bonus.
4.Imagine what would happen in the following (unlikely) situations.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
if the world was governed by a hunta
if your husband or wife was offered a good position in Iceland
if you stood for the presidential elections
if the sale of alcohol was banned in Europe
if you were accused of selling your company’s military secrets
5.Change the verbs in the brackets as in the example.
1. If you (give) me 90 days to pay I (buy) right now. – If you give me 90 days to pay I’ll
buy...
2. If you (give) me a special price I(put in) a bigger order.
3. I(take) last year’s stock if you (take off) 15%.
4. I(purchase) the equipment If you (throw in) the accessories.
5. How long (you hold) your prices if we (order) today?
6. If I(pay) cash how much discount you (allow)?
6.Expand the prompts to make conditional sentences as in the example.
1.Firm orders in advance for 1 year reduce the price by 10%
If I gave you firm orders in advance for 1 year would you reduce the price by 10%?
2. make a firm order
3. ensure free maintenance
4. buy the turbo-diesel model
agree to split the transport costs 50-50?
buy a new photocopier from us?
install air conditioning and a CD-player free of charge?
7.Complete the following sentences , using provided(that), so long as, on condition (that).
31
1. I agree to work 7 days a week....
2. I agree to take a cut in salary....
3. We agree to make a special delivery.....
8.Read the following story and indicate how you would react if you had been in John Dee’s
or Mrs. Han’s position.
John Dee imports microwave ovens from Korea and has been working satisfactorily with the
same supplier for five years. Recently he traveled to Korea to meet the supplier and negotiate a
reimbursement for a shipment of appliances that John’s customers had sent back because of a
serious manufacturing defect.
He met the Korean company’s representative Mrs. Han who insisted she could not compensate
John financially but would replace the defective appliances. John refused this offer saying that
this gesture would not in itself be sufficient to restore the reputation with his customers.
John was booked on a plane leaving that afternoon and could see little point in continuing the
discussion. He was getting more impatient with the apparent lack of progress and stood up
angrily and walked out of the discussion. Mrs. Han was embarrassed and did not wish to lose
face by asking him to return to the room.
John Dee now buys his microwaves from Taiwan at a higher unit price.
9. Read the text and say if you had been director-general of Sola-Soda Enterprises what
would you have done to restore consumer confidence.
In June 1999 more than 100 people in Spain and two in Italy complained of headaches,
dizziness and stomach upsets after drinking canned soft drinks manufactured by Sola-Soda.
Subsequently, the authorities in Spain and Italy ordered Spla-Soda products to be withdrawn as
a precaution.
10. Look at the following pairs of sentences and answer the questions about each one.
1. If he hadn’t bought a second home in the country he wouldn’t be so short of money
now.
2. If he had bought a second home in the country he would be short of money now.
a) Did he buy a second home?
b) Is he short of money?
3. If she weren’t so busy she would have given you a hand.
4. If she had been busy she wouldn’t have given you a hand.
a) Is she busy?
b) Did she help?
11. Put the verbs in brackets into the correct forms.
1. I’ve hung out the clothes. It’s lovely and sunny. If it (stay) like this they (be ) dry in
two hours.
2. French is essential in this job. All the telephonists speak it. If they (not know) French
they (not understand) half the callers.
32
3. How did you do in the car rally? – We came in last actually; but only because we got
lost. If we ( not got) lost we ( come) in somewhere in the middle. We certainly (not be )
last.
4. I was not really surprised that we got lost because I knew that the navigator couldn’t
map-read. – But if you (know) that why you (take) him as navigator?
5. This flat would be all right if the people above us (not be) so noisy.
6. A group of spectators , including myself, left the stand just before the end of the game.
When we were half way down the stairs a goal was scored and there was a great cheer
from the spectators. If there (not be) a goal the crowd (not cheer).
7. If the crowd (not cheer) we (not run) back up the stairs to see what had happened.
8. If we (not run) back we (not crash) into the rest of the spectators on their way down,
and there (not be) this frightful accident.
9. If the pain (return) you’d better take another pill.
10. If you aren’t going to live in the house why you (not sell) it? If I (have) a house I
couldn’t use I(sell) at once.
11. No, I didn’t know any Russian at that time. - But if you (not know) Russian why you
(offer) to give him Russian lessons? - Because I knew that he (refuse). He always
rejected the offers.
12. Tell him to bring his bicycle inside. If he (leave) it outside someone (steal) it.
13. Why do people always wear dark clothes at night? If pedestrians (wear) light colored
clothes drivers( see) them much more easily.
14. She must have loved him very much because she waited for him for fifteen years. If she
( not love) him she (not wait) so long.
15. He looked so small and weak that nobody asked him to do anything. If he (look) strong
he (be) expected to dig all day like everyone else.
16. The government are talking of pulling the village down to make room for an airport. –
If they (start) doing it the village people (resist)?
17. If you are catching an early train tomorrow you (like) to have breakfast at 7.00?
18. We’ll have to break the ice on the pond; otherwise the ducks (not be able ) to swim.
And if they ( not be able) to swim they (not be able) to get food. ( Use can/could
forms where possible).
19. When he left school he became a fisherman. His family didn’t like it at all. They (be)
much happier if he (become) a greengrocer like his father.
20. They still say that if he (go) into the greengrocery business when he left school he (be)
comfortably off instead of being poor.
21. But he says that if he (have ) his life again he (make) the same choice.
22. So many parcels and no baskets! If I (know) that we are going to buy so much I (bring)
a basket.
ENJOY YOURSELF
The English Language
Some words have different meanings, and yet they’re spelt the same.
A cricket is an insect, to play it is a game.
On every hand, in every land, it’s thoroughly agreed,
The English Language to explain is very hard indeed.
Some people say that you are dear, yet dear is far from cheap.
A jumper is a thing you wear, yet a jumper has to leap.
It’s very clear, it’s very queer, and pray who is to blame
For different meanings to some words, pronounced and spelt the same?
33
A little journey is a trip, a trip is when you fall.
It doesn’t mean you have to dance whenever you hold a ball.
Now here’s a thing that puzzles me: musicians of good taste
Will very often form a band- I’ve one round my waist.
You spin a top, go for a spin, or spin a yarn may beYet every spin’s a different spin, as you can plainly see.
Now here’s a most peculiar thing- ‘twas told me a joke –
A dumb man wouldn’t speak a word, yet seized a wheel and spoke.
A wall may often be ajar, but give the door a slam,
And then your nerves receive a jar – and then there’s jars of jam.
You’ve heard, of course, of traffic jams, and jams you give your thumbs.
And adders , too, one is a snake, and other adds up sums.
A policeman is a copper, it’s a nickname (impolite)
yet a copper in the kitchen is an article you light.
On every hand ,in every land, it’s thoroughly agreed –
The English Language to explain is very hard indeed.
Harry Hemsley
UNIT VII
VERB COMBINATIONS
Verbs are often followed by another verb.
I enjoy reading.
I didn’t choose to do this job.
I don’t want to go.
You deserve to get promotion.
She denies selling secrets.
He doesn’t recall meeting him.
It can be difficult to know whether the second verb is a to-infinitive or ends with –ing.
Verb + verb + ing
The –ing form focuses on:
-
`an action or state before the action of the first verb:
She admitted taking a bribe.
He misses seeing his wife and children
She finished doing her accounts yesterday.
-
the activity itself. The second verb functions like a noun.
34
I dislike travelling.
She recommended selling the shares now.
They have postponed launching the new model.
Some common verbs that are followed by –ing forms:
Admit
appreciate
involve
Deny
enjoy
mean
Look forward to mind
remember
anticipate
recollect
Risk
recommend
Jeopardize
suggest
contemplate
give up
consider
carry on
justify
resent
can’t stand
detest
delay
put off
miss
avoid
Verb + TO + Infinitive
The to-infinitive form focuses on
- a purpose
She wishes to ask you a favor
She intends to complain.
They’ve decided to go ahead with the idea.
-
a future situation:
They are planning to launch a takeover bid.
I’ve arranged to see the financial people tomorrow.
I expect to see them in Taiwan shortly.
Some common verbs that are followed by to-infinitive forms:
Intend
Mean
Want
Wish
attempt
try
hope
expect
promise
plan
undertake arrange
forget
seem
remember appear
guarantee
offer
fail
neglect
claim
pretend
Verb + Object + To-infinitive
When we talk about two actions performed by different people , the verbs are separated by an
object:
He didn’t want me to attend the meeting.
They do not allow you to smoke at work.
A laptop enables people to work on a plane.
Some common verbs used with an object and a to-infinitive clause:
Advise
Expect
allow
forbid
ask cause
force help
challenge
inspire
choose
instruct
35
defy
intend
enable
invite
encourage
lead leave
Mean
oblige order pay
Remind teach tell
train
permit
trust
persuade prefer programme
urge
use
warn
recruit
Verb +Object + verb +-ing
Some verbs are used with an object and a second verb ending in –ing:
Verbs used in this way may include:
Catch
Keep
Save
describe
leave
see
discover
like
send
feel
find
listen to notice
set
show
hear
observe
watch
imagine
prevent(from)
Her comment set me thinking.
Outsourcing would save you spending money on permanent staff.
The white knight prevented the company from being taken over.
Verbs of perception
Not all the action is seen or heard
I saw a man stealing some clothes from the store.
He watched the crowd leaving the stadium.
I heard a door banging repeatedly.
All of the action is seen or heard
I saw a man steal some clothes from the store.
He watched a crowd leave the stadium.
I heard a door bang once and then nothing.
Verb + Infinitive without To
A few verbs used in second position do not take to. These are let, make and have ( in the sense
“cause to happen”)
We let them have a 10% discount.
Don’t make me laugh.
Could you have Mrs. Smith bring in the coffee now?
Verb + It + Object Clause
When the object of a verb is a clause, to-infinitive or ing-structure, we use it after the verb to
introduce the clause:
I find it impossible to understand their culture.
The government regard it as unnecessary to harmonize taxation.
She feels it is necessary to send a copy to absolute everyone.
He found it worthwhile visiting the overseas subsidiaries.
Verb + For+To-infinitive
36
Some verbs are followed by the preposition for and its object, then to-infinitive.
He arranged for his secretary to drive him to the airport.
I waited for him to get back in touch.
They called for the Union to reconsider its strike action.
These verbs can be used in this way:
Appeal,
apply
arrange
ask
Pay plead
vote
wait
wish
call
opt
yearn
Verb + Possessive +verb +-ing
It is possible to introduce a possessive pronoun or a genitive between the first and the second
verb. Thus “ Please forgive me for asking” can be reformulated formally as “Please forgive
my asking”. Other verbs that follow this pattern are:
That would entail our making a concession.
This will save our wasting time.
They have suggested his going to the symposium.
He’s looking forward to our coming.
Special Cases
Certain verbs are followed by either an Infinitive or another verb + -ing but the choice leads to
a change in the meaning.
I will never forget meeting Princess Diana. ( I will always remember)
I sometimes forget to wear my badge( =fail to remember).
I mean to see her later this weak.(= I intend to).
I could get a better job but it would mean moving.( =involve)
He was an alcoholic but stopped drinking( =ceased).
He stopped to have a drink on his way home( = in order to).
She remembered to turn off her headlights.( =she didn’t forget)
She remembers turning off her headlights ( = she has a clear memory of this)
Why don’t you try giving your staff greater autonomy? (= experiment and see what happens)
He tried to learn car maintenance but gave up( =attempted / made the effort).
PRACTICE
1. Match the sentence halves.
1.
2.
3.
4.
I’m looking forward to
I don’t remember
He’s decided to give up
Borrowing any more money would involve
37
a) signing anything like that
b) talking for half an hour
c) increasing our debt-equity ratio
d) smoking cigars for health
reason
5. She loves the sound of her voice and carried on
e) seeing you in Milan soon.
2. Using the words in brackets, complete the second sentence so that it has a similar
meaning to the first.
a) Traveling doesn’t bother me as long as there are no delays.(mind)
I don’t..............................................................................................
b) In my job I have to meet many people.(involve)
My job..............................................................................................
c) I certainly didn’t pass on any trade secret.(deny)
I firmly).............................................................................................
d) There’s a danger we will lose business to our competitors.(risk)
We......................................................................................................
e)I think it would be a good idea to get in touch with the commercial attaché.(suggest)
She..........................................................................................................
f) We fully expect to double our turnover in the next two years.( anticipate)
We.........................................................................................................
g) He was late so I didn’t see him.( miss)
He was late so.........................................................................
h) Why on earth did you spend so much on entertainment?(justify)
How can you..........................................................................
3. (Verb +to-infinitive)
Using the word in brackets, complete the second sentence so that it has a similar
meaning to the first.
1. I have every intention of complaining.(intend)
fully............
2. Send them the samples they requested – don’t forget , will you?
Please..............
3. We will provide a 24 hour-a-day-hot line.(undertake)
We...................
4. I anticipate receiving an answer soon.(expect)
I........................
5. If you like we can send a replacement.(offered)
They have..........
6. She should have told them of the potential problem.(neglected)
She.....................
7. I’m not sure, but I think there’s a bug in the program.(appears).
There...................
8. She says she has the necessary authority.(claims).
She...........................................
I
4. (Verb+Object + to-infinitive)
The words in the following sentences are in the wrong word order. Rewrite them in the
right order.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
me she to in myself taught believe
dirty they me to their do work paid
he perform a certain programmed robot to number tasks the of
federation the rates cut Minister to interest urged employers’
the from expertise to enabled joint benefit our us partner’s venture
38
5. (Verbs of perception)
There was a break-in at the headquarters of a company and the nightwatchman has
made a statement to the police saying what he saw and heard.
Complete the statements using these verbs (have, go through, feel, beat, move, whisper,
come, lie, shout).
I have worked as a night watchman here for six years and there has never been any
trouble. But on the night in question at about 3 a.m. I was looking at the closest circuit
TV screens in my room and saw someone...... about in one of the offices. So I took my
torch and went to investigate. I decided not to take the lift because an intruder would
hear it...... so I walked upstairs as quietly as I could. I stopped on the second floor and
listened to my heart..... . I took out the revolver and took off the safety catch. At that
moment I imagined myself....... a gun battle and I couldn’t prevent myself from .....
afraid. I imagined myself........... in a pool of blood in the deserted building. Then I
continued up to the third floor and walked down the corridor. I could hear two people
............. to each other. I walked on and through an open door I observed two masked
men........... the contents of the CEO’s desk. Then after about 30 seconds – but it
seemed like an eternity – I heard someone.......... something for a split second, then
everything went blank.
6. Correct the errors in the sentences.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
I find impossible to work with him.
They made us to work extremely hard in my previous job.
She never let me to take any decisions.
Could you have MrClarke to prepare some statistics?
She’s finding difficult to get used to the climate.
I feel it necessary to delegate more of the work
7. (Verb+fot+to-infinitive)
Match the sentences halves in order to make logical sentences.
1.
2.
3.
4.
The opposition party has called for
The conference organizer has arranged for
The production manager has been waiting for
The shareholders voted for
5. His father paid for
a)the company to increase
its share capital
b)the spare parts to arrive
c)the prime minister to
resign.
d)her to go to an American
University
e) the delegates to stay in a
four-star hotel.
8. Use the correct form of the verb in brackets to complete these extracts.
39
1. The German Chancellor intervened yesterday in a dispute with the energy
industry over plans to stop .........(use) nuclear power.
2. In 1996 five big US networks donated airtime to political candidates for the first
time but a survey of registered voters showed that most of them did not
remember ...........(see) the broadcasts.
3. Apparently, the commissioner meant ...........(inform) the investigators of the
secret payments into a special fund but was persuaded not to do so.
4. Embarrassment yesterday as the wife of the prime minister attended the
presentation of a football trophy. Unfortunately someone forgot...........(tell) the
photographers and the event had to be reprogrammed.
5. It could be that there is no crisis of faith in managers. It may simply be that
suddenly everyone wants to be a management consultant or, failing that, an
investment banker. In all those MBAs really do mean........(work) for
McKinsey, Boston Consulting Group, Goldman Sachs and all the rest, good
luck to them. But if they believe that being a consultant or investment banker
will mean..........(have) a balanced life with plenty of time for family and
friends, they may be in for a rude shock
UNIT VIII PASSIVES
1. Compare the following two sentences:
Your little boy broke my kitchen window this morning.
That window was broken by your little boy.
In the first sentence the person who does the action (your little boy) is the subject, and comes
first; then we say what he did ( with the verb’broke’) and what he did it to ( the object ‘my
kitchen window’). In the second sentence, the opposite happens: we start by talking about the
window( the object of the first sentence has become the subject of the second sentence); then
we say what was done to it, and who this was done by. The first kind of sentence, and the verbform used in it are called “active”. The second kind of sentence and the form of the verb-form
used are called “passive”.
2. The choice between active and passive constructions often depends on what has
already been said, or on what listener already knows. We usually like to start sentences
with what is already known, and to put “new” information later in the sentence. In the
first example above the listener doesn’t know about the broken window, so the speaker
makes it the object in the sentence. In the second example, the listener knows about the
window – it is being pointed out to him, he can see it – so the speaker uses the passive
construction; in this way he can put the window first, and keep the new information
(who broke it) for later in the sentence. Another example: John’s just written a play.
This play was probably written by Marlowe.
In the first sentence , John is somebody that the hearer knows; the news is that “ he has written
a play”. The speaker prefers to put this at the end, so he begins with “John” and uses an active
verb. In the second sentence, a passive structure allows the speaker to begin with “the play”
( which the hearer already knows about) and to put the news ( who wrote it) at the end.
40
3. We often prefer to use longer and “heavier” expressions at the end of a sentence, and
this can be another reason for choosing a passive structure. Compare: Mary’s
behavior annoyed me. I was annoyed by Mary wanting to tell everybody else what
to do. The first sentence can easily be active or passive. But if the second sentence was
active, the subject would be very long (Mary wanting to tell everybody else what to do
annoyed me). In this case, a passive structure is more natural. Passive structures are
also used when we want to talk about an action, but we are not interested in saying who
did it. E.g. Those pyramids were built around 400 A.D.
Passives are very common in scientific writing, and other kinds of expression where we are
most interested in events and processes: in things that happen. Active forms are more common
in imaginative writing (novels, stories, etc.) and in other cases where we want to say a lot
about the people who make things happen.
4. Note that meaning and grammar do not always go together. Not all active verbs have
“active” meanings; not all passive verbs have “passive” meanings. If you say that
somebody ”receives” something, or “suffers” you really mean that he has something
done to him. The verb form is active but the meaning is passive. Some English active
verbs might be translated by passives in certain other languages (She is sitting); some
English passives would not be translated by passives in some other languages ( I was
born....; English is spoken here).
5. A few active verbs can be used with passive meanings.
Your report reads well (= It is interesting to read your report)
The new Ford is selling badly.
This dress does up at the front.
It’s a pretty material, but it doesn’t wash.
Sometimes active and passive infinitives can be used with very similar meanings. E.g.
There’s a lot of work to do/to be done.
After “need, want , require” active –ing forms can be used with passive meaning. ( My
watch needs cleaning = to be cleaned).
When present participles (-ing forms) are used as adjectives, they usually have active
meanings.( A crying child; the people taking part).
Past participles ( broken, invited) normally have passive meanings but there are a few
exceptions. E.g. a broken window but a retired general; the people invited but fallen
rocks.
6. Not all verbs can have passive forms. Intransitives (like “die, arrive”) cannot become
passive; they have no objects, and so there is nothing to become the subject of a passive
sentence.
FORMS
Passive forms are made with the different tenses of “to be” followed by a past participle. The
tenses, and the rules for their use, are the same as for the active forms. Note , however, that we
avoid saying “be being” and “been being” so that future progressive and perfect progressive
tenses are very uncommon.
41
Present Simple:
Present Progressive:
Past Simple:
Past Progressive:
Present Perfect:
Past perfect:
Future Simple:
Future Perfect:
Going to structures:
Modal structures:
English is spoken here
Excuse the mess: the house is being painted.
I wasn’t invited.
I felt as if I was being watched.
Has Mary been told?
I knew why I had been chosen.
You’ll be told in advance.
Everything will have been done by the 26th.
Who’s going to be invited?
He ought to be asked.
Passive –ing forms also exist: E.g. She likes being looked at. Having been rejected by
everybody, he became a monk.
USES
-
Focusing on action
We use a passive construction when we are not interested in who performs the action or it is
not necessary to know:
The date was changed.
The missing file has been found.
He has been promoted to the post of Sales Director.
If we also want to mention who performs the action we can use a phrase beginning with “by”.
The decision was taken by the committee.
The missing file has been found by one of the cleaners.
-
focusing on information
In a passive sentence, the grammatical subject receives the focus:
The visiting delegation was met by the president at the airport.
Here the visiting delegation, rather than the president, is in the centre of interest.
-
describing a process or procedure
We use the passive because we are more concerned with the process itself than who carries it
out. For example, there is a description of the wine-making process:
Wine is made from the fermented juice of grapes. Grapes are picked at optimum sugar/acidity
levels. After picking, the grapes are taken to the winery, de-stemmed and crushed in a
variety of presses. The juice is then clarified by settling or by centrifuge, yeast and sugar are
added and the wine is left to ferment in tanks. When fermentation is finished the wine is
poured into a clean tank to stabilise. It can then be filtered and bottled and left to mature.
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-
writing in formal style
When writing in formal style ( e.g. reports, minutes of meetings) we often choose an
impersonal style by using the passive and beginning sentences with “it”.
It was agreed to increase the share capital.
It was considered to be an unacceptable alternative.
It has now been decided to postpone the proposed construction.
Another common way of reporting what is said or thought is to use “it+passive+that-clause”.
It was agreed that the share capital should be increased.
It was felt that some economies had to be made.
Other verbs used in this pattern include:
Announce, claim, discover, estimate, expect, know, mention, propose, recommend
suggest, think, understand.
-
reporting unconfirmed situation
when the statement is speculative we use the passive of “say, think, consider, believe”
followed by an infinitive. This structure is common n newspaper reporting.
The minister is said to be in favor of decreasing corporation tax.
The board is thought to be in favor of a merger.
He is considered to be the best chairman the company has ever had.
The terrorists are believed to want a new ceasefire.
-
verbs with two objects
Many verbs such as “give, send, show, lend” can be followed by two objects, which usually
refer to a person or thing.
She gave her sister a car.
When these verbs are used in passive, there are two possibilities.
Her sister was given a car.
The car was given to her sister.
Most often in such cases the person becomes the subject of the passive voice.
I’ve just been sent a whole lot of information.
You were lent ten thousand pounds last year.
We were shown all the different ways of making whisky.
Other verbs used like this are “pay, promise, refuse, tell, offer”.
- sentences with object complements
After some verbs the direct object can be followed by an “object complement” – a noun or
adjective which describes the object.
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They elected him president.
We regarded him an expert.
I made the room beautiful.
These sentences can become passive.
He was elected president.
He was regarded to be an expert.
The room was made beautiful.
-
sentences with clause objects
The object of a sentence can be a clause.
People believed that witches communicated with devil
Nobody knew whether there was gold in the mine.
Passive sentences can be made with “that” or “whether”-clauses as subjects. “It” is usually
used as an introductory subject.
It was believed that witches communicated with devil
It was not known whether there was gold left in the mine.
-
verbs with object + infinitive
Many verbs can be followed by an object and infinitive.
She asked me to send a stamped addressed envelope.
Everybody wanted Doris to be the manager.
Verbs of “asking, ordering, allowing” can usually be used in the passive with a following
infinitive.
I was asked to send a stamped addressed envelope.
She was told not to come back.
A few verbs are followed in the active by an object and an infinitive without “to”. Examples
are “ hear, help, make, see”. In the passive , the “to-infinitive” is used. Compare:
I saw him come out of the house.
He was seen to come out of the house.
They made him tell them everything.
He was made to tell everything.
-
verbs which can not be used in passive
Not all verbs can have passive forms. Intransitive verbs can not be used in the passive: since
they do not have objects, there is nothing to act as a subject of a passive verb. Some transitive
verbs cannot be used in the passive at least in certain of their meanings. Most of these are
“stative “ verbs ( verbs which refer to states, not to action, and which have no progressive
forms). They are : fit, have, lack, resemble ..... . E.g. Your mother lacks tact. ( we can’t say
‘tact is lacked....’).
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PRACTICE
1. Match the sentences halves appropriately.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Your enquiry
make sure that your mobile telephone
All tenders and supporting documents
Your hotel booking
As requested, the sum of $75,000
The full conference programme
a)has been confirmed
b)has been credited to your account
c)has not yet been printed
d)is switched off during important meetings
e)must be returned by 31 March
f)is being dealt with
2. Make these sentences passive. Use “by” if it is necessary to say who did the action.
1. Karl Marx wrote “The Capital”.
2. They are repairing your car now.
3. Steve Jobs founded Apple Computers.
4. The board will discuss the proposal.
5. Did anyone inform Mrs. Wilson?
6. They make Renault cars in Slovenia.
7. They have transferred him to the New York office.
8. The princess opened the new conference center.
9. They had made a full investigation.
10. I didn’t realize someone was listening to my telephone conversation.
11. Previous climbers had cut steps in the ice.
12. We use this room only on special occasions.
13. Someone switched on a light and opened the door.
14. The police asked each of us about the movements on the night of crime.
15. Someone will serve refreshments.
16. Someone has already told him to report for duty at six.
17. They rang the church bells as a flood warning.
18. No one can do anything unless someone gives us more information.
19. People are spending far more money on food now than they spent ten years ago.
20. The organizers will exhibit the paintings till the end of the month.
21. The judge gave him two weeks in which to pay the fine.
22. They make these artificial flowers of silk.
3. Make these sentences active.
1. This speed limit is to be introduced gradually.
2. The runways are being lengthened at all the main airports.
3. Byron is said to have lived on vinegar and potatoes.
4. This notice has been altered.
5. Evening dress will be worn.
6. The ship was put into quarantine and passengers and crew were forbidden to land.
7. Someone will have to be found to take her place.
8. He was made to surrender his passport.
9. The rumor must have been started by our opponents.
10. This scientific story has now been proved to be false.
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11. The car which was blown over the cliff yesterday is to be salvaged today.
12. Why wasn’t the car locked or put into a garage?
13. It is being said that too little money is being spent by the government on roads.
14. Your money could be put to good instead of being idle in the bank.
4. Read the following and rewrite the information, changing the focus as in the example.
DEALING WITH INFORMATION.
Written documents and messages land on your desk all the time and you need to process them
efficiently. Here are a few tips.
- You should read through documents quickly and absorb their main information
content.
- If you need to file a written document you can write the file name on the document
- If a written message requires action, you should make a note, for example on a Post-it.
- You should dispose of all messages once you have dealt with them.
5. Are these sentences true or false?
1. Passives are used when we are interested in who has done something rather than what
is done.
2. Passives are used when the focus is on what is done rather than the people who perform
the action.
3. The object of an active verb corresponds to the subject of a passive verb.
4. Passives are common in an informal style.
5. The passive is often used to describe the stages of a process.
6. Complete the advertisement, using either the active or passive as appropriate.
Communicado’s presentation skills training courses ....(tailor) to each client’s individual needs,
so the main focus is on the type of presentations that ......(give) by the participants in their
everyday working lives. Courses ..........(conduct) either on a one-to-one basis or in groups.
They are highly participative and...........(design) to be enjoyable as well as instructive.
Communicado ............(encourage) clients to...................(build) on their existing social
communication skills. Through a number of interesting techniques we.......(show) clients how
time can..............(save) in preparation, how body language can ...............(use) to maximum
effect and how visual aids can.............(create) for maximum impact.
For more details on how Communicado can .............(help) your company improve its business
presentation call 0800 222 4567 now.
7. The following passage describes the production of paper. Put the words in brackets
into the appropriate form, using the passive when necessary.
FROM TREES TO PULP
The trees ...........(transport) to the paper mill by lorry, train or ship. First the
bark.............(remove). This .............(burn) at a later stage so that energy can .............(generate)
for the paper-making process. Then the logs ............(cut) into chips and ..................(cook)
under high pressure for four hours to make paper pulp. Next the pulp ..........(bleach) to
...........(remove) dirt spots and ..........(improve) its ageing properties.
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FROM PULP TO PAPER
The manufacturing process also ...........(require) chemicals to strengthen the paper. The fibers
...........(mix) with additives and .........(dilute) with water. This mixture................(spray) onto
the paper machine where it .............(press), then..............(dry) and .............(wind) onto one
large reel which ...........(weigh) up to 20 tons. Each part of the process ........(control) by
computers which automatically ..........(correct) any errors.
UNIT IX MODAL VERBS
There is a group of auxiliary verbs which have a “dictionary” meaning. They are “ can, could,
may, might, must, will, would, shall, should , need”. ( ‘Need’ can also be an ordinary nonauxiliary verb). These verbs are often called “modal auxiliaries”. They have several points in
common which make them different from other verbs.
-
modal verbs never show an action. They show only the attitude of a doer to an action.
I must read this book.
-
they are not used (except sometimes in the negative) to talk about things that are
definitely happening, or have definitely happened. Modal verbs are used when we say
that we expect the things to happen, or that events are possible, or necessary, or
improbable, or when we say that things did not happen, or that we are not sure whether
they happened.
I can’t swim.
She could be in London , or Paris, or Tokyo – nobody knows.
I may come tomorrow if I have time.
You might have told me he was ill.
- modal verbs have no “-s” in the third person singular; questions and negatives are made
without “do”; they are followed by the infinitive without “to” of other verbs ( sometimes
modal verbs are called “defective ones”).
You needn’t look at me like that.
He must be here at nine o’clock.
-
modal verbs have no infinitives , and other expressions are used instead, when
necessary.
I’d like to be able to skate.
You’re going to have to work harder.
-
modal verbs have no past forms. “Could” and “would” are used with past meanings in
some cases .
modal verbs can be used with perfect infinitives to talk about things which did not
happen, or which we are not sure about, in the past.
47
You should have told me at once.
Her car may have been broken down.
Some modal verbs have weak pronunciations, “Shall”, “will”, “would” and “should” have
contracted forms, and all modal verbs can have contracted negative forms.
We’ll see you tomorrow evening.
I’d keep quiet if I were you.
You can’t help liking her.
It won’t make much difference if we’re late.
Each modal verb has at least two meanings. One use of all modal verbs is to talk about the
possibility or probability of a situation or event. Some of these verbs are used to say that a
situation is certain; others that it is probable or possible; others that it is impossible.
1. Certainty
Verbs used: shall, shan’t, will, won’t, must, can’t, couldn’t, wouldn’t, would.
I’ll see you tomorrow.
I shan’t be late.
It won’t rain this evening.
I told you wouldn’t be able to do it.
2. Ability
-
saying that someone knows how to do something:
We use “can” to say that someone is able/not able to do something.
Our new divisional manager can speak four languages fluently.
He can’t drive, he’s never learnt how to do it.
We also use “can” to say that machines are able to perform certain tasks:
The new photocopier can print out a whole book in less than five minutes.
-
talking of a past ability
He could play the piano when he was five years old.
This sentence refers to an ability that was not limited to just one occasion. If we want to speak
of one event we use “managed to” or “was able to”.
After six hours of negotiation, we finally managed to make some progress.
After some hours of negotiation, we were finally able to make some progress.
The negative form is , however, possible for just one occasion:
We couldn’t get tickets for the opera – they were all sold out.
-
indicating disapproval when something is or was not done
48
She could make more of an effort. (=she is able to, but doesn’t)
You could have told me beforehand – I needed to know. ( = you were able to , but didn’t).
3.Obligation, prohibition
-
saying what is compulsory
We use “must” or “has/have to” to indicate what is compulsory in the present and future:
Any change in taxation must be fair, fiscally responsible and must avoid simply shifting the
burden from the rich to the middle class.
All travelers to China have to be in possession of a visa.
“must” can also be used in reported speech:
The London Chamber of Commerce and Industry said the government must act to tackle the
capital’s traffic problems.
If something was necessary or obligatory in the past we use “had to” and we use “will have to”
for the future.
When we lived in Sao Paulo we had to learn some Portuguese.
We will have to evaluate the new procedure regularly.
The absence of future obligation is expressed by “will not/won’t have to”.
If we open a bank account in the Bahamas we won’t have to pay income tax.
-
imposing an obligation on ourselves
We prefer to use “must” when we oblige ourselves to do something. We prefer “have to” when
the obligation is imposed by other people or external circumstances.
I must remember to get in touch with Mr.Gonzales, I keep forgetting.
I must buy my wife a present before I go home.
We have to wear a uniform at work, it’s not our choice.
I enjoy going to conferences unless I have to make a presentation.
-
freedom to choose
If you “do not have to do something”, there is no obligation – if you are free to act.
I can work from home so I don’t have to go into the office very often.
-
saying that something is prohibited
We use “must not” to say that something is forbidden or very unacceptable.
Passengers must not smoke during take –off.
49
You mustn’t enter a joint-venture unless both parties benefit from the deal.
“cannot “ and “ may not” are also used if something is forbidden because of a rule or a law.
Retailers cannot/may not sell below cost price in some countries.
4.Possibility
-
expressing possibility
We use “can” to say that something is possible and “cannot/could not” to say that something is
impossible.
Mathematics can be really interesting.
Protectionisms can’t be the final answer to a country’s economic problems.
If a situation is possible but it is not certain that it will happen or be possible, we use “could”.
A lot of accidents at work could be avoided.
If we outsourced more we could save a lot of money.
-
saying something was possible in the past
We use either “could” or “used to be able to”:
Twenty years ago you could walk in the fields but they’ve all been built on now.
You used to be able to put coins in telephone boxes but not now.
We use “could/couldn’t” if something was impossible:
Twenty years ago you couldn’t buy a computer as cheaply as you can now.
= Twenty years ago you didn’t use to be able to buy a computer........... .
- talking about past opportunities
A past opportunity which was not fulfilled is expressed using “could have” and a past
participle:
She could have gone to Harvard but she went to Yale instead.
He could have been a Member of Parliament but he preferred to stay out of politics.
5.Likelihood
A number of modal verbs are used to express degrees of certainty, according to the speaker’s
perception of the situation.
-
100% certain
The 21st century will be very different from the preceding 1,000 years. ( an obvious prediction)
Economics will never be a precise science. ( a general truth).
-
very certain (based on deduction)
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You must be very tired after such a long flight.
That can’t be Rowena’s car – she’s driving to London today.
-
probably
You may well have a point there.
Interest rates could well go up by a whole percentage point.
We should arrive before lunch if there’s not too much traffic.
-
likely( based on speculation)
The decision this week by the Gulf Co-operation Council to allow national banks to set up
branches in each other’s countries is a first step towards banking liberalization. It could also
help efforts by banks to expand. The move could open up the large Saudi and Kuwaiti
banking markets to other Gulf banks.
The firm may be forced to make a number of employees redundant in the coming months but
the situation may improve in the longer term.
“might” suggests less certainty:
The president might survive the scandal but the chances look pretty slim.
-
highly unlikely/impossible
You won’t know Agnes – she’s our marketing person.
We can’t meet such a short deadline.
6. Permission, suggestions, offers
-
asking for and giving permission
“Can” is used to ask for and give permission:
“Can I use your mobile phone? “ Sure, you can. Go ahead”. / “No, you can’t”.
“May” and “Could” are also used to ask for permission, but not to refuse permission. They are
more formal than “can”:
“May I use your password?” “ No, I’m afraid you can’t”.
“Could I come back later?” “No, I don’t think that’ll be possible”.
If we want to talk about permission for a future action we use the verb “allow” or “permit”.
They won’t allow/permit you to travel alone.
-
making suggestions
You can use “should” or “ought to” to suggest what you think the right course of action is:
I think you should try a new strategy.
51
They ought to simplify administrative procedure.
I think you should upgrade your computer.
You might want to look at the new Compaq model.
Shall I look at what it might cost?
If you think it is possible to improve the situation and want to recommend a course of action
you can use “could”.
We could reduce energy consumption by switching off PCs when they are not in use.
We could try to motivate staff by introducing a profit-sharing scheme.
7.Willingness, refusal, promises, threats, typical behavior
We use “will” or “would” to make a polite request or to ask someone if they are willing to
assist:
Will you come this way?
Would you do me a favour?
Will you sign here , please?
Would you tell him that she phoned?
-insisting
“will” can mean “to insist on doing something” even it is inadvisable.
If you will smoke two packets a day, it is not surprising that you have got a persistent cough.
-refusing
If you want to say that you are unwilling to do something, you can use “will” or “won’t”.
I will not tolerate your behavior any longer.
Other people or things can also show unwillingness:
The car won’t start.
He won’t ever do what I tell him to do.
-promising
If you make a firm commitment to do something in the future you use “will”.
We will do everything in our power to satisfy your needs.
However, the promise may have a negative impact and is therefore interpreted as a threat:
Unless you comply we will be forced to initiate legal proceedings.
-routine behavior or general truths
Most days I’ll get home at about 7.30 pm but quite often later.
Murphy’s law states that if something can go wrong it will go wrong.
52
“Would “ is used to talk about actions that happened frequently in the past.
Our previous chairman would always begin the annual general meeting with a joke.
PRACTICE
1. Match the personal qualities with the abilities on the right.
If you
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
you can
are computer literate
are trilingual
are good at mental arithmetic
are autonomous
have a creative personality
have a logical mind
are decisive and people
accept your authority
work well on your own
use different types of software
solve problems rationally
be a good leader
calculate quickly in your head
speak three languages
bring new ideas to projects
2. Complete the sentences using either “could” or “managed to”.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
After a lot of discussion we ..........strike a deal.
He was a brilliant linguist and...........speak over a dozen languages fluently.
I thought I was going to miss the plane but I.........get to the airport on time.
When I was younger I.........run several kilometers without feeling tired.
She.........find a good job despite her lack of formal qualifications.
When we lived near the beach we.......... go swimming every day.
She...........have left me a message – how was I supposed to know?
3. React to these situations using “could have”.
1.
2.
3.
4.
Why didn’t she ring me to tell she would be late.?
She had the facts and figures but left me in the dark.
It wasn’t worth us taking a taxi, the station was within walking distance.
It took six days for the letter to arrive and we both have e-mail.
4. Complete these sentences so that they are true for your country. Use “have to, don’t
have to, must not”.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
You ...........carry a gun
You...............pay to use buses and trams.
You.............vote if you are over 18.
You ........... drink alcohol at work.
You......... pay to drive on a motorway.
You ..........declare income earned abroad.
You ......... wear a seat belt when driving a car.
5. Complete these sentences so that they are true for your job situation. Use “have to,
don’t have to , must not”.
1. You .........take home company equipment.
2. You ........wear a badge.
53
3.
4.
5.
6.
You .......wear a tie, if you are a man.
You........... wear jeans at work.
You...........clock in when you arrive.
You ......wear a dress or suit, if you are a woman.
6. Rewrite these sentences using “could” or “couldn’t”.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
If we diversified we would be able to offer a wider range of products.
If I had stayed in the States I would have been able to get a better job.
In the 1980s it was possible to make a fortune as a “golden boy”.
She had an opportunity to do an MBA but decided it was too much work.
Thirty years ago you used to be able to buy cigarettes in packets of five.
Before privatization it wasn’t possible to buy shares in British Telecom.
7. Read the following story and list the missed opportunities using “could have”.
As a young man Peter Metro was a gifted musician who once had a record in the top 20. But
he decided to abandon music and study ocean engineering at Florida Atlantic University
instead. After four years there he graduated and was offered a research post in the faculty. But
by that time he had decided he wanted to see the world and spent a year traveling Europe. In
Italy he happened to meet the film director Roberto Bellini who offered him a role in his latest
film, but he turned it down because he had just accepted a job with a small firm specializing in
the construction of racing catamarans. One day the famous skipper Chris Dickson asked him
to sail with him during the Admiral’s Cup but Peter decided not to because he was too busy.
8. Decide if the following are requests for permission, suggestions or offers.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
Shall we go for lunch?
May I sit here?
Shall I give you a lift into town?
can I borrow the car this week?
Could I use your mobile phone?
You might like to check the exchange rate first.
Would you like us to send you a catalogue?
In my opinion you should sell your shares now.
Are you hot? I’ll switch on the air conditioning if you like.
9. Complete the dialogue with these expressions: Do you need any help? I’ll give you.....
Shall I hold the door open? Would you like me...... We must get together......
A. It’s been wonderful seeing you..........sometime.
B.Yes, that’d be very nice.
A............with your baggage?
B.No, thanks. I can manage.
A. Are you sure?.........for you.?
B.Yes, please.
A.................to call a taxi?
B. No, thanks. I’ll walk. It’s not far.
A.No, you can’t possibly. Your cases are heavy.............a lift. It won’t take me two minutes to
get the car.
B. Well, thank you very much. It’s really very kind of you.
54
A.Not at all. It’s my pleasure.
10. Which of the following uses of “will” indicate willingness (W), refusal(R), promise(P),
threat (T), or typical behavior(TB)? Write the appropriate letter in space provided.
1. I’ll make sure John is informed............
2. Oil will float on water...............
3. She won’t listen, she’s so stubborn................
4. Patrick will keep on asking stupid questions...........
5. I’ll take your calls for you while you’re out.............
6. Either I get the job or I’ll leave the company..............
7. Will you call him back when you’ve got a moment?........
8. I’ve changed the battery but my mobile phone still won’t work........
9. She will always be the first person to arrive on a Monday morning.........
10. If you don’t sign the new contract we’ll have to move you to another post.......
11. Would you point your name and company in the visitor’s book, please?.......
12. Before the use of computers we would have to record all our data on card index files.
11. Rewrite the sentences using “will, won’t, would”.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
Accidents inevitably happen.
I promise to do my best.
He refuses to accept her authority.
If you don’t pay, legal action is certain to be taken.
A fanatic is someone who can’t change his mind and refuses to change the subject.
If you insist on being rude how can you expect people to like you?
He used to smoke a large cigar before making an important decision.
The product with the better-known brand name inevitably sells better than the others.
UNIT X
MULTI-WORD VERBS
Many English verbs consist of two parts: “a base” verb ( bring, take, come ,etc) and another
( small word) ( up, down, off, away....). The “small word” is either a preposition or an “adverb
particle” In some cases the meaning of a two-part verb is simply a combination of the
meanings of the two words. Examples are “come in, run away, walk across, sit on..... .”
In some cases the first word keeps its meaning, but the second has a special “intensifying”
sense – it means something like “completely” or “thoroughly” Examples are “ break up, tire
out”... .
In other cases the two-part verb has quite a different meaning from the two separate parts:
“give up” means “surrender”, “blow up” means “explode”..... .
Prepositional verbs
There are a very large number of combinations “verb+ preposition”. When the meaning is not
clear from the separate parts (look after, fall on...) it should be found in the dictionary.
Prepositions always have objects.(Please, look after the children. I’ve fallen for you in a big
way). IN English, the preposition does not always come before the object; in certain kinds of
the sentences it can come at the end of the clause.
55
What are you talking about?
We’ll have to look into the matter.
I’m counting on your support.
Phrasal verbs
When a verb is used with an adverb particle, the combination is called a “phrasal verb”. There
are a very large number of these in English.
The meaning of a phrasal verb is often very different from the meanings of the two words
taken separately. In order to understand the meaning of a phrasal verb, you may have to refer
to the dictionary. Phrasal verbs can be intransitive ( not followed by a direct object) or
transitive (followed by a direct object).
Intransitive phrasal verbs: break down, sit down, turn up(= arrive, appear)
Transitive:
Bring something up (= mention it)
Kick somebody out (= expel him)
Put something off (= postpone it)
Put somebody up (= accommodate him)
Throw something away
Turn something down (= refuse it)
When a phrasal verb has a direct object the two parts of the verb can usually be separated: the
adverb particle can be put before or after the object.
We’ll have to put off the party/ put the party off.
Why don’t you throw away that stupid hat/ throw that stupid hat away?
Could you put up my sister/ put my sister up?
However, when the object is a pronoun (he, us, this) the adverb particle can only go after the
object.
We’ll have to put it off.
Phrasal –prepositional verbs
There are a few verbs which consist of three parts: a base verb, an adverb particle,
preposition( to get on with, to put up with, to check up on....). These look complicated, but in
fact they are used in the same way as any other prepositional verb ( for instance, “to get on
with” follows the same rules as “ to go on with”). Compare:
I get on well with him.
I often go to the theatre with him.
He’s difficult to put up with.
He’s difficult to work with.
She’s trying to back out of our agreement.
The austerity measures came in for a lot of criticism.
We’re not prepared to put up with her absenteeism any longer.
Many multi-word words are easy to understand:
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What time do you get up?
Could you turn down the volume?
In these examples the particles have an easily interpreted meaning. Others are not so easy:
They got up a petition to protest against the job cuts. (= organised)
She applied for the post but was turned down .(=refused)
It can help if you understand the meaning of the particle which combines with a verb.
6. Up
-increasing
We need to build up stocks in case there’s a strike.
The economy is beginning to pick up again.
She’s opened a new bank account and wants to save up for a new car.
-advancing/ coming closer
I’m trying to make up the time I lost when I was sick.
It’s difficult to keep up with all the latest developments.
The car drew up beside us and the driver asked for directions.
-inventing
The advertising agency is trying to think up a brilliant new slogan.
Where did you dream up that crazy idea?
He forgot his notes so he had to make up his speech as he went along.
-completing
The final chapter sums up all the arguments.
There are a couple of points we need to clear up.
They’ve decided to wind up their operations in Ireland and relocate.
-going wrong
Don’t mix up the dossiers or we’ll never find the documents we need.
The office slipped up and the order was never sent.
The delay in the delivery of essential raw materials threatened to hold up production.
Down
-reducing
The economy is overheating and needs to slow down.
We’ve started to explore ways of keeping down costs.
The government intends to water down its commitment to a clean air policy.
-coming to an end
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The shipyard is due to close down at the end of this year.
Mr.Smith has stepped down as vice-president.
Talks broke down before a deal could be reached.
-writing/recording
I’ve put your name down on the list.
Could you please write down your name and address?
Make sure you note down every word she says.
-defeating
Eventually, he had to back down and apologize.
The army quickly put down the rebellion.
Another series of public sector strikes could bring the government down.
Over
-considering
Before I make any decision I’ll need to talk it over with my boss.
Give me a couple of days to think it over.
Do you have a few minutes to look over what I’ve written?
-changes
Eurotunnel will hand over 40% of its after-tax profits to the UK and French governments
from 2050 onwards.
There has recently been a hostile attempt to take over our company.
Swiss banks yesterday gained a significant victory in their attempt to win over US public
opinion.
Off
-beginning
The emerging market of digital pay-TV is finally about to take off.
Repsol, the energy conglomerate, is likely to spark off a “fat cat” controversy over director
pay packets that could total Pta74.6 million.
The report set off a wave of early selling in the Treasury market.
-stopping
The leader of the opposition said he was reluctant to break off talks with the government.
The crew of the damaged Mir space station were forced to call off a planned docking with a
cargo ship after a computer failure.
They’ve decided to put off the meeting until next week.
-reducing
Sales should level off now after reaching 375,000 units last year.
The novelty of frequent travel trends to wear off pretty quickly.
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Interest rates have been raised to cool off inflationary pressures.
On
Continuing
Don’t bother about me; just carry on with what you’re doing.
The law suit dragged on and on for eight years.
Could you hold on for a few moments while I consult with my colleague?
Verbs with two particles followed by an object
Examples include:
We need to come up with a solution soon.(=find/produce)
We should try to cut down on spending.( =to reduce)
I’ll get on to Mrs.Butler and give you her reply shortly.( =contact)
It’s difficult to get on with Mr.Grundy; he is so bad-tempered.(to see eye to eye with)
It’s vital to keep up with the developments in information technology.( be fully informed)
I look forward to seeing you again.(= anticipate with pleasure)
We’re late so we’ll have to work hard to make up for lost time.(=compensate for)
The failure can be put down to low quality control.(=explained by/ attributed to)
She wants more responsibility and has put in for promotion.(=applied for)
I’ve had to put up with a lot of unfair criticism.(=to tolerate)
PRACTICE
1. Decide which of these sentences doesn’t need an object to complete it. If it does,
choose an appropriate sentence ending from those on the right.
1. Neither of the opponents would give in
2. Our policy is never to turn away
3. She’s thought up
4. A number of reasons can account for
5. She came in for
6. I was completely taken in
7. I wonder when it will turn up
8. I don’t understand what you’re getting at
9. Crowds of people were turned away
10. Try to fix up
a)a lot of abuse
b)a new name for the brand
c)a customer
d)a meeting with the director
e)the change
2. Decide which of these sentences are acceptable (A) and which are unacceptable (U).
Example: We brought the meeting forward........A.....
We brought forward the meeting.......A....
We brought forward it...........U......
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
We’ve sent off the catalogue to the printer’s........
We’ve sent it off to the printer’s...............
We’ve sent off it to the printer’s..............
She wants to put off the meeting until next week.......
She wants to put it off until next week.
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6. She wants to put the meeting off until next week.
7. Could you go over the report again for me?....
8. Could you go the report over for me?......
9. Could you go it over for me?......
10. We’re trying to break into a new market......
11. We’re trying to break a new market into........
12. We’re trying to break it into......
13. We are going to phase out the new model.......
14. We’re going to phase the old model out.........
15. We’re going to phase it out.......
3. Match the sentence halves.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
He may break up.
We need more facts to back up.
Her name often comes up.
I’ve been away so I need to catch up.
If the bank refuses the loan
The lawyer has drawn up
a) with what’s been going on
b)in conversation
c)it’ll mess up all our plans
d)the terms of the contract
e)under all the stress
f)our arguments.
4. Complete the sentences with the verbs: play up, follow up, pay up,
face up to.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
work up,
look up,
He’s too young to...........such a heavy responsibility.
The director will now ............the committee’s suggestions.
I just can’t ............any enthusiasm for the idea.
Now we have a new dynamic team, things will start to..........
Did the insurance company ..........after all that argument?
The mechanism has begun to.........again and it needs an urgent repair.
5.Complete the sentences choosing from the following verbs. There are more verbs than
necessary. (Think up, turn up, save up, clear up, set up, keep up, hold on, take up, do up)
1. How long did it take you to ........for a new yacht?
2. Can you help me............ this mess?
3. It’s difficult to ............with all the new developments.
4. He gave his son some capital to...........his own business.
5. I don’t want to...........you..............if you’re in a hurry.
6. How did you ............such a clever way out of the difficulty?
( play down, run down, break down, cut down, bring down, note down)
7. The talks are likely to............if both parties refuse the compromise.
8. The old system is being progressively............... and will soon be replaced.
9. Retailers are having to ............ their prices to attract custom.
10. I’ll just ............ your address and phone number.
11. In a time of rising costs we should............... on our spending.
12. The minister is bound to............the scale of the disaster.
6. Multi-word verbs with “up, down, over”.
Match the sentences halves.
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1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
We’ve kept our prices down, but as a result,
They’re winding up their operations in Brazil and
My father set up the company in 1982 and
The share price shot up 25%
The talks were on the point of breaking down
The prime minister stepped down when
Think it over, if you agree to the terms,
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
I took over the business when he retired.
when we took over our nearest rival.
the Sao Paulo factory will close down soon.
we’ll draw up a contract.
we’ve had to cut down on production costs.
she failed to win over public opinion.
when the Swedish ambassador came up with a brilliant solution.
7. Match the particle (1-5) to one of the meanings(a-e)
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
up
down
on
off
over
a)writing/recording
b)considering
c)beginning
d)continuing
e)completing
7(a) Combine the verbs below with a particle above to make a multi-word verb and then
indicate its area of meaning.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
think over =considering
spark
wind
sum
look
note
keep
8. Sentence rearrangement. Put the words in order to make sentences.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
need we to for lost time make up
back want to agreement out they of the
the up firm strong again ran competition
round after a drafting a to delay he long got reply
a of have people put chairman’s for the number job in
thinks Roger he’s an up with come problems answer our to.
9.A phone conversation. Complete the following phone conversation using these verbs
and particles. ( call, fix, get, hold, put, read, tied, back, back, back, on through, up, up)
A. Multiplex plc, can I help you?
B. Yes, I’d like to speak to Mr. Webster, please.
A. Certainly, I’ll just .............you. Sorry, the line’s busy. Would you like
to..........or ..............later?
B. Um, could you take a message?
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A. Certainly.
C. Could you tell him that I’ll be............all day Friday. So if he can......................to
me
we can..............another time to meet.
A. Right, and your name?
B. It’s Kamal Ahmed on 0207542 6688.
A. I’ll just ...............that................. to you. Kamal Ahmed 020 7542 6688.
B. Great. Thanks for your help.
UNIT 11
ADVERB
Adverbs modify or change the meaning of other words. Words that modify a
verb, an adjective, another adverb, a particle, a phrase, a clause or even a whole
sentence are called adverbs. Adverbs can be classified according to form,
meaning and function.
FORM
Many single-word adverbs are formed by adding –ly to another word, usually an
adjective: soft-softly, bright-brightly, honest – honestly.
The spelling rules:
-if the base form ends in “l” , add”-ly”
careful-carefully; helpful – helpfully.
-if the base form ends in “-y”, change “-y” to “-i” and add “-ly”.
Happy-happily, day- daily
7. if the base form ends in “-e”, drop “e” and add “-ly”
true-truly, due-duly, able-ably, suitable-suitably, gentle-gently, simple- simply.
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8. if the basic form ends in “-ic”, add “-ally”.
Economic-economically, historic-historically, specific- specifically, publicpublicly, automatic-automatically, scientific- scientifically, critic- critically.
Some words have the same form whether they are used as adjectives or adverbs.
Other “-ly” words cannot be used as adverbs.
-words referring to time ending in “-ly” that can be adjectives or adverbs:
Early, hourly, daily, monthly, weekly
9. words ending in “-ly” that are adjectives, never adverbs:
courtly(manners), deadly( weapons), earthly( comfort), heavenly (music),
leisurely (pace), lively (party), lonely (people), lovely ( friendship), worldly (
wisdom).
And others formed from the words referring to people:
Brotherly, sisterly, motherly, kingly, queenly, princely, friendly, scholarly,
saintly.
10.other irregular forms that can be adjectives and adverbs:
high
adjective : She has a high position.
Adverb:
She threw the ball high in the air.
Highly means greatly: She was highly regarded.
Fast
adjective: You had a fast trip.
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adverb:
Hard
You must have been driving fast.
adjective: He had to make a hard choice.
adverb:
He worked hard.
Hardly means scarcely:
Late
adjective :
adverb:
He was hardly able to choose.
She had a late appointment.
She arrived late.
Lately means recently:
She has not seen the doctor recently.
Likely
Paula is a likely candidate for a job.
adjective :
adverb:
modify “likely” by a
The bus will very likely leave on time. (Many writers
word such as “very, more, most” when used as an
adverb).
Like is a preposition that means similar to:
Paula looks like her sister.
Low
adjective:
The roof is low.
adverb:
The branch of the tree hung low over the porch.
Lowly means not a high position:
He disliked his lowly job.
Deep
adjective:
adverb:
Deeply
Keep away from deep waters.
The treasure was buried deep in the earth.
refers to emotions:
I am deeply sorry about the accident.
Near
adjective:
adverb:
Nearly means almost:
The end of the job is near.
The dog was afraid to come near.
We nearly had an accident.
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USES
- saying how, where, when, how often something happens or is done
He went quickly/ by train/alone.
there/home/ up to the second floor
recently/a couple of weeks ago.
- modifying verbs and adjectives
Prices have gone up excessively.
Microchips are very cheap.
She almost forgot her passport.
She is terribly forgetful.
His idea is absolutely out of question.
She is absolutely fabulous.
They totally disagree with our position.
It’s been remarkably successful.
- describing the rate of change we use the following adverbs:
substantially, a great deal, to some extent, slightly, rapidly, sharply, gradually,
slowly.
WORD ORDER OF ADVERBS
The adverb goes:
-
before the main verb
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He rarely drinks alcohol.
- between a modal and a main verb
I can usually take at least an hour for lunch.
- between two auxiliaries for frequency adverbs
She has always been devoted to the company.
- after the direct object
She speaks Spanish very well.
- after the verb “to be”:
I am still waiting.
She was obviously delighted.
We are always ready to pay you a visit.
Adverbs of frequency
Adverbs of frequency answer the question “How often?”. Usually they are used
in the middle position but the phrases of frequency are used in the end position.
Scarcely ever is used in the middle position. Some common adverbs of
frequency are:
Affirmative
Negative
Always
never
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Usually
rarely
Frequently
seldom
Often
scarcely ever
Sometimes
occasionally
Generally
Many times
Every day/week/month/ year...
Twice/ three times a day/week/ month...
She must always /never/often work on Fridays.
She must scarcely ever work on Friday.
She must work on Fridays every week/many times/twice a month.
Do not use “no, not, never” in the same clause with a negative adverb of
frequency.
Adverbs of relative time
Adverbs of relative time can be used with all tenses as meaning permits, but they
are used especially with the progressive tenses. They are used in the middle
position of a clause. The most common adverbs of relative time are: just, still,
already, yet( in negative clause), lately, recently, soon.
Russel was recently looking for this book.
He recently found it.
He has just found it.
He will soon be using it in his computer class.
When he bought the house, it had recently been remodelled.
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He soon decided to make it larger, however.
Adverbs of manner
Adverbs of manner answer the question “How? “ or “How well”.
Usually they are used at the end of a clause or in the middle position in the
perfect tenses. Putting them at the beginning of the sentence gives them strong
emphasis. Do not put these adverbs between the main verb and the direct object.
He cleaned the room carefully.
He carefully cleaned the room.
Carefully he cleaned the room( emphatic).
Do not confuse the adverb construction with the adjective after the verb “to be”
or another linking verb.
He is careful to clean the room.
Put the adverbs of manner that are closely connected in meaning with the subject
of the clause directly after the subject instead of after the verb. These adverbs
correspond to predicate adjectives.
Mary kindly helped the old woman.
Adverbs of place
Adverbs of place answer the question “Where?”
Like adverbs of time they can be a single word or phrase. Put them before or
after the main clause. Put more specific information before more general
information.
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We have just moved to a new house in the city.
My brothers were born in Montreal, Canada.
You will find the book in the upper right-hand corner of the bookcase in my
bedroom.
Adverbs of time
Adverbs of time answer the question “When?”
They can be a single word, a phrase or a dependent clause. Put them before or
after the main clause. Put more specific information before more general
information.
My youngest sister was born at 3:15 a.m., March23, 1970.
Use “at” before clock time, “on” before a day or date, and “in” before a month
used alone, a year, or a century. Use commas to separate several items if you do
not use prepositions.
Dependent clauses of time
Put a comma after a dependent clause at the beginning of a sentence but do not
put a comma between an independent clause and a dependent clause that comes
at the end of the sentence.
When the industrial revolution in England began, it brought many changes.
The industrial revolution in England brought many changes when it began.
Adverbs that emphasize
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Adverbs that emphasize are “only” and “even”. In writing, put “only” and
“even” directly before the word they modify. Where you put them makes a great
change in the meaning of a clause.
Only I (no one else) told Fred to come last week.
I only told Fred to come last week. (told, not commanded).
I told only Fred (no one but Fred) to come last week.
I told Fred only to come last week.( to come, not to do anything else).
I told Fred to come only last week. ( Before an adverb of time , “only” means
either “as recently as” or “at no other time”).
Adverbs that modify the whole clause
Adverbs that modify the whole clause usually come at the beginning or at the end
of the clause or directly after the subject.
- adverbs that express the writer’s attitude:
briefly, of course, certainly, perhaps, in fairness, objectively
The solution, certainly, cannot be found in new laws.
Let us briefly consider the next piece of evidence.
- adverbs that join ideas within the sentence or with ideas in other sentences
or paragraphs.:
also, as well, besides, therefore, furthermore, in addition to, however,
consequently, nevertheless, too, subsequently, as a result.
Do not confuse conjunctive adverbs with coordinating conjunctions.
Therefore, we must conclude that the result is correct.
We, therefore, must conclude that the result is correct.
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We must, therefore, conclude that the result is correct.
We must conclude, therefore, that the result is correct.
We must conclude that the result is correct therefore.
(Although authorities do not agree about the comma rules, you will not be
wrong if you separate interrupters from the rest of the clause by comma).
Compound adverbs
Compound adverbs are formed from the words of “where, here, there” and their
combination with different prepositions.
- Compound adverbs with ‘where” and a preposition are equal to the
combination of this preposition and a pronoun “which”.
Whereby = by what, by which
Wherethrough = through which
A contract of agency is a contract whereby (whereunder) one party (the agent)
undertakes to bring other party (the principal) into contractual relationship with a
third party.
-
Compound adverbs with “here” and a preposition are equal to the
combination of this preposition and a pronoun “this”.
Hereto = to this
Herefrom = from this
Herein = in this
Subject to 5 b) and Clause 10 herein , this insurance covers the goods against all
risks.
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We attach hereto a copy of our latest price-list.
- Compound adverbs “hereinafter” and “hereinbefore” are formed by
combination of “here” with two prepositions:
Hereinafter = in this (document) further
Hereinbefore = in this (document) before (above)
The sale of goods hereinafter specified is subject to a variation at seller’s option
of 10% more or less on the contract quantity.
- Compound adverbs containing “there” and a preposition are equal to a
combination of this preposition and a pronoun “that”.
Thereabout = about that
The contract provided for the purchase of 5,000 tons of wheat or thereabout.
PRACTICE
1.
Match the sentences in column A with those in column B.
A.
1. It was his first real job interview for three years.
2. He missed the bus and thought he was late.
3. During the interview they asked him why he wanted to work with the firm.
4. They said ”Don’t contact us, we’ll contact you”.
5. He then did a course on interview skills.
6. He got to know a lot of famous musicians and went on tour with them.
B.
a) Eventually, he set up his own label and became a millionaire.
b)Shortly after he managed to find a job with a major record label.
c)Luckily someone gave him a lift and he got there on time.
d)Naturally he felt very sorry.
e)Foolishly he said that he just needed the money and any job would do.
f)Obviously he hadn’t got the job.
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2.Using an appropriate adverb, respond to these questions about your own work situation,
as in the example.
Example:
How quickly do your colleagues work?
11. They work extremely fast.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Do they arrive late for work?
Where do you usually work?
How well do you get on with your boss?
have you seen him or her recently?
What do you think of his/her performance?(be honest).
3.Insert the adverbs into each line of this message in the most natural position.
a)Thank you for the e-mail you sent. I have spoken to Eric
(yesterday; already)
but he says he is waiting for confirmation from the board (still)
before we can go ahead with the proposed changes. The delay
(quite frankly)
is getting on my nerves but I hope to get started on the project.
(very soon)
As in the case, we still receive confirmation at the last
(often; suddenly)
minute and have to work for the next couple of months
(flat out)
in order to get into production.
(fast).
b) Hi! Thanks for your e-mail. I’m sorry I haven’t
got back to you sooner but we’ve been rushed
in the office. We seem to be so busy.
It seems the launch has been successful,
beyond our wildest dreams in fact. We are delighted
and we have had a large order from a company
in China. This is a fabulous news. See you soon.
(very)
(terribly)
(always)
(remarkably)
(obviously)
(already)
(absolutely)
4.The words in the following sentences are in the wrong order. Rewrite them in the correct
order.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
For confirmation I still am waiting.
I wear never jeans at work.
He speaks very well Greek.
Cheaper I will be probably able to get it.
To welcome visitors I always am pleased.
His idea completely is absurd.
5.Choose the correct adjective or adverb for each sentence.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
The linguini tastes (good, well).
I feel (bad, badly) about the mistake.
The health farm is a ( real, really) expensive resort.
It (most, almost) always rains during the first two days of our annual rodeo.
The child reads exceptionally (good, well).
The steak was (bad, badly) burned.
If we are going to perform well, we must practice(regular, regularly).
She spoke so (quite, quitely) that I couldn’t hear her.
The employees felt (bitter/bitterly) about the layoff.
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10. Our test was (awful/awfully) hard.
6.Translate the following sentences.
1.He looked tired, so deathly tired
2. The man must have had diabolically acute hearing.
3. He was free to go off with his easel where and when he liked.
4. Patients insist on having microbes nowadays.
5. I think sometimes there is nothing before me but hard work... .
6. She consulted her husband at once.
7. I want to understand quite clearly what our position as regards each other is to be.
8. They had been dancing together.
9. The driver was ordered to take the car to the pool and Jates and Karen went afoot.
10. The only thing is to cut the knot for good.
11. Twice I doubled round corners, thrice I crossed the road and came back on my tracks.
12. The boy was due to go tomorrow.
13. She seems to be simple enough.
14. They are quiet at present.
15. I must get the money somehow.
16. They ate little, at some length, and talked of his father’s catalogue.
17. It had been a glorious summer and after holidays abroad and at sea they were
practically all back in London.
18. His faint, pale, supercilious smile had deepened just a little.
19. I always wanted to get home quick to mother.
20.
UNIT XII EMPHATIC CONSTRUCTIONS
“Emphasis” means making one part of a sentence more important than it would normally be.
There are several different ways of showing emphasis in English.
1. In speech, the most important is by changes in pronunciation. Emphasized words are
spoken with a higher intonation and a louder voice than normal, and the vowels may
become longer. We may also pause before emphasized words. Some short common
words (especially auxiliary verbs, conjunctions and prepositions, e.g. have, but, from )
change their pronunciation when they are emphasized.
In writing- particularly when we write down speech- this kind of emphasis can be shown
by using capital letters, or by underlining (in handwriting and typing) , or by using italics
or fat type (in printing).
Give it to Me!
Nobody loves me!
This is the last opportunity.
Come now.
Often changes in emphasis can give a completely different meaning to a sentence.
Compare:
Jane phoned me yesterday. (= It was Jane who phoned, not somebody else).
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Jane phoned me yesterday .(= She didn’t write or call, she phoned ).
Jane phoned me yesterday. (= Me, not somebody else).
Jane phoned me yesterday. (= Yesterday, not today).
Special emphasis is often put on auxiliary verbs. This can give more emotional force to the
whole sentence, or it can express some kind of contrast ( for example between true and false,
or present and past).
It was a nice party!
Gosh, you have grown!
I am telling the truth – you must believe me!
I couldn’t swim last year, but I really can now.
When there is no auxiliary verb, “do ” can be used in the affirmative to carry emphasis.
“Do” is used in the affirmative sentences for “emotive emphasis” to show that we feel strongly
about what we are saying.
You do look nice today!
I do like you!
She does talk a lot, doesn’t she?
Do sit down.
Do shut up!
Do be quiet!
Do be careful!
When “do” is used with the imperatives (Do sit down) it often makes an invitation sound more
polite, welcoming or friendly.
Do come in!
Do have another potato!
When auxiliary verbs are stressed, the position of some adverbs is different from normal.
You have certainly grown.
You certainly have grown (emphatic).
2. Emphasis can also be shown by using special words , such as “really, certainly,
definitely. In spoken English “such” and “so” are very common as emphasizes.
Thank you so much. It was such a lovely party. I really enjoyed it.
“Really” can go in several places in a sentence. The most common position is probably midposition: before the verb, or after the first part of a verb with several parts.
I really like Pink Floyd.
She’s really been working hard, hasn’t she?
“Really” usually goes after forms of the verb “to be”.
It’s really great here.
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The sentence becomes more emphatic if “really” is put earlier: before the first part of the verb
with several parts, or before the verb “to be”. In these cases the main sentence stress falls on
the first verbal part, or on the verb “to be”.
I really do like Pink Floyd!
She really has been working hard, hasn’t she?
It really is great here!
Swearwords can also be used for emphasis (but be careful how you use them).
a)exclamation of annoyance
Damn(it)! Hell! My God! Jesus Christ! Blast (it) (GB only)
God damn it! (especially US)
God! Jesus! Christ!
b)exclamation of surprise
God! Christ! Goddamn(especially US) My God! Jesus Christ! Jesus!
Well, I’ll be damned!
Damn me! (Mainly GB)
c)surprised question
What the hell....? Who/Where/How/Why/When the hell.....?
3. Different parts of a sentence can be given more importance by using special
grammatical constructions.
a)Part of a sentence can be moved to the front (especially in informal speech).
That film – what did you think of it?
Asleep, then, were you?
There are some structures of this kind in which inverted word order is necessary.
Certain expressions with a negative or restricting meaning can be put at the beginning of a
sentence for emphasis. When this happens inversion is used.
-Seldom, rarely, never in comparison
This is a rather literary structure , not common in ordinary English.
Seldom had I seen such a remarkable creature.
Rarely could she have been faced with so difficult a choice.
Rarely had his father been so helpful.
Never have I felt better.
-Hardly, scarcely, no sooner
These expressions can be used to begin sentences in which we say that one thing happened
immediately after another. Hardly and scarcely are followed by .... when; no sooner is
followed by ... than.
Hardly had I arrived when I had a new problem to cope with.
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Scarcely had we started lunch when the doorbell rang.
No sooner was she back at home than she realized her mistake.
-Only
Inversion is used when adverbial expressions which include the word “only” come at the
beginning of a sentence. This ,too, is a rather literary structure.
Only after a year did I begin to see the results of my work.
Only in a few countries does the whole of the population enjoy a reasonable standard of
living.
Inversion is also used after not only (in “not only.... but also...”) sentences.
Not only did we lose our money, but we also came close to losing our lives.
-...no.....
Expressions containing the word “no” often come at the beginning of sentences for emphasis;
for example, in notices. Inversion is used.
At no time was the President aware of what was happening.
Under no circumstances can customers’ money be refunded.
In no way can Mrs Pethers be held responsible.
On no account are visitors allowed to feed the animals.
- In narrative and descriptive writing, it is common to begin sentences with adverbial
expressions like “On a hill; In the valley; Round the corner....”. When these are followed
by intransitive verbs like “come, lie, stand, walk...” inversion is common. The whole verb
is put before the subject, and “do/did” is not used.
On a hill in front of them stood a great castle.
A few miles further on lies the enchanting suburb of Balham, gateway to the South.
Round the corner walked a large policeman.
- Here and there can be put at the beginning of a sentence for emphasis. Note the wordorder: the verb comes before the subject unless the subject is a pronoun.
Here comes Mary!
Here’s your watch!
There’s the vicar!
Here she comes!
There he is.
- structures with “it” and “what” (cleft sentences) can be used to give one part of a
sentence more importance.
If we want to give special importance to one part of a sentence, we can put it into a separate
clause. There are two common ways of doing this. One is to use the structure “It is/was...that;
“ the other is to use “What ....is/was....”. Compare:
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Harry told the police. It was Harry that told the police.
I need a beer. What I need is a beer.
The sentence with IT gives special importance to Harry; the sentence with What emphasizes
a beer.
Sentences like these are called “cleft sentences” by grammarians (“cleft” means “divided”).
- cleft sentences with “It is/was....that...”
This structure can be used to emphasize almost any part of the sentence. Compare:
My mother threw an egg at the Minister of Education yesterday.
It was my mother that threw an egg at the Minister of Education yesterday.
It was an egg that my mother threw at the Minister of Education yesterday.
It was yesterday that my mother threw an egg at the Minister of Education.
It was the Minister of Education that my mother threw an egg at yesterday.
When the subject is emphasized, “who” (referring to a person) is possible instead of “that”.
It was my mother who.......
When the emphasized subject is a pronoun there is a choice between subject forms (I, he....)
and object-forms (me, him...).
It was I who.......
It was me that..... .
- cleft sentences with “What .....is/was....”.
This structure is used to emphasize the subject or object. Compare:
My left leg hurts. What hurts is my left leg.
I like her style. What I like is her style.
- repetition of certain words is possible for emphasis.
She looks much, much older now.
I’ve been a blind, blind fool!
You bad, bad boy!
Another way of repeating is by using “tags”
He’s a funny chap, he is.
She’s a nice girl, is Mary.
In informal spoken English we sometimes finish a sentence with a “tag”, in which we repeat
the subject and the auxiliary verb. These “reinforcement tags” are more common in British
than in American English.
You’ve gone mad, you have.
I’m getting fed up, I am.
If the main clause has no auxiliary verb, “do” is used in the tag.
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He likes his beer, he does.
One reason for using reinforcement tags is simply to emphasize the idea of the main clause by
repeating it.
You are really clever, you are.
They can also be used to move the subject to the end of the sentence, so that the verb comes
earlier and gets more immediate importance. This is called “fronting”. In this case the sentence
begins with no subject at all. (Ellipsis).
Getting in my way, you are.
Likes his beer, John does.
Elliptical constructions “if any” “if anything” are used very often to emphasize a part of a
sentence.
Objections to this plan , if any, should be reported to the committee at once.
There is a similar effect when we begin a sentence with a pronoun subject, and put the “full”
subject in the tag.
He hasn’t a chance, Fred hasn’t.
She really got on my nerves, Sylvia did.
It is possible to have reinforcement tags without verbs (subject tags).
You are living in the clouds, you lot.
They are very polite, your children
Ellipsis is possible.
Living in the clouds, you lot.
Very polite , your children.
Pronoun subject-tags are possible, but they are not very common except with
reflexives(myself, himself).
Don’t think much of the party, myself.
PRACTICE
1.Put the negative or restrictive adverbs at the head of the sentence
For example: I have never heard such beautiful music.
Never have I heard such a beautiful music.
1.I had hardly finished my translation when the bell rang
2.He had no sooner opened the window than a gust of wind scattered his papers on the floor.
3.I have never seen anything like this picture.
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4.He had scarcely time to finish his dinner.
5.He knew little about the conditions of life in that remote region.
2.Put the adverb at the head of the sentence.
For example: The children rushed in.
In rushed the children.
1.A bell rang, and the elevator went up to the fourteenth floor.
2.The stone fell down with a crash.
3.He rushed out.
4.The heavy trucks rolled out.
5.They went in.
6.She went off without waiting for my answer.
3.Put the adverb at the head of the sentence.
For example: The secretary is here.
Here is the secretary.
1.A brook comes now , and we have to cross it.
2.Your place is here.
3.The secretary of the commission is here.
4.Our stop comes now.
5.The post office is there.
6.I am here.
4.Put the adverbial group at the head of the sentence.
For example: A little house with a flower garden in front of it stood at the corner of the street.
At the corner of the street stood a little house with a flower garden in front of it.
1.The singing of the birds could be heard in the growing stillness.
2.A mountain river, deep and foaming yellow, rushed at the bottom of the valley.
3.The whistling of a steam engine was heard in the far distance.
4.The sound of a piano issued from one window.
5.Three cottages with cheerful red windows stood in an open place amidst the big trees.
5.Comment on the word order and explain the cases of inversion.
1.Yes here he was , without Savina, on his way to total disillusion about the biggest research
development of his time.
2.Suddenly the door opened and admitted the Baron. Followed a complete and deathlike
silence
3.But never, never , could he have anticipated that evening, some months after the birth of
their child.
4.However, not for the word would he be different from the others.
5.So immersed was the little boy that he didn’t hear the car.
6.No sooner had they disappeared than Nicholas heard the sound of clattering footsteps.
7.Not for an instance did he believe that Nicholas spoke the truth.
8.On they went. Once Alvin let out a sharp exclamation.
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9.He’d been one of those fair babies that everybody took for a girl. Silvery fair curls he had,
blue eyes and a little freckle like a diamond on one side of his nose.
10.Outside, waiting at the back entrance, was a tall well-proportioned youth of 19 years old.
11. Up the staircase he went, falling down, picking himself up again, feeling no hurt.
12. Yet not for the world would he have revealed the strange inexplicable bitterness which
rankled within his breast.
13. Tall and graceful she was, in a well-made dress of dark blue silk, almost the colour of
her eyes.
14. Were I less attached to you, I must pretend to gloss it over. Had I slighter regard for
your intelligence, I should perhaps withhold from you.
15. So it’s you that have disgraced the family.
16. So close kept she that at length almost everybody thought she had gone away.
17. A fresh wrong did these words inflict.
18. Black are the brooding clouds.
19. Out came the pocket-handkerchief again in greater force than ever.
20. Silently and patiently did the doctor bear all this.
21. Many a tear did I shed at night.
22. There stood our professor wearing a young-looking belted blouse and cheerful straw
hat.
23. Not a movement was made by her, not a sound escaped her.
24. Never, indeed, would he forgive her that episode.
25. Investors go back to looking at domestic conditions. And what they find in the United
States is an economy that shows few if any signs of the slowing growth that the
Fed(Federal reserve) Chairman predicts is on the way.
26. What, if anything did the President bring back from Beijing? Above all, the event itself,
the fact that it took place.
27. Such policies contributed to the crisis, and if left in place would harm long-term
growth.
28. It may be long time, if ever, before South Korea is strong enough to face unification
unaided.
29. However venal politicians may be, there is a general, if grudging, acceptance that they
are always with us.
30. His greatest skill lies in enticing and reassuring those who are not enemies and who
might, if handed correctly, become friends.
31. Whatever the outcome of the leadership contests on November 18, the wounds may be
deep and hard to heal.
32. By virtue of longevity, if nothing else, Egypt has seen more changes than most.
33. It is the role of galvaniser and mentor to nervous new democracies that suits the
secretary-general of NATO now.
34. It was at this time, that major money center banks from New York to Hong Kong
accepted, perhaps unwillingly, the responsibility of recycling the world’s excess
liquidity.
35. Although it was Germany which had led a financial rescue operation earlier in the year,
it was, ironically, the relationship with Germany which had probably done more to
undermine Turkey’s economic stability than any other single factor.
36. From a big house to our left came a blaze of light and music.
37. Great was Mr.Tulliver’s wonder.
38. She had hardly said a word since they left the harbor. Neither had he.
39. Down jumped the driver – and out got Mr.Pickwick.
40. Never had I seen a face so happy, sweet and radiant.
41. Sad and grieving was the heart of Florence, as she crept upstairs.
42. Never had he heard a voice like hers.
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43. From behind the sand hills came the whisper of the sea.
44. “Here comes the coffee”, she said.
45. There was a full moon.......
46. It is the strength of the peoples that can ensure a world without war, without arms, a
world of our dreams.
47. It was the failure either to coordinate these Ministries successfully, or to present an
intelligent picture of their activities to the electorate, which was the chief weakness of
the previous Cabinet.
48. The share of imports in Britain’s consumption of manufactured and semi-manufactured
goods increased greatly over the past ten years. It was this growth which alarmed the
Government and business last year when the expansion of imports had a severe effect on
the balance of payment.
49. It was not until the emergence of the women’s suffrage movement in the 1840s-50s that
feminist ideas reached a wider audience, in the form of so-called “first-wave feminism”.
50. It won’t be until the end of the congressional session, 10 months from now, that the
United States will know what actually can be cut from the budget – and at whose expense.
51. But then it will be up to the President and the Congress to set taxes to meet public
responsibilities, and not the other way around.
52. If anything, Ireland has become less fiscally attractive to foreigners over the past few
years: many of the grant and tax dodges once used to seduce them have gone.
53. In the United States, critics have seized on a series of damaging espionage cases and
China’s apparent attempts to influence U.S. elections as proof of continuing if amorphous,
threat from the world’s most popular nation.
54. Under him, and with a strong political will to show Europe as united whatever the cost
Airbus Industry operated in a unique manner, with parts being flown in from Britain,
Germany and Spain to be assembled in Toulouse.
55. Whatever his reasons he has now brought the other members of NATO face to face
with some very big and difficult questions about the military and political structure of
Europe and its relations with the United States.
56. But whatever his long term aims, the President’s immediate intentions and motives
were made relentlessly clear at his last Press conference less than three weeks ago.
UNIT XIII PRONOUNS
Substitute words for nouns or noun phrases (determiner +noun) are called pronouns. There are
several different kinds of pronoun.
-personal pronouns ( I, me, he, it, us, etc...) are used instead of names or nouns when it is
clear who or what is meant.
Me, her, him, us and them are not only used in direct objects. They can also be used in other
ways. Who’s there? –Me.
I’m older than her.
Note that we and us have two meanings. They can include or exclude the listener. Compare:
Shall we go and have a drink? (‘we’ includes the listener)
We’re going for a drink – would you like to come with us? ( ‘we’ excludes the listener).
In very informal English us is sometimes used instead of me.
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Give us a kiss, love.
They and them can be used to refer to one person in certain cases.
If anybody telephones, ask them if they can call again tomorrow.
In question –tags , ‘it’ is used to refer to nothing, everything and all.
Nothing happened, did it?
Everything has now been said, hasn’t it?
It can refer to a person when we are identifying somebody ( saying who somebody is).
Who’s that? – It’s John.
A tall man stood up and shook hands. It was Captain Lawrie.
He and she can sometimes be used for animals.
Give the cat some food. He’s hungry, poor thing.
She can also be used for boats, cars, countries and some other things.
How much petrol does she use?
It can be used as an “introductory” or “preparatory” subject or object when the “real” subject
or object of a sentence is an infinitive or a clause.
It’s difficult to remember all their names.
He made it clear that he didn’t want to speak to me.
It is used as an “empty” subject with no real meaning in expressions referring to time, weather
and temperature.
It’s ten o’clock. It’s Monday. It rained for three days.
We also use it to introduce information about distances.
It’s three miles to the nearest garage.
It can mean “the present situation”.
It’s awful. I’ve got so much work I don’t know where to start.
Isn’t it lovely here!
- the possessives my, your, etc are used instead of genitives ( John’s, my mother’s ....)
when it is unnecessary to name the “possessor”.
That’s my coat.
There’s Mary with her boyfriend.
The possessives mine, hers, yours, etc
are used instead of my, your..... + noun.
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Whose is this coat? - It’s mine.
- relative pronouns ( who, whom, whose, which, that) replace nouns and noun phrases as
the subjects or objects of relative clauses.
“Relative pronouns” do two jobs at once. They are used as the subjects or objects of verbs
,like other pronouns; at the same time they join clauses together, like conjunctions. Compare:
What’s the name of the blonde girl. She just came in.
What’s the name of the blonde girl who just came in?
In the second example , who replaces she as the subject of came and also allows us to join the
two sentences into one.
The most common relative pronouns are who, whom, which , that. Who, whom are used for
people, which is used for things.
I don’t like people who lose their temper easily.
Mexico City, which has a population of over 10 million is probably the fastest growing city in
the world.
Whom (which refers to the object of a verb or a preposition) is rather unusual, especially in
conversational English. It is generally left out, or replaced by who or that. It is almost
impossible in clauses that end with a preposition. Compare:
I think you should stay faithful to the person you’re married to. (Or:... the person who/that you
are married to). Conversational style.
Do you think one should stay faithful to the person to whom one is married? (Formal style).
That can often (but not always) be used instead of whom or which and quite often instead of
who.
The trumpet is the instrument that really excites me.
She’s the only person that understands me.
After nouns referring to times and places, when and where can be used to mean at which or in
which. After the word reason, why is used to mean for which.
Whose is a possessive relative word.
This is Henry, whose wife works for my brother-in-law.
-interrogative pronouns who, whom, whose, what, which take the place of unknown
subjects and objects in questions.
Who said that?
What happened?
One can be used as a pronoun to replace or to avoid repeating a noun.
I’m looking for a flat. I’d really like one with a garden.
Can I have a melon – a nice ripe one?
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There is a plural ones.
The new designs are much better than the old ones.
I’d like a pound of apples. – which ones? – The red ones.
Articles can be used before one(s) (e.g. A green one, the one....) Note that the article A/an is
not used with one if there is no adjective. Compare:
I’d like a big one with cream on.
I’d like one with cream on.
One can replace a countable noun. It is not possible to use one instead of words like milk,
sugar, energy, happiness. Instead of one to replace the uncountable nouns we repeat the
noun. Sometimes it can be left out:
Don’t get artificial silk- we must have real silk.
If you haven’t got fresh milk I’ll take some tinned.
One(s) can be left out after superlatives and after this, that , these, those ; also after either,
neither and other determiners used as pronouns.
I think my dog’s the fastest (one).
Which one would you like? – That (one).
Either (one) will suit me.
Ones is not usually used after both. In American English ones is not used after these or those
( and this is unusual in British English).
Would you like the red one or the blue one? –Both.
I don’t think much of these. (GB.... these ones is possible).
After numbers ones is only used if there is an adjective. Compare:
I caught nine.
I caught nine big ones.
- demonstrative words can be used as pronouns, with no following noun.
Can I look at that?
Listen to this.
There is an important difference between this and that. This is used for people and things
which are physically close to the speaker, and for situations that one is in at the moment of
speaking.
That is used for people, things and situations which are more distant (in space or time). This is
related to here; that is related to there.
Sometimes I wonder what I’m doing in this country.
This is really delicious – how do you make it?
Have you heard from that Scottish boy you used to go out with?
That smells nice – is it for lunch?
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That is used to talk about finished actions, situations, etc. This is used to talk about things that
are going to happen. Compare: That was nice. This will be interesting. Who said that?
Listen to this.
On the telephone , British people use this to introduce themselves, and that to ask who the
other person is.
Hello, this is Elisabeth. Is that Ruth?
Americans use this in both cases.
Who is this speaking?
Note the special use of this (with no demonstrative meaning) in conversational story-telling.
There was this Scotsman, you see. And he wanted.....
PRACTICE
1.Fill the gaps in the following sentences by using either what or which.
1.He didn’t believe ..... I said .... annoyed me very much.
2.In detective stories the murderer is always caught...... doesn’t happen in real life.
3.He wasn’t surprised at .... he saw because I told him .... to expect.
4.In hospitals they wake patients at 6 a.m. ... is much too early.
5.There was no directory in the first telephone box..... meant that I had to go to another one.
6.I did ..... I could....wasn’t much.
7. The clock struck thirteen....made everyone laugh.
8. I am sure ....you say true.
9. We traveled second class .....is cheaper than first class but more crowded.
10. He didn’t know the language ....made it difficult for him to get a job.
11. People whose names begin with “A” always get taken first .... is the most unfair.
12. He played the violin all night ....annoyed the neighbors.
13. When the mechanic opened the bonnet he saw at once .....was wrong with the car.
14. I didn’t buy anything because I didn’t see ....I wanted.
15. They sang as they marched....helped them to forget how tired they were.
16. He was very rude to the customs officer ....of course made things worse.
17. Show me ....you’ve got in your hand.
18. Tell me ....you want to do.
19. All the roads were blocked by snow ....meant that help could not reach us till the
following spring.
20. She expected to clean the house in half an hour .....is impossible.
2.Point out all the pronouns, state the class to which they belong and give their general
characteristics.
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1.I shook him warmly by the hand.
2.Is anything the matter?
4. The young ones were growing up – were almost white.
5. Our are low islands you know , not like these.
6. No dog was to be seen.
7. The boat floated into the wharf to which it belonged.
8. None of them quite knew what she meant.
9. Mother told their little ones to listen.
10. I will tell you everything there.
11. His manner was that of a man whose mind is made up.
12. Her face was close to the window pane.
13. But then Sondra herself entered.
14. What a medley of opinions.
15. He didn’t wish to have any conversation with her.
16. They walked on for some time.
17. The other evening I found a photo of myself taken shortly after I came to live at
Warley.
18. I was examined about what I knew.
19. She told me what had happened.
20. very soon one of the ladies returned – I couldn’t tell which.
3.Insert in each blank the form of pronoun which you consider correct ( I-me; we-us; ...)
1.It was Thomas and .....whom you met.
3. It was ..... who helped me most.
4. What were you and .... studying?
5. They invited you and .... to the party.
6. The book was intended for you and..... .
7. He said that you and ....might be excused from our lessons.
8. This change will make no difference to either ....or... . Neither ....no.... is able to go.
9. It makes no difference to either John or.... .
10. Very few could do it faster than ... .
4.Insert in each blank the appropriate pronoun (he ,she, him, her, his, her, it, its, they, them)
1. Let each of the girls take .....own place.
3. Either Charles or Henry will lend you .......pencil.
4. You were more successful than.... .
5. Neither of them wore.....uniform.
6. If any one inquires about me, tell .... that I am well.
7. Each of the students took....share in the work.
8. We are stronger in mathematics than.... .
9. I would go if I were..... .
10. Will either of you, girls, lend me...... pencil?
11. Each pupil was asked to name.... favourite author.
12. Someone has evidently been here in our absence, for.... has left the door open.
5.Copy the following sentences choosing the correct pronoun.
1. How (much, many) pages have you translated?
4. She made (little, few) mistakes in her last dictation.
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5. There are (much, many) high mountains in the Caucasus.
6. Who has (less, fewer) mistakes John or Peter?
7. There is (little, few) ink in the inkpot.
8. We have received (much, many) valuable information.
9. (much, many) planes passed over there.
10. There is (little, few) water in this well.
11. There was (much, many) fruit last year.
6. Insert in each blank the necessary interrogative or demonstrative pronoun.
1.....hat is mine.
12. With ..... did you go there?
13. I prefer....to..... .
14. The air of hills is cooler than ....of lowlands.
15. .....is he? He is a doctor.
16. ......do you want me to do with.... article?
17. ......put you.....question?
18. The ceiling of my room is higher than .....of yours.
19. About..... are you talking?
20. .....of them is most like yours?
21. ....did you say this parcel for?
22. ......did you give the letter to?
7. Insert the appropriate “self-pronoun” and point out in each instance whether it is reflexive or
emphatic.
1.He had injured..... .
3. I.... have not been there for more than five years.
4. What do you suggest .....?
5. The pupils ..... decorated the hall with flowers and garlands.
6. During the breaks the children amuse ..... in the playground.
7. John ......wrote and posted the letter.
8. We protect .... from rain with an umbrella.
9. I..... was to blame.
10. He did it ..... .
11. You said so .... .
12. He settled ..... as comfortably as he could.
13. He used to be shy when he was a child, but in the army he proved ..... a real hero.
8. Comment on the use of the pronoun “that”(Those) and translate the sentences.
1. The impression conveyed by his mouth and chin was that of a delicate and highly sensitive
nature
2. His temperament was that of a poet.
3. The figure was that of a middle-aged man.
4. His face was that of a comic actor, a singer of songs, a man never at a loss for an
answer.
5. Burlop’s reaction was unexpectedly different from that of others.
6. A low wall divided the court yard from that of the next house.
7. I found that I was crossing the bridge over the Regent’s Park canal, which runs parallel
with that in the Zoological Gardens.
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8. The child meekly raised his eyes, and encountered those of a Forsyte.
9. Define the meaning and function of the pronoun “one”.
1. White’s examination was the last one.
2. His mother was a poor peasant woman, too poor even to think of such a thing as buying
skates for her little ones.
3. One can’t help being nice to Larry.
4. Elliot called me up one morning.
5. And then he came to a great hole. One crawled through locked briars and branches......
6. He came down than, his face compressed like that of one bearing pain.
7. I never spend more than one hour in the gallery. That is as long as one’s power of
appreciation permits.
8. In truth it was a crisis and a great one.
9. The little ones toddled after their mother ( the duck) who led them quickly to cross the
opening.
10. You know where the cake is – that new one?
11. And the second point was the one for us to give our minds to.
12. I saw at a glance that the last two months had been very trying ones for him.
UNIT XIV PREPOSITIONS
Prepositions show relationships in time and space between ideas (logical relationships). Many
words that can be used as prepositions can also be used as adverbs, but not all of them can. A
preposition in a prepositional phrase is always followed by a noun, a pronoun, or another word
that can replace a noun, such as an –ing form (gerund). Always use an object form of a
personal pronoun after a preposition.
Robert put the book on the table.(noun)
Robert went with Carol.
Robert went with her.
With practice Priscilla learned to ski.
With training(gerund) the dog learned to obey.
Prepositions of Space and Movement
Most of the following prepositions can be used for both space and movement depending on the
meaning of the rest of the sentence.
Above, across, against, along, alongside, among, around, at, away from, before, behind, below,
beneath, beside, between, beyond, by, by (the edge/side of), down, far(away) from, from,
as(far)as, in, in back of, in front of, inside of, in the middle of, into, near, next to, off, on,
opposite , out, out of, outside, over, past, round, through, throughout, to, towards, underneath,
up.
Do not put of after another preposition unless the dictionary shows it. Do not , for example,
write off of or behind of. When the of can be used or left out , leave it out.
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Many preposition forms can be used as adverbs, but not all of them can. Some of the adverb
forms must have another preposition added: Away and far are adverbs, but away from and far
from are prepositions.
Shirley is waiting outside the door.( Prepositional phrase used adverbially).
Shirley is waiting outside. ( adverb).
The prepositional phrase gives more information that the single-word adverb.
Some adverbs are very similar to but not exactly the same as related prepositions.
The taxi was waiting near the hotel.(prepositional phrase)
The taxi was waiting nearby.(adverb)
Learn the set phrases with prepositions of space.
Harriet lives
in Denver.(a city)
In Colorado.( a state or province).
On Green Avenue (street without a number)
At 261 Green Avenue(street with a number)
In room 261 or Apartment 210-A(specific room or apartment)
Harriet’s friends live in Canada(country)
At or away from home
On a farm
In a dormitory, apartment, house, student hostel
In poverty, wealth, a city, a suburb, a town, a village
In the South, West(section or region)
The plane landed in Chicago
At O’Hare Airport.
At the Chicago Airport.
Harriet lives at 261 Green Avenue, Denver, Colorado.
The plane landed at O’Hare Airport, Chicago.
We are going to visit our cousin in Denver.
He is
in college
At the University
We are going across the Rocky Mountains
Across the Mississippi River
Across the desert
Their house is located on the beach.
On the ocean.
At the shore
In the mountains
On the river, bank, bay, lake
In the deserts.
On the plains.
Note: When you do not put a preposition between different pieces of information about place,
use a comma.
Use between to show a location that has two points of reference, but use among to show a
location that has more than two points of reference.
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Our house is between the house of the Andersons and the house of the Simpsons.
My car is parked among hundreds in the parking lot , between Joe’s car and Cliff’s car.
Use to show directions in some phrases.
Perpendicular to
horizontal to
the north, south, west, east, next to
But: north, south, east, west.
Note: Compound compass directions made of two words are written as one word and always
begin with north or south. Precise definitions for navigation are usually given in degrees.
Northwest, northeast, southeast, southwest, east by northeast, west southwest
Do not capitalize points of the compass when they mean direction.
Prepositions that show space and movement often introduce essential information that tells
which one. These phrases are adjective phrases and follow the noun or pronoun they modify.
The buses in the city run every ten minutes.
The houses on the bay were damaged by the hurricane.
Prepositions of Time
After, as late as, before, during, for (+period of time), in, on, prior to, since (+point of
time), to, till, until, up to, upon.
Most prepositions of time cannot be used as single-word adverbs in the way that prepositions
of space and movement can. After, before, since and until can introduce dependent adverb
clauses.
Since can be used as a single-word adverb.
The dogs chased the cat, and the cat has not been seen since.
During, for and since have special uses. During and for are followed by a period of time.
During means while the event is in progress. For marks the length of time or an appointed
time.
This tree has been here for two hundred years.
Ted will wait for ten minutes; then he will leave.
He waited for an hour.
But: Pat has an appointment for 3:00.
During the 1960s many nations of Africa became independent.
We sat on the grass during the concert in the park. ( during the time of the concert).
Since marks the beginning of a period of time. It can be used with a point in time and mean
from that time until now. As a preposition since is usually used with the present perfect or
the present perfect continuous/progressive tense in the main clause.
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Pat has been waiting since 2.30.
Since 1960 many nations of Africa have become independent.
We have been sitting on the grass since 5:00 waiting for the concert to start.
Since finding a new roommate, Martha has been happier.
Prepositions that show Logical Relationships
The following examples deal with some common problems with prepositions but they do not
cover all meanings of each preposition.
1.Preposition “of” shows the relationship between a part or parts and the whole. (When “one”
comes before “of” “one “ is the subject of the clause and takes a singular verb even though the
noun after “of” must be plural.)
One of our friends has a car.
One of the best methods is the one that you used yesterday.
But: Much of the water is polluted. (uncountable)
Plural nouns must be replaced by plural pronouns.
One of them has a car.
One of them is the one that you used yesterday.
Many of them have cars.
Ten of them are missing.
Some of them are here.
An uncountable noun can follow “of” and can usually be replaced by “it”.
Some of the rice (it) has been burned.
Much of the advice (it) that I get is useless.
All of the news (it) is good today.
None of the information (it) was helpful.
Chris is a doctor of dentistry.
Bart is a professor of biology.
2. Prepositions “of; out of; from” are used to show origin and material.
Willis is a citizen of Australia.
Sara is a student from Mexico.( her home is Mexico)
George is a student of Mexico .( He studies about Mexico)
They are residents of the United States.
Amanda is a doctor from Massachusetts.( Her home is in Massachusetts).
Amanda is a doctor of medicine.( kind of doctor).
The desk is made of/from/out of wood.
This cloth comes from India ; it is made of/from/out of silk.
This jam is made of/ from/ out of strawberries.
Butter is made of/ from/ out of cream.
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Of can also show material or content.
We bought a basket of tomatoes. (Tomatoes were in the basket).
We bought a basket of straw. (The basket was made out of straw).
3.For is used to show purpose
Thelma is going for an interview tomorrow.
Larry needs a new case for his camera.
4.On and About are used to show a subject.
I just bought a book on/about botany.
Walter has read many articles on/about opera.
5.Prepositions except and but show omission.
No one but/except Catherine saw the new schedule.
Everyone is ready except/but Arthur.
6. Prepositions by and with show an agent and preposition without shows the lack of the
agent.
They traveled by foot, car, plane, train, etc.
The small boy tied his shoes by himself.(without any help. With no help from anyone).
7. Prepositions on account of, because of, owing to, due to are used to show the cause.
Owing to
Due to
On account of
Because of
his age, he couldn’t get the job he wanted.
Do not confuse because of with because. Because introduces a dependent clause; it must be
followed by a subject and a verb.
Because he was too young, he couldn’t get the job he wanted.(Conjunction)
Because of his age , he couldn’t get the job he wanted.
8. Prepositions besides, together with, as well as, with, in addition to show ideas and
information. Do not confuse beside and besides.
Three teams besides/in addition to/ together with/as well as ours played in the tournament.
( Besides is usually the best choice to avoid wordiness).
The teams with their supporters filled the gym.
9. Preposition without shows lack or omission.
Without their supporters, the teams played in an empty gym.
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10. Prepositions in spite of or despite show concession.
Despite
In spite of the bad weather, our trip to the mountains was a success.
Many people are cheerful in spite of their problems.
11. Preposition like shows similarities. Preposition as is used only in the meaning “in the
role of”, otherwise , use as a conjunction.
Like father, like son.
He looks like his father, walks like his father, and eats like his father.
Now I am speaking not as your doctor but as your friend.(prepositions)
She is not as friendly as her brother is. (conjunction).
12. Do not confuse to as a preposition with to in the infinitive phrase.
Prepositions of space are often used in a figurative sense to show logical relationships.
What are the reasons behind your proposal?
Cliff’s reputation is above reproach.
The costs have gone above/beyond the estimate.
Participial Prepositions
A number of –ing forms can be followed by nouns or pronouns in a construction similar to that
of a prepositional phrase.
Barring, concerning, considering, excepting, pending, regarding, respecting
Barring a delay, the package should arrive Monday.
Concerning your parking violation, you will have to pay the fine by the date below.
Excepting only those with a doctor’s excuse, all students must register for physical education.
(These phrases are often seen in business letters).
Grammatical Structure of Prepositional Phrases in a Clause
1.When you use a prepositional phrase as an adjective , put it directly after the word that it
modifies.
The principal of my high school ( of my high school modifies principal) is the man with the
cane (with the cane modifies man).
2.When you use a prepositional phrase as an adverb, put it at the beginning or at the end of the
clause it is in.
The Thompsons planted trees along their driveway.
Along their driveway the Thompsons planted trees.
Put a comma after a long prepositional phrase or phrases ( four words or more) at the
beginning of a clause.
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Along the curving driveway, the Thompsons planted trees.
Along the driveway leading to the house, the Thompsons planted trees.
3.Prepositions can introduce noun clauses, especially in formal writing.
The club is giving free tickets to whoever asks for them.
The president will give the job to whomever he chooses.
4.Prepositions often come at the end of a clause in speech and in informal writing , but writers
avoid putting them at the end of the clause in formal writing.
Informal speech:
Formal writing:
We don’t know who the package was delivered to.
We do not know to whom the package was delivered.
Prepositions and adverbs that are part of two-word verbs often come at the end of a clause.
The fireman put out the fire.
They put it out.
Will was annoyed with Allen.
Emphasis on “one”: Allen was the one (that) Will was annoyed with.
Formal:
Allen was the one with whom Will was annoyed.
5.Only three prepositions can be followed by an infinitive phrase: but, except, about. Other
prepositions can be followed by –ing forms if the meaning allows them.
We had no choice but to go.
We had no choice except to go.
They were about to leave when their friends came.
They had no hope of leaving early.
Charles is helpless about doing his own cooking.
Wendy has been waiting for an answer ever since applying for the grant.
Expressions without prepositions
Pay special attention to the following cases , in which prepositions are not used , or can be left
out.
- to discuss : We ought to discuss your holiday dates. But: a discussion about
12. to marry: She married a friend of her sister’s. But: to get married to.
13. to lack: He’s clever, but he lacks experience. But: a lack of; to be lacking in...
14. expressions of time beginning with next, last, this, one, every, each, some, any, all
See you next Monday.
We are having the meeting this Thursday afternoon.
You can come any day you like.
The party lasted all night.
Note also tomorrow morning, yesterday afternoon......
- in conversation on is often dropped before the names of days of the week. This is
particularly common in American English.
Why don’t you come round (on) Monday evening?
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- In expressions like three times a day, sixty miles an hour, eighty pence a pound,
forty hours a week, the article a is used instead of a preposition. In a more formal style
the word per is sometimes used ( e.g. eighty pence per pound)
- At is generally dropped ( especially in spoken English) in the expression (At) what
time....?
- Expressions containing words like height, length, size, shape, age, colour, volume,
area are generally connected to the subject of the sentence by the verb “to be” without a
preposition.
He’s just the right height to be a policeman.
What colour are her eyes?
She’s the same age as me.
You’re a very nice shape.
I’m the same weight as I was when I was fourteen.
What shoe size are you?
It is also possible to use descriptive phrases like of medium height, of great length,
immediately after a noun.
He was a rather fat man of medium height, with a grey beard.
- In is often dropped (particularly in spoken English) in the expressions (in) the same
way, (in) this way, (in) another way ..... .
They plant the corn the same way their ancestors used to ,500 years ago.
-
To is not used before the word home.
I’d like to go home.
At is also sometimes dropped before home , especially in American English.
Is anybody (at) home?
PRACTICE
1.
Prepositions: at, to; preposition/adverb: in
1.Insert suitable prepositions in the following.
1.Could I speak ....Tom, please?
-I’m afraid Tom’s..... work. But Jack’s ....... . Would you like to speak.....him?
2. How do I get ... the air terminal
-Turn right.... the end of the street and you’ll see it ....front of you.
3. He started going .... school .... the age of five. So now he’s been.... school for ten years.
He’s leaving.... the end of this year.
4. He goes ... his office every day except Sunday. On Sundays he stays ...home and works
...the garden.
5. I think I left my umbrella ...the bus. I’d better write...the Lost Property Office.
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6.
7.
8.
9.
We arrived ... the airport ... good time for the plane.
can I look up a word ....your dictionary? I left mine ...home.
Our train arrived ....York...6.30. Paul met me ... the station.
I went...bed early but I couldn’t get... sleep because the people... the next room were
talking so loudly.
10. ...first I found the work very tiring, but... a few weeks I got used ...it.
11. ...the daytime the streets are crowded but... night they are quite deserted.
12. ...first her father refused to allow her to go back ...work; but ... the end he agreed.
13. ...the beginning of a textbook there is a preface, and ...the end there is an index.
14. He went ...sea...18, and spent all his working life ... sea. He retired ...56 and went to
live ...the country.
15. He is always ... a hurry. He drives ... a tremendous speed.
16. When he began speaking....English, she looked ...him ... amazement.
17. Write ....ink and put your name... the top of the page.
18. He ‘s always ...a bad temper ... breakfast time.
19. I’m interested ... chess but I’m not very good ...it.
20. The train stopped ... all the stations, and long before we got ... London every seat was
taken and people were standing ... the corridors.
2.Use and omission of prepositions
Insert a preposition if necessary. Choose from at, by, for, in, of , on, past, till/until, to ,
with
1.He asked ....his father.... money.
2. They paid ....me the books.
2. I thought he would offer ...Ann the job, but he offered it .... me.
3. Keep ....me a place, and keep a place .... Ann too.
4. They showed ... us photographs ... their baby.
5. Pass the salt .... your father, Peter, and pass ... me the pepper, please.
6. When you have lunch ... a restaurant, who pays.. the bill? – Oh, each... us pays ... what
he has had.
7. Paul’s a pianist. He sometimes plays ...us...the evening. Last night he played some
Chopin.
8. He sold the picture ... an American dealer...$5,000.
9. He promised ... us a share ... the profits.
10. He built a very nice house ... Jack ... only $50,000. I wonder what sort ... house he
would build ... me ...$30,000.
11. She is knitting socks ... refugees. I wish she’d knit ... me some socks.
12. Sitting ...the floor isn’t exactly comfortable. Throw ... me a cushion, please, Ann.
13. If you are going ... Post Office, could you buy.... me a book ... stamps?
14. I explained ... him that it was a custom ... England to wash one’s car at the weekend.
15. I described the machine ... him and asked ... him if he could make ... me one like it.
16. She told ... us that she ‘d been attacked ... the street. We asked ... her to describe her
attacker and she said he was a tall man ... a limp.
17. If you write ... me a song I’ll sing it ... the school concert. I’ll get Paul to accompany ...
me ... the guitar.
18. He told ... them to wait ... him ... the bridge.
19. I cannot repeat ... you what she said ... me ... confidence.
3.Insert till, until, to where appropriate.
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1.Go on ... the crossroads.
2. Go on ... you see a church on your right.
3. We work from 9 a.m....... 6 p.m.
4. Start now and go on.... I tell you to stop.
5. I’m going to wait ... it stops raining.
6. You’ll have to stay in bed... your temperature goes down.
7. The library is open from 10....4 o’clock.
8. This train goes ....York.
9. We have lunch from 12.00 .... 1.00. Then we start again and go on ...5.30.
10. Go back ... the hotel and wait there. ....I call you.
11. I’m not going for a walk. I’m only going ... bank. –Then you’d better wait ... bank
opens.
12. If you are going ... the Post Office, would you post a letter for me? – Yes, of course;
but it won’t go... tomorrow.
4. Insert for or since.
1.It’s a long time ... I had a good meal. Or I haven’t had a good meal ... ages
2. I’ve been waiting for Tom ...6.00; I wonder if he’s lost his way.
3. Ever ... his accident he’s afraid of flying.
4. I haven’t seen Tom ... we left school.
5. The astronauts have already been in orbit ... two days.
6. ...last year the noise has become very much worse.
7. I’ve had this toothache ... the last week.
8. Her husband died last year, and .... then she has been supporting the family.
9. It’s three years ... I did my skiing.
10. The windows haven’t been cleaned ... weeks.
11. He has been missing .... 48 hours.
12. ..... last year we haven’t been allowed to park here.
5. Insert then, after or afterwards.
1. We had tea and ... went for a walk.
2. We’ll have watercress soup to start with. What would you like .... that?
3. ....waiting for half an hour he went home in disgust. Later on he was sorry he hadn’t
waited longer.
4. I give all the guests breakfast; ... I have my own.
5. First you loosen the nuts, .... you jack up the car,.... you take the wheel off.
6. He listened at the keyhole for a minute;.... he opened the door cautiously.
7. University administrators sometimes appear more important than scholars; but the
administrators will not be remembered .... their death.
8. In the story, the Princess married the Prince and they lived happily ever..... .
9. He wound up the clock, set the alarm for 5.00 ..... got into bed and fell asleep.
10. He poured the brandy into a glass, warmed it in his hands a little, ,,, drank it slowly.
11. For years ... people remembered that terrible night.
12. I spoke angrily;..... I regretted my words.
13. He looked round to see that nobody was watching;.... he took a piece of bent wire and
began trying to open the door.
14. First you say “Yes” and .... you say “No”. You’re an impossible person to make plans
with.
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UNIT 15
DIRECT AND INDIRECT SPEECH
GENERAL
When we want to quote somebody’s words or thoughts, we can do it in two ways. First of all,
we can try to give the exact words that were said ( or that we imagine were thought).
So he comes into the pub and says “ I’ll have a pint”.
And then I thought “Well, does he really mean it?
This way of quoting is called “direct speech”. Usually the words quoted are introduced by one
of the words “say” or “think” put before the quotation. In writing, quotation marks “...” are
used. In literary writing , a large number of other verbs are used ( to add variety and to give
additional information); for example, ask, exclaim, suggest, reply, cry, reflect, suppose, grunt,
snarl, whisper. And in literary writing the word order is more free; the reporting verb can come
in the middle or at the end of the quotation.
“Your information,” I replied, “ is out of date”.
“ I suppose so” grunted Jack.
The other way of quoting somebody’s words or thoughts is to use the “reported speech”
construction ( also called “indirect speech”). In this case we talk about the idea that was
expressed without quoting the exact words that were used, and we connect it more closely to
our own sentence( for example , by using that or whether).
So he comes into the pub and says (that) he’ll have a pint.
In reported speech, the tenses, word-order, pronouns and other words may be different from
those in the original sentence. Compare :
He said, ”I’m going home”. He said he was going home.
In some cases words may disappear or be expressed in other ways ( yes, no, well,
exclamations and questions-tags, for example, cannot be fitted into the reported speech
constructions.) Compare:
“Yes, I suppose so”, he said. “It’s difficult, isn’t it?”
He agreed unenthusiastically, saying that it was difficult.
Reported Speech. Tenses.
When we quote in direct speech we do not usually make any important grammatical changes in
what a person said. In reported speech, on the other hand, we do not give the person’s exact
words. Instead we report his idea using the same tenses and pronouns as we use in reporting
the rest of the situation we are talking about. Compare:
Alan was looking for Helen this morning.
Alan said that he was looking for Helen.
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In these sentences, Alan’s looking for Helen is past, and somebody else, not Alan is talking
about it. So, in both sentences it’s natural to use a past tense and the pronoun “he” to talk about
it.
When the reporting verb is past (e.g. she said; I thought; we wondered; Max wanted to
know...) we do not normally use the same tenses as the original speaker.
The verbs are “more past” because we are not talking at the same time as the speaker was.
Compare:
Direct speech
Reported speech
Present simple
“I like peaches”
past simple
He said he liked peaches
Present progressive
“It is raining”
past progressive
He asked if it was raining
Past simple
“ I didn’t recognize you”
past perfect
She explained that she hadn’t recognized me.
Present perfect
“You’ve annoyed the dog”
past perfect
I told her she’d annoyed the dog.
Past progressive
“I was joking about the price”
past progressive or past perfect progressive
He said he was joking (had been joking)
about the price
Past perfect
“I hadn’t seen her before
that day”
past perfect
You said you hadn’t seen her before that day.
shall/will
“We’ll be late”
should/would
I was afraid we’d be late.
Can, may
“ I can swim”
“It may rain”
could, might
She thought she could swim.
They said it might rain.
Would, could, might, ought,
Should
“She could be right”
“That should be interesting”
would, could, might, ought, should
Must
“I must go”
must ( or had to)
He said he must go (he had to go).
I felt she could be right.
She said it should be interesting.
Note that we may have shall or should in direct speech, and would in reported speech
( because of the difference of person).
“I should be delighted to come”.
He said he would be delighted to come.
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When the “reporting verb” is present, future, or present perfect the tenses used are usually the
same as those in the speaker’s original words. Compare:
“Will I be in time?”
She wants to know if she’ll be in time.
“Was your operation successful?”
He’ll certainly ask you if your operation was successful.
“I don’t want to go”
I’ve already told you that I don’t want to go.
Sometimes , even after past reporting verbs, the tenses are the same as the original speaker’s.
This happens when we are reporting people saying things that are still true when we report
them. Compare:
“The earth goes round the sun”
Galileo proved that the earth goes round the sun.
“I’m only 28”.
She told me the other day that she’s only 28.
However, past tenses are also possible in these cases. British or American people find the
following conversation quite natural:
“How old are you?” – “I beg your pardon?” – “ I asked how old you were.”
In sentences like these, we often use present tenses if we feel that we are reporting facts; we
prefer past tenses if we are not sure of the truth of what we report. Compare:
She told me she’s getting married next June .( And I believe her)
She told me she was getting married next June. (It may be true, it may not.)
It is important to realize that the tenses in reported speech are not “special”. They are (almost
always) just the normal tenses for the situation we are talking about. Compare:
She was tired so she went home.
She said she was tired and she went home.
In the second sentence , the past tense in was tired is not used because the structure is
“reported speech”. It is used ( as in the first sentence) because we are talking about the past. It
is quite unnecessary to learn complicated rules about reported speech, or to practice changing
direct speech to reported speech. Simply use the tenses that are natural for the situation.
Reported questions
Reported questions do not have the same word-order as direct questions often have. “Do” is
not used. Question-marks are not used.
The nurse asked how I felt.
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I wondered why my mother was driving so fast.
Rosemary couldn’t understand where all the people were living.
Before a question which do not have a question-word ( like “who, where, why”) “if” or
“whether” is used in reported speech.
I’m not sure whether/if I’ll have time.
I wonder whether/if you’ve got letters for me.
When both sides of the alternative are given , whether is more common, especially in a formal
style.
Let me know whether/if you can come or not.
The directors have not decided whether they will recommend a dividend or hold the profits.
Certain verbs (for instance: to discuss) can be followed by whether not by if.
We discussed whether we should close the shop.
And whether not if can be used after prepositions, and before to-infinitive.
I haven’t settled the question of whether I’ll go back home.
She doesn’t know whether to get married now or wait.
“Say” can be used to introduce direct questions, but not reported questions. Compare:
She said, ”Do you want me to help you?”
She asked if I wanted her to help me.
Note that the reported question constructions can be used in a special way, to report the
answers to questions. In this case “say” can be used.
I told him how many people we were expecting.
She explained what the problem was.
Mary said why she didn’t want to come.
There is a difference in the usage of say and tell. Tell is used only in direct speech when what
is quoted is either an instruction or a piece of information.
I said “Hello” to the boss and sat down at my desk.
Mary said, ”What a nice idea”.
I told Martha, “Look in the black box in my bedroom”.
I told them, “I have never seen this man before”.
In reported speech both say and tell can be used to talk about giving information but not about
asking questions.
I said that I was tired.
The landlady told me that she would have to put up the rent.
Say what you want.
She refused to tell me where she lived.
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But: They asked what I wanted.
They asked if I wanted to see a film.
Words like here, there, this, that, today, tomorrow, yesterday, next, last , now, then are
called “here-and-now-words”. Their exact meaning depends on where and when they are used,
and they may have to be changed in reported speech (unless the words are reported
immediately, and in the same place where they were spoken). There are no exact rules for
changing these words: we use whatever expressions will make the meaning clear in the
situation.
Tell +object + infinitive is used to talk about orders, commands, advice, etc.
Say cannot be used like this.
I told them to shut up.
My mother always told me not to talk to strange men.
Tell Charles to stop worrying and have a drink.
“Shall I...?” can have two meanings. It can be used for information (e.g. Shall I be in London
in time for supper if I catch the 10.30 train?”), or to ask for orders, instructions, etc. ( e.g.
Shall I carry your bag for you?). Information-questions are reported with “will/would” in the
third person; offers and requests for instructions are generally reported with “should”(present
or past).
He wants to know if he will be in London in time for supper.
He asked if he would be in London....
He wants to know /he asked if he should carry my bag.
Reported speech: orders, requests, advice,.....
Orders, requests, advice and suggestions are often reported by using an infinitive.
I told Andrew to be careful crossing the glacier.
The old lady downstairs has asked us to be quite after midnight.
The accountants advise us to raise prices by 8%.
Note that “ask” can be used in this way, but “say” is not usually possible. “Suggest” cannot
be followed by the infinitive.
Negative questions, etc. are reported with negative infinitive.
Margaret told me not to worry.
A that-construction is also possible.
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The policeman told me that I ought to fill in a form .
Should (British English) or a subjunctive (American English) is often used in that
constructions.
I suggested that he (should) meet us again a month later.
Conditionals
After a past reporting verb we can sometimes use “a conditional perfect structure” (past perfect
in the main clause, conditional perfect in the other). It depends on the meaning. Compare:
1.He said ,”If you called on me tomorrow, I could see you for half an hour”
He said that if I called on him the next day he could see me....
2. He said,” If I had any money, I’ll buy you a drink.
He said if he’d had any money he’d have bought me a drink.
In the first example the speaker was talking about something that might happen, and the
past conditional is not possible because it is only used for “imaginary” situations. In the
second example, the past conditional is possible, because the speaker was talking about
something that could not happen.
That
After the commonest verbs of saying and thinking , that can be left out, particularly in a
conversational style.
I said I wanted to get home early.
Jane thought it was time to buy some new clothes.
I suppose we ought to go.
Deborah tells me you’re leaving.
That is not so often left out in a more formal style, and there are also many verbs (reply,
telegraph....) after which that is necessary.
He replied that we ought to invest half the profits.
How to, where to,etc.
In reported speech , it is possible to use a question-word (how, where, who, etc) with an
infinitive.
.
I told her where to go.
Reported speech without reporting verbs
In newspaper reports, reports of parliamentary debates, records of conferences, minutes of
meetings, etc, the reported speech construction is often used with very few reporting verbs.
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Eg. The managing director began his address to the shareholders by summarizing the
results for the year. Profits on the whole had been high, though one or two areas had been
disappointing. It was, however, important to maintain a high level of investment, and he
was sure that the shareholders would appreciate..... .
PRACTICE
1. Put the following into indirect speech
1. “I have nothing to show you”, I said to her.
2. “Nothing grows in my garden. It never gets any sun”, she said.
3. “I’m going away tomorrow, mother, ”he said.
4. “I’ve been in London for a month but so far I haven’t had time to visit the Tower”, said
Rupert.
5. “We have moved into a new flat. We don’t like it nearly so much as our last one,” said
my aunt.
6. “We have a lift but very often it doesn’t work,” they said.
7. “I’ve no idea what time is but I’ll dial 8081 and find out,” said his daughter.
8. “I’ll come with you as soon as I am ready,” she replied.
9. “If you let the iron get too hot you will scorch your clothes,” I warned her.
10. “I’ll sit up till she comes in, but I hope she won’t be late,” he said.
2. Put the following into indirect speech, being careful to avoid ambiguity.
1. “I couldn’t get into the house because I had lost my key, so I had to break a window,” he
said.
2. “The mirror is there so that you can see yourself when you are dancing ,”the
instructress told him.
3. “I wrote to him the day before yesterday. I wonder why he hasn’t rung up,” she said.
4. “If the ground is dry on the day of the race, the horse might win,” said the owner.
5. “You’d better slow down. There’s a speed limit here,” she said to me.
6. “If Tom wants seats, he’d better apply early,” she said.
7. “They should put traffic lights here, otherwise there’ll be more accidents,” she said.
8. “It’s time we began training for our next match,” the coach said to them.
9. “If it rains this afternoon it will be too wet to play the match tomorrow,” the captain
said.
10. “I was intending to do it tomorrow ,”he said,” but now I don’t think I’ll be able to”.
11. “Bill should do very well at the university, Mrs. Smith,” said the headmaster. ”He’s
done very well here”.
12. “I wish you’d seen it,” I said to her.
3. Put the following questions into indirect ones.
1.“What happened to Mr. Budd?” said one of the men.
2.”Which of his sons inherited the estate? asked the other.
3.”Who is going to live in a big house?” enquired a third.
4.”Why has the 2.30 train been cancelled?” said Ann.
5.”How much does a day return to Bath cost?” Mrs. Jones asked.
6.”Why does the price go up so often?” she wondered.
7.”How can I get from the station to the airport?” said Bill.
8.“Are you working as well as studying?” asked Peter.
9.“Have you got a work permit?” Bill wanted to know.
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10.“What are you going to study?” asked Ann.
11. “Have you enrolled for more than one class?” said Peter.
12. “Do you want to buy any second-hand books?” said Bill.
13. “Have you seen the library?” asked Ann.
14. “Do you play rugby?” said Peter.
15. “Will you have time to play regularly?” he went on.
16. “Did you play for your school team?” said Bill.
17. “Why are you looking through the keyhole?” I said.
18. “Who put salt in my coffee?” he asked.
19. “Why did you travel first class?” I asked him.
20. “How can I run in high-heeled shoes?” she asked.
21. “What is your new house like?” I asked him.
22. “Whose car did you borrow last night?” I said to him.
23. “Are you going to see him off at the station?” I asked her.
24. “Would you mind if I looked inside your bag, Madam?” said the policeman.
4. Put the following into indirect speech, joining the sentences together with as, and, but,
for.
1.“Make good use of your time. You won’t get such an opportunity again,” he said to us.
2. “Don’t wait till tomorrow”, said the advertisement, ”post the coupon at once”.
3. “Be very careful crossing roads,” she said,” and remember to drive on the right”.
4. “I can’t open it. You have a try, Peter,” he said.
5. “Go and get me a paper, and come straight back,” he said to me.
6. “Wear a wig if you don't want to be recognized,” I advised to him.
7. “Beware of pickpockets,” said a huge notice.
8. “Smell this. Do you think it has gone bad?” she said.
9. “Stand by the window and tell me if anyone goes into the house opposite,” he said.
10. “Remember to put the break on,” the instructor said.
5. Questions with If-clauses and time clauses. ( Remember that these clauses should be
put last.
E.g. “When/If I see him , what shall I say?” she asked.
She asked what she should say when/if she saw him.
1.She said,” If you feel faint sit down and put your head between your knees”.
2. She said ,”If he arrives before I get back give him something to drink”.
3. “If anyone rings up,” she said,” say that I’ll be back shortly”.
4. “When you are driving always look in you driving mirror before turning right,” said the
instructor.
5. “If you think the room is cold shut the windows,” said my aunt.
6. “If you feel lonely any time ring me up,” he said.
7. “When you see Mrs. Pitt don’t forget to thank her,” she said to her husband.
8. “When the bell rings take the meat out of the oven,” said my sister.
9. “When you hear the fire alarm, shut all windows and go downstairs as quickly as
possible,” said the schoolmaster.
10. “If the lift should stop between two floors press the emergency button,” he said.
11. “When the rain stops, can we go out?” said the children.
12. “When you’ve completed one section, go on to the next,” the teacher said.
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TEXTS FOR GRAMMAR ANALYSIS
TEXT 1. ENGLISH AS A WORLD LANGUAGE
Today, when English is one of the major languages in the world, it requires an effort of the
imagination to realize that this is a relatively recent thing – that in Shakespeare’s time, for
example, only a few million people spoke English, and the language was not thought to be
very important by the other nations of Europe, and was unknown to the rest of the world.
English has become a world language because of its establishment as a mother tongue outside
England, in all the continents of the world. This exporting of English began in the seventeenth
century, with the first settlements in North America. Above all, it is the great growth of
population in the United States, assisted by the massive immigration in the nineteenth and the
twentieth centuries, that has given the English language its present standing in the world.
People who speak English fall into one of three groups: those who have learned it as their
native language; those who have learned it as their second language in a society that is mainly
bilingual; and those who are forced to use it for practical purposes – administrative,
professional or educational. One person in seven of the world’s entire population belongs to
one of these three groups. Incredibly enough, 75% of the world’s mail and 60% of the world’s
telephone calls are in English.
Basic Characteristics.
Simplicity of form.
Old English, like modern German, French, Russian and Greek, had many inflections to show
singular and plural, tense, person, etc. , but over the centuries words have been simplified.
Verbs now have very few inflections, and adjectives do not change according to the noun.
Flexibility.
As a result of the loss of inflections, English has become, over the past five centuries, a very
flexible language. Without inflections, the same word can operate as many different parts of
speech. Many nouns and verbs have the same form, for example swim, walk, kiss, look,
smile. We can talk about water to drink and to water the flowers; time to go and to time a
race; a paper to read and to paper a room. Adjectives can be used as verbs. We warm our
hands in front of a fire; if clothes are dirtied, they need to be cleaned and dried. Prepositions
are also flexible. A sixty-year old man is nearing retirement; we can talk about a round of
golf, cards, or drinks.
Openness of Vocabulary.
This involves the free admissions of words from other languages and easy creation of
compounds and derivatives. Most world languages have contributed some words to English at
some time, and the process is now being reversed. Purists of the French, Russian, and Japanese
languages are resisting the arrival of English in their vocabulary.
The Future of English.
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Geographically, English is the most widespread language on Earth, second only to Mandarin
Chinese in the number of people who speak it. It is the language of business, technology, sport,
and aviation. This will no doubt continue although the proposition that all other languages will
die out is absurd.
( John and Liz Soars. Headway. Upper-Intermediate)
TEXT 2 TRAVELLERS’ TALES
Every year a magazine called Executive Travel organizes a competition to find the Airline of
the Year. Travelers from all over the world are invited to vote for the most efficient, the most
punctual, the safest and the friendliest airline. The winner in 1985 was British Airways. The
competition asked travelers what for them was most important from an airline, and the results
were as follows:
Punctual departures and arrivals – 35%.
Attentive cabin staff - 35%.
Comfort - 18%.
Safety - 9%.
Good food and wine 9%.
The competition also invited travelers to tell their most horrific stories of the nightmare side
to international travel. Replies included six hijacks, fifty-three cases of engine failure or
trouble with the landing gear, eleven lightning strikes, twenty-three bomb scares, thirteen cases
of food poisoning, eleven near misses and two collisions with airport trucks.
Bad flying experiences begin on the ground, naturally. One American airline managed to
double-book an entire 747, but this is nothing compared to what happened on an internal flight
on a certain African airline. The flight had been overbooked three times. The local military
sorted the problem out by insisting that all passengers with boarding cards should run round
the plane twice, the fastest getting the seats. An overbooked flight that was going from
Heathrow to America gave one traveler a bit of a shock. Dressed only in trousers, shirt and
socks, he had been allowed by the stewardess to leave the aircraft to see if he could get a
colleague aboard. He returned a few minutes later to find the 747 closed up and about to start
moving – with his shoes, wallet, passport and luggage inside. Banging frantically on the door
got him back inside. A similar event was seen by a businessman on a flight from Bangladesh.
Passengers were waiting for take-off when there was a sudden hysterical hammering on the
door. At first the cabin crew paid no attention. The hammering continued. When the door was
finally opened, the pilot got in.
One frequent flier lost a certain confidence when the cabin staff asked him to sit in the lavatory
during take-off, so that they could occupy the seats nearest the emergency exit. Another lost
faith in the pilot’s navigational skills when passengers were given lifeboat drill on a flight
between London and Manchester.
For nervous fliers, a journey to be avoided was one between Gatwick and Montpellier, where
the in-flight entertainment consisted of watching pieces of the engine falling off. Another
passenger was asked to hold the aircraft door closed at take-off and landing.
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Baggage is a rich source of horror stories. There was the unlucky traveler who left Chicago in
minus-23 weather. He was going to an important meeting in Dallas, where the temperature was
80-plus. Unfortunately his suitcase had gone to LA, where it spent the next two days. The
customers he was trying to impress were more than a little surprised to see him going round in
a thick suit, heavy overcoat and fur hat.
( Executive Travel Magazine , October 1985)
TEXT 3. DICING WITH DEATH. AND LIVING WITH
STATISTICS
Every day is fraught with danger. You wake in the morning, rush to the window and take a
deep breath. Don’t! Hasn’t anybody told you about the air being polluted with lead from
petrol? Next you go to the bathroom. After touching the lavatory handle, your innocentlooking hands are covered with bacteria, which even a good wash won’t entirely remove. You
sigh and get dressed. Good heavens! Don’t you realize that all that nylon won’t let your skin
breathe?
With a rash beginning to appear on your skin, you make your way to the kitchen for the
breakfast. Eating must be good for you – mustn’t it? Of course it is, provided you don’t have
tea or coffee, which are bad for your heart, or a good old-fashioned English fry-up, which will
fill your stomach with cholesterol-building fat.
Depressed – not to mention hungry – you go to clean your teeth. Put down that nylon
toothbrush at once. It will ruin your gums. Do you have the courage to weigh yourself?
Horrors! You’re at least have a stone overweight, which is sure to help send you to an early
grave.
Hesitating you make your way to the car, knowing that ( according to statistics) there’s a good
chance that either you or one of your nearest and dearest will be involved in an accident
sometime during your life. After a heart-thumping journey you reach work.
Filled with relief you get into the lift. Get out at once and race up those stairs, unless you want
a heart attack tomorrow.
Panting, you reach the office, where you collapse into a chair. The cleaner has just left, leaving
an aerosol’s delightful aroma floating in the air. You inhale deeply, enjoying the sweet
fragrance. Danger! Breathing in the substance will ruin your lungs( not to mention our
atmosphere, if we are to believe the experts).
With trembling hands you light a cigarette to calm your nerves. A what? How dare you? In
comes your colleague, Ms Brown, all ready for a busy day, blonde hair and make-up in place.
Do you think she’s heard about the cancer scare concerning the dyes and eye-liners?
At last lunch-time comes. You join your mates in the local for a sandwich. White bread, eh? A
low-fiber diet is no good at all. You have “just one more drink”, which helps you on your way
to liver failure, and you return to the office. You spend the afternoon fighting a battle with
high blood pressure and chronic indigestion ( or is it your heart at last?) and give a sign of
relief as 5.30 arrives.
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What a jam on the by-pass tonight. It gets your fingers tapping on the steering wheel, doesn’t
it? You look in the driver’s mirror and see a large vein throbbing up and down on your
forehead. It throbs even faster as you suddenly remember that article you were reading about
strokes.
A nervous wreck, you reach home. You crawl up the path and fall into your wife’s protective
hands. She won’t last much longer, of course. She’s inhaled a large amount of washing
powder, quite a few asbestos particles from her hair drier and a great number of chemicals
from aerosol sprays.
But do not fear, civilization is here. Are we really that much happier in our modern
technological world with all its new-found knowledge than our ancestors who knew nothing of
these things? Is it any surprise that there were no analysts or psychiatrists in any century before
ours? I’m sure they didn’t need any.
( Sunday Times)
TEXT 4. NIGHTMARE OF THE MONSTER CITIES
It is a sweltering afternoon in the year 2000, in the biggest city ever seen on earth. Twentyeight million people swarm about an 80-mile-wide mass of smoky slums, surrounding highrise of power and wealth.
One-third of the city’s work-force is unemployed. Many of the poor have never seen the city
center. In a nameless, open-sewer shanty town, the victims of yet another cholera epidemic are
dying slowly, without any medical attention. And from the parched countryside a thousand
more hungry peasants a day pour into what they think is their city of hope.
That nightmare of the not-too-distant future could be Cairo or Jakarta or any of a dozen other
urban monsters that loom just over the demographic horizon.
Already Mexico City, Sao Paulo, and Shanghai are among the largest, most congested cities on
earth.. Over the next two decades, they – and many others- are expected almost to double in
size, generating economic and social problems that will far outstrip all previous experience.
Just 30 years ago some 700 million people lived in cities. Today the number stands at 1,800
million, and by the end of the century it will top 3,000 million – more than half the world’s
estimated population.
The flood of “urbanities” is engulfing not the richest countries, but the poorest. By the year
2000 an estimated 650 million people will crowd into 60 cities of five million or more – threequarters of them in the developing world. Only a single First World city –metropolitan Tokyo,
which will have 24 million people is expected to be among the global top five; London, ranked
second in 1950 with ten million people will not even make 2000’s top 25.
In places where rates of natural population increase exceed three per cent annually- meaning
much of the Third World – that alone is enough to double a city’s population within 20 years.
But equally powerful are the streams of hopeful migrants from the countryside. More often
than not , even the most appalling urban living conditions are an improvement on whatever
those who suffer them have left behind.
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What confronts and confounds urban planners is the enormity of these trends. There have
never been cities of 30 million people, let alone ones dependent on roads , sewer and water
supplies barely adequate for urban areas a tenth that size.
The great urban industrial booms of Europe and America in the nineteenth and twentieth
centuries sustained the cities that they helped to spawn. But in today’s swelling Third World
cities, the flood of new arrivals far outstrips the supply of jobs – particularly as modern
industries put a premium on technology rather than manpower. So it will be virtually
impossible to find permanent employment for 30 or 40 per cent of the 1,000 million new city
dwellers expected by the year 2000.
Optimists maintain that runaway urban growth can be stemmed by making rural or small-town
life more attractive. Some say that the trend is self-correcting, since conditions will eventually
get bad enough to convince people that city life is no improvement after all. But pessimists see
a gloomer correction: epidemics, starvation and revolution. In the end, both sides agree that the
world’s biggest cities are mushrooming into the unknown.
( Newsweek International)
TEXT 5. THINGS I WISH I’D KNOWN AT 18
Jack Higgins left school at 15, later became a teacher, then a university tutor before succeeding as a writer and
becoming a millionaire. “The Eagle Has Landed” appears next month in its original unabridged form. A new
hardback “Touch the Devil” comes out in October. Higgins also writes under his real name ,Harry Patterson. He
lives, in much luxury, in Jersey. Here he talks to Pamela Coleman.
I wish I had known at 18 somebody like I am now at 53 , an older person with hard-won
wisdom to whom I would have gone for advice.
As a teenager, I was written off as an oddball. Coming from the docks of Belfast and living in
a back-to-back in Leeds I was thought of as “Daft Harry” because of my obsession about
becoming a writer. I had pretensions to being a kind of Ernest Hemingway. I wish I’d known
my limitations.
I wish I had known that you are capable of anything at 18. I was a teenager in the days before
teenagers were invented – when it was a handicap to be young. You were “nowt but a lad”,
held back because you were only 18, 20 or whatever. There were no popsingers speaking for
younger people then. It was before John Braine, who’s a friend of mine, wrote “Room at the
Top” before the Angry Young Man thing took off.
Getting a safe job, earning a steady wage – that was the philosophy of life. It was a philosophy
based on the parents’ attitudes. So I went into a succession of boring clerical jobs. I wish I
hadn’t wasted my energies in so many directions before I finally got to grips with writing.
I wish, for instance, I’d had the guts to try to become an actor. I was quite good, I used to act
at the Civic Theatre in Leeds as an amateur and longed to try my luck with a seaside repertory
company. But when I talked about it to friends – who were all office workers, shop workers –
they’d say : “Ooh no”.
I wished I’d known at 18 that other people’s opinions were nothing like as important as I
thought they were. For me it’s what I think that’s important, and I don’t mean that in an
arrogant way. In writing, for example, I had to learn to trust my own judgment. For years I
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earned modest sums and my first real break didn’t come till 1971, with a thriller called “The
Savage Day” based on the Irish troubles. Everyone I told thought it was a terrible idea for a
book, but I went ahead and wrote it. It got to number ten in the best-seller list without any
fanfare of publicity.
When I suggested writing about Winston Churchill spending a quiet weekend in the country
when German paratroopers drop in to kidnap him, my publisher said it was the worst idea he’d
ever heard. But I was so hooked on the idea, I persisted. That was “The Eagle Has Landed”,
which created publishing history.
Because I left school at 15 with no School Certificate I thought I was a failure, but I think now
that being a school drop-out was probably a good thing. It made me an instinctive writer. I
think too much education can be a disadvantage. Universities are full of professors and
academics who want to write but can’t. I wish I’d known that at 18. When I pulled
Dostoevsky’s “The House of the Dead” off a library shelf as a lad I read it simply because I
enjoyed the story, not because I’d been told to read it.
But at 18 I longed for a piece of paper that said I was intelligent. I got it eventually when I was
31 after taking a double honors degree through night-school and correspondence courses. It
didn’t mean much , apart from involving my career prospects. I became a lecturer in a
polytechnic and finally a tutor at Leeds University. It was an ego trip more than anything else.
Recently I had my IQ tested – it is 147, just short of Mensa. I realized that the truth was, I
always was a clever idiot who didn’t fit into the system and whom the system didn’t recognize.
At 18 I went into the Horse Guards on National Service and was stationed in Berlin. The
Cold war had just started and we had to patrol the borders. Occasionally a shot was fired – a
close friend of mine was shot in the stomach and died at my side.
For me life has been disappointment in general terms, which may sound surprising. I thank
God for my wife, Amy, and four marvelous kids, but life is life, in spite of success. The total
sales of my books are now well over 100 million. When “Eagle” was number one in England
and number one in America , I never thought my success would continue. Since then I’ve had
six more number ones. I’ve climbed my personal Everest. And so what? I realise I’ve been
driven by a terrible desire to achieve. That desire made me a workaholic. I didn’t have time for
hobbies, so now that I do I find there’s nothing I really want to do. I tried karate for a year and
thought “ What am I doing that for?” Then I tried being very healthy and running everywhere
and weight-lifting.
These days I get invited to Buckingham Palace garden parties and lunch with Princess
Margaret and to talk to Prime Ministers. I feel as though it’s all a mistake.
So what? Is a phrase that has figured rather largely in my life. I’m glad I didn’t know at 18 that
when you’ve got to the top of the peak you’re left with an emptiness.
TEXT 6 LIFE ISN’T A REHEARSAL , YOU KNOW
Several years ago while sheltering from a typhoon in a sleazy motel in Cincinnati I came
across a tattered beer-stained notice pinned to a wall above a public telephone. It read simply:
“This isn’t a rehearsal. This is Life. Don’t miss it”.
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It was a message which has ghosted through my life ever since. How many of us can honestly
claim not to have mortgaged our lives to some future dream, a dream which as likely as not
will never be realized?
We live life on the never-never: telling ourselves that just as soon as we have got past this or
that particularly onerous chore or stage we will be able to devote our energies to what we
really want to do.
I must admit to being a master of the art of the never-never. Daily I say to myself that as soon
as I have finished this or that script, or article or paid off my overdraft, then I will really start
to live.
It is I believe a delusion I share with the great hopeful majority, and a delusion it is dangerous
to harbor, because each of us knows that tomorrow never comes.
For some I suspect that this life-long planning for the future is a way of procrastinating: a getout for not having the will, talent or nerve for trying something new and discovering oneself to
be a failure.
How many people have I met who have told me about the book they have been planning to
write but have never yet found the time? Far too many.
This is Life, all right, but we do treat it like a rehearsal and , unhappily, we do miss so many
of its best moments.
We take jobs to stay alive and provide homes for our families always convincing ourselves that
this style of life is merely a temporary state of affairs along the road to what we really want to
do. Then at 60 or 65 we are suddenly presented with a clock and a couple of grandchildren
and we look back and realize that all those years waiting for real Life to come along were in
fact real life.
In America they have a saying much ridiculed by the English : “Have a nice day” they intone
in their shops, hotels and sandwich bars. I think it is a wonderful phrase, reminding us, in
effect, to enjoy the moment: to appreciate this very day.
How often do we say to ourselves , “I’ll take up horse-riding (or golf or sailing) as soon as I
get promotion” only to do none of those things when promotion comes. When I first became a
journalist I knew a man who gave up a very well paid responsible job at the Daily Telegraph to
go and edit a small weekly newspaper. At the time I was astonished by what appeared to me to
be his complete mental aberration. How could anyone turn his back on Fleet Street for the
parish pump? I wanted to know.
Now I am a little older and possibly wiser, I see the sense in it. In Fleet Street the man was
under continual pressure. He lived in an unattractive London suburb and he spent much of his
life sitting on Southern Region trains.
In Kent he became his own boss, lived within minutes of the office in a very pretty village and
found his life enriched tenfold. His ambition for advancement in his carrier had been
smothered by his enjoyment of the life he was leading. His life stopped being a rehearsal and
becoming a real thing.
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I am not suggesting that this would suit every one of us. Unhappily it wouldn’t suit me. But in
many ways I consider that man in Kent to be one of the luckiest chaps I know.
I am not advocating that one should live for the minute in any hedonistic sense. That isn’t the
answer. But it is, I hope, an exhortation to some degree of self-fulfillment. Whatever you want
to do, do it now; because , no matter how old you are , it’s later than you think.
(Ray Connoly. )
TEXT 7
BAD LINE ON BEHAVIOUR
What drives you to lose your temper on the telephone? Being kept waiting, being connected to
voice mail or being passed on to someone else are all common flashpoints. But what infuriates
people most of all is talking to someone who sounds inattentive, unconcerned or insincere,
according to a survey published today.
The study by Reed Employment Services, a recruitment company, found that nearly two-thirds
of people feel that “phone rage” –people losing their temper on the telephone –has become
more common over the past five years. More than half the respondents, who were from 536
organizations, said that they themselves had lost their tempers on the phone this year.
The reasons for this are threefold, according to Reed. People are much more likely to express
anger over the phone, rather than in writing or face-to-face. Moreover, telephone usage has
been rising steeply over recent years. Increasing number of transactions take place entirely by
phone, from arranging insurance to paying bills.
In addition people’s expectations have risen. Nearly three-quarters of respondents to the Reed
survey said they are more confident that their problems can be solved over the telephone than
they were five years ago.
Companies are taking steps to improve their staff’s answering techniques. The survey found
that 70 per cent of organizations require their staff to answer the telephone with a formal
company greeting. In 43 per cent of organizations, staff have to give their own names when
they answer the telephone.
But a third of organizations do not give any training , or they train only their receptionists.
That may not be enough, the report says. As companies move towards “remote working” , the
need for the right tone of voice extends to every level of the organization.
( From the Financial Times)
TEXT 8 FASHION VICTIM FIGHTS BACK
( Calvin Klein is tired of piracy, says Alice Rawsthorn, and has started a global offensive against counterfeiters)
Walk into a street market anywhere from Manila to Manchester, and someone will be selling
T-shirts branded with the distinctive CK logo of Calvin Klein, the New York fashion designer.
If the price is very low the shirts are probably fakes. Calvin Klein, like most other
internationally –known fashion designers, has for a long time had problems with counterfeiters
selling poor-quality merchandise bearing his brand name. Now he is doing something about it.
“As the Calvin Klein brand has become well-known, we’ve seen a big increase in counterfeit
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activity”, says Gabriela Forte, chief executive of Calvin Klein. “The better-known the brand
name , the more people want to rip it off”.
In the past Calvin Klein took a relatively passive approach to the counterfeit problem. The
company has now got tougher by establishing a network of employees and external specialists
to uncover copyright abuse.
The move began with a general change in corporate strategy whereby Calvin Klein has
aggressively expanded its interests outside North America. Calvin Klein has been one of the
leading fashion designers in the North American market since the mid –1970s. Now Calvin
Klein is building up its fashion business in other countries. It has increased its investment in
advertising, and restructured its licensing arrangements by signing long-term deals with
partners for entire regions such as Europe or Asia, rather than giving licensing rights to
individual countries. But as sales and brand awareness have risen, Calvin Klein has become an
increasingly popular target for Asian and European counterfeiters, alongside other luxury
brands such as Gucci, Chanel and Ralph Lauren.
The fake goods mostly T-shirts jeans and baseball caps , not only reduce the company’s own
sales but damage its brand image by linking to poor quality merchandise. “You’d be amased
at how many people pay $5 for a T-shirt without realising it’s counterfeit” , said one executive.
(From the Financial Times)
TEXT 9
PASSENGERS BEHAVING BADLY
The abusive passenger is becoming a world-wide problem. Delta Air Lines crew suffer 100
verbal and physical assaults in a month, while cabin crews in some airlines are seeking early
retirement at 50 because of their stressful work. One businessman was recently less than
unhappy when airport staff told him his luggage had been lost. Already frustrated by a
delayed flight, he stormed onto the runway, took out a pistol and shot the aircraft’s front tyre.
“Every time there is an incident where the cabin crew feel compelled to bring someone off the
flight-deck, there will be safety issues”, says Leslie Berkowitz, in-flight services manager at
the International Air Transport Association.
The cause of most passenger misbehavior is stress, according to Farrol Kahn, director of the
Aviation Health Institute. Overcrowding and queuing at the airport raises adrenaline levels.
Normally these levels decrease through gaining control of a situation, either by standing up
and fighting or by running. Instead, passengers are kept in cramped conditions on an aircraft,
where they have no control. “In these circumstances, they wait for one little excuse and then
let rip”, says DrKahn. In one recent case , a septuagenarian hit a steward after being told there
was no more steak.
Much of the abuse is down to alcohol. Dahlberg and Associates, the Aviation consultancy,
recently discovered that 202 out of 708 major incidents noted by a US carrier over a six-month
period were alcohol - related. Seventy-four incidents were smoking – related : more carriers
are banning on-board smoking, leading the nicotine-dependent into conflict as they try to have
a secret cigarette.
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Dahlberg also blames “changes in society’s views on technology and authority” and “stresses
related to mass travel”.
( From the Financial Times)
TEXT 10 OUTDOOR ADVERTISING - A BREATH OF
FRESH AIR
The world of outdoor advertising billboards, transport and “street furniture” ( things like bus
shelters and public toilets) is worth about $18 billion a year, just 6% of all the world’s
spending on advertising. But it is one of the fastest-growing segments, having doubled its
market share in recent years.
Outdoor advertising’s appeal is growing as TV and print are losing theirs. The soaring costs of
TV are prompting clients to consider alternatives. Dennis Sullivan, boss of Portland Group, a
media buyer, calls outdoor advertising the last true mass-market medium. It is also cheap. In
Britain, a 30-second prime-time TV slot costs over 60,000pounds ($100,000); placing an ad
on a bus shelter for two weeks works out at about 90 pounds.
Adding to its attractions has been a revolution in the quality of outdoor displays. Famous
architects such as Britain’s Norman Foster are designing arty bus shelters and kiosks with
backlit displays. Backlighting, introduced in Europe by Decaux and More, and plastic poster
skins have vastly improved color and contrast.
Movement is possible too. Smirnoff used new multi-image printing to make a spider, seen
through a vodka bottle, appear to crawl up a man’s back. And Disney advertised its “101
Dalmatians” video on bus shelters with the sound of puppies barking.
This sort of innovation has attracted a new class of advertiser. Recent data from Concord, a
poster buyer, shows that in Britain, alcohol and tobacco have been replaced by entertainment,
clothing and financial services as the big outdoor advertisers, like car makers, are using it in
new ways. BMW ran a “teasers” campaign in Britain exclusively on bus shelters.
Particularly attractive to the new advertisers is street furniture, the fastest growing segment of
the outdoor market. It accounts for some 20% in Europe and about 5% in America.
( from the Financial Times)
TEXT 11 HOW TO SELECT THE BEST CANDIDATES –
AND AVOID THE WORST
Investing thousands of pounds in the recruitment and training of each new graduate recruit
may be just the beginning. Choosing the wrong candidate may leave an organisation paying
for years to come.
Few companies will have escaped all of the following failures: people who panic at the first
sign of stress; those with long, impressive qualifications who seem incapable of learning;
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hypochondriacs whose absentee record becomes astonishing; and the unstable person later
discovered to be a thief or worse.
Less dramatic, but just as much a problem, is the person who simply doesn’t come up to
expectations, who doesn’t quite deliver; who never becomes a high-flyer or even a steady
performer; the employee with a fine future behind them.
The first point to bear in mind at the recruitment stage is that people don’t change. Intelligence
levels decline modestly, but change little over their working life. The same is true of abilities,
such as learning languages and handling numbers.
Most people like to think that personality can change, particularly the more negative features
such as anxiety, low esteem, impulsiveness or a lack of emotional warmth. But data collected
over 50 years gives a clear message: still stable after all these years. Extroverts become
slightly less extroverted; the acutely shy appear a little less so, but the fundamentals remain
much the same. Personal crises can affect the way we cope with things; we might take up or
drop drink, drugs, religion or relaxation techniques, which can have pretty dramatic effects.
Skills can be improved, and new ones introduced, but at rather different rates. People can be
groomed for a job. Just as politicians are carefully repackaged through dress, hairstyle and
speech specialists, so people can be sent to training courses, diplomas or experimental
weekends. But there is a cost to all this which may be more than the price of the course. Better
to select for what you actually see rather than attempt to change it.
( From the Financial Times)
TEXT 12 WHY THE LAST SHALL BE FIRST
Have you heard of Berkey or Ampex? Gablinger or Chux? Perhaps you should have because
each occupies an important place in the history of product innovation. Berkey produced the
first hand-held electronic calculators, Ampex the first video recorders. Gablinger developed
low-alcohol lager and Chux sold the first disposable nappies.
Or perhaps you should not, because none of these companies made a commercial success of
their innovations. Today the calculators we use are probably made by Casio, our video
recorder comes from Matsushita, our low-alcohol beer is Miller light, our nappies are made by
Proctor & Gamble. In each of these markets the innovator was swept away.
Xerox looks like an exception to this sorry catalogue. The company was first into the
photocopier market and, even if its dominance was ultimately challenged by Canon, it remains
a large and successful company today. But Xerox was also a pioneer in fax machines and
personal computers. Each of these eventually proved to be a success- but not for Xerox
Corporation.
As we all know, it was Apple that developed the personal computer market. But Apple’s
leadership quickly disappeared when IBM came on the scene. Apple then jumped ahead by
introducing the graphical user interface. Its windows and mice brought personal computing
within the reach of everyone. But it is Microsoft that does this now.
The business world is not kind to pioneers. Even if you know how a market will develop,
timing is a matter of luck – or of quite exceptional skill.
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There are two close related lessons. One is that being first is not often very important. The
other is that innovation is rarely a source of competitive advantage on its own. Individuals and
small companies can make a great deal of money out of good new ideas. The success of large
established corporations – Matsushita, Philip Morris, IBM or General Electric is generally
based on other things: their depth of technical expertise, their marketing skills. And time and
again these characteristics enable them to develop the innovative concept far more effectively
than the innovators themselves.
This is not to say that there is no role in business for the great innovator. After all, General
Electric was built on the extraordinary creativity of Thomas Edison’s mind, the Ford motor
company on the abilities of its eponymous founder. The imagination of Walt Disney created a
company that is still without parallel or rival. Perhaps Akio Morita of Sony occupies a similar
place in the annals of modern business.
( From the Financial Times)
CONTENTS
UNIT I Present tenses
UNIT 2 Past tenses
UNIT 3 Combining Past and Present
UNIT 4 The Future
UNIT 5 Revision of Tenses
UNIT 6 Conditionals
UNIT 7 Verb Combinations
UNIT 8 Passives
UNIT 9 Modal Verbs
UNIT 10 Multi- word Verbs
UNIT 11 Adverb
UNIT 12 Emphatic Constructions
UNIT 13 Pronouns
UNIT 14 Prepositions
UNIT 15 Direct and Indirect Speech
Texts for Grammar Analysis
CONTENTS
BIBLIOGRAPHY
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27
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69
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BIBLIOGRAPHY
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Aspinall T., Capel A. Advanced Masterclass CAE. Oxford University Press, 1996.
Strutt P. Market Leader. Longman, 2000.
The New Yorker. 2001.
The Financial Times. 2003.
Гуськова Т., Зиборова Г. Трудности перевода общественно-политического
текста. Москва. 2000.
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