Saturday 29 October 2011

Pronunciation of the -ed ending




Click here to revise how to pronounced the -ed ending.



Do the following quiz to check if you know how to pronounced the -ed ending correctly
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Past Perfect



I/you/we/she/it/ we/they had= I'd etc./ he'd + past participle (gone/seen/ finished)
If we want to talk about things that happened before an action in the past, we use the past perfect.
e.g. When I went to Sue's she had gone out.
The man sitting next to me on the plane was very nervous. He'd never flown before.
We arrived to work in the morning and found that somebody had broken into the office during the night.

Past tenses

http://www.oup.com/elt/global/products/headway/int/a_grammar/unit03/hwy_int_unit03_3/

Past simple or past perfect

Past simple /Past continuous



We form the past simple of regular verbs by adding -ed to the main verb. watch-watched
We form questions and negations with the auxiliary verb did/did not (didn't), the subject and the main verb without -ed.
e.g Did you watch TV last night? I did/didn't watch TV last night.

Spelling rules:
-verbs ending in -e take only -d dance-danced
-verbs ending in a consonant+ y, drop the y and take -ied. try-tried
- Verbs ending in a vowel +y, take -ed. play-played, stay- stayed
- Verbs ending in one stressed vowel between two consonants, double the last consonant and take -ed. plan-planned, but open-opened
- Verbs ending in -l double the l and take-ed. travel-travelled, quarrel-quarrelled

Pronunciation of the suffix -ed
/ Id/ when the verb ends in / t/ or / d/
/ t/ when the verb ends in /k/,/s/,/tʃ/,/ʃ/,/f/ or /p/ sound.
/ d/ when the verb ends in any other sound, arrived, prepared, showed, robbed.

Listen
http://eslus.com/LESSONS/PRONUNCI/EDENDING/ED1.HTM

http://www.englishpronunciationpod.com/podcast_31.html

http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/radio/specials/1413_gramchallenge26/
Irregular verbs do not form the past simple by adding-ed

We use the past simple:

- for actions which happened at a definite or stated time in the past; that is, we know when they happened. e.g. They graduated four years ago.
- For actions which happened repeatedly in the past but don't happen any more. In this case we can use adverbs of frequency (always, often, usually etc,) e.g. He often played football with his dad when he was five.
-for actions that happened immediately after the other in the past e.g. They cooked the meal and ate it with their friends.
Time expressions used with the past simple include: yesterday, last night/week/year/Monday etc. two days/weeks/months/years ago, then, when, in 1992 etc.
Past continuous
We form the past continuous with was/were and the main verb with the -ing suffix.
We use the past continuous:


  • for an action which was in progress at a stated time in the past. We do not know when the action started or finished. e.g. At three o'clock yesterday afternoon we were washing tha car.
  • for a past action which was in progress when another action interrupted it. We use the past continuous for an action in progress (longer action) which interrupted it (shorted action). e.g. He was reading the newspaper when he heard a terrible noise.
  • for two actions which were happening at the same time in the past (simultaneous actions) e.g I was cooking lunch while my children were playing outside.
  • to give the background information in a story.
Time expressions used with the past continuous include: when/while/as, all day/night/morning, etc.
Practice
http://www.oup.com/elt/global/products/headway/int/a_grammar/unit03/hwy_int_unit03_1/
http://www.oup.com/elt/global/products/naturalenglish/int/a_grammar/unit09/neint_grammar09_exp/

Friday 28 October 2011

Monday 3 October 2011

Taking our diet more seriously

Summary of the text on page 4 in your workbook.

Most people think that health is important and because of this, many are trying to eat more healthily.
For example: People in the UK are eating less salt and more low fat products,.
In America, fruit is now the second favourite snack.
In Japan cocoa is a healthy alternative to soft drinks.
Global sales are increasing for soy drinks and drinkable yoghurts.
Sales of bread, pasta and cereals are growing much more slowly.
People are becoming more interested in fresh fruit and vegetables.
"Farmers' markets" are getting more popular.
People are buying more products that are healthy, like fruit, salads, and nuts. They are also buying products that help the environment, like organic vegetables.

Are you also taking your diet more seriously? Explain your answer.