English Vocabulary and Grammar Guide for Students
Posted on Apr 17, 2024 in English
English Vocabulary and Grammar Guide
Unit 5: Vocabulary
Academic Vocabulary
- Tutor
- Learner
- Mark (calificar)
- Admission
- Pass
- Sit an exam
- Course requirement (requisito)
- Job prospects
- Qualifications
- Terms
- Theory
- Compulsory essay (disciplina)
Common Verbs and Nouns
- Agree/agreement
- Assess (evaluar)/assessment
- Feel/feeling
- Involve (involucrar)/involvement (intervención)
- Investigate/investigation
- Confuse/confusion
- Prefer/preference
- Approve/approval (aprobación)
- Intend (pretender)/intention
- Respond/response
- Lose/loss
- Compare/comparison
- Exist/existence
- Demand/demand
- Develop
- Perform/performance
- Advise (aconsejar)/advice
- Appear (parecer)/appearance
- Know/knowledge
- Educational (not “adicational”)
Phrasal Verbs
- Drop out: abandonar
- Live up to sth: estar a la altura/cumplir
- Hand (sth) back: devolver algo
- Get away with something: salirse con la suya/librarse
- Point out: señalar/recordar
- Put sth off: posponer
- Get through sth: pasar por algo/superar
- Get out of doing sth: evitar/escaquearse
- Take on: asumir
- Catch up with sth: ponerse al día con algo
- Find out: averiguar
- Get to know: llegar a saber
- Meant to be: destinado a ser
- As to: en cuanto a
- Are you up?: ¿estás despierto?
- Pick something up: empezar a aprender algo
Connecting Words
- Además – moreover
- Furthermore – además
- Therefore – por lo tanto
- Such as
- On the one hand/on the other hand
- For this reason
- Although – aunque/a pesar de
- Whereas – mientras
- In conclusion
- In my opinion
- Firstly
- Considering
- Her lack of – su falta de…
- For bargains
- However
- In spite of: a pesar de
- From time to time
- Also: también
- Moreover: además
- Instead of: en vez de
Comparisons
- The less you sleep, the more tired you feel
- The more you wait, the more nervous you feel
- She is not nearly as good at cooking as you
- She is by far the best singer
Time Expressions
- I opened the letter as soon as (en cuanto) it arrived
Unit 5: Conditionals
- Zero Conditional (if + present simple + present simple): Used for universal truths (e.g., If water boils, it evaporates)
- First Conditional (present simple + will/won’t + infinitive): Used for real or possible situations (e.g., If you come this weekend, we will go to the cinema / If I study, I will pass the exam)
- Second Conditional (past simple + would + infinitive): Used for unlikely future situations or impossible present situations (e.g., If I won the lottery, I would spend my life travelling / If I were you, I would go to Italy)
- Third Conditional (past perfect + would have + past participle): Used for past situations that did not happen and their consequences (e.g., If I had woken up earlier, I would have arrived on time)
Wishes and Regrets
- I wish I passed – deseo haber aprobado
- If only/I wish I had passed – desearía haber aprobado
Countable and Uncountable Nouns
Uncountable Nouns
- No “a” or “an”
- No plurals
- Use “some” and “any” in the singular
- Use “little” and “much” to quantify
- Use “amount”, “bit”, “deal”, “piece” to specify quantity
- Examples: accommodation, advice, behaviour, cardboard, countryside, damage, equipment, experience, food, furniture, homework, housework, information, knowledge, luggage, media, music, newspaper, pollution, research, scenery, smoke, software, stuff, transport, money
Countable Nouns
- Use “a” and “an”
- Can be plural
- Use “some” and “any” in the plural
- Use “few” and “many” to quantify
Argumentative Writing
- Use transition words like “nowadays”, “firstly”, “on the one hand”, “one advantage”
Unit 6: Vocabulary
Job-Related Vocabulary
- Car washer
- Dog walker
- Waiter
- Shop assistant
- Badly paid
- Challenging
- Demanding
- Fascinating
- Full-time job
- Hard
- Holiday
- Manual
- Office
- Outdoor
- Part-time
- Permanent
- Pleasant
- Responsible
- Skilled (habilidoso)
- Temporary
- Tiring
- Rewarding (gratificante)
- Tough
- Well-paid
- Worthwhile (merece la pena)
- Whims (caprichos)
- Work under pressure
Job vs. Work
- Job: Specific type of work (e.g., What’s your job? I’m looking for a job in finance. My job is teaching English.)
- Work: General term for activity involving effort (e.g., I work from Monday to Friday. What time do you go to work? Patricia got a new job in a software company. She has been working… I have a job as a… I usually work at…)
Other Vocabulary
- Fun: Enjoyable activity (e.g., The trip was fun.)
- Funny: Humorous (e.g., Funny jokes. He was trying to be funny.)
- Occasion: Specific event (e.g., In one occasion, I had four dogs.)
- Opportunity: Chance (e.g., It’s great having the opportunity.)
- Possibility: Something that might happen (e.g., There’s the possibility that I’ll be asked.)
Verb Collocations
Sports and Activities
- Hold/organise/compete in/enter/take part in: a race/a competition/a tournament/a championship
- Do/take: exercise
- Go: running/cycling/skiing/swimming/hiking
- Play: football/golf/basketball
- Do: sports/athletics/gymnastics/judo/weightlifting/mountain biking
Unit 7: Infinitives and Gerunds
Infinitives
- After “too” and “enough”
- After verbs like: agree, appear, decide, hesitate, expect, promise, arrange, fail, ask
- Verb + to infinitive (e.g., agree to, appear to, bother to, decide to, demand to, fail to, hope to, learn to, manage to, offer to, plan to, refuse to, seem to, be supposed to, threaten to)
- Verb (somebody/something) to + infinitive (e.g., ask someone to, choose to, expect something to, help someone to, intend to, promise to, want something to)
- Verb + (somebody/something) + to infinitive (e.g., advise someone to, allow someone to, enable someone to, encourage someone to, forbid someone to, force someone to, invite someone to, order someone to, permit someone to, persuade someone to, recommend someone to, remind someone to, teach someone to, tell someone to, warn someone to)
Gerunds
- After prepositions
- As a subject
- After verbs like: admit, continue, involve, suggest, mind, enjoy, postpone, finish, risk
- After expressions like: It’s no good, It’s a waste of time, It’s not worth, It’s not a case of, Spend time, It’s no use, Can’t help
- Verb + gerund (e.g., admit doing, deny doing)
- Verb + preposition + gerund (e.g., accuse someone of doing something, apologise for doing something, congratulate someone on doing something, blame someone for doing something)
Other Vocabulary
- Look: mirar
- See: ver
- Watch: mirar fijamente
- Listen: escuchar atentamente
- Hear: oír
- Gain/get/have/lack: experience
- Earn: money
- Apply for/find/look for/offer/turn down: a job
- Achieve/fulfil/realise: an ambition
- Play: obra de teatro
- Coast: reparto
- Stage: escenario
- Spectator: (for) sport events
- Audience: (for) TV/theatre/concert/shows/conference/cinema
- The public: masa anónima
Prepositions of Place
- At: Specific point (e.g., at home, at school, at work, at university), event with a number of people (e.g., at a reception, at the seminar)
- In: Area or space (e.g., he had his shop in his room, in villas, in the south of Spain), car or taxi, in class, in hospital, in prison, in court, in a queue, in the world
- On: Surface (e.g., on the wall, on the table), on the border, on the coast, on the road to, on the edge, on the way to, transports (except taxi and car), technology (e.g., on the phone), right and left
Unit 8: Reported Speech
Tense Changes
- Present simple – past simple
- Past simple – past perfect (had + past participle)
- Present perfect (have + past participle) – past perfect
- Past perfect – past perfect
- Will – would
- Future perfect (will have + past participle) – would have + past participle
Modal Verb Changes
- Can – could
- Could – could
- May – might
- Should – should
- Must – had to
Reporting Verbs
- Said – said
- Should – suggested
- An order – ordered
Time and Place Changes
- Today – that day
- Yesterday – the day before
- Tomorrow – the next day
- Next week/year – the following week/year
- Last week/year – the previous week/year
- Now – then
- Here – there
- This – that
- These – those
Verb Patterns
Verb + Full Infinitive
- Agree: Yes, I’ll do it – He agreed to do it
- Offer: Shall I open the window for you? – He offered to open the window
- Promise: I promise I’ll finish it – He promised to finish it
- Refuse: I won’t do it – He refused to do it
- Threaten: Leave or I’ll call the police – He threatened to call the police
Verb + Somebody + Infinitive
- Advise: You should stop smoking – He advised me to stop smoking
- Ask: Please, lend me some money – He asked me to lend him some money
- Beg: Please, please help me – He begged me to help him
- Invite: Would you like to come to the party? – He invited me to come to the party
- Order: Shut up! He said – He ordered me to shut up
- Remind: Don’t forget to send the letter – He reminded me to send the letter
- Warn: Don’t touch the iron – He warned me not to touch the iron
Verb + Gerund
- Admit: Yes, I broke the window – He admitted breaking the window
- Deny: I didn’t break the window – He denied breaking the window
Verb + Preposition + Gerund
- Accuse someone of: You stole my book – He accused me of stealing his book
- Apologise for: I’m sorry…
- Congratulate on: He congratulated me on doing…
- Blame someone for doing something
