Master English: Vocabulary, Interactions, and Verb Tenses
Vocabulary
- Business: Negócio
- Entertainment: Entretenimento
- Health: Saúde
- Lifestyle: Estilo de vida
- Local: Local
- Sports: Esportes
- Technology/Science: Tecnologia/Ciência
- Travel: Viagem
- Weather: Clima
- World: Mundo
News Headlines
- Shark Attacks Local Surfer: Tubarão ataca surfista local
- Bear Chases Hiker Up Tree: Urso persegue alpinista até árvore
- Pilot Crashes Plane – No One Hurt: Piloto bate avião – ninguém se machucou
- Lightning Misses Golfer by One Foot: Relâmpago erra golfista por um pé
- Boat Overturns – All Swim to Safety: Barco vira – todos nadam para a segurança
- Firefighter Rescues Family Cat: Bombeiro resgata gato da família
- Hiker Survives Week in the Mountains: Alpinista sobrevive semana nas montanhas
- Fire Threatens Historic Town: Incêndio ameaça cidade histórica
Learning Tips
- To remember vocabulary:
- Make flash cards
- Keep a vocabulary notebook
- To increase speaking fluency:
- Talk with native speakers
- Talk to yourself out loud
- To improve listening comprehension:
- Watch movies with subtitles
- Watch online video clips
Communication
- Ways to communicate:
- Answer the phone
- Call (someone) back
- Leave (someone) a voice message
- Respond to an email
- Update your status online
- Ways to avoid communicating:
- Don’t check voicemail
- Ignore a text
- Let the call go to voicemail
- Turn off the phone
- Screen your calls
Interactions
- Agreeing with an opinion:
- I feel exactly the same way.
- I couldn’t agree with you more.
- I totally agree.
- Disagreeing politely:
- I don’t know about that.
- I’m not sure about that.
- I’m not sure that’s really true.
- Expressing interest:
- I’m trying to…
- I’m interested in…
- I’m looking for…
- Offering options:
- How about…
- One possibility is…
- You might want to consider…
Verb Tenses
- Simple present: Hawaii hopes to attract more business travelers.
- When do you plan on surfing?
- Do you plan on surfing today?
- Present continuous: Jasper is recovering from last week’s storm.
- How are you feeling?
- Are you feeling OK?
- Simple past: Mars had a large lake billions of years ago.
- What did you see?
- Did you see the shark?
- Past continuous: Jason was playing songs all night.
- What were you doing?
- Were you surfing?
- Present perfect: Café Bella has opened in Pelham.
- How long have you surfed?
- Have you surfed for a long time?
- Future with will: The Winter Olympics will begin next Monday.
- What will you do next?
- Will you go back in the water soon?
News Story Examples
- The Austin Sun Times has closed its doors – for now. The newspaper printed its last newspaper last Sunday, but it will open again next month as an Internet-only paper. Staff members are learning about digital publishing now, so they will be ready next month. Sadly, the Austin Gazette is now the city’s only “paper” newspaper.
- Pink is a playful color, and it makes people smile. But last night William Maddox wasn’t smiling when he stopped a fight in his store. “Two people were arguing for about five minutes over the last pink T-shirt in my store. I asked them to leave and then closed the store for the day,” said Maddox.
- Fifteen-year-old Kate Moore was the country’s newest texting champion. Last Tuesday, she competed against 20 other contestants and won $50,000 for her fast and accurate texting. But even Kate got one question wrong. No one knew the meaning of the abbreviation “PAW”. It means, “I can’t talk now. My parents are watching.”
Questions and Answers
- Where did she crash the plane? She crashed the plane in a forest.
- How long has he been in the desert? He’s been in the desert for a week.
- How did the firefighter feel? The firefighter felt very proud.
- When will the fire threaten the town center? The fire will threaten the town center tonight.
- What were they doing when the boat overturned? They were fishing when the boat overturned.
- What is he thinking about writing? He’s thinking about writing a survival book.
Present Perfect Continuous
- Emphasize the duration of an action that is in progress (how long, recently, lately):
- What have you been doing recently? I ’ve been reading magazines.
- How long has he been writing in his notebook? He ’s been writing in it for about a month.
- Have they been talking to native speakers lately? Yes, they have. No, they haven’t.
- Verbs not used in the present perfect continuous:
- Believe
- Like
- Belong
- Love
- Need
- Forget
- Hate
- Own
- Hope
- Remember
- Know
- Want
Practice Questions
- Have you been doing anything recently to improve your vocabulary? Yes, I have. I have been keeping a vocabulary notebook.
- How long have you been studying English? I have been studying English since last year.
- What have you been doing in class lately? We have been making vocabulary flash cards.
Verb + Object + Verb
- Without “to”:
- Would you let me help?
- Please make them be quiet.
- Could you have her text me?
- Please help me call people.
- With “to”:
- I invited you to come.
- I’ll ask her to help me.
- Would you tell her to call me?
- Could you remind them to come early?
Examples
- I tell the caller to call me back later.
- I have my friend call me back.
- I have someone input the numbers for her.
- I say, “ Let me help you”.
- I let the call go to voicemail.
- I answer but ask the person to call back in the morning.
- I invite the person to come in.
- I make the person leave.
- I remind my friend to call later.
- I ask my friend to stop calling.
- I make her pay for using my phone.
- I let her continue to use my phone.
Writing
Today, English is very important, not only to be able to communicate on trips around the world but also because it is a fundamental element in working life. To improve my English, I take a preparatory course at Clep, in which I learn grammar, new vocabulary, I train in speech, and improve listening. In addition, I listen to many songs in English and see the lyrics, and watch movies with audio and subtitles in English. Sometimes I also see videos in English on subjects that interest me. I’m planning with two other Clep friends to make an audio call once a week to talk in English, but we still cannot put it into practice.