Quickies

Fill in the blanks with the following words. There may be more than one right answer.

as a result of despite even so in order to whereas

1. ___ ensure everything goes to plan, please read all instructions carefully.

2. ___ recent cutbacks, Marketing and Sales will be merged into one department.

3. Mary and Jeff feel we need to reduce personnel expenses, ___ I believe we should take more people on!

4. I agree with you about that; ___, I’m not going to approve it.

5. Valerie sent the report out, ___ my strict instructions not to.

Remember, these phrasal verbs are not “set + particle” but rather units, so learn them as such! Put these verbs in the correct sentence, conjugated as necessary.  You may want to look these words up in a dictionary, as they may have secondary meanings! (Just like in that sentence: “look up” isn’t just “turn your […]

“In case” may seem familiar to Spanish speakers, but it’s not what it seems at first glance. In fact, we need to look at more of the phrase to be sure we know what we’re talking about.

By this, I mean we need to see if there’s an “of”, i.e., “in case of”. This phrase can be translated into Spanish, no problem.

In case of fire, break glass.

The barbeque will be outside. In case of rain, the auditorium can be used as a back-up location.

But, without that “of”, “in case” means “if something should happen”:

You shouldn’t light that match, in case you start a fire.

We’ve prepared the auditorium in case it rains during the barbeque.

Put the following sentences in the right order: are for waiting what you ? do doing have how I many stop times tell that to to you ? on person phone talking the the to was were who you ? about Bill change could in know let plans the you ? are Coke do if […]

Put the following modal verbs into the blanks. You may need a negative!

Can Might Must Will Would

I can’t believe I’ve lost my keys again! This is the second time this week. I really (1)___ stop leaving them in bad places. My dog (2)___ have eaten them, though. He loves eating everything. But if he had eaten them, he (3)___ look horrible right now, and he doesn’t. So the keys (4)___ be inside him. Oh! There they are! Finally! From now on, I (5)___ only leave them on the entry room table!

Some basic questions Spanish speakers may ask can cause occasional problems in English because English only has one word, to be, where Spanish has two, ser and estar.

First, we know that “¿Cómo está él?” is “How is he?”, as we learned it in the first weeks of class.

But then we have the question “¿Cómo es él?” Our first reaction is to translate literally, but there we have a problem…

Read the following monologues. Then, report what was said below, using the verbs given. Keep in mind, these words were said one week ago!

Adele: “I had gone to the shop to buy just one dress, but this jacket was irresistible!”
Brian: “I’ve never enjoyed reading, but that book was excellent!”
Connie: “If I ever see Henry again, I don’t know what I’d do.”
David: “Marina told me she saw Tyler yesterday at the mall with Vinnie.”

A common problem for English learners is spelling. Oh, let’s be honest, whoever designed English spelling needs to be _____ (I’ll let you fill in the blank with your idea for the best punishment). Despite all the horrible spellings, there are usually rules to most words—we just have a LOT of rules with their nuances (and exceptions).

These are probably among the most misused false friends, undoubtedly due to their incredible similarity with their Spanish counterparts. However, they have no relation at all!

Actual and Actually are used to present factual information, usually after another person has said something wrong. It’s a great way to politely correct someone. It’s similar in meaning to “real(ly).

This expression is useful for those times when we feel that as soon as one bad thing happens to us, many others follow. It’s as if all the bad things happened at once.

First, I tripped over my shoelaces and fell. I was fine, but right then the big boss came in and tripped over me! He didn’t fall down, but he spilled his coffee all over my immediate boss, who was coming over to schedule my quarterly review! When it rains, it pours!

I hope you never need to use this expression!