Take the Quiz!

Make or Do

Click for some practice

Sports, games and hobbies

Do the following exercises:

Exercise 1: Hobbies
Exercise 2: Match a picture and a word
Exercise 3: Olympic Sports
Exercise 4: Memory match
Exercise 5: Sports Vocabulary
Exercise 6: Play - Do - Go
Exercise 7: Play - Do - Go
Exercise 8: Play - Do - Go
Exercise 9: Sports Picture Quiz
Exercise 10: Hobbies
Exercise 11:  Sports Quiz

Formation Of Adjectives in English

Forming adjectives

Typical adjective endings

Some adjectives can be identified by their endings. Typical adjective endings include:

1. -able/-ible understandable, capable, readable, incredible
2. -al mathematical, functional, influential, chemical
3. -ful beautiful, bashful, helpful, harmful
4. -ic artistic, manic, rustic, terrific
5. -ive submissive, intuitive, inventive, attractive
6. -less sleeveless, hopeless, groundless, restless
7. -ous gorgeous, dangerous, adventurous, fabulous

Sometimes when adding these endings changes have to be made. Here are some rules for forming adjectives and their exceptions:

Add	Exceptions	Word	Adjective
-al	If ending with an ‘e‘, drop it	Nature Function	Natural Functional
-y	If ending with an ‘e‘, drop it	Ice Oil	Icy Oily
-ful	If ending with a ‘y‘, replace with an ‘i‘	Beauty Peace	Beautiful Peaceful
-ous/-ious	If ending with a ‘y‘, drop it	Mystery Danger	Mysterious Dangerous
-ic	If ending with a ‘y‘, drop it	History Rust	Historic Rustic

Forming adjectives from nouns and verbs

Adjectives can be formed from different words. They can be formed from nouns:

Noun	Adjective
accident	accidental
danger	dangerous
length	long
star	starry
wind	windy

From verbs:

Verb	Adjective
enjoy	enjoyable
help	helpful
obey	obedient
play	playful
talk	talkative

Or even from other adjectives:

Adjective	Adjective
comic	comical
correct	corrective
elder	elderly
red	reddish
sick	sickly

Examples and exercises

Choose two pictures from the ones given below

1. Describe them independently

2. Compare them 

3. Do you like them? Why? Why not?

POP ART

Drowning Girl (Roy Lichtenstein)  

ABSTRACT

No. 5, 1948 (Jackson Pollock) 

 

SURREALISM

The Persistence of Memory (Salvador Dali) 

EXPRESSIONISM

The Scream (Edvard Munch) 

CUBISM

Three Musicians (Pablo Picasso) 

SYMBOLISM

The Kiss (Gustav Klimt) 

POST-IMPRESSIONISM

Starry Night (Vincent van Gogh) 

IMPRESSIONISM

Dance at Le moulin de la Galette (Pierre-Auguste Renoir) 

REALISM

The Gleaners (Jean-Francois Millet) 

ROMANTICISM

The Third of May 1808 (Francisco Goya) 

BAROQUE

Las Meninas (Diego Velazquez) 

RENAISSANCE

The Mona Lisa (Leonardo da Vinci) 

MEDIEVAL

How to describe a picture 

Words used to describe works of art or crafts

Words for Art

               Adjectives          

Art Vocabulary

Food, Food, Food....

Click on the links below for some practice:

A / AN, SOME, ANY

COUNTABLE OR UNCOUNTABLE?

A LOT OF, MANY, MUCH, SOME, ANY, A

THERE IS or THERE ARE

THERE IS or THERE ARE (affirmative, negative, interrogative)

Thanks to Montse Morales for her fantastic website

ACTIVE/PASSIVE VOICE

 


HOW TO WRITE AN OPINION ESSAY

A.- PLAN

PARAGRAPH 1 ·         Introduce the topic and give your opinion. Say whether you agree or disagree with the statement.

PARAGRAPH 2 ·         Give a reason to support your opinion.

PARAGRAPH 3 ·         Give a second reason to support your opinion.

PARAGRAPH 4 ·         Summarize your ideas and repeat your opinion using different words.

BASIC DOS IN WRITING AN OPINION ESSAY

Introduce each paragraph with a topic sentence, outlining the main ideas.

Do not write about advantages or disadvantages or points for or against.

Write in formal style.

BASIC DON’TS IN WRITING AN OPINION ESSAY

Don’t use colloquial expressions.

Don’t use short forms.

Don’t use emotive vocabulary.

Don’t give personal examples.

B.-  VOCABULARY

EXPRESSING OPINIONS
In my opinion, ….	En mi opinión…
Personally, I think/ I believe (that)…	Personalmente, creo que…
I strongly believe that….	Creo firmemente que…
It is clear (to me) that…	Me parece evidente que…
I feel very strongly that…	Siento firmemente que…
I (completely) agree/disagree with …	Estoy (totalmente) de acuerdo/ en desacuerdo con….
It seems to me that…	Me parece que..
As I see it, …	Como yo lo veo…
To my mind….	En mi opinión,…
In my view,…	Desde mi punto de vista,…
From my point of view, ….	Desde mi punto de vista,…
As far I am concerned, …	En cuanto a lo que a mí respecta,…
I am sure/ convinced that …	Estoy seguro / convencido de que…
I (dis)agree with the statement, because …	Estoy de acuerdo/ en desacuerdo con la afirmación porque…

GIVING REASONS
My main reason is….	Mi razón principal es..
Another reason is…	Otra razón es…
One reason for… is ….	Una razón para…. es….
Many people say/ believe that…	Mucha gente dice/ piensa que..
Because…	Porque…
Since…	Puesto que/ ya que…
Because of/ due to…	Debido a…

EXPRESSING FACTS
It is widely known that…	Es ampliamente conocido que..
It is a well-known fact that …	Es un hecho bien conocido que…
Research has shown that…	La investigación ha demostrado que…
There are definitely…	Definitivamente hay…
It is a fact that…	Es un hecho que…
It is clear/ true that…	Está claro que/ es verdad que…
For example/ for instance,...	Por ejemplo,…
ADDING IDEAS
What is more,…	Y lo que es más,..
Moreover/ furthermore/ in addition (to)	Además,…
Apart from (that)…	Aparte de…
Firstly,…	En primer lugar,…
First of all,…	En primer lugar,…
Secondly,..	En segundo lugar,..
Thirdly,…	En tercer lugar,..
Lastly,…	Por último,..
Finally,…	Finalmente,…

EXPRESSING CONTRAST (LINKERS OF CONTRAST)
ALTHOUGH (aunque)	Although I was feeling depressed, I went to the party.
DESPITE (a pesar de)	Despite the rain, I went to the party. Despite feeling depressed, I went to the party.
IN SPITE OF ( a pesar de)	In spite of the rain, I went to the party. In spite of feeling depressed, I went to the party.
EVEN IF (incluso si)	I will go to the party, even if I feel depressed.
WHEREAS (mientras que)	Adults can make their own decisions, whereas teenagers have to do what other people tell them.
HOWEVER (sin embargo)	Mike is a very good singer. However, he can’t play any instruments.
IN CONTRAST
BUT (pero)	Their music is very good. But, their lyrics are not very interesting.
ON THE ONE HAND….. ON THE OTHER HAND (por una parte…. por la otra)	On the one hand, they are extremely rich. But on the other hand, they have lots of debts.

  

EXPRESSING PURPOSE (LINKERS OF PURPOSE)
We use linkers of purpose to introduce reasons:
SO (THAT) (para)	I have brought a microphone so that the audience will be able to hear us.
IN ORDER TO ( para)	We need to register with the council in order to vote.
TO (para)	I am phoning to ask information about the event.
SO AS TO(para)	We all need to vote so as to express our opinions.

CONCLUDING THE ESSAY
TO SUM UP,…	Para resumir…
TO CONCLUDE,…	Para concluir…
IN CONCLUSION,…	En conclusión…
IT IS CLEAR THAT…	Está claro que
IN SHORT	En resumen…
ON THE WHOLE	En general…
ALL IN ALL,…	En conjunto, en terminos generales,…

C.- EXAMPLES

“The teenage years are the best years of your life”. Do you agree?

People often say that the teenage years are the best years of your life. However, I do not agree with
the statement.

Firstly, most teenagers have little independence. They have to do what they are told by their parents 
and teachers. In addition, they usually do not have much money.

Secondly, teenagers may not have the responsibilities adults have, but they have other worries. 
Teenagers have a lot of pressure form exams, which can determine the rest of their life.

All in all, teenagers have a lot of fun, but I believe that the best years of your life come when you are 
a bit older, with a job, money and the freedom to do what your like.