Thursday recap

Guest post by our classmate Sendai Zea - Thanks Sendai - Liam.

Hello guys!

This Thursday we started the class talking about advertisements. It was a good opportunity to talk about fraudulent advertisements.

In addition, the grammatical skill that we improved was linkers to express “contrast” or “purpose”. They’re so useful for writing papers, expressing our own opinion and having a fluent conversation. Personally, I think that most of them are well-known, but frequently we don’t remember to use them in our day-to-day English. 

In fact, we revised the following:

TO EXPRESS CONTRAST:

According to the structure that they follow, we can divide in two groups:

Even though

Although             + Clause 1 (Subject + verb + object) + Clause 2 (Subj.+verb+ obj)

Though

Liam wrote for us a few examples:

Although I was feeling sick, I went to work.

I went to work although I was feeling sick.

I bought a ticket for the concert even though I didn’t have much money.

Linkers are useful though they’re difficult to use.

ATTENTION:  Though is commonly used for speaking and it is used in the middle of a sentence. On the other hand, even though is more formal and is used in writing.

In spite of            + noun + -ing form

Despite                + “the fact that” + clause

e.g. In spite of his hangover, he went to the supermarket.

Despite being hungover, he went to the supermarket.

In spite of the fact that he had a hangover, he went to the supermarket.

ATTENTION:  NEVER write or say “despite of”. It’s important to remember that the linker “despite” is itself a preposition.

TO EXPRESS PURPOSE:

According to the structure that they follow, we can divide in:

In order to             

So as to               + Infinitive form

To

e.g I went to the shop in order to / to / so as to / buy some food.

I took the bus in order not to / so as not to be late.

For       + a noun

e.g. Let’s go for a coffee.

I have to study for a test.

ATTENTION: Only use “For” + -ing verb to describe the specific purpose of something.

e.g The chair is for sitting on.

The oven is for cooking food.

So that          + subject + modal verb (can / could / would) 

It’s important to realize that we can use “so that” when we want to refer to two subjects in the clauses. 

e.g I came to class so that I could learn something

I made a note so that you wouldn’t forget.

To finish the class, Liam surprised us with an IETLS model example. It reviewed our oral comprehension. It was really tricky and had new and unusual vocabulary, but it was a good exercise to improve our English listening. 

Liam recommended us that we only take that test if we really need it for academic purposes. Moreover, he recommended that we look for podcasts on http://www.theguardian.com/uk and http://www.npr.org/.

Last but not least I leave you with this website: http://speakspeak.com/resources/english-grammar-rules/various-grammar-rules/although-even-though where you can check these issues. 

Bye. Have a nice weekend.