MAKING CONVERSATION

THE TIME IN ENGLISH

This may seem very basic, bus students in high levels still make mistakes regarding the time. Obviously, we all can resort to the "American" way o telling the time, which is far easier: 3.40pm is read as "three forty pm" but many Englih people say "twenty to four".

PREPOSITIONS

We start today a topic which seems to be neverending... In other words, no matter what lever of English you have or the time you've been studying it, there's something about prepositions that makes us make mistakes.

Asyou know, there are several kinds of prepositions: prepositions of time, prepositions of place, prepositions that follow certain verbs, prepositions that follow certain adjectives, etc.

Let's take this picture as an inntroduction to the topic and from here we'll study the different prepositions separatly according to the group they belong to.

Now, "in, on, at" are the three most important prepositions in English. They can refer to either time or place. Their use is quite tricky, especially for Spanish students of English.You may want to have a look at the picture below. It provides you with a general idea of what these prepositions are used for.

On a different note, verbs can also be followed by prepositions. Have a look at the following picture.

WRITING ESSAYS

Writing a good essay might seem easier than it actually is. Many students think that just translation from Spanish is enough, and thus, they repeat structures or use Spanish structures that are not correct in English.

You might want to have a look at the picture below to learn some useful expressions that can help you with your writing assigments.Remember, the key idea is not to repeat.

ENGLISH WORD ORDER

Quite unlike Spanish, English has a fixed word order that many students often forget when speaking or writing.Find below a picture that summarizes where the different words in English should be placed.

COLLECTIVE NOUNS

Collective nouns are names for a collection or a number of people or things. Words like group, herd, and array are collective noun examples. Here, we’ll take a closer look at collective nouns, and provide even more examples, placing them in context so you can gain a greater understanding of how they work.

Have a look at the following:

PUNCTUATION

Have you ever wondered how all the symbols used in writing are called? Find below a picture with some of them...