Prepositions On, At and In

A preposition is a word that links a noun, pronoun, or noun phrase to some other part of the sentence.

Prepositions can be tricky for English learners. There is no definite rule or formula for choosing a preposition. In the beginning stage of learning the language, you should try to identify a preposition when reading or listening in English and recognize its usage.

• to the office
• at the desk
• on the table
• in an hour
• about myself

A preposition is used to show direction, location, or time, or to introduce an object.

Here are a few common prepositions and examples.

How to write a story

What should contain a good story for FCE

• A good plot
• A good ending: fun, dramatic, shocking…
• The paragraphs must be well linked and should convey an atmosphere with adjectives and verbs (you can visualize what is happening)
• The narrative tenses should be used correctly.

Most prepositions

Prepositions are short words (on, in, to) that usually stand in front of nouns (sometimes also in front of gerund verbs).

Even advanced learners of English find prepositions difficult, as a 1:1 translation is usually not possible. One preposition in your native language might have several translations depending on the situation.

There are hardly any rules as to when to use which preposition. The only way to learn prepositions is looking them up in a dictionary, reading a lot in English (literature) and learning useful phrases off by heart (study tips).

The following table contains rules for some of the most frequently used prepositions in English:

Idioms

Nothing to write home about – nada del otro jueves

Just in case – por si las moscas

To call a spade a spade – llamar al pan, pan y al vino, vino

My name’s John Blunt – a mí me gustan las cosas claras y el chocolate espeso

Miles from anywhere/at the back of beyond – en el quinto pino/donde Cristo dio las tres voces/perdió la gorra

Someone’s better half – la media naranja de alguien

The straw that broke the camel’s back – la gota que colma el vaso

To play second fiddle – ser plato de segunda mesa

Pronunciation of past simple regular verbs

Simple Past Tense Regular Verbs - ed Pronunciation

              / t /                           / d /                         / id /

stop = stopped	learn = learned	decide = decided
look = looked	listen = listened	want = wanted
wash = washed	play = played	start = started
watch = watched	enjoy = enjoyed	wait = waited
like = liked	live = lived	visit = visited
walk = walked	stay = stayed	invite = invited
help = helped	open = opened
work = worked	love = loved
change = changed	learn = learned
miss = missed	call = called
relax = relaxed	arrive = arrived
	smile = smiled
	clean = cleaned

• We pronounce / t / after voiceless sounds: / p /, / k /, / s /, / f / and voiceless / th / sound
• We pronounce / d / after voiced sounds: / b / , / g /, / v /, / z/ , / m/ , /n /, / l /, / r / , voiced / th / sound and all vowels.
• We pronounce / id / after / d / and / t / sounds.

Nationalities

COUNTRY	ADJECTIVE	NOUN
Africa	Arican	an African
America	American	an American
Argentina	Argentinian	an Argentinian
Austria	Austrian	an Austrian
Australia	Australian	an Australian
Bangladesh	Bangladeshi	a Blangladeshi
Belgium	Belgian	a Belgian
Brazil	Brazilian	a Brazilian
Britain	British	a Briton
Cambodia	Cambodian	a Cambodian
Chile	Chilean	a Chilean
China	Chinese	a Chinese
Colombia	Colombian	a Colombian
Croatia	Croatian	a Croat
the Czech Republic	Czech	a Czech
Denmark	Danish	a Dane
Egypt	Egyptian	an Egyptian
England	English	an Englishman  an Englishwoman
Finland	Finnish	a Finn
France	French	a Frenchman  a Frenchwoman
Germany	German	a German
Greece	Greek	a Greek
Holland	Dutch	a Dutchman  a Dutchwoman
Hungary	Hungarian	an Hungarian
Iceland	Icelandic	an Icelander
India	Indian	an Indian
Indonesia	Indonesian	an Indonesian
Iran	Iranian	an Iranian
Iraq	Iraqi	an Iraqi
Ireland	Irish	an Irishman  an Irishwoman
Israel	Israeli	an Israeli
Italy	Italian	an Italian
Jamaica	Jamaican	a Jamaican
Japan	Japanese	a Japanese
Korea	Korean	a Korean
Mexico	Mexican	a Mexican
Morocco	Moroccan	a Moroccan
Norway	Norwegian	a Norwegian
Peru	Peruvian	a Peruvian
the Philippines	Philippine	a Filipino
Poland	Polish	a Pole
Portugal	Portuguese	a Portuguese
Rumania	Rumanian	a Rumanian
Russia	Russian	a Russian
Saudi Arabia	Saudi,  Saudi Arabian	a Saudi,  a Saudi Arabian
Scotland	Scottish	a Scot
Serbia	Serbian	a Serb
the Slovak Republic	Slovak	a Slovak
Spain	Spanish	a Spaniard
Sweden	Swedish	a Swede
Switzerland	Swiss	a Swiss
Thailand	Thai	a Thai
the USA	American	an American
Turnisia	Turnisian	a Turnisian
Turkey	Turkish	a Turk
Vietnam	Vietnamese	a Vietnamese
Wales	Welsh	a Welshman  a Welshwoman
Yugoslavia	Yugoslav	a Yugoslav

How to write a short story

Your story will be better and will get more marks if you include…

1. Three different tenses. You want to show the examiner that you know the story telling tenses, which are:

a) Simple Past

b) Past Continuous

c) Past Perfect.

Here’s an example:  It was raining. (Past continuous)

                             Billy hadn’t eaten for two days. (Past perfect)

                             He saw some apples. He decided to steal them. (Simple past).

Of course, in order to use these tenses you absolutely MUST know all your irregular verbs!

2. Adjectives: It was raining. Billy hadn’t eaten for two days, so he was wet, hungry and miserable. He saw some delicious, red apples. He decided to steal them.

3. Adverbs: It was raining hard. Billy hadn’t eaten for two days, so he was wet, hungry and miserable. He saw some delicious red apples and quickly decided to steal them.

4. Direct speech: “Hey, you!” shouted the shopkeeper, “I know you, Billy Brown! I’ll tell your mum!”

5. Rich vocabulary, good grammar, detail and idiomatic expressions: Examples: Quick as a flash – soaking wet – starving hungry – to grab – to pass away – an idea popped into his head – to go straight (to hospital) (home) – to have a little chat

Grammar Unit Past simple

Past simple: be

• We use it to talk about actions and events in the past.
• Past simple of be is was/wasn´t or were/ weren´t

          Ex: I was in town yesterday

                We were at a friend´s house last nite

                My sister wasn´t with me.

                We watched some videos but they weren´t very good.

• Questions: we put the verb before the subject:

          Ex: Were you in the park yesterday? No, I wasn´t

                Was James with you? Yes, he was

Grammar Unit Past simple: Irregular Verbs

PAST SIMPLE: IRREGULAR VERBS

• A lot of common verbs are irregular. This means that the past simple form is different, they don´t have the usual ed ending.

          Ex: go – went

                see – saw

• Past time expressions are often used with the past simple. Remember that we say, last night, not the last night.

• Yesterday, yesterday morning, last night, last week, a month ago, two years ago, on Sunday.

          Ex: We played ice hockey yesterday or yesterday we played ice hockey.

• Past simple questions and short answers are formed the same for regular and irregular verbs, using did.

          Ex: did they play tennis yesterday? Yes, they did/No they didn´t.

Remembrance Day - 11th November

Remembrance Day takes place on the second Sunday of November or the Sunday nearest the 11th November. This is to commemorate the First World War which ended at the eleventh hour on the eleventh day of the eleventh month 1918 (11 o'clock on the 11th November 1918).

Armistice day, as it was then known (when the warring forces agreed to stop fighting) has been observed ever since. The First World War or Great War marked the beginning of the use of modern technology in warfare and led to millions of deaths. It was felt that the dead should be honoured and King George V initiated a 2 minute silence at exactly 11 o'clock to commemorate those who had died for their country.

Vocabulary about holiday travel

ACCOMODATION: alojamiento
ADMISSION FEE: costo de la entrada
BROCHURE: folleto
CAMPING SITE, CAMPSITE: sitio para acampar
CAR RENTAL/CAR HIRE: alquiler de autos
CAR PARK: estacionamiento
CARAVAN: caravana
CITY CENTRE: centro de la ciudad
CRUISE: crucero
DOUBLE ROOM: habitación doble
DOUBLE ROOM WITH TWIN BEDS: habitación doble con dos camas
DOWNTOWN: centro de la ciudad

How to write and article

What is an article?

An article

• is a piece of writing usually intended for publication in a newspaper, magazine or journal.
• is written for a wide audience, so it is essential to attract and retain the readers’ attention.
• may include amusing stories, reported speech and descriptions.
• can be formal or informal, depending on the target audience.
• should be written in an interesting or entertaining manner.
• should give opinions and thoughts, as well as facts.
• is in a less formal style than a report.

VERB + TO or ING

LIKE, LOVE, HATE, PREFER + ING
They tend to have a general meaning whereas the Infinitive is used more for particular situations.

Ex: I like singing (general meaning)
      I like to sing in the shower (particular situation)

Verbs change meaning depending on wether they are followed by -ing or the infinitive.
STOP, TRY, REGRET ( to do/ doing sth)

REMEMBER: where the infinitive is needed, it must be the full TO Infinitive.

Verbs + ING
Enjoy, feel like, practise, admit, avoid, fancy, finish, mind, miss, suggest.
Deny, dislike, can't help, imagine, mention, put off, can't stand.

Verbs + Infinitive
Agree, seem, afford, decide, expect, hope, learn, manage, promise, want, would like.
Appear, attempt, intend, offer, pretend, refuse.

Verbos que rigen TO o -ING

Verb + ing

stop, enjoy, fancy, admit, consider, miss, finish, mind, imagine, deny, involve, postpone, delay, suggest, regret, avoid, risk, practise, give up, put off, keep on, go on ( continue), carry on.

E.g. are you going to give up smoking?

Verb + infinitive

Agree, offer, decide, appear, forget, refuse, attempt, plan, seem, learn, promise, manage, arrange, pretend, dare, threaten, fail, hope, afford, tend, take.

E.g. He dedided to take a taxi home.

Exercises Bonfire Night

Read the text about Bonfire Night then do these exercises to check your understanding.

1. Check your understanding: gap fill

Complete the gaps with a number from the box.

36                                      5th                                    18                 1605                                     9                                    First

1. A group of people wanted to kill James the _______________, the King of England.

2. Guy Fawkes planned to blow up the Houses of Parliament in _______________.

3. Guy Fawkes and his men put _______________ barrels of explosives in the Houses of Parliament.

4. People remember the plot to destroy the Houses of Parliament and kill King James with fireworks and bonfires on November _______________.

5. Edenbridge in Kent burns a _______________ metre Guy on a bonfire every year.

6. People under _______________ can’t buy fireworks in the UK.

Bonfire Night

Bonfire Night

In the UK, Bonfire Night or Guy Fawkes is celebrated on November 5th and the night skies are filled with colour. It’s a special day in honour of a historic event.