Relative Clauses. The Basics

 

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For & Against Essays 20-21

 

Reference words - improving writing

Introductory THERE & IT

THE or no THE

Bat 2. Unit 5. Modals & Modal Perfects

Bat 2. Unit 3, vocabulary & grammar

Relative Clauses

This infographic includes the most relevant aspects to take into account when starting to work with relative clauses:

The following document explains everthing more in detail and provides the chance to put everything into practice:

The all-new Writing Guide for Batxillerat + summary

The document you have available below is a 2.0 version of the old 'Writing Guide' which can still be found in the old posts of this blog. As you will notice once you compare them, some contents have been deleted and others expanded to suit better your needs. You can use it as a reference to produce more effective writings.

This is an 'open' document which admits your suggestions in order to keep on improving it, so do not hesitate to contact just in case you have a contribution.

Also, you also have available the short version of this document; a summary with its most important features which can be used as a reminder of what our goals when writing must be:

Bat 2. Starting Conditionals

Hello my dear students. This mind-map is very useful to refresh all the basics related to conditional sentences in English. In the next weeks, you will also have the chance to download documents with theory and communicative exercises.

BAT 1. Theory & Practice for 3rd Term

Bat 1. Reported Speech

Let's start with some theory on the topic, followed by very basic sentences to practice and have a general overview of this topic.

Now, some more practice on reported speech:

Further practice: Reported to direct & Direct to reported. Also, you can report what stated in a common conversation:

Finally, the best way to practice reported speech is by listening to what other people say and then, tell it using your own words, but of course, respecting the necessary tense, place or time changes. Famous people have a lot to say, but sometimes they are not too clever. Check what I mean in this worksheet:

Bat 1. Relative Clauses

Slide presentation with the basic aspects which feature Relative Clauses in English:

Or do you prefer it in a shorter and more condensed way?

Time to practice and review what has been worked in class:

BAT 1. 1st Term Theory & Practice

Thank you for waiting, and sorry for the long delay. This term has been an extremely hectic one, so it's been difficult to keep in touch with you by means of the posts and answering your comments.

Nevertheless, here you have a series of documents we've been working on throughout the term both in class and at home. Ask for any doubts that may arise.

BAT 1. MODAL VERBS PRACTICE

Bat 1. Unit 7.Modal & Modal Perfects

http://www.learnenglishlanguagewell.com/2013/more-exercises-modals-b1b2/

http://www.myenglishpages.com/site_php_files/grammar-exercise-modals.php#.U0OXLPl_t9U

http://a4esl.org/q/h/0101/ig-modals.html

http://es.scribd.com/doc/3305639/Modal-Verbs-Exercise-1

http://www.agendaweb.org/verbs/modals-exercises.html

Bat 1. Unit 6. Passive voice & Causative Verbs

Rule I.
We use the passive voice when it is not important who or what does the action. We use the active voice when we know or it is important who or what does the action. The passive voice is less usual than the active voice.

Example
This book was published a week ago.
(“Was published” is a passive voice. We don’t know who has published this book, it’s not important who. But the fact is that the book is published.)

Example
Mr. Smith/The publishing house “X” published this book a week ago.
(Here is the active voice. We know exactly who has published the book.)

When we want to say who does or what causes this or that action, we use by or with.

Examples
a) This book was published by Mr. Smith.
b) The room was filled with smoke.

We form the passive voice with the help of auxiliary verb “to be” and the past participle of the main verb.
To be (am, are, is, was, were, have been, had been) + Past Participle II :

Tenses	Voices	Examples
Present simple	active: tell(s) passive: am/is/are told	She tells She is told
Past simple	active: told passive: was/were told	She told She was told
Future simple	active: will tell passive: will be told	She will tell She will be told
Present continuous	active: am/is/are telling passive: am/is/are being told	She is telling She is being told
Past continuous	active: was/were telling passive: was/were being told	She was telling She was being told
Future continuous	active: will be telling passive: …(doesn’t exist)	She will be telling …(doesn’t exist)
Present perfect simple	active: have/has told passive: have/has been told	She has told She has been told
Past perfect simple	active: had told passive: had been told	She had told She had been told
Future perfect	active: will have told passive: will have been told	She will have told She will have been told

Modal verbs
Can/could, may/might, must/have to, ought to, shall/should, will/would + be done/have been done:
Examples
a) Will your room be cleaned?
b) This lesson mustn’t be learned.
c) Tigers can be seen in our Zoo.
d) My bag must have been stolen.


Rule II.
We don’t use intransitive verbs in the passive voice.
There are:
To be, to become, to have, to consist, to belong, to possess, to arrive, to fly, to fit, to hold,
to resemble, to seem, to go, to come, to appear.

Examples
a) Tom has a nice car.
b) Kate has become a great gift.
c) You seem to be aghast.


Rule III.
It is also very important to know that there are some verbs that can have two objects.
So, that’s mean that it’s possible to make two passive sentences.
Example
Mr. Smith offered Kate the job. (Kate and the job are two objects)

Let’s make the first passive sentence:
1. Kate was offered the job.

And now the second passive sentence:
2. The job was offered to Kate.

But it is more usual for the passive sentence to begin with the person. There are other verbs which can have two objects.
Here they are:
ask, pay, tell, teach, give, show, allow, promise, refuse, deny.

Examples
a) Tom will be paid for his work next week.
b) We were given the information about our final exam.
c) Have you been shown the books?


Rule IV.
We can use the structure have something done to talk about things we pay or employ other people to do for us.
Examples
— Kate made the dress. (here she made the dress herself)
— Kate had the dress made. (here she employed somebody to make the dress, so she didn’t make it herself)

We form this construction in this way:
We use the verb have + object + past participle.
Examples
a) Kate had the dress made. (here is the past form)
b) We have the office cleaned every evening.

But we should be very careful with the word order. We put the object before the past participle, not after it.
Examples
— We have cleaned the office every evening.— We have the office cleaned every evening. (It’s right!)


Rule V.
We can also use “get something done” instead of “have something done“. But it is less formal.
Examples
a) We get the office cleaned every evening.
b) Kate get the dress made.


Rule VI.
We use “have something done” or “get something done” in different tenses.
But we should use the correct form of the verb “have” or the verb “get“.

Tenses	Examples
Present simple	Kate has the dress made.
Past simple	Kate had the dress made.
Future simple	Kate will have the dress made.
Present continuous	Kate is having the dress made.
Past continuous	Kate was having the dress made.
Future continuous	Kate will be having the dress made.
Present perfect simple	— Has Kate had the dress made? — Kate has had the dress made.
Past perfect simple	— Had Kate had the dress made? — Kate had had the dress made.
Present perfect continuous	Kate has been having the dress made.
Past perfect continuous	Kate had been having the dress made.

____________________________________________________

Try now on some of these exercises to see if you fully understood it:

http://www.ihbristol.com/free-english-exercises/test/esol-smc-passive-causative-sentences
http://www.englishlab.net/hp/quiz28_mixed_tenses_4_active_passive_story.htm
http://grammar-quizzes.com/passive1d.html
http://grammar-quizzes.com/passive1c.html
http://grammar-quizzes.com/passive1b.html

Unit 2. Bat 1. Future tenses

Future simple is expressed by means of four different verbal tenses; those with a clear future forms (Will & Be Goint to) and present tenses too (Present simple & Continuous). Check the notes in order to refresh some of the contents already seen in previous courses:

In this slide presentation you can check and revise the different uses of the new future forms we've just seen in class; future continuous and future perfect:

In case you need some practice to fully understand what you've just seen, try on the links below:

https://elt.oup.com/student/solutions1stedition/ui_unit_page/unit3/grammar/exercise2?cc=us&selLanguage=en
http://www.myenglishpages.com/site_php_files/grammar-exercise-future-perfect.php#.UnIxgIaWaDo
http://www.esl-lounge.com/student/grammar/4g9-future-continuous-perfect.php
http://www.tolearnenglish.com/exercises/exercise-english-2/exercise-english-5110.php
http://www.englishexercises.org/makeagame/viewgame.asp?id=6672

Unit 2 ESO 2. Present tenses contrast

Let's revise the present tenses contrast by means of some exercises and some notes you will see below. Don't hesitate in asking for further clarification of any problems or doubts that may arise.

http://www.englisch-hilfen.de/en/exercises/tenses/simple_present_progressive2.htm
http://www.englishexercises.org/makeagame/viewgame.asp?id=1438
https://elt.oup.com/student/solutions/preint/grammar/grammar_01_012e?cc=global&selLanguage=en
http://www.language-worksheets.com/present-continuous-simple-elementary.html
http://www.usingenglish.com/quizzes/66.html
http://www.tolearnenglish.com/exercises/exercise-english-2/exercise-english-13689.php

Not enough? Have a look at these notes especially prepared for you

BAT 1. UNIT 1. PAST TENSES

In this slide presentation you can check the different uses of the past verbal tenses if we want to write a narrative story. They are not explained from a grammatical point of view but as tools to produce good narrative compositions.

Just in case you need some grammar revision on English past tenses, check the links below as they will be really helpful:

http://www.perfect-english-grammar.com/past-simple-past-continuous-exercise-1.html

http://www.englishpage.com/verbpage/verbs5.htm

http://perso.wanadoo.es/autoenglish/gr.pastperf.i.htm

http://www.englishexercises.org/makeagame/viewgame.asp?id=7150

http://www.esl-lounge.com/student/grammar/4g4-past-tenses-exercise.php