Poll (2)

Which is the most difficult for you?

A: Pronunciation (20%)

B: Writing (20%)

C: Grammar (0%)

D: Listening (60%)


I think it would be a good idea to keep a note of  all the words that are difficult to pronounce, just as you do with new vocabulary.

Try to read aloud. This might seem silly but it can help with your pronunciation.


Very few people like writing in English, but it can help you improve your grammar and vocabulary at the same time. The blog gives you the perfect opportunity to improve your writing skills.


Students tend to worry too much about grammar and this can impede their speaking skills.


The more that you listen to things in English, the easier it gets. Honest.


Check out the links in the blog to websites which can help you improve all four skills.




Which sentence(s) is / are wrong?

A: I don't have time enough. 5 (100%)

B: They are too much noisy. (80%)

C: I think she has much money. (40%)

D: We have quite a lot of friends. (0%)


The only grammatically correct sentence is D.

A: I don't have enough time.

enough + nouns       

adjectives + enough

Is it warm enough in here? Shall I turn on the heating?



B: They are too noisy.

too + adjectives

too much + uncountable nouns

There is too much violence in films nowadays.

too many + countable nouns

I bought too many bottles for the party. I still have 5 unopened.

verb + too much

You work too much. You should take a few days off.


C: I think she has a lot of money.

We never use "much" in positive sentences; only in negatives and questions.

I don't have much time.    

Is there much unemployment in Spain?




Here are some exercises on:

too/enough (Saber inglés)
too/enough (autoenglish)
too/enough (tolearnenglish)
too much/many... (better-english)



Which sentence(s) is / are correct?

A: He used to be a singer in a band. (100%)

B: I'll never get used to working mornings. (75%)

C: Are you used to drive on the left? (25%)

D: When I was younger, I'd stay out until very late. (0%)


They are all correct apart from C.

Are you used to driving on the left? Now I am but it was difficult at first.



Get more practice of:

be/get used to ___ing
used to / would

Check under "grammar" (left hand column) for exercises used to v be used to + ing.





Which adjective has a different prefix?

A: patient (0%)

B: mature (0%)

C: polite (0%)

D:decisive (100%)

D is different. impatient, immature, impolite but indecisive.



See this post on prefixes.


In which set(s) of verbs is/are there a different vowel sound?

A: driven / written / built (0%)

B: known / spoken / shot (75%)

C: said / meant / dreamt (25%)

D: drawn / caught / thought (0%)



There is a different vowel sound in B.

known and spoken have a /əʊ/ sound. shot has a /ɒ/ sound.


Look up the others in the dictionary to check the phonetic spelling.

Put the verbs into the talking dictionary to compare the sounds.

Comments

Anonymous said…
Hi Graham:

I ´m José, a pupil from English class of Ministry of Justice. I saw your blog yesterday and I think it ´s remarkable. I hope to learning too much, but I don’t have a lot of time to practice with it and I don ´t want tire you because you will have a lot of working. So I will send a mail every week, a hope.

About the poll which is the most difficult for me, obviously the most difficult is listening, like the majority Spanish people. I can ´t find “skype” that you have written in the page 4. I don ´t agree with the Spanish businessman for move the fiestas or bank holidays to Friday, but I don ´t mind move to Monday.

See you.

José.

jg.olmo@icam.es
Anonymous said…
Hey Graham! How is it going? It´s Nicolas, also from the MOJ.
I had a free week and today I had remembered that you suggested to have a look in your blog.
I think it´s very interesting and I´ll try to leave some comments to improve my writing and I want to expand a bit my vocabulary. So I´m not sure you want a very active class in your blog because you will have to correct many mistakes ;-)
See you tomorrow morning!
Graham said…
Hi José,

Great to see you here on the blog and "bravo" for being the first one from the MOJ class to write. Let's see who else will follow your example.

You can use the blog to revise things that we do in class. Look under labels for: "Cutting Edge Int" (exercises related to course book units) and "Future" (will v going to).

Or you can use it to find something of interest to do in English.

Explore the links too.


IT'S José, a pupil from THE English class AT THE Ministry of Justice. I HAD A LOOK AT your blog yesterday and I think it´s remarkable. I hope to LEARN A LOT*, but I don’t have a lot of time to practice with it and I don ´t WANT TO tire you because you will have a lot of WORK. So I will TRY TO send a mail every week.

About the poll which is the most difficult for me, obviously the most difficult is listening, like the MAJORITY OF Spanish people. I can ´t find “skype” that you have written in the page 4. I don ´t agree with the Spanish businessman ABOUT MOVING the fiestas or bank holidays to Friday, but I WOULDN'T MIND MOVING* THEM to Monday.



* A LOT = MUCHO, TOO MUCH = DEMASIADO

* MIND + verbING
Graham said…
Hey Nicolas,

Good to see you on here too.

There are tonnes of things to choose from in the blog. As well as giving you the chance to improve on the skills you mentioned, you can also find listening tasks.


I had a WEEK OFF and today I REMEMBERED that you HAD SUGGESTED HAVING a look AT your blog.
...and I want to expand my vocabulary A BIT.


The majority of my students work very little in the blog, if at all. But what I've noticed is that those that use it are generally the ones that improve a lot.