Unit 5: Passive Voice

 Passive Voice.

We use the passive when we want the sentence to focus on the object rather than the subject, as is usual. The subject is the element that performs the action, and the object is the one that is affected by the action.

 

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• In active voice: 

  The dog chased the cat. 

  The central part of this sentence is the verb, "chased". The subject, that is, the one who performs the action, is "the dog". And finally the direct complement, which is affected, is "the cat".

• In passive voice: 

  The cat was chased by the dog. 

  "The cat" has become the subject of the action "be chased".

The structure is as simple as that: the position of each element in the sentence changes and the verb is modified, just like in Spanish. If what is giving you problems is precisely the verb, you will find the following scheme useful.

 Forming the passive 

Follow these steps as you get practice:

• identify the subject of the active sentence

• identify the object

• identify the verb and the tense it is in 

• conjugate the verb "to be" in the same tense

• find out the past participle of the verb

For example, if I have to convert this sentence into passive:

The dog has chased the cat. 

• sujeto: «the dog»

• objeto: «the cat»

• verbo: «has chased» (present perfect)

• conjugación de «to be» (en present perfect): has been

• past participle: chased

 

And now all you have to do is put each piece in its place:

Objeto + verbo «to be» conjugado + past participle + by + sujeto

The cat + has been + chased + by + the dog

This scheme will work for all conjugations. But remember that there are verb tenses, the perfect continuous forms, which do not work well in the passive.

 

Unit 4: Connectors.

 Connectors: Coordinants and Subordinants.

Connectors, also known as transition words, are adverbial conjunctions that can function in two ways:

• As Coordinate Connectors:

  They are used to join two words or phrases, which are grammatically equal, within a sentence. That is to say, they present similarity in importance or structure between the joined elements and are always placed in the middle of them.

   

  

  
  

  • but: pero

  • so: entonces

  • and: y

  • also: también

  • however: sin embargo

    Commas may be used as long as the independent sentences are not too short and must be placed just before the connector. For example:

    Clause + Connector + Clause 2 

    I called you yesterday, but you didn't answer.

     

•  As Subordinating Connectors: 
  

  Connecting two sentences so that one of them depends on the other. Connectors are mostly of this kind, with the first clause or phrase being independent and the second dependent on the first, so that the sentence makes sense. If the second phrase is alone, the sentence would lose its meaning completely, while if the first one is alone, this phenomenon would not occur since, being independent, it does not need a clause to contextualize it.
  
  There are also, sentences whose initial phrase or clause is subordinate to the phrase that follows it, that is, the independent phrase comes accompanying the dependent phrase.

  

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   For example:
   

  -I ran out of money.  For that reason I can't travel with you guys.

       Clause 1      +            Connector      +            Clause 2

These have three forms: 

• One word:

  unless:  a menos que 

  still:  aun así 

•  Compounds:

  They usually end with the words as and that. 

  For example:  

  in order that: con el fin de 

  as soon as: tan pronto como

•  Correlatives:

  They are formed from an adjective or an adverb.

   

Unit 3: Conditionals

Conditional Sentences.

The use of the conditional means that one action depends on another. Conditionals are used to talk about real or unreal situations. In general, conditional sentences have the word "if" (Si).

Note that there is no verb tense for the conditional in English as there is in Spanish. At the same time, the auxiliary verb "would" is used to form the conditional in English.

There are four types of conditional sentences and the use of one or the other reflects the probability of the action.

 

Conditional Types: 

Zero Conditional.  

This type of conditional is used when the condition and the result is always true, such as scientific facts. 

The words or expressions with which it is usually identified are mainly: when, if, unless, among others.  

It is used to talk about situations or things that are always true.

The sentences used in this type of conditional are always in the present simple tense and are formulated as follows:

 

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• If + Conditional sentence + Main sentence

  If      you add two and five,     you get even 

  
  The clauses in this type of conditional are separated by the comma (,), which separates and indicates the order of the actions:
  
  Just like the previous sentence, these are situations that are always fulfilled or are universal truths in two ways:
   

  • Describing general scientific facts.

  • Indicating a condition and a result (or consequence).
    

  If the order of the sentence is reversed, the truth stated there remains universal. In this way, the meaning and its conditional form are still preserved, thus:

  •  Fase Inicial: If you chop onions, you cry. (Si picas cebollas, lloras)
    

  • Frase Inverida: You cry if you chop onions.(Tu lloras, si picas cebollas)  

     
    

    First Conditional.  

    The first conditional identifies that an event has the possibility of occurring in the future and is used when speaking of real or possible situations, as previously indicated, in the future. 

     

    

    
    

    For example:   

    If + Verb Present Simple + Future Simple (will)   

    -If it rains today, I'll stay home. (Si llueve hoy, me quedaré en casa) 

    -I'll stay home if it rains  (Me quedaré en casa si llueve hoy. 

    -If Bill studies, he will pass the exam. (Si Bill estudia, aprobará el examen)

    -Bill will pass the exam if he studies. (Bill aprobará el examen, si él estudia) 

  • Note: Some modal verbs can be used instead of "will" to change probability or express an opinion.

   

  Second Conditional.   

  Type 2 is used to express an unreal possibility in the present, such as a wish or a dream, or for an action in the not-so-probable future. 

   

  

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  • If + Verb in Past Simple + "Would" + Infinitive

  • Examples:  

    -If I won the lottery, I would travel around the world. (Si ganara la lotería, viajaría alrededor del mundo.) 

    -I would travel around the world if I won the lottery. (Viajaría alrededor del mundo si ganara la lotería) 

    Note: As in type 1, other modal verbs can be used instead of "would" to change the meaning and possibility.

   

  Third Conditional.

  Unlike types 1 and 2, the third type of conditional is used when we speak of a condition in the past that has not happened. 

   

  

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  If + Past Perfect + "would"/have + Past Participle.

  • If I had known then what I know now, I would have done things differently. (Si hubiera sabido entonces lo que sé ahora, habría hecho las cosas de otra manera)
    

  • I would have done things differently if I had known then what I know now.(Habría hecho las cosas de otra manera si hubiera sabido entonces lo que sé ahora.)

   
  

Unit 2: Phrasal Verbs

 Phrasal Verbs.

They are compound verbs that have a different meaning from the original verb, since they are formed with a verb and a grammatical complement, either a preposition, an adverb or both.
This type of verb can have more than one meaning and its use is more common in informal contexts.

 

Verb + Adverb

In this case the adverb functions as a dependent part of the verb. For example:

• We need to live down the past. (Debemos olvidar el pasado)

 

Verb + Preposition

This form is most often used with nouns and pronouns:

• The Adams live down this street. (Los Adams viven por esta calle)

 

 Some general characteristics are...   

These verbs can be transitive, that is, they are followed by an object; or intransitive, they are not followed by an object.

They can be translated into English in just one word, for example:

• Sit down / Sentarse.

• Go away / Irse.

• Stand up / Levantarse.

Compound verbs can be transitive or intransitive, depending on whether or not they have a direct object complement in the form of a nominal syntagm. The order of the sentence will depend on this.

-We are not going to look at the differences between the different types of compound verbs. For now, what is most important to keep in mind is that phrasal and prepositional verbs are verbs and generally have different meanings from the verbs that form them.

-For example, the verb "give" means "dar", but if we add the preposition "up", the meaning will change: "Give up" means "abandonar", "dejar de" or "rendirse". Therefore, "give" and "give up" are two different verbs.

• You have to put your cigarette out when you enter the non-smoking area. 

• My brother uses my things and never puts them back . 

• The music is too loud. Turn it down , please.  

• The plane is going to take off in twenty minutes. 

Unit 1: Simple Verbal Tenses

Simple Verbal Tenses

There are three tenses, divided into present, past and future. These simple tenses refer to specific actions we perform. Here we will show you their most common uses and examples. 

 

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Present Simple: Grammatical Rules

 

The present simple is used to talk about events, routines or daily actions, hobbies that you currently have. It is written taking the base form of the verb for the pronouns I, you, we and they; and an -s is added for the third person singular it, she and he.

• Examples.- 

  -I play tennis. (Yo juego al tenis)  

  Explanation: Mentioning a sport that I play on a daily basis and that I am not necessarily playing at the moment.

  -They travel to Madrid. (Ellos viajan a Madrid)

Every day: If the sentence before you or the sentence you want to say and write includes a time expression that expresses a regularity or a habit, the present simple must be used.

• I do the laundry every day. – Cada día hago la colada.

Present Perfect: Grammatical Rules 

The present perfect has three structures: affirmative, negative and interrogative, which are ordered in the way you can see in the tables below, and in which you can also find different sentences with their Spanish translation.

• The present perfect is used to describe an experience. We do not use it for specific actions.

• The present perfect is used for a change in time.

• It is used for successes or achievements.

• We use the present perfect for actions that have not yet happened. The use of the present perfect in these cases indicates that we are still waiting for the action, so we often use the adverbs "yet" and "still".

• The present perfect is used to talk about actions at different times in the past. The use of the present perfect in these cases indicates that more actions are possible in the future.

• In general, we use the present perfect continuous for situations that have started in the past but are still in the present. But as we have seen, there are some verbs that we cannot use in the continuous tenses. In these cases, we use the present perfect.

 

 

Present continuous

We use it to talk about activities that are happening at the present moment, at this very moment.

• I’m working right now. – Estoy trabajando ahora mismo.

  The clue is given by the "right now", which frames the situation at the present point.  

  I’m flying to London on Saturday. – Vuelo a Londres el sábado. 

  In the case of plans that are certain and imminent, we also use the present continuous.
  

Now that we have gone over the theory, so that you don't make mistakes and use the verb tense that corresponds to each situation, we are going to give you some quick and easy tips. Some take into account the formation of the verb and others its use.

 

• Does it end in -ING?

   The present continuous is formed with the verb TO BE as auxiliary and the gerund form of the corresponding verb. That is, if you detect that in the sentence there is a verb ending in -ING, it will be a continuous form. And if the verb TO BE is conjugated in the present tense, it is the present continuous.
  

• John is writing a postcard right now. – John está escribiendo una postal.
  

 

 

Simple Past: Grammatical Rules.

The basic formula for statements in the past simple is: 

Subject + verb in the past + complement. 

This is the simplest form, since all you have to do is conjugate the verb in the past tense.

However, we must be clear that there are two types of verbs in English: regular and irregular. 

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• Regular verbs are the easiest to conjugate since you only have to add -ed, -d (verbs with "e" ending) or -ied (verbs with "y" ending) to the end of the infinitive verb.

“I visited my family last summer” (Yo visité a mi familia el verano pasado).

“He changed his job” (Él cambió su trabajo).

“I studied architecture in the University of Mexico City” (Yo estudié arquitectura en la Universidad de la Ciudad de México).

•    Irregular verbs, in most cases, completely change their form, so it is necessary to take into account their conjugations. Below is a short list of the most commonly used irregular verbs.

  -“She went to the cinema yesterday” (Ella fue al cine ayer).

  When we want to talk about an action that happened in the past and ended in the past and we indicate the time in which the action happened ("anoche" and "ayer"). Look at the following examples:

1. • Last night I played soccer/ Anoche jugué soccer. 

   • I wrote a letter yesterday/ Yo escribí una carta ayer.
     

 

Past Participle: Grammatical Rules

The past participle is a verb form used in the following verb tenses: present perfect, past perfect, future perfect and passive voice.

The first thing we must do to understand this subject is to compare it with Spanish. In Spanish in most verbs we add the ending ADO and IDO to form the participle, examples: corrido, saltado, reído.

There are also irregular verbs such as romper (broken), escribir (written), among others.

The past participle of regular verbs is formed by simply adding ED (called) or D (decided) to the end of the verb.
It is important to keep in mind that these verbs have the same form as the simple past; therefore, we must pay attention to the context of the sentence to be clear about the verb form.
Notice that in the following examples the verb form is the same (called), but the meaning is different: 

• We called Alex yesterday. (Llamamos a Alex ayer) Past Simple.
  

•  We have called Alex 5 times. (Hemos llamado a Alex 5 veces) Past Participle.
  

The past participle of irregular verbs changes depending on the verb; it is necessary to learn the past participle forms of irregular verbs by heart: go to the list of irregular verbs in participle. Examples:

• I had broken the window.
  

•  She has eaten octopus
  

 

Past Perfect: Grammatical Rules

In this verb tense we need to use the auxiliary "had" and the past participle of verbs in affirmative, negative and interrogative sentences. It is important to clarify that the auxiliary "had" is used with all personal pronouns (I, you, he, she, it, we, they).

 

Affirmative Sentences:

Subject+auxiliar verb "had"+past participle+complement.

• I had visited my friend twice.

  S + Had + P.P  + Compl. 

• She had written her first novel.

Negative Sentences:

Sujeto+auxiliar verb "had not or hadn't"+ past participle+complement. 

You hadn't heard the noise. 

S + had not or hadn't + P.P + Compl.

We hadn't bought the bed.

Questions and short answers.

Auxiliar "had or hadn't"+ subject+past participle+complement?

A: Had you turned the lights off? 

B: Yes, I had/ No, I hadn't.

 

A: Hade they made dinner?

B: Yes, they had/No, they hadn't.

Future (Will/Be Going To): Grammatical Rules.

Will is a modal verb used in English to talk about the future. In this lesson we are going to talk about the uses of Will. There are 3 main uses of WILL: the first one has to do with decisions, the second one with predictions and the third one with promises.

 

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1. Desicions:

   To understand this use of WILL we must first make a distinction between a "plan" and a "decision at the time of speaking":
   
   A plan is something I previously thought about and decided to do. So, this morning I thought about and decided what I am going to do on my birthday which is in a month.  My plan is "I am going to travel to Europe". This plan I thought about this morning and it is going to be fulfilled in a month and in English you should use future with "Be going to" like this: "I am going to travel to Europe".

   On the other hand a "decision at the moment of speaking" is an action that I will perform as a consequence of a current state. So, my current state is "I am thirsty" and my decision is that "I will drink water". This decision (to drink water) was made NOT YESTERDAY, NOT THIS MORNING, but at this PRECISE MOMENT so I must use WILL like this: I am thirsty, I will drink water.

   Examples:

   I am hungry, I will make lunch.

   I am cold, I will put on jacket. 

   Important to understand: (The above does NOT mean that the difference is: WILL is used for near future and BE GOING TO for long term future; this assumption is incorrect. The difference lies in the distinction between "plan" and "decision at the time spoken").

1.  Predictions.

   A prediction is an idea we have of something that will happen in the future. We use WILL to make predictions based on what we think. For example, if I think or believe that life will be easier in the future I use WILL:
   I think / I believe life will be easier in the future.
   We can use the expressions I think or I believe to accompany sentences.  Other examples:  

   I believe she will be a great mother / Creo que ella será una buena mamá.

   He thinks he will win the race / Él piensa que va a ganar la carrera / He thinks he will win the race.