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Friday, June 01, 2007

PREPOSITIONS - LOCATION


Let's talk about prepositions!
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Prepositions can drive a student crazy.
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Do you want to know why? Some details are obvious whereas others are tricky. There's never an explanation that's why!!!
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You'll find some interesting and straightforward info below:
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LOCATION prepositions: You can start being less specific and go on to being more specific. Check it out:
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- John lives in South America. (continent)
- John lives in Brazil. (country)
- John lives in São Paulo. (state)
- John lives in Sorocaba. (city)
- John lives in Vila Whatever. (suburb)
- John lives on Wherever street. (street)
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OBS: You started being less specific and you ended up being exact.
You use IN for NON-SPECIFIC LOCATION
You use ON for SPECIFIC LOCATION (street)
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LOCATION prepositions 2: you'll use AT when using names of places, numerical addresses, END and BEGINNING and a couple of other words.
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- John always has dinner at that Japanese restaurant.
- John has a lot of things to do at work.
- John went shopping at the mall last Sunday.
- John has a lot of friends at school.
- John's office is at the end of the hallway.
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LOCATION prepositions 3: you'll use ON when using RIGHT, LEFT, BEACH, FLOOR and a couple of other words.
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- John's office is on the right at the end of the hallway.
- John is going to spend the weekend on the beach.
- John's apartment is on the fifth floor.
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You can access the following site for practice:
http://www.englishpage.com/prepositions/location_prepositions_1.htm
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I hope the hints above will help you improve your English.
Remember that you can post questions or comments by clicking on the word comments below.
Best wishes,
André

Tuesday, May 29, 2007

PAST TENSE



STRESS AND INTONATION – PAST TENSE
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Here's another piece of advice:
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We should keep in mind that regular verbs in the past or past participle have three different pronunciations:
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a) If the verb ends in a voiceless sound, that is, your vocal cords do not vibrate, the “ed” ending is pronounced /t/.
Ex: worked stopped washed
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b) if the verb ends in a voiced sound, that is your vocal cords vibrate, the “ed” ending is pronounced /d/.
Ex: listened caused called
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c) If the verb ends in /t/ or /d/, then the “ed” ending should be pronounced as an extra syllable and the pronunciation is /id/.
Ex: needed added wanted
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You can access the following site for listening and practicing:
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If you have any comments or you would like to ask a question, click on the word comments below and I'll check it ASAP.
Best wishes,
André