Bonjour ! Bienvenu !

Common mistakes in SE In Chinese: E: How are you? The word order differs from that in English. E: How are you? C: You good? You how? Time and place adverbs usually come before the verb. E: I will go to Taipei tomorrow. C: Tomorrow I go to Taipei.

There are few or no articles. E: He is a clever boy. C: He is clever boy. The verb doesn’t change tense. E: I saw a movie last night. C: I see a movie last night. The verb “be” is dropped. E: She is five years old. (Fr., Elle a 5 ans = she has 5 years) C: She five years old. The infinitive “to” is dropped. E: I love to swim. C: I love swim. The pronoun “that” is dropped. E: That the earth is round is known to everyone. C: The earth is round is known to everyone.

Special Problems with Verbs Passive Voice Passive voice of the verb is used when the subject receives that action instead of doing it. This book is not written by Dr. Lee. Mary was born on the fourth of July, 2000. The letter has been received by the King. They were served by that waiter. Be careful when using passive voice.

Transitive & Intransitive Verbs Transitive verbs require an object. You must answer me when I ask you a question. Intransitive verbs do not have an object. Let’s talk in English. Intransitive verbs (occur, happen, sleep) cannot be used to form the passive voice. The earthquake [was] occurred at 11PM. The tragedy [was] happened last night. The students [were] slept until noon.

Verbs followed by gerunds or infinitives A gerund ends in –ing and is used as noun. I love swimming I enjoy watching cartoons. An infinitive is the base form of a verb and is preceded by to. She wants to eat ice-cream He plans to visit France next year.

Some verbs can be followed by a gerund or an infinitive: begin, continue, like start, hate, love, etc. Verbs followed with a gerund only: admit, appreciate, avoid, discuss, enjoy, finish, imagine, miss, practice, quit, risk, suggest, etc. Verbs followed with an infinitive only: agree, ask, beg, decide, expect, have, hope, manage, mean, offer, plan, pretend, want, etc.

Exercise 1: Correct the sentences He keeps swim every day. He likes play violin. He can swimming. Sam does not goes to work. They will start test the specimens this afternoon. This letter has never finished. The tsunami was occurred in South Asia. This house is built in 1913.

Subject-Verb Agreement Neither the lab assistant nor the students were able to download the program. Either a driver’s license or a credit card is required. Either a driver’s license or two credit cards are required. There are surprisingly few children in this school. At the back of the room are a testing machine and a balance.

Exercise 2: Select the correct verb Neither the professor nor his assistant (was/were) able to solve the mystery. Each of the speakers (was/were) given twenty minutes. No one who has ever seen the northern lights (has/have) forgotten them. Thirty percent of the testing (is/are) completed. Thirty percent of the tests (is/are) completed.

Conditional Sentences Factual conditional sentences are used to express: Scientific truth, in which case both verbs are present tense. If water cools to 0°C, it freezes. A relationship that is habitually true, in which case both verbs are the same tense. Whenever the coach needed help, I volunteered.

Predictive conditional sentences Predict a future possibility as a consequence of a present action. If you practice regularly, your English will improve. Unless you study carefully, you will receive a poor grade. Speculative conditional sentences Express an unlikely possibility, describe events that did not happen, or refer to conditions contrary to fact. If I had the money, I would travel to France. (I don’t have money now.) If you had studied harder, you would have received a higher grade. (You did not study hard.) If I were President, I would reduce taxes.

Exercise 3: Correct the sentences If I live in northern Alaska, I would need to buy a winter coat. If my father is here now, he would tell me what to do. We will miss our class unless we could hurry to school. I don’t think you will believe me even if I told you the truth. If the sun is to rise in the west, I will change my mind.

Quiz 1 - The Grander Canyon (from Newsweek, May 24 & 31, 2010) Read the text Answer the following questions: Q1 – Is the canyon well-known to the general public? Where is it located? Q2 – How could we get to the canyon’s horseshoe bend? Q3 – Who is Mr. Zhang Ke? What has he done to the canyon? Q4 – Are there any future plans to develop the canyon’s tourism?

Au revoir