Passive voice

In lesson 8 we've stated to use the passive voice. The passive voice is formed in this way:

TO BE (tense)   +   PAST PARTICIPLE (meaning)

We've seen in class that this form is much more frequent in English than in Spanish because it's used instead of impersonal sentences in Spanish. Take into account it's not possible to have a verb without its subject in English so when this subject is not important, not known or not said we should use passive voice. Have a look at these examples:

• Most people say...   =   It is said ...     (Se dice que....)
• We can speak English here   =   English is spoken here   (Aquí se habla inglés)
• They opened a new exhibition yesterday  =  A new exhibition was opened yesterday (Ayer se abrió una nueva exposición)
• Someone sent an email yesterday   =   An email was sent yesterday   (Se envió un email ayer)
• Someone has sent a letter to Susan   =   Susan has been sent a letter  (A Susan le han enviado una carta)

Some other typical expressions or examples of passive voice are:

• This book was published in the UK 
• The conversations are being held in secret (Las conversaciones se están llevando en secreto)
• America was discovered in 1492 (América fue descubierta/se descubrió en 1492)
• The film is directed and starred by G. Clooney 
• I've been told you're getting married next Monday (Me han dicho que te casas el lunes que viene)
• John was given the job after the interview (A John le dieron el trabajo después de la entrevista)

If you want to see a page on the internet explaining the passive voice here you have this link:

http://www.englishpage.com/verbpage/activepassive.html

To finish with here you are some exercises to practise:

• http://www.englisch-hilfen.de/en/exercises_list/passiv.htm : this is the exercise we did in class
• http://www.ego4u.com/en/cram-up/grammar/passive : here you have a really good explanation of passive and then you can find exercises at the bottom. The level is higher than the one you need but it is very useful.
• http://www.e-grammar.org/passive-voice/ : again exercises and explanation
• http://www.learnenglishfeelgood.com/esl-passive-voice-exercise2.html

Markets in London

Open air markets are vey typical in London or big cities. Some of them are very famous so if you want to know something about them go to this link.

If you want to practise with the topic of shopping here you have some useful links:

• http://www.elllo.org/search.htm?cx=partner-pub-2937913171317519%3Atohjct-ra9r&cof=FORID%3A10&ie=ISO-8859-1&q=shopping&sa=Search : here you have some listenings from www.elllo.org with different dificulty.
• http://www.michellehenry.fr/mag.htm : here you have a lot of material and activities
• http://www.headsupenglish.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=173&Itemid=96: this site has loads of questions to practise oral skills. Answer them recording your answers

http://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&feature=endscreen&v=cz4ThDI0Qu8 : a listening about what to do when you buy something and you have a problem: how to complain, what to do, etc.
A bit difficult but interesting.

The use of will (lesson 7)

WILL is the typical form of future (simple future) but in Spanish we have a tendency to overuse the form "to be going to". Let's see the difference between them.

We use WILL for:

• predictions
• offers
• promises
• requests/orders

We use  "TO BE GOING TO + INFINITIVE" for:

• plans
• intentions
• it's a similar meaning to "want to" although it's not exactly the same

If you need a longer explanation, go to this link (click here). You'll have a lot of exercises at the end of that page.

Exercises:

• http://www.better-english.com/grammar/willgo.htm
• http://www.englishtenses.com/exercise/simple_future_vs_going_to
• http://www.englishgrammarsecrets.com/goingtoorwill/menu.php explanation with exercises 
• http://www.englisch-hilfen.de/en/exercises/tenses/will_going_to_future.htm

Visiting Alcalá de Henares

Here you have some sites to read and practise with unit 7. I think it'll sound more familiar if we use our own town so you'll have a model to follow when you describe Alcalá. Have a look:

• http://www.articlesbase.com/vacation-rentals-articles/visiting-alcala-de-henares-4297781.html
• http://www.allworldguides.com/alcalaeng.htm

Asking and giviving directions

Orientation is very useful for travelling and you need to ask and to give directions. Here you have some useful links to work with this:

• http://www.ego4u.com/en/cram-up/vocabulary/directions: this is very easy but clear and with exercises
• http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/radio/specials/1212_how_to_instruct/page2.shtml : this is for practising som listening as well.
• http://www.elllo.org/PagesGames/012-Directions.htm : an exercise for listening
• http://www.elllo.org/english/0651/T699-Greg-Travel.htm : this is a much more difficult listening connected with directions but it's just the topic