MODAL VERBS

We have some modal verbs in this lesson at class which are very important because we deal with special verbs. In this lesson 4 we are going to see some of them. Let's expain them:

The verb CAN is used to speak about "poder" or "saber" in Spanish. The main characteristics are:

• it's a modal verb: it is a way of saying something; in this case: necessity/ lack of necessity/ possibility/ permition / prohibition
• it's defective: with NO infinitive, NO -S in the 3rd person in singular and NO past participle. To solve this problem we use to be able to 
• it's an auxiliary verb: we use it for negative and interrogative forms and it's followed by infinitive without TO

To practise with listening, here you have these songs with CAN: Hall of fame and The Eagles
To practise with gammar, you can do these exercises:

• exercise 1: a fill in the gap exercise with CAN and COULD
• exercise 2: different meanings/uses of CAN
• exercise 3: if you want to see how to use to be able to

The verb MUST is used to speak about "deber hacer algo", but it's very similar to HAVE TO in Spanish "tener que haccer algo". If you want to see the difference between them you can go to this link but here you are the main differences:

MUST	TO HAVE TO
It's a modal verb: it means obligation; in negative it means prohibition and it’s similar to CAN’T	It's a modal verb: it means obligation, like MUST but in negative it means NOT NECESSARY
It's defective: with NO infinitive, NO -S in the 3rd person in singular and NO past  or participle. To solve this problem we use to have to	It's NOT a defective verb: you can use it in any tense ( HAVE – HAD –HAD)
It's an auxiliary verb: we use it for negative and interrogative forms and it's followed by infinitive without TO	It's NOT an auxiliary verb: we need an auxiliary for negative and interrogative forms (DO/DID/WILL,etc.)

To practise with modals you can use these two exercises:

• exercise 1   exercise 2

To finish with, here you have another song to see the use of CAN and MUST with Enrique Iglesias: It must be love

DO versus MAKE

What's the difference between DO and MAKE?

• DO is more general  What do you do? I'm a student
• MAKE is similar to build, when you use your hands  I love making cakes

However, there are certain expressions which are with DO or MAKE. The best way is by doing exercises until they are familiar to you. To practise go to these links:

• exercise 1 : a list of typical expressions
• exercise 2 : a simple explanation with exercises
• exercise 3 : a bit more practice
• exercise 4 : to finish with here you have another exercise

A curious family

Here you have a link with a curious story about the first family to sing country music. It's a long text but it has examples of their music and you can use the reading and the listening. Try to do it reading first and then you can listen to it without the text in fornt of you. This video is taken from VOA (Voice Of America). I think it's quite interesting although it's a very characteristic way of singing. You'll tell me if you like it. Go to the link here

Happy New Year 2013

Coming back to class after holidays. As you can see I let you have a rest to enjoy with your family and friends but it's time to refresh your English. Here you have some new sites of interest:

• http://www.newsinlevels.com/ : this is a page with pieces of news with 3 levels. If you use the level 3 you can watch a video. It's a good help for short listenings especially for those you'll find in the final exam.
• http://www.agendaweb.org/reading/comprehension_easy_interm1.html : if you like short stories you can find a good amount here. No audio but you have exercises with these readings. If you go to the home page you can find grammar, listening, vocabulary... click here
• http://www.englisch-hilfen.de/en/english_lessons.htm : this is a page you know well for grammar but it has this section for listening as well. Have a look.

Hope to see you again in class.