Building Vocabulary - Grammar Vocabulary
Building Vocabulary - Grammar Vocabulary
Building Vocabulary - Grammar Vocabulary
REFERENCE
(fonte: Freepik)
2. Speak of the devil! (= We’ve just been talking about you, and
here you are!)
Example conversation:
Suzy: Have you heard from Debbie recently?
Kelly: No, I haven’t. I thought she was on holiday. (Debbie
walks up to Suzy and Kelly) Suzy: Speak of the devil!
8. (I’m / He’s, etc) off out for the evening. (= I’m / He’s etc going
out for the evening)
Son: OK, See you two later! Dad: Where’s he going? Mum: He’s
off out for the evening
Speak for yourself! (= It might be true for you, but it isn’t for
me!)
Example conversation
Dave: Modern art is so stupid…
June: Speak for yourself! There are some great artists nowadays.
If you’ve finished your homework by six, you can go out and play.
When you’re having your party, please keep the noise down!
Second conditionals
Refer to an imagined present result of an unlikely or impossible
present condition.
If I had the money, I’d travel around the world. (I don’t have the
money)
If I were you, I’d think about leaving him. (I’m not you)
Third conditionals
Refer to an imagined past result of something that didn’t happen in
the past.
If I had known you were coming, I wouldn’t have prepared the
cheese dish.
(I didn’t know you were coming. I prepared a cheese dish.)
Third conditional
If you’d told me earlier, I could’ve done something about it.
If we had caught the right bus, we might’ve been on time.
Take note: mixed conditionals
Mixed conditionals combine the structure of type 2 and type 3
conditionals when the time (past, present and future) referred to in
the if and result clauses are not the same.
Mixed conditionals can refer to:
something that didn’t happen in the past and the result of that
condition in the present
Subject-object questions
Meaning and use
A simple way of asking questions in English is by
using interrogatives, or question words, such as who or what.
These questions are called wh-questions and are used when
asking for information.
What time is it?
Who ate the biscuits?
Look at this sentence:
Sally met David Beckham.
We can ask about the subject or object of this sentence:
Asking about the subject: Who met David Beckham? Sally met
David Beckham.
Asking about the object: Who did Sally meet? Sally met David
Beckham.
The first question is a subject question because who refers to
the subject. There is no auxiliary. The second question is
an object question because who refers to the object and comes
before the auxiliary did.
Form
Subject questionswith no auxiliary are formed with: question
word + verb + object, where the verb agrees with the subject.
‘Who speaks Japanese?’ ‘Kento speaks Japanese.’
‘Who rang the doorbell?’ ‘The milkman rang the doorbell.’
‘What caused the accident?’ ‘Bad weather caused the accident.’
Whose and which ask about possession and choice,and can be
used in subject questions like this:
Whose horse finished the race first?
Which painting cost the most?
Take note: using ‘what’ or ‘which’
As well as which, what is also used to ask about choices. If the
choice is limited, we use which and this is usually followed by a
noun.
What social networks do you use?
What happenedto your shirt?
Which chair is yours?
Which of these restaurants has the best service?
Which hand do you write with?
Spoken English
In casual speech, who is or who has often becomes who's. This
can cause problems for the listener because it sounds the same
as the question word whose, which is used to
show possession. Whose usually comes before a noun.
Who’s coming for dinner?
Whose bike got stolen?
Whose hat cost over £100?
Whose mobile phone still has a signal?
CORRECT: Did you know Jess when you were living in Madrid?
Spoken English
In the past simple and the past continuous, we usually use a
contraction with the negative auxiliary verb:
didn’t (= did not) wasn’t (= was not)
But when the word following the contraction begins with a vowel
sound, we pronounce the final ‘t’:
They were delayed, so they didn’t arrive on time.
/ðeɪ wə dɪˈleɪd, səʊ ðeɪ dɪdnt əˈraɪv ɒn taɪm/