ENGLISH IN MIND UNIT 4 GRAMMAR Ability in the Past: COULD, WAS/WERE ABLE TO, MANAGED TO ABILITY NON/ LACK OF ABILITY GENERAL ABILITY could couldn t ABILITY AT SPECIFIC MOMENTS was/ were able to managed to wasn t/ weren t able to couldn t didn t manage to Note : We use managed to for things we were able to do but with some difficulty. Exercise: A. Underline the correct words. 1. I could / was able to find my way because I had a good map. 2. Did you manage to / Could you book a table for us yesterday? 3. I m afraid I managed to / couldn t understand what you just said. 4. I couldn t / haven t been able to swim since I got an ear infection. 5. Debbie was able to / could call me yesterday on her new mobile phone. B. Complete the sentences using could, was or were able to. The sentences with (+) are positive, and those with ( ) are negative. There may be more than one correct answer. 1. We finish all the food without any problem! (+) 2. We find any fish at the market today. ( ) 3. I never hold my breath under water. (+) 4. Ben play tennis very well by the age of ten. (+) 5. Our neighbours baby sit for us yesterday. (+) 6. Maria go out yesterday because she didn t have any money. ( ) 7. Jackie drive us all to the beach yesterday. (+)
C. Complete the sentences with (to) be able to or being able to. 1. I enjoy relax on a Friday night. 2. I remember tie my shoelaces for the first time. 3. I d like help you. 4. Paul likes buy CDs whenever he wants. 5. It s important take time off regularly. D. Right or wrong? Correct the wrong sentences. 1. I didn t managed to get any bread on the way home..... 2. I ll never manage to finish in time..... 3. We couldn t understand Bob because he spoke so quickly..... 4. Luke could fix my car when I asked him..... 5. Nicola managed to get to the top of the hill without any difficulty..... VOCABULARY Exercise: A. Find the words/ expressions from the texts (p. 32-33) which have the following definitions. 1. after thinking about something (text 1) 2. knocking into (text 2) 3. continue (text 2) 4. speed (text 2) 5. every day (text 2) 6. hit (text 3) 7. admitted to a crime (text 3) 8. hide (text 3)
B. Match the two halves of the expressions about success and failure from these two boxes. make over- up -fil mess pull wrong -come blow fall it (x2) off go ful- through C. Use the expressions from Exercise B to complete the dialogues. Use the correct form. 1. A: Our team has through to the semi-finals. B: Fantastic! That s brilliant. 2. A: I can t believe it! You ve again. B: Sorry. I can t seem to kick straight today. 3. A: Any more news about your grand European tour? B: Mmm. It s, I m afraid. Too expensive. 4. A: You won t be selected if you re rude to the coach! B: Yeah, I know. I shouldn t have shouted at him. I ve really this time, haven t I? 5. A: The match was going so well, then everything. B: Never mind. Better luck next time, eh?
ENGLISH IN MIND UNIT 5 GRAMMAR Position of Adverbs When adverb is used to qualify an adjective, it is normally placed in front of the adjective. (This means that the adverbs come after the verb to be). e.g. The test was incredibly difficult. She is usually tired when she gets home from work. Adverbs can also qualify other adverbs. e.g. He ran very fast. Can you please listen really carefully? When adverbs are used to qualify verbs, especially adverbs of manner, they usually come after the verb. e.g. She types well. I only got there on time because I drove fast. Sometimes, in order to emphasize the manner or frequency of an action, the adverb can come before the verb. We can t do this if we were using the verb to be. e.g. They desperately wanted to live somewhere else. He frequently asked for help from others. It is possible to use adverbs to comment on a whole sentence/ idea. In this case, the adverbs usually comes at the beginning of the sentence, especially in writing. e.g. Surprisingly, not many people know about this new product. Unfortunately, its high price meant that it didn t sell very well. We usually put an adverbial phrase at the end of a sentence. e.g. He looked at me in a rather curious way. The audience listened to him in a total silence.
Adverbs do not usually come between a verb and its object. e.g. They beat Liverpool convincingly. (NOT: They beat convincingly Liverpool) She watched the men closely. (NOT: She watched closely the men) Adjective Order In most speech and writing, it is rare for a noun to be qualified by more than three adjectives in fact, the most common number of adjectives is one or two. However, there are certain rules governing the order in which adjectives come, whether there are two, three, or more. When two adjectives are used to qualify a noun, and one is factual but the other is to do with quality/ opinion, the quality/ opinion adjective comes first. When more than one factual adjective is used, the order of adjectives are as follows: Size Age Shape Colour Origin Material Exercise: A. Put in the adverbs in the correct position. 1. The boy was eating the burger that his mother made for him. (quickly) 2. You are a special human being. (really) 3. We did our test at school yesterday. (carefully) 4. He showed us how to do it. (in an interesting way) 5. The children have answered the questions. (politely) B. Put the adjectives in brackets into the correct position in the sentences. 1. A gorgeous blue porcelain vase. (Japanese)......... 2. A comfortable black German sweater. (woollen).......... 3. A special romantic dinner. (anniversary)......... 4. A really red silk scarf. (long)..........
5. A green vintage car. (fantastic).......... C. Arrange the adjectives. 1. a - necklace pearl white fabulous 2. a silk red scarf wide bright 3. some new big buildings multi-storey 4. a pair of sports comfortable shoes white 5. a anniversary special dinner romantic D. Right (_) or wrong (x)? Correct the wrong sentences. 1. To be honest, I m in totally agreement with what you re proposing............. 2. We like to go every weekend into the country..... 3. You are a really specially human being..... 4. That was without a doubt one of the best films I ve ever seen..... 5. I don t want an old stupid book for my birthday..... E. Underline the correct words. 1. You ve been amazingly / amazing helpful. 2. Venice is an incredible / incredibly interesting city. 3. I m very / completely exhausted. 4. Tim is awfully / totally busy at the moment. 5. Is that a really / real Chinese vase?
VOCABULARY Exercise: A. Use the correct form of a verb or phrase from Box A and prepositions from Box B to replace the underlined words in the sentences below. A B figure be go end back shed light fit on in on to up for out 1. I found it difficult to make friends at my new school. I just didn t feel that I was accepted. (.......) 2. You have made some very good points in your essay, but you need to support them (... them...) with concrete examples. 3. This menu goes on for ever! How can I possibly decide? Maybe I ll just choose (......) the chicken and chips. 4. I think you have found (.........) a brilliant idea there. Let s do that for our project. 5. That Physics homework was really tricky. I just couldn t understand it. (... it....) 6. There was a fascinating documentary on TV last night. It really helped to explain clearly (.........) the problems faced by farmers in the developing world. B. Find the words/ expressions from the text (p. 44) which have the following definitions. 1. It s not a problem. 2. You can t afford it. 3. renting 4. something you can carry on 5. cause 6. not genuine 7. clever 8. funny