Conditionals

CONDITIONALS

What would you do if you won the lottery? Well, it is a common question that has come up to our minds at least once in our lives. Unfortunately, since I have not won it and without being pessimistic I should say I will never do it, I must keep working. Therefore, I had to think about my out-of-class contribution of the week and finally, I decided to prepare a little compilation of songs which includes conditionals forms because I love music. So here we go: 

First conditional (Future Real Conditional)

Listen to the chorus of the first song, it shows the structure of the 1st conditional:

If you don't know me by now, you will never know me.
IF        (PRESENT)                        (FUTURE)
This conditional is used to show possible events in the future. In the song, the singer is talking about something that will not happen in the future.

Red Simply - If you don’t know me by now

Chicago – If you leave me now.

Second conditional (Present Unreal Conditional)

Listen to the first song, when Beyonce says: "If I were a boy, I'm sure I could understand" we are pretty sure she is definitely not a boy (thank God for that) but also we can realize she refers to hypothetical situations.

Beyonce – If I were a boy

Joan Osbourne - One of Us

Third conditional (Past Unreal Conditional)

Adele - If It Hadn't Been For Love

Too many verses of the song are in this grammar form. This is how we can talk about past events that could have happened differently.

Remember that if we study conditionals, we will speak English better.

Future Tenses

FUTURE TENSES

When you talk about the future in English, you should not only know the verb tenses but also their uses and the best moment to use each. As it is said practice makes perfect, I got some practice this week until I could deal with any future sentence.

Now, I can see the difference among predictions or statements of fact, intentions, arrangements and scheduled events.

I recommend you to visit some of the websites where I found some good exercises if you are interested in improving your skills. Here are the links:

http://www.englisch-hilfen.de/en/exercises/tenses/future.htm

http://www.englisch-hilfen.de/en/exercises/tenses/future2.htm

https://english.lingolia.com/en/grammar/tenses-comparison/future-tenses/exercises

http://www.ego4u.com/en/cram-up/grammar/future-mix/exercises?default

Review of Past Forms: Somebody that I Used to Know

REVIEW OF PAST FORMS

“Somebody That I Used to Know” is a song written by Belgian-Australian singer-songwriter Gotye, featuring New Zealand singer/guitarist Kimbra and released in 2011.

It is about a dysfunctional relationship and the characters describe what happened in that relationship from their point of view. Therefore, this world-famous song is a perfect example of past forms. The most interesting thing is the metaphorical way of using the different verb tenses. I really enjoyed listening to this song!

Here is the video and the lyrics of this awesome masterpiece:

[Gotye]
Now and then I think of when we were together
Like when you said you felt so happy you could die
Told myself that you were right for me
But felt so lonely in your company
But that was love and it's an ache I still remember

You can get addicted to a certain kind of sadness
Like resignation to the end, always the end
So when we found that we could not make sense
Well you said that we would still be friends
But I'll admit that I was glad it was over

But you didn't have to cut me off
Make out like it never happened and that we were nothing
And I don't even need your love
But you treat me like a stranger and that feels so rough
No you didn't have to stoop so low
Have your friends collect your records and then change your number
I guess that I don't need that though
Now you're just somebody that I used to know

Now you're just somebody that I used to know
Now you're just somebody that I used to know

[Kimbra]
Now and then I think of all the times you screwed me over
But had me believing it was always something that I'd done
But I don't wanna live that way
Reading into every word you say
You said that you could let it go
And I wouldn't catch you hung up on somebody that you used to know

[Gotye]
But you didn't have to cut me off
Make out like it never happened and that we were nothing
And I don't even need your love
But you treat me like a stranger and that feels so rough
And you didn't have to stoop so low
Have your friends collect your records and then change your number
I guess that I don't need that though
Now you're just somebody that I used to know

Somebody
(I used to know)
Somebody
(Now you're just somebody that I used to know)

(I used to know)
(That I used to know)
(I used to know)
Somebody

Lyrics taken from: Gotye - Somebody That I Used To Know Lyrics | MetroLyrics 

Compound Adjectives

COMPOUND ADJECTIVES

This week, I worked on Compound Adjectives to continue on my goal of improving my English communication skills. Therefore, I decided to surf the internet with the idea of finding good websites and that is what actually happened.

On Woodward English, there is an excellent explanation about what they are and how to use them. People must bear in mind that hyphens are really important when making compound adjectives. It is not the same to say “I saw a man-eating alligator” than “I saw a man-eating alligator”, just that little punctuation mark can make a big difference in meaning. You should try visiting the following website if you want to pick up some new words or take a look at the structures:

http://www.grammar.cl/english/compound-adjectives.htm

Also, I found out some good exercises that I want to share with you all.

http://www.englishexercises.org/makeagame/viewgame.asp?id=8591

http://www.englishmedialab.com/Quizzes/advanced/compound%20adjectives%20match.htm

Having run through this series of items, I have more tools to describe things and express my ideas in a conversation. I recommend you to practice as well, then you will not only learn new words, but also see them being used naturally.

My Greatest Achievement

MY GREATEST ACHIEVEMENT

Challenges make interesting our day-to-day activities by bringing out the best of us and when we achieve them, we become better people. My greatest achievement was getting my current job at KPMG. It was actually something I did not expect but it is true that I had to face a difficult dispute.

Everything started at the beginning of 2013. By that time, I had already studied for two years in a technical high school named COTEPECOS. My major was accounting and the enterprise coordinator was looking for companies to make sure that everyone could do their internship on time. Those companies required some processes to be chosen. I was not sure if it was enough. When I got into this series of tests, interviews and even oral presentations, I felt panic.

The day of the results had arrived and it was for my surprise that I had been chosen in all the companies I applied for. After that day, the coordinator called me to talk about the fact. She told me that she had a special offer for me and a gift. The unexpected appeared out of the blue: KPMG offered me a job position as an accountant and ULACIT gave me a full scholarship to study there. I accepted right away. It has been the most rewarding experience of my life.