Habilidades

comunicativas en
inglés: C1

Alejandro Suárez Rodríguez

 Revision Definitions are taken from Lexico

 Fluently (adv.): With an ability to express oneself easily and articulately

 Accuracy (n.): The quality or state of being correct or precise
 Pick up (ph. v.): Obtain, acquire, or learn something, especially in an informal way
 Get by (ph. v.): Manage with difficulty to live or accomplish something
 Master (v.): Acquire complete knowledge or skill in (a subject, technique, or art)
 Command (v.): Be in a strong enough position to have or secure
 Switch (v.): Change the position, direction, or focus of
 Rusty (adj.): Impaired by lack of recent practice
A distinctive way of pronouncing a language, especially one associated with
 Accent (n.): a particular country, area, or social class
 … in context
 I can speak _______.
 I am fairly fluent _________.
 I can get by in ____________.
 The best way to stop my English getting rusty is ________ (practise) regularly.
 I think accuracy is important when _________ (learn) a new language.
 I pick up English __________ (watch) TV series.
 … in context
 I can speak [noun phrase].
 I am fairly fluent in [noun phrase].
 I can get by in [noun phrase].
 The best way to stop my English getting rusty is practising regularly.
 I think accuracy is important when learning a new language.
 I pick up English by watching TV series.
 English is an SVO language.

English is quite strict syntactically.

Why is this?
English uses gerunds differently.

Noun/Verb/Preposition phrases.
SVO?
Syntactic classification: Subject-Verb-Object SOV ( Japanese)
OSV (BSL, <1%)
OVS (Klingon)
 What is subject? VSO (Arabic)
VOS (Fijian)

 What is verb?

 What is object?
How much strict?
Consider the following sentences:

Al parque fui con mi primo.

Fui con mi primo al parque.
Con mi primo fui al parque.
Fui al parque con mi primo.
How much strict?
And these ones:

To the park I went with my cousin.

I went with my cousin to the park.
With my cousin, I went to the park.
I went to the park with my cousin.
How much strict?
In Spanish,
all of them.

In English,

With my cousin, I went to the park. ?

I went to the park with my cousin.
And now for something completely different…
Gerund or present participle?

We will be staying up all night. Present participle

I am used to waiting for buses. Gerund

She came running towards me. Present participle

Surely it was an amazing film. Present participle

Putting on his coat, he left the house. Present participle
He whispered, thinking his brother was still asleep. Present participle
She is good at painting. Gerund
So, what is the deal?

 Gerund and present simple are

morphologically the same:

[verb-ing]

 Gerund and present simple are not

functionally the same.
Differences
 Present participle:

(i) To form the progressive aspect, as in Jim is sleeping.

(ii) Adjective phrase as verb modifier: The man looking at us rings me a bell.
(iii) Adverb with the same subject: He shot the man, killing him.
(iv) Adverb with different subject: The battle being over, the soldiers rested.
(v) General clause modifier: Generally speaking, present simple is easy to find.
Differences
 Gerund :

(i) Subject of a sentence, as in Swimming

relaxes me.
(ii) Direct object: What relaxes me is
swimming.
(iii) After prepositions: I study English by
teaching it.
(iv) After phrasal verbs: We look forward to
hearing from you soon.
(v) Some expressions: Narcissus couldn’t
help falling in love with himself.
 Phrases
Noun phrases

Adjective phrases

Adverb phrases

Verb phrases

Preposition phrases

Phrases as idioms
 Examples of
phrases
 My cousin’s car is too slow for me.

 My cousin’s car is too slow for me.

 My cousin’s car is too slow for me.

 My cousin’s car is too slow for me.

Examples of idioms
 Kick the bucket
 Hit the hay
 Piece of cake
 Takes two to tango
 Call it a day
 Ace in the hole
Recap learning an FL
to pass exams
to read
to live overseas
Why is it such a as a hobby
good idea to learn speak to foreigners
a foreign language? job prospects
intellectual stimulation
to watch movies
to meet new people
LEARNING FOREIGN LANGUAGES:
AGE MATTERS?

🎓 👴🏻 ⏳

What languages
do you speak?
LEARNING FOREIGN LANGUAGES:
AGE MATTERS?

🎓 👴🏻 ⏳

What language(s)
would you like to
learn?
LEARNING FOREIGN LANGUAGES:
AGE MATTERS?

🎓 👴🏻 ⏳

Do you think it is too

late to learn a new
language?
 Recap showing
interest
 I went to England at the weekend.
Lucky you! / That’s great!

 I’m really tired today.

Oh, dear! / You poor thing.

 I saw David Beckham at the airport.

No way! / Are you kidding?
Showing surprise or interest
 A: I’ve won the lottery
 B: Really?
No! Yeah?
You’re joking/kidding!
Have you? Echo question
  Speaker A: I’ve won the lottery.
 Speaker A′: Have you?
Structure of echo  Speaker B: He told her the truth.
questions  Speaker B′: Did he?
 Speaker C: They won’t accept your
invitation.
 Speaker C′: Won’t they?

Speaker A: Statement
Speaker B: Auxiliary (not) + subject?

depends on tense used by speaker A

Keeping a conversation going
1. He’s just arrived from a conference. Has he?
2. She’s the new part-time lecturer. Is she?
3. They don’t work very well. Don’t they?
4. I went to the mainland 2 weekends ago. Did you?
5. We’ve got a test next week. Have we?
6. I didn’t have lunch today. Didn’t you?
7. I had loads of assignments to mark yesterday. Did you?
8. I can’t speak English fluently yet. Can’t you?
9. Nobody did their homework. Didn’t they?
10. I’ve never taught in a foreign language Haven’t you?
 Practice
Write down 5 (positive and negative) sentences about yourself, a
friend, a colleague, a celebrity, etc.

In pairs, you should respond appropriately using an echo

question or an expresion, depending on the context.
Expressing (dis)agreement
AGREEING DISAGREEING
Definitely. I don’t think so.
I go along with you. That’s true, but…
I think so. OK, but don’t you think that…?
You’re right! That’s nonsense!
Absolutely. I don’t agree with you at all.
I agree with you entirely. I don’t quite see it like that…
I entirely agree with you. You must be joking!
I quite agree. You’re right, but…
I disagree (with you).
I see your point, but…
 Practice 2
With the 5 (positive and negative) sentences you wrote down in
the previous practice, express your (dis)agreement, depending on
the context.
Guess the meaning of…

1. achieve 2. adept 3. beyond 4. critical

5. decline 6. analysis 7. points 8. gauge

9. impact 10. rate

Synonym match
1. achieve a. diminish
2. adept b. speed
3. beyond c. examination
4. critical d. skilled
5. decline e. measure
6. analysis f. affect
7. points g. attain
8. gauge h. times
9. impact i. after
10. rate j. vital
Synonym match
1. achieve a. attain
2. adept b. skilled
3. beyond c. after
4. critical d. vital
5. decline e. diminish
6. analysis f. examination
7. points g. times
8. gauge h. measure
9. impact i. affect
10. rate j. speed
Replace the words in italics using an expression
with help or give.

a) Lynn’s tried not to lose her temper so often, but she can’t stop herself.
b) The best way to handle children is not to let them do just what they want to.
c) Hey, have some of these olives, everybody — they’re delicious.
d) I’m going to be late, but it’s not my fault that the traffic is so bad.
e) Things seem bad right now but, if you wait a little while, they might get better.
f) When I was struggling to set up my business, he lent me some money.
g) You are a hard worker — I’ll admit that's true.
Replace the words in italics using an expression
with help or give.

a) Lynn’s tried not to lose her temper so often, but she can’t help herself.
b) The best way to handle children is not to give in to them.
c) Hey, help yourselves to these olives, everybody — they're delicious.
d) I’m going to be late, but I can’t help that the traffic is so bad.
e) Things seem bad right now but, if you give it a little time, they might get better.
f) When I was struggling to set up my business, he helped me out.
g) You are a hard worker — I’ll give you that.