Don't Lose Your Pen...

Thursday 23^rd

Hi everybody!

Thanks for doing your homework. I’ve learnt a lot with the people you’ve talked about.

Some of you only wrote a few lines, but it’s O.K. because at least you’ve tried. Another student was a bit lazier, he just printed out three pages about Mark Zuckerberg, but did you take the time to read it?

I don’t know what to make out of it (think of). On the one hand, you took the time to look up the information, but on the other hand you didn’t try to summarize it.

And there was just one girl, who didn’t do homework. She was too busy!

We talked about ability using can, could, be able to.

PRESENT	I can swim	I’m able to swim long distances
PAST SIMPLE                          NOT In the negative, you can use both	I could swim when I was six.	I was able to swim when I was six.
	The boy was drowning, but they could save him.	The boy was drowning, but they were able to save him.
	They couldn’t save the boy.	They weren’t able to save the boy.
FUTURE	_______________	They’ll be able to travel to Ireland next summer.
PRESENT PERFECT	________________	I haven’t been able to arrive earlier, sorry.
INFINITIVE	_______________	I’d (would) like to be able to travel around the world.
-ING FORM	_______________	I hate not being able to drive.
CONDITIONAL	I could go with you if you told me before time.	I’d be able to go with you if you told me before time.

To sum up, you can use “be able to” (I am, you are, we were she wasn’t…able to) instead of “can”. When both are possible, it’s better to use can. “Be able to”, has a slightly (a little) different meaning. It means you can do something that was difficult for you, but you succeeded in the end.

Of course, when it isn’t possible to use “can”, you have to use “be able to”.

It’s impossible to use “can”:

After auxiliary verbs, will, don’t, would…

Before or after “to”; I’d like to can drive.

In affirmative past sentences, we don’t use “could” when we talk about a completed, finished action in the past.

The key was stuck, but I could open the door.

The key was stuck, but I was able to open the door.

BUT

I could swim.

I was able to swim.

 And we ended the class with an important piece of advice:

“Don’t lose your pen!” If you lose your pen, you’ll die.

If you lose your pen, you won’t be able to take notes.

If you aren’t able to take notes, you won’t pass your exams.

If you don’t pass your exams, you won’t get a degree.

If you don’t get a degree, you won’t find a job.

If you don’t find a job, you won’t earn any money.

If you don’t earn any money, you won’t be able to buy any food.

If you can’t buy any food, you’ll die.

So, if you lose your pen, you’ll die! Don’t lose your pen!!!

We reviewed high numbers and dates so as to make up for our 2 weeks without games. Here are the results of our games:

GAME 1 Writing numbers                GAME 2 Writing dates    

Player 1	9
Player 2	9
Player 3	8
Player 4	6
Player 5	8
Player 6	9

Player 1	8
Player 2	9
Player 3	9
Player 4	6
Player 5	6
Player 6	9

                                                                                             

I’ll tell you whihc player number you get next class. I had to rearrange player numbers.

This is all!

Enjoy your weekend! Have fun horse riding, meeting friends or whatever you do; and try to study a little.

Finish the exercise on the photocopy page 30.

Listen to this dialogue on first conditional