extraactivity

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personlity

Physical Appearance

Introduction This is a compilation of almost all the words we could think of used to describe physical appearance: After studying it you should be able to make good descriptions of people. Making descriptions in Spanish is very similar to English: EG He has + (adjective) + (noun) He is + adjective. 

EG: He has blue eyes = tiene los ojos azules He is bald = Es calvo



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contrast

LINK FOR EXERCISE 1

pastcontinuous

Put the verbs into the correct form (past progressive).

1. When I phoned my friends, they (play)  monopoly.
2. Yesterday at six I (prepare)  dinner.
3. The kids (play)  in the garden when it suddenly began to rain.
4. I (practise)  the guitar when he came home.
5. We (not / cycle)  all day.
6. While Aaron (work)  in his room, his friends (swim)  in the pool.
7. I tried to tell them the truth but they (listen / not) .
8. What (you / do)  yesterday?
9. Most of the time we (sit)  in the park.

Make the positive past continuous:

 1. (Julie / sleep at three o’clock) 

___________________________________________________________ 

2. (you / study at three o’clock) __________________________________________________________________

 3. (Luke / read at three o’clock) __________________________________________________________________ 

4. (I / work at three o’clock) __________________________________________________________________ 

5. (they / eat chocolate at three o’clock) __________________________________________________________________ 

6. (John / play tennis at three o’clock) __________________________________________________________________ 

7. (we / watch TV at three o’clock) __________________________________________________________________ 

8. (he / use the Internet at three o’clock) __________________________________________________________________ 

9. (you / cook lunch at three o’clock) __________________________________________________________________ 

10. (we / travel to London at three o’clock) _________________________________________________________________

Put the verbs into the correct form (past progressive).

1. When I phoned my friends, they (play)  monopoly.
2. Yesterday at six I (prepare)  dinner.
3. The kids (play)  in the garden when it suddenly began to rain.
4. I (practice)  the guitar when he came home.
5. We (not / cycle)  all day.
6. While Alan (work)  in his room, his friends (swim)  in the pool.
7. I tried to tell them the truth but they (not / listen )  .
8. What (you / do)  yesterday?
9. Most of the time we (sit)  in the park.
10. I (listen)  to the radio while my sister (watch)  TV.
11. When I arrived, They (play)  cards.
12. We (study)  English yesterday at 4:00 pm .

Choose the correct verb forms. Use Simple Past or the Past Progressive.

1. We      sat  was sitting  were sitting    at the breakfast table when the doorbell      rang  was ringing  were ringing   .
2. He      met  was meeting  were meeting    a lot of friendly people while he      worked  was working  were working    in California.
3. When they      left  was leaving  were leaving    the museum, the sun      shone  was shining  were shining   .
4. The students      played  was playing  were playing    cards when the teacher      came  was coming  were coming    in.
5. While the children      slept  was sleeping  were sleeping   , their parents      watched  was watching  were watching    TV.
6. It      started  was starting  were starting    to rain while she      watered  was watering  were watering    the flowers in her garden.
7. When I      opened  was opening  were opening    the door, it      rained  was raining  were raining   .
8. While Henry      had  was having  were having    a drink at the bar, his wife      swam  was swimming  were swimming    in the sea.
9. He      heard  was hearing  were hearing    a loud bang while he      talked  was talking  were talking    to his friend.
10. While he      took  was taking  were taking    a shower, his dogs      ate  was eating  were eating    his steaks.

comparativesandsuperlatives

THE COMPARATIVE AND THE SUPERLATIVE

COMPARATIVE ADJECTIVES

Comparative adjectives are used to compare differences between the two objects they modify (larger, smaller, faster, higher). They are used in sentences where two nouns are compared, in this pattern:

Noun (subject) + verb + comparative adjective + than + noun (object).

The second item of comparison can be omitted if it is clear from the context (final example below).

EXAMPLES

• My house is larger than hers.
• This box is smaller than the one I lost.
• Your dog runs faster than Jim's dog.
• The rock flew higher than the roof.
• Jim and Jack are both my friends, but I like Jack better. ("than Jim" is understood)

SUPERLATIVE ADJECTIVES

Superlative adjectives are used to describe an object which is at the upper or lower limit of a quality (the tallest, the smallest, the fastest, the highest). They are used in sentences where a subject is compared to a group of objects.

Noun (subject) + verb + the + superlative adjective + noun (object).

The group that is being compared with can be omitted if it is clear from the context (final example below).

EXAMPLES

• My house is the largest one in our neighborhood.
• This is the smallest box I've ever seen.
• Your dog ran the fastest of any dog in the race.
• We all threw our rocks at the same time. My rock flew the highest. ("of all the rocks" is understood)

FORMING REGULAR COMPARATIVES AND SUPERLATIVES

Forming comparatives and superlatives is easy. The form depends on the number of syllables in the original adjective.

ONE SYLLABLE ADJECTIVES

Add -er for the comparative and -est for the superlative. If the adjective has a consonant + single vowel + consonant spelling, the final consonant must be doubled before adding the ending.

Adjective	Comparative	Superlative
tall	taller	tallest
fat	fatter	fattest
big	bigger	biggest
sad	sadder	saddest

TWO SYLLABLES

Adjectives with two syllables can form the comparative either by adding -er or by preceeding the adjective with more. These adjectives form the superlative either by adding -est or by preceeding the adjective with most. In many cases, both forms are used, although one usage will be more common than the other. If you are not sure whether a two-syllable adjective can take a comparative or superlative ending, play it safe and use moreand most instead. For adjectives ending in y, change the y to an i before adding the ending.

Adjective	Comparative	Superlative
happy	happier	happiest
simple	simpler	simplest
busy	busier	busiest
tilted	more tilted	most tilted
tangled	more tangled	most tangled

THREE OR MORE SYLLABLES

Adjectives with three or more syllables form the comparative by putting more in front of the adjective, and the superlative by putting most in front.

Adjective	Comparative	Superlative
important	more important	most important
expensive	more expensive	most expensive

IRREGULAR COMPARATIVES AND SUPERLATIVES

These very common adjectives have completely irregular comparative and superlative forms.

Adjective	Comparative	Superlative
good	better	best
bad	worse	worst
little	less	least
much	more	most
far	further / farther	furthest / farthest

EXAMPLES

• Today is the worst day I've had in a long time.
• You play tennis better than I do.
• This is the least expensive sweater in the store.
• This sweater is less expensive than that one.
• I ran pretty far yesterday, but I ran even farther today.

pastcontrast

1. What ________________________ (you / do) when I ________________________ (call) you last night?

2. I ________________________ (sit) in a café when you ________________________ (call).

3. When you ________________________ (arrive) at the party, who ________________________ (be) there?

4. Susie ________________________ (watch) a film when she ________________________ (hear) the noise.

5. Yesterday I ________________________ (go) to the library, next I ________________________ (have) a swim, later I ________________________ (meet) Julie for a coffee.

6. We ________________________ (play) tennis when John ________________________ (hurt) his ankle.

7. What ________________________ (they / do) at 10pm last night? It ________________________ (be) really noisy.

8. He ________________________ (take) a shower when the telephone ________________________ (ring).

9. He ________________________ (be) in the shower when the telephone ________________________ (ring).

10. When I ________________________ (walk) into the room, everyone ________________________ (work).

11. It ________________________ (be) a day last September. The sun ________________________ (shine), the birds ________________________ (sing). I ________________________ (walk) along the street when I ________________________ (meet) an old friend.

12. He ________________________ (live) in Russia when the Revolution ________________________ (start).

13. When her train ________________________ (get) to the station, we ________________________ (wait) on the platform.

14. He ________________________ (be) so annoying! He ________________________ (always / leave) his things everywhere.

15. On holiday we ________________________ (visit) Rome, ________________________ (see) the Vatican, and ________________________ (spend) a few days at the beach.


16. Why ________________________ (you / stand) on a chair when I ________________________ (come) into the room?

17. They ________________________ (live) in Germany when they ________________________ (be) young.

18. At 7pm yesterday, we ________________________ (listen) to music.

19. When I ________________________ (leave) the house, it ________________________ (snow).

20. He ________________________ (work) in a bank when he ________________________ (meet) his wife.

pastprogressive

FUNCTIONS OF THE PAST CONTINUOUS

The past continuous describes actions or events in a time before now, which began in the past and is still going on at the time of speaking. In other words, it expresses an unfinished or incomplete action in the past.

It is used:

• Often, to describe the background in a story written in the past tense, e.g. "The sun was shining and the birds were singing as the elephant came out of the jungle. The other animals were relaxing in the shade of the trees, but the elephant moved very quickly. She was looking for her baby, and she didn't notice the hunter who was watching her through his binoculars. When the shot rang out, she was running towards the river..."
• to describe an unfinished action that was interrupted by another event or action, e.g. "I was having a beautiful dream when the alarm clock rang."
• to express a change of mind: e.g. "I was going to spend the day at the beach but I've decided to get my homework done instead."
• with 'wonder', to make a very polite request: e.g. "I was wondering if you could baby-sit for me tonight."

EXAMPLES

• They were waiting for the bus when the accident happened.
• Caroline was skiing when she broke her leg.
• When we arrived he was having a bath.
• When the fire started I was watching television.

(PreIntermedio)

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In this post we are going to talk about the past continuous. We will look at the syntax and the use of this tense. We are also going to compare it to the past simple and see the differences.

Past Continuous / Past Progressive

Structure

Positive form

Subject + was/were + (-ing) + Complement

Examples:

–          Michael was watching the World Cup  match.
–          They were working all night long.
–          Josh and Silvia were talking about getting married.

Negative form

Subject + wasn’t/weren’t + (-ing) + Complement

Examples:

–          John wasn’t eating because he was feeling sick.
–          Jeff wasn’t watching TV.
–          My parents weren’t having a good time because it was very cold in Canada

Question Form

(Question Word) + was/were + Subject + (-ing) + Complement

–          What were you doing last night at around 8:00pm?
–          Was Jim doing his homework?
–          Were they sleeping all morning?

Note: with verbs not normally used in the continuous form, the simple past is used.

FORMING THE PAST CONTINUOUS

The past continuous of any verb is composed of two parts : the past tense of the verb "to be" (was/were), and the base of the main verb +ing.

Subject	was/were	base + ing
They	were	watching
Affirmative
She	was	reading
Negative
She	wasn't	reading
Interrogative
Was	she	reading?
Interrogative negative
Wasn't	she	reading?

TO PLAY, PAST CONTINUOUS

Affirmative	Negative	Interrogative
I was playing	I was not playing	Was I playing?
You were playing	You were not playing	Were you playing?
He was playing	He wasn't playing	Was he playing?
We were playing	We weren't playing	Were we playing?
They were playing	They weren't playing	Were they playing?