UNIT 1

Grammar : Prepositions of time

Utilizamos at:

- Para tiempos del día: at 7 o’clock, at breakfast time

- En expresiones como: at the weekend, at night, at New Year

Utilizamos on:

- Para días: on Tuesday

- Fechas: on May 17th

Utilizamos in:

- Años : in 2017
- Estaciones: in summer
- Meses: in August
- Partes del día: in the morning

Ejercicio:

Complete the conversation with at, in or on:

A: Are you busy (1) ________ Saturday?

B: Yes, I’m with my grandmother (2) ________ the morning. I have to be there (3) ________ 11 o’clock. It’s her
birthday party. Her birthday is (4) ________ August 28th – that’s Monday, but everyone’s busy then.

A: Do you want to meet (5) ________ the evening (6) ________ Saturday?

B: OK!
Grammar: Frequency adverbs

100% always
usually
often
sometimes
occasionally
hardly ever
0% never
- A menudo colocamos los adverbios de frecuencia antes del verbo principal:
I usually/ sometimes/ never go to work in the evening.
I don’t often go to work at the weekend.

- No utilizamos never, hardly ever ni always al comienzo o al final de las frases.

- Colocamos los adverbios de frecuencia DESPUÉS del verbo be

I am often ill in the winter.
She is usually at university at 8 o’clock.

- Hay otras expresiones que podemos usar para hablar sobre frecuencia. Estas expresiones se utilizan al final o
al comienxo de las frases, no en medio de estas.
a) Every day, every week, every month, every year…
b) Once a day, twice a week, three times a month…
c) On Fridays, at weekends…
d) Most days, most nights, most weeks…

On Fridays, I go to the office by bike.

I go running twice a week.

Exercise

Put the words in order to make sentences

1) a/ go/ gym/ I / the/ to/ twice/ week

2) an/ hour/ I/ more/ hardy ever/ spend/ than/ there

3) an/ for/ half/ hour/ I / run/ sometimes

4) I/ I’m/ listen/ music/ running/ to/ usually/ while

5) always/ exhausted/ get/ home,/ I/ I’m/ When

6) every/ Friday./ friends/ go/ I/ my/ out/ with

Grammar: Present simple and continuous

Present simple

Podemos usar el present simple para hablar sobre algo que:

a) ocurre regularmente (y rutinas)

I play tennis every Tuesday.

b) Es generalmente verdad y permanente en el tiempo presente

My brother lives in France

c) Es un hecho o siempre verdad

The sun rises in the east

Present continuous

Podemos usar el present continuous para hablar sobre:

a) Algo que está ocurriendo ahora

The’re living with friends while their house is being decorated
b) Una situación temporal que es verdad ahora:
He’s cooking in the kitchen
c) Algo que está ocurriendo en el presente pero no necesariamente en este mismo momento
My sister’s studying art.
Exercise

Choose the correct option in bold

Many people (1) take up/ are taking up cycling these days. Cycling is great because it (2) helps/ is helping out
general fitness. When we cycle, we (3) use up/ are using up more energy than when we (4) walk/ are walking. (5) I
go/ am going cycling regularly, but only on small roads where there aren’t many cars. At the moment, I (6) train/ am
training for a race so I (7) spend/ am spending a lot of time on my bike.

Grammar: State verbs

Los state verbs o verbos de estado se refieren a un estado o condición en lugar de a una acción. No se utilizan
normalmente con tiempos continuos.

I prefer apples to oranges.

I’m preferring apples to oranges.

Esta es una lista de los más comunes:

agree appear believe depend hear hope know like look love need own possess

prefer see seem smell suppose taste think understand want weigh wish

Hay verbos que pueden ser ambas cosas: verbos de estado y acción, pero con diferencia en el significado:

She looks tired. ( look = appear)

She’s looking for her phone. (look= search)
He has an apartment. (have = own)
He’s having breakfast. (have = eat)

Exercise
Complete the sentences with the present simple or present continous form of the verbs in the box.
cost have help own prefer smell think want weigh

1 A: How much ________________ you ________________ , Ben?

B: I don’t know. About 60 kilos, maybe? I ________________ not to know actually.

2 Paul is a computer expert. He ________________ people with their IT problems

3 The flowers in our garden ________________ beautiful.

4 My flatmate ________________ a lot of problems with his car at the momento

5 A cinema ticket ________________ $15! I ________________ that’s a lot of money!

6 Lucas ________________ a new bike, but he ________________ to sell it.

Pronunciation: final –s/ -es

Grammar: Countable and uncountable nouns

Countable nouns

Los nombres contables se refieren a aquellas cosas que pueden ser contadas. Tienen forma singular y plural: tree –
trees; knife – knives; child- children; man- men…

- Los nombres contables en singular pueden ir con a/an: a book, an elephant

- Los nombres contables en plural pueden ir con números, con some y any:
Our family has some animals – a dog and three cats

Uncountable nouns

Los nombres incontables se refieren a cosas que no pueden ser contadas. No tienen forma plural: advice – advices,
furniture – furnitures; information – informations; homework – homeworks…

Both countable and uncountable

Algunos nombres pueden ser ambas cosas: contables y no contables

I love lambs but I don’t eat lamb.

Lamb (countable) = animal

Lamb (uncountable) = meat from a lamb

Para hacer contables a los nombres incontables usamos nombres como: piece, slice, spoonful, box…

a piece of advice
three slices of bread
two spoonfuls of sugar
a bowl of rice
exercise

Underline the countable and circle the uncountable nouns in this short text.

As well as giving us energy, sugar in our diet makes out food taste better. Sometimes we add sugar to our breakfast
cereals. Sugar is also used in biscuits, ice cream, chocolate and many other things we eat. It is also in fruit and
vegetables and even in a glass of milk!
Grammar : a few, a bit of, many, much, a lot of and lots of

Estas palabras y frases son cuantificadores. Nos dicen cuánto de algo hay.

- Para cantidades pequeñas, usamos a few con nombres contables en plural:

A few people in my office speak English.
- Usamos a bit of con nombres incontables:
I’d like a bit of advice about going to university, please.
- Para cantidades grandes, usamos many con los nombres contables en plural
There aren’t many trains at night.
How many times have you been to London?
- Usamos much con nombres incontables en frases interrogativas y negativas
How much money do you need?
We don’t have much time.
- Usamos a lot of o lots of con nombres contables en plural o nombres incontables
A lot of/ Lots of students ride bikes to college.
You can save a lot of/ lots of money if you cycle or walk.

Exercise

Underline and correct the mistakes in these sentences

1) We haven’t got many time.

2) I drink a few water when I wake up.
3) There are lot of things we need to talk about.
4) Can you help? I need some informations about train times
5) How much friends do you have online?
6) We have a lot of furnitures in our house.

Grammar: prepositions of place

Usamos las preposiciones de lugar para indicar dónde está algo:

- Usamos at con puntos: at the bus stop, at the station, at home, at university
- Usamos in con espacios para decir que algo está dentro de otra cosa: in the kitchen, in the sea, in the car, in
France
- Usamos on con superficies: on the wall, on the floor, on the ceiling, on the table

Exercise

Complete the sentences with at, in or on

a) My computer is __________ the desk __________ my living room.

b) I live __________ the end of the road
c) Your shoes are __________ a box __________ the shelf
d) There’s someone __________ the door.