Carol Tips

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Hello everyone! This is Teacher Carol Pinho and this is our new episode of Carol Tips! 

Today, we will start a series of Podcasts about Present Perfect. 

Last episode was about Simple Past. It is interesting if you study that one first. In case you haven’t done that yet, I suggest you go there and listen first! 

As we saw, Simple Past is used to talk about things that happened in the past, but the period must be SPECIFIC and OVER, which means, we have to know when the action occurred and the period of the sentence must be a time that is over, finished. For example: 

I moved to Bahia in 2016. (I inform when the action occurred: 2016 and this period is over, right?) or 

He didn’t work at that company last year. 

Talking about structure, when we use PRESENT PERFECT, we use the auxiliary verb TO HAVE: Remember that we use HAVE for I, YOU, WE and THEY and HAS for HE, SHE and IT. After the auxiliary verb, we use the 3rd column of the verbs, which is called PAST PARTICIPLE: 

For example 

go - went - gone 

see - saw - seen 

make - made - made 

dance - danced - danced 

PRESENT PERFECT, different from Simple Past, is used to talk about events that occurred in the past, but when the PERIOD IS NOT SPECIFIC or when the PERIOD IS NOT OVER. When we talk about NOT SPECIFIC TIME IN THE PAST, it means that we talk about an action that happened at some point in the past, but we don’t inform when, for example: 

I have studied at USP 

My husband has had a publicity agency 

We have lived in São Paulo

All of those things have occurred in my life, but I don’t tell you when exactly. 

It is important to say that we only use this for people who are alive, because their lifetime is an open period. When we talk about dead people, we use SIMPLE PAST, even when we don’t say when the actions happened, seeing that the person’s lifetime is OVER, so the period is OVER. For instance: 

My grandfather lived in Santos.

My grandmother had 11 children 

My great-grandfather worked as a wagon driver. 

All these people already passed, which means, they died. Their life period is OVER, is CLOSED. I don’t tell when these events occurred, but I know the period is OVER. 

The other use for PRESENT PERFECT is when we talk about actions that happened (in the past), but they are inside a period that is not OVER. For example: TODAY, THIS WEEK, THIS MONTH, THIS YEAR, IN THE LAST 10 YEARS, THIS DECADE, etc. 

I say…. 

I drank coffee yesterday. (using SIMPLE PAST, because both my action and the period are over) 

but I say…. 

I have drunk coffee today 

My daughter has read a book this week (using PRESENT PERFECT because TODAY and THIS WEEK are NOT OVER, even though my coffee and my daughter’s reading are over) 

In negative sentences we use the NEGATIVE AUXILIARY VERBS, HAVEN’T or HASN’T: 

I haven’t had breakfast today. 

My son hasn’t done homework this week. 

In INTERROGATIVE sentences, we use the auxiliary verbs before the subject: 

Have you eaten any fruit today? 

Has she lived abroad in the last 10 years? 

Where have you been to this week? 

What have you done today? 

Note that, in PRESENT PERFECT, we use the PRINCIPAL VERB in PAST PARTICIPLE (or 3rd COLUMN) in all sentences, affirmative, negative and interrogative! 

That 's it! Hope you liked it. In our next episode we will talk more about PRESENT PERFECT. Remember to follow us on Instagram. Search for @carolpinhoefl. We are also on Youtube. See you on our next Carol Tips!

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Today, we will talk about Simple Past 

So, let’s get down to business!

Simple Past is used to talk about things that happened in the past, but the period must be SPECIFIC, that is, we have to know when the action occurred, like in:

I visited my family in 2019.

or

I went to London in 2017.

The period must be SPECIFIC and FINISHED, meaning that, the “time” of the sentence must be OVER

For example:

The sentence: “My daughter was born in 2000” is correct, because the year 2000 is over now.

ok teacher…. and if I want to say “I drank coffee today”, is it correct? No! It is not! Today is not over. My coffee is over, but the period we are using isn’t finished. In this case, we will use PRESENT PERFECT. We will talk about this verbal tense on our next episode.

Now, talking about structure. When we use Simple Past, we use the 2nd column of the verbs in the affirmative sentences, like:

go - went

see - saw

make - made

dance - danced

For example:

My husband cooked pasta last Sunday.

or 

She watched an amazing movie yesterday.

In the negative, we use the auxiliary verb DIDN’T  and the principal verb in the infinitive form, which is the base form or the 1st column of verbs.

For example:

I didn’t go to the movies last weekend.

or 

My parents didn’t visit me last year.

(Do you see? In the negative, the verb is not in the PAST FORM)

When we talk about INTERROGATIVE sentences, we use DID as the auxiliary verb, followed by the subject and the infinitive of the verb too, equal in the negative form.

For instance:

Did you read the news yesterday?

or 

Did you see John at school last week?

When we use WH words in the questions, like WHAT, WHERE, WHEN, WHY or HOW, we place them before the subject. The structure will be:

WH WORD + DID + SUBJECT + VERB IN INFINITIVE

For example:

When did you move to Bahia?

How did you go to work yesterday?

Why did you decide to stop university last year?

When we make sentences with VERB TO BE in the PAST, it is all different, right?

In affirmative sentences, we use WAS or WERE

Note that we use WAS for I, HE, SHE and IT 

and WERE for YOU, WE and THEY

Like in:

I was born in 1982

She was at home last night

They were boring when they were kids

For the NEGATIVE form, we do not use the AUXILIARY VERB DIDN’T. VERB TO BE goes to negative form alone, 

was not (or) WASN’T

She wasn’t my friend 10 years ago

I wasn’t well last night

were not (or) WEREN’T

They weren’t together in the party on Saturday

You weren’t happy at the club yesterday

In the INTERROGATIVE, we move the verb to be before the subject, such as:

Was he at school yesterday?

Were you happy when you lived in London?

We can also place the WH WORDS before verb to be in the questions. For example:

Where were you last night?

Why was the refrigerator door opened?

That’s it! Hope you liked it. Remember to follow us on Instagram. Search for @carolpinhoefl. We are also on Youtube. See you on our next Carol Tips!

Hello everyone! This is teacher Carol Pinho! 

I have been teaching English for over 24 years now. Here you will find, every week, audio tips about grammar, vocabulary, pronunciation and business, always counting on easy explanations, useful examples and clear tapescripts to support and improve your studies! Hope to make your learning process a nicer journey! New episodes every Sunday! See you around

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Today we will talk about the FIRST CONDITIONAL. This conditional doesn’t talk about facts or obvious things, like the ZERO CONDITIONAL.

FIRST CONDITIONAL talks about things that have a REAL POSSIBILITY TO HAPPEN and the possible consequences for them.

For example:

If it rains tomorrow, I will stay home

OR

If it rains tomorrow, I will exercise in my house

BUT

If it doesn’t rain tomorrow, I will run at the beach

OR

If it doesn’t rain tomorrow, I will have a picnic at the park with my friends.

In all of these examples, I have a CONDITION which is possible to happen. It may rain or not tomorrow, right? In the sequence, I’ve exposed possible consequences for this condition.

The structure of FIRST CONDITIONAL is:

IF + SIMPLE PRESENT, (COMMA) WILL or WON’T + VERB IN INFINITIVE

We use IF and SIMPLE PRESENT for the condition (like in: “If it rains tomorrow…..” or “If it doesn’t rain tomorrow”) and we use WILL (or in the negative WON’T) for the CONSEQUENCE (like: “I will stay home” or “I will run at the beach”).

Note that, when we say SIMPLE PRESENT, we have to remember that, in affirmative forms, we must add +S to the verbs when our subject is HE, SHE or IT:

For example:

She lives

He has

It breaks

I will leave the rules for adding S to the verbs at the end of the description, in case you want to study them!

For the negative sentences, we use the auxiliary verbs: DON’T or DOESN’T:

We use DON’T when the subject is I, YOU, WE or THEY, like:

I don’t have a house

You don’t study online

We don’t work at that the same company

They don’t clean the house very well

We use DOESN’T when the subject is HE, SHE or IT, for example:

He doesn’t work here

She doesn’t like this kind of food

It doesn’t bark at night.

Remember that, when we use DOESN’T, we do not add S to the verbs!

Coming back to the FIRST CONDITIONAL… We must remember that IF and WILL are never on the same clause, which means, they are never on the same side of the sentences. IF comes together with SIMPLE PRESENT, for the possible situation, and WILL or WON’T come separate, for the possible consequence.

That’s it! Hope you like it! See you on the next episode of Carol Tips!

SIMPLE PRESENT RULES:

As promised, here are the rules for adding S to the verb in the Simple Present affirmative forms for HE, SHE and IT:

- When the verb ends in O, S, SH, CH, X, Z = +ES

He goes

She watches

- When the verb ends in VOWEL (aeiou) + Y = +S

He plays

- When the verb ends in CONSONANT (bcdfg…) + Y = -Y+IES

(cry) She cries

- HAVE (I, you, we, they) = HAS (she, he, it)

I have a dog

He has a dog

- For the other situations, only +S:

He listens

She sings

- Tape Script -

Conditionals always discuss a relationship between a condition and a consequence, or possible consequence, for this condition.

The conditionals are many in English, but we usually study 4 of them: The ZERO, the FIRST, the SECOND and the THIRD CONDITIONALS. Today, we will talk about ZERO CONDITIONAL!

So, let’s start:

Zero conditional is used to talk about THINGS THAT ARE OBVIOUS, GENERAL TRUTHS (things that are  always true everywhere), SCIENTIFIC FACTS or things from the REAL WORLD:

The structure consists of two parts: the CONDITION and the CONSEQUENCE. The IF-clause is always the condition. Here we use:

IF + SIMPLE PRESENT (and this part is the condition), (comma) and SIMPLE PRESENT again (now for the consequence)

If we put water in the freezer, it turns into ice.

When I say: If we put water in the freezer, it is my CONDITION

When I say: It turns into ice, it is my CONSEQUENCE

If you heat butter, it melts.

If you eat too much fat, you gain weight.

If you drink much alcohol, you get drunk.

Pay attention to an important fact: When we say SIMPLE PRESENT, it is different from saying INFINITIVE.

In SIMPLE PRESENT, we need to follow some rules. In affirmative sentences, when using the SUBJECT as HE, SHE or IT, we add S (+S) to the verb, like:

She goes

He likes

It wants

There are some rules and exceptions, such as HAVE, that for HE, SHE and IT, becomes HAS, in sentences like:

I have a house

My husband has a car

In order to help to study, I will leave all these rules in the end of the podcast tapescript description!

Teacher: and when we need to use the NEGATIVE form? in this case, we will use the AUXILIARY VERBS (DON’T or DOESN’T). We use DON’T for I, YOU, WE and THEY, like?

I don’t live in São Paulo

They don’t drink soda

We use DOESN’T for HE, SHE and IT. Note that in the negative form, we don’t add S to the verb!

He doesn’t work at that company

She doesn’t have a nice dress for the party

So, coming back to the conditionals. We will use SIMPLE PRESENT twice in the same sentence:

If the plant gets too much water, it dies.

If the plant doesn’t get enough water, it doesn’t grow.

If the children practice exercises, they keep healthy.

If the children don’t practice exercises, they don’t grow strong.

Pay attention when you use VERB TO BE. In Simple Present, verb to be is AM, IS or ARE. In the negative we use: AM NOT, ISN’T or AREN’T. With verb to be, we don’t use the auxiliary verbs DON’T or DOESN’T.

If you aren’t at school on time, you don’t enter.

If ice isn’t in the freezer, it melts.

Note that the comma in the middle of the two clauses is necessary, but if you change the order, it is not used:

If you spend the day at the beach, you get tanned. (here there is a comma between the two clause)

You get tanned if you spend the day at the beach. (in this order, the comma disappears)

That’s it! Hope you like it. Try to study that!

SIMPLE PRESENT RULES:

As promised, here are the rules for adding S to the verb in the Simple Present affirmative forms for HE, SHE and IT:

- When the verb ends in O, S, SH, CH, X, Z = +ES

He goes

She watches

- When the verb ends in VOWEL (aeiou) + Y = +S

He plays

- When the verb ends in CONSONANT (bcdfg…) + Y = -Y+IES

(cry) She cries

- HAVE (I, you, we, they) = HAS (she, he, it)

I have a dog

He has a dog

- For the other situations, only +S:

He listens

She sings