There are three possible pronunciations for the 3^rd person singular “-s”.

/S/ when the pronunciation of the infinitive ends with a voiceless consonant (without movement of the vocal folds).

/Z/ when the pronunciation of the infinitive ends with a vowel or a voiced consonant (with movement of the vocal folds).

/IZ/ when the pronunciation of the infinitive ends with a sybilant consonant. (/s/, /z/, /ʃ/,  /ʒ/,  /tʃ/, /dʒ/)

You can hear a podcast on the pronunciation of voiced and voiceless consonants.

Practice the pronunciation of the final “-s” on this website:

http://www.better-english.com/easier/thirdpers.htm

A Christmas Carol is a novel written by the English writer Charles Dickens and published in 1843.

Charles Dickens, the most popular writer of the Victorian age, was born near Portsmouth, England, in 1812 and died in Kent in 1870. When his father was thrown into debtors’ prison, young Charles was taken out of school and forced to work in a shoe-polish factory, which may help explain the presence of so many abandoned and victimized children in his novels. As a young man he worked as a reporter before starting his career as a fiction writer in 1833. In his novels, short stories and essays, Dickens combined hilarious comedy with a scathing criticism of the inhuman features of Victorian industrial society. Many of his novels, such as Great Expectations, David Copperfield and Oliver Twist, have been made into films.

A Christmas Carol is the story of Mr. Scrooge, an elderly miser who doesn’t believe in Christmas. On Christmas Eve, four ghosts teach him that love and friendship are much more important than amassing a fortune. The first ghost is that of Marley, his former business partner, who warns him about the suffering awaiting him if he does not change. The three other ghosts reveal to Scrooge scenes from his past, present and future. After witnessing these scenes, Scrooge is a changed man.

Visit this website and read an adaptation of chapter 5 of A Christmas Carol and do the activities at the bottom. 

If you want, you can also read the complete novel here.

Although A Christmas Carol was written a long time ago, it has been once and again versioned for TV, cinema, opera and other media. Here you have all the adaptations of the work for all the media. One of the latest versions of the novel is the 2009 film A Christmas Carol, directed by Robert Zemeckis and starred by Jim Carrey. You can watch the trailer here.

You can visit the official website here.

Take two minutes to leave a comment with your favourite Christmas film or the film you would like to watch these Christmas holidays.

Are you good at writing? Do you like telling stories? This activity is for practising the Past forms. Leave a comment continuing the beginning of the story. You can’t use more than 50 words. Be original and creative!

 Yesterday, I got up very early and when I went into the kitchen…

This is a file with some cultural facts about the UK. What else do you know? Leave a comment.

Do you know how to say in English all the numbered objects?

Summer holidays are coming and all of us are planning our next holiday destinations. What about visiting London?

London is the capital of the United Kingdom and it has lots of things to do.

Let’s start our trip to London watching the following videos:

Have you ever been to London? Did you like it? What is your favourite part of London? And the one that you didn’t like?

If you have never been to London, what is your favourite city? why?

I’m waiting for your comments.