And one of my favourites

What’s your favourite Christmas Carol? Leave a comment.

And Merry Christmas to you all!!!!!!

/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

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.

We use may, might or could when something is possible.

      It may rain.

      It might not rain.

      Scientist could find a cure for cancer in the next 20 years. 

Certainty:

When we are sure that something certain we use must.

      I have eaten a lot these holidays.

When we are certain that something is not possible or it is impossible, we use can’t.

      All the lights are off. She can’t be at home.

Practice them:

http://www.englishexercises.org/makeagame/viewgame.asp?id=2083

http://www.englishexercises.org/makeagame/viewgame.asp?id=5901

http://www.englishexercises.org/makeagame/viewgame.asp?id=5570

“If you can’t, you must. If you must, you can.”     

• They are accompanied by verbs in the infinitive without “TO”.

                Police officers must wear a uniform - Police officers must to wear a uniform

• They have the same form for all the persons (we don’t add -s to the 3rd person singular):

                   She can play the piano - She cans play the piano - She can plays the piano

• They don’t need auxiliary verbs:

                    They shouldn’t stop smoking - They don’t should stop smoking

                     Can you do it? - Do you can do it?

• They are different from auxiliary verbs because they add meaning:

                    You may win the lottery (it is possible that you win the lottery - possibility)

                    He can drive (he has the ability)

http://www.aulafacil.com/Ingejerc/Lecciones/Ejerc21.htm

http://www.ego4u.com/en/cram-up/grammar/prepersim-preperpro 

http://www.englishgrammarsecrets.com/presentperfectsimpleorcontinuous/menu.php

http://www.usingenglish.com/quizzes/154.html

http://learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/en/grammar-reference/present-perfect-simple-and-present-perfect-continuous

 If you have any doubt, feel free to leave a comment or ask me in class.

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