Day 14
Day 14: 1/14/08
I got accepted into that English speaking Spanish village. Do I want to do it? Yes. Will I? Eh... I dunno. I should find a real job first. Maybe not in the Czech Republic though. Its nice and all. And Prague is beautiful. I bet its even more pretty in the summer time when I could actually see the sun. But I'm here to experience Europe, right? So why not go down to Madrid for a week, when a cheap airplane ticket is only $80? I think I'll do it. And even if I land a job in Prague, I can always come back here. I've been searching the Internet for jobs. That's how I stumbled upon Pueblo Ingles.
This day's grammar lesson was about Conditional sentences and Modal verbs. Its amazing how many little things there are in our language that we don't even know about. We just say it!
Conditionals are used to introduce a condition. Olga, our Ukrainian teacher who speaks 5 languages, English being one of them, began with “Imagine if you're stranded on a desert island...”
Then we went into detail. A 'zero conditional' is a conditional that is true in the present, past and future; a universal law for example. “If water reaches boiling temperature, it will boil.” This is accepted as truth. “If I jump up, I will come back down.” These follow a formula of:
if/when + present tense + present tense
A 'First conditional' is probable in the future, likely to happen but it depends on something else. “I'll give you some money if I win the lottery.” It can also be used for politeness. “If you come this way, I will show you your room.”
This formula is:
If + present tense + future tense
Second conditionals are unreal, hypothetical. “Imagine if you're on an island what would you bring?” If you were an animal what would you be? If I were you I would not do that.
If + past tense + would + base form of verb (you bring you be/ do)
But in this, “would” is a modal verb. Not a model verb. A modal verb. A modal verb is a special group of verbs which change the meaning of the main verb in terms of probability, prohibition, obligation, necessity, ability, etc etc etc. But that's for another time perhaps...
Then there's 'third conditionals.' These are very unreal, impossible situations, missed opportunities.
If + past perfect tense + would + perfect infinitive
If only had asked her out, I would have been happy
“If I had studied more, I would have been a doctor.” But our teacher told us to be careful in teaching these for if we ask for examples from our classes, everyone might start confessing the missed opportunities in life and then everyone would start getting pessimistic.
And finally, mixed conditionals. (Aren't these exciting?) This can be a mix of 2nd and 3rd conditionals. “If you had listened to me, you would have known that.”
If + past perfect + would + base form
Well, that's it for the English lesson today class. I have to go plan a lesson for this (Thursday) afternoon.
I got accepted into that English speaking Spanish village. Do I want to do it? Yes. Will I? Eh... I dunno. I should find a real job first. Maybe not in the Czech Republic though. Its nice and all. And Prague is beautiful. I bet its even more pretty in the summer time when I could actually see the sun. But I'm here to experience Europe, right? So why not go down to Madrid for a week, when a cheap airplane ticket is only $80? I think I'll do it. And even if I land a job in Prague, I can always come back here. I've been searching the Internet for jobs. That's how I stumbled upon Pueblo Ingles.
This day's grammar lesson was about Conditional sentences and Modal verbs. Its amazing how many little things there are in our language that we don't even know about. We just say it!
Conditionals are used to introduce a condition. Olga, our Ukrainian teacher who speaks 5 languages, English being one of them, began with “Imagine if you're stranded on a desert island...”
Then we went into detail. A 'zero conditional' is a conditional that is true in the present, past and future; a universal law for example. “If water reaches boiling temperature, it will boil.” This is accepted as truth. “If I jump up, I will come back down.” These follow a formula of:
if/when + present tense + present tense
A 'First conditional' is probable in the future, likely to happen but it depends on something else. “I'll give you some money if I win the lottery.” It can also be used for politeness. “If you come this way, I will show you your room.”
This formula is:
If + present tense + future tense
Second conditionals are unreal, hypothetical. “Imagine if you're on an island what would you bring?” If you were an animal what would you be? If I were you I would not do that.
If + past tense + would + base form of verb (you bring you be/ do)
But in this, “would” is a modal verb. Not a model verb. A modal verb. A modal verb is a special group of verbs which change the meaning of the main verb in terms of probability, prohibition, obligation, necessity, ability, etc etc etc. But that's for another time perhaps...
Then there's 'third conditionals.' These are very unreal, impossible situations, missed opportunities.
If + past perfect tense + would + perfect infinitive
If only had asked her out, I would have been happy
“If I had studied more, I would have been a doctor.” But our teacher told us to be careful in teaching these for if we ask for examples from our classes, everyone might start confessing the missed opportunities in life and then everyone would start getting pessimistic.
And finally, mixed conditionals. (Aren't these exciting?) This can be a mix of 2nd and 3rd conditionals. “If you had listened to me, you would have known that.”
If + past perfect + would + base form
Well, that's it for the English lesson today class. I have to go plan a lesson for this (Thursday) afternoon.
Comments
:D
I think you should go to the thing in Spain. It sounds pretty neat. Plus you can bum around Spain and meet successful European businessmen. Impress their faces off! They might give you a job at their respective companies! :D
Love you buddy. Be safe. Make good choices!