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Gramtica
En este mdulo vamos a desarrollar los conceptos bsicos gramaticales como
soporte necesario para poder expresarnos verbalmente por el telfono; tambin
desarrollaremos aquellas expresiones de uso ms frecuente en el mbito
profesional que nos ocupa.
Al finalizar el estudio de estas lecciones sers capaz de:
Mdulo 1: Grammar
Leccin 1
Adjetivos terminados ed/-ing
GRAMMAR REFERENCE
In English you can form adjectives that end in ed (like the past participle) and
ing (like the gerund).
Adjectives ending in ed describe the way a person feels.
Adjectives ending in ing describe the thing or person which causes us
to have a reaction.
For example:
I am bored, describe how I feel. (estoy aburrido)
This book is very boring, describe how the book is. (este libro es
aburrido)
I am interested in Art, describe one of my interests. (me interesa el
Arte)
Art is very interesting, describe how the Art is. (el Arte es interesante)
Some present participles (-ing forms) and past participles (-ed forms) of verbs can
be used as adjectives.
Most of these participle adjectives can be used before the noun they describe or
following linking verbs:
She gave me a welcoming cup of tea
I found this broken plate in the kitchen cupboard
We can use some participles immediately after nouns in order to identify or define
the noun. This use is similar to defining relative clauses:
A cheer went up form the crowds watching (the crowds that were watching)
A few participles are used immediately after nouns, but rarely before them:
Mdulo 1: Grammar
Mdulo 1: Grammar
Leccin 2
Nombres contables e incontables
GRAMMAR REFERENCE
There are many nouns like this: beer, coffee, water, fruit, shampoo, cake,
chicken, land, stone, improvement, war
Some nouns have different meanings when they are used countably and
uncountable:
She is looking for work (job)
Shakespeares complete works (compositions)
Give me some paper (material)
Give me a paper (newspaper)
She gave a paper in Bristol (speech)
Bolivia is one of the worlds largest producers of tin (the metal)
The cupboard was full of tins (metal food containers)
Other nouns like this include: accommodation, competition, glass, grammar,
iron, jam, lace, paper, sight, speech, time, work.
Some nouns that are usually used uncountably can be used countable, but only
in the singular, including education, importance, knowledge, resistance, traffic:
She has an extensive knowledge of property prices in this area.
The noun damage can be used countable, but only in the plural:
Sue is claiming damages for the injuries caused (= money paid as
compensation)
In English there are several groups of uncountable nouns:
1. Names of substances considered generally:
bread, cream, gold, paper, tea, dust, ice, sand, jam, soap, oil, stone,
wood
2. Abstract nouns:
advice, beauty, courage, experience, fear, help, hope, information, work
3. Other nouns:
baggage, luggage, damage, furniture, weather, news
We can use expressions to count them: a bit of, a drop of, a grain of, a piece
of, a sheet of, a pot of.
Mdulo 1: Grammar
Leccin 3
Verbos modales
GRAMMAR REFERENCE
Permission
1. may
for all persons in the present and future
might in the conditional and after verbs in a past tense
forms: may not; might not
may is followed by the bare infinitive
2. can
for all the persons in the present and future
could for past and conditional
forms: cannot/cant; could not/couldnt
can is followed by the bare infinitive
4. In the past
On Sundays we could stay up late (we were allowed to)
We couldnt bring our dog into the restaurant
5. Request
Can I open the window? (informal)
Could I pay by cheque? (formal)
May I smoke? (muy formal)
Possibility
He may/might tell his wife (perhaps he tells/will tell his wife)
Tom may lend you the money (increased doubt by stressing)
He may/might not believe your story (perhaps he wont /doesnt believe
your story)
Could be can be used instead may / might be:
I wonder where Tom is. He could be in the library.
Do you think the plane will be on time? I dont know. It could be
delayed by fog
Mdulo 1: Grammar
Can is used in conjunction with be + the adjective able, which supplies the
missing parts of can and provides an alternative form for the present and past
tense.
There is only one future form, because can is not used in the future except to
express permission. In the conditional, however, we have two forms: could and
would be able.
Examples:
Our baby will be able to walk in a few weeks
Can you type?
I cant pay you today
Since his accident he hasnt been able to leave the house
Could you run the business by yourself? (If this was necessary)
Could he get another job? (If he left this one)
Could you lend me $5? (Introducing a request)
When I was younger I could climb any tree in the forest (past ability)
Ought is a modal verb. The same form can be used for present and future, and
for the past when preceded by a verb in a past tense or followed by a perfect
infinitive:
I ought to write to him tomorrow/today
She said I ought to write
Mdulo 1: Grammar
Should is also a modal verb. The same form can be used for present, future and
past:
You should drink more water
She shouldnt speak up at hospital
Ought and should are used to express the subjects obligation or duty:
You should send in accurate income tax returns
Or to indicate a correct or sensible action:
They shouldnt allow parking here: the street is too narrow
Should can be used in formal notices and on information sheets:
Candidates should be prepared to answer questions on
Should and ought can express advice:
You ought/should read it, its very good
Must is used in the present or future. It can express obligation and emphatic
advice:
You mustnt drive now
She must get up early
Autoridad
del emisor
externa
Futuro
Must
Will have to
Presente
Must
Have to
Pasado
Had to
Had to
Tiempo
Wont have to
Dont/doesnt
have to
Didnt have to
Examples:
You must wear a dress tonight. You cant go to the opera in those
dreadful jeans (speakers authority)
You must use a dictionary. Im tired of correcting your spelling mistakes
(speakers authority)
You have to wear a uniform on duty, dont you (external authority)
You will have to cross the line by the footbridge (external authority)
Staff must be at their desks by 9:00 (orders or instructions)
In this office even the senior staff have to be at their desks by 9:00
(commenting another persons obligations)
I have to take two of these pills a day (habit)
Before we do anything I must find my chequebook (obligations are
urgent or seem important to the speaker)
Need not can be used for present and future. It expresses absence of
obligation. The speaker gives permission for an action not to be performed or
sometimes merely states that an action is not necessary:
You neednt make two copies. One will do.
Must not express a negative obligation imposed by the speaker or very
emphatic advice:
Staff must not smoke when serving customer
Examples:
You neednt go on a diet: but you must eat sensibly and you mustnt
overeat (doctor)
Visitors must not feed the animals (zoo notice)
The lifts must not be used during Fire Drill (school notice)
You neednt read the whole book but you must read the first four
chapters (teacher)
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Speakers
Tense
authority
Futuro
Need not
Presente
Need not
Pasado
External authority
Wont need to
Wont have to
Dont/doesnt need to
Dont/doesnt have to
Didnt need to
Didnt need to
Didnt have to
Didnt have to
Examples:
You neednt write me another cheque (speakers authority or advice)
Tom doesnt have to wear uniform at school (external authority)
MUST, HAVE, WILL Y SHOULD FOR DEDUCTION AND ASSUMPTION
Must: Note the difference between the past forms of must used for deduction
and the past equivalent of must used for obligation (had to). Must is not used for
negative deduction and is not normally used in the interrogative except when
querying a deduction with must:
There is a lot of noise from upstairs. It must be Tom
He has a house in London and another in Paris, so he must be rich
This must be the key (no other choice)
Bill must be ill (if an ambulance stops at his door)
Have: This is an American usage which is sometimes heard in Britain:
It has to be a hero
There was a knock on the door. It had to be Tom (sure he is)
Will can be used for assumptions about present or past actions:
Ring his home number. He will be at home now (Im sure hes at home)
Should can be used for assumptions about present or past actions:
The plane should be landing now (I expect it is landing)
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Verbs
Use
Must
Have to
Dont have to
Should
Shouldnt
Neednt
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12
Leccin 4
El condicional
GRAMMAR REFERENCE
Main sentence
Conditional sentence
Simple present
Future
Simple present
Imperative
Would + infinitive
Simple past
Past perfect
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13
In the if clause
1. if + present continuous (present action or future arrangement):
If you are waiting for a bus youd better join the queue
If you are staying for another night Ill ask the manager to give you a
better room
2. if + present perfect:
If you have finished dinner Ill ask the waiter for the bill
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Mdulo 1: Grammar
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Leccin 5
Construccin de palabras
GRAMMAR REFERENCE
16
COMPOUND NOUNS
When we want to give more specific information about someone or something,
we sometimes use a noun in front of another noun:
A rice pudding; a glasshouse; a window-cleaner
When a particular combination is regularly used to make a new noun, it is called
a compound noun. We sometimes make compound nouns which consist of more
than two nouns:
A milk chocolate bar
Some compound nouns are usually written as one word (tablecloth), some as
separate words (waste paper) and others with a hyphen (word-processor).
Some can be written in more than one of these ways (a golf course/a golfcourse).
Even if the first noun has a plural meaning, it usually has a singular form:
An address book (not an addresses book)
However, there are a number of exceptions:
1. nouns that are only used in the plural, or have a different meaning in
singular/plural or countable/uncountable:
a communications network
a savings account
a customs officer
2. cases such as:
the publications department
When we refer to an institution of some kind which deals with more than
one item or activity:
Mdulo 1: Grammar
17
Birds of prey
Commanders-in-chief
Notice that we say: a ten-minute speech; a five-year-old child
Some compound nouns consist of ing + noun:
A living room; chewing gum
Others consist of noun + -ing:
Film-making; sunbathing
Sometimes a noun + noun is not appropriate and instead we use noun
+ s + noun (possessive form) or noun + preposition + noun.
In general we prefer noun + s + noun:
1.
When the first noun is the user of the item in the second noun:
a babys bedroom; a womens clinic
2. When the item in the second noun is produced by the thing in the first:
goats cheese; cows milk
but when the animal is killed to produce the item referred to in the second noun:
lamb chops
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18
3. When we talk about parts of people or animals, but we usually use noun
+ noun to talk about parts of things:
a womans face; a computer keyboard
We prefer noun + preposition + noun:
1. when we talk about some kind of container together with its contents:
a cup of tea (= una taza con t dentro)
a tea cup (= un tipo de taza, la de t)
2. when the combination of nouns does not necessarily refer to a well-know
class of items:
a grammar book (un tipo de libro conocido)
a book about cats
Some compound nouns are made up of nouns and prepositions or
adverbs, and related to two- and three-word verbs:
He broke out of prison by dressing as a woman
There was a major break-out from the prison last night
We can form other kinds of hyphenated phrases that are placed before
nouns to say more precisely what the noun refers to:
State-of-the-art (= very modern)
Day-to-day (= regular)
Head-in-the-sand
Four-wheel-drive
Security-card-operated
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Leccin 6
Estilo indirecto
GRAMMAR REFERENCE
1) Statements.- In this sentences you must mainly observe the charges in tense:
Simple present
Simple past
Present continuous
Past continuous
Present perfect
Past perfect
Simple past
Past perfect
Future
Conditional
Future continuous
Conditional continuous
2) Comand and request.- You must remember the use of ASK and TELL with the
infinitive.
For example:
Please, help me --- She asked me to help her
Dont shout --- I told him not to shout
3) Questions.- Appart from the charges in tense, pay special attention to word
order: subject before verb form.
Time and place expressions also change; have a look to this table:
Mdulo 1: Grammar
20
Today
That day
Yesterday
yesterday
Tomorrow
Here
There
This
That
Now
Then
REPORTING STATEMENTS
We often use a that-clause in the reported clause:
He said (that) he was enjoying his work
After the more common reporting verbs such as agree, mention, notice, promise,
say, think, we often leave out that (this is the reason to write it into brackets).
However, it is less likely to be left out after less common reporting verbs such as
complain, deny, speculate, warn, answer, argue, reply.
Some reporting verbs which are followed by a that-clause have an alternative
with an object + to-infinitive, although the alternatives are often rather formal:
They declare that the vote was invalid
They declared the vote to be invalid
Other verbs like this include: acknowledge, assume, believe, consider,
expect, find, presume, report, think, understand.
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Say and tell are the verbs most commonly used to report statements. We use an
object after tell, but not after say:
He told me that he was feeling ill
She said that she would be late
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SHOULD IN THAT-CLAUSES
We can sometimes report advice, orders, requests, suggestions about things
that need to be done or are desirable using a that-clause with should + bare
infinitive:
Alice thinks that we should avoid driving
Mdulo 1: Grammar
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to, used to
Would, could, might,
Will, can, may (existing or future
situations and present tense verb
in reporting clause)
Will or would, can or could, may or
might (existing or future situations
and past tense verb in reporting
clause)
Shall
Must (necessary)
Must or had to
Must (conclude)
Had to
Mustnt
Mustnt
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Leccin 7
La voz pasiva
GRAMMAR REFERENCE
When we use a passive verb form, we are more interested in the person or thing
affected by the action, i.e.:
Mdulo 1: Grammar
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Active
Passive
Presente simple
Keeps
Is kept
Presente continuo
Is/are keeping
Is being kept
Pasado simple
Kept
Was kept
Pasado continuo
Was/were keeping
Presente perfecto
Has/have kept
Pasado perfecto
Had kept
Futuro
Will keep
Will be kept
Condicional
Would keep
Would be kept
Condicional perfecto
Infinitivo de presente
To keep
To be kept
Infinitivo de perfecto
To have kept
Gerundio
Keeping
Being kept
Participio perfecto
Have kept
USING PASSIVES
The choice between an active and passive sentence allows us to present the
same information in two different orders:
The storm damaged the roof (this sentence is about the storm, and
says what it did).
The roof was damaged by the storm (this sentence is about the roof
and says what happened to it).
We choose a passive rather than an active in some situations:
1. When the agent is not known, people in general, unimportant or obvious.
In an active sentence we need to write the agent but not in the passive:
Mdulo 1: Grammar
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5. Its often more natural to put agents which consist of long expressions at
the end of a sentence. Using the passive allows us to do this:
I was surprised by his decision to give up his job and move to Sydney.
VERBO + -ING / TO INFINITIVE
1. Verb + -ing:
I enjoyed taking the children to the zoo (active)
The children enjoyed being taken to the zoo (passive)
They saw him climbing over the fence (active)
He was seen climbing over the fence (passive)
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Leccin 8
Comparativo y superlativo
GRAMMAR REFERENCE
El sistema de comparativos de superioridad y superlativo en ingls se articula
aadiendo sufijos especficos o con categoras gramaticales sintagmticas; sin
embargo el comparativo de igualdad slo se articula con categoras gramaticales
sintagmticas.
To form Comparative and Superlative in English there are four different groups
to divide the adjectives:
4. One syllable:
Adjective
Old
Big
Comparative
Older than
Bigger than
Superlative
The oldest
The biggest
Comparative
Larger than
Nicer than
Superlative
The largest
The nicest
Comparative
Happier than
Heavier than
Superlative
The happiest
The heaviest
Comparative
More modern
More expensive
Superlative
The most modern
The most expensive
Comparative
Further
Worse
Better
Less
More
Fewer
Superlative
The furthest
The worst
The best
The least
The most
The fewest
8. Irregulars:
Adjective
Far
Bad
Good / Well
Little
Many / Much
Few
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If you put a countable noun between the adjective and the second as, you
should use a/an in front of the noun (if the noun is singular):
She was as patient as a teacher as anyone could have had
Hes not such a good player as he used to be
We can use how/so/too followed by an adjective in a similar way:
How significant a role did he play in your life?
To talk about quantities, we use as as in sentences with much/many:
She earns at least as much as Mark
We can use so followed by an adjective, adverb and a that-clause in sentences
such as:
The recipe was so simple that even I could cook it
Enough is used before nouns and after adjectives and adverbs:
The house was comfortable enough but not luxurious
Sufficiently is used before adjectives with a meaning similar to enough, is
often preferred in more formal contexts:
The policies of the parties were not sufficiently different
Study these structures: adjective + enough and too + adjective:
The beams have to be strong enough to support the roof
She was too ashamed to admit her mistake
Comparison of three or more people or things is expressed by the superlative
with in/of:
The oldest in the classroom (place)
The oldest of the family (no-place)
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Leccin 9
Preposiciones de tiempo
GRAMMAR REFERENCE
AT: with hours and with these expressions: at the weekend, at night, at
Christmas, at Easter, at the end of ..., at the moment
ON: with the days of the week, with dates and with these expressions:
On New Years Day
On Christmas Day
IN: with the months, with the years, with the seasons and with these
expressions: in the morning/afternoon/evening, in five minutes/hours, days
We dont use in/at/on before this, last, every and next
FROM TO : In sentences like: We lived in Canada from 1989 to 1995
UNTIL: before the end of a period, i.e.:
I went to bed early last night but I wasnt tired
I read a book until 3 a.m.
SINCE: before the beginning of a period of time (from the past to now), i.e.:
John is in hopital
He has been in hospital since Monday
FOR: a period of time, p.e.: George stayed with us for three days
BEFORE: in Spanish means antes de; you can use this with nouns and verbs but
if you use it with verbs dont forget end the verb with ing, i.e.:
Before the exam everybody was very nervous
I always have breakfast before going to work
AFTER: in Spanish means despus de; the usage is the same as AFTER
DURING: in Spanish means durante
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34
For is used of a period of time with a present perfect tense or past perfect tense
for an action which extends up to the time of speaking:
He has worked here for a year
For used in this way is replaceable by since with the point in time when the
action began:
He has worked here since this time last year
During is used with known periods or time:
During 1941
During my holidays
The action can either last the whole period or occur at some time within the
period:
He was ill for a week, and during that week he ate nothing.
After must be followed by a noun, pronoun or gerund:
Dont bathe immediately after a meal/eating
At the moment stands for now. But in a moment means in a short period of
time:
He is in London at the moment
Ill finish my homework in a moment
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Leccin 10
Preposiciones de lugar
GRAMMAR REFERENCE
In English there are several prepositions to explain the place. We are writing the
usages and some sentences to understand it better.
IN: It is the most common preposition to indicate the place, p.e.: in a room, in a
town, in France, in the water, in bed (not in the bed), in hospital/prison (you use in
this way when you are prisioned or staying in the hospital), in a car (but on a
bus/train/plane), in the middle of
AT: You use this preposition with these expressions: at the door,
at the traffic lights, at the bus-stop, at the top/bottom (of a page), at home, at
work, at school/university (when you are studying), at the station/airport, at the
end (of the street), at the hairdressers, at the doctors, at the dentists, at a
conference
Often in or at is possible for a building (hotels, restaurants )
TO: It is the preposition to indicate the movement, so it is just after movement
verbs: go, turn, walk, come.
Arrive is a special verb; it is a movement verb but doesnt use to:
arrive in (a country or a town), p.e.: They arrived in England last week
arrive at (other places), p.e.: What time did they arrive at the hotel?
arrive home (no preposition), p.e.: I was tired when I arrived home
ON: You use this preposition when something is on a surface, pe..: on a table,
on the floor, on a wall, and also with these expressions: on the bus/train/plane, on
a horse, on a bicycle, on the beach
UNDER: It is the opposite of on.
NEXT TO (or BESIDE): in Spanish means al lado de, p.e.:
You are sitting next to me
BETWEEN: in Spanish means entre, p.e.: The letter B is between A and C
IN FRONT OF: in Spanish means delante de, p.e.:
National Gallery Museum is in front of Trafalgar Square
BEHIND: in Spanish means detrs de, p.e.:
You are sitting behind me in the classroom
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AMONG: using when we see the people or things as part of a group or mass:
He stood among all his friends in the room
BY: to say that one thing or person is at the side of another:
I pushed the button by the door
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