THE FRUITCAKE SPECIAL
It is a smelly story collection.Imagine you could change people's mood just by smeeling a perfum.
Imagine you could stop the time just blowing a whistle.
I liked the book, the problem is that the stories are not long enought and when you start and like the story, it ends. May be, Fran Brennan, the writer could enlarge them more because I can't guess the possibilities of having that perfum or the whistle. Can you?
BLACK BEAUTY
What a wonderful story!It is like if Anna Sewell told us about the Human rights using a horse story. Wonderful!
Interesting sentences:
- Mind your own business!
- I've never seem hin since...
- Thank you a thousand times.
- They called me all kinds of bad names.
- It was money hard-earned.
THE MOONSPINNERS
WE MOVE TO GRECE, THEN TO CRETE. HERE, NICOLA, THE MAIN CHARACTER, FOUND A WOUNDED MAN. AGAIN WE HAVE A THRILLER WHERE NICOLA MUST KNOW HOW TO BEHAVIOR IF SHE WANTED TO STAY ALIVE.SHE IS IN DANGER EVEN IN THE HOTEL WHEN SHE IS HOSTED.
BE CAREFUL NICOLA YOU ARE NOT WELCOMED AND NOBODY WILL HELP YOU.
HERE WE HAVE ANOTHER STRANGE-ODD BOOK FULL OF MYSTERY. ALTHOUGH THE COVER IS DREADFUL MARY STEWARTS MAKES YOU TRAVEL TO CRETE. I GUESS THERE IS A FILM BASED ON THAT BOOK.
DEATH OF AN ENGLISHMAN
WE ARE ON CHRISTMAS. IN ITALY, FLORENCE INDEED. THERE IS MURDER. AN ENGLISHMAN IS DEATH. IT WAS TOO ODD. HE LIKED CHANGING HIS FURNITURE IN THE NIGHT WHEN EVERYONE WAS SLEPT.AN ECHOE IN THE NOISY STREET'S OF FLORENCE. CARABIENERI BACCI MUST SOLVE THE CRIME. CIPOLLA KNOWS THE TRUTH. BUT WHO IS CIPOLLA? WHAT IS HIS STORY? IS HE THE MURDERER?
CRIME AND MYSTERY IN THAT STRANGE BOOK WITH SO INUSUAL STORY. THE BEST, WITH ANY DOUBT, THE COVER.
THE WHISPERING KNIGHTS
YES, WE ARE TALKING ABOUT MAGICIANS AND WITCHES. SPECIFICALLY WE ARE TALKING ABOUT THE RETURN OF MORGAN WITCH. SOME CHILDREN WERE PLAYING IN AN OLD BARN. THEY DIDN'T KNOW IT WAS ONE OF MORGAN'S (MORGANA) HOUSES. AN INNOCENT SPELLING BECAME TRUTH. NOW THEY HAVE A BIG PROBLEM, WHO CAN STOP MORGAN?I ENJOY READING THAT BOOK. IT SHOWS THAT GROWN UPS MUST TRUST CHILDREN WHEN THEY CHANGE THEIR BEHAVIOR.
PRONUNCIATION 3: REGULAR VERBS IN PAST /-ED/
THE FINAL SOUND IS LIKE A /T/ IF THE LAST CONSONANT IS:- /K/: LIKE: WALKED OR TALKED.
- /TS/ (ch): LIKE: WATCHED
- /S/: LIKE: WASHED
- /s/: LIKE: PASTED
- /KS/ (x) LIKE: FAXED
- /P/ LIKE: STOPPED
- /F/ (gh) LIKE: LAUGHED
IF THE LAST LETTER IS A T/D/ OR AN OTHER CONSONAT, THE SOUND IS LIKE A /D/ LIKE: IMPROVED, CLEANED, OR REMOVED.
HERE, YOU CAN READ MORE INFORMATION. REMEBER YOU CAN TRY THE PRONUNCIATION BOX.
PRONUNCIATION 2: -AGE
- WHEN WE HAVE ONLY A SILABE NEXT TO THE WORD "AGE" LIKE: PAGE, RAGE... WE SAY /EICH/, SO /EICH/, /PEICH/ AND /REICH/...
- WHEN THE WORD IS BIGGER LIKE: VINTAGE, MASSAGE, GARAGE, VILLAGE... WE SAY /ICH/ SO WE HAVE /VINTICH/, /MESSICH/, /GAREICH/, /VILLICH/...
IT IS A GOOD MOOMENTO TO TRY THE PRONUNCIATION BOX. TRY WRITING THOSE ALL WORDS AND LISTEN CAREFULLY TO GRAHAM.
SAY VS TELL
SAY:- You can say an informaiton. You can say something. Say=give out information. So say + a piece of information. Be carefull: They say it TO me. (He said me: wrong)
TELL:
- To distinguish: tell time, ...
- To give instructions: Please, tell me...
- To order something: I told you not to...
For further information you can visit this web, which explanation is in Spanish.
NEWS VS NEW
- NEWS: Always plural, some bad NEWS, a piece of NEWS...
- NEW:It is an adjective. This car is NEW. Only in singular.
PRONUNCIATION
That year we have to improve our pronunciation too. So we have to work harder. I have just added a gadget which can reproduce perfectly and accurately the pronunciation of the text you write into.
We saw the difference between:
- Watch: The /t/ sound disappears. /wach/
- Talk: is like /tok/without /l/
- Walk: is like /wok/ without /l/ too.
If you want to understand better, you can try writing in the Pronunciation Box those three verbs.
SUBMIT AND DEADLINES
- Submit: it can be a synonymous of to give. It can be to sent by email, or it can be to hand something out. If the teacher said that we have to give her our workbooks done before Christmas, I have to hand my workbook out for the date she said.
- The last day when the teacher is going to take our workbooks is called the deadline. It is a time limit.
- But be carefull with the prepositions. Imagine that the picture shows October's calendar. We can say that the deadline is the 5th of October but we have two posibilities:
- You have to hand your workbook out ON the October 5th. It means that you have to submit your book only in that day, you have not other posibilities.
- You have to hand your workbook out BY the October 5th. It means that you can submit the work the 4th of October or even in September but the last day will be October 5th.
SAFE / SECURE / SURE
Poor mouse....Let's see:
- Safe and secure are synonymous, so safety and security too. There is a risk and if you are not in danger, that means that you are safe. The mouse takes security a tool like the helmet. It wants to be safe when it takes the cheese. Not to be killed. Estara salvo, sin peligro, seguro (de seguridad, de riesgo).
- Sure, certain: when you are certain about something, you are sure. It is coming from the word certainty. You are sure that it is going to rain when the sky darkens and lightenings appear in the sky. So I'm sure that the mouse is going to be killed although the security protection.
ALIEN / LOCAL/ PACE (VOCABULARY)
- An alien person: It is not an ET. An alien person is a strange person, a foreign one.
- Local: In Spain we can say: I'm going to our local. But not in English. Local means that something is from the area surroinding us. It is coming from location. And if you are speaking about people, locals are the people living in that particular area.
- Pace: It means SPEED. It is like the film of Keanu Reeves. I'm writing on my blog AT my own PACE.
A TALE OF TWO BRAINS.
I have just received that video and I liked a lot. It's too funny, you can watch it and if you like you can buy the dvd at www.laughyourway.com. Enjoy it.
GIVE WAY
Give way: Be careful, you have to look the road before crossing it with your car. If someone is coming, you have to stop your car and after the road is free, then, you can cross it. In Spanish we say: ceder el paso. But it is not a phrasal verb.
AT YOUR OWN RISK
When we were walking through the old streets of Haworth, the birthplace of lovely sisters Brönte, we could read that curious text.I liked it because of the location and the gramatic level which they explain the risky situation: relative clause, two prepositions for the two actions you could do and a final expression: To do at your own risk.
HOLIDAYS VS HOLIDAY + PREP
Sometimes we have problems with the prepositions. There is a trick: If the word contains the word "day" or a piece of day like "Eve" it is with the preposition ON.Let's see:
- On Mon"day". On Tues"day"...
- On my birth"day".
- On holi"day".
- On Christmas's "Day". (In December 25th)
- On Boxing "Day". (In December 26th)
- On Christmas's Eve.
- On New Year's Eve.
- On Fool's "Day". (In April 1st)
- On Good Fri"day".
But AT Christmas, and AT Easter.
Holidays means a long holiday like summer holidays. In Spanish we say "dia de fiesta o festivo", in English we have to say a public holiday or a bank holiday.
TO THINK + PREP
Remember, to think verb only admits two prepositions:- I was thinking about what to eat when my son arrived with a pizza.
- I was thinking of my son because it was too late.
So, I can think about a thing or about an action, I can think about what to do with you. But if I'm in love I will be thinking of you all the day.
THE SOONER... AND BILLIONS
Its meaning is "cuanto antes mejor" but you can cut the sentence and add what you want. For example: The sooner you faced your problem, the better.
"The sooner we earn our first billion, the better."
But be carefull. In Spain a Billion is: 1.000.000.000.000 but in England or US a Billion is 1.000.000.000 . So, as you can see, it is not the same.
EXAMS, EXAMS....
What can we do with an exam?I though that we can pass or fail it. But I was wrong because:
- We can take an exam.
- We can do an exam.
- We can sit an exam.
But please, study for the exam.
JAY WALKER ON THE WORD'S ENGLISH MANIA
Amazing video and new vocabulary:
+ pandemonium: chaos, anarchy, apocalipsis.
+ to be a returning point: ser un punto sin retorno. Ojo parece lo contrario.
+ Lingua Franca: again with latin, means that a language is spoken over big piece of the world, that just everyone can talk it.
+ Don't let me down: means dejar tirado.
+ Mother tongue: The language you speak when you are a child, at home...
+ Harness: can be a noum : arnés or can be a verb with two menaning: to put an harness to a horme or to use something. The harness of electricity: the use of electricity.
+ By law: It's compulsory to do.
WHAT CAN WE DO ON THE WEB?
Be carefull:- You can search ON the internet. That means that you know what are you looking for. By the way ON the internet, ON the web.
- You can browse on the web when you don't kwon what are you looking for. To browse means: cursiosear, echar un vistazo... In a shop, to a book or on the web. Just watching.
- You can surf the web. We don't sail the web.
- We can watch a video on the web.
- We can pay by credit card over the Internet.
- We can look at a page or at pages.
LATIN OR ENGLISH?
Both. You know that some languages take words from other languages, and English did it too. I'm ending a big book about all the English History and there appears that chester means roman camp. So the places called ....chester had long time ago a roman village. Manchester, Lancaster, Chester... I'll explain more of this historical adventures widely in the entry of the book.But, what is the meaning of?
- e. g. : Everyone know that means for example but it is written in latin: In latin it means: Exempli Gratia.
- i. e. : Means "that is," but it is written in latin too and the meaning is : id est.
So, although I enjoyed latin just a bit in the High School I have to say that I agree completely with Obelix.
RENT OR HIRE
There are two different verbs with similar meaning in Spanish but not in English:- To rent: (from wordreference.com): that means that if I am the owner of a flat I can let you living there if you pay me an amount of money monthly. (alquilar) So you can rent a flat, an apartment...
- To hire: (from wordreference.com): means that you are paing to have the posibility to use a machine or a person. For example: If you go to London, you can hire a car to make some trips. If I have a farm, in harvest time I can hire a person to help me just during the harvest.
The problem is that in Spanish we use alquilar for both verbs, but I think that to hire is a shortter period of time.
FAMILY MATTERS
We can have problems when we are trying to introduce ourselves just translating from Spanish.
Here there are some new vocabulary that can hepls us:
- If I have the same name that my father's, I can say: I WAS NAMED (NAME) AFTER MY FATHER.
- And when my parents give me a name...: THEY NAMED (NAME) ME. But be carefull never: They named -to- me.
- If I have not brothers or sisters: I'M AN ONLY CHILD.
NEW LANGUAGE SCHOOL YEAR
The new school year in the Language School of Barakaldo has been started. Again, many people walk trough the corridors looking for their new classrooms. The classmates have been changed. Thanks God I met many of them before but I think I'll miss my old classroom we have good moments and good memories.
But, life is life, or life is hard, say as you prefer, and LET'S START AGAIN IMPROVING OUR ENGLISH.
B2 be carefull, here we are.
And I want to end that entry writting a joke. I think it will be the first joke of the blog:
Why pirates are pirates?
Because they arrrrrrr.
So don't walk the blank (pasarela) and make your best.
TESS OF THE D'URBERVILLES
What can I say about that marbellous novel? It is awesome. It is fantastic and I'm really in love with it.I don't really know how Thomas Hardy wrote about the Victorian country society so perfect. He describes the country facts perfectly, the harvest, the moral, the differences between being the master or just a maid.
The BBC mini serie is just a piece of heaven, a very well done master piece. And although I don't know the main character of Tess I know Eddy Redmayne from the perfect adaptation of The Earth Pillars.
I have just recently bought "The mayor of Casterbridge" book. It is Thomas's too.
I have written about Thomas Hardy Novels first. "Far from the madding crowd" wencouraged me reading more classic novels. And "Tess the D'urbervilles" was my best choice and I have discovered a big world of country side stories that Thomas Hardy described perfectly.
I have not already seem the Bertolucci's "Tess" film. I hope I will enjoy it. But I have to recognise that a big novel can't fit properly in one hour 20 minutes film. Thats the reason why BBC's mini serie lenght is of 270 minutes. And when you are watching the film is like if you were reading again the book. It suits prefectly.
Just a master piece.
PRIDE AND PREJUDICE
It is a classic novel written by Jane Austen. It is about love. It talks about the moment when a sister must find a good husband to marry with. Although sometimes appear different difficulties to get te aim as social differences, powers, prides and prejudices.Will the love win that fight? Or will the money do it?
It is supposed that love is the only ingredient to join two lovers but is that quote true?
THE SIGN OF FOUR
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's novel where Sherlock Holmes and His unseparate partner Watson have to discover the secret of the location of an old treasure.I think that the novel is not as famous as the Hound of the Baskervilles, but if you enjoy reading mistery novel you 'd enjoy it. Miss Morstan father is dissapeared, but year by year a pearl is sent to Miss Morstan. What is happening? Is it all in his head? Do you want to discover the truth of the Agra Treasure? Are you ready to do it?
Tess of the D'urbervilles
I'm in love with this novel and so with the BBC adaptation. If you can, watch the film or read the book. It's amazing. The writer is Thomas Hardy. He wrote "Far from the madding crowd" too.
Both of the novels are interesting becouse they describe Victorian life in the English countryside.
I like them.
THE SCARLET LETTER
I like black cat books. There is many information inside the book about many facts appeared on it but saddly, they have not the complete audio.I have learnt a lot about the Salem trials, about the witches, about reverenders, about religion in America, about how they settled , abou pagans, about puritans...
I would like to watch the film, but the book is quite good.
The end of the book is a sentence with the inscription of a tombstone: "ON A FIELD, SABLE, THE LETTER A, GULES."
Sable means: black
Gules means: red
I have found two explanations on the web for these words: first of it just talk about a description of a coat of arms: the coat of arms is a red letter (letter gules) appearing against a black background (sable field).
The other explanation is about an eternal punishment because it describes the judgment that still remains even after death. Awesome.
EMERGENCY MURDER
Maxine is a woman that works in a Hospital in Milwakee near the Michigan Lake. One night the wife of a famous surgeon appears and dies in her arms.Maxine was doing a rersearch for the cure of a skin disease and police discovered that the woman was killed by the drug of her research. Maxine is pointed as the killer. She must find the truth.
Great thriller, I have been hooked till the end of the book.
SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE
Ram Mohammad Thomas didn't go to the school and he has just won one billion rupees in the Tv Quiz Show "Want to be a millionaire?"I watches time ago the film and when I bought the book I decided that I would watch it again after reading the book.
Unfortunately, although it is an interesting film, the book is better. The romantic plot of the book is lost in the film.
Thomas has to explain to a lawyer how he knows the answers...
IN THE HOUSE
We are in a program. That TV program is ending. The name Big Eye. It is like Big Brother. It is only a woman and 5 men. One of the secretly in love with the woman. They have to sort some tasks out to continue having some privileges. No tricks, cameras are on all the day.Only one winner, the last person in the House. The woman in the house tells are her story.
It is an amazing book with an actual vision of a romance watched all around the world.
LIVE AND LET DIE
At first I thought that something sounded wrong in the title then I realized that James Bond was coming again.After reading Dr No book and watching nearly nobne of Bond's films I'm becoming a Ian Fleming's fan. I have bought Goldfinger book but it must wait.
Live and let die is a good adventure book with Mr Big as the evil man and The Solitaire as the woman that falls in love with James Bond.
Did you know that Solitaire has got telephatic powers?
Did you know what a barracuda fish eat?
Did you know what a limpet mine is for? And by the way, have you ever eatten limpets? I did.
All the answers in the book.
TO DO
- TO DO THE IRONING
- TO DO YOUR BEST
- TO DO SOME WORK
- TO DO THE CLEANING
- TO DO THE DRIVING
- TO DO SOME DAMAGE
- TO DO NOTHING
- TO DO ME A FAVOUR
- TO DO THE COOKING
- TO DO THE SHOPPING
- TO DO YOUR HOMEWORK
- TO DO THE WASHING
- TO DO YOGA
- THE SOUP DONE ME WELL.
- THERE IS NOTHING TO DO HERE.
- I NEVER DO THE DISHES.
- TO DO BUSINESS
- TO DO MAGIC TRICKS
- TO DO HARM
- TO DO THE ACCOUNTS
- TO DO SOME SPORTS
TO MAKE:
- TO MAKE A MISTAKE
- TO MAKE MONEY
- TO MAKE THE BED
- TO MAKE A FUSS
- TO MAKE A MESS
- TO MAKE A PHONE CALL
- TO MAKE DINNER
- TO MAKE A NOISE
- TO MAKE AN EFFORT
- TO MAKE FRIENDS
- TO MAKE AN APPOINTMENT
- TO MAKE A COFFE
- TO MAKE UP YOUR MIND
- TO MAKE A SANDWICH
- TO MAKE A SPEECH.
- TO MAKE SURE
- TO MAKE FUN OF ME
- TO MAKE THE ROOM
- TO MAKE THE MOST OF IT
- TO MAKE PEACE
- TO MAKE A DONATION
EUROVISION 2011: BLUE: I CAN
Here we have a song with a modal verb in its title. I had the possibility to add to the blog another different video but I prefered this one because the sights of London: Saint Paul Cathedral...
I don't know who the winner is going to be. Obviously, I prefer if Spain wins the competition but unfortunately I don't think it'll hapen. So, my 5 personal points are for Blue.
Here in Spain there is a well-known man who has presentated Eurovision since I was a child, so we can say that he knows all the tricks of the trade. I love watching Eurovision and checking how the points that Jose Luis Uribarri preticts to be given by a country, are given as he firstly said. Even in the same order...
This evening some people will watch eurovision 2011. I think we will rent a film. Although that I have to recognize that this year's title is quite beautiful: Feel your heat beat!
KING'S RAMSOM
Wonderful book written by Ed McBain that shows what hapens when some kidnappers take the wrong boy. Crime and mystery mixed in a properly way. But the problem got bigger when King decided not to pay the ransom.I have learnt the always wanted to say sentence: Look him up!
By the way, in the text sometimes appear "puzzled". "He look at him puzzled", "He stared at him puzzled". It is when you are more than surprised. More than astonished. You are nearly confused.
GULLIVER'S TRAVELS
Before watching the film I have read the book. How interesting it is!I didn't know that Gulliver has travelled so far. I liked the fact that Jonathan Swift included some maps about his travels around the world.
There are strange worlds in the book too. But the hole idea I have is that the author could be a person who wrote against the politicians or against the way that things were made in her time.
The last film about this book is funnier than the old one.
THE HOUND OF THE BASKERVILLES
I liked that book. Crime, mystery and Sherlock Holmes trying to spot the murderer.Under book's nasty cover, a big Arthur Conan Doyle's book.
As the idiom says, you can't judge a book by its cover.
By the ay, the murderer was...
THE CANTERBURY TALES
How different was the life in the Middle Ages!
- If you had done some bad things you can paid for your pardon. Guess who. To a pardoner, of course. That sort of men take your money and they forgive your sins.
- You could meet a Franklin. They were rich farmers with big houses, I think that they were like terratenientes.
- You could spot the difference between a friar an a priest.
The book tells us a compilation of stories. To summarize, a person has a restaurant and some people go to have meals. The owner prefers to invite them with only one condition. They have to told him a story, the best story-teller will not pay the meal.
What a strange book!
DR JEKYLL AND MR HYDE
Sometimes, we have to decide what about we know. All of us know about the extrange case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, all of us know that when Dr Jekyll discovered the drug to become in Mr Hyde he opened a door to the hell, but I have enjoyed reading the book. It is completely told by Dr Jekyll's friend. It's amazing although it describes how Mr Hyde hit a poor child or how he hit an inocent old man.
FAR FROM THE MADDING CROWD
The story of that book is similar to the story of Wuthering Heights. It is in United Kingdom's countryside too. But this one, is not so dark as Wuthering Heights is. While I was reading I was listening to the music. I usually listen boring audio-cds. They started energicly but after two chapters, tracks become longer and longer and at the end you are so bored that you decide to continue reading without the help of the cd.I like listeting to the cds because I have a very bad pronuntiation. I thought taht it was possible for me to be a foreing language afasic, but I think that this disease does niot exists. But Thomas Hardy's books audiocds were complety different. They added singing birds, you can heard sheep neck bells, or thunders in a storm...
It's a good book.
THE PRINCE OF MIST
What a lovely book! It is the best book I have ever read in English. It's very easy to understand and it's divided into 18 chapters. It is a very good mystery-fantastic story.I'll only add that if I can I will read more books of Carlos Ruiz Zafón. I enjoy it very much.
NO WAY OUT
It is a quite simple story. Alex and Adam are twins and the can speack eachothers just withour oopening the mouth, they are telepatic.When they are going to visit some realatives in the country a strange fog appeared and they were back to the past. Then their sister dissappeared, their parents are prisioners and they have to help them...
WUTHERING HEIGHTS
I read the book and after that I saw the film, in which the future James Bond Timothy Dalton plays as Heathcliff, and I still don't understand why Heathcliff is a romantic icone.
I think he is so selfish that he gets the disappearence of two completes families because an impossible love.
Maybe I have to read it again or Emily Brönte's book instead an adapted version...
But I have to recognise that Emily wrote the book in a very dark way. I have been in the town they lived, Hayworth (you can watch the photos on the web) and it is too dark too. A big cementery, dark bricks and the isolated moors. So if you add a priest man, and a trouble-maker brother, you are perfect to write the book.
TALES OF MYSTERY AND IMAGINATION
A clasic one again. Edgar Allan Poe's. But it is cool. It's a really frightening book and as I usually read and listen them at night the frightening effect is bigger. If Edgar Allan Poe had lived nowadays, he would written more terrorific books, I think so.He is quite brilliant when in the end all the story turns around and he gives you a completly non-expected end.
I enjoy reading The black cat, I think it is a fantastic one.
METEOR
I like, I love disaster movies like 2012, the day after tomorrow... and when i saw that book I Thought, I'll enjoy it. And I did but not as I have expected.In the book appears many stories about the future. Meteor is just one of them. I has a completly non-expected end.
John Wyndham gives so many details that it seems you are in the future. I enjoy the book.
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