Vocabulary: Sports game

In this game you can practise the names of some sports in English.

SPORTS

Vocabulary: Sports

Physical activity is essential to have good health.
Many people do sports as part of their physical training.  Sports are really exciting and entertaining. 

There many different kinds of sports, so everybody can find the one that is best for him or her.

Do you like doing sports?  Which is your favourite sport? Do you know the names of sports in English? 
 
You can practise naming sports in English with the activities below:
Sports
Sports 1

Reading: Badminton

What do you know about this sport?  Have you ever seen a badminton game?  Have you ever played it?

If you don't know much about this sport, you can read about it below, and then you can answer the questions.

Idioms: MONEY

There are lots of idiomatic expressions related to the topic of money.
The matching activities below deal with some of them.

MONEY IDIOMS
MONEY IDIOMS
MONEY IDIOMS

Money makes the world go round

Money is an essential part of our lives.Some people  say that it can't buy happiness; I don't believe that, but the truth is that money makes your life easier. 
There are lots of idiomatic expressions connected with the topic of money. 
 Look at the booklet below that shows some idioms related to the topic of 'money'.

More Conditional sentences in songs

The bits of songs below contain conditional sentences from various types, including type 2 and 3.

Tip: Since songs are always full of informal language, it's very common to find contractions and not full forms (e.g.: I'm, you're, it's, it'll, I'd, etc.).  Be sure to use the contracted forms and not the full forms according to what you hear.

There is a case of contracted forms that you may need to use in conditional type 3.  This is the case of WOULD followed by HAVE.  The contractions could be WOULD'VE or, more informally, WOULDA.

Be sure you use the correct contraction to complete the lyrics.

Come back, be here – Taylor Swift And this is when the feeling sinks in, I don't wanna miss you like this, Come back... be here, come back... be here. I guess you're in New York today, I don't wanna need you this way, Come back... be here, come back... be here. The delicate beginning rush, The feeling you can know so much, Without knowing anything at all. And now that I can put this down, If I 1) (know) what I'd known now, I never 2) (play) so nonchalant.

If I fell – The Beatles If I 3) (fall) in love with you 4) (you/promise) to be true? And help me understand Cos I've been in love before And I found that love was more Than just holding hands If I 5) (give) my heart to you I must be sure From the very start That you 6) (love) me more than her If I 7) (trust) in you oh please 8) (not/run) and hide If I 9) (love) you too oh please 10) (not/hurt) my pride like her Cos I couldn't stand the pain And I 11) (be) sad if our new love 12) (be) in vain

Time after time – Cindy Lauper Sometimes you picture me - I'm walking too far ahead You're calling to me, I can't hear What you've said - Then you say - go slow - I fall behind - The second hand unwinds [Chorus:] x 2 If you 13) (be) lost you can look - and you 14) (find) me Time after time If you 15) (fall) I 16) (catch) you - I'll be waiting Time after time After my picture fades and darkness has Turned to gray Watching through windows - you're wondering If I 17) (be) OK Secrets stolen from deep inside The drum beats out of time -

If I hadn’t got you – Lisa Stansfield Whose friend 18) (I/be) If I 19) (lie) all the time If you never 20) (trust) my word The love that we make when feelings run high Is all that makes sense in the world And I can never go back, oh no For a moment of sweet solitude If I ever 21) (go) back I'd be looking for you If I hadn't got you Whose friend would I be If I 22) (not/get) you I 23) (die) in solitary If I hadn't got you God only knows what I'd do God only knows Whose friend would I be if I can't take a joke If I can't pull a smile from a tear The love that I feel whenever you 24) (be) close Makes yesterday's hurt disappear And I can never go back, oh no For a moment of sweet solitude With my head in my hands I've been waiting for you

If I were a boy – Beyoncé If I 25) (be) a boy even just for a day I 26) (roll) out of bed in the morning And throw on what I wanted and go Drink beer with the guys And chase after girls I 27) (kick) it with who I wanted And I'd never get confronted for it 'Cause they stick up for me {Chorus} If I 28) (be) a boy I think I could understand How it feels to love a girl I swear I'd be a better man I 29) (listen) to her 'Cause I know how it hurts When you lose the one you wanted 'Cause he's taking you for granted And everything you had got destroyed

If it hadn’t been for love – Adele Never 30) (hitch-hike) to Birmingham If it 31) (not/be) for love Never 32) (catch) the train to Louisiana If it hadn't been for love Never 33) (run) through the blindin' rain Without one dollar to my name If it hadn't been If it 34) (be) for love Never 35) (see) the trouble that I'm in If it hadn't been for love Woulda been gone like a wayward wind If it hadn't been for love Nobody knows it better than me I 36) (not/be) wishing I was free If it hadn't been If it hadn't been for love

Score = Correct answers:

Conditional sentences in songs

We can find lots of examples of conditional sentences in the songs we listen to.

The bits of songs below give some practice with conditional sentences type 0 and 1.

Rain – The Beatles

If the rain 1) (come)

they run and 2) (hide) their heads

They might as well be dead
If the rain comes, if the rain comes

When the sun 3) (shine)

they 4) (slip) into the shade

(When the sun shines down)
And 5) (drink) their lemonade

(When the sun shines down)
When the sun shines, when the sun shines

Rain, I don't mind
Shine, the weather's fine

I can show you that when it 6) (start) to rain

When the rain comes down)
Everything 7) (be) the same

(When the rain 8) (come) down)
I can show you, I can show you

Rain, I don't mind
Shine, the weather's fine

If you love someone – The Veronicas

If you love someone
If you love someone

9) (wake) up in the morning, take a breath and let it out

Just 10) (forget) tomorrow's ever gonna come around

Everybody's medicating, taking time and waiting for the right time
In the short life, but it's your life

We can run around in circles we make or we could run straight ahead
Never ever let the moment pass by when all that matters in the end

If you love someone,
then 11) (tell) them right now
'Cause your heart won't rest 'till you let it out
Let the words you dream come out of your mouth
If you 12) (love) someone you gotta make a sound
If you love someone you gotta make a sound
If you love someone

If I lose myself tonight – One Republic

I stared up at the sun,
Thought of all of the people, places and things I’ve loved.
I stared up just to see
With all of the faces, you were the one next to me.

You can feel the light start to tremble,
Washing what you know out to sea.
You can see your life out of the window tonight.

If I 13) (lose) myself tonight,

14) (it/be) by your side.
I lose myself tonight...
(oh) yeah, yeah, yeah.

If I 15) (lose) myself tonight,
16) (it / be) you and I.
Lose myself tonight...

If you don’t know me by now – Simply Red

If you 17) (not / know) me by now

You 18) (never never never / know) me

All the things
That we've been through
You should understand me
Like I understand you
Now girl I know the difference
Between right and wrong
I ain't gonna do nothing
To break up our happy home
19) (not / get) so excited

When I 20) (come) home

A little late at night
Cos we only 21) (act) like children

When we 22) (argue) fuss and fight

If you 23) (not/know) me by now
You will never never never know me

Score =
Correct answers:

"If you change ..." - Conditional Sentences

In this quotation by the great writer Isabel Allende, you can think about how we are telling our own stories, how we are living our own lives, how we are creating a life in technicolour.
I love this quotation because it helps me think about the important things I have in life, things that make my life a life in technicolour.  It also makes me put aside those feelings or situations that make my life darker.
How important it is to bring light and colour to our routines.

But in this quotation, we can also see an example of a grammar feature in English: Conditional.

In CONDITIONAL sentences there are always two parts, one part is the condition and the other part of the sentence is the consequence.
The condition is expressed using, in general, the word IF.

Some examples:
If you turn off the lights at night, you don't see anything.
If you read this information carefully, you will understand how to use Conditionals.
If I had less work, I would enjoy more time with my family.
If they had known the museum was closed, they wouldn't have gone there.

Passive Voice practice

Let's practise Passive Voice with the following exercise that contains some news about Argentina.

1. The ruling camp say the story (fabricate) by the opposition. (Present Perfect)

2. He (...) claimed Fernández (know) under the code name “the Walrus” because of his abundant mustache. (Simple Past)

3. Scioli (consider) a relatively moderate figure inside the Peronist movement. (Simple Present)

4. News of the whale quickly spread on social media and (broadcast) live by local stations. (Simple Past)

5. Many Argentines, who (know) for their quick wit and humor, were ready with jokes. (Simple Present)

6. An intense bright white light (spot) fly through the skies of Argentine capital of Buenos Aires on Thursday night. (Simple Past)

7. Boitano (...)says she has been told by Francis himself that the archive (open) to anyone who sought access to it. (Present Conditional)

8. The Pope has frequently praised the fortitude and faith of Paraguay’s women, saying they (award) the Nobel Peace Prize for what they did for their country. (Should)

9. Nearly half of the country (leave) in poverty. (Simple Past)

10. The Fifa’s Club World Cup (play) in December. (Simple Future)

Score =
Correct answers:

News taken from The Guardian

Reading and Passive voice

Juan Manuel Fangio's body (was) exhumed in effort to settle paternity cases.

Have you ever heard of Juan Manuel Fangio?
He was an Argentinian racing pilot who won five titles in the 1950s.

The headline of this article from The Guardian shows an example of the use of the Passive Voice in English.


As we can see we need two verbs to form the passive voice: BE + verb (past participle).

The verb that is conjugated is the verb TO BE.

Examples:

• Fangio was awarded several prizes.
• Fangio is known for his motor racing victories.
• Fangio's paternity may be settled after his body's exhumation.
• Two men want to be recognised as Fangio's children.

Read the article and see more examples of the use of Passive Voice.

Using the Passive Voice implies focusing on the action rather than on the one performing the action.

We can choose to use the Passive Voice when:

• we don't know who performs the action.
• we think that who performs the action is irrelevant.
• we prefer not to mention who performs the action.

IT-clauses

Cleft sentences result from changing the normal sentence pattern to emphasise a particular piece of information.  We use cleft sentences to:

• connect what is already understood to what is new to the listener, or
• to focus on a particular part of the sentence and to emphasise what we want to say

In a cleft sentence, a single message is divided (cleft) into two clauses.  Because there are two clauses (parts) to the sentence it is called CLEFT (from the verb CLEAVE) which means divided into two.

It-clauses are the most common type of cleft clause. The information that comes after it is emphasised for the listener. The emphasis in the resulting cleft sentence is on the phrase after it + be.

The clause which follows the it-clause is connected using that and it contains information that is already understood. We often omit that in informal situations when it is the object of the verb.

In the clauses that follow it + be + phrase, we can also use the same relative pronouns (who, whom, whose, which, that) and relative adverbs (where, when, why) that we normally use in defining relative clauses. 

Examples:

It is my sweater that Lily wore yesterday.             →         (Focus on sweater)

Lily wore my sweater (not my skirt) yesterday.

It is yesterday when Lily wore my sweater.         →         (Focus on yesterday)

Lily wore my sweater yesterday (not today).

It is Lily who/that wore my sweater yesterday.   →         (Focus on Lily)

Lily (not me) wore my sweater yesterday.

If we use a personal pronoun after it + be, it will be in the object form.

It is her who/that wore my sweater yesterday.

Leonardo Da Vinci painted ‘The Last Supper’ between 1495-1497. (neutral sentence)

It was Leonardo Da Vinci who/that painted ‘The Last Supper’ between 1495-1497.

It was ‘The Last Supper’ that Leonardo Da Vinci painted between 1495-1497.

It was between 1495-1497 when Leonardo Da Vinci painted ‘The Last Supper’.

Einstein discovered the theory of relativity in Germany in1905. (neutral sentence)

It was Einstein who/that discovered the Relativity Theory in Germany in 1905.

It was the Relativity Theory that Einstein discovered in Germany in 1905.

It was in Germany where Einstein discovered the Relativity Theory in 1905.

It was in 1905 when Einstein discovered the Relativity Theory in Germany.

Sources:

http://dictionary.cambridge.org/grammar/british-grammar/cleft-sentences-it-was-in-june-we-got-married 

http://www.grammaring.com/cleft-sentences

http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/grammar/learnit/learnitv149.shtml