TOEIC Class: May 2009

Thursday, May 28, 2009

Wednesday, May 27, 2009

One more

Choose which verb. Causative? To? that?

http://www.quia.com/quiz/288695.html?AP_rand=1738602401

REad this please:

http://www.usingenglish.com/forum/ask-teacher/22581-causative-verbs-make-have-get-let-etc.html

http://www.eslgold.com/grammar/causative_verbs.htmlCausative Verbs
Causative verbs designate the action necessary to cause another action to happen. In "The devil made me do it." the verb "made" causes the "do" to happen. Here is a brief list of causative verbs, in no particular order: let, help, allow, have, require, allow, motivate, get, make, convince, hire, assist, encourage, permit, employ, force. Most of them are followed by an object (noun or pronoun) followed by an infinitive: "She allows her pet cockatiel to perch on the windowsill. She hired a carpenter to build a new birdcage."

Three causative verbs are exceptions to the pattern described above. Instead of being followed by a noun/pronoun and an infinitive, the causative verbs have, make and let are followed by a noun/pronoun and the base form of the verb (which is actually an infinitive with the "to" left off).

Professor Villa had her students read four short novels in one week.
She also made them read five plays in one week.
However, she let them skip the final exam.

Try:

http://www.eslgold.com/grammar/causative_verbs.html
http://www.learnenglishfeelgood.com/lefg1_causative2.html

Causative verbs

Tuesday, May 26, 2009

FOLLOW

What is following a blog?

Read this:
http://help.blogger.com/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=104226

So, after you "follow" you need to read this:

http://help.blogger.com/bin/answer.py?answer=99761

OKAY, so next you need to create a blog!!! Yay!

After you have created a blog, you can go to your dashboard and you add the blog by scrolling down to the reading list.

So,:

1. Create a blog.
2. Go to http://preintduan.blogspot.com/
3. Click FOLLOW and use your blog login.
4. Go to your blog.
5. Click DASHBOARD.
6. Scroll down to Reading list.

That's it!

Homework 26 May, 09.

Please click FOLLOW on the right -> then login and you should see your picture on the right of the blog.

Thursday:

We will be focusing on the TOEIC grammar focus for this week, so we will go on the blog 2:30-3:30 Thursday. Each student must write a "COMMENT"/question about the blog for that day.

Thanks!

Duan.

Friday, May 22, 2009

Moreover

Moreover...

Hi!

Read this - it talks about common words new students try to use that locals usually don't:

eg: Moreover, almost/most (misuse), hobby, so so, maybe no.

Interesting.

Some notes:

Don't say: Maybe no. Almost students. so so.
--> Instead, try: No. Most students. Not too bad

You will only hear this at interviews or elementary school really: hobby.
Only in academic writing and TOEIC: moreover

Cheers,
Duan.

Wednesday, May 20, 2009

Last class

Hi TEOIC!

Wow - we have covered lots of grammar on this blog - I hope you've been keeping up!

Today, try studying ing/ed here:

1. Here
2. Here
3. Here
4. Here
5. Read this about passive tenses...
6. Participles
7.Finally, here

OK - great!

Furthermore (for Roger! haha) - did you all study subordinating conjunctions yet??), here are some documents with links that I created to answer some questions at PGIC previously:

OPEN WORD FIRST!These are in folders...
Conjunctions:
S:\STUDENT'S WORK FOR TEACHERS\Duan\NOT HERE\Conjunctions_TOEIC.doc
Comparatives:
S:\STUDENT'S WORK FOR TEACHERS\Duan\NOT HERE\TOEIC compare.doc
Past perfect continunous:
S:\STUDENT'S WORK FOR TEACHERS\Duan\NOT HERE\past_perfect_cont.doc
S:\STUDENT'S WORK FOR TEACHERS\Duan\NOT HERE\past_cont_perfect.doc
TOEIC test practice:
S:\STUDENT'S WORK FOR TEACHERS\Duan\NOT HERE\TOEICextra.doc
Revision:
S:\STUDENT'S WORK FOR TEACHERS\Duan\NOT HERE\toeic_revision_updated_terry.doc

OK, great!

Don't forget to COMMENT to ask any questions.
Also, FOLLOW this blog for updates forever! Yay!

Thursday, May 14, 2009

Questions in class

Good luck in tomorrow's TOEIC test!

Some questions answered from today's class...

Moreover/Furthermore/Therefore/So:

Read this and this.

Here are some common subordinating conjunctions.
Here is a quiz.

Connectors quiz.

More practice.

Lots more examples.

OKAY. What else?

Passive and active voice.

What is that?

What is an example?

Quiz.

One more.

Can you show me on YouTube?

Continued.

More on conjunctions here and here.

Finally, what about sentence structure? eg subject-verb-object, etc.

Read this, then:

Practice subject-verb agreement here.

Oh, yes - the other problem was with gerunds and infintives.

Read this and this, too.

Gerund or Infinitive with/without to

Quiz1.

Quiz2.

Quiz3.

What is a bare infinitive?

Example.

Cool - good night and good luck!

Duan.

Tuesday, May 12, 2009

Perfect!

Hi class! Firstly - whoops! The address is not TOEIC, it's:

http://preintduan.blogspot.com/

Please check it regularly. The best way is to click "FOLLOW" to get updates.

If anything is way too easy, stop it and try another link instead :)

Okay, so on Tuesday, I found there was some confusion about:

before/after
present/past tense
bare infinitive

Also, the grammar focus for this week is relative clauses:
who/which/that

eg. He is the teacher who helped me.
That is the book that I read.
You are the one I trust.

To practice perfect tenses:
1. Read this and present and this for past. These are very useful pages. Click around. Have fun!
2. Practice here
3. and here

To practice before and after, click:
1. Here
2. and here.

To practice relative clauses:
1. Read this, this and this.
2. Practice here.
3. A little more advanced.

For additional work, try here, here, here and here.
Any questions? Click "message".

Finally, test your understanding of tenses here.

Good luck!

Duan.

Oh, here are some explanations:

Present perfect

Past perfect.

Relative clauses

For homework, why not practice the TOEIC test in my previous post here:
Reading
Listening
Answers.

C ya!
Duan.

Thursday, May 7, 2009

More slowly VS slower

Today, I was asked what is the difference between:

more slowly | slower

-> adverb | adjective

i.e. You can't use the adjective "slower" as an adverb.

For a full discussion on this point, read here.

Therefore, we must say: "Speak more slowly".

We shouldn't say "Speak slower", because Speak is a verb here, not a noun.

So, before using "slower", think: is it referring to a noun or a verb?

eg.
Speak more slowly. <--- verb/adverb!!!!
You speech should be slower. <--- noun/adjective!!!!

So, if it's an adverb (ie usually -ly), we don't change it to -ier. We use "more -ly" :)

Got it?

I might also mention an online TOEIC preparation site here for about $20/week. (They have offered discounts if you mention this blog.)

Wednesday, May 6, 2009

Comparatives and Superlatives

Hi TOEIC class! Let's hope the computers work this time.

GRAMMAR THIS WEEK: Comparatives and Superlatives!

So let's practice:

First, check out this song for the differences. Why not?

1. Comparative & Superlative
2. Comparative & Superlative 3

Pick and choose the right ones for you: