Vocabulary:

let down=Disappoint: decepcionar

let yourself go = Relax
widespread = generalizado,
Bring up: criar, mencionar.
Made up: Compuesto, reconciliarse
Clues: pistas
Look after: cuidar
Gloomy: Sombrío
Cut back: reducer
Rather: bastante (as an intensifier) elecciones negativas
Put off: aplazar
get away: salir con la suya
ceiling: Techo
Work out: trabajar algo (que sea trabajable o llevadero)
in terms of: En cuanto a
impressive: Impresionante
fairly: Bastante
somewhat: Bastante (de manera moderada)
other stuff: Otras cosas (cosas relacionadas al personal)
Surround: rodear
run out of: quedarse sin …(aunsencia de algo)
blends: combinaciones
Claim: Afirmar
I got my surgery: Me operaron
Building on the above: Partiendo de lo anterior
Mad at: Molesto con
Phrasal verbs (Verbos frasales)
Phrasal verbs (so called because they are a "small phrase" of 2 or 3 words) are
verbal structures composed by two particles: verb + adverb or preposition,
which speak of a specific action or state, and often their meanings are different
from those of their parts separately. Thanks to this, from the same verb, for
example, "let", very different phrasal verbs can be created: let in (to permit
someone or something to get inside somewhere), let down (to disappoint), let
go (to permit someone or something to leave), let yourself go (to relax). Their
use among native English speakers is widespread, therefore they are an
essential subject for students of the language. We will initially review some
verbs and their meanings. Listen and repeat:

Bring up / Mencionar un tema / Educar o criar a una persona

Example

I want to bring up my children in a safe and healthy environment.

Quiero criar a mis hijos en un ambiente seguro y saludable.

Debate participants brought up new topics to be discussed.

Los participantes del debate mencionaron nuevos temas.

Or Look up = to admire
For the transitive phrasal verb which has sub-pronoun (it, them, him, her, you)
it’s necessary put the object between the verb and preposition or adverb.

Phrasal verb / Verbo frasal Meaning / Significado

Decepcionar (a alguien)
Let (somebody) down

Recoger (a alguien o algo)

Pick (somebody or something) up
 Phrasal verb / Verbo frasal Meaning / Significado

Devolverle la llamada (a alguien)

Call (somebody) back

Llevar (a alguien) de vuelta

Tomar (algo) de vuelta
Take (somebody or something) back

Llenar (algo)
Fill (something) out

Intensifiers are adverbs or adverbial phrases that strengthen the meaning

of other expressions (especially, adjectives) and help us show emphasis. Let’s
see some of them, listen and repeat:
Contrasting opinions
I see, but that’s different
Yes, I agree with you but...

Organizing the ideas of an

argument with mind maps
Collocations
Collocations in English serve to understand the cultural context of English-
speaking countries, sometimes they are related to using similar words and/or
synonyms to say something. The foregoing does not imply that the listener
does not understand, maybe it just sounds funny. Here we have a couple of
examples:
Take a trip = Hacer un viaje.
Sit a test = Hacer un examen.
Do your hair = Arreglar tu cabello.
Make sense = Tener sentido
Make money = Ganar dinero

A collocation is two or more words that often go together. These combinations

just sound "right" to native English speakers, who use them all the time. Look
at these examples:
Oh, I had fun with my nephew, we played before going to work

Reporting in a correct way

Looking back at grammar

tenses
The classification of verbs depends on the kinds of objects and predicates they
have. Thus, intransitive ones have no objects, transitive don’t always need a
direct object, and ditransitive have direct and indirect objects.

Verb categories: transitive, intransitive, and ditransitive:

Transitive, intransitive, and ditransitive refer to how a verb can work with
direct and indirect objects. To know what the direct object is, you need to see
who does the action; for example, in the following sentence: “John bought his
son a present”. John is the subject, the indirect object is his son, and the direct
object is a present.

Stative verbs describe a subject’s state or feeling, including things they like
and don’t like. Some verbs would be: want, need, prefer, love, hate, like,
dislike, seem, understand, know, believe, involve, realize.

Stative verbs cannot be used in continuous tenses because they imply a

feeling, a perception, a matter of likes and/or dislikes.

For example:

She wants to study more.

Note: I can’t say: She is wanting to study more, even if she has that feeling
now

Transitive verbs
Verbs that use a direct object, but not an indirect object, are
called transitive. They don’t always need a direct object. The examples are:

I clean that, we liked it, I hate this, I learnt that, we did not say it.
Intransitive verbs
Verbs that do not use either a direct or indirect object are
called intransitive. They are ok just by themselves. Example:
On Sundays I go there, I walk on weekdays, I talk loudly, I sit on the
couch, I sleep 8 hours, I work until 12.
Ditransitive verbs
Verbs that use both direct and indirect objects are called ditransitive. They do
not always need an indirect object, but they have the option.

Examples:

I throw you the ball, I make you listen to the song, I buy my son a toy.

Perfect tenses

Simple present perfect / Presente

perfecto simple
The present perfect tense is a compound verb tense and is used to talk about
something that happened in the past and is relevant in the present, because it
happened recently or because it is an action that has not yet finished. It is also
used to indicate a repeated action in a non-specific period of time located
between the past and the present, or when an action is mentioned for which
the precise moment in which it happened is not important. It is quite useful
when you want to tell an anecdote that has happened to you, or describe the
trips made, as well as to express experiences or memories.

Subordinating conjunctions of time

Subordinating conjunctions join phrases that are not of the same grammatical
or syntactic category. These conjunctions are used to join a main clause with
a subordinate clause, since the one that comes later does not make sense on
its own.

They can be of different types: time, opposition,

cause and effect or condition.
Time: after, before, when, while.
🔁 Causa / Efecto (Cause / Effect)
Estas conjunciones explican la razón o resultado de algo.
 Because – porque
 So – así que / por lo tanto
 Now that – ahora que
 In order that/ so that – para que
 As if – como si
 Whether – si (en el sentido de “si... o no”)
⚠️Condición (Condition)
Indican una condición que debe cumplirse para que ocurra algo.
 Unless – a menos que
 If – si
 While – mientras (en el sentido de "siempre que")
 So long as – siempre que / con tal de que
 Provided that – siempre que / con tal de que
 That – que (usado en ciertas estructuras condicionales)
⚖️Contraste (Contrast)
Estas conjunciones muestran contraste u oposición entre ideas.
 Although – aunque
 Though – aunque / si bien
 Even – incluso
 Whereas – mientras que
 Even if – incluso si
  Whenever – siempre que / cada vez que (también puede usarse como
tiempo)

Relative clauses

Which:
Contrary to who, this pronoun only works for things and animals. It can also be
the subject or the object of the sentence.

Example:

The book which I read last week is very interesting.

That:
This is a pronoun that can be applied both to refer to people and things.
Therefore, you can use it to replace both who and which if the context allows it.

Example:

The woman that works in the supermarket is very efficient.

Whose:
It refers to possession, it means something belongs to someone.

Example:

Yesterday, I met the girl whose sister is a teacher.

Whom:
The pronoun whom replaces people when they are not the subject of the
sentence but are the ones who receive it.

Example:

To whom it may concern.

El pronombre whom sustituye a personas cuando no son sujeto de la oración
sino que son las que la reciben. Es decir:

Ejemplo:

A quien corresponda.

Nominal and adverbia

Nominal clauses can look very similar to relative clauses, but they are different
and can be easy to identify. We must remember that a nominal clause is the
noun of the sentence, while a relative clause will depend on the noun of
the sentence. The grammatical structure of each of them is presented below.

Reading techniques: skimming

and scanning
Skimming and scanning are reading techniques that allow the reader to go
through a text for different purposes. Skimming is reading rapidly to get a
general overview of the material. Scanning is reading rapidly to find specific
facts. While skimming tells us what general information is within a section,
scanning helps us to locate a fact.
Pronunciation of unstressed
vowels and vowel reduction
Unstressed vowels are vowel sounds that are hard to hear when a word is said
and the reason is because they are not stressed. For instance, when the word
“dictionary” is said, the pronunciation is ‘dictionree’. The ’a’ is an unstressed
vowel.

There is an exercise to gather the idea: copy out the word list below in a piece
of paper and underline the unstressed vowel in each Word

Browse through a dictionary of English which shows the pronunciation of the

words. Find 10 words that present a vowel reduction for which you might have
mistakenly expected that they would be pronounced with a full vowel. Indicate
which vowels are reduced. Then, read those words aloud to a partner and make
sure that you reduce the appropriate vowels.
In your daily life, pay attention to the pronunciation of the words you hear and
write down ten words that have a vowel reduction. Indicate which vowels are
reduced. If you do not live in an environment where you can interact with
English speakers, you can always listen to something in English on TV, on the
radio, or on the Internet