lunes, 27 de marzo de 2017

Are you a phubber?

Stop Phubbing" is a campaign aimed to embarrass people over the rude use of mobile phones. "Phubbing" is a slang word that means ignoring others in a social setting by looking at your phone instead of paying attention.  "Tweeting" during weddings, or "instagramming" at dinner with friends are cases of phubbing. Posters have been created for use in cafes, bars and restaurants, with slogans including "Respect the food and the company you are in" or "Put your phone away and have a chat in the real world." 

The campaign creator, Alex Haigh, an Australian student, explained how the idea of the campaign was born: "A group of friends and I were chatting when someone commented how annoying being ignored by people on mobiles was. It's the people who do it all the time that we are targeting. It's a paradox. You disconnect from those around you in favour of those pretty much a.nywhere else. This often irritates your friends, unless they're phubbing too, in which case you all might as well have stayed home." 

Joseph Haddad, who owns a cafe in Brunswick, Germany, has displayed posters of the campaign to try to discourage bad manners: "It happens a lot, people come in and we ask them, 'what would you like?' and they stay on their phones. And we see a lot of people who are sitting at the table with friends, and they are on Facebook, or Twitter... don't you think they should be talking to each other instead?" Although the first "Stop Phubbing" campaign group started in Australia, at least five others have appeared as indignation about this new type of rude behaviour grows all over the world. 

RESPUESTAS

READING COMPREHENSION

CHOOSE AND WRITE THE CORRECT OPTION (A, B, C or D).

1. "Stop phubbing" is a campaign against ... 

(a) the use of posters in cafes.(b) the use of social networks. (c) chatting with friends in bars. (d) misusing mobile phones. 

2. Alex Haig... 

(a) works in a restaurant. (b) is a very famous phubber. (c) doesn't like socializing. (d) considers phubbing disrespectful. 

ARE THESE STATEMENTS TRUE OR FALSE? JUSTIFY YOUR ANSWERS WITH THE PRECISE WORDS OR PHRASES FROM THE TEXT, OR USE YOUR OWN WORDS.

3. The word 'phubbing' originated as a colloquial way of referring to crazy behaviour at weddings and other parties.
FALSE: "Phubbing" is a slang word that means ignoring others in a social setting by looking at your phone instead of paying attention.

4. The campaign was advertised in the media.
FALSE: Posters have been created for use in cafes, bars and restaurants, with slogans including "Respect the food and the company you are in" or "Put your phone away and have a chat in the real world."FALSE: Joseph Haddad, who owns a cafe in Brunswick, Germany, has displayed posters of the campaign to try to discourage bad manners

5. It is very unusual for customers not to answer when they are asked to order at the bar.
FALSE: "It happens a lot, people come in and we ask them, 'what would you like?' and they stay on their phones. (...)" 

6. Anger over impolite mobile phone use is increasing.
TRUE: Although the first "Stop Phubbing" campaign group started in Australia, at least five others have appeared as indignation about this new type of rude behaviour grows all over the world.

 

USE OF ENGLISH

7. FIND IN THE TEXT ONE WORD MEANING "to try to make people not want to do something."
discourage  (L.12)

8. GIVE ONE OPPOSITE FOR "rude" (adjective) (line 15) AS IT IS USED IN THE TEXT.
polite

9. FILL IN THE GAP WITH THE CORRECT OPTION:  with / at / for / on

"Phubbers should apologize for their behavior." 

10. GIVE AN ADJECTIVE WITH THE SAME ROOT AS "talk" (verb).
talkative 

11. FIND IN THE TEXT ONE SYNONYM FOR "irritating" (adjective).
annoying  (L.7)

12. FILL IN THE GAP WITH A CORRECT FORM OF THE VERB IN BRACKETS: 

"I wish I had paid (pay) more attention to my friends the last time I met them." 

13. REWRITE THE SENTENCE WITHOUT CHANGING ITS MEANING. BEGIN AS INDICATED. "You should talk to each other face to face."
You had better talk to each other face to face. (Consulta la explicación en COMENTARIOS)

14. GIVE A QUESTION FOR THE UNDERLINED WORDS: 

"I lost my cell phone at the cafeteria."
Where did you lose your cell phone?

15. TURN THE FOLLOWING SENTENCE INTO THE PASSIVE VOICE: 

"Waiters ask customers to stop phoning while they are ordering."
Customers are asked (by the waiters) to stop phoning while they are ordering.

16. TURN THE FOLLOWING SENTENCE INTO REPORTED SPEECH: 

"These people are not listening to their friends now," said the waiter.
The waiter said that those people were not listening to their friends then.

17. COMPLETE THE FOLLOWING CONDITIONAL SENTENCE: 

"If I left my mobile phone at home + , + subject + would/could/might + verb (...) " (Type 2)

jueves, 9 de marzo de 2017

Marking Code

This is the code you will have to use to revise your compositions by yourselves. After making the corrections you consider necessary, you cand send them to me once again, to obtain a better mark in your writing production.

martes, 18 de octubre de 2016

Rephrasing with tenses

REPHRASING EXERCISES (REVIEW).- TENSES 1. She read the book first and then she saw the film. After… 2. Steve started learning the violin a month ago. Steve´s… 3. I haven´t been to an Indian restaurant for ages. It´s ages… 4. The last time Nancy came here was in 1986. Nancy hasn´t… 5. This is my first visit to Japan. This is the first… 6. How long have Helen and Robert been married? When… 7. She has never been to the club before. It´s… 8. She has never heard such a funny story. It´s… 9. It´s the worst headache she´s ever had. She´s… 10. It´s months since I saw Jane. I haven´t… 11. When did she come back? Since… 12. I haven´t spoken to him for a week. The last… 13. How long is it since he moved here? When… 14. The last time I went to Brussels was two years ago. I haven´t… 15. I´ve never heard such a silly story. It´s… 16. When did you last go to London? When was… 17. I haven´t finished my homework yet. I´m still… 18. I have never tasted muesli before. It´s…

lunes, 9 de mayo de 2016

Relative clauses


Relative clauses from Pedro José Ortiz Villamor

Exercises for revision Unit 8


Add a relative pronoun and rearrange the words to form sentences.
      
       1. her son / the day / was born / she’ll never forget / .
                                                                                                                                                    
       2.  I used to play / has been closed / Hyde Park / .
                                                                                                                                                    
       3.  Mr Smith / is 80 years old / lives across the road / .
                                                                                                                                                    
       4.  had been delayed / the train / eventually arrived / .
                                                                                                                                                    
.      5.  the haircut / he gave me / too long / is / ?
                                                           

miércoles, 13 de abril de 2016

Why is Shakespeare so famous? Shakespeare in Love




Shakespeare's reputation as the greatest English-language writer stems from at least five dimensions of his collective work. The first of these is the sheer scope of his achievement. Over some thirty-eight plays, Shakespeare addressed virtually every aspect of human experience. His plays include comedies, tragedies, histories, romances, and problem plays: it is difficult to think of a dramatic situation, a human dilemma, or a major theme that his works do not touch upon. That being so, although he wrote for a specific audience of a particular historical era, Shakespeare's works are timeless. In fact, many of his works have been updated to our own time. Depth is a third facet of the Shakespeare canon. His works recognize the complexity of our experience and often yield contradictory interpretations of their meaning. Working in the meter of natural or conversational English, his plays were and remain accessible. Granted, Shakespeare texts do include some words and phrases that require definition. Nevertheless, with the aid of a few explanatory footnotes, they can be easily understood. Lastly, creative innovation is a hallmark of Shakespeare's writing. Although he utilized dramatic, poetic, fictional, and historical sources and models, the Bard of Avon invariably put his own stamp upon these materials. Several of his works were experimental when they were first staged.

What do we know about his life?