Hello again! I hope you’ve had a good week and that your Friday is going well.

Even new English learners may have to speak English on the phone at some time or another.Incluso quienes estén comenzando a aprender inglés tendrán que hablar por teléfono en un momento dado. Normally speaking over the phone in English is difficult because we can’t see the other person’s face or see their mouth move and so we may have trouble understanding them. However, when making and receiving phone calls, we normally follow some sort of structure. Hablar por teléfono en inglés suele ser difícil porque no vemos la cara y la boca de la otra persona, así que nos puede costar entenderle. Sin embargo, las llamadas telefónicas suelen seguir una estructura. Let’s have a look at a few ways of speaking on the phone. Firstly, let’s look at a common phone conversation between Tom (T) and Mrs Smith (MS): T: Hello, can I speak to Max please?Hola, ¿puedo hablar con Max, por favor? MS: Sure. May I ask who’s calling?Claro. ¿De parte de quién? T: My name is Tom. Is that Mrs Smith?Me llamo Tom. ¿Es usted la señora Smith? MS: Yes, it is Tom. Just hang on a second. I’ll check if he’s here.Sí, soy yo, Tom. Un segundo, veré si está. (A few seconds later) I’m afraid he’s not home. Can I take a message?(Unos segundos más tarde). Lo siento, no está en casa. ¿Quieres dejar un mensaje? T: It’s OK, thank you, I’ll call back later. Thanks so much, Mrs Smith.No hace falta, gracias. Llamaré más tarde. Muchas gracias, señora Smith. MS: Not at all. Have a nice day.De nada. ¡Que tengas un buen día! T: You too.Igualmente. MS: Goodbye!¡Adiós! T: Goodbye, Mrs Smith!¡Adiós, señora Smith! We may also use many variations in our conversation and the list below will help you structure your sentences in a better way. Podemos usar muchas variaciones de esta conversación y la lista de abajo te ayudará a estructurar las frases mejor. Answering the phone: - Hello! - Good morning/afternoon/evening Asking for a person: - May / Can I speak to (name)? - Is (name) there? Asking to take a message: - Can I take a message? - Would you like to leave a message? Asking who is calling: - Who’s calling please? - May I ask who’s calling? Introducing yourself: - This is (name) - (Name) speaking Asking a person to wait: - Hold on - Hang on, I’ll call (name) - Just a second Until next week! Have a nice weekend.

ABA

Hello there! I hope you’re well and enjoying your Friday!

Today we’re going to look at the contracted forms of the verb “to be” in the present simple. Remember that contractions are very common in informal writing and speech in English.Hoy vamos a estudiar las formas contraídas del verbo “to be” en el presente simple. Recuerda que las contracciones son muy comunes cuando se escribe o se habla de manera informal en inglés. Before we continue, here’s a reminder of the verb “to be” in the present simple: I am You are He / She / It is We are You (plural) are They are To make a contraction with a subject pronoun and the verb “to be”, join the two words and replace the first letter of the conjugated verb “to be” with an apostrophe. Para hacer una contracción con un pronombre de sujeto y el verbo “to be”, une las dos palabras y reemplaza la primera letra de la forma conjugada del verbo “to be” con un apóstrofo: I am I'm You are You're He / She / It is He's / She's / It's We are We're You (plural) are You're They are They're Have a look at the following dialogue between Richard (R) and Sandra (S) to see contractions in everyday speech: S: Hey, Rich! I heard you’re going to Brazil this week!¡Hola, Rich! ¡Me han dicho que te vas a Brasil esta semana! R: Yes, I’m leaving on Thursday morning. Sí, me marcho el jueves por la mañana. S: You’re so lucky. I’m just staying here the whole summer.Qué suerte tienes. Yo me quedo por aquí todo el verano. R: That’s unfortunate. Did you hear that John’s coming with me to Brazil?He’s buying his ticket tonight. We’re both really excited. ¡Qué mala suerte! ¿Sabías que John me acompaña a Brasil? Se compra el billete esta noche. Los dos estamos muy emocionados! S: Have a great time! ¡Pasadlo muy bien! To make a negative sentence, just add “not” after the contraction. For example, - I’m not happy because it’s raining.No estoy contento porque está lloviendo. - She’s not coming to the party.Ella no viene a la fiesta. - They’re not tired today.No están cansados hoy. - We’re not going to the party because we haven’t been invited.No vamos a la fiesta porque no nos han invitado. It is also possible to say “you aren’t” instead of “you’re not”, “he / she / it isn’t” instead of “he / she / it’s not”, “we aren’t” instead of “we’re not” and “they aren’t” instead of “they’re not”. For example, - She isn’t coming to the party. - They aren’t tired today. - We aren’t going to the party because we weren’t invited. Have an awesome weekend! Take care,

ABA

Hello again! I hope you are well today.

For today’s fun language tip we are going to look at the prepositions of place at, in and on. We can use at, in and on when we talk about the location of things. What do these three prepositions tell us about the location? In general, we use: • At for a POINT (un punto específico) • In for an ENCLOSED SPACE (un espacio cerrado) • On for a SURFACE (una superficie) Look at some examples: Mike is at the bus stop waiting for a bus.Mike está en la parada esperando un autobús. James doesn’t like to be locked in his office all day; he likes to be outside.A James no le gusta estar encerrado en la oficina todo el día; le gusta estar al aire libre. When I got home, I saw a cat sitting on my car!¡Cuando llegué a casa vi un gato tumbado sobre mi coche! Let’s take a look at a list of some words which often follow these prepositions of place: AT home - work - school - university - college - a station - an airport - the seaside IN the newspaper - bed - hospital - prison - the street - the sky - a photograph - a picture/photo - the mirror - the corner (of a room). ON the left - the right - the ground floor - the first, second, etc, floor - on a chair (sit) - on the radio - on television/TV - on a horse - on the corner (of a street). An important rule to remember is, that we use on for most means of transport: Una regla importante es que usamos “on” con la mayoría de los medios de transporte: I am on the bus/my bike/my motorbike/my skateboard/a plane/the train at the moment. However, we do not use on for cars and taxis; we use the preposition in:Sin embargo, no usamos “on” con los coches y taxis; usamos la preposición “in”. I am in my car/a taxi at the moment. I hope this has been helpful for you! Remember that for more information on this topic, you can take a look at unit 21 of the ABA online course. Have a great weekend. Take care,

Lower Intermediate - Unit 25  0% Continue studying

ABA

Good afternoon! I hope you are well.

I am sure that you have heard of the verb "to like" before in English! It’s one of our favourite verbs. We use it all the time to talk about things that we enjoy doing. ¡Seguro que te suena el verbo "to like" en inglés! Es uno de nuestros verbos preferidos. Lo usamos con mucha frecuencia para hablar de actividades de las cuales disfrutamos. If we don’t like doing something, we don’t enjoy doing it! Let’s have a look at some examples of how to use "to like" in the present simple in the affirmative and negative forms. Bob likes playing cards with his friends on Saturday mornings. A Bob le gusta jugar a las cartas con los amigos los sábados por la mañana. I like going shopping with my friends every weekend. Me gusta ir de compras con mis amigas todos los fines de semana. Mike doesn’t like going to the gym. He prefers going running. A Mike no le gusta ir al gimnasio. Prefiere ir a correr. Sara likes studying in the library because it’s much more peaceful there. A Sara le gusta estudiar en la biblioteca porque allí se está mucho más tranquilo. In general, children don’t like doing their homework. En general, a los niños no les gusta hacer los deberes. The verb "to like" is often followed by a gerund, the "-ing" form of the verb. However, it is also possible to put an infinitive after the verb "to like". It is possible to say, for example, El verbo "to like" muchas veces va seguido de un gerundio, la forma "-ing" del verbo. Sin embargo, también puede ir seguido de un infinitivo. Se puede decir, por ejemplo, Bob likes to play cards with his friends on Saturday mornings. Some other verbs which indicate preference are… to love to prefer to hate Look at some examples: James loves watching films on TV whereas his sister prefers going to the cinema. James hates spending so much money just to see a film. James loves to watch films on TV whereas his sister prefers to go to the cinema. James hates to spend so much money just to see a film. A James le encanta ver películas en la tele mientras que su hermana prefiere ir al cine. James odia gastar tanto dinero solo para ver una película. I hope this has been helpful! I hope that you have a great weekend! Kind regards,