phone english blogC2 – Proficient
Can science fiction actually help predict the future? Watch the video to find out.
Discussion Questions:
1. Science fiction writer Arthur C. Clarke once said that any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic. What does that mean?
2. Do you think science fiction can help predict the future?
3. What technological advancements from science fiction do you think are very realistic and possible to exist in the future?
B2 – Upper Intermediate
Times are hard these days. Something most people think that can help make things so much better is getting very fortunate one day and winning the lottery.
The million dollar question is, “Will winning the lottery make you happier?”.
Watch the video to find out.
Discussion Questions:
B2 – Upper Intermediate
Do you ever wonder why brands pay a great deal of money on advertisements? A well-thought of ad can make consumers buy your products or avail of your services. Hence, advertising firms ensure their ads catch their market’s attention, to some extent, even if it means misleading them.
Read the article below and get ready to talk about false advertising.
Have you ever felt cheated or swindled by advertising? Perhaps you bought a product or used a service, yet neither was like the initial claims advertised? Perhaps a product or service didn’t even come remotely close to meeting your expectations? Perhaps a product or service completely failed to deliver on its promises? If you answered “yes” to any of the above questions, then you may have been the victim of false or misleading advertising.
Misleading advertisements have enormous psychological potential. The right ad can influence consumers into commercial purchases that they might otherwise avoid. Hence governments enact and enforce laws in an attempt to limit such deception. Unfortunately, in many cases, false advertising falls into a grey zone, with the information or practice somewhat misleading yet not outright illegal. For example, some discount stores run perpetual sales. In other words, the sale, which by definition is a short-term event, becomes more or less permanent. Psychological pricing is another example, such as a product priced at $100.00 and another at $99.99. Although the difference in cost is marginal, the former appears significantly more expensive.
Another problem comes with the terms used, especially when they cannot be defined or measured. Some words sound great, but in fact carry little tangible meaning. For example, what precisely does “premium” mean? Or how about “deluxe” or “light?” Therefore, is “deluxe ice cream” better, worse, or the same as “premium ice cream?” Does a “light pasta dinner” carry more, less, or the same amount of calories as a “diet pasta dinner?” Because the terms aren’t clear, consumers have no real way of measuring quality or quantity.
Then there are product testimonials. Although the reviews look as though they come from ordinary people, the testimonies have in fact been bought. In many cases, the people have never even used the product or service. Average consumers have no way to know if the product really deserves the positive comments of the testimonies.
However, there are actions which fall outside the grey zone. In almost all cases, in almost all countries that regulate advertising, these have been deemed illegal. One such problem is bait and switch, which also falls under fraud. A company advertises a product or service at a very, very low price, even an unprofitable price, which of course lures in customers. However, the product is no longer available, or is pushed aside as inferior in favor of another, more expensive product. A hard sale often persuades the customer to make the more expensive purchase.
Advertising has a hard enough task of causing customers to take action, namely to make a purchase. Unfortunately, some practices overstep the line, raising questions as to their truthfulness.
Source: headsupenglish.com
Discussion Questions:
1. Have you ever fallen for a misleading advert?
2. Talk about an advertising campaign that caught your attention recently.
3. What are your thoughts on celebrity endorsements?
4. What factors do you consider when buying a product?
5. What would make an ad more appealing?
B2 – Upper Intermediate
Artificial Intelligence or AI is everywhere. As a matter of fact, we use and deal with them every day. It may seem like science fiction is starting to become reality due to these machines’ ability to assimilate our behavior. However, machines can only perform human-like tasks so much. Currently, there are still some things that are difficult to get these machines to do.
Let’s listen to Neil and Tim talk about what machine thinking and the limitations artificial intelligence has at the moment.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/learningenglish/english/features/6-minute-english/ep-170928
Discussion Questions:
B2 – Upper Intermediate
Undeniably, air pollution has been a problem in every country around the world. No wonder a lot of car companies are heading for electric and hybrid cars in the future. Just recently, the UK has announced its plans to fight air pollution by banning petrol and diesel cars starting 2040.
Is it a good idea or will it be a little too late by then? Let’s read the article below and let us know your opinion about the subject.
1. What do you think about Britain’s plan to ban the sale of new petrol and diesel cars from 2040?
2. Would you support such a ban in your country? Why? Why not?
3. How long do you think it will be before all cars on the road are electric? Why?
4. Do you believe that electric cars will be cheaper to maintain than ICE cars by 2025-2029? Why? Why not?
5. What do you think governments should do to encourage people to buy electric cars?
6. Why do you think some people are still skeptical about electric cars?
The past perfect tense tells us that an action was finished at some point in the past before something else happened.
Form:
subject + had + past participle = past perfect tense
Examples:
Usage:
There are many situations where the past perfect tense can be used, such as the following:
Example: Anthony had met Ryan before you introduced him to us at the party.
Example: They had gotten engaged before last year.
Remember that past perfect tense makes it clear that one thing happened before another in the past and that the order of events doesn’t matter because the tense already makes it clear which event happened first.
We use Wish and ‘If only’ when we talk about regrets – these are the things that we would like to change about the past or the present.
Usage:
There are three types of I wish / if only sentences:
Examples:
In expressing a wish:
In expressing regret:
In expressing a complain:
We use the passive voice to show whether the subject of the sentence performs or just receives the action. If the subject does the action, it is in the active voice. On the other hand, when the subject isn’t the one performing the action and only receiving it, then the verb is in the passive voice.
| Active | Passive |
| Ana served dinner. | Dinner was served by Ana. |
| People in 20 countries speak Spanish. | Spanish is spoken in 20 countries. |
| He has washed the car. | The car has been washed. |
| She will write the biography. | The biography will be written by her. |
The verb is in passive voice when it uses a verb to be and a past participle.
Subject + Verb To Be + Past Participle
| Affirmative | Negative | Interrogative | Negative Interrogative |
| The car was bought last year. | The car was not bought last year. | Was the car bought last year? | Wasn’t the car bought last year? |
For this part, we will be using the verb “to do” as example and see how it is formed in passive voice in different verb tenses.
| Tense | Subject | Conjugated To Be | Past Participle | Rest of the Sentence | Full Sentence |
| Simple Present | The repair | is | done | every week | The repair is done every week. |
| Present Continuous | The repair | is | being done | right now | The repair is being done right now. |
| Simple Past | The repair | was | done | last year | The repair was done last year. |
| Past Continuous | The repair | was being | done | yesterday | The repair was being done yesterday. |
| Present Perfect | The repair | has been | done | since you reported the damage | The repair has been done since you reported the damage. |
| Past Perfect | The repair | had been | done | before the storm came | The repair had been done before the storm came. |
| Future | The repair | will be | done | next month | The repair will be done next month. |
| Future Continuous | The repair | will be being | done | two days from now | The repair will be being done two days from now. |
| Present Conditional | The repair | would be | done | if there are damages | The repair would be done if there are damages. |
| Past Conditional | The repair | would have been | done | if the damage had been severe | The repair would have been done if the damage had been severe. |
| Infinitive | The repair | has to be | done | before the storm hits | The repair has to be done before the storm hits. |
My bike was stolen.
In this sentence, the focus is that someone stole my bike and I don’t know who did it.
A mistake was made.
In this sentence, I focused on the fact that a mistake was made, but I don’t blame anyone. Rather than saying, “You have made a mistake.”.
Take a look at some examples of active sentences that are converted into passive.
Active: Andy sings the song.
Passive: The song is sung by Andy.
Active: They washed the dishes.
Passive: The dishes were washed by them.
Active: Alfred has bought a car.
Passive: A car has been bought by Alfred.
Active: Tomas will be fishing.
Passive: Fish will be caught by Tomas.
Active: Mary can ride bicycles.
Passive: Bicycles can be ridden by Mary.
Answer this exercise on passive voice.
1. I will ________ by my sister.
a. accompany
b. be accompanied
c. accompanied
2. My mother ____________ an award by her company.
a. has been given
b. has given
c. gave
3. The employees are waiting to ____.
a. promote
b. be promoted
c. be promote
4. She ________ to the hospital.
a. took
b. was taken
c. has taken
5. The rat _______ for the experiment.
a. was used
b. used
c. uses
6. The newly-elected officials _______ on 22 November 2019.
a. sworn
b. swore
c. were sworn
7. Mistakes ________.
a. have made
b. were made
c. were make
8. The door _______.
a. been repaired
b. is been repaired
c. is being repaired
9. Some animals _______ on this road every year.
a. are kill
b. are killed
c. was killed
10. The earth ______ in gases.
a. wraps
b. is wrapped
c. are wrapped
Find the answers to this exercise here.
See also: Passive (is done/was done) and Passive (be done/been done/being done).
For additional information on this topic, check out this Grammarly Lesson.
For other English grammar lessons, go to this page.
We use different conditionals to express ourselves clearly. A conditional consists of two clauses: first, is the condition or the if-clause and the main or result clause. We are going to look at two mixed conditionals that express unreal situations.
Mixed conditionals is where the tense in the main clause is different from the tense in the conditional-clause (also called if-clause).
Usage:
1. Past to Present
If I had taken an aspirin, I wouldn’t have a headache now.
2. Past to Future
If I had known that you are going to come by tomorrow, I would be in then.
3. Present to Past
If she had enough money, she could have done this trip to Hawaii.
4. Present to Future
If I were you, I would be spending my vacation in Seattle.
5. Future to Past
If I weren’t flying to Detroit, I would have planned a trip to Vancouver.
6. Future to Present
If I were taking this exam next week, I would be high-strung.
This lesson focuses on modals will, may, might. To form, simply combine the modal and present participle.
The modals may and might are used when expressing what might occur in the future. Both can be used to express actions in the future or the present.
Present
I might have some flour in the pantry.
Future
They may leave tomorrow.
May and might function as modals such as can, will and should. Therefore, the same rules apply.
Correct: He may attend.
Incorrect: He mays attend.
Correct: She might cry.
Incorrect: She mights cry.
He may not attend the meeting.
She might not buy the book.
Might she be hungry?
May I have some water?
May we eat the sandwiches?
Correct: I might sing.
Incorrect: I might to sing.
Correct: She might stay.
Incorrect: She might staying.
You can combine will and won’t and some adverbs to express the probability of a future event happening.
I’ll possibly cook something for dinner.
You’ll probably cook something for dinner.
She’ll definitely cook something for dinner
He’ll certainly cook something for dinner.
I’ll probably watch a movie later.
I probably won’t watch a movie later.
Answer this exercise on will, may, might modals.
1. ______ I go to your house tonight?
a. Might
b. May
2. _____ some cookies later.
a. I’ll probably bake
b. I’ll bake probably
3. They ______ to their friends’ advice.
a. probably won’t listen
b. won’t listen probably
4. I don’t know where your socks are. They _____ in the drawer.
a. might be
b. may be
5. She ______ her baby.
a. will certainly look after
b. certainly won’t look after
6. _____ I have your attention, please?
a. May
b. Might
7. I ______ the meeting on Thursday.
a. may attend
b. might attend
8. You _____ without me. It’s okay.
a. may start
b. will possibly start
9. Students ______ for free.
a. might study
b. may study
10. The team _____ overtime today.
a. will probably work
b. may work
Find the answers to this exercise here.
See also: Modals of Deduction and Speculation and Modals Continuous: Past and Present
For additional information on this topic, check out this British Council lesson.
For other English grammar lessons, go to this page.