Boys and Foreign Language Learning.Real Boys Don't Do Languages (J.Carr&A.Pauwels)
WzM 12 Black Dawn pierwsze próbne rozdziały ENGLISH
English File 3rd Intermediate word list
Check Your English Vocabulary for Human Resources 0747569975
Check Your Vocabulary for Academic English
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DENNIS LEHANE Brudny szmal
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Carol Lynne [Cattle Valley 18] Scarred (pdf)
[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
I have no idea how you solve this problem. It's quite beyond me.
There was no doubt she had lied. All the evidence pointed to her guilt.
I've no reason to think he won't return. He needs me as much as I need him.
There's no need to cry. We can sort this out together.
She complained of chest pains but the doctors found no evidence of infection.
Can you help me with the ironing? ~ No problem. I'm not busy this evening.
Can you help me with the cleaning? ~ No way. I have to be out by seven.
There's no point in shouting. He's deaf and can't hear you.
It's no use complaining. They won't bother to answer your letter.
once, twice, thrice
I m a little confused because I ve found the word thrice in a book. A few teachers
told me there is no such word or that I cannot use it and that I should use three
times instead. Can I use this word and in what circumstances?
We ll take this opportunity to look at a number of complications with the expression
of numbers and frequency in English.
178
once, twice, thrice
The norm here is to say once (rather than one time) to say three times (rather
than thrice) in current usage. Thrice is definitely old-fashioned, although you may
still come across it in certain contexts:
This vehicle travels at thrice the speed of sound.
They play football thrice weekly.
Better to say:
This vehicle travels at three times the speed of sound.
They play football three times a week and train every night.
When it comes to twice, this is more often used than two times, although two
times is also quite common in informal usage. Compare the following:
I ve visited her twice already this autumn and she s visited me once.
I ve visited her two times already this autumn and she s visited me once.
Unemployment in the north of England is twice the national average.
Teachers say they would be twice as effective if they had no administrative tasks.
One time is occasionally possible as an alternative to once. Compare the following:
He had only ever seen his great-aunt once before.
He had only ever seen his great-aunt one time before.
We go out with our colleagues for a drink once a week or once a fortnight and have a
staff party once a year.
You will hear the recording only once.
I m only going to say this once.
Once, (not one time) can also mean at some time in the past:
I once ran a fish-and-chip shop in Brighton. ~ When was that? ~ Before I bought this
business.
Our house in the village was once the train station. ~ When was that? ~ When the
trains used to run here.
Do you know the different references to these numbers?
nought / zero / nil / o / love (0)
half a dozen (6 or approximately 6)
a dozen (12 or approximately 12)
a score (20 or approximately 20)
a billion (1,000,000,000 or a very large number)
Note how they are used:
179
House prices rose by nought point two per cent last month.
Visibility was almost zero at the City Airport last night because of the fog.
England won their recent match against Liechtenstein by two goals to nil.
My phone number is o two o, eight seven o seven, nine nine o three.
Roddick was leading by two sets to love and forty love in the first game of the third
set when rain stopped the match.
Can you set out the arguments for and against capital punishment in half a dozen
paragraphs?
I bought two dozen eggs but we ve only used four. ~ Why didn t you buy half a
doxen?
Scores of volunteers offered to help in the search for the missing child.
How many zeros do I write down for a billion? Is it six or nine?
Billions of dollars need to be invested to re-build this country.
I ve told you billions of times to lock the door before you go to bed.
maximum / minimum; maximal / minimal
To express the idea of the largest amount possible, we would normally use
maximum as both adjective and noun. Maximal as adjective or maximally as
adverb are more rarely used. Compare the following:
Arsenal now head the Premiership table with maximum points from five games.
The maximum sentence for armed robbery is twenty years.
How long are the shifts for this type of work? ~ Four hours is the minimum and
twelve hours is the maximum.
How long should I sit in front of the computer screen? ~ Maximally three hours.
Minimal, however, meaning very small in quantity, is much more often used as an
adjective. Note the slight difference in meaning. Mimimum describes the smallest
amount possible. Compare the following:
He managed to pass all his exams with minimal effort.
There may be one or two delays on this service but they are expected to be minimal.
The minimum wage in Britain is now four pounds fifty an hour.
The minimum height for a policeman used to be five foot ten.
The language of love
Mojca Belak from Slovenia asks:
How old can a boyfriend/girlfriend be?
A friend who is 50 recently sent me an email gladly informing me that he now has a
girlfriend. In Slovenian this sounds really funny. Which could be the alternatives if
there are any? Partner didn t seem to be accepted, so what DO you say for
somebody who is not in his/her teens or twenties any longer and is in a relationship,
but they are not married?
180
We don t have very much choice in the matter, Mojca. Boyfriend/girlfriend and
partner are the words that we normally use to describe somebody who is in a
sexual relationship. Although boyfriends and girlfriends are often associated with
teenager years, as in:
" 'I remember my first boyfriend was a very spotty individual whose voice had
only just broken.'
it is also quite common for people in their twenties, thirties, forties and even fifties to
use the words 'boyfriend' or 'girlfriend' to describe someone that they are in a
relationship with, but do not necessarily live with.
Partner is perhaps the preferred term to describe the person you are living with on a
more permanent basis, but are not married to:
" 'I don t think you ve met my partner. This is Guy Wilkinson.'
It is unlikely that teenagers would have partners , although people from their
twenties onwards may well have.
However, 'partner' can sound rather formal because partnerships, of course, are not
only of a sexual nature. If you play a game against another pair of people, or dance
then you would do so with a partner . Consider the following:
" 'After their Wimbledon experience, it looks as if sister Serena will be Venus
Williams doubles' partner for some time to come.'
" 'He is such a good dancer that he has no difficulty in finding appropriate
partners for all the Latin-American competitions.' [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
