NI2 9/1/18

Homework: p. 151, exercises 7, 8 & 9 and p. 153, exercises 6 & 7.

Writing: write two short emails as the ones on page 152.

though /ðəʊ/ UK  US  conjunción &  adverbio

 •  conjunción

1 aunque

Though she was only seven, she played the piano brilliantly.

Aunque solo tenía siete años, tocaba el piano de maravilla.

2 pero

I bought it in Italy, though it's probably cheaper here.

Lo compré en Italia, pero es probable que sea más barato aquí.

 •  adverbio

 (informal) (sin embargo)

We had to queue for an hour. It was worth it, though.

Tuvimos que hacer cola durante una hora, pero valió la pena.

I would like to know if you would = could come to my party.

We would ≠ could have a birthday party at home

have

 verbo transitivo

1 posesión

 (= tener)

 They have a house in France.

 Tienen una casa en Francia.

 He didn't  have  his passport  with  him.

 No llevaba el pasaporte.

También se usa to have got, sobre todo en inglés británico. To have  y to have got  significan lo mismo, pero forman la interrogación y la negación de manera diferente:

 He has green eyes./He's got green eyes.

 Tiene los ojos verdes.

 He doesn't have time./He hasn't got time.

 No tiene tiempo.

 Do you have a computer?/Have you got a computer?

 ¿Tienes ordenador?

2 actividades, experiencias

 Did you have a good holiday?

 ¿Te lo pasaste bien en las vacaciones?

Had you got a good Holiday?

 I had a quick shower.

 Me di una ducha rápida.

 We're having a party.

 Vamos a hacer una fiesta.

3 consumir

 Have you had breakfast?

 ¿Has desayunado?

Have you got breakfast?

 I'll have the fish, please.

 Para mí el pescado, por favor.

4 recibir

 Have you had any news from Michael?

 ¿Has tenido noticias de Michael?

 I had lots of phone calls.

 Recibí muchas llamadas.

Emails

However, there are no standard formulas for starting or finishing emails. Only one thing is clear. Emails are invariably of an informal nature, so informal language tends to be the norm.

starting emails

• Hi, Roger, Hello Roger, Dear Roger

These seem to represent an informal norm, as far as there is one.

• Roger, Dear Mr Woodham

These formats are used more in business correspondence. Note that using the given name alone, as above, is reminiscent of business memos among colleagues within the same organisation.

But I have also received emails with a wide variety of other opening formulas over the last twelve months. I list them all below from most formal to least formal:

• Dear Professor Woodham (this is incorrect as I am not a university professor), 
• Dear Roger Woodham (note that this formula is also used in letters sometimes), 
• Hello Roger Woodham, Hi Roger Woodham, Good morning Roger, Hey Roger, Hey you guys (this one to me and my colleagues)

ending emails

• Best wishes, Regards, Best regards, Good wishes.

These seem to represent the informal norm, followed by the given name (David/Dave/etc) of the sender.

Occasionally, Yours sincerely is combined with Best wishes or stands alone before the given name of the sender, as in a semi-formal letter. Very occasionally, I have received emails ending, e.g. Yours sincerely and then on the next line the given name plus family name, David Green, but this is an exception.

Sometimes, a pre-closing formula is used instead of or in addition to the standard closure, e.g.

• Let me know if you need more information,
  Dave
• Look forward to hearing from you.
  Best wishes,
  Dave

Actualizado

used to /ˈjuːst tuː/ UK  US  verbo [modal]

1 used to se usa para referirse a algo que sucedía antes y ya no sucede o que era así antes y ya no lo es. Equivale al uso del imperfecto en español

 We used to go for walks together in the park.

 Íbamos a pasear juntos por el parque./Solíamos ir a pasear juntos por el parque.

 She used to be really thin.

 Antes estaba delgadísima.

 "Do you play tennis?" "No, but I used to."

 –¿Juegas al tenis? –No, pero solía hacerlo.

2 Su negativo e interrogativo se forman con el auxiliar  did y la forma use

 You didn't use to smoke.

 Antes no fumabas.

 Didn't he use to have a beard?

 ¿No llevaba barba?

Past habit – used to/would/past simple

When we talk about things that happened in the past but don’t happen anymore we can do it in different ways.

Used to

• We used to live in New York when I was a kid.
• There didn’t use to be a petrol station there. When was it built?

We can use ‘used to’ to talk about past states ….

• I used to go swimming every Thursday when I was at school.
• I used to smoke but I gave up a few years ago.

… or we can use ‘used to’ to talk about repeated past actions

Remember that ‘used to’ is only for past states/actions that don’t happen now – we can’t use it for things that still happen now. Also, ‘used to + infinitive’ should not be confused with ‘be/get used to + ‘ing’ form’ – this is covered in a separate section.

Would

• Every Saturday I would go on a long bike ride.
• My teachers would always say “Sit down and shut up!”

We can use ‘would’ to talk about repeated past actions.

Often either ‘would’ or ‘used to’ is possible. Both of these sentences are possible.

• Every Saturday, I would go on a long bike ride.
• Every Saturday I used to go on a long bike ride.

However, only ‘used to’ is possible when we talk about past states.

• We used to live in New York when I was a kid.
• We would live in New York when I was a kid.

Past simple

• We went/used to go/would go to the same beach every summer.

We can use the past simple in the same way as ‘used to’ and ‘would’ to talk about repeated past actions.

• I had/used to have a dog called Charlie.

We can also use the past simple for past states.

• I went to Egypt in 1988.

However, if something happened only once we can’t use ‘used to’ or ‘would’ – we must use the past simple.

The second difference between used to and would is that would is not used with stative verbs such as love, be, understand, and feel. Compare these two sentences with the stative verb love:  

1. When I was a student, I used to love sleeping late on the weekends. (natural and grammatical)
2. *When I was a student, I would love sleeping late on weekends. (awkward and ungrammatical)

Aclaración extra:

Let's start with some examples of 'used to' first. We might say,

"I used to live in Manchester, but I moved to London last year."
"When he was at school, he used to play football every Saturday."
"She used to hate her job until she got a promotion."

All of these sentences describe actions or situations in the past, which are finished now; living in Manchester, playing football every Saturday, hating her job - these are all finished now.

We use 'used to' to talk about actions or situations that continued for some time in the past, not for events which happened suddenly or just for a moment. So we can't say: 'I used to have a really good idea when I was brushing my teeth this morning,' because 'having a really good idea' happens suddenly - in one moment.

Now let's move on to 'would'. Here are some examples:
"When he was at university, he would sleep until noon at the weekends."
"My sister lived in Australia for many years, but she would always come home for Christmas."
"I would always forget my homework, until the teacher threatened to punish me."

Again, these sentences are about situations in the past, which are finished. However, it's important to notice that all the sentences, here, are about actions or situations which were repeated again and again and again. Sleeping until noon at the weekends, coming home for Christmas, forgetting my homework - all these things were repeated many times, again and again and again.

This is the difference between 'would' and 'used to' -
We only use 'would' to describe actions or situations that were repeated again and again and again...
But we use 'used to' for any extended action or situation in the past.

'Would' is only good for actions or situations that were repeated many times;
'Used to' is good for any action or situation that continued for a period of time in the past,including repeated actions or situations.

To make this clearer, let's look at the three examples of 'used to' sentences, and see if we can change them into 'would' sentences.


Here's the first example again:
"I used to live in Manchester, but I moved to London last year."

Can we use 'would' instead of 'used to' here?
No, we can't, because 'living in Manchester' wasn't repeated again and again and again. It's simply a situation in the past. Therefore, only 'used to' is good in this sentence.

The second example again:
" When he was at school, he used to play football every Saturday."

Here, we're talking about 'playing football every Saturday'. This is an action that was repeated many times, so we can also say:
"When he was at school, he would play football every Saturday".
'Used to' and 'would' are both good here, and the meaning is the same.

Finally, the third example again:
"She used to hate her job until she got a promotion."

Did she 'hate her job' many times?
No, this isn't a repeated action, so in this example 'would' isn't possible. We have to use 'used to'.