Notes, summaries, assignments, exams, and exercises for English for Baccalaureate

Themes in V. S. Naipaul's B. Wordsworth

In B. Wordsworth by V. S. Naipaul, the narrative encompasses themes of admiration, identity, curiosity, friendship, control, freedom, uncertainty, and coming of age. Narrated in the first person by an unnamed male, the story serves as a memory piece. Upon reading, the reader realizes that Naipaul emphasizes the theme of admiration; the narrator appears to admire Wordsworth, though the reality may be that Wordsworth is not necessarily who he claims to be.

The Mystery of the Poet

Wordsworth suggests he is writing the greatest poem in the world; however, as the story progresses, he admits to the narrator that no such poem exists. It is also significant that Wordsworth denies the story about the girl poet, as...

PASSIVE VOICE

Active: I write a letter – Passive: The letter is written / I´m writing a letter – Passive: The letter is being written / I wrote a letter – Passive: The letter was written / I was writing a letter – Passive: The letter was being written / I have written a letter – Passive: The letter has been written / I will write a letter – Passive: The letter will be written / I´m going to write a letter – Passive: The letter is going to be written / I have to write a letter – Passive: The letter has to be written / I should write a letter – Passive: The letter should be written / I must write a letter – Passive: The letter must be written

RELATIVE CLAUSES

Who- personas quien / which – cosas cual / that- personas animales...

How to Write a For and Against Essay

Introduction

Paragraph 1: State the topic generally without expressing your personal opinion.

Main Body

Paragraph 2: Present the points for (advantages) along with your justification.

Paragraph 3: Present the points against (disadvantages) along with your justification.

Closing Paragraph

Paragraph 4: Express a balanced consideration of the topic or your final opinion, such as whether the advantages outweigh the disadvantages.

Linking Words and Phrases

• To introduce points: One major advantage/disadvantage of, a further advantage, one point of view in favour of/against, regarding, concerning.
• To list points: In the first place, first of all, to start with, firstly, secondly, thirdly, finally, last but not least.
• To add

Catching Up: My Summer in Peru

Hi Jona,

How are you doing? Thanks for your email. It’s great to hear from you again. I wanted to tell you that I’ve just returned from my summer trip, and it was awesome. I spent nearly three months in Peru, and life there is very different from Spain. I really enjoyed it and met many new people. The weather wasn't the best, but I had a lot of fun.

Why don’t we go there next year? You should talk to your parents about it; we could spend time together. I must go now. Say hello to your family. Take care.

P.S. I’m sending some pictures for you to take a look at.

Discovering Tokyo: A Modern Marvel

Have you ever been to Japan? Tokyo is one of the most beautiful cities I have ever visited. Its architecture is very...

The Pros and Cons of Being a Footballer

In my opinion, being a footballer is a very fun and easy job. The advantages of footballers are that they earn a lot of money and they are famous. Everybody loves you very much and they support you when playing.

If I speak about the disadvantages of being a footballer, I know that they have many hits, they have to go to the gym so many hours and eat very healthy food for keeping fit.

To finish my essay, in my opinion, being a professional footballer is a very easy job and it is also tiring.

The Joys of Holidays

For me, the holidays are the best of the year, because you don't go to high school and you don't study. Also, I like that you can see friends that you don't see a lot. In the holidays, people go to...

Was and Were: The Past Tense of To Be

The verbs was and were represent the past tense of "to be" (ser o estar). They are used to describe states or locations in the past.

• I: was
• He / She / It: was
• You / We / They: were

Past Simple Affirmative Spelling Rules

When forming the past simple affirmative of regular verbs, follow these specific spelling rules:

• +ED: With most verbs, we add -ed (e.g., work - worked).
• +D: With verbs ending in -e, we add -d (e.g., live - lived).
• Y to IED: With verbs that end with a consonant + y, we change the y to -ied (e.g., try - tried, apply - applied, study - studied).
• Double Consonant: With verbs that end with a vowel + one consonant, we double the consonant (e.g., stop - stopped, plan - planned).

Prepositions of Place and

Modal Verbs: Expressing Obligation and Deduction

It wasn't a good idea to play video games all night. You shouldn't have played video games all night.

There's no obligation for you to wear a suit. You don't have to wear a suit.

It's possible that my brother will ask Sally to marry him. My brother may ask Sally to marry him.

It's against the rules for students to arrive late for the exam. Students mustn't arrive late for the exam.

I'm sure it wasn't Ben because he's gone abroad. It can't have been Ben because he's gone abroad.

I'm sure you passed the exam because you worked hard. You must have passed the exam because you worked hard.

Defining and Non-Defining Relative Clauses

• It was a great day when she received the "Best Actress" award.
• Jean Dujardin,

Exam Papers and Solutions 2006–2009

2006 Past Papers

• 2006 Addicted: FFT; preoccupied, nonsensical, mute, topic; CBB
• 2006 Town: T(2), F(9), F(14); protesters, crime, ban, angrily; ABB
• 2006 Meet the: 12 TTF; fashions, powerful, divides, spread; BAC
• 2006 School’s: FFT; support, mentors, intensive, exclude; ACB

2007 Past Papers

• 2007 Arctic: TFT; released, trends, reviewed, shrink; BCC
• 2007 Brilliantly: FTF; unable, mean, overload, archive; ABB

2008 Past Papers

• 2008 Amphibians: 1–2, 3 FTF; monster, petition, concern, rate; ACC
• 2008 Britons: 13 TFT; significant, encounter, frightened, worried; BBA
• 2008 Dozens: 24 FTT; assaulted, blazes, clashes, fired; BBC

2009 Past Papers

• 2009 Abortion: 23 TFT; support, clash, demonstration, endangers; B, A, C
• 2009 How’s

1. Verb: listen — Tenses

• Present simple: I, you, we, they listen; he, she, it listens. Jo escolto.
• Past simple: I, you, we, they listened; he, she, it listened. Jo vaig escoltar. (Used to + base form: listen)
• Present continuous: I am listening; he, she, it is listening; we, you, they are listening. Jo estic escoltant.
• Past continuous: I was listening; he, she, it was listening; we, you, they were listening. Jo estava escoltant.
• (Verb: have):
  • Present perfect: I, you, we, they have listened; he, she, it has listened. Jo he escoltat.
  • Past perfect: I, you, we, they had listened; he, she, it had listened. Jo havia escoltat.
• Conditional: I, you, he… would listen. Jo escoltaria.
• Simple future: I, you, he… will listen. Jo escoltaré.
• Present perfect continuous: