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

Journalistic Language Characteristics

Morphosyntactic Characteristics

• Tendency to place the subject at the end of the sentence.
• Lengthening of sentences through:
  • Verbal phrases and paraphrases.
  • Conjunctive and prepositional phrases.
  • Redundant expressions.
  • Appositions.
  • Clauses and subordinate explanatory phrases.
• Use of Gallicisms and morphosyntactic Anglicisms:
  • Misuse of "a + infinitive" as an agent complement.
  • Use of the periphrasis "be being + participle" (progressive passive).
  • Use of conditional for expressing possibility.
• Mixture of direct and indirect styles.
• Frequent use of the passive voice.

Lexical Characteristics

• Foreignisms, especially Anglicisms.
• Neologisms.
• Semantic calques.
• Words formed by standard language procedures:
  • Derivation.
  • Composition.
  • Compounding.

Common English Irregular Verbs

Below is a corrected list of common English irregular verbs, organized by their base, past simple, and past participle forms:

• Be: was/were - been
• Beat: beat - beaten
• Become: became - become
• Begin: began - begun
• Bite: bit - bitten
• Blow: blew - blown
• Break: broke - broken
• Bring: brought - brought
• Build: built - built
• Buy: bought - bought
• Can: could
• Catch: caught - caught
• Choose: chose - chosen
• Cost: cost - cost
• Cut: cut - cut
• Do: did - done
• Draw: drew - drawn
• Dream: dreamt - dreamt
• Drink: drank - drunk
• Drive: drove - driven
• Eat: ate - eaten
• Fall: fell - fallen
• Feel: felt - felt
• Fight: fought - fought
• Find: found - found
• Fly: flew - flown
• Forget: forgot - forgotten
• Get: got - got
• Give: gave - given
• Go: went - gone
• Grow: grew - grown
• Hang: hung -

Historia de una Escalera: A Social Critique

Historia de una Escalera is more than just a play; it is a profound critique and reflection of Spanish society during the post-war era, as intended by Antonio Buero Vallejo. The play addresses the inability of the lower classes to realize their ideals, hindered both by a lack of willpower and the restrictive circumstances surrounding them.

The Symbolism of the Staircase

The central dramatic symbol of this impossibility is the staircase of a tenement building. For over 30 years, the characters have traversed these stairs, yet they remain trapped. The staircase serves as a powerful metaphor for social immobility, leading nowhere.

Life in the Courtyard

The action takes place in a courtyard, where the staircase...

Comprehensive List of Irregular English Verbs

This reference provides the base form, past tense, and past participle for common irregular English verbs, along with their primary meanings.

• Abide: abode/abided, abode/abided (to live up to)
• Arise: arose, arisen (to get up)
• Awake: awoke, awoken (to wake up)
• Be: was/were, been (to exist)
• Bear: bore, born/borne (to carry)
• Beat: beat, beaten (to strike)
• Become: became, become (to grow into)
• Begin: began, begun (to start)
• Bend: bent, bent (to curve)
• Bereave: bereft/bereaved, bereft/bereaved (to deprive)
• Beseech: besought, besought (to implore)
• Bet: bet, bet (to wager)
• Bid: bid, bid (to offer)
• Bind: bound, bound (to tie)
• Bite: bit, bitten (to gnaw)
• Bleed: bled, bled (to lose blood)
• Blow: blew, blown (to exhale)
• Break:

Antonio Machado: "Campos de Castilla" - The Story of Alvargonzález

The narrative recounts the tragic story of Alvargonzález, a patriarch who marries and has three children. Each child is assigned a specific role within the family: the eldest cultivates the garden, the second cares for the merino sheep, and the youngest dedicates himself to the church.

Soon, the daughters marry, bringing family feuds to Alvargonzález due to the envy of others. However, the youngest son eventually renounces worldly habits and departs with his father's blessing and inheritance.

Later, while Alvargonzález sleeps by a tree, he dreams that his elder children kill him. Upon waking, he realizes it was not a dream but a grim reality; they had indeed murdered him.

From...

The Romantic Drama: 'Don Alvaro' and 'Force of Destiny'

The work consists of five days:

• Day One: Don Alvaro is in love with Leonor, the daughter of a noble from Seville. They flee to get married in secret, but her father discovers them. A fight ensues, and Don Alvaro throws a gun down, which fires accidentally. Leonor must decide between filial duty and her love for Alvaro, which determines the final outcome.
• Day Two: Leonor retreats to a monastery in Hornacuelos.
• Days Three and Four: In Italy, Don Alvaro kills Carlos, Leonor's brother, and is sentenced to death but is saved.
• Day Five: Don Alvaro retires to Hornacuelos, unaware of his beloved's proximity. He discovers Leonor, and Alvaro kills her. Before dying, Leonor commits suicide.

The protagonist...

Vocabulary

Crime and Justice

• Nouns: arrest (detenció), break-in (robatori amb violència), crime (crim), detective (detectiu), DNA test (prova d'ADN), murder (assassinat), murderer (assassí), suspect (sospitós), victim (víctima).
• Verbs: arrest (arrestar), break in (forçar l'entrada), catch (agafar), commit (cometre), detect (descobrir), rob (robar).

Diet and Lifestyle

• Diet: fizzy drinks (begudes amb gas), junk food (menjar escombraries).
• Lifestyle: healthy (sa), unhealthy (dolent per a la salut), be overweight (tenir sobrepès), be unfit (estar en baixa forma), drink water (beure aigua), exercise regularly (fer exercici regularment), get stressed (estressar-se).

Present Perfect Simple

Structure:

• Affirmative: I/you/we/they have + past participle;

What's This? - Flyleaf

What's this? What's this?
There's color everywhere.
What's this?
There's white things in the air.
What's this?
I can't believe my eyes, I must be dreaming.
Wake up, Jack, this isn't fair. What's this?

What's this? What's this?
There's something very wrong.
What's this?
There's people singing songs.
What's this?
The streets are lined with little children laughing.
Everybody seems so happy; have I possibly gone daffy? What is this?

There's children throwing snowballs instead of throwing heads.
They're busy building toys, and absolutely no one's dead.
There's frost on every window, oh, I can't believe my eyes.
And in my bones I feel the warmth that's coming from inside.

Oh, look! What's this?
They're hanging mistletoe, they kiss.
Why, that looks...

Coming Down to Earth: Comprehension Questions (4 Points)

Part A: Answering Questions

1. How different was daily life on board the Space Station?

   Daily life was uncomfortable because of the lack of common pleasures (hot showers, favorite food, etc.).

2. How did the astronauts manage not to miss their families very much? (Specify two reasons)

   They managed by writing to them and receiving messages by electronic mail, and also by talking to them over the phone.

Part B: True or False Statements

Determine if these statements are True or False. Justifications are provided below:

• Pedro Duque was in orbit for six months.

  FALSE: “Spaniard Pedro Duque, who was on a one-week mission, …” (lines 3-4)

• The orbital platform was exclusively a Russian and American enterprise.

"I am studying for my exams now," she said. She said that she was studying for her exams then.

"Did you see the film last night?" he asked. He asked me if I had seen the film the night before.

"Where do you usually spend your holidays?" she asked them. She asked them where they usually spent their holidays.

"We will finish the project tomorrow," they told the team. They told the team that they would finish the project the following day.

"Don't touch my phone," he said to his brother. He told his brother not to touch his phone.

"Have you ever been to London?" she asked me. She asked me if I had ever been to London.

"I didn't understand the instructions," he said. He said that he hadn't understood the instructions.

"Why are you laughing at me?" she...