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

Reported Speech: Tense and Modal Transformations

Direct and Indirect Speech

Direct Speech: "I am ill," said Tom.

Indirect Speech: He said (that) he was ill.

Key Changes in Reported Speech

1. Verb Tense Shifts

• Present Simple → Past Simple: "I visit" → He visited
• Present Continuous → Past Continuous: "I am visiting" → He was visiting
• Past Simple → Past Perfect: "I visited" → He had visited
• Past Continuous → Past Perfect Continuous: "I was visiting" → He had been visiting
• Present Perfect Simple → Past Perfect Simple: "I have visited" → He had visited
• Present Perfect Continuous → Past Perfect Continuous: "I have been visiting" → He had been visiting
• Future with "Going To" → Past "Going To": "I am going to visit" → He was going to visit
• Future with "Will" → Conditional: "I will

Cycling: A Healthy and Practical Transportation Choice

In recent years, many people have rediscovered the bicycle as a useful and healthy mode of transport for navigating the city. It offers numerous advantages with few drawbacks.

Advantages of Cycling

• Cycling is an activity most people learn from a young age, regardless of where they live.
• Bicycles don't require gasoline. As gasoline prices rise, more people are choosing to cycle.
• Cycling is a cost-effective way to travel, using your own energy for movement.
• It provides exercise while commuting.
• Cycling is an environmentally friendly, non-polluting mode of transport.

Disadvantages of Cycling

• Cycling may require more travel time compared to other options.
• A good network of bike lanes is essential for

Common Abstract Nouns and Their Formations

• Sad → Sadness
• Happy → Happiness
• Amused (divertido) → Amusement (diversión)
• Scared → Fear
• Ashamed → Shame
• Afraid → Fear
• Believe → Belief
• Dead → Death
• Hate → Hatred
• Lose → Loss
• Poor → Poverty
• Fuerza → Might, Force, Strength, or Power

Nouns for Life Stages and Relationships

• Adult → Adulthood
• Child → Childhood
• Neighbour → Neighbourhood
• Friend → Friendship
• Partner → Partnership
• Member → Membership
• Relation → Relationship

Other Common Abstract Formations

• Bored → Boredom
• Free → Freedom
• Wise → Wisdom
• Ill → Illness
• Kind → Kindness
• Celebrate → Celebration
• Compete → Competition
• Imagine → Imagination

Descriptive Adjectives for Literature and Media

• Depressing: deprimente
• Entertaining: entretenido
• Fast-

Is it Important to Have a Healthy and Balanced Diet?

Thursday, May 6, 2015

A Balanced Diet

Have you noticed how many people in recent years are unhappy due to excess weight? This has become a serious health problem for many young people who, due to strict diets, are actually suffering from diseases such as bulimia.

Our society is influenced by fashion that pushes us to consume not only mobile phones but also fast food. To be beautiful and feel good, you have to go to the gym, go swimming, go running, and, above all, be thin. All these activities, if not accompanied by the required hours of rest and a balanced diet, will just take their toll. Our country is known for its Mediterranean diet, which means eating vegetables, fruit, fish, and olive oil....

Language Exercise Answers - Set 1

Vocabulary

Exercise 1

1. 1. c
2. 2. h
3. 3. g
4. 4. b
5. 5. e
6. 6. d
7. 7. f
8. 8. a

Exercise 2

1. 1. moods
2. 2. faint
3. 3. starts out
4. 4. deafening
5. 5. common sense
6. 6. take advantage of
7. 7. firm
8. 8. accurate

Exercise 3

1. 1. eat it
2. 2. agree with them
3. 3. delayed
4. 4. angry
5. 5. aren’t nice to them
6. 6. popular

Grammar

Exercise 4

1. 1. which beans I was going to put in the soup
2. 2. if / whether he could use the computer then
3. 3. I thought we should study before we went out
4. 4. reading my diary
5. 5. booking / that we book our flights that day

Exercise 5

1. 1. Alan promised to e-mail the photos to me / us.
2. 2. My sister admitted losing / that she had lost my MP3 player.
3. 3. My mum wanted to know when I had met Gina / Gina and I had met.
4. 4. Ben suggested going / that we go to the gym that day.
5. 5. Keith

Mastering the Passive Voice

• Laptops have replaced desktop computers in most homes nowadays (reportedly).
  R: Desktop computers have reportedly been replaced by laptops.
• Small kids have been using more and more electronic devices (apparently).
  R: More and more electronic devices have apparently been being used by small kids.
• People are using portable electronic devices for educational purposes (already).
  R: Portable electronic devices are already being used for educational purposes.
• Sharks could have attacked him during his swim (easily).
  R: He could easily have been attacked by sharks during his swim.
• People might have made her give up climbing that mountain in such bad weather (well).
  R: She might well have been made to give up climbing.
• Someone must

This week saw the launch of an extensive new report on Violence Against Women in the European Union, carried out by the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights. The report, which surveyed 42,000 women across the 28 member states of the EU, revealed some stark and sobering statistics. Forty-four percent of women in the UK reported experiencing some form of physical and/or sexual violence after the age of 15. Across the whole study, one in 20 women had been raped, and over a fifth (22%) of women in relationships reported partner abuse. For many, the results were shocking.

But for us at the Everyday Sexism Project, these findings are not surprising. They simply reflect the reality of the women and girls who share their testimonies with us...

Immigration and Early American Prosperity

Reasons for Irish Emigration

1. Due to a great famine and severe poverty in Ireland, living conditions were extreme. Immigrants decided to leave their country to seek better opportunities and conditions abroad.

The Price of American Prosperity

2. The narrator suggests that current American prosperity is built upon the hard work and suffering of early immigrants. Prosperity in America was achieved at the cost of significant hardship for these newcomers.

Protagonist's Achievements

3. The protagonist achieved American citizenship, acquired a small farm, and raised a large family. He participated in politics, and several of his children graduated from high school.

True/False Statements and Vocabulary

4. FALSE (lines 1-2)...