English Grammar and Advertising Vocabulary Essentials

Advertising Vocabulary

Types of Advertising:

• Billboards (cartell/valla publicitària)
• Celebrity endorsements (promoció feta per famosos)
• Covert adverts (publicitat subliminar)
• Direct mail (correu)
• Junk mail (correu brossa)
• Email and spam
• Magazine/newspaper ads (revistes/diaris amb anuncis)
• Radio/TV commercials (anunci ràdio/tele)
• Sponsoring of events
• Text messages
• Website ads: pop-ups

Adjectives to Describe Ads:

Amusing (divertit/graciós), attractive, clever (intel·ligent), dramatic, dull (avorrit), emotional, funny, humorous, sexist, shocking (impactant), silly (tonto), tasteless (soso), unusual, weird (raro).

Product Categories:

• Clothes and accessories: gloves, jewellery, trainers
• Electronic goods: hi-fi system, sat-nav, tablet computer, phone
• Health and beauty: aftershave (crema després d’afaitar-se), cosmetics, perfume
• Household products: washing powder (detergent)
• Snacks: crisps, drinks, sweets (xuxes)

Passive Voice Structures

Tense Transformations

• Present Simple: Active: I write notes in my diary. Passive: Notes are written in my diary (by me).
• Past Simple: Active: I wrote notes in my diary last night. Passive: Notes were written in my diary last night.
• Present Perfect: Active: I have already read Aloma. Passive: Aloma has already been read (by me).
• Future Passive: Active: I’ll read Aloma next week. Passive: Aloma will be read next week.
• Present Continuous: Active: I’m writing notes now. Passive: Notes are being written now.
• Past Continuous: Active: I was reading a book on my bed. Passive: A book was being read on my bed.
• Future (Going to): Active: He’s going to ride a horse this week. Passive: A horse is going to be ridden this week (by him).
• Modal Verb Passive: Active: He can play the guitar. Passive: The guitar can be played (by him).

Common Idiomatic Expressions

• More and more - cada cop més
• By and large - en general
• Bit by bit - a poc a poc
• Sooner or later - tard o d’hora
• Sick and tired - estar fart
• Far and wide - per tots els llocs
• Now and then - de vegades
• Once and for all - finalment
• Pick and choose - escollir
• Face to face - cara a cara

Comparative Structures

• The harder you exercise, the quicker your breathing gets.
• The more you train, the better the coordination of your muscles becomes.
• The more she practises tennis, the better she gets.
• The more pasta they eat, the stronger they become.
• The harder you work, the less you sleep.
• The louder he talks, the more difficult it is to understand him.
• The sunnier it became, the more time we spent at the pool.