Riverbank Stories: Vocabulary and Grammar Insights

Vocabulary

• Gangway: Pasarela, pasadizo
• Shad: Sábalo (type of fish)
• Pulled out: Retirado
• Rich: Rico
• Wreck: Ruina, naufragio, hundir
• Ran out: Salir corriendo
• Barge: Barcaza
• Vessels: Buque, vaso, barco, recipiente
• Sloops: Corbeta (type of ship)
• Clogged: Obstruir, atascar

A Day in the Country

Last August, we decided to drive into the country. There were a lot of cars on the road, so it took us a long time to find a quiet place. We got our food out of the car and sat down near a path at the foot of a hill. Soon afterwards, we heard bells ringing, and we had to run back to the car. About two hundred sheep were coming down the path.

Johnny First Pichula

The ships clogged the riverbank with everything from sloops to rafts to barges.

The captains had built large houses on the hills. The fish had made them rich.

Their families could watch as their vessels sailed away.

Then a messenger would come and say, “There’s been a wreck!”

Johnny needed to get hired fast before his food ran out.

He looked up and down the river, and his eyes settled on a fine sloop. It was a shad boat. Johnny walked along the gangway. He looked down the river. A bird swooped to the water and pulled out a fish.

Using Suffixes

• -AL: Referente a (referring to)
• -ARY: En relación a cualidad o lugar (in relation to quality or place)
• -FUL: Notable para (notable for)
• -IC: Relativa a (relative to)
• -ICAL: Relativa a (relative to)
• -ISH: Tener la calidad de (to have the quality of)
• -LESS: Sin (without)
• -LIKE: Parecido a (similar to)
• -LY: Parecido a (similar to)
• -OUS: Caracterizado por (characterized by)
• -Y: Caracterizado por (characterized by)
• -ABLE/-IBLE: Capaz de (capable of)

Phrases and Clauses

Phrases: A phrase is a group of words without a subject-verb, used as a part of a sentence. It is not the complete sentence; it is not the complete idea. We have prepositional phrases (Preposition + Noun, Pronoun, Gerund, or Clause), adjective phrases, adverb phrases, and verb phrases.

Clauses: A clause is a group of words that contains a subject and a verb. It expresses a complete idea: Independent and Dependent/Subordinate. There are adjectival clauses that contain the subject and the verb, as well as relative pronouns (who, whom, whose, that, which) and relative adverbs (when, where, why).

Conditional Sentences (0, 1, and 2)

Structure: Condition / Result

• 0: Present Simple / Present Simple = Always true situation.
• 1: Present Simple / Will + Infinitive Verb = Real or possible situation.
• 2: Past Simple / Would + Infinitive Verb = Hypothetical situation.

Neither…nor / Either…or

• Neither…nor: Used to say that two or more things are not true (no…ni).
• Either…or: Used to give an alternative (ya sea…o).