Jolly Holidays

Donkey rides, deckchairs, bad haircuts, and your Dad’s hairy legs.

The infamous English seaside.

More Pronouns

Subject and object pronouns are used in everyday language. However, it can be tricky to remember which is which. The subject always takes action. The object is part of the activity, but it does not do any acting. Here is an example:

Hollie likes talking to Tom.

Hollie is the subject; she is liking and talking. Here Tom is the object; all the liking and talking is done to Tom but not by Tom.

Subject pronouns include I, you, he, she, it, we, and they.
Object pronouns include me, you, him, her, it, us, them. See the following examples:

Subject
 I might see you later.
You have to come now.
She lives in Newcastle.
He makes me angry
It just might work.
They caught the last train.
We can’t see the end.                                                                                                                                                                                                                            

Object
Sarah hit me on the arm.
I need to tell you something.
Larry took him aside.
The message wasn’’t for her.
Take it to the store.
Summer is fun for us.
Margaret took them downstairs.

Adding Adjectives

Using adjectives is a fool-proof way to keep your conversations interesting and take your learning to new levels.

The adjective’s job is to modify a noun or a pronoun. They are always near the noun or pronoun they are describing.

For example:

I have a large apartment. It is bigger than my last one.

Here “apartment” is the noun, and “it” is the pronoun. Both large and bigger are adjectives because they modify (or add something) to the object that is being described. The adjective large is used to denote a positive feature of the apartment, whilst bigger highlights the difference when comparing two apartments.

Thus, adjectives can be positive and  comparative. But they can also be superlative.

My apartment  is the largest on this floor.

The adjective largest still refers to my apartment but it also (silently) references other apartments. Superlative adjectives champion the noun; they describe the number 1 object/person in a group.

 

Mine And Yours,Theirs, Hers, His, And Ours…

Using the correct pronouns is often the trickiest part of constructing sentences.

Possessive pronouns show who owns something described in a sentence. They include mine, your and yours, his, hers, its, our, ours, their and theirs.

Possessive adjectives are similar to possessive pronouns. However, the possessive adjective comes before the object of the sentence; the possessive pronoun is the object of the sentence. See the difference here:

That is my dog. (possessive adjective, before the object “dog”)
The dog is mine. (possessive pronoun, which is the object)

Another way to look at it is if you take an object, e.g. “house”, “car”, “bag”, and remember that I, You, He, She, We, You, and They cannot delineate who those things belong to then it leaves only the pronouns My, Your, His, Her, Our, Your, and Their that can tell us who the objects belong to. Look:

I have an house in England. My house is in England.

Take a look at this great website where you can test your knowledge of pronouns further:

http://a4esl.org/q/f/z/zz44fck.htm

Prepositions “In”, “On”, and “At”

The prepositions in, on, and at can be used to indicate time and place. This can be confusing because in many languages, there is only one preposition for all such situations. In English there are three.

Here’s a general rule to follow

Preposition		Time		Place
In		Year, Month: In 1990, In December		Country, Region, City: In England, In Yorkshire, In London
On		Day, Date: On Saturday, On May 2		Street, Road, Avenue: On Main Street.
At		Time: At 8:00, At 7:30		Address: At 20 Main Street

If you have trouble using the prepositions in, on, and at with articles or locations then take a look at the table below.

When talking about locations, use at to indicate the general area or vicinity, and in to indicate inside the building, enclosed area, etc. For example:

at the swimming pool (on site)		in the swimming pool (in the pool itself; in the water)
at the post office/bank (general)		in the post office/bank (inside the building)
at the zoo (visitors, general area)		in the zoo (referring to animals in their cages)
at school		in the classroom

Use Your Words

The English love a good gossip. So don’t be afraid to comment on the weather, make statements about the surroundings, or your personal opinions. Just remember:

“If you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all!”

Time for Tea?

Britain’s love of tea is as strong as the day is long. It supplies warmth in the dark winters and is offered as a medicinal tonic for all kinds of ailments.

Introduction

Hello and welcome to BarcaIngles!

Learning the English language and it’s eccentricities confuses people the world over…including Brits.

As with any language, sitting alone at a desk conjugating verbs is:

boring.

Studying how to spell correctly is:

confusing.

Because at the end of the day what everyone wants to do with their language skills is speak and listen!

Having the ability to chat with a native, and feel that you can bring your own personality to a new culture and language, is the main reason we strive to learn!

My name’s Hollie and currently I teach English to children in Barcelona. With BarcaIngles, however, I’m providing a platform for intermediate/advanced speakers to have a place where they can practice more advanced topics in a conversational setting; with an emphasis on native pronunciation and fluency.

Group conversations will be held in a variety of locations, somewhere where we can all relax and enjoy what you’ve studied over the years. I will guide and correct conversations as they flow, whilst introducing aspects of English history and culture at each event.