In this week’s podcast, I chatted a little about my hometown, Gloucester, and talked about the passive voice. I also answered a question about whether to use try + infinitive or try + verb-ing.
First, let’s have a look at (and watch) some of places and events I talked about on the podcast.

Click on the links and see what I was talking about.
Gloucester Cathedral / King Edwards II’s shrine / Gloucester Rugby /
 Kingsholm (Gloucester Rugby Stadium) / Cheese-rolling / The River Severn /Surfing the Severn Bore

Now, let’s have a look at the grammar.

The Passive Voice

The passive is formed with ‘be’ + past participle. Here are five sentences from this week’s podcast which contain the passive voice.

1. Gloucester was founded in the year 97 by the Romans. (Past simple passive)
2. (The cathedral) was built almost a thousand years ago.(Past simple passive)
3. Games are usually played on Saturday afternoons. (Present simple passive)
4. The cheese is thrown from the top of the hill . . . (Present simple passive)
5. The wave is surfed by people from all over the world. (Present simple passive)

In sentences 1 and 5 we include the agent(s) of the verb (the person/people doing the actions). Here the preposition ‘by’ introduces the agent.

We use the passive voice for a number of reasons.

1. To emphasise the person or object the action is happening to (as in example sentences 1 and 5).
2. When the agent of the verb (the people doing the action) is unknown (as in example sentences 2 and 4)
3. When the agent of the verb (the people doing the action) is obvious (as in example sentence 3 – it is obvious that games are played by Gloucester rugby club)

For more information about the passive click here. For online exercises practising the passive click here. To watch a video about the passive click here.

Question Time


Takahiro from Japan wrote in to ask whether it is correct to use try + infinitive or try + verb-ing. In the podcast, I said both are correct but the meaning will be different.

Try + infinitive

When a person tries to do something, they make an  effort to do it. They may succeed or they may fail. However, it is more often used to talk about a failed effort.

For example,

I tried to call you, but you didn’t answer your phone.
I tried to warn him, but he just didn’t listen.

Try + verb-ing

When a person tries doing something, they do it with the goal of finding out what will happen when they do it.

For example,

The computer stopped working, so I tried turning it off and on again. It worked!
I tried playing golf once. I was terrible! Never again.


That brings me to the end of this blog post. I hope you found it useful.

​All the best,
Mark

In this week’s podcast, I talked about my cat, Tikka, and described her using personality adjectives and cat-related vocabulary.

Let’s begin by looking at the cat-related vocabulary I mentioned in the podcast. Have a look at the words below. If you don’t understand one of the words, click on it and the link will take you to a picture or video.
paw / claw / whiskers / tail / fur /meowing

If you look at the photo above, you can see that Tikka has medium-length fur, green eyes and white whiskers.

In the podcast I used a number of adjectives to describe Tikka’s character. Here they are with definitions.

Friendly  / Sociable = happy to talk and interact with people
Curious = enjoys learning and knowing new things
Chatty / Talkative = enjoys talking
Noisy = someone who makes a lot of noise

Practice activity

In today’s blog, I have provided an activity which you can do to practice personality adjectives.

Part 1:

First, think of your favourite animal. Then, choose three personality adjectives to describe that animal.
For example, my favourite animal is aturtle. I think a turtle is curious, friendlyand easy-going

Second, think of your next favourite animal. Then, choose three different personality adjectives to describe that animal.
For example, my second favourite animal is a squirrel.I think a squirrel isenergetic, brave and chatty.

Finally, think of your third favourite animal. Then, choose three new personality adjectives to describe that animal.
For example, my third favourite animal is an otter. I think an otter is hard-working, confident and calm.

Part 2:

Now that you have written your three animals and chosen three personality adjectives, it’s time to find out what this means.

​Scroll down this page for the answers.


















A bit further.














A little more, please.














And here we are.
​
The first animal is what you think you are like. For example, I think I am curious, friendly and easy-going.
The second animal is what your friends think you are like. For example, my friends think I am energetic, brave and chatty.
The third animal is what you are reallylike. For example, I am hard-working, confident and calm.


That bring us to the end of this week’s blog.
I hope you found it fun and useful.
See you next time,
Mark

In today’s podcast, I talked about what to expect in future English Chat podcasts. I also chatted a little about myself and explained when to use the past simple and the present perfect.
So, let’s have a look at the grammar.

The Past Simple

“I first started teaching in 2002.”
‘My first job was in Sydney. I taught English there for six months.’
“Then, in 2003 I moved to Japan. I lived there for three years.”
In these sentences, I used the past simple to talk about completed actions that took place in the past.

The Present Perfect

“I’ve lived in eleven countries.”
“I’ve done a lot of travelling.”

Here, I used the present perfect because I am describing experiences that I have had . I don’t mention a specific time in the past. All the listener knows is that they happened at some time in my life.
One of the easiest ways to remember when to use the past simple or present perfect is to think about whether the time period you are talking about is finished (yesterday, last year, in 2002) or unfinished (this year, today, since 2002, in my life). With finished time we use the past simple and for unfinished time we use the present perfect.

Compare these sentence pairs:

I saw the new Star Wars movie yesterday. (Finished Time / Past Simple)
I have seen the new Star Wars movie (at some time in my life). (Unfinished Time / Present perfect)

I visited Spain last year. (Finished Time / Past Simple)
I have visited Spain three times (in my life). (Unfinished Time / Present perfect)

For more information about the present perfect click here.