Hway Adv 5th ed SB62 – talking about hypothetical situations using the past tense
- Conditionals , including mixed conditionals
- It’s time the government did something aboiut unemployment
- as if he were the most intelligent person on the planet
- I wish / If only you didn’t have to leave
- I’d rather you didn’t do that, if you don’t mind
- Suppose he resigned ….what would they do without him?!
- For more emphasis, you can invert » if he had …» to » had he ….»
- Had he told the truth at the beginning, we wouldn’t be in this mess now!»
Some useful language:
- Young at heart
- Life is for living
- Live the moment
- power of attorney
Be careful!:
- at last vs at least
- you can also use » last but not least …»
- modal vs non-modal
- non-modal structures describe an action, situation or fact
- my wife doesn’t help me in the house (this is the situation – maybe I am ok with this)
- modal structures describe evaluations of or attitudes linked to actions, situations or facts
- my wife won’t help me in the house (shifts the focus to her refusal to collaborate , and thus seems to express frustration or annoyance with my wife)
- Therefore, would (as the past of will) can focus on a decision or willingness to do a past action, rather than on the action itself.
- At weekends I used to go fishing with my grandfather (describes the situation)
- At weekends I would go fishing with my grandfather (using ‘would’ expresses my decision or willingness to do it, thus implying it was something I liked and adding nostalgia.
- non-modal structures describe an action, situation or fact
How does writing improve speaking?
I have attached a couple of academic articles. Below are the main points:
- Integrating writing into language practice can significantly enhance oral fluency and communicative competence
- by writing regularly, learners become more comfortable with language construction, leading to more coherent and confident speech
Writing
- is a foundation for
- clarity of expression
- grammatical accuracy
- vocabulary development
- contributes to
- cognitive language processing
- pronunciation planning
- discourse structuring
- offers the chance for key processes in developing fluency and accuracy
- cognitive rehearsal
- controlled practice
- reflection
- allows learners to
- slow down thinking
- plan carefully
- experiment with more complex language
- enhances, via repeated exposure and practice,
- internalization of language items
- accessibility of language items during speech
- strengthens the syntax-phonological connection
- thus improves pronunciation, in particular stress and logical pauses
- can reduce speaking anxiety
- allows learners to rehear and prepare for speaking
- improves learners’ abilities to learn fixed expressions, and recall and use them while speaking
- «on the one hand….on the other hand», «I’d just like to say…», «said having that…»
In conclusion, writing is a powerful tool for developing fluent and confident speaking, and can be an important strategic support for speaking development.
What about reading?
Reading is an excellent way to increase your exposure to language and develop lexis, structure and discourse.
Read whatever you like – if you like it, you will be more engaged and your reading will be more effective in developing your language skills.
At your level, you can read original texts, but try not to go for over-complex ones – for example I do not recommend Gravity’s Rainbow by Thomas Pynchon! However, the Jason Bourne books should be Ok!
There are a lot of graded readers for learners. In all the following, I would go for at least level 6 (C1)