■■■■■■■ 5 STARS ■■■■■■■
● Marriage is give and take. You'd better give it to her or she'll take it anyway.
● So many things we wish we had done in the past, (and yet) so many few we feel like doing today.
● It makes no sense to worry about things you have no control over because there is nothing you can do about them, and why worry about things you do control? The activity of worrying keeps you immobilized.
● Don't be so humble - you are not that great.
● The power of accurate observation is frequently called cynicism by those who don't have it. George Bernard Shaw
● I’ve lowered my expectations to the point where they’ve already been met.!
● Don’t worry about what people think. They don’t do it very often.
● A religion contradicting science and a science contradicting religion are equally false.
● A witty saying proves nothing." - Voltaire.
■■■■■■ GRAMMAR RULES ■■■■■■■
ABOUT vs ON
● A man in a bookstore buys a book on loneliness and every woman in the store hits on him. A woman buys a book on loneliness and the store clears out.
● I'm trying to finish my book on the Kennedy assassination.
● I was going to buy a book on hair loss, but the pages kept falling out.
● Saddam Hussein wrote the book on human rights violations.
● The most important book on the Internet is, essentially, the Internet.
● In high school, I won a prize for an essay on tuberculosis. When I got through writing the essay, I was sure I had the disease.
● I never had a policy about marriage. I got married very young in life and I always think in all relationships, I've always thought that it's counterproductive to have a theory on that. Jack Nicholson
● Someday, I'll write a book about what I've been through.
● Nobody's going to write a book about me, because nobody's going to find anything worth writing a book about.
ABOUT TO
● Einstein developed a theory about space And it was about time too.
● Nothing is so dear as what you're about to leave.
● I often feel that life is about to begin, only to realize it is almost over.
● I thank you in advance for the great round of applause I'm about to get.
● I'm not about to write my memoirs. Not for a long time.
ADJECTIVES: Compound adjectives
1. With present participle (-ing).
● Character is long-standing habit. Plutarch
● The most thought-provoking thing in our thought-provoking time is that we are still not thinking. Martin Heidegger
● I try to make things interesting and thought-provoking. C. Kaufman
● I always felt like my future was at stake every time I stepped on stage and that was kind of hair-raising.
2. With past participle -ed:
● I want my audiences to be as open-minded as my characters.
● I'm from Boston, and I'm hard-headed, opinionated and a good arguer.
ADJECTIVES ENDING IN -ING (Present participles)
● Living is no laughing matter: you must live with great seriousness like a squirrel for example, I mean living must be your whole occupation.
● The starting point of all achievement is desire.
● Desire is the starting point of all achievement.
● What's best for you may be living hell for me.
● Water is the driving force of all nature. Leonardo da Vinci
● You're fighting a losing battle if you expect the people who own the studios to make moral choices.
● Hope is a waking dream. Aristotle
● Everywhere is walking distance if you have the time.
● When I'm training in December, I have to eat like 6,000 calories a day to maintain my weight. It's a bit tiring. Andy Murray.
● I'm not an admirer of action movies. I just think, Oh my God, it must be so tiring. Catherine Deneuve
NOUN-VERB+ING
● Problem-solving skills consist of a set of skills that help you identify the problem, propose solutions, choose the best one, and implement it.
● A recently acquired photo-copier has proved a great time-saving boon for note taking.
● Plan everything to give time-saving efficiency, for you will need it - time is literally money in these circumstances.
ADVERB-VERB+ING
● Life is a never ending learning process.
ADJECTIVES WITHOUT NOUNS (WELL-KNOWN GROUPS).
● Ask the young. They know everything. Joseph Joubert
● I blush easily. I have difficulty meeting people's eye, difficulty with public speaking, the normal afflictions of the shy, but not to a paralysing degree.
● Life is a dream for the wise, a game for the fool, a comedy for the rich, a tragedy for the poor.
● The passions of the young are vices in the old. Joseph Joubert
● Unemployment is of vital importance, particularly to the unemployed.
The lives of the young are so tumultuous. Amitava Kumar
● Christ was God in human flesh, and He proved it by rising from the dead.
● The weak are more likely to make the strong weak than the strong are likely to make the weak strong. Marlene Dietrich
● This weakening is worsened by the widening distance between the governed and their governments.
ADJECTIVES WITH "THING"
● The hardest thing about learning English is understanding the gerund.
● Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow. The important thing is not to stop questioning. Albert Einstein
● The important thing is to be in love with something. Ray Bradbury
● There's no question that a great script is absolutely essential, maybe the essential thing for a movie to succeed. Sydney Pollack.
● The depressing thing about tennis is that no matter how good I get, I will never be as good as a wall.
● The only thing we have to fear is fear itself. Franklin D. Roosevelt.
ADJECTIVES (After HOWEVER, HOW, AS, SO, and TOO).
● However difficult life may seem, there is always something you can do and succeed at. Stephen Hawking.
● However big the fool, there is always a bigger fool to admire him.
● When your friends begin to flatter you on how young you look, it's a sure sign you're getting old. Mark Twain
● Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go. T. S. Eliot
● It does not matter how slow(ly) you go as long as you do not stop.
Confucius.
● Anyone who has ever struggled with poverty knows how extremely expensive it is to be poor.
● Life is too short to be taken seriously. Oscar Wilde.
ADJECTIVES (with prepositions)
● I'm not good at meeting people, and I'm not good at small talk.
● I'm (so) bad at hiding my emotions.
AT DOING IT vs TO DO IT (with prepositions and with infinitives)
● How clever are you at doing it! (que bien se te da eso!)
● How clever are you to do it! (que listo eres al hacerlo!)
ADJECTIVES FROM PHRASAL VERBS (participle adjectives)
● She is the outgoing president. (leaving)
● I'm very shy so I became very outgoing to protect my shyness.
● I would say that one of the things I wish I could do differently would be to be more outgoing (and social). Syn: extroverted.
● This is an ongoing problem Vs The problem is ongoing.
● Parenting is an ongoing learning process.
● Television provides the opportunity for an ongoing story - the oppor-tunity to spend more time there. (continuing, en curso). David Lynch
● There is nothing wrong with commercial cinema if it is made well. In fact, if you ask me, the Hindi film industry has also produced some truly outstanding works over the years.
● Outstanding people have one thing in common: An absolute sense of mission.
ADVERBS TO START A SENTENCE
● Ironically, now that my children are older and gone quite a bit, I find it harder to work when they're not around. Too much free time!
● Statistically, people who have been happily married and then widowed tend to remarry
● Unsurprisingly, Nelson Mandela had and still has many detractors.
● Understandably, no peace can be sustained when people continue to suffer from hunger, lack of jobs, lack of basic public services - and most of all - lack of opportunity or hope.
● Unfortunately, Unquestionably, Undeniably, Undoubtedly, Regrettably.
ADVERBS OF DEGREE (fairly, quite, rather, and pretty)
Quite (1considerably, very, 2. completely.)
● No woman should ever be quite accurate about her age. It looks so calculating. Oscar Wilde
● I've discovered that I pretty much like any Taylor Swift song, but only when it's a remix.
● Deep down (inside), I'm pretty superficial. Ava Gardner
FAIRLY and RATHER (2)
● It's fairly hot (positive) vs It's rather (negative) hot
● I'm rather conservative when it comes to what I wear.
ALIKE (adv: equally or similarly, like each other, adj: similar-looking)
● Great minds think alike.
● Wise people will normally think and behave alike in certain situations.
● I like actors very much, but to marry one would be like marrying your brother. You look too much alike in the mirror.
● If everyone is thinking alike, then somebody isn't thinking.
● Where all men think alike, no one thinks very much.
● My two daughters are very much alike.
● I see lots of differences between Australians and Americans - but as mothers, I think we're pretty much alike!
● People are pretty much alike. It's only that our differences are more susceptible to definition than our similarities.
AND (time, cause and effect, contrast, condition)
● I received my parents' permission and went into the Navy on June 3, 1941. (time)
● I won't back down. I get a satisfaction from being tested and defeating the test. (time)
● My life is my life, and I'll live it. (cause and effect).
● A little sincerity is a dangerous thing, and a great deal of it is absolutely fatal. (contrast)
● Love yourself first and everything else falls into line. (condition)
● Show me a hero and I'll write you a tragedy. F.S. Fitzgerald. (condition)
● Marry me and I'll never look at another horse! G. Marx (condition)
● Take care of your character and your reputation will take care of itself.
(condition)
● (The definition of) Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. (time)
1. AND WHY ...?
● It makes no sense to worry about things you have no control over because there is nothing you can do about them, and why worry about things you do control? The activity of worrying keeps you immobilized.
2. AND + SO / SO ON / THEREFORE / YET / STILL
● My mother is my manager and so knows exactly what I do and so on.
● So many things we wish we had done in the past, and (yet) so many few we feel like doing today.
● I'm cheap, and so I don't like wasting.
ANYMORE (any longer)
● Buy land, they're not making it anymore. Mark Twain
● I love life and nothing intimidates me anymore. Olivia Newton-John
● I'm bored with that line. I never use it anymore. My new line is 'In 15 minutes everybody will be famous.' Andy Warhol
● When you're 40, you can't ride the fence anymore. You gotta make definite decisions about your life. Dolly Parton
ANY WAY and ANYWAY
● No, I'm not perfect in any way.
● My husband is not a jealous person in any way. Kate Winslet
● You have to win any way you can.
● You have to think anyway, so why not think big? Donald Trump
● Eat right. Stay fit. Die anyway.
AS, BECAUSE, SINCE and FOR
● Do you love life? Then do not squander time, for that is the stuff life is made of. Benjamin Franklin ...
● Always be kind, for everyone is fighting a hard battle. Plato
● Writing to-do lists can be a real life-saver, since it reduces the stress of trying to remember things like a meeting or what you need to pick up at the grocery store.
AS vs LIKE ( prep. while being, function: as your father vs like your father; como
cuando adv)
● As a teacher in a deprived area, I had worked with a lot of troubled youngsters.
● As a child my family's menu consisted of two choices: take it or leave it.
● As a writer, you have to first of all write what you want to. Listen to advice, by all means, but don't get bogged down in it
● A certain degree of neurosis is of inestimable value as a drive, especially to a psychologist. Sigmund Freud
AS. (conj. in the same manner as: a la manera de, lo que. loc.)
● Do as I say, not as I do.
● I try to make my books reflect humanity as I see it.
● Unfortunately the global warming hysteria, as I see it, is driven by politics more than by science.
AS / WHEN / WHILE (simultaneous events)
● As I get older, I get happier.
● As you get older you have more respect and empathy for your parents. Now I have a great relationship with both of them. Hugh Jackman
● As I write, I try to be the character.
● Do not worry about avoiding temptation. As you grow older it will avoid you.
● When you're young, you want everything to happen now. As you mature, you can look back and see all the great things you achieved with time and patience.
AS (conjunction) / LIKE (preposition). Similarity
● Things are not (always) as we would like them to be. There is only one way to deal with it, namely to try and be all right oneself. Anna Freud
● Get your facts first, then you can distort them as you please. M. Twain
● Things are not always as we think they are. Your thoughts have incredible power to shape your life and the lives of others.
● Nobody Knows Jane Fonda as I do.
● Power is like being a lady... if you have to tell people you are, you aren't.
● I'm very like my father.
● Like my brother, I'm a vegetarian.
■ "AS" used as a preposition:
● Seeing the ordinary as extraordinary is something we all like to do.
● Women, like men, should try to do the impossible. And when they fail, their failure should be a challenge to others.
■ "LIKE" Informal use.
● Nobody loves Spain like I do.
● Love me like you do. (Ellie Goulding song)
AS (tan)
● There are no guarantees, but / just remember, even in the future, the sweet is never as sweet without the sour, and I know the sour. Brian, "Vanilla sky".
AS ... AS ...
● It's as much fun to scare as to be scared. Vincent Price.
● To go beyond is as wrong as to fall short. Confucius.
● You're as old as you feel.
● My inferiority complex isn't as good as everyone else's.
● I like my coffee to be as black as my soul.
● I'm constantly trying to be as original as I can.
● I can't paint as well as Vermeer. Gerhard Richter
● If theatre paid as well as movies and TV, I'd do it all the time.
● Go as far as you can see; when you get there, you'll be able to see farther.
● Be happy with being you. Love your flaws. And know that you are just as perfect as anyone else, exactly as you are. Ariana Grande
AS FAR AS
● As far as I'm concerned, being any gender is a drag.
● I am slightly shocked to have gone as far as I have.
● I've never met a murderer as far as I know. I would hate to.
AS SOON AS
● I'm ready to have a nervous breakdown and I shall do so as soon as I can find the time.
AS FOR / AS TO
● As for discipline and rules, I confess, I've never been good with either.
● As for success, I don't care for it. It is a fragile thing.
● Inside each of us, there is the seed of both good and evil. It's a constant struggle as to which one will win. And one cannot exist without the other.
AS IF / THOUGH vs LIKE (Similes)
● All my life I've looked at words as though I were seeing them for the first time. Ernest Hemingway
● Dream as if you'll live forever. Live as if you'll die today. James Dean.
● Enjoy the day as if it were your last. James De La Vega
● Live as if you were to die tomorrow, learn as if you were to live forever. M. Gandhi.
● We need to respect the oceans and take care of them as if our lives depended on it. Because they do.
● How can a woman be expected to be happy with a man who insists on treating her as if she were a perfectly normal human being. Oscar Wilde.
● Mr. Henry James writes fiction as if it were a painful duty. Oscar Wilde
● Live as if you were living a second time, and as though you had acted wrongly the first time.
● Live your life as though your every act were to become a universal law.
Immanuel Kant
● Sometimes, it will seem as if you'll never find the way, but you have to keep going.
● Stop acting as if life is a rehearsal. Live this day as if it were your last. The past is over and gone. The future is not guaranteed. Wayne Dyer
● To guarantee success / To be successful, act as if it were impossible to fail.
● Work as if you don't need money, dance as if nobody's watching, love as if you've never been hurt.
● You've gotta dance like there's nobody watching, love like you'll never be hurt, sing like there's nobody listening. And live like it's heaven on earth.
● Ladies seem very intrigued by a guy who is ultra confident and acts like he doesn't need you.
AS MUCH / MANY AS
● As much as you put into it is as much as you get out of it.
● I try to train as much as I can, as much as my schedule allows it.
● There are as many opinions as there are experts. Franklin D. Roosevelt
● I don't see as many movies as I used to. Or, I should say, as many movies as I would like to. Matt Damon
AS / SO LONG AS (2). Provided / providing (that).
● A man can be happy with any woman, as long as he does not love her. Oscar Wilde.
● It does not matter how slowly you go as long as you do not stop.
Confucius.
● I don't mind living in a man's world as long as I can be a woman in it. M. Monroe
● It does not matter how slowly you go as long as you do not stop. Confucius
● I just want to make music as long as I can and reach as many people as I can.
● So long as we are loved by others I should say that we are almost indispensable; and no man is useless while he has a friend. Robert
Louis Stevenson.
AS WELL (also, too)
● Eating is a necessity but a pleasure as well. Robert Battle
AS WELL AS
● You're a reader as well as a writer, so write what you'd want to read.
● I think love's exciting and happy, as well as being able to make you sad. Billy Idol.
● Hatred is blind, as well as love. Oscar Wilde.
● Love is the opener as well as closer of eyes.
● Poverty makes you sad as well as wise.
AT FIRST, FIRST and IN THE BEGINNING
● At first, I didn't really have a passion for acting.
● At first, I thoroughly enjoyed being famous.
● At first, dreams seem impossible, then improbable, and eventually inevitable.
● In the beginning there was nothing, which exploded.
● In the beginning of the year 1665, I found a method of approaching other playwrights' work that worked for me.
BARE VERB
● I'd rather annoy with the truth than please with adulation.
● I'd rather go naked than wear fur.
● Don't let schooling interfere with your education. Mark Twain.
● I've found men are less likely to let petty things annoy them. M Monroe
● God lets everything happen for a reason. It's all a learning process, and you have to go from one level to another. Mike Tyson
● If you're going to play the game properly, you'd better know every rule.
● If you hear a voice within you say 'you cannot paint,' then by all means paint, and that voice will be silenced. Vincent Van Gogh
● Believe that life is worth living and your belief will help create the fact.
BARE VERB (To have somebody do something)
To have + somebody + do something (infinitive without to) means ‘to convince somebody to do something’ or ‘to arrange for somebody to do something.
● I would (much) rather have men ask why I have no statue than why I have one.
BARE VERB IN THE NEGATIVE FORM
● You have to think anyway, so why not think big. Donald Trump.
● I would sooner fail than not be among the greatest. John Keats
● I'd rather work than not (work). I'd rather be here than stay home. I love this place.
BARE VERBS IN QUESTION
● When you have won everything in your career, what's left? Why go on?
● Why go on vacation when work is so much more fun.
● If you aren't going all the way, why go at all?
● Why go to a machine when you could go to a human being?
● Housework can't kill you, but why take a chance?
BE / HAVE (something / anything / nothing) TO DO WITH
● For me, the key to longevity and immortality, in a sense, has to do with transformation.
● Death is a very dull, dreary affair, and my advice to you is to have nothing whatsoever to do with it.
● To me, photography is an art of observation. It's about finding something interesting in an ordinary place... I've found it has little to do with the things you see and everything to do with the way you see them
BECAUSE OF
● The world is a dangerous place to live; not because of the people who are evil, but because of the people who don't do anything about it.
Albert Einstein
● We do what we do, because of who we are. If we did otherwise, we would not be ourselves. Neil Gaiman.
● We are what we are because of what we have been and done.
● I pretty much try to stay in a constant state of confusion just because of the expression it leaves on my face. Johnny Depp
BINOMIALS (dos and donts, touch and go ...)
● My carreer has had a lot of ups and downs but basically it has been wonderful.
● I don't regret any of my decisions. But yes, I feel that I should have planned my career well in Hollywood. But then again, I did not have any guidance. There was no one to tell me the dos and don'ts.
● I was stabbed when I was 17. It was touch and go, and my lung collapsed, and I was in hospital for five days.
BOTH (adjective)
● In every battle there comes a time when both sides consider themselves beaten, then he who continues the attack wins. U. S. Grant
BOTH (pronoun). The two of them.
● It is better to be feared than loved, if you cannot be both. Niccolo Machiavelli.
BUT (except / except for / only / as intensifier)
● I have nothing to declare but my genius. Oscar Wilde.
● I pretty much like all music but country. I'm not a big fan of country.
● I listen to all music but country and rap, and my favorite is the eighties music
EXCEPT
● The educated Southerner has no use for an 'r', except at the beginning of a word. Mark Twain
ONLY
● Nika Costa is but a child.
BUT NOTHING (intensifier)
● There was nothing good on TV, but nothing!
BUT IF ... THEN ...
● I'm selfish, impatient, and a little insecure. I make mistakes, I'm out of control, and at times hard to handle. But if you can't handle me at my worst, then you sure as hell don't deserve me at my best. M. Monroe
BY (method, agent)
● I always arrive late at the office, but I make up for it by leaving early.
● Many people make the mistake of saving money by wasting time.
● If I ever had any vanity, then I definitely lost it by being on television.
CAN'T HELP and CAN'T HELP BUT
● You can't help getting older, but you don't have to get old.
● Like you do about Nelson Mandela, you can't help feeling the guy's a good man.
● I'm silly. I can't help it.
● I can't help it: when something strikes me, I write it down. Donovan.
● I can't help who I fall in love with. No one can.
● I'm an outgoing girl, and I can't help the way I look. Samantha Fox
● People can't help how they look.
● Just look around; you can't help but laugh at something.
CARE, MIND & MATTER
● Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind.
● Age is an issue of mind over matter. If you don't mind, it doesn't matter.
CARE (ABOUT), CARE (FOR) and TAKE CARE
● Children are our future we must take care of them with maximum effort. Naomi Campbell
● If you do a good job right now, today, then tomorrow will take care of itself. That’s all you can do.
● We need to respect the oceans and take care of them as if our lives depended on it. Because they do.
● Take care of all your memories. For you cannot relive them. Bob Dylan
● We are so vain that we even care for the opinion of those we don't care for.
● I love caring for my home and family.
● As for success, I don't care for it. It is a fragile thing.
● I love being around people who care about me, and I care about them.
Novak Djokovic
● I care about people, but if they try to control me, I don't care about them.
CLEF SENTENCES (It's, what ... For emphasis)
IT'S (ONLY) / (BY) / (NOT UNTIL) ... THAT ...
1. The thing that (what) ... / The person who ... / The place where ... / The day when (or that) ... / The reason why ... We can put the words to be emphasized first or last in the sentence.
● I don't care much about music. What I like is sounds.
● I'm a big-city boy. What I like is big cities. It's not just what I like. It's what I write about. Salman Rushdie
● What I like is the idea of a group, even if it's just two people; the idea of solitude within a group.
● What I want is to be number one.
● What I want is the belt. It doesn't matter who has it.
● I never set out to be weird. It was always other people who called me weird. Frank Zappa.
● I think it won't be until after I've retired that I'm fully aware of what I've done or what I've gone on to achieve in my career. Lionel Messi.
● The reason why worry kills more people than work is that more people worry than work. Robert Frost
● Nashville is my home, and the reason why I get to do what I love.
Taylor Swift.
2. Emphasising verbs.
● What I do is (to) ...
3. Emphasising a whole sentence. (structures with "what" and "happen").
4. Preparatory "It". The words to be emphasised are joined to the relarive clause by "that"
● It's the people who try to be clever who never are; the people who are clever never think of trying to be.
● It's only by saying “no” that you can concentrate on the things that are really important.
● It's only by facing things that you ever put them behind you.
● It's only by not trusting (that) you turn someone into a liar.
● It's perseverence that's the key. It's persevering for long enough to achieve your potential.
5. Other structures. All (that) ... and expressions with "thing".
● We all make mistakes, and it's not until we make mistakes that we learn.
● It's not until they tell you you're going to die soon that you realise how short life is.
● It was not until I got sponsored at 12 that I finally owned a racket.
● It wasn't until after being graduated from college for almost a full year that I realized I hadn't really lived during those years ...
COGNATES (SPANISH)
1. Perfect cognates.
● In the confusion we stay with each other, happy to be together, speaking without uttering a single word. Walt Whitman.
● Confusion is a word we have invented for an order which is not understood. Henry Miller.
● To enjoy good health, one must first discipline and control his mind.
● If a man can control his mind he can find the way to Enlightenment, and all wisdom and virtue will naturally come to him. Buddha
2. Near perfect cognates.
● Tennis is a perfect combination of violent action taking place in an atmosphere of total tranquillity. Billie Jean King
● I think you should take your job seriously, but not yourself - that is the best combination.
● Sex, and the attraction between the sexes, does make the world go 'round.
● I have a kind of magnetic attraction to situations of violence.
● Meditation is not following any system; it is not constant repetition and imitation. Meditation is not concentration.
● Concentration is my motto; first honesty, then industry, then concentration. Andrew Carnegie
● If you are full of motivation as a player, if you are full of concentration, I am open arms. Jurgen Klopp
COLLOCATIONS
● I am fully aware of the critical moments we face as a country.
● I think it won't be until after I've retired that I'm fully aware of what I've done or what I've gone on to achieve in my career. Lionel Messi
● If you're reading to find friends, you're in deep trouble.
● Unless we tell stories about ourselves, which is all that theater is, we're in deep trouble.
I was very lucky. Things happened, both bad and good, but I never got into real, deep trouble. But it wore me down. By the time I was 18, I was done. I didn't want to live the life any more. (exhaust / tire).
COMPOUND ADJECTIVES
● To-do lists can be a real life-saver.
● I was stabbed when I was 17. It was touch and go, and my lung collapsed, and I was in hospital for five days.
● John Kennedy was a man with a quirky, larger-than-life personality
● I am not an over-the-top kind of person. (excessive, desmesurado).
● I really like guys who have confidence, but not the cocky over-the-top confidence.
● I used to teach fourteenth-century and fifteenth-century literature.
● It's a well known rule that sequels are inferior to originals. Like all rules, there will be exceptions.
WITH -ING
● I believe that life-saving, essential drugs should be freely available.
● I was very lucky to hear the story of Bugsy Siegel, it was life-saving for me. I wanted to share it in case it helped others.
COMPOUND NOUNS (get-go, no-go, no-brainer, letter-writing, onset, outcome, drawback, setback)
● If we want a different outcome, I think we should do it differently.
● Even though the Titanic disaster happened more than 80 years ago, I still get flashbacks. (When you get a sudden memory from the past).
● Fame has also this great drawback, that if we pursue it, we must direct our lives so as to please the fancy of men. Baruch Spinoza
● Poetry has the virtue of being able to say twice as much as prose in half the time, and the drawback, if you do not give it your full attention, of seeming to say half as much in twice the time.
● I know this sounds stupid, but in some ways, the way I look is a drawback.
● It's not the winning that teaches you how to be resilient. It's the setback. It's the loss.
● To have a comeback, you have to have a setback. Mr. T.
● If you don't learn from why you're in the position you're in, you are doomed to repeat it. You need to bring meaning to every setback.
ENDING WITH -ING
● I'm going to do some bird-watching this weekend.
● It's time I did some letter-writing.
ENDING WITH -ER
● I watched a documentary called 'Plastic Oceans' on Netflix, and it was an eye-opener for me.
● Prejudice is a great time saver. You can form opinions without having to get the facts.
● Yoga is a life-saver.
● I think work really is a life saver, because it carries you forward, which is good.
● For me, acting was a way of taking destructive energy and doing something productive with it, and in that way it was quite a life saver.
Nicolas Cage.
● Doing 'Magnificent Seven' was a no-brainer. (obvio, evidente).
● Leaving Oklahoma for Illinois is not the no-brainer some think it is.
● I don't really eat fried food. It's definitely a no go for me. (1)
● I've turned down millions of dollars to go on reality TV. It's an absolute no go. (1). Grace Jones.
(1) (complete failure): impossible, worthless, useless, pointless, no hay caso.
CONJUNCTIONS
1. COORDINATING CONJUNCTIONS.
A C.C. joining two independent clauses creates a compound sentence and requires a comma before the C.C. They go in between items joined): They join equals (words, phrases & clauses): for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so.
● If you love life, don't waste time, for time is the stuff / what life is made up of. Bruce Lee.
● Take care of all your memories. For you cannot relive them. Bob Dylan.
● Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a battle you know nothing about.
● So many things we wish we had done in the past, and (yet) so many few we feel like doing today.
● Be happy with being you. Love your flaws. And know that you are just as perfect as anyone else, exactly as you are.
● My son doesn’t like to do his homework. Nor does he check his answers when he does do it.
● Nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished. Lao Tzu
● I love what I do, so I don't mind working.
2. CORRELATIVE CONJUNCTIONS
These pairs of conjunctions require equal (parallel) structures
AS ... AS ...
● It's never as good as it feels, and it's never as bad as it seems.
● A man's as old as he's feeling. A woman as old as she looks. Samuel
Taylor Coleridge.
● I want to continue to play and score as many goals as possible for as long as possible.
● I try to train as much as I can, as much as my schedule allows it.
● Do as much as possible, and talk of yourself as little as possible.
● You are as young as your self-confidence, as old as your fears; as young as your hope, as old as your despair.
● Dreams have as much influence as actions.
● As much as you put into it is as much as you get out of it.
BOTH ... AND ...
● Inside each of us, there is the seed of both good and evil.
● I think downloading is both saving and killing the music industry at the same time.
● Children are the most desirable opponents at scrabble as they are both easy to beat and fun to cheat.
EITHER ... OR ...
● "Either/Or", (1943) is the first published work of the Danish philosopher Søren Kierkegaard. (O lo uno o lo otro)
● Either you love me or you don't! (¡O me amas o no!)
● I say what I want to say and do what I want to do. There's no in between. People will either love you for it or hate you for it. Eminem.
● Whosoever / Whoever is delighted in solitude is either a wild beast or a god. Aristotle.
● There are two ways of being happy: We must either diminish our wants or augment our means - either may do
NEITHER ... NOR ...
● Marriage is neither heaven nor hell, it is simply purgatory. A. Lincoln
● Neither praise nor blame yourself. Plutarch.
● The universe seems neither benign nor hostile, merely indifferent.
Carl Sagan
NOT ONLY ... BUT (ALSO) ...
● A life spent making mistakes is not only more honorable (upright), but more useful than a life spent doing nothing. George Bernard Shaw
● To accomplish great things we must not only act but also dream, not only plan but also believe.
WHETHER ... OR ...
● You have to choose whether to love yourself or not. James Taylor
● Whether you think you can, or you think you can't, you're right. H. Ford
● Anyone who stops learning is old, whether at twenty or eighty. Anyone who keeps learning stays young.
● Whether you write down your to-do lists in a notebook or use a tool like Evernote, to-do lists can be a real life-saver.
● Try a thing you haven't done to figure out whether you like it or not.
● Sometimes, you have to go through a phase whether you like it or not.
RATHER ... THAN ...
● I'd rather annoy with the truth than please with adulation.
● I'd rather be hated for who I am than loved for who I am not.
● I'd rather try and fail than not try at all, (as they say).
● I'd rather control someone than be controlled.
NOT ... BUT ... (on the contrary, sino)
● Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country. John F. Kennedy
● The important thing is not to think much but to love much.
● The important thing is not to achieve but to strive.
● In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends. Martin Luther King.
● Life is not a problem to be solved, but a reality to be experienced.
● We are what we repeatedly do; excellence, then, is not an act but a habit.
NOT BECAUSE ... BUT BECAUSE ...
● We love life, not because we are used to living but because we are used to loving. Friedrich Nietzsche.
● The world is a dangerous place to live; not because of the people who are evil, but because of the people who don't do anything about it.
Albert Einstein
NOT WHETHER ... BUT WHETHER ...
● The real problem is not whether machines think but whether men do.
● My great concern is not whether you have failed, but whether you are content with your failure. Abraham Lincoln
NOT FROM ... BUT FROM
● We suffer primarily not from our vices or our weaknesses, but from our illusions.
NOT ... BUT RATHER...
● Try not to become a man of success, but rather a man of value.
● Strive not to be a success, but rather to be of value. Albert Einstein.
2.1. TWO CONJUNCTIONS TOGETHER
(so and yet can be used together with and)
● ... and because ...
● My mother is my manager and so knows exactly what I do and so on.
Jonathan Brandis.
● Life's hard and then you die. (Tears for Fears).
3. SUBORDINATING CONJUNCTIONS (and pairs of conjunctions)
AFTER (time: when, if)
● Perseverance is the hard work you do after you get tired of doing the hard work you already did.
● The real problem is what to do with the problem-solvers after the problems are solved.
● Education is what remains after one has forgotten what one has learned in school. Albert Einstein.
● I always feel good after I change my hair.
ALTHOUGH / THOUGH
● Although it is not true that all conservatives are stupid people, it is true that most stupid people are conservative. John Stuart Mill
● O' What may man within him hide, though angel on the outward side!
William Shakespeare.
● Personally I'm always ready to learn, although I do not always like being taught. Winston Churchill.
● The fact is, I was never too bright in school. I ain't ashamed of it, though. I mean, how much do school principals make a month?. M. Ali.
AS (in the same manner as, lo que)
● Do as I say, not as I do.
● I paint objects as I think them, not as I see them. Pablo Picasso.
AS (while)
● As I get older, I get happier.
AS (since, because)
● AS I was always the youngest, I had to fight for everything.
I didn't really have a favourite subject at school as I was useless at everything.
AS IF / AS THOUGH
● If you live each day as if it were your last, someday you'll be right.
● Live your life as though your every act were to become a universal law.
Immanuel Kant
● (Remember) Live your day as though it were your last (day).
AS SOON AS
● I started writing as soon as I started reading.
● As soon as there is life there is danger. Ralph Waldo Emerson.
● As soon as I could write, I was writing stories.
● As soon as things become predictable, they become boring.
BECAUSE
● Tremendous amounts of talent are lost to our society (just) because that talent wears a skirt.
BEFORE
● The superior man acts before he speaks, and afterwards speaks according to his action. Confucius
● Before I have breakfast, I always feed the cat. (I always feed the cat ...)
● Before I did the military service, I went to university (I went to ... )
EVEN IF
● Right is right, even if everyone is against it, and wrong is wrong, even if everyone is for it.
● Even if nobody cared, I'm still gonna make music.
● Be yourself, whatever it is. Even if it's scary.
EVEN THOUGH
● Even though I'm an actor, I'm a very bad liar.
● Even though I moved to Florida, I'm still Polish.
HOW
● I'm acting from my heart. The way how I feel is the way how I act.
IF
● If you can't stand the heat, get out of the kitchen. Harry S. Truman
● If you love life, don't waste time, for time is what life is made up of. Bruce Lee
● If you are afraid of loneliness, do not marry. Anton Chekhov
IN CASE (THAT)
IN ORDER THAT / SO THAT
● Someone has to die in order that the rest of us should value life more.
Virginia Woolf.
● Life is the art of being well deceived; and in order that the deception may succeed it must be habitual and uninterrupted.
IN (THAT) THAT
NO MATTER HOW
● No matter how well you do, no matter how successful you are, they're always going to criticize you.
● No matter how much we try to run away from this thirst for the answer to life, for the meaning of life, the intensity only gets stronger and stronger.
NOW THAT
● Now that I'm a father, I've forgiven my parents.
● Now that I'm gone, I tell you, don't smoke.
ONCE
● All truths are easy to understand once they are discovered; the point is to discover them. Galileo Galilei
● Once you make a decision, the universe conspires to make it happen.
Ralph Waldo Emerson
PROVIDED (THAT)
● A man can live with any woman provided (that) he does not love her.
SINCE
● I had this dream to become a writer since I was a teenager. P. Coelho
● Boredom is... a vital problem for the moralist, since half the sins of mankind are caused by the fear of it. Bertrand Russell
SO
● You have to think anyway, so why not think big? Donald Trump
SO THAT / IN ORDER THAT
● The king must die so that the country can live. Maximilien Robespierre
● Don't write so that you can be understood, write so that you can't be misunderstood.
● Live simply so that others may simply live.
● Someone has to die in order that the rest of us should value life more.
Virginia Woolf
● Men are born with two eyes, but with one tongue, in order that they should see twice as much as they say.
● I am always doing that which I cannot do, in order that I may learn how to do it. Pablo Picasso
SUPPOSING (THAT)
● We make a great mistake in supposing all people are capable of self-government.
THOUGH
● O' What may man within him hide, though angel on the outward side!
William Shakespeare
UNLESS
● Stop setting goals. Goals are pure fantasy unless you have a specific plan to achieve them.
● Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It's not. Dr. Seuss
● A song is something you write because you can't sleep unless you write it.
● Age doesn't matter unless you're a cheese.
● Nothing will work unless you do.
● A true friend never gets in your way unless you happen to be going down.
UNTIL /TILL
● No one is listening until you make a mistake.
● You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view. Harper Lee
● A woman is like a tea bag - you can't tell how strong she is until you put her in hot water. Eleanor Roosevelt.
● Procrastination is the bad habit of putting off until the day after tomorrow what should have been done the day before yesterday.
UNTIL AFTER
● I grew up in a very large family in a very small house. I never slept alone until after I was married.
● I think it won't be until after I've retired that I'm fully aware of what I've done or what I've gone on to achieve in my career. Lionel Messi.
● I grew up in a very large family in a very small house. I never slept alone until after I was married.
● I don't think anyone should write their autobiography until after they're dead. Samuel Goldwin.
● It wasn't until after being graduated from college for almost a full year that I realized I hadn't really lived during those years ...
WHEN
● I shall have more to say when I am dead.
● When your friends begin to flatter you on how young you look, it's a sure sign you're getting old. Mark Twain
● One should always play fairly when one has the winning cards. Oscar Wilde.
WHENEVER
If you can substitute "every time that" or "at whatever time that" in your sentence, then whenever is preferred.
● Some cause happiness wherever they go; others whenever they go. Oscar Wilde.
● Oh, I eat whatever I want whenever I want it.
● Whenever I get happy, I always have a terrible feeling. Roman Polanski
WHERE
● You know, stand-up comedy is where I pretty much started out.
WHEREVER
● Some cause happiness wherever they go; others whenever they go.
WHETHER
● My great concern is not whether you have failed, but whether you are content with your failure. Abraham Lincoln
WHILE
● The art of medicine consists in amusing the patient while nature cures the disease. Voltaire
WHY
● I'm not entirely sure why I write.
● There's no reason why I should retire. Rod Stewart
4. ADVERBIAL CONJUNCTIONS (conjunctive adverbs)
These conjunction join independant clauses together.
Punctuation: Place a semicolon before the conjunctive adverb and a comma after the conjunctive adverb.
AFTER ALL
● After all, tomorrow is another day. Margaret Mitchell
● Difficulties are just things to overcome, after all. Ernest Shackleton
● Life is hard. After all, it kills you. Katharine Hepburn
● Tact is after all, a kind of mind reading.
AS A RESULT
● Men enter local politics solely as a result of being unhappily married.
● My heart has been resuscitated as a result of becoming a mom.
BESIDES (adverbial conjunction)
● I learned long ago, never to wrestle with a pig. You get dirty, and besides, the pig likes it. George Bernard Shaw.
BESIDES (preposition)
● I like a teacher who gives you something to take home to think about besides homework.
● I can do something else besides stuffing a ball through a hoop. My biggest resource is my mind. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
CONSEQUENTLY
● Peter Sellers was a solitary character, always preferring to hide behind a mask, and consequently, you never really got to know the real Sellers.
Roger Moore.
● Remember that you are an Englishman, and have consequently won first prize in the lottery of life.
FURTHERMORE
● If you are working in an office, where do you find the time to write a novel? But you can finish a short story in five pages. Furthermore, a short story is a perfect place to learn the craft.
HENCE
● There is no end of craving. Hence contentment alone is the best way to happiness. Therefore, acquire contentment.
HOWEVER
● Trauma is a fact of life. It does not, however, have to be a life sentence.
● Power does not corrupt men; fools, however, if they get into a position of power, corrupt power. George Bernard Shaw
INDEED
● The world is indeed comic, but the joke is on mankind. H. P. Lovecraft.
● If people are good only because they fear punishment, and hope for reward, then we are a sorry lot indeed. Albert Einstein
IN FACT
● It is often said that before you die your life passes before your eyes. It is in fact true. It's called living.
IN OTHER WORDS (that is to say).
● No one should be ashamed to admit he is wrong, which is but saying, in other words, that he is wiser today than (he was) yesterday. Al. Pope.
INSTEAD (of)
● My mother said to me, 'If you are a soldier, you will become a general. If you are a monk, you will become the Pope.' Instead, I was a painter, and became Picasso. Pablo Picasso.
● I didn't go to Greece after all. Instead, I went to America.
● Ask not what your country can do for you. Instead, ask what you can do for your country; “(J. F. Kennedy).
● Strive for continuous improvement, instead of perfection.
● Instead of building walls, we should be building bridges.
● (I think that) Vietnam was what we had instead of happy childhoods.
LIKEWISE
● In order that all men may be taught to speak the truth, it is necessary that all likewise should learn to hear it. Samuel Johnson.
● Wedding is destiny, and hanging likewise.
MOREOVER (additionally, furthermore, what's more)
● The fact that life has no meaning is a reason to live - moreover, (it is) the only one. Emil Cioran
NEVERTHELESS
● There's love, and certainly children you care about more than yourself. But nevertheless, we're alone in our heads. Paul Auster.
NONETHELESS
● I try to be well informed. I don't know how well I do all the time, but I try nonetheless. (despite this).
ON THE CONTRARY
● We do not live to think, but, on the contrary, we think in order that we may succeed in surviving. Jose Ortega y Gasset
● I've never thought of my characters as being sad. On the contrary, they are full of life. They didn't choose tragedy. Tragedy chose them. Juliette Binoche.
ON THE OTHER HAND
● Change brings opportunities. On the other hand, change can be confusing.
● Actresses have more fear of being disliked. I, on the other hand, revel in it. Michael Douglas (enjoy greatly).
● On the other hand, you have different fingers.
OTHERWISE (or else)
● (You should) Always go to other people's funerals, otherwise they won't come to yours. Yogi Berra
● If you get up in the morning and think the future is going to be better, it is a bright day. Otherwise, it's not.
STILL
● My 20s were peaceful, privileged, but still I felt the desire to write angsty dramas.
THEREFORE
● The happiness of your life depends upon the quality of your thoughts: therefore, guard accordingly. Marcus Aurelius. (as should be done)
● There is no end of craving. Hence contentment alone is the best way to happiness. Therefore, acquire contentment.
THUS
● An American monkey, after getting drunk on brandy, would never touch it again, and thus is much wiser than most men. Charles Darwin
● We are condemned to kill time, thus we die bit by bit. Octavio Paz
CONVERSION (nominalization)
1. Noun to verb:
● Shakespeare was the conversion expert. 'I eared her language.' 'He words me.'
2. Adjective to noun:
● A problem is a chance for you to do your best.
● I make mistakes, I am out of control and at times hard to handle. But if you can't handle me at my worst, then you sure as hell don't deserve me at my best.
● Hope for the best but prepare for the worst.
● Maybe your weird is my normal. Who's to say?
● If you set out to do something and you give it your all and it doesn't work out, be willing to modify your goal slightly.
● Who's to say where funny stops and 'too far' starts?
2.1. Adjective to verb:
● I am grateful that my horizons were not narrowed at the outset.
● That team bested us in the finals. (beat)
3. Verb to noun: Turning verbs into nouns.
● dos and don’ts
(also do’s and don’ts) things that you should and should not do in a particular situation
The booklet lists the dos and don’ts of caring for dogs.
● Our necessities never equal our wants. Benjamin Franklin
● I like to go for a run; it really clears my head and releases any stress from the day.
● Writing is a workout, just like going for a run!
● My take on fashion involves comfort. (US interpretation, version; view, opinion). Ex: What's your take on the issue?
● Having a think about whether you can afford 'this' or 'that' is a good discipline to have.
● We need to have a talk on the subject of what's yours and what's mine.
● We should begin to shorten the abyss between haves and have-nots.
(the haves and the have-nots los ricos y los pobres)
● The adult New Yorker readers I know do actually consistently say that they are looking for an easy read, a fun read, an unchallenging read.
● With drive and a bit of talent, you can move mountains. I know. I've done it.
● I never went to college when I was young and am looking forward to giving it a try... at age 65! Martin Sheen.
● I'd like to have a go at directing. Ben Whishaw
● The truth is, I should have never done teaching. I did teaching because I didn't have the bottle to have a go at comedy. (1)
(1) British term: "Haven't got the balls", "Haven't got the guts", "Haven't got the nerve"
● There are two ways of being happy: We must either diminish our wants or augment our means - either may do - the result is the same and it is for each man to decide for himself and to do that which happens to be easier. Benjamin Franklin
4. Adverb to noun
● He who has a why to live (for) can bear almost any how. F. Nietzsche
● The why of why we are here is an intrigue for adolescents; the how is what must command the living.
● Eliminate the whos, the wheres, the whats, the whens that keep you from your identity. Do it by process of elimination: eliminate what you're not first and you'll find yourself where you need to be: you are the author of the book of your life.
5. Pronoun to noun.
● When I'm on the pitch, I enjoy myself, and I try to give my all. Antoine Griezmann. (everything). n.
● I love my wife; she's everything to me! (what is most important) todo.
6. Conjunction to noun
● Life's short. Anything could happen, and it usually does, so there is no point in sitting around thinking about all the ifs, ands and buts. Amy Winehouse.
7. Phrasal Verbs to nouns.
I show off - I'm a very good show off. It's what I do, it's what I'm good at.
Robbie Williams
* Inf. (sb who is boastful) (coloquial) creído/a: I don't like her – she's such a show-off (No me cae bien; es una creída). 2. Boast (fanfarronear).
DARE
● Dare to be who you are.
● There's something liberating about not pretending. Dare to embarrass yourself. Risk. Drew Barrymore.
● We have to dare to be ourselves.
● Don't you dare understimate the power of your own instinct.
● Don't you dare think of giving up.
● A friend is someone with whom you dare to be yourself ...
● There are many who dare not kill themselves for fear of what the neighbours will say.
● He who dares not reason, is a slave.
● I accept reality and dare not question it. Walt Whitman
● How often things occur by mere chance which we dared not even hope for.
● It's not because things are difficult that we dare not venture. It's because we dare not venture that they are difficult. Lucius A. Seneca.
● To dare is to lose one's footing momentarily. Not to dare is to lose oneself. Soren Kierkegaard
DARE SOMEONE
● Knock on that door! I dare you! (challenge): desafiar, retar.
DERIVATION (-ER)
-ER
● There are two types of people in this world…'Doers' and 'watchers'…
Are you a doer or a watcher?
● Great talkers are little doers.
Meaning: Those people who talk a lot and are always teaching others usually do not do much work.
● I'm a shocker. I like to create controversy. It's my trademark.
1. slang: adj. horrifying, acojonante adj. terrible.
2. slang: sth of very poor quality, basura, bazofia.
3. Surprise, impactante.
● I'm a highly-educated man, maybe a shocker to some. I have a master's degree. I'm no dumbo.
● But, you know, it's still a drag to get your picture taken when you're eating a sandwich. It's a downer. Keanu Reeves
● Love is the opener as well as closer of eyes.
downer: n. slang, (depressing situation) deprimente, desalentador, adj.
● Being around the basketball team after they lost the championship was a real downer.
● Valentine's Day is definitely one of those days where it's either awesome or it's a downer.
● I'm learning to accept the lack of privacy as the real downer in my profession. Halle Berry
Downer n slang (depressant drug) calmante, tranquilizante, sedante. adj.
● I was taken to the emergency room for overdosing on downers.
(sobredosis de tranquilizantes).
Upper, slang (drug: amphetamine) droga estimulante.
● I used to take a couple of uppers before going to work.
● I'm from Boston, and I'm hard-headed, opinionated and a good arguer.
- NESS
● Get rid of the sadness. Go back to the madness.
DESPITE / IN SPITE OF / (THE FACT THAT)
● Common sense is in spite of, not as the result of education. V. Hugo
● Despite the (high) cost of living, have you noticed how popular it remains?
DIALECT
Double negatives are possible in standard English. Compare
● Say nothing. (Be silent)
● Don't just say nothing. (Tell us what the problem is; don't be silent).
Two or more negatives can be used with a single negative meaning.
● I ain't never done nothing to nobody, and I ain't never got nothing from nobody no time. (American song by Bert Williams).
More natural:
● Every day I regret not having studied music when I was younger / in my youth.
● I wish I had studied music when I was younger.
DISCOURSE MARKERS SENTENCE STARTERS
● When you come/it comes down to it
● When you come down to it, we all depend on others.
● When you come down to it, however, the basic problems of life have not changed.
● At the end of the day, it's your decision and nobody else's.
● At the end of the day, we can endure much more than we think we can. Frida Kahlo.
● After All Is Said and Done .... More Is Said Than Done.
DO (substitute verb). Auxiliary verb + do.
● I smoke more than I used to (do)
● Come and stay with us. - I may (do).
● I found myself thinking of her as I had never done before.
● I didn't pass my exam, but I could have (done) if I'd tried harder.
● It takes less time to do a thing right, than it does to explain why you did it wrong.
● We need to respect the oceans and take care of them as if our lives depended on it. Because they do.
DO (general-purpose): well, bad(ly) ...
● My company didn't do very well last year.
● If your first film does badly, there's no guarantee of the second film.
● I want everybody to do well, I want everybody to succeed and I want there to continue to be options for everybody.
DO/DOES/DID. To avoid repeating a verb in a sentence.
● Tough times never last, but tought people do! Learn to handle any situation that comes your way.
● Develop a passion for learning. If you do, you will never cease to grow.
● If you got what it takes, you'll make it. If you don't, Shakespeare couldn't help you.
● People who think they know everything are a great annoyance to those of us who do. Isaac Asimov
● The real problem is not whether machines think but whether men do.
● I'm ready to have a nervous breakdown and I shall do so as soon as I can find the time.
DO/DOES/DID (SO/IT/THAT)
● Many people would sooner die than think; in fact, they do so. B Russell
DO ... ING. (inf. We use the informal structure do ... ing to talk about activities that take a certain time, or are repeated like jobs and hobbies).
There is usually a determiner: the, my, some, much, a lot of ...
● During the holidays I'm going to do some walking, some swimming and a lot of reading.
● Let your fingers do the walking (The Yellow pages advertisement)
DO is often followed by a compound noun that corresponds to verb+ obj:
● I'm going to do some bird-watching this weekend.
● It's time I did some letter-writing.
● I'll let my racket do the talking. John McEnroe
DO (PRESENT EMPHATIC): used to emphasise an affirmative verb.
● It's lonely at the top; but you do eat better.
● Garbiñe Muguruza does seem to be trying to play better.
● Do come in. (Please, come in).
● My wife doesn't do much, but what she does do, she does very well.
● It makes no sense to worry about things you have no control over because there is nothing you can do about them, and why worry about things you do control?
DID (PAST EMPHATIC)
● I did want to be Joni Mitchell for quite a long time. Val McDermid.
DO and MAKE (collocations)
● No one is listening until you make a mistake.
● If you're not making mistakes, then you're not doing anything. I'm positive that a doer makes mistakes.
● I just don't want to do well, I want the team to do well.
● The way to do well is to do well. Donald Rumsfeld
● Well, success does not mean doing well. Shirley MacLaine.
● I want all my films to do well.
● I make time to write.
● It's important to make time for yourself.
● I like to have fun, but I also try to make time for my son.
● You don't find time to write. You make time. It's my job.
● As an actor, it's hard to get work. Sometimes you have to make do with the jobs that you get.
● I eat to live and not the other way around. As a vegetarian, I'm not at all fussy about food and can make do with anything.
EITHER (adjective, determiner). Followed by a singular countable noun:
● Rooting for the offense is the safe way to go. You win either way.
● If you like my music, great, and if you don't, whatever. I'm going to keep making it either way. Katy Perry
● What's called a difficult decision is a difficult decision because either way you go there are penalties. Elia Kazan
EITHER (pronoun). Followed by ‘of’: Does either of you speak Chinese?
● As for discipline and rules, I confess, I've never been good with either.
● There are two ways to handle a woman, and nobody knows either of them.
● I had more fun making "Traffic" than either of the Ocean's films.
Steven Soderbergh.
● I don't regret either of my marriages, not for a minute.
EITHER (adverb). In negative sentences: Jerry wasn’t there either.
● Anyone who doesn't take truth seriously in small matters cannot be trusted in large ones either. Albert Einstein.
EITHER WAY ... (adverb, adverbial conjunction)
● Did God create man, or did man create God? Either way, the decision needs to be reviewed. Ashwin Sanghi
ELLIPSIS (If, when, whenever, infinitives, will/won't ...)
AS and THAN (comparative structures)
● The weather isn't as good as last year. (as it was last year)
QUESTION-WORD CLAUSES
● Become a successful writer. This book shows you how.
AFTER AUXILIARY VERBS (will, would, do ...)
● I wouldn't if I were you!
● Even though a lot of people keep trying to get me to retire, I won't.
● Murphy's Law states that if something can go wrong, it probably will,
INFINITIVES ("to" used instead of the whole infinitive)
● I don't dance much now, but I used to a lot.
● Do not worry about your originality. You could not get rid of it even if you wanted to.
● No, come to think of it, I don't think The Cure will end, but I can make up an ending if you want me to (do it).
● I don't know anything about music. In my line you don't have to. Elvis Presley.
● If you think you can fall, you're more likely to.
● My parents encouraged me to study art, but I didn't want to.
● You can't ignore politics, no matter how much you'd like to.
■ "be" and stative "have" are not usually dropped:
● There are more cars than there used to be.
● I've got more freckles than I used to have.
"BE" AFTER CONJUNCTIONS: when(ever), though, if, as, while, until, and, but, or ...)
● We pay when old for the excesses of youth.
● My philosophy is, 'Eat when hungry, stop when you're full.'
● When reading, only read. When eating, only eat. When thinking, only think.
● When angry, count to four; when very angry, swear. Mark Twain
● When marrying, ask yoursel this question: Do you believe that you will be able to converse well with this person into your old age. Everything else (in marriage) is transitory / irrelevant.
● Wise men, when in doubt whether to speak or to keep quiet, give themselves the benefit of the doubt, and remain silent. Napoleon Hill
● Be kind whenever possible. It is always possible. Dalai Lama.
● Whenever in doubt, listen to your heart instead of the mind ...
● If (you are) in doubt, ask for help.
● If (you are) about to go on a long journey, try to have a good night's sleep.
● There is only one good, knowledge, and (only) one evil, ignorance. Socrates.
● What's money? A man is a success if he gets up in the morning and goes to bed at night and in between does what he wants to do. B. Dylan.
● I'm poor but honest.
(HAD) BETTER (inf.)
● When you know something in your heart, you better not be quiet about it. You better speak out about it.
EMPHASIS (do/does, so)
1. Emotive and contrastive emphasis:
● You do look nice today!
● Your hair looks so good like that!
2. Contrastive emphasis:
● I don't take much exercise now, but I did play a lot of football when I was younger.
● I don't have much contact with my family, but I do see my mother occasionally.
3. To show that something expected actually happened:
● I thought I'd pass the exam, and I did pass.
4. In speech, we can give words extra stress, make them sound stronger:
● Jane phoned ME yesterday.
5. In emphatic sentences without auxiliary verbs, we can add DO to carry the stress:
● Do sit down
● She does like you.
● If he does decide to come, let me know, will you?
● It makes no sense to worry about things you have no control over because there is nothing you can do about them, and why worry about things you do control? The activity of worrying keeps you immobilized.
When auxiliary verbs are stressed the word order can change:
● You have certainly grown
● You certainly have grown.
Vocabulary (special words): so, really, just, bloody, why ever, what on earth ... where the hell ....?
STRUCTURES
1. Cleft sentences. (structures with "it" and "what" can be used to focus on particular parts of a sentence and give them extra importance):
● It was John who paid cor the drinks.
● What I need is a good rest.
2. "Do" can be used to emphasise an affirmative verb:
● She does seem to be trying.
● Do come in.
3. "Indeed" can be used to emphasise "very" with an adjective or adverb:
● I was very surprised indeed.
4. "Very" can emphasise superlatives (next, last, first and same)
● I was 4 years old when I sang in public for the very first time.
● The very first time I went to Madison Square Garden, I went to see the circus.
● We continue to elect the very same people, and we wonder why we get the same results.
● On the very same day that I ordered an iPad 2, I went shopping to buy myself a letter opener. I like to cover all my bases.
5. Repetition can be used for emphasis:
● My wife looks much, much older than she used to.
6. Myself, yourself, etc can be used to emphasise nouns.
● I got a letter from David Bowe himself.
ENABLE (enable someone to ...)
● Goals enable you to do more for yourself and others, too.
● The object of teaching a child is to enable him to get along without his teacher.
- EN VERBS (lengthen, shorten, strengthen, weaken, liken, widen, worsen ...)
● Laughing at your own mistakes can lengthen your life. Shakespeare.
● Laughing at your wife's mistakes can shorten it / your (own) life. Shakespeare's wife.
● Laughing at your / our mistakes can lengthen your / our (own) life. Laughing at someone else's / your wife's can shorten it.
● Nothing strengthens authority so much as silence. Leonardo da Vinci.
● To some extent I liken slavery to death. Marcus Tullius Cicero.
● I always liken life to a book where you turn the pages one at a time.
● I liken every character that I do to a relationship that you're in.
● I'd like to widen my education. I mean, I'd love to do some theater.
● The gap between the rich and poor is widening fast.
● Culture is the widening of the mind and of the spirit.
● This weakening is worsened by the widening distance between the governed and their governments.
● I liken actors and movies and TV shows to football teams. We all have our favorite ones.
● Everything you do, every experience that you have, enlightens you a little bit or worsens you.
● It is healthy to be reminded that the strongest might weaken and the wisest might err. Mahatma Gandhi.
VERBS RELATED TO ADJECTIVES (many of them end in "-en").
Meaning: get more ... or make more ...
● The fog thickened.
● His eyes narrowed.
● Richness in the world is a result of other people's poverty. We should begin to shorten the abyss between haves and have-nots.
● The weather's beginning to brighten up.
● They're widening the road here.
EN- VERBS (enlarge, enable ...)
● Social progress strengthens and enlarges freedom. Robert Kennedy
● Goals enable you to do more for yourself and others, too.
● The object of teaching a child is to enable him to get along without his teacher.
● This weakening is worsened by the widening distance between the governed and their governments.
EVER
● Be thankful for what you have; you'll end up having more. If you concentrate on what you don't have, you will never, ever have enough.
Oprah Winfrey
● I have never, ever focused on the negative of things. I always look at the positive.
● I have never, ever, been to Paris. (emphatic: never) nunca adv
● Don't be dependent. At all. Ever. Period.
● Anyone who has ever struggled with poverty knows how extremely expensive it is to be poor. James Baldwin
● Nothing that you have not given away will ever be really yours.
● The Beatles were one of the most successful bands ever. (of all time, in history) de todos los tiempos loc adv.
EXCLAMATIONS
We usually form exclamatives with "what" or "how". We use exclama-tions to express surprise or shock or a strong emotion about something.
● What an amazing car!; What a beautiful day!; What a beautiful day it is!
What a beautiful day it is, isn’t it!
● How I love the summer holidays!
We can use what + noun phrase ((+ verb) (+ tag)):
● What bad luck!; What bad luck they had!; What bad luck they had, didn’t they!
We often use "how" followed by an adjective only:
● How sweet!; How lovely!; How amazing!
We can use How + adjective/adverb + subject + verb:
● How interesting it was to hear her story!
● How wonderful it is to see you!
● How beautifully she sang! Everyone was delighted.
In informal styles, we can also use How + adjective + verb + subject. This is particularly common in American English:
● How clever am I!; How crazy is that!
Here are some short expressions we use to express surprise:
● Wow!; No way!; Gosh!; That’s amazing!
FOR and DURING
● I want to be a writer you can always depend on for a good read during your vacation, during your flight, during a time in your life when you want to forget the world around you.
● I did want to be Joni Mitchell for quite a long time. Val McDermid.
● I was doing two things at once for quite a long time. I was working in television and writing novels.
FOR ME and TO ME
● I always make time for the things that are important to me.
● Songwriting is therapeutic for me.
● To me, everything's competition. Mickey Rourke
● To me, speed kills.
● To me, family is first.
● Threats mean nothing to me.
● Working is living to me.
● Colorado's home for me.
FOR ... TO ...
1. After nouns
● A problem is a chance for you to do your best.
● The best time for you to hold your tongue is the time you feel you must say something or bust. Josh Billings
● Some people try to get you out of slavery for you to be their slave.
Mike Tyson
● It's a good idea for us to travel in different cars.
● It's time for everybody to go to bed.
● It was a big mistake for me not to keep John as a manager.
● It was a real shame for The Patriotsnot to win after all their work.
2. After pronouns:
● I must find somewhere for my son to practice the piano.
3. After adjectives:
● It is impossible for you to be remembered as a great team if you do not win the Champions League. Manuel Pellegrini.
● It's impossible for the job to be finished on time.
● It's important for the meeting to start on time.
● I'm anxious for the party tombe a success.
● She's anxious for us to see her work.
● I thought it strange for her to be out so late.
● Is it usual for foxes to come so close to the town?
● It is imperative for us to protect the flora and fauna around us.
4. After verbs:
● Fashion is for us to have fun.
● Your life is meant for you to understand and process, not to make anyone else happy.
● If God hadn't meant for us to eat sugar, he wouldn't have invented dentists. Ralph Nader
● I hate for you to see me this way. (Odio que me veas de esta forma).
● Honey, I hate for you to have to do that. (Odio que tengas que ...)
● I hate for people to feel sad.
5. Infinitive with its own subject:
● Ann will be happy to help you VS Ann will be happy for the children to help you.
● To ask Joe would be a big mistake VS For you to ask Joe would be a big mistake.
FRONTING. Sometimes, particularly in speaking, when we want to focus on something important, we bring it to the front of the clause. This is called ‘fronting’:
● All of a sudden, you have this newborn you have no training for. It's frightening.
● I bought a new camera. And a very expensive camera it was. (Most common word order: It was a very expensive camera.
● That book you told me about, they’ve made it into a film. (They’ve made that book you told me about into a film.)
GERUNDS
● You are not a problem that needs solving. Eckhart Tolle
● Learning never exhausts the mind. Leonardo da Vinci.
● A man who fears suffering is already suffering from what he fears. Michel de Montaigne.
● The secret of life is to appreciate the pleasure of being terribly, terribly deceived. Oscar Wilde
● Life is the art of being well deceived; and in order that the deception may succeed it must be habitual and uninterrupted. William Hazlitt
● (The definition of) Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.
● For me context is the key. From that comes the understanding of everything.
● If you think nobody cares if you're alive/about you, try missing a couple of payments.
● Start doing things you love.
● Sometimes, it will seem as if you'll never find the way, but you have to keep going.
● Sometimes paranoia's just having all the facts.
● There's one thing worse than being alone: wishing you were.
● When we quit thinking primarily about ourselves and our own self-preservation, we undergo a truly heroic transformation of consciousness
CAN'T HELP
● You can't help getting older, but you don't have to get old.
WORTH
● Truth is everybody is going to hurt you; you just gotta find the ones worth suffering for. Bob Marley.
GERUNDS AFTER VERBS
● Stop comparing yourself to others.
● Stop worrying about what other people think.
GERUNDS AFTER PREPOSITIONS
● Behaving like a princess is work. It's not just about looking beautiful or wearing a crown. It's more about how you are inside. Julie Andrews
● When it comes to giving advice, I can tell you a lot. When it comes to my problems, I (just) don't know what to do.
● I always arrive late at the office, but I make up for it by leaving early.
● Life is really simple, but we insist on making it complicated. Confucius
● Life isn't about finding yourself. Life is / but about creating yourself.
● I prefer drawing to talking. Drawing is faster, and leaves less room for lies. Le corbusier.
● Power is like being a lady... if you have to tell people you are, you aren't.
● To get divorced because love has died, is like selling your car because it's run out of gas.
● People don't necessarily identify me with doing adult things. J. White
● I fell in love with doing yoga.
● I had fallen in love with doing television.
FEEL LIKE
● There are so many things that we wish we had done yesterday, (and yet) so few that we feel like doing today. Mignon McLaughlin.
GERUND AFTER NOUN + PREPOSITION
● Literature is the most agreeable way of ignoring life.
● Memorization is key for understanding Anatomy.
● I truly believe that motivation is the key for learning a foreign language, sometimes much more than the right method.
● The trouble with having an open mind is that people will insist on coming along and trying to put things in it.
● Diplomacy is the art of letting someone else get your way.
● Tell your heart that the fear of suffering is worse than the suffering itself. P. Coelho.
● The noblest pleasure is the joy of understanding. Leonardo da Vinci.
● The reasons for learning a second language can be endless but the secret to success is motivation.
GERUNDS AFTER NOUNS / PRONOUNS
● It's understandable and almost touching that we should expect our partners to understand us without us having explained / having to explain what's up / going on.
● Prejudice is a great time saver. You can form opinions without having to get the facts.
● Gravitation is not responsible for people falling in love. A. Einstein.
GERUNDS AFTER ADJECTIVES + PREPOSITIONS
● Becoming a leader is synonymous with becoming yourself. It is precisely that simple, and it is also that difficult.
● People are good at intuition, living our lives. What are computers good at? Memory.
● I'm not good at meeting people, and I'm not good at small talk.
● I'm (so) bad at hiding my emotions.
AFRAID
To talk about fear of things that happen accidentally, we prefer "afraid of + -ing".
● I don't like to drive fast because I'm afraid of crashing.
● 'Why are you so quiet?' 'I'm afraid of waking the children.'
In other cases we can use "afraid + -ing" or "afraid + infinitive" with no difference in meaning.
I'm not afraid of telling / to tell her the truth.
GERUNDS IN THE NEGATIVE FORM
● Not admitting a mistake is a bigger mistake.
● Eating ice cream and not exercising is great. The downside is your health isn't so good.
● There is only one thing in life worse than being talked about, and that is not being talked about. Oscar Wilde.
● The thing I look forward to the most about retiring is not having to worry about my weight.
● I can accept failure, everyone fails at something. But I can't accept not trying. Michael Jordan
● It's only by not trusting that you turn someone into a liar.
GET + ADJECTIVE
● When the going gets tough, the tough get going.
● As I get older, I get happier.
● Why is it that when you get older you get more fearful? Sandra Bullock
● You can't help getting older, but you don't have to get old.
● I want us all to get on and be considerate of each other.
● No matter how much we try to run away from this thirst for the answer to life, for the meaning of life, the intensity only gets stronger and stronger.
GET + PARTICLE
● Do not take life too seriously. You will never get out of it alive.
GET + PARTICIPLE
● Travel often; getting lost will help you find yourself.
● I got married in 1989, and got divorced two years later.
● If you want to get laid, go to college. If you want an education, go to the library.
GET SOMETHING + PARTICIPLE
● If you spend too much time thinking about a thing, you'll never get it done.
GET + PRONOUN + INFINITIVE
● It would take wild horses to get me to talk.
● Even though a lot of people keep trying to get me to retire, I won't.
GET + INFINITIVES (to talk about a gradual change).
● After a few weeks I got to like the job better.
● My sister is nice when you get to know her.
GET + NOUNS / PRONOUNS + INFINITIVES
● It would take wild horses to get me to talk.
GO (changes): get, become, turn, grow.
With colors: go blue with cold, red with embarrassment, green with envy.
● Leaves go brown in autmn. (US: turn brown).
● Suddenly everything went black and I lost consciousness.
● My sister went white with anger.
Changes of quality:
● I went bald in my twenties.
● My car keeps going wrong.
Get, become, turn, grow.
● Please get ready now.
● You get younger every day.
We use "get", not go with old, tired and ill.
● What do you have to do to become a pilot?
● It was becoming vey dark. (inf. It was getting very dark).
HAD BETTER
● When you know something in your heart, you better not be quiet about it. You better speak out about it.
● Marriage is give and take. You'd better give it to her or she'll take it anyway.
● I'm from Brooklyn. In Brooklyn, if you say, 'I'm dangerous', you'd better be dangerous. Larry King.
● Life is too short to worry about anything. You had better enjoy it because the next day promises nothing (whatsoever).
● If you've got to work for the rest of your life, you'd better do something you'll enjoy.
HARDLY (EVER), SCARCELY and NO SOONER
● Business, you know, may bring you money, but friendship hardly ever does. Jane Austen
● I have hardly ever known a mathematician who was capable of reasoning. Plato
● I am in that temper that if I were under water I would scarcely kick to come to the top. John Keats
● We can scarcely hate anyone that we know.
● I am writing a book about the Crusades so dull that I can scarcely write it.
IF I WERE YOU
● If I were you I'd rather be me.
IF ONLY
● If only all straight weddings could be somehow gay-ified.
● Money is better than poverty, if only for financial reasons.
● Everything has a meaning, if only we could read it.
● If only I wasn't an atheist, I could get away with anything.
IF (Conditionals)
IF ... THEN ...
● If you can't handle me at my worst, then you sure as hell don't deserve me at my best. M. Monroe
● If you hear a voice within you say 'you cannot paint,' then by all means paint, and that voice will be silenced. Vincent Van Gogh
● If you're not making mistakes, then you're not doing anything. I'm positive that a doer makes mistakes.
● If people are good only because they fear punishment, and hope for reward, then we are a sorry lot indeed. Albert Einstein
● If you do a good job right now, today, then tomorrow will take care of itself. That’s all you can do.
IF + PAST SIMPLE ... SUBJECT + WOULD
● If Aristotle were alive today he'd have a talk show.
● Every morning I looked in the mirror and asked myself: If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I do today? Steve Jobs
● If you did a poll of a hundred different people, you’d get 150 different answers on what it means to be “perfect, complete and lacking nothing".
● How old would you be if you didn't know how old you are?
● What would life be if we had no courage to attempt anything? V. Gogh
● Life would be tragic if it weren't funny. Stephen Hawking.
IF + PAST PERFECT ... SUBJECT + WOULD ...
● If all difficulties were known at the outset of a long journey, most of us would never start out at all.
● If you set out to be liked, you would be prepared to compromise on anything at any time, and you would achieve nothing. Margaret Thatcher
IF + PAST PERFECT ... SUBJECT + WOULD HAVE ...
● If God hadn't meant for us to eat sugar, he wouldn't have invented dentists.
● If God (had) wanted me to be black, I'd be black. If God (had) wanted me to be white, I'd be white. But he chose for me to be both and original. So I guess that's the way I'm supposed to be.
IF + PRESENT SIMPLE ... IMPERATIVE
● If you can't stand the heat, get out of the kitchen. Harry S. Truman
● If you love life, don't waste time, for time is what life is made up of. Bruce Lee
● If you are afraid of loneliness, do not marry. Anton Chekhov
● If you want to get along, go along. (prosperar / transigir)
● If you want to get laid, go to college. If you want an education, go to the library.
IF + PRESENT SIMPLE ... SUBJECT + WILL. (IF YOU DON'T ... P.SIMPLE)
● If you got what it takes, you'll make it. If you don't, Shakespeare couldn't help you.
● If you spend too much time thinking about a thing, you'll never get it done.
IF YOU'RE GOING TO ... SUBJECT + HAD BETTER
● If you're going to play the game properly, you'd better know every rule.
● If you're going to be a myth or want to be a myth, you'd better die young.
IF THERE WERE ... THERE WOULD BE ... (the subjunctive)
● If there were no God, there would be no atheists. Chesterton
● If you don't design your own life plan, chances are you'll fall into someone else's plan. And guess what they have planned for you? Not much. Jim Rohn
● It goes without saying that if someone has lung problems they should not smoke.
● Age is an issue of mind over matter. If you don't mind, it doesn't matter.
● Without music, life would be a mistake. Friedrich Nietzsche
● You will never live if you are looking for the meaning of life.
IF ... WAS / WERE TO
● If I was / were to do it all over again, I wouldn't change a thing.
● If I were to have an epitaph, I'd want it to read, 'She did stuff.'
● Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever. Mahatma Gandhi
● If you were to ask everyone what 'Hamlet' was about, they might say, "It's about a prince, and he says, 'To be or not to be.' Orlando Bloom
IF IT WAS / WERE NOT
● The word 'happy' would lose its meaning if it were not balanced by sadness. Carl Jung.
IF IT WAS / WERE NOT FOR
● If it wasn't for my drama teacher, I wouldn't be here right now.
● I know that I wouldn't be where I'm at if it wasn't for God.
● If it wasn't for the Internet, I don't know where I'd be.
● If it wasn't for baseball, I'd be in either the penitentiary or the cemetery.
● If (it was) not for you (Olivia Newton John)
● If (it was) not for my mom, I wouldn't be a writer today. When I was a little girl, I rarely saw her without a book in her hand.
● If (it was) not for my family, I would have been in big trouble.
● There would be no Sherlock Holmes if it were not for serial publication.
● If it were not for the bad things that've happened to me, I wouldn't be the person I am today.
● If it were not for hopes, the heart would break.
IF IT HADN'T BEEN FOR
● If it hadn't been for the Cold War, neither Russia nor America would have been sending people into space.
IF NOT
● Readers are what it's all about, aren't they? If not, why am I writing?
● Bayern Munich is as big a club as Real Madrid, if not even bigger.
IF NOT
● Most of the pressure, if not all, is self-imposed.
● What is the beautiful, if not the impossible. Gustave Flaubert
● What is film-making about if not romance?
IF SO
● The universe may have a purpose, but nothing we know suggests that, if so, this purpose has any similarity to ours. Bertrand Russell
● It's possible - you can never know - that the universe exists only for me. If so, it's sure going well for me, I must admit. Bill Gates
● I would ask, 'Have you read '1984'? If so, I'm sorry, but you read science fiction.'
IN DOING SO
● Our obligation is to give meaning to life and in doing so to overcome the passive, indifferent life.
● I've had to relearn how I work with people so that if and when I do avoid different things I don't send any messages in doing so.
● I think music has the power to transform people, and in doing so, it has the power to transform situations - some large and some small. J. Baez
IN ORDER TO
● We do not write in order to be understood; we write in order to understand.
● It's a clear gain to sacrifice pleasure in order to avoid pain. Arthur Schopenhauer.
● Do we have to talk in order to agree or agree in order to talk? Jose Bergamin.
● I shut my eyes in order to see. Paul Gagin.
● Read in order to live. Gustave Flaubert.
● We read (in order) to know we are not alone. C.S. Lewis.
● We all have dreams. But in order to make dreams come into reality, it takes an awful lot of determination, dedication, self-discipline, and effort.
IN ORDER NOT TO
● We have art in order not to die of the truth. Friedrich Nietzsche
● It is normal to give away a little of one's life in order not to lose it all.
Albert Camus.
● I don't like these cold, precise, perfect people, who, in order not to speak wrong, never speak at all, and in order not to do wrong, never do anything.
● I'm hopeless at telling lies. I can attempt strategic ones in order not to hurt people's feelings, but then I'll blow it 10 minutes later.
IN ORDER THAT (so that)
● Someone has to die in order that the rest of us should value life more.
Virginia Woolf.
● Life is the art of being well deceived; and in order that the deception may succeed it must be habitual and uninterrupted.
● In order that all men may be taught to speak the truth, it is necessary that all likewise should learn to hear it. Samuel Johnson
IN ORDER FOR ... TO ...
● I shut my eyes in order to see. Paul Gauguin.
● In order for you to find a job, people need to know you're looking.
● In order for a man to be truly evil, he must be a woman.
● In order for a player to score goals, he needs minutes. Luis Enrique.
● Sometimes, in order for things to get better, they have to end - even if it's momentarily.
● Read in order to live.
IN SPITE OF / DESPITE (THE FACT THAT)
● Common sense is in spite of, not as the result of education. V. Hugo
● Despite the (high) cost of living, have you noticed how popular it remains?
IN (THE SENSE) THAT
● Brooke was special in the sense that we grew up together on that island. Christopher Atkins
● I'm known for being quite gobby, but also, I'm quite old fashioned in the sense that I like writing letters. Sue Perkins
● I have a critical nature, in the sense that when I look at something I often look for the flaws.
INFINITIVE AFTER CERTAIN VERBS
● To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment.
INFINITIVE (after adjectives)
● Love is like war: easy to begin but really hard to stop.
● I'm not hard to please. Just do what I say!
● I've never been afraid to fail. Michael Jordan.
● Don't be afraid to be a beginner.
INFINITIVE (after nouns / pronouns): What time would you like us to be there?
● I know when I am good and when I am not good. I don't need anyone to tell me.
● I Want my children to be happy. Every parent wants their child to be happy in life.
● People like you to be something, preferably what they are. John Steinbeck
● A diplomat is a person who can tell you to go to hell in such a tactful way that you’ll look forward with pleasure to making the trip / going there.
● I want my readers to feel, to think, sometimes to laugh. But most of all I want them to enjoy a good read.
● Some people want it to happen, some wish it would happen, others make it happen. Michael Jordan.
● He who does not punish evil, commands it to be done. L. da Vinci.
● If you wanted to torture me, you'd tie me down and force me to watch our first five videos. Jon Bon Jovi.
● One thing about me is that my parents didn't force me to be an athlete.
● You’ll never get me to speak religion. You’ll never get me to speak politics.
● It would take wild horses to get me to talk.
● Be nice to whites, they need you to rediscover their humanity.
● I want everybody to do well, I want everybody to succeed, but more importantly, I want us all to get on and be considerate of each other.
● I want my children to be happy.
● I want you to be fair.
● We want it to rain (a lot).
● I want it to last / to happen soon / to come true.
● We want her to give it to us (in hand).
● I want us to be friends.
● I want the job to be done (right away).
● I want the report / it to be ready for tomorrow.
● I want this to be the last time.
● What time do you want us to be there?
INFINITIVE (in order for / for sth; so ... to ...)
● In order for answers to become clear, the questions have to be clear.
● For us to be successful, we have to kick our competitors' butt.
● Other people do not have to change for us to experience peace of mind.
● It's good for you to go somewhere that you wouldn't normally go.
INFINITIVE (purpose: to, in order to, so as to).
● To succeed in life one must have the courage to pursue what he wants.
● To guarantee success for your business, you must come up with a good business idea.
● Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.
● I know for sure that love saved me and that it is here to save us all.
● Love yourself first and everything else falls into line. You really have to love yourself to get anything done in this world. Lucille Ball.
● Try a thing you haven't done three times. Once, to get over the fear of doing it. Twice, to learn how to do it. And a third time, to figure out whether you like it or not.
... ONLY TO
● I often feel that life is about to begin, only to realize it is almost over.
INFINITIVE (too ... to)
● Life is too short to worry about anything. You had better enjoy it because the next day promises nothing (whatsoever).
● I drive way too fast to worry about cholesterol.
INFINITIVE (after "to be")
● The height of cleverness is to be able to conceal it. François de la Rochefoucauld.
INFINITIVE (after "enough")
● To be clever enough to get all that money, one must be stupid enough to want it. Gilbert K. Chesterton
● I didn't work hard enough to pass the exam.
● Is your coffee hot enough to drink?
● I'm not old enough to get married.
● If you care enough to look right, you care enough to act right. And vice versa.
● The people sensible enough to give good advice are usually sensible enough to give none.
● My thing is this; if I'm sick enough to think it, then I'm sick enough to say it. Eminem
INFINITIVE AFTER A NOUN
● Rooting for the offense is the safe way to go. You win either way.
● Mistakes are always forgivable, if one has the courage to admit them.
Bruce Lee
● Have the ability to look in another direction. A small shift could guide you to the real purposes of your life.
● Intelligence is the ability to adapt to change. Stephen Hawking.
● The surest way to be alone is to get married. Gloria Steinem.
● The surest way to prevent war is not to fear it.
● Being convinced one knows the whole story is the surest way to fail.
INFINITIVE AFTER QUESTION WORDS
These verbs: ask, decide, explain, forget, know, show, tell, understand, can be followed by a question word such as where, how, what, who, when or ‘whether’ + the ‘to-infinitive’.
● Our government shouldn't tell us where to travel and where not to travel.
● Intuition will tell the thinking mind where to look next.
● Nobody is ordinary if you know where to look.
● You have to know when to strike and when to retreat.
● The problem with self-improvement is knowing when to quit.
● Every good fighter knows when to hang up the gloves.
● Some people like telling people what to do. I don't like telling people what to do.
● I'm used to being told what to say, but not what to think... that's usually left up to me. Winona Ryder
● Since I was 9, I'd been told what to say, what to think.
● Happy is the person who knows what to remember of the past, what to enjoy in the present, and what to plan for in the future.
● Making smart decisions on who to vote for is difficult.
● Government has no place telling you who to fall in love with and who to marry.
● Who's to say who's an expert? Paul Newman
● There are no black people in Iraq, so how will they know who to shoot at?
INFINITIVES (Split infinitives). Informal, quite common in English.
A structure in which "to" is separated from the rest of the infinitive by an adverb.
● I quote others only to better express myself. Michel De Montaigne,
● I'd like to really understand philosophy.
INFINITIVES IN THE NEGATIVE FORM
● Imagination is more important than knowledge. The important thing is not to stop questioning / thinking. Albert Einstein
● Remind yourself that it's ok not to be perfect.
● To be, or not to be, that is the question. William Shakespeare.
● The future is called 'perhaps,' which is the only possible thing to call the future. And the important thing is not to allow that to scare you.
● It is hard to fail, but it is worse never to have tried to succeed.
Theodore Roosevelt
INSTEAD (adv.) and INSTEAD OF (prep.)
● Don't ask what your country can do for you, ask (instead) what you can do for your country (instead). J.F. Kennedy.
● Anyone who seeks to destroy the passions instead of controlling them is trying to play the angel. Voltaire
● I missed out on my teenage years. I led a sheltered life. I was practicing scales instead of playing football. John Cale
● How "I Love Lucy" was born? We decided that instead of divorce lawyers profiting from our mistakes, we'd profit from them. Lucille Ball.
INTERJECTIONS
● Interjections are words used to express strong feeling or sudden emotion. They are included in a sentence (usually at the start) to express a sentiment such as surprise, disgust, joy, excitement, or enthusiasm.
An interjection is not grammatically related to any other part of the sentence.
WHY (interj). Used to express surprise, hesitation, or impatience.
● Why, go right ahead!
● Why, what do you mean?
QUITE! UK (I agree) claro interj. exacto interj.
● He shouldn't have gone to the party. "Quite!". ¡Claro! Él no debería haber ido a la fiesta.
● Hey! Get off that floor!
● Oh, that is a surprise.
● Good! Now we can move on.
● Jeepers, that was close.
1. Yes and No
Expressions such as yes, no, indeed, and well are often used as interjections:
● You want me to go with you to the disco? No way! I hate dancing. (refusal)
● Jane is getting married? No way! I thought she would always be single. (disbelief, surprise)
● Indeed, this is not the first time the stand has collapsed.
● Yes, I do intend to cover the bet.
2. Multi-word Interjections. Some interjections are more than one word:
● Oh, really? I doubt that.
● Holy moly! She won!
3. They're not always at the start of a sentence:
● It is cold, indeed.
Real-Life Examples of Interjections
● I'm sure I don't know half the people who come to my house. Indeed, for all I hear, I shouldn't like to. (Oscar Wilde)
● Yes, it's absolutely true that anything worth doing is worth doing poorly until you can do it well.
● Well, it's 1 a.m. Better go home and spend some quality time with the kids. (Homer Simpson)
● Ah! Don't say you agree with me. When people agree with me, I always feel that I must be wrong. (Oscar Wilde)
Types of Interjections:
There are literally hundreds, if not thousands, of interjections in the English language. Most are designed to express strong emotions, such as love, hate, surprise, happiness, anger, enthusiasm, disgust, boredom, confusion, or unhappiness. However, this isn't always true. Some interjections can express either a mild emotion, or can be expressions, such as "Excuse me."
This is by no means an exhaustive list, but it is representative of the types of interjections you may use on a daily basis.
A sample list of interjections includes words such as:
Aha, Boo, Gosh, Goodness, Ha, Oh, Oops, Oh no, Ouch, Rats, Shoot, Uh-oh, Uh-huh, Yikes, Yuck, Yup
Interjections don't always have to be at the beginning of a sentence. They can appear in the middle, at the end, or anywhere else where the author wants to interject a bit of feeling and emotion. For example:
"So, it's snowing again, huh?"
The interjection is found at the end of this sentence. The interjection "huh" is designed to express confusion (or perhaps dismay) at the continued snow falling. In this example, the emotion wasn't an emotion that necessitated an exclamation point; instead, the interjection turned the sentence into a question. Here's another example:
● "In my opinion, my gosh, this is just the smartest thing you've ever said."
The interjection, "my gosh," is found in the middle of this sentence. It's designed to express the author's emphasis on his opinion and no exclamation point was required.
4. As a Standalone Sentence
An interjection can also be used by itself as a standalone sentence.
● "Oh gosh! I can't believe how late it is."
The interjection "oh gosh" is a standalone sentence with an exclamation mark. This is grammatically correct, even though "Oh gosh" doesn't contain a subject or verb, both normally required for a complete thought. The interjection, or the emotion, is the entire point of the sentence.
INTONATION
Intonation is the sound changes produced by the rise and fall of the voice when speaking, especially when this has an effect on the meaning of what is said.
Intonation, the stress placed on syllables, can completely change a word’s meaning and use from noun to verb.
The end of a sentence that is not a question is usually marked by falling intonation.
increase, decrease, impact, insult, progress, perfect.
● You can't live a perfect day without doing something for someone who will never be able to repay you.
● The best way to perfect' your English is to master the verbs, and especially the gerund.
● The excessive 'increase of anything causes a reaction in the opposite direction. Plato
● Corruption is like a ball of snow, once it's set a rolling it must in'crease.
● I feel like if you put something out into the universe, then you in'crease your chances of it happening.
● It's not the daily 'increase but daily 'decrease. Hack away at the unessential. Bruce Lee ▪ keep chopping at [sth]; despedazar, hachar.
● Writing about joyful experiences for just three days can improve people's moods and de'crease their visits to health centers a full three months later.
● Natural playgrounds may de'crease bullying.
● The only real 'progress lies in learning to be wrong all alone. A. Camus
● If there is no struggle, there is no 'progress.
● You cannot make 'progress without making decisions.
● The 'object of teaching a child is to enable him to get along without his teacher. (make progress)
● I don't ob'ject to its being called McNamara's war. I think it is a very important war, and I am pleased to be identified with it
INVERSION
When does inversion happen?
The most common type of inversion is question word order (see above). Inversion also happens in other situations.
NEGATIVE ADVERBS (hardly, scarcely ...)
In formal styles, when we use an adverb with negative meaning (e.g. never, seldom, rarely, scarcely, hardly) in front position for emphasis, we invert the subject (s) and auxiliary (aux)/modal verb:
● Never [AUX] have [S] we witnessed such cruel behaviour by one child to another. (or We have never witnessed …)
● Seldom does one hear a politician say ‘sorry’. (or One seldom hears …)
EXPRESSIONS BEGINNIN WITH "NOT"
We also invert the subject and verb after not + a prepositional phrase or a clause in initial position:
● Not only is there no God, but try getting a plumber on weekends.
● Not for a moment did I think I would be offered the job, so I was amazed when I got it. Woody Allen.
● Not till I got home did I realise my wallet was missing.
HERE and THERE
Inversion can happen after here, and after there when it is as an adverb of place. After here and there, we can use a main verb without an auxiliary verb or modal verb:
● Here comes the bus!
● Here’s your coffee.
● I opened the door and there stood Michael, all covered in mud.
● She looked out and there was Pamela, walking along arm in arm with Goldie
SUBJECT-VERB INVERSION WITH "NOR"
"It is rainy, and it is windy" but "It is not rainy, nor is it windy".
● My son doesn’t like to do his homework, nor does he check his answers when he does do it.
"IT'S" CLAUSES (to give a strong value)
● It's a (well known) fact that politicians (tend to / are prone to) lie.
● It's better to be hated for what you are than (to be) loved for what you are not.
● It's only impossible if you don't try.
IT'S TIME
● If it's time for your character to go, it's time for your character to go - you know what I mean? That's it. It doesn't matter who you are.
1. We can use the expression it’s time + subject + past verb form to refer to the present moment:
● Gosh! It’s almost midnight. It’s time we went home.
2. "It’s time" with a verb in the to-infinitive form can refer to the speaker and the listener together:
● Come on. It’s time to start packing. We have to leave in two hours. (or It’s time we started packing).
● It's time to stop locking people up for victimless crimes.
LIKEWISE (1. also, too, as well, further, in addition; moreover; also
2. in like manner; similarly)
● In order that all men may be taught to speak the truth, it is necessary that all likewise should learn to hear it.
● Wedding is destiny, and hanging likewise.
LIKELY (very/most, to, that)
● I don't think a Labour victory is likely.
● If you have no critics you'll likely have no success. Malcolm X
● If you read in front of your kids, it's very likely that they'll become readers, too.
● I think that it's more likely that in my 60s and 70s I will be writing poetry rather than fiction.
● Every day you don't do something, it makes it less likely that you will ever do something. So you've got to get started right away.
INFINITIVE (after "likely")
● If you are poor, you are not likely to live long. Nelson Mandela.
● When I was in (junior) high school, the teachers voted me the student most likely to end up in the electric chair. Sylvester Stallone.
● I've found men are less likely to let petty things annoy them. M.Monroe
● The weak are more likely to make the strong weak than the strong are likely to make the weak strong. Marlene Dietrich.
LONG BEFORE and BEFORE LONG
● Books had instant replay long before televised sports.
● I hated my father long before I knew there was a word for hate.
● I wanted to be a comedian long before I wanted to be a musician, for sure.
● I'm a workaholic. Before long, I'll have my own channel. I'll be like Barney. David Hasselhoff
● Cricket is not everything, not by any means, but it is a large part of who I am. Therefore, I want to play as much as possible because, before long, it will be over.
LOOK LIKE
● Design is not just what it looks like and feels like. Design is how it works. Steve Jobs?
● Good art is not what it looks like, but what it does to us.
● I don't look like Halle Berry. But chances are she's going to end up looking like me. Whoopi Goldberg.
● I'm proud of what I look like. I'm proud that I look like my mom.
MIGHT AS WELL
● We're all going to die someday - we might as well have fun.
● All writers steal. You might as well steal from the best.
● If you're not in 'The Washington Post' every day, you might as well not exist.
● If your husband's going to leave you for anyone, it might as well be Elizabeth Taylor. Debbie Reynolds
MODIFIERS (qualifiers, quantifiers).
● Being single is a lot wiser than being in a wrong relationship.
● I've discovered that I pretty much like any Taylor Swift song, but only when it's a remix.
● Deep down (inside), I'm pretty superficial. Ava Gardner
● My hope still is to leave the world a bit better than when I got here.
● So many books, so little time.
● (There are) so many things that we wish we had done yesterday, (and yet) so few that we feel like doing today.
● Never (in the field of human conflict) was so much owed by so many to so few. Winston Churchill.
● Happy is the man who finds a true friend, and far happier is he who finds that true friend in his wife. Franz Schubert.
● Never was so much owed by so many few. Winston Churchill hh
NEITHER (inversion with auxiliary verb)
● Men don't want any responsibility, and neither do I. Julie Christie
● People often say that motivation doesn't last. Well, neither does bathing - that's why we recommend it daily.
NO (not any, not one, emphatic). In affirmative sentences.
● No pain no gain (Repetition & Rhyme)
● No bees no honey, no work no money.
● No man is a failure who has friends. Mark Twain.
● No man is useless while he has a friend. Robert Louis Stevenson.
● There are no facts, only interpretations. Friedrich Nietzsche
● There's no pleasure in working if you don't do the things you want to do. Sophia Loren.
● There's no time like the present.
● Talkers are no good doers. William Shakespeare
● If you have no critics you'll likely have no success. Malcolm X
● As far as I'm concerned, there's no job more important on the planet than being a mother.
● Where there is shouting, there is no true knowledge. Leonardo da Vinci
● It makes no sense to worry about things you have no control over because there is nothing you can do about them, and why worry about things you do control? The activity of worrying keeps you immobilized.
● I would (much) rather have men ask why I have no statue than why I have one.
NO MORE vs NOT ANY MORE, NO LONGER and NOT ANY LONGER.
"Anymore" may be written as one word especially in American English.
● Death will be a great relief. No more interviews. Katharine Hepburn
● Imagine no more tears, no more sorrow, no more pain... and one day we will forever be with Jesus.
● I used to think I needed a man to define myself. Not any more.
● I used to watch Manchester United a lot when David Beckham was there, but not any more now he's gone.
● I no longer support the Conservative party. (not "I no more support ...)
● When baseball is no longer fun, it's no longer a game. Joe DiMaggio.
● Messi no longer surprises me. Luis Enrique
● This can't go on any longer. (to express situations stopping)
● I don't really care any longer what other people think.
● When we can't dream any longer we die.
● In fact, I don't read newspapers any longer. Naomi Campbell.
● There are no more Walt Disneys anymore. Dick Van Dyke
NO MATTER (how, how much/many, where, when, whether)
● No matter how well you do, no matter how successful you are, they're always going to criticize you.
● No matter how much we try to run away from this thirst for the answer to life, for the meaning of life, the intensity only gets stronger and stronger.
● If you've got style, you'll show it, no matter the city.
● No matter whether you believe in luck or chance, the final decision is from yourself.
● No matter when (or where) you were born or where, whether you were rich or poor, puberty is the same. It's the same for your parents as it is for you - what's happening in your body dictates everything.
● No matter where you go, you're there.
● Let's face it - no matter how independent you are, you still have this nagging need to be desired.
● My daddy said, that the first time you fall in love, it changes you forever and no matter how hard you try, that feeling just never goes away.
● You can't ignore politics, no matter how much you'd like to.
NO WAY (THAT); no possible means.
● There's no way we can get there on time; our car broke down.
● Me, a teacher? No way!
● The child has no way of knowing what's good information.
NOT
● The Bible shows the way to go to heaven, not the way the heavens go.
Galileo Galilei
● Do as I say, not as I do.
● I paint objects as I think them, not as I see them. Pablo Picasso
● Money has to serve, not to rule.
● Leadership is about taking responsibility, not making excuses.
● Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country. John F. Kennedy
● Be able to be alone. Lose not the advantage of solitude. Sir Thomas Browne.
● We know what we are, but know not what we may be. W. Shakespeare
(IT'S) NOT ... BUT ... (THAT)
● Life is like a play. It's not its length but its performance that counts.
● It is not a lack of love, but a lack of friendship that makes unhappy marriages. Friedrich
NOTHING (in affirmative sentences)
● Never take sides in a conflict you know nothing about.
● Question everything. Learn something. Answer nothing. Euripides.
● Don't go around saying the world owes you a living. The world owes you nothing. It was here first. Mark Twain
● Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a battle you know nothing about.
NOTHING .... BUT / EXCEPT ...
● I have nothing to declare but / except my genius. Oscar Wilde.
● Politics is nothing but opportunism.
● What is defeat? Nothing but education. Nothing but the first step to something better.
● Words are but wind; and learning is nothing but words; ergo, learning is nothing but wind. Jonathan Swift
NOUNS. Compound nouns.
time/life-saver, a travel-maker, dream-maker, a film-goer, a fun-lover...
NOUN-VERB+ER
● Prejudice is a great time saver. You can form opinions without having to get the facts. E. B. White
NOUN-VERB+ING
● Design is nothing if not decision-making.
● Creating something is all about problem-solving. Philip Seymour Hoffman
NOUNS FROM PHRASAL VERBS (Drawback, setback, outcome, outset, drawback).
● Fame has also this great drawback, that if we pursue it, we must direct our lives so as to please the fancy of men. Baruch Spinoza
● I have the power of my height. Growing up, it was a total drawback. There was nothing good about it at all.
● I know this sounds stupid, but in some ways, the way I look is a drawback.
● It's not the winning that teaches you how to be resilient. It's the setback. It's the loss.
●If you accept the expectations of others, especially negative ones, then you never will change the outcome. Michael Jordan.
● You can't bank on the outcome. (rely on, depend on, count on, trust)
● If all difficulties were known at the outset of a long journey, most of us would never start out at all.
● I am grateful that my horizons were not narrowed at the outset.
NOUN MODIFIERS (A war film, a horse race / race horse, a history book) Noun + Noun (Level: beginner).
1. We often use two nouns together to show that one thing is a part of something else: the village church, the car door, the kitchen window, the chair leg, my coat pocket, London residents ...
In these examples, the first noun is called a noun modifier.
Be careful! We do not use a possessive form for these things. We do NOT talk about: the car's door, the kitchen's window, the chair's leg
2. We can use noun modifiers to show what something is made of: a gold watch, a leather purse, a metal box ...
3. We often use noun modifiers with nouns ending in –er: an office worker, a jewellery maker, a potato peeler, a letter / tin opener.
4. We use measurements, age or value as noun modifiers: a thirty-kilogram suitcase, a two-minute rest, a five-thousand-euro platinum watch, a fifty-kilometre journey
5. We often use nouns ending in -ing as noun modifiers: a shopping list, a swimming lesson, a walking holiday, a washing machine ...
● One should always play fairly when one has the winning cards. Oscar Wilde.
● Army officers are well paid.
NOW (THAT)
● When I was younger, I wanted to be older. Now I am older, I am not quite so sure. Tom Waits.
ONE (S)
● Creativity is allowing yourself to make mistakes. Art is knowing which ones to keep.
OTHERWISE (adj. different)
● If God (had) wanted me (to be) otherwise, He would have created me otherwise. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
● Jimmy is a very happy child, but his twin is otherwise.
OTHERWISE (adv. differently)
● While most of us went to the Harvard, John and Mary did otherwise and went to Oxford.
PHRASAL VERBS
● A diplomat is a person who can tell you to go to hell in such a tactful way that you’ll look forward with pleasure to making the trip / going there.
● Being in front of the camera is a lot of hard work, and I'm not cut out for it.
● I'm not cut out for politics.
● Not every child is cut out for an individual sport. Chris Evert
● Never memorize something that you can look up. (seek information)
Albert Einstein.
PLEONASTIC "It"
● Living alone makes it harder to find someone to blame.
● Living in a small flat doesn't make it easy to have pets.
● I make it a rule never to smoke while I'm sleeping. Mark Twain.
● I thought it strange for her to be out so late.
PREPOSITIONS
● However difficult life may seem, there is always something you can do and succeed at. Stephen Hawking.
● A ship is always safe at the shore, but that is not what it is built for. Albert Einstein.
● What this strike comes down to is a failure to communicate with your staff.
● Start every day off with a smile and get it over with.
● We are all here to help others; what on earth the others are here for I don't know.
● Since Auschwitz we know what man is capable of. And since Hiroshima we know what is at stake. Viktor E. Frankl.
● Common sense is in spite of, not as the result of education. V. Hugo
● Never take sides in a conflict you know nothing about.
● You will never be happy if you continue to search for what happiness consists of.
● A verbal contract isn't worth the paper it's written on.
● The problem with having a sense of humor is often that people you use it on aren't in a very good mood.
● I think often sadness is a great place to get songs from.
● The trouble when you die is that everyone says you were nice. I would like to be thought of as truly / genuinely nice.
● Everyone you meet is fighting a battle you know nothing about. Be Kind, Always.
● If you don't learn from why you're in the position you're in, you are doomed to repeat it.
● The road you can talk about is not the road you can walk on.
● It makes no sense to worry about things you have no control over because there is nothing you can do about them, and why worry about things you do control? The activity of worrying keeps you immobilized.
PRESENT PARTICIPLE
● I didn't grow up listening to country music. I pretty much grew up rebelling against country music.
● Not being able to control events I control myself: if they will not adapt to me then I adapt to them. Michel Montaigne.
● When I was a boy, I always saw myself as a hero in comic books and in movies. I grew up believing this dream. Elvis Presley
● Believe it or not, I was a pretty shy youngster growing up.
● If you bungle raising your children, I don't think whatever else you do matters very much. (do badly / incompetently). Jackie Kennedy
● Looking back, I spent a lot of time sitting in pubs when I should have been perfecting my playwriting / English.
● Who, being loved, is poor... Oscar Wilde
RATHER THAN (Instead of)
● Judge a man by his questions rather than his answers. Voltaire
● We ought to invest in machinery rather than buildings.
● I prefer starting early rather than leaving things to the last minute.
REPETITION (used for emphasis)
● Madonna looks much, much older than she used to.
● Make sure you never, never argue at night. You can't settle anything until morning anyway. Rose Kennedy.
● Never, never, never give up. Winston Churchill.
TO AVOID REPETITION (one, it, that, so, do)
1. One (s)
● Creativity is allowing yourself to make mistakes. Art is knowing which ones to keep.
2. We use auxiliary verbs to avoid repeating the same verb or verb phrase in a sentence. If the first part contains an auxiliary verb, we use the same verb in the second part.
● Tough times never last, but tought people do! Learn to handle any situation that comes your way.
● Develop a passion for learning. If you do, you will never cease to grow.
● If you got what it takes, you'll make it. If you don't, Shakespeare couldn't help you.
3. SO (used to avoid repetition: that)
● Be smarter than other people, just don't tell them so.
● She's happy as can be, you know. She said so. I feel fine, (The Beatles)
4. AND SO + aux. (me too)
● I like Das Racist, and so should you.
● Politics runs in every human being, and so does music.
● The world is always reinventing itself, and so should you. I used to say, 'I haven't started yet.' Sadly, most people don't develop their potential.
SO (introductory)
● So I’m ugly. So what? I never saw anyone hit a ball with his face. Joe Dimagio
SO (used to avoid repetition: that)
● Be smarter than other people, just don't tell them so.
SO (therefore)
● You're a reader as well as a writer, so write what you'd want to read.
● Life is about the people you meet, and the things you create with them, so go out and start creating.
● I'm lucky. I have a high metabolism, so I pretty much eat anything and everything.
SO (intensifier: very)
● Common sense is not so common. Voltaire.
● When I was 20, I thought I was 30 - but I was so far from it.
SO AS TO
● Tell the truth so as to puzzle and confound your adversaries.
● We must be willing to let go of the life we have planned, so as to have the life that is waiting for us.
SO ... AS TO ...
● Never be so brief as to become obscure. Hosea Ballou.
● Nothing is ever so expensive as what is offered for free.
● Nothing is so dear as what you are about to leave
SO MUCH ... AS ...
● Nothing strengthens authority so much as silence. Leonardo da Vinci.
SO ... THAT ...
● By all means let's be open-minded but not so open-minded that our brains drop out.
● We are so vain that we even care for the opinion of those we don't care for.
● Childhood was very nice. The only thing wrong was that I was so introverted, (that) everything became a big deal... 'Oh, no, here comes the bus. Where am I gonna sit on the bus?
SO THAT (in order that)
● Don't write so that you can be understood, write so that you can't be misunderstood. William Howard Taft
● You should dress so that you feel confident.
● My husband makes sacrifices so that I can shine.
● Live simply so that others may simply live.
● The king must die so that the country can live. M. Robespierre.
SO FAR
● I intend to live forever. So far so good.
STILL (EVEN SO)
● A friend is someone who knows all about you and still loves you.
● Luckier than one's neighbor, but still not happy. Euripides
TAKE and LAST
● It takes a long time to become young (Pablo Picasso)
● Good art takes time. Don't be afraid to make mistakes
● It takes considerable knowledge just to realize the extent of your own ignorance.
● A dream doesn't become reality through magic; it takes sweat, determination and hard work. Colin Powell.
● Tough times never last, but tought people do!
THAN
● I'd rather be hated for who I am, than (to) / (be) loved for who I am not.
Kurt Cobain.
● I'd rather annoy with the truth than please with adulation.
● It is better to be feared than loved, if you cannot be both. Niccolo Machiavelli.
THAT'S WHEN / WHERE / HOW / WHAT / WHY/ BECAUSE
● I've only been wrong once, and that's when I thought I was wrong.
● I don't feel old. I don't feel anything till noon. That's when it's time for my nap.
● The best book on programming for the layman is 'Alice in Wonderland'; but that's because it's the best book on anything for the layman.
● When you reach the top, that's when the climb begins.
● I'm the best player in the country. That's how I think. That's how I feel.
● Yesterday's the past, tomorrow's the future, but today is a gift. That's why it's called the present.
● If you are in love and there's that chemistry, that's what it's all about.
● Being the richest man in the cemetery doesn't matter to me. Going to bed at night saying we've done something wonderful, that's what matters to me. Steve Jobs.
● I've failed over and over and over again in my life and that is why I succeed. Michael Jordan.
● Australian golf did so much for me, and that is why I am here today.
● People often say that motivation doesn't last. Well, neither does bathing, that's why we recomend it daily.
● Why is computer science a good field for women? For one thing, that's where the jobs are, and for another, the pay is better than for many jobs, and finally, it's easier to combine career and family.
THE MORE / STRONGER ... THE MORE / LESS ....
● The more I have, the more I want.
● The more you have the more you want.
● The more people I meet, the more I like my dog.
● The more haste, the less speed.
● The more laws, the more offenders.
● The more cynical you become, the better off you'll be.
● The more you know, the more you realize how little you know.
● The more you know, the more you don't know. Aristotle.
● The more I think about it, the more I realize there is nothing more artistic than to love others. Vincent Van Gogh.
● The more you like yourself, the less you are like anyone else, which makes you unique. Walt Disney.
● I find that the harder I work, the more luck I seem to have / the luckier I seem to get.
● Luck is a dividend of sweat. The more you sweat, the luckier you get.
● What's an expert? I read somewhere, that the more a man knows, the more he knows, he doesn't know.
(The more, the more/less ...)
● The weaker the body, the more it demands. The stronger the body, the more it obeys.
THERE BE (there is)
● If I could say it in words, there would be no reason to paint.
● There can be differences of opinion without there being personal differences. Lynne Cheney
● If I'm at home on my own and the writing isn't going well, I clean my house. And there have been times in the past few years when my house has looked really clean.
● I want everybody to do well, I want everybody to succeed and I want there to continue to be options for everybody.
● The trouble when you die is that everyone says you were nice. I would like to be thought of as genuinely nice. I would like there to be people who can honestly say, 'Johnny! Oh yeah, there was more good than bad in him'.
THEREOF (of it, del mismo, de esto, de eso)
● Whereof one cannot speak, thereof one must be silent.
TOO (ADJECTIVE) ... TO (VERB).
● Life is too short to be taken seriously. Oscar Wilde.
VERBAL NOUNS
● When the going gets taugh the taugh get going.
● Where there is shouting, there is no true knowledge. Leonardo da Vinci
● Maybe it's not about the happy ending, maybe it's about the story.
WHAT / THAT WHICH
● What / That which doesn't kill us (just) makes us stronger. F Nietzsche
● Don't ask what your country can do for you, ask instead what you can do for your country. J.F. Kennedy.
● Ask not what you can do for your country. Ask what's for lunch.
Orson Welles.
● My business is to paint what I see, not what I know is there. J. Turner
● I find that by and large people tend to do what they are told to do.
● Be what you are. This is the first step toward becoming better than you are.
● We all know what we are, but we know not what we may be. William Shakespeare.
● We are shaped by our thoughts; we become what we think. Buddha.
● I try to always say what I mean and mean what I say.
● Education is what remains after one has forgotten what one has learned in school.
● A classic is a book that has never finished saying what it has to say. Italo Calvino
● Pay attention to your body. The point is everybody is different. You have to figure out what works for you.
● Time is what we want most, but what we use worst. William Penn
● Sex appeal is fifty percent what you've got and fifty percent what people think you've got. Sophia Loren.
● What separates the winners from the losers is how a person reacts to each new twist of fate. Donald Trump
● What's nearest the heart is nearest the mouth.
● What's best for you may be totally / quite different than / from what's best for someone else / for me / may be living hell for me.
● I just do what I want, say what I want, say how I feel, and I don't try to hurt nobody.
WHAT vs THAT
● What doesn't kill you, (just/only) makes you stronger. F. Nietsche.
● What / That which makes men sociable is their inability to bear solitude, and therefore themselves.
● What a man does is of no great importance, it's what he is that counts.
Henry Miller.
● What's worse in Hollywood, being handicapped or being a woman over 50?
● What's worse than getting divorced?
● Do what you do, and keep on doing it.
● I show off - I'm a very good show off. It's what I do, it's what I'm good at. Robbie Williams
● Let your art be what YOU want it to be, and it will never be the same again.
● (I think that) Vietnam was what we had instead of happy childhoods.
● Don't impose limits on the way you work; let your art be what it wants to be.
● We do not know what we want and yet we are responsible for what we are - that is the fact.
● All that is necessary to paint well is to be sincere.
● Life is like a play. It's not its length but its performance that counts.
● Life's like a play: it's not the length, but the excellence of the acting that matters. Lucius Annaeus Seneca.
● When you love someone more than what they deserve, they may hurt you more than what you deserve.
WHAT ... FOR. (para lo que)
● A ship in harbor / port is safe, but that is not what ships are built for.
● Ships are safe in a harbor but that's not what they are built for.
HOW IS ... ?, WHAT IS ... LIKE? and WHAT DOES ... LOOK LIKE?
We use How is …? to ask about someone’s general health or about the condition or state of something, or how people experience something:
A: How’s your mother these days? (How is her general health?)
B: Oh, she’s fine, thanks.
[talking about an old house]
A: How are the walls in the kitchen? (What is the condition/state of the walls?)
B: Well, they need redecorating really.
A: How’s your new car?
B: Wonderful. It’s so much easier to drive than the old one.
What is … like?
We use What is … like? to ask for a description of someone or something (e.g. their appearance, their character, their behaviour):
A: What’s her new house like?
B: It’s a modern one, quite big, with a nice garden.
A: What’s your new teacher like?
B: He’s nice. He’s very good-looking! But he’s quite strict.
● A man doesn't know what it's like to be a woman; it's that simple.
● You don't know what it's like to be me. John Belushi.
● You don't know what is like to like someone / to have (having) 5 kids ...
● you don't know what is like when you try, and you try, and you try, and you try, and you don't ever get there!
● I've always wanted to know what it's like to be the first to do something.
● I do know what it's like to be an outsider.
● I know what it's like to be humiliated.
● I know what it's like to lose.
● What is Like Having a Fox as a Pet? (You) don't want to know.(1)
(1) used to say that someone would be shocked or upset to learn the answer to a question: "What is she doing?" "Believe me, you don't want to know."
WHAT ... LOOKS LIKE
● Good art is not what it looks like, but what it does to us.
WHAT DOES ... LOOK LIKE? or HOW DOES ... LOOK?
The expresión “How does it look like?” doesn’t make any sense. The correct way to express the thought is either “What does it look like?” or “How does it look?” For example:
● I’ve heard he’s got a new car. What does it look like?
● I’ve heard he’s got a new car. How does it look?
Although both questions are correct, there may be a slight difference in meaning. “How does it look?” is usually answered with a mere adjective:
Q: I’ve heard he’s got a new car. How does it look?
A: It looks good. / It’s all right. / It’s ugly.
Of course, the thing you are asking about doesn’t have to be “it”, for example:
Q: You’ve got a new boyfriend? How does he look?
A: I think he’s cute.
On the other hand, if you ask “What does he/she/it look like?”, you are inviting the other person to give you a more precise description (often using the word “like” and a noun, but not necessarily):
Q: You’ve got a new boyfriend? What does he look like?
A: He looks a little bit like Johnny Depp and has beautiful blue eyes.
WHAT IF
● What if nothing exists and we're all in somebody's dream? W. Allen.
● What if everything is an illusion and nothing exists? In that case, I definitely overpaid for my carpet. Woody Allen.
● I would hate to be 65 and think, 'What if I had tried to be an actor?'
WHATEVER / WHOEVER / WHENEVER
● Some cause happiness wherever they go; others whenever they go.
Oscar Wilde.
● Give whatever you are doing and whoever you are with the gift of your attention.
● Whoever you are, this is America. You can believe or do whatever you want.
● Whoever wishes to keep a secret must hide the fact that he possesses one. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
● All I can do is be me, whoever that is. Bob Dylan
● Love yourself, whoever that may be.
● I am whatever you say I am; if I wasn't, then why would you say I am. Eminem.
WHATSOEVER
● I have no regrets in my life whatsoever.
● There is no doubt whatsoever that the universe is the merest illusion.
● Technically speaking, there is no music whatsoever on a CD. Lots of information, but no music.
WHEN / BEFORE / AFTER / AS SOON AS / UNTIL
The present simple is used after these future time clauses.
● When you become senile, you won't know it.
● When I'm 64. (The Beatles song)
● You can not say you know how to do something until you can teach it to someone else.
● I think it won't be until after I've retired that I'm fully aware of what I've done or what I've gone on to achieve in my career. Lionel Messi.
WHEN and WHILE (Reduced clauses)
● When reading, only read. When eating, only eat. When thinking, only think.
● When in doubt, mumble; when in trouble, delegate; when in charge, ponder.
● Frankly, I'm an actor right now because of R. de Niro. When I was in school and even when studying engineering, I used to watch his films.
WHEN IT COMES TO
● I'm Jewish when it comes to money.
● I'm clueless when it comes to flowers.
● I'm rather conservative when it comes to what I wear.
● For me, experience is everything when it comes to writing.
● Most of us are 'ultraconformists' when it comes to who we are most likely to follow... to socialise with, or even who we are most likely to hire.
● When it comes to giving advice, I can tell you a lot. When it comes to my problems, I (just) don't know what to do.
WHEREOF (conj. formal, literary (of what), de lo que.
● Whereof one cannot speak, thereof one must be silent. (L. Witgenstein)
WHY (+ bare verb)
● If you aren't going all the way, why go at all?
● It makes no sense to worry about things you have no control over because there is nothing you can do about them, and why worry about things you do control?
WHY (interj). Used to express surprise, hesitation, or impatience.
● Why, go right ahead!
● Why, what do you mean?
WHY NOT ...?
● You have to think anyway, so why not think big. Donald Trump.
● Why not whip the teacher when the pupil misbehaves? Diogenes
● You can bear your own faults, and why not a fault in your wife?
Benjamin Franklin.
● Instead of worrying about what people say of you, why not spend time trying to accomplish something they will admire. Dale Carnegie
● Some men see things as they are, and ask why. I dream of things that never were, and ask why not. Robert Kennedy
WILL (habits and characteristics)
● Boys will be boys.
● Faith will move mountains.
● If it is important to you, you will find a way. If not you'll find an excuse.
● Murphy's Law states that if something can go wrong, it (probably) will.
WILL (actions, orders, requests, offers, refusals) and WANT (thoughts)
Will you open ... (order)
Do you want to open ... (a question about somebody's wishes)
● I don't want a huge wedding. I don't want it to be some huge spectacle.
WISH
● (There are) so many things that we wish we had done yesterday, (and yet) so few that we feel like doing today.
WITHOUT
● Prejudice is a great time saver. You can form opinions without you(r) having to get the facts.
● You know what charm is: a way of getting the answer yes without having asked any clear question. Albert Camus
WITHOUT WHICH
● Money is like a sixth sense without which you cannot make a complete use of the other five. William Somerset Maugham.
WORTH
● Education is an admirable thing, but it is well to remember from time to time that nothing that is worth knowing can be taught. Oscar Wilde.
● The key to immortality is first living a life worth remembering. B. Lee.
● Whatever is worth doing at all is worth doing well.
WOULD (rather like used to)
We sometimes use "would" when talking about habitual past behaviour or habits in the past.
● Every weekday my father would come home from work at 6pm and watch TV.
● On Saturdays, when I was a child, I would get up early and go fishing.
● Every summer we'd go to the seaside.
● Sometimes she'd phone me in the middle of the night.
● We would always argue. We could never agree.
WOULD (for the past)
We often use "would" as a kind of past tense of will or going to:
● Even as a boy, I knew that I would succeed in life.
● I thought it would rain so I brought my umbrella.
WOULD NOT (past refusals)
We often use "would not" to talk about past refusals:
● He wanted a divorce but his wife would not agree.
● Yesterday morning, the car wouldn't start.
WOULD (for the future in past)
When talking about the past we can use would to express something that has not happened at the time we are talking about:
● In London I met the man that I would one day marry.
● He left 5 minutes late, unaware that the delay would save his life.
WOULD RATHER / PREFER (TO) / SOONER
● I'd rather be hated for who I am, than (to) / (be) loved for who I am not.
Kurt Cobain.
● I would (much) rather have men ask why I have no statue than why I have one.
● I'd rather annoy with the truth than please with adulation.
● I'd rather control someone than be controlled.
● I'd rather be his whore than your wife. Titanic (1997)
● I'd rather be good than lucky.
● I'd rather be a whore than live at home.
WOULD PREFER (+ bare verb)
● I think that most of us would prefer to be popular than unpopular.
WOULD RATHER / PREFER (TO) / SOONER (in the negative form)
● I'd rather try and fail than not try at all, (as they say).
● I'd rather regret doing something than not doing something.
● I'd rather work than not.
● I've been more single than not in my short life.
WOULD SOONER (+ bare verb)
● Many people would sooner die than think; in fact, they do so. B Russell
● I would sooner fail than not be among the greatest. John Keats
WOULD PREFER (+ bare verb)
● I would prefer things to be peaceful and not have conflict.
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