Have something done.

You can often use the phrase “have something done” when you have paid for a service.

For example, let’s say that you went to the hairdresser’s and someone cut your hair there, and you paid for it. So, after that, you say “I just had my hair cut”. Remember that the structure is: have something done. It means that the word “have” must be conjugated; the word “something” represents the object of the service (E.g. my hair); and, the word “done” will be replaced by the service (verb in past participle) that someone else did for you.

Here are more examples:

-          Hector had his car mended yesterday.

-          A: Have you had your curtains made? They look very nice! B: No, I made them myself.

-           Your skin looks redder every day. You should have it tested by the dermatologist.

At times, you don’t have to pay for a service you receive, you simply arrange for someone else to do something for you. E.g. Mary had her children looked after by her mum last month. She didn’t have to pay for the babysitting.

On other occasions, the meaning may be different. This happens when you use the expression to talk about negative experiences.

For example:

-          We had all our money stolen while we were on holiday.

-          Peter had his leg broken when playing football yesterday.

Finally, the word “get” may be used instead of “have” in informal situations or spoken English. So the structure can also be: Get something done.

If you're an English student, why don't you try writing some examples below. I'd like to send you some feedback.

Sources:

-          English Grammar in Use 3^rd Edition CUP

-          Inside Out textbook, level upper-intermediate, Macmillan

UNDER SIEGE!

 “Your thoughts rule your life.” That’s what they say, isn’t it? It seems that our destiny has somehow to do with the mentality we embrace today. Keeping a clear conscious may therefore let us enjoy a more peaceful, tranquil life in the future.  

But how do we keep our mind sound when the surrounding has been seized by destructive thoughts? Actually, there are plenty of evil ideas that begin to germinate on people’s minds. This is what has happened at Mr Critical’s office. Everyone has begun to focus on the mistakes of others, and gossip has invaded the work environment, to the extent that it is affecting the job security of certain people who are thought to be lazy, not collaborative and critical men. Are they really so? Or perhaps, have jealousy, envy and the fear of losing power made room for instability at the office? How does one succeed in a group of workers? How to be liked at work? Maybe, the lack of professionalism is still bearing its fruit and letting the ”wanna be” authorities (wanna be sub-deans, coordinators, etc) proceed according to their mediocrity, which is mainly based on sentimentalism, emotionalism and prejudice above professional ethics, knowledge and leadership.

To Mr Critical, it is impossible to hire professionals who know their job well (or at least, acceptably) without expecting them to express their thoughts, ideas, opinions and warnings. You cannot brainwash them. You cannot deceive them. They cannot be silent. However much the colonisers –so to speak- insist on looking for mistakes on them, they’ll always remain safe. It’s time to make peace among everyone in the office and stop castigating people who seem to be a threat or an obstacle. Hopefully, every single person may work at ease at this office and may they soon enjoy the beauty of their lives united together. May the good thoughts overcome the bad ones, so that our lives may be ruled by positive, sound minds every day.

 Good thoughts in the middle of bad ones, will you draw them in?

VERB PATTERNS

In English, you may have the next possible ways (patterns or structures) in which verbs are shown in a sentence.

1.       One Verb (I mean, subject + verb + complement)

E.g. I like pizza / I have been studying English for 4 years (here, “have been” are actually auxiliaries, not verbs. So the verb is ‘study’)

2.       (This and the next structures consist of two verbs) Verb + to-infinitive

E.g. Jack has to study hard to pass this term (The first verb is ‘have’ and the second, ‘study’)

These verbs are frequently followed by to-infinitive:  

Choose decide expect forget hate hope intend learn like love mean plan prefer would like would love agree refuse arrange attempt fail manage tend promise want.

3.       Verb + object + to-infinitive

E.g. I asked the teacher to repeat the class (The object here is ‘the teacher’ and it can be replaced by an object pronoun when the object is not unknown: I asked him to repeat the class. ‘Him’=’the teacher’)

These verbs are often followed by an object and to-infinitive:

Advise ask encourage invite order persuade remind tell warn not expect intend prefer want would like allow enable force get teach

4.       Verb + Gerund

E.g. Susan enjoyed dancing at the party yesterday (The first verb is ‘enjoy’ and the second, ‘dance’)

These verbs are commonly followed by a gerund:

Detest dislike enjoy hate fancy like love mind admit consider deny imagine remember suggest avoid begin finish keep miss practise risk quit

5.       Verb + object + gerund

E.g. I could hear someone singing (Here, could is a modal verb; the first verb is ‘hear’ and the second, ‘sing’. The object is ‘someone’, which might also be replaced by an object pronoun: I could hear her singing; when we already know who ‘her’ is)

 These verbs can be followed by an object and a gerund:

See watch hear smell listen to catch find imagine leave prevent

6.       Have, make and let are neither followed by a to-infinitive nor a gerund. E.g. let me go to the loo please! / Have your secretary look for the document / Make me understand better

*The verb ‘help’ may or may not be followed by a to-infinitive. E.g. Help me to study maths please! = Help me study maths please!

7.       Start and begin can be followed by a to-infinitive or a gerund. E.g. It started raining / It started to rain.

8.        These verbs can be followed by a to-infinitive or a gerund, but there’s a difference in meaning:

Stop + to-infinitive (to stop doing something in order to do something different)

E.g. I stopped the car to buy a soda

Stop + gerund (to quit (abandon) doing something)

E.g. I stopped smoking (I decided not to do it any more)

Remember + to-infinitive (to remember that you have to do something)

E.g. Please, remember to turn the cooker off when the water has boiled.

Remember + gerund (to remember to have done something)

E.g. I think this is not my first time in this place, I remember seeing that picture before / Why are the keys lost? I remember leaving them on the table

Try + to-infinitive (to make an effort to do something)

E.g. I’ve tried to stop smoking, but I can’t / Try to be punctual next time!

 Try + gerund (to do something to see if it helps you solve a problem or something that is needed)

E.g. Wife: This computer doesn’t work! Husband: Try restarting it!

Continue + to-infinitive (to not stop happening or being)

E.g. It continued to rain till midnight

Continue + gerund (to not stop doing something)

E.g. He continued typing while he spoke

Sources:

http://learnenglish.britishcouncil.org

http://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english

http://www.macmillandictionary.com/

What to teach?

In today's story, we'll see some more witticisms from Mr Critical:

Carol was invited to an audition for a band that needed a female singer. She had met the guitarist of the band on facebook some weeks before, for he had seen her in a picture singing for an important choir. Well, actually, she wasn’t a singer but a medicine student who used to like singing and wanted to take her voice to a higher stage than her shower.

The guitarist of the band had previously sent a message to all the members letting them know the 4 songs that she had asked to be played for the audition; and, finally, the day arrived. But guess what? She came without rehearsing at all! ¬¬. She didn’t sing well any of the 4 songs she herself had asked for. “I think she’s too daring!” said the guitarist once Carol had gone out to be given a ride home by the bassist. “How can she dare to come to the audition without rehearsing!” he followed. -“Why did you invite her to come again to rehearsals?” asked the drummer. To which the guitarist replied: “Well, I, uh… I, er… I just thought she was kind of sensual, or perhaps she looked cute to me… and, er… I think we might need a bit of this image in the band, you know, to sell us better. What do you reckon?”

-“I reckon she’s not just daring, but dangerous! Just because of what you said, that she projects a cute, sort of sensual image. However, I agree with you that we might need a bit of it in our band” retorted the drummer. “But I feel a bit sad about the previous candidate, you know. She was too nervous. I think she’s very shy and for that reason she couldn't be picked, besides, she was not that good looking, although her voice wasn’t bad at all” he lamented.

This sometimes (or most of the times) happens in everyday life. Mr Critical asks to himself: What should teachers teach? It seems that being successful has somehow to do with being daring or a bit sensual (especially for women). Let’s take for example what happens at Mr Critical’s office. There, you can find some women working as English teachers, but they don’t even know how to write a formal letter in their own language, let alone in English. However, one of them is surprisingly the "second on board" -so to speak- of the Department, someone who the only word she knows in English is “ok, ok, ok” and "manash" (manage), "averash" (average), "mesash" (message), "reproved" (meaning 'failed'), and "she's a good cooker". But of course, she perfectly knows how to influence on people, on her boss, -the best brainwasher I've ever met, so his name should rather be 'Mr Power of Persuasion'- But this guy is evidently a simple wannabe 'eloquent' as he'll never persuade you, unless your IQ is really low. However, the "second on board" knows how to influence on him, and on her authorities, students, and even on certain colleagues. According to Mr Critical, teachers should teach how to be daring, astute, crafty, and cunning in order to be successful in life. It seems that intelligence, competence and professionalism based on speaking knowledgeably is regarded as secondary (or perhaps, unnecessary). What do you reckon?

Features of Phrasal Verbs

Here are some features of the phrasal verbs:

1.       Have several meanings (like other words) E.g. go off = start making a noise (an alarm); go off = explode; go off = leave/go away.

2.       Sometimes the meaning is literal (you can guess it from the verb and particle. E.g. go off = leave; take off = remove, etc.)

3.       Mostly, the meaning is abstract / idiomatic; you have to guess it from the context. E.g. go off = take place / happen; take off = start flying, etc.

4.       A good dictionary is needed to help oneself identify the appropriate definition of a phrasal verb as they can transmit its action to an object (Transitive=T) or they cannot transmit its action to an object (Intransitive=I)

5.       When the phrasal verb is transitive, it can be either separable or non-separable. In separable phrasal verbs, the object CAN separate the phrasal verb OR come after it.

E.g. Throw away
Throw the banana peel away / Throw away the banana peel

But if the object is a pronoun (object pronoun, of course), it MUST separate the phrasal verb.
Throw it away.

In non-separable phrasal verbs, the object always comes AFTER it. E.g. could you deal with the problem? / Could you deal with it?

* The object ALWAYS comes AFTER the phrasal verb when this has TWO particles.
                E.g. My boyfriend gets along with my parents / my boyfriend gets along with them.


SOURCE: Inside Out series, Upper-intermediate. Macmillan

If-Clauses or Conditionals?

As students of the English language make progress in knowledge, they come across something called Conditional Clauses. If you don’t know what this means, it would be worthy to read the following:

A conditional clause, also known as If-Clause, is simply a clause that has the word “if” in it. So, since this two letter word implies a condition, there is also a resultant (or main) clause and both of them make up a conditional sentence. This sentence can be found in 5 different cases, namely:

1.    Zero Conditional (or Real Conditional):

It talks about things that are always true.

E.g. If you heat water, it boils (use simple present in both clauses)

2. First Conditional (Possible Conditional – Less likely than the previous one):

It talks about possibilities in the present or the future.

E.g. If I have time today, I’ll go shopping on the way home. (Use If + simple present in the If-clause, and will (or be going to) + infinitive in the second clause)

3. Second Conditional (or Present Unreal Conditional):

It talks about hypothetical situations in the present.

E.g. If I won the lottery, I’d buy a Mercedes Benz. (Use If + past simple in the if clause, and would + infinitive in the resultant clause)

4. Third Conditional (or Past Unreal Conditional):

It talks about unreal situations in the past. Things that didn’t happen at all:

E.g. If I’d seen you in the party yesterday, I’d have danced with you. (I didn’t see you yesterday in the party; therefore I didn’t dance with you)

Or it also talks about things that did happen but that might not have happened.

    If I hadn't had a good education, I wouldn't have got this job. (I could have not had a good education, but fortunately I did; therefore, I have a good job now)

(Use If + past perfect in the If-clause, and would have + past participle in the main clause)

5. Mixed Conditionals:

(Combinations of tenses between the two clauses):

Examples:

If he’d gone to university, he would have a better job.

If he didn’t have to work tomorrow, he wouldn’t be so miserable today.

·         Notice that other modal verbs can be used instead of ‘would’ (e.g. ‘could’, ‘might’ ‘may’)

·         Don’t write a comma when the main clause goes first: I’ll go shopping on the way home if I have time.

·         All ways of contractions are possible. Be careful not to confound the ‘d contraction:

If I’d seen you in the party yesterday, I’d have danced with you = If I had seen you in the party yesterday, I would have danced with you.

Sources & suggested web pages:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/grammar/learnit/learnitv356.shtml

http://learnenglish.britishcouncil.org

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NdXRP9el5CU

Let me stay in the classroom, please!!!

In today’s story, we will meet Mr Critical, an English teacher who feels frustrated most of his time at work because he would like to spend all his working hours in the classroom, not in his office at his desk, as he has to do when he is not teaching.

Why is this so? We asked him.

-          "Believe me; I do more in the classroom than at my desk in the office" –he answered-. "You know, in the office many absurd things happen. Firstly, there is this wannabe coordinator who, apart from having a poor English level keeps making the same mistakes regarding the paper work. The only thing she has learnt is how to copy things from the Internet and adjust them to what is needed (as most people do) but, in doing this, she considers herself very intelligent and efficient, as if knowing how to do this were good enough to be a coordinator. This person doesn’t know that before printing any letter one has to read and review for mistakes, so I think our office has the majority of unnecessary recyclable paper irresponsibly wasted. This person, whose behaviour at the office is sometimes rather like a forewoman than like a professional English Institute coordinator, has been taught how to use Microsoft Excel (by me mostly) but she wouldn’t use this tool efficiently. Most of the time, she will try to do it by herself, but with poor results. For that reason, all the things she thinks she organises are the result of a lack of knowledge on how to do it efficiently and effectively. Therefore, the outcomes of this are generally mediocrity, unnecessary extra working hours and a ridiculous fussy behaviour.

Secondly, there are these two female English teachers who want to be (or, at least it seems that they want to be) the wannabe coordinator’s assistants, as they never complain about being treated as assistants instead of as professional teachers. One of them would even be eager to deliberately serve the wannabe coordinator in everything, perhaps, because she is so ignorant that she will never think the forewoman might be wrong at times.

But the worst one of all is the guy responsible for having the office like that. He is our boss. The one who is in love with the forewoman and lets her do whatever she pleases. Today he can admit you are right in telling the wannabe coordinator’s errors, but tomorrow he will confess his love for her. He is so ignorant that he thinks that hers are minor flaws in her work, and doesn't realise all the madness she does. How hypocrite can he be! He just wants the forewoman to solve his work life; and she does it, but very poorly. Apart from this, the rest of the authorities –who “have to” rely on our boss’ professionalism in having her as the coordinator- are most of the time delighted by her female touches and charm (which she of course knows perfectly how to use) so that, ha ha ha, here we have another case to which the lyrics of the famous Willie Colón’s song “No tiene talento pero es muy buena mosa” refer to.

Tell me now; would you like to stay in such an office? Actually, I don’t pretend to be perfect but at least I never dare to say I know something well when I know just half of it; and, even though I’m the least experienced English teacher there and have not taken the TKT course -Teaching Knowledge Test- (as the wannabe coordinator, in her ignorance, thinks this TKT course she has once taken should be considered as a 4^th level degree –like a master’s-) most students would like to study with Mr Critical, and it’s not precisely because of their marks, for many of them have lost their level with him (and even so they'd like to repeat it with him) but it is because they prefer someone who is more concerned with quality.

Sometimes, I get this off my chest with my foreigner colleague. Although he fails to have a standard (or neutral) pronunciation, but at least he perfectly understands me when I say that mediocre people (basically the forewoman, or "the absurd one", as I also call her) willing to be bossy and pretending to be great professionals (when what they really are is astute, daring and fake professionals) make me want to run away from that absurd office. After all, in the classroom I concentrate better and can make the planning using all the best sources from the Internet, and obviously, I can better prepare (and without listening to the absurd one) for my next class."

Wow! It seems that you’ve let off some steam by confiding us all this. How do you feel now?

-          -"Well, actually, I would just like the wannabe coordinator to be humbler -´cause she’s very proud and daring- and her attitude to change into a more professional one. She needs to understand that intelligent leadership is highly required for working as a team in a modern organisation. She needs to forget about using the words “I, me, my” and instead to use “we, us, our” because it’s not about her farm, but it’s about everyone’s work and the institution of each and every one of the members of the team." 

Letting off some steam: Writing is a good way of doing it :)

The Most Graceful/Disgraceful Name in the World

What do you think is the most graceful and disgraceful name in the world? Is it possible that one name may be graceful and disgraceful at the same time? Well, actually I don’t know. But, if you get to think it over, perhaps you may come to the same conclusion I did. That name must be Jesus Christ. What do you reckon? In some contexts, this name is certainly worshiped and highly respected; but in others, that same name is annoying and in some places, it’s even forbidden. You may have noticed that when talking about themes like freedom of speech, science, technology, neuro linguistic programming, sociology, anthropology, psychology, and themes related to critical thinking, sometimes people proudly evoke and convincingly express what they have learnt about these subjects, including the latest advancements yielded. Mentioning the name of Jesus Christ in these contexts might be regarded as freak. In fact, it would seem to be that this name did actually not have any significant meaning to these subjects. What is more, on certain occasions, it might be thought that this name does not go with the advancements of these subjects. Closely associated with religion, as this name historically has been seen, some thinkers would prefer to leave it as some sort of a social convention, or even some kind of social constriction. But the truth is that, at times, within certain contexts, the name Jesus Christ turns out to be disgraceful, annoying or perhaps disgusting.  Evidently, it does not say anything to the scientific method, for example. It does not explain why some people feel romantically or sexually attracted to others of their same gender, in another instance; it would rather dare to condemn this behaviour. Finally, it does not solve any social problem as hunger, poverty, stupidity, uncertainty, etc.

Conversely; however, there are other contexts in which this name is curiously welcome, appreciated and even worshiped. It is impossible for a common person to do this. No regular person is able to willingly see any meaningfulness in the name of Jesus Christ, except from those who, under the tests of life, have seen with no eyes (though having them), hear with no ears (though having them) and somehow been sensitive to scripture. In these contexts, matter does not exist. It is only the reflection of what is a greater category, spirituality. Here, we understand that what is seen was not made out of what was visible, but by the command of God; and He has pleased to design his Kingdom perfectly on His own opinion and will, so that, for It to be perfect there must be and coexist a silly dimension, which is the material world, and in which everything is uncertain, imprecise, corruptible, incomprehensible, poor, hungry, unnatural, stupid, full of mirages which constitute the simulacrum reality. So the name of Jesus Christ is graceful to this other context, the spiritual one. Historians date Him, but not His meaning or His resurrection, which is registered only in the scripture. No human reason is capable of achieving any, not even the slightest thought of God. That is why it is unbelievable for humans that He has died in order to let us live. This shall certainly not be understood in the material contexts, but in the spiritual one: faith!

Is the name of Jesus Christ annoying for you? Perhaps you will need to move up to the spiritual context. As for me, this is simply the ultimate name of God in the Bible, and I will respect it and honour it as such.

Until next time! And many thanks for reading! J

Yes, but how?

Given that our current Occidental society is thought to be the most uncertain, accelerated and stressed out ever, we often hear some useful tips on how to cope with this typical inconvenience. People talk about relaxation, meditation, yoga, trying new activities, undertaking new adventures and many other things as such.  However, I wonder if one or some of them have proved to be effective, or the solution to any of these current difficulties. It seems that they actually work for a certain time but, after some days, people go back to the same place. What is the real problem? There must then be something greater than all these recommendations that overcomes them and makes people locate them again on the same frustrating, uncomfortable and disgusting routine. So how does one get rid of being in a permanent hurry? How is it possible to avoid the acceleration, uncertainty and stress of the present world?

 I believe that our habits in life are essential. If we don’t deliberately form good habits, then, unconsciously, we’ll form bad ones. There’s a helpful web site I usually visit: http://www.48days.com/ here, you may find answers to many questions, within which are the ones above. I’m absolutely sure we can learn something useful from this web page. I hope it serves you well. :)

Happy New Year! | Macmillan

Happy New Year! | Macmillan