Pronunciation – The ‘-ed’ endings on past regular verbs

The –ed ending is added to regular verbs in the simple past and the past participle.
It can be difficult to pronounce correctly, even at advanced level.
Luckily, there are some guidelines to help you pronounce this correctly.
There are three different ways to pronounce the –ed ending. However, the majority of endings have the ‘e’ as silent. It is not often pronounced.
Two words in which the ‘e’ is pronounced are ‘started’ and ‘collided’.
If the final sound of the infinitive is a /t/ or a /d/ sound, the ‘e’ is pronounced. For example, want – wanTED. Need – neeDED.

1./t/ after voiceless sounds (you can identify a voiceless sound by putting your hand on your head or your throat and checking for vibration. If there’s no vibration, it’s a voiceless sound).
Examples of voiceless sounds are:

/p/ – play
/s/ – say
/th/ – three
/ch/ – chips
/h/ – hello
/sh/ – wash
      

Vocabulary: Adjectives of Character

How would you describe Mamen? – cool, laid-back, generous and kind and friendly.
Use ‘a bit…’ to moderate a negative adjective. “She’s a bit unfriendly.”
‘Quite’ before an adjective can mean ‘very’ or ‘a little’, depending on the stress adn intonation.
“Reza’s QUITE friendly.” – He’s very friendly.
“Reza’s QUITE friendly.” (rising intonation) – He’s a bit friendly, but not very.

despistado – forgetful, absent-minded
ambicioso – ambitious
pesado – annoying, irritating, boring, tiresome (a pain in the neck!)
discutidor – argumentative
malhumorado– bad-tempered

      

Vocabulary: Cinema vocabulary

The music of a film – soundtrack
The people who watch a film – audience (sport – spectators)
When actors and actresses practise for a film or a play – rehearsal / to rehearse
The person who makes the film and tells the actors what to do – director (pronunciation)
The person who pays the money to make the film – producer
The dialogue of a film – script
Someone who does the dangerous things in a film – stuntperson
All of the actors and actresses in a film – the cast
The building where films are made – studio
The places where the film is shot outside the studio – on location
The continuation of a story in a book or a film – sequel (the book or film that precedes – goes before – the story is the prequel)
The part that an actor or actress plays in a film or a play – role
Images which are made by computer – special effects
When somebody writes an opinion of a film, play or book – review (the person is a critic)
The way an actor or an actress acts – performance
A successful film which earns a lot of money – a box office success, blockbuster (Jurassic World – grossed $500 million worldwide in its opening weekend – estreno = premiere, opening release, first release)
      

Uses of GET

Vocabulary: Uses of GET

Phrasal verbs with GET

to get your head around = to understand
to get by – manage (financially) English teachers don’t earn very much money, but we get by. (arreglarse)
to get on/off a train/boat/plane/bike (subir/bajar) – get in/out of a car/taxi (salir)
get out of doing something – get out of doing the washing up (to avoid)
to get off with something (escapar, zafar, evitar una tarea, compromiso) – “The criminal commited a crime but no one caught him. He got off with it.” – get away with
to get on with – (seguir con) “Get on with your homework!”
to get on with – (llevarse bien) “Do you get on well with your brothers and sisters?”
to get away with – escape punishment for a crime or bad action (salirse con la suya, zafarse de la cárcel) “I can’t believe you got away with cheating on that test!”
to get over – to recover (from an illness, a surprise) Have you got over your cold yet? (recuperarse)
to get up – levantarse What time do you get up in the summer? Do you go to bed and get up later because of the heat?
to get through (to someone) – to communicate “It’s difficult to get through to my wife. We always argue.”