BASIC

Use of English
file

Unit 7: Knowing a
second language
Unit 7: Knowing a
second language

1. Review of:
a. present simple
b. present progressive
c. past simple
d. past progressive

2. Vocabulary: knowing a
second language
We use the Present Simple to talk about facts,
feelings and everyday routines and activities. For this
reason certain verbs such as love, agree,
hear, and think always use the Present Simple.

For example:

I love French.
People think Spanish is a difficult language.

I don’t study Portuguese. I study English.

My friend speaks German and English.

We often use the Present Simple with adverbs of

frequency (always, usually, often, sometimes,
never, etc.) to talk about how often we do an activity.

For example:

I always practice English two hours a day.

I never get up early to study.
AFFIRMATIVE SENTENCES:

Subject + verb (s / es) + complement

• I love French.
• My friend speaks German.

Remember:

I/ you/ we/ they (verb in base form)

He / she/ it (verb + s / es)

NEGATIVE SENTENCES:

Subject + don’t / doesn’t + verb (base form) + c

• I don’t know how to speak Italian.

• My friend doesn’t like Japanese.

Remember:

I / you / we / they don’t (do + not)

He /she / it doesn’t (does + not)
YES / NO QUESTIONS

Do/ Does + subject + verb (base form) + c?

Do you study French?

Yes, I do. / No, I don’t.

Does your friend like Chinese?

Yes, he does. / No, he doesn’t.

Remember:

Do + I / we / you / they…?
Does + he / she / it…?

Wh- QUESTIONS

Wh + do/does + sub + verb (base form) + c?

Q: When do you study English?

A: I study English on Mondays, Wednesdays
and Fridays.
We use the Present Progressive to talk
about temporary situations and to talk
about actions that we are doing at the
moment.

For example:

• I am studying English 2 this semester.

• Students are taking online classes

now.

• We are doing homework at home

this week.
AFFIRMATIVE SENTENCES:
Subject+ be + verb-ing + complement

I am reading sentences in English now.

We are learning a foreign language this year.

NEGATIVE SENTENCES:
Subject + be (not) + verb – ing + complement

We aren’t learning Chinese.

I’m not reading Italian now.

QUESTION FORMS:
(Wh) + Be + subject + verb-ing+ complement?

Are you studying a foreign language this

month?
Yes, I am. / No, I’m not.

What are you studying now?

I am studying English.
Observe:

Present simple Present progressive

I study at 5:00 pm every day. I am learning English now.

My friend likes Chinese culture. We are taking online classes this month.

We get up early on Mondays. People aren’t travelling to foreign countries these

days.
Students don’t know how to speak Russian. I’m not studying Portuguese right now.

Markers of time help us know which tense we are using.

We use the Past Simple to talk about an
action that started and finished in the past.

For example:

I went to The USA to practice some English

last year.

My friends didn’t like to speak English in class

when I was in school.

My aunt lived abroad from 2000 to 2006.

Remember:

We have regular verbs (verb + d / ed).

live / lived work / worked study / studied

We have irregular verbs:

go / went buy / bought have / had
AFFIRMATIVE SENTENCES:

subject + verb (past) + complement

I went to the USA last year.
We liked English at school.

NEGATIVE SENTENCES:

Subject + didn’t (did not) + verb (base form) + c

My friend didn’t like English at school.
My aunt didn’t live in Peru from 2000 to 2005.

QUESTIONS:

(Wh) + did + subject + verb (base form) + c?

Did you like English when you were at school?
Yes, I did. / No, I didn’t.

When did you learn English?

I learned English when I was at school.
We use the Past Progressive to talk about
actions that we did repeatedly or
continuously in the past.

• I was studying English last night.

• My brother was studying hard for his

exam of French so I couldn’t make any
noise.

• We weren’t reading subtitles while we

were watching the series.

Remember:

I / he / she / it + was

You / we / they + were

AFFIRMATIVE SENTENCES:

Subject + be (was / were) + verb–ing + c

I was studying for my exam last night.
They were speaking English with foreigners.

NEGATIVE SENTENCES:

Subject + be (was / were)+not + verb-ing + c

I wasn’t reading the subtitles.
We weren’t listening to music in Spanish.

QUESTIONS:

(Wh) + was / were + subject + verb-ing + c?

Were you speaking in English with a foreigner
just a minute ago?
Yes, I was. / no, I wasn’t.

What were you talking about?

We were talking about the global situation.
Observe:

Past simple Past progressive

I listened to some songs in English yesterday. I was studying English all day long yesterday.

We saw many movies without subtitles last month. We were reading a book in English yesterday at 5:00
p.m.
I learned some English when I was at school. I wasn’t writing in class while the teacher was
speaking.
I didn’t understand the grammar lesson last class. They weren’t paying attention to the teacher while
she was giving instructions.

Markers of time help us know which tense we are using.

*While is a time conjunction we usually use in past progressive.

I. Write the correct questions for the underlined words in the answer. You can use present simple
or present progressive.

1. _? I usually practice English in the afternoon.

2. _? She’s watching a movie in English without subtitles now.
3. _? I want to do listening activities.
4. _? No, I don’t. But I speak some Spanish and Portuguese.
5. _? Yes, she does. My mom likes to read books in English too.
6. _? I’m studying for my English exam right now.
7. _? My friends are going to a meeting with some foreigners this week.
8. _? No, I’m not. I’m taking English classes now.
9. _? Yes, they do. My friends really like American culture.
10. _? My dad speaks two languages.
11. _? Yes, I am. I’m learning new words.
 Check your answers.

1. When do you usually practice English?

2. What’s (your friend) doing now?
3. What activities do you want to do?
4. Do you speak (German / or any other language except Spanish and Portuguese) ?
5. Does your mom like to (watch movies / or any other activity except read books in English) in English ?
6. What are you doing now?
7. What are your friends doing this week? /Where are your friends going this week?
8. Are you taking (Italian/ or other language except English ) classes now?
9. Do your friends like American culture?
10. How many languages does your father speak ?
11. Are you learning new things?
II. Complete this conversation using the correct words.

A: Mom, I really want to study a new language please.

B: Oh!That’s good. Which language 1. you want to study?
A: I want to 2. Spanish. All my friends _ _ _ _3. Spanish now.
B:That’s great. Where your friends _ _ _ 4. Spanish now?
A: In a language school called “Lengua latina”. It’s near the city center.
B: Ok. 5. you prefer to study in the morning or in the afternoon?
A: I like mornings but all my friends are studying in the afternoon so I 6. want to study alone.
B: Ok.You don’t want to be alone. I’ll go to the language school tomorrow.

A:Yay! I 7. sending a message to my friends right now.They’ll be happy.

B: Good. Uh. Sweetie. What you 8. now? I mean, apart from sending messages.
A: Nothing much mom. Why? 9. you need anything?
B:Yes, I 10. some help with my new cellphone.
A: Oh! I can help you with that.What 11. you need?
 Check your answers.

A: Mom, I really want to study a new language please.

B: Oh!That’s good. Which language do 1. you want to study?
A: I want to learn /study / know 2. Spanish. All my friends are studying / learning 3. Spanish now.
B:That’s great. Where are your friends studying 4. Spanish now?
A: In a language school called “Lengua latina”. It’s near the city center.
B: Ok. Do 5. you prefer to study in the morning or in the afternoon?
A: I like mornings but all my friends are studying in the afternoon so I don’t 6. want to study alone.
B: Ok.You don’t want to be alone. I’ll go to the language school tomorrow.

A:Yay! I am 7. sending a message to my friends right now.They’ll be happy.

B: Good. Uh. Sweetie. What are you doing 8. now? I mean, apart from sending messages.
A: Nothing much mom. Why? Do 9. you need anything?
B:Yes, I need / want 10. some help with my new cellphone.
A: Oh! I can help you with that.What do11. you need?
III. Complete the text using the correct form of the verbs in parenthesis. Use past simple or past
progressive.
An anecdote in a foreign country

I _ 1. (go) to the U.S.A last year and it _______ 2. (be / not) the fantastic trip I expected. First, I had
to rent a car because there were no buses available so I ____________ 3. (not/ have) any other choice. Well,
my story began there. I _ 4. (start) to drive and I __5. (be) completely scared. It was about 4 in
the afternoon and while I _________________ 6. (drive), I ___________ 7. (try) to feel calm. However,
many other cars ________________ 8. (honk) because I _________________ 9. (drive) slowly. Luckily, I

_ 10. (not / hit) them.

After four hours, I finally ________ 11 . (arrive) at the hotel but I was absolutely terrified. I had never felt so
frightened in my whole life.
Check your answers.

1. went
2. wasn’t
3. didn’t have
4. started
5. was
6. was driving
7. was trying
8. were honking
9. was driving
10. didn’t hit
11. arrived
1. bilingual
2. culture
3. formal
4. informal
5. monolingual
6. multilingual
7. native speaker
8. personality
9. raise
10. vocabulary
2a. Vocabulary: Knowing a second language
Read the short conversations. Complete them with the correct words from the box. Check verb conjugation.

1. A: I love to learn new things about Brazilian .

B:That’s true. I love it too. Our Portuguese classes are great!
1. bilingual
2. A:The most difficult part of learning a language is .
B:That’s true.There are many words to memorize. 2. culture

3. A: I would love to speak many languages but I only know two.

3. formal
B: So you want to be but you are now.
4. informal
4. A: it’s not a good idea to be these days.
5. monolingual
B:Yes. Everybody needs to know at least two languages.
6. multilingual
5. A: I have a friend who is a .
B: Really?Where’s he from? 7. native speaker
6. A:When you study languages in a school, you learn words. 8. personality
B:That’s true. But when you listen to music or watch series, you learn words.
9. raise
7. A: People say that when you know a new language, your changes.
B: I agree. It’s because we have a different perception of the language and the cultural aspects. 10. vocabulary
8. A: you speak perfect Japanese. Where did you learn it?
B:Well, actually I was by my grandparents inTokyo.
 Check your answers.
1. A: I love to learn new things about Brazilian culture.
B:That’s true. I love it too. Our Portuguese classes are great!

2.A: The most difficult part of learning a language is vocabulary.

B:That’s true.There are many words to memorize.

3.A: I would love to speak many languages but I only know two.
B: So you want to be multilingual but you are bilingual now.

4. A: it’s not a good idea to be monolingual these days.

B:Yes. Everybody needs to know at least two languages.

5.A: I have a friend who is a native speaker.

B: Really?Where’s he from?

6. A:When you study languages in a school, you learn formal words.

B:That’s true. But when you listen to music or watch series, you learn informal words.

7. A: People say that when you know a new language, your personality changes.
B: I agree. It’s because we have a different perception of the language and the cultural aspects.

8. A: you speak perfect Japanese. Where did you learn it?

B:Well, actually I was raised by my grandparents inTokyo.
 Sources &
Credits
● https://www.shutterstock.com/
● https://www.englishpage.com/
● https://thenounproject.com/
● https://www.test-english.com/
● Exercises: Guisella Villavicencio
● English Discoveries Student platform

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