Hello and welcome back to the last blogcast of week 4! This was a big week; you studied: used to, past continuous AND passives! WOAH! Let’s look at how to use these different grammar points when you arrive.
Used to is great to talk about our past habits, it is useful because in Australia your life will change a lot. Let’s listen to a conversation between 2 students talking about what their habits and routines were in their country!
Jenifer: Uhh I am tired!
Louisa: Why Jenifer?
J: Well, when I lived in the Czech Republic I used to go to bed at 2am and wake up at 10am, but now I have to wake up at 7:30am to come to school!
L: Hmm, that is a big change. My sleeping times are the same, but I used to go running in the mornings but now I go swimming because I live near the beach!
J: Oh, that’s nice. I used to exercise a lot but now I party too much.
Past continuous is great for telling stories that happened in the past. Back to Louisa and Jenifer…
L: Did you party last night?
J: Yes I did! I was studying at home when my house mate came home with 5 friends, so they made me go out with them. It was really fun until someone spilled a drink on me while I was dancing. I went home after that because I smelt like vodka! But by that time it was already 5am and the sun was coming up.
L: Haha, while you were partying I was running! I woke up at 4:30 to go running today.
J: 4:30am you’re crazy!
L: Well, they say “Do as the locals do” and the locals here are always awake early.
Lastly, passives. Now remember we use passives for different reasons: 1 – We don’t know who did the action, 2 – We don’t care who did the action, 3- To emphasise the action, not who did it OR 4 – it is obvious who did the action.
Passives can be tricky and at the start you might not use them when you speak but listen for them, especially on the news! Let’s look at some examples – try to match the sentence with one of the reasons!
Fresh bread is baked every day (4)
My bike was stolen! (1)
She was voted the first female President. (3)
All her clothes were soaked so she was cold (2)
Alright, that’s all from me – time for you to give your brain a rest! Enjoy your weekend and remember to try to use a little bit of English every day so you can improve more quickly!