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Good morning. Oh, thank you!
- Anne, there's a telegram for you! - Oh, for me?
l wonder who it's from... Oh, it's from ltaly...
Come on, Anne, tell me who it is from...
- You know l'm dying of curiosity! - lt's from my sister Kimberly...
She says she's coming to visit me.
- She's arriving on Thursday. - Today is Thursday!
Oh, my God. lt is! What... Oh...
What now l... l have to tidy-up and do the shopping and...
The house needs a good cleaning as well!
Slow down, and calm down, Anne! We've got time...
So who is older, you or your sister?
- l am. - And are you similar or different?
Well... We're quite different...
She's shorter than l am and she's got blue eyes.
- Hey, what are you talking about? - About Anne's sister, Kimberly...
- She's arriving this afternoon. - Great! l can't wait to meet her.
ls she as cute as you, Anne?
Stop being silly, Jack! You're the biggest joker l know...
l have to get going now... Remember, don't leave the house in a mess!
ls that all she thinks about when someone is coming?
Cleaning, vacuuming, tidying-up and dusting?
Do you think Kimberly is worse than Anne?
lf so, we're going to have a lot of work to do!
That's right! Two sisters means twice the work!
Hello again and welcome back
for another English lesson on your live TV programme.
Now in that episode which you just saw
we learned that Anne has a sister called Kimberly
and that Anne is older than Kimberly and Kimberly is shorter than Anne.
And Jack asked: 'ls she as cute as Anne?'.
Now those were examples of different ways of using
the comparative form, which is what l want to look at with you now.
For example, look at this, this is one book, this is another,
they're not the same, so we say 'this book is bigger than this',
'this book is smaller than this book', ok?
They're not the same. Two more examples,
we have two pens, this costs twenty euro, this costs seven euro,
so when we compare them we can say
'this pen is more expensive than this pen'
and 'this pen is less expensive than this pen'
or 'this pen is cheaper', remember adjectives with one syllable,
'cheaper than' but 'less expensive'
because it has a three syllable adjective.
Now the next thing is: what happens when objects are the same?
For example look at this...
Mr Elephant,
and look at this... another Mr Elephant, two elephants,
these are exactly the same, so when we compare them
we say 'this elephant is as big as this elephant',
so we say 'as' plus the adjective and then 'as' again, 'as big as',
'this elephant is as heavy as this elephant'.
So when two things are being compared
and they're the same we use 'as... as'.
So we'll look at the screen now and we'll see that in the written form, ok.
So we said at the beginning:
when something is bigger, larger we say 'more than',
so 'London' for example 'is more expensive than Paris'
and when two things are the same size, like our elephants,
we use 'as... as' so 'London is as expensive as New York'
so these are comparatives of equality,
and then the other example was when one thing
is smaller than the other, so 'Paris is less... than London',
'less expensive than', 'Paris is less expensive than London', alright?
So, three different ways of using the comparatives,
and you'll find that very useful when you're having conversations
with your friends. So remember, when they're the same
'he is as big as he', the two elephants.
Great, so enjoy your learning and l'll see you again very soon, bye.
Hi Anne. So you must be Kimberly... lt's a pleasure. l'm Jack!
Hello, Jack, Anne has told me so much about you!
Hi, l'm Alice. You live in Rome, don't you? So, how is life in 'bella' ltaly?
Wonderful! My father raised me in America, though,
but ltaly is the most fascinating country in the world,
as far as l'm concerned!
lts history, the art... And, of course, the best food in the world!
What else can anyone ask for?
And, of course, the ltalians are the most likeable people in the world!
You are 1oo% right! Just look at me...
l'm originally from Bologna,
which is one of the best cities in the world when it comes to eating well!
l know Bologna well. lt's a beautiful city, even if l do prefer Rome.
Rome is much bigger and more exciting.
- So, how does London in compare? - London isn't that bad...
Apart from the weather... lt certainly is much colder than in ltaly!
And the British are... Well... How should l say this? They're...
less clever than the ltalians!
Watch yourself, Jack! Watch what you're saying...
Yes! You know Kimberly and l are both British!
Well, l'm more british than she is...
You're right!
Well... l was talking about British men, of course.
Kimberly, this is Peter and Sharon.
- They live in the apartment next door. - lt's a pleasure to meet you!
So, Kimberly, Anne told us that you're attending Art School in Rome...
You know, l wanted to study art when l was a little girl...
But in the end, l decided to study Archaeology, instead.
That's interesting! And Peter, what do you do?
l'm an actor... And l do little singing...
- l'm acting in a musical at the moment. - What a great career!
Yes, but it's certainly less stressful than Jack's line of work...
He works a lot harder than Peter...
Actually, he's the hardest working person in the house!
... And l'm the person that has the most fun!
Speaking of fun, what shall we do this evening? l would love to go out!
lt's been so long since l last came to London!
- Well, why don't we go to the cinema? - Come on, Anne, that's so boring!
Why don't we do something more exciting? l don't know...
We could go to the pub and get something to eat...
And, and after that, why don't we go to a disco?
Wow, what a surprise! You two are completely different!
Hello again and welcome back, did you hear what Jack said?
He said: 'The British are less clever than the ltalians'.
l'm not sure l agree with that, but anyway,
l want to do some revision of the comparatives and the superlatives
with you, now do you remember that in order to formulate the comparative
and superlative we have to look closely at the adjective.
lf the adjective is one syllable, like 'short', for example,
the comparative is 'shorter than',
but if the adjective is three syllables or more, like 'beautiful'
or 'expensive', we say 'more expensive than'.
What happens with two syllables adjectives ending in Y like 'funny'?
You take off the Y, insert an l and it becomes 'funnier than' alright?
So, are you ready to try?
l will give you an adjective and you must tell me the comparative, ok?
So 'cold', 'colder than' great, one syllable. Next: 'Good', 'gooder than?',
no, no... an exception 'good',
'better', do you remember those exceptions?
Very important don't forget 'good' is an exception 'good', 'better than'.
Next: 'Likeable'...
Yeah 'likeable', 'more likeable than', great.
'Dirty'... very good 'dirtier than', 'bad'... yes 'worse',
remember it's an exception, 'bad', 'worse than' very good.
Next one: 'Far', it's another exception, 'farther than' ok!
'Hard', 'harder than', one syllable; 'difficult',
'more difficult than' great!
Now, superlatives, l'm going to give you an adjective
and you give me the superlative, so 'tasty', 'it's the... tastiest' ok,
'the tastiest' remember, with the superlative you put 'the' in front of it.
Next one: 'Beautiful' three syllables... 'the...' yeah 'the most beautiful' great.
Next one: 'Good', 'the best' wonderful!
Yes it's an exception, great 'the best'. Next one: 'High',
'the highest' great, 'noisy', 'the noisiest', 'bad',
'the worst' very, very good!
And, one more 'large', 'the largest' fantastic!
You see? lt's just practice!
The more you practise the more you remember, the easier it is,
great, well congratulations and l'll see you again
for some more grammar in the next lesson, bye.
Have you finished yet? Alice?!?
No Jack, l haven't finished my shower!
Could you ask Anne to come in here, please?
She's just left! Come on, l am pleading with you, Alice. l'm late!
Okay, okay, l've finished.
Calm down, the bathroom's all yours!
Finally! You've been in there for over an hour!
Yes... Yes, this is Jack.
No, l haven't seen John since yesterday. Why?
Oh, the report... Uhh... Yes.
No, l haven't finished it yet.
Yes, yes, l know it's important. Anyway, l've already started writing it...
Yes, yes, l'll send it to you as soon as it's finished. Excuse me?
Listen, l'll call you later. Okay.
Alice, if you don't open this door, l'm going to knock it down!
Actually, it's Kimberly, l've just come in... ls everything okay Jack?
Yes!... No! l've been waiting to use the bathroom for over an hour!
l must get to the office!
Okay Jack, it's all yours!
l'll use the bathroom later.
Thanks Kimberly, that's very kind of you...
Sorry!
Hey Jack, have you seen my watch? l've probably left it in there.
Here you go! Have you forgotten anything else?
We're rather nervous, today, aren't we?
Bye, l have to get going.
Hey Jack, wait! Jack your mobile!
Oh... He's already gone! So, what are you doing today Kimberly?
Have you ever been to Portobello market?
No, l've never been there!
Would you like to come along and browse around the stands?
Oh, yes, it's been months since l last visited a flea market!
Well Jack is becoming more and more ltalian don't you think?
Now in that last episode our friends were using a new tense
which we haven't yet studied together and l want to look at now.
Let me give you some examples of what they said.
Alice said 'l haven't finished my shower',
Jack said 'She's just left', he also said
'You've been in there for more than an hour',
Alice asked 'Have you seen my watch?'
and then Alice also asked Kimberly
'Have you ever been to Portobello market?'
and Kimberly said 'No, l've never been there'.
Now these are all examples of the present perfect tense,
very important tense in English which l want to look at with you now.
At the moment we want to look just at the construction
of the present perfect.
Now, as from the examples you heard, l was using the auxiliary 'have'
and 'has' followed by what we call the past participle.
Now, let me just explain the past participle.
Let's take some regular verbs. 'Live', the past tense of 'live' is 'lived'
and the past participle is also 'lived', so in the verb paradigm it's
'live, lived, lived' and that's the same for all regular verbs,
so that's easy. 'Watch, watched, watched', 'start, started, started'.
So the third column is our past participle.
Now things change in the irregular verbs, let's look at the example.
'Go' the past tense of go is 'went' and the past participle is 'gone',
'go, went, gone', you see, it changes.
Another example 'begin', past tense 'began'
and then 'begun' past participle.
'Fly, flew, flown' past participle, now here, like the past tense,
you have to memorize them by heart, that's the only way.
So in the verb paradigm you need the third column
in order to construct the present perfect tense.
Let's look at some positive sentences; 'l've paid',
now we contract 'l have' into 'l've' as we always do in English,
'l've paid', 'pay, paid, paid'. 'You've forgotten',
'You've' you have, 'forgotten', 'forget, forgot, forgotten'.
'She's left', 'She has left', be careful because, you see,
the abbreviation is 'She's' it's not the verb 'is' it's 'has',
'She's left', 'leave, left, left', ok?
'He's arrived', 'it's finished' contraction always,
'We've won' , 'win, won, won', 'You've understood',
'understand, understood, understood', and 'They've changed'.
Negative form is easy, the auxiliary goes into the negative 'haven't'
or 'hasn't', look at the examples 'l haven't found it'
and 'He hasn't seen it', 'see, saw, seen' past participle.
Question form, you invert the auxiliary and the subject as always,
so 'Have you eaten?', 'eat, ate, eaten' and 'Has she moved?'.
So these are the examples of how you formulate the present perfect.
Now, in the next lesson we're going to look at
when we use the present perfect which is a little bit more tricky,
but now let's go back and see what's happening to our friends.
Jack arrives home and he's very tired, let's go and join them, bye!
Hi Jack!
What's the matter?! You look awful!
l'm a wreck! And l've lost my mobile!
No, Alice told me you forgot it when you left the apartment this morning!
That's where it is! l've looked everywhere...
l must admit l've been a little distracted lately...
l guess l need some rest.
You know, l haven't had a holiday since they transferred me to London!
Oh... Okay, well... Relax a little now...
Kimberly is showing me some photos
of a party they had at university last month.
l've never seen such funny photos!
Hey, this is a picture of the Faculty of Economics...
l've been there for a seminar!
Really?! When did you attend that?
Well, l was only there for four days, but it was really interesting!
Hey guys, l've just got off the phone to Peter.
And he wants to know if they can come over in a bit...
He wants us to convince Sharon to move to Japan with him!
She hasn't decided yet if she wants to go.
To Japan?! lt's a great country! Have you ever been there?
No... And to tell you the truth l'm not really interested in going!
Why do you say that Jack?
You're right, Kimberly, Japan is a fascinating country.
l haven't been since... 1995.
Who knows what has changed since then?!
Do you mind if l go to my room?
Today was awful... l'm dead tired and l haven't had anything to eat!
Please tell Sharon and Peter...
Please give Sharon and Peter my regards.
l'm...
Really not in the mood to chat this evening!
Jack: 'l haven't had anything to eat yet' that's just an excuse,
but it's interesting for us, because he used the present perfect with 'yet',
'l haven't had anything to eat yet'.
And in this lesson l want to help you understand
when we use the present perfect, ok?
Now, remember when we studied the past tense,
l gave you an acronym, this 'oil way', 'on, in, last, when, ago, yesterday'?
Because we use the simple past with definite time in the past,
well, l have another acronym for you,
to help you with the present perfect, and here it is 'Jeany'.
Now these represent time words which are indefinite,
they describe indefinite time, so can you guess what they are?
J... J is 'just', 'l have just seen him' means like two seconds ago,
just now, recently, 'just'.
This one here, England? Used in question... lt's 'ever' ok?
So 'Have you ever been to England?',
'ever' means sometime in your life, alright?
So 'ever'.
Next one A 'l've already seen it',
'already' means something that you have done,
it's something that is finished in the past 'l've already seen it'.
This one here is the opposite of this... 'ever', 'never' good,
'l have never been to England'.
'Just', 'ever', 'already', 'never' and this one, that's what Jack said,
'l haven't eaten yet'.
'Yet' means an action which hasn't been completed, so 'yet'.
l want to look at these on the screen with you now
and see where we put them in the sentence 'cause that's important.
'Just', 'ever', 'already', 'never', 'yet', there they are,
you see them written.
'Just', 'ever', 'already', 'never', 'yet'.
So they are indefinite time words, look at them in the sentence,
'l've just come', do you notice where it is?
lt's before the past participle, after the auxiliary,
before the past participle, 'l've just come'.
Second example 'Have you ever been there?',
'ever' is before the past participle, great!
'He's already gone' it's before the past participle,
and 'l've never seen them' before the past participle 'seen'.
So 'just', 'ever', 'already', and 'never' are before the past participle.
Look at the last one 'l haven't finished yet'.
Notice that 'yet' is the exception and it comes after the past participle,
so you need to remember that, 'yet' is the exception, alright?
So try and learn this, 'just', 'ever', 'already', 'never', 'yet',
when you're in the bath, just repeat it, 'just', 'ever', 'already',
'never', 'yet', present perfect, alright?
lt will really help you when you're in conversation and don't worry,
we haven't finished with the present perfect,
we will be saying other things about it in the future,
so, happy memorizing! And l'll see you again soon, bye!
Hello and welcome to this week's edition of 'Let's talk',
the discussion programme with our commentators Tom and Marie.
Good evening everyone.
Good evening.
Tom, you went to London last week, didn't you?
You told me you had a meeting with an important businessman.
Yes l did!
l interviewed the chief executive of a major UK financial group.
He works in the City.
So you visited the heart of international high finance, interesting.
Yes, it was interesting actually.
You know the City is very small but very important
in the world of finance.
l mean, did you know that the City of London, that's its full name,
is just one square mile or 2.6 kilometres?
And that only 7ooo people live there?
Really? So few people?
Yes, only 7ooo people live there
but more than 32o,ooo people a day commute
into the City to work there.
Wow, a third of a million commuters every day.
Can we explain to our viewers just why this part of London
is so important?
Of course! The City is a global financial centre
with hundreds of banks, financial exchanges,
insurance companies and investment companies.
You know, there are more than 5oo companies in the City.
That's right!
And it also has several important commodity markets.
The City's the place to buy commodities such as oil,
gold and silver.
ln the City people carry out
all kinds of financial transactions,
they borrow money, save money, invest money,
buy and sell commodities,
buy and sell insurance for all kinds of things,
from oil tankers to skyscrapers!
Exactly Marie!
Together with Tokyo and New York
the City is one of the world's most important financial centres.
lt's situated between the time zones of Asia and America.
ln fact, offices in the City don't have just one clock, they have at least four,
with clocks showing the time for Tokyo, Zurich and New York.
So the City's open for business 24 hours a day!
Well, do only people from the world of finance work there?
No, no! Lots of other highly skilled people work there.
For example many lawyers,
accountants and computer experts work there.
They help the banks
and insurance companies to work smoothly.
lt's worth remembering too that the City's a beautiful place to visit.
lt can be ultra-modern and medieval at the same time.
There are some beautiful old buildings, especially the churches,
and some innovative new buildings
such as the Lloyd's insurance building and the Swiss Re Building,
or the 'gherkin' as it's now known.
But remember: don't visit the City at weekends!
There's nobody there! And most of the shops and pubs are closed.
Thank you for that tip!
Well, the City is the financial heart of the UK
and perhaps of Europe.
But it is also an interesting place to visit with many interesting buildings.
Thanks to our commentators.
- Goodbye.
Goodbye everyone.
And see you again soon for our next interesting appointment
with 'Let's talk'.
So the City of London is the financial heart of the UK,
the heart of international high finance!
We say a thing or a place is 'the heart' of something
we mean it is the centre.
Well, the City of London is very important.
32o.ooo people commute every day to work there.
To 'commute' means to travel regularly from work to home to work,
usually the distance is quite far.
A person who does this is called a 'commuter'.
The City is important because it's full of financial institutions.
For example:
insurance companies.
These are companies that insure people or property.
This means they guarantee against loss or damage.
Now, most people have car insurance.
You pay your car insurance every year
and if you have an accident your insurance company pays
for the damages... hopefully!
Going back to the City.
There are investment companies.
Companies that buy shares of other companies to make a profit.
And there are several commodity markets.
'Several' is more than two but not many.
A 'commodity' is a product that you can buy and sell in large quantities.
Coffee, oil, gold, are all commodities.
The place where you buy and sell commodities
is called a commodity market.
And of course there are lots of banks in the City!
A bank is an institution that carries out financial transactions.
'To carry out' means 'to do'.
Financial transactions are the things you do with money.
Some examples are:
you can borrow money. To 'borrow' means to take
and then to give back later.
You can save money. To 'save' means to keep secure.
The bank keeps the money for you.
You can invest money. To 'invest' means to buy something
or put your money into a company to have a financial return.
People invest money to make more money!
See you again soon!
Good evening to all viewers
and welcome to this week's edition of 'Let's talk',
our discussion programme
with our expert commentators Tom and Marie.
Good evening Eric.
Good evening.
Well, according to the data from the latest European conference
on migration the number of migrants arriving in Europe
has increased enormously over the last five years.
EU politicians are divided on this issue.
Some of them believe that migration is a bad thing
and causes lots of problems.
On the other hand, other politicians maintain
that migrants contribute to the developing of the economy.
Could l ask what you think about this issues?
Well, in my opinion migrants don't help our economy.
On the contrary they take jobs from local people
and push down pay rates for both unskilled
and skilled workers.
ln fact migrants are often paid less
than the legal minimum wage.
l'm afraid l don't agree with you Marie.
Many employers use immigration
to plug labor shortages, for example in agriculture.
Farmers employ thousands of Eastern European workers
to pick their crops as they can't find local workers to do the work.
That's true. ln addition there are low birth rates
in most European countries, particularly in Spain and ltaly.
The economies of these countries need more workers,
especially for difficult jobs that local people don't want to do.
Exactly! And it's important to remember
that migrant workers contribute to the economy
because they pay taxes.
Well, this only happens if migrant works legally!
Unfortunately many migrants come into Europe illegally.
You're right Eric!
They come in illegally and they often form an underclass
that doesn't have access to healthcare and education.
That's why they sometimes get involved in criminal activities.
l think some immigration is ok,
especially if the immigrants are asylum seekers
or refugees who can't return to their home countries.
Apart from this l think European governments
should put a stop to immigration.
How do you suggest they do this?
Well, the EU should do more
to help develop the economies of North and West Africa.
This would help economic migrants,
migrants who come to Europe to work, to stay at home,
find a job and develop their local economies.
Come on Marie, today the world is a 'global village'.
People have always moved around the world.
Don't forget for example the millions of Europeans
who migrated to North America at the beginning of the last century.
They experienced the same problems that the Africans
are experiencing today.
That's right Tom! Migration is as old as the human race.
People have always moved to where it is possible to make a living.
Maybe we should get used to the idea that our society
is becoming more and more multiracial.
Ok, this discussion has been very interesting but unfortunately
it is time to say goodbye to Tom and Marie.
Goodbye Eric.
Goodbye.
Goodbye and see you again soon for our next instalment
of 'Let's talk'!
First of all let's look at the difference between 'migration' and 'immigration'.
Migration is the movement of people from one country to another.
A 'migrant' is a traveller who moves from one country to another.
There are two kinds of migrants:
economic migrants, who come from poor countries
and look for work in Europe, and 'asylum seekers'
and 'refugees', people who must leave their home country
because their lives are in danger there.
lmmigration is the migration of people into a country to live there.
So an immigrant is a person who goes to a foreign country to live there.
Data shows that the number of migrants
coming to Europe is increasing.
'Data' is another word for information, usually numbers.
Well there are divided opinions in the EU.
The EU stands for the 'European Union'.
Some EU politicians think it's a good thing because migrants
contribute to the development of European economies.
This means they help the economy to grow.
How do they contribute?
They pay taxes. Tax is the money we pay from our salaries
to the government.
And employers, these are the people who give jobs to other people,
use migrants to plug labour shortages.
This means they give jobs to the migrants
because there are no local people to do the work.
Other EU politicians think immigration is a bad thing
because migrants push down pay rates.
This means they reduce the amount of money that people are paid.
How do they push down pay rates?
They are often paid less than the legal minimum wage.
This is the lowest legal salary a person can receive.
Some migrants work illegally. 'lllegally' means against the law.
Migrants who pay taxes work legally.
'Legally' means following the law.
l'm afraid l have to say goodbye now,
l'll see you next time for another discussion on 'Let's talk'!
Now let's watch the whole episode together,
watch the subtitles carefully
because the language points that we've studied together
are highlighted, ok? Enjoy your viewing!
Hello again and welcome back to 'English today'.
This is DVD twelve and the fourth DVD in your lower intermediate level.
And in this DVD we'll begin with another two episodes of our story
'That's life!', followed by our special TV programmes
which include two interesting discussions,
one about the city of London and the other about migration.
Then, in the grammar section,
we will be learning more about comparative forms
and we'll be studying that very important tense:
the present perfect, about how and when to use it. So, have fun!