Appunti Inglese b2

LITTLE AND FEW HAS A NEGATIVE CONNOTATION MEANS NOT ENOUGH (I HAVE LITTLE

FREE TIME)

VERY LITTLE AND VERY FEW MEANS A VERY SMALL AMOUNT

USE TOO+ADJECTIVE NEVER TOO MUCH + ADJECTIVE

USE ENOUGH AFTER AN ADJECTIVE, VERB OR ADVERB

USE TOO MUCH + UNCOUNTABLE

TOO MANY+ PLURAL COUNTABLE NOUNS

TOO MUCH AFTER A VERB HAS A NEGATIVE CONNOTATION (HE DRINKS TOO MUCH)

LESS THAN YOU NEED OR WANT = ENOUGH + NOUN

ZERO QUANTITY= ANY + NOUN IN NEGATIVE SENTENCES

NO + NOUN WHIT POSITIVE VERB

NONE WITHOUT NOUN IN SHORT ANSWER

TALKING IN GENERAL: MOST MONDAYS/ ALL COMPUTERS/ SOME PEOPLE LIKE/ MANY

PEOPLE DRIVE FAST/ NO CAR CAN GO WITHOUT OF

TALKING SPECIFICALLY WITH OF

USE BOTH BEFORE POSITIVE VERB OR AFTER BE

WITH POSITIVE VERB WE USE EITHER/OR AND NEITHER/ NOR

BOTH NEITHER AND EITHER USE WITH THE + PLURAL NOUNS

B. I wish / If only + past simple or could…

For things you’d like to be different now or in the future:

He wishes he lived in Australia./ I wish my husband didn’t smoke./ If only we had a dog

Use … wish / if only + past simple

to talk about things we would like to be different in the present / future (but which are

probably not possible).

• I wish I lived in New York. / If only I had more money

I wish / If only + past continuous

You can also use the past continuous instead of the past simple: •

I wish I was lying on a beach right now! / If only I wasn’t working in a dark office on

such a beautiful, sunny day…

I wish / If only + could

If we use ‘could’ we can also talk about things we would like to happen, but which

probably aren’t possible. Do not use ‘couldn’t’.

Use I wish/If only + subject + could + verb • I wish my grandma could visit Bergamo

but she’s not very well.

I wish / If only + past perfect

For things you’d like to be different in the past (ie that you regret):

I wish I’d learned Spanish when I was at school.

I wish / If only + could have

Use I wish / If only + could have + past participle to talk about things that didn’t

happen in the past but you wish had happened: • I wish you could have met my great

grandma. She was lovely.

IN THE REPORTED SPEECH

Times need to change as well:

Now= then-

today / tonight = that day / that night

yesterday = the day before /the previous day

tomorrow = the day after / the following day

this afternoon =that afternoon

next week = the week after

last week= the week before

Reporting Verb Examples

• Mark promised he would buy me lunch.

• She complained that I was always late.

• Stuart commented that this was very true.

• They promised that all books would be returned by Friday.

• He demanded to know what she wanted.

• She exclaimed that she was innocent.

• They announced that the company would restructure the year after.

• The police acknowledged that three police vehicles were damaged.

• It is expected that the report will suggest some major reforms.

• The government stated that interest rates would not rise.

• She responded that she was not sure.

• The prime minister admitted that the crisis had been managed badly.

• He repeated that he had been misunderstood

• The newspaper confirmed that the strike would start the following day

Present perfect e present continuous

the present perfect simple is often used when we're talking about how much or

how many. This isn't possible with the present perfect continuous:

She's drunk three cups of coffee this morning.

 She's drunk at least a litre of coffee today.



We use 'yet' and 'already' with the present perfect simple:

Have you read the book yet?

 She's finished her work already.

