英語を勉強しましょう LET'S STUDY ENGLISH!

過去数年にわたって、私は非公式のレッスン (英語の文法、語法、スペル、および 作 文)を提供してきました.

日本の 友人たちに、レッスンを少しだけ展開し、私の"生徒が レッスンをできる場所, 米国とカナダではなく英国でも 話されている"西洋の英語"で問題を議論し解決策を見つけ、実践できる場所を日本で提供することを決めました.

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老若男女 - 英語を勉強したい人は誰でもご参加ください、

一緒に英語を楽しみましょう！

2009年、 岐阜の友人たちのすべてのための個人的な英語のクラスを開くつもりです

英語を勉強しましょう

Could, Could Have Been, Could Be

Hi! It's me, Professor Panda, PhD. Today I wanted to answer a question about the word "could" from a reader. Because this word and its uses can cause a lot of confusion, I thought I would share this question with everyone! So here it is!

Could is what is known as an AUXILIARY VERB; that is, a verb used to help form the tenses, aspects, or moods of other verbs such as, have, do , be, should must, can. The word could is used in verb phrases that have a past, present, or future time reference and is generally equal to can in meaning and use, with the following functions:

1. Expressing a shade of doubt or a smaller degree of ability or possibility such as in: It could be so.
2. Expressing permission, as in: Could I go?
3. Forming the present condition as in: It would help if he could wait.
4. Forming the past condition as in: He would have left if he could.
5. Expressing or suggesting politely less certainty than the word can, as in: Could you wait?

Now as to your question:

I often see or listen to the following phrase: " a could have been. " For example, “He is a could have been;” or, “It is a could have been story;” or “a could have been beauty Queen.” What is the meaning " a could have been? "

First let us look at the present tense of the world can, as it applies to your phrases:

1. He can be…
2. He is a can be…
3. It is a can be story…
4. … can be beauty queen

In these phrases, the subjects (he, it, and she (which is implied here) have the ability to do or to be something: he has the ability to be, the story can be, she can be a beauty queen. Could refers us back to the past. While your phrases are idiomatic, that is, they are used as idioms (the usual way in which words of a particular language are joined together to express a thought, with particular reference to a dialect of a population or community, region, social class, etc.) they are still acceptable forms of English for conversation as well as informal forms of writing (news articles, essays, short stories, etc. – almost everything except formal research papers or a high school and university thesis). What these phrases say are as follows:

1. He is a person who could have been (what ever it is, a ball player, actor, student, etc.).
2. It could have been a story (if/but…….).
3. (She) could have been a beauty queen (if/but…..).

although, each of these idioms tend to be a bit negative or critical in their use.

Next time, we will discuss the phrase “wanna be” or more clearly “want to be,” which is similar in its use.

P. Panda, PhD.

LOOK AND SEE: I AM SO CONFUSED! WHICH WORD TO USE?

Hi! It’s Professor Panda with another English lesson for you! Today I am writing in answer to two recent questions concerning the proper use of two common words: see and watch. Which to use and when to use? It really is confusing because often, especially in the West, both words seem to be used for the same thing in casual conversation; however, that is not really correct speech and definitely not correct for writing.

“Dear Professor Panda,

My son has a question for you. Recently a friend of his said, “I saw that movie. It was wonderful! You should watch that movie.”

“Dear Panda,

What word should I use in connection with a film or DVD? Watch or see?

In my English class we were taught that we use “watch” when we consciously pay attention to something like a film or TV or when we are closely examining something. They said that the word “see is used mostly to describe the use of your sense of vision. But, I have heard the word “see” being used just like “I watched a film.” I don’t know which is absolutely correct, but “watch a film” and “watch TV” seem to be the better ones.

What is right?”


Well then, the words “look”, “see” and “watch” are all very similar. Each word says a little something different about the ways in which you use your eyes. There are, however, important differences.

First of all, it depends on how you intend to look or watch, and how intense the looking is. Oh! Don’t panic! I will explain. When we say “see”, we are normally talking about things that we cannot avoid; so for example, in the sentence “I opened the curtains and saw some birds outside” I did not intend to see them, it just happened.

When we use the verb “look”, we are talking about intending to see something. So, “This morning, I looked in the cupboard for some breakfast.” I intended to look in the cupboard.

When we watch something we intend to look at it, but we are also looking at it rather intensely, mostly because it is moving. So, for example, “I watched the bus go through the traffic lights.” Or, “I watched the movie.” We want to se it, we are looking at it intensely, and it is normally moving.

When we use verbs that relate to our senses (hearing, sight, touch, smell, taste), and “look”, “see” and “watch are verbs of the visual sense, there is usually a difference between intending to do it and not intending to do it. “I heard the radio” means I didn’t intend to hear the ready, it just happened. “I listened to the radio” says that I turned it on to a program I was interested in.

“I felt the wind on my face” means I did not intend to feel it, but it just happened that way. “I touched the bug” means I intended to feel the bug.

It is important that when you find these verbs of senses, to group them together and try to find the differences between them.

Remember: When you look at words that seem to be similar, it is important to find out exactly the differences between them, because basically, you cannot really use them in place of one another.

Also remember that with “see”, you didn’t really intend to do it, it just happened. With “look”, you intended to do it, and with “watch” you intended to do it and you were looking intensely, usually because it was moving.

The word “look” when used without any prepositions (such as “look at” or “look for”) suggests that the attention is diverted from something to something else.

Here are some other things to help you decide which word is correct to use:

“See” is an inactive word. When your eyes are open, you do it without thinking: I see a car near the store.

“Look” is an active word. You must want to do it, but it is basically for only a short time: Look at this pen.

“Watch” is also an active word. You must want to do it, but it is for a longer period of time: Let’s watch television.

OK! Here is a small quiz to help you even more.

1. He is very shy and doesn’t __________ you in the eye.
a. look
b. see
c. watch
2. Did you ­­­­­­­­__________ the advertisement in the newspaper?
a. see
b. watch
3. I can’t __________ much in this light.
a. see
b. watch
c. look
4. The police are ­­­­__________ the house in case the criminals come back.
a. looking at
b. watching
5. I spent the evening ­­­­­­__________ TV.
a. seeing
b. looking at
c. watching
6. ­­­­__________ out! There is some water on the floor.
a. Look
b. See
7. Did you __________the football game last night?
a. look at
b. watch
8. I __________ in the shop window, but I didn’t see anything I liked.
a. looked
b. saw
c. watched
9. I can’t __________ any milk in the refrigerator.
a. see
b. look
c. watch
10. I have never liked it. I don’t know what you ­­­­__________ in it.
a. look
b. watch
c. see



Answers (Don’t peak until you have done the quiz!)

1. look
2. see
3. see
4. watching
5. watching
6. Look
7. watch
8. looked
9. see
10. see


Well, I hope that clears up a question that I am sure a lot of us have had! See you next time!

P. Panda

THE PARTS OF SPEECH

Hi everybody! I thought it would be fun to begin to study the basic "parts of speech": all the words we use to speak and write English well. They are like our basic tools and we can't do a good job on something unless we know our tools well. So let's get started!

THE PARTS OF SPEECH

Words in English or divided into eight parts of speech, each one different, according to their “job” in a sentence. Oh yes indeed, there are different kinds of words and each kind of word has a specific function in a sentence. They are:

Adjectives
Adverbs
Conjunctions
Interjections
Nouns
Pronouns (No, these are not nouns that have given up amateur status to become professionals!)
Prepositions
Verbs

These are some of the “nuts and bolts” (the basic parts) that make up English, and to speak and write English well, we must have a good understanding of them and their jobs. I say “some”, because there are other parts of speech, but I do not want you to go running away into the night, screaming in terror, so I will keep them to myself for a while until you are comfortable with the parts I have mentioned above.

So, let’s get started!

NOUNS

A noun is simply a word that names a person, place, or thing. A good way to remember nouns is this:

NOUN = NAMAE

A noun is a name and they come in different varieties; and just like names, there are some what we like, some that maybe we don’t like so much, and some that we are stuck with no matter what. The varieties of nouns are:

Common nouns
Proper nouns
Compound nouns
Collective nouns.

Don’t panic! It’s not as complicated as in sounds, as you will soon see. For today’s lesson, we will explore two types of nouns: common nouns and proper nouns.

Common nouns – nouns that name any one of a group, or class, or type of person, place or thing.

girl
city
food

Easy right?

Proper nouns – nouns that name a specific or certain person, place, or thing.

· Mitusko
· Osaka
· California Roll

Until next time, look through your favorite magazines or books, and see if you can pick out common nouns and proper nouns. I am sure you will find lots of them and suddenly you will discover that you have a new way of thinking about the words you see.

Ok, now let's relax and have some tea!