REPORTED SPEECH PRACTICE (TERM 1 EXAM PREPARATION)

Remember – put the reported speech verbs in the past tense! For some questions there is more than one correct answer. With all of the questions, imagine that the direct speech is in the past (so ‘today’ becomes ‘that day’)

1) SAY: “I have to be there before she arrives,” he said.

2) ASK PAMELA TO MR GINTOP: “Where are you from?”

3) ASK ROSE TO WALTER : “Where do you live?”

4) SAY MR SMITH ABOUT SAM: “He is the happiest child I have ever met!”

5) TELL CHRIS TO VICKY: “We are not going out tonight, we will go out tomorrow instead.”

6)  ASK (JOHN TO YOU AND YOUR FRIENDS: “Will you come to my party tonight?”)

7)  ASK (YOU TO MR DICKENS: “Do you eat meat?”)

8) TELL (MISS PEART TO YOU: “You must revise on Quizlet for tomorrow´s test!”)

9) SAY (MISS GLEN ABOUT RALPH: “He is the laziest boy I have ever met!”)

10) RECOMMEND (THE DENTIST TO YOU “You should brush your test at least 5 times a day.”)

11) SUGGEST (YOUR ENGLISH TEACHER TO YOU: “You should read more books in English.”)

12) BLAME (JAVI TO MISS PEART: “It is not me that is talking, it´s Fede. He distracts me!”)

13) ACCUSE (MR THORPE TO DENNIS “You parked illegally, I saw you!”)

14) CONGRATULATED (YOUR MUM TO YOU: “You passes your driving test! Well done!”)

15) SUGGEST (DIANE TO YOU: “If I were you, I would make some muffins for her.”)

For the following examples, decide which reporting verb to use – clue: it is one of the ones which use GERUND.

16) "If I were you, I would phone up the company and make a complaint.“

17) "I'm so proud of you. Well done. It was a really difficult test and you passed!“

18) "I'm afraid I can't come for dinner tonight. I'm sorry.“

19)  "I think you told Jenny my secret... I trusted you!“

20) "I didn't drink all the wine! I don't know where it all went!“

INTERVIEWS - Common errors to avoid - Excellent example to follow...

1.       A bad use of – a misuse of/ to misuse

2.       An interview to Charlie Brooker – An interview WITH Charlie Brooker

3.       It doesn´t have sense – it doesn’t MAKE sense

4.       Nowadays society – current society (nowadays is a noun NOT an adjective)

5.       I didn’t knew – I didn’t KNOW (didn’t – in Past Simple = know – doesn’t need to be in past simple too)

6.       To focus in – to focus ON

7.       How did you passion for writing started? – How did your passion for writing start?

8.       What did inspire you to produce Black Mirror? – What inspired you to produce Black Mirror?

9.       Answering your question – In answer to your question

10.   A criticism to technology – A criticism OF technology

11. The interview was made/done – the interview was carried out

12. Referring to your question – In answer to your question

13. invested on it – invested in it

An excellent example:

The following transcribed interview appeared in the Entertainment magazine on October 26 2015. Written by__________, it conveys a conversation with Charlie Brooker, the acclaimed author of the dystopian TV series Black Mirror.

This version has been transcribed exactly from the original, there were no modifications made. This is just a fragment, you can see the complete interview athttp://www.entertainment.com/2015/English-Homework-interview-CharlieBrooker.html?_r=2344364465

INTERVIEW

Q: Why did you decide to create a series such as Black mirror?

Well, as an author, I think one of the main goals you want to accomplish is to make people FEEL, in such a way most TV series try to, like, reassure people, so I guess that, with Black Mirror I wanted to create something that would... unsettle people continuously. I mean, I thought creating a dystopian world such as the one in this series is the best way to entertain people and, at the same time, kind of… make them think about how far we are going with technology in our private life.

Q: I get that, but why did you decide to create a dystopia other than… I don’t know a zombies series, or some drama?

Hmmm… yeah, I guess that on TV most dramas, or zombie series and all that stuff basically focus either on human’s vain problems, relationships… or they base the action on far post-apocalyptic futures. In this way, I tried to… like… go a step back. (Long pause) Although Black Mirror approaches a near future, its goal is to reflect on today’s world, and the increasing speed at which it’s changing. I guess that’s the reason why I chose a dystopia.

Q: Do you think something of what appears in your series, regarding technology, will eventually become a reality?

(laughs) Well, if it does I hope the company that creates it gives me a little commission for the idea! (pause) No, really, being serious now. I think the changes that have been happening over the past 10 years have no precedents in the entire history of humanity, I mean, our world is constantly changing, quicker and quicker, especially regarding technology, so I think that these technologies featured in the series will eventually appear. Maybe not that soon, and maybe not in the same way, but… I STILL think technology will sadly blur the limits of our privacy.

TERM 1 EXAM CONTENT - TUESDAY 24TH NOVEMBER 2015

Reading – Criteria B

Revise by reading as much as you can in English (Library books, news websites – BBC, The Guardian, Football blogs). The more exposed you are to vocab, structures, English in general the more your English will gradually improve. Ensure you have read at the very least all the articles I have posted on the blog about New Technologies and Language Learning.

Article about Self- Driving Cars

Robots

Writing – Criteria C

Part 1: Grammar and Vocabulary

Vocabulary:

1)    Language Learning

2)    Languages 2

3)    The Internet and New Technology

Grammar:

1)    Make, get and do collocations

2)      Expressing purpose, reason, result CAE Student’s Book p.170

3)      Advanced Reported Speech

Part 2: Writing

1)      Speech Writing - Features and sentence starters/linking phrases

* a semi-formal to formal register, perhaps with flashes of informality

* include speech rhetoric e.g. rhetorical questions, repetition, flashes of humour, anecdotes, personal pronouns, facts and statistics, anticipating the counter argument, alliteration

* address the audience at the beginning (Welcome/ Good morning ...)and keep contact with them throughout (e.g. use of “we” and “you” etc.)

* will catch the audience’s attention at the beginning, and leave a clear impression at the end

2)      Transcript Interview Writing – Features and sentence starters/linking phrases

Features of a Transcript Interview

Reads like a script – an accurate transcription of the words used, without commentary or description

* uses a register appropriate to the degree of formality implied by the task

* will have a Question & Response structure, showing the characters' 'alternating speeches'

* will express realistic oral speech, perhaps with complex interactions such as interruptions

* will make apparent an overall pattern of topics and ideas

What does your Transcript interview need?

·         An introduction giving date of interview, who wrote transcript, who was interviewed

·         Questions and answers

·         STRUCTURE Questions which follow a logical order linking to what in said in the previous answer

·         Relatively formal language – this is a professional interview

·         Oral expressions – ‘you know’, ‘pretty much’, ‘sorry, no’, ‘I mean’, ‘like’, ‘anyway’, ‘kind of’,

‘for example’

Review of Black Mirror: ideas for class task

Black Mirror: The Entire History Of You (Channel 4, Sunday) imagined a near future in which our memories are stored on hard drives implanted in our skulls. These memories could then be endlessly replayed, slowed and zoomed on home plasma screens, like Sky Sports presenters analysing controversial penalty incidents.

The drama was quick to posit the pros and cons of such an arrangement. On the one hand, it might be nice to sit around with your friends and re-live the old days in high definition; on the other, it would give bickering couples a wealth of ammunition, encouraging them to analyse their relationships to death, which is exactly what happened here.

Liam, a nervous young lawyer played by Toby Kebbell, suspected his wife Ffion (Jodie Whittaker) of misbehaving with smarmy womaniser Jonas (played pitch-perfectly by rising star Tom Cullen). After analysing clips from his own internal TiVo box to build his case, Liam then drunkenly forced Jonas and Ffion to show him footage from their own video memory banks to confirm the infidelity. He was proved right, but he lost the woman he loved as a result.

This was the least effective of the Black Mirror dramas, because the technological element wasn’t so crucial to the trajectory of the story. Jealous people will always find ways to destroy their relationships without the recourse to memory databanks.

Yet The Entire History Of You still successfully held a mirror up to the viewer. If life-replay technology was available, it asked, could we really be trusted not to drive ourselves mad with it, like poor old Liam? Traditional science fiction narratives tend to imagine the technological power concentrated in the hands of a mad dictator; Black Mirror has reminded us that the power lies with ourselves, every time we fire up our computers or switch on our smartphones.

Another Interview: STAR WARS

Take a look at this interview

You can steal some of the structures from this interview and include them in your exam on Friday.

Don't foget: The Vocab, The Class Interview, and reading around the topic! You should be (or at least pretend to be) AN EXPERT!

Writing Exam: Preparation continues...

Quizlet List with useful vocab to revise: You must include these in the exam on Friday!

Also - Recommended Watching in ENGLISH

1) Film: Ex- Machina


2) Film: Her

Reported Speech refresher...

On your piece of paper, write this paragraph out as if it were reported. Remember that you need to consider:

1) Backshift in verb tense

2) Pronoun change

3) Time references

It isn't Simon's fault! I want to describe what really happened. I was inside the classroom during break and I saw a group of my friends outside. I went over to the window and tried to get their attention. I waved at them but they didn't see me, so I hammered on the window. I know glass is breakable, but I just didn't think. When my hand went through, I panicked. I wasn't badly hurt and I wanted to avoid getting into trouble, so I put Simon's bag over the hole and left the room. I'm sorry I haven't told anyone the truth until now. 

Reported version begins with - 

It wasn't Simon's fault! He wanted to describe what had really happened...

Writing Exam: TUESDAY 10th NOVEMBER 2015

The Interview:  350-450 words

Your writing exam will require you to write the transcript of an Interview.

The topic will be on new technology.
It can be positive or negative.
You will need to think about creative and interesting questions from the inteviewer.
You will need to think about consistent and detailed answers from the interviewee.


Possible ideas for content:
Black Mirror: The Entire History of You
Google Glasses as a threat
Robotic Doctors as a change for the better

HOMEWORK
In order to be fully prepared for our Writing Exam you will need to hand write a 60-80 word summary of the above content for FRIDAY 6th NOVEMBER.