Unit 3

Vocabulary:
• Rage: fúria / rabia.
• Bliss: felicitate / goig “spending time by the beach is pure bliss”.
• Dejection: desànim / abatiment.
• Sorrow: dolor / pesar / pena “I left my country with deep sorrow”.
• Revulsion: repugnància / fàstic
• Loathing: odi / aversió
• Dread: por / terror / paüra

Phrase spot:
• (Through) Thick and thin: if you support or stay with someone through thick and
thin, you always support or stay with them, even if there are problems or difficulties
“she has stuck with me through thick and thin”.
• Fame and fortune: to be widely known or recognized, renown “When Joe was 18 he
left home to find fame and fortune”.
• Touch and go: if a situation is touch and go, it is uncertain “the doctor says that it’s
touch and go whether Mary will be okay”.
• First and foremost: more than anything else “In spite of being elected to office, she
remains first and foremost a writer”.
• Time and again: repeatedly, on multiple occasions “time and again they have
violated the rules, yet you have taken no action against them”.
• Give and take: willingness to accept suggestions from another person and give up
some of your own “in every friendship there has to be some give and take”.
• Life and soul: a person regarded as the main source of merriment and liveliness “he
is the life and soul of the party”.
• Flesh and blood: someone from your family “my aunt treats her relatives really
badly, considering they are her own flesh and blood”.
• (Leave) High and dry: if you say that you were left high and dry, you are emphasizing
that you were left in a difficult situation and were unable to do anything about it
“when the company closed down, I was left high and dry without a job”.
• Black and white: without colour “This movie is black and white”.

Modifiers:
» Gradable adjectives: are adjectives that show something can have different degrees
(cold, hot, frightened…). A gradable adjective can be combined with an adverb to
quantify that adjective.
» Ungradable adjectives: are adjectives that don’t have different degrees (wooden,
married…). An ungradable adjective is an adjective that cannot be combined with an
adverb to quantify it because the adjective itself already holds some notion of
quantity or degree. These adjectives can be combined with totally or absolutely to
add emphasis.
» Some adjectives can be both gradable and ungradable, and this is often
accompanied by a change in meaning from literal to more figurative use “Jake has
been blind since an accident in childhood / Our consumer society is fairly blind to the
issue of poverty”.
o Fairly: means moderately. Similar to quite.
o Rather: can be used before negative adjectives to mean moderately; it can
also be used before positive adjectives to mean more than expected. It can
be used with gradable and ungradable adjectives, though with ungradable
adjectives the use can only be informal.
o Quite: has a variety of meanings, ranging from moderately to totally,
depending on the tone of voice that is used. It can be combined with gradable
and ungradable adjectives, but there’s a change of meaning
§ Fairly: “I’m quite busy at work at the moment, but I’ve known it much
worse”.
§ Completely: “You’re quite impossible at times – sweet wrappers go in
the bin not on the floor”.
o Pretty: can be combined with both gradable and ungradable adjectives in
informal English “It’s pretty amazing that someone who was at death’s…”.

Conditional clauses:
» Zero conditional: to express real situations “If I eat too much in the evening, I can’t
sleep at night”.
o If/When + present tense | present tense
» First conditional: to express real situations “If you don’t apologise, you’ll regret it”.
o If + present tense | future tense will
» Second conditional: to express unreal situations “If I were you, I would go now”.
o If + past tense | would/could/might
» Third conditional: to express unreal situations “If she hadn’t had the chocolate ice
cream, she would have been in a worse mood”.
o If + past perfect | would/could/might + have + past participle
» Mixed conditionals:
o For situations in the present which affect the past “If I weren’t so untidy, I
wouldn’t have lost your keys”.
§ If + past tense | might/could/should/would
 o For situations in the past which affect the present “If I had moved to
California, I would be much richer today”.
§ If + past perfect | would/might/could + infinitive

Inversion and conditionals:

Sentences with inversion are more formal than those with “if”.
» First conditional: this often expresses a tentative idea/request/offer, etc.
o Normal: If you should require more assistance, please telephone.
o Inversion: Should you require more assistance, please telephone.
» Second conditional:
o Normal: If you went out in this weather, you’d be thoroughly soaked.
o Inversion: Were you to go out in this weather, you’d be thoroughly soaked.
» Third conditional:
o Normal: If I had known there was going to be a storm, I would have stayed
indoors.
o Inversion: Had I known there was going to be a storm, I would have stayed
indoors.

Other conditional clauses:

» If + would | will: “If you would take a seat, the doctor will see you shortly”.
» If + will | will: “I will clean the house, if you will mow the lawn”.
» Other words and phrases can be used to introduce conditional clauses:
o Given that: is used when some fact is already known.
§ Given that lightning tends to strike the nearest high point, you would
do well not to stand under a tall tree during a thunderstorm.
o Unless: can be replaced by if…not or providing…not but sometimes works
better with except when.
§ Unless you learn to drive better, I won’t be getting in your car again.
o On condition that: ¿¿¿¿????
§ On condition that you use a sun screen, you shouldn’t get burnt.
o But for and without: are often used with third conditional sentences.
§ But for the support of my boss, I wouldn’t have been promoted.
o Even if: introduces an extreme condition.
§ Even if you do say you love me, I’m not marrying you.
o As/so long as, providing, provided that: are similar to IF. They are all
emphatic forms emphasising a condition.
§ I’ll give you a lift to school as long as you wash the car for me at the
weekend.
o Supposing: should be used at the beginning of the sentence and is often not
used as a linking word, but rather in the sentence setting up the condition.
§ Supposing there was an air traffic controllers’ strike, what would you
do?