English language-Communication Skills First semester 2023/2024

Unit 4 Summary
Vocabulary
Expressions with luck
• beginner’s luck. • pushing luck.
• out of luck. • the luck of the draw.
• bad luck. • no such luck.
• best of luck.
That sounds fishy
• Believable  ‫ﻗﺎﺑل ﻟﻠﺗﺻدﯾﻖ‬ • Credible ‫ﻣوﺛوق‬
• Convincing  ‫ﻣﻘﻧﻊ‬ • Far-fetched  ‫ﺻﻌب اﻟﻣﻧﺎل‬
• [Dubious, fishy]  ‫ﻣﺛﯾر ﻟﻠﺷك‬ • Iffy  ‫ﻏﯾر ﻣؤﻛد‬
• Misleading  ‫ﻣﺿﻠل‬ • Phony  ‫ﻣزﯾف‬
• Plausible  ‫ﻣﻌﻘول‬ • Well-founded  ‫ﻣؤﻛد‬
• Conceivable  ‫ﯾﻣﻛن ﺗﺧﯾﻠﮫ‬

Reporting clauses (active and passive)

Active reporting clauses
[S. + reporting {verb/noun} + (that) + …]

• Used to report what someone says, thinks, believes, etc.

• “That” word is usually optional.
• Verbs usually used in reporting clauses:
o More formal: argue, assert, claim, report.
 Ex: in turkey, many people agree (that) when someone goes on a journey, you
should pour water on the ground behind him or her to bring the person back
safely
o More conversational: admit, agree, assume, believe, doubt, explain, feel, say.
 Ex: In Venezuela, some people say (that) if someone passes a broom over your
feet, you will never get married.
• Nouns that are usually used for reporting clauses:
o Accusation, assertion, comment, explanation, response, argument, claim, decision,
remark, suggestion.
• That is needed in two cases:
o The verb is followed be a preposition and an indirect object.
[S. + reporting verb+ prep. + obj. + that + …]
 Ex: Several people agreed with me that logic, not superstition, is the best was
to make decisions.
o When we change the reporting verb into a noun.
[S. + reporting noun + that + …]
 Ex: Bill made the assertion that he’d have no luck at all if it weren’t for bad luck.

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Hamza Alkayyali
English language-Communication Skills First semester 2023/2024

Reporting clauses in the passive

[It+ verb to be + reporting verb(V3) + (that) + …]

• Reporting clauses in the passive are used ion written and formal English and are not
common in conversation.
• Verbs can be used in reporting clauses in passive:
Announce Deny Maintain Reveal Suggest
Confirm Estimate Observe Rumor Understand

• Reporting clauses in the passive are commonly used with a variety of structures:
o Simple present:
 Rule: [It+ {is/am/are} + V3 + that…]
 EX: It is said that the video ran for over nine months.
o Simple past:
 Rule: [It+ {was/were} + V3 + that…]
 Ex: It was explained that the device emits a sound that irritates young
people.
o Present perfect:
 Rule: [It+ {has/have} + been + V3 + that…]
 Ex: It has been estimated that the construction of Stonehenge took
over 20 million hours.
o Past perfect:
 Rule: [It+ had + been + V3 + that…]
 Ex: It had been rumored that a monster was living in the lake.
o With modals:
 Rule: [It+ modal + be + V3 + that…]
 Ex: It couldn’t be denied that many mysteries elude scientific
understanding.
o With past modals:
 Rule: [It+ modal + have + been + V3 + that…]
 Ex: It should have been confirmed that the flight would be delayed.

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Hamza Alkayyali
English language-Communication Skills First semester 2023/2024

Unit 5 Summary
Vocabulary
Reacting to movies:
• [touching, moving, inspiring]  movies affect your emotions or bring tears to your
eyes.
• [predictable, mediocre, formulaic, cliched]  the movie isn’t very good, and probably,
not worth watching.
• [engrossing, riveting]  the movie completely captures your attention.
• [predictable]  the plot of the movie is obvious and you can guess the ending.

Types of TV programs
• Game show • sitcom
• Documentary • sports program
• sketch comedy show • reality TV show
• soap opera • cartoon
• drama series • talk show
• cooking show • news program.

Sentence Adverbs

• Modify a whole sentence not just a part of it.

• Express the speaker’s attitude, opinion, or reason for speaking.
• Most often located at the beginning of the sentence and set off by a comma.
• May be located in the middle of the sentence before the main verb or between the auxiliary
verb and the main verb.
• Can be used in place of longer clauses that modify a sentence:
[amazed that  amazingly],
[not surprised that  not surprisingly],
[apparent that  apparently], and more.

Certainty
• clearly, definitely, obviously, unquestionably.
o Ex: Unquestionably, studios are interested in producing a lot more movies
about superheroes.

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Hamza Alkayyali
English language-Communication Skills First semester 2023/2024

Less certainty
• apparently, seemingly, supposedly.
o Ex: Seemingly, there have been more women cast in leading roles in successful
movies.

Possibility and probability:

• possibly, potentially, probably.
o Ex: Box office profits will possibly continue to fall in the United States.

Talking honestly and directly:

• frankly, honestly, seriously.
o Ex: Honestly, I hope that having more courageous heroines will be a trend that
lasts and not just a passing fad.

Summarizing:
• basically, essentially, fundamentally, mainly, overall.
o Ex: Overall, the animated movies I take my children to see these days are
visually spectacular.

Other attitudes:
• amazingly, surprisingly, not surprisingly, predictably, fortunately, unfortunately.
o Ex: Not surprisingly, the other adults I see at the theater also enjoy these
movies as such as the kinds do.

Conjunctive adverbs:
• accordingly, consequently, hence, indeed, meanwhile, otherwise, thus.
• This group usually come in the middle of the sentence conjunction two clauses
together, or between two sentences also for conjunction.
o Ex: The coming attraction ended and the movie began; accordingly, the
audience fell silent.

[Such / so] … that

• Commonly used to express extremes in exclamatory sentences.

• Are most often followed by a that clause.
• In conversations so and such are used to alone to express emphatic stress.
• Such is followed by a noun (usually modified by an adjective)
[such … + adj. + noun … that]
o Ex: It is such a great show that I bought all eight seasons.
• So is followed by an adjective or and adverb
[so + {adj./adv.} … that]
o Ex: House is so foul-tempered that I hated him when I first started watching the
show.

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Hamza Alkayyali
English language-Communication Skills First semester 2023/2024

• So many and so few are followed by countable nouns.

[so +{many/few} + countable noun … that]
o Ex: The dialogue is packed with so many jokes that it’s nonstop laughs from
beginning to end.
• So much and so little are followed by uncountable nouns.
[so +{much/little} + uncountable noun … that]
o Ex: My busy schedule leaves me so little Tv time that I don’t want to waste it
watching mediocre sitcoms.
So Majority Minority
Countable Many Few
Uncountable Much Little

• In conversation much and little can be used as adverbs following.

o Ex: Why do you watch TV so much? [much means frequently].
• Much, little, many and few can be used to serve as pronouns of nouns.
o Ex: He has so little (free time) he can’t keep up the latest TV shows.

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Hamza Alkayyali
English language-Communication Skills First semester 2023/2024

Unit 6 Summary
Vocabulary

Describing music
• Soothing: relaxing, calming, and comforting.  ‫ﻣرﯾﺢ ﻟﻸﻋﺻﺎب‬
• Monotonous: following the same pattern; unchanging. ‫ﻋﻠﻰ ﻧﻔس اﻹﯾﻘﺎع‬
• Exhilarating: making you feel very excited and happy.  ‫ﻣﺑﮭﺞ‬
• Evocative: bringing to mind strong emotion or image.  ‫ﺣزﯾﻧﺔ‬
• Frenetic: fast and energetic, and rather uncontrolled.  ‫ﻣﻠﯾﺋﺔ ﺑﺎﻟطﺎﻗﺔ‬
• Haunting: sadly beautiful and difficult to forget. ‫ﯾﻌﺻب ﻧﺳﯾﺎﻧﮫ‬
• Mellow: cool, laid-back, and smooth.  ‫ﺟﻣﯾﻠﺔ‬
• Catchy: pleasing and easy to remember. ‫ﺗﻠف اﻻﻧﺗﺑﺎه‬

Breaking into the business

Just starting out Currently successful No longer successful
Be discovered Be a big hit Be a has-been
Pay your dues Make it big Be washed up
Break into the business Make a comeback Be a one-hit wonder
Make a name for yourself Pay your dues
Get your big break

Describing similarities and differences

SIMILARITIES DIFFEIRENCES
Both But
Like While
Alike By contrast
Similar to Unlike
As On the other hand,
Similarly, However,
In the same vein On the contrary
Likewise, Whereas
X and Y have …. in common Opposed to
The two…. Although
Despite/ in spite of

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Hamza Alkayyali
English language-Communication Skills First semester 2023/2024

Double Comparatives

• You can use two comparatives, each preceded by the, in order to show how one quality or
amount is linked to another, the first expresses a condition for the second comparative.
• Revision for comparative and superlative:

Comparative (two sides) Superlative (one to all)

Adj. {more} +Adj.+ {-er/-ier} + than The + {most} + adj. + {-est/-iest}
Clean Cleaner than The cleanest
Comfortable More comfortable than The most comfortable
Tidy Tidier than The tidiest
Sad [CVC] Sadder than The saddest
Expectations
Good Better than The best
Bad Worse than The worst
Many/much
More than The most
[countable/uncountable]
little [uncountable] Less than The least

• Double comparative structure and rules:

o Sentence structure:
The {more} + adj.{-er/-ier} + {[adj.]/ [clause]/ [noun+ clause]}, The {more} +
adj.{-er/-ier} + {[adj.]/ [adj.+ noun]/ [noun+ clause]}.
o We add “more” for adjs. With two or more syllables.
 Ex: The more exciting the soundtrack, the better the movie seems.
o We add -er for adjectives with one syllable:
 Ex: The louder the movie gets, the sooner I feel like leaving.
o We add {-ier} for adjectives with one syllable and the adjective ends with “y”.
o We sometimes suffice with the comparative, and delete everything else (when we have
a clear context):
 Ex: the less 80s pop music I hear, the better I feel.
o More can be followed either by:
 Adjective
Ex: The more exciting the soundtrack, the better the movie seems.

 Clause:
Ex: The more I hear a pop song on the radio, the less I feel like buying it.
 Noun+ clause:
Ex: The more types of music you try to listen to, the more likely you are
to enjoy a wide variety of genres.

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Hamza Alkayyali
English language-Communication Skills First semester 2023/2024

Will and would for habits and general truths

• You can use would to express habitual actions in the past
• “would” is more formal that “used to” and is frequently used in past narratives.
• Would needs to be clearly associated with a time in the past.
• Would can not be used with stative verbs such as [be, have, Like, live, love, mean, and own.
o Correct: when I was young, I used to have clarinet.
o Incorrect: when I was young, I would have a clarinet
o Ex: In high school, Madonna used to love to dance would always get excellent grades
• You can use “will” to express personal habits or characteristic behavior in the present, or to
express facts that are generally true.

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Hamza Alkayyali
English language-Communication Skills First semester 2023/2024

Unit 7 Summary
Optional and required relative pronouns
• In defining relative clauses, when the relative pronoun is the subject of the clause or it shows
possession, the relative pronoun is required. When it is the object, it is usually optional.
• Subject of clause (relative pronouns that, which, or who required)
o Ex: People who/that are concerned with the effect of pesticides on the environment are
buying organic produce.
o Ex: Social exercise programs that/which offer fun group workout are on the rise.
• Showing possession (relative pronoun whose required)
o More professionals whose managers allow it are opting to telecommute, or work from
home.
• Object of clause (relative pronoun that, which, who, or whom are required)
o Hybrid cars are option that/which more people are choosing.
o Dome elementary schools now offer classes for children who/whom/that they once
considered too young.
• When the relative pronoun is the complement (or object) of a preposition, whom is required
not who
o No one can live with that land now expect indigenous people to whom special permits
have been given.
• When the relative pronoun is the complement (or object) of a preposition, which is required
not that.
o My parents’ generation stood for certain principles against which my generation has
rebelled.
• The relative pronoun whose is not only used for people. It can also represent animals or things.
o There are some new fitness classes whose purpose is to provide safe exercise for the
elderly.
Subject Object Possession place time way reason
Animate Who /that Who/whom/that/Ø Where/in When/in
whose how why
Inanimate Which/that Which/that/Ø which which

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Hamza Alkayyali