Summary of contents 2ºBTOPA

Unit 2: Paco has decided to visit Sierra Leone and Kenya

- Unit 2. Topic 1: Still in Africa

1. Writing: a story + essay
2. Past Simple vs. Present Perfect
3. Past Perfect
4. Present Perfect Continuous
5. Modal Verbs
6. Passive voice
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1. Writing: a story + essay

Have a look at this WRITING GUIDE (haz click en el enlace)

En ese enlace encontrarás instrucciones y recomendaciones sobre cómo organizar tu writing

correctamente, así como qué conectores debes incluir en cada tipo de writing. Es importante que
los estudies, sobre todo el de “Ventajas y desventajas”, ya que es un tipo de writing muy común.

2. Past Simple vs. Present Perfect

Past Simple: Se utiliza para hablar de una acción del pasado que no tiene por qué tener
efectos en el presente, es decir, suele tratarse de una acción terminada del pasado. Esta es
su estructura:
- Affirmative: Subject + Verb+ed/2nd column + Complements
- Example: She studied very hard for the exam.
- Negative: Subject + didn’t + Verb(base form) + Complements
- Example: They didn’t go to the party.
- Interrogative: (wh-word) + Did + Subject + Verb(base form) + Complements + ?
- Example: Why did you say that?

Present Perfect: Se utiliza para hablar de acciones que ocurrieron o empezaron en el

pasado, pero tienen efectos en el presente. Esta es su estructura:
- Affirmative: Subject + have/has + Past Participle + Complements
- Example: They have studied French since 2018.
- Negative: Subject + haven’t/hasn’t + Past Participle + Complements
- Example: She hasn’t arrived yet.
- Interrogative: (wh-word) + Have/Has + Subject + Past Participle + Complements + ?
- Example: Have you ever been to the United States?

Vídeo: Diferencias entre el Past Simple y el Present Perfect

Exercise 1. Read the following text and answer the questions (true or false):
Paco's plane has just taken off the airport in Johannesburg and is on the way to
Freetown, the capital city of Sierra Leone. Behind are his adventures in South Africa.
He visited the Apartheid Museum a couple of days ago and it was much harder
than he had imagined. This left Paco a bit thoughtful and sad but, at the same time,
relieved that this situation with black people was over.
Again, he had to take a plane in order to get to a new country. He has no other
option if he wants to travel across Africa. When he booked the flight, he remembered
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the businessman on the plane to Johannesburg and his advice of having a nap
before landing. Paco thought he needed to overcome his "problem" and, little by
little, he thinks he will. He's also reading the book this man recommended and it is
being very helpful.
Paco has been thinking about all his travelling adventures: he had never travelled
abroad before and, since he left Spain, he has already been to three continents. He
has visited the British Isles in Europe, the USA and Canada in North America, and
now he is travelling across Africa. He hasn't been to Asia yet but he thinks it must be
really interesting too.
Fortunately, English is the official language of Sierra Leone. Therefore, although
Krio is the national language, English is spoken at schools, and it is used by the
media and the government administration. Paco won't have any problems with the
language. That's for sure! So far in his travellings, he has realized that you can go
anywhere if you speak a bit of English.

Are these sentences true or false?

1. Paco is already in Sierra Leone.
2. Freetown is the capital city of Sierra Leone.
3. Paco regrets having booked the flight.
4. Paco is looking forward to visiting Asia.
5. People in Sierra Leone don’t speak English.

Exercises for practice:

Exercise 2:
https://agendaweb.org/exercises/verbs/present-perfect-past-simple/exercise-1.htm
Exercise 3:
https://agendaweb.org/exercises/verbs/present-perfect-past-simple/exercise-2.htm

3. Past Perfect

El Past Perfect se usa para hablar de acciones que ocurrieron antes que otra acción del
pasado. Si queremos indicar que una acción fue anterior a otra acción del pasado, usamos
el Past Perfect. Este tiempo verbal tiene esta estructura:
- Affirmative: Subject + had + Past Participle + Complements
- Example: She had arrived before you phoned.
- Negative: Subject + hadn’t + Past Participle + Complements
- Example: They hadn’t studied for the exam.
- Interrogative: Had + Subject + Past Participle + Complements + ?
- Example: Had they finished the project when you arrived?

Exercises for practice:

Exercise 4:
https://agendaweb.org/exercises/verbs/past-perfect/write-1.htm
Exercise 5:
https://test-english.com/grammar-points/a2/past-perfect/

4. Present Perfect Continuous

Usamos este tiempo para recalcar que una acción ha estado ocurriendo durante un tiempo, es
decir, para indicar que, una acción que ha comenzado en el pasado, todavía se está produciendo
o ha acabado recientemente, pero ha llevado un tiempo para realizarse. Este tiempo equivale, en

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español, a decir “yo he estado estudiando”, “ella ha estado jugando al baloncesto”, “nosotros
hemos estado viendo una película”, etc. Ejemplo: I have been studying all day long. (Yo he
estado estudiando todo el día).

La estructura que sigue este tiempo verbal es la siguiente:

- Affirmative: Subject + have / has + been + Verb+ing + Complements
- Example: I have been working in this company since 2014.
- Negative: Subject + haven’t / hasn’t + been + Verb+ing + Complements
- Example: She hasn’t been practising.
- Interrogative: (wh-word) + Have / Has + Subject + Verb+ing + Complements + ?
- Example: What have they been doing all afternoon?

Exercise 6: Watch this video to learn more about Present Perfect Continuous Present Perfect
Continuous in Spanish

Exercises for practice:

Exercise 7: https://agendaweb.org/exercises/verbs/present-perfect-continuous/write-1.htm
Exercise 8: https://agendaweb.org/exercises/verbs/present-perfect-continuous/write-2.htm

5. Modal Verbs
Los verbos modales son verbos que se colocan delante de otro verbo. Estos verbos son muy
fáciles de usar, ya que no hay que modificarlos añadiendo una -s o -es, no se les añade -ing, no
tienen forma de pasado, etc. Algunos de los verbos modales más usados incluyen CAN, CAN’T,
MUST, MUSTN’T, SHOULD, SHOULDN’T, MAY, MIGHT, etc.

Exercise 9. Read the following text and underline the modal verbs.

'The landing has been much better this time so the book must be really good'. These words came to
Paco's mind when the plane arrived in Freetown. He took a taxi and went to the hotel straight
away.

At the reception, there was a young woman of about 25 years of age who talked to Paco in a very
nice accent. Paco is starting to distinguish the different accents and he is finding it very interesting.

Receptionist - Can I help you?

Paco - Yes, please. I booked a single room last week. My name's Paco González.

Receptionist - Yes, here it is. Room 65. Can you show me your passport, please?

Paco - Here you are.

Receptionist -Thanks. It's a bit early but the cleaners have done your room already, so you can go
in.

Paco - Great! I'm tired and I fancy a rest. Do I need to leave the key at the reception whenever I go
out?

Receptionist - No, you don't. But you mustn't smoke in your room and you must be respectful
towards the other guests of course. Ah! And you have to leave the room by 12 o'clock every day.

Paco - No problem. I get up early. By the way, how can I get to the city centre?Receptionist - You
have to go by bus. There will be one along in about 10 minutes. Take this bus schedule.

Paco - Thank you!

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Practice Modal Verbs:

Exercise 10: https://agendaweb.org/exercises/verbs/modals/mixed-test-3.htm
Exercise 11: https://agendaweb.org/exercises/verbs/modals/mixed-modals-2.htm

6. Passive Voice + explanation + practice

La voz pasiva funciona en inglés de una forma muy parecida al español. En español se haría así:

- Juan ha escrito un libro.

- Un libro ha sido escrito por Juan.

- Elena trajo los pasteles.

- Los pasteles fueron traídos por Elena.

Para formar la voz pasiva en inglés, hacemos lo mismo, de modo que el sujeto de la oración
activa pasa a ser el complemento agente y el objeto o complemento directo de la voz activa pasa
a ser el sujeto de la oración en voz pasiva:

- John has written a book.

- A book has been written by John.

- Helen brought the cakes.

- The cakes were brought by Helen.

Todo lo que tienes que hacer para formar una frase en voz pasiva es analizar en qué tiempo
está el verbo principal en voz activa y aplicar el mismo tiempo en la oración en voz pasiva,
de modo que el verbo TO BE tenga ese mismo tiempo verbal en la oración pasiva. Es decir,
si en la oración en voz activa el verbo principal está en Past Simple, debes aplicar ese tiempo
verbal al verbo TO BE en la oración en voz pasiva.

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Practice Passive Voice:

Exercise 12: https://agendaweb.org/exercises/verbs/passive-voice/active-passive-1.htm

Exercise 13: https://agendaweb.org/exercises/verbs/passive-voice/present-past-write.htm

Exercise 14: Pincha en el siguiente enlace y realiza los ejercicios del apartado “Further
Practice” del Tema 1 (Unidad 2). Activities - Topic 1. Unit 2

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