Workbook Key Unit 6

Here you are...

Check your progress exercise 3: 1S   2D   3S

Reported Speech

These are the videos I wanted to show you.

 

MISTAKE!!! When it reads There's no change in word order (00:30), that's wrong. 

The structure of the sentence changes from an interrogative to a statement in the reported speech.

REPORTING VERBS

You can check the pattern of any verb in a monolingual dictionary such as the Cambridge dictionary online but below are the most common ones.

Verb+(that): add, admit, agree, explain, state, claim, suggest

      She admitted that she had made a mistake.

Verb+object+(that): inform, remind, tell

         She told me that she was going to set up a business.

Verb+to: agree, offer, promise, refuse, threaten

      She agreed to invite her for a meal.

Verb+object+to: ask, beg, promise, request, tell, warn

         The teacher asked the students to sit down.

Verb+ing: admit, deny, apologise for, recommend, suggest

      She denied breaking the door handle.

The verbs suggest, demand, recommend and insist are followed by should (informal BrE) or the bare infinitive (AmE and formal BrE)

         The employees demanded that the CEO should resign.

         The employees demanded that the CEO resign.

Workbook Key Unit 5

"Strength of mind is exercise, not rest.” ~ Alexander Pope (1688 – 1744)

Vogelkop bowerbird video

Here is the video about the Vogelkop bowerbird that we watched in class last week. If you found it too difficult to understand, you can read the transcript below and watch it again.

 

The Vogelkop bowerbird might lack the spectacular plumage associated with male bird courtship but he has other tactics for attracting a mate: an extraordinary repertoire of song and a wonderful ability to mimic. For example, he can reproduce the sound of pigeon wing beats, and the songs of modest tiger parrots and sulphur-crested cockatoos. Even more surprising is that he's an avid collector, with an appreciative eye for colour. He favours red and orange flowers and fungus, and lays his treasures out neatly. Not everything stays where it should, though as he collects shiny beetles that keep wandering off... He displays his collection in a large structure, that has taken many years to build, in the hope it will catch the eye of a female. A nearby male with a preference for darker colours has collected deer dung and charcoal. Visual effect is of crucial importance and clearly this male hadn't counted on the resulting fungal infestation, which he now has to keep 'pruning'. These rivals live a stone's throw apart and competition is intense. A female inspects the dung bower workmanship, and seems impressed at first, but closer inspection leaves her less convinced. Back at the flower bower, the male performs a dress rehearsal, then when the female is watching, he launches into his full mimic repertoire, with the bower acting as an amplifier. The female is seduced and the pair mates.