Friday, January 30, 2009

Song: You've Got a Friend

Here is a better (more recent) performance of Carole King's "You've Got a Friend," sung by James Taylor. The lyrics are:

When you're down and troubled
And you need some loving care,
And nothing, oh nothing is going right,
Just close your eyes and think of me
And soon I will be there
To brighten up oh even your darkest night.

You just call out my name,
And you know, wherever I am,
I'll come running to see you again.
Winter, spring, summer, or fall--
All you've got to do is call on me
And I'll be there yeah, yes I'll be there.
You've got a friend.

If the sky high above you should grow dark and full of clouds
And that old cold north wind should begin to blow,
Just keep your poor head together now, now
And call my name out loud.
Pretty soon I'll be knocking on your door.

You just call out my name,
And you know wherever I am,
I'll come running to see you again.
Winter, spring, summer, or fall now,
All you've got to do is call,
And I'll be there yeah, yes I'll be there.

Oh, ain't it good to know you've got a friend?
When people can be so cold
They'll hurt you, yes, and desert you.
Well, they'll take your soul if you let them--
But don't you let them.

You just call out my name,
And you know wherever I am,
I'll coming running as fast as I can to see you again.
Oh darling, don't you know about
Winter, spring, summer, or fall now
All you've got to do is call,
And I'll be there yeah, yes I'll be there.
You've got a friend.
You've got yourself a friend in me.
Ain't it good to know you've got a friend?
I said everybody here tonight
No matter how low you've got to go sometime,
To take some consolation in one thing:
Ain't it good to know, yeah yeah yeah--
You've got a friend.

Thursday, January 29, 2009

Prepositions

Here's a Schoolhouse Rock video all about prepositions! The lyrics are below the video. All the prepositional phrases are in bold type.

Like a butterfly or like a bee
Like an ant as busy as can be
These little words we call the busy Ps:
PREPOSITIONS!
Nine or ten of them do most all of the work
Of, on, to, with, in, from, by, for, at, over, across--
And many others do their job,
Which is simply to connect
Their noun or pronoun object
To some other word
In the sentence.
Busy Ps, if you please
On the top is where you are
(top relates to “where”)
With a friend you’ll travel far
(With a friend you'll go)
If you try you’ll know that you can fly over the rainbow
(Over the rainbow is where you can fly)
Busy prepositions,
Always on the go
Like a bunch
Of busy bees
Floating pollen on the breeze
Buzzing over the meadows
Beyond the forest, through the trees
Into the beehive--
Busy, busy Ps
Into, beyond, over, on, through!
Busy prepositions always out in front
On the edges, in the crack,
Around the corner, from the back,
In between the action,
Stating clearly to your satisfaction
the location and direction.
Prepositions give specific information.
Though little words they are,
They never stand alone
Gathering words behind him you soon will see
How they have grown into a parade:
A prepositional phrase,
With a noun or at least a pronoun bringing up the rear
A little phrase of 2 or 3 or more words.
Prepositions! Attention! Forward--march!
Busy prepositions, always on the march,
Like a horde
Of soldier ants
Inching bravely forward on the slimmest chance
That they might better their positions.
Busy, busy prepositions,
In the air, on the ground, everywhere--
The sun sank lower in the west.
In the west it sank,
And it will rise in the morning and will bring the light of day.
We say the sun comes up in the east every day.
In the east it rises.
Busy prepositions
Busy busy busy
On the top is where you are.
(On the top)
If you try you know that you can fly
(Fly where?)
Over the rainbow.

Subject and Object Pronouns: Pronunciation

Here is a short video from Paul about subject pronouns and object pronouns. Listen to Paul's pronunciation and repeat!


Different Kinds of Nouns

There are 2 kinds of nouns:
  1. Common nouns (teacher, students, school...)
  2. Proper nouns (Rachel, Mohammed, Maryland English Institute...)
Capitalize common nouns at the beginning of a sentence:
Example: S
tudents and teachers come to school.

Always capitalize proper nouns!
Example: Rachel and Mohammed are at the Maryland English Institute.

There are 2 kinds of common nouns:
  1. Count nouns (sandwich, book, song...)
  2. Non-count nouns (meat, paper, music...)
Count nouns have a singular form (1 sandwich, book, song...) and a plural form (2 sandwiches, 3 books, many songs...).

Non-count nouns have only 1 form. You can't count them. (WRONG: 1 meat, 2 musics...)

Study the vocabulary on pages 66-67 of the Oxford Picture Dictionary (OPD).

Count Nouns: egg/eggs, vegetable/vegetables, grocery bag/bags, shopping list/lists, coupon/coupons

Non-count nouns: fish, meat, chicken, milk, butter, fruit, rice, bread, pasta

Watch Paul's video for more information:


Wednesday, January 28, 2009

Parts of Speech

Here are some important kinds of English words ("parts of speech"):

  1. A noun is the name of a person, place, or thing. (Examples: Mary, student, country, France, book)
  2. An adjective modifies a noun. (Examples: good, large, interesting)
  3. A verb is an action. (Examples: read, learn, eats, goes, forgot, walked)
  4. An adverb modifies a verb, an adjective, or another adverb. (Examples: usually, very)
  5. A preposition shows the relationship between two things. (Examples: of, to, on, before, about)
  6. A conjunction connects two or more things. (Examples: and, but, so, when, while)