English Vocabulary and Grammar: Key Terms & Usage
Essential English Vocabulary
Environmental Terms
- Average: Promedio, media
- Carbon footprint: Huella de carbono
- Crop: Cosecha, cultivo
- Dump: Verter, tirar
- Eco-friendly: Ecológico
- Endangered: En peligro de extinción
- Flooding: Inundación
- Fossil fuel: Combustible fósil
- Greenhouse effect: Efecto invernadero
- Hazardous: Nocivo, tóxico, peligroso
- Landfill: Vertedero
- Large-scale: A gran escala, masivo
- Leak: Filtrar
- Melt: Derretirse
- Moisture: Humedad
- Soil: Suelo, tierra
- Thaw: Descongelar
- Waste: Residuos
Common Idioms
- Black and white: Blanco y negro (tenerlo muy claro)
- Give or take: Más o menos
- Loud and clear: Alto y claro
- Now and then: De vez en cuando, a veces
- Now or never: Ahora o nunca
- Plain and simple: Simple y llanamente
- Pros and cons: Pros y contras
- Rain or shine: Llueva o truene (no importa lo que pase)
- Safe and sound: Sano y salvo
- Sick and tired: Estar harto de
- Sink or swim: Todo o nada
- Sooner or later: Tarde o temprano
- Tried and tested: De eficacia comprobada
Key Grammar Points
Reporting Verbs
Yes/No Questions
Use verbs like: ask, enquire, request, wonder, want to know.
Orders/Requests
Use verbs like: order, tell, ask, beg, warn, demand, shout.
Use the to-infinitive form of the verb.
Suggestions
Use verbs like: suggest, recommend, advise, invite.
Use the -ing form after the reporting verb.
Verb Patterns
- Verbs followed by to + infinitive: agree, refuse, promise, threaten, offer, decide.
- Verbs followed by -ing: apologize for, insist on, suggest, recommend, regret, blame for, admit, deny.
- Verbs followed by pronoun + to-infinitive: invite, advise, ask, convince, encourage, persuade, remind, tell.
Reported Speech: Tense Changes
| Direct Speech | Reported Speech |
|---|---|
| Present Simple | Past Simple |
| Present Continuous | Past Continuous |
| Past Simple | Past Perfect |
| Past Continuous | Past Perfect Continuous |
| Present Perfect Simple | Past Perfect |
| Present Perfect Continuous | Past Perfect Continuous |
| Past Perfect Simple | Past Perfect |
| Past Perfect Continuous | Past Perfect Continuous |
| Will | Would |
| Can | Could |
| May/Might | Might |
| Must/Have to | Had to |
Example:
“Joe works in a hospital,” she said.
She said that Joe worked in a hospital.
Passive Voice
| Active Voice | Passive Voice |
|---|---|
| Present Simple: Play/plays | am/is/are + past participle |
| Present Continuous: am/is/are + -ing | am/is/are being + past participle |
| Present Perfect: have/has + past participle | have/has been + past participle |
| Past Simple: -ed/2nd column | was/were + past participle |
| Past Continuous: was/were + -ing | was/were being + past participle |
| Past Perfect: had + past participle | had been + past participle |
| Future Simple: will + infinitive | will be + past participle |
| Future Be Going To: am/is/are going to + infinitive | am/is/are going to be + past participle |
| Future Perfect: will have + past participle | will have been + past participle |
| Modal Verbs: Modal (can, must, might, etc.) + infinitive | modal (should, must, can’t, etc.) be + past participle |
| Have To: have/has to + infinitive | have/has to be + past participle |
| Modals Perfect: modal (should, must, can’t, etc.) have + past participle | Modal (can, must, might, etc.) have been + past participle |