File 11 As and Like - Both

As and like are often confused since they are both used to compare actions or situations. There are, however, important differences.

As

We use as to talk about job or function. 

• I worked as a shop assistant for 2 years when I was a student.
• He used his shoe as a hammer to hang the picture up.

In comparisons, the structure ‘as adjective as’ is often used.

• He’s not as tall as his brother
• She ran as fast as she could.

In the following comparisons as is a conjunction – it’s followed by a clause with a subject and a verb.

• He went to Cambridge University, as his father had before him.
• She’s a talented writer, as most of her family are.

Like

In the following comparisons, like is a preposition and it’s followed by a noun or a pronoun.

• I’ve been working like a dog all afternoon.
• None of my brothers are much like me.
• She looks just like her mother.

Like and As if/As though

Like, as if and as though can all be used to make comparisons. There is no difference in meaning among the 3 forms.

• You look as if you’ve seen a ghost.
• You talk as though we’re never going to see each other again.
• It looks like it’s going to rain.

Expressions with ‘as’

The following expressions all use as.

• As you know, classes restart on January 15th.
• I tried using salt as you suggested but the stain still didn’t come out.
• As we agreed the company will be split 50/50 between us.
• Their house is the same as ours.

Both

We use both to refer to two things or people together:

Both those chairs are occupied, I’m afraid. (The two chairs are occupied.)

Are both your parents going to Chile? (Are your mother and father going to Chile?)

Both with nouns

When we use both before a determiner (e.g. a/an, the, she, his) + noun, both and both of can be used:

She knew both my children. (or … both of my children.)

Both her brothers are living in Canada. (or Both of her brothers …)

We can use both before a noun:

This button starts both engines at the same time. (or … both of the engines …)

Are both cats female?

File 11 PRACTICAL ENGLISH - on the phone

Useful telephone vocabulary and phrases in English.

---

Making contact :	Hello / Good morning / Good afternoon ... This is John Brown speaking Could I speak to ......... please? I'd like to speak to ..... ..... I'm trying to contact ..........
Giving more information:	I'm calling from Tokyo / Paris / New York / Sydney ... I'm calling on behalf of Mr. X ...
Taking a call :	X speaking. Can I help you?
Asking for a name / information :	Who's calling please? Who's speaking? Where are you calling from? Are you sure you have the right number / name?
Asking the caller to wait :	Hold the line please. Could you hold on please? Just a moment please.
Connecting :	Thank you for holding. The line's free now ... I'll put you through. I'll connect you now  / I'm connecting you now.
Giving negative information :	I'm afraid the line's engaged. Could you call back later? I'm afraid he's in a meeting at the moment. I'm sorry. He's out of the office today. / He isn't in at the moment. I'm afraid we don't have a Mr./Mrs./Ms/Miss. ... here I'm sorry.  There's nobody here by that name. Sorry.  I think you've dialled the wrong number./ I'm afraid you've got the wrong number.
Telephone problems :	The line is very bad ...  Could you speak up please? Could you repeat that please? I'm afraid I can't hear you. Sorry. I didn't catch that.  Could you say it again please?
Leaving / Taking a message :	Can I leave / take a message? Would you like to leave a message? Could you give him/her a message? Could you ask him/her to call me back? Could you tell him/her that I called? Could you give me your name please? Could you spell that please? What's your number please?

Short Stories - Roald Dahl

Roald Dahl - Official site

SUMMARY OF THE STORY

This story is about Mary Maloney and her husband Patrick who was a detective. It seems that she loved her husband dearly. But shockingly she killed him when he told her that he was going to leave her. As she had lived with a detective husband, she knew the ways to prove herself innocent from the charge of murdering him. She went to a grocery to buy some edibles and behaved as if nothing had happened. She told the grocer, Mr. Sam that she was buying those edibles for her husband. After coming home, she rang up the police and the detectives and informed them about the murder of her husband, Patrick. Investigations went on, but in vain. Nobody could raise a finger of suspicion on Mary Maloney as there was no evidence against her. Thus, a murderer moves freely in the society.

 

POSITIVE POINTS OF THE STORY

 

I liked the story very much. It reflects the changes and colours of human nature. It is quite unpredictable. Human feelings such as love, faith, affection and loyalty can be blown away with any fit of a cruel wind. They are not deep rooted in human nature and can be uprooted to enact a crime. We lie to ourselves when we say that we love someone from the core of our heart. Heart is only a biological organ and has nothing to do with our feelings. It is a bitter truth that we love ourselves the most. Our feelings change with circumstances. We love others as long as we receive reciprocation from the other side. Otherwise everything is finished. As in the story Mary who loved a lot her husband and always thought and waited for him with anxiety, wasted no time to kill him cruelly. Even after committing the dreadful crime, she had no regrets and worked out a plan to set herself free from any charges.

NEGATIVE POINTS OF THE STORY

Every coin has two sides. Same here with the story also though the plot of the story is strong. It sometimes loses the grip on the reader. The writer elaborates Mary Maloney’s love and anxiety for her husband, Patrick a lot. But when Patrick told Mary that he was going to leave her forever, the writer had failed to show the struggle of thoughts in Mary’s mind. Instead of giving any resistance or reaction, she went in the kitchen to prepare the supper. It is also not very clear whether Patrick also loved Mary as deeply as she did. Apart from this, the writer did not mention clearly why Patrick wanted to leave Mary even when she was pregnant.

 

CONCLUSION

To conclude, it is a soul touching story reflecting the variations in human nature. It is awful that man is more dangerous than animals. He only loves himself and if his wishes and feelings are not reciprocated he can commit a crime and with no repentance.

 

By RACHNA RAJARAMAN (India)

---

Lamb to the Slaughter : a summary by Yvanna, Marina and Maëva (France)

Mary Maloney, a devoted woman to her husband was looking forward to seeing him again. As usual, she had prepared everything he could need at home when he would come back from work. But, when he came back that day, he looked preoccupied. She kept on taking so much care of him as she was used to, but it seemed like he had something to tell her, something she would never forget.

When he was done telling her whet he had to tell her, she felt like the whole world had fallen apart but she could barely pretend that everything was alright.

In a different state of mind, she hit him until he couldn’t breathe anymore.

What would come next? She was already planning it.

She would cook the meat and walk to the grocery shop. She would tell the man about the dinner she was about to prepare for Patrick. And when she would come home, she would pretend she was expecting her husband to be still alive and burst into tears when she would find him lying on the floor. That was what she would do, that would be her alibi. And that was exactly what she did, in a right and natural way.

When the policemen arrived, they couldn’t find who the murderer was.

“Get the weapon, and you’ve got the man,” they said, while they were blindly eating the lamb. And Mary Maloney felt she was somehow out of danger.

The characters in Lamb to the Slaughter by Riche and Naïma (France)

Mrs Maloney is a pregnant housewife who is married to Patrick and who loves him. She thinks she knows everything about him( his schedule, tastes,…).

She looks harmless and meek …as a lamb at first but she is so desperate on hearing that Patrick is going to leave her that she kills him.

We also discover another aspect of her personality when she regains her self control. She manages to manipulate the grocer and the policemen who are led to believe that she is innocent.

Patrick Maloney: we don’t know much about him except that he is Mary’s husband and we can imagine that they share a boring routine. He is a policeman.He wants to tell Mary something and we quickly understand that he has been unfaithful and wants to get a divorce.

The policemen: They do their best to console her. They are also the fools of the story because they are made to eat the crime weapon without suspecting anything!

Roald Dahl

Biography

File 10 A Extra Reading

If you want to read more about inventions you can just click on the links:

The woman who designed Nike's swoosh




Josephine Cochrane

SHORT STORY: After twenty years

Click on this link and enjoy:

O. Henry Biography

  

Multiple Choice Circle the letter of the best answer for each of the following questions.

1. The man standing in the doorway of the hardware store seems out of place in the          neighborhood because

A. he appears to be a wealthy man.

B. no one there knows him.

C. the businesses are all closed for the night.

D. it is a dangerous place to be. _______

2. As the police officer approaches, what does the man in the doorway do?

A. shrinks back

B. stares at him intently

C. begins to walk away 

D. speaks to him immediately _______

3. The story suggests that as young men, Bob and Jimmy

A. had very similar personalities.

B. had been very close friends.

C. wanted the same things out of life.

D. didn't actually care much about each other. _______

4. Bob's hand most likely trembles at the end of the story because of his feelings of

A. fear.

B. anger.

C. hatred.

D. regret. _______

5. The story implies that the reason Bob and Jimmy lost track of each other was because

A. Bob was staying out of sight to avoid arrest.

B. Jimmy had become a police officer.

C. Bob was too busy to think about his old friend.

D. Jimmy's address kept changing. _______

6. When the police officer asked Bob whether he would hold his friend to the exact time of the meeting, he actually wanted to find out whether

A. Bob was as true a friend as he claimed to be.

B. he had enough time to send another officer.

C. Bob knew that he really was Jimmy.

D. he should come back later without his police uniform. _______

7. The first clue that something unexpected was about to happen came when Bob

A. lit a cigar.

B. noticed that Jimmy was much taller than he used to be.

C. pulled out his watch

D. read the note from Patrolman Wells. _______

Characters:

Jimmy Wells: (cop, best fellow in the world; strong and important person who controls the safety of the people). He loves New York. He is a fine-looking cop, watchful, guarding the peace. He is as true as any man in the world.

Bob: Has a colorless square face with bright eyes, and a little white mark near his right eye. He has a large jewel in his necktie.

Setting (place/time):

- It was probably winter.
- The weather was cold, there was wind and rain.
- The story takes place in New York.

General plot:

The story is about the relationship between two friends. Twenty years ago two friends had their last dinner together. One of them was leaving town to find "great success". They agreed to meet in 20 years time to see who they were and the kind of future that waited for each of them.

Summary

After Twenty Years is a story about two characters, Bob and Jimmy Wells. Before parting ways in order to build their careers, the two friends had promised each other that twenty years down the line, they would meet at a particular restaurant. The story begins with one friend, Bob, having reached the meeting place and waiting for his friend to turn up. While waiting, a policeman on his duty stops by and Bob tells him the reason behind his standing in the dark corner. The cop informs him that the restaurant was demolished five years ago. A conversation starts and Bob tells the policeman about his career and how he struck it rich in the west and how he wishes that Jimmy too had done well. The policeman wishes him luck and continues on his beat. A little later, a man walks up to Bob, and addresses him by his name. The two friends then get chatting, with Bob telling his friend about how the west treated him. While walking, they reach a lighted area, when Bob stops abruptly and realizes that the person he has been talking to all along was not his friend Jimmy. When Bob says the same to the other man, Bob is informed that he has been under arrest for the past ten minutes. The stranger then hands a note to Bob. The note is from Patrolman Jimmy Wells, (the same policeman who was talking to Bob when he was waiting for Jimmy to turn up) and says that Jimmy was in the appointed place at the given time, but when Bob lit the cigar and Jimmy saw in his friend’s face the face of a wanted criminal, he went away. Jimmy could not arrest his friend Bob himself and so asked someone else to arrest Bob.

1 C , 2 D , 3 B, 4 A, 5 C ,6 B , 7 B

File 10 A The mothers of invention