Your number from the podcast
How many third-person verbs did you count? Say the number, then say one of the sentences you heard.
One sentence, scrambled. Put it back together.
Two sentences that mean different things
Read these four, slowly
1. My sister often visits my parents at the weekend.
2. At the weekend, my sister often visits my parents.
3. My sister visits often my parents at the weekend.
4. Often my sister visits my parents at the weekend.
Numbers 1 and 2 are both correct English and mean the same thing. Numbers 3 and 4 are not English at all — but they are both perfectly normal Portuguese word orders.
Work from the four sentences above.
1. What can move freely in an English sentence?
2. What can never be separated?
3. Sentence 3 is wrong because…
Subject · verb · object, and the two ends
The frame
| Slot | What goes there | Can it move? |
|---|---|---|
| 1 · Subject | My sister | No |
| 2 · Frequency adverb | often | Only into slot 0, and only for sometimes/usually/often |
| 3 · Verb | visits | No |
| 4 · Object | my parents | No — and nothing may come between 3 and 4 |
| 5 · Place | in Braga | Rarely |
| 6 · Time | at the weekend | Yes — to the front, freely |
Place before time. When both appear at the end, English puts where before when:
She works in Lisbon on Mondays. ✓ · She works on Mondays in Lisbon. ✗
Portuguese is comfortable either way round, which is exactly why this needs a rule.
Match each fragment to the slot it belongs in. Two of them compete for the same end of the sentence.
Rebuild them
Five fragments, one correct English order.
This one has both a place and a time at the end. Get the pair the right way round.
Five sentences, five word-order errors. Rewrite each one in full, correctly.
1. I like very much this city.
2. She speaks very well English.
3. He goes on Fridays to the gym.
4. We eat always at eight.
5. My parents live since 1998 in Braga.
Three sentences that have to be right
Task card · Speaking and writing
Write three sentences about your week. Then say them without reading.
Each sentence must contain a subject, a verb, an object, a frequency adverb, and a time phrase — in the legal order.
- Sentence 1 about you. Sentence 2 about someone you live with — third person, so watch the -s.
- Sentence 3 negative: I don't usually… or She doesn't often…
- Then turn the paper over and say all three from memory. Written accuracy is not the goal — spoken accuracy is.
Read your three sentences back and answer for each one.
1. Is anything sitting between your verb and its object?
2. If you have both a place and a time at the end, which comes first?
3. Your third-person sentence — where is the -s?
Halfway
Four lessons in. Match each thing you have learnt to where it goes wrong for you.
Before the mingle
One question.
1. Which sentence is correct?
Before Lesson 5. Next lesson you speak for most of the hour, and you will not be able to prepare. Tonight, watch one more Friends episode with subtitles and note three complete sentences that describe a routine.
Copy them exactly, with the word order intact. You will use one of them as a model.