NATURAL DISASTERS 

 

Natural disasters are part of the history of humanity,

tragedies have been the ones that shaped the history of humanity,

it is that ability of humans to get ahead and prepare for the awesomeness of nature

 

VOCABULARY/ NEW EXPRESSIONS 

1. tornado

2. hurricane/ typhoon

3. flood

4. landslide

5. drought

 ------------

evacuate

emergency

power outage

shelter

first-aid-kid

flashligth

non-perishable food  

GRAMMAR

INDIRECT SPEECH: IMPERATIVES

Did I seem a bit rude in the opening paragraph? Sorry, but I was using some examples of the imperative. In English the imperative often sounds a bit rude or aggressive. It is normally used by people in positions of authority like parents, teachers, police officers or bosses to give orders or instructions. So be careful not to use the imperative if you want to sound friendly! If we say please at the end of an imperative statement it still sounds like an order, but a more polite order.

 

When we change an imperative from direct speech into indirect speech we use the verbs told, ordered or commanded and we use the infinitive with to instead of the imperative.

Direct speech: Open the door!
Indirect speech: He told me to open the door.

 

When we change a negative imperative from direct speech into indirect speech we must also use the verbs told, ordered or commanded and put the word not before the infinitive.

Direct speech: Don’t close your books!
Indirect speech: The teacher told the students not to close their books.

 

 

INDIRECT SPEECH: SAY AND TELL-TENSE CHANGES

Use tell when you mention the listener. Use say when you don't

Maggie told her parents to stay home. (listeners mentioned) 

Maggie said to stay home. (listeners not mentioned)

 

When say and tell are in the past tense, the verbs in the indirect speech statement often change. Present becomes past. Past becomes past perfect. Will becomes would. Can becomes could.

They said, "The weather is awful." → They said (that) the weather was awful. 

Dan said, "We all had the flu."→ Dan said (that) they all had had the flu.

 They said, "There will be snow tonight." → They said there would be snow tonight. 

My husband said, "You can come with me." → My husband said I could come with him.

 

 CONVERSATION MODEL 

A: What's going on in the news today?

B: Well, the Times says there was a terrible storm in the South.

A: Really? 

B: Yes. It says lots of houses were destroyed.

A: What a shame!

B: But there haven't been any deaths.

A: Thank goodness for that!

 

 

CONCLUSION

Most communication in English is done in a polite way. We often express our ideas in a less direct way than in some other languages. So instead of using the imperative and saying

 

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