Idiom of the day (2)

To kill two birds with one stone.

Matar dos pájaros de un tiro.

Emphasis (cleft sentences)

What structures (= The thing(s) that)

Puedes usar What...is/was... para enfatizar el sujeto o el objeto.

          Classical music often helps me to concentrate.
          What often helps me to concentrate is classical music.

          I don't understand where they get this stuff from.
          What I don't understand is where they get this stuff from.

It is/was... + relative clause

Esta estructura se usa para enfatizar casi cualquier parte de la oración.

          Brad Pitt married Jennifer Aniston in Los Angeles in 2000.

          It was Brad Pitt who married...
          It was Jennifer Aniston who married...
          It was Los Angeles where Brad Pitt married...
          It was in 2000 that Brad Pitt married...

A menudo se usa esta estructura cuando corriges  lo que ha dicho alguien:

          It wasn't Gwyneth Paltrow who married Brad Pitt. It was Jennifer 
          Aniston.

Idiom of the day (1)

A bird in hand is worth two in the bush.

Es mejor pájaro en mano que ciento volando.

Unreal conditional clauses - alternatives to if

Una unreal conditional clause es normalmente comenzada con if pero cuando haces preguntas existen otras alternativas.

Como sabemos ya, una condicional se estructura en:

                  Conditional clause + Main clause

Conditional clause

If                                      past simple               

Imagine (that)                    past continuous         

Supposing (that)   subject    were to + infinitive

Suppose (that)                    might                  

Assuming (that)                  past perfect          

Main clause

                            would     infinitive

(question word)      could      be + present participle?

                            might     have + past participle

Ejemplos:

          Imagine you were meeting someone for the first time, how would

          you introduce yourself?

          Suppose you didn't enjoy the first date, would you still go on a

          second date?

          Assuming that you were to go on another date, where might you

          be planning to meet?

          Supposing that neither of the dates had been successful, what

          might you tell the person?