Dear subscribers! How are you getting on? The weather is not very good actually – slush, slush, and slush outside. Are you thinking about the Christmas presents for your nearest and dearest already?

We understand that you were very busy (as usual, weren’t you), and had no time for voting for the previous issues, but someone who decreases the rating of our ezine is rather hardworking and regularly estimates the issues as low as possible (why he/she is getting the issues if he/she doesn’t like them?).
Dear subscribers! There is little time to improve the rating if you find a couple of minutes and give the issue an estimate it deserves.


QUOTES OF THE WEEK

People ask for criticism, but they only want praise. W. Somerset Maugham

GRAMMAR - The Conditionals. Continuation (the first and the second parts are in issues #132, 133)

"It will be noticed that in types (2) and (3) of the conditional, the Past Simple or Past Perfect tense is used when we suppose what is impossible. These are really subjunctives, but seeing that were is only visible sign of this form that occurs with any frequency, the student needn’t be asked to differentiate between past subjunctive and past indicative. The Past Simple tense is used for something unreal or wished-for NOW, and the Past Perfect when the supposition or wish was all in the past. Other expressions using the past tenses in this way are: I wish, as if, if only, would to God, suppose, it’s (high) time, I’d rather.

If only I knew the answer (now)! If only I had known (yesterday)!

The inverted forms, Had I seen you earlier ... are less frequently found in modern spoken English than in classical written style. They should, however, be understood by more advanced students, who will meet them often enough as they extend their reading in literature."[1]

He would have come if you had waited.
Had you waited, he would have come.

"Supply a suitable tense of the verbs in brackets:

1. If we (have) some bread, we could have some bread and cheese if we had some cheese!
2. If you (be) in, I should have given it to you.
3. If Johnny (eat) another cake, he will be sick.
4. If you (can) type, you ought to be able to get a job easily.
5. My wife says she wishes I (be) a thousand miles away; indeed, I wish I (be).
6. I feel as if my head (be) on fire.
7. If only he (tell) you the whole story!
8. Don’t you wish you (come) earlier?
9. It’s time we all (go) home.
10. Suppose I (get) there late!"[1]

VOCABULARY exercises Below is what we originally wanted you to fill in the gaps (the task is in the previous issue):.

The mayor was sitting comfortably in his smart/glossy car.
His driver started moving smoothly. He definitely had one of the best drivers who ever existed.
He tried to be sound/fast asleep. ('He tried to drop asleep' also possible)
He needed to rest a little, otherwise depression would get him, he thought.
He felt some pain, at first in his eyes, then there it was again: the headache he started to feel was almost unbearable. All this was the usual sign forecasting/predicting his customary fits of depression.
Nevertheless he kept/continued thinking about his wife. ( '... he went on thinking about ...' also possible)
She used to look swell/smart, and was always laughing and smiling before the marriage, before becoming pregnant for the first time to be more exact.
After her first child had been born she became nervous/neurotic* and kept shouting at him and everybody else all the time.

* According to the OALD[2] 'smashing' is 'excellent': We had a smashing time on holiday! So you can say 'she became smashing' (for me after two or three vodkas) but it will have nothing to do with nervous or neurotic.

Then he remembered/recollected his first adultery/infidelity.
Or was it not the first but the second one? He had to realize/confess that he forgot the names of most of the dames he had an affair with.
They were always just the types of women he liked: slim, almost skinny, with long legs and long hair, preferably blond. His wife knew about most of them, but she always pretended she didn’t. It was her way to have him and to survive: pretending to be ignorant/ignorance.
The car stopped/was stopped, he understood that now he had to see her soon**.

** Both stopped/was stopped can be used with a difference in meaning. In (1) the driver stopped it (active), in (2) somebody else, e.g.a policeman (passive) did the action of stopping (the car).

He opened the door and went inside the house. It was suspiciously noiseless. He opened the wardrobe and wanted to put his overcoat in when he heard a hissing sound. “Sssssssssssss, it said, I’m a big snake, and I 'll bite you if you are not careful. ”
Bewildered, he answered, “I’ll just put my overcoat in.” “O.K., the snake said, but be quiet. And don't say anybody a word.”
He quickly/hastily closed the wardrobe and went out into the corridor.
Thinking about who on earth this snake could be, he entered the living room. The adult part of his family was/were at the table already.***

*** Grammatically both are correct. If you mean 'the adult part of the family' as a unit, then use 'was', if 'members', then 'were'. Anyway, 'was' is prefered by Americans, 'were' by British.

His wife tried to smile/smiling/and smiled****.

**** After 'try' both the 'to infinitive' and the '-ing form' is possible with a change of the meaning.. In 'try + to infinitive' the 'to infinitive' is often replaced by 'try and + infinitive (without to)':
She tried and smiled.

“Hello everybody. How are you, my dear", he said. "We’ve been waiting for you,” she answered annoyed as usual.
“Where are the kids?” he asked.. "Are they playing ‘hide and seek ’ or something?" His wife didn't answer but asked in return excitedly: "How are you?"
The question confused him. If he told the truth, and namely that he was just having a splitting headache, they’d be disappointed, or even frightened/scared.
He had to play the usual game of “everything is fine” again. He couldn’t allow expressing***** how he felt, he must not by any means complain.

***** Allow and permit can be followed by object + to infinitive:
We do not allow/permit people to smoke in the lecture hall.
When there is no personal object the -ing form is used:
We do not allow/permit smoking in the lecture hall.
So use 'allow expressing'. But 'he could not allow himself to express'

He was ‘the man in charge,’ responsible for the whole family. “I'd like to congratulate my granddaughter and give her a present,” he said, trying to look cheerful. “It’s possible, but one has to find her at first,” her mum answered/replied nervously. (snarled nervously in reply)

REFERENCES:
[1] Living English Structure. A practice book for foreign students by W. Stannard Allen
[2] Oxford Advanced Language Dictionary.

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