READING COMPREHENSION

All That Glitters

    Kim wants to drive her three kids and their two friends to the soccer game. The problem is that her shiny new SUV only has room for five passengers including the driver.
    Kim misses her old eight passenger SUV but she’s still thankful that the new one gets much better gas mileage.

1. Which of the following statements is false?

a. Kim’s new vehicle is not meant to carry six people.
b. Kim’s old SUV had seating for more passengers than the new one.
c. Kim won’t be able to take her kids to the soccer game.

    Karim had $500 dollars to invest. He was considering a number of options.
    “I’d really like to buy gold bars with the money and hide them in a big hole in our yard,” he said.
    “Five hundred dollars won’t buy much gold,” his father pointed out. “You could put all the gold in your shoe and never notice that it’s there.”
    “That takes all the fun out of it!” Karim groaned. “I just won’t buy any gold at all!”
    When Karim’s father suggested that he deposit the money in his new savings account at the local bank, Karim quietly stated, “That could work.”

2. What did karim want to buy?

a. new shoes
b. a small gold coin
c. gold bars
d. a used hamburger

3. From the selection we can tell that Karim _______.

a. will save his $500 at the local bank
b. might decide to put his money into his bank account
c. will put the cash under his pillow and wish for a tooth
d. does not trust banks

    Scientists in Australia have discovered a planet that seems to be a solid diamond. They estimate it to be about five times the size of Earth. The diamond planet is 4,000 light years away, so don’t plan on traveling there any time soon.

4. Which one of the following do you think scientists needed in order to make this discovery?

a. a microscope
b. a smartphone
c. a jewelery store
d. a radio telescope

READING COMPREHENSION

Where Monsters Can Grow

Beware of the monsters
Who dwell in the mind,
Who grow in the shelter
Of shadows they find.

Beware of the demons
Who hide from the light,
Who only survive
When our spirits lose sight.

Those creatures can thrive
Where our knowledge is low;
They fill in the spaces
Of what we don’t know.

Beware of the monsters
That cause us to hate,
To strike out in anger
When we can’t relate.

For ignorance darkens
The mind and the heart,
And helps all our monsters
To tear us apart.

But learning and thinking
Will strengthen us so
We won’t be the places
Where monsters can grow.

RHL

1. Where can monsters grow (according to the poem)?

a. on other planets
b. in dark ocean caves
c. in the movies
d. in our minds

2. What helps these monsters grow?
a. plant food
b. evil magic
c. ignorance
d. anger

3. What can prevent the monsters from growing?
a. learning about others
b. bravery
c. weapons
d. hating those who are different

4. The author compares ignorance to darkness, and __________ to light.
a. the sun
b. laughter
c. morals
d. knowledge

READING COMPREHENSION - EXERCISES

• Reading Comprehension
 Directions: Read the passage. Then answer the questions below. 

Passage My father is a construction worker.

 He builds houses. He builds schools. He builds houses and schools. He uses a hammer and a saw. My brother is an engineer. He designs buildings. He designs bridges. He designs buildings and bridges. He uses a pencil and a calculator. My son is an athlete. He plays soccer. He plays tennis. He plays soccer and tennis. He uses a racket and a ball. My daughter is an artist. She draws pictures of animals. She draws pictures of people. She draws pictures of animals and people. She uses a pencil and a piece of paper. 

Questions
 1) Who is a construction worker? 
A. my father B. my daughter C. my son 
2) What does my brother do?
 A. He is a construction worker. B. He is an engineer. C. He is an artist. 
3) Who uses a saw? 
A. my father B. my brother C. my son 
4) Who uses a racket? 
A. my daughter B. my brother C. my son
 5) Who uses a pencil?
 I. my brother II. my daughter III. my father A. I only B. I and II only C. I, II, and III
 6) Who probably uses an eraser?
 A. my daughter B. my brother C. my son

EJERCICIOS CON SUPERLATIVOS

Diálogo en Inglés

Animal Quiz

DiálogoEscucha y lee el siguiente diálogo.

VANESSA - Larry, did you see the quiz in this magazine?

LARRY - No.  What's it about?

VANESSA - It's an animal quiz.  If you get all of the questions right you win a safari vacation.

LARRY - Wow!  Let's give it a try.

VANESSA - Ok.  Here's the first question.  What's the largest animal?

LARRY - Hmmm.  Maybe the elephant.

VANESSA - No.  A whale is larger than an elephant.

LARRY - Ok.  Let's put “whale.”

VANESSA -  Question #2.  What's the fastest animal?

LARRY - A horse?

VANESSA - No.  I think the cheetah is the fastest.  It's faster than a horse.

LARRY - Ok.  What's question 3?

VANESSA - What's the largest fish?

LARRY - A whale? 

VANESSA - No.  A whale is a mammal, not a fish.  Maybe a shark.

LARRY - Ok.  Put “shark.”

VANESSA - Number 4 is “What is the largest bird?”

LARRY - The eagle?

VANESSA - No.  I think it's the condor.

LARRY - Or maybe the ostrich.

VANESSA - Ok.  Let's put “ostrich.”  Here's the last question. What's the tallest animal?

LARRY - That's easy.  The giraffe.

VANESSA - Where are you going?

LARRY - To start packing.

VANESSA - For what?

LARRY - For the safari vacation we're going to win. 

PrácticaEscribe las palabras en orden para construir las oraciones correctamente.  Asegúrate de que escribiste correctamente las letras en mayúsculas o minúsculas como corresponde y que escribiste el punto o signo de interrogación al final.  Para corregir haz clic en el botón "Revisar." 

1.  animal    the    What's    largest    ?
     
    

2. think    cheetah    fastest    the    I    is    the    .
     
    

3. faster    It's    horse    than    a    .
     
    

4. think    condor    I    it's    the    .
     
    

5. tallest    animal    What's    the    ?

EJERCICIOS CON SUPERLATIVOS

En Esta Página

• Escucha un diálogo de dos personas contestando una prueba de animales.
• Indica cuales son sus respuestas a las preguntas de la prueba.

Comprensión Oral en Inglés

Repaso de Palabras Claves

quiz - prueba, examen pequeño   whale - ballena shark - tiburón mammal - mamífero ostrich - avestruz

Animal Quiz
(Prueba de Animales)

Instrucciones
Escucha y selecciona la respuesta que seleccionan las personas del diálogo para cada pregunta.
Escuchar el diálogo

1. What's the largest animal?
 a) elephant
 b) whale
 c) giraffe

2. What's the fastest animal?
 a) elephant
 b) horse
 c) cheetah

3. What's the largest fish?
 a) shark
 b) whale
 c) cheetah

4. What's the largest bird?
 a) ostrich
 b) condor
 c) giraffe

5. What's the tallest animal?
 a) giraffe
 b) elephant
 c) ostrich

READING COMPREHENSION

En Esta Página

• Lee una selección del libro "A Tale of Two Cities"
• Correlaciona las palabras opuestas de la selección.
• Describe y compara dos ciudades de tu país en mi blog.

Lectura en Inglés

Palabras Claves
best = el mejor worst = el peor age = edad wisdom = sabiduría foolishness = tontería epoch = época belief = creencia	incredulity = incredulidad season = estación (del año) light = luz darkness = oscuridad spring = primavera hope = esperanza winter = invierno	despair = desesperación everything = todo nothing = nada Heaven = el Cielo noisiest = el más ruidoso evil = mal degree = grado

A Tale of Two Cities

A Tale of Two Cities is a very famous historical novel written by Charles Dickens in 1859. In the book he describes life in two cities, Paris and London, at the time of the French Revolution. The following paragraph is the first paragraph in the novel. If you are interested in reading the entire novel, you can click HERE.

"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way--in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only."

InstruccionesCorrelaciona las palabras opuestas de la lectura.

Haz clic en una palabra		Luego haz clic en la palabra opuesta.

READING COMPREHENSION

Lea las siguientes lecturas  y diálogos en inglés y resuelva sus ejercicios.

Diálogo en Inglés

California Vacation

DiálogoEscucha y lee el siguiente diálogo.

Escuchar el diálogo

CARRIE - How was your vacation?

ANDREA - It was great. 

CARRIE - Where did you go?

ANDREA - I went to California.  I visited Los Angeles and San Diego.

CARRIE - Which did you like better?

ANDREA - Well, I liked both cities but for different reasons.  San Diego is smaller than Los Angeles.  Los Angeles is huge!  I also think San Diego's prettier.  The coast is beautiful and they have a beautiful park in the middle of the city called Balboa Park.  The air is much cleaner in San Diego than in Los Angeles. 

CARRIE - Sounds great!

ANDREA - I think Los Angeles was more exciting than San Diego.  It was exciting to see Hollywood.  I even saw a few stars. 

CARRIE - How was the weather?

ANDREA - It was fantastic.  It's a little bit warmer in Los Angeles than in San Diego but both cities had great weather.

CARRIE - It's really cold here.  I wish I could be in California right now!

PrácticaEscribe las palabras en orden para construir las oraciones correctamente.  Asegúrate de que escribiste correctamente las letras en mayúsculas o minúsculas como corresponde y que escribiste el punto o signo de interrogación al final.  Para corregir haz clic en el botón "Revisar." 

1.  was    How    your    vacation    ?
     
    

2. did    go    Where    you    ?
     
    

3. The    in    cleaner    San Diego    than    Los Angeles    air    is    much    in    .
     
    

4. think    Los Angeles    exciting    I    more    San Diego    than    was    .
     
    

5. wish    California    be    could    I    in    right    I    now    .
     
    

EJERCICIOS CON SUPERLATIVOS

Práctica
Cambia las palabras a superlativos.

ejemplo
tall 

1. cold   

2. wet   

3. nice   

4. heavy   

5. clean   

6. wide   

7. hot   

8. good   

9. rich   

10. long   

11. ugly   

12. economical  

13. dry   

14. thin   

15. modern  

16. bad   

17. cheap   

18. lazy   

19. beautiful  

20. far   

Práctica
Escribe oraciones superlativas con las palabras dadas.

ejemplo
Bob/is/tall student/in the class

1. Sharon/is/nice person/I know
     
    

2. Life is Beautiful/is/interesting movie
     
    

3. Gino's Pizzeria/has/good pizza/in Chicago
     
    

4. Paul/is/funny person/I know
     
    

5. Helen/is/beautiful woman/I know
     
    

6. Fred/has/big house/in our neighborhood
     
    

7. She/is/bad cook/in our family
     
    

8. That/is/small car/in the parking lot
     
    

Instrucciones Busca el error en las siguientes oraciones. Escribe la oración corregida. ejemplo He are a student. - He is a student.  1. She is the more beautiful woman in the world.            2. He is the lazyest man I know.            3. Los Angeles is the bigger city in California.            4. She is the thinest person.            5. That is the goodest restaurant.

SUPERLATIVOS

En Esta Página

• Adjetivos superlativos en inglés
• Una actividad de "Find the Mistake" (Busca el Error) para aprender de errores comunes

Superlativos en Inglés

Se usan los superlativos para indicar un extremo en un grupo de cosas.

Bob is the tallest student in the class.
Bob es el estudiante más alto de la clase.

-est
Generalmente formamos el superlativo añadiendo el sufijo -est al adjetivo.

small (pequeño) - the smallest (el más pequeño)

-st
Si el adjetivo termina con e, nada más añadimos -st para formar el superlativo.

large - the largest

y -> iest
Si una palabra termina con una consonante y luego y, cambiamos la y a -iest.

easy - the easiest

Doble Consonante
Si una palabra termina con una consonante, una vocal, y luego otra consonante y la sílaba fuerte es la última, duplica la última letra antes de anadir -est.

big - the biggest

"Most" con Palabras Largas
Si la palabra es de dos sílabas o más (una palabra larga) y no termina con y, usamos la palabra most, en lugar de -est.

expensive - the most expensive

Superlativos Irregulares

good - the best
bad - the worst
far - the farthest

EJERCICIOS PARA USAR COMPARATIVOS

PrácticaCambia las palabras a comparativos.

ejemplo
tall 

1. cold   

2. wet   

3. nice   

4. heavy   

5. clean   

6. wide   

7. hot   

8. good   

9. rich   

10. long   

11. ugly   

12. economical  

13. dry   

14. thin   

15. modern  

16. bad   

17. cheap   

18. lazy   

19. beautiful  

20. far   

Práctica
Utiliza las palabras dadas para escribir oraciones comparativas.

ejemplo
Bob/tall/Richard

1. Tea/cheap/champagne
     
    

2. Movies/interesting/TV shows
     
    

3. Sharon/beautiful/Raquel
     
    

4. This book/important/that book
     
   

5. Your house/old/my house
     
    

6. Harry/funny/Paul
     
    

7. Karen/young/Alice
     
    

8. Children/energetic/adults
     
    

Instrucciones Busca el error en las siguientes oraciones. Escribe la oración corregida. ejemplo He are a student. - He is a student.  1. Sam is more short than Fred.            2. My car is expensiver than yours.            3. This picture is uglyer than that picture.            4. The movie is very exciteing.            5. This table is more bigger than that table.

COMPARATIVOS Y SUPERLATIVOS

En Esta Página

• Adjetivos comparativos
• Una actividad de "Find the Mistake" (Busca el Error) para aprender de errores comunes

Comparativos en Inglés

Comparativos son adjetivos que se usan para comparar dos personas o cosas.

Chicago is smaller than New York.
Chicago es más pequeño que Nueva York.

-er
Generalmente formamos el comparativo añadiendo -er al adjetivo.

small (pequeño) - smaller (más pequeño)

-r
Si el adjetivo termina con e, nada más añadimos r para formar el comparativo.

large - larger

y -> ier
Si la palabra termina con una consonante y luego y, cambiamos la y a i y luego añadimos-er.

easy - easier

Doble Consonante
Si una palabra termina con una consonante, una vocal, y luego otra consonante y la sílaba fuerte es la última, duplica la última letra antes de añadir -er.

big - bigger

"More" con Palabras Largas
Si la palabra es de dos sílabas o más (una palabra larga) y no termina con y, usamos la palabra more, en vez de -er.

expensive - more expensive

Comparativos Irregulares

good - better
bad - worse
far - farther

EJERCICIOS PRESENTE PROGRESIVO

Ejercicios aplicando las reglas para añadir ING.

La ortografía del participio presente

Completa las frases con la forma correcta del participio presente de los verbos entre paréntesis.

1. He is  (write) a letter.
2. They are  (sit) down.
3. She is  (swim) in the lake.
4. It's  (begin) to rain.
5. I'm  (study) Chinese this year.
6. She's  (lie) on the beach.
7. It's  (get) dark sooner these days.
8. I'm  (travel) to Lisbon this summer.
9. She's  (cut) some bread.
10. I'm  (see) the dentist next week.