Grammar exercise 10 – Conjunctions

This week I did an exercise with the focus on learning how to use conjunctions. I sometimes use them wrong and in this exercise I picked to learn the use of five different ones. I had to fill out the gaps and did 90%. It helped me to get a better understanding of how to use them. I think this was an important exercise because you need conjunctions all the time when you talk to people.

http://www.better-english.com/grammar/conjunctions.htm

Angels & Demons premieres in Rome

I read this article this week because I am looking forward to seeing this movie. I read the book which was amazing and because of the backround I have now it is probably easier to understand for me in English. The premiere of the movie was this week in Rome. They probably chose a city in Italy because the story takes place in the Vatican(Italy) and is generally about conspiracy according to the catholic church. The first movie, which is also based on a book by Dan Brown (The DaVinci Code) was a huge success and I hope that this is even better. The premiere in Australia is on May 14th.

http://www.thewest.com.au/aapstory.aspx?StoryName=570563

Drinking in public is expensive when they catch you

Context

It was Friday evening and a couple of friends of mine and I decided to go out in Freo. We met in the student village like always. Because I live in Leederville I took the train from there to go there. I prepared a mixed drink Vodka and RedBull and just took it with me. I know that you are not allowed to drink in public here in Australia but did not really think about that in this moment.

The conversation

I had the feeling that some people were looking at me in a strange way and just a few minutes before we arrived at Murdoch station a guy asked me what I have in the bottle. I told him that it is Vodka and RedBull and he told me that I should be more careful because you are not allowed to drink in public. I told him that I do not drink and that I just start drinking when I am in the student village.

What I learned

I learned that you can not have a drink in public and even if you are not drinking and they catch you with a bottle which is already open you have to pay a huge amount of money. It is called a fine. I was lucky that no police was on the train. Especially on the weekend there are a lot of police men around.

Reflection

Next time I am a bit more careful and make sure that I carry bottles in my bag, so that nobody can see them. I think it is $100AUD or more when they catch you. I think this is a good law that you are not allowed to drink in public. Children and younger people should not see that because it is a bad influence.

Grammar exercise 9 - Computers

This weeks exercise had something to do with computers. I'm studying Business Informatics, so I decided to to this because I think it can help me in my job and it is important to know. It also had something to do with prepostions which I already did a few weeks before. I improved my skills how to use these but because of the huge amount of verbs in the English language, I did this similar exercise again, which was more focused on computer relevant verbs. I had 75% in the first try and did it once more so that I finished with a score of 100%. This exercise helped me a lot.

http://www.better-english.com/grammar/computer.htm

Thermal flu scanners to be activated at airports

This article is shocking but also very interesting. Australia installed thermal flu scanners on every big international airport. The country tries to detect people who show symptoms for the swine flu virus. It doesn’t prevent the virus entering the country, but it is delaying it. In my opinion it is good that the Australian government put so much effort in this. It is important to check people who show symptoms of the virus and to develop strategies against the virus. This is also a global problem where countries have to work close together.

http://www.thewest.com.au/default.aspx?MenuID=29&ContentID=138976

Cooking at home is great

The context

I’m not the kind of person who used to like cooking a lot in the past. But I love having barbecue here in Australia and also started enjoying cooking in general. Yesterday I cooked with my sister. We had some stir fry beef, spaghetti, beetroot , spring onions and garlic, all cooked in a wok.

The topic of the conversation

We talked about normal stuff, nothing special. She asked me to wear an apron because of the red beetroot and mentioned that I was wearing a white shirt and that it is not the best idea to wear that if you want to cook. I have never heard the word “apron” before but as she explained to me I knew what she meant without looking it up in a dictionary.

What I learned

The whole cooking thing for dinner is great. I learn a ton of new recipes because my sister is really good in that and has many different cooking books. Furthermore every time we cook, we try to cook different food. So I learn a lot of new vocabulary. Learning the word “apron” is just one example.

Reflection

I hope that my passion for cooking which I developed here in Australia lasts longer than me being here. I think it would be great trying all those recipes back home instead of eating unhealthy convenience food.

Grammar exercise 8 - if-clauses

This weeks‘ exercise deals with if-clauses. I decided to do that because I often mix it up. I had to put in the right tense for if-clauses type 1, 2 and 3. It helped me a lot to improve that. I now know the rules (grammar) and also when I have to use type 1, 2 or 3. It is a bit harder in a conversation when you don’t have so much time to think about it. ;-)

http://www.ego4u.de/de/cram-up/tests/conditional-sentences-3