PUNTUACIN

Utilizamos letras maysculas (capital letters) al principio de una frase, detrs de un punto, con
los das de la semana, los meses del ao, nombres de idiomas, nacionalidades, nombres
propios de persona o lugar.
Ejemplos:
Well go to Buckingham Palace on Wednesday morning. Iremos al palacio de Buckingham el
mircoles por la maana.
Im Spanish and I speak English, French, Italian and Catalan. Soy espaol y hablo ingls,
francs, italiano y cataln.
Our summer holidays start at the beginning of July. Nuestras vacaciones de verano empiezan
a principios de julio.

La coma se emplea:
a) Para indicar una pausa corta, , generalmente entre dos oraciones coordinadas y cuando la
oracin principal va detrs de la oracin subordinada.
Ejemplos:
We thought we were right, but actually we were wrong. Pensbamos que tenamos razn,
pero, en realidad, estbamos equivocados.
Although it was warm and sunny, we didnt go to the beach. Aunque haca calor y sol, no
fuimos a la playa.

b) Para indicar una aposicin.
Ejemplo:
Lady Di, Princess of Wales, died tragically in a car accident. Lady Di, Princesa de Gales,
muri trgicamente en un accidente de coche.

c) En las cartas detrs del nombre de la persona a la que escribimos. En castellano utilizamos
dos
puntos (: ):
Ejemplo:
Dear Harry, Querido Harry:

d) Delante o detrs de palabras de enlace: however, on the other hand, as a matter of fact,
etc.

El punto y coma se emplea para indicar una pausa ms larga que la de la coma y suele
utilizarse
entre dos frases que no estn relacionadas gramaticalmente entre s.
Ejemplo:
Phil lives at the outskirts of the town; he always goes to work by underground. Phil vive en
las
afueras de la ciudad; siempre va a trabajar en metro.

El punto se utiliza detrs de una frase para indicar una pausa ms larga que la de la coma y el
punto y coma.

En ingls slo hay un signo de interrogacin (?) y uno de exclamacin (!) que se colocan
siempre al final de la oracin interrogativa y exclamativa.

El apstrofo se utiliza en el caso posesivo de los sustantivos y bsicamente para indicar que
se ha omitido parte de una palabra en las formas verbales.

Ejemplos:
This is Alices suitcase. Esta es la maleta de Alice.
Shes got two brothers. Ella tiene dos hermanos.

REGLAS DE ORTOGRAFA

a) Palabras que acaban en consonante + y

Cuando aadimos ed, -er o est, la y cambia a i
Ejemplos:
try/tried; hurry/hurried; easy/easier; busy/busier.

Delante de s la y cambia a ie
Ejemplos:
study/studies; justify/justifies.

La y no cambia delante de ing.
Ejemplos:
try/trying; study/studying; fly/flying.

b) Palabras que acaban en vocal + y

La y no suele cambiar delante de un sufijo
Ejemplos:
boy/boys; enjoy/enjoyed; buy/buying.
Hay algunas excepciones: day/daily

c) Verbos acabados en e.

Se omite la e final delante de ing y -ed
Ejemplos:
survive/surviving/survived; behave/behaving/behaved; live/living/lived.

d) Palabras de una sola slaba acabadas en consonante + vocal + consonante.

Se duplica la consonante final delante de un sufijo:
Ejemplos:
stop/stopping/stopped; run/running/runner; big/bigger/biggest; knit/knitting/knitted;
slip/slipping/slipped; rob/robbing/robbed.

e) Palabras de dos o tres slabas que acaben en consonante + vocal + consonante.
Slo se duplica la consonante final si el acento recae en la ltima slaba.
Ejemplos:
refer/referring/referred; occur/occurring/occurred.
Pero : suffer/suffering/suffered (aqu se acentua la primera slaba)

f) Palabras acabadas en vocal + l.

Se duplica la l final al aadir un sufijo.
Ejemplos:
travel/traveller/travelling.


EXERCISES

A) Write capital letters where necessary.
last wednesday, while i was walking around the park i met my friend peter smith playing
tennis. we talked for a little while about my holidays in rome and his trip to berlin. it was nice
to see him, especially, because we hadnt met since we left cambridge university in 1990.

B) Rewrite the text with the correct punctuation.
our world has a lot of serious problems scientists say that the weather is changing and that the
world is getting hotter doctors tell us that the sun can give us cancer and new diseases which
do not yet have a cure are appearing in many countries furthermore there are too many
people and there is not enough food for them in these respects then the future looks black on
the other hand there are reasons to be optimistic too

C) Form the gerund of these verbs.
1. deny 4. notice 7. travel 10. prefer 13. dig
2. run 5. be 8. develop 11. hit 14.swim
3. try 6. forget 9. prefer 12. heat 15. refer
16. lie
D) Form the past simple / past participle of these verbs.
1. marry 4. star 7. rob 10. pass 13. try
2. hope 5. travel 8. sin 11. love 14. answer
3. stop 6. hate 9. reduce 12. stay 15. sail
16. finish
E) Correct the errors in these sentences.
1. Were going on holiday on saturday.
2. I sliped on a banana skin.
3. He sufferred from pneumonia before he died.
4. Have you seen my childrens photoes?
5. Dont talk to him now. Hes studing.
6. Where are the boxes?
Answers 13

Exercise A
Last Wednesday, while I was walking around the park I met my friend Peter Smith playing
tennis. We talked for a little while about my holidays in Rome and his trip to Berlin. It was
nice to see him, especially because we hadnt met since we left Cambridge University in 1990.

Exercise B
Our world has a lot of serious problems. Scientists say the weather is changing and that the
world is getting hotter.. Doctors tell us that the sun can give us cancer, and new diseases,
which do not yet have a cure, are appearing in many countries. Furthermore, there are too
many people and there is not enough food for them. In these respects, then, the future looks
black. On the other hand, there are reasons to be optimistic, too.

Exercise C
1. denying 4. noticing 7. travelling 10. preferring 13. digging
2. running 5. being 8. developing 11. hitting 14. swimming
3. trying 6. forgetting 9. reducing 12. staying 15. referring
16. lying
Exercise D
1. married 4. starred 7. robbed 10. passed 13. tried
2. hoped 5. travelled 8. hated 11. loved 14. answered
3. stopped 6. hated 9. reduced 12. stayed 15. sailed
16. finished
Exercise E
1. Were going on holiday on Saturday.
2. I slipped on a banana skin.
3. He suffered from pneumonia before he died.
4. Have you seen my childrens photos?
5. Where are the boxes?