TRAVEL, TRIP, JOURNEY

Travel can be an uncountable noun (an incredible travel) or a verb. It is the general term (=word) to describe going from one place to another. Don’t use it to talk about a particular “viaje”.

Although it is uncountable, we can talk about someone's travels to refer to the journeys he makes (los viajes en general): Gulliver’s Travels.

Travel is often part of compound nouns (=sustantivos compuestos):

Travel documents, travel tickets,  travel agents, air travel, etc.

Journey is a noun. A journey is one single piece of travel, especially when the places are a long way apart. You make journeys when you travel from one place to another.

The journey from London to Newcastle by train can now be completed in under three hours.

A difficult journey across the mountains.

How long did your journey take?

Trip is a noun. A trip is an act of going from one place to another, and usually back again. It often involves (=supone, implica) more than one single journey. Its meaning includes the activity (business or pleasure) which is the reason for the journey.

. We make journeys usually, but we go on trips:

• I went on a day trip to France. We left at 6.30 in the morning and returned before midnight the same day.
• Her school organized a skiing trip to the Pyrinees.
• Where's Laurie? ~ He won't be in this week. He's gone on a business trip to Malaysia and Singapore.

• The trip went well. It was an old car, but we didn't break down in four weeks of travelling.
• A round-the-world trip.
• A boat trip.
• They all went away on a school trip.
• A five-minute trip by taxi.

Sometimes you can use either:

• Did you have a good journey?
• Did you have a good trip?

REMEMBER: the most common mistake is to say things like:

What a wonderful travel! Did you have a good travel?

JOB and WORK

Firstly, on a grammatical level, work is both a verb and a noun, whereas (=mientras que)  job is only a noun. Work is not countable (a work), job is (a great job).

Let’s look at their meanings now.

Work is an activity in which you use effort (esfuerzo) or energy, normally to achieve a particular aim or task, rather than for fun or enjoyment (para conseguir un objetivo más que por diversión). It is essentially the opposite of play. Generally (but not always), we work in order to earn money, and this is often how we use the verb; to describe what we do to earn money. For example:

I work for the BBC.

David works in a café.

In these examples, we do not know exactly what the person’s duties or responsibilities are. David works in a café, but we do not know if he cleans the tables or cooks the food.

So, in this sense, work has a very general meaning, whereas job is much more specific, and its most common meaning is the name for the work that you do to earn money. For example,

David has now got a new job. He is a cook in a small restaurant.

In this example, we now know exactly what David does because we know what his job is.

Although your job is the name for what you do to earn money, it can also refer to a specific task (tarea)that you have to do; a task that requires work and a task that you can specifically identify. For example,

I have a few jobs to do at home this weekend. I need to paint my bedroom, fix a broken door and cut the grass.

As a verb, work does have other meanings, such as, if you describe how a machine works, you explain how it functions, or operates. For example,

Can someone show me how the photocopier works? I don’t know how to use it.

Similarly, you can use it to say if the machine is functioning correctly. For example,

Don’t try to use that computer. It doesn’t work. We are waiting for the engineer to fix it.

To summarise, we can say that the word job refers to a particular employment role or position, such as cook, teacher or banker, whereas work refers in a more general way to activities that you do.

Interestingly, all jobs involve (suponen, requieren) work but doing work isn’t always part of a job. For example, someone can spend the weekend working in their garden, perhaps cutting the grass or planting new flowers. However, this is a free time activity, and so it is not his or her job. Work can be anything that requires effort, paid/unpaid, regular/done on one occasion.

Sometimes you can use either (cualquiera de los dos), with just a little difference in meaning:

It’s a dirty job, but someone has to do it.(Oficio/tarea)

It’s dirty work, but someone has to do it  (La labor, el trabajo en sí que se hace)

A final consideration: don’t worry too much about these two words. Just try to avoid (evitar) the usual mistakes:

What’s your job? My job is a teacher. >>> I’m a teacher. (Curiosamente, en la pregunta se usa, pero en la respuesta no. Si empiezas una frase My job is… puedes seguir describiendo cómo es, pero NO diciendo el nombre del trabajo).

It’s a very difficult work. Aunque tendría un matiz diferente según cuál eliges, habría que decir o bien it’s a difficult job o bien it’s difficult work.

She has two works. (Uncountable!: two jobs).

I’ve been working hard for the last few hours, so I think it’s time for me to take a break (un descanso). Fortunately, the work that I do in my job is very interesting, so although it is hard work, I don’t think I will look for another job! What about you? Are you a student or do you have a job? Whatever you do, is it hard work?

N.B. Much of this explanation was found on a BBC webpage:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/language/askaboutenglish/2009/03/090331_aae_work_page.shtml

One(s)

We use ONE(S) to avoid (=evitar) repeating the noun. This works with countable nouns only.

Which is your house?  The one with the white door.

I’d like a hamburger, please. A big one with lots of ketchup.

Can you lend me a ruler? I’m sorry, I haven’t got one.

I’m looking for a flat. I’d like to find a small one with two bedrooms.

I’m looking for a flat. I’d like to find one with two bedrooms.

Can you pass me those CDs? Which ones? The ones on the shelf.

Modern cars are safer than older ones.

One(s) is very often used with adjectives:

I ate the small one (el pequeño).

The yellow one is better (el amarillo).

I bought the large ones (las grandes).

She danced with the ugly one (el feo).

The word one(s) is sometimes omitted immediately after which, this, that, another and superlatives:

Which (one) do you like best?

Let’s have another (one).

That watch is the most expensive (one).

I'm tired of this boring lesson!

Participles such as interesting, frightening, bored, boring, etc.  can be used as adjectives.

 Read the following examples:

-ED participles say how people feel	-ING participles describe the people or things that cause the feelings
I was very tired after the long journey.	It was a very tiring journey.
The children were really excited.	What an exciting adventure it was!
If you are so bored, why don’t you go to bed?	It’s the most boring film I have ever watched.
I’m not interested in water sports.	Doing voluntary work is an interesting experience.
She sounded a bit confused.	It’s a very confusing text.
Everybody was terrified.	It was a terrifying story.
I felt relaxed and confident.	I had a relaxing bath.

Be very careful in cases where you use only one adjective in Spanish: “cansado” and “aburrido” can mean two very different things, depending on whether you mean ESTAR o SER.

Don’t say “-ED for people, -ING for things” because people can be both boring and bored, tiring and tired.

If you are not sure whether to use -ED or –ING, remember the following rule:

Usamos –ED para ESTAR: alguien ESTÁ cansado / emocionado / aburrido / interesado / confundido / aterrado / relajado.

Usamos –ING para SER: algo o alguien ES cansado (=agotador) / emocionante / aburrido (=pesado)/ interesante / confuso / terrorífico.

Conditionals

Listen and read:

1A- If I finish my homework before 8, I’ll go out with my friends. (Si acabo… saldré…)

1B-I’ll go out with my friends if I finish my homework before 8. (Saldré… si acabo…)

2A-If I finished my homework before 8, I would go out with my friends. (Si acabara…saldría…)

2B-I would go out with my friends if I finished my homework before 8. (Saldría… si acabara…)

3A-If I would have more money, I’d buy you a present.

3B- Si tendría más dinero, te haría un regalo.

Da igual poner primero la subordinada o la principal:

IF-present + imperative		If you see her, tell her to phone me.	Tell her to phone me if you see her.
IF-present + WILL in the  main clause	(lo veo como probable o posible sin complicaciones)	If I see her, I’ll give her your message.	I’ll give her your message if I see her.
IF-past + WOULD in the main clause	(improbable)	If I found €100, I’d buy a new mobile.	I’d buy a new mobile if I found €100.
	(irreal en la actualidad)	If I knew the answer, I’d tell you.	I’d tell you if I knew the answer.

4A- They’d stay in Spain if they found a job.

4B- My brother would move to Germany if he found a job there.

5A- If I were a rich man,…                 

5B- If I were you, I’d tell no-one.

"Si yo fuera rico, ay dubi dubi dubi dubi dubi dubi dubi da...":

RELATIVE CLAUSES

Listen and read.

DEFINING:

A cook is a person THAT works in a restaurant. =  A cook is a person WHO works in a restaurant.

A clock is a thing THAT tells the time. =  A clock is a thing WHICH tells the time.

A post office is a place WHERE you can buy stamps.

NON-DEFINING:

My brother and his wife, WHO work in the same hospital, never go on holiday together.

We visited Granada, WHICH is a town in the south of Spain.

The Odeon Theatre, WHERE so many local actors performed, was closed in 1998.

Importance of punctuation:

The Spanish athletes who / that won the two races became national heroes.

The Spanish athletes, who won the two races, became national heroes.

Rule of thumb (regla casera)

People: WHO / THAT                                    Things: WHICH / THAT                  Places: WHERE

BUT… if there’s a comma, don’t use THAT!

Common mistakes:

We visited the cathedral, that was built in the sixteenth century. >>. …the cathedral, which was built…

Mr Holmes, that was my history teacher, was always very kind. >> Mr Holmes, who was my…

A cook is a person that he works in a hospital.

A clock is a thing that it tells the time.

A post office is a place where you can buy stamps there.

Omission of the relative pronoun

Common in defining (NO COMMAS) relative clauses where the pronoun is the object of the clause:

Tick the words you hear = Tick the words that / which you hear.

Think of a hero you admire. = Think of a hero who / that you admire.

Tick seven things you see in the box below. = Tick seven things that / which you see in the box below.

Cross out the phrase which does not go with the verb. (No omission: WHICH is the subject of DOES)

Find three things that / which are the same. (No omission: the pronoun is the subject of ARE)

What a pity! How awful!

A common way to form exclamations in English is to start with the words what or how. In Spanish we would say ¡qué...!, but in English you have to decide which of those two words to use.

How is followed by an adjective or an adverb:

How interesting! Let me have a look.
How lovely you look, darling!
How rude you are sometimes!
How beautifully she plays the piano!


What is followed by a noun. There may be (puede haber) other words, such as articles or adjectives, but there has to be (tiene que haber) a noun. You have to be careful with what exclamations because if the noun is singular and countable you need the article a(n):

What a pity!
What an interesting story!
What a lovely dress you're wearing!
What a rude man!
What a beautiful morning!

BUT in the story of Little Red Riding Hood (Caperucita Roja), you hear:

What big eyes you have!  What big ears you have! What big teeth you have! (a + plural)
Other examples:

What lovely hair she's got! (no nos referimos a UN pelo, sino a todo su cabello: uncountable)
What beautiful weather! (weather is uncountable)