2019-12-10 Level 7: extreme commuting, homophones

Greg Malivuk
[email protected]
http://www.pastebin.com/u/gmalivuk - notes from all classes
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Please bring your America Now books for the rest of the week.
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p. 80 - What do you think “extreme commuting” is?
- In the book it’s defined as a commute that’s more than 90 minutes each way.
What are some reasons for such long commutes?
- family lives far from school or work
- expensive housing near school or work
- school and work are far from each other
- city planning/organization issues
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part 4c - Listen and answer the questions.
1 6am
2 bike, bus, train, foot
3 8:30 (train @ 7:15, arrives in NYC 1 hour later, 15 minutes walking)
part 4d - Listen again and complete the sentences. What do they have in common?
1 I’ll be leaving - future continuous
2 I’m about to get
3 my train leaves - simple present
4 It’s due to arrive
5 I’m meeting - present continuous
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simple present = it’s definitely going to happen because it’s a scheduled event
present continuous = it’s almost definitely going to happen because it’s been arranged
future continuous = plans with somewhat uncertain timing (you’ll probably be in the middle of the action at that time, but don’t know when you’ll start or finish)

When will you grade our tests? - Sounds more demanding/impatient; asks for a specific time when the action will be completed.
When will you be grading our tests? - Sounds less demanding; asks for a time when the action may be in progress. (It’s less demanding because it doesn’t imply completion.)
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Word for pairs of similar words:
synonym = different words with the same/similar meaning
	(scared/afraid)
homonym = same sound and(/or?) spelling, but different meaning
	(due to/due to, too/too, right/right/right)
homograph = same spelling, but different sound and meaning
	(tear/tear, row/row, wind/wind, wound/wound)
homophone = same sound, but different spelling and meaning
	(there/they’re/their, write/rite/wright/right, to/two/too)
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(Sometimes “homonym” is understood as a more general term than “homograph” or “homophone”, and sometimes it’s more specific.)
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p. 80 part 3a - Write the correct homophone for the bold words.
1 weight
2 board
3 brake
4 fare
5 peace
6 caught (these are not homophones for me)
7 aloud
8 waste
9 sweet
10 peer
11 cereal
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In British English, pairs like raw/roar and law/lore are homophones, but not in American English.
In American English (but not British), “ladder” and “latter” are homophones.
In the southern US, “pin” and “pen” are homophones.
In much of the US, “caught” and “cot” are homophones.
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Note that many of the words in part 3 also have other (homonym) meanings for one or both spellings.
- fair = just and equal
- fair = festival/event, like a market for something
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We also have words that are “almost homographs”, with very similar spellings but quite different pronunciations.
suit/suite
debt/debit
through/tough/thorough/thought/though/trough
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A “well-designed” pronunciation-based writing system shouldn’t have homographs that are pronounced differently. (Or if it does, they may only be differences in stress.)
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http://ncf.idallen.com/english.html - poem about English spelling/pronunciation
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Homework: find your book and bring it tomorrow