LANGUAGE SKILLS
When you are looking for a job, you must answer many questions. You must tell about yourself and your past work experiences. Telling sentences describe something-such as how to run a machine-or inform about something such as what wages a company pays for a certain job.
In this chapter, you will learn two important language skills for telling about yourself and others:
l How to use action words to tell about events in the past.
l How to use naming or describing words to tell about things that belong to you.
Using Action Words
You can talk about things that happened in the past in four ways.
l Something that happened and ended at a specific moment in the past.
Example: I fixed the heater last Wednesday.
To tell about something that happened and ended in the past, add -ed to the action word.
l Something that happened over a specific period of time.
Example: I was fixing the heater while he talked.
To tell about something that happened over a specific period of time, use the helping words was or were and add -ing to the action word.
I was fixing We were fixing
You were fixing You were fixing
He was fixing They were fixing
She was fixing
l Something that happened at an unspecific time or period of time.
Example: I have fixed heaters for years.
l Something that happened in the recent past and has ended.
Example: I have fixed the heater for you.
To talk about something that happened at an unspecific period of time, or something that happened in the recent past and has ended, use the helping words have or has and add -ed to the action word.
I have fixed We have fixed
You have fixed You have fixed
He has fixed They have fixed
She has fixed |
