English, baby!

Writing Letters

How to use gerunds and infinitives

Date: Nov 19 2010

Themes: Friend, Hobbies

Grammar: Gerunds vs. Infinitives

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Intro

1. Learn Vocabulary - Learn some new vocabulary before you start the lesson.

Go Super to Listen

2. Read and Prepare - Read the introduction and prepare to hear the audio.

Go Super to Listen

These days, when it comes to communication, faster is better. We love email and text messaging because they let us send messages quickly. But they can also feel impersonal.

Getting a text message from a loved one isn’t the same as hearing his or her voice on the phone. And an email just isn’t the same as opening your mailbox to find an envelope filled with a hand-written letter from someone you care about. Can a love-email possibly be as romantic as a love letter? Hear Amy and Jeff discuss the lost art of letter-writing.

Dialog

1. Listen and Read - Listen to the audio and read the dialog at the same time.

2. Study - Read the dialog again to see how the vocab words are used.

Amy

Jeff

Amy: Do you write a lot of letters, Jeff?

Jeff: I can’t say the last time I wrote a letter. I wrote a fake love letter to a co-worker one time as a joke. That was probably about a year and a half ago.

Amy: Did you actually send it, like through the snail mail and everything, address it, put postage on it?

Jeff: No. I was the mail carrier. I just carried it over and left it on his desk. Yeah, I mean, it seems to be kind of a dying form of communication.

Amy: I know, it does, and I…I wish that I wrote more letters. I have one friend who, we exchange a letter maybe every other month or something. And I do feel like we say things to each other in letter that we don’t say in any other form. Like somehow there’s something about it that feels more intimate, I think.

Jeff: Yeah, seeing somebody’s handwriting is much more personal, it’s their…kind of their style of doing things. I really like that. I don’t know, it’s almost like a piece of art.

Amy: Do you have letters from when you were younger and people wrote letters more?

Jeff: Oh yeah. I keep all those.

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Discussion

Go Super to Listen

The last time Jeff wrote a letter, it was a fake love letter that he wrote as a joke. He didn’t actually send it through the mail. He just walked it over to his co-worker’s desk and left it there.

Amy exchanges letters occasionally with one friend. She and Jeff agree that letter-writing is becoming a lost-art. But there is something they like about writing real letters, rather than emails. Jeff likes seeing people’s handwriting. He and Amy think that letters are more personal than other forms of communication.

Do you write a lot of letters? Do you like to get real letters in the mail?

Comments

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simthjhon

India

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rakhisawant

India

all the instruments sound reverberating in my ears.

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Darkerz

United States

Many people on this earth do not know the correct way of writing a letter. I have written a best essay on this thing about how to write an effective letter. So please read my article first before doing anything.

Daggny

Ukraine

Snail mail is really the lost art. I like the speed of our life and appreciate new technology that makes life more easier and allows people to stay in touch with each other all time.

20140414

Canada

Writing a letters are popular in 70 or 80’s. When I was young I had hand-writing letters to my husband. We were lived in different city at that time and we were miss each other so much. The long distance call was too expensive to use and we did not have any IT products. The world is changing so quick and fast, now most people who living in the big cities are use computers to chat and make connections. That’s a great thing but I still recall my good memories of past.

parmis5820

Iran, Islamic Republic Of

Lesson was very interesting, I like it and I really like writing letters. when I was younger sometimes I wrote letters to my friends, but not now. now , I send email to my sister and others. but I still like writing letters. It is so friendly more than email.

ivroja

Colombia

Write letters is not as common as years ago, nowadays people send email and I find it better and faster.

monai333@hotmail.com

Sudan

i ,ll try to writ letter for my wife to tell her ilove her to mutch ihope that to receve my letter and repply thanks alot

Daydreameririna

Russian Federation

I have never written letters except letters to my Granny(when I was 8-11). But I’d like to have a penfriends. It’s so romantic, nice and really personal. I think the best feeling is waiting of a letter..

julito

Argentina

Kotleysa, I like how you have put it:During the reading I remove myself from the past, thats the secret ,I try to do the same. I am happy that you are grateful and happy .

kotlesya

Belarus

julito, yes it is so different now…..... memories are priceless. I like to reread the letters I still keep in my box. During the reading I “remove” myself to the past, where I was full of hope and my heart was full of the greatest love. I’m happy that God has decided to give me a special gift like a true love.

julito

Argentina

Kotleysa, my parents are long time gone, but I still keep in a tin box their love letters from the time they were dating. They were so young and still how formal they addressed each other. So different now.

kotlesya

Belarus

To write letters is my passion (no matter whether they are letters on the paper or e-mails). I used the “snail mail” on the regular basis (14 years ago). The letters on the paper made my life. These letters were very important for me. I have written lots of letters and I received lots of them as well. I keep all of them in my special box for the precious letters. I still like to recieve the real letters. The love e-mail can’t be as romantic as a true love letter. It is the viewpoint of the most romantic person on the Earth

白爪黑猫

China

Although post office always diaappoint me,i love the lengthy waiting letters give.My friend’s hand writing can free me from stress.And staying up late to write a letter is fantastic~