The Polls
I will send out some handy tips and useful exercises for adults learning to navigate and use the English language each week. Please feel free to share this newsletter with friends and colleagues.
The U.S. Presidential elections are getting close and the results could impact people all over the world, so for the next few weeks, we will explore some unique qualities of the American election process. This will be the final newsletter about the U.S. Election process. Today, we examine the polls. We hear a lot about the latest “polls” on the news. So what are they? Are they accurate? Why do we care? How do they impact an election? Keep reading to find out more!
Listening Tip
Language Level – B2
Let’s begin by examining how polls started in the U.S. and why they are important in elections with this informative video by The Economist. Watch with the CC on to practice reading while listening to this video.
Reading Tip
Language Level – B2
Key things to know about U.S. election polling in 2024
By Scott Keeter and Courtney Kennedy
A typical election poll sample of about 1,000 people has a margin of sampling error that’s about plus or minus 3 percentage points. That number expresses the uncertainty that results from taking a sample of the population rather than interviewing everyone. Random samples are likely to differ a little from the population just by chance, in the same way that the quality of your hand in a card game varies from one deal to the next.
Please finish reading this article for a more in-depth look at how polling processes have changed since the 2016 election.
*NOTE: It is a very long article, so you may need to break it up into sections to practice reading English.
Grammar Tip
Language Level – B1
A perfect participle phrase is an adjective phrase (a verbal phrase, not a verb) headed by “having” and a past participle. For example:
- Having saved enough money, Sally bought her first car.
(The perfect participle phrase “Having saved enough money” is functioning like an adjective that modifies “Sally.”)
A perfect participle phrase is used to emphasize that an action was completed before the main verb occurs.
This is a key point. In the example above, the action of saving was completed before the main verb (“bought”)occurred.
A few more examples:
- Having learned the truth, she apologized to her daughter.
- Having seen the movie, I decided to read the book.
- Having studied hard, Maria past her English exam with ease.
Why is it useful to recognize perfect participle phrases?
- With a perfect participle phrase, you can say two or more things about a subject efficiently.
- When a perfect participle phrase is at the front of a sentence, offset it with a comma and write the subject of the sentence next.
- Avoid dangling and misplaced modifiers, when using a perfect participle phrase.
Let’s practice!
Rewrite each sentence below, replacing the italic part with a perfect participle.
Example:
We switched off the lights before we went to bed.
→ Having switched off the lights, we went to bed
- The boy asked his mother’s permission and then went out to play.
→ _____________ the boy went out to play.
- As he had drunk too much, he didn’t drive home himself.
→ ___________ he didn’t drive home himself.
- We have written two tests today, so we are very exhausted.
→ ___________ we are very exhausted.
- She filled the washing machine and switched it on.
→ ______________she switched it on.
- She had been to the disco the night before and overslept in the morning.
→ ________________she overslept in the morning.
- We had worked in the garden all day and were sunburned in the evening.
→ ___________we were sunburned in the evening.
- She had not slept for two days and therefore wasn’t able to concentrate.
→ _______________she wasn’t able to concentrate.
- Since I had not seen him for ages, I didn’t recognize him.
→ _____________I didn’t recognize him.
Vocabulary Tip
Language Level – B2
We continue to add to our vocabulary words from the Oxford 3000.
A list of 3000 words someone should know if they are taking the CEFR (Common European Framework Reference) language tests.
- Delivery (n)
- Demand (v, n)
- Demonstrate (v)
- Deny (v)
- Depressed (adj)
- Depressing (adj)
- Depth (n)
- Desert (v)
- Deserve (v)
- Desire (n, v)
Use this quizlet to study this vocabulary.
Each week new words are added to the same quizlet, so all of the B2 level words will be in one list for practice.
Weekly Challenge
Language Level – A2
Use the QR Code below to play a matching game to test your knowledge of the Parts of Speech:
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Parts of Speech Matching Game |
Questions?
