Class #11 - Simple Past continued

Ross: Hi...
Chandler: Hi. 
Joey: What's wrong, buddy?
Ross: Someone at work ate my sandwich.
Chandler: Oh, what did the police say?
Ross: My thanksgiving leftover sandwich. I can't believe someone just ate it.
Chandler: Ross, it's just a sandwich!
Ross: Just a sandwich? Look, I am 30 years old, ok? I'm going to be divorced twice and I just got evicted. That sandwich was the only good thing going on in my life. Someone ate the only good thing going on in my life!
Chandler: It's a nice sweater vest...
Monica: Ok, look. I have enough stuff for one more sandwich, I mean, I was going to eat it myself, but...
Ross: Mon, that would be incredible, thank you so much. I still can't believe someone ate it!
I mean, look, I left a note and everything.
Chandler: "Knock konck
Who it there?
Ross Gellers' lunch.
Ross Gellers' lunch who?
Ross Gellers' lunch, please don't take me, ok?"

GRAMMAR

Would

would for unreal situations

The word would is used for unreal or imagined situations:

'I would love to visit New York.'
'She would like to be professional footballer.'
'We would go, but we are too busy.'

would as a past tense

would and wouldn't are the past tense of will and won't. Let's look at an example of this usingdirect and reported speech:

Andrew: 'I will be late.' (direct speech)
'Andrew said that he would be late.'(reported speech)

Structure of Would

subject + would + main verb

The main verb is always the bare infinitive (infinitive without "to").

	subject	auxiliary verb	main verb
+	She	would	like	tea.
		'd
-	She	would not	like	whisky.
		wouldn't
?	Would	she	like	coffee?

Notice that:

• Would is never conjugated. It is always would or 'd
• The main verb is always the bare infinitive

would: Polite requests and questions

• Would you open the door, please? (more polite than: Open the door, please.)
• Would you go with me? (more polite than: Will you go with me?)
• Would you know the answer? (more polite than: Do you know the answer?)
• What would the capital of Nigeria be? (more polite than: What is the capital of Nigeria?)

CURIOSITIES

Thanksgiving

Let's go back in time to the year 1620.

The Pilgrims depart from England on the Mayflower. Their destination: the New World and a new life in America.

They reach America. For the Pilgrims, America is a new and strange land.

It's cold in America in the winter, and they don't have a lot of food. A lot of Pilgrims die.

Now it's the year 1621.

The Pilgrims have new friends: Native American Indians. The Indians teach the Pilgrims to hunt, plant and harvest the crops.

By October-November of 1621, the Pilgrims have plenty of food for the coming winter.

The Pilgrims celebrate the first Thanksgiving. Their special guests are their new friendsm the Native American Indians.

Today, Thanksgiving is a very special holiday in the United States. American families, like the Pilgrims in 1621, get together on Thanksgiving Day to celebrate and to be grateful for all they have.

The centerpiece of contemporary Thanksgiving in the United States and Canada is a large meal, generally centered around a large roasted turkey. The majority of the dishes in the traditional American version of Thanksgiving dinner are made from foods native to the New World, as according to tradition the Pilgrims received these foods from the Native Americans. 

Stuffing: While cooking, stuffing or filling (specifically for poultry) is an edible substance or mixture, often a starch, used to fill a cavity in another food item.

Gravy: Gravy is a sauce, made often from the juices that run naturally from meat or vegetables during cooking