Vincent Van Gogh (Verb + "TO" Infinite or -ING)

-
Before you start thinking about the grammar, let's talk a little about Van Gogh. 

 What do you know about this famous person?




Vincent Van Gogh

 Vincent Van Gogh spent the 37 years of his life as a more or less unknown artist. He did not start painting seriously until his late twenties, and at one time considered becoming a priest because of his beliefs. His beliefs also involved him living in extreme poverty among the outcasts of society. His brother Theo, who was an art dealer, advised him to tale up painting, and continued to support him financial throughout his life. 
Vincent's precarious mental state seems to have been made worse by alcohol and ill health. A stay in Paris from 1886 to 1888 allowed Vincent to study Impressionists such as Manet and Degas, and involved getting to know many artist, including Paul Gauguin. Van Gogh and Gauguin painted together at Arles in the south of France, where Vincent's mental state worsened and he tried to murder Gauguin, before famously cutting off part of his ear. Two years later, Vincent committed suicide. Since his death, his paintings have gone on to become among the most famous of the 19th century.


1. In the previous text you can find some verbs with To-infinitive and others with -ING. Underline them.


2. Now, you have to look for the verbs that appear before those underlined in the previous exercises. Can you make a list telling which are following by To-infinitive and which are following by -ING form?












(These are some examples because there aren't rules to distinguish when you use one or another. In next post, we are going to learn more examples.)

3. When did he actually start painting?




4. Which consequences had his beliefs?




5. What did his mental state seem worse?




6. Who did he know in Paris?




7. What happened before his suicide?

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Alexander Graham Bell (Use of English)

-
Read the text below and choose word from each space. Alexander Graham Bell Alexander Graham Bell 1.___ born in Scotland in 1847. His father, an expert on speech, 2.____  a way of teaching how words 3.___ be pronounced. He translated the 4.___ of words into straight or curvy lines. Alexander 5.___ to be a teacher and, when his mother went deaf, he started to be 6.___ in how deaf people communicate. In 1870, because his children were in poor health, Alexander and his family moved to the United States. He hoped that a warmer 7.___ would be better for the whole family. It was while he was teaching deaf children there 8.___ he invented a new machine. It was very 9.___ to the human ear itself, and Bell discover it could carry human speech 10.___ a wire from one place to another. It was not long before the telephone was a part of 11.___ our lives! 1. A.was   B.is   C.has   D.had 2. A.grew   B.built   C.developed   D.worked 3. A.ought   B.should   C.might   D.would
Read more

Computers (Past Simple vs. Present Perfect Simple)

-
Computers Since computers were first introduced to the public in the early 1980's, technology  has changed  a great deal. The first computers were  simple machines designed for basic tasks. They  did not have  much memory and they  weren't  very powerful. Early computers were often quite expensive and customers often  paid  thousands of dollars for machines which actually  did  very little. Most computers  were  separate, individual machines used mostly as expensive typewriters or for playing games.  Times  have changed . Computers have become  powerful machines with very practical applications. Programmers have created  a large selection of useful programs which do everything from teaching foreign languages to bookkeeping. We are still playing video games, but today's games  have become  faster, more exciting interactive adventures. Many computer users  have also got  on the Internet and have begun  communicating with other computer users around the world. We have start
Read more

How the recycling symbol was created (Reading)

-
Image
Six sentences have been removed from the article. Choose from the sentences A-G the one which fits each gap. How the recycling symbol was created  Gary Anderson designed a symbol which we see everywhere nowadays I studied engineering at the University of Southern California at a time when there was a lot of emphasis in the United States on training young people to be engineers. That said, I eventually switched to architecture. I just couldn't get a grasp on electronics and archircture seemed more concrete to me. It was around that time that I saw a poster advertising a design competition being run by the Container Corporation of America. The idea was to create a symbol to represent recycled paper. One of my college requirements had been a graphic design course so I thhought I'd give it a go. It didn't take me long to come up with my design: only a day or two. 1.___. But I already had arrows and angles in my mind because on my course I'd done a present
Read more