Test tips: Examen final

Essay
* When studying for the essay, go over the two sheets with comments from the first two essays. These are the errors that were most common on the compositions.
* The idea of the essay is to show that you know the vocabulary, grammar, and verb tenses that we have learned and can apply them in an essay.

Grammar
* Scroll down and read over the tips from Tests 1 and 2.
* On the stressed possessives, you can either use the article or not. For the test, it'd be simpler not to include the article. The difference is that "mío" is an adjective while "el mío" is a noun. On the test either will work.
* Remember that on possessives, the ending agrees with the thing that is possessed, not with the possessor. For example, "suyas" means that the objects possessed are plural and feminine. They could be "camisetas" or "hamburguesas". "Suyas" does NOT necessarily mean that the things are possessed by at least two females--"suyo/a/os/as" can be "his", "hers", "its", "yours" (usted or ustedes), or "theirs".
*Likewise, "míos" doesn´t mean there are more than one of me, it means the thing possessed is plural.
*Conjunctions of contingency and purpose: p. 474. These are ALWAYS followed by the subjunctive, WITHOUT EXCEPTION.
*Conjunctions of time (Ch. 16): These are followed by the present indicative when talking about a habitual action, and by the present subjunctive when talking about an action that hasn't happened yet. This simple rule is all you need to know. For example:
Mi mamá va a traer galletas cuando me visite el próximo sábado. (subjunctive because "when she visits me" is talking about her visiting me in the future, next Saturday.)
Mi mamá siempre trae galletas cuando me visita. (indicative because "when she visits me" is talking about a habitual action.)

* Don't be hesitant about asking for extra help.

Essays

When correcting your essays, remember the difference between "verb mood" and "verb tense". "Verb mood" is indicative or subjunctive; "verb tense" is present, preterit, imperfect, future, present perfect, etc.

If on your essay you wrote "tenía" and it was marked "vm," then you should change it to "tuviera." If you changed it to "tuvo" (preterit) you would have changed the tense (from imperfect to preterit), not the mood (indicative to subjunctive).

Final exam topics

Thursday:
Reading comprehension
Essay

Friday:
Chapter 16 and 17 vocabulary (Will NOT include p. 492)
Future tense (Ch. 16)
Present perfect indicative tense (Ch. 14)
Present subjunctive v. indicative with conjunctions of time (Ch. 16)
Present subjunctive v. indicative (general) (Ch. 12, 13, 15)
Subjunctive v. indicative (past tenses)
Stressed possessives (Ch. 17)

Test tips (Test 2)

Present perfect
* The test will only cover the present perfect indicative tense, not the present perfect subjunctive or the use of the past participle as an adjective. The indicative forms of haber are he, has, ha, hemos, habéis, and han.
* On the test, don't forget that the present perfect consists of the appropriate form of haber plus a past participle: he ido = I have gone. An answer like "Yo ido al supermercado tres veces" would lose points because it should read "Yo he ido al supermercado tres veces."
* The past participle's ending does not change to agree with anything except when it's an adjective. Whenever you have a form of haber with it, the endings will not change, because then it's part of a verb tense. In that case, haber is what needs to agree with the subject; the past participle will end in an o.
* Remember that an object pronoun (reflexive, direct object, or indirect object) comes before haber: Yo lo he puesto en mi mochila.

Subjunctive after conjunctions of contingency and purpose
* The subjunctive is used always after the five phrases listed in this section. I don't remember the page number, but it's the second grammar section of chapter 15.

Subjunctive/indicative with indefinite/nonexistent/definite/existent antecedents
* In phrases like "un trabajo que...", "la secretaria que...", or "una persona que...", the word "trabajo", "secretaria", or "persona" is the antecedent.
* When the antecedent is an indefinite (hypothetical) person/thing, or a person/thing that doesn't exist, then use subjunctive in the phrase that follows:
Indefinite/hypothetical: Buscamos una secretaria que sepa japonés. Here the secretary is not a real, definite secretary, but a hypothetical one. It could be any secretary, as long as she speaks Japanese. This is also the case in a question like, "¿Hay una secretaria que sepa japonés?"
Nonexistent: No tengo una secretaria que sepa japonés. Here the subjunctive is used because the secretary doesn´t exist; we just said "I don´t have a secretary who speaks Japanese."
*Use the present indicative for an antecedent that both exists and is not hypothetical: Tengo una secretaria que sabe japonés. In this case, there is a real, definite secretary who speaks Japanese.

Present subjunctive/indicative: general
* Know all of the verb forms for both moods, as some answers will be subjunctive and some indicative.
* Know what all of the stem-changing verbs are. There is a list of these on the Presente del indicativo handout at the left.
* Remember that the test will also include some of the subjunctive/indicative situations from chapters 12 and 13, though the focus will be primarily on the two sections we studied in chapter 15.

Future tense
* Don't forget that this will be on the test too.

General
* Know what all of your verbs mean, not just how to conjugate them.
* On the test, make sure verbs agree with their subjects.
* You will want to know that decir is to say or to tell, not to speak or to talk--that would be hablar.

Symbols to correct compositions

sp spelling
ac accent
ag agreement Subject/verb or noun/adjective do not agree.
vt verb tense Verb is in the wrong tense.
vm verb mood Verb is in the wrong mood (indicative/subjuntive)
cap capitalization
ww wrong word You have used the wrong word or a word that does not exist.
wo word order
wf word form You have used the wrong form of a word (i.e., eléctrico for electricidad)
sm something missing One or more words missing from your sentence
rw reword Find another way to say what you have said.
s/e ser/estar You have used ser instead of estar, or vice versa.
art article There is an incorrect, missing, or unneeded article.
pn pronoun There is an incorrect, missing, or unneeded pronoun.
pr preposition There is an incorrect, missing, or unneeded preposition or
conjunction. (por, para, a, de, con, etc.)
? I don´t understand what you´re trying to say

Note the difference between verb mood and verb tense: verb mood is indicative or subjunctive, and verb tense is present, preterit, imperfect, present perfect, future, etc.

Temas para el segundo examen

El segundo examen es el jueves, 28 de agosto. Los temas que el examen va a abarcar son:

· Vocabulario del capítulo 15
· Vocabulario del capítulo 16 (p. 492 solamente)
· Presente perfecto del indicativo (cap. 14)
· Presente del subjuntivo v. presente del indicativo:

· con antecedentes específicos/no específicos/existentes/no existentes
(cap. 15)
· después de conjunciones de contingencia y de propósito (cap.
15)
· en todos los casos que vimos en los capítulos 12 y 13
(deseo/influencia, emoción, duda/negación)

· Tiempo futuro (cap. 16)
· Comprensión de lectura

Test tips

· Make sure you know both the present subjunctive and indicative, since some answers will be in present indicative.

· Make sure you know which verbs are stem-changing. The presente del indicativo handout at the left has a list of them.

· Remember that -ar and -er stem-changing verbs only have a stem change in the yo, tú, él/ella/usted and ellos/ellas/ustedes forms in present subjunctive--not the nosotros or vosotros forms. The -ir stem-changing verbs have one change for the nosotros and vosotros forms, and another change for the other four forms.

· Remember that, like all verbs, the endings for gustar agree with the one who is doing the action, i.e., the one who is being pleasing. The indirect object pronoun tells us who is being pleased.

Practice answers

Gustar
1. a
2. as
3. o
4. an
5. ellos, ellas, ustedes, mis padres, los alumnos, etc.

1. te aburre
2. Les gusta (because "comer" is singular)
3. Nos interesa
4. nos interesa
5. Me agradan

Subjuntivo v. indicativo:
esté S
están I
estén S
guste S
es I
quiere I
se case S
pueda S
hable S
puede I
tengo I
van I
dé S
ponga S
recuerde S
haya S

Temas para el examen 1

Presente del subjuntivo y presente del indicativo.
*Tienen que saber las formas y cuándo usar cada modo
Subjuntivo para deseo e influencia
Subjuntivo para emoción
Subjuntivo para duda y negación
Gustar y verbos como gustar con pronombres de objeto indirecto
Vocabulario del capítulo 13 (las artes)
Vocabulario del capítulo 14 (medio ambiente--solamente las páginas 438-39)
Comprensión auditiva

Bienvenidos a Español 3

Hola a todos, y bienvenidos a Español 3 y al sitio web para nuestra clase. En este sitio voy a poner mensajes y otras cosas que les puedan ayudar en el curso. A la izquierda hay hojas con lo que necesitan saber sobre los verbos, los acentos, etc., y también hay enlaces, como uno para el sitio de Puntos de Partida, que tiene muchos ejercicios para practicar antes de un examen la gramática que vamos a aprender.

Los alumnos que no están en la lista de alumnos pero que quieren entrar en el curso deben venir a clase el primer día para firmar la lista de espera.

Jeff Cooper