Fiche de révision : English Vocabulary and Grammar

📋 Course Outline

1. Similar Words and Actions
2. Food, Orders, and Payments
3. Travel, Movement, and Safety
4. Prepositions and Linking Words
5. Society, Law, and Crime
6. Modal Verbs and Their Uses

📖 1. Similar Words and Actions

📝 Essential Points

★ Must-know

📌 “Call” means to phone someone, whereas “get his attention” means to attract the attention of a person who is nearby.

📌 “Dropped” means making something fall intentionally, whereas “knocked over” means accidentally causing an object to fall.

📌 “Spill” means to accidentally overturn or release a liquid.

📌 “Hit” describes intentional contact, whereas “bump into” describes accidental contact while moving.

Further detail

📌 “Reach” means touching something that is far away, whereas “lift” means moving something upward.

💡 Memory Hook

Intentional or accidental? Inside or nearby?

📖 2. Food, Orders, and Payments

📝 Essential Points

★ Must-know

📌 To “split the bill” means dividing the total into equal shares, whereas “get separate checks” means that each person pays their own share.

📌 A “check” is used in a restaurant, whereas a “bill” refers to other amounts that must be paid.

📌 “Condiments” are small sauces or flavorings added to food, whereas “sauce” is a larger cooked sauce served in or on a dish.

📌 To “pick up an order” means to collect it, to “place an order” means to order as a customer, and to “take an order” means to record it as a server.

Further detail

📌 “Cover in crumbs” means covered with small pieces of food, whereas “cover in scraps” means covered with leftover pieces from a plate.

📖 3. Travel, Movement, and Safety

🔑 Key Concepts & Definitions

• Contagious : Describes an illness or condition that can spread from one person to another.

📝 Essential Points

📌 “Watch your step” means being careful where you walk, “watch” followed by a body part or movement means being careful, and “watch out” is another general warning to be careful.

📌 To “go ahead of someone” is presented as polite, whereas to “cut in line” is presented as impolite.

📌 A “layover” is a stop at an airport while waiting for the next flight, whereas a “stopover” is a longer stop during which the traveler stays in the city.

📌 “Poisonous” describes something harmful when eaten, breathed, or touched, whereas “venomous” describes an animal that injects a harmful substance.

📖 4. Prepositions and Linking Words

📝 Essential Points

★ Must-know

• The prepositions “to,” “into,” “onto,” “out of,” “off,” and “from” express destination, movement into a space, movement toward a surface, movement out of an enclosed place, departure from a surface, and origin or starting point respectively.

• Addition can be introduced with “also,” “moreover,” “furthermore,” or “in addition.”

• Contrast can be expressed with “however,” “whereas,” or “while,” and concession can be expressed with “although,” “even though,” “though,” or “despite.”

Further detail

• Consequences can be introduced with “therefore,” examples with “for example,” “for instance,” “such as,” or “like,” and comparisons with “similarly,” “likewise,” “in the same way,” or “just like.”

• Conclusions can be introduced with “to sum up” or “finally,” while structure can be marked with “first of all,” “secondly,” “then,” “after that,” “lastly,” or “above all.”

• An idea can be reinforced with “indeed,” “in fact,” or “clearly.”

💡 Memory Hook

Add, oppose, explain, conclude

📖 5. Society, Law, and Crime

🔑 Key Concepts & Definitions

• Peer pressure : Pressure exerted by people of the same social group.
• Financial strain : Pressure caused by financial difficulties.
• Deterrence : The use of a threat or punishment to discourage an action.

📝 Essential Points

★ Must-know

• People may be more prone to certain behavior because of their life circumstances or background, and they may be compelled by peer pressure or financial strain.

📌 To “break the law” means to disobey the law, whereas to “obey the law” means to comply with it.

Further detail

• To “reoffend” means to commit another offense, to “get away with” something means to avoid being punished for it, and “a fine” is a monetary punishment.

• The course associates law enforcement with the forces of law and order, money laundering with concealing illegally obtained money, smuggling with illegal trade or transport, and a network of brothels with an organized group of brothels.

• “Misguided notions” are erroneous ideas, “passed down to” means transmitted to someone, “be rooted” means be deeply established, and “inherit” means receive something from an earlier generation.

💡 Memory Hook

Pressure can influence behavior

📖 6. Modal Verbs and Their Uses

📝 Essential Points

★ Must-know

📌 “Can” and “could” express ability or possibility, with “could” also functioning as the past form of “can.”

📌 “May” expresses permission, wishes, or probability, whereas “might” expresses probability or permission with a weaker probability and can also express reproach.

📌 “Should” expresses advice, prediction, obligation, or reproach.

📌 “Will” expresses the future, an order, or willingness, whereas “would” expresses a polite request or the conditional and is the past form of “will.”

📌 “Must” expresses obligation or prohibition, “dare” expresses a challenge, and “need” expresses necessity.

Further detail

📌 “Shall” can express prediction, prohibition, or a proposal.

💡 Memory Hook

Can, may, must: ability, permission, obligation

📊 Synthesis Tables

Key Vocabulary Distinctions

⚠️ Common Pitfalls & Confusions

1. “Get his attention” does not specifically mean phoning someone.
2. Separate checks are not necessarily equal, while splitting the bill means equal parts here.
3. “Watch your step” specifically concerns walking, while “watch out” is broader.
4. “Into” and “onto” both express movement, but the first concerns entering a space and the second reaching a surface.
5. Peer pressure comes from peers, whereas financial strain comes from money-related difficulties.
6. “Could” is not limited to polite requests; it also expresses past ability or possibility.
7. “Knocked over” is accidental, while “dropped” is intentional in this vocabulary list.