Lesson Module

LEGAL ENGLISH COMPILATION

For Law Faculty Student's
BHAYANGKARA UNIVERSITY OF SURABAYA

Compiled by:

Murry Darmoko Moersidin

UBHARA Press

2020

1
Lesson Module
LEGAL ENGLISH COMPILATION
For Law Faculty Student's
BHAYANGKARA UNIVERSITY OF SURABAYA

Compiled by :
Murry Darmoko M., SHI., MA.

ISBN : 978-979-9009-33-3

Cover Design :
Ubhara Press Team

Publisher :
UBHARA PRESS

Redaction Location :
Jl. Ahmad Yani 114
Surabaya 60231
Tel. +62318285602 ext. 106, 129
Fax. +62318285601
Email : [email protected]

1st Printing, August 2017

2nd Printing, August 2020

All rights reserved

It is prohibited to reproduce this paper in any form and by any means

without the written permission of the publisher

2
 Preface

Dear reader

English is the most language used in communication between human

in this earth. English is the key of winning global competition.

This Lesson Module Legal English is one of the answer for

developing students' knowledge and skills in language proficiency.
This book is a collection of the best papers from the experts that I can
collect about the learning process.

This book is an introduction of the Legal English. I hope it will be the

starting point of success in obtaining good TOEFL score. Amen.

I would like to thank Catherine Mason for 1st Chapter of her book
"The Lawyer's English Language Course book" which can be
downloaded at Google, "I pray that God always bless you and your
family with the knowledge you share". amen.

I would like too to thank Caroline Brown and Pearson Brown, "You
both make it easy for law faculty students to speak English by
learning The English Grammar Secrets, we do enjoy"

Also, I would like to thank God, Prophet Muhammad and his family,
father and mother, wife and my kids, leaders in Bhayangkara
University of Surabaya and lecturer friends at Law Faculty, especially
for all of my students in Law Faculty, I believe : ―All of my students
are my teachers‖.

Best Regards
Sidoarjo, March 21, 2020

Murry Darmoko Moersidin

3
 Contents

Contents
Lesson 1 PREFACE (Catherine Mason)
Lesson 2 WORKING IN LAW
Lesson 3 MAKING A CLAIM IN THE CIVIL COURT
Lesson 4 AREAS OF LAW
Lesson 5 UNIT 1 A VOCABULARY CHECK
Lesson 6 FOUNDATION EXAM PRACTICE
Lesson 7 THE IMPORTANCE OF COLLOCATIONS
Lesson 8 Midterm Exams
Lesson 9 THE IMPORTANCE OF PREPOSITIONS
Lesson 10 SOLICITORS AND BARRISTERS
Lesson 11 LESSONS FROM YOUTUBERS
Lesson 12 THE REGISTER OF LETTER WRITING
Lesson 13 English Grammar Secrets 1
Lesson 14 English Grammar Secrets 2
Lesson 15 English Grammar Secrets 3
Lesson 16 Final Exams

Catherine Mason
Cambridge 2011
PREFACE

We know that as a legal professional today, you need up-to-

date and accurate legal English in order to meet the challenges
of work. This is because: (1) you have to deal with English-
speaking clients and lawyers more than any previous
generation of lawyers (2) you are often expected to interpret
or amend long commercial contracts drafted in English (3)
you receive letters and emails written in English on a daily
basis

Legal English is a different language from general English.

Just as lawyers in your own country write in a different

4
language from other people, so do English-speaking lawyers.
Sentences are often structured differently in legal English.
The words lawyers use are often centuries old and no longer
commonly used in general English. New prepositions need to
be learned. When you read a commercial contract or read a
letter there is new, technical vocabulary to understand on
every page.

The Lawyer‘s English Language Course book was written for

legal professionals such as you, with your needs at the heart of
the book, and it gives you the material you need to study in an
efficient and effective way. It is based upon our many years‘
experience of teaching and working with lawyers, law
students and legal translators from around the world. We are
convinced that this book is the best study material available to
you if you want to be professional and accurate in all you do
in English at work.
This course book is intended to be a complete course of
preparation for the Foundation and Higher exams in legal
English. We recommend that anyone planning to take the
Advanced exam should use this book too, as the material in it
is fundamental to any lawyers‘ English language skills. Even
if you do not intend to take a legal English exam, you can use
this book as a complete course of self-study for legal English
and it is recommended to anyone who needs to use legal
English at work.

Each of the ten units is divided into section A (Foundation)

and section B (Higher). We recommend that everyone should
complete section A of each unit, to be sure from the start that
you are familiar with the legal vocabulary it contains and are
accurate in what you are doing. When you are confident that
you know the material contained in section A of each unit,

5
you can proceed to build on your skills by completing the
more complex exercises in section B. Each unit also contains
some practice exercises for the exams.

You will see that the book contains boxes, clearly marked
with a symbol. These boxes or ‗banks‘ of information contain
language that you will need to memorize. Please do not be
tempted to ignore these boxes. We assure you that if you
memorize this information you will see a spectacular
improvement in your legal English. We believe that no
particular book or computer program can ever be a substitute
for old-fashioned hard work.

We hope that you enjoy using this book and we are confident
that it will add quality and accuracy to your legal English
skills.

THE LEGAL PROFESSION

FOUNDATION
WORKING IN LAW

Exercise 1

Look at this list of legal occupations. All of these people work

in law. We call all of the people who work in these jobs ‗the
legal profession‘. Match the jobs with one of the descriptions.

☼Solicitor ☼Attorney ☼Barrister ☼Lawyer

a) This person is a lawyer who gives legal advice and

opinions to solicitors. He or she passed the exams of The
Bar Council at the end of his or her studies.

6
 b) This person is a lawyer who gives legal advice to
individuals and companies. He or she passed his or her
exams in the USA at the end of his or her studies and is
usually a member of the American Bar Association.

c) This person is a lawyer who gives legal advice to

individuals and companies. He or she passed the exams
of The Law Society of England & Wales at the end of his
or her studies.
d) This is the general job title that we use for people who
work as a solicitor, barrister or attorney.

Exercise 2

Read this text about working in law. The most important

words are in the key vocabulary below. Decide if the
statements on the next page are true or false.

Key Vocabulary

 lawyer  practice  barristers

 law firm  attorney  judge
 training contract  acting for  qualified
 legal practice  partnership  represent
 litigation  advocacy  pleading a case
 specialize  right of audience  appear
 solicitors  clients

There are two types of lawyer who practice in England. They

are called barristers and solicitors. In the USA and most other
countries, lawyers don‘t make this distinction – a lawyer is
simply known as an attorney-at-law, or an attorney.

7
In both England and the USA, it is not possible to take a
special exam to be a judge. If you decide that you want to be a
judge, you must get a lot of experience as a lawyer first, then
apply to be a judge and wait to see if you are chosen.

Most law students in England become solicitors. When they

finish their university studies they do a one-year legal practice
course and then a two-year training contract with a law firm.
After that, they are qualified solicitors. Many solicitors work
for a legal practice, which is usually a partnership of solicitors
who work together. Solicitors practice in many areas of law,
although each solicitor usually chooses to specialize in one
particular area. They represent their clients both in and out of
court. We often describe this as acting for a client. The
process of making a claim in the civil court is called litigation.

Barristers are usually self-employed lawyers but can work in

partnerships in the way that solicitors do. They are specialists
in advocacy, which is the skill of speaking for someone in
court. We call this pleading a case. They also give opinions on
areas of law to solicitors and the solicitors‘ clients. It is not
just barristers who have the right of audience in court.
Solicitors are also allowed to represent their clients in court
and many solicitors appear in court every day. It is not true to
say that a client always needs a barrister in court.

a) There are two types of lawyer practicing in England. ☼

True ☼ False
b) Last year I finished my training contract and I started
working for a large international law firm. I am now a
qualified solicitor.☼ True ☼ False
c) Only barristers can speak on behalf of clients in court. ☼
True ☼ False

8
 d) Both solicitors and barristers can work together in
partnerships. ☼ True ☼ False
e) In the USA and England lawyers can take a special exam
to be a judge. ☼ True ☼ False

MAKING A CLAIM IN THE CIVIL COURT

In the English and American legal systems we divide the law

into two main areas. These are criminal law and civil law.
This means that everything that is not a criminal matter is a
civil matter.

Exercise 1

Look at these situations and decide if the person needs a

criminal lawyer or a civil lawyer. In other words, is it a
criminal matter or a civil matter?

a) Mr. Donald is opening a new factory. He needs to visit a

lawyer to get a contract for all of his employees to
sign.☼ criminal ☼ civil
b) Mrs. Robson is thinking about what she wants to happen
to her house and possessions after her death. She needs
to visit a lawyer to get the correct document, which is
called a ‗will‘.☼ criminal ☼ civil
c) The police are taking Mr. Dean to the police station
because they say he stole a car. He needs a lawyer to
come and visit him there to tell him what to do.☼
criminal ☼ civil
d) Mr. Flynn owns a restaurant. He has a contract with a
company to deliver fruit and vegetables to his restaurant.
The company didn‘t deliver them on the agreed date, so
Mr. Flynn lost money because he could not open his

9
 restaurant that day. Mr. Flynn needs to see a lawyer
about asking the delivery company to give him the
money he lost.☼ criminal ☼ civil
e) Mr. Allen is a bank manager. The bank is saying that
some money is missing. Mr. Allen has a new car and
expensive clothes. The police are coming to ask Mr.
Allen some questions. He needs a lawyer immediately.☼
criminal ☼ civil

Help desk
What do these words mean?

criminal law – the law that punishes acts against a

person or against property that people consider to be harmful
to the whole community. The state prosecutes criminals.
civil law – the law concerning the rights and duties of
private individuals and companies other than criminal matters.
a matter – a subject or situation, e.g. a criminal matter, a
civil matter. a will – a legal document in which a person gives
details of what they want to happen to their property after
their death.
to steal (stole) – to take something that belongs to
someone else with the intention of keeping it.

Exercise 2

Read the information below. It is about starting a claim in the

civil court. Decide if the statements that follow are true or
false.

Starting a claim in the civil court

When you are in dispute with another person sometimes it is
necessary to start a claim in the civil court. We sometimes call

10
this process ‗filing a claim‘ or ‗issuing a claim‘. Lawyers also
say ‗starting proceedings‘. We do not use the verb ‗to
prosecute‘ in civil law because that verb is only used in
criminal law. In England most civil claims are filed in the
County Court. There are over 200 County Courts in England
and Wales. Most cities and large town shave a County Court.

The person who starts the claim is called the claimant in the
UK. This person was called the plaintiff until 1999, when
there were new court rules in England to make everything
easier for people to understand. However, in the USA the
claimant is still called the plaintiff. In both England and the
USA the other party is called the defendant.

A claim form is the document that a claimant uses to start

legal action against the defendant. Why might a claimant start
a claim? There are a lot of reasons, for example: someone
refuses to pay you money that they owe to you, someone does
a job for you, but they do it badly. We call this bad
workmanship, something that you paid for is not supplied to
you, something that you bought is not working properly.

The claimant has to pay a sum of money, called a court fee,

for the court to issue proceedings. In the claim form, the
claimant must state the amount of his or her claim and request
the defendant to pay all of the legal costs of the case.

Sometimes people talk about ‗the small claims court‘. They

really mean the special procedure that exists at the County
Court for small claims. A small claim is a claim for less than
£5000. This amount will probably increase in the future.

11
 a) Starting a claim means the same as starting proceedings.
☼ True ☼ False
b) You can ‗prosecute‘ someone in the civil court. ☼ True
☼ False
c) There are more than 200 County Courts in England and
Wales. ☼ True ☼ False
d) The word ‗plaintiff‘ is not used in England any more but
it is used in the USA.☼ True ☼ False
e) It is free to start a claim in the County Court. ☼ True ☼
False
f) There is a special court in a separate building for making
small claims. ☼ True ☼ False

Help desk
What do these words mean?

to be in dispute – to have a serious disagreement with

another person.
a party to a court case – the claimant or the defendant.
to owe money to someone – to have to pay someone for
something that they have done for you or given to you.
legal costs – the court fees and payment for the lawyers
who are acting for the parties.
a procedure – a decided way of doing something.
to prosecute – to take legal action against someone in
the criminal court.

Exercise 3
Here are some important expressions which lawyers use when
they talk about starting a claim in the civil court. Complete the
sentences by matching the first half of each sentence with the
correct ending.

12
(1) To issue a claim means to… (..)
confirm that you have received
the claim and to say
what you will do next.
(2) To pay a fee means to… (1)
start a claim in the civil court.
(3) To serve a claim upon (..)
means to … listen to the details of the claim
someone and listen to what the
claimant and the defendant say
about their dispute.
(4) To respond to a claim means (..)
to… pay the court an amount of money
for issuing the claim.
(5) To hear a case means to… (..)
can legally take a person‘s property
when that person does not pay money
that he or she owes.
(6) To find in favor of someone (..)
means to… officially announce the result of
the case. The judge may give the
reasons for the decision.
(7) To give a judgment means (..)
to… send the claim to the defendant‘s
address and make sure
that he or she receives it.
(8) To make an order means to… (..)
decide that this person has won
the case.
(9) A bailiff is a person who… (..)
officially state what someone has to do, and h
when he or she must do it.

13
 Exercise 4

Here are the steps in which a claim goes through the County
Court. Fill the gaps with a word from Exercise 3.

a) The claimant _______________ a claim in the County

Court.
b) The claimant will have to pay a _______________. The
amount depends on the amount of money that the
claimant is claiming.
c) The court or the claimant‘s solicitor _______________
the claim upon the defendant. This means that they send
it to the defendant‘s address and make sure that the
defendant receives it.
d) The defendant has 14 days from the day he or she
receives the claim to _______________ to it. The
defendant can admit the claim, which means to agree that
the claim is right, and pay the money that the claimant
wants, or the defendant can defend the claim.
e) If the defendant decides to defend the claim, a judg
e will _______________ the case in the County Court.
f) The judge will give his or her judgment. The judge
will _______________ in favor of the claimant or the
defendant.
g) The parties must follow the terms of the
_______________ that the judge makes and they must
make sure that they obey any instructions about time
limits.
h) If the order says that the defendant must pay money to
the claimant, then the claimant can use the services of a
_______________ to collect that money if the defendant
does not pay.

14
 AREAS OF LAW

Exercise 1

In England and the USA there is an area of law called ‗the law
of tort‘. It is the law of civil responsibility. It is an area of civil
law. Read this text about the law of tort. The most important
words are in the key vocabulary below. Answer the questions
that follow using a full sentence.

Key Vocabulary
 law of tort  carelessness  tort
 damages  duty of care  committed
 to sue  grounds  allegations
 negligence  no win no fee  breach

The law of tort says that everyone has a civil duty to be

careful and not to hurt or harm another person. Lawyers call
this civil duty ‗the duty of care‘. Sometimes people breach
this duty of care. To breach means to break. Very often they
breach the duty of care by accident but sometimes they do it
deliberately. If someone hurts or harms another person
because of a breach, we call this harmful action a tort. This
means that some things that might be criminal in your legal
system are a tort in England and the USA.

Look at the list of harmful actions below. In England and the

USA they are usually torts: (1) Leaving the floor of a shop in
a dangerous condition so that a customer falls and hurts her
leg, (2) Saying something that is bad about someone, which
isn‘t true (3) Writing a negative story in a newspaper about
someone, which isn‘t true (4) Playing loud music late every
night, which disturbs your neighbors.

15
This area of law is easier to understand by thinking of a tort as
being a type of civil wrong. Each of the torts listed above has
a special name. The tort that happens most often is called
negligence.

Negligence is when someone is not careful enough and this

person‘s carelessness hurts another person as a result. The
person who is hurt is called the injured person.

When someone hurts you as a result of his or her actions, you

need to consult a lawyer who specializes in the right area of
tort. The lawyer will try to get you money from the careless
person. This money is called ‗compensation‘ or, more
correctly, ‗damages‘. Sometimes the lawyers can‘t agree on
the amount of damages. When this happens, the injured
person may decide to sue the person who has hurt them.

Suing someone is a more informal way of saying starting

proceedings against someone in a civil court. The claim form
will state the claimant‘s allegations against the defendant. An
allegation is like an accusation. The claimant is stating that
something happened, but the defendant has the opportunity to
say that this is not true. The reasons for going to court are
called ‗the grounds‘. The grounds for an action in tort are that
the defendant committed a tort.

Sometimes a lawyer who specializes in the tort of negligence

makes an agreement with a client. The agreement is that if the
client does not win the case then he or she does not have to
pay for the lawyer‘s services. This is called a ‗no win no fee‘
arrangement. It is allowed in the UK and the USA.

16
Example question: What is the duty of care? The duty of care
is the obligation to be careful and not to hurt anyone.

a) How do lawyers say to ‗break‘ a duty of care?

______________
b) In England and the USA, is the law of tort an area of
criminal or civil law? ______________
c) There are different types of tort. In general, what is
a tort? ______________
d) What is the name of the tort that a person commits
because he or she is careless and hurts someone else as a
result of this carelessness? ______________
e) What does suing mean? ______________
f) What is the correct name for the money that an injured
person gets from the defendant in a successful action in
tort? ______________
g) What is the correct name for an arrangement where a
client does not have to pay his or her lawyer if the client
loses his or her action in tort? ______________

Exercise 2

Put a word from the key vocabulary in Exercise 1 into the

following sentences.

a) I am ______________ the owner of the shop because

there was water on the floor and I fell and hurt my back.
b) I am a lawyer who specializes in the tort of
______________. People are just not careful enough! At
the moment I am acting for the injured person in more
than 20 different cases.
c) The machines in the clothing factory were old and
dangerous and one of the employees injured his hand.

17
 The employee sued the factory owners and got £5000 in
______________.
d) In your claim form you accuse us of breaching our duty
of care. We do not accept that your______________ are
true and we will defend your claim in court.
e) Do you have a good reason for suing the owner of the
hotel? What exactly are your ____________ for starting
legal action?

Exercise 3

Here is a list of some important areas of law. Read what the

lawyers say on the next page. They are talking about the work
they do. Match the lawyer with the correct area of law.

a) law of contract f) employment law

b) company law g) family law
c) land law h) immigration law
d) law of tort i) intellectual property law
e) law of equity and trusts j) criminal law

David :
‘I work in New York. I deal with clients from other countries
who want to come and live here. I help them to get permission
from the government to make their dream of living in the USA
a reality.’

Tom :
‘I am with a law firm in Manchester. I am now in the second
year of my training contract. At the moment I deal with clients
who are buying or selling their house. It is my job to make
sure everything is correct and that the sale is valid.’

18
Jennifer :
‘I work in a very exciting area of law here in Los Angeles. I
meet a lot of writers and musicians and sometimes even
people from movie studios! I protect their rights and make
sure that no one can copy their work and make money from it
without their permission.’

Alistair :
‘When I write the story of my life I will call my book,
"Robbers, Murderers and Other Friends of Mine!" I work in
Newcastle, which is in the north of England. I defend people
who are in trouble with the police. They may even go to
prison! It is my job to help them.’

Sunitta :
‘I work in Sydney, Australia. I give advice to people who are
unhappy living together and they want a divorce. Sometimes
people argue about money or the care of the children. It’s a
difficult area of law and I feel very sympathetic towards my
clients.’

Cory :
‘I work in Chicago. I’m quite famous on TV here in the USA.
That’s because Channel 10 show my advertisement five times
every day! I ask people to call me if they were hurt or were in
an accident because somebody else wasn’t careful enough. If
people are not careful, then I’m afraid they will have to pay
damages!’

Kayleigh :
‘I work in Christchurch, New Zealand. Most of my clients
have problems at work. I saw a lady this morning who is
going to have a baby. When she told her boss that she was

19
pregnant, he fired her from her job. That is not legal in New
Zealand and I will help her to do something about it.’

Michael :
‘I work for a very big London law firm. Our clients are banks
and other big businesses. Today I am working on a merger
agreement, which means that two companies are joining
together to become one. Yesterday I advised a new client who
wants to start an internet company on the different ways he
can do it.’

Mary :
‘I am based in Dublin, the capital city of Ireland. I see people
or companies who want to make a legal agreement with
another person or company. Today I am dealing with an
agreement to deliver goods from Ireland to the USA. I have to
check every word very carefully!’

Polly :
‘I work in a very old and interesting area of law. Today I met
a client who is 70 years old and has no family. When she dies,
she wants to put all of her money into a special fund. Her two
friends will use this money to help pay for a training school
for actors and actresses from her home city here in Liverpool.
I explained to her how to do that and I will draft the necessary
legal documents for her.’

Help desk
What do these words mean?

to deal with someone or something – to do business

with someone or to take the correct action in an area of work.
legal – allowed by the law.

20
 valid – legally correct and acceptable.
to draft a document – to write a document.
to have a right – (in intellectual property law) to have a
legal interest in something; it is yours.
robber – a person who steals money or property while
using or threatening to use violence.
a divorce – the legal ending of a marriage.
to merge – (in company law) when two companies join
together to form one.
to be based somewhere – to be established somewhere
as the main place where you work or live.
goods – things that are produced so that they can be sold.
fund – an amount of money that a person or organization
keeps to pay for something in particular.

Exercise 4

Choose a word or phrase from the box to complete the

sentences.
 drafting  criminal law  goods  the law of
tort
 the law of equity and trust  valid  based in
 merged
 intellectual property law  family law

a) A lawyer who deals with clients who are in trouble with

the police is a specialist in ______________.
b) Last year my bank ______________ with a big German
bank and they are now called Europe Bank. I think they
are the biggest bank in Europe now!
c) A lawyer who deals with clients who create new
inventions such as medicines, machines or new artistic

21
 works such as books or music, is a specialist in
______________.
d) I spent three hours this morning ______________ a
contract for my new client. I think the contract is ready
for him to read and sign now.
e) I want to put some of my money into a fund for the
benefit of my grandchildren, which they will have when
they reach the age of 18. I need to see a lawyer who is a
specialist in ______________.
f) Well, I am from London but I am ______________
Amsterdam at the moment because I am working for a
Dutch company.
g) A lawyer who deals with clients who are divorcing or
who have problems over the care of their children is a
specialist in ______________.
h) The company delivers ______________ all over the
United States by rail and by truck.
i) A lawyer who deals with people who breach their civil
duty of care is a specialist in ______________.
j) That contract is not ______________ because your client
has not signed it.

Exercise 5

Look at the words and phrases in the box. All of the words are
connected with specific areas of law. Put the words into the
correct sentence to complete the definitions.

 unfair dismissal1  landlord

 capital  redundancy2

1
Unfair dismissal is : (1) an act of employment termination made without good reason
or contrary to the country‘s specific legislation. (2) when employee is dismissed from their
job in a harsh, unjust or unreasonable manner.

22
 lease of land and buildings3  maternity leave4
 sick pay/sick leave5  partnership
 formation of a business  discriminate
 insolvent6  merger
 conveying7  tenant
 real estate

a) To be ________________________ means not having

enough money to pay your debts.
b) A ________________________ is the joining together of
two or more things, such as companies, to form one
single thing or company.
c) A ________________________ is a person who pays
rent to the owner of a house, a flat or an office in return
for living there, or for using the building for business
purposes.
d) ________________________ is the legal process
involved in transferring the ownership of a house or land
from the seller to the buyer.
e) To ________________________ against someone means
to behave differently towards that person, usually in the
workplace, because of their age, sex or the color of their
skin.

2
Redundancy : a situation in which someone loses their job because their employer
does not need them.
3
Lease : A contract by which on party conveys land, property, services, etc. to another
for a specified time, usually in return for a periodic payment.
4
Maternity leave is a right to a temporary and unpaid period of absence from
employment granted to expectant or new mothers during the months immediately before and
after childbirth.
5
Sick Pay is time off from work that workers can use to stay home to address their
health and safety needs without losing pay.
6
unable to pay debts owed
7
act of transferring property title from one person to another

23
f) ________________________ is a situation where
someone loses his or her job for a reason that is not valid.
g) ________________________ is money that an employer
must pay to an employee when that employee is ill and
cannot work.
h) A ________________________ is an agreement to allow
someone to use land or buildings for a fixed period of
time in return for a payment of rent.
i) The ________________________ is the establishment of
a new business in a specific way.
j) A ________________________ is a business which a
minimum of two people own and control.
k) ________________________ is the time period when a
woman is not at work before and after the birth of her
baby. Her employer usually pays her for part or all of the
time that she is away.
l) ________________________ is the total amount of
money, property and other assets that a business has.
m) ________________________ is a situation where
someone loses his or her job because an employer no
longer needs so many employees.
n) A ________________________ is a person who owns a
house, a flat or office and receives rent from someone for
allowing them to live there, or use the building for
business purposes.
o) ________________________ is a more formal way of
saying land and buildings.

24
 Help desk
What do these words mean?

ownership – to have ownership of a property means that

the property belongs to you. You are the owner of the
property.
assets – things that a person or company owns.
debts – sums of money that you owe.
rent – the money that someone pays, usually every
month, to use a flat, a house or an office that belongs to
someone else.
fixed – something that is fixed is certain and cannot be
changed.

Exercise 6

All of the words and phrases in Exercise 5 belong to either

employment law, business law or land law. Put each word or
phrase under the correct area of law.
Employment law Business law Land law
______________ ___________ _________
______________ ___________ _________
______________ ___________ _________
______________ ___________ _________
______________ ___________ _________

Exercise 7

Complete the following sentences by using the words from

the employment law section.

a) My baby will arrive at the end of March so I will take six

months‘ ________________ starting on 1 March.

25
 b) He sued his employer on the grounds of _________
_______ because the reason his employer gave for firing
him was not valid.
c) If you are ill and not able to work you should look at
your contract to see if you can get ________________.
d) It is against the law in England for an employer to
________________ against an employee because of his
or her age.
e) Many employees are worried about ________________
because a lot of businesses are closing in this area at the
moment.
Exercise 8

Complete the following sentences by using the words from

the business law section.

a) The ________________ is the formal way of saying the

way in which a new business is created.
b) The total ________________ of the business is valued at
approximately £32 million.
c) The business does not have enough money to pay its
debts is ________________.
d) There will be a ________________ next year between
two major British chemical companies.
e) My friend and I want to start a cleaning business together
and we decided that the best thing to do is to create a
________________.

26
 Exercise 9

Complete the following sentences by using the words from

the land law section.

a) He is a very good ________________. He always pays

the rent on time!
b) My sister works in the property department of her law
firm. She acts for people who are buying and selling
houses. She is a specialist in ________________.
c) We don‘t own our house; we rent it. The
________________ ends in three months so we will have
to find somewhere else to live.
d) He is the ________________ of five houses in this area.
He makes a lot of money every month from the rent.
e) The price of ________________ in this part of the
country increased a lot last year. It is very expensive to
buy a house.

Lesson from Stuart Your English Web [youtube]

Words to talk about CRIMES and CRIMINALS

 Arson – Arsonist
[True or false : If someone is an arsonist, they
accidentally fire to something]
 Bigamy – Bigamist
 Burglary – Burglar
 Counterfeiting - Counterfeiter
 Drug Dealing – Drug Dealer
 Forgery – Forger
 Hijacking – Hijacker
 Kidnapping – Kidnapper
 Mugging – Mugger

27
 Murder – Murderer
 Pickpocketting – Pickpocker
[True or false : If someone picks your pocket, they
might steal your wallet or money]
 Robbery – Robber
 Shoplifting – Shoplifter
 Smuggling – Smuggler
 Terrorism – Terrorist
 Theft – Thief
 Vandalism - Vandal

Lesson from JamesESL English Lesson [youtube]

Crime and Punishment

First Part
How to Talk to Police
[Being Arrested] Six steps from [1] Stop – [2] I.D. – [3]
Charge – [4] Fine – [5] Arrested – [6] Bail

Bad boys, Bad boys, Bad boys, What are you going to do?
Well, this lesson is for you ......

The lesson I want to do today is on, well, Crime and

Punishment or in this case, I call it Arrested Development. I
find it very strange when people go to different countries that
they don‘t get a basic understanding of the law.

Now, in most English speaking countries, what I will teach

you is true. Of course, there‘ll be exceptions because each
country is unique and has different rules and laws, but this
basically is the way our law system or legal system works.
Ok? And Legal system means when you will talk to police if
there‘s a problem, what might happen.

28
So, let‘s go to the board. If you meet the police and they say :
―Stop‖. That‘s number one, and that‘s what we have here.
You know a stop sign means don‘t move. Ok? Let‘s make this
clear. A stop sign means don‘t move. So number one thing is
stop. They will stop you or ask you to stop moving. You do
so.

After they ask you to stop, they‘re going to ask for I.D. For
some of you, you‘ll say : ―What is I.D?‖ Well, it‘s
identification, sort of like your passport or your country, some
people have indentification cards in their country. Funny, in
Canada, we don‘t have this thing. We have drivers licenses,
and we have passports, but we don‘t have citizen cards. We
use our drivers license. So it might be your citizen card that
they would request. If you come to our country, they would
ask you for I.D., so you could present your passport or your
citizen card. That‘s probably all you have. So, number two in
the process will be asking for your I.D.

Now, you notice this is orange and we have this strange word
: ―Rights‖, and I‘m not talking about your right hand. In
Canada, the United State, Great Britain, New Zealand,
Scotland, Wales, they have rights. Or sorry, you have rights
which means before you do anything the police say, you
allowed to ask certain questions. So you can say : ―I know my
rights‖. By the way, I would never say that to a policeman
who stopped you. You‘re just asking for trouble. But, at the
time they ask you to stop or they ask you to give I.D. you can
then start using your rights. One of the first things you can say
is : ―Hi, Officer, what‘s your name or badge number?‖ In
Canada, they must give it to you. Ok? But be smart, ask
nicely, like : ―Ok, no problem, officer, I just want to know,

29
Who am I talking to? I just want to know I‘m talking yo the
law‖ the officer will then either point to their shoulder where
there is a number located, or they‘ll say their name, which is
usually located on the front of their shirt. So : ―Officer
Johnson, 531 Division‖ You go : ―Thank you, officer‖.

You can say this ... remember, each time you‘re doing this,
police don‘t usually like being questioned, so always be
polite. Don‘t flunk the attitude test. I‘ll explain that to you
after. So then you can say : ―Officer, why am I being
stopped?‖ The officer at that time, especially if they ask for
your I.D. Must tell you why you‘re being stopped. Ok? This
will lead to be being charged. Before this process, you can say
: ―am I under arrest?‖ If the officer says : ―You‘re not under
arrest‖, you may walk away. You can leave. You can still be
polite, and I recommend that, but you don‘t have to answer
any of their questions, because once the officer has told you
why he stopped you or she has stopped you, if you are not
under arrest, you do not need to speak anymore. If they ask
further questions, you can say : ―If I‘m not under arrest and
you want more from me, I need to talk to a lawyer first,
because I don‘t know why I‘m standing here‖. These are your
basic rights in Canada, United States, and Great Britain. As I
said, each country varies, so be careful. Ok? And always,
always, always be polite.

Now, let‘s just say you a bad boy or a bad girl. Well, we‘ve
gone past the rights stage, and the stop, and the I.D. They
have to tell you what you‘re charged with. That means you‘ve
done something wrong, and that means you cannot walk away
from the police at that point. This is called ... you say : ―Am I
being charged with anything?‖ they must tell you what you

30
have done. ―We think you killed somebody‖, ―We think you
stole a car‖ ―We think you hit someone‖.

At this point, something is going to happen, either one or two

things. Oh, this is not the good part. If it‘s a small thing, and
we call it ―not criminal‖, meaning you didn‘t do anything that
they need to put you in jail for, you will get a "fine‖. What
kind of things? If you‘re driving your car a little too fast, or if
you drop garbage in certain places where you‘re not supposed
to drop your garbage, you don‘t put it away, you drop it on the
floor, the police can walk up to you and say : ―I‘m going to
give you a fine‖. They will give you a ticket. The fine is clear.
Here‘s what you did, here‘s the money you pay. Ok? So when
we say fine, it‘s money you have to pay them. Ok? That‘s
here. That‘s a good thing, because then you can go free. You
get the paper, you pay this later.

We‘ll go into a court afterwards. But if it‘s not a fine and it‘s
something you‘ve done that‘s very bad, the police will arrest
you. That means they will stop you and say : ―You must come
with us‖ You have no choice in that. You can still follow the
rights, you‘ve asked this and asked for your lawyer, but you
will have to go with them. Arresting is similar to stopping.
They‘re not just stopping, they're stopping and taking you.

Now, once you‘ve been arrested, you can ask for your lawyer.
You can also get what‘s called ―bail‖. It‘s another way of
getting out of jail. We have have bail and jail. Jail is where
you‘re going to go. When they arrest you, you go to jail. You
will be staying there until you have a court date, which we‘ll
get to. But you can get out if you have bail money. Bail,
you‘ll go : ―What is bail‖ well, the simplest way I can explain
it is when you have water in one area and you need to move

31
that water to one area to another, we usually take something
smaller, and we pick it up, we take it up and we take it out,
and let it go. And we call ―bailing water‖. The bailing is
taking you out of prison so that you are free. We are removing
you and letting you go free. Ok? So you need bail, which is
usually a lot of money so you can actually leave the jail.

Are your troubles over? No, that is why there‘s two parts to
this lesson. This is the arrest part. The next one we‘re going to
do is on court and your day in court. What will happen, how
you can get out, and if it doesn‘t work out for you, how bad it
can get.

I want to explain rules versus laws, because sometimes

they‘re exactly the same. Actually, they seem the same, but
they are different.

Rules are like games. When you play Monopoly or you play
any game, like soccer or football or rugby, there are rules. The
police will never come when you play these games, and take
you and arrest you if you break a rule. Even if you cheat on a
test at school, that means not to follow the rules, you won‘t
get arrested, but there are punishments. You have rules in
your classrooms. Rules are : flexible, personal, made by
people and organizations and light punishment.

Laws are a little different. They‘re more serious. You can get
into a lot of troubles. We have laws in the cities and in
countries. Laws are : not flexible, made by government and
courts, police can make you do it [stop – arrest – say : ―you
must do this now, or you must stop doing this now, or we will
take away your freedom and arrest you‖]

32
Next time your teacher says : ―I have a rule‖ you can say :
―It‘s not a law, I don‘t have to do it‖. And they‘ll have to go :
―Yes, for now‖

Quiz
a) Mr. E was ______________ by Officer James [stopped]
b) Officer James asked for Mr. E‘s ______________ [I.D.]
c) Mr. E asked if he was under ______________ [arrest]
d) No, said Officer James, you didn‘t ______________ You
must stop at this stop sign. Now you can go. [break the
law]

Extra :
o Break the law
o Let you off with a warning
o Under arrest
o Attitude test

Second Part
What you need to know if you‘re going to court
[Court System for British Speaking countries]

There are two part to a legal system or a law system. The first
part is meeting the police, and the police is saying you‘ve
done something wrong. The second part is when you actually
have to get some one to say you are guilty or innocent.

We‘ll go over that in a second or two, what does that mean?

But you have to go before people and they have to tell you
everything is good and you can go home, or bad and you have
go to jail.

33
Are you ready? Let‘s go to the board. There are a couple
terms we want to talk about. Remember we talked about being
arrested? Well, the second part is going to court.

We like to say : ―You have your day in court" which means

that you cannot go to jail for no reason. Someone has to say :
"You‘ve done something wrong‖ and they have to show it.

So, this lesson is about the process of how that happens. Ok?
These are called ―handcuffs‖. Usually you see the police, they
put them on you. Well, on you, not on me, if you do
something bad. Or you see bad guys wearing handcuffs. And
the reason why I did handcuffs is because the two things go
together. If you get arrested, you need to go to court. All
right? So let‘s get a start.

You‘ll notice that we have funny pictures up here, so we‘re

going to try and figure out what these pictures mean. The first
one, you notice is an ear. Well, in North America before you
go to a long-term prison, I give you an example, if you drink a
little one night, they can put you in jail for one night, but then
they usually let you go the next day, so there‘s nothing special
about that. But if they want to put you in jail for a longer
period of time, they actually have to give you a ―trial‖. Ok?
That‘s a word up here. But you need to have a ―hearing‖. The
hearing is where you go in front of a judge, and that is a man
or a woman who listens to what you have to say, and they
listen to what the police say, and they decide if they should
say : ―This is it, don‘t worry about it‖ or : ―This is serious, and
we need to go further‖. This will happen in cases of murder
and large theft like $10.000, $100.000, $200.000 or any kind
of sexual crime. If you walk across the street when cars are
coming, don‘t worry about it, wou won‘t need a hearing. But

34
you notice ear is for ―hearing‖. So this will tell you the first
part is a hearing. ―Hearing‖ because the judge needs to hear
what you have to say, because the police have said you‘re
bad, and you get to say : ―Hey look, it wasn‘t me‖ or ―It‘s not
what ... that‘s not what happened‖. So you go for a hearing.

Now, after the hearing, the judge will decide, and they will
decide if you have a ―trial‖. There are two people you must
know will be at the trial. The first is the ―Judge‖. The judge is
the person with ―gavel‖. Bang, that‘s when they tell you the
decision, they hit the gavel. So that will be the judge.

The other person that will be at your trial will be a ―lawyer‖.

Your lawyer, you‘re going to need one. Make sure if you ever
get in this situation, you get a lawyer. In America, it‘s called
an ―attorney‖. They can use both terms, lawyer or attorney.
Lawyer is commonly used through English speaking
countries. Ok?

So there‘s also a lawyer for the other side, because there‘s

you, and you‘re called the ―defense‖. And on the other side,
depending who they‘re representing, the government or
another person, ok?

You go to trial, judge will make a decision. This decision he

will use his gavel and it is called a ―judgement‖ or ―verdict‖.
A judgement or a verdict. This is where they decide if you are
―guilty‖ or ―innocent‖. Innocent means you are good, no jail
time. Guilty means you are bad, ok?

Now, there‘s two little breaks. There‘s a break for a reason. If

the verdict is you are innocent, the charges will be dropped,

35
like a ball. Ok? Charges dropped, no more, you go home,
you‘re free. Ok?

If the charges are not dropped, you will get a ―sentence‖ or

―sentenced‖. This means they will give you a period of time
you must go to jail. They will say : ―Ok, you need to go to jail
for two years plus a day‖ or ―one year‖.

And by the way, those numbers are not just whatever

numbers, there‘s a meaning for why two years plus a day, or
you have to serve a year. It depends on the country you‘re in,
and I will get back to that afterwards a little later. If you get
sentenced you have to go to prison. You‘re locked up. You‘re
very unhappy.

But it is not over yet. You can say : ―Hey, this isn‘t fair. I
actually didn‘t do anything wrong, and I can prove it‖. And
you‘re allowed to do something called ―appeal it‖. An appeal
means you go back up and say : ―I want another judgement‖.
If you‘re lucky, you can get the charges dropped, If not,
you‘re going to serve ―time‖, ok? You go to prison and you
serve time. You do your full sentenced if you don‘t get the
appeal. But when you‘re finished your time, you will be
―released‖.

These are special words : If you go to jail, you are

―convicted‖ of a crime, which means you went to jail. You are
now a ―convict‖. So sometimes you hear people talk about :
―He‘s a convict‖, or short they say : ―He‘s a con‖, and that
means you serve time in prison.

36
And you can do something wrong, but not go to jail, then that
means you are not a convict, nor you have been convicted.
You might be a ―criminal‖ but you‘re not a convict.

So when you watch TV programs, they go : ―That con just go

out‖, or : ―He‘s a convict‖. They‘re saying this person spent
time in prison. Ok? But you could be a criminal and never
convicted of anything. Ok? Keep that in mind.

Sometimes, there are so many cases, court cases right? Going

on that, it‘s very difficult for the judge or the lawyers to get to
you and your case. And what will happen is they will say :
―We‘re going to throw it out‖. And they say : ―Look, you
already went to ... you know, you were in jail for the night,
you waited two years, this is too long, this is not right, so
we‘re going to throw out your case‖. Ok? Because when you
hear somebody say : ―I was ... I had to go to a hearing, then I
went to ... I didn‘t go to court because I threw it out‖ probably
what happened is they took too long, so you go home free, no
problems. Cool?

If something is very small, like you steal a chocolate bar from

a store, or you were driving a little too fast, these are classed
―misdemeanors‖, they are small, you probably won‘t get in
that much trouble. Usually, you get a fine where you must go
and pay money. That‘s it, right? Or you punch somebody,
even, boom, you hit someone, you get a fine, usually, if
there‘s no serious damage.

If you‘re guilty of a ―felony‖ or a ―federal charge‖.

However, if you do things that are considered federal charges
or felonies, there is something specific that takes place.
Number one, there are serious charges. Ok? So felonies and

37
criminal charges are serious. [1] Murder, where you kill
someone, [2] Rape, this was as sexual attack, [3] If you drink
and drive and kill someone, that‘s called ―Manslaughter‖. So
you can drive fast, and you‘ll get a ticket. If you drive and kill
somebody or hit somebody, you‘ll get a felony.

When it‘s a misdemeanor in Canada, you‘re going to go to jail

for less than two years, and the judges will actually say
something like : ―Two years less a day‖, that means you go in
provincial jail or local prison, somewhere close to where you
live. So if you live in Toronto, you‘ll go to Toronto jail, ok?
In Canada, if they say this is criminal charge, it‘s two years
plus a day, that means federal time. That means they move
your butt from where you are to a federal prison. It‘s
considered very serious, that‘s why it‘s murder, serious theft,
or injuring someone badly.

United States is interesting. There‘s serious crimes, they

called ―felonies‖. It‘s the same idea, it‘s a serious crime. But
the difference, here, is this :
 In Canada, they think you‘re a serious criminal and you
need to be in a serious place if you‘re going to jail for
more than two years, because you‘re very dangerous,
they think.
 In America, 12 months is enough. So if you do
something, the judge goes : ―365 days, you‘re going to a
serious prison‖. Now, there‘s one thing I didn‘t write on
the board, but in America they have in many states, like
California, they have what‘s called a ―three strikes rule‖,
that means if you get three felonies in a row, you go to
jail for the rest of your life. So when in the States, be
careful, because the first time you get your first felony
and second, don‘t think : "Oh, I‘ll just get one more". No,

38
 because you‘re going to go to jail for the rest of
your life. All right?

Quiz :
a) The Judge gave her ____________ and I had to go to
jail. [verdict or judgement]
b) In Canada you go to Federal Prison if your sentence is
____________ [2 years plus a day]
c) If the charges are dropped, you will be ____________
[released]
d) The person who helps you in court is your
____________ [lawyer or attorney]

Lesson from Courtney [Youtuber]

from wonder and English
Law and Crime in USA

So we're going to learn some vocabulary and talk about some

fun things like law and order. Let's get start ok? so let's start
with the basics. There are two different types of courts the
first is a civil court and the second is a criminal court.

So the civil court is where they hold disputes like for custody
when two parents are getting divorced and they need to know
who gets the child, they will go to a civil court, or for
example if you go bankrupt and your house goes into
foreclosure, meaning that you can't pay for your house then
you would go to civil court.

But if you stab somebody or if you rob somebody and commit

a serious crime that would go to criminal court, anything that

39
hurts somebody in a serious way that will go to criminal
court.

So all of the facts and all the statements that took place about
the event or the crime that happened are all put in a case.

So that's what is called a case and that case goes to trial. Trial
is synonymous for hearing as well so if you have a hearing. In
the United States you have a trial meaning that you take a
case with all the facts about what happened and you go to a
courthouse.

In the courthouse you sit in front of a judge and a jury. So the

judge is the person who decides whether or not that person is
guilty, and the jury are people from the public that are there to
help the judge decide.

But what about the other people in the court? well there's a lot
of other roles, but I'm going to mention of a few most
important ones for example the plaintiff. Who is the plaintiff?
this is the person that brought the lawsuit to court, so they say
―you did something wrong, we're going to court‖, that is the
plaintiff.

Then you have the offender and this is somebody who is

blamed for whatever went wrong. So the offender is the
person who is bad possibly they're being accused of a crime,
that doesn't mean they committed a crime, it just means that
somebody said they did a crime.

So when someone accuses you something, it just means that

they said that you did, it doesn't mean that you actually did it.

40
Also if you notice there, I said commit a crime, so whenever
somebody does a crime we say commit a crime.

If you're in a criminal court, then actually the person being

accused of a crime is called the defendant because they are
there with their attorney or their lawyer to defend themselves.

So each party gets an attorney, one is a defense attorney and

one is a plaintiff's attorney, and if you've ever seen law and
order, then I'm sure that you've seen a witness take the stand.

So what does that mean when someone takes a stand, they go

and they sit next to the judge and they talk to the people they
talk to the lawyers the audience and the jury on the side and
what they do is they answer the questions that the attorney is
asking them.

So they witnessed the crime or maybe they're talking about a

person's character.

So maybe they didn't see the crime but they are acting as a
witness of that person's character of their morals.

So maybe they're a really good person and they want to say :

―No the defendant couldn't be guilty because I was with him
on that day and he's such a good person I grew up with him,
he would never do that‖.

So when the defendant goes into court they have an innocent

or guilty plea. So a plea is an official statement saying
whether or not you've done something.

41
If you think that you're in and you didn't commit the crime,
you plea innocent. If you plead guilty then you're saying : ―I
did it‖ and you're actually refusing certain rights like a right to
a normal trial.

So we talked earlier about accusing someone of something, so

if I accuse you of doing something, you may have done it or
not, but if you charge someone with something, that means
that you think that they did it and now they're going to be
punished for it.

For example if I murdered someone, I would go to criminal

court and they would accuse me of murder, and then I would
give my testimony, which is my speech saying whether or not
: ―I've done it‖ answering questions things like this and then at
the end the judge will decide to charge me with that murder,
and that's the case where he says : ―yes, you've done this and
now you have to go to jail to pay the consequence of it‖.

So this charge is called the judge's ruling or the verdict, so

whenever you make a decision as a judge, that is your ruling
or your verdict of whether or not that person is innocent or
guilty.

So what does a judge make the decision based off of ? well

there are various things that he takes into account, meaning
that he notices and uses to make his decision.

So one of them is called (1) precedent, and what precedent

means is it took place before and it set the standard for what is
to come. So for example if I accidentally killed somebody,
well the judge would base his decision of how many years I
go to prison based off of a similar case that happened before.

42
So if someone before me, accidentally killed someone in a car
accident and he got five years in prison, and then I did the
same thing or something similar, then I would probably five
years in prison, because of the precedent of the previous case.
So the outcome of the previous case often dictates what will
happen in the future to me.

Another thing that they base it off of is something called (2)

statute. So the statute is simply written laws saying that if you
break this, there are consequences.

The other thing they're going to take into the count is (3) what
the jury thinks and also what the attorneys are saying. So the
most interesting part of law and order are the (4) closing
arguments that the attorneys give, and this is where they go
up in front of the court and basically give a speech saying
whether or not the defendant is guilty, and it's really
interesting because they restate all the facts and they try to do
it in a very persuasive way. So they want to convince the jury
that what they are saying is true so that takes a big part in to
the judge's decision, the closing argument.

So something important that isn't really related to this

specifically is called a class-action lawsuit, and I wanted to
mention this because this is something that you will see very
often in the news, and what is a class-action lawsuit ? well it's
when a bunch of people join forces because they have all
been harmed by one specific entity or multiple entities.

So for example : if I go to the theme park Disney World and a

hundred other people do - and we all go on this one ride, and
then the ride malfunctions and breaks, and a bunch of people

43
get hurt, well me and the hundred other people can join
together into a class and start a lawsuit against that theme
park, and specifically against whoever was in charge of that
ride. So maybe one person will go to court to represent all 100
of us and that is a class-action lawsuit, ok?

So now let's talk about the verbs at court, so the most

important is (1) to sue someone and we say that the United
States is a very litigious society meaning that we like to sue
one another very often for whatever reason.

That's something that people and the United States do so to

sue someone is basically to say you've done something wrong
and now I want money in return.

So that's what happens within the court system and if someone

has harmed you then you could be awarded (2) damages, for
example : if I got into a car accident and I got really hurt and
it was the other person's fault, then they likely would have to
pay me money, because of my injuries, to pay for my medical
bills and any future damages that I don't have to incur, so I
would be awarded damages in that scenario.

So the judge would award me give me damages which is

simply money for the damage that I've had due to their
negligence or due to the car accident.

So the reason why law exists in the first place is because we

need to be held accountable for our actions. So what that
means is that we have to answer for things that we've done, if
we hurt someone we have to answer for that and apologize
and help them.

44
Often times when you see really dramatic law and order
episodes, you will hear someone say : ―I plead the fifth, do
you swear to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the
truth?‖, "I do state your name, I plead the fifth miss Morrison
is just your name, I invoke my right against self-incrimination
as afforded me by the Fifth Amendment of the US
Constitution‖.

So that means that you're (3) pleading to the Fifth Amendment

in the United States. The Fifth Amendment says that you don't
have to speak when it could be self incriminating, which
simply means that if you start talking in court you could
actually say something that would make you go to jail, that
would make you be found guilty and you actually don't legally
have to do that in the United States.

You can just say : "I plead the fifth and not answer the
question‖ that the attorney is asking you.

Also on TV shows like Law & Order you'll often hear an

attorney asking a very difficult question or they'll be asking a
leading question a (4) leading question is something that
people say that actually makes the answer already known
within the question.

So for example If I said : ―you like ice cream, don't you?‖ I'm
already giving them the answer all I really have to do is say
yes I like ice cream but the fact that they like ice cream is
already stated within the question, so that's a very leading
question meaning. It's providing the answer pretty much
already before you say anything, so sometimes an attorney
will ask a leading question like : ―you killed him, didn't
you?‖.

45
And if you say yes then the other attorney that's defending
you will say (5) objection which means that they object to
what is being said they don't want it to be said because it's not
fair and then the judge will either say (6) sustained to the
person asking the question mean meaning stop what you're
asking sustain yourself from asking another question or they
will say (7) overruled.

And earlier we talked about a ruling which is the judge's

decision so when he says overruled that means you can't
object right now. The attorney can actually ask the question I
overrule it so those are really really popular words that you're
going to hear during heated discussions on TV shows like
Law & Order.

Other important verbs are (8) to recess so when kids are at

school and they take a break to go play on a playground this is
called recess, and we also like to use this to take a break from
court so when everybody is active during a court case and in
the trial if you want to take a 15-minute break you say : ―we're
gonna take a recess‖.

It's also really important that attorneys (9) corroborate

evidence so when you corroborate something that means that
you're giving support of the evidence that's in front of you or
in the court in the trial.

So for example if I say John murdered Jane on March 5th at 9

p.m. in their home and then I had a witness testimony saying
yes they were in their house at 9 p.m. that would corroborate
the evidence.

46
Another important word is (10) allege or alleged. So
whenever we accuse someone of something we're saying that
they did it well we also use this with the word allege, so you
could say allegedly they did this meaning supposedly we don't
know for sure.

So that's an important word if you find that someone is not

guilty they are innocent you say they have been acquitted in
the court so the judge acquit them meaning that they're not
found guilty, they are found innocent by the judge and they
can go free.

If they are found guilty you can actually take that case to a
higher court for example we have different tiers of Courts and
the highest is the Supreme Court, so you can take it to the next
tier and say : ―No, that first judge didn't make a good decision,
look at this new evidence, look at these facts I want to take
this to a higher court and have this judge decide‖. The word
for that is (11) to appeal. So you're appealing the decision
made by that lower tier judge and you're asking to redo that
trial with a higher tier judge, ok?

Wonderful, so we've talked about all the law vocabulary, that

I'm going to mention today, if you guys watch a law and order
episode, I guarantee you you will hear these vocabulary
words, but now let's talk about why you would go to court? in
the first place let's talk about all the crimes that people
commit, ok?

So someone commits a crime and they are arrested meaning

you get put in handcuffs and you get taken to jail. The two
levels of crimes are [1] misdemeanors which are low-level

47
and [2] felonies which are intense crimes bad crimes high-
level crimes.

So a misdemeanor is something very basic like pickpocketing

meaning you take something out of somebody's pocket and
you go and run away with it, you rob them but maybe it's just
their wallet or their phone nothing too serious.

A felony is much more intense. So if you kill someone, that's

a felony. If you sell drugs to kids that's a felony. More intense
crimes are felonies and oftentimes here in the United States.

When you want to apply to college or you want to get a new

apartment you actually have to say if you've been convicted of
a crime which means that they said that you did a crime, and
if it's a felony.

So if it's a misdemeanor that's probably not important to say

that you've been convicted of a crime, but if it's a felony that
could actually stop you from being able to go to that school or
stop you from living in that apartment. So if you‘re criminal,
life is not so easy in the United States.

So before someone is convicted of a crime before they are

criminal we call them a suspect. So a suspect is someone that
we think did something but we're not sure and we have
another verb for this which is called suspect, I suspected that
my mom ate my last cookie, so suspect can be used as a noun
or as a verb and is pronounced the same way, ok?

So now let's talk about all of the terrible crimes that people
commit. The first one, I want to mention has a ton of
variations but it's all very similar and that is robbing someone.

48
So taking something from somebody. So we have different
degrees of this and for whatever reason we have lots
of different words to describe different scenarios of robbing
someone.

So let's talk about the first one is burglary, so if you break into
someone's home and you steal things from them that is
burglary. The second is theft theft is a more umbrella term
you can use this in a lot of different scenarios, anything
involving robbing. The third is shoplifting and this is normally
like a little thing that you'll steal from a store, so it's different
to say theft or robbery, you could go into a store with a gun
and be like ―hands up give me all the money in the cash
register‖ that would be robbery, more specifically armed
robbery because you have a gun that means you're armed this
is armed so if I go into the store that's armed robbery, but if I
just go in and 13 years old and I steal a necklace from Claire's,
that's shoplifting.

So they're very different very different meanings, even though

they all connect to the idea of stealing something, and the last
one I want to talk about that most of my students don't know
is mugging someone, so when you steal from someone on the
street, you're not just pickpocketing them you go up to them
and you maybe hit them, you knock them out and then you
take their purse, so there's some sort of assault, assault
involved meaning that you hurt someone.

assault is when somebody is hurt by somebody else. so maybe

I got knocked out and then someone stole my bag they
assaulted me and then mugged me, so mug actually involves
the violent part of it, and robbery the the thievery.

49
So continuing on with violence we also have a difference
between intentional and accidental murder. So if you
intentionally plan to kill someone and then follow through
with it and do it that is called homicide, if you kill someone
intentionally it's called homicide.

If you're driving in your car and you accidentally run someone

over that ran across the road and ran right in front of you it
was a total accident that is called manslaughter,
manslaughter.

Then we have less intense crimes that involve property or

other people's things. So the first is vandalism when
somebody goes to a house and spray paints the wall or
knocks over the fence or throws eggs at the window and
makes it dirty and messed up, that is dualism so you're
damaging somebody's house or someone's property.

If all you do is enter onto the property even though you're not
allowed to because you can't go on someone's private property
without permission so if you walk into somebody's yard or
into someone's house without being given permission that's
called trespassing, so that's also illegal.

and the very last one is embezzlement so this is a white-collar

crime. Let me just mention what white-collar means, there are
two types of colors in the United States there is a white collar
and a blue collar. The collar is the thing right here on the
men's shirt that goes down like in kind of a v-shape like this
you know how it opens up and it folds over, so that's a collar a
white collar worker is somebody that works in an office and
that probably makes good money and they're not doing things
with their hands or with their body, they're not physically

50
laboring away they're just in an office crunching numbers on
the computer, but if you're a blue-collar worker maybe you're
outside and you're building houses and you're cutting lawns
mowing lawns, so that's a blue-collar worker.

So like I was just saying embezzlement is a white-collar

crime meaning that it's not like you're killing someone or
you're in a gang you're just stealing from people who trust you
with their money.

So if people want to invest in a certain company and they

trust you as their financial adviser to give them money and for
you to invest it and then you take all that money and move
away and move to Cuba or Canada, huh or some random
place that's embezzlement, ok?

Jim Newsmen (Youtuber)

Crime and Punishment

Good afternoon, I'm Jim newsmen today's top stories, the

Prime Minister has been arrested for trespassing through a
field of wheat. A Kitten in London has been jailed for murder
and is awaiting trial. Dracula the fictional public domain
character has been accused of robbery. He denies the charge.
This puppy from Liverpool has been sentenced to eight years
in prison for tax evasion in a public statement made by his
lawyer, he said roof and finally Hercules famous for his
impressive strength and amazing ABS has been found guilty
of drug possession and steroid use. Those stories and more
coming up after today's lesson.

If you commit a crime, Than you're a criminal and I or

another police officer will arrest you, take you to jail. Then

51
you'll go to court for your trial. Where a jury might decide the
verdict. Are you guilty or innocent? If you're found guilty,
then you'll go to prison for a long time.

So like own. Don't be a criminal. It's rubbish. It's hot. It's

really hot. Okay So if you do a crime we say you commit a
crime. That's the verb which collocates to crime and all of the
crimes that you'll learn today.

First, Let's look at the violent crimes when someone is hurt or

injured. So the word for hurting or injuring someone in
general doesn't have to be physical. It could be emotional -
But the word is assault.

You might also hear the word battery and in this case where
someone is physically harmed there's a physical injury. It's
actually both you can say this is assault or this is battery.
That's the name of the crime.

But very specifically there is a difference. Battery is when

there is physical harm. That's true of assault. But if there is not
physical damage not a physical injury, perhaps it's a
threat, perhaps you had someone in another way with words
perhaps. That is a type of assault and we're going to learn a
few different types of assault in today's lesson, ok?

Let's say that he punches this guy and, and, Without intention.
He kills him. He only wanted to punch the guy, he didn't want
to kill him, when you kill someone without intention or
perhaps through negligence, Accidentally, that has a specific
name Manslaughter, it's not gender-specific. It's for both male
and female : manslaughter.

52
You commit manslaughter, remember we don't say do
Manslaughter, we don't say do a crime, we say commit a
crime in this case. He committed, It's a regular verb,
Manslaughter, ok? With intention. Let's say you want to kill
the person what's the name of that? If you want to kill
someone and you kill them the name of that crime is,
Commonly it's called murder, you commit murder. It's the
name of the crime and the verb he murdered him.

Again, it's a regular verb, but in law, It's called homicide in a

newspaper. For example : He committed homicide, because it
sounds more formal in conversation, if you're talking about
crimes. You would probably say he committed murder or he
murdered him.

The next crime is about a type of sexual assault when you

force someone to have sex, in Latin languages, I Believe your
word is this or a variation of this in English? the nearest word
is violate, but that doesn't mean to force someone to have sex,
that's different. That crime is called rape, commit rape. So
that's the name of the crime and it's the verb.

That's not the only word confusion with this crime. The
person who commits rape is not a raper or a rapper. No, it's
Rapist, that's the person who commits rape who rapes.

The next crime involves setting fire to places to things if you

set fire to a place or a building or a thing. This crime is called
Arson, the person is an Arsonist, the common mistake. I hear
from students with that situation with fire. You don't say put
fire on the house or put the house on fire new the verb is set
for example the sentence the arsonist set fire to the house or

53
he sets the building the car on fire. Two ways of saying it.
Ok?

The next group of crimes is about stealing, taking something,

which doesn't belong to you. In general when you steal when
you take something, which isn't yours you commit theft. The
name of the person is a thief, the thief commits theft of
course, there are many different types of theft, for example : If
you steal something from a house shop a building or a person
With a weapon or a gun some kind of force, that situation is
called robbery, you commit robbery, notice in this situation,
He is stealing with a weapon, with force, with a threat. So that
is called robbery. He is a robber and the Verb is robbed. So a
whole sentence could be he robbed the bank.

If you enter a building with the intention to steal something

this one is called burglary and the person who does it is called
a burglar, the verb for this is To burgle which is a very fun
word to say, but definitely don't do it. It's bad.

Our next crime happens in the street in a usually a public

place, When she wants to steal his money his phone and she
has a knife. This verb is called To mug, she is mugging him,
the name of the crime his mugging, she committed a mugging
and maybe you've guessed it the name of the person who does
it is a Mugger.

Quick differences between these three for example you wake

up in the morning. Your TV is missing, You were burgled,
someone burgled your house, Someone enters your house and
they have a gun and say give me your TV you were robbed,
So yet this could be he was robbed. She robbed him, It could
be but more specifically in a public place in the street, This is

54
called a mugging. She mugged him, He was mugged, in the
passive, try to practice these with your own examples in the
comments.

So the next thing is maybe a more common crime that

probably you've done, be honest, When you steal something
from a shop, whether it's candy or a t-shirt or anything from a
shop, that is called Shoplifting, and the person is called a
Shoplifter, the verb may be you've guessed it. It's to shoplift.
It's a regular verb shoplift it in the past.

Question for you in the comments, be honest, I won't tell the

police, Have you ever shoplift? it you can be honest. You can
tell me, it's just you and me here. Tell me in the
comments What did you shoplift?

The next few crimes are about stealing a vehicle. Taking

control of a vehicle from someone else. When you steal a car
when you take control of that car from someone else the crime
is Carjacking, when it's a plane. It's hijacking, the verb is to
hijack or carjack the person who commits that crime is
a Carjacker or a hijacker and again, remember all of these
crimes you would say you commit the crime not do the
crime.

For example, this Person committed a hijacking, not did a

hijacking. If someone steals a person that crime is called
Kidnap and that's also the verb the person who commits the
kidnapping is called the kidnapper.
You might read or hear the expression, White-collar crime,
there's a TV show called white collar. What are white collar
crimes? Let's have a look. The first example of a white collar
crime is embezzlement. This is when you steal money, which

55
is in your care. For example you steal money from your
company. That's embezzlement the verb is to embezzle, again
a fun word to say, only person is an embezzler. True story. I
used to teach a guy who's now in prison for embezzlement.

Now taxes are annoying, but you need to pay them if you
don't pay your taxes, That's called Tax evasion. That's the
name of the crime. The person who commits tax evasion is
called a tax evader. The verb we would say this person evaded
tax or of course Committed tax evasion.

The next one is about lying in order to get money. You know
those emails you sometimes get where they write. Hey my
uncle just died he was a millionaire and I can share that
money with you if you first. Send me like a hundred dollars or
whatever. Of course this person is never going to pay you.
This is a crime. This crime is called fraud. That's also the
name of the person who commits fraud you could say this
person is a fraud. This email is a fraud, But fraud is not just
for those emails, It's for anyone who lies or deceive someone
in order to gain something financially or personally.

A policeman stops you, says you have committed a crime and

you say Maybe just ignore the crime and I'll give you money.
This crime is called Bribery, the verb is To bribe, now, there's
no one word for this person who commits bribery. We don't
have a word for that. So an example sentence. He bribed the
policeman also, you should know that bribe is the verb and the
noun, so this money is a bribe. You could say he offered him
a bribe, For example, or he took the bribe or he refused the
bribe? There's bribery happen in your city. Let me know, I
mean if you've done it don't probably don't write it in the
comments, but does it happen?

56
Let me know in the comments, let's imagine, you know,
someone's secret and you tell them. I Want to tell everyone
but I won't say anything if you pay me lots of money, What's
that called? It's called blackmail, that is also a verb so you
can commit blackmail and the person who does it is
a Blackmailer, so an example sentence could be : He
blackmailed him 4 million pounds to keep his secret, Ok?

You know how the Mafia will tell someone who maybe owns
a shop : ―Pay us Protection money and nothing bad will
happen to your shop‖, This is a crime and this is called
Extortion, when you take money from someone usually
through force or a threat. So you think the Mafia that's what
they do the verb is To extort, so the Mafia is extorting.

This guy I know there's a lot of vocabulary here. But

remember the best way to learn the vocabulary is by writing it
down making your own examples. Examples which you can
easily remember. So make the examples funny or crazy or
silly. They're easier to remember than the boring ones.

So those are big crimes, what about the small crimes? the
small crimes in which you might have to pay some money or
Spend a day or two in jail. Those are called Misdemeanors,
those are the smaller crimes. You might just have to pay a
little money a fine.

If You break damage or destroy someone else's property that

is called Vandalism, the verb is To vandalize and the person
who does it is A vandal, so a common argument a common
debate is, is graffiti Vandalism or art are they vandals or
artists? What do you think? Let me know in the comments.

57
Living in London can be quite expensive. So my other job
selling sex, this is called Prostitution, the person who does it
is a Prostitute, you sometimes hear it more informally as a
Hooker in TV shows and movies, most commonly and again,
that's a person who sells sex.

If you enter someone's property or a restricted area without

permission This crime is called Trespassing and trespass
that's the verb you probably know that the person is called a
Trespasser so yeah, true story. Our prime minister said the
naughtiest thing she's ever done was trespassing. She ran
through fields of wheat when she was young. She's so
annoying.

When a person commits a crime a police officer will put

handcuffs on that person. That verb is to arrest the police
officer arrests the criminal. Later that criminal will go to a
building when they have to argue that they didn't do anything
wrong. They didn't commit a crime. This guy is saying you
committed a crime, you did it so you are Guilty, if you're
guilty you did the crime, but you want to say no I didn't do
this crime, I am, I'm innocent. I didn't commit any crime. I
didn't do anything wrong. These guys will hear your story the
other side of the story. They are called the jury, they will
make the decision, whether you're guilty or innocent
and Also, this person will make a decision on whether you're
guilty or innocent. This person controls the court. They are the
judge, we have a word for the decision that is made the
decision of guilty or innocent is The verdict, that's the
decision and they don't say we Decided you're guilty or
innocent. They say we find you guilty or innocent.

58
So for example a sentence could be : ―He was found guilty of
robbery‖. Now, what's the punishment we can talk about the
punishment? with the word sentence. Sentence is a verb and
a noun. So an example sentence could be And he was
sentenced to eight years.

English Grammar Secrets

by Caroline Brown and Pearson Brown

Present continuous

The present continuous is used to talk about present situations

which we see as short term or temporary. We use the present
simple to talk about present situations which we see as long-
term or permanent.

In these examples, the action is taking place at the time of

speaking: It is raining / Who is Kate talking to on the phone? /
Look, somebody is trying to steal that man's wallet / I'm not
looking. My eyes are closed tightly.

In these examples, the action is true at the present time but we

don't think it will be true in the long term : I'm looking for a
new apartment / He's thinking about leaving his job / They're
considering making an appeal against the judgment / Are you
getting enough sleep?

In these examples, the action is at a definite point in the future

and it has already been arranged : I'm meeting her at 6.30 /
They aren't arriving until Tuesday / We are having a special
dinner at a top restaurant for all the senior managers / Isn't he
coming to the dinner?

59
Present simple

We use the present simple to talk about actions we see as long

term or permanent. It is a very common and very important
tense.

Here, we are talking about regular actions or events : They

drive to the office every day / She doesn't come here very
often / The news usually starts at 6.00 every evening / Do you
usually have bacon and eggs for breakfast?

Here, we are talking about facts : We have two children /

Water freezes at 0° C or 32° F / What does this expression
mean? / The Thames flows through London.

Here, we are talking about future facts, usually found in a

timetable or a chart : Christmas Day falls on a Monday this
year / The plane leaves at 5.00 tomorrow morning / Ramadan
doesn't start for another 3 weeks / Does the class begin at 10
or 11 this week?

Here, we are talking about our thoughts and feelings at the

time of speaking. Although these feelings can be short-term,
we use the present simple and not the present continuous :
They don't ever agree with us / I think you are right / She
doesn't want you to do it / Do you understand what I am
trying to say.

Past simple

We use the past simple to talk about actions and states which
we see as completed in the past.

60
We can use it to talk about a specific point in time : She came
back last Friday / I saw her in the street / They didn't agree to
the deal.

It can also be used to talk about a period of time : She lived in

Tokyo for seven years / They were in London from Monday
to Thursday of last week / When I was living in New York, I
went to all the art exhibitions I could.

You will often find the past simple used with time expressions
such as these: Yesterday, three weeks ago, last year, in 2002,
from March to June, for a long time, for 6 weeks, in the
1980s, in the last century, in the past

Past continuous

We use the past continuous to talk about past events which

went on for a period of time.

We use it when we want to emphasize the continuing process

of an activity or the period of that activity. (If we just want to
talk about the past event as a simple fact, we use the past
simple.) : While I was driving home, Peter was trying
desperately to contact me / Were you expecting any visitors? /
Sorry, were you sleeping? / I was just making some coffee / I
was thinking about him last night / In the 1990s few people
were using mobile phones.
We often use it to describe a "background action" when
something else happened : I was walking in the street when I
suddenly fell over / She was talking to me on the phone and it
suddenly went dead / They were still waiting for the plane
when I spoke to them / The company was declining rapidly
before he took charge / We were just talking about it before

61
you arrived / I was making a presentation in front of 500
people when the microphone stopped working.

Present perfect

(Please note that British and American English have different

rules for the use of this tense. The explanation and exercises
here refer to British English. In American English, it is often
acceptable to use the past simple in some of these examples.)

We use the present perfect when we want to look back from

the present to the past.

We can use it to look back on the recent past : I've broken my

watch so I don't know what time it is / They have cancelled
the meeting / She's taken my copy. I don't have one / The
sales team has doubled its turnover.

When we look back on the recent past, we often use the words
'just' 'already' or the word 'yet' (in negatives and questions
only) : We've already talked about that / She hasn't arrived yet
/ I've just done it / They've already met / They don't know yet
/ Have you spoken to him yet? / Have they got back to you
yet?

It can also be used to look back on the more distant past :

We've been to Singapore a lot over the last few years / She's
done this type of project many times before / We've
mentioned it to them on several occasions over the last six
months / They've often talked about it in the past.

When we look back on the more distant past, we often use the
words 'ever' (in questions) and 'never' : Have you ever been to

62
Argentina? / Has he ever talked to you about the problem? /
I've never met Jim and Sally / We've never considered
investing in Mexico.

Present perfect continuous

This tense is used to talk about an action or actions that started

in the past and continued until recently or that continue into
the future:

We can use it to refer to an action that has finished but you

can still see evidence : Oh, the kitchen is a mess. Who has
been cooking? / You look tired. Have you been sleeping
properly? / I've got a a stiff neck. I've been working too long
on computer.

It can refer to an action that has not finished : I've been

learning Spanish for 20 years and I still don't know very much
/ I've been waiting for him for 30 minutes and he still hasn't
arrived / He's been telling me about it for days. I wish he
would stop.

It can refer to a series of actions : She's been writing to her

regularly for a couple of years / He's been phoning me all
week for an answer / The university has been sending students
here for over twenty years to do work experience.

The present perfect continuous is often used with 'since', 'for',

'all week', 'for days', 'lately', 'recently', 'over the last few
months' : I've been wanting to do that for ten years / You
haven't been getting good results over the last few months /
They haven't been working all week. They're on strike / He
hasn't been talking to me for weeks / We've been working

63
hard on it for ages / I've been looking at other options recently
/ He's been working here since 2001.

Irregular verbs

All new verbs in English are regular : I photocopied the report

/ She faxed it to me / They emailed everybody about it / I
googled my name and got more than 20000 responses.

There are approximately 180 irregular verbs. You don't need

to learn all of them because some of these are very rare but
many others are very useful and you do need to know them.

What is the easiest way to learn them? Some people think you
should learn a list 'by heart'. Others think you should not learn
them at all – you will just gradually acquire them over time.
One useful method is to note down new irregular verbs as you
meet them. It is useful to write these verbs (or any vocabulary
you want to learn) in sentences and learn those rather than the
individual word.

Which is easier to learn? stick stuck stuck / I stuck the photo

into my album.

Another technique is to classify the irregular verbs into 4

categories.
1) All forms the same : set set set / cost cost cost
2) Similar sound groups : beat beat beaten / eat ate eaten /
blow blew blown / throw threw thrown / drink drank
drunk / sing sang sung / speak spoke spoken / wake woke
woken
3) The second and third forms are the same : bend bent bent
/ sleep slept slept / spend spent spent / bring brought

64
 brought / buy bought bought /teach taught taught / have
had had / pay paid paid / say said said
4) The "unclassifiable" : come came come / do did done /
go went gone /show showed show

Going to

There is no one 'future tense' in English. There are 4 future

forms. The one which is used most often in spoken English is
'going to', not 'will'.

We use 'going to' when we want to talk about a plan for the
future : I'm going to see him later today / They're going to
launch it next month / We're going to have lunch first / She's
going to see what she can do / I'm not going to talk for very
long.

Notice that this plan does not have to be for the near future :
When I retire I'm going to go back to Barbados to live / In ten
years time, I'm going to be boss of my own successful
company.

We use 'going to' when we want to make a prediction based

on evidence we can see now : Look out! That cup is going to
fall off / Look at those black clouds. It's going to rain soon /
These figures are really bad. We're going to make a loss / You
look very tired. You're going to need to stop soon.

We can replace 'going to go' by 'going' : I'm going out later /

She's going to the exhibition tomorrow.

65
 Will - future

Some people have been taught that 'will' is 'the future' in

English. This is not correct.
Sometimes when we talk about the future we cannot use
'will'.
Sometimes when we use 'will' we are not talking about the
future.

We can use 'will' to talk about future events we believe to be

certain : The sun will rise over there tomorrow morning / Next
year, I'll be 50 / That plane will be late. It always is / There
won't be any snow. I'm certain. It's too warm.

Often we add 'perhaps', 'maybe', 'probably', 'possibly' to make

the belief less certain : I'll probably come back later / He'll
possibly find out when he sees Jenny / Maybe it will be OK /
Perhaps we'll meet again some day.
We often use 'will' with 'I think' or 'I hope' : I think I'll go to
bed now / I think she'll do well in the job / I hope you'll enjoy
your stay / I hope you won't make too much noise.

We use 'will' at the moment we make a new decision or plan.

The thought has just come into our head : Bye. I'll phone you
when I get there / I'll answer that / I'll go / I won't tell him. I
promise.

66
 Shall

We don't use 'Shall' very frequently in modern English,

particularly in American English.

It is used to make offers and suggestions and to ask for advice

: What time shall we meet? / Shall we vote on it now? / What
dress shall I wear? / Shall I open the window?
You only really need to know that about 'shall' in modern
English. Read the rest of this only if you want to know more
about how some older speakers still use 'shall'.

Formerly, in older grammar, 'shall' was used as an alternative

to 'will' with 'I' and 'we'. Today, 'will' is normally used. When
we do use 'shall', it has an idea of a more personal, subjective
future : I shall go to see the boss and I shall ask him to explain
this decision

Notice that the negative of 'shall' can be 'shall not' or 'shan't' –

though the second one is now very rare in American English :
I don't like these people and I shall not go to their party / I
shan't object if you go without me.

The imperative

We can use the imperative to give a direct order : Take that

chewing gum out of your mouth / Stand up straight / Give me
the details.

We can use the imperative to give instructions : Open your

book / Take two tablets every evening / Take a left and then a
right.

67
We can use the imperative to make an invitation : Come in
and sit down. Make yourself at home / Please start without
me. I'll be there shortly / Have a piece of this cake. It's
delicious.

We can use the imperative on signs and notices : Push / Do

not use / Insert one dollar.

We can use the imperative to give friendly informal advice :

Speak to him. Tell him how you feel / Have a quiet word with
her about it / Don't go. Stay at home and rest up. Get some
sleep and recover.
We can make the imperative 'more polite' by adding 'do' : Do
be quiet / Do come / Do sit down.
The Passive
We use the active form to say what the subject does. For
example : I speak English every day at work / I repaired the
flat tire on the car.

We use the passive form to say what happens to people and

things, to say what is done to them. For example : English is
spoken here / The car is being repaired.

We use the passive form when we don't know who did the
action. For example : The car was damaged while it was
parked on the street / The shirts were made in Turkey.
We use the passive form when what was done is more
important than who did it. For example : It was approved by
Gerry last week / I was informed by the Human Resources
Manager only two days ago.

68
 The -ing form

The –ing form can be used like a noun, like an adjective or

like a verb : Smoking is forbidden / I have a long working day
/ I don't like dancing.

When it is used like a noun it may or may not have an article

before it : Marketing is a very inexact science / The marketing
of the product will continue for a few months yet.

It can also be part of a 'noun phrase' : Speaking to an audience

is always stressful / Swimming after work is very relaxing.

In formal English, we would use a possessive with the –ing

form. In informal English, many people do not : I'm angry
about his missing the meeting / Do you mind my coming?

As an adjective, the –ing form can be used before a noun : I

was met by a welcoming party at the airport / Let's go to the
meeting room.

The –ing form is used after prepositions : Before leaving, you

need to speak to Sarah / After discussing it with her, I've
changed my mind / Instead of feeling sorry for yourself, do
some work for charity

Notice that when 'to' is used as a preposition, it is followed by

the –ing form : I don't object to working this Sunday / I'm
looking forward to seeing him again / I'm used to working
long hours.

There are many verb + -ing combinations. Here are some

common ones : I admit telling her / I appreciate having

69
the raise / I avoid speaking to him / I consider blowing your
nose in public to be wrong / I delayed coming until the last
possible moment / He denied telling her / I detest going to
parties / I enjoy dancing / I feel like having a party / I've
finished writing the report / I've given up going to the gym / I
can't help thinking about it / I can't imagine ever leaving this
company / I don't mind doing that / He put off talking to her
as long as he could / I can't stand drinking beer.

Some verbs can be followed by either the infinitive or –ing

form but with different meanings. Here are some common
ones : I stopped smoking last month. (I no longer smoke.) / I
stopped to smoke a cigarette. (I stopped what I was doing and
had a cigarette.) / I remember telling him. (A memory of the
past.) / I must remember to tell him. (Something to remember
for the future.) / I'm interested in finding out more details.
(Interested about the future.) / I was interested to read his
report. (Interested in the past.)

Some verbs can be followed by either the infinitive or –ing

form but with the same meaning. Here are some common
ones : I love to go shopping / I love going shopping / I'm
afraid to fly / I'm afraid of flying / I started to learn English 5
years ago / I started learning English 5 years ago.

Can

We use 'can' to talk about 'possibility' : Can you do that? I

can't manage to do that / You can leave your car in that
parking space / You cannot smoke in here.

70
Notice that there are two negative forms: 'can't' and 'cannot'.
These mean exactly the same thing. When we are speaking,
we usually say 'can't'.

We use 'can' to talk about 'ability' : I can speak French / I can't

drive.

We use 'can' to ask for and give permission. (We also use
'may' for this but is more formal and much less common) :
Can I speak to you or are you too busy? / You can use my
phone / You can't come in.

We use 'can' in offers, requests and instructions : Can I help? /

Can you give me a hand? / When you finish that, you can take
out the garbage.

We use 'can' with 'see' 'hear' 'feel' 'smell' 'taste' to talk about
something which is happening now . (Where you would use
the present continuous with most other verbs) : I can smell
something burning / Can you hear that noise? / I can't see
anything.

We can use 'can't' for deduction. The opposite of 'can't' in this

context is 'must' : You can't be hungry. You've just eaten /
You must be hungry. You haven't eaten anything all day / He
was in London one hour ago when I spoke to him. He can't be
here yet.

Could

'Could' can be used to talk about the past, the present or the
future. 'Could' is a past form of 'can' ; When I was living in
Boston, I could

71
walk to work / He phoned to say he couldn't come / I could
see him clearly but I couldn't hear him and then the video
conference line went dead.

'Could' is used to make polite requests. We can also use 'can'

for these but 'could' is more polite : Could you help me,
please? / Could you lend me some money? / Could I have a
lift? / Could I bother you for a moment?

If we use 'could' in reply to these requests, it suggests that we

do not really want to do it. If you agree to the request, it is
better to say 'can' : Of course I can / I could help you if it's
really necessary but I'm really busy right now / I could lend
you some money but I'd need it back tomorrow without fail / I
could give you a lift as far as Birmingham.

'Could' is used to talk about theoretical possibility and is

similar in meaning to 'might' : It could rain later. Take an
umbrella / He could be there by now / Could he be any
happier? / It could be Sarah's.

May / might

We can use 'may' to ask for permission. However this is rather

formal and not used very often in modern spoken English :
May I borrow your pen? / May we think about it? / May I go
now?

We use 'may' to suggest something is possible : It may rain

later today / I may not have time to do it today / Pete may
come with us.

72
We use 'might' to suggest a small possibility of something.
Often we read that 'might' suggests a smaller possibility that
'may', there is in fact little difference and 'might is more usual
than 'may' in spoken English : She might be at home by now
but it's not sure at all / It might rain this afternoon / I might
not have time to go to the shops for you / I might not go.

For the past, we use 'might have' : He might have tried to call
while I was out / I might have dropped it in the street.

Should

We use 'should' for giving advice : You should speak to him

about it / He should see a doctor / We should ask a lawyer.

We use 'should' to give an opinion or a recommendation : He

should resign now / We should invest more in Asia / They
should do something about this terrible train service.

'Should' expresses a personal opinion and is much weaker and

more personal than 'must' or 'have to'. It is often introduced by
' I think' : I think they should replace him / I don't think they
should keep the contract / Do you think we should tell her.

We can use 'should' after 'reporting verbs' such as demand

insist propose recommend suggest : He demanded that we
should pay for the repair / She insisted that she should pay for
the meal / I have proposed that he should take charge of the
organization / The committee recommends that Jane should be
appointed / We have suggested that Michael should be given a
reward for his hard work.

73
However, it is also possible to say exactly the same thing by
omitting the 'should' and just using the infinitive form without
'to'. Some people call this the 'subjunctive' form : He
demanded that we pay for the repair / She insisted that she pay
for the meal / I have proposed that he take charge of the
organization / The committee recommends that Jane be
appointed / We have suggested that Michael be given a
reward for his hard work.

We can use 'should' after various adjectives. Typical examples

are funny interesting natural odd strange surprised surprising
typical: It's funny that you should say that. I was thinking
exactly the same thing / It's interesting that they should offer
him the job. Not an obvious choice / It's natural that you
should be anxious. Nobody likes speaking in public / Isn't it
odd that he should be going to the same tiny hotel? What a
coincidence / It's strange that you should think so. Nobody
else does.

We can use 'should' in 'if clauses' when we believe that the

possibility of something happening is small : If you should
happen to see him before I do, can you tell him that I want to
speak to him urgently? / If there should be a problem, just
give me a call and I'll sort it out / If anyone should ask where I
am, say I'm in a meeting.

We use 'should' in various fixed expressions. (a) To show

strong agreement : They're paying you compensation? I
should think so. (b) To express pleasure when you receive a
gift: What a fantastic present. You really should not have (c)
To emphasize a visible emotion: You should have seen the
look on her face when she found out that she had got the
promotion.

74
 Must or have to

We can use 'must' to show that we are certain something is

true. We are making a logical deduction based upon some
clear evidence or reason: There's no heating on. You must be
freezing / You must be worried that she is so late coming
home / I can't remember what I did with it. I must be getting
old / It must be nice to live in Florida.

We also use 'must' to express a strong obligation. When we

use 'must' this usually means that some personal circumstance
makes the obligation necessary (and the speaker almost
certainly agrees with the obligation): I must go to bed earlier /
They must do something about it / You must come and see us
some time / I must say, I don't think you were very nice to
him.

We can also use 'have to' to express a strong obligation. When

we use 'have to' this usually means that some external
circumstance makes the obligation necessary: I have to arrive
at work at 9 sharp. My boss is very strict / We have to give
him our answer today or lose out on the contract / You have to
pass your exams or the university will not accept you / I have
to send a report to Head Office every week.

In British English, we often use 'have got to' to mean the same
as 'have to'; I've got to take this book back to the library or I'll
get a fine / We've got to finish now as somebody else needs
this room

We can also use ' will have to' to talk about strong obligations.
Like 'must' this usually means that that some personal
circumstance makes the obligation necessary. Remember that

75
'will' is often used to show 'willingness'): I'll have to speak to
him / We'll have to have lunch and catch up on all the gossip /
They'll have to do something about it / I'll have to get back to
you on that.

As you can see, the differences between the present forms are
sometimes very small and very subtle. However, there is a
huge difference in the negative forms : We use 'mustn't' to
express strong obligations NOT to do something / We mustn't
talk about it. It's confidential / I mustn't eat chocolate. It's bad
for me / You mustn't phone me at work. We aren't allowed
personal calls / They mustn't see us talking or they'll suspect
something.

We use 'don't have to' (or 'haven't got to' in British English) to
state that there is NO obligation or necessity: We don't have to
get there on time. The boss is away today / I don't have to
listen to this. I'm leaving / You don't have to come if you don't
want to / He doesn't have to sign anything if he doesn't want
to at this stage / I haven't got to go. Only if I want to

Zero conditional

When we talk about things that are generally or always true,

we can use: If/When/Unless + a present form + present simple
or imperative: If he gets there before me, ask him to wait /
When you fly budget airline, you have to pay for your drinks
and snacks / Unless you need more space, a small car is big
enough for one person.

Note that we are not talking about a specific event but

something which is generally true. In the condition clause, we
can use a variety of present forms. In the result clause, there

76
can only be the present simple or imperative: If you visit
London, go on the London Eye / If unemployment is rising,
people tend to stay in their present jobs / If you've done that,
go and have a coffee / When you go on holiday, take plenty of
sun cream. It'll be very hot / When I'm concentrating, please
don't make so much noise / When I've finished an article, I
always ask Kate to read it through.

Notice that 'unless' means the same as 'if not': Unless he asks
you politely, refuse to do any more work on the project /
Unless prices are rising, it's not a good investment / Unless
you've been there yourself, you don't really understand how
fantastic it is.

The first conditional

We use the First Conditional to talk about future events that

are likely to happen : If we take John, he'll be really pleased /
If you give me some money, I'll pay you back tomorrow / If
they tell us they want it, we'll have to give it to them / If Mary
comes, she'll want to drive.

The 'if' clause can be used with different present forms: If I go

to New York again, I'll buy you a souvenir from the Empire
State Building / If he's feeling better, he'll come / If she hasn't
heard the bad news yet, I'll tell her.
The "future clause" can contain 'going to' or the future perfect
as well as 'will': If I see him, I'm going to tell him exactly how
angry I am / If we don't get the contract, we'll have wasted a
lot of time and money.

The "future clause" can also contain other modal verbs such
as 'can' and 'must': If you go to New York, you must have the

77
cheesecake in Lindy's / If he comes, you can get a lift home
with him.

Second conditional

The Second Conditional is used to talk about 'impossible'

situations: If we were in London today, we would be able to
go to the concert in Hyde Park / If I had millions dollars, I'd
give a lot to charity / If there were no hungry people in this
world, it would be a much better place / If everyone had clean
water to drink, there would be a lot less disease.

Note that after I / he/ she /it we often use the subjunctive form
'were' and not 'was'. (Some people think that 'were' is the only
'correct' form but other people think 'was' is equally 'correct'.):
If she were happy in her job, she wouldn't be looking for
another one / If I lived in Japan, I'd have sushi every day / If
they were to enter our market, we'd have big problems.

Note the form 'If I were you' which is often used to give
advice: If I were you, I'd look for a new place to live / If I
were you, I'd go back to school and get more qualifications.

The Second Conditional is also used to talk about 'unlikely'

situations: If I went to China, I'd visit the Great Wall / If I was
the President, I'd reduce taxes / If you were in my position,
you'd understand.

Note that the choice between the first and the second
conditional is often a question of the speaker's attitude rather
than of facts. Compare these examples: Otto thinks these
things are possible, Peter doesn't / Otto

78
– If I win the lottery, I'll buy a big house. Peter – If I won the
lottery, I'd buy a big house / Otto – If I get promoted, I'll
throw a big party. Peter – If I got promoted, I'd throw a big
party / Otto – If my team win the Cup, I'll buy champagne for
everybody. Peter – If my team won the Cup, I'd buy
champagne for everybody.
Note that the 'If clause' can contain the past simple or the past
continuous: If I was still working in Brighton, I would
commute by train / If she were coming, she would be here by
now / If they were thinking of selling, I would want to buy.

Note that the main clause can contain 'would' 'could' or 'might:
If I had the chance to do it again, I would do it differently / If
we met up for lunch, we could go to that new restaurant / If I
spoke to him directly, I might be able to persuade him.

Also note that sometimes the 'if clause' is implied rather than
spoken: What would I do without you? ("if you weren't here")
/ Where would I get one at this time of night? ("if I wanted
one") / He wouldn't agree. ("if I asked him")

Third conditional

We can use the Third Conditional to talk about 'impossible'

conditions, impossible because they are in the past and we
cannot change what has happened: If I had worked harder at
school, I would have got better grades / If I had had time, I
would have gone to see him. But I didn't have time / If we had
bought that house, we would have had to rebuild the kitchen /
If we had caught the earlier train, we would have got there on
time but we were late.

79
Notice that the main clause can contain 'would', 'could' or
'might: If I had seen him at the meeting, I would have asked
him. (But he wasn't there so I didn't) / If I had seen him at the
meeting, I could have asked him. ( But he wasn't there so it
wasn't possible)/ If I had seen him at the meeting, I might
have asked him. (But I'm not sure. Perhaps if the opportunity
had arisen) / If I had paid more attention in class, I would
have understood the lesson.

Also notice that sometimes the 'if clause' is implied rather

than spoken: I'd have done it. ("if you had asked me but you
didn't") / I wouldn't have said that. ("if I'd been there.") / He
wouldn't have let him get away with that. ("if he had tried that
with me.")

Wish

Let's start off with the easy part. 'I wish to' can mean the same
as 'I want to' but it is much, much more formal and much,
much less common: I wish to make a complaint / I wish to see
the manager.

You can also use 'wish' with a noun to 'offer good wishes': I
wish you all the best in your new job / We wish you a merry
Christmas.

Notice that when you want to offer good wishes using a verb,
you must use 'hope ' and not 'wish': We wish you the best of
luck / We hope you have the best of luck / I wish you a safe
and pleasant journey / I hope you have a safe and pleasant
journey.

80
However, the main use of 'wish' is to say that we would like
things to be different from what they are, that we have regrets
about the present situation: I wish I was rich / He wishes he
lived in Paris / They wish they'd chosen a different leader.

Notice that the verb tense which follows 'I wish' is 'more in
the past' than the tense corresponding to its meaning: I'm too
fat. I wish I was thin / I never get invited to parties. I wish I
got invited to parties / It's raining. I wish it wasn't raining / I
went to see the latest Star Wars film. I wish I hadn't gone /
I've eaten too much. I wish I hadn't eaten so much / I'm going
to visit her later. I wish I wasn't going to visit her later.

In the case of 'will' , where 'will' means 'show willingness' we

use 'would': He won't help me. I wish he would help me /
You're making too much noise. I wish you would be quiet /
You keep interrupting me. I wish you wouldn't do that.

Where 'will' means a future event, we cannot use 'wish' and

must use 'hope': There's a strike tomorrow. I hope some buses
will still be running / I hope everything will be fine in your
new job.

In more formal English, we use the subjunctive form 'were'

and not 'was' after 'wish': I wish I were taller / I wish it were
Saturday today / I wish he were here.

Had better

We use ―had better‖ plus the infinitive without ―to‖ to give

advice. Although ―had‖ is the past form of ―have‖, we use
―had better‖ to give advice about the present or future: You'd

81
better tell her everything / I'd better get back to work / We'd
better meet early.

The negative form is ―had better not‖: You'd better not say
anything / I'd better not come / We'd better not miss the start
of his presentation.

We use ―had better‖ to give advice about specific situations,

not general ones. If you want to talk about general situations,
you must use ―should‖: You should brush your teeth before
you go to bed / I shouldn't listen to negative people / He
should dress more appropriately for the office.

When we give advice about specific situations, it is also

possible to use ―should‖: You shouldn't say anything / I
should get back to work / We should meet early.
However, when we use ―had better‖ there is a suggestion that
if the advice is not followed, that something bad will happen:
You'd better do what I say or else you will get into trouble /
I'd better get back to work or my boss will be angry with me /
We'd better get to the airport by five or else we may miss the
flight.

Used to

Used to do. We use 'used to' for something that happened

regularly in the past but no longer happens: I used to smoke a
packet a day but I stopped two years ago / Ben used to travel a
lot in his job but now, since his promotion, he doesn't / I used
to drive to work but now I take the bus.

We also use it for something that was true but no longer is:
There used to be a cinema in the town but now there isn't /

82
She used to have really long hair but she's had it all cut off / I
didn't use to like him but now I do.

'Used to do' is different from 'to be used to doing' and 'to get
used to doing' to be used to doing. We use 'to be used to
doing' to say that something is normal, not unusual: I'm used
to living on my own. I've done it for quite a long time / Hans
has lived in England for over a year so he is used to driving on
the left now / They've always lived in hot countries so they
aren't used to the cold weather here.

We use 'to get used to doing' to talk about the process of

something becoming normal for us: I didn't understand the
accent when I first moved here but I quickly got used to it /
She has started working nights and is still getting used to
sleeping during the day / I have always lived in the country
but now I'm beginning to get used to living in the city.

Asking questions

The basic rule for asking questions in English is invert the

order of the subject and the first auxiliary verb: It is snowing.
= Is it snowing? / He can speak German. = Can he speak
German? / They have lived here a long time. = Have they
lived here a long time? / She will arrive at ten o'clock. = Will
she arrive at ten o'clock? / He was driving fast. = Was he
driving fast? / You have been smoking. = Have you been
smoking?

If there is no auxiliary, use part of the verb 'to do': You speak
fluent French. = Do you speak fluent French? / She lives in
Brussels. = Does she live in Brussels? / They lived in

83
Manchester. = Did they live in Manchester? / He had an
accident. = Did he have an accident?

Most questions with question words are made in the same

way: How often does she use it? / Why don't you come? /
Where do you work? / How many did you buy? / What time
did you go? / Which one do you like? / Whose car were you
driving?

Note who, what and which can be the subject. Compare: Who
is coming to lunch? (who is the subject of the verb) - Who do
you want to invite to lunch? (you is the subject of the verb) -
What happened? (what is the subject of the verb) - What did
you do? (you is the subject of the verb)

Note the position of the prepositions in these questions: Who

did you speak to? / What are you looking at? / Where does he
come from?

Question tags

We use tags in spoken English but not in formal written

English. They are not really questions but are a way of asking
the other person to make a comment and so keep the
conversation open.

Making a tag is very mechanical. To make a tag, use the first

auxiliary. If there is no auxiliary, use do, does or did. With a
positive sentence, make a negative tag and with a negative
sentence, make a positive tag: It's beautiful, isn't it? / He has
been, hasn't he? / You can, can't you? / It must be, mustn't it? /
You know him, don‘t you? / He finished it, didn't he? / He
will come, won't he? / It isn't very good, is it? / It hasn't

84
rained, has it? / It can't be, can it? / Jenny doesn't know James,
does she? / They didn't leave, did they? / He won‘t do it, will
he?

Notice these: There isn't an ATM here, is there? / Let's have a

cup of coffee, shall we?

To reply, use the same auxiliary: It's beautiful, isn't it? ~ Yes,
it is. I think it's fabulous / It isn't very good, is it? ~ No, it
isn't. In fact, it's terrible.

Although, the rules are very simple and mechanical, in order

to use them easily in conversation, they have to be automatic.
So you need to hear and practice them very often.

Reported speech

We use reported speech when we are saying what other

people say, think or believe: He says he wants it / We think
you are right / I believe he loves her / Yesterday you said you
didn't like it but now you do! / She told me he had asked her
to marry him / I told you she was ill / We thought he was in
Australia.

When we are reporting things in the present, future or present

perfect we don't change the tense: He thinks he loves her / I'll
tell her you are coming / He has said he'll do it.
When we tell people what someone has said in the past , we
generally make the tense 'more in the past': You look very
nice. = I told him he looked very nice / He's working in
Siberia now. = She told me he was working in Siberia now /
Polly has bought a new car. = She said Polly had bought a
new car / Jo can't come for the weekend. = She said Jo

85
couldn't come for the weekend / Paul called and left a
message. = He told me Paul had called and had left me a
message / I'll give you a hand. = He said he would give me a
hand.

However, when we are reporting something that was said in

the past but is still true, it is not obligatory to make the tense
'more in the past'. The choice is up to the speaker. For
example: (a) "The train doesn't stop here.": He said the train
doesn't stop here / He said the train didn't stop here. (b) "I like
Sarah.": She said she likes Sarah / She said she liked Sarah.

When we are reporting what was said, we sometimes have to

change other words in the sentence. We have to change the
pronoun if we are reporting what someone else said. Compare
these two sentences. In each case the person actually said "I
don't want to go": I said I didn't want to go / Bill said he didn't
want to go.

We have to change words referring to 'here and now' if we are

reporting what was said in a different place or time. Compare
these two sentences. In each case the person actually said "I'll
be there at ten tomorrow": (If it is later the same day) He said
he would be there at ten tomorrow / (If it is the next day) He
said he would be there at ten today.
Now compare these two sentences: (If we are in a different
place) He said he would be there tomorrow at ten / (If we are
in the place he is coming to) He said he would be here at ten
tomorrow.

We also use reported speech when we are saying what other

people asked or wanted to know. We do not use do or
question marks in indirect questions : "What time is it?" = He

86
asked me what time it was / "Why hasn't he come? = She
wondered why he hadn't come / "When will you be arriving?"
= He wanted to know when we would be arriving / "What
were you doing?" = They questioned him about what he had
been doing.

We use the same structure when we report answers: "147 Oak

Street." = I told him what my address was / "I didn't have time
to do it." = She explained why she hadn't done it / "Look at
this dress and bag." = She showed me what she had bought /
"Put the paper here and press this button." = He demonstrated
how the scanner worked.

Yes/no questions are reported with if or whether: Do you want

a ride? = Mike asked me if I wanted a ride / Are you coming?
= They wanted to know if I was coming / Will you be here
later? = She asked me whether I would be here later.

Suppose

We often use 'suppose' to mean 'imagine' or 'guess': I suppose

you'll be meeting Danielle when you go to Paris? / When you
weren't there, I supposed you must have been held up / I
suppose you two know each other?

Notice that 'suppose' is not normally used in the continuous

form. We DO NOT usually say 'I am supposing': Now I
suppose we'll have to do something else / We're waiting for
John and I suppose he must be stuck in traffic / At this
moment I suppose it doesn't matter.

Notice that for 'imagine not' or 'guess not' that we make

'suppose' negative, not the other verb: I don't suppose you

87
know where Mary is? / I don't suppose he'll do anything / I
don't suppose you have a Nokia phone charger here?

When responding to an idea with 'suppose', you can use 'so' to

avoid repeating the idea that has already been expressed: Is
Susan coming to this meeting? ~ I suppose so.

'Supposed to be' can be used to mean 'it is said/believed': The

new James Bond movie is supposed to be excellent / He is
supposed to have been rude to Mark but I don't believe it / It is
supposed to be the best restaurant in town.

'Supposed to be' can also be used to talk about what is

arranged, intended or expected. It is a bit like 'should': I'm
supposed to get to work by 8 / John is supposed to turn off all
the lights when he leaves / I'm supposed to pay my rent on the
first of the month / It's not supposed to be here.

Often there is a suggestion that the action 'supposed to'

happen does not actually happen: I'm supposed to be there
before 8 but I'm often late / You were supposed to phone me /
I'm supposed to be getting on a plane to Tokyo at this very
minute.

'Not supposed to' often suggests that something is not allowed

or prohibited: You're not supposed to smoke in here / I'm not
supposed to tell you / We're not supposed to use the Internet
for personal reasons at work.

'Suppose' can also be used as a conjunction to mean 'what if'.

Notice that the verb which follows it is sometimes, but not
always, put 'more in the past': Suppose we take the earlier
train to Munich? It would give us more time there / Suppose

88
we took the plane instead? That would give us even more time
/ There's nobody in reception to let our visitors in. Suppose I
sit there until somebody comes? / I'm going to ask him for a
pay increase. ~ Suppose he said 'no'? What would you do?

Have something done

If you 'have something done', you get somebody else to do

something for you: I'm going to have my hair cut / She's
having her house redecorated / I'm having a copy of the report
sent to you
In informal English, we can replace 'have' by 'get': We're
getting a new telephone system installed / They will be getting
the system repaired as quickly as they can / I got the bill sent
direct to the company

We can also use 'have/got something done' in situations where

something bad has happened to people or their possessions.
This is not something they wanted to happen: John had all his
money stolen from his hotel bedroom / We had our car
damaged by a falling tree / I got my nose broken playing
rugby.

Should have

We can use 'should have' to talk about past events that did not
happen: I should have let her know what was happening but I
forgot / He should have sent everybody a reminder by email /
They should have remembered that their guests don't eat pork.

We can also use 'should have' to speculate about events that

may or may not have happened: She should have got the letter
this morning. I expect she'll give us a call about it later / He

89
should have arrived at his office by now. Let's try ringing him
/ They should have all read that first email by this stage. It's
time to send the next one.

We can use ' should not have' to speculate negatively about

what may or may not have happened: She shouldn't have left
work yet. I'll call her office / He shouldn't have boarded his
plane yet. We can probably still get hold of him / They
shouldn't have sent the report off for printing yet. There is still
time to make changes.

We can also use 'should not have' to regret past actions: I

shouldn't have shouted at you. I apologize / We shouldn't have
left the office so late. We should have anticipated this bad
traffic / They shouldn't have sacked him. He was the most
creative person on their team.

Can have / Could have

We can use 'could have' to talk about something somebody

was capable of doing but didn't do: I could have gone to
Oxford University but I preferred Harvard / She could have
married him but she didn't want to / They could have bought a
house here 20 years ago but chose not to.

Often, there is a sense of criticism: You could have phoned

me to let me know / They could have helped me instead of
just sitting there / I could have done more to help you. Sorry.

We can use 'couldn't have' to talk about something we were

not capable of doing: I couldn't have managed without you / I
couldn't have got the job. He was always going to appoint his

90
nephew / I couldn't have enjoyed myself more. Thank you for
a lovely day.

We can use 'could have' to speculate about what has

happened. (We can also use 'may have' or 'might have' in
these situations): She could have taken the earlier train /
Simon could have told her / They could have overheard what
we said.

We can also use 'can have' to speculate about what has

happened but only in questions and negative sentences and
with words such as 'hardly', 'never' and 'only': Can she have
forgotten about our meeting? / He can't have seen us / They
can hardly have thought that I was not interested in the job.

We can also use 'could have' to speculate about something

that didn't happen: You could have broken your neck, jumping
out the window like that / He could have hurt somebody,
throwing a bottle out of the window like that / I could have
done well in my exam if I'd worked harder.

You can also use 'could have' to talk about possible present
situations that have not happened: I could have been earning a
lot as an accountant but the work was just too boring / He
could have been Prime Minister now but he got involved in a
big financial scandal / They could have been the market
leaders now if they had taken his advice.

Will be doing

We can use 'will be doing' to talk about something that will be

in progress at a particular moment in the future: This time
next week, I'll be sitting on the beach in Barbados / I'll be

91
thinking about you all back in the office – and I'll be laughing
/ We'll be enjoying ourselves too, boss. We won't be doing
any work while you are not here.

We can use 'will be doing' to talk about future events that are
fixed or decided: I'll be visiting your country on a regular
basis. In fact, I'm going to be coming next month / He'll be
looking after the factory until we can appoint a new manager /
They'll be thinking about this very carefully over the next few
months.

We can use 'will be doing' to predict what is happening now:

Try phoning his hotel. He'll probably still be having breakfast
/ They'll be deciding who gets the contract at this very
moment. I'm very nervous / She's not in her office. She'll be
having lunch in the canteen.

We can use 'will be doing' to ask extremely politely, and with

no pressure, about future plans: Will you be eating with us
this evening? / Will you be needing anything else? / Will they
be joining us for dinner?

Will have done

We can use 'will have done' to talk about what will have been
achieved by a certain moment in time: We'll have been in
these offices for eight years next month / She'll have visited
ten countries in twelve days by the time she gets back / I'll
have finished this project by Friday.

If we want to emphasize the continuity of the activity, we can

use the continuous form: I'll have been working here for 35
years by the time I retire / She'll have been driving for more

92
than fifteen hours straight by the time she gets here / They'll
have been working with us for 15 years by the end of this
year.

We can also use 'will have done' to predict what we think has
already happened at present: He'll have already read the report
by now. Too late to change it / She'll have boarded her plane.
It's too late to contact her / They'll have decided by now. We
should hear the result today or tomorrow.

THE COMMON LAW AND CIVIL LAW TRADITIONS

Most nations today follow one of two major legal

traditions : common law or civil law. The common law
tradition emerged in England during the Middle Ages and was
applied within British colonies across continents. The civil
law tradition developed in continental Europe at the same
time and was applied in the colonies of European imperial
powers such as Spain and Portugal.

Civil law was also adopted in the

19th and 20th centuries by countries formerly possessing
distinctive legal traditions, such as Russia and Japan, that
sought to reform their legal systems in order to gain economic
and political power comparable to that of

Western European nation-states.

To an American familiar with the terminology and process of
our legal system, which is based on English common law,
civil law systems can be unfamiliar and confusing. Even
though England had many profound cultural ties to the rest of
Europe in the Middle Ages, its legal tradition developed
differently from that of the continent for a number of

93
historical reasons, and one of the most fundamental ways in
which they diverged was in the establishment of judicial
decisions as the basis of common law and legislative
decisions as the basis of civil law. Before looking at the
history, let‘s examine briefly what this means.

Common law is generally un-codified. This means that there

is no comprehensive compilation of legal rules and statutes.
While common law does rely on some scattered statutes,
which are legislative decisions, it is largely based on
precedent, meaning the judicial decisions that have already
been made in similar cases. These precedents are maintained
over time through the records of the courts as well as
historically documented in collections of case law known as
yearbooks and reports. The precedents to be applied in the
decision of each new case are determined by the presiding
judge. As a result, judges have an enormous role in shaping
American and British law. Common law functions as an
adversarial system, a contest between two opposing parties
before a judge who moderates. A jury of ordinary people
without legal training decides on the facts of the case. The
judge then determines the appropriate sentence based on the
jury‘s verdict.

Civil Law, in contrast, is codified. Countries with civil law

systems have comprehensive, continuously updated legal
codes that specify all matters capable of being brought before
a court, the applicable procedure, and the appropriate
punishment for each offense. Such codes distinguish between
different categories of law: substantive law establishes which
acts are subject to criminal or civil prosecution, procedural
law establishes how to determine whether a particular action
constitutes a criminal act, and penal law establishes the

94
appropriate penalty. In a civil law system, the judge‘s role is
to establish the facts of the case and to apply the provisions of
the applicable code. Though the judge often brings the formal
charges, investigates the matter, and decides on the case, he or
she works within a framework established by a
comprehensive, codified set of laws. The judge‘s decision is
consequently less crucial in shaping civil law than the
decisions of legislators and legal scholars who draft and
interpret the codes.

Historical Development of Civil Law

The term civil law derives from the Latin ius civile, the law
applicable to all Roman cives or citizens. Its origins and
model are to be found in the monumental compilation of
Roman law commissioned by the Emperor Justinian in the
sixth century CE. While this compilation was lost to the West
within decades of its creation, it was rediscovered and made
the basis for legal instruction in eleventh-century Italy and in
the sixteenth century came to be known as Corpus iuris
civilis. Succeeding generations of legal scholars throughout
Europe adapted the principles of ancient Roman law in the
Corpus iuris civilis to contemporary needs. Medieval scholars
of Catholic church law, or canon law, were also influenced by
Roman law scholarship as they compiled existing religious
legal sources into their own comprehensive system of law and
governance for the Church, an institution central to medieval
culture, politics, and higher learning. By the late Middle Ages,
these two laws, civil and canon, were taught at most
universities and formed the basis of a shared body of legal
thought common to most of Europe. The birth and evolution
of the medieval civil law tradition based on Roman law was
thus integral to European legal development. It offered a store
of legal principles and rules invested with the authority of

95
ancient Rome and centuries of distinguished jurists, and it
held out the possibility of a comprehensive legal code
providing substantive and procedural law for all situations.

As civil law came into practice throughout Europe, the role of

local custom as a source of law became increasingly
important—particularly as growing European states sought to
unify and organize their individual legal systems. Throughout
the early modern period, this desire generated scholarly
attempts to systematize scattered, disparate legal provisions
and local customary laws and bring them into harmony with
rational principles of civil law and natural law. Emblematic of
these attempts is the Dutch jurist Hugo Grotius‘ 1631 work,
Introduction to Dutch Jurisprudence, which synthesized
Roman law and Dutch customary law into a cohesive whole.
In the eighteenth century, the reforming aspirations of
Enlightenment rulers aligned with jurists‘ desire to rationalize
the law to produce comprehensive, systematic legal codes
including Austria‘s 1786 Code of Joseph II and Complete
Civil Code of 1811, Prussia‘s Complete Territorial Code of
1794, and France‘s Civil Code (known as the Napoleonic
Code) of 1804. Such codes, shaped by the Roman law
tradition, are the models of today‘s civil law systems.

Historical development of English Common Law

English common law emerged from the changing and
centralizing powers of the king during the Middle Ages. After
the Norman Conquest in 1066, medieval kings began to
consolidate power and establish new institutions of royal
authority and justice. New forms of legal action established by
the crown functioned through a system of writs, or royal
orders, each of which provided a specific remedy for a
specific wrong. The system of writs became so highly

96
formalized that the laws the courts could apply based on this
system often were too rigid to adequately achieve justice. In
these cases, a further appeal to justice would have to be made
directly to the king. This difficulty gave birth to a new kind of
court, the court of equity, also known as the court of Chancery
because it was the court of the king‘s chancellor. Courts of
equity were authorized to apply principles of equity based on
many sources (such as Roman law and natural law) rather
than to apply only the common law, to achieve a just
outcome.

Courts of law and courts of equity thus functioned separately

until the writs system was abolished in the mid-nineteenth
century. Even today, however, some U.S. states maintain
separate courts of equity. Likewise, certain kinds of writs,
such as warrants and subpoenas, still exist in the modern
practice of common law. An example is the writ of habeas
corpus, which protects the individual from unlawful detention.
Originally an order from the king obtained by a prisoner or on
his behalf, a writ of habeas corpus summoned the prisoner to
court to determine whether he was being detained under
lawful authority. Habeas corpus developed during the same
period that produced the 1215 Magna Carta, or Great Charter,
which declared certain individual liberties, one of the most
famous being that a freeman could not be imprisoned or
punished without the judgment of his peers under the law of
the land—thus establishing the right to a jury trial.

In the Middle Ages, common law in England coexisted, as

civil law did in other countries, with other systems of law.
Church courts applied canon law, urban and rural courts
applied local customary law, Chancery and maritime courts
applied Roman law. Only in the seventeenth century did

97
common law triumph over the other laws, when Parliament
established a permanent check on the power of the English
king and claimed the right to define the common law and
declare other laws subsidiary to it. This evolution of a national
legal culture in England was contemporaneous with the
development of national legal systems in civil law countries
during the early modern period. But where legal humanists
and Enlightenment scholars on the continent looked to shared
civil law tradition as well as national legislation and custom,
English jurists of this era took great pride in the uniqueness of
English legal customs and institutions.

That pride, perhaps mixed with envy inspired by the

contemporary European movement toward codification,
resulted in the first systematic, analytic treatise on English
common law: William Blackstone‘s (1723-1780)
Commentaries on the Laws of England. In American law,
Blackstone‘s work now functions as the definitive source for
common law precedents prior to the existence of the United
States.

Civil law influences in American law

The American legal system remains firmly within the
common law tradition brought to the North American colonies
from England. Yet traces of the civil law tradition and its
importance in the hemisphere maybe found within state legal
traditions across the United States. Most prominent is the
example of Louisiana, where state law is based on civil law as
a result of Louisiana‘s history as a French and Spanish
territory prior to its purchase from France in 1803. Many of
the southwestern states reflect traces of civil law influence in
their state constitutions and codes from their early legal
heritage as territories of colonial Spain and Mexico.

98
California, for instance, has a state civil code organized into
sections that echo traditional Roman civil law categories
pertaining to persons, things, and actions; yet the law
contained within California‘s code is mostly common law.

And while Blackstone prevails as the principal source for pre-

American precedent in the law, it is interesting to note that
there is still room for the influence of Roman civil law in
American legal tradition. The founding fathers and their
contemporaries educated in the law knew not only the work of
English jurists such as Blackstone, but also the work of the
great civil law jurists and theorists. Thomas Jefferson, for
example, owned several editions of Justinian‘s Institutes, and
praised the first American translated edition from 1812, with
its notes and annotations on the parallels with English law, for
its usefulness to American lawyers. Indeed, a famous example
of its use is the 1805 case of Pierson v. Post, in which a New
York judge, deciding on a case that involved a property
dispute between two hunters over a fox, cited a Roman law
principle on the nature and possession of wild animals from
the Institutes as the precedent for his decision.
Today Pierson v. Post is often one of the first property law
cases taught to American law students. United States v.
Robbins, a 1925 California case that went to the Supreme
Court and paved the way for the state‘s modern community
property laws, was based upon a concept of community
property that California inherited not from English common
law but from legal customs of Visigothic Spain that dated to
the fifth century CE. Cases such as these illuminate the rich
history that unites and divides the civil and common law
traditions and are a fascinating reminder of the ancient origins
of modern law.

99