Question

Watch Jaime Lerner’s TED Talk on . Watch it as many times as you like.

Now do the activities, considering the video you have watched. Write all your answers in English.

1) If we take English standard language into consideration, we can notice some constructions in the talk that are not in accordance with the rules that we have studied in our discipline. Those constructions can be seen as minor mistakes, as they do not affect the general understanding of the presentation. There are some sentences below, as Lerner states them. Correct those mistakes, in English, according to the standard grammar rules.

a) “I hope you understand my English, in the mornings is terrible and in the afternoon is worst.”
b) “I’m working in cities for almost 40 years.”
c) “He ask always for more infrastructure.”
d) “He’s very demanding person.”
e) “(…) I’m trying to say that we have to combine, to combine all the systems, and with one conditions (…)”.

2) In the last part of the talk, Lerner sings a song. Identify and write, in English, 10 full sentences in which the imperative form is used.

3) Identify the sentence in which the modal verb "can" appears in the song sung by Lerner and explain its use, in English, in 3-5 line

Answer 1

a) “I hope you understand my English, in the mornings is terrible and in the afternoon is worst.”

I hope you will understand my English, it is terrible in the morning and in the afternoon it is worse.

b) “I’m working in cities for almost 40 years.”

I'm working in cities about 40 years.

c) “He ask always for more infrastructure.”

He always asks for more infrastructure

d) “He’s very demanding person.”

He's a very demanding person

e) “(…) I’m trying to say that we have to combine, to combine all the systems, and with one conditions (…)”

I'm trying to say that we have to combine all the systems with one condition

2.

It's possible", "you can do it", "use less your car", "make this transition", "avoid carbon emission", "live closer to work", "work close to home", "save energy in your home", "separate your garbage", "save more, waste less".

3.

You can do it.

O modal verb can é utilizado expressando a possibilidade das ações que eles apresenta na música serem tomadas, ele diz por exemplo que é possível economizar mais e gastar menos.