--|> LEARNING ENGLISH FROM CARTOONS. <|--

Essas duas charges são ótimas para praticar inglês. Infelizmente, elas não são recomendadas para os níveis iniciais. A primeira faz menção as greves na Europa fazendo uso da estrutura IF + Past Simple. e a segunda foca no uso de uma expressão idiomática muito comum: “stuck between a rock and a hard place”.

Cartoon: If only I had a job ...

This cartoon by Mac from The Daily Mail relates to the public sector strikes over pension reforms which are due to take place in the UK today.

Three unemployed youths are walking past news hoarding announcing more 'gloom and doom' (Britain's economic outlook over the next few years is for declining growth and rising unemployment). One of the youths comments, 'It's not fair. If only I had a job, I'd be on strike today'. In the background, we can see a long queue outside the Job centre (center, AME).

GRAMMAR

You can use if only + past simple to express a wish for something to be different than it actually is:

 
• If only I had more free time, I'm sure I'd be less stressed and more cheerful (i.e., I don't have enough free time).

• If only I knew more people, I wouldn't feel so lonely (i.e., I don't know many people).

Cartoon: Between a Rock and a Hard Place

This cartoon by Andy Davey from The Sun is a visual representation of the difficult position UK prime minister David Cameron finds himself in following his refusal to agree to a new EU treaty. He's wading in the English Channel whilst being attacked by Britain on one side (his coalition partner Nick Clegg has lashed out at Cameron over the latter's use of the veto) and France and Germany on the other (it was the Franco-German refusal to accept Cameron's insistence on safeguards to protect the City from EU financial regulations that led him to use the veto).

COMMENTS

1. The words 'rock' and 'hard place' on the map refer to a common idiom. If you are stuck between a rock and a hard place, you are being faced with two difficult choices. A dilemma; either option you choose will lead to unsatisfactory results. In Cameron's case, he could either have agreed to sign up to the treaty, which would have infuriated the Eurosceptic Tory MPs (not to mention the right-wing press), or use his veto and risk alienation from the other 26 EU members. In the end, he chose the latter course.

2. The arrows are inspired by the opening titles of the popular seventies BBC TV sitcom ' Dad's Army.

SOURCE: theEnglishBlog