Would and wood

Hi, everyone!
Did you know that there are special words called “homophones”? It has nothing to do with phones, if that’s what you thought. Homophones (омонимы)  are words which have absolutely the same pronunciation but different meanings. For example, if you write that you’re so board, people will misunderstand you, because you’re not a board made of wood from a tree, you’re bored, you’re not interested.

Can you find another example in the picture? I’ll give you a hint  – it also has something to do with trees…

There are also words which have almost the same pronunciation, but still sound a bit different. For example, if you say “I want buy this” – it’s incorrect, because you meant “I won’t buy this”. One sound can make a great difference.

So as not to make fools of ourselves and do everything right, let’s find out a little more about…

Would and wood

Произносятся они одинаково. То есть это homophones. На слух их различить невозможно, однако в контексте все понятно.

Wood – это дерево, древесина.

My house is made of wood.  

Wood это и noun и adjective. Как noun это древесина. Как adjective – сделанный из дерева. I have a wood chair. Хотя в таком случае чаще используют wooden.

Еще говорят: to knock on wood. У нас тоже есть такая поговорка – постучи по дереву. We say it when we have good luck, and we want to continue having this good luck.

Например:
-    Jane, how are your driving lessons?
-    Well, I haven’t crashed into anything yet, so that’s good!
-    Well, knock on wood!

Ну а с would совсем другая история. Это глагол, это past tense of will. Его используют везде где только можно: в conditional sentences, would like, would rather, would prefer, в reported speech, вместо will чтоб предложение звучало вежливее, и т.д.

Вот несколько примеров:
-    I wish you would stop singing so loudly!
-    He said he would call me.
-    If I had extra time, I would do so many interesting things!
-    I would like a cheese sandwich, please.
-    What would you rather have – a car or a motorbike?
 
А вы сможете ответить на вопрос на картинке?

И на этот: What wood would you choose if you were planning to build a tree house?
Ответы в комментарии! See you on Wednesday! =)