1. Home
  2. English Grammar
  3. Blackmail or blackmailed (Delavigne meets Mr Badguy 7/8)

English Grammar


Blackmail or blackmailed (Delavigne meets Mr Badguy 7/8)

Dominique Carel
User since 2012
Posts: 4

16 May 2014

Fill in the blanks below with the following terms. Not all the terms are used, and none are used more than once. Remember to conjugate the verbs appropriately. <strong>peace | to plot | to blackmail | country | to kidnap | beach | to enjoy</strong> Yesterday, Horatio was listening to the radio and heard some incredible news. Apparently, a group of teenagers were plotting against the queen of England. They planned to infiltrate Buckingham Palace and take photographs of the queen and her young Latin lover Don Juan Amoroso. Next, the teenagers would fly to a different country, perhaps Zimbabwe. Then they'd call the queen and <span class="error">blackmailed</span> <span class="correct"></span>her, saying that either the queen had to pay them 8 million pounds or they would send the photographs to the British newspapers! Then the teenagers would live the rest of their lives on a sunny beach drinking piña coladas and surfing every day. <span class="error">You wrote that "blackmailed" is wrong ant that "</span><span class="correct">blackmail" is correct with this explanation </span><span class="explain">: </span> 'To blackmail (someone)' is to extort money from them by using compromising or secret information which puts the victim in a compromising position. In his conversation with Bruno, Badguy tells him that he is tired of 'blackmailing all the time'. In this exercise, the teenagers plan to blackmail the queen by publishing controversial photos of the queen and her young Latin lover. I am sorry but "they'd call" so "they'd blackmailed"

6 comments

  • User since 2012
    Posts: 288

    18 May 2014

    No, they are right : They would fly, they would call, they would live, they would drink caïpirinha all life long, and they would blackmail. Why would you use a past tense here, we need an infinitive, like all the other verbs.
    It seems that we have somewhat the same lessons in the same time, as I just finished a few days ago the blackmail story with Giuseppe as an hostage. But I can see that the questions are different for different people, because I didn't get the exercise you quoted.
  • User since 2012
    Posts: 4

    19 May 2014

    It is not a peace of cake (for me alone, I hope) to guess if it is "they had" or the "they would" from "they'd". Is there a trick to prevent this kind of error ? Have a nice May 22nd evening.
  • User since 2012
    Posts: 288

    19 May 2014

    Uhh, I remember gg has a grammar lesson about this topic, with exercises where you must "guess" if 'd stands for had or for would. But you must have seen that... I don't know any trick, for me it's the sense which helps me to ascertain if they mean "had" or "would, if it's past tense, or conditional. And I had to learn the idiom "I had better" which is no past, rather conditional.
    Good afternoon to you today and next days as well, and what is special on the 22nd ?
  • User since 2012
    Posts: 4

    20 May 2014

    GYMGLISH PARTY.. Didn't you receive an invitation mail ?
  • User since 2012
    Posts: 288

    22 May 2014

    Yes, yes yes I did ! But as I can't be there, I didn't keep the date in mind... I wish I could go, but I'm very far, very busy... One year I should plan something in Paris specially to be there the day D. So, good Gymglish party for those who are assisting tonight !
  • User since 2012
    Posts: 288

    27 May 2014

    I was wrong when I said that the exercises were not the same for all gg learners : I had the second run of episodes with the sympathetic Dr Badguy, and there was the exercise quoted. That just for setting the record straight, and babble a little...

Please sign in to leave a comment.