Two language questions by Avanzado 2 students

I would like to share with you two interesting questions: one posed by Ana & Pablo, in the Avanzado 2 Lunes group, and another posed today by Josemaría, in the other Av2 group.

• The first question is, when do we use “taste(s)” as a noun, meaning instead of “likes & dislikes”?
• The second is about the language in audio 4.10, why is “before I went” (a gerund is also possible, “before going”) in the past simple in this sentence, “This morning started badly because I needed to make a doctor’s appointment before I went to work, but the surgery was engaged for half an hour.”

I will edit this message in a few days, to include the answers. If you know the answers, you’re welcome to post here, or if you’re coming to class, to tell us in class!

Av2 = Grammar Bank = 3C

UNREAL USES OF PAST TENSES

a 1 realized, 2 [would rather we] lived, 3 I wish you were able to stay longer, 4 didn-t discuss, 5 stopped, 6 had saved, 7 paid, 8 knew, 9 had gone ¿or? been to

¿The keyboard at our school must be set  differently ¿today?, and I don-t know how to fix itªª Grrr…

b 1 I-d rather you didn-t smoke in here, 2 I wish I could afford to…, 3 If only we hadn-t painted the room blueª, 4 it-s ¿high? time you looked for a job ! you started to look !or! looking for a job, 5 If only he were less tight=fisted…, 6 Would you rather we came…+, I wish we had bought…

=== Have a look at the Functional Translation sentences I wrote for you. They-re on the Avanzado 2 Page over here.