This week I want to teach you a word that we can use to talk about the World Cup.
⚽This is an update of a blog post I wrote
for the 2014 World Cup in Brazil!
⚽This is an update of a blog post I wrote
for the 2014 World Cup in Brazil!
I’m from Canada but now I live in Japan. Canada didn’t qualify for the 2018 World Cup but Japan did.
(Canada never qualifies 😭)
(Canada never qualifies 😭)
32 countries will participate in the 2018 World Cup in Russia. This means 32 countries qualified for the 2018 World Cup.
Let’s look at the verb qualify today:
Qualify has a few meanings. We will look at 4 of them in today’s post. Definitions updated with Oxford Learners Dictionaries
This is a great site for English learners and I use it
with all my students here in Japan.
This is a great site for English learners and I use it
with all my students here in Japan.
① to give someone the skills and knowledge they need to do something
qualify somebody (for something)
⟡”This training course will qualify you for a better job.”
qualify somebody to do something
⟡”The test qualifies you to drive heavy vehicles.”
qualify somebody (for something)
⟡”This training course will qualify you for a better job.”
qualify somebody to do something
⟡”The test qualifies you to drive heavy vehicles.”
② to have or give somebody the right to do something
⟡”If you live in the area, you qualify for a parking permit.”
⟡”To qualify, you must have lived in this country for at least three years.”
⟡”I have lived in Japan for 12 years. I now qualify for permanent residency.”
*permanent residency = permission to reside (live) in a new country permanently (forever)
③ to have the right qualities to be described as a particular thing
⟡“It’s an old building, but that doesn’t qualify it as an ancient monument!”
*We can use the past participle of a verb as an adjective.
simple present – qualify
simple past – qualified
past participle – qualified
You often hear the adjective qualified used in natural conversation.
= having passed the exams or completed the training that is necessary in order to do a particular job; having the experience to do a particular job
⟡“Dave is a native speaker with many years of teaching experience, he is a qualified English teacher.”
⟡A: “What do you think of the president’s new import and export laws? Are they good for our businesses?”
B: “I don’t know very much about international trade law so I don’t feel qualified to comment.”
Confusing verbs (past participle)
and adjectives.
A lot of my private students in Japan and online with Skype have some difficulty using these different word forms because the spelling is the same. Here is a simple rule for knowing if the word is being used as a verb or an adjective.
➧Verbs will (usually) come after a subject:
⟡Morocco qualified for the 2018 World Cup.
⟡My school qualified for the national championship tournament!
➧Adjectives will (usually) come after the verb to be (and sometimes after an adverb)
⟡Bill and Mike are not qualified to fix hybrid car engines.
⟡Dave is a highly qualified English teacher.
⚽World Cup⚽
④ ~ For competitions like the World Cup, qualify means to be of a high enough standard (level) to enter a competition
⟡I’m from Canada but now I live in Japan. Canada didn’t qualify for the World Cup but Japan did.
⟡My school qualified for the national championship tournament! I’m so excited!
⟡The International Gymnastics Federation has published a step by step guide on how to qualify for the 2020 summer Olympics.
So… Canada’s national soccer team is not at a high enough level to enter the World Cup but Japan’s team is. How about your country? Who do you cheer for? Tell me in the comments!