Use of idioms. is the following sentence well constructed and are the idioms correctly used? - Had you stayed with him and it would have been like casting pearls before swine. He cannot hold a candle to your intellectual capacity.

Letter to a museum director Dear Sir or Madam, I am writing to you to express my opinions about the museum and to suggest ways to improve the experience of future visitors. First of all, I would like to point out how brilliant the idea of a museum about our ancestor’s way of living is. We are all somehow attracted by the curiosity that our roots arouses. I must admit that I was amazed at the wide range of objects exhibited, from rudimentary kitchen tools to ploughing machines. It would be a good idea to include other aspects of life, like writing tools, toys, medical devices, etc. Regarding the public attention hours, I would like to mention that they were not strictly met, and this might be off-putting to visitors, especially to students. Extending this period could increase the number of visits significantly. It is also the case that, although incredibly knowledgeable, the guide spoke too quickly for non-native English speakers, so tackling this point is also essential to reach a wider audience. In addition, I would like to point out that I had to pay the full price for the entry, despite being entitled to a student discount. This is a delicate point, since it might damage the image of the museum. I would like to further add a comment about the café: this was exceptional, they offered a good range of snacks and it was not excessively expensive. Advertising the café on the leaflets would be also a good strategy for marketing. I hope you find my recommendations helpful. Yours faithfully. Joe

Differences between tenses. Doing my brushing up exercises, I've come across a sentence where I'm not sure why the solution is the suitable option. The sentence is: It's almost half past nine: I would think they _____________ got there by now. The answer is "will have". That is, we're making a deduction using "will have + past participle", would it be possible to say "they must have got there by now". In Spanish we can say "deben haber llegado ya" y "habrán llegado ya" without a difference in meaning. What is the difference, if there is any, in using "must have" and "will have" in making a deduction? Thanks in advance.

Short story to practice new vocabulary (part II). Matthew, her staunchest ally. She always said she liked him, that he was not like the others. He had eyes that could see beyond the ordinary, dreary life she was locked in. That town was lifeless, dull, uninspiring. Only the world that those pages let herself immerse into was worth the while. The journey through those books was the best thing she had ever had, and it seemed to her like the most watertight alibi to abhor the real world. The unblemished scenarios she would recreate in her overactive mind were free from the atrocious beings of the ordinary and lousy reality of that forgotten town.

A teenager's problem. Nowadays, almost the entirety of teenagers below the age of eighteen have been brought up under the influence of technology. They have had the Internet available almost from the cradle. While this might be a positive thing, it is also one of the major drawbacks regarding socialisation, causing many of the problems the youngsters in today's society face. Being too “socially unsocial” is the main problem I encounter in this generation. They do tend to avoid real social interactions, leaning towards their more virtual counterparts, where they can hide and express themselves safely covered by the almost unbreakable shield of their screens. They feel enormously important. They usually have a false perception of overnight fame which they long to extend for life. They exchange likes as if it were money, they buy their dopamine shots by means of fake attention. The cause of this probably resides in the aforementioned lack of social skills: they shomehow traded the playground for the smartphone and that has costed them the ability to socialise. They even rely on an application to find a partner, sweeping left or right according to the physical appeal that a filtered photograph can portray. This could be avoided, at least in part, cutting back on the use of the smartphone and the hindrance it poses to our liberty. If we were able to live our daily lives without a smartphone for about a week, we would surely realise how important it is to make connections, to express ourselves properly, to use body language and intonations. Text and emojis just seem too cold.

The minimisation of fossil fuels. The use of fossil fuels has almost monopolise the energy panorama in our society since the dawn of the heat engine, but now we are facing the consequences of its never-ceasing use: The global warming. If we are to preserve our planet in the near future, governments must intervene in the minimisation, oriented to the eradication, of this source of energy, either by promoting recycling or by moving to greener alternatives like nuclear power. Actions as simple as sorting out the residues at home could avoid the expenditure of hundreds of euros in separation plants or purification of waste waters. These procedures are generally powered by the use of fossil fuels, making this a sensible area to cut back on. Schools, organisations and the government should raise concerns about this and launch campaigns to encourage this behaviour. On the other hand, nuclear power plants, although controversial, are a reasonably safe alternative in this day and age. They are capable of powering large areas without producing almost any contaminants and, nowadays, the advances in security and management of residues are of no serious concern if we are to balance global warming against the risk of a nuclear catastrophe. While recycling is a highly beneficial measure to the environment speaking in general terms, when it comes to tackle the minimisation of fossil fuel use, it does not prove completely effective, since the main use of this kind of fuel is on the production of energy, thus making the transition to nuclear power a more suitable option.

Modal verb choice I am not entirely sure how to express the possibility of something happening in the following situation: She is worried that John would/can/will/may/might leave the house when he marries and leave her living on her own. What would be the appropriate modal verb in this situation? What differences are there between them? Thank you very much in advance!

Essay: Fiction or Science books? Nowadays children at school often find extremely discouraging the reading assignments in the English class. They surely find twitting or watching their favourite Youtuber much more attractive. This technology-dominated society we live in today could have been accurately prophesied by a fiction novel and technologically understood through a science book, but which of these kinds of books would be more important to read? Fiction can be a very stimulating genre for the livelier mind. Being able to immerse in alternative worlds could surely open new doors and perspectives worth experiencing. It might even prove to be therapeutic in cases where the character’s journey teaches something valuable to the reader. Although it can also result in the acquisition of dangerous behaviours by confusing the fictional with the factual world. Fiction books like 1984 may even tell what future would be like, inviting us to reflect on the issues addressed. But in order to understand the bright—or not so bright—future that awaits, one has to be reasonably educated in science, something vital to understand how nature works. Reading science also widens minds, it helps to develop a critical and inquisitive outlook about what surrounds us, preparing us for the changes. Even though it can be infamous for its difficulty, it is not necessary to understand it at an academic level to grasp the underlying concepts, and that is precisely what divulgative science is about. Fiction is, without a doubt, a very rich and varied genre that can be much more appealing than science for the neophyte reader, but taking into account the insufficient importance science has in today’s society and the crucial role it plays, we need to invest more of our time to educate ourselves in science, to value it and, of course, enjoy it. Many people are not aware of how fascinating nature can be when explained and dissected.