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Steve prefers to switch to a different coach every few months. He knows it’s all too easy to choose someone as his coach at a subconscious level who will allow him to avoid his blind spots – and he doesn’t want to be let off the hook.
So far, we've thought about songs as being in a single fixed key, such as C major or A minor. However, more complex chord sequences don't always lend themselves to being thought of as being in a single key, and it's often the case that the individual sections of a song, such as verses and choruses, are in different keys. We might want to do this simply to add interest to our song, or we might be in a position where we've thought of the verse and the chorus separately, and later want to bring them together. In this case we need to craft the chord sequence of the verse in such a way that it resolves not to the root chord of the verse, but to that of the chorus. For example, if our verse is in C major and our chorus in A major, we might end the verse with a chord sequence along these lines: We are, in other words, moving in small and natural jumps around our circle of chords towards A major. This is called preparing for the key change. A very common trick is to add a gratuitous and unprepared key change towards the end of the song, in which everything simply slides up a tone or semitone. For example, we might repeat the last chorus, but do it in B flat major the second time around. Warning: this is almost always horribly cheesy!
Verbs have two ‘voices’, active and passive. In the active voice, the subject carries out the action of the verb; in the passive voice the subject experiences the action of the verb. In English the sense of the passive is conveyed by the verb to be and a participle: ‘The man was bitten by the dog’. In Latin the sense of the passive is conveyed by verb endings. The active voice is used when the subject of the sentence or clause is performing the action of the verb, e.g. The elephant chases the mouse. The passive voice is used when the subject is experiencing the action of the verb, e.g. The elephant is chased by the mouse.
We should remember that family, social and work situations can be a source of much joy, love, support and stimulation.
If you don’t expect to be able to remember something, then you probably won’t. Be confident in your abilities and your brain will respond.
A good way to appreciate the effect of light and shade is to arrange a few objects on a table, using an adjustable desk lamp to create a strong sense of light from one side.
If your bike is noisy, there's something wrong! Check it, and check it again.
In speech, it is easy to confuse the conjunction dass and the neuter definite article das. Make sure you never confuse them in writing! Dass is preceded by a comma and sends the verb to the end of the clause which it introduces: Ich hoffe, dass er kommt - I hope he comes. Das comes before a neuter noun, e.g. das Haus (the house), sometimes with an adjective (or adjectives) between it and the noun, e.g. das rote Haus (the red house).
You will come across the verb haben (to have) very frequently when studying German. It is an irregular verb and is worth learning in full because (as you will soon discover) it is also used to form some past tenses. You will also see that the masculine article changes its form after the verb haben: Hast du einen Bleistift da? - Have you got a pencil (there)?
To some degree you need to acquire a feeling for when to use staan or zitten, but you would sound quite authentic when using these verbs correctly, so it’s worth the effort. It might help you if you think about the literal meaning of these verbs as standing and sitting.

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