Article

Definition: English has two types of articles: definite (the) and indefinite (a, an.) The use of these articles
depends mainly on whether you are referring to any member of a group, or to a specific member of a group:

Indefinite articles - a and an (determiners)
A and an are the indefinite articles. They refer to
something not specifically known to the person you
are communicating with.
A and an are used before nouns that introduce
something or someone you have not mentioned
before:
Examples:
• I ate an apple this morning
• I bought a pet for my son
You use a when the noun you are referring to
begins with a consonant (b, c, d, f, g, h, j, k, l, m, n,
p, q, r, s, t, v, w, x, y or z), for example, "a city" and
"a factory
You use an when the noun you are referring to
begins with a vowel (a, e, i, o, u)
Pronunciation changes this rule: If the next word
begins with a consonant sound when we say it, for
example, "university" then we use a. If the next
word begins with a vowel sound when we say it, for
example "hour" then we use an.
Examples:
• We say "university" with a "y" sound at the
beginning as though it were spelt
"youniversity".
So, "a university" is correct.
• We say "hour" with a silent h as though it
were spelt "our".
So, "an hour" is correct.
Definite Article - the (determiners)
You use the when you know that the listener knows
or can work out what particular person/thing you
are talking about.
Example:
• The dog (that specific dog)
• The apple (that specific apple)

Noun
Definition: A noun is a word used to refer to people, animals, objects, substances, states, events and feelings.
Nouns can be a subject or an object of a verb, can be modified by an adjective and can take an article or
determiner.
For example: Nouns also denote abstract and intangible concepts.
• Table For example:
• Pencil • birth
• The dog • happiness
• A white house • evolution
• technology, etc.

Noun Plurals
We are going to explain some rules that will help you to form the plural forms of the nouns. The general rule is
to add "-s" to the noun in singular.
For exaample:
• Book - Books
• House - Houses
• Chair - Chairs

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When the singular noun ends in: -sh, -ch, -s, -ss, -x, -o we form their plural form by adding "-es".
For exaample:
• sandwich - sandwiches
• brush - brushes
• bus - buses
• box - boxes
• potato - potatoes

When the singular noun ends in "y", we change the "y" for "i" and then add "-es" to form the plural form. But do
not change the "y" for "ies" to form the plural when the singular noun ends in "y" preceded by a vowel.
For exaample:
• nappy - nappies
• day - days
• toy - toys

However, there are many Irregular Nouns which do not form the plural in this way:
For exaample:
• Woman - Women
• Child - Children
• Sheep - Sheep

Nouns may take an " 's " ("apostrophe s") or "Genitive marker" to indicate possession. If the noun already has
an -s ending to mark the plural, then the genitive marker appears only as an apostrophe after the plural form.
For example:
• my girlfriend's brother
• John's house
• The Browns' house
• The boys' pens

The genitive marker should not be confused with the " 's " form of contracted verbs, as in John's a good student
= John is a good student.

Noun Gender
Many common nouns, like "engineer" or "teacher", can refer to men or women. Once, many English nouns
would change form depending on their gender. For example: A man was called an "author" while a woman was
called an "authoress".
For example:
• David Garrick was a very prominent eighteenth-century actor.
• Sarah Siddons was at the height of her career as an actress in the 1780s.
• The manager was trying to write a want ad, but he couldn't decide whether he was advertising for a
"waiter" or a "waitress"

Types of Nouns
• Proper nouns are the names of specific things, people, or places, such as Jhon, France. They usually
begin with a capital letter.
• Common nouns are general names such as person, mansion, and book. They can be either concrete or
abstract.
• Concrete nouns refer to things which you can sense such as clock and telephone.
• Abstract nouns refer to ideas or qualities such as liberty and truth.
• Countable nouns refer to things which can be counted (can be singular or plural)

Uncountable nouns refer to some groups of countable nouns, substances, feelings and types of activity (can
only be singular)

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Pronouns
Definition: A pronoun usually refers to something already mentioned in a sentence or piece of text. A pronoun
is a word that substitutes a noun or noun phrase used to prevent repetition of the noun to which they refer. One
of the most common pronouns is it.

Rule for Pronouns

A pronoun must agree with the noun it refer. Therefore, if the noun is singular, therefore the pronoun must be
singular; if the noun is plural, use a plural pronoun; if the noun is feminine, use a feminine pronoun, and so on.
For example:
• The train was late, it had been delayed.
• The trains were late, they had been delayed.

Types of pronouns
English Pronouns are divided into sub-categories. These are Demonstrative, Personal, Reflexive, Possessive,
Interrogative, Negative, Reciprocal, Relative and Quantifier

Type About Example

Personal Pronoun Takes the place of a specific or named person or thing. I, you, he, she, etc..
Adds information by pointing back to a noun or another
Reflexive Pronoun myself, yourself, etc..
pronoun.
Demonstrative
Points out a specific person, place, or thing. this, that, these, those
Pronoun
Begins a subordinate clause and relates the clause to a who, whose, which, that,
Relative pronoun
word in the main clause. etc..
Interrogative
Is used to ask a question. who, what, where, etc..
Pronoun
Used to substitute a noun and to show possession or
Possessive Pronoun mine, yours, his, etc..
ownership.
Negative Pronoun nothing, no, nobody, etc..
Express an interchangeable or mutual action or
Reciprocal pronoun each other, one another
relationship.
some, any, something,
Quantifier
much, etc.

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Preposition
Definition: Prepositions are a class of words that indicate relationships between nouns, pronouns and other
words in a sentence. Most often they come before a noun. They never change their form, regardless of the case,
gender etc. of the word they are referring to. Some common prepositions are:

about by outside
above despite over
across down past
after during since
against except through
along for throughout
among from till
around in to
at inside toward
before into under
behind like underneath
below near until
beneath of up
beside off upon
between on with
beyond onto within
but out without.

Prepositions typically come before a noun:

For example:
• after class
• at home
• before Tuesday
• in London
• on fire
• with pleasure

A preposition usually indicates the temporal, spatial or logical relationship of its object to the rest of the
sentence.
For example:
• The book is on the table.
• The book is beside the table.
• She read the book during class.

In each of the preceding sentences, a preposition locates the noun "book" in space or in time.

Prepositions are classified as simple or compound.

Simple prepositions
Simple prepositions are single word prepositions.
These are all showed above. Compound prepositions
For example: Compound prepositions are more than one word. in
• The book is on the table. between and because of are prepositions made up

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of two words - in front of, on behalf of are • The book is in between War and Peace and
prepositions made up of three words. The Lord of the Rings.
For example: • The book is in front of the clock.

The following table contains rules for some of the most frequently used prepositions in English:

Prepositions of Time:

English Usage Example

on days of the week on Monday
months / seasons in August / in winter

time of day in the morning

in
year in 2006

after a certain period of time (when?) in an hour

for night at night

at for weekend at the weekend

a certain point of time (when?) at half past nine

since from a certain point of time (past till now) since 1980
for over a certain period of time (past till now) for 2 years
ago a certain time in the past 2 years ago
before earlier than a certain point of time before 2004
to telling the time ten to six (5:50)
past telling the time ten past six (6:10)
to / till / marking the beginning and end of a period of
from Monday to/till Friday
until time
in the sense of how long something is going to
till / until He is on holiday until Friday.
last
in the sense of at the latest I will be back by 6 o’clock.
by
up to a certain time By 11 o'clock, I had read five pages.

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Prepositions of Place:

English Usage Example

room, building, street, town, country in the kitchen, in London

book, paper etc. in the book

in
car, taxi in the car, in a taxi

picture, world in the picture, in the world

meaning next to, by an object
at the door, at the station
for table
at the table
at
for events
at a concert, at the party
place where you are to do something typical
at the cinema, at school, at work
(watch a film, study, work)
attached the picture on the wall

for a place with a river London lies on the Thames.

being on a surface on the table

on for a certain side (left, right) on the left

for a floor in a house on the first floor

for public transport on the bus, on a plane

for television, radio on TV, on the radio

by, next
left or right of somebody or something Jane is standing by / next to / beside the car.
to, beside
on the ground, lower than (or covered by)
under the bag is under the table
something else
below lower than something else but above ground the fish are below the surface
covered by something else put a jacket over your shirt

meaning more than over 16 years of age

over
getting to the other side (also across) walk over the bridge

overcoming an obstacle climb over the wall

higher than something else, but not directly
above a path above the lake
over it

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English Usage Example
getting to the other side (also over) walk across the bridge
across
getting to the other side swim across the lake
something with limits on top, bottom and the
through drive through the tunnel
sides
movement to person or building go to the cinema

to movement to a place or country go to London / Ireland

for bed go to bed

into enter a room / a building go into the kitchen / the house
movement in the direction of something (but
towards go 5 steps towards the house
not directly to it)
onto movement to the top of something jump onto the table
from in the sense of where from a flower from the garden

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Verbs
Definition: Verbs are a class of words used to show the performance of an action (do, throw, run), existence
(be), possession (have), or state (know, love) of a subject. To put it simply a verb shows what something or
someone does.
For example:
• Paul rides a bicycle.
* Here, the verb rides certainly denotes an action which Paul performs - the action of riding a bicycle.
• We buy some books to learn English verbs.
* In this example, the action word is "to buy". It tells us that the subject "we", that is the person who
performs the action of the verb is "buying some books".

The verb tense shows the time of the action or state. Aspect shows whether the action or state is completed or
not. Voice is used to show relationships between the action and the people affected by it. Mood shows the
attitude of the speaker about the verb, whether it is a declaration or an order. Verbs can be affected by person
and number to show agreement with the subject.

Most statements in speech and writing have a main verb. These verbs are expressed in "tenses" which place
everything in a point in time.

Verbs are conjugated (inflected) to reflect how they are used. There are two general areas in which conjugation
occurs; for person and for tense.

Conjugation for tense

Conjugation for tense is carried out on all verbs. All conjugations start with the infinitive form of the verb.
The infinitive is simply the to form of the verb For example, to begin.
The present participle form (the -ing form), is formed by adding ing to the bare infinitive. For example, to begin
- beginning.
There are two other forms that the verb can take, depending on the tense type and time, the simple past form and
the past participle.

Conjugation for person

Conjugation for person occurs when the verb changes form, depending on whether it is governed by a first,
second, or third person subject. This gives three conjugations for any verb depending on who is acting as the
subject of the verb. For example: we have I begin, you begin , and he begins. Note that only the third
conjunction really shows a difference.

In English, we distinguish between regular and irregular verbs. Regular verbs are those ones which form their
past simple and past participle just by adding "-ed" to the base of the verb. The rest are irregular.
Examples:
• Dracula bites his victims on the neck.
• In early October, Giselle will plant twenty tulip bulbs.
• She travels to work by train.
• We walked five miles to a garage.

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Conjunctions
A conjunction is a word that links words, phrases, or clauses. There are three types of conjunctions:
coordinating conjunctions, correlative conjunctions, and subordinating conjunctions.

COORDINATING CONJUNCTIONS

CONJUNCTION WHAT IS LINKED SAMPLE SENTENCES

and noun phrase+noun We have tickets for the symphony and the opera.
phrase
but sentence+sentence The orchestra rehearses on Tuesday, but the chorus rehearses on
Wednesday.
or verb+verb Have you seen or heard the opera by Scott Joplin?
so sentence+sentence I wanted to sit in the front of the balcony, so I ordered my tickets
early.

CORRELATIVE CONJUNCTIONS

both...and not only...but also either...or neither...nor whether...or

Remember, correlative conjunctions are always used in pairs. They join similar elements.When joining singular
and plural subjects, the subject closest to the verb determines whether the verb is singular or plural.

EXAMPLES AND SENTENCES

CORRELATIVE CONJUNCTIONS

CONJUNCTIONS WHAT IS LINKED SAMPLE SENTENCE

both...and subject+subject Both my sister and my brother play the piano.
either...or noun+noun Tonight's program is either Mozart or Beethoven.
neither...nor subject+subject Neither the orchestra nor the chorus was able to overcome the terrible
acoustics in the church
not only...but also sentence+sentence Not only does Sue raise money for the symphony, but she also ushers at
all of their concerts.

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 SUBORDINATING CONJUNCTIONS

TIME CAUSE + EFFECT OPPOSITION CONDITION

after because although if
before since though unless
when now that even though only if
while as whereas whether or not
since in order that while even if
until so in case (that)

Subordinating conjunctions, (subordinators) are most important in creating subordinating clauses. These adverbs
that act like conjunctions are placed at the front of the clause. The adverbial clause can come either before or
after the main clause. Subordinators are usually a single word, but there are also a number of multi-word
subordinators that function like a single subordinating conjunction. They can be classified according to their use
in regard to time, cause and effect, opposition, or condition. Remember, put a comma at the end of the adverbial
phrase when it precedes the main clause.

EXAMPLES AND SENTENCES

SUBORDINATING CONJUNCTIONS

CONJUNCTION SAMPLE SENTENCE

after We are going out to eat after we finish taking the test.
since Since we have lived in Atlanta, we have gone to every exhibit at the High Musuem.
while While I was waiting in line for the Matisse Exhibit, I ate my lunch.
although Although the line was long and the wait over two hours, the exhibit was well worth it
even if Even if you have already bought your ticket, you will still need to wait in line.
because I love Matisse's works because he uses color so brilliantly.

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Adjective
Modifies a noun or a pronoun by describing, identifying, or quantifying words. An adjective usually precedes
the noun or the pronoun which it modifies.

Possessive Adjectives
A possessive adjective ("my," "your," "his," "her," "its," "our," "their") is similar or identical to a possessive
pronoun; however, it is used as an adjective and modifies a noun or a noun phrase

Demonstrative Adjectives
The demonstrative adjectives "this," "these," "that," "those," and "what" are identical to the demonstrative
pronouns, but are used as adjectives to modify nouns or noun phrases

Interrogative Adjectives
An interrogative adjective ("which" or "what") is like an interrogative pronoun, except that it modifies a noun or
noun phrase rather than standing on its own (see also demonstrative adjectives and possessive adjectives):

Indefinite Adjectives
An indefinite adjective is similar to an indefinite pronoun, except that it modifies a noun, pronoun, or noun

**********************************************************************************

Los adjetivos son aquéllas palabras que se unen a un nombre para ampliar, complementar y cuantificar su
significado.

En inglés hay ocho clases de adjetivos:

1. Calificativos: good, bueno; thin, delgado; dry, seco; bad, malo; short, corto

2. Demostrativos: this, este; that, aquel; these, estos; those, aquellos

3. Distributivos: each, cada; every, todo; either, uno y otro; neither, ni uno ni otro.

4. De cantidad: some, algún; any, cualquier; little, poco; few, pocos; many, muchos; much, mucho; enough,
bastante

5. Interrogativos: which?, cual?; what?, ¿qué?; whose?, ¿de quién?, etc.

6. Posesivos: my, mi; your, tu, su, vuestro, his, su (de él); her, su (de ella); its, su (de ello), our, nuestro; your,
vuestro, their, suyo (de ellos/as)

7. Propios: French, francés; English, inglés; Spanish, español; etc.

8. Numerales: one, uno; ten, diez; first, primer, second, segundo; etc.

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Adverb
El adverbio es una parte de la oración cuya función principal es modificar o complementar el significado del
verbo, del adjetivo o de otro adverbio.

The teacher speaks slowly / El profesor habla despacio

Los adverbios explican cómo ocurre una acción. 'slowly' (despacio) nos indica la forma en la que el profesor
habla. Es por lo tanto un adverbio de modo. Como veremos, existen muchas más clases de adverbios.

CLASES DE ADVERBIOS

-De modo (adverbs of manner)

Expresan cómo se realiza una acción. La mayoría suelen terminar en -ly (equivale a la terminación adverbial
española 'mente' y por lo tanto suelen formarse a partir del correspondiente adjetivo al que se agrega dicha
terminación..
careful - carefully (cuidadosamente), easy - easily (fácilmente), etc.
aunque existen excepciones,
well (bien), aloud (en voz alta), etc.

-De lugar (adverbs of place)

Indican el lugar donde se realiza una acción.
around (alrededor), far (lejos), near (cerca), there (allí), here (aquí), etc.

-De tiempo (adverbs of time)

Indican cuando tiene lugar una acción.
again (otra vez), at first (al principio), before (antes), soon (pronto), late (tarde), etc.

-De frecuencia (adverbs of frequency)

Indican con que periodicidad se realiza una acción.
always (siempre), frequently (frecuentemente), never (nunca), sometimes (algunas veces), etc.

-De cantidad (adverbs of quantity)

Expresan la cuantía de algo.
little (poco), much (mucho), very (muy, mucho), too (demasiado), etc.

-De interrogación (interrogative adverbs)

Se utilizan para realizar preguntas.
when? (¿cuándo?), where? (¿dónde?), why? (¿por qué?), how? (¿cómo?), etc.

-Relativos (relative adverbs)

when (cuando), where (donde), why (por que)
-Ordinales (ordinal adverbs)
firstly (en primer lugar), secondly (en segundo lugar), etc.

-De grado o intensidad (adverbs of degree)

Indican la intensidad con que se realiza la acción.
completely (completamente), extremely (extremadamente), greatly (grandemente), etc.

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-De probabilidad (adverbs of probability)
maybe (quizá), perhaps (quizá, tal vez), possibly (posiblemente), probably (probablemente), etc.

-De afirmación (adverbs of affirmation)

certainly (ciertamente), naturally (naturalmente), of course (por supuesto), surely (seguramente), etc.

-De negación (adverbs of negation)

no, not (no), never (nunca), not at all (en absoluto)

La mayoridad de los adverbios comparativos y superlativos se forma con ‘more’ y ‘most’.

Can you drive more carefully, please? / ¿Puedes conducir con más cuidado por favor?

Los adverbios que tienen la misma forma que los adjetivos, se forman con ‘er’ y ‘est’.

Los más usados son :

Fast, early, hard, long, near, high, low, soon, easy, slow, loud, quick.

They all play badly, but he plays worst of all / Todos juegan mal, pero él es el que peor juega.
She speaks slower (Informal) than Andy. / Ella habla más despacio que Andy.
(También se puede decir ‘more slowly’).
Nobody gets up earlier than Wally. Nadie se levanta más temprano que Wally

LOS COMPARATIVOS Y SUPERLATIVOS DE SUPERIORIDAD IRREGULARES

well, bien better, mejor best, lo mejor

badly, mal worse, peor worst, lo peor
late, tarde later, más tarde last, lo más tarde
little, poco less, menos least, lo menos
much, mucho more, más most, lo más
far, lejos further / farther, más lejos farthest, lo más lejos

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Interjection
In grammar, an interjection or exclamation is a lexical category used as a way to refer to some mentioned or
understood noun without a grammatical connection with the rest of the sentence, by simply expressing an
isolated emotion on the part of the speaker (although most interjections have clear definitions). Filled pauses
such as uh, er, um, are also considered interjections. Interjections are typically placed at the beginning of a
sentence or in a sentence by themselves.

They have no real grammatical value but we use them quite often, usually more in speaking than in writing.
When interjections are inserted into a sentence, they have no grammatical connection to the sentence. An
interjection is sometimes followed by an exclamation mark (!) when written. When an exclamation point is not
needed, a comma can take the place.

Interjections are used when the speaker encounters events that cause emotions. The emotions are often strong
(surprise, disgust, joy, excitement, enthusiasm, etc.), but are not necessarily so (boredom, irritation, mild
surprise, etc.). However, several languages have interjections that cannot be related to emotions.

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