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INDEX
English Grammar
What is Grammar?
Glossary of English Grammar Terms
English Parts of Speech
Parts of Speech Table
Parts of Speech Examples
Words with More than One Job
1. Verbs
What are Verbs?
Verb Classification
1. Helping Verbs
2. Main Verbs
Helping Verbs
Primary helping verbs (3 verbs)
Modal helping verbs (10 verbs)
Verb Forms
Forms of Main Verbs
Example Sentences
Infinitive
Base - Imperative
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4. Adverbs
Adverbs of Frequency
5. English Pronouns
Personal Pronouns
Personal Pronouns
6. English Prepositions
English Prepositions List
English Preposition Rule
Prepositions of Place: at, in, on
Prepositions of Time: at, in, on
7. Conjunctions
Form
Function
Position
Coordinating Conjunctions
Subordinating Conjunctions
8. Interjections
What is Grammar?
Grammar is the system of a language. People sometimes describe grammar as the “rules” of a language;
but in fact no language has rules*. If we use the word “rules”, we suggest that somebody created the
rules first and then spoke the language, like a new game. But languages did not start like that. Languages
started by people making sounds which evolved into words, phrases and sentences. No commonly-
spoken language is fixed. All languages change over time. What we call “grammar” is simply a
reflection of a language at a particular time.
Do we need to study grammar to learn a language? The short answer is “no”. Very many people in the
world speak their own, native language without having studied its grammar. Children start to speak
before they even know the word “grammar”. But if you are serious about learning a foreign language,
the long answer is “yes, grammar can help you to learn a language more quickly and more efficiently.”
It’s important to think of grammar as something that can help you, like a friend. When you understand
the grammar (or system) of a language, you can understand many things yourself, without having to ask
a teacher or look in a book.
So think of grammar as something good, something positive, something that you can use to find your
way - like a signpost or a map.
Adjective
A word like big, red, easy, French etc. An adjective describes a noun or pronoun.
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Adverb
A word like slowly, quietly, well, often etc. An adverb modifies a verb.
Article
The “indefinite” articles are a and an. The “definite article” is the.
Auxiliary Verb
A verb that is used with a main verb. Be, do and have are auxiliary verbs. Can, may, must etc are modal
auxiliary verbs.
Clause
A group of words containing a subject and its verb (for example: It was late when he arrived).
Conjunction
A word used to connect words, phrases and clauses (for example: and, but, if).
Infinitive
The basic form of a verb as in to work or work.
Interjection
An exclamation inserted into an utterance without grammatical connection (for example: oh!, ah!, ouch!,
well!).
Modal Verb
An auxiliary verb like can, may, must etc that modifies the main verb and expresses possibility,
probability etc. It is also called “modal auxiliary verb”.
2. Nouns
A word like table, dog, teacher, A merica etc. A noun is the name of an object, concept, person or place.
A “concrete noun” is something you can see or touch like a person or car. An “abstract noun” is
something that you cannot see or touch like a decision or happiness. A “countable noun” is something
that you can count (for example: bottle, song, dollar). An “uncountable noun” is something that you
cannot count (for example: water, music, money).
Object
In the active voice, a noun or its equivalent that receives the action of the verb. In the passive voice, a
noun or its equivalent that does the action of the verb.
Participle
The -ing and -ed forms of verbs. The -ing form is called the “present participle”. The -ed form is called
the “past participle” (for irregular verbs, this is column 3).
Part Of Speech
One of the eight classes of word in English - noun, verb, adjective, adverb, pronoun, preposition,
conjunction and interjection.
Passive Voice
In the passive voice, the subject receives the action of the verb (eg The President was killed). See also
Active Voice.
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Phrase
A group of words not containing a subject and its verb (eg on the table, the girl in a red dress).
Predicate
Each sentence contains (or implies) two parts: a subject and a predicate. The predicate is what is said
about the subject.
Preposition
A word like at, to, in, over etc. Prepositions usually come before a noun and give information about
things like time, place and direction.
Pronoun
A word like I, me, you, he, him, it etc. A pronoun replaces a noun.
Sentence
A group of words that express a thought. A sentence conveys a statement, question, exclamation or
command. A sentence contains or implies a subject and a predicate. In simple terms, a sentence must
contain a verb and (usually) a subject. A sentence starts with a capital letter and ends with a full stop (.),
question mark (?) or exclamation mark (!).
Subject
Every sentence contains (or implies) two parts: a subject and a predicate. The subject is the main noun
(or equivalent) in a sentence about which something is said.
Tense
The form of a verb that shows us when the action or state happens (past, present or future). Note that the
name of a tense is not always a guide to when the action happens. The “present continuous tense”, for
example, can be used to talk about the present or the future.
Verb
A word like (to) work, (to) love, (to) begin. A verb describes an action or state.
We can categorize English words into 8 basic types or classes. These classes are called “parts of
speech”.
It’s quite important to recognize parts of speech. This helps you to analyze sentences and understand
them. It also helps you to construct good sentences.
In this lesson, we have an overview of the eight parts of speech, followed by a quiz to check your
understanding:
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Verb action or state (to) be, have, do, like, EnglishClub.com is a web site.
work, sing, can, must I like EnglishClub.com.
Noun thing or person pen, dog, work, music, This is my dog. He lives in my
town, London, house. We live in London.
teacher, John
Adjective describes a noun a/an, the, 69, some, My dog is big. I like big dogs.
good, big, red, well,
interesting
Adverb describes a verb, quickly, silently, well, My dog eats quickly. When he
adjective or adverb badly, very, really is very hungry, he eats really
quickly.
Pronoun replaces a noun I, you, he, she, some Tara is Indian. She is
beautiful.
Preposition links a noun to another to, at, after, on, but We went to school on
word Monday.
Conjunction joins clauses or and, but, when I like dogs and I like cats. I
sentences or words like cats and dogs. I like dogs
but I don’t like cats.
Interjection short exclamation, oh!, ouch!, hi!, well Ouch! That hurts! Hi! How
sometimes inserted into are you? Well, I don’t know.
a sentence
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To analyze the part of speech, ask yourself: “What job is this word doing in this sentence?”
In the table on the right you can see a few examples. Of course, there are more, even for some of the
words in the table. In fact, if you look in a good dictionary you will see that the word but has six jobs to
do:
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1. Verbs
Verbs are sometimes described as “action words”. This is partly true. Many verbs give the idea of
action, of “doing” something. For example, words like run, fight, do and work all convey action.
But some verbs do not give the idea of action; they give the idea of existence, of state, of “being”. For
example, verbs like be, exist, seem and belong all convey state.
A verb always has a subject. (In the sentence “John speaks English”, John is the subject and speaks is
the verb.) In simple terms, therefore, we can say that verbs are words that tell us what a subject does or
is; they describe:
There is something very special about verbs in English. Most other words (adjectives, adverbs,
prepositions etc) do not change in form (although nouns can have singular and plural forms). But almost
all verbs change in form. For example, the verb to work has five forms:
Of course, this is still very few forms compared to some languages which may have thirty or more forms
for a single verb.
In this lesson we look at the ways in which we classify verbs, followed by a quiz to test your
understanding:
• Verb Classification
• Helping Verbs
• Main Verbs
Verb Classification
We divide verbs into two broad classifications:
1. Helping Verbs
Imagine that a stranger walks into your room and says:
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• I can.
• People must.
• The Earth will.
Do you understand anything? Has this person communicated anything to you? Probably not! That’s
because these verbs are helping verbs and have no meaning on their own. They are necessary for the
grammatical structure of the sentence, but they do not tell us very much alone. We usually use helping
verbs with main verbs. They “help” the main verb. (The sentences in the above examples are therefore
incomplete. They need at least a main verb to complete them.) There are only about 15 helping verbs.
2. Main Verbs
Now imagine that the same stranger walks into your room and says:
• I teach.
• People eat.
• The Earth rotates.
Do you understand something? Has this person communicated something to you? Probably yes! Not a
lot, but something. That’s because these verbs are main verbs and have meaning on their own. They tell
us something. Of course, there are thousands of main verbs.
In the following table we see example sentences with helping verbs and main verbs. Notice that all of
these sentences have a main verb. Only some of them have a helping verb.
We must go now.
Helping verbs and main verbs can be further sub-divided, as we shall see on the following pages.
Helping Verbs
Helping verbs have no meaning on their own. They are necessary for the grammatical structure of a
sentence, but they do not tell us very much alone. We usually use helping verbs with main verbs. They
“help” the main verb (which has the real meaning). There are only about 15 helping verbs in English,
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• be
o to make continuous tenses (He is watching TV.)
o to make the passive (Small fish are eaten by big fish.)
• have
o to make perfect tenses (I have finished my homework.)
• do
o to make negatives (I do not like you.)
o to ask questions (Do you want some coffee?)
o to show emphasis (I do want you to pass your exam.)
o to stand for a main verb in some constructions (He speaks faster than she does.)
• can, could
• may, might
• will, would,
• shall, should
• must
• ought to
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l need
l dare
l used to
Verb Forms
English verbs come in several forms. For example, the verb to sing can be: to sing, sing, sang, sung,
singing or sings. This is a total of 6 forms. Not many, considering that some languages (French, for
example) have more than 30 forms for an individual verb. English tenses may be quite complicated, but
the forms that we use to make the tenses are actually very simple! With the exception of the verb to be,
English main verbs have only 4, 5 or 6 forms. To be has 9 forms. Do not confuse verb forms with tenses.
We use the different verb forms to make the tenses, but they are not the same thing.
In this lesson we look at the forms of main verbs and helping (auxiliary) verbs, followed by a quiz to
check your understanding:
Main verbs—except the verb “be”—have only 4, 5 or 6 forms. “Be” has 9 forms.
V1 V2 V3
infinitive base
past past present present simple, 3rd
simple participle participle person singular
was,
(to) be* be been being am, are, is
were
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At school, students usually learn by heart the base, past simple and past participle (sometimes
called V1, V2, V3, meaning Verb 1, Verb 2, Verb 3) for the irregular verbs. They may spend
many hours chanting: sing, sang, sung; go, went, gone; have, had, had; etc. They do not learn
these for the regular verbs because the past simple and past participle are always the same: they
are formed by adding “-ed” to the base. They do not learn the past participle and 3rd person
singular present simple by heart—for another very simple reason: they never change. The
present participle is always made by adding “-ing” to the base, and the 3rd person singular present
simple is always made by adding “s” to the base (though there are some variations in spelling).
• Note that “do”, “have” and “be” also function as helping or auxiliary verbs, with exactly
the same forms (except that as helping verbs they are never in infinitive form).
Example Sentences
These example sentences use main verbs in different forms.
Infinitive
l I want to work
l He has to sing.
l This exercise is easy to do.
l Let him have one.
l To be, or not to be, that is the question:
Base - Imperative
l Work well!
l Make this.
l Have a nice day.
l Be quiet!
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l I work in London.
l You sing well.
l They have a lot of money.
Past simple
l I worked yesterday.
l She cut his hair last week.
l They had a good time.
l They were surprised, but I was not.
Past participle
Present participle
l I am working.
l Singing well is not easy.
l Having finished, he went home.
l You are being silly!
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l He works in London.
l She sings well.
l She has a lot of money.
l It is Vietnamese.
• Primary helping verbs, used mainly to change the tense or voice of the main verb, and in
making questions and negatives.
• Modal helping verbs, used to change the “mood” of the main verb.
Study the table opposite. It shows the principal forms and uses of helping verbs, and explains the
differences between primary and modal helping verbs.
• Sometimes we make a sentence that has a helping verb and seems to have no main verb. In
fact, the main verb is “understood”. Look at the following examples:
• Question: Can you speak English? (The main verb speak is “expressed”.)
• Answer: Yes, I can. (The main verb speak is not expressed. It is “understood” from the
context. We understand: Yes, I can speak English.
But if somebody walked into the room and said “Hello. I can”, we would understand nothing!
Helping Verbs
Primary Modal
shall should
must
ought (to)
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Primary helping verbs are followed by the main “Ought” is followed by the main verb in
verb in a particular form: infinitive form. Other modal helping verbs
are followed by the main verb in its base
form (V1).
l do + V1 (base verb)
l be + -ing (present participle) l ought + to... (infinitive)
l have + V3 (past participle) l other modals + V1 (base verb)
“Do”, “be” and “have” can also function as main Modal helping verbs cannot function as
verbs. main verbs.
Tenses
The English Tense System
The links opposite are to lessons for each of the 12 basic tenses. In each lesson we look at two aspects of
the tense:
Some lessons look at additional aspects, and most of them finish with a quiz to check your
understanding.
I sing
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Look at these examples with the main verb be. Notice that there is no auxiliary:
I am French.
I am not old.
Am I late?
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It is John’s job to drive a taxi. He does it every day. Past, present and future.
Note that with the verb to be, we can also use the simple present tense for situations that are not general.
We can use the simple present tense to talk about now. Look at these examples of the verb to be in the
present simple tense—some of them are general, some of them are now:
Am I right?
Tara is not at home.
You are happy.
past present future
I am not fat.
Why are you so beautiful?
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Ram is tall.
past present future
I am singing
We often use the present continuous tense in English. It is very different from the simple present tense,
both in structure and in use.
In this lesson we look the structure and use of the present continuous tense, follwed by a quiz to check
your understanding:
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+ I am speaking to you.
? Is he watching TV?
I am eating my lunch.
past present future
Look at these examples. Right now you are looking at this screen and at the same time...
...the pages are turning. ...the candle is burning. ...the numbers are spinning.
The action may not be happening exactly now, but it is happening just before and just after now, and it
is not permanent or habitual.
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!!!
A firm plan or programme exists
The action is in the future.
now.
In these examples, we have a firm plan or programme before speaking. The decision and plan were
made before speaking.
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be > being
Exception 1 If the base verb ends in consonant + stressed vowel + consonant, double the last
letter:
s t o p
stressed
consonant consonant
vowel
(vowels = a, e, i, o, u)
Note that this exception does not apply when the last syllable of the base verb is not
stressed:
I have sung
The present perfect tense is a rather important tense in English, but it gives speakers of some languages
a difficult time. That is because it uses concepts or ideas that do not exist in those languages. In fact, the
structure of the present perfect tense is very simple. The problems come with the use of the tense. In
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addition, there are some differences in usage between British and American English.
In this lesson we look at the structure and use of the present perfect, followed by a quiz to check your
understanding:
When we use the present perfect tense in speaking, we usually contract the subject and auxiliary verb.
We also sometimes do this when we write.
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I have I’ve
He has He’s
She has She’s
It has It’s
John has John’s
The car has The car’s
We have We’ve
1. experience
2. change
3. continuing situation
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!!!
The action or state was in the In my head, I have a memory
past. now.
Connection with past: the event was in the past.
Connection with present: in my head, now, I have a memory of the event; I know something about the
event; I have experience of it.
- +
Last week I didn’t have a car. Now I have a car.
+ -
Yesterday John had a good leg. Now he has a bad leg.
+ -
Was the price $1.50 yesterday? Is the price $1.70 today?
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- +
Yesterday the killer was free. Now he is in prison.
Connection with past: the past is the opposite of the present.
Connection with present: the present is the opposite of the past.
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for since
a period of time a point in past time
·
20 minutes 6.15pm
6 months January
4 years 1994
2 centuries 1800
etc etc
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have
been base + ing
has
Contractions
When we use the present perfect continuous tense in speaking, we often contract the subject and the first
auxiliary. We also sometimes do this in informal writing.
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This tense is called the present perfect continuous tense. There is usually a connection with the present
or now. There are basically two uses for the present perfect continuous tense:
We use the present perfect continuous tense to talk about an action that started in the past and stopped
recently. There is usually a result now.
!!!
Recent action. Result now.
We use the present perfect continuous tense to talk about an action that started in the past and is
continuing now. This is often used with for or since.
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for since
a period of time a point in past time
·
20 minutes 6.15pm
6 months January
4 years 1994
2 centuries 1800
etc etc
I sang
The simple past tense is sometimes called the preterite tense. We can use several tenses to talk about
the past, but the simple past tense is the one we use most often.
In this lesson we look at the structure and use of the simple past tense, followed by a quiz to check your
understanding:
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Here you can see examples of the past form and base form for irregular verbs and regular verbs:
V1 V2 V3
base past past participle
The structure for positive sentences in the simple past tense is:
The structure for negative sentences in the simple past tense is:
The structure for question sentences in the simple past tense is:
The auxiliary verb did is not conjugated. It is the same for all persons (I did, you did, he did etc). And
the base form and past form do not change. Look at these examples with the main verbs go and work:
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I went to school.
+
You worked very hard.
Exception! The verb to be is different. We conjugate the verb to be (I was, you were, he/she/it was, we
were, they were); and we do not use an auxiliary for negative and question sentences. To make a
question, we exchange the subject and verb. Look at these examples:
Here are some short events with the simple past tense:
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Here are some long events with the simple past tense:
Notice that it does not matter how long ago the event is: it can be a few minutes or seconds in the past,
or millions of years in the past. Also it does not matter how long the event is. It can be a few
milliseconds (car explosion) or millions of years (Jurassic period). We use the simple past tense when:
Note that when we tell a story, we usually use the simple past tense. We may use the past continuous
tense to “set the scene”, but we almost always use the simple past tense for the action. Look at this
example of the beginning of a story:
“The wind was howling around the hotel and the rain was pouring down. It was cold. The door opened
and James Bond entered. He took off his coat, which was very wet, and ordered a drink at the bar. He
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sat down in the corner of the lounge and quietly drank his...”
I was singing
The past continuous tense is an important tense in English. We use it to say what we were in the
middle of doing at a particular moment in the past.
In this lesson we look at the structure and the use of the past continuouse tense, followed by a quiz to
check your understanding:
was
base + ing
were
For negative sentences in the past continuous tense, we insert not between the auxiliary verb and main
verb. For question sentences, we exchange the subject and auxiliary verb. Look at these example
sentences with the past continuous tense:
main
subject auxiliary verb
verb
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The spelling rules for adding ing to make the past continuous tense are the same as for the
present continuous tense.
8pm
When we use the past continuous tense, our listener usually knows or understands what time we are
talking about. Look at these examples:
We often use the past continuous tense to “set the scene” in stories. We use it to describe the background
situation at the moment when the action begins. Often, the story starts with the past continuous tense and
then moves into the simple past tense. Here is an example:
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“ James Bond was driving through town. It was raining. The wind was blowing hard. Nobody was
walking in the streets. Suddenly, Bond saw the killer in a telephone box...”
Long action.
Short action.
(Notice that “when you telephoned” is also a way of defining the time [8pm].)
We use:
Notice that the long action and short action are relative.
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I had sung
The past perfect tense is quite an easy tense to understand and to use. This tense talks about the “past in
the past”.
had V3
For negative sentences in the past perfect tense, we insert not between the auxiliary verb and main verb.
For question sentences, we exchange the subject and auxiliary verb. Look at these example sentences
with the past perfect tense:
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When speaking with the past perfect tense, we often contract the subject and auxiliary verb:
I had I’d
he had he’d
she had she’d
it had it’d
we had we’d
l We had
or
We would
l
• The train left at 9am. We arrived at 9.15am. When we arrived, the train had left.
9 9.15
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You can sometimes think of the past perfect tense like the present perfect tense, but instead of the time
being now the time is past.
For example, imagine that you arrive at the station at 9.15am. The stationmaster says to you:
We often use the past perfect tense in reported speech after verbs like said, told, asked, thought,
wondered:
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For negative sentences in the past perfect continuous tense, we insert not after the first auxiliary verb.
For question sentences, we exchange the subject and first auxiliary verb. Look at these example
sentences with the past perfect continuous tense:
When speaking with the past perfect continuous tense, we often contract the subject and first auxiliary
verb:
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• Ram started waiting at 9am. I arrived at 11am. When I arrived, Ram had been waiting for two
hours.
9 11
You can sometimes think of the past perfect continuous tense like the present perfect continuous tense,
but instead of the time being now the time is past.
For example, imagine that you meet Ram at 11am. Ram says to you:
I will sing
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The simple future tense is often called will, because we make the simple future tense with the modal
auxiliary will.
will V1
For negative sentences in the simple future tense, we insert not between the auxiliary verb and main
verb. For question sentences, we exchange the subject and auxiliary verb. Look at these example
sentences with the simple future tense:
When we use the simple future tense in speaking, we often contract the subject and auxiliary verb:
I will I’ll
he will he’ll
she will she’ll
it will it’ll
we will we’ll
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For negative sentences in the simple future tense, we contract with won’t, like this:
We use the simple future tense when there is no plan or decision to do something before we speak. We
make the decision spontaneously at the time of speaking. Look at these examples:
In these examples, we had no firm plan before speaking. The decision is made at the time of speaking.
We often use the simple future tense with the verb to think before it:
Prediction
We often use the simple future tense to make a prediction about the future. Again, there is no firm plan.
We are saying what we think will happen. Here are some examples:
Be
When the main verb is be, we can use the simple future tense even if we have a firm plan or decision
before speaking. Examples:
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I will be singing
For negative sentences in the future continuous tense, we insert not between will and be. For question
sentences, we exchange the subject and will. Look at these example sentences with the future
continuous tense:
When we use the future continuous tense in speaking, we often contract the subject and will:
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I will I’ll
he will he’ll
she will she’ll
it will it’ll
we will we’ll
For spoken negative sentences in the future continuous tense, we contract with won’t, like this:
4pm
When we use the future continuous tense, our listener usually knows or understands what time we are
talking about. Look at these examples:
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The future perfect tense is quite an easy tense to understand and use. The future perfect tense talks
about the past in the future.
will have V3
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In speaking with the future perfect tense, we often contract the subject and will. Sometimes, we contract
the subject, will and have all together:
• The train will leave the station at 9am. You will arrive at the station at 9.15am. When you arrive,
the train will have left.
9 9.15
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• You can call me at work at 8am. I will have arrived at the office by 8.
• They will be tired when they arrive. They will not have slept for a long time.
• “Mary won’t be at home when you arrive.”
”Really? Where will she have gone?”
You can sometimes think of the future perfect tense like the present perfect tense, but instead of your
viewpoint being in the present, it is in the future:
auxiliary
auxiliary auxiliary main
subject + + verb + +
verb WILL verb BE verb
HAVE
present
invariable invariable past participle
participle
For negative sentences in the future perfect continuous tense, we insert not between will and have. For
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question sentences, we exchange the subject and will. Look at these example sentences with the future
perfect continuous tense:
When we use the future perfect continuous tense in speaking, we often contract the subject and auxiliary
verb:
I will I’ll
he will he’ll
she will she’ll
it will it’ll
we will we’ll
For negative sentences in the future perfect continuous tense, we contract with won’t, like this:
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• I will have been working here for ten years next week.
• He will be tired when he arrives. He will have been travelling for 24 hours.
The important thing to remember is that a multi-word verb is still a verb. “Get” is a verb. “Get up”, is
also a verb, a different verb. “Get” and “get up” are two different verbs. They do not have the same
meaning. So you should treat each multi-word verb as a separate verb, and learn it like any other verb.
Look at these examples. You can see that there are three types of multi-word verb:
single-word verb look direct your eyes in a You must look before
certain direction you leap.
multi- prepositional look after take care of Who is looking after the
word verbs baby?
verbs
phrasal verbs look up search for and find You can look up my
information in a number in the telephone
reference book directory.
In this lesson we look at the three types of multi-word verbs, including phrasal verbs, followed by a quiz
to check your understanding:
• Phrasal Verbs
• Prepositional Verbs
• Phrasal-prepositional Verbs
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l prepositional verbs
l phrasal verbs
lphrasal-prepositional verbs
Other grammars, however, call all multi-word verbs
“phrasal verbs”.
Phrasal Verbs
Phrasal verbs are a group of multi-word verbs made from a verb plus another word or words. Many
people refer to all multi-word verbs as phrasal verbs. On these pages we make a distinction between
three types of multi-word verbs: prepositional verbs, phrasal verbs and phrasal-prepositional verbs. On
this page we look at phrasal verbs proper.
verb + adverb
Phrasal verbs can be:
examples
phrasal
meaning
verbs direct
object
transitive put off postpone We will have to put off the meeting.
phrasal
verbs turn down refuse They turned down my offer.
When phrasal verbs are transitive (that is, they have a direct object), we can usually separate the two
parts. For example, “turn down” is a separable phrasal verb. We can say: “turn down my offer” or
“turn my offer down”. Look at this table:
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However, if the direct object is a pronoun, we have no choice. We must separate the phrasal verb and
insert the pronoun between the two parts. Look at this example with the separable phrasal verb “switch
on”:
l get up
l break down
l put something/somebody off
l turn sthg/sby down
This tells you whether the verb needs a direct object
(and where to put it).
Prepositional Verbs
Prepositional verbs are a group of multi-word verbs made from a verb plus another word or words.
Many people refer to all multi-word verbs as phrasal verbs. On these pages we make a distinction
between three types of multi-word verbs: prepositional verbs, phrasal verbs and phrasal-prepositional
verbs. On this page we look at prepositional verbs.
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verb + preposition
Because a preposition always has an object, all prepositional verbs have direct objects. Here are some
examples of prepositional verbs:
examples
prepositional verbs meaning
direct object
Prepositional verbs cannot be separated. That means that we cannot put the direct object between the
two parts. For example, we must say “look after the baby”. We cannot say “look the baby after”:
l believe in something/somebody
l look after sthg/sby
This reminds you that this verb needs a direct object
(and where to put it).
Phrasal-prepositional Verbs
Phrasal-prepositional verbs are a small group of multi-word verbs made from a verb plus another word
or words. Many people refer to all multi-word verbs as phrasal verbs. On these pages we make a
distinction between three types of multi-word verbs: prepositional verbs, phrasal verbs and phrasal-
prepositional verbs. On this page we look at phrasal-prepositional verbs.
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examples
phrasal-prepositional
meaning
verbs direct
object
your
put up with tolerate I won’t put up with
attitude.
Because phrasal-prepositional verbs end with a preposition, there is always a direct object. And, like
prepositional verbs, phrasal-prepositional verbs cannot be separated. Look at these examples:
English Conditionals
There are several structures in English that are called conditionals.
“Condition” means “situation or circumstance”. If a particular condition is true, then a particular result
happens.
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• If y = 10 then 2y = 20
• If y = 3 then 2y = 6
There are three basic conditionals that we use very often. There are some more conditionals that we do
not use so often.
In this lesson, we will look at the three basic conditionals as well as the so-called zero conditional. We’ll
finish with a quiz to check your understanding.
IF condition result
IF y = 10 2y = 20
or like this:
result IF condition
2y = 20 IF y = 10
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IF condition result
Notice that we are thinking about a future condition. It is not raining yet. But the sky is cloudy and you
think that it could rain. We use the present simple tense to talk about the possible future condition. We
use WILL + base verb to talk about the possible future result. The important thing about the first
conditional is that there is a real possibility that the condition will happen. Here are some more
examples (do you remember the two basic structures: [IF condition result] and [result IF condition]?):
IF condition result
result IF condition
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thinking about a particular condition in the future, and the result of this condition. But there is not a real
possibility that this condition will happen. For example, you do not have a lottery ticket. Is it possible to
win? No! No lottery ticket, no win! But maybe you will buy a lottery ticket in the future. So you can
think about winning in the future, like a dream. It’s not very real, but it’s still possible.
IF condition result
Notice that we are thinking about a future condition. We use the past simple tense to talk about the
future condition. We use WOULD + base verb to talk about the future result. The important thing about
the second conditional is that there is an unreal possibility that the condition will happen.
IF condition result
result IF condition
Third Conditional:
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no possibility
The first conditional and second conditionals talk about the future. With the third conditional we talk
about the past. We talk about a condition in the past that did not happen. That is why there is no
possibility for this condition. The third conditional is also like a dream, but with no possibility of the
dream coming true.
Last week you bought a lottery ticket. But you did not win. :-(
condition result
Notice that we are thinking about an impossible past condition. You did not win the lottery. So the
condition was not true, and that particular condition can never be true because it is finished. We use the
past perfect tense to talk about the impossible past condition. We use WOULD HAVE + past participle
to talk about the impossible past result. The important thing about the third conditional is that both the
condition and result are impossible now.
IF condition result
If they had not passed their exam their teacher would have been sad.
result IF condition
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Their teacher would have been sad if they had not passed their exam.
Take some ice. Put it in a saucepan. Heat the saucepan. What happens? The ice melts (it becomes
water). You would be surprised if it did not.
IF condition result
Notice that we are thinking about a result that is always true for this condition. The result of the
condition is an absolute certainty. We are not thinking about the future or the past, or even the present.
We are thinking about a simple fact. We use the present simple tense to talk about the condition. We
also use the present simple tense to talk about the result. The important thing about the zero conditional
is that the condition always has the same result.
IF condition result
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result IF condition
Conditionals: Summary
Here is a chart to help you to visualize the basic English conditionals. Do not take the 50% and 10%
figures too literally. They are just to help you.
second
10% If I won the lottery, I would buy a car. future
conditional
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In this lesson we look at these three verbs, followed by a quiz to check your understanding:
• Can
• Could
• Be able to
Can
Can is an auxiliary verb, a modal auxiliary verb. We use can to:
Structure of Can
cannot
- He play tennis.
can’t
Notice that:
Use of Can
can: Possibility and Ability
We use can to talk about what is possible, what we are able or free to do:
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Normally, we use can for the present. But it is possible to use can when we make present decisions
about future ability.
We often use can in a question to ask somebody to do something. This is not a real question - we do not
really want to know if the person is able to do something, we want them to do it! The use of can in this
way is informal (mainly between friends and family):
can: Permission
(Note that we also use could, may, might for permission. The use of can for permission is informal.)
Could
Could is an auxiliary verb, a modal auxiliary verb. We use could to:
Structure of Could
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could not
- She walk.
couldn’t
Notice that:
Use of Could
could: Past Possibility or Ability
We use could to talk about what was possible in the past, what we were able or free to do:
We use could (positive) and couldn’t (negative) for general ability in the past. But when we talk about
one special occasion in the past, we use be able to (positive) and couldn’t (negative). Look at these
examples:
Past
My grandmother could speak A man fell into the river yesterday. The police were able
+ Spanish. to save him.
My grandmother couldn’t speak A man fell into the river yesterday. The police couldn’t
- Spanish. save him.
could: Requests
We often use could in a question to ask somebody to do something. The use of could in this way is
fairly polite (formal):
Be able to
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Although we look at be able to here, it is not a modal verb. It is simply the verb be plus an adjective
(able) followed by the infinitive. We look at be able to here because we sometimes use it instead of can
and could.
Structure of Be able to
The structure of be able to is:
be able
subject main verb adjective infinitive
+ I am able to drive.
is not
- She able to drive.
isn’t
Use of Be able to
be able to: ability
We use be able to to express ability. “Able” is an adjective meaning: having the power, skill or means
to do something. If we say “I am able to swim”, it is like saying “I can swim”. We sometimes use “be
able to” instead of “can” or “could” for ability. “Be able to” is possible in all tenses—but “can” is
possible only in the present and “could” is possible only in the past for ability. In addition, “can” and
“could” have no infinitive form. So we use “be able to” when we want to use other tenses or the
infinitive. Look at these examples:
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Gerunds (-ing)
When a verb ends in -ing, it may be a gerund or a present participle. It is important to understand that
they are not the same.
When we use a verb in -ing form more like a noun, it is usually a gerund:
• Fishing is fun.
When we use a verb in -ing form more like a verb or an adjective, it is usually a present participle:
• Anthony is fishing.
• I have a boring teacher.
In this lesson, we look at the different ways in which we use gerunds, followed by a quiz to check your
understanding:
But, like a verb, a gerund can also have an object itself. In this case, the whole expression [gerund +
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Like nouns, we can use gerunds with adjectives (including articles and other determiners):
• pointless questioning
• a settling of debts
• the making of Titanic
• his drinking of alcohol
But when we use a gerund with an article, it does not usually take a direct object:
Do you see the difference in these two sentences? In one, “reading” is a gerund (noun). In the
other “reading” is a present participle (verb).
Answer
reading as gerund
(noun) Main Verb Complement
If we want to use a verb after a preposition, it must be a gerund. It is impossible to use an infinitive after
a preposition. So for example, we say:
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Notice that you could replace all the above gerunds with “real” nouns:
The above rule has no exceptions! So why is “to” followed by “driving” in 1 and by “drive”
in 2?
to as preposition Preposition
I am used to animals.
to as infinitive Infinitive
I used to smoke.
• I want to eat.
But sometimes the second verb must be in gerund form, for example:
• I dislike eating.
This depends on the first verb. Here is a list of verbs that are usually followed by a verb in gerund form:
• admit, appreciate, avoid, carry on, consider, defer, delay, deny, detest, dislike, endure, enjoy,
escape, excuse, face, feel like, finish, forgive, give up, can’t help, imagine, involve, leave off,
mention, mind, miss, postpone, practise, put off, report, resent, risk, can’t stand, suggest,
understand
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l It started raining.
Questions
What is a question?
A statement is a sentence that gives information. A question is a sentence that asks for information.
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?
In this lesson we look at basic questions in English, followed by a quiz to check your understanding:
Exception!
For the verb be in simple present and simple past, we do not use an auxiliary verb. We simply reverse
the positions of be and subject:
Statement: He is German.
Question: Is he German?
1. Yes/No Questions
Answer
auxiliary verb subject main verb
Yes or No
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3. Choice Questions
Answer
auxiliary verb subject main verb OR In the
question
Coffee,
Do you want tea or coffee?
please.
These pages show the three basic types of question. There are other
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Tag Questions
A tag question is a special construction in English. It is a statement followed by a mini-question. The
whole sentence is a “tag question”, and the mini-question at the end is called a “question tag”.
We use tag questions at the end of statements to ask for confirmation. They mean something like: “Am I
right?” or “Do you agree?” They are very common in English.
+ -
Positive statement, negative tag?
- +
Negative statement, positive tag?
personal
main pronoun
subject auxiliary auxiliary not
verb (same as
subject)
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personal
subject auxiliary main verb auxiliary pronoun
(same as subject)
Nothing came in the post, did it? treat statements with nothing, nobody etc like negative statements
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Notice that we often use tag questions to ask for information or help, starting with a negative statement.
This is quite a friendly/polite way of making a request. For example, instead of saying “Where is the
police station?” (not very polite), or “Do you know where the police station is?” (slightly more polite),
we could say: “You wouldn’t know where the police station is, would you?” Here are some more
examples:
Intonation
We can change the meaning of a tag question with the musical pitch of our voice. With rising intonation,
it sounds like a real question. But if our intonation falls, it sounds more like a statement that doesn’t
require a real answer:
intonation
You don’t know where my wallet is, do you? / rising real question
How do we answer a tag question? Often, we just say Yes or No. Sometimes we may repeat the tag and
reverse it (..., do they? Yes, they do). Be very careful about answering tag questions. In some languages,
an oposite system of answering is used, and non-native English speakers sometimes answer in the wrong
way. This can lead to a lot of confusion!
For example, everyone knows that snow is white. Look at these questions, and the correct answers:
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correct
tag question
answer
Snow is white, isn’t it? Yes (it is). the answer is the same in both
cases - because snow IS
Snow isn’t white, is it? Yes it is! WHITE! but notice the change of stress when
the answerer does not agree with the
Snow is black, isn’t it? No it isn’t! the answer is the same in both questioner
cases - because snow IS NOT
Snow isn’t black, is it? No (it isn’t). BLACK!
In some languages, people answer a question like “Snow isn’t black, is it?” with “Yes” (meaning “Yes, I
agree with you”). This is the wrong answer in English!
• The moon goes round the earth, doesn’t it? Yes, it does.
• The earth is bigger than the moon, isn’t it? Yes.
• The earth is bigger than the sun, isn’t it? No, it isn’t!
• Asian people don’t like rice, do they? Yes, they do!
• Elephants live in Europe, don’t they? No, they don’t!
• Men don’t have babies, do they? No.
• The English alphabet doesn’t have 40 letters, does it? No, it doesn’t.
Sometimes we use question tags with imperatives (invitations, orders), but the sentence remains an
imperative and does not require a direct answer. We use won’t for invitations. We use can, can’t, will,
would for orders.
Don’t forget, will you? with negative imperatives only will is possible
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Subjunctive
The subjunctive is a special, relatively rare verb form in English.
I were I be I work
you were you be you work
he, she, it were he, she, it be he, she, it work
we were we be we work
you were you be you work
they were they be they work
• wants to happen
• hopes will happen
• imagines happening
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• the verbs: ask, command, demand, insist, propose, recommend, request, suggest + that
• the expressions: it is desirable, essential, important, necessary, vital + that
Notice that in these structures the subjunctive is always the same. It does not matter whether the
sentence is past or present. Look at these examples:
We usually use the subjunctive were instead of “was” after if (and other words with similar meaning).
Look at these sentences:
We sometimes hear things like “if I were you, I would go” or “if he were here, he would tell you”.
Normally, the past tense of the verb “to be” is: I was, he was. But the if I were you structure does not use
the past simple tense of the verb “to be”. It uses the past subjunctive of the verb “to be”. In the
following examples, you can see that we often use the subjunctive form were instead of “was” after:
• if
• as if
• wish
• suppose
Formal Informal
(The were form is correct at all times.) (The was form is possible in informal, familiar
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conversation.)
She acts as if she were Queen. She acts as if she was Queen.
Some fixed expressions use the subjunctive. Here are some examples:
1. Active voice
2. Passive voice
The active voice is the “normal” voice. This is the voice that we use most of the time. You are probably
already familiar with the active voice. In the active voice, the object receives the action of the verb:
active >
Cats eat fish.
The passive voice is less usual. In the passive voice, the subject receives the action of the verb:
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passive <
Fish are eaten by cats.
The object of the active verb becomes the subject of the passive verb:
Passive Voice
The passive voice is less usual than the active voice. The active voice is the “normal” voice. But
sometimes we need the passive voice. In this lesson we look at how to construct the passive voice, when
to use it and how to conjugate it.
I am paid in euro.
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infinitive to be washed
present It is washed.
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Infinitive or -ing?
Sometimes we need to decide whether to use a verb in its:
or
• infinitive form (to do, to sing).
For example, only one of the following sentences is correct. Which one?
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l It started to rain.
l It started raining.
l I like to play tennis.
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• plural verb
• they (not it)
• who (not which)
• The committee want sandwiches for lunch. They have to leave early.
• My family, who don’t see me often, have asked me home for Christmas.
• The team hope to win next time.
Here are some examples of words and expressions that can be considered singular or plural:
• choir, class, club, committee, company, family, government, jury, school, staff, team, union, the
BBC, board of directors, the Conservative Party, Manchester United, the Ministry of Health
But when we consider the group as an impersonal unit, we use singular verbs and pronouns:
Notice that this is often a question of style and logic. The important thing is to be consistent.
In this lesson we look at various uses of continuous tenses, followed by a quiz to check your
understanding:
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• hear, see
I don’t believe you are right. not I am not believing you are right.
Does this pen belong to you? not Is this pen belonging to you?
In sense 1 there is no real action, no activity. This sense is called “stative”. In sense 2 there is a kind of
action, a kind of activity. This sense is called “dynamic”.
When we use the stative sense, we use a simple tense. When we use the dynamic sense, we can use a
simple or continuous tense, depending on the situation.
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If you have a doubt about a particular verb, ask yourself the question: “Is
there any real action or activity?”
I don’t consider that We are considering your job We consider every job
he is the right man for application and will give you our application very
the job. answer in a few days. carefully.
A good carpenter
This table measures 4 She is measuring the room for a
measures his wood
x 6 feet. new carpet.
carefully.
Does the wine taste I was tasting the wine when I I always taste wine
good? dropped the glass. before I drink it.
Mary has three Please phone later. We are having We have dinner at 8pm
children. dinner now. every day.
Usually we use simple tenses with the verb be as a main verb. For example, we say:
Sometimes, however, we can use the verb be with a continuous tense. This is when the real sense of the
verb be is “act” or “behave”. Also, of course, the action is temporary. Compare the examples in the table
opposite:
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Is he always so stupid? (Is that his They were being really stupid. (They were
personality?) behaving really stupidly at that moment.)
Andrew is not usually selfish. (It is Why is he being so selfish? (Why is he acting so
not Andrew’s character to be selfish.) selfishly at the moment?)
Notice that we also make a difference between “to be sick” and “to be being sick”:
In this lesson we look at the structure and use of both expressions, followed by a quiz to check your
understanding:
• Used to do
• Be used to
Used to do
We use used to do to talk about the past. It is not a tense but it is like a tense. It is a special expression.
We use the expression used to do for the past only.
Use of Used to do
We use the used to do expression to talk about:
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Be used to
Be used to something
Be used to doing
Structure of Be used to
The structure is:
main verb
subject be not used to object
+ I am used to horses.
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Use of Be used to
The be used to expression is for talking about something that is familiar to us or easy for us. For
example:
It means that it is not a problem for me to drive on the left of the road. I am Japanese. In Japan, people
drive on the left. Now I am living in the USA where people drive on the right. Of course, I drive on the
right in the USA, but when I go to Japan it is easy for me to drive on the left because “I am used to it”.
Tenses
We can use be used to in any tense. We just conjugate the verb be in the tense that we need. Look at
these examples:
Going to
Going to is not a tense. It is a special expression to talk about the future.
Structure of Going to
The structure is:
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Use of Going to
Going to - intention
We use going to when we have the intention to do something before we speak. We have already made a
decision before speaking. Look at these examples:
In these examples, we had an intention or plan before speaking. The decision was made before
speaking.
Going to - prediction
We often use going to to make a prediction about the future. Our prediction is based on present
evidence. We are saying what we think will happen. Here are some examples:
In these examples, the present situation (black sky, the time, damaged car) gives us a good idea of what
is going to happen.
2. Nouns
It’s not easy to describe a noun. In simple terms, nouns are “things” (and verbs are “actions”). Like
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food. Food (noun) is something you eat (verb). Or happiness. Happiness (noun) is something you want
(verb). Or human being. A human being (noun) is something you are (verb).
The problem with this definition is that it does not explain why “love” is a noun but can also be a verb.
1. Ending
2. Position
3. Function
1. Noun Ending
There are certain word endings that show that a word is a noun, for example:
But this is not is not true for the word endings of all nouns. For example, the noun “spoonful” ends in -
ful, but the adjective “careful” also ends in -ful.
2. Position in Sentence
Nouns often come after a determiner (a determiner is a word like a, an, the, this, my, such):
• a relief
• an afternoon
• the doctor
• this word
• my house
• such stupidity
• a great relief
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• a peaceful afternoon
• the tall, Indian doctor
• this difficult word
• my brown and white house
• such crass stupidity
3. Function in a Sentence
But the subject or object of a sentence is not always a noun. It could be a pronoun or a phrase. In the
sentence “My doctor works hard”, the noun is “doctor” but the subject is “My doctor”.
Possessive ‘s
Adding ‘s or ‘ to show possession.
John’s car, my parents’ house
• Countable Nouns
• Uncountable Nouns
• Nouns that can be Countable & Uncountable
Countable Nouns
Countable nouns are easy to recognize. They are things that we can count. For example: “pen”. We can
count pens. We can have one, two, three or more pens. Here are some more countable nouns:
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• My dog is playing.
• My dogs are hungry.
• A dog is an animal.
When a countable noun is singular, we must use a word like a/the/my/this with it:
• I like oranges.
• Bottles can break.
Uncountable Nouns
Uncountable nouns are substances, concepts etc that we cannot divide into separate elements. We cannot
“count” them. For example, we cannot count “milk”. We can count “bottles of milk” or “litres of milk”,
but we cannot count “milk” itself. Here are some more uncountable nouns:
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We usually treat uncountable nouns as singular. We use a singular verb. For example:
We do not usually use the indefinite article a/an with uncountable nouns. We cannot say “an
information” or “a music”. But we can say a something of:
• a piece of news
• a bottle of water
• a grain of rice
Here are some more examples of countable and uncountable nouns. When you learn a new word, it’s
a good idea to learn whether it’s countable or uncountable.
Countable Uncountable
There are two hairs in my coffee! hair I don’t have much hair.
We had a great time at the party. time Have you got time for a
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coffee?
Drinks (coffee, water, orange juice) are usually uncountable. But if we are
thinking of a cup or a glass, we can say (in a restaurant, for example):
3. Adjectives
An adjective is a word that tells us more about a noun. (By “noun” we include pronouns and noun
phrases.) An adjective “qualifies” or “modifies” a noun (a big dog). Adjectives can be used before a
noun (I like Chinese food) or after certain verbs (It is hard). We can often use two or more adjectives
together (a beautiful young French lady).
Determiners
the, a/an, this, some, any
Comparative Adjectives
richer, more exciting
Superlative Adjectives
the richest, the most exciting
Determiners
Determiners are words like the, an, my, some. They are grammatically similar. They all come at the
beginning of noun phrases, and usually we cannot use more than one determiner in the same noun
phrase.
Articles:
• a, an, the
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Possessives:
Other determiners:
• each, every
• either, neither
• any, some, no
• much, many; more, most
• little, less, least
• few, fewer, fewest
• what, whatever; which, whichever
• both, half, all
• several
• enough
A, An or The?
Each, Every
Some, Any
Determiners: A, An or The?
When do we say “the dog” and when do we say “a dog”? (On this page we talk only about singular,
countable nouns.)
The and a/an are called “articles”. We divide them into “definite” and “indefinite” like this:
Articles
Definite Indefinite
the a, an
When we are talking about one thing in particular, we use the. When we are talking about one thing in
general, we use a or an.
Think of the sky at night. In the sky there is 1 moon and millions of stars. So normally we could say:
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the a, an
Of course, often we can use the or a/an for the same word. It depends on the situation. Look at these
examples:
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Every is half-way between each and all. It sees things or people as singular, but in a group or in general.
Every cannot be used for 2 things. For 2 things, each can be used:
Usually, we use some in positive (+) sentences and any in negative (-) and question (?) sentences.
I have some
+ money.
I have $10.
I don’t have any I don’t have $1 and I don’t have $10 and I don’t have
- money. $1,000,000. I have $0.
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• I refused to give them any money. (I did not give them any money)
• She finished the test without any difficulty. (she did not have any difficulty)
Sometimes we use some in a question, when we expect a positive YES answer. (We could say that it is
not a real question, because we think we know the answer already.)
Adjective Order
There are 2 basic positions for adjectives:
2 My car is big.
In this lesson we look at the position of adjectives in a sentence, followed by a quiz to check your
understanding:
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(“Opinion” is what you think about something. “Fact” is what is definitely true about something.)
2. The normal order for fact adjectives is size, age, shape, colour, material, origin:
3. Determiners usually come first, even though they are fact adjectives:
adjectives noun
When we want to use two colour adjectives, we join them with “and”:
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Conversation 1
A “I want to buy a round table.”
B “Do you want a new round table or an old round
table?”
Conversation 2
A “I want to buy an old table”.
B “Do you want a round old table or a square old
table?”
• Ram is English.
• Because she had to wait, she became impatient.
• Is it getting dark?
• The examination did not seem difficult.
• Your friend looks nice.
• This towel feels damp.
• That new film doesn’t sound very interesting.
• Dinner smells good tonight.
• This milk tastes sour.
Comparative Adjectives
When we talk about two things, we can “compare” them. We can see if they are the same or different.
Perhaps they are the same in some ways and different in other ways. We can use comparative adjectives
to describe the differences.
In the example opposite, “bigger” is the comparative form of the adjective “big”:
We can use comparative adjectives when talking about two things (not three or more things).
A
The first A is bigger than the second A.
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In this lesson we will look first at how we make comparative adjectives, and then at how we use them:
Variation: if the adjective ends in -e, just add -r late > later
Variation: if the adjective ends in -y, change the y to i happy > happier
Long adjectives
Exception
The following adjectives have irregular forms:
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Exception
The following adjectives have irregular forms:
Distance from Sun (million 150 228 Mars is more distant from the Sun.
km)
Superlative Adjectives
A superlative adjective expresses the extreme or highest degree of a quality. We use a superlative
adjective to describe the extreme quality of one thing in a group of things.
In the example opposite, “biggest” is the superlative form of the adjective “big”:
We can use superlative adjectives when talking about three or more things (not two things).
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B
C
A is the biggest.
In this lesson we will look first at how we make superlative adjectives, and then at how we use them:
Short adjectives
Variation: if the adjective ends in -e, just add -st late > the latest
Variation: if the adjective ends in -y, change the y to i happy > the happiest
Long adjectives
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expensive
Exception
The following adjectives have irregular forms:
If we talk about the three planets Earth, Mars and Jupiter, we can use superlative adjectives as shown in
the table opposite:
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4. Adverbs
An adverb is a word that tells us more about a verb. An adverb “qualifies” or “modifies” a verb (The
man ran quickly). But adverbs can also modify adjectives (Tara is really beautiful), or even other
adverbs (It works very well).
Many different kinds of word are called adverbs. We can usually recognise an adverb by its:
1. Function (Job)
2. Form
3. Position
1. Function
The principal job of an adverb is to modify (give more information about) verbs, adjectives and other
adverbs. In the following examples, the adverb is in bold and the word that it modifies is in italics.
• Modify a verb:
- John speaks loudly. (How does John speak?)
- Mary lives locally. (Where does Mary live?)
- She never smokes. (When does she smoke?)
• Modify an adjective:
- He is really handsome.
• Modify another adverb:
- She drives incredibly slowly.
2. Form
Many adverbs end in -ly. We form such adverbs by adding -ly to the adjective. Here are some examples:
But not all words that end in -ly are adverbs. “Friendly”, for example, is an adjective.
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3. Position
Adverbs of Frequency
Adverbs of Frequency answer the question “How often?” or “How frequently?” They tell us how often
somebody does something.
Adverbs of frequency come before the main verb (except the main verb “to be”):
Occasionally, sometimes, often, frequently and usually can also go at the beginning or end of a sentence:
Rarely and seldom can also go at the end of a sentence (often with “very”):
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0% never
5. English Pronouns
Pronouns are small words that take the place of a noun. We can use a pronoun instead of a noun.
Pronouns are words like: he, you, ours, themselves, some, each... If we didn’t have pronouns, we
would have to repeat a lot of nouns. We would have to say things like:
• Do you like the President? I don’t like the President. The President is too pompous.
Personal Pronouns
This summary of personal pronouns includes possessive adjectives for convenience and comparison.
pronouns
possessive
number person gender* subject object possessive reflexive adjectives
Examples:
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Personal Pronouns
This summary of personal pronouns includes possessive adjectives for convenience and comparison.
pronouns
possessive
number person gender* subject object possessive reflexive adjectives
Examples:
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6. English Prepositions
A preposition is a word governing, and usually coming in front of, a noun or pronoun and expressing a
relation to another word or element, as in:
• aboard
• about
• above
• across
• after
• against
• along
• amid
• among
• anti
• around
• as
• at
• before
• behind
• below
• beneath
• beside
• besides
• between
• beyond
• but
• by
• concerning
• considering
• despite
• down
• during
• except
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• excepting
• excluding
• following
• for
• from
• in
• inside
• into
• like
• minus
• near
• of
• off
• on
• onto
• opposite
• outside
• over
• past
• per
• plus
• regarding
• round
• save
• since
• than
• through
• to
• toward
• towards
• under
• underneath
• unlike
• until
• up
• upon
• versus
• via
• with
• within
• without
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Rule
A preposition is followed by a “noun”. It is never followed by a verb.
By “noun” we include:
A preposition cannot be followed by a verb. If we want to follow a preposition by a verb, we must use
the “-ing” form which is really a gerund or verb in noun form.
Quick Quiz: In the following sentences, why is “to” followed by a verb? That should be impossible,
according to the above rule:
Answer to Quick Quiz: In these sentences, “to” is not a preposition. It is part of the infinitive (“to go”, “to smoke”).
Prepositions of Place:
at, in, on
In general, we use:
• at for a POINT
• in for an ENCLOSED SPACE
• on for a SURFACE
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at in on
Notice the use of the prepositions of place at, in and on in these standard expressions:
at in on
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Prepositions of Time:
at, in, on
We use:
on Independence
at sunrise in the next century
Day
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Notice the use of the preposition of time at in the following standard expressions:
Expression Example
Notice the use of the prepositions of time in and on in these common expressions:
in on
When we say last, next, every, this we do not also use at, in, on.
7. Conjunctions
A conjunction is a word that “joins”. A conjunction joins two parts of a sentence.
and, but, or, nor, for, yet, so although, because, since, unless
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Form
Conjunctions have three basic forms:
• Single Word
for example: and, but, because, although
• Compound (often ending with as or that)
for example: provided that, as long as, in order that
• Correlative (surrounding an adverb or adjective)
for example: so...that
Function
Conjunctions have two basic functions or “jobs”:
• Coordinating conjunctions are used to join two parts of a sentence that are grammatically equal.
The two parts may be single words or clauses, for example:
- Jack and Jill went up the hill.
- The water was warm but I didn’t go swimming.
• Subordinating conjunctions are used to join a subordinate dependent clause to a main clause,
for example:
- I went swimming, although it was cold.
Position
• Coordinating conjunctions always come between the words or clauses that they join.
• Subordinating conjunctions usually come at the beginning of the subordinate clause.
• Coordinating Conjunctions
• Subordinating Conjunctions
Coordinating Conjunctions
The short, simple conjunctions are called “coordinating conjunctions”:
A coordinating conjunction joins parts of a sentence (for example words or independent clauses) that are
grammatically equal or similar. A coordinating conjunction shows that the elements it joins are similar
in importance and structure:
Look at these examples - the two elements that the coordinating conjunction joins are shown in square
brackets [ ]:
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Coordinating conjunctions always come between the words or clauses that they join.
When a coordinating conjunction joins independent clauses, it is always correct to place a comma before
the conjunction:
However, if the independent clauses are short and well-balanced, a comma is not really essential:
When “and” is used with the last word of a list, a comma is optional:
F A N B O Y S
Subordinating Conjunctions
The majority of conjunctions are “subordinating conjunctions”. Common subordinating conjunctions
are:
• after, although, as, because, before, how, if, once, since, than, that, though, till, until, when,
where, whether, while
main or subordinate or
independent clause dependent clause
subordinating
conjunction
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8. Interjections
Hi! That’s an interjection. :-)
Interjection is a big name for a little word. Interjections are short exclamations like Oh!, Um or Ah!
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.
asking for repetition “It’s hot today.” “Eh?” “I said it’s hot
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today.”
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