‘Determiners’ are used before a noun to ‘determine’ the character of the noun – in particular, how ‘definite’ or ‘general’ a noun it is, and whether it is ‘one’ or ‘more than one’. When you use a noun, you have the choice of using it in one of three...
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Nouns: singular and plural
Most countable nouns have both a singular and a plural form, showing the difference between ‘one’ and ‘more than one’.REGULAR PLURALSThe regular way of changing a noun from singular to plural is to add –s or –es at the end.Ex:-dog – dogs, chair – chairs,...
Nouns: countable and uncountable
COUNTABLE NOUNSA noun is ‘countable’ if you can think of it as one of several separate units, for example book, egg, or horse. As the name suggests, countable nouns can actually be counted.UNCOUNTABLE NOUNSA noun is ‘uncountable’ if you cannot think...
Active and passive
In the sentence The dog chased the cat, the verb (chased) is active. If you turn it around, and say The cat was chased by the dog, the verb (was chased) is passive. You form the passive by using the verb be and the past participle of the main verb. For...
Conditionals
When you want to say that one situation (described in the main clause) depends on another situation, you use a conditional clause.Conditional clauses usually begin with if or (for negative clauses) unless.Ex:-Jane will pass the exam if she works hard....
Modal verbs
The main ‘modal verbs’ (or ‘modals’) are:can | may | will | shall | mustcould | might | would | should | Ought to, used to, dare and need are also used as modal verbs, but they have other uses as well.WHEN TO USE MODAL VERBSModals have several meanings,...
Phrasal verbs
WHAT IS A PHRASAL VERB?A phrasal verb is a verb which consists of more than one word. Most phrasal verbs consist of two words: the first word is a verb, the second word is a preposition or an adverb. Examples of common phrasal verbs are get up, put off,...
Talking about the future
There are several ways of talking about the future in English.THE FUTURE WITH ‘WILL’You put the verb will in front of the main verb. This is the most common way of expressing future time. The short form of will is ’ll and the short form of will not...
Talking about the past
There are several ways of talking about actions that happened in the past. These include the simple past, the past progressive, the present perfect, the past perfect, and the phrase used to.THE SIMPLE PASTYou usually make the simple past by adding -ed...
Talking about the present
English has two main ways of talking about present time: the simple present and the present progressive.THE SIMPLE PRESENTYou make the simple present by using the verb in its basic form. You add –s or –es to the verb in the third person singular.The...
Verbs: intransitive and transitive
Most verbs in English belong to either of two types; intransitive verbs or transitive verbs.INTRANSITIVE VERBSAn intransitive verb does not have an object. You can use it without having to add any more words to the sentence. Here are some examples of...
Statements and questions
STATEMENTSA ‘statement’ is a sentence which gives information. If you make a statement, you usually give the sentence a subject, and this must go in front of the verb.EX:-The children are playing in the garden.NEGATIVE STATEMENTSNegative statements are...
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