english focus

Preposition

2009-01-16T23:11:00.000-08:00

A preposition links nouns, pronouns and phrases to other words in a sentence. The word or phrase that the preposition introduces is called the object of the preposition.

A preposition usually indicates the temporal, spatial or logical relationship of its object to the rest of the sentence as in the following examples:

The book is on the table.
The book is beneath the table.
The book is leaning against the table.
The book is beside the table.
She held the book over 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.A prepositional phrase is made up of the preposition, its object and any associated adjectives or adverbs. A prepositional phrase can function as a noun, an adjective, or an adverb. The most common prepositions are "about," "above," "across," "after," "against," "along," "among," "around," "at," "before," "behind," "below," "beneath," "beside," "between," "beyond," "but," "by," "despite," "down," "during," "except," "for," "from," "in," "inside," "into," "like," "near," "of," "off," "on," "onto," "out," "outside," "over," "past," "since," "through," "throughout," "till," "to," "toward," "under," "underneath," "until," "up," "upon," "with," "within," and "without."

Each of the highlighted words in the following sentences is a preposition:

The children climbed the mountain without fear.

In this sentence, the preposition "without" introduces the noun "fear." The prepositional phrase "without fear" functions as an adverb describing how the children climbed.

There was rejoicing throughout the land when the government was defeated.

Here, the preposition "throughout" introduces the noun phrase "the land." The prepositional phrase acts as an adverb describing the location of the rejoicing.

The spider crawled slowly along the banister.

The preposition "along" introduces the noun phrase "the banister" and the prepositional phrase "along the banister" acts as an adverb, describing where the spider crawled.

The dog is hiding under the porch because it knows it will be punished for chewing up a new pair of shoes.

Here the preposition "under" introduces the prepositional phrase "under the porch," which acts as an adverb modifying the compound verb "is hiding."

The screenwriter searched for the manuscript he was certain was somewhere in his office.

Similarly in this sentence, the preposition "in" introduces a prepositional phrase "in his office," which acts as an adverb describing the location of the missing papers.http://www.arts.uottawa.ca/writcent/hypergrammar/preposit.html

How to learn English

2009-01-16T23:04:00.000-08:00

Speak without Fear

The biggest problem most people face in learning a new language is their own fear. They worry that they won’t say things correctly or that they will look stupid so they don’t talk at all. Don’t do this. The fastest way to learn anything is to do it – again and again until you get it right. Like anything, learning English requires practice. Don’t let a little fear stop you from getting what you want.

Use all of your Resources

Even if you study English at a language school it doesn’t mean you can’t learn outside of class. Using as many different sources, methods and tools as possible, will allow you to learn faster. There are many different ways you can improve your English, so don’t limit yourself to only one or two. The internet is a fantastic resource for virtually anything, but for the language learner it's perfect. Surround Yourself with English

The absolute best way to learn English is to surround yourself with it. Take notes in English, put English books around your room, listen to English language radio broadcasts, watch English news, movies and television. Speak English with your friends whenever you can. The more English material that you have around you, the faster you will learn and the more likely it is that you will begin “thinking in English.”

Listen to Native Speakers as Much as Possible

There are some good English teachers that have had to learn English as a second language before they could teach it. However, there are several reasons why many of the best schools prefer to hire native English speakers. One of the reasons is that native speakers have a natural flow to their speech that students of English should try to imitate. The closer ESL / EFL students can get to this rhythm or flow, the more convincing and comfortable they will become.

Watch English Films and Television

This is not only a fun way to learn but it is also very effective. By watching English films (especially those with English subtitles) you can expand your vocabulary and hear the flow of speech from the actors. If you listen to the news you can also hear different accents.

Listen to English Music

Music can be a very effective method of learning English. In fact, it is often used as a way of improving comprehension. The best way to learn though, is to get the lyrics (words) to the songs you are listening to and try to read them as the artist sings. There are several good internet sites where one can find the words for most songs. This way you can practice your listening and reading at the same time. And if you like to sing, fine.

Study As Often As Possible!

Only by studying things like grammar and vocabulary and doing exercises, can you really improve your knowledge of any language.

Do Exercises and Take Tests

Many people think that exercises and tests aren't much fun. However, by completing exercises and taking tests you can really improve your English. One of the best reasons for doing lots of exercises and tests is that they give you a benchmark to compare your future results with. Often, it is by comparing your score on a test you took yesterday with one you took a month or six months ago that you realize just how much you have learned. If you never test yourself, you will never know how much you are progressing. Start now by doing some of the many exercises and tests on this site, and return in a few days to see what you've learned. Keep doing this and you really will make some progress with English.

Record Yourself

Nobody likes to hear their own voice on tape but like tests, it is good to compare your tapes from time to time. You may be so impressed with the progress you are making that you may not mind the sound of your voice as much.

Listen to English

By this, we mean, speak on the phone or listen to radio broadcasts, audiobooks or CDs in English. This is different than watching the television or films because you can’t see the person that is speaking to you. Many learners of English say that speaking on the phone is one of the most difficult things that they do and the only way to improve is to practice.

Finally

Have fun!

http://www.world-english.org/how_to_learn_english.htm

Adverbs

2009-01-12T23:40:00.000-08:00

Adverbs are words that modify
a verb (He drove slowly. — How did he drive?)
an adjective (He drove a very fast car. — How fast was his car?)
another adverb (She moved quite slowly down the aisle. — How slowly did she move?)

As we will see, adverbs often tell when, where, why, or under what conditions something happens or happened. Adverbs frequently end in -ly; however, many words and phrases not ending in -ly serve an adverbial function and an -ly ending is not a guarantee that a word is an adverb. The words lovely, lonely, motherly, friendly, neighborly, for instance, are adjectives:
That lovely woman lives in a friendly neighborhood.
If a group of words containing a subject and verb acts as an adverb (modifying the verb of a sentence), it is called an Adverb Clause:

When this class is over, we're going to the movies.

When a group of words not containing a subject and verb acts as an adverb, it is called an adverbial phrase. Prepositional phrases frequently have adverbial functions (telling place and time, modifying the verb):
He went to the movies.
She works on holidays.
They lived in Canada during the war.

And Infinitive phrases can act as adverbs (usually telling why):
She hurried to the mainland to see her brother.
The senator ran to catch the bus.

But there are other kinds of adverbial phrases:
He calls his mother as often as possible.
Click on "Lolly's Place" to read and hear Bob Dorough's "Get Your Adverbs Here" (from Scholastic Rock, 1974).
Schoolhouse Rock® and its characters and other elements are trademarks and service marks of American Broadcasting Companies, Inc. Used with permission.

Adverbs can modify adjectives, but an adjective cannot modify an adverb. Thus we would say that "the students showed a really wonderful attitude" and that "the students showed a wonderfully casual attitude" and that "my professor is really tall, but not "He ran real fast."

Like adjectives, adverbs can have comparative and superlative forms to show degree.
Walk faster if you want to keep up with me.
The student who reads fastest will finish first.

We often use more and most, less and least to show degree with adverbs:
With sneakers on, she could move more quickly among the patients.
The flowers were the most beautifully arranged creations I've ever seen.
She worked less confidently after her accident.
That was the least skillfully done performance I've seen in years.

The as — as construction can be used to create adverbs that express sameness or equality: "He can't run as fast as his sister."

A handful of adverbs have two forms, one that ends in -ly and one that doesn't. In certain cases, the two forms have different meanings:
He arrived late.
Lately, he couldn't seem to be on time for anything.

In most cases, however, the form without the -ly ending should be reserved for casual situations:
She certainly drives slow in that old Buick of hers.
He did wrong by her.
He spoke sharp, quick, and to the point.

Adverbs often function as intensifiers, conveying a greater or lesser emphasis to something. Intensifiers are said to have three different functions: they can emphasize, amplify, or downtone. Here are some examples:
Emphasizers:
I really don't believe him.
He literally wrecked his mother's car.
She simply ignored me.
They're going to be late, for sure.
Amplifiers:
The teacher completely rejected her proposal.
I absolutely refuse to attend any more faculty meetings.
They heartily endorsed the new restaurant.
I so wanted to go with them.
We know this city well.
Downtoners:
I kind of like this college.
Joe sort of felt betrayed by his sister.
His mother mildly disapproved his actions.
We can improve on this to some extent.
The boss almost quit after that.
The school was all but ruined by the storm.

Adverbs (as well as adjectives) in their various degrees can be accompanied by premodifiers:
She runs very fast.
We're going to run out of material all the faster

Determiners

2009-01-10T21:45:00.000-08:00

Determiners are used in front of nouns to indicate whether you are referring to something specific or something of a particular type.

Determiners are different to pronouns in that a determiner is always followed by a noun. Therefore personal pronouns ( I , you , he , etc.) and possessive pronouns (mine, yours, his, etc.) cannot be determiners.

The definite and indefinite articles a/an/the are all determiners.

You use a specific determiner when people know exactly which thing(s) or person/people you are talking about.

The specific determiners are:

the definite article : the

demonstratives : this, that, these, those

possessives : my, your, his, her, its, our, their

For example:-

"The dog barked at the boy."
"These apples are rotten."
"Their bus was late."

You use general determiners to talk about people or things without saying exactly who or what they are.

The general determiners are:

the indefinite articles : a, an
a few a little all another any	both each either enough every	few fewer less little many more most much	neither no other several some

For example:-

"A man sat under an umbrella."
"Have you got any English books that I could have?"
"There is enough food to feed every day

Adverbs of duration

2009-01-10T21:42:00.000-08:00

These adverbs tell us how long something happened.

They include; briefly, forever, long, shortly, permanantly, temporarily . . .

For example:

"They were occupied." = "They were briefly occupied." - In this sentence briefly shows us the duration.

"The phone was out of order." = "The phone was temporarily out of order." - In this sentence temporarily shows us the duration.

http://www.learnenglish.de

Adverbs of Degree

2009-01-10T21:41:00.000-08:00

These adverbs tell us the strength or intensity of something that happens. Many adverbs are gradable, that is, we can intensify them. Basically they answer the sort of question that asks How much ...? or How little...?

Adverbs of degree include; adequately, almost, entirely, extremely, greatly, highly, hugely, immensely, moderately, partially, perfectly, practically, profoundly, strongly, totally, tremendously, very, virtually etc.

For example:-

The man drove badly. = The man drove really badly. - In this sentence really shows us just how badly he drove.
They enjoyed the film. = They enjoyed the film immensely. - In this sentence immensely shows us how much they enjoyed the film.

These intensifiers are not gradable though, you cannot say The man drove extremely very badly.

http://www.learnenglish.de

Adverbs

2009-01-10T21:36:00.001-08:00

Adverbs can tell you where, when, how, why and to what extent something happens.

There are several different classes of adverb (see above).

They are often formed from adjectives or nouns be adding the suffix -ly.

For example: Quick becomes quickly, sudden becomes suddenly, intelligent becomes intelligently, . . .

To form an adverb from adjectives ending in -y change the y to i before adding the -ly.

For example: angry becomes angrily, busy becomes busily, . . .

To form an adverb from adjectives ending in -e drop the -e before adding the -ly.

For example: feeble becomes feebly, true becomes truly, . . .

Some adjectives ending in -ly need no changes.

For example: heavenly, . . .

However there are exceptions.

For example: sly becomes slyly, shy becomes shyly, . . .

Some adverbs do not end in -ly.

For example: fast, hard, straight, . . .

Adjective	Pretty	Serious	Fast	Quiet
Example	She was a pretty girl.	He was a serious boy.	It was a fast car.	They were quiet children.
Adverb	Prettily	Seriously	Fast	Quietly
Example	The bird sang prettily.	The policeman spoke seriously.	Schumacher drives fast.	The woman spoke quietly.

Adverbs can modify adjectives

An adjective can be modified by an adverb, which precedes the adjective.

For example:-

That's really nice.

Adverbs can modify adverbs

Some adverbs can modify others. As with adjectives, the adverb precedes the one it is modifying.

For example:-

She did it really well.

Adverbs can modify nouns

Adverbs can modify nouns to indicate time or place.

For example:-

The concert tomorrow.

The room upstairs.

Adverbs can modify noun phrases

Some adverbs of degree such as quite, rather, so, such ... can modify noun phrases.

For example:-

We had quite a good time.

They're such good friends.

Adverbs can modify determiners, numerals and pronouns

Adverbs such as almost, nearly, hardly, about, etc., can be used:

For example:-

Nearly everyone, who was invited, came to the party.

Adverbs can modify sentences

Some adverbs modify a whole sentence, not just a part of one.

For example:-

Luckily the car stopped in time. In this sentence luckily modifies the whole sentence, it shows that it was good luck that the car stopped in time.

http://www.learnenglish.de

Used to something

2009-01-10T21:36:00.000-08:00

The use of used to do is explained here. However, used to has another meaning, it can be used as an adjective and we use it to talk about things that have become familiar, and are no longer strange or new.

Used to usually comes after verbs such as be, get or become.

After a while you get used to the noise.
She will become used to the smell.
I was used to the web site.

You can also say that someone is used to doing something.

I'll never get used to getting up at six o'clock in the morning.
It took me a while until I was used to driving on the right-hand side of the road

http://www.learnenglish.de

Possessive Adjectives

2009-01-10T21:31:00.001-08:00

Possesive adjectives are used to show ownership or possession.

Subject pronoun	Possessive adjective
I	my
you	your
he	his
she	her
it	its
we	our
they	their

For example:

I own this website. = This is my website.
You own this computer (I presume). = It is your computer.

http://www.learnenglish.de

Adjective Order

2009-01-10T21:27:00.000-08:00

Adjectives can be used to describe opinion, size, age, shape, colour, material, origin and purpose. We can use adjectives together to give a detailed description of something. Adjectives that express opinions usually come before all others.

For example:

"The big, blue bag.".

When we group adjectives together there is a general rule for the position of each type adjective, these are:-

Position	1st*	2nd*	3rd	4th	5th	6th	7th	8th
	Opinion	Size	Age	Shape	Colour	Material	Origin	Purpose
	Nice	Small	Old	Square	Black	Plastic	British	Racing
	Ugly	Big	New	Circular	Blue	Cotton	American	Running

This is just a guide as you wouldn't normally see so many adjectives in one description.

For example:

"She had a big, ugly, old, baggy, blue, cotton, British, knitting bag." Is grammatically correct but a bit too long-winded.

* You might swap opinion and fact adjectives depending on what you wish to emphasise:-

For example:

"She had a long, ugly nose." emphasising the length of her nose.
"He was a silly, little man." emphasising that the man was silly.

http://www.learnenglish.de

Adjectives

2008-12-26T23:09:00.000-08:00

Adjectives describe or give information about nouns or pronouns.

For example:-

The grey dog barked. The adjective grey describes the noun "dog".)

The good news is that the form of an adjective does not change. It does not matter if the noun being modified is male or female, singular or plural, subject or object.

Some adjectives give us factual information about the noun - age, size colour etc (fact adjectives - can't be argued with). Some adjectives show what somebody thinks about something or somebody - nice, horrid, beautiful etc (opinion adjectives - not everyone may agree).

If you are asked questions with which, whose, what kind, or how many, you need an adjective to be able to answer.

There are different types of adjectives in the English language:

Numeric: six, one hundred and one
Quantitative: more, all, some, half, more than enough
Qualitative: colour, size, smell etc.
Possessive: my, his, their, your
Interrogative: which, whose, what
Demonstrative: this, that, those, these

!Note - The articles a, an, and the and the possessives my, our, your, and their are also adjectives.

Opinion

Adjectives can be used to give your opinion about something.

good, pretty, right, wrong, funny, light, happy, sad, full, soft, hard etc.

For example:

He was a silly boy.

Size

Adjectives can be used to describe size.

big, small, little, long, tall, short, same as, etc.

For example:

"The big man." or "The big woman".

Age

Adjectives can be used to describe age.

For example:

"He was an old man." or "She was an old woman."

Shape

Adjectives can be used to describe shape.

round, circular, triangular, rectangular, square, oval, etc.

For example:

"It was a square box." or "They were square boxes."

Colour

Adjectives can be used to describe colour.

blue, red, green, brown, yellow, black, white, etc.

For example:

"The blue bag." or "The blue bags".

Origin

Adjectives can be used to describe origin.

For example:-

"It was a German flag." or "They were German flags."

Material

Adjectives can be used to describe material.

"It was a cotton cushion." or "They were cotton cushions."

Distance

Adjectives can be used to describe distance. l -- o -- n -- g / short

long, short, far, around, start, high, low, etc.

For example:

"She went for a long walk." or "She went for lots of long walks."

Temperature

Adjectives can be used to describe temperature.

cold, warm, hot, cool, etc.

For example:

"It day was hot." or "They days were hot."

Time

Adjectives can be used to describe time.

late, early, bed, nap, dinner, lunch, day, morning, night, etc.

For example:

"She had an early start."

Purpose

Adjectives can be used to describe purpose. (These adjectives often end with "-ing".)

For example:

"She gave them a sleeping bag." or "She gave them sleeping bags."

!Note - In each case the adjective stays the same, whether it is describing a maculine, feminine, singular or plural noun.

When using more than one adjective to modify a noun, the adjectives may be separated by a conjunction (and) or by commas (,).

For example:

"Her hair was long and blonde." or "She had long, blonde hair."

More examples:

Adjective	Pretty	Serious	Fast	Quiet
Example	She was a pretty girl.	He was a serious boy.	It was a fast car.	They were quiet children.

!Note - Adjectives that go immediately before the noun are called attributive adjectives.

Adjectives can also be used after some verbs. They do not describe the verb, adverbs do that. Adjectives after a verb describe the subject of the verb (usually a noun or pronoun). They are called predicative adjectives.

For example:

"David looks tired." The subject (in this case David) is being described as tired not the verb to look.

There is also the adjective used to, which is explained here

http://www.learnenglish.de/grammar/adjectivetext.htm

Tenses

2008-12-18T23:20:00.000-08:00

Tenses can show the time of a verb's action or being. The verb ending is changed (conjugated) to show roughly what time it is referring to.

Time can be split into three periods The Present, The Past and The Future.

The tenses are Simple, Continuous and Perfect.

In English we use two tenses to talk about the present and six tenses to talk about the past. There are several ways to talk about the future some of which use the present tenses, these are:

Present	Simple Present
	Present Continuous
Past	Simple Past
	Past Continuous
	Present Perfect Simple
	Present Perfect Continuous
	Past Perfect Simple
	Past Perfect Continuous
Future	Using the Simple Present
	Using the Present Continuous
	Using the Present Perfect Simple
	Using the Present Perfect Continuous
	Using going to
	Using shall/will

Simple Tenses

The simple tenses are used to show permanent characteristics of people and events or what happens regularly, habitually or in a single completed action.

Continuous Tenses

The continuous tenses are used when talking about a particular point in time.

Perfect Tenses

Sometimes you need to give just a little bit more information about an action or state...and that is where the perfect tenses come in.

The perfect tenses are used when an action or situation in the present is linked to a moment in the past. It is often used to show things that have happened up to now but aren't finished yet or to emphasize that something happened but is not true anymore. When they end determines which of them you use.

Perfect tenses are never used when we say when something happened i.e. yesterday, last year etc. but can be used when discussing the duration of something i.e. often, for, always, since etc..

The Future Tenses

Discussing the future in English can seem complicated.The present simple, present continuous, present perfect simple and the present perfect continuous can all be used and often it is possible to use more than one structure, but have the same meaning.

http://www.learnenglish.de/grammar/tensetext.htm

Adverbs

2008-12-18T23:17:00.000-08:00

Adverbs can tell you where, when, how, why and to what extent something happens.

There are several different classes of adverb (see above).

They are often formed from adjectives or nouns be adding the suffix -ly.

For example: Quick becomes quickly, sudden becomes suddenly, intelligent becomes intelligently, . . .

To form an adverb from adjectives ending in -y change the y to i before adding the -ly.

For example: angry becomes angrily, busy becomes busily, . . .

To form an adverb from adjectives ending in -e drop the -e before adding the -ly.

For example: feeble becomes feebly, true becomes truly, . . .

Some adjectives ending in -ly need no changes.

For example: heavenly, . . .

However there are exceptions.

For example: sly becomes slyly, shy becomes shyly, . . .

Some adverbs do not end in -ly.

For example: fast, hard, straight, . . .

Adjective	Pretty	Serious	Fast	Quiet
Example	She was a pretty girl.	He was a serious boy.	It was a fast car.	They were quiet children.
Adverb	Prettily	Seriously	Fast	Quietly
Example	The bird sang prettily.	The policeman spoke seriously.	Schumacher drives fast.	The woman spoke quietly.

Adverbs can modify adjectives

An adjective can be modified by an adverb, which precedes the adjective.

For example:-

That's really nice.

Adverbs can modify adverbs

Some adverbs can modify others. As with adjectives, the adverb precedes the one it is modifying.

For example:-

She did it really well.

Adverbs can modify nouns

Adverbs can modify nouns to indicate time or place.

For example:-

The concert tomorrow.

The room upstairs.

Adverbs can modify noun phrases

Some adverbs of degree such as quite, rather, so, such ... can modify noun phrases.

For example:-

We had quite a good time.

They're such good friends.

Adverbs can modify determiners, numerals and pronouns

Adverbs such as almost, nearly, hardly, about, etc., can be used:

For example:-

Nearly everyone, who was invited, came to the party.

Adverbs can modify sentences

Some adverbs modify a whole sentence, not just a part of one.

For example:-

Luckily the car stopped in time. In this sentence luckily modifies the whole sentence, it shows that it was good luck that the car stopped in time.

http://www.learnenglish.de/grammar/

verbs

2008-12-11T22:26:00.000-08:00

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.

The form of the verb or its tense can tell when events take place.
For example, the verb kiss:

Present Simple kiss/kisses	Past Simple kissed	Future Simple will kiss
Present Perfect has/have kissed	Past Perfect had kissed	Future Perfect will have kissed
Present Continuous (Progressive) is/am/are kissing	Past Continuous (Progressive) was kissing	Future Continuous (Progressive) will be kissing
Present Perfect Continuous (Progressive) has/have been kissing	Past Perfect Continuous (Progressive) had been kissing	Future Perfect Continuous (Progressive) will have been kissing

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.

http://www.englishlanguageguide.com/english/grammar/verbs.asp

personal pronouns

2008-12-11T22:22:00.000-08:00

Definition: Personal pronouns refer to the person who is doing the action or to whom the action affects. In that way we distinguish two types of personal pronouns: Personal "Subject Pronouns" and Personal "Object Pronouns".

Personal Pronouns
Subject form	Object form
I	Me
You	You
He	him
she	her
it	it
we	us
you	you
they	them

Personal Subject Pronouns
We use the Personal Subject Pronouns to refer to the person who is doing the action of the verb or the verb speaks about. A subjective personal pronoun indicates that the pronoun is acting as the subject of the sentence.

For example:

Jhon is listening to music.
=> He listens to music every day.
* In this case, "he" substitutes "Jhon" which is the subject of the sentence.

Are you the delegates from Malagawatch?

After many years, they returned to their homeland.

Personal Object Pronouns
We use the Personal Object Pronouns to refer to the person whom the action of the verbs affects. An objective personal pronoun indicates that the pronoun is acting as an object of a verb, compound verb, preposition, or infinitive phrase.

For example:

Seamus stole the selkie's skin and forced her to live with him.
* The objective personal pronoun "her" is the direct object of the verb "forced" and the objective personal pronoun "him" is the object of the preposition "with."

Deborah and Roberta will meet us at the newest café in the market.
* Here the objective personal pronoun "us" is the direct object of the compound verb "will meet."

Christopher was surprised to see her at the drag races.
* Here the objective personal pronoun "her" is the object of the infinitive phrase "to see."

A personal pronoun refers to a specific person or thing and changes its form to indicate person, number, gender, and case.

http://www.englishlanguageguide.com/english/grammar/personal-pronoun.asp

there is & there are

2008-12-11T22:18:00.000-08:00

We use there is and there are to say that something exists.

Positive Sentences

We use there is for singular and there are for plural.

- There is one table in the classroom.

- There are three chairs in the classroom.

- There is a spider in the bath.

- There are many people at the bus stop.

Contractions

The contraction of there is is there's.

- There's a good song on the radio.

- There's only one chocolate left in the box.

You cannot contract there are.

- There are nine cats on the roof.

- There are only five weeks until Christmas.

Negative Form

The negative is formed by putting not after is or are:

- There is not a horse in the field.

- There are not eight children in the school.

- There is not a tree in the garden.

- There are not two elephants in the zoo.

The Negative contractions are:

There's not = There isn't

There are not = There aren't

There Are with ANY

When we want to indicate that a zero quantity of something exists we use there aren't any.

There aren't any people at the party. There aren't any trees in my street.

We also use this structure with uncountable nouns:

There isn't any water in the swimming pool.

There isn't any sugar in my coffee.

Questions

To form a question we place is / are in front of there.

Again we use any with plural questions or those which use uncountable nouns.

We also use there is / are in short answers.

Is there a dog in the supermarket? - No, there isn't.

Are there any dogs in the park? - Yes, there are.

Is there a security guard in the shop? - Yes, there is.

Are there any polar bears in Antarctica? - No, there aren't.

Is there any ice-cream in the freezer? - Yes, there is.

How Many with Are There

If we want to find out the number of objects that exist we use How many in the following form:

How many + plural noun + are there (+ complement).

How many dogs are there in the park?

How many students are there in your class?

How many countries are there in South America?

How many Star Wars films are there?

http://www.grammar.cl/Present/ThereIsThereAre.htm

pronouns

2008-12-11T22:14:00.000-08:00

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

Possessive Pronouns

2008-12-11T22:10:00.000-08:00

Definition: We use the Possessive Pronouns when we want to substitute a group of words that are indicating a possession relation.

Subject	Possessive
I	Mine
You	Yours
He	His
She	Hers
It	Its
We	Ours
You	Yours
They	Theirs

For example:

This is my book.
* In this example, we can substitute "my book" for the possessive pronoun "mine". => This is mine.

This is your disk and that's mine.
* Mine substitutes the word disk and shows that it belongs to me.

A possessive pronoun indicates it is acting as a subject complement or a subject of the sentence.

For example:

The smallest gift is mine.
This is yours.
* Here the possessive pronouns acts as a subject complement.

His is on the kitchen counter.
Theirs will be delivered tomorrow.
Ours is the green one on the corner.
* Here the possessive pronoun acts as the subject of the sentence.

Note : Possessive pronouns are very similar to possessive adjectives.

For example:

You can borrow my book as long as you remember that it's not yours.
=> The possessive "my" depends on the noun "book."
=> The possessive "yours" is a pronoun which stands in the place of "your book".

When you drive to Manitoba, will you take your car or theirs?
=> The possessive "your" depends on the noun "car."
=> The possessive pronoun, "theirs," stands in the place of the noun phrase, "their

http://www.englishlanguageguide.com/english/grammar/possessive-pronoun.asp

Demonstrative Pronouns

2008-12-11T22:08:00.000-08:00

Definition: Demonstrative pronouns are pronouns that point to specific things. "This, that, these, those, none and neither" are Demonstrative Pronouns that substitute nouns when the nouns they replace can be understood from the context. At the same time, to indicate whether they are close or far, in space or time, from the speaker in the moment of speaking. They also indicate whether they are replacing singular or plural words. Some grammars describe them as members of the class of function words called "determiners", since they identify nouns and other nominals.

"This" (singular) and "These" (plural) refer to an object or person NEAR the speaker.

"That" (singular) and "Those" (plural) refer to an object or person further AWAY.

For example:

This is unbelievable.
* In this example, "this" can refer to an object or situation close in space or in time to the speaker.

That is unbelievable.
* In this example, "that" can refer to an object or situation farther in space or in time to the speaker.

These are unbelievable.
* In this example, "these" can refer to some objects close in space or in time to the speaker.

Those are unbelievable.
* In this example, "those" can refer to some objects farther in space or in time to the speaker.

Position

Before the noun.

Before the word 'one'.

Before an adjective + noun.

Alone when the noun is 'understood'

Examples

Who owns that house? (distant - physical )

Is this John's house? (near - physical )

That's nothing to do with me.. (distant - psychological )

This is a nice surprise! (near - psychological )

http://www.englishlanguageguide.com/english/grammar/demonstrative-pronoun.asp

question word

2008-12-11T22:04:00.000-08:00

The most common question words in English are the following:

WHO

WHO is only used when referring to people. (= I want to know the person)

Examples:
Who is the best football player in the world?
Who are your best friends?

WHERE

WHERE is used when referring to a place or location. (= I want to know the place)

Examples:
Where is the library?
Where do you live?

WHEN

WHEN is used to refer to a time or an occasion. (= I want to know the time)

Examples:
When do the shops open?
When is his birthday?

WHY

WHY is used to obtain an explanation or a reason. (= I want to know the reason)

Examples:
Why do we need a nanny?
Why are they always late?

Normally the response begins with "Because..."

WHAT

WHAT is used to refer to specific information. (= I want to know the thing)

Examples:
What is your name?
What is her favourite colour?

WHICH

WHICH is used when a choice needs to be made. (= I want to know the thing between alternatives)

Examples:
Which drink did you order – the rum or the beer?
Which day do you prefer for a meeting – today or tomorrow?

HOW

HOW is used to describe the manner that something is done. (= I want to know the way)

Examples:
How do you cook paella?
How does he know the answer?

With HOW there are a number of other expressions that are used in questions:

How much – refers to a quantity or a price (uncountable nouns)

Examples:
How much time do you have to finish the test?
How much is the jacket on display in the window?

How many – refers to a quantity (countable nouns)

Examples:
How many days are there in April?
How many people live in this city?

How often – refers to frequency

Examples:
How often do you visit your grandmother?
How often does she study?

How far – refers to distance

Examples:
How far is the university from your house?
How far is the bus stop from here?

http://www.grammar.cl/Basic/

adverb of frequency

2008-12-11T21:57:00.000-08:00

We use some adverbs to describe how frequently we do an activity.

These are called adverbs of frequency and include:
Frequency Adverb of Frequency Example Sentence
100% always I always go to bed before 11pm.
90% usually I usually walk to work.
80% normally / generally I normally go to the gym.
70% often* / frequently I often surf the internet.
50% sometimes I sometimes forget my wife’s birthday.
30% occasionally I occasionally eat junk food.
10% seldom / rarely I seldom read the newspaper.
5% hardly ever I hardly ever drink alcohol.
0% never I never swim in the sea.

* Some people pronounce the ‘T’ in often but many others do not.

The Position of the Adverb in a Sentence

An adverb of frequency goes before a main verb (except with To Be).
Subject + adverb + main verb
I always remember to do my homework.
He normally gets good marks in exams.

An adverb of frequency goes after the verb To Be.
Subject + to be + adverb
They are never pleased to see me.
She isn't usually bad tempered.

When we use an auxiliary verb (have, will, must, might, could, would, can, etc.), the adverb is placed between the auxiliary and the main verb. This is also true for to be.
Subject + auxiliary + adverb + main verb
She can sometimes beat me in a race.
I would hardly ever be unkind to someone.
They might never see each other again.
They could occasionally be heard laughing.

We can also use the following adverbs at the start of a sentence:

Usually, normally, often, frequently, sometimes, occasionally

* Occasionally, I like to eat Thai food.

BUT we cannot use the following at the beginning of a sentence:

Always, seldom, rarely, hardly, ever, never.

We use hardly ever and never with positive, not negative verbs:

* She hardly ever comes to my parties.
* They never say 'thank you'.

We use ever in questions and negative statements:

* Have you ever been to New Zealand?
* I haven't ever been to Switzerland. (The same as 'I have never been Switzerland').

We can also use the following expressions when we want to be more specific about the frequency:

- every day - once a month - twice a year - four times a day - every other week

If you would like to play an interactive game about Adverbs of Frequency, visit: Adverbs of Frequency Word Order Game.

copied from:http://www.grammar.cl/Basic/Adverbs_Frequency.htm

noun phrases

2008-12-09T00:34:00.000-08:00

For too long now the verb phrase has been the dominant focus of attention in course books, syllabuses, and teacher training programmes. Any teacher worth his/her salt will be able to tell you everything there is to know about base verbs, infinitives, progressives, perfectives, passives, and modals.

But, please, let's not forget the noun phrase! Why? Because the noun phrase is a quintessential part of every sentence (even if it doesn't appear in the surface structure of a sentence as in "stop!"), it is potentially infinite in length, and it can include any number of other phrases (e.g. noun, adjective, adverb) within its structure.

What is a noun phrase?

The structure of noun phrases

Noun phrases in class

Conclusion

What is a noun phrase?
Before we go any further, let's remind ourselves of what an noun phrase is. My definition is:

A noun phrase is either a pronoun or any group of words that can be replaced by a pronoun. For example, 'they', 'cars', and 'the cars' are noun phrases, but 'car' is just a noun, as you can see in these sentences (in which the noun phrases are all in bold)

Q: Do you like cars?
A: Yes, I like them.
Q: Do you like the cars over there?
A: Yes, they are nice.
Q: Do you like the car I bought last week?
A: Yes, I like it. (Note: 'It' refers to 'the car', not 'car')

If you are a little puzzled at this point, try and think of some further examples of noun phrases using the definition above, and compare your examples with simple nouns.

The structure of noun phrases
As I said, noun phrases can be infinite in length, but they would sound absurd if they got too long. So let's take the following noun phrase as our working model:

"The very tall education consultant with the roving eye"

The structure of this noun phrase contains three sections:

Pre-modification
- The =determiner
- very =adverb (intensifying)
- tall = adjective
- education = pre-modifying noun

Head noun
- consultant

Post-modification
- with the roving eye = preposition phrase

Of course, each and every part of the noun phrase can be changed, but here is a summary of some fundamental changes in which it could changed:

A relative clause could replace the preposition phrase. 'The man with the hat' becomes 'The man who is wearing the hat'.

There could be a string of adjectives (and pre-modifying nouns) instead of just one. Both of these systems have their own structural rules. 'The big brown wooden box.' Or 'The world cup football competition.'

A numeral or cardinal could be inserted after the determiner. 'Do you remember the time I bumped into you in the park?' can become 'Do you remember the first time I bumped into you in the park?'

There can be 'embedding' (e.g. 'the roving eye' is also an noun phrase and can be made more complex in the same way as 'the…consultant'!) 'The roving eye which he had cultivated for so many years'.

Any part of the noun phrase can simply be stripped away (apart from the word 'The' here, as 'consultant' is not an noun phrase in itself ) So 'The very tall education consultant with the roving eye' can become 'The tall education consultant with the roving eye' (here 'very' has been deleted).

To sum up, noun phrases are a very simple ideas in themselves, but they can be extremely complex in how they manifest themselves in actual language.

Noun phrases in class
But how can a teacher help students use noun phrases in a more accurate way? And how can a teacher help students to use them in a way that is more appropriate to the register of the target discourse? I have four suggestions to make, all of which I constantly use with my students:

I encourage students to understand what an noun phrase is.
To reinforce this understanding, I ask my students to study texts and answer such questions as "What pronoun could this noun phrase be replaced by?" and "What noun phrase does this pronoun refer to?"

I provide interesting prompts to encourage students to use noun phrases.
For example, I sometimes show my students a picture of a boy with brown eyes, and then I show exactly the same boy, but this time with big brown eyes. This keeps students on their toes and gets them to practise the grammar in an entertaining way. If you have no pictures, you can use visual information about the students in your class as verbal prompts! You might expect your students to say: "The boy with the big brown eyes is looking out of the window."

I sometimes write a long noun phrase down on a piece of paper.
I then cut up the sentence into the different words of the noun phrase. I then give each word to different individual students. The students with a bit of paper then stand up and have to rearrange themselves so that the noun phrase makes sense. I tell them where the front of the noun phrase should be - and the end. I also tell the students only to show their word to one students at a time. This makes the activity more demanding and more fun. One example is: "The / very / tall / blonde / girl / who / has got / a small pink case"

I encourage students to write noun phrases which are appropriate to the register they're aiming for.
For example, for an ESP class who need to give papers / presentations, I use a lot of authentic and contrastive reading input so that the students can formulate appropriate language. If you're teaching a general English class, you can use input that focuses on formal, neutral, and informal register, such as 'Thanks for your email' (neutral), 'Ta' (informal, where the noun phrase can be elided), and 'We thank you for your correspondence' (formal, where there is a full sentence and the lexical item is more abstract).

Conclusion
In conclusion, noun phrases and verb phrases are equally important. So noun phrases really shouldn't be ignored by coursebook / syllabus writers or teachers. All these people can help students; understand how noun phrases fit into the syntax of a sentence, produce more complex noun phrases (as they become more advanced), and become aware of how noun phrases operate differently in different registers.

Further reading
Giorgi and Longobardi The Syntax of Noun Phrases, Cambridge University Press
Miller and Weinert Spontaneous Spoken Discourse, Oxford University Press

thanks for
copied from :www.teachingenglish.org.uk