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the past simple tense

2011-01-10T04:29:00.000-08:00

We Use the past simple to talk about activities which take place at a specified time in the past.
We can use several tenses to talk about the past, but the simple past is commonly used.

Form:
Regular verbs end in (ed)
     play---played
   visit---visited

Irregular verbs have various forms and each verb needs to be learned
   cut - cut
    see - saw
think - thought
     go - went

Examples:
yesterday i visited my friend
last week ,we played football

negative:
i didnot visit my friend yesterday
we didnot play football last week

Questions:did you visit your friend yesterday?
answer:
yes i visited my friend yesterday
no i did not visit my friend yesterday

keywords:
yesterday-ago -last -

Past Continuous Tense

2010-12-10T08:41:00.000-08:00

We use the past continuous tense to describe a past action over a period of time.

Past Continuous Timeline

For example:
Q) "What were they doing yesterday?" A) "They were working all day."
It can be used to describe what someone was doing at a particular point in time.
For example:
Q) "What were you doing at 7.30 last night?" A) "I was watching television."
The past continuous can also be used to show that an activity frequently took place over a period of time.
Q) "What did you do on holiday?" A) "I went skiing a lot."
Often the past continuous is mixed with the past simple to show what was happening when something happened. The past continuous refers to the longer event and the simple past to the event that interrupted it.
For example:
"I was driving to work when I crashed my car."
or
As I was driving to work, I crashed my car."

The Present simple

2010-12-10T08:14:00.000-08:00

The simple present tense is one of the most common tenses in English. This page will explain the rules for forming the tense with regular verbs.

1. Forming the simple present tense

There are only two basic forms for the simple present tense; one ends with -s and the other doesn't. Here are the rules, using the example verb "sing":

Subject	Verb Form	Example
I	simple form	I sing
You	simple form	You sing
He	simple form + S	He sings
She	simple form + S	She sings
It	simple form + S	It sings
We	simple form	We sing
They	simple form	They sing

In other words, only THIRD PERSON SINGULAR subjects (he, she and it) have to have a verb with -S.

2. -s or -es ?

With most verbs, the third person singular form is created simply by adding -S. However, with some verbs, you need to add -ES or change the ending a little. Here are the rules:

Verb ending in...	How to make the 3rd person singular	Example
s	Add -ES	He passes
z	Add -ES	She waltzes
sh	Add -ES	She wishes
ch	Add -ES	He watches
x	Add -ES	She mixes
consonant + y	Change Y to I, then add -ES	It flies
[anything else]	Add -S	He sings

The Present Continuous Tense

2010-12-10T08:00:00.000-08:00

The Present Continuous Tense - When to use

We use the Present Continuous Tense to talk about activities happening now.
Examples
   The kids are watching TV.
   I am sitting down, because I am tired.
   I am not learning German, because this is an English class.
   Who are you writing to?
We can also use the Present Continuous Tense to talk about activities happening around now, and not necessarily this very moment.
Examples
   Sally is studying really hard for her exams this week.
   I am reading a really interesting book now.
   How are you brushing up on your English for the trip?
   We aren't working hard these days.
The Present Continuous Tense is also used to talk about activities happening in the near future, especially for planned future events.
Examples
   I am seeing my dentist on Wednesday.
   Polly is coming for dinner tomorrow.
   Are you doing anything tonight?
   We aren't going on holiday next week.

English Alphabet

2010-12-10T05:26:00.000-08:00

The english alphabet consists of 26 letters derived from the Latin alphabet.
English is a West Germanic language related to Dutch, Frisian and German with a significant amount of vocabulary from French, Latin, Greek and many other languages.
English evolved from the Germanic languages brought to Britain by the Angles, Saxons, Jutes and other Germanic tribes, which are known collectively as Anglo-Saxon or Old English. Old English began to appear in writing during the early 8th century AD.
Approximately 341 million people speak English as a native language and a further 267 million speak it as a second language in over 104 countries including the UK, Ireland, USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, American Samoa, Andorra, Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Aruba, Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Bermuda, Botswana, British Indian Ocean Territory, British Virgin Islands, Brunei, Cameroon, Canada, Cayman Islands, Cook Islands and Denmark.
source: http://www.ethnologue.com/

Learn the English Alphabet

Uppercase English Letters

Lowercase English Letters

About the English Alphabet

The English language was first written in the Anglo-Saxon futhorc runic alphabet, in use from the fifth century. This alphabet was brought to what is now England, along with the proto-form of the language itself, by Anglo-Saxon settlers. Very few examples of this form of written Old English have survived, these being mostly short inscriptions or fragments.
The Latin alphabet, introduced by Christian missionaries, began to replace the Anglo-Saxon futhorc from about the seventh century, although the two continued in parallel for some time. Futhorc influenced the Latin alphabet by providing it with the letters thorn and wynn. The letter eth was later devised as a modification of d, and finally yogh was created by Norman scribes from the insular g in Old English and Irish, and used alongside their Carolingian g.
The a–e ligature æsc (ash, Æ æ) was adopted as a letter its own right, named after a futhorc rune. In very early Old English the o–e ligature œðel (ethel, Œ œ) also appeared as a distinct letter, likewise named after a rune, odal. Additionally, the v–v ligature w (double-u) was in use.
In the year 1011, a writer named Byrhtferð ordered the Old English alphabet for numerological purposes. He listed the 24 letters of the Latin alphabet (including ampersand) first, then 5 additional English letters, starting with the Tironian note ond an insular symbol for and:
A B C D E F G H I K L M N O P Q R S T V X Y Z & ? ? Þ Ð Æ
In the Modern English orthography, thorn, þ, eth, ð, wynn, ƿ, and yogh, ȝ, are obsolete. Thorn and eth are now both represented by th, though thorn continued in existence for some time, its lowercase form gradually becoming graphically indistinguishable from the minuscule y in most handwriting. Y for th can still be seen in pseudo-archaisms such as “Ye Olde Booke Shoppe”. The letters þ and ð are still used in present-day Icelandic. Wynn disappeared from English around the fourteenth century when it was supplanted by uu, which ultimately developed into the modern w. Yogh disappeared around the fifteenth century and was typically replaced by gh.
The letters u and j, as distinct from v and i, were introduced in the sixteenth century, and w assumed the status of an independent letter, so that the English alphabet is now considered to consist of the following 26 letters.

Source: Wikipedia

Learn the pronunciation of the English Alphabet:

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