Gerunds

Gerunds 

Although the term, gerund might sound foreign, it is a common part of speech that most of us use every day. The term "-ing" is often used in English to refer to gerund specifically. Gerunds are not easy to identify. The problem is that all present participles also end in "ing".

In generally present participles complete progressive verbs or act as modifiers. But gerunds function as nouns. Thus, gerunds will be subjects, subject complements, direct objects, indirect objects etc.   

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Possessives In English

When we want to show that something belongs to somebody or something, we can use possessives.

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"ing" Adjectives And "ed" Adjectives

"ing" Adjectives And "ed" Adjectives

Some past participles (ending in -ed) and present participles (ending in -ing) can be used as adjectives. These are used in a slightly different way from normal adjectives. 

We usually use the past participle to talk about how someone feels.

E.g.- I was really bored during the flight. (not boring) 

We usually use the present participle to talk about the person, thing, or situation which has caused the feeling.

E.g.- It was such a boring flight. (not bored) 

The meaning of "I am boring" is different from "I am bored". "I'm boring" means I cause other people to be bored.

These participle adjectives make their comparatives by using "more" (but not -er) and their superlatives by using "most" (but not -est)

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English At The Airport

English At The Airport

Today we’re going to go through the airport, learning important vocabulary and useful phrases along the way.

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Unusual "Singular - Plural" List

Unusual "Singular - Plural" List 

Although most nouns have plurals formed according to regular rules, some nouns have unusual, or irregular plurals.  This page will introduce you some of them so that you can learn them. Today we commonly use these world in English. But some words are originally from other languages such as French, Spanish etc. 

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Adjectives and their comparative and superlative forms

Adjectives and their comparative and superlative forms

An adjective is a word that describes, identifies or further defines a noun or a pronoun. There are thousands of adjectives available to describe how something feels, looks, sounds, tastes, and acts.

Most adjectives have three different forms, the simple form, the comparative form, and the superlative form. The comparative form is used for comparing two people or things and the superlative form is used for comparing one person or thing with every other member of their group

To make the comparative form of adjectives and the superlative form, first, we need to know how many syllables are in the adjective.

Study following examples,

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Compound Words

Compound Words

A compound word is a combination of two or more words that function as a single unit of meaning.

There are three different types of compound words:

Closed form: Two words are joined together to create a new meaning (flowerpot, softball, keyboard, makeup, notebook).

Hyphenated form: Words are joined together by a hyphen (daughter-in-law, over-the-counter, merry-go-round).

Open form: Words are open but when reading together, a new meaning is formed (school bus, post office, real estate, full moon).

Study following closed-form compound words

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Do And Make

Do And Make

We use 'make' when we create or construct something. 

Example: She made a cup of tea.

We use 'do' for general activities. In this case, 'do' is often used with 'something', 'nothing', 'anything' or 'everything'.

Example: I didn't do anything yesterday.

But there are many, many fixed expressions with 'make' and 'do'. Unfortunately, they don't really follow any useful rules, so you have to learn them. Sorry! 

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Adverbs Of Frequency

Adverbs Of Frequency 

We use adverbs of frequency to say how often we do things, or how often things happen.

They also describe how often something occurs, either in definite or indefinite terms. An adverb that describes definite frequency is one such as weekly, daily, or yearly. An adverb describing indefinite frequency doesn’t specify an exact time frame; examples are sometimes, often, and rarely.

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British And American Terms

British And American Terms

British and American English often spell the same word differently, for example: labour & labor, enthrall & enthral, or centre & center. You can find out more about these differences here.

There are also many cases in which the two varieties of English use different terms to describe the same thing. Here is a list of various British words and expressions together with their American equivalents. 

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Interrogative Words / Question Words

Interrogative Words / Question Words

An interrogative word or question word is a function word used to ask a question, such as what, when, where, who, whom, why, and how. They are sometimes called wh-words, because in English most of them start with "wh". They may be used in both direct questions and in indirect questions. In English and various other languages, the same forms are also used as relative pronouns in certain relative clauses and certain adverb clauses.

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  Question Words, meanings, and examples

  Question Words, questions, and answers

  Question words, explanations and examples

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Direct And Indirect Questions

Direct and indirect questions

If we want to make direct questions in the English language, we can do it by changing the word order (Is he your brother? Was she there? Have you been to Australia?) or by using the auxiliary do 

(Do you know my brother? Does he work with you? Did they enjoy it?)

The indirect questions are not normal questions. They have the same word order as statements and we do not use the verb do to form a question. They usually come after introductory phrases combined with interrogative pronouns and adjectives (who, whom, what, which, whose), adverbs (when, where, how, why) or if, whether.

On the other hand, when you ask a direct question, like "What time is the meeting?" you're being quite informal, some might even say abrupt, or even rude. You can make it more polite by adding please, "What time is the meeting please?", but to be even more polite we rephrase it into an indirect question: " Do you know what time the meeting is?", or " Could you tell me what time the meeting is?" and if you want to be really OTT "Could you tell me what time the meeting is, please?

But they're all the same question as "What time is the meeting?". 

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English Proverbs

English Proverbs

A proverb is a simple and concrete saying, popularly known and repeated, that expresses a truth based on common sense or experience. They are often metaphorical. A proverb that describes a basic rule of conduct may also be known as a maxim. Proverbs fall into the category of formulaic language.

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Verbs And Prepositions

Verbs And Prepositions

Some verbs need a preposition before an object or another verb. The preposition is only grammatical, so it doesn't change the meaning of the verb.

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Prepositional Phrases

Prepositional Phrases

Every prepositional phrase is a series of words made up of a preposition and its object. The object may be a noun, pronoun, gerund or clause. A prepositional phrase functions as an adjective or adverb.Here are some sample prepositional phrases: by the ocean, near the window, over the cabinet, with us, in your ear, under your hat.

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Relative Clauses

Relative Clauses 

We use relative clauses to give additional information about something without starting another sentence. By combining sentences with a relative clause, your text becomes more fluent and you can avoid repeating certain words.

A relative clause is one that’s connected to the main clause of the sentence by a word such as who, whom, which, that, or whose. 

There are two types of relative clauses, defining relative clauses, and non-defining relative clauses. 

Study following lessons to get more information.

The Passive Voice

The Passive Voice 

The Passive Voice is a type of a grammatical voice in which the subject is acted upon by the verb. In passive voice sentences, the subject is the receiver of the action.Passive voice verbs are always preceded by the auxiliary verb "be" and are in their past participle forms. While the receiver of the action comes before the verb, the person or thing performing the action (agent) comes after the verb and preceded by the preposition "by" to form a prepositional phrase.

COLLOCATIONS - ENGLISH

                                                 COLLOCATIONS 

A collocation is two or more words that often go together. Learning collocations is essential for making your English sound fluent and natural. These combinations just sound "right" to native English speakers, who use them all the time. On the other hand, other combinations may be unnatural and just sound "wrong". Look at these examples:

Tag Questions

Tag Questions

Tag questions (or question tags) turn a statement into a question. They are often used for checking information that we think we know is true.

Parts of a sentence

A sentence - It is a group of words that are put together to mean something.

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