Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Grammar explanation
Some adjectives go with certain prepositions. There are no grammatical rules for
which preposition is used with which adjective, so it's a good idea to try to learn them together.
To help you do this, write new vocabulary in your notebook in a sentence or phrase.
However, there are some patterns that can help you. Let's look at them first. Remember that a
preposition is followed by a noun or a gerund (-ing form).
With at
We use at with adjectives like good/bad/amazing/brilliant/terrible, etc. to talk about skills and
abilities.
With about
With of
With to
We can also use to to talk about someone's behaviour towards someone else.
With for
With in
Adjectives that end in -ed (e.g. bored, interested) and adjectives that end in -ing (e.g. boring,
interesting) are often confused.
-ed adjectives
Adjectives that end in -ed generally describe emotions – they tell us how people feel.
-ing adjectives
Adjectives that end in -ing generally describe the thing that causes the emotion – a boring lesson
makes you feel bored.
Here are some adjectives that can have both an -ed and an -ing form.
annoyed annoying
bored boring
confused confusing
disappointed disappointing
excited exciting
frightened frightening
interested interesting
surprised surprising
tired tiring
worried worrying
Articles 1
Here are some of the most important things to know about using articles.
Jobs
He's an architect.
She's a scientist.
My grandmother was a teacher.
Singular nouns
Singular, countable nouns always have an article – a/an or the (or another determiner – my, your,
this, that, etc.).
We use a/an – the indefinite article – when we talk about something for the first time, or
something that is part of a group or type.
We use a when the word that follows it begins with a consonant sound. We use an when it's
followed by a vowel sound. This makes pronunciation easier.
We use the – the definite article – when the listener already knows which thing we are talking
about because it was mentioned before or because there's only one of them.
Things in general
When we talk about things in general, we normally use a plural or uncountable noun with no
article.
We went to the zoo and saw the kangaroos. (These are the particular kangaroos in that zoo – not
kangaroos in general.)
Articles 2
Here are some ways we use articles in common phrases and place names.
Common phrases
We don't usually use an article in expressions with bed, work and home.
go to bed / be in bed
go to work / be at work / start work / finish work
go home / be at home / get home / stay at home
We also don't normally use an article in expressions with school, university, prison and hospital.
But we usually use the if someone is just visiting the place, and not there as a
student/prisoner/patient, etc.
My son has started school now. I went to the school to meet his teacher.
I went to the prison a lot when I was a social worker.
I'm at the hospital. My sister has just had a baby.
Place names
We don't normally use an article for continents, most countries, cities, towns, lakes, mountains or
universities. So, we say:
Some countries are different. Country names with United have the. There are other countries
which are exceptions too. So, we say:
the United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom, the United States of America
the Bahamas, the Gambia
the University of Cape Town, the University of Delhi, the University of Tokyo
Countable and uncountable nouns 1
Grammar explanation
Nouns can be countable or uncountable. Countable nouns can be counted, e.g. an apple, two
apples, three apples, etc. Uncountable nouns cannot be counted, e.g. air, rice, water, etc. When
you learn a new noun, you should check if it is countable or uncountable and note how it is used
in a sentence.
Countable nouns
For positive sentences we can use a/an for singular nouns or some for plurals.
For negatives we can use a/an for singular nouns or any for plurals.
Uncountable nouns
We use some with uncountable nouns in positive sentences and any with negatives.
Questions
But when we are offering something or asking for something, we normally use some.
We also use some in a question when we think the answer will be 'yes'.
A lot of (or lots of) can be used with both countable and uncountable nouns.
Notice that we don't usually use many or much in positive sentences. We use a lot of instead.
However, in negative sentences we use not many with countable nouns and not much with
uncountable nouns.
A few and a bit of or a little mean some. Often we feel this amount is enough or more than we
expected. We use a few with plural nouns and a bit of or a little with uncountable nouns.
We use few and very little to show that we are talking about a small amount. Often we feel this
amount is not enough or less than we expected. Few is for countable nouns and very little is for
uncountable nouns.
Few people came to the meeting.
There are few places where you can still see these birds.
We have very little time.
I have very little money.
Note that you can use little without very, but it is less common and sounds quite formal.
The past continuous and the past simple help us to show how two past actions or situations are
connected.
Past simple
The past simple shows us that an action was in the past, not in the present. Regular past simple
verbs have -ed at the end (e.g. called, played, arrived). Irregular verbs have a different form,
usually with a different vowel sound (e.g. wake → woke, break → broke, feel → felt).
We make the question form with did and then the subject and infinitive verb.
Past continuous
The past continuous shows us that the action was already in progress at a certain time in the past.
This means that I started studying before 8 p.m. and I continued after 8 p.m.
The past continuous can also show that an activity was in progress for some time, not just for a
moment.
We make the past continuous with was or were and the -ing form of the verb.
When we use these two tenses together, it shows us that the past simple action happened in the
middle of the past continuous action, while it was in progress.
In the first one, Jane started cooking dinner before the guests arrived. We know that because it
uses the past continuous. In the second sentence, the guests arrived first and then Jane started
cooking
Question forms
Grammar explanation
To make questions, we often put the verb before the subject. This is called inversion.
Affirmative Question
I am late. Am I late?
If there is a question word (why, what, where, how, etc.), it goes before the verb.
This is true for sentences with be, sentences that have auxiliary verbs (e.g. They are waiting. She
has finished.) and sentences with modal verbs (can, will, should, might, etc.).
For other verbs in the present simple, we use the auxiliary verb do/does in the question.
She went home. Did she go home? Where did she go?
They went to the cinema. Did they go to the cinema? Where did they go?
Subject questions
In some questions, who or what is the subject of the verb. There is no inversion of subject and
verb in these questions.
A verb can be followed by another verb. The second one usually needs to change into the -ing
form or the to + infinitive form. Which form you need depends on what the first verb is.
When enjoy, admit and mind are followed by another verb, it must be in the -ing form.
I enjoy travelling.
He admitted stealing the necklace.
I don't mind waiting if you're busy.
Other verbs in this group include avoid, can't help, consider, dislike, feel like, finish, give up,
like, love, miss, practise and suggest.
When want, learn and offer are followed by another verb, it must be in the to + infinitive form.
Other verbs in this group include afford, agree, ask, choose, decide, expect, hope, plan, prepare,
promise, refuse and would like.