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First the good news:There are only three articles in English: a, an and the.

There are two types of articles indefinite 'a' and 'an' or definite 'the'. You also need to know when not to use an article.

The bad news is that their proper use is complex, especially when you get into the advanced use of English. Quite often you have to work it out by what sounds right, which can be frustrating for a learner.

Indefinite articles - a and an (determiners)

A and an are the indefinite articles. They refer to something not specifically known to the person you are communicating with.

A and an are used before nouns that introduce something or someone you have not mentioned before:-

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Picture This - Articles - a / an / the

An = a, e, i, o, u

A = b, c, d, ....

 

A/An or The

 

English Grammar

Adverbials

Adverbials modify or tell us something about the sentence or the verb. It may be a single adverb, a phrase, or a prepositional phrase, or a clause element.

When an adverbial modifies a verb, it changes the meaning of that verb.

For example:-

The students looked at me.
The students looked at me anxiously. (The verb looked suddenly has a very different meaning).

When an adverbial modifies a sentence, the meaning of the sentence changes.

For example:-

I passed all of my exams.Surprisingly, I passed all of my exams.

Word groups that are also considered to be adverbials can also modify verbs: a prepositional phrase, a noun phrase, a finite clause or a non-finite clause.

Multi-word adverbials are sometimes called an adverbial phrases.

For example:-

I ran as quickly as I could, but I missed the bus.

If a whole clause acts as an adverbial, it's called an adverbial clause.

For example:-

I'll go to bed when the film ends.

 

 

 

 

 

 

English Grammar

Adjectives

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 color 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: color, 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."

Color

Adjectives can be used to describe color.

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:

·         "The day was hot." or "The 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 masculine, 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:

!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.

 

 

 

English Grammar

Adjective Order

Adjectives can be used to describe lots of things, from physical size, age, shape, color, material, to more abstract things like opinion, origin and purpose. We can use adjectives together to give a detailed description of something. Adjectives that express opinions usually come before all others, but it can sometimes depend on what exactly you want to emphasize.

For example:

"That nice, big, blue bag." (You like the bag.)
"That big, nice, blue bag." (You like the color.)

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

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 emphasize:-

For example:

·         "She had a long, ugly nose." emphasizing the length of her nose.

·         "He was a silly, little man." emphasizing that the man was silly.

 

English Grammar

Comparative form of Adjectives

When we compare two things or people we look at what makes them different from each other.

For example:

Tall / Short

The man on the left is taller than the man on the right.
The man on the right is shorter than the man on the left.

Fast / Slow

A car is faster than a bicycle.
A bicycle is slower than a car.

Comparative adjectives are used to show what quality one thing has more or less than the other. They normally come before any other adjectives.

For example:

 

Big / Small

The red bag is bigger than the blue bag.
The blue bag is smaller than the red bag.

Forming the comparative

The following adjectives are exceptions to this rule:

·         'good' becomes 'better'

·         'bad' becomes 'worse'

·         'far' becomes 'farther' or 'further'

! Note - When comparing two things like this we put than between the adjective and the thing being compared.

For example:-

·         "Mount Everest is higher than Mount Snowdon."

·         "Arguably, Rome is more beautiful than Paris.

English Grammar

Possessive Adjectives

Possesive adjectives are used to show ownership or possession.

For example:

·         I own a laptop. = It is my laptop.

·         You own this computer (I presume). = It is your computer.

·         My husband owns a car. = It is his car.

·         My sister owns a house. = It is her house.

·         My dog owns a collar. = It is its collar.

·         We use this website. = It is our website.

·         Manchester United own a football ground. = It is their football ground.

 

 

 

 

 

 

English Grammar

Superlative Adjectives

The superlative is used to say what thing or person has the most of a particular quality within a group or of its kind. Superlative adjectives normally come before any other adjectives.

Forming the superlative

The following adjectives are exceptions:

·         'good' becomes 'the best'

·         'bad' becomes 'the worst'

·         'far' becomes 'the furthest'

For example:

·         "Jill is the best student in the class ."

·         "Jack is the worst student in the class."

·         "In our solar system the planet Pluto is the furthest planet from the Sun."

!Note - superlatives are usually preceded by 'the'.

For example:

·         "The Rio de la Plata River, on the southeast coastline of South America, is the widest river in the world."

·         According to the List of World records Carol Yager (1960-1994), from Michigan, is the fattest person ever to live, weighing 725 kg (1,600 lb).

·         "Mount Everest is the highest mountain in the world."

·         "I think that Castle Combe is the prettiest village in England."

·         "Arguably, Rome is the most beautiful city in the world."

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

English Grammar

 

Big | Small

Bigger / Smaller | Biggest / Smallest

Higher / Lower | Highest / Lowest

Longer / Shorter | Longest / Shortest

Cheaper / More (Less) Expensive | Cheapest / Most (Least) Expensive

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Words are divided into two categories: Function Words and Content Words.

Function words are closed class words (only about 300 in English) while content words are open class words (new words are being added in every language).

 

Note: The same lexical word can function as either content or function word depending on it's function in an utterance.

Example 1

Example 2

Example 3

 

 

TOEFL Content Vs Function Words

UpdatedMarch 04, 2010

Content words include main verbs, nouns, adjectives, adverbs, negative auxiliary verbs, demonstratives, and question words. These are words that must be included in the sentence for it to make sense, and are words that should be stressed within the sentence. Here are some examples:

• Main Verbs: go, talking, writes
• Nouns: teacher, chair, New York
• Adjectives: large, brilliant, pretty
• Adverbs: quietly, slowly, elegantly
• Negative Auxiliary Verbs: aren’t, won’t, can’t
• Demonstratives: those, this, that
• Question Words: how, when, why

Function words include pronouns, preposition, articles, conjunctions, auxiliary verbs, and the main verb ‘to be’. These words add proper grammatical structure and flow to your sentence, but should not be stressed – think of them as background words. Here are some examples:

• Pronouns: she, they, he
• Prepositions: above, in, with
• Articles: few, a, the
• Conjunctions: nor, yet, so
• Auxilary Verbs: might, were, do
• Verb ‘to be’: am, is, was

 

Commonly Confused Word Pairs for ESL Learners

Part I

beside / besides

beside: preposition meaning 'next to', 'at the side of'

Examples:

I sit beside John in class.
Could you get me that book? It's beside the lamp.

besides: adverb meaning 'also', 'as well'; preposition meaning 'in addition to'

Examples:

(adverb) He's responsible for sales, and a lot more besides.
(preposition) Besides tennis, I play soccer and basketball.

clothes / cloths

clothes: something you wear - jeans, shirts, blouses, etc.

Examples:

Just a moment, let me change my clothes.
Tommy, get your clothes on!

cloths: pieces of material used for cleaning or other purposes.

Examples:

There are some cloths in the closet. Use those to clean the kitchen.
I have a few pieces of cloth that I use.

dead / died

dead: adjective meaning 'not alive'

Examples:

Unfortunately, our dog has been dead for a few months.
Don't touch that bird. It's dead.

died: past tense and past participle of the verb 'to die'

Examples:

His grandfather died two years ago.
A number of people have died in the accident.

experience / experiment

experience: noun meaning something that a person lives through, i.e. something that someone experiences. - also used as an uncountable noun meaning 'knowledge gained by doing something'

Examples:

(first meaning)His experiences in Germany were rather depressing.
(second meaning) I'm afraid I don't have much sales experience.

experiment: noun meaning something that you do to see the result. Often used when speaking about scientists and their studies.

Examples:

They did a number of experiments last week.
Don't worry it's just an experiment. I'm not going to keep my beard.

felt / fell

felt: past tense and past participle of the verb 'to feel'

Examples:

I felt better after I had a good dinner.
He hasn't felt this well for a long time.

fell: past tense of the verb 'to fall'

Examples:

He fell from a tree and broke his leg.
Unfortunately, I fell down and hurt myself.

female / feminine

female: the sex of a woman or animal

Examples:

The female of the species is very aggressive.
The question 'female or male' means 'are you a woman or a man'.

feminine: adjective describing a quality or type of behaviour that is considered typical for a woman

Examples:

He's an excellent boss with a feminine intuition.
The house was decorated in a very feminine manner.

its / it's

its: possessive determiner similar to 'my' or 'your'

Examples:

Its color is red.
The dog didn't eat all of its food.

it's: Short form of 'it is' or 'it has'

Examples:

(it is) It's difficult to understand him.
(it has) It's been a long time since I had a beer.

 

last / latest

last: adjective usually meaning 'final'

Examples:

I took the last train to Memphis.
This is the last test of the semester!

latest: adjective meaning 'most recent' or 'new'

Examples:

His latest book is excellent.
Have you seen his latest painting?

lay / lie

lay: verb meaning 'to put down flat' - past tense - laid, past participle - laid

Examples:

He laid his pencil down and listened to the teacher.
I usually lay my pies on the shelf to cool.

lie: verb meaning 'to be down' - past tense -lay (be careful!), past participle - lain

Examples:

The girl lay on the bed asleep.
At the moment, he's lying on the bed.

lose / loose

lose: verb meaning 'to misplace'

Examples:

I lost my watch!
Have you ever lost anything valuable?

loose: adjective meaning the opposite of 'tight'

Examples:

Your trousers are very loose!
I need to tighten this screw. It's loose.

male / masculine

male: the sex of a man or animal

Examples:

The male of the species is very lazy.
The question 'female or male' means 'are you a woman or a man'.

masculine: adjective describing a quality or type of behaviour that is considered typical for a man

Examples:

She's a very masculine woman.
His opinions are just too masculine for me.

price / prize

price: noun - what you pay for something.

Examples:

The price was very cheap.
What's the price of this book?

prize: noun - an award

Examples:

He won a prize as best actor.
Have you ever won a prize in a competition?

principal / principle

principal: adjective meaning 'the most important'

Examples:

The principal reason for my decision was the money.
What are the principal irregular verbs?

principle: a rule (usually in science but also concerning morals)

Examples:

It's the first principle of aerodynamics.
He has very loose principles.

quite / quiet

quite: adverb of degree meaning 'very' or 'rather'

Examples:

This test is quite difficult.
He was quite exhausted after the long journey.

quiet: adjective meaning the opposite of loud or noisy

Examples:

Could you please be quiet?!
She's a very quiet girl.

sensible / sensitive

sensible: adjective meaning 'having common sense' i.e. 'not stupid'

Examples:

I wish you would be more sensible about things.
I'm afraid you aren't being very sensible.

sensitive: adjective meaning 'to feel very deeply' or 'to hurt easily'

Examples:

You should be careful with David. He's very sensitive.
Mary is a very sensitive woman.

shade / shadow

shade: protection from the sun, a dark area outside on a sunny day.

Examples:

You should sit in the shade for a while.
It's too hot. I'm going to find some shade.

shadow: the dark area created by something else on a sunny day.

Examples:

That tree casts a large shadow.
Have you every noticed your shadow getting longer as it gets later in the day?

some time / sometimes

some time: refers to an indefinite time in the future

Examples:

Let's meet for coffee some time.
I don't know when I'll do it - but I will do it some time.

sometimes: adverb of frequency meaning 'occasionally'

Examples:

He sometimes works late.
Sometimes, I like eating Chinese food.

 

 

Book Review: “Lapsing into a Comma”

In 1995, when the Internet was still a relatively obscure phenomenon, a newspaper copy editor named Bill Walsh began sharing his knowledge and opinions about his craft on a website called The Slot. Five years later, Walsh transferred that lore to print with Lapsing into a Comma: A Curmudgeon’s Guide to the Many Things That Can Go Wrong in Print — and How to Avoid Them. Writers — not just journalists — should be grateful for the creation of both resources.

Walsh is still curmudgeoning away at The Slot, and Lapsing into a Comma is still in print, and you’ll be a better writer (and/or editor) if you avail yourself of either, or both. Note, however, that The Associated Press Style Book is Walsh’s bible, so some of his recommendations will vary from those of an adherent of The Chicago Manual of Style, the premier guide for the US book-publishing industry (and many magazines as well). (That, for instance, is why the second word of his book’s title is not initial-capped here, as it is on and in the book itself.)

Lapsing into a Comma begins with a brisk condemnation of what Walsh calls the “search-and-replace school of copy editing [sic],” a slavish devotion to style at the expense of natural writing (for example, invariably revising passive writing), followed by a brief guide to using a dictionary to resolve issues of style (for example, start-up, or startup?) and a discussion of complications engendered by the ubiquity of the Internet (for example, why email is, according to Walsh, an abomination).

He then points out the importance of precision, whether in a reference to iced tea (not “ice tea”) or to a hospitalized infant no longer needing oxygen (how it that possible?), and touches on numeracy, the mathematical equivalent of literacy (for example, a rate falls one percentage point, not one percent). A chapter on sensitivity to race, gender, and sexuality includes an excellent argument for not using “African American” and black interchangeably.

The chapter “He Said, She Said” comprehensively covers how to format and attribute quotes (and includes a helpful sidebar that discourages grammar-tidying corrections of them). A brief discussion of headlines and captions will be useful not just to copy editors and newsletter editors but also to bloggers, and the chapter on punctuation is a must-read, period.

The second half of the book consists of a stylebook-within-a-book with standard entries such as the one about the distinction between assure, ensure, and insure, as well as less commonly discussed issues as why a hyphen belongs in “sport-utility vehicle.” The few entries about well-known people are outdated (when is the last time anyone wrote about Rosalynn Carter?), but I was amused to see an item clarifying that the Vulcan science officer on the original Star Trek series is not also an influential twentieth-century pediatrician; I’ve seen that apparently common (and timeless) error, too.

Be sure to visit The Slot, too. You’ll find much of the book’s content covered in the site’s section titled “Sharp Points,” but Walsh’s blog entries are also a trove of information and advice. (For site visitors interested in copyediting as a career, the page titled “What Exactly Is a Copy Editor?” provides a short list of helpful essays.)

The book includes what I think is the finest encapsulation of my profession I’ve ever read: “Copy editors are supposed to make sure writers are actually saying what they think they are saying.” It, and Walsh’s website (apologies to the author, who vehemently favors “Web site”), will help writers accomplish the same goal.

12 Imaginary Places

Posted: 19 Sep 2012 09:28 PM PDT

Religion, legends, and literature alike are replete with various conceptions of ethereal or terrestrial paradises or places with romantic flair. Here are a dozen examples of ideal locales, including their names, their origins, and their definitions.

1. Arcadia (the Greek region of Arcadia): an idealized, unattainable pastoral state, bereft of civilization

2. Atlantis (allegorical legend recounted by Plato): an island with a complex, advanced civilization that was submerged in a cataclysmic disaster in preclassical times)

3. Camelot (European legends and folklore): the seat of the court of King Arthur, renowned for its splendor

4. Cockaigne (European medieval legend): a place of idleness and luxury

5. El Dorado or Eldorado (Spanish legend): the name given to a Native American chieftain and, by extension, to the prosperous city and surrounding empire he supposedly ruled; later, a metaphor for happiness or personal fulfillment

6. Erewhon (Samuel Butler’s satirical novel Erewhon): a seemingly utopian society with the same flaws as actual civilization

7. Faerie (European fairy tales and folktales): the magical realm of fairies and other legendary beings

8. Neverland or the Neverlands or Never Never Land (J. M. Barrie’s stage play Peter Pan and his novelization Peter and Wendy): an idyllic land serving as a metaphor for escapism and perpetual childhood

9. Shambhala (Buddhist tradition): a mythical hidden kingdom in Central Asia adopted as an ideal state by believers in mysticism

10. Shangri-La (James Hilton’s romantic novel Lost Horizon): an idealized paradise in a hidden valley in Asia

11. Utopia (Sir Thomas More’s allegorical novel Utopia): an island with a harmonious sociopolitical system; in uncapitalized form, any idealized society

12. Xanadu (Chinese history): a city in what is now Inner Mongolia, the historical summer palace of Kublai Khan, but also, inspired by Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s poem Kubla Khan, an idealized place of luxurious splendor

What’s the difference between congruent and congruous? The distinction is slight, as the meanings are nearly identical. However, the former term is usually employed quantitatively, while the latter word is generally used qualitatively.

The noun congruence and its adjectival form congruent refer to agreement or coincidence. In geometry, the words denote having the same size and shape — as in a description of identical parallel lines or of corresponding lines in two geometrical figures that are mirror images of each other; congruence also has other applications in higher mathematics. The respective antonyms are incongruence and incongruent.

Congruous also means “in agreement,” as well as “appropriate,” “corresponding,” and “harmonious.” The term is more likely to be used in an aesthetic sense. Interestingly, the former word’s antonym, incongruous, is more frequently employed than its opposite, usually to refer to something unsettlingly out of place in its surroundings.

A noun related to both congruent and congruous is congruity, which refers to the state of being congruent or congruous, as well as meaning “a point of agreement.” Incongruity is the noun form of incongruous.

The origin of this family of terms is the Latin word congruere.