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Many English learners worry too much about tense. If you stopped 100 native English speakers in the street and asked them about tense, one of them might give you an intelligent answer if you were lucky. The other 99 would know little about terms like "past perfect" or "present continuous". And they would know nothing about aspect, voice or mood. But they can all speak fluent English and communicate effectively. Of course, for ESL it helps to know about tenses, but don't become obsessed with them. Be like those native speakers! Speak naturally! The links below are to lessons for each of the 12 basic tenses. In each lesson we look at two aspects of the tense:  Structure:  How do we make the tense? Use:  When and why do we use the tense? Some lessons look at additional aspects.  Present Tense   I do do, I do  Present Continuous Tense   I am doing, I am doing tomorrow  Present Perfect Tense   I have done...

On this occasion English Learners Club is going to discuss the usage of the . The definite article the is the most frequent word in English. We use the definite article in front of a noun when we believe the hearer/reader knows exactly what we are referring to. • because there is only one : The Pope is visiting China. The sun is very bright today. The Shah of Iran was deposed in 1979. This is why we use the definite article with a superlative adjective: He is the tallest boy in the class. It is the oldest building in the town. • because there is only one in that place or in those surroundings: We live in a small village next to the mosque.  =  (the mosque in our village) = When we stayed at my grandmother’s house we went to the beach every day.  =  (the beach near my grandmother’s house) Look at the boy in the blue shirt over there.  = (the boy I am pointing at)...

Adverbs of certainty  express how certain or sure we feel about an action or event. Usage Common adverbs of certainty: certainly  ,  definitely, probably, undoubtedly, surely 1. Adverbs of certainty go before the main verb but after the verb 'to be': He  definitely  left the house this morning.  He is definitely in the house this morning. The news probably influences many people He is  probably  in the park. 2. With other auxiliary verb, these adverbs go between the auxiliary and the main verb: He has  certainly  forgotten the meeting.  He will  probably  remember tomorrow. 3. Sometimes these adverbs can be placed at the beginning of the sentence: Undoubtedly , Winston Churchill was a great politician.    Certainly , we will move to the city. BE CAREFUL! with  surely.  When it is placed at the beginning of the sentence, it means the speaker thinks something ...

The principal job of an adverb is to modify (give more information about) verbs, adjectives and other adverbs. In the following examples, the adverb is in bold and the word that it modifies is in italics. Modify a verb: - John speaks loudly . (How does John speak?) - Mary lives locally . (Where does Mary live?) - She never smokes . (When does she smoke?) Modify an adjective: - He is really handsome . Modify another adverb: - She drives incredibly slowly .  But adverbs have other functions, too. They can: Modify a whole sentence: - Obviously , I can't know everything. · Certainly , the thief chose the wrong profession. Modify a prepositional phrase: - It's immediately inside the door. Other examples:  an adverb modifies other verbs(verbs are in bold/adverbs are in italics)   · The thief acts stupidly . (answers the question:how?) · The thief never shoots , because he has no gun.(answers the question: when?)...

Verbs like give and send can have two objects, or they can have an object and an adverbial. There are some examples in this conversation, which takes place in a department store. CLAIMING BACK TAX Customer: I've bought these sweaters, and I'm taking them home to Brazil. I understand I can claim back the tax I pay.   Clerk: That's right. Have you filled in a form?   Customer: Yes, and I've got the receipts here.   Clerk: Right. Now, when you go through British Customs, you give the customs officer the form with the receipts.   Customer: I give the form to the Customs when I leave Britain?   Clerk: That's right. They'll give you one copy back and keep one themselves.   Customer: Uh-huh.   Clerk: Now I'll give you this envelope. You send the copy back to us in the envelope.   Customer: I post it to you.   Clerk: That's right.   Customer: And how do I get the money?   Clerk: Oh, we send you a cheque. We'll send it o...

Adjectives Definition 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: 1)­  Numeric:  six, one hundred and one  2) ­ Quantitative:  more, all, some, half, more than enough  3)­  Qualitative:  colour, size, smell e...

There are two main rules for the usage of Linking Verbs 1. Linking verb + complement A complement is an adjective phrase or a noun phrase. A complement relates to the subject: it describes the subject or identifies it (says who or what it is). Between the subject and complement is a linking verb, e.g. be.   The hotel was quiet.  The thief seemed depressed.  The book has become a best-seller.  It's getting dark. A week in the Lake District would make a nice break. These are the most common verbs in this pattern. + adjective or noun phrase: appear, be, become, look, prove, remain, seem, sound, stay + adjective: feel, get, go, grow, smell, taste, turn + noun phrase: make There are also some idiomatic expressions which are a linking verb + complement, e.g. burn low, come good, come true, fall asleep, fall ill, fall silent, ring true, run dry, run wild, wear thin. We can use some linking verbs in other patterns. Linking: Your gar...

The 3  articles  in English are  a, an  and  the . The learner has to decide noun-by-noun which one of the articles to use. The word  a  (which becomes  an  when the next word begins with a vowel - a, e, i, o, u) is called the indefinite article because the noun it goes with is indefinite or general. The meaning of the article a is similar to the number one, but one is stronger and gives more emphasis. It is possible to say I have a book or I have one book, but the second sentence emphasizes that I do not have two or three or some other number of books. The word  the  is known as the definite article and indicates a specific thing. The difference between the sentences I sat on a chair and I sat on the chair is that the second sentence refers to a particular, specific chair, not just any chair. Many nouns, especially singular forms of countable nouns must have an article. In English, it is not possible to say I sat on chai...

After we discussed Verb , now we're going to continue our discussion into Intransitive and transitive verbs. 1. An intransitive verb cannot take an object, although there can be a prepositional phrase after it. The man was waiting at the side of the road. Something unfortunate happened. The man runs along the beach every morning. Intransitive verbs usually express actions (people doing things) and events (things happening). A verb can be intransitive in one meaning and transitive in another. For example, run is transitive when it means 'manage. He runs his own business. 2. A transitive verb takes an object. The man stole a coat. Everyone enjoyed the conference. The driver saw the hitch-hiker at the side of the road. The man had no money. Transitive verbs can express not only actions (stole) but also feelings (enjoyed), perception (saw) and possession (had). After some transitive verbs we can leave out the object when it would add little or n...

It's not easy to describe a noun. In simple terms, nouns are "things" (and verbs are "actions"). Like food. Food (noun) is something you eat (verb). Or happiness. Happiness (noun) is something you want (verb). Another example is "human being"". A human being (noun) is something you are. What are Nouns? The simple definition is: a person, place or thing teacher, school, book Types Countable Nouns,   Uncountable Nouns dog/dogs,                rice, hair(s) Proper Nouns (Names) Do we say "Atlantic Ocean" or "the Atlantic Ocean"? Should I write "february" or "February"? Shirley, Mr Jeckyll, Thailand, April, Sony Possessive 's Adding 's or ' to show possession. John's car, my parents' house Noun as Adjective Sometimes we use a noun to describe another noun. In that case, the first noun is "acting as" an adjective. love story, toot...