Tag: English grammar

Introduction to Phrasal Verbs

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Phrasal verbs are two-word verbs. They include a verb and a particle. The particle can be a preposition or an adverb. Common particles are: up, down, back, out, on, off, or in.

When a verb and a particle are put together the resulting verb phrase has a complete different meaning.

Examples:

I usually eat out on Sundays. (I usually eat in a restaurant on Sundays.)

My computer broke down suddenly. (My computer stopped working suddenly.)

Mike works out every day. (Mike does exercise every day.)

Phrasal verbs are divided into 2 big groups:

  • Intransitive phrasal verbs
  • Transitive phrasal verbs

Intransitive Phrasal Verbs

  1. Intransitive phrasal verbs DON’T need an object to complete their meaning.

Remember that the object is the person or the thing that receives the action of the verb. The object of the sentence is the answer to the question who or what the subject does something to.

Example of objects:

Susan opened the door.I will invite Tony to the cinema.
Subject: SusanSubject: I
Verb: invitedVerb: will invite
object: the door (what)object: Tony (who)

Examples of intransitive phrasal verbs:

Sit down, please

Can you stand up for a moment?

They will come back tomorrow.

2. The particle always comes immediately after the verb.

Examples:

Can you stand for a moment up?

Can you stand up for a moment? ✅

We will go next weekend away.

We will go away next weekend. ✅

Transitive Phrasal Verbs

Transitive phrasal verbs need an object. Transitive phrasal verbs can be divided in 2 groups:

1 Separable phrasal verbs

Some phrasal verbs have an object and are separable. That means that you can put the particle before or after the object.

Example:

Take out your shoes before getting in the house.

Take your shoes out before getting in the house.

  • When the object is an object pronoun (me, you, him, her, us, them), the pronoun always goes between the verb and the particle

Take out them before getting in the house.

Take them out before getting in the house. ✅

2 Inseparable phrasal verbs

Some phrasal verbs have an object and are inseparable. That means that you cannot put the object between the verb and the particle.

Example:

Look your keys for.

Look for your keys. ✅

My friend is friend is sick, so I offered to take her dog after.

My friend is sick, so I offered to take after her dog. ✅

Practice time

Label the phrasal verbs T (transitive) or I (intransitive) according to their use in the sentence. Circle the object

  1. She walked into the room and then ran out.
  2. Her plane takes off at 12 o’ clock.
  3. She broke down in tears.
  4. Write down my phone number.
  5. My mom throws it away.
  6. Is the manager setting up a new project?
  7. Can you turn the radio down? I’m doing my homework.
  8. She decided to give up smoking.
  9. She’ll call back later.
  10. I don’t get along well with my neighbors.
Check your answers HERE

How to Give Feedback

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Giving and getting feedback is part of effective communication. Giving feedback is a good way to encourage and motivate others. Getting feedback gives people the opportunity to reflect on their learning/ teaching process or their performance at work.

What does feedback mean?

According to Cambridge Dictionary, feedback is:

“an opinion from someone about something that you have done or made”

If there are things that need to be improved you can provide constructive criticism to help others advance in their learning/ teaching process or careers.

The purpose of giving feedback and constructive criticism is to lead others to improve in the longer term. Therefore, when giving feedback it is important that you avoid judging or giving negative comments or remarks.

Here you have some sentence starters that you can use to give positive feedback:

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PRACTICE TIME

Imagine that you are a manager in a tech company. One of your assistants has developed a software that will help the company save a lot of money. However, the software is not user friendly (difficult to use). Your assistant has presented his/ her project in the last weekly meeting. Give him/ her some feedback.

Write your feedback in the comments below.

Two-word Question Words

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Questions are essential part of communication in any language.

If we want to get information or more details we usually place a question word at the beginning of the question. The question word refers to the information that we want to get. For example:

Question wordInformation we want to getExample
WhopersonWho is the man who has long hair?
WhatthingWhat’s the best place you’ve visited?
WhereplaceWhere are you from?
WhentimeWhen did you graduate?
WhyreasonWhy are you studying English?
*HowmannerHow did you like the movie?
Examples of question words

There are some two-word questions that start with How…?

For example: How far…? How tall…? How long…? How fast…? How often…? How old…? How much…? and How many…?

In the chart below there are more details and examples about two-word questions that start with How.

Two-word question words
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Let’s practice!!

Choose a question and answer it in the comments below

1. How old were you when you started learning English?

2. How often do you practice English?

3. How tall is the tallest man in the world?

4. How fast can a black panther run?

5. How old is your best friend?

6. How many apps do you have on your phone?

7. How much time do you spend on social media every day?

Questions: Be…? Do…? Have…?

teacherjulieta4 Comments

Asking questions in English can be tricky, eh!

Sometimes we have to invert the subject and the verb to make a question.

Example:

You are my friend

Are you my friend?

Sometimes we have to use an auxiliary verb to make a question.

Example:

You like coffee.

Do you like coffee?

Is there an easy way to remember how to use auxiliary verbs correctly?

I’ve found that using charts is a great way to visualize the differences. Charts also help you remember which auxiliary to use when asking questions in English.

Verb be

Verb be is a unique verb that can change its position to change a sentence into a question.

A. Simple present

SubjectAffirmative
S V O		Question
S <-> V
(V S O)
II am late.Am I late?
YouYou are Canadian.Are you Canadian?
HeHe is your father.Is he your father?
SheShe is our teacher.Is she our teacher?
ItIt is okay to make mistakes.Is it okay to make mistakes?
WeWe are tired.Are we tired?
TheyThey are Brazilian.Are they Brazilian?

B. Simple past

SubjectAffirmative
S V O		Question
S <-> V
(V S O)
II was late.Was I late?
YouYou were sick yesterday.Were you sick yesterday?
HeHe was my best friend.Was he my best friend?
SheShe was our teacher.Was she our teacher?
ItIt was okay to make mistakes.Was it okay to make mistakes?
WeWe were tired last night.Were we tired last night?
TheyThey were very hungry.Were they very hungry?

AUXILIARIES

An auxiliary verb is not an action verb, rather it helps the action verb to convey its meaning. Therefore, it is also known as helping verb. Auxiliary verbs are used with main verbs to help express the tense.

Verb be is an auxiliary in the continuous tenses

C. Present continuous

(Aux: am/is/are)

SubjectAffirmative
Subject + Aux + verbing 		Question
Aux + Subject + verbing
II am studying English.Am I studying English?
YouYou are living in Canada.Are you living in Canada?
HeHe is traveling to France.Is he traveling to France?
SheShe is chatting with her friends.Is she chatting with her friends?
ItIt is raining.Is it raining?
WeWe are having a good time.Are we having a good time?
TheyThey are doing a great job.Are they doing a great job?

D. Past continuous

(Aux: was/ were)

SubjectAffirmative
Subject + Aux + verbing		Question
Aux + Subject + verbing
II was studying English this morning.Was I studying English this morning?
YouYou were living in Canada last year.Were you living in Canada last year?
HeHe was traveling to yesterday.Was he traveling to France yesterday?
SheShe was chatting with her friends.Was she chatting with her friends?
ItIt was raining two hours ago.Was it raining two hours ago?
WeWe were having a good time.Were we having a good time?
TheyThey were doing a great job.Were they doing a great job?

Do is an auxiliary verb (Aux) that we use when we want to ask questions in simple present.

E. Simple present

SubjectAffirmative
S V O		Question
Aux + Subject + verb
II like studying English.Do I like studying English?
YouYou live in Canada. Do you live in Canada?
HeHe travels to France once a year. Does he travel to France once a year?
SheShe chats with Mike every day. Does she chat with Mike every day?
ItIt (The dog) plays with the children. Does it (the dog) play with the children?
WeWe always have a good time in class. Do we always have a good time in class?
TheyThey always do a great job. Do they always do a great job?

Did is an auxiliary verb (Aux) that we use when we want to ask questions in simple past.

E. Simple past

SubjectAffirmative
S V O		Question
Aux + Subject + verb
II liked studying English.Did I like studying English?
YouYou lived in Canada. Did you live in Canada?
HeHe traveled to France last year.Did he travel to France last year?
SheShe chatted with Mike yesterday. Did she chat with Mike yesterday?
ItIt (The dog) played with the children yesterday.Did it (the dog) play with the children yesterday?
WeWe had a good time in class yesterday.Did we have a good time in class yesterday?
TheyThey did a great job. Did they do a great job?

Have is an auxiliary verb (Aux) that we use when we want to ask questions in present perfect and present perfect continuous.

F. Present Perfect

(Aux: have/has)

SubjectAffirmative
S + Aux + past participle		Question
Aux + Subject + verb
II have studied English for 2 years.Have I studied English for 2 years?
YouYou have lived in Canada since 2010. Have you lived in Canada since 2010?
HeHe has traveled to France twice.Has he traveled to France twice?
SheShe has done her homework. Has she done her homework?
ItIt (The dog) has run away.Has it (the dog) run away?
WeWe have finished the course.Have we we finished the course?
TheyThey have found a good job. Have they found a good job?

G. Present Perfect Continuous

(Aux: have been/has been)

SubjectAffirmative
S + Aux + verbing		Question
Aux + Subject + verb
II have been studying English for 2 years.Have I been studying English for 2 years?
YouYou have been living in Canada since 2010. Have you been living in Canada since 2010?
HeHe has been working in France for 2 years .Has he been working in France for 2 years?
SheShe has been doing her homework since 5 o’ clock. Has she been doing her homework since 5 o’clock?
ItIt (The dog) has been sleeping all day.Has it (the dog) been sleeping all day?
WeWe have been taking this course since April.Have we been taking this course since April?
TheyThey have been looking for a job since April. Have they been looking for a good job since April?

Practice time

Put the words in the correct order to make questions

Related:

Common mistakes with be do & have

Difference between if I was and if I were

teacherjulieta4 Comments

I was

PAST

We use “I was” or “If I was” when we talk about real things that actually happened in the past.

The conjugation for the verb be in the past form is

Iwas
Youwere
He/ She/ Itwas
Wewere
Theywere
Simple past verb be

Examples:

  1. When I was 10 years old, I used to play soccer every day.
  2. I was really happy to hear that you passed your test yesterday.
  3. My high school teachers would give me extra homework if I was late for class.
  4. I apologize if I was rude. I didn’t mean it.
  5. I’m very sorry if I wasn’t clear enough.

I were

HYPOTHETICAL SITUATIONS & WISHES

We use the phrase “If I were” when we want to talk about unreal or hypothetical situations (second conditional). We also use it when we are wishing for something. It’s called the subjunctive mood.

The conjugation of verb be in the subjunctive mood is

Iwere
Youwere
He/ She/ Itwere
Wewere
Theywere
Subjunctive verb be
Second conditional
  1. If I were rich, I would buy a house in Dubai.
  2. If I were you, I wouldn’t do that.
  3. I wouldn’t work every day if I weren’t a police officer.
  4. I would be more active if I were younger.
  5. If he were taller, he could play basketball.

NOTE: with he, she and it we can use was (instead of were) in informal speaking. Example: If she was here, she’d know what to do

Wish
  1. I wish I were able to run 20 km
  2. I wish I were a doctor.
  3. I wish I were 20 years old again.
  4. She wishes she were a top model.
  5. He wishes he were richer.

Video in Spanish

Video in English

Make up your mind

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“You can’t make decisions based on fear and the possibility of what might happen.”

Michelle Obama

Curious about the meaning of the English expression make up your mind?

Do you know which verb goes with decision in Spanish, Portuguese, French and Italian?

Which one is correct: take a decision or make a decision?

In this short video I’ll explain the meaning of these phrases and how to use them correctly.

To learn more English expressions check the following posts:

Money talks

Let me sleep on it

I’m thankful for

The ‘s contraction

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Apostrophe + S

In English the apostrophe is used to make contractions. It is easy to use contractions when we are in the classroom studying grammar. The problem is when we come across with the same contractions while watching a movie or speaking with other people. In English there are different contractions and one of the most confusing one is the ‘s contraction.

The apostrophe + s or ‘s contraction can represent three of the following situations: is, has or possession.

Look at the following example:

My sister’s husband, who’s an English teacher in Vietnam, speaks three languages. He’s studied Vietnamese for five years and French for one year. Currently, He’s working in a high school in Hanoi.

Can you identify the full form of each of the contractions?  If you can, share your answer in the comments below.

If not, watch a mini lesson where I explain the different meanings of ‘s. After you watch it download a guide with more examples to practice on your own.

The ‘s contraction essential guide

Useful tips and examples to improve your grammar.

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