In a previous post we discussed the basic differences between the indefinite articles (a/an) and the definite article (the).
As you can see in the Introduction to articles some of the patterns for the usage of articles in English are easy to remember. However, the use of articles in English is very complex.
Using articles in English can be very challenging for speakers of other languages because:
In some languages speakers use articles before almost every noun
In some languages speakers never use articles before nouns.
In this post you can find more specific rules and exceptions of article usage in English.
Using articles in EnglishUsing articles in English
An essay is a written piece where you can present an idea, propose an argument, express your emotions or initiate a debate.
In an advantages and disadvantages essay your task is to describe the positive and the negative sides of a specific topic. You must include examples and reasons to support your ideas. Sometimes you will also be asked to give your opinion. You can include your personal opinion in the introduction and conclusion of the essay.
The typical structure for an advantages and disadvantages essay is the following:
Paragraph 1: Introduction
Start your introduction with a sentence that paraphrases the question you were given
Add a sentence where you include the main ideas that you will talk about
Give your opinion (if required)
Paragraph 2: Advantages
Write a sentence where you summarize the main idea of the paragraph. In this paragraph you must mention the advantages.
Next write a sentence where you explain the advantages.
Finally you explain the consequence or result of advantages by giving an example.
Paragraph 3: Disadvantages
(This paragraph is similar to paragraph 2, but here you will talk about the disadvantages)
Write a sentence where you summarize the main idea of the paragraph. In this paragraph you must mention the disadvantages.
Explain the disadvantages.
Give examples of the disadvantages.
Paragraph 4: Conclusion
Summarize your ideas
Paraphrase your opinion (if required)
Example:
Advantages and disadvantages of travelingby plane
Nowadays,a lot of people prefer to travel by plane when they go to another country. However, air travel has both pros and drawbacks. Let’s examine some of these here.
One of the main advantages of traveling by plane is that it is much faster than any other form of transport. For example, you can fly from Toronto to New York in 2 hours, whereas by car, it would take more than 7 hours. Another advantage is that flying is more comfortable and less tiring because you can sleep on a long flight. You can also watch movies or read. Finally, it is safer. More people die in car accidents than in the air.
On the other hand, traveling by plane also has some disadvantages. To start with, it can be quite expensive, especially if you want to travel in the comfort of First Class or Business Class. What is more, flights are often delayed, and this means you may have to spend a long time waiting in the airport or miss connecting flights. In addition, you may arrive in New York while your suitcase has gone to Paris.
To sum up, the airplane is a great invention, but it does have some drawbacks. If it was cheaper, it would be better. Still, in my opinion, the pros outweigh the cons. If we didn’t have planes, it would be very difficult to travel to distant places.
Below there is a template that can help you write your advantages and disadvantages essays.
Template for an advantages and disadvantages essay
A New Year, new opportunities to improve your English! It’s time to start thinking about New Year resolutions.
A resolution is a firm decision to do or not to do something in the future. In English there are different ways to talk about our resolutions depending on how determined we are to accomplish them.
There are different websites with useful information about how to make and keep New Year’s resolutions. However, here I’m going to talk about the grammar behind talking about our resolutions in English.
In the table below you can find some useful sentence starters that you can use to talk about your New Year’s resolutions.
Sentence starter
Meaning
Example
(+) I’m going to + base form (-) I’m not going to + base form
It’s a plan or intention for the future
I’m going to practice English every day. I’m not going to eat junk food.
(+) I‘m planning to + base form
Things that you are almost definitely going to do. Things that you have already scheduled or made some preparations for.
I’m planning to take English classes during the summer.
I hope to + base form I‘d like to + base form
Things you want to do but you it’s not a definite plan
I hope to travel more. I’d like to lose weight.
I might + base form I may + base form I‘m thinking about + gerund
Things you are considering, but you’re not sure if you will do it or not.
I might travel to Brazil. I may apply to grad school. I’m thinking about changing careers.
Practice time
Choose 1 item per column.
Write the names of each item in order. For example: hamburger, wine, mountain, Whatsapp.
Repeat step 2 two more times.
Swipe left to find out your resolution.
Use the sentence starters in the chart below and the words in the New Year’s resolution generator to make your sentences.
Examples:
I’m going to stop taking selfies after zumba.
I’m not going to stop taking selfies after zumba.
I hope to stop taking selfies after zumba.
I‘m thinking about stopping taking selfies after zumba.
Writing Christmas cards is a tradition in many many English speaking countries. The tradition of sending Christmas cards started in the mid 1800’s in the UK when a British artist created a greeting card for Sir Henry Cole to send forth to his family and friends. Sir Henry Cole thought that sending Christmas cards to his family and friends would be a nice way to convey happy sentiments while wishing them a joyful holiday.
Queen Victoria started sending seasonal greeting in the 1840’s.
The White House traditionally sends Christmas cards every year.
In spite diverse in culture and religion, Canadians also partake in the tradition. Christmas cards are sent to wish people peace and joy.
Writing a Christmas card can be a bit challenging, especially if you don’t know what to include in your card.
Here I have made a list of common Christmas messages that you can include in your Christmas cards:
Wishing you and your family health, happiness, peace and prosperity this Christmas and in the coming New Year.
Merry Christmas! May you get chance to take in the beauty and true meaning of the season.
Happy Holidays! I hope all of your Christmas wishes come true.
May your holidays be filled with love and rejoice. May you have a great time with your friends and family this Christmas! Sending my best wishes to you.
May your holidays be filled with happiness and good cheer!
It’s people like you that make Christmas a sacred, meaningful occasion. Merry Christmas!
Merry Christmas! This coming year, may you be gifted with countless blessings.
Gifts come and go, what really matters are the people who light up our lives all year long. Thank you!
The past year has been anything but cheerful and bright. Wishing you love, light and a prosperous year ahead.
Wishing you nothing but the best this holiday season.
Meaning: When someone gets an unexpected surprise.
Example: John got a promotion last week. Indeed, Christmas has come earlier for him this year.
Good things come in small packages
Meaning: Used to say that people or things do not have to be large to be good
Example:
A: I’m upset at my boyfriend. He only gave me this tiny box for my birthday.
B: Don’t get upset until you know what’s in it. Good things do come in small packages!
The more the merrier
Meaning: More people will make something more enjoyable. This set phrase is used to welcome one to join a group or activity
Example: Oh sure, you can come to the party with us—the more the merrier!
Christmas comes butonce a year
Meaning: Since Christmas only comes once a year, people should be good to one another in the Christmas season
Example:
A: I’m going to volunteer at the orphanage center, do you want to join a hand?
B: Of course, Christmas comes but once a year.
All my Christmases have come at once
Meaning: Said when one is experiencing a an extraordinary amount of good fortune
Example: The day I got married, I heard I’d passed my exams and got a promotion, so it felt like all my Christmases had come at once.
Like turkeys voting for Christmas
Meaning: The most popular choice of food for the Christmas in several parts of the world is turkey. When people choose or accept a situation that is not in their interest or will be directly harmful to them.
Example: The employees agreed to go back to the office in the middle of the pandemic without any increase in their pay. It was like turkeys voting for Christmas.
Now, let’s say that you want to talk about your trips. If you want to talk about your trips and the places that you have visited in the past you can’t use verb go in the present perfect form.
simple present
1. I usually go to Paris in the summer. ✔️
simple past
2. I went to Paris last year. ✔️
present perfect
3. I have gone to Paris many times. ❌ I have been to Paris many times ✔️
Why?
Because…
been to
completed visits (round trip)
gone to
one-way trip
In the video below I explain how to use been to and gone to correctly
Prefixes and suffixes are letters that we add to words. Both prefixes and suffixes are grammatical elements that belong to a group of words called affixes. Affixes sometimes seem like a crazy code. Indeed, they are like a code based on ancient Latin and Greek.
The word affix means inaddition to. When they are combined with words or roots they produce new words with different meanings.
Examples:
root: happy
prefix: unhappy
suffix: happily
If we learn the meaning of the most common affixes we can understand the code. We can make good guesses even we don’t know the meaning of a word based on the part we recognize.
You will be able to understand thousands of English words if you know the most common Latin and Greek roots and affixes.
Knowing roots and affixes is very handy when we have to learn vocabulary related to Science, Math and Business.
Examples of common Greek and Latin roots and affixes:
Root/affix
Language
Translation
Example
anti
Greek
against
antibacterial
astro
Greek
star
astronaut
bene
Latin
good
benefit
bi
Greek
two
biweekly
bio
Greek
life
biodiversity
chron
Greek
time
chronometer
cosm
Greek
world
cosmos
cracy
Greek
government
Democracy
cycl
Greek
circle, wheel
bicycle
dem
Greek
people
democracy
dict
Latin
say
dictate
geo
Greek
Earth
Geology
gen
Latin
birth
Genesis
mech
Greek
machine
Mechanic
mis
Latin
send
missile
ology
Greek
study
Geology
phon
Greek
sound
telephone
port
Latin
carry
portable
pyro
Greek
fire
pyrotechnics
scope
Greek
see
Telescope
terr
Latin
Earth
terrestrial
vis
Latin
See
visible
Common Greek and Latin roots and affixes. Adapted from Everything you Need to Ace English Language Arts in One Big Notebook (page 79 and 80)
Practice time
Based on the following words, what do you think the root “aud” might mean? audible, auditorium, audience
If “scope” means to see, would you expect a spectroscope to measure light or to measure sound?
Can an affix appear at the end of a word? Why?
Think of other words that contain the root “cycle“
Create one new word using the roots and affixes from the table. Write down its meaning.
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.
“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 negativecomments or remarks.
Here you have some sentence starters that you can use to give positive feedback:
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.
Globalization has changed the way we communicate with others. Nowadays, we can use the internet to attend classes or work meetings. Therefore, we should learn how to behave during our online classes and meetings.
Netiquette allows people to communicate with others over the internet in a polite and professional manner.
The word netiquette comes from the words network and etiquette. It is defined a set of rules that facilitates social interactions online.
Here there is a list of netiquette rules that you should keep in mind during your virtual sessions:
1 Be on time
It’s better to be at least 5 minutes early rather than late.
Punctuality is a good habit that builds self-confidence. Being on time also eliminates stress from your life by removing the anxiety of being late.
2 Come to class prepared
Have every thing that you need for your class ready, including your textbooks, notebooks, pens and other materials that you might need.
If you use an online dictionary, an app or PDFs open them before your class starts.
3 Settle into a quiet spot
Maybe you can study in a noisy place. However, most students can’t focus and pay attention to the class if the virtual classroom is noisy.
Stay on mute. Keeping your mic off lessens distractions. Background noise can be annoying and make it difficult to understand what people are saying.
Pro tip: If you are in a noisy place, use a noise-canceling headset to eliminate background noise. You can also activate a noise suppression filter. Most video call platforms such as Zoom, Teams, Skype, etc have the option to activate a noise suppression filter.
How to activate a noise suppression filter on Zoom
If the noise suppression filter is not enough you can use a noise cancelling software to remove noise.
Krisp is a FREE software that you can use with any communication app.
Having your camera on creates a more personal class atmosphere.
When we communicate orally with other people we use our voice, body gestures and facial expressions. Camera use allows your teacher and your classmates understand you better. So they can sense how you feel and give you feedback to improve communication.
5 Participate and be helpful
Class participation is super important if you want to learn faster. Also, your classes will have more fun and you will feel more energetic if you participate during class. If you are a shy person or don’t know how to participate during your online classes, check the following article:
Practice Time
Watch the following video to learn more vocabulary to talk about advantages and disadvantages
Practice time
Wishing you and your family health, happiness, peace and prosperity this Christmas and in the coming New Year.
Practice time
Christmas came earlier this year
Good things come in small packages
The more the merrier
Christmas comes but once a year
All my Christmases have come at once
Like turkeys voting for Christmas
Why?
Because…
