F.Y.

Irregular Plurals
Some common nouns have irregular plurals. (child- children, man-men, mouse-mice)
Some nouns that end in `-s' are uncount nouns, for example `athletics' and `physics'
(e.g. mathematics, physics, athletics, gymnastics, cards, darts, measles, mumps)

Plural Nouns
Some nouns are used in particular meanings in the plural with or without determiners, like count nouns,
but are not used in the singular with that meaning. They are often called `plural nouns'. (e.g. clothes,
troops, authorities, sights, riches, refreshments, expenses)
**NOTE: Police is a plural noun, but does not end in s.
Some plural nouns refer to single items that have two linked parts. They refer to tools that people use or
things that people wear. You san use a pair of to make it clear you are talking about one item, or a
number with pairs of when you are talking about several items.
binoculars glasses trousers pincers jeans pliers
knickers scales pants / shorts scissors pyjamas
shears tweezers tights

Collective Nouns
With some nouns that refer to a group of people or things, the same form can be used with singular or
plural verbs, because you can think of the group as a unit or as individuals. Similarly, you can use singular
or plural pronouns to refer back to them. These nouns are often called `collective nouns'. (e.g. army,
audience, committee, company, crew, data, enemy, family, flock, gang, government, group, herd, media,
navy, press, public, staff, team)

Uncount Nouns
* Uncount nouns have only one form, they do not have a plural form, and take a singular verb.
(e.g. advice, baggage, equipment, furniture, homework, information, knowledge, luggage,
machinery, money, news, traffic, electricity, food)
* They are not used with `a', or with numbers. However, you can often refer to a quantity of something
which is expressed by an uncount noun, by using a word like `some'.
(e.g. some bread, some advice)
* Some nouns can be both uncount nouns and count nouns (when they refer to quantities of the food or
drink e.g. two coffees).

General Determiners for Count Nouns

* for singular count nouns, USE:
(a, an, another, any, each, either, every, neither, no)
(e.g. a postcard, an apple, another shop)
* for plural count nouns, USE:
(all, enough, many, no, some, any, few, more, other, both, fewer, most, several)
(e.g. few doctors, many languages, several projects)

Indefinite Pronouns
* Refers to people or things without saying exactly who or what they are
(e.g. anybody, everybody, nobody, somebody, anyone, everyone, no one, someone, anything,
everything, nothing, something)
* When an indefinite pronoun is the subject, it always takes a singular verb.
(Everyone knows that. Everything was fine.)
* You often use a plural pronoun to refer back to an indefinite pronoun.
(Ask anyone. Theyll they you. Has everyone eaten as much as they want?
You cant tell somebody why theyve (or why he or she has if prefer singular) failed.)

Singular Plural Singular or plural

another everybody someone no one both all some
anyone nobody anybody one few any
each nothing anything somebody many more
everyone other either/neither something others most
everything much little several none
Nouns followed by a particular preposition:

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* nouns followed by `to' : alternative, answer, approach, attitude, introduction, invitation, reaction,
reference, resistance, return
This was my first real introduction to Africa.
* nouns followed by `for': admiration, desire, dislike, need, reason, respect, responsibility, search,
substitute, taste, thirst
Their need for money is growing fast.
* nouns followed by `on': agreement, attack, comment, effect, tax
She had a dreadful effect on me.
* nouns followed by `with' or `between': connection, contact, link, relationship
His illness had some connection with his diet.
* nouns followed by `in': decrease, difficulty, fall, increase, rise
They demanded a large increase in wages.

Demonstrative Determiners
You use this and these to point to people or things near you.
You use that and those to point to people or things that are farther from you.
You use this and that before singular nouns.
You use these and those before plural nouns.

Verb Tenses
The simple present tense expresses a general truth or facts (e.g. The sun rises every morning) or a
customary action. (e.g. reads, lives, bakes). If the action happens regularly, sometimes or never, or if
youre talking about the general present, use the simple present tense. Use the simple present tense also
to talk about things that are planned for the future (e.g The bus leaves in ten minutes.)
If you are talking about something in the present situation, you use the present continuous. The present
continuous is often used to refer to a temporary situation. You use the present continuous for actions which
continue to happen before and after the moment of speaking. (Im cooking the dinner. Hes playing tennis
at the university)

You use the past perfect and past perfect continuous tenses when you are talking about the past and
you are concerned with something which happened at an earlier time, or which had started at an earlier
time but was still continuing.
I had heard it was a good film so we decided to go and see it. (past perfect cont)
It was getting late. I had been waiting there since two o'clock. (present perfect cont)

When do you use the present progressive tense? To talk about actions in the present, or things that are
still going on or happening now or continuing to happen. (e.g. I am eating my lunch) (e.g. is knitting, is
writing, are swimming). Use the present progressive tense to talk about things you have planned to do, or
things that are going to happen in the future. (We are having a barbeque on Sunday) To form the present
progressive tense, use am, is and are as helping verbs or auxiliary verbs.

Use the present perfect tense to talk about happenings in the past that explain or affect the present.
The verbs have and has are used as helping or auxiliary verbs to form the present perfect tense. To
form the present perfect tense join have or has to the past participle of the verb: have + past
participle; has + past participle. (e.g. has lost, have found, has made). The past participle of a regular
verb usually ends in -ed, just like the simple past tense. But the past participles of irregular verbs dont
follow this rule.
**All the present tenses are used to refer to a time which includes the present.

Use the simple past tense to talk about things that happened in the past. The simple past tense is also
used to talk about things that happened in stories. (e.g. bought, learned, drove).
NOTE: Words that base form and simple past is the same: beat, burst, cost, cut, hit, hurt, put, read,
split, shut.
WARNING: If two things happened one after another, you use two verbs in the past simple tense. (e.g. As
soon as he saw me, he waved.)

Use the past progressive tense to talk about actions that were going on at a certain moment in the
past; things that were happening in the past and had not stopped happening. They were continuing. (e.g.
was cleaning, was cooking, were fighting).

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Use the past perfect tense (had + past participle of the verb) to indicate an action completed in the past
before another action completed in the past (e.g. After I had called you ten times, I asked the operator to
check your number.) (e.g. He had been sober for a year when the accident happened.)

Use the future tense for things that have not happened yet, but are going to happen. Use the verbs shall
and will as helping verbs or auxiliary verbs to form the future tense.
There are other ways of talking about future actions and happenings. You can use going to.
If the subject of a verb is a plural noun, such as Mom and Dad or our teachers, use a plural
verb. Do not add s, es or ies to plural verbs. Plural verbs are also used with the pronouns I, we, you
and they. (e.g. Mom and Dad love us.)

Use the future perfect tense (will have + past participle of the verb) for action that will be completed in
the future before another future action. (e.g. By next week, I will have called you more than a hundred
times. He will have been sober for a year by the time his daughter arrives.)

NOTE: Choice of tense.

Esther worked at the department store for a year. (past tense, completed action, Esther no
longer works at the department store.)
Esther has worked at the department store for a year. (present perfect, past action is continuing
in the present. Esther still works at the department store.)
Esther had worked at the department store for a year. (past perfect, something else happened
after Esthers year. Esther had worked at the department store for a year when she was asked to
take over sporting goods.)

Tense Use Example

Simple past Completed action We finished the tofu.
Completed condition We were sad; no more tofu.
Present perfect Completed action We have finished the torn.
Completed condition We have been sad.
Continuing action We have burped for hours.
Continuing condition I have been here for days.
Past perfect Action completed before another I had eaten all the tofu before you
returned.
Condition completed before another I had been sad before the new tofu
arrived.
Past progressive Continuous completed action I was snoring that week.
Present perfect progressive Action going into present I have been snoring all week.
Past perfect progressive Continuing action interrupted by another I had been snoring when the
house collapsed.

Simple future Future action The sponge will dry.

Future condition I will be happy when it does.
Future perfect Future action done before another By the time you read this,
the sponge will be dry.
Future condition done before another The sponge will have been on the
window for a week.
Future progressive Continuing future action They will be buying sponges this
week.
Future perfect progressive Continuing future action done before another When we lunch next
week, I will have been
pumping iron for at least a week

Have/ Has
Use has with he, she, it, and with singular nouns. Use have with I, you, we, they, and with plural
nouns.

Was/Were
The verbs was and were are also forms of the verb be. Was is the simple past tense of am and is. Use
as with the pronouns I, he, she and it, and with singular nouns.

May/Might

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Use may to ask if you are allowed to do something, or to give someone permission to do something.
May is also used to talk about things that are likely to happen.
Was is the simple past form of am and is. Use was with singular nouns like my dad and the teacher,
and with the pronouns he, she and it. Were is the simple past form of are. Use were with plural nouns
like my parents and Jenny and Mary, and with the pronouns we, you and they.
Might is used as the past tense of may. (I knew my teacher might find out.)

Subject-Verb Agreement
Singular noun, singular verb. (e.g. The earth moves round the sun.) Plural noun, plural verb. (e.g.
The children are playing on the swing.) Some plural nouns, such as people, cattle, police, dont end
with -s. Always use a plural verb with these nouns.
Collective nouns may be used with either singular or plural verbs. (e.g. a family, a crew, a team, a
club, a community, a committee, a choir, a company, a band, a gang, an orchestra, the government, an
audience, the army, panel, platoon, class, crowd) If the group members are all acting together as one, use
a singular verb. If the members of the group are acting as individuals, use a plural verb.
Singular
That family has moved to Texas.
The team is coached by Mr. Clark.
Plural
The family were giving their opinions.
The team are sharing new ideas.

Uses of Comma
Use a comma between nouns and noun phrases in a list. (e.g. I bought two apples, three oranges and
some grapes.)
Use commas between adjectives when you use several of them to describe something. (e.g. A giraffe is a
tall, long-necked, long-legged animal.)
Use a comma after yes and no, and before please in sentences. (Yes, I do. Tell me, please.) You also use a
comma before or after the name of the person you are speaking to. (Hi, Jenny. Don, hello).

Indefinite Pronouns
An indefinite pronoun does not refer directly to any other word. Most indefinite pronouns express the idea
of quantity. (e.g. all, each, most, other, another, either, neither, several, any, everybody, nobody, some,
anybody, everyone, none, somebody, anyone, few, no one, someone, both, many, one, such)

Quantifying Determiners
Some quantifying determiners are used only with plural nouns. They are few, a few, fewer, many, several
and both. (e.g. Few people have been to the moon.)
Some quantifying determiners can only be used with singular nouns. They are another, every and each.
(e.g. Another one bites the dust. Every body loves Raymond.)

Who/Whom
At the beginning of a question, use who if the question is about the subject or whom if the question is
about the object.
Use who or whoever when the pronoun is the subject of a verb. (I wonder who thought up that bright idea.)
Use who or whoever when the pronoun is the predicate nominative. (The winner was who? No one knew
who the loser was)
Use whom or whomever when the pronoun is the direct object of a verb or the object of a preposition.
Whom did he marry this time?
Of course, he can marry whomever he wants (as long as it's not me).
With whom were you dancing at his wedding?

Wh'-questions
* You use `who', `whom', and `whose' to ask about people, and `which' to ask about people or things.
Who discovered this?
In formal English, `whom' is used as the object of a verb or preposition. The preposition always comes in
front of `whom'.
Whom did you see?
For whom were they supposed to do it?

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You use `whose' to ask which person something belongs to or is related to. `Whose' can be the subject or
the object.
Whose is nearer?
Whose did you prefer, hers or mine?

* You use `what' to ask about things, or to ask about one person or thing, out of a number of people or
things. `Which' can be the subject or object.
Which is your son?
Which does she want?

and `whatfor' to ask about reasons and purposes.

What are you going there for?
What are those lights for?

* You use `how' to ask about the way something happens or is done, also used with adjectives (such as
big, old, far to ask about size, age, and distance; with adverbs such as long and often to ask about time,
or well to ask about abilities; with many and much to ask about the number or amount of something.

* You use `when' to ask about times, `why' to ask about reasons, and `where' to ask about places and
directions.

Question tags: forms

* You add a question tag to a statement to turn it into a question.
* A question tag consists of a verb and a pronoun. The verb in a question tag is always an auxiliary, a
modal, or a form of the main verb `be'.
* With a positive statement, you usually use a negative question tag containing a short form ending in `-
n't'.
* With a negative statement, you always use a positive question tag.
He's very friendly, isn't he? (is, isnt)
You haven't seen it before, have you? (havent, have)
She made a remarkable recovery, didn't she? (made did make, didnt)
You like it here, don't you? (like-do like, dont)
You didn't know I was an artist, did you? (didnt, did)
They were really rude, weren't they? (were, werent)

Note that the negative question tag with `I' is `aren't'. (I'm a fool, aren't I?)

Neither/Nor
The only negative words that are often used together in the same clause are `neither' and `nor'. You use
`neither' and `nor' together to say that two alternatives are not possible, not likely, or not true.
Neither Margaret nor John was there.
They had neither food nor money.

Both, Either, Neither

You use `both', `either', and `neither' when you are saying something about two people or things that have
been mentioned, or are known to the person you are talking to.
* You use `both' when you think of the two people or things as a group. You use `both' with a plural noun.
Both children were happy with their presents.
Both policies make good sense.
Both I and my wife were surprised to see you there.
* You use `either' when you think of the two people or things as individuals. You use `either' with a singular
noun.
Either way is acceptable.
She could not see either man.
* You use `neither' when you are thinking of the two people or things as individuals and you are making a
negative statement about them. You use `neither' with a singular noun.
In reality, neither party was enthusiastic.
Neither man knew what he was doing.
* You can use `both' with a specific determiner such as `the', `these', or `my'.
Both the young men agreed to come.
Both these books have been recommended to us.

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 Both her parents were dead.

Quantity
* You use `much' and `little' with uncount nouns to talk about a quantity of something. Use it only with
uncount nouns.
I haven't got much time.
We've made little progress.
* You use `many' and `few' with plural nouns to talk about a number of people or things. Only with plural
count nouns. Many for large number; Few for a small number.
He wrote many novels.
There were few visitors to our house.
* You use `much' in negative sentences and questions (He did not speak much English.) and `a lot of' or
`plenty of' rather than `much' in affirmative sentences and can be used with both uncount nouns and
plural nouns. (I make a lot of mistakes. They spent lots of time on the project. Ive got plenty of money.
There are always plenty of jobs to be done.)
* You use `more' and `less' with uncount nouns (less energy, more harm, more hours, less access)
* You can use `more' and `fewer' with plural count nouns (fewer trees, less computers)

Fewer/Less
If something can be counted, use fewer (fewer cars, fewer letters)
Otherwise, use less (less time, less pain)

Each/Every
You use `each' or `every' with a singular noun to talk about all the members of a group of people or things.
You use `each' when you are thinking about the members as individuals, and `every' when you are making
a general statement about all of them.
Each county is subdivided into several districts.
Each applicant has five choices.
Every child would have milk every day.
She spoke to every person at that party.
You can modify `every' but not `each'.
He spoke to them nearly every day.
We went out almost every evening.

Order of Descriptive Adjectives

You can use adjectives to describe various qualities of people or things. For example, you might want to
indicate their size, their shape, or the country they come from. Descriptive adjectives belong to six main
types, but you are unlikely ever to use all six types in the same noun group. If you did, you would normally
put them in the following order: (SASh-CNM)
Size Age Shape Colour Nationality Material
(e.g. a shape adjective and a colour adjective both used: He had round black eyes.)
(e.g. small black plastic bag, large round wooden table)

If you used two or more adjectives in front of a noun, put the adjective that expresses your opinion before
the adjective that just describes it. (e.g. beautiful pink dress, nice big house)

Asas
You use `as...as...' to compare people or things that are similar in some way. You use `as' and an adjective
or adverb, followed by `as' and a noun group, an adverbial, or a clause.
You're as bad as your sister.
The airport was as crowded as ever.
I am as good as she is.
You can make a negative comparison using `not as...as...' or `not so...as...'.
The food wasn't as good as yesterday.
They are not as clever as they appear to be.
In a negative comparison, you can use `not nearly' or `not quite' before `as...as...'.
This is not nearly as complicated as it sounds.
The hotel was not quite as good as they expected.
When you want to say that one thing is very similar to something else, you can use `the same as' followed
by a noun group, an adverbial, or a clause.
Your bag is the same as mine.

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 I said the same as always.
She looked the same as she did yesterday.

Adverbs
* Adverbials of manner, place, and time are used to say how, where, or when something happens.
* Adverbials usually come after the verb, or after the object if there is one.
* The usual order of adverbials is manner, then place (e.g. at the village, in the car), then time (e.g.
yesterday, now, last night, next week, at breakfast, at night, at 3:00).

NOTE: Use of the adverb of time ago: You use it with the past simple to say how long before the time of
speaking something happened. You always put `ago' after the period of time. (e.g. We saw him about a
month ago.)
WARNING: You do not use `ago' with the present perfect tense. You cannot say `We have gone to
Spain two years ago'.
* Other adverbs frequency (e.g. often, always, sometimes, usually), probability (e.g. perhaps, probably,
really), duration (e.g. still, yet, already, any more), degree (e.g. badly, greatly, strongly), place and
direction (e.g. above, below, towards, through)

Usually ending in ly (manner)

Sit there quietly.
They looked anxiously at each other.
She sang beautifully. (not beautiful)
They sat quite happily in the car. (not happy)
NOTE: You do not use adverbs after link verbs such as `be', `become', `feel', `get', `look', and `seem'. You
use an adjective after these verbs. For example, you do not say `Sue felt happily'. You say `Sue felt happy'.
Or Sue looks beautiful not beautifully
*other adverbs of manner not ending in ly (e.g. fast, hard, good, well)

In/At
You use `at' when you are thinking of a place as a point in space, with public places and institutions. (e.g.
at home, at the airport, at Joys house, at the bus stop, at the office)
You use in when you are talking about a place as an area. Use in with a country or geographical region
(in Spain), a city, town or village (in London), a building when you are talking about people or things inside
it (in the restaurant, in the office).
When talking about addresses, you use `at' when you give the house number, and `in' when you just give
the name of the street.
They used to live at 5, Weston Road.
She got a job in Oxford Street. (American English uses on)

On foot/ by foot
If you want to say you walk somewhere, you say you go `on foot'. You do not say `by foot'.
Elizabeth Bennett decided to continue on foot.

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 TIME LOCATION
Centuries (the 1800s) General (Bigger) Country (Philippines)
Decades (the 80s) City (London)
Years (1970, 1990)
Months (July, May)
Weeks (2 weeks)
IN Neighborhood (Chinatown)

The morning, the evening, the

afternoon
Days (May 7th, 1964) More Specific Streets (Oxford Street)
of the week (Monday, Tuesday) (Smaller) Avenues (The Corner)
with month and day (March 31st)
days of the month (the 19th) ON
My birthday
Weekend (The weekend)
Holidays with day (Christmas
Day)
Hours (7AM, 12:00, 5PM) Very Specific Address (734 Oxford
Holidays without day (Christmas, (Smallest) Street)
Easter) AT Specific Location (the
Time (noon, midnight, night) store, the mall)

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