Author: topshelfboss

Past Simple

Post author By topshelfboss
Post date

Past Simple

Form

The past simple (simple past) verb tense is made up of a subject and the past form of the main verb of the sentence. It looks like this:

Subject	Past Form
I/you/he/she/it/we/they	walked

To make the sentence negative, add did not between the subject and the verb and remove the ed from the main verb.

To make a yes/no question, put did at the beginning of the sentence (before before the subject) and change the form of the main verb to the base form (e.g. in the table above, walked becomes walk. We do this because the did is what shows that this sentence is in the past. ESL learners often forget to change the verb, so be careful!

To make a WH question, first make a yes/no question, then add the question word at the beginning of the sentence. Add a question mark at the end.

Function

The past simple is used:

to tell about actions that were in progress when they were interrupted by another action.
when two actions were happening at the same time.
when an action was happening at a specific time in the past.

For more information and some practice exercises, look to the top of this page.

Hello! This video is about the past simple. Some people call it the simple past, mostly in North America, but when I learned it, I learned past simple, so that’s what I’m going to call it. It doesn’t matter; it’s the same thing. First we’re going to take a look at the form, which is how to make the past simple, and then we’re going to look at the function, which is how to use it. We’re going to spend a lot of time talking about the form, but actually, the function – how to use the past simple – is what matters more. At the end of this video, I have a quiz for you, so make sure you stick around for that. Let’s get started. All right, let’s start by looking at the form of the past simple. Now we’re going to start by looking at regular verbs. Well most verbs simply take an ED, but that’s not the only choice; sometimes there’s just a D and sometimes there’s an I-E-D. So we’ll take a look at some examples for each of these possibilities. So when the word ends in an E we don’t add an E-D, we just need to add a D, so bake becomes baked, smile becomes smiled, free – which might look a little bit different because there’s two E’s – doesn’t matter, we just add a D. When words end with Y, we have to change things a little bit. The Y becomes an I and then we add E-D, so try becomes tried, cry becomes cried, and bury – or bury – becomes buried or buried. You can say that word both ways. Most people have one way they like to say it, and they will tell you that anything else is wrong. No, it’s not; there are two perfectly acceptable ways to say that word. Anyway, let’s keep moving. So, what about everything else? Well, easy we just add E-D. Laugh becomes laughed, fill becomes filled, boil becomes boiled. Easy, right? Not so fast. There’s actually a few other things to think about. When there’s a short vowel and then a consonant, we have to double the final consonant, so tap we see T-A-P, that A is a short A – a – and then there’s a P, so we have to double the P. So. tapped. If we don’t double the P, if we just add E-D, then it becomes “taped” so that’s why we have to do it. Beg becomes begged, rub becomes rubbed. Okay, so are we finished now? No, remember these are only the regular verbs. Let’s take a look at some irregular verbs. There are a few categories of irregular verbs and once you know the categories, it doesn’t seem so complicated; there’s less to remember. So the easiest one is there simply no change, so beat becomes beat. We beat to the drum every Wednesday. That’s the present simple. He beat the drum last Wednesday. That’s the past simple. Change the middle vowel. Become changes to became, begin changes to began, and choose changes to chose. This is one that a lot of people learning English have trouble with, so if the verb you are trying to change – I’m sorry – if the verb that you are using is this type of irregular, remember to change the vowel, and again, it’s in the middle of the word, This last one that we looked at here, this choose and chose, this is something that even native speakers have trouble with, which I don’t understand – it’s not that complicated! Anyway, let’s keep going. Sometimes it’s just completely different. So am, is, our becomes was or were and have or has becomes had. Okay, let’s look at some positive sentences. So positive sentences, or affirmative sentences, we make like this. We have the subject: I, you, he, she, it, we, they, and then we put the verb in the past. So baked, filled, cried. Negative sentences… we do something to the verb, so the verb changes and what was here – that E-D – it moves, and it goes over here to this auxiliary verb. So baked, when we have a negative, is did not bake, and of course also don’t forget to put the negation marker, the “not” okay? All right and one other thing that we can do here, is we can make a contraction, so did not gets put together into one word: didn’t. One thing that people sometimes have trouble with is where to put the apostrophe and it goes between the N and the T. You can think of it as the O changing to an apostrophe; sometimes people put that in the wrong spot. So now for yes/no questions. We add “did” now I probably – well, not probably – I definitely should have put this as a capital D because it’s the beginning of the sentence, but it’s just you and me, so we understand what I meant. So did you bake did she cry etc etc. WH questions: it’s the same thing, except we add the question word to the beginning. So, where did you fill? What did you bake? Okay? So that’s the form; we will now look at the function, which is how to use the past simple. We use the past simple for events that happened, and that are completed – that finished – in the past, so if I’m going to make a diagram like this, this is where things happen in the past simple: before now, okay? So we see over here is past, so before now, and they’re over. I’ll just move that out of the way. Take a look at some examples. I opened my birthday presents. We arrived. They ate the eggs. Now in none of these sentences do I say when it is. What people will understand that these actions are completely over. Now to make it a little bit clearer, I can add a second part here. I opened my birthday presents this morning. This morning is now over. We arrived last night. Last night is obviously over. They ate the eggs yesterday. Yesterday is also obviously over. So again, we use the past simple for actions that are in the past and that finished in the past. I will bring this back and we’ll take a look here. We also use the past simple – this is important – to tell stories in this direction. In other words, that are going forward through time. There is a way in English to go backwards through time, but that is not with the past simple, and we’ll see that later. Okay, I have some questions I would like you to look at, and I want you to tell me if these sentences are correct or not, and then I want you to tell me why. Just before I bring the questions up, I want to remind you that we are looking at these sentences in the context of the past simple, so please remember that. Okay, take a look at these, pause the video, and decide if these are correct or incorrect, and if they are incorrect, why? What needs to change? Okay, pause the video now. Okay, let’s go through the answers. So if we look down the left side, you can see that some are correct, some are not correct, and then number three is a little bit confusing, but we’ll talk about that. So let’s start first of all number one: She walk in the forest sometimes. Again, we are looking at this in the context of the past simple, so in the past simple, She walk? No, she walked. Number two: We liked to eat a lot… and we still do – I do anyway! That’s correct, so we can leave that. Number three. This might be a little bit confusing, because it’s marked both correct and incorrect. So, it is correct. Maybe it would be better to say it’s not wrong – He did drink water – I can say that in English, and I haven’t talked about that until now. You may have heard something like that. It is correct. I can say He did drink water, but I would not normally say that. I would normally say drink is an irregular verb – changes the vowel in the middle – I would normally say he drank water. Well, when do I say he did drink water? I could say he did drink water when I want to emphasize the fact that it happened. So I would say, He did drink water! So we could say, for example, you know: Oh! He’s too dehydrated; he just needs to to drink some water. He did drink water! He’s not dehydrated; he’s sick! Okay? So it’s not wrong, but it’s also not the best answer, unless you have a specific reason for making your sentence look like that. Jean is taller than Frank. Well, it’s a good sentence, but not in the past simple, and this is one of the things that people do: they mean the past, but they write in the present, so don’t do that! Jean was taller than Frank. Tom and Jim walked to school together. No problem. My brothers don’t like football. Again, this is like number four; it’s a correct sentence: My brothers don’t like football – but it’s in the wrong tense. We want these sentences to be in the past simple, not the present simple. Number seven is the wrong verb form. They had fun. Number eight is the wrong verb altogether. Those hamburgers are – I’m sorry those hamburgers were good. All right, what about number nine? Well, I’ve learned from number three, so I know that this is okay. It might not be the best way, but I know that it’s okay. No, it’s not, because this is also here, so now I have two different pieces of grammar here, two different signs, that this is in the past simple, and I can’t do that. One or the other, okay. Both? No. So, learned would be the normal way of writing that. Did learn, okay, but only if you have a special reason. And number 10: The book was interesting. That was correct. Okay, so how did you do? If you’d like some more practice, take a look below the video. I’ve prepared some other exercises for you. That’s all for today. Thank you very much!

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Grammar Verb Tenses

Present Perfect

Post author By topshelfboss
Post date

Present Perfect

Form

The present perfect verb tense is made up of a subject, an auxiliary verb form of have, and the past participle of the main verb of the sentence. It looks like this:

Subject	Auxiliary Verb	Past Form
I/you/we/they	have	walked
he/she/it	has	built

To make the sentence negative, add not between the auxiliary verb and the main verb.

To make a yes/no question, put the auxiliary verb at the beginning of the sentence (before before the subject), then add a question mark.

To make a WH question, first make a yes/no question, then add the question word at the beginning of the sentence. Add a question mark at the end.

Function

The present perfect is used:

an action that happened in the past, and the result of that action can be seen now.
an action or state that started in the past, and that is still true, or still important, now.
an action that happened at some time in the past, but either we don’t know when, or it doesn’t matter.

For more information and some practice exercises, look to the top of this page.

Hello! This video is about the present perfect. We’re going to start by looking at the form, which is how to make the present perfect, and then we will look at the function, which is how to use it. After that, there’s a short quiz, so make sure you stay to the end of the video. Let’s get started. All right, the form – how to make the present perfect. So for a positive sentence, or affirmative sentence, we have the subject, we have the auxiliary verb – have or has – so it’s have for every person except for he, she, and it, or where have has, and then the past participle: Built. For negative, it’s just the same, except we obviously have to add negation. Now one of the things we like to do in English, is make contractions, to make shorter forms. So, I can do this: I haven’t built. She hasn’t walked, okay? For yes/no questions, again I start at the beginning, and then all I do is, I move the auxiliary verb to the front, and the subject to after. Now, because this is the beginning of the sentence, really, I should have capital letters here, but I don’t. I hope you forgive me. One more type of question to look at and that’s WH questions. Once again, I start with a basic positive sentence. I move the auxiliary verb to the front, and then, at the very front, I now add the question word, okay? So that’s how to make the present perfect – not very complicated. There’s not very much to understand – just remember it and then do it. Okay, let’s look now at the function – how to use the present perfect. The present perfect is a present tense that feels like a past tense, and the reason it feels like a past tense is because it connects the past to the present. There are three main uses and we’re going to look at these one, two, three, but it’s important to understand that sometimes you know, is this use number one or is this use number two or number three? Sometimes it would be hard to say saying if it’s number one or number two or number three. [It] doesn’t matter very much. What matters is are you using the right tense at the right time? Okay, let’s take a look. First of all, the present perfect is used for an action that happened in the past, and the result of that action can be seen now. So the … The visitors have arrived. They’re here now. The shops have opened. Now we can go shopping. I’ve made breakfast. It’s on the table, let’s eat! So, these actions happened in the past, but they are connected to the present. So again, they happen in the past but the result of that action can be seen now. Next, we use the present perfect for an action or state that started in the past and that is still true or still important now. He’s been sick for two days. Now, by choosing to use this verb tense, I’m saying yeah two days ago he got sick, but I am also saying he is still sick now. Now, I don’t say that but, but I am. Every native speaker would understand that he is still sick now. She’s started a new business. So, her business is open now. So she started, you know, we don’t know when, maybe it was five years ago ,maybe it was last week, we don’t know, that doesn’t matter, but the point is the business is open now. Remember, it connects the past to the present. One more example: We’ve become vegetarian. And the key, what we’re saying here, is we don’t eat meat now. So these days, in the present, we don’t eat meat. Another way to use the present perfect is for an action that happened at some time in the past, but either we don’t know when, or it doesn’t matter, it’s just not important. Let’s look at some examples: I’ve visited in France three times. When? It doesn’t matter – that’s not what I’m saying, that’s not what I’m talking about. All I’m saying is I’ve visited France three times in my life. So yes, I’ve been there, I know what the country is like. They’ve climbed that mountain. When? That’s the wrong question to ask, That’s not the point. The point is that they have been to the top of that mountain at some time. He’s got, or gotten, heavier. Well that means he weighs more now than he did in the past. Just by the way the reason, I wrote this like this in North America, we use the the older form. Very often, we say gotten. In the UK, that sounds very old-fashioned, and very often they will laugh at you or… I don’t know, sometimes they make sure that you see that they are laughing at to you, and sometimes they try to hide it, but whatever. In the UK, they don’t use that. In the UK, they would just say he’s got heavier, so it depends where you are as to what the correct form is, okay? Let’s look at some common uses of the present perfect. We often use the present perfect with since or for. This is actually kind of a lesson within a lesson because people often confuse these words. We say since when we’re talking about a specific time and we use for for an amount of time. So let’s look at an example: Richard moved to London and 2015. Speaking in 2018, he can say either I’ve lived here since 2015. Okay, so since a specific time, or he can say for for an amount of time. He can say I’ve lived here for three years. Something else that we often use with the present perfect is the word yet. Yet is often used with the present perfect, especially in questions and negatives, and what’s important is what it means, but doesn’t always directly say; it shows that the speaker is expecting something to happen. Have you heard the news? Have you heard the news yet? Now, I don’t have to have that yet there, but I will often put it there. I haven’t called him yet. Okay? And by saying yet, I’m saying I will, but it just hasn’t happened at this time. Just is also commonly used with the present perfect. Just is used to focus on something that has happened very recently. Are you hungry? I’ve just baked a cake. Well that’s handy! Mary isn’t here. She’s just left. She was here five minutes ago, but now she’s gone. Here’s some bad advice. Some, now, this is what some students have told me that their teachers have said. Some teachers say that the present perfect is used for actions in the recent past. Well, that can be true, but that’s not a good way to think of it. The present perfect can be used to describe recent actions, but that is not why that verb tense is used. How far back in time an action is does not decide what tense we use. We choose which tense to use based on how the situation we’re talking about fits with other actions or other events, okay? So it depends how we’re thinking about the situation, not how long ago it happened. Okay? So let’s look at some examples of this: The visitors have arrived. They probably arrived just a few minutes ago, so this is the reason past, that’s fine, but the important thing is that they’re here now, not when they got here. Now, look at this one. I’ve graduated from university twice. One of these graduations was obviously further in the past and the other, but the focus is on what I’ve done, not when I did it, okay? So it’s not about the recent past, it’s about its connection to the present. As soon as an action is placed in time, so I see yesterday, last week, 20 years ago, we use the past simple, not the present perfect. The visitors arrived five minutes ago. They climbed that mountain in 1992. I made breakfast last week. Okay? So all of these – five minutes ago, nineteen ninety-two, last week ,they put these actions at a specific point in time, and because of that, I don’t use the present perfect anymore… unless that time is unfinished! I’ve had two cookies today, but today isn’t over… I might have some more. We’ve watched two movies this week. Again, I would understand – if somebody used this verb tense to talk about this situation – I would understand that this week isn’t over yet and that we may watch some more movies. They’ve made a million dollars this year. Again, I understand that there’s the possibility of making more money this year. This year is not over. Okay, I have some questions here, or some, some sentences. I’d like you to take a look at them and then decide if they are correct or not, and then more importantly, why. So here are the sentences. Take a few moments, look at them, and then I’ll come back and we’ll talk about the answers. Pause the video now. Okay, so how do you think you did? Let’s take a look. Okay, so some of them are correct, some of them aren’t. Let’s go through one by one. Number one is easy – no problem. I have read that book. When? Doesn’t matter! I’m just saying that I know what happens in it. Okay, number two: We’ve just walk to the store. No, we’ve just walked to the store. Number three, again, is okay: He has eating hot dogs. Number f… oops! Number four: They visited France in 2016. Well there’s two different ways to fix this. I could take out the “in 2016” part because there I put it in time, or I could take out the “have” which is what makes it the present perfect instead of the past simple. So there’s actually two different ways to fix this. Here, I just wrote “not in 2016,” so this is one way of fixing it, but it’s not the only way. If I changed this, though, I now don’t have a sentence in the present perfect, which is what this video is about, so that’s why I chose to say that, that this was, this was the right answer. Number five: I am walked to the store. No; I have walked to the store. Another problem with our auxiliary verb. Number six: My brothers has started a business. No, not has; have. Number seven and number eight are both correct. Number nine: We have read that book last year. This is very similar to number one. The difference here, and the problem is that we have put it in time, so as soon as we put something in time, we can’t use the present perfect. okay? So again, we could say: I read last year… so take this away and make it the past simple, or I take away this part and just say I have read that book. Two different ways of fixing it. Number ten is correct. So, how did you do? If you’d like some more practice, look below. I’ve created some activities and some questions for you. That’s all for today. Thank you very much!

Tags present perfect

Grammar Verb Tenses

Present Simple

Post author By topshelfboss
Post date

Present Simple

Form

The present simple (simple present) verb tense is made up of a subject, an auxiliary verb form of have, and the past participle of the main verb of the sentence. It looks like this:

Subject	Base Form
I/you/we/they	walk
he/she/it	walks

To make the sentence negative, add do not between the subject and the main verb. For he, she and it, use does instead of do.

To make a yes/no question, put do at the beginning of the sentence (before before the subject). If your subject is he, she or it, use does instead of do, and remove the s from your main verb. (e.g. Does she walk?) Finally, add a question mark at the end of the sentence.

To make a WH question, first make a yes/no question, then add the question word at the beginning of the sentence. Add a question mark at the end.

Function

The present simple (simple present) is used:

for things that happen often, or that are always true.
things that are true for a long time.
facts and scientific truths.
scheduled events.

For more information about the present simple, as well as some practice exercises, look to the top of this page.

Hello! This video is about the present simple, or as some people call it, the simple present When I learned grammar, I learned the present simple, so that’s what I’m going to call it. It’s my video; I get to make the decision! First, we’re going to look at the form, which is how to make the present simple, and then we’re going to look at the function, which is how to use it. At the end of the video, there’s also a little quiz. So we’re going to look at these two things here – we’re to look at the form of the function. We’re probably going to spend more time looking at the form, but actually, what’s more important is the function – how to use the present simple. Let’s get started. So, first of all, we will look at positive sentences or, as we also can say, at affirmative sentences. So we start with the subject: I, you, we, they, and then he, she, and it are a little bit different. So we take the base form of the verb – the base form is the infinitive without to – and you’ll notice that for he, she, and it, there’s something that’s a little bit different. I add S’s to the end of those words, okay? We call this the third person S. So he and she and it have to have their S, and that’s whether it’s a positive sentence, or a question… whatever it is, there has to be an S there. When I was teaching in Germany, my students taught me a little rhyme that their teachers taught them and today I’m going to teach you. “He she it, das s muss mit!” He, she, it the S must go with it, okay? So he, she, it das s muss mit; if there’s he, she, or it, there has to be an S in the present simple. Okay, I’ll remind you of that a few times as we go through. Let’s take a look at some example sentences. I walked to the store. He – which is obviously part of he she it – he walks to the store. You drink coffee every day. She drinks coffee every day. We start the tennis match at 7:30 It – the match – starts at 7:30. Now let’s take a look at negative sentences. So we start where we were before, with the subject and then the base form Notice I’ve got my S and I slide that over, and I have to add two things. I have to add an auxiliary verb, and I have to add a negation. So this is the easy part, so we’ll talk about this first. I obviously have to add this “not” to make the sentence negative. Now look over here. For I, you, we, they, I add “do” but for he, she, it I add the OES; I add “does.” Now if you take a look at this, there’s actually a little mistake on what I’m showing you right now. Can you find it? It’s over here. You see it now? I’ve left my S’s here, which, when I’m using the negative form, I can’t do, and the reason is because they’re over here instead. So, now that I fixed that, we’ll continue. He, she, it – I do still have to have my S but it goes on the auxiliary verb, and this is something that confuses people for a while when they are first learning English. It is what it is; it’s not going to change. Just do your best to remember. One other thing, and that is it sounds like “duz.” It doesn’t sound like do-is. Sometimes when students are first learning, they make that mistake. I understand why, but that’s not right. We say “does.” Okay, there’s one other thing that we could look at before we move on, and that is contractions. So, I can take the do not or the does not and I can combine them, and I end up with don’t or doesn’t. Notice I still have my S here; I still have my third person S. Okay, let’s go back to where we were a moment ago, and now we’re going to move to yes/no questions. So yes/no questions, all I do… well I take away the negation because it’s not a negative question. All I do is I change the auxilary verb and the subject. Now, because these are now at the beginning of a sentence, I really should have a capital D here and a capital D here, but I don’t so you will have to imagine. So, yes/no questions: Do you build? Does she walk” okay? Now there’s one other type of question, which is WH questions. From here, it’s very simple; all we do – at the beginning of the sentence – is we add our question word. Where do you build? Where does she walk? How do they talk? Okay? All right. so that’s the form; that’s the easy part. Here’s the more important part to the function, which is how to use the present simple. We use the present simple for habits, for things that happen often, or for things that are always true. I walk to work – that’s how I get there; I don’t take the bus, I don’t drive. I walk. Gina is my sister. Well, Gina has been my sister for a very, very long time. Gina will be my sister for a very, very long time. This is just something that, that, it just is the way it is okay? It’s always true. Or – and this is where people get confused a little bit – things that are true for a long time. He lives in London. So, he may have lived in London – he may have been born someplace else, but now he lives in London, and he’s been there for a long time and he will probably continue to live there for a long time. With the present simple, we’re not talking about kind of how something started or where it’s going to go in the future; we’re just saying that this is true now, okay? So he lives in London. If he’s visiting London – notice I said visiting ing – that’s a short time period, so we don’t use the present simple. We use the present simple for ideas that are true over a longer time. Another way we use the present simple is for facts, for scientific truths. The Sun rises in the east. It always has, it always will. Water freezes at zero degrees Celsius. Those are scientific facts; those are never going to change. I wrote “bonus” here; a lot of people don’t talk about this… we’re still using the present simple, but if you notice, we’re actually talking about the future. It’s… we can think of it as “this is a future fact” or “this is a fact about the future” so we can talk – sorry, we can use the present simple for scheduled events, okay? So it’s scheduled events; it hasn’t happened yet, but it is, again, a future fact. The plane arrives at 7 o’clock. The train leaves at 4:30. Those are both very specific times on the clock. Okay? Look at this net next one, though, it’s quite different. The party starts after the Sun goes down. It’s not a specific time on the clock, but we can still understand that as being a time in the future, okay? So we can use the present simple to talk about the future, when we’re talking about scheduled events. This is really important because this is where people make the most mistakes. So I’ve just talked about how we do use the present simple; now I’m going to talk about how we don’t use the present simple. We do not use the present simple for things that are happening right now. So if I have a sentence: I drink water. What that means is I drink water often; I drink water every day; if I made a diagram, it might look like this, okay? So in the past, drinking water, drinking water, drinking water. This is, this is now. In the future, I will continue to drink water, okay? So I’m saying this is a fact; this is how things are. If you’re a little bit confused, just hold on; it’ll be clear in a minute. Take a look at this it doesn’t have this meaning: If I say “I drink water” it does not mean “right now I am drinking water” that’s not what that means, okay? So I drink water means this is a habit; it doesn’t mean this is what I’m doing right now, and this is the most common problem, is that people want to use the present simple for what they are doing not for something that is true. Okay, I’ve written some sentences here. I’d like you to look at them and decide if they are correct or not, and, more importantly, why. Okay, so here are the sentences – and remember we are looking at them through the lens of the present simple. So, are these sentences correct in the present simple or not? Pause the video and I’ll come back in a moment and share the answers with you. Some of them are correct, some of them are not. The ones that aren’t, please tell me why. I’ll pause the video now and I’ll come back in a few moments. Okay, so how do you think you did? Let’s take a look. Here are the answers. So we can see that there are problems with most of these sentences. Let’s go through them one by one. She walk to the store. No, we forgot our he, she, it. He, she, it, das S muss mit, so she walks to the store. Number two is correct; there’s no problem there. Number three: He drinks water right now. Boy, I hope you got this one right because we just talked about this okay? Not right now; he is drinking water right now. He drinks water often, he drinks water every day, okay. If we’re talking about what he’s doing right now, we cannot use the present simple. You have to use the present continuous. Winter colder than summer. There is no Verb here. You would have to say “Winter is colder than summer.” Tom and Susan walks to school together. Now, depending on what your first language is, this might look completely correct. You might be kind of scratching your head right now wondering what the problem is. Well this S… I understand why people might put that there, but that S doesn’t belong because Tom and Susan is like “they” and it’s he, she, and it that gets the S, not they. So Tom and Susan is “they.” That s should not be there. Number six: My brothers likes football. Well, this is very similar. “They like” and, so we do not put this S here. Number seven: They has nice clothes. [A] problem with the verb again: They have nice clothes. Number eight: These pens is good. Well, these pens, that’s plural, so not “is” but “are.” And number nine: Ice is being cold. Well it’s not being cold; it’s not something that it’s doing, okay? So this is the problem here. Ice just is cold, okay? So not being cold; it doesn’t work in English. Number ten is correct: The light is bright. So, how did you do? If you’d like some more practice, look below the video. I’ve created some activities and practice for you.Tthat’s all for today. Thank you very much!

Tags present simple, simple present

Grammar Verb Tenses

All Future Verb Tenses

Post author By topshelfboss
Post date

Look below for information and practice will all English future verb tenses.

Future Simple

Forms and Functions

The future simple takes many forms, depending on how the speaker sees the situation. This table helps sort this out. (It’s explained more fully in the video above.)

Purpose/ Use	Going to	Will	Present Continuous	Present Simple
Vague plans or Intentions	X
Definite Plans			X
Decision at Time of Speaking		X
Offer of Help		X
Promise		X
Prediction Based on Knowledge/ Information/ Experience		X
Prediction Based on Current Observation	X
Scheduled Events				X

Future Continuous

Forms

Subject + will be or going to be + present participle (~ing form) of the main verb.

Function

The Future Continuous is used for events that will be in progress at some time in the future, and for continuous (“longer”) events in the future.

Future Perfect

Form

Subject + will have + past participle

Function

The Future Perfect is used to talk about a time or event that is in the future now, but that will be in the past at a time further in the future.

Future Perfect Continuous

Form

Subject + will have been + past participle

Function

The Future Perfect Continuous is used to talk about how long something will have been happening at a certain time in the future.

For more information about how to talk about the future in English, as well as some practice exercises, look to the top of this page.

Hello! This video is about the future in English. The first thing I’m going to say is maybe going to surprise you. There is no future tense in English. Let me explain. Let’s look at these verbs: begin, begin begun; draw, drew, drawn. I’ve changed the form of these verbs, but there’s no change that I can make to these verbs to make them refer to the future. So well then, how do we talk about the future in English? ecause we obviously do talk about it! Well, all we have to do is we have to add extra words. Well, okay, so you gave us a problem and then now you have solved the problem, so why are you doing this? I’ll tell you. Why does this matter? The future in English is messy. Rules for past and present verb tenses can be complicated, but there are fairly clear rules. Now, sometimes there’s overlapping rules, and we can we can do one thing or another and it doesn’t matter, but, so, that’s what I mean when I say it’s complicated, but talking about the future is less clear than talking about the present or the pas. That’s the bad news. The good news is that mistakes when talking about the future are much less serious. Even if you make a mistake, most people will understand what you’re trying to say. Where if you make a mistake with the past or the present, you can actually be saying something quite different from what you think you’re saying. In the future, that’s not usually such a problem. Okay, in this lesson we’re going to talk about these… now I just said there’s no verb tenses and and there aren’t, but we can still think of them as such; we can talk about the future simple, the future continuous, the future perfect, and the future perfect continuous. The way that we get there is a little bit different than we get there in past or present verb tenses, though. Okay, let’s get started. So generally, the future simple is used for events that are predicted or intended for the future. We choose the form of the future simple based on how we see the situation, so if we see the situation one way, we use one way to talk about the future; if we see the situation differently, we can use a different way to talk about the future. We’re going to look at going to, will, the present continuous, and the present simple. So to keep things straight, I’ve made this table for us. Now these are guidelines – they’re not absolute rules, so please remember that again if we use the the wrong form of the future, people will usually still understand, although it might take them a little bit of extra effort. Let’s take a look. So we’ll start at the top there where it says vague plans or intentions. Typically for vague plans or intentions, we would use going to. So, for example: uh… We’re going to visit my parents. Yeah, yeah, yeah, leave me alone, okay? I know. I’m going to fix the window. Notice there I use the short form gonna, instead of going to. No difference, no difference in meaning. He’s going to look for a solution. When? I don’t know but just relax; it’ll be fine. Okay? So vague plans or intentions. Definite plans, now this is the funny thing about the future, is that because it hasn’t happened yet, it could always change, but sometimes we make plans and they’re kind of yeah maybe, and other times we make plans and they’re much more sure. So for definite plans, or more definite plans, we typically use the present continuous. Let’s take a look. So for definite plans: We’re visiting my parents on Sunday. So you can see here – now i don’t have to add this on Sunday, but I did that in this example because it shows, well, it’s not some vague idea; we have a specific plan: We’re visiting my parents on Sunday. I’m fixing the window tonight. Now could I say I’m going to fix the window tonight? Yes, that wouldn’t be wrong, but typically this is what people would say. He’s flying to Phoenix next week. The sentence usually includes the specific time that the plan will happen. You know what? I’m not sure I like this word “usually.” Maybe I should have said “often” instead. Like I said, the future’s kind of a little bit strange. It’s, it’s hard to, uh, it’s hard to make rules that will always be true. Think of these as guidelines. Okay the next category is the decision at the time of speaking. So you weren’t – this isn’t a plan; this is a decision that’s made right now. Typically we would say will. So decision at time speaking I’ll finish this job tomorrow. Next, oh I’ll get the door. You weren’t sitting there… wait, wait, come back, come back, come back! That wasn’t really the doorbell; that was, that was, that was the video. You weren’t… Let’s just play pretend. You weren’t sitting there waiting for the doorbell to ring. The doorbell rang and you made a decision right away: I’ll get the door; I’ll answer the door is what that means. Are you hungry? I am. Yeah, I’ll call for pizza. So that wasn’t my plan a few moments ago, but since we’re both hungry, yeah, I’ll make a decision now, I’ll call for pizza. Next, an offer of help. We would also use will. So, I’ll carry your groceries for you. We’ll help find a solution. I’ll open the door for you. Okay? So I’ll help you in this way, I’m going to carry your groceries for you makes it sound like this is a definite plan. The next situation we’re going to look at is a promise. And we would also say will for that. I’ll pay you back next week. I’ll do all – let’s work together on this; don’t worry, it’ll be fine for you – I’ll do all the hard work. Now,Ii don’t have the word “promise” in either of these, but we understand that a promise is being made, a commitment. I won’t make that mistake again. Next prediction based on knowledge or information or experience. For this we would also use will. So, no no, he’ll get that question wrong. There’s no way he’s going to find the answer. Um… yeah, we’ll be finished by nine o’clock. Ah! This team, they’re playing so well, they’ll win the game tonight. They’ll win the game tonight for sure. Next, a prediction based on a current observation. We would typically use going to. So, look up in the sky Hmm it’s going to rain tonight. The game is almost over, we’re up by a lot… we’re going to win the game. Ah! She’s going to be late again. She’s always late and I’m sure today will be no different. And the last one, I’m hoping you can figure this one out because we haven’t used the present simple yet. We use the present simple to talk about scheduled events. Let’s look at some examples. So the train leaves at 7:30. My plane takes off at quarter after nine. The lesson starts when the teacher arrives. Okay? So those are all scheduled events. Now we’re going to look at the future continuous. The future continuous is for an action that will be in progress at a certain time in the future. So here’s a timeline. We’ll put some information on it: six o’clock, 10 o’clock, so that’s the time that I’ll be working, from six o’clock to eight… to ten o’clock. So at eight o’clock, which is in the middle of that time… okay? Between six and ten o’clock I can say: Don’t call me at eight o’clock; I’ll be working. So my work will be in progress at that time. Different example: I’m going to be sleeping at midnight. So, yeah, come on, we’ll stop by your place at midnight and then we’ll go out. No, don’t come to my place at midnight. I’ll be sleeping at midnight, or I’m going to be sleeping at midnight. Again, we can use both. She’ll be walking home at that time – whatever time that is. Okay? So this, this talks about actions that will be in progress at a certain time. We can also use the future continuous for longer events in the future. So i’m travelling to London next week. I’ll be staying at the Ritz in London. I’ll be studying economics at university. Typically, that would probably be for four years, so that’s obviously a longer time. He’s going to be travelling for six weeks. Now let’s take a look at the future perfect. The future – this is a little bit complicated, so hold on to your hat – which is an idiom that means get ready – the future perfect is used to talk about a time or event that is in the future now. So here we are right now, okay? So we’re talking about something that’s in the future, but that will be in the past at a time further in the future. So there’s what – it’s in the future right now, but it will be in the past at a future time in the future. Let’s see if we can’t make this a little bit easier. Today is Monday. Right now, both Wednesday and Friday are in the future. So far, so good? By the time Friday comes, Wednesday will be in the past, even though Wednesday is in the future right now. So if I look at this from – I’m looking forward in time and I’m saying on Friday, Wednesday will be in the past. Okay? By Friday I will have finished this project. So by Friday, it will be over; I will have finished this. Same concept, although I’m not talking about the project anymore, By then, we will have seen the movie. So by then, I will know how the movie ends, because by then, I will have seen the movie, even though I haven’t seen it yet. Not right now. By that time, our holiday will have ended. Future perfect continuous – you thought we were done, didn’t you? Almost, almost. The future perfect continuous is used to talk about how long something will have been happening at a certain time in the future. So, there’s our certain time in the future, and we’re talking about how long something will have been happening. So how long this has been happening… Does this have to start in the future or can it start in the past? Well, the answer is, it doesn’t matter; that’s, that’s not what is important here. What’s important is at this time, how long will have this been happening? From there or, from all the way back there… We don’t know it doesn’t matter. Let’s look at some examples. By Wednesday, which is in the future right now, I will have been working for 12 days. I will have been working for 12 days in a row. Okay? So by the time this Wednesday comes, I will have been working for 12 days. By 2 a.m., he will have been sleeping for three hours. So obviously, he went to bed at 11:00.By 2 a.m. 3 hours of sleeping will already be in the past. Okay, I’ve put some sentences here. I would like you to take a look at them. Decide if they are correct or not and then why they are correct or not. Okay, so here are the sentences. You take a look, pause the video and I’ll be back in a moment with the answers. Okay, so how do you think we did? First, here’s the answers, or, well here’s whether it’s right or wrong. Ugh! Only one is right! Oh my goodness! Let’s take a look. Number one: She going to be late. is going to be; we forgot the auxiliary there. Number two: They will probably won’t get married. Hmm… well it sounds like you’re saying two different things at the same time here. Will or won’t, but not both. So i could say: They probably won’t get married, that would work, or They will probably get married, but I can’t have both. Number three: His sister will be not happy. His sister won’t be happy. Okay? Will be not? Nope, that’s not going to work for us. Number four: He will probably has more popcorn. This is one of the easier ones, I think. He will probably have more popcorn. Number five, thank goodness, is correct. Let’s get back to work at number six: I will going shopping tomorrow. No. We take off the “going”. I will go shopping tomorrow. Number seven: It going to rain. I forgot my auxiliary. It is going to rain. Number eight: They will losing the game. No they will lose the game – that’s my prediction: They will lose the game. Number nine: What time is leaving the train? No, not even close! What time is the train leaving? And number ten: I will am finished by then. We just looked at this. I will be finished by then. Okay, so how did you do? If you’d like some more practice, look below; I’ve created some more practice activities for you. That’s all for now. Thank you very much.

Tags be going to, English grammar, English lesson, ESL, future, future perfect, future perfect continuous, future simple, going to, going to future, present continuous for future, present for future, present simple for future, will, will future

Vocabulary

15 Ways to Say “Thank You” in English

Post author By topshelfboss
Post date

Who would have thought that something as simple as saying Thank You could be so complicated? Well, it is. Or, at least, it can be.

Listen while I explain different ways to express gratitude; not too much, and not to little, and when to say which.

Hello! Today’s lesson is about 15 ways to say thank you. Of course, we say thank you to express gratitude; it’s important that people know that we appreciate what they have done when, when they helped us. Partly, this is just because it’s the right thing to do, and partly because if we don’t say thank you, they might not help us again in the future, so it’s kind of for them, but it’s also kind of for us. Because we do this so often, it’s good to have a good feeling for a few different ways that you can say this. Just a cultural note here: English speakers tend to say thank you more than some other cultures. Now, if that’s normal in that culture, that’s great but in English cultures, we generally say thank you a lot, and, even if you might think that’s a little bit silly, it is what is expected in English cultures, so if we want to fit in, we want people to continue to help us, it’s important that we learn to say thank you appropriately. So first of all – nice and easy one – thanks. We use this for things, just kind of little favors that people do for us; hand us a pen or some little thing like that, just to to acknowledge that they have helped us in some way. This one is interesting. A lot of my students use this, and I I’ve asked them and they, this is why they tell me they use it. It’s because when they were first learning English, they asked what’s kind of a very strong, a very good way, of saying thank you, and this was the answer: thank you so much. The problem is that people often overuse this. So they say thank you so much for things that really aren’t that big a deal. So again, if a classmate lends you a pen – oh thank you so much! it’s it’s it’s okay, it’s just a pen, don’t don’t worry about it. And the problem is if we use it too often, it starts to lose its meaning, and when we do really want to say thank you in a stronger than normal way, if we’ve been saying this all the time, then we don’t have a stronger way of saying thank you, so don’t overuse this one. It’s a perfectly good one, but understand that it’s fairly strong. The same is also true for thank you very much. Okay number three: that’s very kind of you. So this is… it doesn’t even use the word thank you, but I am saying that, that was very nice of you to do what you did to help me. Again, this is a little bit stronger. It’s… it can be used in formal situations or more relaxed situations as well. Number four: I appreciate it, or I really appreciate it, or I can’t tell you how much I appreciate it. So there’s three variations, each one a little bit stronger than the last, and again, we’re saying thank you without using the word thank you, but we are saying that what you have done is is something that I really do thank you for; I have gratitude for what you have done. Number five – fairly informal but at the same time fairly, kind of, fairly warm: you made my day. So, you know, hearing you say that to me, or, or watching you help help somebody or help me, whatever it was, that was really you know, it was the best part of my day, so thank you very much, you you really made my day. Number six: I can’t thank you enough. Again, a very strong way of saying thank you. Be careful about using this one. It sounds funny, I can’t thank you enough, it seems to me that some people use this one a little bit too freely, and again, if you use very strong ways of saying thank you for things that are not that big a deal, it can leave you not being able to really say thank you when you really really mean it. Number seven – this is kind of a funny one. It’s obviously very informal, or at least I hope that’s obvious! It… we can use when somebody got us out of a really difficult situation, and you want to to really thank them, but at the same time, you’re doing it in kind of an informal, relaxed way: you really saved my bacon. Where did the bacon come from? I don’t know. How did they save it? I don’t know. What happened to the bacon? I don’t know. Stop asking questions. The thing is, you really saved my bacon is kind of a fun, relaxed, but at the same time, sincere way of saying thank you. So here’s some others that are fairly informal. Thanks a ton, thanks a million, thanks a bunch. All these obviously mean thank you at a fairly high degree. They’re also fairly informal. Cheers – now here’s an interesting one. This is quite common in the UK. In fact, I read something just a few days ago, although was actually from 2010, that said that young people in particular in the UK prefer to say cheers over thank you, so more people said Cheers than thank you in the UK in 2010. I think that that has probably continued. Number 10: you’re a lifesaver so it’s kind of like saving my bacon. They probably didn’t actually literally save your life, but it’s a fairly strong way – strong and informal way of saying thank you for something that somebody has done. This one to me sounds a little bit old-fashioned, and there’s nothing wrong with that, a little bit formal, there’s nothing wrong with that: you’re too kind. Oh! Thank you so much; you’re too kind. That’s something else I should mention: we can often use two or three of these; we don’t need to choose just one – you can mix and match as you like. Number 12: Oh! You shouldn’t have! When people say that you shouldn’t have, they mean you shouldn’t have made such an effort; you shouldn’t have done all this work; you shouldn’t have gone to the trouble. A party for me? Oh! You shouldn’t have! Isn’t English weird? Number 13: This one, partly, I think because it’s a little bit longer, and partly just the nature of it, sounds very sincere and truly, very deeply thankful. I want you to know how much this means to me! So you probably knew it meant something when you helped me, but I want to be very clear that I’m making it very clear that this really is something that is important to me, and I really want to say thank you very much. So this would be… this wouldn’t be something, you know, somebody gives you a ride to to school. This would be something somebody has helped you for a long time, or somebody really goes out of their way to help you. This is a very very serious, very sincere one. Number fourteen: this sounds quite formal and I would expect to see this mostly in writing. I wouldn’t expect to hear this very often. Please accept my deepest gratitude. Please accept my my deepest thanks. So again, there’s nothing wrong with it, just make sure you use it in the right place. And number 15: I won’t forget this. You’ve done something that’s really helped me, and I’m going to remember it, and the suggestion is that I’m going to find a way to pay you back – in a nice way – or I’m going to perhaps treat you or think of you differently because of how you have helped me. So, I won’t forget this is a very warm and sincere way of saying thank you. So there we go: 15 ways to say thank you. I hope you won’t forget this. You see what I did there? I’m not saying thank you I’m just saying I think you should remember!

Tags English Vocabulary, Thank You, Vocabulary

Idioms Vocabulary

Idioms with Pay

Post author By topshelfboss
Post date

This lesson is about idioms with pay.

When do you pay somebody a compliment? Or do you pay them “with” a compliment? (No, you don’t.)

Is paying somebody back always good? What about getting payback? It sometimes feels good, but it usually pays to be be a bit less agressive.

This video has a number of interesting phrases and idioms with pay, so make sure you pay attention!

Hello! Today’s lesson is about idioms that use the word “pay.” So let’s get started! First one: to pay a compliment. To pay a compliment means to praise somebody; to say something good about them, or to say that they’ve been doing a good job. A teacher might say for example: I can see you’ve been working hard, or Good job on the quiz! A friend might say: That’s a lovely shirt, or You’re a lot of fun to be around! Number two is to pay someone a visit. So to pay someone a visit means simply to go visit them. So you might say something like: I haven’t seen him for a long time; perhaps I should go pay him a visit. In movies and TV shows when the bad guys say this phrase, it often has a completely different meaning. They say: I think it’s time we go pay him a visit, and then they have their evil laugh: Ha ha ha ha! It’s very scary. The third idiom is: Pay attention. It means listen; it means, focus on what I am doing, or what I am saying right now. Parents and teachers use this a lot. So does my wife, but I’m the only one who has to worry about that. Number four: to pay back. This can mean to return something that is owed. It could be money, it could be a favour that somebody has done for us. It could also be used in a similar but different way. If somebody has been making problems for us, or somebody has done something wrong, we can also say: I’m gonna pay them back. He’s been making my life difficult for months. It’s time for me to pay him back. Don’t worry, I’m not talking about you. Unless you’re Daryl. Daryl, if you’re watching this… Number 5: pay it forward. Pay it forward is kind of the opposite of the negative meaning of pay it back. With pay it forward, the idea is that somebody helped you, but instead of paying them back, you pay it forward to somebody else. So, the idea is that eventually, everybody will be helping everybody, and we will all be living in a happy world! Well, that’s the idea anyway. Number six: pay one’s respects. To pay one’s respect means to visit a person or to attend a ceremony, for example a funeral, as a sign of respect towards somebody. Paying your respects can also be done by sending a card, depending on the situation; it’s a way of showing that you care about somebody. Pay off, so pay off can have several meanings. First of all, it can mean to pay the money that you owe. So, she paid off her house, now she owns it, so she doesn’t owe the bank any more money. Next, it could be some kind of reward. So, hopefully all this work will pay off. Hopefully, I’ll be rewarded for all of my hard work. Hopefully, there will be a payoff. Third, as a one-word noun, it can be used to mean bribe, okay? So after the construction company got the contract to build the road, people learned that there was a payoff to a local politician. Hmm. So payoff can mean bribe. Number eight: to pay the price. To do, or to sacrifice, whatever is necessary. In sports, where effort is often the difference between winning and losing, the coach will encourage players to pay the price to win. If you want to be a highly trained professional, you have to pay the price by studying and going to university and working very hard for very many years. Number nine: to pay through the nose. This isn’t as disgusting as it sounds. When something is very expensive, we can say that you have to pay through the nose for it. For example, travelling at holiday times can not only be stressful; it can also be very expensive. Yeah, I might go home this Christmas, but I don’t know; I’d have to pay through the nose to do it. It just means the price would be very very high. Often, concert tickets can also be very expensive. If you want to see a popular band, you should be prepared to pay through the nose to do it. And number 10: pay up. When you pay what is owed. Somebody might say this at the end of the night in a restaurant when it’s time to pay the bill. The waiter or the waitress would never say this – that would be extremely rude – but if one of your friends is trying to organize people to make sure that the bill is paid before they leave, they might say this. Now, personally, I find this a little bit, I find this phrase a little bit rude; I find it a little bit direct. It seems to suggest that people might be trying to leave without paying. Somebody going around saying, pay up, pay up! It doesn’t leave a good feeling with me. Other people obviously disagree because because they say it. And, just to be clear, no. I have never left a restaurant without paying my bill! We can also say this if somebody loses a bet. So, for example, if you bet on a sports team and you, you lose, the person you bet with might say: Come on! You bet on the Rangers and they lost. Time to pay up! Okay, so there’s 10 idioms with “pay.” If you’ve paid attention, hopefully this lesson will pay off in the future. You see what I did there? Have a good day.

Clauses Conjunctions Sentences

Sentence Types

Post author By topshelfboss
Post date

OK, so you’ve learned about clauses, and the various ways there are to put them together. Now it’s time to look at the sentence types that you can create.

Simple sentences are just a single independent clause. So far, so good.

A complex sentence isn’t as scary as it sounds. A complex sentence is just one or more dependent clauses and an independent clause. Just make sure you join them to each other properly.

A compound sentence is two or more independent clauses, again, joined together properly.

And the granddaddy of them all, the compound-complex sentence, which is made up of one or more dependent clauses and two or more independent clauses. Be careful, though. Just because this is the most complicated of the sentence types, does NOT mean that it is in any way the best sentence type. You don’t get points for being needlessly complicated or confusing. In fact, this type of sentence often gets students in trouble for “trying too hard!”

Hello! This lesson is about sentence types. The first thing we need to talk about is what we mean when we say “sentence types.” We could mean are we talking about declarative, interrogative, imperative or exclamative? Or, are we talking about simple, complex, compound and compound complex? Well, in this video, this is what I’m talking about… these types of sentences. So, before we start, you must know what a clause is. You must know the difference between an independent clause and a dependent clause, and if you don’t, you have to go back and watch my videos where I explain those, because in this video, I’m going to assume that you know what I’m talking about. So independent clauses: Susan opened the fridge. We love that movie. You lived in a large house. These are independent clauses, but watch this! They are also simple sentences. That’s right, if I just put a capital letter at the beginning, and a period at the end of an independent clause, it becomes a simple sentence. That wasn’t so hard! We’re already partway done. Now, let’s take a look at dependent clauses. Because she was hungry… There it is; I got ahead of myself. Even though it is long; When you were young. You will probably recognize these dependent clauses from the last video. These are not complete thoughts. So, what do we do? Because before we were talking about clauses; now we’re talking about sentences. How do I fix this? I have to add an independent clause. Because she was hungry, Susan opened the fridge. Even though it is long, we love that movie. When you were young, you lived in a large house. So, we take a dependent clause, we add an independent clause, and we now have… a complex sentence. So, we saw a simple sentence is just an independent clause by itself. A complex sentence once again there’s an independent clause, but then also with one or more dependent clauses. Now, you will notice that the dependent clause comes first in each example here. Does it have to? No, it doesn’t. Watch this. I’m going to make a few changes, and then I’m going to put them backwards… and a couple of things have happened. First of all, this is obviously no longer capital letter because it’s not at the beginning. Susan is a name, so that always was a capital letter, but look at the punctuation. I’m just going to go back here for a moment. This is where we started: Because she was hungry, and there is a comma here. This comma disappears. See? There it is – gone. Okay, so do I need to add it back? No, and in fact, not only do I not need to; I can’t. When the dependent clause comes after the independent clause, I’m not allowed to put a comma there. Let’s look at the next example. Even though it is long, we loved that movie. I’m going to make a few changes now I’m going to switch them. We love that movie even though it is long. And again, there’s no comma there. When you were young, you lived in a large house. I’m going to make a few changes… I’m going to reverse them… You lived in a large house when you were young. So, a complex sentence is one dependent clause and – I’m sorry that’s actually a little bit of a mistake – one or more dependent clause and one independent clause. Either clause can come first. If the dependent clause is first, there is a comma after after the dependent clause. If the independent clause is first, there is no comma. And again, I’m not saying it’s not necessary to put a comma. I’m saying: Don’t put a comma. Next, let’s look at compound sentences. Compound sentences are two or more independent clauses. So clauses must be joined by a coordinating conjunction, a semicolon, or a conjunctive adverb. Again, if you don’t know what that, please go watch my last video where I explain that. Bill walked to the store, but Alan rode his bike. Alan rode his bike, but Bill walked to the store. These are both compound sentences. Alan rode his bike, so bill walked to the store. Why? I don’t know. Maybe they were having a fight or something. If you’re going to ride your bike, I’m going to walk. Anyway, the point is we’re using a FANBOY here, a coordinating conjunction, to join these two independent clauses. I could also say this: Alan rode his bike and Bill walked to the store, which again, this is a really good demonstration of which coordinating conjunction we choose to use changes the the flavor, changes the meaning of the sentence. So make sure that you choose carefully. Unlike complex sentences, compound sentences place equal importance on both clauses. In other words, one idea is not more important than the other. Compound-complex sentences. Compound-complex sentence is a combination of a compound and a complex sentence. At least two independent clauses and at least one dependent clause. In theory – don’t do this – but in theory, you could write a whole book with one crazy, stupid compound-complex sentence. I really recommend you don’t do that. You probably – won’t, well, I can pretty-much promise you you won’t get a very good mark, even though in theory, it is possible. Because they had been fighting – ah I was right in what I said earlier! Because they had been fighting, Bill walked to the store but Alan rode his bike. Okay, so we’ve got these different sentence types, but why does sentence types matter? Well, the way we arrange our sentences can put emphasis on certain ideas. This idea is there, but this idea is more important, and the way we arrange our sentences can show that. Also, variety and interest. It makes it a better experience for the reader. It’s important to understand that one type of sentence is not better than another; use what fits best, and there’s two ways in the past my students have had trouble with this. One is they think: I can write simple sentences all day long I very, very seldom make mistakes; I’m going to stay with what I know, and that way I’ll be safe, and if I don’t make any mistakes I can’t get a low mark! Uh, wrong! You can get a low mark for only writing simple sentences. A composition that is only simple sentences is not very fun or, honestly, very easy to read. Don’t do that. Then I have students who basically try to do the exact opposite, and they try to write… every sentence they write, they try to make the longest, most complicated, most beautiful, most wonderful sentence that just goes on and on and on. That is very confusing for the reader as well. Now, in some languages I, I have, I have read this: in some languages, that is considered beautiful. In English it’s considered confusing. We don’t think of that as being long and beautiful and flowing. We think of it as being difficult to follow. So, if that’s a difference from your first language, then please understand that it is a difference and make sure that when you’re writing in English, you’re writing with English style. The most important thing is this be clear; don’t use fancy sentences just for the sake of using fancy sentences, okay? If the reader has to reread what you have written, if he or she has to read it again, that’s a bad thing. Your reading [writing] should be easy to understand the first time. Okay, so, that’s all I have to say about sentence types. If you’d like some more practice, look below, because I’ve got some exercises for you. Thank you very much. Have a good day!

Clauses Sentences

Clause Types

Post author By topshelfboss
Post date

A clause is a group of words with a subject and a related verb. There are only two clause types: Dependent and Independent. Sounds simple, right?

Well, yes…and no. There’s a lot to remember when you’re putting your clauses together, and you have to be sure you know what kind of clause you’re writing, because that will decide how (or even if) you can join your clauses to other clauses.

Hello! This lesson is about clause types. Clauses are the building blocks of sentences, so if I want to write good sentences, I have to understand what clauses are. We could get a little bit more complicated, but for now, we’re going to keep things simple and, at the highest level, there are two types of clauses. There are independent clauses, and there are dependent clauses. Now, these two types of clauses have something in common: they both have a subject and a related verb. So, a subject is what the sentence is about; who is – usually, it’s who is doing the action – and a verb is what tells us what action or what state is being done, or is true. Independent clauses… so, both clauses have a subject and a verb; an independent clause then obviously has that but, it has one more thing: it expresses a complete thought. So, when there’s an independent clause, we feel satisfied. We feel that we’re not waiting for more information. Let’s look at some very simple examples. So, “The dog eats his food”. “Dog” is the subject and “eats” is the verb. I have a subject, I have a verb. Do I have a complete thought? Yes, I do. The dog eats his food. It’s not a very interesting sentence, but I understand it. I’m not waiting for any more information. Look at another example: “Jeff and Bob talked”. Okay, so I’ve got a subject here and I’ve got a subject here and I’ve got just one verb, so now I’m confused… Well, actually it might look like I have two subjects, but in this sentence, “Jeff and Bob” work together to be the subject, and I call this a “Compound Subject.” Compound because it’s made of two things that I can put together, okay? And I could, if you’re a little bit unsure, I could change this to “they” talked, okay? So, Jeff and Bob aha you’re not gonna fool me again! I understand that that’s one subject here. Oh my goodness! “talked and laughed” Well now I’ve got two verbs here again, but they kind of feel like they go together… and they do. This is what we call a compound verb. So again, an independent clause has a subject and a related verb and it expresses a complete thought. The subject can be a compound subject like we see here, and the verb can be a compound verb like what we see here. Let’s look at some more examples. Susan opened the fridge. Susan… opened… good to go. We love that movie. We… love… no problem. You lived in a large house. You – now, we’ve changed this a little bit because we put it in the past but that doesn’t really affect anything when we’re thinking about causes – so, You lived in a large house. So, no problem here; we’ve got a subject and a verb and a complete thought. So, let’s take a look and see if we can make our lives a little bit more complicated here. She was hungry. So far, so good; I’ve got a subject I’ve got a verb and it’s a complete thought. But watch what happens when I do this: Because she was hungry… so, I have added this word to the beginning and we’ll talk more about that word later. Because she was hungry. Now, is this a complete thought? Because she was hungry … Because she was hungry what? Finish your thought! So, I took something that was a complete thought, I added a word, and now it’s not a complete thought. So this is now an incomplete thought. Well if this is an incomplete thought, this can’t be an independent clause anymore. And you’re right, it’s not. This is a dependent clause. So a dependent clause is partly the same as independent – it has a subject and a related verb – but it expresses an incomplete thought, okay? It can’t stand on its own. It leaves you wanting more. Even though it is long… I don’t know; we have to wait for the rest of the sentence. When you were young… Hmm. Now, I’m going to answer a question I get a lot: So wait a minute – when you were young; let’s just look at this one. If I ask the question, When did you go to school, or sorry, when did I go to school? When you were young. Well, when you were young seems like a complete thought, doesn’t it? So… is that an independent clause then? No it’s still dependent because we need the question. Without the question, When did I or you go to school? it’s not complete. If I just say, When you were young” without any support from anything else, it doesn’t make sense, so this is still a dependent clause. Now what we’re going to do is talk about what we have added here. We’ve added because, we’ve added even though, we’ve added when. Those are all examples of a subordinating conjunction. Now in other videos, I talk about other types of conjunctions, but here we are talking about… we’re only going to talk about subordinating conjunctions. And if you have seen this prefix before, sub, so we could talk about submarines or we can talk about subway. “Sub” means less or under, okay? So a subordinating conjunction, what it does is, as as we see in these three examples, it takes an independent clause and changes it to a dependent clause. Let’s look at some examples of subordinating conjunctions. There are a lot – this is only a very short list – and before you write these down and start using them just randomly, please listen carefully to what I’m going to say. Giving vocabulary lists always makes me nervous because a certain percentage of students will always say, “Well it’s on the list, so I can use it.” Well, yeah, you can use it, but you have to know when and how to use it. So, if all these words meant exactly the same thing and all fit in exactly the same place, we wouldn’t need so many. So before you start using these, listen for a while to hear how they are used, or look them up to make sure that you’re using them correctly, okay? I’m not going to go through this list you can read it. You’ve probably been reading it while I’ve been talking and not listening to me warning you about how to use the vocabulary list. It’s your own fault, buddy! I put this list of subordinating conjunctions here because I want you to learn them, and know them, and understand them, and use them, but please make sure you’re using them correctly. Okay, now let’s go back to our dependent clauses. Now if we were writing sentences and we hand this in – handed this in – our teacher would not be very happy, so let’s see what we can do to fix these. Because she was hungry, Susan opened the fridge. I have my dependent clause here but I have now added an independent clause, so now I’m okay. This is now – all together – it is a complete thought so now this is a proper sentence. Even though it is long, we love that movie. Same idea: I started with my dependent clause and then after that I added my independent clause. When you were young… alright so, dependent clause whew! dependent clause still here, and you lived in a large house: independent cause. So by… if I just had the dependent clause by itself that’s not good; that’s not a complete thought. An independent clause can either be by itself, or, if it, if it wants, it can also have a dependent clause join it, and we’ll talk more about how to join clauses in my next video but the point here is this: Dependent clauses are not bad clauses; they just need some help from an independent clause so if you write a dependent clause, that doesn’t mean that you’re a bad writer; it just means that you need to make sure that there is also an independent clause that goes with it. Independent clauses can stand on their own; they do not need help from any other clauses. Here’s an important point that I haven’t talked about, but I will because, again, a lot of students seem to get confused with this. The length of a clause does not tell you what type of clause it is. So, oh, this is a big long strong independent clause. No – being long does not make it strong. There is no – you can’t count – I’ve had students count words, actually. You can’t count. You have to understand what you’re reading. So, the length really is completely unhelpful when we are deciding if a clause is dependent or independent. Okay, so where do you go from here? Next, watch my joining clauses video and then after that, watch my sentence types videos – video – where we’re going to put it all together. Alright? That’s all for today. Thank you! Videolytics

Clauses Conjunctions Sentences

Joining Clauses

Post author By topshelfboss
Post date

Once you know what clauses are, you need to work at joining clauses together. But you have to do so carefully, because how you join clauses will affect the flavour of what you’re saying, as well as how smoothly your writing can be read. A lot of short, simple clauses, and your reader will get frustrated at how choppy your writing is. If too many clauses are joined together, your sentence may be so confusing that it becomes unreadable.

Also, the specific way that you join your clause makes a difference. You can choose from subordinating, coordinating, correlative conjunctions, as well as conjunctive adverbs and even a few punctuation tricks.

There’s more than a bit to learn, so make sure you’re ready to learn about the options you have to join clauses.

Hello! This video is about different ways of joining clauses. There are four ways that we’re going to look at: first, coordinating conjunctions, then semicolons, which might be a new idea for some of you, conjunctive adverbs, and a couple of different ways to use them, and then finally, subordinating conjunctions. We’re going to start with coordinating conjunctions. So, coordinating conjunctions are most famously known and remembered by this acronym. Even if you’ve heard this before, I’m going to encourage you to follow along because I think I’ve got some ways that are going to help you remember if you’re having trouble with these. If you’ve never heard of this before, FANBOYS is a way that we can use to remember the most important coordinating conjunctions. So let’s get started with these. This is what they are: for and nor but or yet, and so. Now, you’re probably looking at that list and saying yes, I know every single one of those, and you might, but you might not! There are probably some there some words that you know, there’s probably also, or, possibly also, some words you don’t know, and this is the really tricky one, and the one that really frustrates people: words that you think you know, but you don’t because we’re using them in a new way because they have a new meaning in this context. So we are using old words in a new way and sometimes it takes a little while to to be comfortable with that. Let’s take a look. The first one that we’re going to look at, for, is the last kind here: words that you think you know, but you might not. So for shows a reason. Now it doesn’t! In this context, yes, it does. I play sports, for I like to exercise. If that sentence seems strange to you then I was right! This is a new meaning for an old word. So, let’s take a look at another example. I slept late, for I was tired. Again, this for – when we use it this way – it shows a reason. So, let’s take a look at some problems that that people have. First of all, because is much more common than for, so for can feel strange. So if we go back here, I play sports because I like to exercise; I slept late because I was tired. If because fits, why don’t I just use because? Well there are reasons and we’ll talk about that later but the point here is, maybe, that this for is a new meaning for you. If it is you’re going to have to pay attention for a while; you’re going to have to be more careful than you have been. Let’s move forward here. For is also a preposition. I waited for 3 hours and when we practise these sentences in class usu – not always, but usually – about a third of the class, when I asked them to make… to use for as a coordinating conjunction, they end up using it as a preposition, so it can be difficult to make that change. The next one is and, and I’ve got some good news for you: you know how to do this; there’s nothing new here. And joins two equals. This is true for all coordinating conjunctions but I find this is a good place to explain this: Just because we see a coordinating conjunction does not mean that it’s always joining clauses. John sings and Mary dances. Yes, here, this and is a coordinating conjunction. She opened the book and she read the story. Is this a coordinating conjunction? Yes, because I’ve got she opened – I’ve got my subject (and) my related verb, and I’ve got she read. I’ve got another subject and another related verb. Okay: salt and pepper. Is that joining two clauses? No, it’s not. Salt is not a clause, and pepper is not a clause. The next one is nor, and I often get a lot of students asking, Did you make a spelling mistake? That doesn’t look like a word – I’ve never seen that before. It’s funny how, when somebody brings something to your attention, how often you notice it after that. So I did not make a mistake, this is correct. Nor is for negative addition so when the first clause is negative and the second clause is also negative. Here’s an example: I don’t sing, so here’s my negation, nor do I dance, so here – just trust me – here is the “n”: here is the negation, there. Okay, so what this sentence means is I don’t sing and I don’t dance. Well if I can just say I don’t do this and I don’t do that, why don’t I just say that? Well because this sounds better. This sounds it, it, it’s at a higher level and it’s more advanced. Let’s look at another example: We don’t like garlic, nor do we like onions. Before you move forward, I would like to point something out to you, which is this: Note how the subject and verb seem backwards in the second clause, alright? So nor do I dance, nor do we like onions. So the first couple times you’re practising this, here’s a little trick to help yourself along: Forget about everything that comes before that. The last clause sounds like a sentence: Do I dance? Do we like onions? So if you make the second clause sound like a question, you will get the word order right here and again, after a while it seems normal and natural but it might seem strange at first. So here are some problems: Both clauses must be negative; it’s not good enough for one or the other to be negative – both must be negative, and again, as we just talked about subject-verb inversion which makes it look like a question, okay? So.. but at the same time, you can use that to help yourself when you’re, when you’re writing. Just slow down, stop, take a look at it. Does the last part of this cause look like a question? Yes? Then you’re probably doing it right. But. Well, but shows contrast or opposition. She likes music, but she can’t play. I like candy but my sister likes salty food. I don’t know why I’m explaining this to you. If you don’t know the word “but” you haven’t understood anything that I have said so far. So, if you speak English well enough to understand me, I’m sure you know the word but. Let’s keep moving. Or: same thing – you if you don’t understand the word “or” you don’t understand what I’m saying anyway. So or shows an alternative. We can go to a movie, or we can stay home. You can work alone, or you can work with a partner. So we’ve had a couple of nice easy ones. Here’s another one that’s like for that is quite possibly a new meaning for an old word. Yet shows an exception. Now there’s more to it than that but let’s take a look at some examples and then we’ll talk about them. I want to lose weight, yet I never exercise. Logically, sensibly, do those two clauses go together? I want to lose weight, but even though I want to lose weight, I never exercise. Does that make sense? No, not really. That’s, that’s not the best way to lose weight. She wants to get married, yet she doesn’t have a boyfriend. Okay, well I’m no expert well, actually, I kind of am; if you want to get married you’re going to need to have a partner, all right? And so she doesn’t have a boyfriend, logically this doesn’t work and yet is what shows this lack of logic. It shows that something is a little bit strange. So, here are some problems. Yet is a specific kind of but. So there must be some lack of logic or some surprising aspect to the sentence; there must be something that kind of makes you go huh? That doesn’t seem quite right! So, if you can use yet, you can use but, but not the other way around. I should say if you can use yet you can often use but – almost always use but, but not the other way around. So here’s one way to think of it. If we think of but as being this big blue circle and yet as being a small white circle, yet is kind of a more specific kind of but. So then I’ve got a question: Well, if I can use but, then why don’t … sorry, then why do I need to learn to use yet? Well yet shows the relationship between the ideas in your sentence more clearly. It’s it’s pointing out, yes, I know there’s a lack of logic here. Here are some problems: yet is also an adverb and this is probably how you first learned this word, so, I haven’t seen her yet? Is this movie over yet? Clearly it’s not working as a conjunction there. All right, so, so shows a result. She wants to pass the course, okay, and, so she studies every day. He was happy, so he sang a song. Show – I’m sorry – so shows a result. Now here’s a problem: Do not confuse with “so that” okay? And it’s even more confusing because when we can write “so that” we can often leave that that out, which then makes it more confusing but if I can put “that” in, so if it’s possible to say “so that” then I am not using… then it’s not a coordinating conjunction – it’s still a conjunction, but it’s what we call a subordinating conjunction, so don’t confuse “so” with “so that.” So err, sorry “so that” shows a purpose. He saved his money so that he could take a holiday. Now, again, that’s not a coordinating conjunction; I’m just showing you that so that you can keep those two separate in your mind. Are you familiar with this idea? For and so are kind of two sides of the same whole. They’re kind of two sides of the same coin. Let’s take a look here. Now, there’s a couple of different places I could start. I could start reading here, or I could start reading here and where I start is going to give me different different sentences. I’ve got a for here and I’ve got a so here. Are you confused yet? Just wait, I’ll make it clear. Let’s take a look. He won the lottery, so he quit his job. But just read – now you have to imagine that there’s a, that there’s a capital H there. He won the lottery, so he quit his job. That makes sense; it follows the rule of, of so… (it) shows a result. But, now I’m going to start the sentence down here. He quit his job, for he won the lottery. So here now, I’ve turned it around. One is showing the cause and the other one is showing the result, okay? But again, for and so are kind of opposites; they show the opposite side of the same coin. So, that’s it for FANBOYS. You’ve probably heard about FANBOYS before. Let’s see, can we make this… maybe we can move those letters around and make a new word. What about FASBONY? No. NAYSFOB? Maybe not. ANYFOBS? No. FAYSNOB? No, that doesn’t sound good at all. FANBYSO? No… FAS BY ON! You know what? Let’s just stick with FANBOYS. Remember this acronym and you will be able to remember the coordinating conjunctions. Let’s move on, and we’re going to talk about semicolons. So there ooh! there’s a giant semicolon right there. Semicolon? What is this? Is that a comma? Is it a period? Well it’s actually kind of partway between both. So, on the left side here, I’ve got a whole bunch of independent clauses and on the right side I’ve got a whole bunch of independent clauses. You will probably recognize these sentences because I used them to talk about coordinating conjunctions, but we could also put a semicolon between them. Now, I’ve got one giant semicolon there. That maybe wasn’t the best idea. I should maybe put a whole bunch of small semicolons … show you a good example, rather than kind of funny, crazy example. That’s how I could join all of these clauses together. Okay? The semicolon. So let’s look take a look at some more examples. Some people eat meat; some do not. I don’t need to put a coordinating conjunction there. They started a business; they got rich. He played with fire; he got burned. Now, almost always when I introduce the semicolon to my class, there’s at least three or four people, “What? Why do we have to learn the FABOYS when I can just always use a semicolon?” Well, there’s a couple of reasons, okay? First of all, we use a semicolon to connect two independent clauses that are closely related, and closely related in a clear and logical and obvious way. Not all clauses … the relationship between all causes isn’t that clear. Secondly, you need to use it sparingly, which is maybe a new word. That means seldom; not very often. So ,let me ask you a question: Do you see semicolons often? Well, that’s how often you should use them, okay? They’re a tool for you to use, and you can and you should use them, but don’t get carried away. We also use semicolons with conjunctive adverbs, which is the next way that we’re going to look at for joining clauses. So, let’s look. Some people eat meat; some do not. That’s the sentence we were just looking at. A conjunctive adverb would go in like this. So, I leave the semicolon just the way it was just a moment ago, I put my conjunctive adverb in, and then it is followed immediately by a comma. Another example: They started a business; they got rich. I have a choice here. They started a business; eventually, they got rich. So you see here how that changes the feeling, right? There’s more information. They got rich, but it wasn’t immediate. And, He played with fire; he got burned. He played with fire; consequently, he got burned. Now, this is one way of using conjunctive adverbs. So, we have the first clause, and then a semicolon, conjunctive adverb, and then a comma here. That’s one way. We can also do this, though. We can also… instead of having a semicolon here, we can also have a period, and then a capital H and then we still need the comma, okay? So that works as well and there’s… it comes down to style; there’s really no difference. One of these isn’t better than the other. Here is a list of conjunctive adverbs. Again, with a vocabulary list, be careful. They don’t… just because they’re on the same list in the same category doesn’t mean that they all have the same meaning, okay? So, here’s a list – a very short list. If you want to use these, that’s great but make sure that you are using them correctly. Look them up, look for examples of other people using them before you start to use them yourself. Alright, three ways to join clauses: coordinating conjunctions semicolons and conjunctive adverbs. Wait a minute – you promised us four! You’re right, I did. Here’s the thing. These three – the three that we’ve looked at so far – these are for joining independent clauses. This last kind is for joining dependent clauses, okay? So, let’s take a look at some subordinating conjunctions. First of all, a subordinating conjunction can change an independent clause into a dependent clause. It makes the dependent clause less the focus of the sentence, and it makes the independent clause that it is joined to more the focus of the sentence. So, I drink coffee, but I prefer tea. The, the feeling of this sentence is that the importance of these two clauses of these two ideas is the same. Watch when I have – when I do this. Although I drink coffee, I prefer tea. I’ve now changed it and I’ve said yeah, I drink coffee, but I prefer tea. That’s the main point of this sentence. Look at some more examples. Even though it rained, we enjoyed the walk through the woods. So, there’s two things going on here. There’s the rain, and then there’s the enjoying the walk. The enjoying the walk is the main idea here. Because he was late, he missed his train. Okay? So the important part is: he missed his train. I’m also giving the reason; it’s because he was late, but the point is… the main point is that he missed his train. And again, these clauses have a feeling of one idea is more important than the other. So there you go. There are four ways of joining clauses. Again, the first three join independent clauses. The last one – subordinating conjunctions – joins dependent clauses. So… there you have it; those are the four ways to join clauses. Just watching a video may not be enough; consequently, I’ve prepared a few exercises for you. Although you will need to practice, joining clauses really isn’t that hard. Try the exercises below and you will be joining clauses correctly in no time! You see what I did there? I used all the different ways! Okay, thank you very much!

English Sounds

/j/

Post author By topshelfboss
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Be careful! This IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) symbol doesn’t sound like you think it does. Unless you’re from Europe, in which case it might.

Be careful with this one! It looks, well, it it looks like a J, it looks like a “j” but this is actually pronounced “yuh.” If you’re from Europe, this is a little bit easier because it’s quite common there. If not, just be careful with this one. The letter Y – the letter Y – is sometimes a consonant and sometimes a vowel. Here, we are looking at Y as a consonant, which is why it makes the “yuh” sound. /j/ is made by pushing the tongue up and back and then lowering it. /y/ is voiced. Let’s look at some examples in word-initial position: yes, unit, year, yawn, yellow. And now the sound and some sentences: The young yak yawned yesterday. Yale is a unique University. The youngster yanked the yellow yarn. All right, you’re probably wondering when is Y a consonant, and when is it a vowel? I’ll help you out. Y is a constant when it comes at the beginning of a word, so yellow, young, yet, yell. Y is a vowel when there’s no other vowel in the word: cry, my, fly, there’s nothing there in those words that could possibly be a vowel so Y has to be the vowel there. Also the Y is in the middle or the end of the syllable: system, typical, nylon, Egypt, style, candy, deny. Well, thank you very much for watching this video about consonants and remember on my website, I have exercises that will help you practice and will even give you some feedback. Good luck!