Category Archives: Grammar

He/She/It – Present Tense

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Don’t Say Say This
He work in Boston.
 He works in Boston.
She like pizza. She likes pizza.
Her dress look beautiful. Her dress (it) looks beautiful.
My brother do landscaping. My brother (he) does landscaping.
My daughter try to help her little sister. My daughter (she) tries to help her little sister.

Remember

  • Present Tense – Use when something happens in the present in a usual/regular way.
  • For he/she/it in present tense – Don’t forget to pronounce the sound of the S at the end of the verb.
  • Add the s (or ‘es’) only when
    • it’s with a he/she/it form (called ‘3rd person’)
      (not with I/you/we/they)
    • it’s in the present tense
    • the sentence is affirmative (not negative)
      • Affirmative example: His mother cooks dinner every night.
      • Negative example: His mother doesn’t cook dinner every night.
  • When s/es is added to the end of the word, the sound can be different – depending on the word.
    Here’s an explanation:

It’s from Woodward English in England, but the American pronunciation is very similar.

Pick Up

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Don’t Say Say This
Pick it up the pencil.
or Pick up it.
 Pick up the pencil.
or – Pick the pencil up.
or – Pick it up.
I’m going to pick it up my daughter. I’m going to pick up my daughter.
or – I’m going to pick my daughter up.
I’m going to pick up her/she. I’m going to pick her up.

Remember

  • to pick up is a “phrasal verb” (a two-word verb).  The most common meanings are:
    1. To lift something/someone from a surface
      Ex: He picked up his book.
    2. To meet someone and take them with you.
      Ex: I have to pick up my kids after school.
  • You can pick something up – or – pick up something
    Ex: Pick up the package.  or  Pick the package up.
  • But – You can only use a pronoun in the middle – between “pick” and “up”
    You can Pick her up or Pick it up.
    Incorrect: Pick up it. or Pick up her.
  • Also, Don’t use the noun and its pronoun together.
    Pick up the phone. – or – Pick the phone up. -or- Pick it up.
    But NOT: Pick it up the phone.
  • There are some other meanings of this phrasal verb too.
  • You can see pick up used as part of a conversation in many examples from YouGlish below.  You can press the Next Track button   to see another example.

Visit YouGlish.com

Free Rice

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  Practice your English vocabulary and grammar on freerice.com. Every time you get an answer correct, a small amount of money (equal to about 10 grains of rice) is donated to help end world hunger.

  • When you answer correctly, the questions get more difficult.
  • If you get the answer wrong, the next answer will be easier.
  • This is the new version, which is better for smartphones and tablets.
  • There are many other categories you can try, such as geography, science, math, and other languages.

Supposed To

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Don’t Say Say This
I supposed to work tomorrow. I am supposed to work tomorrow.
My sister suppose be here for dinner. My sister is supposed to be here for dinner.
I suppose be here early this morning? Was I supposed to be here early this morning?
My son no suppose to go outside today. My son is not supposed to go outside today.

Remember

  • The phrase supposed to means expected to, or required to.  Used this way…
    1. It must include the verb to-be before it (I am supposed to…  He is supposed to….)
    2. Supposed is spelled with a d at the end, but that doesn’t mean it’s past tense (He is/was supposed to…)
    3. It is followed by the main verb of the sentence (My father is supposed to fly to Boston tomorrow.)
  • To be supposed to is similar to Have to, and Ought to
    • Supposed to – something expected or required – but it might not happen
      (Ex: I was supposed to be home for dinner, but the traffic made me late.)
    • Have to – similar to must.  There is no choice.
      (Ex: I have to stop at a red light.)
    • Ought to – similar to should.
      (Ex: You ought to stop smoking.)
  • To be supposed to is different from the verb suppose.  Suppose means to presume, or think something is true.
    (Ex: I suppose she’s happy, but I’m not sure.)

YouTube – Finding English Grammar Lessons

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youtube-logo   There are SO many videos on YouTube that can help you improve your English grammar (and much more!).  Search for a video lesson about anything you want to study.  You can start by searching for: beginner English grammar.

youtube-search
You will see many choices for videos.  Which one should you watch?

Look at: youtube-hits

  • How much time the video takes – 5 minutes? 30 minutes? 2 hours?
  • How many people watched (viewed) the video
    (1.3M = 1.3 Million = 1,300,000)
    (14K = 14 Thousand = 14,000)
  • When was the video put on YouTube – 2 weeks ago? 8 years ago?

If you have a problem with something specific, watch some lessons on that. On YouTube, search for English past tense (or ESL past tense); or ESL verb to be; or ESL auxiliary verbs; or quoted and reported speech (direct and indirect speech).

When you find a video you like, you can look for more videos by the same people.  Many people have a “channel” – a group of their videos – that you can go to on YouTube.  Examples of some good YouTube channels for English learners are: Jennifer ESL, EngVid, and Rachel’s English.

Let’s Play a Kahoot

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  Kahoot is a free app where you try to answer questions about many topics, including English, in a game-style way.  You get points for answering a question correctly – and quickly.  Let’s try a 5-minute Kahoot especially for beginners on this blog:

  • Install the free Kahoot app on your iPhone or iPad, or on your Android phone or tablet
  • From your phone/tablet, press on the picture below, or this link       
  • When you press, it should open the Kahoot app and start the game

 

You can also open the Kahoot app, press “Enter PIN” and enter this number: 0764667
Good Luck!

Soon there will be more articles about how to use the Kahoot app to test, and improve your English.

Say Anything

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Don’t Say
– I don’t know nothing about cooking.
– I’m not doing nothing.
– She didn’t say nothing.
– He won’t do nothing.

Say This:
– I don’t know anything about cooking.
– I’m not doing anything.
– She didn’t say anything.
– He won’t do anything.

Remember:

  • Use Anything instead of Nothing in negative sentences that contain the word “not” (including don’t, doesn’t, didn’t, can’t, couldn’t, won’t, wouldn’t, isn’t, wasn’t, aren’t, weren’t, hasn’t, haven’t …)
    • I can not see anything.
    • Katia isn’t buying anything today.
    • My brother never helps with anything.
    • I’m not afraid of anything.
  • Usually avoid using double-negatives (two negative words) in a sentence.
    • Examples of negative words:
      • Not, Nothing, None, Nobody, Neither, Nowhere…