COMPARATIVES AND SUPERLATIVES

PREPOSITION ON IN AT

Prepositions "On," "At," and "In"

A preposition is a word that links a noun, pronoun, or noun phrase to some other part of the sentence.

Prepositions can be tricky for English learners. There is no definite rule or formula for choosing a preposition. In the beginning stage of learning the language, you should try to identify a preposition when reading or listening in English and recognize its usage. 

• to the office
• at the desk
• on the table
• in an hour
• about myself

A preposition is used to show direction, location, or time, or to introduce an object. 

Here are a few common prepositions and examples.

On

Used to express a surface of something:

• I put an egg on the kitchen table.
• The paper is on my desk.

Used to specify days and dates:

• The garbage truck comes on Wednesdays.
• I was born on the 14th day of June in 1988.

Used to indicate a device or machine, such as a phone or computer:

• He is on the phone right now.
• She has been on the computer since this morning.
• My favorite movie will be on TV tonight.

Used to indicate a part of the body:

• The stick hit me on my shoulder.
• He kissed me on my cheek.
• I wear a ring on my finger.

Used to indicate the state of something:

• Everything in this store is on sale.
• The building is on fire.

At

Used to point out specific time:

• I will meet you at 12 p.m.
• The bus will stop here at 5:45 p.m.

Used to indicate a place:

• There is a party at the club house.
• There were hundreds of people at the park.
• We saw a baseball game at the stadium.

Used to indicate an email address:

• Please email me at abc@defg.com.

Used to indicate an activity:

• He laughed at my acting.
• I am good at drawing a portrait.

In

Used for unspecific times during a day, month, season, year:

• She always reads newspapers in the morning.
• In the summer, we have a rainy season for three weeks.
• The new semester will start in March.

Used to indicate a location or place:

• She looked me directly in the eyes.
• I am currently staying in a hotel.
• My hometown is Los Angeles, which is in California.

Used to indicate a shape, color, or size:

• This painting is mostly in blue.
• The students stood in a circle.
• This jacket comes in four different sizes.

Used to express while doing something:

• In preparing for the final report, we revised the tone three times.
• A catch phrase needs to be impressive in marketing a product.

Used to indicate a belief, opinion, interest, or feeling:

• I believe in the next life.
• We are not interested in gambling.

DEMONSTRATIVE ADJECTIVE

	Singular	Plural
Here	This	These
There	That	Those

These words are called demonstrative pronouns and they are used to show the relative distance between the speaker and the noun.

We use this (singular) and these (plural) to refer to something that is here / near.

Examples:

• This is my car. (singular)
• These are our children. (plural)

We use that (singular) and those (plural) to refer to something that is there / far.

Examples:

• That is our house. (singular)
• Those are my shoes. (plural)

Note that the verb changes (i.e. singular / plural) depending on the pronoun that you use.

You can also use demonstrative pronouns with a noun.

Examples:

• This party is boring. (singular)
• That city is busy. (singular)
• These chocolates are delicious. (plural)
• Those flowers are beautiful. (plural)

If an action is near in time we tend to use this / these.
If an action has finished or is in the past we use that / those.

Examples:

• This is a good meal. (at the time of eating)
• Those girls we met last night were silly. (an event that happened in the past).

The expressions this is / that is are also common when you talk on the phone or you introduce people.

Examples:

• "Hello, this is Peter."
• Carol, this is my friend Simon. Simon, this is Carol.

Possessive Adjectives

English Grammar Rules

Possessive adjectives are used to show possession or ownership of something. While we use them when we refer to people, it is more in the sense of relationship than ownership.

The possessive adjectives in English are as follows:

Subject	Possessive Adjective
I	My
You	Your
He	His
She	Her
It	Its
We	Our
You (pl)	Your
They	Their

                                                           

The possessive adjective needs to agree with the possessor and not with the thing that is possessed.

Examples

• My car is very old.
• Her boyfriend is very friendly.
• Our dog is black.
• Their homework is on the table.

Like all adjectives in English, they are always located directly in front of the noun they refer to. (Possessive Adjective + Noun)

We do not include an S to the adjective when the noun is plural like in many other languages.

Examples:

• Our cars are expensive. (Correct)
  Ours cars are expensive. (Incorrect)

However, the verb that is used needs to be in agreement with the noun - if the noun is singular then the verb is singular; if the noun is plural then the verb is plural.

Examples:

• My pen is black. (Singular)
  My pens are black. (Plural)
• Our child is intelligent. (Singular)
  Our children are intelligent. (Plural)

Its vs. It's

Be careful not to confuse its and it's.

Its = The possessive adjective for It.
It's = a contraction of it is.

MR. BEAN PRESENT PRGRESSIVE

PRESENT PROGRESSIVE

Present Progressive/Continuous 

1) actions happening at the moment of speaking

Peter is reading a book now.

---

2) fixed plan in the near future

She is going to Basel on Saturday.

---

3) temporary actions

His father is working in Rome this month.

---

4) actions happening around the moment of speaking (longer actions)

My friend is preparing for his exams.

---

5) trends

More and more people are using their computers to listen to music.

---

6) repeated actions which are irritating to the speaker (with always, constantly, forever)

Andrew is always coming late.

---

Signal words

now, at the moment, Look! Listen!

---

Form

to be (am, are, is) + infinitive + -ing

---

Examples

Affirmative sentences:

I am playing football. I'm playing football.

You are playing football. You're playing football.

Negative sentences:

I am not playing football. I'm not playing football.

You are not playing football. You're not playing football. You aren't playing football.

Questions:

Am I playing football?

Are you playing football?

Present continuous spelling rules

Continuous verbs

To make continuous verbs add -ing to the base verb:

do becomes doing
ask becomes asking

Silent 'e'

When the verb ends with a silent e, drop the e and add -ing:

make becomes making
take becomes taking

One-syllable verbs

For short, one-syllable verbs, that end with consonant + vowel + consonant (CVC), we must double the last consonant and then add -ing:

swim becomes swimming
run becomes running

w, x and y

For words that end w, x and y, do not double the last consonant; just add -ing:

enjoy becomes enjoying
study becomes studying

Two-syllable words

When words have two or more syllables ending in CVC, you must double the last consonant if the last syllable is stressed. When the last syllable is not stressed, just add -ing.

The last syllable is stressed:
commit becomes committing

The last syllable is not stressed:
whisper becomes whispering

-ie verbs

For verbs that end in -ie, change the ie to y before adding -ing:

die becomes dying

MOTHER´S DAY

Mother's Day

The modern Mother's Day is celebrated on various days in many parts of the world, most commonly in March, April, or May as a day to honor mothers and motherhood. In the UK and Ireland, it follows the old traditions of Mothering Sunday, celebrated in March/April.
Historically, the celebration has it origin in ancient customs and traditions. The ancient Greeks kept a festival to Cybele, a great mother of Greek gods. The ancient Romans also had another holiday, Matronalia, that was dedicated to Juno (an ancient Roman goddess), though mothers were usually given gifts on this day. In Europe there were several long standing traditions where a specific Sunday was set aside to honor motherhood and mothers such as Mothering Sunday which is a Christian festival celebrated throughout Europe that falls on the 4th Sunday in Lent. One of the early calls to celebrate Mother's Day in the United States was the "Mother's Day Proclamation" by Julia Ward Howe. Written in 1870, the Proclamation was tied to Howe's feminist belief that women had a responsibility to shape their societies at the political level.
Today the holiday has become very popular around the world. People take the day as an opportunity to pay tribute to their mothers and thank them for all their love and support. There is also a tradition of gifting flowers, cards and other gift to mothers on the occasion.

Comprehension:

1. Mother's Day is celebrated on the same date around the world.
   a.  True
   b.  False
2. The celebration's origin is ancient.
   a.  True
   b.  False
3. Mothering Sunday is observed in the United States.
   a.  True
   b.  False
4. In the USA, Mother's Day was initially related to the feminists demands to recognize the importance of women.
   a.  True
   b.  False

PRESENT SIMPLE TO BE

To Be - Affirmative

Subject	To Be	Examples
I	am	I am from New Zealand.
You	are	You are Chilean.
He	is	He is twenty years old.
She	is	She is a nurse.
It	is	It is a big dog.
We	are	We are intelligent.
You	are	You are students.
They	are	They are married.

To Be - Contractions

Contractions of To Be are very frequent when we are speaking.

To Be	Contraction	Examples
I am	I'm	I'm from New Zealand.
You are	You're	You're Chilean.
He is	He's	He's twenty years old.
She is	She's	She's a nurse.
It is	It's	It's a big dog.
We are	We're	We're intelligent.
You are	You're	You're students.
They are	They're	They're married.

To Be - Negative Sentences

The negative of To Be can be made by adding not after the verb.

Subject	To Be	Examples
I	am not	I am not from Spain.
You	are not	You are not Australian.
He	is not	He is not thirty years old.
She	is not	She is not a secretary.
It	is not	It is not a small cat.
We	are not	We are not stupid.
You	are not	You are not teachers.
They	are not	They are not single.

To Be - Negative Contractions

There are two ways of forming contractions of To Be in negative sentences. One is with a contraction of the subject and the verb (e.g. I am = I'm) OR a contraction of the verb and not (e.g. are not = aren't)

I'm not from Spain.	---	--------------*
You're not Australian.	OR	You aren't Australian.
He's not thirty years old.	OR	He isn't thirty years old.
She's not a secretary.	OR	She isn't a secretary.
It's not a small cat.	OR	It isn't a small cat.
We're not stupid.	OR	We aren't stupid.
You're not teachers.	OR	You aren't teachers.
They're not single.	OR	They aren't single.

* Notice that the only possible contraction for I am not is I'm not.

To Be - Questions

To create questions with To Be, you put the Verb before the Subject.

Affirmative	You	are	happy.
	Subject	Verb
Question	Are	you	happy?
	Verb	Subject

Affirmative	Question
I am intelligent.	Am I intelligent?
You are a student.	Are you a student?
He is a pilot.	Is he a pilot?
She is from Spain.	Is she from Spain?
It is a big house.	Is it a big house?
We are ready.	Are we ready?
You are doctors.	Are you doctors?
They are rich.	Are they rich?

To Be - Short Answers

In spoken English, we usually give short answers in response to questions.

Are you a student? - Yes, I am (a student). The last part (a student) is not necessary. We use shorts answers to avoid repetition, when the meaning is clear.

Question	Short Answers**	Short Answers
Am I intelligent?	Yes, you are.	No, you aren't.
Are you a student?	Yes, I am.	No, I am not.
Is he a pilot?	Yes, he is.	No, he isn't.
Is she from Spain?	Yes, she is.	No, she isn't.
Is it a big house?	Yes, it is.	No, it isn't.
Are we ready?	Yes, we are.	No, we aren't.
Are you doctors?	Yes, we are.	No, we aren't.
Are they rich?	Yes, they are.	No, they aren't.

** With To Be, We don't use contractions in affirmative short answers unless there is additional information after it (in which case they are no longer considered short answers).

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