English for everyone

In this blog you will find information on various topics that are widely used in grammar. Each entry describes the issues and you can find examples of these and interactive videos that will help to enhance learning.

Modals

The modal verbs include can, must, may, might, will, would, should. They are used with other verbs to express ability, obligation, possibility, and so on.

Can

To express ability:

• I can speak a little Russian.

To request permission 

• Can I open the window?

May

To express possibility 

• I may be home late.

To request permission 

• May I sit down, please?

Must

To express obligation 

• I must go now.

To express strong belief 

• She must be over 90 years old.

Should

To give advice 

• You should stop smoking.

Would

To request or offer

• Would you like a cup of tea?

In if-sentences

• If I were you, I would say sorry.

Will

Assuption

• They will be here in a minute.

Won't

Refusal

• I won't stop until I get what I want.

Migth as well

The last option, when the speaker is not enthusiastic.

• We migth as well just pay the bill.

Is supposed to:

Obligation

• They were supposed to deliver the package this morning.

Modals are auxiliary verbs. They do not need an additional auxiliary in negatives or questions.

Comparatives and Superlatives

They are use to compare two or more nouns. The formation of the comparative and superlative depends on the number of syllables in the adjective. An adjective is a word or phrase that is used to describe a noun or pronoun.

Comparative

When we use an adjective to compare two things, we add "er" to the end of the adjective if it is short, and we say  "more" or "less" before the adjective if it is long.

One- syllable adjectives: add -er to the adjective

• My sister is much taller than me.

One- syllable adjectives ending in -y: change the -y to -ier

• She's looking happier today.

Syllable adverbs ending in -y must be compared with the word more.

• I drive more quickly than my brother.

Adjectives with 3 or more syllables: use more with the unchanged adjective.

• Russian grammar is more difficult than English grammar.

Superlatives

When a thing is unique because it is the most or least of a particular quality, we add "est" to the adjective if it is short, and we say "most" or "least" before the adjective if it is long. Before all superlative adjectives, we say "the" because a superlative describes something unique.

One-syllable adjectives: add -est to the adjective (plus the)

• My sister is the tallest in our family.

Note: If the word ends: consonant-vowel-consonant, then the last consonant is usually doubled in the superlative. Examples: big-biggest, fat-fattest, hot-hottest.

Two-syllable adjectives ending in -y: change the -y to -iest (plus the)

• The richest people are not always the happiest.

Articles

Articles in English can be complicated, and there are many rules for their use. Learning a few general rules about the use of the articles is helpful; the logic of these rules can be transferred to most uses of the article. In addition to learning the rules, you can gain a good working use of the articles through reading and listening. 

As we noted above, the articles are the, usually referred to as the definite article, and a/an, the indefinite article. They both constitute part of the noun phrase and usually, provided there are no other determiners present, occupy the first position in the noun phrase.

A/an

This is used when the noun 

that we wish to refer to is unknown to our listener/reader or is not part of the common ground that we share. It is most often used to introduce new information.

Tell me a story.

The

By using the, we are signalling to our listener that she/he is very likely to know what we are referring to and that the context of our conversation should help them to identify this. 

I was out the other day and I found a ten-pound note on the street. I couldn't decide whether to keep the money or hand it in. (I have already talked about this money in the previous sentence.)

No article

If we want to refer to something general and the nouns that we are using are either plural or uncountable, we leave out articles.

I really like funfairs.

Definite article

Are use for classes, National groups, others groups, unique objects, titles, musical instruments, geographical names, shared knowledge or experiencie.

Indefinite article
Use to name a job, measuring, introducing something new.

No article
Names, streets, general plurals.

The Pink Ribbon

The Pink Ribbon

In Costa Rica, the cases of breast cancer are increasing in women and men.

The population has to know a lot about this problem, because with an early diagnose you can receive an easier treatment and the process is not going to be so hard.

I propose to form a club called “The Pink Ribbon”, the purpose of this club is going to be the promote the well-being, encourage measures of caution for a diagnose in time, and help the people fight against the tumor. We want to offer an opportunity of life, to have a better process with this disease.

This cancer and all the others in general are a big challenge and with us, all the people can face it and rise to the challenge. The number of people in the club is unlimited; any student of Ulacit can enjoy us in this battle. The University is going to be the center of reunion; you can find us in the afternoon, usually at coffee time.

Our meetings are going to be about how we can make a plan to prevent the cancer, share information that can help people in the process and help the families. We can discuss with a nutritionist about meal plans because the diet has to be different during the chemotherapy. In this club, the members can tell us testimonies, because it would be amazing to be able to speak about that and liberate all the suffering and maybe frustration that you can feel in that moment, it is not easy to deal with all of that.

We want to organize a benefit party and with the money make the compaings that will promote all the information about breast cancer. Outside the University we can organize reunions with people who want to be heard or does not have any idea about how to treat these diseases.

Our most important goal is to help diagnose this cancer early and be part of this fight, make the process less painful. We don´t have too many rules, the only and the most important that we want of you is responsibility and loyalty.

Remember that doing things for other people is the biggest pleasure in life. Also for people in this long road, is important to have the right attitude and a positive mind.

Gerund and infinitive

Gerunds are formed by adding –ing to the end of a verb. Some examples are eating and playing.

Words that should be followed by gerunds such as avoid, enjoy, and dislike and there is no great way to remember which words except through considerable amounts of practice using them.

We use gerunds (verb + ing):

• After certain verbs - I enjoy singing
• After prepositions - I drank a cup of coffee before leaving
• As the subject or object of a sentence - Swimming is good exercise

Infinitives use to before the verb, so the examples above would be to eat, to play, and to listen. Both can be used as the subject or object of a sentence. There are also some words such as demand, hope, and pretend, that must be followed by an infinitive.

We use 'to' + infinitive:

• After certain verbs - We decided to leave
• After many adjectives - It's difficult to get up early
• To show purpose - I came to London to study English