Category: Grammar

Phrasal verbs are special groups of verbs that often consist of two or three words.

A phrasal verb is typically structured in two ways:

1. a verb followed by a preposition (two-word phrasal verb)

sit down                       He sat down a chair.

fall over                       She lost balance and fell over.

take off                        The plane takes off in ten minutes.

2. a phrasal verb followed by one more preposition (three-word phrasal verb)

Here are some common examples and their meanings:

run away  from           leave or escape

They are trying so hard not to run away from their responsibilities.

keep up  with               maintain pace with

She is the smartest in class. No one can keep up with her.

look forward to            wait for something excitedly

I look forward to your wedding.

get on with                   have a friendly relationship

I do get on with my neighbors.

fed up with                  annoyed or upset at a situation

He was just so fed up with the big city life, he moved to the countryside.

come up against          to deal with a problem

The team might come up against a stronger opponent.

creep up on                 happens slowly or gradually you don’t notice it

Old age suddenly creeps up on you.

take care of                 be responsible for

You need to take care of your finances.

run out of                     have no more supply of something

We ran out of sugar.

walk out on                  abandon

He just walked out on his wife and children.

put up with                   tolerate

She had to put up with his bad attitude when they were together.

get through with          finish

She went skydiving just to get through with it.

PATTERN: Subject (S) + Verb (V) + Object (O)

Verb and Object are normally not separated.  The object of the sentence receives the verb’s action. It is placed immediately after the verb and answers either of the two questions: “what” or “whom”.

Indefinite pronouns are used to talk about people or things but not specifically saying who or what they are. Those with -body or –one endings are used for people while those with -thing endings are used for things.

Examples:

Everybody wants to be happy.
No one joined the singing contest.
After his eye surgery, he can see everything much clearly.

A singular verb is used with an indefinite pronoun.

Everybody talks fast.
Everything happens for a reason.

A plural pronoun is often used when referring back to an indefinite pronoun.

Everybody cheered him on. They supported him during his race.
I will talk to somebody. They have been waiting for my decision on this matter.

To express a possessive, -‘s is added to an indefinite pronoun.

She is talking to somebody’s friend.
Are these anybody’s shoes?

In negative clauses, indefinite pronouns are used with no- as the subject instead of pronouns with any.)

Anybody didn’t answer. >> Nobody answered.

Nobody, no one or nothing is not used with another negative in a clause.

Nobody wanted this.
Nothing good comes out of comfort zones.

Both each and every are used with a singular noun.

Each is used with an only one object or person.

Every is used with a group of people or object taken as one.

Examples:

Every child is receptive to learning.
Each child learns differently.

When talking about only two objects, use each.

Correct: Amanda wore earrings on each ear.

Incorrect: Amanda wore earrings on every ear.

When the quantifier modifies more than two objects, each and every can be interchanged.

The child got each item on her Christmas wish.
The child got every item on her Christmas wish.

Sometimes, the phrase each and every is used together to emphasize.

The child got each and every item on her Christmas wish.

USE: 

In general, prepositions of place are used to tell where something is.

Here are the uses of very common prepositions of place: IN/ON/AT:

As … as

“As + adjective/adverb + as” is used when the things being compared are somehow the same.

Examples:

The temperature today is as low as yesterday. It hasn’t been very warm this past few days.

You have to be as careful as you can in unwrapping this ancient, fragile vase.

She ran as fast as she could to catch up with him.

Not as … as

On the other hand, “not as … as” is used when comparing things that aren’t of equal proportion.

Examples:

The film is not as good as I expected it would be, actually.

The plant hasn’t grown as tall as the others yet.

She’s not as perky as usual today.

Other ways to express “not as … as” are: “not quite … as” or “not nearly … as”.

Examples:

The second exam was not quite as difficult as the first one. (The second exam was difficult but the first one was more difficult.)

This new mobile phone is not nearly as expensive as my old one. (My old mobile phone is a lot more expensive than the new one.)

Although not as common as “not as … as”, “not so … as” can also be used.

Examples:

Cooking all these dishes was tiring but not so hard as the baking we did.

As … as + possibility

“As … as” is normally followed by possibility or ability expressions.

Examples:

Can she submit this document as soon as possible?

Go to the gym as many times as you can a week.

They got to the hospital as fast as they could after hearing about his accident.

As much as / As many as

In terms of making comparisons about quantity, “as much … as” and “as many … as” are used with uncountable and plural nouns, respectively.

Examples:

Sean makes as much money as David but not as much as Dion.

Mia’s parents try to give her and her brother as much freedom as they can.

There weren’t as many tourists on the beach as we expected last weekend.

“As much as” and “as many as” followed by a number are used to refer to a great number of something.

Examples:

There are as many as 8.6 million people living in New York.

The United States produces as much as 230 million tons of garbage per year.

Present perfect tense is formed by adding the auxiliary verb has/have and the past participle form of the verb.

Affirmative
has + done
have + done

Negative
has not + done
have not + done

Question
Have (subject) done ?
Have (subject) not done ?

USAGE:

1. Present perfect is used when the action continues from the past until now.

Examples:

Their baby has brought them so much joy ever since she was born.
They haven’t woken up since they took a nap earlier this afternoon.
Have you ever ridden a rollercoaster before?

2. Another use of the present perfect tense is when talking about an action that continues up until now.

Examples:

I have met a lot of clients in the past week.
They haven’t seen each other for ages.
Have you heard from Mary yet?

3. Present perfect is used with time expression such as today, this morning, this year etc. when during the time of speaking, these periods are not yet finished.

Amelia has studied very diligently this semester.
I haven’t taken my medicine today.
Have you gone on holiday this year (yet)?

4. Present perfect is also used to say how many times something has happened.

Kim is taking a diving lesson. It’s her first one.
It’s the first time she has dove. (not dives)

Michael has lost his keys again.
This is not the first time this has happened. (not happens)

Frances is calling her clients again.
That’s the fourth time she has called them today. (not called)

Click on this link for a review on Simple Present Tense form.

USAGE:

1. The simple present is used to talk about habits or routines, schedules, and facts.

Examples:

Habit or Routine:

The team trains every single day.
She visits her hometown on holidays.
They like their coffee cold.

Schedules:

He starts work at nine.
Banks open at 8:00 in the morning.
I go to see my dentist twice a year.

Facts or Generalizations:

It rains a lot in my country during spring.
Nurses take care of ailing patients.
The earth revolves around the sun.

2. Another use of the simple present tense is to express about future events, especially  those based on present facts, and when these facts are something fixed like a time-table, schedule, calendar.

Examples:

The delegation arrives at 10:00 tomorrow.
They have Chemistry class every Tuesdays and Thursdays.
The bar opens at 8:00 tonight.
Next Thursday at 2:00, there is a department meeting.
The group rehearsal commences in fifteen minutes.

The marker to is usually a part of an infinitive. However, it is not a vital part or sign of the infinitive. A bare infinitive does not use to.

USES:

1. After the following verbs:

bid, let, make, see, hear, need, dare, help, feel, notice, watch

Correct: He bade his companions enter.
Wrong: He bade his companions to enter.

Correct: Let them stay here.
Wrong: Let them to stay here.

Correct: He made her suffer.
Wrong: He made her to suffer.

Correct: I heard her tell a lie.
Wrong: I heard her to tell a lie.

2. After modal verbs:

will, would, shall, should, may, might, can, could and must

Correct: They will wait.
Wrong: They will to wait.

Correct: She must obey her parents’ rules.
Wrong: She must to obey her parents’ rules.

Correct: Her daughter can speak five languages.
Wrong: Her daughter can to speak five languages.

Correct: You should come to the party tonight.
Wrong: You should to come to the party tonight.

3. After the expressions:

had better, would rather, sooner than and rather than

Correct: They had better do this task.
Wrong: They had better to do this task.

Correct: The rebels would rather die than surrender.
Wrong: The rebels would rather to die than surrender.

Correct: The children would rather play than study.
Wrong: The children would rather to play than study.

4. After some prepositions:

except, but, save and than

Correct: She can do everything but cook.
Wrong: She can do everything but to cook.

Correct: She did nothing except cry.
Wrong: She did nothing except to cry.

We use possessive adjectives to demonstrate that someone or something owns something. We often use them when we talk about people. It is also mostly used in the sense of relationship more than ownership.

FORM

The possessive adjective should agree with the owner and not with the thing that is owned.

Examples:

My book is very thick.
His girlfriend is very pretty.
Our cat is fat.
Their clothes are in their suitcases.

Possessive adjectives are always before the noun they modify.

[Pattern: Possessive Adjective + Noun]

An “S” should not be added to the adjective when it’s referring to a plural noun.

Examples:

Incorrect: Ours bags are heavy.
Correct: Our bags are heavy.

However, the verb has to agree with the noun. If it is a singular noun, the verb should be singular. If it is a plural noun then the verb is plural.

Examples:

My t-shirt is grey. (Singular)
My t-shirts are grey. (Plural)

Our dog is very well-trained. (Singular)
Our dogs are very well-trained.(Plural)