NOTE 10: QUESTION WORDS ( 5W's )

The most common question words in English are the following:

WHO is only used when referring to people. (= I want to know the person)

• ·         Who is the best football player in the world?
• ·         Who are your best friends?
• ·         Who is that strange guy over there?

WHERE is used when referring to a place or location. (= I want to know the place)

• Where is the library?
• Where do you live?
• Where are my shoes?

WHEN is used to refer to a time or an occasion. (= I want to know the time)

• When do the shops open?

• When is his birthday?

• When are we going to finish?

WHY is used to obtain an explanation or a reason. (= I want to know the reason)

Normally the response begins with "Because..."

• Why do we need a nanny?

• Why are they always late?

• Why does he complain all the time?

WHAT is used to refer to specific information. (= I want to know the thing)

• What is your name?

• What is her favourite colour?

• What is the time?

WHICH is used when a choice needs to be made. (= I want to know the thing between alternatives)

• Which drink did you order – the rum or the beer?

• Which day do you prefer for a meeting – today or tomorrow?

• Which is better - this one or that one?

HOW is used to describe the manner that something is done. (= I want to know the way)

• How do you cook paella?

• How does he know the answer?

• How can I learn English quickly?

With HOW there are a number of other expressions that are used in questions:

How much – refers to a quantity or a price (uncountable nouns)

• How much time do you have to finish the test?

• How much is the jacket on display in the window?

• How much money will I need?

How many – refers to a quantity (countable nouns)

• How many days are there in April?

• How many people live in this city?

• How many brothers and sister do you have?

How often – refers to frequency

• How often do you visit your grandmother?

• How often does she study?

• How often are you sick?

How far – refers to distance

• How far is the university from your house?

• How far is the bus stop from here?

NOTE 9: SYNONYM & ANTONYM

SYNONYM

A word or phrase that means that same, or nearly the same as another word or phrase.

• big - large

• heavy - weighty

• thin - slim

• tall - short

• thick - thin

• difficult – easy

ANTONYM

A word or phrase that means the opposite or nearly the opposite from another word or phrase.

Example of Synonym and Antonym:

Word	Synonym	Antonym	Example Sentences
Big	Large	Small	He has a big house in California. She has a small apartment.
Difficult	Hard	Easy	The test was very difficult. I think riding a bike is easy.
New	Recent	Used	I bought a recent book. She drives a used car.
Clean	Tidy	Dirty	He keeps his house tidy. The car is dirty.
Friendly	Outgoing	Unfriendly	Tom is outgoing with everyone. Tina is unfriendly person.
Good	Great	Bad	That’s great idea! He’s a bad tennis player.
Cheap	Inexpensive	Expensive	Homes are inexpensive at the moment. That car is very expensive.

NOTE 8: UNCOUNTABLE & COUNTABLE NOUNS

UNCOUNTABLE NOUNS

Uncountable nouns are substances, concepts etc that we cannot divide into separate elements. We cannot "count" them. For example, we cannot count "milk". We can count "bottles of milk" or "litres of milk", but we cannot count "milk" itself. Here are some more uncountable nouns:

• ·         Music, art, love, happiness
• ·         Advice, information, news
• ·         Furniture, luggage
• ·         Rice, sugar, butter, water
• ·         Electricity, gas, power
• ·         Money, currency

We usually treat uncountable nouns as singular. We use a singular verb. For example:

• This news is very important.
• Your luggage looks heavy.

We do not usually use indefinite article a/an with uncountable nouns. We cannot say “ an information” or “ a music”. But we can say a something of:

• A piece of news
• A bottle of water
• A grain of rice

We can use some and any with uncountable nouns:

• I’ve got some money.
• Have you got any rice?

We can use a little and much with uncountable nouns:

• I’ve got a little money.
• I haven’t got much rice.

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COUNTABLE NOUNS

Countable nouns are easy to recognize. They are things that we can count. For example: “pen”. We can count pens. We can have one, two, three or more pens. Here are some more countable nouns:

• ·         Dog, cat, animal, man, person
• ·         Bottle, box, litre
• ·         Coin, note, dollar
• ·         Cup, plate, fork

Countable nouns can be singular or plural:

• My dog is playing.
• My dogs are hungry.

We can use the indefinite article a/an with countable nouns:

• A dog is an animal.

When a countable noun is singular, we must use a word like a/ the/ my/ this with it:

• I want an orange. ( not I want orange )
• Where is my bottle? ( not Where is bottle?)

When a countable noun is plural, we can use it alone:

• I like oranges.
• Bottles can break.

We can use some and any with countable nouns:

• I’ve got some dollars.
• Have you got any pens?

We can use a few and many with countable nouns:

I’ve got a few dollars.

I haven’t got many pens.

Here are some more examples of uncountable and countable nouns:

Countable	Uncountable
Dollar	Money
Song	Music
Suitcase	Luggage
Table	Furniture
Battery	Electricity
Report	Information
Tip	advice

NOTE 7: SINGULAR & PLURAL

A noun is the name of a person, place or thing. A singular noun refers to 1 only; a plural noun refers to 2 or more.

There are two things to note about singular and plural nouns. The first is that they change their form depending on whether they are singular or plural:

1 car

2 cars

In most cases this means adding an –s to a singular noun to make it plural.

The second point to note is to do with the verb which goes with the noun. The subject of a sentence ( which is usually a noun ) must agree with the verb which follows it. This means that if the subject is singular then the verb must be singular and if the subject is plural then the verb must be plural:

The car is in the garage.

The cars are in the garage.

Form

Most nouns in English are regular. To make them plural we simply add –s to the end:

singular	plural
1 book	2 books
1 car	4 cars
1 house	8 houses

Singular	Plural
1 tooth	2 teeth
1 goose	4 geese
1 foot	2 feet
1 child	6 children
1 ox	2 oxen
1 oasis	3 oases
1 axis	2 axes
1 man	2 men
1 woman	2 women
1 mouse	2 mice
1 medium	2 media

Singular	Plural
1 sheep	2 sheep
1 salmon	4 salmon
1 aircraft	8 aircraft

Singular	Plural
1 penny	2 pence/pennies
1 person	4 persons/people
1 fish	8 fish/fishes

Irregular Nouns

Some nouns have two very different words for the singular and the plural:

Alternatively, some nouns are the same whether tey are singular or plural:

Finally, some nouns have alternative plurals.

These can have different meanings in different contexts. For example, we can say:

I went out fishing last weekend and in four hours caught just 2 tiny fish.

However, if we want to refer to different types of fish we might say:

These fishes live together even though some of the bigger fishes could easily eat the smaller ones.

Miscellaneous

Some nouns have a plural but no singular, for example:

Clothes, contents, earnings, goods, riches, savings, thanks, troops

These nouns take a plural verb:

The contents are labeled on the jar.

His saving were wiped out in the crash.

Some nouns look plural but are, in fact, singular, for example:

Athletics, gymnastics, mathematics, measles, news, politics

The verb is singular here:

His measles is spreading.

Politics is boring!

Some words can be either plural or singular, for example:

Headquarters. Means, work ( =factory/workshop, etc.)

The verb can be either singular or plural; there is no real difference:

Their headquarters are situated in central London.

Their headquarters is situated in central London.

Meanwhile a collective noun is a group of nouns describing the same thing, for example:

Army, Arsenal, audience, class, club, committee, company, crowd, gang, group

We use singular verb if we think of the group as a whole:

Arsenal is playing well today.

Or plural if we are thinking of the individuals:

Arsenal are a mixed bunch of players.

Some groups, however, are always plural:

The police are coming!

The cattle are lowing.

When we have a noun phrase‏‎ of measurement‏‎, we use a singular verb:

Twenty kilos is the maximum weight for suitcases.

Six feet six inches is tall for a man.

But when we talk about a pair of things, we always use the plural, for example:

a pair of: glasses, jeans, scissors, trousers

My glasses are broken.

Your jeans are ripped.

NOTE 6: PRESENT / PAST / FUTURE TENSE

SIMPLE PRESENT TENSE

 Repeated Action

Use the Simple Present to express the idea that an action is repeated or usual. The action can be a habit, a hobby, a daily event, a scheduled event or something that often happens. It can also be something a person often forgets or usually does not do.

            Example : I play tennis


 Facts or Generalization

The Simple Present can also indicate the speaker believes that a fact was true before, is true now, and will be true in the future. It is not important if the speaker is correct about the fact. It is also used to make generalizations about people or things.

             Example : California is in America.


Scheduled Events in the Near Future

Speakers occasionally use Simple Present to talk about scheduled events in the near future. This is most commonly done when talking about public transportation, but it can be used with other scheduled events as well.

             Example : The bus does not arrive at 11 AM, it arrives at 11 PM    


Now (Non-Continuous Verbs)

Speakers sometimes use the Simple Present to express the idea that an action is happening or is not happening now. This can only be done with Non-Continuous Verbs and certain Mixed Verbs.

                Example : He does not need help now

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SIMPLE PAST TENSE

Past Tense is used to talk about something that started and finished at a definite time in the past.

For example: The past tense of the verb want is wanted.

To change a regular verb into its past tense form, we normally add –ED to the end of the verb.

• play – played

• cook – cooked

• rain – rained

• wait – waited

There are some words that are not adding the –ED at the end of the verb.

• ·         Eat – ate
• ·         Drive – drove
• ·         Sing – sang
•           Drink – drank

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FUTURE TENSE

Indicates that an action is in the future relative to the speaker or writer. There are no inflected forms for the future in English (nothing like those -ed or -s endings in the other tenses). Instead, the future tense employs the helping verbs will or shall with the base form of the verb:

• She will leave soon.

• We shall overcome

The future is also formed with the use of a form of "go" plus the infinitive of the verb:

• He is going to faint.