By Jacqueline Schaalje Students ask me sometimes whether they can ask any question with do and does. I say, no, sometimes you need to ask with “can,” or with a form of to be (am, is, are). “So when do I need do or does?” the student will ask. Answer: First of all you use… Continue reading When to Use Do and Does, Questions and Negatives
By Jacqueline Schaalje Henry Burrows At last, a fun subject!. Has it happened to you that you read a sentence and you thought: Heck, this sentence has no meaning? But then you read the sentence again, and a miracle happens: the pieces fall into place. And suddenly the sentence does make sense. For instance, what do… Continue reading Garden Path Sentences – Crazy Sentences that Do Have Meaning
By Jacqueline Schaalje Now a really easy grammar subject: has and have. When do you use have and when has? Look at the picture. What do you see? A man hugging his son. The man has a son. Note: I’m only going to talk about present simple tense, and not about any other tense. There… Continue reading Easy Grammar: Has and Have
A Sentence for Every Occasion By Jacqueline Schaalje Warning: This is a lesson at Expert level. If you’re a beginner, read only the first part in this article about simple sentences, and then do something else. In this article you’ll learn how to write and recognize simple sentences, then compound sentences, and finally complex sentences. As… Continue reading Simple, Compound and Complex Sentences
See if you know them now: Do the Conditionals Mixed Quiz By Jacqueline Schaalje This is only for intermediate and advanced learners! I don’t recommend trying to understand this article if you’re a beginning learner of English. If you’re not quite sure, have a look again at some older articles that explain conditionals one by… Continue reading Conditionals Overview
By Jacqueline Schaalje Too + Adjective Too + adjective means too much of something. I put too much sugar in my coffee > My coffee is too sweet. The temperature outside is 35C. > It’s too hot. Adjective + enough means it’s just right. You can use this for questions: – Is the soup hot… Continue reading Too Much or Not Enough: Easy Grammar
Stefano Mortellaro The Most Popular Words in English In 1935, the American philologist (= an expert on written language & literature) George Kingsley ZIpf formulated a clever law about the most popular words in any language. We’ll only talk about English of course, which is the only language I know really a lot about. What… Continue reading Zipf’s Law or Which English Words Should You Know?
Do you know how to use more seriously and the most seriously and stuff like that? Then you might be able to do the online quiz without instruction. (Follow the link.) If not, watch this video first: Exercise Choose a suitable adverb. Example: Rina is a good piano player, but she plays __________ than Billy.… Continue reading Are You Working More Seriously than Most Other People? – A Short Explanation about How to Use Comparatives and Superlatives with Adverbs
Just a few drops There is a difference between a few and few. This difference is similar to a little and little. Have a look here at my earlier article about this. First of all, you use a few or few when you can count things. So you can use few or a few for… Continue reading A Few and Few – They don’t mean the same!
Often, especially when your English gets better, it’ll help you understand a text when you know which words are nouns and which are verbs. And it can also make you a better writer. Invent or invention? What I’ve seen with my students is they can guess what the meaning is of a sentence when they… Continue reading Some Tricks to See the Difference Between Verbs and Nouns
English with a Smile 