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BABE-BOLYAI TUDOMNY EGYETEM

PSZICHOLGIA S NEVELSTUDOMNYOK KAR


TANTKPZ FISKOLA SZKELYUDVARHELY

ANGOL

- tanulmnyi tmutat I.

szemeszter

POPA GABRIELLA
2006
1

TARTALOMJEGYZK

1. Families.3
2. Housing.6
3. Meals.8
4. Weekends and daily Routines.11
6. The Verb.14
7. The Noun21
8. The Pronoun..24
9. Determiners28

FAMILIES

I. READ AND COMPARE


British families are usually quite small. An average family consists of a mother, a
father and 2 children. Different generations usually don't live together, so it is
quite rare in Britain for grandparents, aunts and uncles to share the house with
the nuclear family. Pets -like dogs, cats, goldfish, hamsters and budgerigars - are
often regarded as close members of the family.
In the last 15 or 25 years there have been great changes in family life in Britain.
For example, more couples now live together and have children without getting
married. Among married couples there has been an increase in divorce and
separation with the result that there are many more one-parent families. Members of
a family see less of each other than they used to. Another change in family life
is the attitude of adults to children: parents treat their children more as equals
than they used to and children are given more freedom to make their own
decisions in life. Despite these changes most people in Britain decide to get
married and start a family.

A family tree
Look at the following family tree and then fill in the missing words in the sentences below:
Brian Jones
m. Pamela Smith
David Jones
m. Rita Grey
Patsy
Guy

Pat Jones
m. Jonathan Banks
Helen
Mary

Charles Jones
m. Sarah Price

Guy Jones

Mary Jones

Samantha
Banks
nephew, grandchildren, wife, aunt, husband, niece, father, son, brother,
cousins, mother, uncle, parents, grandmother, sister, brother-in-law,
daughter-in-law, mother-in-law, son-in-law
Brian is David's
..........................................
Patsy and Samantha are
Charles is Pat's
..
............................................
Sarah is Guys
Pamela is Helen's

........................................
Rita is Davids
Jonathan is Patsy's
.
......................................
Charles is Jonathans.
Pamela is Sarah's

........................................
Rita is Marys
Jonathan is Pat's
.
..........................................
Guy and Mary are Brians
Brian is Sarah's
...........................................
.
Jonathan is Brian's
Patsy is Helens..
......................................
..
Guy is Sarah's
Guy is Davids
.............................................
.
Rita is Brian's
Mary is Ritas
.............................................
.
Pat and Jonathan are Samanthas
.

I. READ AND COMPARE

Put each of the following words or phrases in its correct place in the passage below.
a).Childhood and Adolescence
hobbies, development, extroverts, adult, relationships, daydreams, adults, introverts, idolize,
teens
Children live in their own world, from which_____________are largely excluded. The
________________world is strange and exciting to them. They have ________________of success,
adventure, romance and fame. They ____________________their big brothers and sisters, pop singers
or film stars. ________________such as stamp-collecting, music or dancing are important to them.
Children, especially when they are in their ________________, go through a physical and emotional
_____________which can be frightening. Their characters also begin to develop. Some adolescents are
___________________and keep themselves to themselves, while others are_________________and
like to share their thoughts and form__________________with other people. Its a wonderful, terrible
time.

b) Marriage
bride, engaged, bridegroom, consent, wedding, civil, reception, honeymoon,propose, toast
One evening, although he was nervous, Joe decided to_______________to his girlfriend, Linda. She
accepted his proposed, they became__________________and he gave her a ring. After a year they had
saved enough money to get married (they were both over 18 so they did not need their parents
___________. Some people have a religious ceremony with a priest, but Joe and Linda decided on a
___________________ceremony in a registry office. On the day of the ___________________Linda,
the________________, was very calm, but Joe, the___________________, was nervous. Afterwards, at
the_________________speeches were made and the guests drank a _____________________to the
happy couple who finally left for a __________________in Spain.

Housing
Most British families live in houses. Perhaps you think this is not surprinsing. After all where
else can people live? In fact in some countries most people live in flats and apartments. So do
some people in Britain of course, but in British towns it is more common to find rows of
houses rather than blocks of flats. A typical British house is semi-detached and has a garden at
the front and the back; but a lot of people live in terraced houses, and the rich live in detached
ones.In Britain over 50% of families buy their own houses, the others rent their homes.
The majority of houses and flats for rent in Britain are owned by local housing authorities.
The local authority is responsible for building and maintaining the housing area.
In the 1950s and early 1960s tower blocks of flats were built in Britain to provide the most
accommodation using the least amount of land.
Living in a high-rise block of flats has problems. Families feel isolated and lonely. There is
not much contact with the neighbours. The children have nowhere to play. The old people
have to depend on the lift (elevator) to reach the outside world. When the lift is not operating,
the old people are cut off from human contact. It has now been realized that high-rise flats are
not the answer to Britains housing problems.
Old property is often preserved and improved, not pulled down. Large houses may be
modernized inside and converted into small units, such as flats.
My Dream House
.
Necessities: with all the modern conveniences, well-equipped household, easy
to reach from the city centre, telephone, easy to clean, hot and cold running
water, tiled bathroom floors, big enough for the family and for entertaining
friends, easy to heat: central/block/gas/oil heating, tile stove, electric fire, open
fireplace, convection heaters.
Building a dream house would cost an enormous amount of money, but suppose
you could afford to build a house with a living/dining room, four bedrooms,
kitchen, hall, bathroom and garage but with only one item from each of the lists
below.
Work in groups and decide which to choose:
- swimming-pool or sauna or
gymnasium, - music room or
games room or TV room, playroom or library or study,
- washing machine or freezer or dishwasher,
- video recorder or piano or hi-fi system,
- vegetable garden or flower garden or fruit garden.
When you have decided what to have, draw a ground-floor plan of the house,
showing where you're going to put everything. Assume that the bedrooms and
bathroom are upstairs.
Put the following words into the sentences below.
Upstairs, sitting room, skylight, landing, double glazing, French windows, downstairs, attic,
chimney, letter boksz, cellar, porch, dining room, hall, gutter, central heating

A house consists of two floors_________________and _________________. Smoke comes


out of a ____________________. The room under a house ia called the ________________.
The pipe at the bottom of the roof to carry away rainwateris called the_________________.
You eat in the __________________. The space under the roof, often used for storing boxes,
etc. Is called the _________________. Most families relax and watch television in the
________________. The postman delivers letters through the__________________. A
window which opens out onto the roof is called a __________________. Most modern houses
have______________instead of open fires. The space inside the front door is called
the____________. In modern houses in Britain, the windows are made up of two panes of
glass instead of just one. This is called_______________. The space at the top of the stairs is
called the___________________. Doors made of glass which usually open out into the
garden are called____________________. In some houses there is a covered space before you
go through the front door. This is called the ____________.

Make five columns, for kitchen, sitting room, bathroom, hall and bedroom, and then put the
following words into their appropriate columns.
Wardrobe, desk, settee, armchair, dressing table, coffee table, side-board, vegetable rack,
refrigerator, chest of drawers, tiles, gas/electric cooker, soap dish, sink, taps, towel rack,
standard lamp, shower, mirror, curtain, sofa, built-in furniture, three-piece suite, TV set,
double bed, work top, bath tub, cupboard, bookcase, washbasin, hi-fi set, oven, stereo system,
waste bin, pillow, coat rack, blanket.

Meals

In different parts of Britain people call their meals by different names. It's very
complica\ed! For most people the main meal of the day is called dinner. But some
families eat this at mid-day, others eat it in the evening. People who have dinn~r in the
evening have a smaller meal called lunch at mid-day, and people who have dinner at
mid-day usually have another meal (which they call tea) between five and six o'clock, or
they have supper a little later. .
For most people, breakfast is a bowl of cereal followed by toast and marmalade with a
cup of coffee or tea. Some people have a cooked breakfast (often bacon, and eggs) but
this is not as common as it used to be.
Lunch is usually a very quick meal; for most people a sandwich or a light snack.
Dinner may have two or three courses. First a starter (e.g. soup), then a main course
with meat orfish and finally a dessert.
It is probably true that British food does not have a very good reputation among people
from overseas. In general though, it has improved considerably in recent years. There
are still two main problems: vegetables and coffee. Vegetables are usually overcooked,
and coffee is usually instant. Moreover, the food isn't always considered to be very
healthy.
But in recent years there has been a change in British habits: the growing popularity of
health foods. People now want to eat food which they know is good for them. Health
foods can mean different things to different people. For some people it can mean eating
more honey or brown sugar and less white sugar. But for others it can mean not eating
any food which has chemicals in it. A lot of people in Britain now recognize that the
chemicals which food companies add to our foods are bad for us, and so they try not to
eat those foods. Instead they often grow their own fruit and vegetables in their garden.
Or they buy their food from special health food shops. Some people are even more
careful about their food. They will not eat meat at all. They are vegetarians.

II. EXTEND YOUR VOCABULARY


1. Entertaining at home: Put each of the following words or phrases in its correct
place in the passage below.
Cutlery, vegetarian, diet, crockery, side dish, starter, napkin, entertaining, sink, main
course, washing up, dessert.
Maureen often gives dinner parties at home. She loves (a) -' She lays the table: puts the
(b)
- in the right places, sets out the plates and puts a clean white (c) - at each place. For
the meal itself, she usually gives her guests some kind of (d)

first, for example soup or

melon. Next comes the (e) -, which is usually meat (unless some of her guests are (1)
it is
of salad. For (i)
with a (h)
or if they are on a special (g)
usually fruit or ice-cream, and then coffee. When everyone has gone home, she must
think about doing the G) - , as in the kitchen the (k) - is full of dirty (1) - .

2. The dinner wasn't good. Stephen writes a note on


the bill.
"This restaurant is awful. The soup was awful, the meat was awful, the potatoes were
awful, the gateau was awful, the coffee was awful, the wine was awful, the waiters were
awful, and the music was awfuL"
Janet says, 'You can't give them that note. You can't say awful all the time. Use
different words.' Stephen begins: "This restaurant is awful. The soup was cold..."
Can you help him finish the note?

IV. DO IT YOURSELF
1. Recipes
Look at this list of ingredients for a breaded pork cutlet. The instructions are mixed up, so
rearrange them into the correct order.

Pork chops, 1 egg, breadcrumbs, flour, salt, pepper, oil


1. Shake salt and pepper onto the meat slices.
2. Cut the meat from the bone.
3. Heat up the oil in a frying pan and fry the breaded cutlets on both sides until golden brown. 4. Dip
them into the egg again and dredge them in the breadcrumbs.
5. Beat the cutlets with a meat hammer.
6. Beat the egg.
7. Dip them into the egg and then dredge them in the flour.
Now write a recipe for making Hungarian pancakes. Make a list of ingredients and use the following
list of verbs:

Finally, write the recipe for your own favorite


dish.
2. Look at the different verbs of cooking listed below, and match them with the right
explanations.
1. Boil
a. under, or in front of, heat (usually for bread)
2. Bake
b. in boiling water
3. Roast
c. slowly in a closed pan or pot
4. Fry
d. in the oven (usually for bread and cakes)
5. Grill
e. in hot fat or oil
6. Stew
f. under, or in front of, heat (usually for meat)
7. Toast
g. in the oven (usually for meat)

3. Lucy wrote the instructions for serving some food and drinks.
. Now they are mixed
up. Decide with your partner which information is for which food.
1. eggs
a. serve them straight from the packet
2. sausages b. serve them with cream and sugar
3. red wine c. cook for 10 minutes
4. coffee d. serve at twenty degrees centigrade
5. lettuce e. cook in boiling water for 6 minutes
6. small cakes f. wash and serve
7. peanuts g. put a little icing on the top of each one

10

II. EXTEND YOUR VOCABULARY

Weekends and Daily Routine

Time off does not mean doing nothing all the weekend. Many Britons enjoy improving
their houses. They spend a lot of their time off on do-it-yourself jobs: painting and
wallpapering the rooms, putting up new shelves, doing repair work or fitting new
cupboards in the kitchen. They sometimes go to the DIY (do-it-yourself) shops for some
tools.
British people like gardening as well. They have flowers, vegetables and lawns in their
gardens. Once a week they have to cut the lawn with a lawnmower.
On Sundays most British people spend a long time over breakfast, reading the Sunday
paper. Then they may take their cars out of the garage and polish them. On Sundays in
Britain many families eat a big lunch of roast meat and vegetables. In the afternoons the
families often drive to visit their
relatives. They stay to tea and supper. In summer, when the days are longer, they
sometimes set off early on Sunday morning to spend a day at the seaside or in the
country. To make a change, they sometimes decide to visit a historic castle or a 'stately
home' (a big house belonging to an aristocratic family).
Not everybody in Britain is interested in sport or in outings. They are also interested in
going to the theatre to see good plays, to the cinema to see films, often in a foreign
language, to concerts and to the opera. But this kind of entertainment is getting
expensive and it is largely a city activity. Towns and cities also have public art galleries
and museums, these are mostly free. An especially British activity, which may count as
cultural entertainment, is attendance at day and evening classes in Adult Institutes and
Colleges of Further Education. Some people may go to practical classes like
dressmaking or car maintenance, but many go for pleasure to do pottery or ballet
dancing, to learn how to arrange flowers artistically, or to learn a foreign language.

11

Extend your vocabulary

Find out something about your partner's habits and daily routine by asking him
or her questions. Then your partner will also ask you questions. Before you
start, work out which questions to ask. Then take it in turns to ask and answer
questions.
Find out if your
partner:
11. sometimes misses
1. gets up early
lunch
2. feels tired in the mornings
3. has a shower or takes a bath in the 12. has lunch at a
restaurant
morning
13. does his/her homework at home or
4. has breakfast in bed
at school
5. has coffee for breakfast
14. reads a daily newspaper
6. gets dressed before or after
15. watches TV every evening
breakfast
16. regularly goes in for sport
7. leaves home before 7 o'clock
17. reads before he/she goes to sleep
8. goes to school by bus
9. has a snack in the school canteen 18. goes to bed before 11 o'clock
19. remembers his/her dreams
10. wears jeans to school
20. goes out at weekends

2. Look at these lists of hobbies.


Building models, model rai1r6iding, ham radio operating, playing a musical
instrument or singing,
photography, gardening, cooking
~ . '.
Collecting: stamps, trading cards, postcards, napkins, beer coasters, coins, calendars,
books, records, autographs, dolls
Try to extend each list as much as you can.
Which of these hobbies do you do
Which ones would you consider taking up? Why?
Sport is very popular' in Britain. In other words a lot of British people like the
idea of sport; a lot even watch sport, especially on the TV. However, the number
who actively take part in sport is probably quite small. On the whole British
people prefer to be fat rather than.fit.
- The most popular spectator sport is football. Football is played on a Saturday
afternoon in most British towns and the fans, or supporters, of a particular team
will travel from one end of the country to the other to see their team play. There
are four divisions of the football league. Not sUllprisingly the best teams are in
the first division. However, the best supporters are often in the fourth division.
You have to be a good supporter to watch fourth division football!
Many other sports are also played in Britain, including golf, in which you try to
knock a ball into a hole; croquet, in which you try to knock a ball through some
hoops; basketball, in which you try to get a ball through a net; tennis, in which
you try to hit a ball so that your opponent cannot hit it... and cricket which is
played with a ball, but is otherwise incomprehensible. As you can see, if the ball
had not been invented, there would have been no sport.
Actually, that's not quite true. Athletics is not played with a ball; nor is horseracing. Perhaps that explains why they are not so popular as football!

12

. In the left-hand box there is a list of sports and in the right-hand box there is a list of qualities

important in some sports. Decide for yourself which three qualities are the most important for
each sport.
football
basketball
ice-hockey
sailing
swinuning
water-polo
rowmg
athletics

SPORTS
gymnastics
handball
riding
American football
baseball
rugby
wrestling
table-tennis

mountrin-climbing
weight-lifting
judo
karate
skiing
shooting
volley-ball
cycling

skin-diving

tennis

fencing

speed
strength

QUALITIES

mobility
stamina
good eyesight
good coordination

,,

willpower
concentration
discipline
intelligence
initiative
courage

2. Sport facilities and athletics


Put each of the following words or phrases in its correct place in the passage below:
Officials, pools, courts, stadium, rink, field events, athletes, rings, pitches, scoreboard, spectators, track
events
There's a big new sports centre near my home. There are (a)
, tennis and basketball
(b)
, swimming (c) -, a sports hall with two boxing (d) - and even a skating (e)
. There is also a separate athletics (f)
, where 20,000 (g) - can watch the
(h)
on the track and the (i)
, such as jumping and throwing, in the grass centre.
The U)
get ready in modem changing rooms and the (k)
time and measure the
events with modem equipment. A huge electronic (1)
shows the results.
3. Football
Instructions as above:

Draw, track suits, captains, match, referee, amateurs, team, toss a coin, player, crowd
I play football for my local _____against other sides in the area. Of course the ________arent paid, were
just_________________. But anyway we______________very hard in the evenings and were lucky because we
can use the ______________of a local school. On the day of the_____________________we arrive early,
change, and put on_______________to keep warm. Then the _________________, dresses in black, calls the
two ________________to the centre to __________________to decide who will play in which direction. Not
many people come to watch the game. We usually have a _____________of only one or two hundred. But we
enjoy it, whether we win, lose or______________.

13

The Verb
Basic Tenses
For past and present, there are 2 simple tenses + 6 complex tenses (using auxiliary verbs). To
these, we can add 4 "modal tenses" for the future (using modal auxiliary verbs will/shall).
This makes a total of 12 tenses in the active voice. Another 12 tenses are available in the
passive voice. So now we have 24 tenses.
Table of English Tenses
Simple Present
A: He speaks.
N: He does not speak.
Q: Does he speak?
Use:
- action in the present taking place once, never or several times
- facts
- actions taking place one after another
- action set by a timetable or schedule
Signal words: always, every , never, normally, often, seldom, sometimes, usually
Present Progressive
A: He is speaking.
N: He is not speaking.
Q: Is he speaking?
Use:
- action taking place in the moment of speaking
- action taking place only for a limited period of time
- action arranged for the future
Signal words: at the moment, just, just now, Listen!, Look!, now, right now
Simple Past
A: He spoke.
N: He did not speak.
Q: Did he speak?
Use:
- action in the past taking place once, never or several times

14

- actions taking place one after another


- action taking place in the middle of another action
Signal words: yesterday, 2 minutes ago, in 1990, the other day, last Friday
Past Progressive
A: He was speaking.
N: He was not speaking.
Q: Was he speaking?
Use:
- action going on at a certain time in the past
- actions taking place at the same time
- action in the past that is interrupted by another action
Signal words: when, while, as long as
Present Perfect Simple
A: He has spoken.
N: He has not spoken.
Q: Has he spoken?
Use:
- putting emphasis on the result
- action that is still going on
- action that stopped recently
- finished action that has an influence on the present
- action that has taken place once, never or several times before the moment of speaking
Signal words: already, ever, just, never, not yet, so far, till now, up to now
Present Perfect Progressive
A: He has been speaking.
N: He has not been speaking.
Q: Has he been speaking?
Use:
- putting emphasis on the course or duration (not the result)
- action that recently stopped or is still going on
- finished action that influenced the present
Signal words: all day, for 4 years, since 1993, how long?, the whole week
Past Perfect Simple
A: He had spoken.
N: He had not spoken.
Q: Had he spoken?

15

Use:
- action taking place before a certain time in the past
- sometimes interchangeable with past perfect progressive
- putting emphasis only on the fact (not the duration)
Signal words: already, just, never, not yet, once, until that day
Past Perfect Progressive
A: He had been speaking.
N: He had not been speaking.
Q: Had he been speaking?
Use:
- action taking place before a certain time in the past
- sometimes interchangeable with past perfect simple
- putting emphasis on the duration or course of an action
Signal words: for, since, the whole day, all day
Future Simple
A: He will speak.
N: He will not speak.
Q: Will he speak?
Use:
- action in the future that cannot be influenced
- spontaneous decision
- assumption with regard to the future
Signal words: in a year, next , tomorrow
(going to) Future of intention
A: He is going to speak.
N: He is not going to speak.
Q: Is he going to speak?
Use:
- decision made for the future
- conclusion with regard to the future
Signal words: in one year, next week, tomorrow
Future Progressive
A: He will be speaking.
N: He will not be speaking.
Q: Will he be speaking?

16

Use:
- action that is going on at a certain time in the future
- action that is sure to happen in the near future
Signal words: in one year, next week, tomorrow
Future Perfect Simple
A: He will have spoken.
N: He will not have spoken.
Q: Will he have spoken?
Use:
- action that will be finished at a certain time in the future
- by Monday, in a week
Future Progressive
A: He will have been speaking.
N: He will not have been speaking.
Q: Will he have been speaking?
Use:
- action taking place before a certain time in the future
- putting emphasis on the course of an action
Signal words: for , the last couple of hours, all day long
Regular Verbs
English regular verbs change their form very little (unlike irregular verbs). The past tense and
past participle of regular verbs end in -ed, for example:
work, worked, worked
But you should note the following points:
1. Some verbs can be both regular and irregular, for example:
learn, learned, learned
learn, learnt, learnt
2. Some verbs change their meaning depending on whether they are regular or irregular, for
example "to hang":
regular :
hang, hanged, hanged = to kill or die, by dropping with a rope around the neck
irregular: hang, hung, hung = to fix something (for example, a picture) at the top so that the
lower part is free

17

3. The present tense of some regular verbs is the same as the past tense of some irregular
verbs:
regular :
found, founded, founded
irregular:
find, found, found
Regular verbs list
This page shows the basic tenses with the regular verb work. It includes the affirmative or
positive form (+), the negative form (-) and the interrogative or question form (?).
The basic structure is:
positive:
+
negative:
question:
?

subject + auxiliary verb + main verb


subject + auxiliary verb + not + main verb
auxiliary verb + subject + main verb

These are the forms of the main verb that we use to construct the tenses:
base verb
work

past
worked

past participle
worked

present participle ing


Working

Basic Tenses: Irregular Verb


Irregular verbs list
This page shows the basic tenses with the irregular verb sing. It includes the affirmative or
positive form (+), the negative form (-) and the interrogative or question form (?).
The basic structure is:
positive:
+
negative:
question:
?

subject + auxiliary verb + main verb


subject + auxiliary verb + not + main verb
auxiliary verb + subject + main verb

These are the forms of the main verb that we use to construct the tenses:
base verb
sing

past
sang

past participle
sung

present participle ing


singing

Irregular Verbs List


This is a list of some irregular verbs in English. Of course, there are many others, but these
are the more common irregular verbs.
Base Form

Past Simple

Past Participle

18

awake awoke awoken


be
was, were
been
beat beat beaten
become
became
become
begin began begun
bend bent bent
bet
bet
bet
bid
bid
bid
bite bit
bitten
blow blew blown
break broke broken
bring brought
brought
broadcast
broadcast
broadcast
build built built
burn burned/burnt burned/burnt
buy bought bought
catch caught caught
choose chose chosen
come came come
cost cost cost
cut
cut
cut
dig
dug dug
do
did
done
draw drew drawn
dream dreamed/dreamt
dreamed/dreamt
drive drove driven
drink drank drunk
eat
ate
eaten
fall
fell
fallen
feel felt
felt
fight fought fought
find found found
fly
flew flown
forget forgot forgotten
forgive forgave
forgiven
freeze froze frozen
get
got
gotten
give gave given
go
went gone
grow grew grown
hang hung hung
have had
had
hear heard heard
hide hid
hidden
hit
hit
hit
hold held held
hurt hurt hurt
keep kept kept
know knew known
lay
laid laid

19

lead led
led
learn learned/learnt learned/learnt
leave left
left
lend lent lent
let
let
let
lie
lay
lain
lose lost
lost
make made made
mean meant meant
meet met met
pay
paid paid
put
put
put
read read read
ride rode ridden
ring rang rung
r singing
ise
rose risen
run
ran
run
say
said said
see
saw seen
sell
sold sold
send sent sent
show showed
showed/shown
shut shut shut
sing sang sung
sit
sat
sat
sleep slept slept
speak spoke spoken
spend spent spent
stand stood stood
swim swam swum
take took taken
teach taught taught
tear tore torn
tell
told told
think thought
thought
throw threw thrown
understand
understood understood
wake woke woken
wear wore worn
win won won
write wrote written

20

The Noun
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
table, chair, suitcase, bag
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.
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

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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 the 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.
Uncountable nouns are also called "mass nouns".
Here are some more examples of countable and uncountable nouns. When you learn a new
word, it's a good idea to learn whether it's countable or uncountable.
Nouns that can be Countable and Uncountable
Sometimes, the same noun can be countable and uncountable, often with a change of
meaning.
Countable
hair : There are two hairs in my coffee!
light: There are two lights in our bedroom.
noise: Shhhhh! I thought I heard a noise.

Uncountable
I don't have much hair.
Close the curtain. There's too much light!
It's difficult to work when there is too
much noise.
paper: Have you got a paper to read? (= newspaper) I want to draw a picture. Have you got
some paper?
room: Our house has seven rooms.
Is there room for me to sit here?
time:We had a great time at the party.
Have you got time for a coffee?
work: Macbeth is one of Shakespeare's greatest works. I have no money. I need work!
Possessive 's
When we want to show that something belongs to somebody or something, we usually add 's
to a singular noun and an apostrophe ' to a plural noun, for example:
the boy's ball (one boy)

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the boys' ball (two or more boys)


Notice that the number of balls does not matter. The structure is influenced by the possessor
and not the possessed.
one ball
more than one ball
one boy
the boy's ball
the boy's balls
more than one boy
the boys' ball
the boys' balls
The structure can be used for a whole phrase:
the man next door's mother (the mother of the man next door)
the Queen of England's poodles (the poodles of the Queen of England)
Although we can use of to show possession, it is more usual to use possessive 's. The
following phrases have the same meaning, but #2 is more usual and natural:
the boyfriend of my sister
my sister's boyfriend
Proper Nouns (Names)
We very often use possessive 's with names:
This is Mary's car.
Where is Ram's telephone?
Who took Anthony's pen?
I like Tara's hair.
When a name ends in s, we usually treat it like any other singular noun, and add 's:
This is Charles's chair.
But it is possible (especially with older, classical names) to just add the apostrophe ':
Who was Jesus' father?
Irregular Plurals
Some nouns have irregular plural forms without s (man > men). To show possession, we
usually add 's to the plural form of these nouns:
singular noun plural noun
my child's dog
my children's dog
the man's work
the men's work
the mouse's cage
the mice's cage
a person's clothes
people's clothes
Plural of nouns

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Some nouns form the plural in a regular way by adding the inflection s, -es , others are
subject to irregular patterns of forming the plural.
Regular plurals:
Nouns ending in s, -z, -x, -ch, -sh, -ss, -zz add s to the singular.
If the noun ends in y and y is preceded by a consonant the plural takes the form of ies:
cry-cries
fly-flies
lady-ladies
If the y is preceded by a vowel it does not change before the inflection:
toy-toys
boy-boys
Irregular plurals:
mouse-mice
goose-geese
woman-women
man-men
foot-feet
tooth-teeth
child-children
knife-knives
wife-wives
life-lives
thief-thieves
half-halves
shelf-shelves
leaf-leaves
loaf-loaves
self-selves

Personal Pronouns
This summary of personal pronouns includes possessive adjectives for convenience and
comparison.
number
person gender*
pronouns
possessive
adjectives
subject object possessive
reflexive
singular
1st
m/f
I
me
mine myself
my
2nd m/f
you you yours yourself
your
3rd
m
he
him his
himself
his
f
she
her
hers herself
her
n
it
it
its
itself
its
plural
1st
m/f
we
us
ours ourselves
our
2nd m/f
you you yours yourselves
your
3rd
m/f/n they them theirs themselves their

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* m=male f=female n=neuter


Examples:
Pronoun subject:
She likes homework.
Object:
The teacher gave me some homework.
Possessive: This homework is yours.
Reflexive:
John did the homework himself.
possessive adjective: The teacher corrected our homework.
Determiners: A, An or The?
When do we say "the dog" and when do we say "a dog"? (On this page we talk only about
singular, countable nouns.)
The and a/an are called "articles". We divide them into "definite" and "indefinite" like this:
Articles
Definite
Indefinite
the
a, an
We use "definite" to mean sure, certain. "Definite" is particular.
We use "indefinite" to mean not sure, not certain. "Indefinite" is general.
When we are talking about one thing in particular, we use the. When we are talking about one
thing in general, we use a or an.
Think of the sky at night. In the sky we see 1 moon and millions of stars. So normally we
would say:
I saw the moon last night.
I saw a star last night.
Look at these examples:
the
a, an
The capital of France is Paris.
I have found the book that I lost.
Have you cleaned the car?
There are six eggs in the fridge.
Please switch off the TV when you finish.
I was born in a town.
John had an omelette for lunch.
James Bond ordered a drink.
We want to buy an umbrella.
Have you got a pen?
Of course, often we can use the or a/an for the same word. It depends on the situation, not the
word. Look at these examples:
We want to buy an umbrella. (Any umbrella, not a particular umbrella.)

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Where is the umbrella? (We already have an umbrella. We are looking for our umbrella, a
particular umbrella.)
This little story should help you understand the difference between the and a, an:
A man and a woman were walking in Oxford Street. The woman saw a dress that she liked in
a shop. She asked the man if he could buy the dress for her. He said: "Do you think the shop
will accept a cheque? I don't have a credit card."
Determiners: Each, Every
Each and every have similar but not always identical meanings.
Each = every one separately
Every = each, all
Sometimes, each and every have the same meaning:
Prices go up each year.
Prices go up every year.
But often they are not exactly the same.
Each expresses the idea of 'one by one'. It emphasizes individuality.
Every is half-way between each and all. It sees things or people as singular, but in a group or
in general.
Consider the following:
Every artist is sensitive.
Each artist sees things differently.
Every soldier saluted as the President arrived.
The President gave each soldier a medal.
Each can be used in front of the verb:
The soldiers each received a medal.
Each can be followed by 'of':
The President spoke to each of the soldiers.
He gave a medal to each of them.
Every cannot be used for 2 things. For 2 things, each can be used:
He was carrying a suitcase in each hand.
Every is used to say how often something happens:
There is a plane to Bangkok every day.
The bus leaves every hour.
Verbs with each and every are always conjugated in the singular.

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Determiners: Some, Any


Some = a little, a few or a small number or amount
Any = one, some or all
Usually, we use some in positive (+) sentences and any in negative (-) and question (?)
sentences.
some any
example situation
+
I have some money.
I have $10.
I don't have any money.
I don't have $1 and I don't have $10 and I don't have
$1,000,000. I have $0.
?
Do you have any money? Do you have $1 or $10 or $1,000,000?
In general, we use something/anything and somebody/anybody in the same way as some/any.
Look at these examples:
He needs some stamps.
I must go. I have some homework to do.
I'm thirsty. I want something to drink.
I can see somebody coming.
He doesn't need any stamps.
I can stay. I don't have any homework to do.
I'm not thirsty. I don't want anything to drink.
I can't see anybody coming.
Does he need any stamps?
Do you have any homework to do?
Do you want anything to drink?
Can you see anybody coming?
We use any in a positive sentence when the real sense is negative.
I refused to give them any money. (I did not give them any money)
She finished the test without any difficulty. (she did not have any difficulty)
Sometimes we use some in a question, when we expect a positive YES answer. (We could say
that it is not a real question, because we think we know the answer already.)
Would you like some more tea?
Could I have some sugar, please?

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ADJECTIVE

Adjective Order
There are 2 basic positions for adjectives:
before the noun
after certain verbs (be, become, get, seem, look, feel, sound, smell, taste)
adj. noun verb adj.
1
I like big
cars.
2
My car
is
big.
In this part we look at the position of adjectives in a sentence:
Adjective Before Noun
We sometimes use more than one adjective before the noun:
I like big black dogs.
She was wearing a beautiful long red dress.
What is the correct order for two or more adjectives?
1. The general order is: opinion, fact:
a nice French car (not a French nice car)
("Opinion" is what you think about something. "Fact" is what is definitely true about
something.)
2. The normal order for fact adjectives is size, age, shape, colour, material, origin:
a big, old, square, black, wooden Chinese table
3. Determiners usually come first, even though they are fact adjectives:
articles (a, the)
possessives (my, your...)
demonstratives (this, that...)
quantifiers (some, any, few, many...)
numbers (one, two, three)
Here is an example with opinion and fact adjectives:
adjectives
noun
determiner
opinion
fact age
shape colour
two nice old
round red
candles
When we want to use two colour adjectives, we join them with "and":
Many newspapers are black and white.
She was wearing a long, blue and yellow dress.

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The rules on this page are for the normal, "natural" order of adjectives. But these rules are not
rigid, and you may sometimes wish to change the order for emphasis. Consider the following
conversations:
Conversation 1
A "I want to buy a round table."
B "Do you want a new round table or an old round table?"
Conversation 2
A "I want to buy an old table".
B "Do you want a round old table or a square old table?"
Adjective After Verb
Look at the examples below:
subject

verb

adjective

Ram is English.
Because she had to wait, she became impatient.
Is it getting dark?
The examination did not seem difficult.
Your friend looks nice.
This towel feels damp.
That new film doesn't sound very interesting.
Dinner smells good tonight.
This milk tastes sour.
Comparative Adjectives
When we talk about two things, we can "compare" them. We can see if they are the same or
different. Perhaps they are the same in some ways and different in other ways. We can use
comparative adjectives to describe the differences.
We can use comparative adjectives when talking about two things (not three or more things).
In the example below, "bigger" is the comparative form of the adjective "big":
A2
A1
A1 is bigger than A2.
In this section we will look first at how we make comparative adjectives, and then at how we
use them:
Formation of Comparative Adjectives
There are two ways to make or form a comparative adjective:
1. short adjectives: add "-er"
2. long adjectives: use "more"

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Short adjectives
1-syllable adjectives
old, fast
2-syllable adjectives ending in -y
happy, easy
Normal rule: add "-er"
old > older
Variation: if the adjective ends in -e, just add -r
late > later
Variation: if the adjective ends in consonant, vowel, consonant, double the last consonant
big > bigger
Variation: if the adjective ends in -y, change the y to i
happy > happier
Long adjectives
2-syllable adjectives not ending in -y
modern, pleasant
all adjectives of 3 or more syllables
expensive, intellectual
Normal rule: use "more"
modern > more modern
expensive > more expensive
With some 2-syllable adjectives, we can use '-er' or 'more':
quiet > quieter/more quiet
clever > cleverer/more clever
narrow > narrower/more narrow
simple > simpler/more simple
Exception
The following adjectives have irregular forms:
good > better
well (healthy) > better
bad > worse
far > farther/further
little> less
Superlative Adjectives
A superlative adjective expresses the extreme or highest degree of a quality. We use a
superlative adjective to describe the extreme quality of one thing in a group of things.
In the example below, "biggest" is the superlative form of the adjective "big":

B C

A is the biggest.
In this section we will look first at how we make superlative adjectives, and then at how we
use them:
Formation of Superlative Adjectives
As with comparative adjectives, there are two ways to form a superlative adjective:
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1. short adjectives: add "-est"


2. long adjectives: use "most"
We also usually add 'the' at the beginning.
Short adjectives
1-syllable adjectives old, fast
2-syllable adjectives ending in -y happy, easy
Normal rule: add "-est"
old > the oldest
Variation: if the adjective ends in -e, just add -st late > the latest
Variation: if the adjective ends in consonant, vowel, consonant, double the last consonant
big > the biggest
Variation: if the adjective ends in -y, change the y to i
happy > the happiest
Long adjectives
2-syllable adjectives not ending in -y
modern, pleasant
all adjectives of 3 or more syllables expensive, intellectual
Normal rule: use "most"
modern > the most modern
expensive > the most expensive
With some 2-syllable adjectives, we can use '-est' or 'most':
quiet > the quietest/most quiet
clever > the cleverest/most clever
narrow > the narrowest/most narrow
simple > the simplest/most simple
Exception
The following adjectives have irregular forms:
good > the best
bad > the worst
far > the furthest
little >least

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