sábado, 17 de marzo de 2012



QUANTIFIERS



There are three sort of quantifier:

1.Countable .
2.Uncountable
3. Countable or uncontable 

Countable 
Examples:

- Several people are going to go on vacation.
- Both topics are the same book.
- A number of students were at Technological University yesterday.
- I got some magazines that are very interesting.
- Many students need to study more.
- Manuel has a lot of pets in his house.
-  She has  plenty of time to do her homework.
- A large number of children like to watch cartoons.

Uncountable 
Examples:
- Everyday there is too much trafic on roads of San Salvador city.
- Jane used a little bit of oil to fry an egg.
- I drank a little water.


Countable or uncountable 



Examples:
- Jesus would llike to eat plenty of rice.
- Peter has taken plenty of pictures.
- Ernesto drank enough coffee.
- Rodrigo has enough jakects.







viernes, 16 de marzo de 2012



PRONOUNS

Most pronouns stand for a noun or a noun phrase. I, me, and related pronouns stand for the speaker or writer. The word or words that a pronouns stands for are its reference or antecedent.

There are different kinds of pronouns and theses are the following:

Personal pronouns



Examples:
* I was playing soccer yesterday.
* She has cleaned her house.
* We are the best friends.

Object pronouns





Examples:
* Can you do me a favor please?
* Midey explained me the homework.
* Manuel helped us to do the power point presentations.

Possessive pronouns and possessive adjectives



Examples:
* This pet is yours.
* That is cindy`s book, but this is mine.
* Their computer is very different to  ours.
* Those are their tables.

Reflexive pronouns




Examples:
* Peter is able to tell a story himself.
* Blanca is old enough to go on the bicycle by herself.

Indefinitive pronouns



Examples:

*Nobody brought her homework.
* In the soap there is something.

Demonstrative pronouns



Examples:

* This is my pencil.
* That book is very expensive.

Relative pronouns




Examples:
* I have met a boy who is very intelligent.
* This is the book that I read yesterday.
* He is the man whose daughters get good grades.

Interrogative pronouns





Examples:
*Who is eating in the kitchen?
* Whose book is this?
* Which of the girls is your sister?

Video about pronouns












jueves, 15 de marzo de 2012




 ARTICLES


The Indefinite Article






A or an
A or an comes before a singular countable noun. A comes be a consonant sound, but an comes before a vowel sound.


Examples:
1. I would like to eat an apple.
2. My uncle is an honest man.
3. My uncle has a car in his house.


Use a (n)


1. Before an unidentified singular noun that is one example of its class, but the number one is not being emphasized.

Examples:
- A white cat  is standing in the road.( The emphasis is not on the number).


- One white cat is standing in the road. ( The emphasis is on the number).


2. Before an unidentified singular countable noun that is representative of its class, as in a definition.


Examples:
- A tiger is furous animal.
- A computer is a technological apparatus.


3. Before a predicate noun after to be if no other determiner is used.


Examples:
- Midey is a good friend.
- Michael Jackson was a famous singer.


4. With uncountable nouns to mean a kind of, or  with kind of, or centain.


Example:
- Estela has a responsability that we all appreciate.


 The definite article



The can be used with all nouns. Use the to identify a noun that shows.
1. Reference backward to anoun already mentioned.


Example:
- A lion has been roaring all night and here is the lion now, standing outside the zoo.


2. Reference forward to a identification soon to be made, often by modifiers following the noun.


Examples:
- The thief at the door wants to steal your T.V
- The big parrot that has been repeating all afternoon has finally stopped speaking.


Also, use the  before superlatives and before ordinal numbers.


Examples:
- This is the best friend that I have ever known.
- Humberto is the tallest man that I have known in my class.


3. Context known to both writer and reader.


Examples:
- Here comes the classmate.( one classmate known to the class)
- Turn off the light in the bedroom.( only one light in one bedroom)




4. Identification of a class, especially in a generalization.


Example:
- The child is the hope in the family.













miércoles, 14 de marzo de 2012



NOUNS


Nouns are words that name things such as persons, animals, places, ideas, and institutions. A noun can be the subject of a clause. Nouns are sometimes called substantives, a term that means any word or group of words that can be used as the subject of a clause: a noun, a pronoun, a noun phrase, a gerund phrase, or an infinitive phrase.


Kind of Nouns






. Countable and uncountable



Countable nouns are sometimes called counts nouns.


Some rules are the following:
- Have singular and plural forms.
- Take singular or plural verbs acording to their use as singular or         plural.
- Can have a, an, or one before them as modifier in the singular.
- Can have many or few before them as modifier in the plural.
- Can have some before them as modifier only in the plural.
- Can have number of before them only in the plural.


Examples:
1. My little niece is very beautiful.
2. The tigers are wild animals.
3. Carlos has a horse, three dogs, and seven birds.
4. Many people do not have a job.


Uncountable nouns are sometimes called noncount or mass noun.
Some rules are the next:
- Have only one form.
- Take a singular verbs. 
- Cannot have a, an, or  one before them as modifier.
- Can have much before them as a modifier.
- Can have some before them as modifier.


Examples:
1. The responsability is very  important that everybody has it.
2. In our country people need peace.
3. My mother cooked some bread.
4. I do not have enough money.


. Proper nouns and common nouns

Proper nouns are the names of particular people, places, or things.They are capitalized.


Examples:
1.  Sam was playing soccer yesterday.
2. Friday is the best day of the week.
3. Maria went to the beach.
4. I was born on July 19th.


.Commom nouns can be classified into abstract nouns and concrete nouns.


Abstract nouns name ideas, emotions, qualities, and processes.
Examples:
1. Everyone wants to get the happiness.
2. The love is very important in a family.
3. The beauty is not enough.
4.The violence does not bring anything good.


Concrete nouns name persons or things that can be known directly through the senses.
Examples.
1. The book was very interesting.
2. The computer is used for different activities.
3. The water was very fresh.
4. I have many pens and pencils.


.Collective nouns
Collective nouns are special nouns that stand for a group of people, animal, birds, or insects.
Examples:
1. The audience had the reason.
2. The chorus of my church sang very well.
3. The police caught the fugitive man.


Spelling of nouns


*Most nouns are regular in spelling the plural. Add -s to the end of the singular form.
   book ------>books           boy -------> boys   

Examples:
- I have many books
- The boys were playing soccer yesterday.


* Add -es to make plurals of nouns that end in -s or in a similar sound (ch, sh, tch, x, and z).
watch -------> watches           fox ---------> foxes


Examples:
- My grandfather has many watches.
- The foxes are very full.


Some nouns are irregular in spelling plurals.


* A final -f or -fe becomes -ves in some nouns.
life ----> lives         knife ------> knives       wife -----> wives


Examples:
- The cat has seven lives.
- My mother has many knives.
- In some countries the men can have many wives.


* Some old English plural forms are still used.
man ------> man    woman -------> women

Examples:
- In my neighborhood there are many men.
- Women are more sensitive  than men.

Compound with- man
Examples:
- The firemen extinguished the fire.
- In our country there are many workmen.


* Some nouns can keep the singular form in a collective plural meaning.
Examples.
- Eduardo hunted a deer.
- In the zoo there is elephant.


* Some Latin and Greek plurals are used.


- Words ending in -a in the singular and -ae in the plural.
amoeba ---------> amoebae         formula ---------> formulae


Examples: 
- Some people have amoebae in their stomach.
- My teacher wrote formulae on the board.
  
- Words ending in -ex or -ix in the singular and -ices in the plural.
index ---------> indices                    apex --------> apices.
 Examples:
- I have to do some indices in my books.
- In some places there are apices.


Uses of Nouns


1. Subject
My granmother just came.


2. Predicate nominative
Rocio is my niece.


3.Direct object
I love my family.

4. Indirect object
Carla gave her mother a present.


5. Object of preposition 
I am waiting for my aunt.


6. Possessive
Cindy´s house is very amazing.
My sister had a waitress´s job.
The books´ pages are very interesting.


Endings of noun
It is important to mention that we can do nouns from others words by adding different endings or suffixes.
Some noun endings are: ant, an, er, ian, ist, or, ness, ence, etc.
Examples:
- The sadness is something that you feel in your heart.
- I have a excellent proffessor.
- In my neighborhood there is a pianist.













lunes, 12 de marzo de 2012





SUBJECT- VERB AGREEMENT




When you write a sentence you must make sure that the subject and the verb agree.
Some rules are the following:

a) A word that refers to one person or thing is singular in number. A word that referd to more than one thing is plural in number.

Examples:
Singular  ----------> table, man, this, she, it.
                         
Plural  ------------>  tables, men, theses,they.

b) A verb agrees with its subject in number.

1. Singular subjects take singular verbs.
Examples:

* Lorena enjoys music.
*The child was playing basketball.

2. Plural subjects take plural verbs.
Examples:
* Lorena and Blanca enjoy music.
* The children were playing basketball.

Also, it is important to say that all past tense verbs have the same form in the singular and the plural with the exception of be, which has the special form was.

Examples:

    Singular                                            Plural
I read a book.                             They read a book.    
He took a shower.                      We took a shower.
She was in her house.                 They were in their house.

Intervening Phrases and Clauses.
c) The number of the subject is not changed by a phrase or clause following the subject.
Examples:
* This novel is by Jane Austen.
* This novel of short chapters is by Jane Austen.(novel is still the subject).

* Rosibel is our classmate.
*Rosibel who writes some beautiful poems is our classmate. (Rosibel is, not poems are)



Indefinite Pronouns
The indefinite pronouns like some, any, someone, many, everything can present usage problems. Some of theses words are always singular, some always plural, and some can be either, depending on the meaning of the sentence.

d)The following common words  are singulars: each, either, neither, one, everyone, no one, nobody, anyone, anybody, someone, somebody, everybody, much.

Examples:
* Neither of the pens is (not are) on the desk.

Such a construction is easier to analyze if neither is treated as an adjective or made to stand alone as a pronoun.

* Not one of the blouses looks (not look) dirty.
* Not one blouse looks dirty.
* Everyone on both classrooms has (not have) to be the best.

e) The following common words are plural: several, few, both, many,others.

Examples:
* Both of the cellphones ring in the house.
* Many of our people were immigrating to the U.S.
* Few of the books were interesting .

f) The words some, any,none, all, and most may be either singular or plural, depending of the meaning of the sentence.
When the words some, any, all , and most refer to a singular word, they are singular. When they refer to a plural word,they are plural.

Examples:
* Some of the water was very fresh.(some refers to water, which is singular).
* Some of the tables were broken.(some refers to tables, which is plural).



Compound Subjects
Theses words are usually joined by and or or and may take singular or plural verbs depending on what the connecting word is  and on whether the words joined are singuar or plural.

g) Subjects joined by and take a plural verb.
Examples:
* A flight attendant and pilot work very hard.
* Monday,Tuesday, and Friday are days of the week.

Exception
When a compound subject is consider as a unit, not as two or more distintc things, it takes a singular verb.
Example:
*Apple pie and ice cream (one dish) is a favorite American dessert

h) Singular subjects joined by or or nor take a singular verb.
Examples:
* Neither Kim nor Rocio reads magazines.
* Either Roberto or Carlos wins the prize.

i) When a singular subject and a plural subjet are joined by or or nor, the verb agrees with the nearer subject.
Examples:
* Neither the flowers nor the tree grows without water.

Whenever possible, this awkward construction should be avoided.
* The flowers do not grow without water, and neither does the tree.




















                      


































domingo, 12 de febrero de 2012


SENTENCE TYPE
 A sentence is a group of words that says something in a fixed structure of grammar and puntuation.


Sentence Structure
Sentence structure can be simple, compound,complex, or compound-complex according to the kinds of clauses in the sentence.


Simple sentence
A simple sentence has one independent or main cluse(one subject -main verb combination).
 Also, the simple sentence can be expanded into a very long sentence,but adding modifiers does not change it´s basic structure. 
Moreover,the simple sentence can have a compound subject(two or more subjects joined by a coordinating conjuctions).


.
Examples:
1. My niece is a  beautiful girl.
2. I read a interesting book titled "pride and prejudice" one year ago.
3. My sister and me like listening Christian music.
4. My mother bought me a dress. I don´t like it.
5. Heriberto and Maria were in Suchitoto last week.


Compound sentence
A compound sentence has two or more independent clauses without any dependent or subordinate clauses. Sometimes a compound sentence is called a balanced sentence.
The clauses of a compound sentence may be joined either by a semicolon or by a comma and a coordinating conjuction (and, now, but, still, yet, only, while, then, so, so then, for, either...or, neither ...nor, however, therefore, nevertheless.


.
Examples:
1. My friend likes the black color, but I like the light blue color.
2. Maricruz is married and she lives in San Salvador.
3. It was very hot, so I took a shower.
4. I cooked a delicious food, so I eat too much.
5. Lourdes was reading a book while she was drinking a cup of coffee.


Complex sentence
A complex sentence has one independent clause and one or more dependent clauses.
The complex sentence may be joined by subordinating conjuctions (that, because, since, as, so that, lest, if, unless, althouhg, while, until, as if, as though, when, why, in order that, whether).








Examples:
1. Rosa never rode the bicycle after she broke her leg.
2. I will stay here until  you feel better.
3. My friend said that she was very happy.
4. I was in my house when suddenly it started to shake.
5. My niece did not go to the school  because she was not feeling well.


Compound-complex sentence
A compound-complex sentence has two or more independent clauses and at least one dependent clause.A compound sentence becomes  a compound-complex sentence when one or more dependent clauses are added to it.




Examples:
1. In our country many people today don´t have a job and some of them can get it because there are not opportunities.


2. I would like to be a flight attendant because it is challenging, so I am going to study very hard.


3. Claudia participated in a contest,so she won the prize because she was the best.


4. Jenny bought the white blouse, but she did not buy the skirt because she did not have enough money.


.


Types of sentences by purpose
Declarative, interrogative,imperative, and exclamatory sentences are classifications according to the way the sentence communicates an idea.


Declarative sentence
A declarative sentence makes a statement and ends with a period. Most sentences that explain or persuade are declarative.




Examples:
1. Pablo and Jenny are singing.
2. My cellphone rang.
3. Sara is coming.
4. My grandmother is eating.


Interrogative sentence
An intrrogative sentence asks a question and ends with a question mark.





Example:
1. Where are the keys?
2. What is Mario doing?
3. Are Laura and Flor coming?
4. Is Carmen going shopping today?




Imperative sentence
An imperative sentence is a command and endes with a period.


Examples:
1. Please do not change anything on my homework.
2. Tell me the true.
3. Choose the correct answer.
4. Please sit down.


Exclamatory sentence
An exclamatory sentence expresses strong feeling and ends with an exclamtion mark.
Example:
1. What beautiful weather!
2. How intelligent I am!
3. The nice girl!
4. What wonderful moon!








Clauses
A clause is group of words that has a subject- verb combination in it.




Independent clauses
Independent clauses ( also called main  clauses) can be punctuated as separate sentence.They may be long or short.
Example: 
The dog ran down the street.


The sentence above are independent clauses. They have a subject and verb .


Dependent clause
Dependent clauses (also called subordinated clauses) cannot be punctuate as complete sentences except in direct quotations in some traditional uses.


1. A dependent clause must be attached to an independent clause.
Example:
               
         dependent clause                                              independent clause    
When the alarm clock rang,   I woke up.


2. A dependent clause may be marked or unmarked.
Example:
                             marker
This is the story   that   my sister read.


This is the story my sister read. unmarked: (that is left out)


3. A dependent clause acts in the sentence like an adjective, an adverb, or a noun.


Adjective clauses
Like a single- word adjectived, an adjective clause modifies a noun or pronoun.


Examples:
1. Lourdes is the woman who cooked a delicious food.
2. My mother is someone who gives me support.
3. Books that contains important information are very interesting.




Adverb clauses
Like a single-word adverb , an adverb clauses tells when (time), where (place), how (manner), why (cause), and what extent (degree).
Examples:
1. When lily went out, it was snowing.
2. Although the exam was very difficult, I got an excellent calification.
3. Before you take a decision, you should think very well.






Noun clauses
A noun clause can replace a single-word noun, a pronoun, or a noun phrase as subject of the sentence.
Examples:
1. Silvia knew what Jane had really said.
2. Whatever teacher says is easy to understand.
3. Pablo did not know why he was happy.







jueves, 2 de febrero de 2012



The eight parts of speech are very important when you want to write or say something  correctly.


Nouns


A noun is a name that is used to refer  to places, things, animals, qualities  or ideas.
Besides, it`s very important to mention that the nouns are divided into common nouns,proper nouns, abstract nouns,concrete nouns and collective nouns.

  • Common nouns are words for people,animals,places,or things.
  • Proper nouns are names for particular people,places, or things.they always begin with a capital letter.
  • Abstract nouns are names for qualities, characteristics, or ideas.
  • Concrete nouns are names for objects that can be perceived by the senses.
  • Collective nouns are words for groups of people, animals or things.

Examples:
1. Marta is reading an interesting book.
2. San Vicente is a beautiful place.
3. The computer is very useful for doing your homeworks.
4. The respect is very important that all people have it.


Pronouns:
The pronoun is a word that  sustitutes a common noun and proper noun, that is, you can write "it" to refer to a house or another thing.Also, you can use the pronouns "she,he, they" to refer to Silvia, Peter and parents.
There are different kinds of pronouns and theses are the following:


- Personal pronouns: 
The words I, you, he, she, it, we and they are called personal pronouns.They takes the places of a nouns and are used as the subject of the verb in a sentence.


- Interrogative pronouns: 
The words who,whom,whose,what, and which are called interrogative pronouns.These pronouns are used to ask questions.


- Demostrative Pronouns: 
The words this, these, that, and those are called demostrative pronoun.They are showing words.


- Relative prouns:
The words who,whose,that,whom and which are called relative pronouns. Theses are used to introduce subornate clauses.


- Infinitive pronouns:
Some words such as another, nobody and both among other are called infinitive pronouns. Theses refer generally,not specifically, to persons, places, or things.


Examples:
1. He had a good time in Suchitoto.He enjoyed see the beautiful lake.
2.They cut many trees in the forest.
3. I want to eat something very delicious.
4. She plays soccer everyday because this is her favorite sport.
5. My name is Ana. I am the youngest in the family.
6. This is the blouse that my mother gave me.
7. Who is this person?


Verbs:
The verb is very important in a sentence because this gives sense to the action that we do,that is, this has sense for itself.Moreover, we use it to demostrate how we feel.
Also, we should know that the action verbs  can or not take an object, that is to say, the verbs can be transitive verbs that take objects and intransitive verbs that express action without a object. Moreover, there are others verbs such as the linking verbs and verbs phrases.


Examples:
1. Laura was singing a nice song in a concert.
2. Ana was happy for her party.
3. Cindy was doing the English Grammar homework.
4. My cousin takes the dog for a walk  every morning.


Adverbs:
The adverb is very useful when we want to describe a verb, adjective or another adverb.
Besides that, there are different  types of adverbs and theses are the next:

  • The adverbs of manner describe the way to sometning is done.
  • The adverbs of time describe when something happens.
  • The adverbs of place tell you where something happens.



Examples:
1. Heriberto ate his lunch very quickly.
2. Maria oponed the door slowly because she was afraid.
3. Suddenly, the ray fell down on the tree.
4. Miraculously, he is with life.
5. I often study in the evening.
6. The children are playing downstairs.


Adjectives:
A adjective is a describing word.It tells you more about a noun.
If  you want to describe a person, place, animal, or something ,you need a adjective.Moreover, it´s important to know that a adjective could be before a noun or in another position.
 Examples:


1. My cousin  has blue eyes and she is very cute.
2. I  was in an interesting meeting yesterday.
3. My friend is amaible and very funny.
4. My niece`s hands are very small.


Conjuctions:
A conjuction is a linking word such as and, or, but. Conjuctions are used to connect words or sentences,that is, the conjuctions are very importat when you want to write a paragraph or sentences because  you have to join many words for a better presentation
Moreover, it`s important to mention that exist three kinds of conjuctions: coordinating, correlative, and subordinating.


Examples:
1. I studied very hard because I had a exam.
2. It was very cold, so we wore two sweaters.
3. I bought this blouse, but I didn`t like it.
4. Last night, I stayed home and read many books.


Prepositios:
A preposition is a word that connects one thing with another, showing how they are relate.
Some prepositions tell you about time and position or places.


Examples.
1. I lived in San Sebastian from 1991 to 2011.
2. My sister was born in 1993.
3. Carlos likes to go to beautiful places on weekend.
4. My cousins played soccer for three hours.


Interjections:
An interjection is word that express a sudden, strong feeling such as suprise,pain, or pleasure.That is to say, through of the interjections you can express your emotions.


Examples:
1. Oh, I really need to learn English very well because it`s very important for me.
2. Wow, you are the best singer that I have heard.
3. Ah, now I know that the parts of the speech are eight.
4. My classmate and I were at the library and she was talking too much, therefore, I told her: Ssh!


This sentence contains eight parts of speech:
Wow! This dress is very beautiful and it has my favorite color definitly, it`s perfect for me.


Video about eight parts of the speech.



Exercises for practicing the eight parts of speech.
http://www.englishclub.com/grammar/parts-of-speech_quiz.htm