Alphabet

Grammar and lingüística

The way you combine words and change their form and position in a sentence, or the rules of this. The linguistics is the scientific study of languages

-Gramática, es la parte de la lingüística – ciencia del lenguaje – que estudia los elementos de una lengua, así como la forma en que estos se organizan y se combinan.

–Vocabulary / Reading

–Writing / Composición

–Pronunciation / Speaking

Grammar

American grammar is very similar to British grammar, but with some small differences, especially prepositions. For example, American say See you Friday, but British people say See you on Friday.

British and American English. The same, but different

British and American people speak the same language English, but with some small differences.

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Indefinite Article / A writer´s room. Things

The grammatical name for the words «a» and «an» in English

a →  + consonant sound

an → + vowel sound. Before a, e, i, o, u.

Also an hour (h is not pronounced: an (h)our; but a university and a European country (these words are pronounced «yuniversity», «yuropean».

We use a/an:

→ to say what something is

→ for jobs. to say what job people do

→ in expressions of frequency

another (an + other) → is one word (not an other)

We often use a / an the first time we mention a person or thing and then the the next time because it is now clear who or what we are talking about

e.g: I have a cat and a dog. The dog is white and the cat is black

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Definite article

the.  the name given to the word → the

→ Use the when we know which (board, questions, etc.). When the speaker and hearer know the thing we are talking about: Close the window = the one that is open.

We often use a / an the first time we mention a person or thing and then the the next time because it is now clear who or what we are talking about e.g: I have a cat and a dog. The dog is white and the cat is black

We use the with something or someone you mentioned before.

→when it is part of the name of something. eg. The USA

→ before superlative adjectives: the biggest, the best, etc.

→ with singular and plural nouns (the board, the questions).

→ when there is only one of something: the internet, the sun, etc.

We don´t usually use the  → When we talk about people or thing in general: Men are more interested in sport than women. (general) The women in this class work harder than the men ← (specific)

-Before possessive´s. She´s my mother´s cousin

-With the following

• meals: breakfast, lunch, dinner, etc.
• places: work, schcool, university, bed, home, etc.
• by + transport: go by car, travel by train, etc.

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Singular and plural

Spelling of plural endings

-The plural of a noun is usually → S

a flower → some flowers

a week → six weeks

a nice place → many nine places

→ es after → -s / -ce/ -ge / -sh / -ch / -x

bus → buses / dish → dishes / church → churches / box → boxes

→consonant + y → ies

baby → babies / party → parties / dictionary → dictionaries

but → ay, ey, oy, uy → with S

day → days / monkey → monkeys / boy → boys / guy → guys

f / fe → ves

shelf → shelves / knife → knives / wife → wives

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–These things are plural in English: scissors, glasses, trousers, jeans, shorts, pyjamas, tights, shoes, police.

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Irregular plurals

-Some plurals do not end in →S, they are irregular plurals

a man → two men  / a woman → some women

a child → many children

one foot → two feet / a tooth → all my teeth

a mouse → some mice

a person → two people / some people / many people

a sheep → two sheep / a fish → many fish

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There is/was and there are/were

-We use there is / there are -> to say that somebody or something exists. We use there is/was + a singular noun  and there are/were + plural nouns.

We often use there is/was and there are/were with ->  a/an, some and any. Use some (= not an exact number) and any with plural nouns.

Use some in positive sentences and any in negative and interrogative sentences.

There is is often contracted to There´s. There are is not usually contracted.

When we talk about a list of things we use there is if the first word in the list is singular or there are if the first word in the list is plural.

e. g: In my  room there´s a bed, two chairs, and a desk / In the living room there are two armchairs and a sofa.

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Countable / uncountable nouns

There are two kinds of nouns in English; countable and uncountable.

Countable: things you can count, e.g. apples. Countable nouns can be singular or plural.

Uncountable: things you can´t count, e.g. butter, meat. Uncountable nouns are normally singular

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a / an / some / any

We use a / an with singular countable nouns; a / an = one

We use some in afirmative with plural countable nouns and with uncountable nouns; some = not an exact number or quantity. We use some in interrogative to ask for and offer things → e.g. Can I have some apples, please? / Would you like some coffee?

We use any in negative and interrogative → with plural countable nouns and with uncountable nouns

Quantifiers

We use How many … ? → with plural countable (c) nouns

We use How much … ? → with uncountable (u) nouns

In negative (-) sentences and interrogative (?) we usually use → much and many   e.g. I don´t drink much water / Do you drink much coffee?

We use:

-a lot (of) → with countable and uncountable nouns for a big quantity. In afirmative (+) sentences we usually use → a lot of

It is also possible to use a lot in (-) negative and (?) interrogative sentences: Do you drink a lot of coffee?  / I don´t eat a lot of vegetables

-quite a lot (of) → with countable and uncountable nouns for a medium quantity

–a little / not much  →  with uncountable nouns for a small quantity

–a few / not many →  with plural countable nouns for a small quantity

-none / any (none in short answers) → with countable and uncountable for zero quantity

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Pronouns and adjectives

Stars and Stripes

Subject →in grammar, the person or thing that does the action described by a verb.

Pronoun → a word used instead of a noun that has usually already been talked about. For example, the words «he» «she», «it», are → pronouns. Word que se utiliza para reemplazar u ocupar el lugar del sujeto

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Defining relative clauses

Form

He is the man who (that) invented the World Wide Web.

This is the system which (that) I told you about.

That is the place where we buy our computers.

We can use that for people or things instead of who or which. This is less formal.

We use who (for people), which (for things) and where (for places) to introduce defining relative clauses.

These clauses give us essential information about the person, place or thing we are talking about.

The person who discovered …

The factory which makes …

The organisation where he works…

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Adjectives

When we use adjective whith a noun, the adjective goes before the noun

Adjectives don´t change before a plural noun: They´re blue jeans

We can also use adjectives whithout a noun, after the verb be →  e.g He´s strong / It isn´t easy

Modifiers

We often use the modifiers before adjectives → He´s very tall / He´s quite tall / He isn´t very tall

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incredible

really

very

quite

a bit

not very

Possessive adjetives

In English, possess agre whith the → possessor. Concuerda con quien lo posee.

Possessive adjetives don´t change with plural nouns.  No coincide, no cambia con el género y número del sustantivo.

Comparative and superlative adjectives

Use comparative adjectives + than to compare two things, people, etc. We use than after a comparative adjective.

We add –er to regular short adjectives to form the comparative and we add -est to regular short adjectives to form the superlative:

new → newer →  newest

We add more and most to form the comparative and superlative forms with longer adjectives:

interesting →  more interesting →  most interesting

We use much to add emphasis to a comparative adjective.

Superlative adjectives

Use the + superlative adjective to say which is the (biggest, etc. ) in a group. We usually use the before a superlative adjective.

After superlatives, we use in (not of) + places, e.g the world, the class etc.

• for regular short adjectives, add -er / -est
• for adjective ending in -e, add -r / -st
• for adjective ending in -y (after a consonant), change the -y to -i: happy →  happier / happiest
• for adjective ending consonant – vowel – consonant, double the final consonant: big →  bigger / biggest; hot → hotter / hottest.

Preposition of place

We use preposition of place to describe where people and things are.

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Where´s the coffee? It´s in the cupboard

Adrian is in front of the photocopier

Preposition of movement

We use preposition of movement to talk about the direction someone or something moves. Prepositions of movement follow a verb of movement.

Jack drove along the road.

The visitors are going around the factory

Common verbs of movement are → go, climb, come, run and walk

Common prepositions of movement are → up, down, to, in, into, on, onto, over, under, across, along, round, around, through

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Purpose

-I went to the supermarket to buy apples

-I would like to be famous / I want to pass the exam / I hope to have holidays

-(adjective) Nice to meet you / It´s difficult to learn English

Manner and modifiers

• We use adverbs of manner to say how people do things
• Adverbs usually go after the verb -> e.g. I speak English very well

• Remember the difference between adjectives and adverbs: I´m a careful driver. (careful is an adjective. It describes the noun, driver). I drive carefully. (carefully is an adverb. It describes the verbs, drive)

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modifying adverbs: very, quite, etc.

• We use modifying adverbs with adjectives or other adverbs.
• They always go before the adjective or adverb

Words ending in  -ly. Not all words that end in -ly are adverbs, e.g. friendly = adjective -> He is a friendly person.

Conjunctions

A word that is used to connect phrases or parts of a sentence. For example, the words:

and / whith

or

so

because

but

Anyone, anybody or anything?

Gerund

A word ending in ‘-ing’ that is made from a verb and used like a noun

-I´m good at speaking in public

-I love playing….

-Smoking is bad

Zero and first conditional

Zero conditional

If – clause (If / When + present simple), main clause (present simple)

If / When you drive very fast, it is more difficult to stop the car.

We use the zero conditional to talk about facts or things that are generally true. e.g If you want to travel in the USA, you need a visa. When you cool water to zero degrees, it freezes.

When you talk about things that are generally true, you can use if or when. There´s no difference in the meaning.

First conditional

If – clause (If / When + present simple), main clause (will)

If you drive very fast, it will be more difficult to stop.

We use the first conditional to talk about a possible future situation. e.g. If it rains tomorrow, we won´t go to the mountains.

When you talk about situations in the future, there is a difference between if and when. We use when + present simple to talk about a certain future action. e.g. When Jack arrives, I´ll ask him to help us.

We can use if in two  positions:

• If – clause first: If you travel abroad, you need a passport.
• Main clause first: You need a passport if you travel abroad.

When the if-clause is at the beginning of the sentence, we use a comma to separate it from the main clause.

Future

Bibliography:

Life.  Pre Intermediate. By John Hughes, Helen Stephenson and Paul Dummett.

English File. Elementary  By Christina Latham Koening, Clive Oxenden, Paul Seligson /

Third Edition. Descargar