Archive for 'English Grammar'
Using the word ‘may’ in May Posted by Gabriele on May 3, 2016
Since we have just entered the month of May I thought I’d take this opportunity to talk about this month’s homophone the other word ‘may’. The month of May is a proper noun, but the ‘may’ I want to talk about today is a modal verb. The auxiliary modal verb ‘may’ is (generally) used for…
One-word sentences in English Posted by Gabriele on Apr 19, 2016
Here I’m going to highlight some of the simplest sentences in English. All of these sentences are only ONE word long! Sit back, relax, and enjoy; these are going to be some of the easiest English sentences you’ve ever learned. (It is about time something in English was easy, right?!) One-word sentences in English come…
Short English videos for ESL learners Posted by Gabriele on Mar 15, 2016
For this post I have collected a number of great Ted Ed videos about the English language that are perfect for ESL learners. These videos are all in English, about English, and provide short lessons (3-5 minutes) on English grammar or language. Each one has something to offer ESL learners from beginners to near-native speakers…
Which is English: Just Deserts vs. Just Desserts Posted by Transparent Language on Dec 17, 2015
Native speakers make mistakes, too, and sometimes those mistakes are painfully obvious to learners of that language! Of course learners tend to know the grammar of the language better than natives, while natives tend to have the advantage in pronunciation. There are, however, times when the language itself seems to be doing its best to…
Negative prefixes in English Posted by Gabriele on Dec 1, 2015
I don’t ever want my readers to get negative about learning English, which is why I try to keep this blog upbeat and interesting, but today we are going to focus on something…negative. This post isn’t about being negative. Instead it is about using negative prefixes in English. To start, there are many different prefixes…
Is it ‘this’ or is it ‘that’? Posted by Gabriele on Nov 17, 2015
Do you know when to use the English words ‘this’ or ‘that’ correctly? If you don’t, you have come to the right place, because our topic today is the correct use of these words. ‘This’ and ‘that’ are words that fall into the category of words called demonstratives. Demonstratives are words used to indicate something…
English Pop Quiz Posted by Gabriele on Oct 13, 2015
Dear Readers, Hi, readers! Hi, readers? Hi…is there anyone out there? We haven’t had a great deal of comments on the blog recently and so we are beginning to wonder if there is anyone out there reading? We thought we’d find out by posting a little quiz and see who is up for the challenge…