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June 30, 2010 The Violet Level begins today. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * A student emailed me and asked about "go for." Here's a new video that explains how these two words are used together:
June 29, 2010 Before you move on to the last level, the Violet Level, now would be a good time to review what you have learned. One quick way to do that is to take some quizzes. Click here to find all the quizzes for the Orange Level on one page. If you feel confident enough, you can take the quizzes for the other levels as well.* Tomorrow we'll begin the Violet Level. * as well = too June 28, 2010 The last lesson in the Orange Level is on embedded questions. These kinds of sentences are similar to indirect speech; however, because they're in the present tense, you don't need to apply the sequence of tenses. When someone is talking to you and asks you a question, you can say you know the answer to the question or you can say that you don't know the answer to the question. Here are a few examples of that:
As you learned while studying indirect speech, the word order is important. If someone ask you a question and you repeat the question, don't repeat it with a word order that is used for questions. Click here for more practice with embedded questions.
June 25, 2010 If you aren't busy watching soccer this weekend, I hope you'll have some time to study tag questions. A tag question (or attached question) changes a statement into a question, and its use is very common in English. Here are a few reasons for using a tag question
It's not going to rain today, is it? She speaks Spanish, doesn't she? They haven't received their mail yet, have they?
It's a beautiful day today, isn't it? He built a beautiful house, didn't he? She's done a great job, hasn't she?
You took the last Coke out of the fridge, didn't you? This is going to cost a lot of money, isn't it? You don't love me anymore, do you?
This will be finished in an hour, right? The kids want to go to the park, don't they? You want to improve your English, don't you? Click here to learn more about tag questions and be sure to check out the videos on the home page. If you think you already know how to use a tag question properly, here's a quiz for you to try.
June 24, 2010 Over the many years that this website has been on the internet, I've received a lot of emailed questions about how to use the words "still" and "anymore." Let's look at the differences: The word "still" means that some activity or situation continues from the past: He's still sleeping. They still live in California. I'm still waiting to hear from you! Her arm still hurts from the vaccination. It's also possible to use "still" with negative verbs: The mail still hasn't come yet. She still doesn't understand English. The word "anymore" means that some activity or situation is finished: Leslie doesn't work for that company anymore. Sadia doesn't come to class anymore. He didn't want to play soccer anymore, so he went home. Make sure you use "anymore" with negative verbs. You can't say, "I want to get a new car anymore." That would be totally wrong. Instead, the verb must be negative: "I don't want to get a new car anymore." For more practice with "still" and "anymore," click here.
June 23, 2010 The lesson for the day is on the differences between "either" and "neither." In order to gain the most from this lesson, it's helpful to look first at how "so" and "too" are different: I want to go to the movies, and she does, too. I want to go to the movies, and so does she. I don't want to go to the movies, and she doesn't either. I don't want to go to the movies, and neither does she. "Either" and "neither" are similar to "so" and "too." Notice the position of "too." It comes after the helping verb "does." Notice the position of "so." It comes before the helping verb. Likewise, "either" comes after the helping verb, and "neither" comes before the helping verb, but the helping verbs are both negative. Let's contrast these words with some more examples: Bob can play the piano, and his sister can, too. Bob can't play the violon, and his sister can't either. Notice that "too" and "either" appear at the end in these kinds of sentences. Sheila is going to the park, and so is her friend, Jessica. Sheila isn't going to the museum, and neither is her friend, Jessica. Notice that "so" and "neither" appear before the verb in these kinds of sentences. There are other uses for "either" and "neither." You can use these words when there is the existence of more than one possibility: Dan is either at work or in his car. Where's Dan? He might be at work, but he might be in his car. I don't know. Dorothy is neither helpful nor considerate when she's at work. What kind of person is she? Well, we know what kind of person she is not with the use of "neither." Notice that "nor" will often follow "neither" instead of the conjunction "or." Many students ask me about the pronounciation of these words. (Listen)
June 22, 2010 The lesson for the day is on the differences between "so" and "too."
June 21, 2010 The word "wish" has a strong affect on a sentence:
To practice using "wish," click here. Also, there's a new exericse for using "was going to" or "were going to." You should be familiar with this because we make sentences like these when circumstances change.
June 20, 2010
Thanks to everyone who gave me information about the sport of soccer. I've created a new page for the Orange Level reading section. Of course, many of you know about this sport, but it might be interesting for you to read about it in English from the perspective of an American. If I've made any mistakes, please let me know.
June 19, 2010 I'm going to add a new reading section to the Orange Level that describes the sport of soccer (football). If you have any pictures or information about the game that might be useful, please email me. Here's a reading exercise for the sport of baseball. It looks like the U.S. team was robbed of a goal yesterday in its match against Slovenia. People here are really paying attention to these games now.
June 18, 2010 Past conditional sentences are useful when describing something that didn't happen in the past, but you want to consider some kind of past possibility.
Past conditional sentences can also be made in the negative:
Because we often reflect upon the past, these kinds of sentences are very common in English. Click here to learn more.
June 17, 2010 If you didn't receive today's email from me, then you haven't signed up yet for this website. Go to the homepage and click on the sign up button for emailed updates and lessons.
June 16, 2010 The lesson of the day is on future conditional sentences. Today, tomorrow, and on Friday, you'll learn to make sentences that use "if" and describe situations that exist largely in the imagination. It's an importantant skill to master in English because it helps you talk about a wide range of possibilities that exist now, in the past, and in the future: If I fly to Detroit, I'll wear my white suit. indepdendent clause: I'll wear my white suit dependent clause: If I fly to Detroit The above situation is in the future. The main clause (independent clause) is in the future tense, and the clause that starts the sentence and presents the condition ( dependent clause) is in the present tense. That clause also begins with the word "if," which is a very powerful word in English and has a strong impact on the verbs that follow it.
Here's a new video to help you talk about spending money:
(Students in my regular classroom were confused by the use of "go" when talking about money, so I thought it would be a good subject for a video.)
June 15, 2010 Here's a link to a new exercise I made last night for indirect speech. You have to convert the direct quotation into an indirect quotation. Indirect speech is also known as reported speech. If you have trouble with it, go to today's lesson. After you finish that, here's a link to a YouTube video that shows how to use indirect speech with questions.
June 14, 2010 When I first created the Orange Level, I don't think I made enough exercises for indirect speech (also known as "reported speech"). Indirect speech is necessary to learn because it involves describing what another person said. Today and tomorrow we'll learn how to do that, but you might have to look at both Lesson Ten and Lesson Eleven in the Orange Level to understand a few things about changing verbs. Take a look at these sentences: She says she has time to meet us after school. She said she had time to meet us after school. The verb 'say" is used to indicate what another person said. If that verb is in the present tense, you should keep the verb that follows it in the present tense also. However, most often the past tense is used to describe a person's words, so that has an unusual effect on the verbs that come after it. That's why it's necessary to understand the sequence of tenses. Today, I'll give you some simple examples of this. First, you'll see a sentence in direct speech. Quotation marks (") are used to show the actual words that are spoken by someone. Second, I'll change the direct speech to indirect speech. Direct Speech: "My name is Paul," he said. Indirect speech: He said his name was Paul. "I have a lot of things to do tomorrow," she said. She said (that)* she had a lot of things to do tomorrow. The word "that" is optional. It's okay not to use it, but you should practice using it anyway because you'll often hear it in indirect speech. "It's going to rain today," said the weather man on TV. The weather man on TV said (that) it was going to rain today. "I don't need an umbrella," he told me. He told me he didn't need an umbrella. "They'll be here at 11:00." I was told that they would be here at 11:00. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * We'll practice this again tomorrow! I'm also going to send out at an email lesson on this topic. If you havent signed up for free email lessons and updates, go to the homepage and click on the "sign up" button.
June 13, 2010 This entire week will be spent on learning how to use indirect speech and how to make conditional sentences. Both of these things require a knowledge of the sequence of tenses, which is the lesson for tomorrow. Because these are very difficult things to do well, it's best to get started on tomorrow's lesson today. Click here to see to a new page just added for popular expressions in the U.S. They all begin with the letter "i."
June 12, 2010 Here's a new page I just added to the idioms section of the website. It's on the use of idioms that are popular in business.
June 11, 2010 In order to understand the lesson of the day on adverb clauses, you should know what an adverb does. One important thing it does is it provides information about a verb, so an adverb clause describes how, how often, when, and why something happens in the independent clause (main part of the sentence). Look at this example: She goes to school because she wants to learn English. The adverb clause explains why she goes to school. Here's another sentence with an adverb clause: Before he went to college, he joined the military. When did he join the military? The adverb clause tells us when. Now you practice making adverb clauses. It can go at the beginning or at the end of a sentence. These adverb clauses are at the end of the sentence:
For more practice with adverb clauses, click here.
June 10, 2010 Today's lesson is on adjective clauses. First watch this video...
then go to Lesson Eight in the Orange Level. Click here for a new exercise on using adjective clauses in a sentence.
June 9, 2010 Today's lesson is very similar to yesterday's lesson. The big difference is that you'll learn how to use "that" in the noun clause instead of words like "what" or "how." Let's compare these sentences:
In each pair of sentences, the first sentence (a.) is a noun clause that begins with a question word. The second sentence after that (b.) uses "that." There are very small differences between them, but look carefully and you will see them. To learn more, go to Lesson Seven in the Orange Level. Here's a new quiz for the Yellow Level on making comparisons. It's not too difficult, but you will have to understand how to use helping verbs and object pronouns in order to do well on it.
June 8, 2010 Noun clauses are frequently used in conversation in English, but for some people who are learning the language, they can be difficult to understand. A noun clause takes the place of a noun or a pronoun and functions as a subject, subject complement, or as an object in a sentence.
In this sentence, "I saw what you did," the subject is "I," the verb is "saw," and the noun clause is "what you did." Remember that a clause has to contain a subject and a verb. The subject in the noun clause is "you," and the verb is "did." Here are a couple more examples:
In the next example, the subject of the sentence is in the form of a noun clause. The sentence begins with the word "what," but this is not a question:
It's even possible to have a noun clause in two different parts of the sentence. This popular expression is a good example:
(Also known as "WYSIWYG") Click here to go to today's lesson on noun clauses. There's a new video for the lesson, so be sure to watch it if you need more help.
June 7, 2010 Today's lesson on compound-complex sentences is intended for more advanced learners of English, but anyone can take a look. If you want to learn something today that's a little easier, there are a couple of new exercises I made for identifying subjects, verbs, and objects in sentences. Click here and here. June 6, 2010 Did you know that I like to grow vegetables? I also like to grow fruit, but most of the garden space around my house is used for growing green beans, zuchinni, lettuce, tomatoes, carrots, and potatoes. Today I'll explain how I grow potatoes, so that you can learn how to grow them yourself (if you're not growing them already) and learn a little bit of English at the same time:
June 5, 2010 There's a new webinar scheduled for Wednesday, June 9, 7 p.m. to 8 p.m. CDT. June 4, 2010 A complex sentence is made with an independent clause and a dependent clause. If you aren't sure what a clause is, see the previous lessons from earlier this week. I bought some popcorn before the movie began. Do you see the independent clause and the dependent clause in the sentence above? "I bought some popcorn" is the independent clause, and "before the movie began" is the dependent clause. The great thing about sentences like this is that you can change the order: Before the movie began, I bought some popcorn. Do you notice the use of a comma at the end of the dependent clause? That's very important to include when you are writing. Here are some more examples of complex sentences: Maria bought a dog because she was lonely. The police came to our house after the burglary was committed. As we were riding our bikes downtown, we met some of our friends. To learn more about complex sentences, click here.
June 3, 2010 A compound sentence is made by joining two independent clauses together with a conjunction. It looks like this: independent clause, conjunction independent clause Today I have to go to a meeting, but it doesn't start until 2 p.m. A conjunction (and, but, or, nor, for, yet, so) goes in the middle of the compound sentence. Use a comma before the conjunction: He's gained a lot of weight this year, and now his clothes don't fit him. We can order Chinese food for dinner, or we can get a pizza. The house was too expensive, so they decided not to buy it. Notice that each clause has a subject and a verb. If the subject is removed in the second clause, it's no longer a compound sentence and there's no need for a comma: We can order Chinese food for dinner or get a pizza. To learn more about compounds sentences, click here. June 2, 2010 Today's lesson on clauses and phrases will help you make better sentences. A clause contains both a subject and a verb. There are several different types of clauses, but the two basic types are independent and dependent. An independent clause looks like a sentence: Bob trapped some rabbits. The subject is "Bob" and the verb is "trapped." An additional clause can be added to provide more information. This is the dependent clause: Because they were eating everything in his garden, The subject in the above clause is "they" and the verb phrase is "were eating." However, this clause requires an independent clause in order to sound like a complete sentence. Both clauses can be put together in two different ways. An easy way to add more variety to your writing and speaking in English is to put the dependent clause at the beginning of the sentence:
...or the independent clause goes first:
A phrase doesn't have a subject or a verb. In the above sentence "in his garden" is a prepositional phrase. When learning about clauses and phrases, it's important to know how to identify the subject and the verb. This first exercise is for sentences. This second exercise is for questions.
June 1, 2010 Lesson One in the Orange Level helps you learn about how to make a sentence. A sentence contains a subject and a verb: The windshield on my car is cracked. Which word in this sentence is the subject and which word is the verb? The subject is "windshield," and the verb is "is." "Cracked" is an adjective. "The" is an article. "On my car" is a prepositional phrase. "On" is a preposition. "My" is a possessive adjective. "Car" is a noun. The verb "be" is the main verb, and the subject, "windshield," is a noun. It's helpful to know the eight parts of speech when learning about sentences. If you've been following this blog, you probably know a lot about the eight parts of speech already, but if not, you should learn to identify nouns, pronouns, verbs, adverbs, adjectives, prepositions, conjunctions, and articles. Sometimes a sentence is identified as an independent clause. You'll learn about clauses in tomorrow's lesson. This YouTube video will provide additional instruction in understanding a sentence:
Click here to go to May 2010 . |
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