Adjectives to Describe People

Describing Places Vocabulary

Words used to describe attractive places:

Vocabulary to describe towns and cities:
inner-city: the central part of a city where people live and where condidions are often poor
local facilities: local buildings or services serving the public
places of interest: buildings that have a particular interest for visitors
public spaces: areas in a town or city that are open to the public
shopping centre: an area consisting of multiple shops
shopping malls: large indoor shopping centres
traffic congestion: heavy traffic making it difficult to move around a town or city

taken from:

http://languagelearningbase.com/86665/describing-places-vocabulary

Adjectives to Describe People

Silent Letters

Silent letters are letters that you can't hear when you say the word, but that are there when you write the word.

-Silent letters can distinguish between homophones, e.g. in/inn; be/bee; lent/leant. This is an aid to readers already familiar with both words.
-Silent letters may give an insight into the meaning or origin of a word, e.g. vineyard suggests vines more than the phonetic 'vinyard' would.
-Silent letters help to show long vowels e.g. rid/ride
-Silent letters help to show 'hard' consonants e.g. guest/gest
-They can help to connect different forms of the same word e.g. resign/resignation.

taken from:

http://languagelearningbase.com/88832/silent-letters-examples-and-spelling-rules

The Most Frequent Collocations in Spoken English

A collocation is two or more words that often go together. These combinations just sound "right" to native English speakers, who use them all the time. On the other hand, other combinations may be unnatural and just sound "wrong".

Why learn collocations?
-Your language will be more natural and more easily understood.
-You will have alternative and richer ways of expressing yourself.
-It is easier for our brains to remember and use language in chunks or blocks rather than as single words.

note: the collocations are written in bold blue letters. Their meaning is written in white

taken from:

http://languagelearningbase.com/88802/the-most-frequent-collocations-in-spoken-english

Meet vs Get Together

The difference between Meet and Get Together

It’s Friday night and you have plans to have a drink with your friends.
So what expression do we use in English to explain that you will join with your friends at the bar at 10pm?

A. I will meet my friends at the bar.
B. I will get together with my friends at the bar.
C. I will meet up with my friends at the bar.
Correct answer: we use all three!

However there is a difference between sentence A and the other two (B and C).

Meet is normally used to say the place or the time you will get together with another person (or people).
Let’s meet at the library.
Let’s meet at 5 o’clock.

The other two (get together with and meet up with) both mean the same thing and expresses that you will spend some time with your friends in person.

Will you call your friends? No
Will you chat with your friends online? No
You will get together with your friends.
Many times, English learners say that they meet their friends on Friday night, which sounds like they are meeting (or knowing them) for the first time. (Not possible, you already know them otherwise they wouldn’t be your friends)

When you meet someone, it is usually for the first time.
That is why we say “Nice to meet you” the first time you are presented to someone.

You can meet a person for the first time OR
You can meet a person at a place
You can meet a person at a specific time

What they want to say is that they meet up with / get together with their friends.

Look at the response to this question: What do you normally do on the weekend?
I meet my family (incorrect – you already know them)
I get together with my family (correct – you plan to spend some time with them)

To meet = to reunite in a specific place (at a specific time)
I can’t leave work early, so I’ll just meet you at the bar.
To meet = to be introduced to someone for the first time.
Jack doesn’t want us to meet his girlfriend, so we don’t know if she’s real or imaginary.

To meet up = to make plans to be with someone in person
Can we meet up tomorrow to go over the new contract?

To get together = to make plans to be with someone and to spend time with them
I haven’t seen you for months! Let’s get together for coffee.
Olivia and Paul get together with their children every Thanksgiving.

There is also a noun form of To get together:

Get-together = (noun) a small informal meeting or social gathering
Let’s have a get-together at my place tonight.

taken from:
http://www.woodwardenglish.com/meet-get-together-difference/

Prepositions in Expressions of Time

Time phrases are words that show the verb tense we need to use

Note: We say at night when we are talking about all of the night:
Example: He sleeps during the day and works at night.

But we say in the night when we are talking about a short time during the night:
Example: He woke up twice in the night.

taken from:

http://languagelearningbase.com/88672/prepositions-in-expression-of-time-in-at-on-ago

Difference Between TO and FOR

To

Used to indicate the place, person, or thing that someone or something moves toward, or the direction of something, used to indicate relationship, used to indicate a limit or an ending point

For

Used to indicate the use of something, used to mean because of, used to indicate time or duration.

taken from:

http://languagelearningbase.com/87694/to-vs-for-a-very-simple-explanation

Infinitive vs Gerund

In English, when a verb follows another verb, this verb has to be in Infinitive or Gerund.

We use gerunds (verb + ing):
After certain verbs - I enjoy singing
After prepositions - I drank a cup of coffee before leaving
As the subject or object of a sentence - Swimming is good exercise

We use 'to' + infinitive:
After certain verbs - We decided to leave
After many adjectives - It's difficult to get up early
To show purpose - I came to London to study English

We use the bare infinitive (the infinitive without 'to'):
After modal verbs - I can meet you at six o'clock
After 'let', 'make' and (sometimes) 'help' - The teacher let us leave early
After some verbs of perception (see, watch, hear, notice, feel, sense) - I watched her walk away
After expressions with 'why' - why go out the night before an exam?

Here are some of the most common verbs that are usually followed by the gerund or the infinitive:

· 

· 

Verbs Followed by an Infinitive
She agreed to speak before the game.

agree, aim, appear, arrange, ask, attempt, be able, beg, begin, care, choose, condescend, consent, continue, dare, decide, deserve, detest, dislike, expect, fail, forget, get, happen, have, 

hesitate, hope, hurry, intend, leap, leave, like, long, love, mean, neglect,  offer, ought,
plan, prefe,r prepare, proceed, promise, propose, refuse, remember,
say, shoot, start, stop, strive, swear, threaten, try, use, wait, want, wish

Verbs Followed by an Object and an Infinitive
Everyone expected her to win.

advise, allow, ask, beg, bring, build, buy, challenge, choose, command, dare, direct, encourage,
expect, forbid, force, have, hire, instruct, invite, lead, leave, let, like, love, motivate, order,
pay, permit, persuade, prepare, promise, remind, require, send, teach, tell, urge, want, warn
Note: Some of these verbs are included in the list above
and may be used without an object.

Verbs Followed by a Gerund
They enjoyed working on the boat.

admit, advise, appreciate, avoid, can't help, complete, consider,  delay, deny, detest, dislike,
enjoy, escape, excuse, finish, forbid, get, through, have, imagine, mind, miss, permit,
postpone, practice, quit, recall, report, resent, resist, resume, risk, spend, (time), suggest,
tolerate, waste (time)

Verbs Followed by a Preposition and a Gerund
We concentrated on doing well.

admit to, approve of, argue about, believe in, care about, complain about, concentrate on,
confess to, depend on, disapprove of, discourage from, dream about, feel like, forget about,
insist on, object to, plan on, prevent (someone) from, refrain from, succeed in, talk about,
think about, worry about

Adjectives to Describe People

Stingy

Enchanting

Simple Future

Composed

Prepositions after Adjectives

Here is a list of some commonly used adjectives and the prepositions that are normally used with them.

taken from:
http://languagelearningbase.com/82944/prepositions-after-adjectives

Prefixes

 taken from:
http://languagelearningbase.com/87780/formation-english-interpreting-meaning-prefixes-suffixes

Future Continuous (or Progressive)

The Future Continuous tense is often used in English as a way to talk about something happening at a given point in the future.


How do we make the Future Continuous Tense?

The structure of the Future Continuous tense is:

subject + auxiliary will + auxiliary be + main verb
                will                      be                    present participle (-ing)

FUNCTIONS

The future continuous refers to an unfinished action or event that will be in progress at a time later than now. The future continuous is used for quite a few different purposes.

1. The future continuous can be used to project ourselves into the future.

EXAMPLES
This time next week I will be sun-bathing in Bali.
By Christmas I will be skiing like a pro.
Just think, next Monday you will be working in your new job.

2. The future continuous can be used for predicting or guessing about future events.

EXAMPLES
He'll be coming to the meeting, I expect.
I guess you'll be feeling thirsty after working in the sun.
You'll be missing the sunshine once you're back in England.

3. In the interrogative form, the future continuous can be used to ask politely for information about the future.

EXAMPLES
Will you be bringing your friend to the pub tonight?
Will Jim be coming with us?
Will she be going to the party tonight?
4. The future continuous can be used to refer to continuous events that we expect to happen in the future.

EXAMPLES
I'll be seeing Jim at the conference next week.
When he is in Australia he will be staying with friends.
I'll be eating with Jane this evening so I can tell her.
Contracted forms:
Look at these example sentences with the Future Continuous tense:

We often use contracted forms: 

She'll be cooking dinner by the time I'll get home.

We'll be working all night
In negative sentences we may contract with won't like this:
You won't be playing golf, will you?
They won't be using their car tomorrow.

How do we use the Future Continuous Tense?

The Future Continuous tense expresses action at a particular moment in the future. The action will have started before that moment but it will not have finished at that moment. For example:

Tomorrow I will start work at 2pm and stop work at 6pm:

• past	present	future
  4pm
  		At 4pm, I will be in the middle of working.
  At 4pm tomorrow, I will be working.

• When we use the Future Continuous tense, our listener usually knows or understands what time we are talking about. Look at these examples:
• I will be playing tennis at 10am tomorrow.               
• 
  They won't be watching TV at 9pm tonight.
• What will you be doing at 10pm tonight?

taken from: 

https://www.englishclub.com/grammar/verb-tenses_future-continuous.htm

Stand For / Stand Up

When Not to Use an Article

Future Simple "Will" or "Going to"?

These scenes from "The Big Bang Theory" highlight the differences between using "will" and "going to" in Future Simple