Modal verbs
Modal verbs are auxiliary verbs that help to describe such things as possibility and necessity. The most common modal verbs are: Here are some ways in which modal verbs are used: There are some...
Category: Parts of speech
Verb tenses in reported speech
Verb tenses in reported speech. When we talk about what someone says, we can use either “direct speech” or “indirect speech”. Nowadays most people talk about “reported speech” instead of “indirect speech”. In direct...
Definite and Indefinite Articles Part 3
In previous posts (here and here), we’ve looked at when to use definite and indefinite articles and when we don’t need to use any article. We said that: In this post we’ll explain how...
Definite and indefinite articles Part 2
Definite and indefinite articles. In an earlier post we said that:: In this post we’ll talk further about definite and indefinite articles. We often use “a” or “an” when we mention something for the...
Definite and indefinite articles
Definite and indefinite articles can come very naturally to native English speakers but can be confusing to English languages learners – particularly when their first language doesn’t have articles. Let’s start at the beginning....
Semicolons – Part 2
In a previous post we looked at using semicolons to join two parts of a sentence when each part could be regarded as a sentence on its own. Here we’re going to find out...
An expert in or an expert at?
An expert in or an expert at? “In” and “at” are both prepositions. There are over a hundred prepositions in English. They are almost always small and very common words. Prepositions usually tell us...
Show up and showdown
Up is the opposite of down but show up is not the opposite of showdown. They are two different things entirely. First “show up”. Notice that this consists of two separate words. It is...
Inherent or inherited?
Inherent or inherited? Inherent and inherited are similar words with different meanings. You could easily confuse them, so this might help you to learn the difference. We use “inherent” when we talk about a...
Less or fewer?
Less or fewer? “Less” and “fewer” are used in different ways from each other but many people – especially native speakers of English – get them mixed up. Both words are comparative adjectives and...