Prepositions are used to talk about where someone or something is:
She was sitting by the window.
They live in a town near the sea.
I left my keys in my other jacket.
Phrases with prepositions can have 'of'.
My house is at the end of the street.
The file is on top of the cabinet.
When we reply to a statement we can put an affirmative or negative tag at the end of our comment. This short tag takes the form of a question. An affirmative comment has a negative tag and a negative comment has a positive tag.
Lesson by Tristan, English teacher at EC Malta English school
Noun phrases start with determiners which are placed at the beginning of these phrases. Determiners are specific or general.
Lesson by Tristan, English teacher at EC Malta English school
Answering a question with ‘yes’ or ‘no’ may sometimes be considered impolite; It might give the impression that the person answering is not really interested in replying.
Here are some examples of short answers. We usually repeat the words that come first in the verb phrase.
Lesson by Tristan, teacher at EC Malta. Learn English in Malta
In this lesson we are looking at the use of ‘should’ and ‘ought to’ for obligation and probability. As with other modals the meaning given to the verb depends on the context it is used in.
In this series of lessons on modals we are dividing the meanings of modals into intrinsic and extrinsic meanings. In this lesson we are looking at the intrinsic and extrinsic meanings of ‘must’ and ‘have to/have got to’.
Look at these sentences:
My neighbours must control or discipline their children. They’re too noisy.
You’ve been working all week. You must be tired.
The authorities must do something about the traffic congestion.
John’s not here yet. He must be stuck in traffic.
To understand the difference in meaning of these two examples it’s best to look at modal verbs using the words intrinsic and extrinsic which are often used to describe modal verbs.
When we use ‘reported speech’ we are reporting something said or thought in the past, which is why we usually use the past tense:
Last night he told us that he was leaving for America next winter.
In some situations the present tense is used
When we want to report what many people say.
Everyone says the decision to fire Martin was a bad one.
When we are not sure if what we are reporting is true.
They tell me you’ve decided to leave for America.
When we want to tell someone what someone else said we can do this in two ways:
‘Will you marry me?’ Chris asked Sandra.
‘I am moving to Boston.’ Peter said.
