A phrasal verb is a verb made up of a verb plus one or more particles (e.g. of, in, up) that modify or change its meaning. For example, the phrasal verb “give up” means “stop doing”, which is different from the meaning of the verb “give” when it stands alone. Phrasal verbs are some of the most common verbs used in everyday English. Here is an exercise using phrasal verbs for travel situations.
First match these phrasal verbs to their meanings:
Look at these time expressions. It is important to use the right preposition when using time expressions.
at + the exact time
I usually wake up at half past six.
in + a period of time
She started working in the morning and left late in the evening.
on + a day I was born on 13th June 1968
He had an amazing party on his birthday.
for + a length of time
I waited for Sarah for two hours.
'A' and 'an' mean 'a (any) one' but 'the' refers to someone or something already known.
Can I have a cake?
Can I have the cake with the cherries?
We use 'a' and 'an' when:
We mean one of many and not a special one.
Can you lend me a pen? - Have you got a car?
When we give a person's occupation.
She's an architect.
Adjectives ending in -ed or -ing.
-ed: excited, interested, bored, annoyed, surprised.
-ing: exciting, interesting, boring, annoying, surprising.
The words above are a few of the adjectives that end in -ed or -ing. Their meaning can sometimes be confusing.
Adjectives ending in -ed show what has happened to a person or thing.
He was surprised by the result of his test.
Verbs express an action or make a statement about a person or thing.
John gave Sarah a present.
Sarah was very surprised.
A finite verb is a 'working' verb with a subject; it can be any tense. A non-finite verb which is also called in infinitive verb has no subject and can't be in all the tenses.
A non-finite verb can be:
These are the possessive pronouns. They replace a noun and another word. We never put an apostrophe on a possessive pronoun.
These pronouns are used to start questions:
Who did you invite to your party?
Whose pen is this?
Whom did you speak to?
What are they doing in the garden?
Which of these do you like?
Lesson by Tristan, English teacher at EC Malta English school
Choose one of the interrogative pronouns for the following:
There are different ways that the plurals of nouns are formed in English.
Add 's' (pronounced /s/ as in 'so')
shop - shops
cat – cats
book – books
Add 's' (pronounced /z/ as in zoo)
girl – girls
boy – boys
door – doors
Add 'es' (pronounced /iz/)
race – races
box – boxes
dish – dishes
It is important to distinguish between a short or long vowel with regard to doubling a consonant.
Short vowels – He wanted to stop driving for a break.
Long vowels – He hoped the weather would be good.
When we add -ed or -ing to a word, we double the consonant if a short vowel comes before it. We do not double a consonant if a long vowel comes before it.
Defining relative clauses give information about people, things, possessions, places and times. We use relative pronouns with defining relative clauses.
People – who, that
He's a person who is always punctual.
An anchor man is a person that reads the news.
Things – that, which
A calculator is a device that is hardly used anymore.
The mobile is a piece of technology which we can't do without.
