There is/ There are revision

We already published a post on there is/ there are, but let’s remember how they work:

RULES:

1. Use there IS for singular countable nouns (one item) + a/an. 2. Use there IS for non-countable items + some. 3. Use there ARE for many items (plural nouns).

See information on countable and uncountable nouns here.
There is a spider on the wall.
There is some milk on the floor.
There are pencils on my desk.

The negative and interrogative form follows verb TO BE forms. Have a look at these examples:

There is not a book. - There isn’t a book.
There are not books. - There aren’t books.

For questions, remember you need an inversion.

Is there a book? Are there any books?
Yes, there is. Yes, there are.
No, there isn’t. No, there aren’t

You had some exercises on the previous post. Now try this exercise on there is/there are to talk about singular/plural nouns or uncountable nouns and another one to practise the negative form.
And also exercises in the past! 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

Countable/uncountable nouns

There are two kinds of nouns in English, countable and uncountable.

Countable = Countable nouns are easy to recognize. They are things that we can count. For example: “pen”. We can count pens. We can have one, two, three or more pens.

Countable nouns can be singular or plural:

• My dog is playing.
• My dogs are hungry.

We can use the indefinite article a/an with countable nouns:

• A dog is an animal.

When a countable noun is plural, we can use it alone, I like oranges, or we can use some and any, I have some dollars, Do you have any pens?

“People” is countable. “People” is the plural of “person”. We can count people: There is one person here – There are three people here.

Uncountable = Uncountable nouns are substances, concepts, etc that we cannot divide into separate elements. We cannot “count” them. For example, we cannot count “milk”. We can count “bottles of milk” or “litres of milk”, but we cannot count “milk” itself.

Drinks (coffee, water, orange juice) are usually uncountable. But if we are thinking of a cup or a glass, we can say (in a restaurant, for example):

• Two teas and one coffee please.

We treat uncountable nouns as singular. We use a singular verb. For example: Your luggage looks heavy.

Uncountable nouns can’t be plural: butter, meat NOT
two butters , three meats.

We use some and any with uncountable nouns:

• I’ve got some money.
• Have you got any rice?

REMEMBER: we use some in positive sentences and any in negative sentences + questions. Examples:
I have some friends - Do you have any cheese? – He doesn’t have any friends in Chicago.
Try now some exercises: 1, 2, 3
We use How much …? with uncountable nouns and How many …..? with plural countable nouns. Exercises 1, 2, 3,
Finally you can listen and watch the song and complete the lyrics.

Past Simple: general review

As we finished the introduction of both regulars and some irregulars, you are now ready to do some exercises combining both. First of all, have a look at this interactive book:

Remember:

* We use past simple to describe past actions, for example, what did they do yesterday? Complete this exercise

*Past simple is necessary when describing someone’s life; do you like football? Here you are Ronaldo’s and Messi’s biography to complete with past simple.

Past Simple: -ed pronunciation.

In the Simple Past, we add -ed to regular verbs. But the question is: How do we pronounce the -ed?

The answer is: In 3 ways – / id/ or / t/ or / d/

* note that it is the sound that is important, not the letter or spelling. For example, “fax” ends in the letter “x” but the sound /s/; “like” ends in the letter “e” but the sound /k/.

If the verb ends in one of these sounds:		example :	-ed:	-ed pronunciation:	Do you add an extra syllable?
1.	/t/	want	wanted	/ id/	yes, the -e changes to [ɪ]
	/d/	end	ended
2.	/p/	stop	stopped	/ t/	no, the -e is silent.
	/f/	laugh	laughed
	/s/	fax	faxed
	/ʃ/	wash	washed
	/ʧ/	watch	watched
	/k/	like	liked
3.	all other sounds	play	played	/ d/
		follow	followed
		rain	rained

NEVER pronounce /ed/!!! Whenever you see a word ending in –ed, visualize the “e” as crossed out, if you want to increase your chances of pronouncing it correctly!

Is it clear enough? What’s the final sound of the following verbs? Choose the right one here.

Do you need more practice? Choose the correct “ed” ending sound in these multiple choice exercises. Exercise 1 – Exercise 2 - Exercise 3 – Exercise 4 – Exercise 5- Exercise 6. Don’t worry if you don’t know the meaning of some verbs, focus on their pronunciation.

Final Exam – Practice what you have learned by choosing the correct pronunciation for multiple words written in a paragraph.

Now you are ready to practise some listening. Try this site or this one and, finally, this one combines present and past pronunciations.

Past Simple: -ed spelling

We have two different groups to form the Simple Past:

You have to know all forms of the irregular verbs very well. For the Simple Past you need the form of the verb which can be found in the 2nd column of the table of the irregular verbs. Example: go – went.

90% of verbs are regular verbs so let’s start with regulars first.

Simply add -ed with regular verbs. Example: wait – waited
SPELLING EXCEPTIONS

Sometimes there are exceptions in spelling when adding -ed:

1) verbs with final stressed consonant +vowel+consonant–> double the consonant. Example: stop – stopped

If the final syllable of the word is not stressed, we do not double it. Example: listen- listened (Here we stress the first syllable, not the second.)

If the final consonant in the group consonant+vowel+consonant is x or w, we do not double the consonant. Examples: fix-fixed, show-showed

In British English we ALWAYS double one -l at the end of the word. Example: travel – travelled

2) verbs with -e at the end of the word –> add only -d. Example: love – loved

3) verbs ending in consonant+y –> change ‘y’ to ‘i’ +ed. Example: cry – cried

Careful! verbs ending in vowel +’y' –> add -ed as usual. Example: play – played

Are you ready to use regular past forms? Try exercises 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5.

Past Simple: negative sentences + questions

Use the Simple Past to express an action that started and finished at a specific time in the past.

Signal words

yesterday, last week, a month ago, in 2002, … see previous post on it

I told you we have regular and irregular verbs in the past but negative sentences and questions are similar in both groups. Have a look at the explanation:

Negative sentences:

Use the auxiliary did (Simple Past of do). Remember all subjects take the same form of the verb.

regular verbs	irregular verbs
I did not play football.	I did not go to the supermarket.

NOTE: Short forms in negative sentences in the Simple Past are used quite often.

regular verbs	irregular verbs
I didn’t play football.	I didn’t go to the supermarket.

Questions: (Wh?) + did + subject + verb ? [ Remember formula (Qu) A+ S+I]Use the auxiliary did (Simple Past of do). Remember all subjects take the same form of the verb. .

regular verbs	irregular verbs
Did you play football?	Did I go to the supermarket?

Now, find below some exercises to practise:

negative sentences:		1	2	3	4
questions:		0 1	2	3	4 5

Past Time Expressions

Last month, we studied some prepositions of time. Now we are studying the past, it’s time to add some new expressions:
Time Expressions Often Used in the Past
last- used when speaking about the previous week, month or year
Example: They went on holiday last month.
yesterday- used when speaking about the previous day
Example: I was with my best friend yesterday.
ago- used when speaking about X days, weeks, months, years before. NOTE: ‘ago’ follows the number of days, weeks, etc.
Example: We went to Cleveland three weeks ago.
for- used with a period of time.
Example: We lived in Paris for three years.
when- used with a past time clause
Example: I played tennis when I was a teenager
And, of course, the prepositions of time we studied in January:
Example: She was in Merbourne in 1976.
I was at school on Monday.
We were at home at 7pm.
Ready to try some exercises? Exercise 1, exercise 2, exercise3