What is a verb? A verb is usually an action. So for example: ‘go’, ‘buy’, ‘eat’, ‘write’ all of these are verbs. Verbs can also be something which is not an action but a state or a state of being, such as be (and its forms such as ‘am’, ‘are’, ‘is’ and ‘was’, ‘were’), ‘exist’ […]
What are compound sentences?
What are compound sentences? A compound sentence is a sentence with two clauses. A clause is a part of a sentence or a group of words which have a ‘subject’ and an action or ‘verb. The subject is the person/thing that does the action. So: “John works” is a clause with a ‘subject’ i.e. […]
Pre-intermediate A2 reading: An email from Carlos.
Pre-intermediate A2 reading: An email from Carlos. Read the following email from Carlos and then answer the questions below. ‘Hi Diego, How are you? It has been a long time since we have spoken. I miss you. I hope you are well my friend! How is everything in Spain? I have been in […]
What are phrasal verbs?
What are phrasal verbs? Phrasal verbs are not words but phrases i.e. they can be two or three words. However a phrasal verb like a normal verb has a specific meaning so is almost like a word. Phrasal verbs are phrases which refer to different actions. Verb + preposition(s) Phrasal verbs consist of […]
What is a noun?
A noun is a name. It can be the name of a person like ‘Peter’. It can be the name of a country like ‘Britain’ or ‘Spain’. It can be the name of a food like ‘spaghetti’ or pasta’. It can be the name of a sport. Anything that is a name of something is […]
What is ‘part of speech’?
What is ‘part of speech’? ‘Part of speech’ is a formal term used to state what particular type of word a specific word is. There are 9 different ‘parts of speech’ or categories which any word could belong to. The 9 categories are: Noun Verb Adjective Adverb Preposition Pronoun Determiner Conjunction Interjection. Let us look […]
What are helping verbs?
What are helping verbs? What is a verb? A verb is an action. Verbs include words such as “go”, “do”, “eat”, “drink”. They tell us what actions we do. Now let us look at these two sentences to understand what a helping verb is and what a main verb is. ‘Do you…?’ “Do […]
What are superlative adjectives?
What are superlative adjectives? What are adjectives? First, let’s start with understanding what ‘adjectives’ are. Adjectives are words that describe something. Everything has a name and in English names of things are called ‘nouns’. For example: “The house is beautiful”. The name of the thing is ‘house’ and so ‘house’ is a noun’. The house […]
IELTS & TOEFL, 1,000 USEFUL ACADEMIC ENGLISH WORDS: ABOLISH
This is another in our series of articles on 1,000 useful words for IELTS, TOEFL and Academic vocabulary. For a list of all of our articles in this series, click here. Abolish Part of speech/type of word: Abolish is a verb Meaning: To end something, often an organisation, law or practice (a practice […]
What are the colours of the rainbow in order?
What are the colours of the rainbow in order? What are the colors of the rainbow in order? One of the best ways to remember things especially long things which you have to remember in the correct order is using something called a ‘mnemonic’. A mnemonic is often a group of letters which […]