Learn tips on how to teach grammar and usage from our editors and grammar experts. 

Grammar & Usage

<p>While writing the latest <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/88/lessons">Grammar Practice Worksheets</a>&nbsp;lesson&nbsp;on <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/88/lessons/2241">Adverbs of Frequency</a>, I realized how the adverbial time expression &quot;not very often&quot;&nbsp;is confusing for students in more ways than one. Most adverbs of frequency are only one word and follow two easy patterns, one for the Be verb and one for all other verbs. <em>Not very often</em> has three words that get divided up in a sentence, and it follows more complicated patterns than its fellow frequency adverbs.</p>

<p>As long as we present these differences clearly, our students will be able to use this common adverbial expression&hellip;usually!</p>


<h1>1. Not Very Often</h1>

<p><em>Not very often</em> means <em>seldom</em>, or about 20% (see our <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/88/lessons/2241" target="_blank">lesson</a>, <a href="https://ellii.com/resource_categories/grammar-usage/resources/2234-adverbs-of-frequency">chart</a>, or <a href="https://ellii.com/blog/adverbs-of-frequency/" target="_blank">post</a> on using percentages to teach adverbs of frequency). However, <em>seldom</em> isn&#39;t often used in informal spoken or written English. Most people consider it to be too formal and old-fashioned. That&#39;s why&nbsp;<em>not very often</em> is so important to learn&mdash;it&#39;s the more common choice by&nbsp;far.</p>

<h1>2. Adverb of Frequency Patterns:&nbsp;Verbs</h1>

<h2>A. Adv + V</h2>

<p>With most verbs in the simple present tense, the adverb of frequency is placed&nbsp;before the&nbsp;verb.</p>

<ul>
	<li>She <strong>always</strong> eats&nbsp;breakfast.</li>
	<li>He <strong>never</strong> sleeps&nbsp;in.</li>
	<li>They <strong>usually</strong> watch TV after&nbsp;dinner.</li>
</ul>

<h2>B. do + not + V (+ O) + very often</h2>

<p>With the expression&nbsp;<em>not very often</em>, the&nbsp;<em>not</em> gets attached to the auxiliary verb&nbsp;<em>do</em> (which is&nbsp;the usual negative simple present sentence pattern). The&nbsp;<em>very often</em> part comes after the main verb and the object (if there is&nbsp;one).</p>

<p>Note that&nbsp;<em>do not&nbsp;</em>and&nbsp;<em>does not&nbsp;</em>are usually contracted to&nbsp;<em>don&#39;t</em> and&nbsp;<em>doesn&#39;t</em>.</p>

<ul>
	<li>I do&nbsp;<strong>not</strong>&nbsp;jog&nbsp;<strong>very&nbsp;often</strong>.</li>
	<li>You do<strong>n&#39;t</strong> eat vegetables <strong>very</strong>&nbsp;<strong>often</strong>.</li>
	<li>We do<strong>n&#39;t</strong> talk on the phone <strong>very</strong>&nbsp;<strong>often</strong>.</li>
</ul>

<h1>3. Adverb of Frequency Patterns: BE&nbsp;Verb</h1>

<h2>A. BE + Adv</h2>

<p>With the Be verb&nbsp;in the simple present tense, the adverb of frequency&nbsp;is placed after&nbsp;the&nbsp;verb.</p>

<ul>
	<li>We are&nbsp;<strong>almost always</strong>&nbsp;late.</li>
	<li>I&nbsp;am <strong>rarely</strong> hungry for&nbsp;breakfast.</li>
	<li>She&nbsp;is <strong>often</strong>&nbsp;tired.</li>
</ul>

<h2>B. BE + not often + O</h2>

<p>It is more common to hear <em>not often</em> with the Be verb, though&nbsp;<em>not very often&nbsp;</em>is sometimes possible.&nbsp;<em>Not often</em>&nbsp;is placed after the Be verb, followed by the object or&nbsp;adjective.</p>

<ul>
	<li>They are&nbsp;<strong>not often</strong> ready for&nbsp;class.</li>
	<li>He is&nbsp;<strong>not often</strong> on time for&nbsp;work.</li>
	<li>You are&nbsp;<strong>not often</strong>&nbsp;sick.</li>
</ul>

<p>Note that there is more than one possibility of a sentence pattern with the Be verb and an adverbial expression meaning 20%. For low-level students, I would just teach the first one. If your students can handle it, show them the less common variants. Note that there is no difference in&nbsp;meaning.</p>

<ul>
	<li>They are&nbsp;<strong>not often&nbsp;</strong>ready for&nbsp;class.</li>
	<li>They are&nbsp;<strong>often not</strong> ready for&nbsp;class.</li>
	<li>They are&nbsp;<strong>not</strong> ready for class&nbsp;<strong>very&nbsp;often</strong>.</li>
</ul>

<p>For more advanced learners, you could also elaborate on the <em>not very often </em>verb pattern above by explaining that it is possible to use&nbsp;<em>not often</em> instead.&nbsp;<em>Not often</em> is places between&nbsp;<em>do</em> and the main verb. There is no difference in meaning, but again, the first pattern is more&nbsp;common.</p>

<ul>
	<li>We do<strong>n&#39;t</strong> talk on the phone&nbsp;<strong>very&nbsp;often</strong>.</li>
	<li>We do<strong>n&#39;t often</strong> talk on the&nbsp;phone.</li>
</ul>

<h1>Related Resources</h1>

<ul class="resources">
	<li class="lesson"><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/88/lessons/2241" target="_blank">Adverbs of Frequency Grammar&nbsp;Lesson</a></li>
	<li class="resource"><a href="https://ellii.com/resource_categories/grammar-usage/resources/2240-adverbs-of-frequency-activity-cards" target="_blank">Adverbs of Frequency Activity Cards</a></li>
	<li class="blog-post"><a href="https://ellii.com/blog/adverbs-of-frequency/" target="_blank">Adverbs of Frequency Teaching&nbsp;Tips</a></li>
	<li class="lesson"><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/90/lessons/1648" target="_blank">Adverbs of Time Grammar&nbsp;Stories</a></li>
	<li class="lesson"><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/88/lessons/1626" target="_blank">Adverbs of Manner Grammar&nbsp;Lesson</a></li>
	<li class="blog-post"><a href="https://ellii.com/blog/7-adverb-patterns/" target="_blank">7 Adverb Patterns</a></li>
	<li class="blog-post"><a href="https://ellii.com/blog/adverbs-with-two-forms/" target="_blank">Adverbs with Two&nbsp;Forms</a></li>
	<li class="resource"><a href="https://ellii.com/resource_categories/grammar-usage/resources/2158-adverbs-with-two-forms" target="_blank">Adverbs with Two Forms: Practice</a></li>
</ul>

Tips & Tricks for "Not Very Often"

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<h1>Intro to Adverbs</h1>

<p>Adverbs play a big role in the English language. They can describe verbs, adjectives, other adverbs, or even the whole sentence. (For more general information on adverbs, see <a href="https://ellii.com/blog/7-adverb-patterns/" target="_blank">7 Adverb Patterns</a>.) There are many types of adverbs, such as <a href="https://ellii.com/blog/adverbs-of-frequency/" target="_blank">adverbs of frequency</a> and viewpoint adverbs, but let&rsquo;s turn our focus to <strong>adverbs of&nbsp;manner</strong>.</p>

<h1>Adverbs of Manner</h1>

<h2>1. Function</h2>

<p>An adverb of manner is a word that <em>describes</em> (gives extra information about) the verb in a sentence. This type of adverb answers the question of <em>how</em> an action is&nbsp;performed.</p>

<ul>
	<li>She sang.</li>
	<li><em>How</em> did she&nbsp;sing?</li>
	<li>She sang <em>beautifully</em> / <em>softly</em> /&nbsp;<em>loudly</em>.</li>
</ul>

<h2>2. Form</h2>

<p>Most adverbs in English are formed by taking an adjective and adding&nbsp;<em class="inlineBlock">-ly</em>.</p>

<h4>Adjective &rarr; Adverb</h4>

<ul>
	<li>beautiful &rarr; beautifully</li>
	<li>careless &rarr; carelessly</li>
	<li>dangerous &rarr; dangerously</li>
	<li>enthusiastic &rarr; enthusiastically</li>
	<li>excited &rarr; excitedly</li>
	<li>independent &rarr; independently</li>
	<li>loud &rarr; loudly</li>
	<li>noisy &rarr; noisily</li>
	<li>soft &rarr; softly</li>
	<li>truthful &rarr; truthfully</li>
</ul>

<h2>3. Sentence Patterns</h2>

<p>Adverbs have <a href="https://ellii.com/blog/7-adverb-patterns/" target="_blank">many possible sentence patterns</a> in English. Here are some common patterns for adverbs of&nbsp;manner:</p>

<table>
	<tbody>
		<tr>
			<th>Pattern&nbsp;1</th>
			<td>V + Adv</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<th>Note</th>
			<td>This is the most common pattern for adverbs of manner in&nbsp;English.</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<th>Example</th>
			<td>He spoke <strong>quickly</strong>.</td>
		</tr>
	</tbody>
</table>

<table>
	<tbody>
		<tr>
			<th>Pattern&nbsp;2</th>
			<td>V + O + Adv</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<th>Note</th>
			<td>When a direct or indirect object follows the main verb, it is possible for the adverb to follow the&nbsp;object.</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<th>Example</th>
			<td>I drank my tea <strong>slowly</strong>.</td>
		</tr>
	</tbody>
</table>

<table>
	<tbody>
		<tr>
			<th>Pattern&nbsp;3</th>
			<td>Adv + V</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<th>Note</th>
			<td>Placing the adverb before the verb is very common with adverbs of frequency (e.g., I <em>always</em> eat breakfast), but it is a little less common with adverbs of&nbsp;manner.</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<th>Example</th>
			<td>The teacher <strong>quietly</strong> played with the&nbsp;children.</td>
		</tr>
	</tbody>
</table>

<h2>4. Exceptions</h2>

<h3>Adverbs with Another Form</h3>

<p>Like most &ldquo;rules&rdquo; for the English language, there are exceptions to the <em>Adj + ‑ly</em> rule. Some adverbs keep the same form for both adverbs and adjectives, while others use a different word form altogether. Here are some common adverbs that don&rsquo;t end in&nbsp;<em class="inlineBlock">-ly</em>:</p>

<h4>Adjective &rarr; Adverb</h4>

<ul>
	<li>good &rarr; well</li>
	<li>fast &rarr; fast</li>
	<li>hard &rarr; hard</li>
	<li>late &rarr; late</li>
</ul>

<p>For adverbs with two forms, such as hard/hardly and slow/slowly, see <a href="https://ellii.com/blog/adverbs-with-two-forms/" target="_blank">Adverbs with Two&nbsp;Forms</a>.</p>

<h3>-ly Adjectives</h3>

<p>There are also a few adjectives that end in <em class="inlineBlock">-ly</em> in English. Adjectives will follow the pattern <strong>Adj + N </strong> (e.g., <em>weekly class) </em>or <strong>BE + Adj</strong> (e.g., <em>She is friendly</em>). Here are some common <em>‑ly</em> adjectives (note that many have to do with&nbsp;<em>time</em>):</p>

<ul>
	<li>hourly</li>
	<li>daily</li>
	<li>weekly</li>
	<li>monthly</li>
	<li>yearly</li>
	<li>annually</li>
	<li>costly</li>
	<li>friendly</li>
	<li>silly</li>
</ul>

<h1>Related</h1>

<ul class="resources">
	<li class="lesson"><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/88/lessons/1626" target="_blank">Adverbs of Manner</a></li>
	<li class="blog-post"><a href="https://ellii.com/blog/adverbs-with-two-forms/" target="_blank">Adverbs with Two Forms</a></li>
	<li class="lesson"><a href="https://ellii.com/resource_categories/grammar-usage/resources/2158-adverbs-with-two-forms" target="_blank">Adverbs with Two Forms: Practice</a></li>
	<li class="blog-post"><a href="https://ellii.com/blog/adverbs-of-frequency/" target="_blank">Adverbs of Frequency</a></li>
	<li class="lesson"><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/89/lessons/1585" target="_blank">Simple Present: How often do you&hellip;?</a></li>
	<li class="blog-post"><a href="https://ellii.com/blog/7-adverb-patterns/" target="_blank">7 Adverb Patterns</a></li>
</ul>


Adverbs of Manner

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<p>Do you teach sentence patterns to your students outright? Most textbooks don&rsquo;t deal with sentence patterns all at once, but I&rsquo;ve found it really helps my students understand English better when I lay out the patterns for them. When English language learners have a basic understanding of sentence patterns and structures in English, they can recognize parts of speech and correct their mistakes more&nbsp;easily.</p>

<h1>Basic Sentence Patterns</h1>

<p>English uses a <strong>Subject-Verb-Object</strong> (SVO) sentence pattern, but this is only the beginning. Let&rsquo;s take a look at the patterns for the main parts of speech in&nbsp;English.</p>

<h2>1. Nouns (S, O, N):</h2>

<p>Nouns are people, places, or things. Nouns and pronouns can be subjects of a sentence, objects of a sentence, or objects of a preposition. Nouns are often preceded by an article (Art), including <em>a</em>, <em>an</em>, <em>the</em>, a number (<em>one</em>, <em>two</em>), a quantifier (<em>many</em>, <em>a few</em>), or a possessive adjective (<em>my</em>,&nbsp;<em>their</em>).</p>

<table>
	<tbody>
		<tr>
			<th>S + V + O</th>
			<td>
			<ul>
				<li><strong>People</strong> like&nbsp;<strong>him</strong>.</li>
			</ul>
			</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<th>Art + N</th>
			<td>
			<ul>
				<li>The <strong>girl</strong> ate an&nbsp;<strong>apple</strong>.</li>
			</ul>
			</td>
		</tr>
	</tbody>
</table>

<h2>2. Verbs (V):</h2>

<p>Verbs are the action or state of being in a sentence. Verbs usually follow a subject and can be followed by an object. With imperative verbs, the subject is&nbsp;dropped.</p>

<table>
	<tbody>
		<tr>
			<th>S + V (+ O)</th>
			<td>
			<ul>
				<li>My sister&nbsp;<strong>jogs</strong>.</li>
				<li>She <strong>likes</strong>&nbsp;him.</li>
			</ul>
			</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<th>V (+ O)</th>
			<td>
			<ul>
				<li><strong>Begin</strong>.</li>
				<li><strong>Call&nbsp;</strong>me.</li>
			</ul>
			</td>
		</tr>
	</tbody>
</table>

<h2>3. Adjectives (Adj):</h2>

<p>Adjectives describe nouns and have two common patterns in&nbsp;English.</p>

<table>
	<tbody>
		<tr>
			<th>Adj + N</th>
			<td>
			<ul>
				<li><strong>beautiful</strong>&nbsp;flower</li>
			</ul>
			</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<th>BE + Adj</th>
			<td>
			<ul>
				<li>The flower is&nbsp;<strong>beautiful</strong>.</li>
			</ul>
			</td>
		</tr>
	</tbody>
</table>

<h2>4. Adverbs (Adv):</h2>

<p>Adverbs can describe verbs, adjectives, other adverbs, or even the whole sentence. For more details and examples, see <a href="https://ellii.com/blog/7-adverb-patterns/" target="_blank">7&nbsp;Adverb&nbsp;Patterns</a>.</p>

<table>
	<tbody>
		<tr>
			<th>Adv + V</th>
			<td>
			<ul>
				<li><strong>often</strong>&nbsp;go</li>
			</ul>
			</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<th>V + Adv</th>
			<td>
			<ul>
				<li>speak&nbsp;<strong>fluently</strong></li>
			</ul>
			</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<th>V + Adv + V</th>
			<td>
			<ul>
				<li>is <strong>quickly</strong>&nbsp;preparing</li>
			</ul>
			</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<th>Adv + Adv</th>
			<td>
			<ul>
				<li><strong>really</strong>&nbsp;<strong>well</strong></li>
			</ul>
			</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<th>Adv + Adj</th>
			<td>
			<ul>
				<li><strong>very</strong>&nbsp;shiny</li>
			</ul>
			</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<th>Adv + S + V + O</th>
			<td>
			<ul>
				<li><strong>Actually</strong>, I like rainy&nbsp;days.</li>
			</ul>
			</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<th>S + V + O + Adv</th>
			<td>
			<ul>
				<li>I like rainy days, <strong>actually</strong>.</li>
			</ul>
			</td>
		</tr>
	</tbody>
</table>

<h2>5. Prepositions (Prep):</h2>

<p>Prepositions are little words that indicate direction, time, place, etc. They are followed by a&nbsp;noun.</p>

<table>
	<tbody>
		<tr>
			<th>Prep + N</th>
			<td>
			<ul>
				<li><strong>at</strong>&nbsp;school</li>
			</ul>
			</td>
		</tr>
	</tbody>
</table>

<h1>Expanding on the Basics</h1>

<p>Intermediate‑level students need to see how the patterns work in conjunction with each other. For example, in the Prep + N pattern, the noun can take an article (Art + N) and/or an&nbsp;adjective (Adj&nbsp;+&nbsp;N).</p>

<h2>Example #1</h2>

<table>
	<tbody>
		<tr>
			<th>Prep + N</th>
			<td>
			<ul>
				<li>at school</li>
			</ul>
			</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<th>Prep + Art +&nbsp;N</th>
			<td>
			<ul>
				<li>at the school</li>
			</ul>
			</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<th>Prep + Art + Adj +&nbsp;N</th>
			<td>
			<ul>
				<li>at the elite school</li>
			</ul>
			</td>
		</tr>
	</tbody>
</table>

<h2>Example #2</h2>

<table>
	<tbody>
		<tr>
			<th>Adj + N</th>
			<td>
			<ul>
				<li>fast car</li>
			</ul>
			</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<th>Art + Adj + N</th>
			<td>
			<ul>
				<li>a fast car</li>
			</ul>
			</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<th>Art + Adv + Adj + N</th>
			<td>
			<ul>
				<li>a really fast car</li>
			</ul>
			</td>
		</tr>
	</tbody>
</table>

<h2>Example #3</h2>

<table>
	<tbody>
		<tr>
			<th>V + Adv</th>
			<td>
			<ul>
				<li>writes&nbsp;often</li>
			</ul>
			</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<th>V + Adv +&nbsp;V</th>
			<td>
			<ul>
				<li>is often&nbsp;writing</li>
			</ul>
			</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<th>V + Adv + Adv +&nbsp;V</th>
			<td>
			<ul>
				<li>is so often&nbsp;writing</li>
			</ul>
			</td>
		</tr>
	</tbody>
</table>

<h2>Example #4</h2>

<table>
	<tbody>
		<tr>
			<th>SVO</th>
			<td>
			<ul>
				<li>Cats chase mice.</li>
			</ul>
			</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<th>(Art&nbsp;+&nbsp;N) +&nbsp;V +&nbsp;(Art&nbsp;+&nbsp;N)</th>
			<td>
			<ul>
				<li>The cats chase the&nbsp;mice.</li>
			</ul>
			</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<th>(Art&nbsp;+&nbsp;Adj&nbsp;+&nbsp;N) +&nbsp;(Adv&nbsp;+&nbsp;V) +&nbsp;(Art&nbsp;+&nbsp;Adj&nbsp;+&nbsp;N)</th>
			<td>
			<ul>
				<li>The hungry cats always chase the scared&nbsp;mice.</li>
			</ul>
			</td>
		</tr>
	</tbody>
</table>

<p>For higher‑level students, you can now show how complex sentences involve multiple clauses and phrases that are joined by conjunctions, transitional words (adverbs), punctuation,&nbsp;etc.</p>

<p><a href="https://ellii.com/resource_categories/103/resources/2229" target="_blank"><img alt="Screenshot of English Sentence Patterns resource" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/221/content_103_English-Sentence-Patterns_US.png" /></a></p>

<p class="caption">Subscribers can access these charts in our <a href="https://ellii.com/resource_categories/103/resources/2229" target="_blank">Resources &ndash; Grammar &amp; Usage</a>&nbsp;section.</p>

<h1>Related</h1>

<ul class="resources">
	<li class="lesson"><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/88/lessons/1608" target="_blank">Complete&nbsp;Sentences</a></li>
	<li class="lesson"><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/74/lessons/2020" target="_blank">How to Write a Simple&nbsp;Sentence</a></li>
	<li class="lesson"><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/74/lessons/2035" target="_blank">How to Write a Compound&nbsp;Sentence</a></li>
	<li class="blog-post"><a href="https://ellii.com/blog/adjectives" target="_blank">Adjectives</a></li>
	<li class="blog-post"><a href="https://ellii.com/blog/7-adverb-patterns/" target="_blank">7 Adverb&nbsp;Patterns</a></li>
	<li class="blog-post"><a href="https://ellii.com/blog/sentence-stress" target="_blank">Sentence&nbsp;Stress</a></li>
</ul>


English Sentence Patterns

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Tour around the ELT conference circuit as our team shares conference highlights and session reviews.

Conferences

<p>Last week, I met up with <a href="https://ellii.com" target="_blank">ESL&nbsp;Library</a>&#39;s CEO, Ben Buckwold, at the annual <a href="http://www.bcteal.org" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">BC&nbsp;TEAL conference</a>. Because our team is located all across Canada, conferences are the only chance we get&nbsp;to hang out in person. Ben works in our head office in Winnipeg, Manitoba, while I work in Vancouver, BC. Head writer Tara Benwell, who lives in Kitchener, Ontario, was sorely missed, but at least we&#39;d had the chance to catch up in person at the <a href="https://ellii.com/blog/baltimore-charms-the-esl-library-team-for-tesol-16" target="_blank">TESOL 2016 conference</a> in Baltimore earlier in April.</p>

<p>BC&nbsp;TEAL&#39;s&nbsp;conference&nbsp;theme was&nbsp;<em>building community</em>, and we certainly felt that to be true for us with all&nbsp;the Canadian connections we made at this&nbsp;conference!</p>

<p><img alt="BC TEAL 2016" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/2170/content_ChUzdZwUcAAPod5-1024x768.jpg" /></p>

<p class="caption">Left to right: ESL&nbsp;Library editor Tanya Trusler &amp; CEO Ben&nbsp;Buckwold</p>

<h1>More&nbsp;Canadian Content</h1>

<p>If you subscribe to <a href="https://ellii.com/lessons" target="_blank">ESL&nbsp;Library</a>, you&#39;ll notice we provide <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/72/lessons/2120" target="_blank">American, Canadian, and British English versions</a> of most of our lessons. Though we have subscribers in more than 100 countries, we are a Canadian company, so we feel it&#39;s important to keep up with what&#39;s happening in the ELT field in Canada.</p>

<p>The BC&nbsp;TEAL conference provided us with a great opportunity to find out what&#39;s new with the Canadian Language Benchmarks (CLB) and to strengthen our connections with Canadian teachers and&nbsp;administrators. So far this year, we&#39;ve been hard at work adapting our lessons to better meet the needs of Canadian teachers, and this&nbsp;BC&nbsp;TEAL conference was an excellent opportunity to find out from teachers and CLB experts&nbsp;how we&#39;ve been doing and&nbsp;how we can improve even&nbsp;more.</p>

<h1>Keynote Speakers</h1>

<p>We also had a chance to finally meet one of our long-time guest bloggers, <a href="https://ellii.com/blog/author/shelly-terrell/" target="_blank">Shelly Sanchez Terrell</a>. Shelly and&nbsp;Lindsay Clandfield&nbsp;were&nbsp;the keynote speakers at this conference, and their presentations were&nbsp;as inspiring as we&nbsp;expected!</p>

<p><img alt="BC TEAL 2016" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/2171/content_ChKvt5DXEAAiiH_-1024x768.jpg" /></p>

<p>&nbsp;</p>

<p class="caption">Left to right: ESL&nbsp;Library editor Tanya Trusler, keynote speaker Shelly Sanchez Terrell &amp; ESL&nbsp;Library CEO Ben&nbsp;Buckwold</p>

<p>Lindsay Clandfield spoke about&nbsp;<em>Critical Thinking in Critical Times</em>. He offered up many great activities to get English language learners to think outside the typical ELT-activity&nbsp;box.&nbsp;Find more about Lindsay and his amazing work in our&nbsp;field at <a href="http://lindsayclandfield.com" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">lindsayclandfield.com</a>.</p>

<p>Shelly Sanchez Terrell spoke about&nbsp;<em>The Power of a Goal-Minded Teacher</em>. She shared how her 30 Goals Challenge can motivate teachers to try things they haven&#39;t tried before, especially when it comes to using technology in the classroom. Find more about Shelly&#39;s engaging&nbsp;work at&nbsp;<a href="http://30Goals.com" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">30Goals.com</a>. Both Lindsay and Shelly are published ELT authors.</p>

<p><img alt="Shelly Terrell BC TEAL 2016" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/2172/content_IMG_0642-1024x768.jpg" /></p>

<p class="caption">Shelly Sanchez Terrell explaining her 30 Goal Challenge for teachers</p>

<h1>BC&nbsp;TEAL</h1>

<p>We had the chance to meet many members of the BC&nbsp;TEAL board, including retiring president Shawna Williams, key conference organizers Nathan Hall &nbsp;and Alex Bale (who went out of their way to make us feel welcome), new&nbsp;president Joe Dobson, and board members Sandra Boehm and Scott Roy Douglas. Apologies to&nbsp;those I didn&#39;t get to meet and therefore didn&#39;t mention&mdash;I know it takes many people to run a successful conference such as this one!</p>

<p>The conference this year took place at the Surrey campus of Simon Fraser University (my awesome alma mater), and the location and volunteers (SFU students) were top-notch. Overall, we had a fantastic time at the sessions and events, and we enjoyed meeting teachers from across Canada and finding out how our lessons could be adapted to meet their&nbsp;needs.</p>

<h1>Sessions</h1>

<p>I attended many excellent&nbsp;sessions and I learned so much about CLB and PBLA (portfolio-based language assessment). Here are some key takeaways from the sessions I attended:</p>

<h2>1. Understanding &amp; Creating Assessment Tools&nbsp;(PBLA)</h2>

<p><em>with Lisa Herrera, Caroline Pendleton &amp; Claire&nbsp;Pinkett</em></p>

<ul>
	<li>CLB is about improvement and keys to success, not about pass or fail, so we are moving away from numeric assessment. (E.g., a score of 9/10 isn&#39;t helpful for the student if the mistake was a key element to success&mdash;for instance, if you missed filling out a key part of a bank loan application, you wouldn&#39;t get the loan even if the rest was filled out&nbsp;correctly.)</li>
	<li>Low levels of CLB need learner-friendly language on the&nbsp;assessments.</li>
	<li>Comprehension tasks should not just check for content&mdash;they must be clearly linked to CLB criteria in the&nbsp;assessment&nbsp;tool.</li>
	<li>For split-level classes, put assessment criteria for each level on separate sheets so students only focus on the criteria that&#39;s relevant for their&nbsp;level.</li>
</ul>

<h2>2. Community Building and Growing Intercultural Competence in Language&nbsp;Classrooms</h2>

<p><em>with Taslim Damji</em></p>

<ul>
	<li>Community can be defined as a sense of belonging, and it applies to the classroom as well as the outside&nbsp;world.</li>
	<li>Intercultural competence is the ability to move between cultures with sensitivity and&nbsp;respect.</li>
	<li>Say to students, &quot;This is the way it will work for you in this country,&quot;&nbsp;not &quot;This is the right way to do&nbsp;it.&quot;</li>
</ul>

<h2>3. Writing Effective CLB Aligned Comprehension&nbsp;Questions</h2>

<p><em>with Lisa Herrera</em></p>

<ul>
	<li>The goal when writing comprehension questions is to try to measure if students can complete a real-world task goal in the real world at the standard of their CLB&nbsp;level.</li>
	<li>Make the wording of questions simple and clear so students know what&#39;s being&nbsp;asked.</li>
	<li>Matching/sequencing questions are good for skill-building but not great for&nbsp;assessment.</li>
	<li>Use True/False questions sparingly because they&#39;re difficult to write&nbsp;well.</li>
	<li>Fill-in-the-blanks are good for detail&nbsp;questions.</li>
	<li>Short answers are good for single&nbsp;ideas.</li>
	<li>Multiple-choice questions are great for checking&nbsp;students&#39; knowledge&nbsp;(i.e., they might know the answer, but they can&#39;t always produce it, which is problematic in other types of&nbsp;questions).</li>
	<li>There are not a lot of CLB materials out there right now. (This is where <a href="https://ellii.com" target="_blank">ESL&nbsp;Library</a> comes in very&nbsp;handy!)</li>
</ul>

<h2>4. Assessment Tools That Support Student Growth in the&nbsp;Classroom</h2>

<p><em>with Svetlana Lupasco &amp; Shawna&nbsp;Williams</em></p>

<ul>
	<li>Use assessment to&nbsp;<em>develop&nbsp;</em>skills, not to <em>test</em>&nbsp;skills.</li>
	<li>Desconstruct assessment into a series of manageable&nbsp;steps.</li>
	<li>Be sure to engage students in feedback, and follow up on the assessment/feedback.</li>
</ul>

<h2>5. Integrating PBLA into Your Everyday Classroom</h2>

<p><em>with Pat Marilley-Bodner &amp;&nbsp;Astrid&nbsp;van&nbsp;der&nbsp;Pol</em></p>

<ul>
	<li>Good guidelines to follow for PBLA: Include 8&ndash;10 artefacts (assessments) per month if you teach full-time (5 days or 15/hrs/wk);&nbsp;include 6&ndash;8 artifacts if you teach part-time.</li>
	<li>Each real-world task can include multiple artefacts, so aim for 2&ndash;4 real-world tasks&nbsp;per&nbsp;month.</li>
	<li>Use the <a href="http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/pdf/pub/language-benchmarks.pdf" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">CLB book</a> for guidelines for assessment&nbsp;tasks.</li>
</ul>

<h2>6.&nbsp;In general:</h2>

<ul>
	<li>There was a great deal of talk in many of the sessions of moving away from numerical and pass/fail scoring vs. measures such as&nbsp;<em>achieved, achieved with help, needs improvement</em>;&nbsp;<em>just beginning</em>, <em>on my way</em>, and <em>success&nbsp;</em>(Lupasco); or&nbsp;images of a seed, a sprout, and a plant (Williams). The purpose is to get students to think of success in terms of accomplishing a real-world task and not a grade. Because not all teachers have implemented this&nbsp;change, we at ESL&nbsp;Library have tried to create <a href="https://ellii.com/resource_categories/assessment-tools/resources/2129-speaking-task-assessment-form" target="_blank">assessment templates that offer both&nbsp;choices</a>.</li>
</ul>

<ul>
	<li>The focus of all Canadian LINC classes should be on real-world task goals. There is an important shift&nbsp;from typical classroom textbooks/activities to real-world tasks that would&nbsp;happen outside the classroom. Everything, from&nbsp;skill-building tasks to skill-using tasks and assessment tasks, should apply to real-world tasks. (This seems like a lot of work for teachers, so <a href="https://ellii.com" target="_blank">ESL&nbsp;Library</a> will strive&nbsp;to create or&nbsp;adapt more&nbsp;lessons&nbsp;that focus on real-world&nbsp;tasks!)</li>
</ul>

<h1>Pecha Kucha</h1>

<p>My first Pecha Kucha was a lot of fun. Pecha Kucha is a six-and-a-half-minute presentation where the speaker&nbsp;has only 20 seconds to talk about each slide. There is an emphasis on silliness and fun with these kinds of presentations, and the BC&nbsp;TEAL Pecha Kucha presentations were no&nbsp;exception!</p>

<p><img alt="BC TEAL 2016" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/2173/content_IMG_0618-1024x768.jpg" /></p>

<p class="caption">Shelly Sanchez Terrell giving her Pecha Kucha on funny would-be&nbsp;apps for teachers (vacation app: yes!)</p>

<p class="caption"><img alt="BC TEAL 2016" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/2175/content_IMG_0619-1024x768.jpg" /></p>

<p class="caption">A funny and touching Pecha Kucha tribute to retiring BC&nbsp;TEAL president Shawna Williams (image of Shawna and current BC&nbsp;TEAL president Joe Dobson)</p>

<h1>BC&nbsp;TEAL 2017</h1>

<p>Next year marks BC&nbsp;TEAL&#39;s 50th anniversary, and the <strong>CarnivEAL</strong>&nbsp;(love this idea!) conference will take place at Vancouver Community College. Our ESL&nbsp;Library team will be on hand to reconnect with Canadian teachers and have some more fun with the BC&nbsp;TEAL board members. Between now and then, please <a href="https://ellii.com/contact" target="_blank">contact us</a> with any other CLB requests or needs. Our goal is to make teachers&#39; lives easier, so we love hearing from our subscribers to find out what they want and&nbsp;need!</p>


Building Community at the BC TEAL 2016 Conference

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<p>The ESL Library team had a great time at the <a href="https://ellii.com/blog/baltimore-charms-the-esl-library-team-for-tesol-16/">TESOL 16 convention</a> in Baltimore, Maryland! We were usually manning our booth or leading sessions of our own, but I had the chance to attend a wonderful session about getting learners to recognize patterns in language. These tips are too good not to pass on! Try them with your students and watch their inner linguists&nbsp;emerge.</p>


<table class="horizontal">
	<tbody>
		<tr>
			<th>Session Title:</th>
			<td><a href="https://thinklikelinguists.wordpress.com/session-powerpoint/">Teaching Students to Think Like a&nbsp;Linguist</a></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<th>Presenters:</th>
			<td><a href="http://jcurtis@roosevelt.edu">Jane Curtis</a> &amp; <a href="http://smclaugh@roosevelt.edu">Susanne McLaughlin</a>&nbsp;from Roosevelt&nbsp;University</td>
		</tr>
	</tbody>
</table>

<p>Jane Curtis and Susanne McLaughlin started their wonderful session by reminding us what linguists do&mdash;they study language by looking at the structure, meaning, and context. They reminded us that language is systematic. It has rules for form, meaning, and&nbsp;use.</p>

<p>This is great&nbsp;news for English language learners who sometimes think our language is random and chaotic! In my experience, all learners like knowing the rules to minimize their own mistakes and better comprehend the language. But rather than simply teaching a rule to a student, the presenters challenged us to teach students to figure out the rules&nbsp;<em>for themselves</em>. This is far more rewarding and far more likely to be&nbsp;retained.</p>

<p>Jane and Susanne gave the &quot;double consonant rule in past tense endings&quot;&nbsp;as a prime&nbsp;example.</p>

<p>For lower-level learners, give students a list of base verbs and past endings, such&nbsp;as:</p>

<table class="horizontal">
	<tbody>
		<tr>
			<td>rip</td>
			<td>ripped</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>wait</td>
			<td>waited</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>stop</td>
			<td>stopped</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>push</td>
			<td>pushed</td>
		</tr>
	</tbody>
</table>

<p>(See Jane and Susanne&#39;s <a href="https://thinklikelinguists.wordpress.com/session-powerpoint/">presentation slides</a> for the complete&nbsp;list)</p>

<p>Now ask students what they notice. When a student comes up with the correct rule (CVC syllable takes a double consonant), make it fun by calling it &quot;(student&#39;s name)&#39;s&nbsp;rule.&quot;</p>

<p>For higher-level students, take this basic rule a step further with a list like&nbsp;this:</p>

<table class="horizontal">
	<tbody>
		<tr>
			<td>listen</td>
			<td>listened</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>repair</td>
			<td>repaired</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>edit</td>
			<td>edited</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>commit</td>
			<td>committed</td>
		</tr>
	</tbody>
</table>

<p>What will your students notice? (This might even stump native speakers!) After a while, one of your learners will notice that only stressed CVC syllables take a double&nbsp;consonant.</p>

<p>The presenters discussed how this methodology can be applied to&nbsp;other grammar points, such as gerunds/infinitives, commas with adjective clauses, and modals. (See their <a href="https://thinklikelinguists.wordpress.com/session-powerpoint/">presentation</a> for these other examples and&nbsp;worksheets.)</p>

<p>This way of thinking also goes beyond grammar! Jane and Susanne gave examples for other language targets, such as reading genres and speaking&nbsp;patterns. For example, the presenters suggested having students read through several short stories of a particular genre and getting them to notice the similar elements in that genre (e.g., settings, character types, the plot, the element of surprise.&nbsp;etc.).</p>

<p>The session ended with a summary of their main points and&nbsp;observations:</p>

<ul>
	<li>grammar rules are not&nbsp;random</li>
	<li>students&nbsp;<em>can</em> learn to&nbsp;notice</li>
	<li>students <em>can</em> learn to discover, analyze, and&nbsp;generalize</li>
	<li>meaning matters</li>
</ul>

<p>Jane and Susanne were kind enough to prepare a website with all the info from their presentation, including the slides, worksheets, and contact info: <a href="http://thinklikelinguists.wordpress.com">thinklikelinguists.wordpress.com</a></p>

<p>Will you try teaching your students to think like a&nbsp;linguist?</p>

Teaching Students to Think Like a Linguist

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<p>After I posted last week&#39;s <a href="https://ellii.com/blog/aw-vs-awe/" target="_blank">Aw Vs. Awe</a> article, our head writer asked me, &quot;What about <em>ah&nbsp;</em>and&nbsp;<em>aah</em>?&quot;&nbsp;Good idea for a blog post, Tara!&nbsp;<em>Ah</em> is used in many situations. There is also a dictionary entry for&nbsp;<em>aah</em>. So what are the usage, meaning, and part of speech differences for&nbsp;<em>ah</em> and&nbsp;<em>aah</em>? Scroll down to find out about&nbsp;<em>aha</em>,&nbsp;too.</p>

<h1>Ah</h1>

<p><em>Ah&nbsp;</em>is used for all types of feelings. <em><a href="http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/ah" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Merriam-Webster</a></em> defines the interjection&nbsp;<em>ah</em>&nbsp;as &quot;used to express&nbsp;pleasure, delight, relief, regret, or contempt.&quot;&nbsp;We also use it to convey that we understand something and as a &quot;thinking word&quot;&nbsp;(a word with no meaning that shows we&#39;re thinking). Notice the different ways to punctuate&nbsp;<em>ah</em> in the examples&nbsp;below.</p>

<h2>Examples:</h2>

<ul>
	<li>Ah!&nbsp;I could stare at this sunset for hours. <em>(pleasure)</em></li>
	<li>Ah! Look at all the baby bunnies! <em>(delight)</em></li>
	<li>Ah! This hot tub is helping my sore back. <em>(relief)</em></li>
	<li>Ah, I&#39;m so sorry to hear that. <em>(regret)</em></li>
	<li>Ah! Look what you&#39;ve done! You&#39;ve ruined it! <em>(contempt)</em></li>
	<li>Ah. I see what you mean. <em>(understanding)</em></li>
	<li>Ah...that&#39;s not exactly what I meant. <em>(thinking sound&mdash;</em>uh<em> and&nbsp;</em>um<em> are possible&nbsp;alternatives)</em></li>
</ul>

<p>Note that for positive meanings (pleasure, delight, and relief),&nbsp;<em>aah</em>&nbsp;is a variant spelling of <em>ah</em>. If students&nbsp;write &quot;Aah,&nbsp;this hot tub is helping my sore back&quot;&nbsp;they would be correct.&nbsp;However, it&#39;s worth pointing out to higher-level students that&nbsp;<em>ah</em>&nbsp;is the most common spelling of&nbsp;the&nbsp;interjection.</p>

<h1>Aah</h1>

<p>Some people might be surprised to learn that&nbsp;<em>aah</em> is a verb. <em><a href="http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/aah" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Merriam-Webster</a></em> defines&nbsp;<em>aah</em>&nbsp;as &quot;to exclaim in amazement, joy, or&nbsp;surprise.&quot;</p>

<h2>Examples:</h2>

<ul>
	<li>The audience oohed and aahed at the&nbsp;acrobats.</li>
	<li>Most parents spent the night oohing and aahing over the children&#39;s&nbsp;artwork.</li>
</ul>

<p>Students might also be relieved to learn that&nbsp;<em>ah</em> is a variant spelling of&nbsp;<em>aah</em>, so if they write&nbsp;<em>ah</em> instead of&nbsp;<em>aah</em>&nbsp;as a verb, it is still correct. However, it&#39;s worth pointing out to higher-level students that&nbsp;<em>aah</em> is the most common spelling for the verb&nbsp;form.</p>

<h1>What about Aha?</h1>

<p>Another interjection with a similar spelling is&nbsp;<em>aha</em>. <em><a href="http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/aha" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Merriam-Webster</a></em> defines&nbsp;<em>aha</em>&nbsp;as &quot;used when something is suddenly seen, found, or understood; used to express surprise, triumph, or derision.&quot;&nbsp;<em>Aha</em> is almost always found at the beginning of a sentence and is usually followed by an exclamation&nbsp;point.</p>

<h2>Examples:</h2>

<ul>
	<li>Aha! I finally found my&nbsp;keys!</li>
	<li>Aha! I knew he would call&nbsp;you.</li>
</ul>

<p>Are there any other&nbsp;commonly confused words you&#39;d like to know more about?&nbsp;Let me know in the comments section&nbsp;below.</p>

<h1>Practice</h1>

<p>Find an exercise on Interjections on page 5 in&nbsp;<a href="https://ellii.com/courses/102/lessons/2058" target="_blank">Everyday Idioms 3 &ndash; Lesson&nbsp;14</a>.</p>

<h1>Related</h1>

<ul class="resources">
	<li class="blog-post"><a href="https://ellii.com/blog/aw-vs-awe/" target="_blank">Aw Vs. Awe</a></li>
	<li class="blog-post"><a href="https://ellii.com/blog/lay-vs-lie-lets-lay-this-matter-to-rest/" target="_blank">Lay Vs.&nbsp;Lie</a></li>
	<li class="blog-post"><a href="https://ellii.com/blog/everyday-vs-every-day/" target="_blank">Everyday Vs. Every&nbsp;Day</a></li>
	<li class="blog-post"><a href="https://ellii.com/blog/teaching-tips-on-theyre-their-and-there/" target="_blank">Teaching Tips on They&#39;re, Their, and&nbsp;There</a></li>
	<li class="blog-post"><a href="https://ellii.com/blog/teaching-tips-on-youre-and-your/" target="_blank">Teaching Tips on You&#39;re and&nbsp;Your</a></li>
	<li class="blog-post"><a href="https://ellii.com/blog/teaching-tips-on-to-too-and-two/" target="_blank">Teaching Tips on To, Too, and&nbsp;Two</a></li>
	<li class="blog-post"><a href="https://ellii.com/blog/teaching-tips-on-its-and-its/" target="_blank">Teaching Tips on It&#39;s and&nbsp;Its</a></li>
</ul>


Ah Vs. Aah

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<p>When you want to comment on your friend&#39;s baby or pet pictures on Facebook, what do you write? Misspelling the interjection&nbsp;<em>aw</em>&nbsp;as <em>awe&nbsp;</em>on social media and in text messages is something that&nbsp;both English language learners and native English speakers do. Since this is such a common term&nbsp;nowadays, let&#39;s review the differences in spelling and&nbsp;meaning.</p>


<h1>Aw</h1>

<p>When your friend posts an adorable puppy picture on Instagram and you want to gush over how cute it is, the correct thing to write is&nbsp;<em>aw</em>, not&nbsp;<em>awe</em>.</p>

<p><em><a href="http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/aw" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Merriam-Webster</a></em> defines&nbsp;<em>aw</em> as &quot;used to express&nbsp;mild disappointment, gentle entreaty, or real or mock sympathy or&nbsp;sentiment.&quot;</p>

<h2>Examples:</h2>

<ul>
	<li>Aw, your baby is so cute!</li>
	<li>A: Here&#39;s a picture of my new&nbsp;kitten!<br />
	B: Aw!</li>
	<li>A: You&#39;re the best!<br />
	B: Aw, thanks!</li>
	<li>A: I had a terrible day.<br />
	B: Aw, I&#39;m sorry to hear&nbsp;that.</li>
</ul>

<p>Note that it is possible to&nbsp;use more <em>w</em>s to show more emphasis and emotion (<em>awww</em>), but this is very informal and should be limited to comments among friends in social media/texting situations. How many <em>w</em>s are too many? Generally speaking, the more <em>w</em>s used, the more emotion conveyed. It&#39;s a similar situation to using more exclamation points to express emotion (!!!). Just remind students that more than one&nbsp;<em>w</em>&nbsp;or exclamation point is not &quot;correct&quot;&nbsp;grammar, so they should never use more than one in any type of formal&nbsp;writing.</p>

<h1>Awe</h1>

<p><em>Awe</em> has a fairly strong meaning and is more on the formal side. It&#39;s not a word that we use too&nbsp;often.</p>

<p><em><a href="http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/awe" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Merriam-Webster</a></em> defines <em>awe</em> as &quot;a strong feeling of fear or respect and also&nbsp;wonder.&quot;</p>

<h2>Examples:</h2>

<ul>
	<li>I&#39;m in awe of her&nbsp;generosity.</li>
	<li>She gazed at the Picasso in&nbsp;awe.</li>
	<li>The amount of international aid following the terrorist attack filled us with&nbsp;awe.</li>
	<li>They were awestruck at the size of the new&nbsp;statue.</li>
</ul>

<p>In short, because&nbsp;<em>aw</em> is very common nowadays, we would do well to teach our students that when in doubt, use&nbsp;<em>aw</em>, not&nbsp;<em>awe</em>.</p>

<h1>Related</h1>

<ul class="resources">
	<li class="blog-post"><a href="https://ellii.com/blog/lay-vs-lie-lets-lay-this-matter-to-rest/" target="_blank">Lay Vs. Lie</a></li>
	<li class="blog-post"><a href="https://ellii.com/blog/everyday-vs-every-day/" target="_blank">Everyday Vs. Every Day</a></li>
	<li class="blog-post"><a href="https://ellii.com/blog/teaching-tips-on-theyre-their-and-there/" target="_blank">Teaching Tips on They&#39;re, Their, and&nbsp;There</a></li>
	<li class="blog-post"><a href="https://ellii.com/blog/teaching-tips-on-youre-and-your/" target="_blank">Teaching Tips on You&#39;re and&nbsp;Your</a></li>
	<li class="blog-post"><a href="https://ellii.com/blog/teaching-tips-on-to-too-and-two/" target="_blank">Teaching Tips on To, Too, and&nbsp;Two</a></li>
	<li class="blog-post"><a href="https://ellii.com/blog/teaching-tips-on-its-and-its/" target="_blank">Teaching Tips on It&#39;s and&nbsp;Its</a></li>
</ul>

Aw Vs. Awe

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Stay up-to-date with ELT trends and ideas with articles from experts and teachers in the field.

Articles

<h1>Happy 50th Anniversary, TESOL!</h1>

<p>Language keeps changing and evolving, especially nowadays with so much of our communication being carried out by text messaging and social media. One of the biggest changes I&#39;ve noticed as an editor is comma usage becoming&nbsp;less&nbsp;frequent, especially in social media and other forms of online&nbsp;communication.</p>

<p>So what do we teach our students about comma use nowadays, knowing they&#39;ll see English online most of the time? For guidance, let&#39;s take a look&nbsp;behind the scenes&nbsp;at ESL Library&#39;s style choices for greetings, introductions, and&nbsp;birthdays.</p>

<h1>Greetings</h1>

<p>Traditionally, a comma comes after a greeting word in&nbsp;English.</p>

<ul>
	<li>Hi, John.</li>
</ul>

<p>But what happens at the beginning of an email, newsletter, text, letter, etc. when the name should be followed by a&nbsp;comma?</p>

<ul>
	<li>Hi, John,</li>
</ul>

<p>Most people would agree that this double comma looks strange. Also, dropping the comma after the greeting term is very common in informal and web writing nowadays. For our newsletters, we use one of two&nbsp;ways:</p>

<ul>
	<li>Hi John,</li>
	<li>Hi, John!</li>
</ul>

<p>I would suggest teaching students to drop a comma after the greeting word if a comma follows the name, but keep it otherwise (as above). My feeling is it will eventually be dropped after the greeting term in all situations, but we&#39;re not there&nbsp;yet!</p>

<h1>Introductions</h1>

<p>Introducing someone&nbsp;in writing can be tricky.&nbsp;This situation came up recently when we were creating a newsletter about the&nbsp;<a href="http://www.tesol.org/convention2016" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">TESOL convention</a>. We were introducing our team members and their job titles, and we were debating which commas were necessary. This case can be very difficult for students to sort out as&nbsp;well.</p>

<p>For example, why do we need commas in the following&nbsp;sentences?</p>

<ul>
	<li>Our head writer, Tara Benwell, will be at Booth 313 during the TESOL&nbsp;convention.</li>
	<li>Tara Benwell, our head writer, will be at Booth 313 during the TESOL&nbsp;convention.</li>
	<li>Stop by&nbsp;and say hello to our CEO, Ben&nbsp;Buckwold.</li>
	<li>Stop by and say hello to Ben Buckwold, CEO of ESL Library and Sprout&nbsp;English.</li>
</ul>

<p>But why don&#39;t we use commas in the sentences&nbsp;below?</p>

<ul>
	<li>Head writer Tara Benwell will be&nbsp;at Booth 313 during the TESOL&nbsp;convention.</li>
	<li>Stop by and say hello to CEO Ben&nbsp;Buckwold.</li>
</ul>

<p>An easy way for students to remember comma usage in these cases is this: If you can drop the second phrase (name or title, depending on the sentence), you must use commas. If you can&#39;t drop it, you can&#39;t use commas. No dropping = no&nbsp;commas.</p>

<ul>
	<li>Our head writer, Tara Benwell, will be at Booth 313 during the TESOL&nbsp;convention.</li>
	<li>Our&nbsp;head writer will be at Booth 313 during the TESOL convention. <em>(correct)</em></li>
</ul>

<p>In the example above, we can drop &#39;Tara Benwell&#39; and the sentence still makes sense and is correct, so we must use&nbsp;commas.</p>

<ul>
	<li>Tara Benwell, our head writer, will be at Booth 313 during the TESOL&nbsp;convention.</li>
	<li>Tara Benwell&nbsp;will be at Booth 313 during the TESOL convention. <em>(correct)</em></li>
</ul>

<p>In the&nbsp;next&nbsp;example above, we can drop &#39;our head writer&#39; and the sentence still makes sense and is correct, so we must use&nbsp;commas.</p>

<ul>
	<li>Head writer Tara Benwell will be&nbsp;at Booth 313 during the TESOL&nbsp;convention.</li>
	<li>Head writer&nbsp;will be&nbsp;at Booth 313 during the TESOL convention. <em>(incorrect)</em></li>
</ul>

<p>In the&nbsp;last example above, we can&#39;t say &#39;Head writer will be&hellip;&#39; so we don&#39;t need commas with the&nbsp;name.</p>

<p>Note that this rule works for all kinds of titles. It also affects the capitalization for certain civil titles such as &#39;president&#39; and &#39;prime minister,&#39; so it is a good rule for students to&nbsp;learn.</p>

<ul>
	<li>President Barack Obama gave a speech today. <em>(correct)</em></li>
	<li>The president, Barack Obama, gave a speech today. <em>(correct)</em></li>
</ul>

<p>For more information, see our posts on <a href="https://ellii.com/blog/when-do-we-capitalize-president/" target="_blank">When Do We Capitalize &ldquo;President&rdquo;?</a> and <a href="https://ellii.com/blog/restrictive-non-restrictive-adjective-clauses" target="_blank">Restrictive and Non-Restrictive Adjective&nbsp;Clauses</a>.</p>

<h1>Birthdays</h1>

<p>We also dealt with another&nbsp;comma issue in our&nbsp;newsletter about the <a href="http://www.tesol.org/convention2016" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">TESOL convention</a>. In honor of TESOL&#39;s 50th anniversary, we had the following&nbsp;heading.</p>

<ul>
	<li>Happy anniversary, TESOL!</li>
</ul>

<p>Again, traditionally, a comma is needed between the phrase and the&nbsp;name.</p>

<ul>
	<li>Happy birthday, John!</li>
	<li>Good luck, Lisa!</li>
	<li>Congratulations, team!</li>
</ul>

<p>However, it is worth pointing out (to higher-level students) that people often drop the comma&nbsp;in these phrases on social media (Facebook, Twitter, etc.). Some people also&nbsp;capitalize &#39;birthday&#39; for emphasis, and others use an acronym. Tell students that they may see and can write any of the following expressions with their own friends on social media (or in a card), but that the first version is the most &#39;correct&#39; (though not necessarily the most common these&nbsp;days).</p>

<ul>
	<li>Happy birthday, John!&nbsp;<em>(correct)</em></li>
	<li>Happy birthday John!&nbsp;<em>(informal)</em></li>
	<li>Happy Birthday John!&nbsp;<em>(informal,&nbsp;common)</em></li>
	<li>HBD John!&nbsp;<em>(very&nbsp;informal)</em></li>
</ul>

<p>Note that a period/full stop instead of an exclamation mark is also acceptable:</p>

<ul>
	<li>Happy birthday,&nbsp;John.</li>
</ul>

<h1>Practice</h1>

<p>For more practice with comma usage in general, try our <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/74/lessons" target="_blank">Writing in English</a> lesson on <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/74/lessons/2035" target="_blank">How to Write a Compound&nbsp;Sentence</a>.</p>


Comma Confusion: Greetings, Introductions & Birthdays

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<p>Early on, English students learn that plural nouns end in <span class="inlineBlock">-s</span> and singular nouns need an article such as <em>a</em>, <em>an</em>, or <em>the</em>. When students realize that some nouns (e.g., collective, mass, abstract, etc.) don&rsquo;t end in <span class="inlineBlock">-s</span> or don&rsquo;t need an article, they are understandably worried about how to recognize these types of nouns. Giving students a list of categories of uncountable nouns can ease their minds and help them remember when to use articles or add <span class="inlineBlock">-s</span>. Scroll down for a handy list and teaching&nbsp;tips!</p>

<h1>Count Nouns</h1>

<p>Count (or countable) nouns are people, places, or things that you can easily number (e.g., one apple, two apples). Singular and plural count nouns follow common rules. Singular count nouns are preceded by an <a href="https://ellii.com/blog/teaching-articles-a-an-and-the/" target="_blank">article</a>&nbsp;(<em>a/an/the)</em>, a <a href="https://ellii.com/blog/tricky-quantifiers-some-any-every-each-no/" target="_blank">quantifier</a>, a <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/88/lessons/1624" target="_blank">possessive adjective</a>, or a number and are followed by a singular verb, while plural count nouns take <em>the</em> (never <em>a</em> or <em>an</em>), a quantifier, a possessive pronoun, a number, or no article and a plural&nbsp;verb.</p>

<ul>
	<li><strong>A</strong> friend <strong>is</strong> a&nbsp;gift.</li>
	<li><strong>Two</strong> friends <strong>are</strong> better than&nbsp;one.</li>
	<li><strong>The</strong> car&nbsp;in the driveway&nbsp;<strong>has</strong>&nbsp;pink&nbsp;tires.</li>
	<li>Dogs <b>enjoy</b>&nbsp;going for&nbsp;walks.</li>
</ul>

<h1>Non-Count Nouns</h1>

<p>Non-count (or uncountable) nouns are things you can&rsquo;t count because they&rsquo;re abstract (i.e., you can&rsquo;t see them), part of a group, or too small to count. Non-count nouns follow specific rules. They never use a number or a general article such as <em>a</em> or <em>an</em> (though they can be preceded by a specific determiner such as&nbsp;<em>the</em>, a quantifier, or a possessive adjective), never end in <span class="inlineBlock">-s</span>, and must be followed by a singular&nbsp;verb.</p>

<ul>
	<li>Rice <strong>is</strong> part of most Japanese&nbsp;meals.</li>
	<li>Faith <strong>gives</strong> people&nbsp;hope.</li>
	<li><strong>The</strong> snow <strong>was</strong> <strong>piled</strong> high this&nbsp;morning.</li>
	<li><strong>My</strong> furniture <strong>looks</strong>&nbsp;dusty.</li>
</ul>

<h2>Categories of Non-Count Nouns</h2>

<p><a href="https://ellii.com/resource_categories/103/resources/2184" target="_blank"><img alt="Screenshot of Non-Count Nouns resource" height="auto" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/220/content_103_Non-Count-Nouns_US.png" width="400" /></a></p>

<p class="caption">Grammar &amp; Usage Resources &ndash; <a href="https://ellii.com/resource_categories/103/resources/2184" target="_blank">Non‑Count Nouns</a></p>

<h2>Exceptions</h2>

<p>Certain non‑count nouns end in <span class="inlineBlock">-s</span>, such as <em>news</em> or school subjects (<em>physics</em>, <em>mathematics</em>), but they still follow most of the rules for non‑count nouns. They are never preceded by a number or <em>a/an</em>, and they must be followed by a singular verb. Remind students that we can&rsquo;t count these words (we can&rsquo;t say <em>one new, two news</em> or <em>one physic, two&nbsp;physics</em>).</p>

<ul>
	<li><strong>The</strong> news <strong>brings</strong> information to people all over the&nbsp;world.</li>
	<li>Physics <strong>is</strong> a difficult&nbsp;subject.</li>
</ul>

<h1>Practice</h1>

<p>Put these tips and chart to the test in our <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/88/lessons" target="_blank">Grammar Practice Worksheets</a> lesson on <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/88/lessons/1613" target="_blank">Count &amp; Non‑Count&nbsp;Nouns</a>.</p>


Count & Non-Count Nouns

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<p>March fourth is National Grammar Day, one of our favorite days here at ESL&nbsp;Library! This year&nbsp;we&#39;ve decided to feature some of our most popular blog posts of all time. Teachers and students find our&nbsp;<strong>verb</strong>&nbsp;posts useful for teaching tips, charts, explanations, and practice activities. We&#39;re always looking to add to our <a href="https://ellii.com/blog" target="_blank">blog</a> and our <a href="https://ellii.com/courses#grammar" target="_blank">grammar lesson library</a>, so please <a href="https://ellii.com/contact" target="_blank">let us know</a> if you&#39;d like to see something that we haven&#39;t covered yet (a post on <a href="http://grammar.about.com/od/grammarfaq/f/verbingfaq.htm" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">verbing</a>, perhaps?). March forth, fellow grammar&nbsp;lovers!</p>

<h1>The Simple Tenses</h1>

<ul class="resources">
	<li class="blog-post"><a href="https://ellii.com/blog/simple-present-vs-present-progressive/">Simple Present Vs. Present&nbsp;Progressive</a></li>
	<li class="blog-post"><a href="https://ellii.com/blog/simple-past-vs-past-progressive/" target="_blank">Simple Past Vs. Past&nbsp;Progressive</a></li>
	<li class="blog-post"><a href="https://ellii.com/blog/5-fun-activities-for-irregular-verbs/" target="_blank">5 Fun Activities for Irregular&nbsp;Verbs</a></li>
	<li class="blog-post"><a href="https://ellii.com/blog/can-we-ever-use-ever-with-the-simple-past/" target="_blank">Can We Ever Use &ldquo;Ever&rdquo; with the Simple&nbsp;Past?</a></li>
	<li class="blog-post"><a href="https://ellii.com/blog/simple-future-teaching-the-three-forms/" target="_blank">Simple Future: Teaching the Three&nbsp;Forms</a></li>
	<li class="blog-post"><a href="https://ellii.com/blog/simple-future-vs-future-progressive/" target="_blank">Simple Future Vs. Future&nbsp;Progressive</a></li>
</ul>

<h1>The Perfect&nbsp;Tenses</h1>

<ul class="resources">
	<li class="blog-post"><a href="https://ellii.com/blog/5-easy-steps-for-teaching-the-present-perfect-and-the-present-perfect-progressive/" target="_blank">5 Easy Steps for Teaching the Present Perfect and the Present Perfect&nbsp;Progressive</a></li>
	<li class="blog-post"><a href="https://ellii.com/blog/past-perfect-vs-past-perfect-progressive/" target="_blank">Past Perfect Vs. Past Perfect&nbsp;Progressive</a></li>
	<li class="blog-post"><a href="https://ellii.com/blog/future-perfect-vs-future-perfect-progressive/" target="_blank">Future Perfect Vs. Future Perfect&nbsp;Progressive</a></li>
</ul>

<h1>Conditionals, Causative &amp; Subjunctive</h1>

<ul class="resources">
	<li class="blog-post"><a href="https://ellii.com/blog/an-easy-way-to-teach-conditionals/">An Easy Way to Teach&nbsp;Conditionals</a></li>
	<li class="blog-post"><a href="https://ellii.com/blog/causative-verbs/">Causative Verbs</a></li>
	<li class="blog-post"><a href="https://ellii.com/blog/the-passive-causative/">The Passive Causative</a></li>
	<li class="blog-post"><a href="https://ellii.com/blog/tips-for-teaching-the-subjunctive/">Tips for Teaching the&nbsp;Subjunctive</a></li>
</ul>

<h1>Gerunds &amp; Infinitives</h1>

<ul class="resources">
	<li class="blog-post"><a href="https://ellii.com/blog/gerunds-and-infinitives-helpful-teaching-tips/" target="_blank">Gerunds and Infinitives: Helpful Teaching&nbsp;Tips</a></li>
	<li class="blog-post"><a href="https://ellii.com/blog/exceptions-to-the-noun-infinitive-rule/" target="_blank">Exceptions to the Noun + Infinitive&nbsp;Rule</a></li>
	<li class="blog-post"><a href="https://ellii.com/blog/5-verbs-with-meaning-changes-gerunds-and-infinitives-advanced/" target="_blank">5 Verbs with Meaning Changes: Gerunds and Infinitives&nbsp;&ndash;&nbsp;Advanced</a></li>
	<li class="blog-post"><a href="https://ellii.com/blog/answering-students-grammar-questions-why-do-we-use-looking-forward-to-with-a-second-ing-verb/" target="_blank">Why Do We Use &ldquo;Looking Forward To&rdquo; with a Second -ING&nbsp;Verb?</a></li>
</ul>

<h1>Phrasal Verbs &amp;&nbsp;Idioms</h1>

<ul class="resources">
	<li class="blog-post"><a href="https://ellii.com/blog/how-do-you-teach-phrasal-verbs/" target="_blank">How Do You Teach Phrasal&nbsp;Verbs?</a></li>
	<li class="blog-post"><a href="https://ellii.com/blog/8-ways-to-practice-idioms-in-class/" target="_blank">8 Ways to Practice Idioms in&nbsp;Class</a></li>
</ul>

<h1>Everything Else</h1>

<ul class="resources">
	<li class="blog-post"><a href="https://ellii.com/blog/teaching-mixed-tenses/" target="_blank">Teaching Mixed Tenses</a></li>
	<li class="blog-post"><a href="https://ellii.com/blog/progressive-vs-continuous-and-other-synonymous-grammatical-terms/" target="_blank">Progressive Vs. Continuous and Other Synonymous Grammatical&nbsp;Terms</a></li>
	<li class="blog-post"><a href="https://ellii.com/blog/how-to-teach-used-to-in-6-easy-steps/" target="_blank">How to Teach &ldquo;Used To&rdquo; in 6 Easy&nbsp;Steps</a></li>
	<li class="blog-post"><a href="https://ellii.com/blog/used-to-get-used-to-and-be-used-to/" target="_blank">Used To, Get Used To, and Be&nbsp;Used&nbsp;To</a></li>
	<li class="blog-post"><a href="https://ellii.com/blog/subject-verb-agreement-non-count-nouns-that-end-in-s/" target="_blank">Subject-Verb Agreement: Non-Count Nouns That End in&nbsp;&ldquo;S&rdquo;</a></li>
	<li class="blog-post"><a href="https://ellii.com/blog/recommend/" target="_blank">Recommend, Suggest, Advise: Verbs That Have Multiple Sentence&nbsp;Patterns</a></li>
	<li class="blog-post"><a href="https://ellii.com/blog/look-appear-feel-adjective-or-adverb/" target="_blank">Look, Appear, Feel + Adjective or&nbsp;Adverb?</a></li>
	<li class="blog-post"><a href="https://ellii.com/blog/learned-vs-learnt/" target="_blank">Learned Vs. Learnt</a></li>
	<li class="blog-post"><a href="https://ellii.com/blog/say-vs-tell-and-other-speaking-verbs/" target="_blank">Say Vs. Tell and Other Speaking&nbsp;Verbs</a></li>
</ul>

<h1>Related</h1>

<ul class="resources">
	<li class="course">We have more than 200 grammar lessons in our <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/88/lessons" target="_blank">Grammar Practice Worksheets</a>, <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/90/lessons" target="_blank">Grammar Stories</a>, <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/89/lessons" target="_blank">Basic Grammar Sentences</a>,&nbsp;<a href="https://ellii.com/courses/91/lessons" target="_blank">Simple Sentences</a>, <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/129/lessons" target="_blank">True Grammar Stories</a>, <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/116/lessons" target="_blank">Fun Grammar Lessons</a>, and <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/123/lessons" target="_blank">Super Simple Grammar</a>&nbsp;sections.</li>
</ul>


Things Are Getting Tense! 25+ Resources on Verbs

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<p>Some English prepositions have such similar meanings. Are words like <em>above</em> and <em>over</em> always interchangeable, or are there usage differences? Our new <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/88/lessons">Grammar Practice Worksheets</a> lesson on <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/88/lessons/2112">Prepositions of Place</a> got us thinking about commonly confused prepositions such as <em>above/over</em> and <em>below/under</em>. Try presenting these prepositions together and explaining the most common usage to your English language&nbsp;learners.</p>

<h1>Above &amp;&nbsp;Over</h1>

<p>These prepositions can be interchangeable, but the most common usage is&nbsp;this:</p>

<blockquote>
<p>Use <strong>above</strong> when there is no&nbsp;movement.</p>

<p>Use <strong>over</strong> when there is&nbsp;movement.</p>
</blockquote>

<h2>Examples</h2>

<ul>
	<li>There is a painting <strong>above</strong> the sofa. <em>(no&nbsp;movement)</em></li>
	<li>The chandelier hangs <strong>above</strong> the dining room table. <em>(no&nbsp;movement)</em></li>
	<li>The plane flew <strong>over</strong> the building. <em>(movement)</em></li>
	<li>The dog jumped <strong>over</strong> the log. <em>(movement)</em></li>
</ul>

<h1>On</h1>

<p>What about <em>on</em>? Use <em>on</em> when two nouns are touching (when a noun is directly on top of another noun). Use <em>above</em> when there is no&nbsp;touching.</p>

<h2>Examples</h2>

<ul>
	<li>There is a book <strong>on</strong> the desk.&nbsp;<em>(touching)</em></li>
	<li>The cat is sleeping <strong>on</strong> the bed.&nbsp;<em>(touching)</em></li>
	<li>The sun is directly <strong>above</strong> our heads. <em>(no&nbsp;touching)</em></li>
	<li>I see blue sky through the skylight <strong>above</strong> me. <em>(no&nbsp;touching)</em></li>
</ul>

<h1>Below &amp;&nbsp;Under</h1>

<p>These prepositions are even more interchangeable than <em>above</em> and <em>over</em>. The important thing to remember is&nbsp;this:</p>

<blockquote>
<p>Use <strong>under</strong> in most cases as it is much more common than &ldquo;below.&rdquo;</p>

<p>Use <strong>below</strong> when the meaning is &ldquo;less&nbsp;than.&rdquo;</p>
</blockquote>

<h2>Examples</h2>

<ul>
	<li>My shoes are <strong>under</strong> the bed. <em>(no movement, no&nbsp;touching)</em></li>
	<li>The saucer is <strong>under</strong> the cup.&nbsp;<em>(touching)</em></li>
	<li>The boat passed&nbsp;<strong>under</strong> the bridge.&nbsp;<em>(movement)</em></li>
	<li>It is 18 degrees <strong>below</strong> zero. <em>(less&nbsp;than)</em></li>
</ul>

<p>What about&nbsp;<em>beneath</em> and <em>underneath</em>? These prepositions are also interchangeable with <em>under</em> and <em>below</em>, though I tell my students that they are a little more formal and that <em>under</em> is the best&nbsp;choice.</p>

<h2>Examples</h2>

<ul>
	<li>We sat <strong>under</strong> the tree. <em>(most common/best&nbsp;choice)</em></li>
	<li>We sat <strong>below</strong> the tree. <em>(less&nbsp;common)</em></li>
	<li>We sat <strong>underneath</strong> the tree. <em>(a little more&nbsp;formal)</em></li>
	<li>We sat <strong>beneath</strong> the tree. <em>(more&nbsp;formal)</em></li>
</ul>

<h1>Related Resources</h1>

<p>Try our <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/88/lessons/2112">Prepositions of Place</a> lesson in the <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/88/lessons">Grammar Practice Worksheets</a>&nbsp;section!</p>

<p>For more examples and exceptions, there is a great article on&nbsp;<em>under&nbsp;</em>and&nbsp;<em>below</em> in&nbsp;<em><a href="http://www.learnersdictionary.com/qa/what-is-the-difference-between-under-and-below">Merriam-Webster&rsquo;s Learner&rsquo;s&nbsp;Dictionary</a>.</em></p>


Commonly Confused Prepositions: Above, Over, Below & Under

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<h1>Have your students already studied these time markers?</h1>

<p>When we use the present perfect tense to describe a finished action at an unspecified time in the past, there are three common adverbs that serve as time markers. These adverbs can be tough for students to remember because they follow&nbsp;different sentence patterns. Presenting them all at once allows&nbsp;students to see and understand the&nbsp;differences.</p>

<h2>Already</h2>

<p><em>Already</em> is the easiest of the three time markers because this adverb follows a normal adverb sentence&nbsp;pattern.</p>

<table class="horizontal">
	<tbody>
		<tr>
			<th>Meaning:</th>
			<td><em>Already</em> emphasizes that an action has been accomplished in the&nbsp;past.</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<th>Pattern:</th>
			<td>have/has + already + past&nbsp;participle</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<th>Examples:</th>
			<td>
			<ul>
				<li>We <strong>have already decided</strong> to reschedule the&nbsp;meeting.</li>
				<li>She <strong>has already read</strong> the <em>Harry Potter</em>&nbsp;books.</li>
			</ul>
			</td>
		</tr>
	</tbody>
</table>

<h2>Yet</h2>

<p><em>Yet</em> has an unusual&nbsp;sentence pattern and always includes&nbsp;a&nbsp;negative&nbsp;verb.</p>

<table class="horizontal">
	<tbody>
		<tr>
			<th>Meaning:</th>
			<td><em>Yet</em>&nbsp;signifies the intention to do&nbsp;something.</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<th>Pattern:</th>
			<td>have/has + not + past participle + (object)&nbsp;+&nbsp;yet</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<th>Examples:</th>
			<td>
			<ul>
				<li>He&nbsp;<strong>has not called</strong> me back&nbsp;<strong>yet</strong>.</li>
				<li>They<strong> haven&#39;t finished&nbsp;yet</strong>.</li>
				<li>A: Have you completed your project?<br />
				B: Not yet.*</li>
			</ul>
			</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<th>*Note:</th>
			<td><em>Not yet</em> is pretty common as a short&nbsp;answer.</td>
		</tr>
	</tbody>
</table>

<h2>Still</h2>

<p><em>Still</em> can be tricky for students because there are two separate&nbsp;uses of this term. It is helpful to point out that with the present perfect tense, the verb must be negative, and with the present progressive, the verb is usually&nbsp;positive.</p>

<h3>1. Present Perfect</h3>

<table class="horizontal">
	<tbody>
		<tr>
			<th>Meaning:</th>
			<td>Like&nbsp;<em>yet</em>,&nbsp;<em>still</em> signifies the intention to do&nbsp;something.</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<th>Pattern:</th>
			<td>still + have/has + not + past&nbsp;participle</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<th>Examples:</th>
			<td>
			<ul>
				<li>I <strong>still haven&#39;t completed</strong> my&nbsp;assignment.</li>
				<li>My tropical plant&nbsp;<strong>still has&nbsp;not&nbsp;bloomed</strong>.</li>
			</ul>
			</td>
		</tr>
	</tbody>
</table>

<h3>2. Present Progressive</h3>

<table class="horizontal">
	<tbody>
		<tr>
			<th>Meaning:</th>
			<td><em>Still</em> emphasizes an ongoing&nbsp;action.</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<th>Pattern:</th>
			<td>be + still + -ing&nbsp;verb</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<th>Examples:</th>
			<td>
			<ul>
				<li>The students&nbsp;<strong>are still studying&nbsp;</strong>for the&nbsp;test.</li>
				<li>He <strong>is still trying</strong> to find his&nbsp;keys.</li>
			</ul>
			</td>
		</tr>
	</tbody>
</table>

<h1>Related</h1>

<p>Are your students still having trouble with these time markers? Try our related&nbsp;materials:</p>

<ul class="resources">
	<li class="lesson"><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/88/lessons/1597" target="_blank">Present Perfect Grammar&nbsp;Lesson</a></li>
	<li class="lesson"><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/88/lessons/1598" target="_blank">Present Perfect Progressive Grammar&nbsp;Lesson</a></li>
	<li class="blog-post"><a href="https://ellii.com/blog/5-easy-steps-for-teaching-the-present-perfect-and-the-present-perfect-progressive/" target="_blank">5 Easy Steps for Teaching the Present Perfect and the Present Perfect&nbsp;Progressive</a></li>
	<li class="blog-post"><a href="https://ellii.com/blog/still-no-longer-not-anymore/" target="_blank">Still, No Longer &amp; Not&nbsp;Anymore</a></li>
</ul>


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Tanya Trusler