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

Grammar & Usage

<blockquote>
Wherever you go and whatever you do, may the luck of the Irish be there with you.

&mdash;Irish blessing
</blockquote>

March 17 is St. Patrick&#39;s Day, and for the past few days we&#39;ve been busy getting our St. Patrick&#39;s Day materials ready. As I was editing our older material, I had to decide whether to spell this holiday as Saint or St. Patrick&#39;s Day. Also, I had to find out if this holiday&#39;s nickname should be spelled Paddy or Patty. I found the answers interesting, so I thought I&#39;d share them with my fellow English-language lovers!

<h1>Saint or St.?</h1>

<blockquote>
St. Patrick&#39;s Day = correct (and more popular)

Saint Patrick&#39;s Day = correct
</blockquote>

Both Saint Patrick&rsquo;s Day and St. Patrick&#39;s Day are correct, but which is more common? The Chicago Manual of Style&nbsp;states that both are possible, and to choose one form and be consistent. The next thing I did was to look up both variations in Merriam-Webster&#39;s Dictionary of Current English, since that is the dictionary we follow in our <a href="http://ellii.com/blog/creating-our-in-house-style-guide/" target="_blank">style guide</a>. MW&#39;s had an entry for Saint Patrick&#39;s Day, but not for St. Patrick&#39;s Day, even though they list other saints as St. (St. Denis, for example). But after talking to the rest of the team and realizing we all grew up seeing St. Patrick&#39;s Day, I decided to run a Google Ngram on these two terms to find out which was more common in&nbsp;literature.

<img alt="A screenshot from Google book Ngram Viewer showing more results for St. Patrick's Day than Saint Patrick's Day" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/1275/content_Tanya_Saint-or-St-Patricks_Graph.jpg" />

Clearly, St. Patrick&#39;s Day is more common in literature, so that&#39;s what we decided to stick with in our materials! A quick <a href="http://googlebattle.com" rel="noreferrer noopener nofollow" target="_blank">googlebattle.com</a> check confirmed that St. Patrick&#39;s Day also appears far more often on the web.

<img alt="A chart from GoogleBattle that shows St. Patrick's Day with 329,000,000 results, compared to Saint Patrick's Day with 35,000,000" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/1277/content_Tanya_Saint-or-St-Patricks_Chart.png" />

Note: Don&#39;t forget that the word&nbsp;Day is always capitalized in holiday names!

<h1>Paddy or Patty?</h1>

<blockquote>
St. Paddy&#39;s Day = correct

St. Patty&#39;s Day = incorrect
</blockquote>

Before I did some digging for this blog post, I assumed that Patty was the correct spelling of St. Patrick&#39;s nickname, and that people wrote Paddy in error (because /t/ is always pronounced /d/ between two vowels&hellip;think of how you say water). But this is NOT the case! Paddy is correct, because it is based on the Irish boy&#39;s name P&agrave;draig (the English version is Patrick). I learned that the Irish dislike when people write Patty (this is short for Patricia, a girl&#39;s name), so be sure to spell it Paddy and St.&nbsp;Paddy&#39;s Day&nbsp;from now on. Thanks to <a href="http://paddynotpatty.com" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">paddynotpatty.com</a> for their humorous summary of these rules!

<h1>St. Patrick&#39;s Day Resources</h1>

<a href="https://ellii.com/collections/holidays-events/luck" target="_blank">ESL Lesson Plans and Resources for Teaching about St. Patrick&#39;s Day and Luck</a>: Find a Lucky Idioms poster, beginner &amp; intermediate lesson plans, podcasts, flashcards, and more!

Happy St. Paddy&#39;s Day!

Tanya

Saint Patrick's or St. Patrick's? Paddy or Patty?

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<blockquote>
I hope this won&rsquo;t be too difficult for students to&nbsp;understand&hellip;
</blockquote>

Commonly confused words, whether they look the same, sound the same, or have the same meaning, are the sources of many recurring student errors. I&rsquo;ve found that many students confuse &ldquo;so&rdquo; and &ldquo;such&rdquo; because they have the same meaning but a slightly different grammatical function. My students also have trouble with &ldquo;so&rdquo; and &ldquo;too&rdquo; for the opposite reason&mdash;they have the same grammatical function but the meaning is slightly different. It&rsquo;s a great idea to review these terms with your English learners no matter what level they are&nbsp;at!

<h1>So Vs. Such</h1>

<h2>Meaning</h2>

So and such both have the meaning of very or a&nbsp;lot.

<h2>Grammatical Function</h2>

So comes before an adjective, while such comes before an adjective +&nbsp;noun.

<blockquote>
SO + Adjective

SUCH + (article) + Adjective +&nbsp;Noun
</blockquote>

<h2>Examples</h2>

<ul>
	<li>That movie was so&nbsp;good.</li>
	<li>The test was so&nbsp;difficult.</li>
	<li>It is so cold in my&nbsp;room.</li>
	<li>My hometown is so&nbsp;beautiful.</li>
</ul>

<ul>
	<li>That was such a good&nbsp;movie.</li>
	<li>It was such a difficult&nbsp;test.</li>
	<li>He is such a good soccer&nbsp;player.</li>
	<li>My new coworkers are such talented&nbsp;people.</li>
</ul>

<div class="whiteBox">
<h5>Tip</h5>

Students often incorrectly use so instead of such. Make sure you remind them that so + Adjective + Noun is impossible (e.g., we can&rsquo;t say That was so a good movie or That was so good&nbsp;movie).
</div>

<h1>So Vs. Too</h1>

<h2>Meaning</h2>

So and too both have the meaning of very or a lot, but so is usually used for positive cases, whereas too is used for negative cases. When so and too are both used for negative cases, so usually implies that something was completed or able to be done, while too implies it is incomplete or unable to be done. Too basically means can&rsquo;t!

<table>
	<tbody>
		<tr>
			<th>So</th>
			<td>for positive situations, or for negative situations when there is a meaning of completing&nbsp;something</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<th>Too</th>
			<td>for negative situations when there is a meaning of not completing&nbsp;something.</td>
		</tr>
	</tbody>
</table>

<h2>Grammatical Function</h2>

So and too both come before an adjective (or&nbsp;adverb).

<h2>Examples</h2>

<ul>
	<li>That book was so interesting.&nbsp;(positive)</li>
	<li>My cat is so cute.&nbsp;(positive)</li>
</ul>

<ul>
	<li>The wiring is too complicated for me to fix.&nbsp;(negative)</li>
	<li>It is too tough to guess when this project will be finished.&nbsp;(negative)</li>
</ul>

<ul>
	<li>She finished the test so quickly.&nbsp;(positive)</li>
	<li>She finished the test too quickly.&nbsp;(negative)</li>
</ul>

<ul>
	<li>That test was so difficult. (negative, meaning is the test was really hard but I finished&nbsp;it)</li>
	<li>That test was too difficult. (negative, meaning is the test was really hard and I couldn&rsquo;t finish&nbsp;it)</li>
</ul>

<ul>
	<li>It was so cold. (negative, one possible meaning is I went outside and it was very&nbsp;cold)</li>
	<li>It was too cold. (negative, one possible meaning is I didn&rsquo;t go outside because it was very&nbsp;cold)</li>
</ul>

<div class="whiteBox">
<h5>Tip</h5>

Students often use too incorrectly for positive situations. I&rsquo;ve found it helpful to explain what the meaning with too&nbsp;actually is. For&nbsp;example:

<ul>
	<li>The movie was too good means that you were enjoying the movie so much that you couldn&rsquo;t stand it and had to leave before it was over. This doesn&rsquo;t really make&nbsp;sense!</li>
	<li>The pizza was too delicious means that you took a bite of the pizza and decided you couldn&rsquo;t eat it because it tasted so good. Strange,&nbsp;right?</li>
</ul>
</div>

<h1>Note</h1>

So, such, and too also have other purposes and functions in English. Feel free to ask about other cases in the comments section&nbsp;below.

So, Such & Too

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<blockquote>
The students had the grammar explained to them by their&nbsp;teacher&hellip;
</blockquote>

Do your students understand the passive voice? Sure. Have they mastered causative verbs? Yep. But do they realize that causative verbs can be passive too?&nbsp;What?

Don&rsquo;t let the passive causative cause your students any angst. Try presenting it using the method below, and wait for that Aha&nbsp;moment!

<h1>What Is the Passive Causative?</h1>

<a href="https://ellii.com/blog/causative-verbs" target="_blank">Causative</a> verbs (have, let, make) are used when one person is causing another to do something. The <a href="https://ellii.com/blog/the-passive-voice" target="_blank">passive</a> is used when the focus is on the&nbsp;thing&nbsp;instead of the person. When you combine them together, you are essentially saying someone caused something to be done (by&nbsp;someone).

<img alt="Passive Causative Resource" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/3193/content_103_Passive-Causative_US.jpg" />

<a href="https://ellii.com/resource_categories/103/resources/2324">The Passive Causative</a> &ndash; Grammar &amp; Usage&nbsp;Resources

<h1>Why &ldquo;Get&rdquo;?</h1>

Since the causative verbs are have, let, and make, students might be wondering why the passive causative is formed with have or get. Get is possible for two&nbsp;reasons:

<ol>
	<li>Get is the casual passive form. Instead of the problem was solved, you can say the problem got&nbsp;solved.</li>
	<li>Get also has a causative meaning. You can say I got someone to do something, with the meaning of cause or force. However, because it&rsquo;s not a true causative verb, the base verb is not used, and an infinitive verb is used instead (which is the normal case for a second verb in a sentence after an object). See our <a href="https://ellii.com/blog/causative-verbs" target="_blank" title="Causative Verbs">Causative Verbs</a> post for more&nbsp;information.</li>
</ol>

<h1>One More Example&hellip;</h1>

I got my hair cut is probably one of the most commonly used passive causative sentences around. But because cut is an irregular verb that has the same form for the past participle as it does for the base verb, it&rsquo;s a good idea to give students another example with a verb that changes forms. Try showing them these&nbsp;sentences:

<table>
	<tbody>
		<tr>
			<th>Causative:</th>
			<td>The manager had the assistant write the&nbsp;report.</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<th>Passive:</th>
			<td>The report was/got written (by the&nbsp;assistant).</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<th>Passive Causative:</th>
			<td>The manager had/got the report written (by the&nbsp;assistant).</td>
		</tr>
	</tbody>
</table>

<h1>Related</h1>

<ul class="resources">
	<li class="lesson">Lesson:&nbsp;<a href="https://app.ellii.com/lesson/2834-passive-causative" target="_blank">The Passive Causative</a></li>
	<li class="resource">Chart:&nbsp;<a href="https://ellii.com/resource_categories/grammar-usage/resources/2324-the-passive-causative-have-get" target="_blank">The Passive Causative: Have &amp;&nbsp;Get</a></li>
	<li class="lesson">Lesson:&nbsp;<a href="https://app.ellii.com/lesson/2325-causative-verbs" target="_blank">Causative Verbs</a></li>
	<li class="resource">Chart:&nbsp;<a href="https://ellii.com/resource_categories/grammar-usage/resources/2314-causative-verbs-have-let-make" target="_blank">Causative Verbs: Have, Let &amp;&nbsp;Make</a></li>
	<li class="blog-post">Blog Post:&nbsp;<a href="https://ellii.com/blog/causative-verbs" target="_blank">Causative Verbs</a></li>
	<li class="lesson">Lesson:&nbsp;<a href="https://app.ellii.com/lesson/1601-passive">Passive</a></li>
	<li class="resource">Chart:&nbsp;<a href="https://ellii.com/resource_categories/grammar-usage/resources/2276-the-passive-voice" target="_blank">The Passive Voice</a></li>
	<li class="blog-post">Blog Post:&nbsp;<a href="https://ellii.com/blog/the-passive-voice" target="_blank">The Passive Voice</a></li>
</ul>

The Passive Causative

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

Articles

I&#39;ve been the editor for <a href="https://ellii.com/lessons">ESL Library</a> for over two years now, and I absolutely love my job (being the grammar nerd that I am)! The director of ESL Library, Tara Benwell, asked me to share some of my experiences as an editor, and we decided to make our style guide available to everyone, too! I&#39;ll start by posting a link to our style guide (which you can also print out), then discuss what editing is all about.

<h3>Our In-House Style Guide</h3>

Why make our style guide available to everyone? We thought it would be helpful for teachers and students! There are a lot of English rules that don&rsquo;t get explained in traditional textbooks, such as when to use an en dash (&ndash;) and em dash (&mdash;), or how to write song titles (they should be enclosed in double quotation marks). We&rsquo;ve made it printable, so you can keep a copy for easy reference if you wish.

<a href="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/2162/content_ESL-Library-Style-Guide-Public-PDF.pdf" target="_blank">Download ESL Library&#39;s Style Guide PDF</a>

<h3>An Editor&#39;s Roles</h3>

Ever wonder what editors do? Most people can guess that they check documents for mechanical errors such as spelling, punctuation, and grammar. But editing involves so much more!

<ul>
	<li dir="ltr">Substantive Editing (also called Developmental Editing) - Reorganizing content and structure, including possible additions and deletions</li>
	<li dir="ltr">Stylistic Editing (also called Line Editing) - Checking for clarity of meaning and effectiveness of language used; rewriting sentences if necessary</li>
	<li dir="ltr">Copyediting - Correcting grammar, spelling, punctuation, and other mechanical errors</li>
	<li dir="ltr">Proofreading - Checking the final version of an edited document</li>
</ul>

It&#39;s also helpful, but not necessary, if an editor can bring an area of expertise to the table. In my case, having been an ESL teacher for over ten years is very helpful when I edit lessons. I&#39;m able to offer suggestions such as additions or changes because I&#39;m familiar with what will and won&#39;t work within a lesson.

<h3>Consistency</h3>

When you&rsquo;re editing more than one document for the same company, it&rsquo;s very important to be consistent. As ESL Library&rsquo;s editor, I need to make sure that the style choices I make (e.g., using a serial comma) are reflected in all of our material, including our blog, lessons, and website.

In order to be consistent, editors need to follow a style guide (also known as a style manual or style sheet). If the company you work for doesn&rsquo;t already have one, it&rsquo;s up to you to create your own so you remember all your choices.

<h3>What We Use</h3>

At ESL Library, we follow our in-house style guide, which is based on the Chicago Manual of Style, 16th ed., for style rules, and both&nbsp;Merriam-Webster&rsquo;s Collegiate Dictionary, 11th ed., and <a href="http://merriam-webster.com" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">merriam-webster.com</a> for spelling. When we need to indicate the American vs. British spelling differences in our lessons&rsquo; answer keys, we refer to&nbsp;<a href="http://oxforddictionaries.com" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">oxforddictionaries.com</a>.

<h3>Our Choices</h3>

Sometimes there is more than one acceptable way to do something, so the editor must make a decision. For example, some of the in-house style choices I&rsquo;ve made are to use the serial comma, one space after a colon, and headline-style capitalization. Sometimes I&#39;ve even decided to deviate from Chicago&#39;s recommendations if it better suits our purposes. For example, we use caps for both parts of hyphenated words in a title so that it stands out more (e.g., In-House) instead of just capitalizing the first word (e.g., In-house).

<h3>Questions?</h3>

If you have a question that&rsquo;s not addressed in the style guide, please leave a comment below. I&rsquo;d be happy to look it up for you!

Creating Our In-House Style Guide

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The past perfect often stumps students since it&rsquo;s not commonly used. The past perfect progressive, also known as the past perfect continuous, seems even more complicated! But these two verb tenses don&rsquo;t have to be a mystery to students. With the following helpful diagrams and chart, your students will be able to recognize and use these tenses when&nbsp;needed.

<h1>Past Perfect</h1>

<h4>HAD + P.P.</h4>

The past perfect is formed with the past auxiliary verb had and the past participle of the main verb. It is used when the first past action finishes before the second past&nbsp;action.

<img alt="Past Perfect chart" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/153/content_Tanya_Past-Perfect-Vs-Past-Perfect-Progressive_PP_Chart.png" />

<h1>Past Perfect Progressive</h1>

<h4>HAD + BEEN + ‑ING&nbsp;VERB</h4>

The past perfect progressive is formed with the past auxiliary verb had, the past participle auxiliary verb been, and the present participle form (‑ing) of the main verb. It is used when the first past action continues until the second past action.

<img alt="Past Perfect Progressive chart" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/154/content_Tanya_Past-Perfect-Vs-Past-Perfect-Progressive_PPP_Chart.png" />

<div class="whiteBox">
<h5>Note</h5>

If you want to elaborate for more advanced students, you can explain that the past perfect progressive is formed by combining the past perfect (had + p.p.) plus the basic progressive pattern (be + ‑ing verb). Since the past participle of the Be verb is been, you get had + been + ‑ing verb when&nbsp;combined.
</div>

<h1>Comparison Chart</h1>

To compare the two verb tenses and show your students examples, use the following verb chart. You can print out the chart and make photocopies, show them on the computer, or write it out on the&nbsp;board.

<a href="https://ellii.com/resource_categories/103/resources/2761"><img alt="Past Perfect Vs. Past Perfect Progressive Grammar &amp; Usage Resource" height="auto" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/152/content_103_Past-Perfect-Vs-Past-Perfect-Progressive_US.png" width="400" /></a>

<a href="https://ellii.com/resource_categories/103/resources/2761">Past Perfect Vs. Past Perfect Progressive</a> &ndash; Grammar &amp;&nbsp;Usage

<h2>Important Note</h2>

When giving your students examples, it is very important to mix up the order of the independent and dependent clauses. Make sure that you give some examples where the independent clause comes first (with the past perfect or past perfect progressive), and others where the dependent clause comes first (with the simple&nbsp;past).

Point out that when the dependent clause comes first, students must use a comma between the clauses. Showing both types of examples means that students won&rsquo;t simply memorize &ldquo;had + p.p. first, past verb second,&rdquo; which can cause&nbsp;errors.

<h1>Did You Know?</h1>

English speakers often don&rsquo;t bother with these complicated verb tenses, especially in informal speaking and writing. In most cases, you can substitute the simple past in place of the past perfect, and the past progressive in place of the past perfect progressive, with no change in meaning. Often the context or the time markers are enough to make the timing clear. Consider the following&nbsp;examples:

<ul>
	<li>My friend had texted me five times before I answered. (past&nbsp;perfect)</li>
	<li>My friend texted me five times before I answered. (simple past, same&nbsp;meaning)</li>
	<li>We had been waiting for two hours before she arrived. (past perfect&nbsp;progressive)</li>
	<li>We were waiting for two hours before she arrived. (past progressive, same&nbsp;meaning)</li>
</ul>

<h1>Practice</h1>

For more tips, examples, and practice exercises, try the <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/88/lessons/1599">Past Perfect</a> and the <a href="https://www.ellii.com/courses/88/lessons/1993">Past Perfect Progressive</a> lessons in the Grammar Practice Worksheets section. These lessons include mixed exercises that compare the past perfect and the past perfect progressive tenses as well as the past perfect with&nbsp;the simple past and present&nbsp;perfect.

<h1>For Fun</h1>

<a href="https://www.facebook.com/theofficialgrammarpolice" target="_blank" title="grammar police">The Grammar Police</a> shared this photo on Facebook a while ago. Try analyzing it with your students! See if they can figure out why it&rsquo;s grammatically correct to use four &ldquo;hads&rdquo; in a row in this sentence:&nbsp;All the faith he had had had had no effect on the outcome of his&nbsp;life.

<img alt="" class="aligncenter" height="auto" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/JFcwTK8Ft-2XFcY6edqZzI-bQJ_DyzJZsTZUbdzkkWYeVnWooNbFwABI7sYuu7nJOiaNG0P_RDO5xm3tSRekXryqdRVxy6EdLhjz3C0xY94XTqqi1_TML50rRQ" width="400" />

<h2>Answer</h2>

Think of the first part of the sentence like this: He had had a lot of faith by the time he was an old&nbsp;man.

Think of the second part of the sentence like this: His faith had had no effect on the outcome of his life by the time he was an old&nbsp;man.

If you join them together, and the context of age is implied, then you can get this result: All the faith he had had [subject] had had [main verb] no effect [object] on the outcome of his&nbsp;life.

Past Perfect Vs. Past Perfect Progressive

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<blockquote>
&ldquo;Life lessons will be repeated until&nbsp;learned.&rdquo;
</blockquote>

Last week, our customer Sandra asked us if it were possible to use both learned or learnt in the quote above. (I&rsquo;m not sure who originally said this quote&mdash;if anyone knows, please leave a comment below!)

The short answer is yes, both are possible. So what&rsquo;s the difference? Why do we have two forms for the same tense of the same&nbsp;word?

<h1>It depends where you live&hellip;</h1>

The ‑ed form is more common in American and Canadian English, while the ‑t form is more common in British English. The fact that Canadian English uses the ‑ed form is a bit surprising, since Canada usually follows British English spelling rules.

<blockquote>
Learned = American &amp; Canadian English

Learnt = British English
</blockquote>

<h1>Which is more common in print&nbsp;(books)?</h1>

Even back in the 1800s, learned was used far more often than learnt, according to <a href="https://books.google.com/ngrams" target="_blank" title="Ngram">Google books Ngram&nbsp;Viewer</a>.

<img alt="Graph of learned vs learnt" class="hasBorder" height="auto" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/248/content_Tanya_Learned-Learnt_Graph.png" width="400" />

<h1>Which is&nbsp;more common on the web?</h1>

According to <a href="http://www.googlebattle.com" target="_blank" title="GoogleBattle">GoogleBattle</a>, learned shows up online much more often than learnt. Out of 120,900,000 pages searched, learned appears 107,000,000 times compared to learnt at 13,900,000 times. <a href="http://www.googlefight.com" target="_blank" title="Googlefight">Googlefight</a> has even stronger results for learned, with 4,910,000 results compared to 38,100,000 for&nbsp;learnt.

<img alt="Search results for learned vs learnt" class="hasBorder" height="auto" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/249/content_Tanya_Learned-Learnt_Search-Results.png" width="300" />

<h1>Looking back and looking&nbsp;forward&hellip;</h1>

The evolution of language is fascinating to me. In North America, many verbs such as learn have all but lost their irregular form. Learnt sounds way too formal and out of place nowadays in North America and elsewhere. Other such verbs include clapped/clapt, leaned/leant, spoiled/spoilt, and&nbsp;smelled/smelt.

However, some verbs are still in the transitioning stage (dreamed/dreamt, kneeled/knelt, leaped/leapt, burned/burnt, spilled/spilt, sunburned/sunburnt, sweeped/swept), so both forms are common and acceptable. For these words, I would still recommend using the ‑ed form in North America and the ‑t form&nbsp;elsewhere.

It&rsquo;s interesting to note that some ‑t past verbs don&rsquo;t have an ‑ed form&mdash;yet! How about slept, wept, and kept? Will we be using sleeped, weeped, and keeped one&nbsp;day, or are they too tricky to pronounce and will therefore remain as is?

Learned Vs. Learnt

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<blockquote>
I used to study English every day, but it still took a while to get used to all the rules. Now I am used to English&nbsp;grammar!
</blockquote>

Used to, get used to, and be used to are three verb forms with similar structures but different meanings. Students often get them confused because they look and sound similar, so explicit instruction that compares and contrasts these three forms is beneficial and&nbsp;appreciated!

Try presenting used to, get used to, and be used to using the comparison chart below. Then get your students to practice with the discussion questions at the end of this post or the grammar exercise in our <a href="https://ellii.com/resource_categories">Grammar &amp; Usage Resource</a> on <a href="https://ellii.com/resource_categories/103/resources/2830">Used To, Get Used To &amp; Be Used&nbsp;To</a>.

<h1>Comparison Chart</h1>

<a href="https://ellii.com/resource_categories/103/resources/2830"><img src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/216/content_Tanya_Used-To_Chart.png" /></a>

<a href="https://ellii.com/resource_categories/103/resources/2830" target="_blank">Used To, Get Used To &amp; Be Used&nbsp;To</a> &ndash; Grammar &amp; Usage Resources

<h1>1. Used To</h1>

<h2>Form</h2>

<div class="white-box">
<h5>Used To + Base Verb</h5>
</div>

Used to is always followed by a base verb. Note that used to follows normal simple past verb rules, so it becomes use to with the auxiliary verb did in questions and negative&nbsp;statements.

<h2>Usage</h2>

Used to is a unique expression in English. Its form and function are similar to a modal (i.e., it gives extra information about the verb and is followed by a base verb). Used to shows that an action was performed repeatedly in the past, but is no longer performed in the present. It is commonly used when talking about long periods in the past (e.g., childhood, school years, past job,&nbsp;etc.).

<h2>Examples</h2>

<ul>
	<li>I used to eat meat, but I don&rsquo;t&nbsp;anymore.</li>
	<li>They used to study English every day in high&nbsp;school.</li>
	<li>Did you use to play video games when you were a&nbsp;child?</li>
	<li>My teacher didn&rsquo;t use to give us any homework. Now we get homework every&nbsp;day!</li>
</ul>

<h1>2. Get Used To</h1>

<h2>Form</h2>

<div class="white-box">
<h5>Get Used To + Noun/‑ing Verb</h5>
</div>

Get used to is followed by a gerund (‑ing verb) or a noun. In this expression, the used to part will never change to use to. Only get changes to reflect the verb&nbsp;tense.

<h2>Usage</h2>

Get used to indicates that something is becoming familiar. Use this expression for a new habit or routine. Though it is possible to use get used to for both positive and negative experiences, it is more commonly used with negative situations (e.g., when something is&nbsp;difficult).

<h2>Examples</h2>

<ul>
	<li>I am getting used to living with my new&nbsp;roommate.</li>
	<li>Our new teacher quickly got used to our large, multicultural&nbsp;class.</li>
	<li>They couldn&rsquo;t get used to the noisy neighborhood, so they&nbsp;moved.</li>
	<li>Has your brother&nbsp;gotten used to his new&nbsp;boss yet?</li>
</ul>

<h1>3. Be Used To</h1>

<h2>Form</h2>

<div class="white-box">
<h5>Be Used To + Noun/‑ing Verb</h5>
</div>

Be used to is followed by a gerund (‑ing verb) or a noun. Note that the used to part will never change to use to. Only be will change to reflect the verb&nbsp;tense.

<h2>Usage</h2>

Be used to indicates that something has become familiar. Use this expression when something is now a habit or routine (and has been going on for a while). Like get used to, it is possible to use be used to for both positive and negative experiences, but it is used for negative situations slightly more&nbsp;often.

<h2>Examples</h2>

<ul>
	<li>She is used to getting up at 6:00&nbsp;am&nbsp;because she does it every&nbsp;day.</li>
	<li>Is your friend used to the noise from the construction site next to her&nbsp;office?</li>
	<li>The teacher wasn&rsquo;t used to answering so many questions during&nbsp;class.</li>
	<li>By this time next year, I will be used to living in&nbsp;Brazil.</li>
</ul>

<h1>Practice</h1>

Get your students to ask each other the following&nbsp;discussion questions to practice used to, get used to, and be used&nbsp;to.

<ol>
	<li>What is something that you used to do as a child but no longer do&nbsp;now?</li>
	<li>Name five&nbsp;things that you are used to doing every&nbsp;day.</li>
	<li>Think of a time when you started a new hobby. Was it hard to get used to it? How long was it until you were used to&nbsp;it?</li>
	<li>Imagine you have to move to a new city. Do you think you&rsquo;ll have a hard time getting used to living there? How about another&nbsp;country?</li>
	<li>What types of TV shows did you use to watch when you were younger? What do you enjoy watching&nbsp;nowadays?</li>
</ol>

<h1>Related</h1>

<ul class="resources">
	<li class="lesson"><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/88/lessons/1594">Simple Past</a></li>
	<li class="lesson"><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/89/lessons/1565">Simple Past &ndash; I Used To</a></li>
	<li class="lesson"><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/72/lessons/1276">Fracking</a></li>
	<li class="blog-post"><a href="https://ellii.com/blog/how-to-teach-used-to-in-6-easy-steps/">How to Teach &ldquo;Used To&rdquo; in 6 Easy Steps</a></li>
</ul>

Used To, Get Used To & Be Used To

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<blockquote>
I used to understand&nbsp;this&hellip;
</blockquote>

Eventually, every English learner needs to master speaking, reading, and writing about the past. I&rsquo;ve previously offered advice on <a href="https://ellii.com/blog/simple-past-vs-past-progressive/" title="simple past vs. past progressive">comparing the simple past with the past progressive</a>, but what about the short, common past expression used to? I&rsquo;ve often found that my students make mistakes with this expression, especially in negative statements and questions. So what&rsquo;s the best way to teach them how to use used&nbsp;to?

<h1>1. Form</h1>

<h4>Used To + Base&nbsp;Verb</h4>

Used to is always followed by a base verb. Don&rsquo;t forget to tell your students that used to follows the normal past verb rules: it becomes use to with the auxiliary verb did in questions and negative&nbsp;statements.

See section&nbsp;4 below for examples&mdash;make sure you give your students lots of examples with did and didn&rsquo;t&nbsp;so that they&rsquo;ll remember this&nbsp;change!

<h1>2. Use</h1>

Used to is a unique expression in English. Its form and function are similar to a modal (i.e., it gives extra information about the verb and is followed by a base verb). Used to shows that an action was performed repeatedly in the past, but is no longer performed in the present. It is commonly used when talking about long periods in the past (e.g., childhood, school years, past job,&nbsp;etc.).

<h1>3. Examples</h1>

<ul>
	<li>I used to eat meat, but I don&rsquo;t&nbsp;anymore.</li>
	<li>They used to study English every day in high&nbsp;school.</li>
	<li>Did you use to play video games when you were a&nbsp;child?</li>
	<li>Did my sister use to sing when she was little? I&nbsp;forget.</li>
	<li>I didn&rsquo;t use to play the piano as a child, but I took lessons later&nbsp;on.</li>
	<li>My teacher didn&rsquo;t use to give us any homework. Now we get homework every&nbsp;day!</li>
</ul>

<h1>4. Tricky Points</h1>

Don&rsquo;t forget to point out to your students that used to + base verb is NOT the same as the past participle of the verb use followed by an infinitive verb! This can be confusing for students. Try giving them the following&nbsp;examples:

<ul>
	<li>He used to work out every day. (Form: used to + base verb. Meaning: He worked out often in the past but doesn&rsquo;t&nbsp;anymore.)</li>
	<li>This machine is used to make student ID cards. (Form: use (present passive) + infinitive verb. Meaning: Making student ID cards is the machine&rsquo;s&nbsp;function.)</li>
</ul>

When use indicates the function of something, it is almost always in the passive voice. Tell students that if they see the be verb before used, it is likely indicating function, not a past habit/routine.

And as previously mentioned, make sure you remind students that used to becomes use to when used with the auxiliary verb did. (See the examples&nbsp;above.)

<h1>5. Practice</h1>

Try our lesson <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/89/lessons/1565" title="Simple Past – I used to">Simple Past - I used to</a> in our <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/89/lessons" title="Basic Grammar Sentences">Basic Grammar Sentences</a> section. This six‑page lesson has a pair activity, a writing exercise, a speaking activity, and a fun word search that will have your students using used to correctly in no&nbsp;time!

<h1>6. Fun Activity</h1>

When I teach used to, I often have my students do the following pair activity. Have them draw two columns on a piece of paper. One column has the title &ldquo;When I was a child&hellip;&rdquo; and the other says &ldquo;Now&hellip;&rdquo;&nbsp;(I often&nbsp;write it on the board to show them). If you teach children, you could make it &quot;Two years ago&hellip;&quot; and &quot;Now&hellip;&quot;&nbsp;instead.

Brainstorm topics as a class, such as food, transportation, games, hobbies, family, etc. Try to come up with 10 topics. Next, give them a few examples of your own, such as &ldquo;When I was a child, I used to ride my bike. Now I drive a&nbsp;car.&rdquo;

Students can now ask their partners questions about the topics and write down their answers. (E.g., &ldquo;What did you use to eat when you were a child? What do you like to eat now?&rdquo;) Make sure your students answer the questions about their childhoods using used&nbsp;to!

Alternatively, you could get your students to write their own answers for homework and discuss them with a partner the next&nbsp;day.

What about be used to and get used to? Students often mistakenly believe that these expressions have the same form and meaning as used to, but there are important differences. Find teaching tips, activities, and a comparison chart on <a href="https://ellii.com/blog/used-to-get-used-to-and-be-used-to/" title="Used To, Get Used To, and Be Used To">Used To, Get Used To, and Be Used&nbsp;To</a>.

Here&rsquo;s to using used to&nbsp;correctly!

How to Teach “Used To” in 6 Easy Steps

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National Donut Day takes place on the <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/when-is-the-real-donut-day_563a2bd2e4b0411d306f03cd">first Friday of June and on Nov 5</a>. We&#39;ll accept that. Grab yourself a coffee and a donut to enjoy while you read this related&nbsp;post.

<h1>Coffee, donuts, and spelling&hellip;</h1>

Tim Horton sure is one famous Canadian. He&rsquo;s known not only for being a hockey legend (who played primarily for the Toronto Maple Leafs), but also for his chain of popular coffee and donut shops all across Canada and the US.

Last week, I edited a lesson on <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/80/lessons/1398">Tim Horton</a> in our in our <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/80/lessons">Famous People</a> section. This led to a discussion with our writer, Tara, about why the restaurant is called Tim Hortons&nbsp;when his last name is Horton. Why not Tim Horton&rsquo;s? And how about the spelling of donut vs. doughnut&mdash;which is correct? I decided to do a little sleuthing for my blog post this&nbsp;week.

<h2>Tim Horton Donuts &amp; Tim Horton&rsquo;s Do-nuts</h2>

It seems like there were a few different names originally. According to Tim Horton himself in a video on the <a href="http://www.timhortons.com/ca/en/about/bio_timhorton.html " target="_blank" title="Tim Hortons About">About</a> page of <a href="http://www.timhortons.com">www.timhortons.com</a>, it was called Tim Horton Donuts at one point. And according to Always Fresh, the story of the Tim Hortons restaurant empire by Ron Joyce and Robert Thompson, it was once called Tim Horton&rsquo;s Do-nuts. So how did it become Tim&nbsp;Hortons?

<h3>Tim Horton&rsquo;s?</h3>

It&rsquo;s common practice to use the possessive form as a company name. Take the fast food restaurant chain Wendy&rsquo;s, for example (who, incidentally, partnered up with Tim Hortons in 1995). Is Tim Hortons a mistake that got fossilized over time&mdash;a result of dropping the&nbsp;apostrophe?

<h3>Tim Hortons</h3>

Well, my research is coming up a bit short. I can&rsquo;t find anything online or in the book Always Fresh about why the decision was made to call the restaurant Tim Hortons, but it appears the change happened very early on, so I suspect it was a company decision and not an error. Company names are often pluralized (e.g., Starbucks, Chapters). Maybe as soon as there was more than one restaurant, they decided to go with the plural&nbsp;form.

<h2>A Tim Hortons&rsquo; Coffee or a Tim Hortons&rsquo;s Coffee?</h2>

How should we write the possessive form? According to the Chicago Manual of Style, 16th edition, we should add &rsquo;s to a singular noun that ends in -s (e.g., Dickens&rsquo;s novel) &nbsp;but an apostrophe only to a plural noun that ends in -s (e.g., the Lincolns&rsquo; house). So it depends on how you look at it: if you see Tim Hortons as the singular man, you would write Tim Hortons&rsquo;s coffee.

But if you see it as the plural restaurants, you would write Tim Hortons&rsquo; coffee. Perhaps this is why we see both cases so often, because people aren&rsquo;t sure how to look at it. I recommend using the apostrophe only (Tim Hortons&rsquo; coffee) because I see Tim Hortons as the restaurant chain, not the man (his name was Tim Horton, after&nbsp;all).

<h2>Donut or Doughnut?</h2>

Here&rsquo;s one I can definitively answer. In American, Canadian, and British English, the preferred spelling is doughnut (according to reputable dictionaries like Merriam-Webster&rsquo;s, Oxford Canadian, and Oxford Dictionaries Online). In most dictionaries, donut is listed as a variant of doughnut, meaning both are correct and accepted, but doughnut is the more accurate choice.

However, the Tim Hortons website uses donut, so that&rsquo;s what we used in our ESL&nbsp;Library lesson on <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/80/lessons/1398">Tim Horton</a>.

<h2>Timmy&rsquo;s or Timmies?</h2>

Finally, how do we spell the cute, common nickname for Tim Hortons? Is it Timmy&rsquo;s or Timmies? This one&rsquo;s not going to appear in any dictionary, so I decided to defer to the company&rsquo;s decision as well as the logic of a plural noun form. According to the Tim Hortons website, the correct spelling is&nbsp;Timmies.

Tim Hortons, Hortons', or Horton's? Donut or Doughnut?

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<blockquote>
I had my students learn these&nbsp;patterns&hellip;
</blockquote>

<a href="https://ellii.com/resource_categories/grammar-usage/resources/2314-causative-verbs-have-let-make">Causative verbs</a> are just what they sound like: verbs where one person is &ldquo;causing&rdquo; another to do something. English has three true causative verbs: have, let, and&nbsp;make.

This grammar target has a special pattern that often confuses students because it requires a base verb where an infinitive verb would normally go. Once we present the pattern to our students and they see some examples, they should be able to remember to use the base&nbsp;form.

It&rsquo;s also important to point out the other verbs with a similar meaning that are not, in fact, causative verbs. Verbs such as get, force, allow, and cause take an infinitive verb, not a base&nbsp;verb.

<a href="https://ellii.com/resource_categories/103/resources/2314"><img alt="Causative Verbs resource" height="auto" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/215/content_103_Causative-Verbs-Have-Let-Make.png" width="400" /></a>

<a href="https://ellii.com/resource_categories/103/resources/2314">Causative Verbs: Have, Let, Make</a> &ndash; Grammar &amp; Usage&nbsp;Resources

<h1>I. Causative Verbs</h1>

<h3>Have, Let &amp;&nbsp;Make</h3>

<h4>Subject (person) + Have / Let / Make&nbsp;+ Object (person) +&nbsp;Base&nbsp;Verb</h4>

The verbs have, let, and make follow this irregular pattern when they have the meaning of causing someone to do something. These verbs are pretty common in English and are usually introduced around an intermediate level. From strongest to weakest, the causative verbs are make, have, and&nbsp;let.

It&rsquo;s important to give examples with both singular and plural objects as well as different tenses so that students truly understand that a base verb is required, not just a present verb. I find the biggest mistakes textbooks make is that they only give examples in the present tense. I&rsquo;ve often had students tell me that they didn&rsquo;t &ldquo;get it&rdquo; until they saw an example in the past&nbsp;tense.

<ul>
	<li>I had my friends tell me what happened. (not&nbsp;told)</li>
	<li>She will let her friend borrow her new jacket. (not borrows or will&nbsp;borrow)</li>
	<li>Mark&rsquo;s teacher makes him do homework every day. (not&nbsp;does)</li>
</ul>

The subject and object of causative sentences are usually people, but things are also&nbsp;possible.

<ul>
	<li>The heavy rain made the paint peel off the&nbsp;building.</li>
	<li>The phone message made him feel&nbsp;nervous.</li>
	<li>We let the dogs run wild at the&nbsp;beach.</li>
</ul>

Also, the imperative verb form (no subject) is common with causative verbs, since both causatives and imperatives are used for giving&nbsp;orders.

<ul>
	<li>Have Mr. Smith call&nbsp;me.</li>
	<li>Let the dogs go outside after&nbsp;dinner.</li>
	<li>Make her secretary type out the&nbsp;report.</li>
</ul>

<h1>II. Non-Causative Verbs</h1>

<h3>Get, Force, Allow &amp; Cause</h3>

<h4>Subject + Get / Force / Allow / Cause + Object (person) +&nbsp;Infinitive&nbsp;Verb</h4>

All other verbs, outside of the three causative verbs, will follow the &ldquo;normal&rdquo; pattern of noun + infinitive. This pattern occurs for most verbs regardless of meaning (e.g., My friend wants me to come to the party or She asked me to help&nbsp;her).

There are other verbs that have the meaning of cause, but because they aren&rsquo;t true causative verbs, they take an infinitive verb form instead of a base verb. Common verbs are, from strongest to weakest: force, cause, get, and&nbsp;allow.

Get, especially, is very common, so make sure you remind your students that it always takes an infinitive verb, and give your students plenty of&nbsp;examples.

<ul>
	<li>He got his friend to help him&nbsp;move.</li>
	<li>My mother forces me to practice the piano every&nbsp;day.</li>
	<li>Our teacher is going to allow us to go home early&nbsp;today.</li>
	<li>The test is causing them to panic. It&rsquo;s really&nbsp;difficult.</li>
</ul>

<h1>III. The Passive&nbsp;Causative</h1>

<h3>Get &amp;&nbsp;Have</h3>

<h4>Subject (person) + Have / Get + Object (thing) + Past&nbsp;Participle</h4>

Can causative sentences be passive? Yes! The passive causative is quite common for services. For more information, see our blog post on the <a href="https://ellii.com/blog/the-passive-causative">Passive&nbsp;Causative</a>.

<ul>
	<li>He had his car fixed (by a&nbsp;mechanic).</li>
	<li>She got her hair cut&nbsp;yesterday.</li>
	<li>My sister got her nails&nbsp;done.</li>
</ul>

<h1>Related</h1>

<ul class="resources">
	<li class="lesson">Lesson:&nbsp;<a href="https://app.ellii.com/lesson/2325-causative-verbs" target="_blank">Causative Verbs</a></li>
	<li class="resource">Chart:&nbsp;<a href="https://ellii.com/resource_categories/grammar-usage/resources/2314-causative-verbs-have-let-make" target="_blank">Causative Verbs: Have, Let &amp;&nbsp;Make</a></li>
	<li class="lesson">Lesson:&nbsp;<a href="https://app.ellii.com/lesson/1601-passive">Passive</a></li>
	<li class="resource">Chart:&nbsp;<a href="https://ellii.com/resource_categories/grammar-usage/resources/2276-the-passive-voice" target="_blank">The Passive Voice</a></li>
	<li class="blog-post">Blog Post:&nbsp;<a href="https://ellii.com/blog/the-passive-voice" target="_blank">The Passive Voice</a></li>
<li class="lesson">Lesson:&nbsp;<a href="https://app.ellii.com/lesson/2834-passive-causative" target="_blank">The Passive Causative</a></li>
	<li class="resource">Chart:&nbsp;<a href="https://ellii.com/resource_categories/grammar-usage/resources/2324-the-passive-causative-have-get" target="_blank">The Passive Causative: Have &amp;&nbsp;Get</a></li>
	<li class="blog-post">Blog Post:&nbsp;<a href="https://ellii.com/blog/the-passive-causative" target="_blank">The Passive Causative</a></li>
</ul>

Causative Verbs

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

Conferences

<h1>Say It Plainly</h1>

Last weekend, I had the chance to attend the Plain Language Association International 2013 Conference in Vancouver, BC. From October 10 to 13, this inspiring, informative conference brought together more than 500 people from many different fields who are all interested in making communication as clear as can be.

The main message was that whether you&#39;re a teacher, a literacy professional, a government worker, or a lawyer, you should try to speak and write in a way that is clear&mdash;plain and simple!

<h1>What Is Plain Language?</h1>

Plain language involves keeping your audience in mind at all times, and the goal is to write to be understood by all your readers. There are guidelines you can follow, such as using the pronoun &ldquo;you&rdquo; and avoiding jargon and the passive voice, but the success of any document is measured by how well your readers understand it.

As English teachers, we are all already familiar with the concept of plain language. We continually strive to speak and write in a way that our English learners will understand. For more information about what plain language is and what the conference was all about, read the conference host&#39;s <a href="https://plainlanguagenetwork.org/plain-language/what-is-plain-language/">definition of plain language</a>&nbsp;website or see my summary of the conference in this BCBusiness&nbsp;online&nbsp;magazine article:&nbsp;<a href="http://www.bcbusiness.ca/your-business/say-it-plainly#!">Say It Plainly</a>.

While the conference covered a wide variety of topics like the future of plain language (it&rsquo;s becoming more and more popular all over the world) and ethics in plain language (such as the right to understand all forms and documents), I want to focus on some sessions that relate directly to English&nbsp;teaching.

<h1>User-Testing</h1>

Kate Harrison Whiteside, one of the conference cofounders, led a panel presentation called Successfully Integrating Plain Language. During the presentation, she mentioned that user-testing was key to ensure understanding. This relates directly to us teachers because we need to carefully monitor understanding when using new materials in class.

I find the best way to do this is by circulating as students are working (whether it&rsquo;s individually, in pairs, or in groups). Often students won&rsquo;t volunteer that they are confused by the material. But when you circulate, you can quickly assess who is getting it and who isn&rsquo;t, and offer help to those who need it at that time or after&nbsp;class.

<h1>Getting Feedback</h1>

Terri Peters, a plain language trainer, also emphasized that talking to a lot of people for feedback is invaluable. As a teacher, I agree. At my old school, we did student evaluations once a month that included a written rating and a counseling session. But sometimes I found it beneficial to talk to students throughout the semester, especially after the first week of class, to make sure everyone was keeping up and not feeling frustrated with the&nbsp;material.

<h1>Reading</h1>

Diana Twiss, of Decoda Literacy Solutions, talked about what makes people effective readers and how plain language can model this. Teachers can use her findings in their classrooms to help students understand the reading portion of a lesson more clearly.

First, teachers should always tell students what they will learn in the reading (i.e., the purpose) before they read.

Second, providing some background information about the reading topic before students read helps all levels of learners get more out of the reading.

Third, using headings helps students piece the information together more easily. If the reading you&rsquo;re doing with your class doesn&rsquo;t have headings, you could always make a photocopy and write them in yourself before presenting the reading to students.

Finally, summarizing the key points after the reading will help students put it all together in their minds. For other reading tips, check out <a href="https://ellii.com/blog/reading-lessons-interactive">3 Ways to Make Reading More&nbsp;Interactive</a>.

<h1>Grammar</h1>

Linda Comerford, in her session Creating Clarity with Grammar, presented her audience with some interesting statistics. Did you know that English has over 600,000 words? On average, that&rsquo;s four times more than other languages.

She often tells this to her students when they are feeling discouraged in order to remind them that they&rsquo;re not alone in thinking English is hard. She also mentioned that 16&ndash;18 is the number of words that your brain can hold onto when forming a sentence. So, for teachers, it&rsquo;s important to speak and write in sentences that don&rsquo;t exceed this amount, and we should encourage our students to do the&nbsp;same.

Teaching Tips from the Plain Language Conference

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Whatever you call them (modals, modal verbs, auxiliaries, auxiliary verbs, etc.), modals are one of the most difficult grammar points for students to grasp. We have many categories of modals in English such as possibility, ability, advice, and necessity, and within each category, we have many modals to choose&nbsp;from.

In our American Presidents lesson on <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/84/lessons/1531">Woodrow Wilson</a>, there is an exercise about modals for expressing suggestions. We thought it would be helpful to blog about the modals should, ought to, had better, have got to, have to, and must so that teachers could elaborate on the notes in the&nbsp;lesson.

You could also use this tried‑and‑true method of presenting modals as a lesson on its own, with our <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/88/lessons">Grammar Practice Worksheets</a> or <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/116/lessons">Fun Grammar Lessons</a> on modals, along with another textbook, or for review&nbsp;anytime!

<h1>Pattern &amp; Chart</h1>

Remind students that the pattern for modals in English&nbsp;is:

<h4>Modal + Base Verb</h4>

A base verb is an infinitive verb without to. Point out that base verbs never have any endings (no -s, -ed, -ing, etc.), so students don&rsquo;t have to worry about subject&ndash;verb agreement. Make sure you stress to students that they should never use to after a modal (unless it&rsquo;s a part of the modal&nbsp;expression).

<ul class="resources">
	<li class="correct">You must take the exam. (correct)</li>
	<li class="incorrect">You must to take the exam. (incorrect)</li>
</ul>

<ul class="resources">
	<li class="correct">You have to take the exam. (correct)</li>
	<li class="incorrect">You have take the exam. (incorrect)</li>
</ul>

I always tell my students that for a modal expression that includes to (such as have to), think of to as part of the modal expression and not as part of an infinitive verb (i.e., have to + base verb, not have + infinitive verb). It&rsquo;s easier for students to remember to never use an infinitive verb with a modal (but they&rsquo;ll have to remember that some modal expressions include&nbsp;to).

Next, write this &ldquo;suggestion scale&rdquo; chart on the board. It&rsquo;s always helpful when students can visualize where the modals belong in relation to one&nbsp;another.

<table style="width: auto !important;">
	<tbody>
		<tr>
			<th class="center">stronger</th>
			<td>
			<ul>
				<li>must</li>
				<li>have to</li>
				<li>have got to</li>
			</ul>
			</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<th class="center">&darr;</th>
			<td>
			<ul>
				<li>had better</li>
			</ul>
			</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<th class="center">weaker</th>
			<td>
			<ul>
				<li>ought to</li>
				<li>should</li>
			</ul>
			</td>
		</tr>
	</tbody>
</table>

<h1>Modals of Advice</h1>

Common modals of advice in English are should, ought to, and had better. Read on for the differences in meaning and usage!

<h2>Should</h2>

Using the modal of advice should is the most common way to suggest something to someone in English. The pattern is should + base verb. The negative form, should not, often gets contracted to&nbsp;shouldn&rsquo;t.

<ul>
	<li>You should tell your boss about the&nbsp;report.</li>
	<li>They should start getting ready to go because the bus leaves at&nbsp;4:00.</li>
	<li>She shouldn&rsquo;t smoke outside because people are eating on the patio&nbsp;nearby.</li>
</ul>

<h2>Ought To</h2>

Ought to is a modal expression that sounds a bit stuffy these days. I always tell my students that though they may occasionally see it in textbooks or in writing, they should avoid using ought to + base verb themselves because it&rsquo;s pretty old‑fashioned. Some people would argue that ought to is a bit stronger of a suggestion than should, but I&rsquo;d argue that the difference isn&rsquo;t important, especially since it&rsquo;s not commonly used&nbsp;nowadays.

As a general overview (in case students come across it), you may want to mention that in spoken English, ought to is usually shortened to /aw-da/, and that the negative expression ought not to is even less common and best avoided&nbsp;altogether.

<ul>
	<li>You ought to show your report card to your&nbsp;parents.</li>
</ul>

<h2>Had Better</h2>

Use had better + base verb to make a stronger suggestion than should. This modal of advice is used when someone thinks the other person really should follow the suggestion, implying that there will be more serious consequences if the advice isn&rsquo;t&nbsp;taken.

Had better is a modal expression that is often contracted to &rsquo;d&nbsp;better. The negative form, had better not, is also often contracted to &rsquo;d&nbsp;better&nbsp;not.

<ul>
	<li>We had better let someone know about the&nbsp;problem.</li>
	<li>He&rsquo;d better study for the test because he&rsquo;s failing the&nbsp;class.</li>
	<li>I&rsquo;d better not eat another cookie because it will ruin my dinner.</li>
</ul>

<h1>Modals of Necessity</h1>

The modals of necessity/obligation must, have to, and have got to have essentially the same meaning and are all used to denote a strong&nbsp;suggestion.

<h2>Must</h2>

Must + base verb is a little more formal and is often used in written English (e.g., this modal would appear on a sign listing out rules). The negative form is must not. While the contraction mustn&rsquo;t is possible, it isn&rsquo;t commonly used nowadays and has a stuffy feel to it. I tell my students to avoid&nbsp;it.

Don&rsquo;t forget to remind students that can&rsquo;t/cannot is a modal with basically the same meaning as must not, with can&rsquo;t/cannot being a bit more&nbsp;common.

<ul>
	<li>You must remove your jacket and shoes when going through airport&nbsp;security.</li>
	<li>We must register for the conference before we can attend any&nbsp;sessions.</li>
	<li>You must not/can&rsquo;t use a pen. All answers must be written with a&nbsp;pencil.</li>
</ul>

<h2>Have To</h2>

Have to + base verb is a little more informal and is often used in spoken English and informal writing. Note that this is one modal expression that does have subject&ndash;verb agreement. Third person singular pronouns, singular count nouns, and non-count nouns will all use has to + base verb. Point out to students that the contractions &rsquo;ve&nbsp;to and &rsquo;s&nbsp;to are never&nbsp;possible.

The negative forms, do not have to and does not have to, are often contracted to don&rsquo;t have to and doesn&rsquo;t have&nbsp;to.

I always point out that in speaking, have to is often reduced to hafta and has to is often pronounced&nbsp;hasta.

<ul>
	<li>You have to call your friend tonight. It&rsquo;s her birthday and she&rsquo;ll be upset&nbsp;if you&nbsp;forget.</li>
	<li>She has to bring her own skis because there isn&rsquo;t anywhere to rent&nbsp;them.</li>
	<li>I told my roommate that he doesn&rsquo;t have to pay for groceries this week because I owe him&nbsp;money.</li>
</ul>

<h2>Have Got To</h2>

Have got to + base verb is a very old expression in English that is still commonly used nowadays. It is even more informal than have to and is commonly used in spoken English and informal writing. Note that this is another modal expression that has subject&ndash;verb agreement. Third person singular pronouns, singular count nouns, and non‑count nouns will all use has got to + base&nbsp;verb.

The negative forms have not got to and has not got to are never used (do not have to and does not have to can be used instead). The contractions &rsquo;ve got to and &rsquo;s got to are common in writing, and in speaking, the reduced forms &rsquo;ve gotta and &rsquo;s gotta are very common.

<ul>
	<li>You have got to remember to do your report tonight. It&rsquo;s due tomorrow&nbsp;morning.</li>
	<li>Our teacher has got to grade a lot of papers tonight. We need them back to study for the&nbsp;test.</li>
	<li>She&rsquo;s got to go to an appointment&nbsp;right after&nbsp;class.</li>
</ul>

If your students are still confused, they should / had better / have to / have got to / must study&nbsp;more!

Tanya