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

Grammar & Usage

<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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<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>


Already, Yet & Still

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<p>Articles in English are tiny words that can cause big problems for learners. Many beginner students who don&rsquo;t use articles in their native tongue can have trouble learning when to use&nbsp;<em>a</em> or <em>the</em>. Higher-lever students can also struggle with the many exceptions and quirks of article usage. Before getting into a beginner or intermediate lesson (see &ldquo;Practice&rdquo; below), try presenting the basic English articles <em>a</em>, <em>an</em>, and <em>the</em> in chart form to&nbsp;help learners compare and understand the&nbsp;differences.</p>

<h1>Chart</h1>

<p><a href="https://ellii.com/resource_categories/103/resources/2165" target="_blank"><img alt="Articles chart" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/214/content_Tanya_Teaching-Articles-A-An-and-The_Chart.png" /></a></p>

<p class="caption"><a href="https://ellii.com/resource_categories/103/resources/2165" target="_blank">Articles Chart</a> &ndash; Grammar &amp; Usage&nbsp;Resources</p>

<h1>Tips</h1>

<h2>Tip #1</h2>

<p>Use a/an/&oslash; with <strong>general</strong>&nbsp;nouns.</p>

<p>What is a general (indefinite) noun? For&nbsp;example:</p>

<ul>
	<li>I&rsquo;m hungry. I want a sandwich. Can you see a sandwich right now? No, you can&#39;t.&nbsp;That&rsquo;s why it&rsquo;s <strong>a</strong> sandwich. I don&rsquo;t have a specific sandwich in mind. I can&rsquo;t see it, and you can&rsquo;t see it. We don&rsquo;t know which sandwich I&rsquo;m talking about. It could be any&nbsp;sandwich.</li>
</ul>

<h2>Tip #2</h2>

<p>Use <em>the</em> with <strong>specific</strong>&nbsp;nouns.</p>

<p>What is a specific (definite) noun? For&nbsp;example:</p>

<ul>
	<li><em>[The teacher gives a blue pen to a student]</em> Kim, can you pass me the blue pen? Can everyone see the blue pen? Yes, we can.&nbsp;That&rsquo;s why it&rsquo;s <strong>the</strong> blue pen. I know which pen it is. I can see it, and you can see it. I&rsquo;m talking about only this one specific pen, and we all know which pen I&rsquo;m talking&nbsp;about.</li>
</ul>

<h2>Tip #3</h2>

<p>Use <em>an</em>&nbsp;before words that begin with a <strong>vowel</strong> (a, e, i, o, u) and <em>a</em> before words that begin with a&nbsp;<strong>consonant</strong>.</p>

<div class="whiteBox">
<h5>Note</h5>

<p>Words that begin with a &ldquo;u&rdquo; or &ldquo;h&rdquo; take <em>an</em> if the noun begins with a vowel sound (e.g.,&nbsp;<em>an umbrella</em>, <em>an heir</em>) and <em>a</em> if the noun begins with a consonant sound (e.g.,&nbsp;<em>a university, a&nbsp;house</em>).</p>
</div>

<h2>Tip #4</h2>

<p>Use <em>the</em> when there is <strong>only one</strong> of&nbsp;something.</p>

<p>Examples include:</p>

<ul>
	<li><em>the sun</em>, <em>the moon</em>, <em>the&nbsp;earth</em></li>
	<li><em>the library</em>, <em>the bank</em>, <em>the laundromat</em> (in a&nbsp;town)</li>
	<li><em>the door</em>, <em>the whiteboard</em>, <em>the teacher&rsquo;s desk</em> (in your&nbsp;classroom).</li>
</ul>

<h2>Tip #5</h2>

<p>Use <em>the</em> when it&rsquo;s the <strong>second mention</strong> of the&nbsp;noun.</p>

<p>Even though we still can&rsquo;t see it, we know which one the speaker is talking about because it has been introduced. For&nbsp;example:</p>

<ul>
	<li>I saw <strong>a</strong> movie last night. <strong>The</strong> movie was so boring that I fell&nbsp;asleep.</li>
</ul>

<h2>Tip #6</h2>

<p>Use <em>the</em> when the noun has an <strong>adjective clause or phrase</strong> that modifies&nbsp;it.</p>

<p>The extra information that describes the noun makes it clear which noun we&rsquo;re referring to. For&nbsp;example:</p>

<ul>
	<li><strong>The</strong> dog that follows me home every day is really&nbsp;friendly.</li>
</ul>

<h1>Practice</h1>

<p>ESL&nbsp;Library has two great lessons on Articles. Our new <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/88/lessons/2028">Articles &ndash; Beginner</a> lesson covers <em>a</em>, <em>an</em>, and <eme>the, and provides many mixed exercises for practice. Our reformatted <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/88/lessons/1606">Articles &ndash; Intermediate</a> lesson goes into great detail about the many uses and exceptions of English&nbsp;articles.</eme></p>


Teaching Articles: A, An, and The

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<p>English language learners often struggle with verbs about speaking.&nbsp;<em>Say&nbsp;</em>and&nbsp;<em>tell</em> have similar meanings, but their sentence patterns can be difficult for students to keep straight. Since these verbs don&#39;t often appear in textbooks,&nbsp;it&#39;s a good idea&nbsp;to present or review the patterns and punctuation of these verbs to&nbsp;learners of any&nbsp;level.</p>


<h1>1. Say</h1>

<h2>Reported Speech</h2>

<p><em>Say</em> is followed by <strong>something</strong>, not&nbsp;someone.</p>

<table class="horizontal">
	<tbody>
		<tr>
			<th>Say something:</th>
			<td>Say + (that) +&nbsp;SVO</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<th>Examples:</th>
			<td>
			<ul>
				<li>She said that&nbsp;the meeting was at 9:00&nbsp;am.</li>
				<li>She&nbsp;said the meeting was at 9:00&nbsp;am.</li>
			</ul>
			</td>
		</tr>
	</tbody>
</table>

<table class="horizontal">
	<tbody>
		<tr>
			<th>Say something to someone:</th>
			<td>Say + object thing + to +&nbsp;object&nbsp;person</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<th>Examples:</th>
			<td>
			<ul>
				<li>The celebrity&nbsp;said hi to&nbsp;us.</li>
			</ul>
			</td>
		</tr>
	</tbody>
</table>

<h2>Direct Speech</h2>

<p><em>Say</em> is very common in direct&nbsp;speech.</p>

<table class="horizontal">
	<tbody>
		<tr>
			<th>Examples:</th>
			<td>
			<ul>
				<li>&quot;Let me know,&quot;&nbsp;he&nbsp;said.</li>
				<li>He said, &quot;Let me&nbsp;know.&quot;</li>
				<li>&quot;Let me know,&quot;&nbsp;he said, &quot;so that I&nbsp;can make&nbsp;plans.&quot;</li>
			</ul>
			</td>
		</tr>
	</tbody>
</table>

<h1>2. Tell</h1>

<h2>Reported Speech</h2>

<p><em>Tell</em> is followed by <strong>someone</strong>, not&nbsp;something.</p>

<table class="horizontal">
	<tbody>
		<tr>
			<th>Tell someone something:</th>
			<td>Tell&nbsp;+ object person + (that) +&nbsp;SVO</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<th>Examples:</th>
			<td>
			<ul>
				<li>He told me that he loves&nbsp;me.</li>
				<li>She told us she was ready to&nbsp;go.</li>
			</ul>
			</td>
		</tr>
	</tbody>
</table>

<table class="horizontal">
	<tbody>
		<tr>
			<th>Tell someone to do something:</th>
			<td>Tell&nbsp;+ object person +&nbsp;to +&nbsp;base&nbsp;verb</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<th>Examples:</th>
			<td>
			<ul>
				<li>They tell their son to do his homework every&nbsp;day.</li>
				<li>She is telling them to get tickets right&nbsp;away.</li>
			</ul>
			</td>
		</tr>
	</tbody>
</table>

<table class="horizontal">
	<tbody>
		<tr>
			<th>Tell someone about something:</th>
			<td>Tell&nbsp;+ object person + (about/how/where etc.) + object&nbsp;thing/SVO</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<th>Examples:</th>
			<td>
			<ul>
				<li>She told me about the&nbsp;accident.</li>
				<li>He is telling us how to do&nbsp;it.</li>
				<li>Did you tell them what to&nbsp;do?</li>
				<li>She will tell them where the restaurant&nbsp;is.</li>
			</ul>
			</td>
		</tr>
	</tbody>
</table>

<table class="horizontal">
	<tbody>
		<tr>
			<th>Tell someone:</th>
			<td>Tell&nbsp;+ object&nbsp;person</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<th>Examples:</th>
			<td>
			<ul>
				<li>Did he tell&nbsp;you?</li>
				<li>Yes, he told&nbsp;me.</li>
			</ul>
			</td>
		</tr>
	</tbody>
</table>

<h2>Direct Speech</h2>

<p><em>Tell</em> is not common in direct speech, though it is&nbsp;possible.</p>

<ul>
	<li>&quot;That was a good movie,&quot;&nbsp;he told me&nbsp;quietly.</li>
</ul>

<h1>3. Ask</h1>

<h2>Reported Speech</h2>

<p>To express that someone is asking a question, we use the verb&nbsp;<em>ask</em>, followed by&nbsp;<em>if, whether, for, about,&nbsp;</em>or a question&nbsp;word.</p>

<ul>
	<li>She asked if she could borrow my&nbsp;pen.</li>
	<li>She asked whether she could borrow my&nbsp;pen.</li>
	<li>She asked for the&nbsp;time.</li>
	<li>She asked about the&nbsp;weather.</li>
	<li>She asked where the restaurant&nbsp;was.</li>
	<li>She asked what my name&nbsp;was.</li>
</ul>

<h2>Direct Speech</h2>

<ul>
	<li>She asked, &quot;What&#39;s your&nbsp;name?&quot;</li>
	<li>&quot;What&#39;s your name?&quot;&nbsp;she&nbsp;asked.</li>
</ul>

<h1>4. Other Speaking Verbs</h1>

<p>To change the meaning slightly or add variety to your speech or writing, other speaking verbs such as <em>state, explain, report, add, yell,</em>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<em>shout</em>&nbsp;can be&nbsp;used.</p>

<h2>Reported Speech</h2>

<ul>
	<li>He stated/explained/reported/added/yelled/shouted that the power was&nbsp;out.</li>
</ul>

<h2>Direct Speech</h2>

<ul>
	<li>&quot;The power is out,&quot;&nbsp;he stated/explained/reported/added/yelled/shouted.</li>
</ul>

<h1>5. Talk, Speak, and&nbsp;Discuss</h1>

<p>To express what a conversation was about, we can use three&nbsp;common verbs in English: <em>talk, speak,</em> and <em>discuss</em>. These verbs are used in reported speech only (never in direct speech). Note that&nbsp;<em>discuss</em> must be followed directly by an&nbsp;object.</p>

<ul>
	<li>They talked about the&nbsp;problem.</li>
	<li>They spoke about the&nbsp;problem.</li>
	<li>They discussed the&nbsp;problem.</li>
</ul>

<ul>
	<li>We talked for&nbsp;hours.</li>
	<li>We spoke for&nbsp;hours.</li>
	<li>We discussed the problem for&nbsp;hours.</li>
</ul>

<ul>
	<li>They talked to each&nbsp;other.</li>
	<li>They spoke to each&nbsp;other.</li>
	<li>They discussed the problem with each&nbsp;other.</li>
</ul>

<h1>6.&nbsp;Practice: Say Vs. Tell</h1>

<p>Write these sentences on the board, or have students listen and call out the answers. For more practice, have them write out sentences of their own for another student or pair to&nbsp;complete.</p>

<h2>Questions</h2>

<ol>
	<li>The teacher (said / told) me to hand in my&nbsp;homework.</li>
	<li>My counselor (said / told) I need to start thinking about my&nbsp;future.</li>
	<li>Our manager (said / told) that the meeting was on&nbsp;Friday.</li>
	<li>Her coworker (said / told) her that her report was&nbsp;due.</li>
	<li>&quot;Leave it by the door,&quot;&nbsp;he (said&nbsp;/&nbsp;told).</li>
</ol>

<h2>Answers</h2>

<ol>
	<li>told</li>
	<li>said</li>
	<li>said</li>
	<li>told</li>
	<li>said</li>
</ol>

<p>For additional practice, try our <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/88/lessons/1618">Direct &amp; Reported Speech</a> lesson in our <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/88/lessons">Grammar Practice Worksheets</a>&nbsp;section.</p>

Say Vs. Tell & Other Speaking Verbs

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<p>Some verbs in English have quite a variety of sentence patterns associated with them. For verbs of suggestion such as&nbsp;<em>recommend</em>, <em>suggest</em>, and <em>advise</em>, these patterns evolved to reflect the focus of the suggestion.</p>

<p>If the speaker is suggesting a place or a thing, these verbs are followed by a noun. For an activity, they can be followed by a gerund. For a focus on who the suggestion pertains to, they&rsquo;re followed by a pronoun or noun (person) either after the verb (<em>advise</em>) or at the end of a sentence with &ldquo;to&rdquo; (<em>recommend</em>, <em>suggest</em>). These verbs are also possible in the subjunctive mood&mdash;with a noun clause that contains a base&nbsp;verb.</p>

<p>First off, do your students know the meanings of <em>recommend</em>, <em>suggest</em>, and <em>advise</em>? These verbs are all used when one person wants to tell someone else what he or she should do. While these words can be interchangeable, there are slight meaning and usage&nbsp;differences.</p>

<ul>
	<li><strong>Advise</strong> is the most formal and is used with subjects like <em>doctor</em>, <em>teacher</em>, <em>counselor</em>, <em>government official</em>,&nbsp;etc.</li>
	<li><strong>Suggest</strong> is more informal and is used to express an idea or&nbsp;opinion.</li>
	<li><strong>Recommend</strong> is more personal and is used when the speaker is giving a suggestion based on personal&nbsp;experience.</li>
</ul>

<p>Now we&rsquo;re ready to examine all the possible sentence patterns for these&nbsp;verbs.</p>

<h1>1. Followed by a noun object</h1>

<table class="horizontal">
	<tbody>
		<tr>
			<th>Pattern:</th>
			<td>recommend/suggest/advise +&nbsp;noun</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<th>Examples:</th>
			<td>
			<ul>
				<li>He recommended <strong>the restaurant</strong> down the&nbsp;street.</li>
				<li>The designer suggested <strong>the color blue</strong> for the living&nbsp;room.</li>
				<li>My doctor advised <strong>exercise</strong> after my heart&nbsp;attack.</li>
			</ul>
			</td>
		</tr>
	</tbody>
</table>

<p>Note: If we also want to include <em>who</em> the suggestion is being made to, we can follow the noun object with <strong><em>to + person</em></strong>. Students often make the mistake of putting <em>to + person </em>directly after the verb, but while this is possible in other languages, it is incorrect (or at least very awkward!) in English for <em>recommend</em> and <em>suggest</em>. For <em>advise</em>, see the next&nbsp;section.</p>

<ul>
	<li>He recommended the restaurant down the street <strong>to us</strong>.&nbsp;<em>(correct)</em></li>
	<li>He recommended <strong>to us</strong> the restaurant down the street.&nbsp;<em>(incorrect)</em></li>
	<li>He suggested the restaurant down the street <strong>to his neighbor</strong>.&nbsp;<em>(correct)</em></li>
	<li>He suggested <strong>to his neighbor</strong> the restaurant down the street.&nbsp;<em>(incorrect)</em></li>
</ul>

<h1>2. Followed by a&nbsp;pronoun</h1>

<table class="horizontal">
	<tbody>
		<tr>
			<th>Pattern:</th>
			<td>advise +&nbsp;pronoun</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<th>Examples:</th>
			<td>
			<ul>
				<li>The manager advised <strong>us</strong> on the new&nbsp;protocols.</li>
				<li>His counselor will advise <strong>him</strong> to start applying to the local&nbsp;colleges.</li>
			</ul>
			</td>
		</tr>
	</tbody>
</table>

<p>Note: Unlike <em>recommend</em> and <em>suggest</em>, <em>advise</em> can also be followed by a noun that refers to the person getting the advice. Also, <em>to + pronoun</em> and <em>to + person</em> at the end of the sentence with <em>advise</em> is possible in some cases, but it can sound a bit awkward and is best avoided or&nbsp;reworded.</p>

<ul>
	<li>The manager advised <strong>us</strong> on the protocols.&nbsp;<em>(correct)</em></li>
	<li>The manager advised <strong>the employees</strong> on the protocols.&nbsp;<em>(correct)</em></li>
	<li>The doctor advised exercise <strong>to her patient</strong>. <em>(possible, but not as&nbsp;common)</em></li>
	<li>The doctor advised exercise <strong>to us</strong>. <em>(possible, but not as&nbsp;common)</em></li>
</ul>

<h1>3. Followed by a gerund</h1>

<table class="horizontal">
	<tbody>
		<tr>
			<th>Pattern:</th>
			<td>recommend/suggest/advise +&nbsp;gerund</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<th>Examples:</th>
			<td>
			<ul>
				<li>The concierge recommends <strong>taking</strong> a guided tour of the&nbsp;island.</li>
				<li>She suggested <strong>shopping</strong> at farmers markets instead of grocery&nbsp;stores.</li>
				<li>Health experts don&rsquo;t advise <strong>swimming</strong> right after&nbsp;eating.</li>
			</ul>
			</td>
		</tr>
	</tbody>
</table>

<p>Note: Point out to students that the&nbsp;<em>Noun + Infinitive</em> rule overrides the gerund rule in almost all cases. Though <em>advise</em> is followed by a gerund (e.g., <em>My teacher advised <strong>studying</strong></em>), we must use an infinitive if we include a noun/pronoun object in the sentence (e.g., <em>My teacher advised us <strong>to study</strong></em>). For more information and examples, see <a href="https://ellii.com/blog/gerunds-and-infinitives-helpful-teaching-tips" target="_blank">Gerunds and Infinitives: Helpful Teaching&nbsp;Tips</a>.</p>

<h1>4. Followed by a noun clause (the subjunctive&nbsp;mood)</h1>

<table class="horizontal">
	<tbody>
		<tr>
			<th>Pattern:</th>
			<td>verb of suggestion + that + subject +&nbsp;base&nbsp;verb</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<th>Examples:</th>
			<td>
			<ul>
				<li>My friend recommended <strong>that he take a taxi home from the&nbsp;party</strong>.</li>
				<li>The sales clerk suggested <strong>that she put the dress on&nbsp;hold</strong>.</li>
				<li>She is advising&nbsp;<strong>that we finish our project&nbsp;today</strong>.</li>
			</ul>
			</td>
		</tr>
	</tbody>
</table>

<p>When verbs with the general meaning of &ldquo;suggestion&rdquo; (including <em>advise</em>, <em>ask</em>, <em>demand</em>, <em>insist</em>, <em>prefer</em>, <em>propose</em>, <em>recommend</em>, <em>request</em>, <em>suggest</em>, and <em>urge</em>) are used with a noun clause, we must use a <strong>base verb</strong>. The noun clause usually starts with the word <em>that</em> and contains a subject, base verb, and possibly an object. The noun clause usually occupies the object position of the main sentence: S + V + (that + S + V + O).</p>

<p>Make sure you give your students examples where the main verb is in another tense such as the simple past&mdash;this way, they can clearly see the verb in the noun clause is a base verb and not another past verb. It is also helpful to include examples where the subject of the noun clause is in the third person singular so that students are really clear it&rsquo;s a base verb (and doesn&rsquo;t take an <em>‑s</em> ending). For more information and examples, see <a href="https://ellii.com/blog/tips-for-teaching-the-subjunctive/" target="_blank">Tips for Teaching the&nbsp;Subjunctive</a>.</p>

<p>Note: We can drop &ldquo;that&rdquo; from a noun clause, especially when speaking quickly or in informal speaking and writing. There is no change in meaning (i.e., <em>My friend <strong>recommended that we</strong> take a taxi home</em> and <em>My friend <strong>recommended we</strong> take a taxi home</em> are identical in&nbsp;meaning).</p>

<h1>Related on ESL&nbsp;Library</h1>

<p>Looking for practice with <em>recommend</em>, <em>suggest</em>, and <em>advise</em>? Try our Discussion Starters lesson on <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/72/lessons/2091" target="_blank">Food Labels</a>. This advanced-level lesson includes an exercise to practice the various sentence patterns for these&nbsp;verbs.</p>


Recommend, Suggest, Advise: Verbs That Have Multiple Sentence Patterns

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<h1>When a little stress is a good&nbsp;thing&hellip;</h1>

<p>How do students of English learn to speak like native speakers? Everyone knows that pronunciation is important, but some people forget about sentence stress and intonation. The cadence and rhythm of a language are important for fluency and clarity. Languages of the world vary greatly in word and sentence stress&mdash;many languages stress content words (e.g., most European languages) while others are tonal (e.g., Thai) or have little to no word stress (e.g., Japanese). Practicing sentence stress in English helps students speak more quickly and naturally. Fortunately for teachers, students usually enjoy activities like the one in the worksheet below! After one of our subscribers asked us for resources on sentence stress this week, I thought I&rsquo;d share some tips and a worksheet that you can use in&nbsp;class.</p>

<p>Sentence stress occurs when we say certain words more loudly and with more emphasis than others. In English, we stress <strong>content words</strong> because they are essential to the meaning of the sentence. In general, shorter words or words that are clear from the context don&rsquo;t get&nbsp;stressed.</p>

<h2>To Stress</h2>

<p>Content words include nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs. Negative words such as <em>not</em> or <em>never</em> also get stressed because they affect the meaning of the sentence. Modals, too, can change the meaning of a sentence. Here is a list of words to stress in an English&nbsp;sentence:</p>

<ul>
	<li>nouns (people, places,&nbsp;things)</li>
	<li>verbs (actions, states)</li>
	<li>adjectives (words that modify&nbsp;nouns)</li>
	<li>adverbs (words that modify verbs, adjectives, other adverbs, or entire&nbsp;sentences)</li>
	<li>negative words (<em>not</em>, <em>never</em>, <em>neither</em>,&nbsp;etc.)</li>
	<li>modals (<em>should</em>, <em>could</em>, <em>might</em>, etc., but not <em>will&nbsp;</em>or&nbsp;<em>can</em>)</li>
	<li><em>yes</em>, <em>no</em>, and auxiliary verbs in short answers (e.g., <em><strong>Yes</strong>, she&nbsp;<strong>does</strong>.</em>)</li>
	<li>quantifiers (<em>some</em>, <em>many</em>, <em>no</em>, <em>all</em>, <em>one</em>, <em>two</em>, <em>three</em>,&nbsp;etc.)</li>
	<li>Wh-Question words (<em>what</em>, <em>where</em>, <em>when</em>, <em>why</em>, <em>how</em>, etc.&mdash;note that&nbsp;<em>what&nbsp;</em>is often unstressed when speaking quickly because it&rsquo;s so&nbsp;common)</li>
</ul>

<h2>Not to Stress</h2>

<p>Some words don&rsquo;t carry a lot of importance in an English sentence. Short words such as articles, prepositions, and conjunctions don&rsquo;t take stress. Pronouns don&rsquo;t usually get stressed either because the context often makes it clear who we&rsquo;re talking about. The Be verb and all auxiliary verbs don&rsquo;t carry much meaning&mdash;only the main verb does. Here is a list of words that shouldn&rsquo;t be stressed in an English&nbsp;sentence:</p>

<ul>
	<li>articles (<em>a</em>, <em>an</em>,&nbsp;<em>the</em>)</li>
	<li>prepositions (<em>to</em>, <em>in</em>, <em>at</em>, <em>on</em>, <em>for</em>, <em>from</em>,&nbsp;etc.)</li>
	<li>conjunctions (<em>and</em>, <em>or</em>, <em>so</em>, <em>but</em>,&nbsp;etc.)</li>
	<li>personal pronouns (<em>I</em>, <em>you</em>, <em>he</em>, <em>she</em>,&nbsp;etc.)</li>
	<li>possessive adjectives (<em>my</em>, <em>your</em>, <em>his</em>, <em>her</em>,&nbsp;etc.)</li>
	<li>Be verb (<em>am</em>, <em>is</em>, <em>are</em>, <em>was</em>, <em>were</em>,&nbsp;etc.)</li>
	<li>auxiliary verbs (<em>be</em>, <em>have</em>, <em>do</em> in two-part verbs or&nbsp;questions)</li>
	<li>the modals&nbsp;<em>will </em>and<em> be going to&nbsp;</em>(because they&rsquo;re common, and the future tense is often clear from&nbsp;context)</li>
	<li>the modal&nbsp;<em>can&nbsp;</em>(because it&rsquo;s so&nbsp;common)</li>
</ul>

<h2>Examples</h2>

<p>Model the following examples for your students and have them repeat after you. The words (or syllables when the word has more than one) that should be stressed are in&nbsp;<strong>bold</strong>.</p>

<ul>
	<li>The&nbsp;<strong>kids&nbsp;</strong>are at the&nbsp;<strong>park</strong>.</li>
	<li>Do you&nbsp;<strong>have</strong> any&nbsp;<strong>bro</strong>thers or&nbsp;<strong>sis</strong>ters?</li>
	<li><strong>Why&nbsp;</strong><strong>aren&rsquo;t</strong>&nbsp;you&nbsp;<strong>do</strong>ing<strong>&nbsp;</strong>your&nbsp;<strong>home</strong>work?</li>
	<li>He <strong>bought</strong> a <strong>red car</strong> for his&nbsp;<strong>daugh</strong>ter.</li>
	<li>I am&nbsp;Bra<strong>zi</strong>lian.</li>
	<li>We are <strong>not</strong> fa<strong>mi</strong>liar with this <strong>new </strong>com<strong>pu</strong>ter<strong>&nbsp;pro</strong>gram.</li>
	<li>The <strong>ath</strong>lete <strong>ran quick</strong>ly and <strong>won</strong> the&nbsp;compe<strong>ti</strong>tion.</li>
	<li>She does <strong>not know</strong> the&nbsp;<strong>an</strong>swer.</li>
	<li>I <strong>don&rsquo;t know</strong> the <strong>an</strong>swer,&nbsp;<strong>ei</strong>ther.</li>
	<li>We <strong>aren&rsquo;t&nbsp;sure</strong>.</li>
	<li>I&rsquo;ve <strong>never heard</strong> of <strong>that </strong>be<strong>fore</strong>, but it <strong>makes&nbsp;sense</strong>.</li>
	<li>They&rsquo;ll <strong>ask</strong> the <strong>tea</strong>cher for&nbsp;<strong>help</strong>.</li>
	<li><strong>Some peo</strong>ple pre<strong>fer</strong> <strong>Macs</strong>, but <strong>ma</strong>ny <strong>o</strong>thers pre<strong>fer&nbsp;PCs</strong>.</li>
	<li>She is going to <strong>stu</strong>dy&nbsp;to<strong>night</strong>.</li>
	<li>I can <strong>speak&nbsp;French</strong>.</li>
	<li>I <strong>can&rsquo;t speak&nbsp;</strong>Japa<strong>nese</strong>.</li>
	<li><strong>Yes</strong>, I <strong>can</strong>. / <strong>No</strong>, I&nbsp;<strong>can&rsquo;t</strong>.</li>
</ul>

<h2>Practice</h2>

<p>When practicing sentence stress, whether in the examples above, the worksheet below, or your own activity, encourage reductions such as <em>wanna</em>, <em>gonna</em>, <eme>whaddaya, etc. These reductions will make it easier for your students to speak more quickly and will help them recognize when native speakers use these reduced forms. Plus, they&rsquo;re fun to&nbsp;say!</eme></p>

<p><a href="https://ellii.com/resource_categories/103/resources/2192"><img height="auto" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/219/content_103_Sentence-Stress_US.png" width="400" /></a></p>

<p class="caption"><a href="https://ellii.com/resource_categories/103/resources/2192">Sentence Stress</a> &ndash; Grammar &amp; Usage&nbsp;Resources</p>

<h3>Worksheet Answers</h3>

<ol>
	<li><strong>boys, pla</strong>ying, <strong>vi</strong>deo <strong>game</strong></li>
	<li>com<strong>pu</strong>ter,<strong> bro</strong>ken</li>
	<li><strong>Where, go</strong>ing, <strong>af</strong>ter,&nbsp;<strong>class</strong></li>
	<li><strong>does</strong>n&rsquo;t,<strong>like</strong>,&nbsp;<strong>cake</strong></li>
	<li><strong>wri</strong>ting, <strong>test, long, time</strong></li>
	<li>pre<strong>fer,&nbsp;</strong><strong>cof</strong>fee, <strong>tea</strong></li>
	<li><strong>do</strong>ing, to<strong>night</strong> (optional: <strong>What</strong> /encourage reduced pronunciation of&nbsp;<em>Whaddaya</em>)</li>
	<li><strong>bro</strong>ther, <strong>wants, buy, red, car</strong> (demonstrate <em>wanna</em> for the subjects <em>I</em>, <em>you</em>, <em>we</em>, <em>they</em>, and plural count&nbsp;nouns)</li>
	<li><strong>come, par</strong>ty (encourage reduced pronunciation of&nbsp;<em>gonna</em>)</li>
	<li><strong>said, has, dog, not, cat</strong></li>
</ol>

<p>Here&rsquo;s hoping your students don&rsquo;t get too&nbsp;stressed!</p>

<p>Tanya</p>


Sentence Stress

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<p>Two-word verbs are generally a verb and preposition combination (e.g., check in). Sometimes this combo is a phrasal verb, where the meaning of the two-word phrase is does not correspond to the individual words (e.g., look up, as in <em>look up a word in a dictionary</em>). Not only do students have to learn common two-word verbs and their meanings, but they also have to know the spelling or punctuation changes that occur when a different part of speech is used (e.g., take out&nbsp;<em>= verb</em>, takeout&nbsp;<em>= noun</em>). Are there any rules that students can follow to take the guesswork out of the different parts of&nbsp;speech?</p>

<p>At ESL Library, we have teachers who subscribe from all over the world, so let&#39;s look at the spelling and punctuation differences for these types of words between countries too. For reference, this post uses&nbsp;<em><a href="http://www.merriam-webster.com" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">Merriam-Webster</a></em> (online) for American English,&nbsp;<em>The Oxford Canadian Dictionary of Current English&nbsp;</em>(print)&nbsp;for Canadian English, and&nbsp;<em><a href="http://www.oxforddictionaries.com" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">Oxford Dictionaries</a></em>&nbsp;(online)&nbsp;for British&nbsp;English.</p>

<h1>General Rule</h1>

<p>The general rule, which&nbsp;works in most cases, is to use the two-word form for the&nbsp;<strong>verb</strong> and a one-word or hyphenated form for the&nbsp;<strong>noun </strong>or<strong> adjective</strong>. Let&#39;s take a look at some examples in American, Canadian, and British English and compare the verb (v), noun (n), and adjective&nbsp;(a)&nbsp;forms.</p>

<table>
	<thead>
		<tr>
			<th>&nbsp;</th>
			<th>American</th>
			<th>Canadian</th>
			<th>British</th>
		</tr>
	</thead>
	<tbody>
		<tr>
			<td>(v)</td>
			<td>check in</td>
			<td>check in</td>
			<td>check in</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>(n)</td>
			<td>check-in</td>
			<td>check-in</td>
			<td>check-in</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>(a)</td>
			<td>check-in</td>
			<td>check-in</td>
			<td>check-in</td>
		</tr>
	</tbody>
	<tbody>
		<tr>
			<td>(v)</td>
			<td>check out</td>
			<td>check out</td>
			<td>check out</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>(n)</td>
			<td>checkout</td>
			<td>checkout</td>
			<td>checkout</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>(a)</td>
			<td>checkout</td>
			<td>checkout</td>
			<td>checkout</td>
		</tr>
	</tbody>
	<tbody>
		<tr>
			<td>(v)</td>
			<td>log in</td>
			<td>log in</td>
			<td>log in</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>(n)</td>
			<td>log-in</td>
			<td>log-in</td>
			<td>login</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>(a)</td>
			<td>log-in</td>
			<td>log-in</td>
			<td>login</td>
		</tr>
	</tbody>
	<tbody>
		<tr>
			<td>(v)</td>
			<td>take out</td>
			<td>take out</td>
			<td>take away</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>(n)</td>
			<td>takeout</td>
			<td>takeout</td>
			<td>takeaway</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>(a)</td>
			<td>take-out</td>
			<td>take-out</td>
			<td>takeaway</td>
		</tr>
	</tbody>
	<tbody>
		<tr>
			<td>(v)</td>
			<td>take over</td>
			<td>take over</td>
			<td>take over</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>(n)</td>
			<td>takeover</td>
			<td>takeover</td>
			<td>takeover</td>
		</tr>
	</tbody>
</table>

<h2>Exceptions</h2>

<p>Sometimes it&#39;s the verb form that takes the hyphen. Here are a few two-word hyphenated verbs that your students may come&nbsp;across:</p>

<table>
	<thead>
		<tr>
			<th>&nbsp;</th>
			<th>American</th>
			<th>Canadian</th>
			<th>British</th>
		</tr>
	</thead>
	<tbody>
		<tr>
			<td>(v)</td>
			<td>double-check</td>
			<td>double-check</td>
			<td>double-check</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>(n)</td>
			<td>double check</td>
			<td>double check</td>
			<td>double check</td>
		</tr>
	</tbody>
	<tbody>
		<tr>
			<td>(v)</td>
			<td>role-play</td>
			<td>role-play</td>
			<td>role-play</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>(n)</td>
			<td>role-play</td>
			<td>role-play</td>
			<td>role play</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>(a)</td>
			<td>role-playing</td>
			<td>role-playing</td>
			<td>role-playing</td>
		</tr>
	</tbody>
</table>

<h1>To hyphenate or not to hyphenate?</h1>

<p>Why do some two-word phrases contain a hyphen when&nbsp;others don&#39;t? In my opinion there are a few things going on. Words that are very common tend to take&nbsp;a one-word unhyphenated noun form&nbsp;(e.g., takeout, sightseeing). Some spelling systems&nbsp;use a hyphen to distinguish an adjective form from a noun form (e.g., takeout <em>n</em>, take-out <em>adj</em>).&nbsp;Also, there is a trend these days toward less punctuation. People (and dictionaries) are using fewer hyphens and commas in English. Whether this is due to modern forms of communication such as texting and Twitter is a discussion for another&nbsp;day!</p>

<p>Finally, it can depend on the dictionary and region. If you spend any time with dictionaries from different countries, you&#39;ll notice that American English favors no hyphens (e.g., reelect) whereas British and Canadian English prefer the hyphenated form (e.g.,&nbsp;re-elect).</p>

<h1>Practice</h1>

<p>See<em>&nbsp;takeout&nbsp;</em>and&nbsp;<em>sit-down</em> in context in our <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/96/lessons" target="_blank">Role-Plays</a> lesson on <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/96/lessons/1314" target="_blank">Food</a>. You may also find our posts and resources on spelling interesting: <a href="https://ellii.com/blog/american-vs-british-spelling-in-elt-materials">American, Canadian &amp; British Spelling in ELT Materials</a> and <a href="https://ellii.com/resource_categories/103/resources/2171" target="_blank">Fast Food Vocabulary: American English Vs. British&nbsp;English</a>.</p>

<p>You can also try our <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/76/lessons" target="_blank">Everyday Dialogues</a> lesson on <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/76/lessons/1733" target="_blank">Ordering Fast Food</a>.&nbsp;</p>


Take Out, Takeout, or Take-Out? Differences in Two-Word Verbs, Nouns & Adjectives

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<h1>Historically speaking&hellip;</h1>

<p>When even L1s get a certain aspect of English mixed up, you can bet it&rsquo;s tricky for English language learners to master. This is the case with writing and saying years. Why do we have more than one word to represent an era? Why don&rsquo;t they have the same position in a sentence? How do we punctuate and capitalize these abbreviations? Let&rsquo;s clear things up for our students (and possibly for&nbsp;ourselves).</p>

<h1>1. Meaning</h1>

<ul>
	<li>BC stands for &ldquo;Before Christ&rdquo; and represents the years before Christ was&nbsp;born.</li>
	<li>AD stands for &ldquo;Anno Domini,&rdquo; which is Latin for &ldquo;the year of our Lord,&rdquo; and represents the years after Christ was&nbsp;born.</li>
	<li>BCE stands for &ldquo;Before Common Era,&rdquo; &ldquo;Before Christian Era,&rdquo; or &ldquo;Before Current Era&rdquo; and represents the time before the last 2015 years (at the time this was&nbsp;written).</li>
	<li>CE stands for &ldquo;Common Era,&rdquo; &ldquo;Christian Era,&rdquo; or &ldquo;Current Era&rdquo; and represents years 1&ndash;2015 (at the time this was&nbsp;written).</li>
</ul>

<p>BC and BCE represent the same time frame, but with BCE, the religious aspect is removed. The same goes for AD and CE (the religious aspect is removed with&nbsp;CE).</p>

<h1>2. Position</h1>

<ul>
	<li>300 BC</li>
	<li>AD 2015</li>
	<li>300 BCE</li>
	<li>2015 CE</li>
</ul>

<p>BC, BCE, and CE come <strong>after</strong> the year. Write or say <em>300&nbsp;BC</em> or <em>300 before Christ</em>, <em>300&nbsp;BCE</em> or <em>300 before common era</em>, and <em>2015&nbsp;CE</em> or <em>2015 common era</em>. However, AD comes <strong>before</strong> the year, so write or say <em>AD&nbsp;2015</em> or <em>anno Domini 2015</em>. This is because <em>anno Domini</em> is Latin for <em>the year of our Lord</em>, and we always say <em>the year of our Lord</em> before the year (so <em>the year of our Lord&nbsp;2015</em>).</p>

<p>Is <em>2015&nbsp;AD</em> ever correct? Many people (myself included) were taught that AD stood for <em>after death</em> (after the death of Christ). Some people do write or say AD after the year, but as this is technically incorrect, it is far better to write or say <em>AD&nbsp;2015</em>.</p>

<h1>3. Punctuation &amp; Capitalization</h1>

<p>Is it BC or B.C.? BCE or B.C.E.? Well, it depends on which style guide or dictionary you follow. <em>Merriam‑Webster Dictionary</em> (American English) lists these entries with capital letters and no periods/full stops&nbsp;(e.g.,&nbsp;BC), but notes that they are often punctuated and/or written in small capitals (e.g.,&nbsp;B.C.). <em>Oxford Dictionary</em> (British English) and <em>Oxford Canadian Dictionary</em> (Canadian English) also list these entries with capital letters and no periods/full stops (e.g.,&nbsp;BC) and notes they are often written in small capitals, but they don&rsquo;t list periods/full stops as common&nbsp;usage.</p>

<p>A popular American style guide, <em>The Chicago Manual of Style</em>, has these entries in capital letters with no periods/full stops&nbsp;(e.g.,&nbsp;BC). This is consistent with many other types of abbreviations that they list (e.g.,&nbsp;US, UK, WA, etc.). In my role as an editor, I&rsquo;ve noticed that there is definitely a movement away from unnecessary&nbsp;punctuation.</p>

<h1>Practice</h1>

<p>Show your students examples of these dates in a lesson and then go over the explanation above. Our <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/81/lessons">Famous Places</a> lesson on <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/81/lessons/1470">Nazca Lines</a> includes BC and AD in the first paragraph of the reading.&nbsp;</p>


Abbreviations for Years: How to Use BC, AD, BCE & CE Correctly

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<p>In Canada, Monday&#39;s elections had the whole country buzzing. The Liberal Party, led by Justin Trudeau, swept through the nation and won the day with a majority government. Our new prime minister elect follows in the footsteps of his father, the late Pierre Trudeau, who was Canada&#39;s 15th prime minister (Justin will be the&nbsp;23rd).</p>

<p>Whether you&#39;re thrilled by, saddened by, or indifferent to Trudeau&#39;s victory, it&#39;s a good bet that the election will come up in many classrooms in Canada, as well as in other countries. It&#39;s a good time to get the&nbsp;capitalization rules of political titles straight before our students ask about&nbsp;them!</p>

<h1>When do we capitalize &quot;Prime Minister&quot;?</h1>

<p>According to many style guides, such as&nbsp;<em>The Chicago Manual of Style</em>, titles such as this are not capitalized unless they directly precede the name of an individual. Otherwise, use initial lowercase&nbsp;letters.</p>

<ul>
	<li>Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is Canada&#39;s newest&nbsp;leader.</li>
	<li>The prime minister addressed the&nbsp;Senate.</li>
	<li>Pierre Trudeau, the 15th prime minister of Canada, was Justin&#39;s&nbsp;father.</li>
</ul>

<p>Note that different style guides have different opinions on this, so if you&#39;re teaching at the university level, tell students they should refer to their department&#39;s style guide and follow those&nbsp;suggestions.</p>

<h1>What about &quot;Sir&quot;?</h1>

<p>Many of Canada&#39;s earliest prime ministers&nbsp;had the title&nbsp;<em>sir</em>&nbsp;before their name, including our first prime minister, Sir John A. Macdonald.&nbsp;The capitalization rules for&nbsp;<em>sir</em> follow the same rules as those for&nbsp;<em>prime&nbsp;minister</em>.</p>

<ul>
	<li>Sir John A. Macdonald was Canada&#39;s first prime&nbsp;minister.</li>
	<li>What can I get you,&nbsp;sir?</li>
	<li>Excuse me, sir. Can you please tell me what time it&nbsp;is?</li>
</ul>

<h1>Practice</h1>

<p>See the capitalization rules for <em>prime minister </em>and&nbsp;<em>sir</em>&nbsp;in our <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/80/lessons" target="_blank">Famous People</a> lessons on <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/80/lessons/2031" target="_blank">Pierre Trudeau</a> and <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/80/lessons/1971" target="_blank">Sir John A. Macdonald</a>. To see <em>president</em> in context, try any lesson from our <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/84/lessons" target="_blank">American Presidents</a>&nbsp;section.</p>

<p>For a discussion of <em>president</em>, see our blog post <a href="https://ellii.com/blog/when-do-we-capitalize-president/" target="_blank">When Do We Capitalize &quot;President&quot;?</a>&nbsp;Scroll down through the comments for answers to many other titles such as <em>First Lady</em>, <em>governor general</em>, <em>the Queen</em>,&nbsp;etc.</p>
