Discover what's new or coming soon, including upcoming lessons and resources and product feature updates. 

Announcements

<h1>Introducing Individual Student Assignments</h1>

<p>Great news, teachers!</p>

<p>As of today, you can now select which individual students receive specific assignments within any class.&nbsp;</p>

<h3><strong>Here&#39;s how it works:</strong></h3>

<ul>
	<li>Click on a lesson, video, or flashcard set in your Prepping or Teaching lane within any of your classes</li>
	<li>A modal will open with your assignment preferences for that lesson&nbsp;</li>
	<li>Click the &quot;Students&quot; tab in the top navigation of the modal</li>
	<li>Switch the setting from &quot;All students&quot; to &quot;Some students&quot;</li>
	<li>Select the students you want to assign the lesson to&nbsp;and remember to hit &quot;Save&quot; inside the modal before closing it</li>
</ul>

<p>Only the selected students will see the assignment inside their class dashboard.</p>

<div class="videoWrapper"><iframe allow="autoplay; fullscreen" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/C5BgjG7wtaI?si=I4waw7z14JkLaeer" width="640"></iframe></div>

<p>We know that a lot of you have been asking for this feature for a while now. So thanks for your patience, and we hope it&#39;s a big help!</p>

<p>All the best,<br />
Ben :)</p>

<p>Founder, CEO at Ellii</p>


Introducing Individual Student Assignments

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

Grammar & Usage

<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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Learn how to make the most of your Ellii subscription with tips from our publishing team.

Teaching with Ellii

<p>March 1 is <strong>World Compliment Day</strong>! Here&rsquo;s an activity to&nbsp;try!</p>

<h1>Warm-Up</h1>

<ol>
	<li>Introduce your students to the word &ldquo;compliment&rdquo; (<em>a positive remark about someone or something</em>), and explain that it can be used as a noun and a verb. While you are looking at the word itself, explain the difference between <a href="https://ellii.com/blog/compliment-vs-complement" target="_blank">compliment and complement</a>. (I always tell my students that the one that means &ldquo;extra&rdquo; has an extra&nbsp;&ldquo;e&rdquo;.)</li>
	<li>Ask your students to identify different things that they praise people for (clothing, hair, job performance, talent, design, hard work). Can they remember the most recent compliment they&nbsp;received?</li>
	<li>Explain that giving a compliment is a form of small talk. It&rsquo;s a great way to <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/92/lessons/1749" target="_blank">start a conversation</a>. Students can give compliments to people they know or don&rsquo;t know. When we visit a friend or family member, it&rsquo;s nice to give a compliment as part of a greeting. My sister-in-law finds a way to compliment me every time I see her. She&rsquo;s so&nbsp;sweet!</li>
	<li>Explain that we often use the verbs &ldquo;give,&rdquo; &ldquo;accept,&rdquo; and &ldquo;take/can&rsquo;t take&rdquo; with the word&nbsp;<em>compliment</em>.</li>
</ol>

<h1>Teach Useful Expressions for Giving&nbsp;Compliments</h1>

<p>Teach your students some common expressions for giving a&nbsp;compliment.</p>

<h2>Appearance</h2>

<ul>
	<li>You look nice today.</li>
	<li>I love your new hairstyle.</li>
	<li>That color looks good on you. / You look good in&nbsp;blue.</li>
	<li>Your dining room looks&nbsp;beautiful.</li>
</ul>

<h2>Work</h2>

<ul>
	<li>You worked very hard on&nbsp;this.</li>
	<li>Nice work!</li>
	<li>Good job!</li>
	<li>This is excellent.</li>
</ul>

<h2>Talent</h2>

<ul>
	<li>You&#39;re a great artist.</li>
	<li>You&#39;re so good with&nbsp;kids.</li>
	<li>You have a lovely&nbsp;voice.</li>
</ul>

<h2>Food</h2>

<ul>
	<li>You make great cookies!</li>
	<li>You&#39;re such a good&nbsp;chef.</li>
	<li>This pasta is delicious.</li>
</ul>

<h2>Indirect</h2>

<ul>
	<li>Your son is a great actor.</li>
	<li>Your mom has the nicest&nbsp;garden.</li>
	<li>I loved your sister&#39;s book.</li>
</ul>

<h1><a href="https://app.ellii.com/lesson/2615-giving-receiving-compliments"><img alt="Giving and receiving compliments ESL lesson from Ellii" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/3071/content_Screen_Shot_2023-02-27_at_9.03.46_AM.png" /></a></h1>

<p class="caption">Are you an Ellli member? Try this ready-made lesson on <a href="https://app.ellii.com/lesson/2615-giving-receiving-compliments" target="_blank">Giving &amp; Receiving Compliments</a> from our Functional English section.</p>

<h1>Teach How to Accept a&nbsp;Compliment</h1>

<p>Your students will also need to practice accepting a compliment. The best way to respond is with a simple thank you and a big&nbsp;smile!</p>

<ul>
	<li>Thank you.</li>
	<li><a href="http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/1798/what-is-the-purpose-of-using-the-word-why-in-why-thank-you" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Why, thank you!</a> <em>(with slight&nbsp;surprise)</em></li>
	<li>Thank you for saying&nbsp;that.</li>
	<li>I appreciate that.</li>
	<li>I needed to hear that. <em>(after having a bad day or feeling&nbsp;inadequate)</em></li>
	<li>You&rsquo;re so sweet.</li>
	<li>I&rsquo;ll tell her you said that. / She&rsquo;ll be happy to hear that. <em>(accepting&nbsp;indirectly)</em></li>
</ul>

<p>Explain that many people have difficulty accepting a compliment. They may respond in a <strong>humble</strong> way. They may also <strong>fish for</strong> more&nbsp;compliments.</p>

<ul>
	<li>Do you really think&nbsp;so?</li>
	<li>I don&rsquo;t think so, but thanks for saying&nbsp;so.</li>
</ul>

<p>Some people really can&rsquo;t take a compliment. They almost always respond to a compliment in a <strong>self-deprecating</strong>&nbsp;way.</p>

<h2>Examples</h2>

<h3>Example #1</h3>

<table class="dialogue">
	<tbody>
		<tr>
			<th>A:</th>
			<td>Your cookies are delicious.</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<th>B:</th>
			<td>They could use a little more&nbsp;sugar.</td>
		</tr>
	</tbody>
</table>

<h3>Example #2</h3>

<table class="dialogue">
	<tbody>
		<tr>
			<th>A:</th>
			<td>Your presentation was great.</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<th>B:</th>
			<td>Are you kidding? I was so&nbsp;nervous.</td>
		</tr>
	</tbody>
</table>

<h3>Example #3</h3>

<table class="dialogue">
	<tbody>
		<tr>
			<th>A:</th>
			<td>I like your glasses.</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<th>B:</th>
			<td>These old things? I&rsquo;ve had them&nbsp;forever.</td>
		</tr>
	</tbody>
</table>

<h1>Practice Giving Compliments</h1>

<p>Now have your students practice. Write a setting on the board (e.g., birthday party, school reunion, wedding, funeral, hockey game, staff meeting). Tell your students to imagine themselves <strong>mingling</strong> with friends, colleagues, relatives, and strangers at this event. They should walk around and give each other compliments about appearance, job performance, talent, clothing, food, etc. They should also practice accepting&nbsp;compliments.</p>

<h1>For Fun!</h1>

<p>After practicing giving and accepting compliments, visit the <a href="http://www.worldcomplimentday.info/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">World Compliment Day website</a>, and have your students fill out a World Compliment Day award for a classmate or&nbsp;friend.</p>

<p><a href="https://ellii.com/flashcard_genres/14/flashcard_categories/16" target="_blank"><img alt="A certificate with a compliment written on it" height="auto" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/250/content_Tara_Giving-and-Accepting-Compliments-in-English_Certificate1.png" width="320" /></a></p>

<p><a href="http://www.worldcomplimentday.info/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><img alt="A certificate with a compliment written on it" height="auto" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/251/content_Tara_Giving-and-Accepting-Compliments-in-English_Certificate2.png" width="320" /></a></p>


Giving & Accepting Compliments in English

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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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Find useful resources and tips for teaching English with interactive apps and sites.

EdTech

<p><em>Editor&rsquo;s note: This post has been updated to include the 2017 conference&nbsp;hashtags.</em></p>

<blockquote>
<p>&ldquo;Thanks to Twitter, the hashtag has become an important linguistic&nbsp;shortcut.&rdquo;</p>

<p class="attribution">&mdash;<a href="http://pitchfork.com/features/ordinary-machines/9351-hashtags/" target="_blank">Lindsay Zoladz</a> (Pitchfork,&nbsp;2014)</p>
</blockquote>

<p>On the web, millions of teachers worldwide connect to share support and resources. If you are in search of activities, resources, or support for a lesson, then you&rsquo;ll want to know where these teachers share ideas&nbsp;online.</p>

<p><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hashtag" target="_blank">Hashtags</a>, the words you see around the web with number (#) signs in front of them, are the key to finding and sharing resources online. You don&rsquo;t have to belong to social networks to benefit from hashtags. You can do a search for a hashtag on Google and find public streams of information on Twitter and other&nbsp;sites.</p>

<p>Below are a list of fantastic hashtags for English language teachers. Click and begin exploring and connecting&nbsp;today!</p>

<h1>General Hashtags</h1>

<p>According to <a href="http://hashtagify.me/hashtag/learning" target="_blank">Hashtagify</a>, the following are some of the most used hashtags among English language teachers. Discover free resources, bloggers, apps, activities and news about teaching your language learners. The hashtags to follow are <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/esl" target="_blank">#ESL</a>, <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/TESOL" target="_blank">#TESOL</a>, <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/tefl" target="_blank">#TEFL</a>, <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/efl" target="_blank">#EFL</a>, <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/elt" target="_blank">#ELT</a>, <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/duallang" target="_blank">#duallang</a>, <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/ells" target="_blank">#ELLs</a>, and <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/ell" target="_blank">#ELL</a>. Other great hashtags with useful resources include <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/clil" target="_blank">#CLIL</a>, <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/grammar" target="_blank">#Grammar</a>, and&nbsp;<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/idioms" target="_blank">#Idioms</a>.</p>

<p><a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/twinglish" target="_blank">#Twinglish</a>, <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/engpls" target="_blank">#EngPls</a>, <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/learnalanguage">#LearnALanguage</a>, <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/studyenglish" target="_blank">#StudyEnglish</a>, and <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/learnenglish?lang=en" target="_blank">#LearnEnglish</a> are hashtags used by English language learners around the world. Sometimes you will find tweets in other&nbsp;languages.</p>

<h2>Hashtags for Specific Areas of English Language&nbsp;Teaching</h2>

<p>Try any of the following hashtags for resources specific to a test or age&nbsp;group.</p>

<ul>
	<li>Use the hashtags <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/businessenglish" target="_blank">#BusinessEnglish</a> and <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/besig" target="_blank">#BESIG</a> to discover resources related to teaching Business&nbsp;English.</li>
	<li>Use the hashtags <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/younglearners" target="_blank">#YoungLearners</a> and <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/yltsig" target="_blank">#YLTSig</a> to discover resources related to teaching young&nbsp;learners.</li>
	<li>Use the hashtags <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/eap?lang=en">#EAP</a>, <a href="https://twitter.com/search?q=%23tleap" target="_blank">#TLEAP</a>, <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/baleap" target="_blank">#BALEAP</a> to find resources related to teaching English for academic&nbsp;purposes.</li>
	<li>Supporting learners in their different tests or taking a test? Try <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/ielts">#IELTS</a>, <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/toefl" target="_blank">#TOEFL</a>, <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/toeic" target="_blank">#TOEIC</a>, and&nbsp;<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/celta" target="_blank">#CELTA</a>.</li>
</ul>

<h2>Hashtag Chats</h2>

<p>If you&rsquo;re looking to connect with other English language teachers and bloggers, then try joining a Twitter chat. We recommend these great Twitter&nbsp;chats:</p>

<ul>
	<li><a href="http://www.eltchat.org/" target="_blank">#ELTChat</a> takes place every Wednesday at 12&nbsp;pm and 9&nbsp;pm&nbsp;GMT.</li>
	<li><a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/ellchat" target="_blank">#ELLChat</a> takes place on Mondays at 9&nbsp;pm&nbsp;ET.</li>
	<li><a href="https://twitter.com/duallangchat" target="_blank">#Duallangchat</a> takes place the first Sunday of each month at 6&nbsp;pm&nbsp;PST / 8&nbsp;pm&nbsp;CST.</li>
</ul>

<h2>Conference Hashtags</h2>

<p>Get to know the teachers, authors, vendors, and events at the conferences you attend. Following the conference hashtag is a great way to keep up with what is happening at conferences, including any freebies or tips about navigating the city. You can also share your presentation time and materials to a much wider audience. If you are looking for tweet-ups (face-to-face meetings of Twitter users), then knowing the hashtag is a&nbsp;must!</p>

<p>Two of the most followed conference hashtags are for the <a href="http://www.tesol.org/convention2017" target="_blank">TESOL International Conference</a> and <a href="http://www.iatefl.org/" target="_blank">IATEFL</a>. The <a href="https://twitter.com/TESOL_Assn" target="_blank">TESOL International conference</a> takes place March 21&ndash;24 in Seattle, Washington. Attendees and the organization share information with the hashtags <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/tesol2016" target="_blank">#TESOL2017</a> and <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/tesol16" target="_blank">#TESOL17</a>. (The ESL&nbsp;Library team will be there, so be sure to visit the&nbsp;booth.)</p>

<p>The <a href="https://twitter.com/iatefl" target="_blank">IATEFL conference</a> takes place April 4&ndash;7 in Glasgow, Scotland. Use the hashtag <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/iatefl" target="_blank">#IATEFL</a> to keep up with the latest news and&nbsp;events.</p>

<p>There are many other conferences with hashtags. To discover conferences and events in different countries try <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/asiaelt" target="_blank">#ASIAELT</a>, <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/auselt" target="_blank">#AUSELT</a>, <a href="https://twitter.com/search?q=%23keltchat" target="_blank">#KELTChat</a> (Korean&nbsp;ELT), <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/jalt" target="_blank">#JALT</a>, and&nbsp;<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/jaltcall">#JALTCALL</a>.</p>

<p>Canada has a few hashtags for English language teachers, which include <a href="https://twitter.com/search?q=%23teslcanada" target="_blank">#TESLCanada</a>, <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/tesltoronto" target="_blank">#TESLToronto</a>, <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/bcteal" target="_blank">#BCTEAL</a>, and&nbsp;<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/lincchat">#LINCChat</a>.</p>

<p>What are your favorite hashtags?</p>


The Ultimate Hashtag Guide for English Language Teachers

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

Articles

<blockquote>
<p>Love the giver more than the&nbsp;gift.</p>

<p class="attribution">&mdash;Brigham Young</p>
</blockquote>

<p>Often, the holiday seasons are the most stressful times for teachers. Before our term ends, we scramble to finish up our courses, get grades in, and meet with parents who are worried about their child&rsquo;s progress. Classroom management is difficult because learners are excited about the upcoming break and spending time with their family and&nbsp;friends.</p>

<p>During the holiday season, language teachers often struggle with motivating learners to practice their reading, writing, listening, and speaking skills. We hope the following activities and resources give you more peace of mind. The ideas are meant to motivate your learners to practice English in fun and engaging&nbsp;ways!</p>

<h1>Reading &amp; Writing Activities</h1>

<p><strong>Motivate learners to practice reading and writing with these&nbsp;ideas:</strong></p>

<p>Learners can read holiday stories by other students on Storybird. Students can then create their own digital stories with <a href="http://littlebirdtales.com/">LittleBirdTales</a>.</p>

<p>Get students writing with holiday writing prompts. Find visual <a href="https://www.pinterest.com/search/pins/?q=december+writing+prompts&amp;term_meta%5B%5D=prompts%7Ctyped">writing prompts on Pinterest</a>, and Justin McLachlan has created a list of<a href="http://www.justinmclachlan.com/1027/holiday-writing-prompts/"> 25 Scifi and Holiday Writing&nbsp;Prompts</a>.</p>

<p>Get students to write Santa letters with at <a href="http://emailsanta.com/">EmailSanta.com</a>. Santa responds with a&nbsp;video.</p>

<p>Students can also practice their writing skills by creating wish lists for characters they are reading about, such as <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/80/lessons">famous people</a>, or&nbsp;pets.</p>

<p>Adolescents and teens might enjoy creating social media profiles (Twitter, Facebook, Snapchat, and Instagram) for the elves, reindeer or snowmen. <a href="http://www.classtools.net/FB/home-page">Fakebook</a> is a safe tool for creating a profile for this&nbsp;activity.</p>

<p>Students can pair up and role-play two characters (Mr. and Mrs. Claus, Rudolph and another reindeer, Santa and an elf, Santa and Rudolph, The Grinch and a Who, etc.) who message back and forth. You can give students a scenario and vocabulary list to focus the learning. Try <a href="http://www.classtools.net/SMS/">ClassTool&rsquo;s SMS generator</a> for this&nbsp;activity.</p>

<h1>Speaking &amp; Listening Activities</h1>

<p><strong>Motivate learners to develop their speaking and listening skills with these&nbsp;ideas:</strong></p>

<p>Students can work in pairs to modernize the lyrics to a holiday song, such as the 12 Days of Christmas and record a music video of the new version with <a href="http://www.magisto.com/">Magisto</a>, <a href="http://www.powtoon.com/">Powtoons</a> or&nbsp;<a href="http://wideo.co/">Wideo</a>.</p>

<p>Children can call Santa using the Call Santa (<a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/a-call-from-santa!/id933921849?mt=8">iOS</a>/<a href="https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.retropixel.CallSanta&amp;hl=en">Android</a>)&nbsp;apps. Get the children to first write down useful phrases they would like to say to Santa to show them how much English they have learned this&nbsp;year!</p>

<p>Students can create videos thanking family and relatives using these free apps&mdash;<a href="http://www.magisto.com/">Magisto</a>, <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/yakit-kids/id794546203?mt=8">YakIt for Kids</a>, <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/chatterpix-kids-by-duck-duck/id734046126?mt=8">Chatterpix Kids</a>, and <a href="http://www.fotobabble.com/">Fotobabble</a>. Try <a href="http://www.powtoon.com/">Powtoons</a> or <a href="http://wideo.co/">Wideo</a> to create videos on the&nbsp;web.</p>

<p><strong>What are your favorite holiday activities for language&nbsp;learners?</strong></p>


'Tis the Season to Speak, Listen, Read, and Write! 9 Ideas & 20 Tools for Holiday Learning

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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>


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