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

<h3>Have you ever heard of such a thing?</h3>

<p>I was editing one of our simple past lessons recently, and I was trying to change one of the comprehension questions from the present perfect to the simple past so as not to introduce another verb tense into the lesson. The question was <em>Have you ever seen a car accident?</em>&nbsp;Changing it to D<em>id you ever see a car accident?</em>&nbsp;sounded unnatural to me, so I didn&#39;t include it in the lesson. However, this made the ESL Library team wonder if we could naturally use &quot;ever,&quot;&nbsp;which provides emphasis on&nbsp;<strong>any</strong>&nbsp;time in the past,&nbsp;with the simple past in English.</p>

<h3>&quot;Ever&quot;&nbsp;with the Present Perfect</h3>

<p>The adverb &quot;ever&quot;&nbsp; is normally used with a present perfect verb, since this tense is used for an unspecified past time. (E.g., <em>I have tried frog&#39;s legs.</em>) For more information on the present perfect, check out <a href="https://ellii.com/blog/5-easy-steps-for-teaching-the-present-perfect-and-the-present-perfect-progressive/">5 Easy Steps for Teaching the Present Perfect and the Present Perfect Progressive</a>. With the present perfect, &quot;ever&quot;&nbsp;is used in questions and negative sentences.</p>

<ul>
	<li>Have you ever been to Paris?</li>
	<li>Has she ever studied this before?</li>
	<li>I haven&#39;t ever tried smoking.</li>
	<li>He hasn&#39;t ever thanked me.</li>
</ul>

<h3>&quot;Ever&quot;&nbsp;with the Simple Past</h3>

<p>Can &quot;ever&quot;&nbsp;be used with the simple past? Yes, but it&#39;s not that common, and it&#39;s only used in certain cases. The simple past is used for a specific time in the past that&#39;s usually mentioned in the context. (E.g.,&nbsp;<em>I went to a party last night.</em>) For more information about the simple past, check out <a href="https://ellii.com/blog/simple-past-vs-past-progressive/">Simple Past Vs. Past Progressive</a>. With the simple past, &quot;ever&quot;&nbsp;is only used for reference to a specific past time that has been previously mentioned (or is understood). Compare the following examples:</p>

<ul>
	<li>You told me yesterday that you used to live in London by yourself. Were you ever lonely? (<em>at that time in your life</em>)</li>
	<li>Have you ever been lonely? (<em>in your whole life</em>)</li>
</ul>

<div>
<ul>
	<li>You mentioned last year that you were planning a trip to Paris. Did you ever go to Paris? / Did you ever end up going? (<em>at some point last year</em>)</li>
	<li>Have you ever been to Paris? (<em>in your whole life</em>)</li>
</ul>
</div>

<h3>&quot;Ever&quot;&nbsp;with Other Tenses</h3>

<p>Can we use &quot;ever&quot;&nbsp;with present or future verbs? It&#39;s not as common as its use with the present perfect, but it&#39;s definitely possible when we want to emphasize &quot;at any time&quot;&nbsp;in the present or future. The sense that something will never actually happen (hopelessness) is also usually implied, whether it&#39;s literal or meant as a joke.</p>

<ul>
	<li>Present: Can I ever borrow your car?</li>
	<li>Present: Are you ever home?</li>
	<li>Future: Am I ever going to hear from him again?</li>
	<li>Future: Will this project ever be finished?</li>
</ul>

<h3>What Should We Teach Our Students?</h3>

<p>My advice is to teach students that &quot;ever&quot;&nbsp;is used with the present perfect tense for past cases and leave it at that. For more advanced students (or if it came up in class), I&#39;d go into the uses for the present and future and also explain when it can be used with the simple past. I usually like teaching exceptions to a grammar rule, but I think throwing in the simple past &quot;ever&quot;&nbsp;examples would be confusing to a simple past lesson (or a present perfect lesson) and would only do so if my students could handle it.</p>

<p>Don&#39;t forget to point out that &quot;ever&quot;&nbsp;can always be dropped! All of the example sentences above make perfect sense without &quot;ever&quot;---it&#39;s only used for emphasis. And in case you&#39;re wondering, we ended up dropping &quot;ever&quot;&nbsp;and changing the question to &quot;Did you see a car accident last year? How about two years ago?&quot;&nbsp;in our&nbsp;<a href="https://ellii.com/courses/90/lessons/1641">Grammar Stories &ndash; Simple Past with Past Progressive</a>&nbsp;lesson because we didn&#39;t want to throw the present perfect into the mix! &nbsp;</p>

Can We Ever Use "Ever" with the Simple Past?

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

Articles

<h2>I wrote this blog post especially for you...</h2>

<p>The idiom lessons in our new <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/101/lessons">Detective Series 2</a> sure are inspiring a lot of blog posts! First there was <a href="https://ellii.com/blog/compliment-vs-complement">Compliment Vs. Complement</a>, and now this one on &quot;especially&quot; and &quot;specially,&quot;&nbsp;with more coming soon.</p>

<p><em>Especially</em> and <em>specially</em> are two commonly confused words that I&#39;ve heard class after class of students make mistakes with. The most common mistake I hear is students using <em>specially</em> when they mean <em>especially</em>. Also, I&#39;ve heard many of my Spanish-speaking students use <em>especially</em> instead of <em>specially</em> because there is almost always an &#39;e&#39; before words beginning with an &#39;s&#39; in Spanish. These tricky words are definitely worth reviewing with your English language learners!</p>

<h2>Especially</h2>

<p><strong>Especially</strong>&nbsp;is an adverb that means <em>very</em> or <em>particularly</em>.</p>

<ul>
	<li>Those guys, especially Jim and Steve, are not invited to my party.</li>
	<li>You&#39;re looking especially lovely today.</li>
	<li>It was so hot, especially once the sun came out.</li>
</ul>

<h2>Specially</h2>

<p><strong>Specially</strong> is an adverb that means&nbsp;<em>in a special manner</em>.</p>

<ul>
	<li>My coworkers treat her specially because she&#39;s the CEO&#39;s daughter.</li>
</ul>

<h2>Especially/Specially</h2>

<p>There is one instance when either adverb can be used, and that&#39;s when the meaning is&nbsp;<em>specifically</em>. Even so, note that&nbsp;<em>especially&nbsp;</em>is the preferred (more common) choice in most parts of the world.</p>

<ul>
	<li>I baked this cake especially/specially for you.</li>
	<li>Our teacher prepared this lesson especially/specially for our class.</li>
</ul>

<h2>Tips</h2>

<ul>
	<li>The word&nbsp;<em>especially</em> is more common than the word&nbsp;<em>specially</em>, so when in doubt,&nbsp;<em>especially</em>&nbsp;is the best guess.</li>
	<li>Remember that <em>specially</em> is the adverb form of the adjective&nbsp;<em>special</em>, so it works best in a sentence where the meaning of&nbsp;<em>special</em> is possible.</li>
	<li>It&#39;s important to remember that using&nbsp;<em>specially</em> when&nbsp;<em>especially&nbsp;</em>is the correct choice sounds really wrong to native speakers, so be careful!</li>
</ul>

<p>To see these words in context, and for more practice, try this lesson in our idioms series:&nbsp;<strong><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/101/lessons/1936">Detective Series 2, Episode #11</a></strong>.</p>

Especially Vs. Specially

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<blockquote>
<p>Have your students spent enough time studying gerunds and&nbsp;infinitives?</p>
</blockquote>

<p>Gerunds and infinitives are many students&rsquo; worst nightmare. Certain verbs are followed by the <em>‑ing</em> form of a verb (gerund), and others are followed by <em>to + base verb</em> (infinitive). Students often feel that hours of memorization are required to keep gerunds and infinitives&nbsp;straight.</p>

<p>Luckily, there are four rules that are almost always true:</p>

<ol>
	<li>noun + infinitive</li>
	<li>adjective + infinitive</li>
	<li>preposition + gerund</li>
	<li>subject = gerund</li>
</ol>

<p>(See <a href="https://ellii.com/blog/gerunds-and-infinitives-helpful-teaching-tips/" target="_blank">Gerunds and Infinitives: Helpful Teaching Tips</a>&nbsp;for more information and examples.) However, almost all English grammar rules have&nbsp;exceptions.</p>

<p>While the <strong>noun + infinitive</strong> rule is very useful for students, there is an important exception involving <strong>time</strong> that is common enough to warrant pointing it out to&nbsp;students.</p>

<h1>The Noun + Infinitive Rule</h1>

<p>If there is a noun or pronoun following the main verb, it should be followed by the <strong>infinitive form</strong>.&nbsp;Examples:</p>

<ul>
	<li>I asked <strong>my friend to help</strong> me move next&nbsp;Saturday.</li>
	<li>She wanted <strong>him to call</strong>&nbsp;her.</li>
	<li>My coworkers need <strong>me to finish</strong> the project on&nbsp;time.</li>
	<li>The teacher advised <strong>her students to study</strong> for the&nbsp;test.</li>
</ul>

<p>The last example with the verb &ldquo;advise&rdquo; shows just how useful this rule is. Advise is usually followed by a gerund (<em>Our teacher <strong>advised studying</strong> for the test</em>), but when you add a noun/pronoun object, the noun + infinitive rule takes precedence (<em>The teacher <strong>advised her students to study</strong> for the&nbsp;test)</em>.</p>

<h2>The Exception</h2>

<h4>Spend/Waste Time + Gerund</h4>

<p>While the noun + infinitive rule works in almost every case, there is a common exception involving&nbsp;<strong>time</strong>. When the phrases <em>spend time</em> or <em>waste time</em> are used, the noun &ldquo;time&rdquo; is NOT followed by an infinitive. A gerund always follows these phrases. Also note that the noun &ldquo;time&rdquo; can be replaced by an amount of time (using the nouns <em>months</em>, <em>days</em>, <em>hours</em>, <em>minutes,&nbsp;</em>etc.) and a gerund is still required.&nbsp;Examples:</p>

<ul>
	<li>I <strong>spent</strong> <strong>time working</strong> on my project last&nbsp;night.</li>
	<li>He <strong>wastes</strong> a lot of <strong>time watching</strong>&nbsp;TV.</li>
	<li>My sister is <strong>spending</strong> <strong>five hours helping</strong> out at the&nbsp;auction.</li>
	<li>They have <strong>wasted</strong> <strong>four days arguing</strong> about&nbsp;it.</li>
</ul>

<p>But be careful! If the noun &ldquo;time&rdquo; is not part of the <em>spend time/waste time</em> phrase, the normal noun + infinitive rule&nbsp;applies.</p>

<ul>
	<li>I <strong>have time to help</strong> you&nbsp;today.</li>
	<li>They <strong>need more time to finish</strong> the&nbsp;test.</li>
</ul>

<h1>Related</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 Tips</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</a></li>
	<li class="lesson"><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/88/lessons/2256" target="_blank">Gerunds &amp; Infinitives</a> &ndash; Grammar Practice Worksheets</li>
	<li class="lesson"><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/90/lessons/1637" target="_blank">Gerund &amp; Infinitive Stories</a> &ndash; Grammar Stories</li>
</ul>


Exceptions to the Noun + Infinitive Rule

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<p>The ESL Library team has been very busy these past few months. We&#39;re getting ready to launch our redesigned, mobile friendly site! As the editor for ESL Library, I&#39;ve had to spend some time reviewing our style guide and making style decisions for the new site. One issue that I thought would be useful to share with teachers is the capitalization of certain words that are common in lessons, such as <em>page, chapter, unit, paragraph, line,</em> and <em>exercise</em>. Teachers refer to these terms often. When we want to write them down, should we capitalize them or not?</p>

<h3>Common rule</h3>

<p>The general rule of thumb is that if the word is (or could act as) a heading, capitalize it. If not, then don&#39;t. (Before we look at these words in more detail, I should also mention that there is no absolute right or wrong here. The most important thing is to be consistent.)</p>

<h3>Capitalize &quot;Chapter,&quot;&nbsp;&quot;Unit,&quot;&nbsp;and &quot;Exercise&quot;</h3>

<p>If the textbook has chapters, units, or exercises that are numerical (with no other name), this will be a no-brainer. The title is written out (e.g.,&nbsp;<em>Chapter 1</em>), and titles should be capitalized. However, even if the chapter has a name (e.g., <em>Gerunds</em>), we commonly keep the capitalization (e.g.,&nbsp;<em>Open your books to Chapter 1, Gerunds</em>) because<em>&nbsp;</em>it still represents the title. Notice that these terms are lowercased when used in general (without the number). We only need to capitalize these terms when they&#39;re representing the title of a certain chapter, unit, or exercise. For example, I could ask my students,&nbsp;<em>Which chapter did you like best?&nbsp;</em>on a form, and they should answer,&nbsp;<em>I preferred Chapter 2</em>. Finally, note that these terms are usually followed by a number in numerical form, not a spelled-out number. It&#39;s much more common to write&nbsp;<em>Chapter 1</em>&nbsp;than&nbsp;<em>Chapter One</em>. <strong>Examples:</strong></p>

<ul>
	<li>Let&#39;s correct Exercise 3 together.</li>
	<li>The test will be on Unit 2.</li>
	<li>Make sure you finish Chapter 4 before starting Chapter 5.</li>
</ul>

<h3>Don&#39;t capitalize &quot;page,&quot;&nbsp;&quot;paragraph,&quot;&nbsp;or &quot;line&quot;</h3>

<p>Even though these terms may refer to a specific page or line, they are not serving as a&nbsp;<em>title</em>. We wouldn&#39;t see&nbsp;<em>Page 1&nbsp;</em>at the top of a page, so it&#39;s natural to keep them lowercased. <strong>Examples:</strong></p>

<ul>
	<li>Please open your books to page 45.</li>
	<li>You&#39;ll find an example of that word in context in paragraph 2, line 4.</li>
	<li>Did anyone notice the mistake on page 6 in the first paragraph?</li>
</ul>

<p>Our new Detective&nbsp;Series, <em>False Alarm</em>, is also coming soon. In it you&#39;ll see that we follow the normal rules&mdash;we capitalize the word <em>episode</em> when referring to the title but lowercase it when referring to the episodes in general. (E.g., <em>We first meet Detective Bossley in Episode 1, but he&#39;s in all the other episodes too</em>.)</p>

The Capitalization of Certain Terms: Exercise, Page, Chapter, Unit, Paragraph, Line

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<p>Recently at ESL&nbsp;Library we&rsquo;ve been hard at work creating our second <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/101/lessons"><strong>Detective Series</strong></a>. In one of the lessons, head writer Tara Benwell included an exercise on <em>compliment</em> and <em>complement</em>, and she pointed out how to tell them apart. I thought this pair of commonly confused words would also make a great blog post since English language learners might have a hard time keeping these homophones straight. (And to find out what <em>homonyms</em>, <em>homophones</em>, and <em>homographs</em> are, read the blurb at the end of this&nbsp;post!)</p>

<h1>Compliment</h1>

<table>
	<thead>
		<tr>
			<th colspan="2">Noun</th>
		</tr>
	</thead>
	<tbody>
		<tr>
			<th>Definition:</th>
			<td>a positive remark, something nice that was said about someone or&nbsp;something</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<th>Examples:</th>
			<td>
			<ul>
				<li>He paid me a compliment on my dress this&nbsp;morning.</li>
				<li>She gave her boss a compliment about how well the meeting&nbsp;went.</li>
			</ul>
			</td>
		</tr>
	</tbody>
</table>

<table>
	<thead>
		<tr>
			<th colspan="2">Verb</th>
		</tr>
	</thead>
	<tbody>
		<tr>
			<th>Definition:</th>
			<td>to say something nice about someone or&nbsp;something</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<th>Examples:</th>
			<td>
			<ul>
				<li>My teacher complimented me on my&nbsp;presentation.</li>
				<li>Their realtor complimented them on their interior&nbsp;design.</li>
			</ul>
			</td>
		</tr>
	</tbody>
</table>

<h1>Complement</h1>

<table>
	<thead>
		<tr>
			<th colspan="2">Noun</th>
		</tr>
	</thead>
	<tbody>
		<tr>
			<th>Definition:</th>
			<td>something that matches or goes well with another&nbsp;thing</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<th>Examples:</th>
			<td>
			<ul>
				<li>This spicy sauce is the perfect complement to barbecued&nbsp;meat.</li>
				<li>Red wine is a well-known complement to red meat, and wine wine is a good complement to poultry and&nbsp;seafood.</li>
			</ul>
			</td>
		</tr>
	</tbody>
</table>

<table>
	<thead>
		<tr>
			<th colspan="2">Verb</th>
		</tr>
	</thead>
	<tbody>
		<tr>
			<th>Definition:</th>
			<td>to match or go well with another&nbsp;thing</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<th>Examples:</th>
			<td>
			<ul>
				<li>I&rsquo;m looking for a new chair that will complement the rest of my&nbsp;furniture.</li>
				<li>That shade of blue in your dress really complements your&nbsp;eyes.</li>
			</ul>
			</td>
		</tr>
	</tbody>
</table>

<h1>Tara&rsquo;s Trick</h1>

<p>Think of the &ldquo;e&rdquo; in <em>compl<strong>e</strong>ment</em> as &ldquo;<strong>e</strong>xtra&rdquo; (one thing complements another, extra&nbsp;thing).</p>

<h1>Notes</h1>

<p>Did you know that even the adjective and adverb forms of these two words look and sound the&nbsp;same?</p>

<table class="has-borders">
	<thead>
		<tr>
			<th>Compliment <em>(n, v)</em></th>
			<th>Complement <em>(n, v)</em></th>
		</tr>
	</thead>
	<tbody>
		<tr>
			<td>Complimentary <em>(adj)</em></td>
			<td>Complementary <em>(adj)</em></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Complimentarily <em>(adv)</em></td>
			<td>Complementarily <em>(adv)</em></td>
		</tr>
	</tbody>
</table>

<p>The meanings of the adjectives and adverbs are similar to the noun/verb meanings, but it&rsquo;s worthwhile mentioning to students that another common meaning of the adjective <em>complimentary</em> is &ldquo;free, no charge.&rdquo; (E.g., Complimentary breakfast is served every day at the&nbsp;hotel.)</p>

<h1>Homonyms, Homophones &amp;&nbsp;Homographs</h1>

<p><strong>Homonyms</strong> are words that have the same pronunciation and/or spelling but different meanings, such as&nbsp;<em>left</em> (the opposite of right) and&nbsp;<em>left</em> (the past tense of <em>leave</em>). Homonyms include <strong>homophones</strong> and&nbsp;<strong>homographs</strong>.</p>

<p><strong>Homophones</strong> are words with the same pronunciation but different meanings and/or spelling, such as <em>to</em>, <em>too</em>, and&nbsp;<em>two</em>.</p>

<p><strong>Homographs</strong> are words with the same spelling but different meanings and/or pronunciation, such as <em>bow</em> (a position where one bends over at the waist) and <em>bow</em> (a wooden weapon that is used to shoot&nbsp;arrows).</p>

<p><em>Compliment</em> and <em>complement</em> are homonyms. Specifically, they are homophones because they are both pronounced <span class="ipa inlineBlock">/ˈkɑm plə ˌmənt/</span> even though they are spelled differently and have different&nbsp;meanings.</p>


Compliment Vs. Complement

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<h3>Happy National Punctuation Day!</h3>

<p>Punctuation can be tricky for L1 speakers (just look at all the social media images that mock punctuation errors!), so it&#39;s no wonder that English language learners find punctuation rules elusive. September 24, 2014, is National Punctuation Day, so what better time to explain the usage of some common punctuation marks? This time last year, I blogged about the <a href="https://ellii.com/blog/using-the-em-dash-correctly/" target="_blank">em dash</a>. This year, I thought I&#39;d focus on parentheses! Read on to learn how you can easily teach this punctuation mark to your students.</p>

<h3>What are parentheses?</h3>

<p>Parentheses, also known as round brackets, are these symbols: ( ). Note that the singular is&nbsp;<em>parenthesis</em> and the plural is&nbsp;<em>parentheses</em>. The first parenthesis is sometimes called the <em>open</em>,&nbsp;<em>opening,</em>&nbsp;or <em>left&nbsp;parenthesis</em>, and the second parenthesis can be called the&nbsp;<em>end, </em><em>closing,</em>&nbsp;or&nbsp;<em>right</em><em>&nbsp;parenthesis</em>. Don&#39;t confuse parentheses with these other punctuation marks: [ ] square brackets, / / angle brackets, { } curly brackets <em>or&nbsp;</em>braces.</p>

<h3>How do you use parentheses correctly?</h3>

<p>In English, parentheses are mainly used to set off extra, non-essential information (often taking the place of commas or em dashes). They are a good way to make simple sentences more complex, because they allow you to add an extra phrase or clause to the main sentence. Note that parentheses should not be overused. Try not to use them more than once or twice per paragraph.</p>

<ul>
	<li>My sister Bonnie (I call her Bon) was the first person I told.</li>
	<li>The university offers two first-year criminology courses (Crim 101 and 102).</li>
</ul>

<h3>How do you punctuate parentheses?</h3>

<p>If the parenthetical statement is a part of a main sentence, the punctuation mark (a period, comma, colon, semicolon, exclamation mark, or question mark) goes <strong>outside</strong> the end parenthesis. (Note that no mid-sentence punctuation is required if the sentence is short&mdash;see example #3.) However, it is possible to add an exclamation point or a question mark inside the end parenthesis if it is part of the parenthetical statement alone.</p>

<ul>
	<li>I love cheese (it doesn&#39;t matter what kind).</li>
	<li>She blushed (and she was quite beautiful when she did), but I was still too nervous to ask for her number.</li>
	<li>Her dress (designed by Yves Saint Laurent) was beautiful.</li>
	<li>He ordered the hamburger (or was it the cheeseburger?) for lunch.</li>
	<li>Making mistakes with punctuation is common (I do it quite often myself!).</li>
</ul>

<p>If the parenthetical statement is separate from the main sentence, include all end punctuation <strong>inside</strong> the end parenthesis. Separate parenthetical statements may be used when either the main sentence or the parenthetical statement is quite long, or when the parenthetical statement is a little less connected to the main sentence.</p>

<ul>
	<li>Once the meeting was adjourned, the participants left quite quickly. (The office was closed shortly afterward.)</li>
	<li>Never in my life did I expect to see such a turnout. (I was really pleased and surprised that so many people showed up to support me!)</li>
</ul>

<h3>How do you use square, angle, and curly brackets?</h3>

<p>What if you want to add extra information to a clause that&#39;s already inside parentheses? Here&#39;s where square brackets [ ] come in.</p>

<ul>
	<li>I asked our boss about the meeting (he said to come to the meeting [in Room 222] with our reports) so that we could all be prepared.</li>
</ul>

<p>Angle brackets / / and braces { } are not very common in writing. They are mainly used in mathematics and computer programming. For example, many URLs use angle brackets, and braces are used to show what should be contained in the same lines. Angle brackets are also used in the field of linguistics to show the phonological or phonetic sounds of a language. I hope this post will help your students (and not make them too crazy)! Tanya</p>


Punctuation Rules: Parentheses

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<p>One of our subscribers recently asked us for a post on <em>either</em> and <em>neither</em>, and it&rsquo;s easy to see why. These two words look and sound so similar that it&rsquo;s no wonder students get confused. What&rsquo;s the best way to teach these two&nbsp;terms?</p>

<h1>Meaning</h1>

<p><em>Either</em> and <em>neither</em> have two main functions in&nbsp;English:</p>

<table class="horizontal">
	<tbody>
		<tr>
			<th>Function 1</th>
			<td>Agreeing with a negative&nbsp;statement</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<th>Examples</th>
			<td>
			<ul>
				<li>A: I don&#39;t like the rain.<br />
				B: Me neither.</li>
				<li>A: I never eat vegetables.<br />
				B: I don&#39;t, either.</li>
			</ul>
			</td>
		</tr>
	</tbody>
</table>

<table class="horizontal">
	<tbody>
		<tr>
			<th>Function 2</th>
			<td>The negative version of &quot;both&quot; (representing two people or&nbsp;things)</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<th>Examples</th>
			<td>
			<ul>
				<li>Neither of my roommates is home&nbsp;tonight.*</li>
				<li>I don&rsquo;t think either chair is for&nbsp;sale.*</li>
			</ul>
			</td>
		</tr>
	</tbody>
</table>

<p>*See Important Note #3&nbsp;below for a discussion on singular and plural verb&nbsp;usage.</p>


<h1>Either or Neither?</h1>

<p>The easiest way for students to figure out which term to use is to look for a negative word in the sentence (usually &quot;not&quot;). <strong>If there is a negative word, use <em>either</em>. If not, use <em>neither</em>.</strong> Tell them to think of the first letter &ldquo;n&rdquo; in <em>neither</em> as replacing &quot;not&quot;&nbsp;or &quot;never.&quot;</p>

<ul>
	<li>I <strong>never</strong> liked this movie&nbsp;<strong>either</strong>.</li>
	<li>You don&#39;t like cheese? I <strong>don&#39;t</strong>&nbsp;<strong>either</strong>.</li>
	<li>If you&#39;re not registering for this class, then I <strong>won&#39;t</strong>&nbsp;<strong>either</strong>.</li>
	<li>I <strong>don&#39;t</strong> think <strong>either</strong> manager is coming to the&nbsp;meeting.</li>
	<li>You don&#39;t like watching sports? <strong>Neither</strong> do&nbsp;I.</li>
	<li>You don&#39;t want to go out tonight? Yeah, me&nbsp;<strong>neither</strong>.</li>
	<li><strong>Neither</strong> of my closest friends is coming to my party&nbsp;tonight.</li>
	<li>She told me that <strong>neither</strong> applicant got the&nbsp;position.</li>
</ul>

<h1>Important Notes</h1>

<h2>1. Other negative&nbsp;words</h2>

<p>Students might get confused by other negative words such as&nbsp;<em>dislike, hate, be sick of,&nbsp;</em>etc. Make sure you point out that if the verb doesn&#39;t have a negative&nbsp;adverb (<em>not</em>&nbsp;or&nbsp;<em>never</em>), then the rule above doesn&#39;t apply. So even though the meaning of&nbsp;<em>dislike</em>&nbsp;is negative, we have to use&nbsp;<em>me too</em>&nbsp;instead of&nbsp;<em>me&nbsp;neither</em>.</p>

<ul>
	<li>You hate that book? Me&nbsp;too.</li>
</ul>

<h2>2.&nbsp;<em>Either</em> for choice in affirmative&nbsp;sentences</h2>

<p><em>Either</em> can be used without a negative word. Examples include the formal expression&nbsp;<em>in either case&nbsp;</em>or to indicate a choice where there&#39;s no clear preference (<em>e</em><em>ither one will do, give me either of them,</em>&nbsp;<em>either&hellip;or,</em>&nbsp;etc.).</p>

<h2>3.&nbsp;Singular or plural verb?</h2>

<p>When used as a subject<em>,&nbsp;</em><strong><em>either</em> and <em>neither</em> + a singular verb</strong> is always correct. For higher-level students, you can explain it in more detail and point out that a plural verb is possible in some&nbsp;cases:</p>

<table class="horizontal">
	<tbody>
		<tr>
			<th>Rule 1:</th>
			<td>Either/Neither +&nbsp;singular noun + singular&nbsp;verb</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<th>Examples:</th>
			<td>
			<ul>
				<li>I don&#39;t know if either parent is coming to the&nbsp;performance.</li>
				<li>Neither parent is coming to the&nbsp;performance.</li>
			</ul>
			</td>
		</tr>
	</tbody>
</table>

<table class="horizontal">
	<tbody>
		<tr>
			<th>Rule 2:</th>
			<td>Either/Neither + <em>of</em> + plural noun + singular OR plural&nbsp;verb</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<th>Examples:</th>
			<td>
			<ul>
				<li>I don&#39;t know if either of my parents is/are coming to my&nbsp;performance.</li>
				<li>Neither of my parents is/are coming to my&nbsp;performance.</li>
			</ul>
			</td>
		</tr>
	</tbody>
</table>

<p>Note that using a plural verb is considered more informal, and students always want to know the most common, casual way of speaking in&nbsp;English!</p>

<h1>Short Answers</h1>

<p>There are a few different ways to agree with someone&rsquo;s negative statement in&nbsp;English.</p>

<table class="horizontal">
	<tbody>
		<tr>
			<th>Negative Statement:</th>
			<td>I don&#39;t eat breakfast.</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<th>Responses:</th>
			<td>
			<ul>
				<li>Me neither.</li>
				<li>Me either.*</li>
				<li>I don&rsquo;t either.</li>
				<li>Neither do I.</li>
			</ul>
			</td>
		</tr>
	</tbody>
</table>

<p>I usually tell my students that&nbsp;<em>me neither</em>&nbsp;is the most common, informal way of replying.&nbsp;<em>Me neither</em>&nbsp;is especially common in speaking.&nbsp;For a slightly more formal response (and one that is more common in writing), use&nbsp;<em>I don&rsquo;t either</em>&nbsp;or&nbsp;<em>neither&nbsp;do&nbsp;I</em>.</p>

<p>*Some people say&nbsp;<em>me either</em>&nbsp;while others insist it&#39;s incorrect. Personally, I prefer&nbsp;<em>me&nbsp;neither</em>.</p>

<h1>Pronunciation</h1>

<p>So how do we pronounce <em>neither</em> and <em>either</em>? There are two equally common, acceptable ways to pronounce these terms. I tell my students to choose one way and stick to&nbsp;it.</p>

<h2>Option 1</h2>

<table class="horizontal">
	<tbody>
		<tr>
			<th>Neither:</th>
			<td>/ˈni&nbsp;&eth;ər/&nbsp;(nee-thur)</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<th>Either</th>
			<td>/ˈi&nbsp;&eth;ər/&nbsp;(ee-thur)</td>
		</tr>
	</tbody>
</table>

<h2>Option 2</h2>

<table class="horizontal">
	<tbody>
		<tr>
			<th>Neither:</th>
			<td>/ˈnɑɪ&nbsp;&eth;ər/&nbsp;(neye-thur)</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<th>Either</th>
			<td>/ˈɑɪ&nbsp;&eth;ər/ (eye-thur)</td>
		</tr>
	</tbody>
</table>

<p>Reassure students that they can&rsquo;t really go wrong. The only strange thing might be to mix up the two pronunciations in the same sentence (however, I&rsquo;m sure I&rsquo;ve been guilty of that once or twice in my&nbsp;life!).</p>

<h1>Related</h1>

<p>Stay tuned for upcoming posts on&nbsp;<strong>Either&hellip;Or Vs. Neither&hellip;Nor</strong> and <strong>Ever&nbsp;Vs.&nbsp;Never</strong>.</p>

<h1>Sources</h1>

<ul>
	<li>Azar,&nbsp;<em>Fundamentals of English Grammar</em>, 2nd ed., Prentice Hall Regents, 1992.</li>
	<li>Collins Cobuild,&nbsp;<em>English Grammar</em>, HarperCollins Publishers, 1990.</li>
</ul>

Either Vs. Neither

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<h3>It&#39;s better to figure this out sooner than later!</h3>

<p>Many words in English are commonly confused because of similar spellings, sounds, or meanings. Some of the most commonly confused words are <a href="https://ellii.com/blog/teaching-tips-on-its-and-its" target="_blank">It&rsquo;s / Its,</a> <a href="https://ellii.com/blog/teaching-tips-on-theyre-their-and-there/" target="_blank">They&rsquo;re / Their / There</a>, <a href="https://ellii.com/blog/teaching-tips-on-to-too-and-two/" target="_blank">To / Too / Two</a>, and <a href="https://ellii.com/blog/teaching-tips-on-youre-and-your/" target="_blank">You&rsquo;re / Your</a>. English language learners and even&nbsp;speakers whose first language is English make mistakes with these tricky terms! Two other such words are <em>than</em> and <em>then</em>. I&rsquo;ve seen countless students mix these two words up because of their similar spelling and sound. It&rsquo;s helpful to point out the differences to the class the first time you notice a student using the wrong word.</p>

<h3>Than</h3>

<p><strong>Meaning: </strong>We use <em>than </em>when we want to <strong>compare</strong> two things.</p>

<p><strong>Structure: </strong><em>Than</em><strong><em> </em></strong>comes in the middle or near the end of a sentence, before the word, phrase, or clause that is being compared to something else.</p>

<p><strong>Pronunciation:</strong>&nbsp;/&eth;&aelig;n/ (The vowel sound is the same as the vowel sound in <em>van, cat, nap, catch, </em>etc.)</p>

<p><strong>Tip: </strong>Think of the letter &ldquo;a&rdquo; in the word <em>compare</em>. It matches the &ldquo;a&rdquo; in <em>than</em>. (compAre - thAn)</p>

<p><strong>Examples:</strong></p>

<ul>
	<li>She is taller than him.</li>
	<li>She is taller than he is.</li>
	<li>I would rather work at home than at school.</li>
	<li>It&rsquo;s easier said than done.</li>
</ul>

<h3>Then</h3>

<p><strong>Meaning: </strong>We use <em>then</em> to indicate a certain <strong>time</strong> or to say what will happen <strong>next</strong>.</p>

<p><strong>Structure: </strong><em>Then </em>has many possible sentence positions, but it is especially common at the beginning or end of a sentence or following a conjunction.</p>

<p><strong>Pronunciation:</strong>&nbsp;/&eth;ɛn/ (The vowel sound is the same as the vowel sound in <em>pen, get, them, bread,</em> etc.)</p>

<p><strong>Tip: </strong>Think of the letter &ldquo;e&rdquo; in the word <em>time</em>. It matches the &ldquo;e&rdquo; in <em>then</em>. (timE - thEn)</p>

<p><strong>Examples:</strong></p>

<ul>
	<li>I&rsquo;ll be home by 8:00. I&rsquo;ll call you then.</li>
	<li>I haven&rsquo;t had another accident since then.</li>
	<li>First you pour in the milk, and then you stir it all together.</li>
	<li>Then what happened?</li>
</ul>

<h3>Practice</h3>

<p>Put students into pairs, and have them write a quiz for their classmates. Get them to write 5 sentences with a blank for <em>than </em>or <em>then</em>. Exchange quizzes when all the students have finished and see who can get 5/5! </p>


Teaching Tips: Than & Then

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<h3>Dispelling the myths&hellip;</h3>

<p dir="ltr">There are many ways to state a reason or cause in English. Our students need to be aware of all of the choices, and they need to learn the sentence patterns and punctuation associated with each. On top of all that, there have been many controversial opinions on the usage of some of these terms through the years. Which rules are correct and which are myths? What should we teach our students? Read on for this editor&rsquo;s opinion on the modern-day usage of these terms.</p>

<h3>Basic Patterns</h3>

<p>Before we discuss some common controversies and myths surrounding the following terms, a review of the basic sentence patterns is in order. Review the patterns and examples below with your students.</p>

<p dir="ltr" style="text-align: center;">Because + SVO</p>

<p dir="ltr" style="text-align: center;">Since + SVO</p>

<p dir="ltr" style="text-align: center;">As + SVO</p>

<p dir="ltr" style="text-align: center;">Because of the fact that + SVO</p>

<p dir="ltr" style="text-align: center;">Due to the fact that + SVO</p>

<p dir="ltr" style="text-align: center;">Because of + N</p>

<p dir="ltr" style="text-align: center;">Due to + N</p>

<p dir="ltr">Examples:</p>

<ul>
	<li>I brought my umbrella because it was raining.</li>
	<li>Because it was raining, I brought my umbrella.</li>
	<li>I brought my umbrella since it was raining.</li>
	<li>Since it was raining, I brought my umbrella.</li>
	<li>I brought my umbrella as it was raining.</li>
	<li>As it was raining, I brought my umbrella.</li>
	<li>I brought my umbrella because of the fact that it was raining.</li>
	<li>Because of the fact that it was raining, I brought my umbrella.</li>
	<li>I brought my umbrella due to the fact that it was raining.</li>
	<li>Due to the fact that it was raining, I brought my umbrella.</li>
	<li>I brought my umbrella because of the rain.</li>
	<li>Because of the rain, I brought my umbrella.</li>
	<li>I brought my umbrella due to the rain.</li>
	<li>Due to the rain, I brought my umbrella.</li>
</ul>

<h3>Because</h3>

<h2>Can we begin a sentence with <em>because</em>?</h2>

<p dir="ltr">Yes, we can! In the past, some have argued that it&rsquo;s not grammatically correct to start a sentence with <em>because</em>. Nowadays, most agree that it is perfectly acceptable. <em>Merriam-Webster&rsquo;s Dictionary of English Usage</em>, for example, states the following:</p>

<p dir="ltr">&ldquo;This rule is a myth. <em>Because</em> is frequently used to begin sentences, particularly in magazine and newspaper writing.&rdquo;</p>

<p dir="ltr">Examples:</p>

<ul>
	<li>Because her parents were worried about her, she called them regularly during her trip.</li>
	<li>Because I hadn&rsquo;t studied French before, they put me in Level 1.</li>
</ul>

<h3>As</h3>

<h2>Can we use <em>as</em> to replace <em>because</em> or <em>since</em>?</h2>

<p dir="ltr">Yes, we can, but it is best left to formal writing. Some grammarians have argued against this use because of possible ambiguity. (E.g., in the sentence <em>As the phone was ringing, she got out of the shower</em>, does <em>as</em> mean <em>because</em> or <em>while</em>?) However, most experts agree that the context would clear up any ambiguity. As <em>Merriam-Webster&rsquo;s Dictionary of English Usage</em> puts it, &ldquo;Causal <em>as</em> is a standard and acceptable alternative to <em>because</em> and <em>since</em>.&rdquo; They do note that <em>as</em> is much less frequently used than <em>because</em> or <em>since</em>, and that is something worth passing on to students. I would advise telling students that <em>as</em> is less common and more formal than <em>because</em> or <em>since</em>, and they should use it mainly in formal essay writing.</p>

<p dir="ltr">Examples:</p>

<ul>
	<li>I couldn&#39;t go to the concert as I didn&#39;t have a ticket.</li>
	<li>Please return the form tomorrow as the school will be closed the day after.</li>
</ul>

<h3>Since</h3>

<h2>Can we use <em>since</em> instead of <em>because</em>?</h2>

<p>Yes, we can. Some people believe that <em>since</em> should be used only for the temporal meaning (e.g.,&nbsp;<em>since January</em>) and not the causal meaning.&nbsp;But, as&nbsp;<em>The Chicago Manual of Style&nbsp;</em>(16th ed.) points out, &quot;The causal&nbsp;<em>since&nbsp;</em>was a part of the English language before Chaucer wrote in the fourteenth century, and it is useful as a slightly milder way of expressing causation than&nbsp;<em>because</em>.&quot;&nbsp;I advise my students to use&nbsp;<em>since&nbsp;</em>in both writing and speaking. Examples:</p>

<ul>
	<li>Students aren&#39;t going back to school today since the teachers&#39; union and the government haven&#39;t reached a deal.</li>
	<li>Since he was so distracted by his upcoming date, he forgot to call me yesterday.</li>
</ul>

<h3>Due To</h3>

<h2>Can we use&nbsp;<em>due to</em> instead of&nbsp;<em>because of</em>?</h2>

<p>Basically, yes. There has been controversy since the 18th century over this construction, when some thought that&nbsp;<em>owing to</em> was the &quot;correct&quot;&nbsp;way to say&nbsp;<em>as a result of</em>. Some people still consider <em>due to</em> to be inferior to <em>owing to&nbsp;</em>or <em>because of</em>. However, the&nbsp;<em><a href="http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/due%20to" target="_blank">Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary</a>&nbsp;</em>points out that &quot;<em>Due to</em> is as grammatically sound as&nbsp;<em>owing to&quot;</em>&nbsp;and &quot;There is no solid reason to avoid&nbsp;<em>due to</em>.&quot;&nbsp;In fact, the definition for their&nbsp;<em>due to</em> entry is&nbsp;<em>as a result of; because of</em>. I tell my students that&nbsp;<em>due to&nbsp;</em>sounds slightly more formal than&nbsp;<em>because of</em>, and it is commonly used in writing. In speaking, I recommend sticking to the more casual&nbsp;<em>because of</em>. Examples:</p>

<ul>
	<li>The game was canceled due to the rain.</li>
	<li>Due to the tension between the two parties, a mediator was called in.</li>
</ul>

<h3>The Fact That</h3>

<h2>What about the wordy expressions <em>because of the fact that</em> and <em>due to the fact that</em>? Should we use them?</h2>

<p dir="ltr">These expressions are best avoided nowadays. In terms of plain language principles, the extra words <em>the fact that</em> are unnecessary to the meaning of the sentence and should be dropped. In their entry for <em>due to the fact that</em>, <em>The Chicago Manual of Style</em> (16th ed.) states clearly, &ldquo;Use <em>because</em> instead.&rdquo; If you wish, you could tell advanced students that they may want to use these terms (sparingly) in their formal, academic essays for variety (instead of using <em>because</em> and <em>since</em> repeatedly).</p>

<h3>Because + Noun</h3>

<h2>Can we use <em>because</em>&nbsp;as a preposition?</h2>

<p>There has been a recent trend, seen mostly in social media, of using <em>because</em> as a preposition (instead of its normal role as a conjunction that joins two sentences/clauses). Consider the example below:</p>

<p dir="ltr" style="text-align: center;">A: Why did you turn off the TV?</p>

<p dir="ltr" style="text-align: center;">B: Because homework.</p>

<p><em>Because homework</em> replaces <em>Because of my homework</em> or <em>Because I have homework</em>. Efficient, yes, but is it grammatical? It was named the <a href="http://www.americandialect.org/because-is-the-2013-word-of-the-year" target="_blank">American Dialect Society&rsquo;s Word of the Year 2013</a>, as I discovered in Tyson Seburn&rsquo;s humorous post, <a href="http://fourc.ca/because/ " target="_blank">Because grammar (and cats)</a>. Should we teach it to our students? I believe that in relatively new language cases like this, there is no need to confuse lower-level students by mentioning all the exceptions to a grammar rule. However, with higher-level students, cases like this make for interesting discussions on the evolution of language&mdash;tell students that they might come across this new construction and ask them what they think about it. Do they have a similar construction in their own language? Stay tuned for an upcoming <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/72/lessons">Discussion Starters</a>&nbsp;lesson where students can practice some of these causal constructions.</p>


What's the Deal with Because, Since, As, and Due To?

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<blockquote>
<p>However you look at it, &ldquo;however&rdquo;&nbsp;is tricky to teach and&nbsp;learn!</p>
</blockquote>

<p>In our <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/72/lessons/1286">Militarized Police</a> lesson, we&rsquo;ve included&nbsp;a grammar review of the term <em>however</em> because it is used in various ways in the reading. Our head writer asked me to expand on it in this week&rsquo;s blog post, and I thought that was a great idea since many of my former students struggled with this word when writing formal essays (especially in my TOEFL class). Any intermediate to advanced student would benefit from a review of the usage, sentence position, and punctuation of&nbsp;<em>however</em>!</p>

<h1>Use #1: Contrast</h1>

<h2>A. As a Connector</h2>

<p>The most common use of <em>however</em> is as an <strong>adverb</strong> that connects two sentences/clauses in order to show a contrasting idea. In this use, <em>however</em> is also known as a <em>transition word</em> or a <em>conjunctive adverb</em>. It is common in formal speaking and writing. Think of it as a formal way to say <em>but</em>, but don&rsquo;t make the mistake of using it with the same punctuation! (Conjunctions like <em>but</em> and <em>and</em> take an optional comma before and no comma&nbsp;after.)</p>

<h3>Sentence Position #1</h3>

<p><em>However</em> comes at the beginning of the second sentence (the one that describes the contrast or opposite viewpoint), following the period from the first sentence. In this position, <em>however</em> is followed by a&nbsp;comma.</p>

<ul>
	<li>We were told we would be discussing the new schedule during the meeting<strong>. However,</strong> our boss never brought it up&nbsp;once.</li>
	<li>The temperature on Mercury&rsquo;s surface exceeds 430&nbsp;degrees Celsius during the day<strong>. However,</strong> it falls to minus 180&nbsp;degrees at&nbsp;night.</li>
	<li>Our school only has Apple computers<strong>. However,</strong> some students are more familiar with&nbsp;PCs.</li>
</ul>

<h3>Sentence Position #2</h3>

<p>Similar to Position #1, <em>however</em> can also join two sentences/clauses together. Place a semicolon after the first clause, followed by <em>however</em> and a&nbsp;comma.</p>

<ul>
	<li>We were told we would be discussing the new schedule during the meeting<strong>; however,</strong> our boss never brought it up&nbsp;once.</li>
	<li>The temperature on Mercury&rsquo;s surface exceeds 430&nbsp;degrees Celsius during the day<strong>; however,</strong> it falls to minus 180&nbsp;degrees at&nbsp;night.</li>
	<li>Our school only has Apple computers<strong>; however,</strong> some students are more familiar with&nbsp;PCs.</li>
</ul>

<p>What&rsquo;s the difference between the examples in Sentence Positions #1 and #2? Nothing! Use both ways for variety within your essay. Using a period is often recommended when both sentences are quite long. Using a semicolon is recommended for shorter sentences or to keep the train of thought &ldquo;flowing&rdquo; smoothly (using a semicolon connects and relates two sentences a bit more than a period&nbsp;does).</p>

<h2>B. As an Aside</h2>

<p><em>However</em> is also an adverb in this case, and it is used to show contrast or opposing ideas. The difference is in the <strong>placement</strong> of the word, which also affects its <strong>strength</strong>. In these next two positions, <em>however</em> is not directly following one idea and preceding the next, so as you can guess, it&rsquo;s not as strong of a contrast. <em>However</em> in these positions is also known as a <em>nonessential adverb</em> or a <em>parenthetical adverb</em>. It is not essential or as important to the meaning of the sentence. The idea is that you could remove <em>however</em> without it affecting the meaning of the rest of the sentence that&nbsp;much.</p>

<h3>Sentence Position #3</h3>

<p>Insert <em>however</em> after the subject of the second sentence. It can also fall between a two‑part verb (between the auxiliary or modal and main verb). In these positions, commas must come before and after&nbsp;<em>however</em>.</p>

<ul>
	<li>I can&rsquo;t make it to the party. My husband<strong>, however,</strong> will be&nbsp;attending.</li>
	<li>The union came up with a plan. The government<strong>, however,</strong> wants to&nbsp;renegotiate.</li>
	<li>Camping in the summer is fun. You must<strong>, however,</strong> remember to use&nbsp;sunscreen.</li>
</ul>

<h3>Sentence Position #4</h3>

<p>Place <em>however</em> at the end of the second sentence. A comma must precede <em>however</em> in this&nbsp;position.</p>

<ul>
	<li>I can&rsquo;t make it to the party. My husband will be attending<strong>,&nbsp;however.</strong></li>
	<li>The union came up with a plan. The government wants to renegotiate<strong>,&nbsp;however.</strong></li>
	<li>Camping in the summer is fun. You must remember to use sunscreen<strong>,&nbsp;however.</strong></li>
</ul>

<p>What&rsquo;s the difference between the four sentence positions so far? Can we use all four with no difference in meaning? The answer to that is <em>yes</em>, although using Positions #3 and #4 suggests that the connection between the two sentences is slightly less&nbsp;important.</p>

<ul>
	<li>I have two dogs<strong>. However,</strong> my roommate prefers&nbsp;cats.</li>
	<li>I have two dogs<strong>; however,</strong> my roommate prefers&nbsp;cats.</li>
	<li>I have two dogs. My roommate<strong>, however,</strong> prefers&nbsp;cats.</li>
	<li>I have two dogs. My roommate prefers cats<strong>,&nbsp;however.</strong></li>
</ul>

<h1>Use #2: In Whatever Manner</h1>

<p><em>However</em> is also a <strong>conjunction</strong> or <strong>adverb</strong> (depending on the sentence position) that means<em> in whatever manner or means </em>or <em>no matter&nbsp;how</em>.</p>

<h3>Sentence Position #5</h3>

<p><strong>Conjunction:</strong> Place <em>however</em> between two clauses with no punctuation on either&nbsp;side.</p>

<ul>
	<li>I will assist <strong>however</strong> I&nbsp;can.</li>
	<li>Decorate it <strong>however</strong> you&nbsp;like.</li>
</ul>

<h3>Sentence Positions #6 &amp; #7</h3>

<p><strong>Adverb:</strong> Place <em>however</em> at the beginning of the dependent clause. In English, dependent clauses can follow independent clauses (use no punctuation before or after <em>however</em>) or begin the sentence (use no punctuation after <em>however</em>). If the dependent clause begins the sentence, don&rsquo;t forget to include a comma at the end of the dependent&nbsp;clause.</p>

<ul>
	<li>The situation is unfair <strong>however</strong> you look at&nbsp;it.</li>
	<li><strong>However</strong> you look at it<strong>,</strong> the situation is&nbsp;unfair.</li>
</ul>

<p>Even though this seems like a lot to take in, remember that most formal transition words in English (such as <em>moreover</em>, <em>on the other hand</em>, <em>furthermore</em>, <em>in contrast</em>, etc.) all follow the same first four sentence patterns. Find a comprehensive list of transition words on page&nbsp;5 of our <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/74/lessons/1831">How to Write Body Paragraphs</a>&nbsp;lesson.</p>


However: 7 Sentence Positions & 2 Uses

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<blockquote>
<p>How much difference does an apostrophe&nbsp;make?</p>
</blockquote>

<p>The apostrophe is a tricky punctuation mark in English&mdash;<strong>it&rsquo;s</strong> difficult to remember all of <strong>its</strong> uses! One of the more challenging instances is knowing when to use it with the words <em>it&rsquo;</em> and <em>its</em>.</p>

<p>As an editor, I see L1 speakers making mistakes with <em>it&rsquo;s</em> and <em>its</em> all the time, so it&rsquo;s no wonder our students make errors with the apostrophe in this case!</p>

<p>As a teacher, I&rsquo;ve found that reviewing the rules with my students (frequently, if need be) goes a long way toward helping them keep these words straight. Try presenting these words using the suggestions below and watch for their &ldquo;aha&rdquo;&nbsp;moment!</p>

<h1>1. It&rsquo;s</h1>

<h2>Meaning</h2>

<p><em>It&rsquo;s</em> is short for <em>it is</em> or <em>it&nbsp;has</em>.</p>

<h2>Structure</h2>

<p><em>It&rsquo;s</em> is used as the subject of a sentence or clause, so it is usually found at the beginning of a sentence or clause. <em>It&rsquo;s</em> is usually followed by an object (noun) or an adjective. Because <em>&rsquo;s</em> can stand for <em>is</em> or <em>has</em>, it can also be followed by an ‑ing verb (present progressive tense) or the past participle of a verb (passive or present perfect&nbsp;tense).</p>

<h2>Tips</h2>

<h3>Tip #1</h3>

<p>At the beginning of a sentence, we almost alway use <em>it&rsquo;s</em> (but see &ldquo;Its&rdquo; tip&nbsp;#2).</p>

<h3>Tip #2</h3>

<p>If followed by a singular count noun, look for an article (<em>a</em>, <em>an</em>, <em>the</em>). If there is an article, you must use&nbsp;<em>it&rsquo;s.</em></p>

<h3>Tip #3</h3>

<p>If followed by an adjective, use <em>it&rsquo;s</em>.</p>

<h3>Tip #4</h3>

<p>If followed by an ‑ing verb or a past participle, use&nbsp;<em>it&rsquo;s</em>.</p>

<h2>Examples</h2>

<ul>
	<li><strong>It&rsquo;s</strong> a beautiful day today. (beginning of a sentence, followed by&nbsp;<em>a</em>)</li>
	<li><strong>It&rsquo;s</strong> the way she smiles that first captivated me. (beginning of a sentence, followed by&nbsp;<em>the</em>)</li>
	<li>The crowd is getting restless, so <strong>it&rsquo;s</strong> time to get started. (subject of a&nbsp;clause)</li>
	<li><strong>It&rsquo;s</strong> incredible to see his artwork in person. (beginning of a sentence, followed by an&nbsp;adjective)</li>
	<li>I wonder if <strong>it&rsquo;s</strong> possible to finish on time. (subject of a clause, followed by an&nbsp;adjective)</li>
	<li><strong>It&rsquo;s</strong> beginning to get cooler. (beginning of a sentence, followed by an ‑ing&nbsp;verb)</li>
	<li>Do you realize <strong>it&rsquo;s</strong> been six months since I&rsquo;ve seen them? (subject of a clause, followed by the past&nbsp;participle)</li>
</ul>

<h1>2. Its</h1>

<h2>Meaning</h2>

<p><em>Its</em> is the possessive form of the third person singular pronoun <em>it</em>. It is used for objects, animals, and sometimes for babies when we don&rsquo;t know the gender. <em>Its</em> means that something belongs to something&nbsp;else.</p>

<h2>Structure</h2>

<p><em>Its</em> is always followed by a noun. Because possessive adjectives like <em>my</em>, <em>your</em>, <em>her</em>, <em>its</em>, etc. already make a noun specific, we don&rsquo;t need articles like <em>a</em>, <em>an</em>, or&nbsp;<em>the</em>.</p>

<h2>Tips</h2>

<h3>Tip #1</h3>

<p><em>Its</em> must come before a noun. Look for an article (<em>a</em>, <em>an</em>, <em>the</em>). If there is no article, you almost always use&nbsp;<em>its</em>.</p>

<h3>Tip #2</h3>

<p><em>Its</em> is most common in the object position (near the end of the sentence). It is also possible, though less common, in the subject&nbsp;position.</p>

<h2>Examples</h2>

<ul>
	<li>Give the dog <strong>its</strong> bowl. (object position, before a noun with no&nbsp;article)</li>
	<li>Check out my new phone. Have you seen all <strong>its</strong> features? (object position, before a noun with no&nbsp;article)</li>
	<li><strong>Its</strong> color is what makes it distinctive. (subject position, before a noun with no&nbsp;article)</li>
</ul>

<h1>Video Lesson</h1>

<p>Play this video in class or share it with students who want more&nbsp;practice. The video below links to our <a href="https://www.youtube.com/@ellii">student YouTube channel</a>. To see this video ad-free or to play it on the <a href="https://ellii.com">Ellii platform</a>, visit our <a href="https://ellii.com/media/videos/grammar/grammar-tips">Media Gallery</a> for this video and many more!</p>

<p><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/M1gUGL1ejyA" title="YouTube video player" width="560"></iframe></p>

<h1>More Commonly Confused Words</h1>

<p>Are your students struggling with other commonly confused words? Here are some more resources that can&nbsp;help:</p>

<ul>
	<li><a href="http://ellii.com/blog/teaching-tips-on-youre-and-your/" target="_blank">Teaching Tips on You&#39;re and Your</a></li>
	<li><a href="http://ellii.com/blog/teaching-tips-on-theyre-their-and-there/" target="_blank">Teaching Tips on They&#39;re, Their, and There</a></li>
	<li><a href="http://ellii.com/blog/teaching-tips-on-to-too-and-two/" target="_blank">Teaching Tips on To, Too, and Two</a></li>
	<li><a href="https://ellii.com/blog/teaching-tips-whos-vs-whose" target="_blank">Teaching Tips: Who Vs. Whose</a></li>
</ul>


Teaching Tips: It's & Its

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<h3>Yee-haw! It&#39;s (not &quot;its&quot;) an apostrophe roundup!</h3>

<p>August 15, 2014, is International Apostrophe Day! This tiny but important punctuation mark can be seen all over the Internet lately in social media images mocking its (not &#39;it&#39;s&#39;) misuse. English language learners (not to mention native speakers) often have trouble using this little guy correctly. In honor of this holiday and in the hopes of lessening the confusion over this diminutive mark, I&#39;ve rounded up all the posts I&#39;ve written on this topic into one place. ESL Library also has a NEW lesson in our Writing section: <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/74/lessons/1832" target="_blank">How to Use an Apostrophe</a>. Students learn and practice using apostrophes correctly, and they see many examples of common errors. In my opinion, all textbooks should include a helpful lesson like&nbsp;this!</p>

<h3>Possessives</h3>

<p><a href="https://ellii.com/blog/forming-the-possessive-of-words-ending-in-s" target="_blank">Forming the Possessive of Words Ending in -S</a></p>

<h3>Commonly Confused Words</h3>

<p><a href="https://ellii.com/blog/teaching-tips-on-its-and-its-2" target="_blank">Teaching Tips on It&#39;s and Its</a>, <a href="https://ellii.com/blog/teaching-tips-on-theyre-their-and-there/" target="_blank">Teaching Tips on They&#39;re, Their</a><a href="https://ellii.com/blog/teaching-tips-on-theyre-their-and-there/" target="_blank">, and There</a>, <a href="https://ellii.com/blog/teaching-tips-on-youre-and-your" target="_blank">Teaching Tips on You&rsquo;re and Your</a>, <a href="https://ellii.com/blog/teaching-tips-whos-vs-whose" target="_blank">Teaching Tips: Who&#39;s Vs. Whose</a></p>

<h3>Holidays</h3>

<p><a href="https://ellii.com/blog/when-to-write-new-years-new-year-and-new-year" target="_blank">When to Write &ldquo;New Year&rsquo;s&rdquo;, &ldquo;New Year&rdquo;, and &ldquo;new year&rdquo;</a>, <a href="https://ellii.com/blog/valentines-day-capitalization-and-punctuation-rules" target="_blank">Valentine&rsquo;s Day Capitalization and Punctuation Rules</a>, <a href="https://ellii.com/blog/saint-patricks-or-st-patricks-paddy-or-patty" target="_blank">Saint Patrick&#39;s or St. Patrick&#39;s? Paddy or Patty?</a>, <a href="https://ellii.com/blog/april-fools-day-capitalization-and-punctuation-rules" target="_blank">April Fools&rsquo; Day Capitalization and Punctuation Rules</a>, <a href="https://ellii.com/blog/happy-beatles-day-or-is-it-beatles-day" target="_blank">Happy Beatles Day! (Or Is It Beatles&#39; Day?)</a></p>

<h3>For Us Canucks</h3>

<p><a href="https://ellii.com/blog/tim-hortons-hortons-or-hortons-donut-or-doughnut" target="_blank">Tim Hortons, Hortons&#39;, or Horton&#39;s? Donut or Doughnut?</a></p>

<h3>Practice</h3>

<p><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/74/lessons/1832" target="_blank">How to Use an Apostrophe </a>&nbsp;</p>


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