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Grammar - Elementary
There Is - There Are
We use there is or there are to say something exists for the first time.
We use there is in front of single or uncountable nouns and we use there are in front of plural countable nouns.
| Positive | Negative | Question |
|---|---|---|
|
There is There are |
There isn't There aren't |
Is there? Are there? |
Examples:
There is a large airport in Los Angeles.
There isn't any butter in the fridge.
Is there a public telephone near here?
There are three sofas in the living room.
There aren't any mushrooms on the table.
Are there any people in the house?
We do not use "it" to talk about something for the first time.
We say:
There is a large bank in Jones Avenue.
NOT It is a large bank in Jones Avenue.
But we can use "it" when we talk about something again, a specified thing:
There is a large bank in Jones Avenue. It closes at 4pm.
Adverbs Of Frequency
We use adverbs of frequency to describe How Often we do something.
How often does it rain in the Sahara? Rarely.
How often does it rain in Ireland? Often.
|
100% ^ | | | | 50% ^ | | | | 0% |
Always Almost always Very often Often Frequently Usually Normally Sometimes Rarely Seldom Almost never Never |
Position
Frequency adverbs normally go after the verb "to be" but before other verbs.
Examples:
I am always happy on a Saturday night.
They are often late for class.
She sometimes smokes cigars.
We almost always go to France in May.
Some frequency adverbs such as sometimes, usually and normally can also go at the beginning and end of a sentence.
Sometimes, Henry takes her to a restaurant at the weekend.
I go to bed at midnight usually.
We sometimes use numbers when we answer How Often.
Q: How often do you play tennis?
A: Three times a week.
|
Once Twice Three times Four times Five times etc etc |
a an |
day week hour month year term etc etc |
Or we can use an expression such as:
Once every six months.
Take this medicine once every four hours.
Possessive 'S
We use 's to show who owns something.
Examples:
John's car is red.
My mum's house is in the country.
Poland's flag is red and white.
If more than one person owns something, we can use s' to show this.
The parents' responsibility is to their children.
There is a boys' school at the end of the road.
If a person's name ends with "s", we can also put the apostrophe after the final letter.
Bess' mother was from Ireland.
The Jones' house was sold yesterday.
Be careful to put the 's at the end of the name of the person who owns the item, not the item that is owned!
Howard's house is very large.
NOT House's Howard is very large.
Can
We use "can" to say someone has the ability to do something.
She can dance very well and always goes to discos.
He can speak Italian.
|
Can |
||
| Positive | Negative* | Question |
|
I can You can He can She can It can We can You can They can |
I can't You can't He can't She can't It can't We can't You can't They can't |
Can I? Can you? Can he? Can she? Can it? Can we? Can you? Can they? |
*In all cases, can't can be replaced by cannot.
Examples:
My mother can play the piano.
Can your parents play any musical instruments?
I can't see or hear anything in this room.
We must use can with an infinitive verb directly after it, without "to".
We can go to the cinema after the restaurant.
NOT We can to go to the cinema after the restaurant.
