Talking about cause and effect

Talking about cause and effect Cause and effect When we talk about an effect resulting from a certain cause, we use expressions such as: because, since, as, owing to, due to...  Examples The police arrested him because he broke into a bank. The police arrested him since he broke into a bank. She can't read the letter as she is illiterate. He can't run fast for he is too fat. Owing to his...

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Expressing Probability

Expressing Probability Expressing probability or improbability: See the difference between probability and possibility. There are many ways to say that something will probably or improbably happen. Probability / improbability ... maymightcancould ... ... will probably It's probableimprobablelikelyunlikely that ... I doubtsupposeguess ... will ... 'd be surprised if .... PerhapsMay be ... will ... Examples of probability: It is probable that my grandfather repairs my bike. May be / perhaps the problem...

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How to Apologizing

Apologizing Apologizing To apologize is to tell someone that you are sorry for having done something that has caused him inconvenience or unhappiness: Examples:  I must apologize to Isabel for my late arrival.  I'd like to apologize for my trouble making. Trains may be subject to delay on the northern line. We apologize for any inconvenience caused. Here are some expressions you can use to make and respond to apologies Making...

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Expressing Possibility

Expressing Possibility What is the difference between possibility and probability? Possibility is when there is a chance that something may happen or be true while probability is the likelihood of something happening or being true: Example:"Until yesterday, the project was just a possibility, but now it has become a real probability." It is likely that it will happen. Expressing Possibility My grandmother may travel alone. May be she will make the trip alone. Perhaps she will visit London. Possibly,...

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Making and responding to a request

Making and responding to a request Making and responding to a request It's important to be polite when you ask for something. You can make a request by using: can you ...? could you ...? will you ...? would you mind ...? Here are some examples of how to make a request.. Can youWill youCould you possiblyopen the door for me, please? would you mindopening the door for me ? Making Request: Can you show me your photo album, please? Will...

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Direct and Indirect Object

Direct and Indirect Object What is an object? An object in grammar is a part of a sentence, and often part of the predicate. It refers to someone or something involved in thesubject's "performance" of the verb. It is what the verb is being done to. As an example, the following sentence is given: SubjectVerbObject Leilawrotethe poem "Leila" is the subject, the doer or performer, "wrote" is a verb that refers to the action, "the poem" is the object involved in the action. Transitive and intransitive verbs A...

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Predicate

Predicate What is a predicate? In traditional grammar, a sentence consists of two parts: a subject, a predicate which modifies the subject. consider the following sentence: Bill likes soccer. Bill is the subject and likes soccer acts as the predicate (a subsequent description of the subject which is headed with the verb likes.) Predicates provide information about the subject, such as what the subject is doing or what the subject is like. It must contain a verb but may also contain other sentence elements. These...

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Shall and Will

Shall and Will What is the difference between shall and will? Shall is not used often in modern English especially in American English. In fact, shall and will have the same meaning and are used to refer to the simple future. They are use as follows: will is used with all persons I, you, he, she, it, we, theywillgo there shall is used with the first person singular and plural I, weshallgo The short form of will and shall is 'll I, you, he, she, it, we, theywill or 'llcall you I,...

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Must and Have to

Must and Have to What's the difference between must and have to? Must and have to are modal verbs in English. This page will guide you to the proper use of these modals. Must 1. We use must to make a logical deduction based on evidence. It indicates that the speaker is certain about something: Examples: It has rained all day, it must be very wet outside. The weather is fantastic in California. It must a lot fun to live there. 2. Must is also used to express a strong...

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Modals in the Present and Past

Modals in the Present and Past Modals in the present and past Generally speaking modals in the past have the following form: modal + have + past participle Example: Present:You should see a doctor. Past:You should have seen a doctor Except for modals that express obligation,ability and lack of necessity: Obligation:Present = I must / have to work hard. -- Past = I had to work hard. Ability:Present = I can run fast. -- Past = I could run fast when I was young. Lack...

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Modal verbs and their meaning

Modal verbs and their meaning What are modal verbs? Modals (also called modal verbs, modal auxiliary verbs, modal auxiliaries) are special verbs which behave irregularly in English. They are different from normal verbs like "work, play, visit..." They give additional information about the function of the main verb that follows it. They have a great variety of communicative functions. Here are some characteristics of modal verbs: They never change their form. You can't add "s", "ed", "ing"... They are always followed...

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Father's Day -Reading Comprehension Test

Reading Comprehension - Father's Day Develop your reading skills. Read the following text and do the comprehension questions Father's Day was created to complement Mother's Day. Like Mother's Day which honors mothers and motherhood, Father's Day celebrates fatherhood and paternal bonds; it highlights the influence of fathers in society. Many countries celebrate it on the third Sunday of June, but it is also celebrated widely on...

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Climate change and global warming -Reading Comprhension Test

Develop your reading skills. Read the following text and do the comprehension questions Climate Change and Global Warming Climate change Wikipedia defines climate as follows: Climate encompasses the statis tics of temperature, humidity, atmospheric pressure, wind, rainfall, atmospheric particle count and other meteorological elements in a given region over a long period of time. Climate can be contrasted to weather, which is the present...

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Reading Comprehension - Mother's Day

Reading Comprehension - Mother's Day Develop your reading skills. Read the following text and do the comprehension questions Mother's Day The modern Mother's Day is celebrated on various days in many parts of the world, most commonly in March, April, or May as a day to honor mothers and motherhood. In the UK and Ireland, it follows the old traditions of Mothering Sunday, celebrated in March/April. Historically, the celebration...

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Conversations on the Phone

Conversations on the Phone Telephone conversations It is common that English speakers make phone calls either for business reasons or personal affairs. These are expressions you can use in your conversations on the phone. You 've reached .... company/department. How can I help you? Can I speak to Mr/Mrs.....? Could I speak to ...., please? Who shall I say is calling? Who's calling, please? Who's speaking? It's Mr/Mrs... here. It's...

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Conversations on the Phone

Conversations on the Phone Telephone conversations It is common that English speakers make phone calls either for business reasons or personal affairs. These are expressions you can use in your conversations on the phone. You 've reached .... company/department. How can I help you? Can I speak to Mr/Mrs.....? Could I speak to ...., please? Who shall I say is calling? Who's calling, please? Who's speaking? It's Mr/Mrs... here. It's...

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Expository writing

Expository writing What is exposition? The purpose of exposition (or expository writing) is not primarily to amuse, but to enlighten and instruct. The objective is to explain and analyze information by presenting an idea, relevant evidence, and appropriate discussion. Its essential quality is clarity. Most of the writing that you are required to do at school is expository (reports, tests, essays etc..) Similarly most of the writing you will do after school will be of this sort. Examples of expository writing include: Reports Scientific...

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How to Write a Business Letter

Business Letter How to write a business letter What kind of letter is it? A business letter is a letter written in formal language. There are many reasons to write a business letter. It could be: to request direct information or action from another party, to order supplies from a supplier, to identify a mistake that was committed, to reply directly to a request, to apologize for a wrong or simply to convey goodwill. Elements of a business letter The parts of a business letter are as follows: Sender's address Date Inside address Attention...

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Lets Learn about Topic Sentences!

Writing | Topic Sentence What is a topic sentence? The topic sentence, also called a focus sentence, is the sentence which summarizes the principal idea of the paragraph. Although topic sentences may appear anywhere in a paragraph, it is usually the first sentence in that paragraph. The topic sentence summarizes the main idea of the paragraph and adds cohesion to a paper and helps organize ideas both within the paragraph and the whole body of work at large. All the other sentences in a paragraph have to support the topic sentence...

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The Rules Of Capitalization

Capitalization Capitalization rules Capitalization is the writing of a word with the first letter as upper-case letter (A,B, C, D,...) and the rest of the word as lower-case letters (a,b,c,d,...) This is a summary of the capitalization. Read the capitalization rules and study the examples given. The rules "Let me show you what the CAPITALIZATION IS" Capitalize the first word in a sentence. They arrived late. They had dinner and...

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Punctuation

Punctuation Punctuation rules Punctuation marks are symbols which organize the structure of written language, and indicate intonation and pauses to be observed when reading aloud. Punctuation marks are also used to avoid ambiguity. For example, "woman, without her man, is nothing" has a different meaning from "woman: without her, man is nothing" This is a summary of punctuation rules. Read the punctuation rules and study the examples given. End punctuation marks: 1. Full stop , or period (.) Used a full stop at the end of a sentence:She...

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Daily Dialog For Listening Practice

At One's Wit's End May 26 2015 Intro A witty person is a funny person. But one’s wit is also a person’s intelligence. You can be living by your wits (making money in a clever way), or you can be scared out of your wits (so frightened that you feel crazy). If you have your wits about you, you’re ready to think quickly in a situation. Your wits are your ability to truly understand what’s happening around you.If you’re at your wit’s end, you’re unable to think of any more ideas for how to solve a problem. Maybe your baby sister won’t stop crying,...

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