Академический Документы
Профессиональный Документы
Культура Документы
Beginner S1 #5
My Major is English!
CONTENTS
2
2
3
4
4
6
English
Vocabulary
Sample Sentences
Vocabulary Phrase Usage
Grammar
Cultural Insight
#
COPYRIGHT 2012 INNOVATIVE LANGUAGE LEARNING. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
ENGLISH
1.
MIKE:
2.
VICKY:
3.
MIKE:
4.
VICKY:
5.
MIKE:
6.
VICKY:
Oh, I see. I'm sorry to hear that. By the way, what's your major?
7.
MIKE:
8.
VICKY:
9.
MIKE:
10.
VICKY:
11.
MIKE:
12.
VICKY:
13.
MIKE:
14.
VICKY:
15.
MIKE:
See ya!
VOCABULARY
ENGLISHCLASS101.COM
V oc abular y
English
C lass
phrase
by the way
phrase
what's wrong?
phrase
major
noun
to help
verb
to study
verb
phrase
See ya!
phrase
SAMPLE SENTENCES
How's it going? > I've been better. I have a
cold.
My major is economics.
ENGLISHCLASS101.COM
GRAMMAR
The Focus of This Lesson is Subject-Verb Agreement with "Be."
"My major's Education."
In the previous lesson, we introduced subject-verb agreement with "be." In this lesson, we will
look at some more examples.
As we learned in the previous lesson, "be" is one of the most common and important words in
the English language. As the copula, we use "be" to link the subject with an adjective, another
noun, or an expression of place. You can think of "be" as being like an equal sign (=). The
conjugation of "be" can be difficult so let's review it again using the simple present tense.
Conjugation
The basic sentence pattern using "be" as a copula in the simple present tense is like this.
subject + "be" + adjective/noun/expression of place
The conjugation for "be" depends on whether the subject is in the first person (e.g., "I")
second person (e.g., "you") or third person (e.g., "he") and whether the person is singular (only
one person) or plural (more than one person). The conjugation also depends on the verb tense
(e.g., past, present, future, etc.). But as in the previous lesson, we will only consider the simple
ENGLISHCLASS101.COM
"I am a student."
2.
3.
"He is a student."
4.
5.
Person
Singular/Plural
Conjugation
Example
First
Singular
"am"
"I am"
First
Plural
"are"
"we are"
Second
Singular
"are"
"you are"
Second
Plural
"are"
Third
Singular
"is"
"he/she/it is"
Third
Plural
"are"
"they are"
2.
Sample Sentences
1.
ENGLISHCLASS101.COM
2.
"She is beautiful."
Language Tips
In casual English, especially in casual spoken English, we often combine the subject of the
sentence and the verb "be" into a contraction. For example, "I am" becomes "I'm" in casual
English. When writing formally, it is usually better not to use contractions. See the chart below:
Formal
Contraction
"I am"
"I'm"
"you are"
"you're"
"he is"
"he's"
"she is"
"she's"
"it is"
"it's"
"we are"
"we're"
"they are"
"they're"
CULTURAL INSIGHT
Talking About Majors in English
In America, it is very common for people who do not know each other well to ask about each
other's occupations or jobs. When someone's occupation is as a student, asking about majors
is probably the most common question. So, if you are a student, or you are talking to students,
it is very useful to be able to talk about majors. If you don't know what your major is called in
English, you should check it out in a dictionary and be ready to talk about it.
ENGLISHCLASS101.COM