Prepositions A preposition describes a relationship between other words in a sentence.

In itself, a word like "in" or "after" is rather meaningless and hard to define in mere words. For instance, when you do try to define a preposition like "in" or "between" or "on," you invariably use your hands to show how something is situated in relationship to something else. Prepositions are nearly always combined with other words in structures called prepositional phrases. Prepositional phrases can be made up of a million different words, but they tend to be built the same: a preposition followed by a determiner and an adjective or two, followed by a pronoun or noun (called the object of the preposition). This whole phrase, in turn, takes on a modifying role, acting as an adjective or an adverb, locating something in time and space, modifying a noun, or telling when or where or under what conditions something happened. Prepositions of Time: at, on, and in We use at to designate specific times. The train is due at 12:15 p.m. We use on to designate days and dates. My brother is coming on Monday. We're having a party on the Fourth of July. We use in for nonspecific times during a day, a month, a season, or a year. She likes to jog in the morning. It's too cold in winter to run outside. He started the job in 1971. He's going to quit in August. Prepositions of Place: at, on, and in We use at for specific addresses. Grammar English lives at 55 Boretz Road in Durham. We use on to designate names of streets, avenues, etc. Her house is on Boretz Road.

And we use in for the names of land-areas (towns, counties, states, countries, and continents). She lives in Durham. Durham is in Windham County. Windham County is in Connecticut. Prepositions of Movement: to and No Preposition We use to in order to express movement toward a place. They were driving to work together. She's going to the dentist's office this morning. Toward and towards are also helpful prepositions to express movement. These are simply variant spellings of the same word; use whichever sounds better to you. We're moving toward the light. This is a big step towards the project's completion. With the words home, downtown, uptown, inside, outside, downstairs, upstairs, we use no preposition. Grandma went upstairs Grandpa went home. They both went outside. Prepositions of Time: for and since We use for when we measure time (seconds, minutes, hours, days, months, years). He held his breath for seven minutes. She's lived there for seven years. The British and Irish have been quarreling for seven centuries. We use since with a specific date or time. He's worked here since 1970. She's been sitting in the waiting room since two-thirty.

Prepositions with Nouns, Adjectives, and Verbs. Prepositions are sometimes so firmly wedded to other words that they have practically become one word. (In fact, in other languages, such as German, they would have become one word.) This occurs in three categories: nouns, adjectives, and verb

There is and there are

We use There is / There are to say that something exists (or does not exist). The real subject usually comes after There is / There are.

1)

Use "There is" for singular nouns and things you cannot count. Examples:

There is a river in my town. There is a ghost in this room....

There is an apple on the desk

There is ice on the lake. There is oil on the pavement.

2)

Use "There are" for plural nouns; that is to say, we use there are with a plural subject. Examples: There are two parks in my neighbourhood.

There are 600 students in this school.

There are four windows in my room . To say the opposite, (the negative form of this structure), use isn't (is + not) or aren't (are + not) Examples: There isn't a telephone in the kitchen. There isn't a balcony. There isn't an orange on the table. There isn't ice on the lake. There aren't two pictures on the wall. Just one. There aren't chairs in my room.

3)

4)

To make questions, (to ask whether something exists or it doesn't) just change the order of there is and there are...... Examples: Is there a balcony in the flat? Is there a Post Office near hear? Yes, there is No, there isn't Are there two telephone lines? Yes, there are No, there aren't To express the idea of quantity, we usually have to use "some" and ''any" with there is and there are. This happens when we have to mention an unspecified amount of something, for example, when we are using uncountable nouns.

5)

We generally use some for positive statements, and any for negative and interrogative ones. Examples: (positive statements) There is some water in the bottle There is some milk in the jar There are some cupboards under the sink There are some letters for you.

(negative statements) There isn't any bread in the basket. There isn't any wine in the fridge. There aren't any apples.

There aren't any tomatoes. There aren't any oranges.Wow!The fridge is empty

(interrogative statements) Is there any sugar in the sugar pot? Is there any cool water in the fridge? Is there any quiet place around here? Are there any glasses in the cupboard? Are there any chairs in your room? Are there any bottles to throw away?

We can use the imperative to give a direct order. 1. Take that chewing gum out of your mouth. 2. Stand up straight. 3. Give me the details.

We can use the imperative to give instructions. 1. Open your book. 2. Take two tablets every evening. 3. Take a left and then a right. We can use the imperative to make an invitation. 1. Come in and sit down. Make yourself at home. 2. Please start without me. I'll be there shortly. 3. Have a piece of this cake. It's delicious. We can use the imperative on signs and notices. 1. Push. 2. Do not use. 3. Insert one dollar. We can use the imperative to give friendly informal advice. 1. Speak to him. Tell him how you feel. 2. Have a quiet word with her about it. 3. Don't go. Stay at home and rest up. Get some sleep and recover. We can make the imperative 'more polite' by adding 'do'.

Do be quiet. Do come. Do sit down.

Simple Present

FORM [VERB] + s/es in third person Examples:

You speak English. Do you speak English? You do not speak English

USE 1 Repeated Actions

Use the Simple Present to express the idea that an action is repeated or usual. The action can be a habit, a hobby, a daily event, a scheduled event or something that often happens. It can also be something a person often forgets or usually does not do. Examples:
I play tennis. She does not play tennis. Does he play tennis? The train leaves every morning at 8 AM. The train does not leave at 9 AM. When does the train usually leave? She always forgets her purse. He never forgets his wallet. Every twelve months, the Earth circles the Sun. Does the Sun circle the Earth?

USE 2 Facts or Generalizations

The Simple Present can also indicate the speaker believes that a fact was true before, is true now, and will be true in the future. It is not important if the speaker is correct about the fact. It is also used to make generalizations about people or things. Examples:
Cats like milk. Birds do not like milk. Do pigs like milk? California is in America. California is not in the United Kingdom. Windows are made of glass. Windows are not made of wood. New York is a small city. IT IS NOT IMPORTANT THAT THIS FACT IS UNTRUE.

USE 3 Scheduled Events in the Near Future

Speakers occasionally use Simple Present to talk about scheduled events in the near future. This is most commonly done when talking about public transportation, but it can be used with other scheduled events as well. Examples:
The train leaves tonight at 6 PM. The bus does not arrive at 11 AM, it arrives at 11 PM. When do we board the plane? The party starts at 8 o'clock. When does class begin tomorrow?

USE 4 Now (Non-Continuous Verbs)

Speakers sometimes use the Simple Present to express the idea that an action is happening or is not happening now. This can only be done with Non-Continuous Verbs and certain Mixed Verbs. Examples:
I am here now. She is not here now. He needs help right now. He does not need help now. He has his passport in his hand. Do you have your passport with you?

ADVERB PLACEMENT The examples below show the placement for grammar adverbs such as: always, only, never, ever, still, just, etc. Examples:
You only speak English. Do you only speak English?

ACTIVE / PASSIVE Examples:

Once a week, Tom cleans the car. ACTIVE Once a week, the car is cleaned by Tom. PASSIVE

Affirmative I go You go He goes She goes It goes We go You go They go

Negative I don't go You don't go He doesn't go She doesn't go It doesn't go We don't go You don't go They don't go

Interrogative Do I go ? Do you go ? Does he go ? Does she go ? Does it go ? Do we go ? Do you go ? Do they go ?

Affirmative I go to New York - Voy a New York He goes to New York - El va a New York Negative

subject + 1 > "s" (he, she, it)

subject + don't / doesn't + 1

I don't go to New York - No voy a New York He doesn't go to New York - El no va a New York Interrogative Do I go to New York ? - Voy a New York ? Does he go to New York ? - Va l a New York ? Do / Does + subject + 1 ?

Demonstrative In linguistics, demonstratives are deictic words (they depend on an external frame of reference) that indicate which entities a speaker refers to and distinguishes those entities from others. Demonstratives are employed for spatial deixis (using the context of the physical surroundings of the speaker and sometimes the listener) and for discourse deixis (including abstract concepts) where the meaning is dependent on something other than the relative physical location of the speaker, for example whether something is currently been said or was said earlier. The demonstratives in English are this, that, these, those, yonder, and the archaic yon, along with this one or that one as substitutes for the pronoun use of this or that.

Comparative Adjectives When we talk about two things, we can "compare" them. We can see if they are the same or different. Perhaps they are the same in some ways and different in other ways. We can use comparative adjectives to describe the differences. We can use comparative adjectives when talking about two things (not three or more things). In the example below, "bigger" is the comparative form of the adjective "big": A1 A2 A1 is bigger than A2.

Superlative adjectives are used to compare at least 3 things or 3 groups of things. When we want to state that something is at the highest or the lowest degree, than we use superlative adjectives. In other words that the superlative adjectives state that something is the most, there can't be anymore or that something is the least, there can't be any less.

I am in the smallest class in the school. The house at the end of the street is the nicest.

It is common that "the" is used before the superlative adjective.

We live in the biggest house on the block. My brother is the tallest person in our family.