Google Custom Search. Youtube. Youtube. American English Resources Overview. The Grammarphobia Blog: When the subject is a dummy. Q: I’ve read your recent post on deconstructing “it” and I have one additional question.
What does “it” refer to in sentences like “It is raining” and “It is snowing”? I’ve heard various explanations of this usage, but I’d appreciate your take on it. A: English speakers have been using the pronoun “it” to talk about the weather since Anglo-Saxon days. The “it” that we use to denote weather conditions (“it was drizzling” … “it’s hot”) is often called a “dummy” or “empty” or “artificial” subject. The Cambridge Grammar of the English Language says the “it” here has no semantic meaning and serves “the purely syntactic function of filling the obligatory subject position.” The Dummy Subject. By Erin Writers, especially beginning writers, are often cautioned against using passive voice in their writing because its use slows down the pace.
Another construction that can make your writing plod is the dummy subject. When we use the words it and there to begin a sentence without a referent (a noun the pronoun is referring to), we’re using a dummy subject. In this pair of sentences: I went to see Fantastic Four 2 over the weekend. Dictionary.cambridge. English clauses which are not imperatives must have a subject.
Sometimes we need to use a ‘dummy’ or ‘empty’ or ‘artificial’ subject when there is no subject attached to the verb, and where the real subject is somewhere else in the clause. It and there are the two dummy subjects used in English: It’s always interesting to find out about your family history. Free English Lessons.
7 Interesting ESL Video Resources for All Learning Levels. Remember movie day in class when you were a student?
It used to make me dance at my desk. For most students, it’s exciting to see that TV rolled in or that projection screen pulled down. It means there’ll be something creative, surprising or just plain different about class that day. Now that you’re an educator, you can harness this movie day excitement for your classroom. One of the best ways that you can revitalize your classroom and create an exciting learning environment is to incorporate ESL videos into your lessons. Of course, not just any old video will do, and you’ll need some killer ESL video activities to make them effective learning tools. Speak or talk ? The verbs speak and talk both generally mean ‘say words’, but there are some small differences in how they are used.
Speak is more formal than talk. Compare. What is the difference between TELL and SAY, and SPEAK and TALK? What is the difference between TELL and SAY, and SPEAK and TALK?
— Shrikishan Kadia, India Thank you for your question. On August 3, 2015 I answered a question about the differences between say and tell (click here to see the answer), so here I will focus on the similarities and differences between speak and talk. Similarities between speak and talk In general, both speak and talk are used to refer to the act of expressing thoughts with words. I need to speak/talk to the manager here.You can speak/talk freely here. The most common structure with either speak or talk is the verb(speak/talk), possibly followed by to/with + the listener, possibly followed by about + the topic of the speaking or talking.
Advanced English.
Common Errors in English Usage and More. English grammar. Grammar of the English language Modern English has largely abandoned the inflectional case system of Indo-European in favor of analytic constructions.
The personal pronouns retain morphological case more strongly than any other word class (a remnant of the more extensive Germanic case system of Old English).
English On The Go Ep 6: Loose or lose. English Language Exercises & Tests. ELLLO - English Listening Lesson Library Online. Practise English grammar. The Learning Network. LingualNet - Learning English Through Media. English Vocabulary. English Blogs. English Books. Online courses from British Council. Fill up, fill out or fill in: what's the difference? - Learners' Questions: You ask, we answer!
THE FOUR SKILLS (reading, writing, speaking, and listening) English QnA. Grammar and Style Guides. English Verbs. Formal and Informal English. Fluency. TeachingEnglish. About. K12 English. ABA English. Innovation with a human touch ABA English’s award-winning app and online course provide our learners with innovative technology and a human touch: every one of our students is assigned their own teacher, a dedicated professional who is there to help, support and encourage them throughout their course.
The ABA Efficacy Study, conducted independently by university professors in 2015, empirically confirmed ABA’s efficacy: studying 24 units of the ABA English course over a period of three months, the majority of students improved their English language skills by at least one level, equivalent to a full US College Semester. Overall learner satisfaction was extremely high, with 100% of learners stating they would recommend ABA to friends. Old Grammar Rules You Can Break.
Ontario Training Network. At a recent workshop, one of the participants had a hard time with the idea of brevity.
He had been told by his manager that his reports were too short. Therefore, he was looking for tips on how to pad his sentences with extra words. I read over some of the documents he brought and found the writing style acceptable. I believe the man was confusing his manager’s comment with content and not context. Writing Examples, Samples. 21 Digital Tools to Build Vocabulary. If you follow this blog, you know that I believe effective vocabulary instruction is just about the most important instructional activity for teachers to get right. For lots of reasons. Vocabulary influences fluency, comprehension, and student achievement. How’s that for starters? In addition, a broad vocabulary is important for effective speaking, listening, reading and writing. Vocabulary is a foundational component of an effective K-12 comprehensive literacy framework.
10 grammar rules you can forget: how to stop worrying and write proper. Every situation in which language is used – texting your mates, asking for a pay rise, composing a small ad, making a speech, drafting a will, writing up an experiment, praying, rapping, or any other – has its own conventions.
You wouldn't expect a politician being interviewed by Kirsty Wark about the economy to start quoting Ludacris: "I keep my mind on my money, money on my mind; but you'se a hell of a distraction when you shake your behind. "
Grammar Handbook « Writers Workshop: Writer Resources « The Center for Writing Studies, Illinois. Thank you for using the Grammar Handbook at the Writers' Workshop, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. This Handbook explains and illustrates the basic grammatical rules concerning parts of speech, phrases, clauses, sentences and sentence elements, and common problems of usage. While we have done our best to be comprehensive and accurate, we do not claim to be the final authority on grammatical issues. We appreciate constructive emails with questions, suggestions, or corrections, but please understand we may be unable to respond to all of them.
Handbook Sections Parts of Speech Nouns Verbs. Adjectives & Adverbs. The New York Public Library. NYPL ArchivesFind online activities to learn and practice English. Download a printable version [PDF] of this resource list. Free ESOL Websites These general ESOL websites offer many types of activities (grammar, listening, pronunciation, vocabulary, reading, etc.) for language learners of all levels.
Activities for ESL Students Thousands of quizzes, exercises and puzzles for English language learners of all levels. Provided by the Internet TESL Journal. "A Word, Please" site:latimes.com at DuckDuckGo. Grammar Underground with June Casagrande. English Language Resources from Macmillan Dictionary. Learning a language is about understanding what words mean, grammar, spelling and pronunciation. But there is more to it than that. As part of the Macmillan Education Life Skills series, Macmillan Dictionary focuses on an area of language learning students of English often find difficult to master: pragmatics. Lesson plan of the month This lesson plans was written by author Jonathan Marks to help learners with pragmatics. Michael Swan (Grammar Teaching) English language MOOCs. Cambridge English Empower. Daily Writing Tips. Daily Writing Tips. Daily Writing Tips.
Toolkit ELL. English YouTube Channels. Oxford University Press Apps on the App Store. Grammar. Macmillan Dictionary classroom poster. English Language Resources from Macmillan Dictionary. English Language Resources from Macmillan Dictionary. Builder plus. Finder plus. Download and print these Finder plus sections. You can put them in your file and use them with the Finder.
American English (PDF 185 Kb) The main difference between British and American English is in pronunciation... Numbers and time (PDF 148 Kb) Cardinal numbers, ordinal numbers, fractions, decimals, percentages, number of times, the time of day, the date. The Word on Language and Grammar with Anne Curzan. Expressing preference. Contents of The Internet Grammar of English. Speaking Apps. Grammar Underground with June Casagrande. Commentary on Books, eBooks, and Editorial Matters. Copyeditors' Knowledge Base, Editing Tools. Grammar, Usage and Style - After Deadline Blog - The New York Times. Learn English speaking. English Learning App. A Concise English Grammar with Exercises : George Lyman Kittredge, Frank Edgar Farley : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming. The Norton FIELD GUIDE To WRITING. OUP Companion web site:Top 10 Grammar Tips. Grammar is the way in which words are put together to form sentences. Here are ten easy-to-remember tips which will help you to brush up your grammar and make your writing clear and accurate.
You'll find more detailed advice in the dictionary's centre section and special notes, and there's also a quick-reference grammar jargon-buster. You could also try testing yourself, with this quick quiz. 1. OUP Companion web site:Test Your Grammar. English grammar exercises, with answers. Free Books : Download & Streaming : eBooks and Texts. Community Texts. Some, any, every and no. LearnEnglish Grammar (US Edition) Exam English on your mobile. Grammar exercises for learners of English as a second language.
BBC Learning English - Course: The Grammar Gameshow / Unit 1 / Session 17 / Activity 1. The Most Effective English Study Techniques. Here are some helpful guidelines as to how to study that should help you vary your approach and improve more quickly. English as a Second Language (ESL) for Teachers and Students. Grammar A–Z. Some grammatical terms may be familiar to you, but others can be confusing or hard to remember. Grammar Archives - Everything After Z by Dictionary.com.
Lessons for Beginning English Learners. The Internet Grammar of English. Word Order, Position & Inversions. English Diagnostics. BBC Learning English - Learning English.