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Knowing Simple Past vs. Past Progressive Tense

Simple Past vs. Past Progressive Tense

Remember- the simple past talks about something that happened before. It happened and it finished. Some words are regular and just have -ed added at the end like walked, helped, and played. Others are irregular and have many variations like ate, began, and slept.

The past progressive talks about something that was happening before, but for a period of time. It uses was or were + verb-ing like was eating or were playing. It gives a background for something that was happening while a different event happened.

Example: While I was eating, the telephone rang.

So, during the time I was eating (let's say from 6:30-7:00 p.m.) somebody called my house (let's say they called at 6:49p.m.) One thing happened (simple past) during the period of time another thing was happening (past progressive.)

Here is another example: They saw an old man as they were walking down the street.

You can think of walking as a video. You see the movement. You see the time passing. Think of saw as a photo. It is one point of time. You don't think of the time passing.

I dreamed in English when I was sleeping.
She was listening to the radio when the mail came.
They visited Sydney when they were traveling in Australia.

Knowing Reflexive Pronouns

Reflexive Pronouns

Reflexive pronouns are these words:

myself, yourself, herself, himself, itself, ourselves, yourselves, and themselves*

Reflexive pronouns are used when the subject and the object in a sentence are the same person.

For example:

I hit myself with a hammer.

John hit himself with a hammer.

These sentences are not correct:

I hit me with a hammer.

John hit him with a hammer. (If John hit John.)

But remember, when the subject and object are different people, use the regular object pronouns (me, you, he, she, it, us, and them**.)

I hit her (Susan) with a hammer.

John hit him (Jack) with a hammer.

Diffrences between have to, supposed to, and ought to

Using have to, supposed to, and ought to

Have to is the same as must. It implies that you don't have a choice.

John has to go to work everyday.
The students have to study tonight.

To be supposed to means an obligation. It is something that you should do, or something that another person expects you to do. Don't forget to use the verb be in front of supposed to.

Sally is supposed to meet her friend tonight.
All of the employees are supposed to attend today's meeting.

Ought to means a suggestion. You should do something but you don't have to do it.

We ought to clean the house tonight.
Phillip ought to help you with your homework.

(Notice that all of these words are modals. They are followed by a verb.)

***

You may feel confused about the slight differences between these words. Just think about what the speaker is implying.

I have to do my homework. (If I don't, will be in trouble.)

I am supposed to do my homework. (If I don't, my teacher will notice that I didn't do it.)

I ought to do my homework. (I don't have to if I don't want to, but I feel I should do it because I want to do well in the class.)

Common Errors in English

In, At, On + Time or Date

When is your birthday? Mine is ON October 12. When do you eat lunch? I usually eat it AT noon. When does the school year begin in your country? In mine it begins IN September.

Do you know which preposition to use before times, days, months and years? Here is a reminder.

Don't forget to use...

in + month or year- In March, In 2003

on + date (with the year or without it) or day of the week- On April 2, On March 3, 1999, On Saturday

at + clock time, midnight, noon- At 3:30 p.m., At 4:01, At noon

Remember also...

in + season- In the summer, In the winter

in + morning, afternoon, evening- In the morning, In the evening

at + night- At night

Common Errors in English

Using Since and For

Use since + (a specific time) like March 31, or 9:19 a.m., or Tuesday.

Examples:
I have been studying English since 1993.
John has helped me since 10:00 this morning.
Those people have been in Europe since August.

Note: Because we are talking about a time in the past until now, we have to use have/has + past participle when we use since.

******

Use for + (a length of time) like 1 day, or 3 hours, or 5 years.

Examples:
I have been studying English for 4 years.
John has helped me for 8 hours.
Those people went to Europe for 2 months.

Note: It is possible to use the past tense when you use for if the action is finished.

Slang and Idioms

Slang and Idioms about Money

Vocabulary

-dough, moolah = money (non-countable.) I won a lot of dough at the casino. Look at
all of this moolah!
-greenback, buck = American dollar (countable.) Look at how many greenbacks you have
in your wallet! Could you loan me a buck for the subway?
-megabucks = a lot of money. I would love to be like Bill Gates. He has megabucks.
-(work for) peanuts = almost no money, very little money. John should quit
his job because he is working for peanuts and he can't afford his rent.
-max out (a credit card)= spend up to the limit of a credit card. Susie bought so
many clothes she maxed out her credit card.
-stretch money = be careful to make money one has last longer. Tony and Teri
had to really stretch their money in order to pay all of their bills. They ate
a lot of cheap food last month.
-flip a coin = make a decision by tossing a coin in the air and calling heads or
tails. (heads = side of coin with picture of a person's face, tails = opposite side
of coin.) Let's decide who will start the game by flipping a coin.

Intonation in English

Intonation

intonation- the rising and falling sounds of the voice when speaking.

Language conveys very specific information, such as how to get somewhere or what someone is doing. It can be also used beyond the exact meaning of the words to indicate how the speaker feels about what he is saying, or how he personally feels at that moment.

Generally speaking, if English is not your first language, this is where you start running into difficulty. Even if you pronounce each word clearly, if your intonation patterns are non-standard, your meaning will probably not be clear. Also, in terms of comprehension, you will lose a great deal of information if you are listening for the actual words used.

This is the starting point of standard intonation. When we say that we need to stress the new information, it's logical to think, "Hmmm, this is the first time I'm saying this sentence, so it's all new information. I'd better stress every word." Well, not quite. In standard English, we consider that the nouns carry the weight of a sentence, when all else is equal. Although the verb carries important information, it does not receive the primary stress of a first-time noun.

Vocabulary Lesson

Root Words from Tele and Phone

Everybody knows what a telephone is. Almost everyone has one, but very few people know why it is called telephone. When you understand the meaning behind the words, not only does it help you with the one word, it can help you understand a lot of other words, too.

tele means far, distance, or from afar

phon means sound

When you put them both together it means something that lets you hear sound from a distance.

So now that you know that, look at some other words that have tele:

telegraph- graph means writing. A telegraph is a written message that is sent a long distance by Morse code.

television- I'm sure you know that vision means something you can see. You can see something from a distance.

And some words that use phon:

microphone- micro means small. We use a microphone to capture a small voice and make it large.

homophone- homo means same. A homophone is two different words that sound the same, like here and hear.

Reading Comprehension Tests

International Women's Day

Vocabulary
vibrant -- fully alive
discrimination -- unfair treatment
grim -- harsh, relentless
pandemic -- disease spread over wide areas
alleviate -- reduce
vulnerable -- likelihood towards
to exhort -- to urge strongly
moribund -- stagnant, doesn't move well
pioneer -- first to act
This lesson has been provided by Mark McCarthy. Visit his website at www.getesl.com for more information on studying English online.

Grammar:

Each of these sentences contains one error. Find and correct the error.

Women urge unity to advance rights as they mark International Women's Day

1) Women marked International Women's Day around the world with vibrant calls for unity for advance sexual equality and women's rights.

2) In Tehran several hundred of Iranian female activists staged a rally to mark of International Women's Day, despite of warnings from authorities that the gathering was illegal. (Omit 3 words)

3) The United Nations urged man to reject violence against woman in
order to protect their daughter from the AIDS pandemic. (Three errors)

4) The Vatican asked the United Nations to condemn all sexual violence against women in a submission to the Commission on the Status of Women meet in New York.

5) Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat meanwhile called on women a world over to oppose the Israeli occupation in the speech marking International Women's Day. (two errors)

6) In Italy, men reported spent five million euros (6.2 million dollars)
sending text messages on their cell phones to tell the women in their lives how much they appreciate them.

7) And Italian President Carlo Azeglio Ciampi exhorted his countrywoman to have more babies, saying legislation must ensure that work and motherhoods are compatible and would spur the country's development.
(two errors)

8) Several governments payed lip service to the women's cause.

9) Stalinist North Korea also marked the day with a call for women to give birth to more children and take a leading role in revive the country's moribund economy.

10) In Norway, often a pioneer in issues of gender equality, Prime Minister Kjell Magne Bondevik said the country was in its way toward reaching its goal of becoming the first country with women in at least 40 percent of public sector management positions.

Check Your Answers:

1) Change "for" to "to"
2) Omit of 3 times
3) change to: men, women, daughters
4) meeting
5) switch a and the
6) reportedly
7) countrywomen, motherhood
8) paid
9) reviving
10) on its way

Using 'The'

More on using 'The'

Here is a little more specific information on how to use The.

Use the after you have talked about it the first time. For example:

This is a cat. The cat is brown

Use the when the person you are talking to already knows what you are talking about. For example:

I am going to the bank.

There is someone knocking at the door. It must be the computer repairman. I called him to come help fix my computer.

Use the when you talk about general places in nature like the lake, the mountains, the ocean, the beach, etc. For example:

Let's go to the beach.

I love to camp in the mountains.

Use the when you are talking about something that there is only one of and everyone knows about it. The sky, the earth, the stars (as a group). For example:

How many people are there on the earth?

The sky is so beautiful today.

Reported Speech (Part 2)

The present perfect verb is change to the past perfect tense in reported speech.

Michelle said, " I have been to California."

What did she say?
She said (that*) she had been to California.

The past perfect tense doesn't change.

John said, " I had talked to my neighbor."

What did he say?
John said (that) he had talked to his neighbor.

The future tense verb is change to the conditional in reported speech.

Staci said, "I will buy a new house."

What did she say?
She said (that) she would buy a new house.

*You can use the word that in reported speech if you want. It doesn't matter if you do or not.

Reported Speech

Reported Speech (Part 1)

Reported Speech is used to tell or report what someone has said.

For example, look at this sentence: Harry said, "I love Susan." If we ask someone else to tell us what Harry said, the person would say (or report) what the first person said like this.

He said he loved Susan.
Or Harry said he loved Susan.

But notice how the verb tense changed. Love became loved. Here are some rules...

The present tense verb is change to the past tense in reported speech.

Sally said, "I like pizza."

What did she say?
She said (that*) she liked pizza.

The past tense is change to the past perfect in reported speech.

Joe said, "I went to New York City."

What did he say?
He said (that) he had gone to New York City.

The present continuous is changed to the past continuous.

Michael said, "I am taking an English class."

What did he say?
He said (that) he was taking an English class.

*You can use the work that in reported speech if you want. It doesn't matter if you do or not.

Using the conditional sentence

Using the Conditional

We use the conditional to show a possible situation based on another situation. For example:

If A happens, then B will happen.


The first conditional shows that something could possibly happen. Its structure is like this:

If + subject + present tense (or present progressive) ----, subject + will/may/can + base verb ----.

For example:

If it rains tomorrow, I will take my umbrella.

If you help me, we can finish earlier.

If the boys give the monkey a coin, it may dance for them.

Notice that each sentence above uses the present tense on the if side. But we could also use the present progressive if something is happening right now.

If he isn't working right now, he may want to come over for dinner.


We can also change the order of the sentence and put the if side on the second half. The only difference is that there is no comma.

I will take my umbrella if it rains tomorrow.

We can finish earlier if you help me.

The monkey may dance for the boys if they give it a coin.

He may want to come over for dinner if he isn't working right now.