Tips to learn English

 Here are 10 things, from a series of 100, you can do to improve your English (in no order).

1.    Don’t be afraid to make mistakes. Be confident. People can only correct your mistakes 
     when they hear you make them.

2.    Surround yourself in English. Put yourself in an all English speaking. environment where 
     you can learn passively. The best way to learn is through speaking.

3.    Practice every day. Make yourself a study plan. Decide how much time a week you are
     going to spend studying and stick to it. Establish a routine.

4.    Tell your family and friends about your study plan. Get them to push you to study and also
     don’t let them interrupt you.

5.    Practice the 4 core skills: reading, writing, speaking and listening. They all need to be worked 
     on for you to improve.

6.    Keep a notebook of new words you learn. Use them in sentences and try to say them at least
     3 times when you speak.

7.    Visit free learning English websites at least once a day and complete a lesson.

8.    Memorization of lists is one of the most common ways of learning vocabulary for a test. It's 
     only a good exercise for short term studying because you often do not retain the information
     that you have learned for a test.

9.    Use your body clock. If you’re not a morning person, study in the afternoon.

10.  You will find words easier to remember if you try to remember an example sentence using 
       that word rather the word on its own.

Will-future

                     will-future

1. Use of the will-future

1.1. future actions happen without the speaker's intention

The sun will shine tomorrow.

1.2. predictions, assumptions

I think Sue will arrive in Paris at 6 pm.

1.3. spontaneous actions

Hang on! I'll have a word with you.

2. Signal words

no unambiguous ones

3. Form

will + infinitive

4. Examples

4.1. Affirmative sentences in the will-future

Long forms	Contracted forms
I will win the match.	I'll win the match.
You will win the match.	You'll win the match.
He will win the match.	He'll win the match.

4.2. Negative sentences in the will-future

Long forms	Contracted forms
I will not win the match.	I'll not win the match.
	I won't win the match.
You will not win the match..	You'll not win the match.
	You won't win the match.
He will not win the match.	He'll not win the match.
	He won't win the match.

4.3. Questions in the will-future

Long forms	Contracted forms
Will I win the match?	not possible
Will you win the match?
Will he win the match?

The adverbs in English Grammar – Summary

1. The adverbs and the adjectives in English

Adjectives tell us something about a person or a thing. Adjectives can modify nouns (here: girl) or pronouns (here: she).

Adverbs tell us in what way someone does something. Adverbs can modify verbs (here: drive), adjectives or other adverbs.

adjective	adverb
Mandy is a careful girl.	Mandy drives carefully.
She is very careful.	She drives carefully.

Mandy is a careful driver. This sentence is about Mandy, the driver, so use the adjective.

Mandy drives carefully. This sentence is about her way of driving, so use the adverb.

2. Form

Adjective + -ly

adjective	adverb
dangerous	dangerously
careful	carefully
nice	nicely
horrible	horribly
easy	easily
electronic	electronically

Irregular forms:

adjective	adverb
good	well
fast	fast
hard	hard

If the adjective ends in -y, change -y to -i. Then add -ly:

• happy – happily

but:

• shy – shyly

If the adjective ends in -le, the adverb ends in -ly:

• terrible – terribly

If the adjective ends in -e, then add -ly:

• safe – safely

► Not all words ending in -ly are adverbs:

• adjectives ending in -ly: friendly, silly, lonely, ugly
• nouns, ending in -ly: ally, bully, Italy, melancholy
• verbs, ending in -ly: apply, rely, supply

There is no adverb for an adjective ending in -ly.

3. Use of adverbs

3.1. to modify verbs

The handball team played badly last Saturday.

3.2. to modify adjectives

It was an extremely bad match.

3.3. to modify adverbs

The handball team played extremely badly last Wednesday.

3.4. to modify quantities

There are quite a lot of people here.

3.5. to modify sentences

Unfortunately, the flight to Dallas had been cancelled.

4. Types of adverbs

4.1. Adverbs of manner

• quickly
• kindly

4.2. Adverbs of degree

• very
• rather

4.3. Adverbs of frequency

• often
• sometimes

4.4. Adverbs of time

• now
• today

4.5. Adverbs of place

• here
• nowhere

5. How do know whether to use an adjective or an adverb?

John is a careful driver. – In this sentences we say how John is – careful. If we want to say that the careful John did not drive the usual way yesterday – we have to use the adverb:

• John did not drive carefully yesterday.

Here is another example:

• I am a slow walker. (How am I? → slow → adjective)
• I walk slowly. (Ho do I walk? → slowly → adverb)

6. Adjective or Adverb after special verbs

Both adjectives and adverbs may be used after look, smell and taste. Mind the change in meaning.

Here are two examples:

adjective	adverb
The pizza tastes good. (How is the pizza?)	Jamie Oliver can taste well. (How can Jamie Oliver taste?)
Peter's feet smell bad. (How are his feet?)	Peter can smell badly. (How can Peter smell?)

Do not get confused with good/well.

• Linda looks good. (What type of person is she?)
• Linda looks well. (How is Linda? – She may have been ill, but now she is fit again.)
• How are you? – I'm well, thank you.

One can assume that in the second/third sentence the adverb well is used, but this is wrong – well can be an adjective (meaning fit/healthy), or an adverb of the adjective good.

Conclusion:

• Use the adjective when you say something about the person itself.
• Use the adverb, when you want to say about the action.

The adjectives

The adjectives in English Grammar – Summary

1. What are adjectives?

Adjectives tell us something about a person or a thing.

2. What do adjectives modify?

Adjectives can modify nouns or pronouns/names.

person	thing
Mandy is a careful girl.	This is a nice car.
Mandy is careful.	The car is nice.
She is careful.	It is nice.

3. Where do adjectives go?

An adjective can be put before the noun. Then it is an attribute.

person	thing
Mandy is a careful girl.	This is a nice car.

An adjective can be put after the verb to be (is). This is called predicative position.

person	thing
The girl is careful.	This car is nice.

Adjectives can go after the following verbs:

• appear
• become
• feel
• get
• go
• keep
• turn

When we speak about what something looks like, smells, sounds and tastes – we use the adjective. Mind the difference between adjective and adverb.

• I feel great.
• She looks good.
• It seems impossible.
• The steak smells fantastic.

4. Can adjectives be used without nouns?

Yes, adjectives can be used without nouns. Mind the definite article the:

• the rich = rich people

Here is an example from the fairy tale Cinderella:

• “The good must be put in the dish, the bad you may eat if you wish.”

Here is another example with nationalities in the plural:

• The Scottish live in the North of the United Kingdom.

5. Can two or more adjectives be used together?

Yes, if you use more adjectives you can put them in front of the noun:

• a fat old cat

or you can put them after the verb (e.g. to be). In this case and is placed between the last two adjectives.

• It was cold, wet and windy.

6. Adjectives, ending in -ing and -ed

There are adjectives ending in -ing and -ed. These are participle constructions, used like adjectives. Here are some examples:

A) Here the adjective is put before the noun:

• Yesterday I read an amusing story in a magazine.
• Doris has a boring job.
• We watched the group of excited people.

B) Here the adjective is put after the verb:

• I was not at all amused by the discussion.
• Children get bored very quickly.
• The end of the film was really exciting for me.

Relative pronouns

Relative pronouns –who, which, whose, that

When do we use the relative pronouns who, which, whose and that?

who → when we talk about people

which → when we talk about things

whose → instead of his/her or their

We also use that for who/which.

Question tags

Question tags in English

1. Use

frequently used in spoken English when you want someone to agree or disagree

2. Form

• positive statement → question tag negative → You are Tom, aren't you?
• negative statement → question tag positive → He isn't Joe, is he?

3. Examples

3.1. with auxiliaries

• You've got a car, haven't you?

3.2. without auxiliaries (don't, doesn't, didn't)

• They play football on Sundays, don't they?
• She plays football on Sundays, doesn't she?
• They played football on Sundays, didn't they?

Questions tags are used to keep a conversation going. You can agree or refuse to a sentence with a question tag.

• Affirmative sentence: He is from Germany, isn't he?
• Negative sentence: He isn't from Germany, is he?

Possible answers are Yes or No. If you use Yes, do not use contracted forms. If you use No, contracted form are possible.

• Yes, he is.
• No, he is not. or No, he isn't. or No, he's not.

4. Special points

4.1. Although the negative word not is not in the sentence, the sentence can be negative. Then we use the positive question tag.

• He never goes out with his dog, does he?

4.2. If have is a main verb in the sentence and refers to states, there are two possible sentences – We have a car, _____?

• We have a car, haven't we? mostly British English
• We have a car, don't we? mostly American English

4.3. Use will/would with imperatives (Simple Present).

• Open the window, will you?
• Open the window, would you?
• Don't open your books, will you?

4.4. We use won't with a polite request.

• Open the window, won't you?

4.5. We use shall after Let's.

• Let's take the next bus, shall we?

4.6. Auxiliary must

We must be at home at 8 pm, mustn't we?

• Yes, we must.
• No, we needn't.

4.7. Personal pronoun I

I am late, aren't I?

This form is commonly used (mostly informal). It is because there is no contracted form for am + not (amn't). Grammatically correct would be: am I not. This is only used in formal situations.