the chapters:

1) people
2) things
3) animals
4) house
5) landscapes
6) body, clothes and care
7) jobs and tools
8) transport
9) town and society
10) food and drink
11) culture
12) History

this is the front page. On this page you will find.
column 1) pronunciation,  the different types of words
column 2) example of exercises to do, grammar: the sentence structures, the numbers

instructions:
print this page and put it in a folder under "grammar intermediate". You can work in A4 or A5. A PDF download will soon be available.

material: a definitions dictionary Merriam webster or similar www.merriam-webster.com/ , a print out of the course, colouring pencils, folder, paper, a book that you like. You can work on the computer or with paper.

Do not work for more than 3 hours a week per chapter. Do not worry if you don't complete the exercises because they are difficult. It is important that you go through all the chapters in 3-4 months. Then you can come back later for revisions and finish the exercises because after  a while, you find them much easier.

We are not available for personal tutorial, however, if you have questions, you can send us an email at zebras54@yahoo.co.uk reference "ESL intermediate".

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The Alphabet

ABC Song

by  

A phonics song to help children learn the letter sounds. Written and performed by AJ Jenkins Copyright 2009: All rights reserved For MP3s ...

by KidsTV123 |

pronunciation: 

in English pronunciation of some letters does not follows the same rules for each word. - you need to learn how the word is written and how it is spoken

that is why we are using the phonic alphabet in the vocabulary section

vowels:

/a/ - varies

/è/ - varies

/*/ (neutral sound    -er -or   at the end of a noun

/ö/ varies (rare sound)

/é/: words ending with "et",

/i/, varies

/o/

/oy/ oy

/ay/ ay,

/ou/ varies

/au/ ow, w

consonants

/b/ b

/d/ d

/f/ f, ph

/g/ g+a, o, u, e, i, y

/k/ k, or c+a,o, u and qu+e, i, y

/kv/ qu + a, o

/s/ ss between two vowels, s after a vowel AND before consonant), s at the beginning of a word, c+e, i, y, s at end of word, 

/z/ z, s between two vowels

/dž/" j" at the beginning of a word,  "g" at the beginning of word followed by "i" or "e"  some other  j and g 

/š/ sh, the "c" in "cean" and the "t" in "tion"

/č/ ch,  tch, tsh

/t/ t,

/y/ y

/pause/ - h as a consonant on its own (not preceded by c or p - h makes a vowel sound longer.

/th/ - after a, o, u pronounced in a broader way, like that , after e, i, pronounced in a softer way like this

Pronoun

a pronoun is a word that can take the place of a noun.

"Thing" and "person" and "location" are not exactly pronouns because they need an article you can use them to replace a noun if you can't remember its name but do not forget

personal pronouns nominative (subject) answers the question "who"
I	we
you	you
he/she/it	they

personal pronouns accusative (complement) answers the question "whom"
me	us
you	you
him, her, it	them

personal pronouns dative answers the question "to whom"
to me	to us
to you	to you
to him, to her, to it	to them

personal pronouns genitive form answers the question "whose?"
mine	ours
yours	yours
his, hers,  NOUN's *	theirs

* whose book is this? This is Jack's.

the pronouns in English are: I, you (singular), he (masculine person),

she (female person), it (object), we, you (plural), they
This + is/ these + are / this and these are also pronouns, we call them demonstrative pronouns.
The English pronouns have a limited declension between pronouns used as subject (nominative) and object (accusative), the dative forms are derived from the accusative with a preposition in front of them.
the genitive form answers the question "whose"

Article

an article is a small word that tells you how many units of noun there are, and what gender the noun is. Numbers and portions can be used as articles.

personal pronouns and possessive articles
I  -> my	We --> our
You  --> your	You  --> your
He/ --> his She --> her It  --> its	They --> their

genitive - If you want to say that an object belongs to a noun, you add: 's to the noun referring to the  "owner". or a preposition (usually of)

The neighbour's dog. 

If the owner ends with an "s" (for example plural) , you only add ':

the neighbours' dog.

sometimes "of" is used as part of an article

"of"

• substance ("a wheel of cheese")
• elements ("a group of men")
• source ("a portion of the food")
• participation (the love of music)
• origin (men of Rome, origins of Mankind)
  
• reference (the capital of Switzerland is Berne)
• description (the first day of summer)

A noun

A noun is a word to name a person, a place or thing.

Common nouns are the names for things we can see and touch. Abstract nouns are the names for things we cannot see and touch (for example, an idea).

Proper nouns are the special names, used for a person, a place or a thing. A proper noun starts with a capital letter. In some instances, you need to start an ordinary noun with capital letter (dates, seasons)

The noun in English are genderless, and there is no declension. The spelling of a noun only changes when you need to express the plural form.
compounds nouns derived from genitive  (the day of doom --> doomsday (check dictionary)

Adjectives

an adjective is a word that describes a noun or a pronoun. It can also describe who the noun or the pronoun belongs to or how many there are. The spelling of the adjective never changes. Adjectives referring to a nationality start with a capital letter. (English).

In English, the adjective is placed before the noun or after the verb "to be" --> this is a blue triangle / the triangle is blue.

some useful adjectives:

colours - black, red, blue, green, yellow, white, pink, brown, neutral,,

human adjectives: happy, sad, injured, ill, disabled, angry, tired, OK, mad, happy, crying, chatty, sad, afraid, confused, furious, shy, embarrassed, inventive, excited, approving, opposed, funny, ill, cheeky, diligent, loving, nice, surprised, curious, disgusted, contemptuous, evil, injured, oppressed, stupid, serene, asleep, greedy, didactic

Verb

A verb is a word that is used to tell what a person or thing does. Verbs change according to who is involved. Verbs change according to when they take place. 

 TO BE  on its own  provides no action to a sentence: the subject complement re-identifies the subject; the adjective complement modifies it.

ACTIONS - The verb “To be” most frequently works in conjunction with another verb: “He is going into the house."  “ the other verb is in the "GERUND" form. In English, the GERUND form is VERB-ing
TO GO - Gerund form: go+ing = going. Present continuous: I am going. Constructions with gerund are typical of the English language.

Present Tense to be
I am	We are
You are	You are
He/She/It/this is	They/these are

TO GO (present continuous)

Present continuous of TO GO
I am going	We are going
You are going	You are going
He/She/It is going	They are going

Present Tense to wear (clothes, cosmetics, prosthetics)
I am wearing	We are wearing
You are wearing	You are wearing
He/She is wearing	They are wearing

Present Tense to carry
I am carrying	We are carrying
You are carrying	You are carrying
He/She/It is carrying	They/these are carrying

Present Tense to put on (clothes, cosmetics, prosthetics)
I am putting on	We are putting on
You are putting on	You are putting on
He/She is putting on	They/these are putting on

Present continuous of TO take off (clothes, cosmetics, prosthetics)
I am taking off	We are taking off
You are taking off	You are taking off
He/She is going taking off	They are taking off

Present Tense to have
I have	We have
You have	You have
He/She, it, this  has	They/these have

present continuous and simple present
In the English language, there are two forms of present. The present continuous describes an action that is happening now. The simple present describes an action that is a habit.

If we say, "The worker is using a machine", we mean that the activity is happening NOW, but perhaps this worker does not do that all the time.
present continuous. subject + to be (present) + gerund
Now, I am going to school.

If we say, "The worker uses a machine.", we mean that "NORMALLY" she does this and is doing this activity now.

If you have words such as: Once a week (or month, year, day, minute etc), normally, habitually, every + indication of time, you use the simple present.
simple present   subject + verb in present form.
Every day, I go to school.



to do for activities
Use the verb 'do' to express daily activities or jobs. Notice that these are usually activities that produce no physical object.

to do homework. to do nothing. to do something.
and in these expressions:

'Make' for Constructing, Building, Creating

Use 'make' to express an activity that creates something that you can touch. ex: to make a picture. 

Present Tense to do (simple present) gerund form is: doing
I do	We do
You do	You do
He/She, it, this  does	They/these do

Present Tense to make (simple present) gerund form is: making
I make	We make
You make	You make
He/She, it, this  makes	They/these make

In the English language, there are two forms of present. The present continuous describes an action that is happening now. The simple present describes an action that is a habit.

If we say, "The worker is using a machine", we mean that the activity is happening NOW, but perhaps this worker does not do that all the time.
If we say, "The worker uses a machine.", we mean that "NORMALLY" she does this and is doing this activity now.

If you have words such as: Once a week (or month, year, day, minute etc), normally, habitually, every + indication of time, you use the simple present.

If in doubt, use the present continuous.

Adverb

How to form an adverb - An adverb is a word that describes a verb. Usually it describes how, where, when or how often it happens. The spelling of an adverb never changes.   

http://www.englishclub.com/grammar/adverb-form.htm

We make many adverbs by adding -ly to an adjective, for example:

• quick (adjective) > quickly (adverb)
• careful (adjective) > carefully (adverb)
• beautiful (adjective) > beautifully (adverb)

There are some basic rules about spelling for -ly adverbs. See the table below:

Adjective ending	do this	adjective	adverb
most adjectives	add -ly	quick nice sole careful	quickly nicely solely carefully
-able or -ible	change -e to -y	regrettable horrible	regrettably horribly
-y	change -y to -ily	happy	happily
-ic	change -ic to -ically	economic	economically

But not all words that end in -ly are adverbs. The words friendly, lovely, lonely and neighbourly, for example, are all adjectives.

And some adverbs have no particular form. Look at these examples:

• well, fast, very, never, always, often, still

An adverb gives an indication of time, place, manner or quantity

Examples :

time : Marie is coming today.

manner: He treated us very kindly,

place: During their visit, they will come here.

quantity : I  have enough food in the house.

There are also adverbial expressions (two or more words)

Example : Please reply at once.

some common adverbs:

not  (negative form) place "not" just after the verb.  

I am going out. --->  I am not going out. 

He is in the house -> He is not in the house. He isn'tin the house.

I know -->   I do not know. (you can also write: I don't know),

very
  so

almost
throughout
approximately
unfortunately

often
together
for nothing
today
tomorrow
yesterday
at once

hopefully
of course
really
apparently
  surely
eventually
probably, maybe

Do not use more than two adverbs in one sentence!!

Preposition

A preposition is a word that links one noun or a pronoun to another one. Prepositions often describe where someone or something is, or where it is moving towards, or where it is moving towards. 

I live in Belfast

I am in the house.  (no action, no movement)
I am going into the house (an action, a movement)

The garden is outside the house. (no action, no movement)
I am going out of the house  (an action, a movement)

of --> see section on articles.

Or

a particle that you can find after a verb that changes its meaning.

to go - to make a movement from A to B (usually it's followed by "to"
I'm going to the house)
to go out (= to leave)
to go into: (= to enter)

A conjunction is a word to join two parts of sentences or two words together. Conjunctions are used when you want to make lists, or comparisons, or explain things with two sentences. The spelling of a conjunction never changes.

Expressions and proverbs

An expression is a group of words that never changes. A proverb is a sentence that never changes. A quote is a group of words that someone has used before and you need put them into "...." . An interjection is a single word expression and it doesn't need a full sentence.

To make and to do:
expressions with To make and to do

make plans
make an exception
make arrangements
make a telephone call
make a decision
make a mistake
make noise
make money
make an excuse
make an effort

do one's best

do good
do harm
do a favour
do business

exercises for each chapter

listen to a text on TTS

TTS Voice presented by animated speaking characters will read the text in the most realistic, human-sounding way in a variety of languages: English

then read it.
then:
choose 10 lines of text.
1)  vocabulary and grammar
write down the definition of the words in red. 

2) analysing the types of words with the "colour coding exercise".
The colour-coding exercise helps you to write sentences and understand the written language.

Pronoun, Article (including numbers) , noun, Adjective, Verb, adverb, Preposition, Conjunction, Expressions and proverbs
In the morning, Mary Elizabeth was woken at six o'clock. She would dress herself quickly because before breakfast she and the other girls would have to clean the dormitories and empty the sooty fireplace. Breakfast was either bread and milk, or porridge. After breakfast were the morning lessons. Mary Elizabeth was taught many practical tasks such as sewing and cleaning and a little reading and writing. This would have helped her because when she reached the age of thirteen she would go to work as a servant in a big house.
Lunch would be very basic,  although three times a week, the foundlings would have a portion of meat. After lunch would be more lessons until four o'clock. Mary Elizabeth did have some time to play because the governors of the Foundling Hospital thought it was important for the foundlings to enjoy fresh air and exercise in the courtyard. There would also be time for Mary Elizabeth to sing Foundling hymns and say her prayers. She would have had a supper of bread and cheese and had to be in bed by eight o'clock.

3) talking about a text using the "sentence structures"
The sentence structure exercise allows you to find and share information within the text.
Sentence structures:
subject - who
verb - what happens
circumstantial complement of time - "when"
circumstantial complement of place - "where"
circumstantial complement of manner - "why"
genitive - "whose" or "of what"
indirect object-

a direct object and an object complement/aposition:
relative clause
A subordinate clause
adverbs give indication of manner, time, place 

example:
the Foundling Girl by Anne Hoskins (2008)
The Coram Foundling Museum - London

In the morning, Mary Elizabeth was woken at six o'clock. She would dress herself quickly because before breakfast she and the other girls would have to clean the dormitories and empty the sooty fireplace. Breakfast was either bread and milk, or porridge. After breakfast there were the morning lessons. Mary Elizabeth was taught many practical tasks such as sewing and cleaning and a little reading and writing. This would have helped her because when she reached the age of thirteen she would go to work as a servant in a big house.
Lunch would be very basic, although three times a week, the foundlings would have a portion of meat. After lunch would be more lessons until four o'clock. Mary Elizabeth did have some time to play because the governors of the Foundling Hospital thought it was important for the foundlings to enjoy fresh air and exercise in the courtyard. There would also be time for Mary Elizabeth to sing Foundling hymns and say her prayers. She would have had a supper of bread and cheese and had to be in bed by eight o'clock.


when you are finished, read the text again

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grammar: sentence structures

models of sentences

subject - who
verb - what happens
circumstantial complement of time - "when"
circumstantial complement of place - "where"
circumstantial complement of manner - "why"
genitive - "whose" or "of what"
indirect object-

a direct object and an object complement/aposition:
relative clause
A subordinate clause
adverbs give indication of manner, time, place
this section will help you build sentences of your own. For people who are learning a "case based" language (eg. German), you may find some comments in here quite handy.


it's a quote by a French guy called Vauvenargues. He is well known for it, very few people know who he is. He brings the whole business straight to the point.

If you want to express yourself, you want to be as clear as possible.

if you imagine that the words you learnt so far plus some bits and bobs called "punctuation" are part of a construction kit, and you want to create a complete object. Let's imagine we would like to build a train from the kit pieces that we have...

then let's get started!

A train consists of an engine, energy supply and waggons which are all linked and run smoothly. A train is an articulated entity. Same as a train, a sentence is an articulated entity because this is all about linking word structures in order to form an articulated language entity. All we need to know now, is how to link our various components from the kit and what to put on the waggons. Everything we load into this entity is a piece of information, and together they give the sentence a meaning. info+info+info+info = meaning

1) one word/sign sentence .
a one word sentence is given as a reply to another sentence or bits of conversation.
Yes. No. , 1. 2. 3. Perhaps. Red.
are all examples of one word sentences.
It you write it down as a sentence, you need to start with a CAPITAL letter and end with a full stop: .

Yes. ---> this is a one word sentence.
The rule of capital letters does not apply to pictures, graphics, emoticons and numbers.


No full stop after pictures and emoticons.

You can write everything in small letters if you are writing a draft, or in a style that does not use capital letters.

2) Titles, Captions and Lists




Titles, captions and expressions are a group of words. A title usually headlines something, a caption usually describes a picture and an _expression is a group of word that is quoted or used in general vocabulary.

A title does not use a full stop, but you should start all the nouns with a Capital letter.
ex: Titles, Captions, Lists


Caption:
a caption is anything descriptive and accompanies a picture, or a graphic


_> a child with a trainset

In printed media, you may find the caption written in a smaller size and perhaps in italic. However, you are free do improvise the best caption.

List
a list is a sequence of words, or expressions, or numbers, or pictures, or graphics, or whatever. You can separate each single item with punctuation (comma ,), numbers, signs (bullets, +). Usually, if you separate the items with a comma, then before the last one you add "and" or "or". This is not compulsory. If your list goes on and on then you can leave suspension marks (...) A list is introduced by ":"

The Tears: Here come The Tears: Refugees, Autograph, Co-Star, Imperfection (....) A love as strong as Death.

or
The Tears: Here come The Tears:
Refugees, Autograph, Co-Star ...

or
The Tears: Here come The Tears
1) Refugees
2) Autograph
3) Co Star
...

3) Expressions/Quotes/Brackets/Proverbs

"Keep off the grass". He said: "Red". "Time is money".

Postmodern philosopher Jacques Derrida said that he believed everything we say is a quote and that we have nothing original to say.
Postmodern philosopher Jacques Derrida said: "I believe everything we say is a quote and that we have nothing original to say.".
(apologies because I don't know the exact quote).

If you don't know where to put an additional but not too relevant piece of information in your sentence, then you can use a bracket:
The cat is in the kitchen. (the black cat)
or you can use a more modern: -
the cat - black - is in the kitchen.

For learners, brackets can also be handy if you are not sure about the conjugaison of the verb. I (to go - past tense) to the shop. This way you don't lose what you wanted to express in the first place. It's not perfect but it's a great help. If you are not sure about how a word is spelt you can have a bracket like this: (?) beautifull (?) (?) also says that you who is writing this sentence may not know what this word means. Therefore someone who will read it will be able to correct you.

(!) means: "I find this funny".
(sic) means: "Ironic"

Not all sentences end with full stop. Some of them end with ... (incomplete), or ? (question) or ! (exclamation)

4) basic sentence

the basic sentence is the subject and the verb. The equivalent to the trainset is the engine that you get moving.

For those who study a language that is "case based" (eg German), the subject is known as "nominative". Every word in the dictionary is given in the nominative form.

(capital letter) SUBJECT+VERB (full stop), (suspension points), (exclamation marks).

If you end your sentence with a question mark : ? then check out if the position of SUBJECT and VERB are affected. (cf grammar rule).

The SUBJECT is:
Name
or (nominative) Pronoun
or (nominative)Article + noun
or Article+adjective+noun

Most sentences like this do not give much information. You only get to know who and what kind of action is involved.

He runs.

Basic sentence plus expressions/List/quotes/brackets/proverbs

SUBJECT+VERB+ : expressions/List/quotes/brackets/proverbs

The songs are: "Refugees", "The Ghost of You"...

5) Basic sentence plus adjective attribute/circumstancial complements

an attribute is an adjective or any kind of description. Attributes are always in the nominative form and basically mean "=" or ":". Such sentences are easy to construct.

This sentence means nothing. (sentence = nothing to me)
The cat is black (the cat: black. It's a black cat)
You are welcome to add as many attributes you want.
The cat is black, old, tame and mine .
The man is a long-distance runner and a British champion.

Circumstancial complements
Circumstancial complements give us a clue about time, manner and location. They are placed either at the beginning of the sentence or at the end.
circumstantial complement of time - "when"
circumstantial complement of place - "where"
circumstantial complement of manner - "why/how

Circumstancial complement (comma), +subject+verb.
Subject+Verb+attribute+(comma)+circumstancial

In the old days, he said: "nothing like a good log fire". (In the old days is circumstancial of time) usually time information (when) are at the front of the sentence.

He spoke in a kind manner. ("in a kind manner" is a circumstancial of manner, and answers the question: how)

He lives in London.
("in london" is circumstancial of location)

the only exception to this is if your circumstancial information is an adverb, you can build a structure like this:
Subject+Adverb+Verb or Subject+verb+adverb
I really do. ("really" is an adverb and puts an emphasis on "I do", hence it answers the question "how"?)

time : Marie is coming today.

manner: He treated us very kindly,

place: During their visit, they will come here.

6) basic sentece with direct object complements

A direct object is the receiver of action within a sentence, as in "He hit the ball."

Be careful to distinguish between a direct object and an object complement/aposition:

• They named their daughter Natasha.

In that sentence, "daughter" is the direct object and "Natasha" is the object complement, which renames or describes the direct object.
they answer the questions "what" and/or "whom". They are not the subject of the sentence.
The only thing you have to worry about it to remember to place the direct object complement directly after the verb. Any circumstancial complement (see above) is relegated after it or in front of the sentence. Do not worry, there is no chance you will have attribute and direct object complement in the same sentence because these attributes are only introduced by TO BE or TO FEEL, TO SEEM, TO MEAN,

I have a cat means : "I" is in the possession of a cat.
I am giving  a present means: "I" is in the process of giving something.

you can make your direct complement as simple or complex as you want.
I have a cat which is black. (= I have a cat and the cat is black)
I have a cat, a dog, a rabbit, a horse... (list)
The owner of the castle owns 15.000 acres of land.

7) Indirect object complement.

The indirect object identifies to or for whom or what the action of the verb is performed. The direct object and indirect object are different people or places or things. The direct objects in the sentences below are in green; the indirect objects are in yellow.

• The teacher gave A's. to his students
• Grandfather left all his money to Stephen and Laura
• Melissa sold  her boat to me
  

SUBJECT+VERB+DIRECT OBJECT COMPLEMENT+INDIRECT OBJECT COMPLEMENT.

Any circumstancial complement gets relegated to the front or to the very end of the sentence.

Yesterday, he gave a present to his brother.
a present: direct object complement
to his brother: indirect object complement.
he: subject
gave: past form of verb "to give"
yesterday: circumstancial complement of time.

propositions are coming after the next segment.

8) joining sentences/complex sentences

A simple sentence has one verb in it. A complex sentence can have more than one verb.
For example you can do a list of actions: .
He runs, walks. jumps, falls....
(rules for lists apply)


The cat is black - the dog is white
you can link two different sentences with a ; or a coordination conjunction (but, however, or, and, therefore, because, either... or, neither... nor) or with a "-"
The cat is black; the dog is brown.
The cat is black and the dog is brown.
The cat is black - the dog is brown


relative clauses introduced by which, who, why, that etc

that which whichever

who whoever whom

whose whosever whomever

you can use a verb with a relative clause. (within the subject or a complement)
The cat, which is black, ran away.
("which is black" is relative clause to the subject and fulfils the role of an adjective). Do not forget the commas: one before the relative clause starts and one after the relative clause stops

I found the reason why he left town. (He left town. I found out the reason why he did that)
I discovered a treasure that was buried in a field (the treasure was buried in a field. I discovered the treasure).
I met a man who said he knows your mother. (A man knows your mother. I met him. He told me that he knows your mother.)
etc
no more than 2 relative clauses in your sentences because it will feel heavy.

A subordinate clause—also called a dependent clause—will begin with a subordinate conjunction  and will contain both a subject  and a verb This combination of words will not form a complete sentence It will instead make a reader want additional information to finish the thought.

Here is a list of subordinate conjunctions:

after although as because before even if even though if in order that

once provided that rather than since so that than that though unless

until when whenever where whereas wherever whether while why

He is coming for lunch  after he has done his morning chores


Keep your sentences clear. If relative clauses and subordinate clauses make your sentence difficult to understand, avoid them.

10) Paragraph
Sentences are arranged in a paragraph. If you feel like you have written enough sentences to give the paragraph a meaning of its own, then you can start another one. Simple rules to make texts easy to understand are: keep most sentences to 10 words maximum, write at most two  complex sentence, and do not put more than 5 small sentences (or 3 long ones) in a paragraph.

.
cardinal numbers (for counting)
0 = zero
1 = one
2 = two
3 = three
4 = four
5 = five
6 = six
7 = seven
8 = eight
9 = nine
10 = ten
11 = eleven
12 = twelve,
13 = thirteen
14 =fourteen
15 = fifteen)
16 = sixteen
17 = seventeen
18 = eighteen,
19 = nineteen,
20 = twenty
21 = twenty-one
22 = twenty-two
23 = twenty-three
24 = twenty-four
25 = twenty-five

1/4 = a quarter
1/3 = a third
1/2 = a half

ordinal numbers (for telling position)
1. = the first  or 1st
2. = the second or 2nd
3. = the third or 3rd
4. = the fourth or 4th
5. = the fifth
6. = the sixth
7. = the seventh
8. = the eighth
9. = the ninth
10. the tenth
11. the eleventh
12. the twelth,
13. the thirteenth
14.(the fourteenth
15. the fifteenth
16. the sixteenth
17. the seventeenth
18. the eighteenth,
19. the nineteenth,
20. the twentieth
21. the twenty-first
22. the twenty-second
23. the twenty-third
24. the twenty-fourth
25. the twenty-fifth

the last