TEFL
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Delexical verbs
Delexical verbs, also known as “light verbs” or “empty verbs,” are verbs that carry relatively little meaning on their own and are often used in conjunction with nouns or noun phrases to create specific verb-noun combinations. These combinations convey a more precise or nuanced meaning than the verb or noun would convey individually. In essence,…
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Noun phrase
A noun phrase is a grammatical construction that consists of a noun (or pronoun), which is the main element, along with other words that modify or provide additional information about the noun. Noun phrases are a fundamental building block of sentences in language, as they help describe and specify people, places, things, ideas, and more…
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To be or not to be…
The verb “to be” is one of the most important and fundamental verbs in the English language. It is used to indicate existence, identity, attributes, conditions, and more. The verb “to be” has several forms based on tense, mood, and subject agreement. Here are the primary forms of “to be”: These various forms of “to…
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Questions and negatives in the English language
In the English language, questions are sentences that seek information, clarification, or confirmation. They typically begin with question words (interrogative pronouns) such as “who,” “what,” “where,” “when,” “why,” and “how,” or they may use auxiliary verbs to invert the subject and the main verb. Questions often end with a question mark (?). Here are some…
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Modal verbs
Modal verbs are a category of auxiliary verbs used in English to indicate the attitude or modality of the speaker towards the action or state described by the main verb in a sentence. Modal verbs modify the meaning of the main verb, expressing various nuances such as possibility, necessity, ability, permission, suggestion, and obligation. These…
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Silent letters
A silent letter is a letter that appears in a word but is not pronounced when the word is spoken. Silent letters are commonly found in the English language and can be quite perplexing for learners. These letters are typically present due to historical reasons, etymology, or borrowed words from other languages. Silent letters can…
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Punctuation
Punctuation is the use of symbols in writing to clarify the meaning of text and to make it easier to read. In English, the most common punctuation marks are the period, the question mark, the exclamation point, the comma, the semicolon, the colon, the quotation marks, and the parentheses. Each of these marks serves a…
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Silent letters
Silent letters are letters in English words that are not pronounced, but are still written. They can make the spelling of words more difficult to learn, as they don’t follow the standard pronunciation rules. Some common silent letters include: These silent letters often have historical roots, and they serve to distinguish words with similar spellings,…
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Verb tenses
Verb tenses are the forms of verbs that are used to indicate the time frame in which an action or state of being occurs. In English, there are three main verb tenses: present, past, and future. Within each of these tenses, there are four verb forms: simple, continuous, perfect, and perfect continuous. The simple present…
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English grammar
English grammar is the set of rules that govern the structure of words, phrases, clauses, and sentences in the English language. It includes the rules for constructing and using nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, pronouns, and other parts of speech, as well as the rules for forming and punctuating sentences. English grammar is based on the…