Mumbai

My condolences to the people of India where the scourge of terrorism once again has struck at the innocent. In contrast to this horror, past random acts of God and nature have resulted in much larger numbers of those dead, as we have seen recently with tsunamis and earthquakes, but when human beings--in this case, terrorists--decide for themselves who will die, they have chosen to become the instrument of destruction, and in some way pretend to be God-like. That is truly horrifying and despicable.�

Gerunds

Today's featured lesson is on gerunds. Gerunds are words that look like verbs with their "ing" ending, but they function more like nouns. Here's a simple example:

Riding a bike is a good way to help protect the environment.

The word "riding" is a gerund. The singular verb that matches it is "is." When gerunds are in the position of the subject, they are always singular.

Gerunds often appear after words describing time or in adverbial phrases:

Before going to sleep, I set my alarm.

When working on her computer, she likes to listen to the radio.

After winning five games in a row, the football team finally lost one last night.

As you can see, a gerund follows each expression of time. The first part of the sentence is a dependent clause, the second part following the comma is the independent clause. �

More examples of infinitives

I often have to remind my students that infinitives are very useful because they can help explain why someone does something. Look at this sentence:

I'm going to go to the store to get some milk.

Why am I going to go to the store? To get some milk.

I think the problem for many students is that they see the word "to" in so many different places, it causes some confusion. In the first part of that sentence, there's the "going to" future in which the main verb is "go." Then there's a prepositional phrase, "to the store." Finally, the infinitive explains my reason for going to the store. Look at the sentence again:

I'm going to go to the store to get some milk.

Clearly there are three different ways in which the word "to" gets used. Here are a few more examples of sentences that use infinitives in the same manner?

She has to drive to Iowa to see her mother.

They walked outside to get some fresh air.

The students stayed after class to ask their teacher some questions. �

Conjunctions

If you can learn how to use conjunctions properly, you can be a better communicator in English. The most common conjunction, "and," doesn't get as much attention as it deserves. It's good to know when to use it and when not to use it. Here are some examples:

Harold and Brooke are getting married. ("and" creates a compound subject)

She likes to sing and dance. ("and" creates a compound verb)

My computer is kind of slow, and it keeps on crashing. (compound sentence)

To learn more about how to use "and" and other conjunctions, click here.

The "going to" future tense

Another way of making the future tense is to use (be) going to. The verb "be" will change depending on the subject, then use "going to," and then the simple form of the verb after that. This is an extremely popular way of expressing the future, so learn this well. Most Americans blend "going" and "to" and say "gonna."

A: How are you going to go home?


B: I'm going to take the bus.



A: What time are you going to go to work?


B: I'm going to be there before 6:00.



While it might be possible to use "will" instead, that would sound kind of strange in the examples above. The "going to" future sounds very relaxed and natural.�

Will

The modal verb "will" is used to make the future tense. It's often used with contractions. The sentences below show how to make contractions with pronouns.

Maria will go to work tomorrow. She'll go to work tomorrow.

Bob will look at some new cars today. He'll look at some new cars today.

The weather will be cold this evening. It'll be cold this evening.

John and Sarah will be there. They'll be there.

To make a question, put the verb "will" before the subject:

Will I need to wear a heavy coat today?

Will you go with me?

One other use for "will" that you must know about is that it's used when someone volunteers to help. In this case, using the "going to" future (which we will look at tomorrow) isn't a good choice.

Do you need help with that heavy box? I'll help you.

We'll bring some pop to the party.

I'll get the phone.

She'll answer the door. �

Some / Any

"Some" and "any" are used before nouns as indefinite amounts:

They needed some help. (affirmative)

They didn't need any help. (negative)

It's easy to forget that "any" is used with the negative. As for "some," remember that we often put that word in front of nouns when making a statement.

I saw interesting birds at the zoo. (not so good)

I saw some interesting birds at the zoo. (much better!)

When making questions, it doesn't matter if you use "some" or "any," but I prefer "any."

Do you want some sugar with your coffee?

Do you want any sugar with your coffee?

Using "do" as a main verb

The verb "do" is a helping verb and a main verb. This causes a lot of confusion for students of English.

As a main verb, "do" appears as do, did, done, or doing. To make a question or the negative, add the helping verb (do, does, or did) to the simple form "do." What did you do yesterday? What do you do every day? I don't do anything on the weekend.

When using "do" as a main verb, it has special meanings--usually related to work:

I do a lot of cleaning on the weekend.

She did the dishes last night.

They do their homework when they get home.

In these sentences, "do" is not in the simple form. It's the main verb. �

Object Pronouns

A good knowledge of pronouns will make it easier for you to communicate in English. Today we're looking at object pronouns. Object pronouns receive some sort of action:

I gave my pencil to him.

She called me.

He likes her.

For more practice with object pronouns, you can go here. �

Commands

Today's lesson is on commands (or you can call it the "imperative form."). Commands are used when telling someone what to do. You use the simple form of the verb at the beginning of the sentence:

Give me your pen, please.

Take this.

Have a nice day!

A verb in the simple form begins each of these sentences. The implied subject is "you," but don't use it when making a command. For example, "You give me your pen," doesn't sound like good English. To make the negative, put "do not" or "don't" at the beginning of the command:

Don't push that button!

Don't be late!

Don't do that!�

Do vs. Did

Congratulations to Barack Obama who will become the 44th President of the United States on January 20th! We're lucky to have him as our next leader.

In Lesson Three in the Red Level, look at the difference between "do" and "did." They're both helping verbs, but one is used for the present tense (do) and the other is used for the past tense (did). If you understand that, and you understand how to use the simple form of the verb, you will develop very good control over your use of English.

Examples:

What do you eat for breakfast every day? (present tense: do + eat)

What did you eat for breakfast yesterday? (past tense: did + eat)

In both examples above, "eat" is in the simple form (eat/ate/eaten), and the helping verb determines the verb tense.

Do

The verb "do" is kind of like the steering wheel of a car. It controls the direction of a sentence or a question. English teachers often refer to it as the helping verb or the auxiliary verb. When used with the main verb verb, "do" indicates whether a sentence is positive or negative, or if it's a question. Lesson One in the Red Level looks at "do" in the present tense.

Here are some examples:

Do you eat breakfast every morning? (question)

helping verb: do / main verb: eat

No, I don't eat breakfast every morning. (negative: do + not)

helping verb: do / main verb: eat �

Do

Now comes the hard part: review. We're going to go through the Red Level again this month. Remember back in August when I laid out the schedule for studying English with my website? The Red Level is scheduled for the months of October and November. We will complete five lessons for the next four weeks. Tomorrow, Monday, we'll start with Lesson One, so if you're a new member to this website, this is a good time to catch up to everyone else.

Here's the schedule that I sent out in August:

September -- The Blue Level
October -- The Red Level
November -- The Red Level
December -- The Yellow Level
January -- The Yellow Level
February -- The Green Level
March -- The Green Level
April -- The Purple Level
May -- The Orange Level
June -- The Orange Level
July -- The Violet Level
August -- The Violet Level

As you can see, it will take a person a full year to go through the material on the website. If you try to do it too quickly, you'll have trouble remembering things. Just take your time and you will succeed in improving your English. �