ESL "Learning Conversational English"

Here in this lesson we will learn how to have an informal conversation and introducing a friend of ours. Practice Conversation: Who’s that tall woman next to Barbara? That’s her friend Mary. Didn’t you meet her at Steve’s party? No, I wasn’t at Steve’s party. Oh! Then let me introduce you to her now. Mary, this is my friend Jim. Hey Jim. Nice to meet you. You, too. Would you like a drink? Sure , let’s go get one. Conversation Breakdown: “ Who’s ” is the contracted form of who is. It is pronounced the same way as “whose” (/huwz/), but the meaning is different. • Didn’t you meet her …? Notice that this is a negative question. Charles thought that Jim had met Mary before. He is now surprised that Jim does not know Mary, and so he uses a negative question to show his surprise. • I wasn’t at Steve’s party. Notice that the emphasis here is on “at” although prepositions normally have weak stress. In this case, “at” means “there” (I wasn’t there). • Mary, this is my friend Jim. Th...

In questions that use Is  or Are,  it is possible to give short answers as follows. Always use this form to when asking questions with the verb  "to be ":  Are / Is + noun  + rest of the sentence Am I  early? Yes you  are . No  you're  not. Are you  busy? Yes  I am . No I'm  not. Are we  suppose to study tonight? Yes  we are . No  we're  not. Are they  hungry? Yes  they are . No  they're  not. Is he  late again? Yes  he is .  No  he's  not. Is she  home? Yes  she is .  No  she's  not. Is it going to rain today? Yes  it is .  No  it's  not.

You can give direct short answers to questions using "Do & Does". Present tense:  Do Past tense:  Did Do  I need a ticket? Yes, you  do .  No, you  don't .  Did   I need a ticket? Yes, you  did .  No, you  didn't .  Do  you want to play? Yes, I  do .  No, I  don't . Did  you want to play? Yes, I  did .  No, I  didn't .  Does  he have a car? Yes, he  does .  No, he  doesn't .  Did  he have a car? Yes, he  did .  No, he  didn't .  Does  she need a ride? Yes, she  does .  No, she  doesn't .  Did  she need a ride? Yes, she  did .  No, she  didn't .  Does  it make you happy? Yes, it  does . No, it  doesn't . Did  it make you happy? Yes, it  did . No, it  didn't .  Do  we need to go to school today? Yes, we  do . No, we  don't . Did...

The verb "To be" has two forms: " was " and " were " Examples: Affirmative I  was  home.  He  was  home.  She  was  home. It  was  a good day today.  You  were  home.  We  were  home.  They  were  home.   Examples: Negative Affirmative I  wasn't  home.  He  wasn't  home.  She  wasn't  home.  It  wasn't  a good day today.  You  weren't  home.  We  weren't  home.  They  weren't  home.  Creating Questions with  "To be" : You put the verb(was or were) before the subject. Examples:  Was  he home? Was  she home? Was  it a good day today? Were  you home yesterday? Were  we home yesterday? Were  they home yesterday? Always give short answers: Examples: Was  I late today? No, You were not.  Were  you home today? No, I was not.  Was...

Singular Nouns We use the verb " is " between two singular nouns. When explaining something, use for the form:  Noun + To Be + Noun Examples: English is a language. A car is a vehicle. Examples: Soda  is  a drink. Pizza  is  a food. A bird  is  an animal. The house  is  a place. Brazil  is  a country. Articles + Nouns 'A'  or  'An'  are articles. In English we use articles before singular nouns. 'A'  is used before a word that begins with a word that doesn't start with a vowel.  'An'  is used before a word that begins with a vowel. (a, o, i, e, u) Vowels use:  'An' . Consonants use:  'A' Examples: Peru is  a  country. An  orange is a fruit. A bird is  an  animal. The house is  a  place. Southwest is  an  airlines. Plural Nouns The plural noun is placed right before the  "are" . We do not use an article  (A / AN)  with a plural noun. ...

  How to form the Past Tense in English For every verb in English, there is only one form of it in the past tense. I  walked  home. He  fixed  the car. ( The exception is the  "Past tense of To Be" , which has two forms: " was"  and " were"  )   For example: The past tense of the verb  play  is  played .   Played  is used as the past tense for all subjects/pronouns. So you just have to learn one word to be able to use it in the past tense. In this case we just needed to learn the one word  play ed  which can be used for all subjects (or people). Past Tense Regular Verbs To change a regular verb into its past tense form, we normally add –ed to the end of the verb. play – play ed cook – cook ed rain – rain ed wait – wait ed Examples of sentences using regular verbs in the past tense: Last night I  played  my guitar. She  kissed  me. It  rained  yesterday. Angela  watched ...

When referring to (He, She, or It) or 3rd  person, use the present tense verb and add a  S  at the end. Use the form: Present Tense Verb + s Examples: Talk +  s She talks a lot. Play +  s He plays football. Rain +  s It rains  a lot . Irregular Verbs 1. If the verb ends in  SS ,  X ,  CH ,  SH  or the letter  O , we add +  ES  in the third person. Examples: Kiss + es = Kiss es           He kisses her. Fix + es  = Fix es         She fixes her makeup. Watch + es = Watch es           My friend watches soccer. Crash + es = Crash es           The car crashes horribly. Go + es  = Go es         The plate goes on the table. 2. If the verb ends in a  Y , drop the Y and add +  IES  in the third person. Examples: Carry - Carr +  ies = Carr ies         Th...

To make a question in English we normally use " Do "  or " Does " . It is normally put at the beginning of the question (before the subject). Example: You speak English. Do you speak English? He likes juice. Does  he like juice? Add  " Do"  or  "Does"  at the beginning of the sentence to make it a question. We use  " Do"  when the subject is  I ,  you ,  we  or  they .  We use  " Does"  when the subject is  he ,  she , or  it . Examples: Do  they run fast? Does  she have a dress? "DO NOT"  add an  "S"  at the end of the verb when referring to 3rd person and making these questions. Notice that these verbs in the example below does not have an  "S"  at the end. Examples: Does Jill and Scott  eat  together? Does he  walk  to school? Does she  exercise ? Does it  taste  good? Word Order of Questions with Do and Does Use this f...

We use the present progressive tense: 1. When somebody is doing something in the moment. I'm  eating  right now. He's  playing  football. She's  doing  her makeup. 2.  When something is happening at this moment.  When the action has started but hasn't finished. It's  raining  at the moment. The economy is  growing  at faster than ever. The children are  sleeping . 3.  To talk about something that is happening around the time of speaking but not necessarily at that exact moment. Sarah is  studying  for her exam. He's  winning  the race. We're  planning  a vacation. We use the  present progressive tense  for things that may change or are temporary. Examples: John is  living  in Denmark. Harry is  working  for a bank. You're  speaking  German. To create sentences using the progressive tense, use this form: Subject(To Be) + Present Tense Verb+ing ...

Use this when asking about a place or location. Use the form:  Where + Verb(To Be) + Noun Examples: Q: Where are you? A: I'm at home. Q: Where is the store? A: The store is down the street. Examples with subject pronouns: Where am  I ? You're at my cousin's house. Where are  you ? I'm at school. Where is  he ? He's at work. Where is  she ? She's at the mall. Where is  it ? It's over there on the table. Where are  we ? We're at the toy store. Where are  they ? They're at the football game. You can also ask where things or places are: Where are the apples? Where is the toy store? Remember: Is  + singular word Where is he ? Where is the bathroom ? Are  + plural word Where are the phones ? Where are they ?

Use the apostrophe  's  when expressing ownership or if there is a relationship between two things. Examples: The  dog's bone  is dirty. The  tree's branches  are falling. * The dog owns the bone. * The tree owns the branches. Singular Noun Add  's  to singular nouns. Examples: My  brother's  shirt is clean. Martha's  cat is hungry. Plural nouns ending in s Only add the apostrophe -' Examples: We went to my friends' party last night. I was at my cousins' house yesterday. Plural nouns not ending in s Only add the apostrophe - 's Examples: The  men's  restroom was very clean. The  children's  toys were all over the place. Singular nouns ending in -s Only add the apostrophe - 's Examples: The  actress's  role was very difficult. The  Davis's  car was not working toy.

To make a negative sentence in English we normally use  Don't  or  Doesn't  with all verbs EXCEPT  To Be  and  Modal verbs  (Can, might, should etc.). Affirmative: You speak English. Negative: You  don't  speak English. * We put the  don't   in between the subject and the verb.  We use  Don't  when the subject is  I ,  you ,  we  or  they . Example: Simple Present Tense I  don't  run. Subject = I Negative =   don't Verb = run Example: Simple Past Tense I didn't  run. Subject = I Negative =  didn't Verb = run When the subject is  he ,  she  or  it , we add  doesn't  between the subject and the verb to make a negative sentence. Notice that the letter  S  at the end of the verb in the affirmative sentence (because it is in third person) disappears in the negative sentence. Examples: Present Tense She  doesn't  want t...

Conjugation of Have and Go To Have  = To show possession or a quality I  have  ten dollars. You  have  nice shoes. She  has  a pretty dress. He  has  a cold. To Go  = to show movement or a place of destination. I need to  go  home. They don't  go  to school. He  goes  to the football games. She  goes  to the movies every Friday.  Word Order of Negative Sentences Subject + negative + verb + rest of the sentence I  don't  have money. He  doesn't  have food. She  doesn't  go to school. The toy  doesn't  go there. * To make a negative sentence in English with  To Have  and  To Go,  we use  Don't  or  Doesn't  followed by  Have  or  Go  (never use Has or Goes). We  don't have  school tonight. She  doesn't have  the pens. They  don't go  out often. The people  ...

Add a   "s"   to the end of the noun to make it plural. The car s  are fast. The toy s  are new. The phone s  are broken. Singular: Car, Toy, Phone Plural: Cars, Toys, Phones 1.  When the noun ends in S, SH, CH, X or Z*, we add  -ES  to the noun. Kiss es -  She gives me  kisses . Wish es -  I have many  wishes . Watch es -  He  watches  the news everyday. Fox es -  The  foxes  play with each other. Quizz es -  I don't like to take  quizzes . * With words that end in Z sometimes we add   an extra Z to the plural form of the word (such as with the plural of quiz). 2.  For plural nouns ending in  f  or  fe ,  remove the f or fe and  add  -ves Life - Li ves Wolf - wol ves Leaf - Lea ves Knife - Kni ves 3.  For consonants ending in  -y ,  remove the -y and  add -ies City - cit ies Baby - bab ies Party - part ies Story - stor ies 4. ...

Possessive adjectives are used to show possession or ownership of something. While we use them when we refer to people, it is more in the sense of relationship than ownership. Use  objects  when referring to ownership.   Use the form:   Possessive pronoun + object +   verb To Be +  rest of the sentence My  toys  are cool. Your  phone  is amazing. His  car  is fast. Use  people  when referring to relationship. My  girlfriend  is the best. His  father  is tall. Their  kids  are playful. Relationship:  His  mother bakes many cookies. Ownership:  My   dog  is sick. * Use to express relationship or ownership. Subjects pronouns:  I, You, He, She, It, We, They Possessive adjectives:  My, Your, His, Her, Its, Our, Their Examples: I  have a car. My  car is nice You  have a shirt. Your  shirt is blue. He  has a house. His  house...

1. Use this when something is near you. Use the  singular  form: This is +  rest of the sentence.  This is  a pretty car. This is  a good T.V. show. This is  an octopus. Use the  plural  form: These are +  rest of the sentence These are  pretty cars. These are  delicious fruits. These are  wild animals. 2. Use this when something is far away from you. Use  singular  form: That is +  rest of the sentence That is  a great book. That is  a black jacket. That is  a nice shirt. Use the  plural  form: Those are +  rest of the sentence Those are  cool shoes. Those are  dirty clothes. Those are  beautiful trees. Questions & Answers Q:  Is this  your toy? A: Yes, it is. Q:  Are these  her clothes? A: No, they're not . Q:  Is that  his watch? A: Yes, it is. Q:  Are those  my pencils? A: Yes, they are.

The seven basic pronouns have one form when they are used as subjects and another form when they are used as objects. Object pronouns:  Me , You , His , Her , Its , Us , Them Subject pronouns:  I ,  You , He , She , It , We , They Object pronouns are usually placed after the verb or the preposition. Prepositions:  for, with, to : Examples: She  pays   me .  ( Verb =  pays ,  Op =  me  )  He  cheats   us . ( Verb =  cheats , Op =  us  )   I   talk  to you . ( Proposition =  to , Op =  you  )   This gift is  for her.   ( Preposition =  for , Op =  her  )   I spoke  with him .  ( Preposition =  with ,  Op =  him  ) We use  object pronouns  to make the sentence more clearer to understand and to avoid repetition. Examples: She likes  him She walks with  us . Cats love  me . We want...

We use "there is" and "there are" to show that something exist. There is  a pencil. There are  ten fruits. There is   ( Singular ) There is  a   toy   over there . There is  a   store   down the street. There is  a   book   on the table. There are  ( Plural ) There are  many trees. There are  ten apples. There are  many cars. Contractions The contraction of  "there is"  is  there's . There's  more juice inside the cup. There's  more food on the table. You cannot contract  there are. There are  five dogs. There are  many bugs. Negative form The negative is formed by placing the  "no"  after  is  or  are . There are no  bananas to eat. There is no  water to drink.

When to use "I" Always use the pronoun " I " at the beginning of the sentence. The subject pronoun " I ", is always placed right before the verb: Examples: I  went to the store. I  slept well.  Sarah and  I  went to the movies. In the last example, when referring to you and another person. Always use this form: The name of the person +  I  + verb Examples: John and I  ate lunch together.   Jaddian and I  went to the beach.    Molly and I  worked together. When to use "Me" The object pronoun " me " , NEVER!!! begins at the beginning of a sentence. It always comes after the verb: Examples:   Do you like me? The ball hit me. The cat followed Sady and me to the kitchen.  In the last example, me, together with Sady, forms the object of the sentence.  Always use this form:     Noun + verb + " me "  Examples: They love  me . He trained  me .  She seen  me . or  Noun + verb +...