Used To…

‘Used to do’, ‘to be used to doing’, and ‘to get used to doing’ have different meanings. Here is a brief outline of each form:

Used to do

We use ‘used to’ for something that happened regularly in the past but no longer happens.

• I used to smoke a packet a day but I stopped two years ago.
• Ben used to travel a lot in his job but now, since his promotion, he doesn’t.
• I used to drive to work but now I take the bus.

We also use it for something that was true but no longer is.

• There used to be a cinema in the town but now there isn’t.
• She used to have really long hair but she’s had it all cut off.
• I didn’t use to like him but now I do.

 

To be used to doing

We use ‘to be used to doing’ to say that something is normal, not unusual.

• I’m used to living on my own. I’ve done it for quite a long time.
• Hans has lived in England for over a year so he is used to driving on the left now.
• They’ve always lived in hot countries so they aren’t used to the cold weather here.

To get used to doing

We use ‘to get used to doing’ to talk about the process of something becoming normal for us.

• I didn’t understand the accent when I first moved here but I quickly got used to it.
• She has started working nights and is still getting used to sleeping during the day.
• I have always lived in the country but now I’m beginning to get used to living in the city.

 

Genitive/Possessive Case

The Rules:

We normally use the ’s with people, animals though it can also be used with places, organizations and companies (which suggest a group of people).

It is not common to use the ’s with non-living things.

1. Singular nouns

add: ‘s (apostrophe S)

• My mother’s house is next to the beach. (= the house of my mother)
• Jason’s car was stolen last night. (= the car of Jason)
• Tomorrow, we’re all going to see the museum’s new art exhibit.

2. Plural nouns ending in –s

add: apostrophe ‘ (without the S)

• The two sisters’ house is next to mine. (= the house of the two sisters)
• The plumbers’ tools were rusty. (= the tools of the plumbers)
• The players’ boots were dirty and smelly after the game. (= the boots of the players)

Notice that the pronunciation is the same for certain possessives:

• My friend’s house = the house of my friend = 1 friend
• My friends’ house = the house of my friends = 2 or more friends

You can usually distinguish whether the speaker is referring to one or two friends by listening to the context of what the speaker says.

3. Plural nouns not ending in –s:

add: ‘s (apostrophe S)

• Be careful not to trip over the children’s toys. (= the toys of the children)
• The women’s bathroom is currently flooded with water.
• The presidential candidate is often called the people’s favorite politician.

4. Singular noun ending in –s:

It depends…
a. For most names add:  ‘s (apostrophe S)

• They had a really good time at James’s barbecue last Friday.
• We spent the day admiring Frances’s new car.

b. Classical or religious names add: apostrophe ‘ (only the apostrophe)

• Jesus’ disciples carried out the teachings of Jesus.
• Sophocles’ plays are still performed today.

5. Possessive nouns as part of a phrase

Sometimes more than one word/noun is a possessive. The same rules as above are still valid:

• The King of Sparta’s wife was called Helen.
• The President of Chile’s speech was very long.
• I accidentally took someone else’s bag home by mistake.
• I had to give my boss three weeks’ notice that I was leaving the company.

If there are two owners of something, we add: ‘s (apostrophe S) to the final name

• Rick and Steve’s car is quite old.

But, if each person owns a car, then add: ‘s (apostrophe S) to both names:

• Rick’s and Steve’s cars are quite old.

Notice how the verb is in plural form.

6. No Noun

If the meaning is clear, we can use the possessive without a noun after it.

• Her hair is longer than Jill’s. (= Jill’s hair)
• We ate at Billy’s last night. (= Billy’s Diner or Billy’s house)
• Whose bag is this? It’s Jane’s.  (= Jane’s bag)

Why, Why, Why??

Adverbs of Frequency

 

We use some adverbs to describe how frequently we do an activity.

These are called adverbs of frequency and include:

Frequency	Adverb of Frequency	Example Sentence
100%	always	I always go to bed before 11pm.
90%	usually	I usually have cereal for breakfast.
80%	normally / generally	I normally go to the gym.
70%	often* / frequently	I often surf the internet.
50%	sometimes	I sometimes forget my wife’s birthday.
30%	occasionally	I occasionally eat junk food.
10%	seldom	I seldom read the newspaper.
5%	hardly ever / rarely	I hardly ever drink alcohol.
0%	never	I never swim in the sea.

* Some people pronounce the ‘T’ in often but many others do not.

 

The Position of the Adverb in a Sentence

An adverb of frequency goes before a main verb (except with to be).

Subject + adverb + main verb
I always remember to do my homework.
He normally gets good marks in exams.

 

An adverb of frequency goes after the verb to be.

Subject + to be + adverb
They are never pleased to see me.
She isn’t usually bad tempered.

 

When we use an auxiliary verb (have, will, must, might, could, would, can, etc.), the adverb is placed between the auxiliary and the main verb. This is also true for to be.

Subject + auxiliary + adverb + main verb
She can sometimes beat me in a race.
I would hardly ever be unkind to someone.
They might never see each other again.
They could occasionally be heard laughing.

 

We can also use the following adverbs at the start of a sentence:

Usually, normally, often, frequently, sometimes, occasionally

• Occasionally, I like to eat Thai food.

BUT we cannot use the following at the beginning of a sentence:

Always, seldom, rarely, hardly, ever, never.

 

We use hardly ever and never with positive, not negative verbs:

• She hardly ever comes to my parties.
• They never say ‘thank you’.

We use ever in questions and negative statements:

• Have you ever been to New Zealand?
• I haven’t ever been to Switzerland. (The same as ‘I have never been Switzerland’).

We can also use the following expressions when we want to be more specific about the frequency:

– every day – once a month – twice a year – four times a day – every other week

Countable and Uncountable Nouns

 

1. Most nouns have singular and plural forms. They are countable nouns.

e.g. One letter, two letters

• There is a letter on the table for you. (singular)
• There are letters on the table for you. (plural)

2.  Some nouns only have one form. They are uncountable nouns.

e.g. Money

• There is no money in my bank account.
• There is a lot of money in my bank account. 

3.  Many uncountable nouns refer to substances:

e.g. Chocolate, water, coffee, milk, sugar, salt, cheese, bread, rice, wood, glass, plastic, soap, toothpaste.

• Do you have any chocolate?
• The milk is sour – let’s make cheese.
• Rice is only edible when it has been cooked.

4. Many uncountable nouns refer to abstract ideas or emotions.

e.g. love, sadness, happiness, education, knowledge, and grammar.

• Money can’t buy love.
• We like to experience happiness.
• This education is priceless.

5. You can use a/an with singular countable nouns.

e.g. an umbrella, a wheel, a mistake.

• It’s raining so I need an umbrella.
• I made a mistake.
• This is a job for superman.

6. You can use plural countable nouns alone.

e.g. apples, bees, clouds.

• There are clouds in the sky today.
• There are bees making honey.
• We eat apples for breakfast.

7. You can’t use an article with an uncountable noun.

e.g. time, sand, electricity.

• We need electricity to use our heater.
• I lost track of time and we stayed up very late.
• The beaches in Brazil have very nice sand.

8. It is very common in English to use some / any with plural nouns and uncountable nouns (

e.g. They don’t listen to any advice.

• We don’t have any toys for the children.
• There are many lessons in life, this is just one more.
• It is important to have some knowledge of grammar.

9. Some uncountable and countable nouns share a common theme but must be used differently, here are a few examples:

Countable	Uncountable
I’m looking for a job.	I’m looking for work.
What a beautiful view!	What beautiful scenery!
It’s a nice day today.	It’s nice weather today.
We had a lot of bags and suitcases.	We had a lot of luggage.
These chairs are mine.	This furniture is mine.
It was a good suggestion.	It was good advice.

Grammar Quiz

The BBC must know you’re studying.

Click on the link and test your grammar knowledge.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-22512744

Good luck!

Oh no! The passive voice…

The subject of a sentence featuring the passive voice denotes the recipient of an action; not the performer of an action like the active voice.

An example of the active voice is:

The police caught the thief
police=subject
caught=verb
thief=object

To turn that into the passive voice, the object (recipient of the action) becomes the subject.

eg. The thief was caught by the police

The passive voice is used to focus on the action (to catch) rather than on who performed the action (the police).

It would be possible to simply say; “The thief was caught” as it is unimportant, unknown or obvious who caught him.

The passive voice can be used in the present,past or future:

The thief is caught by the police
The thief was caught by the police
The thief will be caught by the police

Here’s a useful table with some more examples:

Tense		Subject	Verb	Object
Simple Present	Active:	Rita	writes	a letter.
	Passive:	A letter	is written	by Rita.
Simple Past	Active:	Rita	wrote	a letter.
	Passive:	A letter	was written	by Rita.
Present Perfect	Active:	Rita	has written	a letter.
	Passive:	A letter	has been written	by Rita.
Future I	Active:	Rita	will write	a letter.
	Passive:	A letter	will be written	by Rita.

What’s the difference between borrow and lend?

To Borrow means:

To take something from someone, with their permission and with the intention of giving it back. (The past tense and past participle are borrowed.)

Can I borrow the car?

You can borrow a pen from him.

I need to borrow some money.

What happened to the books I borrowed from the library?

To Lend means: 

The opposite!

To give something to someone, with the expectation that he or she will return it. The past tense and past participle are lent.

Yes, I’ll lend you the car.

He’ll be happy to lend you a pen.

I can’t afford to lend you any money.

The library lent me those books three weeks ago.

 

Lend can also be used figuratively, to mean to contribute, impart, or offer:

The yellow wall will lend a feeling of warmth.

Your story lends itself to numerous interpretations.

 

Basically, borrow means “to take,” while lend means “to give.”

If you continue to have trouble with this, try substituting “take” for borrow and “give” for lend  – the correct word will immediately be clear.

What’s the difference between ours and our’s?

Ours

Ours is the first person plural possessive pronoun – it replaces “our” + noun.

For example, the sentence: Is this our room? Can be changed to: Is this ours? 

When using “ours” there is no need to repeat the object you are talking about (or refer to it if the context allows).

Here are some examples:

Is this taxi ours or yours? / This taxi here, is it ours or yours?

He found a book – but is it ours?

He couldn’t find his keys, but ours were on the table.

Their idea was good, but ours was better.

The pleasure is all ours / The pleasure was all ours.

Our’s

Though you may see our’s written even by native speakers, it is incorrect. Ours should never have an apostrophe.
Why the confusion?

The idea that ours needs an apostrophe is rooted in the fact that a word ending in ‘s indicates possession, so English speakers sometimes think ours should be spelled our’s. However, this is always incorrect – ours is the only correct spelling.

So where do we use apostrophes?

Apostrophes have got to be the most over-used and misunderstood grammatical element of the English language.

Through teaching I have found that children often add them whenever they see an “s” at the end of a word. But I have to say, many native English speakers have exactly the same problem.

So to make it clear, there are 2 ways to use an apostrophe.

First we have contractions. These are where we deliberately shorten a word or phrase and then use an apostrophe to show that letters are missing.

In full	Letters missing	Shortened form
do not	o	don’t
can not	no	can’t
could not	o	couldn’t
let us	u	let’s
that is	i	that’s
would not	o	wouldn’t
they are	a	they’re
they had	ha	they’d
you would	woul	you’d
we had	ha	we’d
you are	a	you’re
I am	a	I’m
was not	o	wasn’t
it is	i	it’s
it has	ha	it’s
what is	i	what’s
my car is there	i	my car’s there
the coat is on the peg	i	the coat’s on the peg
Tom is going out.	i	Tom’s going out.

Then we have possessives. This is when we are referring to something that belongs to someone or a group of people. Ownership is the best way to think of this rule.

If we are referring to one subject and what they own then the apostrophe separates the subject from the final “s”. For example:

One parent and his or her children – the parent‘s children

But if we are talking about multiple subjects then the apostrophe would be after the final “s”. For example:

All parents and all their kids – the parents’ children