Used to, be used to, get used to

1.Used to shows that a particular thing always happened or was true in the past (see examples above)

2.Be used to is used to say that something is normal, not unusual.

Examples:

  • I'm used to living alone.
  • Don't worry, John is used to driving for long hours. He has worked as a professional driver for 20 years.

3.Get used shows that something is in the process of becoming normal.

Examples:

  • He doesn't like that small town, but he'll get used to it.
  • She found the heels too high, but she got used to them.
  • Since the divorce, she has become very sad. But I think she'll get used to her new life.
  • I got used to living in Canada in spite of the cold weather.

4. Get used to and be used to are followed by either a noun or a gerund.

Get used to + noun Get used to + gerund (verb+ing)
I got used to the noise I'm used to the cold weather I got used to waking up early I'm used to working late at night

Sentence and sentence structure

What is a sentence?

In grammar, a sentence is the basic grammatical unit. It contains a group of words and expresses a complete thought.

A sentence consists of a subject and a predicate. For example in the sentence "Bill writes good poems" Bill is the subject of the sentence and writes good poems is the predicate.

Simple and complex sentences

Simple sentences contain one clause:

  • The girl is learning how to drive

Complex sentences contain more than one clause.

  • The girl who is learning how to drive is still twelve years old.
  • She faced the whole trouble with courage and managed to solve the problem all by herself.

Types of sentences

There are four types of sentences:

  1. Declarative sentence
    Applicants will be answered in due time. (It makes a statement.)
  2. Imperative sentence
    Show me your photo album, please. ( Gives a command or makes a request.)
  3. Interrogative sentence
    Do you like this photo? (Asks a question.)
  4. Exclamatory sentence
    What a beautiful dress she is wearing ! (Shows strong feeling)

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Parts of Speech

Parts of Speech

In grammar, a part of speech (also called lexical categories, grammatical categories or word classes) is a linguistic category of words. In English there are eight parts of speech.

A list of parts of speech

A list of parts of speech in English grammar include the following:

1. Verb

A verb is used to show an action or a state of being

go, write, exist, be

2. Noun

A noun is a word used to refer to people, animals, objects, substances, states, events, ideas and feelings. A noun functions as a subject or object of a verb and can be modified by an adjective.

John, lion, table, freedom, love ...

3. Adjective

Adjectives are used to describe or specify a noun or pronoun

good, beautiful, nice, my ...

4. Adverb

An adverb is used to modify a verb, adjective and other adverbs.

completely, never, there ...

5. Pronoun

A pronoun is used in the place of a noun or phrase.

I, you, he, she, it...

6. Preposition

Prepositions are used before nouns to form a phrase that shows where, when, how and why

in, above, to, for, at ...

7. Conjunction

Conjunctions join clauses or sentences or words

and, but, when ...

8. Interjection

Interjections are used to show surprise or emotion.

oh!, Good Lord

Examples of parts of speech

Here are some examples of parts of speech:

  • My (adjective) friend (noun) speaks (verb) English (noun) fluently (adverb).
  • Oh! (interjection) I ( pronoun) went (verb) to (preposition) school (noun) and (conjunction) I ( pronoun) met (verb) Fred (noun).

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Subject

What is a subject?

The subject is one of the main two parts of a sentence. According to traditional grammar, a sentence consists of two parts:

  • a subject,
  • a predicate which modifies the subject.

consider the following sentence:

  • Leila loves painting.

Leila is the subject and likes socceracts as the predicate

The subject relates its constituent (a noun phrase) by means of the verb to any other elements present in the sentence (objects, complements and adverbials.)

Examples of subjects

  • Nurses are on strike. (subject with no determiners)
  • The big man hurt him. (a noun phrase introduced by a determiner)
  • Driving is what I like most. (Gerund)
  • To write poems is difficult. (Infinitive)
  • That he worked hard is a fact. (a clause)
  • I/you...like soccer. (subject pronouns)
  • It rains often here. (dummy subject)

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Dummy subject there

There used as a dummy subject

In English, the word there can be used as a pronoun, functioning as a dummy subject.

Examples:

  • There is hope.
  • There are some students.
  • There occurred a terrible accident.
  • There exist two major factors.

As in the examples above, there can be used with the verb to be in existential clauses, clauses that refer to the existence or presence of something. It can also be used with verbs like exist or occur.

It is noteworthy that the logical subject of the verbs mentioned above appears as a complement.

  • Hopeisthere.
  • Some studentsarethere.
  • A terrible accidentoccurred there.
  • Two major factorsexistthere.

Agreement

The dummy subject agrees in number with the logical subject:

  • It takes a plural verb if the complement (the logical subject) is plural.
  • It takes a singular verb if the complement (the logical subject) is singular.

In colloquial English, however, the contracted form there's is used for singular and plural complements.

  • There's two of them
  • There's one of them.

Questions with there

When making questions, the dummy subject is inverted:

  • There is a nice restaurant.
  • Is there a nice restaurant?

Deictic or pronoun?

The word there can be a deictic adverb, referring to a place. For this reason, some uses of there can be ambiguous.

Examples:

  • There is a restaurant.

This sentence may have two meanings:

  1. There is a restaurant.
    A restaurant exists. (There is used here as pronoun)
  2. There is a restaurant.
    A restaurant is in that place. (There is deictic referring to a place - it is adverbial)

In speech, the deictic there is given stress. However, when there is used as a pronoun, it is not stressed.

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Negation in English

Negative forms

Negation is the process that turns an affirmative statement into its opposite denial.

Example:

She is a nice girl - She is not a nice girl

Verbs in English are negated by placing the word not after an auxiliary or modal.

Examples:

  • I am not from Germany
  • I do not like playing tennis.
  • She does not listen to classical music.
  • I have not read this book yet.
  • I did not go to Moscow.
  • I had not had dinner when they came in.
  • You should not sleep late.
  • I cannot help you.
  • I will not participate in that competition.

Contracted forms

Negative forms can be contracted.

Long negative forms Short negative forms
do not don't
does not doesn't
am 'm not (*not amn’t)
are not aren't
is not isn't
did not didn't
have not haven't
had not hadn't
should not shouldn't
would not wouldn't
will not won't

Questions with like

Uses of like in questions

The word like is used in different ways to ask questions. Such questions with like may have different meanings.

Like may be used to ask questions about:

  • Personality or the characteristics of something.
  • Preferences.
  • Physical appearance.
  • Hobbies.

The word like in these question is used either as a verb or as a preposition.