The Definete Article and Its Uses

We use the definite article "the" when it is clear which thing we mean.

·         I'm going to clean the room tomorrow. (My room)

·         I wrote to her several times but she never replied to theletters. (The letters I wrote)

·         The hotel was hopeless. (Our hotel)

·         Sri Jayewardenepura is the capital of Sri Lanka. (There is only one capital in Sri Lanka)

·         What is smallest island in the world?

We Use “the” to refer to things in a room, house or town.

·         Now he is going to paint the door.

·         The Ceiling is new but it has to be painted.

·         Be Careful! You might slip on the floor.

·         Don't spill coffee on the carpet.

·         Switch on the light.

·         The roof is leaking.

·         The garden is overgrown with weeds: some water.

·         Go to the kitchen and bring some water.

·         The cultural center is close to the post office

·         Give me a lift to the railway station.

·         How far is the airport from here?

·         There is a meeting at the Town Hall.

We use "the" when it is clear which thing or person we mean

·         Kuala Lumpur is the capital is Malaysia.

·         What is the name of that girl?

·         Excuse me, where is the nearest Police Station?

·         Who Is the President of India?

·         May I know the time, please?

·         Bobby’s new office is on the seventh floor.

We use “the” With “top” and “end”

·         The end of the novel is somewhat boring.

·         My house is at the end of this lane.

·         He sat on the top of the boulder.

·         The top part of this dress is awful.

We Use “the” with “same”

·         This is the same man who stole my camera.

·         These children are not different. They are the same.

We use “the” with unique Things.

·         The sun rises in the east and sets in the west.

·         Children love to look at the moon.

·         Many changes are taking place in the world.

·         Birds fly in the sky.

·         Some people want to live in the country.

We use “the” with “Police, Army, Fire Brigade .Air force” and “Navy”.

·         The Police are looking for the suspects.

·         Do you like to join the army?

·         The fire brigades is doing a great service to people.

·         Woman also serve in the air force.

·         Are there woman in the navy?

We use “the’ with musical instruments.

·         Nethmi is learning to play the Violin.

·         Sagarika can play the piano well.

·         I like to play the guitar.

We Use “the” with “Radio” but not with” television”.

·         Grandmother often listen to the radio.

·         Children love to watch television.

·         Turn off the television. (The Television Set)

We do not use “the” with breakfast, lunch, dinner.

·         Some people never have breakfast.

·         When are you going for lunch?

·         We invited them for dinner.

Spelling Rules

The English language has a small number of rules that underpin how words are spelt, here are a few of them.

1. Q" is always followed by "U." quiet, quite, question, quality, quantity, queue quotient, quotation Exception: Iraqi

2. "J" and "V" are followed by a vowel.

Page ("g" is sounded as "J"),

Edge ("g" is sounded as "J"),

Forage ("g" is sounded as J), receive, give, love, stove, dove

3. The consonants "B, C, D, F, G, L, M, N, P, R, S, T, and Z" are doubled in the middle and at the end of words. Robber, accident, added, suffer, ragged, syllable, accommodate, runner, appointment, error, possible, admitted, buzz

4. The consonants "H, J, K, Q, V, W, and X" are not doubled. Mahout, project, pocket, liquid, avoid, showed, laxity, improve, Exceptions: withhold, bookkeeping, savvy, heartthrob

5. "A, I" and "U" do not come at the end of words. Pay, tie, due

Exception: banana

6. "Content words" (describing things and actions) have at least three letters. Buy, bee, inn, nod, bid, lid, kid

7. Extra letters are not found in "Non- content" words with similar sounds.by, be, in

8. "I comes before "E, except after "C brief, chief, field, niece, siege, thief, ceiling

Exceptions: caffeine, surfeit, their, receive, deceit

9. The vowels (A, E, I, 0, U) have a "short" sound when they appear in short words.cat, rat, hat, men, pen, den, ten, bit, hit, sit, dot, lot, got, but, nut, hut

10. When "E" is added to the end, the first vowel gives a long sound. Date, rate, hate, scene, swede, theme, bite, mite, like note, lone, mole, flute, rule, brute, route

HOW TO USE QUESTION TAGS

HOW TO USE QUESTION TAGS

Question tags help us to turn a statement into a question. They usually appear at the end of a sentence followed by a question mark.

§  This flower is very beautiful, isn't it?

§  Your sister is a teacher, isn't she?

§  That building is a church, isn't it?

§  We are doing well, aren't we?

§  Joe and John are twins, aren't they?

We use question tags to check whether something is true.

§  Your mother is a housewife, isn't she?

§  You're Mr Johnson, aren't you?

§  Mrs Perera is your aunt, isn't she?

§  She is a journalist, isn't she?

§  You're a teenager, aren't you?

We use question tags to find out whether someone agrees with us.

§  This novel is interesting, isn't it?

§  The meal is delicious, isn't it?

§  Your principal is a martinet (strict disciplinarian), isn't he?

§  This house is too big for us, isn't it?

§  You like this room, don't you?

There is no short form for 'am not. So, we use aren't' to form question tags.

§  I'm a doctor, aren't I?

§  I am in the volleyball team, aren't I?

§  I am a vegetarian, aren't I?

§  I am a student, aren't I?

§  I'm a child, aren't I?

We use negative question tags for positive statements.

§  It is drizaling, isn't it?

§  We're Sri Lankans, aren't we?

§  They're rich, aren't they?

§  Sunimal failed the exam, didn't he?

§  Raj built a palace, didn't he?

We use positive question tags for negative statements.

§  The boys are studying, aren't they?

§  Joe and John are twins, aren't they?

§  Martha didn't do it, did she?

§  Renga failed the exam, did he?

§  Soma didn't write the essay, did she?

§  Sigiriya is not an island, is it?

§  Mendis is not a criminal, is he?

We use contractions (short forms) in question tags.

E.g. didn’t, hasn't, isn't, wasn't, aren't etc,

We use pronouns instead of proper nouns in question tags.

§  Jacob is a banker, isn't he?

§  Sara is a dancer, isn't she?

§  The boys are studying, aren't they?

§  The fishermen Caught some big fish, didn't they?

§  Lizards are reptiles, aren't they?

AM, IS, ARE USAGE

AM, IS, ARE USAGE

Beginners should be familiar with the use of 'am, is' and 'are. Today let's learn how to use them in positive and negative sentences.

Positive

1.       I am a student (First person singular)

2.       You are a student (Second person singular).

3.       He is a student Third person singular)

4.       We are students (First person plural)

5.       You are students (Second person plural)

6.       They are students (Third person plural)

Negative

1.       I am not a student

2.       You are not a student

3.       He is not a student

4.       We are not students

5.       You are not students

6.       They are not students

Some more examples

A: Can you come and play with me?

B: Sorry, I'm busy with my studies

1.       I'm 12 years old.

2.       My brother is 15

3.       My father is a journalist.

4.       He is of medium height.

5.       Doreen is afraid of snakes.

6.       It’s 8 o'clock.

7.       You're late. My clothes are dirty.

8.       I must wash them.

9.       We are tired but we're not hungry.

10.   Samson is not interested in cricket.

11.   Mother isn't at home.

12.   She has gone shopping.

13.   We aren't Chinese.

14.   We're Sri Lankans.

Note the contractions

1.       Is not: isn't

2.       Are not: aren't

3.       There is: there's

4.       Here is: here's

5.       That is: that's

PREPOSITIONS OF DIRECTION

PREPOSITIONS OF DIRECTION

We use prepositions of direction with verbs such as "walk, climb" and jump.

·         Father drove us to the airport.

·         The children ran across the playground.

·         Shirani walked up to the stage to receive her award.

·         The tiger climbed up the tree.

·         The robber jumped over the fence and disappeared.

We use "into" and "”out of “for things of volume.

·         The prisoners were huddled into the cells.

·         The taxi turned right into Independence Avenue.

·         The youth jumped into the river to save a child from drowning.

·         We put all the letters into separate envelopes.

·         The children slowly walked into the classroom.

·         The man jumped out of the well with great difficulty.

·         The soldiers marched out of barracks.

·         The lorry ran out of the road.

·         The tourist came out of the hotel and got into a car.

“Onto" is a preposition of movement.

·         Jothipala stepped onto the platform and sang a song

·         The cattle were loaded onto a stationary truck.

·         The lecturer moved onto the next topic.

The preposition "off means "away from."

·         Keep off the grass.

·         All the mangoes have dropped off the tree.

·         Lalin fell off the bicycle.

·         Do you know where to get off?

The preposition "through" means "from one end to the other."

·         The children walked through the jungle.

·         Can you wade through the water?

·         It's difficult to get through the crowd.

·         Have you ever driven through a tunnel?

The preposition "round" means in a circular direction.

·         Do you know that the moon goes round the Earth?

·         The actor ran round a tree.