Showing posts with label learn. Show all posts
Showing posts with label learn. Show all posts

Thursday, 14 October 2010

List of Irregular Verbs, Simple Past and Past Participle Verb Forms

Simple Present
Simple Past
Past Participle
arise
awake
be
bear
beat
become
begin
bend
bet
bite
bleed
blow
break
bring
build
burn
burst
buy
catch
choose
cling
come
cost
creep
cut
deal
dig
dive
do
draw
dream
drink
drive
eat
fall
feed
feel
fight
find
fit
flee
fling
fly
forbid
forget
forgive
forgo
freeze
get
give
go
grind
grow
hang
have
hear
hide
hit
hold
hurt
keep
kneel
knit
know
lay
lead
leap
leave
lend
let
lie (down)
light
lose
make
mean
meet
pay
prove
put
quit
read
ride
ring
rise
run
saw
say
see
seek
sell
send
set
sew
shake
shave
shear
shine
shoot
show
shrink
shut
sing
sink
sit
slay
sleep
slide
sneak
speak
speed
spend
spill
spin
spit
split
spread
spring
stand
steal
stick
sting
stink
strew
strike
strive
swear
sweep
swim
swing
take
teach
tear
tell
think
thrive
throw
undergo
understand
upset
wake
wear
weave
weep
win
wind
withdraw
wring
write
arose
awoke
was, were
bore
beat
became
began
bent
bet
bit
bled
blew
broke
brought
built
burned or burnt
burst
bought
caught
chose
clung
came
cost
crept
cut
dealt
dug
dived or dove
did
drew
dreamed or dreamt
drank
drove
ate
fell
fed
felt
fought
found
fit, fitted
fled
flung
flew
forbade or forbad
forgot
forgave
forwent
froze
got
gave
went
ground
grew
hung or hanged
had
heard
hid
hit
held
hurt
kept
knelt or kneeled
knitted or knit
knew
laid
led
leapt or leaped
left
lent
let
lay
lit or lighted
lost
made
meant
met
paid
proved
put
quit
read
rode
rang
rose
ran
sawed
said
saw
sought
sold
sent
set
sewed
shook
shaved
sheared
shone or shined
shot
showed
shrank or shrunk
shut
sang
sank
sat
slew
slept
slid
sneaked or snuck
spoke
sped
spent
spilled or spilt
spun
spat or spit
split
spread
sprang
stood
stole
stuck
stung
stank or stunk
strewed
struck
strove or strived
swore
swept
swam
swung
took
taught
tore
told
thought
thrived or throve
threw
underwent
understood
upset
woke or waked
wore
wove
wept
won
wound
withdrew
wrung
wrote
arisen
awoken
been
borne
beaten or beat
become
begun
bent
bet
bitten
bled
blown
broken
brought
built
burned or burnt
burst
bought
caught
chosen
clung
come
cost
crept
cut
dealt
dug
dived
done
drawn
dreamed or dreamt
drunk
driven
eaten
fallen
fed
felt
fought
found
fit, fitted
fled
flung
flown,
forbidden or forbade
forgotten
forgiven
forgone
frozen
gotten or got
given
gone
ground
grown
hung or hanged
had
heard
hidden
hit
held
hurt
kept
knelt or kneeled
knitted or knit
known
laid
led
leapt or leaped
left
lent
let
lain
lit or lighted
lost
made
meant
met
paid
proved or proven
put
quit
read
ridden
rung
risen
run
sawed or sawn
said
seen
sought
sold
sent
set
sewn or sewed
shaken
shaved or shaven
sheared or shorn
shone or shined
shot
shown or showed
shrunk or shrunken
shut
sung
sunk
sat
slain
slept
slid
sneaked or snuck
spoken
sped
spent
spilled or spilt
spun
spat or spit
split
spread
sprung
stood
stolen
stuck
stung
stunk
strewn
struck or stricken
striven or strived
sworn
swept
swum
swung
taken
taught
torn
told
thought
thrived or thriven
thrown
undergone
understood
upset
woken or waked
worn
woven
wept
won
wound
withdrawn
wrung
written

Saturday, 25 September 2010

Countable and Uncountable Nouns

Countable Nouns

Countable nouns are easy to recognize. They are things that we can count. For example: "pen". We can count pens. We can have one, two, three or more pens. Here are some more countable nouns:
  • dog, cat, animal, man, person
  • bottle, box, litre
  • coin, note, dollar
  • cup, plate, fork
  • table, chair, suitcase, bag
Countable nouns can be singular or plural:
  • My dog is playing.
  • My dogs are hungry.
We can use the indefinite article a/an with countable nouns:
  • A dog is an animal.
When a countable noun is singular, we must use a word like a/the/my/this with it:
  • I want an orange. (not I want orange.)
  • Where is my bottle? (not Where is bottle?)
When a countable noun is plural, we can use it alone:
  • I like oranges.
  • Bottles can break.
We can use some and any with countable nouns:
  • I've got some dollars.
  • Have you got any pens?
We can use a few and many with countable nouns:
  • I've got a few dollars.
  • I haven't got many pens.
"People" is countable. "People" is the plural of "person". We can count people:
  • There is one person here.
  • There are three people here.

Uncountable Nouns

Uncountable nouns are substances, concepts etc that we cannot divide into separate elements. We cannot "count" them. For example, we cannot count "milk". We can count "bottles of milk" or "litres of milk", but we cannot count "milk" itself. Here are some more uncountable nouns:
  • music, art, love, happiness
  • advice, information, news
  • furniture, luggage
  • rice, sugar, butter, water
  • electricity, gas, power
  • money, currency
We usually treat uncountable nouns as singular. We use a singular verb. For example:
  • This news is very important.
  • Your luggage looks heavy.
We do not usually use the indefinite article a/an with uncountable nouns. We cannot say "an information" or "a music". But we can say a something of:
  • a piece of news
  • a bottle of water
  • a grain of rice
We can use some and any with uncountable nouns:
  • I've got some money.
  • Have you got any rice?
We can use a little and much with uncountable nouns:
  • I've got a little money.
  • I haven't got much rice.

Uncountable nouns are also called "mass nouns".
Here are some more examples of countable and uncountable nouns:
CountableUncountable
dollarmoney
songmusic
suitcaseluggage
tablefurniture
batteryelectricity
bottlewine
reportinformation
tipadvice
journeytravel
jobwork
viewscenery
When you learn a new word, it's a good idea to learn whether it's countable or uncountable.


Nouns that can be Countable and Uncountable

Sometimes, the same noun can be countable and uncountable, often with a change of meaning.
Countable
Uncountable
There are two hairs in my coffee!hairI don't have much hair.
There are two lights in our bedroom.lightClose the curtain. There's too much light!
Shhhhh! I thought I heard a noise.noiseIt's difficult to work when there is too much noise.
Have you got a paper to read? (= newspaper)paperI want to draw a picture. Have you got some paper?
Our house has seven rooms.roomIs there room for me to sit here?
We had a great time at the party.timeHave you got time for a coffee?
Macbeth is one of Shakespeare's greatest works.workI have no money. I need work!


Drinks (coffee, water, orange juice) are usually uncountable. But if we are thinking of a cup or a glass, we can say (in a restaurant, for example):
  • Two teas and one coffee please.

by Englishclub

Tuesday, 14 September 2010

A NOUN is a Person, Place or Thing

A noun is the name of a person, place, thing, or idea. Whatever exists, we assume, can be named, and that name is a noun. A proper noun, which names a specific person, place, or thing (Carlos, Queen Marguerite, Middle East, Jerusalem, Malaysia, Presbyterianism, God, Spanish, Buddhism, the Republican Party), is almost always capitalized.  Common nouns name everything else, things that usually are not capitalized.



A NOUN IS A PERSON, PLACE, OR THING

Music & Lyrics: Lynn Ahrens

Sung by: Lynn Ahrens

Animation: Phil Kimmelman and Associates

Well every person you can know,
And every place that you can go,
And any thing that you can show,
You know they're nouns.
A noun's a special kind of word,
It's any name you ever heard.
I find it quite interesting,
A noun's a person, place or thing.

Oh I took a train, took a train,
To another state.
The flora and the fauna that I saw were really great.
But when I saw some bandits chasing the train,
I was wishing I was back home again.
I took a train, took a train,
To another state.

Well every person you can know...
(Like a bandit or an engineer.)
And every place that you can go...
(Like a state or a home.)
And any thing that you can show...
(Like animals and plants or a train.)
You know they're nouns
You know they're nouns, oh!

Mrs. Jones is a lady on Hudson Street.
She sent her dog to bark at my brother and me.
We gave her dog a big fat bone,
And now he barks at Mrs. Jones.
She's a lady who lives on Hudson Street.

Well every person you can know...
(Mrs. Jones, a lady or a brother.)
And every place that you can go...
(Like a street or a corner.)
And anything that you can show...
(Like a dog or a bone.)
Well you know they're nouns
You know they're nouns, oh!

I took a ferry to the Statue of Liberty.
My best friend was waiting there for me.
(He took an early ferry.)
We went for a walk on the island you know,
And in the middle of summer it started to snow when...
I took a ferry to the Statue of Liberty.

Well every person you can know...
(Like a friend or the captain of a ship.)
And every place that you can go...
(An island or a sea.)
And anything that you can show...
(Like a statue, a ferry or snow.)
Well you know they're nouns
You know they're nouns, oh!

I put a dime in the drugstore record machine.
Oldie-goldies started playing - you know what I mean.
I heard Chubby Checker, he was doing the twist,
And the Beatles and the Monkees
It goes like this.
I put a dime in the drugstore record machine.

Well every person you can know...
(The Beatles and the Monkees; Chubby Checker.)
And every place that you can go...
(Like a neighborhood or a store.)
And anything that you can show...
(Like a dime or a record machine.)
Well you know they're nouns.

A noun's a special kind of word,
It's any name you ever heard.
I find it quite interesting,
A noun's a person, place or thing.
A noun is a person, place or thing.

Saturday, 11 September 2010

Reference Guide to Phonetic Symbols

As you probably know, phonetic symbols are a great help when it comes to learning to pronounce English words correctly. Any time you open a dictionary, you can find the correct pronunciation of words you don't know by looking at the phonetic pronunciation that follows the word. Unfortunately, learning the phonetic alphabet is not always the easiest thing to do.


Following the chart is an example of a text that has been transcribed in to phonetics. Notice how the text, as it would be spoken, differs from how each word might be transcribed individually. This is principally due to two factors; elision and unstressed syllables.

phonetic chart
example text This text is the following:

There is a police message for motorists in the Barnet area of London. A lorry has shed its load at the Apex Corner roundabout on the A1. You are asked to avoid the area as much as possible. South-bound traffic will be diverted for the next two hours. That is the end of the message.

As you can see, the phonetic alphabet seems like another language entirely, however, with patience, it can serve you well in improving your pronunciation.




by: about.com

How to Pronounce -ED in English

The past simple tense and past participle of all regular verbs end in -ed. For example:

base verb
(v1)
past simple
(v2)
past participle
(v3)
work worked worked

In addition, many adjectives are made from the past participle and so end in -ed. For example:

  • I like painted furniture.

The question is: How do we pronounce the -ed?

The answer is: In 3 ways - / Id/ or / t/ or / d/

If the base verb ends in one of these sounds: example base verb*: example
with -ed:
pronounce
the -ed:
extra syllable?
unvoiced /t/ want wanted / Id/ yes
voiced /d/ end ended
unvoiced /p/ hope hoped / t/ no
/f/ laugh laughed
/s/ fax faxed
/S/ wash washed
/tS/ watch watched
/k/ like liked
voiced all other sounds,
for example...
play played / d/
allow allowed
beg begged

* note that it is the sound that is important, not the letter or spelling. For example, "fax" ends in the letter "x" but the sound /s/; "like" ends in the letter "e" but the sound /k/.

Exceptions

The following -ed words used as adjectives are pronounced with /Id/:

  • aged
  • blessed
  • crooked
  • dogged
  • learned
  • naked
  • ragged
  • wicked
  • wretched




by: English Club.com