Negative statements

To be - negative forms and contractions

---

Full negative forms of the verb to be I am not a singer. He is not a receptionist. She is not a nurse. It is not my book. We are not not musicians. You are not a shop assistant. They are not taxi drivers. Contracted negative forms of the verb to be I'm not  a singer. He isn't a receptionist. She isn't a nurse. It isn't my book. We aren't not musicians. You aren't a shop assistant. They aren't taxi drivers.

Exercise 1: Negative forms of the verb to be 
Exercise 2: Complete with the verb to BE negative

Numbers

Exercise 1: Write the numbers as words into the gaps.

WH-questions with be

How to use 'Wh...' questions

In English there are seven ‘Wh…’ questions.  Here’s what they are and how  they are used:

What is used for a thing.

‘What is it?’

Who is used for a person. Whose has the same meaning but it is always followed by a noun.

‘Who were you talking to?’

‘Whose car is that?’

Why is used for a reason.

‘Why were you late?’

When is used for a time or date

‘When did you start working here?’

Which is used for a choice.

‘Which do you prefer, tea or coffee?’

Where is used for a place.

‘Where do you live?’

How is used for an amount or the way.

‘How much does it cost?’

‘How do I get to the station?

Exercise 1: Choose between where, when, what, who.
Exercise 2: WH-questions review

A-AN grammar

The Indefinite Article – A / AN

We use A/AN with:

1. Singular nouns and the first time we refer to a person, animal or thing.

• a child
• an elephant
• a television

2. We don't use A/AN with possessive pronouns, demonstratives or cardinal numbers.

• My shirt is dirty.
• This car is expensive.
• One person is in the reception.

3. We use ONE (or more) instead of A/AN when the number is important.

• There is only one exit from the airport.

Video about indefinite article A-AN

A is used when the next word begins with a consonant sound (b, c, d, f, g, h, j, k etc).

• a book
• a table
• a clock
• a university (because the beginning of university sounds like YOU-niversity)

AN is used when the next word begins with a vowel sound (a, e, i, o, u).

• an apple
• an elephant
• an umbrella
• an hour (because the H is silent)

Exercise 1: A vs An - Articles

Exercise 2: The indefinite article a/an 

This/These

Demonstrative Pronouns

We use this (singular) and these (plural) to refer to something that is here / near.

Examples:

• This is my car. (singular)
• These are our children. (plural)

Exercise 1: This or these
Exercise 2:  This or these – Exercise

Yes/no questions with be

To Be - Short Answers

In spoken English, we usually give short answers in response to questions.

Are you a student? - Yes, I am (a student). The last part (a student) is not necessary. We use shorts answers to avoid repetition, when the meaning is clear.

Question	Short Answers**	Short Answers
Am I intelligent?	Yes, you are.	No, you aren't.
Are you a student?	Yes, I am.	No, I am not.
Is he a pilot?	Yes, he is.	No, he isn't.
Is she from Spain?	Yes, she is.	No, she isn't.
Is it a big house?	Yes, it is.	No, it isn't.
Are we ready?	Yes, we are.	No, we aren't.
Are you doctors?	Yes, we are.	No, we aren't.
Are they rich?	Yes, they are.	No, they aren't.

Exercise 1: Short answers with am, are, is 
Exercise 2: Yes / no questions with the verb to be 

IN-ON-UNDER-BEHIND-NEXT TO-IN FRONT OF

Prepositions of Place

Prepositions of Place are used to show the position or location of one thing with another.

It answers the question "Where?"

Below we have some more examples of Prepositions of Place:

In front of

• A band plays their music in front of an audience.
• The teacher stands in front of the students.
• The man standing in the line in front of me smells bad.
• Teenagers normally squeeze their zits in front of a mirror.

Behind

Behind is the opposite of In front of. It means at the back (part) of something.

• When the teacher writes on the whiteboard, the students are behind him (or her).
• Who is that person behind the mask?
• I slowly down because there was a police car behind me.

Between

Between normally refers to something in the middle of two objects or things (or places).

• There are mountains between Chile and Argentina.
• The number 5 is between the number 4 and 6.
• There is a sea (The English Channel) between England and France.

Across From / Opposite

Across from and Opposite mean the same thing. It usually refers to something being in front of something else BUT there is normally something between them like a street or table. It is similar to saying that someone (or a place) is on the other side of something.

• I live across from a supermarket (= it is on the other side of the road)
• The chess players sat opposite each other before they began their game.
  (= They are in front of each other and there is a table between them)

Next to / Beside

Next to and Beside mean the same thing. It usually refers to a thing (or person) that is at the side of another thing.

• At a wedding, the bride stands next to the groom.
• Guards stand next to the entrance of the bank.
• He walked beside me as we went down the street.
• In this part of town there isn't a footpath beside the road so you have to be careful.

Near / Close to

Near and Close to mean the same thing. It is similar to next to / beside but there is more of a distance between the two things.

• The receptionist is near the front door.
• This building is near a subway station.
• We couldn't park the car close to the store.
• Our house is close to a supermarket.

On

On means that something is in a position that is physically touching, covering or attached to something.

• The clock on the wall is slow.
• He put the food on the table.
• I can see a spider on the ceiling.
• We were told not to walk on the grass.

Above / Over

Above and Over have a similar meaning. The both mean "at a higher position than X" but above normally refers to being directly (vertically) above you.

• Planes normally fly above the clouds.
• There is a ceiling above you.
• There is a halo over my head. ;)
• We put a sun umbrella over the table so we wouldn't get so hot.
• Our neighbors in the apartment above us are rally noisy.

Over can also mean: physically covering the surface of something and is often used with the word All as in All over.

• There water all over the floor.
• I accidentally spilled red wine all over the new carpet.

Over is often used as a Preposition of Movement too.

Under / Below

Under and Below have a similar meaning. They mean at a lower level. (Something is above it).

• Your legs are under the table.
• Monsters live under your bed.
• A river flows under a bridge.
• How long can you stay under the water?
• Miners work below the surface of the Earth.

Exercise 1: Prepositions of place

Exercise 2: IN - ON- UNDER - OVER -IN FRONT - BEHIND

Possessive adjetives

What are possessive adjectives?

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.

The possessive adjectives in English are as follows:

Clic on the video about possessive adjetives

The possessive adjective needs to agree with the possessor and not with the thing that is possessed.

Examples

• My car is very old.
• Her boyfriend is very friendly.
• Our dog is black.
• Their homework is on the table.

Exercise 1: Possessive adjetives 

Exercise 2:  Possessive Adjectives2

The verb be

To Be - Affirmative

Subject	To Be	Examples
I	am	I am from New Zealand.
You	are	You are Chilean.
He	is	He is twenty years old.
She	is	She is a nurse.
It	is	It is a big dog.
We	are	We are intelligent.
You	are	You are students.
They	are	They are married.

To Be - Contractions

Contractions of To Be are very frequent when we are speaking.

To Be	Contraction	Examples
I am	I'm	I'm from New Zealand.
You are	You're	You're Chilean.
He is	He's	He's twenty years old.
She is	She's	She's a nurse.
It is	It's	It's a big dog.
We are	We're	We're intelligent.
You are	You're	You're students.
They are	They're	They're married.

To Be - Negative Sentences

The negative of To Be can be made by adding not after the verb.

Subject	To Be	Examples
I	am not	I am not from Spain.
You	are not	You are not Australian.
He	is not	He is not thirty years old.
She	is not	She is not a secretary.
It	is not	It is not a small cat.
We	are not	We are not stupid.
You	are not	You are not teachers.
They	are not	They are not single.

To Be - Negative Contractions

There are two ways of forming contractions of To Be in negative sentences. One is with a contraction of the subjectand the verb (e.g. I am = I'm) OR a contraction of the verb and not (e.g. are not = aren't)

I'm not from Spain.	---	--------------*
You're not Australian.	OR	You aren't Australian.
He's not thirty years old.	OR	He isn't thirty years old.
She's not a secretary.	OR	She isn't a secretary.
It's not a small cat.	OR	It isn't a small cat.
We're not stupid.	OR	We aren't stupid.
You're not teachers.	OR	You aren't teachers.
They're not single.	OR	They aren't single.

* Notice that the only possible contraction for I am not is I'm not.

To Be - Questions

To create questions with To Be, you put the Verb before the Subject.

Affirmative	You	are	happy.
	Subject	Verb
Question	Are	you	happy?
	Verb	Subject

Affirmative	Question
I am intelligent.	Am I intelligent?
You are a student.	Are you a student?
He is a pilot.	Is he a pilot?
She is from Spain.	Is she from Spain?
It is a big house.	Is it a big house?
We are ready.	Are we ready?
You are doctors.	Are you doctors?
They are rich.	Are they rich?

To Be - Short Answers

In spoken English, we usually give short answers in response to questions.

Are you a student? - Yes, I am (a student). The last part (a student) is not necessary. We use shorts answers to avoid repetition, when the meaning is clear.

Question	Short Answers**	Short Answers
Am I intelligent?	Yes, you are.	No, you aren't.
Are you a student?	Yes, I am.	No, I am not.
Is he a pilot?	Yes, he is.	No, he isn't.
Is she from Spain?	Yes, she is.	No, she isn't.
Is it a big house?	Yes, it is.	No, it isn't.
Are we ready?	Yes, we are.	No, we aren't.
Are you doctors?	Yes, we are.	No, we aren't.
Are they rich?	Yes, they are.	No, they aren't.

** With To Be, We don't use contractions in affirmative short answers unless there is additional information after it (in which case they are no longer considered short answers).

Exercise 1: The Simple present of the verb "to be"

Exercise 2:  Be simple present

Greetings

Saying hello

When we see someone we know, we usually exchange greetings:

Good morning/afternoon/evening                                      

                                                                                                      l

Hello

Morning

Hi

Hi there

A:

Hi.

B:

Hello, how are you?

A:

Fine, thanks. How about you?

Saying goodbye

When we leave people, we usually say something as we leave:

Good night

Goodbye

Bye bye

Bye

See you later

See you

A:

See you later.

B:

OK. Bye.

Exercise 1: Greetings