Essential English Grammar Foundations

Prepositions of Time: IN, ON, AT

• IN: *in the afternoon*, *in December*, *in summer*, *in 1998*
• ON: *on Friday*, *on the 12th of July*, *on my birthday*
• AT: *at 3 o'clock*, *at midday*, *at night*, *at New Year's*

Family Vocabulary & Possessive Nouns

• Family Members:
  • Cousins (primo/a)
  • Aunts (tía)
  • Uncles (tío)
  • Nieces (sobrina)
  • Nephews (sobrino)
• Saxon Genitive (Possessive 's):
  • *Charles's brother*
  • *The brothers' car*

Possessive Adjectives & Demonstratives

• Possessive Adjectives:
  • *His* (él)
  • *Her* (ella)
  • *It's* (it is) vs. *Its* (possessive)
• Demonstratives:
  • *This* (cerca, singular)
  • *That* (lejos, singular)
  • *These* (cerca, plural)
  • *Those* (lejos, plural)

Articles and Plural Noun Rules

• Articles:
  • *A* (singular, before consonant sounds)
  • *An* (singular, before vowel sounds: a, e, i, o, u)
  • *The* (singular and plural)
• Plural Nouns:
  • Add -es to words ending in -ch, -sh, -s, -x.
  • Change consonant + y to -ies (e.g., *study* → *studies*).

Present Simple Tense

Used for habits and routines (e.g., *usually do*).

• Affirmative: *He works*
• Negative: *I don't work*
• Interrogative: *Does he work?*
• Short Answer: *Yes, he does*

Third Person Singular (He/She/It): Add -s, -es, or change consonant + y to -ies (e.g., *studies*).

Present Continuous Tense

Used for actions happening now.

• Affirmative: *I'm arguing*
• Negative: *We aren't arguing*
• Interrogative: *Am I arguing?*
• Short Answer: *No, I'm not*

Telling Time in English

• 9:30 – *It's half past nine*
• 13:45 – *It's quarter to two*
• 13:25 – *It's twenty-five past one*
• 15:40 – *It's twenty to four*

Adverbs of Frequency

Adverbs: *always, usually, often, sometimes, hardly ever, never*.

Placement: Before main verbs, but after the verb *to be*.

• *Do you usually...?*
• *He is never late.*

Can & Object Pronouns

• Modal Verb Can: *Can't*. Do not use to after *can*.
• Object Pronouns: *me, you, him, her, it, us, you, them*. They replace nouns as the object of a verb or preposition.

Possessive Pronouns

Pronouns: *mine, yours, his, hers, ours, theirs*.

Example: *It's mine*. Do not use 'the' before possessive pronouns (e.g., *It's yours*, not *It's the yours*).

Preferences & Adverbs of Manner

• Verbs of Preference: *I love, I like, I don't like, I hate*.
• Followed by -ing form: *I like cooking, studying, dancing, shopping*.
• Adverbs of Manner: Formed by adding -ly to adjectives (e.g., *quickly*). If an adjective ends in -y, change to -i and add -ly (e.g., *happily*).

Past Simple: Verb To Be

• Forms: *I was, You were, He/She/It was, We/You/They were*.
• Affirmative: *I was*
• Negative: *You weren't*
• Interrogative: *Was I...?*
• Short Answer: *Yes, I was*

Past Simple: Regular Verbs

• Affirmative: *I worked yesterday*
• Negative: *He/She/It didn't work yesterday*

Spelling Rules:

• Add -ed.
• If a verb ends in -e, add -d (e.g., *live* → *lived*).
• If a verb ends in consonant + vowel + consonant, double the last consonant and add -ed (e.g., *stop* → *stopped*).
• If a verb ends in consonant + y, change y to i and add -ed (e.g., *study* → *studied*).

Past Simple: Irregular Verbs

• *go* → (+ *went*, - *didn't go*)
• *get* → (+ *got*, - *didn't get*)
• *see* → (+ *saw*, - *didn't see*)
• *do* → (+ *did*, - *didn't do*)

There Is / There Are

Used for existence.

• Affirmative:
  • *There is a/an...* (singular)
  • *There are some...* (plural, non-exact number)
  • *There is some...* (uncountable)
• Negative/Interrogative: Use *any* (e.g., *Are there any...? There aren't any...*).
• Past Tense: *There was* (singular), *There were* (plural).

Countable & Uncountable Nouns

• Countable Nouns (+C): *an apple, some apples*
• Uncountable Nouns (+UC): *some butter, some milk*
• Negative/Interrogative Countable (-?C): *a tomato, any tomatoes*
• Negative/Interrogative Uncountable (-?UC): *any rice, any sugar*

Quantifiers: How Much & How Many

• Uncountable Nouns (singular):
  • *How much water do you drink?*
  • Answers: *A lot, quite a lot, not much, none.*
• Countable Nouns (plural):
  • *How many sweets did you eat?*

Future Plans: Be Going To

Used for future plans.

• Affirmative: *I'm going to have*
• Negative: *I'm not going to have*
• Interrogative: *Am I going to have?*

Comparative & Superlative Adjectives

Forms: Comparatives (-er, -ier, *more*) & Superlatives (-est, -iest, *most*).

• *old* – *older*
• *big* – *bigger*
• *healthy* – *healthier*
• *famous* – *more famous*

Irregular Forms:

• *good* – *better*
• *bad* – *worse*
• *far* – *further/farther*

Would Like vs. Like

• *I'd like to dance*: Specific preference (now & future).
• *I like dancing*: General preference.

Forms: *I'd like to..., I wouldn't like to..., Would I like to...?*