Mastering English Tenses, Adjectives, and Prepositions

Essential English Vocabulary and Grammar Points

Key Relationship Phrasal Verbs

• Ask somebody out
• Break up (with)
• Chat somebody up
• Fall in love (with)
• Fancy somebody
• Get divorced (from)
• Get engaged (to)
• Get married (to)
• Get on (with)
• Go out (with)
• Have an argument (with)
• Make up

Present Perfect Tense Structure

Structure: Subject + have/has + Past Participle (e.g., been)

Usage of 'For' and 'Since'

• For: Used for a duration of time (e.g., ten minutes, two hours, one day, a month, a year, a long time...).
• Since: Used for a specific point in time (e.g., 10 o’clock, Tuesday, 2nd January, August, 2000, we arrived, I was ten years old...).

Past Simple Tense Structure

• Affirmative: Subject + Base Form (+ed) / Second Column (Irregular Verbs)
• Negative: Subject + didn't + Base Form
• Interrogative: Did + Subject + Base Form?

Common Compound Nouns

• Bedroom
• Waiting room
• Credit card
• Christmas card
• Laptop
• Desktop
• Headache
• Headphones
• Sun cream
• Sunglasses
• Wedding dress
• Wedding ceremony
• Birthday card
• Cardboard
• Card game
• Game show
• Homework
• Workbook
• Bookshop
• Window cleaner

Comparative and Superlative Adjectives

Comparative Forms

Use +er or more + adjective + than.

Irregular Comparatives: better, worse, farther/further.

Superlative Forms

Use the + ...est or the most + adjective.

Irregular Superlatives: the best, the worst, the furthest/farthest.

Structure: Not as... as

Formula: not as + adjective + as

Example: Silver is cheaper than gold. (Meaning: Silver isn't as expensive as gold.)

Using 'So' and 'Such'

• So + Adjective (e.g., so beautiful)
• Such a + Singular Countable Noun (e.g., such a surprise)
• Such + Plural Noun (e.g., such problems)
• Such a lot of + Noun (e.g., such a lot of work)

Standard Order of Adjectives

Adjectives typically follow this order before a noun:

1. Opinion
2. Size
3. Age
4. Shape (Forma)
5. Colour
6. Origin
7. Material
8. Purpose (Propósito)

+ Noun

Essential Adjective and Preposition Combinations

Adjectives followed by OF

• nice / kind / good / stupid / silly / intelligent / clever / sensible / (im)polite / rude / unreasonable OF someone
• afraid / scared / frightened / terrified OF someone / something
• proud / ashamed OF someone / something
• fond OF something / someone
• full OF something
• short OF something

Adjectives followed by TO

• nice / kind / good / (im)polite / rude / (un)pleasant / (un)friendly / cruel TO someone
• married TO someone
• similar TO something

Adjectives followed by WITH

• angry / furious WITH someone
• pleased / disappointed / satisfied WITH something
• bored / fed up WITH something
• crowded WITH

Adjectives followed by ABOUT

• angry / furious ABOUT something
• excited / worried / upset ABOUT something
• sorry ABOUT something

Adjectives followed by AT / BY

• surprised / shocked / amazed / astonished AT / BY something

Adjectives followed by AT

• good / bad / excellent / brilliant / hopeless AT (doing) something

Adjectives followed by FOR

• angry / furious FOR something
• sorry FOR doing something
• be / feel sorry FOR (someone)
• famous FOR something
• responsible FOR something

Adjectives followed by IN

• interested IN something