Friday, 6 October 2017

Wh- questions

It is important to know Wh- questions because they are very frequent.
  
What       qué
    When      cuándo
 Who        quién
 Where    dónde
   Why        por qué
How        cómo

Structure:
WH   +   DO/DOES   +   SUBJECT    +   VERB

Where do you live?

WH   +   BE    +    SUBJECT 

Who are you?
      

Adding -ed and -ing

These are the rules:
-Verbs ending in silent - e: drop the final -e before adding -ed and -ing
-Verbs ending in -ee, -ye, and -oe, just add -ed or -ing
-Verbs ending in vowel plus -l: add an extra -l before adding -ed and -ing
- Verb ending with a single vowel plus a consonant, and the stress is at the end of the word double the final consonant before adding -ed and –ing
-Verb ending with a vowel plus a consonant and the stress is not at the end of the word, just add -ed or -ing.
-Verb with only one syllable and ends with a single vowel plus a consonant, double the final consonant before adding -ed and -ing.
-Verb ends in -c, add a -k before adding -ed and -ing .

You can find here a detailed explanation with examples.
https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/spelling/verb-tenses-adding-ed-and-ing

Wednesday, 4 October 2017

Sunday, 1 October 2017

The - s in the Present Simple

As you know, we add an -s in the Present Simple when we talk about he, she or it.

He reads
She cooks
It explains

But you have probably realized we sometimes add -es, or change a y into ie when adding -s.


These are the spelling rules:
(The chart is copied from http://www.learnenglishlanguagewell.com/grammar/verbs-with-s-in-present-simple/)
 

Spelling of third person singular forms in Present Simple Tense

Most verbs: Add “s” to infinitive(1) verbs finishing with  one vowel + “y” :add “s”
Work ->
works
Sit ->
sits
Stay ->
stays (1)
See ->
sees
know ->
knows
Live ->
lives
*Verbs ending with consonant and “y”:
Change “y” for “ies”
Cry->
cries*
Hurry->
hurries*
Fly->
flies*
Imply->
implies*
Try->
tries*

Verbs ending in sibilant sounds –s, -z, -ch, -sh, or -x add “es” to infinitive
Push->
pushes
Fix->
Fixes
Catch->
catches
Confess->
confesses
Buzz->
buzzes
Finish->
finishes
Verbs ending with “o”
Verb “have”
Go->
goes
Do->
does
Have->
has