Quantifiers

What is a quantifier?

Some cats searching for food

A quantifier is a type of noun marker that express quantity. It answers to the questions how much or how many. They express inexact quantity. For example the words several and many do not give an exact quantity. These words give a rough idea of the quantity.

Use of Quantifiers

Quantifiers go before nouns. Remember this order> Quantifier + noun

I have some cats.

I have a couple of comics.

Requests and Permission

How to request and ask for permission politely

Requests

When we make a request, we use the modal verbs would, will, could and can. Using these verbs, we make a polite request.

For example:

Would you lend me money?

Can you lend me money, please?

As we already know, after a modal verb the next verb does not change. So it is no necessary to add -es or s if we conjugate the thir singular person he, she or it.

Gerunds and Infinitives

What is a Gerund?

A gerund is a verbal form with the ending -ing.
Working, eating, dancing. We can use it when we have two verbs in a row.

I like eating in the restaurant.

What is an infinitive?

An infinitive is the basic form of a verb. Work, play, paint, etc. It is not the main verb in a sentence. They are used after a modal verb:

I can play.
I want to see your new car.
I like to smell this fragance.

Use of Gerunds and Infinitives

How to use gerunds and infinitives?

In some cases it is possible to use both options.

I like making pizza or I like to make pizza.
He began to run but He began running.

After the propositions, it is necessary to use gerunds.

You are good at playing chess!

She is happy about marrying a rich man.

Sometimes gerunds can play the role of a noun. For example: Drawing is my favourite hobby. Don't forget to include the be verb.

Also we can use infinitives to express purpouse.

I bought this pencil to draw better. (Because I want to draw better).

Articles

How to use the articles?

Often we have problems using the articles. This post will be useful. It will give you some tips for remembering how to use them.

Indefinite Articles

A or an? They are indefinite articles. So how to use them? It depends on the next word.

If the next word starts with a consonant sound, we use a. For example, a book, a pencil, a chair, a man, etc.

When the word starts with a vowel sound, then we use an. I remaindo you that there are 5 vowel sounds: a,e,i,o,u. For example: an aplication, an eraser, an explanation.

There are some examples, when a word starts with a vowel letter, but it starts with a consonan sound. Examples: university, uniform, eulogy. In this case we have to use a. The same happens with the words that have the silent sound h. Example: An hour.

When we give general facts about something or somebody we use the indefinite article.

A tablet is a modern invention. (It means that all the tablets are a modern invention).

It is possible to talk about non specific things using the articles a or an.

When I was in Madrid, I saw an interesting park.

Remember that the use of an or a depends on the next word. For example: A book. But an old book. In this case we use an because the next word is old.

The zero article

It is possible to give a general fact without any article. If we take the previous examples

A tablet is a modern invention, we can cut the article a. So we add the ending -s to the word tablet> tablets. Then, we got "Tablets are a modern invention". As we see, we are not talking about specific things. We are making a generalization.

The

When we talk about specific things, we use the. The state of California is big.

Also, we use the when we need to talk about things that we already have information about.

Have you seen the book? Yes, I saw it yesterday on the table.

Nouns

Count Nouns and Non-Count Nouns use

Nouns describe people, places and things. 

There are two types of noun> contable and noncount. They have some properties that make easy to be recognized and classified. 

Count nouns

It is possible to use numbers 

There are rules that give the plural form of the noun:

Noncount nouns

As the name says, we cannot use them with numbers. We cannot count them.

Usually we use uncount nons when we talk about

Very small things like rice. 

Gases like the oxygen

Studies

The whole of a group

Activities

Disieses

Abstract ideas

But how do you know if a noun is contable or uncontable?

First, the dictionary helps us to determine if the noun is contable or not. 

Second, uncontable nouns do not use plural forms. For instance, we cannot say "the rices". 

Reduced Adjective Clauses and Appositives

Reduced Adjective Clauses

In the spoken language speakers reduce the sentences and they try to save time.

Let see an example>

The man who is reading the newspaper is my uncle.

As we can see, "who is" links the many with the action. But what if I do it shorter? Is it possible? Yes, it is. I can reduce this sentence whithout "who is".

The man reading the newspapes is my uncle.

This procedure helps to use less words in a sentence and say what you want faster.

Rules for reducing

1) It is possible to reduce adjective clauses that use adjective clauses pronouns.

The girl who is talking on the phone is my cousin.
Here I can reduce because after "who" there is present progressive (to be + gerund).
So, the reduced sentence is "The girl talking on the phone is my cousin.

2) Check the verb situation

Pay attention to the next situations:

a) The boy who is playing the violin is great!
b) The woman who is on the righ.
c) The environment is polluted by the human
d) The house that was painted by my father is very big.

It is possible to reduce the clauses cutting the be verb. Then we get the next options.

a) The boy playing the violin is great!
b) The woman on the righ.
c) The environment polluted by the human
d) The house painted by my father is very big.

But what happens if there is a negative sentence? Read the next example

I like to see people who are not smoking.

In this case we cut "who" and "are", but we do not cut not. Then we get the next sentence>

I like to see people not smoking.

Absence of be verb

People who smoke has a high risk of dying.

In this case it is possible to cut "who" and add the ending -ing to the verb smoke.

People smoking has a high risk of dying.