Step by Step Proficiency English Language School » English Grammar questions

12 nouns in English ending in ‘f’ or ‘fe’ form their plural into ‘ves’

Greg — Sun, 08 Dec 2024 07:37:33 +0000

12 nouns in English ending in ‘f’ or ‘fe’ form their plural into ‘ves’

These are the following nouns:

calf, half knife, leaf, life loaf, self, sheaf, shelf, thief, wife, wolf

For example:

I saw one wolf.

They saw many wolves.

Some nouns ending in ‘f’ can either take ‘s’ or ‘ves’

For example:

I have one scarf.

She has two scarfs or She has two scarves.

Many nouns ending in ‘f’ or ‘fe’ form their plural in the regular way:

For example:

a handkerchief – handkerchiefs

Good luck practicing guys!

If you would like to learn more about English grammar, please join our English school in Ottawa!

4 verbs in English can be followed by either Gerund (doing) or Infinitive (to do) without any difference in meaning!

Greg — Wed, 04 Dec 2024 07:07:33 +0000

Four verbs in English, which can be followed by either Gerund (doing) or Infinitive (to do), (not followed by object) without any difference in meaning include: ‘begin, start, continue and cease’ when you use Present Simple and other Simple Tenses. ( Past Simple, Present Perfect Simple, Past Perfect Simple, Future Simple and Future Perfect Simple)

You can say:

‘I always begin studying before my exams’ or ‘I always begin to study before my exams’, it means the same. (Present Simple)

‘I started swimming in July’ or ‘I started to swim in July’, it means the same. (Past Simple)

‘She has continued to travel in Europe” or ‘She has continued traveling in Europe ” it means the same. (Present Perfect Simple)

The verb to ‘cease’ is often (not always) more formal. You can say:

‘ Without proper funding the university will cease to exist’ or ‘Without proper funding the university will cease existing’ it means the same (Future Simple)

EXCEPTIONS:

However, if you use Continuous Tenses, with ‘begin’ or “start” only infinitive can be used:

‘I’m beginning to understand ” (Present Continuous)

‘I was starting to believe’ (Past Continuous)

(You cannot say; ‘I’m beginning understanding’ or ‘I was starting believing’. It is incorrect)

LAST EXCEPTION:

The verb: ‘to cease” is not used with Continuous Tenses.

That’s it. Hope this helps!

If you would like to learn more about English grammar, please join our English school in Ottawa.

Greg

A few words of motivation for our ESL students at our English school! You can do it guys! :)

Greg — Wed, 13 Nov 2024 06:32:02 +0000

Our students often say that learning English Pronunciation and English Grammar is very difficult.

Here is my reply:

I know and I understand that it’s very, very, very hard …. BUT YOU CAN DO IT!!!

Greg

Just join our English school, our ESL school in Ottawa!

Compound nouns and accent are very important in English

Greg — Tue, 29 Oct 2024 21:33:13 +0000

Hi there guys!

Did you know that nouns in English can also be adjectives?

A strawberry is a very healthy fruit, it’s also a noun and it can also be an adjective in English!

If you say ‘a strawberry field’ it’s a compound noun which means a field planted with strawberries.

If you say ‘orange juice’, it means juice which tastes like an orange.

If you say ‘a carrot smoothie’, it means a smoothie which consists of carrots!

etc..

The first element in compound nouns is often like an adjective because it describes the second noun.

From the linguistic standpoint, the first element describes the second element.

The accent in compound nouns is always on the first element. (strawberry, orange and carrot are pronounced louder)

There are many compound nouns in English!

Here is another example which shows the importance of accent in compound nouns:

‘The White House’ refers to the official residence of the president of the United States. In this case ‘white’ is louder.

‘A white house’ refers to a house which was painted white. In this case ‘house’ is louder.

Good luck and hope this helps guys!

‘Strawberry fields forever…’

If you listen carefully to the famous Beatles’ song, you can close your eyes, enjoy the beautiful music and at the same time hear that ‘strawberry’ is pronounced louder than ‘fields’ while recognizing how the accent and intonation (the melody of the language) smoothly change. Enjoy practicing guys!

If you say: I want to learn English at Step by Step Proficiency, English school in Ottawa, the noun English is also louder than the noun school because the phrase English school is also a compound noun! lol

Present Perfect Simple Tense summary and easy explanation

Greg — Sun, 27 Oct 2024 04:06:29 +0000

One of the most difficult tenses to understand in English grammar is Present Perfect Simple. It always indicates a very strong connection between the past time and the present time.

Here are some easy examples to help you understand better guys.

If you say:

‘I have always wanted to be a singer’ it means since I was born until now and I still want to be a singer.

‘I have never been to Australia’ it means since I was born until now. (We express experience)

Similarly with questions, we can ask about someone’s experience: ‘Have you ever been to Australia?’ It means since you were born until now.

There are also many past-present time result sentences:

‘I haven’t I cleaned up my room today’ it means since the morning started until now, it’s maybe evening and my room is still dirty, lol

‘Have you finished yet?’ It means since you started doing something until now and are you ready now?

My favourite Present Perfect + since+ Past Simple sentence which I recommend that you guys remember is:

‘I have met many nice people since I came to Canada’

(It means since I came to Canada until now, past and present time are connected and it also means experience)

Hope this helps.

Want to learn more about English grammar in an easy step by step way, please join our English/ESL school in Ottawa!

Greg