VERBS NOT USED IN CONTINUOUS FORM

Some of them are: want, doubt, hear, please wish, feel, taste, surprise prefer, know, smell, impress love, remember, sound,satisfy hate, understand, see dislike, believe, appear, like, seem, mean Remember however, these verbs are normally used in simple term rather than continous form. These verbs are called stative or state verbs. The verbs that you can use in continous form are called dynamic verbs.

Free English Lessons - Nouns

1. Nouns

A. One-word nouns
Noun endings: people who do things/people who come from places.

1. We use some words only as nouns: desk, hat, tree, etc.

2. However, we often make nouns from other words by adding differnt endings or suffixes and sometimes making other small changes. For example, if we add –er to a verb like play, we get the noun player, if we add –ity to the adjective active, we get the noun activity. There is no easy rule to tell us which endings to use to make nouns.

3. Typical endings which make nouns:
People who do things: actor, assistant, beggar, driver, engineer, historian, pianist.
People who come from places: Athenian, Berliner, Milanese, Muscovite, Roman.

B. Nouns formed from verbs, adjectives, other nouns

1. Some nouns have the smae form as verbs: act, attempt, blame, book, call, copy, cost, dance, fall, fear, help, joke, kiss, laugh, try, vote, walk, wash, wish.

2. Typical endings which make nouns from:
• verbs: acceptance, agreement, arrival, behaviour,
discovery, knowledge, possession.
• adjectives: absence, activity, anxiety, constancy, happpiness.
• other nouns: boyhood, kingdom, lunacy, mouthful, sexism.

And note –ing forms used as nouns: I’ve given your shirt an ironing.

C. Nouns and verbs with the same spelling but different stress:

1. With some words, when the stress is on the first syllable, the word is a noun. When the stress is on second syllable, it is a verb. The meanings are related:
Noun: We have finished book 1. We have made good progress.
Verb: We are now ready to progress Book 2.

2. The meanings can also be quite different:
Noun: My sons’s conduct at school hasn’t been very good.
Verb: Mahler used to conduct the Vienna Philharmonic.


1.1 Compound Nouns

A. Nouns formed with gerund (‘-ing) + noun: ‘dancing-shoes’
1. When a noun has two or more parts (e.g.classroom), we call it a compound noun.

2. The –ing form can be sometimes be an adjective:
Can you see that’dancing’couple? (=couple that is dancing)
When the –ing form is an adjective, we stress both words and never use a hypen.

1. The –ing form can be the first part of a compound noun:
I need a pair of ‘dancing-shoes. (=shoes used for dancing; not ‘shoes that are dancing’)
When the –ing form is a noun, we stress the first word only and a hypen is optional.

B. Apostrophe s (‘s) or compound noun?

1. We use apostrophe s(‘s) with people and some living things to show possession: Gus’s car. The girl’s shoes, a dog’s bark.

2. When we want to show possession with things, we can use of: the leg of the table. However, we often prefer to use a compound noun instead of of: the table-leg.

3. We can say the voice of a man or a man’s voice. (Not ‘a man voice’)
We can say the leg of a tbale or table-leg. (Not ‘a table’s leg’)

C. Compound nouns which tell us about materials and substances

1. Names of materials and substances (leather, gold) are like adjectives when we use them to form compound nouns: a gold watch. (Not ‘golden’).

2. Two important exceptions are wood and wool, which have adjective forms:
a table made of wood- a wooden table; a dress made of wool – a woollen dress.

3. There are adjectival forms for words like gold: glass/glassy, gold/golden, leather/leathery, silver/silvery, silk/silky/silken, steel, steely, stone/stony.
We use them to mean ‘like’: a golden sunset (=a sunset like gold).

1.2 Countable and uncountable nouns

1. If a noun is countable:

a we can use a/an in front of it: I bought a book. (Not ‘I brought book’).
b it has a plural and can be used in questions with How many?: How many books..?
c we can use a number in front of it: one book, two books.

2. If a noun is uncountable:

a we do not normally use a/an in front of it: I bought some bread. (Not ‘a bread’)
b it does not normally have a plural and can be used in questions with How much?. How much bread...? (Not ‘How many breads?)
c we cannot normally use a number in front of it. [compare >B below]

3. We need to now whether nouns are countable or uncountable in English to be able to use a/an, some, any, much, many, a few, a little, etc. correctly.
Compare: it was a marvellous experience. (countable=something that happened)
We need someone with experience. (uncountable=skill and knowledge).

A. Nouns which can be either countable or uncountable ‘an egg/egg’

1. Some nouns are countable when they refer to single items, but they are uncountable when they refer to substances:
Countable (a single item) uncountable(substance/material)
He ate a whole chiken! Would you like some chicken?
I had a boiled egg for breakfast. There’s egg on your tie.

2. Some nouns are uncountable when they refer to a material, but they are countable when they refer to an object made from that material:
Countable (‘thing’) uncountable(‘material’)
I broke a glass this morning Glass is made from sand and lime.
I picked up a stone. We used stone to build our walls.

B. Normally uncountable nouns used a countables (1): ‘a coffee/(some) coffee’
1. Words fr drinks like coffee are normally uncountable. This means:
- we use no article: coffee is important to the economy in Brazil.
- or we use some/any. Is there any coffee? I’d like some coffee, please.

C. Normally uncountable nouns used as countables (2): ‘oil/a light oil’

Words like oil and plastic for substances and materials are normally uncountable
Oil is produced in the North Sea.
We often use a/an with nouns like this when we are describing them with an adjective:
The North Sea produces a light oil which is highly prized in the oil industry.

D. Countable and uncountable nouns (2)

1. Singular equivalents of uncoutable nouns: ‘bread/a loaf’

A word like bread is uncountable. If we want ‘one item’, we use a different word: I’d like some bread, please – I’d like a loaf (of bread) please.

Sometimes we have to say exacly what we want. We cannot say ‘a clothing’, so we ask for a coat, a shirt, etc. In the same way, we cannot say ‘a luggage’, ‘ an accommodation’. We have to say what we want: e.g. ia suitcase, a room.

E. Nouns not normally countable in English; ‘information’

1. A number of nouns, like information, are countable in many languages, but they are uncountable in English. This means we cannot:
- use a/an in front of them: I’d like some information, please. (Not ‘an information’).
- give them a plural: I’d like some information, please (Not ‘(some) informations’)

Other examples: advice, clothing, flu, furniture, hair, homework, housework, jewellery, lightning, luggage, meat, money, news, permission, progress, rubbish, scenery, shopping, soap, spaghetti, thunder, toast, traffic, weather.

2. News is plural in form, but takes a singular verb: The news is bad. (Not ‘my hairs are’) Hair (that grows on the head) is singular: My hair is long. (Not ‘my hairs are’). We use hairs only for individual strands of hair. There are three hairs on my nose.

Understand by looking at pictures

A fishing town in Mirissa, Southern Sri Lanka. A beautiful beach to relax. Mirissa is situated about 4km southwest of Weligama. A little town, with a small fishing harbour together with a gorgeous beach is something special about this village town. It is a peaceful beach with crystal clear waters.

A beautiful beach for a relaxing holiday. Situated 27 km. from Galle, Southern Sri Lanka with its picturesque bay, and an off shore islet where a French Count built his dream house, Weligama is where you will see the famous stilt fishermen.

A stilt fisherman at Koggala beach in Southern Sri Lanka. The stretch from koggala to Weligama is famous for its "stilt fishing".

Articles and one, a little/a few, this, that

1 a/an (the indefinite article)

The form a is used before a word beginning with a consonant, or a vowel with a consonant sound:

a man a had a university a European

a one-way street

The form an is used before words beginning with a vowel (a, e, i, o, u) or words beginning with a mute h:

an apple an island an uncle

an egg an onion an houPublish Postr

or individual letters spoken with a vowel sound:

an L-plate an MP an SOS an ‘x’

a/an is the same for all genders:

a man a woman an actor an actress a table

2 Use of a/an

a/an is used:

A Before a singular noun which is countable (i.e. of which there is more than one) when it is mentioned for the first time and represents no particular person or thing:

I need a visa. They live in a flat. He bought an ice-cream.

B Before a singular countable noun which is used as an example of a class of things:

A car must be insured

All cars/Any car must be insured.

A child needs love

All children need/Any child needs love.

C With a noun complement. This includes names of professions:

It was an earthquake. She’ll be a dancer. He is an actor.

D In certain expressions of quantity:

a lot of a couple
a great many a dozen (but one dozen is also possible)
a great deal of

E With certain numbers:

a hundred a thousand

Before half when half follows a whole number;

1 ½ kilos = one and a half kilos or a kilo and a half

But ½ kg = half a kilo (no a before half), though a + half + noun is sometimes possible:

a half-holiday a half-portion a half-share

With 1/3, ¼, 1/5 etc. a is usual: a third, a quarter etc., but one is also possible.

F In expressions of price, speed, ratio, etc.:

5p a kilo £1 a metre sixty kilometres an hour

10 p a dozen four times a day

(Here a/an = per)

G In exclamations before singular, countable nouns:

Such a long queue! What a pretty girl! But

Such long queues! What pretty girls!

(Plural nouns, so no article)

H a can be placed before Mr/Mrs/Miss + surname:

a Mr Smith a Mrs Smith a Miss Smith a Mr Smith

means 'a man called Smith' and implies that he is a stranger to the speaker. Mr Smith, without a, implies that the speaker knows Mr Smith or knows of his existence.

(For the difference between a/an and one, see 4. For a few and a little, )

3 Omission of a/an

a/an is omitted;

A Before plural nouns.

a/an has no plural form. So the plural of a dog is dogs, and of an egg is eggs.

B Before uncountable nouns.

C Before names of meals, except when these are preceded by an adjective:

We have breakfast at eight.

He gave us a good breakfast.

The article is also used when it is a special meal given to celebrate something or in someone's honour:

I was invited to dinner (at their house, in the ordinary way) but

I was invited to a dinner given to welcome the new ambassador.

4 a/an and one

A a/an and one (adjective)

1 When counting or measuring time, distance, weight etc. we can use either a/an or one for the singular:

£1 = a/one pound £1,000,000 = a/one million pounds

But note that in The rent is £100 a week the a before week is not replaceable by one

In other types of statement a/an and one are not normally interchangeable, because one + noun normally means 'one only/not more than one' and a/an does not mean this:

A shotgun is no good. (It is the wrong sort of thing.)

One shotgun is no good. (I need two or three.)

2 Special uses of one

(a) one (adjective/pronoun) used with another/others:

One (boy) wanted to read, another /others wanted to watch TV.

One day he wanted his lunch early, another day he wanted it late.

(b) one can be used before day/week/month/year/summer/winter etc. or before the name of the day or month to denote a particular time when something happened:

One night there was a terrible storm.

One winter the snow fell early.

One day a telegram arrived.

(c) one day can also be used to mean 'at some future date':

One day you'll be sorry you treated him so badly.

(Some day would also be possible.)

(For one and you)

B a/an and one (pronoun)

one is the .pronoun equivalent of a/an:

Did you get a ticket? ~ Yes, I managed to get one.

The plural of one used in this way is some:

Did you get tickets? ~ Yes, I managed to get some.

5 a little/a few and little/few

A a little/little (adjectives) are used before uncountable nouns:

a little salt/little salt

a few/few (adjectives) are used before plural nouns:

a few people/few people

All four forms can also be used as pronouns, either alone or with of:

Sugar? ~ A little, please.

Only a few of these are any good.

B a little, a few (adjectives and pronouns)

a little is a small amount, or what the speaker considers a small amount, a few is a small number, or what the speaker considers a small number.

only placed before a little/a few emphasises that the number or amount really is small in the speaker's opinion:

Only a few of our customers have accounts.

But quite placed before a few increases the number considerably:

I have quite a few books on art. (quite a lot of books)

C little and few (adjectives and pronouns)

little and few denote scarcity or lack and have almost the force of a negative:

There was little time for consultation.

Little is known about the side-effects of this drug.

Few towns have such splendid trees.

This use of little and few is mainly confined to written English (probably because in conversation little and few might easily be mistaken for a little/a few). In conversation, therefore, little and few are normally replaced by hardly any. A negative verb + much/many is also possible:

We saw little = We saw hardly anything/We didn't see much.

Tourists come here but few stay overnight =

Tourists come here but hardly any stay overnight.

But little and few can be used more freely when they are qualified by so, very, too. extremely, comparatively, relatively etc. fewer (comparative) can also be used more freely.

I'm unwilling to try a drug I know so little about.

They have too many technicians, we have too few.

There are fewer butterflies every year.

D a little/little (adverbs)

1 a little can be used:

(a) with verbs: It rained a little during the night.

They grumbled a little about having to wait.

(b) with 'unfavourable' adjectives and adverbs:

a little anxious a little unwillingly

a little annoyed a little impatiently

(c) with comparative adjectives or adverbs:

The paper should be a little thicker.

Can't you walk a little faster?

rather could replace a little in (b) and can also be used before comparatives, though a little is more usual. In colloquial English a bit could be used instead of a little in all the above examples.

2 little is used chiefly with better or more in fairly formal style:

His second suggestion was little (= not much) better than his first.

He was little (= not much) more than a child when his father died.

It can also, in formal English, be placed before certain verbs, for example expect, know. suspect, think:

He little expected to find himself in prison.

He little thought that one day . . .

Note also the adjectives little-known and little-used:

a little-known painter a little-used footpath

6 the (the definite article)

A Form

the is the same for singular and plural and for all genders:

the boy the girl the day

the boys the girls the days

B Use

The definite article is used:

1 When the object or group of objects is unique or considered to be unique:

the earth the sea the sky the equator the stars

2 Before a noun which has become definite as a result of being mentioned a second time:

His car struck a tree; you can still see the mark on the tree.

3 Before a noun made definite by the addition of a phrase or clause:

the girl in blue the man with the banner

the boy that I met the place where I met him

4 Before a noun which by reason of locality can represent only one particular thing:

Ann is in the garden, (the garden of this house)

Please pass the wine, (the wine on the table)

Similarly: the postman (the one who comes to us), the car (our car), the newspaper (the one we read).

5 Before superlatives and first, second etc. used as adjectives or pronouns, and only:

the first (week) the best day the only way

C the + singular noun can represent a class of animals or things:

The whale is in danger of becoming extinct.

The deep-freeze has made life easier for housewives.

But man, used to represent the human race, has no article:

If oil supplies run out, man may have to fall back on the horse.

the can be used before a member of a certain group of people:

The small shopkeeper is finding life increasingly difficult.

the + singular noun as used above takes a singular verb. The pronoun is he, she or it:

The first-class traveller pays more so he expects some comfort.

D the + adjective represents a class of persons:

the old = old people in general

E the is used before certain proper names of seas, rivers, groups of islands, chains of mountains, plural names of countries, deserts, regions:

the Atlantic the Netherlands

the Thames the Sahara

the Azores the Crimea

the Alps the Riviera

and before certain other names:

the City the Mall the Sudan

the Hague the Strand the Yemen

the is also used before names consisting of noun + of + noun:

the Bay of Biscay the Gulf of Mexico

the Cape of Good Hope the United States of America

the is used before names consisting of adjective + noun (provided the adjective is not east, west etc.):

the Arabian Gulf the New Forest the High Street

the is used before the adjectives east/west etc. + noun in certain names:

the East/West End the East/West Indies

the North/South Pole

but is normally omitted:

South Africa North America West Germany

the, however, is used before east/west etc. when these are nouns:

the north of Spain the West (geographical)

the Middle East the West (political)

Compare Go north (adverb: in a northerly direction) with He lives in the north (noun: an area in the north).

F the is used before other proper names consisting of adjective + noun or noun + of + noun:

the National Gallery the Tower of London

It is also used before names of choirs, orchestras, pop groups etc.:

the Bach Choir the Philadelphia Orchestra the Beatles

and before names of newspapers (The Times) and ships (the Great Britain).

G the with names of people has a very limited use. the + plural surname can be used to mean 'the . . . family':

the Smiths = Mr and Mrs Smith (and children)

the + singular name + clause/phrase can be used to distinguish one person from another of the same name:

We have two Mr Smiths. Which do you want? ~ I want the Mr Smith who signed this letter.

the is used before titles containing of (the Duke of York) but it is not used before other titles or ranks (Lord Olivier, Captain Cook), though if someone is referred to by title/rank alone the is used:

The earl expected . . . The captain ordered . . .

Letters written to two or more unmarried sisters jointly may be addressed The Misses + surname: The Misses Smith.

7 Omission of the

A The definite article is not used:

1 Before names of places except as shown above, or before names of people.

2 Before abstract nouns except when they are used in a particular sense;

Men fear death but The death a/the Prime Minister left his party without a leader.

3 After a noun in the possessive case, or a possessive adjective:

the boy's uncle = the uncle of the boy It is my (blue) book = The (blue) book is mine.

4 Before names of meals:

The Scots have porridge/or breakfast but The wedding breakfast was held in her/other's house.

5 Before names of games: He plays golf.

6 Before parts of the body and articles of clothing, as these normally prefer a possessive adjective:

Raise your right hand. fie took off his coat.

But notice that sentences of the type:

She seized the child's collar.

I patted his shoulder.

The brick hit John's face.

could be expressed:

She seized the child by the collar.

I patted him on the shoulder.

The brick hit John in the face.

Similarly in the passive:

He was hit on the head. He was cut in the hand.

B Note that in some European languages the definite article is used before indefinite plural nouns but that in English the is never used in this way:

Women are expected to like babies, (i.e. women in general)

Big hotels all over the world are very much the same.

If we put the before women in the first example, it would mean that we were referring to a particular group of women.

C nature, where it means the spirit creating and motivating the world of plants and animals etc., is used without the:

If you interfere with nature you will suffer for it.

8 Omission of the before home, before church, hospital, prison, school etc. and before work, sea and town

A home

When home is used alone, i.e. is not preceded or followed by a descriptive word or phrase, the is omitted:

He is at home.

home used alone can be placed directly after a verb of motion, i.e. it can be treated as an adverb:

He went home. I arrived home after dark.

But when home is preceded or followed by a descriptive word or phrase it is treated like any other noun:

They went to their new home.

We arrived at the bride's home.

For some years this was the home of your queen.

A mud hut was the only home he had ever known.

B bed, church, court, hospital, prison, school/college/university

the is not used before the nouns listed above when these places are

visited or used for their primary purpose. We go:

to bed to sleep or as invalids to hospital as patients

to church to pray to prison as prisoners

to court as litigants etc. to school/college/university to study

Similarly we can be:

in bed, sleeping or resting in hospital as patients

at church as worshippers at school etc. as students

in court as witnesses etc.

We can be/get back (or be/get home) from school/college/university.

We can leave school, leave hospital, be released from prison.

When these places are visited or used for other reasons the is necessary:

I went to the church to see the stained glass.

He goes to the prison sometimes to give lectures.

C sea

We go to sea as sailors. To be at sea = to be on a voyage (as passengers or crew).

But to go to or be at the sea = to go to or be at the seaside. We can also live by/near the sea.

D work and office

work (= place of work) is used without the:

He's on his way to work. He is at work.

He isn't back from work yet.

Note that at work can also mean 'working'; hard at work = working hard:

He's hard at work on a new picture.

office (= place of work) needs the: He is at/in the office.

To be in office (without the) means to hold an official (usually political) position. To be out of office = to be no longer in power.

E town

the can be omitted when speaking of the subject's or speaker's own town:

We go to town sometimes to buy clothes.

We were in town last Monday.

9 this/these, that/those (demonstrative adjectives and pronouns)

A Used as adjectives, they agree with their nouns in number. They are the only adjectives to do this.

This beach was quite empty last year.

This exhibition will be open until the end of May.

These people come from that hotel over there.

What does that notice say?

That exhibition closed a month ago.

He was dismissed on the 13th. That night the factory went on fire.

Do you see those birds at the top of the tree?

this/these/that/those + noun + of + yours/hers etc. or Ann's etc. is sometimes, for emphasis, used instead of your/her etc. + noun:

This diet of mine/My diet isn't having much effect.

That car of Ann 's/Ann's car is always breaking down.

Remarks made with these phrases are usually, though not necessarily always, unfavourable,

B this/these, that/those used as pronouns:

This is my umbrella. That's yours.

These are the old classrooms. Those are the new ones.

Who's that (man over there)? ~ That's Tom Jones.

After a radio programme:

That was the concerto in C minor by Vivaldi.

this is is possible in introductions:

ANN (to TOM): This is my brother Hugh.

ANN (to HUGH): Hugh, this is Tom Jones.

telephone CALLER: Good morning. This is/I am Tom Jones . . .

I am is slightly more formal than This is and is more likely to be used when the caller is a stranger to the other person. The caller's name + here (Tom here) is more informal than This is. those can be followed by a defining relative clause:

Those who couldn't walk were carried on stretchers.

this/that can represent a previously mentioned noun, phrase or clause:

They're digging up my mad. They do this every summer.

He said I wasn 't a good wife. Wasn 't that a horrible thing to say?

C this/these, that/those used with one/ones

When there is some idea of comparison or selection, the pronoun one/ones is often placed after these demonstratives, but it is not essential except when this etc. is followed by an adjective:

This chair is too low. I'll sit in that (one).

I like this (one) best.

I like this blue one/these blue ones.