Being and Been - the difference

Being and Been Some writers occasionally confuse the words 'being' and 'been'. As a rule, the word 'been' is always used after 'have' (in any form; e.g. has, had, will have); whereas, 'being' is never used after 'have'.  'Being' is used after 'to be' (in any form; e.g., is, was, were). Examples:  I have been busy.   Terry has being taking the stores to the shelter.  ('being' cannot follow 'has' or 'have') Being as a Noun The word 'being' can also be a noun. Examples:  A human being  Being as a Gerund The word 'being' can also be a gerund (which is a type of noun). Examples:  Do you like being so ignorant?   The accident was caused by his being so clumsy.   I live in terror of not being misunderstood.

When to use an and a - articles

Use 'an' if the next word starts with a vowel sound. If it does not, then use 'a'.

Using A and An

There is sometimes confusion about whether to use 'an' or 'a' (particularly with abbreviations). The sound of a word's first letter determines which to use. If the word starts with a vowel sound, you should use 'an'. If it starts with a consonant sound, you should use 'a'.

Examples:

 Buy a house in an hour.  
(Although 'house' and 'hour' start with the same three letters (hou),
one attracts 'a' and the other 'an'.)

 An unknown goblin killed a unicorn.  

 It would be a honour. 
('honour' - starts with an o sound)

Adjectives lesson II

Origin

Adjectives can be used to describe origin. 

For example:-

• "It was a German flag." or "They were German flags."

Material

Adjectives can be used to identify the material something is made of.

• "A wooden cupboard." or "Wooden cupboards."

!Note - In English we often use a noun as an adjective. For example: glass - a glass vase / metal - a metal tray etc.

Distance

Adjectives can be used to describe distance.   l -- o -- n -- g  / short

long, short, far, around, start, high, low, etc.

For example:

• "She went for a long walk." or "She went for lots of long walks."

Temperature

Adjectives can be used to describe temperature.

cold, warm, hot, cool, etc.

For example:

• "The day was hot." or "The days were hot."

Time

Adjectives can be used to describe time.  

late, early, bed, nap, dinner, lunch, day, morning, night, etc.

For example:

• "She had an early start."

Purpose

Adjectives can be used to describe purpose. (These adjectives often end with "-ing".)

For example:

• "She gave them a sleeping bag." or "She gave them sleeping bags."

!Note - In each case the adjective stays the same, whether it is describing a masculine, feminine, singular or plural noun.

When using more than one adjective to modify a noun, the adjectives may be separated by a conjunction (and) or by commas (,).

For example:

• "Her hair was long and blonde." or "She had long, blonde hair."

Adjectives lesson I

Adjectives describe or give information about nouns or pronouns.

For example:-

The grey dog barked. (The adjective grey describes the noun "dog".)

The good news is that the form of an adjective does not change. It does not matter if the noun being modified is male or female, singular or plural, subject or object.

Some adjectives give us factual information about the noun - age, size colour etc (fact adjectives - can't be argued with). Some adjectives show what somebody thinks about something or somebody - nice, horrid, beautiful etc (opinion adjectives - not everyone may agree).

If you are asked questions with which, whose, what kind, or how many, you need an adjective to be able to answer.

There are different types of adjectives in the English language:

• Numeric: six, one hundred and one
• Quantitative: more, all, some, half, more than enough
• Qualitative: colour, size, smell etc.
• Possessive: my, his, their, your
• Interrogative: which, whose, what
• Demonstrative: this, that, those, these

Note - The articles a, an, and the and the possessives my, our, your, and their are also adjectives.

Opinion

Adjectives can be used to give your opinion about something.

good, pretty, right, wrong, funny, light, happy, sad, full, soft, hard etc.

For example:

He was a silly boy.

Size

Adjectives can be used to describe size. 

big, small, little, long, tall, short, same as, etc.

For example:

• "The big man." or "The big woman".

Age

Adjectives can be used to describe age. 

For example:

• "He was an old man." or "She was an old woman."

Shape

Adjectives can be used to describe shape.

round, circular, triangular, rectangular, square, oval, etc.

For example:

• "It was a square box." or "They were square boxes."

Colour

Adjectives can be used to describe colour.

blue, red, green, brown, yellow, black, white, etc.

For example:

• "The blue bag." or "The blue bags".

What NOT to do when it's hot!

Oh My English - "Open"

Turn/Switch + Open/Close On/Off

Some things that can be "Switched on" or "Turned on": 
TV, radio, air conditioner, computer, phone, water heater, stove, oven, fan 

Some things that can be "Opened" and "Closed": 
door, window, cabinet, closet 

[Please] Turn the TV on. (Correct) 
On the TV. (Incorrect - no verb) 
Open the TV. (Incorrect - wrong verb. 

Turn on the air conditioner. (Correct) 
Turn the air conditioner on. (Also correct) 
On the air conditioner. (Incorrect - no verb) 
Turn the air conditioner open. (Incorrect - wrong verb. 

On the window. (Incorrect - wrong verb/no verb) 
Close the window. (Correct) 
Off the window. (Incorrect, wrong verb) 

Homework: 
Write one sentence each for the following words, and use their correct verb with them. You may write either positive or negative (open/close, on/off) 

Example: 
Fan 
Please turn the fan off. / Please turn off the fan. / Please turn the fan on. / Please turn on the fan. (One answer is enough) 


Laptop, heater, stove, cabinet, iron, washing machine, door 

Adjectives and adverbs

We use adjectives to say how something is,seems,becomes,looks, feels, sounds, tastes or smells.

E.g:  She is kind.            She seems/appears shy.               It's getting cold.
        He felt angry. (Not He felt angrily.)                            That's smells wonderful.

We use adverbs with other verbs to say how something happens or is done.

E.g :  She spoke kindly but shyly. ( Not She spoke kind.....)
        He answered me coldly.                                             He closed the door angrily.

Story: Little Red Riding Hood

The Obedient Little Red Riding Hood. 

One day she went to visit her granny. Can you guess what happened in the wood?

In the story we met Little Red Riding Hood's Granny. Now, tell us about one or two of your grandparents.

• What’s their name?
• What are they like?
• How often do you see them?
• Do they live near your house?