GRAMMAR REVIEW
A. MOST, A LOT OF, SOME, NOT MANY
A. COUNTABLE AND UNCOUNTABLE NOUNS Countable noun Uncountable noun eggs milk apples butter books money cds music
Most A lot of Some Not many
people drive to work.
B. DEFINITE, INDEFINITE, AND ZERO ARTICLES. 1.
Indefinite article We use a or an: a. with jobs: I'm an artist. b. with a singular noun to mean 'one': We have a real problem, c. with these phrases: a lot of/a long time
2. Definite article We use the: a. with times of day. in the morning/aftemoon (BUT at night) b. with these phrases: in the city centre on the right/left 3. Zero article We do not use a, an or the: a. with towns and cities. I'm from Boston b. with most countries. Lyon is in France. (BUT the United Slates, the United Kingdom, the Czech Republic) c. with 'by' + a type of transport. by bus/car/train d. with times + days. at one o'clock on Monday e. with these phrases. go to work/at home most people
1. We can use countable nouns in the singular or plural. Have you got a cat ? Do you like cats? 2. Uncountable nouns do not have a plural. Do you like classical music? Note: A dictionary says if a noun is countable or uncountable.
REMEMBER! a. Bread, toast, cake, milk, fruit juice, water, coffee, tea are all uncountable, but we can talk about: a piece of bread/toast/cake a glass of milk/fruit juice/water a cup of coffee/tea b. We can also talk about a coffee = (a cup of coffee) and two teas ...
B. THERE IS AND THERE ARE Positive form
Singular
plural
There's a cup.
There are six plates.
Negative There isn't a bottle There aren't two form of milk. cups. Question form
Is there a glass of orange juice?
Are there six glasses?
Short answers
Yes, there is. No, there isn't.
Yes, there are. No, there aren't.
C.
SOME AND ANY 1. a. We use some in the positive when we don't say exactly how many or how much. Have some grapes! There's some soup and bread for lunch. I'd like some carrots, please b. Some = a small number/a small amount. Notice the difference: some onions a lot of onions some money a lot of money 2. We usually use any or no in negatives with plural and uncountable nouns. I haven't got any money = I've got no money. There aren't any e-mails. = There are no emails. There isn't any time = There's no time. 3. We usually use any in questions with plurals and uncountable nouns. Have you got any brothers or sisters? Are there any buses at night? Singular Plural Uncountable countable noun countable noun noun There's an There are some There's some Positive apple. grapes. soup. There aren't any There isn't glasses. any water. There Isn't Negative a bowl. There are no There's no glasses. water. Is there a Are there any Is there any Interrogative cinema? shops? money?
Is there any meat in this soup? REMEMBER! With plural and uncountable nouns. a. We can also use some in these questions: Would you like some cheese/coffee/grapes? Have you got some grapes/mineral water? b. We usually use some in this question: Can I have some wine/cake/oranges?
D. QUESTIONS WITH HOW MUCH? AND HOW MANY? 1.
We use how many with countable plural nouns. How many brothers / children / oranges have you got? How many cigarettes does Paul smoke every day? 2. We use how much with uncountable nouns How much rice/milk/money have we got?
How much coffee does Elena drink in a week? 3. How much/how many and there is/there are. We use there are with countable plural nouns. We use there is with uncountable nouns. A. HOW many teachers are there in your school? B. There are about twenty, I think.
A. HOW much sugar is there in this cake? B. It’s okay. There's not much. REMEMBER! We use how much to ask about prices. How much is it/this/that? How much are they/these/those? How much does it cost? How much do they cost?