2019-11-01 Past Ability: Could, Was Able To, Managed To
Imagine that you are interviewing for a job you really want. Most of the questions are in your native language, but the job will require you to use some English.…
2019-10-25 Subject-Verb Agreement and the News
Imagine you are reading or listening to an American news story. Perhaps it is a health and lifestyle story. Diabetes is a serious, chronic disease on the rise around the…
2019-10-18 Subject – Verb Agreement
Have you ever noticed something strange about sentences involving prices or distances? Do you ever wonder why Americans use expressions like “$50 is too much!” or “Ten miles is really…
2019-10-11 How to Say ‘I’m Not Surprised’
Do you ever hear a story and think to yourself, “I knew that” or “it’s not surprising to me?” This week on Everyday Grammar, we will look at different ways…
2019-10-04 The Progressive: Activities and Places
Imagine you want to talk about what someone is doing. Perhaps you want to add information about where that action is happening. This week on Everyday Grammar, we will explore…
2019-09-27 Verbs of Perception
Imagine that you want to describe an experience. You want to talk about how you perceived something – in other words, what you saw, heard, or felt. In our report…
2019-09-13 Verbs That Change with Gerunds and Infinitives
In English, we sometimes follow a verb with another action. When we do this, we must use an infinitive or a gerund. You may remember that a gerund is the…
2019-08-16 Six Everyday Phrases for Making Guesses
Sometimes, we are asked to give an answer or opinion about something when we don’t have enough information or are not sure about it. We call such an answer or…
2019-08-09 ‘Social’ Verbs and Prepositions
Talking, laughing, joking – these are some of the actions we do while we are with friends and family. In today’s report, we explore the grammar behind such actions. Specifically,…
2019-08-02 Did You ‘Ask About’ Verbs and Prepositions?
Ice Cube is a famous rap music artist. The Lumineers are a famous folk rock group. While The Lumineers and Ice Cube might be musically different, they both can teach…
2019-07-26 Using Past Forms to Describe Present, Future
Imagine that your cousin wants to ask his longtime girlfriend to marry him. And he needs you to help him find the right wedding ring. So, he takes you along…
2019-07-19 Phrasal Verbs: Come Back, Come Up
Braveheart was released over 20 years ago, yet is still popular among American movie-lovers today. The 1995 film tells the story of William Wallace, a Scottish knight who led a…
2019-07-12 The More I Practice, the More I Remember
Hello. Today we will start with a question for you: When you practice English more, do you remember more? If your answer is yes, one way you can say this…
2019-07-05 Common Phrasal Verbs with ‘Go’
In the early 1970’s, Motown Records released the Marvin Gaye song “What’s Going On.” The song asks for a peaceful solution to social problems. “What’s Going On” is very famous…
2019-06-28 How to Replace That-Clauses with ‘So’
As a general rule, the English language aims to avoid repetition. That’s why, on Everyday Grammar, we talk about ways to shorten sentences – in spoken English and in some…