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…
2019-06-14 Three Common Forms in Everyday Speech
Have you ever had someone “repair” a home appliance but it kept breaking? I have been having trouble with my sink for a month. Yesterday, the maintenance man repaired it…again.…
2019-06-07 Present Progressive Tense and Showing Annoyance
Samantha Fish is an American songwriter and blues singer. In her song Somebody’s Always Trying, she complains about other, unnamed women. She accuses them of trying to take her boyfriend…
2019-05-31 Too and Either: Short Responses of Agreement
In English conversation, when we respond to a speaker, we often do not repeat all of their words. Instead, we may say just a few words. The speaker understands our…
2019-05-24 The ‘By-phrase’ and the Passive Voice
In a famous scene in the American film Clerks, two of the characters have a disagreement. They debate which “Star Wars” film is the best. “Empire had the better ending.…
2019-05-17 A Simple Sentence with Seven Meanings
In some languages, speakers say each word in a sentence with equal stress. That is true for Japanese, for example. But, as you know, that is not true for English.…
2019-05-10 Science Fiction and the Passive Voice
The Terminator movies, featuring actor Arnold Schwarzenegger, have been some of the most popular films ever made. They tell the story of a resistance leader and the robots sent from…