2015-09-26 Do/Does You Understand Subject-Verb Agreement?
For VOA Learning English, this is Everyday Grammar. This week we are going to talk about problems with subject-verb agreement. Basically, subjects and verbs must agree in number. If the…
2015-09-19 Unusual Plurals
One fish, two fish, red fish, blue fish, goes the Dr. Seuss children’s story. Why isn’t it two fishes? You may think, “Ok, it’s hard to count fish so we…
2015-09-11 Tag Questions Are Easy, Aren’t They?
Have you ever been in a conversation and wanted to check your understanding? That is the time to use a tag question in English. A tag question is a short…
2015-09-05 Three Reasons to Learn Relative Adverbs
From VOA Learning English, this is Everyday Grammar. In an earlier program, we talked about the relative pronouns who, that, and which. We promised to give you more details about…
2015-08-29 Fun with Future Tenses
For VOA Learning English, this is Everyday Grammar. This week, we are going to talk about the future tenses. There are several ways to talk about future events in English.…
2015-08-22 We Suggest That You Learn the Subjunctive
For VOA Learning English, this is Everyday Grammar. Today, we’re going to talk about using the subjunctive. English speakers use the subjunctive to express a wide variety of unreal or…
2015-08-15 The Sounds of Grammar with Betty Azar
For VOA Learning English, this is Everyday Grammar. Today we have a special guest host. Betty Azar is the most successful writer of grammar textbooks in the world. Generations of…
2015-08-08 Are Causatives Making You Crazy?
This week’s Everyday Grammar looks at the grammatical forms called causatives. Basically, causatives express how one actor causes another actor to do something. You know the meaning of make as…
2015-08-01 May, Might, Must – Modals of Certainty and Hope
For VOA Learning English, this is Everyday Grammar. This week’s Everyday Grammar looks at how to use the modals may, must, and might. Modal verbs (called modals for short) are…
2015-07-25 Can I, Could I, May I?
For VOA Learning English, this is Everyday Grammar. This week we will give you some tips on how to use modals to make requests and give permission. Some common modals…
2015-07-18 You Had Better Learn Modals!
For VOA Learning English, this is Everyday Grammar. This week we are going to show you how to give advice using modal verbs. Modal verbs (called modals for short) are…
2015-07-11 Mastering Reported Speech
We often need to tell others what someone else said. There are two ways to do this. One is to say the same words and use quotation marks. That is…
2015-07-04 Beating Problems with Adverbs
For VOA Learning English, this is Everyday Grammar. This week, we’re going to talk about some common problems with adverbs. Basically, adverbs are words that describe verbs, adjectives, and other…
2015-06-27 Words Come and Go in English
For VOA Learning English, this is Everyday Grammar. This week’s Everyday Grammar is by a guest author, David Sullivan. He is Assistant Managing Editor at The Philadelphia Inquirer, and Vice…
2015-06-20 When Passive Is Better than Active
This Everyday Grammar is all about the passive voice. The passive is a verb form in which the subject receives the action of the verb. For example, “I was born…