Wednesday, June 4, 2025

100 very common nouns

A noun is a word (other than a pronoun) used to identify any of a class of people, places, or things (common noun), or to name a particular one of these (proper noun).

Here are100 common nouns.... and you see much more in other articles of this blog.

  1. Advice
  2. Airporrt
  3. Apple
  4. Bank
  5. Bill
  6. Body
  7. Boy
  8. Bread
  9. Bus
  10. Car: 
  11. Cat
  12. Coffee
  13. Country
  14. Doctor
  15. Dog
  16. Dream
  17. Driver
  18. Earrings
  19. Earth
  20. Economy
  21. Energy
  22. Exercise
  23. Experience
  24. Face
  25. Faith
  26. Family
  27. Father
  28. Fear
  29. File
  30. Film
  31. Fire
  32. Food
  33. Freedom
  34. Friend
  35. Future
  36. Gift
  37. Glass
  38. Goal
  39. God
  40. Group
  41. Guitar
  42. Heart
  43. Help
  44. Hospital
  45. Hotel
  46. House
  47. Idea
  48. Information
  49. Job
  50. Key
  51. Keyboard
  52. Kid
  53. Knowledge
  54. Land
  55. Law
  56. Leader
  57. Leg
  58. Letter
  59. Life
  60. Light
  61. Look
  62. Mall
  63. Market
  64. Marriage
  65. Meeting
  66. Mind
  67. Mistake
  68. Money
  69. Mother
  70. Movie
  71. Name
  72. Need
  73. Notebook
  74. Number
  75. Nurse
  76. Office
  77. Orange
  78. Paper
  79. Parents
  80. Pasta
  81. People
  82. Place
  83. Player
  84. Police officer
  85. Purpose
  86. Reader
  87. Research
  88. Restaurant
  89. Ring
  90. Sea
  91. Sky
  92. Street
  93. Student 
  94. Travel
  95. Truth
  96. Umbrella
  97. University
  98. Vegetables
  99. Water
  100. World

Sunday, May 11, 2025

Simple present: the uses of this verb tense and sentences


The simple present tense is a verb tense used for habits, routines, general truths, facts, and scheduled events. Think of it as describing actions that happen regularly or are always true.   

Here's a breakdown of its key features:

  • Base Form: For most subjects (I, you, we, they), you use the base form of the verb.

    • I eat breakfast every day.
    • They play soccer on weekends.
    • We live in São Paulo.
  • Third Person Singular (he, she, it): For the third person singular, you usually add an -s or -es to the base form of the verb.  

    • He eats breakfast every day.
    • She plays the piano beautifully.
    • It rains a lot in the summer here.
  • Negative Form: You usually use "do not" (don't) or "does not" (doesn't) with the base form of the verb.  

    • I do not (don't) like spicy food.
    • They do not (don't) go to the gym on Mondays.
    • She does not (doesn't) speak Portuguese.
    • It does not (doesn't) snow in São Paulo.
  • Question Form: You usually start questions with "Do" or "Does" followed by the subject and the base form of the verb.  

    • Do you like coffee?  
    • Do they live nearby?  
    • Does he work downtown?
    • Does it often rain in May?

Here are some common uses of the simple present:

  • Habits and Routines: Actions that you do regularly.  

    • I wake up at 7 am every morning.
    • She takes the bus to work.
    • We go to the movies on Fridays.
  • General Truths and Facts: Things that are always true.  

    • The sun rises in the east.
    • Water boils at 100 degrees Celsius.  
    • São Paulo is a big city.  
  • Scheduled Events: Things that are planned for the future and have a fixed time.  

    • The train leaves at 6 pm.
    • The movie starts at 8:30 pm.
    • My flight arrives tomorrow morning.
  • The affirmative conjugation of the simple present tense in English varies depending on the subject. Here's a breakdown:

    For most verbs:

    • I + base form of the verb (e.g., I eat)
    • You + base form of the verb (e.g., You eat)
    • He/She/It + base form of the verb + -s (e.g., He eats, She eats, It eats)
    • We + base form of the verb (e.g., We eat)
    • They + base form of the verb (e.g., They eat)

    Special cases for the third person singular (he/she/it):

    • For verbs ending in -ss, -sh, -ch, -x, -o, add -es:
      • pass -> passes
      • wash -> washes
      • watch -> watches
      • fix -> fixes
      • go -> goes
    • For verbs ending in a consonant + -y, change the -y to -ies:
      • study -> studies
      • cry -> cries
    • For verbs ending in a vowel + -y, just add -s:
      • play -> plays
      • say -> says
    • The verb have becomes has in the third person singular.
    • The verb be has irregular forms:
      • I am
      • You are
      • He/She/It is
      • We are
      • They are
    • The verb do becomes does in the third person singular.

    In summary, for affirmative sentences in the simple present, you generally use the base form of the verb, adding an "-s" or "-es" to the third-person singular (he, she, it), with a few irregular verbs to remember.

  • To form interrogative sentences (questions) in the simple present tense, you typically use the auxiliary verbs "do" or "does" before the subject. Here's the basic structure:

    Do/Does + Subject + Base Form of Verb + ?

    Here's how it conjugates for different subjects:

    SubjectInterrogative FormExample
    IDo I + base verb?Do I need help?
    You (singular)Do you + base verb?Do you like pizza?
    HeDoes he + base verb?Does he play soccer?
    SheDoes she + base verb?Does she speak French?
    ItDoes it + base verb?Does it rain often here?
    WeDo we + base verb?Do we have homework?
    You (plural)Do you + base verb?Do you all understand?
    TheyDo they + base verb?Do they live nearby?

    Key Points:

    • "Does" is used for the third-person singular (he, she, it).
    • "Do" is used for all other subjects (I, you, we, they).
    • The main verb always stays in its base form (the infinitive without "to").
    • Don't forget the question mark at the end of the sentence.

    Examples:

    • Affirmative: You speak Spanish. Interrogative: Do you speak Spanish?
    • Affirmative: She works at the bank. Interrogative: Does she work at the bank?
    • Affirmative: They like to dance. Interrogative: Do they like to dance?

    This structure allows you to ask questions about habits, routines, general truths, and states in the present.

Here are some examples of affirmative, negative, and interrogative sentences in the simple present tense:

Affirmative:

  • I eat breakfast every morning.
  • She works at a hospital.
  • They play soccer on weekends.
  • The sun rises in the east.
  • My cat sleeps a lot.

Negative:

  • I do not eat breakfast every morning. (or I don't eat breakfast every morning.)
  • She does not work at a hospital. (or She doesn't work at a hospital.)
  • They do not play soccer on weekends. (or They don't play soccer on weekends.)
  • The sun does not rise in the west. (or The sun doesn't rise in the west.)
  • My cat does not sleep all the time. (or My cat doesn't sleep all the time.)

Interrogative:

  • Do you eat breakfast every morning?
  • Does she work at a hospital?
  • Do they play soccer on weekends?
  • Does the sun rise in the east?
  • Does your cat sleep a lot?

Sunday, April 20, 2025

10 business phrases.



 Here are 10 useful phrases in business English:

  1. "Let's touch base soon." (This means to arrange a brief meeting or conversation to discuss something.)
  2. "Could you please elaborate on that?" (Politely asking for more details or explanation.)
  3. "Let's circle back to this later." (Suggesting to revisit a topic at a future point in the conversation.)
  4. "What are the key takeaways?" (Asking for the most important points or conclusions.)
  5. "To be perfectly honest..." (Introducing a frank or direct statement.)
  6. "I'll get back to you on that." (Promising to provide information or a response at a later time.)
  7. "That's a fair point." (Acknowledging the validity of someone else's idea or argument.)
  8. "Let's think outside the box." (Encouraging creative and unconventional solutions.)
  9. "We need to leverage our resources." (Suggesting to make the most effective use of available assets.)
  10. "What's the bottom line?" (Asking for the essential result, cost, or profit.)