Noun Phrases

Often a noun phrase is just a noun or a pronoun:

People like to have money.
I am tired.
It is getting late.
or a determiner and a noun :
Our friends have bought a house in the village.
Those houses are very expensive.
perhaps with an adjective:
Our closest friends have just bought a new house in the village.
Sometimes the noun phrase begins with a quantifier:
All those children go to school here.
Both of my younger brothers are married
Some people spend a lot of money.

Numbers:
Quantifiers come before determiners,
but numbers come afterdeterminers:
My four children go to school here. (All my children go to school here.)
Those two suitcases are mine. (Both those suitcases are mine)
So the noun phrase is built up in this way:
Noun: people; money
Determiner + noun: the village, a house, our friends; those houses
Quantifier + noun: some people; a lot of money
Determiner + adjective + noun: our closest friends; a new house.
Quantifier + determiner + noun: all those children;
Quantifier + determiner + adjective + noun: both of my younger brothers
The noun phrase can be quite complicated:
a loaf of nice fresh brown bread
the eight-year-old boy who attempted to rob

a sweet shop with a pistol

that attractive young woman in the blue dress
sitting over there in the corner

Some words and phrases come after the noun.

These are called post-modifiers.
A noun phrase can be post-modified in several ways:
Here are some examples:
with a prepositional phrase:
a man with a gun
the boy in the blue shirt
the house on the corner
with an ing phrase:
the man standing over there
the boy talking to Angela
with a relative clause:
the man we met yesterday
the house that Jack built
the woman who discovered radium
an eight-year-old boy who attempted to rob a sweet shop
with a that clause.
This is very common with reporting or summarising nouns
like idea, fact, belief, suggestion:
Hes still very fit, in spite of the fact that hes over eighty.
She got the idea that people didnt like her.
There was a suggestion that the children should be sent home.
with a to-infinitive.
This is very common after indefinite pronouns and adverbs:
You should take something to read.
I need somewhere to sleep.
Ive got no decent shoes to wear.

There may be more than one postmodifier:

an eight-year old boy with a gun who tried to rob a sweet shop
that girl over there in a green dress drinking a coke
THE INDEFINITE ARTICLE - A
The indefinite article is the a is the same for all genders.
a boy, a girl, a cat
The indefinite article has no plural form.
a boy - boys
We use an if the following word starts with a vowel.

the following word starts with a consonant

the following word starts with a vowel

a boy

an aunt

a school

an old school

a girl

an American girl

Mind the pronunciation of the following word.

a unit

an uncle

This u sounds like a consonant, so we use a.

This u sounds like a vowel, so we use an.

USE OF THE INDEFINITE ARTICLE A/AN

- before phrases of time and measurements (per week/weekly)

We have English 4 times a week.

I go on holiday twice a year.

Our car can do 220 kilometres an hour.

Tomatoes are $2 a kilo.

- before phrases of jobs

My father is a car mechanic.

- with a noun complement

He is a good boy.
- before phrases of nationality

Bruce Springsteen is an American.

- half/quite

We need half a pound of sugar.

This is quite a good story.

THE DEFINITE ARTICLE - THE

The definite article the is the same for all genders in singular and in plural.
the boy, the girl, the cat, the computers
If the following word begins with a vowel, we speak [
consonant, we speak [ ].

], if the following word begins with a

the following word starts with a spoken consonant

the following word starts with a spoken vowel

the girl

the English girl

the book

the blue book

the school

the old school

the unit

the uncle

Here a [ ] is pronounced at the beginning of the word.

Here a [ ] is pronounced at the beginning of the word.

We have listed some examples in the following table. There you can see when we use the
definite article and when we don't.

without the definite article

with the definite article

general words (indefinite)

general words (definite)

Life is too short.

I've read a book on the life of Bill Clinton.

I like flowers.

I like the flowers in your garden.

names of persons on the singular, relatives

family names in the plural

Peter and John live in London.

The Smiths live in Chicago.
Aunt Mary lives in Los Angeles.

public buildings, institutions, means of transport

public buildings, institutions, means of transport

(indefinite)

(definite)

Mandy doesn't like school.

The school that Mandy goes to is old.

We go to school by bus.

The bus to Dresden leaves at 7.40.

Some people go to church on Sundays.

The round church in Klingenthal is famous.

names of countries in the singular; summits of

names of countries in the plural; mountain ranges;

mountains; continents; towns

regions

Germany, France;
the United States of America, the Netherlands; the
Mount Whitney, Mount McKinley;
Highlands, the Rocky Mountains, the Alps; the Middle
Africa, Europe;
East, the west of Australia
Cairo, New York

single islands

groups of islands

Corfu, Bermuda, Sicily

the Bahamas, the British Isles, the Canaries

parks; lakes; streets

name with of-phrase; oceans; seas; rivers

the Statue of Liberty, the Tower (of London), the Isle of

Central Park, Hyde Park;

Wight;

Lake Michigan, Loch Ness;

the Atlantic (Ocean);

42nd Street, Oxford Street

the Mediterranean (Sea);

the Nile, the Rhine, the Suez Canal

months, days of the week (indefinite)

months, days of the week (definite)

The weekend is over on Monday morning.

I always remember the Monday when I had an accident.
July and August are the most popular months for
The August of 2001 was hot and dry.
holidays.
We use the seasons of the year (spring, summer, autumn, winter) with or without the definite
article.
in summer or in the summer
The American English word for autumn >fall< is always used with the definite article.

Sometimes we use the article and sometimes we do not. It often depends on the context. Watch
the following example:

The student goes to school.

The mother goes to the school.
In the first sentence we do not use the definite article, in the second we do. The student goes to
school for its primary purpose, so we do not use the article.
The mother might talk to a teacher, for example. She visits the school for a different reason.
That's why we use the definite article in the second sentence.

THE INDEFINITE ARTICLE - A

The indefinite article is the a is the same for all genders.
a boy, a girl, a cat
The indefinite article has no plural form.
a boy - boys
We use an if the following word starts with a vowel.

the following word starts with a consonant

the following word starts with a vowel

a boy

an aunt

a school

an old school

a girl

an American girl

Mind the pronunciation of the following word.

a unit

an uncle

This u sounds like a consonant, so we use a.

This u sounds like a vowel, so we use an.

USE OF THE INDEFINITE ARTICLE A/AN

- before phrases of time and measurements (per week/weekly)

We have English 4 times a week.

I go on holiday twice a year.

Our car can do 220 kilometres an hour.

Tomatoes are $2 a kilo.

- before phrases of jobs

My father is a car mechanic.

- with a noun complement

He is a good boy.
- before phrases of nationality

Bruce Springsteen is an American.

- half/quite

We need half a pound of sugar.

This is quite a good story.

THE DEFINITE ARTICLE - THE

The definite article the is the same for all genders in singular and in plural.
the boy, the girl, the cat, the computers
If the following word begins with a vowel, we speak [
consonant, we speak [ ].

], if the following word begins with a

the following word starts with a spoken consonant

the following word starts with a spoken vowel

the girl

the English girl

the book

the blue book

the school

the old school

the unit

the uncle

Here a [ ] is pronounced at the beginning of the word.

Here a [ ] is pronounced at the beginning of the word.

We have listed some examples in the following table. There you can see when we use the
definite article and when we don't.

without the definite article

with the definite article

general words (indefinite)

general words (definite)

Life is too short.

I've read a book on the life of Bill Clinton.

I like flowers.

I like the flowers in your garden.

names of persons on the singular, relatives

family names in the plural

Peter and John live in London.

The Smiths live in Chicago.
Aunt Mary lives in Los Angeles.

public buildings, institutions, means of transport

public buildings, institutions, means of transport

(indefinite)

(definite)

Mandy doesn't like school.

The school that Mandy goes to is old.

We go to school by bus.

The bus to Dresden leaves at 7.40.

Some people go to church on Sundays.

The round church in Klingenthal is famous.

names of countries in the singular; summits of

names of countries in the plural; mountain ranges;

mountains; continents; towns

regions

Germany, France;
the United States of America, the Netherlands; the
Mount Whitney, Mount McKinley;
Highlands, the Rocky Mountains, the Alps; the Middle
Africa, Europe;
East, the west of Australia
Cairo, New York

single islands

groups of islands

Corfu, Bermuda, Sicily

the Bahamas, the British Isles, the Canaries

parks; lakes; streets

name with of-phrase; oceans; seas; rivers

the Statue of Liberty, the Tower (of London), the Isle of

Central Park, Hyde Park;

Wight;

Lake Michigan, Loch Ness;

the Atlantic (Ocean);

42nd Street, Oxford Street

the Mediterranean (Sea);

the Nile, the Rhine, the Suez Canal

months, days of the week (indefinite)

months, days of the week (definite)

The weekend is over on Monday morning.

I always remember the Monday when I had an accident.
July and August are the most popular months for
The August of 2001 was hot and dry.
holidays.
We use the seasons of the year (spring, summer, autumn, winter) with or without the definite
article.
in summer or in the summer
The American English word for autumn >fall< is always used with the definite article.

Sometimes we use the article and sometimes we do not. It often depends on the context. Watch
the following example:
The student goes to school.
The mother goes to the school.
In the first sentence we do not use the definite article, in the second we do. The student goes to
school for its primary purpose, so we do not use the article.
The mother might talk to a teacher, for example. She visits the school for a different reason.
That's why we use the definite article in the second sentence.

The Present Continuous

1. How to form the Present Continuous Tense?
The Present Continuous is made with the present form of the verb "to be" (I
am, you are, he/she/it is, we are, you are, they are) + the '-ing' form of the main
verb. The '-ing' form of the verb is called the Present Participle.
Present Continuous (Progressive) Tense

Affirmative (Positive)
Form

Negative Form

Question Form

am reading

am not reading

Am

reading?

You

are reading

You

are not reading

Are

you

reading?

He

is

reading

He

is

not reading

Is

he

reading?

She

is

reading

She

is

not reading

Is

she

reading?

It

is

reading

It

is

not reading

Is

it

reading?

We

are reading

We

are not reading

Are

we

reading?

You

are reading

You

are not reading

Are

you

reading?

They

are reading

They

are not reading

Are

they

reading?

Contracted forms:
I am = I'm
he/she/it is =
he's/she's/it's
you are = you're
I am not = I'm not
he/she/it is not = he isn't/she isn't/it isn't
not = you aren't
we are = we're
they are = they're
we are not = we aren't
they are not = they aren't

Examples:
1. What are you doing?
newspaper.
2. I'm having a bath.

you are

3. He is reading a

4. Are they working?