Can and Could

CAN

1. Talks about ability

She can dance.
I can swim.
I cannot paint well.
I can speak English well.

2. Giving command or orders,
to ask somebody to do something
Can you please send this mail to this address?
Can you lock the door.
Can you turn it off, please?

3. To ask permission

Can I smoke in this room?
Can I use the bathroom?
Can I have this seat?
Can we use this room for a while?

COULD

1. Past Ability

I could play the piano well when I was 12.
She couldn’t swim at first.
He couldn’t lift a heavy weight.
He couldn’t understand English before.

2.  Giving requests or orders

• Could is more polite and formal than can.
• Using can or could in giving orders is OK.
• It’s in question form.

Could you please drop this mail before you go home?
Could you turn off the light?
Could you hang this outside, please?

3. Asking a Favor

• especially for difficult tasks
• we use could since it is polite.

Could you tell me where Madison Avenue is?
Could you take me to this address?
Could you help me with the house chores?
Could you babysit for me while I work?

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A few or a little?

Learn first about count nouns and non-count nouns.

A few = for count nouns
A little = for count nouns

Commonly Confused “a little or a few” expressions:

A few for:

• fresh air       Let’s take a few fresh air outside.
• mistakes      We made a few mistakes.

A little for:

• language      I speak a little French.
• rain                There was a little rain yesterday so we got home early.
• time               I got a little time left.
• money          I’ve got a little money left.

“A few, a little” is not the same as “few, little”.

• A few means small number like 3,4,5…
• Few means almost none.

Example:

• Kim is shy that is why she only has a few friends. (3 or 4 friends)
• Brian is unkind and easily angered that is why he has few friends. (almost none)

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How many or how much

Learn first about count and non-count nouns.

• How many = for count nouns.
• How much = for non- count nouns.

How many apples do you have?
wrong: How much apples do you have?

• Many asks for numbers.
• Much asks for size, weight, volume, etc.

More Examples:

How many gifts did you receive this Christmas?
How many girls are there in the classroom?
How much water should I drink everyday?
How much sugar should I add?
How much flour is needed for the cake?

“How many” for non-count nouns

• We can also say how many for water, milk, butter etc.
• Just add glasses of, cups of, teaspoon, scoops etc.

How many glasses of water should I drink everyday?
How many scoops of ice-cream should I add to the smoothie?
How many cups of flour?

“How much glasses of water” is wrong.

Pattern:

• How many + Count N
• How much + Non C.
• How many + glasses of + Non C.

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Count and Non-count Nouns

Count vs. Non Count Nouns

Count nouns are of course, those that you can count.
You can attach a number before it.

Example:
8 apples
5 dogs
1 bicycle
19 pens

Non-count nouns cannot be counted.
You can’t place a number before it.
You can’t say 8 milk, 5 water, 2 sugar.

But we can say:

8 glasses of milk
5 gallons of water
2 cups of sugar

Usually liquids, melting solids, grains and powdered things are non-count.

More non-count noun examples:

a dish of ice-cream
a scoop of ice-cream
a cup of flour
3 bottle of ketchup
9 packs of tomato sauce
a slice of cheese
a slice of butter

How much or how many
A few or a little

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She or her…Possessive Adjective

For 1 subject:

I- my
he- his
she- her
you-your
it-its

For 2 or more:

we- our
they- their
you- your

Possessive adjectives (my, her, his) are those that show that a person owns something.

I am Fred and this is my dog.

He drives to school with his new car.

She is my sister and this is Mike, her husband.

You are alone. Where are your friends?   What is you’re?

We should clean our backyard.

They cleaned their classroom yesterday.

All of these sentences show ownership. Fred owns the dog, He owns the car so it is his car, We own the backyard so it is our backyard, and etc.

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Simple Tense (I eat, I ate, I will eat)

Simple Tense does not tell if the action is finished.

1. Simple Past… (I ate)

It happened sometime in the past. It happened before the time or moment of speaking/writing.

I went to the grocery store yesterday.
Michaelangelo painted the Sistine Chapel in Rome.
She ate french fries and burger.

2. Simple Present…(I eat)

• The action is happening in the present, at the time of speaking/ writing.

The dog barks at the old man.
Our science project shows how we could stop global warming.
My baby plays with her doll.
My brother plays the piano.

• General truths or scientific facts

The sun rises on the East and sets on the West.
Snakes shed skin seasonally.
The apple falls to the ground because of gravity.

• Habitual action, those that you usually do

I go to the grocery store. (habitual, for example every week.)
I practice for soccer every Tuesday.
I usually sleep at 9pm.
I eat breakfast everyday.

3. Simple Future… (I will eat)

The action will happen in the future. The action will happen after the time of speaking/writing the sentence.

We will eat french fries and burger after the show.
She will go to the grocery store.
He will buy books tomorrow.
She will attend the party.

Note:

• Simple Past                        (I ate)
• Simple Present                 (I eat)
• Simple Future                   (I will eat)

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Verb Tense

A tense is a form of  a verb that tells the time of action or condition. The 3 kinds of tense:

1. Past
2. Present
3. Future

Other languages have no tense. They use a different method to tell the time of the action but in English we change the form of the verb to know the tense. Example:

(past – present – future)

• eat – ate – will eat
• sing- sang – will sing
• talk – talked – will talk

More examples for beginners.

What about simple, perfect and progressive tense?

These are called ASPECT, which tells about

• how long did it happen?
• did it continue?
• was it completed?

The 4 Aspects are:

1. Simple Tense
2. Perfect/ Complete tense
3. Progressive/ Incomplete Tense
4. Perfect Progressive/Continuous Tense

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Subject, Objects and Possesive

What are Subjects, Objects, and Possessive?

Subjects are the doer of the action (noun or pronoun). To find the subject, find first the verb and ask the question “Who or What?” Usually subjects comes first.

Example: She cleaned the room.
The verb is “clean.”
Then ask, “Who or what cleaned the room?”
or ask “Who cleaned the room?” because the doer of the verb (cleaning) is a person.

Example: The ball hit the glass.
The verb is “hit.”
Then ask, “Who or what hit the glass?”
or ask “What hit the glass?” because the doer of the verb (hit) is a thing.

Objects are the receiver of the action (noun or pronoun). Not all sentences have objects. The noun or pronoun that is affected by the verb or that has received the verb is the object.

Example: She cleaned the room.
The verb is “clean.”
Then think…The person or thing that received the cleaning?…
The object is “Room.”

Example: The ball hit the glass.
The verb is “hit.”
Then think…The person or thing that received the hitting?…
The object is “glass.”

Possessives show that something belongs to somebody.

Example: She cleaned the baby’s room.
The owner of the room is “the baby.”

Example: The ball hit the neighbor’s glass.
The owner of the glass is “the neighbor.”

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Who, Whom, Whose

Before we discuss about when to use who, whom and whose we have to study first about subjects, objects and possessive.

Who, Whom or Whose

• Who= replacing subjects
• Whom=replacing objects
• Whose= replacing possessive

• She invited me to her party.
• Who invited me to their party? (She, subject)
• Whom did she invite to her party? (Me, object)
• Whose party did she invite me? (Her party, possessive) or Whose party is it?

Pattern:

• Who + Verb
• Whom + …Subject (noun/pronoun)
• Whose + Noun that belongs to somebody

Example:

She called me through our fax.

Brian blamed me for the accident.

Who + Verb

Who called me through our fax?

Who blamed me for the accident?

Whom + …Subject

Whom did she call through fax?

Whom did Brian blamed for the accident?

*If there’s no subject (you, I, Brian..etc) after whom, it must be who.

*Whom is replaces only human objects. If the object is a thing like apple, ball, book then use “what.”

Whose + Noun that belongs to somebody

I ate Daddy’s apple. Whose apple did you eat?

He stepped on aunt Mary’s plant. Whose plant did he step on?

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Interested vs. Interesting

Both are adjectives, so which one would you use?

“Interested” describes the feeling of the person.

It describes the feelings of subjects like He, she, we, I, they, or Mrs. Smith.

Example:

She was interested in the lesson.

I’m interested with reading books.

Interested applicants may submit applications online.
“Interesting” describes how you feel about the person or thing.

Example:
It was an interesting lesson.

This is an interesting book.

She is an interesting person.

The same rule applies with other “adjectives of feelings.”

Example:

Shocking, shocked

Embarrassing, embarrassed

Disappointing, disappointed

Pleasing, pleased

Amazing, amazed

Boring, bored

Pattern:

Subject + Interested
She was pleased, I was embarrassed, My mother felt disappointed..

Interesting + Noun
shocking news, amazing video, boring lesson

Take the quiz:

http://www.usingenglish.com/quizzes/345.html

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