Thursday 29 May 2008

To Be...

...at this point someone always says, "...or not to be!" So, I will not disappoint you.

We looked at personal pronouns - basic building blocks for a sentence - and now we need to look at "to be"; the basic verb.

It must have been great for the caveman or woman who first invented "to be". So far they could only say:

I cold...you cold? Weather terrible!

With "to be" they could now say:

I am cold...are you cold? Isn't the weather absolutely terrible!

"To be" is a little irregular, maybe because it is so old.

The positive looks like this:

I

am

you, we, they

are

he, she, it

is


The negative is the same with a "not" stuck on the end:

I

am

you, we, they

are

he, she, it

is

NOT

To ask a question with "to be" just turn the positive forms around:

Am

I...?

Are

you, we, they...?

Is

he, she, it...?

That's it! Those are all the present forms. The other tenses are coming soon...

Tuesday 20 May 2008

For German-speaking Readers...

If you are a native German speaker and are learning English then you really need a copy of my book, "The Best Mistakes In English and How To Avoid Them or At least Stop Worrying About Them" (Yes, it is a long title!)

It's available in hardback or paperback versions from my storefront with LULU publishers.

Order a copy today! Or order some copies for your friends!!

My Storefront