Grammar Lessons

موضوع: Grammar Lessons السبت نوفمبر 26, 2011 7:49 am

[ندعوك للتسجيل في المنتدى أو التعريف بنفسك لمعاينة هذه الصورة]

Lesson One
Be - Present Tense
Subject + verb

[ندعوك للتسجيل في المنتدى أو التعريف بنفسك لمعاينة هذه الصورة]
Audio is [ندعوك للتسجيل في المنتدى أو التعريف بنفسك لمعاينة هذا الرابط]

Examples
[ندعوك للتسجيل في المنتدى أو التعريف بنفسك لمعاينة هذه الصورة]
Audio is [ندعوك للتسجيل في المنتدى أو التعريف بنفسك لمعاينة هذا الرابط]
.........................
Be - Present Tense Negative
Subject + (be) + not
[ندعوك للتسجيل في المنتدى أو التعريف بنفسك لمعاينة هذه الصورة]
Audio is [ندعوك للتسجيل في المنتدى أو التعريف بنفسك لمعاينة هذا الرابط]

موضوع: رد: Grammar Lessons السبت ديسمبر 10, 2011 10:53 am

Be in the “ present tense”
The verb "be" is the most important verb to learn in English.
It's also the most complicated.
Because, it has different forms,
In every tense.
In the present tense it has three forms: am, is, are.
To write a sentence in the present tense we use this
Equation
Subject + verb
Am comes only with I
We say I am
Is comes with he, she, it
We say
He is
She is
It is
Are comes with we, you, they
We say
You are
We are
You come in singular or plural
I am a teacher
You are a student
He is a man
She is a woman
It is an apple
You are students
We are sisters
They are workers
….
Be - Present Tense Negative
We you see negative you remember
Negative= Not
To write a sentence in present tense – negative
We use this equation
Subject + (be) in the right form+ not
I am not
He is not
She is not
It is not
You (singular or plural) are not
We are not
They are not

[ندعوك للتسجيل في المنتدى أو التعريف بنفسك لمعاينة هذه الصورة]
[ندعوك للتسجيل في المنتدى أو التعريف بنفسك لمعاينة هذه الصورة]
The Audio is [ندعوك للتسجيل في المنتدى أو التعريف بنفسك لمعاينة هذا الرابط]

This is the old lessons.

Contractions
Contractions of To Be are very frequent when we are speaking.
How do we make contractions with the verb "be"?
We can take two words and make a contraction by
Talking the first letter from the verb be and put
An apostrophe ((‘))
In its place.
So the apostrophe represents the first letter in the verb be
In the contracted sentence
Be – Affirmative.
[ندعوك للتسجيل في المنتدى أو التعريف بنفسك لمعاينة هذه الصورة]

Be - Negative Contractions
There are two ways of forming contractions of To Be in negative sentences. One is with a contraction of the subject and the verb
(I am = I'm)
OR a contraction of the verb and not (are not = aren't)
[ندعوك للتسجيل في المنتدى أو التعريف بنفسك لمعاينة هذه الصورة]
The Audio is [ندعوك للتسجيل في المنتدى أو التعريف بنفسك لمعاينة هذا الرابط]

Examples
[ندعوك للتسجيل في المنتدى أو التعريف بنفسك لمعاينة هذه الصورة]

* Notice
the only possible contraction for I am not is I'm not.
* Be - Questions
To create questions with Be, you put the Verb before the Subject.
[ندعوك للتسجيل في المنتدى أو التعريف بنفسك لمعاينة هذه الصورة]
Examples
[ندعوك للتسجيل في المنتدى أو التعريف بنفسك لمعاينة هذه الصورة]
Be Short Answers
In spoken English, we usually give short answers in response to questions.
Are you a student? - Yes, I am (a student). The last part (a student) is not necessary. We use shorts answers to avoid repetition, when the meaning is clear.
[ندعوك للتسجيل في المنتدى أو التعريف بنفسك لمعاينة هذه الصورة]
*Notice
With Be, We don't use contractions in affirmative short answers unless there is additional information after it
(in which case they are no longer considered short answers).

موضوع: Ain't السبت ديسمبر 10, 2011 1:10 pm

Ain’t
Sometimes the word Ain’t is used in
English to make the verb be negative,
(Ain’t= be+ not).
This is an example of bad English or lazy English
; however, many Americans use it, especially young people.
If we take the verb be for example
Am not/ is not/ are not and put them together, we come up with
Ain’t
This means
"Ain't" is a contraction of the verb "be" and the adverb, "not"

Some English teachers will tell you that this isn't a real word,
that it represents poor English, but it's so common in spoken English
, you must learn about it because you will hear it used.
[ندعوك للتسجيل في المنتدى أو التعريف بنفسك لمعاينة هذه الصورة]
The Audion is [ندعوك للتسجيل في المنتدى أو التعريف بنفسك لمعاينة هذا الرابط]

· She ain't here.
· He ain't going to work today.
· You ain't in the right place.
· They ain't doing their homework.
People who use the word "ain't" are likely to use double negatives, which are not allowed in proper English:
· I ain't got no money.
· The kids ain't had nothing to eat.
· You ain't nothing but a bad man.

موضوع: رد: Grammar Lessons الثلاثاء ديسمبر 20, 2011 8:41 pm

Nouns and Pronouns
· Nounsrepresent people, places, things, activities, emotions, and ideas.
[ندعوك للتسجيل في المنتدى أو التعريف بنفسك لمعاينة هذه الصورة]

1. That man is an actor.
2. That country is beautiful.
3. I use pliers to fix things.
4. Everyone needs love.
5. I have an idea!
Nouns are also divided into two main groups:
Count nouns
And
Non-Count nouns.

· Pronouns represent nouns: I, you, he, she, it, we, and they.
And the pronouns are:

Subject Pronouns

[center]
Singular
Plural
I
We
You
You
He
They
She
It

Examples
[ندعوك للتسجيل في المنتدى أو التعريف بنفسك لمعاينة هذه الصورة]
[ندعوك للتسجيل في المنتدى أو التعريف بنفسك لمعاينة هذه الصورة]

There are also
Object Pronouns

[ندعوك للتسجيل في المنتدى أو التعريف بنفسك لمعاينة هذه الصورة]
Examples

[ندعوك للتسجيل في المنتدى أو التعريف بنفسك لمعاينة هذه الصورة]

We use [b]pronouns as substitutes for noun phrases. The pronoun and the noun phrase that it refers to mean the same thing.
[ندعوك للتسجيل في المنتدى أو التعريف بنفسك لمعاينة هذه الصورة]
Just for fun consider the following example. If this one doesn't make sense, don't worry about it. It's just for fun.
[ندعوك للتسجيل في المنتدى أو التعريف بنفسك لمعاينة هذه الصورة]

موضوع: رد: Grammar Lessons الثلاثاء ديسمبر 20, 2011 9:17 pm

This / that / these / those

This

A thing or a person is close

This = singular
That

A thing or a person is far

That = singular
These

Things or people are close

These = plural
Those

Things or people are far

Those = plural

This points to something nearby
while that points to something “over there.”
Close = x...y

This pencil in my hand is yellow.

These pencils are not very sharp.
Far = x..............................y

That car across the street is red.

Those cars in the parking lot are blue.
...
These and those are plural.
These points to something nearby
while those points to something “over there.”
[ندعوك للتسجيل في المنتدى أو التعريف بنفسك لمعاينة هذه الصورة]

Take these stairs to get to those buildings.
That blue building in the middle of this picture is very tall.
....
That" is often contracted with the singular form of the verb "be"
That is a window. = That's a window.
That is my friend, Tom. = That's my friend, Tom.
"That's", usually sounds much better than to say, "That is.",

"That" can't be contracted in the plural form: That're (no!)
This,These and those can't take contractions.

موضوع: رد: Grammar Lessons الإثنين ديسمبر 26, 2011 10:52 pm

Simple Present Tense

The simple present tense in English is used to
describe an action that is regular, true or normal.
We use the present tense:
1. for repeated or regular actions in the present time period.

[ندعوك للتسجيل في المنتدى أو التعريف بنفسك لمعاينة هذه الصورة]

Use the Simple Present to express the idea
that an action is repeated or usual.
The action can be a habit, a hobby,
a daily event, a scheduled event
or something that often happens.
It can also be something a person
often forgets or usually does not do.
Examples

I take the train to the office.
The train to Berlin leaves every hour.
John sleeps eight hours every night during the week.

2. for facts.

[ندعوك للتسجيل في المنتدى أو التعريف بنفسك لمعاينة هذه الصورة]

The Simple Present can also indicate the speaker believes
that a fact was true before, is true now,
and will be true in the future.
It is not important if the speaker is correct about the fact.
It is also used to make generalizations about people or things.
Examples

The President of The USA lives in The White House.
A dog has four legs.
We come from Switzerland.

3. for habits.

I get up early every day.
Carol brushes her teeth twice a day.
They travel to their country house every weekend.

4. For things that are always / generally true.

It rains a lot in winter.
The Queen of England lives in Buckingham Palace.
They speak English at work.

4. Scheduled Events in the Near Future.

[ندعوك للتسجيل في المنتدى أو التعريف بنفسك لمعاينة هذه الصورة]

Speakers occasionally use Simple Present

to talk about scheduled events in the near future.

This is most commonly done when talking about public transportation,

but it can be used with other scheduled events as well.

Examples:

· The train leaves tonight at 6 PM.

· The bus does not arrive at 11 AM, it arrives at 11 PM.

· When do we board the plane?

· The party starts at 8 o'clock.

· When does class begin tomorrow?

5. Now (Non-Continuous Verbs)

[ندعوك للتسجيل في المنتدى أو التعريف بنفسك لمعاينة هذه الصورة]

Speakers sometimes use the Simple Present

to express the idea that an action is happening

or is not happening now.

This can only be done with

Non-Continuous Verbs and certain Mixed Verbs.

Examples:

· I am here now.

· She is not here now.

· He needs help right now.

· He does not need help now.

· He has his passport in his hand.

· Do you have your passport with you?

Verb Conjugation & Spelling

We form the present tense using

the base form of the infinitive (without the TO).

In general, in the third person we add 'S' in the third person.

[ندعوك للتسجيل في المنتدى أو التعريف بنفسك لمعاينة هذه الصورة]

The spelling for the verb in the third person

differs depending on the ending of that verb:

1. For verbs that end in -O, -CH, -SH, -SS, -X, or -Z

we add -ES in the third person.

Examples

go – goes
catch – catches
wash – washes
kiss – kisses
fix – fixes
buzz – buzzes

2. For verbs that end in a consonant + Y,

we remove the Y and add -IES.

Examples

marry – marries
study – studies
carry – carries
worry – worries

NOTE: For verbs that end in a vowel + Y,
we just add -S.
Examples

play – plays
enjoy – enjoys
say – says

Now, if we have these sentences
You love sweets.
Or
She loves sweets.
And we decided to make a question out of them.
But, as you can see there is no verb be in both sentences,
and we said that in order to make a question
we have to have a verb be to make one.
What are we going to do?
You are going to say
We have a verb in the sentence,
and you are going to give me “love/loves” as the verb,
but here comes my answer
These verbs are main verbs in the sentence
and we can’t take them out the sentence,
that’s why we can’t make question using them
Here and in this sticky situation we call
For our helping verb “DO”
[ندعوك للتسجيل في المنتدى أو التعريف بنفسك لمعاينة هذا الرابط]

Now the question is how did we get DOES?
Let’s look at this sentence
She loves sweets.
Of course we see the third pronoun ”s”
at the end of the verb love,
all we did is that we took this “s”
and put it in the end of the helping verb “DO”.
But since we said that for verbs that end in
-O, -CH, -SH, -SS, -X, or -Z
we add -ES in the third person.
We add ES to do,
so now we have its final form DOES.
Now the sentence is
She does love sweets.
The verb be went back to infinitive
form after we took the “s” and added it to “DO”
Now we make us a question
· She loves sweets
Verb+ subject + rest of the sentence?
Does she love sweets?

· You love sweets

Verb+ subject + rest of the sentence?
Do you love sweets?

Word Order of Questions with Do and Does

The following is the word order to construct
a basic question in English using Do or Does.
[ندعوك للتسجيل في المنتدى أو التعريف بنفسك لمعاينة هذا الرابط]

Examples

Do you need a dictionary?
Does Mary need a dictionary?
Do we have a meeting now?
Does it rain a lot in winter?
Do they want to go to the party?
Does he like pizza?

Short Answers with Do and Does
In questions that use do/does it is possible
to give short answers to direct questions as follows:
[ندعوك للتسجيل في المنتدى أو التعريف بنفسك لمعاينة هذه الصورة]

Negative Sentences in the Simple Present Tense
To make a negative sentence in simple present tense, we normally use this equation
Do + not + verb
[ندعوك للتسجيل في المنتدى أو التعريف بنفسك لمعاينة هذا الرابط]

Affirmative: You speak French.
Negative: You don't speak French.

You will see that we add don't between the subject and the verb.
Affirmative: He speaks German.
Negative: He doesn't speak German.
When the subject is he, she or it, we add doesn't between the subject and the verb to make a negative sentence. Notice that the letter S at the end of the verb in the affirmative sentence (because it is in third person) disappears in the negative sentence.

Negative Contractions
[ندعوك للتسجيل في المنتدى أو التعريف بنفسك لمعاينة هذا الرابط]

Don't = Do not
Doesn't = Does not
I don't like meat = I do not like meat.
There is no difference in meaning though we normally use contractions in spoken English.

Word Order of Negative Sentences
The following is the word order to construct a basic negative sentence in English in the Present Tense using don’t or doesn’t.
[ندعوك للتسجيل في المنتدى أو التعريف بنفسك لمعاينة هذا الرابط]
* Verb: The verb that goes here is the base form of the infinitive = the infinitive without TO before the verb. Instead of the infinitive to have it is just the have part.
Remember that the infinitive is the verb before it is conjugated (changed) and it begins with TO. For example: to have, to eat, to go, to live, to speak etc.
Examples of Negative Sentences
· You don't speak Arabic.

John doesn't speak Italian.
We don't have time for a rest.
It doesn't move.
They don't want to go to the party.
She doesn't like fish..

موضوع: رد: Grammar Lessons الجمعة ديسمبر 30, 2011 7:36 pm

There
There is used for information,
facts and existence of things.
Sometimes "there" is singular, and sometimes "there" is plural.

Examples:

•There is a clock on the wall. (Singular)
•There's a rabbit in the backyard.
(Singular)

Contractions
There is = There's.
Most Americans use the contraction, there's

•There are seven days in a week. (Plural)
•There are some flowers on the table. (Plural)
There are = (no contraction)
Some Americans say "there's" even when the subject is plural. You shouldn't do that.
Negative Form
The negative is formed by putting not after is or are:

There is not a horse in the field.
There are not eight children in the school.
There is not a tree in the garden.
There are not two elephants in the zoo.
The Negative contractions
There's not = There isn't
There are not = There aren't

There Are with ANY
When we want to indicate that a zero quantity of something exists we use there aren't any.

There aren't any people at the party.
There aren't any trees in my street.
We also use this structure with uncountable nouns:

There isn't any water in the swimming pool.
There isn't any sugar in my coffee.

Questions
To form a question we place is / are in front of there.
Is/are + there + rest of the sentence?

Is there a boy behind the tree?
Is there a student in the classroom
Are there three football players?
Are there two little girls playing with blocks?

Again we use any with pluralquestions or those which use uncountable nouns.

Short answers

Is there a dog in the supermarket?
- No, there isn't.
Yes, there is.
Are there any dogs in the park? - Yes, there are.
No, there aren’t
Is there a security guard in the shop?
- Yes, there is.
No, there isn’t.
Are there any polar bears in Antarctica?
- No, there aren't.
Yes, there are.
Is there any ice-cream in the freezer?
- Yes, there is.
No, there isn’t.

How Many with Are There
If we want to find out the number of objects that exist we use
How many in the following form:

How many + plural noun + are there (+ rest of the sentence ).
Examples:

How many dogs are there in the park?
How many students are there in your class?
How many countries are there in South America?
How many Star Wars films are there?

موضوع: رد: Grammar Lessons الجمعة ديسمبر 30, 2011 9:16 pm

Be- the past tense
The verb "be" has two forms in the past tense:
Was and were

Singular	Plural
I was	We were
You were	You were
He was	They were
She was
It was

Examples:
I was in my classroom yesterday.
You were there, too.
He was at a movie last night.
She was at home.
This cantaloupe was in my garden this morning.
It was delicious.
We were at school yesterday.
You were on this website earlier.
They were outside in the snow.
..
Be - Past Tense Negative
Subject + (be) + not

Singular	Plural
I was not	We were not
You were not	You were not
He was not	They were not
She was not
It was not

Examples:
I was not tired this morning.
You were not crazy.
He was not married.
She was not famous.
It was not hot yesterday.
We were not invited.
You were not at the party.
They were not friends.
Contractions

Singular	Plural
I wasn’t	We weren’t
You weren’t	You weren’t
He wasn’t	They weren’t
She wasn’t
It wasn’t

We can make negative contractions of the verb be in the Past tense by joining the verb (was or were) and n't (e.g. were not = weren't). We don't make a contraction of the subject and the verb (e.g. I was).

Examples:
I wasn't hungry.
Andy wasn't tall.
The furniture wasn't new.
The living room was not neat.
We weren't late.
The men were not smart.
Her friends weren't poor.

* Notice that we don't have contractions for be in Past Tense affirmative sentences.

Be- Questions
To create questions with Be, you put the Verb before the Subject.
You were happy.
Be (past tense) + subject+ complement?
Were you happy?

Affirmative	Question
I was late	Was I late? Were you late?
You were sick	Were you sick? Was I sick?
He was surprised	Was he surprised?
She was from Italy	Was she from Italy?
It was a big house	Was it a big house?
We were ready	Were we ready? Were you ready?
You were early	Were you early? Were we early?
They were busy	Were they busy?

Be - Short Answers
In spoken English, we usually give short answers in response to questions.
Was he from Japan?
- Yes, he was (from Japan).
The last part (from Japan) is not necessary.
We use shorts answers to avoid repetition, when the meaning is clear.
Examples:
Was I early?
Yes, you were.
No, you weren’t.
Was the camera expensive?
Yes, it was.
No it wasn’t.
Were Dan and Lynn at the party?
Yes, they were
No, they weren’t
Were your parents artists?
Yes, they were.
No, they weren’t.
Were you busy yesterday?
Yes, I was.
No, I wasn’t.

Possessive Adjectives

Possessive adjectives show ownership or belonging.
They must go somewhere before a noun.

Modify noun: my, your, his, her, its, our, their, whose
Correct: That is her computer.

Examples
· I am a teacher.
o You are my student.
· You are a student.
o I amyour teacher.
· He is playing a guitar.
o It is his guitar.
· This is a woman.
o Her hair is red
· This is a cat.
o It is eating its food.
· We are eating ourlunch.
· You are students.
o You are inyour classroom.
· They are children.
o They are eating theirpopsicles.

Practice:
1. I am practicing ___ English.
2. You are working with _____ teacher
3. We are doing ______ work.
4. They are in _______ house.
5. Open _____ books and turn to the first lesson.
6. She wants to see ______ father.
7. It has ______ own food.
8. ______ name is (your name here).
9. ______ name is John.
10. _____ name is Julia.

Nouns are also used as possessive adjectives:
Examples:
This is her book. / This is the girl's book.
That is his car. / That is John's car.
Where are their coats? / Where are the children's coats?
By adding an apostrophe plus s, just as you would for a noun

The Audio is [ندعوك للتسجيل في المنتدى أو التعريف بنفسك لمعاينة هذا الرابط]

…..

Possessive Pronouns
We use possessive pronouns to refer to a specific person
/people or thing/things belonging to a person/
people (and sometimes belonging to an animal/animals or thing/things).
We use possessive pronouns depending on:

number: singular (mine) or plural (ours)
person: 1st person (mine), 2nd person (yours) or 3rd person (his)
gender: male (his), female (hers)

Below are the possessive pronouns,
followed by some example sentences.
Notice that each possessive pronoun can:

be subject or object
refer to a singular or plural

number	person	gender (of "owner")	possessive pronouns
singular	1st	male/female	mine
	2nd	male/female	yours
	3rd	male	his
	3rd	female	hers
plural	1st	male/female	ours
	2nd	male/female	yours
	3rd	male/female/neuter	theirs

Examples

Look at these pictures. Mine is the big one.
- (subject = My picture)
I like your flowers. Do you like mine?
- (object = my flowers)
I looked everywhere for your key. I found John's key but I couldn't find yours.
- (object = your key)
My flowers are dying. Yours are lovely.
- (subject = Your flowers)
All the essays were good but his was the best.
- (subject = his essay)
John found his passport but Mary couldn't find hers.
- (object = her passport)
John found his clothes but Mary couldn't find hers.
- (object = her clothes)
Here is your car. Ours is over there, where we left it.
- (subject = Our car)
Your photos are good. Ours are terrible.
- (subject = Our photos)
Each couple's books are color-coded. Yours are red.
- (subject = Your books)
I don't like this family's garden but I like yours.
- (subject = your garden)
These aren't John and Mary's children. Theirs have black hair.
- (subject = Their children)
John and Mary don't like your car. Do you like theirs?

(object = their car)

English tip
Personal pronouns, including it, do not have any apostrophes for their possessives.
Incorrect: her's their's your's
Correct: his hers its ours yours theirs whose
If it helps, remember that his takes no apostrophe.
In the same way, neither do any of the other forms.
....

The Audio is [ندعوك للتسجيل في المنتدى أو التعريف بنفسك لمعاينة هذا الرابط]

موضوع: رد: Grammar Lessons الأحد مارس 04, 2012 11:14 am

There- Past Tense
There was / there were

The verb "be" is often used in the past tense with the word "there"

Plural	Singular
There were...	There was...

To make the negative, add "not" to "was" or "were"

Plural	Singular
There were not...	There was not...
There weren't...	There wasn't...

To make a question, put "was" or "were" before "there"

Plural	Singular
Were there...?	Was there...?

examples
1. There was a lightning storm last night.
(In this sentence, "there" is used with the singular count noun, "storm.")
2. There were many things to do and see at the amusement park.
(In this sentence, "there" is used with the plural count noun, "things.")
3. There was also a lot of food there.
(In this sentence, "there" is used with the noncount noun, "food.")
4. There were a lot of students on this website last night.
5. Were there a lot of students on this website last week?

6. There wasn't any furniture in the apartment.
7. It was almost empty.
8. Was there a lot of food at the party?
Yes, there was.
9. Were there a lot of people at the meeting?
No, there weren't.
10. How many people were there?
There were only four people.

موضوع: رد: Grammar Lessons الثلاثاء مارس 13, 2012 2:23 pm

A, An or The?

When do we say "the dog" and when do we say "a dog"? (On this page we talk only about singular, countable nouns.)
The and a/an are called "articles". We divide them into "definite" and "indefinite" like this:

Articles
Definite	Indefinite
the	a, an

We use "definite" to mean sure, certain. "Definite" is particular.
We use "indefinite" to mean not sure, not certain. "Indefinite" is general.
When we are talking about one thing in particular, we use the. When we are talking about one thing in general, we use a or an.
Think of the sky at night. In the sky we see 1 moon and millions of stars. So normally we would say:

I saw the moon last night.
I saw a star last night.

Look at these examples:

the	a, an
The capital of France is Paris. I have found the book that I lost. Have you cleaned the car? There are six eggs in the fridge. Please switch off the TV when you finish.	I was born in a town. John had an omelette for lunch. James Bond ordered a drink. We want to buy an umbrella. Have you got a pen?

Of course, often we can use the or a/an for the same word. It depends on the situation, not the word. Look at these examples:

We want to buy an umbrella. (Any umbrella, not a particular umbrella.)
Where is the umbrella? (We already have an umbrella. We are looking for our umbrella, a particular umbrella.)

This little story should help you understand the difference between the and a, an:

A man and a woman were walking in Oxford Street. The woman saw a dress that she liked in a shop. She asked the man if he could buy the dress for her. He said: "Do you think the shop will accept a cheque? I don't have a credit card."

موضوع: رد: Grammar Lessons الثلاثاء مارس 13, 2012 2:24 pm

Articles: A versus An

How do you know when to use the indefinite articles?

The choice of article is actually based upon the phonetic (sound) quality of the first letter in a word, not on the orthographic (written) representation of the letter. If the first letter makes a vowel-type sound, you use "an"; if the first letter would make a consonant-type sound, you use "a." However, you may follow these basic rules when deciding to use "a" or "an," remembering that there are some exceptions to the rules.
"A" goes before words that begin with consonants.

a cat
a dog
a purple onion
a buffalo
a big apple

"An" goes before words that begin with vowels:

an apricot
an egg
an Indian
an orbit
an uprising

Exceptions

Use "an" before unsounded "h." Because the "h" hasn't any phonetic representation and has no audible sound, the sound that follows the article is a vowel; consequently, "an" is used.

an honorable peace
an honest error

When "u" makes the same sound as the "y" in "you," or "o" makes the same sound as "w" in "won," then a is used. The word-initial "y" sound ("unicorn") is actually a glide [j] phonetically, which has consonantal properties; consequently, it is treated as a consonant, requiring "a."

a union
a united front
a unicorn
a used napkin
a U.S. ship
a one-legged man

موضوع: رد: Grammar Lessons الأحد مارس 18, 2012 10:26 am

Omission of Articles

Some common types of nouns that don't take an article are:

· Names of languages and nationalities: Chinese, English, Spanish, Russian (unless you are referring to the population of the nation: "The Spanish are known for their warm hospitality.")

· Names of sports: volleyball, hockey, baseball

· Names of academic subjects: mathematics, biology, history, computer science