pronoun practice

consider the answers to the following questions:

‘Did you see Jonathon last night?' 'No, I phoned ______ but he wasn't there.'

I can't do this homework. Can you help ______?

I asked a question but you didn't answer ______ .

We're not ready. Please give ______ some more time.

She speaks very quickly. I can't understand ______ .

I'm sorry about your birthday. I'm afraid I forgot about ______.

Jill's a very nice woman. Do you know ______?

My parents are coming this weekend. Would you like to meet ______?

They're not married now. She left ______ a year ago.

'Where's your passport?' 'I don't know I can't find ______.'

My mother writes to me every week but I don't write to ______ very often.

Were you at the meeting last night? I didn't see ______ there.

We want to help you. Please ______ tell about your problems.

Apostrophe Practice

Rewrite the following sentences with apostrophes.

1.) Have you met Susans friend?

2.) About sixty people use the teachers room.

3.) Someone had taken Barbaras purse.

4.) Something was hurting the animals foot.

5.) I'm going to write to the childrens parents.

6.) Jane works in my mothers office.

7.) The dog doesn't like its food.

8.) Mary and Pat stayed at their friends house.

9.) Are you going to the secretaries meeting?

10.) I put the money in the waiters hand.


Remember, the apostrophe has three uses.

1) to form possessives of nouns
2) to form contractions
3) to indicate certain plurals of lowercase letters.



I will post the answers later.

Good luck with your studies,
ESL Study Guide

Article Practice

Complete the sentences with a or an, the or no article.

1 'How much are ......... beans?' 'They're 80 cents ......... pound.'
2 I went to ......... wonderful concert by ......... London Symphony Orchestra.
3 ......... local school is going to be closed soon.
4 I usually go to work by ......... train.
5 Is ......... meat in ......... oven?
6 Is this ......... first time you've been to ......... Isle of Man?
7 He's ......... art teacher and she's ......... electrician.
8 A lot of people give ......... money to charity at this time of year.
9 What ......... beautiful face that child's got!
10 ......... British usually have butter on their bread.
11 Life is very difficult for ......... unemployed these days.
12 ......... leader of ......... opposition is in danger of losing her seat at ......... next election.
13 I like to have ......... cup of tea when I wake up in ......... morning.
14 I saw ......... fox this morning. I think it must have been ......... same one that I saw last week.
15 Can I have ......... apple?
16 Have you ever seen ......... Acropolis in Athens?
17 ......... police have had a lot of support from ......... general public over this issue.
18 ......... shirts on ......... washing-line should be nearly dry now.
19 ......... people don't like him because of his selfish attitude.
20 I bought my sister ......... book and bottle of perfume for her birthday but I don't think she liked ......... perfume.




Try to complete all of the following questions. I will be posting the answers later.


Answers

1.) the, a
2.) a, the
3.) a
4.)
5.) the, the
6.) the, the
7.) an, an
8.)
9.) a
10.) the
11.) the
12.) the, the, the
13.) a, the
14.) a, the
15.) an
16.) the
17.) the, the
18.) the, the
19.)
20.) a, the




Good luck with your studies,
ESL Study Guide

Verb Tense practice

Complete the following sentences. Use yesterday, last, tomorrow, or next.

1. I went swimming ______ morning.
2. Ken is going to go to the beach ______ morning.
3. I'm going to take a trip ______ week.
4. Alice went to Miami ______ week for a short vacation.
5. We had a test in class ______ afternoon.
6. ______ afternoon we're going to go on a picnic.
7. My sister is going to arrive ______ Tuesday.
8. Sam bought a used car ______ Friday.
9. My brother is going to enter university ______ fall.
10. ______ spring I took a trip to San Francisco.
11. Ann is going to fly to London ______ month.
12. I'm going to study at the library ______ night.
13. ______ night I watched TV.
14. ______ evening I'm going to go to a baseball game.
15. Matt was at the laundromat ______ evening.



See if you can complete all 15 sentences. I will post the answers tomorrow.


Good luck with your studies,
ESL Study Guide



Answers
1. yesterday
2. tomorrow
3. next
4. last
5. yesterday
6. Tomorrow
7. next
8. last
9. next
10. Last
11. next
12. tomorrow
13. Last
14. Tomorrow
15. yesterday

Comparative Forms

Complete the following sentences using the words in brackets.

1 It's _____________ here than in London. (hot)
2 She's _____________ her brother. (imaginative)
3 He's _____________ all the other students. (old)
4 Do you think Pat is _____________ Brian? (intelligent)
5 This school is _____________ ours. (old-fashioned)
6 The computer was _____________ I thought. (expensive)
7 The rooms are _____________ they used to be. (clean)
8 He's _____________ he was a year ago. (healthy)
9 Do you think English is _____________ French. (difficult)
10 He eats a lot - he's getting _____________ before. (fat)


Answers

1 hotter
2 more imaginative than
3 older than
4 more intelligent than
5 more old-fashioned than
6 more expensive than
7 cleaner than
8 healthier than
9 more difficult than
10 fatter than

Where to begin?

Many times visitors to the site will submit things like the following in the free-writing exercises.

topic: homeless

response:
I have a lot of things to said. but i dont know speak english very well. That's too hard for me. i was very upset because i want to saying, writting something but i cant do it.


While there is obvious grammatical problems. The first and foremost thing is always addressing the topic.

What did you want to say about homelessness?
- That it is a big problem?
- That it is a minor problem?
- How to eliminate it?
- How certain things are contributing to it?


From there, brainstorm on the topic to find 2 or 3 supporting points to help you develop your argument.

If you wish to write on how it is a big problem, then you may choose reasons to support that.

- affects many people
- insufficient retraining programs (government programs to help people find jobs)
- less government funding to combat it (things such as housing projects for low income families)


If those are our three reasons we then need to expand on them in our body paragraphs. Remember the basic structure of an essay.


Introduction
- introduce the topic
- give your point of view

body paragraph 1
- introduce supporting reason
- supporting details

body paragraph 2
- introduce supporting reason
- supporting details

body paragraph 3
- introduce supporting reason
- supporting details

conclusion
- summarize your point of view



You do NOT need to write a perfect essay immediately. Learning any skill takes times and anyone learning English should take this into account. You will need regular practice and if possible, someone to give you some feedback. As always, don't get discouraged, everyone has to start somewhere.



Good luck with your studies,
ESL Study Guide