Types of irregular plural

There are many types of irregular plural, but these are the most common:

Noun type	Forming the plural	Examples
Ends with -fe	Change f to v then Add -s	knife - knives life - lives wife - wives
Ends with -f	Change f to v then Add -es	half - halves wolf - wolves loaf - loaves
Ends with -o	Add -es	potato - potatoes tomato - tomatoes volcano - volcanoes
ends with -us	Change -us to -i	cactus - cacti nucleus - nuclei focus - foci
ends with -is	Change -is to -es	analysis - analyses crisis - crises thesis - theses
ends with -on	Change -on to -a	phenomenon - phenomena criterion - criteria
ALL KINDS	Change the vowel or Change the word or Add a different ending	man - men foot - feet child - children person - people tooth - teeth mouse - mice
Unchanging	Singular and plural are the same	sheep deer fish (sometimes

Spelling: Noun Plurals

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Plurals of nouns can be created in the following ways:

1. Add an -s to form the plural of most words.

• elephant--elephants
• stereo--stereos

2. For words that end in a "hissing" sound (-s, -z, -x, -ch, -sh), add an -es to form the plural.

• box--boxes
• church--churches

3. If the word ends in a vowel plus -y (-ay, -ey, -iy, -oy, -uy), add an -s to the word.

• tray--trays
• key--keys

4. If the word ends in a consonant plus -y, change the -y into -ie and add an -s to form the plural.

• enemy--enemies
• baby--babies

5. For words that end in -is, change the -is to -es to make the plural form.

• synopsis--synopses
• thesis--theses

6. Some words that end in -f or -fe have plurals that end in -ves.

• knife--knives
• self--selves

7. The plurals of words ending in -o are formed by either adding -s or by adding -es. The plurals of many words can be formed either way. To determine whether a particular word ends in -s or -es (or if the word can be spelled either way), check your dictionary or the list below. There are two helpful rules:

a. All words that end in a vowel plus -o (-ao, -eo, -io, -oo, -uo) have plurals that end in just -s:

• stereo--stereos
• studio--studios
• duo--duos

b. All musical terms ending in -o have plurals ending in just -s.

• piano--pianos
• cello--cellos
• solo--solos

c. Plural forms of words ending in -o:

-os	-oes	-os or -oes
albinos armadillos autos bravos broncos cantos casinos combos gazebos infernos kimonos logos maraschinos ponchos sombreros tacos torsos tobaccos typos	echoes embargoes heroes potatoes tomatoes torpedoes vetoes	avocados/oes buffaloes/os cargoes/os desperadoes/os dodoes/os dominoes/os ghettos/oes grottoes/os hoboes/os innuendoes/os lassos/oes mangoes/os mosquitoes/os mottoes/os mulattos/oes noes/os palmettos/oes peccadilloes/os tornadoes/os volcanoes/os zeros/oes

8. The plurals of single capital letters, acronyms, and Arabic numerals (1,2,3,...) take an -s WITHOUT an apostrophe:

• Z (the capital letter Z)--Zs
• UPC (Universal Product Code)--UPCs
• ATM (Automatic Teller Machine)--ATMs
• GUI (Graphical User Interface)--GUIs
• 3 (the Arabic numeral 3)--3s
  

If you are unsure of how to make a noun plural, you can look up the singular form of the noun in a dictionary to get the plural form.

Source: Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary

The plural form of most nouns is created simply by adding the letter s.

• more than one snake = snakes
• more than one ski = skis
• more than one Barrymore = Barrymores

Words that end in -ch, x, s or s-like sounds, however, will require an -es for the plural:

• more than one witch = witches
• more than one box = boxes
• more than one gas = gases
• more than one bus = buses
• more than one kiss = kisses
• more than one Jones = Joneses

Note that some dictionaries list "busses" as an acceptable plural for "bus." Presumably, this is because the plural "buses" looks like it ought to rhyme with the plural of "fuse," which is "fuses." "Buses" is still listed as the preferable plural form. "Busses" is the plural, of course, for "buss," a seldom used word for "kiss."

There are several nouns that have irregular plural forms. Plurals formed in this way are sometimes called mutated (or mutating) plurals.

• more than one child = children
• more than one woman = women
• more than one man = men
• more than one person = people
• more than one goose = geese
• more than one mouse = mice
• more than one barracks = barracks
• more than one deer = deer

And, finally, there are nouns that maintain their Latin or Greek form in the plural. (See media and data and alumni, below.)

• more than one nucleus = nuclei
• more than one syllabus = syllabi
• more than one focus = foci
• more than one fungus = fungi
• more than one cactus = cacti (cactuses is acceptable)
• more than one thesis = theses
• more than one crisis = crises*
• more than one phenomenon = phenomena
• more than one index = indices (indexes is acceptable)
• more than one appendix = appendices (appendixes is acceptable)
• more than one criterion = criteria

*Note the pronunciation of this word, crises: the second syllable sounds like ease. More than one base in the game of baseball is bases, but more than one basis for an argument, say, is also bases, and then we pronounce the word basease.

A handful of nouns appear to be plural in form but take a singular verb:

• The news is bad.
• Gymnastics is fun to watch.
• Economics/mathematics/statistics is said to be difficult. ("Economics" can sometimes be a plural concept, as in "The economics of the situation demand that . . . .")

Numerical expressions are usually singular, but can be plural if the individuals within a numerical group are acting individually:

• Fifty thousand dollars is a lot of money.
• One-half of the faculty is retiring this summer.
• One-half of the faculty have doctorates.
• Fifty percent of the students have voted already.

And another handful of nouns might seem to be singular in nature but take a plural form and always use a plural verb:

• My pants are torn. (Nowadays you will sometimes see this word as a singular "pant" [meaning one pair of pants] especially in clothing ads, but most writers would regard that as an affectation.)
• Her scissors were stolen.
• The glasses have slipped down his nose again.

When a noun names the title of something or is a word being used as a word, it is singular whether the word takes a singular form or not.

• Faces is the name of the new restaurant downtown.
• Okies, which most people regard as a disparaging word, was first used to describe the residents of Oklahoma during the 1930s.
• Chelmsley Brothers is the best moving company in town.
• Postcards is my favorite novel.
• The term Okies was used to describe the residents of Oklahoma during the 1930s. (In this sentence, the word Okies is actually an appositive for the singular subject, "term.")

Plural Compound Nouns

Compound words create special problems when we need to pluralize them. As a general rule, the element within the compound that word that is pluralized will receive the plural -s, but it's not always that simple. Daughters-in-law follows the general rule, but cupfuls does not. See the special section on Compound Nouns and Modifiers or, better yet, a good dictionary, for additional help.

Problem Children

Many careful writers insist that the words data and media are Latin plurals and must, therefore, be used as plural words. The singular Latin forms of these words, however, are seldom used: datum as a single bit of information or medium as a single means of communication. Many authorities nowadays approve sentences like My data is lost. and The media is out to get the President. Even textbooks in computer science are beginning to use "data" as a singular.

Alumni and alumnae remain problematic. The plural of masculine singular alumnus is alumni; the plural of feminine singular alumna is alumnae. In traditional Latin, the masculine plural form, alumni, could include both genders. This does not go over well with some female alums. We note, furthermore, that Vassar College, which now has both, has lists of alumni and alumnae. Hartford College for Women, we assume, has only alumnae. In its publication style manual, Wesleyan University approves of alumni/ae. The genderless graduate and the truncated and informal alum have much to commend them.

Special Cases

With words that end in a consonant and a y, you'll need to change the y to an i and add es.

• more than one baby = babies
  
• more than one gallery = galleries
  (Notice the difference between this and galleys, where the final y is not preceded by a consonant.)
• more than one reality = realities
  This rule does not apply to proper nouns:
• more than one Kennedy = Kennedys

Words that end in o create special problems.

• more than one potato = potatoes
• more than one hero = heroes
  . . . however . . .
• more than one memo = memos
• more than one cello = cellos
  . . . and for words where another vowel comes before the o . . .
• more than one stereo = stereos

Plurals of words that end in -f or -fe usually change the f sound to a v sound and add s or -es.

• more than one knife = knives
• more than one leaf = leaves
• more than one hoof = hooves
• more than one life = lives
• more than one self = selves
• more than one elf = elves

There are, however, exceptions:

• more than one dwarf = dwarfs
• more than one roof = roofs

When in doubt, as always, consult a dictionary. Some dictionaries, for instance, will list both wharfs and wharves as acceptable plural forms of wharf. It makes for good arguments when you're playing Scrabble. The online version of Merriam-Webster's WWWebster Dictionary should help.

Collective Nouns, Company Names,
Family Names, Sports Teams

There are, further, so called collective nouns, which are singular when we think of them as groups and plural when we think of the individuals acting within the whole (which happens sometimes, but not often).

audience band class committee crowd dozen

family flock group heap herd jury

kind lot [the] number public staff team

Muitas vezes nos deparamos com locuções verbais em formas um pouco diferentes do comum, como no caso de “get in” e “sit down”, por exemplo. Esses tipos de locuções ocorrem predominantemente nos casos de verbos de origem anglo-saxônica. Esses são casos de phrasal verbs, ou seja, verbos que são formados pela junção de um verbo com uma preposição ou um advérbio.

Ex: sit (verbo) + down (advérbio) = sit down (sentar)
get (verbo) + in (preposição) = get in (entrar)

Muitas vezes, o phrasal verb é facilmente identificado como nos casos apresentados anteriormente. Porém existem alguns casos que é relativamente complicado dizer o significado de um phrasal verb como “hold up” (atrasar).

Na verdade, os phrasal verbs possuem um “ar” de informalidade, de gíria, porém se tornaram algo fundamental até mesmo no âmbito formal e principalmente na hora de praticar o inglês falado no dia-dia. Por isso, é necessário que o estudante tenha conhecimento de pelo menos os phrasal verbs essenciais:

Ask out - convidar
Call up – chamar alguém por telefone
Explain away – desculpar-se
Find out - descobrir
Fix up - consertar
Get up – levanter
Give back - devolver
Give in – render-se
Go on - avançar
Go over with – terminar logo com (algo desagradável)
Keep on - continuar
Keep away from - evitar
Look over - examinar
Look up – procurar informações
Make up - inventar
Pick out - escolher
Pick up - erguer
Put off - atrasar
Slow down – tornar algo mais lento
Take back - retornar
Take off – tirar algo
Take on – aceitar um desafio
Talk over - discutir
Think up - criar
Turn off – parar a operação de uma máquina
Turn on – iniciar a operação de uma máquina
Turn up – aumentar o volume

Past perfect continuous

apid Theory you need to know! Teoria que você precisa saber! eview

Este tempo verbal é usado para indicar uma ação em progresso antes de um momento específico no passado. Algo que teve início no passado e continuou até o momento em que outro evento ocorreu.

I had been working hard for 10 years before I got that promotion.

She had been studying for 6 years before she became a lawyer.

O Past Perfect Continuous pode ser usado também para expressar a idéia de causa e efeito, sempre se referindo a eventos no passado.

He became so muscular because he had been doing lots of exercises.

She got the best marks because she had been only studying.

Se não especificamos a duração de um evento, podemos usar o Past Continuous, desde que a idéia a ser expressar for de interrupção.

Compare:

I was sleeping when the door bell rang. => I woke up when I heard the door bell.

I had been sleeping for 2 hours when the door bell rang. => I slept for 2 hours, woke up just before the bell rang.

Existem algumas expressões indicadoras deste tempo verbal, sendo as mais comuns: when, before, prior to, until.

Para formar sentenças no Past Perfect Continuous, usamos as regras:

Afirmativa: had been + verbo principal no gerúndio. had been verbing

I had been working for the same company until I finally quit.

She had been waiting for more than one hour when you arrived.

Negativa: Adicione "not" depois do primeiro verbo auxiliar. had not been verbing

He had not been gambling until you invited him.

Interrogativa: Inverta o sujeito e o primeiro verbo auxiliar.

What had you been doing when his grandmother called?

Present perfect continuous

O present perfect continuous, tal com o present perfect, faz a ligação entre o passado e o presente, ou seja, descreve uma acção que começou no passado e continua no presente ou que terminou no passado mas cujos efeitos são importantes para o presente.

Como se forma:

Com o presente do verbo to have + been + gerúndio (forma com -ing):

afirmativa	interrogativa	negativa
I have been working. You have been working. He has been working. She has been working. It has been working. We have been working. You have been working. They have been working.	Have I been working? Have you been working? Has he been working? Has she been working? Has it been working? Have we been working? Have you been working? Have they been working?	I haven't been working. You haven't been working. He hasn't been working. She hasn't been working. It hasn't been working. We haven't been working. You haven't been working. They haven't been working.

Para que se usa:

• para enfatizar a duração de uma acção que começou no passado e que continua no presente:

e.g.: She's been working all day and she's obviously very tired.

começou de manhã e ainda não parou

• para descrever uma acção que começou no passado e terminou no passado, mas que durou muito tempo e que tem efeitos no presnte:

e.g.: Tom has been marking tests all week, so now he doesn't want to talk about school.

foi uma semana cheia de trabalho e por isso ele não quer falar disso

• para descrever uma acção que nos causa irritação ou fúria:

e.g.: You've been using my t-shirts again! You know I don't like that!

quem fala está irritado

Com o present perfect continuous usam-se as mesmas expressões temporais do que com o present perfect:

how long...? (há quanto tempo...?)

for (há)

since (desde)

lately (ultimamente)

recently (recentemente

Used to

'Used to do' is different from 'to be used to doing' and 'to get used to doing'

Used to do

We use 'used to' for something that happened regularly in the past but no longer happens.

• I used to smoke a packet a day but I stopped two years ago.
• Ben used to travel a lot in his job but now, since his promotion, he doesn't.
• I used to drive to work but now I take the bus.

We also use it for something that was true but no longer is.

• There used to be a cinema in the town but now there isn't.
• She used to have really long hair but she's had it all cut off.
• I didn't use to like him but now I do.

to be used to doing

We use 'to be used to doing' to say that something is normal, not unusual.

• I'm used to living on my own. I've done it for quite a long time.
• Hans has lived in England for over a year so he is used to driving on the left now.
• They've always lived in hot countries so they aren't used to the cold weather here.

to get used to doing

We use 'to get used to doing' to talk about the process of something becoming normal for us.

• I didn't understand the accent when I first moved here but I quickly got used to it.
• She has started working nights and is still getting used to sleeping during the day.
• I have always lived in the country but now I'm beginning to get used to living in the city.

Generally (but not always) pronouns stand for (pro + noun) or refer to a noun, an individual or individuals or thing or things (the pronoun's antecedent) whose identity is made clear earlier in the text. For instance, we are bewildered by writers who claim something like

• They say that eating beef is bad for you.

They is a pronoun referring to someone, but who are they? Cows? whom do they represent? Sloppy use of pronouns is unfair.

Not all pronouns will refer to an antecedent, however.

• Everyone here earns over a thousand dollars a day.

The word "everyone" has no antecedent.

The problem of agreement between a pronoun and its antecedent and between a pronoun and its verb is treated in another section on Pronoun-Antecedent Consistency. The quizzes on pronoun usage are also listed at the end of that section.

This section will list and briefly describe the several kinds of pronouns.

KINDS OF PRONOUNS: Personal || Demonstrative || Indefinite || Relative ||
Reflexive || Intensive || Interrogative || Reciprocal

Personal Pronouns

Unlike English nouns, which usually do not change form except for the addition of an -s ending to create the plural or the apostrophe + s to create the possessive, personal pronouns (which stand for persons or things) change form according to their various uses within a sentence. Thus I is used as the subject of a sentence (I am happy.), me is used as an object in various ways (He hit me. He gave me a book. Do this for me.), and my is used as the possessive form (That's my car.) The same is true of the other personal pronouns: the singular you and he/she/it and the plural we, you, and they. These forms are called cases. An easily printable chart is available that shows the various Cases of the Personal Pronouns.

Personal pronouns can also be characterized or distinguished by person. First person refers to the speaker(s) or writer(s) ("I" for singular, "we" for plural). Second person refers to the person or people being spoken or written to ("you" for both singular and plural). Third person refers to the person or people being spoken or written about ("he," "she," and "it" for singular, "they" for plural). The person of a pronoun is also demonstrated in the chart Cases of the Personal Pronouns. As you will see there, each person can change form, reflecting its use within a sentence. Thus, "I" becomes "me" when used as an object ("She left me") and "my" when used in its possessive role (That's my car"); "they" becomes "them" in object form ("I like them") and "their" in possessive ("That's just their way").

When a personal pronoun is connected by a conjunction to another noun or pronoun, its case does not change. We would write "I am taking a course in Asian history"; if Talitha is also taking that course, we would write "Talitha and I are taking a course in Asian history." (Notice that Talitha gets listed before "I" does. This is one of the few ways in which English is a "polite" language.) The same is true when the object form is called for: "Professor Vendetti gave all her books to me"; if Talitha also received some books, we'd write "Professor Vendetti gave all her books to Talitha and me." For more on this, see cases of pronouns.

If one is interested in the uses of one as a numerical and impersonal pronoun, one should click the enter button.

When a pronoun and a noun are combined (which will happen with the plural first- and second-person pronouns), choose the case of the pronoun that would be appropriate if the noun were not there.

• We students are demanding that the administration give us two hours for lunch.
• The administration has managed to put us students in a bad situation.

With the second person, we don't really have a problem because the subject form is the same as the object form, "you":

• "You students are demanding too much."
• "We expect you students to behave like adults."

Among the possessive pronoun forms, there is also what is called the nominative possessive: mine, yours, ours, theirs.

• Look at those cars. Theirs is really ugly; ours is beautiful.
• This new car is mine.
• Mine is newer than yours.

Demonstrative Pronouns

The family of demonstratives (this/that/these/those/such) can behave either as pronouns or as determiners.

As pronouns, they identify or point to nouns.

• That is incredible! (referring to something you just saw)
• I will never forget this. (referring to a recent experience)
• Such is my belief. (referring to an explanation just made)

As determiners, the demonstratives adjectivally modify a noun that follows. A sense of relative distance (in time and space) can be conveyed through the choice of these pronouns/determiners:

• These [pancakes sitting here now on my plate] are delicious.
• Those [pancakes that I had yesterday morning] were even better.
• This [book in my hand] is well written;
• that [book that I'm pointing to, over there, on the table] is trash.

A sense of emotional distance or even disdain can be conveyed with the demonstrative pronouns:

• You're going to wear these?
• This is the best you can do?

Pronouns used in this way would receive special stress in a spoken sentence.

When used as subjects, the demonstratives, in either singular or plural form, can be used to refer to objects as well as persons.

• This is my father.
• That is my book.

In other roles, however, the reference of demonstratives is non-personal. In other words, when referring to students, say, we could write "Those were loitering near the entrance during the fire drill" (as long as it is perfectly clear in context what "those" refers to). But we would not write "The principal suspended those for two days"; instead, we would have to use "those" as a determiner and write "The principal suspended those students for two days."

Relative Pronouns

The relative pronouns (who/whoever/which/that) relate groups of words to nouns or other pronouns (The student who studies hardest usually does the best.). The word who connects or relates the subject, student, to the verb within the dependent clause (studies). Choosing correctly between which and that and between who and whom leads to what are probably the most Frequently Asked Questions about English grammar. For help with which/that, refer to the Notorious Confusables article on those words (including the hyperlink to Michael Quinion's article on this usage and the links to relevant quizzes). Generally, we use "which" to introduce clauses that are parenthetical in nature (i.e., that can be removed from the sentence without changing the essential meaning of the sentence). For that reason, a "which clause" is often set off with a comma or a pair of commas. "That clauses," on the other hand, are usually deemed indispensable for the meaning of a sentence and are not set off with commas. The pronoun which refers to things; who (and its forms) refers to people; that usually refers to things, but it can also refer to people in a general kind of way. For help with who/whom refer to the section on Consistency. We also recommend that you take the quizzes on the use of who and whom at the end of that section.

The expanded form of the relative pronouns — whoever, whomever, whatever — are known as indefinite relative pronouns. A couple of sample sentences should suffice to demonstrate why they are called "indefinite":

• The coach will select whomever he pleases.
• He seemed to say whatever came to mind.
• Whoever crosses this line first will win the race.

What is often an indefinite relative pronoun:

• She will tell you what you need to know.

Indefinite Pronouns

The indefinite pronouns (everybody/anybody/somebody/all/each/every/some/none/one) do not substitute for specific nouns but function themselves as nouns (Everyone is wondering if any is left.)

One of the chief difficulties we have with the indefinite pronouns lies in the fact that "everybody" feels as though it refers to more than one person, but it takes a singular verb. (Everybody is accounted for.) If you think of this word as meaning "every single body," the confusion usually disappears. The indefinite pronoun none can be either singular or plural, depending on its context. None is nearly always plural (meaning "not any") except when something else in the sentence makes us regard it as a singular (meaning "not one"), as in "None of the food is fresh." Some can be singular or plural depending on whether it refers to something countable or noncountable. Refer to the section on Pronoun Consistency for help on determining the number of the indefinite pronouns (and the number [singular/plural] of the verbs that accompany them). There is a separate section on the uses of the pronoun one.

There are other indefinite pronouns, words that double as Determiners:

enough, few, fewer, less, little, many, much, several, more, most, all, both, every, each, any, either, neither, none, some

• Few will be chosen; fewer will finish.
• Little is expected.

See the section on Pronoun Consistency for help in determining the number (singular/plural) characteristics of these pronouns.

Intensive Pronouns

The intensive pronouns (such as myself, yourself, herself, ourselves, themselves) consist of a personal pronoun plus self or selves and emphasize a noun. (I myself don't know the answer.) It is possible (but rather unusual) for an intensive pronoun to precede the noun it refers to. (Myself, I don't believe a word he says.)

Reflexive Pronouns

The reflexive pronouns (which have the same forms as the intensive pronouns) indicate that the sentence subject also receives the action of the verb. (Students who cheat on this quiz are only hurting themselves. You paid yourself a million dollars? She encouraged herself to do well.) What this means is that whenever there is a reflexive pronoun in a sentence there must be a person to whom that pronoun can "reflect." In other words, the sentence "Please hand that book to myself" would be incorrect because there is no "I" in that sentence for the "myself" to reflect to (and we would use "me" instead of "myself"). A sentence such as "I gave that book to myself for Christmas" might be silly, but it would be correct.

Be alert to a tendency to use reflexive pronoun forms (ending in -self) where they are neither appropriate nor necessary. The inappropriate reflexive form has a wonderful name: the untriggered reflexive. "Myself" tends to sound weightier, more formal, than little ol' me or I, so it has a way of sneaking into sentences where it doesn't belong.

• Bob and myself I are responsible for this decision.
• These decisions will be made by myself me.
• If you have any questions, please contact myself me or Bob Jones.

When pronouns are combined, the reflexive will take either the first person

• Juanita, Carlos, and I have deceived ourselves into believing in my uncle.

or, when there is no first person, the second person:

• You and Carlos have deceived yourselves.

The indefinite pronoun (see above) one has its own reflexive form ("One must have faith in oneself."), but the other indefinite pronouns use either himself or themselves as reflexives. (There is an entire page on the pronoun one.) It is probably better to pluralize and avoid the clumsy himself or herself construction.

• No one here can blame himself or herself.
• The people here cannot blame themselves.

Interrogative Pronouns

The interrogative pronouns (who/which/what) introduce questions. (What is that? Who will help me? Which do you prefer?) Which is generally used with more specific reference than what. If we're taking a quiz and I ask "Which questions give you the most trouble?", I am referring to specific questions on that quiz. If I ask "What questions give you most trouble"? I could be asking what kind of questions on that quiz (or what kind of question, generically, in general) gives you trouble. The interrogative pronouns also act as Determiners: It doesn't matter which beer you buy. He doesn't know whose car he hit. In this determiner role, they are sometimes called interrogative adjectives.

Like the relative pronouns, the interrogative pronouns introduce noun clauses, and like the relative pronouns, the interrogative pronouns play a subject role in the clauses they introduce:

• We know who is guilty of this crime.
• I already told the detective what I know about it.

Reciprocal Pronouns

The reciprocal pronouns are each other and one another. They are convenient forms for combining ideas. If Bob gave Alicia a book for Christmas and Alicia gave Bob a book for Christmas, we can say that they gave each other books (or that they gave books to each other).

• My mother and I give each other a hard time.

If more than two people are involved (let's say a whole book club), we would say that they gave one another books. This rule (if it is one) should be applied circumspectly. It's quite possible for the exchange of books within this book club, for example, to be between individuals, making "each other" just as appropriate as "one another."

Reciprocal pronouns can also take possessive forms:

• They borrowed each other's ideas.
• The scientists in this lab often use one another's equipment

A preposition describes a relationship between other words in a sentence. In itself, a word like "in" or "after" is rather meaningless and hard to define in mere words. For instance, when you do try to define a preposition like "in" or "between" or "on," you invariably use your hands to show how something is situated in relationship to something else. Prepositions are nearly always combined with other words in structures called prepositional phrases. Prepositional phrases can be made up of a million different words, but they tend to be built the same: a preposition followed by a determiner and an adjective or two, followed by a pronoun or noun (called the object of the preposition). This whole phrase, in turn, takes on a modifying role, acting as an adjective or an adverb, locating something in time and space, modifying a noun, or telling when or where or under what conditions something happened.

Consider the professor's desk and all the prepositional phrases we can use while talking about it.

You can sit before the desk (or in front of the desk). The professor can sit on the desk (when he's being informal) or behind the desk, and then his feet are under the desk or beneath the desk. He can stand beside the desk (meaning next to the desk), before the desk, between the desk and you, or even on the desk (if he's really strange). If he's clumsy, he can bump into the desk or try to walk through the desk (and stuff would fall off the desk). Passing his hands over the desk or resting his elbows upon the desk, he often looks across the desk and speaks of the desk or concerning the desk as if there were nothing else like the desk. Because he thinks of nothing except the desk, sometimes you wonder about the desk, what's in the desk, what he paid for the desk, and if he could live without the desk. You can walk toward the desk, to the desk, around the desk, by the desk, and even past the desk while he sits at the desk or leans against the desk.

All of this happens, of course, in time: during the class, before the class, until the class, throughout the class, after the class, etc. And the professor can sit there in a bad mood [another adverbial construction].

Those words in bold blue font are all prepositions. Some prepositions do other things besides locate in space or time — "My brother is like my father." "Everyone in the class except me got the answer." — but nearly all of them modify in one way or another. It is possible for a preposition phrase to act as a noun — "During a church service is not a good time to discuss picnic plans" or "In the South Pacific is where I long to be" — but this is seldom appropriate in formal or academic writing.

Click HERE for a list of common prepositions that will be easy to print out.

You may have learned that ending a sentence with a preposition is a serious breach of grammatical etiquette. It doesn't take a grammarian to spot a sentence-ending preposition, so this is an easy rule to get caught up on (!). Although it is often easy to remedy the offending preposition, sometimes it isn't, and repair efforts sometimes result in a clumsy sentence. "Indicate the book you are quoting from" is not greatly improved with "Indicate from which book you are quoting." Based on shaky historical precedent, the rule itself is a latecomer to the rules of writing. Those who dislike the rule are fond of recalling Churchill's rejoinder: "That is nonsense up with which I shall not put." We should also remember the child's complaint: "What did you bring that book that I don't like to be read to out of up for?"

Is it any wonder that prepositions create such troubles for students for whom English is a second language? We say we are at the hospital to visit a friend who is in the hospital. We lie in bed but on the couch. We watch a film at the theater but on television. For native speakers, these little words present little difficulty, but try to learn another language, any other language, and you will quickly discover that prepositions are troublesome wherever you live and learn. This page contains some interesting (sometimes troublesome) prepositions with brief usage notes. To address all the potential difficulties with prepositions in idiomatic usage would require volumes, and the only way English language learners can begin to master the intricacies of preposition usage is through practice and paying close attention to speech and the written word. Keeping a good dictionary close at hand (to hand?) is an important first step.

Prepositions of Time: at, on, and in

We use at to designate specific times.
The train is due at 12:15 p.m.

We use on to designate days and dates.
My brother is coming on Monday.
We're having a party on the Fourth of July.

We use in for nonspecific times during a day, a month, a season, or a year.
She likes to jog in the morning.
It's too cold in winter to run outside.
He started the job in 1971.
He's going to quit in August.

Prepositions of Place: at, on, and in

We use at for specific addresses.
Grammar English lives at 55 Boretz Road in Durham.

We use on to designate names of streets, avenues, etc.
Her house is on Boretz Road.

And we use in for the names of land-areas (towns, counties, states, countries, and continents).
She lives in Durham.
Durham is in Windham County.
Windham County is in Connecticut.

Prepositions of Location: in, at, and on and No Preposition
IN (the) bed* the bedroom the car (the) class* the library* school*	AT class* home the library* the office school* work	ON the bed* the ceiling the floor the horse the plane the train	NO PREPOSITION downstairs downtown inside outside upstairs uptown
* You may sometimes use different prepositions for these locations.

about above across after against around at before behind below beneath beside besides between beyond

by down during except for from in inside into like near of off on out

outside over since through throughout till to toward under until up upon with without

according to because of by way of in addition to in front of in place of in regard to in spite of instead of on account of out of

auxiliary verbs such as will, shall, may, might, can, could, must, ought to, should, would, used to, need are used in conjunction with main verbs to express shades of time and mood. The combination of helping verbs with main verbs creates what are called verb phrases or verb strings. In the following sentence, "will have been" are helping or auxiliary verbs and "studying" is the main verb; the whole verb string is underlined:

• As of next August, I will have been studying chemistry for ten years.

Students should remember that adverbs and contracted forms are not, technically, part of the verb. In the sentence, "He has already started." the adverb already modifies the verb, but it is not really part of the verb. The same is true of the 'nt in "He hasn't started yet" (the adverb not, represented by the contracted n't, is not part of the verb, has started).

Shall, will and forms of have, do and be combine with main verbs to indicate time and voice. As auxiliaries, the verbs be, have and do can change form to indicate changes in subject and time.

• I shall go now.
• He had won the election.
• They did write that novel together.
• I am going now.
• He was winning the election.
• They have been writing that novel for a long time.

Uses of Shall and Will and Should In England, shall is used to express the simple future for first person I and we, as in "Shall we meet by the river?" Will would be used in the simple future for all other persons. Using will in the first person would express determination on the part of the speaker, as in "We will finish this project by tonight, by golly!" Using shall in second and third persons would indicate some kind of promise about the subject, as in "This shall be revealed to you in good time." This usage is certainly acceptable in the U.S., although shall is used far less frequently. The distinction between the two is often obscured by the contraction 'll, which is the same for both verbs. In the United States, we seldom use shall for anything other than polite questions (suggesting an element of permission) in the first-person: "Shall we go now?" "Shall I call a doctor for you?" (In the second sentence, many writers would use should instead, although should is somewhat more tentative than shall.) In the U.S., to express the future tense, the verb will is used in all other cases. Shall is often used in formal situations (legal or legalistic documents, minutes to meetings, etc.) to express obligation, even with third-person and second-person constructions: The board of directors shall be responsible for payment to stockholders. The college president shall report financial shortfalls to the executive director each semester." Should is usually replaced, nowadays, by would. It is still used, however, to mean "ought to" as in You really shouldn't do that. If you think that was amazing, you should have seen it last night. In British English and very formal American English, one is apt to hear or read should with the first-person pronouns in expressions of liking such as "I should prefer iced tea" and in tentative expressions of opinion such as I should imagine they'll vote Conservative. I should have thought so. (The New Fowler's Modern English Usage edited by R.W. Burchfield. Clarendon Press: Oxford, England. 1996. Used with the permission of Oxford University Press. Examples our own.)

Uses of Do, Does and Did In the simple present tense, do will function as an auxiliary to express the negative and to ask questions. (Does, however, is substituted for third-person, singular subjects in the present tense. The past tense did works with all persons, singular and plural.) I don't study at night. She doesn't work here anymore. Do you attend this school? Does he work here? These verbs also work as "short answers," with the main verb omitted. Does she work here? No, she doesn't work here. With "yes-no" questions, the form of do goes in front of the subject and the main verb comes after the subject: Did your grandmother know Truman? Do wildflowers grow in your back yard? Forms of do are useful in expressing similarity and differences in conjunction with so and neither. My wife hates spinach and so does my son. My wife doesn't like spinach; neither do I. Do is also helpful because it means you don't have to repeat the verb: Larry excelled in language studies; so did his brother. Raoul studies as hard as his sister does. The so-called emphatic do has many uses in English. To add emphasis to an entire sentence: "He does like spinach. He really does!" To add emphasis to an imperative: "Do come in." (actually softens the command) To add emphasis to a frequency adverb: "He never did understand his father." "She always does manage to hurt her mother's feelings." To contradict a negative statement: "You didn't do your homework, did you?" "Oh, but I did finish it." To ask a clarifying question about a previous negative statement: "Ridwell didn't take the tools." "Then who did take the tools?" To indicate a strong concession: "Although the Clintons denied any wrong-doing, they did return some of the gifts." In the absence of other modal auxiliaries, a form of do is used in question and negative constructions known as the get passive: Did Rinaldo get selected by the committee? The audience didn't get riled up by the politician. Based on descriptions in Grammar Dimensions: Form, Meaning, and Use 2nd Ed. by Jan Frodesen and Janet Eyring. Heinle & Heinle: Boston. 1997. Examples our own.

Uses of Have, Has and Had Forms of the verb to have are used to create tenses known as the present perfect and past perfect. The perfect tenses indicate that something has happened in the past; the present perfect indicating that something happened and might be continuing to happen, the past perfect indicating that something happened prior to something else happening. (That sounds worse than it really is!) See the section on Verb Tenses in the Active Voice for further explanation; also review material in the Directory of English Tenses. To have is also in combination with other modal verbs to express probability and possibility in the past. As an affirmative statement, to have can express how certain you are that something happened (when combined with an appropriate modal + have + a past participle): "Georgia must have left already." "Clinton might have known about the gifts." "They may have voted already." As a negative statement, a modal is combined with not + have + a past participle to express how certain you are that something did not happen: "Clinton might not have known about the gifts." "I may not have been there at the time of the crime." To ask about possibility or probability in the past, a modal is combined with the subject + have + past participle: "Could Clinton have known about the gifts?" For short answers, a modal is combined with have: "Did Clinton know about this?" "I don't know. He may have." "The evidence is pretty positive. He must have." To have (sometimes combined with to get) is used to express a logical inference: It's been raining all week; the basement has to be flooded by now. He hit his head on the doorway. He has got to be over seven feet tall! Have is often combined with an infinitive to form an auxiliary whose meaning is similar to "must." I have to have a car like that! She has to pay her own tuition at college. He has to have been the first student to try that. Based on the analysis in Grammar Dimensions: Form, Meaning, and Use 2nd Ed. by Jan Frodesen and Janet Eyring. Heinle & Heinle: Boston. 1997. Examples our own.

Modal Auxiliaries

Other helping verbs, called modal auxiliaries or modals, such as can, could, may, might, must, ought to, shall, should, will, and would, do not change form for different subjects. For instance, try substituting any of these modal auxiliaries for can with any of the subjects listed below.

I you (singular) he we you (plural) they	can write well.

There is also a separate section on the Modal Auxiliaries, which divides these verbs into their various meanings of necessity, advice, ability, expectation, permission, possibility, etc., and provides sample sentences in various tenses. See the section on Conditional Verb Forms for help with the modal auxiliary would. The shades of meaning among modal auxiliaries are multifarious and complex. Most English-as-a-Second-Language textbooks will contain at least one chapter on their usage. For more advanced students, A University Grammar of English, by Randolph Quirk and Sidney Greenbaum, contains an excellent, extensive analysis of modal auxiliaries.

The analysis of Modal Auxiliaries is based on a similar analysis in The Scott, Foresman Handbook for Writers by Maxine Hairston and John J. Ruszkiewicz. 4th ed. HarperCollins: New York. 1996. The description of helping verbs on this page is based on The Little, Brown Handbook by H. Ramsay Fowler and Jane E. Aaron, & Kay Limburg. 6th ed. HarperCollins: New York. 1995. By permission of Addison-Wesley Educational Publishers Inc. Examples in all cases are our own.

Uses of Can and Could The modal auxiliary can is used to express ability (in the sense of being able to do something or knowing how to do something): He can speak Spanish but he can't write it very well. to expression permission (in the sense of being allowed or permitted to do something): Can I talk to my friends in the library waiting room? (Note that can is less formal than may. Also, some writers will object to the use of can in this context.) to express theoretical possibility: American automobile makers can make better cars if they think there's a profit in it. The modal auxiliary could is used to express an ability in the past: I could always beat you at tennis when we were kids. to express past or future permission: Could I bury my cat in your back yard? to express present possibility: We could always spend the afternoon just sitting around talking. to express possibility or ability in contingent circumstances: If he studied harder, he could pass this course. In expressing ability, can and could frequently also imply willingness: Can you help me with my homework?

Can versus May Whether the auxiliary verb can can be used to express permission or not — "Can I leave the room now?" ["I don't know if you can, but you may."] — depends on the level of formality of your text or situation. As Theodore Bernstein puts it in The Careful Writer, "a writer who is attentive to the proprieties will preserve the traditional distinction: can for ability or power to do something, may for permission to do it. The question is at what level can you safely ignore the "proprieties." Merriam-Webster's Dictionary, tenth edition, says the battle is over and can can be used in virtually any situation to express or ask for permission. Most authorities, however, recommend a stricter adherence to the distinction, at least in formal situations. Authority: The Careful Writer by Theodore Bernstein. The Free Press: New York. 1998. p. 87.

Uses of May and Might Two of the more troublesome modal auxiliaries are may and might. When used in the context of granting or seeking permission, might is the past tense of may. Might is considerably more tentative than may. May I leave class early? If I've finished all my work and I'm really quiet, might I leave early? In the context of expressing possibility, may and might are interchangeable present and future forms and might + have + past participle is the past form: She might be my advisor next semester. She may be my advisor next semester. She might have advised me not to take biology. Avoid confusing the sense of possibility in may with the implication of might, that a hypothetical situation has not in fact occurred. For instance, let's say there's been a helicopter crash at the airport. In his initial report, before all the facts are gathered, a newscaster could say that the pilot "may have been injured." After we discover that the pilot is in fact all right, the newscaster can now say that the pilot "might have been injured" because it is a hypothetical situation that has not occurred. Another example: a body had been identified after much work by a detective. It was reported that "without this painstaking work, the body may have remained unidentified." Since the body was, in fact, identified, might is clearly called for.

Uses of Will and Would In certain contexts, will and would are virtually interchangeable, but there are differences. Notice that the contracted form 'll is very frequently used for will. Will can be used to express willingness: I'll wash the dishes if you dry. We're going to the movies. Will you join us? It can also express intention (especially in the first person): I'll do my exercises later on. and prediction: specific: The meeting will be over soon. timeless: Humidity will ruin my hairdo. habitual: The river will overflow its banks every spring. Would can also be used to express willingness: Would you please take off your hat? It can also express insistence (rather rare, and with a strong stress on the word "would"): Now you've ruined everything. You would act that way. and characteristic activity: customary: After work, he would walk to his home in West Hartford. typical (casual): She would cause the whole family to be late, every time. In a main clause, would can express a hypothetical meaning: My cocker spaniel would weigh a ton if I let her eat what she wants. Finally, would can express a sense of probability: I hear a whistle. That would be the five o'clock train.

Uses of Used to The auxiliary verb construction used to is used to express an action that took place in the past, perhaps customarily, but now that action no longer customarily takes place: We used to take long vacation trips with the whole family. The spelling of this verb is a problem for some people because the "-ed" ending quite naturally disappears in speaking: "We yoostoo take long trips." But it ought not to disappear in writing. There are exceptions, though. When the auxiliary is combined with another auxiliary, did, the past tense is carried by the new auxiliary and the "-ed" ending is dropped. This will often happen in the interrogative: Didn't you use to go jogging every morning before breakfast? It didn't use to be that way. Used to can also be used to convey the sense of being accustomed to or familiar with something: The tire factory down the road really stinks, but we're used to it by now. I like these old sneakers; I'm used to them. Used to is best reserved for colloquial usage; it has no place in formal or academic text

A incrível lista dos 85 phrasal verbs mais usados

Já faz um tempo que planejo escrever sobre os phrasal verbs mais comuns. Junto com as expressões idiomáticas, os phrasal verbs são muito importantes para se expressar como um falante nativo do inglês. Os verbos frasais são até mais importantes no inglês do dia-a-dia, porque com eles fala-se de forma informal, o que fazemos a toda hora em português.

Os phrasal verbs são uma característica muito interessante da língua inglesa: são verbos formados por 2 ou mais palavras. Por exemplo: para dizer o verbo “repetir” em inglês você pode usar “do over“. Duas palavras (do e over) quando juntas trazem um significado especial: repetir. Você também pode usar o verbo “repeat” do inglês, mas estaria falando de maneira mais formal.

Outro exemplo de como soar mais informal: você pode dizer “I’ll look into it”. Você usou “look into”. Já para ser mais formal você usaria “I’ll investigate it”. A tradução nos dois casos é a mesma “Vou investigar isso”, a diferença é como você soou para o seu interlocutor.

Resumo da ópera: ao usar phrasal verbs você está escolhendo ser mais informal. Ao usar verbos de uma só palavra, você está escolhendo ser mais formal. A escolha é sua e depende - é claro - do contexto, mas na maioria das vezes você poderá querer usar os phrasal verbs.

E aqui vai a lista dos 85 verbos frasais mais comuns ou usados, de acordo com a lista fornecida no site Esl About. Alguns destes verbos podem ter mais de um significado, procuraremos tratar dos usos mais comuns.

Aqui está o índice de verbos frasais. Você poderá aprender os verbos lendo um por um, e à medida que eu escrever sobre estes verbos colocarei o link para o artigo específico. A idéia é comentar/explicar todos eles

Note que todos os verbos marcados com asterisco (*) são não-separáveis, por exemplo: “I called on Dan” é o correto e não “I called Dan on”. Os demais verbos podem ser usados juntos ou separados: “I brought the children up” OU “I brought up the children”, as duas formas podem ser usados. Para facilitar, tenha em mente que a maioria pode ser separado.

• Ask out: ask someone to go on a date
• Bring about: cause
• Bring up: 1) rear children 2) mention or introduce a topic
• Call back: return a telephone call
• Call in: ask to come to an official place for a special reason
• CALL OFF: cancel
• Call on*: 1) visit 2) ask a student a question in class
• Call up: call on the telephone
• CATCH UP (WITH)*: reach the same position or level as someone
• Check in*: register at a hotel
• Check into*: investigate
• Check out: 1) borrow a book from a library 2) investigate
• Cheer up: make (someone) feel happier
• Clean up: make clean and orderly
• Come across*: find by chance
• Cross out: draw a line through
• Cut out: stop an annoying activity
• Do over: repeat
• DROP BY*: visit informally
• Drop in (on)*: visit informally
• Drop off: leave something/someone somewhere
• Drop out (of)*: stop going to school or class
• Figure out: find the answer by logic
• Fill out: complete a form
• Find out: discover information
• Get along (with)*: to have a good relationship with
• Get back (from): 1) return from somewhere 2) receive again
• Get in, get into*: 1) enter a car 2) arrive
• Get off*: leave any vehicle
• Get on*: enter any vehicle
• Get out of*: 1) leave a car 2) avoid some unpleasant activity
• Get over*: recover from an illness
• Get through*: finish
• Get up*: arise from bed, a chair etc.
• Give back: return something to someone
• Give up: stop doing something
• Go over*: review or check
• Grow up*: become an adult
• HAND IN: submit an assignment
• Hang up: 1) stop a telephone conversation 2) put up clothes on a line or a hook
• Have on: wear
• Keep out (of): not enter
• Keep up (with)*: stay at the same position or level
• Kick out (of): force (someone) to leave
• Look after*: take care of
• LOOK INTO*: investigate
• Look out (for)*: be careful
• Look over: review or check
• Look up: look for information in a reference book
• Make up: 1) invent 2) do past work
• Name after: give a baby the name of someone else
• Pass away*: die
• Pass out: 1) distribute 2) lose consciousness
• Pick out: select
• Pick up: 1) go to get someone 2) take in one’s hand
• Point out: call someone’s attention to
• Put away: remove to an appropriate place
• Put back: return to original position
• Put off: postpone
• Put on: dress
• Put out: extinguish a cigarette, fire
• Put up with*: tolerate
• Run into: meet by chance
• Run across: find by chance
• Run out (of): finish a supply of something
• Show up*: appear, come to
• Shut off: stop a machine, equipment, light etc.
• Take after*: resemble
• Take off: 1) remove clothing 2) leave on a trip 3) leave the ground (aeroplane)
• Take out: 1) take someone on a date 2) remove
• Take over: take control
• Take up: begin a new activity
• TEAR DOWN: demolish, reduce to nothing
• Tear up: tear into many little pieces
• Think over: consider
• Throw away: discard; get rid of
• Throw out: discard; get rid of
• Throw up: vomit
• Try on: put on clothing to see if it fits
• Turn down: decrease volume
• Turn in: 1) submit classwork 2) go to bed
• Turn off: stop a machine, equipment, light etc.
• Turn on: start a machine, equipment, light etc.
• Turn out: extinguish a light
• Turn up: increase volume or intensity