WH - Question

There are eight types of wh-questions,  

which, what, who, whom, whose, when, where and why and to this list we usually add how as they are all used to elicit particular kinds of information. 

Who, what, which and whose can all be used to elicit information about the subject or object of the sentence. 

Whom can only be used to elicit information about the object of the sentence. Although using whom would be grammatically correct, we normally use who instead because it doesn’t sound so formal. 

When which, what, who or whose refers to the subject, the question word comes before the verb without the use of the auxiliary do. 

Note that! who always refers to people and that before nouns which and what can refer to things or people:

• Who won the race?
  Barry. Barry won the race.

• Which train arrived first – the 7.15 from Reading or the 7.30 from Oxford?
  The 7.15 from Reading arrived first.

• Which trainee received the best-student award?
  The one from India got the first prize.

When the question word is the object of the sentence, we have to use the auxiliary do:

• So, if Barry won the race, who(m) did he have to beat?
  He had to beat Simon and Pierre. 

• Which train did Susan catch?
  She caught the 7.15 from Reading. 

Which or what

When there are only two or three possibilities to choose from, which is normally preferred.

When there are an unlimited number of choices, what is used.

Compare the following:

• Which biscuits do you want me to buy – milk chocolate or plain chocolate?
  I’d like the milk chocolate ones, please.

• What kind of work do you do?
  I work as a lawyer for a firm in the city.

Whose

Whose indicates possession, and like which and what, can be used with or without a noun as a question word.

Compare the following:

• Whose coat is this?
  It’s Joan’s.

• Whose is that red car across the road?
  It’s the electrician’s.

• What precautions did you take?
  I made sure I was wearing lots of warm clothes.

• What did you do then?
  I simply set off through the snow. 

When, Where, Why and How

These question words elicit an adverbial expression and ask for information about time (when), place (where), reason (why) and method or way in which something is done (how).

Compare the following:

• When will you next be in London?
  The week after next.

• When are you getting married?
  I'm not sure, next summer or autumn, perhaps.

• Where are you getting married?
  In an old church near my village. It’s such a romantic place.

• Where does your fiancée come from?
  She’s from Ecuador.

• Why didn’t you get married earlier?
  We’ve both been too busy, I guess.

• How was your holiday?
  Oh, it was great. Just what we needed.

• How do you like your coffee?
  With just a dash of milk and two sugars.

• How about some cake to go with it?
  OK, why not?

                               In the simplest form : 

Question Word	Function	Example
what	asking for information about something	What is your name?
	asking for repetition or confirmation	What? I can't hear you. You did what?
what...for	asking for a reason, asking why	What did you do that for?
when	asking about time	When did he leave?
where	asking in or at what place or position	Where do they live?
which	asking about choice	Which colour do you want?
who	asking what or which person or people (subject)	Who opened the door?
whom	asking what or which person or people (object)	Whom did you see?
whose	asking about ownership	Whose are these keys? Whose turn is it?
why	asking for reason, asking what...for	Why do you say that?
why don't	making a suggestion	Why don't I help you?
how	asking about manner	How does this work?

Learning English -- Lesson Fifteen (SLANG)

Demonstratives

In this lesson, we will discuss demonstratives of two types: demonstrative adjectives and demonstrative pronouns. The first step in clearly understanding these two topics is to review the differences between "adjectives" and "pronouns."

adjective
describes a noun

pronoun
takes the place of a noun

In the following sentences, the words in bold all function as adjectives, since they all describe the noun "book."

Give me the red book.
Give me the big book.
Give me that book.
Give me this book.

Notice that adjectives answer the question "Which?" in relation to the nouns that they modify. (Which book? The red book. The big book. That book. This book.)

In the following sentences, the words in bold all function as pronouns, since they all take the place of a noun.

Maria is next; give her the ball.
Juan is here; say hello to him.
That pencil is yours; this is mine.
This book is mine; that is yours.

Notice that pronouns replace a noun. ("her" replaces "Maria" - "him" replaces "Juan" - "this" replaces "pencil" - "that" replaces "book")

As you have just seen, the words "this" and "that" can function as both adjectives and pronouns.

This book is mine. (adjective)
This (one) is mine. (pronoun)

That book is yours.(adjective)
That (one) is yours. (pronoun)

The demonstrative adjectives also have four forms:

 (this book)
 (these books)
(this pen)
 (these pens)

 (that book)
 (those books)
 (that pen)
 (those pens)

 (that book over there)
 (those books over there)
 (that pen over there)
 (those pens over there)

Here are the corresponding demonstrative pronouns:

 (this one - masculine)
 (these ones - masculine)
 (this one - feminine)
 (these ones - feminine 

 (that one - masculine)

 (those ones - masculine)
 (that one - feminine)
 (those ones - feminine)

 (that one over there - masc.)
 (those ones over there - masc.)
 (that one over there - fem.)
 (those ones over there - fem.)

Each demonstrative pronoun also has a neuter form. They do not change for number or gender, and they are used to refer to abstract ideas, or to an unknown object.

 (this matter, this thing)
 (that matter, that thing)
 (that matter/thing over there)

welcome back to school!

try to gain a new knowledge.. 

hye again! here,we got an awesome activities for you...

Find all family words. Write one word into each gap.

wqsisterdgrandmotherjhcousintvauntnpgrandfatherzvuncleyfathermemother

words:

SOCIAL EXPRESSIONS IN DAILY LIFE

GREETINGS

• Good morning, Sir.
• Good afternoon, Puan Laili.
• Good evening, Encik Asraf.
• Hello, Anu. How are you?
• Welcome, everyone! Please come in.
• Hi Sui Fan. It's lovely to see you again.
• Hello, Melati. I'm fine. Thanks.
• Hello! I'm fine. Thank You.

FESTIVE AND SPECIAL OCCASIONS.

• Happy Deepavali.
• Happy New Year.
• Selamat Hari Raya.
• Happy Birthday, mother.
• Good lucks, boys!
• All the best, Roshan!

MAKING INTRODUCTIONS.

• Let me introduce myself. My name is Sui Cheng.
• Linda, this is my aunt.
• I'd like to introduce you to Peter.
• Have you met Andy?
• Nice to meet you.
• It's a pleasure to meet you.
• Hello, I'm Jaya. This is Umar.

SAYING GOODBYE

• See you later!
• See you tomorrow!
• I'm so sorry, I got to rush off.
• Bye! Have a lovely day.
• All right, let's make a move.
• I see you at the party later!
• Well then, it's time to go.

SEEKING PERMISSION

• Can I use your telephone.
• May I speak to Dina, please?
• Can I have a glass of water, please?
• Could I go to the libry tomorrow?
• Would it be alright if Izwan accompanied us to the shop?

INVITATION

• Do you feel like watching a movie tomorrow?
• Are you free on Saturday?
• What are you doing this weekend?
• Would you like a sandwich?
• Would you like to play football?

ACCEPTING AND DECLINING INVITATIONS

• I'd love to.
• Yes, that'd be fun.
• Thank you, I'd like that.
• Sure, I'd love to.
• I'd love to but I have to finish my homework.
• I'd like to but I'm visiting my cousin this weekend.
• I can't make it to your party.
• I'd to buy maybe another time.

MAKING AN APPOINTMENT

• I'd to make an appointment to see the doctor, please.
• Is it possible to make an appointment, please?
• Can I make an appointment for tomorrow?
• Mai I make an appointment with Mr. Farouq?
• I want to make an appointment with the manager, please.

TRY these topics to improve your writing,,good luck!!

Creative Writing - Topics

There are a lot of topics to write about. I have  listed some down here.

Me and others

Let me introduce myself...

My sister/brother

My father's/mother's job

My best friend

People I like

Problems of young people

What I think about fashion

My strangest dream

Who can be a hero?

Would you do any voluntary activity?

My world

My home town

Which do you prefer - city life or country life?

Holidays at home or abroad?

I'm happy when...

If I had a million dollars...

Living as a teenager in my country

Hobbies and leisure

Cost of Cds/DVDs

My hobbies and interests

My favourite pop group

My favourite sport

An interesting weekend

An interesting film/book

My last holidays in...

Plans for my next holidays

I have a dangerous hobby

Education and work

Applying for a job

Give arguments for or against teenage working

My dream job

My dream school

My favourite subject

School uniforms

Schools in the USA/Britain and Germany

Healthy life

What's my day like?

What I like to eat...

At the doctor's

Try to convince your friend to stop smoking/drinking/taking drugs

My attitude towards sport

My favourite sports

I like fast food

I'm a vegetarian

Me as a consumer

I like/don't like shopping

Pocket money - how much do you get - how much do you need?

Do you save money?

Life on earth

My pet

How can you save the environment?

Endangered animals

Skiing and the environment

Why I like animals

Media and Arts

Do you like reading?

Which do you prefer - reading a book or watching the film?

I like my mobile phone

I like watching TV.

I like playing on the computer.

There's too much violence on TV

Success changes people - what do you think?

Past, Present and Future

A day without electricity

How do you see yourself in 10 years?

tips on writing

Creative Writing - English as a foreign language

We talk about Creative Writing when we write a text about a special topic. There are various topics to write about when you learn a foreign language. Let's show some examples.

At an early stage you are able to write short texts e.g. about My hometown or My hobbies and interests. Intermediate learners are able to write texts about pros and cons, like: Which do you prefer? - holidays at home or abroad? Advanced students should write texts about more specific topics. Let's think of Martin Luther King and his words: "I have a dream."

Do not forget: Write simple sentences, don't make your structures too complicated
If you follow some rules, it's not complicated to write English texts.

1) Read the task and think twice before you begin.

2) Collect ideas. Make notes on a sheet of paper.

3) Arrange your text, avoid repetitions. Think of an introduction and a conclusion.

4) Write the draft.

5) Read your text again and have a look at the vocabulary and the grammar. Use an English-English dictionary to check the usage of the words. Remind the word order in sentences and questions. Think of additional information you could use in your text.

6) Write your text.

7) Read your text again and watch for spelling mistakes

 

Summary writing

Remember to summarize the text you've read. Use the following tips:
1)	Shorten the text in such a way that all facts are in the summary. Leave out examples, evaluations and interpretations.
2)	Skim the text. You should know what is the main content of it. Read the headline carefully. It is important.
3)	Read the text again to understand more details. You must have understood the whole text.
4)	Make notes (use keywords). Underline important words in the text.
5)	Form sentences with the help of your keywords. These sentences should reflect the main content of the text.
6)	Connect the sentences using suitable conjunctions. The first sentence should describe the main content of the text.
7)	Use Simple Present or Simple Past. Write sentences in Reported speech.
8)	Sometimes you have to change the persons.
9)	Check your summary. Watch out for spelling mistakes.

NURSERY RHYMES

                                                                   

TONGUE TWISTER

YOU ALL SHOULD WATCH THIS

1) Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers.
A peck of pickled peppers Peter Piper picked.
If Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers,
Where's the peck of pickled peppers Peter Piper picked?

2) I saw Susie sitting in a shoe shine shop.
Where she sits she shines, and where she shines she sits.

3) Denise sees the fleece,
Denise sees the fleas.
At least Denise could sneeze
and feed and freeze the fleas.

4) Something in a thirty-acre thermal thicket of thorns and thistles thumped and thundered threatening the three-D thoughts of Matthew the thug - although, theatrically, it was only the thirteen-thousand thistles and thorns through the underneath of his thigh that the thirty year old thug thought of that morning.

5)I wish to wish the wish you wish to wish, but if you wish the wish the witch wishes, I won't wish the wish you wish to wish.

6) Luke Luck likes lakes.
Luke's duck likes lakes.
Luke Luck licks lakes.
Luck's duck licks lakes.
Duck takes licks in lakes Luke Luck likes.
Luke Luck takes licks in lakes duck likes.

7) One-one was a race horse.
Two-two was one too.
One-one won one race.
Two-two won one too.

8) If Pickford's packers packed a packet of crisps would the packet of crisps that Pickford's packers packed survive for two and a half years?

9) What a terrible tongue twister,
what a terrible tongue twister,
what a terrible tongue twister...

10) How much ground would a groundhog hog, if a groundhog could hog ground? A groundhog would hog all the ground he could hog, if a groundhog could hog ground.

Five Grammatical Errors that Make You Look Dumb

One thing blogging and good copywriting share is a conversational style, and that means it’s fine to fracture the occasional rule of proper grammar in order to communicate effectively. Both bloggers and copywriters routinely end sentences with prepositions, dangle a modifier in a purely technical sense, or make liberal use of the ellipsis when an EM dash is the correct choice—all in order to write in the way people actually speak.

But there are other mistakes that can detract from your credibility. While we all hope what we have to say is more important than some silly grammatical error, the truth is some people will not subscribe or link to your blog if you make dumb mistakes when you write, and buying from you will be out of the question.
Here are five mistakes to avoid when blogging and writing web copy.

1. Your vs. You’re

This one drives me insane, and it’s become extremely common among bloggers. All it takes to avoid this error is to take a second and think about what you’re trying to say.
“Your” is a possessive pronoun, as in “your car” or “your blog.” “You’re” is a contraction for “you are,” as in “you’re screwing up your writing by using your when you really mean you are.”

2. It’s vs. Its

This is another common mistake. It’s also easily avoided by thinking through what you’re trying to say.
“It’s” is a contraction of “it is” or “it has.” “Its” is a possessive pronoun, as in “this blog has lost its mojo.” Here’s an easy rule of thumb—repeat your sentence out loud using “it is” instead. If that sounds goofy, “its” is likely the correct choice.

3. There vs. Their

This one seems to trip up everyone occasionally, often as a pure typo. Make sure to watch for it when you proofread.
“There” is used many ways, including as a reference to a place (“let’s go there”) or as a pronoun (“there is no hope”). “Their” is a plural possessive pronoun, as in “their bags” or “their opinions.” Always do the “that’s ours!” test—are you talking about more than one person and something that they possess? If so, “their” will get you there.

4. Affect vs. Effect

To this day I have to pause and mentally sort this one out in order to get it right. As with any of the other common mistakes people make when writing, it’s taking that moment to get it right that makes the difference.
“Affect” is a verb, as in “Your ability to communicate clearly will affect your income immensely.” “Effect” is a noun, as in “The effect of a parent’s low income on a child’s future is well documented.” By thinking in terms of “the effect,” you can usually sort out which is which, because you can’t stick a “the” in front of a verb. While some people do use “effect” as a verb (“a strategy to effect a settlement”), they are usually lawyers, and you should therefore ignore them if you want to write like a human.

5. The Dangling Participle

The dangling participle may be the most egregious of the most common writing mistakes. Not only will this error damage the flow of your writing, it can also make it impossible for someone to understand what you’re trying to say.
Check out these two examples from Tom Sant’s book Persuasive Business Proposals:
After rotting in the cellar for weeks, my brother brought up some oranges.
Uhh… keep your decomposing brother away from me!
Featuring plug-in circuit boards, we can strongly endorse this server’s flexibility and growth potential.
Hmmm… robotic copy written by people embedded with circuit boards. Makes sense.
The problem with both of the above is that the participial phrase that begins the sentence is not intended to modify what follows next in the sentence. However, readers mentally expect it to work that way, so your opening phrase should always modify what immediately follows. If it doesn’t, you’ve left the participle dangling, as well as your readers.