English Lessons

I am starting a new thread where I will try to explain some basic English rules and lessons. If you guys like it I will try to put some simple exercises in this thread. I am not trying to show that I am very good in English just trying to explain few basic things. I am not an English Langugae Master so if anybody sees a mistake here please be kind enough to rectify it.
Rolling Eyes

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Here are the rules for when to use "A, An or The":

a = indefinite article (not a specific object, one of a number of the same objects) with consonants
She has a dog.
I work in a factory.
an = indefinite article (not a specific object, one of a number of the same objects) with vowels (a,e,i,o,u)
Can I have an apple?
She is an English teacher.
the = definite article (a specific object that both the person speaking and the listener know)
The car over there is fast.
The teacher is very good, isn't he?
The first time you speak of something use "a or an", the next time you repeat that object use "the".
I live in a house. The house is quite old and has four bedrooms.
I ate in a Chinese restaurant. The restaurant was very good.
DO NOT use an article with countries, states, counties or provinces, lakes and mountains except when the country is a collection of states such as "The United States".
He lives in Washington near Mount Rainier.
They live in northern British Columbia.
Use an article with bodies of water, oceans and seas -
My country borders on the Pacific Ocean
DO NOT use an article when you are speaking about things in general
I like Russian tea.
She likes reading books.
DO NOT use an article when you are speaking about meals, places, and transport
He has breakfast at home.
I go to university.
He comes to work by taxi.

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Here is a simple quiz for use of articles

1. _____ Pacific Ocean is _____ largest body of water on _____ Earth.
2. You can find _____ books you'll need for class at _____ Amazon.com.
3. She's thinking about attending _____ English course during _____ summer. She might go to _____ school in _____ England.
4. Meridith remembered to turn off _____ lights before she left _____ apartment.
5. They refused to listen to _____ Tim because they thought he was _____ overbearing person.
6. I enjoy listening to _____ number of programs on _____ radio.
7. He telephoned _____ agent that was listed in _____ telephone directory.
8. John felt _____ painting was much too expensive and decided to look for _____ different one.
9. One of _____ students has committed _____ crime.

10. No one will leave the classroom until _____ guilty student admits his or her _____ guilt.
11. Our friends bought _____ new van that they took on their holiday to _____ Yosemite National Park.

I will post the answers tomorrow. Rolling Eyes

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This is a good thing

Dear Green Eyes,

Your attempt for english lessons is quite good and admirable. Though, there are few mistakes which you would have also realized about. They are tiny in numbers, but are the most basic errors of english writing. I merely want to give you my own personal feedback and i am hopeful, it will assist you while your time of stay in the UK as a student or worker. I shall only emphasize on those errors, which i felt are the most basic ones.

1. Your english grammar looks fairly ok, but many people tends to do mistake while expressing future tenses. I have carefully examined your first line of the paragraph and it appears here that you are using "will" command with the wrong "subject". I came across many english writings of overseas people and most of them seems to do the same mistake. The word "I" mostly follow with "shall" command in English writings, otherthan you use "will" command which only use to express "affirmation" in the sentence. Many people neglect or ignore this concept, which result into wrong expression of their statement. It is however not justifiable at this point of time, whether there is an element of "assertion" lies into first line of your paragraph or not, but based on my life experience i see this as a wrong usage of tense.

2. The second common mistake i have found within your paragraph is the " incomplete usage of Punctuation". Commas, apostrophe 's' are mostly missing. It indeed leaves false impression of your english language ability.

3.Wrong spelling of some words is your third mistake. I shall suggest you to always read paragraph before publishing it.

In the end, I feel that this guidance "will" assist you in your life.

With best wishes,

Salman

Nice work " Green Eyes".....share some more....thanks Smile