Welcome to the English Department's Page at Sebha University                                                              موقع قسم اللغة الإنجليزية بجامعة سبها يرحب بكم

In this page, you will find grammar for level "1"

Examples

My father is a doctor.
Venice and Milan are beautiful cities.
What a surprise! We are the first people in the cinema.

Madrid isn't in Portugal.
They aren't married, they are divorced!
I am not very happy today.

Are you from Brazil or Argentina?
How old are your two sisters?
Is it an old dog?

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Adjectives in English are always singular and before the noun.

A big tree.
Three red cars.
I want a large red apple.

There are complex rules that determine adjective order. At this level, it is enough to understand the following.

Examples

A large green tree.
A magnificent blue Italian vase.
A terrible Swedish movie.

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Subject Pronouns

We use before a verb:

I live in Libya.
We go to the cinema every Thursday.
They don't speak English.

Object Pronouns

We use after a verb, as a verb's object.

I like him.
We speak to them every day.
He told us in the morning.

Possessive Adjectives

We use to show possession before nouns.

My name is James.
His car is blue.
Our house is in Omer AL-Mokhtar Street.

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Positive

but

Examples

We go to the theatre every Friday.
They speak Spanish very well.
I love to cook at the weekend.

but:

She speaks French.
He smokes cigars and cigarettes.
The bank opens at 9 o'clock.

Questions

Examples

Where do you live?
What time do your sisters arrive home?
Do we leave now or at five o'clock?

but:

Does your sister work in the city?
How often does your father have a holiday?
Why does the television make that strange noise?

Negative

Exemples

They don't live in that house.
We don't want to stay in that hotel.
I don't think it's a good idea.

but:

Sarah doesn't write to me very often.
The President doesn't want to cut taxes.
It often doesn't rain here for months.

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We use the present simple to talk about things in general, things which are always true and habits. It's not important if the action is happening at the time of speaking.

Examples

She works at the hospital.
I love eating fish.
The shop next to the bank sells great pizza.
Brazil exports a lot of wood to the rest of the world.

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We use there is or there are to say something exists for the first time.

We use there is in front of single or uncountable nouns and we use there are in front of plural countable nouns.

Examples

There is a large airport in Los Angeles.
There isn't any butter in the fridge.
Is there a public telephone near here?

There are three sofas in the living room.
There aren't any mushrooms on the table.
Are there any people in the house?

·  We do not use "it" to talk about something for the first time.

We say:

There is a large bank in Jones Avenue.

NOT It is a large bank in Jones Avenue.

·  But we can use "it" when we talk about something again, a specified thing:

There is a large bank in Jones Avenue. It closes at 4pm.

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We use adverbs of frequency to describe How Often we do something.

How often does it rain in the Sahara? Rarely.
How often does it rain in Ireland? Often.

Position

Frequency adverbs normally go after the verb "to be" but before other verbs.

Examples

I am always happy on a Saturday night.
They are often late for class.

She sometimes smokes cigars.
We almost always go to France in May.

·  Some frequency adverbs such as sometimes, usually and normally can also go at the beginning and end of a sentence.

Sometimes, Henry takes her to a restaurant at the weekend.
I go to bed at midnight usually.

·  We sometimes use numbers when we answer How Often.

Q: How often do you play tennis?
A: Three times a week.

Or we can use an expression such as:

Once every six months.
Take this medicine once every four hours.

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We use ('s) to show who owns something.

Examples

John's car is red.
My mum's house is in the country.
Poland's flag is red and white.

·  If more than one person owns something, we can use s' to show this.

The parents' responsibility is to their children.
There is a boys' school at the end of the road.

·  If a person's name ends with "s", we can also put the apostrophe after the final letter.

Bess' mother was from Ireland.
The Jones' house was sold yesterday.

·  Be careful to put the 's at the end of the name of the person who owns the item, not the item that is owned!

Howard's house is very large.
NOT House's Howard is very large.

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In English, there is the definite article "the" and the indefinite articles "a" and "an".

The difference between "a" and "an" is simple. We put "an" in front of words with vowels.

Examples

He lives in an old house.
She always wears an orange hat.

Careful - we use "an" also in front of words that begin with a silent "h" such as an hour and in front of abbreviations that start with a vowel sound such as an M.P. (which starts with an /em/ sound).

We use "a" in front of words that are spelt with a vowel but start with a consonant sound. This is seen often with words that are spelt with a "u" but begin with a "y" sound such as a university or a united family.

How to use articles

·  We use the indefinite article when we talk about something for the first time.

I walked down Smith Street where I saw a man repairing a bicycle.

·  We use the definite article when we talk about something on further occasions - not for the first time.

The man was old and the bicycle was in terrible condition.

·  We use no article when we are talking about things in general and not one specific example.

Cows eat grass and produce milk.
Love is the best!
Teachers are not paid enough money.

Compare these pairs of sentences:

Children in America must go to school until they are 16.

but
The children are playing in the garden, Howard.

Shops stay open late in Britain on Thursday evenings.

but
The shops in this street are all so expensive.

Other rules of article use.

·  We don't use articles with the time, days of the week or months of the year.

He comes to this house in August.
At six o'clock, we have to leave.
On Monday, I start my new job.

·  We don't use articles for names of streets, languages, meals, airports, mountains, stations, cities and countries.

London is the capital of England.
Grand Station can be found in Walter Street.
Christchurch Airport is near Mount Wilson.
French is spoken in Luxembourg.
Breakfast is at eight and lunch at one in the afternoon.

·  We use the definite article for names of rivers, seas, hotels and newspapers.

The Thames is England's most famous river.
We stayed at The Morrison when we visited Chicago.
The Pacific Ocean is bigger than the Mediterranean Sea.
The Straits Times is Singapore's English language newspaper.

·  We use the indefinite article for names of jobs.

My father is an engineer.
I want to be a doctor.

·  We use the indefinite article in certain expressions.

She smokes ten cigarettes a day.
I have a lot of friends in this school.
I just want a little milk, thank you.

·  We use the definite article in superlative sentences.

Mexico City is the biggest city in the world.

Important!

In many languages, such as Arabic, the article is used before plural nouns even when talking about things in general. This is not true in English.

Example

I like potatoes and tomatoes.
NOT I like the potatoes and the tomatoes.

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Last modified: 05/30/04.