Money is uncountable. What! …giggle, giggle.. but you can count money, that’s crazy!
Of course on the face of it the fact that money is something we count makes sense, but as a noun we are thinking of it in terms of a generic concept rather than a pile of coins.
I’d like an apple and three oranges please.
These are more ‘abstract’, cannot be counted individually, do not take an indefinite article and cannot be pluralised.
I’d like some fruit and coffee please.
There were fewer people than last year so we served less champagne.
We can make uncountable nouns countable by quantifying them or making them more specific.
The countable nouns bit, piece, slice etc.. are commonly used to do this along with the preposition ‘of’.
Fear of spiders is common.
She had a fear of spiders.
Some nouns can be both countable and uncountable but the have different meanings in each case and these shouldn’t be confused. Here are some examples.
Drawing – He’s very good at drawing.
He gave me a drawing for my birthday.
Newspaper – Wrap everything in newspaper before packing.
Did you buy a newspaper today?
Glass – She makes tiny animals from glass.
Can you pass me a glass?
As ever check it in your grammar book to find more examples and ensure that you understand the rules and usage.
Remember you may have to make a conscious effort in the beginning to make sure you use them correctly but with practice it will become second nature.
Adjectives – to use an …..ing or …..ed ending, that is the question!
Are you surprised or is this surprising? Either is possible so long as you use the right ending in the right place.
How many students are ‘boring’ with lessons or ‘interesting’ in the film? Many in my experience!
It’s a simple mistake to make and one that can be easily avoided by learning and remembering.
Saying ‘I am very boring’ isn’t a huge language crime, but it does invite ‘smart’ comments and the odd chuckle at your expense.
That is a very fetching outfit!
She can be very trying at times!
Compare the meanings of fetch and try as verbs.
Other …ing adjectives have no verb equivalent. These wouldn’t take an …ed ending either.
examples are; balding, appetising, neighbouring, scathing etc..
Who’s got the flaming file!
This is a very dated style.
He is a retired doctor.
He spoke in a guarded manner.
He was a disturbed young man.
…ed adjectives can be derived from nouns and their meaning is obvious.
e.g. bearded, walled, skilled, gloved, gifted, winged etc..
Finally, a handful of …ed adjectives are not related to nouns or verbs.
e.g. rugged, bloated, assorted, crazed etc..
To test your skills try this quick quiz.
Adjective order – does it matter?
Unfortunately there is a right and wrong way of ordering adjectives when several are used to describe a noun.
Consider these descriptions – can you put them in the correct order?
So how can we know which adjective goes where?
a beautiful, big, expensive, old, rectangular, dark brown, French, mahogany, grandfather clock.
This sentence is somewhat contrived to illustrate all the possible adjectives. Great, long sentences such as this would not be the norm, but there will be occasions when you will need to use more than one adjective in your description. It is as well to learn this checklist as a rule of thumb.
The most significant (or permanent) adjective should go immediately before the noun.
An old grandfather French clock wouldn’t be correct because grandfather describes the type of clock.
A delicate, brass, French clock would tell us that the fact that the clock is French is key to the description.
Where a lot of adjectives are required we often use more than one clause.
A beautiful, antique, French, grandfather clock made of mahogany and decorated in gold leaf.
An antique French clock decorated in gold and brass. Here gold and brass are both materials.
The house was charming but rundown.
Her dress was green, yellow and orange.
He was stubborn and deceitful but also gentle.
Did you manage to order the two sentences correctly?
A beautiful, large, historic, old, rundown, country house.
An attractive, tall, kind, middle-aged, slim, blonde, Swiss man.
These sentences look exactly what they are – a list of adjectives with very little style about them. To describe these objects more effectively use some of the combining techniques above.
The large country house was old, beautiful and historic, if a little rundown.
The blonde, middle-aged, Swiss man was attractive; tall and slim yet kind in nature.
Along with use of articles, present perfect tense and 3rd person agreement, prepositions are one of those issues that never seem to go away! Mistakes made in the early stages of learning English seem to remain doggedly even at advanced level. This is especially true of prepositions of place these quite often, like the other false friends we’ve mentioned before don’t translate or seem illogical.
Julie told me about this book.
An old rule said never end a sentence with a preposition (it comes from Latin where it isn’t allowed!) and while it might be better written style to avoid it in speaking it isn’t uncommon – in fact – sometimes to avoid so doing we have to create strange sentences!
Who are you coming to the party with? With whom are you coming to the party?
What is this bag made from? From what is this bag made?
We have digressed. How can preposition usage be improved?
Firstly, don’t think about prepositions in isolation. The are agents for connecting words and as such go in partnership.
An expanded list of these categories can be found in most grammar books. If you can visualise the function/s of a preposition it should help you to use it better.
Finally, you cannot get prepositions by osmosis so take some time to check and learn.
These are prepositions that like to hang out with certain verbs. They are often particular about their partners and don’t relate well when paired with the wrong verb!
Practise and memory are the two tools required to nail these down!
You’ll find lists of verbs and their prepositions in grammar books and you’ll need to knuckle down and learn them Do them in batches to make it more manageable and don’t forget to use them as soon as you can to help you remember!
Here’s an exercise to try to get you started.
Conditional Sentences – how lovely!
I love conditionals! I really do – all types 1, 2, 3 and mixed, real and unreal – they’re fab! Right from when I started teaching (many eons ago!), I looked forward to conditionals. I don’t believe many students share my adoration, I hope there are a few and I hope that they may be former students of mine!
So, what’s so great about them I hear you say. I think the uncertainty, the speculation, the planning, admonition and finally regret that they represent. They cover a wide emotional spectrum that really exposes how we feel and not just what we do. Like most of grammar, they are simply tools to help us express something and connect with others which, I’m sure , is the ultimate reason for learning a language whatever other reasons may present themselves along the way.
It’s all in the conditionals – a salutary tale.
Imagine, if you will, a saloon bar. Four men; Jethro, Wade, Rusty and Wild Beau Bronson (yep, cowboys) looking downcast. They’ve just lost all their money in a game of poker.
If the house were mine I would have painted it green.
If they hadn’t missed the flight they would be on the beach now.
I hope this helps to illustrate the usage a little and you too will come to love conditionals!