Improve your English Grammar in One Hour | Basic English Grammar — Transcript
Full transcript
- 0:00Hey guys, welcome to a very, very, very
- 0:02important class. Today, we're going to
- 0:04talk about grammar. I know it is your
- 0:07favorite topic, and this is why we're
- 0:09going to start with prepositions. Then,
- 0:11we're going to talk about some basic
- 0:13grammar rules, and of course, we're
- 0:15going to talk about articles. Is it a or
- 0:18is it the? We're going to talk about
- 0:20that, and we're going to wrap up this
- 0:22class by talking about tenses in
- 0:25English. So, if you're learning English,
- 0:27this class is for you. Let's start. When
- 0:30I first arrived in the US, I was super
- 0:32confused about some prepositions. Like,
- 0:35am I at the farmers market or in the
- 0:38farmers market? My billboard was on
- 0:41Times Square or in Times Square? I am at
- 0:45the hotel or I'm in the hotel? These
- 0:48prepositions are very confusing, but
- 0:50first of all, whichever preposition you
- 0:52decide to use, native speakers are going
- 0:54to understand you. No one's going to
- 0:56tell you, "No, no, no, this is the wrong
- 0:58preposition." Like, if you're talking to
- 0:59native speakers, normally, no one would
- 1:02tell you that something is wrong. But,
- 1:04if you're taking a test, yes, this is
- 1:06where problems might start cuz this is
- 1:09where you will get lower points if you
- 1:11make mistakes. So, let's start with
- 1:13prepositions in English. Okay, let's
- 1:16start with at versus in. The rule that
- 1:20you have to remember, in is used with
- 1:23major, big things, like countries,
- 1:27cities, continents. I was born in
- 1:31Europe. Well, St. Petersburg is kind of
- 1:33Eastern Europe. I consider it Europe. He
- 1:35was born in Italy. He was born in Rome.
- 1:38I was born in Liverpool in a railroad
- 1:40switch house.
- 1:41We use at with smaller, insignificant
- 1:46places. So, I'm at the farmers market
- 1:49cuz farmers market is relatively small.
- 1:52Same with buildings. I'm at the airport.
- 1:55I'm going to meet you at the restaurant.
- 1:58With small, insignificant things, we're
- 2:01using at.
- 2:02Work at the university stadium.
- 2:05I'm a security guard.
- 2:07The next set of rules is regarding all
- 2:10versus all of. So, we use all of when we
- 2:14have pronouns. Pronouns are us, they,
- 2:18them, me, you. Those are all pronouns.
- 2:20So, we say all of us are going to Malibu
- 2:25next week. All of them have completed
- 2:28their TOEFL test. So, whenever it's a
- 2:30pronoun, we have all of.
- 2:32All of me.
- 2:33However, in all other cases, we have
- 2:36all. All the people are forced to stay
- 2:39at home. All the students have to wear
- 2:42masks. All the children need to stay at
- 2:45home.
- 2:46All the gods, all the heavens.
- 2:48By the way, guys, if you're looking for
- 2:50a manual or like a book for grammar, my
- 2:54team and I have created a grammar book
- 2:56with all the necessary rules that you
- 2:58need. We have prepositions, we have
- 3:00tenses, we have conditionals. Oh my god,
- 3:02I hate conditionals. What would have
- 3:04happened if he had come 5 minutes
- 3:06earlier? Like, all of those clauses and
- 3:09consequences. All of that is explained
- 3:12in a very simple manner. It's a very,
- 3:15very visual grammar book that you can
- 3:17use every single day when you are doing
- 3:19something in English, when you have this
- 3:21question, "Oh my god, what do I use
- 3:22here?" Our grammar book would be there
- 3:24to help you. Moreover, if you want more
- 3:26practice, we have a special practice
- 3:29exercise book created specifically for
- 3:32this grammar book. So, you can read the
- 3:33topic on a specific grammar rule and
- 3:36then practice that grammar rule. It's a
- 3:39very affordable manual created by me and
- 3:41my team. It's brand new, it's fresh, no
- 3:44old-fashioned words, no old-fashioned
- 3:47rules. I use it all the time with my
- 3:48students when I'm creating different
- 3:50classes. The link will be below. Please
- 3:52make sure to download it, print it out,
- 3:54or you can use a PDF on your computer or
- 3:56your iPad. I by the way love using iPad
- 3:58Pro, where you can write things
- 4:01inside the PDF with a pen. But it's up
- 4:03to you, whatever you have at home, or
- 4:04you just print it out and have it on
- 4:06your desk at all times, because this is
- 4:09something you can consult when you have
- 4:11any questions regarding grammar. Again,
- 4:12the link will be below. Thank you so
- 4:14much for downloading it, and it would
- 4:16really help you go through my videos as
- 4:18well. The next section in
- 4:21versus on versus at when we're talking
- 4:25about time. So, when we talk about
- 4:27general measurements, like I'll be there
- 4:29in 2 minutes. I'll see you in 2 days.
- 4:33We're going to travel abroad in 2
- 4:36months. So, this in is used with general
- 4:39measurements.
- 4:40I'll be there in 20 minutes.
- 4:42However, when we have a specific date
- 4:45and time,
- 4:46we use on and at. I will see you on
- 4:49Monday at 12:00 p.m. The classes start
- 4:52on September 21st.
- 4:54I'll go now if I may.
- 4:57We'll see you on Friday.
- 4:58And remember that in is also used with a
- 5:01year. I was born in 1990. He will come
- 5:04back in 2025.
- 5:06That was in 1994.
- 5:09Beside versus besides. So, beside is a
- 5:13preposition that means nearby. We were
- 5:16camping beside the river. We were
- 5:19camping on the shore, right? We're
- 5:21really close to the river and we're
- 5:23camping there.
- 5:24Beside the white chickens.
- 5:27Besides as an adverb and preposition
- 5:30that means in addition to. Besides, we
- 5:33need your support in this venture. So,
- 5:35this is something you would start your
- 5:36sentence with. Besides two suitcases,
- 5:39I'm taking three boxes with me. So, it
- 5:41means in addition to my boxes, I'm
- 5:43taking my suitcases.
- 5:45You mean beside my marriage?
- 5:47Among versus between. Among is used when
- 5:51you have a group of objects or people,
- 5:54usually three or more. She's very
- 5:57popular among her classmates. She's a
- 5:59very popular girl, right? I can't choose
- 6:02among all your t-shirts. You have like
- 6:0430 in your closet. Oh my god.
- 6:07among our homes
- 6:09Between is when you have two objects. I
- 6:12can't decide between going to the cinema
- 6:14and uh staying at home.
- 6:16between us
- 6:19On versus upon. They're actually
- 6:22interchangeable. You can use both, but
- 6:25upon is really formal and old-fashioned.
- 6:28Remember this, once upon a time there
- 6:30was this little girl lived in the
- 6:32forest, blah blah blah. All the fairy
- 6:34tales will start like that. Put your
- 6:35book on a table. We would usually just
- 6:37use on uh in this context. To versus
- 6:41than. There are several words that can
- 6:43only be followed by to. And these words
- 6:47are senior, junior, prefer, prior,
- 6:51superior, inferior, preferable. He is
- 6:55senior to me in service, right? We're
- 6:58using to. I prefer coffee to tea. I like
- 7:02coffee more. He is superior to me in
- 7:06terms of grades, which means he's higher
- 7:08than me.
- 7:09Is Matthew superior to me?
- 7:11So with these we use to. In other cases,
- 7:14we use than. He's better than me. She's
- 7:17more beautiful than me, etc.
- 7:19You're no better than he is.
- 7:22In versus into. We use in when we have a
- 7:25person, an animal, or an object located
- 7:28in a location. I was sitting in the
- 7:30classroom. He was in the house when the
- 7:33policeman came.
- 7:34Here he is in your office.
- 7:36We use into in a sense of coming toward
- 7:39something. He came into my office. So he
- 7:42was kind of entering a closed space and
- 7:46he was moving toward me. So, he came
- 7:48into my office. We're driving into
- 7:51garage. So, this is this movement
- 7:54inside. Then, we use into.
- 7:56Came into the store.
- 7:58For versus since. For measures a period,
- 8:02since marks the start date. I've been
- 8:05vlogging for 5 years already. I've been
- 8:08vlogging since 2014. It's actually six.
- 8:11Wow. I've been following Lingua Marina.
- 8:14Wow, this is a great example for you to
- 8:16practice. Write this down below. Two
- 8:18sentences. I've been following Lingua
- 8:20Marina for 2 years. I've been following
- 8:23Lingua Marina since 2018 when I first
- 8:26saw her video about tofu. By the way,
- 8:29guys, let me know. When did you first
- 8:31start watching me and why? What was that
- 8:33video that grabbed your attention and
- 8:35made you subscribe and made you follow
- 8:36me? This would be really useful for my
- 8:38future videos cuz I would make sure I
- 8:40produce more content that attracts
- 8:42people's attention. Please comment down
- 8:44below and thank you so much for doing
- 8:46that and thank you so much for
- 8:47practicing your English down in comments
- 8:49below. Agree with versus agree to. Agree
- 8:53with is used for agreement with a
- 8:55person. I agree with you. We need to
- 8:58practice English daily. I agree with our
- 9:01president that we need to support our
- 9:03economy.
- 9:04I agree with Dinesh.
- 9:06Agree to is used for agreement to a
- 9:09plan, proposal, or idea. I agree to your
- 9:12proposal. Let's start a company
- 9:14together. I agree to your idea to share
- 9:18this video with all of my friends.
- 9:21He'll agree to anything.
- 9:23Now, let's talk about to versus for. The
- 9:26first thing that we're going to do,
- 9:27we're going to talk about when we use
- 9:29to. The first case when we use to is
- 9:32when we're talking about a destination.
- 9:34I I going to Germany to Germany at the
- 9:38end of April. I'm going to Munich by the
- 9:40way. Or there is another example. We are
- 9:42going to a restaurant tonight. To a
- 9:46restaurant. Cuz this is a direction.
- 9:49I'm not going to back out of that. I
- 9:51want to go to Spain.
- 9:53Second case.
- 9:54If we're talking about time and if we're
- 9:56talking in British English, what they
- 9:58love to say it's a quarter to two, which
- 10:01means 1:45. Like Americans, well, I've
- 10:04never heard Americans saying quarter to
- 10:06two or 20 to two. And when I first heard
- 10:09in Great Britain, I was a little
- 10:11confused, but they say that a lot. It's
- 10:13quarter to two. Americans would say it's
- 10:161:45 cuz quarter is 15 minutes. And
- 10:19there is a second case of using to with
- 10:21time. For example, the restaurant is
- 10:24open from Monday to Friday. So we can
- 10:26kind of replace to with until and this
- 10:29is another way to use it. So, for
- 10:31example, the restaurant is open until
- 10:335:00 p.m. or the restaurant is open from
- 10:369:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. And this is when
- 10:39we use to.
- 10:40But I do Monday, Wednesday, Friday from
- 10:427:00 to 9:00.
- 10:43When we compare something. I prefer
- 10:45traveling to sitting at a home. I prefer
- 10:48sleeping to working. I prefer watching
- 10:51Marina's videos
- 10:53to
- 10:54sitting by myself.
- 10:56I prefer metaphysics to theology.
- 10:59The next type of use is when we're
- 11:00talking about a receiver of an action. I
- 11:03gave my book to my follower. I send a
- 11:07letter to my friend. I wrote an email to
- 11:11my colleague.
- 11:13To me, GIVE IT TO ME.
- 11:15And last but not the least, when you
- 11:17want to express a reason for your
- 11:19action. For example, I came here to see
- 11:23you. I did it to make more money. I've
- 11:26started learning English to get a job
- 11:28promotion. So we're explaining why we've
- 11:31started doing something and this is when
- 11:33we use to.
- 11:34I came to see you.
- 11:35Now, let's move on to talking about for.
- 11:38You see what I've just used? Let's move
- 11:40on to talking because what it is, this
- 11:42is our direction. We're moving to the
- 11:45next section of our class. We're talking
- 11:47about for now. When we talk about
- 11:49benefits, we use for. So, for example,
- 11:51you're doing something for your health
- 11:53or for the benefit of your parent. Um I
- 11:56bought a gift for my friend. I stopped
- 11:59eating gluten for the benefit of my
- 12:02health.
- 12:02Why you can't be good for my health?
- 12:04For also indicates periods of times.
- 12:07I've been living in the US for 4 years.
- 12:10Uh I've been learning English for
- 12:12several months now. I've been watching
- 12:14Lingua Marina channel for over 2 years
- 12:18and I love her content. She's amazing.
- 12:20She's the best influencer out there.
- 12:22Oh, you are being modest.
- 12:25Also, when we talk about schedule, we
- 12:27use for. I made an appointment with my
- 12:30doctor for March 13th. March 13th is my
- 12:34birthday. I'd rather reschedule it for
- 12:36March 14th. Your flight is scheduled for
- 12:39May 31st.
- 12:42Again, we're talking about schedule.
- 12:43A hearing is scheduled for today.
- 12:45We also use for to express a reason. He
- 12:49was fired from job for being constantly
- 12:52late. He has been late so many times and
- 12:55he's been fired for that. Or she's been
- 12:58promoted
- 13:00for her good English cuz her English
- 13:03reached a certain level and she
- 13:05qualified for a promotion. And we also
- 13:07use for to express a purpose of
- 13:09something. Marina creates videos for
- 13:12improving your English. You watch my
- 13:14videos for improving your language.
- 13:17I travel a lot for work.
- 13:18There are also cases when to and for can
- 13:21be both used. Let's talk about some
- 13:24examples so I I illustrate this better.
- 13:26Let's compare two examples. He's
- 13:28studying English for work. He is
- 13:30studying English to be able to talk to
- 13:34his American friends.
- 13:35So, what we've noticed here is that we
- 13:37use for with a noun.
- 13:39He learns English for fun. He learns
- 13:42English for work. He learns English for
- 13:44his master's degree. But, when we have a
- 13:47verb, we say to. He learns English to
- 13:50talk to his friends in the US. He learns
- 13:52English to get a job promotion. He
- 13:54learns English to study abroad. See the
- 13:57difference? Now, let's move on to
- 13:59another example when both two and four
- 14:01can be used. My friend brought lunch to
- 14:04me.
- 14:05My friend brought lunch for me.
- 14:08Now, both are correct, but they have
- 14:10slightly different meanings. My friend
- 14:13brought lunch to me, we're talking about
- 14:14direction. He brought lunch to my
- 14:16apartment, put it on my table, and I
- 14:18started eating. But, when we say my
- 14:20friend bought lunch for me, we really
- 14:23want to emphasize that he's doing
- 14:25something nice for me. Uh he thought
- 14:27about me when he was getting lunch, so
- 14:29he got one for me. Apologize can be used
- 14:33with both two and four because you
- 14:35apologize for something, for something
- 14:37that you've done. I apologize for
- 14:38breaking your cup. I apologize for this
- 14:41video being too short, but you apologize
- 14:43to someone. I apologize to you for this
- 14:46video being too short. I apologize to my
- 14:49friend uh for forgetting about her
- 14:52birthday.
- 14:52I apologize for the language.
- 14:54Apologize to you.
- 14:55Travel to and travel for. I travel to
- 14:59Russia. I travel to Paris. I travel to
- 15:02Germany. But, I travel for work. I
- 15:06travel to Russia for LinguaFest, which
- 15:10is a festival by my company. I travel to
- 15:13Germany for meetings.
- 15:16You see, uh so for uh is for the reason,
- 15:19two is for the destination.
- 15:21Yes, you must travel to France
- 15:22immediately and put that directly into
- 15:24the hands of the king and him alone.
- 15:26Men can travel for work, families unite.
- 15:28Wait for or wait to. Wait for someone or
- 15:33something. I'm waiting for the concert
- 15:35tonight. I am waiting for my dad to come
- 15:38and visit us in California. But you wait
- 15:41to do something. I cannot wait to see my
- 15:45family in Russia or I cannot wait to
- 15:48travel this summer.
- 15:50Wait for me.
- 15:51Wait for
- 15:52I cannot wait to show you this.
- 15:54When we use ask, we normally use for.
- 15:56Ask for something. Can I ask you for a
- 15:59cup of tea, please?
- 16:01Uh can I ask you for a favor?
- 16:04Don't ask for permission, ask for
- 16:07forgiveness.
- 16:08When we talk about belonging, we
- 16:09normally say to. It belongs to me. It
- 16:13belongs to you and never belong for, so
- 16:15don't say that.
- 16:16She belong to me.
- 16:18When we say care, we care for somebody.
- 16:21I care for my dog. I care for Alex. I
- 16:24care for my family.
- 16:25You care for him.
- 16:27And the last but not the least, when
- 16:28we're saying prepare, we'll always say
- 16:30prepare for something. I will need to
- 16:32prepare for the festival.
- 16:34Prepare for battle.
- 16:35Let's do a quick quiz. He lives
- 16:3813 Long Street and you have to select
- 16:40either in, on, or at. I'm visiting my
- 16:44grandma on, in, at a hospital.
- 16:48I like traveling to,
- 16:51in, at a train.
- 16:54Now you're going to get the right
- 16:55answers at the end of this video, but
- 16:57make sure you write your answers down so
- 17:00you can check yourself later. Now let's
- 17:02talk about some rules. The first rule is
- 17:04when we use at. At is used with a very
- 17:07exact place. Think small building. Like
- 17:09something that is small, you would
- 17:11always use at. At the door, at the
- 17:14hospital, at school, at the university,
- 17:17at the table, at the door. So, something
- 17:20specific would always be at. But, when
- 17:22you're thinking about big things like, I
- 17:24don't know, Panama or Guatemala or St.
- 17:28Petersburg or London, you would never
- 17:29say at because at only applies to
- 17:32smaller things. And London, Panama,
- 17:34Guatemala, those huge geographical
- 17:36locations. So, you can't be at London.
- 17:38You're in London.
- 17:39In London, yeah.
- 17:40But, I'm at the desk, I am at home, I'm
- 17:44at my studio, I am at the bus stop, etc.
- 17:48At this university.
- 17:50At the door.
- 17:51At school.
- 17:53We use on
- 17:54with streets and avenues. I live on Park
- 17:59Avenue.
- 18:00On North Avenue.
- 18:01I live on Green Street. So, on is always
- 18:04with the street. But, please remember
- 18:06there always exceptions. Like, if you're
- 18:07talking about university and you're
- 18:09talking about campus, you say, "I live
- 18:11on campus."
- 18:12On campus.
- 18:13Campus is this location where you have
- 18:15your dorms, you have your classes, you
- 18:17have your restaurants, cafeterias, etc.
- 18:19So, on campus would be an exception, but
- 18:21normally on is only used with streets.
- 18:25Now, when we're talking about the
- 18:26street, there is another thing to
- 18:28remember. When we have a number, then we
- 18:30use at. I live at 13 Green Street.
- 18:34At 45 Dunstan Street.
- 18:35But, when we don't have a number like,
- 18:37I'm asking you, "Where are you right
- 18:39now?" And you're answering, "I'm on
- 18:40Market Street." You don't give me a
- 18:42number and then use on.
- 18:44On Green Street.
- 18:45So, at is used when we give the full
- 18:47address, street number, etc. On is when
- 18:51we just mention the street. And when we
- 18:52talk about something bigger than the
- 18:55street, we use the preposition in. So,
- 18:57for example, you have different parts of
- 18:59town. We are having lunch in Chinatown
- 19:03or we are having lunch in Nob Hill. This
- 19:06is like a district here in San
- 19:08Francisco. With cities, as I already
- 19:10mentioned, I live in London.
- 19:12I live in London. I live in New York.
- 19:14You live in New York.
- 19:14We have been in New York for 2 weeks. We
- 19:17are in Los Altos Hills. With states, I
- 19:20live in California.
- 19:22I live in California.
- 19:24With parts of countries, my friend spent
- 19:27vacation in the south of India. With
- 19:29countries, I used to live in Russia.
- 19:32In Russia.
- 19:33With continents, my sister is in Africa.
- 19:36I love being in Africa.
- 19:38So, to sum things up, we use at with
- 19:41specific locations, on with less
- 19:44specific locations like streets, and in
- 19:47with bigger locations like cities,
- 19:49towns, countries, parts of countries. If
- 19:52you're already feeling overwhelmed with
- 19:54what's going on and we haven't yet
- 19:56started the most interesting part of the
- 19:58video where I'm going to explain more
- 20:00things about prepositions, I would
- 20:02highly recommend a book called Grammar
- 20:04Is All You Need. It is produced by my
- 20:06company called LinguaTrip by certified
- 20:08teachers. This is a handbook that covers
- 20:11all the necessary topics in English
- 20:13grammar, and it has a chapter on
- 20:16prepositions, has chapter on tenses,
- 20:18chapter on grammar rules, and it's not
- 20:20just rules. We all get bored by those
- 20:23boring textbooks. In this book, just
- 20:25like in all of my videos, we try to come
- 20:27up with different life hacks so you
- 20:28could understand everything better. And
- 20:31also, it's not just you reading the
- 20:32material. We have included a lot of
- 20:34exercises so you could practice things
- 20:36because with grammar, it's like if you
- 20:38just watch this video and you switch it
- 20:40off and you don't practice, it just goes
- 20:42away. Like, well, there's something in
- 20:44the back of your mind, but it really
- 20:45goes away. And because you're watching
- 20:47this video, first of all, you're getting
- 20:4866% off this workbook, and second, you
- 20:52get a free chapter on prepositions
- 20:54because I really want you to remember
- 20:56these prepositions that we learned. So,
- 20:58if you follow the link below, you're
- 21:00going to be able to receive a free
- 21:01chapter and 66% off the Grammar Is All
- 21:04You Need workbook. This workbook has 16
- 21:07chapters on the most important topics of
- 21:09the English grammar done by my company
- 21:12done by LinguaTrip with love, with
- 21:15passion for you guys, with passion for
- 21:17English. Again, the link is in
- 21:18description below, 66% off and free
- 21:21chapter on English prepositions,
- 21:23something that we cover in this video so
- 21:24you could practice, so you can print it
- 21:26out, put it on your desk, and never ever
- 21:29forget what's the right way to use
- 21:31prepositions in English. The link is
- 21:33below. Now, let's move a little further
- 21:35with our prepositions. I gave you some
- 21:37basic rules, but now we're going to
- 21:39explore more examples. In is also used
- 21:44when we are talking about an enclosed
- 21:46space. Something that has a roof,
- 21:48something that has walls.
- 21:50In a car, in a box, in a building. I am
- 21:53waiting for you in my car.
- 21:56They're in a car.
- 21:57Can you please help me find a pen in
- 22:00this box?
- 22:00In a box.
- 22:01Don't put your wallet in a pocket. Now,
- 22:03listen carefully right now. We're moving
- 22:05to on, and uh we use on with a bus, on a
- 22:08bus. And you might ask, "Marina, but why
- 22:11in a car but on a bus?" Wait a minute,
- 22:14I'm going to explain. The other words
- 22:16that we use on with are words that
- 22:19represent surface, like this table is a
- 22:23surface.
- 22:24On a table. Your floor is a surface, on
- 22:27the floor. Wall behind me is also
- 22:29surface, on the wall. We also use on
- 22:32when we talk about left and right, on
- 22:34the left, on the right. Or vice versa,
- 22:37depending on
- 22:38whatever you see. I think it's on the
- 22:40left for you, on the right for for you.
- 22:42Next to or along the side of a river,
- 22:45for example. Cambridge is on the River
- 22:48Cam. Now, interesting part, why in a car
- 22:52but on a bus? In is used with means of
- 22:54transportation where you can't stand up.
- 22:58Oh my god, English, you're so
- 23:00complicated. So, you can't stand up in
- 23:03the car, so you say in a car. You can't
- 23:05stand up in a helicopter, but you can
- 23:08stand up on an airplane. So,
- 23:10on an airplane, in a helicopter.
- 23:13On a bus, in a car.
- 23:15On the bus, in a car.
- 23:19In a taxi, cuz you can't stand up in a
- 23:21taxi. I know, guys. This is why I
- 23:23recommend having something like a
- 23:25grammar book, so you can refer to
- 23:27things, or at least have a script of
- 23:29this video in front of your eyes. On a
- 23:32ship, on a boat, on a plane, on a train.
- 23:36We use on with a means of transport
- 23:38where we can stand up.
- 23:41We can stand up on a plane. We can stand
- 23:43up on a bus. We can stand up on a boat.
- 23:47And also, maybe another hint, we use on
- 23:50with a means of transportation where
- 23:52there is no roof.
- 23:54On a horse, on a boat. Boat doesn't have
- 23:56a roof, normally. You can have both, but
- 23:59on a boat. So, normally you don't have a
- 24:01roof on top of you when you're on the
- 24:03upper deck. On a bike. You can't really
- 24:06stand up on a bike, but it doesn't have
- 24:07a roof, so it's on a bike.
- 24:09On your bike.
- 24:10On a boat.
- 24:11Another thing that can be super, super,
- 24:13super confusing for you guys. Sometimes
- 24:16you hear in a hospital, and sometimes
- 24:18you hear at a hospital. Both of those
- 24:20are grammatically correct, but guess
- 24:22what? They have a different meaning. So,
- 24:24when you're saying I'm in a hospital,
- 24:26that means you're a patient. You're
- 24:27actually receiving treatment. I don't
- 24:30remember the accident. I just remember
- 24:31waking up in a hospital.
- 24:33My uncle is in the hospital right now
- 24:35receiving treatment for his, I don't
- 24:38know, acne. I don't know if you go to
- 24:39hospital for that, but he broke a leg.
- 24:42He's in a hospital. Let's do that. I'm
- 24:43giving birth in a hospital. But, you can
- 24:46also say I'm at the hospital, but that
- 24:48would mean that you're just doing
- 24:49something there, that you're not a
- 24:51patient. I am visiting my uncle at the
- 24:55hospital. Because you're at the hospital
- 24:57not as a patient receiving treatment,
- 24:59you're a guest visiting your uncle. In
- 25:01college, my brother volunteered at a
- 25:03local hospital. Again, he wasn't a
- 25:05patient. This is why we use at the
- 25:07hospital. The same goes for school,
- 25:10museum, library, or any other
- 25:14institution. And we also use at with
- 25:16events. I'm at the Lady Gaga concert.
- 25:19Okay, guys, I hope it wasn't super
- 25:21confusing for you. Again, if you want to
- 25:23make sure you remember all the
- 25:25prepositions, make sure to follow the
- 25:26link below and download the free chapter
- 25:28of the grammar book. And if you feel
- 25:30like you're willing to invest in your
- 25:32education, just a little sum of money
- 25:34using 66% off the grammar book will be
- 25:37even cheaper for you because you're
- 25:38watching this video. And now, let's
- 25:40check your test. I guess you already
- 25:44know everything, but let's do it
- 25:45anyways. He lives
- 25:47at 13 Lawn Street because we give the
- 25:50full address. We give the number and the
- 25:52street address. I'm visiting my grandma
- 25:54at the hospital. Why? Because I'm not a
- 25:57patient, she's a patient. My grandma is
- 25:59in the hospital receiving treatment, and
- 26:02I'm visiting her at the hospital because
- 26:04I am not a patient. I like traveling on
- 26:08a train. You can also say I love
- 26:10traveling by train, but this is another
- 26:12topic for another video. Here, because
- 26:14we remember that we can stand up on the
- 26:16train, we use on.
- 26:18I like to travel on a train. This class
- 26:20is going to be about basic grammar,
- 26:24something that you should have learned
- 26:26while back at school. You might have
- 26:28forgotten basic grammar, but this is why
- 26:31I am here because we're going to talk
- 26:33about really important things. Parts of
- 26:35speech, noun, pronoun, verb, what does
- 26:38that mean?
- 26:39Basic tenses that you have to know. And
- 26:41third is word order. And if you watch
- 26:44this video up to the very end, if you
- 26:46understand the concept, if you learn
- 26:48them, there is 99% chance that you would
- 26:51be able to speak English at a level
- 26:54where you can explain what you need,
- 26:56explain what you're doing for life, or
- 26:59even work with people. Because what
- 27:01we're going to talk about creates
- 27:03foundation for your language. So, please
- 27:06make sure you listen carefully. Let's do
- 27:09it. First of all, let's talk about parts
- 27:12of speech. We have nouns.
- 27:16These are our objects or subjects. Cat,
- 27:20dog,
- 27:22mom,
- 27:24table.
- 27:25These are all nouns. Pronouns. These are
- 27:29words
- 27:30that substitute a noun to avoid
- 27:32repetition. Cat,
- 27:35he, dog. Let's say she, mom. She, table.
- 27:40It. Then if we have plural, they,
- 27:43we,
- 27:45etc. Verb.
- 27:47We use verbs to express actions. Go,
- 27:52read, eat.
- 27:54Adjective. Now, here listen carefully.
- 27:57Adjectives are used to describe nouns.
- 28:02Cuz we're going to talk about adverbs
- 28:04later, and those are used to describe
- 28:07actions or adjectives.
- 28:10This is where it gets a bit complicated,
- 28:12but I really want you to understand the
- 28:13difference between adjectives and
- 28:15adverbs, because sometimes you use them
- 28:18in a wrong way, and I use them in a
- 28:19wrong way sometimes. But we want to be
- 28:21grammatically correct. So, adjective is
- 28:24used to describe nouns or pronouns,
- 28:27right? We use adjectives to answer
- 28:29questions like, which one?
- 28:33What kind of? How many? How much? And
- 28:36the examples are old, new,
- 28:40beautiful, smart, etc.
- 28:44Adverbs
- 28:46describing actions, right? Adverbs
- 28:49answer questions like when, where,
- 28:52how, and very often our adverbs end with
- 28:56-ly.
- 28:57Care-
- 28:59-fully.
- 29:01Slowly.
- 29:03But not always. Fast
- 29:05is also an adverb.
- 29:07Finally. Now, fast can be both adjective
- 29:10and adverb. If we look at a couple of
- 29:13examples, he is fast. We use fast to
- 29:16describe a pronoun,
- 29:19then it's an adjective. But if we say he
- 29:20runs really fast, we're actually
- 29:22describing a verb, and in this case it's
- 29:25an adverb.
- 29:26Just so you know. Then we have our
- 29:28prepositions. We place a preposition
- 29:31before a noun to modify the phrase.
- 29:34About, above, across, on, etc.
- 29:39Conjunction. This is a joining word that
- 29:42we use to connect sentences or different
- 29:45parts of one sentence. But, and,
- 29:49however, after,
- 29:52although,
- 29:53etc. And the last but not the least,
- 29:56articles, a and the. I know that you mix
- 30:00them up. If you do mix them up, I have a
- 30:02video explaining how to not mix them up.
- 30:05A or an and the. Basically, we use a or
- 30:10an to mention a thing that we haven't
- 30:12talked about before.
- 30:14There is a mug on my desk, but if I'm
- 30:18talking about one particular mug that
- 30:20I've already mentioned in the
- 30:21conversation,
- 30:22I would say,
- 30:24there is black tea in the mug, in the
- 30:27mug that I mentioned before. A lot of
- 30:29people are telling me, "Marina, I want
- 30:31this one resource where I can go and
- 30:34answer all of my questions regarding
- 30:36English grammar." Or, "Marina, can you
- 30:39recommend a book that I can have on my
- 30:41desk, and whenever I have a question,
- 30:43whenever I have an idea, oh my god, I
- 30:45want to learn this, I go to this book.
- 30:47My team and I have created a grammar
- 30:49book that covers the most important
- 30:52aspects of English grammar. It has a
- 30:54chapter on articles, nouns,
- 30:57prepositions, adjectives. And it's not
- 30:59just a book with a set of rules. We
- 31:01tried and gathered the life hacks that
- 31:03we use, that our students use to
- 31:06memorize everything better, to
- 31:08understand everything better. So, it's
- 31:10not just you reading it only like, "How
- 31:12does that work?" It has real-life
- 31:14examples. It has real-life explanations.
- 31:17And students have left the most amazing
- 31:19reviews about this grammar book. And if
- 31:21you want to take one extra step, you can
- 31:25get a workbook together with this
- 31:26grammar book, which means that
- 31:29you learn something new, and then you
- 31:31have exercises to apply your knowledge
- 31:33and answers to check yourself. We made
- 31:35this handbook really affordable and
- 31:37really content-heavy, so that you get
- 31:40real value for money. The link will be
- 31:42down below. Thank you so much for
- 31:44upgrading your English language skills
- 31:46and buying this one-stop-shop book that
- 31:49would answer all of your questions. Now,
- 31:52let's talk about basic tenses. We're
- 31:53going to talk about three tenses:
- 31:55present, past, and future. Some people
- 31:58would argue
- 31:59these three tenses are enough to speak
- 32:01English. They are kind of enough, but of
- 32:03course, native speakers use all the
- 32:05tenses. Doesn't mean they understand the
- 32:08construction because they learn
- 32:09everything as kids, but I'm going to
- 32:11explain the basic structure to you cuz,
- 32:13you know, we're not native speakers and
- 32:15we don't have this advantage. Now,
- 32:17present simple tense is used to describe
- 32:19habits. I drink coffee every morning,
- 32:22schedules. The train leaves at 5:00 p.m.
- 32:25and general truths. Ice is cold. One
- 32:28thing to remember is that in English,
- 32:30there should always be noun or pronoun
- 32:32in a sentence, and there always should
- 32:34be a verb. So, for example, if we say,
- 32:38"I drink coffee every morning," then the
- 32:40action is drink. Sometimes we don't have
- 32:43action, sometimes we just describe
- 32:44something. And in this case, ice is
- 32:48cold, our verb is is. We use past tense
- 32:52to describe something that happened in
- 32:53the past. So, basically, your verb
- 32:56gets either ED on the end, I walked, or
- 33:01if it's an irregular verb, then you just
- 33:03have to learn it.
- 33:05She went home.
- 33:07He drank a glass of beer. And the future
- 33:11tense is, of course, used to describe
- 33:13our future. In this case, we just put
- 33:15will before our verb. She will come
- 33:19back. Let's talk about word word word.
- 33:23Let's talk about word order in a
- 33:25sentence in English. First of all, we
- 33:28have a subject,
- 33:31which is a noun or pronoun. Then we have
- 33:34a verb, our action. And then, if we
- 33:38needed, we have an object, which is
- 33:40normally a noun or pronoun, as well. So,
- 33:42let me give you a quick example. She
- 33:45subject smiled at a boy. And then, if we
- 33:49need to describe our action
- 33:51with an adverb, remember, adverbs
- 33:54describe verbs, we put it right before
- 33:57the verb. For example, she briefly
- 34:00smiled at a boy. So, the adverb comes
- 34:03here. And then, if we have adjectives
- 34:06that describe a noun, then they come
- 34:08right before the noun.
- 34:11She smiled at a little boy. Of course,
- 34:13this rule is very basic. The more you
- 34:15learn, the better you become. But,
- 34:17there's one last thing I wanted to tell
- 34:18you. Don't make this mistake.
- 34:22Let's look at these three sentences.
- 34:25They often play tennis.
- 34:27Correct.
- 34:29They play tennis often. Also correct.
- 34:32They play often tennis. This is
- 34:34incorrect because adverb
- 34:37can never be put between a verb and an
- 34:40object. So, this is wrong. Just remember
- 34:43because this sounds This sounds a little
- 34:45weird. All right, guys. I have a
- 34:47question for you. Do you have articles
- 34:50in your language? My language is Russian
- 34:53and in Russian we don't have any
- 34:55articles. We don't say a, we don't say
- 34:57the.
- 34:58We don't say anything when we refer to
- 35:01nouns. It's just the noun, right?
- 35:04In English we have articles and my
- 35:06problem and I I still think I have it. I
- 35:09miss articles sometimes. Sometimes I
- 35:11just avoid them in general just because
- 35:13they do not exist in my native language
- 35:15and I remember when I was 16 and I
- 35:18thought I was like super advanced in
- 35:19English when I came to the UK, my friend
- 35:22said, "You know, Marina, I understand
- 35:23everything that you're saying, but you
- 35:25are not using articles at all and that
- 35:28makes you sound really weird to a native
- 35:30speaker." And he actually he he was a
- 35:33really good friend, so he spent like an
- 35:35hour with me explaining all the
- 35:36articles. So, please do not forget about
- 35:38articles when you speak English. Let's
- 35:41talk about them, when and how you use
- 35:43them. There are two articles, a and the.
- 35:47When we use a, we use it to talk about
- 35:49objects that we encounter for the first
- 35:52time in our speech, for the first time
- 35:54in this conversation and when we use
- 35:56the, we mean something specific. So,
- 36:00let's start with the first rule.
- 36:01Something specific is always the. For
- 36:03example, "Marina, where did you get the
- 36:05dress that you wore yesterday?" This is
- 36:09a very specific dress. I only have one
- 36:11dress and I'm pretty sure she means the
- 36:14dress that I was wearing yesterday and
- 36:16that was the specific white dress,
- 36:18whatever. So, this is a very specific
- 36:20thing. But if I'm asking somebody, "Can
- 36:22you get me a dress when you go
- 36:24shopping?" I'm not asking for a
- 36:26particular dress. I just need a dress
- 36:28and whatever dress you can find that
- 36:29suits me, just get it. So, could you get
- 36:32me a dress when you go shopping? So, see
- 36:35the differences. In the first example,
- 36:37with the specific dress I wore
- 36:39yesterday, I meant the dress that I wore
- 36:42wore yesterday. And when I'm asking to
- 36:43buy
- 36:44a random dress,
- 36:46this is a dress. Another thing to
- 36:48remember, we only use a when we talk
- 36:51about single objects. We cannot say a
- 36:54dresses. This is wrong. Worm, don't do
- 36:56that. But if a word starts with a vowel,
- 37:01a e o u, okay, you know vowels, right?
- 37:05We replace a with n. An apple, an
- 37:08eggplant, an elephant. Another general
- 37:11rule is when you talk about something
- 37:13for the first time, you say a. When you
- 37:16mention it in your conversation for the
- 37:18second time, you use the. For example,
- 37:20yesterday I went to a party. I mentioned
- 37:23it for the first time. But in the second
- 37:25sentence, I would say, "The party was
- 37:28amazing." Cuz I've already stated that I
- 37:30will be talking about a specific party.
- 37:32And in the second sentence, I'm
- 37:34referring to that specific party. So,
- 37:36it's the party now, okay? Or another
- 37:39example, "Yesterday I bought an apple."
- 37:42You know, just a random apple. That
- 37:44apple turned out to be rotten. So, I'm
- 37:47taking it back to the store today, okay?
- 37:50So, first, I'm not mentioning a
- 37:53particular apple. I just bought an
- 37:54apple. It doesn't matter which apple.
- 37:56Doesn't matter if it's big, doesn't
- 37:57matter if it's small, just an apple. But
- 37:59then when I'm talking that it's rotten,
- 38:01I already mean that apple that it's in
- 38:04my fridge. So, the apple, okay? However,
- 38:07if we're talking about an object that is
- 38:09one of a kind, we always use the. The
- 38:12moon,
- 38:13the sun,
- 38:16the Black Sea, The Simpsons. So, we know
- 38:20that there's only one moon. That's why
- 38:21we always say the moon. We know that uh
- 38:24there is one sun, so say the sun. Again,
- 38:27we only know that there's just one
- 38:29family when we're talking about we know
- 38:31that we're talking about The Simpsons,
- 38:33right? This is the movie. So, whenever
- 38:36it's something one-of-a-kind, it's the.
- 38:38Uncountable nouns,
- 38:41what are uncountable nouns? Porridge,
- 38:43oatmeal, milk, uh whatever you cannot
- 38:47count cuz um when we're talking about
- 38:50porridge, you cannot really count all
- 38:51the seeds that are there. And when we're
- 38:53talking about milk, you cannot really
- 38:54count the cells. Yes, you can measure
- 38:56volume, but that's different. We're
- 38:58talking about counting. So, uncountable
- 39:01nouns
- 39:02means you cannot count them, right? So,
- 39:04with uncountable nouns, we don't use any
- 39:06articles. It's always I like oatmeal.
- 39:09Can you get me some oatmeal? Can you
- 39:11make some porridge for breakfast? You
- 39:12use some, right? Can I have some milk?
- 39:15Uh I drink milk for breakfast. The only
- 39:17way you would be able to count milk is
- 39:20um
- 39:20by adding glasses. So, can you give me a
- 39:23glass of milk? And then you have this a,
- 39:25okay? But this a refers to glass, not to
- 39:28milk. And the second scenario when we
- 39:30don't use an article with nouns is uh
- 39:32when we have plural countable nouns.
- 39:34Bicycles, computers, cameras, bloggers.
- 39:38So, whenever these words appear in a
- 39:40sentence, we do not use any articles. Uh
- 39:43I have three computers at home. I like
- 39:45watching bloggers. I love bicycles. But
- 39:49why articles are so confusing cuz there
- 39:53always always always exclusions. For
- 39:55example, there is a store in your house
- 39:58and they sell specific milk. And you
- 40:02want to highlight that you like the milk
- 40:05from that store cuz it's one-of-a-kind.
- 40:07You really mean that milk and you cannot
- 40:10get it anywhere else. Then you can say,
- 40:13"Oh my god, I love the milk from that
- 40:15store." cuz you're being specific and
- 40:18again I just mentioned that with milk we
- 40:20don't use any the but we don't use any
- 40:22the or a when we don't mention specific
- 40:26milk. We just mention milk as food. But
- 40:29if we mean some kind of milk that is
- 40:31only sold in a store that's one block
- 40:34away or in your house
- 40:36say the. Same applies to countable nouns
- 40:39in plural forms. If that shop also sells
- 40:43apples that you love you can say "Oh, I
- 40:45love the apples from that store. They
- 40:47are the best in the world." and people
- 40:50realize that you mean specific apples
- 40:52that are only sold there and they're
- 40:54one-of-a-kind. Okay, please remember
- 40:56that. And feel free whenever you're
- 40:59watching this video if it's confusing
- 41:01feel free to stop, feel free to open
- 41:03your exercise book, rewind the video,
- 41:05and write everything down again cuz I
- 41:07know it's super confusing and I know
- 41:09even like super advanced students make
- 41:11mistakes in articles. So this topic is
- 41:14very important, it's crucial,
- 41:16but I'm here to help. There's quite
- 41:18similar rule for abstract nouns and when
- 41:21you're talking about something in
- 41:23general you don't need an article. For
- 41:25example, information on the internet is
- 41:29very useful. So information is this
- 41:31abstract noun. You don't mean any
- 41:33specific information. You just mean that
- 41:35information that's available to everyone
- 41:37on the internet is very useful. But
- 41:40again, just to compare,
- 41:42when you use particular information that
- 41:44you received "The information that I
- 41:46read on Wikipedia regarding YouTube is
- 41:49super useful." then you need to insert
- 41:52the definite article the because you
- 41:55mean some specific information. But when
- 41:57you're talking about information in
- 41:58general you don't use articles at all,
- 42:00okay? Never use articles with proper
- 42:03nouns. Tuesday, Monday, New York. You
- 42:06can distinguish those proper nouns by
- 42:09the capital letter that they start with.
- 42:11Uh New York is with capital letters,
- 42:13Washington D.C., Uh uh Russia, London,
- 42:17uh Tuesday, Monday, Wednesday, February,
- 42:19March. All of those nouns do not require
- 42:22an article. Okay, never use articles
- 42:24with the names of the countries. To me,
- 42:26Tim makes this mistake all the time and
- 42:28I keep correcting him. Russia, France,
- 42:31uh Monaco, all of those countries do not
- 42:34require an article. But, of course,
- 42:37there are exclusions to this rule. If a
- 42:39country's name consists of several
- 42:41words, the United Kingdom. Cuz um the
- 42:45refers to Kingdom here. So, the United
- 42:47Kingdom, the United States of America.
- 42:50So, whenever the name consists of uh
- 42:53several nouns, you use um
- 42:56the. Also, no articles when you speak
- 42:58about languages. And remember, at the
- 43:00beginning of this video, I asked you to
- 43:01write a comment below what language you
- 43:03speak and if you have articles in that
- 43:05language. So, you can say, I speak
- 43:07French and there is no article. I speak
- 43:10Russian and there are no articles in
- 43:12Russian. So, we don't have any article
- 43:14before the name of the language. And the
- 43:16last but not the least, when you're
- 43:18talking about meals, don't use articles.
- 43:20I've already had lunch today. I've
- 43:22already had breakfast. Let's head out to
- 43:24dinner. But again, uh we're just talking
- 43:26about non-specific meals, just uh you
- 43:29know, stating that we had meal. But, if
- 43:32you want to say that you are sick from
- 43:35the dinner you had yesterday, then you
- 43:37need definite article cuz you uh mean
- 43:40that specific dinner. We probably ate uh
- 43:42sushi and you got food poisoning. So, uh
- 43:45when you mean a specific dinner, it
- 43:47would probably be something in the past.
- 43:49Uh you use the. So, articles are very
- 43:51confusing and uh as an English language
- 43:54learner, I think I have worked and
- 43:58learned about them
- 44:00maybe like 10 times in my life. I just
- 44:02keep coming back to this. I think of
- 44:05course, it's the matter of practice, but
- 44:06this repetition, constant repetition of
- 44:08a topic that is
- 44:10um confusing for you, I think it's
- 44:11really helpful uh for you as an English
- 44:14language learner. If you want another
- 44:15class from me on articles,
- 44:18please let me know in comments down
- 44:19below and I will be happy to make
- 44:22another video. And now let's move on to
- 44:24another topic that is kind of endless in
- 44:28English and the topic is tenses. Today
- 44:31I'm going to teach you which tense to
- 44:33use when you see certain words in the
- 44:36sentence. We call them marker words. So
- 44:39sometimes you see them and you're like,
- 44:41"Oh, when people use this word, they
- 44:44would typically use this particular
- 44:46tense." And I'm going to teach you those
- 44:48words. So if you're interested, continue
- 44:50watching. Before I start, quick
- 44:52disclaimer. English evolves all the
- 44:54time. Yes, there are grammar rules and
- 44:56for some tenses, especially like present
- 44:58perfect, if a test taker creates a
- 45:01sentence for you, puts one of those
- 45:03marker words in that sentence, there's
- 45:05like 99% chance he wants you to use
- 45:08present perfect because he wants to know
- 45:10whether you've learned those words by
- 45:12heart. But when you talk to a native
- 45:15speaker, when you're in this relaxed
- 45:18environment, people use these words with
- 45:20other tenses as well. So there is no
- 45:22like 100% guarantee if you see one of
- 45:24the words that I've mentioned that you
- 45:26use like that particular tense, but if
- 45:29it's a test, I would say it's like 90%
- 45:33plus guarantee that you should use this
- 45:34particular tense, but I would always
- 45:37look at the context, okay? So you see
- 45:39the word and then you look at the
- 45:41context. Let me explain you when we use
- 45:43certain tenses. So always, always,
- 45:45always pay attention to the context.
- 45:47Let's start with the simplest tense
- 45:49ever, present simple. Present simple is
- 45:52a tense that is used for regular
- 45:54actions, something that happens to you
- 45:55every day, every night, every month. So
- 45:58something that you do regularly. And
- 46:00also for some things that are
- 46:02pre-scheduled like the airplane arrives
- 46:05at 5:00 p.m. The marker words for this
- 46:07tense, usually, every day, every week.
- 46:11So, whenever you see every, that's
- 46:13probably present simple. Often, seldom,
- 46:16or the synonym for it is rarely. And
- 46:19rarely is more American. For actions
- 46:22that don't happen too often. Always,
- 46:24never, sometimes, as a rule, hardly
- 46:29ever. Hardly ever is like very, very
- 46:32rarely. Hardly ever do I get 12 hours of
- 46:36sleep per night. Today, on Sunday, from
- 46:40time to time. I go to swimming pool from
- 46:42time to time. The next tense that is
- 46:46also simple, past simple. And this is
- 46:49the tense that we use to describe
- 46:51actions in the past. And it doesn't
- 46:53really matter what kind of result we
- 46:55have right now cuz that's present
- 46:56perfect. For past simple, think of it as
- 46:59telling a story. Telling a story about
- 47:02something that happened to you last
- 47:04year, in 1994.
- 47:06So, you're just describing a series of
- 47:09actions or just one action or something
- 47:12that you were doing back then. So, just
- 47:14think of it this way. You are describing
- 47:16something that happened to you,
- 47:18something you did a year ago, 2 years
- 47:21ago, etc. Yesterday, the day before
- 47:25yesterday, last week, month, year, etc.
- 47:29Whenever you see last, that's probably
- 47:31past simple. Ago is also a great marker
- 47:35word. So, whenever you see ago again,
- 47:3690% plus,
- 47:38uh it's going to be past simple. A week
- 47:40ago, a month ago, a year ago. The other
- 47:43day, which means on one of the days that
- 47:46have passed. In 1994 or any year in the
- 47:50past. Once,
- 47:52once upon a time, there lived an
- 47:54elephant in Africa. When, and you would
- 47:58insert something in the past. At 3:00
- 48:01yesterday or 3:00 the day before
- 48:03yesterday. That day. By the way, guys,
- 48:06if you want these words but written
- 48:09down, something that you can print out,
- 48:12something that you can have in front of
- 48:13you on your desk, we have created a memo
- 48:16for you where we have all of those
- 48:18marker words. You also have a test which
- 48:20is divided by certain levels of English
- 48:23so you can check where you are at right
- 48:25now with your tenses. There is also a
- 48:27table that describes how to build
- 48:30different tenses. And there's also a
- 48:32table with irregular verbs. Remember,
- 48:35we're talking about past simple right
- 48:37now. When we're talking in the past, our
- 48:41verb goes into the second form and there
- 48:43are regular verbs like I walked in the
- 48:46park, I published this video. There are
- 48:49also irregular verbs like I put my phone
- 48:53on the table yesterday or whatever. I
- 48:56drove 5 miles an hour. Irregular verbs
- 49:00are formed in a different way. It's not
- 49:02just putting ed in the end. It is
- 49:05something else and we have created a
- 49:06table for you with these verbs and also
- 49:09how to learn them easily. There is a
- 49:11small fee to download this table. It's
- 49:13$1 fee just to support our designers and
- 49:16us. So it's me and Vinnie who created
- 49:18this table and also my team. The link is
- 49:21below. You're going to have it all in
- 49:23front of you. You're going to have all
- 49:24the words so you can just print them
- 49:25out, hang them in front of you and
- 49:28always have them in front of your eyes.
- 49:30So whenever you have questions, you can
- 49:32just refer to that memo. By the way, in
- 49:35this video, we're not going to talk
- 49:36about all the 12 tenses. We're going to
- 49:38talk about present simple, past simple,
- 49:40future simple, present progressive and
- 49:43present perfect. But in the table, we
- 49:46have more tenses. We have seven tenses
- 49:48in total in terms of the smart words.
- 49:50Future simple. Future simple talks about
- 49:53future actions and um something for you
- 49:56to remember, future simple is when
- 49:57you're not 100% sure about something.
- 50:00For example, you have uh an appointment
- 50:04with your friend and he says, "I will
- 50:06come in an hour." So, that means he's
- 50:0990% uh sure that he will come in an
- 50:11hour. Maybe he won't come cuz you can't
- 50:14control other people. But, if you have
- 50:17an airplane that leaves at 5:00 p.m. You
- 50:19see I'm already using present simple.
- 50:21So, when is something that you're 100%
- 50:23sure of, it's present simple. It's like
- 50:26for a timetables, opening schedules and
- 50:29stuff. The store opens at 9:00 a.m. The
- 50:31store closes at 9:00 p.m. That's all
- 50:34present simple. But, when we're talking
- 50:36about actions we're not sure about, like
- 50:3990% sure Well, we are sure, 90% sure,
- 50:42but we're still kind of guessing. That's
- 50:44future simple. And the marker words are:
- 50:46tomorrow, the day after tomorrow, next
- 50:50week, month, year, etc. In an hour, in a
- 50:55second, in a minute, etc. In the 22nd
- 50:58century, soon, later, someday, and
- 51:02someday of course meaning uh someday in
- 51:04the future, in a day, in a week, in 5
- 51:07years. So, whenever you see in plus
- 51:10and uh according to the context, you're
- 51:12not 100% sure, that's future simple. In
- 51:15the future, one of these days. Present
- 51:18progressive and um
- 51:20in British English you would call it
- 51:22present continuous. It also depends on
- 51:23the textbook that you're using, but it's
- 51:25pretty much the same. Americans say
- 51:26present progressive or present
- 51:28continuous. The tense that is used to
- 51:29describe something that is happening
- 51:32right now. So, the word The first marker
- 51:35word, obvious, now, right now, at the
- 51:39moment, today. Two other marker words,
- 51:42uh look, listen. Like for example, if
- 51:44you're trying to pay somebody's
- 51:45attention, something like, "Look, they
- 51:47are fighting. We need to stop them." We
- 51:50are paying somebody's attention to an
- 51:52action that's happening right now.
- 51:54Still, they are still fighting at this
- 51:57very moment. Currently, these days, this
- 52:01week, this month, this year, constantly.
- 52:06I'm constantly hearing sirens
- 52:08whenever I'm recording videos in this
- 52:10apartment because I'm very close to the
- 52:12center, and something is constantly
- 52:14going on. You see how I'm using this
- 52:16constantly and stuff. And the last, but
- 52:18not the least, we're going to talk about
- 52:20present perfect. And I know you mix it
- 52:22with past simple very often. So, present
- 52:25perfect focuses It's a present tense,
- 52:28okay? It's not a past tense because it's
- 52:30present perfect. And it focuses on the
- 52:32result you have right now.
- 52:36Come on, guys.
- 52:38Present perfect is a present tense. It
- 52:41focuses on the result that you have
- 52:43right now. It does not focus on the
- 52:45details of a past action because for
- 52:47that, we have past simple. For a result
- 52:50right now, we have present perfect. So,
- 52:52for example, I have eaten. This means
- 52:56that you're not hungry. If you're kind
- 52:58of translating, explaining. If you say,
- 53:00"I ate pizza yesterday for lunch." That
- 53:04means you're telling a story about what
- 53:06happened yesterday. You're not really
- 53:07focusing on something that you have
- 53:09right now. This is a way for you to
- 53:10determine which tense to use. And marker
- 53:12words, of course, like for this tense,
- 53:15marker words that you've probably uh
- 53:17learned at school ever and ever since
- 53:18already yet. Whenever you see them on
- 53:20the test, oh my god, I think that's like
- 53:2295, 97% chance that the test takers want
- 53:26to test you whether you've learned those
- 53:29marker words or not. Ever, never, just,
- 53:34already, yet, recently, lately. Lately
- 53:38means you started doing something
- 53:40recently again. I've started walking
- 53:43every night lately. Before, always, so
- 53:48far, at last, it's the first time. It's
- 53:51the first time since we've known each
- 53:53other something happened. All my life,
- 53:56all morning.
- 53:57Let's talk about English students' least
- 54:00favorite tense, which is present
- 54:02perfect, because it is so confusing. I
- 54:04was taught at school that present
- 54:06perfect is a past tense, which is not,
- 54:09because if we look at its name, it says
- 54:12present perfect, which means that yes,
- 54:15we're talking about our actions in the
- 54:17past, but the result is still here with
- 54:21us in the present. This is why it's
- 54:23present perfect. It's a present tense,
- 54:26and it's really important not to mix it
- 54:28up with a past tense. It's really
- 54:30important to use it in the right way.
- 54:32So, today we're going to talk about
- 54:33present perfect. One of the most
- 54:35important things to remember about
- 54:36present perfect is that we don't really
- 54:39care when exactly something happened.
- 54:43For example, I say, "I've lost my keys."
- 54:45I don't really care if I lost them
- 54:47yesterday. I don't really care if I lost
- 54:49them a week ago. I care about the
- 54:50result. I've lost my keys, and I can't
- 54:53get into my house. This is the result.
- 54:56And so, it doesn't matter when exactly
- 54:59the action happened. It matters that the
- 55:02result is still here. It's my present. I
- 55:04can't get into my house. The way we form
- 55:07this tense is that we use either have or
- 55:09has. I have, you have, they have, we
- 55:13have,
- 55:15it, she, he has. After that, we use our
- 55:20verb in the third form. And here, please
- 55:24pay attention, we have regular verbs,
- 55:26where the third form is the same as
- 55:28second, and is easily formed by adding
- 55:31ed. Play, played, played. Stop, stopped,
- 55:34stopped. And we have irregular verbs
- 55:37that you have to learn. Run,
- 55:40ran,
- 55:41run. Bring, brought, brought. Rise,
- 55:45rose, risen. So, we use the third form.
- 55:48And please remember that some regular
- 55:51verbs actually change the way they're
- 55:53written. So, for example, say, said,
- 55:56said. We get rid of Y in the second and
- 55:59third form, and we add I D. Study,
- 56:02studied, studied. So, just
- 56:05to the spelling of those words. So, we
- 56:08have has or have. We have a verb in the
- 56:11third form. And if it's a regular verb,
- 56:14we add ED. If it's irregular verb, we
- 56:16just learn the third form. And very
- 56:19often,
- 56:20we have a word that tells us that we
- 56:24have to use present perfect. Ever,
- 56:28never, since, already, yet. Remember
- 56:31what I told you, we don't really care
- 56:33about the exact timing of an action. So,
- 56:36whenever you have a year ago, in 1990,
- 56:41in March 2015,
- 56:44that means that you would probably need
- 56:46to use past simple. Because again, in
- 56:48present perfect, we don't care about the
- 56:52exact point at time. We don't care about
- 56:55the exact day or exact year. We just
- 56:57care about the result. So, I have never
- 57:01eaten pizza in my life.
- 57:04Okay, the result, if I try pizza, it's
- 57:07going to be something new for me.
- 57:08I've never eaten a taco.
- 57:10I've been to Great Britain once. That
- 57:12means if I go now, it wouldn't be a new
- 57:16country for me. But it doesn't really
- 57:18matter whether I've been in Great
- 57:20Britain in 2015 or 2020. In this case,
- 57:23we'd use past simple.
- 57:25Simple. I've been to Italy many times.
- 57:27Also, when you are taking your TOEFL
- 57:29test, when you are taking your IELTS
- 57:31test, or whatever test that you are
- 57:32taking, please do not contract your
- 57:37verbs.
- 57:38Don't say, "I've been there."
- 57:40Don't write, "I've been there." Please
- 57:43say and write, "I have been there." This
- 57:46is formal academic English, and this is
- 57:49what's required from you when you are
- 57:51taking a formal test, when you are
- 57:53writing a formal essay. Of course, when
- 57:55you are chatting to your friends, to
- 57:57your classmates, when you are recording
- 57:59a video on YouTube, or watching my
- 58:00videos, you are free to comment below.
- 58:02My god, I was scared by this lamp.
- 58:06When you are commenting on this video,
- 58:07you can totally contract
- 58:10your verbs and say, "I've been there.
- 58:13I've enjoyed this video so much. I've
- 58:16learned so much from this video, Marina.
- 58:18You are an amazing teacher."
- 58:20You are being too modest.
- 58:22So, feel free to contract below this
- 58:24video, but please don't use contractions
- 58:26when you are taking an academic test.
- 58:29The negative form in this tense is
- 58:32formed by adding not. I have not done
- 58:35this. I have not seen this before.
- 58:38Or, if you want to make it shorter, you
- 58:40can say, "I haven't done this before. I
- 58:42haven't seen this before." When you are
- 58:44forming a question in present perfect,
- 58:46this have goes into the beginning of the
- 58:49sentence.
- 58:50Have you ever been to the United States?
- 58:54If you want to add WH question,
- 58:57your WH word comes first. Who, what,
- 59:00when, whatever. What have you done
- 59:02today? This WH comes first, and then you
- 59:04have your have or has, and then you have
- 59:06your verb. Or, how many times have you
- 59:09been to the UK? Again, your question
- 59:12comes first, then you have has or have,
- 59:14and then you have your verb. It is
- 59:16really important to learn the word
- 59:18order, because when you are speaking to
- 59:21a native speaker, and when your
- 59:22intonation is not right, when your word
- 59:24order is not right, people might not
- 59:27understand you at all. Because when
- 59:28you're talking to native speakers, they
- 59:30are used to talking to other native
- 59:32speakers and it might be a little hard
- 59:34for them to understand you if you have
- 59:36an accent or if you're mixing up word
- 59:38order. This is why whenever you're
- 59:40learning something, please make sure
- 59:41you're learning everything. Accent, word
- 59:43order, pronunciation, that's really
- 59:45important in any language. Okay, when do
- 59:48we use present perfect? We use present
- 59:50perfect to talk about actions that
- 59:52started in the past or happened in the
- 59:54past and still have a fact on our
- 59:56present. I've lost my keys, I can't
- 59:58enter the house. They've missed the bus,
- 1:00:01that means they will be late. I've
- 1:00:03already eaten means I'm not hungry. So,
- 1:00:05we don't care about when exactly the
- 1:00:07action happened, we care about the
- 1:00:09result in present.
- 1:00:11I've lost my money, I've lost my club,
- 1:00:12and now I've lost my guests.
- 1:00:14We also use present perfect when we talk
- 1:00:16about our life experiences. I've been to
- 1:00:18the UK. I've studied in Germany. I've
- 1:00:21done this so many times before. When you
- 1:00:23talk about your experiences, uh things
- 1:00:25you've done before, here you use present
- 1:00:27perfect.
- 1:00:28I've never driven before.
- 1:00:30Also, if you have an unfinished time
- 1:00:32word, for example, this year, this week,
- 1:00:35today, and want to talk about actions
- 1:00:37that have happened in the period that is
- 1:00:40still ongoing, you use present perfect.
- 1:00:42Let me give you a couple of examples.
- 1:00:44We've already repaired our car twice
- 1:00:48this year. Oh my god, and there might be
- 1:00:51another repair coming up. You've already
- 1:00:53done so many things today.
- 1:00:56You've accomplished so much during this
- 1:00:58day and you still have time to do
- 1:01:00something else. You've already slept for
- 1:01:045 hours today. Stop sleeping. Come on,
- 1:01:07time to work. So, whenever we have this
- 1:01:10ongoing time stamp, we use present
- 1:01:12perfect.
- 1:01:12Nah, I've already seen someone cry
- 1:01:14today.
- 1:01:15Also, quick difference between present
- 1:01:16perfect and past simple. If you say I
- 1:01:19worked here for 5 years, that means
- 1:01:21you're still working here. If you say I
- 1:01:23worked here for 5 years, that means
- 1:01:25you're no longer working here. You see
- 1:01:28the subtle difference in using of tenses
- 1:01:31makes everything completely different
- 1:01:33and gives a completely different context
- 1:01:35to a person you're talking to. And let
- 1:01:37me give you a quick exercise. He
- 1:01:41Hungary
- 1:01:42in 1990. Which tense would you use here?
- 1:01:48Another example.
- 1:01:50He
- 1:01:51Hungary
- 1:01:53two times.
- 1:01:56So, in the first example, you have past
- 1:01:59simple because it has a timestamp, 1990.
- 1:02:02He visited Hungary in 1990. But in the
- 1:02:05second sentence, you don't have a
- 1:02:07timestamp, you just have a number of
- 1:02:08times he has visited Hungary. So, he has
- 1:02:11visited Hungary
- 1:02:13two times. Guys, if you like how I teach
- 1:02:15you tenses, I have a whole course on
- 1:02:18English language tenses. It's really
- 1:02:20detailed, really interactive with a lot
- 1:02:22of exercises because once you got
- 1:02:24information about tenses, you really
- 1:02:26need to practice them. It has a lot of
- 1:02:28additional materials for you to
- 1:02:29practice, to learn, to print out, and
- 1:02:31put in your desk only for you guys
- 1:02:33because you're watching this video and
- 1:02:34you're watching up to the very end.
- 1:02:36You're getting an exclusive promo code
- 1:02:38to take my course with a discount. The
- 1:02:40link and the promo code will be below.
- 1:02:42Thank you guys for watching this video
- 1:02:44up to the very end. Please subscribe
- 1:02:46this channel if you're learning English
- 1:02:47and you need additional resources to
- 1:02:49enhance your learning journey. If you
- 1:02:51know someone who's learning English and
- 1:02:53who needs help, please share this
- 1:02:54channel. And of course, do not forget to
- 1:02:56follow me on Instagram where I post
- 1:02:58stories about my life in the US as an
- 1:03:00immigrant and also post short videos
- 1:03:03about English and also about my life in
- 1:03:05California. Thank you guys so much and
- 1:03:07I'll see you very soon in my next
- 1:03:09videos. Bye-bye.
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