UNDER CONSTRUCTION
TABLE OF CONTENTS
1. Introduction
2. Pronunciation – Vowels
3. Pronunciation – Consonants
4. Writing System and Spelling Conventions
5. Personal Pronouns, Articles, and Demonstrative Pronouns
6. Nouns and Adjectives
7. Connecting Ideas (who, which, that)
8. Present And Future
9. Verb To Be
10. Verb To Have
11. To Do vs To Make
12. Conjunctions
13. Prepositions
14. There is/there are
15. There will be
16. The Past
17. Verb To Be
18. Verb To Have
19. To Do vs To Make
20. Conjunctions
21. Prepositions
22. There was/were
23. Questions – to be
24. Questions – other verbs
25. Negation – to be
26. Negation – other verbs
27. Would
28. Can and Could
29. May and Might
30. Shall and Should
31. Must and Need
32. Have To
33. Imperative
34. Numerals
35. Perfect Tenses
36. Continuous Tenses
37. Possessive Pronouns
38. Indefinite Pronouns
39. Reflexive Pronouns
40. Genitive Case
41. Just, already, yet
42. Ever vs how long
43. For, since, ago
44. Adverbs
45. First Class Verbs
46. Second Class Verbs
47. Third Class Verbs
48. Fourth Class Verbs
49. Fifth Class Verbs
50. Sixth Class Verbs
51. Seventh Class Verbs
52. Passive Voice
53. Indirect Discourse
54. To Go vs To Come (coming vs going to)
55. Future (will, going to, -ing)
56. Usual, usually
57. Get Used To
58. Used To
59. Will, want, wish, desire, would like
60. If vs whether
61. Also, either, neither
62. Question tags
63. Prepositions at Ends of Sentences
64. To vs -ing for verbs
65. Prepositions
66. Determiners
67. Adjectives (comparisons)
68. Adverbs (fairly, quite, rather) and Inversion
69. Accents
70. Phrasal Verbs
71. Phrasal Verbs
72. Phrasal Verbs
73. Phrasal Verbs
74. Future (on the verge, about to, on the brink of, etc)
75. Perfect Continuous Tenses
1.INTRODUCTION
This book aims to bridge the gap between the study of Modern English grammar and its practical use in real-life situations. Designed with both self-learners and classroom environments in mind, it combines clear explanations with carefully structured exercises, ensuring that learners can immediately apply what they study. The language is intentionally simple, avoiding unnecessary jargon, while maintaining a tone that is both elegant and precise. Each unit is written to encourage active engagement, making the learning process dynamic rather than mechanical.
The structure of the book follows a logical progression where each unit builds upon the knowledge introduced in the previous ones. However, it has also been designed to allow flexibility: students who have difficulties only in specific areas can pick up any unit independently without feeling lost. In a classroom setting, a teacher can typically complete one unit in about an hour, while learners studying on their own can work through each unit in shorter, focused sections of around ten minutes each. This modular approach ensures that progress is steady yet adaptable to different schedules and learning speeds.
A distinctive feature of this book is its integration of explanations and exercises. Each new concept is followed by practical activities that reinforce understanding, allowing learners to practise immediately rather than passively memorising rules. The exercises are varied—ranging from simple sentence-building tasks to short writing challenges—encouraging creativity while consolidating grammatical accuracy. This combination of clarity, practice, and creativity makes the method dynamic and accessible.
The book also addresses the diversity of Modern English as it is spoken across the world. While focusing on the grammatical foundations common to all varieties, it provides examples and notes on differences among accents and usage patterns from British Received Pronunciation (RP), Standard American English, Irish English, and Australian English. This comparative approach helps learners not only understand grammar but also appreciate the cultural and phonetic richness of the language.
In terms of content, the material covered corresponds primarily to the A1 and A2 levels of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR). However, certain topics are expanded slightly beyond these levels, incorporating useful insights from early B1 structures. This ensures that learners are well-prepared to progress naturally to intermediate stages, without abrupt transitions.
By the end of this book, a student will be able to:
Apply grammar rules to short texts and conversations with accuracy and fluency.
Understand and use essential grammatical structures of Modern English.
Form clear and correct sentences in both spoken and written contexts.
Recognise and adapt to variations in English across different accents and cultural settings.
Handle basic everyday communication with confidence, including describing events, expressing opinions, and asking questions.
2. PRONUNCIATION – VOWELS
English employs one single writing system, unlike other languages such as Chinese, Japanese, Serbian, and others, which make use of more than one writing system. Such a writing system is the Roman alphabet, the same used for Spanish, French, German, Latin, and so on. However, the correspondence between symbols and the real sounds of English is not always intuitive and easy to grasp. In fact, English has more sounds than the alphabet has letters.
That is one of the reasons why you come across symbols surrounded by ‘/’ after an English word in a dictionary. Such symbols represent one single sound and never deviate from that sound. Thus, the symbol /i/ stands for a certain sound even when English uses other letters rather than ‘i’ to represent it. For example, you may look at the word ‘seed’ and not realize right away that the letters ‘ee’ have the sound represented by /i/, but the use of this symbol beside the word in a dictionary will help you understand that the word is pronounced with /i/ even though it is spelled with other letters. Take a look at the following dictionary entry for the word ‘seed:’
SEED /siːd/ 1. An ovule produced by a plant, which contains a new plant.
The two main pronunciations of English are called General American and Received Pronunciation, the standard accents of the United States and the United Kingdom, respectively. This book will exhibit both pronunciations, being up to you and your teacher to pick up either or both during your learning process. The abbreviation ‘US’ is used for when the General American pronunciation is given, and the abbreviation ‘UK’ is used for when the Received Pronunciation is given.
Below is a list of core vowel letters used in English. Click on each one to hear its pronunciation and begin familiarizing yourself with the sound system. Note that the order below does not reflect the sequence in which these vowels appear in the alphabet, but rather displays vowels in groups according to how similar they are. Consonants and diphthongs are addressed in the next chapter, and the alphabetical symbols are discussed two chapters later. It is in that chapter that we will finally examine the full order of symbols. The vowels in blue are used only in Received Pronunciation, and the vowels in red are used only in General American. This way you can follow just one accent if you will. If you look for a different accent of English, resort to the volumes on pronunciation.
/i/ (this sound is represented by i, y, ee, or ea as in machine, study, seed, and lead)
/ɪ/ (this sound is represented by i, e, or y as in sit, deepen, and analysis)
Your turn: Click on the following words to hear their sounds and determine if you hear /i/ or /ɪ/. Ask your teacher if you should go through all of them or a selection of words.
Click here
Leap / Lip
Sheep / Ship
Feast / Fist
Wheel / Will
Sneaker / Snicker
Gene / Gin
Reach / Rich
Seat / Sit
Wheat / Wit
Eat / It
Feel / Fill-Phil
Sheen / Shin
Wean / Win
Steal / Still
Least / List
Weak / Wick
Seep / Sip
Beat / Bit
Leak / Lick
Neat / Nit
Peak / Pick
Weep / Whip
Sleep / Slip
Bean / Bin
Is / Ease
Deed / Did
Feet / Fit
Heel-heal / Hill
Lead / Lid
Leave / Live
Heat / Hit
Team / Tim
Peel / Pill
Ream / Rim
Teak / Tick
/æ/ (this sound is represented by a, as in dad)
/ɛ/ (this sound is represented by e, or ea as in red, and dead)
Click here
Bad / Bed
Land / Lend
Man / Men
Flash / Flesh
Bag / Beg
Ham / Hem
Frat / Fret
Hack / Heck
Tamp / Temp
Tamper / Temper
Had / Head
Band / Bend
Tack / tech
And / End
Sad / said
Sat / set
Pat / pet
Dad / dead
Bat / bet
Spanned / Spend
Pan / pen
Rabble / Rebel
Gas / Guess
Track / Trek
Jam / gem
Mat / Met
Axe / X
Axe / Ex
Lax / Lex
Gnat / net
Bland / Blend
Flax / Flecks
Flax / Flex
Gassed / Guessed
Sax / Sex
Rack / Wreck
Lack / Leck
Lad / Lead
Shall / shell
Cattle / Kettle
Marry / Merry
Fad / Fed
Vat / Vet
Manned / Mend
Ran / Ren
Rash / Resh
Dab / Deb
Tacky / Techy
Trad / Tread
Pal / Pell
Crass / Cress
Slack / Sleck
Back / Beck
Knack / Neck
Pack / Peck
/ɑ/ (this sound is represented by a, as in spa)
/ɒ/ (this sound is represented by a, or o, as in father, or honest)
These two sounds have no minimal pairs. They are in fact a pair that very easily exposes its speaker as American or British. That happens because words pronounced with /ɑ/ in most American accents are pronounced with /ɒ/ in the United Kingdom.
/ɔ/ (this sound is represented by o, aw, au, al, a, ou, and oa)
/ʌ/ (this sound is represented by u, and o as in luck and love)
Click here
Caught / Cut
Bought / But
Chalk / Chuck
Taught / Tut
Taut / Tut
Yawn / Yum
Stalk / Stuck
Daub / Dub
Dawn / Done
(US) Gone / Gun
Daub / Dub
Bought / But
Bought / Butt
Hawk / Huck
/u/ (this sound is represented by
/ʊ/ (this sound is represented by
Click here
Fool / Full
Pool / Pull
Luke / Look
Cooed / Could
To / To
Wooed / Wood
Suit / Soot
/ɜː/ (this sound is represented by er, ir, ur, ear, or, our, yr, and olo)
Click here
Serve
Term
Nerve
Her
Person
Girl
First
Third
Sir
Bird
Birth
Shirt
Firm
Turn
Burn
Hurt
Church
Nurse
Purse
Surf
Turkey
Learn
Heard
Earth
Early
Pearl
Search
Word
Work
Worth
Worm
Journey
Myrtle
Colonel
Courteous
/ə/ (this sound is represented by a, e, i, o, and u)
Click here
5.
4. WRITING SYSTEM
Teach how to spell and then teach English like a syllabary.
5. BE, DO, HAVE
Even though you are here to learn English, it must be said that you already know a bit of this language. In fact, languages are not random chunks of words and sentences but rather show familiarity to one another. That happens in two ways:
1. Two languages have influenced each other throughout the centuries. Examples: French and English, Chinese and Japanese, Sumerian and Akkadian, Arabic and Spanish, Hindi and Bengali, etc.
2. Two languages descend from an older common language. Examples: Italian and Romanian, Portuguese and Spanish, Russian and Ukrainian, Amharic and Tigrinyan, Hebrew and Aramaic, etc.
So chances are that you already know a good deal of English from words in your native language. Besides, your native language probably shares some grammatical features with English, enabling you to identify certain patterns on the spot. Here are some examples:
1. Languages tend to place their adjectives before or after the noun, i.e., you either say red apple or apple red. Fortunately, English uses both word orders. So you are already familiar with some of the combinations that we shall see.
2. Languages either have verb tenses (past, present, future), aspects (perfective or imperfective) or both. English has both, so you carry something from your native language that resembles these features.
English has three fundamental words that are used in the construction of the language: be, do, have. Moreover, the word for the person who speaks is ‘I,’ the word for the listener or listeners is ‘you,’ and the word for more than one speaker is ‘we.’ These three, alongside the other three (be, do, and have) are the building blocks of the language.
Maybe in your native language you have a word for a singular ‘you’, and another for a plural ‘you.’ English used to behave like that, but nowadays it exhibits only a very general and somewhat vague ‘you.’
You can just link the ‘do,’ ‘be,’ and ‘have’ to ‘I,’ ‘you,’ and ‘we.’ Thus, you can say: I do, you do, we do, I have, you have, we have, etc. It’s only ‘be’ that behaves a bit different; you attach ‘are’ to ‘you’ and ‘we,’ but you attach ‘am’ to ‘I.’ You use ‘be’ when you refer to the name of the verb. So, we are left with:
| Do | Have | Be |
| I do | I have | I am |
| You do | You have | You are |
| We do | We have | We are |
Be links the speaker to features of that same speaker (age, occupation, nationality, affiliation to a group, role, feelings, quality, etc), do links the speaker to things brought into existence by him (do homework, do exercise, do an experiment, do a course, do research, do the shopping, do your hair, do the dishes, do harm, do your best, etc). Have links the speaker to things attached to the speaker (possessions, money, clothes, a disease, skills, etc).
Your turn: What is the difference between ‘I do the course’ and ‘I have a course?’ Think for an instant and check the answer
Answer
‘I do the course’ means that I attend classes, take lessons, answer questions, study, etc.
‘I have a course’ means that I am a student who finished the course or a teacher that created the lessons.
Your turn: If you have finished a course, do you have or do you do a course?
Answer
You have a course. So you say: ‘I have a course.’
Your turn: if a friend of yours wants to learn English and you know of a course that might be what your friend needs, do you say that you do or that you have a course?
Answer
You tell your friend: ‘I have a course’ (I have a course that is just what you need). You are not the teacher and you haven’t necessarily finished that same course, but you are in a relation with the course mentioned.
Your turn: Now, if you are a teacher, do you do or do you have a course?
Answer
You have a course. So you say: ‘I have a course.’
Your turn: if you work at a company and start taking classes at a nearby language school to earn a better position, do you do or do you have a course?
Answer
You do a course. So you say: ‘I do a course.’
Your turn: if the company itself offers you the course that you need, does the company do or have a course?
Answer
The company has the course. So the company says: ‘We have a course’ (‘we have a course on that subject that you need)
Your turn: if you are a student and you notice that an exam is scheduled for tonight, do you have or do you do an exam?
Answer
You have an exam. So you can say: ‘I have an exam tonight.’
Your turn: if the night comes, you go to school, and you start your exams, should you say that now you have or that now you do an exam?
Answer:
For as long as you are writing on paper, typing on a computer (if your exam is online) or doing any other activity related to the exam, you can say that now you do an exam. So you should say: ‘I do an exam.’
Your turn: if you and your friend are in doubt about a certain subject and you look it up on the internet, do you do or do you have a web search?
Answer
You do a web search. So you can say: ‘We do a web search’
Your turn: if you want to find the link to a website you visited a few days ago, do you say that you do a web search in your browser history or that you have a web search in your browser history?
Answer
You say that you have a web search in your browser history. So you can say: ‘I have a web search in my browser history’
Your turn: if there is a lecture saved on your phone as an audio file for you to listen to it later, do you do or do you have a lecture on your phone?
Answer
You definitely have a lecture on your phone. Otherwise, you would be the lecturer. So you can say: ‘I have a lecture.’
Your turn: Would you say that you are 20 (years) or that you have twenty years?
Answer
It is common for many languages to make use of ‘have’ for someone’s age, but that goes against the logic of English. French, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, and many others use ‘have’, but think like a native English speaker. You are 20 years because you are living the 20th year of your life right now; it is your current state. In this situation, you should say: ‘I am 20.’ A case of having years will be shown next.
Your turn: if that same company asks you how long you have worked in that position, do you say that you are 5 years of experience or that you have 5 years of experience?
Answer
You most certainly say that you have 5 years of experience. Those five years are like your luggage, you are in a relation with something that was done in the past and now is just the background from which you move forward. So you say: ‘I have 5 years of experience.’
Your turn: now, if you look back at your ten years in the army, should you say that you did or that you had five years in the army?
Answer
You did five years in the army. So you can say: ‘I did ten years in the army.’ We haven’t seen the past form of ‘do’ (‘did’) and we won’t see it for some time, so don’t worry about it.
Your turn: One more time, do you have or do you do a course on Mathematics if you have already finished it? How do you tell someone that they have finished it without using the word ‘finish?’
Answer
You have it, and so does your friend. So you say ‘I have a course’ and ‘you have a course’ (on Mathematics);.
Your turn: Do you say that you are Mexican or that you have Mexican? Think about it.
Answer
When it comes to nationalities, you are of this or that nationality. So you should say: ‘I am Mexican.’
Your turn: Now you want to state the nationality of a friend. Do you say ‘you are Argentinian’ or ‘you have Argentinian?’ Use the right form of the verb.
Answer
‘You are Argentinian.’
Your turn: Now think not of your nationality, but rather of your country. Supposing that you are from Egypt and you love your country very much, do you say that you have Egypt in your heart or that you are Egypt in your heart?
Answer
You have Egypt in your heart. So say: ‘I have Egypt in my heart.’
Your turn: Now, do you say that you have Korea on your list of next destinations or that you are Korea on your list of next destinations?
Answer
You say: ‘I have Korea on my list of next destinations’
Your turn: If you are at the gym lifting weights, do you do exercises or do you have exercises?
Answer
You do exercises. So you should say: ‘I do exercises.’
Your turn: Now someone questions you about a certain exercise that they think is missing on your list of exercises. Do you say that you have that exercise on your list or that you do that exercise on your list?
Answer
You answer right away that you have that exercise on your list. But you might as well say that you don’t have it but you like it so much that you do it. Or maybe you want to emphasise that you have it and do it, so you can say both ‘I have that exercise’ and ‘I do that exercise.’
Your turn: if someone does you wrong, do you say that you are angry or that you have anger?
Answer
You say: ‘I am angry.’ (‘am’ is the right form of the verb)
Your turn: if you are talking to a friend and you vent about a feeling that has lived in your heart for some time but that you want to get rid of, how do you think you would express that? Do you say ‘I am angry’ or ‘I have anger?’
Answer
You say something like: ‘I have anger burning inside me — help me get rid of it.’ This sentence might also be said to a therapist. If you pay close attention, you will notice that that person is not living the anger, they stand at a distance from it, loathes it, and, therefore, is at most in a relation with it.
Your turn: Can you think of two different situations, one in which you would say ‘I am a doctor’ and one in which you would say ‘I have a doctor?’
Answer
If you say ‘I am a doctor’ (‘am’ is the right form of ‘be’ here) that means that you are stating your profession. If you say ‘I have a doctor,’ you are probably saying that you go to a doctor who you trust and who has treated you for years so that now you can recommend that doctor.
Your turn: if you are not bald, do you say that you have hair or that you do hair?
Answer
You say: ‘I have hair.’
Your turn: what would you say when you change your hair and make it look a certain way? ‘I have hair’ or ‘I do my hair?’
Answer
You say: ‘I do my hair.’ The word ‘my’ is added to make the sentence look more natural. To do one’s hair is a way in which English expresses any significant modification to someone’s hair.
Your turn: if the sink in your kitchen has a pile of dishes that you have to wash later, do you say that you have or that you do a pile of dishes?
Answer
If you will only wash them later, you can say: ‘I have a pile of dishes for tonight.’
Your turn: What about when you finally face the pile of dishes and start washing, rinsing, soaking, and finally drying it? Do you say that you have or that you do the dishes?
Answer
You say: ‘I do the dishes.’ You may be tempted to use a different verb for this action (wash, rinse, soak, clean), maybe your native language does not have a single verb that describes anything that you do to the dishes to make them clean. But English has the verb ‘to do,’ which fits perfectly here. In reality, you will soon realise how English tends to simplify our patterns of thought.
Your turn: Do you say that you are the shopping or that you do the shopping?
Answer
You should say: ‘I do the shopping.’
Your turn: if you and your friend grab a deck of cards to show others a trick you have learned, do you have or do you do a magic trick?
Answer
You do a magic trick. So you should say: ‘We do a magic trick.’
A number of these cases can also have a different verb. You can say ‘take a course,’ ‘give a lecture,’ etc. But these simple sentences with ‘be,’ ‘do,’ and ‘have’ will often pop up in conversation and texts.
6. DO / O (MOVE, PROVE, LOSE, TO) / EE (SEE, TREE, KEEP, STREET, MEET)
Now that you have seen the three verbs ‘do,’ ‘be,’ and ‘have,’ we should start learning how they come to be so important to English Grammar. Every verb tense in English is built with one of those verbs, and in this chapter we will start our journey with the verb ‘do.’
We are going to add other verbs after ‘do’ to create whole sentences. You will often see the word ‘a’, which means that the objects we are describing are not specific. So, ‘a tree’ is any tree
Your turn: How would you say ‘I lose my key?’ ‘My keys’ is ‘my keys’ (‘my’ is ‘my,’ and ‘key’ is ‘key’) and ‘lose’ is ‘lose.’ The sound produced by the ‘o’ in ‘lose’ is teh same as in ‘do.’
Answer
‘I do lose my key.’
Your turn: How do you say ‘you see a tree?’ ‘See’ is ‘see,’ and ‘tree’ is ‘tree.’ In both cases, the combination ‘ee’ sounds like the ‘e’ in ‘be’. We are going to see many words with ‘ee’ in this chapter.’
Answer
‘you do see a tree’
Your turn: How do you say ‘we see a street?’ ‘Street’ is ‘street’
Answer
‘We do see a street’
Your turn: How would you say ‘I see a tree, and you see a street?’ The word ‘and’ is ‘and.’
Answer
‘I do see a tree, and you do see a street.’ (notice that we separate the two sentences with a comma, that is, with ‘,’)
Your turn: How would you say ‘I meet my friend?’ ‘Meet’ is ‘meet,’ and ‘friend’ is ‘friend.’
Answer
‘I do meet my friend.’
Your turn: How would you say ‘we see a street?’
Answer
‘We do see a street’
Your turn: How do we say again ‘I see a tree, and you see a street?’
Answer
‘I do see a tree, and you do see a street.’
Your turn: How would we say ‘I see a tree, but you see a street?’ The word ‘but’ is ‘but.’
Answer
I do see a tree, but you do see a street
Your turn: How would you say ‘I meet a client?’ ‘Client’ is ‘client.’
Answer
‘I do meet a client.’
Your turn: How would you say ‘we meet a customer?’ ‘Costumer’ is ‘customer.’
Answer
‘We do meet a customer.’
Your turn: How would you say ‘I keep a secret?’ ‘Keep’ is ‘keep,’ and ‘secret’ is ‘secret.’ The ‘ee’ in ‘keep’ again is like the ‘e’ in ‘be.’
Answer
‘I do keep a secret’
Your turn: How would you say ‘I keep my exam?’ Imagine your classmate insists that students always have to submit their exams to the teacher, and that the teacher never returns them — that this has always been the case. In response, you say, ‘I do keep my exam.’
Answer
‘I do keep my exam.’
As you can see, it makes perfect sense that we signal that we are talking about an activity (hence the use of ‘do’) and then we introduce the verb we are dealing with. If we see something, we ‘do see’ it. However, English mostly drops the word ‘do’ and builds the sentences without it. ‘Do’ is implied, and keeping it adds emphasis to the sentence. The last sentence is a good example; you have to emphasise to your classmate that you guys can really keep your exams after they are corrected. From now on, we will bear that difference in mind.
Your turn: How do you say ‘you lose my key’ without emphasis?
Answer
‘you lose my key.’
Your turn: What about the same sentence with emphasis? Suppose that someone denies vehemently that they have lost your keys, despite you knowing that they have lost it. Think of a situation in which you say that someone always loses your key.
Answer
‘You do lose my key’
Your turn: How would you say ‘I meet my client’ without emphasis?
Answer
‘I meet my client.’
Your turn: How would you say ‘I see my teacher’ without emphasis?
Answer
‘I see my teacher.’
Your turn: How would you say ‘we see a doctor? without emphasis’ This expression ‘see a doctor’ is the standard way of saying that you pay a visit to your doctor and state your health condition.
Answer
‘We see a doctor.’
Do not forget the emphasis that you can give to a sentence with the use of ‘do.’ Shortly, we will see the same phenomenon with ‘be’ and ‘have.’
Your turn: How would you say ‘We see a street’ with emphasis?
Answer
‘We do see a street.’
Your turn: How do you say ‘We move to Ireland’ without emphasis? ‘Move’ is ‘move,’ and ‘Ireland’ is ‘Ireland.’ The ‘o’ in ‘move’ is like the ‘o’ in ‘do.’ But when someone moves, they move ‘to’ a place. The word ‘to’ is ‘to.’
Answer
‘We move to Ireland.’
Your turn: How would you say ‘I move to Ireland, and you move to Africa’ without emphasis? ‘Africa’ is ‘Africa.’
Answer
‘I move to Ireland, and you move to Africa.’
Your turn: How would you say ‘I move to Africa, but you move to China’ without emphasis?
Answer
‘I move to Africa, but you move to China.’
Your turn: How would you say ‘I see my phone’ with emphasis? Do not forget that ‘phone’ is ‘phone.’
Answer
‘I do see my phone.’
Your turn: Do you do or have a course if you have been taking classes in that course?
Answer
‘I do a course’
In English, you generally do a course ‘on’ something. And we can start using that construction now.
Internet/phone/atom/virus/hello/bye
7. CONNECTING IDEAS
13. PREPOSITIONS
English connects words and expresses ideas of time and space with what we call prepositions. So, when you want to make it clear where something is or when something happens, prepositions are very well suited for that. We are going to see three of them: in, on, and at.
The preposition ‘in‘ indicates that something is contained in a container. The container surrounds the thing contained entirely. We might say, for instance: ‘I am in the living room.’ In fact, supposing you entered a living room, and supposing you don’t have one foot on the floor of the living room and another outside the room, you are contained by a container called living room.
Your turn: Imagine the man has a cat and a box. If all the cat is surrounded by all the air that is surrounded by all that box, can we say that the cat is in the box? Very well, the cat is indeed in the box.
Your turn: Now, let’s try something a bit more problematic. In the first scenario, we have a boy (the child of that man) swimming, and all of his body is surrounded by the water as he has dived quite deep. Can we say that the boy is in the water? We certainly can! But let’s move on to the second scenario: the boy swims, but his head and part of his trunk is not surrounded by the water. Let’s say that he floats peacefully as when someone is unwinding for a bit. Can we say that he is in the water if now part of him is not surrounded by water? Think about it! The answer is that he is still considered to be in the water. Real life is messy. Bodies bend; doors stand open; people lean out of windows. English normally ignores tiny bits that poke through a boundary. As long as the relevant part (the part that counts for the activity or viewpoint) is within the region, speakers are comfortable saying in.
Talking about water, it’s high time we encountered the preposition on. This preposition indicates that something exists and is in contact with other things. Example.: The picture on the wall.
Some people stubbornly maintain that ‘on‘ means the same as on top of, i.e., situated over something but still in contact. Well, that is only partially true – the previous example has a picture on the wall. The picture is in contact with the wall, but by no means must we infer that it is on top of the uppermost brick that belongs to that wall. As a matter of fact, we tend to say something is ‘on’ even when it’s under another thing: ‘The light bulb is on the ceiling.’ In that case, not only the light bulb isn’t on top of the ceiling, but it’s actually under the ceiling (although still touching it).
Your turn: Going back to the boy in the water (who is in the water even though parts of him are out of the water), imagine that he has one of those floating plastic toys next to him (say an action figure). We can assure with a high degree of certainty that the toy is only in contact with the surface of the water rather than submerged in it. In that case, we say: ‘the toy is on the water.’
The next preposition is ‘at.’ We use this preposition when we mean that something is very near, next to, adjacent to another thing. Think of yourself getting ready to have dinner with your family. It would be quite strange to say that you are going to sit in the table, as that would imply that you fit inside the wood of which the table is made. But it would be equally preposterous to say that you are going to sit on the table. ‘On the table’ means that you will use the surface of the table as a seat – maybe you intend to sit on top of the table. But that’s inappropriate for a family dinner, right? That’s a scenario where we are left only with the preposition ‘at’ to help things make sense. You sit ‘at’ the table, i.e., adjacent to the table (next to it).
Your turn: If the man in the living room is waiting for his wife, and she finally arrives, must she knock on, in, or at the door? You probably already know that she shall knock on the door. Take a moment to think about how things match perfectly – we use ‘on’ because her hand is in contact with the surface of the door.
Your turn: We already know that the man is ‘in’ the living room. But what can we say about the woman in relation to the door? Is she… ugh… ‘in’ the door? It can’t be, can it? Is she ‘in,’ ‘on,’ or ‘at‘ the door? Pause and think about the consequences of using this or that preposition. Congratulations if you think she is ‘at‘ the door.
IN
I am in a room.
The cat is in the box.
I swim in the river.
The airplane in the sky.
The angels in Heaven.
All things in the world/worldview.
In my opinion the movie wasn’t very good.
In a line/row/queue.*
James isn’t up yet – he’s still in bed.
Jessica’s mother is in hospital.
The kidnappers are in prison.
We sat in the shade.
Don’t go out in the rain.
It was too hot to sit in the sun (sunlight, not the star itself).
The treasure was hidden in the dark.
I am not satisfied with this bad weather.
How do you say ‘thank you’ in Polish?
We’ll have to know how much it is in dollars/pounds/euros/reais.
They’re happy together. They’re in love.
I had it in my hand.
I am in the process of writing a book.
In existence.
ON
The picture on the wall.
The light bulb on the ceiling.
The primer on the table.
The dust on the floor.
A butterfly on my nose.
Our aprtment is on the first floor.
Don’t buy anything that is not on the list.
Everything you need is on our website.
She saw it on the TV/on a map/on a menu.
The news on the radio.
Stefany is on the phone.
Look! That tree is on fire. (see? not on top!)
We stopped at a shop on the way home.
Do you drive on the left or on the right? (as if there were a line in the middle of your view)
I’m currently working on a book (focus)
I should work on that pronunciation (focus)
I hate people who look down on others (focus)
He’s working on the roof (focus)
This book is on Gandhi (topic)
I need to cut back on junk food (topic)
On dates it’s common to go out to restaurants (topic)
Aware = on ware
Asleep = on sleep
Alive = on life
Aflame = on flame
Aboard = on board
Awake = on wake
She’s online. (on the net of underwater internet lines)
Let’s move on to another topic. (on a platform but towards another platform)
I depend/count on you. (to be hung or to count on a platform)
Hang/hold on. (to stay on a certain topic for a while)
I will try on these clothes. (experimentar = tentar enquanto em contato)
Come on (join me on my platform that is faster than yours)
Are we still on for next Sunday? (active)
It’s on! (active)
Go on! (activate!)
Keep on (mantenha ativo)
What’s going on? (What’s activating?)
AT
I am at the door.
I wait at the bus stop.
I am at the roundabout.
Jane lives at the other end of the street.
I’ll be at work until 5.30.
My sister is at university/college/school.
There’s no need to meet me at the station/airport.
Were there many people at the party/meeting/wedding/conference/concert?
There was a robbery at the supermarket. (where an event takes place)
I was at Julia’s house/apartment.
I was at Julia’s place.
I was at Julia’s.
They were at the doctor’s/hairdresser’s/McDonald’s.
Tracy left school at 16/at the age of 16.
The train was travelling at 120 miles an hour.
Water boils at 100 degrees Celsius.
We are flying at a speed of 800 kilometers an hour at an altitude of 9000 meters.
At first we didn’t get on very well. (No começo, à primeira vista, at a first glance).
English At Its Roots 