Languagelab.com Blog

This week I’m going to start the first in a series of blogs on the 200 key words in English.  These are called key words because they are the most commonly used or most important words in English.  These words were developed by Scott Thornbury.  Please see http://www.tefl.net/reviews/natural-grammar.htm

Today’s word is ‘the.’  The grammar word for it is the DEFINITE ARTICLE.  There is quite a bit I could say about ‘the’ because we use it in a number of different contexts.

To put it simply, the definite article ‘the’ is used to refer to a specific instance of the noun, often already mentioned in the context or easy to identify. Definite articles are slightly different from demonstratives (like ‘this’), which often indicate the location of nouns with respect to the speaker and audience.

* “Let us look for a good restaurant.”
* “What about the restaurant at which we ate last week?”
* “That restaurant was terrible. What about this one on the corner here?”

If you are wondering about the difference between fourteen hundred hours (14.00) and 2pm, then this is for you.

There are twenty four hours in a day.  In the world clock, http://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/, you’ll see that times are written this way, from zero hundred hours (00.00) to twenty-three hundred hours (23.00).

There are other ways to talk about and write about the time.  The more commonly used format is am and pm.  Am refers to the time between midnight (00.00) and noon, or technically until 11.59.  Noon (12pm) to 11.59 pm is the afternoon.  Am and pm are abbreviations for Latin (ante-meridian and post-meridian).

Of course, it doesn’t end there.  What is the difference between two thirty and half-past two?  The answer is nothing.  They are both 2.30.  You also have two fifteen and quarter past two (2.15) and quarter-to-three or two forty-five (2.45).

You’ll find http://www.teachingtime.co.uk/ very useful because it explains the differences in more detail and gives you some practice.

Until next time …
- Grammar Girl.

We’re back to the subject of commonly-confused words and this week we’ve got three or possibly even four.

Poor is an adjective, normally meaning that the person described has little money. But it has a second meaning as well which is that something is not very good.  “This is a poor effort, Kingsbury!”

A pore, on the other hand, is a tiny opening, normally on skin. It’s pores that give you acne! It can also be used as a verb, meaning you’re studying something closely.  “David pored over his books when he was preparing for his exam.”

Finally, pour means to make flow, normally a liquid.  “Please would you pour the milk?” asked Jessie.

Don’t forget that the hands and feet of animals are often called paws!  If you are from London or the South-East of England, ‘paw’ might sound like ‘pore.’

If you are worried about which word is being used, listen to the rest of the sentence or the context.

See you soon !

Grammar Girl