GRAMMAR FOCUS

1. Describing the activities:

Verb tenses:

He used to work for the police force.

 • To talk about 2 or more actions happening at the same time: use –ing form of the verb
He came into the room, singing and laughing noisily
Every time I glanced back, chocking for breath, I expected he would have quit.
Time transitions
after, before, until, since, when , whenever, while, once, as soon as, as

at first, first of all, to begin with, in the first place, at the same time, for now, for the time being, in time, in
turn, later on, meanwhile, next, then, soon, the meantime, later, while, earlier, simultaneously, afterward

Prepositional phrases: to tell where the action is taking place

He chased Mikey and me around the yellow house and up a backyard path we knew by heart: under a low
tree, up a bank, through a hedge, down some snowy steps, and across the grocery store’s delivery driveway.

2. Describing people and places

a. Adjective and adjective clause (relative clause)

We can use adjectives

• Before nouns: There are so many historical buildings
• After the following verbs: be, become, get, seem, appear, look, smell, taste, feel: They always seem
pleased to see you
• After find/make/keep + object: I found the insects rather frightening

b. Adverb and adverb clause

Adverbs give information about verbs, adjectives or other adverbs. Adverbs tell us how (manner), where
(place), when (time), how often (frequency), or how much (intensity) something happens or is done.

Tell about Adverb Adverb clause

Manner I plan my trip very carefully He treated me as though I were a child
Place Try to stay near the old part of Where the fire had been, we saw nothing but rubble.
the city
Time I had a very memorable trip last I went immediately after I had received the
year information
Frequency I often travel for my job
Intensity The people are very friendly
Condition and If you’re kind to her, she will do anything for you.
concession Although he isn’t good-looking, people are still
attracted to him
Reason or I didn’t lend him the book because I needed it for my
cause assignment.
Purpose I tiptoed into the room so as not to wake the baby up.
Result We planted many shrubs, so (that) the garden looked
beautiful