Pre-class – All about “to be” and question words

Verb to be

We use verb to be in many situations when we speak English, for example:

• To talk about personal information

Ex: My name is Matheus and I am a teacher.

• To talk about physical characteristics

Ex: My friend is a little fat.

• To talk about personality

Ex: My father is intelligent.

• To talk about location.

Ex: He is at school now.

We have many other situations we use verb to be, but these are good
examples. But it’s important to remember that it’s impossible to use verb to be
with verbs in the base form, it’s necessary to use –ing, but with a different
significance. This topic is discussed with more details in week 6 and 7. For this
class, we use only adjectives and nouns after to be.

Ex: I am work (INCORRECT)

I am working (CORRECT)

See the possible forms of to be:

Affirmative (in the present)

Subject To be Contraction (abbreviation) Examples
I Am I’m I am a teacher
You (singular) Are You’re You are a student
He (man) Is He’s He is my friend
She (woman) Is She’s She is intelligent
It (not human) Is It’s It is a house
We Are We’re We are at the cinema
You (plural) Are You’re You are from Sorocaba
They Are They’re They are beautiful

Write three examples:

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Negative (in the present)

Subject To be Contraction (abbreviation) Examples
I am not I’m not I am not a teacher
You (singular) are not You aren’t You are not a student
He (man) is not He isn’t He is not my friend
She (woman) Is not She isn’t She is not intelligent
It (not human) Is not It isn’t It is not a house
We are not We aren’t We are not at the cinema
You (plural) are not You aren’t You are not from Sorocaba
They are not They aren’t They are not beautiful

Write three examples:

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Interrogative (in the present)

To be Subject Examples
Am I Am I a teacher?
Are You (singular) Are you a student
Is He (man) Is he your friend?
Is She (woman) Is she intelligent?
Is It (not human) Is it a house?
Are We Are we at the cinema?
Are You (plural) Are you from Sorocaba?
Are They Are they beautiful?

Write three examples:

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It is possible to use verb to be in the past too:

Affirmative (in the past)

Subject To be Examples
I was I was a student 15 years ago
You (singular) were You were a good friend
He (man) was He was my boyfriend
She (woman) was She was at the supermarket yesterday
It (not human) was It was a good dog
We were We were on vacation last December
You (plural) were You were at school last week
They were They were my neighbors

Write three examples:

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Negative (in the past)

Subject To be Contraction Examples
I was not wasn’t I wasn’t a student 15 years ago
You (singular) were not weren’t You weren’t a good friend
He (man) was not wasn’t He wasn’t my boyfriend
She (woman) was not wasn’t She wasn’t at the supermarket yesterday
It (not human) was not wasn’t It wasn’t a good dog
We were not weren’t We weren’t on vacation last December
You (plural) were not weren’t You weren’t at school last week
They were not weren’t They weren’t my neighbors

Write three examples:

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 Interrogative (in the past)
To be Subject Examples
Was I Was I a student 15 years ago?
Were You (singular) Were you a good friend?
Was He (man) Was he your boyfriend?
Was She (woman) Was she at the supermarket yesterday?
Was It (not human) Was it a good dog?
Were We Were we on vacation last December?
Were You (plural) Were you at school last week?
Were They Were they your neighbors?

Write three examples:

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It is also possible to use verb to be in the future:

Affirmative (in the future)

Subject To be Contraction Examples
I will be I’ll be I’ll be a director in 10 years
You (singular) will be You’ll be You’ll be married next year
He (man) will be He’ll be He’ll be a good student
She (woman) will be She’ll be She’ll be a good mother
It (not human) will be It’ll be It’ll be a beautiful house after painted
We will be We’ll be We’ll be good friends
You (plural) will be You’ll be You’ll be my friends forever
They will be They’ll be They’ll be a happy family

Write three examples:

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Negative (in the future)

Subject To be Contraction Examples
I will not be won’t be I won’t be a director in 10 years
You (singular) will not be won’t be You won’t be married next year
He (man) will not be won’t be He won’t be a good student
She (woman) will not be won’t be She won’t be a good mother
It (not human) will not be won’t be It won’t be a beautiful house after painted
We will not be won’t be We won’t be good friends
You (plural) will not be won’t be You won’t be my friends forever
They will not be won’t be They won’t be a happy family

Write three examples:

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Interrogative (in the future)

To be + Subject Examples
Will I be Will I be a director in 10 years?
Will you be Will you be married next year?
Will he be Will he be a good student?
Will she be Will she be a good mother?
Will it be Will it be a beautiful house after painted?
Will we be Will we be good friends?
Will you be Will you be my friends forever?
Will they be Will they be a happy family?

Write three examples:

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Read the paragraph below and circle all the forms of verb to be:

Hello, my name is Matheus and I’m 25 years old. I am from Sorocaba. At the
present I’m an English teacher, but 8 years ago I wasn’t an English teacher, I
was a student at an English course, my teacher was very intelligent and my
classmates were very dedicated. In the future, I’ll be a school director, this is
my dream. I’ll be very attentive and dedicated with the school, the teachers and
the students.
Question words

We use question words to create open questions, questions with a more

elaborated answer, analyze the two questions:

1. Are you happy?

2. Why are you happy?

In question 1 the possible answers are “yes, I am happy” or “no, I am not

happy”. But in question 2 it isn’t possible the answer just “yes” or “no”, it is
necessary to give more details:

I’m happy because…

The question words are:

• What: We use it to ask about things

Ex: What is your favorite color? (Color is a thing)

• Who: We use it to ask about people

Ex: Who is Maria? (Maria is a person)

• Which: We use it to ask about things when we give options

Ex: Which do you prefer: football or volleyball? (Football and volleyball are the
options)

• Where: We use it to ask about location

Ex: Where is your book? (I’m asking the location of your book)

• How: we use it to ask about details

Ex: How are you today? (I’m asking your feelings today, for example: fine, ok,
good, bad)

• When: We use it to ask the about dates

Ex: When is your birthday? (The date of your birthday is)

 • Why: We use it to ask the reason or motive

Ex: Why do you like English? (The reason or motive you like English)

I like English because… (we use because to answer questions with why)

• Whose: We use it to ask the possessor of an object

Ex: Whose car is this? (who is the possessor of this car)

This is my car.

Answer the questions:

a. What is your favorite food?

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b. Who is Matheus?

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c. Which do you prefer: Rock music or Pop music?

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d. Where are you at the moment?

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e. How are you today?

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f. When is your birthday?

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g. Why do you study English?

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h. Whose pen is it?

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Parts of a speech

In English we have 8 groups of words that constitute the parts of a speech,

they are:

1. Nouns: Nouns are the names of the things; names of the people, names of
the objects, names of the animals, etc.

Ex: horse, car, father, mother, love, friend, teacher, flower, etc.

• I am a teacher.

2. Adjectives: We use adjectives to attribute characteristics or descriptions to

the nouns.

Ex: Beautiful, intelligent, fat, interesting, blue, two, elegant, old, new, etc.

• She is beautiful.
• She is a beautiful girl. (In English we always use the adjectives before
the nouns)

3. Verbs: Verbs are normally actions, for example: play, study, work, run,
watch, etc. But we have verbs that are not actions, they are opinions (think,
believe, understand), they are possessions (have, possess, own), they are
emotions (like, love, dislike, hate, adore). We study stative and dynamic verbs
with more details in week 8.

• I study English every day.

• We like to play the guitar.

4. Adverbs: We use adverbs to attribute characteristics or descriptions to

verbs, adjectives or other adverbs.

Ex: Well, badly, fast, here, there, up, down, excessively, aggressively, very,
much, etc.

• I speak slowly
• She is very beautiful
• My mother drives very badly.

5. Pronouns: Pronouns are the words that substitute nouns in a sentence and
avoid repetitions, we have subject pronouns (I, you, he, she, it, we, you, they),
object pronouns (me, you, him, her, it, us, you, them), adjective pronouns (my,
your, his, her, its, our, your, their), reflexive pronouns (myself, yourself,
himself, herself, itself, ourselves, yourselves, themselves)

• Maria is my teacher. She is a good teacher. (She substitutes “Maria”)

 • I have a car. My car is red. (Specify the car I’m talking about)
• I don’t like vegetable. My mother likes them. (Substitutes “vegetables)
• He cut himself with a knife in the kitchen (Substitutes “he”)

6. Prepositions: Reveal the position or location of the things, we normally talk

about prepositions of time (in, on, at) and prepositions of place (in, on, at,
under, below, over, above, etc.). We study the prepositions with more details in
week 3

• This book is on the table

• My birthday is in November

7. Conjunctions: We conjunctions to connect words or group of words and

form sentences:

Ex: and, but, because, yet, since, so, or, etc.

• I like dogs and cats. (Connects the words dogs and cats)
• He is young but very intelligent. (Connects the words young and very
intelligent)

8. Interjection: We use an interjection to express strong emotions or to call

attention; we normally use an exclamation point or question mark after it:

Ex: Wow! Really? Oh my God/Gosh! Well done! Bravo! Oops! Listen! Hey!

• Oh my God! I am very happy.

• Really? I can’t believe in it.
• Wow! Your new car is so beautiful.

Read the sentences below and identify what is asked:

a. She is a good doctor.

Pronoun: ________________________________________________________

Verb: ___________________________________________________________

Adjective: ________________________________________________________

Noun: ___________________________________________________________

b. I love you very much.

Pronoun: ________________________________________________________
Verb: ___________________________________________________________

Adverb: __________________________________________________________

c. He is 29 years old and is from Canada.

Pronoun: ________________________________________________________

Verb: ___________________________________________________________

Adjective: ________________________________________________________

Conjunction: ______________________________________________________

Preposition: ______________________________________________________

Noun: ___________________________________________________________