English Grammar

for Dummies
By Geraldine Woods
Lesson 1
• You need to know where you are and what’s going on. Most important,
you need to now your audience.

• Friendspeak -> conversational English -> formal English

• When you’re unsure of your audience, play it safe and opt for formal
English
Conversational speak used when you talk to ;
Family members, neighbors, acquaintances
Informal conversations w/ teachers and co-workers
Friendly conversations w/ your supervisors
Notes, e-mails, instant messages, or text to friends
Comments in internet chat rooms, bulletin boards, so on
Friendly letters to relatives
Show your etiquette! It’s a formal English
conversation..
 Bussiness letters or e-mails
 Letters or e-mails to government officials
 Office memos or e-mails
 Reports
 Homework
 Communications to teachers
 Speechs, presentations, oral reports
 Important conversations such as job interviews, college interviews,
parole hearings, inquitions, etc
Lesson 1 Completed
Lesson 2
Linking Verbs (means equality or give information about the subjects)
The most linking verbs that we use :
Forms to be : am, is, are, was, were, will be, shall be, has been, have
been, had been, could be, should be, would be, might have been, could
have been, shall have been, will have been, must have been, must be
Sensory verbs : look, sound, taste, smell, feel
Words that express shades of meaning in reference to a state of being :
appear, seem, grow, remain, stay
For example:
• Ralph’s uncle is a cannibal with a taste for finger food
Ralph’s uncle = cannibal
• With his foot-long fingernails and sly smile, Big Foot seemed
threatening.
Big Foot = threatening
• Two minutes after shaving, Ralph’s double chin feels scratchy
Ralph’s double chin = scratchy
Slang and New Vocabularies
• PHAT means : Pretty, Hot, and Tempting
• Punctuation : Tanda baca
• Ttyl : Talk to you later
• G2g : go to go ( I have got to go)
• Bbl : be back later ( I’ll be back later)
• Omdb : over my dead body