To express degrees of necessity we can use various modal verbs. 100% Necessity You must leave straight away. You have [got] to leave straight away. must is used when the necessity is dictated by the speaker's authority. have [got] to is used when the necessity is...
TEFL Lesson Planning
A Lesson Plan is the outline of what will be taught in a single lesson. It is, if you like, a road map for the hour or 90 minutes or so you will spend with the class. Creating a good lesson plan is vitally important for a successful lesson and good teachers invariably...
Noun Phrases in English Grammar
When we use nouns, we often use them with one or more other words to make a noun phrase. A noun phrase therefore is a group of words which contains a noun and one or more words that describe it further. Very often we put a determiner in front of the noun to make a...
What is Phonetics?
Phonetics is the branch of linguistics which studies the sounds of speech and they way in which they are interpreted. Contrast this with phonology which is the study of the sound system of a language. Phonetics looks at the way in which sounds are produced (the...
TEFL Syllabus
The Syllabus is the outline of language to be taught to a class over a particular course (term, semester, etc). It can be seen as a step in the hierarchy of learning and teaching English. At best it will be designed by the school Director of Studies; at worst there...
Past Perfect Simple in English Grammar
The past perfect simple is used to talk about events which happened in the past before another event also in the past. It is mainly used thus: I had walked for about twenty minutes before I realized I'd left my wallet behind. It's usually followed by the past...
Varieties of English
Varieties of English are the different kinds of English used around the world. Often these are geographically based. The varieties are more or less similar and while most English speakers can understand each other, there are occasional problems. The four people in the...
Teaching English Vocabulary
When Teaching Vocabulary, many teachers still resort to long word lists which the students are expected to translate into their mother tongue, learn and remember. This approach to teaching vocabulary is rather dull and mechanical. It has limited impact and there is...
Grammars of English
An English Grammar - as a countable noun - is a book which explains the grammar of the English language. Compare this to grammar - as a non-countable noun - which is the set of rules which explain how language is used. Thus we can say a grammar is full of grammar....
Concrete & Abstract Nouns in English Grammar
Nouns are words used to name objects, concepts, ideas, things and so on. We can classify nouns in different ways including dividing them into Concrete Nouns and Abstract Nouns. Concrete Nouns include: house banana football school Abstract Nouns include: love humor...