40s Singleness-Learn English Online

In English we use adverbs to describe or modify verbs. They tell how, when, and where and can make your writing more interesting.

Many times we add -ly to an adjective to make an adverb.

For example, "The new computer worked beautifully."

By adding -ly to beautiful, we can tell how the computer worked. Here are some other examples using the same subject--the computer.

"The new computer worked quickly."
"The new computer worked fast."
"The new computer was working yesterday."
"It's working fast."
"It's working slow today."

Adverbs can also be used to describe adjectives.

For example, "Fabiola is a very hard worker."

and

"Matt is usually late."

and

"Luis is always conscientious about his work."

We can also use them to compare actions.

For example, "Victor works more quickly than Xing."

and

"Xing works more carefully than Victor."

Sometimes adverbs can join clauses together.

For example, "We'll do our bellwork, then have our lesson."

Adverbs of frequency-
The placement of adverbs of frequency, words that tell us how often something is happening, such as never, always, and sometimes depend upon the verb.

If the sentence contains one verb (there is no auxiliary verb such as to be), the adverb goes before the verb. For example, "I always brush my teeth when I wake up." If the sentence does contain an auxiliary verb, the adverb comes after the verb. For example, "The math teacher is always late to school." The exception to this is the very short sentence. For example, "He always is."

If the sentence contains more than one verb, the adverb is placed after the first verb. For example, "He can never get here on time."

Sometimes the adverb is placed at the beginning or end of a sentence for emphasis-usually at the end. For example, "Sometimes he manages to get here on time." or "He manages to get here early sometimes."

See how you do!

Today's idiom...

white elephant




A white elephant is an expensive, useless item. For example, "The town's new convention center, with a cost of over $5 million, is a white elephant."


*click on the image to order it from allposters.com

From Humor and stories for interpreters: Our crazy English language!

Fat chance and slim chance mean the same thing.

Flammable and inflammable mean the same thing.

There is a whole collection of words called "Janus-faced" or "contronym" words.

Examples:

(source "Crazy English" by Richard Lederer)

WITH: a) alongside b) against
a) England fought with France against Germany.
b) England fought with France.

CLIP: a) fasten b) separate
a) Clip the coupon to the newspaper
b) Clip the coupon from the newspaper

FAST: a) firmly in one place b) rapidly from on place to another
a) The pegs held the test fast.
b) She ran fast.

BOLT: a) to secure in place b) to dart away
a) I'll bolt the door.
b) Did you see the horse bolt?

TRIM: a) add things to b) cut away
a) Let's trim the Christmas tree.
b) Let's trim the hedge.

DUST: a) remove material from b) spread material on
a) Three times a week they dust the floor.
b) Three times each season they dust the crops.

WEATHER: a) withstand b) wear away
a) Strong ships weather storms.
b) Wind can weather rocks.

HANDICAP: a) advantage b) disadvantage
a) What's your handicap in golf?
b) His lack of education is a handicap.

COMMENCEMENT: a) beginning b) conclusion
a) Beautiful weather marked the commencement of spring.
b) She won an award at her high school commencement.

HOLD UP: a) support b) hinder
a) Please hold up the sagging branch.
b) Accidents hold up the flow of traffic.

KEEP UP: a) continue to fall b) continue to stay up
a) The farmers hope that the rain will keep up.
b) Damocles hoped that the sword above his head would keep up.

LEFT: a) departed from b) remaining
a) Ten people left the room
b) Five people were left in the room.

DRESS: a) put items on b) remove items from
a) Let's dress for the ball
b) Let's dress the chicken for cooking

TEMPER: a) soften b) strengthen
a) You must temper your anger with reason.
b) Factories temper steel with additives.

CLEAVE: a) separate b) adhere firmly
a) A strong blow will cleave a plank in two.
b) Bits of metal cleave to a magnet.

STRIKE: a) secure in place b) remove
a) Use a firm grip to strike the nail.
b) When the show is over, we'll strike the set.

GIVE OUT: a) produce b) stop producing
a) A good furnace will give out enough energy to heat the house.
b) A broken furnace will often give out.

SANCTION: a) give approval of b) censure
a) The NCAA plans to sanction the event
b) Should our country impose a new sanction on Libya?

SCREEN: a) view b) hide from view
a) Tonight the critics will screen the film.
b) Defensemen mustn't screen the puck.

OVERSIGHT: a) careful supervision b) neglect
a) The foreman was responsible for the oversight of the project.
b) The foreman's oversight ruined the success of the project.

QUALIFIED: a) competent b) limited
a) The candidate for the job was fully qualified.
b) The dance was a qualified success.

MOOT: a) debatable b) not worthy of debate
a) Capital punishment is a moot point.
b) That the earth revolves around the sun is a moot point.

CERTAIN: a) definite b) difficult to specify
a) I am certain about what I want in life.
b) I have a certain feeling about the plan.

MORTAL: a) deadly b) subject to death
a) The knight delivered a mortal blow.
b) All humans are mortal.

BUCKLE: a) fasten together b) fall apart
a) Safe drivers buckle their sear belts.
b) Unsafe buildings buckle at the slightest tremor of the earth.

TRIP: a) to stumble b) to move gracefully
a) Don't trip on the curb.
b) Let's trip the light fantastic.

PUT OUT: a) generate b) extinguish
a) The candle put out enough light for us to see.
b) Before I went to bed, I put out the candle.

UNBENDING: a) rigid b) relaxing
a) On the job Smith is completely unbending.
b) Relaxing on the beach is a good way of unbending.

WEAR: a) endure through use b) decay through use
a) This suit will wear like iron.
b) Water can cause mountains to wear.

SCAN: a) examine carefully b) glance at hastily
a) I scan the poem.
b) Each day, I scan the want ads.

FIX: a) restore b) remove part of
a) It's time to fix the fence.
b) It's time to fix the bull.

SEEDED: a) with seeds b) without seeds
a) The rain nourished the seeded field.
b) Would you like some seeded raisins?

CRITICAL: a) opposed b) essential to
a) Joanne is critical of our effort
b) Joanne is critical to our effort.

THINK BETTER: a) admire more b) be suspicious of
a) I think better of the first proposal than the second.
b) If I were you, I'd think better of that proposal.

TAKE: a) obtain b) offer
a) Professional photographers take good pictures.
b) Professional models take good pictures.

IMPREGNABLE: a) invulnerable to penetration b) able to be impregnated
a) The castle was so strongly built that it was impregnable.
b) Treatments exist for making a childless woman more impregnable.

BELOW PAR: a) excellent b) poor
a) Her below par score won the golf tournament.
b) I'm disappointed in you below par performance on the spelling test.

DOWN HILL: a) adverse b) easy
a) When the source of the capital dried up, the fortunes of the corporation went down hill.
b) After you switch to diet drinks, it will be all down hill for your weight-loss program.

WIND UP: a) start b) end
a) I have to wind up my watch.
b) Now I have to wind up this discussion of curious and contrary contronyms.

- Stan Niles

Sentence construction and word order are very important in writing English. Here are a few rules concerning adjective placement in sentences.

In English, adjectives modify nouns and are placed before them in a sentence.

For example, "That is a beautiful painting!"

In this sentence the adjective beautiful modifies the noun painting and is placed before it in the sentence.

If more than one adjective modifies the noun, they are placed before the noun in the following order:

1. Opinion
2. Dimension
3. Age
4. Shape
5. Color
6. Origin
7. Material

For example, "She's wearing an ugly purple wool sweater."

Adjectives can be placed at the end of a sentence if they describe the subject.

For example, "The painting is beautiful!"

Try these exercises to test your use of adjectives.

Here are 3 New Year's listening activities from ello.org. Just click each picture to go to the activity.