Free English Grammar Course

MODULE 01 · LESSON 11 OF 11 · WORKSHOP

Foundation workshop: introduce, ask and explain

Your goal: Use everything from this module to check and improve a short message.

About 15 to 20 minutes10 questions

A checklist you can reuse

Use these five checks on any short text you write.

Subject: does every statement and question have one? An instruction does not need one.
Verb form: does the verb match the subject (she works, there are)?
Helpers: after do, does, did and can, is the main verb in the base form?
Questions: is the helper before the subject?
Sentence ends: is each complete sentence closed with a period, or joined to the next one with a joining word?

A worked revision

Here is the first draft of a welcome message. It has five mistakes.

Our center have two classrooms. Is three friendly tutors. You can asks questions at any time. Where you live? Please bring a notebook, the course starts on Monday.

Here is the corrected message.

Our center has two classrooms. There are three friendly tutors. You can ask questions at any time. Where do you live? Please bring a notebook. The course starts on Monday.

Why each change was made

Center is one thing, so the verb is has.
To say that the tutors exist, use there are.
After can, the verb is the base form: ask.
A question with where needs a helper: do.
The last line was two sentences joined with only a comma. A period fixes it.

When you get a question wrong below, go back to the lesson that teaches it. Then write a new example of your own.

Practice: answer first, then check

Say or write your answer before you open it. Your answers are not sent or saved.

Choose: A friend of my parents (lives / live) nearby.
Show the answer and the reason
Answer: lives
Why: The subject is a friend, one person, so the verb takes -s. Of my parents only tells us which friend.
Choose: (There is / There are) a message for you.
Show the answer and the reason
Answer: There is
Why: A message is one thing, so the verb is is. With two messages you would say there are.
Put the words in order: you / do / when / start work / ?
Show the answer and the reason
Answer: When do you start work?
Why: The question word comes first. Then come the helper do, the subject you and the main verb start.
Choose: Could you tell me when (is the break / the break is)?
Show the answer and the reason
Answer: the break is
Why: After a polite phrase, the question uses statement order. The subject the break comes first, then the verb is.
Make a question: Your brother works in a bank.
Show the answer and the reason
Answer: Does your brother work in a bank?
Why: Works has no helper, so add does before the subject. The main verb goes back to the base form work.
Make negative: They went home.
Show the answer and the reason
Answer: They did not go home.or They didn’t go home.
Why: The past negative is did not + base form. Went goes back to go.
Complete the question tag: You are new here, ___?
Show the answer and the reason
Answer: aren’t you
Why: A positive statement takes a negative tag. The tag repeats are and the pronoun you.
Correct the mistake: She is have a bicycle.
Show the answer and the reason
Answer: She has a bicycle.
Why: Have is the main verb here, so it does not need is. With she, have becomes has.
Correct the mistake: Because it was raining. We stayed inside.
Show the answer and the reason
Answer: Because it was raining, we stayed inside.or We stayed inside because it was raining.
Why: In writing, a part that starts with because cannot stand alone. Join it to the main part of the sentence.
Rewrite as one sentence with so: I was hungry. I made a sandwich.
Show the answer and the reason
Answer: I was hungry, so I made a sandwich.or I was hungry so I made a sandwich.
Why: The sandwich is the result of being hungry, and so introduces a result. A comma before so is usual when it joins two complete sentences. With two very short parts, you can leave it out.

Make it yours

Write a 70-word welcome message for a new neighbor or colleague. Include a statement, a question, an instruction and a sentence with because. Then use the checklist.

More practice

Continue with one of our exercises.

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