Some, any and no in English

 

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Some, any and no are quantifiers: they indicate a certain quantity or indefinite quantity. They can also be determinants or pronouns. Other undefined quantifiers are a little more precise (see this lesson here).

SOME

Some is used in affirmative sentences. It indicates that the name it determines has a real existence:

• I would like some sugar with my coffee.
• There’s some pizza in the oven. 

Some can be used in a questioning sentence, one then expects a positive answer – or if one wants to convince the interlocutor to give a positive answer:

• Would you like some tea? 
• Would you like some more information? 
• Could you give me some water? 
• Could you lend me some money? 

⚠️ Some + name can also be used to translate ‘a certain…’ or something vague:

• Some woman is asking for you. 
• Some people are driving really dangerously. 

⚠️ Some + number = ‘about’ or ‘around’

• He lives some three kilometres frome here. 

⚠️ Some can be used to express appreciation:

• He’s some singer! 
• That’s some beer! 

ANY

Any is used in negative sentences to indicate that the name it determines has no (or perhaps no) real existence:

• He doesn’t have any friend. 
• There aren’t any eggs in the fridge. 
• I didn’t buy any. 

It is also used in interrogative sentences, when it is not known whether the element to which it refers has a real existence or not.

• Do you have any family around? 
• Have you seen any horses in this park? 
• Did we get any mail today? 

Any can be used to make generalizations:

• Any student can do that. 

NO

No equals to not any. It’s used in sentences with a negative meaning, but with a positive verb:

• They have no alcohol here. 
• There are no wolves here. 

Some expressions with no:

• No problem 
• No comment 
• No vacancies 
• No entry 

Compund words with SOME-, ANY-, NO-

• somebody, anybody
• someone, anyone 
• something, anything 
• somewhere, anywhere 
• nowhere 
• nobody, no one 
• nothing 

REMEMBER

⚠️ Compare the following sentences:

• Did you buy some bread?  (we are waiting for a positive answer)
• Did you buy any bread?  (we have no idea of the answer.)

⚠️ With a count in the singular, some and any do not refer to quantity but underline the indefinite character of the name:

• We’ll meet again some day. 
• Any car will be better than this one! 

⚠️ After some and any, the name may be implied, if it is obvious:

• ‘I bought too many cakes. would you like some?’ ‘No, I don’t want any.’ 

 

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Each, Every and all

 

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Each, every and all refer to the whole set of something when they are put in front of a name:

EACH

Each is usually followed by a singular name: each element of the set is considered separately, one by one.

• Each pupil has a task to prepare the school trip. 
• He shook the hand of each candidate. 

⚠ Each can be used after a quantity or price:

• We had five cookies each. They cost 3$ each. 

EVERY

Every is followed by a singular name indicates that each element is part of a set:

• Every pupil is going on the trip. 
• Every room has a TV. 

⚠ Every becomes everyone of + a name or additional personal pronoun.

• Everyone of us is going to have fun. 

⚠ Every also expresses frequency:

• every two days 
• every day
• every time
• every five minutes 

The idea of recurrence is expressed with ‘every other‘:

• I take a shower every other day. 
• I visit him every other week-end.
• He goes to Japan every other month. 
• Every other cake is bad. 

Every allows you to compose many words:

• Everyone
• Everything
• Everywhere 

ALL

All is followed by a singular or plural name with or without a determinant. It refers to a set of elements that constitute a whole:

• All children like candies. 
• All the soldiers must wear a uniform. 
• All the boys were laughing. 

If you want to make a negative sentence with all, you have to add not before:

• Not all our friends live in London.

All can express the duration:

• It rained all day.
• He speaks all the time.
• I spent all night looking for you. 

⚠ In pronominal use, each and all are followed by of and a name or a complementary personal pronoun:

• Each of them has to bring a packed lunch. 
• We are leaving: all of us are excited. 

 

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Reflexive pronouns in English (myself, herself…)

 

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A reflexive pronoun is a pronoun that refers to a person already mentioned (the word reflected is used in the sense of reflection, like a mirror, not in the sense of reflecting on something… understood?).

Here is the list of reflexive pronouns:

• myself
• yourself
• himself
• herlsef
• itself
• ourselves
• yourselves
• themeselves

⚠️oneself is an impersonal form, mostly used in dictionaries.

Here are some verbs frequently used with reflexive pronouns:

• to clean oneself
• to burn oneself
• to cut oneself
• to help oneself
• to talk to oneself
• to wash oneself
• to look at oneself
• to defend oneself
• to dry oneself
• to introduce oneself
• to enjoy oneself
• to see oneself
• to behave oneself

They are always placed after the verb. A few examples:

• Tina was looking at herself in the mirror. 
• Be careful! You’re going to hurt yourself. 
• The computer turns itself off. 

⚠️ Depending on where it is placed, the meaning of the sentence is different:

• He cut himself. 
• He cut himself a piece of cake. 
• He cut the cake himself. 

Reflected pronouns can have an insistence value:

• Do it yourself. 
• I’ll open it myself. 

⚠️ By + reflexive pronoun reinforces the idea of insistence:

• I was by myself (ou on my own) when it happened. 
• Can you manage by yourself? 
• He can’t do that by himself. 

⚠️ In English, we do not use reflexive pronouns after certain verbs. These are mainly verbs about personal care and movement:

• to worry 
• to concentrate 
• to dress 
• to fight 
• to relax 
• to shave 
• to wake up 
• to feel 
• to hide 
• to get ready 
• to get up 
• to sit down 
• to meet
• to adapt 
• to complain 
• to remember 
• to shower 
• to lie down 

⚠️ After a preposition of place (on, about, near…), a complementary personal pronoun is used and not a reflexive pronoun:

• I haven’t got any money on myself me. 
• She put her bag near herself her. 

⚠️ Reflected pronouns can be used as the object of a preposition:

• He made a cup of coffee just for himself. 
• He was talking to himself. 
• They had to cook for themselves. 

⚠️ Reflected pronouns are used to emphasize the person or thing you are talking about, especially if you are talking about someone known (but it is not mandatory to use a reflected pronoun):

• I met the King himself. 
• Madonna herself sang at the festival. 
• The President himself announced the news. 

⚠️ Sometimes a thoughtful pronoun can be used to say ‘also’:

• Sarah was pretty drunk last night. I was pretty drunk myself.

⚠️ Do not confuse reflexive pronouns with reciprocal pronouns that serve to show a reciprocal relationship (each other and one another)! Each other and one another are interchangeable, although in principle each other is used more commonly than one another.

• We love each other. 
• We’ve known each other (= one another) for ten years. 

 

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How to use so, too, either, neither in english grammar

 

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Me too and so + auxiliary + subject

To answer affirmatively, most often we use so + auxiliary + subject. Orally, we can also say “Me too” (but this is more familiar):

• “I’m tired.” “Me too. / So am I”. 
• “She can play the piano.” “So can he!”. 
• “We have visited London.” “So have we.” 

In the present tense and the preterite, there’s no auxiliary in the affirmative starting sentence. We then use the auxiliaries of these two tenses: do (present tense) and did (past tense):

• “My brother loves coffee.” “So do I!” 
• “Paul ate a cookie.” “So did she!”

Me neither

When the starting sentence is negative, we use the structure neither + auxiliary + subject. Orally, we can also say “Me neither” (but that’s more familiar).

• “I’ve never been to Italy.” “Me neither. / Neither have I.” 
• “We shouldn’t smoke” “Neither should I.” 
• “Sarah isn’t very fat.” “Neither is her mother.” 

How to reply negatively or positively

• “I love pizzas.” “I don’t.” 

When the sentence is negative, the affirmative form is used in the contradiction answer. Remember to emphasize the ‘I’ orally!

• “I’m not tired.” “I am.” 

An equivalent of ‘yes, it’s true’ ‘yes/no, indeed’

When the sentence is affirmative and there is no auxiliary, we use the affirmative form and the auxiliary do:

• “They succeeded.” “So they did.” 

When the sentence is negative and there is for example the auxiliary have (or another one), we answer with the negative form and the same auxiliary:

• “They haven’t reached a compromise.” “So they haven’t.” 

⚠️ We can also say: (Yes) you’re right. / (Yes,) that’s true. / (No,) indeed.

⚠️ Do not confuse the order of the auxiliary!

Compare the following two sentences:

• “I succeeded”. So did he.” → He also succeeded.
• “He succeeded. ” “So he did.” → He finally succeeded.

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How to use short answers in English (me too, me neither…)

 

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ME TOO

Look at the following examples:

• “I’m tired.” “Me too / So am I”. (Orally, ‘me too’ can be said but is more familiar.)
• “She can play the piano.” “So can he!”. 
• “We have visited London.” “So have we.” 

In the present and in the past, there is no auxiliary in the affirmative starting sentence. The auxiliaries of these two times are then used: do (in the present) and did (in the past).

• “My brother loves coffee.” “So do I!” 
• “Paul ate a cookie.” “So did she!” 

NEITHER

When the starting sentence is negative, the neither + auxiliary + subject structure is used:

• “I’ve never been to Italy.” “Neither have I.” 
• “We shouldn’t smoke” “Neither should I.”
• “Sarah isn’t very fat.” “Neither is her mother.” 

Orally, we can also say ‘Me neither’ (but it’s more familiar).

I DON’T / I AM

Look at the following example:

• “I love pizzas.” “I don’t.” 

When the sentence is negative, the affirmative form is used in the contradiction response. Remember to focus on the ‘I’ when speaking!

• “I’m not tired.” “I am.” 

HOW TO SAY ‘YES, IT’S TRUE’, ‘YES / NO INDEED’

When the sentence is affirmative and there is no auxiliary, the affirmative form and the auxiliary do are used:

• “They succeeded.” “So they did.” 

When the sentence is negative and there is for example the auxiliary have (or another auxiliary), the negative form is answered with the same auxiliary.

• “They haven’t reached a compromise.” “So they haven’t.” 

⚠️ We can also say: (Yes) you’re right. / (Yes,) that’s true. / (No,) indeed.

⚠️ Do not confuse the order of the auxiliary!

Compare the following two sentences:

• “I succeeded”. So did he.” 
• “He succeeded. ” “So he did.” 

 

©Englishfornoobs.com

Question tags rules in English

 

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Question tags (are you?, isn’t it?, don’t you?, etc…) are very common in English. A positive response is expected:

• It is beautiful, isn’t it? 

When the sentence is affirmative, the question tag is negative: auxiliary + not + subject pronoun

This tag allows you to ask for confirmation:

• She can speak english, can’t she? 
• He has written a book, hasn’t he? 

In the present and in the past, there is no auxiliary in the affirmative statement, so we use the auxiliary of these two tenses: do and did.

• He looks young, doesn’t he? 
• Paul sent you a message, didn’t he? 

When the sentence is negative, the question tag is positive. We expect a negative response:

• “You haven’t finished your homework, have you?” “Not yet!” 
• He doesn’t like bananas, does she? 
• They haven’t arrived yet, have they? 

With the verb be in the first person singular (I), the negative tag is formed with are and not am:

• I am tanned, arent’t I? 

For imperative sentences, we use a positive tag with will:

• Open the door, will you?  
• Don’t come in, will you?  

⚠️ Question tags are very often used to ask for confirmation: their intonation is then descending, as in an affirmative sentence.

⚠️ You can have a question tag in an affirmative sentence to express a reaction (surprise, irony, solicitude). The intonation is then rising:

• You think you’re smart, do you? 

 

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How to write dates in English

 

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Write the date

There are several ways to write the date in English:

• 13th June 2018
• June 13th, 2018
• 13 June, 2018
• June 13, 2018

The most commonly used forms are 13 June, 2018 and June 13, 2018. The name of the day is rarely mentioned in writing. Be careful, you must always write the days and months with a capital letter!

⚠️ Dates written in numbers have a different meaning in British or American English:

• British English: 10.5.17 (or 10/5/17)
• American English: 10.5.17 (or 10/5/17)

Say the date

There are several ways to say the date in English. There are also differences between British and American English:

British English: 14 July 2010 (14.07.10 or 14/07/10) =

• July the fourteenth, two thousand and ten
• The fourteenth of July, two thousand and ten

American English:  14 July 2010 (7.14.10 or 7/14/10) =

• July fourteenth, two thousand and ten

Dates with one or more zeros are said in special ways:

• 1900 = nineteen hundred
• 1907 = nineteen o seven
• 2007 = two thousand and seven
• 2000 = the year two thousand

The date is divided into two parts:

• 1998 = nineteen / ninety-eight

From 2010, the dates are indicated indifferently:

• 2010 = two thousand and ten OR twenty-ten
• 2015 = two thousand and fifteen OR twenty-fifteen

Refer to a time

Be careful when choosing the proposal:

We use in to talk about a year, a month, a century or a period in general:

• in July 
• in 1972 
• in the afternoon 

We use one to talk about a specific day:

• on May 1st 
• on a Saturday
• on Friday evening 

We use at in front of the hours and for certain periods of time:

• at 7 a.m. 
• at Christams 
• at weekends 

 

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Basic Punctuation in English

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How to use punctuation in English?

The period (.) and comma (,)

We say period in American English and full stop in British English. It’s used to mark the end of a sentence. We also use it:

• After the abbreviations: Ms. Smith (Mrs. or Miss Smith)
• Before the decimals: 1.7 (one point seven)
• In the email addresses: google.com (Google dot com, or Google dot com).

In English, the comma is used to mark the addition of a comment in a sentence.

Compare the following sentences:

• Her sister, who is a doctor, lives in New York. 
• Her sister who is a doctor lives in New York. 

In dialogues, the comma is placed before the quotation marks:

• “You should leave,” he said. 

THE OTHER SIGNS

The dash (-) sometimes replaces the period or comma in emails and SMS:

• If you cook some pasta – or a pizza – keep some for me in the fridge. 

Apostrophes (‘) are used to mark possession:

• This is my friend’s car. 

They are also used for word contractions:

• She’s leaving tomorrow. 

It is also used instead of suspension points (in a sentence left open, to indicate hesitation for example):

• So – you’re going to the cinema again? 

The exclamation mark is used to express strong emotion, anger or surprise:

• How can people behave like that! 
• Catch them all. 

⚠️ Be careful, in English we don’t put spaces before punctuation marks ; ! ? :

Quotation marks in English ” “ (or “”) are used to frame quotations and are placed after the comma and period.

• Jean-Paul Sartre said, “Everything has been figured out, except how to live.”

USEFUL VOCABULARY

SIGN	MEANING
.	a full stop
()	brackets / parentheses (US)
…	dots
:	a colon
” ” or “”	in inverted commas
/	a slash
!	an exclamation mark
?	a question mark
;	a semi-colon
– (between two words)	a hyphen
–	a dash
,	a comma

 

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Prefixes and suffixes

 

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Prefixes and suffixes in English: what is it?

These are letters that attach to a basic word to transform it into a new word (it can be a noun, an adjective, a verb or an adverb). Prefixes go in front, and suffixes go behind that word.

The same word can have one or more translations depending on the prefix or suffix that is added to it, and there are many of them!

⚠️ Prefixes and suffixes each have a meaning, for example:

• the prefixes dis-, il-, im-, ir- have a negative value, opposite: appear → disappear
• the prefix un- means the opposite: friendly → unfriendly
• the prefix mis- means ‘wrongly’: understand → misunderstand
• the suffix -ity has an exaggeration value: brutal → brutality
• the suffix -wards implies the direction: back → backwards

and so on….

The prefixes

Here are the main English prefixes in a table.

Prefixes	Example
co-	co-worker, co-pilot, co-operation
de-	devalue, defrost, derail, demotivate
dis-	disagree, disappear, disintegrate, disapprove
em-, en-	embrace, encode, embed, enclose, engulf
ex-	ex-president, ex-boyfriend, exterminate, ex-wife
extra-	extracurricular, extraordinary, extra-terrestrial
fore-	forecast, forehead, foresee, foreword, foremost
il-	illegal
im-	import, impossible, impolite
in-	inside, insert, indefinite
inter-, intra-	interact, intermediate, intergalactic, intranet
ir-	irresponsible
micro-	microscope, microbiology, microfilm, microwave
mid-	middle, midway, midsummer
mis-	misbehave, mistake, misunderstand, misread
mono-	monotone, monobrow, monolithic
out-	outpatient, outive sb
over-	overstate, overrated
post-	post-mortem, postpone, post-natal, post-war
pre-	prepaid, preschool
re-	return, rediscover, refresh, reunite
sub-	submerge, submarine, sub-category, subtitle
super-	superfood, superstar, supernatural, supermarket
trans-	transport, transnational, transatlantic, transparent
tri-	triangle, tripod, tricycle
un-	unfinished, unfriendly, undone, unknown, unable, unhappy
under-	undergournd, underestimate
uni-	unicycle, universal, unilateral, unanimous
up-	uproot, upgrade
mini-	minivan, minimarket

⚠️ We use im- instead of in- with words that start with the letter m or p: There are a few rules to remember:

• impolite
• impossible

⚠️ Many words with a prefix or suffix have a base that does not exist by itself, for example immediate (the word mediate alone does not exist).

Suffixes

It’s the same as for prefixes except that they are added at the end!

⚠️ The same word can have different meanings depending on the suffixes assigned to it, and can transform it into a noun or adjective:

• read + er = reader 
• read + able = readable

⚠️ you can also put both a prefix and a suffix to certain words!

• un + read + able = unreadable 

Suffix	Example
SUFFIX TO A NAME
-acy	democracy, accuracy, lunacy
-al	remedial, denial, trial, criminal
-ance, -ence	nuisance, ambience, tolerance
-dom	freedom, boredom, kingdom
-ee	employee, trainee
-er, -or	reader, creator, interpreter, inventor, collaborator, teacher
-holic	alcoholic
-hood	brotherhood, childhood, neighbourhood
-ism	communism, scepticism, socialislm
-ist	geologist, protagonist, sexist, scientist, theorist, communist
-ity, -ty	brutality, equality, cruelty
-ment	government, argument
-ness	happyness, highness, sickness
-ship	friendship, hardship, internship, relationship
-sion, -tion	position, promotion, cohesion
SUFFIX TO A VERB
-ate	irritate, collaborate, create, complicate
-en	sharpen, strengthen, loosen, harden, soften
-ify, -fy	justify, simplify, magnify, satisfy, clarify
-ise, -ize	publicise, synthesise, hypnotise
ADJECTIVE SUFFIXES
-ible	edible, incredible, audible
-able, -ible	usable, laughable
-al	fiscal, thermal, herbal, colonial
-ese	Chinese, Japanese, Vietnamese
-en	broken, golden, wooden
-esque	picturesque, burlesque, grotesque
-ful	handful, playful, hopeful, skilful, armful, useful
-ic,	classic, Islamic, poetic
-ical	psychological, hypocritical, methodical, nonsensical, musical
-ious, -ous	jealous, religious, ridiculous
-ish	spanish, british, childish
-ive	inquisitive, informative, attentive
-less	meaningless, hopeless, homeless
-ly	daily, monthly, weekly
-y	dainty, beauty, airy, jealousy
-est	biggest
ADVERB SUFFIXES
-ly	softly, slowly, happily, crazily, madly, easily
-ward, -wards	towards, afterwards, backwards, inward
-wise	otherwise, likewise, clockwise

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Need and needn’t grammar rules

 

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Need is a regular verb that can be used as a lexical verb or as a modal. It expresses the necessity for something.

Need as a MAIN verb

You can use need as the main verb in a sentence with the following construction: need to + verb (to express a necessity, the need to do something) or need + noun (gerund) (to say that you need something) :

• I need to have a shower. 
• She needs to talk to him. 

For the negative and interrogative form, we use do/does and don’t/doesn’t :

• Do I need to show my passport? 
• Does she need my car? 
• You don’t need to go there. 
• He doesn’t need my help. 

⚠️ Don’t forget the final -s after he needs, she needs, it needs.

For the simple past, we add -ed to need: we get “needed“. For the interrogative and negative form, we use did and didn’t:

• He needed some eggs to make a cake. 
• He didn’t need to take his umbrellas. 
• Did he need my computer? 

You can use the formula need + verb-ing, similar to need to be + past participle.

• The windows need (or don’t need) cleaning. (= the windows need to be cleaned).

Need as a modal auxiliary

Need can also be used as a modal aid to the present, but only to the negative form and to the first person of the interrogative form (I or we).

⚠️ Be careful, however, these phrases are not often used :

In questions to ask about need, necessity :

• Need I take an umbrella ? 
• Need we finish the work today? 

The negative form need not (or needn’t) + verbal basis (without to) expresses the absence of obligation or necessity:

• We need not hurry. 
• It’s going to rain, you need’t take an umbrella. 

⚠️ As these formulas are rarely used, we use have to or need to instead :

• Do I have to take an umbrella? = Do I need to take an umbrella?
• Do we have to finish the work today? = Do we need to finish the work today?
• You don’t have to take an umbrella = You don’t need to take an umbrella
• We don’t have to hurry = We don’t need to hurry

To talk about actions that have been done but were not necessary: we use need not (or needn’t) + present perfect simple :

• They needn’t have waited for us. 

NEED USED AS A NAME

Need can also be a name, it means a necessity :

• Water is a need. 

DON’T FORGET!

⚠️ Do not confuse needn’t, which expresses the absence of obligation, with mustn’t, which expresses prohibition :

• You need’nt come  (the negation concerns need)
• You mustn’t come  (the negation concerns come)

⚠️ The structure need + verbal basis + ing is often used to say that something needs to be repaired or improved :

• Your bike needs repairing. 
• His english is bad. He needs practicing. 

 

©Englishfornoobs.com