Neither... nor

We use neither ...nor in combining two clauses. it is used to

say that two ideas are connected together. Neither...nor is

used to make a negative statement or to group two things or

people together.

Rules of neither...nor :

1/Case one:

Neither +subject1+nor+subject2+verb(without negative form)+...

For example:

Ahmed does not play football

Rida does not play football

Neither Ahmed nor Rida play football

2/Case two:

subject+Neither+verb1+nor+verb2+....

For example:

Julia does not play tennis

Julia does not read books

Julia neither play tennis nor read books

3/Case three:

Subject+verb+neither +complement1+nor+complement2

For example:

Hana does not like cats

Hana does not like dogs

Hana likes neither cats nor dogs

Or you may use the expression Both... and only with the third 

case .for example:

Hana does not like both cats and dogs

Or:

Jasmine plays football

Jasmine plays handball

Jasmine plays both football and handball

Asking Questions

In asking questions , we have two types: WH questions and 

yes/no questions.

In WH questions ,there are many words to use , the famous 

words and important ones in the English language are:

What : used in asking for information about something. For 

example: what is your favorite colour?

When: used in asking about time. For example : when did he 

leave?

Where : used in asking about place or position . For example : 

where do you live?

Which : used in asking about choice. For example : which 

country do you want to visit ?

Who : used in asking about the person (subject). For example : 

who opened the window ?

Why : used in asking for reason , what...for. For example : why 

do you eat this ?

How : used in asking about manner. For example : how does 

this work .

Other words used in asking questions are :

Whom : used in asking about what or which person or

people(object) .For example: whom did you met?

Whose: used in asking about ownership.For example: whose

turn is it?

How far:used in asking about distance. For example: how far 

is Algeria from France.

How long : used in asking about length (time or space). For

example: how long will it take?

How many : used in asking about quantity(countable). For

example: how many houses are there?

How much : used in asking about quantity (uncountable). For

example: how much money do you have?

How old : used in asking about age. For example: how old are

you ?

Unless

An other way to express condition is through the link word 

Unless which means except if and if ....not.

We use unless to say that something will happen if something 

else does not stop it happening.

For example:

We will be late unless we hurry.

Unless we take risks , you will not achieve anything.

We will walk to the city unless it rains.

Expressing Obligation , Prohibition and absence of Obligation

To express obligation we use : must and have to .

1/ Expressing Obligation :

we use must and have to to express obligation 

Must or have to + verb in the infinitive

For example: 

You have to stop smoking .

You must have a passport to visit Italy.

I must study hard to pass my BAC exam.

2/ Expressing Prohibition :

We use must not to express prohibition.

Must not + verb in the infinitive

For example :

You must not use the mobile phone in the classroom.

Children must not enter this area ,they may harm themselves.

3/ Expressing Absence of Obligation :

We use do not have to , need not and do not need to , to

express absence of obligation.

Do not have to , need not , do not need to + verb in the 

infinitive

For example :

You do not need to play football.

I do not have to wear the uniform outside school.

Expressing Advice

To express advice we use had better. Had better may be 

replaced by should and ought to.

For example :

You look sick today, you had better go to the doctor.

You look sick today, you should go to the doctor.

You had better stop smoking.

The negative form: 

Had better = had better not

For example:

It is getting sunny , i had better not close the window now.

Note : we use had better and had better not + verb in the infinity 

without "to"

Reported Speech

Reported Speech is about reporting what another person has

said. For example : 

Direct speech                                                   Reported speech

He says:"i like red color"                 He says that he likes red color.

-in reported speech, things change according to the situation so

following the rule will led to correct transformation.

Direct speech                                                        Reported speech

-Present simple                                        -Past simple

I am a student.                                         He said he was a student.

-Present continuous                                 -Past continuous

I am having dinner with my family.     He said he was having

                                                                       dinner with his family.

-Present perfect simple                        -Past perfect simple

I have been to America two times.      He said he had been to

                                                                     America two times.

-Present perfect continuous            -Past perfect continuous

I have been playing hard.                  He said he had been                                                                                                 playing  hard.

-Past simple                                          -Past perfect

I bought a new house.                          He said he had bought a

                                                                      new house.

-Past continuous                                -Past perfect continuous

It was raining yesterday.                      He said it had been 

                                                                     raining the previous day.

-Past perfect                                                  -Past perfect

The film had started when i arrived.       No change

-Past perfect continuous                  -Past perfect continuous

I had already been living i France for four years .            No      

                                                                                                   change

-Yes or No questions:

Direct speech :                                  

The teacher asked us :"do you like this lesson".

Reported speech:

The teacher asked us if we liked that lesson.

-"Wh" questions :

Direct speech:

Sali asked me :"where is your red dress".

Reported speech:

Sali asked me where my red dress was.

-Other verbs and time references also change as:

Will                                                               Would

I will come and meet you soon.          He said he would come and

                                                                         meet me soon.

Can                                                                 Could 

I can swim .                                                 He said he could swim.

Must                                                               Had to

All tickets must be bought in advance.              He said that all the

                                                  tickets Had to be bought in advance.

Shall                                                               Should

What shall we do about the film?        He asked what we

                                                                    should do about the film.  

May                                                             Might 

May i smoke?                                         He asked if he might smoke.  


Now                                      Then
Today                                   That day
Here                                      There
This                                       That
This week                             That week
Tomorrow               The following day , the next day, the day after. Yesterday                           The previous day , the day before.
Last week                            The previous week , the week before.
Two weeks ago                    Two weeks before.
Tonight                                  That night.

-Personal pronouns change:

Subject pronouns                         Object pronouns
I                                                         Me

You                                                   You

He                                                    Him

She                                                  Her

It                                                      It

We                                                 Us

They                                              Them

Possessive pronouns                       Reflexive pronouns

My                                                       Myself

Your                                                    Yourself/yourselves

His                                                      Himself

Her                                                     Herself

Its                                                       Itself

Our                                                    Ourselves

Their                                                  Themselves

                 

Prepositions Part Two

Other important prepositions are :

-Prepositions of Time :

-Since :used for a particular point of time which started from it .

For example: since 1960 , we did not travel to China.

-For : used to mean over that time . For example : for three years

, i am practicing football.

-Ago: used to mean earlier than that time . For example : nine

years ago, i used to travel a lot.

-Prepositions of place :

-By, Next to ,Beside: used to mean that something or someone is

right or left of something or someone. For example: John is next

to the car.

-Under : used to mean on the ground, lower than something. For

example: a ghost under the table.

-Above: used to mean on a high level . For example: a house

above the lake.

-Across: used to mean going to an other side. For example: i

walked across the long street.

-Into : used to mean getting in something . For example: can you

go into the house please?

-Prepositions also used to describe or show movement like:

against , along , down , from , toward , out of . For example : i am

getting out of the house . I am walking toward the hospital.

Prepositions Part One

Prepositions are words used with nouns  which shows the link

between the other words in a sentence. Prepositions indicate

the place (location), direction and time.

Prepositions of  Time : 

At: used for specific time . For example: i will meet you at 12:00

pm.

On: used with days and dates . For example : my birthday in on

Tuesday.

In:used with non specific time ,season , date. For example : i

started the job in 1980.

Prepositions of place : 

At: used with a particular address. For example: John live at 40

road near the theater.

On: used for showing names of streets. For example : my house

is on Washington street.

In: used with the names of countries, states, towns. For example

: i live in Canada.

Tenses

 Tenses

-Simple present : 

i play football on Tuesday. She plays football on Tuesday.

Negative form : i do not play football on Tuesday .

Question form : do you play football.

-Simple past :

she played football on Thursday.

Negative form : they did not play football on Monday.

Question form : did you play football on Saturday?

-Simple future: 

I will play football tomorrow

Negative form : i will not play football next Monday .

Question form : will you play football next week?

-Present continuous : 

She is working in a company.

Negative form : he is not working in a company.

Question form : is he working in a company ?

-Past continuous :

I was working in a company.

Negative form : he was not working in a company.

Question form : was he working in a company ?

-future continuous: 

I will be working in a company.

Negative form : i will not be working in a company.

Question form : will you be working in a company ?

-Present perfect : 

I have seen Smith three times .

Negative form :she has not seen Smith three times.

Question form : has she see Smith ?

-Past perfect : 

I had eaten before you came.

Negative form : she had not eaten before you came.

Question form: had you eaten before i came ?.

-Future perfect : 

They will have finished their homework at time.

Negative form : we will not have finished our homework at

time.

Question form : how long will you have finished your work ?

-present perfect continuous : 

She has been waiting for three hours.

Negative form :he has not been waiting for three hours.

Question form : how long have you been waiting for Joune?

-Past perfect continuous: 

She had been waiting for three hours.

Negative form : she had not been waiting for three hours.

Question form : how long had you been waiting?

-Future perfect continuous : 

They will have been waiting for three hours.

Negative form : they will not have been waiting for three hours.

Question form : how long will you have been waiting for Smith ?.

Silent Letters

Silent letters are letters you can not hear when you say the

word and this caused in difficulties in  pronunciation and

spelling . 

-The letter B is silent in the combination "mb" found at the end

of the word . For example : comb , lamb , limb ,bomb.

-The letter C is silent in "sc" found at the beginning of a word

before "i,e and y". For example : scythe, muscle, scientist.

-The letter D is silent in the following words: sandwich,

Wednesday.

-The letter G is silent in "gn" found at the end of a word . For

example : design , campaign, resign .

-The letter H is silent in the combination "rh" found at the

beginning of a word and also in the combination "wh". For

example :rhetoric, rhythm, when , while.

-The letter K is silent in the combination "kn" found at the

beginning of a word .For example : know , knowledge, knee.

-The letter L is often silent before "d, f ,m and k"found at the

beginning of a word . For example : could , behalf , walk,

salmon.

-The letter P is silent in "ps" and "pn" found at the beginning

of a word . For example : psychologist, pneumatic.

-The letter S is silent in these words : aisle, island,

bourgeois .

-The letter T is silent in words ending in "stle" and "sten". For

example : castle, often .

-The letter W is silent in the combination "who" and "wr" found

at the beginning of a word . For example : who , whose,

wrist,write.

-The GH is silent in these words : right, neighbour,high,

daughter.

-The letter U is silent in these words : guilty, guide, guitar . 

Punctuation

 

-Full Stop:[.]: 

We put it at the end of the sentence . For example :

i am sick .

-Question Mark[?] :

 Come after a direct question .for example :  

where do you live?

-Exclamation Mark[!] : 

Come at the end of the sentence to 

express surprise or chock .for example : i can not believe this !

-Comma[,] :

 used between items being on a list or to show a

pause in a long sentence or in adding extra information . For

Example: i need a paper, a black pen , a pencil and a book. They

did not want to go before I'd arrived , but i was tow hours late.

Jane , our cousin , is sick.

-Apostrophe['] : 

Used for missing letters or possessives .for example : 

don't , it's . George's car .

-Quotation Mark [""/<>/()/{}] : 

Also called inverted commas. To show that words are spoken or

to show that someone else originally wrote these words. For

example : she said : " let's go shopping". 

-Colon [:] : 

Used to introduce a list or a quotation in a sentence . 

For example : you will need these things : peas , butter, sugar , 

milk and eggs.

Plural

Simple rule for giving the plural :

-the general rule said that the singular word in turning it to the

plural you add (s). For example : a girl = girls ,

-Nouns which ends with : s , z , x , sh , ch add to it (es). For

example: A glass=glasses/a watch=watches.

-Nouns which ends with a consonant +y , change the (y) to (i) 

and add (es) . For example: a baby = babies.

-Nouns which ends in (f or fe ) change it to (v ) and add (es) . For 

example : a life =lives.

-The case of irregular plural . For example: a child=children 

A foot =feet

A man = men 

A mouse = mice

A tooth = teeth

A woman = women 

Capital Letters

Capital letters are used in the following cases :

-In the first letter of a sentence .for example: Today is a good

day.

-For countries : for example: America, Canada.

-Nationalities: Algerian , Australian.

-Languages: English , French , Italian .

-Religious: Islam .

-Names of people: Jane, George.

-Places: Istanbul.

-Organizations: The United Nations .

-Trademarks: Coca Cola .

-Months and days : January , Saturday .

-Titles: Mr.|Mrs.|Dr.|Professor.

-Titles of books , films : Pride and Prejudice.

Linking Words

Linking Words are terms used to link sentences with each

other. they are different and used for different purposes which

are :

-Adding information : 

In addition to , besides, apart from ,moreover, furthermore,too, 

also , as well as .

-Sequencing ideas : 

The following , lastly, the first point is , 

finally , first , second , the former , the latter .

-Giving result : 

So , therefore , consequently ,as a result .

-Giving reason : 

Since, as , because of , because , due to .

-Contrasting ideas: 

Unlike, while , whereas, nonetheless, nevertheless, however ,

but , although , even though , despite , despite the fact that .

-Summarising: 

In conclusion , to conclude, in short, in brief ,to 

summarise, in summary.

Pronunciation of /s/, /z / and /iz/

-The rule of pronouncing the final /s/,/z/ and /iz/ is :

For /s/: words which ends with these letters : k, p , t, f , th and ph

are pronounced as /s/. For example: audits, groups, works ,

myths ...

For /z/ : words which ends with these letters : r, m ,n , b , d , g , l

, V and y are pronounced as /z/. For example: employees,

supporters, problems, relations , words , deals ...

For /iz/: words which ends with these letters : c, s , x , z, ss, ch ,sh

and ge are pronounced as /iz/. For example: changes,

businesses, boxes , watches ...

Pronunciation of | t | , | d | and |id |

The rule of pronouncing / t / , / d / and / id /  is :

For /t/ : words which ends with these letters : k, ss ,sh ,ch ,p ,f , c

and  x  are pronounced as /t /.

Example :

Developed ,danced , worked , watched , finished ....

For / d / : words which ends with these letters : v , n , r , y , s , b ,

g , l , m ,z , w and j are pronounced as / d/ .

Example :

Believed , turned , enjoyed , considered , called , closed ...

For / id / : words which ends with these letters : t and d are

pronounced / id / .

Example:

Permitted ,attended...

Comparative and Superlative

 -Comparative:

1/Comparative of equality:

As + adjective + as

As + adjective + as

Example:

George as tall as Smith 

2/Comparative of superiority:

Short adjectives:

*Adjective +er + than

Example:

January is colder than April 

*Adjective + ier + than 

Example:

Marseil is prettier than Paris 

*Doubling the consonant + er + than 

Example:

The elephant is bigger than the tiger 

*Irregular adjectives as : good became better , bad became

worse 

Example :

Science is better than physics 

Long adjectives :

*more + adjective + than

Example:

China is more crowded than japan 

3/Comparative of inferiority:

* less + adjective + than

Example:

This car is less expensive .

-Superlative:

1/ superlative of superiority:

Short adjectives:

* the + adjective +est + noun 

Example:

James is the smallest boy in the schools .

Long adjectives:

* the + most + adjective +noun

Example:

Zidan is the most famous football player

*Good became best, bad :worst , far: the farther 

2/Superlative of inferiority:

*the least + adjective

Example:

This dress is the least expensive

Adverbs:                     comparative :                            superlative:

well                             better                                           best

Bad                             worse                                          the best

Much (many)            more than                                  the most

Far                             farther                                       farther

Few                         fewer than                                   fewest

Little                        less                                              least 

Condition/Hypothesis

In conditional , we have two clauses : if clause and result clause

-Condition Type 0:

 if + Simple present     =   simple present

               Condition clause = result clause 

Used for scientific truth .

Example:

If she boils water , it evaporates

If you put water on fire, it boils.

-Condition Type 1 :  

If+ simple present       =   modals+ stem 

Used for prediction in the future

Example:

If she works hard , she may /can succeed

-Condition Type 2 :  

If + simple past         =       would + stem 

Used for imagination in the future 

Example:

if i were you , i would study English

If i were rich , i would buy a big house and a car.

-Condition Type 3 :    

If + past perfect     =           would have+ past participle 

Used for imagination in the past 

Example:

If she had got the BAC with excellency , she would have 

studied in Cambridge university .

-We also use : providing that , provided that , as long as , so 

long as to express condition with only type 1.

The Passive Voice

-Active voice:                                                          -Passive voice:

1/Simple present             to be (am , is , are )+ past participle

Example:

he explains the lesson                           The lesson is explained

2/Simple past                      to be (was, were)+ past participle

Example:

she wrote the homework                     the homework was written

3/Present perfect:

(Have , has+past participle)         have , has+been+past participle

Example:

I have copied the activity                     the activity has been copied

4/Past perfect :

Had +past participle                             had + been + past participle

Example:

they had imitated all products        all products had been

                                                                 imitated

5/Present continuous :

is/am/are +verb+ing                      is/am/are+being+past participle

Example :

the women is cleaning the room       the room is being cleaned

                                                                      by the women

6/Past continuous:

Was/were+verb+ing                      was/were+being+past participle

Example:

She was cleaning the room         the room was being cleaned

7/Modals:

must/can/may/will+infinitive          must/can/may/will+be+past

participle

Example:

Pupils must revise English                 English must be revised

-Other example : 

A- Someone Broke into our house last night.

  B- Our house was broken by someone last night.

A- Millions of people have read Chinua Achebe's book things

fall apart.

  B- Chinua Achebe's  book things fall apart has been read by

millions of people.

A- Nobody noticed this new car.

  B- this new car was not noticed .

Expressing Result

We use these link words to express result (effect ): so , thus , 

therefore, as a result , as a consequence , consequently.

You may also use these expressions: 

So + adjectif + that + result clause

So + noun phrase ( adjectif + noun )+ that + Rest of the clause 

Example:

a- the perfume is expensive

b-i wont take it

- The perfume is so expensive that i wont take it 

a- this mobile is of bad quality

b-it will not lost for long 

- this mobile is such of bad quality that it will not lost for long