On Sunday my young daughter asked what afraid means. Good question. I was going to say it means 'scared' until I realised that it has more than one meaning.
Afraid is a useful word for English learners to know because it can be used in a few different ways. Let's take a look.
When we are afraid we have a fear of something or are scared.
Are you afraid of dogs?
Yes, I am very afraid of dogs.
Often when we are talking about present situations, we use unless instead of if...not.
Unless means except if or simply it means if...not.
Both of these examples have the same meaning and refer to the present time.
Today's joke is based on the double-meaning of fan.
The big objects you can see in the picture are wind turbines. They look like large fans - the machines you use to keep you cool.
Are you interested in learning more about adjectives but are scared of the prepositions and infintives that go with them? Don't be ashamed of it! If you are bad at prepostions, hopefully we can give you somehing to be exicted about. The prepostions we use with adjectives are similar to many other areas of English - the more you study the easier it becomes!
Adjectives are often followed by infinitives or prepositions when we talk about feelings or how we react to people/things.
Sunday night was the 55th annual Grammy Awards. Grammy's are _1_ by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States to recognise outstanding achievement in the music industry.
This Sunday, February 10, is the most important traditional Chinese holiday. This weekend is Chinese New Year.
When we want to form a past tense verb we usually add d or ed to the end.
We add d to verbs that end in a vowel:
Like becomes liked.
we add ed to verbs that end in a consonant:
Walk becomes walked.
Simple isn't it? Well, it should be but it isn't because English has many irregular verbs which refuse to follow this rule!
Generally, we use at, in and on when we talk about the location of things.
What do the prepostions in these three things tell us about the locations?
"Meet Simon at the end of the road."
"You left your glasses in the bathroom."
"Is that a spider on the wall?"
See, look and watch are all verbs that relate to our eyes, but what's the difference between them? Let's take a look at these words in context:
Look at that bird!
Did you see that bird?
This morning, I watched a bird eating the food I left in my garden.
How do you give your opinion on something? Is by starting a sentnce with "I think..."? This expression is fine but let's build your vocabulary by looking at other expressions we also use when we want to share our views.