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NEG-1-Grammar-Refence-in English-NEW-FINAL 20/12/2016 6:05 μμ Page 96

Grammar Reference

The Verb “to be”........................................page 10 What is this / that?,
The answer here is: It’s a / an + singular noun.
L The verb “to be” is conjugated as on the chart on page e.g. What’s this? It’s an eagle.
12. What are these / those?, The answer is They’re + plural noun.
L To form questions we invert the subject and the verb. e.g. What are those? They’re bears.
e.g. Is John a pilot? Are they students?
L To form the negative we add not after the verb.
e.g. She is not a nurse. We are not pupils. Unit 6
L In spoken language, we often use one of the possessive adjectives - possessive pronouns
contracted forms.
e.g. She isn’t / She’s not a nurse. Possessive adjectives...................................page 18
We aren’t / We’re not pupils.
L In short negative answers we use the contracted Possessive adjectives go before nouns and they show who
forms. something belongs to:
e.g. No, he isn’t. No, they aren’t. my your his her its
No, I’m not. No, he’s not. our your their
No they’re not.
(amn’t doesn’t exist.) We don’t use the articles a / an or the before possessive ad-
jectives. e.g. That’s our car.
L In short affirmative answers we never use the
contracted form. ATTENTION!
e.g. Yes, I am. Yes, she is. Yes, we are. When you write, don’t confuse your with you’re (you are), its
with it’s (it is) and their with they’re (they are).
e.g. What’s that? It’s a snake. Its name is Ziggy.
Unit 4
this / that – these / those.............................page 14 Possessive pronouns....................................page 18

We use this is… in singular and these are… in plural, to point Possessive pronouns are used in the place of a noun and
out people, animals or things that are close to us. show who something belongs to.
e.g. This is a tiger. These are flamingos. mine yours his hers
ours yours theirs
We use that is… in singular and those are… in plural, to point
out people, animals or things that are far from us. ATTENTION! its is not used.
e.g. That’s a cat. Those are penguins. Possessive pronouns replace possessive adjective + noun.
e.g. This is my pen. This is mine.
Questions are formed by inverting this, these, that or those This pen is mine. (instead of: This pen is my pen.)
and the verb.
e.g. Is this a tiger? Are these flamingos? We cannot use a / an or the before possessive pronouns.
Is that a cat? Are those penguins? e.g. That car is ours.
For questions with this / that, form the short answer with it.
e.g. Is this a tiger? Yes, it is. Is that a
cat? No, it isn’t. Unit 7
The genitive - “of” - whose?
For questions with these/those, form the short answer with
they. The Genitive................................................page 22
e.g. Are those flamingos? Yes, they are.
Are those penguins? No, they aren’t. We use the genitive to show who something belongs to.

The genitive is formed with:
Unit 5 L -’s (apostrophe and s) at the end of names and
who? / what?................................................page 16 singular nouns.
e.g. This is Emma’s car.It’s the girl’s bicycle.
who is used when we ask about a person, i.e. to find out his / L -’ (apostrophe) at the end of regular plural nouns.
her name or something about his / her identity. e.g. This is the boys’ room.
e.g. Who is she? She’s my sister.
Who is he? He’s the president of the USA. L -’s (apostrophe and s) at the end of irregular plural
Who are you? I’m Jennifer. nouns not ending in -s
what is used when we ask about an animal or thing, e.g. These are the policemen’s cars.
or to find out the name of someone’s job. The children’s laptop is new.
e.g. What’s a penguin? It’s a bird.
What is she? She’s a writer.
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