7 Tips on How to Use Commas in English

1. The seven coordinating conjunctions: and, but, for, or, nor, so, yet demand a comma to separate an independent clause. Example:

“He climbed to the top of the mountain, but he still couldn’t see the sea.”

2. When we put an introductory phrase before a main clause, we use a comma. Example:

“Early one morning, Maria decided to climb Everest.”

3. When we want to add extra (non-essential) information in the middle of a sentence, we use commas to separate this idea from the main sentence.

Maria, who had never climbed a mountain before, decided she would like to climb Everest.”

4. We use commas to separate three or more words, phrases, or clauses written in a series.

“Maria packed a rope, a tent and a compass for the trip”

5. We use a comma to separate adjectives describing the same noun.

“She took a big, old, red tent with her.”

6. We use a comma near the end of a sentence to separate a contrasting part of the sentence. This is usually used to reflect spoken English. Example:

“You haven’t ever climbed a mountain before, have you?”

7. We use a comma to shift between the main sentence and a quotation.

She looked at the sherpa and said, “Can you please show me the way?”

These tips have been adapted from Purdue Owl (Grammar: Articles)

This video came from Ted-ed (English Grammar Video Lessons)

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English Grammar: The Passive Voice

In English, the most important information always comes at the beginning of the sentence. The passive voice allows us to draw attention to the object of the verb rather than the agent (the “do-er” of the action). It is also a tool for when the agent is unknown, unimportant or obvious.

To construct the passive use the verb TO BE in the necessary tense and then add the PAST PARTICIPLE of the verb required.

If you have any questions please ask in the comments below.

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The post Grammar: If or Whether appeared first on Everest Language School.

We will start by looking at the ZERO conditional

Structure: IF + PRESENT SIMPLE, … PRESENT SIMPLE

Example: If water reaches 0 degrees, it freezes

If I drink gin, I cry!

We use the zero conditional to describe things that are always true (i.e. there are NO(or zero!) special conditions necessary in order for the second part of the clause to happen.

Think of the zero conditional as FACT or RELIABLE REALITY. As we move towards the FIRST, SECOND and THIRD conditionals we are taking increasing steps away from fact and reliable reality towards what is more HYPOTHETICAL.

The FIRST conditional

Structure: IF + PRESENT SIMPLE ….. WILL + BARE INFINITIVE

 (Note: the bare infinitive is the infinitive without TO (like the naked infinitive!!)

 Example: If I go to Paris, I will visit the Eiffel Tower.

We use the first conditional to describe situations that are possible and have reasonably high probability. The condition in this example is Paris, because that is where the Eiffel Tower is found. Therefore without going to Paris it would be impossible for me to visit the Eiffel Tower.

Sherpa Wisdom : In the first conditional, the IF and the PRESENT SIMPLE ARE totally in love with each other, they hate to be separated. Similarly, the WILL and the BARE INFINITIVE are in love, happily married and do not like to be separated. However, if you want to change the position of the couples you can do so.

Example : If I go to Paris, I will visit the Eiffel Tower = I will visit the Eiffel Tower if I go to Paris.

(note: in the second structure there is no comma)

The SECOND conditional

Structure: IF + PAST SIMPLE …. WOULD + BARE INFINITIVE

Example: If I met Victoria Beckham, I would give her a sandwich

We use the second conditional to describe situations that are hypothetical with very low probability. The possibility of me meeting Victoria Beckham is very unlikely, however meeting her is the condition that is necessary in order to give her a sandwich, no meeting, no sandwich!

Sherpa wisdom: Like before, in the second conditional, the IF and the PAST SIMPLE ARE totally in love with each other, they hate to be separated. Similarly, the WOULD and the BARE INFINITIVE are in love, happily married and do not like to be separated. However, if you want to change the position of the couples you can do so.

Example : If I met Victoria Beckham, I would give her a sandwich = I would give Victoria Beckham a sandwich if I met her.

(note: in the second structure there is no comma)

The THIRD conditional

Structure: IF + PAST PERFECT …. WOULD + PRESENT PERFECT

Example: If I had known you were in Dublin last weekend I would have met you for a drink.

We are now three steps away from the zero conditional, we have therefore moved completely away from fact and reliable reality towards complete imagination and hypothetical reflection.

We use the third conditional to reflect upon the past, and to consider the ways that things could have been different IF certain conditions were different. However, this is entirely hypothetical the reality is that those conditions were not in place, the hypothetical outcome did not happen and all of this is now in the past and therefore impossible to change (unless you have a time machine!)

Let’s look at the example again… If I had known you were in Dublin last weekend I would have met you for a drink.

…Imagine that you are looking at your Facebook feed and suddenly you see pictures of a good friend of yours drinking Guinness in a pub in Dublin. The picture was taken last weekend when your friend was on holidays in Dublin. You didn’t know that your friend was here and so you didn’t meet him and he has now gone back to his country.

You send him a message saying “OMG Laura you were in Dublin last weekend! I am in Dublin at the moment improving my English. If I had known you were in Dublin last weekend I would have met you for a drink!”

If you found this blog interesting and want to keep improving your grammar and vocabulary, check out this podcast from one of our English teachers.

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Classes (formal):  The tiger is threatened with extinction.

To name a work by an artist: My mother found a  Salvador Dali in the attic.

National groups: The Irish are known to be great writers and drinkers.

In measurements ‘a/an’ can be used instead of ‘per’: If petrol costs €1 a litre and your car is travelling at 50 miles  an hour,  how much will it cost to drive for 10 miles?

Some plural political/music/other groups: The government is evenly divided between the Social Democrats and the Green Party.

To name jobs: Otavio hopes to be a cosmonaut when he grows up.

Unique objects: Which is further from earth, the sun or the moon?

To emphasise a person is unknown: Miss Moneypenny said to Mr. Bond “a Mr. Evil called while you were saving the world”.

For titles (these tend to be unique): Anne Marie is the Director of Studies in our school.

Newspaper titles (‘The’ is capitalised): The Irish Times gives more accurate information than the Sun.

Use ‘the’ when talking about ability to play: Ko is learning how to play the bassoon.

Name of university only if post-modified: He studied in the University of Chicago, but his girlfriend studied in Oxford University.

Zero article before ‘most’ if it means ‘the majority’: Most Americans can’t point out Paris on a map.

‘The’ goes before most when used as a superlative: Paris is the most romantic city in Europe.

PRONUNCIATION OF THE ARTICLES

There are some things you need to remember about the pronunciation of articles. ‘A’ is used before consonant sounds and ‘an’ is used before vowel sounds. You need to listen to the sound, not just look at the spelling. So we say: ‘An effect’ and ‘an FBI agent’ because both start with the sound /e/. We say: ‘A yellow submarine’ and ‘a European’ because both start with /j/.

There are two ways to pronounce ‘the’. 90% of the time we say: /ðə/. In some exceptional cases we pronounce ‘the’ as ‘thee'( /ði:/ ).

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