There is - There are

We use there is and there are to say that something exists.

Positive Sentences

We use there is for singular and there are for plural.

• There is one table in the classroom.
• There are three chairs in the classroom.
• There is a spider in the bath.
• There are many people at the bus stop.

Contractions

The contraction of there is is there's.

• There's a good song on the radio.
• There's only one chocolate left in the box.

You cannot contract there are.

• There are nine cats on the roof.
• There are only five weeks until Christmas.

Negative Form

The negative is formed by putting not after is or are:

• There is not a horse in the field.
• There are not eight children in the school.
• There is not a tree in the garden.
• There are not two elephants in the zoo.

The Negative contractions are:

There's not = There isn't

There are not = There aren't

There Are with ANY

When we want to indicate that a zero quantity of something exists we use there aren't any.

• There aren't any people at the party.
• There aren't any trees in my street.

We also use this structure with uncountable nouns:

• There isn't any water in the swimming pool.
• There isn't any sugar in my coffee.

Questions

To form a question we place is / are in front of there.

Again we use any with plural questions or those which use uncountable nouns.

We also use there is / are in short answers.

• Is there a dog in the supermarket? - No, there isn't.
• Are there any dogs in the park? - Yes, there are.
• Is there a security guard in the shop? - Yes, there is.
• Are there any polar bears in Antarctica? - No, there aren't.
• Is there any ice-cream in the freezer? - Yes, there is.

How Many with Are There

If we want to find out the number of objects that exist we use How many in the following form:

How many + plural noun + are there (+ complement).

• How many dogs are there in the park?
• How many students are there in your class?
• How many countries are there in South America?
• How many Star Wars films are there?

www.grammar.cl

Basics English grammar

Basics of English Grammar from Karina Salcedo

A grammar is a description of the rules of the structure of a language; the way words combine, the order they come in, the way they change according to their relationship to other words, how they build up into units like a sentence etc.

Grammar notes ( Past Continuous Tense )

The Past Continuous Tense

The past continuous tense is most often used for actions happening at some time in the past.

How to form the past continuous

For actions happening at some time in the past

When we want to talk about an action that was happening over a period of time in the past, we use the past continuous tense. Look at these examples:

• At this time last week I was lying on the beach in Florida.
• My mother was working in the garden so she didn't hear the telephone when I called her yesterday.
• I had my car fixed because it wasn't workingproperly.
• Sorry, I wasn't listening. Can you say it again please?
• What were you doing at 8 o'clock yesterday?
• Why were you talking to John when I saw you in the cafeteria yesterday?
• I went to lunch too early. The food was stillbeing cooked. (passive)

The past continuous is very often used with the past simple to say that something happened in the middle of something else. In each of the following examples, the single event (past simple) happens in the middle of a longer action (past continuous).

• You phoned while I was having a bath.
• When I got home yesterday, a cat was sitting on the roof.
• It started to rain just as we were getting ready to have our picnic.
• The boy was standing on the table when the principal came into the room.
• Many people were shopping in the market when the bomb exploded.
• I saw Noriko in town yesterday. She was wearinga pink dress and an orange hat!
• When I went to bed last night the sun wasalready beginning to rise.
• It was lucky we weren't sitting under that tree when the lightning hit.
• What were you doing when the lights went off last night?
• Were you watching me when I showed you how to do it?
• How fast was she driving when she had the accident?

esl.fis.edu

Dreams are whisper of the soul

I Have A Dream Lyrics

I have a dream, a song to sing

To help me cope with anything

If you see the wonder (wonder) of a fairy tale

You can take the future even if you fail

I believe in angels

Something good in everything I see

I believe in angels

When I know the time is right for me

I'll cross the stream - I have a dream

Oh yeah

I have a dream (have a dream), a fantasy (fantasy)

To help me through (help me through) reality (reality)

And my destination (destination) makes it worth the while

Pushing through the darkness

pushing through the darkness baby)

Still another mile

I believe in angels

Something good in everything I see

everything I see yeah)

I believe in angels

I believe in angels)

When I know the time is right for me

time is right for me)

I'll cross the stream - I have a dream

I have a dream (oh yeah), a song to sing(song to sing)

To help me cope with anything

If you see the wonder (if you see the wonder) of a fairy tale (of a fairy tale)

You can take the future even if you fail (yeah yeah yeah yeah)

I believe in angels

Something good in everything I see (everything)

I believe in angels (yeah)

When I know the time is right for me (right for me)

I'll cross the stream (cross the stream) - I have a dream (have a dream)

I'll cross the stream (cross the stream) - I have a dream

School Holiday!!

Happy School Holidays everyone... have a pleasant trip!!

Grammar notes

Irregular verbs

beat - beat - beaten become - became - become begin - began - begun bend - bent - bent bite - bit - bitten blow - blew - blown break - broke - broken bring - brought - brought build - built - built burst - burst - burst buy - bought - bought catch - caught - caught choose - chose - chosen come - came - come cost - cost - cost cut - cut - cut dig - dug - dug do - did - done draw - drew - drawn drink - drank - drunk drive - drove - driven eat - ate - eaten fall - fell - fallen feed - fed - fed feel - felt - felt fight - fought - fought find - found - found fly - flew - flown forget - forgot - forgotten freeze - froze - frozen give - gave - given go - went - gone grow - grew - grown have - had - had hear - heard - heard hide - hid - hidden hit - hit - hit hold - held - held hurt - hurt - hurt keep - kept - kept know - knew - known lead - led - led leave - left - left

let - let - let light - lit - lit  lose - lost - lost make - made - made  mean - meant - meant meet - met - met  pay - paid - paid put - put - put  read - read - read ride - rode - ridden  ring - rang - rung rise - rose - risen  run - ran - run say - said - said  see - saw - seen sell - sold - sold  send - sent - sent shake - shook - shaken  shine - shone - shone shoot - shot - shot  shut - shut - shut sing - sang - sung  sink - sank - sunk sit - sat - sat  sleep - slept - slept speak - spoke - spoken  spread - spread - spread stand - stood - stood  steal - stole - stolen stick - stuck - stuck  strike - struck - struck sweep - swept - swept  swim - swam - swum take - took - taken  teach - taught - taught tear - tore - torn  tell - told - told think - thought - thought  throw - threw - thrown wake - woke - woken  wear - wore - worn win - won - won  write - wrote - written

War does not determine who is right - only who is left.
Bertrand Russell

Grammar notes

To Be - Present Tense

To Be - Affirmative

Subject	To Be	Examples
I	am	I am from New Zealand.
You	are	You are Chilean.
He	is	He is twenty years old.
She	is	She is a nurse.
It	is	It is a big dog.
We	are	We are intelligent.
You	are	You are students.
They	are	They are married.

To Be - Contractions

Contractions of To Be are very frequent when we are speaking.

To Be	Contraction	Examples
I am	I'm	I'm from New Zealand.
You are	You're	You're Chilean.
He is	He's	He's twenty years old.
She is	She's	She's a nurse.
It is	It's	It's a big dog.
We are	We're	We're intelligent.
You are	You're	You're students.
They are	They're	They're married.

To Be - Negative Sentences

The negative of To Be can be made by adding not after the verb.

Subject	To Be	Examples
I	am not	I am not from Spain.
You	are not	You are not Australian.
He	is not	He is not thirty years old.
She	is not	She is not a secretary.
It	is not	It is not a small cat.
We	are not	We are not stupid.
You	are not	You are not teachers.
They	are not	They are not single.

To Be - Negative Contractions

There are two ways of forming contractions of To Be in negative sentences. One is with a contraction of the subject and the verb (e.g. I am = I'm) OR a contraction of the verb and not (e.g. are not = aren't)

I'm not from Spain.	---	--------------*
You're not Australian.	OR	You aren't Australian.
He's not thirty years old.	OR	He isn't thirty years old.
She's not a secretary.	OR	She isn't a secretary.
It's not a small cat.	OR	It isn't a small cat.
We're not stupid.	OR	We aren't stupid.
You're not teachers.	OR	You aren't teachers.
They're not single.	OR	They aren't single.

* Notice that the only possible contraction for I am not is I'm not.

To Be - Questions

To create questions with To Be, you put the Verb before the Subject.

Affirmative	You	are	happy.
	Subject	Verb
Question	Are	you	happy?
	Verb	Subject

Affirmative	Question
I am intelligent.	Am I intelligent?
You are a student.	Are you a student?
He is a pilot.	Is he a pilot?
She is from Spain.	Is she from Spain?
It is a big house.	Is it a big house?
We are ready.	Are we ready?
You are doctors.	Are you doctors?
They are rich.	Are they rich?

To Be - Short Answers

In spoken English, we usually give short answers in response to questions.

Are you a student? - Yes, I am (a student). The last part (a student) is not necessary. We use shorts answers to avoid repetition, when the meaning is clear.

Question	Short Answers**	Short Answers
Am I intelligent?	Yes, you are.	No, you aren't.
Are you a student?	Yes, I am.	No, I am not.
Is he a pilot?	Yes, he is.	No, he isn't.
Is she from Spain?	Yes, she is.	No, she isn't.
Is it a big house?	Yes, it is.	No, it isn't.
Are we ready?	Yes, we are.	No, we aren't.
Are you doctors?	Yes, we are.	No, we aren't.
Are they rich?	Yes, they are.	No, they aren't.

** With To Be, We don't use contractions in affirmative short answers unless there is additional information after it (in which case they are no longer considered short answers).