Collective Nouns for ESL and EFL learners

What are collective nouns?

Collective nouns are nouns that describe a group of something as a single unit.

Examples of Collective Nouns

1. a bunch of grapes / bananas
2. a bundle of laundry
3. a swarm of bees / insects
4. a clump of flowers
5. a bouquet of flowers
6. a gang of robbers
7. a herd of cows / deer / moose
8. a team of oxen
9. a pack of cards
10. a block of flats
11. a suite of rooms
12. a litter of puppies / kittens
13. a pack of cards
14. a flock of birds
15. a crowd of people 
16. a shoal of fish

Read more.

Homophones

Homophones in Pictures

Homophones are words that sound alike but have different meanings. Here are the examples:

Examples: 

1. in inn

1. hair hare

1. road rode

1. air heir

1. weak week

1. night knight

1. where wear

Transportation Vocabulary for ESL and EFL students

TRANSPORTATION VOCABULARY

1. hot-air baloon

2.airplane

3.excavator

4. biplane

5. gondola cabin

6. road roller

7. police car

8. car

9. roadster

10. school bus

11. scooter

12. tractor

13. ship

14. camp vehicle

15. garbage truck

16. dump truck

17. van

18. forklift

19. train

20. fire engine

21. fuel tanker

22. double decker bus

23. bicycle

24. taxi

25. limousine

26. sports car

27. ambulance

28. bus

29. motorboat / speedboat / powerboat

Irregular Plural of Nouns - Exercise

le)

1. Match a phrase in A with a proper noun in B:

(sometimes more options are possible)

   A:

  1.a bar of

  2.a loaf of

  3.a piece of

  4.a slice of

  5.a cup of

  6.a bag of

  7.a bottle of

  8.a carton of

  9.a can of

  10.a roll of

  11.a jar of

  12.a bowl of

  13.a pack of

  14.a drop of

B:

      a)cake

b)tea

c)toilet paper

d)wine

e)milk

f)water

g)chocolate

h)bread

i)flour

j)coke

k)marmalade

l)fruit

m)cigarettes

n)pizza

2. Make the following nouns countable:

1.tea

2.toilet paper

3.coffee

4.sour cream

5.people

6.paper

7.coke

8.yogurt

9.luck

10.beer

11.humor

12.meat

13.wind

14.cash

15.people

3. Are the underlined nouns countable or uncountable in a sentence?:

1.These cakes are delicious.

2.Do you want a cake with your coffee?

3.It was a great experience.

4.I have lots of experience in cooking.

5.Children's ability to motivate their rejection of the target sentences might be viewed as an additional difficulty.

6.Some patients may also need counseling as they become depressed since they find difficulty in doing their daily chores.

7.Three coffees and a tea please.

8.I  don’t like to drink coffee.

9.Time’s up Tom, hand in your paper!

10.I need some more paper, as I plan to make my drawing really big.

Phrasal Verbs with BREAK

BREAK

To break up :

 

* to separate, to end a relationship: They couldn't stand each other. They've just broken up.

*to go on a school holiday :  When do the schools break up in December?

*that cannot be heard any more (voice when calling someone): Sorry, I can't hear you, you're breaking up! 

*breaking into pieces and in this way permanently break: She broke the vase with a baseball bat.

To break down :

 * (break down in tears) to suddenly start crying: She couldn't take it anymore so she broke down in tears.

*to reduce to smaller parts in order to analyse: Susan has broken down her favourite doll to see what it is made of.

* to stop working: Sorry I'm late. My car has broken down.

*someone's resistance  (to overcome it): Parents should know how to break down their child's barriers.

 

To break in/into :

* to walk into sb's house using force: They broke into his house. 

* to start doing something suddenly: 

- He was standing at the corner when he suddenly broke into a run.

- Susan has broken into a laugh. (She started laughing suddenly)

 http://londoncallingdesigns.com/phrases-with-break/

Prepositional vs. Phrasal Verbs

Many students mix prepositional and phrasal verbs.
However, we make a distinction between them. There is only one minor difference: the particle in phrasal verbs can come before or after the object (if the object is not a pronoun),

*the particles in phrasal verbs can come before or after the object (if the object is not a pronoun)
Example: I’ll put my coat on.

*the prepositions in prepositional verbs come only  before the object and immediately after the verb:
Example: She is studying for the exam. You cannot write:
She is studying the exam for.

The main difference here between the prepositional and phrasal verbs are that prepositional verbs always have prepositions which need objects in order to complete a sentence and in phrasal verbs we have something that seems to be a preposition but instead, behaves as an adverb that actually changes the meaning of the verb (or the whole sentence) and not as a preposition although it is the same word.  Look at the another examples:

Prepositional verb:

• She has agreed to the plan. – we have an object the plan after the verb+preposition construction ( agree + to).

Phrasal verb:

• I don’t like to get up early. Here up is behaving as an adverb particle and not as a preposition. It modifies the meaning of put and adds it a completely new meaning.

http://londoncallingdesigns.com/prepositional-vs-phrasal-verbs/

Adverb Particles

Some words are combined with adverb particles in order to build idiomatic expressions we call phrasal verbs. As adverb particles seem the same as prepositions it is necessary to see whether they are tied to their verbs or a noun/pronoun. If they are tied to a verb they are called adverb particles, otherwise they are called prepositions.

 Look at the examples:


*Peter has put his jacket on. -adverb particle is in red ( as it is tied to the verb put to form a phrasal verb)
*We drove to the supermarket. ( closely tied to the noun- supermarket, so we call it preposition)

Note: Some adverb particles and prepositions are the same words and we need to see in which context they occur in order to decide whether they belong to adverb particles or prepositions.

QUESTION WORDS - exercises

Fill in the blanks with the proper question words:

_________ is your favourite colour?
_________ colours are your eyes?
_________ is your favourite teacher?

_________ is the nearest bank?
_________ are you?
_________ is your brother now?
_________ do you usually go to bed?
_________ much time do you need to finish your homework?
_________ many friends do you have?
_________ is the nearest restaurant?
_________ can I buy hot dogs?
____________ is your favourite subject?
____________ have you talked to?
____________ is the weather like now?
____________ is your favourite TV show?
____________ often do you go to the gym?
____________ is my red T-shirt?
 ____________ time do you watch TV?
____________ are my glasses?
____________ are you so nervous?
____________ is in the house?
____________ old is your brother?
____________ much time do we have for the test?
____________ colour do you like most?

Read more here and here.

COMPOUND SENTENCES

Compound sentences combine two or more independent sentencesinto one with the use of conjunctions known as FANBOYS.  The two independent sentences are usually separated by a comma. The acronym stays for:

• F– for
• A– and
• N– nor
• B– but
• O– or
• Y– yet
• S– so

Examples of compound sentences:

---

• My father is at home, and my mother is at work.
• More than one hundred people applied for the job, but only two were hired.

There are three types of compound sentences:

1. The one that consists of two independent sentences separated by a comma and one of the FANBOYS conjunctions :  – More than one hundred people applied for the job, but only two were hired.
2. Two compound clauses are devided by a semicolon (;). The idea is that two sentences are related to one another although there is no any conjunctions in the sentence. – Susan wrote a novel; she wrote it really well! NOTES: -do not use a comma instead of a semicolon! -do not use the first capital letter after a semicolon (Susan wrote a novel; She wrote it really well!) – do not separate the two independent clauses with a conjuntion (Susan wrote a novel, and she wrote it really well!)
3. The third way of writing of a compound sentence is by adding a semicolon after which goes a conjunctive adverb which is between the two independent clauses: Susan wrote a novel; however, she didn’t write it well. Below are some of the conjunctive adverbs you can use:
   

POSSESSIVE ADJECTIVES AND POSSESSIVE PRONOUNS

Complete the sentences using the right
possessive pronouns:

1. It's Susan's jacket. It's ______.
2. It's Tom's cat. It's ______.
3. They are my friends' children. They are ______.
4. It's my book. It's ______.
5. That is not my skirt. That's not _______.
6. This is not your pocket money. This is not _______.

 Complete the sentences using the right possessive pronouns
or possessive adjectives:
1. Have you seen Peter? I think that this bag is ________.
2. Hi Tom! Is this pencil _______.? –No, it's not ________.
3. Does this T-shirt belong to Susan? –Yes, it's _______.
4. Peter is playing with _______ toys.
5. The dog is in front of _______ dog house which I designed.
6. Susan is waiting for ________ parents. They agreed to pick her
up after school.
7. He is washing ________ hands after playing in the garden.
8. Tom is having a great time with ________ best friends.
9. The pupils usually eat ________ lunch at school.
10. Have you seen Ivan's show? –Yes, _____ show is very popular.

 Complete the sentences using the right possessive pronouns or possessive adjectives:
1. New York is famous for ______ Statue of Liberty.
2. John left ______ bag at home.
3. That funny dog at the corner is not ______.
4. I didn't bring my book with me so Tom borrowed me ______ .
5. They left me with ______ dog, but I don't really know much how and when to feed it.
1. Peter and Susan are having dinner at _____ favourite restaurant.
2. Are these your T-shirts? – No, they are not ______.
3. Do you like _______ new neighbors? –Well, I don't like them much.
4. I like basketball. It's ______ favourite sport!
5. She's going out with a friend of ______ .
6. Is it your pen? –Yes, it's ______ .
7. I have one old book. This is not ______ book. ______ is mottled with brown blotches and oil stains.
8. I know that naughty boy, but I don't know ______ parents!
9. I didn't have a pen so Peter gave me ______ .
10. Peter gave me ______ pen yesterday.
11. Susan is a very hard-working girl. She does _______ homework immediately after school.
12. Can I use ______ dictionary as I forgot ______ at home.
13. I'm going out with ______ friends tonight.
14. John has two ex-wives. ______ first marriage ended very fast and ______ second marriage lasted for 20 years!
15. Tom says ______ health is better since he started playing sport.
16. Susan has supported ______ two children to continue playing tennis.
17. Are you coming with ______ brother or alone?

 Fill in with the right possessive adjectives using the prompts in brackets:

1.  Where is _____ T-shirt? (I)
2.  This is _____ house. (We)
3.  _____ teacher is very supportive. (They)
4.  _____ mother likes to cook. (I)
5.  _____ sister is my best friend. (He)
6.  John likes _____ two siblings very much. (He) His friends gave him _____ books back. (He)

Complete the sentences using possessive pronouns or possessive adjectives:

1. He likes _____ (she) jokes but I don't!
2. Why are you looking at _____ (she) legs?
3. That's not ______ (I) book, it's _______ (you)!
4. _____ (they) cars are very expensive.
5. .Peter's house is big. _____ (I) is aso big and _____ (she) is small.
6. The dog wagged _____ (it) tail.
7. The big cat is ______ (we) and the smaller one is _____(they).
8. What colour is _____ (you) brother's jacket? _____ (he) jacket is blue. What colour is _____ (you)?
9.  _____ (we) house has five bedrooms and two bathrooms.
10.  What colours are _____ (you) eyes? _____ (I) are brown.
11. This is _____ (I) brother's house. It's _____ (he).
12. Is this _____ (you) luggage or _____ (he)?
13.  What is _____ (you) problem?
14. This is friend of ______ (I). _____ (he) name is Tom.
15. I like _____ (I) two brothers I live with.

There is / There are

I) Look at the picture and make the sentences with there is / there are:

1. ____________________________

2. ____________________________

3. ____________________________

4. ____________________________

5. ____________________________

 

Useful vocabulary: mirror, bed, curtains; chair, three books, desk, girl, green wall, window, desk lamp, poster, wardrobe

 

II) Look at the picture and make the sentences with there is / there are:

   

1. ____________________________

2. ____________________________

3. ____________________________

4. ____________________________

5. ____________________________

Useful vocabulary: scissors, paperclips, pencils, pencil case, Bulldog clipsTM, highlighters, pencil sharpener, compass, erasers, ruler

Speaking: Look around you and describe what is near.

For example: There are three sheets of paper. There is a pencil. You can ask your teacher to help you with the vocabulary or you can use the words from vocabulary section below.

Vocabulary: desk, table, colour pencil, computer, mobile phone, keyboard, a cup of coffee, a can of coca-cola, glass of juice...

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