Topic: "R" as a consonant sound. Level: All levels, though some vocabulary in the explanations and exercises will challenge beginners. Previous lesson on pronunciation.

Different kinds of adverbs go in different positions in a clause. Here are some general rules: for more details, see 14. (Note: these rules apply both to one-word adverbs and to adverb phrases of two or more words.;

Verb and object

We do not usually put adverbs between a verb and its object.

adverb + verb + object verb I adverb I object

• I very much like my job. (NOT I like very much my job... verb + object + adverb
• She speaks English well. (NOT She speaks well English.)

There is not usually any difference between begin and start.

• I started/began teaching when I was twenty-four.
• If John doesn 't come soon, let's start/begin without him.

We prefer start when we talk about an activity that happens regularly, with 'stops and starts'.

• It's starting to rain.
• What time do you start teaching tomorrow morning?

We prefer begin when we talk about long, slow activities, and when we are using a more formal style.

• Very slowly, I began to realize that there was something wrong. 
• We will begin the meeting with a message from the President.

Start (but not begin) is used to mean:
a    'start a journey'

• I think we ought to start at six, while the roads are empty.

b     'start working' (for machines)

• The car won't start.

с    'make (machines) start'

How do you start the washing machine? 

We can use one or you to talk about people in general.

• You can't learn a language in six weeks. 
• One can't learn a language in six weeks.

One is more formal.

One and you mean 'anybody (including the speaker)'. They are only used to talk about people in general. We do not say you or one when we are talking about one person, or a group which could not include the speaker. Compare:

• One usually knocks at a door before going into somebody's house. Somebody's knocking at the door. (NOT One is knocking . . .)
• One can usually find people who speak English in Sweden. English is spoken in this shop. (NOT One speaks English. The meaning is not 'people in general'.)

One has to believe in something.

• In the sixteenth century people believed in witches. (NOT . . . one believed . . . The group could not include the speaker.)

One can be a subject or object; there is a possessive one's, and a reflexive pronoun oneself.

• He talks to one like a teacher.     
  
• One's family can be very difficult.
  
• One should always give oneself plenty of time to pack.

The difference between across and through is like the difference between on and in. Across is used for a movement on a surface. Through is used for a movement in a three-dimensional space, with things on all sides. Compare:

• We walked across the ice    We drove across the desert.
• I walked through the wood.    We drove through several towns.

People swim, and ships move, across rivers, lakes etc.
The river's too wide to swim across

Common expressions without articles

Articles are not used in these expressions:

to school     at school     from school     to/at/from university/college to/at/in/into/from church     to/in/into/out of bed/prison/hospital to/at/from work     to/at sea     to/in/from town     at/from home for/at/to breakfast/lunch/dinner/supper     at night by car/bus/bicycle/plane/train/tube/ boat on foot     go to sleep     watch television (TV)     on TV

Possessives

A noun that is used after a possessive (like John's, America's), has no article.

• John's coat (NOT the John's coat)
• America's economic problems (NOT the America's economic problems)

We often put small questions at the ends of sentences in speech.

• That's the postman, isn't it?    
• You take sugar in tea, don't you?
• Not a very good film, was it?
  

We use these 'question tags' to ask if something is true, or to ask somebody to agree with us.

Structure

We do not put question tags after questions.

Grammarians are not always agreed as to the grammatical status of the article in Modern English.
In structural grammars the article is often dispensed with as a separate part of speech and absorbed into the adjective class.

The name "determiners" is then given to closed system items, which, functioning as adjuncts, show their head-words to be nouns. The most central type of "determiner" is that to which we traditionally give the name article.

I am to...     you are to...     etc

1) We use this structure in a formal style to talk about plans and arrangements, especially when they are official.

• The President is to visit Nigeria next month.
• We are to get a 10 per cent wage rise in June.

2) We also use the structure to give orders. Parents often use it to children.

• You are to eat alt your supper before you watch TV.
• She can go to the party, but she's not to be back late.

3) You can often see be + passive infinitive in notices and instructions.

(noun + is) + passive infinitive (= to be + past participle)

• (This form is) to be filled in in ink.

Sometimes be is omitted.

• To be taken three times a day after meals, (on a medicine bottle)

Article introduces a noun and indicates how specific the noun is.
English has two articles: the definite article "the" and the indefinite article "a" (or "an").

INDEFINITE ARTICLE (A, AN)

Use a (or an) only before singular count nouns.

A (or an) means, approximately, "one." "I saw a cat" and "i saw one cat" describe the same event, but "I saw one cat" emphasizes that there was only one cat, not two.

Use the indefinite article to introduce...

1. Nonspecific, unknown nouns:

• He entered a brown building. 
• There is an apple on the tree.

2. One of a general group:

• A computer can do many things.