brought the sandwiches that he had made the night before.
Determiners
A determiner is a word that you put in front of a noun to show more clearly what you are talking about. There are different kinds of determiners:
Articles
The word the is called the definite article.
the robot
the traffic
the footballers
The word a is called the indefinite article.
a caravan
a giraffe
a scooter
If the word after a begins with a vowel, you use an instead:
an animal
an umbrella
an orange pencil
Other determiners
Other types of determiners give different information about the noun:
• the distance between the speaker and the thing they are talking about:
| this shoe | these books |
| that man | those houses |
• who owns the thing:
| my bag | your phone |
| his kite | her mug |
| its door | our car |
| their garden |
• how much or how many:
| some sugar | much money |
| both girls |
| few people | many adults |
| several birds |
• the exact number:
one melon
the two brothers
fifty roses
ten thousand years
• how something is shared out:
Every child got a prize.
Each runner is given a number.
Either team could win on the day.
Neither side is playing well at the moment.
Verbs
A verb is a word that tells you about an action.
Emily plays the guitar.
The children ran across the field.
We always listen to the radio in the car.
Andrew is a Scout.
Tense
The tense of a verb tells us when the action takes place.
Present tense
If the action is happening now, you use the present tense. There are two types of present tense you can use:
Simple present tense: For this you use the verb as it is, or add an ‑s at the end:
I like broccoli.
You love peas.
Max hates carrots.
We enjoy swimming.
Martin and Kate play the piano.
Progressive present tense: This is also known as the continuous present tense. For this you add the ending ‑ing to the verb and put a form of the verb be in front of it:
I am doing my homework.
You are annoying me.
Lara is painting a picture.
Past tense
If the action has already happened, you use the past tense. There are four types of past tense you can use:
Simple past tense: For most verbs, you add ‑ed to the end to make the simple past tense. You add ‑d if the verb already ends in e:
The children screamed when the lights went out.
The dog barked at the postman.
I scrambled over the wall.
Progressive past tense: This is also known as the continuous past tense. You add ‑ing to the verb and put it after was or were. You use this to talk about something that was still happening at a certain point in the past or when something else happened:
That was the summer when Jack and I were learning to ride.
Richard was cooking dinner when the fire alarm went off.
Present perfect tense: For this you use has or have with the simple past tense of the verb. You use the present perfect tense to show that an action has been completed:
Abby has finished her project on Japan.
I have baked a cake for the birthday party.
Past perfect tense: For this you use had with the simple past tense of the verb. You use this to show that something had been completed when something else happened:
Matthew had finished his lunch before the others had even started.
I had packed my suitcase when the taxi arrived.
Future tense
If the action has still to happen, you use the future tense. You do this by using will or shall and then the verb:
I will be there on time.
He says he will phone
