1 Grammar reference

to be: Present simple Subject pronouns & Possessive

adjectives
Affirmative Negative
Subject pronouns
I am (‘m) I am not (‘m not)
I you he she it we you they
You are (‘re) You are not (aren’t)
He/She/It is (‘s) He/She/It is not (isn’t) Possessive adjectives
We are (‘re) We are not (aren’t) my your his her its our your their
You are (‘re) You are not (aren’t) Possessive adjectives go before nouns. They express
They are (‘re) They are not (aren’t) ‘belonging’.
Interrogative Short answers I’m 15. My birthday’s in May.
You’re French. Your family is from Paris.
Am I ... ? Yes, you are. / No, you aren’t.
He’s clever. His homework is always right.
Are you ... ? Yes, I am. / No, I’m not. She’s tall. Her friends are shorter.
Is he/she/it ... ? Yes, he/she/it is. / No, he /she/it isn’t. It’s my new computer. Its operative system is free.
Are we ... ? Yes, we are. / No, we aren’t. You’re twins. Your birthdays are on the same day.
Are you ... ? Yes, you are. / No, you aren’t. We’re sporty. Our favorite sport is tennis.
They’re cousins. Their dads are brothers.
Are they ... ? Yes, they are. / No, they aren’t.
Watch out!
We use the Present simple of the verb be to
● identify people and objects: In English, possessive adjectives do not change
I’m Jack and she is my sister Karen. with plural nouns:
● talk about This is my book. / These are my books.
- nationalities: ’Where are you from?’ ’I’m from Japan.’ They relate to the possessor, not to the object:
- age: ’Is he 15 years old?’ ’No, he isn’t. He’s 14.’ her book, her pens (= belonging to a woman)
- jobs: ’Are you a doctor?’ ’No, I’m not. I’m a dentist.’ his book, his pens (= belonging to a man)
- personal characteristics: Kelly’s tall and slim.
- feelings: I’m hungry, but I’m not thirsty.
Exercises 5-6

Watch out! Possessive ‘s

Singular Plural
Use be, not have, for age and feelings.
She’s 8 years old. Singular noun + ’s Plural noun + ’
Are you hot? The girl’s room. The girls’ room.
We use the possessive ’s to talk about family and
Exercises 1–3 possessions:
He is Sarah’s brother.
Plurals of nouns That’s my dog’s ball.
The twins’ bedroom is very big.
To make the plural of a name in most cases we simply
We also use ’s with irregular plural nouns:
add an -s:
The children’s school is nice.
apples, words, months
It’s the people’s decision.
For words ending with -s, -ss, -sh, -ch, -x, -o we add -es:
campus  campuses peach  peaches Exercise 7
boss  bosses mix  mixes
bush  bushes tomato  tomatoes
Demonstrative adjectives
For words ending with -y Singular Plural
- we add -s if the word ends with a vowel + -y: This These
boy  boys That Those
- we add -ies if the word ends with a consonant + -y:
We use the demonstrative adjectives to indicate how
lady  ladies
near or far someone or something is:
For words ending with -f or -fe, we add -ves
this student, these books – they are near the person who’s
elf  elves knife  knives
speaking
Exercise 4 that car, those girls – they aren’t near the person who’s
speaking
Exercises 8-9
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