Lesson 2 - School
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This page: Learn how to use the articles “a” and “an,” how to form plurals, and how to tell time.
The words "a" and "an" are articles that indicate a single thing. The word "a" is used when the word begins with a consonant sound.
a book a man a game
The word "an" is used when the word begins with a vowel sound:
an apple an orange an eraser
Exceptions
There are words that begin with a consonant, but the first SOUND of the word is a vowel sound:
an hour (The "h" is silent in this word.)
There are also words that begin with a vowel, but the first SOUND of the word is a consonant sound:
a university (It is pronounced as if it begins with the letter "y", which is a consonant sound.)
Watch a video from "The English Minute" that teaches you how to use the articles "a" and "an" in English. The English Minute (www.theenglishminute.com) is a website with short lessons that you can study on your mobile phone.
Select the correct article.
* Exceptions - See explanation above.
In English, we generally add the letter S to a word to make it plural:
book - books
1. Words that end in S, CH, SH or X
We add -es:
class - classes
2. Words that end in O
Some words that end in -o also add -es in the plural:
potato - potatoes
3. Words that end in a consonant + Y
We change the -y to -i and add -es:
city - cities
If they end in a vowel + Y, we simply add -s:
key - keys
4. Words that end in F or FE
We change the -f or -fe to -ves in the plural:
leaf - leaves
wife - wives
Some words have irregular plurals, and their form changes completely:
man - men
woman - women
child - children
tooth - teeth
foot - feet
Change the word to the plural.
Example:
book
1:00 -
► It's one o'clock.
3:05 -
► It's three oh five.
2:10 -
► It's two ten.
6:30 -
► It's six thirty.
8:45 -
► It's eight forty-five.
To review the numbers in English, visit the Numbers in English page.
Write the time. Make sure you use the correct capitalization and put the period at the end.
Example:
4:20
In English, we can also describe how many minutes have passed since the hour if it is half an hour or less past the hour. For this, we use the word "after":
10:20
It’s twenty after ten.
If there is half an hour or less until the next hour, we can describe how many minutes are left. In this case, we use the word "to":
10:40
It’s twenty to eleven.
► quarter = 15 minutes (1/4 hour)
► to = the minutes remaining until the hour
► after = how many minutes have passed since the hour
► half = 30 minutes (1/2 hour)
1:15 -
► It's a quarter after one. (It's one fifteen.)
2:30 -
► It's half past two. (It's two thirty.)
3:45 -
► It's a quarter to four. (It's three forty-five.)
4:20 -
► It's twenty after four. (It's four twenty.)
5:40 -
► It's twenty to six. (It's five forty.)
12:00 PM -
► It's noon.
12:00 AM -
► It's midnight.
Write the time in a different way.
Example:
2:15 It's two fifteen.
Instructions example |
Write a list of the objects in the room you are in (to practice with articles, numbers, and plurals).
example
a pencil, an eraser, two books, etc.
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Lesson 2 - School
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