Learn tips on how to teach grammar and usage from our editors and grammar experts. 

Grammar & Usage

<p>October 16 is Dictionary Day! Today we celebrate the birthday of Noah Webster (b.&nbsp;1758), the father of the modern dictionary. In fact, we use&nbsp;<a href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/info/faq.htm" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">Merriam-Webster</a><em>&nbsp;</em>as our main dictionary at ESL&nbsp;Library! See the post on our <a href="https://ellii.com/blog/creating-our-in-house-style-guide/" target="_blank">in-house style guide</a> for more&nbsp;information.</p>

<p>Halloween is just around the corner, and in the past we&#39;ve shared activities, lessons, flashcards, and a list of tricky spellings like &quot;jack-o&#39;-lantern&quot;&nbsp;(see <strong>Related Resources</strong> below). This year, in honor of Dictionary Day, we thought we&#39;d share a list of words with rather disturbing&nbsp;origins! Did you know that many English words stem from the Latin root for &quot;death&quot;? Present this list in class before Halloween, and see if your students can come up with more morbid&nbsp;terms!</p>

<p>Note: All definitions and etymologies taken from <a href="https://www.merriam-webster.com" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">Merriam-Webster&nbsp;Online</a>.</p>

<h1>Words</h1>

<table class="horizontal">
	<thead>
		<tr>
			<th colspan="2">Murder</th>
		</tr>
	</thead>
	<tbody>
		<tr>
			<th>Meaning:</th>
			<td>the crime of deliberately killing a&nbsp;person</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<th>Origin:</th>
			<td>partly from Middle English&nbsp;<em>murther,</em>&nbsp;from Old English&nbsp;<em>morthor;</em>&nbsp;partly from Middle English&nbsp;<em>murdre,&nbsp;</em>from Anglo-French, of Germanic origin; akin to Old English&nbsp;<em>morthor;</em>&nbsp;akin to Old High German&nbsp;<em>mord&nbsp;</em>murder, Latin&nbsp;<em>mort-, mors</em>&nbsp;death,&nbsp;<em>mori</em>&nbsp;to die,&nbsp;<em>mortuus</em>&nbsp;dead, Greek&nbsp;<em>brotos</em>&nbsp;mortal</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<th>First known use:</th>
			<td>before 12th century</td>
		</tr>
	</tbody>
</table>

<table class="horizontal">
	<thead>
		<tr>
			<th colspan="2">Mortal</th>
		</tr>
	</thead>
	<tbody>
		<tr>
			<th>Meaning:</th>
			<td>certain to die; causing&nbsp;death</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<th>Origin:</th>
			<td>Middle English, from Anglo-French&nbsp;<em>mortel, mortal,</em>&nbsp;from Latin&nbsp;<em>mortalis,</em>&nbsp;from&nbsp;<em>mort-, mors</em>&nbsp;death</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<th>First known use:</th>
			<td>14th century</td>
		</tr>
	</tbody>
</table>

<table class="horizontal">
	<thead>
		<tr>
			<th colspan="2">Mortality</th>
		</tr>
	</thead>
	<tbody>
		<tr>
			<th>Meaning:</th>
			<td>the quality or state of being a person or thing that is alive and therefore certain to die;&nbsp;the death of a person, animal,&nbsp;etc.</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<th>Origin:</th>
			<td>Middle English, from Anglo-French&nbsp;<em>mortel, mortal,</em>&nbsp;from Latin&nbsp;<em>mortalis,</em>&nbsp;from&nbsp;<em>mort-, mors</em>&nbsp;death</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<th>First known use:</th>
			<td>14th century</td>
		</tr>
	</tbody>
</table>

<table class="horizontal">
	<thead>
		<tr>
			<th colspan="2">Mortuary</th>
		</tr>
	</thead>
	<tbody>
		<tr>
			<th>Meaning:</th>
			<td>of or relating to death or&nbsp;burial</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<th>Origin:</th>
			<td>Latin&nbsp;<em>mortuarius</em>&nbsp;of the dead, from&nbsp;<em>mortuus</em>&nbsp;dead</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<th>First known use:</th>
			<td>1514</td>
		</tr>
	</tbody>
</table>

<table class="horizontal">
	<thead>
		<tr>
			<th colspan="2">Mortgage</th>
		</tr>
	</thead>
	<tbody>
		<tr>
			<th>Meaning:</th>
			<td>a legal agreement in which a person borrows money to buy property (such as a house) and pays back the money over a period of&nbsp;years</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<th>Origin:</th>
			<td>Middle English&nbsp;<em>morgage,</em>&nbsp;from Anglo-French&nbsp;<em>mortgage,</em>&nbsp;from&nbsp;<em>mort</em>&nbsp;dead (from Latin&nbsp;<em>mortuus</em>) +&nbsp;<em>gage&nbsp;</em>gage&nbsp;(pledge)</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<th>First known use:</th>
			<td>15th century</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<th>Note:</th>
			<td>This one is my favorite! Pay until you die&mdash;sounds about&nbsp;right!</td>
		</tr>
	</tbody>
</table>

<table class="horizontal">
	<thead>
		<tr>
			<th colspan="2">Morbid</th>
		</tr>
	</thead>
	<tbody>
		<tr>
			<th>Meaning:</th>
			<td>relating to unpleasant subjects (such as&nbsp;death)</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<th>Origin:</th>
			<td>from Latin&nbsp;<em>morbidus&nbsp;</em>diseased</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<th>First known use:</th>
			<td>1656</td>
		</tr>
	</tbody>
</table>

<table class="horizontal">
	<thead>
		<tr>
			<th colspan="2">Decapitate</th>
		</tr>
	</thead>
	<tbody>
		<tr>
			<th>Meaning:</th>
			<td>to cut off the head of (a person or&nbsp;animal)</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<th>Origin:</th>
			<td>Late Latin&nbsp;<em>decapitatus,</em>&nbsp;past participle of&nbsp;<em>decapitare,</em>&nbsp;from Latin&nbsp;<em>de-</em>&nbsp;+&nbsp;<em>capit-, caput</em>&nbsp;head</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<th>First known use:</th>
			<td>around&nbsp;1611</td>
		</tr>
	</tbody>
</table>

<table class="horizontal">
	<thead>
		<tr>
			<th colspan="2">Defenestrate</th>
		</tr>
	</thead>
	<tbody>
		<tr>
			<th>Meaning:</th>
			<td>to&nbsp;throw a person or thing out of a&nbsp;window</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<th>Origin:</th>
			<td><em>de-</em>&nbsp;+ Latin&nbsp;<em>fenestra</em>&nbsp;window</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<th>First known use:</th>
			<td>1620</td>
		</tr>
	</tbody>
</table>

<h1>Related Resources</h1>

<ul class="resources">
	<li class="lesson"><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/93/lessons/1861" target="_blank">Halloween Lesson - Beginne</a>r</li>
	<li class="lesson"><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/93/lessons/1860" target="_blank">Halloween Lesson - Intermediate</a></li>
	<li class="lesson"><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/94/lessons/2068" target="_blank">Day of the Dead Lesson</a></li>
	<li class="flashcards"><a href="https://ellii.com/flashcard_genres/21/flashcard_categories/46" target="_blank">Halloween Flashcards</a></li>
	<li class="blog-post"><a href="https://ellii.com/blog/tricky-halloween-vocab-to-teach-your-students/">Tricky Halloween Vocab to Teach Your&nbsp;Students</a></li>
</ul>


Morbid Words to Learn for Halloween

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<h1>Which Do You Prefer?</h1>

<p>Talking about likes and dislikes is a popular conversation activity to do in class, and English language learners&nbsp;can use a variety of verbs such as&nbsp;<em>like, dislike, love, hate, enjoy,&nbsp;</em>etc. But when it comes to describing what they like better out of two or more options, learners should&nbsp;know how to use&nbsp;<em>prefer</em> and&nbsp;<em>rather&nbsp;</em>correctly.&nbsp;Read on for some teaching tips on these two common&nbsp;terms.</p>

<h1>Prefer</h1>

<p><em>Prefer</em> is a verb that means &quot;to like better.&quot;&nbsp;Note the use of <em>to&nbsp;</em>and&nbsp;<em>or&nbsp;</em>in some of the&nbsp;following&nbsp;patterns.</p>

<table class="horizontal">
	<tbody>
		<tr>
			<th>Form:</th>
			<td>Wh- word + prefer</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<th>Examples:</th>
			<td>
			<ul>
				<li>Which one do you&nbsp;prefer?</li>
				<li>What does he prefer to do&nbsp;tonight?</li>
				<li>Where would you prefer to go this&nbsp;weekend?</li>
			</ul>
			</td>
		</tr>
	</tbody>
</table>

<table class="horizontal">
	<tbody>
		<tr>
			<th>Form:</th>
			<td>prefer + gerund/infinitive</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<th>Examples:</th>
			<td>
			<ul>
				<li>They prefer eating out <strong>to</strong> cooking at&nbsp;home.</li>
				<li>Do you prefer playing <strong>or</strong> watching&nbsp;sports?</li>
				<li>Because I&#39;m a bit shy, I prefer to listen during&nbsp;meetings.</li>
			</ul>
			</td>
		</tr>
	</tbody>
</table>

<table class="horizontal">
	<tbody>
		<tr>
			<th>Form:</th>
			<td>prefer + noun</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<th>Examples:</th>
			<td>
			<ul>
				<li>I prefer the red&nbsp;dress.</li>
				<li>She prefers apples <strong>to</strong>&nbsp;oranges.</li>
			</ul>
			</td>
		</tr>
	</tbody>
</table>

<p><em>Prefer</em> also has a noun form,&nbsp;<em>preference</em>.</p>

<table class="horizontal">
	<tbody>
		<tr>
			<th>Form:</th>
			<td>preference</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<th>Examples:</th>
			<td>
			<ul>
				<li>Do you have a&nbsp;preference?</li>
				<li>She made her preference&nbsp;clear.</li>
			</ul>
			</td>
		</tr>
	</tbody>
</table>

<h1>Rather</h1>

<p><em>Rather</em> is an adverb that has <a href="http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/rather">several uses</a>, but it is commonly used to express a preference. Note that it is usually preceded by the modal <em>would</em> and&nbsp;followed by a verb. The use of&nbsp;<em>than</em> and&nbsp;<em>or</em> is also common in some patterns with&nbsp;<em>rather.</em></p>

<table class="horizontal">
	<tbody>
		<tr>
			<th>Form:</th>
			<td>Wh- word + would + rather +&nbsp;verb</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<th>Examples:</th>
			<td>
			<ul>
				<li>Which would&nbsp;you rather wear, the black shirt or the white&nbsp;one?</li>
				<li>What would they rather&nbsp;discuss?</li>
				<li>When would she rather&nbsp;meet?</li>
			</ul>
			</td>
		</tr>
	</tbody>
</table>

<table class="horizontal">
	<tbody>
		<tr>
			<th>Form:</th>
			<td>would + rather +&nbsp;verb</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<th>Examples:</th>
			<td>
			<ul>
				<li>She would rather stay home <strong>than</strong> go&nbsp;out.</li>
				<li>I&#39;d rather call you&nbsp;tomorrow.</li>
				<li>Would you rather read a book <strong>or</strong> watch&nbsp;TV?</li>
			</ul>
			</td>
		</tr>
	</tbody>
</table>

<h1>Other Options</h1>

<p>Some other ways to express preferences in English include the verb&nbsp;<em>like&nbsp;</em>with&nbsp;<em>better</em> or&nbsp;<em>more</em>. Negative preferences&nbsp;can be expressed with&nbsp;<em>like less&nbsp;</em>or&nbsp;<em>dislike&nbsp;more</em>.</p>

<ul>
	<li>She likes the color blue better than&nbsp;green.</li>
	<li>He likes playing the guitar more than&nbsp;studying.</li>
	<li>I like Chinese food less than Japanese&nbsp;food.</li>
	<li>They dislike cold weather more than&nbsp;rain.</li>
</ul>

<h1>Practice</h1>

<p>In the following lessons,&nbsp;your students can see&nbsp;<em>prefer&nbsp;</em>and&nbsp;<em>rather&nbsp;</em>in context and practice the different sentence&nbsp;patterns.</p>

<ul class="resources">
	<li class="lesson"><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/92/lessons/1756">Stating Preferences</a> - Functional English Lesson</li>
	<li class="lesson"><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/76/lessons/1716">Making Weekend Plans</a> - Everyday Dialogues Lesson</li>
	<li class="lesson"><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/82/lessons/1962">J-Pop Vs. K-Pop</a> - Famous Things Lesson</li>
</ul>

<p>&nbsp;</p>


Prefer Vs. Rather

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<h1>Is It Ever All Right to Use &ldquo;Alright&rdquo;?</h1>

<p>When even native speakers can&rsquo;t agree on the usage of a word in English, what in the world do we teach our students? When I was young, my teachers taught me that it was fine to use <em>alright</em>. I&rsquo;ve seen it in print over the years and used it myself countless times. I&rsquo;ve also used it with my students when I was an English teacher.</p>

<p>Imagine my surprise, while studying to become an editor, when I learned that <em>alright</em> is a term best avoided! According to many grammar sticklers, the &ldquo;correct&rdquo; spelling is always <em>all right</em>. Is this what we should be teaching English language learners? Let&rsquo;s take a deeper look into this&nbsp;debate.</p>

<h1>History &amp; Similar Cases</h1>

<p>Both <em>all right</em> and <em>alright</em> have been in use for over a century, but that&rsquo;s also almost as long as there has been a controversy, too. <em>All right</em> first appeared as a two‑word spelling, much like <em>all together</em>, <em>all ready</em>, etc. But over time, many such words assumed a logical, practical one‑word form. In fact, the two-word versions even have different meanings nowadays. Consider the&nbsp;following:</p>

<ul>
	<li>We&rsquo;ve <strong>already</strong> studied that. <em>(previously&nbsp;done)</em></li>
	<li>Are we <strong>all ready</strong> to go? <em>(all of us&nbsp;prepared)</em></li>
	<li>Let&rsquo;s avoid the situation&nbsp;<strong>altogether</strong>.&nbsp;<em>(completely)</em></li>
	<li>Let&rsquo;s sing <strong>all together</strong>. <em>(all of us at the same&nbsp;time)</em></li>
</ul>

<p>It follows that <em>alright</em> and <em>all right</em> should follow a similar&nbsp;pattern:</p>

<ul>
	<li>Is it <strong>alright</strong> if I bring a friend? <em>(okay,&nbsp;acceptable)</em></li>
	<li>The answers were <strong>all right</strong>. <em>(all&nbsp;correct)</em></li>
</ul>

<p>However, &ldquo;<em>Is it <strong>all right</strong> if I bring a friend?</em>&rdquo; is not only correct as well, but more accepted. <em>All right</em> is far more common in literature and formal writing. <em>Alright</em> can sometimes be used in newspapers, magazines, and other types of informal&nbsp;writing.</p>

<h1>Reference Sources</h1>

<h3>What do dictionaries and style guides have to&nbsp;say?</h3>

<p><em>Merriam-Webster Online</em> has an entry for <a href="http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/alright" target="_blank">alright</a>, and explains that it is common, especially in informal writing and fictional dialogue. <em>Oxford Dictionaries Online</em> lists <a href="http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/all-right?q=alright" target="_blank">alright</a> as a variant for <em>all right</em>. My copy of the <em>Oxford Canadian Dictionary</em> has no entry for&nbsp;<em>alright</em>.</p>

<p><em>The Chicago Manual of Style</em>, 16th edition (section 5.220), says to avoid <em>alright</em> and always use the two-word form, <em>all&nbsp;right</em>.</p>

<p>A <a href="https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=alright%2Call+right&amp;year_start=1800&amp;year_end=2015&amp;corpus=15&amp;smoothing=3&amp;share=&amp;direct_url=t1%3B%2Calright%3B%2Cc0%3B.t1%3B%2Call%20right%3B%2Cc0" target="_blank">Google Ngram viewer of alright vs. all right</a> shows that <em>all right</em> appears much more frequently in books than&nbsp;<em>alright</em>.</p>

<p>In researching these two forms, I read over and over that though <em>all right</em> is the more acceptable form, there is no logical reason not to use <em>alright</em>, and its use is on the&nbsp;rise.</p>

<h1>Conclusion</h1>

<p>So what should we teach our students? For lower‑level students, my advice is to teach them the two‑word form since it&rsquo;s always considered correct. For higher-level students, teach them both forms and explain that <em>alright</em> is informal and <em>all right</em> is more formal. For formal, academic writing, it is probably best to stick to <em>all right</em>, but when they&rsquo;re emailing or texting their friends, <em>alright</em> is just&nbsp;fine.</p>


All Right Vs. Alright

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<p>Unclear English language&nbsp;rules are enough to make me nauseous! Or is it nauseated?</p>

<p>Recently, the ESL Library team has been hard at work revamping our <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/76/lessons">Everyday Dialogues</a> section. We&#39;re reformatting all of our lessons, and we&#39;re eventually adding audio, too! While I was editing two of the lessons, <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/76/lessons">Going to the Doctor</a>&nbsp;and <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/76/lessons/1707">Going to the Pharmacy</a>, I came across differing vocabulary terms.</p>

<p>The first lesson used <em>nauseous</em>&nbsp;while&nbsp;the second used <em>nauseated</em>. I grew up (on the West Coast of Canada) saying <em>nauseous</em>, but I know from experience that it&#39;s a good idea to check on the rules and usage in&nbsp;other English-speaking areas. What did I discover about&nbsp;<em>nauseous</em> and&nbsp;<em>nauseated</em>? </p>

<h1>Controversy &amp; Evidence</h1>

<p>In the 20th century, some people started insisting&nbsp;that <i>nauseous</i> meant &quot;to cause nausea&quot;&nbsp;while&nbsp;<em>nauseated</em> meant &quot;to feel/be affected by nausea.&quot;&nbsp;(E.g., we should say &quot;The nauseous odor made me feel nauseated.&quot;) However, the&nbsp;<em>Oxford English Dictionary</em> has listed three definitions of&nbsp;<em>nauseous</em>&nbsp;since the 17th century, and one of those meanings is &quot;to feel/be affected by&nbsp;nausea.&quot;&nbsp;Nowadays, when using linking verbs like&nbsp;<em>be</em>, <em>feel</em>, <em>seem</em>,&nbsp;and <em>appear</em>, most dictionaries agree that&nbsp;both&nbsp;<em>nauseous</em> and&nbsp;<em>nauseated</em> can be used to describe that queasy-stomach&nbsp;feeling.</p>

<ul>
	<li>A day later I became <strong>nauseous</strong>, was vomiting, and I started bumping into the wall&mdash;I couldn&#39;t walk straight. &mdash;<em>Oxford&nbsp;Dictionaries&nbsp;(online)</em></li>
	<li>We had headaches from the smell, and I was so <strong>nauseated</strong> the last night that I couldn&#39;t even eat my dinner. &mdash;<em>Oxford&nbsp;Dictionaries&nbsp;(online)</em></li>
	<li>I began to feel <strong>nauseous</strong>. &mdash;<em>Merriam-Webster&nbsp;(online)</em></li>
	<li>He was feeling weak and <strong>nauseated</strong>.&nbsp;&mdash;<em>Merriam-Webster Learner&#39;s&nbsp;Dictionary&nbsp;(online)</em></li>
</ul>

<p><em>Merriam-Webster&#39;s Dictionary of English Usage</em>&nbsp;takes a strong stance for the use of <em>nauseous</em> to mean feeling sick to your stomach: &quot;Any handbook that tells you that&nbsp;<em>nauseous</em> cannot mean &#39;nauseated&#39; is out of touch with the contemporary language. In current use it seldom means anything&nbsp;else.&quot;</p>

<h1>Conclusion</h1>

<p>Tell your students that both&nbsp;<em>nauseous&nbsp;</em>and <i>nauseated&nbsp;</i>can be used to describe when a person&nbsp;feels like vomiting. The good news is they can&#39;t go wrong! That should make them feel&nbsp;better&hellip;</p>

<h1>Practice</h1>

<p>To see&nbsp;<em>nauseous&nbsp;</em>in context, try the&nbsp;<a href="https://ellii.com/courses/76/lessons/1708">Going to the Doctor</a>&nbsp;lesson in our <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/76/lessons">Everyday Dialogues</a>&nbsp;section. In a few weeks,&nbsp;<a href="https://ellii.com/courses/76/lessons/1707">Going to the Pharmacy</a>&nbsp;will include this term as&nbsp;well.</p>

<h1>Sources</h1>

<ul>
	<li><em>Merriam-Webster&#39;s Dictionary of English Usage: </em>nauseous, nauseating,&nbsp;nauseated</li>
	<li><a href="http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/nauseous" target="_blank">http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/nauseous</a></li>
	<li><a href="http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/nauseate?q=nauseated" target="_blank">http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/nauseate?q=nauseated</a></li>
	<li><a href="http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/nauseous" target="_blank">http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/nauseous</a></li>
	<li><a href="http://www.learnersdictionary.com/definition/nauseate" target="_blank">http://www.learnersdictionary.com/definition/nauseate</a></li>
</ul>

Nauseous Vs. Nauseated

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<p>When I was editing a new <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/72/lessons">Discussion Starters</a> lesson on <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/72/lessons">Solitary Confinement</a>&nbsp;the other day, I came across a note from our creative director, Robyn: <em>hanged or hung</em>? Her friends had recently had an argument about hanged vs. hung, and she was curious if we had chosen the correct word.</p>

<p>As I have heard both past forms used often, I assumed it was one of those irregular verbs where both choices were acceptable, like <em>dreamed/dreamt</em>. However, I discovered that the issue of <em>hanged</em> and <em>hung</em> has been hotly debated since the 17th century!</p>

<p>Which is the correct simple past/past participle form? What&rsquo;s the difference between the two words?&nbsp;What is the safest choice, and what should we teach our&nbsp;students?</p>

<h1>Hanged</h1>

<p>Use the verb forms <em>hang &ndash; hanged &ndash; hanged</em> when the meaning is to die by hanging (usually from a rope around one&rsquo;s neck with no support under one&rsquo;s&nbsp;feet).</p>

<ul>
	<li>The murderer was sentenced to be <strong>hanged</strong> next&nbsp;Thursday.</li>
	<li>The gang leader <strong>hanged</strong> for his&nbsp;crimes.</li>
</ul>

<h1>Hung</h1>

<p>Use the verb forms <em>hang &ndash; hung &ndash; hung</em> for all other meanings of <em>hang</em>, such as&nbsp;to put or attach something somewhere, or in other idioms and&nbsp;expressions.</p>

<ul>
	<li>I <strong>hung</strong> the dres back in my&nbsp;closet.</li>
	<li>The artwork was <strong>hung</strong> in the gallery by the artist&nbsp;himself.</li>
	<li>Her new diamond necklace <strong>hung</strong> around her&nbsp;neck.</li>
	<li>She <strong>hung</strong> her head in&nbsp;shame.</li>
	<li>He really <strong>hung</strong> her out to dry when he left her and the&nbsp;baby.</li>
</ul>

<h1>Etymology</h1>

<p><em>Hanged</em> and <em>hung</em> come by their different past forms honestly&mdash;they stem from two different Old English verbs! Over time, they became interchangeable. Eventually, though, <em>hung</em> became the more popular choice in all instances except for the meaning of &ldquo;execute by&nbsp;hanging.&rdquo;</p>

<h1>Conclusion</h1>

<p>It is important to note that, according to <em>Merriam‑Webster&rsquo;s Dictionary of English Usage</em>, both <em>hanged</em> and <em>hung</em> can be used to describe the action of death by hanging. Using <em>hung</em> in this instance is not a mistake, and <em>Merriam‑Webster</em> cites many examples from literature to prove it. However, <em>Merriam‑Webster</em> does note that <em>hanged</em> is much more commonly used (and is also the common legal term) for this&nbsp;meaning.</p>

<p>My advice is to teach our students to use <em>hanged</em> for the death by hanging meaning and <em>hung</em> for all other instances. It&rsquo;s an easy rule to remember, and this is the most commonly accepted usage for these two&nbsp;words.</p>

<h1>Practice</h1>

<p>See these words in context in our new <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/72/lessons">Solitary Confinement</a> Discussion Starters&nbsp;lesson.</p>


Hanged Vs. Hung

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<p>There are many ways to quantify a noun in English, and the words <em>some</em>, <em>any</em>, <em>every</em>, <em>each</em>, and <em>no</em> are among the most common. Part of the difficulty students have in learning these terms is that they are used in more than one way. For example, <em>some</em> can be a quantifier (a word that tells us how much/many) that precedes a noun (e.g., <em>I want some pizza</em>), but it can also be an indefinite pronoun that takes the place of a noun (e.g., <em>I want some; Some of the people want pizza</em>). It can also be attached to the suffix <em>‑body</em> or <em>‑one</em> to form other indefinite pronouns (<em>somebody</em> and&nbsp;<em>someone</em>).</p>

<p>In my experience, it helps to break down the functions of such terms. Focusing a lesson on one function, and then comparing the different words within that function, helps students keep the uses straight. Let&rsquo;s focus on quantifiers today, and save the pronoun function for another blog&nbsp;post.</p>

<h1>Some</h1>

<p>Think of <em>some</em> as an indefinite number that&rsquo;s around 50% (I&rsquo;ve found it really helps my students when I give them percentages to compare). We mainly use <em>some</em> in affirmative sentences. <em>Some</em> can be used with count and non‑count nouns. When it precedes a subject noun, the noun is plural and it takes a plural&nbsp;verb.</p>

<ul>
	<li>She asked for some&nbsp;money.</li>
	<li>Some people like the&nbsp;movie.</li>
</ul>

<p><em>Some</em> can also be used in certain types of questions, such as offers and&nbsp;requests.</p>

<ul>
	<li>Do you want some more coffee?&nbsp;<em>(offer)</em></li>
	<li>Can I get&nbsp;some chairs delivered tomorrow?&nbsp;<em>(request)</em></li>
</ul>

<h1>Any</h1>

<p>We mainly use <em>any</em> in negative sentences and questions. <em>Any</em> can be used with count&nbsp;and non-count&nbsp;nouns. When it precedes a subject noun, the noun is plural and it takes a plural&nbsp;verb.</p>

<ul>
	<li>He doesn&rsquo;t want any&nbsp;help.</li>
	<li>Do any blankets we collect go to&nbsp;charity?</li>
</ul>

<p><em>Any</em> can also be used in affirmative sentences when we want to emphasize that we don&rsquo;t have a specific item in&nbsp;mind.</p>

<ul>
	<li>I need a pen. Any pen will do. <em>(I don&rsquo;t care which pen it&nbsp;is.)</em></li>
</ul>

<h1>Every</h1>

<p>Think of <em>every</em> as 100%. We can use <em>every</em> in affirmative sentences, negative sentences, and questions. <em>Every</em> can only be used with count nouns. When it precedes a subject noun, the noun is singular and it takes a singular verb. This is very confusing to students because the meaning is always plural (<em>every</em> always means more than&nbsp;one).</p>

<ul>
	<li>Every person here is going to vote&nbsp;&ldquo;yes.&rdquo;</li>
	<li>I haven&rsquo;t counted every ballot&nbsp;yet.</li>
	<li>Do you want to keep every piece of furniture in this&nbsp;room?</li>
</ul>

<p>What about <em>every time</em>? &ldquo;Time&rdquo; in this case is actually a count noun. When we say <em>every time</em>, we&rsquo;re thinking of each individual instance that something&nbsp;occurred.</p>

<h1>Each</h1>

<p><em>Each</em> and <em>every</em> are commonly confused. <em>Each</em> is a way to emphasize the individual people or things in a pair or group.&nbsp;We can use <em>each</em> in affirmative sentences, negative sentences, and questions. <em>Each</em> can only be used with count nouns. When it precedes a subject noun, the noun is singular and it takes a singular&nbsp;verb.</p>

<ul>
	<li>Each student needs&nbsp;the permission slip&nbsp;signed.</li>
	<li>I&rsquo;ll make an announcement because I don&rsquo;t want to talk to each person&nbsp;individually.</li>
	<li>Will you please check each piece of paper&nbsp;carefully?</li>
</ul>

<p>Are <em>each</em> and <em>every</em> interchangeable? They can be, but with <em>each</em>, the emphasis is more on the individual&nbsp;nouns.</p>

<ul>
	<li>Each person must respond. <em>(person&nbsp;A, person&nbsp;B,&nbsp;etc.)</em></li>
	<li>Every person must respond. <em>(all of the&nbsp;people)</em></li>
</ul>

<h1>No</h1>

<p>Think of <em>no</em> as 0%. We use <em>no</em> in affirmative sentences, but note that the meaning is negative (i.e., we don&rsquo;t use <em>no</em> and <em>not</em> in the same sentence). <em>No</em> can be used with both count and non‑count nouns. When it precedes a subject noun, the noun is usually plural and it takes a plural&nbsp;verb.</p>

<ul>
	<li>No animals are sold at this&nbsp;zoo.</li>
	<li>We have no time to finish this&nbsp;project.</li>
</ul>

<p>Can <em>no</em> be used with a singular noun? It&rsquo;s possible, especially in more formal&nbsp;language.</p>

<ul>
	<li>No person can enter the premises after&nbsp;hours.</li>
</ul>

<h1>Any time or anytime?</h1>

<p>As a teacher and an editor, one of the most common mistakes I see students and native speakers make is with <em>any time</em> and <em>anytime</em>. They can both appear at the end of a sentence, which makes them difficult to distinguish. To be able to tell them apart, think of the different&nbsp;meanings:</p>

<p><em>Any time</em> functions as a quantifier + noun and refers to &ldquo;an amount of&nbsp;time.&rdquo;</p>

<ul>
	<li>Do you have any time to help&nbsp;me?</li>
	<li>I can&rsquo;t call you tonight. I don&rsquo;t have any&nbsp;time.</li>
</ul>

<p><em>Anytime</em> functions as an indefinite pronoun and means&nbsp;&ldquo;whenever.&rdquo;</p>

<ul>
	<li>Anytime you call me, I&rsquo;ll come&nbsp;running.</li>
	<li>His favorite sport is soccer. He&rsquo;ll play&nbsp;anytime.</li>
</ul>

<p>Stay tuned for a blog post on common indefinite&nbsp;pronouns!</p>


Tricky Quantifiers: Some, Any, Every, Each & No

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<h1>We just might learn something!</h1>

<p>There are many modals in English modals of ability, possibility, <a href="https://ellii.com/blog/suggestions-with-modals-of-advice-and-necessity-2/">necessity/obligation</a>, and <a href="https://ellii.com/blog/suggestions-with-modals-of-advice-and-necessity-2/">advice</a>, to name the most common&mdash;and students can get confused by all the different functions and meanings. Some modals can be used for more than one purpose (such as <em>could</em> for past ability or present/future possibility), so it&rsquo;s no wonder they sometimes struggle! Presenting modals by function can help English language learners keep them all straight. Today, let&rsquo;s focus on <strong>modals of&nbsp;possibility</strong>.</p>

<h1>May, Might &amp;&nbsp;Could</h1>

<p>In English, there are three main modals of possibility: <em>may</em>, <em>might</em>, and&nbsp;<em>could</em>.</p>

<h2>1. Pattern</h2>

<h4>Modal + Base Verb</h4>

<p>Remind lower-level students that a base verb is one with <strong>no endings</strong> (no <em class="inlineBlock">-ing</em>, <em class="inlineBlock">-ed</em>, <em class="inlineBlock">-s</em>, etc.). The modal always comes before the base&nbsp;verb.</p>

<ul>
	<li>We <strong>might go</strong> to the party tomorrow&nbsp;night.</li>
	<li>She <strong>could decide</strong> to join&nbsp;us.</li>
</ul>

<h2>2. Function</h2>

<p>We use these modals to describe a possible action. Because of the uncertainty, these modals are often used to talk about the future, though sometimes we want to express possibility in the&nbsp;present.</p>

<ul>
	<li>I<strong> may go</strong> traveling next year. <em>(future&nbsp;possibility)</em></li>
	<li>My keys <strong>might be</strong> in the car. <em>(present&nbsp;possibility)</em></li>
</ul>

<h2>3. Examples</h2>

<ul>
	<li>They <strong>might attend</strong> the awards ceremony tomorrow&nbsp;night.</li>
	<li>He <strong>could call</strong> you back&nbsp;tonight.</li>
	<li>We<strong> could choose</strong> a new color of paint for the&nbsp;bedroom.</li>
	<li>I <strong>might join</strong> you if I finish&nbsp;early.</li>
	<li>The results of the study <strong>may shed</strong> some light on this&nbsp;condition.</li>
</ul>

<h2>4. Differences in Meaning</h2>

<p>When it comes to the meaning of <em>may</em>, <em>might</em>, and <em>could</em> for possibility, I would argue that, at least in North American English, there is no difference in meaning except formality. Whatever you do, please remind students that <em>may</em> is quite formal! Textbooks always present the three modals together, and students might use <em>may</em> in everyday speech unless we point out that it&rsquo;s not common to do so. Emphasize that they might see and use <em>may</em> in formal writing, but in speaking and informal writing, they should stick to <em>might</em> and <em>could</em>. (Note that this is the preference in North America, but I believe that <em>may</em> is quite common in speaking and writing in British&nbsp;English.)</p>

<p>Some people have argued for slight differences in meaning, and this might be an interesting discussion for higher‑level students. But for most students, the difference is irrelevant and these words are&nbsp;interchangeable.</p>

<p>Remind students that&nbsp;<em>could</em> is also used for past ability. There is usually a reference to the past in the sentence or context, which helps learners recognize when <em>could</em> is referring to ability. Note the&nbsp;differences:</p>

<ul>
	<li>He <strong>could finish</strong> his project tonight. <em>(possibility)</em></li>
	<li>He <strong>could swim</strong> when he was a child. <em>(past&nbsp;ability)</em></li>
</ul>


Modals of Possibility: May, Might, Could

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<h1>What&rsquo;s the best way to teach superlative&nbsp;adjectives?</h1>

<p>We use <a href="https://ellii.com/blog/adjectives" target="_blank">adjectives</a> in English when we want to describe a person, place, or thing. When we need to compare two nouns, we use <a href="https://ellii.com/blog/comparative-adjectives/" target="_blank">comparative adjectives</a>. And when we need to compare more than two nouns, we use <strong>superlative adjectives</strong>. The rules for using the superlative ending <em class="inlineBlock">-est</em> vs. <em>the most</em> can sometimes trip students up, but presenting the rules in a chart like the one below can&nbsp;help!</p>

<h1>Use</h1>

<p>Use superlative adjectives to compare more than two people, places, or&nbsp;things.</p>

<h1>Form</h1>

<h2>1. Chart</h2>

<p><img alt="Superlative Adjectives chart" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/29/content_103_Superlative-Adjectives_Chart.png" /></p>

<p class="caption">Grammar &amp; Usage &ndash; <a href="https://ellii.com/resource_categories/103/resources/2163" target="_blank">Superlative Adjectives</a></p>

<h2>2. Examples</h2>

<ul>
	<li>John is <strong>the tallest</strong> boy in the&nbsp;class.</li>
	<li>Out of all my classmates, Christina is <strong>the happiest</strong>. She&rsquo;s always&nbsp;smiling!</li>
	<li>I think he is <strong>the most famous</strong> actor in&nbsp;Hollywood.</li>
	<li>Her last painting is <strong>the most beautiful</strong> one she&rsquo;s ever&nbsp;done.</li>
</ul>

<h1>Exceptions</h1>

<p>Some two-syllable adjectives don&rsquo;t have to follow the rules above. For example, we can say <em>the friendliest</em> OR <em> the most friendly</em>, and <em>the simplest</em> OR <em>the most simple</em>. Other such adjectives include <em>angry</em>, <em>cruel</em>, <em>handsome</em>, <em>gentle</em>, and&nbsp;<em>quiet</em>.</p>

<h1>Out of all of&nbsp;the&hellip;</h1>

<p>In English, we can use <strong><em>out of all of the + plural noun</em></strong> to indicate the group we&rsquo;re comparing someone or something to. The word <em>out</em>, the second <em>of</em>, and/or the word <em>all</em> are often dropped in casual speech. Sometimes we even leave out the whole expression if it is&nbsp;implied.</p>

<p>For example, all of the following sentences are correct and have the same&nbsp;meaning:</p>

<ul>
	<li>John is the oldest <strong>out of all of the students</strong> in the&nbsp;class.</li>
	<li>John is the oldest <strong>out of all the students</strong> in the&nbsp;class.</li>
	<li>John is the oldest <strong>of all of the students</strong> in the&nbsp;class.</li>
	<li>John is the oldest <strong>of all the students</strong> in the&nbsp;class.</li>
	<li>John is the oldest <strong>of the students</strong> in the&nbsp;class.</li>
	<li>John is the oldest in the class.</li>
</ul>

<h1>What about &ldquo;the least&rdquo;?</h1>

<p>We can also make comparisons in English where one thing is <em>the least</em> of a group of things. We use the following pattern in this case: <strong><em>the least</em> +&nbsp;Adj</strong>.</p>

<h2>Examples</h2>

<ul>
	<li>Michelle is <strong>the least tall</strong> of all my classmates. (Note that <em>the least</em> sounds a bit strange with one‑syllable adjectives. It&rsquo;s better to use a different superlative adjective with the same meaning, such as <em>the shortest</em> in this&nbsp;example.)</li>
	<li>Out of all my classmates, Juan is <strong>the least happy</strong>. He never&nbsp;smiles.</li>
	<li>The new guy on that TV show must be <strong>the least famous</strong> actor in&nbsp;Hollywood.</li>
	<li>Her first painting is <strong>the least beautiful</strong> one she&rsquo;s ever&nbsp;done.</li>
</ul>

<h1>Related</h1>

<ul class="resources">
	<li class="blog-post"><a href="https://ellii.com/blog/comparative-adjectives/" target="_blank">Comparative Adjectives</a></li>
	<li class="lesson"><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/88/lessons/1607" target="_blank">Comparative Adjectives &ndash; Grammar Practice Worksheets&nbsp;Lesson</a></li>
	<li class="lesson"><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/88/lessons/1600" target="_blank">Comparative &amp; Superlatives&nbsp;&ndash; Grammar Practice Worksheets&nbsp;Lesson</a></li>
	<li class="lesson"><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/89/lessons/1556" target="_blank">Comparatives &ndash; Who Is Taller? &ndash; Basic Grammar Sentences&nbsp;Lesson</a></li>
	<li class="blog-post"><a href="https://ellii.com/blog/adjectives" target="_blank">Adjective Sentence Patterns &amp;&nbsp;Suffixes</a></li>
	<li class="blog-post"><a href="https://ellii.com/blog/adjective-order-and-punctuation/" target="_blank">Adjective Order &amp;&nbsp;Punctuation</a></li>
	<li class="blog-post"><a href="https://ellii.com/blog/when-to-use-hyphens-rules-for-multiple-word-adjectives" target="_blank">When to Use Hyphens: Rules for Multiple-Word&nbsp;Adjectives</a></li>
	<li class="blog-post"><a href="https://ellii.com/blog/how-to-teach-ed-ing-adjectives-9-simple-steps/" target="_blank">How to Teach -ED/-ING Adjectives: 9 Simple&nbsp;Steps</a></li>
	<li class="blog-post"><a href="https://ellii.com/blog/look-appear-feel-adjective-or-adverb/" target="_blank">Look, Appear &amp; Feel + Adjective or&nbsp;Adverb?</a></li>
	<li class="blog-post"><a href="https://ellii.com/blog/restrictive-non-restrictive-adjective-clauses/" target="_blank">Restrictive &amp; Non-Restrictive Adjective&nbsp;Clauses</a></li>
</ul>

<h2>If you teach young&nbsp;learners</h2>

<ul class="resources">
	<li class="lesson"><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/116/lessons/2531" target="_blank">Comparative Adjectives Lesson</a></li>
	<li class="lesson"><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/116/lessons/2532" target="_blank">Superlative Adjectives Lesson</a></li>
</ul>


Superlative Adjectives

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<h1>There must be a better way&hellip;</h1>

<p>After your English language learners are familiar with <a href="https://ellii.com/blog/adjectives" target="_blank">adjectives</a> in general, introduce them to comparative and superlative adjectives. When we want to compare two people, places, or things in English, we can use <strong>comparative&nbsp;adjectives</strong>.</p>

<p>The tricky thing for students is learning when to apply the comparative ending <em class="inlineBlock">-er</em>. I&rsquo;ve found that presenting the rules in a chart like the one below helps students clearly see when to use <em class="inlineBlock">-er</em> or&nbsp;<em>more</em>.</p>

<h1>Use</h1>

<p>Use comparative adjectives to compare two people, places, or&nbsp;things.</p>

<h1>Form</h1>

<h2>1. Chart</h2>

<p><img alt="Comparative Adjectives chart" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/28/content_103_Comparative-Adjectives_Chart.png" /></p>

<p class="caption">Grammar &amp; Usage &ndash; <a href="https://ellii.com/resource_categories/103/resources/2162" target="_blank">Comparative Adjectives</a></p>

<h2>2. Examples</h2>

<ul>
	<li>Maria is <strong>taller than</strong>&nbsp;Jack.</li>
	<li>I feel <strong>happier</strong> today <strong>than</strong> I did&nbsp;yesterday.</li>
	<li>The lead actor on that show is <strong>more famous than</strong> the lead&nbsp;actress.</li>
	<li>Sunsets at the beach are <strong>more beautiful than</strong> sunsets in the&nbsp;city.</li>
</ul>

<h1>Exceptions</h1>

<p>Some two‑syllable adjectives don&rsquo;t have to follow the rules above. For example, we can say <em>friendlier</em> OR <em>more friendly</em>, and <em>simpler</em> OR <em>more simple</em>. Other such adjectives include <em>angry</em>, <em>cruel</em>, <em>handsome</em>, <em>gentle</em>, and&nbsp;<em>quiet</em>.</p>

<h1>What about &ldquo;less&rdquo;?</h1>

<p>Another way to compare nouns in English is to mention when something is <em>less</em> than another thing instead of <em>more</em>. There are two ways to do&nbsp;this:</p>

<ol>
	<li><em>not as</em> + Adj + <em>as</em></li>
	<li><em>less</em> + Adj + <em>than</em></li>
</ol>

<p>Note that we can&rsquo;t use <em class="inlineBlock">-er</em> to mean <em>less</em>; <em class="inlineBlock">-er</em> only means <em>more</em>. A good rule of thumb is to use <em>not as&hellip;as</em> for adjectives with one and two syllables, and <em>less</em> for adjectives with three or more syllables. This will always result in natural sounding comparisons, though it is possible to use <em>not as&hellip;as</em> for any adjectives. (Note: <em>not as&hellip;as</em> adjectives, along with <em>as&hellip;as</em> adjectives, are known as <em>equative&nbsp;adjectives</em>.)</p>

<h2>Examples</h2>

<ul>
	<li>Jack is <strong>not as tall as</strong>&nbsp;Maria.</li>
	<li>I did<strong>n&rsquo;t</strong> feel <strong>as happy</strong> yesterday <strong>as</strong> I do&nbsp;today.</li>
	<li>Last week&rsquo;s test was<strong>n&rsquo;t as simple as</strong> this week&rsquo;s&nbsp;test.</li>
	<li>Sunsets in the city are <strong>less beautiful than</strong> at the&nbsp;beach.</li>
</ul>

<p>You may want to point out to students that there is more than one way to make a comparison in English. For example, <em>Sunsets at the beach are more beautiful than in the city</em> has the same meaning as <em>Sunsets in the city are less beautiful than at the&nbsp;beach</em>.</p>

<h1>Related</h1>

<ul class="resources">
	<li class="blog-post"><a href="https://ellii.com/blog/superlative-adjectives/" target="_blank">Superlative Adjectives</a></li>
	<li class="lesson"><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/88/lessons/1607" target="_blank">Comparative Adjectives &ndash; Grammar Practice Worksheets&nbsp;Lesson</a></li>
	<li class="lesson"><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/88/lessons/1600" target="_blank">Comparative &amp; Superlatives&nbsp;&ndash; Grammar Practice Worksheets&nbsp;Lesson</a></li>
	<li class="lesson"><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/89/lessons/1556" target="_blank">Comparatives &ndash; Who Is Taller? Basic Grammar Sentences&nbsp;Lesson</a></li>
	<li class="blog-post"><a href="https://ellii.com/blog/adjectives" target="_blank">Adjective Sentence Patterns &amp;&nbsp;Suffixes</a></li>
	<li class="blog-post"><a href="https://ellii.com/blog/adjective-order-and-punctuation/" target="_blank">Adjective Order &amp; Punctuation</a></li>
	<li class="blog-post"><a href="https://ellii.com/blog/when-to-use-hyphens-rules-for-multiple-word-adjectives" target="_blank">When to Use Hyphens: Rules for Multiple-Word&nbsp;Adjectives</a></li>
	<li class="blog-post"><a href="https://ellii.com/blog/how-to-teach-ed-ing-adjectives-9-simple-steps/" target="_blank">How to Teach -ED/-ING Adjectives: 9 Simple&nbsp;Steps</a></li>
	<li class="blog-post"><a href="https://ellii.com/blog/look-appear-feel-adjective-or-adverb/" target="_blank">Look, Appear &amp; Feel + Adjective or&nbsp;Adverb?</a></li>
	<li class="blog-post"><a href="https://ellii.com/blog/restrictive-non-restrictive-adjective-clauses/" target="_blank">Restrictive &amp; Non-Restrictive Adjective&nbsp;Clauses</a></li>
</ul>

<h2>If you teach young&nbsp;learners</h2>

<ul class="resources">
	<li class="lesson"><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/116/lessons/2531" target="_blank">Comparative Adjectives Lesson</a></li>
	<li class="lesson"><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/116/lessons/2532" target="_blank">Superlative Adjectives Lesson</a></li>
</ul>


Comparative Adjectives

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<h1>We&#39;re all still learning&hellip;</h1>

<p>We recently had a subscriber ask us&nbsp;about&nbsp;tips on teaching the adverbs <em>still, no longer,&nbsp;</em>and&nbsp;<em>not anymore</em>. When we want to express a continuing action in the present, we use the present progressive (present continuous) for action verbs and the simple present for non-action verbs.</p>

<p>The adverb <em>still&nbsp;</em>is the natural choice for emphasizing an ongoing action. When we want to explain that we used to do something, but we&#39;ve since stopped that ongoing action, the adverbs&nbsp;<em>no longer</em> and&nbsp;<em>not anymore</em> do the job nicely.</p>

<p>So why do students sometimes struggle with these adverbs? The sentence positions are all different! Listing the various positions for them often&nbsp;helps.</p>


<h1>Still</h1>

<table class="horizontal">
	<tbody>
		<tr>
			<th>Simple Present:</th>
			<td>Still + Verb</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<th>Simple Present (Be):</th>
			<td>Be + Still</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<th>Present Progressive:</th>
			<td>Be + Still + -ing&nbsp;Verb</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<th>Examples:</th>
			<td>
			<ul>
				<li>I <strong>still want</strong> to go to Europe even though I can&#39;t afford&nbsp;it.</li>
				<li>She <strong>is still</strong> tired from&nbsp;hiking last&nbsp;weekend.</li>
				<li>He <strong>is still trying</strong> to find the&nbsp;answer.</li>
			</ul>
			</td>
		</tr>
	</tbody>
</table>

<h1>No Longer</h1>

<table class="horizontal">
	<tbody>
		<tr>
			<th>Simple Present:</th>
			<td>No longer + Verb</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<th>Simple Present (Be):</th>
			<td>Be +&nbsp;No longer</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<th>Present Progressive:</th>
			<td>Be&nbsp;+ No longer&nbsp;+ -ing&nbsp;Verb</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<th>Examples:</th>
			<td>
			<ul>
				<li>They <strong>no longer think</strong> it is the best&nbsp;solution.</li>
				<li>We <strong>are no longer</strong> worried about our&nbsp;bills.</li>
				<li>I<strong> am no longer waiting</strong> to hear back from that&nbsp;company.</li>
			</ul>
			</td>
		</tr>
	</tbody>
</table>

<h1>Not Anymore</h1>

<table class="horizontal">
	<tbody>
		<tr>
			<th>Simple Present:</th>
			<td>Do + Not&nbsp;+ Verb (+ O) +&nbsp;Anymore</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<th>Simple Present (Be):</th>
			<td>Be&nbsp;+&nbsp;Not (+ O) +&nbsp;Anymore</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<th>Present Progressive:</th>
			<td>Be&nbsp;+ Not&nbsp;+ -ing Verb (+ O) +&nbsp;Anymore</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<th>Examples:</th>
			<td>
			<ul>
				<li>She <strong>doesn&#39;t need</strong> that book&nbsp;<strong>anymore</strong>.</li>
				<li>I <strong>am not</strong> a student&nbsp;<strong>anymore</strong>.</li>
				<li>My friend <strong>isn&#39;t dating</strong> that guy&nbsp;<strong>anymore</strong>.</li>
			</ul>
			</td>
		</tr>
	</tbody>
</table>

<p>Note:&nbsp;<em>Not anymore</em> is pretty common as a short&nbsp;answer.</p>

<p>A: Are you still going to the party&nbsp;tonight?<br />
B: Not anymore</p>

<h1>Still, Already, Yet</h1>

<p>Students are often confused by&nbsp;<em>still&nbsp;</em>because it has two different uses. When&nbsp;<em>still </em>and&nbsp;<em>yet </em>are&nbsp;used with the present perfect, they signal&nbsp;the intention to do something, and they are always used with a negative verb. <i>Already&nbsp;</i>emphasizes that an action is completed, and it follows the normal adverb&nbsp;pattern.</p>

<table class="horizontal">
	<tbody>
		<tr>
			<th>Still:</th>
			<td>Still + Have + Not +&nbsp;Past&nbsp;Participle</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<th>Yet:</th>
			<td>Have&nbsp;+ Not&nbsp;+ Past Participle&nbsp;(+ O) +&nbsp;Yet</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<th>Already:</th>
			<td>Have + Already&nbsp;+&nbsp;Past&nbsp;Participle</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<th>Examples:</th>
			<td>
			<ul>
				<li>I <strong>still haven&#39;t finished</strong> my&nbsp;homework.</li>
				<li>She <strong>hasn&#39;t taken</strong> her final exam&nbsp;<strong>yet</strong>.</li>
				<li>He <strong>has already given</strong> his&nbsp;presentation.</li>
			</ul>
			</td>
		</tr>
	</tbody>
</table>

<h1>Practice</h1>

<p>Have your students discuss (or write about) their&nbsp;habits, both good and bad. What do they still do? What do they no longer do/what don&#39;t they do anymore? They could also discuss their hobbies, jobs/studies, food,&nbsp;etc.</p>

Still, No Longer & Not Anymore

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<p>Idioms are pervasive in the English language, especially in TV shows and movies. Almost all students love idioms, and they generally enjoy learning these fun, wacky expressions of ours. But English learners know that idioms can be difficult to learn and remember because the words or phrases don&rsquo;t literally match the meanings. Luckily, there are a variety of fun ways to practice idioms. Try some of my favorite methods below, and please share your favorite techniques in our comments&nbsp;section.</p>

<p>With St. Patrick&rsquo;s Day just around the corner (March&nbsp;17), we&rsquo;re featuring our <a href="https://ellii.com/resource_categories/107/resources/2146" target="_blank">Lucky Idioms</a> poster this month. But the ideas below can be used with any list of idioms that you want to practice in&nbsp;class!</p>

<h1>1. Posters</h1>

<p>When you hang our idioms posters (or ones your students have created) around your class, your learners will be exposed to them daily. Being able to visualize the idioms is very helpful for retention! Our premade posters&nbsp;include:</p>

<ul>
	<li><a href="https://ellii.com/resource_categories/107/resources/2146" target="_blank">Lucky Idioms</a></li>
	<li><a href="https://ellii.com/resource_categories/107/resources/2147" target="_blank">Spring &amp; Easter Idioms</a></li>
	<li><a href="https://ellii.com/resource_categories/107/resources/2148/" target="_blank">Eye Idioms</a></li>
	<li><a href="https://ellii.com/resource_categories/107/resources/2145" target="_blank">Love Idioms</a></li>
</ul>

<h1>2. Make Your Own&nbsp;Posters</h1>

<p>Have students make their own posters! Choose a list of idioms, such as the &ldquo;green&rdquo; idioms from page&nbsp;7 of <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/93/lessons/1867">St. Patrick&rsquo;s Day lesson</a>&nbsp;(Int &ndash; High Int). Get your learners to follow a similar style to our posters (e.g.,&nbsp;<a href="https://ellii.com/resource_categories/107/resources/2146">Lucky Idioms</a>) where they write the idioms and draw an image that represents the idiomatic meaning (have them try to include the literal meaning as well, if they can). This creative exercise will help students visualize and retain the meanings, and you can decorate your classroom with all the&nbsp;posters.</p>

<h1>3. Skits</h1>

<p>Writing dialogues and presenting skits is a fun, entertaining way to practice idioms, and students will get a lot of exposure both by writing their own dialogues and watching their classmates&rsquo; skits. Break your class into pairs or groups and assign about five idioms that they must include in their dialogues. Try to have more than one pair/group use the same idioms&mdash;this will ensure students are exposed to the idioms a few times in different&nbsp;contexts.</p>

<h1>4. Matchup</h1>

<p>Write out a list of idioms and definitions that you&rsquo;ve been studying in class. Or, better yet, have pairs or small groups of students write out the definitions in their own words. Cut up the word lists, hand them to another pair or group, and get students to match up the idioms and meanings. You could make this a weekly task where students have to bring in five idioms on a certain topic (they can find idioms and the meanings on the Internet, but encourage them to write the definitions in their own words to demonstrate their&nbsp;understanding).</p>

<h1>5. Speaking</h1>

<p>Sharing a personal experience really helps to plant an idiom firmly in your students&#39; minds. Put students into small groups, give them a list of idioms, and have each student choose one idiom. They will then talk about (or make up) an experience where that idiom applied to&nbsp;them.</p>

<h1>6. Writing</h1>

<p>Use one or more of the idioms as a prompt for a story that students can write in class or for homework. Try having students share and discuss their stories in small groups the next day&mdash;it&rsquo;s a good way to include pronunciation and speaking practice into this writing assignment. When you check their work, seeing the idiom(s) explained in context will let you know if the student has truly understood the&nbsp;meaning(s).</p>

<h1>7. Quizzes</h1>

<p>Put students into pairs or small groups, and have them create a quiz for another pair/group. They should write at least five sentences that demonstrate an idiom in context, along with a blank where the idiom would be written in. Exchange papers with another pair/group, or make copies and have all the pairs/groups do one another&rsquo;s quizzes. Alternatively, to save paper, the pairs/groups could take turns writing their quizzes on the&nbsp;board.</p>

<h2>Example</h2>

<p>She _______ that she wasn&rsquo;t seriously injured in the car accident&nbsp;yesterday.</p>

<p><strong>Answer:</strong> <em>thanked her lucky&nbsp;stars</em></p>

<h1>8. TV Shows</h1>

<p>Thirty‑minute sitcoms are generally full of idioms! More advanced learners will enjoy watching a show together in class and making note of all the idioms they hear (make sure you make notes as well because they often miss a bunch). Go over the meanings after the show. See if your students can guess the meaning of the idiom based on the context of the scene&mdash;they are often surprised that they can, which gives them a lot of&nbsp;confidence.</p>

<h1>Related</h1>

<ul class="resources">
	<li class="lesson"><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/93/lessons/1868" target="_blank">St. Patrick&rsquo;s Day (Beg)&nbsp;Lesson</a></li>
	<li class="lesson"><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/93/lessons/1867" target="_blank">St. Patrick&rsquo;s Day&nbsp;(Int &ndash; Hight Int) Lesson</a></li>
	<li class="lesson"><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/72/lessons/1226" target="_blank">Discussion Starters lesson plan on <em>Luck</em></a></li>
	<li class="blog-post"><a href="https://ellii.com/blog/saint-patricks-or-st-patricks-paddy-or-patty/" target="_blank">Saint Patrick&rsquo;s or St. Patrick&rsquo;s? Paddy or Patty?</a></li>
	<li class="blog-post"><a href="https://ellii.com/blog/exam-tips-english-learners/" target="_blank">Break a Leg &ndash;&nbsp;7 Exam Tips for English Learners</a></li>
	<li class="resource"><a href="https://ellii.com/resource_categories/107/resources/2146" target="_blank">Lucky Idioms</a></li>
	<li class="resource"><a href="https://ellii.com/resource_categories/107/resources/2147" target="_blank">Spring &amp; Easter Idioms</a></li>
	<li class="resource"><a href="https://ellii.com/resource_categories/107/resources/2148/" target="_blank">Eye Idioms</a></li>
	<li class="resource"><a href="https://ellii.com/resource_categories/107/resources/2145" target="_blank">Love Idioms</a></li>
</ul>

<p>Be sure to try our lesson series that focus on English idioms: <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/77/lessons" target="_blank">Everyday Idioms&nbsp;1</a> (A Love Story), <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/78/lessons" target="_blank">Everyday Idioms&nbsp;2</a> (First Year of University), <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/102/lessons" target="_blank">Everyday Idioms 3</a> (Moving to New York), <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/79/lessons" target="_blank">Detective Series&nbsp;1</a> (The Case of the Missing Ring), and <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/101/lessons" target="_blank">Detective Series&nbsp;2</a> (False Alarm).</p>


8 Ways to Practice Idioms in Class

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<p>In English, the simple past tense is formed by adding <em class="inlineBlock">-ed</em> to the end of the regular verbs. If only all past verbs were that easy! The problem for English language learners is the many, many changes that occur when forming the past tense of <strong>irregular</strong>&nbsp;verbs.</p>

<p>Sometimes the vowel changes (<em>come</em> &rarr; <em>came</em>), sometimes the pronunciation changes (<em>read</em> &rarr; <em>read</em>), and sometimes the whole word&nbsp;changes (<em>eat</em> &rarr; <em>ate</em>). Sometimes there seems to be a pattern (<em>throw</em> &rarr; <em>threw</em>, <em>know</em> &rarr; <em>knew</em>), but there are always exceptions (<em>snow</em>&nbsp;&rarr;&nbsp;<em>snowed</em>).</p>

<p>English language learners can become discouraged with what they perceive as the endless memorization ahead of them, so English teachers can help by introducing fun activities for learning and reviewing irregular verbs. When one of our subscribers asked us for some ideas for irregular verb activities, I was only too happy to share my five favorites. Please add to the list and share your favorite activity in the comment section&nbsp;below!</p>

<h1>Activities</h1>

<h2>1. Irregular Verb Ball Toss</h2>

<p>Let&rsquo;s start with a quick and easy one that always goes over well with my students. Bring in a rubber ball (or use a small eraser, a scrunched-up ball of paper, or anything else that&rsquo;s light and safe to throw) and let the game begin! You may want to let students refer to a <a href="https://ellii.com/resources/grammar-usage/2161-irregular-verb-list-present-past">list of irregular verbs</a> when they&rsquo;re first learning them, but later on you can play it without the list. I prefer not to keep score during this game, but you may choose to. You can also choose if you should correct any mistakes or if another student should do&nbsp;it.</p>

<ul>
	<li>Choose an irregular verb and say the base form out&nbsp;loud.</li>
	<li>Say the name of a student and toss the ball to&nbsp;them.</li>
	<li>The student must catch the ball and say the past&nbsp;form.</li>
	<li>That student then chooses another verb and repeats the steps&nbsp;above.</li>
	<li>Continue until all the students have had a turn or&nbsp;two.</li>
</ul>

<h2>2. Concentration</h2>

<h4>(on the&nbsp;table)</h4>

<p>This classic game is useful for reviewing all kinds of vocabulary and grammar targets. Cut up the verbs from the <a href="https://ellii.com/resources/grammar-usage/2161-irregular-verb-list-present-past">list</a> (one set for each group) or make your own verb cards. You could also have students make their own&nbsp;cards.</p>

<ul>
	<li>Arrange students into small groups (groups of three or four work&nbsp;well).</li>
	<li>Mix up the verb cards and arrange them facedown in a rough square&nbsp;pattern.</li>
	<li>One student starts by turning over any two of the cards. If that student gets a match (by turning over a base verb that matches the past form of that verb), he/she can keep the pair of paper slips. If there&rsquo;s no match, the student must turn the slips over again and place them back in the same&nbsp;place.</li>
	<li>Once all the slips have been matched up, students should add up how many pairs they have. The student with the most matches&nbsp;wins!</li>
</ul>

<h2>3. Concentration</h2>

<h4>(on the&nbsp;board)</h4>

<p>This activity is my favorite for irregular verb review. It always goes over well and gets the whole class&nbsp;involved.</p>

<ul>
	<li>Draw a grid on the board with 20 squares (5 &times; 4). Write the numbers 1&ndash;20 in the top left‑hand corner of each square. Have a master grid for yourself that you can refer to with ten base verbs and ten corresponding past forms (use the <a href="https://ellii.com/resources/grammar-usage/2161-irregular-verb-list-present-past">list</a> below for ideas) filled into the grid (one verb per square, with the order mixed&nbsp;up).</li>
	<li>Divide the students into two teams. Ask one student from team&nbsp;A to choose one box. Write the verb in the center of the box. Have that same student choose another box. Fill in that box&nbsp;too.</li>
	<li>If the two boxes create a match (base verb + past verb), leave the verbs written in the boxes and give that team a point. If they don&rsquo;t match, erase both boxes and repeat the process with a student from team&nbsp;B.</li>
	<li>Continue until all the boxes are filled in. For the last pair of boxes, make it more challenging by having that team member guess the last box (i.e., if the base verb is chosen, write it in the box, but then the student must tell you the past form without seeing the last box, and vice versa). The team with the most points&nbsp;wins!</li>
</ul>

<div class="white-box">
<h5>Note</h5>

<p>Most boards will clearly show which spots have been erased, thus making it easier for students to remember which numbers have already been chosen. To make it more challenging, when setting up the board, run the eraser over the center of each box before starting the&nbsp;game.</p>
</div>

<h2>4. Bingo</h2>

<p>Bingo is another classic, popular game that&rsquo;s easy to adapt for irregular verb&nbsp;review.</p>

<ul>
	<li>Make a copy of a <a href="https://ellii.com/resources/warm-ups-fillers/2172-bingo">blank Bingo card</a> for each&nbsp;student.</li>
	<li>Have students fill in the past form of any verbs from the <a href="https://ellii.com/resources/grammar-usage/2161-irregular-verb-list-present-past">list</a> below (one inside each square)&nbsp;in any order. The center square can be a &ldquo;free&rdquo; space, if you&nbsp;wish.</li>
	<li>Tell students they can yell out &ldquo;Bingo!&rdquo; when they have one horizontal, vertical, or diagonal line checked off. Higher‑level students must complete two&nbsp;lines.</li>
	<li>Using the <a href="https://ellii.com/resources/grammar-usage/2161-irregular-verb-list-present-past">list</a>, call out the base form of the verbs in a random order, one by one. Students can check off the past verbs that&nbsp;match.</li>
	<li>Continue until a student yells &ldquo;Bingo!&rdquo;</li>
</ul>

<p><img alt="Bingo sheet" height="auto" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/26/content_105_Bingo.png" width="320" /></p>

<p class="caption">Warm-Ups &amp; Fillers &ndash; <a href="https://ellii.com/resource_categories/105/resources/2172">Bingo</a></p>

<h2>5. Relay</h2>

<p>Relay races are quick and easy to do, and they get your students&nbsp;moving!</p>

<ul>
	<li>Write two (or more, if you want more than two teams) columns of base verbs from the <a href="https://ellii.com/resource_categories/103/resources/2161">list</a> on the board before class starts. The columns should be identical. (For a more challenging race, choose other, less common&nbsp;verbs.)</li>
	<li>Divide the class into two (or more)&nbsp;teams.</li>
	<li>Move desks and chairs out of the&nbsp;way.</li>
	<li>Line students up facing the&nbsp;board.</li>
	<li>When you yell &ldquo;Go!&rdquo;, the first student from each team must run to the board and write the past form of any one verb next to the base&nbsp;form.</li>
	<li>That student then races back and hands the marker or chalk to the next student in line. Continue until one team has all the verbs filled&nbsp;in.</li>
	<li>Give each team one point for each correctly formed (and spelled!) past&nbsp;verb.</li>
</ul>

<h1>Irregular Verb List</h1>

<p><img alt="List of irregular past and present verbs" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/25/content_103_Irregular-Verb-List-Present-and-Past.png" /></p>

<p class="caption">Grammar &amp; Usage &ndash; <a href="https://ellii.com/resource_categories/103/resources/2161">Irregular Verb List: Present &amp;&nbsp;Past</a></p>

<h1>Practice</h1>

<p>Try our <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/88/lessons">Grammar Practice Worksheets</a>, <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/91/lessons">Simple Sentences</a>, and <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/90/lessons">Grammar Stories</a> sections for a variety of lessons on the simple&nbsp;past.</p>
