Latest Articles from ELB
21 alternative verbs to describe speaking
There are many verbs in English that describe speech. If you want to describe a conversation in a more dynamic way, you can choose verbs with more specific meanings than "to say", which simply means to speak. This is useful if you want to create a varied narrative, in...
Understanding how to fit “answer” and “answer to” into sentences
The word answer is often joined by the preposition to, usually connecting it to a noun (something that requires answering). However, answer can be both a verb and a noun, and they are naturally used differently when forming sentences. So, what are some simple...
“I am” or “I do” when answering questions
When answering questions in English, it is useful to use common expressions like "I am" or "I do". These common verbs are used to respond to questions that require a positive or negative answer, giving you a simple, easy response to questions. However, they are used...
The difference between ‘from’, ‘out of’ and ‘among’
Certain prepositions like from, out of and among may be interchangeable in certain contexts, in this comparison with all essentially meaning chosen from a group. For example, these three sentences essentially mean the same thing: I had to choose which I liked best...
Understanding prefixes – sub- (under)
Parts of words in English can often give you valuable clues to their meaning. Prefixes and suffixes usually modify the word they are attached to, so if you understand the meaning of a prefix, you can increase your understanding of a number of new words, and improve...
Gendered pronouns – when to use he, she and it for animals, objects and people
Gender in English is quite different to many languages because objects are generally always treated as neutral, and animals are mostly treated as neutral, even when they have a gender. The result is that the pronouns “he” and “she” are almost always used to refer to...
Mixed grammar words exercise
Having looked at the bare infinitive, past participles and present participles individually, with a variety of exercises to test understanding, this exercise will now combine the knowledge of those three different grammar words. It should be possible to identify, from...
The Present Participle in Mixed Tenses – Exercise
The present participle is a grammar word with many different uses. Some uses are very particular, and depend on its relationships with other verbs (such as following a verb with either an infinitive or +ing form). One of its most common, and most formulaic uses, is in...
Mixed Preposition Phrases Exercise
Prepositional phrases and phrasal verbs often have very specific patterns that are difficult to guess. This means it is sometimes necessary to learn such phrases individually. The following exercise will test a range of prepositional phrases and phrasal verbs in a...