Grammar Challenge 4

Time prepositions

Prepositions are small grammatical words that usually go before nouns and pronouns. There are many different prepositions that are used to describe where things are, how things happen and when things happen, for example. In this Grammar Challenge we focus on the prepositions we use with certain time expressions.

At – for times of the day	at half past 7 at midnight at sunset at breakfast time
On - for days and dates	on the 5th of June on Tuesdays, on Saturday morning on Christmas day
In - for longer periods of time	in April in 1987 in the winter of 1976 in the 1930s
No preposition – for some time words	next last tomorrow yesterday

Used to / didn't use to

When talking about things that we did in the past but don't do now we can use the expression used to. The negative form, to talk about things which we didn't do in the past but do now, is didn't use to.

Positive sentences	I used to smoke 20 cigarettes a day. I used to eat loads of junk food.
Negative sentences	I didn't use to do any exercise. I didn't use to swim very well.
All pronouns take used to / didn't use to	I You She He It We They	used to / didn't use to	eat a lot of sweets. eat meat. live in the city. have long hair.

Used to and didn't use to are only used to talk about past habits. There is no present form. To talk about present habits we can use the present simple. When using these structures there are often two parts to the sentence, something about the past and something about the present, for example:

I used to drive to work but now I go by car.
I didn't use to like coffee but I love it now.


Continuous Passives

This week, we're continuing our discussion of passives with a look at continuous passives.

here are four main elements to a continuous passive sentence: the 'passive subject', the verb 'to be', the word 'being', and the past participle of the verb.

Present continuous passive

passive subject	'to be'	being	past participle
The bridge	is	being	painted	this year
The interviews	are	being	held	in the office

Past continuous passive

passive subject	'to be'	being	past participle
The bridge	was	being	painted	last year
The interviews	were	being	held	in the office

Simple Passives

There are three main elements to a simple passive sentence: the 'passive subject', the verb 'to be' and the past participle of the verb.

Present simple

passive subject	'to be'	past participle
Paper	is	made	from wood
Tigers	are	found	in India

Past simple

passive subject	'to be'	past participle
The bridge	was	opened	in 1977
The pyramids	were	built	by the Egyptians

Because / because of

Do you ever get confused over when to use because and when to use because of? Well, help is at hand in today's episode of grammar challenge! Taka from Japan is up for the challenge... but are you?

Because and because of are both used to introduce reasons. Because is a conjunction, and is followed by a subject and verb. Because of is a preposition, and is followed by a noun phrase or verb-ing

Because

because	subject	verb
because	he	felt	ill, he didn't go to the party

Because of

because of	noun phrase or verb-ing
because of	his illness	he didn't go to the party
because of	feeling ill

'Need + verb-ing'

Sometimes it's useful to talk about fixing or improving things, but without saying who is going to do it. To do this, we can use need + verb-ing.

To talk about fixing or improving things, you can use need with an -ing verb. There are three parts to this structure. First, you name the thing – my hair, or the car, or my shoes. Then you say 'need' - or 'needs' - and finally, a verb with –ing.
Positive

subject	need(s)	verb-ing
My hair	needs	cutting
The curtains	need	washing

Negative

subject	doesn't / don't	need	verb-ing
My hair	doesn't	need	cutting
The curtains	don't	need	washing

Question

do/does	subject	need	verb-ing
Does	my hair	need	cutting?
Do	the curtains	need	washing?

Uncountable nouns

English learners of all levels sometimes struggle with countable and uncountable nouns. Although most people understand that 'water' and 'bread' are uncountable, how about 'advice', 'equipment', 'luggage'...?

Nouns are usually countable or uncountable. Numbers, plurals and the articles 'a' and 'an' are NOT normally used with uncountable nouns.

accommodation	equipment	information	patience	rubbish
advice	furniture	luggage	pollution	weather