Grammar: ALIKE AND LIKE

Usage Tip

Use 'alike' to mean 'like each other'. Use 'like' to mean 'like someone else'.

Example Sentences

We are very much alike.
Tom looks like Peter.

A. LIKE

a. LIKE as verb.

As a verb, LIKE = “suka/menyukai”, and because it is a stative verb, so like is not used in tenses which is not progressive/continuous.

Subject + LIKE + noun/pronoun

Subject + LIKE + infinitive

Subject + LIKE + gerund

The pattern above are in simple present. In another non-progressive tenses, we add auxialary before LIKE (ex: will like, may like, would have liked, had liked, dst.)

Grammar: REPORTED SPEECH

Reported speech consists in telling somebody else what you or a person said before (Indirect Speech).

We use reported speech when we want to tell someone else what the first person said.

When reporting speech, a few changes occur:

Ø  TENSES 

Tense in "Direct speech"	Tense to use in reported speech
SIMPLE PRESENT	SIMPLE PAST
Cindy asked: "Do you like watching TV?" Gina said: "I don't mind watching TV, but there are things I like better	Cindy asked Gina if he liked watching TV Gina answered he didn't mind watching TV, but there were things he liked better.
PRESENT BE-ING	PAST BE-ING
Fajar declared: " I am thinking about moving"	Fajar declared that he was thinking about moving
PAST BE-ING	PAST PERFECT BE-ING
He told them: "I wasn't expecting your visit"	He told them that he hadn't been expecting their visit
PRESENT PERFECT	PAST PERFECT
She said: " “I have seen Julie”	She said that she had seen Julie
PRESENT PERFECT BE-ING	PAST PERFECT BE-ING
He asked: "Paul, how long have you been studying English?"	He asked Paul how long he had been studying English
PAST PERFECT	PAST PERFECT
They said: "We had worked hard"	They said that they had worked hard
PAST PERFECT BE-ING	PAST PERFECT BE-ING
He declared: " I  had been studying for two years"	He declared that he had been studying for two years
FUTURE (WILL)	CONDITIONAL (WOULD)
I asked: “Where will you spend your holiday?”	I asked where they would spend their holiday.
WILL + BE-ING	WOULD + BE-ING
Anna declared:" I will be announcing my engagement next month"	Anna declared that she would be announcing her engagement the following month
WOULD	WOULD
Tony said: "I would like something to eat. I wouldn't mind a drink either."	Tony said he would like something to drink and wouldn't mind a drink either.

Grammar: QUANTIFIERS (some of, many of, no longer, not any longer, not anymore)

0%, 10%, 50%, 100%, etc.
½, ¼, etc.
1, 2, 3, 4, etc.
one, two, three, four, etc.
one half, one third, one fourth, one quarter, one fifth, etc.
a bit, a couple, a few, a good deal, a good many, a great deal, a great many, a little, a little bit, a majority, a minority, a number, a quantity, all, an amount, another, any, any, both, certain, each, either, enough, enough, few, fewer, heaps, less, less, little, loads, lots, many, masses, more, most, much, much, neither, none, numbers, part, plenty, quantities, several, some, the, majority, the remainder, the rest, the whole, tons, various

Quantifiers are a type of determiner which denote imprecise quantity. They differ from numbers or numerals which indicate precise quantity.

The most common examples:
the most common quantifiers used in English are:

some / any ,  much, many, a lot, a few, several, enough.

There are three types of quantifier;
1. neutral quantifiers,
2. quantifiers of large quantity, and
3. quantifiers of small quantity

Comparison of Adverbs

Adverbs, like adjectives, have three degrees of comparison – the positive, the comparative and the superlative. The different degrees of comparison are formed in different ways:

Short adverbs having just one syllable form the comparative and the superlative by the addition of –er and –est to the positive.
Hard (positive), harder (comparative), hardest (superlative)
Soon, sooner, soonest
Fast, faster, fastest
Late, later, latest
Loud, louder, loudest
Clean, cleaner, cleanest
Clear, clearer, clearest
Low, lower, lowest
High, higher, highest
Note that almost all adverbs which are also used as adjectives belong to this class.
Adverbs ending in –ly
Adverbs which end in –ly take more for the comparative and most for the superlative.
Softly (positive), more softly (comparative), most softly (superlative)
Happily, more happily, most happily
Swiftly, more swiftly, most swiftly
Ably, more ably, most ably

The Five Types of Adverbs

Adverbs of Manner: Adverbs of manner provide information on how someone does something.

For example: Jack drives very carefully. Adverbs are one of the eight parts of speech.
Adverbs of Time: Adverbs of time provide information on when something happens.
For example: We'll let you know our decision next week.
Adverbs of Frequency: Adverbs of frequency provide information on how often something happens.
For example: They usually get to work at eight o'clock.
Once you have studied adverbs of frequency, try this adverbs of frequency quiz to test your knowledge. To review the rules of adverbs of frequency this complete guide will help.
Adverbs of Degree: Adverbs of degree provide information concerning how much of something is done. For example: They like playing golf a lot.
Adverbs of Comment: Adverbs of comment provide a comment, or opinion about a situation.
For example: Fortunately, there were enough seats left for the concert.

Adverb Formation

Adverbs are usually formed by adding '-ly' to an adjective. For example: quiet - quietly, careful - carefully, careless - carelessly
Adjectives ending in '-le' change to '-ly'.
For example: possible - possibly, probable - probably, incredible - incredibly
Adjectives ending in '-y' change to '-ily'.

Some time (grammar)

1.    Some time is a combination of a noun (time) and determiner (some). It shows an unspecified amount of time (in the same way we say: some money or some work). For example:

It will take us some time to finish this project. (it’s unknown how much time it will take to complete the project)

Sometime is an adverb that means approximately. Although the exact time is still unspecified, this word is used with other adverbials (next week/this year) giving listeners an idea of a time frame:

He said he’d come sometime after lunch. (we’re unsure when exactly he’ll come, but we know it’ll be after lunch hour)

Sometimes is an adverb that means occasionally.

I usually drive to work, but sometimes I take a bus.

 Sometime means "at an indefinite or unstated time in the future." Some time means "a period of time." Sometimes means "occasionally, now and then."

Examples:

"Why don't you come up sometime and see me?"
(Mae West in She Done Him Wrong, 1933)

"You must give some time to your fellow men. Even if it's a little thing, do something for others--something for which you get no pay but the privilege of doing it."
(Albert Schweitzer)

"I am so clever that sometimes I don't understand a single word of what I am saying."
(Oscar Wilde)

Grammar II: Question Tag

TAG QUESTION

DEFINITION

A question tag or tag question is a grammatical structure in which a declarative statement or an imperative is turned into a question by adding an interrogative fragment (the "tag"). For example, in the sentence "You're John, aren't you?", the statement "You're John" is turned into a question by the tag "aren't you". The term "question tag" is generally preferred by British grammarians, while their American counterparts prefer "tag question".

In English, the verbs used as auxiliaries are to be, to do, to have, and the modal auxiliaries. All of these auxiliaries can be used in tag questions and short answers.

Tag questions in English

English tag questions, when they have the grammatical form of a question, are atypically complex, because they vary according to four factors: the choice of auxiliary, the negation, the intonation pattern and the emphasis.

Auxiliary

The English tag question is made up of an auxiliary verb and a pronoun. The auxiliary has to agree with the tense, aspect and modality of the verb in the preceding sentence. If the verb is in the present perfect, for example, the tag question uses has or have; if the verb is in a present progressive form, the tag is formed with am, are, is; if the verb is in a tense which does not normally use an auxiliary, like the present simple, the auxiliary is taken from the emphatic do form; and if the sentence has a modal auxiliary, this is echoed in the tag:

•           He's read this book, hasn't he?

•           He read this book, didn't he?

•           He's reading this book, isn't he?