English Learner: Questions and Answers

Contractions: making words shorter

Contractions are often used in written and spoken English to shorten and ‘join’ the subject and verb or auxiliary and verb in a sentence. In spoken English they are constantly present so as a learner you definitely need to get your ear around them!

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Despite in spite of

Despite in spite of Member’s question A question from Rupam in India and Charlie Meier in Germany: Can we use ‘of’ with the word ‘despite’?

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Word meaning: Nigella

What does the word “Nigella” mean? This is a question from English4.today member Nigella, in Bahrain. Nigella asks: What does the word “Nigella” mean?? I

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What is ‘gender’?

Question from English4Today member: Michael Harney in Niger What is gender?  Answer Hi Michael! My answer is about the grammatical use of ‘gender’  and not

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The Infinitive

Question from English4Today member Mary Gordon in the USA: Are verb forms in the infinitive the same in meaning and form as base verbs? Answer

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May and Might

Question from English4Today member Teddy in the USA What is the difference between may or might? e.g.: I might have made a mistake or I

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Capital Letters

Question from English4Today member Irene in Canada: Does the word French need to be capitalized in the following sentence? Please encourage french reading for pleasure

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Adverbs of Degree

Question from Mural Mahtab in Iran: What are the differences between these adjectives: very, rather, quite, fairly, extremely, terribly? Which one is the strongest? Thanks

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Just + Present Perfect

Question Just in Time: Just + Present Perfect Question from Henrik in Croatia: I just called or I’ve just called? What’s right?Stevie Wonder says: I

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