English A1 Comprehensive Study Notes and Question Bank

Unit 1: Welcome to Learn English

Greetings and Social Expressions

• Morning Greetings: "Good morning!" is used when greeting someone in the morning (between sunrise and noon).
• Afternoon Greetings: "Good afternoon!" is used between noon and sunset.
• Evening/Night Greetings: "Good evening!" is used when meeting someone in the evening, whereas "Good night!" is used strictly when leaving or before going to bed.

Numbers and Colors

• Numerical Recognition:
  • $35$ represents the number thirty-five.
  • $53$ represents fifty-three.
  • $45$ represents forty-five.
  • $25$ represents twenty-five.
• Color Association: The color green is usually associated with grass.
• Categorization (Odd One Out): In a set containing yellow, black, Tuesday, and pink, Tuesday is the odd one out because it is a day of the week, while the rest are colors.

Indefinite Articles

• Rule for "A": Use the article "a" before singular countable nouns beginning with a consonant sound (e.g., a student, a book, a backpack).
• Rule for "An": Use the article "an" before singular countable nouns beginning with a vowel sound ($a, e, i, o, u$) (e.g., an orange, an apple, an hour).
• Application Examples:
  • Correct: "I have an orange in my lunch bag."
  • Correct: "I am a student."

Question Words

• When: Asks about time, dates, or specific occasions.
  • Example: "When is your birthday?"
• Where: Asks about locations or places.
• Who: Asks about person(s).
• What: Asks about specific information or objects.

Possessive Adjectives

Possessive adjectives indicate ownership and must agree with the possessor:

• Third-person Singular Feminine (She -> Her):
  • Sentence: "Laura has a new backpack. Her backpack is red."
• First-person Plural (We / My brother and I -> Our):
  • Sentence: "My brother and I have an English book. Our book is on the desk."

Noun Pluralization Rules

• Standard Rule: For most singular nouns, add $-s$ to form the plural.
  • Singular: student $\rightarrow$ Plural: students
  • Singular: pen $\rightarrow$ Plural: pens
• Sentence Examples:
  • "There are five students in the classroom."
  • "I have two pens in my pencil case."

Basic Conversational Questions and Answers

• Asking Location: "Where do you live?" $\rightarrow$ "I live in Machala."
• Asking Age: "How old are you?" $\rightarrow$ "I am $25$".
• Asking Name: "What is your name?" $\rightarrow$ "My name is Sofia."

Classroom Commands (Imperatives)

• Instruction to Open Materials: When an instructor wishes for students to open their reading materials, the command is "Open your books."
• Instruction to Cease Speaking: When an instructor wishes for students to stop talking, the command is "Be quiet."

Sentence Diagnostics and Corrections

• Incorrect: "She have a blue notebook."
  • Correction: She has a blue notebook. (Third-person singular subject she requires has).
• Incorrect: "I am an student."
  • Correction: I am a student. (student starts with a consonant sound, requiring a).

Unit 2: People

Countries and Nationalities

• Mexico: A person from Mexico is Mexican.
• Italy: A person from Italy is Italian.
• Japan: A person from Japan is Japanese.
• Ecuador: People from Ecuador are Ecuadorian.
• Argentina: People from Argentina are Argentine or Argentinian.
• Peru: A person from Peru is Peruvian.

Present Simple of the Verb To Be

Affirmative Structures

• $I \rightarrow \text{am}$
• $\text{He / She / It} \rightarrow \text{is}$
• $\text{We / You / They} \rightarrow \text{are}$

Examples:

• "My parents are Ecuadorian."
• "I am a student."
• "The new teacher is very friendly."
• "You are in the right classroom."

Negative Structures

• $I \rightarrow \text{am not}$
• $\text{He / She / It} \rightarrow \text{is not (isn't)}$
• $\text{We / You / They} \rightarrow \text{are not (aren't)}$

Examples:

• "She isn't from Peru."
• "We aren't doctors."

Interrogative Form

To form questions, invert the subject and the verb to be:

$\text{Be} + \text{Subject} + \text{Complement}?$\n

• Correct: "Is he your brother?"
• Incorrect: "Are he your brother?" / "He is your brother?"

Descriptive Adjectives and Opposites

• Young $\leftrightarrow$ Old
  • Example: A person who is $82$ years old is old.
• Tall $\leftrightarrow$ Short
• Thin $\leftrightarrow$ Fat
• Hair Textures: Hair characterized by many small waves is curly; hair without waves is straight.

Sentence Diagnostics and Corrections

• Incorrect: "They is from Argentina."
  • Correction: They are from Argentina. (They takes the plural verb form are).
• Incorrect: "I are very happy today."
  • Correction: I am very happy today. (I takes the singular verb form am).

Unit 3: Places

Community Locations and Workplaces

• Library: A place where books can be borrowed.
• Pharmacy: A establishment where medicine can be purchased.
• Studio: A professional workspace where a fashion designer or artist works.
• Hospital: A medical facility for health treatment.
• Supermarket: A large shop selling food and household goods.
• Bank: A financial institution for managing money.

Prepositions of Place

• On: Positioned above and supported by a surface (e.g., "The laptop is on the desk.").
• Under: Positioned directly below or beneath something (e.g., "The shoes are under the bed.").
• Between: Occupying the middle space separating two distinct objects or points (e.g., "The bank is between the pharmacy and the bakery.").

Existential Structures: There is and There are

• There is: Used with singular countable nouns or uncountable nouns.
  • "There is a sofa in the living room."
  • "There is a supermarket near my house."
• There are: Used with plural countable nouns.
  • "There are four windows in the classroom."
  • "There are two sewing machines in the studio."
  • "There are three chairs next to the table."

Possessives: Genitive Nouns and Possessive Pronouns

• Possessive Noun (Genitive 's): Add $'s$ to singular proper names or singular nouns to indicate possession.
  • Correct: "This is Maria's jacket."
• Possessive Pronoun (mine): Replaces a possessive adjective + noun combination.
  • Subject: $I$
  • Possessive Adjective: my
  • Possessive Pronoun: mine
  • Sentence: "This notebook belongs to me. It is mine."

Conversational Expressions for Directions

• Question: "Excuse me, where is the supermarket?"
• Appropriate Response: "It is next to the bank."

Sentence Diagnostics

• Incorrect Identification: "There is three chairs in the office." is grammatically incorrect because three chairs is plural and requires There are.
• Correct Variants: "There is a computer on the desk.", "There are two doors in the room.", "The books are on the shelf."

Unit 4: Work and Study

Occupations and Professions

• Architect: A person who designs buildings.
• Hairdresser: A person who cuts and styles hair.
• Fashion Designer: A person who creates clothing designs.
• Accountant: A person who manages financial records.
• Mechanic: A person who repairs machinery and vehicles.

Textile Materials and Clothing Items

• Denim: The standard fabric used to make jeans.
• Wool: A warm material derived from animal coats, used for winter sweaters.
• Cotton: A light fabric suited for summer shirts.
• Shoes: Footwear worn on the feet.
• Scarf: An item of clothing worn around the neck for warmth or fashion.

Present Simple Tense

Affirmative Rules

• For $I, \text{you}, \text{we}, \text{they}$, use the base verb (e.g., work, study, design).
• For $\text{he}, \text{she}, \text{it}$, add $-s$ or $-es$ to the base verb (e.g., works, studies, designs).

Examples:

• "My father works in a bank."
• "We study English every Tuesday."
• "Ana designs clothes for her clients."

Negative Rules

• $I / \text{You} / \text{We} / \text{They} + \text{do not (don't)} + \text{base verb}$
• $\text{He} / \text{She} / \text{It} + \text{does not (doesn't)} + \text{base verb}$

Examples:

• "I don't work on Sundays."
• "He doesn't like coffee."
• "My friends don't study in the afternoon."

Interrogative and Short Answer Rules

• $\text{Do} + I / \text{you} / \text{we} / \text{they} + \text{base verb}?$\n* $\text{Does} + \text{he} / \text{she} / \text{it} + \text{base verb}?$\n Examples:
• Correct: "Does Maria work in a studio?"
• Correct: "Do they study English?"
• Dialogue:
  
  • Speaker A: "Does your brother work at a hospital?"
  • Speaker B: "Yes, he does."

Word Order and Sentence Construction

• Affirmative Statement Structure: Subject + Frequency/Verb + Object + Time Expression
  • Unscrambled: she / studies / English / every / night $\rightarrow$ She studies English every night.
• Information Question Structure: Question Word + Auxiliary Verb ($Do/Does$) + Subject + Base Verb?
  • Unscrambled: where / does / your / mother / work / ? $\rightarrow$ Where does your mother work?

Sentence Diagnostics and Corrections

• Incorrect: "My sister don't work in a showroom."
  • Correction: My sister doesn't work in a showroom. (Third-person singular my sister requires the auxiliary doesn't).

Unit 5: Daily Life

Time Expressions and Telling Time

• Frequency Expressions: Attending class on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday translates to going three times a week.
• Telling Time: $7:30$ is spoken as half past seven.

Routine Verbs and Frequency Adverbs

• Collocations:
  • Brush my teeth
  • Go to work
  • Have lunch
• Adverbs of Frequency Scale:
  • $100\%$ frequency $\rightarrow$ Always
  • High frequency $\rightarrow$ Usually / Often
  • Low frequency ($2$–$3$ times a year) $\rightarrow$ Rarely
  • $0\%$ frequency $\rightarrow$ Never
• Contextual Examples:
  • Disliking coffee entirely $\rightarrow$ "I never drink coffee."
  • Running every Saturday $\rightarrow$ "Pedro always goes running on Saturdays."
  • Going to the cinema $2$ or $3$ times a year $\rightarrow$ "I rarely go to the cinema."

Word Order with Frequency Adverbs

1. Main Verbs: Place the frequency adverb before main verbs (Subject + Adverb + Verb).
   • Correct: "She always goes to work early."
   • Unscrambled: she / has / usually / breakfast / at 7:00 $\rightarrow$ She usually has breakfast at 7:00.
2. Verb To Be: Place the frequency adverb after the verb to be (Subject + Be + Adverb).
   • Unscrambled: he / is / never / late $\rightarrow$ He is never late.

Physical Descriptions and Possession (Have got / Has got)

• Structure:
  • $I / \text{You} / \text{We} / \text{They} \rightarrow \text{have got}$
  • $\text{He} / \text{She} / \text{It} \rightarrow \text{has got}$
• Examples:
  • "My mother has got long hair."
  • "We have got a new car."
  • "He has got brown eyes."
• Physical Characteristics:
  • A person with a height of $1.90\,\text{meters}$ is tall.
  • Hair with no waves is straight.

Sentence Diagnostics and Corrections

• Incorrect: "My brother have got blue eyes."
  • Correction: My brother has got blue eyes. (My brother is third-person singular, requiring has got).

Unit 6: Food and Family

Food Categorization

• Fruits: Apple, banana, orange.
• Vegetables: Tomato, carrot.
• Dairy Products: Cheese, milk, butter.
• Proteins/Grains: Chicken, fish, rice, bread.

Family Relationships

• Aunt: The sister of one's mother or father.
• Uncle: The brother of one's mother or father.
• Niece: The daughter of one's sibling.
• Nephew: The son of one's sibling.
• Cousin: The child of one's aunt or uncle.

Quantifiers with Countable and Uncountable Nouns

• Countable Nouns (Plural): Use many in questions/negatives or a lot of in affirmatives.
  • Example: "There are many bananas on the table."
  • Example: "My family eats a lot of vegetables."
• Uncountable Nouns: Use much in negative contexts.
  • Example: "We don't have much rice."

Past Simple Tense

Regular and Irregular Affirmative Verbs

• Regular Verbs: Form the past simple by adding $-ed$.
  • Clean $\rightarrow$ Cleaned ("Yesterday, I cleaned my room.")
  • Visit $\rightarrow$ Visited ("Last weekend, she visited her grandmother.")
• Irregular Verbs: Change form entirely.
  • Have $\rightarrow$ Had ("They had dinner at 8:00 p.m. yesterday.")
  • See $\rightarrow$ Saw ("We saw a movie last night.")

Past Simple of To Be

• $I / \text{He} / \text{She} / \text{It} \rightarrow \text{was}$
• $\text{We} / \text{You} / \text{They} \rightarrow \text{were}$

Examples:

• "I was at home yesterday."
• "My friends were at the restaurant last night."
• "My sister was at school yesterday, but my brothers were at home."

Past Simple Negative and Questions

• Negative Form: $\text{Subject} + \text{didn't} + \text{base verb}$
  • Correct: "I didn't watch TV."
  • Incorrect: "I didn't watched TV."
• Interrogative Form: $\text{Did} + \text{subject} + \text{base verb}?$
  • Correct: "Did you visit your aunt?"
  • Incorrect: "Did you visited your aunt?"

Sentence Diagnostics and Corrections

• Incorrect: "They didn't went to the supermarket yesterday."
  • Correction: They didn't go to the supermarket yesterday. (The auxiliary didn't must be followed by the base form of the verb go, not the past form went).

Speaking Examination Practice Guide

Part 1 — Personal Information

Prepare direct spoken responses for the following standard questions:

• Name: "What is your name?"
• Age: "How old are you?"
• Nationality & Origin: "Where are you from?" / "What is your nationality?"
• Occupation & Studies: "What do you do?" / "Where do you work/study?"

Part 2 — Family and People

Prepare a structured 5-sentence oral description of a family member or friend. Include:

1. Name and relationship.
2. Age and occupation.
3. Physical appearance (height, hair, eyes).
4. Personality traits.
5. A favorite shared activity.

Part 3 — Daily Life

Articulate 5 specific actions comprising a daily routine in order of occurrence (e.g., waking up, brushing teeth, traveling to work/class, having lunch, returning home).

Part 4 — Preferences

State 5 clear preferences regarding activities, foods, or hobbies using expressions such as I like, I love, I don't like, or I hate.

Writing Examination Guidelines

Task Specification: