The New Year can come on different dates for different cultures. Most of the Western world, for example, celebrates it on January 1st. But one thing many cultures have in common is the idea of New Year's resolutions. A New Year's resolution is a pers...
Many Americans experience surprise (or disappointment) when they wake up on Christmas Day. They might be surprised or disappointed by a family member's actions. They might be happy or unhappy about a Christmas gift. Imagine a child expects to get an...
For VOA Learning English, this is Everyday Grammar. This week, we are going to talk about the future tenses. There are several ways to talk about future events in English. Compared to the past and present, future tenses are usually more flexible. Wil...
Editors note: This is the third of a four-part series on verb tenses. Click here to see part one. See the others in Related Stories. In this week's episode of Everyday Grammar, we're going to help you understand the difference between the simple past...
Editors note: This is the second of a four-part series on verb tenses. Click here to see part one. See the others in Related Stories. For VOA Learning English, this is Everyday Grammar. Today we are going to look at the progressive verb tenses. Progr...
Every year around the Thanksgiving holiday, a strange ceremony happens in Washington, DC. The president stands outside the White House, gives a brief speech and then officially pardons a turkey. A pardon is a declaration that someone will not be puni...
Editors note: This is the first of a four-part series on verb tenses. Click here for part two. For VOA Learning English, this is Everyday Grammar. Today we are going to give you a basic overview of the verb tense system in English. Verb tenses tell u...
For VOA Learning English, this is Everyday Grammar. Have you ever been in a conversation and wanted to check your understanding? That is the time to use a tag question in English. A tag question is a short question added to a statement. The tag inclu...
When English speakers talk about time and place, there are three little words that often come up: in, on, and at. These common words are prepositions that show a relationship between two words in a sentence. Some prepositions are rather easy for Engl...
An interesting holiday in the United States is coming up soon. Halloween happens on the last day of October. If you have lived in the U.S., you have probably noticed many changes in the month or so before Halloween. Let's hear about some of them and...
Welcome back to Everyday Grammar from VOA Learning English. Today we return to a very common verb form in English - phrasal verbs. You will find one phrasal verb in every 192 words of written English. They will make your English sound more natural on...
Welcome back to Everyday Grammar from VOA Learning English. Today we look at a very common verb form in English - phrasal verbs. There are over 5,000 verbs that fall in this category. Do you know how to use them? In this episode, we will introduce th...
For VOA Learning English, this is Everyday Grammar. Today we are going to talk about different ways of expressing quantity in English. A quantifier is a word or number that shows an amount or number. You probably already know how to use common quanti...
Imagine you want to improve your writing skills. Perhaps you would like to take an English test or use English in a business email. Today on Everyday Grammar, we will talk about something that could help you: appositives. We will explain the grammar...
Imagine you are watching an old American movie -- the crime film Dirty Harry.You have heard that one part of the film is very famous in American culture. You watch the scene, which sounds like this: You go to ask yourself one question: Do I feel luck...
