The Verb TO BE

Probably the best known verb in the world: "To be or not to be..." 

Forms of To Be
	Present	Past	Perfect Form	Continuous Form
I	am	was	have / had been	am / was being
he / she / it	is	was	has / had been	is / was being
you / we / they	are	were	have / had been	are / were being

Normally we use the verb to be to show the status or characteristics 
of something or someone (as a stative verb). 
It says what I am, what you are or what something is.

Present Simple (stative)
I am a teacher.	You are a student.	He /She is a student.	It is a car.	We are all teachers.	They are  students.
Past Simple (stative)
I was a student.	You were a student.	He /She was a student.	It was a nice day yesterday.	We were all students once.	They were  students.
Future Simple (stative)
I will bea student.	You will be a teacher.	He / She will be a teacher.	It will be nice later.	We will be teachers.	They will be students.

When used with the present participle of other verbs 
it describes actions that are or were still continuing 
- auxiliary verb be [+ ing form of the main verb].

Present Continuous (active)
I am being silly.	You are being silly.	He /She is being silly.	It is being silly.	We are being silly.	They are being silly.
Past Continuous (active)
I was being silly.	You were being silly.	He /She was being silly.	It was being silly.	We were being silly.	They were being silly.

Am/Is/Are

The verb to be is used to create simple yes/no questions by simply inverting the order of subject and the “To be” verb.

For example:-

I am a teacher. (Statement)
Am I a teacher? (Question)

Question	Positive Statement	Negative Statement (possible short forms)
Singular
Am I ...?	I am ... (I'm ...)	I am not ... (I'm not ...)
Is he / she / it ...?	He / She / It is ...(He's/She's/It's ...)	He / She / It is not (He / She / It isn't... // He's / She's / It's not ...)
Are you ...?	You are ...(You're...)	You are not (You're not ...// You aren't...)
Am I being ...?	I am being ...	I am not being ... (I'm not being...)
Is he / she / it being...?	He / She / It is being ... (He's/She's/It's being ...)	He / She / It is not being ... (He / She / It isn't being...// He/she/it's not being...)
Are you being ...?	You are being ... (You're being ...)	You are not being ... (You're not being ... // You aren't being...)
Was I ...?	I was ...	I was not. ..
Was he / she / it ...?	He / She / It was ...	He / She / It was not ... (He / She / It wasn't)
Were you ...?	You were ...	You were not ... (You weren't ...)
Was I being ...?	I was being ...	I was not being (I wasn't being...)
Was he / she / it being...?	He / She / It was being ...	He / She / It was not being ... (He / She / It wasn't being... )
Were you being ...?	You were being ...	You were not being ... (You weren't being ...)
Will I be ...?	I will be ... (I'll be ...)	I will not be ... (I'll not be ...)
Will he / she / it be ...?	He / She / It will be ...(He'll / She'll / It'll be ...)	He / She / It will not be (He / She / It won't be ... // He'll not be / She'll not be / It'll not be ...)
Will you be ...?	You will be ...(You'll be ...)	You will not be (You won't be ... // You'll not be ...)
Plural
Are we / you / they?	We / You / They are (We're / You're / They're)	We / You /They are not (We're / You're / They're not // We / You / They aren't)
Are we / you / they being ...?	We / You / They are being ... (We're / You're / They're)	We / You /They are not being (We're / You're / They're not being // We / You / They aren't being)
Were we / you / they ...?	We / You / They were ...	We / You / They were not ... (We / You / They weren't ...)
Were we / you / they being ...?	We / You / They were being ...	We / You / They were not being ... (We / You / They weren't being ...)
Will we / you / they be ...?	We / You / They will be ...(We'll / You'll They'll be ...)	We / You / They will not be (We / You / They won't be ... // We'll / You'll They'll not be ...)

Examples

	Am/Are	Is
Question - ?	"Am I disturbing you?"	"Is this your coat"
Positive Answer - Yes	"Yes you are."	"Yes it is"
Negative Answer - No	"No you're not."	"No it isn't"
	Was / Were	Was
Question - ?	"Was I disturbing you?"	"Was that your old house?"
Positive Answer - Yes	"Yes you were ."	"Yes it was "
Negative Answer - No	"No you weren't."	"No it wasn't."

Note: The verb to be is also used when forming the passive voice.

*  The verb be is used in the following patterns:

1. with a noun:

My mother is a teacher.
Bill Clinton was the president of the US.

2. with an adjective:

This soup is very tasty.
The children were good.

2.1 with the -ing form to make the continuous aspect

We were walking down the street.
Everything was wet. It had been raining for hours.

2.2 with the -ed form to make the passive voice

The house was built in 1890.
The street is called Montagu Street.
This car was made in Japan.

3. with a prepositional phrase:

John and his wife are from Manchester.
The flowers are on the table.


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Source:http://www.learnenglish.de/grammar/verbtobe.html
http://learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/en/english-grammar/

INTERJECTIONS

An interjection is a word that expresses some kind of emotion. It can be used as filler. 

Interjections do not have a grammatical function in the sentence and are not related to the other parts of the sentence. 

If an interjection is omitted, the sentence still makes sense. It can stand alone.

• Ouch! That hurts.
• Well, I need a break.
• Wow! What a beautiful dress!

When you are expressing a strong emotion, use an exclamation mark (!).        

A comma (,) can be used for a weaker emotion. 


- Interjections do the following: 
1. Express a feeling—wow, gee, oops, darn, geez, oh:

• Oops, I’m sorry. That was my mistake.
• Geez! Do I need to do it again?
• Oh, I didn’t know that.

2. Say yes or no—yes, no, nope:

• Yes! I will do it!
• No, I am not going to go there.
• Nope. That’s not what I want.

3. Call attention—yo, hey:

• Yo, will you throw the ball back?
• Hey, I just wanted to talk to you about the previous incident.

4. Indicate a pause—well, um, hmm:

• Well, what I meant was nothing like that.
• Um, here is our proposal.
• Hmm. You really need to be on a diet.

- The table below shows some interjections with examples.

interjection	meaning	example
ah	expressing pleasure	"Ah, that feels good."
	expressing realization	"Ah, now I understand."
	expressing resignation	"Ah well, it can't be heped."
	expressing surprise	"Ah! I've won!"
alas	expressing grief or pity	"Alas, she's dead now."
dear	expressing pity	"Oh dear! Does it hurt?"
	expressing surprise	"Dear me! That's a surprise!"
eh	asking for repetition	"It's hot today." "Eh?" "I said it's hot today."
	expressing enquiry	"What do you think of that, eh?"
	expressing surprise	"Eh! Really?"
	inviting agreement	"Let's go, eh?"
er	expressing hesitation	"Lima is the capital of...er...Peru."
hello, hullo	expressing greeting	"Hello John. How are you today?"
	expressing surprise	"Hello! My car's gone!"
hey	calling attention	"Hey! look at that!"
	expressing surprise, joy etc	"Hey! What a good idea!"
hi	expressing greeting	"Hi! What's new?"
hmm	expressing hesitation, doubt or disagreement	"Hmm. I'm not so sure."
oh, o	expressing surprise	"Oh! You're here!"
	expressing pain	"Oh! I've got a toothache."
	expressing pleading	"Oh, please say 'yes'!"
ouch	expressing pain	"Ouch! That hurts!"
uh	expressing hesitation	"Uh...I don't know the answer to that."
uh-huh	expressing agreement	"Shall we go?" "Uh-huh."
um, umm	expressing hesitation	"85 divided by 5 is...um...17."
well	expressing surprise	"Well I never!"
	introducing a remark	"Well, what did he say?"

Note: Interjections like er and um are also known as "hesitation devices". They are extremely common in English. People use them when they don't know what to say, or to indicate that they are thinking about what to say. You should learn to recognize them when you hear them and realize that they have no real meaning.

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Source:

http://www.englishclub.com/grammar/

http://www.talkenglish.com/Grammar/Grammar.aspx

Conjunctions

CONJUNCTIONS

A conjunction joins words or groups of words in a sentence.
Examples:

• I ate lunch with Kate and Derma.
• Because it is rainy today, the trip is canceled.
• She didn’t press the bell, but I did.

There are three types of conjunctions: 

1. Coordinating Conjunctions

2. Correlative Conjunctions 

3. Subordinating Conjunctions 

1) Coordinating Conjunctions: are used to join two parts of a sentence that are grammatically equal. The two parts may be single words or clauses. Coordinating conjunctions always come between the words or clauses that they join. For example:

1. And—means "in addition to":

• We are going to a zoo and an aquarium on a same day.

2. But—connects two different things that are not in agreement:

• I am a night owl, but she is an early bird.

3. Or—indicates a choice between two things:

• Do you want a red one or a blue one?

4. So—illustrates a result of the first thing:

• This song has been very popular, so I downloaded it.

5. For—means "because":

• I want to go there again, for it was a wonderful trip.

6. Yet—indicates contrast with something:

• He performed very well, yet he didn’t make the final cut.

7. Nor__It is most often used in lists of things after an initial negative, the most common of which is the combination neither . . . nor.  Examples:

• She has not told anyone what you said, nor has she given any indication that something is wrong.
• The police determined that Miss Scarlet had never entered the library that day, nor had she, according to fingerprint evidence, ever touched the revolver.
• No manned mission to Mars has taken place, nor is one planned for the near future.
• Neither Holly nor Eydie will answer the phone when Erika is not home. 
• Neither bottles of rat poison nor bags of broken glass are appropriate gifts for the host of the party. 
• Neither the high school athlete nor that child’s parents decide who plays each game. 
• Neither the high school athlete’s parents nor the athlete herself decides who plays each game. 

Note: The 7 coordinating conjunctions are short, simple words. They have only two or three letters. There's an easy way to remember them - their initials spell:

F	A	N	B	O	Y	S
For	And	Nor	But	Or	Yet	So

2) Correlative Conjunctions: are surrounding an adverb or adjective, for example:

1. Both/and

• She won gold medals from both the single and group races.
• Both TV and television are correct words.

2. Either/or

• I am fine with either Monday or Wednesday.
• You can have either apples or pears.

3. Neither/nor

• He enjoys neither drinking nor gambling.
• Neither you nor I will get off early today.

4. Not only/but also

• Not only red but also green looks good on you.
• She got the perfect score in not only English but also math.

3) Subordinating Conjunctions: are used to join a subordinate dependent clause to a main clause, for example:

Look at this example:

main or independent clause	subordinate or dependent clause
Ram went swimming	although	it was raining.
	subordinating conjunction

The majority of conjunctions are "subordinating conjunctions". Common subordinating conjunctions are:

• after, although, as, because, before, how, if, once, since, than, that, though, till, until, when, where, whether, while

A subordinating conjunction always comes at the beginning of a subordinate clause. It "introduces" a subordinate clause. However, a subordinate clause can sometimes come after and sometimes before a main clause. Thus, two structures are possible:

Ram went swimming although it was raining.

Although it was raining, Ram went swimming. Note: A subordinate or dependent clause "depends" on a main or independent clause. It cannot exist alone. Imagine that somebody says to you: "Hello! Although it was raining." What do you understand? Nothing! But a main or independent clause can exist alone. You will understand very well if somebody says to you: "Hello! Ram went swimming."

1. Although—means "in spite of the fact that":

• Although it was raining, I ran home.
• She showed up, although she felt sick.
• Although my mom told me to come home early, I stayed out late.

2. After—indicates "subsequently to the time when":

• Please text me after you arrive at the shopping mall.
• We were forced to stop watching TV after the electricity went out.
• I always tell my daughter that she can have dessert after she eats her dinner.

3. Before—indicates "earlier than the time that":

• He had written a living will before he died.
• Before he contacted me, I was going to call him.
• I need to finish the dishes before my wife gets home.

4. Because—means "for the reason that":

• Because he was smart and worked hard, he was able to make a lot of money.
• They stopped building the house because it was pouring.
• I love dogs because they are so cute.

5. How—means "the way in which":

• I wonder how you did it.
• He explained how he completed it in a few days.
• Can you show me how you fixed the computer?

6. If—means "in the event that":

• If it is sunny tomorrow, we can go to the beach.
• If I receive a promotion, you will be the first to know.
• You can watch TV if you finish your homework.

7. Once—indicates "at the moment when":

• Once you see him, you will recognize him.
• Once the light came on, we all shouted with joy.
• Call me once you start having contractions.

8. Since—means "from the time when":

• I’ve been a singer since I was young.
• Since he graduated, he has been doing nothing.
• This building has been remodeled three times since I lived here.

9. So that—means "in order to":

• So that she could keep her position, she didn’t complain at all.
• He finished his work as fast as possible so that he could leave early.
• He worked harder for a raise so he could buy a nice car.

10. Until—means "up to the time that":

• Don’t go anywhere until I come back.
• She didn’t realize her talent in painting until her teacher mentioned it.
• They won’t allow us to sit until everyone arrives.

11. Unless—means "except, on the condition":

• You will not pass the exam unless you get a score of 80 or higher.
• I will not tell you anything unless you tell me what you know first.
• Unless you ask her, you will never know.

12. When—means "at that time":

• When I came in the room, everyone looked at me.
• I woke up when my baby was crying.
• I started looking for a gas station when my gas light went on.

13. While—means "during the time":

• Someone called you while you were at the meeting.
• We met while we were working at the University.
• My dog started barking while I was talking on the phone.

14. Where—indicates "in the place":

• This is where I came from.
• Please tell me where you are going.
• I need to know where John hid the present.

15. Whether—means "if it is true or not":

• We will have a picnic whether it rains or not.
• It is time to decide whether we should take action.
• You need to decide whether or not you are hungry.

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Source:

http://www.englishclub.com/grammar/

http://www.talkenglish.com/Grammar/Grammar.aspx
http://www.beatthegmat.com/