Starter Unit

The verb have got

Contents
The verb have got
Affirmative I/We/You/They’ve got. He/She/It’s got.
Negative I/We/You/They haven’t got. He/She/It hasn’t got.
Interrogative Have I/we/you/they got? Has he/she/it got?
Yes, I/we/you/they have. Yes, he/she/it has.
Short Answers
No, I/we/you/they haven’t. No, he/she/it hasn’t.
 
Use
We use the verb have got:
 to show that something belongs to someone.
We’ve got a dog and a parrot.
 to describe people, animals and things.
I’ve got blue eyes and fair hair.
 to talk about relationships.
Have you got any brothers or sisters?
 with the following expressions: I’ve got a headache/stomach
ache/toothache, etc, I’ve got a temperature, I’ve got a cough, I’ve got a cold, I’ve
got a problem.
 
Notes:
 In short answers we do not use got.
Have you got a bike? No, I haven’t. (NOT: No, I haven’t got.)
 She’s a teacher. (She is)
She’s got a tablet computer. (She has)
 We use got more in the present tense and not so often in the past tense.
He had a goldfish when he was ten. (NOT: He had got a … – it is less common)


Starter Unit

this/these - that/those - there is/there are -

some/any
 Contents
this/these – that/those
 
We use this/these:
 for people, animals and things near us.
This is a computer. These are computers.
 to introduce people.
Belinda, this is Sheila!
 to introduce oneself on the phone.
Hello? This is Mona Brown speaking.
We use that/those:
 for people, animals and things far from us.
That is a plane./Those are planes.
 when speaking on the phone to ask who the other person is.
Hello. This is Jane Philips. Who’s that, please?
 to refer to something mentioned before.
“I can sing really well.” “That’s fantastic!”
 
We can also use this/these and that/those in wh-questions. We answer these
questions with it or they.
What’s this/that? It’s a spider. (NOT: This/That is a spider.)
What are these/those? They are spiders. (NOT: These/Those are spiders.)

Starter Unit

there is/there are - some/any

Contents
there is/there are
Affirmative Negative Interrogative Short Answers
Long Form Short Form
Yes, there is.
There is There is not There isn’t Is there …?
No, there isn’t.
Yes, there are.
There are There are not There aren’t Are there …?
No, there aren’t.
 
We use there + be to mention something for the first time or to say that something
or someone
exists.
 We use it + be to give more details about something or someone that has already
been mentioned.
There is some apple juice in the fridge. It is for you.
 
some/any
Determiners Countable Uncountable
Affirmative some some
Negative not any/no not any/no
Interrogative any any
 
 We use some in affirmative sentences with:
a) plural countable nouns.
There are some tomatoes in the fridge.
b) uncountable nouns.
There is some honey in the jar.
 We use any in negative and interrogative sentences with:
a) plural countable nouns.
Are there any strawberries in the basket?
b) uncountable nouns.
There isn’t any milk in the coffee.
Note: We can use no instead of not any in negative sentences. There is no tea in
the pot. (=There isn’t any tea in the pot.)

Prepositions of place/movement/time
Contents
Prepositions of place

 
We use prepositions of place to say where somebody or something is. These
include: on, under, in front of, behind, beside/by/next to, near, at, in, between,
(a) round, among, opposite, above, below, on top of and against.
Note: We use between to say that somebody or something is in the middle
of two other things or people. We use among to say that somebody or something is
in the middle of three or more things or people.
 
We use at:
• in the expressions: at school/university/college, at work, at home, at the top of
…, at the bottom of …, at the station, at the airport, at Mary’s (house), at a
party/concert/football match, at the bus stop, at the door, at one’s desk
• with addresses when we mention the house number. at 6 Oxford
Street BUT in Oxford street
 
We use in:
• in the expressions: in the middle, in the air, in the sky, in bed, in hospital, in
prison, in a newspaper/magazine/book, in a street, in the world, in a
photograph/picture, in a car, in a taxi
• with the names of cities,
countries and continents. in London, in England, in Africa
 
We use on:
• in the expressions: on the left/right, on the first/second, etc floor, on a
bus/train/plane/ship, on a horse/bicycle/motorbike, on a chair BUT in an
armchair
 
Note: by + car/bus/train/taxi/plane/boat BUT on foot
When there is an article (a/an, the), a possessive adjective (my, your, etc) or a
possessive case before the means of transport, we don’t use by.
on the train (NOT: by the train) in my car (NOT: by my car)
on the 7 o’clock bus, in Jack’s car, in a taxi, on the bus, on the plane
 

Prepositions of movement

 We use prepositions of movement to show the direction in which someone or

something is moving.
These include: along, across, up, down, into, out of, over, from … to,
around/round, onto, through, past, towards, off.
 
Prepositions of time
We use prepositions of time (on, in, at) to say when something happened, happens
or will happen.

 Note:
• We use from … to, and during to show duration. During goes before a
noun. She has a dance lesson from 5 to 7. The resort is empty during winter.
• We do not use prepositions of time:
a) with the words today, tomorrow, tonight and yesterday. I have an English
lesson today.
b) before the words this, last, next, every, all, some, each, one and any. He goes
to work at 9 o’clock every day.
 
• in time/on time:
 a) in time = early enough We should make sure we arrive in time for the fireworks
display. It’s amazing!
b) on time = at the right time Sheila is always on time. She is never late.

Starter Unit

Pronouns - Possessives - Possessive case

Contents
Subject/Object pronouns
 
We use personal subject pronouns before verbs:
 instead of nouns. This dress is beautiful. It has got nice colours. (It = the
dress)
 instead of names. James is from Scotland. He is Scottish.
We use object pronouns after:
 verbs. I’ve got two cats. I love them very much.
 prepositions. Look at her!
Subject pronouns Object pronouns
I me
you you
he him
she her
it it
we us
you you
they them
 
 
Possessive adjectives – Possessive pronouns
 
 Possessive adjectives show:

a) that something belongs to someone. This is her bike.

b) the relationship between two or more people. They are our parents.
 We put possessive adjectives before nouns. This is your cup of tea.
 Possessive pronouns show that something belongs to someone.

Compare: That is our house. (possessive adjective)

                 That house is ours. (possessive pronoun)
 Possessive pronouns are not followed by nouns.
Possessive adjectives Possessive pronouns
my mine
 your yours
his his
her hers
its —
our ours
your yours
their theirs
 
 
Notes:
a) There is no possessive pronoun for the personal pronoun it.
b) We use the patterns a friend of mine/yours/his, etc to mean one of a number of
friends.
Brenda is a friend of mine. (NOT: a friend of me)
Are James and Jack friends of yours? (NOT: friends of you)
Mary is out with a friend of hers. (NOT: a friend of her)
its = possessive adjective
Look at my puppy. Its fur is soft.
it’s = it is or it has
I like your new mobile phone! It’s cool! (it is)
My new bike is fantastic! It’s got a nice colour! (it has got)
 
 
Possessive case
 
 
To show possession:
 we add ’s after names and singular nouns.
Kevin’s tablet PC is new. The woman’s dress is beautiful.
 we add ' to plural nouns ending in -s. The boys’ hats are blue.
 we add 's to irregular plural nouns. These are the children’s toys.
 when the same thing belongs to two or more people, we add 's to the last
noun. This is Karen and Tom's car. (The car belongs to Karen and Tom.)
 when two or more things belong to two or more people and we want to
show that each person has his/her own thing, we add 's to each noun. Those
are Sarah's and Claire's uniforms.
(Sarah has got a uniform and Claire has got a uniform, too.)
Other possessive forms
1 We use of to talk about things and parts of things. The roof of the house is
red. (NOT: the house's roof because the house is a thing.)
2 To refer to a place (shop/ business/house, etc) we add an apostrophe + s. Jon is
at Ben’s. (= Ben’s house) Cathy is at the baker’s. (= the shop)
3 We also use the possessive case to refer to time. Our university is
ten minutes’ walk from the bus station. It’s two hours’ drive to the city centre.
 
 
Note: We can use the possessive case without a noun after it. These sunglasses
aren’t mine. They’re Jack’s. (= Jack’s sunglasses)