English Text Book - Peter Inson

Answers to Exercises

Exercise One
a. Aeroplanes - common
b. Aeroplanes, items. Both common
c. Fleet – collective, aeroplanes common
d. British Airways’ – proper, shares - common


Exercise Two.
William was smiling. – past continuous – was plus ing
They don’t smile here. - negative of the present tense – don’t (do not)
He couldn’t wait. – negative, couldn’t in the sense of being unable to, in the past
She might have waited. - a possibility, might have, in the past. (She could have waited but she didn’t.)
Can it be? A question, in the present tense – Can it. The order of the words is reversed to form a question.


Exercise Three.
One, you, that, those (that’s is a conflation of the pronoun that with the verb is)


Exercise Four.
Prepositions, well, start by thinking about (abstraction) position. What position are you in (location)? Sitting probably, but on (location) something, a chair, a settee, perhaps a table or a bed, or standing perhaps, in (location) a bookshop or at (location) a bus stop. There may be someone sitting next to (location) you, or beside (location) you and the lamp above (location) you may be a good one, but not as good as the one which is throwing light through (movement) the doorway, over (movement) there where your friend is leaning against (movement) the wall waiting for you to go down to (movement) the pub.

©2009 Peter Inson