Unit 1 All about you: Lesson B Names

The verb be: I, you, and we

I, you, and we are pronouns:

Use I for yourself.

Use you for another person / other people.

Use we for yourself and another person / other people.

The verb be has contractions and full forms:

Contractions Full forms

I'm I am
you're you are
we're we are

Affirmative statements

Use pronoun + contraction of be:

I'm Jenny.

You're in Room G.

We're in different classes.

Negative statements

Use pronoun + contraction of be + not:

I'm not Carmen.

You're not in Room B.

We're not in the same class.

Yes-No questions and short answers

Yes-No questions are questions that you can answer with Yes or No.

You can use be + pronoun to ask Yes-No questions:

Are you Jenny?

Am I in Room B?
 Are we in the same class?

Affirmative short answers

Use Yes + pronoun + full form of be:

A Are you Jenny?

B Yes, I am.

Negative short answers

Use No + pronoun + contraction of be + not:

A Are we in the same class?

B No, we're not.

Unit 1 All about you: Lesson C Personal information

What's . . . ?, It's . . .
Use What's (= What is) to ask a question:
What's your name?

Use a form of be to answer a question with What's . . . ?:

A What's your name?

B My name's Victor Lopez. (= My name is . . . )

You can use It's (= It is) to answer a question with What's . . . ?:

A What's your email address?

B It's vlopez6@cup.org. (= It is . . . )

Unit 2 In class: Lesson A Classmates

The verb be: he, she, and they

He, she and they are pronouns:

Use he for a man or a boy.

 Use she for a woman or a girl.

Use they for two or more people.

The verb be has contractions and full forms:

Contractions Full forms

he's he is
she's she is
they're they are

You can use one of these pronouns + be to make a statement about another person.
He's at work.

She's sick.

They're late.

Affirmative statements

Use a name or pronoun + a form of be:

Hiroki's at work. He's at work.

Ellen's sick. She's sick.
Carmen and Suzanna are late. They're late.

Negative statements

Use a name or pronoun + a form of be + not:

Hiroki's not here. He's not here.

Ellen's not in class. She's not in class.
Carmen and Suzanna are
They're not here.
not here.

Yes-No questions and short answers

Use be + a name or pronoun to ask Yes-No questions:
 Is Hiroki at work?

Is she in class?

Are they late?

Affirmative short answers

Use Yes + pronoun + full form of be:

A Is Hiroki at work?
B Yes, he is.

A Are they late?

B Yes, they are.

Negative short answers

Use No + pronoun + contraction of be + not:

A Is Ellen sick?
B No, she's not.

A Are they here?

B No, they're not.

Unit 2 In class: Lesson B What's in your bag?

This and these

You can use This + is to make a statement about a singular noun:

This is a cell phone.

You can use These + are to make a statement about a plural noun:
These are headphones.

Yes-No questions with this and these

You can use Is + this to ask a question about a singular noun:

Is this your cell phone?

You can use Are + these to ask a question about a plural noun:
 Are these your headphones?

Affirmative short answers

Use Yes + pronoun + full form of be:

A Is this your cell phone?

B Yes, it is.

A Are these your headphones?

B Yes, they are.

Negative short answers

Use No + pronoun + contraction of be + not:

A Is this your cell phone?
B No, it's not.

A Are these your headphones?

B No, they're not.

Information questions with this or these

To ask a question about a singular noun, you can use:
What's this?

Use It's to answer:

It's a cell phone.

Remember, 's is the contraction of is.

To ask a question about a plural noun, you can use:

What are these?

Use They're to answer:

They're headphones.

Remember, 're is the contraction of are.

Unit 2 In class: Lesson A Classmates

The verb be: he, she, and they
He, she and they are pronouns:

Use he for a man or a boy.

Use she for a woman or a girl.

Use they for two or more people.

The verb be has contractions and full forms:

Contractions Full forms

he's he is
she's she is
they're they are

You can use one of these pronouns + be to make a statement about another person.
He's at work.

She's sick.

They're late.

Affirmative statements

Use a name or pronoun + a form of be:

Hiroki's at work. He's at work.

Ellen's sick. She's sick.
Carmen and Suzanna are late. They're late.

Negative statements

Use a name or pronoun + a form of be + not:

Hiroki's not here. He's not here.

Ellen's not in class. She's not in class.
Carmen and Suzanna are
They're not here.
not here.
Yes-No questions and short answers
Use be + a name or pronoun to ask Yes-No questions:

Is Hiroki at work?

Is she in class?

Are they late?

Affirmative short answers

Use Yes + pronoun + full form of be:

A Is Hiroki at work?
B Yes, he is.

A Are they late?

B Yes, they are.

Negative short answers

Use No + pronoun + contraction of be + not:

A Is Ellen sick?
B No, she's not.

A Are they here?

B No, they're not.

Unit 2 In class: Lesson B What's in your bag?

This and these

You can use This + is to make a statement about a singular noun:
This is a cell phone.

You can use These + are to make a statement about a plural noun:

These are headphones.

Yes-No questions with this and these

You can use Is + this to ask a question about a singular noun:
 Is this your cell phone?

You can use Are + these to ask a question about a plural noun:

Are these your headphones?

Affirmative short answers

Use Yes + pronoun + full form of be:

A Is this your cell phone?

B Yes, it is.

A Are these your headphones?

B Yes, they are.

Negative short answers

Use No + pronoun + contraction of be + not:

A Is this your cell phone?
B No, it's not.

A Are these your headphones?

B No, they're not.

Information questions with this or these

To ask a question about a singular noun, you can use:

What's this?

Use It's to answer:

It's a cell phone.

Remember, 's is the contraction of is.

To ask a question about a plural noun, you can use:

What are these?

Use They're to answer:

They're headphones.

Remember, 're is the contraction of are.

Unit 2 In class: Lesson B What's in your bag?

Noun plurals
Nouns are things or people. A noun can be singular or plural. A singular noun is one thing
or person: bag (= 1 bag). A plural noun is two or more things or people: bags (= 2+ bags).

Regular plurals

You can add -s to a singular noun to make it plural:

a bag bags a key keys

For these singular endings use -es to make plural nouns:

(-ss) a class classes (-sh) a brush brushes

(-ch) a watch watches (-x) a box boxes

For singular nouns ending in consonant + -y change -y to -ies to make plural nouns:

a dictionary dictionaries

Remember, a consonant is any letter that is not a, e, i, o, or u.

Irregular plurals

Some nouns are irregular and have different plurals:

a man men
a woman women
a child children

Nouns that are only plural

Some nouns are only plural and do not change:

glasses

sunglasses

scissors

jeans

Unit 2 In class: Lesson C In the classroom

Questions with Where
To ask where something is, use Where's + a singular noun:
Where's the teachers coat?

Remember, 's is the contraction of is.

Use Where are + a plural noun:

Where are the students' test papers?

Unit 2 In class: Lesson C In the classroom

Questions with Where

To ask where something is, use Where's + a singular noun:
Where's the teachers coat?

Remember, 's is the contraction of is.

Use Where are + a plural noun:

Where are the students' test papers?

Unit 2 In class: Lesson C In the classroom

a / an vs. the
You can use a / an or the to say where something is. A / an is an indefinite article.

Use a / an when you don't know exactly where something is:

A Where's the teachers coat?

B It's on a desk. (I don't know which desk.)

The is a definite article. Use the when everyone knows the place where something is:
A Where's the teachers coat?

B It's on the desk. (We know which desk.)

Unit 2 In class: Lesson B What's in your bag?

Noun plurals
Nouns are things or people. A noun can be singular or plural. A singular noun is one thing
or person: bag (= 1 bag). A plural noun is two or more things or people: bags (= 2+ bags).

Regular plurals

You can add -s to a singular noun to make it plural:

a bag bags a key keys

For these singular endings use -es to make plural nouns:

(-ss) a class classes (-sh) a brush brushes

(-ch) a watch watches (-x) a box boxes

For singular nouns ending in consonant + -y change -y to -ies to make plural nouns:

a dictionary dictionaries

Remember, a consonant is any letter that is not a, e, i, o, or u.

Irregular plurals

Some nouns are irregular and have different plurals:

a man men
a woman women
a child children

Nouns that are only plural

Some nouns are only plural and do not change:

glasses

sunglasses

scissors

jeans