Verb Constructions

Some people asked "what's shakin'?" It is an informal way of saying "what's going on?" or "What's new/up?" You can also say "What's happenin'/cookin'?" You drop the 'g' at the end because that's how most young people speak (they tend not to pronounce 'g' at the end of 'ing'.


Let's look at some verb constructions with two complements, that can be used with or without a preposition. For example:
"He gave the dog a bone" Vs "He gave a bone to the dog."
How does that sound?


First of all, many verbs accept two different complements after them (such as "He gave [the dog] [a bone]", where 'the dog' is a complement, and 'a bone' is a second complement). However, these complements are different. One is the recipient (the one who receives), one is the object (the actual thing that is given). Can you tell me, in the example I gave you, which one is:
the recipient: __________
the object: __________


 In "He gave the dog a bone", 'the dog' is the recipient, the one who receives. 'A bone' is the object that is given.
You have two choices to express two complements with verbs such as 'give', and both are correct:
1) Verb + recipient + object (he gave the dog a bone)
2) Verb + object + TO + recipient (he gave a bone to the dog)


Some verbs that work like 'give' and accept two complements are:
- award, bring, feed, give, grant, hand, leave, lend, offer, owe, pass, pay, promise, read, sell, send, show, teach, tell, throw, etc.

Complete the following with two complements of your choice:
1) "She offered ___________ ______________"
2) "She offered ___________ to ______________"


Now, there is a second category of verbs, such as 'order', which take a different preposition than 'to'. For instance:
1) "He ordered me a coffee" (structure 1, no preposition)
2) "He ordered a coffee ___ me". What is the preposition missing?
And the correct answer was..... FOR :) "He ordered a coffee for me."
Verbs such as 'offer' can also have two complements: a beneficiary (the one who benefits from something) and the object (the thing that they get).

Some verbs similar to 'offer' and used with the preposition 'for' are:
- buy, choose, cook, do, find, get, keep, make, paint, play, reserve, save, write, etc.


Let's practice! Complete the following with two complements of your choice:
1) I bought ___________ _____________
2) I bought ___________ for ____________


I think you now see the difference between the two types of verbs that take 'to' (give) and 'for' (order).

preposition "up"

 'up' can be used with different verbs:
- to get up
- to eat up
- to stay up
- to grow up
- to make up
- throw up


‎1) To get up:
It means 'to stand after lying down or being on your knees'. Typically, it is used as a synonym/correlate of 'wake up':
=> "When did you get up this morning?"

In informal spoken English, it can also mean 'to stand in order to party/have fun':
=> "Get up, stand up, come on put your hands up..." (lyrics from "Jump around", by House of Pain"


‎2) 'To eat up' means two things (at least): to eat something very fast, voraciously, in order not to let it go to waste:
=> "Eat up your vegetables, young man!"

In informal spoken English, it can also mean 'to believe something blindly - and to be a bit gullible':
=> "She told her boss that she was sick, and he totally ate it up" (he believed her story).


3) 'To stay up' means 'to remain awake when you're supposed to sleep, or when it's late':
=> "We stayed up till 3am playing video games last night, now I have the worst headache."

It can also mean 'to remain in an upright position, to remain standing':
=> "He tried to knock down the pins, but two of them stayed up" (when bowling)


‎4) 'To grow up' means to get older or wiser/more mature:
=> "What do you want to do when you grow up?" (when you're older)
=> "You find this funny? Come on girl, grow up!" (be more mature)

Beware: plants/trees grow (in size). If they grow up, you mean that they expand vertically (they don't become older or wiser;)


‎5) 'To make up' means at least two things:
- To compensate for something:
=> "He missed the last test, he will have to make up for it."
=> "Last night was so much fun! We made up for lost time!" (we compensated for all the time we didn't spend together)

- It also means 'to be reconciled, to be on friendly terms again':
=> "We were at odds for a long time, but we decided to make up." ('to bury the hatchet' is also a good synonym expression).


6) And finally, 'to throw up'... I think everyone knows about that one :) It happens when your stomach is not happy with you, and it's never pleasant.

However, this is a funny expression to make the action sound better:
"To pray the porcelain god" (porcelain god= the toilet). When you pray the porcelain god, you're on your knees in front of the toilet.
=> "I don't know what I ate yesterday, but I spent all night praying the porcelain god."

Connecting Two Ideas

Structure:
subject/verb/object

Example:
In Iraq, the temperature (subject) is (verb) 45 (object).


If we have two complete ideas, we can make one sentence, but we need to connect the ideas with a clause or a conjunction.

Example:
In Iraq, the temperature is 45.
This surprised me.

OR

In Iraq, the temperature is 45, AND this surprised me. (connecting with a conjunction)
In Iraq, the temperature is 45, WHICH SURPRISED ME. (connecting with a clause)


Please correct this sentence.
1. I'm from Indonesia it will surprise you to know about Indonesian food.


There are many ways to say this:

1. I'm from Indonesia. It will surprise you to know about Indonesian food.
2. I'm from Indonesia, and it will surprise you to know about Indonesian food.
3. I'm from Indonesia, which has a lot of surprising foods.
4. I'm from Indonesia, a country with a lot of surprising foods.


1. Run-on sentences -- A complete idea is one sentence. You can connect two complete ideas by using a conjunction or a clause.
‎2. We want to be careful to put an "s" on plural nouns. Some phrases are always used with plural nouns -- a lot of, many, one of, different, etc.
3. Capitalization -- The first word of every sentence is capitalized. "I" is always capitalized, but "you" isn't (unfortunately). Our country is important, and we show this by capitalizing it. Our language is important, so we capitalize it.

Prepositions

Let's start to learn about prepositions.


"At" is used for specific times -- at 4:00 a.m., at noon

Addresses:
"On" is used for a street -- on Washington Street
"At" is used for street numbers -- at 1276 First Avenue
"In" is used for a city -- He lives in Indonesia.



‎"At" is also the preposition of location -- He's at work./She's at her parent's house.

Quick quiz -- Please fill in this HUGE sentence to review.

at, on, in

_______ midnight, we'll go to a party _______ Carlos' house. He lives _______ 1723 West Thomas Street _______ Buenos Aires.




At midnight -- Specific times take "at".

Please fill in.

His plane leaves _______ 7 p.m.
We want to have lunch _______ noon.


"At" is used for a more general location. Notice that I didn't say a general location. I said a "more general" location.
Example:
He's at work.

This is a large location -- Work can be a big place. How can I find him? I need a more specific location.

"In" is used for a more specific location.
Example:
He's at work. He's in the copy room. (Now I know more specifically where he is.)


General times take "in."

Examples:
in the afternoon
in August
in 2010

Please fill in: (at, in)

_______ July, we had lunch every day _______ 1:00 p.m.


Let's add "on" -- talking about dates

On July 25, we'll start an exercise class.

"In" -- for general time
"at" -- for specific time
"on" -- for specific dates


at, on

The dinner will be _______ July 29 _______ 7:00 p.m. _____ his uncle's house.


It should be -- The dinner will be on July 29 ("on" a specific date) at 7:00 p.m. ("at" a specific time) at his uncle's house (location).

It's possible to say "in his uncle's house", but it's not as natural. If you use "in", you're saying "inside his uncle's house" rather than just giving a location.


Let's look at two sentences. Which is correct?

My Uncle's house
My Uncle Juan's house


My Uncle's house -- This isn't correct because we have no name. It should be -- My uncle's house . . .

My Uncle Juan's house -- This is correct because we have a name.

My professor said (no name; no capital letter)
We heard that Professor Thomas wants . . . (a name, so we need a capital letter)

Some American Slang

We use it with friends, family, and in informal situations. It's fun in the right situation.

Let's learn some American slang.


The first one is "BFF". This has become popular in the last few years. It means "best friend forever."

Who's your BFF? As some of you know, mine is Vickie. We've been BFF's since we were fifteen years old.


Next - Two teenage boys are walking on the street. They see some people coming toward them, looking angry. One boy could say to the other, "Don't worry. I have your back." 

It means that he'll protect him. It has the feeling that he'll do whatever is necessary, even if he gets hurt himself.


Next -- "to dis someone". Have you ever heard this? It means "to be disrespectful to someone". If we look at "disrespectful" we can see "dis" as a prefix. The slang word is the prefix.

Has anyone ever dissed you?


The next slang expression is "to be hot." Have you ever heard it before? It means "to be very sexy and good looking."

Practice sentence: Who's the hottest person you know?


The next slang expression is used to describe something that's "really great; fantastic. It's "off the hook."

Example:
That party was off the hook.

What's the last thing you experienced that was off the hook?
Structure (Subject) was off the hook.


The last one means the opposite. It's "ridiculous." The dictionary meaning of "ridiculous" is "stupid." As a slang expression, "ridiculous" means the opposite. It means "fantastic" when you're using it as a slang expression.

Example:
Taylor Swift's singing voice is ridiculous.
His talent is ridiculous.


The word is "booty". It means "buttocks, butt, bottom." We have a lot of words for it as I'm sure you do in your native language.

This is the way it's used -- Beyonce has a nice booty.

discourse markers

- Introducing: First and foremost, first of all, first(ly), second(ly), third(ly), etc.
- Adding info: What is more, moreover, in addition, additionally, etc.
- Finishing a sequence: Lastly, last but not least, finally, etc.
- Contrasting: on the one hand... on the other hand; whereas; while
- Balancing: similarly, in the same way, likewise
- Conceding: It is true that, of course, obviously, evidently...
- Counter-argument: however, nevertheless, nonetheless, still...
- Generalization: Generally speaking, Broadly speaking, On the whole, In general

Can't Help But

The can't help but construction (with other forms of the verb, like cannot and could not) is a little illogical: it comes from two other constructions, can't help —ing (meaning “I can't keep myself from —ing”) and can't but (meaning “I can't do anything except”). So can't help but should mean “I can't keep myself from doing anything except,” which is a kind of double negative. Still, can't help but has been around for a long time (the OED traces it to 1894), and it's probably not going away, so it's not worth grousing about. I avoid it myself, preferring “can't help —ing,” but there are better things to worry about.