In order to learn a language, you must not be afraid to ask for clarification or to say what you need and what problems you are encountering so that the native speaker of English will know what you want them to do. ESL teachers should teach their students how and when to use the following structures. Give a scenario and let the students act the scenes with a classmate or with you using the language structures below. Some of the structures mean the same thing.

1.) I’m sorry, but I don’t understand.
2.) I speak English, but not so well.
3.) Please say that again.
4.) Please repeat.
5.) Please speak slowly.
6.) Your accent is a bit hard to understand.
7.) What do you mean by (spoken word)?
8.) Can you explain to me in simple English?
9.) What is the meaning of (spoken word)?
10.) Please give the meaning of (spoken word).
11.) Please explain it to me in simple English.
12.) What is this/that in English? (You need to show or point to the object or act out an action or feeling.)
13.) How do you say this/that in English? (You need to write the word. This structure can also be used when showing or pointing to an object or a word.)

1.) is/are–The learners are interested. The teacher is tired. God is love. Time is money.
2.) appear-The learners appear interested. The teacher appears tired.
3.) become–The learners become interested. The teacher becomes tired.
4.) feel–The learners feel interested. The teacher feels tired.
5.) look–The learners look interested. The teacher looks tired.
6.) remain–The learners remain interested. The teacher remains tired.
7.) seem–The learners seem interested. The teacher seems tired.
8.) grow–The teacher grows tired of the learners.
9.) prove–The teacher proves weary of all the workload.
10.) turn–Dictators turn tyrants.

1.) Personal Pronoun–I, we, you, he, she, it, they, my, mine, our, ours, your, yours, his, her, hers, its, their, theirs, me, us, him, her, them
e.g. I love you.

2.) Demonstrative Pronoun–this, that, these, those
e.g. Give these to the man. Give these clothes to the man.

3.) Indefinite Pronoun–all, another, any, anybody, anyone, anything, both, each, each one, either, everybody, everyone, everything, few, least, many, more, most, much, neither, none, no one, nobody, nothing, one, other, several, some, somebody, something
e.g. Somebody must know something.

4.) Relative Pronoun–who, which, that, what, whose, of which, of that, of what, whom
e.g. The boy saw the girl who stole the candies. (This pronoun acts as the subject or object in a subordinate clause.)

5.) Interrogative Pronoun–who, which, what, whose, of which, of what, whom
e.g. Who stole the candies? (This pronoun begins an interrogative sentence.)

6.) Numerical Pronoun–one, two, three, etc., first, second, third, etc.
e.g. Two of the boys tackled the fifth.

7.) Reflexive Pronoun–myself, yourself, himself, herself, itself, oneself, ourselves, yourselves themselves
e.g. He loves himself. (This pronoun is used as an object.)

8.) Intensive Pronoun–myself, yourself, himself, herself, itself, ourselves, yourselves, themselves
e.g. They, themselves, lack knowledge. They lacked knowlege themselves. (This pronoun is used to emphasize and is an appositive.)

9.) Reciprocal Pronoun–each other, one another
e.g. They love each other.

1.) To form the past tense of verbs ending in -y, you usually change -y to i and then add -ed or -d. If a vowel comes before the letter y, change -y to i and then add -d only. If a consonant comes before the letter y, change -y to i and then add -ed.

lay-laid, pay-paid, say-said, carry-carried, hurry-hurried, cry-cried, fry-fried, fancy-fancied, marry-married, bury-buried, tally-tallied, deny-denied, try-tried, supply-supplied

2.) There are exceptions to the first rule, of course. Some verbs ending in y form the past tense by adding -ed only.

pray-prayed, stray-strayed, stay-stayed, delay-delayed, relay-relayed, destroy-destroyed, prey-preyed, toy-toyed, deploy-deployed, play-played, replay-replayed

3.) To form the past tense of some verbs, you need to double the final consonant before adding -ed. This is to keep the vowel sound short and to avoid changing it into a long vowel sound which can change the meaning of the word.

hop-hopped (not hoped), star-starred (not stared), rapped (not raped), bar-barred (not bared), tap-tapped (not taped), can-canned (not caned), plan-planned (not planed), pin-pinned (not pined), clap-clapped, jog-jogged, sag-sagged, enrol-enrolled (though “enroled” is also used), wrap-wrapped, skip-skipped, dip-dipped, flip-flipped, trip-tripped, lag-lagged, beg-begged, flop-flopped, trap-trapped, hug-hugged, plot-plotted, rot-rotted, spot-spotted, strut-strutted, plan, fan-fanned, sin-sinned