How to use Although, in spite of, despite

This connectors are very widely used, and it's important to know how to use them well. You'll find an explanation if you follow the link. Even though it's in Spanish, I reckon it's well explain. Besides, have a look at the blog itself since it's quite good. I hope you find it useful.

although / in spite of / despite

bbc

in spite of / despite - cómo se usan

Verb Patterns: to-infinitive and gerund

We've seen in class that there're different verb patterns, and that some verbs can foolow two patterns, but depending on the meaning, we'll use to-infinitive or gerund. We already know five of them: remember, forget, regret, stop and try. Well, mean another one. Here is what Michael Swan says about it:

Mean in the sense of 'involve', 'have as a result' can be followed by an -ing form.

If you want to pass the exam it will mean studying hard.

In the sense of 'intend', mean is followed by an infinitive.

I don't think she means to get married for the moment.

 These two links have more information about the topic:

Verb patterns: different meaning

to-infinitive or gerund: mean & help

Grammar movies

Improve your grammar skills with LearnEnglish Grammar, the number one educational mobile app. LearnEnglish Grammar is the best way to improve your English grammar at home, on the move, anywhere!
mobile-learning/learn English-grammar

Brush up on your grammar and have in the process.

Grammar videos

Relative clauses (with exercises)

grammar-quizzes

Have: stative or dynamic?

explanation Click on the link to know more about it.

Phrasal verbs - Interactive exercise

http://www.stuff.co.uk/phrasal.htm

The definite article THE

http://www.englisch-hilfen.de/en/grammar/artikel.htm

Subject+Verb+Object

What's wrong with these sentences?

I think is very important the human contact with classmates.

and

I think it is completely necessary the work that teachers do.

http://www.montyenglish.co.uk/montyblog/?p=59

Do for emphasis

http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/grammar/learnit/learnitv298.shtml

http://www.better-english.com/grammar/doemph.htm

Subject/Object questions

Apparently, some students still have problems with this topic. Here you have some more practice.

http://english-zone.com/grammar/questions4.html
http://learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/en/grammar-reference/question-forms-subjectobject-questions

Singular or plural.

I'd like to clarify that "news" is an uncountable noun, therefore, we'd need to say "a news item", "a piece of news" or "some news". Besides, it'd go with a verb in singular, that is, "That's all my news" is correct. Here are some words related to this plural-singular confusion, and a link to an exercise.

Singular or plural.

These words are plural, so they take a plural verb:

• My trousers are too long, (not 'is too long')

You can also use a pair of + these words:

• Those are nice jeans, or That's a nice pair of jeans, (not 'a nice jeans')

• I need some new glasses, or I need a new pair of glasses.

B/ Some nouns end in -ics but are not usually plural. For example: 

athletics/ gymnastics/ mathematics (or maths)/ physics/ electronics/ economics/ politics

• Gymnastics is my favourite sport.

News is not plural.

• What time is the news on television? (not 'are the news')

Some words ending in -s can be singular or plural. For example:means ==> a means of transport ==> many means of transportseries ==> a television series ==> two television series
species ==> a species of bird ==>  200 species of bird

C/ Some singular nouns are often used with a plural verb. For example:

government/ staff/ team/ family/ audience/ committee/ company/ firm

These nouns are all groups of people. We often think of them as a number of people (= 'they'), not as one thing (= 'it'). So we often use a plural verb:

• The government (= they) want to increase taxes.

• The staff at the school (= they) are not happy with their new working conditions.

In the same way, we often use a plural verb after the name of a sports team or a company:

• Scotland are playing France next week (in a football match).

• Shell have increased the price of petrol.

A singular verb (The government wants... / Shell has... etc.) is also possible.

We always use a plural verb with police:

• The police have arrested a friend of mine, (not 'The police has')

• Do you think the police are well-paid?

Note that a person in the police is 'a policeman / a policewoman / a police officer' (not 'a police').

D/ We do not often use the plural of person ('persons'). We normally use people (a plural word):

• He's a nice person,    but    They are nice people.

• Many people don't have enough to eat. (not 'doesn't have')

E/ We think of a sum of money, a period of time, a distance etc. as one thing. So we use a singular verb:

• Twenty thousand pounds (= it) was stolen in the robbery, (not 'were stolen')

• Three years (=it) is a long time to be without a job. (not 'Three years are...)

• Six miles is a long way to walk every day

http://www.better-english.com/grammar/sinplu.htm

For or During?

'During' denotes a general period of time....For example..I played the guitar during my lunch time which could be for 20 mins or 1 hour.

'For' denotes a specific period of time. For example I played the guitar for 30 mins.

Stative verbs 2

It looks like you're very interested about this topic. This blog has a long explanation. I recommend this blog, not only on this topic, but it's really good in general. Hope it helps.
http://menuaingles.blogspot.com/2009/05/que-son-los-stative-verbs.html

Gradable and Non-gradable adjectives

In case my explanation wasn't really enough, I've found this one that looks simple and clear.

Let’s look at gradable and non-gradable adjectives in turn briefly, then at the issue of adverbs. For those students you mention who need rules, here come the rules…

Gradable adjectives Many adjectives describe qualities that can be measured in degrees, such as size, beauty, age, etc. These adjectives are often called gradable adjectives, because they can be used in comparative or superlative forms, or with grading adverbs such as very or extremely, to show that a person or thing has more or less of a particular quality. The following are some examples of common gradable adjectives used with grading adverbs:

Don’t talk to Jenny, she’s very angry.

Sorry, I can’t stop, I’m extremely busy.

I’m worried about Tom, he’s dreadfully unhappy.

This is a very important matter.

That slice of cake is rather big.

---

Non-gradable adjectives
Some adjectives describe qualities that are completely present or completely absent. They do not occur in comparative and superlative forms, and cannot be used with adverbs such as very or extremely, because we don’t usually imagine degrees of more or less of the quality being described. They are referred to as non-gradable adjectives. Non-gradable adjectives do sometimes occur with non-grading adverbs such as completely which emphasize the extent of the quality, e.g.:

The questions were completely impossible.

The food was absolutely superb.

Adjectives which identify something as belonging to a particular type, sometimes referred to as classifying adjectives, are also non-gradable, cf:

a chemical reaction. = an extremely chemical reaction

an indoor pool = a very indoor pool

---

Gradable and non-gradable
Note that, sometimes, confusion arises because some adjectives have both gradable and non-gradable senses with similar meanings e.g.:

She sounded slightly foreign.

He’s advising on foreign policy.

 In the first example, foreign is gradable because it refers to a measurable quality, whereas in the second, foreign is non-gradable because it refers to a particular type (of policy).

---

Which adverb to use?
As a rule of thumb, the common grading adverbs extremely, very, rather, slightly and a bit, which emphasize degrees of a particular quality, don’t usually occur with non-gradable adjectives, since non-gradable adjectives identify a particular type or an absolute quality. Compare the following examples with non-gradable and gradable adjectives:

non-gradable	gradable
This food is extremely superb.	This food is extremely tasty.
I found a very Roman coin.	I found a very shiny coin.

On the other hand, common non-grading adverbs such as completely, totally and absolutely, which emphasize absolute qualities, do not usually occur with gradable adjectives, since gradable adjectives describe qualities which can be measured in degrees. Compare the following examples with gradable and non-gradable adjectives:

gradable	non-gradable
This book is absolutely excellent.	This book is absolutely interesting.
The exercise was completely impossible.	The exercise was completely difficult.

One further important thing to remember is that the commonly used adverb really, and the adverbs fairly and pretty (an informal variant of fairly) are regularly used with both gradable and non gradable adjectives, e.g.:

It’s a really difficult/impossible exercise.

---