The verb “BE” means “am, is, are and was, were.”
In this lesson, we are going to work on “am, is, are.” Most of you know this:
I am
He/she/it is
We/you/they are
Do you know when to use “a or an”?
You must have “a or an” before a singular noun. A singular noun is 1 person, 1 place or 1 thing.
Now when do you use “a”? You need “a” when there is a consonant sound. What is a consonant? Any letter that is not a vowel. The vowels are “a,e,I,o, u.” The consonants are the rest of the letters like “b, c, d, etc.”
Here is an example:
Example 1: The U.S. is _____big country. Do you put “a or an” here? If you put “a,” you’re right. You need “a” because “b” in big is a consonant sound.
You must use “an” when there is a vowel sound.
Here is another example:
Example 2: I am ____________English teacher. Do you put “a or an” here? If you put “an,” you’re right. You need it because “E” is a vowel sound.
You don’t use “a or an” in front of plural nouns. Plural nouns usually have an “s” like teachers, students or countries.
Let’s look at another example:
The U.S. and Canada are___________big countries.
You don’t use “a or an” because the noun is “countries” and it is plural. It has an s.