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There were
a lot of students in the classroom.
I drank
a lot of water during the marathon.
Use
verb + a lot to
mean “very much” or “frequently”:
I
like this singer
a lot.
= I like this singer very much.
She
travels a lot for work.
= She travels frequently for work.
“A lot” is always two words, never one word!
I
studied alot for the English test.
I studied
a lot for the English test.
Use
so and
very before adjectives.
We can use the structure
so + adjective + that to
add extra information, usually a result or consequence:
Last night I was
very tired.
Last night I was
so tired that I almost fell asleep while driving.
This book is
very interesting.
This book is
so interesting that I stayed up until 3 AM reading it!
She plays the piano
very well.
She plays the piano
so well that people often ask if she’s a professional.
Common Error: Don’t use
“a lot” with adjectives
:
Last night I was
a lot tired.
In
informal spoken English, it’s common to use
“really” instead of
“very”:
Last night I was
really tired.
This book is
really interesting.
She plays the piano
really well.
Also, in informal spoken English some people use “so” without adding extra
information, particularly when making an exclamation:
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Your dog is
so cute!
It’s
so windy today!
That test was
so hard!
some time / sometime / sometimes
Some time (two words) means a period of time:
It took me
some time to fix the computer; it had a number of problems.
I spend
some time listening to English every day.
Sarah worked at that company for quite
some time.
(quite some time = a long time)
Sometime (one word) refers to an unspecified time,
usually in the future, although
it can be in the past as well, as in the third example:
Let’s get together for lunch
sometime.
I’ll call you
sometime this afternoon.
I don’t remember exactly when I bought this shirt, but it was
sometime in the
past year.
Sometimes means occasionally:
Usually I wake up early, but
sometimes I sleep late.
Sometimes we have to work on Saturdays, if there’s a special event.
While
reading this text, I
sometimes had to look a word up in the dictionary.
stuff / things
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The word
thing / things is countable. It refers to specific objects, or a collection of
specific objects:
There are five
things in the box.
I forgot my wallet,
my phone, and a few other
things when I left home today.
The word
stuff can also refer to a general collection of things (usually someone’s
possessions), but it is vaguer and also
uncountable, meaning there is no plural (no
such word as “stuffs”):
You need to clean up your bedroom, your
stuff is all over the floor.
(= clothes, books, toys, objects, etc.)
After the holiday,
we put all the Christmas stuff away until the next year.
(= ornaments, decorations, etc.)
Stuff can also refer to a material – usually when we don’t know exactly what it is:
“What’s that white
stuff all over the table?”
“Oh – I spilled some sugar while I was baking a cake.”
“I’m not sure what kind of
stuff this pillow is made of, but it sure is
comfortable.”
Both
things and
stuff can be
non-physical items as well:
There are five
things you need to know in order to do this job well.
(= five principles / pieces of information)
My history class is so hard! There’s so much
stuff the teacher expects us to
remember.
(= information, facts)
I’m proud of you because you did the right
thing. (= action)
The best
thing about this program is that you can study at your own pace.
(= aspect)
She’s really stressed out because there’s
a lot of stuff going on in her personal
life right now.
(= difficulties, events, changes)
My brother knows a lot about astronomy
and stuff like that. (= and
related/similar topics)
Finally,
stuff can be a verb meaning to push things into a small space: