– time + ago = time before now
- two years ago = two years before now
– time + before = time before then (before a past time)
- two years before = two years before then
Two years ago, I visited my home town, which I had left two years before.
List A
as and like
I. Similarity
We can use like or as to say that things are similar
- Like is preposition. We use like before a noun or pronoun
like + noun/ pronoun
- You look like your sister (not .. as your sister)
- He ran like the wind .
- It’s like a dream
- She’s dressed just like me
We use like to give examples
- He’s good at some subjects, like mathematics
(not ..as mathematics) - In mountainous countries, like Switzerland…
2. As is a conjunction. We use as before a clause,
an expression beginning with a preposition
as + clause
as + preposition phrase
- Nobody knows her as I do
- We often drink tea with the meal, as they do in China
- In 1939, as in 1914, everybody wanted war
- On Friday, as on Tuesday, the meeting will bee at 6.30
In formal English like is often used instead of as.
This is very common in American English
- Nobody loves you like I do
II. Function
- We use as, not like to say what function a person or things has-
what jobs people do, what things are used for, etc.
- He worked as a waiter for two years (not … like a waiter)
- Please don’t use your plate as an ashtray
All and whole
– All + determiner + noun = determiner + whole + noun
- all my life/ my whole life
- Julie spent all the summer at home/ Julie spent the whole summer at home
– more common: whole + singular countable noun
– more common: all + uncountable noun
- She wasted the whole lesson
- She’s drunk all the milk.
Above and Over
– Above and Over = higher than
A is above/over B
- There’s a spider on the ceiling just above/over your head.
– Above = one thing is not directly over another
A is above B (not A is over B)
- We’re got a little house above the lake.
– Over = one thing covers another
A is over B
- There is cloud over the Southe of England
– Over (Across) = one thing crosses another
A is (moving) over/across B
- Electricity cables stretch over/across the fields.
- The plane was flying over/across the Channel.
– Over = more than
- “How old are you?” “Over thirty”
- He’s over two meters tall.
– Above = more than in some expressions particularly (vertical scale..)
- Above zero (for temperatures)
- Above sea-level
- Above average
Among and Between
– Between: Somebody/ Something is between two or more clearly separate people or things
– Among: when somebody/ something is in a group, a crowd or a mass of people or things, which we do not see separately
- She was standing between Tom and Jerry
- She was standing among a crowd of children
- Our house is between the wood, the river and the village
- His house is hidden among the trees