Nouns, articles & quantity · CEFR B2 · Confident
Talking about things in general in English
English has three ways to talk about a whole class of things, and the bare plural is the everyday one. The other two sound scientific or formal.
The shape
Dogs are… · A dog is… · The dog is…
Make a general statement three different ways.
In Hindi
पूरी श्रेणी की बात करने के तीन तरीक़े हैं, और बिना article वाला बहुवचन ही रोज़मर्रा का तरीक़ा है।
CoCap explains every structure in both languages, because a rule you understand in Hindi is a rule you can use in English.
The mistake to fix first
The sentence Indian-English speakers actually produce, and the reason it is wrong.
| Commonly said | Correct English |
|---|---|
The computers have changed our lives. | Computers have changed our lives. For things in general, the bare plural is what people actually say. |
Learn these first
These come first. The rest of this makes more sense once they are automatic.
Questions people ask
- What is the talking about things in general used for?
- English has three ways to talk about a whole class of things, and the bare plural is the everyday one. The other two sound scientific or formal. In practice: make a general statement three different ways.
- How do you form the talking about things in general?
- Dogs are… · A dog is… · The dog is….
- What is the most common mistake with the talking about things in general?
- Saying “The computers have changed our lives.” instead of “Computers have changed our lives.”. For things in general, the bare plural is what people actually say.
Where talking about things in general fits
Where this structure sits in the ladder, and what surrounds it.
Talking about things in general is a CEFR B2 structure — the confident band — and it belongs to nouns, articles & quantity. CoCap’s syllabus files every structure this way so you can learn in order instead of jumping between whatever a search happened to return.
Reading it is not the same as saying it.
CoCap turns this page into practice: Hindi sentence in, English sentence out, corrected one thing at a time. Free, no card.
Practise the talking about things in general →