Writing a Notice

A notice is written in order to inform people or pupils (in a school) about an event or an
activity.

It could be about a competition, an exhibition or inauguration to take place in near future.

Or any other activity especially in school like an excursion, a meeting or a show.

Name Of The Organisation/Institution, Place

NOTICE

DATE                                   

HEADING

BODY which must include

1. Event (what?)
2. Date/time/duration (when?)
3. Place/Venue (where?)

Signature

Name (In block letters)

Designation (In brackets)

 Format of an informal letter

Pronouns are words we use in the place of a full noun.

There are many different kinds of pronouns.

Section: 
English grammar

 personal pronouns
 it and there
 you and they
 possessive pronouns (see possessives:- pronouns)
 this, that, these and those
 one and ones
 questions
 reflexive pronouns
 reciprocal pronouns: each other and one another
 indefinite pronouns
 relative pronouns

 English clauses always have a subject:

 His father has just retired. Was a teacher. > He was a teacher.
I’m waiting for my wife. Is late. > She is late.
Look at the time! Is half past two.> It’s half past two.

 except for the imperative (see more)

 Go away.
Play it again please.

 If we have no other subject we use there or it.

 there

 We use there as a dummy subject with part of the verb be followed by a noun
phrase. (see Clauses, sentences and phrases):

 • to introduce a new topic:

 There is a meeting this evening. It will start at seven.

There has been an accident. I hope no one is hurt.

 • with numbers or quantities:

 There was a lot of rain last night.

There must have been more than five hundred in the audience.

 • to say where something is:

 There used to be a playground at the end of the street.

There are fairies at the bottom of the garden.
I wonder if there will be anyone at home.

 • with an indefinite pronoun or expressions of quantity and the to-infinitive:

 There is nothing to do in the village.
There was plenty to read in the apartment
There was nothing to watch on television.
There is a lot of work to do

If we want to show the subject of the to-infinitive we use for:

 There is nothing for the children to do in the village.

There was plenty for us to read in the apartment
There was nothing for them to watch on television.
There is a lot of work for you to do.

 • with an indefinite pronoun or expressions of quantity and an -ing verb:

 There is someone waiting to see you.

There were a lot of people shouting and waving.

 We use a singular verb if the noun phrase is singular:

 There is a meeting this evening. It will start at seven.

There was a lot of rain last night.
There is someone waiting to see you.

 We use a plural verb if the noun phrase is plural:

 There are more than twenty people waiting to see you.

There were some biscuits in the cupboard.
There were a lot of people shouting and waving.
 

 It

 We use it to talk about:

 • times and dates:

 It’s nearly one o’clock.

It’s my birthday.
 • weather:

 It’s raining.
It’s a lovely day.
It was getting cold.

 • to give an opinion about a place:

 It’s very cold in here.

It will be nice when we get home.
It’s very comfortable in my new apartment.

 • to give an opinion followed by to-infinitive:

 It’s nice to meet you.

It will be great to go on holiday.
It was interesting to meet your brother at last.

 • to give an opinion followed by an -ing verb:

 It’s great living in Spain.

It’s awful driving in this heavy traffic.
It can be hard work looking after young children.

   

 Using "it" to talk about people

 We use it to talk about ourselves:

 • on the telephone:

 Hello. It’s George.

 • when people cannot see us:

 [Mary knocks on door] It’s me. It’s Mary.

  We use it to talk about other people:

 • when we point them out for the first time:

 Look. It’s Sir Paul McCartney.

Who’s that? I think it’s John’s brother.

 • when we cannot see them and we ask them for their name:

 [telephone rings, we pick it up] Hello. Who is it?

[someone knocks on door. We say:] Who is it? 

 We use you to talk about people in general including the speaker and the hearer:

 You can buy this book anywhere > This book is on sale everywhere.
You can’t park here > Parking is not allowed here.
They don’t let you smoke in here > No smoking here

 We use they or them to talk about people in general:

 They serve good food here.

Ask them for a cheaper ticket.

 … especially about the government and the authorities:

 They don’t let you smoke in here.

They are going to increase taxes.
They are building a new motorway.
They say it’s going to rain tomorrow.

Why do we use this and these?

We use this (singular) and these (plural) as pronouns:

- to talk about people or things near us:

This is a nice cup of tea.

Whose shoes are these?
 - to introduce people:

This is Janet.
These are my friends, John and Michael.

WARNING:
We don’t say These are John and Michael.
We say This is John and this is Michael.

- to introduce ourselves to begin a conversation on the phone:

Hello, this is David, Can I speak to Sally?

Why do we use that and those?

We use that (singular) and those (plural):

- to talk about things that are not near us:

What’s that?
This is our house, and that’s Rebecca’s house over there.
Those are very expensive shoes.

- We also use that to refer back to something someone said or did:

 - Shall we go to the cinema?

- Yes, that’s a good idea.
 - I’ve got a new job.
- That’s great.
 - I’m very tired.
- Why is that?

this, these, that, those with nouns

We also use this, these, that and those with nouns to show proximity

We use this and these for people or things near us:

 We have lived in this house for twenty years.
Have you read all of these books?

… and that and those for people or things that are not near us:

Who lives in that house?

Who are those people?

 We use one (singular) and ones (plural) to avoid unnecessary repetition.

 See those two girls? Helen is the tall one and Jane is the short one.
Which is your car, the red one or the blue one?
My trousers are torn. I need some new ones.
See those two girls. Helen is the one on the left.
Let’s look at the photographs. The ones you took in Paris.

 We often use them after Which ... in questions:

 You can borrow a book. Which one do you want?

There are lots of books here. Which ones are yours?

 Which question word to use?

 We use who to ask questions about people:
 Who is that?
Who lives here?
Who did you see?
 We use whose to ask about possession:
 Whose coat is this? [or] Whose is this coat?
Whose book is that? [or] Whose is that book?
Whose bags are those? [or] Whose are those bags?
 We use what to ask questions about things:
 What is that?
What do you want?
 We use which to ask someone to choose something:
 Which came first, the chicken or the egg?
I’ve got two books. Which do you want?
  We can also use what and which with nouns:
 What subjects did you study at school?
What newspaper do you read?
Which newspaper do you read – the Times or the Guardian?
Which book do you want?
Which one is yours?
 Questions with prepositions:
 Questions ending in prepositions are very common in English. After Who, Which or
What we often have a preposition at the end of the sentence:
 Who does this book belong to?
What are you looking for?
Which university did you go to?
What country do you come from?
  

The reflexive pronouns are:

Singular myself -  yourself - himself - herself

: -  itself

Plural: ourselves -  yourselves - themselves

When we use a reflexive pronoun

We use a reflexive pronoun:

• as a direct object when the object is the same as the subject of the verb:

I am teaching myself to play the piano.

Be careful with that knife. You might cut yourself.

We can use a reflexive pronoun as direct object with most transitive verbs, but these are the
most common:
 amuse blame cut dry enjoy help

satisf
hurt introduce kill prepare teach
y

Some verbs change their meaning slightly when they have a reflexive pronoun as direct
object:

 Would you like to help yourself to another drink?

= Would you like to take another drink.
 I wish the children would behave themselves.
 = I wish the children would behave well.
 He found himself lying by the side of the road.
= He was surprised when he realised that he was at the side of the road.
 I saw myself as a famous actor.
= I imagined that I was a famous actor.
 She applied herself to the job of mending the lights.
= She worked very hard to mend the lights.
 He busied himself in the kitchen.
 = He worked busily in the kitchen.
 I had to content myself with a few Euros.
= I had to be satisfied with a few Euros.

We do not use a reflexive pronoun after verbs which describe things people usually do for
themselves, such as wash, shave, dress:

He washed [himself] in cold water.

He always shaved [himself] before going out in the evening.
Michael dressed [himself] and got ready for the party.

We only use reflexives with these verbs for emphasis:

He dressed himself in spite of his injuries.

She’s old enough to wash herself.
• as indirect object when the indirect object is the same as the subject of the verb:

Would you like to pour yourself a drink.

We’ve brought ourselves something to eat.

• as the object of a preposition when the object refers to the subject of the clause:

They had to cook for themselves.

He was feeling very sorry for himself.

Warning

But we use personal pronouns, not reflexives, after prepositions of place...

He had a suitcase beside him.

and after with when it means "accompanied by":

She had a few friends with her.

We use a reflexive pronoun...

• with the preposition by when we want to show that someone did something alone and/or
without any help:

He lived by himself in an enormous house.

She walked home by herself.

The children got dressed by themselves.

I prepared the whole meal by myself.

• to emphasise the person or thing we are referring to:

 Kendal itself is quite a small town.

especially if we are talking about someone very famous:

Sir Paul McCartney himself sang the final song.

We often put the reflexive pronoun at the end of the clause when we are using it for
emphasis:

I baked the bread myself.

She mended the car herself

We use the reciprocal pronouns each other and one another when two or more people do the
same thing. Traditionally, each other refers to two people and one another refers to more
than two people, but this distinction is disappearing in modern English.

 Peter and Mary helped one another.

= Peter helped Mary and Mary helped Peter.
 We sent each other Christmas cards.
= We sent them a Christmas card and they sent us a Christmas card.
 They didn’t look at one another.
= He didn't look at her and she didn't look at him.

We also use the possessive forms each other’s and one another’s:

They helped to look after each other’s children.

We often stayed in one another’s houses.

NOTE: We do not use reciprocal pronouns as the subject of a clause.

The indefinite pronouns are:

 
 somebody someone something

anybody anyone anything

nobody no one nothing

everybod
everyone everything
y

We use indefinite pronouns to refer to people or things without saying exactly who or what
they are. We use pronouns ending in -body or -one for people, and pronouns ending in -thing
for things:

Everybody enjoyed the concert.

I opened the door but there was no one at home.
It was a very clear day. We could see everything.

We use a singular verb after an indefinite pronoun:

Everybody loves Sally.

Everything was ready for the party.

When we refer back to an indefinite pronoun we normally use a plural pronoun:

Everybody enjoyed the concert. They stood up and clapped.

I will tell somebody that dinner is ready. They have been waiting a long time.

We can add -'s to an indefinite pronoun to make a possessive.

They were staying in somebody’s house.

Is this anybody’s coat?
We use indefinite pronouns with no- as the subject in negative clauses (not pronouns with
any.)

Anybody didn’t come >> Nobody came.

We do not use another negative in a clause with nobody, no one or nothing:

Nobody came.
Nothing happened.

We use else after indefinite pronouns to refer to people or things in addition to the ones we
already mentioned.

All the family came, but no one else.

If Michael can’t come we’ll ask somebody else.
So that's eggs, peas and chips. Do you want anything else?

The relative pronouns are:

Subjec
Object Possessive
t

who who(m) whose

which which whose

that that  

 
We use who and whom for people, and which for things.
Or we can use that for people or things.

We use relative pronouns:

• after a noun, to make it clear which person or thing we are talking about:

the house that Jack built

the woman who discovered radium
an eight-year-old boy who attempted to rob a sweet shop

• to tell us more about a person or thing:

My mother, who was born overseas, has always been a great traveller.
Lord Thompson, who is 76, has just retired.
We had fish and chips, which is my favourite meal.

But we do not use that as a subject in this kind of relative clause.

We use whose as the possessive form of who:

This is George, whose brother went to school with me.

We sometimes use whom as the object of a verb or preposition:

This is George, whom you met at our house last year.

This is George’s brother, with whom I went to school.

But nowadays we normally use who:

This is George, who you met at our house last year.

This is George’s brother, who I went to school with.

When whom or which have a preposition the preposition can come at the beginning of the
clause...
 I had an uncle in Germany, from who[m] I inherited a bit of money.
We bought a chainsaw, with which we cut up all the wood.

… or at the end of the clause:

I had an uncle in Germany who[m] I inherited a bit of money from.

We bought a chainsaw, which we cut all the wood up with.

We can use that at the beginning of the clause:

I had an uncle in Germany that I inherited a bit of money from.

We bought a chainsaw that we cut all the wood up with.

General and specific determiners

Determiners are words which come at the beginning of the noun phrase.

They tell us whether the noun phrase is specific or general.

Determiners are either specific or general

Specific determiners:

The specific determiners are:

 the definite article: the

 possessives: my, your, his, her, its; our, their, whose
 demonstratives: this, that, these, those
 interrogatives: which

We use a specific determiner when we believe the listener/reader knows exactly what we
are referring to:

Can you pass me the salt please?

Look at those lovely flowers.
Thank you very much for your letter.
Whose coat is this?

General determiners:
 The general determiners are:

 a; an; any; another; other; what

When we are talking about things in general and the listener/reader does not know exactly
what we are referring to, we can use an uncount noun or a plural noun with no
determiner:

Milk is very good for you. (= uncount noun)

Health and education are very important. (= 2 uncount nouns)
Girls normally do better in school than boys. (= plural nouns with no determiner)

… or you can use a singular noun with the indefinite article a or an:

A woman was lifted to safety by a helicopter.

A man climbing nearby saw the accident.

Determiner

We use the general determiner any with a singular noun or an uncount noun when we are
talking about all of those people or things:

It’s very easy. Any child can do it. (= All children can do it)
With a full licence you are allowed to drive any car.
I like beef, lamb, pork - any meat.

We use the general determiner another to talk about an additional person or thing:

Would you like another glass of wine?

The plural form of another is other:

I spoke to John, Helen and a few other friends.

Quantifiers
We use quantifiers when we want to give someone information about the number of
something: how much or how many.

We use "which" as a determiner to ask a question about a specific group of people or things:

Which restaurant did you go to?

Which countries in South America have you visited?

When we are asking a general question we use "what" as a determiner:

What films do you like?

What university did you go to?

1. We use the indefinite article, a/an, with count nouns when the hearer/reader does not
know exactly which one we are referring to:

Police are searching for a 14 year-old girl.

2. We also use it to show the person or thing is one of a group:

She is a pupil at London Road School.

Police have been searching for a 14 year-old girl who has been missing since Friday.

Jenny Brown, a pupil at London Road School, is described as 1.6 metres tall with short
blonde hair.

She was last seen wearing a blue jacket, a blue and white blouse and dark blue jeans and blue
shoes. 

Anyone who has information should contact the local police on 0800349781.

3. We do not use an indefinite article with plural nouns and uncount nouns:
 She was wearing blue shoes. (= plural noun)
She has short blonde hair. (= uncount noun)

Police have been searching for a 14 year-old girl who has been missing since Friday.

Jenny Brown, a pupil at London Road School, is described as 1.6 metres tall with short
blonde hair.

She was last seen wearing a blue jacket, a blue and white blouse and dark blue jeans and blue
shoes. 

Anyone who has information should contact the local police on 0800349781.

4. We use a/an to say what someone is or what job they do:

My brother is a doctor.
George is a student.

5. We use a/an with a singular noun to say something about all things of that kind:

A man needs friends. (= All men need friends)

A dog likes to eat meat. (= All dogs like to eat meat)

The definite article the is the most frequent word in English.

We use the definite article in front of a noun when we believe the hearer/reader knows
exactly what we are referring to.

• because there is only one:

 The Pope is visiting Russia.
The moon is very bright tonight.
The Shah of Iran was deposed in 1979.

This is why we use the definite article with a superlative adjective:

He is the tallest boy in the class.

It is the oldest building in the town.

• because there is only one in that place or in those surroundings:

We live in a small village next to the church.  =  (the church in our village)

(the car that belongs to our

Dad, can I borrow the car? =
family)

When we stayed at my grandmother’s house we went  (the beach near my

 =
to the beach every day. grandmother’s house)

Look at the boy in the blue shirt over there.  = (the boy I am pointing at)

 
• because we have already mentioned it:

A woman who fell 10 metres from High Peak was lifted to safety by a helicopter. The
woman fell while climbing.
The rescue is the latest in a series of incidents on High Peak. In January last year two
men walking on the peak were killed in a fall. 
We also use the definite article:

• to say something about all the things referred to by a noun:

The wolf is not really a dangerous animal (= Wolves are not really dangerous animals)
The kangaroo is found only in Australia (= Kangaroos are found only in Australia)
The heart pumps blood around the body. (= Hearts pump blood around bodies)

We use the definite article in this way to talk about musical instruments:

Joe plays the piano really well.(= Joe can play any piano)
She is learning the guitar.(= She is learning to play any guitar)

• to refer to a system or service:

How long does it take on the train?

I heard it on the radio.
You should tell the police.

• With adjectives like rich, poor, elderly, unemployed to talk about groups of people:

Life can be very hard for the poor.

I think the rich should pay more taxes.
She works for a group to help the disabled.

The definite article with names:

We do not normally use the definite article with names:

William Shakespeare wrote Hamlet.

Paris is the capital of France.
Iran is in Asia.

But we do use the definite article with:

• countries whose names include words like kingdom, states or republic:

the United Kingdom; the Kingdom of Nepal; the United States; the People’s Republic
of China.
• countries which have plural nouns as their names:

the Netherlands; the Philippines

• geographical features, such as mountain ranges, groups of islands, rivers, seas, oceans and
canals:

the Himalayas; the Canaries; the Atlantic; the Atlantic Ocean; the Amazon; the Panama
Canal.

• newspapers:

The Times; The Washington Post

• well known buildings or works of art:

the Empire State Building; the Taj Mahal; the Mona Lisa; the Sunflowers

• organisations:

the United Nations; the Seamen’s Union

• hotels, pubs and restaurants*:

the Ritz; the Ritz Hotel; the King’s Head; the Déjà Vu

*Note: We do not use the definite article if the name of the hotel or restaurant is the
name of the owner, e.g.,Brown’s; Brown’s Hotel; Morel’s; Morel’s Restaurant, etc.

• families:

the Obamas; the Jacksons

We use quantifiers when we want to give someone information about the number of

something: how much or how many.

Sometimes we use a quantifier in the place of a determiner:

 Most children start school at the age of five.
We ate some bread and butter.
We saw lots of birds.

We use these quantifiers with both count and uncount nouns:

a lot
all any enough less lots of
of

mor
most no none of some  
e

and some more colloquial forms:

plenty a load tons  etc

heaps of loads of
of of of .

Some quantifiers can be used only with count nouns:

bot eithe neithe

each (a) few fewer several
h r r
 

and some more colloquial forms:

a couple etc
hundreds of thousands of
of .

Some quantifiers can be used only with uncount nouns:

a
(not) much a bit of
little

And, particularly with abstract nouns such as time, money, trouble, etc:, we often use:

a great deal of a good deal of

Members of groups
You can put a noun after a quantifier when you are talking about members of a group in
general…

Few snakes are dangerous.

Both brothers work with their father.
I never have enough money.

…but if you are talking about a specific group of people or things, use of the … as well

Few of the snakes are dangerous.

All of the children live at home.
He has spent all of his money.

Note that, if we are talking about two people or things we use the quantifiers both, either and
neither:

One supermarket Two supermarkets* More than two supermarkets

The supermarket was Both the supermarkets were All the supermarkets were
closed closed. closed

The supermarket wasn't Neither of the supermarkets None of the supermarkets

open was open. were open

I don’t think the I don’t think either of the I don't think any of the
supermarket was open. supermarkets was open. supermarkets were open

*Nouns with either and neither have a singular verb.

 
Singular quantifiers:

We use every or each with a singular noun to mean all:

  

There was a party in every street.  = There were parties in all the streets.

Every shop was decorated with

 = All the shops were decorated with flowers.
flowers.

Each child was given a prize.  = All the children were given a prize.

There was a prize in each competition.  = There were prizes in all the competitions.

We often use every to talk about times like days, weeks and years:

When we were children we had holidays at our grandmother’s every year.

When we stayed at my grandmother’s house we went to the beach every day.
We visit our daughter every Christmas.

BUT: We do not use a determiner with every and each. We do not say:

The every shop was decorated with flowers.

The each child was given a prize.

Possessives

This possessives page brings together information about

 possessive nouns
 possessive adjectives
 possessive pronouns
 questions
 reciprocal pronouns  
  We use a noun with ’s with a singular noun to show possession:
 We are having a party at John’s house.
Michael drove his friend’s car.
 We use s’ with a plural noun ending in -s:
 This is my parents’ house.
Those are ladies’ shoes.
 But we use ’s with other plural nouns:
 These are men’s shoes.
Children’s clothes are very expensive.
 We can use a possessive instead of a noun phrase to avoid repeating words:
  

No, it’s Mary’s

Is that John’s car?   > No, it’s Mary’s.
[car].

Whose coat is
  It’s my wife’s [coat]. > It’s my wife’s.
this?

  
 Can you match these possessive adjectives to the right personal pronouns?

its, your, my, their, our, her, his

  

Subjec
Object Possessive Adjective
t

I me  

You you  
Subjec
Object Possessive Adjective
t

He him  

She her  

It it  

We us  

They them  

  
 We use possessive adjectives:
 • to show something belongs to somebody:
 That’s our house.
My car is very old.
 • for relations and friends:
 My mother is a doctor.
How old is your sister?
 • for parts of the body:
 He’s broken his arm.
She’s washing her hair.
I need to clean my teeth.
 Can you match these possessive pronouns to the right personal pronouns and
possessive adjectives?
 
 yours, mine, theirs, ours, hers, his, its
  
Subjec
Object Possessive adjectives Possessive pronouns
t

I me  my  
You you  your  
He him  his  
She her  her  
It it  its  
We us  our  
They them  their  

  
 We can use a possessive pronoun instead of a noun phrase:
  

Is that John’s car?   No, it’s [my car] > No, it’s mine.

Whose coat is this?   Is it [your coat]? > Is it yours?

Her coat is grey, [my coat]is

  Her coat is grey,   mine is brown.
brown

  
  
 We can use possessive pronouns after of.
 We can say:
 Susan is one of my friends.
or
Susan is a friend of mine.
but not 
Susan is a friend of me
 or
  I am one of Susan's friends.
or
I am a friend of Susan's.
but not 
I am a friend of Susan
 We use whose to ask questions:
  

Pattern A   Pattern B

Whose coat is this? or Whose is this coat?

Whose book is that? or Whose is that book?

Whose bags are

or Whose are those bags?
those?

We use the reciprocal pronouns each other and one another when two or more people do the
same thing. Traditionally, each other refers to two people and one another refers to more
than two people, but this distinction is disappearing in modern English.

 Peter and Mary helped one another.

= Peter helped Mary and Mary helped Peter.
 We sent each other Christmas cards.
= We sent them a Christmas card and they sent us a Christmas card.
 They didn’t look at one another.
= He didn't look at her and she didn't look at him.

We also use the possessive forms each other’s and one another’s:

They helped to look after each other’s children.

We often stayed in one another’s houses.
NOTE: We do not use reciprocal pronouns as the subject of a clause.

Adjectives

We use adjectives to describe nouns.

Most adjectives can be used in front of a noun…:

They have a beautiful house.

We saw a very exciting film last night.

or after a link verb like be, look or feel:

Their house is beautiful.

That film looks interesting.

A lot of adjectives are made from verbs by adding -ing or -ed:

-ing adjectives:

The commonest -ing adjectives are:

amusing shocking surprising frightening interesting disappointing exciting tiring worrying

boring terrifying annoying

If you call something interesting you mean it interests you.

If you call something frightening you mean it frightens you.

I read a very interesting article in the newspaper today.

That Dracula film was absolutely terrifying.

-ed adjectives:

The commonest –ed adjectives are:

annoyed bored frightened worried tired closed       excited delighted disappointed

  
If something annoys you, you can say you feel annoyed. If something interests you, you can
say you are interested.

The children had nothing to do. They were bored.

Sometimes we use more than one adjective in front of a noun:

He was a nice intelligent young man.

She had a small round black wooden box.

Opinion adjectives:

Some adjectives give a general opinion. We can use these adjectives to describe almost any
noun:

good bad lovely  strange

beautiful nice brilliant excellent

wonderfu
awful important nasty
l

Some adjectives give a specific opinion. We only use these adjectives to describe particular
kinds of noun:

Food: tasty; delicious

Furniture, buildings: comfortable; uncomfortable
People, animals: clever; intelligent; friendly

We usually put a general opinion in front of a specific opinion:

 Nice tasty soup.
A nasty uncomfortable armchair
A lovely intelligent animal

Usually we put an adjective that gives an opinion in front of an adjective that is descriptive:

a nice red dress; a silly old man; those horrible yellow curtains

We often have two adjectives in front of a noun:

a handsome young man; a big black car; that horrible big dog

Sometimes we have three adjectives, but this is unusual:

a nice handsome young man;

a big black American car;
that horrible big fierce dog

It is very unusual to have more than three adjectives.

Adjectives usually come in this order:

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

Genera
Specific  Colou
l Size  Shape Age Nationality Material
opinion r
opinion

We use some adjectives only after a link verb:

afraid alive alone asleep

content glad  ill ready

 unabl
sorry sure well
e

Some of the commonest -ed adjectives are normally used only after a link verb:

annoyed;   finished;  bored; pleased; thrilled

We say:

Our teacher was ill.

My uncle was very glad when he heard the news.
The policeman seemed to be very annoyed

but we do not say:

We had an ill teacher.

When he heard the news he was a very glad uncle
He seemed to be a very annoyed policeman

A few adjectives are used only in front of a noun:

north northern
countless eventful
south southern
occasional indoor
east eastern
lone outdoor
west western

We say:

He lives in the eastern district.

There were countless problems with the new machinery.
but we do not say:

The district he lives in is eastern

The problems with the new machinery were countless.

We use comparative adjectives to describe people and things:

This car is certainly better but it’s much more expensive.

I’m feeling happier now.
We need a bigger garden

We use than when we want to compare one thing with another:

She is two years older than me.

New York is much bigger than Boston.
He is a better player than Ronaldo.
France is a bigger country than Britain.

When we want to describe how something or someone changes we can use two
comparatives with and:

The balloon got bigger and bigger.

Everything is getting more and more expensive.
Grandfather is looking older and older. 

We often use the with comparative adjectives to show that one thing depends on another:

When you drive faster it is more dangerous

> The faster you drive, the more dangerous it is.
When they climbed higher it got colder
>  The higher they climbed, the colder it got.

Superlative adjectives:

We use the with a superlative:

It was the happiest day of my life.

Everest is the highest mountain in the world.
That’s the best film I have seen this year.
I have three sisters, Jan is the oldest and Angela is the youngest . 

Intensifiers:

(Intermediate)

We use words like very, really and extremely to make adjectives stronger:

It’s a very interesting story

Everyone was very excited.
It’s a really interesting story.
Everyone was extremely excited

We call these words intensifiers. Other intensifiers are:

exceptionall incredibl
amazingly
y y
remarkabl
particularly unusually
y

We also use enough to say more about an adjective, but enough comes after its adjective:

If you are seventeen you are old enough to drive a car.

I can’t wear those shoes. They’re not big enough.

Intensifiers with strong adjectives:

Strong adjectives are words like:

enormous, huge = very big

tiny = very small
brilliant = very clever
awful; terrible; disgusting; dreadful = very bad
certain = very sure
excellent; perfect; ideal; wonderful; splendid = very good
delicious = very tasty
We do not normally use very with these adjectives. We do not say something is "very
enormous" or someone is "very brilliant". 

With strong adjectives, we normally use intensifiers like:

absolutel utterl
completely totally
y y
exceptionall particularl
really quite
y y

The film was absolutely awful.

He was an exceptionally brilliant child.
The food smelled really disgusting.

Warning!  

Intensifiers with particular adjectives:

 
(Advanced)

Some intensifiers go with particular adjectives depending on the meaning of the

adjective:

I’m afraid your wife is dangerously ill.

He was driving dangerously fast.
The car was seriously damaged.
Fortunately none of the passengers was seriously hurt.

Some intensifiers go with particular adjectives. For example we use the intensifier highly
with the adjectives successful, intelligent, likely and unlikely:

He was highly intelligent.

She’s a highly successful businesswoman

but we do not say:

We had a highly tasty meal.

That is a highly good idea.
 Warning!  

We use the intensifier bitterly with the adjectives disappointed, unhappy and cold:

I was bitterly unhappy at school.

We were bitterly disappointed to lose the match.
It can get bitterly cold in winter.

Intensifiers with comparatives and superlatives:

(Intermediate)

We use these words and phrases as intensifiers with comparative adjectives:

quite a
much far a lot
lot
a great a good a good
a fair bit
deal deal bit

He is much older than me.

New York is a lot bigger than Boston.

We use much and far as intensifiers with comparative adjectives in front of a noun:

France is a much bigger country than Britain.

He is a far better player than Ronaldo.

We use these words as intensifiers with superlatives:

easil by muc
y far h

The blue whale is easily the biggest animal in the world.

This car was by far the most expensive.

Adjectives as intensifiers:
(Advanced)

We use some adjectives as intensifiers with nouns:

absolut complet
total
e e
perfec
utter real
t

We say:

He’s a complete idiot.

They were talking utter nonsense.

but we do not say:

The idiot was complete.

The nonsense they were talking was utter.

Mitigators

Mitigators are the opposite of intensifiers. When we want to make an adjective less strong
we use these words:

fairly - rather - quite

By the end of the day we were rather tired.

The film wasn’t great but it was quite exciting.

and in informal English: pretty

We had a pretty good time at the party.

We call these words mitigators.

 Warning

quite

When we use quite with a strong adjective it means the same as absolutely:

The food was quite awful. = The food was absolutely awful.
As a child he was quite brilliant. = As a child he was absolutely brilliant.

Mitigators with comparatives:

We use these words and phrases as mitigators:

a bit - just a bit - a little  - a little bit - just a little bit - rather - slightly

She’s a bit younger than I am.

It takes two hours on the train but it is a little bit longer by road
This one is rather bigger (than the other one).

We use slightly and rather as mitigators with comparative adjectives in front of a noun:

This is a slightly more expensive model than that one.

This is a rather bigger one than the other.

Adjectives as intensifiers:

We use some adjectives as intensifiers:

absolute
total  - complete
utter  - perfect
real

We say:
 He’s a complete idiot.
They were talking utter nonsense.

… but we do not say:

The idiot was complete.

The nonsense they were talking was utter.

We often use two nouns together to show that one thing is a part of something else:

the village church; the car door; the kitchen window; the chair leg;
my coat pocket; London residents

Warning

We do not use a possessive form for these things. We do not talk about:

The car’s door; the kitchen’s window; the chair’s leg

We can use noun modifiers to show what something is made of:

a gold watch; a leather purse; a metal box

We often use noun modifiers with nouns ending in -er and -ing:

an office worker; a jewellery maker; a potato peeler; a shopping list; a swimming

lesson; a walking holiday.

We use measurements, age or value as noun modifiers:

a thirty kilogram suitcase; a two minute rest; a five thousand euro platinum watch; a
fifty kilometre journey;

We often put two nouns together and readers/listeners have work out what they mean. So:
 an ice bucket = a bucket to keep ice in
 an ice cube = a cube made of ice
 an ice breaker = a ship which breaks ice
 the ice age = the time when much of the Earth was covered in ice.

Sometimes we find more than two nouns together:

London office workers; grammar practice exercises

Position of noun modifiers

Noun modifiers come after adjectives:

The old newspaper seller

A tiring fifty kilometre journey
 

Why do we use adverbials?

We use adverbs to give more information about the verb.

We use adverbials of manner to say how something happens or how something is done:

The children were playing happily.

He was driving as fast as possible.

We use adverbials of place to say where something happens:

I saw him there.

We met in London.

We use adverbials of time to say when or how often something happens:

They start work at six thirty.

They usually go to work by bus.

We use adverbials of probability to show how certain we are about something.

 Perhaps the weather will be fine.
 He is certainly coming to the party.

Adverbial

An adverbial can be an adverb:

He spoke angrily.
They live here.
We will be back soon.

or an adverb with an intensifier:

He spoke really angrily.

They live just here.
We will go quite soon.
We will go as soon as possible.

or a phrase with a preposition:

He spoke in an angry voice.

They live in London.
We will go in a few minutes.

Where do adverbials go in a sentence?

We normally put adverbials after the verb:

He spoke angrily.
They live just here.
We will go in a few minutes.

or after the object or complement:

He opened the door quietly.

She left the money on the table.
We saw our friends last night.
You are looking tired tonight.
But adverbials of frequency (how often) usually come in front of the main verb:

We usually spent our holidays with our grandparents.

I have never seen William at work.

But if we want to emphasise an adverbial we can put it at the beginning of a clause:

Last night we saw our friends.

In a few minutes we will go.
Very quietly he opened the door.

If we want to emphasise an adverb of manner we can put it in front of the main verb:

He quietly opened the door.

She had carefully put the glass on the shelf.

Try these tasks to practice your use of placement of adverbials.

Adverbs of manner are usually formed from adjectives by adding –ly:

bad > badly; quiet > quietly; recent > recently; sudden > suddenly

but there are sometimes changes in spelling:

easy > easily; gentle > gently

If an adjective ends in –ly we use the phrase in a …. way to express manner:

Silly > He behaved in a silly way.

Friendly > She spoke in a friendly way.

A few adverbs of manner have the same form as the adjective:

They all worked hard.

She usually arrives late.
I hate driving fast.
 Note: hardly and lately have different meanings:
He could hardly walk = It was difficult for him to walk.
I haven’t seen John lately = I haven’t seen John recently.

We often use phrases with like as adverbials of manner:

She slept like a baby.

He ran like a rabbit.

Adverbs of manner and link verbs

We very often use adverbials with like after link verbs:

Her hands felt like ice.

It smells like fresh bread.

But we do not use other adverbials of manner after link verbs. We use adjectives instead:

They looked happily happy.

That bread smells deliciously delicious.

Try these exercises to practice your use of adverbials of manner.

Try these tasks to practice your use of placement of adverbials.

We use adverbials of place to describe:

Location

We use prepositions to talk about where someone or something is.

 Examples:

 He was standing by the table.

 You’ll find it in the cupboard.
 Sign your name here – at the bottom of the page.
 Direction

We use adverbials to to talk about the direction where someone or something is moving.

Examples:

 Walk past the bank and keep going to the end of the street.
 The car door is very small so it’s difficult to get into.

Distance

We use adverbials to show how far things are:

Examples:

 Birmingham is 250 kilometres from London.

 We were in London. Birmingham was 250 kilometres away.
 Location
 We use prepositions to talk about where someone or something is:
  

above among at behind below beneath

in
beside between by in inside
between

near next to on opposite outside over

round through under underneath    


He was standing by the table.
 She lives in a village near Glasgow.
You’ll find it in the cupboard.
  
 We use phrases with of as prepositions:
  

at the back
at the top of at the bottom of at the end of
of

on top of at the front of in front of in the middle of


There were some flowers in the middle of the table.
Sign your name here – at the bottom of the page.
I can’t see. You’re standing in front of me.
 We can use right as an intensifier with some of these prepositions:
 He was standing right next to the table.
There were some flowers right in the middle of the table.
There’s a wood right behind our house.
 Direction
 We also use prepositional phrases to talk about direction:
  

acros dow
along back  back to into
s n

onto out of  past through to towards

 She ran out of the house.

Walk past the bank and keep going to the end of the street.
 We also use adverbs and adverb phrases for place and direction:
  
abroad away anywhere downstairs downwards

everywher
here indoors inside nowhere
e

outdoors outside somewhere there upstairs

 I would love to see Paris. I’ve never been there.

The bedroom is upstairs.
It was so cold that we stayed indoors.
 We often have a preposition at the end of a clause:
 This is the room we have our meals in.
The car door is very small so it’s difficult to get into.
I lifted the carpet and looked underneath.

Distance

We use adverbials to show how far things are:

Birmingham is 250 kilometres from London.

Birmingham is 250 kilometres away from London.
It is 250 kilometres from Birmingham to London.

Sometimes we use a preposition at the end of a clause:

We were in London. Birmingham was 250 kilometres away.

Birmingham was 250 kilometres off.

Adverbials of time

We use adverbials of time to say:

• when something happened:

 I saw Mary yesterday.
She was born in 1978.
I will see you later.
There was a storm during the night.

• for how long :

We waited all day.

They have lived here since 2004.
We will be on holiday from July 1st until August 3rd.

• how often (frequency):

They usually watched television in the evening.

We sometimes went to work by car.

We often use a noun phrase as a time adverbial:

yesterday last week/month/year one day/week/month last Saturday

tomorrow next week/month/year the day after tomorrow next Friday

today this week/month/year the day before yesterday the other day/week/month

We use phrases with prepositions as time adverbials:

• We use at with:

clock times: at seven o’clock - at nine thirty - at fifteen hundred hours
mealtimes: at breakfast - at lunchtime - at teatime

… and in these phrases:

 at night - at the weekend - at Christmas - at Easter

• We use in with:

seasons of the year: in spring/summer/autumn/winter - in the spring

/summer/autumn/winter
years and centuries: in 2009 -in 1998 - in the twentieth century
months: in January/February/March etc.
parts of the day: in the morning - in the afternoon - in the evening.

• We use on with:

days: on Monday/Tuesday/Wednesday etc - on Christmas day - on my birthday.

dates: on the thirty first of July - on June 15th

Note: We say at night when we are talking about all of the night:

When there is no moon it is very dark at night.

He sleeps during the day and works at night.

but we say in the night when we are talking about a short time during the night:

He woke up twice in the night.

I heard a funny noise in the night.

We use the adverb ago with the past simple to say how long before the time of speaking
something happened:

I saw Jim about three weeks ago.

We arrived a few minutes ago.

We can put time phrases together:

We will meet next week at six o’clock on Monday.

I heard a funny noise at about eleven o’clock last night.
It happened last week at seven o’clock on Monday night.

We use for to say how long:

 We have been waiting for twenty minutes.
They lived in Manchester for fifteen years.

We use since with the present perfect or the past perfect to say when something started:

I have worked here since December.

They had been watching since seven o’clock in the morning.

We use from …to/until to say when something starts and finishes:

They stayed with us from Monday to Friday.

We will be on holiday from the sixteenth until the twentieth.

The commonest adverbials of frequency are:

alway occasionall
never normally often
s y

rarely seldom sometimes usually  

We usually put adverbials of frequency in front of the main verb:

We often spend Christmas with friends.

I have never enjoyed myself so much.

but they usually come after the verb be:

He was always tired in the evening.

We are never late for work.

We use the adverbial a lot to mean often or frequently. It comes at the end of the clause:

We go to the cinema a lot.

but before another time adverbial:

We go to the cinema a lot at the weekend.

We use much with a negative to mean not often:

 We don’t go out much. (= We don’t go out often)

We use how often or ever to ask questions about frequency. How often comes at the
beginning of the clause:

How often do you go to the cinema?

How often have you been here?

ever comes before the main verb:

Do you ever go to the cinema at the weekend?

Have you ever been there?

Longer frequency phrases, like every year or three times a day usually come at the end of the
clause:

I have an English lesson twice a week.

She goes to see her mother every day.

We use still to show that something continues up to a time in the past present or future. It
goes in front of the main verb:

The children still enjoyed playing games.

They are still living next door.
We will still be on holiday.

… or after the present simple or the past simple of be:

Her grandfather is still alive.

They were still unhappy.
We use already to show that something has happened sooner than it was expected to happen.
Like still, it comes before the main verb:

The car is OK. I’ve already fixed it.

It was early but they were already sleeping.

… or after the present simple or past simple of the verb be:

It was early but we were already tired.

We are already late.

We use yet in a negative or interrogative clause, usually with perfective aspect (especially in
British English), to show that something has not happened by a particular time. yet comes at
the end of the sentence:

It was late, but they hadn’t arrived yet.

Have you fixed the car yet?
She won’t have sent the email yet.

Adverbials of probability

We use adverbials of probability to show how certain we are about something. The most
frequent adverbials of probability are:

certainly - definitely - maybe - possibly

clearly - obviously - perhaps - probably

maybe and perhaps usually come at the beginning of the clause:

Perhaps the weather will be fine.

Maybe it won’t rain.

Other adverbs of possibility usually come in front of the main verb:

He is certainly coming to the party.

Will they definitely be there?
We will possibly come to England next year.
but after am, is, are, was, were:

They are definitely at home.

She was obviously very surprised.

We can use comparative adverbs to show change or to make comparisons:

I forget things more often nowadays.

She began to speak more quickly.
They are working harder now.

We often use than with comparative adverbs

I forget things more often than I used to.

Girls usually work harder than boys.

Intensifiers:

We use these words and phrases as intensifiers with these patterns:

much -  far - a lot -  quite a lot -  a great deal - a good deal - a good bit - a fair bit

I forget things much more often nowadays.

Mitigators:

We use these words and phrases as mitigators:

a bit - just a bit - a little - a little bit - just a little bit - slightly

She began to speak a bit more quickly

We can use superlative adverbs to make comparisons:

His ankles hurt badly, but his knees hurt worst.

It rains most often at the beginning of the year.

Intensifiers:
When we intensify a superlative adverb we often use the in front of the adverb, and we use
these words and phrases as intensifiers:

easily - much - far - by far

Punctuation

Bracketing Commas

Bracketing commas (also called isolating commas) do a very different job from the other
three types. These are the most frequently used type of comma, and they cause more
problems than the other types put together. The rule is this: a pair of bracketing commas is
used to mark off a weak interruption of the sentence — that is, an interruption which does not
disturb the smooth flow of the sentence. Note that word `pair': bracketing commas, in
principle at least, always occur in pairs, though sometimes one of them is not written, as
explained below. Look carefully at these examples of bracketing commas:

These findings, we would suggest, cast doubt upon his hypothesis.

Schliemann, of course, did his digging before modern archaeology was invented.

Pratchett has, it would seem, abandoned Rincewind the wizard to the ravages of the
Discworld.

Darwin's Origin of Species, published in 1859, revolutionized biological thinking.

The Pakistanis, like the Australians before them, have exposed the shortcomings of the
England batting order.

Rupert Brooke, who was killed in the war at the age of 28, was one of our finest poets.

We have been forced to conclude, after careful study of the data, that the proposed
correlations, in spite of their obvious appeal, do not stand up.

In each case a weak interruption has been set off by a pair of bracketing commas. (The last
example has two weak interruptions.) Now notice something important: in every one of these
examples, the weak interruption set off by bracketing commas could, in principle, be
removed from the sentence, and the result would still be a complete sentence that made good
sense. Try this with some of the examples:

These findings cast doubt upon his hypothesis.

Pratchett has abandoned Rincewind the wizard to the ravages of the Discworld.

The Pakistanis have exposed the shortcomings of the England batting order.

We have been forced to conclude that the proposed correlations do not stand up.
This is always the case with bracketing commas, and it gives you a simple way of checking
your punctuation. If you have set off some words with a pair of bracketing commas, and you
find you can't remove those words without destroying the sentence, you have done something
wrong. Here is an example of wrong use, taken from Carey (1958):

*Yet, outside that door, lay a whole new world.

If you try to remove the words outside that door, the result is *Yet lay a whole new world,
which is not a sentence. The problem here is that outside that door is not an interruption at
all: it's an essential part of the sentence. So, the bracketing commas shouldn't be there. Just
get rid of them:

Yet outside that door lay a whole new world.

Here is another example:

*She groped for her cigarettes, and finding them, hastily lit one.

This time, if you try to remove the words and finding them, the result is *She groped for her
cigarettes hastily lit one, which is again not a sentence. The problem is that the interruption in
this sentence is only the sequence finding them; the word and is not part of the interruption,
but an essential part of the sentence. So move the first comma:

She groped for her cigarettes and, finding them, hastily lit one.

Now check that the interruption has been correctly marked off:

She groped for her cigarettes and hastily lit one.

This is a good sentence, so you have now got the bracketing commas in the right places.

Since bracketing commas really do confuse many people, let's look at some further examples:

*Stanley was a determined, even ruthless figure.

What's wrong here? Well, that comma can't possibly be a listing comma, a joining comma or
a gapping comma; therefore it must be intended as a bracketing comma. But where is the
interruption it is trying to bracket? It can't be the three words at the end: *Stanley was a
determined is so much gibberish. In fact, the weak interruption here is the phrase even
ruthless, and the bracketing commas should show this:

Stanley was a determined, even ruthless, figure.

This is perfect, since now the bracketed interruption can be safely removed:
 Stanley was a determined figure.

Sometimes this very common type of mistake will not disturb your reader too much, but on
occasion it can be utterly bewildering:

*The Third Partition of Poland was the last, and undoubtedly the most humiliating act in the
sorry decline of the once-powerful kingdom.

Here the sequence before the comma, The Third Partition of Poland was the last, seems to
make sense by itself, but unfortunately not the sense that the writer intends. With only one
comma, the reader will surely assume the writer means `The Third Partition of Poland was
the last [partition of Poland]', will go on to assume that the word undoubtedly begins another
statement, and will be left floundering when she abruptly comes to a full stop instead of a
verb. The essential second bracketing comma removes the problem:

The Third Partition of Poland was the last, and undoubtedly the most humiliating, act in the
sorry decline of the once-powerful kingdom.

Here is another example of a type which often causes trouble:

The people of Cornwall, who depend upon fishing for their livelihood, are up in arms over
the new EC quotas.

As always, we could in principle remove the bracketed interruption to produce a sensible

sentence:

The people of Cornwall are up in arms over the new EC quotas.

But note carefully: this sentence is talking about all the people of Cornwall, and not just some
of them, and hence so was the original sentence. The weak interruption in the original
sentence is merely adding some extra information about the people of Cornwall. Now
consider this different example:

The people of Cornwall who depend upon fishing for their livelihood are up in arms over the
new EC quotas.

This time their are no bracketing commas because there is no interruption: now we are not
talking about all the people of Cornwall, but only about some of them: specifically, about the
ones who depend upon fishing for their livelihood. Here the phrase who depend upon fishing
for their livelihood is not an interruption but an essential part of the sentence, and hence it
receives no bracketing commas.

Sometimes a weak interruption comes at the beginning or at the end of its sentence. In such a
case, one of the two bracketing commas would logically fall at the beginning or the end of the
sentence — but we never write a comma at the beginning or at the end of a sentence. As a
result, only one of the two bracketing commas is written in this case:

All in all, I think we can say that we've done well.

I think we can say that we've done well, all in all.

When the weak interruption all in all comes at the beginning of the sentence, it has only a
following comma; when it comes at the end, it has only a preceding comma. Compare what
happens when the interruption comes in the middle:

I think we can say that, all in all, we've done well.

Now the interruption has two bracketing commas. Regardless of where the interruption is
placed, it could be removed to give the perfectly good sentence I think we can say that we've
done well.

Here are some further examples of weak interruptions that come at the beginning or at the
end.

At the beginning:

Having worked for years in Italy, Susan speaks excellent Italian.

Unlike most nations, Britain has no written constitution.

Although Mercury is closer to the sun, Venus has the higher surface temperature.

After capturing the Aztec capital, Cortés turned his attention to the Pacific.

And at the end:

The use of dictionaries is not allowed, which strikes me as preposterous.

The pronunciation of English is changing rapidly, we are told.

The Rose Parade is held in Pasadena, a suburb of Los Angeles.

Once again, the words set off by a single bracketing comma in these examples could be
removed to leave a good sentence. Check this for yourself.

There are a number of common words which typically introduce weak interruptions
containing complete sentences. Among the commonest of these are although, though, even
though, because, since , after, before, if, when and whenever. Weak interruptions introduced
by these words are usually rather long, and therefore they most often come at the beginning
or at the end of a sentence. Some examples:
 Although Australian wines are a fairly new phenomenon, they have already established a
formidable reputation.

After the Roman legions withdrew from Britain, the British found themselves defenceless
against Irish and Viking raids.

If there are any further cuts in funding, our library will be severely affected.

Hitler could never have invaded Britain successfully, because their excellent rail system
would have allowed the British to mass defenders quickly at any beachhead.

Columbus is usually credited with discovering America, even though the Vikings had
preceded him by several centuries.

There is just one case in which you might find yourself apparently following all the rules but
still using bracketing commas wrongly. Consider the following example, and try to decide if
the comma is properly used:

Note that in each of these examples, the material set off by commas could be removed
without destroying the sentence.

The comma in this example is clearly not a listing comma, a joining comma or a gapping
comma. Is it a bracketing comma? Try removing the words before the comma:

The material set off by commas could be removed without destroying the sentence.

This appears to be a good sentence, and so you might think that the original example was
correctly punctuated. But it is not. The problem is that the original sentence was an
instruction to notice something, and the words Note that are therefore an essential part of the
sentence, not part of the interruption. The interruption, quite clearly, consists only of the
words in each of these examples. When we tried to remove the first seven words, we got
something that was a sentence, purely by accident, but a sentence in which the original
meaning had been partly destroyed. The original attempt at punctuating was therefore wrong,
and it must be corrected by adding the second bracketing comma around the interruption:

Note that, in each of these examples, the material set off by commas could be removed
without destroying the sentence.

Now the interruption marked off by the bracketing commas can be safely removed without
wrecking the sense of the sentence:

Note that the material set off by commas could be removed without destroying the
sentence.

Therefore, when you are checking your bracketing commas, make sure that the words
enclosed in commas really do make up an interruption, and do not include an essential part of
the sentence.
In many cases a weak interruption does not absolutely require bracketing commas. Thus
either of the following is fine:

Shortly before the war, he was living in Paris.

Shortly before the war he was living in Paris.

With or without the bracketing comma, this sentence is perfectly clear. Sometimes, however,
the bracketing comma is absolutely essential to avoid misleading the reader:

*Just before unloading the trucks were fired upon.

Here the reader naturally takes Just before unloading the trucks as a single phrase, and is left
floundering as a result. A bracketing comma removes the difficulty:

Just before unloading, the trucks were fired upon.

The best way to avoid problems of this sort is, of course, to read what you've written.
Remember, it is your job to make your meaning clear to the reader. The reader should not
have to struggle to make sense of what you've written.

Here are the rules for using bracketing commas:

• Use a pair of bracketing commas to set off a weak interruption which could be removed
from the sentence without destroying it.

• If the interruption comes at the beginning or the end of the sentence, use only one
bracketing comma.

• Make sure the words set off are really an interruption.