Englishfor English speakers
a
Determinative
—
A is used when the following word could be any of a certain type.
Compare "A book I saw on the shelf" and "The book I gave you yesterday".
a
Noun
—
A is the first letter of the alphabet.
The letter "a" comes before "b".
—
In some schools, an A is a very high grade.
Ron got an A on his earth science test.
fly
Verb
—
To move through the air without touching the ground
The bird will fly away in the winter.
The airplane flies very high in the air.
He was the first person to fly a plane around the world.
fly
Noun
—
A fly is a type of small insect with wings
I won't eat my soup because there's a fly in it.
There are many flies near the garbage.
—
In baseball a ball that goes high in the air.
—
The piece of cloth hiding the zipper, buttons at the front of a pair of trousers, pants, or underpants.
on
Preposition
—
positioned at the upper surface of, touching from above
The apple is on the table.
—
at the date of
Tim was born on the 4th of July.
—
along, forwards (continuing an action)
drive on, rock on
—
about, dealing with the subject of
I have a book on history.
There was a World Summit on the Information Society a few weeks ago.
—
touching; hanging from
I have no money on me at the moment.
I would like to eat the fruit on the trees.
—
because of, due to
He was arrested on suspicion of bribery.
I contacted Joanne on a hunch that she would know about it.
The stock price increased on news of a new product.
on
Adjective
—
If something is on, it is active, functioning or operating.
The television is on.
The lights are on, so it is very bright.
the
Determiner
—
Used, instead of a, to reference something specific, already known to exist.
Compare "I read a book." and "I read the book."
—
Used with a stress, to show that the word following is special.
Are you the John Smith that I went to school with?
—
Used with an adjective that acts like a noun to mean all of the people concerned
The poor are always with us.
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Used with superlatives forms of adjectives and adverbs.
You are the best.
wall
Noun
—
One side of a house; a high, flat part of a building.
All four walls of the room are painted in blue.
—
A solid barrier between two areas.
There is a wall between the two gardens.
Peter fell from the wall.