Grammar Point

Use of Both, Either or Neither

Use:

1) Both
Both means two of two things.
I have two cats. I like both of them.

2) Neither

Neither means not one or the other of two things.

Neither of my cats is grey.

Remember to use a singular verb after neither.

Neither of the dogs are dangerous. => Neither of the dogs is dangerous.

3) Either
Either means one or the other.
There are two cakes. Please have one. You can have either one.

Form:

1) You can use both, neither and either directly before a noun.
Both supermarkets are good.
Neither supermarket sells electrical goods.
We can go to either supermarket, I don’t mind.

2) Both, neither and either are often used with ‘of’. But you must always use a determiner(the, my, these, those, his etc) before the noun.

Both of children like chocolate cake. => Both of the children like chocolate cake.

However, you don’t have to use of with both.
Both of the children like chocolate cake. 
Both children like chocolate cake.

3) You can use both, neither and either+ of + object pronoun(you, them, us).

Both of them wore white dresses.  
Neither of us was late.  
Have either of you got a pen?

4) You can use both ... and ...; neither ... nor ..., and either ... or ....
Examples:
Both James and Diana work here.
Neither James nor Diana works here.
You can ask either James or Diana.

Use of Still, Yet and Already

We use 'still' to talk about something, a situation or an action, that's continuing, often for a longer time than expected. It hasn't changed or stopped. 'Still' usually goes in the middle of the sentence, before the verb.

Still
Are you	still	married to him?
Is she		unemployed?
I'm		living with my parents.
They		haven't replied.

We use 'yet' mostly in questions and negative sentences. Using 'yet' shows that we're expecting something to happen or have happened. In spoken English 'yet' almost always comes at the end of the sentence or question and is commonly used with the present perfect.

Questions with 'yet'
Have you tidied your room Has he come home Has she finished Have they seen the film	yet?

Negative statements with 'yet'
You haven't met her He hasn't done it She hasn't spoken to him They haven't paid	yet.

We use 'already' to talk about things that have happened, often earlier than expected. It usually goes in the middle or the end of sentence, just before or after the verb and is also commonly used with the present perfect. 

Present perfect with 'already'
Have you two	already	met?
He's done it She's fixed it They've sold their car

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Verb Tense Review and Exercises

Here is a helpful table with the tenses, a quick explanation and some helpful words/phrases associated with each of them.

	Past	Present	Future
Simple	An action that ended at a point in the past.	An action that exists , is usual, or is repeated.	A plan for future action.
	cooked	cook / cooks	will cook
(time clue)*	e.g. He cooked yesterday.	e.g. He cooks dinner every Friday.	e.g. He will cook tomorrow.
Progressive be + main verb +ing	An action was happening (past progressive) when another action happened (simple past).	An action that is happening now.	An action that will be happening over time, in the future, when something else happens.
	was / were cooking	am / is / are cooking	will be cooking
(time clue)*	e.g. He was cooking when the phone rang.	e.g. He is cooking now.	e.g. He will be cooking when you come.
Perfect have + main verb	An action that ended before another action or time in the past.	An action that happened at an unspecified time in the past.	An action that will end before another action or time in the future.
	had cooked	has / have cooked	will have cooked
(time clue)*	e.g. He had cooked the dinner when the phone rang.	e.g. He has cooked many meals.	e.g. He will have cooked dinner by the time you come.
Perfect Progressive have + be + main verb + ing	An action that happened over time, in the past, before another time or action in the past.	An action occurring over time that started in the past and continues into the present.	An action occurring over time, in the future, before another action or time in the future.
	had been cooking	has / have been cooking	will have been cooking
(time clue)*	e.g. He had been cooking for a long time before he took lessons.	e.g. He has been cooking for over an hour.	e.g. He will have been cooking all day by the time she gets home.

*Time clues: these are words that give some information about when an action occurs. Some examples are:

yesterday every day tomorrow while now

simple past simple present simple future past progressive present progressive

.

There are many words that are time clues; some can be used to indicate a number of tenses, for instance that something happened in the past or that it will happen in the future. If you learn to recognize these time clues, you will find them very helpful. Note that some time clues can be used with more than one verb tense and also that this table is not a complete listing of all the time clues that can be used with all of the tenses

CHART—TIME CLUES AND VERB TENSE

	Past	Present	Future
Simple	Simple Past	Simple Present	Simple Future
	yesterday last year/ month/ etc. before for five weeks/days/etc. one year/ month ago	every morning / day / etc. always usually frequently sometimes	tomorrow tonight next week/month/etc. soon in the future
Progressive	Past Progressive	Present Progressive	Future progressive
	while when	now right now this week/minute/etc.	when after as soon as before
Perfect	Past Perfect	Present Perfect	Future Perfect
	before already by the time until then/last week/etc. after	until now since ever never many times/ weeks/years/etc. for three hours/ minutes/etc/	by the time you go (somewhere) by the time you do (something) already
Perfect Progressive	Past Perfect progressive	Present Perfect Progressive	Future Perfect Progressive
	before for one week/hour/etc. since	for the past year/ month/ etc. for the last 2 months/ weeks/etc. up to now for 6 weeks/hours/etc. since	by the time for ten days/weeks/etc. by

Adjectives

Appearance Adjectives adorable beautiful clean elegant fancy glamorous handsome long magnificent old-fashioned plain quaint sparkling ugly cute	Color Adjectives red orange yellow green blue purple gray black white	Condition Adjectives alive better careful clever dead easy famous gifted helpful important inexpensive mushy odd powerful rich shy tender uninterested vast wrong	Feelings (Bad) Adjectives angry bewildered/perplexed clumsy defeated embarrassed grumpy helpless itchy jealous lazy mysterious nervous obnoxious panicky repulsive scary uptight worried
Feelings (Good) Adjectives agreeable brave calm delightful eager faithful gentle happy jolly kind lively nice obedient proud relieved silly thankful victorious witty	Shape Adjectives broad chubby crooked curved deep flat high hollow low narrow round shallow skinny square steep straight wide	Size Adjectives big colossal fat gigantic great huge immense large little mammoth massive miniature scrawny short small tall tiny	Sound Adjectives deafening faint hissing loud melodic noisy quiet raspy screeching whispering
Time Adjectives ancient brief early fast late long modern old old-fashioned quick rapid short slow young	Taste/Touch Adjectives bitter delicious fresh greasy juicy hot icy loose melted nutritious rotten salty sticky strong sweet tart tasteless uneven weak wet wooden yummy	Touch Adjectives boiling breeze broken bumpy chilly cold cool crooked cuddly curly damaged damp dirty dry dusty filthy flaky fluffy freezing hot warm wet	Quantity Adjectives abundant empty few full heavy light many numerous sparse substantial a lot a little