The Intermediate Cozy Grammar Course, Level Two Lesson 7: Videos Video Summary As Thomas waits for Marie’s Chocolate Zucchini cake to finish baking, he shares more examples of longer prepositional phrases. Then, as he ices the cake, he introduces a common kind of verb in English that employs prepositions. This kind of verb is known[…]

The Intermediate Cozy Grammar Course, Level Two Lesson 6: Videos Video Summary Thomas continues to explore prepositions by walking us through how to make Marie’s Chocolate Zucchini Cake! He also introduces participle prepositions and shares a creative listening or reading activity that you can try. Lesson from Marie Video Summary “In this lesson we will[…]

The Intermediate Cozy Grammar Course, Level Two Lesson 5: Videos Video Summary Thomas shares a reminder about common educated usage and the objective case. He also clarifies a point about present participles and past participles, throwing in a few terms for the grammar enthusiasts among us! Lesson from Marie Video Summary “Preposition means placed before.[…]

The Intermediate Cozy Grammar Course, Level Two Lesson 4: Videos Video Summary Thomas explains the problem of dangling participles and shows a simple way this problem can be avoided. He also shares a reminder about the word perfect in preparation for Marie’s lesson. Lesson from Marie Video Summary “Participles may be imperfect or perfect. Imperfect[…]

The Intermediate Cozy Grammar Course, Level Two Lesson 3: Videos Video Summary After giving some more examples of gerunds, Thomas introduces the topic of participles. He also shares another way of looking at the tenses of gerunds and tidies up his office in the process! Lesson from Marie Video Summary “The participle is a verb[…]

The Intermediate Cozy Grammar Course, Level Two Lesson 2: Videos Video Summary Thomas addresses a question that students often have about infinitives: What is a split infinitive, and is it a bad thing? He then shares a preview of the upcoming topic, gerunds, as well as a surprise activity pertaining to gerunds in the study[…]

The Intermediate Cozy Grammar Course, Level Two Lesson 1: Videos Video Summary Thomas introduces the topic of verbals by exploring a sentence he shared in the Intermediate Cozy Grammar Course, Level One. He also shares a creative writing, reading, and listening activity that you can try as you explore verbals. Lesson from Marie Video Summary[…]

The Intermediate Cozy Grammar Course, Level Two Introduction: Videos Welcome to the first video! Click anywhere on the video to begin. After you’ve watched it, scroll down the page to find the video introduction from Marie. Click here to open or close our instructions and recommendations for using the video player. You’ll find a control[…]

The Intermediate Cozy Grammar Course, Level One Lesson 31: Videos Video Summary Thomas explores how the passive voice can easily become both wordy and sneaky, and offers a creative reading activity that you can try to explore this difference in your own experience. He also offers a surprising and fun way to prepare for Marie’s[…]

The Intermediate Cozy Grammar Course, Level One Lesson 30: Videos Video Summary Thomas explores how the addition of prepositional phrases to a sentence can sometimes make it difficult to inflect a verb correctly for number, a feature of the language that standardized test makers use to trick students. But never fear! You know everything you[…]

The Intermediate Cozy Grammar Course, Level One Lesson 29: Videos Video Summary Thomas explores how the seemingly inconsequential auxiliary verb have can actually help us to move through time with precision. He also introduces a tense known as the “past perfect.” Finally, to finish, he proposes a new creative thinking activity that he hopes you’ll[…]

The Intermediate Cozy Grammar Course, Level One Lesson 28: Videos Video Summary Thomas offers a new way to think about classifying verbs by using an analogy with how a botanist classifies leaves. He also proposes a creative thinking activity that he hopes you’ll try! Lesson from Marie Video Summary “A verb of more than one[…]

The Intermediate Cozy Grammar Course, Level One Lesson 27: Videos Video Summary Among the flowers in his neighbors’ lush garden, Thomas demonstrates the importance of clearly connecting your pronouns to their antecedents. He then shows how this can make for excellent poetry with three examples from his friend, the poet W. S. Merwin. Lesson from[…]

The Intermediate Cozy Grammar Course, Level One Lesson 26: Videos Video Summary From his neighbors’ lush garden, Thomas offers an easy and memorable way to keep from getting confused about the difference between its and it’s, and their and they’re. Take a peek! Lesson from Marie Video Summary “Antecedent means going, or placed before. In[…]

The Intermediate Cozy Grammar Course, Level One Lesson 25: Videos Video Summary Thomas brings up a potentially confusing situation with compound objects and shows an easy way to see what’s happening. He also clears up a question about the interrogative pronoun what and leads us into Marie’s lesson. Lesson from Marie Video Summary “Pronouns used[…]

The Intermediate Cozy Grammar Course, Level One Lesson 24: Videos Video Summary Thomas addresses a question you might have following the previous lesson: Why does It is them sound slightly odd to the ear? And what about It is them? Is that also correct? He also uses this difference to introduce the topic of Marie’s[…]

The Intermediate Cozy Grammar Course, Level One Lesson 23: Videos Video Summary Thomas uses a quote from the Tao Te Ching to explore the importance of letting the body rest as well as the idea of what lies beyond words. He then adds an important observation about the inflection of pronouns for gender: In English,[…]

The Intermediate Cozy Grammar Course, Level One Lesson 22: Videos Video Summary Thomas combines two unusual elements to give a helpful tip about inflecting indefinite pronouns such as anybody and everybody for number. He also addresses a way that grammar and usage have continued to change, leading to greater flexibility with the pronoun they. Lesson[…]

The Intermediate Cozy Grammar Course, Level One Lesson 21: Videos Video Summary Thomas explores the hidden power and the hidden danger of interrogative and demonstrative pronouns. Then he shows how a writer can create a context in which demonstrative pronouns point to the world without leaving a reader wondering, “What?” Lesson from Marie Video Summary[…]