LESSON NOTES

Beginner S1 #5
My Major is English!

CONTENTS
2 English
2 Vocabulary
3 Sample Sentences
4 Vocabulary Phrase Usage
4 Grammar
6 Cultural Insight

# 5
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 ENGLISH

1. MIKE: Hey, Vicky! What's up?

2. VICKY: What's up, Mike? How's it going?

3. MIKE: Oh, I've been better.

4. VICKY: What's wrong? Do you have a cold?

5. MIKE: No, but I couldn't get into Professor Nation's course.

6. VICKY: Oh, I see. I'm sorry to hear that. By the way, what's your major?

7. MIKE: My major's education. How about you?

8. VICKY: I'm an English major.

9. MIKE: Cool. I like English! Oh, and what's Oksana's major?

10. VICKY: She's also an English major.

11. MIKE: That's nice. You can help each other study.

12. VICKY: Yup. In fact, I need to meet her now so we can study together.

13. MIKE: Okay. It was nice talking with you.

14. VICKY: You, too! See ya later!

15. MIKE: See ya!

VOCABULARY

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 V oc abular y English C lass

phrase to show you are not

I've been better. doing well phrase

by the way phrase to change the topic phrase

phrase to ask why someone

what's wrong? does not seem happy phrase

a student's main course of

major study in a school noun

to make it easier for

to help someone to do something, verb
to give assistance

to spend time and attention

to study to learn something verb

phrase to end a conversation

Nice talking with you! pleasantly phrase

See ya! goodbye (very casual) phrase

SAMPLE SENTENCES

How's it going? > I've been better. I have a I heard about the news, by the way.
cold.

By the way, how is your mother? You don't look well. What's wrong?

My major is economics. Please help the elderly woman cross the

street.

Did you study for the test? I study English every day.

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Well, I have to go now. It was nice talking I gotta go! See ya!
with you!

VOCABULARY PHRASE USAGE

"I've been better," is a phrase that means "not so good." You can use this expression when you
don't feel well. In a previous lesson, we learned "never been better." Even though that
expression might sound negative because of the word "never," we learned that it is positive. It
really means, "I have never been better than now. Right now is the best feeling I have had." In
a similar way, "I've been better," means, "I have been better than I am now." In other words,
"I'm not so good." (tone) The next phrase is, "What's your major?" Use this phrase to ask
someone about his or her major in school, that is, what the main subject of study is. Most
colleges and even some high schools require students to choose a main course of study.
There are a few ways to answer this question. You can say, "My major is English," for example.
You can also say "I'm an education major," or "I study math."

GRAMMAR

The Focus of This Lesson is Subject-Verb Agreement with "Be."

"My major's Education."

In the previous lesson, we introduced subject-verb agreement with "be." In this lesson, we will
look at some more examples.

As we learned in the previous lesson, "be" is one of the most common and important words in
the English language. As the copula, we use "be" to link the subject with an adjective, another
noun, or an expression of place. You can think of "be" as being like an equal sign (=). The
conjugation of "be" can be difficult so let's review it again using the simple present tense.

Conjugation

The basic sentence pattern using "be" as a copula in the simple present tense is like this.
subject + "be" + adjective/noun/expression of place

The conjugation for "be" depends on whether the subject is in the first person (e.g., "I")
second person (e.g., "you") or third person (e.g., "he") and whether the person is singular (only
one person) or plural (more than one person). The conjugation also depends on the verb tense
(e.g., past, present, future, etc.). But as in the previous lesson, we will only consider the simple

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present tense this time.

Examples:

1. "I am a student."

2. "You are a student."

3. "He is a student."

4. "We are students."

5. "They are students."

Person Singular/Plural Conjugation Example

First Singular "am" "I am"

First Plural "are" "we are"

Second Singular "are" "you are"

Second Plural "are" "you (all) are"

Third Singular "is" "he/she/it is"

Third Plural "are" "they are"

Examples from This Lesson

Examples from this dialogue

1. "I am an English major."

2. "My major's education."

Sample Sentences

1. "You are an American."

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2. "She is beautiful."

Language Tips

In casual English, especially in casual spoken English, we often combine the subject of the
sentence and the verb "be" into a contraction. For example, "I am" becomes "I'm" in casual
English. When writing formally, it is usually better not to use contractions. See the chart below:

Formal Contraction

"I am" "I'm"

"you are" "you're"

"he is" "he's"

"she is" "she's"

"it is" "it's"

"we are" "we're"

"they are" "they're"

CULTURAL INSIGHT

Talking About Majors in English

In America, it is very common for people who do not know each other well to ask about each
other's occupations or jobs. When someone's occupation is as a student, asking about majors
is probably the most common question. So, if you are a student, or you are talking to students,
it is very useful to be able to talk about majors. If you don't know what your major is called in
English, you should check it out in a dictionary and be ready to talk about it.

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