A2 Grammar Trainer
A2 Grammar Trainer - Learn grammar through real IT situations
I'm a developer. She's online. We're ready to deploy.
Your first day at a new company. You've been added to the team Slack channel. You need to introduce yourself and figure out who everyone is.
| Subject | Form | IT Example |
|---|---|---|
| I | am ('m) | I'm a backend developer. |
| He / She / It | is ('s) | She's our team lead. The server is down. |
| We / You / They | are ('re) | We're a small team. |
| Subject | Form | IT Example |
|---|---|---|
| I / He / She / It | was | I was a junior last year. |
| We / You / They | were | We were in a different department. |
| Type | Structure | IT Example |
|---|---|---|
| Negative | subject + be + not | I'm not available. He isn't in the office. |
| Yes/No Q | be + subject ...? | Are you a developer? Is she online? |
| Short answer | Yes, I am. / No, he isn't. | Is the build passing? - No, it isn't. |
Don't drop "am" - Russian doesn't use "to be" in present, English does.
"be" and "have" are different verbs.
"agree" is a verb, not an adjective. No "am" needed.
Don't forget the article "a" before job titles.
Select the right form of "to be".
Choose the correct form from the dropdown.
Type the corrected sentence.
Rewrite each sentence as instructed.
Complete this Slack introduction.
Write a short Slack introduction about yourself. Use at least 5 forms of "to be".
"There's a critical bug in production"
Quick review before we start. No pressure. (Some pressure.)
Morning standupA short daily meeting (~15 min) where each team member shares updates and blockers. Your PM asks: "What's the status?" You need to describe what exists in the project right now.
| Form | Use | IT Example |
|---|---|---|
| There is ('s) | singular / uncountable | There's a critical bug. There is some technical debtShortcuts in code that save time now but need fixing later. |
| There are ('re) | plural | There are 15 open tickets. There are three PRsPull Requests - requests to merge code changes into the main project to review. |
| Form | Use | IT Example |
|---|---|---|
| There was | singular (past) | There was an outageA period when a system is not working last night. |
| There were | plural (past) | There were three incidentsUnexpected problems that need immediate attention this week. |
| Type | Structure | IT Example |
|---|---|---|
| Negative | There isn't / aren't | There isn't enough time. There aren't any blockers. |
| Question | Is there...? / Are there...? | Is there a deadline? Are there any updates? |
| Short answer | Yes, there is. / No, there aren't. | Are there any bugs? - Yes, there are. (Always.) |
"There is" = something exists. "It has" = possession.
"many tickets" is plural -> "there are".
Use "there is" when saying an event exists.
"three developers" is plural -> "there were".
Select the right form for each sentence.
Choose the correct form from the dropdown.
Type the corrected version.
Rewrite each sentence as instructed.
Complete this standup report.
Write a standup update. Use at least 5 sentences with "there is / are / was / were".