Gateway to Grammar: Some and one to speak like a native English-speaker
When someone asks if you want something, the conversation can sound like this for non-native English-speakers:
Pig 1: “Do you want another beer?”
Pig 2: “Yeah, I’ll have another beer.”
There is nothing grammatically wrong with this, but it does not sound natural. They sound a little bit like pig robots. To help our pigs sound a bit more natural, we can replace the countable noun “beer” with “one”:
Pig 1: “Do you want another beer?”
Pig 2: “Yeah, I’ll have another one.”
Countable nouns use “one”, or “ones”:
• Beer – I’ll have one
• Biscuits – I’ll have two of the chocolate chip ones
Uncountable nouns use “some”:
• Mud – I’ll have some please
• Sugar – I’ll add some for you
Tip: When you are talking about countable nouns in the plural (more than 1) you must be talking about a specific group (like “the chocolate chip ones”) otherwise we use some:
• Biscuits non-specific – I’ll have some, thank you
• Biscuits specific – I’ll have 2 of the chocolate chip ones.
Using “one”, “ones”, and “some”, we stop repeating the same words the other person said, and this sounds much more natural and native. Now I need to go because I have talked too much about biscuits and I have to search the kitchen cupboards…
To find out more about the private English lessons I teach online, visit www.wrightenglish.com. You can book a free trial lesson with me, just email lana@wrightenglish.com!
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