For a quick review of the Past Simple and Past Continuous, check out our page on past tenses in English.
Then head over to our sister site Rich Reads, for an exercise. Scroll down to Newest Links (on the right of the page) for the link "English Past Simple Irregular Verbs".
Extra exercise
Complete the gaps in the book summaries by using one of the verbs underneath in the past tense. Some verbs are regular, and some are irregular. The first one is done for you.
Anne Frank lived (live) in Amsterdam during the World War II. She ——- a diary that ——- famous after the war. She ——- in a concentration camp before the war ——- .
Frank McCourt ——- born in the USA, but his family ——- to Ireland, where they ——- very poor. When he ——- 18 he ——- and ——- back to the USA. He then ——- English in schools.
be (3)
become
die
end
go
leave
live
move
teach
write
What's the most difficult thing when you have a conversation in English?
Is it…
- not understanding the other person?
- not remembering the right word to use?
- being too slow to reply – i.e. if you translate into your language before replying in English?
- feeling embarrasssed about speaking in a foreign language?
Or something else?
In How to keep a conversation going I gave some tips for taking part in a conversation by using only a few words. Is this advice helpful to you, or are there other, bigger problems with English conversations?
One of the most popular pages on our site is English words that describe behaviour. It's an alphabetical list of the most common words to describe people and personality.
Have a quick look at the two pages of adjectives, then head over to our sister site Rich Reads, for a vocabulary exercise. Scroll down to Newest Links (on the right of the page) for the link "7 Personality Adjectives" for the exercise.
Extra exercise
Match the words in List A to their synonyms in List B.
List A
ambitious
calm
fearless
frank
quiet
thrifty
List B
brave
careful
driven
honest
reserved
unflappable
It can be confusing to know where to use at, in or on. Here's a page on prepositions of time to help refresh your memory.
Over on our sister site Rich Reads, there's a new exercise on time prepositions. Scroll down to Newest Links (on the right of the page) for the link "Prepositions of time in English" and then do the exercise.
Bonus pages
For more help with speaking about time, see Time expressions in English and English idioms about time.
Extra exercise
Choose the best expression in these five sentences.
1. I lived in London when I was a child. ——– (At that time / Then) London was very different to now.
2. ——– (Back then / By the time) I left home, many of the poorer areas had been redeveloped.
3. ——– (Afterwards / On one occasion) house prices went up rapidly.
4. ——– (Before long / Before that) it became too expensive for most people to buy a flat or house.
5. I returned to London five years ago and ——– (at that moment / meanwhile) I realised I would have to rent.
Britain goes to the polls ( = votes) today. Will the Conservatives get in (= be elected to form a government) after 13 years? Will the increased vote for the LibDems mean that there is a hung parliament ( = no overall majority)? And will voters use tactical voting – a strategy where you vote for a party who isn't your first choice in order to exclude another party from winning?
If you're interested in finding out more about British politics, parties and polling (how people vote), Election 2010 gives you a useful timeline, with audio, video and text.
How can you tell the difference between nouns and adjectives? They often look similar (danger / dangerous; truth / true) and it's a question of learning and practising to get them right.
Here's a page on word building skills, with some common word endings for nouns, verbs and adjectives.
Over on our sister site Rich Reads, there's a new page on noun and adjective forms. Scroll down to Newest Links (on the right of the page) for the link "English Word Forms Quiz" and then do the exercise.
Extra exercise
This is quite a difficult challenge. Can you find the missing words in these famous film titles?
Missing nouns
—– Day
—– of the Lambs
Cape —–
The Usual —–
The Great —–
Missing adjectives
Home —–
My Big Fat —– wedding
The —– Sense
The —– Knight
Born on the —– of July
Missing verbs
One —– over the Cuckoo's Nest
—– the Parents
—– it like Beckham
Some —– it hot
—– hard
A huge "thank you" to all of you who have joined our Facebook page. We have more than 5000 fans on our page, so you're in great company!
It's great to see so many people from all around the world, and to read and take part in your conversations.
Here's a question from a site visitor:
Find some words beginning with vowels but which have consonant sounds (i.e. European) and words beginning with consonants but which have vowel sounds (such as hour).
How many can you find?
When do you use a / an or the? When can you omit an article? Article use is a difficult area of English grammar, and as you can see from the comments on our popular site page English articles, there are a lot of doubts about correct use.
You can practise using articles via our sister site Rich Reads. Scroll down to Newest Links (on the right of the page) for the link English Articles: A, An and The and then do the exercise.
Extra practice
Check out (also from Rich Reads) the page on Countable / Uncountable Nouns. Knowing if a noun is countable or uncountable helps you decide which article to use – if any.
Exam bonus quiz
The following common nouns often come up in the PET exam – especially when you need to describe the photo. Do you know the plural form "off the top of your head" (i.e. you get it right all the time, every time)?
- person
- man
- woman
- child
- fruit
What characteristics do you think a good English teacher should have? For example, do they have to be a native English speaker, or is this not important to you? Do you think an English teacher needs to have different characteristics from a teacher of another subject?
View & Add Yours