Future tenses part 2

Hello Students!

In January last year, I posted an entry about future tenses in English. It contained a useful mind map and some links to exercises. The post is here if you want to refresh your knowledge of the forms and the uses of different future tenses in English. (I strongly recommend that! :))



Today, I am posting some more practice exercises for future tenses in English. Have a go at the following quiz. It contains 13 sentences using 4 different future tenses: 'will' (future simple tense), 'to be going to', present simple and present continuous. Decide whether the sentences use the correct future tense (you need to click true if the tense is used correctly; and false if the tense is used incorrectly). When you have finished with the quiz, click on submit answers. Later, click on review answers to see the explanation of use.
  Quiz created by mariolahejduk with ExamTime

Past Continuous- one of the simpler tenses in English- hurray!

Dear students!

I have some good news for you! Past Continuous, which you've been learning recently, is one of the easier tenses in English! It is very similar to Present Continuous in form and usage so you shouldn't have any problems with understanding it. Have a look at the following presentation that explains the basic rules:

Here are some links where you can find more explanation & some exercises:

Past Simple & Continuous explained + an interactive exercise

Make sentences out of words (Past Continuous)

Make negative sentences out of the words given

Make questions in Past Continuous

Put into correct tense: Past Simple or Past Continuous

Explanation + a lot of exercises (Click on the right)

I didn't use to wear glasses!

Hello students!

In this post we're going to deal with 'used to'. As we mentioned in class, 'used to' expresses a habit or a state in the past that is no longer true now. How to better show this but to look at some pictures from the past and present!

In the picture on the left, you can see that I used to have long hair and I used to have a fringe. And I didn't use to wear glasses. But that was long time ago! Now, I have short hair and I wear glasses. 

You very often need to use this construction to refer to old habits from your childhood, e.g.:

• I used to play football with my friends every Sunday morning. 
• I used to be in bed by 9 o'clock.
• I used to ride my bicycle all day.
• I used to play hide and seek.  

All those sentences mean that you did those things in the past but you don't do them any more. 

Of course, 'used to' can refer to any past time in your life, not just your childhood, e.g.:

• I used to live in London when I was younger.
• I used to work in a supermarket. 
• I used to drive to work.
• I used to go out a lot. 
• I used to hate cheese.
• I didn't use to go to bed before 11 pm. 

All those sentences mean that you no longer do all those things, To get clearer understanding, we can add some sentences about your current circumstances:

• I used to live in London when I was younger. Now, I live in Newcastle. 
• I used to work in a supermarket. Now, I work in a bank. 
• I used to drive to work. Now, I walk because my work is a short distance from my house.
• I used to go out a lot.  Now, I don't go out any more. 
• I used to hate cheese. Now, I love cheese. 
• I didn't use to go to bed before 11 pm. Now, I am fast asleep at 10 pm every night. 

'Used to' can show how the habits of humanity have changed. Look at the following slides. 

                          People used to live in caves.                   Now they live in houses. 

Take a look at some more slides and try to create sentences like the ones above. The picture on the left of each slide will show a situation from the past, and the picture on the right will show a situation now. You have some words on top of each slide to help you create sentences/.

For more practice on 'used to' go to the following websites:

Choose the correct option

Video + exercises

Create sentences

ESOL Nexus presentation & exercises

Reported Speech- My teacher said that reported speech was easy!

Dear students!

For the past 2 weeks we've been talking about reported speech. I have prepared a presentation for you that explains reported speech. Below the presentation, you'll find some links to extra activities.

Change sentences to reported speech (easy)
Change tenses and time words
Listen Dong Jun from Korea talking about reported speech
Select the correct option

The link below will take you to a video. Before you watch, scroll down half page and click on 'Preparation' tab. Later, watch the video and do the two tasks.

Your boyfriend is a slob

Question tags- you understand them, don't you?

Watch the presentation below about question tags to recap what you've learned this week:







Follow these links for more practice on question tags:

http://www.ihbristol.com/free-english-exercises/test/esol-smc-question-tags
http://www.englisch-hilfen.de/en/exercises/questions/question_tags3.htm
http://www.englisch-hilfen.de/en/exercises/questions/question_tags2.htm
http://www.englishgrammarsecrets.com/questionstags/menu.php
http://www.usingenglish.com/quizzes/233.html
http://www.englishexercises.org/makeagame/viewgame.asp?id=2100

Phrasal Verbs

Phrasal verbs are everywhere. You wake up in the morning. Then, you get up and put the make-up on (if you are a girl!). You get out of the house and hop on a bus because you want to get to work on time. You write up emails and go to meetings. Finally, after a hard day's work you come back home, put the TV on or listen to the radio. You just need to relax! Phrasal verbs overload!

There are a couple of things that you need to know about phrasal verbs:

1. They always consist of a verb (e.g. put) and a preposition (e.g. on) or a particle (e.g. away)

2. They can also have an object (e.g. 'it', 'her', 'the word') either in the middle or at the end (e.g. put it out, phone her back, look the word up // look for it, look after her, look for the word). 

3. The position of the object can sometimes change (e.g. Can you fill in this form. = Can you fill this form in. // I'm going to throw away these old shoes. = I'm going to throw these old shoes away.)

4. They can have literal and non-literal meaning. Take the following sentence. 

Yesterday, I picked up a girl. 

Literal meaning is this:

You actually lifted a girl off the ground.

Non- literal meaning is this:

You chatted to a girl and she liked you. 

5. They are best learn when you see/listen to them in context. It's pointless trying to memorise them because they are just too confusing!

In order to get to grips with all this phrasal verbs business, try the following exercises: 

Online game (easier)

Select correct particle/preposition (difficult)

Select correct particle (quite difficult)

Different games according to the verb

Punctuation- what's difficult about it?

It seems that everyone knows the rules of punctuation. You know that a full stop is at the end of the sentence and a comma separates two independent clauses or words in a list. So what's a big deal? Why so many students get it wrong?

The importance of punctuation cannot be overestimated. Why? Because it changes the meaning of the sentence, e.g.

And it makes the reading of texts easier.

can you imagine that there is no full stops commas apostrophes question marks exclamation marks and any other marks in the text you are reading you will find that it is very difficult to follow the text because you dont know when one sentence finishes and the other one starts and of course there are no capital letters to guide you though what a mess

To practise the use of punctuation and capital letters, please follow the links and do the exercises:

Thanksgiving
Valentine's Day
St David's Day
BBC games