What are past participles?

In every language people are able to express present (now), past and future. They do this using verbs. Verbs are words like 'go', 'do', 'feel', etc. that describe an action or a state. Look at the following sentences:

* I study English.

* I studied English.

Those two sentences are very similar but one of them is in present (the first one), and the other one is in the past. How do you know that? By the form of the verb.

study- is the present form of a verb
studied- is the past form of a verb

So verbs describe grammatical 'time'. We call this grammatical 'time' a tense. By now, you should know the present simple tense, or the past continuous tense or maybe the future tense. In every one of those tenses the verb looks a little bit different (e.g. present simple- study/studies, present continuous- is/are studying, future tense- will study).

So what is the past participle?

It is a form of a verb that you need to create the present perfect tense. Sometimes it is called V3 (verb 3 because it's the third form of a verb in a list of irregular verbs that you have to memorise).

Do you recognise this?

Yes, the list that you have to learn by heart! Past participle is the last form of the verb on that list.

Be careful though because the list is only for irregular verbs. If the verb is regular, e.g. love, talk, study, listen, etc., we create past participles by adding -ed, just like in the case of the past simple tense. So the verbs above will have the following past pariciples: loved, talked, studied, listened.

So to help you practise your past participles, I've prepared some flashcards. Look at the word and say its past participle to yourself, then click on it and the card will turn showing the correct form. If you get it right, click 'thumbs up' and the word will not repeat. If you get it wrong, click 'thumbs down' and the word will apprear again for you to try. There are 62 words in total!


Flash Card Deck created by mariolahejduk with GoConqr

Just in case you wanted to see more irregular verbs in groups (and there are about 200 of them in normal use!) please  go here.

Definite & indefinite articles in English- not as easy as they seem!

'a'/'an'/'the'- simple and innocent looking words that every student of English recognises. They are so easy to spell and you can see them in every English text. Don't be fooled, my dear students, they are one of the most ruthless creatures of English grammar because they don't want to be learned!

Why are they difficult?

1. There are a lot of rules about articles, and knowing rules is not enough, you also need to be able to apply them correctly (the most difficult part).

2. The rules are confusing and difficult to remember. For example, we use 'the' with the names of hotels and museums, e.g. the Regent Hotel, the Science Museum, but we don't use 'the' with the names of airports, stations and other important buildings, e.g. Cambridge University, London Zoo. (eh?!)

3. Sometimes the rules are broken altogether because people omit articles in set phrases where they would normally occur, e.g. We say: 'go to school', 'be at school', 'start school', etc. and not 'go to the school', and so on.

4. For some nationalities, the concept of articles as something that defines a noun is completely alien (any Polish people out there?). This means that some languages do not have a similar grammatical concept and therefore learners often don't understand its function in a language. For example, for a Polish speaking person there is no difference in meaning between 'I saw a man' and 'I saw the man' (The difference is: I saw a man- any man; I saw the man- a particular person that you and I know). What's more, many Polish speakers will frequently make a mistake like 'I saw man'. Man is man, right? I don't need 'a' or 'the' to understand it. ;)

How can I learn articles?

First, it's important not to stress out about the correct use of articles. Of course, they are important and if you want to be a proficient speaker of English, you need to know how to use them correctly, but the bottom line is that nouns carry the main meaning, not the articles. For example, when you speak to an English person and you say 'I saw man', they will understand what you're saying, but if you say 'I saw a...', they won't know what you're talking about. Remember, nouns carry the meaning.

So, how can you learn articles? Practise, practise, practise.

Generally, as far as articles go, it's better just to pick them up from English speakers rather than trying to memorise all the rules. However, knowing rules is sometimes beneficial because it is something you can fall back on when you are in doubt whether to use or not to use articles.

Below, I prepared a very long (but not complete!) presentation that explains rules of using definite and indefinite articles. I advise that you watch it when you are in good mood ;)

My video is too long and is on YouTube!

Finally, have a go at some exercises to practise the use of articles.

A, an, the with answers

Quiz- select the correct answer

Plenty of exercises- follow the links

Select the correct answer

The troublesome comma!

At Entry 3/Level 1 you should have a pretty clear idea about punctuation.

We need punctuation in writing to signal where the sentence ends and the other one starts (by using a full stop). We need it to mark a question (by using a question mark) and break down very long sentences (by using comma). We can also express our strong emotions (by using an exclamation mark), like in: I love this blog!

But then there is the troublesome comma! Comma is by far the most confusing of all punctuation marks. Mainly because it is not used consistently, i.e. people forget to put comma in their sentences or put it in the wrong place. Sometimes it is due to the fact that the use of comma depends on whether you are using American or British English. At other times, different punctuation books will have slightly different rules about the use of comma. And if you decide to use the Internet to find out about its correct use, different websites will give you conflicting information.  It's a mess!

So I decided to tackle the issue once and for all. I was getting confused too!

I checked my Oxford Advanced Learner's dictionary as well as the Oxford dictionary website. I found a lot of useful information and I created this mind map that summarises what I've learned:

  Mind Map created by mariolahejduk with ExamTime

As you can see there are two examples in red.

The first one concerns the use of comma in direct speech. As you know, direct speech is when you quote the exact words that people said (as opposed to reporting what they said). For example, 'I spend  my holidays abroad', said Gemma. The words between quotation marks (' ') are direct speech. We need to separate them from the rest of the sentence by a comma. Another example could be: John said, 'I don't like driving'. Again, the words between quotation marks are separated from the rest of the sentence by a comma. However, when we quote a question or an exclamation, we do not separate the direct speech from the rest of the sentence by a comma. For example: 'What time is it?' asked Mary; 'What a splendid surprise!' exclaimed Sue.

The second example in red concerns the use of comma in compound sentences joined by words like 'and', 'but', 'so', 'or', 'yet', 'as'. WARNING: the fact that you can put a comma before 'and' and 'but', etc. does not mean that you always need to do it. Look at the following examples:

• I walked along and turned into the first street. (No comma)
• I saw my friend Andy but I didn't stop to speak to him. (No comma)
• I can't stay here long as I have an appointment in half an hour. (No comma)

Generally, we don't need a comma before those conjunctions when the sentences are short(er). 

We do need a comma before 'and', 'but', 'so', 'or', 'yet', 'as' when the sentences are long. Look at the following example:

• I spoke to my landlady who said that she cannot do anything about the broken boiler, and that she wasn't going to pay for the repair, but she offered that I can pay my rent one week later, which was nice of her, I guess. 

Here the sentence is much longer and we need commas to break it down into manageable pieces. 

Finally, it is also a general rule that you need to break down long sentences (so called complex sentences or compound-complex sentences), even if they don't always contain the conjunctions above. Look at the example:

• If you decide to buy the house, call me and I'll give you some advice. 
• When you get there, please go to the main reception desk and ask for John Smith. 
• If you keep calm, take your time, concentrate and think ahead, then you're likely to pass your test. 

Speaking of tests, how about taking all information that you've learned from this post and put it to test? Below, you have 10 sentences without any punctuation marks. Read the sentences and choose the correct answer (A, B or C)- use my mind map to help you!

Quiz created by mariolahejduk with ExamTime

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