Grammar: don’t let it be a big problem
Lower intermediate to advanced level (B1-C1)
Learning English outside the UK, the US, Australia etc can often be about learning ‘grammar’. This makes people think you need to know ‘rules’ before you can speak or write. However, in my experience, a heavy focus on a grammar problem can stop people learning and communicating. Continue reading
Pronunciation: the ə sound
Elementary to advanced level (A2-C1)
The ə sound is everywhere in English. It’s almost impossible to speak British English for more than a few seconds and not use ə! It is not a letter but many vowels can be pronounced /ə/. Continue reading
Pronunciation: does a word have a long or short vowel?
Elementary to Intermediate (A1-B1)
One way to find out is to see if it has doubled consonants after it. Continue reading
Vocabulary: ‘still’ and ‘yet’
Elementary to intermediate level (A2-B2)
‘Still’ and ‘yet’ have several uses but these are the most common: Continue reading
Grammar: arrangements and plans for the future
Elementary to intermediate level (A1-B2)
We often want to talk about our arrangements and plans but how can you talk about them in English? Continue reading
Grammar: a list of irregular verbs in groups
All levels
Most irregular verbs are used a lot in English so they are important verbs to learn. In this list they are grouped, for example, by spelling or pronunciation. This should make them easier to remember. Continue reading
Pronunciation: English sounds
All levels
If you want to hear the individual sounds of English, you can use Adrian Underhill’s interactive phonemic chart. Just click on the symbol to hear the sound and an example word. http://www.macmillanenglish.com/phonemic-chart/. There is also a great free app http://www.soundspronapp.com/ Continue reading
Grammar: stronger meaning
Elementary to intermediate level (A1-B1)
‘So’ can be a little stronger than ‘very’ but how do you use ‘such’? Continue reading
Pronunciation: silent ‘e’
Elementary to Intermediate (A1-B1)
English pronunciation has changed over hundreds of years. Today you will often see a silent letter ‘e’ at the end of words. This ‘e’ often shows that the vowel sound in the syllable before it is long. Continue reading
Grammar: adjectives after verbs
Elementary to advanced level English (A2-C2)
You will know sentences like ‘She is happy.’ but there are other verbs that can have adjectives following them eg ‘They look afraid.’. Continue reading
Vocabulary: ‘mind’ as a verb
Lower to higher level English (A2-C1)
‘Mind’ can be a verb and is often used in conversation. It is an important verb to understand and use correctly. It has several meanings. Continue reading
Writing: email guidance
Elementary to advanced level English (A2-C1)
Writing emails to good friends isn’t usually a problem but how should you write more formal emails? Continue reading
Contractions (he is → he’s)
Lower level English (A1-A2)
Speakers of English sometimes pronounce two words as one word. May be you have noticed this with the verb ‘be’. Continue reading
Pronunciation rule: stressing syllables
Lower to higher level (A1-C1)
English does not have pronunciation rules for everything but there are some rules about syllable stress that can help you. Continue reading
Grammar: questions
Lower level (A1-A2)
There is a pattern to simple questions. At the beginning of a sentence a verb is followed by a subject. Here are some examples: Continue reading
Reading: scones
Intermediate to higher level (B1-C2)
Scones are a fun tea-time British treat.
You can make them in about 30 minutes
and eat with jam and cream.
My recipe (personally tested!) will make about 6 scones.
Grammar – using ‘there’
Lower level (A1)
An important way to start a sentence in English is to use ‘there’. We can use it to tell people about what we can see and do etc. Continue reading
Pronunciation: not stressing syllables
All levels
Effective English pronunciation is often about deciding which part of a word is important and which part or parts are not important. If a syllable is not important, we often change the standard vowel sound to something more relaxed. You should try to learn how to do this. Continue reading
Reading
Elementary to Intermediate (A2-B2)
Britain doesn’t have the best reputation for weather. In some ways this is unfair because people sometimes think London is frequently foggy when in fact London is very rarely like this. Of course 70 years ago people burned a lot of coal to keep themselves warm and this produced some terrible smogs in the big cities. Continue reading
What you need to know
Lower level (A1-A2)
Teachers, coursebooks and language schools more or less agree about what a student needs to learn at elementary level (A1) Continue reading
Lower level (A1/A2)
You use the words in bold to talk about how often you do something:
Every Sunday morning I play golf with my friends. After the 18th hole we always have a large lunch and then go home. On Mondays I often play tennis with my cousin Susan at her sports club. If I don’t play tennis I watch horse racing on TV. Continue reading
Vocabulary: verbs ‘must’ and ‘have to’
Pre-intermediate level (A2/B1)
Here are some of the rules for the staff at 2 companies using ‘must not’ and ‘don’t have to’: Continue reading
Grammar: uncountable nouns
Lower level English (A1-B1)
Oh no there’s nothing in the kitchen and I’m very hungry. Continue reading
Pronunciation: vowel sounds
Elementary to intermediate level English (A2/B2)
English pronunciation is not very phonetic so it is useful to remember groups of words that have similar sounds. On each line 3 words have the same vowel sound but 1 is different. Which one is it? Continue reading
Writing: organising
Intermediate to higher level (B1-C1)
What is most important when you write? Is it grammar or vocabulary? In my opinion it is the organisation of sentences and paragraphs. Without a logical organisation, a piece of writing is often very difficult to read and understand. Continue reading
Lower level (A1/A2)
There are 12 adjectives in the text. Do you know them? Continue reading
Pre-intermediate/Intermediate Level (A2/B1)
People can say ‘have to’ or ‘have got to’ but there are some differences in how we say them:
‘I have to’ but not ‘I’ve to’ BUT ‘I’ve got to’ is OK
In ‘I have to’, ‘have’ is pronounced ‘haf‘ Continue reading