Stage 08

Stage 7 Stage 8 Stage 9 The British weather has inspired many paintings, poems and songs over the years. It’s unsurprising, therefore, that many expressions in English make reference to the weather – it’s a simple, easy way of communicating a feeling or concept so that most people will understand. Let’s look at a few …

Stage 7 Stage 8 In English a verb is either transitive or intransitive. A transitive verb has an object, whereas an intransitive verb does not have an object. Most verbs fall into one category or the other, but there are certain verbs that can be either transitive or intransitive depending on the context of the …

Stage 6 Stage 7 Stage 8 Transition (or linking) words and phrases are useful tools that allow us to better express ourselves in formal conversation, and especially in our writing. There are many examples of transition words and phrases, but here we’ll only be looking at a few of them. To get our brains working, …

Stage 7 Stage 8 Stage 9 Football is full of idioms that have entered common usage. For example, if the first part of an activity has not been particularly successful, we can reassure ourselves that it’s ‘a game of two halves’ – in the same way that a football team losing heavily at half-time can …

Stage 7 Stage 8 Stage 9 If you want to say that you are finding your English studies difficult, you can say that learning English ‘drives you bananas’. To ‘go bananas’ means to go crazy; it’s similar to the expression ’round the bend’, which some of our students will already have learned. Of course, learning …

Stage 6 Stage 7 Stage 8 Punctuality – being ‘on time’ – is, of course, very important in all areas of life. We should be on time for work, appointments, meetings with friends, and so on. The expression ‘on time’ means to not be late: to reach a place (or do something) at the right …

Stage 8 Stage 9 Look at this sentence: “It was raining, so I took my umbrella and wore a raincoat”. In this sentence the word so means “therefore” or “consequently”. Rather than using the words therefore or consequently, we can use the word so. Another example of this is in the sentence “I failed my …

Stage 8 Stage 9 Stage 10 Let’s start with some vocabulary. In the UK, a pound is called a ‘quid’. ‘Have you got a quid?’ means ‘Have you got a pound?’ Note that we don’t pluralise this noun when talking about an amount of money, i.e. we say ’50 quid’ and not ’50 quids’. However …

When we say we are ‘used to’ something, it means that we are accustomed to it; it isn’t strange or uncomfortable for us, because we have experience with it. In this case, we’re talking about the present. For example: ~John lives in Texas, so he is used to very hot summers. In this sentence, John …

For example, let’s take these two sentences: Let’s eat, Grandma! And Let’s eat Grandma! A simple, little comma can change this sentence from telling your Grandma to put food on the table to becoming a cannibal. The first sentence (with the comma) is simply an imperative telling Grandma that it is time to eat. The …