Using ‘Should’ for the Past and Future


Stage 7 Stage 8 Stage 9   The modal auxiliary ‘should’ communicates the idea that we don’t necessarily have to do a particular action, but that it is the right thing to do; it is the best idea. You have alternatives, but the particular action is the right thing to do. Consider the following examples: …

Food Idioms


Stage 9 Stage 10 Stage 11 Stage 12 Stage 13   Food Idioms: Forking Brilliant Idioms can come about from almost anything, and we have quite a few relating to such simple things as items we eat with and from, most of which are very commonly used in the language. Look in your kitchen drawer …

The Preposition ‘By’ Used for Time


Stage 8 Stage 9 Stage 10   The preposition ‘by’ used for time communicates a very specific idea. When we use it for time, it communicates the idea of ‘some time before’ and ‘no later than.’ A classic example: when a child asks their parents if they can go outside to play with their friends …

The phrasal verb ‘pick up’


Stage 9 Stage 10 Stage 11 Stage 12 This week we’re going to look at the phrasal verb ‘pick up.’ First, let’s talk about phrasal verbs so that we know what we are dealing with. A phrasal verb is an expression made up of a verb and a particle, which in this case is an …

Easily Confused Words: Lie, Lie and Lay


If there is one thing that can make learning English hard for students, it’s the fact that there are many easily confused words. For example, you have homographs, which are words that are spelled the same but have different meanings (the present of the verb ‘read,’ and the past simple and past participle ‘read’). You …

The Three Meanings of ‘Then’


The word ‘then’ is a commonly used word in English. This is because it has three different meanings. And as we’ve seen with words like ‘get,’ ‘even,’ and ‘anyway,’ words with various meanings are naturally used quite often. Download Exercise The first meaning of ‘then’ is the same as ‘next.’ In this case, it’s normally …

Verb + Gerund or Infinitive?


Stage 8 Stage 9 Stage 10 In English, when we want to follow a verb immediately with another verb, the second verb must take the form of either a gerund or an infinitive. The tricky part is discovering which verb is followed by what form. There is no rule that will help you to decide …

The verb ‘make’ in phrasal verbs


Stage 9 Stage 10 Stage 11 Stage 12 What’s the difference between a phrasal verb and a prepositional verb? When we use a prepositional verb, we are using the preposition in its normal, literal sense (e.g. ‘I am looking up at the ceiling‘; ‘the dog jumped over the wall’; ‘he put the coffee on the …

Nouns That Become Adjectives


Stage 8 Stage 9 Stage 10 Today we are going to have a look at a different way to create an adjective. Sometimes we want to describe something by thinking about the use of the object. The use of that object might have something to do with another object. In English it is possible to …