There’s a difference between the two! “A little” is a little bit of something. In the Beatle song “With a Little Help from my Friends” that was made famous by Joe Cocker, life would be so much more easier with a little love. You can drink your tea or coffee with a little sugar. You… Continue reading With a Little Help from my Friends – A Little and Little.
At, in, on for Time At Use at for specific times. Examples: at 4 o’clock at 7:15 at night at noon In Use in when you want to talk about a longer period. Examples: in the winter in 1999 in the morning in September On Use on when you’re talking about a certain… Continue reading How to remember what to put: at, in, or on — Part 2 Time
Are you always saying things such as “at the morning” and “in the beach?” Well, hate to tell you, but that’s incorrect. Although they’re not watertight, it helps if you know these easy rules. At, in, on for Place At Use at when you mean that a person or a thing is at a certain… Continue reading How to remember what to put: at, in, or on — Part 1 Place
This week I sat with a student and she was really struggling to puzzle together questions in past simple. So I’ve made a presentation about it, which you can watch here: How To Make Questions in Past Simple http://knov.io/12PxmUn It has an exercise at the end of it. Sorry about the lousy video quality; it… Continue reading What Did You Do There? – Questions in Past Simple
I read an interesting question on a teacher’s forum on LinkedIn. A teacher asked the following: The sentence “I’d rather I didn’t have to work next weekend, but I do.” How to explain why it is ‘I didn’t’ and not ‘I do’. Conditional? Several teachers chipped in, and the conclusion was that you need… Continue reading I Wish I Didn’t Have to Work Next Weekend – Hypothetical Situations with Past Simple
First let’s explain what direct and indirect speech is. Direct speech. This is a direct quote of what someone says. For example: “I am hungry.” Indirect speech (also called reported speech). This is telling what someone else said. Example: You said you weren’t hungry. What do you need to know about indirect speech? That in… Continue reading She Told Me She Would Come to the Party – Indirect Speech or Reported Speech
Reading is good for you, there’s no doubt about that. People who read English a lot will also learn to speak it better than people who don’t read. The important thing is to find something you like to read. It shouldn’t be too hard for you either. You’ll learn more if the text is easy… Continue reading Where to Find the Perfect Reading Material
Present Simple is when you want to tell about things that you always do, or sometimes, or twice a week, etc. An earlier explanation about present simple is here. Now we’re going to ask questions in Present Simple. You ask questions with do and does. Use does for he, she, and it. Use do for… Continue reading Easy Grammar – Asking Questions in Present Simple
You use past simple when you talk about the past. It can be yesterday, last week, the day before yesterday, last year, last night, or this morning. The Two Ways of Making Past Simple Regular Verbs There are two ways in which you can make past simple. The first one is with regular verbs. Regular… Continue reading The Past is Simple – Regular and Irregular Verbs in Past Simple
http://www.pseudodictionary.com/ This website has a dictionary of English words that aren’t in the dictionary (yet) and some that probably never will be. There is an explanation of each word, and the name of the person who contributed the word. You can add your own words, and see whether they stick. Some words that I liked:… Continue reading Words That Don’t Really Exist – The Pseudodictionary
English with a Smile 