Past Simple or Past Continuous. Provide the correct form of the verb.

1. Kate___________ BREAK her arm when she_________________ PAINT the ceiling.
2. She finally______________ READ that book yesterday. The ending was amazing.

3. __________________WATCH TV when I _____________CALL you to ask about your health?

4.What time_________________ COME BACK from Jim’s birthday yesterday?

5.It ___________________NOT/SNOW when I ________________WAKE UP this morning.

6. What ______________________SHE/DO all day while you WORK on your project?

7. I ____________________NOT/GO to school today because I was a bit ill and Mum _______________LET me stay at home.

8. When __________you___________ CALL me,
I _______________________STUDY for an exam.

9.They__________________________ HAVE classes almost all day yesterday so they couldn’t go to the city centre with us.

10.I ______________________LEAVE home at 7 yesterday and I _________________GO straight to work.
11. We_________________ HEAR the good news when we _____________ SIT in a cafe.

12.Why________________ TELL her that I ________________ WAIT for her in my room all day?
13.When I last ____________ SEE him, he ______________________ NOT/SEEM too happy.

14.He _______________STOP reading when the guests suddenly ________________ ARRIVE

15.I _______________FALL asleep while my friends ___________________ DISCUSS some boring issues.

16. In 1985 my father ________________ HAVE a car accident and she _______________ SPEND a lot of time in hospital afterwards.

17. I __________________ CARRY such heavy bags all day yesterday that I’m still tired now.

18.Yesterday at 6 Tom and Mary ______________ BUY their tickets to America.

19. I _________________ DECIDE to become a doctor while you _______________________STILL/DREAM about being a film star.

20. Yesterday in the afternoon I ______________________WALK along the road when I ____________________MEET John.

How good is your English vocabulary?

Find the opposites of the following:

Clean

Cold

Easy

Good

Light

Low

Loud

Old

Open

Poor

Right

Slow

Small

Tall

Thin

Wet

Smooth

Fat

Difficult

Beautiful

Soft

Cheap

Far

Safe

Thick

NOW CHECK YOUR ANSWERS:

Clean is the opposite of DIRTY

Cold is the opposite of HOT

Easy is the opposite of DIFFICULT

Good is the opposite of BAD

Light is the opposite of HEAVY

Low is the opposite of HIGH

Loud is the opposite of QUIET

Old is the opposite of NEW

Open is the opposite of CLOSED

Poor is the opposite of RICH

Right is the opposite of WRONG

Slow is the opposite of FAST

Small is the opposite of BIG

Tall is the opposite of SHORT

Thin is the opposite of FAT/THICK

Wet is the opposite of DRY

Smooth is the opposite of ROUGH

Beautiful is the opposite of UGLY

Wrong is the opposite of RIGHT

Soft is the opposite of HARD

Cheap is the opposite of EXPENSIVE

Far is the opposite of NEAR/CLOSE

Safe is the opposite of DANGEROUS

Thick is the opposite of THIN

14 August 2008 - Written by Lyle

A tongue twister is a phrase that is designed to be difficult to say.

Eg: She sells sea shells by the sea shore.

The mixture and repetition of “sh” and “s” sounds make the sentence very hard to say.

Some tongue-tongue twisters are very short phrases that are difficult to repeat rapidly.

Eg: Toy boat, toy boat, toy boat.

Tongue-twisters are a great way to work on pronunciation. Try these.

1. Red lorry, yellow lorry, red lorry, yellow lorry.
2. Unique New York, unique New York.
3. Six thick thistle sticks.
4. Good blood, bad blood, good blood, bad blood.
5. Cheap sheets shrink, cheap sheets shrink.
6. Which wrist-watches are Swiss wrist-watches?
7. Lesser leather never weathered wet weather better.
8. Brad’s big black bath brush broke.
9. The sixth sick sheikh’s sixth sheep’s sick.
10. How much wood would a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood?

31 July 2008 - Written by Lyle

A suffix is a group of letters that is attached to the end of a word to alter the meaning. Let’s look at suffixes that change verbs into nouns. There are five main suffixes which are used to change an action into a person who performs the action. Here they are…

-ee

a person to whom something is done. Eg: train – trainee / pay – payee / escape - escapee.

-er

a person who does something. (usually physical). Eg: work – worker / wrestle – wrestler / write - writer

-ian

a person who does something as a job or hobby. Eg: music – musician / electric – electrician / vet - veterinarian

-ist

a person who believes in something, or does something. Eg: nude – nudist / Buddha - Buddhist / baptise - baptist

Or Eg: piano – pianist / violin - violinist / cycle - cyclist

-or

a person who does something (often as a job). Eg: act – actor / sail – sailor / direct - director

Try to choose the correct suffix for the following people.

1. A person who paints. Paint___.

2. A person who conducts. Conduct___.

3. A person who believes in capitalism. Capital___.

4. A person who works in science. Scient___.

5. A person who is employed. Employ___.

6. A person who translates. Translat___.

7. A person who builds. Build___.

8. A person who works in comedy. Comed___.

9. A person who works in politics. Politic___.

10. A person who believes in conformity. Conform___.

09 July 2008 - Written by Rob

Sometimes, verbs are used as nouns, and when this is the case they become known as ‘gerunds’. If we say ‘He is fishing’, the main verb in this sentence is fishing (it is in present continuous form; subject + auxiliary verb ‘to be’ + main verb with ‘ing’). However, if we say ‘He likes fishing’, ‘fishing’ in this case is not a verb; it functions as a noun - fishing as a concept, a sport, a ‘thing’. The verb in the sentence is ‘likes’. The gerund is formed by adding ‘ing’ to the infinitive (or root) of the verb.

Some of the most common circumstances when gerunds can be used include the following:

- After verbs that mean liking or disliking: like, love, enjoy, hate, dislike etc.

Eg. We really love yodelling

- After verbs that indicate the end or beginning of an action: begin, start, finish, end etc.

Eg. She started combing her nephew’s hair

In some cases it is not permissible to use a gerund, and the to-infinitive must be used (to eat, to go, to follow). In other cases the bare infinitive is used (eat, go, follow).

Fill in the blanks in these sentences with the gerund form :

1. Have you ever seen anybody _______ (throw) a boomerang. (Gerund used after verb of sensation - see)
2. I remember _______ (put) the papers somewhere on the table.
3. I’m really looking forward to _______ (taste) one of those cakes of yours.
4.She remembers _______ (go) out of school and _______ (have) tea with her friends.

19 June 2008 - Written by Lyle

One point that often causes trouble (even to native speakers) is how to name the people of place. There are many suffixes which are attached to the end of a place name to create a new word, which can be used to name a person.

As a general rule, for countries ending in “a” or “ia” (Korea, Bulgaria, etc) you can simply add an “n” to describe a person from there.

Eg. “My friend married a Korean.”

For countries that do not end in “a” or “ia” it becomes more difficult. The most commonly used suffixes are “er”, “o”, “ard”, and “i”.

Eg. New Zealander, Filipino, Spaniard, Pakistani.

Another common suffix is ‘ese’, but it is usually only used as an adjective, or to refer to the group in its entirety.

Eg. “Do you like Portuguese food?”
“The Japanese are hard workers.”

“Person” is often added when you want to refer to a single person.

Eg. “ I’ve never met a Chinese person.”

Be careful using “ish”, because it is also used as an adjective, or to refer to a language.

Eg. “Swedish cars are expensive.”

“Many Irish children study Spanish.”

There are many irregular forms. It’s quite difficult to master. Names that refer to the people of a region or city are also, but for now let’s just stick with some European countries. Have a go at these…

1. Someone from Denmark is called a ____________________.
2. Someone from Italy is called an _________________________.
3. Someone from Hungary is called a _____________________.
4. Someone from Poland is called a _______________________.
5. Someone from Romania is called a _____________________.
6. Someone from Sweden is called a ______________________.
7. Someone from the U.K. is called a ______________________.
8. Someone from Greece is called a _______________________.
9. Someone from Finland is called a ________________________.
10. Someone from Estonia is called an ______________________.

March 27th, 2008

How to make a clear distinction between the two sounds [v] and [w].

To make the [v] sound put your upper teeth lightly on your lower lip, leaving a small space in the middle. When you voice the [v] sound, the air passes through the narrow gap between the lower lip and upper teeth. You should hear and feel a vibration as the air goes through. The sound should be the same as that used in ‘love’, ‘drive’, ‘have’

To make the [w] sound push your lips forward, forming a round opening in the centre, similar to when you say the [u] vowel in ‘you’. The opening is larger than in that used for the [v] sound. As you voice the [w] sound, drop your tongue and let the air passes easily through the opening. In contrast with the [v] sound, you shouldn’t hear or feel any vibration as air passes through the opening. The sound should be the same as that used in ‘was’, ‘went’, ‘how’.

Practice the difference between word pairs like these:

veil whale

vein wane

vest west

vent went

Now practice these sentences:

Vienna is the capital of Austria.

Victor wants to be a Viking.

Wendy’s van is very wide.

Walter walked through the valley on Wednesday.

Warren drives a VW.