PERSONALITY & STRONG ADJECTIVES.

EXERCISE ONE
EXERCISE TWO

PREPOSITIONS. AT, ON, IN.

Prepositions: In, On, and At (with specific times and places):

The prepositions in, on, and at can be used to indicate time and place. Notice how they are used in the following situations: Preposition Time Place In Year, Month, In 1999, In December Country, State, City In Japan, In Utah, InTaipei On Day, Date On Saturday, On May 1 Street On Main Street, On 1st Ave. At Time At 8:00, At 7:30 Address At 815 East Main Street In many languages, there is only one preposition for the above situations. In English there are three. Just remember that in usually indicates the "largest" time or place, and at usually indicates the "smallest" time or place. Examples: A: Where's your office? B: In Taipei, Taiwan. A: Really? What part of Taipei? B: It's on Chung Shan North Road. A: I know that area. Where exactly is it? B: It's at 105 Chung Shan North Road, next to the bookstore. C: When is the wedding? D: It's in June. C: What day? D: It's on Saturday, the 25th. C: What time? D: It starts at 6:00.

Prepositions with articles and locations

When talking about locations, use at to indicate the general vicinity or area, and in to indicate inside the building, enclosed area, etc. For example: 

at the swimming pool (on site)		in the swimming pool (in the pool itself i.e. in the water)
at the post office/bank (general)		in the post office/bank (inside the building)
at the zoo (visitors, general area)		in the zoo (animals in their cages)
at school		in the classroom

Sample sentences:

I met my wife at the theater. (while watching a movie)
I spilled my drink in the theater (on the floor of the building)
She works at the library on Wednesdays.
She found a rare coin in the library (building).
Dr. Jones works at the hospital every day.
John was in the hospital for a week with a broken leg.
For school, prison, and church, the is used to indicate the building. No article indicates the general situation. Note the following: 

"practice"/situation		building
in school (studying, listening to teacher, etc.)		in the school (building)
in jail/prison (staying there as a criminal)		in the jail/prison (temporary)
in church (praying, listening to a sermon, etc.)		in the church (building)

Where's Dad?

in church (attending services)		in the church (fixing the windows)
at church		at the church
in prison (He committed a crime.) EXERCISE ONE EXERCISE TWO EXERCISE THREE		at the prison (visiting his friend)

VERB TENSES REVIEW.

SENTENCES CHANGE THEIR MEANING WITH A DIFFERENT VERBAL TENSE.

CLICK HERE TO SEE THE TABLE OF ENGLISH TENSES.

One sentence is put into different tenses. You can see how the meaning changes.

The words in green are signal words. They tell you which tense you have to use.

Tense	Example	Explanation
Simple Present	I play football every week.	Here you want to say that it happens regularly.
Present Progressive	I'm playing football now.	Here you want to say that it is happening at the moment.
Simple Past	I played football yesterday.	You did it yesterday, it happened in the past.
Past Progressive	I was playing football the whole evening.	You were doing it in the past. It's not sure whether the action was finished or not.
Present Perfect	I have just played football.	You have just finished it. So it has a connection to the present. Maybe your clothes are dirty.
Present Perfect Progressive	I have been playing football for 2 hours.	You want to say how long you have been doing it. (You started in the past and it continues up to the present.
Past Perfect	I had played football before Susan came.	The two actions are related to each other: you had finished to play football and after that the girl arrived.
Past Perfect Progressive	I had been playing football for two hours when Susan came.	Here you want to point out how long you had been doing it before the girl came.
will-future	I will/shall play football next week.	This is a prediction, you can probably do something else.
going to-future	I'm going to play football this afternoon.	This is a plan you've made.
Future Progressive	I will/shall be playing football next Sunday.	You do it every Sunday (as usual)
Future Perfect	I will/shall have played football by tomorrow.	You will have done it before tomorrow.
Conditional Simple	I would play football.	You'll probably do it.
Conditional Progressive	I would be playing football.	You'll probably do it. Here you concentrate more on the progress of the action.
Conditional Perfect	I would have played football.	You'll probably have finished playing football at a special time in the future. Here you concentrate on the fact (football).
Conditional Perfect Progressive	I would have been playing football.	You'll probably have finished playing football at a special time in the future. Here you concentrate on the progress of playing (football).

NEW TERM 2019/20

WELCOME BACK!

CAN, COULD AND BE ABLE TO

Can

Is used to talk about possibility. e.g. ‘Can you meet me at 5?’
Is used to talk about ability. e.g. ‘I can ride a bike’.
Is used to make informal requests and orders. e.g. ‘Can you bring me my jumper?’
Has two negative forms,. can’t and cannot.

Could

Is used to talk about past abilities. e.g. ‘When I was a child I could do handstands’.
Is used to make formal requests. e.g. ‘Could you fax me that document by Tuesday?’
In the negative form, is couldn’t.

Be able to

Is sometimes used instead of can or could.
Can be used with all tenses. e.g. ‘I will be able to see you next week’.
Is used to talk about ability. e.g. ‘Are you able to write formal letters?’

 In the present:
“Can” and “able to” are the same in the present tense:

Yes, I can take on this project.
Yes, I‘m able to take on this project.

The negative forms are can’t and am not / is not / are not able to.

In the past:

We use “could/couldn’t” or “was/wasn’t able to.”
In general, both are used in the negative form:

I wasn’t able to finish all my homework yesterday.
I couldn’t finish all my homework yesterday.

But in the positive form, “was able to” is more common than “could”:

I was able to leave work a little early yesterday.

Don’t say didn’t can in the past – it doesn’t exist, and it’s a common error in English!

In the future:

In the future, there is only one form: “will be able to”:

I have some free time tomorrow, so I‘ll be able to work on this project.
Sorry, I won’t be able to go to the party on Thursday. I have school the next day.

Don’t say “will can” or “won’t can” – it’s another common error in English!

When asking someone to do something:

When you are asking someone to do something, use “could” (more formal) or “can” (more informal):

Could you bring me a glass of water, please?
Can you bring me a glass of water, please?

When asking about someone’s abilities:

In this case, you can use either CAN or ABLE TO:

Can you run a mile in less than 10 minutes?
Are you able to run a mile in less than 10 minutes?

Can is probably more common in spoken English, simply because it’s shorter.


EXERCISE 1
EXERCISE 2
EXERCISE 3

NOUNS, FORMING ADJECTIVES AND ADVERBS.

CLICK ON THE LIST BELOW TO GET MORE INFORMATION:

PRESENT `PERFECT SIMPLE AND PRESENT PERFECT CONTINUOUS (PROGRESSIVE)

Form

Present Perfect Simple	Present Perfect Progressive
irregular verbs: form of 'have' + 3rd column of irregular verbs Example: I / you / we / they have spoken he / she / it has spoken regular verbs: form of 'have' + infinitive + ed Example: I / you / we / they have worked he / she / it has worked	form of 'have' + been + verb + ing   Example: I / you / we / they have been speaking he / she / it has been speaking
Exceptions
Exceptions when adding 'ed' : when the final letter is e, only add d Example: love - loved after a short, stressed vowel, the final consonant is doubled Example: admit - admitted final l is always doubled in British English (not in American English) Example: travel - travelled after a consonant, final y becomes i (but: not after a vowel) Example: worry - worried but: play - played	Exceptions when adding 'ing' : silent e is dropped. (but: does not apply for -ee) Example: come - coming aber: agree - agreeing after a short, stressed vowel, the final consonant is doubled Example: sit - sitting after a vowel, the final consonant l is doubled in British English (but not in American English). Example: travel - travelling final ie becomes y. Example: lie - lying

Use

Both tenses are used to express that an action began in the past and is still going on or has just finished. In many cases, both forms are correct, but there is often a difference in meaning: We use the Present Perfect Simple mainly to express that an action is completed or to emphasise the result. We use the Present Perfect Progressive to emphasise the duration or continuous course of an action.

Result or duration?

Do you want to express what has happened so far or how long an action has been going on yet?

Present Perfect Simple	Present Perfect Progressive
Result (what / how much / how often) I have written 5 letters. / I have been to London twice.	Duration (how long) I have been writing for an hour.

Certain verbs

The following verbs are usually only used in Present Perfect Simple (not in the progressive form).

• state: be, have (for possession only)

Example: We have been on holiday for two weeks.

• senses: feel, hear, see, smell, taste, touch

Example: He has touched the painting.

• brain work: believe, know, think, understand

Example: I have known him for 3 years.

Emphasis on completion or duration?

Do you want to emphasise the completion of an action or its continuous course (how has somebody spent his time)?

Present Perfect Simple	Present Perfect Progressive
Emphasis on completion I have done my homework. (Meaning: My homework is completed now.)	Emphasis on duration I have been doing my homework. (Meaning: That's how I have spent my time. It does not matter whether the homework is completed now.)

Result or side effect?

Do you want to express that a completed action led to a desired result or that the action had an unwanted side effect?

Present Perfect Simple	Present Perfect Progressive
desired result I have washed the car. (Result: The car is clean now.)	unwanted side effect Why are you so wet? - I have been washing the car. (side effect: I became wet when I was washing the car. It does not matter whether the car is clean now.)

Time + negation: last time or beginning of an action?

In negative sentences: Do you want to express how much time has past since the last time the action took place or since the beginning of the action?

Present Perfect Simple	Present Perfect Progressive
since the last time I haven't played that game for years. (Meaning: It's years ago that I last played that game.)	since the beginning I haven't been playing that game for an hour, only for 10 minutes. (Meaning: It's not even an hour ago that I started to play that game.)

Permanent or temporary?

If an action is still going on and we want to express that it is a permanent situation, we would usually use the Present Perfect Simple. For temporary situations, we would prefer the Present Perfect Progressive. This is not a rule, however, only a tendency.

Present Perfect Simple	Present Perfect Progressive
permanent James has lived in this town for 10 years. (Meaning: He is a permanent resident of this town.)	temporary James has been living here for a year. (Meaning: This situation is only temporary. Maybe he is an exchange student and only here for one or two years.)

Signal words

Present Perfect Simple	Present Perfect Progressive
how often ... times	how long since for

Exercises on Present Perfect Simple and Present Perfect Progressive

EXERCISE ONE

EXERCISE TWO

EXERCISE THREE