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We believe that education should not be a privilege; it is essential to the survival of the human race.
We are a group of active educators sharing our everyday experiences in the classroom. We share news, trends, research, ideas, and technologies that shape the future of learning. We support teaching through professional development, thought leadership, and resource curation.
We believe that education should not be a privilege; it is essential to the survival of the human race.
What are Irregular Verbs?
Irregular verbs are verbs that do not follow the standard rules of conjugation in English. Unlike regular verbs, which form the past simple and past participle by adding “-ed” (e.g., walk -> walked), irregular verbs change in unique ways.
Why Do We Use Irregular Verbs?
Irregular verbs are deeply rooted in the English language, often because of their origins in Old English or other Germanic languages. They are commonly used, and knowing them helps speakers sound more fluent and natural.
Irregular Verb Forms
In English, verbs can have three main forms:
Base Form: The root form of the verb (e.g., go, see, buy)
Past Simple: The form used for past events (e.g., went, saw, bought)
Past Participle: The form used in perfect tenses and the passive voice (e.g., gone, seen, bought)
Understanding these forms is essential for forming correct sentences in past and perfect tenses. This ebook will help you and your students with that.
At first, passive voice might appear complex, but once you get acquainted with it, the fundamental structures stay the same. The ability to switch between passive and active voices is beneficial for intermediate to advanced English learners as it can prevent miscommunications, boost politeness, and enhance language abilities. This is a detailed explanation of the occasions where the passive voice should be used in the English language.
Passive voice emphasizes the recipient of the action rather than the doer (agent) of the action. The passive voice is created by us using:
The action was received by the object (by the doer of the action).
Incorporating the part related to the agent (by + person who performed the action) is not mandatory and varies based on the situation. The aim of using passive voice is to highlight the action rather than the agent, therefore including information about the agent could be redundant or stating the obvious.
This in-depth manual details the formation and usage of the Passive Voice, including numerous examples and practice exercises. The answer key can be located at the conclusion of the book.
Creating if-then statements is a common aspect of your mother tongue, and incorporating them into your English discussions can greatly enhance your communication skills. In total, there are four conditionals that you will gradually learn to use, beginning with the most basic ones: the zero and first conditional. Take a glance at this overview to get a general understanding of how all conditionals function and when to apply them.
A sentence with a condition relies on the word ‘if’. Conditional sentences consist of two parts - the first part starts with ‘if’ to depict a potential scenario, while the second part explains the result. Input: “The company experienced a significant decrease in profits due to the economic downturn.”
Paraphrased: “The economic downturn led to a large decrease in profits for the company.”
If it starts raining, we will become soaked.
The meaning remains the same even when the two parts are switched.
Check out this practical ebook guide to find out how the conditionals are form, when and how they are used, and plenty of practice for your students.
Reported Speech, also known as Indirect Speech, is an important part of conversational English because it requires repeating someone else’s words.
English language students need to learn and practice the Reported Speech, since it is used in various situations to convey information or repeat someone else’s words. This ebook will focus only on instances where the reporting verb is in past tense (such as said, told, etc.), necessitating a shift to past tense in the reported clause for practical reasons. For example: ‘I am going to the super market’ becomes ‘He said that he was going to the super market’. It is also possible to report someone’s words in the present without any tense change. For example: ‘He says he is going to the super market’.
This ebook can help students learn how to use Reported Speech, understand its purpose, and practice through various interactive exercises. The solutions are given towards the conclusion of the book.
When we refer to things that will happen in the future, we often use something known as the Simple Future tense. When we talk or write about plans, expectations, schedules, and predictions, we often use the Simple Future tense. The Simple Future tense helps convey an action or state that will begin and end in the future. We use the Simple Future tense in declarative sentences to state that something is scheduled or planned. It communicates willingness and expresses an expectation, a prediction, or a guess.
This highly practical ebook contains detailed explanations on how the Simple Future is formed, when to use it, and there are plenty of activities in the end for your students to practice and master it. Anwer key is also included.
When we describe an action in the Future Perfect Continuous tense, we are projecting ourselves forward in time and looking back at the duration of that activity. The activity will have begun sometime in the past, present, or in the future, and is expected to continue in the future. For example: “In November, I will have been working at my company for three years.”
There are similarities and differences between the Future Continuous and the Future Perfect Continuous tense, which might cause confusion. The main difference is that we use the Future Continuous to predict the future, while we use the Future Perfect Continuous to talk about an ongoing action that will finish before another.
This practical ebook will explain how the Future Perfect Continuous is formed, when it is used, and it will also provide plenty of examples and exercises. The relevant answer key is provided at the end as well.
The Future Perfect is a verb tense used for actions that will be completed before some other point in the future. For example: “The parade will have ended by the time Chester gets out of bed. At eight o’ clock I will have left.”
The Future Perfect tense is used for talking about an action that will be completed between now and some point in the future. On the other hand, the Future Perfect tense is only for actions that will be complete before a specified point in the future. In other words, the action you’re talking about must have a deadline. If you don’t mention a deadline, use the Simple Future tense instead of the Future Perfect tense.
In this ebook, you will find detailed explanations on how to form the Future Perfect tense, when it should be used, and many exercises for your students to practice. There is also the relevant answer key at the end.
The Future Continuous tense is a verb tense that shows an action happening over a period of time in the future. “I will be driving all night” is an example of the Future Continuous tense, as it indicates an action continuing over a specific future period of time. Compare it to this sentence, written in the Simple Future tense: “I will drive.” Although this example indicates an intention to drive in the future, it does not refer to a continuous action over a specific period of time in the future.
The Future Continuous tense can be confusing because it sometimes seems interchangeable with other future tenses.
This ebook sheds light to all the uses of the Future Continuous tense. It describes how it is formed, when it is used, and has ample practice for students, with plenty of exercises and examples. The relevant answer key to the activities is also included.
This is the first book of the Practical English Grammar series, on the Simple Present Tense.
Understanding and using the Simple Present correctly is essential for clear and effective communication in English. The Simple Present tense is one of the most fundamental tenses in English grammar. It is primarily used to describe habitual actions, general truths, and fixed arrangements.
This book contains all the uses of the Simple Present tense, along with examples. They are followed by formation rules, and also some activities. You can use these activities in your class to teach or reinforce the use of the Simple Present Tense.
It is one of the most widely used tenses of the English language, and it is very easy to use and to teach. Even younger students can easily master it and use it in no time. We hope you enjoy teaching the Simple Present Tense to your students.
The Present Perfect Continuous tense is a unique case and poses certain difficulties for English language learners. It is unique in the sense that it has an easy aspect and a difficult aspect.
The difficult aspect is its formation. It needs the auxiliary verb ‘to have’ in its perfect form plus the main verb in its continuous form. This is too complicated for most students, and they usually struggle to get it right.
On the other hand, the easy aspect is its usage. It is used in very specific situations that connect the past with the present, and almost always with specific time expressions like ‘for’ and ‘since’. Hence it is virtually impossible to mix it up with another tense.
This ebook offers clear explanations about both the formation and the usage of the Present Perfect Continuous tense, along with examples. Students who master them can move on to the activities at the end of the book.
This is the second ebook from the highly successful Practical English Grammar series.
The Present Continuous Tense is probably the most commonly used tense in English. It is used to describe an action that is happening now, at the moment of speaking, and it is therefore one of the first tenses that young students learn, as it is very easy to understand. It is also called Present Progressive.
The first part of the ebook focuses on theory: the correct formation and usage of the Present Continuous tense, followed by examples.
The second part of the ebook contains exercises that will help your students practise and consolidate their knowledge of the tense.
Finally, there is the key to the activities, which makes the book ideal for both classroom use and self study as well.
We hope that both you and your students will enjoy teaching and learning about the Present Continuous tense.
This consice ebook is about the Present Perfect tense. It is one of the tenses that cause most difficulties to English language learners, both because of its formation and because of its usage.
The formation is tricky because it involves a modal verb and the past participle of the main verb. The usage is not as clearcut as other tenses in English, since it refers to an action that has started in the past, but its effects are still visible in the present. Hence, many students consider the Present Perfect tense to be a past tense and confuse it with the Simple Past tense. However, as its name suggests, the Present Perfect is a present tense.
Read on to find out how this tense is formed and when it is used. At the end of the book there are some very useful practice activities to consolidate your students’ knowledge, and the relevant answer key.
This ebook provides essential information about the Past Perfect Tense, its formation and usage. We use the past perfect to talk about the past, but not just any situation in the past; we use the Past Perfect when we’re talking about two events that happened in the past and when one event happened before the other event. So it helps you to order the actions in your story. Think about the Past Perfect as helping us to create a timeline.
If your students have mastered the Present Perfect tense as they should, it will be easy for them to form the Past Perfect as well. We create the Past Perfect by using the verb ‘had’ the auxiliary verb ‘had’, followed by our main verb in past participle form.
Students usually confuse the Past Perfect and use the Simple Past instead. Hopefully, this ebook will help them clarify these two distinctive tenses.
The Past Continuous Tense is essential in communicating in English. It provides clarity and depth to descriptions of past events. It establishes the background, highlights the atmosphere, and illustrates interrupted actions.
This tense is also useful for describing parallel actions, and multiple events that happen simultaneously. In narratives, it establishes the background, adds nuance to storytelling, and allows speakers and writers to convey the progression and interaction of past actions with greater precision and detail.
Overall, the past continuous tense enriches communication in English.
This practical ebook contains all the essential information on the Past Continuous Tense. You will find details about its formation and all the various cases when it is used.
Finally, there are 20 exercises, so that your students will practise and familiarize themselves with the Past Continuous Tense, and of course the relevant answer key to the activities.
Enjoy teaching the Past Continuous Tense to your students!
We use the Past Perfect Continuous tense, also referred to as the Past Perfect Progressive tense, to describe an action that started some time in the past and continued until another point in the past.
In our daily lives, we frequently employ the past perfect continuous tense. However, there are instances when we use it improperly. In essence, this tense conveys the “past in the past.” You will thus learn about the composition and application of the Past Perfect Continuous tense from this page. It will make learning about it easier and more detailed. You will then be given questions to answer in order to assess your comprehension of this tense.
This ebook contains all the information you need about the Past Perfect Continuous tense, including usage, formation, examples, and meaning. There are also extensive exercises and the relevant answer key in the end. We hope you enjoy teaching it to your students!
A solid command of verb tenses is necessary for effective communication in English. However, why do verb tenses matter so much in English?
One cannot accurately convey their meaning if the past, present, and future are not used appropriately. The verb’s indicated time of action is indicated by the tense.
The primary tense in English for discussing the past is the simple past tense. Although its meaning is fairly clear-cut and easy, language learners may find it challenging to form. The primary challenge is the abundance of irregular verbs in the Simple Past Tense. All of these verbs must be learnt by heart by the students.
Use this ebook to teach your students about the Simple Past Tense. You can teach them how the tense is formed correctly, when it is used, and most importantly, how not to confuse it with other past tenses of the English language. Happy teaching!
How do you teach prepositions?
If you are an English language teacher, sooner or later you will need to teach prepositions to your students. Prepositions are one of the building blocks of the English language (or any language for that matter). They are the words that help us build meaningful sentences in the context of space and time. It is therefore imperative that students learn from a very young age how to use them properly.
What is inside this eBook?
There are millions of textbooks and grammar books out there that contain grammar exercises and practice activities on prepositions. This is not one of them. This eBook will give you ideas on how to teach prepositions creatively. It will show you how to create your own activities using materials you have available. Most importantly, it will give you suggestions on how to teach prepositions using the four skills, so that your students will stay interested and motivated.
100 of the most common idioms of the English language
For learners of all levels
With Comprehension Activities and Key
For classroom use as well as self-studying
When learning a foreign language, idioms are crucial. They are what separates a native speaker from a non-native speaker. Idioms have subtle language nuances that all learners should be aware of. They also carry cultural connotations and meanings; you can tell a lot about a country and its language from its idioms. As a teacher, don’t be afraid to expose your students to idioms. They are the backbone of the language (of any language, especially the English language).
Idioms are also very memorable. They create mental pictures which are often quite unusual, hence easy to remember: just imagine raining cats and dogs, an elephant in a room, or throwing out the baby with the bath water. Even the youngest of students can remember them.
We have spoken about the importance of idioms in the previous two books of this series.Idioms improve communication by enabling you to communicate subtleties and deeper meanings that plain language cannot. When idioms are used effectively, communication becomes more captivating, engaging, and successful.
Idioms reveal a person’s familiarity with English-speaking culture. Acquiring knowledge of idioms demonstrates a respect for the culture and principles inherent in the language. For instance, the expression “to pull yourself up by your bootstraps” was first used in America in the 19th century and still refers to bettering your circumstances on your own.
Idioms are a fundamental component of language. Idioms having metaphorical connotations are genuinely present in many commonplace English expressions. Acquiring knowledge of idioms is essential to mastering the English language.
In this third book of the Idioms series you will find 100 more idioms to teach your students, followed by 40 exercises and their answers as usual. Enjoy!
This is the second book of the four-book series ‘100 English Idioms You Need To Know’. Inside you will find 100 more idioms of the English language in alphabetical order. They are all followed by a short and precise definition and an explanatory example.
At the end of the book you will find 40 activities: 20 gap-fill and 20 multiple choice type questions. These activities will help your students practise what they have learned and consolidate knowledge of the idioms.
Finally, the last two pages of the book contain the key with the answers to the activities.
It is needless to mention the importance of learning the idioms of the English language, Being proficient with idioms is not only a prerequisite skill for every language learner, but it is also a confidence booster and another step towards language acquisition and consolidation.
We hope you will have fun teaching idioms to your English classes!