English Teacher

05/07/2021

Do you know these expressions?

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Bring to a close (to make something end): They brought the party to a close.

Bring a lump to your throat (make you feel like crying): The play was so beautiful that it brought a lump to my throat.

Bring tears to your eyes (make you cry a little): The thoughtful gift brought tears to her eyes.

Bring something to light (make something public that was secret): The argument brought a lot of secrets to light.

Bring something to life (make something feel exciting or real): The architect's drawings really brought our new house to life.

Bring up the rear (be at the back of a group): The children walked at the front and the adults brought up the rear.

Bring crashing down (to cause a serious failure): His alcoholism brought his career crashing down.

Bring the house down (to make people in a theatre, etc, cheer and clap very loudly): His guitar solo brought the house down.

Bring out the best in someone (make someone behave as well as possible): She really brings out the best in him. He's hardly grumpy any more.

Bring home the bacon (to earn money): He looks after the kids and his wife brings home the bacon.

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01/07/2021

Hello everyone!

Today, I have another listening tip for you.

Students often ask me how long they should spend listening. And does having English news on in the background count as listening practice? What about watching a series with subtitles? Do these things help?

I think we need to do two kinds of listening practice to really improve.

1: Intensive listening. This is a listening exercise where you really concentrate, like a mini dictation. It's hard work but you make fast progress. You only need to do a small amount - maybe 15 or 20 minutes a day.

2: Extensive listening. This is listening to podcasts, the news, the radio, YouTube, English shows on Netflix and so on. You can do as much as this as you like.

It's quite easy to do extensive listening by yourself. There are many, many excellent podcasts in English, for example.

You can also do intensive listening by yourself. You need a short natural audio with a transcript. Play a few seconds of audio and try to write down what you hear. If you don't catch it, play the same few seconds at least two or three more times. Do this for the whole audio, then compare what you wrote with the transcript. Finally, play the audio again while reading along.

02/06/2021

Today let's talk about the English tenses one more time!

Although English doesn't have complicated conjugations, the tenses can be tricky to use.

And tenses are important in English. They carry a lot of meaning!

English uses tenses where other languages might use adverbs:

- to show if an action is finished or not,

- to show if a state is temporary or permanent,

- to show if an action is a habit and what kind of habit,

- to show if an action is repeated or happens only once,

- to be more or less polite.

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Today, I'd like to tell you about using the perfect simple and perfect continuous tenses to show if an action is finished or not. We often use a perfect simple tense for a finished action and a perfect continuous tense for an unfinished action.

I love that this system works for the past, present and the future.

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Present:

She's written a book (now) = this means that the whole book is finished and ready to read.
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She's been writing a book (now) = this means that she was working on the book, but the book is not finished and ready to read.
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Past:

She'd written a book (when she moved to Rome) = this means that the whole book was completely finished and ready to read before she moved to Rome.
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She'd been writing a book (when she moved to Rome) = this means that she was working on the book before she moved to Rome but the book wasn't finished and ready to read.
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Future:

She'll have written a book (when she moves to Rome) = this means that the whole book will be finished and ready to read before she moves to Rome.
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She'll have been writing a book (when she moves to Rome) = this means that she will be working on the book before she moves to Rome but the book won't be finished and ready to read.

31/05/2021

Let's talk a little more about the tenses.

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One very important tip is that all the continuous tenses and all the simple tenses are (mostly) used in the same way, in the past present and future.

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Today let's study how we use simple and continuous tenses for permanent and temporary situations.

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We often use the simple tenses (the present simple, the past simple and the future simple) with things that we think about as permanent.

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We often use the continuous tenses (the present continuous, the past continuous and the future continuous) with things that we thing about as temporary.

There isn’t an exact amount of time that makes something temporary. The difference is in the head of the person who is speaking.

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In the present:

• I’m working now (this is a very short temporary situation).

• I'm working in a bank this summer (this is a longer temporary situation).

• I work in a bank (this is a permanent situation).

28/05/2021

Want to know your English level?

Check this out! 👇🏼

You don't know your level? Then just take this test, and start from there. This is an English level test. 60 multiple choice questions.

28/05/2021

Hello!

The choice between the present perfect and the past simple is one of the most difficult ones in English.

Often, we can use either tense to talk about the same action! Both tenses are correct.

It just depends on the words you use in the rest of the sentence and how you think about the action.

1: Finished / unfinished time words

We use the past simple with a past or finished time word (last week, in 2008, in the 13th century, three years ago). On the other hand, if we use an unfinished or present time word (this week, today, since 2009, in the last year, since yesterday) then we usually choose the present perfect.

• I did it last week.

• I’ve done it this week.

We can talk about the same event using the present perfect or past simple if we choose to use a different time expression. In this example, I’m talking about the same meeting with Julie. It’s only the choice of time expression that makes me use the past simple or the present perfect.

• I saw Julie yesterday.

• I’ve seen Julie this week.

2: With time phrases

In the same way, we can use a time phrase to introduce a past time. In this case, we need to use the past simple.

• I lived in Scotland when I was a child.

3: Introducing a situation

We can use the present perfect without a time expression to introduce a situation. Then, once we’ve mentioned the situation, we use the past simple. (This is similar to the way that we use ‘a / an’ the first time we talk about something and then we use ‘the’ in the rest of the conversation, because now we know what we’re talking about).

• I’ve been to Japan. In fact, I was there for one year. I lived in Otaru, which is a town in Hokkaido, near Sapporo. It was a great year! I studied Japanese, I met a lot of interesting people and I learned to snowboard.

4: We don’t explain the time directly, but we understand it.

Even if we don’t say anything about the time period, we might think about in in a certain way, or there might be general or shared knowledge that makes the time period finished or unfinished.

• Did you see the exhibition about Japanese art? (When it was in London.)

• Have you seen the exhibition about Japanese art? (It’s still open.)

5: Talking about dead people

We can’t use the present perfect to talk about life events in the life of a person who is dead. In this case, we need the past simple.

• My mother has been to Poland.

• My great-grandmother went to Poland

31/03/2021

Let's keep up with phrasal verbs.

Be over: to finish

When is this meeting going to be over! It’s so long.
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Do with: put in a place (usually a question or negative)

What have I done with my glasses?
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Hold up: cause a delay

The traffic held us all up.
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Let's review! Which phrasal verb do we need?

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1: The train was _____ at a red signal.

2: When the meal _____, we went home.

3: What have you _____ all the cake?

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Answers

1: The train was held up at a red signal.

2: When the meal was over, we went home.

3: What have you done with all the cake?

29/03/2021

On to the lesson! Here are three intermediate-level phrasal verbs.

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Knock out: make someone unconscious

She hit her head and was knocked out.
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Stand up for: to defend someone who is being criticised

He stood up for his friend.
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Do without: to succeed in living without

Could you do without email?
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Let's review! Which phrasal verb do we need? (These are all in the past simple.)

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1: The journalist _____ the politician.

2: I _____ a car for six months.

3: He _____ the boxer.


















Answers

1: The journalist stood up for the politician.

2: I did without a car for six months.

3: He knocked out the boxer

27/03/2021

On to the lesson! Here are three intermediate-level phrasal verbs.

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1: Dress up (type 1 / intransitive): to wear your best clothes

Everyone dressed up for the opera.

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2: Put off (type 2 / transitive and separable): to postpone

You mustn’t put off going to the doctor.

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3: Look out for (type 4 / transitive and inseparable): to try to find a particular thing or person

I’ll look out for a white t-shirt for you when I’m at the shops.

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Let's review! Which phrasal verb do we need?

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1. I keep _____ this essay. I can’t get started.

2. Come to my party! Please _____!

3. _____ my friend John at the conference.



















Answers

1. I keep putting off this essay. I can’t get started.

2. Come to my party! Please dress up!

3. Look out for my friend John at the conference.

12/01/2021

Hello everyone! Today's lesson is about prepositions after verbs. Some verbs need a preposition, and we just need to learn them!

Do you know the prepositions that we need after these verbs? Sometimes more than one preposition is possible.

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It doesn't matter _____ the delay.
What's included _____ the B2 course?
She introduced me _____ her friends.
We collected the cakes _____ the shop.
The ground was covered _____ snow.
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Answers:

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It doesn't matter about the delay.
What's included in / with the B2 course?
She introduced me to her friends.
We collected the cakes from the shop.
The ground was covered in / with snow.

10/11/2020

'is" vs "are"

When deciding whether to use is or are, look at whether the noun is plural or singular. If the noun is singular, use is. If it is plural or there is more than one noun, use are.

✏️The cat is eating all of his food.

✏️The cats are eating all of their food.

✏️The cat and the dog are eating as fast as they can.

16/10/2020