Idioms! - Animals

Look at these idioms with animals! Try to understand their meaning and we'll talk about them next class. Have a great day!

Monthly Planner!

Here goes the monthly planner for July. Please, check it before every class so you know what we are going to learn or revise.

Passive voice

Here goes an audio that will help you understand the use of passive voice in English.

Revision!

These are all the things that you should already know. In this board, you will find links to the explanations so you can click on the title and check them if you have any doubt. Also, there are some links to exercises that will help you practice the tenses.
 

Meet Peter and understand the present!

If you have doubts about the use of the Present Simple and Present Continuous, It would be a great idea to watch this video. You'll find it very easy to understand. 😃

Time expressions - Present Simple and Continuous

Use the Present Simple with:

• Always, usually, sometimes, often, never: I always do the shopping on Saturday.
• On + days: On Fridays, I go out for dinner.
• Whenever: Whenever I'm hungry, I count to ten.

Use the Present Continuous with:

• Now: They're doing some housework now.
• Currently: Currently, we are living in England.
• At the moment: I'm not working at the moment.

Present Simple vs. Present Continuous

Do you do it or are you doing it?

• Present Simple: Routines, facts, planned events in the near future, instructions.

Affirmative sentence: Subject + verb (+s) + the rest of the sentence.

Negative sentence: Subject + do not/ does not + main verb in the infinitive form + the rest of the sentence.

Yes/No Question: Do/Does + subject + main verb in hte infinitive form + the rest of the sentence.

Examples: He plays tennis.

                  She doesn't like going to the supermarket on Sundays.

                  Do you study tenses regularly?

• Present continuous: An action taking place at the moment of speaking.

Affirmative sentence: Subject + verb to be in the present (am/is/are) + main verb with -ing + the rest of the sentence.

Negative sentence: Subject + am/is/are not + main verb with -ing + the rest of the sentence.

Yes/No Question: Am/is/Are + subject + main verb with -ing + the rest of the sentence.

Examples: He is playing tennis right now.

                 She isn't studying at the moment.

                 Are you cleaning the bathroom? No, I am having a shower now.

Practice! - Past Tenses

Irregular verbs

Many English verbs are regular, which means that they form their different tenses according to an established pattern.

For example: Laugh: Laughs (3rd person singular present tense), laughed (past tense)

There are many irregular verbs that don’t follow the normal rules. Here are the forms of the most common irregular verbs. Please, have a look at them and try to study them.

If you want to practice regular and irregular verbs, click here.

Mixing the tenses! - Past simple and Past continuous

We often use the past continuous and the past simple tenses together. When this happens, the past continuous describes a longer, ‘background’ action or situation and the past simple describes the action or events.

• When I woke up this morning it was raining and my father was singing in the kitchen.
• I was walking home, whistling happily, when I saw two masked men run out of the bank.

Often, the ‘action’ described by the past simple tense interrupts the ‘situation’ described by the past continuous tense.

• I broke my leg when I was skiing.
• I was playing a computer game when the doorbell rang.

Notice that the past continuous describes ‘situations’ that go on for some time – ‘skiing’ and ‘playing’ but the past simple describes ‘actions’ that happen quickly – ‘broke’ and ‘rang’.

Notice too important differences between these two sentences:

• When they arrived, Jeff was cooking dinner. ➔ Jeff started cooking before they arrived.
• When they arrived, Jeff cooked dinner. ➔ Jeff started cooking dinner after they arrived.

Time expressions - Past Simple and Continuous

Use the Past Simple with:

• Ago: I saw that film two weeks ago.
• Last: Last month, I was on holiday.
• When: When did you see him? I saw him when I was in London.
• Then: I finished my work, then I drove home.

Use the Past Continuous with:

• While: I lost my wallet while I was walking home.
• When: I was having a shower when the phone rang.
• During: During the summer, I was working on a farm.

Past Simple vs Past continuous

Did you do it or were you doing it?

• PAST SIMPLE: A completed action in the past.

Structure of the sentence: Subject + verb (+ed) + the rest of the sentence.

Negative sentence: Subject + didn't  + verb in the infinitive form + the rest of the sentence.

Yes/No question: Did + subject + verb in the infinitive form + the rest of the sentence.

• PAST CONTINUOUS: An action that was taking place at some point in the past.

Structure of the sentence: Subject + verb to be in the past (was/were) + main verb with -ing + the rest of the sentence.

Negative sentence: subject + wasn't or weren't + main verb with -ing + the rest of the sentence.

Yes/No question: was/were + subject + main verb with -ing + rest of the sentence.

Welcome!

Welcome to the English I blog of Juan Bautista Berthier. I will post several exercises and explanations to practise what we learn in class. Feel free to enter whenever you want to check your knowledge or to revise some topic in which you feel insecure. Some exercises may be compulsory, so make sure that you enter regularly to check the blog.