Twelve o’clock, midday, noon or midnight? All are correct. Giving the time and understanding it should be easy but because there are a few ways to say the same time it can be difficult. Use 12-hour clock when speaking Only the army and people working in transport use 24-hour clock in speech to tell the … [Read more…]
YouTube is an excellent way to learn English in small clips from popular movies. Here are a couple of examples. Don’t be afraid to repeat the clips over and over. High Fidelity – “I haven’t seen Evil Dead 2 yet.” Present perfect and the adverb ‘yet’. Speed – “There’s a bomb on a bus.” Practice … [Read more…]
Sometimes you aren’t studying English. This is certainly true when you are studying for tests like TOEIC, TOEFL and IELTS you study specialised kinds of English. What you study depends on the test. TOEIC tests English for business (as well as everyday English). TOEFL and IELTS test academic English. The best ways to study for … [Read more…]
It is important to know word families for standardized tests like TOEIC, TOEFL, IELTS and Eiken. However, word families are not only important for those tests; they give you the ability to choose a different form of a word you know that is similar to a word you are trying to remember but cannot. In … [Read more…]
A lot of false shortcuts are taught to English students. Lots of words and phrases are said to be “the same” because it is quicker to teach them to beginning and intermediate learners without explaining them. ‘Even if’ and ‘even though’ are not the same but teachers often say they are. In this first example, … [Read more…]
A lot of students have problems using articles, the short words a, an and the. Remember: A/an means one single thing The means one particular thing or some particular things/stuff or things we know and are talking about (or sometimes about animal or plant species. No article means any things/ stuff. A and an are … [Read more…]
A lot of people have problems with using transitive verbs correctly. I often hear things like the following errors: I didn’t enjoy. Yes, I like. He needs. The reason these are wrong is that they are transitive verbs. This just means that they need an object to make sense. Some of the biggest sources of … [Read more…]
One thing a lot of people have problems with when describing time and action relationships is choosing the right preposition. Here is a quick guide. on + date or day I will arrive on 26th September. Could you meet me on Thursday? in + time period, such as seasons, times of day and months Let’s … [Read more…]