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vocabulary

Personality Type - Gemini

Average: 3.6 (33 votes)

Some people believe the signs of the Zodiac can tell us about our daily lives and the personality characteristics we posses.

People born between May 21 and June 20 are Gemini.

Just for fun (so don't take it too serious), here is a personality lesson based on the traditional description of Gemini people.

Gemini are extremely independent. Geminis have a strong sense of self and freedom is very essential to them.

Month Idioms

Average: 2.8 (82 votes)

January

It'll be a long day in January
Use it to describe something that will never happen. When hell freezes over has the same meaning.
It'll be a long day in January when you beat me at tennis.

March

Mad as a March hare
Acting crazy. Hares, which look like rabbits, just around and act crazy during their March breeding seson.
I like Jimmy but he acts as mad as March hare sometimes.

In the news: Sepp Blatter and FIFA

Average: 3.4 (21 votes)

Sepp Blatter, who has led FIFA (the world soccer's governing body) for 17 years, has announced he will be stepping _1_.

The Swiss was re-elected President last week, despite seven top Fifa officials being arrested in a huge corruption _2_.

Blatter had remained adamant he could clean _3_ the corrupt organisation, suddenly announced that he would _4_ from a position he has held since 1998.

Using the Past Perfect Tense

Average: 3.8 (164 votes)

The past perfect tense is used to express action completed in the past:

"She had eaten is an example of the tense."

The past perfect tense represents action that occurs BEFORE another past action:

"My boss had gone before I had the chance to see him."

How to Form the Past Perfect Tense

The past perfect tense uses had + the past participle of the main verb

"She had never tried surfing before she visited Australia."

English words that go together

Average: 3.6 (40 votes)

As you learn English, it's very important to develop an understanding of words that regularly occur together. Words that go together are called collocations. Knowing them will make your English sound more natural.

Choose the best collocation in these sentences:

In the news: Johnny Depp's Dogs!

Average: 3.4 (39 votes)

Hollywood actor Johnny Depp has been given an _1_ by Australia: Either send your pet dogs back home to the United States or they will be put _2_.

“There is a process if you want to bring animals: you get the permits, they go into _3_ and then you can have them,” said Agriculture Minister Barnaby Joyce.

Simple Past Tense Exercise

Average: 2.7 (430 votes)

Use the simple past tense to talk about actions that have already finished. It doesn't matter when in the past they happened or how long they happened for.

Take a look and compare the present tense verbs with simple past tense verbs in these two sentences.

Present:
I take my young brother to the park and buy him an ice-cream. We kick around a football, laugh and talk for hours.

Advanced Level - UK Elections

Average: 3.2 (27 votes)

What are the seven missing words in this short text about UK politics?

The people of Britain will step into _1_ booths on May 7 to choose their next government.

Opinion polls currently suggest no party will win an _2_ victory and another hung Parliament is likely. In this event current Prime Minister, David Cameron, would offer the Libral Democrat Party a repeat of the last five years in forming a _3_ government.

5 Heat Idioms

Average: 3 (129 votes)

It's heating up (the weather is getting warmer) here in Malta.

Do you know that heat up is also used to describe a situation that is becoming intense, or angry: "The conversation started to heat up so I decided to leave."

Here are five other heat related expressions.

Take the heat

If you can take the heat you can take criticism and handle stressful situations.

"Don't worry, if the project fails and the boss gets angry, I'll take the heat for us."

Find the 10 common mistakes

Average: 3.7 (228 votes)

Take a look at these ten sentences, there is one mistake in each one. Can you find all of them? Write your correct sentences in the comments area.