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Past Continuous

Average: 1.7 (860 votes)

waiting

'He was waiting for me when I got home.'

Why do we use the past continuous?

The past continuous (also known as the past progressive) is used to describe what we were doing a specific point in the past.

compare these two sentences:

Irregular Verb List

Average: 3.6 (66 votes)

 wrestling

'Fight / fought / fought'

Most  English verbs take -ed for the past tense or past participle. The problem is that many verbs do not follow this rule. Here is a good list of irregular verbs for you to refer to.

Add this page to your favourites so you can quickly find out those tricky verbs as and when you need to!

Past Simple Tense

Average: 3.8 (540 votes)

 

'Sandra picked an apple.'

The past simple tense is, of course, used to talk about things which have happened in the past. Here are a few points for you to review and rememeber

Past Simple is used to describe events which happened in the past.

'There' and 'Their'

Average: 1.5 (735 votes)

 There goes your brother!

'There goes your brother.'

English learners (and native English speakers) can get confused by these two words as they have the same pronunciation, but different spellings and meanings. Here's a review and a couple of hints to help you remember:

Their is a possessive adjective like 'her', 'his', or 'our'.

Present Simple and Present Continuous

Average: 3.2 (1144 votes)

New Update: EC offers various English courses, including online English speaking courses

I surf

'I surf / I am surfing.'

What's the difference between the Present Simple / Present Continuous and how to use them.

French expressions in English

Average: 2.7 (11 votes)

 

French phrases we use in English

The English language has taken 'loan words' and phrases from other languages which are now part and parcel of the language. Here are just a few examples of French expressions which we use in English.

Faux pas

Faux pas: An embarrassing small mistake. Usually used for social settings.

Summer - 'sun', 'shine' and 'summer' idioms

Average: 3.5 (11 votes)

 Stonehenge at sunrise

Stonehenge at sunrise.

The summer solstice, also known as ‘the longest day’, is celebrated this year on June 20, 2008. This day of the year  has the most hours of daylight and shortest night. In the Northern Hemisphere it always occurs in mid-June, while in the Southern Hemisphere it occurs in December.

Movie Lesson - Forgetting Sarah Marshall

Average: 1.8 (167 votes)

Watch this trailor for the movie Forgetting Sarah  Marshall then answer the multiple choice questions and finally click on 'show transcript' to read what was said.

How to use ‘if’ in conditional sentences

Average: 3.5 (165 votes)

If i won the lottery, I would...

In English we have four ways to make conditional (if) sentences. Here is how to make them...

0 Conditional – is used for scientific facts or general truths. ‘If’ can be substituted for ‘when’.

 ‘If you boil water to 100°C, it boils.’

Euro 2008- Football English (part 2)

Average: 1.5 (173 votes)

Football English

'The beautiful game!'

Do you know how to talk about football in English? Take our quiz!