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When to use 'a' & 'an'

Average: 2.1 (975 votes)

 

Cambridge: a university / an university?

You were probably taught at school ‘an’ should be followed by a vowel (a,e,i,o,u) and a should be followed by a consonant:

an elephant
a car

Unfortunately, this is not always true!

Music Lesson - Scarlett Johansson 'Falling Down'

Average: 1.6 (234 votes)

 

 


Watch this video and then do the exercise.

Football English

Average: 2.4 (22 votes)

 

The European Championships are well underway.

 This time there are no British teams in the final, but there is probably a lot of English being spoken by supporters from around Europe in Switzerland and Austria. Here are some expressions we use to talk about the 'beautiful game'.

How to use 'whose' and ' who's'

Average: 2 (353 votes)

 Whose bag is this?

'Whose/who's bag is this?'

How to use 'Its' or 'It's'

Average: 3.4 (58 votes)

 

Its confusing, or it's confusing?

Do you know when we should use its and it’s?

It's

The word it's is always used as a short form of it is.

‘It’s a red umbrella.’

Phrasal Verbs using 'take' (part 1)

Average: 2 (278 votes)

 

'Marie decided to take up the violin.'

 

‘Take’ appears in many phrasal verbs. Here are several uses of the verb. In the future, we will be looking at other examples, but first try and memorise these.

What's the difference between 'look', 'see' & 'watch'?

Average: 3.3 (149 votes)

 

'Look', 'see' and 'watch' can easily confuse students of English as they all relate to actions done with our eyes. The difference between the three verbs can be explained in the following way...see if you can undertand!
 
  

Look - to look at something for a reason, with an intention.

Collocations - words we use with 'make'

Average: 3.6 (49 votes)

'Try not to make too much noise.'

'Make' is a useful  English verb that can often be found with the words shown below. These are all common  uses of the verb 'make'.

Make a note of any new words and try to write them out in sentences and use them when you are speaking.

'Make' Collocations

What's the difference between 'wake up' & 'get up'?

Average: 3.5 (54 votes)

The two phrasal verbs 'get up' and 'wake up' are similar, but different.

When your alarm rings in the morning you 'wake up' as you are no longer sleeping.

'Get up' means that you get out of bed.

'I  wake up at 7am, but i don't get up until 7:30.'

 

A Tom Swifty

Average: 1.8 (140 votes)

This play on words is known as a 'Tom Swifty'. It is a type of pun (joke) that plays on the relationship between the adverb and an action spoken in the dialogue. The sentence is usually in reported speech. Tom Swifty is a character who appears in a series of adventure stories written by the author Edward Stratemeyer. The pun in this case is on the adverb 'abstractly' as modern art is sometimes abstract.