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Grammar

Should Have + Past Participle

Average: 3.6 (173 votes)

We use should have + past participle to talk about things we regret.

I got really wet walking home last night, I should have taken an umbrella.

The speaker did not take an umbrella when she went out last night so she got wet. She regrets that she did not take her umbrella.

Regret (verb/noun) is to feel sorry about something that happened or did not happen in the past.

I should have called you sooner.

You should have spoken to me before deciding.

And, Or & But

Average: 3.4 (57 votes)

Conjunctions are used to groups of words, phrases and clauses together. The most common conjunctions are and, or and but.

And

And means also, added to:

Please speak slowly and clearly.

She plays piano and guitar.

Or

Or is used to introduce another possibility:

Shall we go to the cinema or bar?

Are you interested or not?

Storytelling - Simple Past Tense

Average: 3.5 (86 votes)

When we talk about past events we usually use the simple past tense. Read this famous children's story and change the simple tense verbs (in orange) to the simple past tense:

Jack and the Beanstalk

Once upon a time there _live_ a poor widow and her son Jack.

All they _have_ was a cow called Daisy.

When the cow _stop_ giving milk, Jack's mother _tell_ him to take their cow to the market and sell it.

Get Phrasal Verbs

Average: 4.5 (55 votes)

Check out this list of Phrasal verbs that begin with GET and find an explanation of each one with some examples:

Expressions of quantity

Average: 3.5 (158 votes)

Expressions of quantity tell us how many or how much of something there is.

Compare these two sentences:

We get a little rain in spring.
Many people live in London.

We use a little with non-countable nouns like rain, snow, pollution etc. We cannot use a little with countable nouns.

We use many with countable nouns like people, cars, chairs etc. We cannot use many with countable nouns.

Be Verbs

Average: 3.9 (322 votes)

Be verbs are am, are, is, was, were, been and being. We only only use be as to be.

"Be" verbs indicate a state of being.

Subject verb agreement

I am British.
He is lonely.
We are waiting.

Verb+not in negative sentences

I am not happy.
He is not a student.
We are not sleeping.

Be in questions

Use be at the start of questions.

Am I late?
Is he your brother?
Are we going?

Causative Verbs: Have, Let, Make

Average: 4 (84 votes)

What's the difference in meaning between these sentence? Pay particular attention to the bold verbs:

She's going to clean her room.

She's going to have her room cleaned.

I let her clean her room.

I made her clean her room.

Have, Let and Make

These three words are causative verbs. They show us that some person or thing helps to make something happen; they express what causes an action to happen.

Be, Do and Have Auxiliary Verbs

Average: 3.9 (57 votes)

Use auxiliary verbs before other verbs to form questions, passives and negative sentences, a compound tense or the passive. Auxiliary verbs are also known as helping verbs. These verbs give us more information about the main verb in a sentence often to give us more detail about time. That is why they are used in progressive and perfect tense sentences.

Although there are 23 'helping verbs' in English, which include modal verbs (will, can, should etc.), the three basic auxiliary verbs are:

May Day

Average: 4.4 (35 votes)

Read through this text and choose the correct missing words:

May Day on May 1 is a traditional spring festival and public holiday in many parts of the _1_ Hemisphere. On this day _2_ people would celebrate the end of winter and the return of spring. During the 20th century, traditional May Day celebrations _3_ in many countries as May 1 became associated with Iternational Workers' Day.

Past Perfect Tense

Average: 4.4 (45 votes)

Use the past perfect tense when referring to actions in the past that happened before another event in the past. It is used to talk about the past in the past.

I checked with the bank and they still hadn't received payment.

Subject + had + past participle

I had driven to work before you woke up.

We had gone before she arrived.

She had eaten breakfast.

Had you finished?

Had he taken you home?