When not to use ‘s’ after nouns when it looks/sounds like we should!  ..read more

Happy Christmas! It’s that time of year again when many of us prepare to celebrate Christmas. Traditionally, for Christians, it is about celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ approximately 2,000 years ago. However, Christmas has become an important time for celebrating with family and friends for both Christians and non-Christians. Let’s have a look at some of the ways we observe Christmas: Figurines: The Infant Jesus with Mary, Joseph, and an Angel   For over 2,000 years, Christians have celebrated the arrival on earth of a very remarkable person: Jesus of Nazareth.  We know a l ..read more

GERUNDS Gerunds are usually nouns but they are different from other nouns because they are made from verbs. ∗ Changing verbs into other forms: nouns or adjectives, for example, is common in many languages. Think about how your language changes verbs into other forms as you continue reading.  Gerunds are always singular: Cooking dinner takes a long time.                                                          Cooking is hard work. The ‘ing’ for ..read more

Photo by Mimi Thian, Unsplash Greetings English Learners! This will be my last Post for this year and I have decided to focus on common English words that many of you find difficult to pronounce. My students can usually pronounce these difficult words if I give them an easy keyword containing the same sound. For example, how would you pronounce the word ache? (Headache,  earache, toothache) It’s not easy, is it? However, I’m sure you can say make. Take off the m and you have the same sound: ..ake = ache. Easy!  Check-out the table below. The ..read more

Here’s another post from Vocabulary in Chunks that I hope you’ll enjoy. Listening to videos like these is easy English practice. I know that studying a language can be hard work so you need to find a way to enjoy it whenever possible. If you enjoy these videos, have a look at their other videos. As the name suggests, “Vocabulary in Chunks” focuses on teaching groups of English words together. This is the best way to learn new language. If you don’t understand some of the ‘chunks’, don’t translate single words. Translate the whole chunk and you will get a better explanation. First, try to work ..read more

English spelling is not easy for anyone learning English as a second language. It may surprise you to learn that many native English speakers are not good at spelling in their native language. They know that spelling is very important for writing a job application or an essay for university exams and bad spelling can make them seem to be uneducated or lacking basic English skills. The following spelling mistakes are more serious because they also reveal poor grammar. However, don’t worry! The grammar is basic and easily learnt. Let’s have a look at the problem words:    a) they ..read more

FORM  (have / has + past participle) Look at these sentences: Leo’s English improved when he started a course at Langports English College. His English is improving. His English has improved since he started at Langports. The first sentence gives information about the past, only the past. So we use the Past Simple: improved. We don’t know if Leo’s English continued to improve. We don’t know about his English now. The second sentence only gives information about what is happening now, what is in progress. So we use Present Continuous: is improving. (Present Continuous is also known as Pr ..read more

                          Making friends                                      Photo by Alexis Brown on Unsplash.com         This university graduate has high hopes.           Photo by Bùi Thanh Tâm on Unsplash.com The English language is full of collocations and idioms. By collocations, I mean words that naturally go together like ‘high hopes‘, ‘heavy rain‘, and ‘make friends ..read more

Weak words are commonly used in everyday English speech. Perhaps we are a little lazy. Perhaps we know that we convey meaning using our tone of voice. No doubt, you have similar common words in your language which are used often in speech. I don’t have a problem with this.  However, weak words are to be avoided in writing. Check out the following Infographic from www.grammarcheck.net and you will see what I mean. For more English Writing Infographics, click here.  If you would like to check out English Infographics about Grammar, Vocabulary, and more, click here ..read more

Nick Cave is a is an Australian singer, songwriter, author, and screenwriter. On his website, The Red Hand Files, he answers questions from fans, any questions about anything. In this post, I’m featuring his eloquent response to the questions: What is mercy for you? What do you think of cancel culture?  ∼∼∼∼∼∼∼∼∼∼∼∼∼∼∼∼∼∼ The Red Hand Files What is mercy for you? VALERIO, TURIN, ITALY   What do you think of cancel culture? FRANCES, LOS ANGELES, USA Dear Valerio and Frances, Mercy is a value that should be at the heart of any functioning and tolerant society. Mercy ultimately a ..read more