The Irregular Verbs Badget Awards

Students of 3rd year continue to play the Irregular Verbs Snakes and Ladders Game! Depending on their expertise, they have been awarded with one badget or another. Have an eye at the photographs!

Treeeater. A Short Dialogue by 1est ESO Students

A short dialogue by the two groups of 1rst ESO. Pumpkins dubbed by our students. Enjoy!

1rst ESO-A, Group 1: Nayab, Edi, Hussain, Suleman, Noreen & the teacher.

1rst ESO-A, Group 2: Gabi, Blal, Suhana, Beenish, Antonia & Jero.

1rst ESO-B, Group 1: Hajra, Sanwal, Coral, Dylan, Abdul & Luis.

1rst ESO-B, Group 2: Shamir, Saira, Amir, Fany, María & Jero.

The Past Simple: Some Videos

Here you have some short videos explaining some aspects about this tense.

Practice past simple with Mr Bean 

Rules to learn how to use this tense

The Present Continuous. Form and Uses

The present continuous tense is formed from the present tense of the verb be and the present participle (-ing form) of a verb:

Use

1. We use the present continuous tense to talk about the present:

·         for something that is happening at the moment of speaking:

I’m just leaving work. I’ll be home in an hour.
Please be quiet. The children are sleeping.

·         for something which happens again and again:

It’s always raining in London.
They are always arguing.
George is great. He’s always laughing.

Note: We normally use always with this use.

2. We use the present continuous tense to talk about the future:

·     for something which has been arranged or planned:

Mary is going to a new school next term.
What are you doing next week?

Verb "To Have Got"

Form and basic uses

Have got is often used in conversation and in less formal writing with the same meaning as have.

I have got three children.

You have got a problem.

Have got, has got, and had got are not usually pronounced in full. When you write down what someone says, you usually write 've got, 's got, or 'd got.

I've got her address.

He's got a beard now.

They'd got a special grant from the Institute.

Have got is not used in formal written English, and is less common in American English than British English. The -ed participle for all the meanings below is got (not gotten) in both British and American English.

You cannot use have got for all meanings of have. You use it when you are talking about a situation or state, but not when you are talking about an event or action. For example, you say 'I've got a new car', but not 'I've got a bath every morning'.

Have got is usually used in the present tense. You don't usually use have got in future or past forms. Instead, you use have.

Will you have time to eat before you go?

I had a cold and couldn't decide whether to go to work.

Possession

Have got is most commonly used to talk about possession, relationships, and qualities or features.

I've got a very small house.

She's got two sisters.

He's got a lovely smile.

It's a nice town. It's got a beautiful cathedral.

Verb "To Have Got": Activities

Some activities to practise this verb:

• Vitutor
• English Exercises
•  Ejercicios Inglés Online
• 5 exercises from Ejercicio de inglés.com

The Present Continuous. Activities

Here you have a bunch of online activities to practise the Present Continuous.

• From Eclectic English
• From  English Hilfen
• From Curso de Inglés
• From My English Pages
• Lots of sorted exercices from Agenda Web
• A game from  ESL Games

Conditional Sentences

"Since" & "For" for Time

Phrasal Verbs with "To Come"

Past Perfect Simple

The past perfect simple expresses an action taking place before a certain time in the past.

FORM OF PAST PERFECT SIMPLE

	Positive	Negative	Question
no differences	I had spoken.	I had not spoken.	Had I spoken?

For irregular verbs, use the past participle form . For regular verbs, just add ed.

Exceptions in Spelling when Adding ed

Exceptions in Spelling when Adding ed	Example
after final e, only add d	love – loved
final consonant after a short, stressed vowel or l as final consonant after a vowel is doubled	admit – admitted travel – travelled
final y after a consonant becomes i	hurry – hurried

USE OF PAST PERFECT

• ACTION TAKING PLACE BEFORE A CERTAIN TIME IN THE PAST (PUTTING EMPHASIS ONLY ON THE FACT, NOT THE DURATION)

EXAMPLE: BEFORE I CAME HERE, I HAD SPOKEN TO JACK.

• CONDITIONAL SENTENCES TYPE III (CONDITION THAT WAS NOT GIVEN IN THE PAST)

EXAMPLE: IF I HAD SEEN HIM, I WOULD HAVE TALKED TO HIM.

SIGNAL WORDS

already, just, never, not yet, once, until that day (with reference to the past, not the present)

The Imperative Form

You can use the imperative form to give an order, a warning, or some advice.
To form the imperative, use the infinitive form of the verb without "to". To make a negative imperative, put "do not" or "don't" in front of the verb, as in, "Don't speak!"

Affirmative	Negative
Come here	Don't cross the street
Go there	Don't say that
Open the door	Don't be late
Turn on the TV	Don't fight
Sit down	Don’t go

The imperative is formed the same for all subjects (you, he, we, they), but you can include yourself in the imperative by adding "Let's," as in, "Let's go for a swim".

Affirmative	Negative
Let's work!	Let’s not work!
Let's make a party!	Let's not make a party!
Let's go!	Let's not go!
Let's play!	Let's not play!
Let's go home!	Let's not go home!

Activities:

• Englisch-Hilfen exercise 1.
• Englisch-Hilfen exercise 2.
• To Learn English exercise 1.
• To Learn English exercise 2.
• To Learn English exercise 3.
• To Learn English exercise 4.
• To Learn English exercise 5.
• English Grammar Secrets excercise 1.
• English Grammar Secrets excercise 2.
• English Grammar Secrets excercise 3.
• English Grammar Secrets excercise 4.

Could & Couldn't Activities

Some activities to review the modals could, couldn't and was able to:

• From the English Club: Activity 1 - Activity 2
• Two games from the British Council.
• English Grammar Lessons.
• A quizz by English Zone.
• From AutoEnglish.
• An exercise by English Power.
• Fill in the gaps with English Exercises.
• English Grammar Secrets offers 2 activities: Excerise 1 - Exercise 2 
• One activity by Englisch-Hilfen.

Could & Couldn't

Could and couldn’t are modal auxiliary verbs. Could and couldn’t are the past tense forms of can and can’t.

We use could and couldn’t to:

• talk about past possibility or ability
• make requests

Structure

subject + could/couldn’t + main verb

The main verb is always the infinitive without "to".

	subject	auxiliary verb	main verb
+	My grandmother	could	swim.
-	She	could not	walk.
		couldn't
?	Could	your grandmother	swim?

Uses

Past Possibility or Ability

We use could to talk about what was possible in the past, what we were able or free to do:

• I could speak English when I was 5 years old.
• My grandmother could swim.
• When we arrived home, we couldn't open the door.
• Could you understand what he was saying?

We use could (positive) and couldn't (negative) for general ability in the past. But when we talk about one special occasion in the past, we use be able to (positive) and couldn't (negative).

	Past
	General	Specific Occasion
+	My grandmother could speak Spanish.	A man fell into the river yesterday. The police were able to save him.
-	My grandmother couldn't speak Spanish.	A man fell into the river yesterday. The police couldn't save him.

Requests

We often use could in a question to ask somebody to do something. The use of could in this way is fairly polite (formal):

• Could you tell me where the bank is, please?
• Could you send me a catalogue, please?