Our most popular post is about questions with HOW. There is another post on all the WH question words. In this post I would like to deal with the questions starting with the word WHAT. To help you with this grammar there is a mind map and two games.
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Questions with the word WHAT – mind map
There are three set phrases which you should learn by heart: What happened? What is he like? and What does she look like?
The mind map clearly shows the usage of the word WHAT and it is designed in such a way that it can be used as a worksheet too. Your task is to write 10 correct questions starting with WHAT there.
Questions with the word WHAT – games
If you are using a mobile phone click here, to see it on the full screen.
Questions with WHAT – Mobile quizThe second game is in flash and it will play only on desktops. It is called Penalty and your task is to answer the questions and score. Could you be a professional footballer?? 🙂
Questions with WHAT – PenaltyHope, want and would like belong into the group of verbs which are followed by the infinitive. If you click the link above you can see a complete solution for these verbs for intermediate learners of English. In this post we would like to teach how to use only the three verbs HOPE, WANT and WOULD LIKE so it is suitable for elementary learners of English.
We are not going to explain the differences in meaning as these are very small and the best way about them is by consulting a bilingual dictionary. In this post we would like to deal with the grammar of these three verbs (they are followed by the infinitive with TO). There are two games, a mind map and a worksheet to practise or learn the given grammar point.
Verbs followed by TO infinitive – graphic
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If you are a teacher, you can ask your students to use the mind map above and make as many sentences as they are capable of. Of course, they will have to add some words to start and finish the sentences.
The second graphic features three jokes which contain the target structures and then the students should write their own jokes using the structures given.
Verbs followed by TO infinitive – games
The second game is called Tic-Tac-Toe. Your task is to drag the words into the correct places and then win the game. Place the crosses into such places to have three in a row. There is just one way to win the game. Can you find it?
Verb patterns – tic tac toeThis is another post in my series of simple grammar explanations for elementary and beginner learners of English. In this post I try to explain the usage of the possessive ‘s and ‘. There is a mind map and several exercises to check the students’ understanding of the grammar.
Possessive case – mind map
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If you think you understand the grammar, it is time to check out your understanding in the following games.
The first game is in HTML5 and you can play it on any mobile device you like. Your task is to pass the quiz and if you get more than 70% of all your answers correct you will get a chance to play the game called Angry finches. Good luck.
Possessive case – Quiz (HTML5)The second game is in flash and it will play only on your desktop. Your task is to choose the correct option and then win the fencing duel against the computer. Good luck!
Possessive case – Embed
There have been several requests from people who wanted to share the games on their website. If you think that the html5 quiz is awesome and you would like to share it with the rest of the world on your site, you can do it by embedding the following code on your site:
<iframe src=”https://engames.eu/possessive case/Possessive case_sharable (Web)/index.html” width=”720″ height=”560″></iframe>
Vocabulary for learners of English
Grammar is really important if you want to learn a new language. However, vocabulary is the essence of a language. That is why we have come up with a new site to learn a lot of vocabulary. It is called envocabulary and you can find it at http://www.envocabulary.eu. Enjoy and learn.
Many students struggle with the basic question words even when they are at pre-intermediate level. That is why I have come up with the following post. There is a mind map explaining the meaning of the question words with examples. Then there are two quizzes to practise the question words in a real context.
Question words – mind map
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I think that students should translate the question words into their mother tongue too.
Question words – quizzes
In the first quiz you should complete and create the questions. If you do it well you will get a chance to play several games. The first game is called visual memory and you have to remember all the coloured squares. Can you get over the level 5? I have never managed to get that far. If you pass the second quiz you will play the game Rock, paper and scissors. It is pretty difficult to win against the computer, but it is possible. And if you pass the third quiz you can race on the tracks.
The second quiz is fully in HTML5. If you pass the first quiz, you can play the game Angry finches and if you pass the second quiz you can play the game Tower Defence.
Question words – Quiz (HTML5)Question words – share
<iframe src=”https://engames.eu/question_words/Questionwordsflash_share (Web)/index.html” width=”720″ height=”560″></iframe>
<iframe src=”https://engames.eu/question_words/Questionwords_share2 (Web)/index.html” width=”720″ height=”560″></iframe>
Learn Vocabulary – envocabulary.eu
Category: Elementary, English games, Grammar
As I mentioned before, next year I am going to teach low level students, so I am trying to prepare some materials which I will be able to use with them. A week ago I wrote a post on the verb to be in affirmative and negative sentences. In this post I would like to explain the creation of questions with the verb to be.
[showmyads] In this post there is a mind map showing the usage of the verb to be in questions and then there are several pictures with examples. Under the pictures there is a simple quiz repeating what the students have just learnt. Then there are two quizes to practise the questions and short answers.
Questions with the verb TO BE – mind map
In the short answers you say YES/NO + the pronoun and the verb to be.
In the following picture you can see some examples of the questions:
Questions with the verb TO BE – games
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Questions with the verb to be – quiz
It was really easy, wasn’t is? Let us try something more difficult. Try to complete the questions in the following quiz. If you succeed you will get a chance to play the game Tower Defence. Good luck.
Verb to be – questions quiz
And now it is time to practise your short answers to the questions. Try the following quiz and if you pass it you will have a chance to play the game called Tic-Tac-Toe. Will you win?
Verb to be – short answers
This post is about common mistakes in English. There are two pieces of interesting research into learning and teaching English. One of them says that students learn more if someone else is corrected by the teacher than if they are corrected. The other found out that students learn and remember more vocabulary if the words are not connected in any way (they do not create so called lexical set).
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[showmyads]Combining these two findings it seems logical that students could learn and remember a lot if they were presented with a haphazard collection of someone else’s corrected mistakes. So, during an exam I collected several mistakes which I will present in a mind map and correct them and explain. I hope that students will learn a lot from these.
The post contains a mind map and two games to give the students a chance to learn from the mistakes other students made.
Common mistakes – mind map
Here are six mistakes my students made during an exam. The mistakes are in the bubbles closest to the center. In the second bubble there is the correct version of the given sentence and there is an explanation at the end of each branch.
If you think you will never make these mistakes, you can try the following games:
Common mistakes – games
The first game is an HTML5 quiz. Try to choose only the correct sentences and if you pass the test you can play the game called Tower Defence. Both of these can be played on your mobile phone or iPad.
If you want to display the quiz in a new window click on the button below:
Common mistakes – QuizThe second game will play only on your desktop as it is in Flash. It is called Hoopshoot and your task is to choose a correct sentence and then score a basket. Good luck.
Next school year I am going to teach low level students, so I started to prepare materials for them. The first one deals with the verb to be in affirmative and negative sentences.
The verb to be is the most important verb in English. You need it all the time. That is why solid knowledge of this grammar is vital. Spend your time learning this grammar it will pay off.
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In this post you will find a mind map and two games for elementary students. I tried to limit the vocabulary, so even a complete beginners would be able to do the exercises.
VERB TO BE – mind map
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VERB TO BE – games
If you are viewing the post on your mobile device, click on the button below to open the quiz in a new window, which is more comfortable.
The second game is in Flash and thus it will not play on your mobile device. The game is called on Target and your task is to choose the correct form of the verb TO BE and then shoot all the bad ducks. Do not forget that you can get a bonus if you shoot any of the bottles.
Are you going to teach or learn the form “BE GOING TO” for expressing future? This post might come handy. There is a mind map explaining all the forms: Affirmative sentences, negative sentences and questions.
This post is especially designed for elementary students who need to learn the form. There are two games to practise the form too.
Be going to –Â mind map
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Be going to – games
The first game is called Reaction. Your task is to complete the sentences with be going to and then click on the ugly frog as quickly as you can. The quicker you click the more points you are going to get.
The second game is a quiz. If you answer all the questions correctly you will be able to play the game called Indiara. Good luck.
Yesterday I learnt Spanish and when I tried to reconstruct a text I found out that I do not remember the small words like articles and prepositions. They were so small that I did not pay enough attention to them to remember them.
Interestingly my students have similar problems with prepositions in English. Therefore I have decided to add more posts on prepositions here to help them.
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There have already been several posts on prepositions: Adjectives and prepositions, Nouns and prepositions and verbs and prepositions.
In this post you can find a mind map and two games. Unfortunately the games aren’t mobile friendly.
Verbs and prepositions – mind map
Verbs and prepositions – games
The second game is called Teacher invaders. To stop the invasion you have to shoot all the monsters and complete each sentence with the best preposition available.
Prepositions InvadersCategory: Elementary, English games, Grammar
Many verbs in English are often followed by the same preposition. Therefore it is best to learn them togehter from the beginning. However, even if you do this it is neccessary to sum it up from time to time.
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[showmyads]The following summary was created for my elementary students of English and it contains the verbs they know which are often followed by the prepositions FOR, ABOUT, AT and TO.
In this post you can find a mind map and two games to practise the usage of the given preposition.
Prepositional pharses – mind map
The following mind map graphically shows the verbs which are used with the prepositions FOR, ABOUT, TO and AT.
Verbs and prepositions – games
Once you memorise all the verbs and prepositions that follow them you can try the following games. In the first game you should complete the sentences with the correct preposition. If you succeed you can play the game Highway Race. In this game you try to avoid all the cars on the highway. The best result has been 50,000 points. Can you do better?
The second game is a classic. It is called Teacher Invaders and your task is to shoot all the invaders before they destroy the whole planet. However, from time to time the game is interrupted and you have to complete a sentence with the correct preposition. Good luck.
More posts on prepositions
If you liked this post and you feel that you need to practise the prepositions more you might like the following posts on our site.
Do you think that we should create some more posts? Please leave a comment and we might do it.
First conditional is very similar to time clauses. However, I would say that first conditional is easier than time clauses.
First conditional is used if we speak about two possibilities in the future. After the conjunction IF we use present simple tense and in the other clause we use WILL. You can see the explanation in the mind map below and then you can try a quiz to practise this simple grammar.
First conditional – mind map
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The most important thing to remember is, that you cannot use WILL after IF.
First conditional – game
In this game you have to solve the quiz first and then you can play the game Visual memory. In this game you see some coloured squares and your task is to remember them and later click on them. While the game is quite easy at the beginning, it soons becomes really difficult and my best score is 420 points. Can you do better?
There are many ways to speak about future in English. We have already dealt with two ways here. In the first blog we tried to distinguish between Will and MAY and Might on the basis of certainty that an event will happen.
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In this post I would like to demonstrate the difference between WILL and BE GOING TO. BE GOING TO is used when we speak about our plans while WILL is used for decisions made at the moment of speaking.
To give you a better chance to understand the difference between the two tenses there is an interactive video (based on BBC Grammar challenge), a mind map and two games.
Future tenses – interactive video
Watch the video and answer the questions. If you answer correctly the video will continue. If you answer wrongly you will hear the part again. Give it a try. WILL and BE GOING TO – interactive video
Future tenses – mind map
Future tenses – games
WILL and BE GOING TO – On Target In the second game you have to write the correct future form (WILL or GOING TO). If you get more than 60% of all the forms correct, you can play the game Hot Race. Enjoy.
WILL and BE GOING TO – Hot Race
Future tenses in English – share
Category: Elementary, English games, Grammar, Listening
I remember struggling with this grammar when I was at secondary school. As it is possible to translate the words IF and WITH with the same word in my mother tongue I couldn’t see the difference in English.
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To help my students avoid this problem I have created the following mind map and several games. I hope they will help you too.
WHEN or IF – mind map
WHEN or IF – games
IF or WHEN – Speedway Race The second game is called Hoopshoot. Your task is to choose the correct option and then hit the basket with the ball. Good luck.
IF or WHEN – Hoop shoot game
Category: Elementary, English games, Grammar
Recently I have been dealing with the modal verbs. First I created a mind map depicting all the modals in present and past tenses. That post was suitable for intemediate students. Then I wrote a post about the modal verbs Must and Should which was for elementary students.
In this post I would like to add the verb HAVE TOÂ and explain its usage in English. This explanation is aimed at elementary students. At the end of the post there are two games to practise the modal verbs.
Have to – mind map
The triangles show the way HAVE TO forms sentences and the images on the right show the meaning of the verbs.
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Have to – games
HAVE TO – Quiz The second game is called Reaction. Your task is to complete the sentences with the correct form of the verb HAVE. If you complete the sentences correctly, you will have to click on the ugly frog as quickly as possible. The quicker you click on the frog the better. My personal record is 18,250 points.
HAVE TO – Reaction
This is one of the easiest grammar points for the Czech students because in their mother tongue there exists a structure which is similar to infinitive of purpose. Because of this, I am not going to spend too much time and energy on this grammar point.
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There is just a mind map explaining and demonstrating the infinitive of purpose and a game where you can practise the grammar.
Infinitive of purpose – mind map
Infinitive of purpose – a game
This post deals only with the basic usage of the modal verbs SHOULD and MUST. I have recently written a post on Modal verbs. This post was aimed at intermediate students and it demonstrated the usage and meaning of all the modal verbs in present and past tenses.
You can find here a graphical presentation of the usage of the verbs SHOULD and MUST and several completely new games to practise the usage of these verbs.
SHOULD and MUST – mind map
Here is the graphical presentation of the two modal verbs:
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SHOULD and MUST – games
This time there are three different games to practise the two verbs. All the games are completely new and in one case there is more playing than learning.
The first game is called Reaction. Your task is to answer each question by filling in SHOULD or SHOULDN’T. If you answer correctly you have to wait till the frog appears. Once it appears, your task is to click on it as quickly as you can. My record is 18,250. Will you be better?
SHOULD – Racing game In the third game you have to complete the sentences with MUST or MUSTN’T. If you complete the whole exercise correctly, you can play the game Rock, Scissors and Paper. Can you beat the computer?
MUST – Rock, scissors and paper
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In English there are many ways to speak about future and at the same time there are many grammarians who claim that there is nothing like a future tense in English. I do not want to discuss this issue here, I would only like to present two ways of speaking about future.
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First I will introduce the basic system of future tenses in English according to the speaker’s certainty. The tenses presented at the bottom of the pyramid are the least certain to happen. The tenses at the top of the pyramid are the most certain.
MAY/MIGHT and WILL – mind map
MAY/MIGHT and WILL – GAMES
Will and Might – On Target In the second game you should choose the correct form again and score a basket. Good luck.
Will and Might – Hoop shoot
Category: Elementary, English games, Grammar
Comparative is used when you want to compare two things. For example one person is tall and the other is short. So you will say: Person A is taller than person B. OR Person B is shorter than person A.
You can see some more examples below in the picture.
Grammar explanation – mind map
If the adjective has two or more syllables and it does not end with “Y” then it is a long adjective and you have to add “more” or “most” in front of the adjective.
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Irregular adjectives
You have to learn the following adjectives.
good – better – the best
bad – worse -the worst
far – futher / farther – the furthest / the farthest
little – less – the least
Games
Comparatives and superlatives – Teacher invaders
In the second game you have to complete the sentences with the correct form of the adjective.
Comparatives and superlatives – PenaltySome time ago I presented here an infographics on present perfect tense. This infographic contains a lot of interesting information but when I tried to teach the present perfect tense using it, I found out that I failed. That is why I have prepared this new one where I try to introduce the form and the basic usage of the present perfect tense.
To teach the grammar successfully though the students have to know the past participles. You can learn present past participles here. There is mind map and three games to learn 40 of them.
Present perfect tense – mindmap
This mind map shows the form of present perfect tense and the basic usage.
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Present perfect tense – RAP
We have used a rap before to explain the grammar. You can see the explanation of the present simple and present continuous tenses here and the rap presentation of past participles here.
Play this rap after reading the graphics above and it should help you memorise the form and the usage of the grammar.
Present perfect tense – practise
And now it is time to practise the grammar. Try the following video. Watch and use the words on the screen to make a sentence in the present perfect tense.Â
You can play other games for example here in our post Present perfect basic.
Conclusion
I hope this post helped you understand the usage and form of the present perfect tense better. You can find more grammar posts on our blog. For example, there is a post on Second conditional or creation of questions starting with HOW. Enjoy.
Last week I taught passive and present perfect tense. I thought that I was well prepared but in both cases we encountered one big problem. The students could not form the past participles correctly. So they fought with the past participles and completely ignored the grammar taught.
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So now I know that we have to deal with past participles before we return to the two grammatical points again. That is why I have prepared this post. Here the students can learn and practise the past participles of 40 irregular verbs. It is not a full list but, it is better than nothing. There is a rap to start the lesson, there is a mind map and several games to practise the verbs. I hope you will find these useful too.
Past participles – RAP
Watch and follow the video. You can sing along if you dare.
Past participles – mind map
Here I try to track some regularities in forming the past participles in English. These rules are based on the pronunciation.
 Past participles – GAMES
In this section of the post you can practise the 40 past participles in different games. First of them is called Fling the Teacher and your task is to choose the correct past participle. If you get all 15 questions correct your teacher will be fired. Good luck.
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The second game is called En Garde. Your task is to choose the correct past participle and then hit your opponent. Kill him sooner than he does the same to you.
The third game has already been presented on our site. It is called Teacher invaders and your task it to kill all the invaders and write the past participles of the verbs displayed. Enjoy.