Tag: English grammar

Videos to Teach the Past Simple Tense
Videos to Teach the Past Simple Tense

Recently I have created a set of videos to teach the past simple tense in English. There is a video that helps students learn to form the past tense in the following situations:

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Verb to BE – negative form
Verb to BE – negative form

In the previous two lessons, students learnt affirmative of the verb to be. They learnt the long and the short forms so now it is time to teach the negative form of the verb to be. But before we teach anything new, it is necessary to practise what they learnt in the previous lessons.

First, practise the subject pronouns in the following video. It should be easy for your students by now, so you can set the speed of the video higher, to make it more challenging.
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Second, repeat the affirmative using the following video. Students need to say the correct long form of the verb to be before they hear the correct answer.

Third, revise the short forms using the following video. Students see a sentence and their task is to read the sentence aloud and complete it with the correct short form of the verb to be.

Fourth, play the following dictation to your students. Students listen and write what they hear. The correct text will appear at the end of the video and students need to correct their answers on their own. The dictation introduces the negative forms.

Fifth, explain the grammar using the following graphic organiser.

Verb to be negative form

You can find the printable version of the infographic here:

Verb to be negative form infographic

Sixth, print the following handout and give one copy to each pair of students. Students cut the columns 1, 2 and 3 into cards.  Students shuffle the cards and their task is to match the pictures to the pronouns and the pronouns to the verbs to be. Teacher checks the answers.

Seventh, students cut the column 4 and put the pictures aside. They are going to play the following memory game. They turn all the cards face down. Students work in pairs and they take turns. One of the students turns three cards. If he/she is able to create a grammatically correct sentence which consists of three colours (black, red and blue), they can keep the cards.  The winner is the student who collects most cards.

Eighth, students watch the following video. Their task is to say the correct sentence using the negative form of the verb to be before they hear it.

You can see the whole lesson in the following mind map.

Verb to be negative form lesson plan

When I teach the verb to be again – Lesson 2 – Short Forms
When I teach the verb to be again – Lesson 2 – Short Forms

In the previous lesson, I taught the affirmative of the verb TO BE and now it is time to revise the grammar and explain the short forms.

First, we need to revise. Students need to revise a lot, or they will forget. So let’s start with revising the pronouns. Play, the following video. First, students listen and repeat and then they say the correct pronouns before they hear the correct answer.

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Second, play the next video. Now, the students need to supply the correct form of the verb to be. Students need to read the whole sentences.

Third, hand out the cards from the previous lesson and students play the memory game.

Fourth, the teacher explains the short forms using the graphic organizer from the previous lesson.

Fifth, students stand up and they make sure that there is enough space around them. Play the following video. Students now listen and point to the form of the sentence they hear. If they hear a short form they point to the right and if they hear a long form they point to the left. To make it more competitive, sit down those who make a mistake or hesitate for too long.

Sixth, play the following video and students repeat the sentence they hear, but they must supply the short form of the verb to be.

Seventh, hand out the following worksheet. As my students are very tactile and they love touching things, I created the following worksheet. Print it out (both pages on one piece of paper) and hand it out. Students cut the worksheet and now they can model the short forms by folding the slips correctly. If they fold them well, the short form will cover the long form precisely. In this way, they see the formation of the short form.

It is a good idea to repeat the most popular activities at the end of the lesson.

I hope you like the ideas which I share here and that they will come hand when you teach the verb to be.

Past continuous tense – usage
Past continuous tense – usage

In our previous post, we tried to explain how to form the past continuous tense in English. In this post, we will try to show you when you should use the past continuous tense.

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SVOMPT – Word Order in English
SVOMPT – Word Order in English

The SVOMPT rule is the most important rule in English. As there are very few declinations in English, the word order rule is the one that keeps the sentences understandable. If you do not apply this rule, your sentences will make no sense.

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Unfortunately, there are very few textbook that teach this grammar explicitly. For example, I teach the textbooks Happy House, Happy Street, Project, Inside Out and Headway and none of them teaches SVOMPT. The rule is taught only implicitly. But I think that this is so important that you need to teach it explicitly. Thus, if your textbook fails to do so, set apart two lessons and teach this rule.

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To make your work easier, you will find an infographic and a worksheet which you can use in your lessons here.

SVOMPT – explanation


To explain the basic rule you can use the following infographic which I published several years ago. It is nice and comprehensive but for some students it might be a bit overwhelming. (You can find the whole post on SVOMPT here.)

SVOMPT word order mind map

This time I try to make things a bit easier and I created the following infographic.

SVOMPT simple infographic

When explaining the rule, emphasize that you cannot leave out the subject. You have to express it and it has to be followed by the action that the subject makes. After the action object follows. Object is the thing that has been somehow affected by the action. Then the adverbs follow.

Students have to remember that each sentence has to contain the SUBJECT and VERB. The other parts might or might not be there.

SVOMPT worksheet


To practise the grammar, here is a worksheet with three exercises.

In the first exercise, students circle the sentences that are correct. You might use the exercise before the explanation.

In the second exercise, students place the word in brackets into the correct position.

In the third exercise, students put the words into the correct order.

In the last exercise, students write sentences about the animals, using the words in the pictures.

Reported Questions – learn this grammar
Reported Questions – learn this grammar

Reported speech is not easy but when it comes to reported questions students go mad. “There are so many rules to apply,” they whimper. “First, you have to change the question into an announcement and then you have to shift the tenses.” That was why I tried to simplify this procedure.

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In this post, you will find an infographic which simplifies reporting questions and then there is a worksheet with three exercises, where your students can practise this grammar.
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Reported questions – infographic


Display the infographic below and explain how it works.

The first two columns are important. The third and the fourth columns contain just examples.

If the students are asked to report a question, they start with the green column. Their first task is to find and destroy the words in this column. They look at the question they should report and search for one of the words. Once they find it, they destroy it and move to the right. They place the appropriate word from the orange column behind the subject and they are done.

They might need to make one more step, though. If the question does not start with a WH… word, they have to add IF or WHETHER at the beginning of the question.

reported-questions-web

Reported questions – worksheet


Print the following worksheet for your students. The pdf file contains the exercises and the key.

Reported questions worksheet

In the first exercise, students match the reported questions with the direct questions.

In the second exercise, students should report the questions.

In the third exercise, students transform the reported questions into direct questions.

More materials


If you liked this post, you may like two more posts on reported speech which I created. The first one is called Reported speech Backshifting and the other is called Reported speech.

A SOME THE ANY AN
A SOME THE ANY AN

When you teach the concept of countability in English, students have to learn to use the words A, SOME, THE, ANY, AN in front of the nouns correctly. To decide correctly, students have to take several mental steps.In this post I explain the mental process and I offer your students a chance to practise it in several games.
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In this post you will find a simple infographic, which explains the thinking process. Moreover, there are three brand new games in which students can practise the grammar.

A SOME THE ANY AN – infographic


To decide correctly which word should be used in front of the given noun, students should ask the following questions in this order:
A SOME THE ANY AN infographic

If the students have already spoken about the thing, then we have to use the article THE. If not, then they have to ask whether the noun is in plural or uncountable. If any of the answers is Yes, then two more questions have to be asked. Is the sentence a request or an affirmative sentence? If the answer is YES, then SOME have to be used. If the answer is NO, then ANY have to be used.

If the noun is not in plural or uncountable, then A or AN is used. AN is used if a vowel is pronounced at the beginning of the noun. Otherwise A is used.

The process might seem a bit complicated when you read the text, but my students found it very easy when they could use the infographic.

A SOME THE ANY AN – games


To practise the grammar, I created three brand new games. All the games are in HTML5 and they will play on desktops and mobile devices.

The first game is called Shooting Game. Your task is to read the sentence and shoot the correct answer. To shoot the word, just click it. Speed matters and you will see your score at the end of the game. Will you be better than me?

Shooting Game

The second game is called Dice Game. Your task is to type A, SOME, THE, ANY or AN (do not use the capital letters) and then stop the dice. The more points the dice show the more points you get. Moreover, if both the dice show the same number, you get a bonus – 10 points.

Dice Game


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The third game is called Time Guess. Your task is to complete the sentence with the correct word and then click the button STOP at the moment you think the countdown got to zero. The closer to zero you get the more points you get.

Time Guess


Poll – Which game do you like best?


Which game do you like best?

Common mistakes – present simple
Common mistakes – present simple

After teaching present simple to my elementary students, we wrote a test and I collected the most common mistakes my students made. I analysed the mistakes and prepared games and exercises to help my students learn from their mistakes.

In this post there is an infographic with all the mistakes, their corrections and explanations. Then there is a worksheet with 4 exercises, two games and an online quiz to practise the most difficult aspects of the present simple tense.

Common mistakes – present simple – infographic


In the following infographic there are all the most common mistakes my students make in the present simple tense. I have divided the mistakes into three categories. First, my students struggle with questions (they often forget to use DO/DOES). Second, their negative sentences frequently miss something. And last but not least, they still do not stick to the SVOMPT word order.

In the mind map there are all the wrong sentences, their corrections and in blue ink there is an explanation why the sentence was wrong.
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Common mistakes in the present simple tense

Common mistakes – present simple – worksheet


Some might find it attractive to start the lesson with the mind map but I do it differently. I use an activity which I found in the book by Scott Thornbury called Teaching Unplugged. I copy all the wrong sentences – each on a separate piece of paper – and I place the sentences around the classroom. Students take a sheet of paper and a pen or pencil and go around the classroom. Their task is to copy and correct the sentences on the sheet. They can help each other. I stop the activity after ten minutes and then I elicit their corrected sentences.

Only after this activity I display the infographic and explain the mistakes.

Then it is time to hand out the following worksheet:

Common mistakes in present simple tense worksheet

In the worksheet there are four exercises. The first one is slightly unusual. First the students have to decide where the verbs go and then they have to put the words into the correct order. The rest of the exercises are all standard exercises.

Common mistakes – present simple – games

The first game is called Penalty Shootout. In this game you should choose the correct form and then try to score a goal. Good luck.
As the game is in Flash, it will only play on desktop computers.
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Present simple – Penalty game


To practise the present simple tense you can play the following game. Its name is En Garde. Your task is to choose the correct answer and then stop the target as close to the centre as possible. Hopefully, you will be faster and more accurate then your opponent. The game is in Flash and will play only on desktops:

Present simple – En Garde game

The following quiz can help your students practise the past simple tense at home. The quiz consists of two parts. In the first part, students should put the words into the correct order. In the second part, students have to put the verbs into the correct form. Students will be rewarded with a game after each part of the quiz they pass. The quiz is in HTML5, so it will play on all desktops and mobile devices.

Present simple tense – quiz

Verb to be
Verb to be

The verb TO BE is the most important verb in English. Unfortunately, it is the most irregular verb in English, too. However, as all students of English manage to master its forms in the end, there is no reason to dispair. This mastery comes through practise.

In this post I would like to share with you several several exercises and games in which your students can practise the verb. There are about 90 different sentences in which students should use the verb TO BE. The vocabulary is limited so that students with a vocabulary of 100 words will be able to do the exercises.

In this post there is an infographic, a worksheet, an online quiz and two games. I hope it is enough and your students will learn the forms of the verb to be.

Verb to be – infographic


In the following infographic all the affirmative and negative forms are covered. The lower part gives a simple rule of thumb to help your students decide which form of the verb to be they should use.

Verb to be affirmative infographic
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Verb to be additional infographic

If you teach a monolingual group of elementary students it is a good idea to translate the second infographic.

Verb to be – worksheet


The following worksheet is nothing fancy. There are no sophisticated communicative activities or unusual exercises. There are six simple exercises to practise all the forms of the verb TO BE.

Verb to be worksheet

Verb to be – online quiz and games


The following quiz can help your students practise all the forms of the verb to beat home. The quiz consists of two parts. In the first part, students should match the beginnings and ends of the sentences and complete the sentences with the verb TO BE. In the second part, students have to put the verb TO BE into the correct form. The students will be rewarded with a game after each part of the quiz they pass. The quiz is in HTML5, so it will play on all desktops and mobile devices.

Verb to be – quiz

The first game is called Penalty Shootout. In this game you should choose the correct form of the verb to be and then try to score a goal. Good luck.
As the game is in Flash, it will only play on desktop computers.

Verb to be – Penalty game

The second game is in Flash and will play only on desktop computers. It is called On Target, and your task is to choose the correct option and then shoot all the bad cows and ducks. You can shoot one of the bottles on the wall to get a bonus. Enjoy.

Verb to be – On Target game

Verb to be – links


There are some great activities to practise the verb to be at British Council site.

If your students do not know the adjectives used in this post, there is great song teaching the adjectives by my friend Jules from English Through Music Madrid.

Irregular verbs worksheets
Irregular verbs worksheets

This is the first post in a series on irregular verbs. It is called irregular verbs worksheets because in these posts I am going to publish worksheets in which your students can practise irregular verbs. There will be 10 irregular verbs each time and at least four exercises to practise them. Moreover, there will be an interactive version of the worksheets, so your students can practise at home too.
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In this post your students can learn the past tenses and past participles of the verbs: be, make, drink, have, sing, write, give, read, run and sleep. In the worksheet there are seven exercises to practise the verbs: three crosswords and four fill in the blank exercises.

Irregular verbs worksheet – infographic


The worksheet starts with a simple infographic.
Irregular verbs worksheet

If you use this material in a class, first present the irregular verbs using the infographic. Present the verbs and ask the students to translate the verbs.

Irregular verbs worksheet


Print the following worksheet for each student. (Use a duplex print to save paper).

Irregular verbs worksheet 1
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As I write above there are seven exercises. On the first page, there are crosswords which students should complete by writing the past tense and past participle of the verbs.

Exercises 4 and 5 are simple fill in the blanks exercises. Students should use either the past participles or past tenses of the verbs they learnt.

Exercises 6 and 7 are fill in the blanks exercise again. But this time the students complete questions and once they finish, they could use the questions for speaking. They work in small groups and ask and answer the questions. In smaller print there are additional questions students should ask to make the conversation longer and give students more opportunities to use the target language.

Irregular verbs worksheet – online quiz


The following quiz can help your students practise the irregular verbs at home. The quiz consists of two parts. In the first part, students should complete the sentences with the past tenses of the ten verbs. In the second part, students have to complete the sentences with the past participles of the ten verbs. The students will be rewarded with a game after each part of the quiz they pass. The quiz is in HTML5, so it will play on all desktops and mobile devices.

Irregular verbs quiz

Somebody or anybody, something or anything
Somebody or anybody, something or anything

Do your students struggle with the words somebody, anybody, something, anything, everything, everybody, nothing and nobody? Do they get these basic words wrong nearly every time? If your answer is yes, then this post is just for you.
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In this post I would like to share with you several tools to help your students use the words somebody, anybody, something, anything, everything, everybody, nothing and nobody correctly. In this post you will find an infographic and two games. I hope you will like it.

Somebody or anybody, something or anything – infographic


Display or print the following infographic and ask the students to read through it. Then elicit what they learnt. If you feel that they did not get the message, explain the grammar using either their MT or your own words.
Something anything infographic
Mention please, that the word BODY, could be replace with ONE and the meaning will be the same. Emphasize the spelling of NO ONE (two words instead of one).

Somebody or anybody, something or anything – games


To practise the usage of the words somebody, anybody, something, anything, everything, everybody, nothing and nobody your students can play the following game. Its name is En Garde. Your task is to choose the correct answer and then stop the target as close to the centre as possible. Hopefully, you will be faster and more accurate then your opponent. The game is in Flash and will play only on desktops:

En Garde game
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The second game is in Flash and will play only on desktop computers. It is called On Target, and your task is to choose the correct option and then shoot all the bad cows and ducks. You can shoot one of the bottles on the wall to get a bonus. Enjoy.

Gerund or infinitive – On target game

Somebody or anybody, something or anything – What more?


I realize that the post is rather short. What do you think would be the best activity to add?

What activity should I add?

Some or Any – grammar
Some or Any – grammar

The usage of Some and Any in English is quite simple. Some is used in positive statements, requests or offers and ANY is used in questions and negative sentences. However, many textbooks confuse students by mixing this simple concept with the concept of countability.

In this post I will try to keep the explanation as simple as possible. There is an infographic, an online quiz and two games in this post.

Some or Any – infographic


Print or display the following infographic and ask your students to explain it to you. I am sure that there will be at least one student who will understand the infographic and will be able to pass the knowledge. If there is none, you should explain that SOME is used for positive statements, requests and offers while ANY is used in negative statements and questions.
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Some or any picture mind map

Some or Any – games


The first game is called Penalty Shootout. In this game you should choose the option and then try to score a goal. Good luck.
As the game is in Flash, it will only play on desktop computers.

Some or Any – Penalty

The second game is in Flash and will play only on desktop computers. It is called On Target, and your task is to choose the correct option and then shoot all the bad cows and ducks. You can shoot one of the bottles on the wall to get a bonus. Enjoy.

Some or Any – On target game

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The following quiz can help your students practise Some or Any either at school or at home. The quiz consists of two parts. In the first part, students should complete the sentences with Some or Any. In the second part, students have to match the beginnings and ends of the sentences. The students will be rewarded with a game if they pass. The quiz is in HTML5, so it will play on all desktops and mobile devices.

Some or Any – quiz

Some or Any – links


You can find some interesting materials on Some or Any at the British Council site.

And on Youtube you can see the following great video with the explanation of Some and Any.

How to Form and Use the Third Conditional
How to Form and Use the Third Conditional

The third conditional is the most feared grammar point I know. Students of English think that it’s hard to form and understand. Therefore, when they start learning the grammar they are paralysed with fear. And as a result, they fail to learn it. Thus the third conditional keeps its reputation.
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But the truth is that the third conditional is not difficult at all. In this post I will show you how to teach this grammar quickly. I hope to destroy the myth that the third conditional is difficult.

Third conditional – song


Start the lesson with the following song:

Here is a short worksheet that will help you introduce the grammar:

Third conditional song lyrics

Third conditional – infographic


Display the following infographic or print out copies and hand them out. Draw the students´ attention to the form.
Third conditional web

You can download the full image here:

Third conditional infographic – full image

Next, explain the meaning of the third conditional. Tell your students that the if-clause of the conditional speaks about a situation in the past that did not happen. The second part of the sentence expresses our hypothesis about what could have happened if the first part of the sentence were true. In both parts we speak about the past, and none of the actions happened. The ideas expressed in the third conditional are about the past and they never happened.

Now, ask your students to form three third conditional sentences using the clues in the infographic and to describe the situations in which they might be used. For example: Martina went to a party yesterday. She got drunk and the police arrested her. If she had stayed at home, nothing of this would have happened.
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Third conditional – quiz


The following quiz can help your students practise the third conditional either at school or at home. The quiz consists of two parts. In the first part, students should match the beginnings and ends of the third conditional sentences. In the second part, students have to put the verbs into the correct form to form the third conditionals. The students will be rewarded with a game after each part of the quiz they pass. The quiz is in HTML5, so it will play on all desktops and mobile devices.

Third conditional – quiz

Questions with LIKE
Questions with LIKE

The word LIKE is one of the most productive words in English. However, many students often confuse the meaning of the questions with LIKE and they give completely wrong answers. Especially pre-intermediate students of English find these questions really difficult.
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The aim of this post is to explain the meaning of different questions with LIKE and give students a chance to practise and remember the questions. To achieve this there is a video which is based on BBC programme called Grammar Challenge. Moreover, there is an infographic and a quiz to practise the grammar.

Questions – video explanation


When I asked my brother what he does on the Internet he told me that he spends most time watching videos. And in my experience that is true for most of teenagers. To attract them to learning English I decided to create a short video explanation based on BBC learning English programme called Grammar Challenge. Watch the video and try to understand the grammar.

Basic questions_fb



Questions in present and past tense

Questions with LIKE – infographic


Once your students have watched the video, you can hand out the following infographic. Go through the sentences and elicit the correct answers to the questions in the picture.

Questions with like

Questions with like – online quiz


The following quiz consists of two parts. In the first part students listen to the answer and they have to choose the correct question. In the second part, students see the answer and part of the question and they have to type in the missing words to make the question correct. If the students pass the tests they will be rewarded with a game.

The quiz is in HTML5 and it will work on the desktop and all mobile devices.

Questions with LIKE – quiz

Please let us know what you would like to read about next (there is just one question). Thank you.
[viralQuiz id=8]

Gerund or infinitive?
Gerund or infinitive?

Engames and Fluency MC have joined forces again to bring you a post that will help you decide whether you should use a gerund or an infinitive after a verb. This post is not going to provide a comprehensive overview of the grammar. Our aim is to give your students a simple guide to help them decide correctly between the two parts of speech most of the time.
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The post contains a song, an infographic, an interactive online quiz and a game.

Gerund or Infinitive – pretest


Do you think you know the grammar already and don´t need to read the article? Try the following test and see how well you do.

[viralQuiz id=1]
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Gerund or Infinitive – song


Watch the following song and complete the lyrics. The aim of this song is to introduce the topic.

Here are the lyrics in a pdf file:
Lyrics gerund
Here are the lyrics as supplied and created by Fluency MC:
Gerund-or-Infinitive

Gerund-or-Infinitive-2

Gerund and Infinitive – infographic


The following infographic does not contain a comprehensive list of all the verbs. Only the verbs that are used in the song appear here.

Gerund or infinitive infographic
Gerund or infinitive infographic

These rules are so called rules of thumb. They work in most cases but not all. However, to use the rules correctly, students first have to understand them.
The rule goes like this: “If the first verb happens before the second verb, use TO. If the second verb happens at the same time or before the first verb use the ending -ING with the second verb. “ Thus in the sentence “I hope to go to the party,” I first hope and then go to the party. That is why you use TO. On the other hand, in the sentence “I enjoyed going to the party,” I enjoyed the party at the same time as I was there.

Assess your students understanding of the rules using the following test. Choose 10 verbs at random and ask your students to write them down and write if they think they should be followed by TO or -ING. Then go through their responses and elicit the correct answers.

Once you feel that the students know the grammar, it is time to practise it.

Gerund or infinitive – online quiz


The best way to remember the verb patterns is by using them. The following quiz is in HTML5 and will work on all mobile devices.

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To display the quiz on full screen click the button below.
Gerund or infinitive? – quiz

The second game is in Flash and will play only on desktop computers. It is called On Target, and your task is to choose the correct option and then shoot all the bad cows and ducks. You can shoot one of the bottles on the wall to get a bonus. Enjoy.
Gerund or infinitive – On target game

Gerund or infinitive – links


At engames.eu I have already published two posts on the use of gerunds and infinitives in English. The first post is called Verb Patterns – preintermediate, and the second is called Verb Patterns again – final solution. You can practise the grammar there as well.

Gerund or infinitive

Past simple and past continuous
Past simple and past continuous

Yesterday a friend sent me a song he’d written that uses only the past simple and past continuous tenses. He asked me how I liked it, and I had to admit it was great. A few hours later I encountered a short explanation of the same grammar by Australiaplus.com, and I realised that I wanted to share both with my friends on the Internet. This post is the result.
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In this post there is the song by Chris Barickman, a video explanation, an explanation by Australiaplus.com, an infographic and an interactive quiz.

Past simple and continuous – song


Let’s start with the song. Please listen and complete the lyrics:

The lyrics worksheet:
Past continuous tense lyrics

Past simple and continuous – explanation


Now listen to the following explanation.

And here is another short explanation of the same grammar by Australiaplus.com:

https://soundcloud.com/australiaplus/past-continuous

Past simple and continuous – infographic


Here is a set of infographics created by www.engames.eu.

Past continuous tense affirmative

Past continuous tense questions

See how the questions are formed in the past continuous tense

Past continuous tense usage

See when you should use the past continuous tense


If you want to download the full infographic in superb quality, you can do that here:
Past continuous tense – full infographic

Past simple and continuous – quiz

The following quiz is in HTML 5 so it will play on all mobile devices and desktop computers. Your task is to choose the correct tense – either the past simple or the past continuous. Enjoy the games if you pass the tests.

Past simple or past continuous? – quiz

Past simple and past continuous

Teach irregular verbs with Fluency MC #3
Teach irregular verbs with Fluency MC #3

As I wrote before, irregular verbs are the most important thing for all students of English to learn. However, it is not easy to master them. That is why Fluency and I started to collaborate on a series of posts that deal with teaching just the irregular verbs.
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In this post we are going to introduce another set of 15 verbs. To learn them there is a song, an infographic, a quiz and a game. If you go through all the activities you will meet each word at least 6 times. We hope you will like our work and share the post.

Irregular verbs – song


Listen to the following song and try to complete the lyrics. To complete the lyrics start the song at 2:05.

You can find the lyrics here:
Lyrics part 3

Irregular verbs – infographic

Irregular verbs with Fluency MC

Here is the infographic with all the irregular verbs, you should learn in this post. For each word there is a definition (in either word or picture form) and two examples of usage.

Display the infographic and go through the verbs with your students. Explain the meaning of the difficult words.

Irregular verbs – game and quiz

Here is a two-part online quiz. Your task is to choose the correct answers and pass the quiz. You you will be rewarded with a game after each part of the quiz if you pass.
This game is in HTML5, so it will play on all mobile devices as well as desktop computers.

Irregular verbs Quiz

Irregular verbs – other sites

You can find more irregular verbs practise at https://grammarlane.com/irrverbs/irrverbsen.html . Choose the irregular verbs you want to practise and choose the mode (speaking or writing). Then write or say the past tense and the past participle of the verbs you see.

Irregular verbs by British Council.

Irregular verbs by BBC.

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A song by Fluency MC on irregular verbs:

Little and Few – learn the difference
Little and Few – learn the difference

The difference between LITTLE and FEW, especially when you add A LITTLE and A FEW, causes a lot of problems event to students whose English is really good. In this post I try to teach the difference in a graphical way. Having studied the infographic, you should try the interactive quiz and check whether you really got the grammar right.

Few and Little – infographics


Study the infographic. Notice the difference between A LITTLE and LITTLE. If there is the article A – it means that there is some. Without the article we say that there is not enough of something.
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Few and little infographic

If you think you understand the concept, it is time to check your understanding in the following quiz.

Few and Little – quiz


The following quiz is in HTML5, so it will play on all mobile devices. If you pass the test, you will be given the chance to play the game TIC-TAC-TOE against the computer. Remember that it is possible to beat the computer, but it might take you some time before you find the correct way.

You can take the quiz on the full screen by clicking the button:
Few and little – full screen

Few and Little – more practice


If you feel you need more practice, you should try the following pages:

The difference between Little and Few is a part of a larger concept called countability in English. If you would like to understand the whole concept, I can recommend the following posts:

Little and Few – share

If you like the quiz above and you would like to share it on your blog or use it in a classroom without an internet connection, you can do this. You can download all the files here and upload them to your site just unpack the files and use them in the classroom:
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Few and little (Web)

Possessive case #2
Possessive case #2

I have already published a post on possessive case. But when I tried to teach it again, I found out that it was not clear enough for the group I am teaching now. So I created a new infographic and several new interactive exercises in which students can practise the grammar. And my new students understand it now nearly perfectly. I hope you will find these materials useful too.
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Possessive case – infographic


Have a look at this infographic and see how we form the possessive case in English.
Possessive case mind map
To cut the explanation short, add the apostrophe+s to a singular noun and add only the apostrophe to a regular plural noun. If the noun has an irregular plural add the apostrophe+s. If you feel that you understand the grammar, it is high time to practise it in the following exercises.

Possessive case – quiz


The following quiz is in HTML5, so it will work on all mobile devices. Thus your students can practise the grammar anywhere they like. If they pass the quiz they will be given a chance to play a game as a reward.

If you feel that the quiz is too small, click the button below and play the game on the full screen.

Possessive case – quiz full screen

If you are looking for more practise I recommend British Council page on possessive case.

Possessive case – share

If you like the quiz above and you would like to share it on your blog or use it in a classroom without an internet connection, you can do this. You can download all the files here and upload them to your site just unpack the files and use them in the classroom:
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Possessive case_quiz (Web)

Past simple tense – negative
Past simple tense – negative

I have already published several posts on past simple tense. There are several posts on irregular verbs, a post on regular verbs in past tense and now I would like to explain how to make negative sentences in past simple. It is quite simple – you just add DIDN´T and the infinitive. To help you and your students absorb this concept there are two games and a graphical explanation.

Past tense negatives – video


In this short video a man ends up in prison because his grammar is bad. The aim of this video is to introduce the basic forms of negatives in past tense.
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Past tense negatives – mind map


In this mind map you can see how the past tense negatives are formed. There is the explanation and below there is a mind map depicting three frequently asked questions and their answers.

Past simple negative
If you are a teacher it might be a good idea to let the students deduce the rules and complete the table. However, beware that this way of teaching is not suitable for weaker students.
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Past simple negative worksheet

Past tense negatives – games


I firmly believe that practice makes perfect. If you practice the things you will understand the things better. That is why I think that students should go through the following games at least twice or three times.
The first game is in HTML5. Your task is to choose the correct form and if you pass the test you will play the game called Tower defence. This game will play on all mobile devices.

If you want to play the game on the full screen, click below:

Past tense negative – Tower defence

The second game will play only on your desktop. It is called a Penalty Shoutout and once you choose the correct option you will get a chance to kick a penalty. Will you score all ten penalties? Good luck.

Past tense negative – Penalty shootout