Tag: Grammar

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.

ADVERT:
[showmyads]

To help my students avoid this problem I have created the following mind map and several games. I hope they will help you too.

The basic difference between the words IF and WHEN is, that the word IF is used if you choose between two options. On the other hand the word WHEN is used when you speak about a time period after some decision or action. Have a look at the mind map below.

The first game is called Speedway race. Your task is to complete the sentences with WHEN or IF. If you succeed the computer will let you play the game. Your task is to avoid as many cars as possible. One of my students managed to score 50,000 points and then I had to stop him. The game is very addictive.
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

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.

Here is the graphical presentation of the two modal verbs:
ADVERT:
[showmyads]

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 – Reaction game The second game is the one where you will play more than learn. Your task is to fill in SHOULD or SHOULDN’T. After each correct answer you can play the Hot race. However, if you do not like the game you can skip it by clicking on the NEXT button. My personal best is 1:22 on the first circuit.
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 Do you find this blog interesting and innovative. Then you can like it at British Council Teaching English Facebook page. Ours is the HOW post.

Thanks for your support.

Students usually understand the usage of the modals in present tense very quickly. However, when they start speaking about the past, they use the present tense or some non-existent forms, like “musted”.
Here I’ve tried to create a simple overview of all the modal verbs and their usage in present and past tenses. I hope you will find it at least a bit useful.

Have a look at this mind map. Notice that the modal verbs are in two colours. The white modal verbs are followed by an infinitive without to and the red modal verbs are followed by past participles. If you still have problems with the past participles please follow the link above or this one, which will take you to quizzes on past participles at our other site English Learning Magazine.
ADVERT:
[showmyads]
Once you have understood the explanation, it is time to practise your knowledge in two games on Modal verbs. The first one is called En Garde and your task is to choose the correct modal verb and then hit your opponent. Modal verbs – En Garde The second game is called Penalty. Once again you should choose the correct modal verb and then try to score a goal. Will you succeed? Modal verbs – Penalty We have started a new site for learners of English. While this site contains short grammar explanations and games to practise the grammar, the new site www.englishlearningmagazine.com contains tests and quizzes to practise English in general. For example, there is a text on Easter and you have to answer comprehension questions and then reconstruct the text.
Or you could practise the names of the plants in a post which contains the video with the names of the plants and three tests. Moreover, you can listen to a song and complete its lyrics.
The whole site is mobile phones friendly (unlike this one, where the games play only on desktops).
Enjoy.

Last week I was teaching past perfect in one of my classes and suddenly one of the students exclaimed: “Finally we are learning something new.” And by new she meant useful as well.
I am not sure how useful this tense might be for people who want to speak English but it is certainly very handy for students who want to read in English a lot as past perfect tense comes up quite frequently in reading.
Once again, if you want to use and form past perfect tense correctly you need to know past participles.. If you are not sure about them, follow the link and learn them.

This mind map tries to explain the form and the usage of the past perfect tense.
Advert:
[showmyads]

If you think you understand past perfect tense, it is high time to practise the tense in the following exercises and games.

There is just one game to practise past perfect tense. It is called Penalty and to be able to play this game you need to read the following story first:

And now try the game called penalty. Read each sentence and on the basis of the story above decide which tense should be used. If you choose the correct tense you will be given a chance to kick a penalty.

The GAMEThe game is in Flash

This morning I was preparing a presentation for one of my classes on separable and not separable phrasal verbs and suddenly an interesting pattern appeared. It seems that the fact that the particle is separable can be guessed according to the particle that is used. I am not sure whether it works all the time, but it certainly worked for all the phrasal verbs I had to cover with my lower intermediate class.
The rule is quite simple: If the phrasal verb is transitive, it is not separable if there are two particles or the particles AFTER and WITH are used. If there are other particles, the phrasal verbs are separable.
It might seem really complicated but if you have a look at the mind map bellow, it is quite easy.

ADVERT:
[showmyads]

I am glad if you feel that you can understand the grammar now. However, it is more important to be able to use the grammar correctly than to understand it. That is why I have prepared two games for you to check your understanding.
The first game is called Darts. Your task is to choose a correct (or incorrect) option and click on it at the moment you think that you will get most points.

Click Here to play the game – Phrasal verbs – Darts

The second game is called On target. Once again, your task is to choose the correct or incorrect option and then shoot as many bad ducks as you can.

Click Here to play the game – Phrasal verbs – on Target If you are more interested in the meaning and usage of phrasal verbs you should certainly try our other post on phrasal verbs. It is a short story about Fred and Betty and you will certainly learn some of the verbs there too.
Please, let us know what you think about this new rule.

To learn Passive voice it is necessary to know the past participles. If you do not know the past participles go to our post on Past participle and learn the irregular verbs first. Once you do not have any problems with past participles, it is time to learn the Passive voice in English.
Passive voice is used if the subject (the thing before the verb) does not do the action described by the verb. Then you have to insert the verb “TO BE” in the correct form in front of the verb in past participle.

First there is a mind map describing the form of the passive.
ADVERTISEMENT:
[showmyads]

The second graphic clearly shows the usage of passive voice: Your task is to write two sentences under each picture using present simple tense and past simple. The sentences in the first column should be in active voice and the sentences in the second column should be in passive voice.

Here you have a chance to learn the passive through games. Play each game at least twice and then I think that you will understand the basic rules of passives.
The first game is a simple online quiz. Try to fill in the verbs in the correct form.

Passive – online quiz

The second game is called Hoop shoot. Once again, choose the correct form and then stop the sliders in the center.
Click Here to play the game – Passive Hoop Shoot

Some 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.

This mind map shows the form of present perfect tense and the basic usage.
Advert:
[showmyads]

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.

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. 

You can play other games for example here in our post Present perfect basic.

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.

Several weeks ago I published a post on Conditionals. In the post, I tried to cover all the conditionals in one mind map and I think that I succeeded.
However, the post was unnecessarily complicated for lower level students. Therefore I created a simpler one for lower intermediate students who need to know only the second conditional. Here you can see the result.

The mind map very simply depicts the form and usage of the second conditional.
ADVERTISEMENT:
[showmyads]

The word “HOW” is one of the most productive words in English. It helps us create meaningful questions and sentences. The word “HOW” combines with many other words to create these questions.
In this post I try to introduce the basic phrases “How much”, “How many”, “How often”, “How well”, “How long”, “How far” and “How old”.

Here the students can practise the basic usage of the word HOW in questions. First, they should create their own questions and later they can cover the inner rings and say the correct phrases.
ADVERT:
[showmyads]

In the first game your task is to complete the questions with the correct word. Moreover, you should shoot all the invaders and save the Earth 🙂

Teacher Invaders

In the second game you should choose the correct answer and shoot only the BAD ducks. You can try to shoot one of the bottles too and get a bonus.

Shooting game

I hope that by now you know all the basic usages of the word HOW.

I had been using these phrases long before I learnt that they were a grammar item. However, as I have to teach them to my students at school, I have created this short post. There is just a simple graphical presentation of the phrases and two games to practise them.

To practise phrase there is someone doing in a more realistic and communicative  way I recommend using some similar picture where students should find the differences. Nice pictures for spotting the difference can be found at Maryglasgowmagazines (you have to pay to be a member though).

This simple chart shows how the phrase There is/are … doing something should be formed.
ADVERTISEMENT:
[showmyads]

I think I have not used the Penalty template for some time, so here you can play the penalty shootout. Your task is to answer each question correctly and then score a goal. Good luck.

Penalty shootout game

The second game is called Teacher invaders. Your task is to shoot all the invaders and finish the sentences with the correct for of the verbs in the brackets. Be careful with your spelling.

Past simple or past continuous? – quiz

You can find some more grammar games for elementary students at our site. For example there are games and mind maps to learn the past simple tense of irregular verbs. Or you could try the games on forming Adverbs correctly.

In this post, I try to explain what countable and uncountable nouns are. When I speak with native speakers of English they often tell me that the concept of countability in English is absolutely natural. “You simply know which noun is countable and which is not.” However, this natural feeling is nearly impossible to teach.

Based on my experience I have created the following mind map where I try to set some rules to help the learners of English. The rules given here are in no way foolproof but I hope they will help a bit.

In this post you will find the mind map and three game to revise the concept of countability.

Countable or Uncountable – mind map

ADVERT
[showmyads]

[sociallocker id=”4230″] [/sociallocker]

Games to practise countability

Now it is time to test your knowledge in games. The first one is absolutely new. You play the Tetris games and after 4 pieces you have to write whether the noun is Countable (C), Uncountable (U) or Both (B). USE ONLY CAPITAL LETTERS!!!

Countable and uncountable nouns – Tetris game

The second game is incredibly popular in my classes. It is called On Target and you should shoot the bad ducks. You can shoot one of the bottles on the side to get some bonus. The game is in Flash and will play only on desktop computers that have the Flash plugin activated.

Countable and Uncountable – On Target game

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

Countability – Penalty game

You can find more activities and explanations on this topic at Countable and Uncountable Games.

You can learn the usage of the words HOW MUCH and How MANY here.

This is quite a simple grammar point – adjectives with the endings ed or ing. The more annoying it is when students use the endings incorrectly. In this post you can find a mind map, two games and a BBC presentation on this topic. I hope it will work fine for you and that you will never ever confuse these two endings again.

Adjective endings – mind map

I call it a mind map but in fact it is a graphical explanation of the grammar point which has nothing to do with a mind map.
ADVERT:
[showmyads]

Adjective endings – games

In both of the following games your task is to choose the correct adjective and then shoot 🙂

Adjective endings – On Target game

On Target Flash game.

Adjective endings – Penalty game

Penalty game Flash game.

Adjective endings – BBC grammar challenge

I have tried to turn the great BBC programme into a video. You can watch the result below. It explains the usage of the grammar.
ADVERT:
[showmyads]

This will be quite a short post. But sometimes easy does it. So, I hope it will be the case.

I would love to explain the usage and form of Used to here. To achieve this I have created the following mind map:

Used to – mind map

In this mind map I try to explain the form and usage of the form USED TO:

Advert:
[showmyads]

Used to – games

There are two simple games to practise the grammar explained above. The first one is called On target. Your task is to choose the correct form to complete the sentences and then you will get a chance to shoot the bad ducks. You have 5 shots but you might win a bonus if you shoot one of the bottles 🙂

Used to – On Target

On target game (Flash)

Used to – Teacher invaders

The second game is called Teacher invaders. Shoot all the invaders and save the Earth. Moreover, your task is to complete each sentence with the correct form of “USED TO”.

Teacher invaders game

Many elementary students feel they cannot see the difference between these two tenses. To help them I have created a rap which explains the grammar and gives some example sentences, two mind maps explaining everything simply and several games to practise this grammar point. I hope you will find it useful.

Present tenses – mind maps

The first mind map explains the basics about the present simple tense:

The second mind map has already been published here in the post on Present continuous tense. The mind map explains the usage and form of the present continuous tense.
ADVERT:
[showmyads]

Present tenses – rap

Watch the rap and then try to answer the comprehension questions in the game On target. The rap explains the usage of the two tenses and gives some examples.

Now try the comprehension game. Answer all the questions and then shoot the bad ducks 🙂
Play the game here.

Present tenses – games

ADVERT:
[showmyads]
Now it is time to check whether you understand the grammar point. Here is a game called En Garde. Your task is to choose the correct tense and then hit your opponent. Good luck.

You can play the game En Garde here.

There are very few grammar points that I know so well as conditional sentences. Students always ask about them and they appear in tests and students. I have tried many times to explain this grammar, but I feel that I have always failed. I have created about 5 different presentations and three mind maps till I got to this simple one.

Conditionals – mind map

This is the simplest mind map I have managed to create and students say it is fine and they can understand it now. I hope it works the same way for you.
Read the map from the left side. The two arrows in the midle of the map show that the RESULT part can be at the beginning and the IF part at the end.
The horrible mess in the middle of the Unreal conditionals, shows the mixed conditionals, where the IF in the past can have a RESULT NOW. Or where IF now can have a RESULT in the past. I hope you understand.

ADVERTISEMENT:
[showmyads]

Conditionals – games

It is very important to understand the grammar rules, but it is even more important to be able to use them correctly. You can try this out in the following games.
The first one is called On Target and your task is to answer the questions and shoot all the BAD ducks. You can get a bonus if you shoot one of the bottles.

Conditionals – On target game

The second game is a new one. It is called darts. You should choose the correct answer but then WAIT and click it only at the moment you aim at a high number. It is not as easy as it seems. You can leave your score at the comments section and the winner will get ELM magazine from us.

Conditionals – DARTS

LIKE US AND FOLLOW US

Do you think we do a good job here? Please go to our Facebook site and like us. Thank you.

Do you think that the materials at this site are useful? Would you like to be first to learn about our new posts? So follow us on TWITTER:
Follow @Zdendaa

Negative prefixes are very productive. It seems that if you learn these then you might be able to create countless English words. However, it is not enough to learn only the prefixes. As each word has its own prefix and there are just a few rules you have to learn the whole words.
Knowing this, I took 4,000 most frequent words in English and I looked for the words with negative prefixes among them. Once I found them I created the following mind map:

Negative prefixes – a mind map

Advertisement:
[showmyads]

Go through the mind map above and use a dictionary if you do not know any of the words.

Negative prefixes – games

Once you think that you know the words with negative prefixes I believe it is time to test your knowledge in games. This time there are 4 games. The first two (En Garde and On Target) contain the same tasks in different games. Choose the one you like better and plaaaaaay!!!

Negative prefixes – En Garde
Negative prefixes – On target

In the game called Half a minute your task is to put the jumbled word into the correct order. It is not easy but if you know the words you should manage to do this.

Negative prefixes – Half a minute

The last game is called Teacher invaders. Your task is to shoot all the invaders and write the words with negative prefixes. I believe this is the most difficult game, so give it a try!!!

Negative prefixes – Teacher invaders

Negative prefixes – a blind mind map

Have you played all the games and they were a piece of cake? Let’s try something more challenging. Print the following mind map and complete it with the missing words:

 

LIKE US

Do you think we do a good job here? Please go to our Facebook site and like us. Thank you

This material is a demonstration of the approach called CLIL. In CLIL You learn the content and thus you learn the language. However, experimenting a bit with the approach I like to do this a bit differently. First, I introduce the vocabulary through the mind map, then I present the text (this time in a video) and then we assess the understanding and play the games to practise the vocabulary.

Battle of Hastings – video

Watch the video and try to understand it.

Battle of Hastings – mind map

ADVERTISEMENT:
[showmyads]

Battle of Hastings – games

Once you have watched the video you should try the comprehension questions in the game. Your task is to shoot only the evil figures.

Battle of Hastings – On Target game

Vocabulary games: In the first game you should read the definition and guess the word. Then click the arrow and you will see the correct words

Flashcards – vocabulary

Now that you know the words it is time to see whether you know the words:

Quiz – vocabulary

Fill in the blank – vocabulary

Crosswords – vocabulary

Battle of Hastings – For teachers

As many of the readers of this blog are teachers here is a brief section for them. When I teach this section I display the second slide of the Powerpoint presentation and I teach the vocabulary there. Then I play the video and play the comprehension game On Target with the students (divide the students into two teams to make the game more enjoyable.) Then I display the last slide and the students have to retell the story of Harold, Harald and William. Moreover, there is a pdf file with the mind map and a presentation which is easy to display on the IWB as it is in Powerpoint.

1066_Battle of Hastings
Battle_of_hastings

Follow us

I have started a Facebook page. Please like us!!!

Three days ago we were talking about presents with my students and I could hear that they were using the verbs buy,give, get etc. in a way that everyone would understand them but which was wrong. So, I created the following presentation and several exercises. What surprised me was that even after my presentation the students protested that some other forms (the ones they used) were correct too. But it is not true. They are not and you have to use the verbs in the way demonstrated here to be understood and correct.

Verbs with two objects – mind map

I am really proud of this mind map. It took a lot of time to construct and I think it clearly demonstrates the verbs and their usage:
[showmyads]

Verbs with two objects – games

Once you have mastered the three possible patterns it is time to use them. There are two game to practise this grammar point. In the first one you should choose the correct option to get a chance to hurt your opponent. Are you good enough to win the fight?

Verbs with two subjects En Garde game.

The second game is quite quick. You have to shoot all the invaders and answer all the questions. The best I have ever seen was level 5. Can you get further?

Verbs with two objects – Teacher invaders

Verbs with two objects – for teachers

I have realised that this site is frequently visited by teachers. And that is why I have decided to enter this part into my post. Here I would like to offer the teachers the materials tuned for teaching. First is the mind map in powerpoint file. If you have an IWB you can display the parts of the mind map and explain the concept.

Verbs with two objects

The other file contains the mind map in a pdf file.

Verbs with two objects

Follow us

Do you think that the materials at this site are useful? Would you like to be first to learn about our new posts? So follow us on TWITTER:
Follow @Zdendaa

In time clauses it is important to understand that you cannot use WILL after certain conjunctions, even though you are referring to the future. And that is the whole trick. If you do this (not will do this), your English will be fine. And that is what you need.

 

Time clauses – mind map

To make this concept clearer I have created the following mind map. Read the mind map clockwise and start at 12 o’clock.
[showmyads]

Time clauses – games

As the grammar point is quite simple to understand, I have created only two games to practise this. The first one is called Fling the Teacher and if you answer (not will answer) all the questions correctly you will fire the teacher because you won’t need him any more. So what are you waiting for? FLING THE TEACHER!

Fling the teacher – time clauses.

The second game is ideal for a classroom. You can work in two teams and the teams fight against each other. If you answer incorrectly your opponent gets a free chance to hurt you.

En Garde – Time Clauses.

Follow us

Do you think that the materials at this site are useful? Would you like to be first to learn about our new posts? So follow us on TWITTER:
Follow @Zdendaa

As there are no articles in my mother tongue, using them correctly in English is a real challenge. Like many other non-native speakers, I often leave them out or use one too many. And my students do this too.
I have been thinking for years how to teach articles effectively and finally I feel that I found the way. I created a mind map which shows the thinking process you should go through to have the articles correct.

Articles – mind map

There are two mind maps. The first one is simpler and the other is for more advanced students.
The mind maps show the thinking process you should go through to get the articles correct. Start at 1 o’clock and go clockwise.

ADVERTISEMENT
[showmyads]

The following Mind map is for intermediate students:

Articles – Video

If you still feel that you need more explanations, you can watch the following video explaining the usage of the definite article “THE”. The recording was prepared by BBC learning English.

Articles – games

For those of you who regularly come to our site there are two new games this time. The first one is a classical game called Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?. You have to answer all the questions correctly to win this game. Good luck!

Articles – Who Wants to be a Millionaire.

The second new game is called Fling the teacher and your task is again to answer all the questions correctly. If you manage to do this you will fire the teacher :-), because you will not need him any more.

Articles – Fling the teacher.

The last game is the Penalty game which has been used here several times (eg. for teaching prepositions AT, IN, ON or verb patterns )

Articles – Penalty Shootout

Follow us

Do you think that the materials at this site are useful? Would you like to be first to learn about our new posts? So follow us on TWITTER:
Follow @Zdendaa