The difference between ‘few’ and ‘a few’
Often, the gap between intermediate and advanced use of English is knowing the subtle differences between almost identical words and phrases. One example is the difference between the word few and the phrase a few. Both can, essentially, refer to the same number, but...Best textbook for English classes? New English File review
When teaching in a classroom setting I always had a selection of reliable textbooks. No one book really fulfils the needs of a teacher, but one of the best I found, for a comprehensive course taught in an interesting way, was the New English File series. These cover...More conditionals practice: exercises and answers
The conditionals are a complicated area for learners of English, and require a lot of practise. I have previously explained the basic rules of the conditionals, with initial exercises and answers, so this post is a brief revision exercise. The questions are slightly...English language school locations in Brighton
There a numerous English schools in Brighton, in very different locations. If you come to Brighton to study English, where you have your lessons can be as important as who you choose to learn from. There are schools in central Brighton, to the East (in an area called...Present simple vs Present Continuous Exercise
Continuing our look at the tenses, here’s a practice exercise to compare uses of the present simple and the present continuous tenses. These uses are covered in full detail in The English Tenses Practical Grammar Guide, but this brief summary should help....The difference between How and What in Question Forms using Like
Foreign learners of English often confuse how and what when asking questions, especially when asking about sense verbs (for example look, taste, feel, smell). Questions that draw a comparison (for instance using the word like) are a common area of confusion: How does...Present Simple Tense: Conjugation
The following is a brief extract from my grammar guide, The English Tenses. The guide covers all the English tenses with examples and exercises. The present simple tense is mostly used for regular and repeating events. This section explains how to use the present...How I gave an English exam in Neftekamsk, Russia, via Skype
Recently, I gave an English exam to some Russian students in Neftekamsk. This is a city only founded in 1957, in the Republic of Bashkortosan – a culturally rich republic in Russia, slightly larger than England (and mostly unheard of here!). The long-distance...The Conditionals: rules and exercises
The conditionals, sometimes called ‘if clauses’, are constructions in English used to discuss something that could happen in the future, or was possible but did not happen in the past. They can be difficult to learn because they are so similar but have very specific,...Want to Master English?
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