Reported speech English grammar Direct quote Kyle said, “I will be busy tonight.” Sharing information Kyle said he will be busy tonight. We use reported speech to share information that we heard from another person or information that we got from TV, newspaper, Internet etc. This English grammar is very common in English conversation. There are two ways to use …
How to use Over and Under as prefixes + Video (2020 update)
I’m sure you have heard the words OVER and UNDER before. In this blog post I’ll show you how they can be used as prefixes to change the meaning of other words you may already know! Do you know what a prefix is? A prefix is: a letter or group of letters added to the beginning of a word to …
How I spent QUARANTINE – English practice (helpful resources)
How I spent QUARANTINE – English practice How I spent QUARANTINE – helpful resources – Learn what I did with my free time, and improve your English! Being in quarantine means having lots of free time for many of us. Suddenly having lots of free time can make us bored, even stressed. If we look at the situation from a …
Natural English Listening QUARANTINE
This post contains audio for natural English listening practice. It talks about my quarantine here in Japan with lots of new vocabulary to learn. Below you will find an audio player so you can listen to the post and improve your English listening skills. Definitions for all the words from the story in bold blue text are also listed at …
See, Watch, and Look at (PDF) Learn these English verbs
The English verbs SEE, WATCH, and LOOK at can be confusing. I made this post with PDF to clearly explain this English grammar. These verbs have a similar meaning but we don’t use them the same way. There is a nuance in their meaning. nuance [noun] a very slight difference in meaning, sound, color or somebody’s feelings that is not …
How to use adjectives as nouns (A helpful guide)
How to use adjectives as nouns (A helpful guide) We often hear adjectives we recognize used as nouns in natural speech, and in the news. I thought it would be good if students had a simple guide to explain this grammar. I did some research and used my years of experience teaching English as a second language to make this …
Adjectives with the preposition OF (English grammar)
I love to teach prepositions! In this post I want to teach you some common examples of adjectives with the preposition OF. I wrote lots of natural examples using this grammar. Examples that native speakers use in natural conversation. Adjectives of feeling + OF Here are some adjectives of feeling that make us uncomfortable afraid of Jason is afraid of …
A slap on the wrist (English Idiom)
English idiom – A Slap on the Wrist In today’s English blog post I’ll explain the common English idiom A slap on the wrist. I’ll use some natural examples and we will discover the meaning together. This will make the expression easy to remember and simple to use in your own English conversations. Idioms are a group of words that …
Increase English vocabulary (Root word technique)
Increase English vocabulary In this post you will learn a simple technique to increase your English vocabulary. I will share with you a simple technique I use with my students here in Japan. This is also something I use to learn Japanese vocabulary. I’m sure it can help you understand and use English too. Let me share a real story …
Much or Many? English grammar (+Video)
Much or Many – Do you know how to use these words? In this post you will learn how with natural English examples. Read to the end and then watch my” MUCH Vs. MANY” video! In English we use the words MUCH and MANY to show there is a large amount of something. Much Much is used with uncountable nouns …