Classification of Posts   Taking English Further Moving Beyond the Intermediate Plateau How to advance from the intermediate level in English Want to Speak English Fluently? Gaining fluency in English Unless You Read This... ‘Unless’ & ‘if not’ If I Were You... Mixed conditionals If I Were You... II Mixed conditionals (continued) If She Found Out About It... Real & unreal

Classification of Posts   Taking English Further Moving Beyond the Intermediate Plateau How to advance from the intermediate level in English Want to Speak English Fluently? Gaining fluency in English Unless You Read This... ‘Unless’ & ‘if not’ If I Were You... Mixed conditionals If I Were You... II Mixed conditionals (continued) If She Found Out About It... Real & unreal

<!--[if gte mso 9]> 15.00 <![endif]--> <!--[if gte mso 9]> 15.00 <![endif]--> <!--[if gte mso 9]> 15.00 <![endif]--> In Sri Lanka there are lots people who want to speak English. After learning English as a second language in school for more than a decade, most of them still find it impossible to speak the language even at a basic level. So, after

<!--[if gte mso 9]> 15.00 <![endif]--> <!--[if gte mso 9]> 15.00 <![endif]--> In Sri Lanka there are lots people who want to speak English. After learning English as a second language in school for more than a decade, most of them still find it impossible to speak the language even at a basic level. So, after leaving school, they start looking for a book or course

<!--[if gte mso 9]> 15.00 <![endif]--> <!--[if gte mso 9]> 15.00 <![endif]--> <!--[if gte mso 9]> 15.00 <![endif]--> The Common European Framework of Reference for Languages divides the linguistic skills acquired by language learners into six levels: A1 (beginner), A2 (elementary), B1 (intermediate), B2 (upper-intermediate), C1 (advanced) and C2 (

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  Very often we hear expressions like 'One of his friends...', 'One of my books...' and so on. It goes without saying that this type of noun phrase should be treated as singular; we're talking only about that 'one', not the rest of 'his friends' or 'my books'. Though some people use a plural verb due to the proximity of the plural latter part of the phrase, it's generally not considered

Have you ever considered skipping a meal? Perhaps you have - for health reasons or otherwise. How about switching meals? Is it even possible to do so? As far as I was concerned, there were three main meals in the day: breakfast, lunch and dinner. Breakfast came as the first meal in the morning - and the name is also logical as you break your nightly fast (= a time period spent without

Have you ever considered skipping a meal? Perhaps you have - for health reasons or otherwise. How about switching meals? Is it even possible to do so? As far as I was concerned, there were three main meals in the day: breakfast, lunch and dinner. Breakfast came as the first meal in the morning - and the name is also logical as you break your nightly fast (= a time period spent without

The word 'only' in English can have many meanings. Taken out of context, it can even lead to misunderstandings.  I saw her only yesterday. This sentence could mean that the speaker had never seen 'her' until yesterday; on the other hand, what the speaker means could be that he/she even saw the other person ('her') as recently as yesterday. As many other adverbs, 'only' also often

The word 'only' in English can have many meanings. Taken out of context, it can even lead to misunderstandings.  I saw her only yesterday. This sentence could mean that the speaker had never seen 'her' until yesterday; on the other hand, what the speaker means could be that he/she even saw the other person ('her') as recently as yesterday. As many other adverbs, 'only' also often

The title and other headings of a document are generally expected to stand out. So, among other things, people like to use some capital letters in them. But which letters do you put in upper case, and which not? There seem to be several styles in this regard. Sometimes you find that all the letters of a title are capitalised. THE RISE AND FALL OF SOCIALISM In other cases, only the initial

The title and other headings of a document are generally expected to stand out. So, among other things, people like to use some capital letters in them. But which letters do you put in upper case, and which not? There seem to be several styles in this regard. Sometimes you find that all the letters of a title are capitalized. THE RISE AND FALL OF SOCIALISM In other cases, only the initial

When it comes to conditional sentences dealing with the past, we're used to seeing the so-called Third Conditional pattern very often. If you had heard his remark, you would have felt embarrassed.  It's about a remark that you didn't hear and, therefore, it's clear that you didn't feel embarrassed either. The condition (which is in the if-clause) didn't happen, so the possible result of it

When it comes to conditional sentences dealing with the past, we're used to seeing the so-called Third Conditional pattern very often. If you had heard his remark, you would have felt embarrassed.  It's about a remark that you didn't hear and, therefore, it's clear that you didn't feel embarrassed either. The condition (which is in the if-clause) didn't happen, so the possible result

Thinking is one the skills that human beings can be proud of. While it's debatable whether the lesser creatures can really think, humans have the capacity to think in many different ways. So the way the verb 'think' is used differs a little depending on the kind of thinking involved. Although 'think' can be followed by either 'about' or 'of', these two prepositions are not always

Thinking is one the skills that human beings can be proud of. While it's debatable whether the lesser creatures can really think, humans have the capacity to think in many different ways. So the way the verb 'think' is used differs a little depending on the kind of thinking involved. Although 'think' can be followed by either 'about' or 'of', these two prepositions aren't always

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We may have a lot of ideas of our own to write about. These could be interesting to other people too. But it's a rare man (or woman) who doesn't ever need to quote something someone else has said; and sometimes it has to be quoted in their own words too. Enter quotation marks. My brother said, "I want something to eat." She asked, "Where's the bus stop?" Some people prefer to use double