Song lesson - Nicest thing by Kate Nash

Practise I wish constructions with this song and and a couple of exercises

Random-ise: Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress, -ize and -ise verbs

This is part of an investigation I've been doing into the use and spelling of -ize suffix verbs and their spelling (-ize or -ise) in British English. For more details, related posts and the methods I've used, see the -ize / -ise page.

Random-ize: The King James Bible, -ize and -ize verbs

This is part of an investigation I've been doing into the use and spelling of -ize suffix verbs and their spelling (-ize or -ise) in British English. For more details, related posts and the methods I've used, see the -ize / -ise page.

Random-ise: Robert Cawdrey's A Table Alphabeticall, -ize and -ise verbs

"Robert Cawdrey's Table Alphabeticall, published in 1604, was the first single-language English dictionary ever published. It lists approximately 3000 words, defining each one with a simple and brief description. A number of the words listed in the 'Table Alphabeticall' were thought of as 'hard' - or unfamiliar to the general public - as they were derived from foreign or ancient languages such as Hebrew, Greek, Latin or French." - British Library

This is part of an investigation I've been doing into the use and spelling of -ize suffix verbs and their spelling (-ize or -ise) in British English. For more details, related posts and the methods I've used, see the -ize / -ise page.

More random thoughts on examples of the passive

Last year I wrote a post listing some unnatural examples of the passive I've found in books and on websites from people who should know better (linked to below).

It's fashionable in some circles to denigrate the passive (which we'll talk more of in a moment)- although many of the people who do so can't always recognise the passive themselves - which I've also written about - and I can understand why the people who do this might (and do) use silly examples to show how 'bad' they think the passive is.

But there are some more neutral or even supportive observers who also seem to come up with some rather strange examples, which is a bit puzzling, to say the least.

The twelve tense system in English - an overview

Not everyone agrees on what comprises a tense. It is common to talk about present, past and future tenses, but some people think a tense must involve inflection (or morphological change), that is a change in the form of the verb itself, as in Latin and many European languages, so they recognise only two tenses - past and present. On the other hand, one early grammar book talked of six tenses.

In EFL/ESL we usually work on the basis that a tense combines a time (present, past or future) with an aspect (simple, continuous, perfect simple or perfect continuous). This gives us twelve active tenses. In theory we could also have twelve passive tenses, but in practice, only eight are used.

Although I will be talking a bit about individual tenses, my main aim here is to show how, in this way of looking at things, all twelve tenses fit into a neat, easy to understand scheme.

Random-ise: Jonathan Swift, ise and ise verbs

This is part of an investigation I've been doing into the use and spelling of -ize suffix verbs and their spelling (-ize or -ise) in British English. For more details, related posts and the methods I've used, see the -ize / -ise page.

Random-ise: Congreve's The Way of the World, -ize and -ise verbs

This is part of an investigation I've been doing into the use and spelling of -ize suffix verbs and their spelling (-ize or -ise) in British English. For more details, related posts and the methods I've used, see the -ize / -ise page.

Random-ised thoughts: -ize verbs and -ise verbs - the basics

There is a large group of transitive verbs formed from nouns or adjectives which have a suffix with the sound /aɪz/. In American English these are always spelt with an -ize ending, but the standard position in British English is that they can be spelt with either -ize or -ise, depending on your fancy.

There's another, much smaller group with the same /aɪz/ sound, which are always spelt with an -ise ending, on both sides of the Atlantic.

Here I take a quick look at the basics.

Zero article or the with place names - the basics

Some general principles and a few tables to help you with the use of zero article or the with place names.

Random-ise: Milton's Paradise Lost, -ize and -ise verbs

This is part of an investigation I've been doing into the use and spelling of -ize suffix verbs and their spelling (-ize or -ise) in British English. For more details, related posts and the methods I've used, see the -ize / -ise page.

Random-ise: Shakespeare and -ize suffix verbs

This is part of an investigation I've been doing into the use and spelling of -ize suffix verbs and their spelling (-ize or -ise) in British English. For more details, related posts and the methods I've used, see the -ize / -ise page.

Anchorage - Michelle Shocked - Song exercise for Past simple

A short song exercise for elementary to pre-intermediate learners to practise basic Past simple forms.

Prince Philip, My Dear - Mighty Sparrow - Song lesson

On July 9th 1982, a man managed to climb up to the roof and get into Buckinham Palace, for the second time in a month. But this time, he also managed to get into the Queen's bedroom, where the Queen was sleeping alone. This lapse in security caused a big scandal in Britain at the time, and inspired Trinidadian calypso singer Mighty Sparrow to write a song very loosely based on the event. Do a couple of exercises and listen to the song.

Try and ... get over it

In informal English, we often use idiomatic expressions with and instead of the infinitive marker to, when linking certain verbs with a following infinitive:

• Come over here and look at these lovely flowers.
• I'll just go and get something to write with.
• Run and get me a tissue, will you darling?
• Are you going to stay and have lunch with us?
• Make sure and let us know how you get on.
• He wants to try and find a new job.

It could be said that there is a certain logic about the first four verbs: first someone 'comes over here' and then they 'look at these lovely flowers'. Or first someone stays and then they have lunch. But we can't really say that for make sure and try.

I've already written about go and do something (link below) in answer to a post at Literal Minded, so I'd thought I'd try and have a look at try and.