Blogs for ESL Teachers

To be in someone's shoes is an idiom often used to express what you would do if you were that person. This is also an example of a conditional sentence. Conditionals are used to imagine situations in the future, present and past. There are also a number of similar expressions used to speak about hypothetical situations such as I'd rather be lying on the beach on vacation!

What would you do if you were in his shoes? originally appeared on About.com English as 2nd Language on Thursday, February 2nd, 2012 at 14:00:35.

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Capitalization and punctuation go hand in hand. Why is that? Well, The first word of every sentence or question is capitalized, and the last word of each sentence or question is followed by a punctuation mark. In other words, the first place to look for understanding in capitalization and punctuation is at the end of one sentence and the first word of the next. Of course, there are other rules which this guide to capitalization rules and this guide to basic English punctuation rules will help you learn.

Capitalization and Punctuation originally appeared on About.com English as 2nd Language on Tuesday, January 31st, 2012 at 14:54:02.

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Here are two sheets that focus on the prepositions on and in. Each explanation sheet includes explanation of various uses of these prepositions, as well as common phrases that begin with each preposition such as On the contrary, on the way, etc. and in any case, in conclusion, etc.

Preposition - In
Preposition - On

Focus on the Prepositions On and In originally appeared on About.com English as 2nd Language on Thursday, January 26th, 2012 at 12:34:11.

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Ask yourself a simple question: Do I read every word of every text in my native language? My guess is that you don't. Unfortunately, when reading in English (or another foreign language) people want to understand every word. Learn how to improve your English reading skills by using the techniques you already use in your own language.

Next, you can use these reading skills in a number of ways to improve other areas of English learning such as pronunciation, grammar and increasing vocabulary.

Reading Tips to Improve Your Pronunciation
Reading Tips to Improve Your Vocabulary
Reading Tips to Improve Your Conversational Skills
Reading Tips to Improve Your Grammar
Reading Tips to Improve Your Listening Skills

Improving Reading Skills originally appeared on About.com English as 2nd Language on Tuesday, January 24th, 2012 at 12:26:34.

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The correct answer is: I worked here last year. Understanding the use of tenses is key to using English correctly. Use this tense review to quickly check your understanding, and follow links to resources explaining and providing quizzes on English tenses. This visual guide to tenses will help by providing pictures of when tenses are used on a timeline. There's also a tenses timeline which provides an overview of all tenses on one page.

I've worked here last year OR I worked here last year? originally appeared on About.com English as 2nd Language on Thursday, January 19th, 2012 at 12:36:52.

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In this sentence, 'to' is a mistake. The correct version of this sentence is: We met at the cinema. These find the mistake worksheets ask you to find the mistake in each sentence focusing on one grammar point. Answers are provided on the following page:

Have to / Must / Don't Have to / Mustn't
Question Forms
Prepositions of Movement
Prepositions of Place - In, At and On
Homophone Mistakes
Definite and Indefinite Articles - A, An or The
Past Simple or Present Perfect
Present Simple or Present Continuous

Find the Mistake: We met to the cinema. originally appeared on About.com English as 2nd Language on Tuesday, January 17th, 2012 at 20:06:42.

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The correct answer to the question in the title is: I considered buying a new .... The verb 'consider' when followed by another verb takes the 'ing' form. Other verbs, such as 'hope' (I hope to see you soon.) take the infinitive form. Still other verbs such as 'let' take a (pro)noun followed by the base form of the verb: She let her child stay out late. These reference guides provide lists of the most common verbs used in these combination of verb patterns:

Verbs followed by the gerund - Verb + Ing
Verbs followed by a (pro)noun plus the infinitive - Verb + (Pro)Noun + Infinitive
Verbs followed by the infinitive - Verb + Infinitive

Verb Patterns - I considered buying OR to buy? originally appeared on About.com English as 2nd Language on Saturday, January 14th, 2012 at 17:06:51.

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Frank flew to Moscow last week. -> Frank said he had flown to Moscow the previous week.

This is an example of reported speech, also known as indirect speech. We use reported speech when relating what someone else tells us to others. This reported speech worksheet goes over the most important changes required, as well as providing a 20 question worksheet for in-class or self-study use (answers are provided on the following page). Other worksheets include:

Present Simple Worksheet
Present Continuous Worksheet
Past Simple Worksheet
Present Perfect Worksheett

Reported Speech Worksheet originally appeared on About.com English as 2nd Language on Thursday, January 12th, 2012 at 14:31:46.

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Adjectives modify nouns - generally we think of words such as big, expensive, interesting, etc. as adjectives, but there are many words that qualify as adjectives. This guide to the nine types of adjectives will help you understand how adjectives are used in English. You can also use a number of adjectives together, but need to be careful about using the correct adjective order such as He had a nice, big round belly instead of a big, round nice belly.

Modifying Nouns - The Key Role of Adjectives originally appeared on About.com English as 2nd Language on Monday, January 9th, 2012 at 12:17:51.

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There are many ways to get a conversation going, but asking questions is certainly a way to keep the conversation flowing. It's important to ask the right questions using the correct form. If you are asking for specific information, use question words (who, what, where, etc.). If you want to check information that you already know, use question tags. If it's important to be polite, use indirect questions. Perhaps you just want a simple yes or no answer to your question.

Students can practice questions with others in class with these question lesson plans, or check their knowledge with this asking questions quiz.

Asking Questions originally appeared on About.com English as 2nd Language on Friday, January 6th, 2012 at 11:24:51.

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