Quickies

While success and suceso both do ultimately derive from the Latin word successus, their meanings have changed over the millennia.

In English, success is the noun used to describe situations in which some goal has been achieved, or a person has obtained great wealth, respect, awards, etc. Its verb is to succeed, and its adjective is successful.

Success can come with a heavy price.

Despite having an amazing voice, Eva Cassidy was not successful until after she died.

Can you order the words to make sentences? Go! beach drive house hours It our six takes to to. at did last movie night on see showed the they you 5:00 Channel Six? adores and dolls his Jenny loves Michael toy cars, her. a and are cats few hospital horse recovering veterinary there a at […]

Many English learners’ native languages either don’t distinguish between masculine and feminine pronouns, or don’t use pronouns at all. Strangely, despite having eliminated sex from regular nouns, all 3rd-person pronouns referring to people have sex. It is extremely important to keep them in order, as mixing them up can cause great confusion. In the following exercise, write in the correct pronoun.

There are two types of questions, direct and indirect. We’re all familiar with the direct ones, as we use them every day: “How are you?”, “What would you like to do this weekend?” “Have you got any real beer in the house?” are some examples. They follow an “inverted” word order: unlike most sentences, the subject comes after the auxiliary verb, not before.

These verbs can be very confusing due to their similarities, but they are used differently.

When you end something, you stop doing it, even though it could go on.

I ended the meeting because it was getting late.
Mary has ended her relationship with Bob—it was about time!
I’ll be visiting Taiwan at the end of the month—how exciting!

Have can be confusing because it’s used in two different ways: as an auxiliary verb, and as a main verb.

When it’s an auxiliary verb, it’s part of the perfect, and is followed by a participle. In these cases, it can be contracted.

When it’s a main verb, it’s either followed by its object or a to-infinitive, and cannot be contracted.

Also, be aware that have can be both in the same sentence.

Put the words in the right order:

does go he if know not he to wants.
a am at beach disco having I on party the tonight a.
had her I if loved Mary Mike not only that told.
arrive Dave going I is to when wonder.

These two words can cause some confusion, but they’re really easy to distinguish.

Half refers to 50% of something:
– I had an apple. I cut it in two equal pieces, and gave one half to my sister and I ate the other half.

Middle refers to the central part of something.
– I’m in the middle of doing a lesson right now.

When answering another person’s comments, instead of saying just yes or no, we can respond with certain phrases that express our feelings towards the response we give. For example:

When we are fairly sure of our response to what someone else has said, we can use “think”:

“Will the report be finished on time?” “I think so.”
“Won’t Mary be coming with us?” “I don’t think so.”

Put the words in the right order to form correct sentences in English.

a lot / at / concert / people / of / night / last / the / There / were
but / even / I / milk chocolate / like / a lot / I / dark chocolate / more / like /, / !
a lot / are / but / I / many / only / people / There / trust / like /, / I / a few
been / Bill / but / goes / House / I / have / of / only / Rising / the / to / the / twice, / Sun / a lot / !
a lot / about / don’t / I / know / music / of / people / who / know / a lot