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August 31, 2014 Click here to take a test for the Yellow Level. The word of the day is "bling."
August 30, 2014 The word of the day is "tease." Today is day two of a review that will help you prepare for the test tomorrow. Did you receive the email that I sent out this morning? If not, I just posted some links to the review, the test, and a few other things. I also announced that the website should be a little easier to navigate on mobile devices and tablets now that there’s a mobile version. It might take a few weeks before it works really well. Let me know if the site looks okay on your phone or tablet. August 29, 2014 There’s a new vocabulary exercise in the Games section: Words That Rhyme with "do." The word of the day is "pay." This is a very good word to understand if you work and live in an English-speaking country. Students who have been working in the Yellow Level should prepare for an upcoming test with the Yellow Level Review, Part 1. These dictation exercises will also help you if you have completed all of the lessons in the Yellow Level. August 28, 2014 What are the three most important verbs to understand when studying English? be / do / have The word of the day is "plug." August 27, 2014 The word of the day is "overcome." Once you feel comfortable using verbs in different tenses, English will get easier for you. However, it does take some time to become acquainted with simple, perfect, and continuous forms of verbs. Yellow Level Lesson Twenty-seven shows how one regular verb, learn, changes from one tense to another. I know you can learn this, but it takes a lot of patience and persistence. You should also take a look at how a verb like "learn" is made negative. Click here to listen to your teacher read examples for the preposition, "against." August 26, 2014 The word of the day is "reflect." In Yellow Level Lesson Twenty-six, students consider the eight parts of speech. If you are really serious about improving your English, it helps to understand the function of a word in a sentence. Some words, for instance, can function as a verb or as a noun. How do you know if a word is a verb or a noun? This is very important.
The word "raise" in the first sentence is a verb. In the second sentence it’s a noun. Do you see the difference? There’s a new audio recording for the preposition "after." Have you been downloading the recordings to your phones? The nice thing about that is you can practice listening as you are traveling on the bus or the train. Listening is the most important skill to master when learning a language. August 25, 2014 The future perfect tense is used to describe something that has been completed or finished at a future time. This is a very confusing tense for some students because it’s a form of prediction, and it sounds as though the situation is guaranteed to happen. Here’s an example:
It’s August right now. I started teaching in September of 1988. When September comes, and if I’m still alive–which I probably will be– I’ll have 26 years of teaching experience. To make the future perfect tense use…. will + have + the past participle This is a very difficult tense to use, so if you are a beginning level student, don’t feel bad if you don’t get it. Intermediate and advanced level students, however, should try to understand how and why the future perfect tense is used. The word of the day is "gulp." Do you know how to use the preposition "across"? August 24, 2014 Intensifiers are adverbs that increase or decrease the quality of an adjective. This is your lesson for the day. The word of the day is "faucet." After you listen to the word of the day, go to this Think in English exercise for the word "faucet." You might also benefit from taking a quick look at vocabulary words related to the kitchen. Notice there’s a translator in the upper right-hand corner if you need extra help. By the way, does it help to have Google Translate on web pages, or is that just a distraction? Let me know if you have a chance. August 23, 2014 The word of the day is "stumble." Yellow Level Lesson Twenty-three explains how you can form superlative adverbs. There’s a new vocabulary exercise in the Games section. These are words that rhyme with "slow." August 22, 2014 The word of the day is "due." You will continue your study of adverbs today with a lesson on comparative adverbs. Do you know how to use the preposition "above"? August 21, 2014 Learn what adverbs are in Yellow Level Lesson Twenty-one. The word of the day is "try." The featured Think in English exercise for today is on tongs. The answer page includes a new audio recording so that you can hear your teacher pronounce this difficult word. There’s a new audio recording for the preposition "about." August 20, 2014 Today’s lesson is simple but important: talking about height and weight in American English. One reason why this is so important is because we don’t use the metric system for measuring things here. There are also particular ways of asking questions and answering questions when it comes to a person’s height or weight. The word of the day is "mind." August 19, 2014 The word of the day is "close," but this word is different from yesterday’s featured word. When describing something that is near you or not far away, you can use this adjective. What will you be doing today? What will be you doing later this week? What will you be doing in December? These questions use the future continuous tense, which is very similar to the future tense, but we use it to describe activity that takes place over a period of time–hours, days, weeks, etc. August 18, 2014 The lesson for today is on prepositional phrases. A prepositional phrase begins with a preposition and ends with a noun or a pronoun. The word of the day is "close." August 17, 2014 The word of the day is "schedule." Do you check the schedule on the home page regularly? Today’s lesson shows you some of the differences between the present perfect continuous tense and the past perfect continuous tense. Have you seen this lesson on past participles yet?
August 15, 2014 The word of the day is "cause." Your lesson for today is on the past perfect tense. Form the past perfect tense like this: had + the past participle It doesn’t matter what the subject is. You always use the helping verb "had," and the main verb is in the form of the past participle. August 14, 2014 The word of the day is "bore." If you want to play a game, click here to find words that rhyme with "bore." Yellow Level students go to Lesson Fourteen today: perfect modal verbs in the continuous form. August 13, 2014 Today’s main lesson is on the present perfect continuous tense. Exercise H on the Yellow Level dictation page matches today’s lesson. The word of the day is "rise."
August 12, 2014 The word of the day is "advise." Yellow Level Lesson Twelve shows how certain modal verbs are used to describe past situations that did or did not happen. For example….
Did I eat the entire pizza? No, but the possibility existed due to my hunger. Notice there are three parts to the verb phrase: modal verb + have + the past participle (for the main verb) Learn more about this by clicking here. This video might help:
I sent out an email lesson this afternoon. Did you get it? If not, make sure you sign up for emailed lessons and updates on the home page. August 11, 2014 Single modal verbs like "can," "must," and "will" are often replaced with verb phrases (idiomatic modal verbs) when Americans speak and write in English. For example:
These kinds of substitutions are not always possible, but they are often possible. It’s very important for you to learn this. Go to Lesson Eleven in the Yellow Level to learn more. The word of the day is "advice." Who gives you advice? Do you give good advice to your friends or family? Note that this word is a noun. Another word, "advise," is similar except that it’s used as a verb. August 10, 2014 Today’s lesson is on modal verbs. These are helping verbs that change the degree or the mode of the main verb. Look at the sentences below:
Learn more about modal verbs is Yellow Level Lesson Ten. The word of the day is "juggle." August 9, 2014 Your lesson for today compares the past tense with the past continuous tense. This pronunciation exercise compares the short e sound with the long e sound. Notice how spelling affects pronunciation. The word of the day is "helpless." August 8, 2014 Today Yellow Level students study the past continuous tense. This tense is used to describe activity that is continuous in the past or ongoing during another past activity.
The word of the day is "someday." There’s a new YouTube video for the word "head" when it’s used as a verb:
August 7, 2014 The word of the day is "relapse." Your lesson for the day is on superlative adjectives. How good is your English grammar? See how many mistakes you can find in these exercises. August 6, 2014 Yellow Level Lesson Six introduces comparative adjectives. The word of the day is "star." August 5, 2014 To make questions in the present perfect tense, put the helping verb (have or has) before the subject. The main verb is in the form of a past participle:
Learn more about forming questions in the present perfect tense in Yellow Level Lesson Five. The word of the day is "upset." August 4, 2014 Yellow Level Lesson Four shows how to make the present perfect tense negative. The word of the day is "seal." August 3, 2014 The present perfect tense is one of the most important tenses for a beginning or intermediate level learner of English to understand. It’s not easy at first, but with practice you’ll get it. Just remember, it has two parts: has or have + the past participle Your decision to use "has" or "have" as the helping verb depends on the subject in a sentence or a question. Learn more about the present perfect tense in Yellow Level Lesson Three. The word of the day is "cram." August 2, 2014 Students studying in the Yellow Level this month go to Lesson Two today. I want you to look closely at how the verb "have" changes in the present tense and the past tense. This is very important to understand because when you study the present perfect tense tomorrow, you’ll learn how to use the verb "have" as a helping verb. There’s a new Listening Lab exercise for the verb "have." The word of the day is "receive." August 1, 2014 Red Level students move forward to the Yellow Level today. Download the Yellow Level checklist to track your progress. Click here for Lesson One. Here’s the present schedule if you are following the lessons.
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