History and Etymology for Chess

Chess: a game for two players with 16 pieces each on a board of 64 squares. The board is called chessboard (or checkerboard).

Real Story of St. Valentine’s Day

The old custom of sending "Valentines" on 14th February has nothing whatever to do with St. Valentine.

How Scotland Yard Got Its Name

On the site of the present London police headquarters stood an ancient palace, appropriated to the use of the Scottish Kings who came to London once a year to pay homage to the English sovereign at Westminster Abbey.

Present Simple – Texts and Dialogues

This page contains 4 easy texts for reading and 11 dialogues. I hope this worksheet will help students to see how to use Present Simple (Present Indefinite) Tense in the right ways and put grammar learning into context.

Present Indefinite Exercises

These drills are designed to practise the Present Simple (also known as 'the Present Indefinite'): 3rd person, positive and negative sentences, general and special questions.

Exercise I
Fill in the blanks. Pay attention to the third person singular.

Transitive and Intransitive verbs

A verb is Transitive, if the action does not stop with the doer, but passes from the doer to something else.

Past Simple (or Past Indefinite) in Proverbs Examples and Worksheet

Three exercises on Past Simple (past indefinite) based on proverbs, common sayings and quotations.

Present Simple (Indefinite) in Proverbs and Sayings worksheet

Seven exercises on Present Simple (Present Indefinite) based on proverbs and sayings. Key included if necessary.

Exercise 1
Read these proverbs and sayings. Memorize them.  Pay attention to the forms of the third person singular of the verbs in the Present Simple Tense. Think of equivalents in your language.

Non progressive verbs

Some verbs are not normally used in the progressive (also known as the 'continuous') forms.

1. Verbs describing mental states: believe, doubt, expect, feel (=think or have an opinion), forget, guess, imagine, intend, know, mean, perceive, realize, recall, recognize, recollect, regard, remember, see (=understand), suppose, think (=be of the opinion, have an opinion), trust, understand.

Past Perfect Continuous in Dialogues

Contents → Grammar in Dialogues → Past Perfect Continuous in Dialogues

Grammar explanation I:
Past Perfect Continuous (also known as the Past Perfect Progressive Tense) is used to describe an action which began before a given past moment and continued into it or up to it. In this meaning it is parallel to Past Perfect for stative verbs and may be used with certain time indications: either a whole period of the duration of the action is indicated or its starting point ("for + time" or "before + moment").

Present Perfect Continuous Using

Contents → Grammar in Dialogues → Present Perfect Continuous Using

Learn how to use the Present Perfect Continuous Tense in English. Read on for detailed descriptions and examples from the popular novels that help make grammar rules clear.