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mind

Mind can mean ‘dislike’,

‘be annoyed by’, ‘object

to’. We use mind mostly

in questions and negative

sentences. I don’t mind

you coming in late if you

don’t wake me up. Do

you mind the smell of

tobacco?’ ‘Not at all.’ Do

you mind . . . ? and

Would you mind . . . ? are

often used to ask for

permission, or to ask

people to do things. We

can use -ing forms or if-

clauses. Do you mind/

Would you mind. .. -

ing. .. ? Would you mind

opening the window? (=

Please open the window.)

Would you mind my

opening the window? (=

Can / open the window?)

Do you mind people

smoking in the kitchen?

Do you mind/Would you

mind if… ? Would you

mind if I opened the

window? Do you mind if

people smoke in the

kitchen? Do you mind if I

smoke?’ ‘No, please do.

‘Note that the answer ‘No’

is used to give permission

after Do you mind …? (I

don’t mind means ‘I have

nothing against it; it’s all

right’.)

FILED UNDER: ESL

LESSONS M

go … -ing

We often use the

structure go .. . -ing,

especially to talk about

sports and free-time

activities. Let’s go climbing

next weekend. Did you go

dancing last Saturday? go

climbing go hunting go

shooting go swimming

go dancing go riding go

shopping go walking go

fishing go sailing go skiing

FILED UNDER: ESL

LESSONS G

Enough

1 Enough comes after

adjectives (without nouns)

and adverbs. adjective/

adverb + enough Is it

warm enough for you?

(NOT . . . enough

warm . . .) You’re not

driving fast enough 2

Enough comes before

nouns. enough (+

adjective) + noun Have

you got enough milk?

(NOT . .. enough of milk.)

There isn’t enough blue

paint left. We use enough

of before pronouns and

determiners (for example

the,my, this). enough of +

pronoun We didn’t buy

enough of them enough

of + determiner (+

adjective) + noun The

exam was bad. I couldn’t

answer enough of the

questions. Have we got

enough of those new

potatoes? 3 We can use

an infinitive structure after

enough. … enough… +

infinitive She’s old enough

to do what she wants. I

haven’t got enough

money to buy a car. .. .

enough… + for+ object +

infinitive It’s late enough

for us to stop work.

Incoming search

terms:enough noun

adjective

FILED UNDER: ESL

LESSONS E

too

1 We can use an infinitive

structure after too. too +

adjective/adverb +

infinitive He’s too old to

work It’s too cold to play

tennis. We arrived too late

to have dinner. We can

also use a structure with

for + object + infinitive.

too + adjective/adverb +

for + object + infinitive It’s

too late for the pubs to be

open. The runway’s too

short for planes to land 2

We can modify too with

much, a lot, far, a little, a

bit or rather. much too

old (NOT very too old) a

little too confident a lot too

big a bit too soon far too

ycung rather too often 3

Don’t confuse too and too

much. We do not use too

much before an adjective

without a noun, or an

adverb. You are too kind

to me. (NOT . . . too

much kind to me.) I

arrived too early (NOT too

much early ) 4 Don’t

confuse too and very.

Too means ‘more than

enough’, ‘more than

necessary’. He’s a very

intelligent child. He’s too

intelligent for his class —

he’s not learning anything.

It was very cold, but we

went out. It was too cold

to [...]

FILED UNDER: ESL

LESSONS T

can with remember,

understand, speak,

play, see, hear, feel,

taste and smell

1 remember, understand,

speak, play These verbs

usually mean the same

with or without can. I

(can) remember London

during the war. She can

speak Greek I She speaks

Greek. I can’t/don’t

understand. Can/Do you

play the piano? 2 see,

hear, feel, smell, taste We

do not use these verbs in

progressive tenses when

they refer to perception

(receiving information

through the eyes, ears

etc). To talk about seeing,

hearing etc at a particular

moment, we often use

can see, can hear etc. I

can see Susan coming,

(not I’m seeing . . . ) I can

hear somebody coming

up the stairs. What did

you put in the stew? I can

taste something funny.

Incoming search

terms:Can remember to

hearcould smell taste feel

grammarGrammar

lesson: to hear of to hear

about and to hear

fromhear smell

grammarsee hear feel

taste and smell

FILED UNDER: ESL

LESSONS C

After all

After all gives the idea that

one thing was expected,

but the opposite

happened. It means

‘Although we expected

something different’. I’m

sorry. I thought I could

come and see you this

evening, but I’m not free

after all I expected to fail

the exam, but I passed

after all Position: usually at

the end of the clause. We

can also use after all to

mean ‘We mustn’t forget

that … ‘ It is used to

introduce a good reason

or an important argument

which people seem to

have forgotten. It’s not

surprising you’re hungry.

After all, you didn’t have

breakfast. I think we

should go and see

Granny. After all she only

lives ten miles away, and

we haven’t seen her for

ages. Position: usually at

the beginning of the

clause.

FILED UNDER: ESL

LESSONS A

articles: the

The means something like

‘you know which one I

mean’. It is used with

uncountable, singular and

plural nouns. the water

(uncountable) the table

(singular countable) the

stars (plural countable)

We use the: a. to talk

about people and things

that we have already

mentioned. She’s got two

children: a girl and a boy.

The boy’s fourteen and

the girl’s eight. b. when

we are saying which

people or things we

mean. Who’s the girl in

the car over there with

John? c. when it is clear

from the situation which

people or things we

mean. Could you close

the door? (Only one door

is open.) ‘Where’s Ann?’

‘In the kitchen.’ Could you

pass the salt? 2 We do not

use the with other

determiners (for example

my, this, some.) This is

my uncle. (NOT . . . the

my uncle.) I like this beer.

(NOT . . . the this beer )

We do not usually use the

with proper names (there

are some exceptions).

Mary lives in Switzerland.

(NOT The Mary lives in the

Switzerland.) We do not

usually use the to talk

about things in general —

the does not mean ‘all’.

Books are expensive.

(NOT The [...]

FILED UNDER: ESL

LESSONS A, ESL LESSONS

T

about to

be + about + to-infinitive If

you are about to do

something, you are going

to do it very soon. Don’t

go out now — we’re

about to have supper I

was about to go to bed

when the telephone rang.

FILED UNDER: ESL

LESSONS A

Ages

We talk about people’s

ages with be + number

He is thirty-five. She will

be twenty-one next year.

be + number + years old

He is thirty-five years old

To ask about somebody’s

age, say How old are

you?(What is your age ? is

correct but not usual.)

Note the structure be + .. .

age (without preposition)

When I was your age. I

was already working. The

two boys are the same

age She‘s the same age as

me.

FILED UNDER: ESL

LESSONS A

Regular and irregular

verbs

Regular and irregular

verbs 1. Regular verbs If a

verb is regular, the past

simple and past participle

end in -ed. infinitive clean

finish use stop carry paint

past simple past participle

cleaned finished used

stopped carried painted 2.

Irregular verbs When the

past simple and past

participle do not end in -

ed (for example, I saw /I

have seen), the verb is

irregular. With some

irregular verbs, all three

forms (infinitive, past

simple and past participle)

are the same. For

example, hit: □ Don’t hit

me. (infinitive) □

Somebody hit me as I

came into the room, (past

simple) □ I’ve never hit

anybody in my life, (past

participle – present

perfect) □ George was hit

on the head by a stone,

(past participle – passive)

With other irregular

verbs, the past simple is

the same as the past

participle (but different

from the infinitive). For

example, tell – told: □ Can

you tell me what to do?

(infinitive) □ She told me

to come back the next

day. (past simple) □ Have

you told anybody about

your new job? (past

participle – present

perfect) □ I was told to

come back the next day.

(past participle – passive)

[...]

FILED UNDER: GRAMMAR

INDEX