Present S Present Continuous for Future

Ex. 1

Adverbs of degree

 

 

Ex. 1

Ex. 2

 

Past Perfect Simple vs. Past Simple

Ex. 1

Ex. 2

Ex. 3

Ex. 4

Ex. 5

A narrative

 

 

Narrative essays 1

Narrative essays 2

Sample Narrative Essay

List of topics

Synonyms

• siblings, brothers & sisters
• hurt, damage, injure...
• jump, leap...
• quit, abandon, go away from, leave, exit from...
• happyness, joy, cheerfulness 
• happy, glad, delighted, merry, pleased, joyfull, cheerful
• thrilled, excited
• smart, brilant, clever, intelligent, brilant, ingeniuous
• immense, huge, gigantic, enourmous
• tiny, microscopic...
• beaufitul, handsome, attractive, good-looking, appealing...
• pleasant, pleasing, nice, enjoyable, satisfying, gratifying...
• weapons, arms
• murder, assassination (in particular circumstances)
• due to, because of, as a result of
• despiste, in spite of
• set off, set out, leave, depart
• allow, let, authorise, permit, enable
• forbid, prohibit
• permission, approval, licence, agreement
• prevent, stop
• sick, ill, unwell, bad, indisposed
• sickness, illness, disease, disorder
• get along with, have a good relationship with, go hand in hand with, be in harmony
• succeed, do well, prosper, achieve success, thrive, flourish...
• succeed in, manage to, make do..
• deal with, cope with, see to, be in charge of, handle...
• contest, tournament, game, match, competition...
• take place, happen, occur...
• autumn, fall (US)
• get together, gathering...
• bonfire, campfire, fire...
• friend, colleage, pal, partner...
• improve, make better, ameliorate, upgrade, thrive, boost, enhace, refine...
• increase, grow, get larger, get bigger, enlarger, expand,  swell, rise...
• raise, lift, elevate, put up....
• customary, traditional
• custom, tradition
• roots,  origins
• client, customer
• parade, procession
• present, gift
• suitable, appropriate
• large, big
• display, exhibition
• wonderful, great, 
• incredible, amazing
• festivity, celebration
• way of life, lifystyle 
• take part, participe
• annoy, bother
• meaningfull, significant
• travel, journey, trip, tour
• break, holiday, rest, time off, sabatical time...
• candies, sweets, goodies, treats
• proof, demonstration, evidence
• spectacle, show
• journalist, reporter*, news correspondent

 

The Past Perfect Tense

The past perfect tense, also known as the pluperfect tense, is essential in English. It describes events that happened before a particular point in the past. 

Understanding Past Perfect Tense

The Past Perfect Tense is used to show that an action was completed before another action in the past. It is often used to clarify the order of events.

Formation of Past Perfect Tense

To form the Past Perfect Tense, combine the auxiliary verb “had” with the past participle of the main verb. The structure follows this pattern:

Subject + had + past participle

For example:

• I had eaten
• They had gone

Negative sentences use “had not” or “hadn’t”:

• She had not finished
• We hadn’t seen

Questions invert the subject and “had”:

• Had you left?
• Had they arrived?

The past perfect is the same for all the persons.

• I/you/he/she/it/we/they had left when I arrived.

We can contract had to ‘d.

• I called him, but he’d gone to a meeting. 

Examples of Past Perfect Tense

Examples make the use of Past Perfect Tense clear.

• By the time she arrived, I had already left.
• He had finished his homework before the movie started.
• They had lived in Paris before moving to London.

Tabs for better clarity:

Sentence	Explanation
By the time she arrived, I had left.	Action 1: I left. Action 2: She arrived. Action 1 happened earlier.
He had finished before it started.	Action 1: He finished. Action 2: It started. Action 1 happened earlier.

Past Perfect Tense helps make the sequence of past actions clear.

Usage of Past Perfect Tense

The past perfect tense is useful for indicating that one action was completed before another action in the past. It can show cause and effect as well as sequential events clearly.

• Indicating Completed Actions

The past perfect tense is used to show that an action was finished before another past action started.

For example, “She had finished her homework before she went out to play.” The first action (finishing homework) was completed before the second action (going out to play).

This tense helps to create a clear timeline of events.

• Showing Cause and Effect

This tense can also illustrate cause and effect.

For instance, “They were hungry because they had not eaten all day.” Here, the reason for being hungry (cause) is clear because of the past perfect tense used for the action of not eating (effect).

It makes relationships between actions easy to understand.

• Describing Sequential Actions

The past perfect tense is effective in describing actions that happen one after another.

For example, “After he had saved some money, he bought a new bike.” The saving happened first, then the bike purchase followed.

This use helps to set up a sequence of events so the reader knows what happened and in what order.

Past perfect or past simple?

We use the past simple to describe a series of past events in chronological order, and we use the past perfect to make clear that one of the events happened before. Compare these two sentences:

• When I arrived, she left. (=She left after I arrived.)
• When I arrived, she had left. (She left before I arrived.)

Be careful with this common mistake!

The contraction ‘d can be had or would. Remember that we use an infinitive form after would and a past participle after had.

• I‘d love to go to your party. (= would)
• I noticed that he‘d eaten my cake. (= had)

Ex. 1

Ex. 2

Ex. 3

Ex. 4

Ex. 5

Present Perfect Tense with Superlatives

This is an advanced grammar point that is used a lot by native speakers.

We learned in the previous lessons, that the present perfect is used in two ways.

1. Experiences and finished actions – Remember that we do not use a specific time
2. Unfinished actions – Things that started in the past, but are not finished

We can combine the present perfect with superlative sentences to talk about both experiences and unfinished actions.

Here are a few examples.

A) What is the most beautiful country that you have visited? Thailand is the most beautiful country that I have visited.

B) What is the best book that you have read? The best book that I have read is The Last Lecture.

Look at some more examples. The best way to learn this kind of sentence is to see many examples and to practice making your own sentences.

• Batman is the best movie that I have seen.
• Korean beef is the best meat that I have eaten.
• This book is the worst book that I've read.
• She is the nicest teacher I have had.

We can also switch the order of the sentence.

• The best movie that I have ever is Batman.
• The best meat that I have eaten is Korean beef.
• The worst book that I have read is this book.
• The nicest teacher I've had is her.

Remember the word "that" in these sentences is optional.

• He is the tallest man that I've seen.
  (=He is the tallest man I've seen.)

We can ask about recent experiences and life experiences.

• It is the best movie that I have seen recently.
• It is the best movie that I have seen. (whole life)
• It is the best movie that I have seen in my life.

We can add the word "ever" to emphasize. It just makes our sentence stronger. We can only use "ever" when talking about our whole life experiences. It cannot be used to talk only about recent experiences.

• He the most handsome man that I have ever seen.
• It is the biggest waterfall that I've ever seen.
• The best singer that I have ever seen in concert is Adele.

We usually use the present tense "be verbs" in this sentence, but sometimes people use past tense "be verbs". To be honest, it is not really that important and you should not worry about it.

• It was the most interesting movie I have ever seen.
• It is the most interesting movie that I have ever seen.

The two sentences above have the same meaning.

Now, let's look at how to make questions with the present perfect and superlatives.

Again, we will learn by looking at examples.

• What is the best country that you have ever visited?
• What is the worst country that you have been to?
• What is the most beautiful country that you've visited?
• What is the funniest movie that you've ever seen?
• What is the most dangerous thing he has ever done?
• What is the worst injury that she has ever suffered?
• Who is the best boss that you have ever had?

We can also ask yes/no questions.

• Is this the worst typhoon that you have ever seen?
• Is this the most snow that you have seen?
• Are these the best cookies that you have ever tried?

These are advanced sentences and it might take you some time to master them, but if you do then you will sound like a natural English speaker.

Example Questions and Sentences

A) What is the best restaurant that you have been to in this area? I think Mr. Kim's Korean Food is the best restaurant that I have been to in this area.

B) What is the best movie that you have seen recently? Wolverine is the best movie that I've seen recently.

C) Who is the best boss that you have had at this company? The best boss that I have had at this company is Tina.

D) What is the most beautiful place that you have ever visited? Actually, Iceland is the most beautiful place that I've visited.

E) What is the highest mountain that he has climbed? Mt. Fuji is the highest mountain he has climbed.

F) What is the most money that she has ever made playing poker? The most money she's made playing poker is over 1 million dollars.

Ex. 1

Ex. 2

Ex. 3