Stay up-to-date with ELT trends and ideas with articles from experts and teachers in the field.

Articles

It&rsquo;s almost time for the spookiest holiday of the year, Halloween! On&nbsp;October 31, many children will dress up in costumes and go out trick-or-treating for candy. People of all ages love this holiday, and teachers can maximize on the fun by doing fun Halloween activities in class all week long.

<h2>Lessons</h2>

<ul>
	<li>Intermediate&nbsp;&ndash; Try <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/93/lessons/1861" target="_blank">Halloween</a>&nbsp;(Int&ndash;High Int) in the Holidays &amp; Events section. This lesson includes a reading on Halloween, comprehension questions, vocabulary exercises, idioms, instructions on how to carve a jack-o&rsquo;-lantern, a pair work activity, and a speaking activity.</li>
	<li>Beginner &ndash; For beginner-level students, try <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/93/lessons/1861" target="_blank">Halloween</a> (Low Int), also in our Holidays &amp; Events section. This lesson includes vocabulary, a reading on Halloween, comprehension questions, a word jumble, a word search, a speaking activity, and a writing activity.</li>
	<li>Kids&nbsp;&ndash; If you teach kids, you should try our <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/113/lessons/2439" target="_blank">Halloween</a> lesson in the Word Bank section.</li>
</ul>

<h2>Activities</h2>

<ul>
	<li>Pumpkin Carving &ndash; This was always a popular activity at my old school. Many English learners don&rsquo;t celebrate Halloween in their countries, and students of all ages enjoy carving a pumpkin for the first time! Get your whole school involved and have a contest to see which team&rsquo;s pumpkin gets the most votes. Pass around the Halloween candy, with extra going to the winners!</li>
	<li>Costume Contest &ndash; Like the pumpkin carving, many students from other cultures haven&rsquo;t ever experienced dressing up for Halloween. When everyone comes to school dressed up on the 31st, just try and stop the cameras from snapping shot after shot! (My old school took great pictures every Halloween to use in our promotional materials.) Give your learners ideas for costumes they can make themselves, such as using an old sheet for a ghost or using black construction paper to make &nbsp;a witch&rsquo;s hat or cat ears. At my old school, we assigned a number to all the people in costume. The teachers voted on the top 10 or 20 best-dressed students. Then those students performed a fashion show on a &ldquo;runway&rdquo; in front of the school, and their classmates voted on their favorite costume. Our costume fashion show was always a big hit with students!</li>
	<li><a href="https://ellii.com/flashcard_genres/21/flashcard_categories/46" target="_blank">Flashcards</a> &ndash; We&rsquo;ve got a good collection of Halloween flashcards. There are so many ways to use flashcards: for vocabulary practice, for games, etc. Tara Benwell has outlined six creative ideas in her blog post <a href="https://ellii.com/blog/flashcards-for-halloween-activities-and-games" target="_blank">Flashcards for Halloween Activities and Games</a>.</li>
	<li><a href="https://ellii.com/blog/tricky-halloween-vocab-to-teach-your-students/" target="_blank">Halloween Spelling</a> &ndash; Use this holiday as a chance to review some tricky vocabulary with your students. Words include witch/which, costume/custom, jack-o&rsquo;-lantern, etc.</li>
	<li><a href="https://ellii.com/blog/esl-magic" title="Magic Mayhem! 10+ Ideas &amp; Resources to Motivate Using Magic">Magic Mayhem! 10+ Ideas &amp; Resources to Motivate Using Magic</a> &ndash; In this blog post, Shelly Terrell lists many magical activities to make learning exciting.</li>
	<li><a href="https://ellii.com/blog/10-wicked-web-2-0-activities-for-halloween">10+ Wicked Web 2.0 Activities for Halloween</a> &ndash; Using tech in the classroom has never been more fun! Shelly Terrell has four great ideas for Halloween activities using the Web.</li>
	<li>Frankenstein Day &ndash; Last Friday in October&nbsp;&ndash; Use our&nbsp;lesson plan on <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/83/lessons/1495">Frankenstein</a>, the world&#39;s most famous monster! Make it&nbsp;more meaningful by first checking out Tara Benwell&rsquo;s post <a href="https://ellii.com/blog/writing-contest-frankenstein-day" target="_blank" title="A Writing Contest for Frankenstein Day">A Writing Contest for Frankenstein Day</a>. You can easily change it to a writing contest for Halloween. Tara includes an audio clip that students can listen to on the history of Mary Shelley&rsquo;s Frankenstein. Then students can write their own ghost stories, and you can print out a premade certificate for the winner right from the blog post!</li>
</ul>

Halloween Fun! Activities and Resources for Teachers

https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/post/title_image/1440/Haloween-Default_Banner.png

Tour around the ELT conference circuit as our team shares conference highlights and session reviews.

Conferences

Learn tips on how to teach grammar and usage from our editors and grammar experts. 

Grammar & Usage

<h1>Say It Plainly</h1>

Last weekend, I had the chance to attend the Plain Language Association International 2013 Conference in Vancouver, BC. From October 10 to 13, this inspiring, informative conference brought together more than 500 people from many different fields who are all interested in making communication as clear as can be.

The main message was that whether you&#39;re a teacher, a literacy professional, a government worker, or a lawyer, you should try to speak and write in a way that is clear&mdash;plain and simple!

<h1>What Is Plain Language?</h1>

Plain language involves keeping your audience in mind at all times, and the goal is to write to be understood by all your readers. There are guidelines you can follow, such as using the pronoun &ldquo;you&rdquo; and avoiding jargon and the passive voice, but the success of any document is measured by how well your readers understand it.

As English teachers, we are all already familiar with the concept of plain language. We continually strive to speak and write in a way that our English learners will understand. For more information about what plain language is and what the conference was all about, read the conference host&#39;s <a href="https://plainlanguagenetwork.org/plain-language/what-is-plain-language/">definition of plain language</a>&nbsp;website or see my summary of the conference in this BCBusiness&nbsp;online&nbsp;magazine article:&nbsp;<a href="http://www.bcbusiness.ca/your-business/say-it-plainly#!">Say It Plainly</a>.

While the conference covered a wide variety of topics like the future of plain language (it&rsquo;s becoming more and more popular all over the world) and ethics in plain language (such as the right to understand all forms and documents), I want to focus on some sessions that relate directly to English&nbsp;teaching.

<h1>User-Testing</h1>

Kate Harrison Whiteside, one of the conference cofounders, led a panel presentation called Successfully Integrating Plain Language. During the presentation, she mentioned that user-testing was key to ensure understanding. This relates directly to us teachers because we need to carefully monitor understanding when using new materials in class.

I find the best way to do this is by circulating as students are working (whether it&rsquo;s individually, in pairs, or in groups). Often students won&rsquo;t volunteer that they are confused by the material. But when you circulate, you can quickly assess who is getting it and who isn&rsquo;t, and offer help to those who need it at that time or after&nbsp;class.

<h1>Getting Feedback</h1>

Terri Peters, a plain language trainer, also emphasized that talking to a lot of people for feedback is invaluable. As a teacher, I agree. At my old school, we did student evaluations once a month that included a written rating and a counseling session. But sometimes I found it beneficial to talk to students throughout the semester, especially after the first week of class, to make sure everyone was keeping up and not feeling frustrated with the&nbsp;material.

<h1>Reading</h1>

Diana Twiss, of Decoda Literacy Solutions, talked about what makes people effective readers and how plain language can model this. Teachers can use her findings in their classrooms to help students understand the reading portion of a lesson more clearly.

First, teachers should always tell students what they will learn in the reading (i.e., the purpose) before they read.

Second, providing some background information about the reading topic before students read helps all levels of learners get more out of the reading.

Third, using headings helps students piece the information together more easily. If the reading you&rsquo;re doing with your class doesn&rsquo;t have headings, you could always make a photocopy and write them in yourself before presenting the reading to students.

Finally, summarizing the key points after the reading will help students put it all together in their minds. For other reading tips, check out <a href="https://ellii.com/blog/reading-lessons-interactive">3 Ways to Make Reading More&nbsp;Interactive</a>.

<h1>Grammar</h1>

Linda Comerford, in her session Creating Clarity with Grammar, presented her audience with some interesting statistics. Did you know that English has over 600,000 words? On average, that&rsquo;s four times more than other languages.

She often tells this to her students when they are feeling discouraged in order to remind them that they&rsquo;re not alone in thinking English is hard. She also mentioned that 16&ndash;18 is the number of words that your brain can hold onto when forming a sentence. So, for teachers, it&rsquo;s important to speak and write in sentences that don&rsquo;t exceed this amount, and we should encourage our students to do the&nbsp;same.

Teaching Tips from the Plain Language Conference

https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/post/title_image/1439/Tara-Tanya_Top-10-TESOL-Takeaways_Banner.png

Whatever you call them (modals, modal verbs, auxiliaries, auxiliary verbs, etc.), modals are one of the most difficult grammar points for students to grasp. We have many categories of modals in English such as possibility, ability, advice, and necessity, and within each category, we have many modals to choose&nbsp;from.

In our American Presidents lesson on <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/84/lessons/1531">Woodrow Wilson</a>, there is an exercise about modals for expressing suggestions. We thought it would be helpful to blog about the modals should, ought to, had better, have got to, have to, and must so that teachers could elaborate on the notes in the&nbsp;lesson.

You could also use this tried‑and‑true method of presenting modals as a lesson on its own, with our <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/88/lessons">Grammar Practice Worksheets</a> or <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/116/lessons">Fun Grammar Lessons</a> on modals, along with another textbook, or for review&nbsp;anytime!

<h1>Pattern &amp; Chart</h1>

Remind students that the pattern for modals in English&nbsp;is:

<h4>Modal + Base Verb</h4>

A base verb is an infinitive verb without to. Point out that base verbs never have any endings (no -s, -ed, -ing, etc.), so students don&rsquo;t have to worry about subject&ndash;verb agreement. Make sure you stress to students that they should never use to after a modal (unless it&rsquo;s a part of the modal&nbsp;expression).

<ul class="resources">
	<li class="correct">You must take the exam. (correct)</li>
	<li class="incorrect">You must to take the exam. (incorrect)</li>
</ul>

<ul class="resources">
	<li class="correct">You have to take the exam. (correct)</li>
	<li class="incorrect">You have take the exam. (incorrect)</li>
</ul>

I always tell my students that for a modal expression that includes to (such as have to), think of to as part of the modal expression and not as part of an infinitive verb (i.e., have to + base verb, not have + infinitive verb). It&rsquo;s easier for students to remember to never use an infinitive verb with a modal (but they&rsquo;ll have to remember that some modal expressions include&nbsp;to).

Next, write this &ldquo;suggestion scale&rdquo; chart on the board. It&rsquo;s always helpful when students can visualize where the modals belong in relation to one&nbsp;another.

<table style="width: auto !important;">
	<tbody>
		<tr>
			<th class="center">stronger</th>
			<td>
			<ul>
				<li>must</li>
				<li>have to</li>
				<li>have got to</li>
			</ul>
			</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<th class="center">&darr;</th>
			<td>
			<ul>
				<li>had better</li>
			</ul>
			</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<th class="center">weaker</th>
			<td>
			<ul>
				<li>ought to</li>
				<li>should</li>
			</ul>
			</td>
		</tr>
	</tbody>
</table>

<h1>Modals of Advice</h1>

Common modals of advice in English are should, ought to, and had better. Read on for the differences in meaning and usage!

<h2>Should</h2>

Using the modal of advice should is the most common way to suggest something to someone in English. The pattern is should + base verb. The negative form, should not, often gets contracted to&nbsp;shouldn&rsquo;t.

<ul>
	<li>You should tell your boss about the&nbsp;report.</li>
	<li>They should start getting ready to go because the bus leaves at&nbsp;4:00.</li>
	<li>She shouldn&rsquo;t smoke outside because people are eating on the patio&nbsp;nearby.</li>
</ul>

<h2>Ought To</h2>

Ought to is a modal expression that sounds a bit stuffy these days. I always tell my students that though they may occasionally see it in textbooks or in writing, they should avoid using ought to + base verb themselves because it&rsquo;s pretty old‑fashioned. Some people would argue that ought to is a bit stronger of a suggestion than should, but I&rsquo;d argue that the difference isn&rsquo;t important, especially since it&rsquo;s not commonly used&nbsp;nowadays.

As a general overview (in case students come across it), you may want to mention that in spoken English, ought to is usually shortened to /aw-da/, and that the negative expression ought not to is even less common and best avoided&nbsp;altogether.

<ul>
	<li>You ought to show your report card to your&nbsp;parents.</li>
</ul>

<h2>Had Better</h2>

Use had better + base verb to make a stronger suggestion than should. This modal of advice is used when someone thinks the other person really should follow the suggestion, implying that there will be more serious consequences if the advice isn&rsquo;t&nbsp;taken.

Had better is a modal expression that is often contracted to &rsquo;d&nbsp;better. The negative form, had better not, is also often contracted to &rsquo;d&nbsp;better&nbsp;not.

<ul>
	<li>We had better let someone know about the&nbsp;problem.</li>
	<li>He&rsquo;d better study for the test because he&rsquo;s failing the&nbsp;class.</li>
	<li>I&rsquo;d better not eat another cookie because it will ruin my dinner.</li>
</ul>

<h1>Modals of Necessity</h1>

The modals of necessity/obligation must, have to, and have got to have essentially the same meaning and are all used to denote a strong&nbsp;suggestion.

<h2>Must</h2>

Must + base verb is a little more formal and is often used in written English (e.g., this modal would appear on a sign listing out rules). The negative form is must not. While the contraction mustn&rsquo;t is possible, it isn&rsquo;t commonly used nowadays and has a stuffy feel to it. I tell my students to avoid&nbsp;it.

Don&rsquo;t forget to remind students that can&rsquo;t/cannot is a modal with basically the same meaning as must not, with can&rsquo;t/cannot being a bit more&nbsp;common.

<ul>
	<li>You must remove your jacket and shoes when going through airport&nbsp;security.</li>
	<li>We must register for the conference before we can attend any&nbsp;sessions.</li>
	<li>You must not/can&rsquo;t use a pen. All answers must be written with a&nbsp;pencil.</li>
</ul>

<h2>Have To</h2>

Have to + base verb is a little more informal and is often used in spoken English and informal writing. Note that this is one modal expression that does have subject&ndash;verb agreement. Third person singular pronouns, singular count nouns, and non-count nouns will all use has to + base verb. Point out to students that the contractions &rsquo;ve&nbsp;to and &rsquo;s&nbsp;to are never&nbsp;possible.

The negative forms, do not have to and does not have to, are often contracted to don&rsquo;t have to and doesn&rsquo;t have&nbsp;to.

I always point out that in speaking, have to is often reduced to hafta and has to is often pronounced&nbsp;hasta.

<ul>
	<li>You have to call your friend tonight. It&rsquo;s her birthday and she&rsquo;ll be upset&nbsp;if you&nbsp;forget.</li>
	<li>She has to bring her own skis because there isn&rsquo;t anywhere to rent&nbsp;them.</li>
	<li>I told my roommate that he doesn&rsquo;t have to pay for groceries this week because I owe him&nbsp;money.</li>
</ul>

<h2>Have Got To</h2>

Have got to + base verb is a very old expression in English that is still commonly used nowadays. It is even more informal than have to and is commonly used in spoken English and informal writing. Note that this is another modal expression that has subject&ndash;verb agreement. Third person singular pronouns, singular count nouns, and non‑count nouns will all use has got to + base&nbsp;verb.

The negative forms have not got to and has not got to are never used (do not have to and does not have to can be used instead). The contractions &rsquo;ve got to and &rsquo;s got to are common in writing, and in speaking, the reduced forms &rsquo;ve gotta and &rsquo;s gotta are very common.

<ul>
	<li>You have got to remember to do your report tonight. It&rsquo;s due tomorrow&nbsp;morning.</li>
	<li>Our teacher has got to grade a lot of papers tonight. We need them back to study for the&nbsp;test.</li>
	<li>She&rsquo;s got to go to an appointment&nbsp;right after&nbsp;class.</li>
</ul>

If your students are still confused, they should / had better / have to / have got to / must study&nbsp;more!

Tanya

Suggestions with Modals of Advice & Necessity

https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/post/title_image/1437/Tanya_Grammar_Banner.png

<h3>Happy National Punctuation Day!</h3>

<a href="http://www.nationalpunctuationday.com">National Punctuation Day</a> is celebrated on September&nbsp;24&nbsp;in the US, and it is also recognized in other countries such as Canada. In honor of this language-related holiday, I decided to write about&nbsp;punctuation!

The&nbsp;em dash&nbsp;is fairly&nbsp;common in printed materials and online, but neither English speakers nor learners are usually taught how to use this&nbsp;symbol. I certainly can&#39;t recall ever teaching it to my students. Only when I was studying to become an editor did I fully learn the correct usage. I&#39;ll share what I&#39;ve learned in the hopes that both teachers and students will benefit!

<h2>What is an em dash?</h2>

An em dash is an elongated hyphen (about the length of three hyphens) that is used for specific purposes. Here&rsquo;s how the dash family looks:

<img alt="" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/1812/content_Tanya_Dash-Family_Chart.jpg" />

<h2>What is the em dash used for?</h2>

The em dash is used primarily for joining phrases or clauses together instead of a semicolon, colon, commas, or parentheses. Its purpose is to set some information apart as an explanation or elaboration. It is also used&nbsp;for emphasis.

Examples:

<ul>
	<li>She was worried about him&mdash;he didn&rsquo;t seem very happy. (explanation, used instead of a semicolon)</li>
	<li>It&rsquo;s that time of year again&mdash;time to cram for final exams. (explanation, used instead of a colon)</li>
	<li>The kiwi bird&mdash;a flightless, nocturnal bird&mdash;is only native to New Zealand. (elaboration, used instead of commas or parentheses)</li>
	<li>Three of my friends&mdash;Sarah, Michelle, and Tracy&mdash;are coming to my party. (elaboration, used instead of commas or parentheses)</li>
	<li>His new car&mdash;and what a car!&mdash;was a Lamborghini. (emphasis, used instead of parentheses)</li>
</ul>

<h2>How did the em dash get its name?</h2>

The em dash got its name from the olden days of typesetting. Back before the computer era, when publishers wanted to use this dash, they would make it the same length as the &ldquo;m&rdquo; character length of the typeset block. In most modern fonts, too, the em dash is the same length as the letter &ldquo;m&rdquo; or &ldquo;M.&rdquo;

<h2>Where can you find it on your computer?</h2>

The em dash is easy to make using keyboard shortcuts. On a Mac, hold down shift +&nbsp;option +&nbsp;hyphen. On a PC, hold down the Alt key and type 0151.

<h2>Should there be spaces around the em dash?</h2>

Though it is optional, it seems like the slight majority of people choose not to put spaces around the em dash. Some style guides, such as the Chicago Manual of Style, agree.

Examples:

<ul>
	<li>Three of my friends&mdash;Sarah, Michelle, and Tracy&mdash;are coming to my party. (without&nbsp;spaces)</li>
	<li>Three of my friends &mdash; Sarah, Michelle, and Tracy &mdash; are coming to my party. (with spaces)</li>
</ul>

I suggest teaching students not to use spaces since this is a little more common. For more advanced students, you can tell them that it is optional, and challenge them to find examples of both in printed materials or&nbsp;online.

For editors, it depends on the company&#39;s house style. Check the style guide that the company uses to see what&rsquo;s recommended. At ESL Library, for example, we don&rsquo;t use spaces.

Source: The Chicago Manual of Style, 16th edition, sections 6.82&ndash;6.89.

Using the Em Dash Correctly

https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/post/title_image/1436/Tanya_Using-the-Em-Dash_Banner.png

<blockquote>
Students learn more quickly when they can visualize a&nbsp;concept&hellip;
</blockquote>

<img alt="Chart comparing the simple future and future progressive" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/30/content_Tanya_Simple-Future-Vs-Future-Progressive_Chart.png" />

The simple future can be tricky for English students to learn because there are so many ways to express the future in English. Unlike the simple past, which has one basic form, the simple future can be expressed by using will + base verb, be going to + base verb, or be + ‑ing verb. (See <a href="https://ellii.com/blog/simple-future-teaching-the-three-forms/" title="Simple Future: Teaching the Three Forms">Simple Future: Teaching the Three Forms</a> for complete explanations, practice lessons, and fun activities to do with your&nbsp;students.)

Even though it&rsquo;s a bit tricky, all three uses are common, so students quickly become familiar with the simple future as they learn&nbsp;English.

But what about the future progressive (also known as the future continuous)? This structure is not commonly used in English, so students don&rsquo;t come across it very often. However, higher‑level textbooks deal with this form, as do tests like the TOEIC. It is also used occasionally in English writing and speaking, so high‑intermediate and advanced students need to learn it at some&nbsp;point.

Although it is rarely used and thus harder to grasp, presenting the future progressive using the method outlined below will make it easier for your students. Section&nbsp;6, Tricks, could be especially&nbsp;helpful!

<h1>Simple Future</h1>

See detailed explanations of the three future forms, examples, practice lessons, and fun activities in my blog post <a href="https://ellii.com/blog/simple-future-teaching-the-three-forms/" title="Simple Future: Teaching the Three Forms">Simple Future: Teaching the Three&nbsp;Forms</a>.

<h1>Future Progressive</h1>

<h2>1. Form</h2>

<h4>will + be + ‑ing verb</h4>

The future progressive is formed by taking the modal will, the base form of the verb Be, and an action verb + ‑ing. Luckily, students don&rsquo;t have to worry about subject&ndash;verb agreement because the Be verb doesn&rsquo;t change forms after a&nbsp;modal.

What about the other two future forms? We can never use be + ‑ing verb instead of will (She is being eating dinner is clearly incorrect), but it is possible to use&nbsp;be going to instead of will (She is going to be eating dinner). Most people would agree that it&rsquo;s a bit of a mouthful&mdash;sticking to&nbsp;will is best (She will be eating&nbsp;dinner).

<h2>2. Use</h2>

The function of the future progressive is to show a continuing (long) action getting interrupted by a short future action. Using the words long and short helps students understand this use better. The reason the future progressive isn&rsquo;t used that often is because it&rsquo;s a little strange to try to predict what will happen exactly at a given moment in the future. Unlike the past, where we know what happened already, we don&rsquo;t usually know for certain what will happen in the&nbsp;future.

<h2>3. Time Marker</h2>

The time marker when is common for this&nbsp;case.

<h2>4. Examples</h2>

<ul>
	<li>I will be sleeping when you arrive home from work next Friday&nbsp;night.</li>
	<li>They will be doing presentations in class when the practice fire alarm rings at 2:00&nbsp;pm.</li>
	<li>The mayor will be finishing up her work when the power goes out at the scheduled time&nbsp;tomorrow.</li>
</ul>

<h2>5. Notes</h2>

<h3>Note #1</h3>

Don&rsquo;t forget to remind students that you can start the sentences with either the independent clause (a Subject-Verb[-Object] structure that can stand alone) OR the dependent clause (that begins with the adverb &quot;when&quot; and can&rsquo;t stand alone) with no difference in meaning. Students shouldn&rsquo;t memorize the future progressive as always occurring first in the sentence because this isn&rsquo;t always the case. Also, remind students that a comma must be used when a dependent clause begins a&nbsp;sentence.

<ul>
	<li>When you arrive home from work next Friday night, I will be&nbsp;sleeping.</li>
	<li>When the power goes out at the scheduled time tomorrow, the mayor will be finishing up her&nbsp;work.</li>
	<li>They will be doing presentations in&nbsp;class when the practice fire alarm rings at 2:00&nbsp;pm.</li>
</ul>

<h3>Note #2</h3>

Be sure to include some examples with a third person singular subject so that students realize that the regular simple present subject&ndash;verb agreement rules must be followed for the verb in the dependent clause. (I.e., the third person singular pronouns he/she/it, singular count nouns, and non‑count nouns all take -s on the end of the&nbsp;verb.)

<h3>Note #3</h3>

It&rsquo;s also possible to use the future progressive when a clock time is mentioned instead of a dependent&nbsp;clause.

<ul>
	<li>What will you be doing at 8:00&nbsp;pm&nbsp;tonight? (The meaning is: What will you be doing when it is 8:00&nbsp;pm&nbsp;tonight?)</li>
	<li>I will be studying at 8:00&nbsp;pm&nbsp;tonight. (The meaning is: I will be studying when it is 8:00&nbsp;pm&nbsp;tonight.)</li>
</ul>

<h3>Note #4</h3>

Another less common use of the future progressive is to emphasize two long actions. The time marker while, followed by a simple present verb, can be used. Likewise, two future progressive verbs can be joined by a conjunction such as &quot;and.&quot; Note that all four sentences below have the same&nbsp;meaning.

<ul>
	<li>He will be cleaning while she&nbsp;cooks.</li>
	<li>While she cooks, he will be&nbsp;cleaning.</li>
	<li>He will be cleaning and she will be&nbsp;cooking.</li>
	<li>She will be cooking and he will be&nbsp;cleaning.</li>
</ul>

<h2>6. Tricks</h2>

<h3>Trick #1</h3>

Use the expression &ldquo;NO 2 WILLS&rdquo; to remind students that they will never see two future forms used in the same sentence (if it contains one independent and one dependent clause). Chant it like a mantra in your class&mdash;it really sticks in students&rsquo; heads and helps them remember to almost always use a future form in the independent clause and a present form in the dependent clause. (See an exception in Note&nbsp;#4&nbsp;above.)

Remind students that even though the verb in the dependent clause has a simple present structure, both clauses have a future meaning. Point to the diagram at the beginning of this blog post as an example. This is true for all future&nbsp;tenses!

<h3>Trick #2</h3>

Have students memorize common &ldquo;short&rdquo; action verbs so they&rsquo;ll easily recognize when the future progressive is needed. Short action verbs include: start, begin, call, arrive, ring, come, land, hit, and go out (as in the power goes out or the lights go&nbsp;out).

<h3>Trick #3</h3>

If students have learned the past progressive before (and they do usually learn the past progressive before the future progressive since it&rsquo;s more common), remind them that the future progressive has the same function as the past progressive. For more information or as a comparison, see <a href="https://ellii.com/blog/simple-past-vs-past-progressive/" title="Simple Past Vs. Past Progressive">Simple Past Vs. Past&nbsp;Progressive</a>.

<h2>7. Practice Lessons</h2>

Get some simple future practice with our <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/88/lessons/1596">Simple Future</a> lesson (Grammar Practice Worksheets), our <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/90/lessons/1638">Simple Future Stories</a> lesson (Grammar Stories), and our <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/89/lessons/1568" title="Future">Future &ndash; What are you going to do tonight?</a> and <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/89/lessons/1567">Future - Where are you going to go?</a> lessons (Basic Grammar&nbsp;Sentences).

Practice the future progressive in our <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/88/lessons/2055">Future Progressive</a> lesson (Grammar Practice Worksheets) and compare it with the simple future in our <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/88/lessons/1963">Verb Tense Review 1 &ndash; The Simple Tenses</a>&nbsp;lesson.

How will your students be feeling when they finally understand the future progressive? Pretty darn good, I&rsquo;m&nbsp;guessing!

Simple Future Vs. Future Progressive

https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/post/title_image/1435/Tanya_Grammar_Banner.png

<h2>I&rsquo;m done for now...</h2>

How often do we hear students say &ldquo;I&rsquo;m done&rdquo; to mean I&rsquo;m finished? How often do we say it ourselves? It&rsquo;s so common that I, for one, have never really stopped to think about it. Recently, though, someone mentioned that I&rsquo;m done is incorrect grammar. I decided to look into this expression to see what others thought.

<h2>Is It a Passive Verb or an Adjective?</h2>

When we look closely at the parts, we can see Be with the past participle form of Do. This construction is used for two cases in English: the passive voice and adjectives.

The passive voice occurs when the subject is not the one who is performing the action. In other words, the meaning of &ldquo;by someone&rdquo; is included in the verb. (E.g., The book was checked out of the library [by someone].) Since we can&rsquo;t say I&rsquo;m done (by someone), we can safely assume that this construction isn&rsquo;t the passive voice.

What about an adjective? In English, participial adjectives are common for feelings (e.g., I&rsquo;m embarrassed, I&rsquo;m frightened, etc.). Usually these adjectives involve feelings, so done doesn&rsquo;t exactly fit into this category. However, as we all know, English has many exceptions, and classifying done&nbsp;as an adjective when the meaning is&nbsp;finished&nbsp;is exactly what most dictionaries and reference guides do. Adjective it is!

<h2>What Do the Reference Guides Say?</h2>

<h3>Merriam-Webster&rsquo;s Dictionary of English Usage:</h3>

Merriam-Webster&rsquo;s Dictionary of English Usage has a comprehensive entry for done used in this sense. They explain that done is widely criticized for reasons that are not clear. In fact, done as an adjective with the meaning of finished&nbsp;has been in use since the fourteenth&nbsp;century, and be done, specifically, dates back to the eighteen&nbsp;century.&nbsp;Merriam-Webster&#39;s stance is clear:

<h3 style="text-align: center;">&ldquo;The&nbsp;construction is standard.&rdquo;</h3>

Merriam-Webster&rsquo;s also mentions that finished has been used with be since the later eighteenth&nbsp;century. So it seems as if both constructions came into being around the same time.

<h3>Google Ngram Viewer:</h3>

When looking up I&rsquo;m done and I&rsquo;m finished in books between 1920&nbsp;and 2000, we can see that I&rsquo;m done has been used more often than I&rsquo;m finished except between 1970 and 1990. After 1990, the popularity of I&rsquo;m done is clear.

<img alt="" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/1810/content_Screen_Shot_2021-10-19_at_4.39.27_PM.png" style="width: 500px; height: 362px;" />

<h2>Conclusion</h2>

While both&nbsp;I&rsquo;m done and I&rsquo;m finished are correct, common, and generally accepted, I&#39;m done is by far the more popular choice. Some grammar sticklers might argue that the best construction is I have finished, but this sounds a bit formal and stuffy in my opinion. I&#39;m comfortable teaching my students that I&rsquo;m done is correct.

Is It Correct to Say "I'm Done"?

https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/post/title_image/1434/Tanya_Grammar_Banner.png

<h3>How will you teach the future tense to your&nbsp;students?</h3>

The simple future is a bit more complicated than the other simple tenses in English. We have more than one way of making a future sentence. We can use will + base verb, be going to + base verb, or be + -ing verb (the present progressive&nbsp;form).

What&rsquo;s the difference between these forms? How can we teach them to our students? In this post you&rsquo;ll find information on the three future forms, fun activities using the future (for warm‑ups or fillers), and links to related&nbsp;lessons.

<h1>Will + Base&nbsp;Verb</h1>

<h2>1. Form</h2>

The future modal will is used with the base form of the&nbsp;verb.

<h2>2. Use</h2>

This form is used when you are deciding future plans at the moment. For example, if someone invited you to go to a party next Friday, you could answer, &ldquo;Sure, I&rsquo;ll go.&rdquo; Will + base verb is generally considered to be&nbsp;more formal than be going to + base&nbsp;verb.

<h2>3. Examples</h2>

<ul>
	<li>A: Do you want to go to the movies later? B: Sure, I&rsquo;ll&nbsp;go!</li>
	<li>She will do whatever her mother tells her to&nbsp;do.</li>
	<li>When you enter the room on Monday, you&rsquo;ll see a sign‑up sheet on the&nbsp;table.</li>
</ul>

<h1>Be Going To + Base&nbsp;Verb</h1>

<h2>1. Form</h2>

The modal expression be going to is used with the base form of the verb. The be verb is conjugated according to the subject (am, are,&nbsp;is).

<h3>Pronunciation Note</h3>

It&rsquo;s important to tell students that going to is often reduced to gonna. Remind them that while the reduced form is very common in speaking, it&rsquo;s not often used in writing (except in casual writing such as a text message to a friend). Most students think it&rsquo;s fun to practice reduced forms, so encourage them to use gonna in&nbsp;speech.

<h2>2. Use</h2>

This form is used when plans have already been made in advance. For example, if you have plans to go camping next weekend and someone asks you what you are going to do, you could answer, &ldquo;I&rsquo;m going to go camping next weekend.&rdquo; Be going to + base verb is considered to be more casual than will + base&nbsp;verb.

<h2>3. Examples</h2>

<ul>
	<li>He&rsquo;s going to study all night for his&nbsp;test.</li>
	<li>They&rsquo;re going to go to Disneyland next&nbsp;spring.</li>
	<li>I am definitely going to call you&nbsp;tomorrow.</li>
</ul>

<h1>Be + -ing Verb (Present&nbsp;Progressive)</h1>

<h2>1. Form</h2>

The present progressive (be and the -ing form of the verb) can also be used to indicate a future time. The be verb is conjugated according to the subject (am, are,&nbsp;is).

<h2>2. Use</h2>

Occasionally, English speakers use the present progressive as a future form. It is used the same way as be going to&mdash;when plans are already made. For example, if you have plans to go camping next weekend and someone asks you what you are going to do, you could answer, &ldquo;I&rsquo;m going camping next weekend.&rdquo; The present progressive is a casual way of forming the future (slightly more casual than be going to + base verb, in my&nbsp;opinion).

<h2>3. Examples</h2>

<ul>
	<li>My roommate is going to Hawaii in&nbsp;November.</li>
	<li>We&rsquo;re planning to discuss this in the next&nbsp;meeting.</li>
	<li>I&rsquo;m starting a new book&nbsp;tomorrow.</li>
</ul>

<h1>Two Future Verbs</h1>

What happens when we use two future verbs in the same&nbsp;sentence?

Unlike the other simple tenses, English does NOT use a future form twice in most sentences. The future form is used in the independent clause and the simple present is used in the dependent&nbsp;clause.

Make sure students realize that the order of the clauses can change in a sentence with no difference in meaning, so the best way to know which clause is dependent (and therefore requires a simple&nbsp;present verb) is to look for the adverb of time (when, while,&nbsp;etc.).

Remind students that because the form in the dependent clause is the simple present, third person singular subjects take a verb ending in&nbsp;‑s.

You can also remind students to use a comma after a dependent clause when it is used to begin a sentence (see the last example&nbsp;below).

<h2>Examples</h2>

<ul>
	<li>I will call you when I arrive in Las Vegas&nbsp;tomorrow.</li>
	<li>She is going to apply to university when she&nbsp;graduates.</li>
	<li>When my friend comes over next weekend, we&rsquo;re going to study for the final&nbsp;exam.</li>
</ul>

<h1>Fun Activities</h1>

<h2>1. Goals</h2>

Goal-setting is a great activity to practice the future. Have students interview each other about their future goals and plans. Make sure they use be going to + base verb and/or the be + -ing verb. Have them practice saying&nbsp;&ldquo;gonna.&rdquo;

<h2>2. Fortunes</h2>

Get students to practice using will + base verb by telling each other&rsquo;s fortunes. They can write fortunes on pieces of paper, pass them around, and read out their fortunes to each other. Or you could find a simple palm-reading task online (such as <a href="http://www.wikihow.com/Read-Palms" target="_blank" title="Reading Palms">Wiki&rsquo;s guide</a>) and have partners read each other&rsquo;s life lines, head lines, and heart&nbsp;lines.

<h2>3. Travel Plans</h2>

Put students into small groups and have them plan an imaginary trip. They can decide where to go, how long they&rsquo;ll stay, what they&rsquo;ll bring, what they&rsquo;ll do, etc. During their planning as they make decisions, have them use will + base verb. Later, when they report their trips to the class, they can use be going to + base verb or be + ‑ing verb to describe the plans they&rsquo;ve already&nbsp;made.

<h1>Related</h1>

<ul class="resources">
	<li class="lesson"><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/88/lessons/1596">Simple Future</a></li>
	<li class="lesson"><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/116/lessons/2502">Simple Future</a></li>
	<li class="lesson"><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/123/lessons/2810">Simple Future &ndash; Future</a></li>
	<li class="lesson"><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/123/lessons/2811">Simple Future &ndash; Be Going To</a></li>
	<li class="lesson"><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/90/lessons/1638">Simple Future Stories</a></li>
	<li class="lesson"><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/89/lessons/1568">Future &ndash; What are you going to do tonight?</a></li>
	<li class="lesson"><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/89/lessons/1567">Future &ndash; Where are you going to go?</a></li>
</ul>

Simple Future: Teaching the Three Forms

https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/post/title_image/1433/Tanya_Grammar_Banner.png

<blockquote>
Who&rsquo;s going to tell us whose idea this&nbsp;was?
</blockquote>

English has many tricky homophones, like <a href="http://ellii.com/blog/teaching-tips-on-to-too-and-two/" target="_blank">too, to, and two</a>; <a href="http://ellii.com/blog/teaching-tips-on-theyre-their-and-there/" target="_blank">they&rsquo;re, there, and their</a>; and <a href="http://ellii.com/blog/teaching-tips-on-youre-and-your/" target="_blank">you&rsquo;re and your</a>. Today we&rsquo;ll focus on who&rsquo;s and whose, which are particularly confusing when used in adjective clauses. Help your students remember which one to use by presenting these terms using the method&nbsp;below.

<h1>Who&rsquo;s</h1>

<h2>Meaning</h2>

Who&#39;s is short for who is (or, more infrequently, who has). It involves a subject pronoun used for one person (usually in a question or adjective clause) and a third person singular&nbsp;verb.

<h2>Structure</h2>

Who&rsquo;s usually comes at the beginning of a sentence when it&rsquo;s a question. For adjective clauses, who&rsquo;s comes after the subject or object noun it&rsquo;s describing. For noun clauses, who&rsquo;s comes at the beginning of a sentence or after the main subject and&nbsp;verb.

<h2>Tricks</h2>

<ol>
	<li>Say&nbsp;who is&nbsp;to yourself as you read or write the sentence. If it&rsquo;s possible to say&nbsp;who is, write&nbsp;who&rsquo;s, not&nbsp;whose.</li>
	<li>Look at the&nbsp;noun&nbsp;that follows. If there is an&nbsp;article&nbsp;like&nbsp;a,&nbsp;an, or&nbsp;the, use&nbsp;who&rsquo;s. Also, if there is&nbsp;no noun, use&nbsp;who&rsquo;s.</li>
</ol>

<h2>Examples</h2>

<ul>
	<li>Who&rsquo;s&nbsp;coming to the party tonight? (Who is, no noun following)</li>
	<li>My friend&nbsp;who&rsquo;s&nbsp;a nurse said that I had the flu. (who is, followed by a noun with article a)</li>
	<li>The lead singer,&nbsp;who&rsquo;s&nbsp;famous for his antics onstage, jumped into the crowd. (who is, no noun following)</li>
</ul>

<h1>Whose</h1>

<h2>Meaning</h2>

Whose is a&nbsp;possessive adjective that means &ldquo;belonging to or associated with a person or&nbsp;people.&rdquo;

<h2>Structure</h2>

Whose has the same structure as who&rsquo;s, which is why it can be confusing. Like who&rsquo;s, whose usually comes at the beginning of a sentence when it&rsquo;s a question, after the subject or object noun it&rsquo;s describing in adjective clauses, and at the beginning of a sentence or after the main subject and verb for noun&nbsp;clauses.

<h2>Tricks</h2>

<ol>
	<li>Say&nbsp;who is&nbsp;to yourself as you read or write the sentence. If it&rsquo;s not possible to say&nbsp;who is, write&nbsp;whose, not&nbsp;who&rsquo;s.</li>
	<li>Look at the&nbsp;noun&nbsp;that follows the term. If there is&nbsp;no article&nbsp;like&nbsp;a,&nbsp;an, or&nbsp;the, use&nbsp;whose. Also,&nbsp;whose&nbsp;must be followed by a noun. So if there is no noun, use&nbsp;who&rsquo;s.</li>
</ol>

<h2>Examples</h2>

<ul>
	<li>Our mayor, whose name I can never remember, set a city-wide curfew. (not who is name, followed by a noun with no&nbsp;article)</li>
	<li>The person whose car is parked illegally in front should immediately move it. (not who is car, followed by a noun with no&nbsp;article)</li>
	<li>Whose shoes are these? (not who is shoes, followed by a noun with no&nbsp;article)</li>
</ul>

Hope this helped everyone whose brains were muddled with these&nbsp;terms,

Tanya

Teaching Tips: Who's & Whose

https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/post/title_image/1432/Tanya_Grammar_Banner.png

<h3>Try to understand / Try and understand...</h3>

I love when I get asked a question that I don&rsquo;t immediately know the answer to. I enjoy looking into various parts of this fascinating, complicated language of ours! Two weeks ago, ESL Library&rsquo;s VP of Publishing, Tara Benwell, asked me to explain the difference between &ldquo;try to&rdquo; and &ldquo;try and&rdquo; in a blog post. I told her I&rsquo;d try to do it! Or is that try and do it&hellip;

<h3>Online:</h3>

First, I turned to my new favorite resource, <a href="http://www.googlefight.com" target="_blank">googlefight.com</a>. Googlefight looks at all the results on Google and gives you stats on which is mentioned more often. I typed in try to and try and, watched the stick men duke it out, and I got some interesting results. The results were pretty even: try and, with 3,190,000,000 results, only slightly beat try to, with 3,180,000,000 results. I was surprised! I thought that try to would be the more &lsquo;&ldquo;correct&rdquo; grammar. This required further investigation!

Winner = try and

Next, I used<a href="http://books.google.com/ngrams" target="_blank"> Google Books Ngram Viewer</a> to see how often try to and try and have appeared in books. The search parameters were from 1800 and 2008 from the corpus of English. The image below clearly shows that try to appears more often than try and in print form.

Winner = try to

Another search I did that might appeal to students was to enter the following into a Google search: 1) &ldquo;try to&rdquo; song, and 2) &ldquo;try and&rdquo; song. Tell students to look for song titles with those phrases followed by a verb. Several songs appeared on the first results page for try to, whereas only one song appeared for try and (&ldquo;Try and Love Again&rdquo; by the Eagles, in case you were wondering).

Winner = try to

<h3>Reference Books:</h3>

Although the dictionaries I checked only had entries for try in general, some of them gave examples using try to and try and. The Oxford Dictionary Online gave examples of both:

<ul>
	<li dir="ltr">He tried to regain his breath.</li>
	<li dir="ltr">I started to try and untangle the mystery.</li>
</ul>

Winner = tie

The Chicago Manual of Style, a very reputable style guide, had nothing to say specifically about the two phrases. But a quick online search of their website showed that they use try to a few times in their writing. (E.g., section 8.118: Writers and editors should try to follow the standards established within those fields.) Try and did not appear anywhere in the manual.

Winner = try to

The Oxford Dictionary of American Usage and Style defined&nbsp;try and as &ldquo;...a casualism for try to.&rdquo;&nbsp;But the best source of information on these two phrases, by far, was&nbsp;Merriam-Webster&rsquo;s Dictionary of English Usage. According to MW, the use of and in place of to in infinitive verbs has been occurring in English since the 16th century, with try and, specifically, appearing in the 17th century. Furthermore, there is no difference in meaning, although it remains a contentious issue for grammarians.

Winner = tie

<h3>Conclusion:</h3>

What do these results tell us? Overall, try to is the safest choice. In my opinion, try to&nbsp;seems to be the more formal, &ldquo;correct grammar&rdquo; choice. It&rsquo;s favored use in books points to that. However, we can&rsquo;t overlook common usage, especially since a lot of publishing happens online nowadays. It seems that, these days, try to and try and are equally acceptable. For casual speaking and writing, you can basically choose which one you want to use.

What should we tell our students? I&rsquo;d tell my students that there are two forms with the same meaning, and in casual writing and speaking, they can use either try to or&nbsp;try and. But in more formal academic or business writing, it might be best to stick with try to.

Overall winner = try to (but only slightly)

Note: It&rsquo;s interesting that you can&rsquo;t use try and when you change the tense of try. I tried to explain it is correct, but I tried and explain(ed)&nbsp;it is incorrect. That could be another reason to suggest that students stick with try to.

Try, try again!

“Try To” Vs. “Try And”

https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/post/title_image/1431/Tanya_Grammar_Banner.png

<blockquote>
Singular or plural&hellip;which is which?
</blockquote>

English plurals are usually easy for students to form&mdash;just add ‑s to the end of the singular word. But, like almost all of the rules in English grammar, there are exceptions. Often these exceptions come from words that are borrowed from other languages such as Greek or Latin. The head writer at ESL&nbsp;Library recently asked me about phenomenon and phenomena, and I was surprised that there was more to it than simply singular vs. plural. I thought I&rsquo;d investigate medium and media while I was at it, too, since media is a word frequently used these&nbsp;days.

<h1>Phenomenon Vs. Phenomena</h1>

Borrowed from Greek, the English word phenomenon is the most common singular form and phenomena is the most common plural form. In fact, both the Oxford Canadian Dictionary and the Chicago Manual of Style list only these two&nbsp;entries.

However, both Merriam-Webster&rsquo;s Dictionary and Merriam-Webster&rsquo;s Dictionary of English Usage go into greater detail on the usage and history of the word. They list the possible plural forms as phenomena (the much more common form) when the meaning is &quot;an observable fact or event&quot; but phenomenons when the meaning is &quot;an exceptional, unusual, or abnormal person, things, or&nbsp;occurrence.&quot;

Did you know that phenomena has been in use as a singular form, primarily in speech, since 1576? How about phenomenas as a plural form since 1635? Merriam-Webster&rsquo;s Dictionary of English Usage suggests that the singular phenomena is no more irregular than the words &quot;agenda&quot; and &quot;stamina,&quot; which are clearly accepted as singular. However, they don&rsquo;t recommend using phenomena as a singular form until it becomes much more common in speech and print, if it ever does. Let&rsquo;s keep the confusion to a minimum!

<h2>My Conclusion</h2>

Majority rules: Use phenomenon for the singular and phenomena for the plural, at least for&nbsp;now!

<h1>Medium Vs. Media</h1>

Borrowed from Latin, the English words medium and media are tricky because they have more than one meaning. In most meanings outside of&nbsp;&quot;mass media,&quot; the singular form is medium and the plural is media. But our students are likely primarily concerned with the &quot;mass media&quot; (TV, radio, social media, etc.) meaning. What are the forms for this case? Here&rsquo;s where there is a bit of disagreement, which mostly stems from whether you look at media as a plural count noun (that takes a plural verb form) or a non-count noun (that takes a singular verb&nbsp;form).

<ul>
	<li>The Oxford Canadian Dictionary says that media can be treated as singular or plural (i.e., the media is&hellip;, the media&nbsp;are&hellip;).</li>
	<li>The Chicago Manual of Style says that media is a plural form (i.e., the media are&hellip;).</li>
	<li>Merriam-Webster&rsquo;s Dictionary says that media is singular or plural in construction (i.e., the media is&hellip;, the media are&hellip;).</li>
	<li>Merriam-Webster&rsquo;s Dictionary of English Usage goes into greater detail, saying that the non-count use (i.e., singular verb) of media seems to be on the rise, similar to the non-count use of the word&nbsp;data. However, they also note that, for all meanings, media as a plural count noun or non-count noun with a plural verb is still far more common than media as a singular count noun or non-count noun with a singular verb. Who&nbsp;knew?</li>
</ul>

And, as a side note, the plural of medium as in &quot;spiritual&quot;&nbsp;(such as a fortune teller) is&nbsp;mediums!

<h2>My Conclusion</h2>

Well, media has me more confused now than before I looked into it! Personally, I&rsquo;ve mostly heard and used media as a non-count noun with a singular verb, and will continue to do so (as in &quot;The media is having a field day with this latest&nbsp;scandal.&quot;).

<h1>Sources</h1>

<ul>
	<li>The Chicago Manual of Style, 16th edition, section&nbsp;5.220</li>
	<li>Oxford Canadian Dictionary of Current&nbsp;English</li>
	<li>Merriam-Webster&rsquo;s Collegiate Dictionary, 11th&nbsp;edition</li>
	<li>Merriam-Webster&rsquo;s Dictionary of English&nbsp;Usage</li>
</ul>

Confusing Singular & Plural Forms: Phenomenon/Phenomena, Medium/Media

https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/post/title_image/1430/Tanya_Grammar_Banner.png

<blockquote>
Look it up&hellip;
</blockquote>

As if there wasn&rsquo;t enough vocabulary for our students to learn, English has certain multi‑word expressions that have a different meaning as a whole than the meaning of the separate parts. The most common types of these expressions are idioms and phrasal verbs, and they can be difficult for students to master. Because phrasal verbs are so prevalent in our culture, they are important to becoming fluent in English. So what exactly are phrasal verbs? What&rsquo;s the best way to teach them? Read on to get some ideas, and feel free to share your favorite method in the comments section&nbsp;below.

<h1>What are phrasal verbs?</h1>

A phrasal verb is a phrase with two or more words, usually involving a verb and a preposition. (This is how most grammar books present it, and it is easiest for students to understand if you explain it in this way. Technically speaking, though, some phrasal verbs involve a verb + adverb combination. See my post <a href="https://ellii.com/blog/preposition-or-adverb/" target="_blank">Preposition or Adverb?</a> for more&nbsp;information.)

A regular verb + preposition combination has two meanings whereas a phrasal verb has one meaning. For example, the verb look means to use your eyes to see something and the preposition up means the direction above, as in look up at the sky. This is very different from the phrasal verb look up, which means to check, as in look up a word in the&nbsp;dictionary.

Make sure your students (and you!) always write phrasal verbs as two separate words. Phrasal verbs are never hyphenated or combined into one word, though their noun or adjective forms often&nbsp;are.

<h1>How do you teach phrasal&nbsp;verbs?</h1>

The following methods are some that I&rsquo;ve tried over the years. The third method is my favorite because my students seem to catch on and retain phrasal verbs better with it.

<h2>1. From a list</h2>

A lot of textbooks/classes will have a list of phrasal verbs that are relevant to the course, such as Business English, TOEIC, TOEFL, IELTS, etc. A long list like this can be overwhelming to students, so consider presenting five phrasal verbs a day or using fun vocabulary activities such as cutting up the phrasal verbs and their definitions and having students match them up. See my posts <a href="https://ellii.com/blog/4-ways-to-teach-new-vocabulary" target="_blank">4 Ways to Teach New Vocabulary</a> and <a href="https://ellii.com/blog/4-activities-for-reviewing-vocabulary" target="_blank">4 Activities for Reviewing Vocabulary</a> for more&nbsp;ideas.

<h2>2. In context</h2>

A fun way to teach phrasal verbs is in the context of a story. Seeing the phrasal verb in context helps students grasp and retain the meaning. I&rsquo;ve seen some textbooks dedicated to idioms that are grouped into themes, and a lot of them include phrasal verbs. At ESL&nbsp;Library, we have three sections (a detective series, a love story, and a story about college life) that make learning phrasal verbs and idioms fun and relevant. Try our <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/79/lessons" target="_blank">Detective Series &ndash; The Case of the Missing Ring</a>, <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/77/lessons" target="_blank">Everyday Idioms</a>, and <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/78/lessons" target="_blank">Everyday Idioms (Part 2)</a> lessons. Everyday Idioms (Part 3) is coming soon, too!

<h2>3. As groupings</h2>

Grouping phrasal verbs into categories based on the same verb is another way to go. This is my preferred method because it presents phrasal verbs in small, logical, and manageable groups. I think students remember the phrasal verbs more easily this way. Here are some common groupings to try with your&nbsp;students:

<h3>Phrasal verbs with &ldquo;look&rdquo;</h3>

<table>
	<tbody>
		<tr>
			<th>look after</th>
			<td>take care of</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<th>look down on</th>
			<td>think less of</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<th>look into</th>
			<td>investigate, find more information</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<th>look out</th>
			<td>be careful</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<th>look over</th>
			<td>review, examine</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<th>look up</th>
			<td>check, find</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<th>look up to</th>
			<td>admire</td>
		</tr>
	</tbody>
</table>

<h3>Phrasal verbs with &ldquo;take&rdquo;</h3>

<table>
	<tbody>
		<tr>
			<th>take after</th>
			<td>resemble</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<th>take away (from)</th>
			<td>learn</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<th>take off</th>
			<td>leave</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<th>take on</th>
			<td>start</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<th>take out</th>
			<td>take on a date</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<th>take over</th>
			<td>replace</td>
		</tr>
	</tbody>
</table>

<h3>Phrasal verbs with &ldquo;get&rdquo;</h3>

<table>
	<tbody>
		<tr>
			<th>get along (with)</th>
			<td>have a good relationship</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<th>get away</th>
			<td>go on vacation</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<th>get away with</th>
			<td>not get caught while doing something&nbsp;bad</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<th>get out of</th>
			<td>no longer have to do&nbsp;something</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<th>get over</th>
			<td>recover, overcome</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<th>get through</th>
			<td>suvive, bear</td>
		</tr>
	</tbody>
</table>

<h1>Separable or Inseparable?</h1>

Which phrasal verbs can have an object between the verb and preposition, and which can&rsquo;t? For example, you can say I called on my cousin yesterday but you can&rsquo;t say I called my cousin on yesterday, so call on is inseparable. You can say I picked my cousin up at the airport or I picked up my cousin at the airport, so pick up is separable. (Remind students that while noun objects can go between or after the phrasal verb, a pronoun object can only go between the phrasal verb. E.g.,&nbsp;I picked her up is correct. I picked up her is&nbsp;incorrect.)

Unfortunately, there&rsquo;s no easy way to tell which phrasal verbs are separable and which aren&rsquo;t. Giving students a list can help. Good lists are available at <a href="http://www.englishclub.com/vocabulary/phrasal-verbs-list.htm" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">English Club</a> and <a href="http://web2.uvcs.uvic.ca/courses/elc/Sample/Advanced/gs/gs_04.htm" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">the University of&nbsp;Victoria</a>.

Carry on,

Tanya

How Do You Teach Phrasal Verbs?

https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/post/title_image/1429/Tanya_Grammar_Banner.png

<h3>A picture is worth a thousand words&hellip;</h3>

<img alt="Diagram of the simple past vs. the past progressive" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/27/content_Tanya_Simple-Past-Vs-Past-Progressive_Chart.png" />

Students are introduced to the simple past tense early on in their English learning. It is commonly used and relatively easy to learn (aside from having to memorize irregular verb forms). However, the past progressive (also known as the past continuous) can be confusing since it&rsquo;s not as commonly used in&nbsp;English.

Try using the method outlined below to introduce the past progressive and compare the two tenses. Once you explain the purpose of the past progressive to your students, show them a diagram like the one above, and give them a few hints (see the &ldquo;time marker&rdquo;&nbsp;and &ldquo;trick&rdquo; sections below), they should be able to grasp this tense and retain it a lot more&nbsp;easily.

<h1>Simple Past</h1>

<h2>1. Form</h2>

<h4>Base V&nbsp;+ -ed&nbsp;(and various irregular verb&nbsp;forms)</h4>

The ending -ed is added to the base form of the verb. The good news is that there are no differences in endings like there are with other verbs tenses (except for the BE verb:&nbsp;we use was for the first and third person singular&mdash;I, he, she, it, singular count nouns, non‑count nouns&mdash; and were for the second person singular&mdash;you&mdash;and the first, second, and third person plural&mdash;we, plural you, they, plural count&nbsp;nouns).

Note that there are a lot of exceptions to forming the plural with -ed. These verbs are called irregular verbs. Hand our <a href="https://ellii.com/resource_categories/103/resources/2161">Irregular Verb List</a> out to your students, and see the Fun Activities section below for ideas on how students can practise irregular&nbsp;verbs.

<h2>2. Use</h2>

The simple past is used for a completed past action. It&rsquo;s important to point out to students that with the simple past, we know when the action took place because of the time marker in the sentence. This is important so that students learn when to use the simple past vs. the present perfect (see the second section of my blog post on&nbsp;<a href="https://ellii.com/blog/5-easy-steps-for-teaching-the-present-perfect-and-the-present-perfect-progressive/">5 Easy Steps for Teaching the Present Perfect and the Present Perfect Progressive</a> to see how I explain this difference to&nbsp;students).

<h2>3. Time Markers</h2>

<ul>
	<li>yesterday</li>
	<li>the day before yesterday</li>
	<li>last (last week/month/year/etc.)</li>
	<li>ago (two days ago, three weeks ago,&nbsp;etc.)</li>
	<li>when + another past&nbsp;clause</li>
</ul>

<h2>4. Examples</h2>

<ul>
	<li>My mother went grocery shopping&nbsp;yesterday.</li>
	<li>We played basketball after school last&nbsp;Thursday.</li>
	<li>I ate a lot when I was a&nbsp;child.</li>
</ul>

<h2>5. Fun Activities</h2>

Have fun practicing irregular verbs with games like Tic Tac Toe, Hotseat, and Concentration (find basic instructions by googling the game names; substitute base verbs/irregular verbs for numbers or images). Check out Irregular Verb Bingo in our Grammar Practice Worksheets lesson on the&nbsp;<a href="https://ellii.com/courses/88/lessons/1594">Simple&nbsp;Past</a>.

One of my go‑to activities is Irregular Verb Ball Toss. Bring in a small ball (or use an eraser or other small, soft object) and call out a base verb. Toss the ball to a student who then has to say the irregular verb form. Repeat by having that student call out another base verb and tossing the ball to another student. Continue until all students have had one or two turns each, with you making corrections as&nbsp;needed.

<h1>Past Progressive &ndash; Main&nbsp;Use</h1>

<h2>1. Form</h2>

<h4>was/were + ‑ing&nbsp;V</h4>

The past progressive is formed by taking the past BE verb and an action verb + ‑ING. Remind students that we use was for the first and third person singular (I, he, she, it, singular count nouns, non-count nouns) and were for the second person singular (you) and the first, second, and third person plural (we, plural you, they, plural count&nbsp;nouns).

<h2>2. Use</h2>

The main function of the past progressive is to show a continuing (long) action getting interrupted by a short past action. Using the words long and short helps students understand this&nbsp;use.

<h2>3. Time Marker</h2>

The time marker when is common for this&nbsp;case.

<h2>4. Examples</h2>

<ul>
	<li>I was studying when my friend called&nbsp;me.</li>
	<li>We were playing soccer when it started to&nbsp;rain.</li>
	<li>They were singing in the auditorium when the alarm&nbsp;rang.</li>
</ul>

Don&rsquo;t forget to remind students that you can start the sentence with either the independent clause OR the dependent clause with no difference in meaning. Also remind students that a comma must be used when a dependent clause begins a&nbsp;sentence.

<ul>
	<li>She was reading when the doorbell rang. (independent clause starts the&nbsp;sentence)</li>
	<li>When the doorbell rang, she was reading. (dependent clause starts the sentence, comma is used, no difference in meaning between the first and second&nbsp;example)</li>
</ul>

<h2>5. Trick</h2>

Have students memorize common &ldquo;short&rdquo; action verbs so they&rsquo;ll easily recognize when the past progressive is needed. Short action verbs include: started, began, called, arrived, rang, came, landed, hit, and went out (as in the power went out or the lights went&nbsp;out).

<h1>Past Progressive &ndash; Secondary&nbsp;Use</h1>

<h2>1. Form</h2>

<h4>was/were + ‑ing&nbsp;V</h4>

(See notes under Main Use &ndash;&nbsp;Form.)

<h2>2. Use</h2>

A less common function of the past progressive is to emphasize that an action continued for a long time. It is less common because the simple past is an acceptable, more common&nbsp;substitute.

<h2>3. Time Marker</h2>

The time marker while is common for this&nbsp;case.

<h2>4. Examples</h2>

<ul class="resources">
	<li class="correct">The children were watching TV while their parents were&nbsp;talking.</li>
	<li class="correct">The children watched TV while their parents&nbsp;talked.</li>
</ul>

<ul class="resources">
	<li class="correct">He was doing his homework while she was playing a video&nbsp;game.</li>
	<li class="correct">He did his homework while she played a video&nbsp;game.</li>
</ul>

Note: Don&rsquo;t forget to remind students that you can start the sentence with either the independent clause OR the dependent clause with no difference in meaning. Also remind students that a comma must be used when a dependent clause begins a&nbsp;sentence.

<ul>
	<li>She was playing the guitar while he was playing the drums. (independent clause starts the&nbsp;sentence)</li>
	<li>While he was playing the drums, she was playing the guitar. (dependent clause starts the sentence, comma is used, no difference in meaning between the first and second&nbsp;example)</li>
</ul>

<h1>Practice</h1>

Try our <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/88/lessons">Grammar Practice Worksheets</a>, <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/89/lessons">Basic Grammar Sentences</a>, and <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/90/lessons">Grammar Stories</a> sections for many&nbsp;lessons on the simple past and the past progressive. This <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/88/lessons/1595">Past Progressive</a> lesson has exercises that directly contrast the two verb&nbsp;tenses.

VIEWING POSTS BY

Tanya Trusler