Learn English with Dan

Improve your English today at ANGLOPOD.COM. Hi everyone, I’m Dan and today we’re going to look at how we talk about the future in English. In fact, that last sentence includes one of our examples, GOING TO. So how do we really talk about the future in English?

The first thing to note is that English does not really have a future tense. We have a present tense, a past tense, and a perfect tense, but we don’t really have a future tense.

What I mean is we don’t change the verbs in English to express the future as many other languages do. So we have to add other words to a verb to express the future. The most common words we use are WiLL and GOING TO, but we also use the present continuous when we want to talk about the future.

Firstly, we use GOING TO a lot when talking about the future. I’m GOING TO do this, I’m GOING TO do that. This sounds like you’re sure, you have decided, you have made a plan. For example, “I’m GOING TO spend my holiday in Mexico this year”. So we use GOING TO for a plan or intention.

However, we use the present continuous to talk about the future when there is a definite arrangement, for example: “I AM FLYING to Mexico next week”. This is an arrangement because you have bought a ticket. This is not just GOING TO happen, but it IS HAPPENING, so we use the present continuous in this case to talk about a future arrangement.

As you can see in this example, the present continuous doesn’t really express the future, but the words ‘next week’. They are very important so we know when this thing is happening. So that’s why we don’t really have a future tense in English!

Finally, let’s look at an example with WILL. A lot of people think that WILL is the future in English, but really the modal verb WILL is used to mean many different things and so it is overused by students when talking about the future.

A lot of students say I WILL do this or I WILL do that, but really this is wrong. It sounds a bit strange. That’s why we use it with other words like MAYBE or PROBABLY. So for example: “Maybe I WILL do this”, “I WILL probably do that”.

We tend to use WILL just to make predictions about the future or when we’re not sure about the future. We also use it when we’re still thinking about the future.

So, now you know how to talk about the future, I hope you are GOING TO go to ANGLOPOD.COM to practise your English. Good luck and see you soon!

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Improve your English today at ANGLOPOD.COM. Hi everyone, I’m Dan and today we’re going to look at the past perfect simple and continuous.

We looked at the past perfect simple in the previous lesson compared with the past simple. But we can also use the past perfect in the continuous form as well. We saw that the past perfect is used to show that an event in the past happened before another event in the past. If we don’t use the past perfect to show that some past events happen at different times, it might be confusing.

Here’s an example of a past simple statement. “I WAS tired”. OK, why was I tired? What happened before this past situation to make me feel tired? We could say: “I WAS tired because I HAD BEEN RUNNING”. So that’s past simple, WAS, and past perfect continuous, HAD BEEN RUNNING. The continuous form here is very useful for describing an action that maybe is not complete.

Let’s add some more information to this situation. “I WAS tired because I HAD BEEN RUNNING. In fact, I HAD RUN ten kilometres”. HAD RUN is past perfect simple and this expresses completion. Those ten kilometres are finished, completed. 

So we make the past perfect continuous with the auxiliary verb HAVE in the past, so HAD, then BEEN, and the present participle of the main verb, in this example RUN, so RUNNING. HAD BEEN RUNNING.

“I WAS tired because I HAD BEEN RUNNING. In fact, I HAD RUN ten kilometres”.

Learn more about English tenses at ANGLOPOD.COM. Good luck and see you soon!

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Improve your English today at ANGLOPOD.COM. Hi everyone, I’m Dan and today we’re going to look at the difference between the past perfect and past simple tenses in English. Why do we need these two tenses? How do we use them? Let’s find out more…

We saw in an earlier lesson that we use the past simple to talk about something that is finished in the past, normally with a time reference that shows us exactly when this finished event happened in the past.

However, sometimes we need to talk about more than one event that happened in the past. If they happened at the same time, we can just use the past simple for both events. For example: “When I ARRIVED at the party, John LEFT”.

Here, there are two verbs, both in the past simple, ARRIVED and LEFT. But using the past simple for both events sounds like they happened together, at the same time. Also, it sounds like they are connected. It sounds like John LEFT because I ARRIVED.

So sometimes we need to express that two things happened in the past but at different times and maybe there is no connection. That’s why we need the past perfect. For example: “When I ARRIVED, John HAD LEFT”. ARRIVED is past simple, but HAD LEFT is past perfect. This means that John left first and then I arrived later, so there is probably no connection between these two events now.

We also saw in an earlier lesson that we make the present perfect with the auxiliary verb HAVE and the past participle of the main verb. Making the past perfect is very similar. We use the past of the auxiliary verb HAVE, which of course is HAD, and then we add the past participle of the main verb. So in this example, HAD LEFT.

Learn more about English tenses at ANGLOPOD.COM. Good luck and see you soon!

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Improve your English today at ANGLOPOD.COM. Hi everyone, I’m Dan and today we’re going to look at the difference between ALREADY, STILL and YET in English. These three words certainly cause lots of problems for most people learning English, but together we will understand it much better!

Here’s an example with STILL. You could say: “I am STILL doing my homework”. STILL means that the situation is not finished, it is continuing. Note that STILL goes after the auxiliary verb BE but before the main verb in the present continuous, for example ‘am STILL doing’.

But if you use STILL with the present perfect, then STILL goes before the auxiliary verb HAVE, like this: “I STILL haven’t done my homework”.

YET has a very similar meaning to STILL, but we use it in negative sentences and questions to talk about something that is not finished.

Here are two examples with YET. You could say: “I haven’t done my homework YET” or you could ask the question “Have you done your homework YET?”

Here’s an example with ALREADY. You could say: “I have ALREADY done my homework”. ALREADY is used to talk about something that finished before now or before people expected.

Have you been to ANGLOPOD.COM YET? If you’ve ALREADY been, that’s great! Keep going back to improve your English. If you STILL haven’t been, then what are you waiting for? See you soon!

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Improve your English today at ANGLOPOD.COM. Hi everyone, I’m Dan and today we’re going to look at the difference between SINCE and FOR in English. These two words are often confusing, but we’ll look at some examples to make it clear.

Basically, we use SINCE and FOR with perfect tenses to show how long something has lasted from when it began to the time we’re talking about. For example, you could say: “I HAVE BEEN STUDYING English SINCE last year”. You could also say: “I HAVE BEEN STUDYING English FOR twelve months”.

In the first example, SINCE last year, you are giving a point in time as a reference. This action, studying English, started then and has continued until now. The second example, FOR twelve months, is a period of time, in this case measured in months.

So you can use SINCE with a date or a time, like seven o’clock, 2020, June, or Thursday, for example. But you use FOR with a period of time, measured in seconds, minutes, hours, days, weeks, months, years, etc.

You can use SINCE and FOR with both present perfect simple and continuous. For example, “We HAVE KNOWN each other SINCE we were children” or “We HAVE BEEN LIVING together FOR six years”.

One very common mistake is to use ‘during’ instead of FOR. Remember, we say FOR six months, FOR six days, FOR six hours, not ‘during’.

How long HAVE you BEEN LEARNING English? Go to ANGLOPOD.COM and tell us in the comments using SINCE and FOR. See you soon!

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Improve your English today at ANGLOPOD.COM. Hi everyone, I’m Dan and today we’re going to learn about the present perfect simple and continuous. We’ll look at some examples to help us understand when to use them.

In the last lesson, we looked at the difference between the present perfect and the past simple. We saw that the past simple is used to talk about a point in time, but the present perfect is used to talk about a period of time that starts in the past and goes up to the present. But what’s the difference between the present perfect simple and continuous?

Here’s an example of the present perfect simple. You can say: “We HAVE BEEN married for years”. BE is a state, not an action, so we use it in the simple form. We got married in the past and we are still married now. The situation hasn’t changed, so “We HAVE BEEN married for years”.

But if you use an action verb, you can use the present perfect continuous, like this: “We HAVE BEEN DATING for three months”. This also refers to a period of time that started in the past and goes up to the present, now.

However, sometimes the choice between present perfect simple and continuous can refer to an action over a period of time or what you have completed so far. For example, you could say: “I HAVE BEEN STUDYING English for two years”. This refers to the repeated action of learning over a two-year period until now. 

But you could also use the present perfect simple to show what you have completed or achieved. “I HAVE STUDIED basic English”. Basic English is now finished and you will now go on to the next level.

So, how long HAVE you BEEN studying English? What HAVE you STUDIED so far? Go to ANGLOPOD.COM and tell us in the comments. See you soon!

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Improve your English today at ANGLOPOD.COM. Hi everyone, I’m Dan and today we’re going to look at the difference between the present perfect tense and the past simple tense in English. When and how do we use them? Let’s look at some examples…

Consider this example. I’m hungry. Why? Here are two reasons. “I DIDN’T EAT breakfast this morning”. This is past simple. It refers to an event and a time that is finished in the past. Breakfast time is finished and this morning is now finished. We can assume it is now past midday, so it’s the afternoon. Therefore, we use the past simple for events and times that are finished in the past.

Now here is the second reason. “I HAVEN’T EATEN all day”. This reason is in the present perfect tense. You can see that the grammatical structure of the sentence is a bit different. To make the present perfect we use the auxiliary verb HAVE and the past participle of the main verb, in this case EATEN, from the verb EAT. EAT is the present, ATE is the past, EATEN is the past participle.

So why do we use the present perfect and how is it different from the past simple? Whereas the past simple refers to a point in time that is finished, the present perfect refers to a period of time that starts in the past and goes right up to now, the present, when we are talking.

In this case, “I HAVEN’T EATEN all day” refers to a period of time that starts at breakfast, at the beginning of the day, and goes up to now, the time we are referring to. I am hungry now, so we are talking about the whole period of time from breakfast until now. I didn’t eat anything during that time, which means I’m hungry now. “I’m hungry now because I HAVEN’T EATEN all day”.

You can use the present perfect to talk about so many things, such as experiences you have had or things you have or haven’t completed. HAVE you BEEN to ANGLOPOD.COM yet? It’s a great way for you to practise your English! See you soon!

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Improve your English today at ANGLOPOD.COM. Hi everyone, I’m Dan and today we’re going to continue looking at English tenses. In particular, we’re going to learn how to use the past simple tense in questions and negative statements.

Here’s an example. “I SPEAK English now, but I DIDN’T SPEAK English last year”. The first half of the sentence is present simple. This is true now. “I SPEAK English”. The second half of the sentence is past simple. “I DIDN’T SPEAK English last year.”

Notice how we make the negative statement in the past. The main verb SPEAK doesn’t change! We don’t say “I didn’t spoke”. We say “I DIDN’T SPEAK”. That’s because the auxiliary verb DO expresses the past. DO becomes DID NOT or DIDN’T. So we don’t need to change the main verb.

This can be verb confusing for many students, because this rule does not exist in many other languages, so it is a very common mistake to make when using English tenses. Just remember, when using the auxiliary verb DO to make the past simple, so DID or DIDN’T, don’t change the main verb as well. Leave it as a bare infinitive, in this example, SPEAK.

The rule is the same when we make questions. In the present tense, we say “DO you SPEAK English?” but in the past tense we say “DID you SPEAK English?” not “DID you SPOKE?” Again, the auxiliary verb DO expresses the past tense, so we don’t change the tense of the main verb.

DID you PRACTISE your English yesterday? DO you PRACTISE your English every day? You should! So go to ANGLOPOD.COM so you can! See you soon!

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Improve your English today at ANGLOPOD.COM. Hi everyone, I’m Dan and today we’re going to look at how we use the present tense, both simple and continuous, with adverbs of frequency in English. This will help us understand English tenses better.

Let’s start with an example to see what we mean. “I ALWAYS DO my homework”. The adverb of frequency here is ALWAYS and it comes before the verb DO, which is in the present simple form. So, we NORMALLY PUT adverbs of frequency before the verb in English. That’s another example right there! NORMALLY PUT. So, you could say “I ALWAYS DO”, “I SOMETIMES DO”, “I RARELY DO” or “I NEVER DO”, for example. That’s an easy rule to remember.

However, if the verb is BE then the adverb of frequency goes after, like this: “I AM ALWAYS a good student”. So, BE followed by the adverb of frequency. “I AM SOMETIMES a good student”, “I AM RARELY a good student”, “I AM NEVER a good student”.

However, we also use the adverb of frequency ALWAYS with the present continuous, but it has a specific meaning. For example, you can say: “I AM ALWAYS FORGETTING my homework”. This means it is a repeated action I do and I wish I didn’t! It sounds like a bad habit. Something you regret and would like to change about your personality. You could also say: “I AM ALWAYS BITING my nails” or “I AM ALWAYS LOSING my phone”.

Also, we can use the adverb of frequency NEVER with the present continuous and this too has a specific meaning. For example, you can say: “I AM NEVER DOING that again” or “I AM NEVER GOING there again”. We use NEVER with present continuous here to express frustration and dislike of something. Something that you did once but never want to repeat!

If you ARE ALWAYS a good student, then I’m sure you NEVER FORGET to go to ANGLOPOD.COM to practise your English! See you soon!

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Improve your English today at ANGLOPOD.COM. Hi everyone, I’m Dan and today we’re going to continue to learn about English tenses by taking a look at verbs in English that are never, or hardly ever, used in the continuous form.

In the previous lesson, we learnt about the difference between the present simple and continuous tense and how the meaning can change when the form of the verb changes. However, there are some verbs that we just don’t use in the continuous form. For example, you say: “I LIKE these shoes”. You don’t say: “I AM LIKING these shoes”. That just sounds very strange.

These verbs normally refer to how we feel, what we like and what we believe. Here are a few more examples. You would say: “I LIKE these shoes. They FIT me really well. But I KNOW I can’t afford them because they COST too much!” All these verbs are in the present simple. They would sound very strange in the continuous form, so you couldn’t say ‘liking’, ‘fitting’, ‘knowing’ and ‘costing’ here.

Even though it might be possible to use these verbs in the present continuous in your language, it is not possible in English. Remember, verbs that refer to the way we feel, such as LIKE and LOVE, are normally just present simple. Also, verbs that describe belief, like BELIEVE or KNOW, and the senses, like SEE or HEAR, are normally just present simple.

It is sometimes possible to use the continuous form for some of these verbs, but it changes the meaning. If you say: “I think I AM SEEING things” for example, it means ‘imagining something that’s not real’. If you say: “I AM SEEING someone”, it means ‘dating’.

Do you LIKE learning English? I KNOW you do! So go to ANGLOPOD.COM to learn more! See you soon!

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Improve your English today at ANGLOPOD.COM. Hi everyone, I’m Dan and today we’re going to learn about English tenses and in particular the difference between the simple and continuous form of the present tense. When do we use present simple and when do we use present continuous? Let’s find out more…

We normally use the present simple in English to talk about things that usually happen or things that are generally true, so it’s useful to talk about habits or repeated actions. For example, “I HAVE eggs for breakfast every day”. So we don’t say: “I AM HAVING eggs every day”. That sounds strange.

We use the present continuous to talk about a temporary situation, an action that is happening right now. So you could say: “I AM HAVING breakfast”. This means you are eating now, you are busy, you can’t do anything else. This action is in progress now.

You could emphasise that by saying “I AM HAVING breakfast at the moment” or “I AM HAVING breakfast right now”, but it should be clear if you just use the present continuous on its own.

So going from present simple to continuous normally changes the meaning of what we want to say. For example, if you say: “I LIVE in London”, this means London is your permanent home. However, if you say: “I AM LIVING in London”, this suggests that the situation is temporary and you will probably move or return home soon.

You could develop that sentence by saying “I AM LIVING in London at the moment, but I LIVE in Paris”. London is your temporary home and Paris is your permanent home. 

So, you ARE LEARNING English right now of course, but DO you LEARN English every day? Go to ANGLOPOD.COM to make learning about English tenses your daily habit, a true and repeated action! See you soon!

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Improve your English today at ANGLOPOD.COM. Hi everyone, I’m Dan and today we’re going to look at the difference between USED TO and WOULD in English. You might think these two words are very different but actually we use them both to talk about past habits. Let’s learn more…

So, in the last lesson, we learnt that we use USED TO to talk about past habits. “I USED TO PLAY football” or “I USED TO GO swimming”. But there is another way to talk about past habits. You could use the modal verb WOULD.

For example, “When I was a child, I WOULD PLAY football” or “I WOULD GO swimming”. It’s another great way to talk about your past habits. “When I was a student, I WOULD GET UP late, I WOULD GO to lots of parties, I WOULD have too much homework!”

However, there is one main difference. We can use USED TO to talk about actions and states in the past, but we can only use WOULD to talk about actions in the past. So we can say “I USED TO PLAY football” or “I WOULD PLAY football” because they’re both actions, but you can’t use WOULD for a state. You could say “I USED TO BE shorter” but not “I WOULD BE shorter”, because the verb ‘be’ refers to a state, not an action.

One final rule. When you write USED TO in a negative sentence or a question, you write USE TO (without ‘d’), so “I USED TO PLAY football”, “I DIDN’T USE TO PLAY football” and “DID you USE TO PLAY football?” But the good news is that the pronunciation is exactly the same. You can’t hear the difference. It always sounds like USED TO.

So, I USED TO PLAY football a lot at school. I WOULD PLAY lots of different sports. How about you? Go to ANGLOPOD.COM and tell us about all the repeated actions in your past, the actions you did as a habit, but you don’t do now. See you soon!

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Improve your English today at ANGLOPOD.COM. Hi everyone, I’m Dan and today we’re going to learn the difference between USED TO DO and USED TO DOING in English. The first one is used for talking about past habits but the second one is quite different. We use it to talk about things we are accustomed to. Let’s learn more…

Firstly, we use USED TO to talk about things we did again and again in the past but we don’t do now. So these are repeated habits. Think about things you did every day when you were a child. For example, “I USED TO PLAY football”. This is something I did every day at school. Unfortunately, I don’t have the time now, but I USED TO PLAY football”.

But what does it mean if you say I AM USED TO PLAYING? I’M USED TO PLAYING? You could say “I’M USED TO PLAYING football”. The meaning here is very different. It means that playing football was strange or not normal for you at the beginning, but after lots of practice it now feels normal. You have improved, you like it. You ARE USED TO DOING it. You are accustomed to it.

Here’s another example. “I’M USED TO SPEAKING English now”. This means that at the beginning it was strange or difficult for you, but now after lots of practice you feel more comfortable and it is much easier or normal for you.

ARE you USED TO SPEAKING English now? Does it feel more normal for you now? Go to ANGLOPOD.COM and tell us in the comments. Also, you can tell us about your past habits with USED TO as well. For example, “I USED TO be bad at English but now I’m much better”! See you soon!

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Improve your English today at ANGLOPOD.COM. Hi everyone, I’m Dan and today we’re going to learn about the difference between using WOULD YOU LIKE and DO YOU LIKE. We use WOULD YOU LIKE to make offers or suggestions, but we use DO YOU LIKE to ask someone their opinion about something. Let’s find out more…

Firstly, you could use WOULD YOU LIKE with a noun, so “WOULD YOU LIKE a glass of wine?” You’re making a specific offer here. You’re offering a glass of wine. However, you could also use DO YOU LIKE with a noun, like this: “DO YOU LIKE wine?” But in this case, you’re asking for an opinion. What does this person think about wine in general? You could say “DO YOU LIKE wine?” and then say “WOULD YOU LIKE some wine?” or “WOULD YOU LIKE a glass of wine?” but DO YOU LIKE and WOULD YOU LIKE have different purposes.

You can also use WOULD YOU LIKE and DO YOU LIKE with a verb, but the structure is different. You could make a suggestion or invite someone by saying: “WOULD YOU LIKE to go dancing tonight?” or “WOULD YOU LIKE to dance with me?” This is a specific suggestion or invitation, so the verb after WOULD YOU LIKE is infinitive, ‘to dance’ or ‘to go dancing’.

However, you could ask for a general opinion about dancing: “DO YOU LIKE dancing?” You’re asking if that person enjoys the activity of dancing, so in this case DO YOU LIKE is followed by the gerund form of the verb, meaning the -ing form. A gerund is just a noun made from a verb.

So, I have a couple of questions for you. DO YOU LIKE learning English? WOULD YOU LIKE to learn more English? Then go to ANGLOPOD.COM and answer those questions in the comments! See you soon!

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Improve your English today at ANGLOPOD.COM. Hi everyone, I’m Dan and today we’re going to learn about the modal verb expressions MUST BE and CAN’T BE in English. We use them to discuss probability, how sure we feel about something. Let’s find out more…

Imagine you are trying to solve a crime, like a detective. Think of Sherlock Holmes or even Batman! A detective needs to find clues, evidence, information to help them understand what happened. When the detective is sure what happened, they might say “He MUST BE guilty!” This means they are 100 percent sure or very close to 100 percent.

However, another way to show how sure they feel is to use CAN’T BE, so for example “He CAN’T BE innocent!” As ‘innocent’ is the opposite of ‘guilty’ both phrases mean the same. “He MUST BE guilty” and “He CAN’T BE innocent”. I am 100 percent sure! In that case, “He MUST BE guilty” and “He CAN’T BE guilty” mean the opposite.

If you’re not sure, you could say “He MIGHT BE guilty” or “He MAY BE guilty”. The modal verbs MIGHT and MAY express possibility, not probability, and so you’re saying that you are not sure. You are only 50 percent sure.

So what are you sure about? What do you think MUST BE true or CAN’T BE true, based on what you know? English CAN’T BE the hardest language to learn, right? There MUST BE other languages that are harder? Go to ANGLOPOD.COM and tell us in the comments. See you soon!

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Improve your English today at ANGLOPOD.COM. Hi everyone, I’m Dan and today we’re going to look at the difference between the modal verbs HAVE TO and DON’T HAVE TO. We use them to say if something is important or not. Let’s find out more…

Here’s an example. If you arrange a party and it’s very important that people come to the party on time, you can say “You HAVE TO come on time” or “You MUST come on time”. That is very clear. It is very important, it is necessary that everyone comes to the party on time. Maybe it’s a surprise party, so the guests need to arrive first and hide!

But you can also express that something is not important, not necessary. You can say “You DON’T HAVE TO come on time”, “You DON’T HAVE TO come on time”. Basically, this means that it’s your choice. If you come on time, that’s fine. But if you come later, that’s also fine. It’s your choice. This sounds like a much more relaxed party!

You could also say “You DON’T NEED TO come on time”, “You DON’T NEED TO come on time”. It means exactly the same thing as DON’T HAVE TO.

Can you think of other examples of things that are your choice? Not important or not necessary? “I DON’T HAVE TO wear a suit to work” or “I DON’T NEED TO wake up early on Sunday”. Go to ANGLOPOD.COM and write your examples in the comments. See you soon!

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Improve your English today at ANGLOPOD.COM. Hi everyone, I’m Dan and today we’re going to look at the difference between HAVE TO and MUST in English. They are both very common modal verbs that we use to express obligation. But is there a difference? And what is the difference? Let’s find out…

Let’s start with a simple example. You can say “I HAVE TO do my homework” or you can say “I MUST do my homework” and it is clear that this is something that needs to be completed. There is an obligation here. That’s why we use these two modal verbs, HAVE TO and MUST. But there is a difference.

The difference is between external and internal obligation. If you say “I HAVE TO do my homework”, the obligation is external. This means it comes from outside, from someone else, not from you. “I HAVE TO do my homework” because my teacher told me to do it or my parents expect me to do it. Not because I want to do it. “I HAVE TO do my homework”.

But if you say “I MUST do my homework”, this means the obligation is internal. It comes from inside, it comes from me. “I MUST do my homework” because it’s important to me. I want to do it because I want to learn or I want to pass my exams.

One important note. There is no past form of MUST, so we just use HAVE TO in the past. HAD TO. “I MUST do it”, present; “I HAD TO do it”, past. The same with questions. You can’t use MUST with question words, so use HAVE TO again. Just say “Do you HAVE TO do it?”, which is present, or “Did you HAVE TO do it?”, which is past.

OK, what would you say now? “I HAVE TO practise English” or “I MUST practise English”? Go to ANGLOPOD.COM and tell us in the comments! See you soon!

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Improve your English today at ANGLOPOD.COM. Hi everyone, I’m Dan and today we’re going to focus on using the modal verbs MUST, SHOULD and OUGHT TO with the present perfect. We use them together to talk about something we thought would happen but didn’t.

This will be easier to understand if we look at an example together. If you’re waiting for someone, but they still haven’t arrived, you might feel worried or even angry. If they don’t have a long way to travel or they started their journey to meet you a long time ago, you could say “He SHOULD HAVE arrived by now!” You might feel frustrated or concerned. “He SHOULD HAVE arrived by now!”

Notice that after the modal verb SHOULD we use HAVE without ‘to’. So don’t say “He SHOULD to HAVE arrived”. That’s wrong. So, “He SHOULD HAVE arrived”. It’s also important to note the pronunciation here. HAVE is a grammar word, so the pronunciation is weak. So really we say “He SHOULD’VE arrived”, “He SHOULD’VE”.

You could also use OUGHT TO as it means the same thing. “He OUGHT TO HAVE arrived”. This is less common but you will hear people use it. If you are sure this thing has happened, you can say “He MUST HAVE arrived” or “He MUST’VE arrived”. So you are sure that this has now happened.

So, remember. When you use the present perfect after these modal verbs to talk about something you think has happened by now, don’t use ‘to’. “He SHOULD’VE arrived by now”. OK, now go to ANGLOPOD.COM to learn more English online. You SHOULD’VE done this by now! See you soon!

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Improve your English today at ANGLOPOD.COM. Hi everyone, I’m Dan and today we’re going to learn how to use modal verbs with the bare infinitive in English. This means we’re going to focus on how we use modal verbs followed by another verb in a sentence.

Firstly, what is a modal verb? Well, it is a type of auxiliary verb, a helping verb, which expresses some form of modality, such as ability, permission or possibility. For example, we can use the modal verb CAN to express ability: “I CAN play the piano”. I am able to do this, I have the skill or knowledge to do this. But we can also use CAN for permission: “CAN I go to the bathroom?” (although this is a more informal use of CAN here. Some people prefer to use the more formal modal verb MAY).

However, when using modal verbs it is very important to remember that after the modal verb we don’t use the full infinitive (which just means the ‘to’ infinitive of the verb). So we say “I CAN play the piano” not “I CAN to play the piano”. This confuses many students because this rule does not exist in many other languages.

Let’s see an example with a different modal verb. “You MUST do your homework”, not “You MUST to do your homework”. The modal verb MUST here is used to express obligation. Another example. “I MIGHT come to the party”, not “I MIGHT to come to the party”. The modal verb MIGHT here is being used to express possibility.

So, remember that the main verb that follows a modal verb in English should be the ‘bare infinitive’, so no ‘to’. OK, now go to ANGLOPOD.COM to learn more English online. You MUST DO this! You MUSTN’T FORGET! See you soon!

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Improve your English today at ANGLOPOD.COM. Hi everyone, I’m Dan and today we’re going to focus on the expression HAVE something DONE in English. This is a very common expression but it is often confusing for English students. It has a passive meaning and it means that someone does something for us, either because we can’t do it or we don’t know how to do it. Let’s find out more…

Let’s start with a simple example to see what I mean. If I have a new haircut, my students often say to me: “You cut your hair!” But I have to say no, because this sentence is wrong in English. It doesn’t make much sense really!

Firstly, I don’t know how to cut hair. I have never learnt how to cut hair, I’m not a barber or a hairdresser, right? I’m an English teacher! Secondly, have you ever tried to cut your own hair? I think it’s very difficult, right? I don’t think the result would be good!

So the correct sentence is “I HAD my hair CUT”. “I HAD my hair CUT”. This means another person did it for me. So you say TO HAVE something DONE. You can use it for anything that another person does for you, because it’s difficult for you to do, you don’t want to do it, or you don’t have the necessary skills to do it.

Here are some more examples. I HAD my car FIXED. I don’t know how to fix cars myself. I HAD my house PAINTED. It’s a difficult job and I don’t want to do it myself. And every month, I HAVE my hair CUT, because I can’t do it myself!

There is another way you could say this. You could say GET something DONE. It means exactly the same thing. So I GOT my car FIXED, I GOT my house PAINTED, and every month, I GET my hair CUT.

So what do you HAVE DONE? Go to ANGLOPOD.COM and tell us in the comments. Unfortunately, learning English is something you can’t HAVE DONE, right? You have to do it yourself! See you soon!

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Improve your English today at ANGLOPOD.COM. Hi everyone, I’m Dan and today we’re going to look at active and passive voice in English. This is a very important grammatical structure in English. We use it for different reasons, such as changing the focus of the sentence. Let’s look at some examples…

Here’s a simple example: “The cat ATE the mouse”, active, “The mouse WAS EATEN by the cat”, passive. The passive form is really useful if we want to change the focus of the sentence. In this case, we want to focus on the mouse and not the cat.

So how do we make the passive? It’s quite easy. Just use the auxiliary verb ‘to be’ and add the past participle form of the main verb. What’s the past participle? In this case, the present is EAT, the past is ATE, and the past participle is EATEN. EAT, ATE, EATEN. “The cat ATE the mouse”, “The mouse WAS EATEN (by the cat)”.

There are different reasons why we use the passive voice in English. Sometimes we don’t know who did the action, like in a crime. So we could say “My car WAS STOLEN”. We don’t know who stole my car, so passive is really useful here. Note that it’s not necessary to say “My car WAS STOLEN (by a thief)”. That’s obvious, right? This is another reason why passive voice is so useful in English. 

Here’s another good example. “English IS SPOKEN all around the world”. This is good for talking about people in general. It sounds much better than “People speak English all around the world”. Again, obviously we’re talking about people. 

You might also see a sign in a hotel or a shop that says: “English IS SPOKEN here”. It sounds more formal than saying “We speak English here” or “Everyone speaks English here”. So passive can be more formal or less direct as well.

OK, that’s a very brief overview of active and passive in English. It’s good to keep it simple. Can you think of any good examples using the passive voice in a natural way? Go to ANGLOPOD.COM and write them in the comments. See you soon!

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Improve your English today at ANGLOPOD.COM. Hi everyone, I’m Dan and today we’re going to learn about linking verbs and how we use them in a sentence. These verbs do not describe an action. They are used to describe a state, a feeling or a result. Let’s look at some examples…

The most common example of a linking verb is BE. For example, I AM a teacher, you ARE a student. In these examples, the verb BE is used to describe a state, not an action, and it is followed in both examples with a noun, not an adverb. In the examples here, ‘a teacher’ and ‘a student’.

It’s also very common to use linking verbs with the senses, so you can say that some food TASTES GOOD or some music SOUNDS GOOD. Even though they are verbs, you are not describing an action, so you would not say TASTES or SOUNDS WELL. So, “this food TASTES GREAT” or “that music SOUNDS AMAZING”. Linking verb plus adjective, in these two examples, ‘great’ and ‘amazing’.

Here are the five linking verbs for describing the senses: FEEL, LOOK, SMELL, SOUND and TASTE. For example, “You LOOK SAD” or “I FEEL SICK”.

Here are some of the most common linking verbs to describe states of being: BECOME, APPEAR, SEEM, GET, REMAIN and GROW. For example, “This IS BECOMING A PROBLEM” or “Things are GETTING BETTER”.

So go to ANGLOPOD.COM and practise using these linking verbs in the comments. Describe a state, feeling or result with these verbs. It LOOKS EASY, right? Show us that your English IS GETTING BETTER! See you soon!

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Improve your English today at ANGLOPOD.COM. Hi everyone, I’m Dan and today we’re going to look at reflexive verbs in English. What is a reflexive verb? This is a verb where the action has an effect on the person doing it. Let’s see some examples together…

One of the most common reflexive verbs is ENJOY. You can ENJOY SOMETHING, for example, you can ENJOY A PARTY or ENJOY A MOVIE, but you can also ENJOY YOURSELF, which makes it a reflexive verb. The verb ENJOY describes the effect on you. You can ENJOY A PARTY or ENJOY YOURSELF AT A PARTY. The second example is reflexive, because this is the effect the experience has on you.

Another good example is TEACH. Someone can TEACH you English or you can TEACH YOURSELF English, if you do this on your own, to yourself, so the second example is reflexive. Someone can TEACH you English, or you can TEACH YOURSELF English.

However, reflexive verbs are not as common in English as some other languages, so for example, we don’t say I DRESSED MYSELF today, or I WASHED MYSELF today. That would sound strange. It is more natural to say I GOT DRESSED or I HAD A WASH.

Some other common reflexive verbs in English are INTRODUCE YOURSELF, HELP YOURSELF, AMUSE YOURSELF, CONVINCE YOURSELF, BLAME YOURSELF, HURT YOURSELF, PREPARE YOURSELF, DRIVE YOURSELF and BEHAVE YOURSELF.

So, when did you last ENJOY YOURSELF? Have you ever TAUGHT YOURSELF something? Did you TEACH YOURSELF English? Go to ANGLOPOD.COM and tell us in the comments. See you soon!

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Improve your English today at ANGLOPOD.COM. Hi everyone, I’m Dan and today we’re going to talk about the verb AFFORD and how we should use it. We normally use this verb to talk about money and how much money we have, although it can be used to refer to other things as well, such as time.

The reason we’re going to focus on AFFORD is because it has a particular verb pattern so we can use it correctly. Let’s look at an example to see what we mean. You could say: I CAN’T AFFORD to go out tonight, I CAN’T AFFORD to go out tonight. In this example, we’re expressing an ability (or lack of ability, in this case) to do something because of cost. This suggests that I don’t have enough money, so I am not able to do this thing, go out tonight.

So to use the verb AFFORD, we have to use the modal verb CAN before it. The verb AFFORD doesn’t make sense on its own. You can’t say: I afford it. You have to say: I CAN AFFORD it, or I CAN’T AFFORD it.

Here are some more examples: I CAN AFFORD to travel by bus, but I CAN’T AFFORD to travel by taxi. I CAN AFFORD to buy a sandwich, but I CAN’T AFFORD to buy a meal. I CAN AFFORD to live in a flat, but I CAN’T AFFORD to live in a house.

So remember, don’t use AFFORD on its own. It won’t make sense. Use it with CAN. That was a simple lesson. Now go to ANGLOPOD.COM and try the quiz. Then write your own example sentences in the comments. Good luck and see you in the next class!

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Improve your English today at ANGLOPOD.COM. Hi everyone, I’m Dan and in the last lesson we talked about using the verb WISH to talk about unreal situations in the present. Things that we would like to change now, but we can’t. In this lesson, we’re going to look at the difference between a wish in the present and a wish in the past. What’s the difference? How does the sentence change?

Let’s use the example I WISH I KNEW from the verb TO KNOW. So as you remember from the last lesson, to make a wish about the present, we need to use the verb in the past, because this is not a real situation. It’s what we call a hypothetical situation, which means unreal. We are imagining this situation. I WISH I KNEW. For example, I WISH I KNEW the answer, I WISH I KNEW the answer. This means I don’t know the answer now, but I really want to know now! Maybe I’m doing an exam and it’s very hard, so I think to myself I WISH I KNEW the answer! Unfortunately I don’t, and I can’t change this situation, because I’m doing the exam now and I can’t check!

Now, imagine the exam is now finished and I’m worried that I did very badly. I think I probably failed the exam because I didn’t know the answer during the exam. I’m now making a wish about the past. So if we use the verb in the past to talk about a present wish, we use the verb in the past perfect to talk about a past wish, like this: I WISH I HAD KNOWN the answer, I WISH I HAD KNOWN the answer. This is now a wish about the past and the past is finished so there is nothing we can do to change the past (unless you have a time machine!) so I say to myself: I WISH I HAD KNOWN the answer. That’s WISH followed by the past perfect, in this case HAD KNOWN.

So, I WISH I KNEW the answer (a wish about the present) and I WISH I HAD KNOWN the answer (a wish about the past). And just a quick point about pronunciation. To make it quicker and easier to pronounce, we often say: I WISH I’D KNOWN, I WISH I’D KNOWN, so HAD is a weak sound.

I hope that’s clear. It’s really important to practise this to help you understand better, so go to ANGLOPOD.COM and try the quiz. Then write your own example sentences in the comments. Good luck and see you in the next class!

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Improve your English today at ANGLOPOD.COM. Hi everyone, I’m Dan and today we’re going to focus on the verb WISH to talk about things we would like to be different but we cannot change. Why can we not change them? Well, either we don’t have the power to change them or they happened in the past, so it’s too late to change them!

Let’s start with a simple example: I WISH I WERE taller. I WISH I WERE taller. Let’s look at this phrase carefully to understand it. I WISH I WERE taller. What does it mean? Firstly, this is a situation I would like to change. I’m not tall or I’m not tall enough. I want to be taller. Can I change this situation? No! I can’t stretch my body to be taller! I can’t eat special food to be taller. So this is a situation I can’t change.

Secondly, am I talking about now, the present? Or am I talking about the past? Well, this is a wish about the present. I want to change this situation now. I’m not happy now, in the present. So, we use WISH followed by the verb in the past, in this case WERE, from the verb TO BE. So we don’t say I wish I am, we say I WISH I WERE. That is because this is not a real situation. So in English, we use the verb in the past to talk about an unreal situation in the present, in this case: I WISH I WERE.

Now you might think, why do we use WERE and not WAS? I WISH I WAS? I WAS, YOU WERE, right? Well, the simple answer is that you could use either. They are both possible. You can say: I WISH I WERE or I WISH I WAS and everyone will understand you. In fact, it’s very common for people to say I WISH I WAS. It sounds more informal and you’ll hear people using it when they’re speaking all the time. So, I WISH I WERE taller, or I WISH I WAS taller. However, grammatically it is more correct to say I WISH I WERE, because this is not a real situation.

OK, that’s how you talk about a wish or desire in the present, a situation you can’t change. Remember, use the verb WISH followed by the verb in the past, in this example I WISH I WERE or I WISH I WAS, if you want to sound a bit more informal. I WISH I WERE taller, I WISH I WERE smarter, I WISH I WERE richer, I WISH I WERE faster, I WISH I WERE stronger! What examples can you think of?

So these are all examples of wishes about the present. How do we use it in the past? We’ll look at that in the next lesson. For now, go to ANGLOPOD.COM and try the quiz. Then write your own example sentences in the comments. Good luck and see you in the next class!

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Improve your English today at ANGLOPOD.COM. Hi everyone, I’m Dan and today we’re going to talk about your plans using the verb THINK. How do you describe the things you might do in the future?

Well, a very simple way to talk about your future is to say: I’M THINKING OF, I’M THINKING OF. So, use the verb THINK in the continuous form, which is BE plus the verb with ING followed by the preposition OF. I’M THINKING OF. So you haven’t decided yet, you’re still making your plan. We say: I’M THINKING because this is not a complete action. You haven’t finished deciding. You are still THINKING.

Then, because OF is a preposition, the verb that comes after must be a gerund, which means the ING form, in this case DOING. So, for example: I’M THINKING OF DOING IT, I’M THINKING OF DOING IT. So, don’t say: I’m thinking of do it, or I’m thinking to do it. Say: I’M THINKING OF DOING IT.

Let’s try some examples: You could say: I’M THINKING OF GOING out tonight, or I’M THINKING OF TAKING the day off, or I’M THINKING OF CHANGING my job, or I’M THINKING OF HAVING a party.

There are many possibilities. How many examples can you think of? It’s good to practise. Go to ANGLOPOD.COM and try the quiz. Then write your own example sentences in the comments. Good luck and see you in the next class!

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Improve your English today at ANGLOPOD.COM. Hi everyone, I’m Dan and today we’re going to look at the difference between LIKE DOING and LIKE TO DO. This often causes students lots of problems because the meaning changes between the two, but it’s not always obvious what the difference is. Don’t worry, in this lesson I’ll make it very clear for you. Let’s look at some examples to help us understand better. 

Firstly, you could say: I LIKE PLAYING football, I LIKE WATCHING movies.  I LIKE EATING pizza, I LIKE DRINKING wine, I LIKE SPENDING time with friends, I LIKE GOING to the beach.

What do these examples sound like? That’s right. They’re all examples of things you enjoy. So if you want to talk about something you enjoy, something that is nice to do, use LIKE followed by a gerund, which is the ING form of the verb. You could change the verb and still express how much you like or dislike something: I LOVE EATING pizza, I DISLIKE EATING pizza, I HATE EATING pizza, I DETEST EATING pizza.

How about these examples: I LIKE TO GO to bed early, I LIKE TO VISIT the dentist twice a year, I LIKE TO EAT vegetables every day, I LIKE TO DRINK lots of water, I LIKE TO DO my homework as soon as I get home. What do these examples sound like? Look at the context. Do they sound like things you enjoy? Not really, right? Visiting the dentist or doing homework are not normally things we enjoy. So, when we use LIKE followed by the full infinitive, which means the verb with TO, this means that I think it is a good idea. I LIKE TO VISIT the dentist twice a year. I don’t enjoy it, but I think it’s a good idea. I LIKE TO DO my homework as soon as I get home. I don’t enjoy it, but I think it’s a good idea.

So, LIKE plus the gerund means you enjoy it, LIKE plus the full infinitive means you think it’s a good idea, easy! Do you LIKE PRACTISING English? Or maybe you LIKE TO PRACTISE English. Either way, go to ANGLOPOD.COM and try the quiz. Then you can write your own example sentences in the comments. I think that’s both enjoyable and a good idea! Good luck and see you in the next class!

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Improve your English today at ANGLOPOD.COM. Hi everyone, I’m Dan and today we’re going to look at a very common verb that is often confusing for students to use in a sentence. We’ll look at some examples to learn how to use it and we’ll also see how not to use it. The verb in today’s lesson is SUGGEST and how we use it when we want to SUGGEST an action.

The reason why it causes problems is because it has a specific verb pattern. So when we use SUGGEST, we say: I SUGGEST THAT… followed by the rest of the phrase. Here are some examples:

I SUGGEST THAT you practise your English. I SUGGEST THAT you do your homework on time. I SUGGEST THAT you study harder. I SUGGEST THAT you listen to English every day. After SUGGEST use THAT followed by the rest of the sentence.

It’s also quite common to drop or leave out THAT if we’re speaking quickly or informally. So you can say: I SUGGEST you study harder. I SUGGEST you study harder.

However, we don’t say: I SUGGEST YOU to study harder. Don’t use the full infinitive here. “I SUGGEST THAT you study harder” or “I SUGGEST you study harder. You could also say: I SUGGEST STUDYING harder, so SUGGEST plus a gerund. That’s possible. So, “I SUGGEST THAT you study harder”, “I SUGGEST you study harder” or “I SUGGEST STUDYING harder”.

Here’s a different verb you could use. Instead of SUGGEST, you could use RECOMMEND. “I RECOMMEND THAT you study harder” or “I RECOMMEND you study harder” or “I RECOMMEND STUDYING harder”. But remember, don’t say: I RECOMMEND you to study harder.

OK, I SUGGEST THAT you go to ANGLOPOD.COM and try the quiz. Also, I RECOMMEND WRITING your own example sentences in the comments. Good luck and see you in the next class!

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Hi everyone, I’m Dan, and this is ANGLOPOD, a podcast and website to help you improve your English.

Today we’re going to talk about our experiences using the verb ‘FIND’. You probably know how to use the verb FIND when you’re looking for something lost, but this is a different way of using this verb. 

This is a very common and useful phrase to learn. In this phrase, we use the verb ‘FIND’ followed by the pronoun ‘IT’ and then an adjective to describe the experience. Here are some example sentences to show you how we use it:

I FIND IT EASY to speak English. I FIND IT EASY to speak English. So this is the verb FIND plus the pronoun IT followed by an adjective, in this case EASY, but you can think of any other adjective to change the meaning. I FIND IT EASY. I FIND IT EASY. I FIND IT EASY to speak English. So this just means that the experience of speaking English feels easy to me. I FIND IT EASY.

Let’s change the adjective to change how we feel about the experience. I FIND IT HARD. I FIND IT HARD to speak English. Maybe you feel more like this. I FIND IT HARD to speak English. Or use a different adjective with the same meaning. I FIND IT DIFFICULT to speak English. 

You can describe anything you want. Just choose the right adjective. I FIND IT BORING to do homework, I FIND IT EXCITING to go travelling, I FIND IT SHOCKING to read the news, I FIND IT TERRIFYING to watch horror movies, I FIND IT INTERESTING to learn about history, I FIND IT USEFUL to speak English. You can also use it in the past. When I was a child, I FOUND IT HARD to learn English, but now I FIND IT EASY!

That’s it! Now you practise it. Go to ANGLOPOD.COM and try the quiz. Then you can write your own example sentences in the comments. Good luck and see you in the next class!

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Hi everyone, I’m Dan, and this is ANGLOPOD, a podcast and website to help you improve your English.

Today we’re going to learn how to use the verbs that talk about likes and dislikes followed by ‘when’ to describe how we feel about a certain time or situation. This is a simple sentence to use but a very common error. Let’s look at an example sentence.

You could say: “I LIKE IT WHEN you cook me dinner” or “I LOVE IT WHEN you kiss me goodnight”.

Notice that we need to use the pronoun ‘IT’ between the verb and ‘WHEN’. So, this means it’s wrong to say: “I LIKE WHEN” or “I LOVE WHEN”. You need to add ‘IT’ between the verb and ‘WHEN’, otherwise it won’t sound natural.

So practise saying that: “I LIKE IT WHEN”, “I LOVE IT WHEN”, “I DISLIKE IT WHEN”, “I HATE IT WHEN”. Repeat it a few times to get the sound and the rhythm of the phrase. “I LIKE IT WHEN”, “I LOVE IT WHEN”, “I DISLIKE IT WHEN”, “I HATE IT WHEN”. “I DISLIKE IT WHEN you arrive late”, “I HATE IT WHEN you get angry with me”.

As you can see, these are verbs that express feelings, how we feel. Can you think of other verbs to use when describing your feelings? Here are some more examples:

“I ADORE IT WHEN” - that means I really, really love it. “I DETEST IT WHEN” - that means I really, really hate it. “I ADORE IT WHEN you buy me flowers”, “I DETEST IT WHEN you make a mess”.

OK, time to practise, so go to ANGLOPOD.COM and try the quiz. Then you can write your own example sentences in the comments. Good luck and see you in the next class!

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Hi everyone, I’m Dan, and this is ANGLOPOD, a podcast and website to help you improve your English.

Today we’re going to learn how to use the verb TRY and how the meaning changes depending on the form of the next verb we use after it.

So what’s the difference between TRY TO DO and TRY DOING? Let’s look at an example sentence to see how we use them:

You could say: 

TRY TO SPEAK English or TRY SPEAKING English. But what’s the difference? What do they mean? 

Firstly, you could say: I will TRY TO SPEAK English every day. This means to make an effort, to work harder. Maybe you have an exam soon and you want to get a good grade, so you need to study harder, you need to make an effort. Maybe you’re too busy or even a bit lazy and you should practise more. So, you say: I will TRY TO SPEAK English every day.

However, you could also say: I will TRY SPEAKING English every day. This sounds more like you want to see if this is useful or fun. I will TRY SPEAKING English every day. You’re trying something new to see if it’s a good idea or if it’s something you like.

Here’s a different example: I will TRY SPEAKING English so they can understand. Again, you’re trying something new to see if it is useful or helpful. Maybe you’re talking to someone who doesn’t speak your language, so you decide to use English to see if they understand you better. I will TRY SPEAKING English so they can understand.

That’s easy right? OK, practice makes perfect, so go to ANGLOPOD.COM and try the quiz. Then you can write your own example sentences in the comments. Good luck and see you in the next class!

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Hi everyone, I’m Dan and this is ANGLOPOD, a podcast and website to help you improve your English.

Today we’re going to learn how to use the verb REMEMBER and how the meaning can change depending on the form of the next verb we use after it.

So what’s the difference between REMEMBER TO DO and REMEMBER DOING? Let’s try an example sentence to see how we use them:

You could say: REMEMBER TO DO your homework or REMEMBER DOING your homework. But what’s the difference? What do they mean?

Well, the first one, REMEMBER TO DO your homework, means you don’t forget. If you don’t REMEMBER TO DO your homework, your teacher will be very angry with you and maybe give you extra homework as punishment! You don’t want that, right? Nobody wants extra homework! So, always REMEMBER TO DO your homework! Another way to say this is DON’T FORGET TO DO your homework. So, REMEMBER TO DO means DON’T FORGET to do.

REMEMBER DOING your homework, means you have some memory of the action. It happened in the past and you have a memory of that action. You could tell someone where you were, what time it was, how long it took, who you were with, because you have a memory of this event. So, you could say: I REMEMBER DOING my homework! I can describe the action from my memory.

You can use FORGET in the same way. If you FORGET TO DO your homework, it means you don’t remember and your teacher will be angry with you. If you FORGET DOING your homework, it means you did it in the past but you have no memory of the event. Maybe you were very tired when you did it!

That’s easy right? OK, practice makes perfect, so go to ANGLOPOD.COM and try the quiz. Then you can write your own example sentences in the comments. Good luck and see you in the next class!

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