The Missing Tomatoes (A1 Reading Story)
Mr Sam loves the tomatoes in his garden. Every night, some tomatoes go missing. He decides to watch the garden and find out why.
Author: Khamis Maiouf
I'm Khamis Maiouf. I'm studying Health and Social Care and have completed Functional Skills Level 2 in English and Level 3 Hairdressing. I have taught ESOL in my community and helped students with GCSE English. I run English Teacher Site to help people learn and practise English.
The Sixty-Fourth Square (C1 Reading Story)
Thomas and Gregor have played chess by post for forty-one years. When the letters stop, Thomas travels to Hungary to find out what has happened to his distant friend.
The Polite Notices (B2 Reading Story)
Polite, unsigned notices begin appearing in Mira’s block of flats. Their careful wording hides a mystery: someone knows the residents’ problems, but nobody admits to writing them.
The Kite Maker’s Promise (B1 Reading Story)
Sofia feels like a visitor in her new seaside town. A local kite festival offers a chance to share the skills and traditions her grandfather passed on to her.
The White Bird Kite (A2 Reading Story)
Amir is new in a seaside town where everyone celebrates a kite festival. He wants to join the competition and learns to make a special kite.
The Cat on the Balcony (A1 Reading Story)
Mara is new in the city and feels alone. One day, a grey cat visits her balcony. His name is Pasha, but where is his home?
Third Conditional: Talking About a Past That Never Happened
Quick Answer The third conditional imagines a different past. The shape is If + had + past participle, then would have + past participle: If I had studied, I would have passed. It always describes something that did NOT happen — which is why it is the grammar of regret. See the Pattern First Read…
Reported Speech: How to Say What Someone Else Said
Quick answer Reported speech tells someone what another person said. After a past reporting verb, we often use backshift: “I am tired,” she said becomes She said she was tired. Backshift is common, but it is not compulsory in every report. Choose tenses, pronouns and time words that fit the meaning. Common Backshift Patterns The…
Past Perfect Tense: Which Thing Happened First?
Quick Answer The past perfect is had + a past participle: had finished, had gone, had lost. It looks back from a past reference point. When I arrived, the train had left places the departure before the arrival. See the Pattern First In each sentence below, two things happened. The blue verb happened FIRST. When…
The Allotment on Whitmore Lane (C1 Reading Story)
After her father’s death, Nora returns to his neglected allotment. Clearing the plot and reading his gardening notebook offer a quieter way to face what she has postponed.
