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?
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.
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.
Go, Went, Gone: The One-of-a-Kind Irregular Verbs
Quick Answer A few English verbs follow no pattern whatsoever: go → went → gone; do → did → done. They must be memorised one by one — but there are only about a dozen, and you use them every day. See the Pattern First Look for a pattern here. There is not one —…
Built, Slept, Lost: Verbs Whose Past Ends in -t
Quick Answer These verbs do not add -ed. They add a hard -t instead, and usually shorten the vowel: sleep → slept, build → built. The past and the have form are the same. See the Pattern First Say each pair aloud — the vowel gets shorter and the ending gets harder. I sleep late….
Taught, Caught, Brought: The -ought and -aught Verbs
Quick Answer A small family replaces its whole ending with -ought or -aught: teach → taught, catch → caught, bring → brought. The past and the have form are identical, which makes them easier than they look. See the Pattern First The verb transforms completely — then stays put. I teach English. I taught it…
Take, Took, Taken: Verbs With -en Participles
Quick Answer This is the largest irregular family. The vowel changes for the past, and the third form ends in -en: I take → I took → I have taken. Once you spot the -en, you know it needs have. See the Pattern First Three different words for one verb. The third always ends in…
Draw, Drew, Drawn: The -ew and -own Verb Pattern
Quick Answer These verbs take -ew in the past and -own or -awn with have: I draw → I drew → I have drawn. The participle almost always ends in n. See the Pattern First Watch the middle column: every past form has that “oo” sound. I draw a picture. I drew one yesterday. I…
