Learn English | A new lesson every week

Vocabulary

Idioms using 'Short'

1.64458
Average: 1.6 (166 votes)

'She's got a short fuse'

As February is the shortest month of the year we thought we'd give you some idioms that use the word 'short':

to be caught short

To have a sudden need to go to the toilet:

'I went to the toilet before we left because I didn't want to be caught short on the journey.'

to be a bit short

To not have enough money:

Irregular past participle verbs quiz

3.413795
Average: 3.4 (29 votes)

A past participle indicates past or completed action or time. It is often called the 'ed' form as it is formed by adding d or ed, to the base form of regular verbs, however it is also formed in various other ways for irregular verbs. Here we review your knowledge of irregular past participle verbs.

An example of an irregular past participle verb is sung:

Can you find the mistakes in these sentences?

3.105265
Average: 3.1 (19 votes)

Take a look at the following five sentences. Each sentence has one mistake - can you find them? Click on Show Answers for an explaination on each sentence. If you like this, you can try a similar lesson here!

Learn informal English

2.87234
Average: 2.9 (47 votes)

Cultural Lesson: Brighton Music Scene

3.375
Average: 3.4 (8 votes)

Verb Collocations

4.227275
Average: 4.2 (22 votes)

 

"Go diving" or "go to diving'?

When learning English it's important to learn collocations. Collocations are groups of  words that appear together in a sentence. Take a look at the following verb collocations. Each verb goes with a word or phrase:

Phrasal Verb - Stay

3.857145
Average: 3.9 (14 votes)

"Even though it was raining, she wanted to stay out."

Here are some phrasal verbs using the word stay:

Time to improve your vocabulary!

3.77778
Average: 3.8 (9 votes)

"By going away to university she's entering a new phase in her life."

Take a look at the following ten sentences and then try matching the words in bold to their definitions below:

The Year of the Ox: Personality Adjectives

2.157895
Average: 2.2 (19 votes)

Culture Lesson: Chinese New Year!

3.5
Average: 3.5 (8 votes)

'Nian'

Read the following information on the Chinese New Year and then match the key words to their meanings below: