Past Continuous

Revision

Past Perfect contrasted with other tenses. 1 2 3

To revise conditionals and other grammar points, I strongly recommend this website. I found it by chance, but it turned out to be really useful. It has been built by a wide team of teachers from IES Gabriel García Márquez, in Madrid, and it's worth having a look on it.
Congratulations for your wonderful job!

Right, Open window by Henri Matisse.

Get ready for your next English exam

Girl reading, by Auguste Renoir. 

• PRESENT SIMPLE  1  2  3 
• PRESENT CONTINUOUS 1  2  3
• PRESENT SIMPLE vs. PRESENT CONTINUOUS 1 2
• SIMPLE PAST  1  2  3
• PRESENT PERFECT  1 
• PRESENT PERFECT vs SIMPLE PAST 2  3

Revision

PRESENT SIMPLE 1 2 IMPERATIVE 1
PRESENT CONTINUOUS 1 2 3
ADJECTIVES 1 2
THE TIME 1
PRONOUNS AND DETERMINERS  1 2
PAST SIMPLE 1 2
PAST CONTINUOUS 1 2
PRESENT PERFECT 1 2 3
TOO/ENOUGH 1
MODAL VERBS 1 2 3 4
SIMPLE FUTURE 1 2
FIRST CONDITIONAL 1
SECOND CONDITIONAL 2
PASSIVE VOICE 1 2 3 4 5

The Three Waves

Traditional Norwegian tale.

Once upon a time, there a was a young fisherman called Olaf who lived happily with his parents. He had mysterious powers to look beyond reality and in addition, he could make himself invisible just by putting his hands over his eyes.

One day, Olaf's father went out fishing, but he never returned. The young man grew up and a ship hired him as a crew member. Before sailing, the sailors went to have some fun...except for Olaf, who stayed as a guard. Then, he saw some black crows come on the ship. Olaf made himself invisible and listened what they were saying: "Nobody knows that we're witches, and when the sailors go to sea, three giant waves will come up and they'll die. Ha, ha, ha!", the birds laughed outrageously, and went on, "And what they don't know either is that to save themselves they'll have to throw a birch beam over each wave".

Olaf quickly went for the birch beams and put them on the boat. And as it was planned, when things were most peaceful on deck the enormous waves rose up. Olaf told the sailors to throw the beams, one after the other..., and that's how they were saved. They reached the island of the castaways where Olaf found his father and took him back home.

If you go to the beach, be careful of the tides and the jellyfish! Enjoy the sea!
Source: Sofia Adalid's Collection of Tales of the World.

The Origin of the Koala

Traditional Australian tale

Living beings cannot survive without water. What will happen when this valuable natural resource begins to run out?

The aborigines in a village had such hard hearts that they paid no attention to Kubu, an orphan boy who could not speak and wandered the streets begging. So Kubu climbed up trees, his only friends, and watched the horizon tinted in beautiful colours so as to forget his hunger and thirst.

One fine day everyone went hunting, but first they hid their provisions, especially the water, so that the orphan couldn't take it away from them. But when Kubu was alone in the village, a tree began to move its branches in a strange way. Kubu understood its language and approached the trunk where he discovered the villagers' secret hiding place. He had a real feast and then climbed up the tree.

When the aborigines came back, they became so furious that they climbed up to the orphan and threw him out...and when Kubu woke up, he was on the ground surrounded by expectant faces. He didn't understand why they were looking at him that way, until he realised that his body was covered with hair and he had been turned into a small bear. The spirit of the trees gave him the gift of being the only animal that does not need water to live. And that's why he's called koala, "who doesn't need water".

Many times it's necessary to accept something tough to discover who we really are. It's painful but it's worth the trouble.
Source: Sofia Adalid's collection of Tales of the World.

Revising Grammar

Present Perfect vs. Past Simple

Present Perfect (Revision)

Exercise 1 2 3

Test Level A B C

Simple Past vs Present Perfect (Revision)

Exercise 1 2

Text

Test Level 1 2 3