Learning English takes time and patience. You have to become familiar with many new words and new ideas. One of the greatest ways to increase your English vocabulary is by reading. Many students are unsure of just what they should be reading. There are many things one can read, including books, newspapers, magazines, online news sites, etc. However, one of the simplest ways to practice your reading skills is to read short stories.

I have found that one of the best sites on the internet for an English student to practice his reading is rong-chang.com. There are many stories located on this website. 

For the Intermediate Level reader, I would recommend beginning right here. On this page, you will find nearly 300 short stories. Each story provides opportunities to practice vocabulary, answer yes/no questions, complete a "Cloze" activity related to the story, or complete a Crossword puzzle about the story. 

​So, take time to read. You may just learn a new word or two. 

Did you know that there are 12 different verb tenses in the English Language?  It's easiest to think of them in four groups: simple, continuous, perfect, and perfect continuous. Remember, some textbooks refer to the continuous as "progressive."

To form these tenses, one must use one or more of the 4 Principal Parts of a Verb. These include 1) the base/present form, 2) the past form, 3) the past participle form, and 4) the present participle form.   

From these, you can also create the 3 Verbals found in the English language (more on those another time).

If you would like to print out a chart of 12 verb tenses, click here.

If you wish to review the 4 Principal Parts, click here.

​[The excerpt below is taken from towson.edu. It was written by Margaret L. Benner. ​To read more about the topic, click the link at the bottom.]


Although you are probably already familiar with basic subject-verb agreement, this chapter begins with a quick review of basic agreement rules.

Subjects and verbs must AGREE with one another in number (singular or plural).  Thus, if a subject is singular, its verb must also be singular; if a subject is plural, its verb must also be plural.

In the present tense, nouns and verbs form plurals in opposite ways: nouns ADD an s to the singular form; verbs REMOVE the s from the singular form.

To read more and to practice, click on the link below:

SUBJECT VERB AGREEMENT 


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Click on the link below to review and practice the -ed endings. Included are explanations and examples of the three possible "ed" ending pronunciations (t, d, id). 
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Free online pronouncing "ed" endings lessons and exercises.

Also, be sure to check out the video below which will help you review the three endings. 

"​The simple past is a verb tense that is used to talk about things that happened or existed before now. Imagine someone asks what your brother Wolfgang did while he was in town last weekend.

• Wolfgang entered a hula hoop contest.
• He won the silver medal.

The simple past tense shows that you are talking about something that has already happened. Unlike the past continuous tense, which is used to talk about past events that happened over a period of time, the simple past tense emphasizes that the action is finished."

To read more about the Past Tense, how to formulate it, how to make it negative, and how to make a question, click here. 

To practice the past tense, click on the following: 

Past Tense Practice 1
Past Tense Practice 2
Past Tense Practice 3

Irregular Past Tense Practice 1 
Irregular Past Tense Practice 2
Irregular Past Tense Practice 3

Indefinite pronouns can be a little challenging to understand and to use correctly. I find that by breaking them down into groups according to usage they are easier to learn and remember. The three groups are singular, plural, and those that can be either singular or plural. I have included several links that will help you understand these pronouns a little better.


Indefinite Pronoun Review 1
Indefinite Pronoun Review 2

Indefinite Pronoun Practice 1 (The quiz/practice is found at the bottom of the page.)
Indefinite Pronoun Practice 2 
Indefinite Pronoun Practice 3

The Present Perfect tense is all about "unspecified" or non-specific time in the past. This can be very confusing. The Present Perfect can be used in several ways. 1) It may be used to describe your personal experience. For example, you might say, "I have seen that man before." Or, "I have never been to Florida." 2) You can also use the Present Perfect to talk about change that has happened over time. For instance, you might say something like this: "Cell phones have become a necessity to many people." Or, "My English has gotten better since I started taking English classes." 

Those are two ways that we commonly use the Present Perfect tense. To review other usages of this tense, click here.

Click on the links below to practice the Present Perfect Tense.

Present Perfect Practice #1
Present Perfect Practice #2

​[Excerpt below taken from https://www.clarkandmiller.com/numbers-in-english-the-ultimate-guide/]

"Saying numbers in English can be tricky. In fact, some of the most advanced learners make mistakes saying numbers in English. A lot. But it’s important to get them right, right? We need numbers all the time.

We need numbers when we talk about money or how long that really boring film was or what the temperature is or the size of your new elephant factory. Numbers are everywhere! So let’s make you an expert in saying numbers in English!"

To continue reading about how to saying and read large numbers in English, please click on the following link: NUMBERS IN ENGLISH.

Here are some other links that you might find useful on this topic: 

"How to Say Big Numbers"

"Saying Large Numbers in English"

"Writing and Saying Large Numbers"

"Many languages have one form to speak about the future, but there are four ways of using the future tense in English! These can often cause some confusion, so here are brief and basic explanations of the most common uses for each one.

Which form of the future tense should you use?"To keep reading this article about the Future Tense, click HERE

Here are some more thoughts on the Future Tense (from FluentU):
"Consider this: right now, we’re in the present. In a minute, we will be in the future. You read those sentences, and now that is all in the past.

Crazy, right? Everything that has not happened yet is part of the future.

It might happen after a few seconds, a few years or even after hundreds and thousands of years. It is hard to think about things that will happen that far ahead…but it is very easy to talk about them.

Talking about the future makes it possible to make plans and predictions, create schedules and wonder what the weather will be like this weekend.

To speak about the future in English, you need to learn some important facts about the English future tense. 

To read about 6 Surprising Facts About the English Future Tense, click HERE! 

To practice using the Future Tense, click on the links below:
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Future Tense Practice 1 
Future Tense Practice 2
Future Tense Practice 3