Notes, summaries, assignments, exams, and problems for English

Understanding Business English Idioms

Many companies engage in responsible practices. Do you know of any companies that donate services or money? How can businesses act responsibly? Why should a company reduce and deal with any pollution? Does your company share the life of the local community? Should a company stay true to its principles and values? What companies in your country take the time to understand the impact of their operations?

Workplace Challenges and Concepts

• Burn-out: Exhaustion caused by working too hard.
• Juggling: Trying to manage your job or life when involved in several different activities, all demanding your time.
• Promotion: Moving someone up into a higher, more important, or better-paid position in a company or organization.

Present Continuous

The present continuous, also known as the present progressive, is a verb tense used to describe actions happening now, or around now.

Affirmative, Interrogative, and Negative Forms

• Affirmative: Subject + am/is/are + verb (present participle -ing)
• Interrogative: Am/Is/Are + subject + verb (present participle -ing)?
• Negative: Subject + am/is/are + not + verb (present participle -ing)

Common Regular Verbs in English

Regular verbs follow a consistent pattern when forming the past tense and past participle, typically by adding -ed or -d to the base form.

Essential

Adrienne Rich: Key Themes and Analysis

Aunt Jennifer’s Tigers

• “Bright topaz denizens of a world of green”: Vivid imagery symbolizes freedom, confidence, and strength, contrasting sharply with Aunt Jennifer’s oppressed reality.
• “The massive weight of Uncle’s wedding band”: A metaphor suggesting patriarchal oppression, portraying marriage as a source of control and emotional burden.
• “Her terrified hands will lie still ringed with ordeals”: Implies that even after death, the trauma and oppression she experienced will remain with her.

Uncle Speaks in the Drawing Room

• “I have seen the mob of late”: Suggests social unrest and tension, hinting at political instability beyond the privileged setting.
• “Let us consider… frailties of

English Grammar Practice: Set 1

1. I’m looking forward to trying the new restaurant.
2. She asked me where I had bought that jacket.
3. When did you move to Spain?
4. We shouldn’t have left the house without a jacket.
5. I have my car revised every February.
6. The match was cancelled due to heavy rain.
7. That is the city where we lived for four years.
8. An event is being organized to raise money for charity.
9. She apologised for breaking my mug.
10. At 10:30, she will be playing football.
11. It is thought that she is one of the best actors in the world.
12. If you went to bed earlier, you wouldn’t always be tired.
13. I wish I had revised English grammar.
14. We have been sent an invitation.
15. She said that they were going to visit their grandparents the next day.

English Grammar Practice: Set

To Help and Grows

Out and How Much

• Cultivating your own vegetables, which is easier than it seems, is a healthy option.
• As long as you keep your promise, I will keep mine.
• How often do children help parents with chores?
• Does she want to come to the cinema with us on Sunday?
• In a democracy, a vote should be cast in an election by all citizens.

Done and To Meet

Along and A Little

• Who said that my teacher was wrong?
• The other passengers are asking me whose suitcase this is.
• The more books you read, the more knowledge you (will) gain.
• The tree under which we had a nap yesterday was very large.
• How did he persuade John?

Meeting and Haven’t Done

On and Up

• She will have her car repaired next Friday.
• Tom is the best chess player in his class.
• Queen Elizabeth spends

1. Passive Voice: Sentence Transformation

• 1. Julie taught me the grammar.
• 2. Sophia has told them the truth.
• 3. The baby loves being held.
• 4. People used to eat more meat in the past.
• 5. The company should have managed the situation differently.
• 6. They pick up the garbage early in the morning.
• 7. Someone was digging a hole in the garden.
• 8. People estimate the city had more than one thousand inhabitants in the 19th century.
• 9. I had my nails done.
• 10. People think pollution is not a minor problem.

2. Conditionals: Completion and Construction

• 1. If he didn't have to work late, he could go out with his girlfriend.
• 2. If we go out with friends, we normally go to a restaurant.
• 3. If you hadn't had experience working abroad, they wouldn't have hired you.
• 4. If

Regency England: Society and Social Norms

Marriage and Inheritance Customs

At this time, the most influential sector was comprised of wealthy landowners, who often did not work but lived on large properties in the countryside. Family properties could not be divided; all land and income passed to the eldest son, while other siblings had to learn a profession. Daughters faced even greater complications; they could neither inherit land nor pursue a profession. Most remained at home, awaiting a suitable husband who could offer financial security.

Marriages at this time were often for convenience. Mothers sought wealthy, landed husbands for their daughters, while men, conversely, sought brides from affluent families. For example, in Pride and Prejudice,... Continue reading "Pride and Prejudice: Social Norms and Enduring Themes" »

The Ring's History and Curse

1. The deacons deposited the ring in the glass case of a fashionable jeweler.
2. The Earl of Essex was imprisoned in the Tower of London.
3. The red glow of the diamond symbolizes the presence of the evil spirit within the ring.
4. The Countess of Shrewsbury came to visit the Earl, pretending to be his friend, but actually wanting to get revenge on him for some past slight.
5. The ring was stolen from the Earl's tomb by Cromwell's soldiers when they desecrated the church and robbed the vaults many years after his death.
6. After crossing the Atlantic, the ring ended up being thrown into the contribution box of a church in New England.
7. The ring brought sorrow, deceit, and misfortune to all who possessed it due to the evil spirit dwelling