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Word order - adverbs of frequency

An adverb of frequency can go:


before the main verb

He always goes to work by bus.


They never go on holiday in winter.

after the verb be

John is often absent from lessons.


They were usually on time.

after modal verbs, should, can, could, etc.

You should always turn the electricity off.


My boss can never remember my name.

Sometimes and occasionally can go in the


front, middle or end position in the sentence.

Sometimes she is late.


She is sometimes late.
She is late sometimes.

Prepositions of time (during, for, over, by, until)


We use during to talk about something that
During my time in London I visited a lot of
happens within a particular period of time, to
interesting places.
say when something takes place. We
use during to talk about something that
He came to work during the morning meeting.
happens within the same time as another event.
We use over or in to talk about something that
has been happening continuously up until the
present, or will happen continuously in the
future.

We've had a lot of problems over / in the last


few months.
We expect a rise in sales over / in the next few
months.

We use for to say how long something


continues.

I can only come for a few minutes.


I was waiting for him for two hours.

We use by to say that something will happen or


be achieved before a particular time.

It has to be finished by two o'clock.


He should return by the end of March.

We use until to say that something will


continue up to a particular time.

We have to stay here until he comes.


The concert went on until eleven o'clock.

We use in to express a time (in the future) from


now.

I'm going on holiday in a week. (one week from


now)
I'll be back in five minutes. (five minutes from
now)

He planned to stay here

(for until by) two weeks but they need him back at work

immediately.
Could you deliver the new computer monitors

(by until during over) the end

of next week? We need them before next Friday at the latest.


I waited for her call

(during until over for)6 p.m. but she didn't call. I suppose

she was busy.


No one was allowed to use any written materials

(during by over) the

exam.
I hope he hasn't had an accident. He said he would be here

( until by-during-

over)six but he hasn't come yet.


The country's currency has fallen by around 15%

(over for-until by) the last

year.
They had a cup of coffee and relaxed

(unitl over- by for)a while before

continuing with their work.


My cousins from Germany arrived on Tuesday and they'll be here

(for over

during- until)the end of next week.


(Until-for-by-during)8 p.m. I was completely exhausted but there was still a lot to
do.
I met her

(for by during-over until )my time in Budapest.

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Vocabulary: Make and do


Learners of English often confuse do and make.
There is a rough guideline, but no hard and fast rule:

We often use do when we speak about everyday jobs and tasks: do the shopping; do the

dishes; do my homework.
We use make when we want to speak about creating something, in particular something

which didnt previously exist: make a cake; make a suggestion; make an offer.
Here are some examples of when to use make or do:

When to use make


make an offer

He made me a good offer.

make a mistake

I made a mistake. Im sorry.

make an appointment

He made an appointment at the dentist.

make an arrangement

Were just making our holiday arrangements.

make a promise

You made me a promise. Keep it!

make a complaint

They made a complaint about the noise.

make a decision

Managers have to make hard decisions sometimes.

make a telephone call

I spent all day making telephone calls.

make a suggestion

I made a few suggestions but nobody agreed.

make an excuse

Stop making excuses for your laziness.

make a profit

Our company made a big profit last year.

make a loss

Our company will make a loss this year.

make a mess

He dropped the milk and made a mess on the floor.

make a choice

I think he made the right choice.

make progress

The students are all making good progress.

make money

A profit means you have made money.

When to use do
do something

What are you doing? Im not doing anything.

do an exam

I did five exams and passed all of them.

do homework

School kids have to do a lot of homework.

do housework

I always do the housework at weekends.

do the shopping

I hate doing the shopping in supermarkets.

do an exercise

I did all the exercises in my grammar book.

do a job

He does his job well.

do the dishes

Whos going to do the dishes after dinner?

do the ironing

Her husband never does the ironing.

do someone a favour

Do me a favour lend me some cash.

do good

Smoking wont do you any good.

do harm

Violence on TV does a lot of harm, I think.

do your best

Always try to do your best.

do damage

I crashed and did a lot of damage to my car.

do business

Our company does a lot of business in Asia.

This is the definition of uncountable and countable:

Nouns are either countable or uncountable.

If a noun is countable we can count it; if a noun is uncountable we cant count it.

Uncountable nouns cannot have a number before them (we dont say: one advice or two
news).

10 uncountable nouns:
1. advice
2. news
3.information
4. equipment
5. luggage

6. experience
7. progress
8. traffic
9. trouble
10.accommodation

Before uncountable nouns we often use some or any:

I need some advice.

We dont have any news.

He doesnt have much experience.


We can also use a lot of, a little, very little and much:

There is a lot of information.

They only have a little equipment.

They dont have much luggage.


It is possible to make the following nouns countable by saying:

a piece of advice

two pieces of news

three pieces of information

four pieces of equipment

five pieces of luggage.


The nouns experience, progress, traffic, trouble and accommodation cannot be made countable in
the above way.
N.B. Experience also exists as a countable noun, as in this sentence: We had a lot of good
experiences on our trip.
In American English accommodations (with an s) is used.

Idioms: Weather idioms


Idioms can be confusing for non-native speakers. Someone might have said to you that you look a
bit under the weather. Or perhaps you heard someone say they were snowed under. What did they
mean?
Well, they definitely werent speaking about the weather. They were using an idiom, i.e. a phrase
whose collective meaning is different to the meaning of its individual words.
Here are six common weather idioms to impress your friends with.

raining cats and dogs


This is used to describe very heavy rain.
Its terrible weather outside; its raining cats and dogs.

to weather the storm


To get through a difficult time and survive.
The government is in a crisis but they look like they will weather the storm.

to be snowed under
To have too much work or things to do.
Oh, no! Not another new project. Im already snowed under. I dont have time to do any more.

every cloud has a silver lining


You can always find something positive in a bad situation.
Dont worry about losing your job, it might be the best thing thats happened to you. Remember,
every cloud has a silver lining!

stormy waters
To be in trouble. To be going through a period of problems.
The government is in stormy waters over its new transportation policy.
Im in stormy waters with my girlfriend; I didnt get home till 2 oclock this morning.

to be a bit under the weather


To feel ill, sick; not feeling completely well.
Im taking the day off work today Im feeling a bit under the weather.
You look a bit under the weather, John. Arent you feeling well?

Food idioms

Here are some food idioms, together with definitions and examples:

as cool as a cucumber
To be very relaxed and calm in a particular situation
The Swedish tennis player Bjorn Borg was known for always being as cool as a cucumber on court.
He never looked nervous or stressed.

not my cup of tea


Something is not to your taste.
Beach holidays are not my cup of tea: I much prefer going sightseeing in cities.

dont put all your eggs in one basket


Spread your risks; dont depend on one thing
Dont put all your eggs in one basket by investing all your money in one company. Invest smaller
amounts in several companies.

take something with a pinch of salt


Dont automatically believe something / Dont immediately assume that someone is telling the truth.
You should take what she says with a pinch of salt shes always exaggerating.

a bad egg
Someone who is often in trouble and is not to be trusted
My mum says that John Smith is a bad egg and she doesnt want me to be his friend. She says hell
get me in trouble.

have your cake and eat it


You cant always have everything / you cant have two opposing things or situations.
Mike loves his easy part-time job and all the free time he has, but he says he wants to be rich and
successful. He cant have his cake and eat it if he wants more money hell have to get a full-time
job.

the apple of my eye


To love and adore someone.
My daughter is the apple of my eye.

cheesy
To be kitsch and / or without style
That film was so predictable and unoriginal it was just a cheesy love story.

to butter someone up

To be especially nice to someone or give someone something in order to get what you want.
She doesnt usually speak to me but yesterday she was buttering me up after she heard I had been
promoted to a higher position at the company.

in a nutshell
Basically / to summarise.
Hes selfish, greedy and impolite. In a nutshell, hes horrible.

Usain Bolt was as cool as

as he prepared for the Olympic 100m final in


a cucumber

London.
You should always take what Barbara says

shes always
w ith a pinch of salt

exaggerating.
It's often said that you can't

, meaning you can't have


have your cake and eat it

everything. The Italians say: 'You can't have the barrel full and the wife drunk!'
The film wasn't really

. It was too slow - I prefer action films to drama.


my cup of tea

He loves all his children but his oldest daughter is his absolute favourite - she's
.
the apple of his eye

This city is noisy, overcrowded and dirty.

, its a horrible place to live.


In a nutshell

'I Love You, Baby' is such a

name for a song.


cheesy

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