Expressing preferences in English

Learn the difference between "I prefer," "I would prefer," and "I would rather." In this English lesson on preference, you will learn how to tell people what you would like when faced with more than one option.


Test your understanding by taking the quiz on this lesson at this link

House and Home idioms

Here is a good way to revise some of the idioms already seen in class.

Home and House idioms

View more presentations from Vera Surkova

A letter of application

I hope this handout will help you to cope with letters of application in English. You´ll be familiar not only with the layout of this kind of writing but also with some useful language as well as a model answer.

Reporting Verbs

We use reporting verbs to report what someone said more accurately than using 'say' and 'tell'.

verb + infinitiveagree, decide, offer, promise, refuse, threaten
They agreed to meet on Friday.
He refused to take his coat off.

verb + object + infinitiveadvise, encourage, invite, remind, warn
Tom advised me to go home early.
She reminded me to telephone my mother.

verb + gerunddeny, recommend, suggest
They recommended taking the bus.
She suggested meeting a little earlier.

verb + object + preposition (+ gerund)accuse, blame, congratulate
He accused me of taking the money.
They congratulated me on passing all my exams.

verb + preposition + gerundapologize, insist
They apologized for not coming.
He insisted on having dinner.

verb + (that)
admit, agree, decide, deny, explain, insist, promise, recommend, suggest
Sarah decided (that) the house needed cleaning.
They recommended (that) we take the bus.

For further practice try these activities.
-Activity 1
-Activity 2
-Activity 3

Back to work

Hi everybody! Last Sunday I came back from my trip to Portugal and as you already know I´ll be back to work next Tuesday 29th. In the meantime I´ve thought it might be useful to provide you with some posts about Unit 3 and Unit 4.

Gerunds and Infinitives

How much have you learned about gerunds and infinitives? Do you really know how to use them? Click on these links and you´ll see. This is the first part of gerunds and infinitives. There is a second part on it and also a third one.

An email/ A letter of complaint

Have a look at these two websites. The former will help you with the grammar of complain, a sample of a letter and some exercises, whereas the latter deals with another sample and a quizz on the topic.