The Passive Voice: Things Get Done
Change each active sentence into the passive. Include the agent only if it adds useful information.
Blog
Every lesson, essay and journal entry, newest first. 726 published posts.
- English Teaching 678
- Resources 20
- Travel Journal 17
- Philosophy & Mental Health 14
- Photography & Software 9
- Career & Professional Development 4
- Writing & Books 1
Reported Speech: What Did They Say?
Change each sentence into reported speech. Remember to backshift the tense and change pronouns where needed.
Modal Verbs: Could, Should, Would
Choose could, should, or would (or their negative forms). More than one answer may be possible — justify your choice.
Past Simple vs Past Continuous: Telling Stories
I was carrying [past continuous — background] a tray of champagne glasses when the head sommelier walked [past simple — interrupting event] in.
Lesson 11: Going to vs Will — Future Plans & Predictions (A2)
By Sourov Deb — Cambridge CELTA course completed — 120 supervised teaching hours and four written assignments validated to the required standard.
Second Conditional: What Would You Do?
Key rule: The situation is imaginary or unlikely. We use past simple in the if-clause, but the meaning is present or future.
“Have you ever…?” — Present Perfect for Experience
Key rule: We use the present perfect for experiences when the exact time is not important or not known. The focus is on whether the experience happened, not when.
Lesson 10: Comparatives & Superlatives — Stronger, Best, Most Fragrant (A2)
By Sourov Deb — Cambridge CELTA course completed — 120 supervised teaching hours and four written assignments validated to the required standard.
Lesson 9: Articles — A, An, The, or Nothing? (A2)
By Sourov Deb — Cambridge CELTA course completed — 120 supervised teaching hours and four written assignments validated to the required standard.
Lesson 8: Inversion for Emphasis — Never Had I Seen… (C1)
By Sourov Deb — Cambridge CELTA course completed — 120 supervised teaching hours and four written assignments validated to the required standard.
Lesson 7: Relative Clauses — The City Where I Grew Up (B2)
By Sourov Deb — Cambridge CELTA course completed — 120 supervised teaching hours and four written assignments validated to the required standard.
LIFE030 · World Englishes: Why There Is No Single ‘Correct’ English
📖 From Sourov's world: I learned English in Bangladesh from teachers whose English was learned from teachers who learned British English. Then I moved to Australia. Then to Réunion, where English comes via France. I…
LIFE029 · Writing a Personal Essay: The Method That Works at Any Level
📖 From Sourov's world: I have written essays that began from a single image: a suitcase on a kerb in Sydney. An airport curb at 3 am. A wine glass held at the wrong angle.…
LIFE028 · Modal Verbs for Nuance: Epistemic and Deontic at C1 Level
📖 From Sourov's world: Learning French as an adult, I noticed that French modal verbs (devoir, pouvoir, vouloir) map imperfectly onto English ones. "Must" and "have to" are not synonyms. "Should" and "ought to" are…
LIFE027 · Critical Reading: How to See Through an Argument
📖 From Sourov's world: Orwell wrote in 1946: "Political language is designed to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable, and to give an appearance of solidity to pure wind." I read that line at…
LIFE026 · Register Shift: Reading the Room in English
📖 From Sourov's world: I speak four languages. The one thing I learned from all of them is that every language has layers. In English, the gap between formal and informal register is enormous —…
LIFE025 · Work and Career Collocations: The Verbs That Signal Competence
📖 From Sourov's world: I have held many job titles: bar manager, sommelier, barista, teacher, writer. What I noticed is that English career language works in fixed pairs. You don't "do" a career — you…
LIFE024 · Concession Clauses: Advanced Grammar for Nuanced Arguments
📖 From Sourov's world: I lived in Australia for over a decade. Much as I loved Sydney, I knew I would leave one day. Much as I valued what hospitality taught me, I wanted something…
LIFE023 · Workplace Idioms: The Subtext Native Speakers Hear
📖 From Sourov's world: "Get off your high horse." That was said to me in a professional feedback session. It was idiomatic, it was intended to dismiss, and at the time I understood every word…
LIFE022 · Discourse Markers: The Architecture of a Well-Built Argument
📖 From Sourov's world: George Orwell said that good prose is like a windowpane — you should see through the writing, not see the writing itself. Paradoxically, achieving that transparency requires careful use of discourse…