LIFE016 · Reported Speech: Shifting Tense, Keeping Meaning
📖 From Sourov's world: A feedback session changed my teaching. Someone told me: "Get off your high horse." I went home and I wrote down exactly what was said — word for word. Later I…
Category: English Teaching
LIFE015 · The Passive Voice: Grammar of Power and Precision
📖 From Sourov's world: In a restaurant kitchen, no one says "Marco burned the risotto." They say "the risotto was burned." The passive removes the person. In business, in journalism, in bureaucracy — the passive…
LIFE014 · Personality Adjectives: Beyond ‘Nice’
📖 From Sourov's world: In fifteen years of hospitality I met thousands of people. The ones I remember were not the loudest or the wealthiest. They were the ones who were genuinely curious — who…
LIFE013 · Agreeing and Disagreeing: The Language of Polite Challenge
📖 From Sourov's world: In hospitality, the customer is always right — even when they're clearly wrong about the wine. I spent years learning to disagree without saying "no". In teaching, the same skill matters.…
LIFE012 · Second Conditional: Imaginary Choices and Real Grammar
📖 From Sourov's world: Someone once asked me: "If you could go back to 2005, would you still move to Sydney?" I said: "Yes — but I would learn more English first." That "would" and…
LIFE011 · Present Perfect vs Past Simple: The Rule That Clicks
📖 From Sourov's world: I have lived in three countries. I lived in Australia for twelve years. Do you feel the difference? The first sentence is about now — it still shapes me. The second…
LIFE010 · Past Simple: The Grammar of That First Day
📖 From Sourov's world: I arrived in Sydney in 2005. I got off the plane. I sat on the kerb outside the terminal for three hours. I didn't know anyone. I didn't have a phone.…
LIFE009 · Can / Can’t: Talking About Skills and Ability
📖 From Sourov's world: In hospitality, your skills are your salary. I could make twelve types of coffee. I could recommend a wine blind. I could serve twenty tables at once without a single error.…
LIFE008 · There Is / There Are: Describing a Place
📖 From Sourov's world: Réunion island sits in the Indian Ocean, east of Madagascar. There is a volcano in the middle — Piton de la Fournaise, one of the most active in the world. There…
LIFE007 · Present Simple: The Grammar of Routine
📖 From Sourov's world: I wake up at the same time every day. I make coffee — good coffee, the kind I learned to make at work. I write for one hour before anyone else…