Dave is 18 and lives in Bath, England. He has decided to go to Moscow for a week. This will his first time abroad. He has also decided to travel alone. This is the conversation he has with his friend Pete.

Pete – How will you communicate with the Russians when you don’t even speak the language?

Dave – I’ve been practising and I’m taking this phrase book with me. If I can’t remember a word, I’ll look it up.

The English language has more than its fair share of descriptive and enjoyable similes. They come in all shapes and sizes!

You might know that in a simile, two things are directly compared to one another because they share a common feature. The word as or like is used to link the two words:

Look at the tenses in bold then try to match them with their functions.

We use still to show that something continues up to the time referred to. It is used in the past present or future. Still is placed in front of the main verb:

Even though he was a teenager he still loved playing outside.

They are still living in the old farmhouse.
We will still be at work when you arrive.

Here are three sentences with two verbs in each sentence. These are different forms:

Even though spring starts with the months of March and April, May can be seen as the peak of this fresh and delightful season.

Most flowers are in bloom, the birds sing in the trees and many of us can finally sit outside without our jackets.

There are several ways of expressing future time in English. These sentences refer to plans, intentions or arrangements in the future.

The weather is getting hotter so I'm going to spend the summer by the sea.
I’m going to + verb in infinitive – is a prediction based on a present situation/evidence.

I'm visiting Malta this summer.
I'm visiting (present continuous) – is a fixed arrangement in the future.

Look at the comparative and superlative forms in these sentences.

John Frampton is a successful young businessman but if you saw him you wouldn't realise. He always wears an old leather jacket, faded blue jeans and a pair of tan cowboy boots. He drives a black and white Mini to work. John lives in a house just outside Cambridge. It's pretty and small but John would never move. The reason for this is the wine cellar under the house. It's where John keeps his wine collection. That is his passion; Italian wines.

Richard is an actor. This is what he said about his profession: