English 3 Step 1

at a given time: Mammoths became extinct 5' years ago. 

time is not mentioned: Many species of animals have become extinct.

started in the past and is continuing to happen: Since the dinosaurs died out, the climate has been changing constantly.

was happening in the past and has now finished: People lived while mammoths were walking the earth.

happened for a long time in the past, but has now finished: Some species of dinosaurs used to eat other dinosaurs.

endangered species: danger to becoming extinct 

reptiles: snakes, lizards 

mammal: animal that feeds milk to its young 

apes: monkeys, gorillas 

antelope: live in Africa, run fast to escape predators 

big cat: lions, tigers, leopards 

insects: six legs, flies, bees, ants 

rodent: mouse, rat

bird 

fish

one  -->   two 

sheep -> sheep

fish -> fish

deer -> deer (Hirsch)

mouse -> mice

goose -> geese (Gans)

- up-to-date: It's looks modern.

- out-of-date / old-fashioned: It's not modern at all.

- a state-of-the-art / cutting-edge: It's brand new.

- high-tech: It's full of the latest technology.

- out-of-the-ordinary: It's totally different from typical designs.

- a run-of-the-mill product: typical, ordinary design 

- looks down-to-earth: very simple and quite ordinary 

A hundred years ago, it used to /  would take longer to build a house. 

They never used to / didn't use to make windows with double glazing.

How did they use to cook in the days before electric and gas cookers?

The design has a lot of advantages. However, / Nevertheless, it also has some disadvantages.

It's a good design, although / even though it isn't perfect.

It's a good design. It isn't perfect, though.

The current model is looking old-fashioned. Therefore, it needs to be redesigned. -> connect two ideas 

The new model is better than the last one. What's more, it's cheaper than the old > two 

in the nineteen-nineties / in the nineties -> 1990-1999

they early 1990s

the mid-1990s

the late 1990s

I think she's in her ... / he's is in his ...

... twenties / early sixties / mid-forties / late thirties 

baby

toddler (2-3y)

child / childhood

teenager (13-19y)

youth / young adult

 middle-aged (40-64)

elderly (old person)

How did the incident happen?

How was it caused? / What caused it to happen? / What was it caused by?

What happened consequently? Consequences / effects / results

The incident caused / resulted in / led to several problems.

Several problems occurred because of / as a result of / due to / owing to the incident.

Some good things happened thanks to the incident.

forever 

in the foreseeable future / long-term (not soon)

shortly / before long  / short term (soon)

never-ending / here to stay (will never end)

in the near future / in the not-too-distant future 

It's lasted ages / donkey's years (a very long time)

will + be + -ing

to describe continuous action that will be happening at a point in the future.

... we will be travelling all morning 

I'll meet you at the airport. I'll be waiting in arrivals.

will + have + (done)

We use this tense to describe actions that will have finished at a given time in the future.

This movie will have finished by dinnertime.

... by the time you get up I'll have left.

In it's negative form to describe actions that won't be finished by a given time in the future.

... I won't have finished by the end of today.

Take the vegetables out of the freezer now, or they won't have thawed by dinnertime.

had + (done)

to refer to events that happened in the past, before other past events.

earlier event = Past Perfect Simple 

later event = Past Simple

The train had left before I got to the station.

The guests arrived a few minutes after I had finished the cleaning.

had + been + -ing

to describe continuous actions that had been happening in the past, before other past events. 

earlier action = Past Perfect Continuous 

later event = Past Simple 

We'd been waiting for two hours before she picked us up from the station.

The bathroom floor was wet because a water pipe had been leaking.

past situations that lasted for quite a long time, and are now finished => used to

We used to live in Biel, then we moved to Pieterlen.

To make questions in this tense, we use did + use to.

How did you use to get to school?

To make negative sentences, we can use didn't + use to or never used to.

When I was at school, we didn't use to study art.

.... we never used to study art.

We can also use would to talk about things that people used to do in the past.

In the 1930s, many children used to leave school when they were 14.

.... many children would leave school when they were 14.

Most of the time 

Very regularly, very frequently 

A lot of the time 

quite often, quite frequently, quite regularly 

pretty often, pretty frequently, pretty regularly 

fairly often, fairly frequently, fairly regularly 

Occasionally 

From time to time 

Every now and again/then

Once in a while 

quite rarely, quite seldom 

pretty rarely, pretty seldom 

fairly rarely, fairly seldom

Very seldom 

almost never 

Hardly ever 

I hardly ever ride my bike.

My ... is to be able to ...

I'm .... / I'd .... to be able to ...

speak English fluently.

understand almost everything.

I think...

In my opinion...

In my view...

I'd say that..

I would argue that..

Definitely / Absolutely / Certainly / I totally agree / That's very true 

I agree to an extent / I agree up to a point 

I'm not sure I agree.

Definitely not / Absolutely not / Certainly not / I totally disagree 

I went last year 

I was there for three weeks 

I stayed in Montreal for the first week.

I enjoyed it.

I flew from... to...

I took a night flight.

I traveled in economy class.

It was pretty tiring.

It was the most expensive meal I've ever had.

This is the coldest weather we've had so far this year.

It's the best laptop I've had to date.

... a lot / much / way / far / slightly / a little / a bit / a touch...

... better.

It's exceptional / incredible / unbelievable / remarkable / extraordinary 

It's wonderful / spectacular / breathtaking