Friday August 3rd

In life, often it is all about the right timing, don't you agree? Well, the use of the right tense in our verbs is VERY IMPORTANT to convey a message clearly to the listener.  The following are some exercises to practice the use of different English verb tenses.



Look at the sentences, or parts of sentences, below. 

1. I work from 8.30 am to 7.30 pm... 
2. I’m reading the last John Grisham book... 
3. I started my first job... 
4. I need to leave...
5. Science has been my passion ...
6. I was watching the Olympics on TV... 
7. I’ve worked in Royal Canin... 
8. I’d finished cooking... 
9. If it snows... 
10. If it snowed... 
11. If it had snowed... 
12. I’m flying to London... 
13. I’m going to watch a film... 
14. I think everyone will have a tablet computer...
15. I am going to leave...

To which sentences can you add these time expressions?  


a) last year
b) in an hour 
c) usually 
d) I’d go skiing 
e) this evening 
f) in the next 25 years 
g) 15 years ago 
h) I’ll go skiing 
i) for three years 
j) at 3:15pm tomorrow 
k) every day of the week 
l) when Sally arrived 
m) I would have gone skiing 
n) at the moment 
o) when I was 18 
p) since 2008 
q) in 2012
r) in a few minutes
s) now
t) since I was a small kid
u) forever




Now, let's talk about yourself while focusing on the usage of the right verb tenses

• What hours do you usually work? 

• What book are you reading at the moment? 

• What was the last book that you read?

• How long have you worked in Royal Canin?

• What were you doing at 8pm yesterday evening?

• What will you do if the weather is nice next weekend?  And if it isn’t nice?

• What would you do if you won 125M euros in the lottery?

• What other language would you have studied as your second language if you hadn’t chosen English?

• What are you doing next week at work?  Are you going on any business trips?  Are you testing any new products? 

• What are you going to do after this lesson?  This evening? 

• Where will you be in the next five years?  In the next 10 years?  (location and career)

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Modal Verbs

Modal Verb	Meaning	Expressing	Example
must	to have to	100 % obligation	I must stop when the traffic lights turn red.
	to be very probable	good probability	He must be very tired after such enormous work
can	to be able to	ability	I can swim
	to be allowed to	permission	Can I use your phone please?
	it is possible	possibility	Smoking can cause cancer !
could	to be able to	ability in the past	When I was younger I could stay up all night and not get tired..
	to be allowed to	more polite permission	Excuse me, could I just say something?
	it is possible	possibility	It could rain tomorrow!
may	to be allowed to	permission	May I use your phone please?
	it is possible, probable	possibility, probability	It may rain tomorrow!
might	to be allowed to	more polite permission	Might I use your phone please?
	it is possible, probable	weak possibility, probability	I might come and visit you in America next year, if I can save enough money.
need	necessary	necessity	I need to buy a new car.  The old one broke down.
should/ought to	used to say or ask what is the correct or best thing to do	50 % obligation	I should / ought to see a doctor. I have a terrible headache.
	to suggest an action or to show that it is necessary	advice	You should / ought to revise your lessons
	to be very probable	good probability	He should / ought to be very tired after such enormous work

Modal Verbs: What would you tell them...

Please provide appropriate advice in the form of a short paragraph for the following use cases.  It's important that you use as many modal verbs as possible including should, must, need to, have to, could, etc.

1. A week into the Olympics, what would you say to the french athletes competing in this event?  
2. A person planning to drive to London from Montpellier to watch a few Olympic events.
3. The french basketball team after losing to the US in their first match.
4. The french swim team after winning the gold medal in 4x100m race.
5. A swimmer who did not medal in the 100 freestyle final BUT who is competing in other distances later on.
6. A person looking to improve his health.  Advice about diet, stress and exercise.
7. A person thinking about applying for a job at RC as an engineer.
8. Your best friend to be happier.
9. President Francois Hollande to improve the economic health of this country.
10. A friend looking for advice/pointers on what to do in order to train for an adventure race taking place in two months.