Look Back

There are many different ways of talking about the past in English and they can be quite confusing to learners because often they are complex and the same grammatical forms of verbs are used in different ways. This book aims to simplify things for you by focusing on the meaning before the grammar. It highlights ten different meanings through a series of basic questions that you can use to contrast the different verb forms and patterns in context. The context comes in 20 strange but true stories from history which have been selected because of their entertainment value. Each story is followed by two activities, the first is to help you recognise the different meanings and the verb forms that go with them. The second is to encourage you to take the first steps in using the verbs. The book is the second in the Vocabulary Detective series and, as a bonus, the title of each story is a common English expression, the meaning of which is illustrated by the story.
Off to a bad start
Brushes with death
A nice cuppa
A formidable woman
First impressions
The last laugh
Prophet of doom
Tragedy plus time
Too good to be true
Scared out of their wits
Raise your glasses
The last straw
When royal heads rolled
The fruits of his labour
Nothing new under the sun
The diamond sting
Punctured pride
Famous writer pilloried
Bearding the lions in their den
The haves and the have-nots