BOX SET: English In A Minute 13 – TEN English lessons in 10 minutes!

it, and why we use it. By the time I arrived at  the airport, the plane had already left. In this  

example, 'had left' is the past perfect tense  - the structure for the past perfect tense is  

'had' plus a past participle. There are two past  actions: arriving at the airport, and the plane  

leaving - but which of these happened first? The  clue is the past perfect tense. The action in the  

past perfect is the action that always happens  first. Because the verb 'leave' is in the past  

perfect: 'had left', we know that this action  happened first. The action that happens second is  

often in the past simple tense. In this example,  'I arrived'. When you want to talk about two past  

actions, one which happened before the other,  remember to use the past perfect for the first  

action, and the past simple for the second. Thanks  for joining us for this English in a Minute.  

Let's learn 'thought'. It's not just the past form  of the verb 'think' - it's also a noun, and this  

is where it gets interesting. Unsurprisingly, it's  all to do with things in our head. As a countable  

noun 'a thought' can be an idea or a plan. I've  just had a thought- we should go to the beach.  

There's a thought - let's order pizza. As a plural  noun, it can refer to our opinions or beliefs. Here  

are my thoughts on how to run a business. What  are your thoughts on the right age to give a  

child a phone? As an uncountable noun, it can  refer to considering something carefully. This  

is a difficult problem - we need to give it some  thought. Sorry, this just doesn't work - it needs  

more thought. Thoughts happen in your brain. They  can be ideas, opinions or beliefs. We also use it  

to refer to considering a problem. It's easy to  remember, you just have to give it some thought.  

Sometimes, we want to talk about something we  thought would happen in the future, at a point  

in the past. We'll look at how to do this now.  To do this, we use past versions of future forms:  

'will' becomes 'would'. Yesterday, I said I would  go to the park. 'Going to' becomes 'was going to',  

like this: The last time I saw you, you  were going to start a new job. What's it  

like? The present continuous becomes the past  continuous. Last week, you were visiting your  

family the day after I saw you. How did it  go? So, to recap, 'will' becomes 'would',  

going to' becomes 'was going to' and the present  continuous becomes the past continuous. At the  

start, I said we'd look at how to talk about  the future in the past and now we have. Bye.  

Hi, I'm Sam from BBC learning English and today  we are looking at the difference between 'no',  

'not any' and 'none'. Let's have a look.  Imagine you asked me this question:  

Do you have any change? I have zero change. And  I can say this in three different ways: Sorry,  

I have no change - where we use the verb 'have'  with 'no' followed by a noun. Sorry I don't have  

any change - where we use the negative 'don't'  followed by the verb followed by 'any' followed  

by the noun, or I can say: Sorry, none at all -  where we use 'none' without a verb or a noun. So,  

it's a short answer. So, now you shouldn't have  any problems with this. Hi, I'm Phil and I'm going  

to tell you the difference between 'all together'  and 'altogether' - yes, they sound the same but  

they're not. 'All together' - that's two words  and two L's, means 'everything or everyone being  

or doing something together with everything  or everyone else'. Let's sing all together'  

or 'put the vegetables in the bowl and mix them  all together'. 'Altogether' - that's one word and  

one L, is an adverb and it means 'completely' or  'entirely'. My brother has an altogether different  

personality to me - he's nothing like me. So,  if you have 'altogether' as one complete word,  

it means 'completely' or 'entirely' and if  we have 'all together' as two words together,  

then that means 'everything or everyone together'.  Hi, I'm Sam from BBC learning English, and today  

let's look at how we can change adjectives  into nouns when talking about groups of people  

in general. I'm from England and I can talk about  people from my country in two ways: English people  

talk about the weather a lot - where I use the  adjective 'English' to describe the noun people,  

or I can take the adjective 'English' and turn  it into a noun with 'the'. The English talk about  

the weather a lot. You can use this rule to talk  about other groups of people as well, for example:  

The rich have more than the poor. But be careful,  yes, the groups of people are plural, and yes the  

verb is plural, but we don't add 's' to the end  of these words. Hi, everyone. Welcome back to  

English in a Minute. We're going to look at how to  use modal verbs when making a deduction - that's  

when we make guesses about what is happening.  Let's look at some examples. Use 'must' when you  

are certain or almost certain that something is  true, for example: Phil's hair is wet - it must  

be rainy. Use 'can't' to say when you are certain  something is not true, for example: Phil's hair is  

wet - it can't be sunny. We can use 'might', 'may'  or 'could' to talk about possibility. Let's look  

at some examples: Sam is late for work. We don't  know why Sam is late but we can make a guess,  

for example: her car could be broken. Another  possibility is she might still be asleep.  

One final possibility, now: there may be a lot  of traffic. Well, it must be time to finish,  

now. Thanks for joining us, bye. Hi, guys  Tom here from BBC learning English and

I would rather be in bed today than be in the  office. We use 'would rather' plus a verb to  

say what we would ideally prefer to do. We can  also use 'than' to introduce a contrasting idea,  

so, for example: I would rather drink tea than  drink coffee, and I would rather watch TV than  

do my homework. So, practice time: what are  you doing now, and is there anything that  

you would rather be doing? Let us know your  ideas in the comments underneath the video.  

Let's look at how to avoid confusion between  'me' and 'I'. Now, the main difference is simple:  

use 'I' when you're the subject of the clause  and use 'me' when you're the object. Now,  

that's easy enough, but here's where it starts to  get more complicated. If you've got two people,  

say Sam and me, or should that be Sam and  I? Well, this question is most important  

in formal language writing rather than  speaking. If you're using formal language,  

you need to think whether you're the subject  or the object. Sam and I are making a video.  

Tom and I are getting coffee. If you've got a  problem, talk to Sam or me. You're going to be  

working with me and Tom. An easy way to check is  to take out the other person - sorry Sam. Now,  

it should be easy to see that I should say I'm  making a video or if you have a problem talk  

to me, so, just remember that 'you' and 'I' are  subjects while the objects are 'me' and 'you'. Hi,  

everybody, I'm Sam and in this lesson I'm going  to talk about 'need'. Do you know the difference  

between 'needn't' and 'not need to'? Look at these  two sentences in the present - is the meaning the  

same or different? You don't need to worry about  the exam, you've studied lots. You needn't worry  

about the exam, you've studied lots. They're  the same, right? Maybe 'needn't' is a little bit  

more formal but the meaning is that there is 'no  necessity for you to worry'. Now, look at these  

two sentences in the past: He didn't need to worry  about the exam - he had already passed the course.  

He needn't have worried about the exam - it was  really easy. These are different - in the first  

sentence he had already passed the course, so  he knew he didn't need to worry. In the second  

sentence, he didn't know the exam was going to be  easy so he was worried but he needn't have been.