Watch these YouTube videos to brush up on your use of future forms for plans, predictions and intentions

The differences between cartainty, probability and possibility

http://learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/en/english-grammar/verbs/modal-verbs/certain-probable-or-possible

Present tense

There are two tenses in English – past and present.

The present tenses in English are used:

• to talk about the present
• to talk about the future
• to talk about the past when we are telling a story in spoken English or when we are summarising a book, film, play etc.

There are four present tense forms in English:

Present simple:	I work
Present continuous:	I am working
Present perfect:	I have worked
Present perfect continuous:	I have been working

We use these forms:

• to talk about the present:

He works at McDonald’s. He has worked there for three months now.
He is working at McDonald’s. He has been working there for three months now.
London is the capital of Britain.

• to talk about the future:

The next train leaves this evening at 1700 hours.
I’ll phone you when I get home.
He’s meeting Peter in town this afternoon.
I’ll come home as soon as I have finished work.
You will be tired out after you have been working all night.

• We can use the present tenses to talk about the past...

Click here to try some revision exercises

Transport & Travel ('going to' future)

Click here to go to the video link

Watch this short video clip of a visitor of London, then answer the questions in the tasks below the video link.

Language from this video

Now watch this next video and try the tasks

http://learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/en/word-street/transport-and-travel-scene-1-language-focus

Can, Could

Possibility

We use the modal can to make general statements about what is possible:

It can be very cold in winter. (= It is sometimes very cold in winter)You can easily lose your way in the dark. (= People often lose their way in the dark)

We use could as the past tense of can:

It could be very cold in winter. (=Sometimes it was very cold in winter.)
You could lose your way in the dark. (=People often lost their way in the dark)

We use could to show that something is possible in the future, but not certain:

If we don’t hurry we could be late. (=Perhaps/Maybe we will be late)

We use could have to show that something is/was possible now or at some time in the past:

It’s ten o’clock. They could have arrived now.
They could have arrived hours ago.

Impossibility:

We use the negative can’t or cannot to show that something is impossible:

That can’t be true.
You cannot be serious.

We use couldn’t/could not to talk about the past:

We knew it could not be true.
He was obviously joking. He could not be serious.

Ability:

We use can to talk about someone’s skill or general abilities:

She can speak several languages.
He can swim like a fish.
They can’t dance very well.

We use can to talk about the ability to do something at a given time in the present or future:

You can make a lot of money if you are lucky.
Help. I can’t breathe.
They can run but they can’t hide.

We use could to talk about past time:

She could speak several languages.
They couldn’t dance very well.

Permission:

We use can to ask for permission to do something:

Can I ask a question, please?
Can we go home now?

could is more formal and polite than can:

Could I ask a question please?
Could we go home now?

We use can to give permission:

You can go home now if you like.
You can borrow my pen if you like.

We use can to say that someone has permission to do something:

We can go out whenever we want.
Students can travel free.

Instructions and requests:

We use could you and as a polite way of telling or asking someone to do something:

Could you take a message please?
Could I have my bill please?

can is less polite:

Can you take a message please?

Offers and invitations:

We use can I … to make offers:

Can I help you?
Can I do that for you?

We sometimes say I can ... or I could ... to make an offer:

I can do that for you if you like.
I can give you a lift to the station.

http://learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/en/english-grammar/verbs/modal-verbs/can-or-could

Ability to follow directions

TIME: 10 Minutes

Name _____________________________________

The object of this exam will point out that directions are made to be followed. Trainees often find difficulty with an assignment not because they can’t do the work, but because they have not followed directions. They have not followed directions because they have not read them carefully enough to fully understand. This would not be wise, because the main direction is this:

READ EVERYTHING BEFORE DOING ANYTHING.

1. Print your last name in the space provided on this page where it says "Name". 
2. Circle the word "provided" in sentence one. 
3. Draw five small squares in the upper left-hand corner of this page. 
4. Put an "X" in each square. 
5. Put a circle around each square. 
6. Underline "ability to follow directions." 
7. After "ability to follow directions," write "Yes." 
8. Put a circle around "each" in sentence five. 
9. Put an "X" in the lower left-hand corner of this page. 
10. Draw a triangle around the "X" that you have just drawn. 
11. Draw a rectangle around the word "squares" in sentence three. 
12. On the reverse side of this paper, in the upper left-hand corner, add 50 and 40. 
13. On the reverse side of this paper, at the top right-hand corner, multiply 70 by 98. 
14. Write your first name before doing anything else on this test. 
15. If you think you have followed directions up to this point, write "I have." 
16. Now that you have followed the directions in the first paragraph to READ EVERYTHING BEFORE DOING ANYTHING, do only sentence one.