Start with short recordings, then work through longer phrases. Listen once for the situation and again for the words.
For a regular job, say ‘I work at a grammar school.’ For work that is temporary or limited to the present period, say ‘I am currently working at a grammar school.’ If you are a student there, say ‘I study at a grammar school.’
Use I when a phrase such as Sam and I is the subject. Use me when a phrase such as Sam and me is an object or follows a preposition. Check the job of the whole phrase. The word next to and does not decide the form.
Use ie in many common words such as field, belief, and piece. After c, many words with the long ee sound use ei, as in receive, ceiling, and deceive. Treat this as a memory aid, not a rule that can predict every spelling.
Ask whether the expression needs the rest of a sentence. In "Mina is under the weather," under the weather is an idiom inside the sentence. "Better late than never" is a proverb because it can stand alone as advice about doing something late.
To understand an idiom, read the whole sentence and ask what the speaker is doing, feeling, or describing. Do not translate each word separately.
Use context to work out an idiom. Look for the event, the speaker's feeling, and the result. In “After missing the bus, I had to bite the bullet and walk home,” the difficult walk shows that bite the bullet means to face an unpleasant task bravely.
Use idle for something inactive or unused: The engine was idle at the traffic lights. Use idol for a person or thing that receives great admiration: Her childhood idol signed the book.
Choose a familiar topic, speak for a short set time, listen for one change you can make, and speak again. Keep the next goal narrow, such as using past-tense verbs clearly or pausing between ideas.
Use in for the normal idea of being within a place, area, container, city, or country. Use inside for the inner part of a building or object, especially when the contrast with outside matters.
Use an indefinite pronoun when the exact person or thing is unknown, unimportant, or included as a general group. Choose -one or -body for people and -thing for things. Then choose some-, any-, every-, or no- for the meaning of the sentence.
Begin with a polite opening, then add the question word and normal statement order. Use if or whether when the hidden question has a yes-or-no answer. Do not use do, does, or did after the question word in an ordinary indirect question.
Use a to-infinitive after many verbs, such as want, decide, and hope. Use a bare infinitive after modal verbs such as can, should, and must. Check whether to is an infinitive marker or a preposition before you choose the next form.