Language

Use past simple for a finished past time: I started walking last May. Use present perfect for experience or a period continuing to now: I have walked to school since May. Since introduces a starting point; for introduces a duration. Do not combine present perfect with yesterday. Regular activity, balanced food and enough rest support health, but a classroom text cannot diagnose illness or promise a particular lifespan.

Must often expresses a strong obligation judged by the speaker; have to often expresses an external requirement, though they overlap. Should gives advice. Must not means prohibition; do not have to means no necessity. Past obligation usually uses had to. Do not turn advice into a compulsory rule when reporting a family agreement.

Stative verbs normally use simple forms for states: I know the route. Some verbs use continuous forms for an active or temporary meaning: I am thinking about the plan (considering), versus I think it is useful (opinion). A linking verb connects a subject to a description: The square looks attractive; the air feels fresh. Use an adjective, not an adverb, after a linking verb when describing the subject.

In Have you finished?, have is often weak /həv/ or /əv/. In Yes, I have, final have is strong /hæv/. Can is often weak /kən/ before a main verb but strong /kæn/ in Yes, I can. Read: Can you walk there? Yes, I can. Weak does not mean missing; a contrastive auxiliary can be strong.

I am → I’m /aɪm/; we have → we’ve /wiːv/; do not → don’t /doʊnt/; cannot → can’t /kænt/ in common American speech. Read: I’m ready, but I haven’t finished. Expanded forms are equally grammatical unless a task explicitly requests a contraction. Preserve the final consonants; British can’t may have /ɑː/.

Turn off /tɜrn‿ɔf/; an office /ən‿ɔfɪs/; clean air /kliːn‿er/. Link the final consonant smoothly to the following vowel without inserting another vowel. Read: An efficient city needs clean air and open spaces. Do not add an /r/ where neither word has one in the narrated American model.