At is used to indicate the exact time of an event.
Progressive tense
- ✅ I am working in London. — temporary, happening now
- ✅ I work in London. — permanent/habitual (simple)
- ❌ I am knowing the answer. — stative verb, can't be progressive
- ✅ She was reading when I arrived. — past progressive (in progress at that moment)
The progressive = be + -ing. Marks actions as ongoing, temporary, or in-progress at a reference time. NOT used with stative verbs (know, believe, own, want, like) unless meaning shifts.
Rule: is the action temporary/in-progress right now? → progressive. Is it a permanent fact, habit, or schedule? → simple. Is it a stative verb? → almost never progressive.
Present tense
- I work here. — simple present (habit/permanent)
- I am working now. — present progressive (happening right now)
- I have lived here for 10 years. — present perfect (started past, still true)
- I have been waiting for an hour. — present perfect progressive (duration up to now)
Four present tense forms: simple (habits/facts), progressive (now/temporary), perfect (past → present relevance), perfect progressive (ongoing duration). Each encodes a different relationship between the action and the present moment.
Trap: "I am living here for 10 years" ❌ — started in the past + still true = present PERFECT (have lived/have been living), not progressive.
Preposition
- ✅ interested in — ❌ interested on
- ✅ good at football — ❌ good in football
- ✅ depend on — ❌ depend of
- ✅ arrive at the station — ❌ arrive to the station
Prepositions link nouns to the rest of the sentence: time (at 5pm), place (in London), manner (with care), abstract (afraid of). Most are idiomatic — the "correct" preposition must be memorised with each verb/adjective combination.
Rule: there is no universal rule. English prepositions are learned by combination: interested IN, good AT, depend ON, afraid OF. Your native language's equivalent will often mislead.
A1 | Elementary | Beginners
- ✅ My name is Anna. — present simple of be
- ✅ Where is the station? — basic *wh-*question
- ✅ I have two brothers. — possession with have
- ✅ She likes coffee. — third-person -s
These are A1 sentences — the starting level of the CEFR framework. At A1 you can introduce yourself, ask and answer simple personal questions, and handle basic everyday transactions using present tense, be/have/do, and core vocabulary.
If you can say these but freeze at normal speaking speed, you're solidly A1 — and that's exactly where to start.
Easy
- She is a teacher. — one verb form, one rule
- I have two cats. — basic possession, short sentence
- He doesn't like coffee. — simple negation with do-support
- Only one answer is clearly correct; distractors are obviously wrong.
Easy marks beginner-level challenges: A1–early A2, one rule at a time, everyday vocabulary, no trick questions.
Use "Easy" when you want to build confidence on a specific rule without interference from other grammar or tricky contexts.