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Help the food critic write a review of a disastrous new restaurant by selecting the correct words for each gap.
The new chef cooks very _________________________. He chops the vegetables very _________________________, but they fly everywhere and hit the customers!

The correct answers are badly and quickly.

To describe how someone does an action (a verb), we use an adverb. For most words, we make an adverb by adding -ly to the adjective.

"Bad" becomes badly (describing how he cooks).

"Quick" becomes quickly (describing how he chops).

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Adverb

An adverb modifies a verb, an adjective, or another adverb — adding information about how, when, where, how often, or to what degree something happens: she sings beautifully, unbelievably fast, we go there often. Many adverbs end in -ly, but plenty don't (well, fast, hard, almost).

Adverbs matter because they're how you add nuance without piling on extra clauses. Used well, a single adverb can sharpen a vague sentence (she answeredshe answered honestly), but misplace one and the meaning drifts in a way native speakers immediately notice.

Present tense

The present tense in English has four forms: simple present (I work) for habits, general truths, and stative descriptions; present progressive (I am working) for actions happening right now or temporary situations; present perfect (I have worked) for past actions with present relevance; and present perfect progressive (I have been working) for ongoing actions continuing into the present.

The simple/progressive distinction is one of the trickiest jumps for learners — I work in Paris (habitual) and I'm working in Paris (temporary, right now) feel almost identical but signal different things. Pick wrong and your meaning subtly shifts.

Simple tense

The simple aspect is the unmarked verb form — no progressive -ing, no have + past participle. I go, I went, I will go are simple; I am going, I have gone, I had gone are not. The simple aspect typically marks a single completed action (Brutus killed Caesar), a repeated/habitual action (I go to school every day), or a permanent state (We live in Dallas).

The simple aspect is the foundation everything else builds on. Once it's automatic, switching into progressive (ongoing) or perfect (completed-relative-to-now) becomes a small adjustment rather than a fresh decision.

A1 | Elementary | Beginners

A1 is the starting level of the CEFR framework — the entry point into English. At A1 you can introduce yourself, ask and answer simple personal questions, recognise common signs and instructions, and have short slow-paced conversations on very familiar topics.

Grammatically, A1 covers the building blocks: present-tense forms of be, have, and do; basic word order; simple questions; and the most common determiners, pronouns, and prepositions. Knowing your level matters — A1 material teaches the foundations every later level builds on, while a B1 textbook will overwhelm you. Start here and progress is fast.

Difficulty: Easy

The Easy difficulty tag marks questions and challenges aimed at beginners — typically A1 or early A2 level. Expect single-rule focus, short sentences, common everyday vocabulary, and one clear correct answer. Distractors usually rule themselves out quickly.

Filter by Easy when you're rebuilding fundamentals, warming up before harder material, or testing whether you've truly internalised a basic rule before moving on. Easy doesn't mean trivial — it means the rule itself is unambiguous and the context doesn't pile on extra complications.