Destination B1: Grammar & Vocabulary - Comprehensive Notes

Destination B1 is for intermediate students at B1 level.
Ideal for students preparing for B1 level exams (e.g., Cambridge PET) and working towards B2 level exams.

Unit 1: Present Simple, Present Continuous, Stative Verbs

Present Simple

Form
- Statement: I/you/we/they play; He/she/it plays
- Negative: I/you/we/they do not (don't) play; He/she/it does not (doesn't) play
- Question: Do I/you/we/they play; Does he/she/it play
Use
- Present habits (e.g., Marsha goes to dance lessons every Saturday)
- Permanent situations (e.g., Does Dan work at the cinema?)
- States (e.g., I like the new James Bond film.)
- General truths (e.g., You play chess with 32 pieces.)
Helpful Hints: Used with adverbs of frequency (always, usually, often, sometimes, rarely, never) and phrases (every Monday/week/etc., each Monday/week/etc., once/twice a week/month/etc., three times a week/month/etc.)

Present Continuous

Form
- Statement: I am ('m) playing; He/she/it is ('s) playing; You/we/they are ('re) playing
- Negative: I am not ('m not) playing; He/she/it is not (isn't/'s not) playing; You/we/they are not (aren't/'re not) playing
- Question: Am I playing; Is he/she/it playing; Are you/we/they playing
Use
- Actions happening now (e.g., Jan is watching a DVD upstairs.)
- Temporary situations (e.g., She is working at the museum until the end of the month.)
- Annoying habits (usually with always) (e.g., My brother is always borrowing my CDs without asking!)
Helpful hints: Used with words and phrases like now, right now, at the moment, today, this week/month/etc.

Stative Verbs

Describe states (feelings, thoughts, etc.)
Not normally used in continuous tenses.
Common stative verbs: appear, be, believe, belong to, hate, have, include, know, like, love, need, prefer, see, seem, taste, think, understand, want.
Examples:
- I like reading books in my free time.
- What do you think about his new song?
- I'm thinking about last night's match.
Some stative verbs (be, have, think) are used in continuous tenses when they describe actions.

Unit 2: Past Simple, Past Continuous, Used To

Past Simple

Form
- Statement: I/you/he/she/it/we/they played
- Negative: I/you/he/she/it/we/they did not (didn't) play
- Question: Did I/you/he/she/it/we/they play
Use
- Completed actions (e.g., I saw the new James Bond film yesterday.)
- Repeated actions in the past (e.g., I went to the theatre four times last month.)
- General truths about the past (e.g., Fifty years ago, people didn't spend as much on entertainment as they do today.)
- Main events in a story (e.g., Josh pushed the door open and looked inside the room.)
Helpful Hints: Used with phrases like yesterday, last week/summer/year/etc, in January/2001/etc, an hour/a week/a year ago.

Past Continuous

Form
- Statement: I/he/she/it was playing; You/we/they were playing
- Negative: I/he/she/it was not (wasn't) playing; You/we/they were not (wer't) playing
- Question: Was I/he/she/it playing; Were you/we/they playing
Use
- Actions happening at a moment in the past (e.g., At nine o'clock last night, I was watching TV.)
- Two actions in progress at the same time (e.g., I was reading a book while you were doing the washing-up.)
- Background information in a story (e.g., It was raining so Wendy decided to go to the cinema.)
Helpful Hints: Used with phrases like at that moment, at one/two/etc o'clock, while.
When one action in the past happens in the middle of another, use the past simple and the past continuous together. (e.g., The phone rang while I was watching a DVD.)
Do not use the past continuous for regular or repeated actions in the past.

Used To

Form
- Statement: I/you/he/she/it/we/they used to
- Negative: I/you/he/she/it/we/they never used to; I/you/he/she/it/we/they didn't use to
- Question: Did I/you/he/she/it/we/they use to
Use: Distant past habits and states (e.g., When I was four, I used to eat ice cream every day.)

Unit 3: Fun and Games - Vocabulary

Topic Vocabulary:

beat (v), board game (n phr), captain (n), challenge (v, n), champion (n), cheat (v), classical music (n phr), club (n), coach (n), competition (n), concert (n), defeat (v, n), entertaining (adj), folk music (n phr),
group (n), gym (n), have fun (v phr), interest (v, n), member (n), opponent (n), organise (v), pleasure (n), referee (n), rhythm (n), risk (v, n), score (v, n), support (v, n), team (n), train (v), video game (n phr).

Phrasal Verbs:

carry on, eat out, give up, join in, send off, take up, turn down, turn up.

Prepositional Phrases:

for a long time, for fun, in the middle (of), in time (for), on CD/DVD/video, on stage.

Word Formation:

act, athlete, child, collect, entertain, hero, music, play, sail, sing.

Word Patterns:

Adjectives: bored with, crazy about, good at, interested in, keen on, popular with
Verbs: feel like, listen to, take part in
Nouns: a book (by sb) about, a fan of, a game against

Review 1: Units 1, 2 and 3

Unit 4: Present Perfect Simple, Present Perfect Continuous

Present Perfect Simple

Form: have/has + past participle
- Statement: I/you/we/they have ('ve) learnt…; He/she/it has ('s) learnt…
- Negative: I/you/we/they have not (haven't) learnt…; He/she/it has not (hasn't) learnt…
- Question: Have I/you/we/they learnt…?; Has he/she/it learnt…?
Use
- Situations that started in the past and are still true
- Completed actions at a time in the past which is not mentioned
- Completed actions where the important thing is the result now
Helpful Hints: Used with for, since, just, already, yet, ever, never, it's the first time.

Present Perfect Continuous

Form: have/has been + -ing
- Statement: I/you/we/they have ('ve) been studying…; He/she/it has ('s) been studying…
- Negative: I/you/we/they have not (haven't) been studying…; He/she/it has not (hasn't) been studying…
- Question: Have I/you/we/they been studying…?; Has he/she/it been studying…?
Use: Actions continuing up to now or just before now
Helpful Hints: Used with for, since, just.
The present perfect simple often emphasises the result of an action.
The present perfect continuous often emphasises the action, and the time spent on the action, rather than the result.

Unit 5: Past Perfect Simple, Past Perfect Continuous

Past Perfect Simple

Form: had + past participle
- Statement: I/you/he/she/it/we/they had ('d) written…
- Negative: I/you/he/she/it/we/they had not (hadn't) written…
- Question: Had I/you/he/she/it/we/they written…?* Use
- Actions and states before a moment in the past
- Finished actions and states where the important thing is the result at a moment in the past
Helpful Hints: Used with by, by the time, before, after, just, when.
Use of past simple or past perfect simple can change the meaning of a sentence.

Past Perfect Continuous

Form: had + been + -ing
- Statement: I/you/he/she/it/we/they had ('d) been writing…
- Negative: I/you/he/she/it/we/they had not (hadn't) been writing…
- Question: Had I/you/he/she/it/we/they been writing…?
Use: Actions continuing up to, or stopping just before, a moment in the past
Helpful Hints: Used with for, since, before, all day/night/etc.
The past perfect simple often emphasises the result of an action.
The past perfect continuous often emphasises the action, and the time spent on the action, rather than the result.

Unit 6: Learning and Doing - Vocabulary

Topic vocabulary:

achieve (v), brain (n), clever (adj), concentrate (v), consider (v), course (n), degree (n), experience (v, n), expert (n, adj), fail (v), guess (v, n), hesitate (v), instruction (n),
make progress (v phr), make sure (v phr), mark (v, n), mental (adj), pass (v), qualification (n), remind (v), report (n), revise (v), search (v, n), skill (n), smart (adj),
subject (n), take an exam (v phr), talented (adj), term (n), wonder (v)
Phrasal Verbs:
cross out write a line through sth written; instruction, instructor
look up try to find information in a book, etc
point out tell sb important information
read out say sth out loud which you are reading
rip up tear into pieces
rub out remove with a rubber
turn over turn sth so the other side is towards you
write down write information on a piece of paper

Prepositional Phrases:

by heart for instance in conclusion in fact in favour (of) in general

Word Formation:

begin instruct memory correct refer divide silent educate simple etc.

Word Patterns:

Adjectives: capable of talented at help with
Verbs: cheat at/in confuse with continue with cope with know about learn about succeed in
Nouns: a book (by sb) about a fan of a game against

Review 2: Units 4, 5 and 6

Unit 7: Future Time

Types Of Future Time
Present Continuous = We are driving to Berlin this weekend -
Arrangements for Future
will = The new airport will be the biggest in Europe -
Facts
will + Shall I drive you to the airport
offers with I and we
going to = I'm going to become an explorer-
intentions
Present simple-
My train leaves at six am -timetable

Unit 8: Grammar

Prepositions Of Time = in,on,at
Places = in,on, at
Important = With verbs of motion (go,run,) we usually use to instead of on, in ,at
We so in the morning/evening/afternoon
but on Monday morning/Wednesday . etc
We do not use a preposition with yesterday, tomorrow, etc
IN = towns cities, countries , continents etc ( large space)
At = exact places and address

Unit 9: Coming and Going vocabulary.

Vocabulary:
Abroad, journey, trip, flight, luggage and destination
Phrasal verbs.
to put back , take back, come back.etc to know the different forms of going back or to enter!
Preposition phrases:
on board by air on holiday on foot etc
word formation:
know how to use the correct form, e.g chose, chosen or choice depending on the sentence given.
word Patterns: to be able to construct words with correct meaning
(e.g, Sydney has a famous harbour)

Unit 10: The Passive Voice 1

What is the passive voice ?

When we don't say who did something
when we don't know e.g My sister's bike was stolen yesterday
or when we don't what to /need to say, e.g was Simon invited?
Be + past participle
Some verbs have irregular past participle forms.
Always think of the active sentence first.
When changing a word and it contains a phrasal verb , we should not forget the particle
e.g They picked up the broken glass+
The broken glass was picked up.
1
Also know irregular past participle forms

Unit 11: The Passive 2

More information for thePassive voice , present or past continuous etc, all follows the same rules
1 * Have or be in correct form for that scenario e.g The washing us being -done by my aunt

know when to use by or with when being emphasised on a certain object! e.g the the music Is being playing by
- must
  someone all of this unit follows the guidelines just know your past participles.

Unit 12: Vocabulary

People and friendship. This unit is all about vocabulary make sure to learn the meanings by heart!
e.g adjectives. angry bad tempted and cool or even divorced!
make sure you read the sentences and see all different words that can be used.

e.g. make full sentences of each to make sure have a greater understanding!
- be sure to practise with all these too and you should be able to get over all questions and understand !.