Welcome to the Britlish Library.

I hope you will enjoy the 230 British English lessons in the Britlish Library. I have designed the lessons to help you improve all areas of your English skills from writing and speaking, to listening and reading.

The British English lessons in the Britlish Library are full of multimedia content in the form of videos, audio files, animations, and engaging image files. This multimedia content makes learning British English much more fun and engaging than simply reading text in a book.

Latest British English Lessons

Here are the 5 newest British English lessons from the Britlish Library. I always add new lessons to the Britlish Library every week so make sure you bookmark this page.

The Suffix -ish

You have probably noticed the suffix -ish at the end of many English words. The suffix -ish is actually in the words English and British, and consequently Britlish, too. A suffix is a tag that we add to the end of words to change their meaning slightly. In the case of -ish we add it to the ends of nouns and adjectives to form adjectives which mean approximately, somewhat, or like. It’s a very old suffix which Old English inherited from the Germanic. Common uses of the suffix -ish are colour words, talking about the size of things, when talking about the temperature of things, when describing qualities, and it is often added to numbers and time to indicate approximation.

Why are Human Beings so Stupid, Ignorant, and Pathetic?

This lesson looks at why individually humans are stupid, ignorant, and pathetic, but collectively, as a species, we are capable of incredible achievements. How long would you survive if the fabric of our society dissolved away and we were left to fend for ourselves? What do you think will come after humans have outlived their usefulness? Do this lesson to find out some of my thoughts on this matter.

Make Off

Bernie Madoff died in prison on 14th April 2021 having served just 12 years of a 150-year prison sentence for running the biggest ever Ponzi scheme which defrauded people out of an estimated $65 billion. This English lesson takes a look at the ironic pronunciation of the phrasal verb make off, which means to steal money, and Bernie Madoff's last name which is a homophone with made off. The animation of the Madoff character in the video was done using iClone and Character Creator from Reallusion. I think it is the most realistic animation I have made to date.

Alaska

This “Alaska” joke gets its humour from the pronunciation features of British English. If you understand the rhythm of English and how weak and strong syllables behave when we speak, you will be able to understand the humour of this joke. The Britlish Library lesson explains how and why the joke is funny and gives you plenty of exercises to help you learn, remember, and use these pronunciation features.

Wind Idioms

There are quite a few wind idioms in British English. I have created an Activation Quiz to teach you 15 of them and give you some practice using them. These 15 idioms include put the wind up, take the wind out of someone’s sails, and an ill wind, to name just a few. You can learn these idioms by doing the multimedia-rich, interactive activator in this lesson.

Random British English Lessons

Here are three random British English lessons taken from the 230 British English lessons currently in the Britlish Library. I add new lessons every week, so be sure to bookmark this page. Sign up for a free membership and you will get an email each time I add a new lesson to the library.

Past Perfect - GA10

As you have already learnt, the past tense is indicted by the past forms of the three key verbs, do, be, and have. With do, the past is indicated by did for all persons. With be, the past is indicated by was for third persons, and were for all other persons. With have, the past is indicated by had for all persons. The past tense is shown by the inflected past form of the verb have, had, and this is used for all subjects. Past tense, perfect aspect is one of the least used of all the tense-aspect combinations in English. The past perfect has one main use and that it to talk about one thing that happened before another thing in the past. The past perfect basically talks about the past in the past. This British English grammar is essential for all students of English and the many exercises in the pack will help you master it quickly and enjoyably.

Words Ending in -cuit

There are only two English words which end with the -cuit letter combination and both cause pronunciation problems for students. This lesson will look at both words, circuit and biscuit, and show you how to correctly pronounce them. It will also look at some sentences and expressions which use these words and will look at the speech features in those sentences. Features like the linking R, syllabic consonants, and elision are highlighted and explained.

Worth Words - Vocabulary Activator

There are a group of what we can call the worth words in English which cause confusion for many students and which are worth taking a closer look at. These words are worth, worthy, and worthwhile, as well as the expression worth it. In this lesson, I thought it would be worthwhile looking at how each of these words and expressions is used, and pronounced, correctly. I hope you will find my efforts in this lesson worthy of your time.

Pronunciation Activation Pack 18 - The Vowel in Eye / aɪ /

Activate the Vowel in Eye / aɪ / with this English Pronunciation Activation Pack. In this Pronunciation Activation Pack we will be looking at the sixth of the gliding vowels / aɪ /. We will look at the letter combinations that give the / aɪ / sound. We will look at lots of words which have the / aɪ / sound in them. Finally, we will activate your ability to hear and produce the / aɪ / sound correctly. Letter Combinations for / aɪ / - This gliding vowel sound has these letter combinations: I, IE, Y, YE, IGH, and rarely EYE, EIGH, EI, AI, UY, and AE. There are no other vowel sounds that have the potential to cause confusion with the / aɪ / sound. However, because the / aɪ / sound has a large number of letter combinations, in this Pronunciation Activation Pack I’ll look at the spelling of words with the / aɪ / sound in them. Pronunciation Activation Pack 18 - The Vowel in Eye / aɪ /

Pronunciation Activation Pack 5 - Vowel in Egg / e /

Activate the Vowel in Egg / e / with this English Pronunciation Activation Pack. In this Pronunciation Activation Pack we will be looking at the fifth of the pure vowels / e /. We will look at the letter combinations that give the / e / sound. We will look at lots of words which have the / e / sound in them. Finally, we will activate your ability to hear and produce the / e / sound correctly. The short pure vowel sound / e / can be formed by these letter combinations: E, EA, A, and rarely U, AI, EI, EO, and IE. There are some vowel sounds in minimal pairs which can cause confusion with the / e / sound for students. Pronunciation Activation Pack 5 - Vowel in Egg / e /

Britlish Library English Lesson Categories

I have categorised the lessons in the Britlish library into the following categories: English in Use lessons, Exams and Tests lessons, Grammar lessons, Humour lessons, Idioms lessons, Information lessons, Literature lessons, Phrasal Verbs lessons, Sounds British Pronunciation lessons, Spelling lessons, Vocabulary lessons, Writing lessons, Sounds Rude lessons, and more.

You can select all of the lessons in each of the random categories by clicking on any of the images below.

Spelling

One of the most difficult parts of English is spelling. This is because many of the sounds in English are not always represented by the same letter combinations. This for this reason, even native English speakers find it difficult to spell some words. These lessons have been created to help you to learn how to spell some of the more difficult English words.

Exams and Tests

If you are preparing for one of the internationally recognised exams such as IELTS, or the exams from Cambridge Assessment English, or Trinity, then the lessons in this category will be very useful to your studies. If you simply want to test your English abilities in and see how you are progressing in your studies of English as a second or foreign language, then the tests in this category will help you. You can test your abilities in English by seeing if you make the same mistakes that advanced users of English or even proficient users of English make. There's also an English level test with a hundred questions to test your general level of English. Don't be afraid of making mistakes, as it's through mistakes that we improve in anything we do, including learning English.

Humour

These English Lessons are built around English jokes. The jokes may be old or new; they may be very funny or just amusing. The language of the joke is explored and you will begin to understand a very important aspect of the English language - humour. Many students of English, be they students of English as a second language or of English as a foreign language, find it very difficult to "get" English jokes. British humour has a strong satirical element aimed at showing the absurdity of everyday life. A lot of English humour depends on cultural knowledge and the themes commonly include the British class system, wit, innuendo, to boost subjects and puns, self-deprecation, sarcasm, and insults. As well as this, English humour is often delivered in a deadpan way or is considered by many to be insensitive. A particular aspect of British English humour is the humour of the macabre, were topics that are usually treated seriously are treated in a very humorous or satirical way.

English in Use

The lessons categorised as English in Use look at the way we use English in everyday life. The lessons cover the actual use of English and examine grammar, punctuation, and functionality of the language. For any student studying English as a second language or English as a foreign language, English in Use lessons are particularly useful for improving speaking, writing, reading, and listening skills. These lessons will help you to develop your confidence in using different types of text such as fiction, newspapers and magazines, as well as learning to speak and write about things such as the weather and travel, as well as preparing you for typical situations such as ordering in a restaurant or buying a train ticket.

Literature

Some students like to sit back and listen to some interesting English. It doesn't get much more interesting than some of the old classics from English literature. These lessons have been created to help you get the best from the vocabulary found in some of the old classics. As you listen and read your way through these lessons, you also broaden your understanding of English culture.