When we join two or more expressions, we usually put and before the last.

• bread and cheese
• We drank, talked and danced.
• I wrote the letters, Peter addressed them, George bought the stamps and Alice posted them.

In two-word expressions, we often put the shortest word first.

• young and pretty
• cup and saucer

Some common expressions with and have a fixed order which we cannot change.

• hands and knees (NOT knees and hands)
• knife and fork
• bread and butter men
• women and children
• fish and chips

We do not usually use and with adjectives before a noun.

• Thanks for your nice long letter. (NOT . . . your nice and long letter.)
• a tall dark handsome cowboy

But we use and when the adjectives refer to different parts of the same thing.

• red and yellow socks
• a metal and glass table

Every language has fixed expressions which are used on particular social occasions — for example, when people meet, leave each other, go on a journey, sit down to meals, and so on. English does not have very many expressions of this kind: here are some of the most important.

Introductions
Common ways of introducing strangers to each other are:

• John, do you know Helen?
• Helen, this is my friend John.
• Sally, I don't think you've met Elaine.
• I don't think you two know each other, do you?
• Can/May I introduce John Willis? (more formal)

The Palace Theatre in Cambridge Square is a sort of half-way house on the ambitious tour which Sir John Gielgud is undertaking at the head of the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre Company now presenting "Much Ado About Nothing" and "King Lear." Already the players have appeared in Vienna, Zurich, Amsterdam, Rotterdam and the Hague, and when their season at the Palace finishes on September 17th, they will go back to the Continent to give performances in Berlin, Hamburg, Oslo and Copenhagen before returning to visit six major cities in the United Kingdom. Finally there is to be a short season at Stratford-upon-Avon.

Possibility

We use can to say that situations and events are possible.

• Scotland can be very warm in September.

• 'Who can join the club?' 'Anybody who wants to.'

• There are three possibilities: we can go to the police, we can talk to a lawyer, or we can forget all about it.
• 'There's the doorbell.' 'Who can it be?' 'Well it can't be your mother.
• She s in Edinburgh.

We use could to talk about past possibility.

• It could be quite frightening if you were alone in our big old house.

We can use always with a progressive tense to mean 'very often'.

• I'm always losing my keys.

• Granny's nice. She's always giving people things and doing things for people.

• I'm always running into ( = 'accidentally meeting') Paul these days.

We use this structure to talk about things which happen very often (perhaps more often than expected), but which are not planned. Compare:

• When Alice comes to see me, I always meet her at the station, (a regular, planned arrangement)

• I'm always meeting Mrs Bailiff in the supermarket, (accidental, unplanned meetings)

• When I was a child, we always had picnics on Saturdays in the summer, (regular, planned)
• Her mother was always arranging little surprise picnics and outings. (unexpected, not regular)

The manager who was putting on the summer skit at the Casino had never heard of Carrie, but the several notices she had received, her published picture, and the programme bearing her name had some little weight with him. He gave her a silent part at thirty dollars a week.

Now, because Carrie was pretty, the gentleman who made up the advance illustrations of shows about to appear for the Sunday papers selected Carrie's photo along with others to illustrate the announcement. Because she was pretty, they gave it excellent space and drew scrolls about it. Carrie was delighted. Still, the management did not seem to have seen anything of it. At least, no more attention was paid to her than before. At the same time there seemed very little in her part. It consisted in standing around in all sorts of scenes, a silent little Quakeress. The author of the skit had fancied that a great deal could be made of such a part, given to the right actress, but now, since it had been doled out to Carrie, he would as leave have had it cut out.

We use please to make a request more polite.

• Could I have some more, please. 'Would
• you like some wine?' Yes, please '

Note that please does not change an order into a request.

• Stand over there, (order)   
  
• Please stand over there, (polite order)

Last week, last month etc is the week or month just before this one. If I am speaking in July, last month was June; if I am speaking in 1985, last yearwas 1984. (Note that prepositions are not used before these time-expressions.)

• I had a cold last week     
  
• Were you at the meeting last Tuesday?

We bought this house last year The last week, the last month etc is the period of seven days, thirty days etc up to the moment of speaking. On July 15th, 1985, the last month is the period from June 15th to July 15th; the last year is the period from July 1984 to July 1985.

• I've had a cold for the last week ( = for the seven days up to today)

• We've lived here for the last year ( = since twelve months ago)
  

Note the use of the present perfect tense when talking about a period of time that continues up to the present, like the last week.

Michael had started with Shakespeare. That was before Julia knew him. He had played Romeo at Cambridge, and when he came down after a year at a dramatic school, Benson had engaged him. Michael toured the country and played a great variety of parts. But he realized that Shakespeare would get him nowhere and that if he wanted to become a leading actor he must gain experience in modern plays.
A man called James Langton was running a repertory theatre at Middlepool that was attracting a good deal of attention, and after Michael had been with Benson for three years, when the company was going to Middlepool on its annual tour, he wrote to Langton and asked him whether he would see him.

Afternoon changes to evening when it starts getting dark, more or less. However, it depends on the time of year. In summer, we stop saying afternoon by six o'clock, even if it is still light. In winter we go on saying afternoon until at least five o'clock, even if it is dark.

Evening changes to night more or less at bedtime. Note that Good evening usually means 'Hello', and Good night means 'Goodbye' — it is never used to greet people.

• 1. Good evening Terrible weather, isn't it?
• 2. Yes, dreadful.
• 1. Hasn't stopped raining for weeks. Well. I must be going. Good night
• 2. Good night