Daniel

Grammer

Basic grammar reference

We use the present continuous for: temporary situations

We can specify time and place when asking for a description by using a phrase at the end of the question.

You hardly ever say you love me.

It is possible to ask questions with Must + subject…? but it is much more common to use Do/Does + subject + have to…?

We use the past simple for something that happened and finished in the past. We use it when we say or know the time when something happened. It is often used in stories, when one thing happened after another.

We use the past continuous for something that happened in the past but was not finished at a particular time. This can be an exact time in the past(12 o’clock, etc.) or the time when another thing happened.

We often use the past simple with time expressions like yesterday, last month, six years, when I was a child.

We use be going to for something that we expect to happen because we can see from the present situation that it is very likely. We can’t use the present continuous in this way.

Use the present continuous and NOT the present simple for things that you have arranged to do. Use the present simple for future events on timeables and programmes.

Followed by a gerund(-ing form)

Followed by an infinitive

Flollowed by either, usually with no change in meaning

Followed by either, with a change in meaning

With verbs like work and live, which can describe permanent or temporary situations, we usually use the present perfect + ‘for’/’since’ for a long period of time. For a short period, we use the present perfect continuous.

If a situation is finished, we use past simple + ‘for’, not the present perfect:

When you listen to someone using a sentence with for + a period of time, listen carefully to the verb. It is sometimes difficult to hear the different between, for example, I’ve lived in New York for five years and I lived in New York for five years, but it makes a big difference in meaning. It tells us whether the speaker still lives there or not.

After superlative adjectives, we usually use in, not of.

We use might + verb, may + werb or could + verb to talk about the possiblility of something in the present or the future.

It’s possible to ask question with Might/May/Could + subject + infinitive without ‘to’, but it is more common to form a question with Do you think + subject + might/may/could + infinitive without ‘to’.

We don’t use couldn’t in the same way as might not/mightn’t/may not. ‘Couldn’t’ means that something is impossible.

I used to eat some cake last Saturday night.(‘Saturday night’ was just one time, so it was not something done regularly.)

Too describes something negative or unwanted, enough describes the right amount of something, and very makes the adjective stronger.

For degree, we use too + adjective.

For amount or number, the order is too + many/much + noun.

If we are making an indirect question from a direct question which already contains a question word, like what, who, when, where or how, we keep that same question word.

If the direct question doesn’t have a question word, then we use if or whether in the indirect question. We can use these interchangeably, although if is a little more informal.

The passive is made with subject + to be + past participle. The verb to be is used to express both present tense and past tense.

We use the first conditional to talk about possible future situation(or ‘conditions’) and their results. We use if for things we think are likely to happen, and when for things we think are certain to happen.

When you finsih school, what will you do? If we don’t hurry, we will miss the train.
If you pass your exams, will you go to university?

We can use modals such as may, might, can or should in first conditional sentenses. May and might show we are less certain than when we use will.

We can use going to or the present continuous with future meaning in the if/when part or the main part in first conditional sentenses.

We can use as long as and unless with the same meaning as if and if not in first conditional sentenses.

We use the past simple in the if part - but second conditional sentences aren’t about the past. We use the past form to show that the situation isn’t real. The would part tells us the result of this imaginary situation.

We sometimes use were instead of was in the if part of a second conditional sentense. It means the same, but when we use were, the sentense sounds more formal.

Action verbs can be used in all tenses. State verbs can not be used in continuous forms.

When talking about a life experience, we can use the present perfect. We don’t say when it happened because we’re more interested in the experience, than the time or date.

If we want to say when the experience happened in the past, we use the past simple.

We use the present perfect when things that happened in the recent past are important now.

We use the past simple to say when the action happened.

We use the present perfect for situations that started in the past and are still happening now.

We use the past simple for situations that started and finished in the past.

If we know it is a completed event, we can ask a how long question with the past simple.

There is a special case if the pronoun is I and we use be in the statement. The tag is made with am when the statement is negative - but when the statement is positive, the tag is made with aren’t.

The negative of likely is unlikely.

We can use used to and would to talk about things we did regularly in the past, but we don’t do now. We use used to for either habits or states in the past. Would is used only for past habits, not for past states.

Used to and would already show that something happened in the past. We don’t usually add adverbs. But, if you want to stress a time period, you can add an adverb.

We use can or be able to for saying that somebody or something has the ability to do something. Can and be able to mean the same, but we often use be able to when something is surprising or unusual.

For a single event int the past, we use be able to(not could) in positive statements.

However, in negative statements and questions about single events, we can use could or be able to.

If something is very difficult to do or is very successful, we often use the verb manage to instead of a modal verb.

Can has no infinitive form or present perfect form. So in some sentences, we have to use be able to.

Manage to is a regular verb in the positive form. But in the negative form we say can’t manage to in the present and couldn’t or didn’t manage to in the past. We also use did for questions.

We usually use can and not be able to with sense verbs and verbs of thinking such as see,hear,smell,believe,remember.

Intermediate Grammar Reference

Some verbs are almost never used in the present perfect continuous. We use the present perfect instead. The most familiar example of these are be and know.

Every and each are followed by a singluar noun.

For emphasising every single one, we must use every not each.

For only two things, we can use each but not every.

We don’t use an article(the,a/an) before every or each

Either is used mainly in questions and negative sentenses.

After neither(of) the verb is always positive. It can be singular or plural after neither of.

But after neither + noun the verb is always singular.

We can also use might, may and could for talking about what we think was possible in the past.

Might not(mightn’t) and may not are used for talking about negative possiblility.

But couldn’t is different. It means that something is completely impossible.

We use the modal verbs must and can’t in the present and the past when we believe strongly that something is certain.

We don’t usually form questions about what is possible or true with might, may or must. It’s more common to use Could or Do you think…?

We don’t use mustn’t to make guesses about what is possible or true. We use can’t instead.

We often use the past perfect when two things in a sentence happened in the past, and we need to show which thing in the sentence happened first.

We can use the past simple, with time expressions like then, to talk about the things in the order that they happened.

The past perfect is often used with time expressions like when and by the time.

We can use the past continuous in the if part of the sentence.

We can use other modal verbs in the main part, for example might. Might shows we are less certain that when we use will.

We use I wish or If only with the past perfect when we are sorry about something that happened in the past, and we imagine doing things differently.

There are called conjunctive adverbs, and they all behave in the same way. This is how we use consequently to join two ideas together. Notice the comma after consequently:

Say and tell are both reporting verbs. We use tell when we say who we are speaking to.

If the reporting verb is the present tense, then the reported statement stays in the present tense: Direct speech

Reported speech

If the reporting verb is in the past tense, we usually change the present form to a past form in reported speech. Direct speech

Reported speech

When using the passive voice, get is sometimes used in place of the verb to be. This is especially common in informal, spoken English.

We use much or a lot before an adjective or adverb to emphasise the degree of comparision.

When the verb to be is the main verb of a sentence, we usually put adverbs immediately after the verb.

When we use an abstract uncountable noun to make a general statement, we don’t use the.

When we use an abstract uncountable noun to refer to a specific example of a noun, we use the before the noun.

In informal communication, relative pronouns, such as who and when, are commonly replaced with that in defining relative clauses.

We also use used to + the infinitive for past situations. It emphasises that the situations are no longer true.

You use be used to to say that something isn’t new, unusual or difficult for you. You have experienced it many times. You use get used to to say that you are gradually finding something less unusual or difficult. Both be used to and get used to can be followed by a noun/pronoun or the -ing form of the verb.