COLLECTION OF GRAMMAR STRUCTURES.

AMAYA CARVAJAL Jos Daniel

SUMMARY: I. - PRESENT SIMPLE. II. - SIMPLE PAST. III. PRESENT PROGRESSIVE. IV. - PAST PROGRESSIVE. V. PRESENT PERFECT. VI. - PAST PERFECT. VII. - PRESENT PERFECT PROGRESSIVE. VIII. PAST PERFECT

PROGRESSIVE. IX.- PASSIVE VOICE. X. - REPORTED SPEECH. XI. - CONDITIONALS. XII. BIBLIOGRAPHY.

I. - PRESENT SIMPLE
FORM Study this example situation: Alex is a bus driver, but now he is in bed asleep. He is not driving a bus. (He is asleep.) But He drives a bus. (He is a bus driver.) Drive(s)/work(s)/do(es), etc. is the present simple:1

I/We/You/They He/She/It

Drive/work/do, etc. Drives/ works/ does, etc.

We use do/does to make questions and negative sentences:

Auxiliar y Subject Verb Subject Auxiliary (negative form) Verb

Do

I, we, you, they

Work?

I, we, you, they

Do not (dont)

play, speak, smoke, use

does

He, she, it

Dance?

He, she, it

Does not (doesnt)

work

Murphy, Raymond, English Grammar in Use, a self-study reference and practice book for intermediate students of English, 3th ed., Cambridge University Press, United Kingdom, 2005, p. 4

USE We use the present simple to describe general actions, events and states when we have no reason to think of them as being in any way temporary or limited in time. We use it to say that something happens all the time or repeatedly, or that something is true in general. It is not important whether the action is happening at the time of speaking.2 We use the present simple for things that are true in general, or things that happen sometimes or all the time3: I like big cities. Your English is good. You speak very well. Tim works very hard. He starts at 7:30 and finishes at 8 oclock in the evening. The earth goes round the sun. We do a lot of different things in our free time. It costs a lot of money to build a hospital. We often use adverbs of frequency (e.g. always, usually, etc.) and expressions of repeated time (e.g. on Tuesdays, in the summer, twice a year, etc.) with this use of the present simple. We also often focus on habitual behavior in presenting this use to learners.4

EXAMPLES I play tennis. She does not play tennis. Does he play tennis? The train leaves every morning at 8 AM. The train does not leave at 9 AM. When does the train usually leave? She always forgets her purse. He never forgets his wallet. Every twelve months, the Earth circles the Sun. Does the Sun circle the Earth?
2 3

Idem, p. 4. Murphy, Raymond, Essential grammar in use, a self- study reference and practice book for elementary students of English, 3th ed., Cambridge University Press, United Kingdom, 2007, p. 20. 4 Parrott, Martin, Grammar for English Language Teachers, Cambridge University Press, United Kingdom, 2000. pp. 154-155.

II. - PAST SIMPLE

FORM We form the simple past of a verb by adding -ed onto the end of a regular verb but,
irregular verb forms have to be learned. Very often the past simple ends in ed (regular verbs): I work in a travel agency now. Before that I worked in a department store. We invited them to our party, but they decided not to come. The police stopped me on my way home last night. Laura passed her examination because she studied very hard. But many verbs are irregular. The past simple does not end in ed. For example: Write/ wrote Mozart wrote more than 600 pieces of music. See/ saw We saw Rose in town a few days ago. Go/ went I went to the cinema three times last week. Shut/ shut It was cold, so I shut the window.
To be Statements + I was. He was. She was. It was. You were. We were. They were. I wasn't. He wasn't. She wasn't. It wasn't. You weren't. We weren't. They weren't. To be Statements Was I? Was he? Was she? Was it? Were you? Were we? Were they? Questions ?

Regular Verb (to work) Statements + I worked.

Regular Verb (to work) Statements I didn't work. Did I work? Questions

Short answer + Yes, I did.

Short answer No, I didn't.

He worked.

He didn't work.

Did he work? Did she work?

Yes, he did. Yes, she did.

No, he didn't. No, she didn't. No, it didn't. No, you didn't. No, we didn't. No, they didn't.

She worked.

She didn't work.

It worked.

It didn't work.

Did it work? Yes, it did. Did you work? Did we work? Did they work? Yes you did. Yes we did. Yes they did.

You worked.

You didn't work.

We worked.

We didn't work.

They worked.

They didn't work.

USE The past simple is one of the tenses we use to refer to completed events, states or actions. We choose the past simple when we consider that the event, state or action took place within a finished period of time. We often use an expression such as last week, at the weekend, in 1972, 3 years ago, or when we were on holiday to make it clear that the period of time is finished. Sometimes, however, this completed period of time is only implied.5

EXAMPLES We moved here in 1991. Did you move here in 1991? Sophia and I met yesterday. They were very pleased. They were not pleased at all. They were not pleased at all. Who did you work for? I went to the butcher's...but they didn't have any steak... Well I bought some flowers for you dear...But I forgot them at work.

Idem, p. 185.

III. - PRESENT PROGRESSIVE

FORM We form the present continuous (progressive) with a present tense form of to be (am, is, are) and an ing form:6
Question word Affirmative: Question: Negative: (Where) are People They She Isnt Am/is/are Subject Am/is/ are are beginning going? making a noise to leave Not or +nt -ing form

USE We use the present continuous when we talk about something that is happening at the time of speaking. We also use the present continuous when we talk about something that is happening around the time of speaking, but not necessarily exactly at the time of speaking.7

EXAMPLES Please dont make so much noise. I am studying. Where is Peter? He is taking a bath. Lets go out now. It is not raining any more. Hello, Ann. Are you enjoying the party? Tom and Ann are talking and having coffee in a caf. Tom says: Im reading an interesting book at the moment. Ill lend it to you when Ive finished it. Please be quiet. I am working. Look, there is Sarah. She is wearing a brown coat.

6 7

Parrott, Martin, Op. cit., p. 157. Murphy, Raymond, Grammar in Use, Reference and practice for intermediate students of English, Cambridge University Press, United Kingdom, 1989. p. 2.

IV. - PAST PROGRESSIVE

FORM We form the past continuous (progressive) with was or were followed by the main verb and ing form:8
Question word Affirmative: Question: Negative: (Why) was They she I Was not (wasnt) Was/ Were Subject Was/ Were were dancing talking? concentrating Not or +nt -ing form

Positive

Negative

Question

I / he / she / it

I was speaking.

I was not speaking.

Was I speaking?

you / we / they

You were speaking.

You were not speaking.

Were you speaking?

USE We use the past continuous to describe something which began before a particular point in the past and is still in progress at that point. The action may continue after that point. We use the past continuous to say that someone was in the middle of doing something at a certain time. The action or situation had already started before this time but hadnt finished:9 This time last year I was living in Brazil. What were you doing at 10:00 last night? We can also use the past progressive when the action stopped at the key point in the past. (He was working at his computer when the power cut occurred. ) This use is sometimes called the interrupted past continuous.

8 9

Parrott, Martin, Op. cit., p. 198. Murphy, Raymond, Grammar in Use, Op. cit., p. 24.

EXAMPLES Puts emphasis on the course of an action in the past Example: He was playing football. Two actions happening at the same time (in the past) Example: While she was preparing dinner, he was washing the dishes. Action going on at a certain time in the past Example: When I was having breakfast, the phone suddenly rang.

V. - PRESENT PERFECT
FORM We form the present perfect simple with has (s) or have (ve) followed by the main verb in past participle form.10 The past participle often ends in ed (finished/ decided, etc.), but many important verbs are irregular (lost/ done/ written, etc.).

I We You They He She It Have (ve) Have not (havent) Has Has not (hasnt)

Cleaned Finished Started Lost Done Been Gone Has Have

I We You They He She It

cleaned? finished? started? lost? done? been? gone?

USE We use the present perfect simple to refer to completed events, states or actions in the past which took place within a period of time which is unfinished. Sometimes we use expressions like today or this year to specify this unfinished period of time.11 We use the present perfect simple: For a more recent past than that expressed by the past simple. For events which have present relevance or a connection with now.
10 11

Parrott, Martin, Op. cit., p.186. Idem, p. 187.

 With adverbs such as just, already, yet, ever and before. In contexts such as news reports or personal biographies. To refer to completed events, states or actions when no past time is specified.12

EXAMPLES I have cut my finger. There has been an accident. Police have arrested two men in connection with the robbery. Where is your key? I dont know. I have lost it. He told me his name, but I have forgotten it. Is Sally here? No, she has gone out. I cant find my bag. Have you seen it?

VI.-PAST PERFECT
FORM We form past perfect simple with had followed by the main verb in a past participle form:13
Question word Affirmative: Question: Negative: (Why) had Everyone they they Had not (hadnt) had spoken Left? eaten Had Subject Had Not or +nt Past participle

USE We use the past perfect simple when we want to draw attention to the fact that something took place and finished before something else in the past. We use it to describe an action which was completed before a specific point of time in the past.14

12 13

Parrott, Martin, Op. cit., p. 187. Idem, p. 195. 14 Mitchell, H.Q., Traveller Level B2, Students book, MM Publications, United Kingdom, 2009, p.168.

We often use the past perfect simple in clauses connected by a conjunction (e.g. when, and, that, because, so) to a clause containing a verb in the simple past. I knew (that) I had seen her somewhere before. It had stopped raining so they didnt bother to put the car away. We use the past perfect simple to avoid confusion or ambiguity. We dont use it simply because one event came before another, but in order to clarify the order of events. So, for example, we use the tense more frequently with the conjunction when than before or after. They had finished eating when I got there. (Only the two tenses make the sequence of events clear.) They finished eating before I got there. (The conjunction before makes the sequence of events clear, and so we can use the simple past (rather than the past perfect) for the earlier of the events.)15

EXAMPLES My mum had done the washing-up by midnight. My parents wanted to sell their car, because they had not used it for months. I had been here for hours when they arrived. Before she died, my grandmother gave me a little china bowl. It had belonged to her mother and was very old. I didnt know who she was. I had never seen her before. We were not hungry. We had just had lunch. The house was dirty. They hadnt cleaned it for weeks. To describe an action that was completed before another action in the past. The second action is in the past simple. The film had already started when we got to the cinema. The sun had already started to set when Tom finally exited the cave. Sir Henry and Tom had already fallen asleep by the time the moon had risen in the sky.

15

Parrott, Martin, Op. cit., p. 196.

VII. - PRESENT PERFECT PROGRESSIVE

FORM We form the present perfect continuous or progressive with has (s) or have (ve) followed by been and an ing form:16
Question word Affirmative: Question: Negative: (Why) have It you They Have not or Havent Have/has Subject Have/ has has Not or +nt Been + -ing form been raining. Been crying? been paying Attention.

USE We use the present perfect continuous to refer to an activity which took place over a period of time and, usually, has recently stopped. The activity may be constant of repeated. When we use the present perfect progressive, we understand that the event is repeated or extended. Because of the recentness of events described by the present perfect continuous, we dont use it to describe general biographical, historical or circumstantial detail.

EXAMPLES Your telephone has been ringing (This continued for some time. It is now silent). It has been raining (The sky is now clear but the ground is wet). You are out of breath. Have you been running? Daniel is very tired. He has been working very hard. Why are your clothes so dirty? What have you been doing? I have been talking to Amanda about the problem and she agrees with me. Where have you been? I have been looking for you everywhere.

16

Idem, p. 189.

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VIII. - PAST PERFECT PROGRESSIVE

FORM We form the past perfect continuous with had followed by been and the main verb in an ing form:17
Question word Had/ d Subject Had/ d Not or +nt Affirmative: They had been losing a lot of money Been + -ing form

Question: Negative:

(What)

had

You I Hadnt

been doing? been working For long

USE We use the past perfect continuous when we are concerned with an extended or repeated event or activity which took place before a particular point in the past. 18 The past perfect progressive is used: To emphasize the duration of an action that was in progress before another action or a specific point of time in the past. He had been living in London for 15 years when he moved to Mexico. To refer to an action whose duration caused visible results at a later point of time in the past. They were tired because they had been cleaning the house all day.

EXAMPLES At last the bus came. I had been waiting for 20 minutes. James was out of breath. He had been running. I was very tired when I got home. I had been working hard all day. George went to the doctor last Friday. He had not been feeling well for some time. She had been living there only a short time but she knew the city very well.

17 18

Parrott, Martin, Op. cit. p. 200. Idem, p. 200.

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IX. - PASSIVE VOICE

FORM The passive allows the thing or person that receives the action of the verb to occupy subject position.19 The passive voice is formed with the verb be + the past participle of the main verb. In the progressive tenses the passive voice is formed with the verb be + being + the past participle of the main verb20.

VERB FORMS IN THE PASSIVE VOICE

Verb form Present simple Active voice Passive voice They always serve tea with Tea is always served with cakes. Past simple cakes (by them).

I repaired the roof last The roof was repaired (by year. me) last year.

Present perfect

We have removed all the All the furniture has been furniture from the living room. removed from the living room. house by fire had the been fire

Past perfect

The fire had destroyed the The house before the

fire destroyed before arrived. the

brigade arrived. Future Will

brigade

Mary

will

pay

the

bill

The bill will be paid (by Mary) tomorrow.

tomorrow. Going to

They are going to publish His new novel is going to his new novel next month. be published next month.

Future perfect

I will have posted all the All the letters will have letters by noon. been posted by noon. This work needs to be finished by tomorrow.

Present infinitive

We need to finish this work by tomorrow.

Perfect infinitive

He could have bought the The tickets could have tickets earlier. been bought earlier. must be taken to

Modal verbs

You must take him to He hospital.

hospital.

19

Celce-Murcia, Marianne and Larsen-Freeman, Diane, The Grammar Book, 2da Edition, ITP, United States of America, 1999, p. 344. 20 Mitchell, H.Q., Op. cit., p.173.

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VERB FORMS IN THE PASSIVE VOICE

Verb forms Present progressive Active voice They are renovating the The hotel. Past progressive Passive voice hotel is being

renovated. tents were being

The scouts were pitching The

the tents when it started to pitched by the scouts when rain. -ing form it started to rain.

I hate people staring at I hate being stared at. me.

In passive clause, we usually use by to introduce the agent the person or thing that does the action, or that causes what happen21. (However, those agents are mentioned in only about 20% of passive clauses.) All the trouble was caused by your mother. These carpets are made by children who work twelve hours a day.

USE We use passive voice to emphasize an action rather than who or what is responsible for it.22 When do we use passive structures?23 Interest in the action.- We often choose passive structures when we want to talk about an action, but are not so interested in saying who or what does/ did it. Passive without agents are common in academic and scientific writing for this reason. Those pyramids were built around 400 AD. Too many books have been written about the Second World War. Putting the news at the end. - We often prefer to begin a sentence with something that is already known, or that we are already talking about, and to put the news at the end. Nice picture. Yes, it was painted by my grandmother.
21

Swan, Michael, Practical English usage, 3th ed., Oxford University Press, U.K., 2005, p. 412. 22 Mitchell, H.Q., Op. cit., p.173. 23 Swan, Michael, Op. cit., pp. 412 y ss.

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Keeping the same subject.- In order to keep talking about the same person or thing, it may be necessary to switch from active to passive and back. He waited for two hours; then he was seen by a doctor; then he was sent back to the waiting room. He sat there for another two hours- by this time he was getting angry. Then he was taken upstairs and examined by a specialist, after which he had to wait for another hour before he was allowed to go home. Putting heavier expressions at the end.- Longer and heavier expressions often go at the end of a clause, and this can also be a reason for choosing a passive structure. I was annoyed by Mary wanting to tell everybody what to do. (More natural than Mary wanting to tell everybody what to do annoyed methe phrase Mary do would make a very long subject.)

EXAMPLES This house is quite old. It was built in 1935. Two hundred people are employed by the company. A lot of money was stolen in the robbery. (Somebody stole it, but we dont know who.) Is this room cleaned every day? (Does somebody clean it? It is not important who.) We were woken up by a loud noise during the night.

X. - REPORTED SPEECH
USE We use reported speech when we are interested not in the words that someone has chosen, but in the essential information they conveyed. We often use far fewer words to report this than were originally spoken. Reported speech is found in newspaper reports, fiction, talking or writing about conversation, reports, articles or speeches we have heard or read.24

24

Parrott, Martin, Op. cit., p. 216-217.

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FORM and EXAMPLES In report speech, we report the meaning of what someone said, without using their exact words. We use a reporting verb, usually say or tell, followed by that (which can be omitted) and the reported statement.25 We use say when there is not indirect object. I cant fix the car, he said. He said that he couldnt fix the car. We use tell when there is an indirect object. I will be late, Tom, she said. She told Tom she would be late.

When a sentence changes from direct to reported speech, tenses, modals and time expressions change as follows: Present simple --- Past simple Karen said I want to buy a new car Karen said that she wanted to buy a new car. Present progressive --- Past progressive Alan said I am having a shower Alan said he was having a shower. Past simple --- Past perfect simple Lars said I saw a bear behind the tree Lars said he had seen a bear behind the tree. Present perfect simple --- Past perfect simple Tim said I have seen the Loch Ness monster Tim said he had seen the Loch Ness monster. Present perfect progressive --- Past perfect progressive John said Ive been waiting for an hour John said he had been waiting for an hour. Will --- Would Dan said I will call you later Dan said that he would call me later. Can --- Could Mina said I can show you the way Mina said that she could show me the way.

25

Mitchell, H.Q., Op. cit., p.175.

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XI. CONDITIONALS
ZERO CONDITIONAL If + simple present, simple present. We use the zero conditional to talk about scientific laws and other things that are always true26. e.g., If you heat ice, it melts.

FIRST CONDITIONAL If + simple present, will + infinitive We use the first conditional to talk about possible or probable events in the future and their consequences. e.g., If it is sunny tomorrow, we will go to the beach. We can use unless instead of if + not. e.g., Unless you work harder, you will lose your job. We can also use other present tenses after if. e.g., If youve finished, I will make dinner. We can also use the imperative or modals instead of will. e.g., If you are free, give me a call. If there is nothing on TV, I might rent a video27.

SECOND CONDITIONAL If + past simple, would + infinitive We use the second conditional to talk about things that are impossible or unlikely to happen in the present/ future and their consequences, e.g., If it snowed in summer, people wouldnt go to the beach. If I met the president tomorrow, I would tell him to spend more money on poor people. We can use were instead of was. This is very common when we use the second conditional to give advice, e.g., If I were you, I would go and see a doctor.
26

Goldstein, Ben, American Framework, Intermediate, 3b, Students book and Workbook, Richmond Publishing, London, U.K., 2007, p. 138. 27 Idem, p. 138.

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We can also use other modals instead of would, e.g., If we lived somewhere else, we might be happier. Sometimes both first and second conditional can be possible, it depends on the level of probability, e.g., If we win the game tomorrow, we will be champions. If I won the lottery, I would buy a big house in the suburbs28.

THIRD CONDITIONAL If + past perfect, would have + past participle We use the third conditional to talk about things that didnt happen in the past and their hypothetical effect/ consequence. e.g., If Id tried harder at school, I wouldnt have failed my exams. If I hadnt met her that night, I wouldnt have fallen in love. We can use might have instead of would have. e.g., If she hadnt met Sam, she might have married Tom. We can use would instead of would have if we want to talk about a present result. e.g., If youd taken my advice, you wouldnt have so many problems now29.

28 29

Goldstein, Ben, Op. cit. p. 138. Goldstein, Ben, Op. cit., p. 138.

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XII. - BIBLIOGRAPHY

Celce-Murcia, Marianne and Larsen-Freeman, Diane, The Grammar Book, 2da Edition, ITP, United States of America, 1999. Goldstein, Ben, American Framework Intermediate (3b), Students book and Workbook, Richmond Publishing, London U.K., 2007. Mitchell, H.Q., Traveller Level B2 (Students book), MM Publications, United Kingdom, 2009. Murphy, Raymond, English Grammar in Use, a self-study reference and practice book for intermediate students of English, 3th ed., Cambridge University Press, United Kingdom, 2005. Murphy, Raymond, Essential grammar in use, a self- study reference and practice book for elementary students of English, 3th ed., Cambridge University Press, United Kingdom, 2007. Murphy, Raymond, Grammar in Use, Reference and practice for intermediate students of English, Cambridge University Press, United Kingdom, 1989 Parrott, Martin, Grammar for English Language Teachers, Cambridge University Press, United Kingdom, 2000. Swan, Michael, Practical English usage, 3th ed., Oxford University Press, U.K., 2005.

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