CAE Grammar Reference

State Verbs

We don’t usually use the continuous with state verbs. These are commonly:

• Verbs which express opinions, feelings or knowledge, e.g. assume, believe, disagree, hate, hope,
know, like, love, prefer, realize, regret
• Verbs which describe appearance, e.g. appear, look, seem, resemble
• Verbs which describe senses, e.g. feel, smell, taste
• There other verbs: belong, consist, contain, cost, have, own

Would + infinitive and used to + infinitive

These are used to talk about things which happened repeatedly in the past but don´t happen now: When I
was small, my mother would read to me in bed. While she was reading to me, my father used to wash up
the dinner things.

Use USED TO, not WOULD to talk about past states which no longer exist: There would be a grocer´s
opposite the bus station, but there´s a supermarket there now.

USED TO only exists in the past. It has no other tenses. (Note: The negative is didn’t use to) e.g. He didn’t
use to be so short-tempered. The question form is Did she use to…? Did you use to enjoy when you were a
kid, because I hated it?

Use the past simple when you say how many times you did something: Charlie used to be a very successful
tennis player. He won the junior championship three times.

The Present Perfect Tenses

We use the present perfect with time adverbs that connect the past to present: just, already, since, so far,
up to now, yet, today (when it is still the same day), this morning (when it is still the same morning): Have
you seen any good films lately? Britain has only won the World Cup once so far. Have you had any
interesting phone calls this morning?
Expressing purpose, reason and result

Expresses Phrases Followed by Position Examples

purpose So (that) A clause Between He always dresses smartly so
clauses (that) people notice him.

with the purpose of verb + -ing Teresa got up early with the
/ with the intention intention of studying before
of going in to university.

After the main

So as / In order infinitive clause Carla came home early so as
not to have an argument with
her parents
infinitive Dieter goes to the gym every
day to keep fit
reason because / since / at the beginning We'd better postpone the
as of the sentence meeting till after lunch
(more because / since / as Fatima
emphatic) or has been delayed.
between Because / As / Since he was
clauses feeling ill, he spent the day in
bed.
in case A clause Take your mobile with you in
case you need to call me.
otherwise After the main Candice always writes things
clause down otherwise [= because if
she doesn't) she forgets
them.
because of / due noun / verb + at the beginning All flights have been
to / owing to -ing of the cancelled because of/ due
sentence or to / owing to the bad
after the main weather.
clause
For this reason A sentence at the beginning Someone called me
of the sentence unexpectedly. For this
and referring to reason I was late for the
the previous meeting.
one

result Consequently/as a A sentence at the beginning Ranjit injured himself in

consequence/ as a of the sentence training yesterday. As a
result and referring to consequence, he won't be
the previous taking part in the match
one. As a today.
consequence
and as a result Keiko didn't write a very
can also be used good letter of
at the end of application. She was
the sentence rejected as a result.
The use of FURTHERMORE

He’s studying engineering; furthermore, He´s also learning German.

The car was almost new; furthermore, It was in excellent condition.

FURTHERMORE is used to indicate that the second clause or the sentence adds information you
consider similar to that of the first sentence. It suggests addition.

The use of EVEN THOUGH

He drinks milk every morning even though he doesn’t like it.

The car was in excellent

condition even though it was quite old.

EVEN THOUGH (THOUGH, ALTHOUGH) is used to indicate that the second clause or sentence gives
information contrary to the first sentence.

The addition introduced is generally something that would not be expected.

The use of SINCE

They are friends since they were children.

Since we have plenty of time we are going

by car.

SINCE has two meanings:

• Time: it refers to the whole period from a point of time in the past to the present moment, or a
given moment in the past, or when a starting point in time is given.
• Cause or reason: It indicates why an action was done; these clauses usually precede the principal
clause.

Cumulative Conjunctions

He´s studying electrical engineering, furthermore He’s also studying German.

moreover
similarly
likewise
besides

The car was almost new in addition

in fact it was in excellent condition.
as a matter of fact

These are conjunctions used to join together the parts and the divisions of sentences.

IN ADDITION, IN FACT, and AS A MATTER OF FACT are prepositional phrases used as conjunctions.
All these conjunctions suggest addition. The second sentence gives information which is similar in
some way to that of the first.
 Adversative Conjunctions

He drinks milk every morning even though he doesn´t like it much.

although
however
nevertheless
despite

The car was in excellent condition in spite of the fact that it was very old.

These conjunctions suggest contrast; the addition introduced by them is generally something that
would hardly be expected. It indicates that the second sentence gives information contrary in some
way to that in the first.

Spelling rules for affixes and inflections (-ed, -ing)

Affixes are either prefixes [syllables added before the word: dispose, propose) or suffixes (syllables
added after the word: expectant, expectancy, expectation). In the CAE exam spellings must be correct
for the answer to be considered correct. Below are some spelling rules when adding affixes.

Double the final consonant when you add -ed,-ing, -er, and -est to:

A one-syllable word which ends in consonant-vowel-consonant: run – runner, clap-clapping (but bend –
bending, strange- stranger, bad badly, etc). But final w, x and y never doubled: flowed, taxing.

Verbs of two or more syllables which end in consonant-vowel-consonant and the final syllable is
stressed: occurs-occurrence, forget-forgetting, admit-admittance (but forgetful, developing)

Verbs which end in “L” after one vowel in British English (in American English they may not double):
travel-traveller, cancel-cancellation.

Don’t double the final consonant when:

• There are two final consonants: correspond-correspondence.

• If there are two vowels before the final consonant: disappear-disappearance.
• The verb ends in a vowel: interfere-interference
• The stress is not on the final syllable: deepen-deepening.

Change y to i:

In words which end in Y after a consonant, the Y becomes i when a suffix is added: happy-happiness,
try-trial/tries, study-studious, family-familiar, rely-reliance.

But not these exceptions:

i becomes y with –ing: lie-lying, die-dying

Dry-drier / drily but dryness, shy – shyness / shyly; day-daily

Drop the –e:

If there is a consonant before it and the suffix begin with a vowel (-er, ed, -ing, -ance, -ation):
nonsense-nonsensical, amaze-amazing, sane-sanity.

Note these exceptions: words ending in –ce, -ge, -ee: noticeable, knowledgeable, disagreeable.
The final –e is not dropped when the suffix begins with a consonant: safe-safety, arrage-arrangement,
disgrace-disgraceful (exception: argue-argument).
Adding prefixes

When a prefix is added (before the word), the spelling does not change: dis-, un- and ir-:appoint-
disappoint, satisfied-dissatisfied, truthful-untruthful, necessary-unnecessary, relevant-irrelevant.

Note: Use il-, im- and ir- (not IN-) before words beginning with L, M, P or R: illegible, immodest,
impractical, irresponsible.

NO, NONE, NOT

No
It means NOT ANY or NOT EVEN ONE. It can be used with countable or uncountable nouns: I have no
idea of what you´re talking about. There were no cars on the road at that time of the morning.

It’s used with comparative words and different: The traffic is no worse than it was at the same time
yesterday. I had to work late every evening last week, and so far this week has been no different.

None
It’s a pronoun and means NOT ONE, NOT ANY or NO PART OF. It can be used with countable nouns,
uncountable nouns and other pronouns. It is most commonly followed by OF: None of my friends,
knows/know it´s my birthday today. None of the milk in the fridge is fresh.

It can also be used without a noun: “How much coffee do we have?” None. (at all). We need to buy
some more bananas; there are none left.

Note: In formal written English NONE is considered to be a singular word and is followed by a singular
verb: None of my colleagues speaks Spanish. However, in everyday speech plural verbs are more
commonly used: None of this morning’s flights have been delayed.

Not
It’s mainly used to make verbs negative and is often contracted to n’t. You haven´t answered my
question. Shoe told me not to phone her after 10pm.

It can also make a word or a phrase negative: Not many people voted in yesterday´s election. Not
everyone can win the lottery.

Infinitives and verb + -ing forms

The –ing form of the verb is used after:

• Some verbs which express likes and dislikes, e.g. dislike, enjoy, loathe, (don’t) mind, (can’t)
stand: She can’t stand getting stuck in a traffic jam. But note the following exceptions:

• hate/like/love/prefer are usually followed by the –ing form but are sometimes
followed by the to infinitive (see below).
• ing form but are sometimes followed by the to infinitive (see below)
• would + hate/like/love/prefer is always followed by the to infinitive (see below).

• Certain verbs, e.g. admit, appreciate, avoid, can`t help, consider, delay, deny, finish, imagine,
involve, keep, mind, miss, postpone, prevent, report, resist, risk, suggest: The prime minister
has just finished speaking.

Verbs followed by the infinitive and the –ing form

A small number of verbs can be followed either by the infinitive or by the –ing form.
With no difference in meaning: begin, can’t bear, cease, convince, continue, hate, intend., like, love,
propose, start: I’ve just started to learn / learning to ski. He had intended to leave / leaving the party
before midnight.

Note: With the verbs like, love, hate there can be this slight difference in meaning:

I like to clean my car every week. (=focus on the result of the activity)
I like cleaning my car every week. (=focus on the activity itself, i.e. I enjoy cleaning it)

With different meanings:

• Verbs expressing perception (infinitive without to)

• We saw the plane take off. (=focus on the result of the activity.)
• We saw the plane taking off (=We saw only part of the process.)

• forget
• I forgot to phone my brother. (= I didn’t phone him)
• I’ll never forget phoning my sister that night. (=I phoned her and I recall it well.)

• remember
• Tom remembered to close the windows before he left. (=He did something he had to
do; he didn’t forget.)
• Tom remembered closing the windows before he left. (=He recalled doing it.)

• go on
• He won his first race when he was seven and went on to break the world record.
(=Breaking the World record was something he did later.)
• He went on walking even though he was exhausted. (=He didn´t stop walking)

• mean
• I’m sorry, I didn`t mean to be rude. (=intend)
• If we want to catch the early train, it’ll mean getting up at 5.00. (=involve)

• regret
• I regret to inform you that you have not passed the test this time. (=be sorry about
something you are about to say – often because it is bad news).
• He now regrets taking the day off work. (= He wishes he hadn`t taken the day off.)

• stop
• We’d better stop to look at the map (=stop what you are doing in order to do
something else)
• There’s nothing you can do about it, so stop worrying. (=finish worrying)

• try
• I’ve been trying to repair my computer all morning (=attempt something difficult)
• Have you tried kicking it? (=do something which might solve a problem)

Other uses of the ING form:

• As an adjective: that was a really interesting film

• As a noun: (the subject or object of a verb): Driving can be very tiring, especially late at night.
• As part of a participle clause or phrase
• After a preposition: Thank you all for being here. What wrong with lending him my car?
Relative clauses

Relative clauses contain a main verb and begin with a relative pronoun (that, which, who / whom,
whose) or a relative adverb (when, where, why)

• Use that, who, whom, whose to refer to people: Max is the boy whose father is a firefighter.
A firefighter is someone who puts out fires. The firefighter that rescued me was only 19 years
old. Note: whom is formal and is used mainly with prepositions: The person to whom this
letter is addressed is in Madrid.

• Use that and which to refer to things: The tree that was blown down in the storm was over a
hundred years old. The book which won the prize was written by a 19 year old girl.

• Use when to refer to times: The weekend is a time when many people relax.

• Use where to refer to places: The place where they live is in the middle of nowhere.

• Use why to refer to reasons: The reason why I’m late is that my flight was cancelled.

Relative clauses can be at the end of the sentence, or can be embedded in another clause: Madrid
is the city where I grow up. Madrid, where I grow up, is the capital of Spain.

There are two main types of relative clauses: identifying (or defining) and non-identifying (or
non-defining):
• The relative pronoun in an identifying relative clause defines the noun which immediately
precedes it, and is therefore essential to the meaning of the sentence: The couple who
brought me up were not my real parents. (The relative clause tells us which couple)

• Non-identifying relative clauses add additional information, but are not essential to the
meaning of the sentence: The hotel, which has a hundred bedrooms, is on the outskirts of the
city.

• Another type of non-identifying clause is a comment clause. In these we use which to

introduce a comment on a previous clause or phrase: It had been raining non-stop for the 24
hours, which is why I didn’t go out. We were stuck in the traffic jam for 3 hours, which I found
really frustrating.

Note 1: In writing, non-identifying relative clauses are separated from the main clause by commas.
My car, which is 7 years old, has already run 2,000 km. In speech, slight pauses are used to show
that a relative clause is non-identifying.

Note 2: The pronoun that cannot be used instead of who or which to introduce a non-
identifying relative clause.
Conditionals

st
1 Conditional

Form
If / unless + present simple / continuous tense – will/may/must, etc + infinitive

Use
To talk about very possible or probable situations in the present or future: If you miss the last
train home, you can always stay at my place.

nd
2 Conditional

Form
If / unless + past simple / continuous tense – would/could/might + infinitive

Use
• To talk about less possible or improbable situations in the present or future: If I got the job,
I’d have to move to Bristol.
• To talk about imaginary situations or events in the present: If I had more money, I’d travel
first class on the train. (I’m imagining having more money, contrary to the facts: I don’t have
much money. I don’t travel first class on the train.)

rd
3 Conditional

Form
If / unless + past perfect simple or continuous tense – would have / could have / might have +
past participle (been, done, eaten, etc.)

Use
th
To talk about imaginary situations or events in the past: If you had been born in the 19 century,
you would have travelled to work by horse. (imaginary, contrary to the facts: you weren’t born in
th th
the 19 century; you’re imagining a journey to work in the 19 century.)

In all types of conditional sentences the conditional clause (starting with if / unless) is understood
and therefore often omitted: How would you communicate with someone whose language you
couldn’t speak? – I’d use sign language.

If one part of the sentence speaks about the present / future and the other part about the past,
nd rd
2 and 3 conditionals can be “mixed”:

• If I hadn’t met Julia when I was travelling in Bulgaria last year (3rd conditional) we wouldn’t
be married now. (2nd conditional.)
• Anastasia would never have bought such an expensive book (3rd conditional), if she wasn’t
studying the subject for her PhD. (2nd conditional.)

Other conditional structures

If it weren’t / wasn’t / hadn’t been for + noun: If it weren’t for Karol’s sense of adventure, we
wouldn’t have mounted this expedition.

If + noun / pronoun + were to + infinitive (formal): If the company were to lower the fares, we’d
have more money for other things.
Other uses of conditionals

You can:

• Give advice using if I were you + I would + infinitive: If I were you, I’d take the laptop as hand
luggage.
• Make criticisms or strong requests using If you would + infinitive – would + infinitive: If you’d
stop making so much noise, perhaps we’d all be able to enjoy the programme.
• Make polite formal requests using the following (listed from quite formal to very informal):
I’d appreciate it if you would / could: I’d appreciate it if you could hand in the report by
Thursday. (Note: this form can also be used for making polite complaints or criticisms: I’d
appreciate it if you’d make less noise!)
• If you’d be so kind as to + infinitive (- will + infinitive): If you’d be so kind as to close the
window.

Prepositions in time expressions

Use at:
• With points of time: at four o’clock, at dawn, at midday.
• With short periods which we think of as points: I’m always short of money at the end of the
month.
• With mealtimes: We can discuss it at lunch tomorrow.

Note: We can also say: We can discuss it over / during lunch tomorrow

• With the weekend, Christmas and Easter: What are you doing at the weekend? (Note: in
American English: What are you doing on the weekend? Is also possible.)
• With night when talking about nights in general, not a particular night: The traffic noise
makes it difficult for me to sleep at night. (See in the night below, under “parts of the day”.)

Use in:
• For periods of time: in 2006, in March, in the autumn.
• For parts of the day: Sam always goes shopping in the morning. (but Sam always goes
shopping on Saturday morning. See below.)

Note: We use at night when talking about nights in general (see above) and in the night to mean
during a particular night: The pavement was wet this morning because it had rained in / during the
night.

• To say the period of time before something happens or how long something takes: I’ll call
you back in 20 minutes. In six months’ time I’ll have finished university. Clara managed t do all
her homework in just 20 minutes.

Use on:
• For particular dates, days or parts of days: I’m going on holiday on July 22nd. We’re having a
party on Saturday if you’d like to come. We always go bowling on Friday nights.

With occasion: Tatiana has visited us on several occasions in the past.

At, in and on to express location

Use at:
• When a place is thought of as a point, not an area (including at home, at school, at work, at
university):
• I’ll meet you at the airport when you arrive.
• To talk about an event involving a number of people: Tina met Joe at Charlie’s wedding.
• For addresses: She lives at Number 11, Abbey Road.

Use in:
• When a place is thought of as somewhere with an area or space: Gary lives in a small flat at
the top of a tower block.
• For cars and taxis: Let’s talk in the car.
• Normally with in class, in hospital, in prison, in court: He studied for a law degree while he
was in prison.
• With people or things which form line: Wait in the queue!
• For the world: It’s the tallest building in the world.

Use on:
• To talk about a position in contact with a surface: We’ve hung that picture you gave us on the
wall above the fireplace. She lay on the beach soaking up the warm spring sunshine.
• To talk about a position on something thought of as a line, e.g. a coast, a road, the outskirts,
the edge, etc: Keyhaven is a small village on the south coast. There were huge traffic jams on
the motorway yesterday evening.
• With means of transport apart from cars and taxis (see above): Hi Karen – I’m on a train and
I’ll be getting to you about six. OK?
• For technology: I’ve seen him on television. I’m afraid she’s on the phone at the moment.
• With left and right: You’ll find the post office on your left just past the supermarket.
• With lists: I’ll put “sausages” on the shopping list.
• With premises, farm, floor and island: It’s on the fifth floor.

Articles

The indefinite article a / an

A/an is used for something general or non-specific, or when we refer to something for the first time:
have you got a bicycle? (=any kind of bicycle) He’s a good gymnast. (=one of many). There’s a tennis
club in our town.

Other uses:

• To refer to someone’s job or function: She used to be a hotel receptionist.

• To mean one: I have a sister and two brothers. My grandfather lived to a hundred.

The definite article the

The is used when we know what is being discussed, e.g. it may be something specific, it may have
been mentioned before, or there may be only one of it: When is the furniture arriving? (= the local
college, the only one)

We also use the with plural countable nouns to refer to something known, to something specific or to
something that has been mentioned before: Grades are given according to accuracy and creativity.
The grades range form A-F.
No article

• With plural countable nouns and uncountable nouns with a general meaning: Cats chase
mice. Pollution is ruining our towns and cities.
• In certain phrases which relate to places, institutions or situations: Did you go to university?
(= Were you a student?) What did you do in class today? (= What did you learn?)

Other similar phrases: be in / go to church, court, hospital, prison; be at / go to sea, school,

university, work; be at / go home.

The Use of Commas

If a sentence starts with a clause introduced by whereas, while, though, although and even though,
even if, despite, etc, a comma is used to separate the first clause from the rest of the sentence:
Even though I felt ill, I thoroughly enjoyed the party.

No comma is used if these clauses come after the main clause: I thoroughly enjoyed the party.

However and nevertheless are followed by and sometimes also preceded by commas: I enjoy going to
the gym. However, I can’t stand running. I enjoy going to the gym. John, however, can’t stand it.

Comment Adverbials

Express how certain the speaker is about something. Some common adverbs: certainly, definitely,
possibly, probably, undoubtedly: She’s definitely happier now than she was when she first arrived in
the country.

Express the speaker´s attitude or opinion about what they say.

Some common adverbs: frankly, personally, unfortunately, surprisingly: I, personally, would

only emigrate if I was sure it would improve my standard of living.

Some common adverbial phrases: in my opinion, quite honestly, generally speaking, to my surprise:
Quite honestly, I don´t think you should have given him so much money.

Express the speaker’s opinion of their or someone else’s actions: cleverly, kindly, mistakenly,
strangely, foolishly, etc. (These adverbs depend on the action taken and therefore it is not possible to
provide a list of the most common ones): The government has mistakenly, I think, put restrictions on
immigration from certain countries. (i.e. I think the government’s action is a mistake): Strangely, I
haven’t heard anything from her since she moved house. (i.e. I think her failure to communicate is
strange.

Comment adverbials are often placed at the beginning of the sentence: Frankly, if I could choose, I’d
leave Manchester and migrate back to the country.

However they can also be placed:

• In the middle position in the sentence (between the subject and the adverb): She was
unfortunately extremely late for the appointment.
• Or at the end of the sentence: Demetrio is thinking of emigrating to Australia, apparently.

Note: In writing, comment adverbials are usually separated from the rest of the sentence by comma
when used at the beginning or the end of the sentence.