- •Contents
- •The Future-In-The-Past Tense……………………………………………………………..45 the present indefinite (simple) tense
- •I. The formation of the Present Indefinite.
- •1. The Present Indefinite is formed from the infinitive without the particle to.
- •9. To denote future actions in adverbial clauses of time after conjunctions when
- •10. To denote future actions in adverbial clauses of condition after conjunctions if
- •In case
- •11. To denote future actions in adverbial clauses of concession after conjunctions
- •What do we do next?
- •The present continuous tense
- •III. The Present Continuous Tense is used to denote:
- •Actions or events which are in progress at the moment of speaking. To emphasize this, we often use adverbials like now, at the moment, just, etc.:
- •6. For a frequently repeated action, usually when the frequency annoys the speaker or
- •7. For an action which appears to be continuous:
- •8. To describe current trends:
- •Verbs not normally used in the continuous tenses
- •VII. Verbs denoting effect or influence: astonish, impress, please, satisfy, surprise. Feel, look, smell and taste used in the continuous forms
- •2. Look
- •3. Smell
- •4.Taste
- •See and hear used in the continuous forms
- •Think, assume and expect used in the continuous forms
- •The past indefinite (simple) tense
- •I. The formation of the Past Indefinite.
- •Verbs ending in -e add -d only:
- •3. The contracted negative forms are:
- •4. The negative-interrogative forms are:
- •Irregular verbs: form
- •If the period is over or reference is made to a particular past point of time within that
- •2. In narrations to express a succession of action of past actions.
- •3. To express recurrent actions. It is generally supported by the use of adverbial modifiers
- •4. To express the immediate past. We can sometimes use the simple past without a time
- •6. To express permanent actions which indicate continuous, uninterrupted processes in the past, giving a general characteristic of the person or thing denoted by the subject.
- •The past continuous tense
- •2. The Past Continuous is used to express an action going on at a given period of time in the past.
- •The future indefinite (simple) tense
- •I. The formation of the Future Indefinite Tense
- •1. The Future Indefinite is formed by means of the auxiliary verbs shall/will
- •3. To denote future habitual actions which we assume will take place.
- •4. In sentences containing clauses of condition, time and sometimes purpose
- •The future continuous tense
- •The present perfect tense
- •III. The use of the Present Perfect
- •Have you been to Denmark?
- •Is this the first time you’ve been in hospital?
- •The present perfect continuous tense
- •I. The formation of the Present Perfect Continuous Tense
- •The past perfect tense
- •Had he not worked?
- •Hadn’t you worked?
- •The Squire was purple with anger before his son had done speaking.
- •With verbs not admitting of the Continuous form:
- •In negative sentences:
- •II. The contracted affirmative forms are:
- •Had he not been working?
- •Hadn’t you been working?
- •III. The use of the Past Perfect Continuous
- •The future perfect tense
- •I. The formation of thePerfect Continuous Tense
- •Will he not have worked?
- •Shan’t we have worked?
- •III. The use of the Future Perfect
- •The future perfect continuous tense
- •I. The formation of the Future Perfect Continuous Tense
- •II. The contracted affirmative forms are:
- •The Future Perfect Continuous denotes an action begun before a definite moment in the future and continued into that future moment;
- •The future-indefinite-in-the-past
- •I. The formation of the Future-Indefinite-in-the-Past
- •II. The contracted affirmative forms are:
- •Shouldn’t I work/
- •III. The use of the Future-Indefinite-in-the-Past.
- •The future-continuous-in-the-past
- •I. The formation of the Future-Continuous-in-the-Past
- •II. The contracted affirmative forms are:
- •I. The formation of the Future-Continuous-in-the-Past
- •I. The formation of the Future-Perfect-in-the-Past
- •II. The contracted affirmative forms are:
- •Should I not have been working?
- •Wouldn’t he have been working?
- •III. The use of the Future-Perfect-Continuous-in-the-Past
- •List of irregular verbs
- •Appendix
- •I. Some spelling rules
- •I. Doubling the final consonant.
- •II. Mute Final e.
- •III. Final -y and Its Modifications.
II. The contracted affirmative forms are:
I’d been working
We’d been working
The contracted negative forms are:
I hadn’t been working
We hadn’t been working
The negative-interrogative forms are:
Had he not been working?
Hadn’t he been working?
Had you not been working?
Hadn’t you been working?
III. The use of the Past Perfect Continuous
1. The Past Perfect Continuous denotes an action which began before a definite moment in the past, continued up to that moment and was still going on at that moment. Either the starting point of the action is indicated or the whole period of duration. The preposition for is used to denote the whole period of duration. Since is used to indicate the starting point of the action.
We couldn’t go out because it had been raining since early morning.
We couldn’t go out because it had been raining for two hours.
◆ With verbs not admitting of the Continuous form the Past Perfect is the only tense
possible.
With certain non-terminative verbs both the Past Perfect and the Past Perfect Continuous
are used.
He said he had worked for twenty years.
(The fact is emphasized.)
He said he had been working for a long time without achieving final results.
(The process is emphasized.)
1. The past moment from which the action expressed by the Past Perfect Continuous is viewed may be indicated:
by an adverbial expression introduced by the preposition by:
By that time she had been studying English for three years.
By the end of July they had been living at the seaside for a fortnight.
by a subordinate clause of time introduced by the conjunction when:
I had been working at my English for about two hours when my friend came.
When she began to study English, she had been taking French lessons for two years.
2. The Past Perfect Continuous may also be used to express an action begun before a given past moment, coming very close to that past moment but no longer going on that past moment, this is shown by the context.
She rose from the bench where she had been sitting for half an hour. The wind which had been blowing harder than ever from the south-west all day, dropped at sunset, and the moon climbed out of the ocean into a clear sky.
He had been smoking a cigarette, now he threw the end of it into the grate and rose from the bed where he had been sitting.
◆ The Past Perfect Continuous should not be confused with the Past Continuous. The Past Continuous is used to denote an action going on at a definite moment in the past, no previous duration is expressed. The Past Perfect continuous is used when the previous duration of the action is expressed.
And now it was raining, had been raining for days the miserable fall rains of Eastern France.
The magnificent motor-car was waiting at the kerb. It had been waiting for two hours.
The future perfect tense
I. The formation of thePerfect Continuous Tense
The Future Perfect is formed by means of the Future Indefinite of the auxiliary verb to have and Participle II of the notional verb.
In the interrogative form the auxiliary verb is placed before the subject.
In the negative form the negative particle not is placed after the first auxiliary verb.
Affirmative |
Interrogative |
Negative |
I shall have worked |
Shall I have worked? |
I shall not have worked |
You will have worked |
Will you have worked? |
You will not have worked |
He/she/it will have worked |
Will he/she/it have worked? |
He/she/it will have worked |
We shall have worked |
Shall we have worked? |
We shall not have worked |
They will have worked |
Will they have worked? |
They will not have worked |
II. The contracted affirmative forms are:
I’ll have worked
We’ll have worked
The contracted negative forms are:
I shan’t have worked
He won’t have worked
The negative-interrogative forms are: