- •Grammar
- •Oxford University Press
- •Preface to the fourth edition
- •Contents
- •Only a few of our customers have accounts.
- •Tourists come here but few stay overnight =
- •Our team is the best
- •The news is good
- •He had an exciting experience/some exciting experiences
- •Mr Jones's (w Mr Jones' house) Yeats's (or Yeats') poems
- •Sotheby's, Claridge's
- •King's Road Waterloo Bridge Leicester Square
- •She danced beautifully
- •How much (money) do you want? How many (pictures) did you buy?
- •It is better to be early instead of
- •Ann opened the door herself
- •The man who told me this refused to give me his name
- •The man from whom I bought it told me to oil it or
- •The car which/that I hired broke down or The car I hired …
- •I told Peter, who said it wasn't his business
- •I do the cooking and help Tom besides
- •Nobody knew the way except Tom
- •100 Classes of verbs
- •101 Principal parts of the active verb
- •Present participle and gerund working not working
- •102 Active tenses
- •C Stress
- •103 Negatives of tenses
- •B Negative contractions
- •104 Interrogative for questions and requests
- •Does Peter enjoy parties? Did he enjoy Ann's party?
- •B Contractions of be, have, will, would, shall, should and do in the interrogative
- •How will/How 'II he get there? What has/What's happened?
- •When is/When's he coming?
- •Would you mind moving your car?
- •Do you think you could give me a hand?
- •105 Negative interrogative
- •Did you not see her? Is he not coming?
- •Didn't you see her? Isn't he coming?
- •106 Auxiliaries and modal auxiliaries
- •107 Auxiliaries: forms and patterns
- •Does he have to go?
- •What do you do in the evenings?
- •108 Auxiliaries in short answers
- •Why did you travel first class? ~ But I didn't!
- •110 Question tags
- •Peter helped you, didn't he?
- •D Intonation
- •111 Comment tags
- •112 Additions to remarks
- •114 Use to form tenses
- •A First person
- •B Second person
- •A Form
- •Although the pilot was badly hurt he was able to explain what had happened. (He could and did explain.)
- •You should send in accurate income tax returns
- •You must read this. It's marvellous!
- •I have to take two of these pills a day
- •167 Other possible uses of the present continuous
- •When did you meet him?
- •Tom was talking on the phone
- •Has he just gone out?
- •I have seen wolves in that/west
- •I used to see wolves here and
- •Has the postman come yet/this morning?
- •Did the postman come this morning?
- •How long have you been here? — I've, been here six months
- •I'm going to sell the car
- •I will wait for you = I intend to wait for you
- •Would you like a drink? or Will you have a drink?
- •I'll write to Mr Pitt and tell him about Tom's new house
- •What are you doing/going to do on Saturday?
- •Will you be working all day?
- •I intend to sell it
- •Could you please show me the way?
105 Negative interrogative
A This is formed by putting not after the ordinary interrogative:
Did you not see her? Is he not coming?
But this form is almost always contracted:
Didn't you see her? Isn't he coming?
Note that not is now before the subject.
am I not? has an irregular contraction: aren't I?
The negative interrogative is used when the speaker expects or hopes for an affirmative answer:
Haven't you finished yet? Don't you like my new dress?
CHILD : Can't I stay up till the end of the programme?
I could wait ten minutes. ~ Couldn't you wait a little longer?
The negative interrogative is also used in question tags after an affirmative sentence: You paid him, didn't you?
She would like to come, wouldn't she? (See 110.)
Auxiliary verbs
106 Auxiliaries and modal auxiliaries
Principal auxiliaries |
Modal auxiliaries |
Semi-modals |
|
to be |
can |
could |
to need |
to have |
may |
might |
to dare |
to do |
must |
had to |
used |
ought |
|
|
|
shall |
should |
|
|
will |
would |
|
|
Auxiliaries help to form a tense or an expression, hence the name.
They combine with present or past participles or with infinitives to form the tenses of ordinary
verbs: |
|
|
I am coming. |
He has finished. |
I didn't see them. |
They combine with infinitives to indicate permission, possibility, obligation, deduction etc. as will be
shown in the following chapters: |
|
He can speak French. |
You may go. We must hurry. |
107 Auxiliaries: forms and patterns
A be, have and do (the principal auxiliaries)
Infinitive |
Present tense |
Past tense Past |
|
participle |
|
|
|
to be |
am. is, are |
was |
been |
to have |
have, has |
had |
had |
to do |
do, does |
did |
done |
1In the negative and interrogative, be and do follow the auxiliary pattern: Negative, verb + not:
He isn't coming. It did not matter.
Interrogative, subject + verb:
Was he waiting? Does she see us?
A Practical English Grammar |
77 |