- •1. Kinds of nouns
- •2. Gender
- •3. Plurals
- •4. Uncountable nouns
- •5. Possessive case
- •Adjectives
- •1. Kinds of adjectives
- •2. Participles used as adjectives
- •3. Position of adjectives: attributive and predicative use
- •9. Comparison of adjectives
- •Adverbs
- •1. Kinds of adverbs
- •2. Form and use
- •3. Some words are both adjectives and adverbs:
- •4. Comparative and superlative adverb forms
- •5. Constructions with comparisons.
- •6. Position of adverbs
- •3. Uses of the Present Continuous Tense
- •4. Verbs not normally used in the Continuous Tenses
- •5. See, feel, look, smell and taste used in the continuous
- •6. The Continuous and Non-Continuous Uses of Certain Verbs
- •The simple present tense
- •1. Form
- •2. Spelling Notes
- •3. Uses of the Simple Present Tense
- •4. Other Uses of the Simple Present Tense
- •The past and perfect tenses the simple past tense
- •1. Form
- •2. Spelling Notes
- •3. Uses of the Past Simple Tense
- •4. Used to Indicating Past Habit
- •The past continuous tense
- •1. Form
- •2. Main Uses of the Past Continuous Tense
- •3. Other Uses of the Past Continuous Tense
- •The present perfect tense (simple and continuous)
- •1. Form
- •2. The Present Perfect Used for Past Actions Whose Time is not Definite
- •3. The Present Perfect Used for Actions Occurring in an Incomplete Period
- •4. The Present Perfect (Simple and Continuous) Used for Actions and Situations Continuing up to the Present
- •5. Special Structures in the Present Perfect
- •The past perfect tense (simple, continuous)
- •1. Form
- •3. Past and Past Perfect Tenses in Time Clauses.
- •4. Past Perfect Tense in Main Clause
- •The future
- •1. Future Forms
- •2. The simple present used for the future
- •4. The Present Continuous as a Future Form
- •5. The be going to form
- •6. The Future Simple
- •7. The Future Continuous
- •8. The Future Perfect
- •9. The Future Perfect Continuous
- •The passive voice
- •1. Form
- •2. Various Structures Expressed in the Passive
- •3. Active Tenses and Their Passive Equivalents
- •4. Get in the Passive
- •5. Questions in the passive
- •6. Uses of the Passive: Active or Passive
- •7. The Passive is Used:
- •8. Passive Sentences with or without by:
- •9. Passive with the Verbs Having Two Objects
- •10. Special Passive Patterns
- •11. Verbs Which Cannot be Used in the Passive
- •1. Modal Auxiliary Verbs: General
- •2. Modal Auxiliary Verbs With Perfect Infinitives
- •3. Can, could and be able for ability
- •4. May and Can for Permission
- •5. May and Can for Possibility
- •6. Could as an Alternative to May/Might
- •7. Can in Interrogative and Negative Sentences
- •8. Can Used to Express ‘Theoretical Possibility’
- •9. Set Phrases with Can, May, Might
- •10. Must and Have for Deduction and Assumption
- •11. Must and have to: forms
- •12. Difference between have to and have got to Forms
- •13. Difference between must and have to in the Affirmative
- •14. Need not and must not in the Present and Future
- •15. Must, have to and need in the Interrogative
- •17. Needn’t have done Compared with didn’t have/need to do
- •18. Ought and Should for Obligation
- •The infinitive
- •1. Forms
- •2. Infinitive without to
- •3. The Infinitive Represented by its to
- •4. Split Infinitives
- •5. The Infinitive Used as a Connective Link
- •6. Functions of the infinitive
- •7. The Infinitive as Subject of a Sentence
- •8. The Infinitive as Complement of a Verb
- •9. The Infinitive as Object of a Verb
- •10. The Infinitive as Object of an Adjective
- •11. The Infinitive after Interrogative Conjunction
- •12. The Infinitive as Adverbial Modifier
- •A. TheInfinitive as Adverbial Modifier of Purpose
- •B. The Infinitive asAdverbial Modifier of Result
- •13. The Infinitive as Attribute
- •14. Active and Passive Infinitive with Similar Meaning
- •15. Objective-with-the-Infinitive Construction
- •16. Nominative-with-the-Infinitive Construction
- •19. The Infinitive as Parenthesis
- •The gerund
- •1. Form and Use
- •2. Functions of the Gerund
- •3. Verbs Followed by the Gerund
- •Note that:
- •5. Gerunds after Prepositions
- •6. The Verb mind
- •7. Gerunds with Passive Meaning
- •8. The Gerund: Special Cases
- •Infinitive and gerund constructions
- •1. Verbs and Adjectives Which May Take either Infinitive or Gerund
- •M. Accustomed, afraid, ashamed, certain, interested, sorry, sure, used
- •The participles
- •1. The Present (or Active) Participle
- •2. Present Participle after verbs of sensation
- •I saw him enter the room, unlock a drawer, take out a document, photograph it and put it back.
- •4. Go, come, spend, waste, be busy
- •5. A present participle phrase replacing a main clause
- •6. A present participle phrase replacing a subordinate clause
- •7. The perfect participle (active)
- •8. The past participle (passive) and the perfect participle (passive)
- •9. Participles used as adjectives before and after nouns
- •10. Misrelated participles
- •Reported speech
- •1. Main points
- •2. Statements in reported speech 1. If you want to report a statement, you use a ‘that’-clause after certain verbs. The most useful are:
- •Tense changes
- •Indirect speech is usually introduced by a verb in the past tense. Verbs in the reported clause have to be changed into a corresponding ‘more past’ tense.
- •1. Past Simple and Past Continuous in time clauses do not normally change. The verb in the main clause can either remain unchanged or become the past perfect:
- •5. Time and place expressions in reported speech
- •6. Modals in reported speech
- •7. Reported questions
- •8. Questions beginning Shall I/we…? Such questions can be of different types:
- •9. Reported orders/requests/advice/suggestions, etc.
- •14. Let’s, let him/them in indirect speech 1. Let’s usually expresses a suggestion and is reported by suggest in reported speech:
- •15. Exclamations and yes/no
- •16. Reported speech: mixed types
- •Contents
4. Past Perfect Tense in Main Clause
A. Sometimes the action in the main clause can precede the action of the subordinate clause. In this case in Russian sentences the adverb ‘уже’ is often used.
They had gone to bed when we came.
Они уже легли спать, когда мы пришли.
But in English sentences the use of ‘already’ is not obligatory because the very form of the Past Perfect shows the completion of the action.
B. Note the use of the Past Perfect Negative. In this case the Past Perfect describes the action not yet finished before the beginning of the following one. In the corresponding Russian sentence the adverb ‘еще’ is used.
They hadn’t gone to bed when we came.
Они еще не легли спать (не успели лечь спать),
когда мы пришли.
C. Constructions hardly (scarcely) .... when - едва/только .... как
and no sooner .... than - не успел .... как
He had hardly (scarcely) entered the house when it began to rain.
Едва/только он вошел в дом, как пошел дождь.
He had no sooner come than he fell ill.
Не успел он приехать, как заболел.
The future
1. Future Forms
There are several ways of expressing the future in English. The forms are listed below and will be dealt with in the order in which they are given. It is recommended to study them in this order, as otherwise the relationship between them will not be clear.
a. The simple present
b. will + infinitive, used for intention
c. The present continuous
d. The be going to form
e. The ‘future simple’ will/shall + infinitive
f. The future continuous
g. The future perfect
h. The future perfect continuous
i. be + infinitive used to express future plans
j. be about + infinitive
2. The simple present used for the future
A. We use the present simple to talk about future events which are already ‘on a programme’. This is particularly common when we refer to timetables:
The autumn term starts on September 10th.
What time does the next train to London leave?
B. The simple present is used when speaking of a series of proposed future actions, like plans for a journey:
We leave at six, arrive in Dublin at ten and take the plane to London.
C. The present simple is also common in subordinate clauses of sentences about the future, after conjunctions of time, condition, and some others:
Tell me as soon as she arrives.
Supposing it snows - what shall we do?
3. Will + Infinitive Used to Express Intention at the Moment of Decision
A. If we talk about a decision at the moment we are making it, we generally use the future with will. (Shall is not common in this meaning except in questions.) The contracted form ‘ll is very frequent.
The phone is ringing. - I’ll answer it.
I’m going out for a drink. - Wait a minute and I’ll come with you.
We use shall if we are asking what decision we ought to make:
What shall I do?
Shall we tell her?
B. will + infinitive for threats, promises, offers, requests and refusal
1. Threats and promises are decisions, either to do something definitely, or to do it under certain circumstances:
I promise I’ll phone you as soon as I arrive.
I swear I’ll pay you back.
I’ll hit you if you do that again.
2. When we make offers and requests, we are asking for future actions to be decided:
That bag looks heavy. I’ll help you with it.
I need some money. - Don’t worry. I’ll lend you some.
We usually use Shall I...? for offers and Will you...? for requests:
Shall I carry your bag?
Will you shut the door, please?
3. To express negative intention (or refusal) we use won’t:
He won’t pay.
I won’t tell Tom what you said.