Prepositions of Time - we use these prepositions to talk about time, either with a specific start and finish or general periods of time. We use them to explain when something happened. There is no real logic to which prepositions we use when talking about time so...
Coordinating conjunctions are FANBOYS! Yes, FANBOYS is a mnemonic you can use to remember the seven coordinating conjunctions: for and nor but or yet so Coordinating conjunctions can connect words, phrases, and clauses. A coordinating conjunction joins two main...
The Past Perfect Continuous (PPC) is used to talk about a continuous event in the past which happened before another event to which it was closely related. In this diagram, the wiggly line is the PPC and the cross is a closely related second event which "stops" the...
It is sometimes the case that students will have problems understanding when to use the Present Perfect Simple and when to use the Past Simple. In general, the Past Simple is used for an action completed in the past. (Note that we would use the Past Continuous...
We use Perfect Tenses to talk about a finished action, often in relation to another action. This action can occur at any time in the past, present or future. 3 Perfect Tenses There are three perfect tenses in English: Past Perfect This is used to talk about a...
The Imperative (sometimes called the Imperative Mood)is a form of verb in English. It's used mainly to tell people what to do so we can have different types of imperative sentences: Giving Orders: Stop! Shut the door! Giving instructions: Add a pinch of salt and...
The future tense is used to talk about events in the future. There are a number of different verb forms we can use to talk about the future. Present Continuous This is very common. We use the present continuous to talk about plans for the future, often with an...
Let's suppose you are talking about 2 events in the future: My computer will make 1 million calculations per minute. You will return from your coffee break in 20 minutes. We can put these together and say: By the time you return from your coffee break, my computer...
The Future Continuous verb form indicates an action or an event that will be in progress at sometime in the future. As you can see from the timeline here, the action begins in the future and continues past a specific time the speaker is talking about. For example,...
The Present Participle is a participle that ends in -ing. We use it with the auxiliary verb to be to form the continuous tenses: {be} + (verb -ing} I was walking home. She is running for the bus. Form The present participle is formed by adding -ing to the bare...
When we use a preposition, we can follow it with the gerund: {verb phrase} + {preposition} + {gerund} He coughed before beginning to speak. They succeeded in breaking the door down. With most prepositions this is no problem. However, when we use the preposition to,...
A Participle is a form of a verb. In English there are two participles: Present Participle Past Participle Usage We use the participles to help form different verb tenses. For example in this first example we use just the basic verb form known as the...
We use the Continuous Verb Forms to talk about things which are happening over a period of time. With continuous forms we highlight the duration of an event. Note that sometimes we use the word Progressive instead of Continuous. Continuous forms usually talk about...
Irregular Verbs are those verbs which do not follow the normal rules of conjugation in English. In English, most verbs follow this pattern and are regular: infinitive past form past participle walk walked walked As you can see, they add an -ed to the end of...
Indefinite Pronouns replace nouns or people or things that are not clearly specified. Some like it hot. Some who? Some what? Some people? Some animals? Some planets? Someone knocked at the door. We don’t know who it is. We just heard a knock and assume it is a person....
To show degrees of ability, we can use modal verbs. These show: 1. ability or opportunity in the present She can play the piano. She is able to play the piano. 2. ability or opportunity in the past She could play the piano. She was able to play the piano. 3. ability...
The Zero Article does not exist. But it is very useful nonetheless. Talking about the zero article is useful when we're describing how to use articles. But essentially when we talk about the zero article we mean that we do not use any article in front of a noun. In...
An Adverb Phrase (sometimes known as an Adverbial Phrase) is - as you might guess - simply a group of words which act in exactly the same way (grammatically speaking) as a single adverb. For example, here's a sentence with a single adverb: The police arrived quickly....
Determiners are words we put in front of a noun or noun phrase. They tell us about the number and type of items we are talking about and often restrict the use of the noun. They are also one of the main PoS categories, that is, one of the main categories in which...
The future simple is used to express future time. I will be happy to help you anytime! I am going to go Spain tomorrow morning! Our staff will answer your calls between 8am and 5pm. The future simple is in itself a fairly straightforward tense to explain and form. Its...
We use the present perfect continuous in two ways: 1. to talk about an event which started in the past and is continuing now. We often use the words for and since with this tense. I have been learning English for six years. They have been living in Paris since July....
To express degrees of necessity we can use various modal verbs. 100% Necessity You must leave straight away. You have [got] to leave straight away. must is used when the necessity is dictated by the speaker's authority. have [got] to is used when the necessity is...
When we use nouns, we often use them with one or more other words to make a noun phrase. A noun phrase therefore is a group of words which contains a noun and one or more words that describe it further. Very often we put a determiner in front of the noun to make a...
The past perfect simple is used to talk about events which happened in the past before another event also in the past. It is mainly used thus: I had walked for about twenty minutes before I realized I'd left my wallet behind. It's usually followed by the past...
Nouns are words used to name objects, concepts, ideas, things and so on. We can classify nouns in different ways including dividing them into Concrete Nouns and Abstract Nouns. Concrete Nouns include: house banana football school Abstract Nouns include: love humor...
We use Demonstrative Adjectives to talk about specific examples of a noun. These are a kind of determiner. The demonstrative adjectives are: this that these those Although these look exactly like the demonstrative pronouns, when placed in front of a noun they function...
Adjectives normally tell us more about nouns e.g. {adjective} + {noun} rich + people poor + men Adjectives as Nouns However, we can also use an adjective as a noun by using this pattern: the + {adjective} We use this to talk about a group of people: The rich get...
This article looks at the Position of Adjectives in a phrase. In English, unlike many other languages, adjectives generally come before the noun they describe: {adjective} + {noun} These are called attributive adjectives. brown wall young girl And so on. We can...
Auxiliary Verbs (from the Latin auxilio = to help; they are also known as helping verbs) are verbs used to change the tense, form mood and voice of other verbs. In other words, we add an auxiliary to a verb to turn it into a question, to put it into the past, to...
The Past Continuous (also called the Past Progressive) is used in several different ways: interrupted actions in the past parallel actions in the past It is used to reference a continuous (long-term) action in the past: They were kissing when we walked in. He was...
