Verbs There are two classes of verbs: auxiliary verbs and all other verbs (ordinary verbs). Auxiliary verbs? To be, to have, to do, to dare, to need, to be able (can), may, must, will, shall, ought and used. Most verbs are known by their infinitives (to work, to play, to be, to have) but some of the auxiliaries have no infinitive: may, must, shall Auxiliary Verbs To be, to have, to do, to dare, to need, to be able (can), may, must, will, shall, ought and used Auxiliary verbs help to form tenses, e.g. I am waiting They are used with infinitives to suggest possibility, permission, ability and obligation. E.g. He may come tomorrow. I can type. You should stop now. I need to leave soon. I have to work. He dared to speak in front of her. Auxiliaries are often contracted, e.g. He can not go= he can’t go. I am here= I’m here. They are also used in question tags, E.g. He can’t go, can he? And, they are used in comparisons, E.g. Tom runs faster than you do. Tom ran faster than you did. Modal Auxiliary Verbs Verbs which describe how an action can or should be taken (and the reverse- what should not happen). One of the meanings of modal verbs is to do with degrees of certainty: modal verbs can be used to say for instance that a situation is certain, probable, possible or impossible, e.g. we could, we must, we have to , we can’t, we might not, we shouldn’t, they have to, they mustn’t, they will have to, they may, could we not.., etc. 1 Phrasal Verbs When a participle (preposition or adverb) is added to a verb, it results in a new word/meaning. E.g. He came across a rare book. E.g. He came up with a brilliant idea. E.g. He came down with a cold. E.g. He ran into an old friend. E.g. He ran up an enormous bill. E.g. He ran over his best friend’s cat. Tenses The Simple Present Tense Used to describe habitual actions, everyday events, abilities, preferences. On Monday I go to/ I eat/ I like Adverbs are often used to describe frequency, e.g. always, usually, often, on Mondays, twice a year This tense can be used to talk about planned events, e.g. We leave at 5.00 and arrive at 6.00. Then we catch the plane. The Present Continuous Tense Used to describe current circumstances and actions I am drawing/ writing/listening to For an action happening about this time I am reading a book about the Tudors For a definite arrangement in the future I am going to finish my book tomorrow For dramatic narrative He is coming up to the first jump when a man runs in front of him With always, suggests a repeated action which may be annoying or accidental He is always saying that/ I am always falling for tall, blue eyed people NB. Verbs which are not normally used in the continuous tense include: see, hear, smell, notice, recognise, want, desire, refuse, forgive, wish, care, live, hate, adore, like, love, dislike, think, understand, know, mean, suppose, believe, remember, forget, trust, own, owe, belong, possess, seem, signify, contain, consist, concern, matter The Past Perfect (simple past) Used to describe completed actions I walked/worked Some past tense forms are irregular Spoke, ate, and did, Often used when the time is given I met him at four o’clock Used for special events My mother once heard Joan Baez sing. And for a past habit, e.g. They never went to Cornwall for their holidays in the old days. 2 The Past Continuous Tense (past imperfect) This tense is chiefly used for past actions which continued for some time but which exact limits are unknown It was getting darker and darker Can be used with the simple past to describe an interruption of some kind. It was getting darker and darker, when he heard the sound of a fire alarm. Used in descriptions and for casual speech He was eating his breakfast, listening to the radio and feeling more than a little happy with his world. I was talking to Tim the other day. The Present Perfect Tense Use of the present form of the verb to have, E.g. I have worked Used to describe experience in the past over a period of time which is not defined in terms of start times and finish times. I have worked with children for a long time. Used with adverbs such as lately, recently, yet, never, always, seldom, frequently Used with a time expression describing a period of time For two years, since, all my life, never, always, Can sometimes be used to describe an action which began in the past and finishes at the moment of speaking It has been very wet recently but it’s beginning to get a bit drier now. Often used in questionnaires to establish frequency How often have you...? The Present Perfect Continuous Tense This is made up by the present perfect of the verb to be plus the present participle, e.g. I have been working This tense is used for an action which began in the past and is still continuing or has only just finished. Can be used for emphasis, an apology, reported speech. He told me that he has been very busy for quite some time. The Past Perfect Tense (Pluperfect) Use of the verb to have in the past form i.e. had with the past participle Used with since, for, always, never, until, till, when He had just left the office when his mobile phone rang. He had never seen the girl before. It can be used to describe an action which happened in the distant past and is still continuing or which preceded a following action. Useful for establishing a sequence of events or a change in circumstances or events He had been in the school for four years when the war started. He had smoked for most of his life until his wife died. The Past Perfect Continuous Tense Use of the verb in to have (had) with the present participle He had been leaving the office when I met his friend. 3 This tense is used in a similar way to the past perfect tense but there are subtle differences, e.g. by six o’clock I had mended the puncture. (The action was finished) I had been mending the puncture when....... (The action may not have been completed and may have occurred at the same time as something else) The Future The future can often be expressed using the simple present and the present continuous, e.g. We leave here at six. She is leaving at the end of this week. Where are you going? Are you coming in? Some verbs have to take shall or will, e.g. to know, to feel Not ‘I am knowing’ but ‘I shall know tonight’ Not ‘You are feeling better tonight’ but ‘You will feel better tonight’. Future with intention? Often expressed using the verb ‘to go’ plus the infinitive form of the verb e.g. I am going to buy a car. Will and shall are used with the infinitive without the word ‘to’, e.g. I shall buy a car next week. Future Continuous This tense is formed with the future tense of the verb to be plus the present participle which expresses a future without intention and which may continue for some time without definite limits, e.g. I shall be working from home tomorrow. Future Perfect Shall/will plus perfect infinitive (without to), e.g. I shall have worked for sixty hours by the end of next week. This tense can be used to describe an action which at a given time will be in the past, e.g. I shall have taken my final exams in two years’ time. The Past Participle and the Perfect Infinitive The past participle of regular verbs is the same as the simple past form (work, worked, worked). The past participle of irregular verbs varies and must be learnt. (Speak, spoke, spoken/ eat, ate, eaten/do, did, done) The perfect infinitive is formed with ‘to have’ and the past participle, e.g. to have worked, to have spoken, to have eaten, etc. Conditional Type 1- Probable condition If he runs all the way, he will catch the train (talking about a set of related circumstances) Type 2- Improbable condition If I dropped this, it would explode (talking about a set of possible circumstances) Type 3- Impossible Condition 4 If I had known you were going to buy that car, I would have warned you against buying it. (In other words, I didn’t know and you bought the car)- The condition can’t be fulfilled as the action has already happened. Sometimes we use the conditional when talking about alternatives and when describing what someone else would do in a similar position. E.g. If he were to take the M1 instead of the A1, his journey will take much longer. If I were you, I wouldn’t marry him! If only he hadn’t gone via the M1, he would be there by now! Active and Passive Voice There are two special forms for verbs called voice: 1. Active voice 2. Passive voice The active voice is the "normal" voice. This is the voice that we use most of the time. You are probably already familiar with the active voice. In the active voice, the object receives the action of the verb. The cat ate the fish. The children tickled the cat. The passive voice is less usual in everyday speech but is commonly used in scientific texts. In the passive voice, the subject receives the action of the verb. The object of the active verb becomes the subject of the passive verb. The fish was eaten by the cat. The cat was tickled by the children. My wallet has been stolen. 100 people are employed by the school. Subject Verb Agreement The basic rule states that a singular subject takes a singular verb while a plural subject takes a plural verb. When used as subjects, words such as: each, either, neither another anyone, anybody, anything someone, somebody, something one, everyone everybody, everything no one, nobody, nothing take singular verbs, e.g. Each child is given a prize. Everyone is welcome. Someone is watching me. Other words such as none, any, all more, most, some may take either singular or plural verbs, depending on the context, e.g. Some of the apple is rotten. Some of the apples are rotten. Singular subjects joined by "or," "nor," "either . . . or," or "neither. . . nor" take a singular verb, e.g. Neither the man nor the woman was present at the ceremony. 5 Prepositions A preposition links nouns, pronouns and phrases to other words in a sentence. The word or phrase that the preposition introduces is called the object of the preposition. A preposition usually indicates the temporal, spatial or logical relationship of its object to the rest of the sentence as in the following examples: The book is on the table. The book is beneath the table. The book is leaning against the table. The book is beside the table. She held the book over the table. She read the book during class. In each of the preceding sentences, a preposition locates the noun "book" in space or in time. A prepositional phrase is made up of the preposition, its object and any associated adjectives or adverbs. A prepositional phrase can function as a noun, an adjective, or an adverb. The most common prepositions are "about," "above," "across," "after," "against," "along," "among," "around," "at," "before," "behind," "below," "beneath," "beside," "between," "beyond," "but," "by," "despite," "down," "during," "except," "for," "from," "in," "inside," "into," "like," "near," "of," "off," "on," "onto," "out," "outside," "over," "past," "since," "through," "throughout," "till," "to," "toward," "under," "underneath," "until," "up," "upon," "with," "within," and "without." Adverbial Phrases The children climbed the mountain without fear. In this sentence, the preposition "without" introduces the noun "fear." The prepositional phrase "without fear" functions as an adverb describing how the children climbed. There was rejoicing throughout the land when the government was defeated. Here, the preposition "throughout" introduces the noun phrase "the land." The prepositional phrase acts as an adverb describing the location of the rejoicing. The spider crawled slowly along the banister. The preposition "along" introduces the noun phrase "the banister" and the prepositional phrase "along the banister" acts as an adverb, describing where the spider crawled. The dog is hiding under the porch because it knows it will be punished for chewing up a new pair of shoes. Here the preposition "under" introduces the prepositional phrase "under the porch," which acts as an adverb modifying the compound verb "is hiding." The screenwriter searched for the manuscript he was certain was somewhere in his office. Similarly in this sentence, the preposition "in" introduces a prepositional phrase "in his office," which acts as an adverb describing the location of the missing papers. Noun phrases . A noun phrase has a noun as its head. The modifiers may be: determiners He carried the bags possessives She brought Mary's bags adjectives The heavy bags are downstairs prepositional phrases The bridge over the river clauses The pub we went to 6 A noun phrase does the work of a noun in a sentence. It can be: the subject: The red balloon soared upwards. the object: I read that book about dinosaurs the complement: She wants to be a doctor. possessive my best friend’s father the object of a preposition looked over the fence Adjectival phrases Adjectival phrases either expand noun phrases or complete the verb (act as the complement) For example: They are really enthusiastic. The adjective enthusiastic is modified by the adverb really to form the adjectival phrase. It is the complement of the verb are. They are keen on football. The adjective keen combines with the prepositional phrase, on football. The head of the phrase is keen, and the phrase describes the keen-ness, so it’s an adjectival phrase. the unusually tall boy The adjective tall is modified by the adverb unusually to form the adjectival phrase. It expands the noun phrase the boy. Pronouns Pronouns are small words that take the place of a noun. Personal Pronouns I, you, her, she it, we, you, they, me, us, him, her, them Demonstrative Pronouns this, that, these, those Possessive Pronouns mine, yours, his, hers, ours, theirs Interrogative Pronouns who, what, why, where, when, whatever Reflexive Pronouns myself, yourself, himself, herself, itself, oneself, ourselves, yourselves, themselves Reciprocal Pronouns each other, one another Indefinite Pronouns another, much, nobody, few, such... Relative Pronouns who, whom, which... Indefinite Pronouns anything, anybody, anyone, something, somebody, someone, nothing, nobody, none, no one 7 Determiners Determiners are used in front of nouns to indicate whether you are referring to something specific or something of a particular type. Determiners are different from pronouns in that a determiner is always followed by a noun. Therefore personal pronouns ( I , you , he , etc.) and possessive pronouns (mine, yours, his, etc.) cannot be determiners. The definite and indefinite articles- a/an/the are all determiners. You use a specific determiner when people know exactly which thing(s) or person/people you are talking about. The specific determiners are: the definite article : the demonstratives : this, that, these, those possessives : my, your, his, her, its, our, their For example:"The dog barked at the boy." "These apples are rotten." "Their bus was late." You use general determiners to talk about people or things without saying exactly who or what they are. The general determiners are: the indefinite articles : a, an few fewer a few both less a little each little all either many another enough more any every most much neither no other several some 8