Grammar tips for graduation report
Tenses
Present Simple – form and use
One of the most common tenses in English. Third person singular has ending
–s, questions and negatives are formed with auxiliary verb do, does.
It is used to express habits, facts that are always true and states (facts
which stay the same for a long time) (timetable future)
Examples: He goes to work by car. / My daughter has brown eyes. / I live in a
flat.
Present Continuous
Form: present simple of the verb to be + verb + ending –ing; questions –
inversion
Use: action that is happening now, temporary activity, future arrangement
Examples: I'm revising English grammar at the moment. I'm living with my
grandparents (temporary; my parents went somewhere for two weeks). I'm
going to the cinema tomorrow.
Past Simple
Form: ending –ed or –d for all persons, questions and negatives with did
Use: finished action in the past, actions which follow each other in a
story, past habits
Examples: Yesterday I came late to school. It wasn't my fault. I collected
model cars when I was a child.
Past Continuous
Form: past simple of the verb to be + verb + ending –ing, Q & N - inversion
Use: longer, background activities, something that was going on in the
past, unfinished past actions etc.
Examples: When I came to the party people were dancing, some of them
were drinking. She was wearing a red dress… When I was crossing the street
I stepped on a banana skin and fell heavily.
Present perfect
Form: have/has + p.p.; Q & N – inversion
Use: it means “before now” and it does not express when the action
happened. (action which began in the past and still continues,
experience and present result)
Examples: I have been teaching English for 10 years. I have travelled a lot. I
can't give you a lift because I have crashed my car (It's still being repared).
Past perfect
Form: had + p.p.; Q & N – inversion
Use: Used to look back to a time in the past and refer to an action that
happened “before then”.
Example: When I came to the shop I realized that I had left my wallet at home.
Future tenses
Will + infinitive;
Use: decision made at the moment of speaking, future fact or prediction
Examples: I think it will be sunny tomorrow. Will you help me with these bags?
Going to
Use: intention that is thought about before the moment of speaking (plan) and
when we can see the evidence that something is certain to happen.
Example: I'm going to study medicine. What are you going to do with all that
paint? / Watch out! You're going to fall! / Look at the clouds. It's going to rain.
Passive
Use: Passive sentences move the focus from the subject to the object of
active sentence (because it is more important to us). Football is watched
every day. Telephone was invented in the 19th century.
Form: verb to be (in the same tense as the predicate) + p.p.
Reported Speech
Statements: When the reporting verb is in past tense, it is usual to move the
verb “one tense back”.
Example: "I'm going to redecorate my room". - She told me she was going to
redecorate her room.
Questions: The word order is the same as in the statement (no inversion, no
do/does/did); and if the reported verb is in past tense, it is usual to move the
verb “one tense back”.
Example: "Why haven't you read this book?" She asked why I hadn't read that
book. / "Are you hungry?" He wondered if I was hungry.
Commands, requests, offers etc.
They are formed with a verb + person + to/not to + infinitive.
Eg. "Don't leave the window open!" She told me not to let the window open.
Conditionals
Zero conditional – for conditions that are always true (if+present, present)
Eg. If you heat ice it melts.
First conditional – for conditions that are possible to happen (if+present,
will+infinitive) Eg. If you don't go away, I'll call the police.
Second conditional – imaginary about the present, possible in theory, but
not in practice (if+past, would+infinitive)
Eg. If I were you, I wouldn't listen to him.
Third conditional – imaginary about the past, impossible (if+past perfect,
would + have + p.p.)
Eg. If you had stopped on time, you wouldn't have crashed into that fence.
Sentences with wish – I wish... the same as second and third conditional
(unreal situation, therefore it goes one tense back).
Eg. I wish I had someone to talk to (but I don't).
Modal verbs of probability
They are used to express the degrees of certainty about present and past.
Different from other modal verbs expressing obligation (must, have to), ability
(can) etc. Eg. She might be cooking dinner. It can't be true!
Past tense is formed with perfect infinitive. I must have forgotten his number.