HAAGA-HELIA
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22 September 2007
Verbs in Brief
(1) Questions and negative sentences
Use the verb “do” (“does” in the 3rd person)
in the present and past tenses
*** Do you know where he went?
*** No, I don’t.
*** Where did he go?
*** Do you know where he works?
*** Where does he work?
(2) Continuous forms (-ing)
Something is happening
*** I am reading.
Temporary action
*** He is studying in Finland for six months.
Continuous action
*** I’ve been writing that column for a few years now.
(3) Present simple and present continuous
Regular action  Present simple
Always, generally, usually, sometimes, often, seldom, once a week, every year, etc.
*** I always/generally/usually/sometimes/often/seldom go to work by bike.
*** She travels abroad every year.
The following verbs  normally never “–ing”
Want, like, believe, understand, own (consists of, include)
*** I want/like/believe/understand/own
*** This team consists of five members. This team includes five members.
*** (But: This team, consisting of five members, is working hard for it.)
*** (But: This team, including five members, is working hard for it.)
Present continuous – changing action or something taking place at the
moment
Now, at the moment, currently, today
*** He is writing. Is he writing? He is not writing. Is he not writing?
(4) Past simple and present perfect
Past simple: regular verbs (–ed)
*** worked
*** ate
Present perfect: auxiliary “have” + 3rd form of the verb (past participle)
*** have/has worked
*** have/has eaten
HAAGA-HELIA
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22 September 2007
Special characteristics
(a) Past simple (action has started and ended in the past, generally with an
adverb defining the time
*** I wrote two reports yesterday.
(b) Present perfect (action started in the past but is still going on)
*** I have worked as a journalist for a long time.
(c) Present perfect in Finnish, past simple in English:
*** I was born in Helsinki.
*** Laihian Nuuka Lämpö Oy was established in 1998.
(5) Future
Auxiliary shall/will
*** I shall/will, you will, he/she will, we shall/will, you will, they will
Do not use the future tense in subordinate clauses expressing time and
starting with one of the following words:
If, unless, when, as soon as, while, before, after, until/till
*** If you go home tomorrow, I will go with you.
*** I will call you as soon as I get home.
*** They will write it before they go home today.
*** After I finish my meeting, I will check my email.
*** I will wait until you get here.
Future continuous: will + be + ing form
*** When will you be visiting me again?
*** We’ll be seeing you again next month.
Future perfect: will + auxiliary “have” + 3rd form of the verb (past participle)
*** They will have singed the agreement before noon tomorrow.
Future perfect continuous
*** In August I will have been working for this company for 19 years.
Expressions of intention
To be going to + infinitive
*** We are going to introduce many new products in the coming months.
To intend to + infinitive
*** He intends to contact her soon.
To plan to + infinitive
*** We plan to launch a major advertising campaign.
(6) Conditional
Would + basic form of the main verb/would + auxiliary “have” + 3rd form of
the verb (past participle)
 Used in polite speech.
*** Would you do that for me?
HAAGA-HELIA
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22 September 2007
 In an if-clause, use the past tense or the past perfect.
*** I would be happy if I knew the truth.
*** We would have been happy if they had joined us.
Should, ought to, could, might
(7) Passive
Object in the active clause  Subject in the passive clause
Subject in the active clause  “by” + agent
*** We organised the conference.  The conference was organised by us.
Pay attention to the position of the preposition “of” in the following:
*** Our team will take care of the guests.  The guests will be taken care of by our team.
(8) Infinitive without particle “to”
With auxiliary verbs
*** I do like it.
*** I will call you.
After the active form of verbs expressing sense perception
See, hear, watch, feel
*** I have seen him fly many times.
(But: I saw him standing in the hall.)
After the active form of the verbs “make” and “let”.
*** She makes me smile.
*** Let me help you.
(9) Verbs with the infinitive
… to do something
*** I cannot afford to buy a new computer.
*** They agree to pay the bill.
*** He will arrange to have the summit on these premises.
*** I choose to read the longer version.
*** They decided to stay one more day.
*** He failed to arrive on time.
*** Don’t hesitate to call me.
*** Did you manage to find the book?
*** Do you mean to close the operations?
*** Don’t neglect to call the customer.
*** She offered to finish my report.
*** They persuaded me to come here.
*** You promised to write it by tomorrow.
*** What do you propose to do?
*** I refuse to discuss it any further.
*** We seem to succeed quite well.
*** We have undertaken to keep the prices low.
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22 September 2007
(10)
Gerund (-ing form) and present participle
Present participle
*** We met some smiling people
Ing-form
*** Smiling is good for you.
*** He enjoys cooking.
*** Writing this article took me the whole day.
*** The writing of this article took me the whole day.
With prepositions
*** He was interested in hearing more.
With certain verbs
*** I admit loving you.
*** I appreciate having you in my life.
*** They avoid working overtime.
*** Please consider coming along.
*** Let’s not delay sharing the news.
*** Don’t deny having said so.
*** I dislike arguing with them.
*** They enjoy listening to music.
*** Have you finished reading the paper?
*** Keep going!
*** Do you mind leaving me alone?
*** I have to postpone writing that story.
*** Many people put off going to the doctor.
*** I want to practise speaking English.
*** Let’s not risk losing him.
*** Please stop teasing me.
Verb form
Active (3rd form)
Passive (3rd form)
Present simple
Present continuous
Past simple
Past continuous
Present perfect
Past perfect
Future
Future continuous
Future perfect
Conditional
Perfect conditional
Present infinitive
Perfect infinitive
Present participle / gerund
Perfect participle
Writes
Is writing
Wrote
Was writing
Has written
Had written
Will write
Will be writing
Will have written
Would write
Would have written
To write
To have written
Writing
Having written
Is written
Is being written
Was written
Was being written
Has been written
Had been written
Will be written
Will have been written
Would be written
Would have been written
To be written
To have been written
Being written
Having been written