COLLECTION OF GRAMMAR

STRUCTURES.

AMAYA CARVAJAL José Daniel

SUMMARY: I. - PRESENT SIMPLE. II. - SIMPLE PAST. III. -

PRESENT PROGRESSIVE. IV. - PAST PROGRESSIVE. V. -

PRESENT PERFECT. VI. - PAST PERFECT. VII. - PRESENT

PERFECT PROGRESSIVE. VIII. - PAST PERFECT

PROGRESSIVE. IX.- PASSIVE VOICE. X. - REPORTED

SPEECH. XI. - CONDITIONALS. XII. – BIBLIOGRAPHY.

I. - PRESENT SIMPLE

FORM

Study this example situation:

Alex is a bus driver, but now he is in bed asleep. He is not driving a bus. (He is

asleep.) But He drives a bus. (He is a bus driver.) Drive(s)/work(s)/do(es), etc.

is the present simple:1

I/We/You/They Drive/work/do, etc.

He/She/It Drives/ works/ does, etc.

We use do/does to make questions and negative sentences:

Auxiliar

y

Subject Verb Subject Auxiliary

(negative form)

Verb

Do I, we, you, they Work? I, we, you, they Do not (don´t) play, speak,

smoke, use

does He, she, it Dance? He, she, it Does not (doesn

´t)

work

1 Murphy, Raymond, “English Grammar in Use”, a self-study reference and practice book for intermediate students of English, 3th ed., Cambridge University Press, United Kingdom, 2005, p. 4

1

USE

We use the present simple to describe general actions, events and states when

we have no reason to think of them as being in any way temporary or limited in

time. We use it to say that something happens all the time or repeatedly, or that

something is true in general. It is not important whether the action is happening

at the time of speaking.2

We use the present simple for things that are true in general, or things that

happen sometimes or all the time3:

I like big cities.

Your English is good. You speak very well.

Tim works very hard. He starts at 7:30 and finishes at 8 o´clock in the evening.

The earth goes round the sun.

We do a lot of different things in our free time.

It costs a lot of money to build a hospital.

We often use adverbs of frequency (e.g. always, usually, etc.) and expressions

of repeated time (e.g. on Tuesdays, in the summer, twice a year, etc.) with this

use of the present simple. We also often focus on “habitual behavior” in

presenting this use to learners.4

EXAMPLES

I play tennis.

She does not play tennis.

Does he play tennis?

The train leaves every morning at 8 AM.

The train does not leave at 9 AM.

When does the train usually leave?

She always forgets her purse.

He never forgets his wallet.

Every twelve months, the Earth circles the Sun.

Does the Sun circle the Earth?

II. - PAST SIMPLE

2 Idem, p. 4.3 Murphy, Raymond, “Essential grammar in use”, a self- study reference and practice book for elementary students of English, 3th ed., Cambridge University Press, United Kingdom, 2007, p. 20.4 Parrott, Martin, “Grammar for English Language Teachers”, Cambridge University Press, United Kingdom, 2000. pp. 154-155.

2

FORM

We form the simple past of a verb by adding -ed onto the end of a regular verb but,

irregular verb forms have to be learned.

Very often the past simple ends in –ed (regular verbs):

I work in a travel agency now. Before that I worked in a department store.

We invited them to our party, but they decided not to come.

The police stopped me on my way home last night.

Laura passed her examination because she studied very hard.

But many verbs are irregular. The past simple does not end in –ed. For example:

Write/ wrote Mozart wrote more than 600 pieces of music.

See/ saw We saw Rose in town a few days ago.

Go/ went I went to the cinema three times last week.

Shut/ shut It was cold, so I shut the window.

To be

Statements

+

To be

Statements

-

Questions ?

I was. I wasn't. Was I?

He was. He wasn't. Was he?

She was. She wasn't. Was she?

It was. It wasn't. Was it?

You were. You weren't. Were you?

We were. We weren't. Were we?

They were. They weren't. Were they?

Regular Verb (to work)

Statements

+

Regular Verb (to work)

Statements

-

Questions

Short

answer

+

Short

answer

-

I worked. I didn't work. Did I work? Yes, I did. No, I didn't.

He worked. He didn't work. Did he work?Yes, he

did.

No, he

didn't.

She worked. She didn't work. Did she Yes, she No, she

3

work? did. didn't.

It worked. It didn't work. Did it work? Yes, it did.No, it

didn't.

You worked. You didn't work.Did you

work?

Yes you

did.

No, you

didn't.

We worked. We didn't work.Did we

work?

Yes we

did.

No, we

didn't.

They worked. They didn't work.Did they

work?

Yes they

did.

No, they

didn't.

USE

The past simple is one of the tenses we use to refer to completed events, states

or actions. We choose the past simple when we consider that the event, state or

action took place within a finished period of time.

We often use an expression such as last week, at the weekend, in 1972, 3

years ago, or when we were on holiday to make it clear that the period of time is

finished. Sometimes, however, this completed period of time is only implied.5

EXAMPLES

We moved here in 1991.

Did you move here in 1991?

Sophia and I met yesterday.

They were very pleased.

They were not pleased at all.

They were not pleased at all.

Who did you work for?

I went to the butcher's...but they didn't have any steak...

Well I bought some flowers for you dear...But I forgot them at work.

III. - PRESENT PROGRESSIVE

FORM

5 Idem, p. 185.

4

We form the present continuous (progressive) with a present tense form of to be

(am, is, are) and an –ing form:6

Question

word

Am/is/are Subject Am/

is/are

Not or +n´t -ing form

Affirmative: People are beginning to leave

Question: (Where) are They going?

Negative: She Isn´t making a noise

USE

We use the present continuous when we talk about something that is happening

at the time of speaking. We also use the present continuous when we talk about

something that is happening around the time of speaking, but not necessarily

exactly at the time of speaking.7

EXAMPLES

Please don´t make so much noise. I am studying.

Where is Peter? He is taking a bath.

Let´s go out now. It is not raining any more.

Hello, Ann. Are you enjoying the party?

Tom and Ann are talking and having coffee in a café. Tom says: “I´m reading an

interesting book at the moment. I´ll lend it to you when I´ve finished it.”

Please be quiet. I am working.

Look, there is Sarah. She is wearing a brown coat.

IV. - PAST PROGRESSIVE

FORM

6 Parrott, Martin, Op. cit., p. 157.7 Murphy, Raymond, “Grammar in Use”, Reference and practice for intermediate students of English, Cambridge University Press, United Kingdom, 1989. p. 2.

5

We form the past continuous (progressive) with was or were followed by the

main verb and –ing form:8

Question

word

Was/ Were Subject Was/

Were

Not or +n´t -ing form

Affirmative: They were dancing

Question: (Why) was she talking?

Negative: I Was not (wasn´t) concentrating

  Positive Negative Question

I / he / she / it I was speaking. I was not speaking. Was I speaking?

you / we / they You were speaking. You were not speaking. Were you speaking?

USE

We use the past continuous to describe something which began before a

particular point in the past and is still in progress at that point. The action may

continue after that point.

We use the past continuous to say that someone was in the middle of doing

something at a certain time. The action or situation had already started before

this time but hadn´t finished:9

This time last year I was living in Brazil.

What were you doing at 10:00 last night?

We can also use the past progressive when the action stopped at the key point

in the past. (He was working at his computer when the power cut occurred.)

This use is sometimes called the “interrupted past continuous”.

EXAMPLES

Puts emphasis on the course of an action in the past

Example: He was playing football.

Two actions happening at the same time (in the past) 8 Parrott, Martin, Op. cit., p. 198.9 Murphy, Raymond, “Grammar in Use”, Op. cit., p. 24.

6

Example: While she was preparing dinner, he was washing the dishes.

Action going on at a certain time in the past

Example: When I was having breakfast, the phone suddenly rang.

V. - PRESENT PERFECT

FORM

We form the present perfect simple with has (´s) or have (´ve) followed by the

main verb in past participle form.10 The past participle often ends in –ed

(finished/ decided, etc.), but many important verbs are irregular (lost/ done/

written, etc.).

I

We

You

They

Have (´ve)

Have not

(haven´t)

Cleaned

Finished

Started

Lost

Done

Been

Gone

Have

I

We

You

They

cleaned?

finished?

started?

lost?

done?

been?

gone?

He

She

It

Has

Has not (hasn

´t)

Has

He

She

It

USE

We use the present perfect simple to refer to completed events, states or

actions in the past which took place within a period of time which is unfinished.

Sometimes we use expressions like today or this year to specify this unfinished

period of time.11

We use the present perfect simple:

For a more recent past than that expressed by the past simple.

For events which have present relevance or a connection with now.

With adverbs such as just, already, yet, ever and before.

In contexts such as news reports or personal biographies.

10 Parrott, Martin, Op. cit., p.186.11 Idem, p. 187.

7

To refer to completed events, states or actions “when no past time is

specified.”12

EXAMPLES

I have cut my finger.

There has been an accident.

Police have arrested two men in connection with the robbery.

Where is your key? I don´t know. I have lost it.

He told me his name, but I have forgotten it.

Is Sally here? No, she has gone out.

I can´t find my bag. Have you seen it?

VI.-PAST PERFECT

FORM

We form past perfect simple with had followed by the main verb in a past

participle form:13

Question

word

Had Subject Had Not or +n´t Past participle

Affirmative: Everyone had spoken

Question: (Why) had they Left?

Negative: they Had not (hadn´t) eaten

USE

We use the past perfect simple when we want to draw attention to the fact that

something took place and finished before something else in the past. We use it

to describe an action which was completed before a specific point of time in the

past.14

We often use the past perfect simple in clauses connected by a conjunction

(e.g. when, and, that, because, so) to a clause containing a verb in the simple

past.

I knew (that) I had seen her somewhere before.

12 Parrott, Martin, Op. cit., p. 187.13 Idem, p. 195.14 Mitchell, H.Q., “Traveller” Level B2, Student´s book, MM Publications, United Kingdom, 2009, p.168.

8

It had stopped raining so they didn´t bother to put the car away.

We use the past perfect simple to avoid confusion or ambiguity. We don´t use it

simply because one event came before another, but in order to clarify the order

of events. So, for example, we use the tense more frequently with the

conjunction when than before or after.

They had finished eating when I got there. (Only the two tenses make the

sequence of events clear.)

They finished eating before I got there. (The conjunction before makes the

sequence of events clear, and so we can use the simple past (rather than the

past perfect) for the earlier of the events.)15

EXAMPLES

My mum had done the washing-up by midnight.

My parents wanted to sell their car, because they had not used it for months.

I had been here for hours when they arrived.

Before she died, my grandmother gave me a little china bowl. It had belonged

to her mother and was very old.

I didn´t know who she was. I had never seen her before.

We were not hungry. We had just had lunch.

The house was dirty. They hadn´t cleaned it for weeks.

To describe an action that was completed before another action in the past. The

second action is in the past simple.

The film had already started when we got to the cinema.

The sun had already started to set when Tom finally exited the cave.

Sir Henry and Tom had already fallen asleep by the time the moon had risen in

the sky.

VII. - PRESENT PERFECT PROGRESSIVE

FORM

15 Parrott, Martin, Op. cit., p. 196.

9

We form the present perfect continuous or progressive with has (´s) or have

(´ve) followed by been and an –ing form:16

Question

word

Have/has Subject Have/

has

Not or +n

´t

Been + -ing

form

Affirmative: It has been raining.

Question: (Why) have you Been crying?

Negative: They Have not or

Haven´t

been paying Attention.

USE

We use the present perfect continuous to refer to an activity which took place

over a period of time and, usually, has recently stopped. The activity may be

constant of repeated. When we use the present perfect progressive, we

understand that the event is repeated or extended.

Because of the recentness of events described by the present perfect

continuous, we don´t use it to describe general biographical, historical or

circumstantial detail.

EXAMPLES

Your telephone has been ringing (This continued for some time. It is now

silent).

It has been raining (The sky is now clear but the ground is wet).

You are out of breath. Have you been running?

Daniel is very tired. He has been working very hard.

Why are your clothes so dirty? What have you been doing?

I have been talking to Amanda about the problem and she agrees with me.

Where have you been? I have been looking for you everywhere.

VIII. - PAST PERFECT PROGRESSIVE

FORM

16 Idem, p. 189.

10

We form the past perfect continuous with had followed by been and the main

verb in an –ing form:17

Question

word

Had/ ´d Subject Had/ ´d Not

or +n

´t

Been + -ing

form

Affirmative: They had been losing a lot of money

Question: (What) had You been doing?

Negative: I Hadn´t been

working

For long

USE

We use the past perfect continuous when we are concerned with an extended

or repeated event or activity which took place before a particular point in the

past. 18

The past perfect progressive is used:

To emphasize the duration of an action that was in progress before another

action or a specific point of time in the past.

He had been living in London for 15 years when he moved to Mexico.

To refer to an action whose duration caused visible results at a later point of

time in the past.

They were tired because they had been cleaning the house all day.

EXAMPLES

At last the bus came. I had been waiting for 20 minutes.

James was out of breath. He had been running.

I was very tired when I got home. I had been working hard all day.

George went to the doctor last Friday. He had not been feeling well for some

time.

She had been living there only a short time but she knew the city very well.

IX. - PASSIVE VOICE

FORM

17 Parrott, Martin, Op. cit. p. 200.18 Idem, p. 200.

11

The passive allows the thing or person that receives the action of the verb to

occupy subject position.19 The passive voice is formed with the verb be + the

past participle of the main verb. In the progressive tenses the passive voice is

formed with the verb be + being + the past participle of the main verb20.

VERB FORMS IN THE PASSIVE VOICE

Verb form Active voice Passive voice

Present simple They always serve tea with

cakes.

Tea is always served with

cakes (by them).

Past simple I repaired the roof last

year.

The roof was repaired (by

me) last year.

Present perfect We have removed all the

furniture from the living

room.

All the furniture has been

removed from the living

room.

Past perfect The fire had destroyed the

house before the fire

brigade arrived.

The house had been

destroyed by the fire

before the fire brigade

arrived.

Future “Will” Mary will pay the bill

tomorrow.

The bill will be paid (by

Mary) tomorrow.

Going to They are going to publish

his new novel next month.

His new novel is going to

be published next month.

Future perfect I will have posted all the

letters by noon.

All the letters will have

been posted by noon.

Present infinitive We need to finish this work

by tomorrow.

This work needs to be

finished by tomorrow.

Perfect infinitive He could have bought the

tickets earlier.

The tickets could have

been bought earlier.

Modal verbs You must take him to

hospital.

He must be taken to

hospital.

VERB FORMS IN THE PASSIVE VOICE

Verb forms Active voice Passive voice

19 Celce-Murcia, Marianne and Larsen-Freeman, Diane, “The Grammar Book”, 2da Edition, ITP, United States of America, 1999, p. 344.20 Mitchell, H.Q., Op. cit., p.173.

12

Present progressive They are renovating the

hotel.

The hotel is being

renovated.

Past progressive The scouts were pitching

the tents when it started to

rain.

The tents were being

pitched by the scouts when

it started to rain.

-ing form I hate people staring at

me.

I hate being stared at.

In passive clause, we usually use by to introduce the agent –the person or thing

that does the action, or that causes what happen21. (However, those agents are

mentioned in only about 20% of passive clauses.)

All the trouble was caused by your mother.

These carpets are made by children who work twelve hours a day.

USE

We use passive voice to emphasize an action rather than who or what is

responsible for it.22

When do we use passive structures?23

Interest in the action.- We often choose passive structures when we want to

talk about an action, but are not so interested in saying who or what does/ did it.

Passive without “agents” are common in academic and scientific writing for this

reason.

Those pyramids were built around 400 AD.

Too many books have been written about the Second World War.

Putting the news at the end. - We often prefer to begin a sentence with

something that is already known, or that we are already talking about, and to

put the “news” at the end.

Nice picture. Yes, it was painted by my grandmother.

Keeping the same subject.- In order to keep talking about the same person or

thing, it may be necessary to switch from active to passive and back.

He waited for two hours; then he was seen by a doctor; then he was sent back

to the waiting room. He sat there for another two hours- by this time he was

21 Swan, Michael, “Practical English usage”, 3th ed., Oxford University Press, U.K., 2005, p. 412.22 Mitchell, H.Q., Op. cit., p.173.23 Swan, Michael, Op. cit., pp. 412 y ss.

13

getting angry. Then he was taken upstairs and examined by a specialist, after

which he had to wait for another hour before he was allowed to go home.

Putting heavier expressions at the end.- Longer and heavier expressions

often go at the end of a clause, and this can also be a reason for choosing a

passive structure.

I was annoyed by Mary wanting to tell everybody what to do.

(More natural than Mary wanting to tell everybody what to do annoyed me-

the phrase Mary… do would make a very long subject.)

EXAMPLES

This house is quite old. It was built in 1935.

Two hundred people are employed by the company.

A lot of money was stolen in the robbery.

(Somebody stole it, but we don´t know who.)

Is this room cleaned every day?

(Does somebody clean it? It is not important who.)

We were woken up by a loud noise during the night.

X. - REPORTED SPEECH

USE

We use reported speech when we are interested not in the words that someone

has chosen, but in the essential information they conveyed. We often use far

fewer words to report this than were originally spoken.

Reported speech is found in newspaper reports, fiction, talking or writing about

conversation, reports, articles or speeches we have heard or read.24

FORM and EXAMPLES

In report speech, we report the meaning of what someone said, without using

their exact words. We use a reporting verb, usually say or tell, followed by that

(which can be omitted) and the reported statement.25

24 Parrott, Martin, Op. cit., p. 216-217.25 Mitchell, H.Q., Op. cit., p.175.

14

We use say when there is not indirect object. I can´t fix the car, he said.

He said that he couldn´t fix the car.

We use tell when there is an indirect object. I will be late, Tom, she said.

She told Tom she would be late.

When a sentence changes from direct to reported speech, tenses, modals and

time expressions change as follows:

Present simple --- Past simple

Karen said “I want to buy a new car”

Karen said that she wanted to buy a new car.

Present progressive --- Past progressive

Alan said “I am having a shower”

Alan said he was having a shower.

Past simple --- Past perfect simple

Lars said “I saw a bear behind the tree”

Lars said he had seen a bear behind the tree.

Present perfect simple --- Past perfect simple

Tim said “I have seen the Loch Ness monster”

Tim said he had seen the Loch Ness monster.

Present perfect progressive --- Past perfect progressive

John said “I´ve been waiting for an hour”

John said he had been waiting for an hour.

Will --- Would

Dan said “I will call you later”

Dan said that he would call me later.

Can --- Could

Mina said “I can show you the way”

Mina said that she could show me the way.

XI. – CONDITIONALS

ZERO CONDITIONAL

If + simple present, simple present.

15

We use the zero conditional to talk about scientific laws and other things that

are always true26. e.g.,

If you heat ice, it melts.

FIRST CONDITIONAL

If + simple present, will + infinitive

We use the first conditional to talk about possible or probable events in the

future and their consequences. e.g.,

If it is sunny tomorrow, we will go to the beach.

We can use unless instead of if + not. e.g.,

Unless you work harder, you will lose your job.

We can also use other present tenses after if. e.g.,

If you´ve finished, I will make dinner.

We can also use the imperative or modals instead of will. e.g.,

If you are free, give me a call.

If there is nothing on TV, I might rent a video27.

SECOND CONDITIONAL

If + past simple, would + infinitive

We use the second conditional to talk about things that are impossible or

unlikely to happen in the present/ future and their consequences, e.g.,

If it snowed in summer, people wouldn´t go to the beach.

If I met the president tomorrow, I would tell him to spend more money on poor

people.

We can use were instead of was. This is very common when we use the second

conditional to give advice, e.g.,

If I were you, I would go and see a doctor.

We can also use other modals instead of would, e.g.,

If we lived somewhere else, we might be happier.

Sometimes both first and second conditional can be possible, it depends on the

level of probability, e.g.,

If we win the game tomorrow, we will be champions.

26 Goldstein, Ben, “American Framework”, Intermediate, 3b, Student´s book and Workbook, Richmond Publishing, London, U.K., 2007, p. 138.27 Idem, p. 138.

16

If I won the lottery, I would buy a big house in the suburbs28.

THIRD CONDITIONAL

If + past perfect, would have + past participle

We use the third conditional to talk about things that didn´t happen in the past

and their hypothetical effect/ consequence. e.g., If I´d tried harder at school, I

wouldn´t have failed my exams.

If I hadn´t met her that night, I wouldn´t have fallen in love.

We can use might have instead of would have. e.g., If she hadn´t met Sam, she

might have married Tom.

We can use would instead of would have if we want to talk about a present

result. e.g., If you´d taken my advice, you wouldn´t have so many problems

now29.

XII. - BIBLIOGRAPHY

Celce-Murcia, Marianne and Larsen-Freeman, Diane, “The Grammar Book”,

2da Edition, ITP, United States of America, 1999.

28 Goldstein, Ben, Op. cit. p. 138.29 Goldstein, Ben, Op. cit., p. 138.

17

Goldstein, Ben, “American Framework” Intermediate (3b), Student´s book and

Workbook, Richmond Publishing, London U.K., 2007.

Mitchell, H.Q., “Traveller” Level B2 (Student´s book), MM Publications, United

Kingdom, 2009.

Murphy, Raymond, “English Grammar in Use”, a self-study reference and

practice book for intermediate students of English, 3th ed., Cambridge

University Press, United Kingdom, 2005.

Murphy, Raymond, “Essential grammar in use”, a self- study reference and

practice book for elementary students of English, 3th ed., Cambridge University

Press, United Kingdom, 2007.

Murphy, Raymond, “Grammar in Use”, Reference and practice for intermediate

students of English, Cambridge University Press, United Kingdom, 1989

Parrott, Martin, “Grammar for English Language Teachers”, Cambridge

University Press, United Kingdom, 2000.

Swan, Michael, “Practical English usage”, 3th ed., Oxford University Press,

U.K., 2005.

18