Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Present
Present perfect
Past
verb + to + verb
Use to + verb after agree, decide, happen, offer, seem, intend, and expect:
They agreed to pay for Korean lessons.
Negative questions
Negative questions include a negative verb. You can use negative questions:
to express an opinion
Isn't this jacket great? (= I think it's great and I expect you to agree with me.)
to suggest an idea
Aren't they a little expensive? (= I want you to agree that it's expensive.)
to show surprise
Isn't it on sale? (= I'm surprised it's not on sale.)
In this sentence They is the "doer", but we do not know who They are:
They carve the sculptures out of ice. (active)
So you can use the passive instead:
If the "doer" of the action is important, you can introduce it with by:
The sculptures are carved by teams from all over the world.
Statements
Information questions
Yes-No questions
You can use verb + -ing as the subject of a sentence. Remember to use a singular verb:
Eating in public is bad manners.
You can also use not + verb + -ing as the subject of a sentence:
Position of not
Not comes before the word it negates:
It's acceptable not to tip cab drivers. (= It's optional. You don't have to tip.)
Affirmative statements
You can use the modal verbs should, must, have to, and ought to in passive statements to
talk about things you think are necessary.
You can use the modal verb could in passive statements to talk about things that are
possible:
Negative statements
Active
Passive
I had set up camp and was cooking, and this van appeared out of nowhere.
(= I set up camp. Then I started cooking.)
The past perfect is often used to give explanations or reasons why things happened:
Statements
Past perfect affirmative statements are subject + had / 'd + past participle:
I had just met my husband-to-be, and he was showing me photos.
Past perfect negative statements are subject + hadn't / had not + past participle:
Past perfect information questions are question word + had + subject + past participle:
B To Spain.
Present of be
A I'm hungry.
B So am I. (= I am too.)
When you respond to a negative statement with I'm not, say Neither am I:
A I'm not superstitious.
Simple present
B So do I. (= I do too.)
When you respond to a simple present negative statement, say Neither do I:
Simple past
A I knew that.
When you respond to a simple past negative statement, say Neither did I:
You can use get and have to talk about asking people to do things for you.
When you want to show who you ask, you can use get + someone + to + verb:
I get my brother to fix my car. (= I ask my brother to fix my car.)
We'll get my sister to choose colors for our house. (= We'll ask my sister to
choose.)
My hair looked bad, so I had a hairdresser cut it again. (= I paid for this.)
I didn't pay to have someone repair my dishwasher. (= I didn't pay for this.)
Get and have have the same meaning in these sentences, but after get you need to use to
before the verb:
I get my brother to fix the car.
When who you ask is not important, use get or have + something + past participle:
Need + verb + -ing is mainly used for everyday chores like fixing, changing, cleaning,
adjusting, replacing, recharging, etc.
Past modals
Would, should, and could are modal verbs. You can use would / should / could + have +
past participle to talk hypothetically about the past. The modal verb is the same for all
subjects.
Would have
You can use would have + past participle to imagine your behavior in a situation in the
past:
Should have
You can use should have + past participle to say what was the right thing to do in a
situation in the past. Affirmative statements often refer to things people didn't do. Negative
statements often refer to things people did:
Could have
You can use could have + past participle to say what other possibilities there were in the
past:
Use must have + past participle when you feel 100% certain about your guess:
They must have gotten tied up in traffic. (= I'm sure they got tied up in traffic.)
Use could have, may have, and might have + past participle when you feel less than 100%
certain about your guess:
She could have tried to call. (= It's possible she tried to call.)
They may / might have had a fight. (= Maybe they had a fight.)
Negative statements
Use may not / might not + have + past participle when you feel it's possible that something
didn't happen:
She may / might not have remembered. (= It's possible she didn't remember.)
Use couldn't have + past participle when you feel very certain that something is impossible:
They couldn't have forgotten. (= It's not possible they forgot.)
Reported speech
Statements with reported speech use reporting verbs like say, explain, and tell. You can
use that after a reporting verb, but you don't have to:
When you report things people say, the verb tense often "shifts back".
He said (that) his goal was to destroy all his possessions. (reported speech)
He said (that) his father had given him a sheepskin coat. (reported speech)
The present perfect continuous often changes into the past perfect continuous:
"I have been making an inventory." (direct speech)
She said (that) she couldn't throw anything away. (reported speech)
She said (that) maybe she would stop buying so much stuff. (reported speech)
Reported questions
Use reported questions to say what someone else asked.
Reported questions have statement word order. They end in a period (.), not a question
mark (?). Remember, when you report the things people said, the verb tense often "shifts
back":
"Are you a spender or a saver?" (direct question)
The verb tense can stay the same if the time of the direct question and the time of the
reported question is the same:
Statements
Use the past perfect form in the if clause and a past modal
with would have, could have or might have, etc. in the main clause:
If Watson had stayed in school, maybe he would have done something entirely
different.
(= Watson didn't stay in school, and he didn't do something different.)
If he hadn't won the talent contest, he might not have had the confidence to
become a singer.
(= He did win, and he did have the confidence to become a singer.)
The if clause describes a hypothetical situation in the past. The main clause describes a
possible result in the past.
Information questions
Yes-No questions
Tag questions
Tag questions are statements followed by short questions in the same tense. These short
questions are called "tags."
Answer no to agree:
You can use tag questions when you're not sure and want to check something. Use rising
intonation for the tag:
She won the talent show, didn't she?
(= Did she win the talent show? I'm not sure.)
You can also use tag questions when you are sure about something and you think
someone will agree. Use falling intonation for the tag:
It's amazing, isn't it? (= I think it's amazing and I think you'll agree.)
When you write tag questions, add a comma before the tag:
The passive
Present continuous passive
You can use the present continuous to describe events and situations that are ongoing or
temporary at the present time.
Use the active form of a verb to focus on the "doer" or cause of the action:
Companies are recruiting workers overseas.
You can use the present perfect to describe events and situations that are started at an
indefinite time in the past which leads up to present time.
Use the active form of a verb to focus on the "doer" or cause of the action:
Present perfect passive verbs are have / has (not) + been + past participle:
Linking ideas
Ideas in a sentence can be connected, or linked, in different ways for different purposes.
Contrasting ideas
Giving reasons
To give a reason, you can use:
Showing an alternative
What clauses and long noun phrases are often the subject of the verb be, which can be
followed by a word or phrase (noun, adjective, or verb), or by a clause:
(noun)
What you need is lots of information.
(adjective)
What my friend did was interesting.
(verb)
(clause)
What I'm saying is (that) you need to choose a career you'll really like.
The good thing about that is (that) you end up with a job you love.
Use the future perfect for events that are in the past when you "view" them from the future:
My wife will have graduated by then. (= Her graduation will be finished before
then.)