- •1. Kinds of nouns
- •2. Gender
- •3. Plurals
- •4. Uncountable nouns
- •5. Possessive case
- •Adjectives
- •1. Kinds of adjectives
- •2. Participles used as adjectives
- •3. Position of adjectives: attributive and predicative use
- •9. Comparison of adjectives
- •Adverbs
- •1. Kinds of adverbs
- •2. Form and use
- •3. Some words are both adjectives and adverbs:
- •4. Comparative and superlative adverb forms
- •5. Constructions with comparisons.
- •6. Position of adverbs
- •3. Uses of the Present Continuous Tense
- •4. Verbs not normally used in the Continuous Tenses
- •5. See, feel, look, smell and taste used in the continuous
- •6. The Continuous and Non-Continuous Uses of Certain Verbs
- •The simple present tense
- •1. Form
- •2. Spelling Notes
- •3. Uses of the Simple Present Tense
- •4. Other Uses of the Simple Present Tense
- •The past and perfect tenses the simple past tense
- •1. Form
- •2. Spelling Notes
- •3. Uses of the Past Simple Tense
- •4. Used to Indicating Past Habit
- •The past continuous tense
- •1. Form
- •2. Main Uses of the Past Continuous Tense
- •3. Other Uses of the Past Continuous Tense
- •The present perfect tense (simple and continuous)
- •1. Form
- •2. The Present Perfect Used for Past Actions Whose Time is not Definite
- •3. The Present Perfect Used for Actions Occurring in an Incomplete Period
- •4. The Present Perfect (Simple and Continuous) Used for Actions and Situations Continuing up to the Present
- •5. Special Structures in the Present Perfect
- •The past perfect tense (simple, continuous)
- •1. Form
- •3. Past and Past Perfect Tenses in Time Clauses.
- •4. Past Perfect Tense in Main Clause
- •The future
- •1. Future Forms
- •2. The simple present used for the future
- •4. The Present Continuous as a Future Form
- •5. The be going to form
- •6. The Future Simple
- •7. The Future Continuous
- •8. The Future Perfect
- •9. The Future Perfect Continuous
- •The passive voice
- •1. Form
- •2. Various Structures Expressed in the Passive
- •3. Active Tenses and Their Passive Equivalents
- •4. Get in the Passive
- •5. Questions in the passive
- •6. Uses of the Passive: Active or Passive
- •7. The Passive is Used:
- •8. Passive Sentences with or without by:
- •9. Passive with the Verbs Having Two Objects
- •10. Special Passive Patterns
- •11. Verbs Which Cannot be Used in the Passive
- •1. Modal Auxiliary Verbs: General
- •2. Modal Auxiliary Verbs With Perfect Infinitives
- •3. Can, could and be able for ability
- •4. May and Can for Permission
- •5. May and Can for Possibility
- •6. Could as an Alternative to May/Might
- •7. Can in Interrogative and Negative Sentences
- •8. Can Used to Express ‘Theoretical Possibility’
- •9. Set Phrases with Can, May, Might
- •10. Must and Have for Deduction and Assumption
- •11. Must and have to: forms
- •12. Difference between have to and have got to Forms
- •13. Difference between must and have to in the Affirmative
- •14. Need not and must not in the Present and Future
- •15. Must, have to and need in the Interrogative
- •17. Needn’t have done Compared with didn’t have/need to do
- •18. Ought and Should for Obligation
- •The infinitive
- •1. Forms
- •2. Infinitive without to
- •3. The Infinitive Represented by its to
- •4. Split Infinitives
- •5. The Infinitive Used as a Connective Link
- •6. Functions of the infinitive
- •7. The Infinitive as Subject of a Sentence
- •8. The Infinitive as Complement of a Verb
- •9. The Infinitive as Object of a Verb
- •10. The Infinitive as Object of an Adjective
- •11. The Infinitive after Interrogative Conjunction
- •12. The Infinitive as Adverbial Modifier
- •A. TheInfinitive as Adverbial Modifier of Purpose
- •B. The Infinitive asAdverbial Modifier of Result
- •13. The Infinitive as Attribute
- •14. Active and Passive Infinitive with Similar Meaning
- •15. Objective-with-the-Infinitive Construction
- •16. Nominative-with-the-Infinitive Construction
- •19. The Infinitive as Parenthesis
- •The gerund
- •1. Form and Use
- •2. Functions of the Gerund
- •3. Verbs Followed by the Gerund
- •Note that:
- •5. Gerunds after Prepositions
- •6. The Verb mind
- •7. Gerunds with Passive Meaning
- •8. The Gerund: Special Cases
- •Infinitive and gerund constructions
- •1. Verbs and Adjectives Which May Take either Infinitive or Gerund
- •M. Accustomed, afraid, ashamed, certain, interested, sorry, sure, used
- •The participles
- •1. The Present (or Active) Participle
- •2. Present Participle after verbs of sensation
- •I saw him enter the room, unlock a drawer, take out a document, photograph it and put it back.
- •4. Go, come, spend, waste, be busy
- •5. A present participle phrase replacing a main clause
- •6. A present participle phrase replacing a subordinate clause
- •7. The perfect participle (active)
- •8. The past participle (passive) and the perfect participle (passive)
- •9. Participles used as adjectives before and after nouns
- •10. Misrelated participles
- •Reported speech
- •1. Main points
- •2. Statements in reported speech 1. If you want to report a statement, you use a ‘that’-clause after certain verbs. The most useful are:
- •Tense changes
- •Indirect speech is usually introduced by a verb in the past tense. Verbs in the reported clause have to be changed into a corresponding ‘more past’ tense.
- •1. Past Simple and Past Continuous in time clauses do not normally change. The verb in the main clause can either remain unchanged or become the past perfect:
- •5. Time and place expressions in reported speech
- •6. Modals in reported speech
- •7. Reported questions
- •8. Questions beginning Shall I/we…? Such questions can be of different types:
- •9. Reported orders/requests/advice/suggestions, etc.
- •14. Let’s, let him/them in indirect speech 1. Let’s usually expresses a suggestion and is reported by suggest in reported speech:
- •15. Exclamations and yes/no
- •16. Reported speech: mixed types
- •Contents
7. The Future Continuous
A.Form
This tense is made up of the future simple of to be + the present participle. In the first person, will is more usual than shall, except in the interrogative.
I will be working I won’t be working Shall I be working?
B. Use
This tense has two uses:
It can be used as an ordinary continuous tense.
It can express future without intention.
1. Like other continuous tenses we use the future continuous to say that we will be in the middle of doing something at a certain time in the future.
This time next week I’ll be on holiday. I’ll probably be lying on a beautiful beach.
2. The future continuous used in this way does not imply that the speaker has arranged to do something. It merely states that this action will occur in the normal course of events. The future continuous is somewhat similar to the present continuous but differs from it in the following points:
I am seeing Tom tomorrow.
I’ll be seeing Tom tomorrow.
The first implies that Tom or the speaker has arranged the meeting, but the second implies that Tom and the speaker will meet in the ordinary course of events (perhaps they work together).
3. Let’s compare the future continuous and will + infinitive.
I’ll write to Mr Pitt and tell him about Tom’s new job.
I’ll be writing to Mr Pitt and I’ll tell him about Tom’s new job.
In the first sentence the verb in bold type expresses intention. The speaker has already decided to write the letter and tells the news. But in the second sentence the verb in bold type expresses no intention. It is merely a statement of fact and implies that this letter will be written as a matter of routine because, probably, I write letters to Mr Pitt regularly.
8. The Future Perfect
A. Form
will/shall + perfect infinitive
B. Use
It is normally used with a time expression beginning with by: by then, by that time, by the 24th:
By the end of next month he will have been here for ten years.
It is used for an action which at a given future time will be in the past, or will just have finished.
We’re late. I expect the film will already have started
by the time we get to the cinema.
In clauses of time and condition the Present Perfect is used instead of the Future Perfect.
9. The Future Perfect Continuous
A. Form
will/shall have been + the present participle
B. Use
Like the future perfect, it is normally used with a time expression beginning with by. The future perfect continuous has the same relationship to the future perfect as the present perfect continuous has to the present perfect, i.e. the future perfect continuous can be used instead of the future perfect:
1. When the action is continuous:
By the end of the month he will have been working here for five years.
2. When the action is expressed as a continuous action, i.e. if we are interested in the action itself:
By the end of the month he will have been repairing cars.
But if we mention the number of cars we must use the future perfect:
By the end of the month he will have repaired 7 cars.
10. be + infinitive (I am to...)
This structure is often used to talk about arrangements which have been planned for the future. It is very much used in newspapers:
The Queen is to visit Japan next year.
There’s to be a rail strike on July 18th.
be+ infinitive can also be used to give orders. (Parents often tell children to do things in this way.)
You’re to do your homework before you watch TV.
Tell her she’s not to be back late.
11. be about + infinitive
This structure expresses the immediate future and means ‘going to very soon’:
Don’t go out now - we’re about to have lunch.
just can be added to make the future even more immediate:
I was just about to go to bed when there was a knock at the door.