English Grammar

English Grammar

English Grammar by Julia Berger

page content
1 Cover
2 Content
3 Simple present
3 Present progressive
4 Simple past
4 Past progressive
5 Present perfect
5 Past perfect simple
5 Will-Future
6 Going-to- future
6 Future progressive
6 Futur 2
6 Negation
7 Passive
7 Reported speech
8 Conditional sentences
9 Reference


Simple present
The 1st verbform

The simple present is used to express repeated situations
Every sunday I play tennis.
Or for actings that happen after each other
He comes home, throws his bag in a corner, and turns the radio on
Or for things that are usual
Our house stands in a quiet street

signalwords:
always, usually, normally, seldom, often, never, every, sometimes , rarely,
occassionally, now and then

Attention: Peter comes home
NOT! Peter come home

If you use he,she and it in a sentence you must put an -s at the end of the verb
In negatations you use do as an auxiliariy and does for he, she, and, it

Just one verb in the english language is different that is the verb to be.
I am
You are
He/She/It is
We are
You are
They are

Another exeption is the word have that you use as has for he,she, and it

There are also exeptions after sharp words like watch or a verb that ends with o
you put an e at the end of the word before the s
He watches
She goes

and if there is no vocal before the letter y you write ie instead of that
He flies but: She buys


Present progressive

You use it for actions that are happening on the moment that you talk
I am just reading
You also use it for actions that are in the future but already sure
Mr. Baker is moving to Ohio next week.

Signalwords:
just,at the moment, now, look!, listen!

To build it, you just put an -ing at the end of the verb and use
the right form of the verb to be at the in front of it

Exeptions:
Verbes that have an infinitive with a short vocal
you use the following consonant twice

put-putting

Verbes that have an e at the end that you don't speak
like the word write
are built without the e
writing

Also verbs that end with the letters -ie at the end are special
that -ie moves into a y
lie-lying

Simple past

You use the simple past for actions that are come after each other which started in the past and are done now.

Yesterday I wrote a letter

signalwords:
last, ago, yesterday, etc.

If you have a regular verb you just put an -ed on the end
If you have a irregular verb you take the 2nd verbform
If you have a Negation you got to use the auxiliar didn't and because
didn't is already in the past you got to use the infinitif after it.

Exeptions:
to be has got 2 pastforms:was/were
singular:I was, you were , he/she/it was
plural: we were, you were, they were

2. If the infinitif ends on -e you just put a simple -d on the end.
Decide-decided
3. -y after a consonant becomes -i-
tidy-tidied
4. After short vocals you take the consonant at the end twice
stop-stopped
5. After an accented -er -ir or -ur at the end of the infinitif you double the -r
prefer-preffered
Past progressive
You use it when 2 or more actions happened at the same
I was reading a book and my sister was playing
If an action took place when a new action just happened
I was watching TV when suddenly the phone rang
for the ending of an action at a special time
Yesterday at 5 pm we were sitting in the garden.

You use it with was/were and the 1st verbform and an -ing on the end


Present perfect

You use it for actions that started in the past and are just finished
I have just written a letter
for actions that started in the past and are not finished yet
He has known him since 1990
for actions that happened in the past but it is NOT important when they happened
Have you ever been to Australia?
signalwords:
ever, never, already, just ,up to now, till now, so far, since, for, notyet

You bulid it with have or has and the 3rd verbform that normally ends on -ed but jut on regular verbs

You don't need a do for negations because you have already a form of have as an auxiliary

Past Perfect Simple

The use of this tense is quite easy because it is similar to the german plusquamperfekt
It describes actions that were already finished in the past

He had done his homework

You use the -ing form of it to emphasize the time of an action

I had been waiting for 2 hours

signalword:after,before

You build the Past Perfect simple with had and the 3rd verbform
and the progressive with had been and the 3rd verbform

will-future

You use the will-future:

for a prediction and for an expression for your own opinion
Tomorrow it will rain

to express a spontaneous decision
Just a minute, i will help you

and in the main-sentence of the first if-clause
If it rains, we will stay at home

You build the will-future with will and the infinitif



going-to future

it expresses a sure decision for the future
I am going to visit my grandma tomorrow

or for a logical conclusion

He looks pale. He is going to be ill.


You build it with the present of to be (am/are/is)+going to+1st verbform

Future progressive

you express that a coming action is obvious

He will be coming tomorrow

or that an action in the future just happens

at 9 pm tomorrow, I will be sitting in the plane.

You build it with will be+1st verbform with -ing

In the negation you can replace will not with won't

Future 2

Futur 2 expresses that an action will be finished
at a special time in the future

By 4 pm tomorrow I will have finished this work.

And the progressive form emphasizes the duration

Next month I will have been studying for 2 years

signal words:by..,in 10 minutes etc.

Future 2: will(not) have+3rd verbform
Progressive:will(not) have been+1st verbform with -ing

Negation

Negated english sentences need 2 verbs.
A auxiliary and a normal verb

He can't help you

exeption:if you use the verb to be you don't need a second verb

Exepting the simple present and simple past every tense contains an auxiliary
If you don't have an auxiliary you must use the negation of to do

He doesn't clean his room


Passive

You have got 2 ways to express
Aktiv and Passiv

Aktiv: I write the letter
Subject Object

Passiv: The letter is written by me
Subject Object
You just change the places of subject and object

You build it with the right form of the verb to be and the 3rd verbform
after modale auxiliaris (can/must/may) you gotta put in the infinitif be
I can be called.I may be called

You can use 2 forms of the passive if you have a phrase with 2 objects:

My parents have given me some presents.
Subject D-object A-object

I have been given some presents by my parents.


You also change some of the personal pronoun

Nominativ Dativ/Akkusativ
(subject) (object)
I -> me
He -> him
She -> her
we -> us
they ->them

Reported speech

If you want to repeat something that somebody else has said or written you got to
use the reported speech.

The way you build the reported speech depends on 2 things

· of the time in the direct speech
· of the time in the beginning sentence

If you have Present tense(he says), Present Perfect(she has asked) or Futur 1(he will say) in the beginning
sentence the time that was used in the direct speech doen't change.
But you surely have to conform the pronouns and maybe also the verbform



He says "I spent my holidays in Italy"
present tense direct speech
Past Tense

He says that he spent his holidays in Italy
stays the same reported speech
also past tense

But if the beginning sentence contains Past Tense, Past Perfect, Future 2, or Conditional
the tense changes like this:



Direct speech Reported speech
Present tense Past tense
Past tense Past perfect
Present perfect Past perfect
Past perfect Past perfect
Future 1 Conditional 1
Future 2 Conditional 2
Conditional 1 Conditional 1
Conditional 2 Conditional 2


Also time and place can change

Direct speech Reported speech Direct speech Reported speech
today That day now then
yesterday The day before tomorrow The next/following day
ago before This These That/Those
.ago. before. here there
Next The following