| |
Complete
& Incomplete Sentence
| Complete
sentence |
I
like reading. |
| Incomplete
sentence |
(What
do you like?) a. Reading. b. Books. |
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Finite/
Non-finite
A finite verb has tense (time reference) and may require
an inflection to show this. Non-finite verbs do not have tense, and can have three basic forms
in English: the base form of the verb, the present participle (-ing)
and the past participle (-ed).
| Finite |
| a. |
write
(imperative) |
Write
me a letter when you get there. |
| b. |
writes (3
pers sing pres) |
Geofrey
writes
a lot of letters. |
| c. |
write
(all other persons) |
John
and Jane write
pop songs. |
| d. |
wrote
(past) |
Last
year you wrote
ten songs. |
| Non-Finite |
| a. |
(to) write
(infinitive) |
I must
write
that letter. I'll have to
write at once.
|
| b. |
writing (ing-form) |
John
and Jane are writing
a new song. |
| c. |
written
(past participle) |
This year they have written
ten songs. The songs were written
by John and Jane.
|
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Examples
of the ING form
Adjective
Examples
|
Function
|
a. This is an entertaining
book.
|
attributive adjective
|
b. This book is entertaining.
|
predicative adjective
|
Verb
Examples
|
Function
|
c. A guitar-player is
entertaining
the crowd.
|
part of the
progressive form is entertaining
|
d. Entertaining
other people is fun.
|
subject of is
|
e. I like entertaining
people.
|
object of like
|
f. I'm fond of entertaining
people.
|
after preposition of
|
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| A
comparison of progressive and simple forms in the present a. You look out of the window.
What is going on? (now)
| Mrs
Brown is putting out her empty milk-bottles. |
| The
postman is delivering some letters. |
| Mr
and Mrs Jones are going for a walk with their
dog. |
| William
is cycling to town to do some shopping. |
b. What happens
every day at about this time?
| Mrs Brown always puts out her empty
milk-bottles. |
| The postman usually delivers some letters. |
| Mr and Mrs Jones often go for a walk with
their dog. |
| William sometimes cycles to town to do some
shopping. |
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Special
use of the progressive with always
| Meaning |
Examples |
| constantly, forever,
all the time |
a. Irene is always washing her hair.b. I'm always forgetting
things.
|
| always, everytime |
c. Irene always washes her hair before
going to work.d.
I always forget things when I'm
overtired.
|
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Progressive
form relating to the immediate future
| What are you doing this
evening? |
|
I'm staying at home. |
| And tomorrow? |
|
I'm flying to New York
tomorrow. cf The plane leaves at
10.0.
|
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Progressive
and simple forms in the past tense
Use the past progressive to refer to an action which was
happening at the time another event occurred (past simple) - as in examples (a, c, d). Use the
past simple for sequential events as example (b).
a. While I
was reading a book, the phone rang.
b. I got up.
I washed and shaved. I had breakfast. I went over to the
window and looked out. Mrs Brown was putting out her empty
milk-bottles.
c. While I
was watching TV, someone broke into my car.
d. While I
did the washing up, my wife put the children to bed.
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Repeated actions in
the past
About that time each day
| Mrs Brown always put
out her empty milk-bottles. |
| The postman usually
came up to the Smiths'house. |
| Mr and Mrs Jones used
to go for a walk with their dog. |
| William used to cycle
to town. |
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Perfect
and past: simple and progressive
The basic meaning of the present
perfect is to refer to a past event when we are thinking about the
present effects or result, or something which continues into the
present.
| now |
|
| --------------| |
I have studied English
for 9 years. |
| --------------| |
I have been studying
English for 9 years. |
|
I studied English for 9
years at school. |
|
I was studying English
when I met my wife. |
The present perfect is often
used with particular time adverbials such as since, for, the first time etc which indicate duration or the
number of times something has happened.
|
present
perfect
|
past
|
| I haven't lived in England since
1992. |
I left England 10 years ago. |
| I have been living overseas for
10 years. |
- |
| This is the
first time I have eaten
chicken's feet. It's actually quite tasty. |
I had chicken's feet for
the first time last night. |
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Using the Past Perfect
The basic meaning is to refer to
'earlier past' than a particular reference point (then) which is also past. Note that the
past perfect reference can be before or after the past reference
point.
|
|
then |
before |
| I wondered |
who had opened the
window. |
|
|
|
before |
then |
| I had only been
teaching English for a short time |
when I met my wife. |
|
|
|
before |
then |
| I had intended to leave
earlier |
but something came up . |
|
The past perfect is often used with
time conjunctions such as 'after', 'before', 'as soon as', 'no sooner' and particularly 'by the time'.
| I went out after
I had had my dinner. |
| She got married as
soon as she had completed her studies. |
| No
sooner had I got home when he telephoned
to say he couldn't come. (inversion used here) |
| The concert had already
started before we even
left home. |
| We were delayed for several
hours and by the time we got to
Warsaw our connecting flight had left. |
| We moved in together after
we had agreed the financial details. |
Another common use of the past perfect is
in reported speech, where the speaker is reporting what was said
earlier. Present tenses are usually changed to their past equivalents
in reported speech, and the past perfect is used in place of
the present perfect.
| Direct
speech |
Reported
speech |
| "We have had
such a nice holiday this year." |
They said that they had
had such a nice holiday this year. |
| "By
the time I've
paid all the bills there won't be much money
left." |
She said that by
the time she had
paid all the bills there wouldn't be much money
left. |
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Simple and
Progressive Infinitives
| Examples |
Meaning |
| The
Smiths seem to enjoy their holidays in
Spain. |
in
general |
| The
Smiths seem to be enjoying their holiday
in Spain. |
just
now |
| It
would be fun to stay at the Hilton. |
at any
time |
| It
would be fun to be staying at the Hilton
when Michael Jackson arrives. |
at just
that moment |
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-ING
Contrast
| I saw him cross the
street. |
I saw that he crossed the
street. |
| I saw him crossing the
street. |
I saw him when he was
crossing the street. |
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The -ING
form: correct reference
| Examples |
Meaning |
| Looking
up from my paper, I
saw the train was arriving. |
referring to
subject (I) |
| Coming
towards us we saw a
policeman. |
referring to
object (a policeman) |
| Coming
up the steps I
saw a policeman. |
ambiguous |
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Infinitive
or -ING form: different meanings
| Infinitive |
ing
form |
| Did you remember to
turn off the gas before leaving? |
Do you remember turning
it off? |
| I never forget to
turn off the gas when I go out. |
I'll never forget hearing
Segovia play the guitar. |
| We stopped to eat
at 10.0. |
We stopped eating
at 10.0. |
| I tried to download
the file but I couldn't. |
Have you tried downloading
it when it’s not so busy? |
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A common mistake
with always
| Ö : The Browns
always go to Spain on their holidays. |
| û: The Browns are
always going to Spain on their holidays.
The use of the present
continuous with always
is often used to indicate the speaker's disapproval or to have
the meaning of "keep on doing something", especially
something not considered good.
Ö :
He's always
getting drunk.
|
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| Infinitive to express
purpose
The infinitive is often used in combination with another verb to show
the reason or purpose for performing the action in the first verb. The
phrases in order to and so
as are often used to precede and link the infinitive verb
of purpose.
| Infinitive of
purpose |
| I went back to
turn off the gas. |
| She studies for hours in
order to get a high grade in the exam. |
| We left early so
as not to be late. |
| We stopped to eat
at 10.0. |
| They wear light clothes in Singapore to
keep cool. |
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| Special uses of 'make'
The verb 'make' has a great
many uses in English, and it is often used in combination with an object
and another verb or complement. A common use is to show
the cause of the action in the second verb, especially when the
meaning is to show force or authority.
eg John's father made him practise the
piano every day. (infinitive without to)
| make + |
Example |
|
object + infinitive |
1) Georgie kissed the girls and made
them cry.
2) He managed to make
the TV work by changing the plug.
3) I'm sorry to make
you wait. |
|
object + complement |
1) The rain made
the flowers wet.
2) The news made
me very sad.
3) She'll make
you a good wife. |
|
reflexive + past
participle |
I managed to make
myself heard by shouting. |
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|
'get'
and 'come' + to infinitive
The verbs get and come
are used followed by the to infinitive to show that the state in the second
verb has happened gradually, over a period of time.
eg With regular practise he came to
be quite accomplished in playing the
piano. (infinitive with to)
An adverb often follows the verb come.
eg We came gradually
to like each other.
| get + |
Example |
|
to + infinitive |
1) Georgie got
to be very popular with the
girls.
2) He's difficult to get to
know well.
3) You'll get to
like jogging after a while. |
| come + |
Example |
|
(adverb) + to + infinitive |
1) I came
more and more to
like gardening.
2) After a while we came
to be good friends.
3) I used to have no interest in ballet but now I've come
to enjoy it a lot. |
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| Verb 'be' + to infinitive
The verb 'be' is often used in combination with another verb
in the infinitive to indicate an arranged event such as an appointment
or a timetabled activity.
| be +
to infinitive |
| The meeting was
to start at 9 o'clock but the
chairman was delayed. |
| I didn't know that it was
the last time we were to
meet for many years. |
| The concert was
to be held in the stadium but it
had to be cancelled because of heavt rain. |
| We are
to be married next July. |
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|
Verb + that clauseThis
is a common form of verb complementation which instead of using
either the infinitive or -ing
form of complementation uses a 'that'
clause as object complement. Reporting verbs such as 'say' or 'suggest'
are often used in this way.
| eg |
We decided that
it was too late to start today. |
|
He suggested that we
should share the bill. |
It is common to use should +
infinitive in the 'that'
clause.
| verb +
that clause |
| We agreed that
Peter should be the
chairman. |
| I argued that
we should try to make savings elsewhere without cutting staff. |
| The report proposed that
the company should employ more staff. |
| We recommend that
you should get a new computer system. |
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to
be no use + (in) + -ing
The common expression "no use" is often used idiomatically to
mean something is pointless or you cannot achieve anything by doing
it. It is always followed by the -ing form, which indicates the
action that is "no use". This phrase can be intoduced
either with "it" or "there" - with "there" the preposition "in" is often put after "use".
| no
use + (in) + -ing |
| It's
no use waiting any longer. |
| It's
no use hoping house prices will
rise again in the near future. |
| There
was no use in waiting
there in the rain. |
| There
is no use trying to explain it. |
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