- •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
The infinitive
1. Forms
This form expresses the notion of the verb in its general sense, not as it applies to any particular subject. It is called ‘infinitive’ because its form is not limited (Latin finis = limit), as a finite verb is, by the number and person of its subject. There are the following forms of the Infinitive:
Active Passive
Simple to ask to be asked
Continuous to be asking --
Perfect to have asked to have been asked
Perfect Continuous to have been asking --
2. Infinitive without to
The bare infinitive is used in several different cases:
A. After the auxiliary verbs can (could), may (might), shall (should), will (would), must, do
They could do it today. I may as well go now. I don’t work on Sundays.
B. After need and dare in negative sentences, except when they are conjugated with do/did or will/would.
You needn’t say anything but You don’t/won’t need to say anything.
I dared not wake him but I didn’t/wouldn’t dare to wake him.
Note that affirmative modal forms of need and dare with the bare infinitive are mainly used in a formal style:
I wonder if we need take special visas.
In informal usage we usually use the ordinary verb forms:
I wonder if we need to take special visas.
C. After let, make, hear, see, feel, watch, notice, have, help (it can be followed by both full and bare infinitives)
They let them see the documents.
He made me move my car.
Have Mrs. Smith come in.
Could you help me unload the car?
But if these verbs are used in the passive voice, the infinitive takes to
He was seen to enter the room.
They were made to work.
Let in the passive is often replaced by another verb:
They let me know… would be replaced by I was told…
They let him see the documents by He was allowed to see them.
D. After had better, had (would) rather, had (would) sooner, need hardly, cannot but
You’d better tell him the truth.
I had (would) rather not see him.
I’d sooner take a taxi than walk.
I need hardly tell you how serious the matter is.
I cannot but agree to his terms.
E. If two infinitives are joined by and or or the to of the second infinitive is normally dropped:
I’d like to lie down and go to sleep.
Do you want to have lunch now or wait till later?
F. but and except take the bare infinitive when they follow do + anything/ nothing/everything
He does nothing but complain.
We had nothing to do except look at the posters outside the cinemas.
My dog does everything but speak.
G. than and rather than are usually followed by the infinitive without to
It’s easier to persuade people than force them.
Rather than wait any more, I decided to go home by a taxi.
H. The to is optional in clauses which explain the exact meaning of do:
The only thing to do is (to) write to him.
All I did was (to) give him a little push.
I. Why (not) + infinitive (without to)
Why + infinitive (without to) can be used to introduce questions. The point of the question is usually to suggest that it is stupid or pointless to do some thing.
Why pay more at other shops? We have the lowest prices in town.
Why stand up if you can sit down? Why sit down if you can lie down?
Why not + infinitive (without to) introduces suggestions and advice.
Why not let me lend you some money?
Why not take a holiday?
The infinitive with to is used in all other cases.