- •Contents
- •The Future-In-The-Past Tense……………………………………………………………..45 the present indefinite (simple) tense
- •I. The formation of the Present Indefinite.
- •1. The Present Indefinite is formed from the infinitive without the particle to.
- •9. To denote future actions in adverbial clauses of time after conjunctions when
- •10. To denote future actions in adverbial clauses of condition after conjunctions if
- •In case
- •11. To denote future actions in adverbial clauses of concession after conjunctions
- •What do we do next?
- •The present continuous tense
- •III. The Present Continuous Tense is used to denote:
- •Actions or events which are in progress at the moment of speaking. To emphasize this, we often use adverbials like now, at the moment, just, etc.:
- •6. For a frequently repeated action, usually when the frequency annoys the speaker or
- •7. For an action which appears to be continuous:
- •8. To describe current trends:
- •Verbs not normally used in the continuous tenses
- •VII. Verbs denoting effect or influence: astonish, impress, please, satisfy, surprise. Feel, look, smell and taste used in the continuous forms
- •2. Look
- •3. Smell
- •4.Taste
- •See and hear used in the continuous forms
- •Think, assume and expect used in the continuous forms
- •The past indefinite (simple) tense
- •I. The formation of the Past Indefinite.
- •Verbs ending in -e add -d only:
- •3. The contracted negative forms are:
- •4. The negative-interrogative forms are:
- •Irregular verbs: form
- •If the period is over or reference is made to a particular past point of time within that
- •2. In narrations to express a succession of action of past actions.
- •3. To express recurrent actions. It is generally supported by the use of adverbial modifiers
- •4. To express the immediate past. We can sometimes use the simple past without a time
- •6. To express permanent actions which indicate continuous, uninterrupted processes in the past, giving a general characteristic of the person or thing denoted by the subject.
- •The past continuous tense
- •2. The Past Continuous is used to express an action going on at a given period of time in the past.
- •The future indefinite (simple) tense
- •I. The formation of the Future Indefinite Tense
- •1. The Future Indefinite is formed by means of the auxiliary verbs shall/will
- •3. To denote future habitual actions which we assume will take place.
- •4. In sentences containing clauses of condition, time and sometimes purpose
- •The future continuous tense
- •The present perfect tense
- •III. The use of the Present Perfect
- •Have you been to Denmark?
- •Is this the first time you’ve been in hospital?
- •The present perfect continuous tense
- •I. The formation of the Present Perfect Continuous Tense
- •The past perfect tense
- •Had he not worked?
- •Hadn’t you worked?
- •The Squire was purple with anger before his son had done speaking.
- •With verbs not admitting of the Continuous form:
- •In negative sentences:
- •II. The contracted affirmative forms are:
- •Had he not been working?
- •Hadn’t you been working?
- •III. The use of the Past Perfect Continuous
- •The future perfect tense
- •I. The formation of thePerfect Continuous Tense
- •Will he not have worked?
- •Shan’t we have worked?
- •III. The use of the Future Perfect
- •The future perfect continuous tense
- •I. The formation of the Future Perfect Continuous Tense
- •II. The contracted affirmative forms are:
- •The Future Perfect Continuous denotes an action begun before a definite moment in the future and continued into that future moment;
- •The future-indefinite-in-the-past
- •I. The formation of the Future-Indefinite-in-the-Past
- •II. The contracted affirmative forms are:
- •Shouldn’t I work/
- •III. The use of the Future-Indefinite-in-the-Past.
- •The future-continuous-in-the-past
- •I. The formation of the Future-Continuous-in-the-Past
- •II. The contracted affirmative forms are:
- •I. The formation of the Future-Continuous-in-the-Past
- •I. The formation of the Future-Perfect-in-the-Past
- •II. The contracted affirmative forms are:
- •Should I not have been working?
- •Wouldn’t he have been working?
- •III. The use of the Future-Perfect-Continuous-in-the-Past
- •List of irregular verbs
- •Appendix
- •I. Some spelling rules
- •I. Doubling the final consonant.
- •II. Mute Final e.
- •III. Final -y and Its Modifications.
The past perfect tense
I. The formation of the Past Perfect Tense.
The Past Perfect is formed by means of the Past Indefinite of the auxiliary verb to have and Participle II of the notional verb.
In the interrogative form the auxiliary verb is placed before the subject.
In the negative form the negative particle not is placed after the auxiliary verb.
|
Affirmative |
Interrogative |
Negative |
|
I had worked |
Had I worked? |
I had not worked |
|
You had worked |
Had you worked? |
You had not worked |
|
He/she/it had worked |
Had he/she/it worked? |
He/she/it had worked |
|
We had worked |
Had we worked? |
We had not worked |
|
They had worked |
Had they worked? |
They had not worked |
II. The contracted affirmative forms are:
I’d worked
We’d worked
The contracted negative forms are:
I hadn’t worked
We hadn’t worked
The negative-interrogative forms are:
Had he not worked?
Hadn’t he worked?
Had you not worked?
Hadn’t you worked?
III. The use of the Past Perfect
-
The Past Perfect expresses an action accomplished before a given past moment and viewed back from that moment.
The porter said that our friend had just left the club.
The storm had died away but very far off the thunder was still muttering.
The past moment from which the accomplished action is viewed may be indicated:
-
By means of an adverbial expression: by four o’clock, by that time, by the end of the week, etc.
By that time the children had already gone to school.
By the end of the week we had already done half of the work.
By six o’clock they had already gathered in the hall.
-
By another action expressed by a verb in the Past Indefinite.
When I came home, everybody had gone to the concert.
I knew that she had left for the South.
◆ Notice that the tense does not change depending on the positive or negative meaning of the context:
We had gone far when we suddenly noticed that dark clouds were beginning to gather.
We had not gone far when we suddenly noticed that dark clouds were beginning to
gather.
◆ The definite moment need not necessarily be expressed in the same sentence as the action expressed by the Past Perfect.
Everybody noticed how sad she was the whole evening. She had got an unpleasant
letter.
-
The Past Perfect is used with the conjunctions hardly…when,
merely…when,
barely…when,
scarcely…when,
no sooner…than.
He had hardly entered the room when he heard some noise.
For the sake of emphasis the word order is often inverted.
No sooner had the bell gone than the teacher entered the classroom.
-
The Past Perfect is frequently used with the adverbs just,
already,
yet.
Elsie, who had not yet assumed the white cap, was sweeping the stairs.
-
Sometimes the Past Perfect does not denote priority but only the completion of the action.