English Grammar Lessons

We use the present simple to talk about actions we see as long term or permanent. It is a very

We use the Present Simple for regular actions or events I watch TV most evenings.  facts The sun rises in the east  facts

We use the past simple to talk about actions and states which we see as completed in the past. We

We use the past continuous to talk about past events which went on for a period of time. We use

Both the past simple and the past continuous refer to completed actions in the past. Most of the time when

All new verbs in English are regular. I photocopied the report. She faxed it to me. They emailed everybody about

(Please note that British and American English have different rules for the use of this tense. The explanation and exercises

Often there is very little difference between the present perfect simple and the present perfect continuous. In many cases, both

This tense is used to talk about an action or actions that started in the past and continued until recently

(Remember that British and American English have different rules for the use of the present perfect. The comments and the

We use the past perfect simple to talk about what happened before a point in the past. It looks back

We use the past perfect continuous to look back at a situation in progress. It was a good time to

We can use the past simple to talk about actions and states which we see as completed in the past. I left

We can use the past simple to talk about actions and states which we see as completed in the past. I left

There is no one ‘future tense’ in English. There are 4 future forms. The one which is used most often

Some people have been taught that ‘will’ is ‘the future’ in English. This is not correct. Sometimes when we talk

We can use ‘will be doing’ to talk about something that will be in progress at a particular moment in

When we want to talk about future facts or things we believe to be true about the future, we use

We use the present continuous to talk about things that we have already arranged to do in the future. I’ve

Older textbooks often refer to ‘will’ as ‘the future tense’ and this has confused a lot of learners. It is

We don’t use ‘Shall’ very frequently in modern English, particularly in American English. It is used to make offers and

We use the active form to say what the subject does. For example: I speak English every day at work.

We can use the imperative to give a direct order. Take that chewing gum out of your mouth. Stand up

The –ing form can be used like a noun, like an adjective or like a verb. Smoking is forbidden. I

bility’. Can you do that? I can’t manage to do that. You can leave your car in that parking space.

‘Could’ is used to make polite requests. We can also use ‘can’ for these but ‘could’ is more polite.  Could

We can use ‘may’ to ask for permission. However this is rather formal and not used very often in modern

We use ‘should’ for giving advice. You should speak to him about it. He should see a doctor. We should

We can use ‘should’ after ‘reporting verbs’ such asdemand  insist  propose  recommend  suggest He demanded that we should pay for

We can use ‘must’ to show that we are certain something is true. We are making a logical deduction based

When we talk about things that are generally or always true, we can use: If/When/Unless plus a present form PLUS

We use the First Conditional to talk about future events that are likely to happen. If we take John, he’ll

The Second Conditional is used to talk about ‘impossible’ situations. If we were in London today, we would be able

We can use the Third Conditional to talk about ‘impossible’ conditions, impossible because they are in the past and we

Let’s start off with the easy part. ‘ I wish to’ can mean the same as ‘I want to’ but

We use “had better” plus the infinitive without “to”  to give advice. Although “had” is the past form of “have”,

We use ‘used to’ for something that happened regularly in the past but no longer happens. I used to smoke

The basic rule for asking questions in English is straightforward: Invert the order of the subject and the first auxiliary

In the section Questions 1, we looked at how to ask direct questions. To make a question, we invert the

We use tags in spoken English but not in formal written English. They are not really questions but are a

We use reported speech when we are saying what other people say, think or believe. He says he wants it.

We also use reported speech when we are saying what other people asked or wanted to know. We do not

We often use  ‘suppose’ to mean ‘imagine’ or ‘guess’ I suppose you’ll be meeting Danielle when you go to Paris?

‘Supposed to be’ can be used to mean ‘it is said/believed’. The new James Bond movie is supposed to be

If you ‘have something done’, you get somebody else to do something for you. I’m going to have my hair

We can use ‘should have’ to talk about past events that did not happen. I should have let her know

We can use ‘could have’  to talk about something somebody was capable of doing but didn’t do. I could have

We can use ‘will have done’ to talk about what will have been achieved by a certain moment in time.

We can use about to mean ‘concerning’ I have heard all about it. There is nothing we can do about it. The