Understanding Verb Tenses

Tenses

• Verbs come in past, present, and future tenses
• The past tense describes things that already happened, like events earlier in the day, yesterday, last week, or three years ago
• The present tense describes ongoing or continuous actions
• The future tense describes events that have yet to occur, such as later, tomorrow, next week, next year, or three years from now
• Simple present tense denotes routine actions( e.g I read nearly every day)
• Simple past tense refers to a completed action in the past(e.g Last night, I read an entire novel)
• Simple future tense indicates a future action(e.g I will read as much as I can this year)
• Present continuous describes an action happening now(e.g I am reading Shakespeare at the moment.)
• Past continuous describes an action in progress in the past(e.g I was reading Edgar Allan Poe last night)
• Future continuous describes an action that will be in progress in the future(e.g I will be reading Nathaniel Hawthorne soon.)
• Present perfect tense indicates an action completed at an unspecified time in the past(e.g I have read so many books)
• Past perfect tense describes an action completed before another action in the past(e.g I had read at least 100 books by the time I was twelve.)
• Future perfect tense describes an action that will be completed before a specific time in the future( I will have read at least 500 books by the end of the year.)
• Present perfect continuous describes an action that started in the past and continues to the present(e.g I have been reading since I was four years old.)
• Past perfect continuous describes an action that had been in progress before another action in the past(e.g I had been reading for at least a year before my sister learned to read.)
• Future perfect continuous describes an action that will have been in progress before a specific time in the future(e.g I will have been reading for at least two hours before dinner tonight.)

Conditional Sentences

• Conditional sentences, also known as Conditional Clauses or If Clauses, express that an action in the main clause can only occur if a certain condition is met.
• There are three types of Conditional Sentences: Type 1, Type 2, and Type 3

Conditional Sentence Type 1

• It's possible and very likely that the condition will be fulfilled
• Follows the form: if + Simple Present, will-Future
• Example: If I find her address, I’ll send her an invitation

Conditional Sentence Type 2

• It's possible but very unlikely that the condition will be fulfilled
• Follows the form: if + Simple Past, Conditional I (= would + Infinitive)
• Example: If I found her address, I would send her an invitation

Conditional Sentence Type 3

• It is impossible that the condition will be fulfilled because it refers to the past
• Follows the form: if + Past Perfect, Conditional II (= would + have + Past Participle)
• Example: If I had found her address, I would have sent her an invitation

Either... Or

• This connects two choices
• Example: I’ve saved some money to buy either [choice 1] a scooter or [choice 2] a bike
• Another example: It’s either black or grey
• Another example: You can stay either in home or in hostel
• Another example: Either I drive to the airport or I get a taxi

Neither... Nor

• It connects two or more negative alternatives and it can sound formal
• Example: Neither Italy nor France got to the quarter finals last year

Active to Passive Voice

• Passive voice emphasizes the action, not who or what performs it
• Example: "My bike was stolen," the focus is on the stolen bike, not the thief
• Using passive voice can be more polite
• Example: A mistake was made

Form of Passive

• The structure is: Subject + finite form of to be + Past Participle
• For instance: A letter is written

Rewriting Active Sentences in Passive Voice

• The object of the active sentence becomes the subject of the passive sentence

Examples of Tense Subject Verb Object

• Simple present active: Rita writes a letter. Passive: A letter is written by Rita
• Simple past active: Rita wrote a letter. Passive: A letter was written by Rita
• Present perfect active: Rita has written a letter. Passive: A letter has been written by Rita
• Future I active: Rita will write a letter. Passive: A letter will be written by Rita
• Can active: Rita can write a letter. Passive: A letter can be written by Rita
• Present continuous active: Rita is writing a letter. Passive: A letter is being written by Rita
• Past continuous active: Rita was writing a letter. Passive: A letter was being written by Rita
• Past perfect active: Rita had written a letter. Passive: A letter had been written by Rita
• Future II active: Rita will have written a letter. Passive: A letter will have been written by Rita
• Conditional I active: Rita would write a letter. Passive: A letter would be written by Rita
• Conditional II active: Rita would have written a letter. Passive: A letter would have been written by Rita

Passive Sentences with Two Objects

• Rewriting an active sentence with two objects in passive voice requires one of the objects to become the subject
• The other one remains an object, and the choice depends on what the focus will be
• Example: Active: Rita wrote a letter to me. Passive: A letter was written to me by Rita (or) I was written a letter by Rita

Reporting Questions

• When reporting what people say, the verb tenses shift to reflect indirect speech
• This pattern applies to reporting questions, with additional changes

Yes/No Questions

• Direct question: Do you like working in teams? Reported question: He asked if I like working in teams
• When reporting yes/no questions, use ‘if’ or ‘whether’
• The tense of the verb changes, but auxiliary verbs are not used, and the word order is like an affirmative sentence
• Direct question: Did you enjoy the party? Reported question: She asked me whether I'd enjoyed the party

Questions with a Question Word

• Use the question word (what, where, why, who, when, how) in the reported question
• There's no auxiliary verb, and the word order resembles an affirmative sentence
• Direct question: What time does the train leave? Reported question: He asked what time the train left

Changing Assertive Sentences into Exclamatory Sentences

• Exclamatory sentence structure: How + adjective + subject + verb!
• Assertive Sentence structure: Subject + verb + (a) + very + (adjective, noun)
• "It is a very nice bird" can be converted to "What a nice bird it is!"
• "This was the most exciting match" can be converted to "What an exciting match this was!"

Examples of Changing Assertive Sentences into Exclamatory Sentences

• "They were the most wonderful examples" can be converted to "How wonderful examples they were!"
• "The rose is a very beautiful flower" can be converted to "What a beautiful flower the rose is!"
• "The rose is a very beautiful" can be converted to "How beautiful the rose is!"
• "He plays very nicely" can be converted to "How nicely he plays!"
• "The day is very hot" can be converted to "How hot the day is!"
• "The sun shines very hotly" can be converted to "How hotly the sun shines!"
• "It was a very lovely day" can be converted to "What a lovely day it was!"
• "We loved him very warmly" can be converted to "How warmly we loved him!"

Changing Exclamatory Sentences into Assertive Sentences

• For exclamatory sentences starting with 'How' or 'What', replace 'How' or 'What' with a subject and use 'very' before the adjective
• Exclamatory: How foolish I have been! can be converted to Assertive: I have been very foolish

More examples

• Exclamatory : What a dangerous thing a little knowledge is ! can be converted to Assertive : A little knowledge is a very dangerous thing.
• 'wish' is used when interchanging sentences which start with O, Oh, Would, If etc.
• Exclamatory : O that I were a child again ! can be converted to Assertive : I wish that I were a child again.
• Exclamatory : Would that I had got success ! can be converted to Assertive : I wish that I had got success.
• Sentences starting with 'Alas', 'Hurrah' and 'Bravo' are replaced with 'It is sad', 'It is a matter of joy' and 'It is a matter of praise' respectively.
• Exclamatory : Alas ! We have lost the battle. can be converted to Assertive : It is sad that we have lost the battle.
• Exclamatory : Hurrah ! My sister has won the first prize. can be converted to Assertive : It is a matter of joy that my sister has won the first prize.
• Exclamatory : Bravo ! You have secured first position. can be converted to Assertive : It is a matter of praise that you have secured first position

Would Rather

• Use 'would rather' or 'd rather' to express a preference
• It has two constructions: comparing the same subject (+ base form) or different subjects (+ past simple clause)
• Same subject example: I’d rather stay at home than go out tonight
• Different subject example: I’d rather you stayed at home tonight
• Negative usage example: I’d rather not go out tonight
• Negative usage example: I’d rather you didn’t go out tonight

When the subject is the same

• When the subject is the same person in both clauses, use would rather (not) followed by the base form of the verb
• Example: We’d rather go on Monday

Referring to the Past

• To refer to the past, use would rather + have + -ed form (perfect infinitive without to)
• Example: She would rather have spent the money on a holiday

Different Subjects

• When the subjects in two clauses differ, the past simple is used for present or future, and past perfect for the past
• Example: I would rather they did something about it instead of just talking about it
• Example: Would you rather I wasn’t honest with you?
• Example: I’d rather you hadn’t rung me at work.

Wish I Could

• Examples of expressing wishes:
• I wish I could sing better
• I wish I could settle the argument
• I wish I could sail around the world
• I wish I could remain calm during all of this
• I wish I could remember his name
• I wish I could replace my old car with a new one
• I wish I could play outside
• I wish I could go to the game with you
• I wish I could write better
• I wish I could own my own business