Contents

Present perfect (I have done) 2

Present perfect (I have done) and past simple (I did) 2
I will and Im going to 3
Past continuous (I was doing) 4
Past continuous (I was doing) and past simple (I did) 4
Past perfect (I had done) 5
Reported speech (He said that ) 6
If I do, If I did and If I had done 7
Must and cant 8
May and might 8
Passive (is done / was done) 9
Passive verbs with two objects 9
Verb + -ing / to 10
Preposition (in/for/about etc.) + -ing 10
Spelling rules 11
List of irregular verbs 12
For further practice:
English Grammar in Use Supplementary Exercises
Louise Hashemi with Raymond Murphy
Cambridge University Press 2004
Not for sale separately
English Grammar in Use
Grammar Reference
Raymond Murphy
Present perfect (I have done)
Present perfect (I have done) and
past simple (I did)
Tom is looking for his key. He cant find it.
He has lost his key.
He has lost his key = He lost it recently, and he still
doesnt have it.
Have/has lost is the present perfect simple:
I/we/they/you have (= Ive etc.)
finished
lost
he/she/it has (= hes etc.)
done
been etc.
The present perfect simple is have/has + past participle. The past participle often ends in -ed
(finished/decided etc.), but many important verbs are irregular (lost/done/written etc.).
For a list of irregular verbs, see page 12.
Now Tom has found his key. He has it now.
Has he lost his key? No, he has found it.
Did he lose his key? Yes, he did.
He lost his key (past simple)
but now he has found it. (present perfect)
The present perfect (something has happened) is a present tense. It always tells us about the
situation now. Tom has lost his key = he doesnt have his key now (see Unit 7).
The past simple (something happened) tells us only about the past. If somebody says Tom lost
his key, this doesnt tell us whether he has the key now or not. It tells us only that he lost his
key at some time in the past.
Do not use the present perfect if the situation now is different. Compare:
Theyve gone away. Theyll be back on Friday. (they are away now)
They went away, but I think theyre back at home now. (not Theyve gone)
2
I will and Im going to
3
Compare:
Gary phoned while you were out. OK. Ill call him back.
Gary phoned while you were out. Yes, I know. Im going to call him back.
Ann is in hospital. Oh really? I didnt know. Ill go and visit her.
Ann is in hospital. Yes, I know. Im going to visit her this evening.
When we say that something is going to happen,
the situation now makes this clear.
The man is walking towards the
wall now, so we can see that he
is going to walk into it.
Sue is talking to Helen: will (ll): We use will when we decide to do
something at the time of speaking. The
speaker has not decided before. The party is
a new idea.
(be) going to: We use (be) going to when we
have already decided to do something. Helen
had already decided to invite lots of people
before she spoke to Dave.
Later that day, Helen meets Dave:
Ill
past now future
decision
now
past now future
decision
before
Im going to
SUE HELEN
HELEN DAVE
Lets have a party.
Thats a great idea.
Well invite lots of people.
Sue and I have decided to have a party.
Were going to invite lots of people.
going to
situation now future happening
Past continuous (I was doing)
Past continuous (I was doing) and
past simple (I did)
4
I was doing something = I was in the middle of doing something at a certain time. The action or
situation had already started before this time, but had not finished:
Yesterday Karen and Jim played tennis. They began at
10 oclock and finished at 11.30.
So, at 10.30 they were playing tennis.
They were playing = they were in the middle of
playing. They had not finished playing.
Was/were -ing is the past continuous:
I/he/she/it was
playing
we/you/they were
doing
working etc.
This time last year I was living in Brazil.
What were you doing at 10 oclock last night?
I waved to Helen, but she wasnt looking.
Past continuous (in the middle of an action)
I was walking home when I met Dave.
(in the middle of an action)
Kate was watching television when
we arrived.
Past simple (complete action)
I walked home after the party last night.
(= all the way, completely)
Kate watched television a lot when she
was ill last year.
I started doing I was doing I finished doing
past past now
Past perfect (I had done)
5
The past perfect simple is had + past participle (gone/seen/finished etc). For a list of irregular
verbs, see page 12.
Sometimes we talk about something that happened in the past:
Sarah arrived at the party.
This is the starting point of the story. Then, if we want to talk about things that happened
before this time, we use the past perfect (had ):
When Sarah arrived at the party, Paul had already gone home.
Compare the present perfect (have seen etc.) and the past perfect (had seen etc.):
Sarah went to a party last week. Paul went to the
party too, but they didnt see each other. Paul left the
party at 10.30 and Sarah arrived at 11 oclock. So:
When Sarah arrived at the party, Paul wasnt there.
He had gone home.
Had gone is the past perfect (simple):
Who is that woman? Ive never seen I didnt know who she was. Id never
her before. seen her before. (= before that time)
We arent hungry. Weve just had lunch. We werent hungry. Wed just had lunch.
The house is dirty. They havent cleaned The house was dirty. They hadnt
it for weeks. cleaned it for weeks.
I/we/they/you (= Id etc.)
gone
he/she/it
had
(= hed etc.)
seen
finished etc.
at 10.30 at 11.00
PAUL SARAH
Present perfect Past perfect
have seen
past now
had seen
past now
Bye! Hello!
Reported speech (He said that )
6
When we use reported speech, the main verb of the sentence is usually past (Paul said that /
I told her that etc.). The rest of the sentence is usually past too:
Paul said that he was feeling ill.
I told Lisa that I didnt have any money.
In general, the present form in direct speech changes to the past form in reported speech:
am/is was do/does did will would
are were have/has had can could
want/like/know/go etc. wanted/liked/knew/went etc.
You want to tell somebody what Paul said.
There are two ways of doing this:
You can repeat Pauls words (direct speech):
Paul said, Im feeling ill.
Or you can use reported speech:
Paul said that he was feeling ill.
Compare:
direct Paul said, feeling ill. In writing we use these quotation
marks to show direct speech.
reported Paul said that feeling ill.
I am
he was
PAUL
Im feeling ill.
Say and tell
If you say who you are talking to, use tell: TELL SOMEBODY
Sonia told me that you were in hospital. (not Sonia said me)
What did you tell the police? (not say the police)
Otherwise use say: SAY SOMEBODY
Sonia said that you were in hospital. (not Sonia told that )
What did you say?
But you can say something to somebody:
Ann said goodbye to me and left. (not Ann said me goodbye)
What did you say to the police?
If I do and If I did
If I had known
7
(1) Lisa has lost her watch. She tells Sue:
LISA: Ive lost my watch. Have you seen it anywhere?
SUE: No, but if I find it, Ill tell you.
In this example, Sue feels there is a real possibility that she will find the watch. So she says:
if I find , Ill .
(2) Joe says:
If I found a wallet in the street, Id take it to the police station.
This is a different type of situation. Here, Joe doesnt expect to find a wallet in the street;
he is imagining a situation that will probably not happen. So he says:
if I found , Id (= I would) . (not if I find , Ill )
When you imagine something like this, you use if + past
(if I found / if there was / if we didnt etc.).
But the meaning is not past:
What would you do if you won a million pounds?
(we dont really expect this to happen)
Last month Gary was in hospital for a few days. Rachel didnt know this, so she didnt go to
visit him. They met a few days ago. Rachel said:
If I had known you were in hospital, I would have gone to see you.
Rachel said: If I had known you were in hospital . This tells us that she didnt know he
was in hospital.
We use if + had (d) to talk about the past (if I had known/been/done etc.):
I didnt see you when you passed me in the street. If Id seen you, of course I would have
said hello. (but I didnt see you)
The view was wonderful. If Id had a camera with me, I would have taken some
photographs. (but I didnt have a camera)
Must and cant
May and might
8
must
be (tired / hungry / at work etc.)
I/you/he (etc.)
cant
be (doing / going / joking etc.)
do / get / know / have etc.
You can use must to say that you believe something is certain:
Youve been travelling all day. You must be tired. (Travelling is tiring and youve been
travelling all day, so you must be tired.)
You can use cant to say that you believe something is not possible:
Youve just had lunch. You cant be hungry already. (People are not normally hungry just
after eating a meal. Youve just eaten, so you cant be hungry.)
I didnt hear the phone. I must have been asleep.
Tom walked into a wall. He cant have been looking where he was going.
Present
Present
Past
Past
must
been (asleep / at work etc.)
I/you/he (etc.)
cant
have been (doing / looking etc.)
gone / got / known etc.
We use may or might to say that something is a possibility. Usually you can use may or might,
so you can say:
It may be true. or It might be true. (= perhaps it is true)
She might know. or She may know.
A: I wonder why Kate didnt answer the phone.
B: She may have been asleep. (= perhaps she was asleep)
A: I was surprised that Kate wasnt at the meeting yesterday.
B: She might not have known about it. (= perhaps she didnt know)
may
be (true / in his office etc.)
I/you/he (etc.)
might
(not) be (doing / working / having etc.)
know / work / want etc.
may
been (asleep / at home etc.)
I/you/he (etc.)
might
(not) have been (doing / working / feeling etc.)
known / had / wanted / left etc.
Passive (is done / was done)
Passive verbs with two objects
9
The passive is be (is/was etc.) + past participle (done/cleaned/seen etc.):
(be) done (be) cleaned (be) damaged (be) built (be) seen etc.
For irregular past participles (done/seen/known etc.), see page 12.
Present simple
active: clean(s) / see(s) etc. Somebody cleans every day.
passive: am/is/are + cleaned/seen etc. is cleaned every day.
Many accidents are caused by careless driving.
Im not often invited to parties.
How is this word pronounced?
Past simple
active: cleaned/saw etc. Somebody cleaned yesterday.
passive: was/were + cleaned/seen etc. was cleaned yesterday.
We were woken up by a loud noise during the night.
Did you go to the party? No, I wasnt invited.
How much money was stolen in the robbery?
this room
This room
this room
This room
Some verbs can have two objects. For example, give:
Somebody gave the police the information. (= Somebody gave the information to the police)
object 1 object 2
So it is possible to make two passive sentences:
The police were given the information. or
The information was given to the police.
Other verbs which can have two objects are:
ask offer pay show teach tell
When we use these verbs in the passive, most often we begin with the person:
I was offered the job, but I refused it. (= they offered me the job)
You will be given plenty of time to decide. (= we will give you plenty of time)
Have you been shown the new machine? (= has anybody shown you?)
The men were paid 400 to do the work. (= somebody paid the men 400)
Verb + -ing
Verb + to
Preposition (in/for/about etc.) + -ing
10
Here are some verbs that are followed by -ing:
stop postpone admit avoid imagine enjoy suggest
finish consider deny risk fancy mind
Suddenly everybody stopped talking. There was silence.
Ill do the shopping when Ive finished cleaning the flat.
If these verbs are followed by another verb, the structure is usually verb + to (infinitive)
It was late, so we decided to take a taxi home.
Simon was in a difficult situation, so I agreed to help him.
offer decide hope deserve promise
agree plan manage afford threaten
refuse arrange fail forget learn
If a preposition (in/for/about etc.) is followed by a verb, the verb ends in -ing:
preposition verb (-ing)
Are you interested in working for us?
Im not very good at learning languages.
Sue must be fed up with studying.
What are the advantages of having a car?
Thanks very much for inviting me to your party.
How about meeting for lunch tomorrow?
Why dont you go out instead of sitting at home all the time?
Carol went to work in spite of feeling ill.
Spelling rules
11
Nouns, verbs and adjectives can have the following endings:
noun + -s/-es (plural) books ideas matches
verb + -s/-es (after he/she/it) works enjoys washes
verb + -ing working enjoying washing
verb + -ed worked enjoyed washed
adjective + -er (comparative) cheaper quicker brighter
adjective + -est (superlative) cheapest quickest brightest
adjective + -ly (adverb) cheaply quickly brightly
If a word ends in a consonant* + y (-by/-ry/-sy/-vy etc.)
y changes to ie before the ending -s:
baby/babies story/stories country/countries secretary/secretaries
hurry/hurries study/studies apply/applies try/tries
y changes to i before the ending -ed:
hurry/hurried study/studied apply/applied try/tried
y changes to i before the endings -er and -est:
easy/easier/easiest heavy/heavier/heaviest lucky/luckier/luckiest
y changes to i before the ending -ly:
easy/easily heavy/heavily temporary/temporarily
Words ending in -y (baby, carry, easy etc.)
stop p pp stopping stopped
plan n nn planning planned
rub b bb rubbing rubbed
big g gg bigger biggest
wet t tt wetter wettest
thin n nn thinner thinnest
Doubling consonants (stop/stopping/stopped, wet/wetter/wettest etc.)
Sometimes a word ends in vowel + consonant. For example:
stop plan rub big wet thin prefer regret
Before the endings -ing/-ed/-er/-est, we double the consonant at the end. So p pp,
n nn etc. For example:
List of irregular verbs
12
infinitive
be
beat
become
begin
bend
bet
bite
blow
break
bring
broadcast
build
burst
buy
catch
choose
come
cost
creep
cut
deal
dig
do
draw
drink
drive
eat
fall
feed
feel
fight
find
flee
fly
forbid
forget
forgive
freeze
get
give
go
grow
hang
have
hear
hide
hit
hold
hurt
keep
kneel
know
lay
lead
leave
lend
let
lie
past simple
was/were
beat
became
began
bent
bet
bit
blew
broke
brought
broadcast
built
burst
bought
caught
chose
came
cost
crept
cut
dealt
dug
did
drew
drank
drove
ate
fell
fed
felt
fought
found
fled
flew
forbade
forgot
forgave
froze
got
gave
went
grew
hung
had
heard
hid
hit
held
hurt
kept
knelt
knew
laid
led
left
lent
let
lay
past participle
been
beaten
become
begun
bent
bet
bitten
blown
broken
brought
broadcast
built
burst
bought
caught
chosen
come
cost
crept
cut
dealt
dug
done
drawn
drunk
driven
eaten
fallen
fed
felt
fought
found
fled
flown
forbidden
forgotten
forgiven
frozen
got
given
gone
grown
hung
had
heard
hidden
hit
held
hurt
kept
knelt
known
laid
led
left
lent
let
lain
infinitive
light
lose
make
mean
meet
pay
put
read
ride
ring
rise
run
say
see
seek
sell
send
set
sew
shake
shine
shoot
show
shrink
shut
sing
sink
sit
sleep
slide
speak
spend
spit
split
spread
spring
stand
steal
stick
sting
stink
strike
swear
sweep
swim
swing
take
teach
tear
tell
think
throw
understand
wake
wear
weep
win
write
past simple
lit
lost
made
meant
met
paid
put
read [red]*
rode
rang
rose
ran
said
saw
sought
sold
sent
set
sewed
shook
shone
shot
showed
shrank
shut
sang
sank
sat
slept
slid
spoke
spent
spat
split
spread
sprang
stood
stole
stuck
stung
stank
struck
swore
swept
swam
swung
took
taught
tore
told
thought
threw
understood
woke
wore
wept
won
wrote
past participle
lit
lost
made
meant
met
paid
put
read [red]*
ridden
rung
risen
run
said
seen
sought
sold
sent
set
sewn/sewed
shaken
shone
shot
shown/showed
shrunk
shut
sung
sunk
sat
slept
slid
spoken
spent
spat
split
spread
sprung
stood
stolen
stuck
stung
stunk
struck
sworn
swept
swum
swung
taken
taught
torn
told
thought
thrown
understood
woken
worn
wept
won
written
* pronunciation