LANGUAGE

BY
AYSHA NIHAD KHALIL

URUK UNIVERSITY
2023 - 2024

1
Auxiliary Verbs
Be Do Have
Verb to Be
I am
He
She is
It
You
We are
They
Examples:
 I am happy.
 I was there.
 He is Lebanese.
 She was sick.
 They are students.
 You were absent.
Negative:
I am
He
She is
It Not
You
2
We are
They

Examples:
I am not happy.
She is not the new manager.
It is not windy today.
We are not lawyers.
They are not Italians.

Questions

Forming wh-questions
With an auxiliary verb
We usually form wh-questions with wh- + an auxiliary verb (be,
do or have) + subject + main verb or with wh- + a modal verb +
subject + main verb:

Examples:
Where are you from?
I am from Denmark
Where are you?

3
I am at the gas station
Who is she?
She is my sister.

Verb to Do
I do
He
She does
It
You
We do
They

Examples:
I do my laundry on Saturdays.
They do their chores when they arrive home.
He does nothing all day.
She does charity work when she has time.

Negative

4
I do
He
She does
It Not
You
We do
They

Examples:
I do not like pizza.
She does not work here.

Question
Do subject verb complement?
Does

Examples:
Do you play football?

5
Does he watch the movie?

Verb to have
I have
He
She has
It
You
We have
They

Examples:
I have a job.

6
She has a dog.

I have
He
She has
It not
You
We have
They

Example:
I haven’t finished my work.
She hasn’t bought a new car.
Question
Have I forgotten something?
Have you traveled to Europe?
Has she done her homework?

7
Simple Present Tense
Affirmative
Negative
Interrogative
Present Simple
Form: subject + verb + complement.
Present Simple We use PRESENT SIMPLE to describe an
action that is regular, true or normal.
We use the present tense:
1. For repeated or regular actions in the present time period.
Examples:
• I take the train to the office.
• The train to Basra leaves every hour.
• Lara sleeps eight hours every night during the week.
2. For facts.
Examples:
 The President of The USA lives in The White House.
 It snows in winter.
 The Earth rotates round itself.

3. For habits.
Examples:
• I get up early every day.
• Mina brushes her teeth twice a day.

8
 • They travel to their country house every weekend.
• Affirmative:
• Form: subject (I, you, we, they) + verb + complement.
• Example :
• I get up at six o’clock every morning.

• Form: subject (he, she, it) + verb(s) + complement.

• Example :
• She goes to theater once a month.

Negative:
In negative form we add (don't) between the subject and the
verb.
We use Don't when the subject is I, you, we or they.
Form: subject (I, you, we, they) + don’t + verb +
complement.
Example:
They don’t play every weekend.
When the subject is he, she or it, we add (doesn't) between
the subject and the verb
to make a negative sentence. Notice that the letter S at the
end of the verb in the
affirmative sentence (because it is in third person)
disappears in the negative
sentence.
9
 Form: subject (he, she, it) + doesn’t + verb+
complement.
Example:
He doesn’t like egg.

Questions in the Simple Present Tense (Interrogative)

To make a question in English we use (Do or Does).And it is
normally put at the beginning of the question. You will see that
we add (DO) at the beginning of the affirmative sentence to
make it a question. We use Do when the subject is I, you, we or
they.
Form: Do + subject (I, you, we, they) + verb +
complement?
Example:
Do you speak English?
When the subject is he, she or it, we add (DOES) at the
beginning to make the affirmative sentence a question. Notice
that the letter S at the end of the verb in the affirmative sentence
(because it is in third person) disappears in the question.
Form: Does + subject (he, she, it) + verb + complement?
Example:
Does he play football?

10
 Past Simple Tense
Affirmative
Negative
Interrogative
Past:
Yesterday Present
Last night Future
Three years ago
Last summer

Affirmative
The simple past is used to talk about actions that happened in the
past.
Form: subject+ verb(ed) + complement.

Regular verbs(ed) irregular verbs

Play__ played go__went
Work__ worked say__said
Look__looked drive__drove
Walk__walked make__made
11
Want__wanted write__wrote
Examples:
I played tennis last Friday.
He played piano yesterday.
They went to the cinema.

Negative
In negative form we add (didn't) between the subject and
the verb.
We use (didn’t) when the subject is (I, he, she, it, you, we
or they).
Form: subject (I, you, he, she, it we, they) + didn’t + verb
+ complement.
Examples:
He didn’t eat fish.
They didn’t go to the museum.
Questions in the Past Simple Tense (Interrogative)
To make a question in English we use (Did).And it is
normally put at the beginning of the question.
Form: Did + subject (I, you, he, she, it, we, they) + verb +
complement?
12
 Examples:
Did you study Spanish in the college?
Did he visit his grandparents on the holiday?

Present perfect tense

We use the present perfect simple to refer to events in the
past but which connect to the present. We use have/has + the -
ed form of the verb
Form: Subject + have/has + past participle.

(full form)
I, you, we, they
have
she, he, it
has

(short form)
I, you, we, they
’ve
she, he, it
’s

I, you, we, (full form)

they have not worked.
she, he, it has not

13
 (short form)
I, you, we, they
haven’t
she, he, it
hasn’t

Have I, you, we, they

?+
Has she, he, it

(full form) I, you, we,

Have they not
Has she, he, it
?−
(short form)
I, you, we, they
Haven’t
she, he, it
Hasn’t

Experiences
We use the present perfect simple to talk about our experiences
up to now. The time of the experiences is not important:
Examples:
She has worked in the bank for five years.
We have had the same car for ten years.

14
Although we do not give a specific time, we often use general
time expressions like ever, never, before, in my life, so far, up
until now with this use of the present perfect simple:
Example:
We haven’t met before, have we?
They’ve sold 110 so far = from a point in the past up until now)
We often use ever, not … ever and never when we talk about
experiences:
It was the worst performance we have ever seen.
We often use the present perfect simple for a unique experience
when we are using a superlative:
Examples:
It was the worst talk show program I have ever seen.
It is the best decision I have ever made in my life.
_________________________________

Present continuous
The present continuous is made from the present tense of the
verb be and the –ing form of a verb:
We use the present continuous to talk about:
Activities at the moment of speaking:
15
Examples:
I'm just leaving work. I'll be home in an hour.
Please be quiet. The children are sleeping.

Future plans or arrangements:

Examples:
Mary is going to a new school next term.
What are you doing next week?

Present continuous question

We make questions by putting am, is or are in front of
the subject:
Form: be (am, is, are) + subject+ v(ing) + complement?
Examples:
Are you listening?
Are they coming to your party?
When is she going home?
What am I doing here?

Present continuous negatives

We make negatives by putting not (or n't) after am, is or are:
Form: subject + be +not+ v( ing)+complement.
16
Examples:
I'm not doing that.
You aren't listening. (or You're not listening.)
They aren't coming to the party. (or They're not coming to the
party.)
She isn't going home until Monday. (or She's not going home
until Monday.)

The past continuous tense

The past continuous tense, also known as the past
progressive tense, describes ongoing actions in the past, such
as I was writing my research paper all night. It uses the same
construction as the present continuous tense except with the past
tense of the verb to be.
The past continuous tense shows a continuous action that
began in the past. The present and past continuous are very
17
similar, but the past continuous uses was and were, the past tense
of to be.
Form: subject+ (was, were) +v(ing) + complement.
Examples:
She was working on an email when the fire alarm rang.
The team was playing well until the second half.
The negative in the past progressive tense is created
using was not or were not + the ing (present participle) form of
the verb. Note: In general, use these contractions in the negative:
wasn't, weren't.
Form: subject+ (was not, were not) +v(ing) +
complement.
Examples:
I wasn’t sleeping when you came home last night.
When the teacher came in, the girls weren’t studying.

Yes/No Questions in the Past Progressive (Continuous)

To ask a question that will be answered with either a yes or no,
start with Was or Were, (Wasn’t or Weren’t for a negative
question) then choose your subject (the person or thing doing the
action), followed by the ing (present participle) form of the verb
and then the rest of your question.
Form: Was (I, he, she, it) or Were (you, we, they) +
subject +v(ing) + complement?
18
A form of Be subject verbing rest of sentence

Was I walking too fast

Was he / she / it shouting while you were

trying to sleep

Were you / we / waiting for her when the

they plane landed

Examples:
Was I talking to you?
Were you writing the report when the electricity went off?
When you came home, was he singing in the shower?
Wasn’t Tom sitting in the cafe when you drove past?

Wh-Questions in the Past Progressive (Continuous)

Wh- questions are questions that require more information in
their answers. Typical wh- words are what, where, when, which,
why, who, and how.
To create a wh-question, start with the Wh-word, then was or
were (wasn’t or weren’t for a negative question), then the subject
(a person or thing that does the action), followed by the ing
19
 (participle) form of the verb and only then add the rest of the
sentence.
Form: Wh Word+ was, were +subject +v(ing) + complement.

Wh Word a form of subject verbing rest of

be sentence

Who was I talking to

What was he / she / it doing

When were you / we / planning on telling

they me the
bad news

Examples:
Where were you standing when the trouble started?
Who was I talking to? I can’t remember.
Why wasn’t she waiting at the meeting point?

References
20
1. New headway plus: Liz and John Soars, pre-intermediate,
Oxford university, 2018.
2. New headway plus: Liz and John Soars, intermediate, Oxford
university, 2018.
3. New headway plus: Liz and John Soars, upper-intermediate,
Oxford university, 2018.
4.
5. Oxford Learner's Dictionaries: official website, United
Kingdom.

21