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A lightweight introduction toCommunicative English Grammar


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CONTENTS

SECTION 1: THE TENSES 1

INTRODUCTION 1

HOW THE TENSES WORK 2

1.1 THE PRESENT TENSE 3

1.2 THE PRESENT PERFECT TENSE 7

1.3 THE PAST TENSE 10

1.4 THE PAST PERFECT 13

1.5 TALKING ABOUT THE FUTURE 15

SECTION 2: THE PASSIVE 19

SECTION 3: MODAL (HELP) VERBS 22

Modals 1 ABILITY: can, could, & be able to 22

Modals 2 PERMISSION 24

Modals 3 PROBABILITY 24

Modals 4 NECESSITY (need) 27

Modals 5 OBLIGATION (must, should, & have to) 27

Modals 6 ADVICE & MILD OBLIGATION (should & ought to) 29

SECTION 4: THE GERUND 30

GRAMMAR EXERCISES - THE ANSWERS 33

GRAMMATICAL TERMS 40


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Introduction.

Most of the languages in Europe, and many outside Europe, have tense systems which are similarto each other in grammatical construction, meaning, and use, and often even in spelling and pronunciation.

English tenses may also have the same grammatical construction and may also look and sound similar, but theyoften have very different uses and meanings, and this can cause problems and misunderstandings.

One of the major differences between English and the other European languages is that English puts a great deal

more information into the verb, and it is this extra information that may sometimes be difficult to understand.

Simply translating, for example, the Dutch Tegenwoordige Tijdinto the Present Tense, does not automaticallygive an accurate translation.For example, how would you translate

Hij komt uit Delft? - is it He comes from DelftorHes coming from Delft?

Both of these are the Present Tense, but they dont mean the same thing. There are two forms of the presenttense simply because they give different information about the present.

Learning to use the English tenses correctly is not difficult if you learn what the tenses actually mean, and in what

ways they are different from the tenses in your own language.

Two things are very important to remember:

Never translate the names of the English tenses into your own language. Translating the names of the tensesusually results in transferring the uses of the tenses as well, and automatically causes problems.

Remember that what you want to translate is not the grammar, but the meaning. Translating the grammar oftenresults in changing the meaning. Translating the meaning often makes it necessary to change the grammar!


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HOW THE TENSES WORK

Look at this diagram of the English tenses -

English divides time into two main sections -(a) past or finished time, which has no connection with the present;and(b) present or unfinished time

English has two tenses which are used to talk about present unfinished time - the Present and thePresent Perfect; and it has two tenses which are used to talk about finished past time - the Past and thePast Perfect.

Each tense has two forms, Simple and Continuous (also called the Progressive), making a total of eightforms:

Present Tenses: I do Present SimpleI'm (am) doing Present ContinuousI've (have) done Present Perfect SimpleI've been doing Present Perfect Continuous

Past Tenses: I did Past SimpleI was doing Past ContinuousI'd (had) done Past Perfect SimpleI'd been doing Past Perfect Continuous

The Present Tense in English can be used to talk about the Present and the Future, but cannot be usedto talk about the Past. (see Note 4 on page 4)

The function of the Present Perfect is to link Past and Present time, and it is a forward-looking tense,focussing on the Present. It is, as its name implies, a Presenttense.

If we want to talk about times, events, or actions which began and ended in the past, and have no

connection with the present, we must use one of the tenses under the heading FINISHED PAST TIME.

finished past time unfinished present time

future

Past

PerfectPast Present

before thenandup to then

before nowandup to now

then now

simple

continuousccc

ss s

Present

Perfect


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1.1 THE PRESENT TENSE

SIMPLE - used for PERMANENT STATES / REPEATED ACTIONS /FACTS

PRESENT

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