Tenses

tense

Affirmative/Negative/Questio

Use

Present

A: He speaks.

action in the present taking place once, never or

several times

N: He does not speak.

facts

Q: Does he speak?

actions taking place one after another

action set by a timetable or schedule

Signal Words

always, every , never,

normally, often, seldom,
sometimes, usually
if sentences type I (If
Italk, )

Present

A: He is speaking.

action taking place in the moment of speaking

at the moment, just, just now,

Continuous

N: He is not speaking.

action taking place only for a limited period of time

Listen!, Look!, now, right now

Q: Is he speaking?

action arranged for the future

A: He spoke.

action in the past taking placeonce, never or

Past

several times

N: He did not speak.

Q: Did he speak?

actions taking place one after another

action taking place in the middle of another action

yesterday, 2 minutes ago, in

1990, the other day, last
Friday
if sentence type II (If
Italked, )

Past

A: He was speaking.

action going on at a certain time in the past

Continuous

N: He was not speaking.

actions taking place at the same time

Q: Was he speaking?

action in the past that is interrupted by another

when, while, as long as

action
Present

A: He has spoken.

putting emphasis on the result

already, ever, just, never, not

Perfect

N: He has not spoken.

action that is still going on

yet, so far, till now, up to now

Q: Has he spoken?

action that stopped recently

finished action that has an influence on the present

action that has taken place once, never or several

times before the moment of speaking

Present

A: He has been speaking.

Perfect

N: He has not been speaking.

putting emphasis on the course or duration (not

the result)

action that recently stopped or is still going on

finished action that influenced the present

all day, for 4 years, since

1993, how long?, the whole

Continuous

Q: Has he been speaking?

Past Perfect

A: He had spoken.

action taking place before a certain time in the past already, just, never, not yet,

N: He had not spoken.

sometimes interchangeable with past perfect

Q: Had he spoken?

progressive

once, until that day

if sentence type III (If Ihad

putting emphasis only on thefact (not the duration)

action taking place before a certain time in the past for, since, the whole day, all

Past Perfect

A: He had been speaking.

Continuous

N: He had not been speaking.

Q: Had he been speaking?

week

sometimes interchangeable with past perfect

talked, )

day

simple

putting emphasis on theduration or course of an

action

Future

A: He will speak.

action in the future that cannot be influenced

in a year, next , tomorrow

N: He will not speak.

spontaneous decision

If-Satz Typ I (If you ask her,

Q: Will he speak?

assumption with regard to the future

she will help you.)

assumption: I think, probably,
perhaps

Future I
(going to)

A: He is going to speak.

decision made for the future

in one year, next week,

N: He is not going to speak.

conclusion with regard to the future

tomorrow

action that is going on at a certain time in the

in one year, next week,

Q: Is he going to speak?
Future I

A: He will be speaking.

Continuous

N: He will not be speaking.

Q: Will he be speaking?

Future

A: He will have spoken.

Perfect

N: He will not have spoken.

future

action that is sure to happen in the near future

action that will be finished at a certain time in the

tomorrow

by Monday, in a week

future

Q: Will he have spoken?

Future II

A: He will have been

Perfect

speaking.

Continuous

N: He will not have been

action taking place before a certain time in the

future

putting emphasis on the courseof an action

action that might take place

for , the last couple of

hours, all day long

speaking.
Q: Will he have been
speaking?
Conditional I

A: He would speak.

if sentences type II

N: He would not speak.

(If I were you, I would

Q: Would he speak?

go home.)

Conditional I

A: He would be speaking.

Continuous

N: He would not be speaking.

Perfect

putting emphasis on the course/ duration of the

action

Q: Would he be speaking?
Conditional II A: He would have spoken.

action that might take place

action that might have taken place in the past

if sentences type III

N: He would not have spoken.

(If I had seen that, Iwould

Q: Would he have spoken?

have helped.)

Conditional II A: He would have been

action that might have taken place in the past

Perfect

speaking.

puts emphasis on the course /duration of the

continuous

N: He would not have been

speaking.
Q: Would he have been
speaking?

action

Active & Passive Voice

Active Form
In active sentences, the thing doing the action is the subject of the sentence and the thing receiving the
action is the object. Most sentences are active.
[Thing doing action] + [verb] + [thing receiving action]
Examples:

Passive Form
In passive sentences, the thing receiving the action is the subject of the sentence and the thing doing the
action is optionally included near the end of the sentence. You can use the passive form if you think that the
thing receiving the action is more important or should be emphasized. You can also use the passive form if
you do not know who is doing the action or if you do not want to mention who is doing the action.

[Thing receiving action] + [be] + [past participle of verb] + [by] + [thing doing action]

Active / Passive Overview

Tense

Active

Passive

Simple

Once a week, Tom cleans the house.

Once a week, the house is cleaned by Tom.

Right now, Sarah is writing the letter.

Right now, the letter is being written by Sarah.

Simple Past

Sam repaired the car.

The car was repaired by Sam.

Past

The salesman was helping the customer The customer was being helped by the salesman

Continuous

when the thief came into the store.

when the thief came into the store.

Present

Many tourists have visited that castle.

That castle has been visited by many tourists.

Present
Present
Continuous

Perfect

Present

Recently, John has been doing the

Perfect

work.

Recently, the work has been being done by John.

Continuous
George had repaired many cars before

Many cars had been repaired by George before

he received his mechanic's license.

he received his mechanic's license.

Chef Jones had been preparing the

The restaurant's fantastic dinners had been being

restaurant's fantastic dinners for two

preparedby Chef Jones for two years before he

years before he moved to Paris.

moved to Paris.

Simple Future

Someone will finish the work by 5:00

The work will be finished by 5:00 PM.

will

PM.

Simple Future

Sally is going to make a beautiful dinner

A beautiful dinner is going to be made by Sally

be going to

tonight.

tonight.

Future

At 8:00 PM tonight, John will be

At 8:00 PM tonight, the dishes will be being

Continuous

washing the dishes.

washed by John.

Future

At 8:00 PM tonight, John is going to be

At 8:00 PM tonight, the dishes are going to be

Continuous

washing the dishes.

being washedby John.

Past Perfect

Past Perfect
Continuous

will

be going to

Future Perfect

They will have completed the project

The project will have been completed before the

will

before the deadline.

deadline.

Future Perfect

They are going to have completed the

The project is going to have been

be going to

project before the deadline.

completed before the deadline.

Future Perfect

The famous artist will have been

The mural will have been being painted by the

Continuous

painting the mural for over six months by famous artist for over six months by the time it is

will

the time it is finished.

finished.

Future Perfect

The famous artist is going to have been

The mural is going to have been being

Continuous

painting the mural for over six months by painted by the famous artist for over six months by

be going to

the time it is finished.

the time it is finished.

Used to

Jerry used to pay the bills.

The bills used to be paid by Jerry.

Would Always

My mother would always make the pies. The pies would always be made by my mother.

Future in the

I knew John would finish the work by

Past

5:00 PM.

I knew the work would be finished by 5:00 PM.

Would
Future in the

I thought Sally was going to make a

I thought a beautiful dinner was going to be

Past

beautiful dinner tonight.

made by Sally tonight.

Was Going to

DIRECT AND INDIRECT SPEECH

Direct and indirect speech can be a source of confusion for English learners. Let's first define the terms, then look at how to talk
about what someone said, and how to convert speech from direct to indirect or vice-versa.
You can answer the question What did he say? in two ways:

by repeating the words spoken (direct speech)

by reporting the words spoken (indirect or reported speech).

DIRECT SPEECH
Direct speech repeats, or quotes, the exact words spoken. When we use direct speech in writing, we place the words spoken
between quotation marks (" ") and there is no change in these words. We may be reporting something that's being said NOW (for
example a telephone conversation), or telling someone later about a previous conversation.

EXAMPLES

She says, "What time will you be home?"

She said, "What time will you be home?" and I said, "I don't know! "

"There's a fly in my soup!" screamed Simone.

John said, "There's an elephant outside the window."

INDIRECT SPEECH
Reported or indirect speech is usually used to talk about the past, so we normally change the tense of the words spoken. We use
reporting verbs like 'say', 'tell', 'ask', and we may use the word 'that' to introduce the reported words. Inverted commas are not used.
She said, "I saw him." (direct speech) = She said that she had seen him. (indirect speech)
'That' may be omitted:
She told him that she was happy. = She told him she was happy.

'SAY' AND 'TELL'

Use 'say' when there is no indirect object:
He said that he was tired.
Always use 'tell' when you say who was being spoken to (i.e. with an indirect object):
He told me that he was tired.

'TALK' AND 'SPEAK'

Use these verbs to describe the action of communicating:
He talked to us.
She was speaking on the telephone.
Use these verbs with 'about' to refer to what was said:
He talked (to us) about his parents.

part of
speech

function or "job"

example words

example sentences

Verb

action or state

(to) be, have, do, like,

work, sing, can, must

English Club is a web site. I

like English Club.

Noun

thing or person

pen, dog, work, music,

town, London, teacher,
John

This is my dog. He lives in my house.

We live in London.

Adjective

describes a noun

good, big, red, well,

interesting

My dogs are big. I like big dogs.

Determiner

limits or "determines" a
noun

a/an, the, 2, some, many

I have two dogs and some rabbits.

Adverb

describes a verb, adjective

or adverb

quickly, silently, well,

badly, very, really

My dog eats quickly. When he

is very hungry, he eats really quickly.

part of
speech

function or "job"

example words

example sentences

Pronoun

replaces a noun

I, you, he, she, some

Tara is Indian. She is beautiful.

Preposition

links a noun to another

word

to, at, after, on, but

We went to school on Monday.

Conjunction

joins clauses or sentences

or words

and, but, when

I like dogs and I like cats. I like

cats and dogs. I like dogs but I don't
like cats.

Interjection

short exclamation,
sometimes inserted into a
sentence

oh!, ouch!, hi!, well

Ouch! That hurts! Hi! How are

you? Well, I don't know.

* Some grammar sources traditionally categorize English into 8 parts of speech. Other say 10. At English Club, we
use the more recent categorization of 9 parts of speech. Examples of other categorizations are:
Verbs may be treated as two different parts of speech:

o lexical Verbs (work, like, run)

o auxiliary Verbs (be, have, must)
Determiners may be treated as adjectives, instead of being a separate part of speech.

Parts of Speech
Here are some sentences made with different English parts of speech:

verb

noun

verb

noun

verb

verb

Stop!

John

works.

John

is

working.

pronoun

verb

noun

noun

verb

adjective

noun

She

loves

animals.

Animals

like

kind

people.

noun

verb

noun

adverb

noun

verb

adjective

noun

Tara

speaks

English

well.

Tara

speaks

good

English.


pronoun

verb

preposition

determiner

noun

adverb

She

ran

to

the

station

quickly.

pron.

verb

adj.

noun

conjunction

pron.

verb

pron.

She

likes

big

snakes

but

hate

them.

Here is a sentence that contains every part of speech:

interjection

pron.

conj.

det.

adj.

noun

verb

prep.

noun

adverb

Well,

she

and

my

young

John

walk

to

school

slowly

Preposition
The definition of a preposition is a word or phrase that connects a noun or pronoun to a verb or adjective
in a sentence. An example of preposition is the word "with" in the following; "I'm going with her."

Aboard

about

above

Across

after

against

Along

amid

among

Anti

around

as

At

before

behind

Below

beneath

beside

Besides

between

beyond

But

by

concerning

Considering

despite

down

During

except

excepting

Excluding

following

for

From

in

inside

Into

like

minus

Near

of

off

On

onto

opposite

outside

over

past

Per

plus

regarding

round

save

since

Than

through

to

toward

Underneath

unlike

until

up

Via

with

within

without

towards
upon

under

versus

Prepositions "On," "At," and "In"

A preposition is a word that links a noun, pronoun, or noun phrase to some other part of the sentence.
Prepositions can be tricky for English learners. There is no definite rule or formula for choosing a preposition. In the beginning stage
of learning the language, you should try to identify a preposition when reading or listening in English and recognize its usage.

to the office

at the desk

on the table

in an hour

about myself

A preposition is used to show direction, location, or time, or to introduce an object.

Here are a few common prepositions and examples.

On
Used to express a surface of something:

I put an egg on the kitchen table.

The paper is on my desk.

Used to specify days and dates:

The garbage truck comes on Wednesdays.

I was born on the 14th day of June in 1988.

Used to indicate a device or machine, such as a phone or computer:

He is on the phone right now.

She has been on the computer since this morning.

My favorite movie will be on TV tonight.

Used to indicate a part of the body:

The stick hit me on my shoulder.

He kissed me on my cheek.

I wear a ring on my finger.

Used to indicate the state of something:

Everything in this store is on sale.

The building is on fire.

At
Used to point out specific time:

I will meet you at 12 p.m.

The bus will stop here at 5:45 p.m.

Used to indicate a place:

There is a party at the club house.

There were hundreds of people at the park.

We saw a baseball game at the stadium.

Used to indicate an email address:

Please email me at abc@defg.com.

Used to indicate an activity:

He laughed at my acting.

I am good at drawing a portrait.

In
Used for unspecific times during a day, month, season, year:

She always reads newspapers in the morning.

In the summer, we have a rainy season for three weeks.

The new semester will start in March.

Used to indicate a location or place:

She looked me directly in the eyes.

I am currently staying in a hotel.

My hometown is Los Angeles, which is in California.

Used to indicate a shape, color, or size:

This painting is mostly in blue.

The students stood in a circle.

This jacket comes in four different sizes.

Used to express while doing something:

In preparing for the final report, we revised the tone three times.

A catch phrase needs to be impressive in marketing a product.

Used to indicate a belief, opinion, interest, or feeling:

I believe in the next life.

We are not interested in gambling.

A preposition is used to link noun, pronouns and phrases to other words in a sentence. The word or
phrase that the preposition introduces is called the object of the preposition. A preposition is used
to indicate the temporal, spatial or logical relationship of its object to the rest of the sentence. Here
are some examples:
The pencil is ON the desk.
The pencil is BENEATH the desk.

The pencil is leaning AGAINST the desk.

The pencil is on the floor BESIDE the desk.
He held the pencil OVER the desk.
He wrote with the pencil DURING class.
You may have noticed that in each of the preceding sentences, the preposition located the noun
"pencil" in space or in time.
Here are some general rules regarding prepositions:
It is permissible to end a sentence with a preposition.
A preposition is followed by a noun.
A preposition is never followed by a verb.
It is permissible to begin a sentence with a preposition, or a prepositional phrase, but be very
careful when you do so.*
A prepositional phrase always begins with a preposition and ends with a noun or pronoun called
the OBJECT of the preposition.
The subject of the sentence can never be part of a prepositional phrase.
A verb can never be a part of a prepositional phrase.
There is a so-called rule about never ending a sentence with a preposition and it comes from Latin
grammar. In Latin grammar, the word order of a sentence didn't matter; subjects and verbs and
direct objects could appear in any sequence. However, the placement of prepositions was very
important. A Latin sentence would quickly become confusing if the preposition did not appear
immediately before the object of the preposition, so it became a stylistic rule for Latin writers to
have objects always and immediately following prepositions. This Latin grammar "rule" meant that a
sentence would never end with a preposition.

When English grammarians in the 1500s and 1600s starting writing grammar books, they tended to
apply Latin rules to English, even though those rules had never been applicable before. I believe
that they wanted to make English a more scholarly language, like Latin.
grammar. In Latin grammar, the word order of a sentence didn't matter; subjects and verbs and
direct objects could appear in any sequence. However, the placement of prepositions was very
important. A Latin sentence would quickly become confusing if the preposition did not appear
immediately before the object of the preposition, so it became a stylistic rule for Latin writers to
have objects always and immediately following prepositions. This Latin grammar "rule" meant that a
sentence would never end with a preposition.
When English grammarians in the 1500s and 1600s starting writing grammar books, they tended to
apply Latin rules to English, even though those rules had never been applicable before. I believe
that they wanted to make English a more scholarly language, like Latin.
This is a rule that been questioned for many years. Many writers actually do start sentences with
prepositions and many college professors have no problems with it. The reason for the rule was
that a preposition usually indicates the temporal, spatial or logical relationship of its object to the
rest of the sentence. Therefore if you start a sentence with a preposition it can appear that you are in
the middle of a sentence or thought. If you are careful however, you can start a sentence with a
prepostion. The problem is that most people are not careful. Here is an example of a sentence that
starts with a prepostition that works: Before going to the store, I always check my list. Many people
use prepositions incorrectly at the beginning of a sentence, therefore, the rule came to be. You
can think of it as more of a suggestion than a rule. When you are writing a paper for a school
project, it is safer to use the rule.
There is a right way and a wrong way to start a sentence with a preposition. Many authors and
writers start some of their sentences with prepositions and it works very well for them. You simply
have to be careful when starting a sentence with a prepostion, that the sentence does not become
fragmented as a reuslt.

Here is an example with the preposition up.

Correct usage: We ran up the hill.
Incorrect: Up the hill we ran.
Here is an example with the preposition over.
Correct: The rabbit jumped over the log.
incorrect: Over the log the rabbit jumped.
Here is an example with the preposition aboard.
Correct: We got aboard the train to ride down to San Diego.
Incorrect: Aboard the train we got to ride down to San Diego.
Examples of prepositions at the beginning of a sentence:
Despite the rain, we still went jogging.
Barring any setbacks, the quarterback will play in the next game.
In spite of all the harm it causes, people still smoke cigarettes.
Remember that prepositions are connecting words and are generally used to connect a noun or
pronoun to another word in a sentence.
Beware of the phrase in terms of and do not use it. This phrase is a sloppy use of prepositions
that should be avoided. Strunk & White, in their book The Elements of Style recommend that this
phrase not be used used. They give this example: The job was unattractive in terms of salary.
Instead use: The salary made the job unattractive.

Punctuation Marks

Summary of common punctuation marks

The following table of commonly used English punctuation marks shows:
a graphical representation of each punctation mark (black) with text block (grey)
name of punctuation mark with link to more information
very simple example sentence (more examples on individual pages)
punctuation
mark

name

example

full stop or period

I like English.

comma

I speak English, French

and Thai.

punctuation
mark

name

example

semi-colon

I don't often go
swimming; I prefer to
play tennis.

colon

You have two choices:

finish the work today or
lose the contract.

hyphen

This is a rather out-ofdate book.

__

dash

In each townLondon,
Paris and Romewe
stayed in youth hostels.

punctuation
mark

name

example

question mark

Where is Shangri-La?

exclamation mark
exclamation point
(AmE)

"Help!" she cried. "I

can't swim!"

slash, forward
slash or oblique

Please press your

browser's
Refresh/Reload button.

backslash

C:\Files\jo.doc

punctuation
mark

name

example

double quotation
marks

"I love you," she said.

single quotation
marks

'I love you,' she said.

apostrophe

This is John's car.

___

underline

Have you read Harry

Potter?

underscore

b_l@cia.gov

punctuation
mark

name

example

()

round brackets

I went to Bangkok (my

favourite city) and
stayed there for two
weeks.

[]

square brackets

The newspaper reported

that the hostages [most
of them French] had
been released.

ellipsis mark

One happy customer

wrote: "This is the best
program...that I have

punctuation
mark

name

example

ever seen."

Phrasal Verbs
Verb

Meaning

Example

blow up

explode

The terrorists tried to blow up the railroad station.

bring
up

mention a topic

My mother brought up that little matter of my prison record again.

bring
up

raise children

It isn't easy to bring up children nowadays.

call off

cancel

They called off this afternoon's meeting

do over

repeat a job

Do this homework over.

fill out

complete a form

Fill out this application form and mail it in.

fill up

fill to capacity

She filled up the grocery cart with free food.

find out

discover

My sister found out that her husband had been planning a surprise party for her.

give
away

give something to
someone else for
free

The filling station was giving away free gas.

give
back

return an object

My brother borrowed my car. I have a feeling he's not about to give it back.

hand in

submit something
(assignment)

The students handed in their papers and left the room.

hang up

put something on

She hung up the phone before she hung up her clothes.

hook or receiver
hold up

delay

I hate to hold up the meeting, but I have to go to the bathroom.

hold up
(2)

rob

Three masked gunmen held up the Security Bank this afternoon.

leave
out

omit

You left out the part about the police chase down Asylum Avenue.

look
over

examine, check

The lawyers looked over the papers carefully before questioning the witness.
(They looked them overcarefully.)

look up

search in a list

You've misspelled this word again. You'd better look itup.

make
up

invent a story or lie

She knew she was in trouble, so she made up a story about going to the movies with her friends.

make
out

hear, understand

He was so far away, we really couldn't make out what he was saying.

pick out

choose

There were three men in the line-up. She picked out the guy she thought had stolen her purse.

pick up

lift something off

something else

The crane picked up the entire house. (Watch them pick itup.)

point
out

call attention to

As we drove through Paris, Francoise pointed out the major historical sites.

put
away

save or store

We put away money for our retirement. She put away the cereal boxes.

put off

postpone

We asked the boss to put off the meeting until tomorrow. (Please put it off for another day.)

put on

put clothing on the

body

I put on a sweater and a jacket. (I put them on quickly.)

put out

extinguish

The firefighters put out the house fire before it could spread. (They put it out quickly.)

read
over

peruse

I read over the homework, but couldn't make any sense of it.

set up

to arrange, begin

My wife set up the living room exactly the way she wanted it. She set it up.

take
down

make a written note

These are your instructions. Write them down before you forget.

take off

remove clothing

It was so hot that I had to take off my shirt.

talk
over

discuss

We have serious problems here. Let's talk them over like adults.

throw
away

discard

That's a lot of money! Don't just throw it away.

try on

put clothing on to
see if it fits

She tried on fifteen dresses before she found one she liked.

try out

test

I tried out four cars before I could find one that pleased me.

turn
down

lower volume

Your radio is driving me crazy! Please turn it down.

turn
down
(2)

reject

He applied for a promotion twice this year, but he wasturned down both times.

turn up

raise the volume

Grandpa couldn't hear, so he turned up his hearing aid.

turn off

switch off
electricity

We turned off the lights before anyone could see us.

turn off

repulse

It was a disgusting movie. It really turned me off.

(2)
turn on

switch on the
electricity

Turn on the CD player so we can dance.

use up

exhaust, use
completely

The gang members used up all the money and went out to rob some more banks.