ENGLISH TENSES

SIMPLE PRESENT: 1. Affirmative/Negative/Question: A: He speaks. N: He does not speak. Q: Does he speak? 2. Use: a. Action in the present taking place once, never or several times. b. Facts. c. Actions taking place one after another. d. Action set by a timetable or schedule.

PRESENT PROGRESSIVE: 1. Affirmative/Negative/Question: A: He is speaking. N: He is not speaking. Q: Is he speaking? 2. Use: a. Action taking place in the moment of speaking. b. Action taking place only for a limited period of time. c. Action arranged for the future.

SIMPLE PAST: 1. Affirmative/Negative/Question: A: He spoke. N: He did not speak. Q: Did he speak? 2. Use: a. Action in the past taking place once, never or several times. b. Actions taking place one after another. c. Action taking place in the middle of another action.

PAST PROGRESSIVE:

1. Affirmative/Negative/Question: A: He was speaking. N: He was not speaking. Q: Was he speaking? 2. Use: a. Action going on at a certain time in the past b. Actions taking place at the same time c. Action in the past that is interrupted by another action

PRESENT PERFECT SIMPLE: 1. Affirmative/Negative/Question: A: He has spoken. N: He has not spoken. Q: Has he spoken? 2. Use: a. Putting emphasis on the result. b. Action that is still going on. c. Action that stopped recently. d. Finished action that has an influence on the present. e. Action that has taken place once, never or several times before the moment of speaking.

PRESENT PERFECT PROGRESSIVE: 1. Affirmative/Negative/Question: A: He has been speaking. N: He has not been speaking. Q: Has he been speaking? 2. Use: a. Putting emphasis on the course or duration (not the result). b. Action that recently stopped or is still going on. c. Finished action that influenced the present. PAST PERFECT SIMPLE: 1. Affirmative/Negative/Question:

A: He had spoken. N: He had not spoken. Q: Had he spoken? 2. Use: a. Action taking place before a certain time in the past. b. Sometimes interchangeable with past perfect progressive. c. Putting emphasis only on the fact (not the duration). d. To show sequence in the past, for actions that happened before another.

PAST PERFECT PROGRESSIVE: 1. Affirmative/Negative/Question: A: He had been speaking. N: He had not been speaking. Q: Had he been speaking? 2. Use: a. Refers to ongoing actions or situations which continued until, or stopped just before, the past time we are talking about. b. Action taking place before a certain time in the past. c. Sometimes interchangeable with past perfect simple. d. Putting emphasis on the duration or course of an action.

SIMPLE FUTURE (WILL): 1. Affirmative/Negative/Question:

A: He will speak. N: He will not speak. Q: Will he speak? 2. Use: a. Action in the future that cannot be influenced. b. Spontaneous decision. c. Assumption with regard to the future.

SIMPLE FUTURE (GOING TO):

1. Affirmative/Negative/Question: A: He is going to speak. N: He is not going to speak. Q: Is he going to speak? 2. Use: a. Decision made for the future b. Conclusion with regard to the future

CONDITIONAL SENTENCES

FIRST CONDITIONAL: 1. Form: if + simple present, simple future (will). 2. Use: First Conditional refers to the future. An action in the future will only happen if a certain condition is fulfilled by that time. We don't know for sure whether the condition actually will be fulfilled or not, but the conditions seems rather realistic so we think it is likely to happen. 3. Example: If I find her address, I will send her an invitation.

SECOND CONDITIONAL: 1. Form: if + simple past, would + infinitive. 2. Use: Second Conditional refers to situations in the present. An action could happen if the present situation were different. You don't really expect the situation to change, however. You just imagine what would happen if 3. Example: If John had the money, he would buy a Ferrari. THIRD CONDITIONAL:

1. Form: if + past perfect, would + have + past participle. 2. Use: Third Conditional refers to situations in the past. An action could have happened in the past if a certain condition had been fulfilled. Things were different then, however. We just imagine, what would have happened if the situation had been fulfilled. 3. Example: If I had known the answer, I would have raised my hand.

THE PASSIVE VOICE

PASSIVE VOICE: 1. Form: the verb be + past participle. 2. Use: a. When the agent (subject) of the verb is unknown. b. When the agent is known bus not important. c. When we do not want to say who did something though it may be important. d. To put new information at the end of the sentence to give it more importance.