GRAMMAR

(THEORY AND PRACTICE)

III.1. THE VERB

III. 1.1. THE INDICATIVE MOOD
1.1.1. THE PRESENT TENSE SIMPLE

A. THEORETICAL CONSIDERATIONS

I. FORM
a. Affirmative [the form coincides with the short infinitive, except the 3rd person singular,
which adds an -s]:
I/ you/ we/ they learn
he/ she learns
b. Negative [the auxiliary to do + not + the short infinitive of the main verb]:
I/you/we/they do not (don’t) learn
he/ she does not (doesn’t) learn
c. Interrogative [the auxiliary to do + subject + the short infinitive of the main verb]:
Do I learn? Do you learn? Does he/she learn?

II. USES
Present Simple is used to express:
a. General timeless statements (eternal truths):
Every solution breeds new problems.
Despair gives courage to a coward.
Man is mortal.

b. Definitions:
What is a nymph? Nymphs often accompany various gods and goddesses

c. Proverbs and sayings:

Still waters run deep.
A rolling stone gathers no moss.

d. Geographical or mathematical statements:

Bacău lies on the Bistriţa.
The earth moves round the earth.

e. habits/repeated actions with a given frequency, during an interval.

The adverbs of frequency include the following:
always, often, usually, frequently, generally, normally, occasionally, regularly, sometimes,
from time to time, every day/ week/ month/ year, twice a day/ week/ month/ year …, rarely,
seldom, hardly ever, ever, never, as a rule, whenever.
He always smokes a cigarette after breakfast.
My mother seldom drives our car.

f. a particular event that refers to a particular moment of time.

I place this flower into the hat and look, a rabbit pops out.
g. instantaneous actions:
- Step-by-step instructions and demonstrations (recipes or magicians):
To get to the station you go straight on to the traffic lights, then you turn left
First I take a bowl and break two eggs into it; next I fry the eggs …
- Sport commentaries:
The player hits and the ball goes straight into the audience.
- Performatives imply the fact that “the uttering of the sentence is the doing of an action” –
Austin (1975: 5).
I do (take this woman to be my lawful wedded wife). [uttered by the bridegroom
during a marriage ceremony]
I name this ship Lady. [uttered by the captain when smashing the bottle against the
stem]
- Stage directions involve the theatrical quality of the instantaneous present in stage rhetoric:
George enters the room and draws the curtain.
- Special exclamatory sentences (with initial adverbials: here, there, up, down, etc.):
Here comes the winner!
There goes our train!

h. with future reference, the action fixed in advance is supposed to happen in the future:
- officially planned actions (timetables, statements about the calendar) that refer to events
regarded as immutable:
The train for London leaves at six.
School starts in September.
Tomorrow is Tuesday.
- planned activities where the idea of certainty is implied:
We leave London at 11:00 next Monday and arrive in Paris at 14:00.
She returns tomorrow morning.
-subordinate clauses of time and condition:
My son will look after his little sister while I am away.
If your cousin comes here tomorrow, we’ll go to the cinema.

i. in story-telling with a past reference

Clarissa Dalloway goes out to buy flowers for a party she is to have at her house. She
prepares for her party when she is interrupted by Peter Walsh… (V.Woolf)
- in newspaper headlines in order to draw the attention of the reader:
Plane crashes in Paris. [Avionul s-a prăbuşit în Paris./ Avion prăbuşit în Paris.]

III. Ways of translating

a. indicativ prezent:
Ice melts in the sun. = Gheaţa se topeşte la soare.
We drink coffee every morning. = Bem cafea în fiecare dimineaţă.
b. perfect compus (historic present – verbs of linguistic communication):
I hear she lost her baby. = Am aflat/ am auzit că şi-a pierdut copilaşul.
c. viitor sau prezent (adverbial clauses of time and condition):
I will pick up the cherries if he asks me. = Voi culege cireşele dacă mă va ruga/
mă roagă.
I’ll phone you when I get home. = Îţi voi da telefon când voi ajunge/ ajung
acasă.
 1.1.2. THE PRESENT TENSE PROGRESSIVE

A. THEORETICAL CONSIDERATIONS

The progressive aspect shows a situation that is in progress. From this brief definition we
infer that the meaning of the progressive reveals the following concepts:
- temporariness: She’s singing. [a temporary activity that has a limited duration]
- incompletion: She’s drinking a glass of milk. [the temporary activity is not
complete. A proper result – accomplishment – would be that the glass is empty,
but the progressive shows exactly this lack of completion.]

I. FORM
a. Affirmative (the present tense of the auxiliary verb to be + the present participle – V+ing)
[see Appendix II for the spelling of the present participle]:
I am learning you/ we/ they are learning he/ she is learning
b. Negative
I am not learning you are not learning he/ she is not learning
c. Interrogative
Am I learning? Are you learning? Is he/she learning?

II USES
The Present Tense Progressive is used:
a. to express an action happening at the moment of speaking (the action spanning from past to
future is incomplete at the moment of speaking and is still taking place). It indicates that the
duration of the action is limited. The idea of immediate present is often emphasized by just
and now:
The children are sleeping now.
The pupil is just writing the exercise.

b. to create a contrast between a temporary action and an action usually performed (habitual
present) and to show that the repetition takes place over a limited period.
My mother usually cooks lunch, but today I’m cooking. [the habit is temporary,
while cooks shows a permanent habit.]
John is a polite young boy, but today he is being rude. [states used in the Simple
Present Tense signify a permanent trait. When the verbs that designate states are
used in the progressive they are interpreted as a form of behavior/ activity].

c. to express a meaning of annoyance, irritation, sarcasm associated with a habit. In this case
the verbs are usually combined with such adverbs as: always, continually, constantly:
You are always borrowing money from me.
Those children are constantly making noise.

d. to express a definite action planned for the near future. It anticipates the action thus having
a future time reference. It is the most usual way of expressing one’s immediate plans:
What are you doing tomorrow?
I’m meeting my friend.
e. for an action intended to be polite as it shows lack of commitment:
I’m hoping you’ll give the book to John. (I’m hoping is preferred to I hope as
the latter leaves little room for polite refusal)
f. to express an action in a subordinate clause of time or condition:
The child will play in the garden while his mother is cooking dinner.
I will not disturb her if she is learning.

g. with activities/ processes (to get or to grow) to express a transition from one state to
another taking place over a period:
It’s getting dark.
He’s growing older and older.

h. with achievements, the semelfactive ones, which describe momentary events. When used
in the progressive, they imply duration:
The player is kicking the ball.
He is nodding approval.

III. Ways of translating the Present Tense Progressive into Romanian

a. indicativ prezent
They are not doing their homework now, they are watching TV. = Ei nu-şi fac temele
acum, se uită la TV. ∕
He is continually finding fault with me. = Permanent aruncă vina pe mine. (the
emotional use linked to the progressive is rendered into Romanian by an emphasis on
the adverb rather than on the verb)
b. viitor/ prezent
What are you doing tomorrow? = Ce vei face/ faci mâine?

B. EXERCISES

I. Put the verbs in brackets into the Simple Present or Present Progressive Tense:
1. My friend (come) to see us next month.
2. Apricots (ripe) in early summer.
3. I (walk) to school every day, but today as I am late I (go) by bus.
4. I (see) what you mean! You can’t join us today as you (feel) ill. (See) the
doctor this afternoon?
5. How he (feel) now? You (think) of going to see him at the hospital?
6. She always (complain) about something.
7. We constantly (see) you outside the cinema.
8. I (love) the roses you sent me, and they (smell) wonderful.
9. I (doubt) if they (understand) what you (talk) about.
10. He (work) very hard at the moment and (deserve) to succeed.

II. Choose the correct form of the verb:

1. How many cups of coffee … every day?
a) you drink; b) you do drink; c) do you drink
2. Even if Phil is a serious person, he … comedy.
a) doesn’t like; b) is liking; c) likes
3. I can keep an eye on your children till your husband … back.
a) will get; b) is getting; c) gets
4. Can you tell me how often … your dentist?
a) you visit; b) do you visit; c) are you visiting
5. I … the answers to the test we are going to take tomorrow, trust me.
a) know; b) do know; c) don’t know
 6. … true that Julia speaks four languages fluently?
a) It is; b) Does it; c) Is it
7. It is well known that rice … in Britain, but in China.
a) grows; b) is growing; c) doesn’t grow
8. We live in Manchester and I don’t understand why my daughter … to London so often.
a) is going; b) goes; c) does not go
9. He … to be a little stupid, isn’t he?
a) appears; b) is appearing; c) does appear
10. Look at these pictures! Why … buy one for your father?
a) don’t we; b) we do; c) aren’t we

III. Rephrase the following sentences so as the meaning stays the same:
1. I’m annoyed because you lose your pocket money every time I give it to you. You are
always …
2. There is a smell of roses in this room.This room …
3. My younger brother keeps on bothering me. My younger brother …
4. What’s your opinion about the new book published by the University? What do…?
5. Bread costs 10 000 lei in Romania. How much …?
6. I like watching football matches and so does my girlfriend. Both of us …
7. In case of accident call the police. If …
8. Sunrise is at 5:30 tomorrow morning. The sun …
9. Diana and her grandmother are exactly alike. Diana …
10. The number of people who own expensive cars is increasing. More and more people
…

IV. Correct the mistakes in the following sentences:

1. Does his brother knows that you are going to leave the town without paying the debt?
2. He is always going to work at 7 o’clock in the morning.
3. Here is coming your husband!
4. He usually plays tennis after breakfast, but today he plays football.
5. You cook lunch right now and then you rest.
6. I can’t answer the phone. I write a letter to Mary.
7. They are saying the earth is going round the sun.
8. Are you liking coffee or tea?
9. Christmas is coming in December.
10. Can you give me your pen? Or do you use it?

V. Fill in the blanks with the correct form of the verbs:

1. I ... the water for coffee in a special pot. (to boil)
2. Don’t shout that loud! I ... you very well. (to hear)
3. Don’t interrupt them! They ... to a scientific broadcast. (to listen)
4. Come and make the coffee! The water ... (to boil)
5. Wait a minute, will you? I ... them off. (to see)
6. A man ... with his nose. (to smell)
7. I ... these lovely flowers. (to smell)
8. Usually she ... a very quiet child but now she ... naughty. (to be)
9. She ... all right. (to feel)
10. She ... the silk to see how soft it is. (to feel)
VI. Fill in the blanks with the following verbs, using Present Tense Simple or
Progressive: to start, to look, to write, to live, to deal, not to seem, to stay, to rent, to move,
to do, to rain, to answer, to come, to get, to suppose, to begin.
Dear Sally,
I …. just to let you know that I’ve arrived and that everything is fine.
At the moment I …. at a hotel in Athens and I …. quite a lot of sightseeing. Next week I
…. to the island of Crete which is where most of the people in the company …. . I …. a
villa there for the summer, which should be nice.
The weather’s not particularly good – as a matter of fact, it …. at the moment. Still, it
…. better slowly, and I’m sure it’ll be fine when you …. in the summer. I …. forward to
it already.
The job …. to be too demanding. Most of the time I …. with bookings and ….
inquiries. But I …. it’ll be different when the tourist season …. next month. Even now the
restaurants …. to get busier.
See you soon,
Love,
Jenny
VII. Ask questions about the underlined parts of the following sentences:
1. I have my English lessons at school.
2. You feel thirsty on a hot day.
3. I brush my teeth three times a day.
4. We read only critical books.
5. “You come to school on foot, don’t you?” “Yes, but I occasionally take the half past
seven tram.”
6. We sit on this bench two hours every Sunday.
7. We clean our car before leaving for a picnic.
8. You are a reliable person, for all I know.
9. You watch all the matches on TV.
10. I am free this afternoon because I don’t have to work on holidays.

VIII. Translate the recipe and comment upon the uses of the verbs:

Southern Grilled Barbecued Ribs

INGREDIENTS:
4 pounds baby back pork ribs; 2/3 cup water; 1/3 cup vinegar; 1 cup ketchup; 1 cup water;
1/3 cup Worcestershire sauce; 1/4 cup prepared mustard; 4 tablespoons butter; 1/2 cup
packed brown sugar; 1 teaspoon hot pepper sauce; 1/8 teaspoon salt

DIRECTIONS:
1. Preheat oven to 175 degrees C. Place ribs in two roasting pans. Pour water and vinegar
into a bowl, and stir. Pour diluted vinegar over ribs and cover with foil. Bake in the preheated
oven for 45 minutes. Baste the ribs with their juices halfway through cooking.
2. In a medium saucepan, mix together ketchup, water, vinegar, Worcestershire sauce,
mustard, butter, brown sugar, hot pepper sauce, and salt; bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low,
cover, and simmer barbeque sauce for 1 hour.
3. Preheat grill for medium heat.
4. Lightly oil preheated grill. Transfer ribs from the oven to the grill, discarding cooking
liquid. Grill over medium heat for 15 minutes, turning ribs once. Baste ribs generously with
barbeque sauce, and grill 8 minutes. Turn ribs, baste again with barbeque sauce, and grill 8
minutes.

IX. Translate into English:

1. Tatăl meu rareori se uită la televizor duminica.
2. Întotdeauna îmi arde pantalonul când îl calcă!
3. Ce faci zilele acestea? Văruiesc bucătăria.
4. În vreme ce musafirii vorbesc despre vreme, noi, copiii, le turnăm ceai în pantofi.
5. Se simte mult mai bine acum.
6. Mergi la petrecere duminică?
7. Totul este bine când se termină cu bine, nu-i aşa?
8. Noi nu mergem aproape niciodată la operă din păcate.
9. Maşina îmi face figuri astăzi. Nu pot s-o pornesc. Mai bine luăm autobuzul.
10. De ce deschizi uşa cuptorului de atâtea ori? Lasă prăjitura să se coacă!

1.1.3. THE PAST TENSE SIMPLE

A. THEORETICAL CONSIDERATIONS

I. FORM
a. Affirmative [-ed for regular verbs; the 2nd form in the dictionary for irregular verbs] (see
Appendix I for the pronunciation of ed and spelling rules of regular verbs)
I/ You/ He/ She/ We/ You/ They walked/ saw/ ran
b. Negative [auxiliary did + not + the short infinitive of the main verb]
I/ You/ He/ She/ We/ You/ They did not walk (didn’t walk)
I/ You/ He/ She/ We/ You/ They did not go (didn’t go)
c. Interrogative [auxiliary did + subject + the short infinitive of the main verb]
Did I/ You/ He/ She/ We/ You/ They walk?
Did I/ You/ He/ She/ We/ You/ They go?

II. USES
The Past Tense Simple is used:
a. to show an event at past reference:
 Immediate situation (domestic sitations where the adverb of time could be implied)
He woke up (at seven in the morning), got out of bed, washed, shaved, dressed,
went downstairs, had breakfast, put his coat on, hurried to the bus stop and caught a
bus to the station.
 Larger situation (in historical or bibliographical statements about specific persons,
locations, or objects. They involve general knowledge about the situations described.)
Vincent van Gogh was born in Holland. He did not become a painter until the age of
27, after which he produced over 1,500 oil-paintings and drawings before committing
suicide. [it is a matter of cultural knowledge that Vincent van Gogh is a historical
personage (a famous Dutch post-impressionst painter) who was born, worked and
finally died.]
Actions are completed at a definite point in the past (when the time is given):
Yesterday; last night/week/month/year; a few hours/minutes/years ago; a long time ago; in
1995; on October 24th, 1955; at the turn of the century; in 34 BC; during the war; once; once
upon a time; the other day
They arrived yesterday.
 We bought this car five years ago.
He left the army in 1945 and settled down in Australia.

b. it shows an action often done in the past (habit), thus referring to a certain sequence, with
adverbs that express frequency, such as: everyday, frequently, often, etc.
It can be paraphrased by means of used to, which implies that an event/ state
definitely took place in the past and it will not happen in the present or future, unlike the
paraphrase with would.
We had water melon everyday.
He spent all his childhood in London. = He used to spend all his childhood in
London. [the implicature is that he is no longer a child].
He would spend all his childhood in Lodon. [the implicature is that he was still a child
at the moment of speaking, so a possible future interpretation]

c. it is related to the speaker’s attitude rather than to time, being most often associated with
politeness. It occurs in everyday conversation and the Simple Past Tense has present time
reference.
It is used with verbs such as hope, think, want, wonder It is considered to be more
polite than the present tense.
The same polite use can be rendered by past modal forms with present or future
reference (Could you help me for a moment? Would you come this way, please?)
Did you want to see me now?
I wondered if you could help me.

III. Ways of translating the Past Tense Simple into Romanian

a. perfect compus/ perfect simplu
He rang the bell and opened the door. = A sunat la sonerie şi a deschis uşa/
Sună la sonerie şi deschise uşa.
b. imperfect (with habitual past, attitudinal past or if the verb is lexically durative)
He often went fishing when he was a child. = Mergea adesea la pescuit când era
copil.
I thought we might go and see a movie. = Mă gândeam poate mergem să vedem un
film.
She stood there motionless. = Stătea acolo nemişcată.
c. mai mult ca perfectul/ perfect simplu (to show sequence for past perfect value)
She knocked, entered and slammed the door. = Bătuse/ bătu, intră şi apoi trânti uşa.
d. indicativ prezent
Irene told me that she wrote a poem. = Irene mi-a spus că scrie o poezie.

1.1.4. THE PAST TENSE PROGRESSIVE

A. THEORETICAL CONSIDERATIONS

I. FORM
a. Affirmative [Past Tense of the auxiliary to be + Present Participle (V+ing)]
He was walking in the park when he met her.
b. Negative [Past Tense of the auxiliary to be + not + Present Participle (V+ing)]
He was not walking when he met her.
c. Interrogative [Past Tense of the auxiliary to be + subject + Present Participle (V+ing)]
 Was he walking in the park when he met her?

II. USES
The Present Progressive Tense has the following uses:
a. The progressive form of a verb can function as a time background when the speaker feels
that the actions are framed (Poutsma, 1926) thus making the simple forms more precise:
I was buying a shirt when I first met my wife [the meeting was completed within the
framework of shirt-buying]
It is used with adverbial structures such as: this time last week/ month/ year or with
adverbial clauses of time
This time last week I was flying to Paris.
When I saw him he was running away.

b. it shows duration of an event

It happened while I was living in the countryside last year.

c. it shows annoyance, criticism of a habit

My husband was forever getting into trouble.

d. it has a polite use with verbs such as hope, think, want, wonder it makes a request sound
more polite but less definite
I was wondering if you'd like to come out with me one evening.

e. it marks a gradual progress without any temporal marker

The car was getting worse. One of the headlights was gradually falling off, and the
engine was making more and more funny noises.

f. it has a future reference in the past

He thought he was seeing her in the evening. [It is a case of Indirect Speech in direct
object clauses. The progressive changes the meaning of the physical perception verb
to see into to visit. The paraphrase could be He thought he would see her in the
evening.]

III. Ways of translating into Romanian

a. imperfect
I was sleeping when he came in.= Dormeam când el a intrat.
b. viitor (in direct object clauses)
He thought he was seeing her in the evening. = Credea că o va vizita deseară.
c. prezent (in direct object clauses)
She told me she was writing a novel then. = Mi-a spus că scrie un roman acum.

Appendix I
A. Pronunciation of -ed
- it is pronounced /d/ after vowels and voiced consonants (except /d/): /b/, /g/, /m/, /ŋ/, /l/, /v/,
/z/ etc.
- it is pronounced /t/ after unvoiced consonants (except /t/): /p/, /f/, /k/, /s/ etc.
- it is pronounced /id/ after /d/ and /t/

B. Spelling rules of regular verbs (Past Tense affirmative)

 most verbs add -ed
 to visit – visited
to help – helped
to gain – gained
 verbs ending in -e add just -d
to dance – danced
to hope – hoped
 one-syllable verbs ending in a single consonant (except c, w, x) preceded by a single
vowel, double the consonant when adding -ed:
to hop – hopped
to pat – patted
 verbs of more than one syllable ending in a single consonant preceded by a single vowel
double the consonant when adding ed only if the final syllable is stressed.
Compare: to prefer – preferred and to visit – visited
to omit – omitted to listen – listened

Exceptions: a. to kidnap – kidnapped

to handicap – handicapped
b. in British English l is doubled after a short vowel even if the vowel is not
stressed: to travel - travelled
 verbs ending in -y preceded by a vowel add -ed with no other change:
to play – played
to stay – stayed
 verbs ending in -y preceded by a consonant change -y into -i when adding -ed:
to try – tried
to study – studied
 verbs ending in c have ck before -ed:
to picnic – picnicked

B. EXERCISES

I. Put the verbs in brackets into the Past Tense Simple:

1. When (you/ meet) the company accountant?
2. The company (not/ disclose) how much it expects to gain from the two deals.
3. You (feel) out of place in your suit and tie.
4. The discussion (take place) in a famous villa.
5. The smell of the roses (creep) into the room.
6. They (wind) up the evening with a song.
7. One day an idea (strike) Mary.
8. Our blood almost (freeze) in our veins.
9. He (stick) to his opinion.
10. This (teach) him a bitter lesson.

II. Continue the following sentences using the Past Tense Progressive:
1. My neighbour burnt his hand while he ...
2. The TV was on but nobody ...
3. Her parents helped with child care while she ...
4. We saw an accident while we ...
5. For a ruin it was in good condition, as though the place ...
6. When the rain began they ...
7. She was reading while her brother ...
 8. The doorbell rang while I ...
9. Dave fell asleep while he ...
10. Somebody followed her while she ...

III. Put the verbs in brackets into the Simple Past or the Past Progressive:
1. He (stand) a long time in the darkest corner of the room.
2. When the doorbell (ring) she (sleep).
3. The young man (jump) on to the bus while it (run).
4. When the train (arrive) many travelers (wait) on the platform.
5. I (have) a bath when the phone (ring).
6. As he (cross) the street he (step) on a banana skin and (fall) down.
7. I (walk) in the park quietly when a dog (attack) me.
8. If I (win) a big prize in a lottery I’d give up my job.
9. While I (swim) someone (steal) my clothes.
10. While I (water) the flowers it (begin) to rain.

IV. Put the verbs in brackets into the Simple Past or the Past Progressive:
Last night I (have) a very strange dream. When the dream (begin), I (sit) all alone in a
restaurant. Suddenly I (notice) that the other people (look) at me. Some of them (point) at
me. I (not understand) why. Just then the waiter (come) over to me. He (smile), too, just
like everyone else. He (ask) me if I (enjoy) my meal. I (tell) him that it (be) very good. I
(want) to ask him why he (smile) and why the other people (look) at me, but something
(stop) me. Then the waiter (ask) me if I (forget) anything. At first I (not understand) his
question, but then I (look) down at myself. Suddenly I (realize) that I (not have) my
trousers on! That was why everybody (laugh) at me.

V. Correct the mistakes:

1. If I am not busy I would help you.
2. I was falling in love with anyone.
3. Last summer they were spending their holiday in Switzerland.
4. It was taking me a few seconds to realize I looked foolish.
5. I watched TV while my sister read the magazine.
6. What did you do when he was coming home?
7. We visited the States this time last year.
8. He read the script while she talked to the Production Director.
9. When the reasons behind the decision were explained it was all becoming clear.
10. Last week they were placing an advertisement in the local paper for a secretary.

VI. Rephrase the following sentences so as the meaning stays the same. Use Present or
Perfect Participle:
1. He bought the book, but then he realized he didn’t need it.
After ...
2. I left the house but first I checked that I had my key.
Before ...
3. The police were approaching the house when they saw the burglars running away.
While ...
4. He tried to repair his car but first he checked his tools.
Before ...
5. She cleaned the house, but then she fell asleep.
After ...
 6. John was parking the car when he noticed the flat tyre.
While ...
7. She was skiing in Sinaia and met her friend Mary.
While ...
8. I took a pil land then I felt much better.
After ...
9. He bought a new car but first he checked all the prices.
Before ...
10. I went out for the evening but first I went to the hairdressers’.
Before ...

VII. Translate into English:

1. Când am intrat în muzeu am văzut multe tablouri impresionante.
2. Din păcate, când eu am sosit Ana tocmai pleca, aşa că nu am vorbit decât foarte puţin.
3. Întotdeauna purta o servietă când mergea la birou.
4. În timp ce musafirii se distrau hoţii au intrat în casă şi le-au furat hainele de blană.
5. Era foarte extravagantă, întotdeauna îşi cumpăra haine noi.
6. Păreai foarte ocupat când te-am întâlnit aseară. Ce făceai?
7. Bunica încremeni o clipă, pe urmă îl strânse în braţe cu ochii scăldaţi în lacrimi, fără
să poată rosti un cuvânt.
8. Eu aveam toată încrederea în puterea mea, ca un om care pleacă la drum ştiut
periculos pentru că se simte în stare să se apere, n-avem prea multă grijă.
9. Cum tot cearşaful şi perna erau prea calde, cum toate cărţile pe care am vrut să le
citesc, mi se păreau uscate, am coborât către ora cinci în grădină.
10. Deschise uşa încetişor, trecu prin sufragerie, unde nu era nimeni, şi se strecură printre
o mulţime de lume necunoscută, care nici nu-l luă în seamă.

1.1.5. THE PRESENT PERFECT SIMPLE

A. THEORETICAL CONSIDERATIONS
I. FORM
a. Affirmative [the present tense of the auxiliary ‘to have’ + the Past Participle of the main
verb]: she/he/it has already worked; I/you/we/they have taken a test.
b. Negative: she/he/it has not/ hasn’t eaten; I/you/we/they have not/haven’t eaten
c. Interrogative: Has he/she/it eaten…?; Have I/you/we/they eaten…?

II. USES
The Present Perfect Simple is used:
a. for an action which is just completed but the resulting state is still present. Just and already
are the most common adverbs of time used to express a recently completed action:
They’ve just solved the problems. [They solved the problem a few minutes
ago.]
Only just expresses surprise or impatience:
My pen has run out again. But you've only just filled it.

b. for an uncompleted action that one is expecting. It is used with adverbs of time such as yet
and still. Using the Present Perfect suggests that we are still waiting for the result of the
respective action.
The murderer hasn’t confessed his crime yet. [The result that is expected
implies the murderer’s confession.]
 He has been courting Ann for seven years now, but he has not still asked her to
marry him.

c. an action begun in the past but still continuing to the present moment, but only with non-
continuous verbs. The Continuative Present Perfect can show:
- a state leading up to the present:
This hut has been deserted for three days/ a long time/ for ages.
- Since denotes from some definite point/ period in the past till now.
Cynthia has not visited us since yesterday /Tuesday /1998 / her son left for Canada.
- For denotes a length of time till now. When it is used with the simple past tense, for
expresses a completed period of time:
I have known him for two years. [I still know him.]
I talked with him for two years. [but I don't talk with him any longer.]

d. Adverbs of indefinite time or expressing frequency (never, ever, often, seldom, always)
are used for general experiences, while adverbs of time such as today, this morning/
week/ month/ year, suggest a limited experience. This use of the Present Perfect shows
indefinite event(s) in a period leading up to the present moment. The Past Tense is also
used but it shows that the action has no connection with the present.
My mother has washed three shirts today. [The action of washing the three
shirts is completed, but not the action of washing shirts because the day is not over, so
the Present Perfect denotes an incomplete period of time. The emphasis is on
achievement.]
My mother washed three shirts today. [washed = the Past Tense Simple. The action
of washing the three shirts is completed, and so it is the action of washing for today
because the day is almost over.]
My mother has been washing my brother’s shirts today. [has been washing = the
Present Perfect Progressive. The emphasis is on duration.]

e. in adverbial clauses of condition:

John will go home if his wife has cooked dinner.

f. in adverbial clauses of time in order to express a future action, prior to the one represented
by a future tense in the main clause:
We will paint the fence after we have had lunch.
We will ring you as soon as/ after he has come back from work

g. in newspapers and broadcasts - to introduce an action which will then be described in the
simple past tense:
Abi Titmussi has admitted she is smitten with hunky Lee Sharpe. The curvy blonde
revealed she has fallen head over heels for the ex-Manchester United Star. (Online
Star – 21 Jun 2005)

III. Ways of translating

a. indicativ prezent:
We’ve been here since the beginning of the show. = Suntem aici de la începutul
spectacolului.
The Romanian indicativ prezent is the translation both for the Present Tense Simple/
Progressive and the Present Perfect Simple and Progressive. Compare the following
sentences:
 We drink beer every evening.= Bem bere în fiecare seară.
We are drinking beer now. = Bem bere acum.
We have been drinking beer for ten minutes. = Bem bere de zece minute.
b. perfect compus:
They haven’t seen me since 1983. = Ei nu m-au văzut din1983.

1.1.6. THE PRESENT PERFECT PROGRESSIVE

A. THEORETICAL CONSIDERATIONS

I. FORM
a. Affirmative [the present tense of the auxiliary ‘to have’ + the Past Participle of the
auxiliary ‘be’+ the Present Participle of the main verb]: She/he/it has been working;
I/you/we/they have been working
b. Negative: she/he/it has not/hasn't been working; I/you/we/they have not/ haven’t been
working
c. Interrogative: has she/he/it been working? Have I/you/we/they been working?

II. USES
The Present Perfect Progressive is used:
a. to show duration from the past until now. It can be used with habits (recurrent
events):
She has been teaching this class since Christmas.
Ever since I was a child, I have been living in the same house. [they are still living in
London]
- non-durative activities (processes) used in the progressive get an iterative interpretation,
whereas used in the Simple Present Perfect describe rather one single instantaneous situation:
Someone has knocked at the door. [the activity of knocking stopped]
Someone has been knocking at the door. [the activity of knocking is still going on]
It can be used with:
- Since and for - to express more temporary actions and situations, but for more permanent
actions the simple forms are preferred:
She has been living in my flat for the last month. - My parents have lived in
Bacău all their lives.
He lived in London for two years. [lived - the Past Tense Simple. He doesn’t
live in London anymore.]
- Observe the use of the progressive aspect with how long and of the simple aspect with how
many:
How long have you been waiting for her?
How many hours have you waited for her?

- the adverbs of time recently and lately. The Present Perfect Progressive can be used without
a duration such as for ten minutes, and since morning. Without these precise durations, this
tense offers a more general meaning of lately in order to enhance this meaning.
She has been lying about her whereabouts lately.
Recently, we have been feeling rather tired with his haughtiness.

b. to suggest that one can see, smell, hear, or feel the results of an action that has
recently stopped.
 You have been fighting again. [I can tell from your black eye.]
She has been crying. [Look, her eyes are red.]

c. to show that the action is not completed.

Who has been eating my dinner? [Some of my dinner is left.]
Who has eaten my dinner? [All my dinner is gone.]

d. to convey feelings of irritation.

I have been demanding an explanation for hours but nobody has yet dared to speak
up.

III. Ways of translating

a. indicativ prezent
They have been widening the road for one week. = Lărgesc strada.
They have been eating since five o’clock. = Mănâncă de la ora 5.
b. perfect compus
Who has been eating my cake? = Cine mi-a mâncat din prăjitură?
Perfectul compus + adverbs to render the speaker's emotions:
He's been drinking wine again! = Bineînţeles că iar a băut vin! [That is why
he’s tired/ drunk.]

B. EXERCISES

I. Complete the conversations using the present perfect simple or the past simple of the
verb in brackets.
1. “I know Mr Robinson”. “Really? How long (you/ know) him?” “Oh, for quite a long
time now”. “ When (you/ first/ meet) him?” “I (meet) him at Christies eight years
ago”.
2. (It’s 10 o’clock in the morning) “(you/ see) Mrs Carter this morning?” “Yes, I (see)
her when I (arrive) in the office, but she (go) out soon afterwards”.
3. “(you / ever/ visit) Switzerland?” “Yes, I (visit) it twice. I (visit) it two years ago, and
once when I (be) a child”.
4. (It’s the middle of the afternoon) I’m really hungry. I (not/ have) any breakfast this
morning and I (not/ have) time to go out for anything to eat this afternoon.

II. Give an alternative for the following sentences:

1. It's years since we went to a movie.
2. It's over a month since I went to their place.
3. It's a long time since we had diner at the Decebal.
4. It's over a fortnight since he went to the barber's.
5. She went shopping twice last week.
6. They went to the park once last week.
7. Elizabeth II became queen in 1952.
8. The window got broken last week.
9. She began wearing glasses a month ago.
10. They began eating Chinese food several years ago.

III. Complete the following sentences with for or since.

1. It's a long time ……. you last quarrelled with anybody!
2. ….. the past ten days , she's had nightmares every night.
 3. ……. they came, ten days ago, I've been feeling rather depressed.
4. They don't think much of him as a policeman: he hasn't caught a burglar ……… at
least seven years.
5. It seems like years ……. you cooked a really delicious meal.
6. …… you brought me that dog my cat hasn't turned up yet.
7. We haven't seen a good film …. at least two months, in fact not … we went to see
The Titanic together.
8. Petrol has become more and more expensive …. the end of last year.
9. I am sitting for my portrait … the last six months but the artist hasn't finished it yet.
10. You must wake him. He's been sleeping soundly … ten hours!

IV. Use the present perfect simple or progressive for the verbs in brackets:
1. She (cough) a lot lately. She ought to give up smoking.
2. You (hear) the news? Cynthia and Paul are engaged!
3. That's not new. I (know) it for ages!
4. They (walk) ten miles.
5. They (walk) for three hours.
6. You (walk). That's why you are tired.
7. She (sleep) on every bed in this house and she doesn't like any of them.
8. Why you (be) so long in the garage?
9. The tyres were flat. I ( pump) them up.
10. It (rain) for two hours and the ground is too wet to play on, so the
match (be) postponed.
V. Choose the correct variant:
1. How long ….. you…. your own house? A) did you paint B) do you paint C) have you
been painting D) are you painting.
2. He ….. his fiancée four times this week. It’s Sunday evening and he gave up calling
her. A) has called B) has been calling C) called D) is calling.
3. Since his wife died, he ….. ….. A) has been grief-struck B) is grief-stricken C) has
been grief-stricken D) was grief-stricken.
4. The hen ….. just an egg on the straw of the stable. A) laid B) has lain C) lay D) has
laid.
5. He ….. his leg last week and since then he …. in bed. A) has breaked B) has broken
C) broke D) breaked / A) lay B) has lain C) has been laying D) has been lying.
6. ..... he ever …. how to play chess? A) does he ever knows B) has he ever known C)
did you ever know D) does he ever know.
7. It was a terrible earthquake a few minutes ago. The tree in front of our house …..
down with a sudden crash. A) fell B) has fallen C) has falen D) felled

8. It’s three weeks since I last spoke with my brother, so I ….. in touch with my brother
for three weeks. A) was B) don’t be C) haven’t been D) have been .
9. It’s the first time in our family when a woman ….. twins. A) bears B) has born C) has
borne D) bore.
10. After the clock ….. eight, the police will start searching the thieves. A) will strike B)
has been striking C) strikes D) has struck.

VI. Put the verbs in brackets into an appropriate tense:

1. ‘How old is your sister?’ ‘She’s 20.’ ‘She (read) Shakespeare as a child?’
2. You (read) ever Shakespeare in the original?
3. He (lie) under that nut-tree for ages. He must have fallen asleep.
 4. He told me that his elder brother (dig) a hole for three hours in order to find the
treasure.
5. I’m quite upset. He always (ask) for my advice, but up to now he never (follow) it.
6. She will be glad after her marriage (take) place.
7. We (get) a phone call 15 minutes ago and a man (yell) that there (be) a bomb in our
building. The police (search) for it since then but no bomb (find) yet.
8. He always (love) by women. He may be 50, but he still (have) a way of attracting the
opposite sex.
9. The table (lay) 20 minutes ago. I (not know) what you (wait) for. ’Why you (not help)
yourselves?’, my mom asked.
10. ’How long you (put up with) this chatterbox?’ ’Since I (get) married’.

VII. Translate into Romanian and identify the verbs underlined:

1. To the uninitiated, making a speech carries with it a certain glamour. After having
heard (you have heard) an expert, you may think, ’That’s as easy as falling off a log’.
(The Sunday Post)
2. But for three years, a panel of drug experts working for the US Food and
Drug Administration has been analyzing the ingredients of these patent medicines to
see if they really live up to their advertising. (Newsweek)
3. Since the legendary Prometheus first stole the fire of heaven, virtually all
energy consumed by man has been fathered by the sun. (National Geographic)
4. Already the sun’s energy is being put to limited use in homes and buildings
around the world. (National Geographic)
5. The blame for this situation has been laid at the door of the current status
and mood of society. (National Geographic)

VIII. Translate the following sentences into English:

1. 'De când se întâlnesc?' - 'Nu ştiu nimic. Întreab-o pe Maria'.
2. Îşi dau întâlniri pe holurile universităţii de când sunt în anul I.
3. 'De când nu se mai înţeleg?' 'De vreun an, cred, se tot ceartă mereu.'
4. N-am băut cafea azi dimineaţă şi mă doare teribil capul.
5. A muncit, sărăcuţa, toată ziua: a adunat beţişoare, pene şi frunze să-şi facă un cuib
unde să clocească ouăle.
6. Ce fata harnică eşti! Ai terminat toată treaba aşa că te odihneşti acum, pe când eu, cât
mai am de lucru!
7. Niciodată n-am mai întâlnit un om aşa de generos ca el!
8. Acest castel era nu de mult o ruină, dar de când se amenajează parcul parcă arată
altfel.
9.  'Ce drum plin de gropi!' - 'Păi, n-a mai fost reparat de vreo doi ani.'
10. Nu mi-ai adresat nici un cuvânt de când am păşit pragul acestei case.

1.1.7. THE PAST PERFECT SIMPLE

A. THEORETICAL CONSIDERATIONS

I. FORM
a. Affirmative [the Past Tense of the auxiliary have + Past Participle of the verb]
I had forgotten/ I’d forgotten
b. Negative [the Past Tense of the auxiliary have + not + Past Participle of the verb]
I had not / I hadn’t forgotten
c. Interrogative [the Past Tense of the auxiliary have + subject + Past Participle of the verb]
Had I / hadn’t I forgotten?

II. USES
a. Events, states or habits anterior to a time of orientation in the past:
Even if she looked like an English girl, she had been a true-born French. [state
meaning]
I had broken my glasses, so I couldn’t read. [event meaning, having a resultative use]
Mr. Pitt shouldn’t have sacked John, he had worked a lot for this company. [habitual
meaning in the past]

- “Cause-effect” use – the situation related to the point of reference relevant for the Past
Perfect can be interpreted as the cause for the action expressed through a Past Tense (target
verb). This use can be found in narrative texts.
I felt pretty upset because of the horrible things Mary had said to me. [the effect of
me being upset was caused by what Mary had said.]
When the events are presented in the order in which they happened, a Simple Past Tense
is preferred for the target verb as well as for the verb showing the point of reference:
Mary said some rather horrible things to me and I felt pretty upset.

b. to express a past hope, expectation, intention or desire that was not realised. It is
used with verbs such as to hope, to expect, to intend, to mean (= to intend)or to want
We had hoped that you would be able to get that contract.
I had meant / intended to call on our bankers, but I was prevented from doing so.
She had thought of paying us a visit but the bad weather made her change her plans.

c. to express a past action that becomes the background for another action in the past, thus
showing a sequence of events. We can use it with the following conjunctions: when, before,
after, until, once, now that, and as soon as that introduce adverbial clauses of time.
I reached the company after Mr. Woods had heard the news.
I didn’t reach the company until after Mr. Woods had heard the news.
Mr. Woods (had) heard the news before I reached the company.
 In adverbial clauses of time in order to express a future action that takes place before
another action expressed by a Future-in-the-Past:
She told me1/ she would pay me a visit2/ after I had come back from the city3/.
 In adverbial clauses of time introduced by restrictive adverbs such as hardly/ barely/
scarcely/ no sooner, the past action is shown to be finished a little time before another
past action. Each adverb triggers inversion in the subordinate clause and it has a
correlative in the main clause.
No sooner had the curtain fallen than they rose to go.
Hardly / scarcely had I entered the door when the telephone rang.

d. The Past Perfect is common in reported/ indirect speech to express a Present

Perfect or a Past Tense from Direct Speech.
‘I have already read the report’. (DS) - She told me that she had already read
the report.(IS)
‘They left the Stock Exchange a few months ago'. (DS) - I was told that they had left
the Stock Exchange a few months before / earlier / previously. (IS)

III. Ways of translating the Past Perfect Simple into Romanian

 a. perfect compus/ mai-mult-ca-perfect:
I knew Romeo but I hadn't seen him since my marriage. = Îl cunoşteam pe
Romeo dar nu l-am văzut/ nu-l văzusem de când m-am căsătorit.
b. perfect simplu:
He started the car after he had checked the engine. = Şoferul porni maşina
după ce verifică motorul.
c. viitor:
He said he would give her a gold brooch after they had got married. = A spus că-i va
da o broşa de aur după ce se vor căsători.

1.1.8. THE PAST PERFECT PROGRESSIVE

A. THEORETICAL CONSIDERATIONS
I. FORM
a. Affirmative [the past tense of to have + been – past participle - + present participle
of the verb]: I had been/ I’d had been waiting for Ann since two o’clock.
b. Negative: I had not been/ I hadn’t been waiting for you.
c. Interrogative: Had he been/ hadn’t he been waiting for us?

II. USES
The Past Perfect Progressive is used:
a. to show an activity or event, which had been in progress up to a past moment
(in other words, we can say that something had been happening for a period of time before
something else happened).
Mr. Woods had been working for 30 years when he finally retired in 1995. [a habit in
the past = recurrent event]
Ken gave up smoking two years ago. He had been smoking for 17 years.
 To underline the continuity of a past action up to a past moment or just before it. It does
not express a frequently repeated situation (habit meaning) in the past, as the two sentences
above::
I had been waiting for her for half an hour when she finally arrived.
They had been working since eleven o’clock.

b. to show that the effect of the action is still apparent.

She told me that her son had been fighting. [the result is his blue eye].

c. to convey the speaker’s emotions of irritation .

I had been trying for hours to get our customer in Baghdad on the phone. [besides the
meaning of an action that seems to have been happening for a long time, we might sense a
tone of irritation]

d. in Indirect Speech, in order to express a Past Tense Progressive or a Present Perfect

Progressive from Direct Speech:
‘I was reading a novel at six o’clock yesterday’, Ann told to her friend. (D.S)- Ann
explained to her friend that that she had been reading a novel at six o’clock. (I.S)
‘We have been taking English classes for two years’, they explained to their teacher.
(D.S)- The children explained to their teacher that they had been taking English
courses for two years. (I.S)
“Have you been crying?” (D.S) - She was asked whether she had been crying. (I.S)
III. Ways of translating into Romanian
a. mai-mult-ca-perfect/ perfect compus/ perfect simplu (in narrative texts):
Mr. Woods had been working for 30 years when he finally retired in 1995. = Domnul
Woods lucrase/ a lucrat/ lucră timp de 30 de ani când în cele din urmă s-a pensionat/
se pensionă în 1995.
b. imperfect:
I had been driving for twenty minutes when I ran out of petrol. = Conduceam de
douăzeci de minute când am rămas fără benzină.
c. perfect compus (for the emotional use):
I had been trying for hours to get our customer in Baghdad on the phone. = Ore
întregi am încercat să-l prind la telefon pe clientul nostru în Baghdad. [This emotional
use is rendered in Romanian by placing the adverb of time at the beginning of the
sentence.]
d. prezent:
She said she had been waiting for her friend for half an hour. = A spus că o aşteaptă
pe prietena ei de o jumătate de oră.

B. EXERCISES
I. Starting from the information given, complete each sentence with a suitable verb in
the Past Perfect Simple or Progressive.
1. Maggie worked in the garden all afternoon. Then she took a hot bath.
Maggie took a hot bath because ………….. in the garden all afternoon.
2. Mary came top in the final examination. Her father bought her a car as a reward.
Mary’s father bought her a car because she …………. top in the final exam.
3. Henry came home from work early. He cooked lunch. His family were very
impressed.
Henry’s family were very impressed to discover that he ………. lunch when he came
home from work early.
4. I lost my watch. We had looked for it for hours. I was very pleased when my son
found it.
I was very pleased when my son found my watch because we ……. for it for hours.
5. Ann worked very hard all morning. Her boss gave her an extra half hour for lunch.
She boasted about it.
Ann boasted that her boss …………. her an extra half hour for lunch because she ….
very hard all morning.
6. Patrick went to the disco. He came home very late. His mother was worried and she
told him off when he got in.
Patrick’s mother told him off when he came home late because she …………. about him
all evening.

II. Put the verbs in brackets into a suitable past tense (Past Tense or Past Perfect):
1. We (try) to find new services which (be) sophisticated and (have) added value.
2. When (you/meet) the company accountant?
3. When (you/be) in this house last?
4. I (look) everywhere for ideas since I failed to hand in that project.
5. Yesterday, at the party he (feel) out of place in your suit and tie.
6. He (always / look) so young, but he (seem) to have aged in the last weeks.
7. Mary (discover) an addiction to housework which she (never/feel) before.
8. They (have) no money because they (spend) everything on duty free whisky.
9. I (realise) someone (use) my camera because there were finger marks on the lens.
 10. They (say) heavy industry (pollute) our rivers with noxious chemicals for ages.

III. Read the situations and write sentences ending with BEFORE. Use the verb given in
brackets.
1. The man sitting next to me on the plane was very nervous. It was his first flight.
(fly) He …………
2. A woman walked into the room. She was a complete stranger to me.
(see) I …………..…
3. Simon played tennis yesterday. He wasn’t very good at it because it was his first
game.
(play) He …………
4. Last year we went to Denmark. It was our first time there.
(be) We …………
5. They concluded a contract two weeks ago. It was their first contract.
(sign) They ..........

IV. Fill in the blank spaces using the verbs in the brackets and paying attention to the
sequence of events in order to get meaningful events.
1. We arrived at work in the morning and found that somebody …………. the office
during the night. So we ……….. (to break into, to call)
2. I tried to phone Mr. Richards this morning but …. no answer. He …. . (to be, to go
out)
3. I met Jim a few days ago. He …. just ….. He ….. (to come back, to look)
4. Yesterday Kevin ……….. He ……. very surprised. He ……. many times but they
….. (to get, to be, to write, to reply)
5. I arrived at the company for an interview at 12.30 as I …….. the assistant marketing
manager the previous month. To my surprise I …….. my husband in there who ………..
(to apply, to find, to wait)

V. Choose the best alternative to complete each sentence:

1. We…………….Netherlands last summer.
a) have visited/ - b) had visited/ the c) visited/ - d) visited/ the
2. After eight years I………………that all the time I……………..to my girl friend
her sister……………my letters.
a) discovered/ was writing/ had read b) had discovered/ had written/ had been reading
c) discovered/ had been writing/ had been reading d) had discovered/ had been
writing/ had been reading
3. By the time we got home, Mary’s aunt……….already………. .
a) left b) has left c) will have left d) had left
4. The police officers…………….for the thieves for two days when they found them
near the village.
a) was looking b) has been looking c) had been looking d)are looking
5. Look, he has cuts on his legs. He ........ a lot during the football match.
a) had fallen over b) has been falling over c) has fallen over d) fell over
6. He ..... never a princess in the flesh, but he hopes that he will have the chance one
day.
a) saw b) was seeing c) hasn’t seen d) has seen
7. It’s over a year since anyone ...... William.
a) has spoken withb) spoke with c) had spoken d) has been speaking with
8. Last year when I was in France, I ....... a French princess in the flesh.
 a) have seen b) was seeing c) saw d) had seen

VI. Rewrite each sentence beginning as shown:

1. “I’d like to say sorry I missed your wedding”, Joan said.
John apologised………..
2. I met Mary as soon as I left home.
I had no sooner………
3. I caught flu as soon as I had recovered from measles.
I had hardly……………
4. The train had left before we got to the station.
By the time…………
7. The man sitting next to me on the plane was very nervous because it was his first flight.
He………………
5. They got on the train and immediately it left.
Hardly………………..
6. Alice had no sooner sung a song than she began another.
No sooner…………..
7. I realised my mistake after I’d handed in the test.
I didn’t realise my mistake until………..
8. I haven’t played football for two weeks:
It’s two weeks ……………

VII. Correct the following mistakes:

1. The train left before I arrived.
2. Almost all the guests left by the time we had arrived.
3. Scarcely Sandra had come in than she started work.
4. I just got into bed when somebody knock at the door.
5. The car changed its direction when it hit the tree.
6. The grass was wet because it had raining all day yesterday.
7. Why did you left when he call on you?
8. How long they go out together when they finally get married?
9. The telephone rang for almost a minute when I got into the room. I was wondering
why nobody hadn’t answered it.
10. The minute he entered, a horrible idea had stricken me.

VIII. Translate into English:

1. Intrunirea tocmai incepuse cand am intrat.
2. In ianuarie am obtinut rezultate mai bune decat se asteptase oricine.
3. Familia Miller a locuit in casa aceea treizeci de ani, pana cand a distrus-o un
cutremur.
4. Baiatul arata ca asi cum nu s-ar fi spalat niciodata pe maini.
5. Proiectantul facuse patru schite inainte de a se apuca de proiect.
6. Nu-i de mirare ca nu am recunoscut-o ieri pe Judith. Isi vopsise parul.
7. Din pacate, vasul s-a scufundat inainte ca elicopterul sa ajunga la locul dezastrului.
8. Mi-era asa de foame, ca am mancat florile pana sa vina chelnerul.
9. De cat timp se cunosteau cand Tina s-a casatorit cu Robert?
10. Am verificat preturile mai multor companii occidentale inainte de a incepe sa
importam aceste video-recordere din Singapore.

1.1.9. THE FUTURE AND FUTURITY

A. THEORETICAL CONSIDERATIONS

In Modern English futurity is closely interrelated with modality. That is why there is
no future tense proper in English, in the sense of a specific form the verb takes to “signal”
futurity. Instead, futurity, intermingle with modality or aspect, is rendered by means of modal
auxiliaries/ semi-auxiliaries and other linguistic patterns that contain future meaning.
She will arrive tomorrow.
Besides the different tenses expressing futurity (discussed in the other chapters), there
are certain adverbials that place an event/ state on the axis of future:
- explicitly future time adverbials: tomorrow, next/ week/ month/ year, in a day/ week/
month/ year
- unanchored adverbials (in May, on Monday, in spring) whose future interpretation
depends on the context.

I. FORMS AND PATTERNS USED TO TALK ABOUT A FUTURE EVENT

a. Future Simple [Will/ shall + Infinitive]

They will confess their crime.
b. Future Progressive/ Continuous [Will/ shall +Progressive infinitive = be + Ving]
This time next month we will be visiting the Louvre museum.
c. Future Perfect [Will/ shall + have + past participle of the verb]
They will have brought up the furniture by then.
d. Future Perfect Progressive / Continuous [Will/ shall + have been + the present participle
of the verb]
He will have been driving the same truck for two years in September.
e. Be going to + Infinitive
f. Present Progressive/ Continuous
g. Simple Present
h. Be to + the infinitive of the verb
i. Be about to + the infinitive of the verb
j. Be on the point / verge of + gerund
k. Be due to + the infinitive of the verb

II. USES
The above forms and patterns are used to express the following concepts and types of future
events:
a. Predictions:
 FUTURE SIMPLE: Jane will still be in Paris in five months.
 BE GOING TO + INFINITIVE: Look at Jane. She’s going to have a baby.
Look out! That brick is going to fall!
 a temporary event going on at a future reference time (FUTURE
PROGRESSIVE): This time next year I’ll be teaching English. [the prediction is the
following: this time next year, the activity of teaching English is in progress.]
 a present event ( FUTURE SIMPLE):“Someone is shouting.” “It’ll be Mary’s
daughter.”
 an event the speaker expects to be completed by a particular future reference time
(FUTURE PERFECT): They’ll have filled in the application by the time you arrive. [we
generally use adverbs such as: by then, soon, within the next, hour/ week]
  a future event which is probable/ improbable to happen (BE LIKELY/ UNLIKELY
TO + INFINITIVE): He’s likely to run out of petrol.

b. Intentions and decisions

 made during the speech event (WILL + INFINITIVE): I’ve run out of money. Don’t
worry. I’ll lend you some.
 that have already been decided on before the speech event; premeditated (BE GOING
TO + INFINITIVE): What are you going to do today? I’m going to lie in bed all day..

c. Arrangements
 personal arrangement for the near future (PRESENT PROGRESSIVE):
I’m seeing my dentist tomorrow.
 an event arranged by external factors (SIMPLE PRESENT ):
Mary works in the marketing department next week. [the decision was taken by the
manager, who is an exterior authority]
 a polite way of refusing an invitation or asking about someone’s arrangements
(FUTURE PROGRESSIVE):Your birthday? I’m really sorry. But I’ll be sitting for
the English exam on Saturday.
 official arrangements, when the event cannot be changed (BE TO + INFINITIVE):
All the students are to be present in the schoolyard at 5 p.m.

d. Timetabled events (the subject is not human, it refers to institutions or things whose
going-on is scheduled by an external authority.)
 PRESENT SIMPLE
The plain takes off at 7 p.m. tomorrow.
 BE DUE TO + INFINITIVE (timetable may change)
The show is due to start at 8 p.m. but the rain may delay it.

e. Formal commands and instructions (BE TO + INFINITIVE):

You are not to go to the library this week.

f. An event that is about to happen

 BE ABOUT TO + INFINITIVE
Hurry up. He’s (just) about to get on the bus.
 BE ON THE POINT OF / ON THE VERGE OF + V-ing
Don’t disturb him now. He’s on the point of falling asleep.
She is on the verge of bursting into tears.
 BE GOING TO + INFINITIVE
Look at that old lady! She’s going to fall!

g. Willingness, refusal
 subject’s willingness to do something (WILL + INFINITVE)
He’ll do anything for money.
 determination, insistence (WILL + INFINITIVE)
I wìll date him, whatever your sister says. (will is stressed)
 refusal to do something (WON’T / SHAN’T + INFINITIVE)
Believe me. He won’t come.

h. Offers (WILL/SHALL/WON’T + INFINITIVE)

 Sit down. I’ll do it for you.
Shall I do it for you?
Will you have another helping?

i. Promises (WILL + INFINITIVE)

Don’t worry. My secretary will take care of you.

j. Requests
Will you give me a hand? [to be more polite use would you] (informal)
Give me a hand, will you? (insistent request)

k. Orders / Instructions (formal documents)

You will/shall keep an eye on the students till they finish their papers.
Each animal shall be confined in a container.

l. Routine, habitual future events

 the speaker sees a future event as certain because it is part of a routine (FUTURE
PROGRESSIVE):
We’ll be having our monthly meeting on Thursday.
 habits, characteristic behavior (WILL + INFINITIVE)
His elder sister will always be the first to leave the party.
Boys will be boys.
 the speaker makes a statement of fact about a future event (WILL + INFINITIVE)
The sun will rise at 6.00 tomorrow morning.

m. Future in the Past (FIP)

There are situations in which we have to express a future event from a viewpoint in the
past. In order to do that, we transfer the forms with future meaning in the past:
 would + infinitive : in reported speech, involving a sequence of events
I hope you’ll water the whole garden. (future)
I hoped you would water the whole garden. (FIP)
 would + progressive infinitive (future progressive): in reported speech, involving a
sequence of events
I think you’ll be selling furniture in two week’s time. (future)
I thought you’d be selling furniture in two week’s time. (FIP)
 would + have + past participle (future perfect in the past): in reported speech,
involving a sequence of events
They will have sold all the goods by Monday. (future)
I was sure they would have sold the all the goods by Monday. (FIP)

III. Ways of translating future

a. prezent/ viitor (in main clauses)
The train for Paris leaves at 6. = Trenul pentru Paris pleacã la 6.
I’ ll be helping him tomorrow. = Mâine il ajut.
I’m going to meet Tom. = Îl voi intâlni/ Intenţionez/ Am de gând sã-l intâlnesc
pe Tom.
He is about to leave/ on the point of leaving. = E gata sã plece/ E pe punctul de
a pleca
Don’t bother. I’ll drive you. = …Te duc/ voi duce eu.
b. viitor/ viitor anterior (in main clauses)
 I’ll have finished …by six pm. = Voi termina/ voi fi terminat…pânã la…
c. viitor/ prezent (in direct object clauses and adverbial clauses of condition and time)
He said he would be back… = A spus cã se va întoarce
He will accept the proposal if I tell him the truth. = Va accepta…dacã îi voi spune/ îi
spun…
d. viitor anterior/ viitor (in adverbial clauses of time)
The children will play…after they have finished…[…se vor juca…dupã ce vor fi
terminat / vor termina…]

B. EXERCISES
I. Put the verbs in brackets into an appropriate tense:
1. How you (get) to the party tomorrow?
2. My friend (sit) for an exam on Monday.
3. He (sing) in Paris next week.
4. I (take) my parents to the ballet tomorrow.
5. They (play) some Beethoven next.
6. It’s eight. Peter (call) for you at nine.
7. We (meet) him at the airport at five.
8. Hurry up! The train (leave) in a minute.
9. We (leave) as soon as it (cease) raining.
10. She told me she (see) the doctor at five p.m. the day after tomorrow.

II. Replace be going to by will / shall + be + V-ing (future progressive) and show the
differences in meaning (mention whether they are interchangeable):
1. Are you going to sleep in the armchair?
2. Are you going to take it with you?
3. Are you going to spend your money in a hotel?
4. Are you going to tell him the truth?
5. Are you going to make all the arrangements?
6. Are you going to discuss the matter with your mates?
7. Are you going to sing at the concert tonight?
8. Are you going to come by air?
9. Are you going to creep up the stairs?
10. Are you going to take your medicine?

III. Put the verbs in brackets into the going to form and make a context for each
sentence:
1. When the gardener (water) the flowers?
Model: When is the gardener going to water the garden?
Context: He should have done it two days ago, when I told him to.
2. Ann (miss) her bus.
3. This airplane (crash)
4. The petrol tank (explode).
5. What your teacher (do) with that big dictionary?
6. It (snow). Look at the sky.
7. I (plant) an oak tree here.
8. You (tell) me the whole story?
9. I (give) you one of these pills.
10. How much you (give) me for this book?
IV. Put the verbs in brackets into the correct tense (present, present perfect, future):
1. I’ll wait for her in the restaurant till the clock (strike) four.
2. If you accept the bargain you (have) to pay for it.
3. When we (provide) all the facilities we’ll speak about leaving the country.
4. If this terrible heat (not come) to an end we’ll suffer from hunger next year.
5. This device is cheap and useful. I think I (buy) it.
6. What (you do) this weekend? I was thinking of visiting the international exhibition of
furniture.
7. All right. I’ve put the spare part where you told me. Now what I (do) next?
8. What (offer) your daughter for her graduation?
9. In three days’ time I (fly) over the Atlantic ocean.
10. ‘There’s someone at the door. ‘That (be) Mr. Brown, the governor.

V. Choose the correct form of the verb:

1. Pour boiling water on the coffee grounds, wait till the grounds …, then strain it into a
clean jug.
a) will settle b) settle c) are settling d) have settled
2. John said he would give me a ring as soon as he … Paris.
a) reaches b) reached c) will reach d) will be reaching
3. He visits a new country every year. By the time he … fifty he …all the countries in
the world.
a) is b) will have visited c) will be d) has visited
4. By the end of the year all our debts … .
a) will have been paid off b) will be paid off c) will be being paid off d)
are paid off
5. It's no use phoning Irene at the office, she …
a) will be leaving b) is leaving c) will have left d) will left
6. “Couldn't they stay in your spare room at Easter?” “Yes, I … it by then.”
a) will have decorated b) will be decorating c) will decorate
d) am going to decorate
7. “Your hair is getting terribly long.” “Don't worry, I… it cut on Wednesday.”
a) will be getting b) will get c) get d) will have got
8. She can't come to the beach with us because she … an exam on Sunday.
a) will be taking b) will take c) will have taken d) takes
9. He will recognize her at once when he … her.
a) will see b) sees c) will be seeing d) is seeing
10. According to the latest forecast, the tunnel … next year.
a) will be finished b) will have been finished c) is finishing d) finishes

VI. Rephrase each sentence so that it contains the word in capitals. Do not change the
word in any way:
1. What time is the train for Paris?
leave
Model: What time does the train for Paris leave?
2. What does your boy friend intend to do?
going
3. If he isn’t ill you’ll find him playing tennis in the court.
unless
4. The members of the crew have planned to leave the ship tomorrow.
leave
 5. The aircraft is on the point of landing.
about
6. His wife is pregnant again.
have
7. I’m bound to work here till the end of my life.
won’t
8. You can be sure that at the end of the school the car will be in front of the house.
have
9. His fate is to become a great singer. be
10. The show will start in half an hour.
start

VII. Use the word or phrase given so that the meaning stays the same
Example: The result of our appeal against the parking fine should arrive in the post
tomorrow. (due) - The result of our appeal against the parking fine is due
tomorrow.
1. Do not disturb the chimpanzees during feeding time. (disturbed)
2. Turn that music down! It’s so loud that it’ll definitely wake all the neighbors. (bound)
3. Scientists in the human genome project feel that they are about to discover the secret
of life. (discovering)
4. Will you promise that you won’t get drunk again tonight? (not to)
5. It is probable that the road-sweeping contract will be withdrawn from Dustbugs.
(likely to)
6. Everyone in the village lived in fear of the volcanic eruption, which was imminent.
(impending)
7. The designer believes that he will he be able to finish the specifications by tomorrow
afternoon. (envisages)
8. I really don’t think that the examiner will accept a handwritten script these days.
(unlikely to)
9. Please make your purchases and proceed to a check out. The store is going to close in
five minutes. (about)
10. If we want medical research to provide cures for all known diseases, it must be
adequately funded. (is)

VIII. Translate into English:

1. Il voi ajuta după ce îmi va spune cum s-au petrecut lucrurile.
2. Nu te culca înainte de a-ţi lua medicamentul.
3. Tu nu vezi? O să plouă cu găleata.
4. Dacã Irina va gãsi cartea, o va cumpãra.
5. Până să începi tu nuvela, el va fi terminat romanul.
6. Nu credeam cã la ora aceea tu vei mai cânta la pian.
7. Unde mâncãm în seara asta? La bunica?
8. Cu siguranţă o să încerce să vă facă să credeţi că e nevinovat.
9. Când vei ajunge tu student, eu voi fi terminat deja facultatea.
10. Ne ameninţă că o să ne dea pe toţi afară pentru că susţinea el că nu suntem buni de
nimic.
1.1.10. MODALS AND SEMI-MODALS
A. THEORETICAL CONSIDERATIONS
I. MODALS
 There are nine central modals in English. (Other terms used for them are ‘modal
verbs’ and ‘modal auxiliaries’ and ‘modal auxiliary verbs’.) They are used to add meaning to
a main verb, for example to indicate how certain, possible, probable, necessary, obligatory
something is, or how frequently something happens, or whether a course of action is
recommended or allowed.
Can/ could; may/might;must; shall/should; will/would
Note: Need to, dare to, ought to are marginal modals. However, one semimodal which is
frequently used is have (got)to.

CAN
FORM
a. Affirmative: can
b. Negative: cannot, can’t (used only in spoken and informal written English)
c. Interrogative: can + subject + infinitive

USES
a. Can expresses permission
Can he stay a little longer?
They can’t have lunch at 12.
b. Can expresses ability (can=be able to)
 physical power/capacity: Can you lift this piece of furniture?
 knowledge/skill: Can they solve this problem?
 circumstances: Can Susan come to our meeting on Wednesday? ( it may be
paraphrased by be in position to: Is Susan free to do so? Is Susan in a position to do
so?
c. Can expresses negative deduction:
Jane can’t be working so long.
Jane can’t have much experience in teaching.
Jane can’t have taken your money.
(in my opinion it’s impossible)
d. In questions, in conversation, can is used:
 to make suggestions
 to offer to do something or to make polite requests by either asking people to do
things or asking for things.
What can I do around here?
Hello Paul. What can we do for you?

COULD
FORM
a. Affirmative: could
b. Negative: could not; couldn’t (used only in spoken and informal written
English)
c.Interrogative: could + subject + infinitive

USES
a. Could expresses ability (be able to)
Tom could run ten miles when he was young. (=was able to)
b. Could expresses condition:
I could buy you a book. (if I want)
Couldn’t he fiind a better job? (if he wanted)
c. Could have done expresses:
i. an action which is not performed:
He could have helped you (but he didn’t)
ii. an action which in our opinion has not taken place
She couldn’t have overslept (it my opinion it isn’t possible)
They couldn’t have waited for two hours. (It’s out of the question)
The patterns could + bare infinitive and could + have + past participle are used to talk about
possibility in the past.
I remember how it could snow in the mountains even in summer.
‘I can’t find my keys anywhere.’ ‘You could have left them in your office.’
d. In conversation, could is used to mark a present or future possibility. .
‘Where’s Peter?’ ‘He could be in the study.’ (=Perhaps he is in the study)
Note: with could in this use the degree of possibility is less sure than with ‘may’ or
‘might’.
e. Couldn’t as an extinction of can be used in not-so-polite requests.
Couldn’t you (wouldn’t it be possible for you to) give me your phone number?
Could not and couldn’t are used with comparatives to emphasize that someone or
something has as much as is possible of a particular quality (possibility or impossibility).
Mary couldn’t be happier. (=Mary is very happy indeed)
The news couldn’t have come at a better time.

MAY
FORM
a. Affirmative: may
b. Negative: may not
c.Interrogative: may + subject + infinitive

USES
a. May expresses (a) asking for permission as well as in (b) granting permission.
Excuse me. May I have a look at your newspaper?
‘Could I make a suggestion?’ ‘Of course, you may.’
May also indicates that someone is allowed to do something or has the choice of
doing something, usually because of a rule or law. May not indicates that someone is not
allowed to do something (=prohibition). This second use is chiefly limited to quick responses
to ‘may’.
Any two persons may marry in Scotland provided that both persons are at least 16
years of age on the day of their marriage.
‘’May I join your trip?’ ‘No, you may not!’
b. May expresses possibility in the present and in the future:
Don’t phone at 9.30. I may be watching the documentary film on television.
‘There’s someone at the door.’ ‘It may be Peter.’ (=Perhaps it is Peter)
I haven’t decided yet where to spend my holidays. I may go to Greece. (Perhaps I will
go to Greece)
c. May/might+have+Past Participle expresses posibility about a past action:
The events may or may not have been connected. (it’s possible that they were
connected)
The chaos may have contributed to the deaths of up to 20 people. (it’s possible that it
has contributed)
d. For offers and polite requests:
May we recommended a weekend on the Black Sea Coast?
 Do sit down. And may we offer you something to drink?
May I come with you to the conference?
e. In formal spoken English, may is also used as a polite way of interrupting someone, asking
a question or introducing what the speaker is going to say next.
‘If I may interrupt for a moment,’ John said.
Anyway, may I just ask you one other thing?
f. May is used when the speaker is mentioning the reaction or attitude that he/she thinks
someone is likely to have to something he/she is about to say.
You know, Brian, whatever you may think, I work hard for a living.

MIGHT
FORM
a. Affirmative: might
b. Negative: might not; mightn’t (used only in spoken and informal written
English)
c.Interrogative might + subject + infinitive

USES
a. Might can be used to ask for permission in a less direct way. It is similar to could, when
used as a polite way of interrupting someone, asking a question, making a suggestion, or
introducing what the speaker is going to say next.
Might I make a suggestion?
Might I ask what you’re doing here?
b. In conversation, might is used to talk about present or future possibility.
We aren’t sure what we are going to do next weekend. We might go in the mountains.
(=Perhaps we will go to the mountains.)
c. We can use might + have + past participle to talk about possibility in the past.
‘Betsy is late’. ‘She might have missed her train.’ (=Perhaps she missed / had missed
her train).
d.Might (not) + have + past participle is used to express uncertainty
I suppose I might have been rather critical.
They might not have received our message yet.
e. Might + have + past participle is used to express annoyance at someone’s failure to do
something (See similar pattern with ‘could’ in this emphatical use of expressing the speaker’s
annoyance)
You might have told me before!
f. In conversation, might is used to make a suggestion or to give advice in a very polite way.
They might be wise to stop advertising on television.
It might be a good idea to tell your husband.
g. Might is used in idiomatic expressions such as I might add and I might say in order to
emphasize a statement that the speaker is making.
Relatives ring up constantly, not always for the best motives, I might add.
I didn’t come as a great surprise to me, I might say.

MUST

FORM
a. Affirmative form: must
b. Negative form: must not, mustn’t (used only in spoken and informal
 written English)
c.Interrogative form: must + subject + infinitive

USES
a. Must/have to/have got to express obligation: (trebuie)
I must be there before 2.
I have to be there before 2.
I’ve got to be there before 2. (British English)
Sometimes the context allows the use of either must or have to, depending on whether the
speaker feels that the obligation comes from herself-himself or from elsewhere.
Now I must/have (got) to get your clothes ready for packing.
I see you’re got only three decent shirts; your must/’ll have to buy some more when
you get there.
b. Must not expresses prohibition: (nu trebuie)
You must not come late to lectures
c. Must expresses deduction:
She must be rich (=I’m sure she is rich)
The past form of this construction is:
She must have been rich when she was young. (=I’m sure she was rich)
d. Must in conversation is used most of the time to mark logical necessity.
Ann’s mum must not care.
Your feet must feel wet now.
e. Must + bare infinitive refers to the speaker’s certainty about a present action.
It’s not very warm and you’re not wearing a coat. You must be cold. (=I am sure that
you are cold).
f. Must expresses the speaker’s intention to do something
I must be getting back.
g. Must is used to make suggestions or invitations very forcefully.
You must see the painting George has given me as a wedding present.
You must visit me. Come to dinner.
h. Must is used in remarks and comments where the speaker is expressing sympathy.
This must be a very difficult job for you.
You must be very worried by now.
i. Must is used in exclamations to express surprise or shock.
‘Go! Please go.’ ‘You must be joking!’
I really must be quite mad!
You must have gone out of your mind!

SHALL
FORM
a. Affirmative: shall
b. Negative: shall not
c.Interrogative:shall + subject + infinitive?

USES
a. Shall can be used with all persons to emphasize something which the speaker feels is
certain to happen or wants to happen.
I shall definitely help him to finish his work. (conversation).
I shall try to show that our political practices accept integrity as a distinct virtue
(academic prose)
b. In conversation, shall is typically used as a volitional modal in questions acting as offers or
suggestions. (Note that shall is associated with I and we in questions.)
Shall we post this letter for you?
Shall we play tennis tomorrow?

WILL
FORM
a. Affirmative: will
b. Negative: will not, won’t (only in spoken English and informal written
English)
c.Interrogative:will + subject + infinitive

USES
a. Will expresses prediction of events or states not involving personal agents.
In conversation, will is commonly used to mark logical prediction as well as personal volition
(and prediction of one’s own future actions).
I will say no more on these matters, important though they are.
He will be devoting more time to writing, broadcasting and lecturing.
I won’t be here early enough to show you before school.
b. Will marking assumption
It won’t be that difficult to do.
c. Will is used in questions in order to make polite invitations or offers
Will you stay for dinner?
Won’t you sit down?
d. Will is also used in questions in order to ask or tell someone to do something (volition).
Will you drive me home?
Wipe the jam off my mouth, will you?
(Would can be used as a less definite, more polite form of will in this meaning; see would in
this use).
e. Will (related to the present) refers to activities or events that are repeated and which we
notice, such as people’s habits or characteristics of things
Kate is very kind. She’ll always help people if she can.
Art thieves will often hide an important work for years after it has been stolen.
In the Western Isles it’ll rain for days on end.

WOULD

FORM
a. Affirmative: would; ‘d (in spoken and informal written english often abbreviated)
b. Negative: would not; wouldn’t (used only in spoken and informal written
English)
c.Interrogative: would + subject + infinitive

USES
a. Would expresses prediction. of events or states not involving personal agents. The meaning
is past of hypothetical.
Cheap money would have the same effect by increasing private investment.
I would just read the book as well.
b. Would marking assumption
She would just feel better if she went out.
c.Would is used in questions in order to make polite invitations, offers or requests:
Would you like a drink?
Would you prefer to stay in or go out this evening?
d. Would not may expresses refusal in the past. It may also express refusal in inanimate
objects.
I knew Trevor wouldn’t come with me.
The paint wouldn’t stick to the wallpaper.
e. Would is used in sentences expressing certainty, where the sentence is a suppressed
conditional sentence.
Nobody would agree with that idea. (if we asked them)

SHOULD
FORM
a. Affirmative: should (note that should as a modal is never contracted to ‘d, unlike
conditional ‘should’)
b. Negative: should not, shouldn’t (used only in spoken and informal written
English)
c.Interrogative: should + subject + infinitive

USES
a. Should is related to expectation
(Where* should appears, ought to is also possible. Should and ought to are very similar in
meaning, but we often prefer ought to to talk about authority which comes from outside the
speaker e.g. from laws.)
This restaurant* should really be very expensive.
b. Should + have + past participle is used to refer to something which was supposed to
happen.
It should have rained. (but it didn’t)
c. Should is used for duty and advisability.
People* should let one know before failing to keep an appointment. (duty)
I think you* should check to see if our Austrian partners are coming (advisability)
d. Should + have + past participle is used to express the non-fulfilment of a duty.
They* should have let us know that they weren’t coming.
e. In conversation, in questions should is used when the speaker is asking someone for
advice, permission, or information. (The speaker’s questions involve a degree of uncertainty)
Should I or shouldn’t I go to university?
What should I do?
Should we tell her about it?
f. In writing, should can be used to express a strong obligation politely.
Guests should vacate their rooms by midday.

NEED

FORM

a. Affirmative: need
b. Negative: need not, needn’t ;do/does/did not need to, don’t/doesn’t/didn’t need to
c.Interrogative:need + subject + infinitive; do/does/did+ subject + need to+
infinitive
USES
a. needn’t/don’t need to express absence of obligation
You needn’t do it now. (It’s not necessary-according to the speaker)
You don’t need to do it now. (It’s not necessary-external circumstances do not
require the action to be performed)
Interrogative forms are the following:
Need I go there? No, you needn’t. Yes, you must.
Does he need to go there? Yes, he does/No, he doesn’t.
b. didn’t need to expresses absence of obligation in the past:
I didn’t need to wait (And so I didn’t wait) N-a fost nevoie sa astept.
They didn’t need to do anything (And so they didn’t do anything) N-a fost nevoie ca
ei sa faca ceva.
c. needn’t +have+ Past Participle expresses an unnecessary action which was performed:
I needn’t have waited. (but I did) Nu era nevoie sa astept.
He needn’t have taken a taxi. (but he did) Nu era nevoie sa ia un taxi.

HAVE TO
FORM
a. Affirmative: has/have/had to
b. Negative: doesn’t/don’t/didn’t have to
c.Interrogative: does/do/did + subject + have to+infinitive?

USES
a. Have to expresses the ‘external’ obligation that has its origin in circumstance (necessity) or
in a person other than the speaker or writer.
I have to be home by 10 o’clock. (My parents insist.)
We have to drive on the left in Britain. (That is the law.)
Note: that have to is used to replace must where the modal does not have
corresponding forms.
b. We normally use have to, not have got to, for things that happen repeatedly, especially
when we use one word adverb of frequency (always, often).
I always have to work late on Tuesdays evenings.
I’ve got to work late this evening.
c. Have to + bare infinitive refers to a past obligation. (Note: have got to is not used to talk
about the past, we normally use had to.)
We had to go to Germany.
d. Don’t have to and won’t have to are used to express absence of obligation in the present
and future.
I don’t have to leave for another conference.
I hope the plane leaves on time and that I won’t have to wait at the airport.
e. Didn’t have to expresses the absence of obligation in the past when the speaker did not do
anything because it was not necessary. (Note: needn’t have is used when the speaker did do
something although it was not necessary.)
They didn’t have to pay tax.
‘The last time you went you took Hong Kong dollars with you.’ ‘Yes, but I needn’t
have; it’s easy to change money when you get there.’
  There are a number of fixed idiomatic phrases with functions similar to those of
modals.
be able to; be bound to; would rathe; be supposed;would do well to;had best;be
going to;be liable to; would just as soon;be sure to;had better;be meant to; would sooner;be
unable to;

HAD BETTER
FORM
a. Affirmative: had better; ‚d better
b. Negative: had better not
c. Interrogative: had+S+better+inginitive?

USES
a. Had better + bare infinitive expresses a strong recommendation in a particular situation.
I’m going to an interview tomorrow. I’d better iron my shirt.
It’s going to be cold tonight. We’d better turn on the heating.
Note: that we always use had (not ‘have’) with better in this structure, but the meaning is
present or future, not past.
b. Had better often suggests a kind of threat or warning, and is stronger than should or ought
to.

B. EXERCISES

I. Replace the words in italics with a construction using a modal verb related to ability/
inability, permission/ prohibition or possibility/ impossibility.
1. I was able to speak German quite well as a child.
2. Did you hear that sharp noise? I think it’s possible that one of the book shelves has
broken in the study next door.
3. The company say they’re able to keep pricing competitive.
4. It’s possible to fool all the people some of the time and some of the people all the
time, but it’s impossible to fool all the people all of the time. (Abraham Lincoln in
this, his famous saying, used you, not one).
5. Would you allow me to use your laptop computer for a moment? It’s possible that my
computer has a bug in the software.
6. They were able to work together very efficiently.
7. ‘Would you allow me to make one small suggestion?’ she said.
8. It was impossible for anyone to get in because no one knew the password.
9. The children are not allowed to watch violent TV programmes.
10. Later, at a news conference, Mr. Peel was able to convince the competition that it
would be possible for them to become partners in that huge long-term project.

II. Read the situations and make sentences from the words in brackets. Use may or
might.
a. Why didn’t Tim answer the phone? I’m sure he was in the house at the time.
1. (he/ be/ in the bath)……….
2. (he/ not/ hear/ the telephone)……….
b. I can’t find Helen anywhere. I wonder where she is.
1. (she/ go/ shopping)……….
2. (she/ play/ tennis)……….
c. I can’t find my umbrella. Have you seen it?
 1. (it/ be/ in the car)……….
2. (you/ leave/ in the office)……….
d. I’m looking for Bob. Do you know where he is?
1. (he/ watch/ TV/ in his room)……….
2. (she/go/ out )……….

III. Read the situations and use the words in brackets to write sentences with must have
and can’t have.
1. I was woken up in the middle of the night by the noise next door. (the neighbours/
have/ a party)
………….
2. Fiona did the opposite of what I asked her to do. (she/ understand/ what I said)
…………
3. Ben passed the exam without studying for it. (the exam/ very difficult).
…………
3. They knew everything about our plans. (they / listen/ to our conversation).
…………
4. When he woke up this morning, the light was on. (he/ forget/ to turn it off)
…………
5. The jacket you bought is very good quality.(it/ very expensive)
…………
6. The phone rang but I didn’t hear it. (I / asleep)
…………
7. I haven’t seen the people next door for ages. (they/ go away)
…………
8. Peter can’t find his umbrella. (He/ leave/ it in the restaurant last night).
…………
9. The lights were red but the car didn’t stop. (the driver/ see/ the red light)
…………

IV. Fill the gaps in the sentences with must (n’t), needn’t or should( n’t).
1. We’ve run out of paperclips. I … get some in the morning.
2. You … finish that report tonight if you’re too tired. Midday tomorrow is the deadline.
3. What are you doing here? … you be at the meeting downtown?
4. He really … have told his brother about this deal. It was supposed to be absolutely
confidential.
5. You … clean the office because we haven’t been using it today, but could you tidy the
shelves in the storeroom, please?
6. You … make so much noise. We’ll be asked to leave otherwise.
7. I’m going to be in trouble. I … have posted these yesterday afternoon and I
completely forgot.
8. You … have typed this – a handwritten note would have been quite adequate.
9. The meeting’s finished. We … find out what’s been decided any moment now.
10. The diet … be maintained unchanged for about a year.

V. Complete these sentences using don’t/ doesn’t/ didn’t have to + one of these verbs:
arrive, be, climb, cook, get up, go, go, pay, shave, tell, wait, wear, work, work
1. I’m not particularly busy. I’ve got a few things to do but I … them now.
2. Catherine isn’t working tomorrow, so she … early.
3. We’ve got plenty of time. We … yet.
 4. A man was slightly injured in the accident but he … to hospital.
5. The car park is free – you … to park your car there.
6. I went to the bank this morning. There was no queue, so I …
7. Amy is extremely rich. She …
8. Paul has got a beard, so he …
9. You can tell me if you want but you … me.
10. William … a suit to work but he usually does.
11. There’s a lift in the building, so we … the stairs.
12. Sue … at work so early. She arrives early because she wants to.
13. You … a good player to enjoy a game of tennis.
14. Karen … on Sundays.
15. We aren’t spending our weekend at home, so we … our meals.

VI. Complete the sentences using must or a form of have to. Sometimes two answers are
possible.
1. I couldn’t go to the party last night because I … babysit for my sister.
2. You … get a visa to visit the United States.
3. Jane will … do her homework tomorrow.
4. It’s getting very late. We … go now.
5. I … stay in bed yesterday because I wasn’t very well.
6. Mr. Mason … wear glasses since he was a child.
7. I don’t like … work at weekends.
8. The doctor gave me some medicine. I … take it three times a day after meals.
9. … (you/ work) home last night?
10. John … hurry. He’s plenty of time.
VII. Put the verbs in brackets into a modal construction using will or would.
1. The Prime Minister is now 65 years old and in all probability this … (be) the last
election that he is likely to contest.
2. The holiday … (do) him the world of good.
3. Within ten weeks of the introduction, 34 million people … (reach) by our television
commercials.
4. I … (imagine) that you can’t grow seeds actually in these big plastic bags.
5. If you … (let) me pay for a taxi, then at least allow me to lend you something.
6. She … (like) to ask questions, but he had moved on to another topic.
7. He kept trying to start the car and the battery got flatter and flatter, until it … (turn)
the engine at all.
8. He has insisted that his organisation … (negotiate) with the government.
9. It … (cost) very much more for the four of us to come from Italy.
10. He expressed the hope that on Monday elementary school … (reopen).

VIII. Complete the sentences with should (have) + the verb in brackets.
1. Margaret … the exam. She’s been studying very hard. (pass)
2. You missed a great party last night. You … (come)
3. We don’t see you enough. You … and see us more often. (come)
4. I’m in a difficult position. What do you think I … ? (do)
5. I’m sorry that I didn’t take your advice. I … what you said. (do)
6. I’m playing tennis with Jill tomorrow. She … she’s much better than me. (win)
7. We lost the match but we … . We were the better team. (win)
8. ‘Is John here yet?’ ‘Not yet, but he … here soon?’ (be)
9. I posted the letter three days ago, so it … by now. (arrive)
 10. I … this morning but I was feeling a bit ill. (go)

1.1.11. THE PASSIVE VOICE

A. THEORETICAL CONSIDERATIONS

Besides mood, aspect, and tense, a verb has another grammatical category, namely the
voice. The voice system in English makes possible for the action of a sentence to be viewed in
two ways:
Her mother ironed the blouse. [active voice]
The blouse was ironed (by her mother). [passive voice]
 The active and passive sentences have the following representations:
ACTIVE VOICE
Her mother ironed the blouse.
Subject Predicate Direct Object

PASSIVE VOICE
The blouse was ironed by her mother.
Subject Predicate Object (by + agent)

I. FORM
The active subject becomes the passive agent; the verb to be in the appropriate tense
(that of the main verb); the main verb is in the Past Participle; the direct object becomes the
passive subject, preceded by by:
a. Affirmative:
John sold the book.
The book was sold by John.
b. Negative: subject + be (the appropriate tense) + not + the past participle
It isn’t known who made the mistake.
c. Interrogative: be (the appropriate tense) + subject + the past participle
Was the problem solved yesterday?
Has a doctor been sent for?

II. Changes form Active to Passive:

Active Passive
Present: writes is written
Present Progressive: is writing is being written
Present Perfect: has written has been written
Past: wrote was written
Past Perfect: had written had been written
Future: will write will be written
Future in the past: would write would be written
Modal verbs: must do must be done
Modal + perfective: might have done might have been done
The Infinitive My sister loves to be admired by everybody.
She hoped her book to have been accepted by the publisher. [perfect
infinitive]
-ing forms While being asked about his whereabouts, he felt a cold shiver
running along his spine. [present participle]
 Before having been asked about the robbery, he was taken by the
police. [perfect participle]
I enjoy being taken out to dinner.
Do you mind her having been arrested? [perfect gerund]

III. Constraints
a. Verb constraints
1. verbs of “being” and “having” – to have ( = to own) to be, to belong, to lack, to
seem, to become, to hold, to resemble, to suit – require only an active construction:
Tom has a new Jeep. - * A new Jeep is had by Tom.
This dress doesn’t suit you. - * You are not suited by this dress.
2. verbs of ‘wanting’ and ‘liking] are used in the active voice:
She wanted me to be there. - * I was wanted to be there.
I like that car. - * That car is liked.
3. the verb to let has no passive form; we use a passive of to allow/ to permit/ to give
permission:
He let me leave early . - * I was let leave
> I was allowed /given permission to leave early.
4. passive only: to be born, to be drowned (when no agent is implied); in Nominative +
Infinitive constructions.
She was born after the war. - * Her mother bore her after the war.
He was thought to be honest. - * People thought him to be honest
5. Phrasal verbs – to look into, to go into, to arrive at – can be used in the passive only
when the subject is an abstract patient, not a concrete one.
This delicate matter had been looked into. – * This bag had been
looked into. [matter = abstract subject, bag = concrete subject]
b. Agent constraints
The agent by-phrase is generally optional. The omission occurs:
- when the agent is irrelevant or unknown: My car has been stolen.
- when the agent is left out as redundant: He had a cup in his hands a few seconds ago, and
now the cup is broken.
- when the agent is so obvious that there is no need to mention it: The thief will be
arrested.
- in impersonal statements: Passengers are asked not to enter this area.

IV. Causative ‘have’

- The verbs to have and to get can occur in the following construction: have/ get +
direct object + past participle = somebody does something for/ to you.
I will have you arrested!
- These constructions show semantically that the grammatical subject is not the
agent/ doer of the action, on the contrary there is another agent implied, one that is
not mentioned. The direct object is the sufferer:
She has her hair cut. [the auxiliary has is actually a causative verb, simple present
tense – meaning: she will not perform the action of cutting her own hair, but a
hairdresser for example.]

V. Ways of rendering the English Passive into Romanian

a. Active voice into Romanian (+ the appropriate tense of the verb)
People are getting frightened by earthquake. [Oamenilor le este frică de cutremur. –
prezent.]
b. Passive voice into Romanian (+ the appropriate tense of the verb to be)
The letter was written by John. [Scrisoarea a fost scrisă de John. – perfect compus]
They will take good care of her. [Va fi bine îngrijită. – viitor]
c. Reflexive voice into Romanian
A noise was heard. [S-a auzit un zgomot. – perfect compus]
The children will be offered many toys. [Copiilor li se vor oferi multe jucării. – viitor]
A decision was arrived at. [S-a ajuns la o decizie. – perfect compus]
Fish eats with garlic. [Peştele se mănâncă cu mujdei. – prezent]
The window broke. [Geamul s-a spart. – perfect compus]
I’ve had some photos taken this week. (causative ‘have’) [M-am fotografiat
săptămâna aceasta. – perfect compus]
This matter will be dealt with at once. [Ne vom ocupa imediat de această problemă. –
viitor.

B. EXERCISES
I. Turn into Passive Voice:
1. Father did not allow me to go to the party last night.
2. People strongly assume money brings happiness.
3. They are closing down a lot of factories nowadays.
4. Police had to break the meeting immediately.
5. No one talked about this at the meeting.
6. People don`t pay babysitters a lot of money.
7. The President denied access to the affected area.
8. Social workers were doing valuable work.
9. You should meet them at the airport tonight.
10. He has used this apparatus only once since that day.

II. Turn into Active Voice:

1. The murderer was arrested in less than two hours.
2. A speech to the nation was made by the Prime minister.
3. The building was being guarded by the police.
4. Both drivers will be taken to the hospital by the ambulance.
5. The watch has been repaired skilfully.
6. Someone will have to be found to take my place.
7. The goods had been sent to the required address.
8. The accident had been seen by a crowd of people.
9. My car was just being repaired by Tom when I arrived.
10. He is expected to be back at the end of the week.

III. Finish the sentences:

1. All the people know the President well. The President…..
2. They are just lengthening the road. The road…..
3. He admitted this on very few occasions. On very few occasions…..
4. She has proved that all his statements are lies. All his statements…..
5. The man had never before made such a firm promise. Never…..
6. I will never tell them the truth about the accident. They…..
7. Everyone knows that gym exercises are good for health. Gym exercises…..
8. They didn`t find out about the results until later. Not until later…..
9. They were trying a new check-out system in the library. A new…..
 10. Someone should give him the required information. He….

IV. Rewrite each sentence using the words in capitals. Make sure the sentences are
passive.
1. They have found some very old coins in a churchyard. DISCOVER
2. I am sorry, I don’t know his name. INTRODUCE
3. Police had not found out the identity of the victim. IDENTIFY
4. The satellite will give us new pictures of the planet Mars. RECEIVE
5. At this time yesterday, the mechanic was repairing my bike. REPAIR
6. The building is thought to date from the 10th century. IT
7. The author has included key answers at the end of the book .BEEN
8. Chinese people inhabit this beautiful island. BY
9. They are looking into the files very carefully. EXAMINE
10. As soon as he finishes his report, he will take me for a walk. FINISHED

V. Use tenses of the Passive Voice as required:

1. They (invite) to Bucharest this week. (Present Tense)
2. About 100 new flats(build) by the end of the year. (Future Tense)
3. The yesterday newspaper (buy) by many people. (Past Tense)
4. She now believes she (take in) by all his lies. (Past Simple)
5. I think he is the very person that can (ask) about it. (Infinitive)
6. The announcement (make) immediately after midnight. (Past Perfect)
7. A new meeting on this problem (arrange) by the Commonwealth Prime Minister.
(Present Continuous)
8. The new proposals (discuss) when he entered the meeting hall. (Past Continuous)
9. Traffic rules must (obey). (Infinitive)
10. I can’t believe she (recognize) by her uncle. (Present Perfect)

VI. Translate into English:

1. Toate acele case au fost distruse de recentul cutremur.
2. Mi s-a spus că s-au discutat multe aspecte interesante la conferinţa de ieri.
3. Se ştie că telefonul a fost inventat de A. G. Bell în 1876.
4. Ţi se va permite să vizitezi tot muzeul cu condiţia să nu atingi exponatele.
5. Acest material este foarte bun, se calcă uşor.
6. Se insistă foarte mult asupra învăţării asistate de calculator.
7. După toate datele primite, casa va fi demolată mâine.
8. Se observă că ştiinţa a evoluat foarte mult în ultimii ani.
9. Progresele tehnice sunt analizate cu atenţie în toate centrele de ştiinţă din lume.

III. 1. 2. THE SUBJUNCTIVE

A. THEORETICAL CONSIDERATIONS
The Subjunctive is a grammatical mood used in (in)dependent sentences in order to
refer “to events which are not certain to happen – which we hope will happen, or imagine
might happen, or want to happen.” (Swan, 1990: 580)
I wish I were younger. (unfortunately I am not)
From a formal point of view, there are 2 types of Subjunctive:
a. the Synthetic Subjunctive
b. the Analytical Subjunctive.
a. THE SYNTHETIC SUBJUNCTIVE

I. FORM AND USES

- The Old Subjunctive (the Present Subjunctive) resembles the form of the Short Infinitive
of the verb for all tenses and persons and is used to express supposition, purpose, fear,
suggestion, request, wish, necessity etc.
It is important that he come/ be invited to the party.
From a semantic point of view, the Old Subjunctive can be classified into:
● The Formulaic Subjunctive – in the formal and old-fashioned style, it is used in
independent/ main clauses that contain certain idioms to express wishes, prayers or protests
(often involving supernatural powers).
God save the Queen!
Be that as it may, she will carry on with her plan!
●The Mandative Subjunctive is used in subordinate 'That–clauses' to express desire,
demand, requirement, obligation, necessity, suggest, command etc.
He made the suggestion that the thief come and explain everything.
- The Modern Subjunctive (the Past and Past Perfect Subjunctive) conveys the idea of
unreality, regret about a situation, improbability, and doubt. The Past Subjunctive is used
when the action referred to is simultaneous with or posterior to the reference time (usually
used for present and future time). The Past Perfect Subjunctive resembles the form of the
Indicative Mood, Past Perfect for all tenses and persons and it is used when the action
referred to is anterior to the reference time (used only for past time).
If I were you, I wouldn’t wait for him any longer.
I wish I had known the truth about this matter.

II. Ways of translating the Synthetic Subjunctive

a. conjunctiv prezent:
God bless the King! (Dumnezeu să-l binecuvânteze pe rege!)
I wish he were us. (Aş vrea să fie aici.)
b. imperativ: Expenses be hanged! (Dă-le încolo de cheltuieli!)
c. indicativ prezent:
Suffice it to say that he was caught stealing the pearls! (E de ajuns să spunem ca a
fost prins furând perlele!)
d. conjunctiv perfect: He wishes he had been there. (Ar dori să fi fost aici.)
e. condiţional optativ:
He looked at me as if he had seen a ghost. (S-a uitat la mine de parcă ar fi văzut o
stafie.)

b. THE ANALYTICAL SUBJUNCTIVE

I. FORM AND USES

- The Subjunctive Equivalents (or modal auxiliaries) are often used to replace the Old
Subjunctive in informal English.
His uncle urged that he should sit down and wait.
No matter how pretty she might be, she can’t be your girl friend.

II. Ways of translating the Analytical Subjunctive

a. conjunctiv prezent:
It is necessary that your father should sign the application. (Este necesar ca tatăl tău
să semneze formularul.)
b. conjunctiv perfect:
It is impossible (that) he should have failed the exam. (Este imposibil ca el să fi picat
examenul.)
c. condiţional optativ:
However disgraceful it may be, you must give him a hand. (Oricât de dezonorant ar fi,
trebuie să-l ajuţi.)
d. condiţional optativ/ indicativ:
I wish you would call me earlier! (Tare aş dori să mă suni mai devreme!/ De
ce nu mă suni mai devreme?)

B. EXERCISES

I. Build up sentences with the following words using the Subjunctive:

1. He recommended that (I, some money, to lend, to his friend).
2. She orders that (to see, the vet, at once, her dog ).
3. I suggest that (immediately, to return, all of you, in the classroom).
4. The Prime Minister demanded that (to house, from USA, the delegates, at the best
hotel).
5. They insist that (John, to resign, tomorrow).
6. He urged that (to work, the employees, more efficiently).
7. I propose that (in the morning, to be, at six, in my office, you).
8. Mary required that (the diploma, the schoolmaster, her, to give).
9. The doctor insisted that (to take, before meals, the pills, every day, he).
10. The mayor demands that (to keep, all the citizens, clean, the town).

II. Rephrase the following sentences using 'wish' to express regret for a present action
(the meaning must stay the same):
1. It’s a pity you leave so soon.
2. I regret he doesn’t know how to start the engine.
3. I’m sorry the delivery comes come so late.
4. It’s a pity you get only poor marks at the exams.
5. I regret the girls don’t pay attention to the explanations.
6. It’s pity I can’t fix the car.
7. I’m sorry they are fighting every day.
8. It’s a pity you don’t speak to each other.
9. I regret our teacher drinks so much coffee.
10. It’s a pity you don’t try to improve your pronunciation.

III. Rephrase the following sentences using 'wish' to express regret for a past action (the
meaning must stay the same):
1. I didn’t meet her yesterday.
2. It was time for us to leave.
3. Mike failed all his exams.
4. He didn’t bring the money for the dictionary.
5. We didn’t study semantics last term.
6. They didn’t know how to act under such circumstances.
7. She wasn’t there at the right moment.
8. We didn’t spend much time together.
9. They didn’t have any children.
10. I didn’t understand her real problems.
IV. Use the past tense and the past perfect forms of the Subjunctive after: as if / though,
suppose, even if/ though according to the meaning:
1. He looked as if he (see) a ghost.
2. He wouldn’t solve the exercise even if he (try).
3. Suppose you (be) there, what would you have done?
4. The criminal behaved as though he (not know) anything about the murder.
5. He smiled friendly as if he (recognize) her.
6. I wouldn’t sell my honesty even though he (give) thousands of dollars.
7. You treated those people as if you (not meet) them before.
8. You treated the girl as if you (not know) her.
9. Suppose you (have) a flat of your own, would you put me up?
10. I wouldn’t invite him even if you (ask) me to.

V. Rephrase the following sentences using it’s impossible/ normal/ natural/ unbelievable
with should according to the model:
Example: She can’t be here at this hour. It’s impossible (that) she should be here…
She can’t have been there at that hour. It’s impossible (that) she should have been
there…
1. This can’t happen again.
2. Allan can’t have lied to his parents.
3. You can’t leave her alone after all she has done for you.
4. Your best friend can’t abandon you in the middle of the battle.
5. They can’t have eaten all the food.
6. He can’t go abroad this week.
7. You can’t have done such terrible mistakes.
8. Peter can’t ask Mary to marry him.
9. That wind can’t have destroyed the whole city.
10. You can’t utter such heavy words.

III.1.3. THE CONDITIONAL MOOD

A. THEORETICAL CONSIDERATIONS
I. Definiton
The Conditional is the grammatical mood expressing suppositions, doubt or different
types of conditions – real, (im)probable, (im)possible/ hypothetical .
The conditional mood can cover two types of structures:
 dependent clauses made up of two parts: the main clause/ MC and the adverbial
clause of condition/ IfC:
I would leave if I had enough money.
 independent clauses where the IfC is rather implied from the context. They can be
part of a dialogue or of free indirect speech/ thought:
‘I told you what had happened to Paul and how he reacted. What would you have
done?’ ‘I would have fired those that had robbed the company.’

II. Conditional Clauses

In English, there are three main types of Conditional Clauses.
“IF”/CONDITIONAL
TYPE CONDITION MAIN CLAUSE IF CLAUSE

I. possible to I will pass the exam if I study harder.

 fulfill
Voi trece examenul daca voi invata mai mult.

Future Form (will + Infinitive) Present Form

II. in theory I would pass the exam if I studied harder.

possible to
fulfill As trece examenul daca as invata mai mult.

Present Conditional (would + Inf.) Past Form

III. impossible to I would have passed the exam if I had studied harder.
fulfill
As fi trecut examenul daca as fi invatat mai mult.

Perfect Conditional (would + have Past Perfect Form (had

+ Past Participle) +Past Participle)

III. Mixed conditionals

In addition to all the tense variations that we can use in first, second and third
conditionals, it is also possible to mix conditionals so that, for example, the if clause uses a
verb form used in the first conditional and the main clause uses a verb form used in the
third conditional. The context defines the meaning. The most common mixed
conditional is:

Type III Type II

if + past perfect would/could/might+ infinitive
If I had worked harder at university, I would have a degree now.

Here are some other examples of mixed conditionals :

Type 1 Type II
If you come to the party tomorrow, I wouldn't bring Mike with you.
Type II Type III
If she loved him, she would have stayed with him.

IV. Conjunctions which can replace IF

 Unless + affirmative verb (If + negative verb) places a negative condition
Unless you come at once, I’ll take it with me. (If you don’t…)
Unless you had a lot of money, you couldn’t buy it.(If you hadn’t…)
Unless he is happy to see me, I won’t come to bother him. (If he is unhappy)
 Providing / provided (that) – used when there is a strong idea of limitation (chiefly
used with permission)
You can borrow her bike provided (that) you bring it back by 10 pm.
 But for + a proper name/a noun/a pronoun = If it were not for/ if it hadn’t been for
My best friend has come to help me. But for him, I wouldn’t get the diploma.
But for his trust, I wouldn’t have succeeded.
 Suppose/supposing = what if/ what…happen if?
 Suppose he doesn’t come on time? = What if he doesn’t…? = What will happen if
he…?
Suppose I hadn’t sent you the document? = What if I hadn’t sent…?= What would
have happened if I hadn’t sent…
 In case usually refers to a future condition that may or may not arise:
In case I receive any news, I’ll let you know.
 If so and If not, used instead of complete clauses:
Is anybody feeling cold? If not, let's put the central heating off.
You may have some difficulty operating the machine at first. If so, do not hesitate to
telephone our service department.
 On condition that = if
He will give you the day off on condition that you work on Saturday too.
 As long as = if
Cynthia is welcome to stay with us as long as she shares the rent.

V. Inversion
The sentence must begin with the IfC where an inversion of the subject with the
lexical verb or auxiliary verb is performed.
Were I (If I were) the rector of the University, I wouldn't approve of this. [in written
language, in literary style]
Had she known (If she had known) about it, she would have come home at once. [in
written or spoken language]
Should it be necessary (if it should be necessary), I will leave by the 10 pm train. [in
written or spoken language, to express a polite suggestion]

VI. Ways of translating a Conditional structure

In English there is a dependency between the forms of the verbs in the two clauses;
they express the same kind of action, situated in the same period of time (past, present or
future), and yet, they have different forms (tenses), unlike the Romanian language where we
have the same forms in both the MC and IfC.
Type 1:
 Viitor/prezent & viitor/prezent
I will leave if I have money. [Voi pleca/ Plec dacă voi avea/ am bani]
 prezent/ viitor + cumva & imperativ
If you should run into Paul, tell him he owes me an answer. [Dacă cumva te
întâlneşti cu Paul, spune-i că mi-e dator cu un răspuns.]
 perfect compus & prezent/perfect compus/viitor
If I did that, I apologise. [Dacă am făcut asta, îmi cer scuze.]
If I said that, I was mistaken. [Dacă am spus asta, am greşit.]
If she made a mistake, she will try to correct it. [Dacă a făcut o greşeală, va încerca să
o îndrepte.]
 viitor/ prezent + conjunctiv prezent (verb lexical) & prezentul (unei verb care va reda
sensul modal al lui will: a vrea sau a refuza)
If he won’t do it, we’ll have to do it ourselves. [Dacă refuză să facă asta, va trebui să
facem noi singuri.]
Type 2:
 condiţional optativ prezent
I would leave if I had money. [Aş pleca dacă aş avea bani.]
Type 3:
  condiţional optativ perfect
I would have left if I had had money. [Aş fi plecat dacă aş fi avut bani.]

B. EXERCISES

I. Put the verbs in brackets in the correct form:

1. If he (meet) her, he will invite her to the theatre.
2. If the weather (be) fine, we’ll go for a ride.
3. You (disappoint) your students if you don’t come to the last class.
4. Unless he (study) economy, he will become an accountant.
5. You can make your dreams come true, provided you (work) hard.
6. Unless you have an interpreter, you (can) to understand each other.
7. Suppose she (not admit) she has made the mistake. What will you do?
8. If you take these pills, you (feel) much better.
9. They’ll blame you, if the plan (not to work).
10. Trevor (not to make) his decision, if he doesn’t talk to his lawyer.
11. If you had made a good work, he (congratulate) you.
12. They wouldn’t have lost if they (take) the map with them.
13. If you ( not to threaten) her , she wouldn’t have told the police.
14. He (hurt) him if he hadn’t been a well – educated man.
15. Peter would have walked if he (repair) his car.
16. She (not to expect) so good results if she hadn’t worked so much.
17. I wouldn’t have made up my mind so quickly if it (be) for her.
18. You (have) your hair cut if your father hadn’t asked you to.
19. She wouldn’t have been so relaxed if she (pass) the exam.
20. She (not to expect) so good results if she hadn’t worked so much.
21. I wouldn’t have made up my mind so quickly if it (be) for her.
22. You (have) your hair cut, if your father hadn’t asked you to.
23. She wouldn’t have been so relaxed, if she (pass) the exam.
24. You would have caught the train, if he hadn’t kept you so much.

II. Choose the most appropriate conjunction (unless, suppose, supposing, provided) and
fill in the blank spaces:
1. I will accept your invitation …you send a car to take me.
2. You can go fishing tomorrow …it rains.
3. I will repeat the requirement…you don’t understand.
4. They will come with us on the trip…we invite them.
5. He can’t pass the exam …he sits for it.
6. What would you do…he doesn’t give you the key?
7. …you admit you were wrong, she won’t forgive you.
8. …Mary were your manager. How would you behave?
9. I’ll buy the furniture…I have enough money.
10. They will never finish their work…somebody help them.

III. Find and correct the mistakes in the following sentences:

1. Had I know the truth, I wouldn’t have asked that silly question.
2. I’ll lend you the dictionary provided you brought it back on time.
3. Suppose you are the president. Would you declare war?
4. She will join you unless you don’t tease her.
5. Were you a soldier, will you die for your country?
 6. I wouldn’t have turned down that idea, if I had known it was his.
7. All the runners would be exhausted if the race had taken place on such a hot day.
8. Were he honest to her if he hadn’t trusted her?
9. I’ll retire when I would reach the age of 55.
10. Would the project have been implemented supposing he put it forward?

IV. Rephrase the following sentences using the conjunction if:

1. I didn’t go out yesterday because the weather was so bad.
2. Mary was shy with boys because her father didn’t let her meet them.
3. She was attracted to Tom because he seemed so pleasant.
4. Tom wanted to marry her because she was rich.
5. Her father liked him because he thought Tom was a politician.
6. Mary believed his story because she had so little experience of men.
7. She married him because she thought he really loved her.
8. He treated her badly because he didn’t love her.
9. She shot him because he was so terrible to her.
10. All this happened because her father was so foolish.

V. Complete the following sentences:

1. But for John, your sister………… drowned.
2. If you………….. ……. ,then I’d like it back, please.
3. Unless he…………. ………………………… ..fail the exam.
4. Helen wouldn’t agree with you, even…………
5. Thanks for your encouragement. I………… ……..otherwise.
6. If it hadn’t…………..for a walk.
7. Had your father heard…………...a new car.
8. I won’t ever go shopping, provided…………
9. If you will…………. the whole truth.
10. I wouldn’t be a teacher, if…………a long time ago.

VI. Match the clauses and write the mixed conditional sentences in your notebook.
A. If you had told me about this problem earlier,
B. If you were a more sensitive person,
C. If they don't contact you soon,
D. If he hadn't died so young,
E. If he didn't work so hard all the time,
F. If the train hadn't been delayed,
G. If he was feeling ill this morning,
H. If you’re coming with us
I. If I really wanted to have children,
J. If you had worked harder last month,
A. he probably won't be at the meeting.
B. you could always ring them up.
C. his wife would never have left him.
D. you wouldn't have said that to her.
E. would have had them by now.
F. everything would be all right now.
G. would you hurry up and get ready?
H. you wouldn't be so busy this month.
I. we would be there by now.
 J. I'm sure he'd be a famous musician by now.
Example:
If you had told me about this problem earlier, everything would be all right now.

VII. Rewrite the sentences replacing if with the most appropriate conjunction.
1. Mr Davidson says he'll come and give a talk at the conference if we pay him a
reasonable fee. (supposing that / unless / on condition that)
Example:
Mr Davidson says he'll come and give a talk at the conference on condition
that we pay him a reasonable fee.
2. I won't help him if he doesn't ask me properly. (provided / unless / as long as)
3. If I could get a job, life here would be perfect. (what if / even if / if only)
4. If you had a lot of money, do you think you would give up work? (Supposing that /
Providing that / As long as)
5. If the train arrives on time, they'll be here in a few minutes. (What if / Assuming that /
On condition that)
6. If he doesn't agree to my request, what will I do then? (Imagine / What if / Provided
that)
7. You can go out tonight if you get back by midnight. (as long as / assuming that /
supposing that)
8. If the helicopter hadn't been there to save her, what would have happened then?
(If only / Imagine / Unless)
9. If you'd offered to pay me a thousand pounds, I wouldn't have done it. (If only /
Provided that / Even if)
10. If Rosie gets this new promotion, we'll have enough money for a holiday abroad this
year. (Even if / Provided that / Supposing that)

VIII. Translate into English:

1. Poate să participe la Jocurile Olimpice numai dacă se antreneaza intens.
2. Friptura ar fi bună dacă ar fi caldă.
3. Dacă nu ar fi grădinile şi parcurile, centrul oraşului ar arăta dezolant.
4. Petre ar fi avut necazuri la examene, dacă nu l-ar fi ajutat colegul său.
5. Dacă l-ai vedea cum arăta nu l-ai mai recunoaşte.
6. N-aş fi consimţit niciodată să părăsesc linia frontului, dacă aş fi ştiut ce se va
intâmpla.
7. În cazul în care voi uita , nu ezita să-mi aminteşti de această problemă.
8. Dacă nu ai fi atât de mincinos, n-ai fi acum in situaţia regretabilă ca nimeni să nu aibă
încredere in tine.
9. Ce-ar face directorul dacă s-ar întâmpla să te găsească fumând in curtea şcolii?
10. Oamenii au încredere în tine dacă şi tu ai încredere în ei.
11. Vei avea nevoie de bani în cazul în care renunţi la serviciu.
12. Imaginează-ţi că ţi-ar fi vopsit baia în negru.
13. Dacă n-ar fi fost Maria nu aş fi primit cecul.
14. N-am să pot repara frigiderul decât dacă vine mecanicul.
15. Dacă cumva mă caută Jack, spune-i că sunt la restaurant.
16. Dacă v-ar face plăcere să lucraţi în biroul meu, comunicaţi-mi până mâine seară.
17. Dacă vrei să ne însoţeşti, vom mai lua un cort.
18. Dacă aţi binevoi să aşteptaţi câteva clipe, îl voi chema pe domnul director.
19. Nu ai fi acum aici, dacă nu ai fi cheltuit toţi banii pe cai.
20. Ai fi ştiut răspunsul, dacă ai citi mai mult.
 III. 1.4. SEQUENCE OF TENSES

A. THEORETICAL CONSIDERATIONS
A complex sentence contains a main clause and one or more subordinate clauses. We
can distinguish the following types of subordinate clauses:
a. Direct Object Clause
b. Prepositional Object Clause
c. Subject Clause
d. Predicative Clause
e. Relative Clause
f. Adverbial Clause of Time/ Place/ Manner/ Comparison/ Reason/
g. Condition/Purpose/Result/Concession

a. Direct Object Clauses

There are several grammar rules related to the sequence of tenses in direct object clauses the
speaker has to follow.
1. There is no tense limitation in the direct object clause when the main verb is in the Present
Tense or Present Perfect Tense:
I know Paul has sent the book.
Susan knows that you led a rifle platoon during the Second World War.
We all know that the Prime Minister will appoint a civilian as defence minister.

2. When the main verb is in the Future Tense the speaker can use all tenses in direct object
clauses apart from the future tenses:
Trevor will let them know that they are safe.

3. When the main verb is in the past the verb in the direct object clause ought to be in the past
too.
Subordinate clause action versus main clause action
Tense in main Tense in
clause subordinate clause
Anteriority Past Tense/Past Past Perfect
Perfect
Simultaneity Past Tense/Past Past Tense
Perfect
Posteriority Past Tense/Past Future-in-the-past
Perfect
He told me he had spent his early life in Sri Lanka before moving to England.
Peter thought he was right.
Walter said himself he would be satisfied with whatever he could get.
Note: It does not apply in the following cases for statements which are still valid in the
moment of speaking ‘now’ have the verb in the present tense although it is also correct to
change the verb into the past or with verbs such as know, realise, believe, think, hope, regret
etc.
He explained that the population of London is around 9 millions.
I realised he is a South- American.
4. The subjunctive is used in direct object clauses after verbs like ask, demand, require,
order, urge, suggest, propose, arrange, recommend. Either subjunctive can be used.
Mr. Hill suggested that their candidate should be supported/be supported by the
Socialist
too.

5. The use of the tenses in direct object clauses after the main verb ‘wish’
- wish + past tense (=past subjunctive) when the regret is related to the present reality
I wish(ed) John were/was here with us on this wonderful trip.
- wish + past perfect (=past perfect subjunctive) when the regret is related to the past reality.
They wish(ed) she had joined their company two years ago.
- wish + would + bare infinitive to express a future action the speaker wants to happen but
which has less chances to fulfill.
Catherine wishes he would become a reliable person. (but she doesn’t think he will).
The above pattern is also used in polite requests
I wish you would be quiet.
- wish + present tense/future tense when ‘wish’ means ‘hope’.
Helen wishes he will finish his work soon. (= Susan hopes he will finish his work
soon).
- the subjunctive (past or past perfect) is also used indirect object clauses after would
sooner/rather when the person who expresses the preference is not the subject of the action
to follow.
I would rather he talked less.
I’d sooner Boris had improved his knowledge of English.
Note that the pattern wish + that-clause is translated in Romanian by the pattern ‘conditional
+ subjunctive’.
I wish he worked harder. = Aş dori ca el să muncească mai mult
I wished he had worked harder. = Aş fi dorit ca el să fi muncit mai mult.
and the same for the pattern subject1 + would rather/sooner + subject2 + subjunctive (past
or past perfect).
I’d rather he went to Spain. = Aş prefera ca el să plece în Spania.
I’d rather he had visited the = Aş fi preferat ca el să fi vizitat Muzeul Prado
Prado Museum in Madrid. din Madrid.

b. Prepositional Object Clause

The rules of the sequence of tenses applies in the prepositional direct object clause
too.
The two parties agreed upon it that it had been an unfortunate misunderstanding.
(anteriority)
that Mr. Brown was right. (simultaneity)
that the competition would apologise. (posteriority)
 When the main verb is formed by one of the idiomatic expressions be sorry, be
surprised, be astonished, be amazed, be disappointed in a present tense the verb in
the prepositional object clause will be formed by the following patterns:
- present tense/should + bare infinitive to express simultaneous actions.
Rupert is surprised that they spend/ should spend their holidays in the little village.
(= Rupert este surprins că ei îşi petrec concediul în acest micuţ sat)
-present perfect/past tense or should + perfect infinitive to express an anterior action.
Mr. Hill is glad that our German partner has accepted/should have accepted the
goods (= Domnul Hill este mulţumit că partenerul german a acceptat mărfurile.)

 When the main verb is in the past the speaker has to apply the corresponding
sequence of tenses
 a. Simultaneity: past tense or should + infinitive
Our boss was disappointed we were/should be so late. (= Şeful nostru a fost
dezamăgit că noi am venit aşa de târziu)
b. Anteriority: past perfect or should + perfect infinitive
Daniel was sorry his father had sold/should have sold his car.
(= Lui Daniel i-a părut rau că tatăl său şi-a vândut maşina)

c. Subject Clause
The speaker can use both the indicative mood or the subjunctive mood. The indicative
mood shows the subject clause action is seen as being fulfilled while the subjunctive indicates
an assumption.
It is strange that Tim arrived at the office so early. (=E ciudat că Tim a sosit la birou
atât de devreme).
It is strange that Tim should arrive at the office so early. (=E ciudat ca Tim să ajungă
la birou atât de devreme.)

There is no tense limitation in the subject clause when the main verb is in the present
tense.
It is unlikely that Ralph has signed/will sign the contract (=Este puţin probabil că
Ralph a semnat/va semna contractul)
 When the main verb is in the past the verb in the subject clause ought to be in the past
too.
It was a surprise that they had delivered the goods on time (anteriority)
that Ann behaved like that (simultaneity)
that the Prime Minister would deliver a speech. (posteriority)

 After idiomatic expressions like it is strange/ alarming/surprising/ annoying

gratifying/splendid (the main verb is in the Present Tense) the subject clause verb will
be used in the following patterns.
a. Simultaneity: present tense or should + infinitive
It is strange that they buy/should bought such expensive goods.
b. Anteriority: present perfect/past tense or should + perfect infinitive
It is gratifying that he waited/should have waited until the plane landed.

 When the main verb is in the Past Tense the following patterns ought to be used.
a. Simultaneity: past tense or should + infinitive
It was surprising that they worked/should work until midnight.
Anteriority: past perfect or should + perfect infinitive
It was splendid that they had cooked/should have cooked dinner before our coming.
Note that the indicative mood relates to a fulfilled action while the subjunctive relates to an
assumption.

 The analytical subjunctive pattern should + bare infinitive is used after idiomatic
expressions like it is/was advisable, desirable, essential, imperative, important,
inevitable , necessary, right, vital.
It is/was necessary that he should earn more money.
 The analytical subjunctive pattern may/might + bare infinitive is used after
idiomatic expressions like it is possible, it is probable (see also ‘The Subjunctive’ and
‘Modals and Semi-Modals’)
It is possible that Jane may arrive tonight.
d. Predicative Clause
There is no tense limitation in the predicative clause when the main verb is in the
Present Tense.
The important fact is that he was sent abroad.
that Mr. Pitt has talked about it.
that the contract will be soon concluded.
When the main verb is in the past the verb in the predicative clause ought to be in the
past too.
The problem was that they had talked to him before.
that we were very busy.
that Sean would leave the next day.

e. Relative Clause
There is no tense limitation in the relative clause.
I showed John the dress I’ll wear at our next party. (= I-am arătat lui John rochia pe
care o voi purta la viitoarea noastră petrecere.)
My new watch, which I bought a month ago, is very good. (=Ceasul meu cel nou pe
care l-am cumparat acum o lună este foarte bun.)

f. Adverbial Clause of Time

When I have some days off, I go to the seaside. (=Când am câteva zile libere, merg la
mare).
While you are cooking dinner, I’ll write a letter to Sean. (=În timp ce tu pregăteşti
cina, eu îi voi scrie o scrisoare lui Sean.)
After the show is over, we’ll have supper at the Lido. (=După spectacol vom cina la
Lido.)
Tom will join us as soon as he has finished his work (Tom ni se va alătura dupa ce-şi
va fi terminat ceea ce avea de făcut.)
When they left for University this morning, it was terribly cold. (=Când au plecat la
universitate în această dimineaţă era îngrozitor de frig.)
They left the company as soon as they had finished their negotiations. (=Au părăsit
firma de îndată ce s-au terminat negocierile.)
I would try to contact Mr. Blake before he left the town. (=Aş încerca să-l contactez pe
domnul Blake înainte de a părăsi oraşul.)

g. Adverbial Clause of Place

There is no tense limitation in the adverbial clause of place.
Would you please put those two dictionaries back where they belong. (=Aţi vrea să
puneţi cele două dicţionare unde le este locul?)
Wherever they went, they met nice people. (= Oriunde mergeau, întâlneau oameni
amabili)

h. Adverbial Clause of Manner

There is no tense limitation in the adverbial clause of manner.
Audrey will do just as you told her.

i. Adverbial Clause of Comparison

There is no tense limitation in the adverbial clause of comparison.
He was as busy as you had thought.
 a man could be.
I am now.
you are going to be.
 The Romanian pattern ‘cu cât …. cu atât … ‘ can be expressed as follows.
The harder he works, the better results he will get.
(pattern : future tense in the main clause + present tense in the adverbial clause of
comparison)
The more frequently they travelled abroad the more they enjoyed it.
(pattern: past tense in the main clause + past tense in the adverbial clause of comparison).
The subjunctive can also be used in the adverbial clause of comparison
He behaves /behaved as if he were the company chairman. (but he isn’t/wasn’t)
They talk/talked as if they had known him. (but they haven’t/hadn’t)

j. Adverbial Clause of Reason

There is no tense limitation in the adverbial clause of reason.
I stayed in bed longer this morning because I hadn’t been able to sleep all night.
because today is Sunday.

k. Adverbial Clause of Result

There is no tense limitation in the adverbial clause of result.
He did his job so well that they promised him a pay rise (=Îşi făcea atât de bine
serviciul încât i-au propus o mărire de salariu.
that they’ll never forget him. (=Îşi făcea atât de bine
serviciul încât nu-l vor uita.
l. Adverbial Clause of Concession
Both present and past tenses in the indicative mood can be used.
Though he has never studied marketing
Although he is very young he is a successful businessman.
Even though he did not study marketing
The analytical subjunctive pattern may/might + infinitive can be used in the
adverbial clause of concession too. (see ‘The Analytical Subjunctive’)
Whoever may/might phone, put him through. (= Oricine ar suna dă-mi-l la telefon)
Note that the above pattern is translated into Romanian by using the conditional.

B. EXERCISES

I. Complete the following sentences, using a clause:

1. Almost as soon as I entered the company ….
2. … that they might come across our letter.
3. The old woman who confronted me in the street …
4. She was nicer than …
5. He said that many years ago …
6. They spoke English much better than …
7. We arranged to hire a coach that …
8. … , the more I liked him.
9. He declared that …
10. They announced that …

II. Select the correct word or expression in brackets in each of the following sentences.
Give the reason for your choice:
 1. I learnt recently that Jupiter (is, was) the largest of the planets.
2. If I (had had, have had) more time, I would have done a better job of cleaning the
house.
3. After Einstein (had become, became) famous, his works were published by many
magazines.
4. It is a long time since I (read, have read, had read) a novel as absorbing as this one.
5. Mr. Black asked me yesterday where I (have gone, went, had gone) the day before.
6. She (has not bought, did not buy) her dress when she was in town last week.
7. He remained silent as soon as he (had heard, heard) that.
8. He walked so far that he (tired, had tired) himself.
9. His illnes showed him that all men (were, are) mortal.
10. I was glad to hear that her brother (was, is) industrious.

III. Supply the most logical form of the verb in the following:
I just (go) to bed after a very hard day when the phone rang. It (be) an eccentric farmer. I
never (meet) him before, although I often (hear) people talk about him. He (seem) quite
hysterical and he (talk) for a minute or so before I (understand) anything. Even then all I
(can) (make out) (be) that someone called Milly (have) a very bad accident. I (have not)
the slightest idea who she (be) but I obviously (have) to go.
It (snow) heavily that day and I (not know) the way. I (drive) for at least an hour when
I finally (find) his place. He (stand) there, waiting for me. It (seem) Milly already (die).
“She (mean) more to me than anyone… even my own wife!” he said. I (can) (see) that he
(cry). I (assume) a terrible tragedy (take place) with overtones of a possible scandal. I
must (admit) I (be) even more shocked when he (tell) me he (put) her in the barn. “I (will
not) (leave) her out in the cold!” he said.
Milly clearly (be) a secret sweetheart of his. I (be) about to tell him he (cannot)
(expect) me to cover anything up when he (open) the barn door and (point) his torch at a
motionless shape on the straw.
“She (be) such a good cow! I (will not) (let) anyone but a doctor touch her!” he said,
and (burst) into tears again.

IV. Translate into English:

1. Te voi suna când voi porni de acasă spre tine, ca să nu risc să fii plecat.
2. Ştiam că ai să vii la mine, dar m-am întrebat de ce ai făcut un secret din asta.
3. I s-a spus în repetate rânduri că cinstea e cea mai bună dintre politici, dar nu a vrut
să creadă, şi am aflat că acum a păţit-o.
4. De îndată ce a văzut-o, a rămas tăcut, gândindu-se că este mult mai frumoasă
decât şi-o închipuise vreodată.
5. A venit să mă vadă, dar nu eram acasă, nefiind anunţat din timp, iar la întoarcerea
mea tocmai plecase să se întâlnească cu un alt prieten de al lui, cu toate că i-ar fi plăcut să
se sfătuiască cu mine, deoarece are mai multă încredere în mine, decât în el.
6. Ori de câte ori treceam prin faţa şcolii mă întrebam ce or mai fi făcând foştii mei
profesori şi unde sunt oare colegii mei.
7. Ori de câte ori te întâlnesc, simt nevoia să-ţi spun cât de mult aş dori să fim
prieteni.
8. Îl admir mai puţin decât l-am admirat pe bunicul său care a fost un om adevărat.
9. N-a fost un secret pentru nimeni că reuşita lui se datorează, în mare parte,
sârguinţei cu care a învăţat în tot timpul care a trecut de la sosirea lui la facultate.
10. Am sosit aici doar de trei zile, dar mă simt de parcă aş fi venit de mult.
 III.1.5. DIRECT AND INDIRECT/ REPORTED SPEECH

A. THEORETICAL CONSIDERATIONS

When we change a statement from the Direct Speech (DS) to the Indirect Speech (IS)
we change some of the words that the person said, without altering the meaning of the
person’s remark or speech, and the quotation marks are not used.

He said (that) breakfast would be a cheerless affair for the Prime

Minister that morning.

I. Direct speech (DS)

- The verbs of reporting and thinking are: to say; to tell, to remark, to observe,
to point out, to report, to announce; to ask, to demand, to inquire; to reply (to say in
response), to protest (to say with reservation); to warn (to say about undesirable
consequences); to insist (to say emphatically); to complain (to say irritably); to sob, to beam,
to snort, to twinkle and others according to the situation.

II. Indirect speech (IS)

The changing from DS into IS brings a number of constraints that affect:
- the speaker (changes concerning the persons of the pronouns);
- the time of the action (changes concerning the tenses of the verbs);
- the location of the action (changes concerning the adverbs of time and of
place);
- the structure of the sentences (changes concerning imperative, interrogative or
exclamatory sentences)

III.a. Morphological changes

III.a.1. Tense Backshift
- Tenses are moved into the past (backshift) after a past tense reporting verb:
‘I’m leaving.’ She said she was leaving.
- When the reporting verb (say, tell, remark, etc.) is in the present, present perfect or
future, direct statements can be reported without any changes of tense.
‘Methane is often regarded as the second most important greenhouse gas
after carbon dioxide’, he explains. [DS]
He explains than methane is often regarded as the second most important
greenhouse gas after carbon dioxide. [IS]

TENSE in DIRECT SPEECH TENSE in INDIRECT

SPEECH
PRESENT SIMPLE PAST SIMPLE
‘I want to stop’, said Sue. Sue said that she wanted to
stop.
PRESENT PROGRESSIVE PAST PROGRESSIVE
‘I’m going home’, said John. John said that he was going
home.
PRESENT PERFECT SIMPLE PAST PERFECT SIMPLE
‘Sally has finished’, announced Will. Will announced that Sally had
finished.
PRESENT PERFECT PROGRESSIVE PAST PERFECT
 ‘We have been working very hard at the PROGRESSIVE
office lately’, said Robert. Robert said that they had
been working very hard at the
office lately.

PAST SIMPLE PAST PERFECT SIMPLE

‘The Second World War lasted nearly six Simon remarked that the
years’, remarked Simon. Second World War had lasted
nearly six years.
PAST PROGRESSIVE PAST PERFECT
‘I was still working at eight o’clock PROGRESSIVE
yesterday evening’, confirmed Helen. Helen confirmed that she had
still been working at eight
o’clock in the evening the day
before.
FUTURE SIMPLE FUTURE IN THE PAST
‘Ann will find a wide variety of choices Tom said that Ann would find
available in university cafeterias’, said a wide variety of choices
Tom. available in university
cafeterias.

FUTURE PROGRESSIVE
FUTURE PROGRESSIVE IN THE PAST
‘I’ll be using the car myself on the 27th’, She said that she would be
she said. using the car herself on the
27th.

FUTURE PERFECT SIMPLE FUTURE PERFECT IN

‘I’ll have finished my work by the end of THE PAST
next week’, he explained. He explained that he would
have finished his work by the
end of the following week.
FUTURE PERFECT PROGRESSIVE FUTURE PERFECT
‘I’ll have been working non-stop for over PROGRESSIVE IN THE
three weeks’, said Mary. PAST
Mary said that she would
have been working non-stop
for over three weeks.
Notes:
 Verbs already in the past perfect, do not change.
Christine said, ‘I had seen the film before’. [DS]
Christine said that she had seen the film before. [IS]
 After a past tense reporting verb, conditional sentences type 1 and zero conditionals
(= real situations) undergo backshift.
He said, ‘You’ll feel a lot better about yourself if you work on solutions to your
upsetting situations.’ [DS]
He said that they would feel a lot better about themselves if they worked on solutions
to their upsetting situations. [IS]
  In reported hypothetical situations in the present (= conditional sentences –type 2), if
the event is clearly hypothetical and impossible, time changes are made.
‘If I had a map, I could find the way’, he explained. [DS]
He explained that if he had had a map he could have found the way. [IS]
 Hypothetical past conditional sentences type 3 do not change.
Peter said, ‘If I had gone by bus to the office, I would have missed the meeting.’ [DS]
Peter said that if he had gone by bus to the office he would have missed the meeting.
[IS]
 If the reporting verb is in a past tense, modal auxiliaries change where there is a ‘past’
equivalent: can changes to could, will changes to would, shall changes to should and
may changes to might. Would, should, ought to, had better, might, used to, could and
must do not normally change. Must can be reported as either had to or remain as
must:
He said, ‘I might not be back until next week.’ [DS]
He said that he might not be back until the following week. [IS]

Exceptions from tense backshift

 Tense backshift is optional in the cases of the habitual uses of the simple present
tense. ‘The population of London is around 9 million’, he explained. [DS]
He explained that the population of London is around 9 million. [IS]
 In spoken language the tense backshift does not apply when direct speech is reported
very soon afterwards.
‘I’m too busy to come’, she said. [DS]
She said she’s too busy to come. [IS]

III.a.2. Morphological changes of pronouns, adjectives and adverbs

A. Pronouns and possessive adjectives normally change from first or second person to third
person except when the speaker is reporting his own words.
She said, ‘I’d like to join an aerobic class to improve my fitness.’ [DS]
She said that she’d like to join an aerobic class to improve her fitness. [IS]

B. Changes of viewpoint: demonstrative pronouns/ adjectives

This used in time expressions usually becomes that.
He said, ’I know a wonderful restaurant where we can have lunch this week.’
He said that he knew a wonderful restaurant where they could have lunch that week.
C. Adverbs and adverbial phrases of time and place
If we report words like here, now, today in a different place or at a different time, they
often change.
SPEAKER’S WORDS INDIRECT SPEECH
here there
this that/ the
now then
today that day
tonight that night
tomorrow the next day/ the following day
the day after tomorrow in two days time
yesterday the day before/ the previous day
the day before yesterday two days before
next week/ year/ Monday/ August the following week/ year/ Monday/
August
 last week/ year/ Monday/ August the previous week/ year/ Monday/
August
a year/ week ago a year/ week before/ the previous
year/ week

III.b. Syntactical changes

III.b.1. Interrogative sentences

 Yes/ no questions are reported using if. The word order is the same as in statements
and we do not use a question mark.
‘Do you like hamburgers’ I asked her. [DS]
I asked her if she liked hamburgers. [IS]
 Wh-questions are introduced by the wh-word (when, where, what, who, why, etc.)
which begins the questions in direct speech.
She said, ‘Where do you come from?’ [DS]
She asked (me) where I came from. [IS]

III.b.2. Imperative sentences

We often report directives (orders, requests, warnings or pieces of advice) using the
structure verbs + (object) + to infinitive.
 command She said, ‘Get out of my room!’
She ordered me to get out of her room.
 warning: Ruth said, ‘Stay away from me.’
Ruth warned them to stay away from her.
 request: Ann said, ‘ Could you help me with my bags, Oscar?’
Ann asked Oscar to help her with her bags.
 advice: Albert said, ‘ You should phone the police.’
Albert advised them to call the police.
 negative orders: ‘Don’t touch my glasses,’ said Steven to Grace.
Steven told Grace not to touch his glasses.

B. EXERCISES

I. Put the following statements into indirect speech:

1. ‘The company believes that products will sell well in the run-up Christmas’, he
explains.
2. Mr. Blake says, ‘It’s not a very good time to sell at the moment.’
3. John warns, ‘Throwing good money after bad may not be a good idea.’
4. Ann says, ‘My Marketing Director is hoping he can sell the idea to clients.’
5. ‘Experts have been discussing how to improve the fight against crime,’ he said.
6. ‘Residents are advised not to put their rubbish bags on the pavement outside their
houses,’ said Ann.
7. ‘The marketplace was jammed with a noisy crowd of buyers and sellers.’
8. ‘I’ve lived most of my adult life in London,’ said Mr. Rankin.
9. ‘She’s leaving the day after tomorrow,’ said Ken.
10. ‘All the lights went off, and mass hysteria broke out,’ said Walter.

II. Report these sentences:

 1. ‘Would you like to join us to dinner?’ said Paul.
2. ‘Stay away from me,’ said Mike.
3. ‘Let’s wait here!’, she said.
4. ‘Damn that map!’, he said.
5. ‘Can I help you?’ he said.
6. ‘Would you like to come to my party?’ said Collin.
7. ‘Can you lend me some money?’ Ken asked me.
8. ‘Switch off the TV,’ she told David.
9. ‘Happy Birthday’, she said to Mary.
10. ‘I won’t forget shopping,’ said Ann.
11. ‘You should stop smoking,’ said Dr. Blake.
12. ‘Don’t smoke in here!’, said my boss.
13. ‘Are all of these organisations running as independent businesses? Do they have very
little contact?, asked Charles.
14. ‘Will you carry my briefcase for me please, Richard?’ said James.

III. Use these verbs to report what the people said in as few words as possible.
assure, claim, congratulate, deny, disagree, insist, promise, regret, remind, reproach,
suggest, warn
1. ‘No it wasn’t me. I didn’t borrow your bike.’
2. ‘I’ll let you know as soon as they get here. OK?’
3. ‘Don’t forget: you’ve got to hand in your work this evening.’
4. ‘It’s a shame you couldn’t make it to the party last night.’
5. ‘Well done! I always thought you’d pass.’
6. ‘Don’t worry, as long as you keep your head, you’ll manage all right.’
7. ‘You really must come and visit us next weekend!’
8. ‘I don’t really think that what you said makes sense.’
9. ‘If you park on this double yellow line, you’ll get a ticket.’
10. ‘You shouldn’t have behaved like that. You should be ashamed of yourself!’

IV. What exactly would you say in these situations?

1. You have to convince the board that your proposals about merging are the best policy
for the future.
2. You want a foreign client to repeat his words because you were unable to pay
attention.
3. You are questioning the bank you work with for a surcharge.
4. You invoiced a client twice the sum he/she was due to pay; repair the situation.
5. You don’t want to attend a meeting presided by your boss because you know he’s
boring and inefficient.

V. Turn into Indirect Speech:

1. ‘Why is he going to do this?’ Matt asked.
2. ‘It is raining hard now. We can’t leave’ Claire said.
3. ‘You certainly studied it a week ago, you must remember this,’ the teacher said.
4. ‘He has been working hard lately so you must let him rest a while’ she begged.
5. ‘If you listen carefully, you will learn’ he warned the students.
6. ‘Let’s wait for Jane here,’ Mike suggested.
7. ‘We’ll know the results in a week,’ they assured us.
8. ‘They needed our help so we offered them help,’ they claimed.
9. ‘I am going to London tomorrow; I must set things in order there’, he decided.
 10. ‘Don’t go away so early’, she advised him.

VI. Rewrite each sentence, beginning as shown, so that the meaning stays the same:
1. ‘Sue, can you remember to buy some bread?’
Paul reminded……………………………
2. ‘I don’t really think it’ll snow tomorrow.’
I doubt…………………………………..
3. ‘I’m sorry I didn’t phone you earlier.’
Jill apologized…………………………
4. ‘I really think you should see a doctor, Chris.’
Will advised…………………………..
5. ‘No, I’m sorry, I won’t work on Saturday. Definitely not!
Cathy refused…………………………..
6. ‘Let’s go out to the pub for lunch, shall we?’
Wendy suggested………………………..
7. ‘It’s not true! I have never been arrested.’
Larry denied…………………………….
8. ‘If you like, I’ll help you do the decorating, Bob.’
Ann offered……………………………..
9. ‘I’ll definitely take you to the park, children.’
Tom promised the……………………..
10. ‘Yes, all right, I’ll share the bill with you, Dave’.
Brenda agreed………………………….
III.1.6. NONFINITE FORMS

A. THEORETICAL CONSIDERATIONS

The six grammatical categories according to which a finite verb is inflected are:
person, number, tense, aspect, voice and mood.
The nonfinite verbs may have some of the categories above mentioned: voice (I
would like not to be watched. – infinitive, passive voice) or aspect (He is said to have stolen
the goods. – perfect infinitive).
If there appear some morphological changes in the context where the ing-forms occur,
the Participle and the Gerund can act as a verbal adjective and as a verbal noun, respectively.
I saw the dancing bear in the park. (Verbal Adjective)
The children were impressed by the dancing of the bear. (Verbal Noun)

1.6.1. THE INFINITIVE

I. FORM
a. Affirmative: to write, to see, to bring
I would like to write a letter to her to apologize for everything I did.
b. Negative: not to write, not to see, not to bring
I wanted him not to swear strangers.

II. USES
a. Verbal features
 it may have aspect, voice or take direct objects:
It does him good to take long walks. (Present Infinitive, Simple Aspect – present
reference)
 I was glad to have finished it soon. (Perfect Infinitive, Perfective Aspect – past
reference)
The shop is said to have been broken into. (Perfect Infinitive, Passive Voice)
The teacher told us to read a book about Shakespeare. (Direct Object)

III. Ways of translating the Infinitive into Romanian

a. infinitiv
To err is human, to forgive, divine. [A greşi e uman, a ierta e divin.]
b. conjunctiv prezent/ perfect (diateza activă sau pasivă)
I want to see Hugh. [Vreau să-l văd pe Hugh.]
I didn’t want to have said this. [N-am vrut să fi spus acest lucru.]
Do you expect the shop to be opened on Sunday? [Te aştepţi ca magazinul să fie
deschis duminică?]
c. modul indicativ (timpul prezent, trecut sau viitor) în propoziţii subordonate
I was glad to have finished it soon. [M-am bucurat că am terminat mai devreme.]
John is believed to have brought on all the trouble. [Se crede că John a cauzat tot
acest necaz.]
1.6.2. THE PARTICIPLE

I. There are two participles in English:

- THE PRESENT PARTICIPLE (I’m dancing)
- THE PAST PARTICIPLE (I have danced).
The difference between the two participles lies in the meaning they have: whereas a
Present Participle generally expresses an active meaning, the Past Participle has a passive
one.
I found the barn burning. ([the fire was burning – active)
I found the barn burned. (the house was burned – passive. The Past Participle is the
consequence of the event expressed by a Present Participle.)

II. FORM OF THE PRESENT/ PAST PARTICIPLE

a. Affirmative: - the –ing form of a verb (the Present Participle) - (I was) working/ loving
- the – en form of a verb (the Past Participle) - (I have) worked/ loved
b. Negative: - not + the –ing form of a verb (the Present Participle)
- not + the – en form of a verb (the Past Participle)
Not knowing what to say, I kept my mouth shut.
She will not answer, if not asked.

III. USES AND FUNCTIONS OF THE PRESENT PARTICIPLE

a. To form with the auxiliary to be the progressive aspect
I am reading a book. [Present Tense Progressive]
I have been reading a book for five hours. [Present Perfect Progressive]
b. Verbal features:
 it may have aspect, voice or take a direct object:
Having finished his work, Peter went out for a walk. [Perfect Participle,
perfective aspect)
Being found guilty, he was taken to prison. [passive voice]
The girl is playing tennis.
 it may have an indirect object:
Grandma is telling me a very funny story.
c. Adjective features
The Present Participle may also have the function of an adjective. The Present Participle
used as a noun modifier bears the name verbal adjective.
 the verbal adjectives can be used predicatively or attributively:
The news is interesting. I heard the interesting news.

IV. USES AND FUNCTIONS OF THE PAST PARTICIPLE

a. to form with the auxiliary to be the passive voice and with the auxiliary to have the Perfect
Tenses
A book was read. [Past Tense, Passive Voice]
You could have told us everything. [have told = Perfect Infinitive]
I can’t stand having been deceived. [Perfect Gerund, Passive Voice]
b. Verbal features
It may take direct objects or prepositional objects:
We have asked several questions.

c. Adjective features
The Past Participle can be used attributively or predicatively.
He had too many shattered dreams. His dreams are shattered.

V. Ways of translating The Present/ Past Participle into Romanian:

a. Gerunziu/ Propoziţie subordonată ( + un mod predicativ: prezent, trecut sau viitor):
I saw John opening the gate. (L-am văzut pe John deschizând poarta.)
All things considered, we will accept him. (Luând în considerare toate aspectele, îl
vom accepta.)
b. Conjunctiv prezent
I’ll have her typing two letters. (Am să o pun să bată la maşină două scrisori.)
c. Adjectiv
The news seemed very interesting. (Ştirile păreau foarte interesante.)
d. Adjectiv/ participiu: my beloved child (copilul meu drag/ iubit)
e. Substantiv: a never-ending story (poveste fără sfârşit)
f. Participiu: They were defeated by a more powerful army. (Ei au fost învinşi de o armată
mai
puternică.)

1.6.3 THE GERUND

An –ing form can cover another nonfinite form of the verb, namely a Gerund. Even if
the Gerund resembles the Present Participle in form, it is totally different in syntax.
Laughing loudly is not nice when you have an official meeting. (the subject)

I. FORM OF THE GERUND

a. Affirmative: -ing form
Do you mind my smoking in here?
b. Negative: not + -ing form (Gerund); not + having + Past Participle of the verb
Do you mind me not coming with you? (Te deranjează dacă nu vin cu tine?)

II. USES AND FUNCTIONS OF THE GERUND

a. Verbal features
 The Gerund may have aspect, voice, a direct, indirect or prepositional object:
 Your going there is a little bit surprising. (simple aspect)
Your having gone there was a little bit surprising. (Perfect Gerund)
She resents being asked personal question. (passive voice)
I enjoy talking about my new job.

b. Nominal features
There are some morphological and syntactical features that show that the Gerund has
nominal morphological features which make it change into a Verbal Noun.
- definite/ indefinite article:
The rebuilding of the city took more than we thought. (Verbal Noun)
Rebuilding the city took more than we thought. (rebuilding – Gerund)
- plural number: We are exhausted with his comings and goings. (Verbal Noun)
- genitive (the prepositional genitive):
The beautiful singing of the children was the climax of the party.

c. Pseudo-adjective features
Like the Present Participle, the Gerund can precede a noun, but whereas the Present
Participle can become a Verbal Adjective, the Gerund does not become an adjective.
Compare the following – ing forms:
a dancing bear (dancing = Verbal Adjective – ‘a bear which is dancing’)
a dancing-teacher (dancing = Gerund – ‘a teacher of dancing’)

III. Ways of translating the Gerund into Romanian

1. gerunziu:
Fancy Tom dancing. (Imagineazăţi-l pe Tom dansând/ că dansează.)
2. conjunctiv:
He is fond of listening to music. (Îi place să asculte muzică.)
3. infinitiv:
He had the chance of telling the truth. (A avut şansa de a spune adevărul.)
4. modul indicativ (prezent, trecut sau viitor)
Do you mind me smoking in here? (Te deranjează dacă fumez aici ?)
Do you mind me having smoked in here? (Te deranjează dacă am fumat aici?)

B. EXERCISES

I. Identify the Infinitival and Participial constructions and specify the verbs that trigger
them:
1. The boy noticed the dog running.
2. We named John to be our President.
3. I want him to listen to me.
4. They are supposed to be coming round tonight.
5. They felt the house shaking.
6. The house was announced to have been broken into.
7. I swear not to do this again.
8. He is unlikely to come at the meeting.
9. He seemed to be annoyed by the noise.
10. They can’t allow him to be laughed at.

II. Choose the correct form:

1. This meat ....... awful! I think it has gone bad.
 a) is tasting b) tastes
2. They were .......their motorcars dangerously.
a) raising b) racing
3. It was nice to see the kids ....... in the sun.
a) lying b) laying
4. ....... typed the letters, the secretary put them into envelopes.
a) being b) having
5. We regret ....... that we cannot accept your apologies.
a) to tell b) telling
6. I remember ....... the door when I left the house.
a) to lock b) locking
7. ....... furiously, I led the dog out of the room.
a) as it barked b) barking
8. He was always ....... mistakes in his translations.
a) to make b) making
9. Can you remember what you were doing .......?
a) usually at that time of the day b) that time of the day
10. .......being very tired, the swimmer finished the race
a) in spite of b) despite

III. Use the Gerund or the Infinitive of the verbs in brackets:

1. (talk) about the first item on the agenda, the chairman went on (discuss) about the
unemployment problem.
2. You should (try) settle the dispute between them; I’m sure you’ll find a solution.
3. I’ll have the mechanic (check) the battery while he’s here.
4. It’s no good. The car is broken down and I can’t make it (go).
5. (Judge) from recent events, people will stop (complain) about loss of jobs.
6. I hate (think) sometimes that he might find excuses for everything he does.
7. I didn’t remember (post) the letter, so I still have it.
8. I’ll never forget (walk) on the beach with her and (enjoy) the morning sunshine.
9. I invited her (come) out with me.
11. I tried (go) to bed immediately after lunch but I couldn’t sleep.

IV. Finish the sentences using Gerund or Perfect Gerund:

1. The answer to the employment problems seems to lie in .......
2. I would never think of .......
3. He sees no harm in my .......
4. Why don’t you stop ....... if you don’t like .......?
5. He was so happy he succeeded in .......!
6. Who is responsible for .......?
7. He doesn’t seem to me to be fond of .......
8. He said he was looking forward to .......
9. He said he wasn’t used to ....... in public
10. I could notice how much he enjoyed .......

V. Finish the sentences so that the meaning stays the same:

1. It was very kind of you to help me with the housework.
2. I appreciate .....................
3. I saw that he closed the safe.
4. I saw him .....................
 5. I will talk with someone to paint my house.
6. I will have .....................
7. I suggest that they should paint the doors white.
8. I suggest .....................
9. The pipe is old and it leaks badly.
10. The pipe needs .....................
11. I am so anxious to hear about you.
12. I am looking forward .....................
13. He felt sorry he had been late for the concert.
14. He apologised .....................
15. I know how to solve this Maths problem; look here!
16. That’s the way .....................
17. The idea was to stay there and wait. I wasn’t pleased with it.
18. The idea of .....................
19. He finished his work; he left the room without a word.
20. After .....................

VI. Rewrite each sentence using the words in capitals:

1. He is sorry he didn’t answer her letter. REGRET
2. There is a risk that she will miss the train if she doesn’t take a taxi. RISKS
3. Working late is pointless, because you won’t finish the composition till tomorrow.
USE
4. I won’t smoke anymore, I promise! UP
5. You may go home; she won’t come; don’t wait for her. WORTH
6. You are not permitted to park here. PARKING
7. I really don’t know if I turned off the gas when I left REMEMBER
8. I finished my homework and then I went out for a walk. HAVING
9. It is strange that you should call on us at this hour. YOUR
10. Is it all right if I go with you as well? MIND

VII. Translate into English:

1. Ce-ai zice să mergem şi să-l vizităm diseară?
2. Fratele meu preferă să joace tenis decât să mă însoţească în parc.
3. De ce nu încerci să eviţi călătoria pe timpul nopţii?
4. M-am obişnuit să merg pe jos 3 km pe zi.
5. E foarte greu să-i împiedici pe oameni să parcheze în acel loc.
6. Nu-mi amintesc să fi plouat marţi toata ziua
7. Dar cum îl poţi face să înceteze de a copia la lucrări?
8. Să încercăm să pornim aparatul prin apasarea pe butonul roşu.
9. Acoperisul necesită reparaţii urgente.
10. Foarte greu m-am obişnuit cu ideea de a-l pierde.

III.2. THE NOUN

A. THEORETICAL CONSIDERATIONS
I. Definition
A noun is a word used to name a person, animal, place, thing, or abstract idea.
Late last year our neighbours bought a villa.
The bus inspector looked at all the passengers' passes.
II. Classification of nouns
 Grammarians have developed a whole series of noun types, including the proper
noun, the common noun, the concrete noun, the abstract noun, the countable noun (also
called the count noun), the non-countable noun (also called the mass noun), and the
collective noun. You should note that a noun will belong to more than one type: it will be
proper or common, abstract or concrete, and countable or non-countable or collective.

II.1. Proper Nouns

Proper nouns are names of specific persons, places, or things and they are always
written with capital letters. The names of days of the week, months, historical documents,
institutions, organisations, religions, their holy texts and their adherents are proper nouns.
Many people dread Monday mornings.
Last year, I had a Baptist and a Buddhist as roommates.

II.2. Common Nouns

A common noun is a noun referring to a person, place, or thing in a general sense.
According to the sign, the nearest town is 60 miles away.
All the gardens in the neighbourhood were invaded by beetles this summer.

II.3. Concrete Nouns

A concrete noun is a noun which names anything (or anyone) that can be perceived
through the physical senses: touch, sight, taste, hearing, or smell.
The judge handed the files to the clerk.
The real estate agent urged the couple to buy the second house because it had new
shingles.

II.4. Abstract Nouns

An abstract noun is a noun which names anything which can not be perceived
through the five physical senses.
Mary is amused by people who are nostalgic about childhood.
Justice often seems to slip out of our grasp.

II.5. Countable Nouns

A countable noun (or count noun) is a noun with both a singular and a plural form,
and it names anything (or anyone) that can be counted.
We painted the table red and the chairs blue.
Miriam found six silver dollars in the toe of a sock.

II.6. Non-Countable Nouns

A non-countable noun (or mass noun) is a noun which does not have a plural form,
and which refers to something that you could (or would) not usually count. A non-countable
noun always takes a singular verb in a sentence. Non-countable nouns are similar to
collective nouns, and are the opposite of countable nouns.
Oxygen is essential to human life.
Gravel is more expensive than I thought.

II.7. Collective Nouns

A collective noun is a noun naming a group of things, animals, or persons. You could
count the individual members of the group, but you usually think of the group as a whole, as
one unit. You need to be able to recognise collective nouns in order to maintain subject-verb
agreement. A collective noun is similar to a non-countable noun, and is roughly the opposite
of a countable noun.
The steering committee meets every Wednesday afternoon.
The class was startled by the bursting light bulb.

III. Number
English has two numbers: singular and plural. The singular number denotes that one
thing is spoken of; the plural denotes that more than one thing is spoken of.
III.1. In modern English -s or -es has come to be the "standard" ending of the plural forms of
nouns.
The majority of English count nouns are regular and predictable in the spelling of the
plural form. Add -s to the end of the singular form or -es to those singulars that end in a
sibilant sound (-s, -ss, -x, -ch, -sh, -zz).
-s -es
boy / boys patch / patches;
bed / beds box / boxes;
book / books bus / buses
pen / pens lunch / lunches
day / days class / classes

III.2. However, if the singular ends with -y and the -y is not preceded by a vowel (or is not a
proper name), the -y changes to -i and the plural is then -es. Compare:
-y / -ies -y / -ys
spy / spies play / plays
baby / babies bay / bays
city / cities osprey / ospreys
sky / skies boy / boys

III.3. Some nouns that end in -f/-fe change to -ves in the plural:
-f; -fe / -ves
calf / calves
half / halves
leaf / leaves
life / lives
wife / wives
shelf/shelves
self/selves
knife / knives
However, there are some nouns ending in –f, -fe that can have two plural forms (both -fs and
-ves): e.g. scarf – scarfs / scarves; wharf – wharfs / wharves.

III.4. Some nouns change the vowel sound in becoming plural:

sg. / pl.
Man / men
Woman / women
Foot / feet
Goose / geese
Tooth / teeth
Louse / lice
Mouse / mice
III.5. Some Old English plurals are still in use:
sg. / pl.
child / children
ox / oxen

III.6. Nouns ending in -o may take -s or –es in the plural. Compare:

-o / -os -o / -oes
auto / autos echo / echoes
photo / photos hero / heroes
piano / pianos potato / potatoes
kilo / kilos tomato / tomatoes
video / videos veto / vetoes

However, some nouns ending in -o may take both -s and -es:  

sg. - pl.
Motto – mottos / mottoes
Buffalo – buffalos / buffaloes
Tornado – tornados / tornadoes
Zero – zeros / zeroes
Cargo / cargos / cargoes

III.7. Some nouns do not change at all:

sg. / pl
cod* / cod*
deer / deer
fish* / fish*
offspring / offspring
sheep / sheep
trout* / trout*
*Notice that these are names of fish. Many (but not all) fish have irregular plural forms.
Salmon, pike, halibut and tuna are further examples, but one shark becomes two sharks.

These include nouns that are traditionally plural, but are also used for singular forms:
sg. / pl
barracks / barracks
crossroads / crossroads
headquarters / headquarters
means / means
series / series
species / species

III.8. Other nouns retain foreign plurals. Note that some of these have adapted a regular
English plural form as well.  
III.8.a. Nouns ending in –a with plural –ae:

singular foreign plural English plural in use

alga algae -
amoeba amoebae amoebas
antenna antennae antennas
 formula formulae formulas
larva larvae -
vertebra vertebrae -
III.8.b. Nouns ending in -us with plural -a (only in technical use):
sg. / pl
corpus / corpora
genus / genera

III.8.c. Nouns ending in -us with plural -i:

singular foreign plural English plural in use
bacillus bacilli -
cactus cacti cactuses
fungus fungi funguses
nucleus nuclei -
octopus octopi -
stimulus stimuli -

III.8.d. Nouns ending in -um with plural -a:

singular foreign plural English plural in use
addendum addenda -
bacterium bacteria -
curriculum curricula curriculums
datum data -
medium media mediums
memorandum memoranda memorandums

III.8.e. Nouns ending in -ex, -ix becoming plural -ices:

singular foreign plural English plural in use
appendix appendices appendixes
cervix cervices cervixes
index indices indexes
matrix matrices matrixes
vortex vortices -

III.8.f. Nouns ending in -is becoming -es in plural:

  sg. / pl
analysis / analyses
axis / axes
basis / bases
crisis / crises
diagnosis / diagnoses
oasis / oases

III.8.g. Nouns ending in -on becoming -a:  

sg. / pl
criterion / criteria
phenomenon / phenomena

III.8.h. The plural of compound nouns

Compound nouns may be divided into two classes:
  Those whose parts are so closely joined as to constitute one word. These make the
plural in the last part.
courtyard, Englishman, fellow-servant, fisherman, Frenchman, forget-me-not,
handful, maidservant, stepson.
 Those groups in which the first part is the principal one, followed by a word or phrase
making a modifier. The chief member adds -s in the plural.
attorney at law, commander in chief, court-martial, father-in-law, knight-errant.
NOTE:Some words ending in -man are not compounds of the English word man, but add -s;
such as talisman, firman, Brahman, German, Norman, Mussulman, Ottoman.
 Some groups pluralize both parts of the group; as man singer, manservant, woman
servant, woman singer.

IV. Noun - Gender

Whereas in other languages gender follows the form, in English the gender follows
the meaning of the word,; that is, in English, gender depends on sex: if a thing spoken of is of
the male sex, the name of it is masculine; if of the female sex, the name of it is feminine.
Thus gender is the mode of distinguishing sex by words, or additions to words.
English can have but two genders – masculine and feminine. All nouns, then, must
be divided into two principal classes - gender nouns, those distinguishing the sex of the
object; and neuter nouns, those which do not distinguish sex, or names of things without life,
and consequently without sex.
Gender nouns include names of persons and some names of animals; neuter nouns
include some animals and all inanimate objects.
There are three ways to distinguish the genders:
 By prefixing a gender word to another word.
 By adding a suffix, generally to a masculine word.
 By using a different word for each gender.
 
IV.1. Gender shown by prefixes.
Usually the gender words he and she are prefixed to neuter words: he-goat / she-goat,
cock sparrow / hen sparrow, he-bear / she-bear.

IV.2. Gender shown by suffixes.

By far the largest number of gender words are those marked by suffixes.
The ending -ess is added to many words without changing the ending of the masculine:
M. / F.
baron / baroness
count / countess
lion / lioness
host / hostess
priest / priestess
However, the masculine ending may be dropped before the feminine -ess is added:
e.g. abbot – abbess; negro / negress ; murderer / murderess.
The feminine may also discard a vowel which appears in the masculine: e.g. actor / actress;
master / mistress.

IV.3. Gender shown by different words.

Sometimes, the feminine and the masculine are entirely different words
M. / F. M. / F.
bachelor/maid lord/lady
 boy/girl wizard/witch
brother/sister nephew/niece
drake/duck ram/ewe
earl/countess sir/madam
father/mother son/daughter
gander/goose uncle/aunt
husband/wife bull/cow
king/queen boar/sow

V. Noun Suffixes
These are common endings for nouns. If you see these endings on a word, then you know
it must be a noun.
 -dom: wisdom; kingdom;
 -ity: capability, flexibility;
 -ment: contentment, appointment;
 -sion, -tion: celebration, expression;
 -ness: toughness, kindness.
 -ance, -ence: assistance, existence;
 -er, -or: fighter, actor;
 -ist: violinist, pianist.

B. EXERCISES

I. There are two or more plural nouns in each sentence. Only one of them is an irregular
plural noun. Underline the irregular plural noun in each sentence and write the
singular form. The first sentence has been done for you.
1. Vincent helped the women choose their costumes. Woman
2. The hunters never noticed the two deer by the apple trees.
3. Are the geese chasing the other farm animals?
4. Do turtles have teeth?
5. The children told their parents about the matches.
6. You should place the knives and spoons to the left of the plates.
7. The children stood on boxes to see the parade.
8. We took pictures of the oxen as they pulled the wagons.
9. Sandy knew that many mice were living in the walls of the old houses.
10. Please keep your hands and feet inside the car.
11. All the king’s horses and all the king’s men ate scrambled eggs.

II. The underlined noun in each sentence is spelled in its singular form. Write the
correct plural form after the sentence. The first one is done for you.
1. There are too many box in our attic. Boxes
2. How many picture did you take on your trip?
3. Cheryl doesn’t enjoy washing dish.
4. There are three church in our little community.
5. Our soccer team has had four wins and three loss.

III. In each sentence there is one singular noun that should be plural. Underline that
noun and write the correct form after the sentence. The first one is done for you.
1. We put ten of our best crystal glass on the table. Glasses
2. All the student in that school wear uniforms.
 3. Our watch don’t show the same time.
4. Why are all school bus painted yellow?
5. Seven protester were arrested after the riot.
6. We saw some bright flash of light coming from the woods.
7. Why must I pay four different tax on the same income?

IV. There are two or more singular nouns in each sentence. One of those nouns should
be changed to its plural form to be correct. Underline the incorrect noun and write its
proper form after the sentence. The first three have been done for you.
1. The old dog no longer fought over their food. dogs
2. I read seven story to my son. stories
3. Harold lost five of his new book. books
4. We never noticed the frog that were sitting on the salad.
5. The governor brought all his child to the ceremony.
6. Annabella was outraged when the nurse said she had eleven louse in her hair.
7. There were many flash of light in the sky.
8. Mrs. Dale insisted that her property tax were too high.
9. All my dream came true when you became my wife.
10. Alice, did you remove some shelf from this bookcase?
11. My calf were sore after the race.
12. None of the switch were turned off on that panel.
13. The painter left their ladder in the middle of the driveway.
14. I sent three reply to your e-mail address.
15. All the witch flew over our Halloween party.
16. Penny put many penny in Patty’s purple pantry.
17. Apple were the favorite food at the school party.
18. We saw many scary mask on the last night of October.
19. Olivia falls asleep by counting sheep in her mind.
20. I don’t believe that John was chased by a bunch of mummy.

V. Each sentence below is missing a noun. The singular form of the noun is printed after
the sentence. Write the correct form of the noun on the line. The first five have been
done for you.
1. How many presents are under the tree? present
2. My uncle's pranks are annoying. uncle
3. The members' votes were counted by hand. member
4. The teacher collected the children's papers. child
5. Does this mouse belong to you? mouse
6. You girls are not behaving like ______________! lady
7. I will grant you three ______________. wish
8. My ______________ car is falling apart. father
9. The ______________ are stacked against the door. box
10. The ______________ names are Big and Pig. puppy
11. Please take both your ______________ out of my pudding! foot
12. That ______________ belongs to my grandfather. cow
13. All of this ______________ characters had faults. story
14. Most ______________ colors will change during the fall. leaf
15. ______________ joke did not amuse the minister. Mary
16. The last four ______________ won the best prizes. customer
17. None of the ______________ showed the correct time. watch
 18. The ______________ plan would surely get them into trouble. boy

VI. Give abstract nouns from these words:

1. to bear, to catch, to obtain, to strike, to destroy, to seize, to keep, to draw, to crucify,
to manage, to see, to pursue, to deny, to despise, to hide, to dally;
2. wry, proud, fluorescent, social, forlorn, busy, , mild, blue, absent, blue, moist,
delicate, keen, broad, lofty, gay, maladjusted, nimble, perverse, merry,
3. life, brother, coward, patron, traitor, rival, likely thief, mother, partner, pauper (two
forms), hard.

VII. Give the plural of the following nouns:

a. genius, touch, snail, tuft, axe, porch, pebble, parsnip, bough, scarf, coop, colliery,
ecstasy, sheath, nettle, reef, calf, hoof, elf, belief, titmouse, cameo, solo, species, grouse,
mongoose, index, die, wit, pain, brace, compass, ground, minute, custom, moth, elk,
necklace, fiddle, fiasco, hank, hansom, parsley, parish, scoop, tick, jaw, wrinkle, hyacinth,
alley, clog.
b. Rondo, sphinx, miasma, chamois, larynx, persona, necropolis, casino, virtuoso,
bandit, cactus, zero, hippopotamus, fauna, flora, cherub.

VIII. Give the plural of the following words. Translate them into Romanian:
by-street, milktooth, fir-tree, pickpocket, eggshell, wage-freeze, picklock, wisdom
tooth, eyeglass, catchfly, glasseye, knowlittle, court-martial, commander-in-chief, test-tube,
garden-flower, housewife, stepson, sun-bath, wind-screen, breakdown, eyelash, do-nothing,
boyscout, poet laureate, good-for-nothing, attorney-general, onlooker, oil-can, goldfish,
daybreak, bitch-atter, bull’s eye, beau ideal, caroing-knife, she-sparrow, lieutenant-colonel,
science-fiction diary, lawn-mower, mars quake, brush-off, dog-rose, coltsfoot.

IX. Choose the correct form of the noun, verb and determinative(s) and explain your
choice; or say where both are correct:
1. Statistics (is/are) used on a large scale in a country’s industry.
2. In a lot of (grottos/grottoes) all over the world, researchers have discovered
(frescos/frescoes) made by the primitive men.
3. Unfortunately, Paul’s little brother is not good at (figure/figures).
4. He is a well-known hunter of (bison/bisons), but finds a great pleasure in hunting
(grouse/grouses) as well.
5. After a ten-day journey through the desert, they found a small (oasis/oases).
6. He planted three (score/scores) of bulbs.
7. The annals of Tacitus (is/are) among the best historical sources for the history of the
Roman times.
8. Mumps (is/are) very catching.
9. The committee (was/were) of the opinion that it/they should take further steps.
10. The vast (sand/sands) of the desert made him shiver with fear.
11. The (snow/snows) and (frost/frosts) of the Antarctic made him sway between
(hope/hopes) and (fear/fears).

X. Give the feminine of the following words:

marquis, ram, boar, friar, bullock, executor, wizard, ambassador, buck-hedgehog, duck,
bachelor, count, bee, fiancé, cow, goose, witch, calf, fox, lion, bride, ram, peacock, lad,
swan, cock (rooster), sow, stag, mare, widow, protégé, billy-goat, marquis.

III.3. THE ARTICLE

A. THEORETICAL CONSIDERATIONS

English has two types of articles: definite (the) and indefinite (a, an.) The use of these
articles depends mainly on whether you are referring to any member of a group, or to a
specific member of a group:

I. Indefinite Articles: a and an

A and an signal that the noun modified is indefinite, referring to any member of a group.
These indefinite articles are used with singular nouns when the noun is general; the
corresponding indefinite quantity word some is used for plural general nouns. The rule is:
 a + singular noun beginning with a consonant: a boy
 an + singular noun beginning with a vowel: an elephant
 some + plural noun: some girls
But note:
a uniform a European an MP an L.-plate
/ju:/ /ju:/ /em/ /el/
If the noun is modified by an adjective, the choice between a and an depends on the initial
sound of the adjective that immediately follows the article:
 a broken window
 an unusual meeting
 a European commision

I.1. USES
The indefinite article can be used before singular countable nouns; it cannot be used before
uncountable nouns:
I bought an armchair. (but NOT: I bought a furniture.)
We use the indefinite article:
 when we are referring to one thing, but it is not one in particular:
I'd like a peach.
 when we refer to something for the first time. With the second reference, we use
the:
There's a man at the door. 1 think it's the man from the garage.
 after to be and have got when we are describing someone or something, including
someone's job, nation or religion:
She's a headteacher. But: She's the headteacher of Park School.
Brian is an Irishman.
Julian is a practicing Buddhist.
He's got a lovely smile.
It's a nice day. But: It's the nicest day we've had all week.
 with a unit of measurement (weight, quantity, time):
12 a kilo, three times a day, once a week
 In exclamations:
What a lovely day!
II. The definite article: the
The definite article the signals that the noun is definite; that it refers to a particular member
of a group.

II.1. USES
The definite article can be used before singular and plural countable nouns and before
uncountable nouns. We use it when we want to refer to a specific thing or things. This
includes:
 when the content of the sentence specifies which particular one(s) we are talking
about:
The people next door have invited as round for a drink.
I'll wear the dress I bought last week.
 when something is referred to for a second time and therefore becomes specific:
They've got a boy and a girl. The girl is at university now.
 when we refer to a particular place, person, animal or thing and the speaker and
listener know which one(s) is/are being referred to:
The window cleaner's here.
I think your keys are in the kitchen.
 when there is only one:
the world, the sun, the weather, the American Civil War
 before some collective nouns referring to a whole group of people, including names of
nationalities and political parties or groups:
the British, the Conservatives, the government, the public, the army
 before some adjectives (used without a noun) to refer to the group in general:
the rich, the unemployed, the disabled
 before parts of the day:
in the morning
 before names of ships, newspapers and magazines and some names of musical
groups:
The Daily Mirror, The Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra
 before superlatives and ordinals:
It's the best film I've seen.
That's the second time she's failed the exam.
 before names of musical instruments when we talk about playing them:
Can you play the piano? But: I've just bought a piano.
 before names of seas, rivers, groups of islands, islands called ‘The Isle of ...’, chains
of mountains, deserts, regions and a few names of countries:
the Atlantic Ocean, the River Nile, the Himalayas, the Sahara, the Southern
Hemisphere, the north, the USA, the Netherlands, the Sudan, the Ivory Coast, the
Philippines, the Bahamas, the Isle of Wight

III. The zero article (no article)

Articles are not used before plural nouns and singular uncountable nouns which are used in a
general sense.
Books are very important to me.
Have you read the books I brought you last month? Water is the best thing to drink when
you're thirsty. Did you put the water in the fridge?
III.1. OTHER USES OF THE ZERO ARTICLE:
 with proper nouns:
James has gone to London.
I'm leaving on Saturday.
 with meals:
Have you had breakfast yet? But: That was a lovely breakfast.
 with school, class, college, university, home, work, church, bed, hospital, prison, town
when we talk about going to these places or being in them for their normal use:
Peter’s gone to bed.
She's been in hospital for three weeks.
But: There isn't a hospital in the town.
 with by + item of transport:
Did you go by train?
 with next/last + week, days of the week, etc:
next Wednesday, last night, next time

B. EXERCISES

I. Write a or an in the blank.

1. I saw an owl on your roof.
2. They built a real igloo in the park.
3. Erin is ...... honor student.
4. Is Maxwell really ...... horrible student?
5. The speech lasted for ...... hour.
6. Barbara bought ....... better basketball.
7. ...... bald eagle flew above the hill.
8. ..... honest reply would be appreciated.
9. Does ...... ancient city lie beneath the water?
10. How far can ...... gallon of gas go?
11. I think I saw ..... oriole perched on the branch.
12. Would ...... old-fashioned man wear a diamond earring?
13. Did I make ...... mistake by serving the chocolate covered worms?
14. Someone put ...... eel in the bathtub!
15. ..... humorous hippo hugged Helen.
16. We arrived after ...... long afternoon in the automobile.
17. ...... ugly camel answered our eager call.
18. I believe it was ...... accidental meeting.
19. I just picked ..... one ounce apple.
20. She taught ...... exciting lesson.

II. Complete the sentences with a or an, the or no article.

1. 'How much are the leeks?' 'They're 80 pence a pound.'
2. I went to ...... wonderful concert by ...... London Symphony Orchestra.
3. ...... local school is soon to be closed.
4. I usually go to ...... work by ....... train.
5. Is ...... meat in ...... oven?
6. Is this ...... first time you've been to ...... Isle of Man?
7. He's ...... art teacher and she's ...... electrician.
8. A lot of people give ....... money to ....... charity at this time of year.
9. What....... beautiful face that child's got!
 10. ....... British usually have ...... butter on their bread.
11. ...... life is very difficult for ....... unemployed these days.
12. ....... Leader of ....... Opposition is in danger of losing her seat at ...... next election.
13. I like to have ....... cup of ...... tea when I wake up in ...... morning.
14. I saw ...... fox this morning. I think it must have been ...... same one that I saw last
week.
15. Can I have ...... apple?
16. Have you ever seen ...... Acropolis in ....... Athens?
17. ...... police have had a lot of support from ...... general public over this issue.
18. ...... shirts on ...... washing-line should be nearly dry now.
19. ...... people don't like him because of his selfish attitude.
20. I bought my sister ...... book and ...... bottle of ...... perfume for her birthday but I don't
think she liked ...... perfume.

III. Put in a(n) or some in front of the following words:

picture, money, newspaper, milk, rice, soap-suds, oil, water, cloud, axe, moth,
information, ewe, heiress.

IV. Put in a(n), the, some, or any, where necessary:

…Tarcău is a small river that cuts across… lane near… my home. I like sitting by…
Tarcau on fine afternoons. It was warm last Sunday so I went and sat on … river bank as
usual. … children were playing games on … bank and there were … people rowing on
the river. Suddenly one of … children kicked … ball very hard and it went towards…
passing boat…. People on … bank called out to … man in … boat… but he did not hear
them. … ball struck him so hard that he nearly fell into .. water. I turned to look at …
children, but there weren’t … in sight.

V. Fill in the spaces – where necessary- with the definite or indefinite article; explain
the use of the articles:
That night was … third of September, one thousand six hundred and sixty-six, and that
wind famed … Great Fire of London. It broke out at … baker’s shop near … London
Bridge, on … spot on which … Monument … now stands as … remembrance of those
raging flames, it spread and spread, and burned, for… three days. … nights were lighter
than the days; in day-time there was … immense cloud of… smoke and in … night-time
there was … great tower of … fire mounting up into… sky, which lighted … whole
country landscape for… ten miles round. …showers of hot ashes rose into … air and fell
on … distant places; … flying sparks carried … conflagration to … great distances; …
church steeples feel down with … tremendous crashes; … houses crumbled into …
cinders by hundred and … thousand. … summer had been intensively hot and dry, …
streets were very narrow, and houses mostly built of wood and … plaster. Nothing could
stop … tremendous fire but … want of more houses to burn; nor did it stop until … whole
way from …Tower to … Temple Bar was … desert.

VI. Fill in the spaces with the definite article or indefinite article where necessary:
1. ‘For exactly the same reason’ cries excited Phil, hammering on… table with …both…
hands.
2. You really must stay to … supper. You’ll get … very nice wine from … Sicily, far
better than you’ll ever find here.
 3. … fat brown goose lay at one end of … table and at … other end, on … bed of …
creased paper strewn with … springs of … parsley, lay … great ham, stripped of its outer
skin, and beside this was … round of … spiced beef.
4. Pour one pint of … boiling milk over … pound of … bread cut in … slices; as soon as
… milk is absorbed and cool, beat … bread smooth, adding as you beat half … pound of
… coffee raisins, three quarters of … pound of … currants, half… pound of … final shred
suet, quarter of pound … powdered sugar, … quarter of … teaspoonful each of … salt,
and … glass of … wine or … brandy … grated nutmeg, and powdered ginger.
5. When he saw it he drew back and his … cheeks flushed for … moment with …
pleasure. … look of joy came into his eyes, as if he had recognized himself for … first
time. He stood there motionless and in wonder, dimly conscious that … Hallaward was
speaking to him, but not catching … meaning of his words … sense of his own beauty
came on him like … revelation. He had never felt it before. … Basil Hallaward’s
compliments had seemed to him to be merely … charming exaggerations of …
friendship.

VII. Supply articles where necessary:

Of all ... (1) countries of ... (2) former British Empire, it is ... (3) United Kingdom that I
would like to visit most, although I am certain that in ... (4) United States and ... (5)
Canada one can find many ... (6) tourist attraction too. I sometimes dream that, having
landed at ... (7) Heathrow airport, I travel by ... (8) underground to central London, to ...
(9) Piccadilly Circus or ... (10) Marble Arch. I find accommodation at ... (11)
inexpensive hotel, not far from ... (12) Thames, within ... (13) walking distance of ...
(14) Buckingham Palace. ... (15) first day I visit ... (16) National Gallery and ... (17) Tate
Gallery and there are so many beautiful things to see in ... (18) two museums that I have no
time left for anything else. On my second day I wander about ... (19) Bloomsbury, ... (20)
intellectual centre of Britain's capital city, see ... (21) Senate House, where ... (22)
University of London has most of its offices, then ... (23). British Museum and the old
houses in ... (24) Russell Square. Later, I walk around ... (25) Houses of Parliament and
listen to ... (26) Big Ben strike the hour. ... (27) Parliament, as everybody knows, is in ...
(28) Westminster and consists of ... (29) House of Lords and ... (30) House of
Commons. ... (31) visitors can see ... (32) latter at work on some days of ... (33) week.
When my English vacation draws to ... (34) end, I decide to cross ... (35) English
Channel by ... (36) ferry-boat and from there to travel home across the Continent by ...
(37) rail.

VIII. Translate into English:

După micul dejun, copii au mers la şcoală şi cam după un sfert de oră, eu am mers la
piaţă. Pentru că m-am întors acasă mai devreme şi soţul era încă la serviciu, m-am hotărât să
fac nişte tarte pentru ceai. În scurt timp, eram ocupată cu amestecatul untului şi al făinii;
curând, plămădeala lipicioasă îmi acoperi mâinile. Tocmai atunci, sună telefonul. Nimic n-ar
fi putut fi mai enervant. Am ridicat receptorul cu două degete lipicioase şi am rămas surprinsă
auzind vocea d-nei Brown. Mi-au trebuit 10 minute s-o conving să mă sune mai târziu. În
cele din urmă am pus receptorul în furcă. Dar ce incurcătură! Aluat pe degete, pe telefon, pe
clanţa uşii. Abia am ajuns în bucătărie că soneria ţârâi atât de tare, încât ar fi trezit şi morţii.
De data aceasta era poştaşul care dorea să semnez pentru o recomandată.

IX. Translate into English:

mică cutie chinezească, un englez, un vânt destul de puternic, o călimară, o viespe, un
nufăr, o moară de vânt, un fermoar, un sfat, o cursă de şoareci, un şomer, un an, o
 temperatură uniforma, o regulă universală, o regină fără pereche, o parvenită, o curte, o
creangă de tuia, o clanţă galbenă, un om fals, o limbă de ceas, un preşedinte onorific, o
înmormântare onorabilă.

X. Translate into English:

Plugarul, moştenitorul, afacerea unilaterală, ora, studentul inteligent, omul cu un singur
ochi, olandezii, ghiocelul alb, furnica, timpul tulbure, caisa, regiunea aridă, coaja oului,
metoda eficientă, acul de siguranţă, recordul neîntrecut, familia unită, galbenuşul, vâsla,
stilul oficial, cuptorul.

III.4. THE ADJECTIVE

A. THEORETICAL CONSIDERATIONS
If we wish to speak of or to describe objects and people, we cannot use only nouns.
We need another category of words in order to describe the characteristics (size, position,
colour, smell, etc.) of an object or the physical or moral qualities of a person. In other words,
in order to add to the meaning of nouns or to limit their application, we need to use
adjectives.
the heavy bag an innocent child
the yellow rose a famous writer
a chilly morning a beautiful woman
a flexible puppet a merciless dictator
I. Definition
An adjective is a word joined to a noun or other substantive word or expression, to
describe, identify or quantify it.

II. Position
Adjectives usually precede the nouns which they modify*,
It was no doubt a gorgeous landscape
Two beautiful young French students entered the room.
but they can also be used after certain verbs:
Peter was furious.
*Pay attention to exceptions such as: knight errant, court martial, secretary general, the
people present.

III. Simple and Compound Adjectives

Adjectives may be divided into a series of classes and subclasses according to the
various criteria taken into consideration.
Descriptive adjectives, the largest class of adjectives, may be divided into simple
and compound adjectives when form is the criterion taken into consideration.
 Simple adjectives cannot be decomposed into smaller or simpler parts:
safe, happy, deep, dirty, long, correct, amazing, beautiful, terrible, etc.
 Compound adjectives are adjectives made of two or more identifiable words:
a life-giving energy, ice-cold water, a blue-eyed woman, a long-legged bird,
homemade bread, a good-looking man, a short-sleeved coat, the next-door
neighbour, etc.

IV. Suffixes
Adjectives can be identified using a number of formal criteria. Some adjectives can be
identified by their endings. Typical adjective endings include:  
-able/-ible capable, flexible, pleasurable, portable, readable, remarkable
-al financial, functional, internal, logical, manual
-ful beautiful, careful, grateful, harmful, useful
-ive attractive, extensive, intensive, persuasive, selective
-ic anarchic, cubic, economic, heroic, poetic
-ish childish, bluish, dwarfish, foolish, whitish
-less breathless, careless, merciless, restless, speechless, useless
-ly friendly, kindly. manly, monthly
-ous courageous, dangerous, disastrous, fabulous, virtuous
-y chilly, dirty, sandy, stony, sunny
-ing* amazing, cunning, moving, neighbouring, surprising
-ed* broken, confused, experienced, paved, latticed
*-ing and -ed may be added to verbs in order to make up participial adjectives.
However, a large number of very common adjectives cannot be identified in this way
as they do not have typical adjectival form:  
 bad dark honest red
bright deep hot silent
clever difficult main simple
cold distant old strange
common good quiet wide
complet great real young
e

V. Negative prefixes
Adjectives may also be formed by means of a number of negative prefixes including the
following:
 dis-: disagreeable dishonest
 un-: uninteresting, unnecessary
 il-: illegal, illogical
 im-: impossible, impolite
 in-: inconvenient, insignificant
 ir-: irresponsible, irrelevant

VI. Degrees of Comparison

Comparison is an inflection not possessed by nouns and pronouns: it belongs to
adjectives and adverbs.
When we place two objects side by side, we notice some differences between them as
to size, weight, color, etc. Thus, a lioness may be larger than a lion, a purse may be heavier
than a suitcase, a woman’s eyes may be bluer than the sky, an idea may be better than
another one, etc. This characteristic of adjectives is called gradability.
Most adjectives in English are gradable, but there are some adjectives which are non-
gradable as they already denote the highest position on a scale:  
favourite, main, final, immemorial, infinite, perpetual, organic, sole, sufficient,
supreme, universal, etc.
The degrees of comparison are the comparative, expressing a greater degree of
quality, and the superlative, expressing the greatest degree of quality. These are properly the
only degrees, though the simple, uninflected form is usually called the positive degree.
VI. 1. The Comparative
The Comparative in English is represented by:
 the Comparative of Superiority
 the Comparative of Inferiority
 the Comparative of Equality

VI.1.a. The Comparative of Superiority

In the case of monosyllabic and easily pronounced adjectives of two syllables, the
comparative is formed by adding the suffix –er.
blue – bluer, easy – easier, fat – fatter, happy – happier, thin – thinner
Most two-syllable adjectives and the adjectives which have three or more syllables
have the comparative with more.
careful – more careful, famous – more famous

VI.1.b. The Comparative of Inferiority

All adjectives form the Comparative of Inferiority by adding either not so/as ... as or
less ... than.
not as happy as..., less interesting than...

VI.1.c. The Comparative of Equality

All adjectives form the Comparative of Equality by adding as ... as.
as happy as..., as interesting as...
Some Comparatives of Equality have a superlative meaning:
as black as coal, as blind as a bat, as clear as crystal, as good, as gold, as hungry as
a wolf, as poor as a church mouse

VI.2. The Superlative

The Superlative in English is represented by:
 The Relative Superlative
 The Absolute Superlative

VI.2.a. The Relative Superlative

In the case of monosyllabic and easily pronounced adjectives of two syllables, the
relative superlative is formed by adding the ...-est.
blue – the bluest, easy – the easiest, fat – the fattest, happy – the happiest, thin – the
thinnest
Most two-syllable adjectives and the adjectives which have three or more syllables
have the relative superlative with the most.
careful – the most careful, famous – the most famous

VI.2.b. The Absolute Superlative

All adjectives form the absolute superlative by adding the adverb very.
very thin, very careful
Other adverbs such as quite, extremely, awfully may also be added to form the
comparative.
quite happy, extremely dangerous, awfully tired
The The The The The The
Positiv Comparativ Comparativ Comparativ Relative Absolute
e e of e of e of Equality Superlativ Superlativ
Degree Superiority Inferiority e e
 thin thinner not as thin as thin as the thinnest very thin
as
famous more famous less famous as famous as the most very
than famous famous
Notes:
1. Some two-syllable adjectives have comparatives and superlatives with either the endings –
er and –est or more and most:
e.g. common – commoner/more common – the commonest/the most common
simple – simpler/more simple – the simplest/the most simple
Here are some more: cruel, gentle, handsome, narrow, obscure, polite, remote, shallow,
stupid, subtle.
2. Three-syllable adjectives derived from other adjectives by adding the prefix –un may also
have comparatives and superlatives with either the endings –er and –est or more and most:
e.g. unhappy – unhappier/more unhappy – the happiest/the most happy
unlucky – unluckier/more unlucky – the unluckiest/the most unlucky

VII. Irregular Comparison

Some adjectives and adverbs in English have irregular comparatives and superlatives. Here is
a list that includes the majority of them.
good/well better the best
evil/bad/ill worse the worst
little less/lesser the least
much/many more the most
old older/elder the oldest / the eldest
far farther/furthe the farthest / the furthest
r
late later/the the latest / the last
latter
near nearer the nearest / the next

B. EXERCISES

I. Complete the following sentences with an adjective formed from one of the verbs
or nouns below:
act, care, change, comfort, describe, dread, enjoy, forget, grace, motion, power, rely,
submit, tire, truth
1. We had a lovely weekend; it was thoroughly enjoyable.
2. He never remembers my birthday; I don't know why he's so ..............
3. The problem is that there's nothing we can do about it; we're completely ............
4. I believe what he says because he's always been ............... in the past.
5. She never seems to run out of energy; she's completely ....................
6. She's a very ............... writer; she gives you a very good feel for the places and
characters in her stories.
7. Don't worry. If he's said he'll be there, then I sure he will. He's very ...............
8. His problem is that he always does exactly what people tell him to do: he's just so
....................
9. You're so ................... you're always dropping things.
10. I love to watch good ballet dancers: they're so .......................
11. The cat stayed ................... as it waited to pounce on the bird.
12. It's a very ....................... climate; the weather can be completely different from one
 day to the next.
13. It's important to keep ...................... after you retire.
14. The seats in first class were really ............. I could easily have fallen asleep in them.
15. The situation out there is ............ More and more people are dying every day.

II. Fill each of the blanks with a suitable adjective from the list.
devoid, free, certain, inclined, liable, concerned, filled, elect
1. Those ......... with the political implications of the new policy are very worried.
2. The outgoing President was accompanied by the President ..........
3. I'm ......... to think that it would be better to finish this later.
4. These buildings are ......... to collapse in a strong earthquake.
5. I was absolutely ......... I'd left it on the table.
6. The landscape was completely ......... of any sign of human habitation.
7. Please feel ......... to use the phone if you need to.
8. The ex-prisoner is ............ with remorse for what he has done.

III. Circle the adjectives listed a, b, c or d, that can fill each gap. One, two, three or all
of them may be possible.
1. The ... child was comforted by his aunt.
a. sick b) afraid c) frightened d) ill
2. They had stories ... about their travels through India.
a. unlikely b) galore c) a-plenty d) countless
3. A speedy solution is ....
a. main b) principal c) chief d) crucial
4. He was taken ... by the ferocity of the criticism.
a. aback b) unawares c) surprised d) unaccustomed
5. The ... train is almost never on time.
a. last b) late c) early d) stopping
6. This is ... reward for twenty years of loyal service.
a) due b) scant c) meagre d) proper

IV. Give the adjectives corresponding to the following words:

interest, beauty, sand, oppress, relevance, cloud, therapy, dirt, nation, fascinate,
attract, science, part, obsess, race, youth, enjoy, mountain, use, question, depth,
vary, economy, control, envy, technology, strength, length, rely, mercy, influence,
art, describe, child, noise, love, understand, trouble, contempt, grace, illustrate,
province, eat, attention, shame, logic, repeat.

V. Copy the table into your notebook and put the adjectives in the box into
the correct columns.
patient , relevant, attractive, literate, flexible, regular, legal, agreeable, mature,
convenient, tasteful, moral, replaceable, responsible, significant, possible, legible,
honest, rational, explicable, justified, mortal, reversible, destructible, perfect,
friendly, soluble, polite, logical, interesting, separable

un- it- im- in- ir- dis-

impatient
VI. Copy the table into your notebook and write the adjectives in the correct columns.
Put them into pairs of adjectives with similar meanings.
surprising, starving, nice, filthy, devastated, wonderful, hungry, delicious, big, tasty,
furious, ugly, impossible, small, hideous, terrified, good, enormous, tired, thirsty, amazing,
angry, vital, parched, dirty, upset, important, terrible, frightened, minute, exhausted,
perfect, difficult
gradable non-gradable
surprising am a z i n g

VII. Give the degrees of comparison of the following adjectives and use them in
sentences of your own: beautiful, thin, interesting, bad, little, old, good, lucky, common,
little, unhappy.

VIII. Complete the sentences with adjectives derived from the words in capital letters at
the end:
1. Even those who lived through the Holocaust found it . (TO COMPREHEND)
2. My job was to try and understand something that was not ... (TO UNDERSTAND)
3. The characters of the novel are people struggling to resume lives that war had
rendered ..... (MEANING)
4. The fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 and the events in former Yugoslavia convinced film
director Francisco Rosi of the ... relevance of the book's theme. (TO ENDURE)
5. Sometimes I would watch war films and think it was all too histrionic and too ....
(THEATRE)
6. The liberators were met with .... enthusiasm. (TO INFECT)
7. If art consists of the .... and the ..., then this musician's art fails on the latter account. It
is too easily imitated, in a way that Charlie Parker's seemingly .... melodism never
was. (TO DEFINE, TO IMITATE, EFFORT)
8. Your cousin is a consummate liar. He told me an ... story about how he had helped
rob a bank in the City of London. (TO BELIEVE)
9. The way he behaved to his poor ex-wife is both ... and ... (TO FORGIVE, TO
FORGET)
10. Uncle Tom's Cabin showed how ... cruelty was from the institution of slavery and
how fundamentally ... were free and slave societies. (TO SEPARATE, TO
RECONCILE)
11. The cheese was repulsively... . (ODOUR)

IX. Complete the following idiomatic comparisons:

as blind as a ... (1); as drunk as a ... (2); as mad as a ... (3); as light as a ... (4); as dark as ... (5);
as strong as an ... (6); as fit as a ... (7); as poor as a ... (8); as dead as a ... (9); as clear as ...
(10); as old as the ...(11); as keen as ... (12); as bright as a ... (13); as cool as a ... (14); as
busy as a ... (15); as stubborn as a ... (16); as deaf as a ... (17).

X. Translate into English:

1. Ultimele ştiri sunt încurajatoare.
2. Mie mi-au plăcut ambele fete, dar eu cred că cea mai mică e şi cea mai drăguţă.
3. Sfaturile pe care mi le dai sunt întotdeauna utile.
4. Bărbatul cu umerii laţi îsi puse pe el haina neagră cu mâneci lungi şi plecă în grabă.
5. Am mâncat puţin astăzi aşa că mi-e o foame de lup.
 6. Este firesc ca polonezii să vorbească poloneza, turcii să vorbească turca, iar
finlandezii să vorbească finlandeza.
7. Cu căt se întuneca mai tare, cu atăt mai speriată era: nu voia să fie văzută de nimeni.
8. Călătoriile în spaţiul cosmic devin tot mai frecvente.
9. Se uită pe furiş la femeia îmbrăcată în negru.
10. Avem amintiri atât de frumoase despre locul acesta încât ne-am gândit că o să-l
revizităm.

III. 5. THE PRONOUN

A. THEORETICAL CONSIDERATIONS

I. Definition
Pronouns are used to refer to people and things without naming them. They replace
nouns or noun phrases, making texts less repetitive.

II. Classification
There are several types of pronouns:
 personal
 possessive
 reflexive
 demonstrative
 indefinite
 reciprocal
 relative
 interrogative

II.1. Personal pronouns

a. Form: - as a subject: sg. I - as a complement: sg. me

you you
he/ she/ it him/ her/ it
pl. we pl. us
you you
they them

b. Uses:
 The pronoun I is always written with a capital letter.
 All the verbs in English (excepting Imperatives) must have a pronominal subject:
They dislike inefficiency.
 You and one are used impersonally meaning everyone, no one or anyone.
You/ one should always tell the truth.
 They is used impersonally denoting a collective agent telling something:
They say he is dishonest.
 It is used for people or things with an unknown gender, with a noun to refer to persons
and in expressions about the weather, temperature, time, dates and distances:
Where is my book? It is on the shelf.
Who is at the door? It is Olivia.
 It’s cold outside.
What time is it? It’s nine o’clock.
How far is it to Chicago? It’s ten miles.

II. 2. Possessive pronouns

a. Form: sg. mine pl. ours
yours yours
his/ hers theirs
b. Use: - possessive pronouns replace possessive adjectives. The noun missing was
mentioned before: This is my book. This book is mine.
We’re using his car, not her car. We’re using his, not hers.

II. 3. Reflexive pronouns

a. Form: sg. myself pl. ourselves
yourself yourselves
himself/ herself/ itself themselves
b. Uses:
 With reflexive verbs like to enjoy oneself, to amuse oneself, to help oneself, to hurt
oneself, to cut oneself, to wash oneself:
Please help yourself with some cake!
He hurt himself during the game.
But some verbs which are reflexive in other languages are not reflexive in English: to
dress, to comb, to shave, to meet.
Sue and Joe met last year.
 To show an action performed for or on oneself:
She looked at herself in the mirror.
Why are you so angry with yourself?
 To emphasize the doer of an action:
The president himself attended the meeting.

II. 4. Demonstrative pronouns

a. Form: this, that (singular referent); these, those (plural referent)
b. Uses:
 The pronouns are in number agreement with the noun they replace:
This (umbrella) is mine. That is his.
These (discs) are mine. Those are his.
 This, these refer to objects that are near the speaker; that, those refer to objects in the
distance, not near the speaker:
This is here, that is there.
 The former – the latter have the meaning of the first and, respectively, the second of
two; they have the same form for singular and plural:
Andy and Janet are cousins: the former is a student, the latter is a pupil.

II. 5. Indefinite pronouns

a. Form: - all; both; much; many; more; most; little; a little; few; a few; another; the other;
others; the others; either; neither; each; everybody; everyone; everything; some; any; no
one/ none; somebody/ thing/ one; anybody/ thing/ one; nobody; nothing; enough; several;
one.
b. Uses:
 The series ending in –body refers to people, that ending in –thing refers to things.
 Everybody is at home.
Everything is possible here.
 The pronouns beginning with some- are used in affirmative sentences and in
interrogative sentences when an affirmative answer is expected; those beginning with
any- are used in negative sentences when they follow a negative verb or a negative
word, or in interrogative sentences when we are not sure about the answer: I have
something to tell you.
Shall I give you something to read?
I didn’t see anybody.
Is anybody at home?
 Both refers to only two people, things and is used with plural verb:
The boys are both sleeping.
 Either and neither refer to two people or things; either means ‘one or the other’,
neither means ‘not one and not the other’:
Which book do you prefer? Neither/ either.
 Much means a great amount or quantity of; many means a great number of:
Much of his information was vital for us.
Many of us have seen this film.
 Little means ‘not much’ and is used for uncountable nouns; a little means ‘at least
some’:
Little is known about him.
Is there any soup left? Yes, a little.
 Few and a few refer to countable nouns; few underlines the smallness of a number; a
few means ‘at least some’:
We expected many guests but only few came.
A few of us managed to arrive in time.

II. 6. Reciprocal pronouns

a. Form: each other; one another indicating that two people do the same thing, feel the same
way or have the same relationship.
b. Uses:
 The two constructions are normally interchangeable:
We sent each other/ one another gifts.
 There are some verbs which indicate reciprocity and do not use a reciprocal pronoun;
however, if the speaker wants to emphasize the relationship, a reciprocal pronoun may
occur:
When they met, they embraced and then they kissed (one another).

II. 7. Relative pronouns

a. Form: who, whom, whose, whoever, which, whichever, that, what
b. Uses:
 Who, whom, whose (shows possession), whoever refer to persons:
This is the boy who/ whom I told you about.
The woman whose car is parked there is my cousin.
 Which refers to animals or things:
That’s the film which he likes best.
 Whoever, whichever, whatever refer to something or someone that is unknown:
I’ll help whoever needs me.
Show me whatever you have.
 II. 8. Interrogative pronouns
a. Form: who, whose, whom, what, which
b. Uses:
 Used as the subject or object of a clause, or the object of preposition:
Who has broken the vase?
What is she doing now?
 In idiomatic expressions:
What about…? = what do you think about…?
I can’t tell which is which/ who is who.
He has used a what-do-you-call it…= I don’t know its name.

B. EXERCISES

I. Rewrite the second sentence so that it has a similar meaning to the first one and
contains the word(s) in brackets:
1. We only have a week left. (all)
2. All the participants will be sent an agenda. (every)
3. This idea won’t work, and the other one also won’t work. (neither)
4. We only want a weaker dollar. (all)
5. The two proposals are interesting. (both)
6. Dr. Jones is one of my colleagues. (mine)
7. Two theories proposed by him proved correct. (his)
8. This is your electric drill. (yours)
9. There is nothing to read at home. (anything)
10. It was Mary who asked that stupid question. (herself)

II. Fill in with the suitable reflexive pronouns:

1. There isn’t much to do on weekends, so we have to amuse…
2. Jerry has fallen off the ladder this morning and has injured…
3. The students were happy because they could watch…on the video.
4. You can let…into the house with the small key.
5. As she was not hungry, she had to force…to eat.
6. The boy locked…in the bathroom.
7. We were surprised when we saw…in that large mirror.
8. The light in the stairway switches…off after two minutes.
9. The soldier didn’t know that the gun was loaded so he shot…
10. My sister is going to France soon, so she is teaching…French.

III. Fill in with some; any; someone; anyone; none; somebody; anybody; nobody;
something; anything; nothing:
1. I can’t see my wallet; …must have taken it.
2. Do you have…to add?
3. If you have no money, I can lend you …
4. I rang the bell two or three time, but…answered.
5. He must be…important.
6. …is more important than good health.
7. You can find practically…you want in this shop.
8. I think there’s…at the door. Were you expecting…?
9. I have some very good wine. Would you like…?
 10. She wanted to drink some coffee but there was…left.
11. …of us has ever heard such an interesting story.
12. This time I can’t do…for you.
13. I’m going to the supermarket since I want to buy…
14. There is…in my bag; it’s empty.

IV. Fill in the blanks with the corresponding relative pronouns:

1. The woman…is crossing the street now is one of my teachers.
2. This is the school in…Einstein learnt.
3. The child to…you gave that toy was very happy.
4. Professor Jones, for…I have great respect, has taught us many interesting things.
5. The gentleman…I have just greeted is a famous scientist.
6. The coffee…you have made is very strong.
7. Pollution is a problem…must be solved as soon as possible.
8. The problems…we did yesterday were difficult for us.
9. This is the man…son won the competition.
10. The chair…you are sitting on is an antique.

V. Make up questions to which the following sentences are the answers. Refer to the
words in italics by using interrogative pronouns:
1. We are going to buy a new central heating.
2. That car over there is John’s.
3. We saw a lot of strikers in the street.
4. London is the capital of Great Britain.
5. The teacher is explaining a new theory.
6. That project belongs to me.
7. I’ll choose the red one.
8. She asked him about that scholarship.
9. I asked them for a cup of tea.
10. She begged the child to keep quiet.

VI. Transform these sentences replacing alone with by + a reflexive pronoun according
to the model:
My daughter prefers to do her homework alone.
My daughter prefers to do her homework by herself.
1. I don’t live alone: I have two roommates.
2. Most people don’t enjoy going to a dance alone.
3. Did you really do it alone?
4. We won’t be able to build this machine alone.
5. He plans to go the there alone.

VII. Fill in the blanks with the right reciprocal pronouns:

1. You and I love …
2. The three girls haven’t spoken to … for a long time.
3. I hope jack and Julie get on with …
4. My nephew called on me yesterday. We hadn’t seen … for more than two years.
5. Our children and theirs took an instant dislike to …
6. Alec and I stayed up late last night. We had a lot to say to …
7. Our former classmates are very happy to meet …
8. The two boys looked at …
 9. Although Angela and Sarah say that they are friends, I know that, in fact, they
hate …
10. The four children took their schoolbags and said goodbye to …

VIII. Translate the following sentences into English using pronouns wherever possible:
1. Nu este nici o fărâmă de adevăr în ceea ce spune ea; nu-i adevărat că ea personal s-a
dus acolo.
2. Este timpul să plecăm, nu-i aşa?
3. I-am căutat pe Frank şi Patrick mai bine de o oră şi, în cele din urmă, i-am găsit pe
amândoi în parc.
4. George a fost cel care a intrat primul în atelier.
5. Pe cine ai mai întâlnit acolo?
6. Cartea pe care am cumpărat-o luni este foarte interesantă.
7. Casa al cărei acoperiş este roşu a fost vândută unui american.
8. După ce s-au uitat unul la altul cu insistenţă, cei doi au izbucnit în râs.
9. Colegii noştri nu au găsit pe nimeni acolo iar laboratorul era zăvorât.
10. Cine altcineva te-a mai văzut intrând aici?
11. Şi Maria şi Lucy au promis că vor fi aici la ora cinci, ar nici una nu a venit încă.
12. Cu excepţia câtorva polonezi şi a noastră, toată lumea a plecat în excursie.
13. Cui i-ai dat raportul scris?
14. Cum de mi-ai găsit adresa? Cine ţi-a dat-o?
15. A cui este maşina de lângă poarta noastră?
16. Ce altceva aş fi putut face?
17. Care este haina ei? Sunt trei aici şi nici una nu este a mea.
18. Primele exerciţii sunt corecte, celelalte sunt greşite.
19. Care dintre băieţi ţi-a spart geamul?
20. Prietena mea are doi băieţi: unul este medic iar celălalt este cercetător în domeniul
tehnic.

III.6. THE NUMERAL

A. THEORETICAL CONSIDERATIONS
I. The Cardinal numeral

1. FORM:
1 one 11 eleven 21 twenty-one 106 a (one) hundred and six
2 two 12 twelve 30 thirty 621 six hundred and twenty-one
3 three 13 thirteen 40 forty 806 eight hundred and six
4 four 14 fourteen 50 fifty 1,000 one thousand
5 five 15 fifteen 60 sixty 1,000,000 a (one) million
6 six 16 sixteen 70 seventy 1,000,000,000 a (one) billion
7 seven17 seventeen 80 eighty
8 eight 18 eighteen 90 ninety
9 nine 19 nineteen 100 one hundred
10 ten 20 twenty

2. USES:
Notes:
- The figure 0 can be read in the following ways:
- in mathematics: nought [no:t]
- for temperature: zero
- for telephone numbers, TV , radio, long numbers: oh [əu]
- in sport scores: nil [nil] (in team games); love [lΛv]
- There is no‘s’ after hundred, thousand, million, etc., except when followed by ‘of’:
hundreds of people (meaning lots of).
-When the cardinal number contains a full stop, the number(s) that occur after the full
stop indicate a fraction: 7.25 (seven point twenty-five)
- When the numbers are over 999 and are written in figures, they get a comma or a
blank: 1, 987 or 1 987
2, 513, 608 or 2 513 608

 Common ways of calculating

a. addiction: 2+3=5 (two plus three is/are five)

b. subtraction: 9–3=6 (nine minus three is/ are six)
c. multiplication: 6 x 5 = 30 (six multiplied by five is/ equals thirty)
d. division: 40 : 5 = 8 (forty divided by five is/ equals 8)
e. powers: 35 = 241 (three to the power five is two hundred and forty-
one)
f. root: √25 = 5 (the square root of twenty-five is five)
3
√27 = 3 (the cube root of twenty-seven is three)

 Fractions
a. Common fractions:
½ one half numerator/ denominator
¾ three fourths
¼ one fourth
2/3 two thirds
6/35 six thirty-fifths

b. Decimal fractions:
35.89 thirty-five point eight nine
0.5 nought point five
0.03 nought point nought three

 Measurements
a. linear measure: b. nautical measure
1 inch = 2.54 cm 6 feet = 1 fathom
12 inches = 1 foot (ft) 100 fathoms = 1.829 metres
3 feet = 1 yard (yd)
1 mile = 1.6093 metres
3 miles = 1 league = 4.83 kilometres

 Telling the time

1.00 It’s one o’clock a.m. / It’s one a.m.
1.15 It’s a quarter past one.
2. 30 It’s half past two/ It’s two thirty. (modern)
3. 05 It’s five past three.
9. 45 It’s a quarter to ten/ It’s nine forty five (modern)
6. 55 It’s five minutes to seven.
10. 40 It’s twenty minutes to eleven.
15. 00 It’s three o’clock in the afternoon/ It’s three sharp.
23. 15 It’s a quarter past eleven at night/ p.m.

 Expressing age
a. Using to be followed by a number:
He is fifteen (years old).
b. Using the preposition of after a noun, followed by a number:
She was a girl of twelve.
c. With the help of a compound adjective: number + a singular noun referring to a period of
time + old:
A fifteen-year-old boy
d. When we refer to the approximate age we can use in + pronoun + teens/ twenties/ fifties
etc. or over + number:
She was in her teens then, now she’s in her mid-fifties.
I think he is over sixty.

 Telephone numbers
Each digit of a telephone number is spoken separately; if there are two identical
numbers occurring together, we say ‘double 2/4/8’ etc.:
142093 (one – for – two – oh – nine – three)
566791 (five – double six – seven – nine – one)

II. The ordinal numeral

1. FORM
1st the first 11th the eleventh 40th the fortieth
2nd the second th th
12 the twelfth 50 the fiftieth
3rd the third 13th the thirteenth 60th the sixtieth
4th the fourth 14th the fourteenth 70th the seventieth
5th the fifth th
15 the fifteenth 80th the eightieth
6th the sixth 20th the twentieth 90th the ninetieth
7th the seventh 21 the twenty-first 100th the one hundredth
st

8th the eighth 30th the thirtieth 1,000th the one thousandth
9th the ninth
10th the tenth

2. Uses:
a. When we want to identify something by indicating where it comes in a sequence:
January is the first month of the year.
This is the seventh time when I’m calling her!
Notes:
- dates may be written in the following ways:
April 1, 1946/ April 1st, 1946/ 1st April 1946/ 1st of April 1946
- ordinal numbers can also be written in an abbreviated form:
the 1st; the 2nd; the 52nd; the 76th, the 98th

III. The Multiplicative numeral

It shows the proportion in which a quantity is increased:

1x single, once 10x tenfold, ten times
2x double/ twofold, twice 100x a hundredfold, a hundred times
3x triple/ threefold, thrice
4x fourfold, four times

IV. The Distributive numeral

It shows the distribution or grouping of objects:

one by one
two by two/ by twos/ in twos
ten by ten/ by tens/ in tens
in dozens (in sets of twelve)
in score (in sets of about twenty)

B. EXERCISES

I. Read the following numbers and fractions:

408; 1/3; 6.08; 5,728; 25,100; 9/10; 964; 198/4; 673; 68/12; 0.7; 10.58

II. Read the times of the clock:

3:25; 6:45; 9:00: 1:15; 4:50; 23:35; 18:00; 8:35
III. Read the following dates and phone numbers:
21 June 1998 118605
2 April 1805 225799
5 August 1789 179300
3 December 1866 126603
30 May 2006 0234557891
23 July 2007 0722006784

IV. Answer the following questions:

1. What time do you get up?
2. What time do you have breakfast?
3. What time do you leave home?
4. What time do you usually get to university?
5. What time does your first class start on Mondays?
6. What time do you have a break?
7. What time do you have dinner?
8. What time do you go out with your friends at the weekend?
9. What time do you go to bed?
10. What will you be doing in ten years’ time?
11. When is your birthday?
 12. When is Christmas?
13. When is our national holiday?
14. When is the first day of the year?
15. What’s the date today?
16. What’s the date when Einstein was born?

V. Read and solve the following mathematical operations:

1+8 3x6 2/3
10 + 3 7 x 10 8/9 x 2/7
9 + 18 120 x 4 6/7: 3/14
30 – 21 15: 3 23
100 – 75 100: 5 22 + 32
1,250 – 500 0.5 + 0.7 10.06 – 4.02

VI. Use the following words in sentences of your own:

forty; love; thirty-one; nought point five; hundreds; dozen; gross; three fourths;
tenfold; once; three times; over ninety; one by one; twice as many.

VII. Translate into English:

1. Copiii au intrat în şcoală doi câte doi.
2. Am citit sute de pagini în ultimele săptămâni.
3. Tocmai am cumpărat două duzini de cutii de chibrituri.
4. Cred că maşina are acum mai mult de 100 km/ oră.
5. Biletul tău este rezervat pentru data de 22 iunie.
6. Un sfert din locuitorii acestui orăşel lucrează în acel centru comercial.
7. Numai după ce am citit problema de trei ori am reuşit să o înţeleg.
8. Noi spălăm maşina de două ori pe lună.
9. Speculantul dorea să obţină un câştig întreit de pe urma facerii.
10. Am întâlnit-o o dată sau de două ori dar nu am vorbit cu ea niciodată.
11. Regina Elisabeta II este actualul monarh al Marii Britanii.
12. A treilea capitol mi s-a părut mai uşor de citit decât cel de-al doilea.
13. Care este răspunsul tău la cea de a douăzeci şi una întrebare?
14. Invenţia lui a adus un profit înzecit fabricii la care lucrează.
15. Bărbatul în vârstă de cincizeci de ani de care mi-ai povestit mi-a părut mult mai tânăr.
16. Radical din optezi şi unu fac nouă.
17. Ea ne sună o dată la două zile doar ca să vadă ce mai este nou.
18. Toţi oamenii influenţi sunt întrebaţi despre cum au făcut primul milion de dolari.
19. Nu uita că trebuie să te trezeşti la ora şase fix mâine dimineaţă.
20. Sunt sigură că acest castel a fost construit cu mai mult de o sută de ani în urmă.

III.7. THE ADVERB

A. THEORETICAL CONSIDERATIONS

I. Definition
Basically, adverbs often tell us when, where, why, or under what conditions something
happens or happened. In other words, they may describe the time, place, manner or cause of
an action. Here are some examples:
Type Example
Time I paid him a visit yesterday.
Place The party is going to take place here
Manne She tapped him gently on his
r shoulder.
Adverbs are words that can modify:
 A verb: He drove slowly.
 an adjective: He drove a very fast car.
 another adverb: She moved quite slowly among the trees.
 a clause: Unfortunately, he was fired yesterday.

II. FORM
Many adverbs are formed by adding -ly to an adjective:  
Adjectiv bright honest gradual silent sudden
e
brightl honestl graduall silentl suddenl
Adverb
y y y y y

Note: When the adjective ends in –ic, the adverb is formed by adding the suffix –ally:
e.g. basic - basically, numerical - numerically

However, this is not a reliable way to find out whether a word is an adverb or not as:
 many adjectives may end in –ly: e.g. kindly, friendly, elderly, lonely, lovely motherly,
etc.
 many adverbs do not end in -ly and some have the same form as the corresponding
adjective.
adjective adverb
fast fast
late late
early early
hard hard
much much
enough enough
III. Comparison
Like adjectives, many adverbs are gradable and they may form comparatives and
superlatives in a similar way to adjectives.

  The The The The The The

Positiv Comparative Comparative Comparative Relative Absolute
e of of Inferiority of Equality Superlative Superlative
Degree Superiority
fast faster less fast than as fast as the fastest very fast
rapidly more rapidly not so/as as rapidly as the most very
rapidly as rapidly rapidly
IV. Some adverbs require a subject-verb inversion. There are at least eighteen types of
inversion:
1. negative adverb
Never do I sleep.
Only at night can I study.
In no way could I help you with your Japanese grammar question.
I believe that only rarely will I need your help.
Not until I got home did I realize that my shoes were untied.
Question form is obligatory. It is used with all verbs. Notice that sometimes the
inversion occurs right after the negative intro form and sometimes it occurs in the next
subject and verb.
2. intro adverbial
Into the room ran the lady.
First comes love, then comes marriage.
After A comes B, then comes C, next comes D.
Down came the rain and washed the spider out.
Inversion is optional. It is used with be-verbs, linking verbs, and verbs of direction.
Notice that sometimes we have an adverb, like first and down and sometimes we have an
adverb phrase like into the room or after A. These adverbs and adverb phrases usually show
location or direction. This type of inversion usually only occurs with be-verbs, linking verbs
and verbs that show direction or movement, like come, go, run, etc.
3. comparatives
Cheetahs run faster than do antelopes.
You speak Chinese better than do I.
Inversion is optional. It is used with all verbs. We normally only have inversion here
if we are comparing subjects of the verb, not objects.
4. here is, here are, here comes, here come
Here is some good food for you to try.
Here are the books that I don’t need anymore.
Here comes the bus!
Inversion is obligatory. It is usually used only with these verbs.

B. EXERCISES

I. Underline the appropriate adjective or adverb.

1. They drove under a low / lowly bridge.
2. She has travelled wide / widely.
3. Make sure you're here at seven o'clock sharp / sharply.
4. She loved him dear / dearly.
5. We'll be there short / shortly.
6. Three-toed sloths live deep / deeply in the Amazon forest.
II. Give the adverbs corresponding to the following adjectives:
useless, deep, voluntary, formal, strong, heavy, certain, anxious, scientific, various, original,
slight, kind, local, absent, easy, graceful, idle, sudden, rapid, violent, comparative, complete,
accurate, local, attentive, light.

III. Complete each sentence using too or enough and one of the following adjectives or
adverbs: dark, deep, difficult, early, far, heavy, interesting, late, loud, old, rich,
thirsty, well.
1. They didn't catch the train because they didn't leave home...
 2. You are... to understand such things.
3. Our neighbours couldn't sleep because the music in our room was...
4. We couldn't do that problem because it was...
5. We were... to drink a well dry.
6. You couldn't take a photograph because it is... here.
7. The cupboard was... to be moved by the child.
8. This book is... to be read by all of you.
9. They couldn't hear her voice because she was... away.
10. Mr. Brown is... to afford such an expensive car.
11. We got to the theatre... and so we missed the first act.
12. This river is... to be crossed.
13. George spoke... to win the speech prize.

IV. Use the adverbs in the brackets in the right degree of comparison:
1. He usually gets here much (early) than the others.
2. However, I can swim (well) than your brother.
3. Mike plays football (badly) of all the players.
4. She speaks English (fluently) as a native speaker.
5. The wind blew (hard) yesterday than I did on Sunday.
6. Jack knows English grammar (well) of all the students.
7. She usually enjoys films (much) than plays.
8. She didn't do this part (thoroughly) as the first part.
9. She certainly hopes to finish her work (fast) than that.
10. Mr. Williams explains things (clearly) of all teachers.

V. Put the following adverbs in the right position:

1. We have seen that statue (never).
2. The boy is very active after meals (often).
3. I learn many new English words in our English class (usually).
4. Does the foreman eat lunch with the other workers (ever)?
5. The food in this restaurant is good (seldom).
6. I have time to see visitors in the afternoon (rarely).
7. My father smokes in the office during the day (never).
8. Why don't you speak to your neighbour (ever)?
9. Mr. Brown dictated reports to his secretary (often).
10. Were you ready for breakfast by eight o'clock (already)

VI. Paraphrase the following sentences using an adverb in place of the words in italics:
1. William jumped two meters with ease.
2. The policeman left the room in a hurry.
3. My daughter was sleeping in peace.
4. Although outnumbered, our troops fought like heroes.
5. The farmer gazed with pride at his vegetables.
6. The tramp looked with hunger at the bread the old lady gave him.
7. The Chinese vase was broken by accident.
8. The prisoners were beaten without mercy.
9. Jonathan works all the sums in his head.
10. Now we can look forward to the future with hope.

VII. Fill in the blanks with hard or hardly :

 1. She was so tired that she could... speak.
2. They tried... but they didn't succeed.
3. At the end of the trip she had... any money.
4. How could you lend him such a valuable dictionary when you... knew him? 5. If
you want to pass such a difficult exam, you will have to work...
6. The room was so crowded there was... anywhere where to leave the luggage. 7.
You must know the answer; think...
8. This time she... ate anything.
9. Don't hit him too...
10. It was raining... when we left the house.

VIII. Complete each sentence with an adverb. Form these adverbs from the following
adjectives: bad, bright, careful, fast, fluent, foolish, good, happy, hard, immediate, merry,
polite, punctual, thorough.
1. Why are you so rude? You should behave...
2. My daughter has improved her English lately: she doesn't make grammar mistakes
and she speaks...
3. It was a beautiful day: the sun was shining..., the birds were singing... and the
children were playing...
4. Sammy is a good football player. He always plays...
5. Why are you driving so... today? You may have an accident.
6. ... we heard a terrible noise.
7. I opened the door... lest mother should hear me.
8. Our manager is a... educated man.
9. Bob did not study this lesson as... as the other ones.
10. I don't know what happened to him that evening, but he behaved...
11. Only by working... will you manage to pass such a difficult exam.
12. As she doesn't want to learn the new words, she speaks French... and she writes it
even...
13. I am not late. I have arrived...
14. As this is an urgent matter, we must solve it...

IX. Answer the questions using the adverbs in brackets followed by inver sion:
1. Was John dismissed as soon as he had been promoted? (no sooner)
2. Has she ever stayed in such an expensive hotel? (never before)
3. Can you pass this difficult exam without working hard? (only by)
4. Does she know much about this? (little)
5. Have you ever eaten such good cakes? (never)
6. Did Sandra go both to the cinema and to the theatre? (not only ... but also)
7. Shall I find such interesting museums anywhere else? (nowhere else)
8. Will you visit these people again? (never again)
9. Will he be permitted to leave? (under no circumstances)
10. Did the telephone ring immediately he had entered the room? (scarcely)

X. Translate into English:

1. Jimmy joacă fotbal la fel de bine ca şi fratele său acum.
2. Nicăieri ân altă parte nu veţi găsi atâta înţelegere.
3. Niciodată nu am mai văzut o femeie mai frumoasă.
4. Ceaiul este prea fierbinte ca să-l beau repede.
 5. De-abia atunci înţelese vorbele tatălui său.
6. Nu i-am văzut pe copii de ieri dimineaţă.
7. De-abia am ajuns la cabană că a şi început să poluă.
8. Unele plante cresc mai repede în locuri mai întunecate.
9. Din fericire, folosim această clădire doar temporar.
III.8. THE CONJUNCTION

A. THEORETICAL CONSIDERATIONS
A conjunction is a word that connects other words or groups of words. It can connect
nouns, verbs and clauses:
Bob and Dan are friends (nouns)
He will drive or fly (verbs)
It is early but we can go (clauses)
Call the movers when you are ready. (clauses)
A definition may overlap with that of other parts of speech, so what constitutes a
conjunction should be defined for each language. In general, a conjunction is an invariable
grammatical particle and it may or may not stand between the items it conjoins. The
definition can also be extended to idiomatic phrases that behave as a unit with the same
function as a single-word conjunction (as well as, provided that, etc.).
The most cohesive signals are connectives like therefore, which make a fairly explicit
relation between two clauses: that of reason. And, on the other hand, is the vaguest of
connectives. Sentences may be contrasted by either but or and, but logical connectors
denoting a contrast have been put under but, because that coordinator is more commonly used
with contrasted sentences. These two together with or make three logical connectors which
are explicit connectors and refer to the following relationships:
* and – listing: -enumeration
- addition: -reinforcement
- equation
- transition
- summation
- apposition
- result
- inference
* but – contrast
- concession
* or – reformulation
- replacement
Although it has a restrictive use, the conjunction for can be seen as a sentence
connector. On a gradient between ‘pure’ coordinator and ‘pure’ subordinator for and so that
(meaning with the result that) occupy an important place. Yet and so resemble coordination
in some respects. Nor represents a clear case of coordination. It contains a negative feature,
which introduces some syntactic difference. Both, either, neither as the first items in a
correlative pair with and, or nor are not in themselves coordinators, since like nor they can be
preceded by a central coordinator (and or or).
There are three types of conjunctions: coordinating, subordinating and correlative
a. Coordinating conjunctions are the ones which connect two equal parts of a
sentence.  The most common ones are and, or, but, and so which are used in the following
ways:
* and is used to join or add words together: They ate and drank.
 * or is used to show choice or possibilities: He will be here on Monday or Tuesday.
* but is used to show opposite or conflicting ideas: She is small but strong.
* so is used to show result: I was tired so I went to sleep.
Note that you can also use the conjunctions "but" and "for" as prepositions.

b. Subordinating conjunctions connect two parts of a sentence that are not equal. A
subordinating conjunction introduces a dependent clause and indicates the nature of the
relationship among the independent clause(s) and the dependent clause(s).
Some of the more common subordinating conjunctions such as:
     after                    before                    unless how whether
     although            if                             until/till once
     as                         since                      when since
     because            than                       while that
Subordinating conjunctions can introduce a direct object, indirect object, causal,
temporal, conditional clause or contrast/concessive subordinate clause.
She told me that her father had died. (direct object clause)
After she had learned to drive, Alice felt more independent.(temporal clause)
Gerald had to begin his thesis over again when his computer crashed. (temporal
clause)
If the paperwork arrives on time, your cheque will be mailed on Tuesday.
(conditional clause)
Midwifery advocates argue that home births are safer because the mother and baby
are exposed to fewer people and fewer germs. (causal clause)
Although he had a lot of money, he never married. (concessive clause)

c. Correlative conjunctions are pairs of conjunctions that work together. Correlative

conjunctions always appear in pairs -- you use them to link equivalent sentence elements.
(Technically correlative conjunctions consist simply of a co-ordinating conjunction linked to
an adjective or adverb.)
The most common correlative conjunctions are:
    both . . .and
     either . . . or
     neither . . . nor
     not only . . . but also
Both Jan and Meg are good swimmers
Bring either a Jello salad or a potato scallop.
Corinne is trying to decide whether to go to medical school or to go to law school.
The explosion destroyed not only the school but also the neighbouring pub.
Note: some words which appear as conjunctions can also appear as prepositions or as
adverbs.

B. EXERCISES
I. Choose the best answer for these questions:
1. Which conjunction is used to connect two equal parts of a sentence?
a. either; b. until; c. but; d. since; e. after
2.
Which conjunction is used to connect two unequal parts of a sentence?
a. so; b.or; c.but; c. if; d.and
3. Which conjunction is used with the correlative neither?
a.
 and; b. nor; c. but; d. so; e. or

II. Choose the conjunction which fits best in the sentence:

1. I am hungry …… I don't want to eat.
a.
but; b. so; c. after; d. before; e. or
2. He will eat …… he gets home.
a.
or; b. because; c. when; d. and; e. since
3. Do you want pizza ….. a hamburger?
a. than; b. so; c. while; d. as; e. or
  4. I would tell you…… I knew.
a.
and; b. unless; c. if; d. or; e. so
5. Come ……get it.
a.
but; b.explain; c. and; d. when; e. so 
  6. He ate ……. he was hungry.
a. if; b.so; c.or; d.although; e. because

III. Choose the conjunction that most appropriately completes the sentence.
1. Alice moved to New York.__________, her mother stayed in Boston
a. What's more
b. However
c. Therefore
d. but
2. You have disobeyed me.___________, I will not help you again.
a. Besides
b. Even so
c. Therefore
d. so
3. Harrison is kind._____________, he is generous.
a. Furthermore
b. Nevertheless
c. Therefore
d. But
4. Television is entertaining, ___________ it is instructive.
a. moreover
b. so
c. or
d. and
5. Mr. Adams was an invalid, ___________he had an active career.
a. what’s more
b. but
c. therefore
d. otherwise
6. I live too far to visit you often. ________, you are never home.
a. besides
b. even so
 c. otherwise
d. so
7. I prepared my English lesson. ___________, I wrote my French paper.
a. however
b. what’s more
c. consequently
d. and
8. The road was wet and slippery, _________ there were many accidents.
a. furthermore
b. nevertheless
c. so
d. therefore

IV. Rewrite these sentences as conditionals

Model: Unfortunately I didn't see him, so I couldn't give him your message.
If I had seen him, I could have given him your message
1. Unfortunately he didn't pass his exams or he might have gone to university.
2. He didn't realize what was happening or he would have run away.
3. Fortunately I didn't hear what she said or I would have been very angry.
4. They got in because you didn't lock the door properly.
5. It only happened because you didn't follow the instructions.
6. Luckily she didn't find out or she would have been furious.
7. It's lucky we booked a room or we would have had nowhere to stay.
8. It's a good job we weren't going any faster or someone could have been killed.
9. He was so tired that he went home at lunchtime.

V. Match the two parts of these conditional sentences.

1. You can borrow the money, ...
2. He'll probably get lost, ...
3. Had I known you were coming,.. .. ,
4. George says he will come, ...
5. You are not allowed to park in the school, ...
6. Should he telephone while I'm out, ...
7. Henry Ford said you could have any colour you wanted, ...
8. Fred will be at school next week, .. ,
a. would have invited you to lunch.
b. would you ask him to call back later?
c. provided he has recovered from his cold.
d. unless you are a member of staff.
e. as long as it was black.
f. provided he can stay overnight.
g. so long as you promise to pay it back.
h. unless someone shows him the way.

VI. Rewrite these sentences to include a 'to'-infinitive purpose clause introduced by the
words given in brackets.
Model: Everyone was pushing because they wanted to get to the front of the queue.
(in order to)
Everyone was pushing in order to get to the front of the queue. .
1. Try to write clearly. That way you will avoid being misunderstood. (so as to)
 2. A lot of people learn English because they want to study in English. (in order to)
3. What do I need to know, if I want to be a good doctor? (in order to)
4. She turned up early because she wanted to get the room ready. (in order to)
5. If you want to have a hundred students, you will need at least three teachers. (in order
to)
6. I came to live in the country because I wanted to have trees around me instead of
buildings. (so as to)
7. They had to eat grass and drink melted snow if they wanted to stay alive. (in order to)
8. He wanted to keep his car out of sight so he left it in the road. (in order to10 I wanted
to get to Madrid so I had to travel overnight from Barcelona. (to)

VII. The sentences below all have though, although, or even though. Use one of these
phrases to complete them.
we only arrived just in time; we had no time for lunch; she kept her coat on;
he was difficult to understand; you're not as tall as he was; he still wasn't tired;
I used to when I was younger; the weather was awful; I really like John.

Model: Although we were desperately hungry, we had no time for lunch. .

1. We enjoyed our holiday, even though
2. ……….., even though it was very warm.
3. I don't play the piano now, although
4. You look very like your grandfather, although
5. Though he hadn't stopped working all day,
6.………., even though his English was very good.
7.………, although he can be very annoying at times.
8. Although we set off early,

VIII. Rewrite these sentences with Just as.

Model: I knew he would complain about everything, and he did.
He complained about everything just as I knew he would.
1. You said they would arrive late, and they did.
2. Everyone believed he would run away, and he did.
3. Most people thought the play would be a success, and it was. .
4. We hoped he would dowell at school, and he did.
5. We all thought Mary would win, and she did.

IX. Rewrite these sentences with so ... that.

Model:The hill was very steep. I had to get off my bike and walk
The hill was so steep that I had to get off my bike and walk
1. Her writing was very small. I could hardly read it.
2. The winter was bitterly cold. All the streams were frozen
3. His favourite shoes were very badly worn. He had to throw them away
4. He looked very young. Everyone took him for a student.
5. Ken got very excited. He kept jumping up and down

X. Now rewrite these sentences with such ... that.

Model: The hill was very steep. I had to get off my bike and walk
It was such a steep hill that I had to get off my bike and walk
1. He was a dreadful liar. Nobody believed anything he said.
2. It proved to be a very difficult problem. Nobody could solve it.
 3. We had a very good time. We didn't want to go home
4. His clothes were very old. They were falling apart
5. The food was very good. We all ate far too much

XI. Translate the following sentences into English:

1. Haideţi să ne intâlnim din nou lunea viitoare, adică pe 12 iulie.
2. Unele fiinţe cum ar fi ursul şi şarpele hibernează în timpul iernii.
3. Ce-ar fi sa trecem pe la el după amiază, să spunem pe la ora 5 ?
4. "Unde este voinţă este şi putinţă" – spune un poroverb englezesc. Şi, fratele meu, de
exemplu, a muncit din greu, iar acum este inginer în cea mai mare uzină din oraş.
5. Erau o mulţime de oameni la petrecere, cum ar fi familia Brown, familia Smith,
familia Johnson, care se cunoşteau.
6. E pacat ca nu mergi la cinema cu noi.
7. Nu se ştie cine a spart vaza aceea.
8. Orice ai spune sau ai face nu mai are nici o importanţă.
9. Oricine îl vede rămâne uimit.
10. Ceea ce încearcă ea să ne explice este că la ora aceea nu era nimeni acasă.
11. Convingerea noastră este că a înţeles aceste lucruri ţi că îşi va face datoria.
12. S-au referit apoi la ceea ce citiseră cu o zi în urmă.
13. Împrumuta bani oricui îl ruga. Ne-am sculat foarte devreme ca să admirăm
răsăritul soarelui.
14. Am probleme cu maşina încă de când am cumpărat-o.
15. Ei au reacţionat ca şi cum n-ar fi ştiut nimic de acel concurs.

III.9. THE PREPOSITION

A. THEORETICAL CONSIDERATIONS
a. A preposition links nouns, pronouns and phrases other words in a sentence. The
word or phrase that the preposition introduces is called the object of the preposition. It
describes a relationship between other words in a sentence. In itself, a word like "in" or
"after" is rather meaningless and hard to define in mere words. For instance, when you do try
to define a preposition like "in" or "between" or "on," you invariably use your hands to show
how something is situated in relationship to something else.
A preposition usually indicates the temporal, spatial or logical relationship of its
object to the rest of the sentence as in the following examples:
The book is on the table.
The book is beneath the table.
The book is leaning against the table.
The book is beside the table.
She held the book over the table.
She read the book during class.
In each of the preceding sentences, a preposition locates the noun book in space or in
time.
Prepositions are nearly always combined with other words in structures called
prepositional phrase. Prepositional phrases can be made up of a million different words, but
they tend to be built the same: a preposition followed by a determiner and an adjective or
two, followed by a pronoun or noun (called the object of the preposition). This whole phrase,
in turn, takes on a modifying role, acting as an adjective or an adverb, locating something in
time and space, modifying a noun, or telling when or where or under what conditions
something happened.
 A prepositional phrase is made up of the preposition, its object and any associated
adjectives or adverbs. A prepositional phrase can function as a noun, an adjective, or an
adverb. The most common prepositions are:
about, above, across, after, against, along, among, around, at, before, behind, below,
beneath, beside, between, beyond, but, by, despite, down, during, except, for, from, in, inside,
into, like, near, of, off, on, onto, out, outside, over, past, since, through, throughout, till, to,
toward, under, underneath, until, up, upon, with, within, and without.
Consider the professor's desk and all the prepositional phrases we can use while
talking about it.
You can sit before the desk (or in front of the desk). The professor can sit on the desk
(when he's being informal) or behind the desk, and then his feet are under the desk or
beneath the desk. He can stand beside the desk (meaning next to the desk), before the desk,
between the desk and you, or even on the desk (if he's really strange). If he's clumsy, he can
bump into the desk or try to walk through the desk (and stuff would fall off the desk).
Passing his hands over the desk or resting his elbows upon the desk, he often looks across
the desk and speaks of the desk or concerning the desk as if there were nothing else like the
desk. Because he thinks of nothing except the desk, sometimes you wonder about the desk,
what's in the desk, what he paid for the desk, and if he could live without the desk. You can
walk toward the desk, to the desk, around the desk, by the desk, and even past the desk while
he sits at the desk or leans against the desk.
All of this happens, of course, in time: during the class, before the class, until the
class, throughout the class, after the class, etc. And the professor can sit there in a bad
mood [another adverbial construction].
Those words in bold are all prepositions. Some prepositions do other things besides
locate in space or time (My brother is like my father. Everyone in the class except me got the
answer.), but nearly all of them modify in one way or another. It is possible for a preposition
phrase to act as a noun (During a church service is not a good time to discuss picnic plans;In
the South Pacific is where I long to be ), but this is seldom appropriate in formal or academic
writing.
Prepositions can be classified into: prepositions of time, of place, of movement, of
time.

b. Prepositions of Time: at, on, and in

 We use at to designate specific times.
The train is due at 12:15 p.m.
 We use on to designate days and dates.
My brother is coming on Monday.
We're having a party on the Fourth of July.
 We use in for nonspecific times during a day, a month, a season, or a year.
She likes to jog in the morning.
It's too cold in winter to run outside.
He started the job in 1971.
He's going to quit in August.

c. Prepositions of Place: at, on, and in

 We use at for specific addresses.
Mrs. Smith lives at 55 Boretz Road in Durham.
 We use on to designate names of streets, avenues, etc.
Her house is on Boretz Road.
And we use in for the names of land-areas (towns, counties, states, countries, and
 continents).
She lives in Durham.
Durham is in Windham County.
Prepositions of Location: in, at, and on and No Preposition
IN AT ON NO
(the) bed* class* the bed* PREPOSITION
the bedroom home the ceiling downstairs
the car the library* the floor downtown
(the) class* the office the horse inside
the library* school* the plane outside
school* work the train upstairs
uptown
* You may sometimes use different prepositions for these locations.

d. Prepositions of Movement: to and No Preposition

 We use to in order to express movement toward a place

They were driving to work together.
She's going to the dentist's office this morning.
 Toward and towards are also helpful prepositions to express movement. These are
simply variant spellings of the same word; use whichever sounds better to you.
We're moving toward the light.
This is a big step towards the project's completion.
 With the words home, downtown, uptown, inside, outside, downstairs, upstairs, we
use no preposition
Grandma went upstairs.
Grandpa went home.
They both went outside.

e. Prepositions of Time: for and since

 We use for when we measure time (seconds, minutes, hours, days, months, years).
He held his breath for seven minutes.
She's lived there for seven years.
The British and Irish have been quarreling for seven centuries.
 We use since with a specific date or time.
He's worked here since 1970.
She's been sitting in the waiting room since two-thirty.

f. Prepositions with Nouns, Adjectives, and Verbs.

Prepositions are sometimes so firmly wedded to other words that they have practically
become one word. (In fact, in other languages, such as German, they would have become one
word.) This occurs in three categories: nouns, adjectives, and verbs.
NOUNS and PREPOSITIONS
approval of fondness for need for
awareness of grasp of participation in
belief in hatred of reason for
concern for hope for respect for
confusion about interest in success in
desire for love of understanding of
 ADJECTIVES and PREPOSITIONS
afraid of fond of need for
angry at happy about participation in
aware of interested in reason for
capable of jealous of respect for
careless about made of success in
familiar with married to understanding of
VERBS and PREPOSITIONS
apologize for fond of proud of
ask about happy about similar to
ask for interested in sorry for
belong to jealous of sure of
bring up made of tired of
care for married to worried about
find out
A combination of verb and preposition is called a phrasal verb. The word that is joined to
the verb is then called a particle. Please refer to the brief section we have prepared on phrasal
verbs for an explanation.

Idiomatic Expressions with Prepositions

 agree to a proposal, with a person, on a price, in principle
 argue about a matter, with a person, for or against a proposition
 compare to to show likenesses, with to show differences (sometimes
similarities)
 correspond to a thing, with a person
 differ from an unlike thing, with a person
 live at an address, in a house or city, on a street, with other people

Unnecessary Prepositions
In everyday speech, we fall into some bad habits, using prepositions where they are not
necessary. It would be a good idea to eliminate these words altogether, but we must be
especially careful not to use them in formal, academic prose.
 She met up with the new coach in the hallway.
 The book fell off of the desk.
 He threw the book out of the window.
 She wouldn't let the cat inside of the house. [or use "in"]
 Where did they go to?
 Put the lamp in back of the couch. [use "behind" instead]
 Where is your college at?

Prepositions in Parallel Form

When two words or phrases are used in parallel and require the same preposition to be
idiomatically correct, the preposition does not have to be used twice.
You can wear that outfit in summer and in winter.
The female was both attracted by and distracted by the male's dance.
However, when the idiomatic use of phrases calls for different prepositions, we must be
careful not to omit one of them.
The children were interested in and disgusted by the movie.
It was clear that this player could both contribute to and learn from every game he
played.
He was fascinated by and enamored of this beguiling woman.

We use the Gerund after the following phrases:

accuse of They were accused of breaking into a shop.
agree with I agree with playing darts.
apologize for They apologize for being late.
believe in She doesn't believe in getting lost in the wood.
blame for The reporter is blamed for writing bad stories.
complain about She complains about bullying.
concentrate on Do you concentrate on reading or writing?
congratulate sb. on I wanted to congratulate you on making such a good speech.
cope with He is not sure how to cope with getting older.
decide against They decided against stealing the car.
depend on Success may depend on becoming more patient.
dream about/of Sue dreams of being a pop star.
feel like They feel like going to bed.
get used to You must get used to working long hours.
insist on The girls insisted on going out with Mark.
look forward to I'm looking forward to seeing you soon.
prevent sb. from sth. How can I prevent Kate from working in this shop?
rely on sth. He doesn't rely on winning in the casino.
succeed in How then can I succeed in learning chemistry?
specialize in The firm specialized in designing websites.
stop sb. from I stopped Andrew from smoking.
talk about/of They often talk about travelling to New Zealand.
think of Frank thinks of playing chess.
warn sb. against We warned them against using this computer.
worry about The patient worries about having the check-up.

B. EXERCISES

I. Complete the following sentences with the correct preposition: at, in, or on.
1. Will you wait for me _____ the bus stop?
2. Jane is _____ her bedroom.
3. Daria's books are lying _____ the floor.
4. The girls didn't want to spend a long time _____ the carnival.
5. I let the cat sit _____ my lap, but then suddenly it jumped _____ my face!
6. Do you live _____ the city or _____ the country?
7. Trent arrived _____ the school building just in time.
8. The rancher built a fence to keep his cows _____ the pasture.
9. Kevin and Mack are out practicing _____ the football field.
10. From afar, Heathcliff could see a light _____ the window.
11. The old house had so much grime _____ the windows that Bradley could hardly see
inside.
12. The shepherd boy grazed his flock _____ the grassy hillside.
13. The audience threw tomatoes _____ the terrible comedian.
14. Wrestling isn't real; those guys _____ the ring are just pretending.
15. David works _____ the field of network administration, while Marty works _____
web design.
 16. The car stalled and got stuck _____ the street.
17. Audrey lives _____ Third Street.
18. If William doesn't make any money on his book, he'll be out _____ the street.
19. I'll use my cellular phone when I'm _____ the bus, but never while I'm _____ the car.
20. Passengers are not allowed to use electronic devices _____ airplanes during takeoff
and landing.

II. Find the correct preposition:

I'm Peter and I live …..Germany. ……summer I like to travel …..Italy, because
…..the weather and the people there. Last summer I took a plane …..Munich to Rome.
…..the airport we went to our hotel …..bus. We stopped …..a small restaurant for a quick
meal. The driver parked the bus…..the restaurant. Nobody could find the bus and the driver,
so we waited…..the restaurant …..one hour. The driver was walking ….the small park ….the
restaurant which we didn't know. So we were angry ….him. But my holidays were great. We
sat ….campfires and went dancing……the early mornings.

III. Choose the correct preposition.

1. I'm tired….. waiting for you (of/ with/ on/ in)
2. I haven't smoked….. ages. (since/ for/at/to)
3. The police car chased the robbers ….. the streets. (among/between/through/on)
4. You can look the word …..in a dictionary. (on/up/through/with)
5. She had problems …..reading the instructions. (to/by/in/with)
6. I'm looking …. my key. Has anyone found it? (for/after/of/to)
7. The song was written ….Madonna. (of/ from/ by/ on)
8. I can't come to the party. Don't wait …..me. (at/for/after/on)

IV. Fill in with the appropriate preposition:

1. My friend is good…..playing volleyball.
2. She complains….bullying.
3. They are afraid ….losing the match.
4. She doesn't feel …..working on the computer.
5. We are looking forward ….going out at the weekend.
6. Laura dreams …..living on a small island.
7. Andrew apologized ….being late.
8. Do you agree …..staying in a foreign country?
9. The girls insisted ….going out with Kerry.
10. Edward thinks climbing trees in the afternoon.

V. Check these rules, then say which question is correct:

1) Continents - in; e.g. in Asia, in Europe
2) Countries - in; e.g. in China
3) Cities, towns, districts, provinces, counties, areas and villages - in; e.g. in Beijing, in
Kowloon.
4) Islands - on; e.g. on Lantau, on Hong Kong Island
    Islands - groups of islands- in; e.g. in the Dao Yu Islands, in the Spratleys
5) Mountains - single mountains - on; e.g. on Yellow Mountain, on Mount Everest, on the
Peak
     Mountain ranges - in; e.g. in the Himalayas
6) Lakes and Rivers- on (e.g. on the surface) in (under the surface); e.g. a boat on the
West Lake, swimming in the West Lake
 7) Seas and Oceans- in; e.g. in the Pacific Ocean, in the South China Sea
8) Places that are different for different people- at ; e.g. at home, at university, at work, at
the doctor's, at my friend's flat
1. a. Brazil is of South America
b. Brazil is at South America.
c. Brazil is on South America.
d. Brazil is in South America.
2. a. New York is of the United States.
b. New York is at the United States.
c. New York is on the United States.
d. New York is in the United States.
3. a. I live on Bucharest.
b. I live at Bucharest.
c. I live in Bucharest.
4. a. Mount Everest is the tallest mountain of the Himalayas.
b. Mount Everest is the tallest mountain at the Himalayas.
c. Mount Everest is the tallest mountain on the Himalayas.
d. Mount Everest is the tallest mountain in the Himalayas.
5. a. Hong Kong is of the South China Sea.
b. Hong Kong is at the South China Sea.
c. Hong Kong is in the South China Sea.
6. a. I live of home.
b. I live at home.
c. I live on home.

VI. Identify the missing prepositions in the text and write them in the table below the
text. Some lines are correct; mark them with an X. Two examples are given:
The Final Exam
1 Two football players were taking an important final exam. If
2 they failed, they would be academic probation and not
3 allowed to play the Sugar Bowl the following week. The exam
4 was fill-in-the-blank. The last question read,
5 "Old MacDonald had a ........"
6 Bubba was stumped. He had no idea the answer. He knew
7 he needed to get this one right to be sure he passed. Making
8 sure the professor wasn't watching, he tapped Tiny the 9 shoulder.
10 "Pssst. Tiny. What's the answer the last question?"
11 Tiny laughed. He looked around to make sure the professor
12 hadn't noticed then he turned Bubba. "Bubba, you're so
13 stupid. Everyone knows Old MacDonald had a farm."
14 "Oh yeah," said Bubba. "I remember now." He picked up his
15 No.2 pencil and started to write the answer the blank. He
16 stopped. Reaching to tap Tiny's shoulder again, he
17 whispered, "Tiny, how do you spell farm?"
18 "You are really dumb, Bubba. That's so easy. Farm is 19 spelled E-I-E-I-O."

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
X on
 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19

VII. What is the correct combination of prepositions for each paragraph?

1. A man walks _ a health food restaurant _ a day _ the office, sits down and orders a nice
big dish _ brown rice and stir-fry veggies. He grabs a handful _ peanuts _ the bowl _ the
counter _ the cash register while he's waiting _ his order, and as he starts to chew he hears
a voice say, "That's a beautiful tie; is that silk? Very nice choice!"
A. into, after, at, of, of, from, on, by, for
B. in, before, in, of, of, in, on, by, for
C. at, after, off, of, of, from, on, by, for
D. out of, along, at, of, of, from, on, by, for
2. Wondering who would make such a strange comment, he around and doesn't see
anyone _ him who could've speaking _ him. _ a shrug, he pops a few more uts _ his
mouth.
A. next to, at, after, in
B. near, to, with, into
C. close to, along with, on, out of
D. near, to, without, at
3. Next he hears a voice, "Those shoes are stylish, my man. they Italian leather? They
look great!" whirls around again but sees no one _ him. He glances sly around and then _
his shoes, which he tucks selfsly _ the stool.
A. near, to, beneath
B. by, off, under
C. close to, to, under
D. near, at, under

VIII. In some of the lines of the following text there is one unnecessary preposition.
It is either incorrect or does not fit in with the sense of the text. For each numbered
line find this preposition and write it down on the right:

1 An engineering student was walking across campus when ………….

2 another engineer rides up in a shiny new motorcycle. ………….
3 “Where did you get such a great bike?”, asked the first. ………….
4. The second engineer replied: “Well, I was walking along ………….
5 yesterday, minding my own business when a beautiful ………….
6 woman rode up on this bike. ………….
7 She threw the bike at the ground, took off all her clothes ………….
8 and said “Take what you want!” ………….
9 The first engineer nodded in approvingly ………….
10 “Good choice; the clothes probably wouldn’t have fit in.” .…………

IX. Translate into English:

1. Ei îi place să asculte radioul, dar nu este întotdeauna impresionată de calitatea
programelor.
2. Trebuie să vă conformaţi regulilor jocului.
3. Alegeţi trei numere la întâmplare şi înmulţiţi-le cu cinci.
4. Nu ştiam că te interesează istoria medievală.
5. Deşi eram foarte grăbiţi, ea a insistat să ne oprim şi să cumpărăm câteva ziare.
 6. Produsele companiei noastre sunt mereu in conformitate cu standardele de
calitate.
7. Fusese acuzat ca ii furase poşeta acelei doamne în negru.
8. Cu ce mergi la serviciu în fiecare dimineaţă? Cu metroul sau cu autobuzul? Sau
poate cu maşina?
9. John a fost pedepsit pentru că nu şi-a făcut tema la timp.
10. De ce te uiti aşa la mine? Te-am rugat să ai grijă de pisică, iar tu ai lăsat-o să
iasă în stradă?

III.10. THE INTERJECTION

A. THEORETICAL CONSIDERATIONS
An interjection is a word added to a sentence to convey emotion. It is not
grammatically related to any other part of the sentence. We usually follow an interjection
with an exclamation mark. Interjections are uncommon in formal academic prose, except in
direct quotations.
Interjections are short exclamations like Oh!, Um or Ah! They have no real
grammatical value but we use them quite often, usually more in speaking than in writing.
When interjections are inserted into a sentence, they have no grammatical connection to the
sentence. An interjection is sometimes followed by an exclamation mark (!) when written.
Interjections like er and um are also known as "hesitation devices". They are
extremely common in English. People use them when they don't know what to say, or to
indicate that they are thinking about what to say. You should learn to recognize them when
you hear them and realize that they have no real meaning.
The table below shows some interjections with examples.
 
meaning example
interjection
expressing pleasure "Ah, that feels good."
expressing realization "Ah, now I understand."
ah
expressing resignation "Ah well, it can't be heped."
expressing surprise "Ah! I've won!"
alas expressing grief or pity "Alas, she's dead now."
expressing pity "Oh dear! Does it hurt?"
dear
expressing surprise "Dear me! That's a surprise!"
"It's hot today." "Eh?" "I said it's hot
asking for repetition
today."

eh expressing enquiry "What do you think of that, eh?"

expressing surprise "Eh! Really?"
inviting agreement "Let's go, eh?"
er expressing hesitation "Lima is the capital of...er...Peru."
hello, hullo expressing greeting "Hello John. How are you today?"
 expressing surprise "Hello! My car's gone!"
calling attention "Hey! look at that!"
hey
expressing surprise, joy etc "Hey! What a good idea!"
hi expressing greeting "Hi! What's new?"
expressing hesitation, doubt or
hmm "Hmm. I'm not so sure."
disagreement
expressing surprise "Oh! You're here!"
oh, o expressing pain "Oh! I've got a toothache."
expressing pleading "Oh, please say 'yes'!"
ouch expressing pain "Ouch! That hurts!"
"Uh...I don't know the answer to
uh expressing hesitation
that."
uh-huh expressing agreement "Shall we go?" "Uh-huh."
um, umm expressing hesitation "85 divided by 5 is...um...17."
expressing surprise "Well I never!"
well
introducing a remark "Well, what did he say?"

Characteristics:
1. it is an exclamatory word that usually expresses a strong emotion.
A word may stand alone
Hooray!
Help!
2. Followed by an exclamatory mark (!)
It may be followed by a related sentence.
Hooray! We won the championship!
Help! I can't hold on any longer!
2. A word of strong emotion ends in exclamation point (separate from rest of sentence)
Hey! Leave my friend alone!
Wow! I never thought she's go out with him!
3. a word of mild emotion ends in comma (part of the sentence)
Oh, sit still!
Say, are you busy?

B. EXERCISES

I. Underline the interjection in each sentence:

1. Brrr! The theater is as cold as ice!
2. Aha! There are some empty seats!
3. Ouch! Someone stepped on my toe!
4. Well, I suppose I should have studies more.
5. I wish that giggling would stop. Shhh!
6. Say, who told you about the party?
II. Use an appropriate interjection of your own for each of the emotions listed.
1. relief _________________ 4. astonishment_________________
2. joy _________________ 5. severe pain _________________
3. confusion _________________ 6. anger _________________

III. Rewrite each sentence below. Begin with the interjection in parentheses. Add the
correct punctuation after each interjection and at the end of each sentence.
1. They're announcing the winners (Psst)
_____________________________________________________
2. I guess I'll have to make a speech (Well)
_____________________________________________________
3. That wasn't so bad after all (Phew)
_____________________________________________________
4. I don't know if I can stand it any longer. (Help)
_________________________________________________

IV. In each blank, write an appropriate interjection for the feeling shown in
parentheses.
Interjection Emotion
oh, good heavens surprise
aw, darn, oh, no disappointment
ouch pain
wow, goodness joy
uh hesitation
tsk impatience
Model: (Pain)! That really hurts. Ouch
1. (Surprise), I didn’t expect to see you here.
2. (Impatience), I wish you’d hurry up.
3. (Hesitation), I don’t know the answer.
4. (Joy)! What a great present.
5. (Pain)! I cut my finger.
6. (Surprise)! We won the game.
7. (Hesitation), I don’t know which way to go.
8. (Joy), that was a terrific movie.
9. (Pain), I bumped my head.
10. (Disappointment), we’re late again.

V. Fill in each blank with an appropriate interjection. Use commas or exclamation

marks as punctuation.
Model: Wow! We had a fabulous trip.
1. I can’t figure out, where we are.
2. I just banged my knee.
3. I didn’t think the paper was due today.
4. I can’t wait all day.
5. The picnic has been rained out again.
6. That’s the biggest balloon I’ve ever seen.
7. I’m so happy you’re here for a visit.
8. That was a close call.
9. There isn’t enough snow to go skiing.
 10. You must be kidding.

III.11. LIST OF IRREGULAR VERBS

INFINITIVE PAST TENSE PAST PARTICIPLE

[æ] [ʌ]
begin began begun = a începe.
drink drank drunk/drunken* = a bea.
ring rang rung = 1.a suna. 2.a răsuna (de), a face să
sune. 3. a ţiui.
run ran run = a alerga.
shrink shrank shrunk/shrunken* = 1.a se micşora. 2.a intra la apă.3. a se
da înapoi, a se sustrage.
sing sang sung = a cînta.
sink sank sunk/sunken* = 1.a se scufunda. 2.a apune, a asfinţi.
3.a se lăsa în jos.
spring sprang sprung = 1. a ţâşni, a izvorî (d. apă). 2.a stîrni
(vînatul). 3.a sări. 4.a declanşa(un
arc, mină). 5. a avea originea.
stink stank stunk = 1.a mirosi urît.2.a simţi (un miros
urît).
swim swam swum = a înota.

* drunken, shrunken and sunken are used attributively.

[ʌ] [ʌ]
cling clung clung = a se ţine de, a se lipi de, a rămîne
ataşat.
dig dug dug = 1.a săpa. 2. a înfige, a vîrî.
fling flung flung = a arunca, a azvîrli.
hang hung/hanged hung/hanged = 1. a atîrna, a agăţa. 2. a spânzura.
sling slung slung = 1.a trage cu praştia. 2. a atârna, a
agăţa.
slink slunk slunk = a se furişa.
spin spun spun/span = 1.a fila, a toarce, a răsuci.
2. a se învîrti/roti.
stick stuck stuck = 1. a înfige, a împlînta.
2. a lipi.
sting stung stung = 1.a înţepa. 2.a ustura.
strike struck struck/stricken* = 1.a lovi, a izbi. 2.a suna, a bate
(ceasul).
* stricken is used attributively.
swing swung swung = a (se) legăna, a (se) balansa.
win won won = a câştiga.
wring wrung wrung = 1.a răsuci, a stoarce. 2.a strânge
(tare).

[ou] [ou]

break broke broken = a sparge, a rupe, a frânge.

choose chose chosen = a alege.
freeze froze frozen = a îngheţa.
steal stole stolen = a fura.
speak spoke spoken = a vorbi, a se exprima.
wake woke woke/woken = a se trezi, a se deştepta.
weave wove/weaved woven/weaved = 1.a (se) ţese. 2.a urzi (un complot).
3.a ţese, (a lucra la război).

[o:] [o:]

bear bore borne/born = 1. a purta, a duce, a căra, a transporta.

 2. a suporta, a îndura. 3. a (se) naşte.
swear swore sworn = 1.a jura, a depune jurământ. 2. a se
jura. 3.a înjura.
tear tore torn = 1. a rupe, a sfîşia. 2.a smulge.
wear wore worn = 1.a (se) purta (o haină), a fi îmbrăcat.
2.a uza, a ponosi. 3.a purta (părul,
barba).

[e] [e]

bereave bereaved/bereft bereaved/bereft = 1.a răpi. 2.a fura. 3.a priva.

bleed bled bled = a sîngera.
breed bred bred = a creşte, a educa.
creep crept crept = 1.a se tîrî, a se furişa, a se strecura. 2.
a
se înfiora.
dream dreamed/dreamt dreamed/dreamt = a visa.
feed fed fed = 1.a hrăni, a alimenta. 2. a paşte.
feel felt felt = 1.a simţi. 2.a pipăi. 3.a dibui, a tatona.
flee fled fled = a fugi, a scăpa cu fuga (de, din faţa).
keep kept kept = 1.a păstra, a opri, a nu restitui. 2.a
păstra, a pune deoparte. 3.a ţine, a
menţine.
kneel knelt knelt = a îngenunchia.
lead led led = 1.a îndruma, a conduce. 2.a călăuzi, a
conduce.
leap leapt leapt = 1.a sări peste, a trece peste. 2.a face să
sară.
leave left left = a lăsa, a părăsi.
mean meant meant = a intenţiona.
meet met met = 1.a întîlni. 2.a întîmpina.
read read read = a citi.
sleep slept slept = a dormi.
smell smelt/smelled smelt/smelled = a mirosi.
speed sped/speeded sped/speeded = 1.a se deplasa cu repeziciune, a merge
repede, a se grăbi. 2.a accelera, a
iuţi
(pasul).
spell spelled/spelt spelled/spelt = 1.a scrie literă cu literă. 2.a pronunţa
literă cu literă.
sweep swept swept = a mătura, a curăţi.
weep wept wept = a plînge.

[ u:] [o:]

draw drew drawn = 1. a trage. 2. a întinde (arcul).

3. a desena. 4. a deduce, a trage
concluzii.
overdraw overdrew overdrawn = 1. a exagera. 2. a depăşi (contul la
bancă).
withdraw withdrew withdrawn = 1. a trage (înapoi).2.a lua, a retrage. 3. a
(se) retrage.

[u:] [ou]

blow blew blown = 1.a bate (d.vînt), a sufla. 2. a sufla

greu,
 a gîfîi.
fly flew flown = 1. a zbura. 2. a fugi, a o lua la goană.
3.
a flutura, a fîlfîi.
grow grew grown = 1.a creşte. 2. a face progrese. 3. a
deveni. 4. a cultiva.
know knew known = a şti, a cunoaşte.
throw threw thrown = a arunca, a azvîrli.

[o:] [o:]

beseech besought besought = a implora.

bring brought brought = a aduce.
buy bought bought = a cumpăra.
catch caught caught = a prinde.
fight fought fought = a lupta.
seek sought sought = 1.a căuta. 2.a urmări un scop.
teach taught taught = a învăţa (pe cineva), a preda.
think thought thought = 1. a se gîndi, a medita, a chibzui, a
cugeta. 2.a crede, a gîndi. 3. a
concepe.
4. a-şi imagina, a-şi închipui. 5.a
crede,
a socoti.

[ou] [ i]

drive drove driven = 1.a conduce (un vehicul). 2.a goni, a

mîna.
ride rode ridden = 1.a călări. 2.a călători (cu un mijloc de
transport public). 3. a călări (un cal).
rise rose risen = 1.a se scula,a se ridica (d.lună). 2. a
răsări (d. soare).
arise arose arisen = 1.a se ridica, a apărea, a se ivi.
2.a răsări.
shrive(old use) shrove shriven = a se mărturisi (la preot).
smite smote smitten = 1.a lovi, a izbi. 2.a afecta. 3.a vrăji.
stride strode stridden = 1.a încăleca. 2.a păşi, a face paşi mari.
3. a sări.
strive strove striven = 1. a se strădui. 2. a se lupta.
thrive throve/thrived thriven = a prospera, a propăşi.
write wrote written = a scrie.

(no change)

bet bet/betted bet = a pune/face un pariu.

burst burst burst = a izbucni, a exploda.
broadcast broadcast(ed) broadcast(ed) = a radiodifuza.
cast cast cast = a arunca.
cost cost cost = a costa.
cut cut cut = a tăia.
hit hit hit = a bate, a izbi, a lovi.
hurt hurt hurt = a răni.
let let let = a permite, a îngădui, a lăsa.
put put put = a pune.
rid rid rid = a elibera, a scăpa.
set set set = 1.a pune, a aşeza. 2.a regla, a
 potrivi. 3.a asfinţi, a apune.
shed shed shed = 1.a vărsa (lacrimi, sînge). 2.a
lepăda (frunze). 3.a
revărsa, a
răspîndi în jur.
shut shut shut = a închide.
slit slit slit = a (se) despica, a (se) crăpa.
split split split = 1.a despica. 2.a tăia. 3.a
desface. 4.a dezbina. 5.a scinda.
spread spread spread = 1.a întinde, a desfăşura.
2.a răspîndi.
thrust thrust thrust = a lovi, a izbi, a îmbrînci.

[t] [t]

bend bent bent = 1.a coti. 2. a (se) îndoi.

lend lent lent = a da cu împrumut.
rend rent rent = 1.a rupe. 2. a sfîşia. 3. a despica.
send sent sent = a trimite.
spend spent spent = 1. a cheltui, a irosi, a risipi. 2. a
petrece (timpul).

[au] [au]

bind bound bound = a lega.

find found found = a găsi.
grind ground ground = a sfărîma, a pisa, a măcina.
wind wound wound = 1. a şerpui. 2. a (ră)suci
(ceasul). 3. a se răsuci/încolăci.
4. a se schimba (d. păreri). 5. a
se scoroji.

[ou] [ou]

sell sold sold = a vinde.

tell told told = 1.a spune, a zice. 2.a
povesti, a relata.
foretell foretold foretold = a prevesti, a prezice.

[i] [i]

bite bit bitten = a muşca.

chide chid/chided chid/chided = a certa, a dojeni, a mustra.
hide hid hidden = a (se) ascunde.

[u] [ei]

forsake forsook forsaken = a părăsi, a abandona.

mistake mistook mistaken = a înţelege greşit vorbele
cuiva.
partake partook partaken = a împărtăşi, a participa la.
shake shook shaken = 1.a scutura, a clătina.
2.a zgudui, a zdruncina.
3. a intimida, a speria.
4. a
tremura.
take took taken = a lua.

[ei] [i]

bid bade/bid bidden/bid = 1.a porunci. 2. a invita,

a pofti 3.a dori, a ura.
4.a oferi un preţ.
forbid forbade forbidden = a interzice.
forgive forgave forgiven = a ierta.
give gave given = a da.

[æ] [æ]
sit sat sat = a sta jos.
spit spat spat = 1. a scuipa. 2. a manifesta
dispreţ.
3. a pufni (d.pisici).

[d] [n]

hew hewed hewn = a tăia, a despica.

mow mowed mown = 1. a cosi. 2.a secera. 3.a
tunde (iarba).
saw sawed sawn = 1.a tăia cu ferăstrăul.
2.a ferăstrui.
sew sewed sewn = a (se) coase.
show showed shown = a arăta.
sow sowed sown = a semăna, a presăra.
strew strewed strewn = 1.a răspîndi, a împrăştia.
2.a acoperi/presăra (cu).

Miscellaneous

abide abode abode = 1.a locui, a sta. 2.a rămîne.

3. a răbda, a se supune.
be was/were been = a fi.
beat beat beaten = a bate.
blend blended/blent blended/blent = a amesteca.
bless blessed/blest blessed/blest = a binecuvînta.
build built built = a construi.
burn burned/burnt burned/burnt = a arde.
clothe clothed/clad clothed/clad = 1.a îmbrăca. 2.a acoperi.
come came come = a veni.
become became become = a deveni.
overcome overcame overcome = 1.a învinge,a subjuga.
2. a întrece. 3. a pune
stăpânire (d.
emoţii).
4. a copleşi (d. durere).
deal dealt dealt = 1.a repartiza, a distribui.2.a avea
de-a face cu cineva.
do did done = 1.a face, a săvîrşi, a îndeplini.
2. a acţiona, a proceda.
outdo outdid outdone = a întrece.
dwell dwelt dwelt = 1.a locui. 2.a insista asupra.
eat ate eaten = a mînca.
fall fell fallen = a cădea.
foresee foresaw foreseen = a prevedea, a întrezări.
forget forgot forgotten = a uita.
get got got/gotten = a căpăta, a primi, a obţine.
go went gone = a merge.
undergo underwent undergone = 1.a suferi. 2.a păţi. 3.a trece prin.
have had had = a avea.
hear heard heard = a auzi.
overhear overheard overheard = 1.a auzi din întîmplare.
2. a surprinde (o
conversaţie etc.).
hold held held = 1.a ţine. 2. a reţine, a opri, a împiedica.
3. a conţine, a avea. 4. a deţine,
a poseda. 5. a imobiliza.
behold beheld beheld/beholden = a zări, a vedea.
withhold withheld withheld = 1.a reţine, a opri. 2. a refuza.
knit knitted/knit knitted/knit = a împleti, a tricota.
lay laid laid = a pune jos, a culca, a aşeza.
mislay mislaid mislaid = a pierde, a zăpăci.
lean leant/leaned leant/leaned = a se înclina, a se apleca.
learn learned/learnt learned*/learnt = a învăţa.
lie lay lain = 1.a fi culcat, a fi întins. 2. a zăcea.
light lighted/lit lighted/lit = a aprinde.
load loaded loaded/laden* = 1.a încărca. 2. a copleşi.
* laden, learned, molten (iron) are used attributively.
lose lost lost = a pierde.
make made made = 1.face. 2. a fabrica. 3. a prepara.
melt melted melted/molten* = a se topi.
pay paid paid = a plăti.

rot rotted rotted/rotten* = 1. a putrezi. 2. a se ofili,

a se prăpădi. 3. a se caria.
* rotten is used attributively.
say said said = 1. a spune, a zice. 2. a recita (versuri).
3. a afirma. 4.a exprima în
cuvinte. 5.a-şi exprima părerea, a se
pronunţa.
see saw seen = a vedea.
shave shaved shaved/shaven = 1.a (se) bărbieri. 2.a tăia (subţire).
3. a se freca de, a se atinge de.
shear sheared sheared/shorn = a tunde.
shine shone shone = a străluci.
shoe shod shod = 1.a potcovi. 2.a încălţa.
shoot shot shot = 1.a se năpusti, a da buzna. 2. a vîna.
3. a încolţi (d. plante). 4. a trage cu
arma.
slide slid slid = 1. a aluneca, a se da pe gheaţă.
2. a trece pe nesimţite.
spill spilled/spilt spilled/spilt = 1.a vărsa, a răsturna. 2.a da pe
dinafară.
spoil spoiled spoiled/spoilt = 1.a strica. 2.a răsfăţa. 3.a se strica.
stand stood stood = a sta în picioare.
understand understood understood = 1.a înţelege, a pricepe. 2. a afla, a lua
cunoştinţă despre.
withstand withstood withstood = a rezista, a ţine piept.
swell swelled swollen/swelled = a (se) umfla.
tread trod trodden/trod = a păşi, a călca.
work worked worked/wrought* = 1. a lucra, a munci. 2. a prelucra.
 3. a executa, a înfăptui. 4. a pune la
treabă. 5. a face, a produce.
6. (d. maşini) a funcţiona. 7. a merge,
a avea succes. 8. a fermenta.
* wrought (iron) = (fier) forjat.

(adapted by Doina Cmeciu and Elena Bonta from Eckersley, C.E.: A Comprehensive English
Grammar)