Unit 1: Overview of the English System.

● Time & Tense

The notion of time is universal and independent of any particular language,
whereas tense is a linguistic device or category, varying from language to
language. Time is a non-linguistic concept with three dimensions: past, present
and future. Tense is a purely grammatical idea, the grammatical expression of a
relative time. Eg: In the sentence “John plays football every Saturday”, the present
simple tense of the verb expresses an idea that can convey past, present and
future time reference.

● Aspect
It defines how the flow of time is viewed in a sentence. It adds information about
the speaker’s perception of time, the completeness or incompleteness of an
action. There are four types of grammatical aspect:

○ Simple grammatical aspect: refers to the whole of a situation. Eg: I

ate a sandwich at work.
○ Progressive grammatical aspect: describes an event at some point
of its beginning and its end. The focus is principally on the duration
of an event. Eg: I was eating a sandwich at that point.
○ Perfect grammatical aspect: it describes the relationship of events
to one another in time. It gives information about the speaker’s
perspective of the relationship between one time frame and an
event that takes place in another time frame. Eg: I had eaten a
sandwich before she came in.
○ Perfect progressive grammatical aspect: expresses incomplete or
ongoing actions or states that began in the past and continue to a
specific time. Eg: I have been eating this sandwich since she came
in- it’s huge!

Aspectual meaning refers to the way in which English indicates temporal

features such as duration, frequency and completion. Perfective aspectual
meaning is used when the action is considered to be complete. Eg: I ate a
sandwich yesterday. Imperfective aspectual meaning refers to a situation
considered to be incomplete. Eg: I eat a sandwich at work everyday.

● Mood & Voice

Mood has to do with the emotional attitude of the speaker towards the action. It
focuses on the relationship of the verb with reality and intent, so it refers to the
factual or non-factual status of events.

○ Indicative mood: it is a factual mood. It is the most frequent in

English, and it is used in declarative and interrogative sentences. It
 involves all the choices available concerning person, tense, number,
aspect, modality and voice.
○ Imperative mood: it is a non-factual mood. It is used for directives:
invitations, offers, suggestions, commands, requests, instructions,
etc.
○ Subjunctive mood: it is optional and stylistically marked. It is formal
and not very frequent. It is a non-factual mood and refers to wishes,
desires or suggestions. There are two forms: the present and the
past subjunctive. Within the present subjunctive we can
differentiate between the mandative and the formulaic subjunctive.

■ Mandative subjunctive: It involves the plain form of the verb

with no inflections, so it shows no apparent agreement with
the subject, although it is a finite form. Uses:
● In a that clause after an expression of demand,
recommendation, proposal, intention, etc.; contained in
a subordinate clause. Eg: I suggested that she consult a
doctor.
● After adjectives such as essential, important, advisable,
etc. Eg: It is essential that you look for help.
● In the correlative conjunction whether… or. Eg:
Whether it seem good or not, I will do it anyway.
● With the conjunction if, and wh-ever pronouns. Eg:
Your relatives are all welcomed here, whoever they be.

■ Formulaic subjunctive: It is only used in clauses of certain set

expressions. The verb form is finite. Eg: Come what may, God
bless you, Long live the King.

■ Past Subjunctive: also called were-subjunctive. It is

hypothetical or unreal in meaning, being used in adverbial
clauses introduced by conjunctions such as if, if only, as if, as
though, and after verbs like wish, suppose and imagine. Eg: If I
were you, I’d tell her the truth. / I wish you were here.

Voice gives information about the roles of different participants in an event,

showing whether a person or thing is performing or receiving the action. Active
voice is most commonly used, and indicates that the subject performs the action
and an object receives the action. Passive voice indicates that the subject is not
the doer of the action, but the agent. Middle voice occurs when the subject of
the sentence is acted upon, but the verb does not show the same inflections as in
the passive. Eg:
Active voice: The information changed public opinion.
Passive voice: Public opinion was changed by the information.
Middle voice: Public opinion changed.
● Verb Tenses: an overview
○ Present Progressive
■ To indicate an activity in progress at the very moment of
speaking. The action began in the past, is continuing at the
present and it may go on in the future. In this case, the three
main characteristics of the progressive aspect are present:
incompleteness, temporariness and emphasis on duration. Eg:
I am studying right now, please stay silent.
■ To refer to an action that is habitual or repeated but for or over
a limited period of time. They are happening around now, not
necessarily at the moment of speaking. Eg: She is staying at
her parents house while her husband is out.
■ To refer to an action that is repeated frequently, more usually
than expected. In this case, the progressive aspect loses its
component of temporariness. It usually shows annoyance or
irritation. Eg: You are always complaining about your
classmate, why don’t you change groups?
■ To express changing or developing situations into other states.
It is usually used with comparative adjectives or quantifiers
such as more and more, faster and faster, little by little, etc.
Eg: Winters are getting colder and colder in my city.
■ To indicate an activity which has been arranged for the near
future. It has to be contextualised with the use of adverbials.
Eg: We are meeting tomorrow to discuss the issue.
● PROG. GRAMM. ASPEC. & IMP. ASPEC. MEAN.

○ Simple Present
■ To express timeless actions or eternal truths. It does not have
any specific time reference. It speaks about what was true in
the past, is true in the present and is likely to be true in the
future. It is used in scientific, mathematical, geographical and
proverbial statements. Eg: Water boils at 100° C.
■ To express situations that are considered to be permanent,
such as simple fact, abilities and continuous states. Eg: She
speaks several languages.
■ To express habitual actions, representing a series of events
which as a whole make up a group of events which stretches
back into the past and forward into the future. Eg: She usually
gets up at 8 am.
■ Used with future time reference:
● Future as a fact. Eg: My birthday is tomorrow.
● In subordinate clauses when the verb main clause is in
the future tense. Eg: You will go outside once you
finish your homework. (PERF. ASPEC. MEAN.)
○ SIMP. GRAMM. ASPEC. & IMP. ASPEC. MEAN.
 ■ To indicate instantaneous present, a single action which
began and was completed approximately at the moment of
speech. Situations like:
● Reports or commentaries: John passes the ball to Jim,
he shoots, he scores!
● Demonstrations: Add the eggs and whisk.
● Captions in newspapers and magazines: The president
arrives in China after a long flight.
● Speech acts: I promise I will never let you go.
● Exclamatory sentences: Here comes the bride!
○ SIMP. GRAMM. ASPEC. & PERF. ASPEC. MEAN.
■ To show contrast between a past activity and a present one.
Eg: She said she hated him, now she says she loves him.
■ Historic present: it describes the action as if it is happening
now, it conveys a dramatic immediacy.
● Narrative historic present: a metaphorical use, it is a
device used to make the narrative appear more vividly
by using the here-and-now speech. Eg: At that
moment, a messenger comes and gives us the news.
● With verbs of communication: to refer to a past
communication that is still in force for those who have
received it. Eg: John informs me that you were absent
last class.
● Newspaper headlines: reporting recent events, dynamic
situations in the past. Eg: Argentina beats Italy.
○ SIMP. GRAMM. ASPEC. & IMP. ASPEC. MEAN.

○ Present Perfect
■ To refer to an activity which began in the past and continues
up to the moment of speaking. The adverbials are obligatory.
Eg: She has lived in Cordoba since she was born.
■ A habit or repeated event in a period of time leading up to the
present. Eg: She has studied English every year since 2014.
● PERF. GRAMM. ASPEC. & IMP. ASPEC. MEAN.
■ An action that began and finished in the past which has
present visible results that are important for the speaker. The
time is not specified, because it is not important. Eg: She has
studied a lot, so she passed the exam.
■ To indicate an activity completed in the recent, immediate
and also indefinite time in the past. Eg: She has just ordered
a pizza.
■ To refer to an action that happened or never happened before
now, at an indefinite, unspecified time in the past. Use of
adverbs:
 ● Ever: at any time up to now. Eg: Have you ever been to
Paris?
● Never: at no time up to now. Eg: I have never been to
Paris.
● Already: in questions to express surprise / in affirmative
sentences before the present moment. Eg: Have you
already had lunch without me? / I have already had
lunch.
● Yet: up until now / in questions before the present
moment in time. Eg: I haven’t had breakfast yet. /
Have you had breakfast yet
■ To denote an action that was completed during a present
incomplete period of time. Eg: I have written two essays this
month.
■ To describe the specific number of times we have completed
something, but the exact time is not specified. Eg: I have
travelled by plane three times this year.
■ Used with other present tenses: reporting verbs (I suppose
she has been held up in traffic) or with phrases like This is
the first/second/third time…
■ With future time reference: in adverbial clauses of time or
condition when the main verb is in the future or imperative
form. Eg: You will go outside after you have finished your
homework.
● PERF. GRAMM. ASPEC. & PERF. ASPEC. MEAN.

○ Present Perfect Progressive

■ To indicate an activity that began in the past and is still in
progress at the moment of speaking. Eg: I have been
studying since I got up this morning.
■ To indicate a temporary habit which started in the past and
continues up to the moment of speaking. Eg: I have been
visiting my grandparents every Monday this month.
● PERF. PROGR. GRAMM. ASPEC. & IMP. ASPEC. MEAN.
■ To express a complete action that has been in progress during
a present incomplete period of time. Eg: It has been raining
all morning.
■ To express a complete past action whose results are still
visible. The action started in the past and lasted for some time,
it may be completed or still going on. Eg: Have you been
watching movies all night? You look very tired.
● PERF. PROGR. GRAMM. ASPEC. & PERF. ASPEC. MEAN.
 ○ Simple Past
Two elements of meaning: prior to the time of speaking and a specific time in
the past named by adverbial expressions.
■ Activities or states in the past without connection to the
present. The use of adverbials indicates the specific point in
the past. Eg: I ate a delicious sandwich yesterday.
■ To indicate a definite period of past time. Eg: He studied
French for two years.
■ To express past habits that are now finished. Eg: He woke up
at 8 am everyday last year.
■ In dependent clauses to express hypothetical meaning. Eg: I
wish you were here.
■ In spoken English, to sound more polite and less demanding,
referring to the present, especially feelings or thoughts. Eg:
Did you want me?

○ Past Progressive
It is used when we are interested in the duration of the activity, a single activity
in progress in the past. In this tense, the three main characteristics of the
progressive aspect are present: duration, temporariness and incompleteness.
■ To express a single activity in progress in the past. We do not
mention when the action started or finished. Eg: I was taking
a class at that moment.
■ To indicate that an action was repeated, but not permanent,
over a limited period of time. Eg: She was doing exercise
three times a week that month.
■ To indicate repeated and sporadic actions that show, though
not necessarily, annoyance from part of the speaker. Eg: My
brother is always leaving my desk untidy, it’s so annoying!
■ To give a descriptive background in a narration. Eg: Back in
those days, people were travelling to America to find more
job opportunities.

○ Past Perfect
■ Past in the past: past action previous to another past action.
Eg: I had finished my lunch when she came in.
■ Incomplete past action that had started before another past
action and had lasted for some time. Eg: He had waited for
several hours before she arrived.
■ Resultative past in the past: an action which started and
finished in the past and whose results are visible in the past.
Eg: We had had an exam that day and we were very tired.
■ With adjectives in the superlative degree and expressions like
the first/second…the only…etc. Eg: That was the first time I
had travelled abroad.
 ○ Past Perfect Progressive
■ To put emphasis on the duration of an action which started in
the past and finished in the past before another past action or
stated time in the past. Eg: Carolina had been teaching for
more than 30 years before she retired.
■ Resultative past in the past: lengthy past actions with visible
consequences in the past. Eg: My students have been
waiting for an hour before the class, that’s why they were
very tired.

● Different Ways of Denoting Future Time Reference

Morphologically, English has no further form of the verb in addition to past and
present. We can speak about grammatical constructions that are capable of
expressing the semantic category of future time.

○ Simple future tense

■ Something that has been planned. Eg: I will celebrate my
birthday in a bar this Friday.
■ A state or event that is definitely going to happen. Eg: She will
turn 18 next week.
■ General predictions based on opinion, analysis, judgement or
experience. Eg: I think that President Obama will win the
elections.
■ On-the-spot decisions. Eg: It’s very cold, I’ll close the door.
■ Promises, threats, warnings, hopes, fears, refusal, willingness.
Eg: I promise I will pay you back.
■ Requests and offers. Eg: Will you help me, please?

○ Future progressive tense

■ To speak about an action in progress at a certain time in the
future. Eg: She will be flying to Madrid by this time
tomorrow.
■ Pure future: a future activity that is a normal part of events or
one of a repeated series of events. Eg: I will be visiting you
this Monday as usual.
■ When guessing about what people are doing. Eg: I imagine
they will be studying for the test tomorrow morning.

○ Future perfect tense

■ An action completed prior to or by (not later than) a certain
time in the future. It puts emphasis on the completion of the
activity and its results. Eg: By this time tomorrow, I will have
finished writing my essay and I will be relaxing at home.
 ○ Future perfect progressive tense
■ An action that began before a certain time in the future, but
will not have been completed by then. It emphasises the
duration of an action up to a certain time in the future. Eg: By
2025 I will have been studying English for ten years.

○ Be going to
■ Future fulfilment of a present plan or ambition. Eg: I am
going to travel abroad next year.
■ Future fulfilment of a present cause or evidence. Eg: Look at
the sky! It’s going to rain!

○ The future seen from the past

■ Was/ were going to + infinitive: an unfulfilled intention. Eg: We

were going to take the class, but we realised we had not
completed the homework.
■ Auxiliary verb + would: a past tense of will or going to. Eg: My
parents would not change their decision.
■ Past progressive: uncertainty if the action took place or not.
Eg: I was meeting him at the cafe that morning.

● Passive Voice
When we want to give the information we provide an objective and impersonal
tone. Many actions involve two parts: one that performs the action (doer of the
action, subject) and one that is affected by the action (recipient or beneficiary).
Passive voice is used when we want to focus on the thing affected by the action,
so we make that person or thing the subject of a passive form of the verb.

The passivation of an active sentence involves three steps:

1. The object NP in the active sentence is moved into the subject of the
passive sentence.
2. The subject NP is moved to the end of the sentence and now the sentence
has an agent.
3. The main verb is changed into its participle form and the appropriate form
of the verb to be is inserted.

Eg: The hardworking students handed in the essays on Monday. / The essays were
handed in on Monday by the hardworking students.

Agentless passive constructions

1. When the identity of the agent is unknown or the natural doer of the
action. Eg: The car was stolen yesterday.
2. When the action is more important than the doer of the action. Eg: Exams
were taken on June the 23rd.
 3. When the agent has already been mentioned or is understood by the
context. Eg: The manager called the employees and some of them were
fired.
4. When the agent is people in general. Eg: The beach is the most chosen
destination in summer holidays.
5. When we want to hide the agent’s identity to avoid assigning blame or
responsibility. Eg: Products have been discarded because of a failure.
6. When we want to avoid giving direct orders or rules. Eg: Exercises 3 and 4
should be done for tomorrow.

Passive look-alikes
Sentences with be followed by a past participle may look like passives. In this
case, the past participle form is a participial adjective. Eg: Susan was exhausted
after the marathon. The presence of a by-agent phrase indicates that the -ed
form is verbal. Conversely, the presence of a complement, such as a that-clause,
indicates that it is adjectival. Eg: Adjectival (active voice): I was delighted to meet
you again. / Verbal (passive voice): I was delighted by his compliments.

● The Get Passive

Associated with verbs that emphasise actions or processes. Limited to
constructions without an expressed animate agent. Generally occurs with verbs
from semantic categories such as physical assault (get hit), transference (get
snatched), and verbs of emotional or mental strain (get punished). However, it
can also be used to express actions that benefit the subject. Eg: He got
promoted.

Get Passive Look-Alikes

We should be careful because sometimes the meaning of “get + -ed” can be
active as in: I got dressed as quickly as I could. As we can notice, get means
“become” and it is followed by a participial adjective; besides, these sentences
cannot be changed into active sentences.

● Middle Voice
Middle voice has characteristics of both active and passive voice. The verb form is
the same as in the active voice; the subject is the same as in the passive voice. In
middle voice sentences, there is no agent. Eg: Public opinion changed.

Ergative verbs
We use ergative verbs to say that an action simply happens without an agent.
Eg: The door opened. (= ergative verb – as if the door opened by itself.) The
difference between the passive form and the ergative form of the verb is that the
passive sentence suggests the existence of an agent, even if the agent is not
explicit. The verb used ergatively does not permit an agent.
Unit 2: Non-finite forms

● The to-infinitive form

There are four cases: simple infinitive, progressive infinitive, perfect infinitive
and perfect progressive infinitive.
○ Functions as a noun
■ Subject: To err is human.
■ Real subject: It is difficult to find a job these days.
■ Direct object: The asked me to stay quiet.
■ Real direct object: I consider it unwise to lie to him.
■ Object complement: The jury declared the defendant to be
innocent.
■ Subject complement: My idea was to surprise him.
■ Appositive: My decision to quit this job is final.

○ Functions as an adjective
■ Postmodifier: I have three reports to write.
■ Adjectival complement: I was anxious to start.

○ Functions as an adverb
■ Adverbial adjunct of purpose: I bought the car to travel.
■ Adverbial adjunct of reason: I rejoice to hear about your
success.
■ Adverbial adjunct of result: He arrived at the party to realise
that it was over.

● The bare infinitive

○ Uses
■ After verbs of physical perception to refer to the whole
situation (the action is complete and the infinitive functions as
the object complement): I heard someone knock at the
door.
■ After causative verbs “have”, “let”, ”help”, “make” in the active
voice(functions as object complement): He made me laugh.
■ After “help” and “let”: He helped me do my homework.
■ After “would rather”, “had sooner/better”, modal auxiliaries,
“(rather) than”, “but” and “except” in a specific pattern.
● I would rather eat pasta.
● I had better see a doctor.
● She can’t swim.
● He prefers to go hiking rather than go swimming.
● My teacher did nothing but speak about her life.
■ In the structure why…? / why not..? To make suggestions:
Why don’t we go to the movies?
 ● The -ING form
○ As a gerund
A verbal noun. It can perform the following functions:
■ Subject: Reading is my passion.
■ Real subject: It is a pleasure meeting you here.
■ Direct object: The pain in my throat made speaking difficult.
■ Indirect object: Charles gives painting all his energy and time.
■ Prepositional complement: How about going to the movies?
■ Object complement: She considers this arguing. In this case,
it identifies the object, we could say: This is arguing. In
contrast, participial adjectives (gerund) describe the object.
● The gerund after possessive determiners, objective
pronouns and nouns in the possessive case: there is a
co-referential subject and a non-coreferential subject.
In the case of non-coref. we have to decide to use the
personal pronoun or the possessive determiner. Eg: I
don’t mind saying I was wrong / I don’t mind you /
your saying I was wrong.

○ As a participle
Present participle. It can perform the following functions:
■ To form the progressive tenses: I was reading this morning.
■ As a modifier: It was such an exciting story!
■ As the subject complement: This book is interesting. In this
case it describes the subject.
■ As the object complement after verbs of perception: I heard
children laughing very loudly.
■ Adverbial functions:
● Time: During my trip, I visited many places.
● Manner: He worked hard pushing that sofa.
● Reason: Being late, he went to sleep.
● Condition: Studying hard, you will pass the exam.
● Purpose: Laura sent me a message, inviting me.
■ As an adverb modifying an adjective: It’s boiling hot today.

● Catenative verbs
These are verbs that control a non-finite complement. The first one will be finite
and the last one will not be a catenative. These verbs help us chain different
complements to a verb. Eg: We decided to try to persuade Bill to help us rent a
house near the sea.
1. Head verb → Decide | Complement → To try to persuade Bill to help us
rent a house near the sea.
2. Head verb → Try | Complement → to persuade Bill to help us rent a house
near the sea.
 3. Head verb → Persuade | Complement → Bill to help us rent a house near
the sea.
4. Head verb → Help | Complement → us rent a house near the sea.

● Group of verbs according to their pattern:

○ Verbs followed by -ing.
○ Verbs followed by the infinitive.
○ Verbs + (pro)noun + infinitive.
○ Verbs + (object) + bare infinitive.
○ Prepositional verb + infinitive.
○ Verb + object + preposition + -ing.

● Verbs followed by the infinitive or -ing form:

○ Differences concerning the speaker attitude:
■ Like + -ing → current states or situations | Like + to inf. → habits.
■ Love / prefer / hate + -ing → general | + To inf. → particular.
○ Differences concerning aspect with verbs of perception:
■ + bare infinitive → complete | + -ing → incomplete.
○ Differences concerning time reference: remember, regret, forget.
■ + -ing → backwards | + to inf. → forward.
○ Differences concerning meaning:
■ Mean: + to inf. → intention | + -ing: involves / results in.
■ Go on / Stop: + to inf. → stop and change | + -ing → continue.
■ Try: + to inf. → make an effort | + -ing: experiment.
■ Propose: + to inf. → intend | + -ing: suggest.
○ Differences concerning voice: deserve, need, want, require.
■ + to inf. → active meaning | + -ing: passive meaning.

Unit 3: Adverbial Clauses

● Time
They answer the question: when? And they indicate that events in the main
clause occur earlier than, simultaneously with or later than events in the
subordinate adverbial clause. If there is emphasis in time, the adverbial clause
should be fronted and separated by a comma. Eg: After I got married, I had the
opportunity to travel a lot.

● Place
They answer the question: where? They usually go after the main clause. Eg: She
started working where she had studied years ago.

● Manner
They answer the question: how? Eg: He did it as he was told to do it.
Subordinators “as if” or “as though” are used to express situations that can be real
or not. In the second case, they describe an unreal or improbable situation at
present, and we use the were subjunctive. Here is the difference:
○ You look as if you know the answer. [Present tense → it’s possible.]
○ You look as if you knew the answer. [Simple past → improbable.]
○ You look as if you had known the answer. [Past perfect → unreal.]

● Cause
They answer the question: why? We place a comma after the subordinate clause.
Eg: As he is studying a lot, he will probably pass the exam.

● Result
They answer the question: what happened? They state the result of a situation.
They are used in the following patterns:
○ [...] so + adj. / adv. + that [...]: The film was so boring that I fell asleep.
○ [...] so + much / little + uncount. noun + that [...]: There was so little
food that everyone remained hungry.
○ [...] so + many / a few + plural noun + that [...]: There were so many
students that we couldn’t do the exam.
○ Such + noun phrase + that: It was such a strange noise that I got
scared.

● Purpose
They answer the question: what for? They are
introduced by the subordinating conjunctions: so that
and in order that. Eg: The teacher explained the topic
slowly and clearly, so that everybody could
understand.

● Contrast or concession

The situation in the main clause is contrary to what is

expected in light of the subordinate clause. They can be
introduced by the subordinating conjunctions although,
though, however, even though, whereas and while. Eg:
She went on walking although it was raining hard.

● Condition
“If clauses” that follow the traditional patterns of conditional sentences. Eg: Unless
you study, you won’t pass the exam.

● Contingency
They express things that may possibly happen. They are introduced by the
subordinating conjunction “in case”. Eg: Take an umbrella in case it rains.