Tenses use cases
Present Simple
She only eats fish.
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- Habits
- Repeated actions
- General facts
- Schedules |
Present Continuous
He's playing a guitar. |
- Act. happening now
- Temp. situations
- Trends
- Arranged future |
Present Perfect
I have just finished
my work.
I have lived in Minsk
since 2014. |
- Action result
- Experience
- Not yet finished
- Duration (till now)
- Undefined time
- News |
Past Simple
We saw a good film
last week |
- Completed action
(time is known)
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Past Continuous
I was eating when
she came. |
- Background action
- Was in progress
when another act.
interrupted
- Was in progress at
a stated time
in past |
Future Simple
I will do it next day.
She's going to leave.
I'm having a meeting
tomorrow.
My train leaves today
at 9pm. |
- Spontaneous (will)
- Intention (going to)
- Fixed arrangement
(Present Cont.)
- Schedule
(Present Simple)
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Passive voice
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Usage - Doer is not important or unknown
- Actions of processes or systems
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Form - Present: am/is/are + V3/-ed
- Pr. Cont.: am/is/are + being + V3/-ed
- Pr. Perfect.: has/have + been + V3/-ed
- Past: was/were+ V3/-ed
- Future: will + be + V3/-ed
- Modals: can/must/etc. + be + V3/-ed
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Conditionals
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First conditional - real situation - Future plans / Predictions / Warnings
- If + present tence, will/might + verb
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Second conditional - unreal situation - Imagined, hypothetical situation in either present or future
- If + past tence, would + verb
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Conjunctions If / In case / When / As long as / Unless
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Verb patterns (gerund / infinitive)
Gerund |
- consider
- delay
- stop (=quit)
- risk
- avoid
- remember (past)
- try (experiment) |
To + infinitive |
- manage
- prefer
- need
- want
- fail
- agree
- afford
- remember (future)
- try (effort)
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- Gerund
- (that) + sbj. + verb |
- suggest
- propose
- recommend
- advice |
Modal Verbs
must |
- Strong obligation
- Logical conclusion |
must not |
- Prohibition |
should |
- Soft obligation
- Advice
- Logical conclusion |
can |
- Ability
- Permission
- Possibility |
could |
- Ability in past
- Polite permission
- Possibility |
may / might |
- Permission
- Probability |
need to |
- Necessity (persons choice) |
have to |
- Necessity (external reason) |
don't have to |
- It's not necessary |
Guesses
may
might
could
must |
Past action:
- modal + have has + V3
Moment of speaking:
- modal + be + Ving
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State verbs
Not used with continuous |
guess |
depend |
hate |
suppose |
know |
need |
belong |
understand |
involve |
include |
prefer |
want |
mean |
require |
contain |
possess |
sound |
seem |
agree |
believe |
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Linkers
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To speak about what we want to achieve to
in order to + base form+ for + gerund
so as to
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To speak about what we want to avoid in order not to + base form
so as not to
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To say what we want or others to get so that + sbj. + can/could/will/would
+ base form
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To show a reason for using/doing smth. in case + sbj. + verb
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If we want to enumerate a set of items - First of all / Firstly / To begin with ...
- Second / Secondly / Then ...
- Third / Thirdly / After that ...
- The next stage ...
- Finally / To sum up / In conclusion / Last but not least ...
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If we want to add something to the previous sentence Also / Moreover / Further / Furthermore / Besides / In addition to / Additionally
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Articles
a / an |
Singular, countable nouns
- Talking for the first time
- Talk about people's jobs
- Talk about smth. in a general way |
the |
- Noun for a second time
- With specific nouns
- With superlatives: (the most ...)
- With regions and natural places |
no
article |
- Plural, uncountable nouns in a general way
- With countries, states, cities
But the US, the Netherlands, other "plural" / "partial" countries |
Opiniton Phrases
I (really) think ... |
I believe (that) ... |
I reckon/suppose ... |
I do believe ... |
I could be wrong, but .. |
As I see it, ... |
I tend to think that ... |
If you ask me, ... |
Frankly, ... |
My view is that ... |
Off the top of my head, ... |
I would seem to me that ... |
I tend towards the opinion ... |
I'd say/guess/imagine that ... |
In my (humble) opinion ... (IMHO) |
For me, From my point of view, ... |
To my mind / To my way of thinking, ... |
Personally speaking / Speaking of myself, ... |
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