1. To be
The verb be is used as an auxiliary verb and it can also be used as a main verb. See Types of main verb.The verb be is irregular. It has eight different forms: be, am, is, are, was, were, being, been. The present simple and past simple tenses make more changes than those of other verbs.
2. Modal Verb
A type of verb that is used to indicate modality.
We use modals to show if we believe something is certain, possible or impossible:
We also use them to do things like talk about ability, ask permission, and make requests and offers:
| can may must shall will | could might should would |
Somebody’s
When we want to say that something belongs to somebody, we use ’s.
Example: I can take my mother’s car.
When we want to say that something belongs to something, we use of.
Example: This is the end of the road.
Passive
When we want to say that something was done, we use the verb to be and we put –ed at the end of a verb. This grammar is called the passive.
We use the passive when we don’t know who does an action.
Example: The food will be paid for. My work is finished
Reflexive Pronounce
We use these words when an action goes back to the same person. Example: I booked a room for my wife and myself. ( myself, ourselves, yourself )
Tenses
- The present perfect and past simple – when we speak about the past.
- Use the present perfect when:
- It is important that something happened.
- Something which was completed in the past. ( If something is perfect, it is completed )
- Use the past simple when:
- it is also important when, how or where it happened.
- we tell a story.
| Tense | Description | Example1 | Example2 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Present continuous | something is happening right now. | I am speaking | |
| Past continuous | something was happening in the past. | I was winning | We were winning |
| Past simple | something happened in the past ( story telling ) | I saw it yesterday | I didn’t work |
| Future simple | something will happen in the future | I will play | I won’t play |
| Present perfect | something happened or is completed ( have, -ed ) | I have seen it. | I haven’t finished |
| Past perfect | something happened before some moment in the past ( story telling in books ) | I had finished | We had left before they came |
| Present perfect continuous | something started in the past and continues until now ( have been, -ing ) | I have been waiting | Flowers have been growing thorns for millions of years. |