English Modal Verbs

Modal verbs are a type of auxiliary verb which express the mood of another verb. They are used
to express ideas such as possibility, prediction, speculation, deduction and necessity.

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Modal	Concept	Example
Can	Ability: Permission: Offers :	Julie can swim. Can I come with you? ('May' is also used.) Can I help you?
Could	Possibility: Past ability : Permission : Requests :	That story could be true - who knows! Charlie could swim when he was four years old. Could I use your phone please? Could you tell me the way to the station please?
May	Possibility : Permission :	The President may come to our offices if the meeting finishes before 5 pm. May I borrow your dictionary?
Might	Slight possibility : Past form of 'may' in reported speech.	We might win a prize but I doubt it. The President said he might come.
Should	Advice : Logical deduction :	You should take an umbrella in case it rains. I've revised so I should be ready for the test.
Ought to	Advice : Logical deduction :	You ought to write to your grandmother. 30 € ought to be enough for the taxi.
Shall	Future tense auxiliary : Offers/suggestions with ''I' and 'we'	I shall be in London on Monday (or I'll be ...). Shall I order a taxi? Shall we begin the meeting now?
Will	Future tense auxiliary: Invitations/offers :	The ticket will cost about 50€. Will you join us for coffee? Won't you come in?

Make - Do

Unfortunately, there is no hard and fast rule in English concerning the use of make and do. The following table gives a list of words and expressions that are most frequently used with 'make' and 'do'.
MAKE	DO
an appointment arrangements/plans an attempt a bed a change/changes a comment a complaint a declaration a deal a discovery a difference / an exception an effort an enquiry an excuse fun of something/somebody an impression a mistake money a noise an offer an omelette a phone call a point a presentation a profit progress a reservation room for something (find place for) a speech a statement a suggestion sure / certain a threat	the accounts an assignment business one's best the crosswords damage a degree / a course drugs (consume/use) your duty an exam exercises a favour the gardening a good turn good / harm a good job your homework a lesson a job justice military service your nails / hair / make-up a project research (something) right/wrong the shopping a survey a test a translation well / badly work without something

Inversion

Inversion means putting the verb before the subject.
It is a literary technique in which the normal order of words is reversed, generally for emphasis
or special effect. It makes a sentence sound striking or unusual. It also sounds quite formal.
Sentences with inversion are less common in everyday English.
In a sentence with no special effect or emphasis, the normal order of words is retained.

Example 1 : I have never seen such a beautiful rose.
Example 2 : Never have I seen such a beautiful rose.

In example 2 inversion is used to emphasise the fact that in your whole lifetime
you have not seen such a beautiful rose.

It is sometimes difficult to remember when inversion is or can be used.
Here are some guidelines and examples to help you.

In normal everyday English, inversion is used :

To make questions : Does he?   Can you? After 'so' 'neither', 'nor' :  So do I, neither do I, nor do I. In written English, as well as in a very formal style, inversion can be used in the following cases : After negative adverbial expressions  : Under no circumstances can we accept credit cards. In no way can he be held responsible. At no time did she say she would come. Not until I heard my name did I believe I had won the race. After adverbial expressions of place : Round the corner came the postman. On the doorstep was a bunch of flowers. After 'seldom', 'rarely', 'never', and 'little' : Seldom have I seen such a beautiful view. Rarely did he pay anyone a compliment. Never had I felt so happy. Little did he imagine how dangerous it would be.

Gerund - Infinitive

One of the difficulties of the English language is that  some verbs are followed by the gerund (ex : doing) and others are followed by the infinitive (ex : to do)

Below you will find some guidelines and examples to help you.
(example verb : doing / to do).

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When do we use the GERUND? (ex: doing)
After verbs that express likes/dislikes : like, love, enjoy, dislike, hate, don't mind, can't stand ... Example : I like doing crossword puzzles.	+ doing
After certain other verbs such as : admit, appreciate, avoid, consider, delay, deny, finish, imagine, involve, keep (on), mention, miss, postpone, suggest ... Example : Would you consider doing a few extra hours?	+ doing
After prepositions : interested in ... Example : Are you interested in working for us? instead of ... Ex: Would you like to walk instead of taking the bus? look forward to ... Ex:  Our parents are looking forward to seeing us soon. good at ... Ex:  Julie is good at making cakes. before... Ex: Before leaving the office, please turn off the lights. after ... Ex: After tidying the kitchen she went straight to bed.

Irregular Verbs

Verb	Past Simple	Past Participle
arise	arose	arisen
be	was/were	been
bear	bore	borne
beat	beat	beaten
become	became	become
begin	began	begun
bend	bent	bent
bite	bit	bitten
blow	blew	blown
break	broke	broken
bring	brought	brought
build	built	built
burst	burst	burst
buy	bought	bought
catch	caught	caught
choose	chose	chosen
cling	clung	clung
come	came	come
cost	cost	cost
creep	crept	crept
cut	cut	cut
dig	dug	dug
do	did	done
draw	drew	drawn
dream	dreamt	dreamt
drink	drank	drunk
drive	drove	driven
eat	ate	eaten
fall	fell	fallen
feel	felt	felt
fight	faught	faught
find	found	found
fly	flew	flown
forget	forgot	forgotten
forgive	forgave	forgiven
freeze	froze	frozen
get	got	got
give	gave	given
go	went	gone
grind	ground	ground
have	had	had
hear	heard	heard
hide	hid	hidden
hit	hit	hit
hold	held	held
hurt	hurt	hurt
keep	kept	kept
kneel	knelt	knelt
know	knew	known
lay	laid	lain
lead	led	led
learn	learnt	learnt
leave	left	left
lend	lent	lent
let	let	let
lie	lay	lain
light	lit	lit
lose	lost	lost

make	made	made
mean	meant	meant
meet	met	met
pay	paid	paid
put	put	put
read	read	read
ride	rode	ridden
ring	rang	rung
rise	rose	risen
run	ran	run
say	said	said
see	saw	seen
seek	sought	sought
sell	sold	sold
send	sent	sent
set	set	set
sew	sewed	sewn
shake	shook	shaken
shine	shone	shone
shoot	shot	shot
show	showed	shown
shrink	shrank	shrunk
shut	shut	shut
sing	sang	sung
sink	sank	sunk
sit	sat	sat
sleep	slept	slept
slide	slid	slid
speak	spoke	spoken
spell	spelt	spelt
spend	spent	spent
spill	spilled/spilt	spilled/spilt
spit	spat	spat
spring	sprang	sprung
stand	stood	stood
steal	stole	stolen
stick	stuck	stuck
stink	stank	stunk
swear	swore	sworn
swim	swam	swum
swing	swung	swung
take	took	taken
teach	taught	taught
tear	tore	torn
tell	told	told
think	thought	thought
throw	threw	thrown
understand	understood	understood
wake	woke	woken
wear	wore	worn
win	won	won
write	wrote	written

be going to

BE GOING TO 

The structure be going to is mainly used to talk about plans and intentions, or to make predictions based on present evidence. It is most commonly used in conversational English.

In very informal spoken English, going to is sometimes shortened to gonna.

STRUCTURE:	The present continuous tense of the verb to go + the full infinitive.
	subject	be	going	full infinitive

	I	am	going	to paint	the door.
	You	are	going	to love	this book.
	Jack	is	going	to buy	a new computer.
	It	is	going	to rain	soon.
	We	are	going	to visit	a museum.
	They	are	going	to accept	our invitation.

PLANS and INTENTIONS :

Be going to is used to talk about plans and intentions, usually when the decision has already been made.

Emma is going to share an apartment with Melanie.
Pedro is going to revise his English all evening.
I'm going to watch the match on television.

Future Tense (will)

Future Simple
Affirmative	Negative		Interrogative
	Long Form	Contracted Form
I will go	I will not go	I won't go	Will I go?
You will go	You will not go	You won't go	Will you go?
He/she/it will go	He/she/it will not go	He/she/it won't go	Will he/she/it go?
We will go	We will not go	We won't go	Will we go?
You will go	You will not go	You won't go	Will you go?
They will go	They will not go	They won't go	Will they go?
Future Continuous
Affirmative	Negative		Interrogative
	Long Form	Contracted Form
I will be going	I will not be going	I won't be going	Will I be going?
You will be going	You will not be going	You won't be going	Will you be going?
He/she/it will be going	He/she/it will not be going	He/she/it won't be going	Will he/she/it be going?
We will be going	We will not be going	We won't be going	Will  we be going?
You will be going	You will not be going	You won't be going	Will you be going?
They will be going	They will not be going	They won't be going	Will they be going?

• The future simple is used :
  
   - for predictions : what you think will happen or what is certain to happen.

Conditional Structures

Conditionals are sentences with two clauses: an ‘if' clause and a main clause.
Four basic conditional structures are used in English.

• Zero Conditional
• First Conditional
• Second Conditional
• Third Conditional

Zero Conditional	What is always true or usually happens, or what is advised in this situation.
If	+Present Simple	+ Present Simple
If	you have a ticket	you go straight in.
If	you stand in the rain	you get wet.
If	you see an accident	call an ambulance.
The 'if'  in the above sentences can usually be replaced by 'when' without changing the meaning.
First Conditional	Something that will possibly happen in the future.
If	+Present Simple	+Will + Infinitive
If	I see an accident	I will call a doctor.
If	it rains tomorrow	the picnic will be cancelled.
If	you make an apple tart	Dad will eat it.
Note : Sometimes we use can or may instead of will. For example :  If you finish your vegetables, you can have a dessert.

Present and Past Tense

Present Simple	Routine, habits, repetitive actions : I play tennis every Saturday. Tastes : I like chocolate, I hate doing homework. Facts : The sun rises in the east.
Present Continuous	Continuous actions :  - at the time of speaking I am reading this explanation now. - around now : I am learning English this year. Planned future arrangements : I am visiting Rome next Monday.
Present Perfect	Continuous form: An action started in the past that continues today : I have been learning English since September. Simple form :  The completed or finished part of that action : We have revised grammar rules and verb tenses.
Past Simple	Finished actions at a specific finished time in the past. Last year I bought a new car. I saw your dog 5 minutes ago.
Past Continuous	Continuous actions A continuous action at a specific time in the past : I was having breakfast at 7 o'clock this morning. A continuous action taking place when another brief event occurred : I was watching television when the phone rang.
Past Perfect	Continuous form: A past continuous action prior to another event in the past: I had been driving for 3 hours before I stopped. Simple form :  A completed action before another action in the past : I had finished the book before I gave it to Tom.

Present Perfect vs Past Perfect

PRESENT  PERFECT The present perfect is used to refer to actions which take place in an unfinished time period up to the time of speaking, and allows the speaker to link past actions or situations to the present time.  Continuous form :  Actions started in the past which continue until now. I have been reading this book since last Monday. Simple form : The completed or finished part of a continuous action.  I have read the first three chapters of the book. Events that have just occurred, with no specific time mentioned. A plane has just crashed near the coast. A past action with a result in the present. I've broken my arm.  I can't drive. Experiences and accomplishments up to now. I'm a writer. I've written 5 novels and several short stories.

PAST PERFECT

If we are already talking about the past, the past perfect is used to to go back to an earlier past time,  to refer to something that had already happened or had been happening. Continuous form : Continuous actions entirely situated in the past. Paul had been revising his English when the postman rang the doorbell. Simple form  : .Actions which took place before a specific time in the past. When Tom called at 8 am, Paul had already left for school.