S.O.S.S

PRESENT PERFECT

THE PRESENT PERFECT IS USED TO DESCRIBE:

• An action or situation that started in the past and continues in the present. I have lived in Bristol since 1984 (= and I still do.)

• An action performed during a period that has not yet finished. She has been to the cinema twice this week (= and the week isn't over yet.)

• A repeated action in an unspecified period between the past and now. We have visited Portugal several times.

• An action that was completed in the very recent past, expressed by 'just'. I have just finished my work.

• An action when the time is not important. He has read 'War and Peace'. (= the result of his reading is important)

• The present perfect continuous is used to refer to an unspecified time between 'before now' and 'now'. The speaker is thinking about something that started but perhaps did not finish in that period of time. He/she is interested in the process as well as the result, and this process may still be going on, or may have just finished.

PRESENT PERFECT CONTINUOUS

§Actions that started in the past and continue in the present

She has been waiting for you all day (= and she's still waiting now).
I've been working on this report since eight o'clock this morning (= and I still haven't finished it).
They have been travelling since last October (= and they're not home yet).

§Actions that have just finished, but we are interested in the results

She has been cooking since last night (= and the food on the table looks delicious).
It's been raining (= and the streets are still wet).
Someone's been eating my chips (= half of them have gone).

• The present perfect continuous is made up of two elements: the present perfect of the verb 'to be' (have/has been), and the present participle of the main verb (base+ing)

Affirmative: She has been / She's been running.
Negative: She hasn't been running.
Interrogative : Has she been running?
Interrogative negative: Hasn't she been running?

 

PAST PERFECT

The past perfect refers to a time earlier than before now. It is used to make it clear that one event happened before another in the past. It does not matter which event is mentioned first - the tense makes it clear which one happened first.

In these examples, Event A is the event that happened first and Event B is the second or more recent event:

Event A

Event B

John had gone out

when I arrived in the office.

Event A

Event B

I had saved my document

before the computer crashed.

Event B

Event A

When they arrived

we had already started cooking.

Event B

Event A

He was very tired

because he hadn't slept well.

FORMING THE PAST PERFECT

The Past Perfect tense in English is composed of two parts: the past tense of the verb to have (had) + the past participle of the main verb.

Subject

had

past participle

Affirmative

She

had

given

Negative

She

hadn't

asked.

Interrogative

Had

they

arrived?

Interrogative Negative

Hadn't

you

finished?

Affirmative

Negative

Interrogative

I had decided

I hadn't decided

Had I decided?

You had decided

You hadn't decided

Had you decided?

She had decided

She hadn't decided

Had she decided?

We had decided

We hadn't decided

Had we decided?

They had decided

They hadn't decided

Had they decided?

TO DECIDE, PAST PERFECT

PAST PERFECT + JUST

'Just' is used with the past perfect to refer to an event that was only a short time earlier than before now, e.g.

• The train had just left when I arrived at the station.

• She had just left the room when the police arrived.

• I had just put the washing out when it started to rain.

 

PAST PERFECT CONTINUOUS

 

  The past perfect continuous corresponds to the present perfect continuous, but with reference to a time earlier than 'before now'. As with the present perfect continuous, we are more interested in the process.

 

EXAMPLES
 

-Had you been waiting long before the taxi arrived?

-We had been trying to open the door for five minutes when Jane found her key.

-It had been raining hard for several hours and the streets were very wet.

-Her friends had been thinking of calling the police when she walked in.

-This form is also used in reported speech. It is the equivalent of the past continuous and the present perfect continuous in direct speech:

 

-Jane said, "I have been gardening all afternoon." = Jane said she had been gardening all afternoon.

-When the police questioned him, John said, "I was working late in the office that night." = When the police questioned him, John told them he had been working late in the office that night.

 

FORMING THE PAST PERFECT CONTINUOUS

The past perfect continuous is composed of two elements - the past perfect of the verb to be (=had been) + the present participle (base+ing).

 

Subject had been verb + ing

I had been walking

 

Affirmative

She had been trying

 

Negative

She hadn't been sleeping

 

Interrogative

Had you been eating?

 

Interrogative negative

Hadn't they been living?

 

 

To Buy, Past Perfect Continuous

 

    Affirmative                              Negative                                Interrogative

I had been buying              I hadn't been buying             Had I been buying

You had been buying        You hadn't been buying       Had you been buying

She had been buying        She hadn't been buying        Had she been buying

We had been buying         We hadn't been buying        Had we been buying

They had been buying     They hadn't been buying      Had they been buying

 

 

 

PHRASAL VERBS  

 

  A phrasal verb is a verb that is made up of a main verb together with an adverb or apreposition, or both. Typically, their meaning is not obvious from the meanings of the individual words themselves. For example:

She has always looked down on me.

Fighting broke out among a group of 40 men.

I’ll see to the animals.

Don’t put me off, I’m trying to concentrate.

The report spelled out the need for more staff.

 

For instance, in the first example, the phrasal verb ‘to look down on someone’ doesn’t mean that you are looking down from a higher place at someone who is below you; it means that you think that you are better than someone.

 

Transitivity 

Phrasal verbs can be intransitive (i.e. they have no object):

We broke up two years ago.

They set off early to miss the traffic.

He pulled up outside the cottage.

 

or transitive (i.e. they can have an object):

The police were called to break up the fight.

When the door is opened, it sets off an alarm.

They pulled the house down and redeveloped the site.

 

Word order 

The verb and adverb elements which make up intransitive phrasal verbs are never separated:

✓  We broke up two years ago.

✗  We broke two years ago up.

 

The situation is different with transitive verbs, however. If the direct object  is a noun, you can say:

✓ Theypulled 

the house

down.

 

[direct object]

 

✓ They pulled down the house.

 

If the object is a pronoun  (such as it, him, her, them) , then the object always comes between the verb and the adverb:

✓ Theypulled 

it

down.

 

[direct object]

 

✗ They pulled down it.

 

FUTURE TENSES

There are a number of different ways of referring to the future in English. It is important to remember that we are expressing more than simply the time of the action or event. Obviously, any 'future' tense will always refer to a time 'later than now', but it may also express our attitude to the future event.

All of the following ideas can be expressed using different tenses:

• Simple prediction: There will be snow in many areas tomorrow.

• Arrangements: I'm meeting Jim at the airport.

• Plans and intentions: We're going to spend the summer abroad.

• Time-tabled events: The plane takes off at 3 a.m.

• Prediction based on present evidence: I think it's going to rain!

• Willingness: We'll give you a lift to the cinema.

• An action in progress in the future: This time next week I'll be sun-bathing.

• An action or event that is a matter of routine: You'll be seeing John in the office tomorrow, won't you?

• Obligation: You are to travel directly to London.

• An action or event that will take place immediately or very soon: The train is about to leave.

• Projecting ourselves into the future and looking back at a completed action: A month from now he will have finished all his exams.

ZERO CONDITIONAL

 

In zero conditional sentences, the tense in both parts of the sentence is the simple present.

If clause (condition)

Main clause (result)

If + simple present

simple present

If this thing happens

that thing happens.

As in all conditional sentences, the order of the clauses is not fixed. You may have to rearrange the pronouns and adjust punctuation when you change the order of the clauses, but the meaning is identical. In zero conditional sentences, you can replace "if" with "when", because both express general truths. The meaning will be unchanged.

EXAMPLES

 

If you heat ice, it melts.

Ice melts if you heat it.

When you heat ice, it melts.

Ice melts when you heat it.

If it rains, the grass gets wet.

The grass gets wet if it rains.

When it rains, the grass gets wet.

The grass gets wet when it rains.

FUNCTION

The zero conditional is used to make statements about the real world, and often refers to general truths, such as scientific facts. In these sentences, the time is now or always and the situation is real and possible.

EXAMPLES

 

If you freeze water, it becomes a solid.

Plants die if they don't get enough water.

If my husband has a cold, I usually catch it.

If public transport is efficient, people stop using their cars.

If you mix red and blue, you get purple.

 

The zero conditional is also often used to give instructions, using the imperative in the main clause.

 

EXAMPLES

 

• If Bill phones, tell him to meet me at the cinema.

• Ask Pete if you're not sure what to do.

• If you want to come, call me before 5:00.

• Meet me here if we get separated.