Laser prefce grammar bank

Pre-FCE ae MACMILLAN Laser pre-FCE G Present simple and present continuous Present simple: ‘to be’ am I am not (m) You We | are | late It (‘re) is (5) regular verbs positive I are not ‘We He She | | I (m not) You They Am (‘re not) | late Are | we | They ' (arent) they He is not he She (‘s not) It Is (isn’t) | negative I | You We You We ; donot (don’t) They work He She works They He She i work j does not | (doesn’t) It you late? she it | questions Do Does It you we they _ work? he she it have — he/she/it has I go — he/she/it goes I — he/she/it does The present simple is used to talk about ¢ habits My father drives to work ¢ how often things happen It rains almost every day in the rainforest ¢ general truths and facts Water boils at 100° C ¢ general abilities I play the piano (or don’t happen) ¢ permanent situations It never snows in the Sahara desert I live in North London I know him and his brother ¢ the future in timetables (see page 23) My train leaves in an hour ¢ the future in time clauses I'll tell Carrie when I see her (see page 24) When we want to emphasise an action or situation in the present, particularly to emphasise that it actually happens, or that it’s different to what someone else thinks, we can use the emphatic present simple, with or does “Your brother plays the piano, doesn’t he?’ ‘No, but he does play the guitar.’ ‘T know you don’t like peanut butter.’ ‘No, you're wrong I like peanut butter.’ i (We don’t use the emphatic present simple with the verb to be.) Present continuous: am | (m)j You i We are | working They (‘re) She jis He es) | | am not | Am (™m not) | You |arenot We (‘Tre not) | working | They He (aren't) |isnot | She (‘snot) | It (isn't - I you Are we | working? they | he Is she it The present continuous is used to talk about actions in progress at the Come inside - it’s raining moment of speaking ° temporary series of actions Tam learning to drive ¢ temporary situations changing situations ¢ annoying habits We are staying at the Grand Hotel This city is getting bigger every year Oh! You are always losing your keys! ¢ definite arrangements and plans for the future We are having a test tomorrow (usually with always) (see pages 22-23) Laser pre~FCE ° states © 2: a "§ a 38 Some people use the term present progressive instead of present continuous They mean the same thing Check your understanding! Which tense we use to talk about scientific facts? Which tense we use with phrases like ‘once a month’? Which tense we use to talk about temporary situations? Stative verbs Some verbs are not normally used in continuous tenses because they don’t describe actions These are called ‘stative verbs’ For example, we say ‘I love you’, not ‘I am loving you’ Some of these verbs can be used in continuous tenses, but the meaning changes Stative verbs often refer to thinking eg believe, imagine, understand, know emotions eg love, hate, like, prefer, want, satisfy the human senses eg hear, see, smell, taste, sound appearance eg seem, resemble, appear, look relationships between things _ eg belong to, own, consist of, include, involve Look at how the meaning changes when we use some of these verbs in the continuous form The milk smells/tastes funny Iam smelling/tasting the milk to see if it is okay Isee much better with my new glasses Iam seeing Debbie tomorrow about the car But Elvis Presley is dead! I must be seeing/hearing/imagining things! I think you're wrong (That is my opinion.) Iam thinking of a famous person Guess who! mind.) (I have a picture in my He looks just like his father (He resembles his father.) He is looking at me in a funny way With hear, see and smell, we often use can to describe what is happening now For example: I can hear a strange noise coming from the kitchen Which of these is a stative verb? play/hate/come Which is correct? You seem worried./You are seeming worried Which of these is not a stative verb? understand/prefer/leave Laser pre-FCE Gr Check your understanding! Past simple and past continuous Past simple: _ ‘to be’ He She | was It ; late You | ‘We | were They He was not She (wasn’t) It You | We i he ‘Was late she it were not late? you (weren't) Were | we They they regular verbs You We worked They did not (didn’t) work Did they He She A number of verbs form their pa: st tense in an irregular way work? The past simple is used to talk about ¢ single completed actions I walked to school yesterday morning repeated actions which My father walked to school every day when don’t happen now he was a boy tụ #r a 5bị © past states I knew her when we were at primary school When we want to emphasise an action or situation in the past, particularly to emphasise that it actually happened, or that it was different to what someone else thinks, we can use the emphatic past simple, with did 3kì “You lived in Oxford, didn’t you?’ ‘No, but I did stay there once.’ ‘I bet you didn’t ask Mary to go out.’ ‘No, you're wrong I did ask her and she said yes.’ (We don’t use the emphatic past simple with the verb to be.) The past simple can also refer to the present in conditional sentences If I had more money, ) and after certain phrases (It’s high time we left/I’d rather you came at five o’clock) This is called the unreal past because it refers to now, not the past (see page 49) Past continuous: I He She Ti te You aa was | © | working i We | were | They | | | He | She | Ita You was not | iT | Was “he (wasn’t) ; | | working.mẽ “it were not | | We (werent)' | They Ỉ she [you i | | working? | Were | we | | | they | Most uses of the past continuous are like the uses of the present continuous, but in the past For example, the past continuous is used to talk about * actions in progress at a point in the past I was reading a book at ten o’clock yesterday morning * temporary situations in the past I was staying in a hotel until my flat was ready At that time, unemployment was ¢ changing situations in the past getting worse © annoying past habits When I was a child, my parents were always criticising me ° arrangements and plans for the I was worried on Monday night future in the past because we were having a test the next day We also use the past continuous to talk about ¢ actions in progress over a period of time * two actions in progress at the same time I was reading a book all morning ¢ background information in a story The sun was shining The birds were singing Suddenly, a bomb Mum was washing up while I was doing my homework exploded The past simple and the past continuous are often used together to show that one action happened (past simple) during the time defined by another action (past continuous) For example, imagine I started watching TV at pm and the phone rang at pm I can say: ‘I was watching TV when the phone rang.’ 5pm 6pm oh | A pm 8pm I I when the phone rang ~ - Iwas watching TV alsa ll Sometimes this means the action in progress is interrupted or stopped I was reading when suddenly all the lights went out Some people use the term past progressive instead of past continuous They mean the same thing Compare the uses of the past continuous with those of the present continuous (page 3) Often, it is used in the same way, but in the past Check your understanding! M # ©2 a 33 Which tense we use for a single completed action? Which tense we use for background information in a story? It's time you went to bed Does this refer to the present or the past? Would, used to, be used to Would and used to can be used to talk about past habits, especially for the distant past Would can be used like this: When I was a child, my grandma would read to me every night Used to can be used in the same way: When I was a child, my grandma used to read to me every night The difference between them is that used to can be used to talk about states in the past, but would can’t L used to like tomato soup, but now I hate it () Fvenldtiketomate-soup-butnewt hated (X) We don’t use would or used to in the negative or in questions very often The negative of would is would never or would not The most common negative form of used to is never used to Inever used to be very good at languages You might also see these negative forms I didn’t use to be very good at languages Iused not to be very good at languages (this is quite formal) Used to has this question form Did you use to live abroad? Be used to is used to talk about something that is familiar strange to you any more It is followed by a noun or an I didn’t like this town at first, but now I am used to Vm used to studying every day, but I found it hard to you, or that isn’t -ing form it at first Be used to can be used to talk about the past like this: I found studying every day hard at first because I wasn’t used to it When we want to talk about the process of becoming familiar with something, we use get used to It’s hard at first, but you'll soon get used to it Used to and be used to are pronounced different! I used an opener to open the bottle (/ju:zd/) I used to live around here (/ju:sto/) Lam used to working hard (/zemju:sto/) w ụt & x Check your understanding! Which of these is not used for past habits? would/used to/be used to What is the most common negative form of used to? Which of these can be used to talk about past states? would/used to 3 Present perfect and present perfect continuous Present perfect: i You | have You | | have not, bi | đời | lyou | We ('ve) lbeen 'We | (haven't) been a “Have “we been ae They, done They! done nee / they_ worked He} Iworked He has not worked Ss he 'done ? She It has (3) | / | She oo _(hasn’t) | ‘Has | | | she ee ? | I In general, present perfect tenses are used to connect the past with the present The present perfect is used to talk about ¢ actions and situations continuing I’ve known him for about ten ¢ a series of actions continuing up to now I’ve played chess every Friday for two years now We've seen that film before Julian has broken his arm up to now ¢ completed actions at a time in the past ¢ completed actions where the important thing is the present result years A number of verbs form their past participle in an irregular way | The present perfect is used with words and expressions like: just, yet, already, This is the first time , ever, never, for, since, so far, up to now, etc Rachel has just left Have you seen the new James Bond film yet? I’ve already told you once that you can’t go to the party! This is the first time I’ve used a computer Have you ever met a famous person? John has never eaten Indian food I’ve known Michael for seven years I’ve been at this school since 2002 © We've received over a hundred applications so far / up We don’t say: thavesixmonthstosee-Tarae to now (X) Instead, we say: I haven’t seen Tara for six months ( /) The present perfect can also be used to refer to the future in time clauses after when, as soon as, etc TỊ call you when I’ve finished my homework When you want to say exactly when something happened, you should use the past simple I saw that film last week at the cinema (/) Pheveseenthatihntastvec-atthe cinema (X) With the verb go, we sometimes use been as the past participle Compare: John’s gone to Paris (He’s there or on his way there.) John’s been to Pari (He went there and now he is back.)