Learning English

Forming the passive in English

Passive verbs are made from a form of be + the past participle of a main verb. In the passive, the form of the auxiliary verb be indicates the tense. They sell cheap computer games here. Cheap computer games are sold here. They took him to the police station for questioning. He was taken to the police station for questioning. Some verbs are only… Read More

Irregular verbs in English

Irregular verbs are verbs that do not form the past simple tense and the past participle by adding -ed to the base form. There are three main groups of irregular verbs in English. In Group A, the base form, the past simple and the past participle are the same: The base form, e.g. put The… Read More

Regular verb forms in English

English verbs have up to five different forms. These are: the base form, e.g. pull the 3rd person singular, present simple tense, e.g. pulls the past simple tense, e.g. pulled the past participle, e.g. pulled the present participle, e.g. pulling Regular verbs are all formed in the same way, by building… Read More

Contractions of auxiliary verbs in English

Auxiliary verbs very often used in contracted forms. Contracted forms are more informal than full forms. They are therefore more common in spoken English. Full forms are usually preferred in formal written English. In the case of be and have, the contracted form can involve linking the subject and the auxiliary verb into… Read More

Auxiliary verbs in English

An auxiliary verb is a verb that is used together with a main verb to show time and continuity. Be and have are the primary auxiliaries. A primary auxiliary is used to construct compound tenses. Be is used to make present continuous and past continuous tenses. I am working. Rob is using the computer. Kevin was teaching in America in… Read More

Main types of verb in English

Most verbs describe an action such as walking, running, or reading. These are called verbs of action. Action verbs can be expressed in all the tenses. John is running for the train. Sophie has just bought a new camera. She is putting on an exhibition of her artwork. Robbie has read the book already. When we need a verb to describe a new activity,… Read More

Phrasal verbs: verb + adverb + preposition

Some phrasal verbs are a combination of the verb + adverb and verb + preposition phrasal verbs. All the parts of this type of phrasal verb come BEFORE the object. We are looking forward to our holiday. Don’t put up with it! You must look out for the warning signs. I’m so fed up with city life. Phrasal verbs with… Read More

Phrasal verbs: verb + preposition

Some verb + preposition phrasal verbs always have an object. This is because prepositions always have an object. He asked for his bill. She listened to him. They referred to our conversation. Some phrasal verbs with prepositions are: add to, agree with, approve of, ask for, believe in, care for, hope for, laugh at, look for, refer to,… Read More

Phrasal verbs: verb + adverb

Some verb + adverb phrasal verbs have no object, i.e. they are intransitive, for example, get up, go away, hold on: Mary went away. Helen sat down. The students came back. Others do require an object, i.e. they are transitive, for example, blow something up, close something down, pick someone up: We could make out a figure in the distance. Read More