Learning English

Use of Shall and Will

The normal way to express simple future time in English is using the modal verb will followed by the base form of a main verb. The modal verb shall can be used with the pronouns I and we, especially in questions, but is not used very much in modern English. Shall I bring you some tea?… Read More

Each/Every/Either/Neither

The words each, every, either, and neither are distributives. Distributives are determiners that are used to talk about how something is shared out or divided. Each, every, either, and neither are used with a singular noun. Each child was given a balloon. I remember every detail of our conversation. Either child could win the prize. Neither plan was successful. Each and every Each and every are not used… Read More

Active and passive forms in English

Active We use an active sentence when the subject of the verb is doing the action. The active is used in most English speech and writing, because we usually want to inform our listener or our reader who or what carried out the action of the verb. In the following… Read More

Using the passive in English

We use the passive to direct our listener’s attention to the important part of our message. The passive can be used when we do not know who carries out the action expressed by the verb, or when it is not important that we should know. It is sometimes much more… Read More

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