Sentences
can be active or passive. Therefore, tenses also have "active forms"
and "passive forms." You must learn to recognize the difference to
successfully speak English.
In
active sentences, the thing doing the action is the subject of the sentence and
the thing receiving the action is the object. Most sentences are active.
[Thing doing action] + [verb] +
[thing receiving action]
Examples:
PASSIVE SENTENCES
In
passive sentences, the thing receiving the action is the subject of the sentence
and the thing doing the action is optionally included near the end of the
sentence. You can use the passive form if you think that the thing receiving
the action is more important or should be emphasized. You can also use the
passive form if you do not know who is doing the action or if you do not want
to mention who is doing the action.
[Thing receiving action] + [be] +
[past participle of verb] + [by] + [thing doing action]
Examples:
TENSE
|
ACTIVE
|
PASSIVE
|
Simple Present
|
Once a week, Tom cleans the
house.
|
Once a week, the house is
cleaned by Tom.
|
Present Continuous
|
Right now, Sarah is writing
the letter.
|
Right now, the letter is being
written by Sarah.
|
Simple Past
|
Sam repaired the car.
|
The car was repaired by
Sam.
|
Past Continuous
|
The salesman was helping
the customer when the thief came into the store.
|
The customer was being helped
by the salesman when the thief came into the store.
|
Present Perfect
|
Many tourists have visited
that castle.
|
That castle has been visited
by many tourists.
|
Present Perfect Continuous
|
Recently, John has been doing
the work.
|
Recently, the work has been
being done by John.
|
Past Perfect
|
George had repaired many
cars before he received his mechanic's license.
|
Many cars had been repaired
by George before he received his mechanic's license.
|
Past Perfect Continuous
|
Chef Jones had been preparing
the restaurant's fantastic dinners for two years before he moved to Paris.
|
The restaurant's fantastic dinners
had been being prepared by Chef Jones for two years before he moved to
Paris.
|
RELATIVE
CLAUSES
Relative clauses are clauses starting with the relative pronouns who*,
that, which, whose, where, when. They are most often used to define or
identify the noun that precedes them. Here are some examples:
- Do
you know the girl who started in grade 7 last week?
- Can
I have the pencil that I gave you this morning?
- A
notebook is a computer which can be carried around.
- I
won't eat in a restaurant whose cooks smoke.
- I
want to live in a place where there is lots to do.
- Yesterday
was a day when everything went wrong!
- There
is a relative pronoun whom, which can be used as the object of the
relative clause. For example: My science teacher is a person whom I
like very much. To many people the word whom now sounds
old-fashioned, and it is rarely used in spoken English.
Relative
pronouns are associated as follows with their preceding noun:
Preceding noun
|
Relative pronoun
|
Examples
|
A person
|
who(m)/that, whose
|
- Do you know the girl who .. - He was a man that .. - An orphan is a child whose parents .. |
A thing
|
which/that, whose
|
- Do you have a computer which - The oak a tree that - This is a book whose author |
Note 1 : The relative pronoun whose is used in place of the
possessive pronoun. It must be
followed by a noun. Example: There's a boy
in grade 8 whose father is a professional
tennis player.
(There's a boy in grade 8. His father is a professional tennis player.)
Note 2 : The relative pronouns where and when are used with place
and time nouns. Examples:
FIS is a school where children from more
than 50 countries are educated. 2001 was the
year when terrorists attacked the Twin Towers
in New York.
Some relative clauses are not used to define or identify the
preceding noun but to give extra information about it. Here are some
examples:
- My
ESL teacher, who came to Germany in 1986, likes to ride his mountain bike.
- The
heavy rain, which was unusual for the time of year, destroyed most of the
plants in my garden.
- Einstein,
who was born in Germany, is famous for his theory of relativity.
- The
boy, whose parents both work as teachers at the school, started a fire in
the classroom.
- My
mother's company, which makes mobile phones, is moving soon from Frankfurt
to London.
- In
the summer I'm going to visit Italy, where my brother lives.
Note 1 : Relative clauses which give extra information, as in the example
sentences above, must
be separated off
by commas.
Note 2 : The relative pronoun that cannot be used to introduce an
extra-information (non
defining) clause
about a person. Wrong: Neil Armstrong, that was
born in 1930, was the
first
man to stand on the moon. Correct: Neil
Armstrong, who was born in 1930, was
the first man to
stand on the moon.
There are two common occasions,
particularly in spoken English, when the relative pronoun is omitted:
1.
When the pronoun is the object
of the relative clause. In the following sentences the pronoun that can be left
out is enclosed in (brackets):
- Do
you know the girl (who/m) he's talking to?
- Where's
the pencil (which) I gave you yesterday?
- I
haven't read any of the books (that) I got for Christmas.
- I
didn't like that girl (that) you brought to the party.
- Did
you find the money (which) you lost?
Note : You cannot omit the relative pronoun
a.
If it starts a non-defining
relative clause, or,
b.
If it is the subject of a
defining relative clause. For example, who is necessary in the following
sentence: What's the name of the girl who won the tennis tournament?
2.
When the relative clause
contains a present or past participle and the auxiliary verb to be. In
such cases both relative pronoun and auxiliary can be left out:
- Who's
that man (who is) standing by the gate?
- The
family (that is) living in the next house comes from Slovenia.
- She
was wearing a dress (which was) covered in blue flowers.
- Most
of the parents (who were) invited to the conference did not come.
- Anyone
(that is) caught writing on the walls will be expelled from school.
CONDITIONAL
SENTENCES
Conditional tenses are used to speculate about what could happen,
what might have happened, and what we wish would happen. In English, most
sentences using the conditional contain the word if. Many conditional
forms in English are used in sentences that include verbs in one of the past
tenses. This usage is referred to as "the unreal
past" because we use a past tense but we are not actually referring to
something that happened in the past. There are five main ways of constructing
conditional sentences in English. In all cases, these sentences are made up of
an if clause and a main clause. In many negative conditional
sentences, there is an equivalent sentence construction using
"unless" instead of "if".
Conditional sentence type
|
Usage
|
If clause verb tense
|
Main clause verb tense
|
Zero
|
General
truths
|
Simple
present
|
Simple
present
|
Type
1
|
A
possible condition and its probable result
|
Simple
present
|
Simple
future
|
Type
2
|
A
hypothetical condition and its probable result
|
Simple
past
|
Present
conditional or Present continuous conditional
|
Type
3
|
An
unreal past condition and its probable result in the past
|
Past
perfect
|
Perfect
conditional
|
Mixed
type
|
An
unreal past condition and its probable result in the present
|
Past
perfect
|
Present
conditional
|
The zero conditional
The zero conditional
is used for when the time being referred to is now
or always and the situation is real and possible. The zero
conditional is often used to refer to general truths. The tense in both parts
of the sentence is the simple present. In zero conditional sentences, the word
"if" can usually be replaced by the word "when" without
changing the meaning.
If+Simple
Present Tense
Example :
·
If you heat ice it melts
·
If it rains the grass gets wet
Type 1 conditional
The type 1
conditional is used to refer to the present
or future where the situation is real. The type 1
conditional refers to a possible condition and its probable result. In these
sentences the if clause is in the simple present, and the main clause is in the
simple future.
If+Simple
Future Tense
Example :
·
If you don’t hurry, you’ll miss
the train.
·
If it rains today, you’ll get
wet
Type 2 conditional
The type 2
conditional is used to refer to a time that is now
or any time, and a situation that is unreal. These sentences are not
based on fact. The type 2 conditional is used to refer to a hypothetical
condition and its probable result. In type 2 conditional sentences, the if
clause uses the simple past, and the main clause uses the present conditional.
If+Simple
Past Tense
Example :
·
If you went to bed earlier, you
would not be so tired.
·
If it rained, you would get
wet.
Type 3 conditional
The type 3
conditional is used to refer to a time that is in
the past, and a situation that is contrary to reality. The facts
they are based on are the opposite of what is expressed. The type 3 conditional
is used to refer to an unreal past condition and its probable past result. In
type 3 conditional sentences, the if clause uses the past perfect, and the main
clause uses the perfect conditional.
If+Past
Perfect Tense
Example :
·
If you had studied harder, you
would’ve passed the exam
·
If it had rained, you would’ve
gotten wet
Mixed type
conditional
The mixed type conditional is used to refer to a time that is in the past, and a situation
that is ongoing into the present. The facts they are based on are the opposite of what is expressed.
The mixed type conditional is used to refer to an unreal past condition and its
probable result in the present. In mixed type conditional sentences, the if
clause uses the past perfect, and the main clause uses the present conditional.
If+Past
Perfect or Simple Past Tense
Example :
·
If we had looked at the map, we
wouldn’t be lost
·
If I had worked harder at
school, i would have a better job now.
