4. Classes of Verbs
The auxiliary verbs (auxiliaries)
To be,
To have
To do
Can, could, may, might, must
Ordinary Verbs:
To work
To sing
To pray
5. be, have, do, need and dare have infinitives and
participles like ordinary verbs, but
can, could, may, might, must, ought, shall, should,
will and would have neither infinitives nor
participles and therefore have only a restricted
number of forms
6. Ordinary Verbs:
Principal parts of the active verb
Affirmative Negative
Present infinitive To work Not to work
Present Continuous
infinitive
To be working Not to be working
Perfect infinitive To have worked Not to have work
Perfect continuous
To have been
infinitive
working
Not to have been
working
Present participle and
gerund
Working Not working
Perfect participle and
gerund
Having worked Not having worked
Past participle Worked
7. In regular verbs the simple past and the past
participle are both formed by adding d or ed to the
infinitive. Sometimes the final consonant of the
infinitive has to be doubled, e.g. slip, slipped
For irregular verbs, The present participle and gerund
are always regular and are formed by adding ing to
the infinitive.
The rule concerning the doubling of the final
consonant of the infinitive before adding ing applies
here also.
8. Ordinary Verbs : Active sentence
He works
He is working
He has worked
He worked
He was working
He had worked
He will work
He will be working
9. Affirmative Contractions
The auxiliaries be, have, will, would are contracted as follows:
Am 'm have 've will 'II is 's
has 's would 'd are 're had 'd
Note that : 's can be is or has and 'd can be had or would:
He's going = He is going.
He's gone = He has gone.
He'd paid = He had paid.
He'd like a drink = He would like a drink.
These contractions are used after pronouns, here, there, some question words , and short nouns:
Here's your pen.
The twins've arrived.
The car'd broken down.
Affirmative contractions are not used at the end of sentences:
You aren't in a hurry but I am. (I'm would not be possible here.)
10. Negative of Tenses
The simple present tense: third person singular does not/doesn't
+ infinitive; other persons do not/don't + infinitive.
The simple past tense negative for all persons is did not/didn't +
infinitive. Contractions are usual in speech:
He does not/doesn't answer letters.
They do not/don't live here.
I did not/didn't phone her.
She did not/didn't wait/or me.
The negative of all other tenses is formed by putting not after the
auxiliary. Contractions are usual in speech: He has not/hasn't
finished. He would not/wouldn't come.
11. Negative contractions
The auxiliaries be, have, will, would, shall, should, do are
contracted as follows:
am not 'm not
is not isn’t or 's not
are not aren't or 're not
I'm not going and Tom isn't going/Tom's not going.
We aren't going/We're not going.
have not and has not contract to haven't and hasn't, but in
perfect tenses 've not and 's not are also possible:
We haven't seen him/We've not seen him.
He hasn't/He 's not come yet.
Will not contracts to won't, though 'll not is also possible,
shall not contracts to shan't:
I won't go/I'll not go till I hear and I shan't hear till tomorrow.
Other verb forms are contracted in the usual way by adding
n't. Negative contractions can come at the end of a sentence:
I saw it but he didn't.
12. Study the sentences below!
What it’s mean?
• He didn't didn't eat eat anything anything
<=> He ate nothing.
• He He doesn't doesn't ever ever complain complain
<=> He never
complains.
We haven't seen anyone
• We haven't seen anyone <=> We have
They seen no didn't one.
speak much
• They didn't speak much <=> They hardly
spoke at all/They hardly ever spoke.
13. INTERROGATIVE FOR
QUESTIONS AND REQUESTS
Does Peter enjoy parties?
Did he enjoy Ann's party?
Simple present tense interrogative: does he/she/it + infinitive;
do I/you/we/they + infinitive.
Have you finished?
Are you coming?
Simple past tense interrogative: did + subject •+• infinitive.
In all other tenses the interrogative is formed by putting the subject after the auxiliary
15. Using Negative Interrogative
The negative interrogative is used when the speaker
expects or hopes for an affirmative answer:
Haven't you finished yet?
Don't you like my new dress?
CHILD : Can't I stay up till the end of the programme?
I could wait ten minutes. ~ Couldn't you wait a little
longer?
The negative interrogative is also used in question
tags after an affirmative sentence:
You paid him, didn't you?
She would like to come, wouldn't she?
17. Kinds of adjectives :
a) Demonstrative: this, that, these, those
b) Distributive: each, every; either, neither
c) Quantitative: some, any, no ; little/few; many,
much; one, twenty
d) Interrogative: which, what, whose
e) Possessive: my, your, his, her, its, our, your,
their
f) Of quality: clever, dry, fat, golden, good, heavy,
square
18. Participles used as adjectives
Both present participles (ing) and past participles (ed)
can be used as adjectives. Care must be taken not to
confuse them.
Present participle adjectives, amusing, boring, tiring
etc., are active and mean ‘having this effect’.
Past participle adjectives, amused, horrified, tired etc.,
are passive and mean 'affected in this way'.
The play was boring. (The audience was bored.)
The work was tiring. (The workers were soon tired.)
The scene was horrifying. (The spectators were horrified.)
an infuriating woman (She made us furious.)
an infuriated woman (Something had made her furious.)
19. Agreement:
Adjectives in English have the same form for
singular and plural, masculine and feminine
nouns:
a good boy, good boys a good girl, good girls
The only exceptions are the demonstrative
adjectives this and that, which change to these
and those before plural nouns:
this cat, these cats that man, those men
Many adjectives/participles can be followed by
prepositions: good at, tired of.
20. Position of adjectives: attributive and predicative
use
Adjectives in groups (a) - (e) above come before their
nouns:
this book which boy my dog
Adjectives in this position are called attributive adjectives.
Adjectives of quality, however, can come either before their
nouns: a rich man a happy girl
or after a verb such as :
(a) be, become, seem:
Tom became rich. Ann seems happy.
(b) appear, feel, get/grow (= become), keep, look (= appear),
make, smelt, sound, taste, turn:
Tom felt cold. He got/grew impatient.
He made her happy. The idea sounds interesting.
Adjectives in this position are called predicative adjectives.
Verbs used in this way are called link verbs or copulas.
23. Form and use
Many adverbs of manner and some adverbs of
degree are formed by adding ly to the corresponding
adjectives:
grave, gravely immediate, immediately slow, slowly
Spelling notes
a) A final y changes to i: happy, happily.
b) A final e is retained: extreme, extremely.
Exceptions: true, due, whole become truly, duly, wholly.
c) Adjectives ending in able/ible drop the final e and add
y: capable, capably sensible, sensibly
d) Adjectives ending in a vowel + l follow the usual rule:
beautiful, beautifully final, finally
24. Exercise - 01
Make the sentences (a) negative and (b) interrogative
1. They have eggs for breakfast.
2. He needs a new coat.
3. He used to sell fruit.
4. They have to work hard.
5. She does the housework.
6. He needs more money.
7. He had a row with his boss.
8. She had a heart attack.
9. Her hair needed cutting.
10. He does his homework after
supper.
11. She has a singing lesson every week.
12. She had to make a speech.
13. He does his best.
14. He has to get up at six every day.
15. The children have dinner at school.
16. She dared him to climb it.
17. You did it on purpose.
18. He dares to say that!
19. They had a good time.
20. The drink did him good.
25. Exercise - 02
Put the following verbs into the past tense. (Auxiliaries are used both by
themselves and as part of certain forms and tenses of ordinary verbs.)
Use had to as the past tense of must and didn't need as a past tense of needn't.
1. He isn't working hard.
2. She doesn't like cats.
3. I can't say anything.
4. We must read it carefully.
5. He won't help us.
6. He can lift it easily.
7. It isn't far from London.
8. Isn't it too heavy to carry?
9. He needn't pay at once.
10. He hopes that Tom will be
there. (He hoped . . .)
11. How much does this cost?
12. He says that Ann may be there. (He
said . . :)
13. How old is he?
14. Do you see any difference?
15. I do what I can.
16. How far can you swim?
17. I must change my shoes.
18. Tom dares not complain.
19. I don't dare (to) touch it.
20. Have you time to do it?
26. Exercise - 03
Additions to remarks, using auxiliary verbs
Add to the following remarks) using (and )so+ the noun/pronoun in brackets
+ the auxiliary. If there is an auxiliary in the first remark repeat this; if not use
do/does/did.
1. I have read it. (John)
2. He is a writer, (she)
3. Tom can speak Welsh, (his wife)
4. She ought to get up. (you)
5. I should be wearing a seat belt. (you)
6. John will be there. (Tom)
7. The first bus was full. (the second)
8. I bought a ticket, (my brother)
9. You must come. (your son)
10. This bus goes to Piccadilly. (that)
27. Exercise - 04
Fill each of the following gaps with a suitable auxiliary or auxiliary form.
1. Schoolboy to friend: I left my book at home. . . . I share yours?
2. I'm taking swimming lessons. I hope to . . . to swim by the end of
the month.
3. You . . . better take off your wet shoes.
4. I'm sorry I'm late. I . . . to wait ages for a bus.
5. Teacher: You . . . (obligation)read the play, but you . . . (no
obligation) read the preface.
6. I knew he was wrong but I . . . (hadn 't the courage)to tell him so.
7. You're getting fat. You . . . to cut down on your beer drinking.
8. He . . . to smoke very heavily. Now he hardly smokes at all.
9. The new motorway . . . opened this afternoon, (plan)
10. I've come without any money. . . . you possibly lend me Ј5?
28. Exercise - 05
Put the verbs in brackets into the simple present or the present
continuous tense.
1. Cuckoos (not build) nests. They (use) the nests of other birds.
2. You can't see Tom now: he (have) a bath.
3. He usually (drink) coffee but today he (drink) tea.
4. What she (do) in the evenings? ~
She usually (play) cards or (watch) TV.
5. I won't go out now as it (rain) and I -(not have) an umbrella.
6. The last train (leave) the station at 11.30.
7. He usually (speak) so quickly that I (not understand) him.
8. Ann (make) a dress for herself at the moment. She (make) all her
own clothes.
9. Hardly anyone (wear) a hat nowadays.
10. I'm afraid I've broken one of your coffee cups. —
Don't worry. I (not like) that set anyway.
Notas do Editor
Auxiliaries used to form tenses are normally unstressed. The stress falls on the main verb.
In English a negative sentence can have only one negative expression in it. Two negative expressions give the sentence an affirmative meaning: Nobody did nothing means that everyone did something.
This is formed by putting not after the ordinary interrogative:
I don't have 2 doesn't need 3 didn't use 4 don't have 5 doesn't do
6 doesn't need 7 didn't have 8 didn't have 9 didn't need 10 doesn't do II doesn't have
12 didn't have 13 doesn't do 14 doesn't have 15 don't have 16 didn't dare 17 didn't do
18 doesn't dare 19 didn't have 20 didn't do
Introgrative :
1 do they have 2 does he need 3 did he use 4 do they have 5 does she do
6 does he need 7 did he have 8 did she have 9 did her hair need 10 does he do 11 does she have
12 did she have 13 does he do 14 does he have 15 do the children have
16 did she dare 17 did you do 18 does he dare 19 did they have 22. did the drink
1 wasn't 2 didn't 3 couldn't 4 had to 5 wouldn't 6 could 7 wasn't 8 wasn't
9 didn't need to 10 hoped that Tom would 11 did 12 said that Ann might 13 was 14 did 15 did...
could 16 could 17 had to 18 dared 19 didn't 20 had
1 So has John. 2 . . . is she. 3 . . . can his wife. 4 . . . ought you. 5 . . . should you. 6 . . .will Tom. 7
. . . was the second. 8 . . . did my brother. 9 . . . must your son. 10 . . . does that
1 can/could 2 be able 3 had 4 had 5 must, needn't 6 didn't dare 7 ought/will have 8
used 9 is to be 10 could
1 don't build, use 2 is having 3 drinks, is drinking 4 does she do, plays, watches 5 is raining, haven't 6 leaves 7 speaks, don't understand 8 is making, makes 9 wears 10 don't like