Past Perfect Simple

The past perfect simple expresses an action taking place before a certain time in the past.

Form of Past Perfect Simple

	Positive	Negative	Question
no differences	I had spoken.	I had not spoken.	Had I spoken?

For irregular verbs, use the past participle form . For regular verbs, just add ed.

Exceptions in Spelling when Adding ed

Exceptions in Spelling when Adding ed	Example
after final e, only add d	love – loved
final consonant after a short, stressed vowel or l as final consonant after a vowel is doubled	admit – admitted travel – travelled
final y after a consonant becomes i	hurry – hurried

Use of Past Perfect

• action taking place before a certain time in the past (putting emphasis only on the fact, not the duration)

Example: Before I came here, I had spoken to Jack.

• Conditional Sentences Type III (condition that was not given in the past)

Example: If I had seen him, I would have talked to him.

Signal Words

already, just, never, not yet, once, until that day (with reference to the past, not the present)

The Imperative Form

You can use the imperative form to give an order, a warning, or some advice.

To form the imperative, use the infinitive form of the verb without "to". To make a negative imperative, put "do not" or "don't" in front of the verb, as in, "Don't speak!"

Affirmative	Negative
Come here	Don't cross the street
Go there	Don't say that
Open the door	Don't be late
Turn on the TV	Don't fight
Sit down	Don’t go

The imperative is formed the same for all subjects (you, he, we, they), but you can include yourself in the imperative by adding "Let's," as in, "Let's go for a swim".

Affirmative	Negative
Let's work!	Let’s not work!
Let's make a party!	Let's not make a party!
Let's go!	Let's not go!
Let's play!	Let's not play!
Let's go home!	Let's not go home!

Activities:

• Englisch-Hilfen exercise 1.
• Englisch-Hilfen exercise 2.
• To Learn English.
• Learnenglish.
• Teacher Schule.

Must & Mustn't

Must is a modal auxiliary verb. In one of its meanings, it is used to give strong advice or orders (to oneself or to other people).

Affirmative
I You He She It We You They	must	go come work live speak

Mustn't means that it is neccesary that you do not do something.In other words, it is used to tell people not to do things.

Negative
I You He She It We You They	must not mustn't	go come work live speak

We use the questions with must to ask about the intentions of wishes of the person one is speaking to.

Interrogative
Must	I you he she it we you they	go? come? work? live? speak?

Affirmative answers				Negative answers
Yes,	I you he she it we you they	must.		No,	I you he she it we you they	mustn't.

Can & Can't

Learn how to use can and can't with these funny pumpkins:

Can is an auxiliary verb that we use to:

• Talk about possibility and ability.
• Make requests.
• Ask for or give permission.

The structure of can:

• subject + can + main verb

The main verb is always the infinitive without "to".

	subject	auxiliary verb	main verb
+	I	can	read	a book.
-	He	can't /cannot	read	a book.
?	Can	you	read	a book?

• Can is invariable. There is only one form of can.
• The main verb is the infinitive without "to".

Activities:

• From The Yellow Pencil, a page with listenings, rules and exercises.
• English Exercises offers you three different activities: 1, 2 & 3.
• Some exercises from Better English:   1, 2 & 3.

Ancient Olympic Games

Here you have two videos to know the history of Ancient Olympic Games while working on the simple past:

Must & Mustn't: Activities

To practise must and mustn't, take a look at this presentation, and after, do the activities below.

Activities:

• From The Yellow Pencil, a page with listenings, rules and exercises.
• 3 Exercises from Guadiana Inglés.
• From English Grammar Lessons.
• A gapfill exercise from Pedagogie Ac.
• From To Learn English.
• An exercise from Better English.
• English Exercises offers you more activities.

You're so Vain: Irregular Verbs

A perfect opportunity to review some irregular verbs in the past simple: You're so Vain, one of the most famous songs by Carly Simon.

Present Perfect Simple

The present perfect simple expresses an action that is still going on or that stopped recently, but has an influence on the present. It puts emphasis on the result.

Form of Present Perfect

	Positive	Negative	Question
I / you / we / they	I have spoken.	I have not spoken.	Have I spoken?
he / she / it	He has spoken.	He has not spoken.	Has he spoken?

For irregular verbs, use the participle form. For regular verbs, just add “ed”.

Exceptions in Spelling when Adding ‘ed’

Exceptions in spelling when adding ed	Example
after a final e only add d	love – loved
final consonant after a short, stressed vowel or l as final consonant after a vowel is doubled	admit – admitted travel – travelled
final y after a consonant becomes i	hurry – hurried

Use of Present Perfect

• puts emphasis on the result

Example: She has written five letters.

• action that is still going on

Example: School has not started yet.

• action that stopped recently

Example: She has cooked dinner.

• finished action that has an influence on the present

Example: I have lost my key.

• action that has taken place once, never or several times before the moment of speaking

Example: I have never been to Australia.

Signal Words of Present Perfect

already, ever, just, never, not yet, so far, till now, up to now

Activities

• Grammar and five activities from Eclectic English.
• From Perfect English Grammar, different exercises about the form of the present perfect simple.
• From English Grammar 4 You, a bunch of exercises and three level tests.
• A short explanation and several exercises taken from English 4 You.
• From Agendaweb, lots of exercises of all kind about this tense.

Talking About the Future

It is possible expressing the future time in English in many different ways:

• Will
• Going to
• Present Continuous

WILL
I you he / she / it we they	will ('ll) will not (won't)	play

We use going to when we want to talk about a plan for the future.

 Subject + to be + going to + infinitive

• I'm going to see him tomorrow.
• They're going to go to London next month.
• We're going to study English this afternoon. 

Subject	Verb To be	Going to	Infinitive
I	am	going to	dance
He / She / It	is		read
We / You / They	are		plan

Subject	Verb To be + not	Going to	Infinitive
I	am not	going to	sleep
He / She / It	is not (isn’t)		cook
We / You / They	are not (aren’t)		jump

  

	Verb To Be	Subject	Going to	Infinitive
What	am not	I	going to	do?
Where	is not (isn’t)	he / she / it		eat?
	are not (aren’t)	we / you / they		fish?

This future plan doesn’t have to be for the near future. In this case, we use the present continuous form of the verb:

 Subject + to be + -ing

 Activivites about future plans with going to:

• Englisch-Hilfen: exercises 1, 2 & 3.
• English Grammar Secrets: exercises 1, 2, 3 & 4.
• English 3D: complete the dialogue.
• ESL Gold: audio exercise.