Present perfect

 General principles
 Recent past

General principles
The present perfect describes an action or emotion which began in the past and
which continues in the present. It is formed by using the auxilary "to have" with
the participle:

 I have always wanted to visit Israel.

 Money has always been the problem and not the solution.
 I have discovered the answer.

After such expressions as "since", "for", "howlong", etc., one generally uses
the present perfect or even the present perfect progressive:

 I have been in Paris for three weeks

 He has been telling that story for years!
 How long have you lived in Quebec?

In the negative, the present perfect expresses and action which has not yet
occurred:

 I haven't finished yet.

 She said she would call, but she hasn't called.

Recent past
In conjunction with the word "just", the present perfect or the preterit can be
used to express the recent past:

 I (have) just arrived.

 The film has just come out [or: The film just came out].

Note: do not confuse this use of "just" (which indicates the recent past) with
"just about", which indicates, to the contrary, something which will happen in
the near future:

 I have just about finished. (= I have almost finished; I will finish soon.)

Present perfect progressive

A close relative of the present perfect, the present perfect progressive,
emphasizes the continuation of a single action: it indicates that the action is
ongoing or continuing at the moment one is speaking. The form — relatively
complicated — consists of the past auxiliary "to have" + "been" (the past
participle of "to be") + the present participle of the principal verb. For example:

 I have been trying to reach you all afternoon.

 They have been working hard to finish their project.

The preterit
As a general rule, the preterit is formed by adding the ending "–ed" to the
infinitive (dropping any unpronounced "e" in final position, and changing any
final "y" to "i"):

 to walk –> walked

 to answer –> answered
 to want –> wanted
 to smile –> smiled
 to cry –> cried

The preterit forms of many common verbs are irregular:

 to be –> was (singular), were (plural)

 to have –> had
 to do –> did
 to make –> made
 to eat –> ate
 to go –> went
 to drink –> drank
 to think –> thought
 to bring –> brought
 to drive –> drove
 to write –> wrote
 to sing –> sang
 to build –> built

(For a complete list of this irregular forms, see Irregular preterits and past
participles).

Usage
The preterit expresses actions which were completed in the past. Unlike those
described by the present perfect, these actions do not continue in the present.
Unlike the past progressive, the preterit does not describe the process or
duration of actions: it states them only as completed actions:

 She went to the store this afternoon.

 They called the police.
 He came, he saw, he conquered.
The duration of the action is of no importance: the preterit may describe an
action lasting an instant or many years. Thus verbs indicating belief, emotion,
possession, location, etc. will often be expressed in the preterit:

 I lived in London for three years.

 She owned three dogs throughout her childhood.
 I never trusted what they told me.

In the negative and interrogative, the auxiliary verb "to do", — conjugated in the

preterit — will be used with the infinitive to express the past:

 Did you arrive in time?

 Didn't you eat yet?
 We didn't go to the movies after all.

Future progressive
The future progressive serves to express an action which will be in the process
of occurring. It is formed by putting the present progressive into the future: will
be + present participle.

 I will be waiting for you at six o'clock.

 He will be eating by the time you arrive.

Hint for usage: How to choose between the future progressive and the simple
future? If it is possible to use the expression "will be in the process of," it is the
future progressive that best expresses the action. The future progressive
indicates that an action will be continuing at a given moment; the simple future
suggests that the action will be complete. Thus the verb tense can nuance
meaning. Consider these sentences, both of which are grammatically correct:

 I will be finishing my homework at 10:00. (This suggests that I may finish

my homework at 10:05 or 10:15; I will be nearing completion, in the
process of completion.)
 I will finish my homework at 10:00. (This suggests that I will finish at
10:00 sharp.)

Present progressive
 General principles
 Near future
 In negative constructions
 Related topics

General principles
The present progressive is a version of the present which emphasizes the fact
that an action is still unfolding (or is continuing) at the time one speaks. It is
formed by using the auxilary "to be" with the present participle:

 I am working.
 He is eating his dinner.
 The cat is meowing.

Usually, the present progressive indicates that one is "in the process of" or "in
the midst of" doing something. If this is the idea one wishes to communicate,
the present progressive will be preferable to the simple present. If you cannot
replace the verb by a form of "to be in the process of", the present progressive
should probably not be used. Indications of emotion, belief, and possession are
rarely conjugated in the present progressive:

 I think that is right. ["I am in the process of thinking" would be awkward.]

 Cheryl owns her own house. ["Cheryl is in the process of owning" would
be awkward.]

In certain situations the present progressive can indicate an action which will
take place in the immediate future:

 I am going to the movies this evening.

 They are leaving tomorrow.

Near future
To emphasize the idea of future action while using the present tense, one may
use the verb "to go"; it indicates what one is going to do. In this case the
principle verb remains in the infinitive:

 I know he is going to yell at me!

 They are going to regret that decision.

Note: The near future can also be used in past constructions, in which case the
verb "to go" is conjugated in the past progressive:

 She was going to leave, but the telephone rang.

Present progressive in the negative

The word "not" comes after the auxiliary "to be":

 He is not working very hard.

 You are not driving fast enough.
Demonstrative adjectives and
pronouns
Demonstrative adjectives
Demonstrative adjectives have two singular forms (this, that) and two plural
forms (these, those). These adjectives are used to designate proximity to an
object, or to distinguish between an object that is close (in time or space) and
one that is more remote. Usually "this" and "these" signal proximity, while
"that" and "those" suggest distance:

 These books are too expensive.

 This car is responsive.
 That man irritates me!
 This hotel is more expensive than that one.

Demonstrative pronouns
Demonstrative pronouns have the same form as the demonstrative adjectives,
but are used without the nouns to which they refer. In the singular, when
designating a specific object, the pronoun "one" is often added:

 These tomatoes are fresher than those.

 These are better than those.
 Would you like a little of this?
 That strikes me as really weird!
 The book is more interesting than that one.

In front of a relative pronoun, the demonstrative pronoun becomes

"the one" or "the ones" (when speaking of things), or "he / she who",
"they who" (when speaking of people):

 This film is the one that you hated so much.

 He who eats well works well.
 This pen is the one with which the President signed the new law.

Reciprocal pronouns
To show that two people, represented by a single grammatical subject, are
acting on each other, one uses the reciprocal pronouns "one another" or "each
other".

 They hate each other.

 They killed one another.
 We talk to each other often.
Reflexive pronouns
Reflexive pronouns are used to show that the actions described by a verb act
upon the subject of the verb: the subject and the object are thus the same. The
forms of reflexive pronouns correspond to the forms of the subject pronouns:

 I –> myself
 you (singular) –> yourself
 you (plural) –> yourselves
 he –> himself
 she –> herself
 it –> itself
 we –> ourselves
 they –> themselves

To use a verb reflexively, the reflexive pronoun must follow the verb (and, in the
case of an intransitive verb, it will follow any preposition used with the verb). If
there are multiple verbs in the sentence, the reflexive pronoun follows the verb
to which it applies:

 I told myself it would never happen.

 She talks to herself all the time.
 Look at yourself in that mirror!
 I would like to give myself a raise.

At the end of a sentence, one can add reflexive pronouns as a way of

accentuating the subject in the sentence. In this case, the verb does not have
reflexive power:

 I would rather do that myself.

 Can you talk to him yourself?

Relative pronouns
 General information
 Subject pronouns
 Object pronouns
 Possession ("whose")
 As prepositional objects
 Time
 Space
 Related topics

General information
Relative pronouns are used to join two sentences. For example, the following
two sentences,
  I found an apartment. This apartment has three rooms.

may be joined using a relative pronoun:

 I found an apartment which has three rooms.

Relative pronouns have many different

forms: who, whom, whose, that, which, that which, what. The pronoun is
selected based on the following criteria:

1. What is the grammatical function of the pronoun? Is it a subject, a direct

object, or a prepositional object?

2. Does the pronoun refer to a person or a thing (or a situation)?

3. Does the pronoun have an antecedent, or does it represent

an unknown entity?

4. Does it represent a special case (possession, time, or space)?

According to the role it plays, the pronoun will take one of the following forms:

specific specific unspecified person thing thingsubject who that that which which

whatdir obj who that that which whom which whatsubject prep+whom prep+which
prep+what that+prep+ which

Subjects
The pronoun "who" expresses a grammatical subject when this subject is a
person; "that" or "which" are used (indifferently by most speakers) to represent
subjects which are things, events, situations, etc.

 There's the man who stole my wallet!

 I read a novel that entertained me a great deal.
 He made a mistake which embarrassed him.

When the antecedent is vague or totally absent, one uses "what" or (less
commonly) "that which":

 What interests me in this film is the music.

 That which eludes us intrigues us the most.
 I don't know what happened.

Objects
The pronoun "whom" (in spoken language one often hears "who") expresses a
grammatical object when this object is a person; "that" or "which" are used
(indifferently by most speakers) to represent objects which are things, events,
situations, etc.
  She is a person whom I respect a great deal.
 He ordered a beverage which he didn't drink.
 She is talking about the trip that we're going to take.

Note: Use of the relative pronoun is optional (except in the case of "what" or

"that which" when referring to specific antecedents); the same sentences as
above may be written correctly without the pronoun:

 She is a person I respect a great deal.

 He ordered a beverage he didn't drink.
 She is talking about the trip we're going to take.

When the antecedent is vague or absent, on uses "what" or (less often) "that
which":

 You can do what you want.

 What they are doing seems useful.

Possession: "whose" / "of which"

The pronoun "whose" expresses possession when the subject is a person; it
will often be replaced by " of which" if it refers to an object, an event, etc.:

 The tourist whose ticket had expired filed a complaint.

 There is the man whose mother is our mayor.
 That was a good article, the point of which was to make us think.

Prepositional objects
The preposition generally precedes the appropriate pronoun:

 Here's the pattern with which I made this shirt.

 The woman for whom I work is quite strict.
 Here's the tree next to which Newton was sitting.
 They went out for dinner, after which they went home.

In spoken English, one often places the preposition at the end of the
clause. Moreover, with the pronoun " what" this structure is required,
even in written English:

 Here's the pattern which I made this shirt with.

 The woman whom I work for is quite strict.
 Here's the tree which Newton was sitting next to.
 Tell me what you're thinking about.

Time
The pronoun "when" is used with nouns indicating time. However, it is rarely
necessary to include this pronoun, and it is often omitted:
  I remember the day when we met.
 I remember the day we met.
 He arrived at the moment when we were speaking of him.
 He arrived at the moment we were speaking of him.

Space
When more specific prepositions (such as "on," "under,", etc.) are not
necessary, the general pronoun "where" will suffice:

 Here's the house where my parents were born.

 She doesn't know where she's going.

The subjunctive
The subjunctive is used only in select phrases or situations in English. One
finds vestiges of it in certain hypothetical expressions (using "if + to be") and in
certain set phrases. (In many cases the subjunctive — considered archaic or
literary — is replaced by the modal "would," used to express the conditional.)
Other meanings often communicated by the subjunctive in other languages will
be expressed by modal verbs in English.

In constructions using "if + to be" the subjunctive will amount to using the form
"were" (instead of "was") with the first and third persons singular ("I" and "he,"
" she," or "it"). (In spoken English, and in much informal writing, "was" will still
be used.)

 If I were Muriel, I'd never go back there.

 If she were alone, I'd stop by to see her.
 He acts as if he were crazy.

Superlatives
 General principles
 Irregular forms
 Adjectives
 Adverbs
 Related topics

General principles
When comparing two things one uses the comparative; however, for
comparisons in larger groups, it is the superlative which must be used. The
superlative designates extremes: the best, the first, the worst, the last, etc.

The superlative operates like the comparative, with these exceptions:

A. While the word "more" or the ending "–er" signals the comparative, it is the
word "most" or the ending "–est" that designates the superlative. (See irregular
forms, below):

 He is the most efficient worker we have.

 That is the poor est family in the neighborhood.

B. The compared term (adjective or adverb) will be preceded by the definite

article:

 He works the fastest of any student I know.

 She is the tallest woman in town.

B. Unlike the comparative, the superlative is not followed by "than": instead,

one uses "of," followed by the context of the comparison (although this context
is sometimes implicit):

 It's the best day of my life!

 She works the best of the whole class.
 She's the one who arrived first.

Irregular forms: Adjectives

Monosyllabic adjectives (and several common two-syllable adjectives) take the
ending "–est" in superlatives of superiority, and thus will not use the adverb
"most." However, these same adjectives will use "less," like other adjectives, in
superlatives of inferiority:

 young –> youngest

 tall –> tallest
 old –> oldest

If the adjective ends in "–y" the "y" becomes "i":

 heavy –> heaviest

 early –> earliest
 busy –> busiest
 healthy –> healthiest
 chilly –> chilliest

If the adjective ends in "–e" one adds only "–st" :

 wise –> wisest

 large –> largest
 simple –> simplest
 late –> latest

If the adjective ends in "single vowel +consonant," the consonant is

doubled and one adds "–est":
  red –> reddest
 big –> biggest
 thin –> thinnest
 hot –> hottest

Some very common superlatives have irregular forms:

 good –> best

 bad –> worst
 far –> farthest

Some adjectives exist only in superlative form:

 first
 last

Irregular forms: Adverbs

Adverbs not ending in "–ly" do not use the adverb "–most" in the formation of
superlatives of superiority, but use instead the ending "–est." However, these
same adverbs will use "less," like other adverbs, in superlatives of inferiority:

 fast –> fastest

 hard –> hardest

And some adverbs have irregular forms:

 well –> best

 badly –> worst
 far –> farthest