English Grammar: A Concise Summary

Posted on Mar 6, 2025 in Other subjects

Unit 1: Grammar

Past Simple

  • Affirmative: Verb + -ed
  • Negative: didn’t + base form of the verb
  • Interrogative: Did + subject + base form of the verb

Used to

  • Affirmative: used to + base form of the verb
  • Negative: didn’t use to + base form of the verb
  • Interrogative: Did + subject + use to + base form of the verb

Past Continuous

  • Affirmative: was/were + verb + -ing
    • was (I, he, she, it)
    • were (you, they, we)
  • Negative: wasn’t/weren’t + verb + -ing
    • wasn’t (I, he, she, it)
    • weren’t (you, we, they)
  • Interrogative: Was/Were + subject + verb + -ing
    • Was (I, he, she, it)
    • Were (you, we, they)

Unit 2: Grammar

Present Perfect Simple

  • Affirmative: have/has + past participle (verb + -ed for regular verbs)
    • have (I, you, we, they)
    • has (he, she, it)
  • Negative: haven’t/hasn’t + past participle
    • haven’t (I, you, we, they)
    • hasn’t (he, she, it)
  • Interrogative: Have/Has + subject + past participle
    • Have (I, you, we, they)
    • Has (he, she, it)

Unit 3: Grammar

Be Going To

  • Affirmative: We are going to leave tomorrow morning.
  • Negative: He isn’t going to hire a car.
  • Interrogative: Are you going to travel next week?

Present Simple with Future Meaning

  • Affirmative: The train leaves tomorrow morning at 7.

Will

  • Affirmative: You will have a lot of fun.
  • Negative: She won’t like the insect festival.
  • Interrogative: Will you travel to India in the future?

Future Continuous

  • Affirmative: We will be visiting London next week.
  • Negative: Alice won’t be staying at this hotel tomorrow.
  • Interrogative: Will you be taking a tour at noon?

Unit 4: Grammar

First Conditional

  • If you go to the festival, you will have fun.
  • You’ll have fun if you go to the festival.
  • Unless Tom goes to the festival, I won’t go.

Second Conditional

  • If you took Nick to the park, he would get exercise.
  • Mum would buy flour for dinner if she were at the market.
  • Note: When the verb after if is be, we usually use were for both singular and plural subjects.

Unit 5: Grammar

Relative Pronouns

  • Who: Used to refer to people; it can be the subject or object of the sentence.
  • That/Which: This pronoun can refer to people, animals, or things.
  • Whose: Used in interrogative sentences as a relative pronoun, meaning “of whom?”, and it is used to ask who owns or to whom an object belongs.

Unit 6: Grammar

  • Should: deberías
  • Must/Have to/Need to: tener que
  • Mustn’t: Prohibido
  • Don’t have to/Don’t need to: Ausencia de obligación
  • Can: Puedo
  • Could: Pasado
  • Be able to: Ser capaz de
  • May: Puede (posibilidad)
  • Might: Podría (posibilidad)

Unit 7: Grammar

Present Simple Passive

  • Affirmative: A lot of damage is caused by criminals.
  • Negative: Criminals aren’t caught by the police.
  • Interrogative: Is a riot considered a crime?

Past Simple Passive

  • Affirmative: He was stabbed in 1997.
  • Negative: The criminal wasn’t found.
  • Interrogative: Were the thieves identified?

Unit 8: Grammar

Past Perfect Simple

  • Affirmative: By 1887, Karl Benz had invented the first automobile.
  • Negative: My grandmother had not bought a dishwasher until last year.
  • Interrogative: Had he sold her invention by the end of the year?

Past Perfect Simple/Past Simple

By the time the gadget appeared in shops, people had already heard about it in the media.