English Grammar Guide: Verb Tenses, Modals, and Passive Voice

Posted on Aug 25, 2024 in Training and Employment Advise

Verb Tenses

Simple Present

  1. Habit or daily routine: The child drinks milk every day.
  2. General truth/Fact: Water boils at 100°C.

Simple Past

  1. Completed/Finished actions: They walked on the beach yesterday.

Simple Future

  1. Decision at the moment of speaking: The load you carry is heavy, I will help you.
  2. Prediction: The weather will probably be hot.
  3. Promise: I promise I won’t tell this to anyone.

Idiomatic Future: Going To

  1. Planned action/Future plan: Mark is going to organize the celebration.
  2. Prediction: Look at the black clouds in the sky. It’s going to rain.

Present Continuous

  1. Action happening now: She is listening to music now.
  2. Temporary situation: Julia is working in Chicago this month.
  3. Changing situation: The climate is changing rapidly.
  4. Annoying behavior/situation: These students are constantly complaining about everything.
  5. Future plan: I am leaving tomorrow.

Past Continuous

  1. Interrupted action in the past: When I arrived, Lisa was reading the newspaper.
  2. Action in progress in the past: He was playing football.

Future Continuous

  1. Action in progress in the future: I will be helping my mother during the weekend.

Present Perfect

  1. Unfinished Action/Duration from Past until now: She has worked in the bank for five years.
  2. Recent completed action: We have just seen her.
  3. Unspecified Time: Have you seen ‘Gone with the Wind’?
  4. Finished action/Past event & Present result: She has lost her wallet (She can’t find it).

Past Perfect

  1. Action happened before a past event: I had made a decision before you called me.

Modal Verbs

A modal verb is a type of auxiliary (helping) verb that is used to express: ability, possibility, permission, obligation, etc.

  • They are auxiliary verbs.
  • They have no third-person -s form.
  • They have no non-finite forms (no infinitive, -ing participle, or -ed participle).
  • They appear only in the initial position in the verb phrase, and cannot occur with each other.
  • All except ought are followed by the bare infinitive without to.
  • They have unusual semantic and formal features, affecting their use in the past tense and in negation.

Can

  1. Ability: I can take you to the airport.
  2. Permission: You cannot leave the classroom.
  3. Request: Can you help me with this form?

Could

  1. Ability (in the past): John couldn’t run in the marathon because he had broken his ankle.
  2. Permission (more polite): Could I use your phone?
  3. Polite Request: Could you (please) move your car?
  4. Future Possibility: It could rain tomorrow.
  5. Suggestions: We could go hiking today.
  6. Deduction (50% certainty): She could be in the backyard.

May

  1. Permission (more polite): May I borrow your car?
  2. Future Possibility: I may go to the beach tomorrow.
  3. Deduction (50% certainty): She may be in the basement.

Might

  1. Weak possibility: I might go to Japan for a month to study Japanese.
  2. Suggestions (more polite/less direct): You might like to try one of our wonderful desserts.
  3. Permission (very formal): Might I interrupt you for a moment?

Will

  1. Requests: Will you turn down the radio?
  2. Deduction (100% certainty): She will be available later.
  3. Sudden decision: OK, I’ll call you tomorrow then.
  4. Commands or orders: Will you be quiet, please!

Would

  1. Polite requests: Would you lend me some money?
  2. Repeated action in the past: I would go surfing every day when I lived in Hawaii.
  3. Hypothetical results: Mary would go to the Caribbean if she had enough money.

Must

  1. Necessity: I must pay my phone bill.
  2. Deduction (95% certainty): He must be no more than four years old.
  3. Obligation: Students must behave in class.

Should

  1. Advice and suggestions: You should tell him what you think.
  2. Deduction (90% certainty): There should be a very big crowd at the party.

Ought To

  1. Advice and suggestions (more formal): I ought to call my mother.
  2. Deduction (80% certainty): Elizabeth ought to be here by 9:00.

Verb Types

  • Lexical Verb: It is a verb that usually shows actions and situations. I live in London.
  • Auxiliary Verb: It is a verb that is used with a main verb to give short answers and to express negatives, questions, the passive, and some tenses. (Be, do, have) Marta doesn’t eat meat.
  • Finite Verb: It shows tense (present, past), person (1st, 2nd, 3rd), and number (singular, plural). Simple, Progressive, Perfective.
  • Nonfinite verb: It is a verb that does not function as the head in a clause. It does not show tense, person, and number. Participles, Gerunds, Infinitive.
  • Modal Verb: It is a verb that is used with a main verb to add extra meaning. I can speak English. They might have some tickets.
  • Active verb: This is used when we want to focus on the person or thing doing the action. Susie opened the parcel. Three cars blocked the road.
  • Passive verb: This is used when we want to focus on the person or thing affected by the action. The parcel was sent three days ago. The road was blocked.
    • The active sentence must have an object (the receiver of the action) to be able to be phrased in the passive voice.
    • A passive sentence occurs when the object of the active sentence gets promoted to the subject.

Uses of Passive Voice

  1. When the identity of the agent of the action is unknown, unimportant, or obvious from the context. Many lifeboats were launched from the Titanic only partly filled.
  2. In scientific, technical, or academic writing, to avoid the repetition of the subject I or we and to put emphasis on experimental procedures. The subject was blindfolded, and a pencil was put in his left hand.
  3. To put emphasis on the action rather than on the person who carries it out or the thing that causes it. The detective was murdered.

Simple Present Passive

  • Obj + am/is/are + V3 | Am/Is/Are + Obj + V3?
  • Who sells umbrellas? Who are umbrellas sold by?
  • My mother doesn’t paint the walls. The walls aren’t painted by my mother.

Simple Past Passive

  • Obj + was/were + V3 | Was/Were + Obj + V3?
  • The teacher corrected the mistakes. The mistakes were corrected by the teacher.
  • Did the little boy sell all the candy bars? Were all the candy bars sold by the little boy?

Simple Future Passive

  • Obj + will + be + V3 | Will + obj + be + V3?
  • We will take the horses to the stable. The horses will be taken to the stable.
  • Will the boss give me a job? Will I be given a job by the boss?

Going To Future Passive

  • Obj + am/is/are + going to + be + V3 | Am/is/are + obj + going to + be + V3
  • Is anybody going to invite me? Am I going to be invited by anybody?
  • I am going to pay his debts. His debts are going to be paid by me.

Present Continuous Passive

  • Obj + am/is/are + being + V3 | Am/is/are + Obj + being + V3?
  • The coach is congratulating the team at the moment. The team is being congratulated by the coach.
  • Are they opening the gifts now? Are the gifts being opened by them? (now)

Past Continuous Passive

  • Obj + was/were + being + V3 | Was/Were + Obj + being + V3?
  • The boy was throwing the stone. The stone was being thrown by the boy.
  • What was he writing on the desk? What was being written by him on the desk?

Present Perfect Passive

  • Obj + have/has + been + V3 | Have/has + obj + been + V3
  • Thomas has written many books. Many books have been written by Thomas.
  • Have the police caught the man? Has the man been caught by the police?

Past Perfect Passive

  • Obj + had + been + V3 | Had + object + been + V3?
  • The little girl had broken the window. The window had been broken by the little girl.
  • Had Dorothy solved the problems? Had the problems been solved by Dorothy?

Ditransitive Verbs

Ditransitive verbs have two objects: direct and indirect. When we use these verbs in the passive form, most often the indirect object becomes the subject of the sentence.

  • Somebody gave the information to the police. The police were given the information.
  • They offered me the job. I was offered the job by them.