martes, 2 de agosto de 2011

Past Perfect tense

"Sarah went to a party last week. Paul went to the party too, but they didn´t see each other. Paul left the party at 10:30 and Sarah arrived at 11:00. So: When Sarah arrived at the party, Paul wasn´t there. He had gone home".
Had gone is the past perfect.

The past perfect simple is had + past participle (gone / seen / finished etc.)

Sometimes we talk about something that happened in the past:
  • Sarah arrived at the party.
This is the starting point of the story. Then, if we want to talk about things that happened before this time, we use the past perfect (had.....):
  • When Sarah arrived at the party, Paul had already gone home.
Affirmative:
I / You / We / They / He / She / It had gone.

Negative:
I / You / We / They / He / She / It hadn´t gone.

Question:
Had I / you / we / they / he / she / it gone?

martes, 26 de julio de 2011

Past Continuous

We use the past continuous to talk about:

  • an action that was in progress at a time in the past. The action started before that time and continued after that time: I was watching TV at six.
  • two actions that were in progress at the same time in the past: I was talking to Luke while Kate was making dinner.
We use while with the two verbs. Notice when we use a comma (,):
I was talking to Luke while Kate was making dinner.
While Kate was making dinner, I was talking to Luke.

Affirmative:
I / She / He / It was playing.
You / We / They were playing.

Negative:
I / She / He / It wasn´t playing.
You / We / They weren´t playing.

Question:
Was I / she / he / it playing?
Were you / we / they playing?

Exercise 1
Exercise 2
Exercise 3
Exercise 4
Exercise 5

martes, 19 de julio de 2011

Simple Past tense

  • We use the past simple to talk about actions and situations that started and finished in the past.
  • To form the past simple of REGULAR verbs, we add -ed to the verb. Be careful of the spelling changes:
walk - walked       arrive - arrived       stop - stopped       try - tried

  • Some verbs do not form the past simple with -ed. They are IRREGULAR:
go - went       buy - bought        meet - met

  • We often use these time expresions with the past simple: yesterday, last night/ week / weekend / month / year, two hours / days / weeks / months / years ago, in 2002 / April.
  • We can also use when + subject + verb in the simple past:
I met him when I was in London.       When I was five, we moved to Brighton.

martes, 12 de julio de 2011

Simple Past tense


And.... you can have fun with videos such as "French learning English" or others. You may enjoy them after you watch this video.

lunes, 4 de julio de 2011

Present Perfect

  • We use the Present Perfect to talk about an action that happened in the past and has a result in the present: I´ve forgotten his name. (I can´t remember it now.) She hasn´t washed the car. (It isn´t clean now.)
  • We often use already, yet and just.
  • Already means "before now": I´ve already told her.
  • Yet means "up to now". We use it in negative sentences and questions: I haven´t asked Sam yet. Have you asked Sam yet?
  • Just means "a very short time ago": I´ve just spoken to her.
  • Already and just come after have/has. Yet comes at the end of the sentence or question.
  • We can use the present perfect to talk about experiences in our lives up to now: I´ve never been to India. I´ve worked in a hotel.
  • We often use never and ever when we talk about experiences in our lives. We use never in statements and ever in questions: I´ve never been to India. Have you ever been to India?
  • We can use the present perfect to talk about something that started in the past and continuous in the present: I´ve known Jack for six months. (I met him six months ago and I know him now.)
  • We often use for and since: we use for to say how long something has continued: I´ve been here for a week.; we use since to say when something began: He´s been a student here since September. (He became a student in September and he is a student now.)
FORM:  Have / Has + a verb in the Past Participle

Affirmative:
I/You/We/They have been to Europe.
She/He/It has been to Europe.

Negative:
I/You/We/They haven´t been to the USA.
She/He/It hasn´t been to the USA.

Question:
Have I/you/we/they been to the USA?
Has she/he/it been to the USA?




sábado, 2 de julio de 2011

Present Continuous

We use the Present Continuous to talk about something that is happening now, at exactly this moment. We often use it with time words and phrases like now, right now, at present, at the moment, Listen!! or Look!!: She is working at the moment.

Affirmative:
I am working.
She/He/It is working.
You/We/They are working.

Negative:
I´m not working.
She/He/It isn´t working.
You/We/They aren´t working.

Question:
Am I working?
Is she/he/it working?
Are you/we/they working?

Exercise 1
Exercise 2
Exercise 3