read
read
read
reading
read
may
may have
may have been
may have been being
SIMPLE
COMPLEX

read
HEAD
lexical
verb
/riːd/ /red/

FORM
BASE
(V)
- PRESENT
PARTICIPLE
-Ving PARTICIPLE
(V-ing)
-S
FORM
(V-s)
- PAST
(V-ed1)
-PAST
PARTICIPLE
(V-ed2)

Presenttense
indicative, all persons
except3rdperson singular
 I/You/We/They
readthepaper
Imperative mood
 Read methat sentence again.
Subjunctivemood
Idemandedthatsheread
thatout loud.
Infinitive (withandwithout to)
Ineedyou toread this.
Can you read this?
BASE
FORM

V-s
FORM
Present
tense
indicative,
3rdperson
 He often
reads poems.

• You are certainlyreadingthe
room.
• Were you reading mylips?
Combinedwith
auxiliarybe, to denote
progressive aspect.
• Readingtoyoungchildren,
helpsdeveloptheirlanguage
skills.
• Helikes reading about wildlife.
In –ingparticiple
dependent clauses

PAST FORM
(ed1)
Pasttime
indicative
(regularverbs)
 Hepublished
his new e-book
withouta cover.

• They havenever published an e-book..
• She had postedupa list of books.
Combinedwithauxiliaryhave
to denotePERFECTASPECT
(regular verbs)
• Themenus werepostedoutsidethe door.
• Ithadnever beenpublishedinprint.
Combinedwithauxiliarybe
to denotePASSIVEVOICE
(regular verbs)
• We willnotdistributebookspublished bythatpress.
• Placed outbythreirintolerance,hedidn´tknowhowto react.
In–ed PARTICIPLE
CLAUSES
-ed2

3 forms
*quit
*quits
*quitting
*hit *hits
*hittting
4 forms
*play *plays
*played *playing
*feel *feels
*felt
*feeling
5 forms 8 forms
*do *does *did
*done *doing
*draw *draws *drew
*drawn *drawing
*be *am *is *are *was
*were *been*being

Doubling ofthe finalbaseconsonant
Change of the final vowel –yinto –ie
or –i: and thatof –ieinto -y
Dropping of final“mute” -e
S PELLING CHANG ES

• When the base ends in a single
consonant preceded by a single
vowel symbol.
• When the stress falls on the final
base syllable
Doubling of
final base
consonant
• Compel – compelling- compelled
• Refer – referring – referred
• Fit –fitting - fitted
Before
-ing or -ed

Exceptions
L - ll (BrE)
Cancel –cancelling -cancelled
Label–labelling –labelled
Travel–travelling– travelled
M– mm
Program–programming–programmed
P –pp
Handicap–handicapping– handicapped
Kidnap–kidnapping– kidnapped
Worship– worshipping–worshipped
S– ss
Bias– bias(s)ing –bias(s)ed
Focus –focus(s)ing –focus(s)ed
Thestressdoes
notfall on the
final consonant

-c into -ck withthe base endingin
-ic
Frolic – frolicking– frolicked
Panic– panicking– panicked
Picnic– picnicking– picnicked
Traffic – traficking- trafficked

Final -yand-ie
• defy- defies - defied
marry - marries- married
When the base ends in a
consonant + -y, the
–yis changedinto –ies, and–ied
• Die– dying
• Lie– lying
• Tie - tying
When the baseends in –ie,these
letters are changedinto –ybefore
-ing

• come - coming
• love - loving
• make - making
Deletion of
-e
• Exceptions:
• Age –ageing
• Dye- dyeing
• Singe–singeing
• Tinge- tingeing
Whenthe base ends
in mute -e, it is
dropped before -ing

IRREGULARVERBS
V = V-ed
bet – bet – bet
cost – cost – cost
cut – cut – cut
put – put - put
V ≠ Ved
build – built – built
feel – felt – felt
find – found – found
lead – led- led
V≠ V-ed1≠V- ed2
begin- began – begun
choose –chose– chosen
see – saw – seen
write – wrote - written

beat
come
run ran
came
beat beaten
come
run

Semantic
categories
activity
communication
mental
causative
occurrence
existenceor
relationship
aspect

Activity verbs
They refer to a volitional activity, an
action performed intentionally by a
“doer”.
e.g.bring, make,take, paint, run, meet,
put, use, work, show etc.

Communication
verbs
Subcategory ofactivity verbs that involve
communication acts (speech and writing)
e.g.ask, offer,talk, call,say, tell, claim,
thank, describe, suggest, write, etc.

Mental verbs
They refertomentalstates orprocesses,
emotions,attitudes,desires, perceptions and
thereceiving of communication(read, hear)
e.g, believe, find, listen, think,consider,
love, expect,know,mean, like,need,
suppose,doubtetc.

Causative verbs
They indicate that some person or thing
helps to bring about a new state of
affairs.
e.g.cause, allow,let, require, enable,
help etc.

Verbs ofOccurrence
They report events that occurwithoutan
actor(active voice). The subjects are affected
by the event that isdescribed by the verb.
e.g. The lightturned off.
The wind blew from the North.
What hashappened here?

Verbs ofExistence or
Relationship
They report a state of existence or a
logical relationship thatexist between
entities. (copular verbs)
e.g. appear, seem, be, exist, live,
include, look, stay, stand, represent,
indicate, result, contain etc

Verbs ofAspect
They characterize the stage of progress ofan
event or activity. They occur with -ing or to-
infinitive clause.
e.g She keptrunning out of the room.
Ilikedrinking soda.
Ineedto see you.
I´ll tryto be present.

Categories
Person
Number
Finitude
Mood
Tense
Aspect
Voice
Modality

First
Second
Third

Singular
Plural

Finite
Mood
Tense
Aspect
Voice
Modality
Non-finite
(no mood, tense, aspect, voice or
modality)
Bare
infinitive
To-infinitive
-ingparticiple
-ed participle

Come back soon!
We spent our holidays in NY.
I have never seen anything like this before.
The research was carried out in UCLA.
They shouldwork hard.
• Finite
Did hear the train come?
I´d liketo see you.
Sitting here, Ican enjoythe view.
Cars imported from Europe are very expensive.
• Non-finite

Indicative
Imperative
Subjunctive
It is a term used to referto finiteforms as serving to
indicatethe speaker´s and writer´scommitment
regarding the factualstatus of what he/sheis saying
or writing.
Itisusedtomakefactualstatements,askquestions,orexpress opinionsasifthey
werefacts.
Itindicates thatthespeakerdesires fortheactionexpressed
(commandorrequest) totakeplace.
Itisusedtoexplore conditionalorimaginary
situationscontrarytofact.

IMPERATIVE
Form base
 To give orders, instructions or to make invitations, suggestions.
Eg: Stop talking.
 Negation don´t + base
Eg: Don´t be late.
 Tag questions will you?
Help me, will you?
 Overt subject you / somebody / everybody
You listen to me! (authority / anger / contrast)
Don´t you dare!
Somebody help me!
Everybody get up!
 Overt subject ≠ vocative
John, you sit here.
You, John, sit here.
You sit here, John.
 Emphatic
Dosit down!
 Let´s imperative
Let ´s see.
Let´s not go.
Don´t let´s s go
Do let´s go now.

Formulaic
Mandative
Were-subjunctive
SUBJUNCTIVE MOOD
(non-fact mood)

formulaic
•God save
the
Queen
•God bless
you.
•So be it.
mandative
•She
demanded
that he be on
time.
•It is our wish
that he do as
he pleases.
•It is neccesary
that he get a
permit.
were
•Even if he
were to
arrive…..
•If I were
you….
•It´s time he /
she were
informed.

Present
Past

Unrestrictive simple present (no limitation on the
extension of the action; a period of time without a
definite beginning or end including the present time)
Iterative simple present
(the event is habitual or recurrent).
Simultaneous present simple
(the event takes place simultaneously with
the time of speaking)

Historic simple present (past time)
Story telling
Dramatic heightening in fiction
Headlines
Photografic captions
Historical summaries, tablets of dates etc

Future simple present
It is used to refer to future events
which are considered ¨certain¨
Determined in advanced
(calendar, timetable)
Part of a plan or arrangement
thought of as unalterable
e.g. The competition starts with a massive fireworks
display.
e.g. Practice ends at 8:00 a.m. tomorrow.
e.g. My flight leaves at 3 p.m. on Sunday.

Simple present tense in
subclauses
Adverbialclausesof time.
e.g. I´ll let you know as soon as she
arrives.
Adverbialclausesofcondition.
e.g. If you smoke so much, you´ll
have lung problems very soon.

Past Time
Hypothetical Past
(condition which is not likely to be
fulfilled)
e.g. If you really loved me, …..
If I had money,……

Progressive
Perfect
It refers to temporal relative distribution of anevent,
focusing on duration up to the present or present result of a
past event (perfect aspect), or to temporariness (progressive
aspect)

• She has
waited.
Present perfect
• She is
waiting
Present
progressive
• She has
been
waiting.
Present perfect
progressive
• She had
waited.
Past perfect
• She was
waiting.
Past
progressive • She had
been
waiting.
Past perfect
progressive

Continuativepresent perfect ( a state extends over a period lasting up to
the present)
e.g Thehousehasbeenemptyforages.
Iterativepresent perfect (habit or repetition in a period up to the present)
e.g IhavealwayslivedinParaná.

Unspecifyingpresentperfect(the time-when is unspecified
/ indefinite past / recent past)
e.g.Haveyoueverhadanaccident?
Susanhasjustleft.
Resultativepresentperfect(the result of a past event is still operative
at the present moment)
e.g. Thedoor hasbeenpainted.

`a PAST inthePAST´
( a past event stretching before some definite point of orientation in the past)
e.g. When Imet her, hermotherhadalreadydied.
Back-shift (indirect or reported speech)
e.g. He said hehadbeenabroad.
Hypothetical condition
(condition which cannot be fulfilled since the event occurred in the past)
e.g. If Ihadmether, I would have let you know.

Temporary events or states (something is going on atthe moment of speaking or
writing, stressing the notion of limited duration and/or incompletion)
e.g. My friends are living in NY at the moment.
• Temporariness
It expresses the future in connection with a definite plan, arrangement or
programme.
Eg:He´sleaving to NY tomorrow.
• Futurity

To express something persistent or recurrent,
and often showing an emotional colouring.
e.g. He´s always getting into trouble.
• Characteristichabit
It combines the meaning of temporariness
with that of repetition.
e.g. I am working in the afternoon this week.
• Iterativemeaning

Incompletion
The effect of surrounding a
particular event by a
temporal frame
Toadd vividness of
description
• e.g. I was studying
Grammar last night.
• e.g. When Isaw him,
hewastalkingtoyour
wife.
• e.g. The kids were
running desperately in
the middle of the
night.

Present simple or
continuous?
We use the present simple to
describe:
- Permanent situations
- Facts
- Opinions
- Regular repeated actions
- Immediacy of an event (sports
commentaries)
- Newspaper headlines
We use the present continuous to
describe:
- A temporary situation in progress
- Repeated events when they
happen within a temporary
period.
- Pictures
- Actions which form a
background in a narrative
- Things which are in process of
change (trends)

Past simple or continuous?
We use the past simple
to describe:
- Completed actions in the
past
- Actions happening at the
same time.
- Repeated actions
- Sequences of actions
- One action resulting in
another
- States in the past
We use the past continuous to
describe:
-An action in progress at a point of
time in the past
-A temporary, changing or
developing action
-An action that provides a
background to completed past
actions
-2 actions in progress at the first time
Also:
-to contrast and ongoing action with
a single past event which interrupts it
-

Present perfect or past
simple?
We use the present
perfect to describe:
- Unfinished states/ actions
- Unfinished time
- Present result/relevance
- Indefinite time
We use the past simple
to describe:
- Finished states / actions
- Finished time
- No indication of present
relevance
- Definite time

Present perfect simple or
continuous?
We use the present
perfect simple to
indicate:
- Completion
- Repeated actions
- Permanent situations
- Focus on present result
We use the present
perfect continuous to
indicate:
- Continuation
- Duration of action
- Temporary situation
- Focus on the activity

Past perfect simple or
continuous?
We use the past perfect
simple to describe:
- A single or repeated
action, completed before a
time in the past
- A situation which exists
before a past event
We use the past perfect
continuous to indicate:
- An ongoing situation or
action which continued up
to a time in the past
Also:
- To focus on the duration of
the action

Passive
(marked)
Active
(unmarked)

Information structure regarded as a master of presentation of a message on the part of
the speaker/writer often reflects a division between what is assumed to beknown to
the hearer/reader, and what is assumed not to beknown to the hearer/reader:the
division between giveninformation and newinformation .
Initialposition Given information
Final position New information End-focus principle

Final position
Long / heavy
elements
End-weight
principle

Effects ofvoice contrast
Agent
(subject)
Patient
(direct object)
Recipient
(indirect
object)
A reversal of the orderofparticipant roles, possible through voicecontrast, may satisfy the
need for an initial element containing giveninformation, which often goeshand in hand
with the desire to place newinformation in final position, so that end-focus isachieved.In
addition, final position for the agent-phrase may satisfy the requirement of end-weight.

• transitivity
• meaning (events/dynamic verbs)
Verb constraints
• Phrasalobjects (reflexiveor
reciprocalpronoun)
• Clausalobjects
Object
constraints
• There is nocorresponding passive
voice
Agent constraints

• The mechaniccouldnotrepair the
car. (ability)
• The carcouldnotbe repaired.
(possibility)
Semantic
constraints
• Active voice is more frequent than passive
voice.
• Passive voice is more frequent in scientific
writing, official reports, newspapers and
editorial (impersonal, objective prose)
Frequency
constraints

Passivesentences frequently contain no
by- prepositionphrase (short passive
voice)
This accounts in many cases for the preference for a
passive construction: the passive enables the
speaker/writer to leave the agent unmentioned, either
because overt reference tothe agent is considered:
-irrelevant or redundant,
- better not to be mentioned explicitly
(impersonalization).

Theagent is OBVIOUS (textualor contextual)
• A babywasrescued yesterday(by therescue team)
• 1,500peoplewere injuredincoastalearthquakein Ecuador.
The agent isUNIMPORTANT (generalization) / irrelevant
• The125-footCarpeVitaisconsideredtheworld´smostluxuriousdiveboat.
The agent isUNKNOWN.
The140-footArenuiiscustom-builtwith12different typesof woods(the ownerssay
70%is recycled).
Theuse of short passive voice

Theuse oflong passive voice
To accordwith theinformation-flowprinciple.
To accordwith theend-weightprinciple.
To placeinitialemphasis on anelementof a
clause (subject) which isthetopic or theme ofthe
discourse.