This is a systematic grammar of the English language. It aims to give examples and explanations of all of the grammatical forms in English, once it is complete.
The best place to start is with the index. If you want to see how English uses a particular form, look for its name (e.g., “uncountable noun”) or an example of its form (e.g., does).
Remember that a present perfect is a present tense, not a past tense. When we use the present perfect, we are thinking about now, and talking about something before now which still connects to now.
If you had visited Korea and then came to my country, I could ask you, “How long were you in Korea?” The verb were is past, because you are not in Korea now, and so the idea be in Korea does not connect to now.
However, if you lived in Korea but were not Korean, I could ask you, “How long have you been in Korea?” The verb have been is present perfect, because you are in Korea now, and so the idea be in Korea connects to now.
Repeated
We use the continuous form for repeated actions, actions which happen again and again.
The door was banging because of the wind. It woke me up.
The door did not bang only one time: it banged many times.
We use the continuous form this way especially for short actions.
Length of Time
We often use the continuous form when we talk about a length of time. We can use a simple form instead of a continuous form there, but the continuous makes the verb stronger. It tells the listener that the time is unusually short or long.
She was waiting for three hours, but the phone did not ring.
I am working here for two months.
The ice cream will be sitting in the car for forty minutes. It will melt.
Important
We use the continuous form to make a verb stronger, and so we use it when the verb is especially important. This is most common in complaints and excuses.
You are always doing that! It makes me furious!
I didn’t do anything! I was just sitting here!
Infinitive
We use the continuous infinitive form, (to+) be + present participle with (modal) or other (auxiliary) verbs as the finite form.
You are too tired. You should be sitting now.
I like to be doing something all the time so that I don’t get bored.
We use the continuous infinitive when we want to use a modal verb for an activity around a time.
He has not answered his phone. He might be working now.
The baby may be sleeping when you come home tonight, so be quiet.
Combination
We use the continuous form with the perfect form to make the verb stronger. Sometimes, the action is finished, but this is not always true.
I have broken my foot. (one complete action before now)
He has been breaking bones all year. (repeated actions before now)
I have tidied the house. (The house is now tidy.)
I have been tidying the house. (It was hard work; I am tired; you do not know whether the house is now tidy.)
We use the continuous form with the (passive form) if the verb affects the subject.
Tennis is being played on three of the courts, and basketball on the fourth.
The door was being banged against the house.
Depending upon how we count them, English can identify about thirty-six different times.
Time
The first word of a verb is the finite form. With any verb except a modal, it shows the main time: past, or present, or future.
She played football. (past)
She plays football. (usual present, not now)
She will play football. (future)
Before the Main Time
If we want to talk about two times in one sentence, we can use the perfect form – (have) + past participle – for the earlier time.
She had played football, so she learnt hockey quickly. (both past, football before hockey)
She has played football, so she can learn hockey quickly. (football past, hockey future)
She will have played football, so we can have her on our team. (football before have)
Because the perfect form means “before”, the future perfect (will have done) might be before now and it might be after now: the tense only tells us that it is before the main time of the sentence.
Around the Main Time
If we want to put the verb around the main time, so that the main time happens in the middle of the action, we use a continuous form: (be) + present participle.
She was playing football when I called her. (The football started before and ended after my call; the call was during the football game.)
She is playing football. (Right now, she is in a football game.)
She will be playing football when you come home. (The football will start before and end after you arrive home; your arrival will be during the football game.)
After the Main Time
If we want to talk about two times in one sentence, we can use the (Progressive Future) form – (be) + going to + infinitive – for the later time.
Because she was going to play football later, she didn’t eat a big lunch.
She is going to play football in five minutes.
She will be going to play football after she finishes school tomorrow.
The last one is very unusual, because we do not usually need to talk about something happening after another time in the future.
After a Time before the Main Time
We can combine the perfect and the progressive future, especially if we want to talk about a plan before another time. We do not often do this, but native speakers can understand it because English’s verb tenses are a system.
She had been going to play football, but she twisted her ankle.
I have always been going to visit Iceland. Perhaps I will go there next year.
On this page:
Why do we use a passive?
How do we make a passive?
Examples of passives: past, present, and future.
Why do we use a passive form?
Many English sentences use active verbs to say how the subject affects an object.
1A. The cat ate the mouse.
This sentence says that the subject, cat, did the verb, eat, to an object, mouse:
cat → eat→ mouse.
It makes the cat important.
What do we do if we want the mouse to be important? We use a passive form: mouse ← eat.
How do we make a passive form?
Example 1A. The cat ate the mouse.
To make a passive form of the same sentence, first, we move mouse to the start.
The mouse
Next, we change the active form into a passive form. To do this, we separate the active form into its tense (time) and its idea (meaning). We put the tense onto be, and we put the idea into past participle (the —en/ed/t form of a verb).
Because ate is the past tense of eat, we need the past tense of be, which is were for a (plural), or was for a (singular). Because mouse is singular, we use was.
The mouse was
Then, we add the —en/ed/t form of the meaning verb eat, which is eaten.
The mouse was eaten.
This sentence is now complete. It does not say who ate the mouse, but it does not need to. If we want to, we can add by and then the agent, who did the eating.
1B. The mouse was eaten by the cat.
This sentence now says the same thing as sentence 1A, but it makes the mouse important.
We always need to make sure the verb tense is the same in the active and the passive. If the active form is past, the passive form must be past; if the active form is future, the passive form must be future. If we change the tense, we change the thinking.
Example 2A. People in Italy make those shoes.
If we want to talk about those shoes, we first move those shoes to the start of the sentence.
Those shoes
Next, we use the present tense of be (because make is present), i.e., am, are, or is. Because those shoes are plural, we want to use are.
Those shoes are
Then, we add the —en/ed/t form of the verb make, which is made.
Those shoes are made
Because all shoes are made, this sentence is not useful, and the sentence 2A said where, so we can add that.
2B. Those shoes are made in Italy. ↔ People in Italy make those shoes.
Example 3A. Someone will paint the house tomorrow.
To make a passive form of the same sentence, first, we move house to the start.
The house
Next, because will paint is future, we need the future tense of be, which is will be.
The house will be
Then, we add the —en/ed/t form of the verb paint, which is painted, which looks like a past tense but is not a past tense. Most of the verbs in English use -ed for their past tense and for their past participle, but this sentence is future because the first part of the verb, will be, shows the time.
The house will be painted.
This sentence is now complete. It does not say exactly when, but it does not need to. If we want to, we can add the exact time.
3B. The house will be painted tomorrow. ↔Someone will paint the house tomorrow.
Remember, we always need to make sure the verb tense is the same in the active and the passive. Many students make mistakes with passives because they are thinking about how to organise the sentence, and so they forget to check the tense.
We can also use passives with perfect forms, to make perfect passives, with continuous forms, to make continuous passives, and with infinitives, to make passive infinitives, which are useful with modal verbs.
More examples
My car was stolen last night.
This play was written by William Shakespeare.
Many cars are stolen in this area.
These phones are made by Samsung.
Do not worry; your car will be found.
The first song will be sung by my friend.
On this page:
Why do we use a continuous form?
How do we make a continuous form?
Examples of continuous forms.
Other uses of the continuous form.
Why do we use a continuous form?
Many English sentences use the simple form of a verb.
1A. She ate dinner at 6p.m.
This sentence says that the action ate happened at the time of 6 p.m.
She ate
↕
6 p.m.
Eating dinner takes longer than one minute, and so at 6 p.m. is not really true. If we want to say that eating started before 6 p.m. and ended after 6p.m., we use a continuous form.
How do we make a continuous form?
Example 1A. She ate dinner at 6p.m.
To make a continuous form, we change the verb ate.
A continuous form uses some form of be and then a present participle (the —ing form of a verb). As usual, we put the tense on the first part of the verb: because ate is the past tense of eat, we need the past tense of be, which is were for a (plural), or was for a (singular). Because she is singular, we use was.
She was
Then, we add the —ing form of the verb eat, which is eating.
She was eating
When we put this into the sentence, the time is different. A continuous form tells us that the verb starts before and finishes after the time.
1B: She was eating dinner at 6 p.m.
eating eating eating
↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓
6 p.m.
Now, the sentence says that, at 6 p.m., she was “in the process” of eating dinner, which she started before 6 and finished after 6.
Example 2A: He plays golf.
This sentence says that he usually plays golf, but it does not tell us what is happening now. If we want to say what is happening now, we need a continuous form.
To make the continuous form, we change the verb play.
Because plays is the present tense of play, we need the present tense of be, which is am if the subject is I, are for you or we or they, and is for he or she or it. Because the subject is he, we use is.
He is
Then, we add the —ing form of the verb play, which is playing.
He is playing
When we put this into the sentence, it means “now”.
2B: He is playing golf.
We do not need to say He is playing golf now, because is playing already says now.
Example 3A: I will do my homework at 7 p.m. Do not call me then.
Doing homework (usually) takes longer than one minute, and so at 7 p.m. is not really true. If we mean that 7 is in the middle of my homework time, we need a continuous form.
To make the continuous form, we change the verb do.
Because will do is the future tense of do, we need the future tense of be, which is will be.
I will be
Then, we add the —ing form of the verb do, which is doing.
I will be doing
3B: I will be doing my homework at 7 p.m. Do not call me then.
This sentence says that I will start my homework before 7, and I will finish it after 7, so do not call me in the middle of my homework.
For other uses of the continuous form, see Continuous Form: Advanced Uses.
On this page:
Why do we use a perfect?
How do we make a perfect?
Examples of perfects: past, present, and future.
Why do we use a perfect form?
Many English sentences say that something happens at a time.
1A. She went when I arrived.
This sentence says that the two actions, went and arrived, happen at one time.
She went
↕
I arrived
If we want went to be before arrived, we use a perfect form.
How do we make a perfect form?
Example 1A. She went when I arrived.
To make a perfect form of the same sentence, we can change the verb went.
A perfect form uses some form of have and then a past participle (the —en/ed/t form of a verb). As usual, we put the tense on the first part of the verb: because went is the past tense of go, we need the past tense of have, which is had.
She had
Then, we add the —en/ed/t form of the verb go, which is gone.
She had gone
When we put this into the sentence, the times are different. A perfect form tells us that there are 2 times, one which is before the other.
1B: She had gone when I arrived.
Now, I did not see her, because had gone is before arrived.
had gone←←←←↓arrived
If we make arrived perfect, the times change again, because then had arrived is before went.
She went when I had arrived.
had arrived←←←←↓went
Example 2A: He takes many photos.
This sentence is talking about a habit, something which I usually do, because the verb takes is present simple tense.
He takes
↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓
If we want to talk about time before now, we can use a perfect form.
As usual, we put the tense on the first part of the verb: because takes is present tense, we need the present tense of have, which is has.
He has
Then, we add the —en/ed/t form of the verb take, which is taken.
He has taken
When we put this into the sentence, the times are different.
2B: He has taken many photos.
has taken ←←←←←←↓now
This does not say an exact time before now: it can mean my whole life, or only today, or any other time before now.
Example 3A: I will finish this book on Friday. You can borrow it on Saturday.
The first sentence says something will happen at a time. If we want to change the sentence to say before a time, we can use a perfect form.
As usual, we put the tense on the first part of the verb. Because will finish is the future tense of finish, we need the future tense of have, which is will have.
I will have
Then, we add the —en/ed/t form of the verb finish, which is finished.
I will have finished
When we put this into the sentence, the times are different.
3B: I will have finished this book on Friday.
This means I will finish the book before Friday. You can borrow it on Friday.
More examples
I woke up and saw that someone had stolen my car.
When she became a doctor, she had spent six years at university.
Someone has stolen my car!
You have passed your exam. Well done!
Hopefully, the police will have found my car by the time work starts on Monday.
Next year, we will get 200 more students, but we will have built 10 new classrooms for them.
We can also use perfects with continuous forms, to make perfect continuous verbs, with passive forms, to make perfect passive verbs, and with infinitives, to make perfect infinitives, which are useful with modal verbs.
English verb forms are constructed from four ideas:
1. time
2. before that time
3. stronger
4. happening to the subject.
We show the “time” idea with past and present tense finite forms. These forms change for different times and for different people.
I did it yesterday; you do it most days; he does it every day.
We show the “before that time” idea with the (perfect form), which uses (have) and a [past participle]. It means that verb happens earlier than the other time.
She had gone when I arrived. I did not see her.
I have done my homework. I can show it to you.
In the second sentence, have done is before now. We do not say the time because we do not need to.
We show the “stronger” idea with the (continuous form), which uses (be) and a present participle. It means that the verb is stronger than usual. We do this when we say something is around a time (i.e. before and during and after that time), and when we talk about a length of time (e.g., five minutes, ten years), and when we talk about an action which is repeated (i.e. it happens many times), and when we want to make the verb more important.
I did not see her leave: I was sleeping. (around the time)
He was waiting for forty minutes. (length of time)
You are tapping your pen. Stop it. (repeated)
I didn’t do anything! I was just sitting there! (important)
We show the verb happening to the subject with the (passive form), which uses (be) and a past participle. It means that the verb does not go from the subject to the object: the verb goes back to the subject. We can use “by” to say who does it, but we do not need to say that.
The fish was eaten by the cat.
The window is made of glass.
Click on the underlined word to go to the right page.
To find a verb form in the index, look for that form of the verb do (e.g., did, was doing, will be done).
adjective
adverb
am doing – continuous form
am done – passive form
are doing – continuous form
are done – passive form
be doing – continuous form
be done – passive form
can do – modal
continuous form: was doing, were doing, am doing, is doing, are doing, will be doing
could do – modal
countable noun: shirt
do – infinitive
do – finite verb
does – finite verb
doing – present participle, gerund
done – past participle
did – finite verb
finite verb: do, does, did
gerund: doing
had done – perfect form
had to do – modal
has done – perfect form
has to do – modal
have done – perfect form
have to do – modal
I, he, she, we, they – pronoun subject forms
infinitive: do, be
is doing – continuous form
is done – passive form
may do – modal
me, him, her, us, them – pronoun object forms
might do – modal
modal: can/could, had to/has to/have to, may/might, must, need to/needed to/needs to, ought, shall/should, will/would
must do – modal
need to do – modal
needed to do – modal
needs to do – modal
noun: shirt, money
noun, countable: shirt
noun, uncountable: money
object: me
ought to do – modal
passive form: was done, were done, am done, is done, are done, will be done
past participle: done; -ed/en/t form
perfect form: had done, has done, have done, will have done
present participle: doing, -ing form
pronoun: you, it
shall do – modal
should do – modal
subject: I
uncountable noun: money
verb: do
was doing – continuous form
was done – passive form
were doing – continuous form
were done – passive form
will do – modal, usually future
would do – modal
Dear reader,
I’m Dr Gregory Olsen, and I have been teaching English language and English literature since 2002, in private language schools, secondary schools, companies, and universities. I have had students from more than three dozen countries in Europe, Africa, Asia, the Pacific, and the Americas.
I decided to set up this systematic grammar guide to help my students and others to understand the grammar of English. It is simpler than many people think, but is often explained badly – so I will try to avoid doing that.
If you are learning English as a second language, just remember that hundreds of millions of other people have learnt it, and they are not all smarter than you. You can do it.
English has different types of verbs. The two main types are “intransitive” (verbs without noun complements after them) and “transitive” (verbs with noun complements).
Intransitive
An intransitive verb does not have a noun object.
It happens.
We walked.
Some intransitive verbs need (adjective) complements.
They seem happy.
He looked sad.
An intransitive verb cannot have a noun object, but we can add an (adverbial) (prepositional phrase): a preposition and a noun.
I looked at the book.
She listens to classical music.
Transitive
A transitive verb must have a noun object.
You said something.
I bought a shirt.
We can also add an adverbial prepositional phrase after a transitive verb and its object.
You said something to him.
I bought a shirt at the market.
Some verbs can have an object and an adjective complement, or even two objects.
That makes me sleepy.
We made her president.
Dr Greg's Grammar Guide