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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 inContinue reading ““Did” versus “Have done”: Past Simple versus Present Perfect”

RepeatedWe 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 TimeWe often use the continuous formContinue reading “Continuous Form: Advanced Uses”

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,Continue reading “Passive Form”

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 ofContinue reading “Continuous Form”

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 ↕IContinue reading “Perfect Form”

English verb forms are constructed from four ideas:1. time2. before that time3. stronger4. 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 theContinue reading “Verb Tense and Aspect”

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). adjectiveadverbam doing – continuous formam done – passive formare doing – continuous formare done – passive formbe doing – continuous formbeContinue reading “Index”

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 guideContinue reading “About me”

English has different types of verbs. The two main types are “intransitive” (verbs without noun complements after them) and “transitive” (verbs with noun complements). IntransitiveAn 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 weContinue reading “Verb type”