小學及初中英文文法

系列一： Verbs 、Tenses、Prepositions

I. Verbs in Simple Sentenses

A simple sentence contains a Subject + a Predicate (or verb part)

Verbs can either be Verb to Do or Verb to Be.

1. For Verb “to Do” :

A verb may be transitive (vt), then, there should be an object after the verb.

Subject Verb to Do Object

e.g. They destroy the box.

A verb may be intransitive (vi), then, there should be no object after the verb.

Subject Verb to Do Object

e.g. My heart aches.

The same verb can be transitive and intransitive

Subject Verb to Do Complement Object

e.g. He opened (vt) the door.

The door opened. (vi)

He sings a song.

He sings loudly.

2. For Verb “to Be” :

There is no object after the verb to be.

Subject Verb to Be Complement Object

e.g. You are clever.

The meeting is at 2:30 p.m.

II. Tenses

1. Simple Present

The present tense describes activities and states which are generally and

universally true. The present tense is the tense for description, definition, and

statements of general truth. As the time line shows, the present tense extends from

past time, through the present and into the future. Durative verbs, which show states

through time, are verbs like live, want, and be.

Sometimes the present tense is also called the present habitual.. It is used

Hallowe’en is an autumn holiday that Americans celebrate every year. It means

”holy evening,” and it comes every October 31, the evening before All-Saints Day.

However, it’s not really a church holiday; it’s a holiday for children.

Every autumn, when the vegetables are ready to eat, children pick large orange

pumpkins, Then, they cut faces in the pumpkins and put lights inside. It looks like

there is a person looking out of the pumpkin! These lights are called jack-o’-lanterns,

which means “Jack of the lantern.”

The children also put on strange masks and frightening costumes every Hallowe’en.

Some children paint their faces to look like monsters. Then they carry boxes or bags

from house to house. Every time they come to a new house, they say “Trick or treat!

Money or eat!” The adults put a treat money or candy in their bags.

Some children think of other people on Hallowe’en. They carry boxes for

UNICEF (The United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund). They ask

for money to help poor children all around the world. Of course, every time they

help UNICEF, they usually receive a treat for themselves, too.

2. Simple Present Progressive (Continuous) Tense

The present progressive tense is used for actions going on in the moment of speaking and for actions taking place only for a short period of time. It is also used to express development and actions that are arranged for the near future.

Be + Verb + ing

e.g. The girl is holding a book

positive: I have spoken (He/has spoken.)

Negative; I have not spoken (He has not spoken.)

Question: Have I spoken? (Has he spoken?)

( Note: list of irregular verbs, 3rd column). For regular verbs, just add “ed” to

the end of the verb.

It describes the actions have been completed before the present time. These actions have

effect on the present situation. The time markers are: already, just, and not yet.

e.g. She has just put on her sweater.

He has already asked her to find another job.

She has not yet paid for the house

Present perfect tense describes:

i) Actions beginning in the past and continuing up to the

present moment ( with the time references like before, ever, since,

never …before, up till now, so far etc.)

e.g. I have lived here since 1980.

I have never tasted any poison.

ii) Actions which happened at an unspecified time in the past.

e.g. Have you passed your driving test?

iii) Action which happened in the past with references to recent time,

like just, recently, already, still, yet.

e.g. I have just eaten.

iv) Repeated/habitual actions

e.g. I have seen him on TV several times

This Woman Has Lost Her Job

Mrs. Clark and her daughter Sarah have been out shopping, and they’ve just returned home.

They bought Sarah a new sweater, and she’s already put it on. It’s so new that they haven’t even

removed the tag yet.

Mrs. Clark has just opened a letter, and she’s lost her job! For the past year she’s worked

as a private secretary for a rich musician. Now the musician has decided to stop working,

and he’s asked Mrs. Clark to find another job. Mrs. Clark is the only money earner in the family,

since her husband is no longer living.

The letter has upset Mrs. Clark very much. She’s crying. She’s recently bought a new house,

a new car, and many new clothes for her job. She hasn’t paid for them yet. Now she may not be

able to pay for them, because she hasn’t saved much money.

Sarah has heard the bad news, but she really doesn’t understand much about money.

She’s more worried about her mother. Mrs. Clark has never cried in front of her daughter before.

It’s Difficult to Say Good-Bye

The simple past is used to talk about activities or situations that

began and ended in the past (e.g. yesterday, last night, two days ago, in 1990)

e.g. Mary walked downtown yesterday.

I slept for eight hours last night.

i) To talk about things that happened in the past with

time specified:

e.g. I stayed in that hotel last week.

He phoned a few minutes ago.

ii) To talk about the general past and about regular actions or past habit:

e.g. My friends often visited me when I was in the United

States.

I smoked 10 cigarettes a day till I gave up.

Lightning Struck The City Last Night

(We use the past perfect to refer to “an earlier past”, that is to describe the first of two actions):

e.g. When I arrived, she had left ( i.e. before I got there)

The patient had died when the doctor arrived.

(First the patient died. Then, the doctor arrived.)

We often introduce the past perfect with conjunctions like when, after, as soon as, by the time that.

We use adverbs like already, ever, never …before.

The Sinking of Titanic

In 1912, the Titanic hit an iceberg on its first trip across the Atlantic, and it sank four

hours later. At that time, the Titanic was the largest ship that had ever traveled

on the sea. It was carrying 2207 people, but it had taken on enough lifeboats for

only 1178 people. When the passengers tried to leave the ship, only 651of them

were able to get into lifeboats.

The Carpathia was 58 miles away when the Titanic called on the radio for help. It arrived

two hours after the great ship had gone down, and it saved 705 people. Some of the survivors

had been in the icy water for hours when they were saved. Most of the passengers hadn't lived

that long; 1502 people had lost their lives.

Through the whole tragedy, the Calfornian was only ten miles away. Its officers were close

enough to see the Titanic, but they didn't understand the situation. They never received the

Titanic's call for help, and they didn't come to the rescue until too late.

Nobody had prepared for such a tragedy. Nobody had believed that the Titanic could sink.

The steamship company had thought that its ship would be completely safe in all situations.

They'd followed an old rule for the number of lifeboats, so they'd supplied lifeboats for only

half the people. The passengers had not yet received their lifeboat numbers, nor had they

practiced lifeboat drill before the accident. Many of them had not even dressed warmly, for

the ship had hit the iceberg late at night, and they didn't believe they were in danger.

The ship had already received six ice warnings on its radio when it struck the iceberg.

Novertheless, it had not changed its direcction or its speed. It was impossible ato change

direction quickly enough when the iceberg came in sight. When the Titanic hit the iceberg,

the radio officer on the Californian had just gone to bed. He'd tried to warn the officers on

the Titanic about the ice before he'd gone to bed, but the officers hadn't listened.

After this accident, ocean travel changed. Now there are always enough lifeboats for everybody.

Ships don't go so far north in winter, and they watch carefully for ice. Radio officers work 24 hours

a day. A tragedy like the sinking of the Titanic should never happen again.

(contractions: I'd --- I had / I would ； He's --- He is / has ； She's --- She is / has ；)

7. Past perfect progressive tense

It describes an activity or a state which began in the past and lasted until a second activity

in the past.

e.g. It had been snowing for an hour when I started to drive home.

a) To describe actions in progress throughout a period in the past

e.g. She was very tired. She had been typing all day.

b) Some verbs like learn, lie, live wait, work suggest continuity.

e.g. I had been waiting for two hours before he arrived.

c) To describe some repeated actions.

e.g. He had been planning every night for a month.

d) To draw conclusions.

e.g. Her eyes were red. It was clear she had been crying.

I Had Been Wearing My Seatbelt

The snowstorm in our city last week wasn't a large one, but it caused many accidents.

The snow started to come in the late afternoon. I saw it through the window of the office

building where I work as a secretary. It had been snowing for an hour when I started to drive

home.

The cars had been driving slowly because of the dangerous roads. It was slippery snow that

froze when it hit the roads. Earlier, the snow had been melting, but by evening it was staying

on the roads. Police cars had been checking the traffic regularly.

I’d been driving for twenty minutes when the accident happened. My heater hadn’t been

working, and the snow had been freezing on my window, so I couldn’t see well. I’d been stopping

to clean my window every few minutes. I’d just started the car again when my tires started to

slip. The car slipped onto the side of the road. When it hit the hill, it turned over and stopped.

I felt and looked to see if I was hurt, but I wasn’t. I’d been driving quite slowly, and luckily

I’d been wearing my seatbelt. It was very quiet, with just the sounds of music and falling snow;

I’d been playing the radio. Soon the police came to help me, and I was able to reach home in

another hour.

8. Simple Future Tense

The future tense with will describes actions, activities, and states in the future.

Will + Verb

The Car of The Future

Optimists think that car companies will soon solve all our problems by producing the Supercar.

Tomorrow's car will be bigger, faster, and more comfortable than before. The Supercar will have

four rooms, color TV, running water, heat, air conditioning, and a swimming pool. Large families

will travel on long trips in complete comfort. If gas is in short supply, optimists promise that the

car of the future will come in any color.

Common time markers use combinations with next ( next tyear, next week, next month)

with in ( in the future, in two years, in ten days), with from now ( ten years from now,

six weeks from now).

i) Use ‘shall’ and ‘will’ to make predictions.

e.g. It will rain tomorrow.

ii) To show intentions/ promises.

e.g. I will buy you a car.

iii) To make requests/invitations.

e.g. Will you hold the door for me, please?

iv) To make offers.

e.g. Shall I get your books for you?

v) To make suggestions.

e.g. Shall we go out for dinner together?

vi) To make threats.

e.g. Just wait! You’ll regret this!

vii) To refer to the future:

We use ‘will’ with all persons (I, you, he, she, etc.)

e.g. I will see you tomorrow ( or I’ll see you tomorrow.)

Negative short forms : will not = won’t ; shall not = shan’t

e.g. I won’t see you tomorrow.

viii) To say what will happen for events that have been arranged:

e.g. The wedding will take place at St. Andrew’s on June 27^th.

ix) To express expectations or hopes:

e.g. I hope she’ll get the job she’s applied for.

Verb to " Be" + Going to + Verb

Helicopters To The Rescue

Helicopters have rescued many people. Helicopters can move in very small spaces. They can

remain in one place in the air to make a rescue. For example, when the cars hit each other, several

people were hurt. They need medical help immediately. The rescue workers are going to give first

aid to all injured people. They're going to carry the injured people to the helicopter. The pilot of

the helicopter is going to take them to the closest hospital. There the people are going to receive

medical help.

Some time markers describe events that are going to happen in the near future:

soon, right away, in just a minute.

e.g. Rescue workers will carry injured people to the helicopter soon

Helicopter pilot will take injured people to the nearest hospital right away.

9. The Future Continuous Tense

When The Tornado Hits

A tornado is about to strike this family’s farm. It’s moving quickly towards them, but

luckily they’ve already seen it coming. The family is rushing into the storm cellar where

they’ll be safe under the ground.

When the tornado hits, they’ll be sitting in the storm cellar. They won’t be moving

around; they’ll be hiding in the safest part of the cellar. The mother will still be holding

the baby, but the animals will probably be running around, making noise.

10.10. Future Perfect Tense

Will + Have + Past Participle

Future perfect tense shows a completed first action before a second action in the future.

e.g. The mechanics will have checked the car when it leaves the pit

Pit Stop At The Race Track

Cars in auto races move at very fast speeds around the track. Some of the races are hundreds

of miles long. The drivers try to keep their cars near top speed the whole time. Of course, high

speeds are very hard on the cars. Often parts break or wear out during the race.

The race driver depends on the other man on his team, the mechanics who take care of the

car. Mechanics never race, but they share in the joy of winning. Their job is to make sure the

car will last long enough to finish the race. An old saying goes, “To finish first, first you must finish.”

The driver is pulling off the race track, into the pit. The mechanics

are already running to help. When the driver enters the race again, the mechanics will have put

fuel in the car. They’ll have changed some of the tires. They’ll have checked the oil. Perhaps

they’ll have added more oil. They’ll have repaired any problems in the car. The driver will

not have rested long, though – the mechanics will have finished all this work in less than one minute!

Marathon Race

Today at 7:30 a.m., 840 runners began their marathon race around the city. Most of them will stay in the race to the end.

Now it's ten o'clock, and the winner has just crossed the finish line. His time was two hours,

30 minutes, and 25 seconds.

The man with the stopwatch is clocking the race. He'll have clocked a different finishing time every few minutes for two hours, when the last runner comes in.

The other runners are still racing. They'll finish the race at different times. Some will have run

for three hours; Some will have run for three and one-half hours.

When they finish, they'll be very tired. The street were closed to traffic, so they won't have run into

any any cars.

He will have run for three hours by the time he finishes.

He will have clocked a different finishing time.

( Note: The future perfect tense can describe a state, a state, an activity, or a period of time before

a second action in the future. Usually two time markers appear in these sentences:

one for the length of time, and one for the endpoint.

Every few minutes for two hours when the last runner finishes. )

(frequency) (duration) (endpoint)

11. Future Perfect Continuous Tense

Will + have been + Verb + ing

Too Little， Too Late

This morning at five o'clock, the Green MountainRestaurant caught on fire. Nobody noticed

the fire until six o'clock, when the house next door started to burn. Firefighters came from all over

the area. They began to fight the fire at seven o'clock. Now it's eight o'clock, and the fire is still

going strong. The firefighters are working hard, but they haven't brought the blaze under control yet. Every few minutes they call for more help.

Fire Chief Brown Says that in another hour they'll have put out the fire in the house. At that time, the house will have been burning for three hours. Half the house will be gone. Chief Brown is afraid that the fire in the restaurant may go on until ten o'clock. Before it's out, the restaurant will have been blazing for five hours.

Firefighters will have been fighting the fire in the restaurant for three hours. The fire

will have been burning too long. By the time the fire is under control, nothing will remain of the restaurant. The firefighters will have been working with all their strength, but it will have been

too little and too late.