GRAMMAR MAGAZINE. By: Melany Espinoza
SIMPLE PRESENT.
FUNCTIONS.
General facts/truths Water boils at 100 degrees c.
Future timetables/Schedules. We fly to London on Wesnday.
Habits. I always eat cereal in the morning.
To describe what generally happens. People often call him George.
EXAMPLES. She drinks coffe every morning. My train arrives tomorrow.
We live in London.
USE AND FORM.
PRACTICE. 1. We sometimes ______ books. (read/reads) 2. Emily _____ to the disco. (go/goes) 3. It often _____ on Sundays. (rain/rains) 4. Pete and his sister _______ the family car. (wash/washes) 5. I always _____ to the bus stop. (hurry/hurries)
PAST PERFECT PROGRESSIVE. It emphasizes the duration of the action throughout a period of time.
FUNCTIONS. To talk about an action that was in progress before a specific time in the past.
To draw conclusions based on evidence.
Example: By 2000, Lee had been directing films for eight years.
Example: She was out of breath. It was clear that she had been runing.
STRUCTURE.
Example: They had been talking for over an hour before Tony arrived.
MORE EXAMPLES. By the time I got home, he had been waiting for an hour.
She had been working regulary.
How long had he been working?
PRACTICE. 1. We (sleep) __________ for 12 hours when he wokes us up. 2. They (wait) __________ at the station for 90 minutes when the rain finally arrived. 3. We (look for) __________ her ring for two hours and then we found it in the bathroom. 4. He (drive) _________ less than an hour when he run out of petrol. 5. They (cycle) __________ all day so their legs were sore in the evening.
ADVISABILITY IN THE PAST Proper to be suggested or recommended; desirable or wise, as a course of action.
SHOULD HAVE, OUGHT HAVE, COULD HAVE, MIGHT HAVE. Statements.
Subj + modal + have + past participle.
Example: He could have told her.
Yes/ no questions Should + subject + have + past participle.
IMPORTANT NOTE.
Should he have told her?
Should, ought to, could and might are modals. Modals have only one form. They do not have –s in the third person
Short answers.
Negattive: No, he shouldn´t have.
Wh- Questions. Wh-word + should + subject + have + past participle.
Affirmative: Yes, he should have.
Contractions. Should have. = should´ve Could have. = could´ve Might have. = might´ve Should not have. = shouldn´t have
NOTES Use the modals should have, ought to have, could have, and might have to talk about actions and states that were advisable (good ideas) in past, but did not happen.
You might´ve told me. (You didn´t tell me. That was wrong.)
I should´ve applied to college. (I didn´t aply to collage, and now I´m sorry.)
IMPORTANT NOTE. These modals often communicate a sense of regret or blame.
 Sh o u l d n o t h a v e and o u g ht no t t o ha v e are the only forms used in neg a ti v e statements about advisability in the past. S ho u l d n o t h a v e i s mo r e common.  Sh o u l d h a v e is the most common form used in qu e s ti o n s . He shouldn´t have missed the math exam.
Should he have called the teacher?
He ought not to have missed the math exam.
In informal speech, have in modal phrases is often pronounced like the word of.
In informal speech, to in ought to is pronounced like the word a.
IMPORTANT NOTE
Could have ( “ could of” )
Ought to ( “ oughhta” )
¡Be careful! Do not write of instead of have with past modals. ¡Be careful! Do not write a instead of to with ought.
PRACTICE:
MAKE, HAVE, LET, HELP AND GET.
MAKE. ď‚Ą We use m a k e to talk about things that someone can r e q u i r e , c a u s e or p e r m i t another person (or an animal) to do. Also we use m a k e to force someone to do something. ď‚Ą Example: They m a k e animals learn tricks. (They require animals to learn tricks) You can also use make to mean cause to
Structure.
Make + object + base form of the verb.
EXAMPLES. The teacher makes us do the homework. My sister made me eat my vegetables. My mom makes my brother do his bed.
HAVE. ď‚Ą We use h a v e to talk about things that someone can r e q u i r e , c a u s e or p e r m i t another person (or an animal) to do. Also we use h a v e to give someone the responsability to do something
Example: They have them perform for crowds. (They cause them to perform for crowds)
Structure.
Have + object + verb.
EXAMPLES. I will have my son drive you home. Mr. Allen has us use the computer. My sister had me do all the dishes.
LET. ď‚Ą We use l e t to talk about things that someone can r e q u i r e , c a u s e or p e r m i t another person (or an animal) to do. We also use l e t to allow someone to do somenthing.
Example: They let them have food as a reward. (They permit them to have food as a reward.)
Structure.
Let + object + verb.
EXAMPLES. Her parents didnt let her go to the party. Would you let me drive your car this weekend? Let them eat cake.
GET. ď‚Ą We use g e t to convince someone to do something. G e t has a similar meaning to m a k e and h a v e but it is always followed by object + infinitive not the base form of the verb. The teacher got us to stay a little later. (After some effort, the teacher succeeded in persuading us to stay)
Structure.
Get + object + to + infinitive
EXAMPLES. Finally, we got a mechanic to repair the elevator. I couldnt get her to understand. The teacher finally got the student to turn left.
HELP. ď‚Ą The meaning is the same. We use h e l p to talk about things that someone can r e q u i r e or c a u s e or p e r m i t another person (or an animal) to do. Example of base form
Example of infinitive.
The teacher helped me understand the traffic laws.
The teacher helped me to understand the traffic laws
Base form is the most common.
Structure. Object + base form of the verb or object + infinitive.
PAST UNREAL CONDITIONALS.
WE USE PAST UNREAL CONDITIONAL To talk about past unreal conditions and their results. A condition and its result may be untrue, imagened, or impossible.
STRUCTURE. If + Subject + Past perfect, + Would* (not) + have + past participle
If Clause: Past perfect. (Had + past participle)
Result Clause: Would (not)+ have+ Past participle.
If George had had money, he would have moved away. IF CLAUSE RESULT CLAUSE But, really we know he doesnt have money and so he cant moved away.
YES / NO QUESTIONS If clause.
Would + Subject + have + past participle + If + Subject+ past perfect ?
Result clause.
WH- QUESTIONS
Wh- Word + Would + Subject + have + past participle+ If + Subject+ past perfect?
If clause
IMPORTANT NOTE. Be careful! Use a comma between the two clauses only when the if clause comes first.
GRAMMAR NOTES. Past unreal conditionals are often used to express regret about what really happened in the past.
If I had known, Mary lived alone, I would have invited her to my holiday dinner. (I regret that I didn’t invite her.)
Use wish + past perfect to express regret or sadness about things in the past that you wanted to happened but didn’t. George wishes he had studied architecture. (He didn’t study architecture, and now he thinks that was a mistake)
EXAMPLES: • If George had had money, he would have moved away. • If George had had money, he wouldn’t have stayed home. • If he had not stayed home, his father´s business would have failed. • Would he have left if he had money? -Yes he would have. -No he wouldn’t have. • What would he have done if he had money?
PRACTICE. Go to the next web page and complete the exercise: http:// eslgrammarpractice.blogspot.com/2009/11/past-unreal-conditional-prac tice.html
Then watch this video which is a summary of it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nMKXhpbiFfg
REFLECTION. I put before this an inspirational quote because I felt identify with it. I am not a grammar person, I have never been one and this course was one of the most challenging ones for me. It has been always difficult to me learning all the structures, verb tenses, rules, etc. This course helped me a lot in that, proving myself that I need to learn them because I was going to teach someone else, not only for me and that was what inspire me the most. Like the quote say, it seemed impossible for me at the beginning but with the past of the months it was easier, when you put an extra effort in it, when you dont give up even when are hard, you try even harder. I loved this course and I learned so much. Thank you so much teacher.
BIBLIOGRAPHY. https://www.ego4u.com/en/cram-up/tests/simple-present-1 https:// www.ego4u.com/en/cram-up/grammar/past-perfect-progressiv e/exercises https://www.slideshare.net/jbsaenz/advisability-in-the-past http://eslgrammarpractice.blogspot.com/2009/11/past-unrealconditional-practice.html Focus on grammar an integrated skills approach, third edition.