Gramática básica

UNIT 4

Past Simple – Used to – Expressing certainty (must-can’t)- Will - Linking words – Adjectives/Order of Adjectives – One/ones

1.1 PAST SIMPLE

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was an Austrian musician and composer. He lived from 1756

to 1791. He started composing at the age of five and wrote more than 600 pieces of

music. He was only 35 years old when hedied.
Lived/started/wrote/was/died are all past simple.

1.2 Very often the past simple ends in –ed (regular verbs):

- I work in a travel agency now. Before that I worked in a shop.

- We invited them to our party but they decided not to come.

- The police stopped me on my way home last night.

- She passed her examination because shestudied very hard.

But many verbs are irregular. The past simple does not end in –ed. For example:

write > wrote - Mozart wrote more than 600 pieces of music.

see > saw - We saw Rose in town a few days ago.

go > went - I went to the cinema three times last week.

shut > shut - It was cold, so I shut the window.In questions and negatives we use did/didn’t + infinitive (enjoy/see/go etc.
I enjoyed
she saw

they went

Did you enjoy?
Did she see?

Did they go?

I didn’t enjoy.
She didn’t see.

They didn’t go.

- A: Did you go out last night?

B: Yes, I went to the cinema but I didn’t enjoy the film much.

‘When did Mr Thomas die?’‘About ten years ago.’
They didn’t invite her to the party, so she didn’t go.
‘Did you have time to write the letter?’ ?No, I didn’t.’
‘What did you do at the weekend?’ ‘I didn’t do anything.’

The past of be (am/is/are) is was/were:
I/he/she/it was/wasn’t was I/he/she/it?

we/you/they were/weren’t were we/you/they?

Note that we do notuse did in negatives and questions with was/were:

I was angry because they were late.
Was the weather good when you were on holiday?
They weren’t able to come because they were busy.
Did you go out last night or were you too tired?










1.5 SPELLING OF –ING AND –ED FORMS

DOUBLE THE SIMPLE

END OF VERBCONSONANT? FORM -ING -ED

-e NO smile smiling smiled
hope hoping hoped

-ing form. Drop the –e,
adding –ing.

-ed form. Just add –ed

Two
consonants

NO help helping helped
learn learning learned

If the verb ends in two consonants, just add –ing or -ed.
Two vowels +
one consonant

NO rain raining rained
heat heatingheated

If the verb ends in two vowels
+ a consonant, just add –ing

or –ed.

One vowel +
one consonant

YES one syllable verbs
stop stopping stopped

plan planning planned

If the verb has one syllable and
ends in one vowel + one

consonant, double the

consonant to make the –ing or

–ed forms.

One vowel +
one consonant

NO two-syllable verbs
vísitvisiting visited

offer offering offered

If the first syllable of a two-
syllable is stressed, do not

double the consonant.

One vowel +
one consonant

YES two-syllable verbs
prefér preferring preferred

admít admitting admitted

If the second syllable of a two-
syllable verb is stressed,

double the consonant.

-y NO play playing played
enjoyenjoying enjoyed

worry worrying worried

study studying studied

If the verb ends in a vowel + -y,
keep the –y. Do not change the

-y to –i.

If the verb ends in a consonant

+ -y, keep the –y for the –ing

form, but change the –y to –i

to make the –ed form.

-ie die dying died
tie tying tied

-ing form: Change the –ie to...