1. Verb Tenses
12 verb tenses:
- Simple Tenses
- Simple Present Tenses
- Simple Past Tenses
- Simple Future Tenses
- Progressive Tenses
- Present Progressive
- Past Progressive
- Future Progressive (Jennifer will be walking to class.)
- Perfect Tenses
- Present Perfect (present tense of 'have' + past participle)
- Past Perfect (Alan had not studied before he took the test)
- Future Perfect (By next weekend, I will have seen the new movie six times.)
When we talk about past perfect, we're talking about two actions in the past and we want to show that one of the actions happened before the other action, in the past.
- Perfect Progressive Tenses
- Present Perfect Progressive (She has been waiting for a long time.)
- Past Perfect Progressive (He had been sleeping for ten hours.)
- Future Perfect Progressive (We will have been studying for a month.)
Present perfect progressive shows that something started before now and has continued and may continue even longer. Present perfect progressive is not very different from present perfect. The emphasis is on the time that the action goes on.
Past perfect progressive shows that something was happening in the past and may have been going on before something else. He had been sleeping for ten hours. That means that he was doing this action continuously for the duration of ten hours. The focus is on the length of time that he did this.
Future perfect progressive emphasizes a continuous action in the future that lasts continuously. We will have been studying for a month, has a similar meaning with the future perfect, we will have studied for a month. But because it's perfect and progressive, we're emphasizing the continuous action for some period of time.
Present Perfect vs. Present Perfect Progressive
Brain has been at work since 8:00.
'Be' verbs are not usually used as main verbs in present perfect progressive.
I have seen that movie before.
'Before' is a time signal that means this action is finished. So you can't use present perfect progressive.
The dog has been chewing that bone for 2 hours.
When you see 'for' some period of time, you'll know you should use present perfect progressive. Here are some of the signal words to tell you which verb tense you should use. There could be some exceptions, but in general, the words on the left will signal present perfect, and the expressions on the right will signal present perfect progressive.
Present Perfect vs. Simple Past
- Simple past: specific time
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Present perfect: non-specific time, since (now is important)
2. Conjunctions
Sentence Types
Simple
A simple sentence just has one subject and verb and is called an independent clause.
Paul will go to a movie or stay home.
Compound
A compound sentence is made up of two simple sentences, or two independent clauses. Those two independent clauses are joined together and one way to join them is with a conjunction, like and, and a comma. There are seven of coordinate conjunctions. 'And, but, or, nor, yet, so, and for. '
Paul will go to a movie, or he will stay home.
After the conjunction, or, we have the subject, he. He will stay home, is an independent clause, so we need to put the comma in front of or.
Complex
A complex sentence has one independent clause and one or more dependent clauses. This is a complex sentence:
While Sam washed his face, we listened to music.
The dependent clause is this part, 'while Sam washed his face'. The reason this is dependent is because it cannot be a sentence. This is not a sentence by itself. And the reason for that is because of this word 'while'. 'While' is an adverb clause connector. When you start with an adverb clause connector, you need a subject and a verb. We do have that, but we don't have a complete thought.
Compound Sentences
3 types of compound sentence
- using a comma and conjunction
- using a semicolon, a transition (+even), and a comma
- using a semicolon only
When your sentences are closely related, you can join them with a semicolon. However, be careful that you do not use this method or this type of sentence too much in your writing. Maybe only one time per page, or maybe one time per paragraph, but not more than that.
Adverb Clauses (Complex Sentences)
Comma usage
Introductory Phrase
Introductory phrase is a group of words that starts your sentence, but does not belong to the main clause of the sentence. You can usually find an introductory phrase because it comes before the subject of the sentence.