Study guide: Mastering English Grammar and Usage

📋 Course Outline

1. Present tenses and stative verbs
2. Past tenses and perfect aspect
3. Future forms, passive voice and conditionals
4. Modals and past habits
5. Questions, suggestions and preferences
6. Infinitives and gerunds
7. Quantities, pronouns and plurals

📖 1. Present tenses and stative verbs

🔑 Key Concepts & Definitions

• Present simple: Present simple is used to describe objective facts, habits, and general truths with the verb in its base form for most subjects.
• Present be + V-ING: Present be + V-ING gives a subjective view and describes actions that are in progress or considered temporary or planned.
• Stative verbs: Stative verbs are verbs that normally do not appear in be + V-ING because they describe states, not actions.

📝 Essential Points

• In present simple negatives and questions, use the auxiliary DO/DOES, and add -s to the main verb only with he, she, it in affirmative statements.
• In present be + V-ING, the verb after BE is in -ing form, and it is used for actions/descriptions now, planned intentions, and annoying repeated behaviour (often with always).
• Do not use be + V-ING with common stative verbs like want, like, belong, know, suppose, remember, need, love, see, realize, mean, forget, prefer, hate, hear, believe, understand, seem, think (e.g., I think, not I’m thinking).

💡 Memory Hook

SIMPLE = facts/habits; BE-ING = “in progress/now”; STATIVES refuse -ing (think, know, like…).

📖 2. Past tenses and perfect aspect

🔑 Key Concepts & Definitions

• Past Simple: Past Simple describes finished, completed actions in the past, often told as the main narration.
• Present perfect: Present perfect links the past to the present and gives a result or ongoing relevance at the moment of speaking.
• Past perfect: Past perfect links two past events, placing one further back than the other to show which happened first.

📝 Essential Points

• Use Past Simple when you have a specific time/date or an ago marker (e.g., yesterday, in 2014, two years ago).
• Use present perfect with time expressions showing an unfinished period (e.g., this year, recently/lately).
• Use present perfect with for + duration and since + starting point to express how long something has been going on.
• Use past perfect after if (unreal) and wish/would rather to show something that did not happen in the past.

💡 Memory Hook

Past Simple = single snap; Present perfect = past→present link; Past perfect = plus-before (the earlier past).

📖 3. Future forms, passive voice and conditionals

🔑 Key Concepts & Definitions

• Passive voice: Passive voice is a sentence form where the grammatical subject is the receiver of the action instead of the doer.
• If conditional types: If conditional types are patterns (Type 0, I, II, III) that match real time, hypothetical present/future, or hypothetical past situations.
• Future will and shall: Will and shall are modal future forms used to express intention, predictions, and (for shall) rule-like obligations, depending on person and context.

📝 Essential Points

• The passive is built with BE (in the required tense) + past participle, and the agent is added with BY only when needed.
• If + Present simple + Present simple expresses a general truth (Type 0), and If + Present simple + WILL + base verb expresses a real possibility (Type I).
• If + past simple + WOULD + base verb expresses an unreal present/future hypothesis (Type II), and If + past perfect + WOULD + have + past participle expresses an unreal past hypothesis (Type III).
• Will is used for predictions and intention, while Shall (especially in official rules/orders and with first person questions/offers) conveys obligation or what is suggested as appropriate.

💡 Memory Hook

Passive: Subject becomes the “THING receiving” (BY marks who did it if you need them). If types: 0 always→I real future→II unreal→III regret past.

📖 4. Modals and past habits

🔑 Key Concepts & Definitions

• Would: Modality form $would+base$ is used for a past, repetitive habit or a characteristic behavior in the past.
• Used to: Structure $used to+base$ describes an action that happened often in the past and no longer happens today.
• Could: Modal $could$ (preterit of $can$) is used for what was possible now with a more “mitigated” sense than $can$ and also for past possibilities or abilities.

📝 Essential Points

• $Would$ expresses a frequentative past habit when the situation is repetitive and the behavior characterizes the subject in the past.
• $Used to+BV$ cannot take a precise date and it suggests a break with the present.
• $Can/Could$ for permission: $could$ is more formal than $can$, and you can also use $may$.

💡 Memory Hook

Past habit: $would$ sounds like “used to (repetition) in stories,” while $used to$ is “the old situation has stopped.”

📖 5. Questions, suggestions and preferences

🔑 Key Concepts & Definitions

• Verbs of taste and preferences: These verbs express liking or dislike and are commonly followed by a gerund ($V$-ing).
• Cannot help + V-ing: This structure is used when you cannot stop yourself from doing something and requires a gerund after it.
• Would like someone to: This preference structure uses “would like” plus an object and an infinitive with to to describe what someone should do.

📝 Essential Points

• The British-style list CAN’T BEAR / CAN’T STAND / ENJOY / FANCY / HATE / LIKE / LOVE / MIND / PREFER is followed by $V$-ing.
• SUGGEST is used with $V$-ing (SUGGEST + $V$-ing) to express an idea for what to do.
• WOULD LIKE / WOULD PREFER follow the pattern WOULD LIKE / WOULD PREFER + object + TO + base verb.

💡 Memory Hook

CAN’T BEAR/STAND/ENJOY = “B E A R” → after these verbs you always hear the -ING sound.

📖 6. Infinitives and gerunds

📖 7. Quantities, pronouns and plurals

🔑 Key Concepts & Definitions

• Regular noun plural: Noun plurals are usually formed by adding -S to the singular form.
• Irregular noun plural: Some nouns change their spelling in the plural in ways that do not follow the normal -S rule.
• Collective groups with verb choice: Group nouns and patterns like the + adjective can trigger either singular or plural verb agreement depending on meaning and form.

📝 Essential Points

• Noun plurals ending in -S, -SH, -CH, -X, -Z or -O take -ES (e.g., watch→watches, church→churches).
• Nouns ending in -Y become -IES in plurals when -Y follows a consonant (party→parties), but just add -S when -Y follows a vowel (boy→boys).
• The plural -S is pronounced [z] after voiced consonants and [s] after voiceless ones (e.g., dogs [z], carts [s]).
• Some nouns never take -S and use a singular verb (e.g., sheep, deer, fish, aircraft, information), while a few always take -S and use a singular verb (e.g., measles, mumps, billiards, physics).

💡 Memory Hook

-ES after S/SH/CH/X/Z/O; consonant+Y → IES; voiced → [z], voiceless → [s].

📊 Synthesis Tables

Present tenses: present simple vs present be + V-ing

If conditionals and regret

⚠️ Common Pitfalls & Confusions

1. Forgetting third-person -S in affirmative present simple (e.g., She swim → She swims).
2. Using present perfect when a specific date or ago marker is present in French “passé composé” (you must use past simple with a date/AGO).
3. Using BE + V-ING with stative verbs like think/know/like (I think, not I’m thinking).
4. Mixing up used to vs would: used to = old action stopped (no precise date), would = past repetitive characteristic behaviour in stories.
5. In if conditionals, using the wrong tense pair (e.g., Type III needs if + past perfect + would have + past participle).
6. Passive voice agent mistakes: using BY only when needed and building passives with BE (tense) + past participle.
7. Confusing pronouns/pronoun forms in relative clauses/questions: in WH- questions with WHAT/WHO as subject, there is no auxiliary inversion (What happened?).

✅ Exam Checklist

1. Conjugate present simple in negatives/questions with DO/DOES and add -S only for he/she/it in affirmative.
2. Choose present be + V-ING for now/temporary/planned intentions and for annoying repetition/behavior, and avoid it with the listed stative verbs.
3. Use past simple for finished actions with specific time/date or -ago markers and apply correct past participle forms only where required by the tense.
4. Use present perfect as a past→present “result/balance” with unfinished periods (this year/recently) and with for + duration / since + starting point.
5. Use past perfect to link two past events and apply it after IF (unreal), wish, and would rather with the correct marker patterns.
6. Select future form: understand when WILL/SHALL are used, when present simple/present be + V-ING can carry future meaning, and how BE GOING TO is chosen.
7. Build the passive correctly with BE (tense) + past participle and add BY only when needed; know got/gotten as an alternative passive pattern (unexpected/change of state).
8. Master if conditional types (0/I/II/III): the if-clause and the matching main-clause structure.
9. Choose modals correctly after basics: modal + base verb (no conjugation of modals), and place negation after the modal.
10. Apply would/used to/get used to correctly: would for past repetitive habit/characteristic, used to for old action stopped (no precise date), be used to for current routine, get used to for becoming accustomed.
11. Form correct questions: direct yes/no with auxiliary inversion and WH- order (except when WHAT/WHO is the subject), and handle indirect questions/tags agreement and polarity.