Grammar FCE

Unit 1 and 2

Pr. Simple

Pr. Continuous

Present

Pr. Perfect Simple

Verbal Tenses

Pr. Perfect Continuous

Pa. Simple

Pa. Continuous

Past

Pa. Perfect Simple

Pa. Perfect Continuous

Unit 1 and 2

Gerunds and Infinitives

We use the infinitive:

We use the gerund:

• as a subject of a sentence: Studying is har.
• after prepositions: I'm interested in studying Maths.
• after verbs of liking or disliking (e.g. like, love, enjoy, can't stand, don't mind, hate): I enjoy watching films.
• with "go" to talki about physical activities:

go running, swimming, cycling...

• to explain why somebody does something:

Why did he go to the university? To study languages.

• immediately after adjectives:

It's good to revise with other people.

• after too, enough, the first, the last:

It's too cold to go out.

after certain verbs like:

after certain verbs like:

admit, avoid, consider, involve, risk, suggest

want, learn, agree, decide, expect, hope, seem, try, would like, appear, arrange, ask, attempt, encourage, force, manage, help, need, promise

Some verbs that can go before both with no difference in meaning: begin, can't bear, can't stand, continue, start...

Some verbs that can go before both but with an important difference in meaning: stop, remember, forget, like (p. 28)

Past Simple

We use the past simple tense to talk about actions, stated and habits in the past.

• I went to the cinema yesterday.
• We spent a lot of time in Japan in 2007.
• She didn't enjoy her holidays last summer.

Present Simple

Habits and routines

We use the present simple tense to talk about things that we do frequently (habits and routines).

• I have breakfast every day.
• She plays football on Sunday.
• He doesn't like horror films.
• Do you live in a house?

Present Continuous

Present

• Unfinished actions: I'm working at the moment.

(Use with: now, at the moment).

• Temporary situations: I'm living in London.

(Use with: at the moment, for a few weeks, etc.)

• Temporary habits: He's eating a lot these days.

(Use with: at the moment, these days).

• Annoying habits: You're forever losing your keys!

(Use with: always, forever, constantly).

*Future

• Definite future plans: I'm meeting my father tomorrow.

(Use with: tomorrow, later, at 7pm, on Tuesday).

Present Perfect Simple

We use the present perfect simple tense to talk about:

• An experience in someone's lifetime, without saying the exact time when the event occured: I've seen Coldplay in concert.
• Recent events which have a result in the present: She's lost her bag. (She still hasn't fount it.)
• Actions or situations that began in the past but coninue in the present: Mark's lived here for ten years. (M stated to live here ten years ago and still does now).
• Actions that finished very recently: They've just had an accident.

Present Perfect Continuous

It has basically the same meaning as the PPS. However, we use the continuous when we want to emphasize the process and duration of an action.

• I've been studying in this school for more than five months.

For that reason, if an action is very short, we cannot use the continous form: *I've been breaking the window. We also use it to emphasize that an action finished very recently or is inconplete:

• I've been washing the dishes and my hands are wet bc I only finished a second ago.

If we want to emphasize the completion and result of an action, or how many times it happens, we must use PPS: I've seen that film three times.

Past Perfect Simple

We use the past perfect simple tense to talk about actions that happened before another action or actions in the past.

• When the interview had finished, I left.

Past Continuous

Present

We use the past continuous to talk about the past:

• for sth which happened before and after another action: The children were doing their homework when I got home.

• for something that happened before and after a specific time: it was eight o'clock. I was writing a letter.

• to show that something continued for some time: Everyone was shouting.

Among other uses: for something that happened again and again, with verbs which show change or growth...

Past Perfect Continuous

We use the past perfect continuous to talk about actions that happened before another action or actions i the past.

• I was tired bc I had been stuying all night.