English Verb Tenses and Grammar Structures

Present Simple

(Used for habitual actions and schedules)

  • Affirmative: I/you work, she/he/it works.
  • Negative: I/you don’t work, he/she/it doesn’t work.
  • Interrogative: Do you work? Does she work?

Present Continuous

(Used for actions happening now, at the moment, or this year)

  • Affirmative: You are singing, she is singing.
  • Negative: You aren’t singing.

Past Simple

(Used for completed actions in the past, e.g., last year, two days ago)

  • Affirmative: I/you/she finished. I went to Paris last year.
  • Negative: I/you/she didn’t finish.
  • Interrogative: Did you finish?

Past Continuous

(Used for incomplete actions in progress at a specific time in the past)

Example: They were skiing when their parents arrived at the resort.

  • Affirmative: I/she/it was writing, you/we were writing.
  • Negative: She/I wasn’t writing.
  • Interrogative: Was I writing?

Past Perfect Simple

Example: By the time he arrived, the train had already left.

  • Affirmative: I/you/he/she/we had arrived.
  • Negative: I/she/we hadn’t arrived.
  • Interrogative: Had I arrived?

Present Perfect Simple

(Used for actions that started in the past and continue to the present)

Example: I have lived in York for two years. (Keywords: never, ever, yet, for, since)

  • Affirmative: I/you/we have lived, she has lived.
  • Negative: You/we haven’t lived, she hasn’t lived.
  • Interrogative: Have I lived?

Gerund

Example: I like playing rugby.

Infinitive

Example: He woke up early to go fishing.

Future Simple

(Used for predictions and fixed schedules)

Example: The TV program will start at 5 o’clock.

  • Affirmative: I/she/we will recycle.
  • Negative: I/she/we won’t recycle.

Be Going To

(Used for plans in the future)

Example: Mike is going to buy a hybrid car next year.

  • Affirmative: We/you are going to buy, she is going to buy.
  • Negative: You/we aren’t going to buy.
  • Interrogative: Are you going to buy?

Future Continuous

(Used for actions that will be in progress at a specific time in the future)

Example: At this time tomorrow, Jack will be arriving in London.

  • Affirmative: I/she/we will be traveling.
  • Negative: I/she/we won’t be traveling.
  • Interrogative: Will you be traveling?

Future Perfect Simple

(Used to indicate that an action will be completed by a specific time in the future)

Example: I will have eaten by 3 o’clock.

  • Affirmative: I/she/we will have eaten.
  • Negative: She won’t have eaten.
  • Interrogative: Will she have eaten?

Defining Relative Clauses

(Uses who, which, where, whose, when)

Example: This is the man whose laptop I bought.

Non-Defining Relative Clauses

Example: My brother, who is an engineer, designs robots.

First Conditional

(If + present simple, … will + base form)

  • If you give me a hand, I will be really grateful.
  • If you don’t finish your homework, you can’t go out.
  • If you don’t make a daily backup copy, you will lose all the information.

Second Conditional

(If + past simple, … would + base form)

  • If they had enough money, they would buy this laptop.
  • If I were you, I’d buy a new computer.

Third Conditional

(If + past perfect, … would have + past participle)

Example: If I had read her email, I would have gone on the date.

Question Tags

  • She isn’t here today, is she?
  • They live in Ankara, don’t they?
  • You’ll be OK, won’t you?

Quantifiers

(A lot of, many (countable), much (uncountable))

  • There’s enough room.
  • I know very few people.
  • My niece isn’t old enough.

Reported Speech

  • Direct: “He works as an editor.” Reported: She said that he worked as an editor.
  • Direct: “He is working as an editor.” Reported: She said that he was working as an editor.