Active Simple Present Present Continuous Simple Past Past Continuous Once a week, Tom cleans the house.

Right now, Sarah is writing the letter. Sam repaired the car. The salesman was helping the customer when the thief came into the store. Many tourists have visited that castle. Recently, John has been doing the work.

Passive Once a week, the house is cleaned by Tom. Right now, the letter is being written by Sarah. The car was repaired by Sam. The customer was being helped by the salesman when the thief came into the store. That castle has been visited by many tourists. Recently, the work has been being done by John.

Present Perfect Present Perfect Continuous Past Perfect

George had repaired many cars before he received his mechanic's license. Chef Jones had been preparing the restaurant's fantastic dinners for two years before he moved to Paris. Someone will finish the work by 5:00 PM. Sally is going to make a beautiful dinner tonight. At 8:00 PM tonight, John will be washing the dishes. At 8:00 PM tonight, John is

Many cars had been repaired by George before he received his mechanic's license. The restaurant's fantastic dinners had been being prepared by Chef Jones for two years before he moved to Paris. The work will be finished by 5:00 PM. A beautiful dinner is going to be made by Sally tonight. At 8:00 PM tonight, the dishes will be being washed by John. At 8:00 PM tonight, the dishes

Past Perfect Continuous

Simple Future
WILL

Simple Future
BE GOING TO

Future Continuous
WILL

Future

Continuous
BE GOING TO

going to be washing the dishes. They will have completed the project before the deadline. They are going to have completed the project before the deadline. The famous artist will have been painting the mural for over six months by the time it is finished. The famous artist is going to have been painting the mural for over six months by the time it is finished.

are going to be being washed by John. The project will have been completed before the deadline.

Future Perfect
WILL

Future Perfect
BE GOING TO

The project is going to have been completed before the deadline. The mural will have been being painted by the famous artist for over six months by the time it is finished. The mural is going to have been being painted by the famous artist for over six months by the time it is finished. The bills used to be paid by Jerry. The pies would always be made by my mother. I knew the work would be finished by 5:00 PM. I thought a beautiful dinner was going to be made by Sally tonight

Future Perfect Continuous

WILL

Future Perfect Continuous

BE GOING TO

Used to

Jerry used to pay the bills.

Would Always

My mother would always make the pies. I knew John would finish the work by 5:00 PM. I thought Sally was going to make a beautiful dinner tonight.

Future in the Past

WOULD

Future in the Past

WAS GOING TO

Passive Form
In passive sentences, the thing receiving the action is the subject of the sentence and the thing doing the action is optionally included near the end of the sentence. You can use the passive form if you think that the thing receiving the action is more important or should be emphasized. You can also use the passive form if you do not know who is doing the action or if you do not want to mention who is doing the action. [Thing receiving action] + [be] + [past participle of verb] + [by] + [thing doing action] Examples:

COMPOUND SENTENCE A compound sentence contains two independent clauses joined by a coordinator. The coordinators are as follows: for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so. (Helpful hint: The first letter of each of the coordinators spells FANBOYS.) Except for very short sentences, coordinators are always preceded by a comma. In the following compound sentences, subjects are in yellow, verbs are in green, and the coordinators and the commas that precede them are in red.

A. I tried to speak Spanish, and my friend tried to speak English. B. Alejandro played football, so Maria went shopping. C. Alejandro played football, for Maria went shopping. The above three sentences are compound sentences. Each sentence contains two independent clauses, and they are joined by a coordinator with a comma preceding it. Note how the conscious use of coordinators can change the relationship between the clauses. Sentences B and C, for example, are identical except for the coordinators. In sentence B, which action occurred first? Obviously, "Alejandro played football" first, and as a consequence, "Maria went shopping. In sentence C, "Maria went shopping" first. In sentence C, "Alejandro played football" because, possibly, he didn't have anything else to do, for or because "Maria went shopping." How can the use of other coordinators change the relationship between the two clauses? What implications would the use of "yet" or "but" have on the meaning of the sentence? COMPLEX SENTENCE A complex sentence has an independent clause joined by one or more dependent clauses. A complex sentence always has a subordinator such as because, since, after, although, or when or a relative pronoun such as that, who, or which. In the following complex sentences, subjects are in yellow, verbs are in green, and the subordinators and their commas (when required) are in red.

A. When he handed in his homework, he forgot to give the teacher the last page. B. The teacher returned the homework after she noticed the error. C. The students are studying because they have a test tomorrow. D. After they finished studying, Juan and Maria went to the movies. E. Juan and Maria went to the movies after they finished studying. When a complex sentence begins with a subordinator such as sentences A and D, a comma is required at the end of the dependent clause. When the independent clause begins the sentence with subordinators in the middle as in sentences B, C, and E, no comma is required. If a comma is placed before the subordinators in sentences B, C, and E, it is wrong. Note that sentences D and E are the same except sentence D begins with the dependent clause which is followed by a comma, and sentence E begins with the independent clause which contains no comma. The comma after the dependent clause in sentence D is required, and experienced listeners of

English will often hear a slight pause there. In sentence E, however, there will be no pause when the independent clause begins the sentence.

Pronoun Reference
Pronouns usually refer to other words, called their antecedents because they (should) come before the pronoun. A pronoun's antecedent may be either a noun or another pronoun, but in either case, it must be clear what the antecedent is. Consider this example: Micheline told Ruth that she would take Jerry to the barn dance. It is not clear whether the pronoun "she" in this sentence refers to Ruth or Micheline. Unless pronouns refer unmistakably to distinct, close, and single antecedents, the reader will never be sure who's going to the square dance with whom.

A pronoun should have only one possible antecedent

If there is more than one possible antecedent for a personal pronoun in a sentence, make sure that the pronoun refers only to one of them: [WRONG] Jerry found a gun in the trousers which he wore. "Which he wore" could modify "trousers" or "gun." [WRONG] Jerry called Steve twelve times while he was in Reno. The pronoun "he" could refer either to "Jerry" or to "Steve."

A pronoun should not refer to an implied idea

Make sure that the pronoun refers to a specific rather than to an implicit antecedent: When you leave the antecedent implied instead of stating it explicitly, the reader has to try to guess your sentence's meaning: [WRONG] John put a bullet in his gun and shot it. The pronoun "it" can refer either to the noun "gun" or to the implied object of the verb "shot." [WRONG] If I told you had a beautiful body would you hold it against me? The pronoun "it" can refer to the noun "body" or to the entire statement. [WRONG] The craftspersons' union reached an agreement on Ruth's penalty, but it took time.

The pronoun "it" can refer to the noun "union" or to the implied process of decision making.

A pronoun should not refer to adjectives or possessive nouns

You should not use adjectives, or nouns or pronouns in the possessive case, as antecedents. Although they may imply a noun, reference to them will be ambiguous: In Ruth's apology she told Jerry she'd loved him for years. In this case, the pronoun "she" seems to refer to the noun phrase "Ruth's apology," though it was probably meant to refer to possessive noun "Ruth's." Jerry wore those blasted green knickers; it was his favourite colour. In this example, the pronoun "it" seems to refer to the noun "knickers," though it was probably meant to refer to the adjective "green."

A pronoun should not refer to a title

When you start your paper, do not write as if the title itself were part of the body of the paper. Often, the title will appear on a separate page, and your opening will be confusing. Imagine, for example, a paper entitled "How to Sew Green Knickers": you should not begin the first paragraph with a sentence like This is not as easy as it looks. The writer probably wanted the pronoun "this" to refer to the idea of sewing knickers, but since the idea is not in the body of the paper itself, the reference will not make sense.

Use "it," "they," and "you" carefully

In conversation people often use expressions such as "It says in this book that ..." and "In my home town they say that ...". These constructions are useful for information conversation because they allow you to present ideas casually, without supporting evidence; for academic writing, however, these constructions are either too imprecise or too wordy: [WRONG] In Chapter four of my autobiography it says that I was born out of wedlock. In Chapter four, what says that the speaker was born out of wedlock? [WRONG] In the restaurant they gave me someone else's linguini. Who gave the speaker someone else's linguini?

It would be better to rewrite these two sentences as follow: [RIGHT] Chapter four of my autobiography states that I was born out of wedlock. [RIGHT] In the restaurant, the server gave me someone else's linguini. In these revised sentences, there is no doubt about who is doing what. The same basic rule applies to the pronoun "you." In informal conversation and in instructional writing (like HyperGrammar), English speakers often use the pronoun to mean something like "a hypothetical person" or "people in general"; academic writing, however, needs to be more precise, and you should use "you" only when you want to address the reader directly (as I am doing here). Consider this example: [WRONG] In the fourteenth century, you had to struggle to survive. In this case, "you" obviously does not refer to the reader, since the reader was not alive during the seventeenth century. It would be better to rewrite the sentence so that it expresses your idea more precisely; for example [RIGHT] In the fourteenth century, people had to struggle to survive. Or even better yet, [RIGHT] In the fourteenth century, English peasant farmers had to struggle to survive.

Use "it" consistently within a sentence

There are three common uses of the pronoun "it": As an idiom "It is snowing"; To postpone the subject "It is untrue that a rhinoceros can run faster than my tights"; and As a personal pronoun "I wanted a rhinoceros for my birthday, but did not get it." You may use all of these in academic writing, but to avoid awkwardness, you should not use more than one within a single sentence: [WRONG] When it is my birthday, I hope to receive a rhinoceros, and I will walk it often. It would be better to eliminate the first (idiomatic) "it":

On my birthday, I hope to receive a rhinoceros, and I will walk it often.

Use "who," "which," and "that" carefully

Historically, writers, editors, and publishers have had difficulty establishing a clear guidelines for using the relative pronouns "who," "which," and "that," in formal writing, but over the last fifty years or so they have come a loose standard. According to this standard, the pronoun "who" usually refers to people, but may also refer to animals that have names: My mother, who gave me the rhino, must love me very much. My rhino, whom I call Spike, wanders at will through the house. The pronoun "which" refers to animals and things: The rhino, which is a much maligned and misunderstood animal, is really quite affectionate. Its horn is a matt of hair which is sort of stuck to its snout. Finally, the pronoun "that" refers to animals and things and occasionally to persons when they are collective or anonymous: The rhino that hid behind the television was missing for days. Rhinos that like to swim cause both plumbing and enamelling problems for their owners. The answer that everyone missed was "Etruscan."