GR A M M A R R EFER EN CE

UNIT 1 UNIT 2
Simple present review Present continuous
1 We use the simple present for actions that happen 1 We use the present continuous for actions that are
repeatedly or habitually. happening now or around the time of speaking.
Paul often goes to the movies. My friends and I are playing on the computer at
We have dinner at 8:00 every evening. the moment.
It’s raining now.
We also use the simple present for things that are
always or normally true. 2 The present continuous is formed with the simple
The sun comes up in the east. present of be + verb + -ing.
We go to a big school in São Paulo. I’m listening to music. I’m not listening to music.
You’re walking very fast! You aren’t walking very fast.
2 With most subjects, the simple present is the same Alison is talking to Meg. Alison isn’t talking to Meg.
as the base form of the verb. However, with a third
person singular subject (he, she, it), the verb has an 3 The question is formed with the simple present of
-s ending. be + subject + verb + -ing. Short answers are formed
I play tennis on Saturdays. using Yes / No + pronoun + the correct form of be
She plays tennis on Saturdays. (affirmative or negative).
Is Maria eating? Yes, she is. / No, she isn’t.
If a verb ends with -sh, -ch, -ss, or -x, we add -es. Are the boys having fun? Yes, they are. / No, they aren’t.
he watches, she catches, he misses, she fixes What are you doing? Why is she crying?

If a verb ends with consonant + -y, we change the Verbs of perception

-y to -i and add -es.
she studies, he worries Verbs of perception (taste / smell / look / sound) are not
used in the present continuous when they are used to
If a verb ends with vowel + -y, then it is regular. give an opinion. They are used in the simple present only.
play – plays, say – says, buy – buys This hamburger doesn’t taste very nice.
Mmm! The food smells fantastic!
3 The negative of the simple present is formed with
don’t (do not) or doesn’t (does not) + base form of These jeans don’t look very good on me.
the verb. I don’t know who the singer is, but she sounds wonderful.
I don’t like carrots. She doesn’t like carrots.
Simple present vs. present continuous
4 Simple present questions and short answers are 1 We use different time expressions with the simple
formed with do or does.
present and the present continuous.
Do you like cats? Yes, I do. / No, I don’t.
Simple present: every day, on Mondays, on the weekend,
Does Jo live here? Yes, she does. / No, she doesn’t.
usually, sometimes, often, never
like + -ing Present continuous: today, right now, at the moment
James usually walks to school, but today he’s taking the bus.
1 After verbs that express likes and dislikes we often
use verb + -ing. 2 Some verbs aren’t normally used in the continuous
We love watching movies at home. form. They are called state verbs or stative verbs
My sister enjoys reading travel books. because they talk about a state, not an action.
Here are some common examples:
2 If a verb ends in -e, we drop the -e before adding -ing. believe, know, understand, remember, want, need, mean,
live ➞ living ride ➞ riding like, hate
If a short verb ends in consonant + vowel + consonant, I believe you.
we double the final consonant before adding -ing. He knows a lot about music.
Morgan wants to have dinner now.
get ➞ getting, shop ➞ shopping, sit ➞ sitting

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UNIT 3 2 We usually use many and much in negative

sentences and in questions.
Count and noncount nouns
I don’t go to many concerts.
1 Nouns in English are count or noncount. How many eggs do you want?
Count nouns have both singular and plural forms,
for example: In affirmative sentences, we normally use a lot of or
bicycle ➞ bicycles, school ➞ schools, egg ➞ eggs, lots of. A lot of / Lots of can be used with plural count
question ➞ questions, man ➞ men, woman ➞ women, nouns and with noncount nouns.
child ➞ children, person ➞ people Chris has lots of / a lot of DVDs.
But noncount nouns do not have a plural form. They You can get lots of / a lot of information on the Internet.
are always singular, for example:
food, music, money, rice, bread, information too many / too much / (not) enough +
noun
2 Count nouns can take singular or plural verbs.
1 To say that the number or amount of something is
That car is Japanese. Those cars are Japanese.
more than we like or want, we can use too many or
That woman works hard. Those women work harder.
too much. We use too many with plural count nouns
Noncount nouns always take singular verbs. and too much with noncount nouns.
This food is awful. The music is too loud! There are too many chairs in the room.
There’s too much salt in this soup.
a/an, some, any
2 We use not enough with plural count nouns and
1 With singular count nouns, we can use a/an with noncount nouns to say that we think more
to talk about a specific thing or person. is/are needed.
They have a car. She’s eating an orange. There aren’t enough chairs in the room.
There isn’t enough salt in this soup.
2 With plural count nouns, we use some (affirmative)
or any (negative).
too + adjective, (not +) adjective +
I want to buy some apples. We don’t have any eggs. enough
3 With noncount nouns, we don’t use a/an – we use 1 We use too + adjective to say that it’s more than we
some or any, like plural count nouns. like or want.
Let’s listen to some music. This soup is too hot. The clothes are too expensive.
I don’t want any food.
2 We use (not) + adjective + enough to say that
4 We use some to talk about an unspecified number something is less than we like or want.
or amount. We normally use some in affirmative This bag isn’t big enough to put everything in.
sentences.
He bought some fruit from the market in town.
UNIT 4
We often use some in requests and offers. Possessive adjectives
Can I have some orange juice, please?
Do you want some cheese?
1 Here is the list of possessive adjectives:
Subject pronouns: I, you, he, she, it, we, they
5 We use any to talk about an unspecified number Possessive adjectives: my, your, his, her, its, our, their
or amount. We normally use any in negative
sentences and in questions. 2 We use possessive adjectives to say who something
belongs to.
He didn’t buy any fruit.
Is there any fruit in the kitchen? My name’s Jack. Is he your brother?
Look at his hair! Her bike is really expensive.
The DVD isn’t in its box. They love their cat.
(how) much / (how) many / a lot of / lots of
1 We use many with plural count nouns and much Possessive pronouns
with noncount nouns.
1 Here is the list of possessive pronouns:
Count Noncount
Possessive adjectives: my, your, his, her, our, their
She didn’t buy many He doesn’t usually buy Possessive pronouns: mine, yours, his, hers, ours, theirs
vegetables. much fruit.
How many children do How much time do we 2 Possessive pronouns can take the place of
they have? have? possessive adjective + noun.
Is this your book / yours? No, it isn’t my book / mine.
I like her hair, but I don’t like his.

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 whose 3 Past time expressions are often used with the
simple past.
When we want to ask a question about who is the
Yesterday, yesterday morning, last night, last week,
owner of something, we use the question word whose.
a month ago, two years ago, on Sunday
There are two possible constructions after whose.
Whose book is this? or Whose is this book? Modifiers: very, really, pretty
Possessive ’s We use the words very, really, prett y to say more about
an adjective.
To talk about possession we can add ’s to the end of
a name / noun. The words very and really make an adjective stronger.
Annie’s bike is really great. The food was good – The food was very good.
That’s my brother’s bedroom. The movie was exciting – The movie was really exciting.
If the name / noun ends in an -s, (for example, plural We often use prett y to say “a little.”
nouns), we add the apostrophe (’) after the final -s. The room was prett y small.
That’s our neighbors’ dog. (= not very small, but a little small)
I don’t like James’ shirt. The movie was prett y long.
(= not very long, but a little long)
was / were
1 We use the simple past to talk about actions and UNIT 6
events in the past. Simple past (irregular verbs)
2 The simple past of be is was / wasn’t or were / A lot of common verbs are irregular. This means that
weren’t. the simple past form is different – it doesn’t have the
I was at school yesterday. You were late yesterday. usual -ed ending.
My sister wasn’t there. The DVDs weren’t very good. go ➞ went, see ➞ saw, eat ➞ ate, think ➞ thought

3 Questions with was / were are formed by putting The form of the simple past for these verbs is the same
the verb before the subject. for all persons (I / you / he / she / it / we / they).
Were you at school yesterday? Was Maria with you? See page 128 for a list of irregular verbs.
The negative of irregular verbs is formed in the same
UNIT 5 way as regular verbs: didn’t (did not) + base form of
Simple past (regular verbs) affirmative the verb.
and negative We enjoyed it. We didn’t enjoy it.
I knew the answers. I didn’t know the answers.
1 In the simple past, regular verbs have an -ed
ending. The form is the same for all subjects. Simple past (regular and irregular
I walked to the park. You played well yesterday. verbs) questions and short answers
Carla opened the window.
1 Simple past questions and short answers are
If a verb ends in -e, we add only -d. formed with did. The form is the same for regular
like ➞ liked hate ➞ hated use ➞ used and irregular verbs.
If a verb ends with consonant + -y, we change the Did you talk to Barbara this morning?
-y to -i and add -ed. Did you see that great game last night?
study ➞ studied try ➞ tried marry ➞ married 2 Short answers are formed with Yes / No + pronoun
If a short verb ends in consonant + vowel + + did / didn’t.
consonant, we double the final consonant before Did you like the movie? Yes, I did.
adding -ed. Did she call you last night? No, she didn’t.
stop ➞ stopped plan ➞ planned chat ➞ chatted
Double genitive
If a short verb ends in consonant + vowel + -y, it is
regular. We use the double genitive to talk about one of
play ➞ played stay ➞ stayed many things that we have. We form it with noun + of +
possessive pronoun (see Unit 4, page 123). We can also
2 The simple past negative is formed with didn’t (did use noun + of + noun with possessive ’s.
not) + base form of the verb. The form is the same He’s a friend of mine. (I have many friends.)
for all subjects: They are neighbors of ours. (We have many neighbors.)
I / We / She didn’t enjoy the movie last night.

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UNIT 7 UNIT 8
have to / don’t have to Review of question forms
1 We use have to to say that it is necessary or very 1 Questions often begin with a question word.
important to do something. Here is a list of the most common ones:
I’m late, I have to go now. We have to be at school at 8:30. What, When, Who, Where, Why, How
With a third person singular subject (he, she, it),
2 To form questions using the verb be, we use
we use has to.
question word + the correct form of be (present or
Elena is very sick – she has to stay in bed. past) + subject.
My dad has to go to Chicago tomorrow for a meeting.
Why am I here? When were you born?
2 We use the negative form don’t / doesn’t have to Who are you? Where was Sally last night?
to say that it isn’t necessary or important to do What is your name? How are they this morning?
something.
3 To form questions in present continuous, we use
It’s Sunday, so I don’t have to get up early. question word + the simple present of be + subject
She isn’t late – she doesn’t have to hurry. + verb + -ing.
3 We form questions with do or does. Where are you going?
What is he looking at?
Do I have to go to the dentist?
Does he have to go home now? 4 To form questions in simple present or simple past
with other verbs, we use question word + do/does
4 All forms of have to are followed by the base form
(present) or did (past) + subject + base form of
of the verb. the verb.
What do you want? Who did you dance with?
should / shouldn’t Where does he live? When did they get here?
1 When we want to say that something is a good idea Why did I say that? How do you go to school? By bus?
(or is a bad idea), we can use should or shouldn’t.
I should study this weekend. (I think it’s a good idea.) What + be + like
They shouldn’t buy that car. (I think it’s a bad idea.) 1 When we want to ask about the quality of a person
Should we go out tonight? (Do you think this is a good or thing, we often use the question form What + be
idea?) + like.
2 Should is a modal verb. We use should / shouldn’t What’s John like? (= Is he nice? Is he boring? Is he funny?)
+ base form of the verb, and the form is the same What was the game like? (= Was it good? Was it exciting?
for all subjects. We don’t use any form of do in the Was it dull?)
negative.
2 The question is formed with What + the correct
I should try to study more. form of be + subject + like.
I shouldn’t watch TV tonight.
What are your new classmates like?
You should listen to different music.
What was the music at the party like?
You shouldn’t listen to the same things all the time.
What were your summers like when you were a child?
3 Questions are formed with should + subject + base 3 The answer to these questions can be a full
form of the verb. Again, we don’t use any form of
sentence, but it is usually just an adjective or
do in questions or short answers.
a phrase. We don’t use be + like in the answer.
Should we tell her?
A: What’s John like? A: What are your new
Yes, we should. / No, we shouldn’t.
B: OK, not too friendly classmates like?
Should I ask the teacher?
though. B: They’re great! I really
Yes, you should. / No, you shouldn’t.
like them.
must not / don’t have to A: What was the game A: What were your summers
1 We use must not to say that it is necessary or very like? like as a kid?
important not to do something. B: Terrible! B: Long and lazy – and
You must not be late. I must not forget to call Jenny. very fun.

2 Must not has a different meaning from don’t /

doesn’t have to.
You don’t have to tell your friends. (= It isn’t necessary for
you to tell them, but you can if you want to.)
You must not tell your friends. (= Don’t tell your friends –
it’s a secret!)

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 UNIT 9 can / can’t for ability
Comparative adjectives 1 We use can / can’t + the base form of the verb to
1 When we want to compare two things, or two talk about someone’s ability to do something. The
groups of things, we use a comparative form + than. form of can / can’t is the same for every person.
I’m older than my brother. He can lift 100 kilos. I can’t lift heavy things.
France is bigger than Britain. I can swim 5 kilometers. My brother can’t swim.
Your computer is better than mine. He can write in Chinese. She can’t spell.

2 With short adjectives, we normally add -er. 2 To make questions, we use Can + subject + base
form of the verb. Short answers are formed with
old ➞ older cheap ➞ cheaper narrow ➞ narrower
Yes / No + pronoun + can or can’t.
If the adjective ends in -e, we only add -r. Can your sister swim? Yes, she can.
nice ➞ nicer safe ➞ safer little ➞ littler Can you lift 50 kilos? No, I can’t.
If the adjective ends with consonant + -y, we change
the -y to -i and add -er. UNIT 10
easy ➞ easier early ➞ earlier happy ➞ happier
be going to for intentions
If the adjective ends in a consonant + vowel +
consonant, we double the final consonant and 1 We use be going to to talk about things we intend
add -er. to do in the future.
big ➞ bigger sad ➞ sadder thin ➞ thinner I’m going to visit my grandfather tomorrow.
My sister’s going to study Japanese in college.
3 With longer adjectives (more than two syllables),
we don’t change the adjective – we put more in 2 The form is the simple present of be + going to +
front of it. base form of the verb.
expensive ➞ more expensive I’m going to stay at home on Sunday. I’m not going to
difficult ➞ more difficult go out.
interesting ➞ more interesting She’s going to look around, but she isn’t going to buy
anything.
4 Some adjectives are irregular – they have a Are you going to watch the movie?
different comparative form. Is he going to give us homework tonight?
good ➞ better bad ➞ worse far ➞ farther Short answers are formed using Yes / No + pronoun
+ the correct form of be (affirmative or negative).
Superlative adjectives Are you going to come? Yes, I am.
1 When we compare something with two or more Is he going to come? No, he isn’t.
other things, we use a superlative form with the.
Steve is the tallest boy in our class. Present continuous for plans
Brazil is the biggest country in South America.
We can use the present continuous to talk about plans
2 With short adjectives, we normally add -est. for the future.
tall ➞ the tallest short ➞ the shortest We’re having a party next weekend. (It’s organized.)
old ➞ the oldest clean ➞ the cleanest I’m meeting my friends in the park tomorrow. (I talked to
my friends, and we agreed to meet.)
Spelling rules for the -est ending are the same as
Our parents are going on vacation to Spain next month.
for the -er ending in the comparative form.
(They have their airline tickets and hotel reservation.)
nice ➞ the nicest happy ➞ the happiest
safe ➞ the safest little ➞ the littlest Adverbs
easy ➞ the easiest thin ➞ the thinnest
1 Adverbs usually go with verbs – they describe an
3 With longer adjectives (more than two syllables), action:
we don’t change the adjective – we put the most in We walked home slowly. The train arrived late.
front of it. Drive carefully!
delicious ➞ the most delicious
important ➞ the most important 2 A lot of adverbs are formed by adjective + -ly.
intelligent ➞ the most intelligent quiet ➞ quietly bad ➞ badly polite ➞ politely
This is the most important day of my life. If the adjective ends in -le, we drop the -e and add -y.
It’s the most expensive store in town.
terrible ➞ terribly comfortable ➞ comfortably
4 Some adjectives are irregular. If the adjective ends in consonant + -y, we change
good ➞ the best bad ➞ the worst far ➞ the farthest the -y to -i and add -ly.
Saturday is the best day of the week. easy ➞ easily happy ➞ happily lucky ➞ luckily
My team is the worst team in the world!
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3 Some adverbs are irregular – they don’t have an -ly Time clauses with when
ending.
In sentences about the future, we use the present tense
good ➞ well fast ➞ fast hard ➞ hard
after when, and the will future in the main clause. (The
early ➞ early late ➞ late
structure of these sentences is like the structure of first
I played well last week. He worked hard all day.
conditional sentences.)
She ran very fast. They arrived early.
When I’m 18, I’ll go to college.
4 Adverbs usually come immediately after the verb, I’ll call you when I get there.
or, if the verb has an object, after the object.
She sings well. She plays the piano well. UNIT 12
Present perfect with ever / never
UNIT 11
1 We often use the present perfect to talk about
will / won’t for predictions things from the beginning of our life until now.
1 We use will (’ll) and won’t to make predictions. Sandro has traveled to a lot of different countries. (= from
When I’m older, I’ll travel a lot. I won’t stay here! when he was born until now)
In the future, people will take vacations on Mars. But I haven’t met your parents. (= at any time in my life, from
people won’t live there. when I was born until now)

2 We use will / won’t + base form of the verb, and the 2 When we use the present perfect with this
form is the same for all subjects. We don’t use any meaning, we often use ever (= at any time in
form of do in the negative. someone’s life) in questions and never (= not ever)
You’ll pass the test. You won’t pass the test. in sentences. Ever comes between the noun or
He’ll pass the test. He won’t pass the test. pronoun and the past participle. Never comes
immediately after have/has.
3 Questions are formed with will + subject + base Have you ever eaten Thai food?
form of the verb. Again, we don’t use any form of I’ve never been interested in cooking.
do in questions or short answers.
Will Andrea go to college? 3 The present perfect is formed with the present
Yes, she will. / No, she won’t. tense of have + past participle of the main verb.
Will your friends come to the party? For regular verbs, the past participle has the same
Yes, they will. / No, they won’t. -ed ending as the simple past. Irregular verbs have
different past participles.
First conditional Regular verbs Irregular verbs
We’ve stayed in Athens We’ve been there three
1 In conditional sentences there are two clauses, three times. times.
an if clause and a result clause. We use the first Have they ever climbed a Have they ever flown in
conditional when it is possible or likely that the mountain? a plane?
situation in the if clause will happen in the future.
If I pass the test, my parents will be happy. (= It’s possible
See page 128 for the past participles of irregular
that I will pass, but I’m not sure.) verbs.
If it doesn’t rain, we’ll go for a walk. (= Maybe it will rain, 4 There is a difference between been and gone.
but I’m not sure.)
I’ve been to the supermarket. (= I went to the supermarket,
2 The if clause is formed with If + subject + simple and now I am back again.)
present. The result clause is formed with subject + They’ve gone to the supermarket. (= They went to the
will + base form of the verb. There is a comma after supermarket, and they are still there.)
the if clause.
If we have time, we’ll do some shopping. Present perfect vs. simple past
If you don’t leave soon, you won’t catch your train. Both the present perfect and the simple past refer
If you want to be in the concert, you’ll have to practice to the past. But we use the simple past to talk about
every day. situations or actions at a particular time in the past, and
we use the present perfect to talk about situations or
3 We can change the order of the two clauses. In this actions in the past, at an unspecified time between the
case, there is no comma between the clauses.
past and now.
We’ll do some shopping if we have time.
Simple past
You’ll miss your train if you don’t leave right now!
I ate sushi two weeks ago.
You won’t improve if you don’t practice.
I read a Shakespeare play last month.
Present perfect
I’ve eaten sushi a lot of times.
I’ve read six Shakespeare plays.
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