English Grammar Practice: 1 to 6

A set of vocabulary flashcards covering various English grammar topics including verb aspects, tenses, passive voice, emphasis, and conditionals.

Aspect

Refers to whether an action is ongoing (continuous) or completed.

The perfect aspect

Used to describe events earlier than some other time in the past, present or future.

Present perfect simple

Used to talk about actions at an unspecified point in the past, or states that began in the past and continue to the present.

Present perfect continuous

Used to talk about situations or actions that began in the past and are still in progress, emphasizing the duration of the activity.

Past perfect simple

Used to talk about actions or events that happened before another action or event in the past.

Past perfect continuous

Used to talk about ongoing activities leading up to a more recent past event or to provide background information.

Future perfect simple

Used to talk about actions or events that will be completed by or before a specific time expression in the future.

Future perfect continuous

Used to talk about actions or events that will continue up to a particular time in the future.

Perfect infinitive

A form used instead of a simple infinitive to talk about actions that happened earlier or will be completed at some point in the future.

Future continuous

Used with a future time expression to talk about actions in progress at a definite time in the future or to describe a fixed future action.

Future simple (will)

Used for predictions, future facts, promises, hopes, and instant decisions or offers.

Narrative tenses

Past tenses, such as past simple, past continuous, and past perfect, used to describe events in a narrative or story.

Was/were going to

A form of future in the past used to talk about plans, intentions or predictions that were made at a previous time.

Was/were about to

Used to talk about an event that was in the very near future in the past, or to describe an event that was interrupted.

Be bound to

Used in the past to describe an event that was likely to happen.

Be due to

Used in the past to describe something that was scheduled to happen.

The passive

Formed with the verb be + past participle of the main verb; used when the action is more important than the agent or the agent is unknown.

Impersonal passive

A structure often used in news reports or formal texts with reporting verbs like 'allege', 'assume', 'believe', or 'report'.

Causative have and get

Structures (have/get + object + past participle) used when a subject causes an action by arranging for someone else to do it or when they experience an event.

Verbs of perception

Verbs such as feel, hear, notice, see, and watch which can be followed by an object + infinitive without 'to' for completed actions, or object + -ing for continuous actions.

Ellipsis

The omission of words from a sentence to avoid repetition if the meaning is clear without them.

Cleft sentences

Sentences divided into two parts to create emphasis, typically starting with 'It', 'That', 'All', or a 'What' clause.

Fronting

Moving an element, such as an adverbial phrase of place, to the front of a sentence to create emphasis.

Emphatic do

The use of 'do' + infinitive in affirmative sentences to give emphasis to a simple verb that does not use an auxiliary.

Inversion

A structure where the auxiliary or modal verb comes before the subject, often used after negative or restrictive expressions like 'Never before' or 'Seldom'.

Zero conditional

Used to talk about a real situation with a factual result.

First conditional

Used for a present or future situation that is real or probable, using a present tense in the 'if' clause and 'will' in the result.

Second conditional

Used for an imaginary or improbable present or future situation, using a past tense in the 'if' clause and 'would' in the result.

Third conditional

Used for an unreal past situation that did not happen, using a past perfect in the 'if' clause and 'would have' + past participle in the result.

Mixed conditionals

Sentences where the time reference in the 'if' clause is different from the time reference in the main (result) clause.