• Sentence:
  A sentence is a group of words which expresses a complete thought and consists of a subject and a predicate.
  A sentence begins with a capital letter and ends with a punctuation mark.
  Subject: 'The saleswoman'
  Predicate: 'sold 55 computers to the town hall'.
  Sentence:The saleswoman sold 55 computers to the town hall.
  
  
• Subject:
  The person, animal or thing in a sentence performs an action or has an action done to it.
  Peter takes the train every morning.
  Hot spicy food is eaten every day.
  
  
• Predicate:
  The part of a sentence that contains a verb and gives information about the subject.
  Example: Robert rides a bike to work.
  In this sentence ‘Robert’ is the subject and ‘rides a bike to work’ is the predicate.
  
  
• Direct object:
  The person or thing affected by the action of the subject.
  

  Example: The bird ate seeds.

• Indirect object:
  An indirect object pronoun is used instead of a noun to show the person or thing an action is intended.
  

  Example: He gave me a book. → Who did he give the book to? → me.

• Clause and conjunctions:
  

  Sentences can be broken down into clauses. Clauses, like any sentence, have a subject and predicate too. A compound sentence contains at least two independent clauses. These two independent clauses can be combined with a comma and a coordinating conjunction or with a semicolon. This is a complete sentence composed of two clauses and a coordinating conjunction.

  Example: Her grandparents are going to a restaurant and they will be home late.
  
  
• Phrase:
  A group of words that does not have a subject and predicate is called a phrase.
  Phrases act like parts of speech inside clauses. They can act as nouns, adjectives, adverbs and so on.
  Check the examples of phrases underlined below:
  
  • The bewildered old man couldn’t find the exit. (noun phrase)
  • Around the corner came the postman. (adverbial phrase)
  • The magazine is on the table. (prepositional phrase)

• Noun:
  A noun names a person, animal, place, thing, quality, idea, activity, or feeling.
  A noun can be singular or plural.
  For example: Claire, people, Madrid, books, generosity …
  
  • Claire usually reads a newspaper or works on her computer during the flight to Valladolid.

  • David works as an administrative in an office in a family company.

• Pronoun:
  A pronoun is a word that replaces a noun, such as “I”, “you”, 'him', 'us', 'they' etc.”

  • The passengers reacted well. They all stayed calm.
  • Tom needs lose weight so he either walks to the office or takes his scooter.

• Verb:
  A verb is a word used to describe an action, state, or occurrence such as 'like', 'read', 'play'.
  A verb can be dynamic or stative.
  Dynamic verbs (actions): jump, walk, drink, play, write, etc.
  Stative verbs (emotions, thoughts, states of being): be, feel, think, see, hear, like, hate, etc.
  A verb can be a main verb or an auxiliary or helping verb such as “have” or “will.”
  Verbs can also change their form to show past, present, or future tense.
  
  • Today I am revising my English. Yesterday I wrote an essay. Our teacher will be absent tomorrow.
  • Alex lives in an area where he can walk or cycle to the office.

• Adjective:
  An adjective describes, identifies, qualifies or gives more information about a noun or a pronoun.
  
  • The old man drove his new car down the busy road.

  • It’s a long distance through a beautiful park in a quiet district.

• Adverb:
  An adverb gives more information a verb and tell us how, how often, where or in what manner we do something.
  Examples: carefully, quickly, well, often, easily, usually, energetically …

  • She often walks quickly to get to work on time.

  • The young man walked slowly and carefully down the icy street.

• Preposition:
  A preposition is a word that links a noun, pronoun or noun phrase to some other part of a sentence.
  Prepositions are often used with a noun to show location (for example “in,” or “on”).
  They can also show time, direction, motion, manner, reason, or possession.

  • The girl walked across the road, past the post office and up the hill to get to his school.

  • Henry goes through the main place and up the hill towards the city centre.

• Conjunction:
  Conjunctions are words used to connect other words, phrases, or clauses.
  Using conjunctions helps us to avoid making multiple short sentences.
  Common conjunctions are “and”, “but”, and “or.”

  • The children love sailing and swimming, but they don’t like tidying their rooms or going to bed.

  • Robert and his colleagues like the university but not the new teacher.

• Interjection:
  An exclamation used to express an emotional reaction:
  For example: Oh! Ouch! Hey!  Watch out! Hurray! Alas! Wow!

Yes/No questions

In questions that can be answered with either yes or no, we put an auxiliary verb before the subject.

• Are you coming? Yes, I am / No, I´m not.
• Can you drive a truck? Yes, I can. / No, I can´t.
• Do you know his name? Yes, I do. / No, I don´t.
• Did you arrive on time? Yes, I did. / No, I didn´t.
• Have you heard the news? Yes, I have. / No, I haven´t.
• Will you have time? Yes, I will./ No, I won´t.

Open questions

1. We use question words such as what, who, where, why and how to ask for more information. The question word comes before the auxiliary verb.

To ask about	We use
a thing	What is the brand name?
	Which door is it?
a person	Who is the Chief Executive?
a place	Where do you come from? / Where does Mary come from?
a reason	Why are you putting up your prices?
a moment in time	What time did the meeting start?
	When did the goods arrive?
a period of time	How long did you stay in León?
quantity (with plurals nouns)	How many cases did you order?
quantity (with uncountable nouns)	How much money do you have on you?
The way you do something	How do you manage to read so quickly?

2. We use what if there are many possible answers and which if there are fewer possible answers.

• What do you look like?
• What is their policy?
• Which of these cases is yours?

3.  The question word how can be followed by an adjective or adverb.

• How old is she?
• How big is the warehouse?
• How good is your Spanish?
• How well do you speak Spanish?
• How far is the hotel from here?
• How often do you travel abroad?
• How long is the Pisuerga river?
• How much time is left?
• How many states are there in the USA?

Structures of present simple and present continuous:

We use the present simple to:

• Give factual information about permanent activities:

  • Robert makes luxury cakes.

• Describe a state that doesn´t change:

  • She looks like her father.

  • Nothing succeeds like success.

• Talk aboyt routine activities, repeated actions or habits. This use of the present simple is associated with adverbs of frequency:

  • We usually have our weekly sales meeting on Mondays.
  • I often travel abroad on business.
  • We sometimes get complains, but not many.

We use the present continuous to:

• Describe activities in progress at the moment of speaking:

  • She´s talking to him on the phone right now.

• Describe temporary situations:

  • The Acatur delegation is staying at the Sheraton until Tuesday.

• Refer to future arrangements:

  • He´s starting a new job next month.

• Describe changing situations:

  • We´re developing a new marketing strategy.

Structures of past simple and past continuous:

We use the past simple to:

1. We use the past simple to refer to states and actions which finished in the past.

• He left for Australia yesterday.
• When I was young, I wanted to be a pilot.

2. The action can be short, long or repeated.

• They took a taxi to get here.
• The flight lasted 5 hours.
• I took the same train every monday.

3. Remember that some verbs are normally used in simple tenses only.

• They owned six shops in Valladolid alone.
• We didn´t know the market forecast.
• Did our guests like the food?

We use the past continuous to:

1. Talk about actions that were not yet finished and continued over a period of time.

• At that time, we were still trying to solve our recruitment problem.

2. Sometimes this period of time includes another event which is completed.

• She had an accident while she was driving to work.
• I was talking to him on the phone when I heard an explosion.

3. Refer to situations that were changing over time in the past.

• During the 1990s, many of the older industries were closing down.
• At that time, we were coming out of recession and things were improving.

If the present tense verb ends with a vowel, only ‘d’ is added. For example:

PRESENT TENSE	PAST TENSE
Share	Shared
Like	Liked
Dare	Dared
Love	Loved

If the present tense verb ends with a consonant, ‘ed’ is added. For example:

PRESENT TENSE	PAST TENSE
Want	Wanted
Shout	Shouted
Kill	Killed

Useful regular verbs list in English:

BASE FORM	SIMPLE PAST	PAST PARTICIPLE
Accept	Accepted	Accepted
Achieve	Achieved	Achieved
Add	Added	Added
Admire	Admired	Admirer
Admit	Admitted	Admitted
Adopt	Adopted	Adopted
Advise	Advised	Advised
Agree	Agreed	Agreed
Allow	Allowed	Allowed
Announce	Announced	Announced
Appreciate	Appreciated	Appreciated
Approve	Approved	Approved
Argue	Argued	Argued
Arrive	Arrived	Arrived
Ask	Asked	Asked
Assist	Assisted	Assisted
Attack	Attacked	Attacked
Bake	Baked	Baked
Beg	Begged	Begged
Behave	Behaved	Behaved
Boil	Boiled	Boiled
Borrow	Borrowed	Borrowed
Brush	Brushed	Brushed
Bury	Buried	Buried
Call	Called	Called
Challenge	Challenged	Challenged
Change	Changed	Changed
Chase	Chased	Chased
Cheat	Cheated	Cheated
Cheer	Cheered	Cheered
Chew	Chewed	Chewed
Clap	Clapped	Clapped
Clean	Cleaned	Cleaned
Collect	Collected	Collected
Compare	Compared	Compared
Complain	Complained	Complained
Confess	Confessed	Confessed
Construct	Constructed	Constructed
Control	Controlled	Controlled
Copy	Copied	Copied
Count	Counted	Counted
Create	Created	Created
Cry	Cried	Cried
Cycle	Cycled	Cycled
Damage	Damaged	Damaged
Dance	Danced	Danced
Deliver	Delivered	Delivered
Destroy	Destroyed	Destroyed
Divide	Divided	Divided
Drag	Dragged	Dragged
Earn	Earned	Earned
Employ	Employed	Employed
Encourage	Encouraged	Encouraged
Enjoy	Enjoyed	Enjoyed
Establish	Established	Established
Estimate	Estimated	Estimated
Exercise	Exercised	Exercised
Expand	Expanded	Expanded
Explain	Explained	Explained
Fry	Fried	Fried
Gather	Gathered	Gathered
Greet	Greeted	Greeted
Guess	Guessed	Guessed
Harass	Harassed	Harassed
Hate	Hated	Hated
Help	Helped	Helped
Hope	Hoped	Hoped
Identify	Identified	Identified
Interrupt	Interrupted	Interrupted
Introduce	Introduced	Introduced
Irritate	Irritated	Irritated
Joke	Joked	Joked
Jump	Jumped	Jumped
Kick	Kicked	Kicked
Kill	Killed	Killed
Kiss	Kissed	Kissed
Laugh	Laughed	Laughed
Lie	Lied	Lied
Like	Liked	Liked
Listen	Listened	Listened
Love	Loved	Loved
Marry	Married	Married
Measure	Measured	Measured
Move	Moved	Moved
Murder	Murdered	Murdered
Need	Needed	Needed
Obey	Obeyed	Obeyed
Offend	Offended	Offended
Offer	Offered	Offered
Open	Opened	Opened
Paint	Painted	Painted
Park	Parked	Parked
Phone	Phoned	Phoned
Pick	Picked	Picked
Play	Played	Played
Pray	Prayed	Prayed
Print	Printed	Printed
Pull	Pulled	Puled
Punch	Punched	Punched
Punish	Punished	Punished
Purchase	Purchased	Purchased
Push	Pushed	Pushed
Question	Questioned	Questioned
Race	Raced	Raced
Relax	Relaxed	Relaxed
Remember	Remembered	Remembered
Reply	Replied	Replied
Retire	Retired	Retired
Return	Returned	Returned
Rub	Rubbed	Rubbed
Scold	Scolded	Scolded
Select	Selected	Selected
Smoke	Smoked	Smoked
Snore	Snored	Snored
Stare	Stared	Stared
Start	Started	Started
Study	Studied	Studied
Talk	Talked	Talked
Thank	Thanked	Thanked
Travel	Travelled	Travelled
Trouble	Troubled	Troubled
Type	Typed	Typed
Use	Used	Used
Visit	Visited	Visited
Wait	Waited	Waited
Walk	Walked	Walked
Want	Wanted	Wanted
Warn	Warned	Warned
Wink	Winked	Winked
Worry	Worried	Worried
Yell	Yelled	Yelled

iIrregular verbs undergo substantial changes when changing forms between tenses. The changed forms of these verbs are often unrecognizably different from the originals. For example:

PRESENT TENSE	PAST TENSE
Go	Went
Speak	Spoke
Stand	Stood
Teach	Taught

Here is a commonly used irregular verbs list with their base form, simple past form and the past participle.

BASE FORM	SIMPLE PAST	PAST PARTICIPLE
Be	Was, Were	Been
Beat	Beat	Beaten
Become	Became	Become
Begin	Began	Begun
Bet	Bet	Bet
Bite	Bit	Bitten
Break	Broke	Broken
Bring	Brought	Brought
Build	Built	Built
Burn	Burnt	Burnt
Buy	Bought	Bought
Catch	Caught	Caught
Choose	Chose	Chosen
Come	Came	Come
Cut	Cut	Cut
Dig	Dug	Dug
Do	Did	Done
Dream	Dreamt	Dreamt
Drink	Drank	Drunk
Drive	Drove	Driven
Eat	Ate	Eaten
Fall	Fell	Fallen
Feel	Felt	Felt
Fight	Fought	Fought
Find	Found	Found
Fly	Flew	Flown
Forget	Forgot	Forgotten
Forgive	Forgave	Forgiven
Get	Got	Got
Give	Gave	Given
Go	Went	Gone
Grow	Grew	Grown
Hang	Hung	Hung
Have	Had	Had
Hear	Heard	Heard
Hide	Hid	Hidden
Hit	Hit	Hit
Hold	Held	Held
Hurt	Hurt	Hurt
Keep	Kept	Kept
Know	Knew	Known
Learn	Learnt	Learnt
Leave	Left	Left
Lend	Lent	Lent
Lose	Lost	Lost
Make	Made	Made
Meet	Met	Met
Pay	Paid	Paid
Put	Put	Put
Read	Read	Read
Ride	Rode	Ridden
Ring	Rang	Rung
Run	Ran	Run
Say	Said	Said
See	Saw	Seen
Sell	Sold	Sold
Send	Sent	Sent
Sing	Sang	Sung
Sleep	Slept	Slept
Speak	Spoke	Spoken
Stand	Stood	Stood
Sweep	Swept	Swept
Swim	Swam	Swum
Take	Took	Taken
Teach	Taught	Taught
Tear	Tore	Torn
Tell	Told	Told
Think	Thought	Thought
Throw	Threw	Threw
Understand	Understood	Understood
Wake	Woke	Waken
Wear	Wore	Worn
Weep	Wept	Wept
Win	Won	Won
Write	Wrote	Written

Modal verbs are a part of the larger category called auxiliary verbs which are verbs that cannot be used on their own. They need to be accompanied by a base verbe.

The following words are modal verbs: Can, Could, May, Might, Must, Shall, Should, Will, Would.

They are modal auxiliary verbs that provide additional information about the verb that follows it.

Modal verbs are used to express ability, obligation, permission, assumptions, probability and possibility, requests and offers, and advice. Each modal verb can have more than meaning which depends on the context of that sentence (or question).

• You can go now. (= permission)
• I can play the guitar. (= ability)
• May I help you? (May is a formal way to ask something)

Uses of Modal Verbs

• Can - Could:
  • Can means to be (physically) able to do something OR to know how to do something.
  • Could is similar to Can in the past tense (though not always).

WE USE CAN OR COULD TO	EXAMPLES
MAKE REQUESTS.	Can I make a phone call? Could you tell me the time, please? (more formal)
GIVE OR REFUSE PERMISSION.	You can use my mobile phone. You can´t go in there. It´s private.
MAKE AN OFFER.	Can I help you? I can take you to the station if you like.
DESCRIBE ABILITY.	Ketty can speak Spanish. Whe she was younger, he could (=was able to) run a marathon in under three hours.
SAY THAT SOMETHING IS POSSIBLE OR IMPOSSIBLE.	You can make a lot of money if you work hard. I can´t get through to them. Their phone´s always engaged.

WE USE COULD TO	EXAMPLES
REFER TO FUTURE POSSIBILITIES	I think we could increase our market share in the long term.

• May - Might:

  • May and might are are modal verbs. used to express (future) possibility, to give permission, to ask for permission, to talk about typical occurrences and to express wishes.
  • Note: Might is used more frequently than May in spoken English.

WE USE MAY OR MIGHT TO	EXAMPLES
EXPRESS (FUTURE) POSSIBILITY	It might rain later (= it is possible that it will rain) She might be late because of the public transport strike. He's very good, in fact, I think he may win the competition.
GIVE PERMISSION	You may leave the table once you have finished your meal. You may take only one brochure. You may not park your car in front of the gate.
ASK FOR PERMISSION	May I sit next to you? May I use your bathroom please?
TALK ABOUT TYPICAL OCCURRENCES	Drivers may feel tired if they do not take a break every 2 hours. These tablets may produce serious side effects if not taken in the correct dosage.
EXPRESS WISHES	May you both live a long and happy life together. May all your wishes come true.

 

• Must is used to express obligation or duty:

  • I must memorize all of these rules about modal verbs.
  • You must wear a seatbelt at all times.

  • People must wear a mask on the street with the Covid-19 pandemic.

• Should is used to give advice, a recommendation or a suggestion. This is to say that it is the right thing to do or the correct thing.
  

  • Your hair is too long. You should get a haircut.
  • I think you should study for the test so that you don't fail.

  • You really should go to the new restaurant on Main Street.

• Shall is not used very much nowadays and mostly in formal speech and some legal documents. Nowadays, the most common use of shall in everyday English (although not in American English) is in questions that serve as offers or suggestions: "Shall I ...?" or "Shall we ...?"

  • Shall I get a pizza for dinner tonight?

  • Shall we go now?

• Will is used to speak about the future.

• Would is often used in conditional sentences with a clause beginning with "If..." but it can also be used in the following situations:

WE USE WOULD TO	EXAMPLES
MAKE REQUESTS	Would you open the door for me, please?
MAKE OFFERS.	Would you like to go to the Jovi´s pub with me tonight? Would you like some more coffee? I would be happy to help you with preparation for your exam. Would you like a glass of water?
DESCRIBE IMAGINARY SITUATIONS.	I would buy a Jaguar.
DESCRIBE A PREDICTION (HYPOTHETICAL SITUATIONS),	It would be nice to have a barbecue. Nobody would believe me if I told them I had seen a UFO.
TO NOT SOUND IMPOLITE WHEN DISAGREEING WITH SOMEONE	I would like to point out that you need to review those numbers. I wouldn't  agree with that.
TO DESCRIBE PAST HABITS	Before internet people would send letters to each other. When I was at school I would get up before everyone else in our house.
FUTURE IN THE PAST	When I was in Paris last year I thought I would spend hours sitting at coffee shops writing ideas for my novel. She promised she would send a postcard from Peru. I told you he would help us.
WOULDN'T: REFUSAL	He said he wouldn't help us. My son wouldn't eat his food.

1. We often use "must, need to, has/have to" to say that someting is necesarry.

• They must be patient when your goals are for the long time.
• Companies have to advertise to let consumers know they exist.
• I need to have to figures before next Monday´s meeting.

2. We use "had to" to refer to a past obligation.

• When I lived in London, I had to learn English.

3. We use "don´t have to" and "don´t need" to if something is not necessary.

• We use don´t have to queue up when you buy online.
• If you buy now, you don´t need to pay anything until next year.

4. "Have to" is more common in questions that must.

• Do we have to make a decision now?

5. We use "mustn´t / must not" when things are forbidden or against the law.

• Drivers must not park their vehicles by a traffic light.

6. Compare the uses of "musn´t" and "don´t have" to in this sentence:

• In many companies, employees musn´t wear jeans, but they don´t have to dress formally.

7. We use "must to" say we are sure of something because of what we know.

• He must be very rich (He drives a Aston Martin)

8. We use "should or shouldn´t "to give advice or to suggest the right course of action.

• A CV should be printed on good-quality notepaper.
• It shouldn´t be more than two pages long.
• Should often follows the verbs suggest and think.
• I suggest/think we should aim at the top end of the market.

9. We use "should" to say that something is likely in the future.

• Interest rates should come down soon.

10. "Must" is used with the present and future tense. "Have to" with past, present and future.

Will future tense is used to speak about the future. It is always combined with another verb.

Since WILL is classified as a modal verb (like can, would, could, should) it has the same characteristics:

1. It does not change in the third person (i.e. Correct: he, she, it WILL work / Incorrect: i.e. he, she, it WILL works)
2. It is always combined with another verb in the base form (i.e. Correct: I WILL go / Incorrect: I WILL to go)
3. We don't use it with 'Do or Does' in questions or negatives. (i.e. Correct: WILL she read a book tomorrow? / Incorrect: Does will she read a book tomorrow?
4. Will is very often used for predictions. (i.e. I think you´ll win a race)
5. It´s used to make an offer, a promise or a threat. (i.e. I will do my best to help you)
6. You use WON'T when someone refuses to do something.
   

   Examples:

   • I will not be (=won´t be) in the office tomorrow. (correct)
     I will be not in the office tomorrow. (Incorrect)
   • They will not stay (=won´t stay) here. (correct)
     They will stay not here. (Incorrect)

Structures of simple future tense:

SENTENCES	Structures of simple future tense	Contractions
AFIRMATIVE (+)	I/You/He/She/It/We/They will go	I/You/He/She/It/We/They´ll go
NEGATIVE (-)	I/You/He/She/It/We/They will not go	I/You/He/She/It/We/They won´t
QUESTIONS (?)	Will I/You/He/She/It/We/They go ?

More examples:

• The forecast says that tomorrow will be warm and sunny.
• I don´t think they will complain.
• She won´t like what you´ve written about her.
• The President will not be re-elected at the next election.
• I think you will find the movie interesting.
• You look tired. I'll finish the dishes for you.
• My daughter will fall asleep as soon as she is put into bed.
• Will they win the cup?
  
  • Yes, they will.
  • No, they won't.
• Will you tell him the truth?
  
  • Yes, I will.
  • No, I won't.