English verb tenses for lazybones. Елена Анатольевна Васильева

      3. Regular and Irregular Verbs

      4. Mood

      5. Voice

      6. Sentence Structure

      The word order is fixed: the subject (S), the predicate (P), the Object (O), the Adverbial Modifier (Adv).

      1. Simple Tenses Active

      1.1.1. The Present Simple Tense

      • General actions; e.g. People build houses of different materials.

      • Universal truths; e.g. The sun rises in the east.

      • Habitual actions; e.g. Sam reads a newspaper at breakfast.

      • Time expressions: never, seldom, hardly ever, rarely, occasionally, sometimes, from time to time, regularly, often, frequently, every day/ month/year, usually, always. e.g. We often meet Liz in the sports club.

      • Instructions, directions; e.g. Clean your teeth twice a day.

      • Demonstrations, step by step instructions; e.g. First I wash the potatoes, peel them, cut and add a little salt.

      • Timetables (verbs of movement): to arrive, to come, to start, to leave и т. д. e.g. The classes start at 9 a.m.

      1.1.2. The Past Simple Tense

      • Statement of facts; e.g. Columbus discovered America.

      • A succession of past events; e.g. We met in the club, played a game of snooker and then went to the cinema.

      • A single action in the past; e.g. Bob finished his dinner half an hour ago.

      • A repeated action in the past; e.g. Every summer the Potters visited their friends in Australia.

      • No connection with the present situation; e.g. I didn't have a car when I was young.

      • Specific time – yesterday, some time ago, the other day, in 1995, during the trip, last Monday, then, when, just now e.g. Judy phoned just now.

      1.1.3. The Future Simple Tense

      • A single action in the future; e.g. I'll stop smoking one day.

      A repeated action in the future; e.g. Tom will go to the swimming pool three times a week.

      «Time expressions – next week, tomorrow, in 2010, in a month, later, one day etc.

      • Feelings, doubts, thoughts without any objective evidences. (I think, I guess, I suppose, probably, perhaps, etc.) e.g. I won't pass the exam. e.g. It will be cold tomorrow. e.g. Cars will be very different in the year 2050.

      • A future action is definite with some objective evidences at present (am/is/are going to); e.g. Look! Jack is going to jump off the tree.

      • A future action is unplanned, spontaneous e.g. What will you do at the weekend? – I don't know. Perhaps I'll invite friends to my place.