Verb + ing

Some verbs must have an object before an -ing form: • The police found the man climbing the wall. • She overheard them talking about the...

Verbs + to-infinitive or -ing?

Some verbs are followed by a to-infinitive but not -ing: agree, aim, ask, decline, demand, fail, hesitate, hope, hurry, manage, offer, p...

Verb + to-infinitive or bare infinitive

Verb + (object) + to-infinitive After some verbs, we need to include an object before a to-infinitive: • I considered her to be the bes...

Verbs with and without objects

Some verbs (e.g. see, describe) are followed by an object. These are called transitive verbs. Other verbs that are transitive in their mo...

Wh-questions with how, which, what and who

Study these sentences: • Which biscuits did you make - the chocolate ones or the others? (rather than What...?) • I've got orange ju...

Asking and anwering negative questions

We can sometimes use negative yes/no or wh-questions to make a suggestion, to persuade someone, to criticise, or to show that we are surpr...

Forming questions, reporting questions

Forming questions Some questions begin with a wh-word. We can call these wh-questions: • What are you doing tomorrow? • Where have you...

Reporting with passive verbs

We often use a passive to report what people say, think, etc., particularly if we want to avoid mentioning who said or thought what we are...

Verb + -ing or to-infinitive: passive forms

Active patterns with verb + -ing active pattern: Verb + -ing + object               |              passive • I enjoyed taking the chil...

Using passives

The choice between an active and passive sentence allows us to present the same information in two different orders. Compare: active   ...

Forming passive sentences

Passive verb forms have one of the tenses of the verb to be and a past participle. Verbs which take an object (transitive verbs) can have...

Do and make

We often use do with certain nouns to describe activities, or things that have an effect on people: • I can't wash up -I have to do m...

have and have got, have and take

Have and have got Sometimes we can use either have or have got when we talk about POSSESSION, RELATIONSHIPS, and similar meanings. Using...

linking verbs: be, appear, seem, become, get, etc..

In the following sentences we use an adjective or noun after a verb to describe the subject or say what or who the subject is: • Ian is a...

Permission, offers, etc...

To ask PERMISSION to do something we use can or could: • Can/Could I take another biscuit? We use could to be particularly polite. If we...

Need(n't), dont have to and mustn't

Mustn't and needn't / don't have to We use mustn't to say that something is NOT ALLOWED and needn't (or don't nee...

Must and Have (got) to

When we say that it is NECESSARY to do something, we use must or have (got) to: • To get a cheap ticket, you must / have (got) to book in...

Can, Could and be able to: ability

When we say that someone or something has or doesn't have the ability to do something, we can use can('t) (or cannot) (for the pre...

May, Might, Can and Could: Possibility

May, Might, Can and Could: Possibility 1 In affirmative sentences (that is, sentences which are not questions or negatives), we use may o...

Will and Would: habits; used to

We can use will (for the present) and would (for the past) to talk about characteristic behaviour or habits, or about things that are or w...