Gareth King - Colloquial English - A Complete English Language Course

the red bus

the red buses

this bus is red

these buses are red

Adjectives do change to show degree:

this bus is bigger

that bus is the biggest

Spelling rules 1, 2 and 3 apply to the -erand -estendings.

Longer adjectives don’t use the endings, and have moreand mostin front of them instead:

this coat is more expensive

that coat is the most expensive

A few adjectives have irregular degrees:

good

better

best

bad

worse

worst

far

further

furthest

VERBS – there are REGULAR VERBS and IRREGULAR VERBS. Regular verbs have a past simple and a past participle in -ed, irregular verbs have an unpredictable past simple, and sometimes a different past participle, also unpredictable. Regular verbs therefore have five forms, while irregular verbs may have five or six. The verb behas nine:

base-form

ask

fight

speak

be

to-form

to ask

to fight

to speak

to be

ing-form

asking

fighting

speaking

being

s-form

asks

fights

speaks

am/is/are

ed-form

(PAST SIMPLE)

asked

fought

spoke

was/were

PAST PARTICIPLE

asked

fought

spoken

been

These spelling rules apply:

ing-form:

1 and 2

s-form:

4

ed-form

1, 2 and 3

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These are the TENSES of the verb covered in this book, illustrated with I:

PRESENT SIMPLE

I ask

I speak

PRESENT CONTINUOUS

I’m asking

I’m speaking

PAST SIMPLE

I asked

I spoke

PAST CONTINUOUS

I was asking

I was speaking

PRESENT PERFECT

I’ve asked

I’ve spoken

PRESENT PERFECT

I’ve been

I’ve been

CONTINUOUS

asking

speaking

PAST PERFECT

I’d asked

I’d spoken

FUTURE

I’ll ask

I’ll speak

CONDITIONAL

I’d ask

I’d speak

[The present simple uses the s-form for the present simple he/she/it

– the verbs beand havehave irregular s-forms.

The future can also be expressed in English by the present continuous, the present simple and going to– these are not interchange-able and are associated with different meanings of the future.]

As well as the STATEMENT forms above, all verbs have QUESTION and NEGATIVE forms:

Question

Negative

PRESENT SIMPLE

do I ask?

I don’t ask

PRESENT CONTINUOUS

am I asking?

I’m not asking

PAST SIMPLE

did I ask?

I didn’t ask

PAST CONTINUOUS

was I asking?

I wasn’t asking

PRESENT PERFECT

have I asked?

I haven’t asked

PRESENT PERFECT

have I been

I haven’t been

CONTINUOUS

asking?

asking

PAST PERFECT

had I asked?

I hadn’t asked

FUTURE

will I ask?

I won’t ask

CONDITIONAL

would I ask

I wouldn’t ask

Verbs are either ACTION or STATE – action verbs can form all tenses, but state verbs don’t usually form the continuous tenses.

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Even in colloquial English, verbs normally need to have a subject expressed.

ADVERBS describe the manner (how), the time (when) or the place (where) an action or event happens. Manner adverbs are normally formed from adjectives by adding -ly(spelling rule 3 applies); time and place adverbs have to be learnt.

The most common PREPOSITIONS are: about, across, after, against, at, before, behind, below, between, by, during, for, from, in, into, of, on, over, than, through, till, to, under, until, with, without. When used with PRONOUNS they are followed by the OBJECT form: with him not ‘with he’.

The normal order of elements in a basic statement or negative sentence in English is:

1

2

3

4

5

subject

(aux) (neg)

verb

rest of sentence

Gerry

’s

going

to London tomorrow

She

reads

the paper every day

We

’re

not

catching

the bus after all

The students

do

n’t

understand

the lesson very well

For a question sentence:

1

2

3

4

5

(wh-word)

aux

subject

verb

rest of sentence

Did

you

see

the film?

Could

you

help

me with these bags?

What

are

we

going

to do with it?

Why

has

Justine

bought

a clockwork parrot?

Irregular verbs –

alphabetical list

Base-form

Past simple

Past participle

arise

arose

arisen

be

was/ were

been

beat

beat

beaten