Advance English Grammar

  A ) Study this example situation: Yesterday Karen and Jim played tennis. They began at 10:00 and finished at 11:00. So at 10:30 they were playing tennis. They were playing = they were in  the middle of playing. They had not  finished playing. Was/were/ - ing is the past continuous: I/he/she/it        was           playing /doing/working, etc. we/you/they    were          playing /doing/working, etc.                                                                     B ) We use the past continuous to say that somebody was in the middle of doing something at a certain time. The action or situation had already started before this   time but had not finished: This time last year  I was  living in Brazil...

A) Study this example : Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was an Austrian musician and computer. He live from 1756 to 791. He started composing at the age of five and wrote more than 600 pieces. He was only 35 year old when he did.  Live /started / wrote / was /died/ are all simple past.                                                                         B) Very often the simple past ends in -ed ( regular verbs): I work in a travel agency now. Before that I worked in a  department store. We inveted them to our party, but they decided not to come. The police stopped me for speeding. She passed her exam because she studied very hard.  But many verbs are irrgular. This means that the simple past does not end in -ed. for example: Wite  wrote  Mozart wrote more than 600 pieces of music. See ...

A) We can use continuous tenses only for actions and happenings (they are eating / it is raining, etc). Some verbs (for example , know and like) are not action verbs. You cannot say "I am knowing"  or "they are liking"; you can only say I know, they like, The following verbs are not normally used in continuous tenses: like      love     hate    want    need       prefer    know     realize       suppose     mean    understand believe    remember    belong    contain   consist   depend    seem                                                     I'm hungry. I want something to eat(not I'm wanting) Do you understand what I mean? Kim doesn't seem very happ...

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  A)      Study this example situation: Alex is a bus driver, but now he is in bed asleep. So: He is not driving a bus. (He is asleep.)  but He driver a bus. (He is a bus driver.) drive(s) / work(s) / do(s), etc., is the simple present.                           I/we/you/they            drive/work/do,etc.         he/she/it           drive/work/do,etc .                                                                                                                                       ...

   Grammar in use intermediate Present  Continuous (I am doing) A)  Studing this example situation: Ann is in her car. She is on her way to work. She is driving to work. This means: she is driving now, at time of speaking. The action is not finished. Am/is/are -ing the present continuous:             I                  am       (= I'm)                   driving             he/she/it      is         (= he's , etc.)            working we/you/they/          are        (= we're, etc.)        doing, etc.                                               ...