Grammar in focus
Tense: when?
| Tense | Form | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Present simple | verb (+s) | She writes. |
| Present continuous | am/is/are + -ing | She is writing. |
| Past simple | verb + -ed / irregular | She wrote. |
| Past continuous | was/were + -ing | She was writing. |
| Present perfect | have/has + p.p. | She has written. |
| Future | will + verb · be going to + verb | She will write. She is going to write. |
Voice: who does the action?
- Active: the subject does the action: Tom broke the window.
- Passive: the subject receives the action: The window was broken (by Tom). Form: be (in the tense) + past participle.
| Tense | Passive |
|---|---|
| Present simple | The room is cleaned. |
| Past simple | The room was cleaned. |
| Present perfect | The room has been cleaned. |
| Future | The room will be cleaned. |
| Present continuous | The room is being cleaned. |
Watch out
- Learn irregular participles: written, broken, built, done, eaten, made, seen, taken.
- Finished-time words (yesterday, in 2010) need the past simple, not the present perfect.
- State verbs (know, like, want) are not used in the continuous.
En español
El tiempo indica cuándo ocurre la acción; la voz indica quién la realiza (activa) o quién la recibe (pasiva). La pasiva se forma con be en el tiempo adecuado + participio pasado.
US vs UK
This book teaches American English. These are the differences you will notice with British English on this topic.
Same passive; US spells canceled with one l and says game.
Misma pasiva; EE. UU. escribe canceled con una l y dice game.
The get-passive is very common in spoken American English.
La pasiva con get es muy común en el inglés americano hablado.
With just/already/yet Americans often choose the past simple.
Con just/already/yet en EE. UU. se usa a menudo el pasado simple.
Exam practice
- Five parts, like a certification exam: multiple choice, open cloze, error identification, sentence transformation and US vs UK.
- Typed answers accept American spelling and contractions (don't = do not).
- Every item has feedback in English and Spanish. Items and options change order on every attempt.
- Only Exam mode saves your score to your progress. You pass with 70%.
Practice mode
No timer. Check each part as you go and read the feedback.
Exam mode
25 minutes. Feedback at the end. Your best score is saved.