Guide to English grammar

Play something for me.

For “emphatic do + base form” • 51(2).

You did play yesterday.

3 The (first) auxiliary is important in negatives and questions. In negatives, the auxiliary has not after it. • 17(2)

They haven't played the video.
In questions the auxiliary comes before the subject. • 23
Have they played the video?
In simple tenses, the auxiliary is do.
They didn't play the video. Did they play the video?

61 Meaning in the verb phrase

A NEW FLAT
Ian: How's your new flat?
Jason: Oh, it's okay, thanks. We've been there a month now, and I think we're going to like it. We're decorating at the moment. You must come and see us when we've finished.
Ian: Thanks. That'd be nice. You were lucky to find somewhere.
Jason: Yes, we were getting pretty desperate. We'd been looking for ages and couldn't find anywhere. The flat wasn't advertised. We heard about it through a friend. It's quite convenient too. We get the train to work.
Ian: What floor is the flat on?
Jason: Well, we live right at the top, but there are only four floors. If there was a lift, it would be perfect.

1 Tense
The first word of a finite verb phrase is either present or past. Usually the tenses mean present time and past time, “now” and “then”.

Present Past

I think we're going to like it. We live right at the top. We heard about it through a friend. We were getting pretty desperate.

NOTE
In some contexts the choice of present or past depends on the speaker's attitude.

Have you a moment? I want to ask you something.
Have you a moment? I wanted to ask you something.
Here the present tense is more direct. The past tense is more distant. It makes the request more tentative and so more polite.

For these tenses in conditional clauses, • 257(4c).

A practical guide to English grammar 64

2 Modal verbs
With modal verbs we can express ideas such as actions being possible or necessary.
We couldn't find anywhere.
You must come and see us.

For the meaning of modal verbs, • 102.

3 The perfect
These verb phrases have perfect aspect.
We have just finished the decorating.
We have been there a month now.
We had been looking for ages.
The perfect means “up to now” or “up to then”. The decorating came to an end in the period leading up to the present time.
We can sometimes choose the present perfect or the past simple, depending on how we see the action. • 65
We've finished the decorating. (in the period up to now)
We finished the decorating. (in the past)

4 The continuous

These verb phrases are continuous (sometimes called “progressive”).
We are decorating at the moment.
We had been looking for ages.
We were getting pretty desperate.
The continuous means “for a period of time”. We are in the middle of decorating; the search for the flat went on for a period of time.
Sometimes the use of the continuous depends on how we see the action. We do not use the continuous if we see the action as complete.

Period of time Complete action

We had been looking for ages. We had looked everywhere.

State verbs (e.g. know) are not normally continuous. • 62

For present continuous and simple, • 64.

5 The passive

We use the passive when the subject is not the agent but what the action is directed at. • 103
The flat wasn't advertised.
In the conversation “A new flat”, Jason chooses a passive sentence here because the flat is the best subject. It relates to what has gone before.