Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Structure and Written Expression
Structure and Written Expression
Simple past a) An action that began and ended at a) The mail came early this
a particular time in the past. morning.
b) An action that occurred over a b) Dad worked in advertising for
period of time but was completed ten years.
in the past.
c) An activity that took place c) We jogged every day before
regularly in the past. class.
Future (going to) a) Expressing a future intent based a) Jim is going to bring his sister
on a decision made in the past. tonight.
b) Predicting an event that is likely b) You’re going to pass the test.
to happen in the future. Don’t worry.
c) Predicting an event that is likely c) I don’t feel well. I’m going to
based on the present conditions. faint.
Future (will) a) Making a decision at the time of a) I’ll call you after lunch.
speaking.
b) Predicting an event that is likely b) You will pass the test. Don’t
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to happen in the future. worry.
c) Indicating willingness to do c) If I don’t feel better soon, I will
something. go to the doctor.
Present perfect a) An action that began in the past a) Have you been raking the
continuous and just recently ended. lawn? There’s grass all over
your pant legs.
b) An action that began in the past b) Laura has been studying for
and continues in the present. two hours.
c) An action repeated over a period c) Simon has been smoking since
of time in the past and continuing he was thirteen.
in the present.
d) A general action recently in d) I’ve been thinking about going
progress (no particular time is to college next year.
mentioned).
Past perfect a) A past action that occurred before a) Tom had left hours before we
another past action. got here.
b) An action that was expected to b) I had hoped to know about the
occur in the past. job before now.
Past perfect a) An action that occurred before a) They had been playing tennis
continuous another past action before the storm broke.
His eyes hurt because he had
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. been reading for eight hours.
b) I had been expecting his
b) An action that was expected to change in attitude.
occur in the past.
Future perfect a) An action that will be completed a) By next July, my parents will
before a particular time in the have been married for fifty
future. years.
Future perfect a) Emphasizing the length of time a) By May, my father will have
continuous that has occurred before a specific been working at the same job for
time in the future. thirty years.