PAST PERFECT & PAST PERFECT PROGRESSIVE

• Past Perfect Tense 
• The structure is the following: 
• Positive: Subject + had + past participle +...
• Negative: Subject + had not/ hadn't + past participle +...
• Interrogative: Had + subject + past participle +... + ?
• It is used to describe an action finished before another past action: "Richard had gone out when his wife arrived in the office"
• It is used to describe an action that happened before a specific time in the past: "Christine had never been to an opera before last night."
• To describe cause and effect (combine with Simple Past): "I got stuck in traffic because there had been an accident."
• To emphasize the result of activity in the past: "I had been to London twice by the time I got a job in New York."

• Past Perfect Progressive Tense
• The structure is the following:
• Positive: Subject + had + been + verb "ing" +...
• Negative: Subject + had not/ hadn't + been + verb "ing" +...
• Interrogative: Had + subject + been + verb "ing" +... + ?
• It is used to describe a past action, already started and continued up to another action or time in the past: "The boys had been playing soccer for about an hour when it started to rain."
• To express the duration before something in the past: "Richard needed a holiday because he had been working hard for six months."
• To describe the cause of something in the past: "He was tired because he had been jogging.".

Here is a video with additional and important information, I recommend you to watch it: 

FUTURE PERFECT & FUTURE PERFECT PROGRESSIVE

• Future Perfect Tense 
• The structure is the following: 
• Positive: Subject + will + have + past participle +...
• Negative: Subject + will + not + have + past participle +...
• Interrogative: Will + subject + have + past participle +... + ?
• It is used to talk about an action that will finish before a certain time in the future: "By eight o'clock tomorrow, I will have taken off for Japan."
• It is used to talk about an action that will be completed before another event takes place: "She will have learned Chinese before she moves to China."
• To express a conviction that something happened in the near past: "The guest will have arrived at the hotel by now."

• Future Perfect Progressive Tense
• The structure is the following:
• Positive: Subject + will + have+ been + verb "ing" +...
• Negative: Subject + will + not + have + been + verb "ing" +...
• Interrogative: will + subject + have + been + verb "ing" +... + ?
• It is used to show that somethin will continue up until a particular event or time in the future: "James will have been teaching at the university for more than a year by the time he leaves for Asia.
• To talk about something that finishes just before another time or action: " I will be tired when I get home because I will have been walking for over an hour."

Here is a video that have more information related to both tenses already mentioned. Watch it and take the test and practice!

CONDITIONALS & MIXED CONDITIONALS

What is a conditional sentence? 

A conditional sentence is always based on the word "If". There are always two parts to a conditional sentence, one part begins with "if" to describe a possible situation, and the second part which describes the consequence.

• ZERO CONDITIONAL
• It is used to talk about things that are ALWAYS true or scientific facts. 
• Talk about a condition always has the same result.
• The structure is the following: 
• If + Simple Present + Simple Present
• Some examples could be: 
• If you heat ice, it melts 
• If you stand in the rain, you get wet.

• FIRST CONDITIONAL
• It is used to talk about possible situations in the present or in the future.
• Predicting a likely result in the future (if the condition happens) 
• The structure is the following: 
• If + Simple Present + Will / Won't + Verb 
• Some examples could be:
• If it rains, we will cancel the trip.
• If you study, you will pass the exam.

• SECOND CONDITIONAL
• It is used to talk about an imaginary/hypothetical situation in the future.
• To talk about an unreal or improbable situation in the present or in the future.
• The structure is the following: 
• If + Simple Past + Would + Verb 
• Some examples could be: 
• If I won a million dollars, I would buy a new car.
• If I were you, I would quit smoking. 

• THIRD CONDITIONAL
• It is used to talk about an imaginary situation in the past.
• An imaginary situation that did not happen.
• The structure is the following: 
• If + Past Perfect + Would have + Past Participle.
• Some examples could be:
• If you had studied, you would have passed the exam.
• If I hadn't been sick, I would have gone to your party.

Mixed conditionals

As you can be able to understand, they are a combination of two different conditionals. There are two types of those:

• The first one is a combination of the third condition with the second conditional. 
• The second one is a combination of the second conditional with the third conditional. 

1st MIXED CONDITIONAL

• It is used to talk about a present result of a past condition
• The structure is the following:
  
• If + Past Perfect + Would/Wouldn't + Verb (bare form) 
• Some examples could be: 
• If I has listened to your advice, I wouldn't be in the mess.
• If she had checked the map, she wouldn't be lost.
• If I had gone to the university, I would be a doctor now. 

2nd MIXED CONDITIONAL

• It is used to talk about past results of a present or continuing condition.
• The structure is the following:
• If + Simple Past + Would/wouldn't + Have + Past Participle.
• Some examples could be:
• If I were a good cook, I would have invited them to dinner.
• If you weren't such a poor dancer, you would have got a job in the chorus line in that musical.

Here is a video explaining with more information all the conditionals.

INVERTED SENTENCES

 As you read the title, these are not normal sentences, the order changes a little bit. There is inversion in the first part of the sentence, and in the second part, there is also inversion in the conditionals.

Here is an image where you can see who is the change in each part of the sentence and in the conditionals:

GERUNDS AND INFINITIVES

 First, we need to know what is a Gerund and what is an Infinitive, for it:

• Gerund:  It is a verb + "ing", it is not the "ing" verb form used in the continuous tenses. They look exactly the same; however, they are not. 
• A gerund is formed by adding "ing" to the verb, those verb forms are used as a noun in a sentence. 
• They can be the subject in a sentence: "Reading books is my favorite hobby"
• As the object in a sentence: "He enjoys sleeping on the sofa"
• As the complement of the subject: "Her previous job was teaching English"
• As the object of a preposition: "Hillary is good at writing essays."
• After some verbs such as: "like, love, hate, enjoy, avoid, bear, consider, deny, detest, dislike, endure, imagine, involve, mention, mind, miss, practice, risk..."

• Infinitive: This is the verb form that has "to" at the beginning and then the base form of a verb. For example: "to do", "to sleep"...
• They can be the subject in a sentence: "To learn English is my purpose"
• Work as the object in a sentence: "Sophia refused to be given money"
• As the complement of the subject: "My dream is to work in a big company."
• As an adverb of purpose: "To understand more, please visit our page."
• After some verbs such as: "want, need, would, like, agree, appear, arrange, attempt, need, hope, expect..."
• After questions words: what, who, where..."
• Infinitive to purpose, to say why we do or did something: "I bought the sugar to make a cake"

Here is a video, it has an explanation such amazing to be easily understood.

Also, some images with a list of verbs followed by Gerunds and Infinitives 

COLLOCATIONS

What are collocations? 

Collocations are two or more words that often go together.

Why do we learn collocations? 

• Your language will be more natural and more easily understood.
• You will have alternative and richer ways of expressing yourself.
• It is easier for our brains to remember and use language in chunks or blocks rather than as a single word.

How can we learn collocations?

• Be aware of collocations, and try to recognize them when you see or hear them.
  
  
• Treat collocations as single blocks of language. Think of them as individual blocks or chunks, and learn strongly support, not strongly + support
• When you learn a new word, write down other words that collocate with it (remember rightly, remember distinctly, remember vaguely...)
• Revise what you learn regularly. Practice using new collocations in context as soon as possible after learning them.

There are different types of collocations:

• Adverb + Adjective
  
  

1. Completely satisfied 
2.  Fully aware
3. Deadly serious 
4. Deeply offended
5. Eternally grateful
6. Highly impressed
7. Painfully shy 
8. Perfectly normal 
9. Really amazing 
10. Seriously ill 
11. Terribly disappointing 

• Adjective + Noun

1. Regular exercise 
2. Big mistake 
3. Big problem
4. Big surprise
5. Big deal 
6. Heavy rain
7. Heavy traffic
8. Heavy snow 
9. Strong accent 
10. Strong smell 
11. Strong wind
12. Rich culture 
13. Rich vocabulary
14. Rich people 
15. Blond hair 
16. Broken home 
17. Clear message
18. Deep sleep
19. Close friends 
20. Bad habit 
21. Bad mood
22. Familiar face
23. Front door 
24. Front page 
25. Good cause 
26. Good idea
27. Hard work 
28. Healthy diet 
29. High/low esteem
30. High/low pressure 
31. High/low price 
32. Mental illness
33. Mixed feelings 

• Noun + Noun 

1. Birth certificate
2. Action movie 
3. Beauty shop 
4. Call center
5. Case study
6. Cheesecake 
7. Comfort zone 
8. Child care 
9. Debit/credit card 
10. Sports cars 
11. Credit limit 
12. Round of applause 
13. Ceasefire agreement
14. Bars of soap

• Noun + Verb

1. Lian roars 
2. Bird sings 
3. The plane takes off
4. A dog barks 
5. An accident happens 
6. A heart beats
7. A telephone rings
8. Water boils
9. A ship sails 
10. Snow was falls
11. The bomb went off

• Verb + Noun

1. Give a speech
2. Have a drink 
3. Have time
4. Have a good time 
5. Have a brake 
6. Pay attention
7. Make a difference 
8. Make money
9. Make friends 
10. Save money
11. Save time 
12. Do bussiness
13. Do homework
14. Do your best
15. Do a favor 
16. Come to a decision
17. Get a job 
18. Keep a promise 
19. Keep calm

• Verb + Preposition 

1. Run out of
2. Depend on 
3. Wait for 
4. Ask for
5. Rely on 
6. Listen to 
7. Borrow from 
8. Agreed with 
9. Escape from
10. Get a rid of 
11. Object to 
12. Remind of 

• Adverb + Verb 

1. Strongly advise 
2. Badly hurt
3. Totally agree
4. Deeply regret
5. Seriously doubt
6. Firmly believe 
7. Completely destroy
8. Completely forget
9. Fully recover
10. Sincerely hope 
11. Whispered softly 
12. Vaguely remember 

 

 

 

 

TREE DIAGRAM SENTENCES SYNTAX

 What is Tree Diagram Sentence Syntax?

Well, if we see the definition of "syntax" we can realize that is: "The study of the rules governing the way words are combined to form phrases and sentences in a language." 

That's why tree diagrams have a huge importance here, because with they we can separate a simple sentence and see easily their components, as you can see in the following image:

S: Sentence

NP: Noun phrase

D: Determiner 

N: Nound

VP: Verb phrase

V: Verb 

The tree diagram above is for beginners, it is one of the easier you could make. 

Here are a couple of videos that will help you to understand more about the topic: