English Grammar and Vocabulary Guide

English Grammar

Verb Tenses

Past Tense Transformations

• Present Simple (eats/eat) → Past Simple (ate)
• Don't/Doesn't → Didn't
• Present Continuous (am, is, are + v ing) → Past Continuous (was, were + v ing)
• Past Simple (-ed or irregular) → Past Perfect (had + past participle)
• Present Perfect (have, has + past participle) → Past Perfect
• Past Perfect (had + past participle) → Past Perfect
• Past Continuous (was, were + v ing) → Past Perfect Continuous (had + been + v ing)
• Present Perfect Continuous → Past Perfect Continuous
• Past Perfect Continuous → Past Perfect Continuous
• Future: Will + infinitive → Would + infinitive
• Can → Could + infinitive
• Must/Have to → Had to + infinitive
• May → Might + infinitive

Changes in Reported Speech

• Now → Then
• Today → That day
• Tonight → That night
• Yesterday → The day before
• Last week → The week before
• A month ago → The month before
• Tomorrow → The next day
• Next week → The week after
• Here → There
• This → That
• These → Those

Reported Speech Structures

Yes/No Questions

She asked me if + subject + verb + complements

Example: "Do you like pizza?" → She asked me if I liked pizza.

Wh- Word Questions

She asked me + wh-word + subject + verb + complement

Example: "Where do you live?" she asked me → She asked me where I lived.

Commands/Orders

No subject + to + infinitive

Example: "Be quiet," the teacher ordered → The teacher ordered to be quiet.

Negative: Not to + infinitive

Example: "Don't use your telephone in class" → She told us not to use our telephones in class.

Suggestions

• Gerund + v ing
• That + subject + infinitive

Example: "Let's go to the cinema" → She suggested going to the cinema (gerund + v ing).

→ She suggested that we go to the cinema (that + subject + infinitive).

Other ways to make suggestions:

• What about going to the cinema?
• Why don't we go to the cinema?

Vocabulary

Finance

• Allowance: Pay, benefit
• Balance: Account balance
• Begging: Asking for money
• Debit card: Debit card
• Donate: To give
• Fortune: A large amount of money
• Income: Earnings, salary
• Live on: To survive, to maintain oneself
• Repay debt: To pay back debt
• Savings: Savings
• Small change: Loose change
• Wealthy: Rich, having a lot of money

Time

• Bad timing: Bad moment
• Buy (some) time: To gain time
• Deadline: Delivery date, due date
• Get down to: To start
• Held up: Delayed
• On hold: On standby
• On schedule: On time, as planned
• Overdue: Late, delayed
• Put off (postpone): To postpone
• Queuing: Standing in line
• Rescheduled: To change the date
• The next day: The following day
• Lateness: Delay

Phrasal Verbs with "Pay"

• Pay with: Cash
• Pay by: Card
• Pay: A bill
• Pay for: Lunch
• Pay in: Euros

Other Phrasal Verbs

• Break into: To break in, to rob
• Come into: To inherit
• Get by: To survive
• Put aside: To set aside
• Run up: To accumulate (e.g., debt)
• Take out: To go out with

Other Vocabulary

• Astonishment: Amazement
• Bizarre: Strange
• Call out: To denounce
• Clan: Tribe, group
• Come up: To appear, to arise
• Haunted: Possessed by ghosts
• Hold back: To restrain
• Incredulous: Skeptical
• Overwhelmed: Overburdened
• Pull my leg: To tease, to joke with