Adjective

In linguistics, an adjective is a describing word, the main syntactic role of which is to qualify a noun or noun phrase, giving more information about the object signified.

Adjectives are one of the English parts of speech, although they were historically classed together with the nouns. Certain words that were traditionally considered to be adjectives, including the, this, my, etc., are today usually classed separately, as determiners.

Gerund

The gerund takes the same form (ending in -ing) as the present participle, but is used as a noun (or rather the verb phrase introduced by the gerund is used as a noun phrase). Many uses of gerunds are thus similar to noun uses of the infinitive. Uses of gerunds and gerund phrases are illustrated below:

As subject or predicative expression:

• Solving problems is satisfying.
• My favorite activity is spotting butterflies.

As object of certain verbs that admit such constructions:

• I like solving problems.
• We tried restarting the computer.

In a passive-type construction after certain verbs, with a gap (zero) in object or complement position, understood to be filled by the subject of the main clause:

• That floor wants/needs scrubbing.
• It doesn't bear thinking about.

As complement of certain prepositions:

• No one is better at solving problems.
• Before jogging, she stretches.
• After investigating the facts, we made a decision.
• That prevents you from eating too much.

It is considered grammatically correct to express the agent(logical subject) of a gerund using a possessive form (they object to my helping them), although in informal English a simple noun or pronoun is often used instead (they object to me helping them).

Participle

Modern English verbs have two participles:

1. The present participle, also sometimes called the active, imperfect, or progressive participle, takes the ending -ing, for example doing, seeing, working, running. It is identical in form to the verbal noun and gerund. The term present participle is sometimes used to include the gerund; and the term gerund–participle is also used.
2. The past participle, also sometimes called the passive or perfect participle, is identical to the past tense form (ending in -ed) in the case of regular verbs, for example loaded, boiled, mounted, but takes various forms in the case of irregular verbs, such as done, sung, written, put, gone, etc. In addition, various compound participles can be formed, such as having done, being done, having been doing, having been done.

The present participle, or participial phrases (clauses) formed from it, are used as follows:

• to form the progressive (continuous) aspect: Jim was sleeping.
• as an adjective phrase modifying a noun phrase: The man sitting over there is my uncle.
• adverbially, the subject being understood to be the same as that of the main clause: Looking at the plans, I gradually came to see where the problem lay. He shot the man, killing him.
• similarly, but with a different subject, placed before the participle (the nominative absolute construction): He and I having reconciled our differences, the project then proceeded smoothly.
• more generally as a clause or sentence modifier: Broadly speaking, the project was successful.

Past participles, or participial phrases (clauses) formed from them, are used as follows:

• to form the perfect aspect: The chicken has eaten.
• to form the passive voice: The chicken was eaten.
• as an adjective phrase: The chicken eaten by the children was contaminated.
• adverbially: Eaten in this manner, the chicken presents no problem.
• in a nominative absolute construction, with a subject: The chicken eaten, we returned home.

Both types of participles are also often used as pure adjectives.

Here present participles are used in their active sense ("an exciting adventure", i.e. one that excites), while past participles are usually used passively ("the attached files", i.e. those that have been attached), although those formed from intransitive verbs may sometimes be used with active meaning ("our fallen comrades", i.e. those who have fallen).

Some such adjectives also form adverbs, such as interestingly and excitedly.

The gerund is distinct from the present participle in that it (or rather the verb phrase it forms) acts as a noun rather than an adjective or adverb: "I like sleeping"; "Sleeping is not allowed."

There is also a pure verbal noun with the same form ("the breaking of one's vows is not to be taken lightly").

Sometimes this identity of forms can lead to ambiguity, as Noam Chomsky pointed out in his well-known example:

• Flying planes can be dangerous.

When the meaning is "The practice of flying a plane is dangerous", flying is a noun and can be called a gerund; when the meaning is "Planes which fly" or "Planes when they are flying", flying is being used adjectivally or adverbially and can be called a participle.

Present Participle

The present participle is one of the uses of the -ing form of a verb. This usage is adjectival or adverbial.

The main uses of this participle, or of participial phrases introduced by it, are as follows. (Uses of gerunds and verbal nouns, which take the same -ing form, appear in sections below.)

For present participle constructions with perfect aspect (e.g. having written), see below. In progressive and perfect progressive constructions, as described in the relevant sections above:

• The man is fixing my bike.
• We had been working for nine hours.
• As an adjective phrase modifying a noun:
• the flower opening up
• the news supporting the point

As an adjectival phrase modifying a noun phrase that is the object of a verb, provided the verb admits this particular construction. (For alternative or different constructions used with certain verbs.)

• I saw them digging a hole.
• We prefer it standing over there.

As an adverbial phrase, where the role of subject of the nonfinite verb is usually understood to be played by the subject of the main clause. A participial clause like this may be introduced by a conjunction such as when or while.

• Looking out of the window, Mary saw a car go by. (it is understood to be Mary who was looking out of the window)
• We peeled the apples while waiting for the water to boil.

More generally, as a clause or sentence modifier, without any specifically understood subject

• Broadly speaking, the project was successful.

In a nominative absolute construction, where the participle is given an explicit subject (which normally is different from that of the main clause):

• The children being hungry, I set about preparing tea.
• The meeting was adjourned, Sue and I objecting that there were still matters to discuss.

Present participles may come to be used as pure adjectives.

Examples of participles that do this frequently are interesting, exciting, and enduring.

Such words may then take various adjectival prefixes and suffixes, as in uninteresting and interestingly.

Past Participle

English past participles have both active and passive uses.

In a passive use, an object or preposition complement becomes zero, the gap being understood to be filled by the noun phrase the participle modifies (compare similar uses of the to-infinitive above).

Uses of past participles and participial phrases introduced by them are as follows.

In perfect constructions as described in the relevant sections above (this is the chief situation where the participle is active rather than passive):

• He has fixed my bike.
• They would have sung badly.

In forming the passive voice:

• My bike was fixed yesterday.
• A new church is being built here.

As an adjectival predicative expression used in constructions with certain verbs:

• Will you have your ear looked at by a doctor?
• I found my bike broken.

As an adjective phrase directly modifying a noun:

• The bag left on the train cannot be traced.

Used adverbially, or (with a subject) in a nominative absolute construction:

• Hated by his family, he left the town for good.
• The bomb defused, he returned to his comrades.

The last type of phrase can be preceded with the preposition with: With these words spoken, he turned and left.

As with present participles, past participles may function as simple adjectives: "the burnt logs"; "we were very excited". These normally represent the passive meaning of the participle, although some participles formed from intransitive verbs can be used in an active sense: "the fallen leaves"; "our fallen comrades".

Lack of Contrast Between Past and Past-Participle Verb Forms

In standard English, there are three derivational forms of the verb: non-past, past and past participle, as in go, went, have gone, though not all verbs distinguish all three (for example, say, said, have said). However, a great many English speakers only distinguish two of these, using the same form for the past and past participle with all verbs. For most verbs, it's the past-tense form that's used as the participle, as in "I should have went" for "I should have gone". With a very few verbs, such as do, see and be, it's the past-participle form that is used for the simple past, as in "I seen it yesterday" and "I done it".

Subject

The subject in a simple English sentence such as John runs, John is a teacher, or John was ran over by a car is the person or thing about whom the statement is made, in this case 'John'. Traditionally the subject is the word or phrase which controls the verb in the clause, that is to say with which the verb agrees (John is but John and Mary are). If there is no verb, as in John - what an idiot!, or if the verb has a different subject, as in John - I can't stand him!, then 'John' is not considered to be the grammatical subject, but can be described as the 'topic' of the sentence.

These definitions seem clear enough for simple sentences such as the above, problems in defining the subject arise when an attempt is made to extend the definitions to more complex sentences. For example, in the sentence It is difficult to learn French, the grammatical subject seems to be the word 'it', and yet arguably the 'real' subject (the thing that is difficult) is 'to learn French'. (A sentence such as It was John who broke the window is more complex still.) Sentences beginning with a locative phrase, such as There is a problem, isn't there?, in which the tag question 'isn't there?' seems to imply that the subject is the 'there', also create difficulties for the definition of subject.

Verb

Verbs constitute one of the main word classes in the English language. Like other types of words in the language, English verbs are not heavily inflected. Most combinations of tense, aspect, mood and voice are expressed periphrastically, using constructions with auxiliary verbs.

Generally, the only inflected forms of an English verb are a third person singular present tense form in -s, a past tense, a past participle (which may be the same as the past tense), and a form ending in -ing that serves as a present participle and gerund. Most verbs inflect in a simple regular fashion, although there are about 200 irregular verbs; the irregularity in nearly all cases concerns the past tense and past participle forms. The copula verb be has a larger number of different inflected forms, and is highly irregular.

A typical English verb may have five different inflected forms:

• The base form or plain form (go, write, climb), which has several uses—as an infinitive, imperative, present subjunctive, and present indicative except in the third-person singular
• The -s form (goes, writes, climbs), used as the present indicative in the third-person singular
• the past tense or preterite (went, wrote, climbed)
• The past participle (gone, written, climbed) – this is identical to the past tense in the case of regular verbs and some irregular ones (here the first two verbs are irregular and the third regular)
• The -ing form (going, writing, climbing), used as a present participle, gerund, and (de)verbal nounThe verb be has a larger number of different forms (am, is, are, was, were, etc.), while the modal verbs have a more limited number of forms.

Some forms of be and of certain other auxiliary verbs also have contracted forms (_ 's_, _ 're_, _ 've_, etc.).

In English, verbs frequently appear in combinations containing one or more auxiliary verbs and a nonfinite form (infinitive or participle) of a main (lexical) verb.

Examples

The first verb in such a combination is the finite verb, the remainder are nonfinite (although constructions in which even the leading verb is nonfinite are also possible – see below). Such combinations are sometimes called compound verbs; more technically they may be called verb catenae, since they are not generally strict grammatical constituents of the clause.

• The dog was barking very loudly.
• My hat has been cleaned.
• Jane does not really like us.

As the last example shows, the words making up these combinations do not always remain consecutive.

Tenses, Aspects and Moods

The means English uses for expressing the three categories of tense (time reference), aspect and mood are somewhat conflated. English has only limited means for expressing these categories through verb conjugation, and tends mostly to express them periphrastically, using the verb combinations mentioned in the previous section. The tenses, aspects and moods that may be identified in English are described below (although the terminology used differs significantly between authors). Note that in common usage, particular tense–aspect–mood combinations such as "present progressive" and "conditional perfect" are often referred to simply as "tenses".

Progressive

The progressive or continuous aspect is used to denote a temporary action or state that began at a previous time and continues into the present time (or other time of reference). It is expressed using a form of the auxiliary verb to be (conjugated appropriately for tense etc.) together with the present participle (-ing form) of the main verb: I am reading; Were you shouting?; He will be sitting over there.

Certain stative verbs make limited use of progressive aspect. Their nonprogressive forms (simple or nonprogressive perfect constructions) are used in many situations even when expressing a temporary state.

The main types are described below.

• The copular verb to be does not normally use progressive forms (I am happy, not I am being happy). However its progressive aspect is used in appropriate situations when the verb expresses the passive voice (We are being followed), and when it has the meaning of "behave" or "act as" (You are being very naughty; He's being a pest).
• The verb to have does not use progressive forms when it expresses possession), broadly understood (I have a brother, not I'm having a brother), but it does use them in its active meanings (I'm having a party; She's having a baby; He was having a problem starting his car). Other verbs expressing a state of possession or similar, such as possess, own, belong and owe, also do not normally use progressive forms.
• Verbs of mental state, sense perception and similar (know, believe, want, think, see, hear, need, etc.) are generally used without progressive aspect, although some of them can be used in the progressive to imply an ongoing, often temporary situation (I am feeling lonely), or an activity (I am thinking about a problem).
• Verbs denoting positional state normally do use the progressive if the state is temporary: He is standing in the corner. (Compare permanent state: London stands on the banks of the Thames.)

Perfect Progressive

The perfect and progressive (continuous) aspects can be combined, usually in referring to the completed portion of a continuing action or temporary state: I have been working for eight hours. Here a form of the verb have (denoting the perfect) is used together with been (the past participle of be, denoting the progressive) and the present participle of the main verb.

In the case of the stative verbs, which do not use progressive aspect, the plain perfect form is normally used in place of the perfect progressive: I've been here for half an hour (not I've been being here...).

B1 / Intermediate

A CEFR B1 level English language user is considered to be at an intermediate level. A B1 level English language user is expected to have the following abilities:

• Can understand sentences and frequently used expressions related to areas of most immediate relevance (e.g. very basic personal and family information, shopping, local geography, employment).
• Can communicate in simple and routine tasks requiring a simple and direct exchange of information on familiar and routine matters.
• Can describe in simple terms aspects of their background, immediate environment and matters in areas of immediate need.
• Can understand the main points of clear standard input on familiar matters regularly encountered in work, school, leisure, etc.
• Can produce simple connected text on topics that are familiar or of personal interest.
• Can describe experiences and events, dreams, hopes & ambitions and briefly give reasons and explanations for opinions and plans.

At B1 level, English language users are expected to have a basic level of proficiency in the language. They should be able to understand and produce language in simple and routine tasks, and be able to communicate in familiar and routine matters. They should be able to understand the main points of clear standard input on familiar matters and be able to produce simple connected text on topics that are familiar or of personal interest. They are able to express themselves with a degree of fluency, but with some hesitation, and occasional errors in grammar and vocabulary.

B1 | Intermediate.

Difficulty: Medium

Medium difficulty. Difficulty levels represent author's opinion about how hard a question or challenge is.