ACTIVE AND PASSIVE SENTENCES
Sentences can be active or passive.
Therefore, tenses also have "active forms" and "passive
forms." You must learn to recognize the difference to successfully speak
English.
ACTIVE
SENTENCES
In active sentences, the thing doing
the action is the subject of the sentence and the thing receiving the action is
the object. Most sentences are active.
[Thing doing action] + [verb] +
[thing receiving action]
Example :
PASSIVE
SENTENCES
In passive sentences, the thing
receiving the action is the subject of the sentence and the thing doing the
action is optionally included near the end of the sentence. You can use the
passive form if you think that the thing receiving the action is more important
or should be emphasized. You can also use the passive form if you do not know
who is doing the action or if you do not want to mention who is doing the
action.
[Thing receiving action] + [be] +
[past participle of verb] + [by] + [thing doing action]
Examples:
TENSE
|
ACTIVE
|
PASSIVE
|
Simple Present
|
Once a week, Tom cleans the
house.
|
Once a week, the house is
cleaned by Tom.
|
Present Continuous
|
Right now, Sarah is writing
the letter.
|
Right now, the letter is being
written by Sarah.
|
Simple Past
|
Sam repaired the car.
|
The car was repaired by
Sam.
|
Past Continuous
|
The salesman was helping the
customer when the thief came into the store.
|
The customer was being helped
by the salesman when the thief came into the store.
|
Present Perfect
|
Many tourists have visited
that castle.
|
That castle has been visited
by many tourists.
|
Present Perfect Continuous
|
Recently, John has been doing
the work.
|
Recently, the work has been
being done by John.
|
Past Perfect
|
George had repaired many
cars before he received his mechanic's license.
|
Many cars had been repaired
by George before he received his mechanic's license.
|
Past Perfect Continuous
|
Chef Jones had been preparing
the restaurant's fantastic dinners for two years before he moved to Paris.
|
The restaurant's fantastic dinners
had been being prepared by Chef Jones for two years before he moved to
Paris.
|
RELATIVE CLAUSES
Relative clauses are clauses
starting with the relative pronouns who*, that, which, whose, where, when.
They are most often used to define or identify the noun that precedes them.
Here are some examples:
- Do you know the girl who started in grade 7 last week?
- Can I have the pencil that I gave you this morning?
- A notebook is a computer which can be carried around.
- I won't eat in a restaurant whose cooks smoke.
- I want to live in a place where there is lots to do.
- Yesterday was a day when everything went wrong
Relative pronouns
are associated as follows with their preceding noun:
Preceding noun
|
Relative pronoun
|
Examples
|
A person
|
who(m)/that, whose
|
- Do you know the girl who .. - He was a man that .. - An orphan is a child whose parents .. |
A thing
|
which/that, whose
|
- Do you have a computer which - The oak a tree that - This is a book whose author |
Note
1 : The relative pronoun whose
is used in place of the possessive pronoun. It must be followed by a
noun. Example: There's a boy in grade 8 whose father is a professional tennis
player.
(There's a boy in grade 8. His father is a professional tennis
player.)
Note
2 : The relative pronouns where
and when are used with place and time nouns.
Examples: l where children from more than 50 countries are educated. FIS
is a schoo 2001
was
the year
when terrorists attacked the Twin Towers in New York.
Some relative
clauses are not used to define or identify the preceding noun but to give extra
information about it. Here are some examples:
- My ESL teacher, who came to Germany in 1986, likes to ride his mountain bike.
- The heavy rain, which was unusual for the time of year, destroyed most of the plants in my garden.
- Einstein, who was born in Germany, is famous for his theory of relativity.
- The boy, whose parents both work as teachers at the school, started a fire in the classroom.
- My mother's company, which makes mobile phones, is moving soon from Frankfurt to London.
- In the summer I'm going to visit Italy, where my brother lives.
Note
1 : Relative clauses which give extra
information, as in the example sentences above, must be
separated off by commas.
Note
2 : The relative pronoun that
cannot be used to introduce an extra-information (non defining) clause
about a person. Wrong: Neil
Armstrong, that was born in 1930, was the first man to stand on
the moon. Correct: Neil
Armstrong, who was born in 1930, was the first man to stand on the
moon.
There are two common occasions, particularly in spoken
English, when the relative pronoun is omitted:
1.
When the pronoun is the object of the relative clause.
In the following sentences the pronoun that can be left out is enclosed in
(brackets):
- Do you know the girl (who/m) he's talking to?
- Where's the pencil (which) I gave you yesterday?
- I haven't read any of the books (that) I got for Christmas.
- I didn't like that girl (that) you brought to the party.
- Did you find the money (which) you lost?
Note:
You cannot omit the relative pronoun
a. If
it starts a non-defining relative clause, or,
b. If it is the subject of a defining relative clause. For
example, who is necessary in the following sentence: What's the name
of the girl who won the tennis tournament?
2. When the relative clause contains a present or past
participle and the auxiliary verb to be. In such cases both relative
pronoun and auxiliary can be left out:
- Who's that man (who is) standing by the gate?
- The family (that is) living in the next house comes from Slovenia.
- She was wearing a dress (which was) covered in blue flowers.
- Most of the parents (who were) invited to the conference did not come.
- Anyone (that is) caught writing on the walls will be expelled from school.
CONDITIONAL SENTENCES
Conditional tenses are used to
speculate about what could happen, what might have happened, and what we wish
would happen. In English, most sentences using the conditional contain the word
if. Many conditional forms in English are used in sentences that
include verbs in one of the past tenses. This usage is referred to as "the
unreal past" because we use a past tense but we are not
actually referring to something that happened in the past. There are five main
ways of constructing conditional sentences in English. In all cases, these
sentences are made up of an if clause and a main clause. In many
negative conditional sentences, there is an equivalent sentence construction using
"unless" instead of "if".
Conditional sentence type
|
Usage
|
If clause verb tense
|
Main clause verb tense
|
Zero
|
General
truths
|
Simple
present
|
Simple
present
|
Type
1
|
A
possible condition and its probable result
|
Simple
present
|
Simple
future
|
Type
2
|
A
hypothetical condition and its probable result
|
Simple
past
|
Present
conditional or Present continuous conditional
|
Type
3
|
An
unreal past condition and its probable result in the past
|
Past
perfect
|
Perfect
conditional
|
Mixed
type
|
An
unreal past condition and its probable result in the present
|
Past
perfect
|
Present
conditional
|
The zero conditional
The zero conditional is used for when
the time being referred to is now or always and the situation
is real and possible. The zero conditional is often used to
refer to general truths. The tense in both parts of the sentence is the simple
present. In zero conditional sentences, the word "if" can usually be
replaced by the word "when" without changing the meaning.
If+Simple Present
Tense
Example :
- If you heat ice it melts
- If it rains the grass gets wet
Type 1 conditional
The
type 1 conditional is used to refer to the present or future
where the situation is real. The type 1 conditional refers to
a possible condition and its probable result. In these sentences the if clause
is in the simple present, and the main clause is in the simple future.
If+Simple Future Tense
Example :
- If you don’t hurry, you’ll miss the train
- If it rains today, you’ll get wet
Type 2 conditional
The
type 2 conditional is used to refer to a time that is now or any time,
and a situation that is unreal. These sentences are not based
on fact. The type 2 conditional is used to refer to a hypothetical condition
and its probable result. In type 2 conditional sentences, the if clause uses
the simple past, and the main clause uses the present conditional.
If+Simple Past Tense
Example :
- If you went to bed earlier, you would not be so tired
- If it rained, you would get wet
Type 3 conditional
The
type 3 conditional is used to refer to a time that is in the past,
and a situation that is contrary to reality. The facts they
are based on are the opposite of what is expressed. The type 3 conditional is
used to refer to an unreal past condition and its probable past result. In type
3 conditional sentences, the if clause uses the past perfect, and the main
clause uses the perfect conditional.
If+Past Perfect Tense
Example :
- If you had studied harder, you would’ve passed the exam
- If it had rained, you would’ve gotten wet
Mixed type conditional
The
mixed type conditional is used to refer to a time that is in the past,
and a situation that is ongoing into the present. The facts
they are based on are the opposite of what is expressed. The mixed type
conditional is used to refer to an unreal past condition and its probable
result in the present. In mixed type conditional sentences, the if clause uses
the past perfect, and the main clause uses the present conditional.
If+Past Perfect or Simple Past
Tense
Example :
- If we had looked at the map, we wouldn’t be lost
- If I had worked harder at school, i would have a better job now
Sumber : http://www.edufind.com/english-grammar/conditional/
http://www.englishpage.com/verbpage/activepassive.html
http://www.perfect-english-grammar.com/relative-clauses.html