Verbs
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Delexical verbs
Delexical verbs, also known as “light verbs” or “empty verbs,” are verbs that carry relatively little meaning on their own and are often used in conjunction with nouns or noun phrases to create specific verb-noun combinations. These combinations convey a more precise or nuanced meaning than the verb or noun would convey individually. In essence,…
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To be or not to be…
The verb “to be” is one of the most important and fundamental verbs in the English language. It is used to indicate existence, identity, attributes, conditions, and more. The verb “to be” has several forms based on tense, mood, and subject agreement. Here are the primary forms of “to be”: These various forms of “to…
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Questions and negatives in the English language
In the English language, questions are sentences that seek information, clarification, or confirmation. They typically begin with question words (interrogative pronouns) such as “who,” “what,” “where,” “when,” “why,” and “how,” or they may use auxiliary verbs to invert the subject and the main verb. Questions often end with a question mark (?). Here are some…
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Modal verbs
Modal verbs are a category of auxiliary verbs used in English to indicate the attitude or modality of the speaker towards the action or state described by the main verb in a sentence. Modal verbs modify the meaning of the main verb, expressing various nuances such as possibility, necessity, ability, permission, suggestion, and obligation. These…
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Regular and irregular verbs
Regular verbs are a class of verbs in many languages, including English, that follow a predictable and consistent pattern when forming their past tense and past participle forms. In English, regular verbs are the most common type of verbs and are often used in everyday communication. They are called “regular” because they adhere to a…
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Expressing the future – all the other ways
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Verb tenses – future – perfect – continuous
The future perfect continuous tense is used to describe a continuous action that will be ongoing, continuously progressing, and completed at a specific time in the future. The future perfect continuous tense is formed by using the auxiliary verb “will have been” followed by the present participle (-ing form) of the main verb. The basic…
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Verb tenses – future – perfect
The future perfect tense is used to express an action that will be completed or finished at a specific point in the future before another action or time reference occurs. It describes an event that will have happened by a certain time in the future. The future perfect tense is formed by using the auxiliary…
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Verb tenses – future- continuous
The future continuous tense is used to describe an ongoing action or event that will happen in the future. It emphasizes that the action will be in progress at a specific time or during a specific period in the future. The future continuous tense is formed by using the auxiliary verb “will” followed by “be”…
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Verb tenses – past – perfect – continuous
The past perfect continuous tense, also known as the past perfect progressive tense, is a verb tense used to describe an ongoing action that started in the past and continued up until another point in the past. It emphasizes the duration or continuity of an action in the past. The past perfect continuous is formed…