English Modal Verbs

Modal verbs are a type of auxiliary verb which express the mood of another verb. They are used
to express ideas such as possibility, prediction, speculation, deduction and necessity.

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Modal	Concept	Example
Can	Ability: Permission: Offers :	Julie can swim. Can I come with you? ('May' is also used.) Can I help you?
Could	Possibility: Past ability : Permission : Requests :	That story could be true - who knows! Charlie could swim when he was four years old. Could I use your phone please? Could you tell me the way to the station please?
May	Possibility : Permission :	The President may come to our offices if the meeting finishes before 5 pm. May I borrow your dictionary?
Might	Slight possibility : Past form of 'may' in reported speech.	We might win a prize but I doubt it. The President said he might come.
Should	Advice : Logical deduction :	You should take an umbrella in case it rains. I've revised so I should be ready for the test.
Ought to	Advice : Logical deduction :	You ought to write to your grandmother. 30 € ought to be enough for the taxi.
Shall	Future tense auxiliary : Offers/suggestions with ''I' and 'we'	I shall be in London on Monday (or I'll be ...). Shall I order a taxi? Shall we begin the meeting now?
Will	Future tense auxiliary: Invitations/offers :	The ticket will cost about 50€. Will you join us for coffee? Won't you come in?

Make - Do

Unfortunately, there is no hard and fast rule in English concerning the use of make and do. The following table gives a list of words and expressions that are most frequently used with 'make' and 'do'.
MAKE	DO
an appointment arrangements/plans an attempt a bed a change/changes a comment a complaint a declaration a deal a discovery a difference / an exception an effort an enquiry an excuse fun of something/somebody an impression a mistake money a noise an offer an omelette a phone call a point a presentation a profit progress a reservation room for something (find place for) a speech a statement a suggestion sure / certain a threat	the accounts an assignment business one's best the crosswords damage a degree / a course drugs (consume/use) your duty an exam exercises a favour the gardening a good turn good / harm a good job your homework a lesson a job justice military service your nails / hair / make-up a project research (something) right/wrong the shopping a survey a test a translation well / badly work without something

Inversion

Inversion means putting the verb before the subject.
It is a literary technique in which the normal order of words is reversed, generally for emphasis
or special effect. It makes a sentence sound striking or unusual. It also sounds quite formal.
Sentences with inversion are less common in everyday English.
In a sentence with no special effect or emphasis, the normal order of words is retained.

Example 1 : I have never seen such a beautiful rose.
Example 2 : Never have I seen such a beautiful rose.

In example 2 inversion is used to emphasise the fact that in your whole lifetime
you have not seen such a beautiful rose.

It is sometimes difficult to remember when inversion is or can be used.
Here are some guidelines and examples to help you.

In normal everyday English, inversion is used :

To make questions : Does he?   Can you? After 'so' 'neither', 'nor' :  So do I, neither do I, nor do I. In written English, as well as in a very formal style, inversion can be used in the following cases : After negative adverbial expressions  : Under no circumstances can we accept credit cards. In no way can he be held responsible. At no time did she say she would come. Not until I heard my name did I believe I had won the race. After adverbial expressions of place : Round the corner came the postman. On the doorstep was a bunch of flowers. After 'seldom', 'rarely', 'never', and 'little' : Seldom have I seen such a beautiful view. Rarely did he pay anyone a compliment. Never had I felt so happy. Little did he imagine how dangerous it would be.

Gerund - Infinitive

One of the difficulties of the English language is that  some verbs are followed by the gerund (ex : doing) and others are followed by the infinitive (ex : to do)

Below you will find some guidelines and examples to help you.
(example verb : doing / to do).

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When do we use the GERUND? (ex: doing)
After verbs that express likes/dislikes : like, love, enjoy, dislike, hate, don't mind, can't stand ... Example : I like doing crossword puzzles.	+ doing
After certain other verbs such as : admit, appreciate, avoid, consider, delay, deny, finish, imagine, involve, keep (on), mention, miss, postpone, suggest ... Example : Would you consider doing a few extra hours?	+ doing
After prepositions : interested in ... Example : Are you interested in working for us? instead of ... Ex: Would you like to walk instead of taking the bus? look forward to ... Ex:  Our parents are looking forward to seeing us soon. good at ... Ex:  Julie is good at making cakes. before... Ex: Before leaving the office, please turn off the lights. after ... Ex: After tidying the kitchen she went straight to bed.

Irregular Verbs

Verb	Past Simple	Past Participle
arise	arose	arisen
be	was/were	been
bear	bore	borne
beat	beat	beaten
become	became	become
begin	began	begun
bend	bent	bent
bite	bit	bitten
blow	blew	blown
break	broke	broken
bring	brought	brought
build	built	built
burst	burst	burst
buy	bought	bought
catch	caught	caught
choose	chose	chosen
cling	clung	clung
come	came	come
cost	cost	cost
creep	crept	crept
cut	cut	cut
dig	dug	dug
do	did	done
draw	drew	drawn
dream	dreamt	dreamt
drink	drank	drunk
drive	drove	driven
eat	ate	eaten
fall	fell	fallen
feel	felt	felt
fight	faught	faught
find	found	found
fly	flew	flown
forget	forgot	forgotten
forgive	forgave	forgiven
freeze	froze	frozen
get	got	got
give	gave	given
go	went	gone
grind	ground	ground
have	had	had
hear	heard	heard
hide	hid	hidden
hit	hit	hit
hold	held	held
hurt	hurt	hurt
keep	kept	kept
kneel	knelt	knelt
know	knew	known
lay	laid	lain
lead	led	led
learn	learnt	learnt
leave	left	left
lend	lent	lent
let	let	let
lie	lay	lain
light	lit	lit
lose	lost	lost

make	made	made
mean	meant	meant
meet	met	met
pay	paid	paid
put	put	put
read	read	read
ride	rode	ridden
ring	rang	rung
rise	rose	risen
run	ran	run
say	said	said
see	saw	seen
seek	sought	sought
sell	sold	sold
send	sent	sent
set	set	set
sew	sewed	sewn
shake	shook	shaken
shine	shone	shone
shoot	shot	shot
show	showed	shown
shrink	shrank	shrunk
shut	shut	shut
sing	sang	sung
sink	sank	sunk
sit	sat	sat
sleep	slept	slept
slide	slid	slid
speak	spoke	spoken
spell	spelt	spelt
spend	spent	spent
spill	spilled/spilt	spilled/spilt
spit	spat	spat
spring	sprang	sprung
stand	stood	stood
steal	stole	stolen
stick	stuck	stuck
stink	stank	stunk
swear	swore	sworn
swim	swam	swum
swing	swung	swung
take	took	taken
teach	taught	taught
tear	tore	torn
tell	told	told
think	thought	thought
throw	threw	thrown
understand	understood	understood
wake	woke	woken
wear	wore	worn
win	won	won
write	wrote	written