Inglés sin barreras: time clauses

dimanche 10 août 2014

Top Tips Grammar: Adding to a noun group

Main points

*Some adjectives can be used after nouns.
*You can use relative clauses after nouns.
*Adverbials of place and time can come after nouns.
*A noun can be followed by another noun group.
*You can use ‘that’- clauses after some nouns.

a) You can use some adjectives after a noun to give more information about it, but the adjectives are usually followed by a prepositional phrase, a ‘to’- infinitive clause, or an adverbial.

- This is a warning to people eager for a quick profit.
- These are the weapons likely to be used.
- For a list of the facilities available here, ask the secretary.
- You must talk to the people concerned.

b) When you want to give more precise information about the person or thing you are talking about, you can use a defining relative clause after the noun.

- The man who had done it was arrested.
- There are a lot of things that are wrong.
- Nearly all the people I used to know have gone.

Note that you can also use defining relative clauses after indefinite pronouns such as ‘someone’ or ‘something’.

- I’m talking about somebody who is really ill.

c) You can use an adverbial of place or time after noun.

- People everywhere are becoming more selfish.
- This is a reflection of life today.

d) You can add a second noun group after a noun. The second noun group gives you more precise information about the first noun.

- Her mother, a Canadian, died when she was six.

Note that the second noun group is separated by commas from the rest of the clause.

e) Nouns such as ‘advice’, ‘hope’, and ‘whish’, which refer to what someone says or thinks, can be followed by a ‘that’- clause. Here are some examples:

advice	claim	feeling	threat
agreement	conclusion	hope	warning
belief	decision	promise	wish

- It is my firm belief that more women should stand for Parliament.
- I had a feeling that no-one thought I was good enough.

Note that all these nouns are related to reporting verbs, which also take a ‘that’- clause.

For example, ‘information’ is related to ‘inform’, and ‘decision’ is related to ‘decide’.
Some of these nouns can also be followed by a ‘to’- infinitive clause.

agreement	hope	promise	warning
decision	order	threat	wish

- The decision to go had not been an easy one.
- I reminded Barnaby of his promise to buy his son a horse.

f) A few other nouns can be followed by a ‘that’- clause.

advantage	effect	idea	opinion
confidence	evidence	impression	possibility
danger	fact	news	view

- He didn’t want her to get the idea that he was rich.
- I had no evidence that Jed was the killer.
- He couldn’t believe the news that his house had just burned down.

Note that when a noun group is the object of a verb, it may be followed by different structures.

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Top Tips Abz Ingles: Part A - Part B
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See also:

Words related to Failure to Cooperate Irregular Verbs list

Common Phrasal Verbs Common Slangs

Common misspellings Regular vs Irregular Verbs

Common Errors Frequently confused words

Common Slangs Lista de Términos Gramaticales

Common Clichés Common Prepositions

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vendredi 1 août 2014

Top Tips Grammar: Time clauses

Main points

*You use time clauses to say when something happens.
*Time clauses can refer to the past, present, future.
*Time clauses are introduced by words such as ‘after’, ‘when’, or ‘while’.
*A time clause needs a main clause to make a complete sentence. The time clause can come before or after the main clause.

a) You use time clause to say when something happens. The verb in the time clause can be in a present or past tense.

- I look after the children while she goes to London.
- I haven’t given him a thing to eat since he arrived.

Remember that you never use a future tense in a time clause. You use one of the present tenses instead.

- Let me stay here till Jeannie comes to bed.
- I‘ll do it when I’ve finished writing this letter.

b) When you want to say that two events happen at the same time, you use a time clause with ‘as’, ‘when’, or ‘while’.

- We arrived as they were leaving.

Sometimes the two events happen together for a period of time.

- She swept bitterly as she told her story.

Sometimes one event interrupts another event.

- He was having his dinner when the telephone rang.
- John will arrive while we are watching the film.

Remember that you often use a continuous tense for the interrupted action.

c) When you want to say that one event happens before or after another event, you use a time clause with ‘after’, ‘as soon as’, or ‘when’.

- As soon as we get tickets, we’ll send them to you.
- Can I see you before you go, Helen?
- When he had finished reading, he looked up.

Note that you use the past perfect to indicate an event that happened before another event in the past.

d) When you want to mention a situation which started in the past and continued until a later time, you use a time clause with ‘since’ or ‘ever since’. You use a past simple or past perfect in the time clause, and a past perfect in the main clause.

- He hadn’t cried since he was a boy of ten.
- Janine had been busy ever since she had heard the news.
- I’d wanted to come ever since I was a child.

If the situation started in the past and still continues now, you use a past simple in the time clause, and a present perfect in the main clause.

- I’ve been in politics since I was at university.
- Ever since you arrived you’ve been causing trouble.

Note that after impersonal ‘it’ and a time expression, if the main clause is in the present tense, you use ‘since’ with a past simple.

-It is two weeks now since I wrote to you.

If the main clause is in the past, you use ‘since’ with the past perfect.

- It was nearly seven years since I’d seen Toby.

e) When you want to talk about when a situation ends, you use a time clause with ‘till’ or ‘until’ and a present or past tense.

- We’ll support them till they find work.
- I stayed there talking to them until I saw Sam.
- She waited until he had gone.

f) When you want to say that something happens before or at a particular time, you use a time clause with ‘by the time’ or ‘by which time’.

- By the time I went to bed, I was exhausted.
- He came back later, by which time they had gone.

g) In written or formal English, if the subject of the main clause and the time clause are the same, you sometimes omit the subject in the time clause and use a participle as the verb.

- I read the book before going to see the film.
- The car was stolen while parked in a London street.