GUIDE ENGLISH GRAMMAR BOOK

8 THE VERB PHRASE PAGE 78
3 The (first) auxiliary is important in negatives and questions. In negatives, the
auxiliary has not after it. • 17(2)
They haven't played the video.
In questions the auxiliary comes before the subject. • 23
Have they played the video?
In simple tenses, the auxiliary is do.
They didn't play the video. Did they play the video?
61 Meaning in the verb phrase
A NEW FLAT
Ian: How's your new flat?
Jason: Oh, it's okay, thanks. We've been there a month now, and I think we're
going to like it. We're decorating at the moment. You must come and see us
when we've finished.
Ian: Thanks. That'd be nice. You were lucky to find somewhere.
Jason: Yes, we were getting pretty desperate. We'd been looking for ages and
couldn't find anywhere. The flat wasn't advertised. We heard about it through
a friend. It's quite convenient too. We get the train to work.
Ian: What floor is the flat on?
Jason: Well, we live right at the top, but there are only four floors. If there was a
lift, it would be perfect.
1 Tense
The first word of a finite verb phrase is either present or past. Usually the tenses
mean present time and past time, 'now' and 'then'.
Present: I think we're going to like it.
We live right at the top.
Past: We heard about it through a friend.
We were getting pretty desperate.
NOTE
In some contexts the choice of present or past depends on the speaker's attitude.
Have you a moment? I want to ask you something.
Have you a moment? I wanted to ask you something.
Here the present tense is more direct. The past tense is more distant. It makes the request
more tentative and so more polite. For these tenses in conditional clauses, • 257(4c).
2 Modal verbs
With modal verbs we can express ideas such as actions being possible or
necessary.
We couldn't find anywhere. You must come and see us.
For the meaning of modal verbs, • 102.
3 The perfect
These verb phrases have perfect aspect.
We have just finished the decorating.
We have been there a month now.
We had been looking for ages.