PAST

  • ‘Past’ refers to a past tense or form of a verb.
  • We also include ‘perfect’ aspects in this category since they do have some reference to the past.

NEVER BEFORE + perfect inversion

B2, FOCUS, formal, inversion, PAST, perfect, unique

‘never + inversion‘ is B2 with or without past perfect.  The following examples use present perfect simple + inversion: Never before has man possessed so much power. listen Never before have so many people risen so far so fast, on so many different dimensions. listen Here’s an example with past perfect inversion without ‘before’: Never had I felt such an incomprehensible emptiness within myself. listen In the English Grammar Profile, B2 point 68 in  PAST is defined as: past perfect […]

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(time conjunction) + past perfect continuous

B2, CONJUNCTIONS, continuous, PAST, perfect

In the English Grammar Profile, B2 point 67 in the category of PAST is defined as: past perfect continuous after a time conjunction to give background information. For example: This was just a few months after Ebola had been terrifying the world. listen 1 AFTER IT HAD BEEN SITTING 46   WOAI She and her stepfather restored the bike themselves after it had

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STILL + present perfect simple negative ‘still haven’t found’

ADVERBS, B2, emphasis, PAST, perfect, PRESENT, simple

B2 English Grammar Profile point 61 in the category of PAST is defined as: negative form of the present perfect simple with ‘still’ to emphasise that something that was expected to happen continues not to happen. An iWeb search for: still have|has _xx _vvn 1 STILL HAVE N’T FOUND 1847 2 STILL HAVE N’T GOTTEN

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BECAUSE + past perfect simple

B2, explanation, PAST, perfect, simple

In the English Grammar Profile, B2 point 59 in the category of PAST is defined: past perfect simple AFTER ‘BECAUSE’ giving explanatory information. Here are examples of past perfect simple used to give explanations. Someone even wiped away tears because she had done it,  she had connected them to information differently, she helped them see something they couldn’t unsee. TED Vicky called because her husband had suddenly collapsed in the hallway of their home. TED     A search in iWeb for because _P had _VVN 1 BECAUSE I HAD HEARD

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conjunction + past simple

B2, CONJUNCTIONS, PAST, polite, simple

In the English Grammar Profile, there are two points that overlap.  B2 point 55 is defined as: PAST simple after ‘if’ as a politeness structure, especially in letters and emails. B2 point 72 is defined as: the past simple with a range of subordinating conjunctions, including ‘as soon as’, ‘before’, ‘if’, ‘once’, ‘since’, ‘so’, ‘until’,

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present perfect simple questions + increasing range of verbs

B2, PAST, perfect, PRESENT, QUESTIONS, range

In the English Grammar Profile, B2 point 51 in the category of PAST and present perfect simple is defined as: question form with an increasing range of verbs. For example: How much sleep have they actually lost? TED Looking for variable-length questions on iWeb is always a hard task.  Here is only one set pattern that finds some.  Note that we

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