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.

(always | constantly) + past continuous

ADVERBS, C2, continuous, PAST, repeated, undesirable

Let’s look at two examples to explain this grammar.  The first is from a student writing example using past continuous with an adverb that shows he didn’t control the situation with his friend and the second one is from an expert speaker using passives: For example, he was always playing soccer when I played baseball. PELIC Korean male level 4 grammar class.   They were

(always | constantly) + past continuous Read More »

If it hadn’t been for / had it not been for + modal

C2, fixed expressions, MODALITY, NEGATIVE, PAST, perfect, simple

These are fixed expressions that are used to express a counterfactual or hypothetical situation in the past. They mean “if something had not happened, then something else would not have happened”. For example:

If it hadn’t been for your help, I would have failed the exam.
Had it not been for the storm, we would have arrived on time.

You can use different modals after these expressions, such as would, could, might. You can also invert the word order and omit “if”, as in the second example.

If it hadn’t been for / had it not been for + modal Read More »