Chapter 6 from Longman Student Grammar of Spoken and Written English

Answer the following questions on this chapter:

1. What is the difference between tense and time?

2. What tenses are verb phrases in English marked for?

3. What meanings are expressed by present and past tense?

4. How is future time marked in English?

5. Provide a definition of Aspect. How many aspects are there in English? What types of events do
they signal? What types of texts are they most commonly used in?

6. What discourse functions do passive verb phrases fulfill?

7. How are passive verb phrases formed?

8. What is the difference between short passives and long passives? When are they used?

9. How can we tell the difference between a verb in a passive verb phrase and a past participle
functioning as a predicative complement? Provide examples.

10. Where are passive forms most commonly used?

11. What is the difference between get-passive forms and be-passive forms?

12. Some verbs are called middle verbs. Can you find out why? (This label is not in this chapter.)

13. Which object becomes the subject in the passive form when the verb is Bi-/Di-Transitive?

14. Provide examples of voice and aspect combinations.

15. What are the distinctive features of modal verbs? How do they differ from semi-modals? Can
modals and semi-modals be used together?

16. How can modals be grouped?

17. What do semi-modals express?

18. What registers are modals and semi-modals commonly used in?

19. Can modals and semi-modals be used in combination with aspect and passive voice? Provide
examples.