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Ace the TOEFL Essay (TWE)
The girl was making candy tomorrow, but now she has decided not to
make it.
Perfect Forms
The perfect forms are usually what most students have problems with
when studying English, even the best students. Because of this, we will
view a timeline to simplify things.
_____Past Perfect_____Simple Past_____Now
Had + verb 3 X Has +
verb_3_____−*
Completed
The past perfect verb consists of the verb
had + the third form of a
verb. To make this clear, we will look at a regular verb (one that takes
-ed
in the simple past tense) and an irregular verb (one that does not take -ed
in the simple past tense).
Hereafter, we will call the be verbs auxiliary verbs when
they accompany other verbs, specifically if they come before
another verb in a sentence. The function of these auxiliary
verbs is to help the main verb, the action verb, form a gram-
matical and therefore logical sentence.
Past Perfect
Always supposes we can put the word before in the sentence.
Had + v3 (third form of verb)
I had walked to the store the day before yesterday.
I had eaten
dinner
before I went to the restaurant.
The verb phrase had walked took place before some time in the simple

by 9:00.
I shall have played basketball by Tuesday.
Shall is British English, used mostly in the United
Kingdom and parts of Asia.
Shall basically means that the
situation is imperative (an order). It is not unacceptable in
the United States, but it is highly uncommon. Hereafter,
British English will be abbreviated as Br.E.
Also, note the time tag at the end of the sentence in the
form of by + noun or a time phrase.
Tip:
Remember: Had always = past tense.
Have/has always = present tense.
Verb Conjugation: Past Tenses
When reference is made to v3, the conjugation is as follows. Regular verbs
are formed by adding
-ed to the base to form the simple past tense. The sim-
ple past, however, has no helping verb in an active sentence (i.e., one in
which the subject does the action). In the past perfect, the same method is
THE
:
RE
N
OTE
:
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Ace the TOEFL Essay (TWE)
used as in the simple past tense, but the auxiliary verb had is situated prior
to the main verb and even prior to the helping verb in a verb phrase with

14. She (walk)_____yesterday, but I had_____(go) before then.
15. If he is (go)_____to the post office later, _____(give) him this
letter, please.
16. Because they had (break up)_____their companies, the com-
petitors _____(get) most of the profits.
EXERCISE 4.2
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93
Parts of Speech
17. What I (want)_____to see was the success of all of the stu-
dents.
18. Although I had not (see)_____him, I_____(know) then that he
was in town.
19. Because they were (go)_____ so slowly, the meteor
_____(overtake) them in a matter of seconds.
20. After you (give)_____me the green light, I (send)_____your let-
ter to the boss.
21. What bothers me is that as you are (get up)_____, I will be
(go)_____to bed.
22. Not knowing the truth is what had (give)_____me the problem
before you finally (tell)_____me.
23. I had_____(lend) him money far in advance.
24. Too much responsibility always (cause)_____problems with
irresponsible tenants.
25. Since you will be (arrive) _____early, could I (impose)_____ on
you for a ride?
Exercise 4.3
Directions: Write
C
for

18. The excuse sounded like a lie.
Modal Verbs
Can, could, may, might, shall, should, will, would, must, ought to, need,
and dare.
Rule: Syntactically (in a sentence), the very first verb following the
modal must always be the base form, uninflected, what we refer to as ver-
bal, even if it is an auxiliary verb.
Functions
Modals express mood: indicative, subjunctive, and imperative.
Indicative
—objective fact
Imperative
—command, order, obligation
Subjunctive
—expresses a contingent or hypothetical action
Although we say that some of these verbs are the past tense of other
forms, they do not necessarily function in that manner. Let’s define them;
then we will rank them.
Expression Modal Example
Future will I will eat less.
Ability can/could I can go home. I could go
home if . . .
Ability (past) could I could swim when I was eight.
Necessity must/have I must protect my children.
I have to work.
EXERCISE 4.3
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