LANGUAGE REFERENCE
118
9
GRAMMAR
G1
USED TO
Use
used to
+ infinitive to talk about habits and states
that happened in the past, and which usually do not
happen now.
We
used to have
long lunch breaks, but now we have
short breaks.
I
used to enjoy
working here, but I don’t now.
!
There is no present form of
used to.
I use to work late every day in this job.
û
I work late every day in this job.
ü
You can always use the past simple instead of
used
to,
but you do not use
used to
for single past actions
(i.e. that happened only once).
I travelled to China for work once.
ü
I used to travel to China for work once.
û
I used to travel to China for work. (= a lot of times)
Form the negative and questions with
did
.
!
Note the spelling
use to
in negatives and
questions.
We
didn’t use to have
many employees then.
Did
you
use to have
a big office?
Form short answers with
did
.
Yes, we
did
. / No, we
didn’t
.
!
Do not confuse the past simple and past participle
of the verb
use
with
used to
.
We
used to spend
our summer holidays by the sea.
(= used to)
I
used
the phone while you were out. (= past simple
of
use
)
G2
PRESENT SIMPLE PASSIVE
You often use the passive when you want to focus
on the object of an active sentence. You do this by
putting the object at the beginning of the sentence.
A lot of jewellery
is made from gold.
The subject of an active sentence becomes the agent
of the passive sentence, and you use
by
to introduce it.
active
Children in India make these clothes.
passive
These clothes are made by children in India.
You often use the passive when the agent is
unknown or when it is unnecessary (because it is
obvious).
The gold
is brought
to Europe. (= We don’t know
the agent.)
Silver
is used
in jewellery a lot too. (= The agent is
obvious.)
Form the passive with the auxiliary verb
be
+ past
participle.
KEY LANGUAGE
KL
MAKING OFFERS AND PROPOSALS
That seems a bit/rather (high/low).
I’m not sure we can (pay that much / go that low).
How about ($100 each)?
If you (order 1,000), we can (offer 15%).
What about if we (order 750)?
That sounds fine.
Shall we call it ($87)?
VOCABULARY
V1
WORK
colleague, department, employee, industry, long
service, lunch break, market leader, promotion,
report, staff, training course, work as a team
V2
COMPOUND NOUNS
outer space, special appearance, pocket calculators,
washing machines, recordable CDs, credit cards,
spacecraft, space shuttle, electronic equipment, gold
wires, human hair, glass makers, public buildings
V3
IMPORT–EXPORT
nouns: abroad, bargain, brand, buyer, delivery,
discount, exports, imports, lower price,
manufacturers, market, orders, price, quantity,
the general public, retailers, sales, supply
verbs: bargain, export, import, offer, order, supply
V4
SEQUENCING PHRASES
after (five) to (six) days, following that, lastly, next,
to begin with
Subject
(
not
)
used to
Main
verb
v
+
I/you/he/
used to
–
she/it/
didn’t (did not) use to
work.
?
Did
we/they
use to
work?
(
be
)
Subject
be
(+
not
)
Past
participle
I
am
+
He/She/It
is
You/We/They are
employed.
I
’m not (am not)
–
He/She/It
isn’t (is not)
You/We/They aren’t (are not)
Am
I
?
Is
he/she/it
employed?
Are you/we/they
subject
r
subject
r
object
r
agent
r
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