Đây là một trong số những bài giảng tiếng Anh cơ bản thuộc tập các tài liệu tiếng Anh được biên soạn dựa trên các tài liệu trên mạng Internet. Các phần trong bài giảng được chú giải hoặc dịch ra tiếng Việt.
Trang 1Time Clauses
Using Before, After, While and When
The Grammar
The phone rang is an independent clause It can stand alone grammatically.
before we ate dinner is a dependent clause It needs an independent clause to be a
complete sentence It is a sentence fragment when it is used alone
Punctuation
The phone rang before we ate dinner
Before we ate dinner, the phone rang
When the independent clause comes first in the sentence, no comma is needed
When the dependent clause comes first in the sentence, the clauses are separated
by a comma
Different verb tenses
Look at these verb tenses:
two past tense
events It started to rain before I got home.
Jaime had a drink before he played tennis
modal auxiliary and
present tense
I have to get home before it starts of rain
Jaime has to have a drink before he plays tennis
two past tense
Prof Simon gave a test after the spring break ended
modal auxiliary and
present tense
Henry may go to the movie after he has dinner
Secretary Simon ought to negotiate with the rebels
Nguyen Trung Kien – BoE/BoFEs
Center for Languages for Specific Purposes and Translation
College of Foreign Languages – V.N.U, Hanoi 2006
1
Trang 2Time Clauses
Using Before, After, While and When
before the situation gets out of hand
an on-going
event interrupted by
a single event in
the past
Myra was reading a book when the phone rang
past tense cause
two past tense
events
Ben asked for a ride when Myra answered the phone
two future
events
Myra will leave to pick up Ben when she hangs up
two past tense
continuous
activities
I was listening carefully while the manager was explaining the problem
one past tense
continuous
event interrupted by
single action
The doorbell rang while I was taking a shower
Cause and Effect
You can use when or after to explain some cause and effect situations.
Effect: He got a flat tire (puncture)
Cause: He ran over some glass
He got a flat tire after he ran over some glass
After he ran over some glass, he got a flat tire
Cause: It rained
Effect: Our paint job was ruined
When it rained, our paint job was ruined
Our paint job was ruined when it rained
Nguyen Trung Kien – BoE/BoFEs
Center for Languages for Specific Purposes and Translation
College of Foreign Languages – V.N.U, Hanoi 2006
2