General Grammar

General Grammar

 

 

a, an and the:  The indefinite and definite articles
Identifying unique and non unique things (nouns)

a and an – identify things that are not unique
It’s raining.  I have a coat but I need an umbrella.

The –  identifies a unique or specific thing or things
The cat smashed the cups and the plates, I broke the glass, sorry.
I worked in the dockyards of the north of England.

Use a and an with nouns or adjectives that start an with vowels (AEIOU)
Would you like a coffee?  No, I would prefer an ice cream.

Words that start with consonants that make a vowel sound take an, except Uni.
My father is an MP (Member of Parliament).  I go to a famous university on the east coast of the USA.

It is not necessary to use an article for non-specific nouns or those that describe groups if things
Children love small animals.
Corporations of the past had hierarchical structures, bosses were really kings.

 

Nouns:  Words that refer to people, places or things
Common Nouns: Singular and plural
What is that? It’s a pen.  What’s that?  It’s a pencil.
Where is my cup?  It’s on the plate over there on the table.
I like the room.  There is a picture on the wall and there are flowers in the pot.
I have four children, two cars and a big house.  We live in Madrid, in Spain.

Proper Nouns refer to specific people, places or things and always start with a capital letter
I see Mrs. Jones every Friday at the Sydney Opera House.
I like France, and especially Paris.  There are a lot of things to see there:  The Louvre, Notre Dame and The Eiffel Tower.

 

 

Adjectives: Describe people and objects.
Wow! Your car is fast, my car is slow.
Our house is big, but we aren’t rich.

Adjectives classes:
Qualitative Adjectives – describe colour, dimension, shape and the quality of an object
Possessive Adjectives – my, your, his, her, it, their, your (plural), our
Demonstrative Adjectives – this, that, these, those
Interrogative Adjectives – what, which, whose
Quantitative Adjectives – 1 (one), 3 (three), 53 (fifty three), much, many, some, few, little etc.
Distributive Adjectives – all, each, every, both, either or, neither nor

See Qualitative Adjectives in Lists and Tables

 

Adjective Order:
Describing things with more detail, the most important feature first
My boss has a big, fast car.
There is a large, fat, hairy spider under the bed.
I love your beautiful, long, colourful, summer dress.
Erin’s a lovely, young, beautiful, elegant and clever, young lady.  She’s a nice person too.

See Qualitative Adjectives in Lists and Tables

There is and there are:
‘There is’ and ‘there are’ denote a thing or things exist
There is a cup here, whose is it?
There are eleven cricketers in a cricket team.
Are there any more biscuits please?  No, sorry, there aren’t any left.

 

 

this and that (singular) / these and those (plural): determiners:
This and that / these and those – here (Near) there (Far) – time and distance
This is a good book, I’m not so sure about that one.
Are these your shoes here, or are those your shoes there?
Look at these photos, which do you prefer, this one (1st) or that one (2nd)?
This pen (I’m writing with (here)) is nicer than that one (the one I placed there on the desk).

 

 

Could and would: Polite questions and requests
Could and would are used for polite questions and enquiries – possibility and permission.
Could / may I borrow your pen please?  I’m afraid I left mine at home.  Here you are.  Thank you.
I would like to see the wine list please.  Yes, of course Madam.

 

 

Prepositions:  to  in  at  on  off etc.
Prepositions describe direction and the relative positions of things
To – direction (here → there) -  We often go to Paris for weekends.
From – direction (there → here)  -  We come from Italy, we live in Rome
In – enclosed -  The children are playing in their tents, in the garden.
Out – exterior -  Paul isn’t here at the moment.  He’s out, he’ll be back later.
At – coincidence of place / time - Erin will be at the hotel at 8 o’clock.  She’s at the airport at the moment.
On – attached / touching  - Your key is there on the table.  The painting is on the wall.
Off (often appears with a verb)  - not attached  – It’s polite to take your hat off when you enter a house.
Up – to rise / increase  - The price of food is going up.
Down - to fall / drop / decrease  -  Stock prices can go up, they can go down sometimes too.
Into – exterior to the interior - I put the cheque into my bank account and the money into my wallet.
Out of  – From the interior to the exterior of a place - Take the pizza out of the oven, I think it’s ready.
Away - remove Go away - Take it away, I don’t want it here.
Onto - Place / to lay (physically) - Put cheese onto the pasta and place it in the oven.  It’s delicious.
Off of  – Remove (physically)  - Take your feet off of the furniture please.

 See Prepositions  list 1 2 and 3 in List and Tables


Question words with be and do:  what who where when
Questions describing things (be) and about routines and events (do)
What - Object:
What is / what‘s the colour of your car?  My car is red.
What does this tool do?  I think it’s a spanner, it loosens nuts.
Where -  Place:
Where are the children?  They’re in the garden.
Where do you live? We live in Perth, Western Australia.  We are here on holiday.
Who - Person:
Who is the person in the picture?  That’s my girlfriend.
Who do you work for?  I work for….
When - Time:
When is it your twin brother’s birthday?  Pardon?
When do you generally start work in the morning?  I generally start work at 7.15am.

 

 

Possessive Adjectives and Pronouns: my / mine   your / yours
Indicates the person an object belongs to / ownership
My / mine:  Maria!  Is that my money?  No, it’s not yours it’s mine.
Your / yours:  Adam, I think these shoes are yours / these are your shoes.
His / his:   Is that blue car yours or Adrian’s?  It’s his car, he bought it last month.
Her / hers:  Is this your hat or hers (Karen’s).  I think it’s hers?
Its:  Don’t let the dog in, its / his / her paws are wet and dirty.
Your / yours (plural):  Mark!  Are these your clothes? / Are these clothes yours?
Their / theirs:  Is this our football or is it theirs (the other teams’)?  I think it’s ours.
Our / ours:  Excuse me that ball’s not yours, it’s ours.  May we have it back please?  Sorry!

Adverbs:
Adverbs describe when, where and why we do things:
Adverbs also describe how we do things, our opinions about things, and the intensity with which we do things

Many adverbs of Manner and Sentence end with ly (clear (adj) - clearly).
Interrogative (questions):  Where do you live?  What do you do?  Which colour do you prefer?
Place:  I live near my work.  I don’t work far from here.
Frequency:  We never / rarely / hardly ever go to the cinema any more, can we go tonight?
Time:  These days I’m a surgeon; ten years ago I was a barber.
I’ve worked hard all my life;  my life is very different now/today.
Degree:  It has been very / quite / fairly / pretty / somewhat quiet here all day.  I like it like that.
Manner:  The statue was heavy but it toppled easily.  When it fell, it fell heavily with a bang!
Sentence:  We’ll definitely / certainly have the delivery to you by the end of the week.
Relative:  When, where and why (see question words)
Adverbs modify adjectives, verbs and often modify other adverbs
Katie sang the song very beautifully and she looked absolutely lovely in her dress.

See Adverb / adjective table in Lists and Tables

Get:  be / become / go / obtain
Get may be used in the place of to be / become, go, obtain and have
How do we get to Buckingham Palace?  I don’t know, I’ll check the map.
I get (become) tired after a long day at work.
Dad goes out to get / buy (retrieve / obtain) a newspaper every morning.

 

 

To have:  possess / wish / experience and obtain
The base verb have is used to give facts about possession
You have (own / possess / drive) a nice car, but it’s not as big as mine.
Your Mother has a lovely cardigan on (is wearing), I have (own) one like that.

Have often replaces other verbs an often appears as an experience
The kids are having (getting) something / a bite to eat.
I had (experienced) a hard day at work yesterday.  Today’s my day off.
Also
Have is used as a wish
Have a nice day / holiday / weekend / stay / meal!

 

 

Object Pronoun:  me / you / him / her / it / them / us
The person or thing – subject of the verb
Me:  Are you speaking to me?  Yes, I’m speaking to you.
You:  I’m waiting for you at the station.  Where are you?  I’m on platform 3.
Him:  I don’t like Justin.  I don’t trust him.
Her:  My sister has three dogs.  All of her dogs are sheepdogs.
It:  Are you reading this book?  Yeah.  What do you think of it?
You (plural):  Do you both go to the work at the same time?  Yes, we both leave at 6am.
Them:  Are those people with you?  No, I don’t know them.
Us:  Is your sister coming to live with us?  Yes, is that ok with you?

 

 

Question words: how why which whose
How:
- Process –  How do you do that?
- Describe –  How tall is your brother?
- Price – How much are these apples?
- Quantity –  How many pears do you have?
                             How much time do you have before you leave?
                             How many patients are there left in the waiting room please, nurse?
- Greeting  -  How are you Phil?  Fine thank you, how are you?  Well, thanks…
Also
How do you do?  Fine / Well, thank you how are you?
Why – reason –  Why do you live here, it’s so cold.  Oh!  Do you find it cold, we love it here.
Which – choice –  Which of these three cars do you prefer?  I think I prefer the silver one.
Whose – possession - Whose pen is this, is it yours or Jane’s?  It’s not mine, I think it’s Dad’s.

 

 

Make or do something:
Make and Do are verbs often used in place of other general verbs
We’ll do the shopping (shop) first, then I’ll make us a nice cup of tea (prepare / brew).

Make - final outcome of activity is complete
make a mistake (achieve a negative outcome) make some calls (speak to someone)
make your bed (recompose / recreate) make the tea / sandwiches / food (prepare a meal)
make a decision / make an excuse (choose one from a number of reasons)
make a sale / make money (finalise transaction)

Do – final outcome of activity is quantifiable some, a little, little, a lot of…
do some shopping (can’t buy everything) do some travelling – to travel (can’t travel everywhere).

 

 

as, like, alike and the same as:
as (the same as) and like (alike) describe things that are similar or exactly the same
Is your twin brother as tall as you are?  No, he isn’t, but he does look like me, but we aren’t alike.
Mark is a life-guard, he swims like a fish (he’s not a fish).  I swim well, but not as well as he does.

 

 

Much and many, some and a lot:
Many (countable noun (S)) Much (uncountable nouns), some and a lot of quantify nouns
Maria has many / a lot of friends (large quantity).
Maria doesn’t have much money (not a lot but can’t quantify exactly).
We don’t have much time and we have many / a lot of things to do
How much money do you have?  I’ve got some (reasonable quantity) money, but not enough for…
There are many / a lot of films I like, some are westerns, but I prefer Sci-fi films.

See Much and Many in Lists and Tables

 

 

a lot and plenty and a few / a little / few / little
Quantifying nouns
Plenty of and a lot of for significant quantities
There are many / lots of / plenty of things to do over the school holidays.

a few and a little for sufficient quantities
I have a few good ideas, but I have a little money.  Would you like to hear of an investment opportunity?

little and few for insufficient quantities
We have little time and few friends.  I think we work too hard. We have no social life these days.

 

 

some any and none (0)
Both some and any are used to describe indefinite quantities of things.

Some: Positive and known quantities
Any: Negative and not known quantities
Do you have any money?  No, I’m sorry, I don’t.  I have to go now, I have some work to do for tomorrow.
I have some close family in New Zealand.  Really!  I don’t have any friends or family there, but I do have some in Australia.
Hey! Did you hear that? What?  There’s someone or something down there.  I didn’t hear anything,  I’m scared.  Me too.

None and Nothing: 0 quantity.
Some of my friends are rich, but none of them had any money for the taxi, so I paid for it.
There’s nothing I can do and no-one I can speak to about my problem.  You can help me.

 

 

too and enough: excess and sufficiency
too and enough express excess too and sufficiency enough
There are too many of us, we need another taxi.
Do you have enough money for the shopping?  Yes, I do thanks.
Two spoons of sugar in my coffee is enough, three spoons of sugar is too many.

 

 

Comparative adjectives:   good – better than
Adjectives help us Contrast qualities when we compare things using than.  And adding the suffix er to the adjective (except: Good and bad)

My car is big; it’s bigger than your car.
Your horse is fast; faster / quicker than my horse.
My home is near my work, I’m closer to work than you are.
I don’t like the way you organise your appointments, my method is better than yours.
good – better - the best
bad - worse - the worst
tall - taller - the tallest
expensive - more expensive - the most expensive
Single syllable adjectives or adjectives ending in y, and e endings take er.
That table is heavy.  Yes, it is, but the wardrobe is heavier.

Most 2 and 3 syllable adjectives take more or less
I don’t know who is more stupid, you or me for losing our keys
My sister is less generous than my brother.  It’s strange because she is richer than he is.

Comparatives and Superlatives
Your story is great, it’s better than everyone else’s;  it’s the best, well done!

See Comparative and Superlative list in Lists and Tables

 

 

Superlative adjectives:  The best / worst
Adjectives help us Contrast qualities for Superlative things.
The definite article the appears before the adjective and add the suffix est appears to the end of the adjective
For me, The President is the most important person in my country.  Really!  For me it’s my mother.
The longest river in the world is the Amazon.  I didn’t know that.  I thought the longest was the Nile.
good - better - the best
bad - worse - the worst
tall - taller - the tallest
expensive - more expensive - the most expensive

The majority of 2 and 3 syllable adjectives take the most / the least before the adjective
Smart phones are really useful, they’re the most useful communication devices we have.

Y, ly and re endings take est
The film was funny, the funniest and most interesting I’ve seen all year.

the most and the least are used with 3 or more syllable Adjectives
Emily the prettiest girl in her class, and she’s the most intelligent child too.
We stayed at the least expensive hotel in town.  The service was the worst.

See Comparative and Superlative list in Lists and Tables

 

 

Past: Regular verbs Pronunciation ‘t’ ‘d’ and ‘id’
Conjugating verbs for the past tense
By adding the suffix ed at the end of regular verbs we conjugate for the past.
There are three final sounds to the verb when we conjugate a verb for the past.

These sounds are similar to:
The ‘t’ sound, as in it
We shopped this morning.  We got everything you wanted.

The ‘d’ sound, as in made
A giant snowball rolled down the hill and smashed into my car.

The ‘id’ sound, as in did
I decided to buy some new plants for the garden

The final letter(s) of the regular verb determines the sound ‘t’ ‘d’ and ‘id’ of the verb when conjugated.
Verbs with an e at the end (mime, decide etc) – use the previous letter.
‘t’ k (marked) p (shopped) x (boxed) s (stressed) h (fished) f (fluffed) c/e (raced)
‘d’ b (robbed) r (purred) g (jigged) n (spooned) m (formed) w (vowed) y (displayed) z (fizzed) l(rolled) ve (evolved)
‘id’ t (planted) (mounted) (rested) (manipulated) (subtracted) de (decided) (collided) (eroded) (divided)

Note: Many verbs ending in consonants b, d, g, k, l, m, n, p, t, and v double the consonant and then add ed.
Blabbed thudded gagged trekked lolled hummed banned trapped rotted revved

 

 

Each every all and both:
each, every, all and both describe singular, individual and plural objects
Each (singular / individual) person has his or her personal views on…
Every time (on all of the occasions) I see you both (2), you are tired.  Are you well?  We’re fine.
I love both (2) / all of my children (2 or more).
Everybody / everyone loves romantic films, don’t they?  I don’t, I prefer Sci-fi films.

so that I can / to do / for + ing:  reason and purpose
Reason to do a thing
I have to go and see my bank manager to get / so that we can get a loan for a…
I’m studying chemistry so that I can get / to get a place at Oxford University next year.
Dave uses a van to transport / for transporting the goods to our shops / retail outlets.

to say and tell / to speak and talk:  mention, instruct and inform
to say and tell / to speak and talk:  
To say something to someone (to voice / to utter)
Tristan said something to his girlfriend and she started laughing. He told her that he…

To tell someone of something (inform / instruct)
I told my boss about the team’s views on the merger. He told me we should mind our own business.

To speak to / with someone about something (to utter / voice) a speech
Last month I spoke to a large audience about remuneration packages and executive pay.

To talk to someone about something (discuss (speak in turn) / inform) a talk
I had lunch with Mum and Dad at the weekend and they talked about you most of the time.

 

 

Recently, lately and just:  Recent events and until now
Recently and lately express recent events until now – used with the Present Perfect
We haven’t been to the cinema lately.  We’re hoping to see … tonight.  Are you?  I’ve just seen that film, it wasn’t very good.

Just: near past/very recent event / recently finished
I haven’t spoken to Nick lately / recently.  Do you mean Nick Nickelby?  Yes, Nick.  I’ve just seen him downstairs.  Do you think he‘s still in the building? No, he was leaving.

 

 

yet and already:  In this period / in my life / until now
Yet and already express In this period / in my life / until now
Used primarily with the Perfect Tenses
Yet (Questions / negative affirmation)
Already (in advance) (Positive affirmation / Responses)

Have you finished reading that yet?
No. I haven’t finished yet.
Yes. I have / I‘ve already finished…
Simon, we haven’t received our order yet.  Really!  It’s been despatched to you.
Have you spoken to Adrian yet?  Yes we’ve already spoken to Adrian about the…

 

 

Phrasal Verbs:  verbs with prepositions
Phrasal verbs, also called verb prepositions or prepositional verbs are idiomatic expressions that combine verbs and prepositions or adverbs and prepositions.
Phrasal verbs often appear in place of the full verb and provide a similar meaning and are often more accessible than the full verb.
I think the price of potatoes will come down (fall / drop  /reduce) again (it was low this time last week).

fill in / out – complete (place information into blank spaces)
Please fill in / out these forms and let me have them when you’ve finished, thank you.
put into - place
My advice is to put your money into a savings account.
come / get down – descend / fall / drop
Tristan, stop bouncing on the bed and get/come down. (from off of the bed).
take out - remove / extract
Take out your pens and English books, our lesson today is Grammar
go up - ascend / rise
Sales of toys go up before the holidays and fall after the holidays, why is that?
go down – descend / fall
I see our shares have gone down / fallen in value again against some of our competitors shares.
come in - enter
Please come in, sit down, would you like a cup of coffee?
take care of - care for (person) / manage
Dad, you should take more care of yourself, you aren’t getting any younger.
You take care of selling the products, and I’ll take care of buying the stock.
get up - rise
Get up now, I know you’re tired but we have to get packed as were going on holiday today.
take off - remove/leave
We got / they took 50% off the price of the flights.  Our flight takes off at 10.
get on / get off - board / mount / dismount
I get on the train at Euston and get off at Hampstead.
get into – enter / leave a place or subject
I don’t want to get into an argument with you about this, but if we don’t…
If I get good exam results I would like to get into a good university such as Oxbridge or Yale.
go ahead – commence planned action / put a plan into action
As I see it, all the plans are now in place.  We can go ahead and start the company.
carry out - execute task
We still need to carry out a few tests to make sure that everything works well.
get through - complete / finish a task
I’m so tired and ill, I just have to get through this week of exams and then it’s the holidays.
give away - distribute
We’re giving away samples of our perfume, hoping that if people like it, they’ll buy it.
go over - review / examine
I want to go over last month’s sales figures.  Can we get together tomorrow and do that?
pick up – retrieve / acquire
I have so much to do this afternoon.  I have to pick the kids up from school, pick Tom up from the station and pick up a pizza for supper.  I’ll call you later.
get out of - escape from
I need to get out of the lease I currently have on this flat.  I’ve found a new job and have to move away.
Fall over verses fall down
Fall over – tumble Simon tripped on the carpet and fell over but he didn’t fall down the stairs.
Fall down - lower level - descend Alice fell down the hole to the world below. (fell - past for fall)

See Phrasal verbs in Lists and Tables

 

 

Reported speech: direct and indirect speech
What we say and what we say was said.
Direct speech - Jack said, “I play tennis, not football.”
Indirect speech - Jack said that he played tennis not football.

Direct speech: reports the speaker’s actual words
Mark said, “I don’t like horror films.  So, I’m not coming with you.”
The Prime Minister said, “It is time for change.”  He later dismissed his Chancellor.

Indirect speech: reports what was said, not necessarily the exact words.
(There is no comma after said and the word that is used but may be omitted)
Caitlin said that she didn’t like horror films.
The president said / warned that it was time for change and he later sacked his Chancellor.

Certain other verbs may be used in place of said:
Asked; reported; retorted; argued; explained; pleaded; requested; warned; cried; added; complained; observed; intimated; muttered; shouted; denied; replied; remarked; protested; answered; objected; suggested, there are many others.

 

 

The gerund: The verb + ING
The Gerund represents the verb as a noun; subject of a sentence
Acting is both exciting and enjoyable, I love it.
Working for my father is very useful; it permits me to continue my sporting career.

Verbs reflecting our feelings about things often appear with the gerund
We really enjoy riding our horses at the weekends.
I love cooking; I hate / dislike washing the dishes afterwards.
Angela prefers driving to taking the train, it’s less expensive and more convenient.

 

 

whoever whichever wherever whenever etc.
Adjectives and pronouns with ever emphasise emotions.
Ever emphasises a non-specific person, time, thing or place
This is very important! Whatever you are doing leave it, and come with me now please.
Wherever we decide to move to (live), we need to be near a shop and a train station.
Lisa, however you manage to get the stand to the exhibition, please get it there on time.
Darling!  Whichever career choice you make will be fine by me.

Certain verbs may be found used with the gerund:
admit consider deny suggest forgive imagine resist regret miss (There are many others)
I’m considering quitting my job
I admit having the money;  I deny stealing it.
Please forgive me for not inviting you to my birthday.
I miss working in an office.  I don’t regret taking the promotion even if it meant leaving my friends.

 

 

Reflexive pronouns:  myself yourself himself etc
Indicating that the subject and objects are the same for an event
Myself:
I enjoy cooking for myself, but I also enjoy preparing meals for others.
I like to do some things myself, other things I have done for me.
Yourself:
Do you repair all of your clothes yourself?  No, my mother does it.
Are you going to get a mechanic to fix the truck or are you going to fix it yourself / selves (plural).
Himself / Herself:
When the twins go to University, Charlotte will have to wash her clothes herself and Dominic will have to cook for himself.
Itself:
I don’t know what happened, but the light came on all by itself, I didn’t do anything.  Do you believe in ghosts?
Themselves:
The board sacked all the middle managers and had to do a lot of the work themselves.
Ourselves:
We like eating out in restaurants, but we really prefer cooking for ourselves, friends and family.

 

 

Likely / unlikely:  Probability
Probability or chance of an event
Our team is likely to win the cup, we have the best team in the league.
Mark’s likely to need our help, but he’s not likely / unlikely to want to pay the price we’ll ask.
It’s unimaginable that any life exists on Venus; it’s extremely / highly unlikely.
There is a chance / a likelihood of help from the bank if we can provide sufficient collateral.

 

 

Relative pronouns and Relative clauses:  that which who (whom) andwhose
Relative pronouns define the noun, (already mentioned) as the subject or object of the verb
Ms. Brown is the person who / that runs the company, she’s the CEO.
Person - who / whom / that:  The artist who / whom I admire most is…
Thing - which / that:  The money that I’ll earn I’ll put away for…
Possessive - whose:  The man whose jacket I’d had to borrow at dinner was much larger than I.

“that” may replace both “who” and “which”.
I’ve just read an article which/that might interest you.  Here’s the link.
I don’t know who it was, but the person whom / who / that I spoke to, was very rude.

Relative clauses connect relative sentences together - who / which / whose
I gave the figures to the senior accountant, who gave them to the CFO.
We decided to take Phil’s car, which broke down.  We had to walk home.
Initially, we’d disregarded Erin’s suggestion, but whose idea eventually turned out to be the best.

Prepositions may precede the relative pronoun
Did you know that Elizabeth, with whom I work, is a classically trained pianist?
All, both, several, some, a few of which/whom
I have a lot of nice friends, none / all / many / some / several of whom have been to University.

 

 

Question tags:  It is, isn’t it?
Verifying facts and events by reversing a statement to verify
Mark’s new car is blue, isn’t it?  No, I think it’s green.
Angela’s going to be here tomorrow, isn’t she?  Yes, she’ll be back by noon.
You went to Brazil last year, didn’t you?  Yes, it was fantastic.
The head mistress has told you not to bring our pets to school, has she not?  Yes, but…

 

 

Like, as if and as though:
A situation appears / seems to be true. Conjecture about the things
It looks like your son is better, he seems hungry.  He’s eaten all of his breakfast.
It looks like / as if it’s a cold day out there, I’m glad we are here indoors, in the warmth.
I’m tired.  It feels like / as if I haven’t slept at all, as though / like / as if I’ve been awake all night.
As if I didn’t have enough to do (I have a lot to do, and now…), I have to babysit the twins.

 

 

Nevertheless, even, so, still and yet:  Conjunctions
Nevertheless, even so, still and yet express - it is true, but or apart from that
The project is demanding. Nevertheless / still / even so / yet, it must be completed, and on time

Also: moreover, so, therefore and besides express - in addition, because of that and apart from that
I have to give a good presentation today, moreover (in addition) I have to convince the board not to…
I have decided not to sell the house, so / therefore (because of that) we need find the money for the repairs.
I don’t have the money to buy a car right now.  Besides (apart from that), we need the money for a deposit on a house.

And: in spite of and despite
Despite / in spite of the bad weather I still need to take the dog out for a

 

 

Provided that and unless:   condition, restriction and alternative outcomes for events
Provided that providing and as long as express a condition or restriction for events
provided that / providing it doesn’t rain we’ll have a barbecue.
Unless, otherwise and if not express warnings and alternative outcomes for events.
Providing / as long as we catch the next train we’ll get back on time, otherwise we’ll be late.
Unless we decide on holiday dates now it’ll be too late to book them.

Wish and regret:
Wish indicates a regret for something not necessarily impossible
I wish I could play guitar.  I love music.
I wish I lived nearer my job.  I have a very long commute to work and I’m always tired these days.
We wish I had seen Phillip when he was here yesterday.  We had something important to discuss with him.
I regret not studying harder at school.  I wish I had organised myself better and paid more attention.

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