Limba engleză

Note de curs

Alexandra Mitrea

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 PARTEA I (PENTRU INTERMEDIARI)

VERBUL

1.1. Definiție

Verbul este partea de vorbire care:

a) exprimă acțiuni, procese sau stări;
b) are categorii gramaticale de persoană, și număr comune cu alte părți de vorbire și
categorii specifice de timp, mod, aspect și diateză;
c) îndeplinește funcția sintactică de predicat.

1.2. Clasificare
Verbele pot fi clasificate din punct de vedere al structurii morfologice sau din punct de
vedere al sensului lexical și al funcției.
1.2.1. Din punct de vedere al structurii morfologice, verbele pot fi clasificate în:
a) verbe simple: to write;
b) verbe compuse: to highlight;
c) verbe cu particulă adverbială: to turn on, to turn off;
d) verbe cu prepoziție obligatorie: to rely on, to explain to;
e) locuțiuni verbale: to make sense, to kick the bucket.

1.2.2. Sensul lexical al verbelor.

Verbele în limba engleză se împart în:
a) verbe cu sens lexical plin, numite de obicei verbe noționale;
b) verbe cu sens lexical redus, care sunt folosite mai mult cu funcții gramaticale. În
clasa verbelor cu sens lexical redus intră verbele copulative, verbele auxiliare și
verbele modale.

1.2.3. Funcția sintactică a verbelor

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La nivel sintactic, verbele cu sens lexical plin sunt predicative, adică pot forma singure
predicatul unei propoziții, în timp ce verbele cu sens lexical redus sunt nepredicative,
având nevoie de o complinire (verb noțional, nume predicativ), pentru a deveni predicate:
The girl is pretty. În schimb, ele marchează anumite categorii gramaticale.

1.2.4. Verbele cu sens lexical redus se împart în:

a) Verbe copulative (be și, conform gramaticii tradiționale, appear, seem, look,
turn, become, get, grow, remain, stay, etc.): She seems happy. Pare fericită.
b) Verbe auxiliare (be, have, should/would, will/would, may/might, can/could, do)
care îndeplinesc funcția de marcă a categoriilor gramaticale de diateză, mod, timp,
aspect, persoană și număr, a formei interogative și negative la verbele pe care le
însoțesc:
She has been writing letters since eight o’clock. Scrie scrisori de la ora 8. –
Aspectul continuu.
She has been told the truth. I s-a spus adevărul – Diateza pasivă
c) Verbe semiauxiliare sau modale (can/could, must, have to, may/might,
shall/should, ought to, etc.) care arată atitudinea vorbitorului față de enunț:
– necesitate: He must run to school. Trebuie să alerge la școală.
–posibilitate: It may snow tomorrow. S-ar putea să ningă mâine.

1.3. Categoriile gramaticale ale verbului

În limba engleză, verbul are forme gramaticale determinate de categoriile specifice de
timp, aspect, diateză și mod, și de categoriile nespecifice de persoană și număr. În funcție
de prezența sau absența categoriilor de timp, persoană și număr, formele verbale în limba
engleză se împart în forme personale și nepersonale.
Formele personale ale verbului (Finite Forms of the Verb) sunt modurile indicativ
și subjonctiv. La aceste forme, verbul este marcat pentru a exprima categoriile de timp,
mod, diateza, aspect, persoană și număr, iar din punct de vedere sintactic, ele pot forma
singure predicatul și se acordă în număr și persoană cu subiectul.

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 Formele nepersonale ale verbului (Non-Finite Forms of the Verb) sunt infinitivul,
gerunziul, participiul prezent și participiul trecut. Aceste forme nu au categorii de timp,
persoană și număr și nu pot forma singure predicatul propoziției.

1.4. Timpul (Tense)

Categoria gramaticală a timpului (Tense), categorie specifică verbelor, se referă la
ordinea evenimentelor în timp, așa cum este percepută aceasta de vorbitor în momentul
vorbirii.
Momentul în care are loc actul de vorbire este momentul prezent (now). Față de
acest moment, care constituie axa de referință a prezentului, unele evenimente sunt:
a) anterioare, când ele au loc înainte de momentul vorbirii (evenimentele sunt
amintite de vorbitor): Present Perfect
b) posterioare față de momentul vorbirii (evenimentele fiind anticipate de vorbitor,
deoarece vor avea loc după momentul vorbirii): Future
c) simultane cu momentul vorbirii (având loc în același timp): Present.
Considerând momentul vorbirii punctul prezent, vorbitorul își poate aminti un eveniment
care a avut loc la un moment anterior momentului vorbirii (then). În raport cu acest
moment amintit then, care generează axa de referință a trecutului, alte evenimente pot fi:
a) anterioare momentului trecut then: Past Perfect
b) simultane cu then: Past Tense
c) posterioare: Future in the Past

De asemenea, în momentul vorbirii (now), vorbitorul poate anticipa anumite evenimente

(posterioare momentului vorbirii). În raport cu un anume eveniment posterior
momentului prezent (axa de referință a viitorului), alte evenimente pot fi:
a) anterioare: Future Perfect
b) simultane: Future
c) posterioare: engleza nu are marcă formală pentru aceste evenimente.

În analiza timpului, trebuie astfel luate în considerare trei elemente:

a) momentul vorbirii;

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 b) momentul (desfășurării) acțiunii;
c) axa sau momentul de referință.

a) Momentul vorbirii este momentul în care enunțul este pronunțat de vorbitor:

now.
b) Momentul acțiunii este momentul în care a avut loc acțiunea sau starea: now,
then, tomorrow, etc.
c) Momentul de referință reprezintă axa pe care se plasează vorbitorul în
perceperea evenimentului: axa prezentului, axa trecutului, axa viitorului.
În funcție de cele trei elemente – momentul vorbirii, momentul acțiunii și momentul
de referință – limba engleză cunoaște următorul sistem de timpuri:
– pe axa prezentului: Present, Present Perfect, Future;
– pe axa trecutului: Past Tense, Past Perfect, Future in the Past;
– pe axa viitorului: Future, Future Perfect.

1.5. Aspectul (Aspect)

1.5.1. Definiție. În limba engleză, aspectul este categoria gramaticală specifică verbului
care se referă la felul în care este reprezentată acțiunea exprimată de verb: ca având
durată sau nu, ca fiind finalizată sau nu.
1.5.2. Există două contraste în limba engleză: durativ – non-durativ (denumit de obicei
continuu – non-continuu) și perfectiv – non-perfectiv.
În primul rând, opoziția este între o acțiune care are o anumită durată, este în
desfășurare, într-un anumit moment sau într-o anumită perioadă de timp și este raportată
la momentul de referință now, then, etc, și între o acțiune pentru care o asemenea
informație nu este importantă. Comparați:
Mary is watching TV (now). Mary se uită la televizor (acum). cu
Mary watches TV (every evening). Mary se uită la televizor (în fiecare seară).
În al doilea, opoziția este între acțiuni văzute ca finalizate în momentul vorbirii: I
have read an interesting article on pollution. Am citit un articol interesant despre
poluare.

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și între acțiuni despre care nu se oferă o asemenea informație: I have been reading
articles all morning.
1.10.3. Pentru a analiza contrastul durativ – non-durativ și perfectiv – non-perfectiv în
limba engleză, trebuie pornit de la sensul lexical al verbelor:
A) Verbele care exprimă activități în limba engleză (activity verbs) sunt de două feluri:
1. verbe de activitate durativă (exprimând acțiuni a căror desfășurare necesită o anumită
durată în timp): read, write, wash, walk, talk, etc.
2. verbe de activitate non-durativă, care exprimă acțiuni momentane, fără durată, fiind
încheiate aproape în același timp cu efectuarea lor: hit, catch, kick, slap, etc.
Notă: Adeseori sensul non-durativ al unor verbe este semnalat de prezența unor particule
adverbiale ca down, out, up, care le deosebesc de verbele cu activitate durativă.
Comparați: sit / sit down; stand / stand up; drink / drink up; pick / pick up.
La rândul lor, verbele de activitate durativă se împart în:
– verbe care nu implică niciun scop: rub, run, walk, etc.
– verbe care implică atingerea unui scop: iron, shirt, read a book, write an essay.
B) Pe lângă verbele care denumesc activități (durative sau non-durative), există și verbe
care denumesc stări. Acestea sunt durative, deoarece exprimă existența unor fapte pe o
perioadă îndelungată de timp: be intelligent, know how, exist, live.

Aspectul continuu (The Continuous Aspect)

1.5.4. Formă. Timpurile aspectului continuu se formează dintr-un timp al verbului be și
participiul prezent (forma in -ing) a verbului de conjugat.
Present Continuous: I am walking
Past Continuous: I was walking
Present Perfect Continuous: I have been walking, etc.
15.5. Ortografia participiului prezent, depinde de forma verbului la infinitiv:
a) consoana finală se dublează dacă vocala care o precede e scurtă și accentuată: rob –
robbing, prefer – preferring.
Notă: În engleza britanică, -l final se dublează, indiferent de accent: patrol – patrolling, marvel –
marvelling.

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În engleza americană, -l final se dublează numai dacă accentul cade pe ultima silabă: patrolling
dar marveling.
b) –y final se păstrează, indiferent dacă este precedat de consoană sau vocală: try – trying,
say – saying, iar –ie final se transformă în –y: lie – lying, die – dying
c) – e final se omite: have – having
Excepții: agree – agreeing, be – being, see – seeing, dye – dyeing.
1.5.6. Întrebuințarea aspectului continuu
a) Utilizarea aspectului continuu cu verbele de activitate durativă fără scop arată că
acțiunile denumite de verbe sunt în desfășurare pe axa prezentului, a trecutului, sau a
viitorului: She is swimming in the lake now.
b) Cu verbele de activitate durativă care implică atingerea unui scop, utilizarea aspectului
continuu arată că scopul nu a fost atins, acțiunea nu a fost terminată: She was writing an
essay then. Scria un eseu atunci (Nu l-a terminat).
c) Verbele de activitate non-durativă arată o acțiune repetată atunci când sunt folosite la
aspectul continuu: She is knocking at the door. Ciocăne la ușă.
d) Verbele care exprimă o stare arată că această stare este limitată, atunci când sunt
folosite la aspectul continuu: I live in Brașov (that is where my house is). I am living in
Bucharest this year.

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1.5. Present Tense Simple (Timpul prezent simplu)

1.5.1. Definiție.
Present Tense Simple desemnează un eveniment (acțiune sau stare) care se întâmplă
simultan cu momentul vorbirii (prezentul instantaneu) sau care include momentul vorbirii
(prezentul generic și habitual).

1.5.2. Formă
Din punct de vedere al formei, prezentul simplu este identic cu infinitivul, la toate
persoanele singular și plural, cu excepția persoanei a III-a singular, care adaugă
terminația –(e)s:

I eat. He eats.
You eat. She eats
We eat. It eats.
They eat.

1.5.3. Pronunțarea și ortografierea terminației –(e)s la persoana a III-a singular prezintă

aceleași caracteristici ca și terminația de plural -(e)s a substantivelor:
-(e)s se pronunță:
[s] după consoane surde: he sleeps [sli:ps]
[z] după consoane sonore și vocale: he plays [pleiz] , he comes [k˄mz]
[iz] după consoane sibilante: he pushes [`puʃi:z].

Verbele say și do au la persoana a III-a singular o pronunțare deosebită față de celelalte

persoane:
I say [sei] – he says [sez]; I do [du:] – he does [d˄z]

Din punct de vedere al ortografiei, majoritatea verbelor adaugă –s la persoana a III-a

singular: He sings. He writes.

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Desinența devine –es când verbul se termină în s, x, z, sh, ch, tch, sau o:
He washes. He teaches. He does.
Verbele terminate în –y precedat de consoană, schimbă y în i și adaugă –es: I rely – he
relies.

1.5.4. Întrebuințare
Prezentul simplu are mai multe întrebuințări:
1.Prezentul generic (Generic Simple Present) exprimă acțiuni generale care au loc într-
un interval de timp nespecificat, dar care include momentul vorbirii:
Water boils at 100 degrees Celsius. Four and four makes eight.
Propozițiile generice includ, de regulă, adverbe de frecvență de genul: always, never,
regularly, ever.

2.Prezentul simplu este folosit pentru acțiuni obișnuite, repetate (Habitual Simple
Present), care au loc într-o perioadă de timp generală sau specifică, menționată prin
adverbe sau locuțiuni adverbiale de timp ca: on Sundays, every day, in winter sau adverbe
sau locuțiuni adverbiale de frecvență ca: often, frequently, seldom, rarely, occasionally,
sometimes, once a week / month / year: I get up at seven every day. I usually go to work
by bus.

Notă: Prezentul simplu desemnând acțiuni repetate este apropiat de prezentul generic deoarece
nici el nu individualizează evenimentele sau specifică momentul acțiunii. Deosebirea între cele
două folosiri ale prezentului simplu este următoarea: în propozițiile care conțin acțiuni repetate
subiectul este individualizat, pe când în cele generice subiectul este general: I watch TV every
day. Birds fly.

3. Prezentul instantaneu (Instantaneous Simple Present) se referă la acțiuni care sunt

văzute ca având loc în întregime în momentul vorbirii.
Această întrebuințare a prezentului simplu se regăsește în:
a) comentarii: Halep serves.
b) demonstrații: First, I take the oranges and peel them.
c) exclamații: There he goes!

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4. Folosirea prezentului simplu cu alte valori temporale

A.Prezentul cu valoare de viitor este întrebuințat în propoziții principale:

a) pentru exprimarea datei: Tomorrow is May 1st.
b) pentru redarea unor acțiuni planificate, unor aranjamente pentru viitor, conform
unui orar sau program stabilit (de exemplu în excursii organizate), mai ales cu
verbe de mișcare ca: go, come, arrive, leave, sau verbe ca start, begin, end, finish.
We arrive in London at 10 o’clock.

B.Prezentul cu valoare de viitor este întrebuințat și în propoziții subordonate:

a) de timp, introduse de when, after, before, as soon as:
We’ll call you as soon as we get home.
b) condiționale, introduse de if, unless, provided, in case.
We shall go out for a walk if it doesn’t rain.

C.Prezentul cu valoare de trecut se folosește:

a) în narațiuni, pentru înviorarea povestirii (prezentul istoric): The Prince enters the
cave and there he sees a witch.
b) Cu verbe ca tell, hear, learn, write, pentru a sublinia efectul prezent al unei
comunicări trecute:
I hear that he has won the elections.

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 Present Tense Continuous (Prezentul continuu) este utilizat pentru a exprima:
1.Cu verbe de activitate durativă fără scop:
a) o acțiune în desfășurare în momentul vorbirii: He is painting the house now.
Această întrebuințare este marcată de obicei de adverbe de timp ca now, right now, at this
moment. A. What is Ann doing? B. She is cooking now, dar poate apărea și fără ele,
momentul de față al acțiunii reieșind din forma continuă a verbului: A. What is Ann
doing? B. She is cooking. A. Ce face Ann (acum)? B. Gătește.
b) o acțiune obișnuită, repetată, prezentată în desfășurarea ei în anumite circumstanțe: I
always take the umbrella when it is raining. Totdeauna îmi iau umbrela când plouă. I
never eat while I am reading. Niciodată nu citesc în timp ce mănânc. I meet him
whenever I am walking in the Botanical Gardens. Îl întâlnesc ori de câte ori mă plimb în
Grădina botanică.
2. cu verbele de activitate durativă implicând un scop, o acțiune care nu a fost terminată
la momentul vorbirii: She is making a cake. Face o prăjitură.
3. cu verbe de activitate non-durativă, o acțiune repetată în momentul vorbirii: He is
kicking. (Dă din picioare) sau o acțiune repetată în mod frecvent care îl deranjează sau îl
irită pe vorbitor: She is always playing the piano when I want to go to bed. Ea
întotdeauna cântă la pian când vreau să mă culc.
Această folosire a prezentului continuu este obligatoriu însoțită de adverbe de
frecvență ca: always, forever, continually, all the time. Acestea se așază între auxiliarul
be și forma în –ing, cu excepția lui all the time care ocupă poziție finală în propoziție:
You are always forgetting the keys! You are forgetting the keys all the time!
4. cu verbe care denumesc o stare, o acțiune cu caracter temporar, care are loc pentru o
perioadă limitată de timp (incluzând și momentul vorbirii): George is attending the Poly.
George urmează politehnica (studiază politehnica).
Complinirile adverbiale pentru această întrebuințare a prezentului continuu sunt:
today, this week, these days, this month, this year, etc: My grandpa usually reads
detective stories, but he is reading a novel today.
5. Prezentul continuu este de asemenea folosit pentru a desemna o acțiune viitoare
planificată din prezent: I am hitting the road tomorrow. Pornesc la drum mâine.

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 Past Tense Simple (Timpul trecut simplu1)

1.6.1. Definiție. Past Tense, aspectul simplu, desemnează un eveniment definit care a
avut loc pe axa trecutului (evenimentul este amintit în momentul prezent).
1.6.2. Formă. Marca timpului Past Tense simplu este, la verbele regulate, -ed. He
started reading the novel. A început să citească romanul.
1.6.3. Pronunțarea și ortografierea terminației –ed variază în funcție de terminația
infinitivului:
-ed se pronunță:
a) [d] când verbele se termină în vocală sau consoană sonoră [b, g, l, m, n, v, z, dz, j]:
love – loved [l˄vd];
b) [t] când verbele se termină în consoană surdă [f, k, p, s, ʃ, tʃ]: push – pushed [puʃt],
stop – stopped [stopt];
c) [id] când verbele se termină în –t sau –d: start – started [`sta:tid], demand – demanded
[di`ma:ndid]

Particularități ortografice ale terminației –ed:

a) consoana finală a formei de infinitiv se dublează când vocala care o precede este scurtă
și accentuată: nod – nodded; refer – referred;
Notă:
1. Consoana finală se dublează la câteva verbe, deși silaba finală nu este accentuată: handicap –
handicapped, worship – worshipped , kidnap – kidnapped, iar la verbele terminate în –ic, c se
transformă în –ck: panic – panicked.
2. În engleza britanică, verbele terminate în –l dublează această consoană, indiferent de accent:
marvel – marvelled, patrol – patrolled.
3. În engleza americană, –l se dublează numai dacă ultima silabă este accentuată: patrolled dar:
marveled.
b) verbele terminate în –y precedat de o consoană îl schimbă în –i: try – tried;
c) verbele terminate în –e adaugă doar –d: free – freed.

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Timpul Past Tense (tradus cu Trecutul simplu) corespunde timpului Perfect compus din limba română.

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1.6.4. Verbele neregulate sunt toate verbele care nu formează Paste Tense și Past
Participle adăugând sufixul –ed, ele având forme proprii: to come – came – come, to
forget – forgot – forgotten, to speak – spoke – spoken.

1.6.4.Întrebuințare. Past Tense Simple este folosit pentru a exprima:

1. o acțiune desfășurată și încheiată într-un moment trecut:
a) Momentul în care a avut loc acțiunea este de obicei menționat prin adverbe de timp ca:
a year ago, then, when, that day, yesterday, last month, on Monday, in 1974, etc. I
watched TV last night. M-am uitat la televizor aseară.
b) Acțiunea s-a desfășurat și s-a încheiat într-un anume moment trecut, chiar dacă acesta
nu este menționat, el putând fi dedus din context. (În schimb se poate menționa locul
acțiunii): I saw him on the street. L-am văzut pe stradă.
c) Acțiunea s-a desfășurat și s-a încheiat într-un moment trecut care este precizat ca
rezultat al unei întrebări și răspuns la Present Perfect: Have you done your homework?
Yes, I did it yesterday.
2. o acțiune repetată în trecut, care se traduce de obicei prin imperfect în limba română:
He often went to the theatre. Mergea des la teatru.
Notă: 1. O acțiune repetată în trecut se mai poate exprima și cu ajutorul verbului modal would (cu
valoare frecventativă) + infinitiv, această construcție fiind caracteristică limbii literare. He would
roam the streets for hours on end. Obișnuia să colinde străzile ore în șir. În vorbirea curentă se
folosește used to + infinitiv: He used to roam the streets for hours on end.
2. Past Tense simplu nu se folosește niciodată cu valoare generică sau instantanee, ca Present
Tense simplu.
3. Past tense simplu poate fi folosit și cu alte valori temporale:
a) cu valoare de mai-mult-ca-perfect (Past Perfect), pentru redarea unor acțiuni succesive
în trecut, în special în propoziții circumstanțiale de timp introduse de when, after, as soon
as:
I called him as soon as I got to the chalet.
b) cu valoare de prezent pentru a exprima rugămintea politicoasă prin verbe ca wish,
want, wonder, like, intend: I wondered if you could lend me this book. Mă întrebam dacă
ați putea să îmi împrumutați cartea.

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c) cu valoare de prezent în vorbirea indirectă, dacă verbul din propoziția principală este la
un timp trecut:
I told him I was in Bucharest that day.
d) cu valoare de viitor, în propoziții circumstanțiale de timp, dacă verbul din propoziția
principală este la un timp trecut:
She said she would explain things to me when we met.

1.6.6.Traducerea lui Past Tense:

Past Tense se traduce în limba română cu:
a) perfectul compus (de obicei la persoanele I și a II-a) și perfectul simplu (aproape
exclusiv la persoana a III-a), când Past Tense exprimă o acțiune trecută încheiată, însoțită
sau nu de perioada de timp.
I saw him yesterday. L-am văzut ieri
She came in and sat down. Intră și se așeză.
b) imperfect când Past Tense exprimă o acțiune repetată în trecut, de obicei însoțită de
adverbe de frecvență:
He often forgot the keys in the car. Uita adesea cheile în mașină.
2.În propozițiile subordonate prin:
a) prezent, în vorbirea indirectă (după un verb trecut):
She said she was happy. Mi-a spus că e fericită.
b) viitor, în propozițiile temporale, când verbul din principală este la un timp trecut:
She said she would buy a bycicle when she had money.
A spus că își va cumpăra bicicleta când va avea bani.

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Past Tense Continuous exprimă:
1.cu verbe de activitate durativă fără scop:
a) o acțiune în desfășurare într-un moment trecut, amintită în momentul vorbirii:
She was sleeping at 3 o’clock yesterday / at this time last week.
Notă: Această formă verbală este frecvent folosită în descrieri, pentru redarea unor activități
durative, în desfășurare, care contrasteaza cu activități non-durative, succesive și terminate,
pentru redarea cărora se folosește Past Tense simplu (forma caracteristică narațiunilor): It was a
cold winter evening. Outside, the wind was blowing and it was getting colder and colder. Yet, the
drawing room was warm and comfortable. A big fire was burning in the fireplace. The old
woman came in and went near the fire. She warmed her hands and sat down.
b) o acțiune durativă în desfășurare, întreruptă de o acțiune non-durativă, momentană:
He called me while / when I was resting. M-a sunat în timp ce / când mă odihneam.
c) două acțiuni paralele în desfășurare în trecut: While they were writing the essay, we
were solving the maths problem. În timp ce ei scriau eseul, noi rezolvam problema de
matematică.
Notă: Dacă nu ne interesează aspectul de desfășurare, de durată al acțiunilor, ci doar că acțiunile
au avut loc într-un moment din trecut, putem spune: They wrote while we solved the maths
problem.
2. cu verbe de activitate durativă, care implică atingerea unui scop – o acțiune trecută dar
neîncheiată: She was reading a book last night. Citea o carte aseară. (Comparați cu: She
read a book last night. A citit cartea aseară. A terminat-o).
3. cu verbe de activitate non-durativă, o acțiune repetată în trecut, iritantă pentru ceilalți
(+ always, forever, continually, all the time): They were always laughing during my
classes.
4. cu verbe care exprimă o stare, o acțiune trecută cu caracter temporar : She was working
as a shop-assistant when I met her.
5. Past Tense Continuous mai poate exprima și o acțiune viitoare, planificată într-un
moment trecut, fiind subînțeleasă neîndeplinirea ei: We were leaving the next day.

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Present Perfect (Perfectul Prezent)
1.7.1. Definiție. Present Perfect desemnează un eveniment văzut din perspectiva axei
prezentului, anterior momentului vorbirii, dar a cărui anterioritate nu exte fixată, având
un caracter nedefinit:
I have read a book.

1.7.2. Formă. În structura formei Present Perfect intră verbul auxiliar have la prezent și
participiul trecut al verbului de conjugat:
I have played with the ball.
You have played with the ball.
He has played with the ball.
She has played with the ball.
It has played with the ball.
We have played with the ball.
They have played with the ball.

1.7.3. Întrebuințare.
1. Present Perfect este folosit, la fel ca și Past Tense, pentru a desemna un eveniment
anterior momentului vorbirii. Deosebirea între cele două timpuri este în axa pe care se
plasează vorbitorul: axa prezentului (Present Perfect) sau axa trecutului (Past Tense); și
în natura evenimentului descris: a) nedefinit (Present Perfect) și b) definit, unic (Past
Tense):
a) I’ve talked to him.
b) I talked to him at the museum.
2. Folosirea lui Present Perfect este asociată cu adverbe care exprimă o perioadă de timp
deschisă, nedeterminată: today, this week, this month, etc.
I have seen a lot of movies this week.
pe când folosirea lui Past Tense este asociată cu adverbe care exprimă o perioadă de timp
închisă, terminată: I saw a lot of movies last week.

16
3. Present Perfect este uneori folosit cu valoare de Past Tense, pentru a exprima o acțiune
desfășurată în trecut și încheiată recent sau chiar înaintea momentului vorbirii. He has
just called me.
Atenție: Cu adverbe ca today, this morning, this month, this year, recently, lately, se
poate folosi fie Past Tense, fie Present Perfect, în funcție de: a) caracterul acțiunii
(definit / nedefinit) și b) al perioadei de timp (încheiată / neîncheiată)
a) Did you hear Gheorghe Zamfir play recently? (on a certain occasion). Have you heard
Gheorghe Zamfir play recently (in the near past, not a long time ago)
b) I played the piano this morning (now it’s six o’clock p.m.). I have played the piano
this morning (now it’s ten o’clock).
Past Tense este folosit pentru evenimente care au avut loc în trecut și ai căror autori nu
mai există în prezent, pe când la Present Perfect, evenimentele au avut loc în trecut, dar
autorii sau efectele evenimentelor mai există și în prezent:

Past Tense Present Perfect

Nichita Stănescu wrote several volumes
of poetry.
(Nichita Stănescu is dead.)
Did you see the exhibition?
(The exhibition is closed now.)
John injured his arm.
(It does not hurt him any longer)
Mircea Cărtărescu has written several
volumes of poetry.
(Mircea Cărtărescu is alive.)
Have you seen the exhibition?
(The exhibition is still open.)
John has injured his arm.
(It still hurts him.)

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5. Present Perfect este folosit și pentru a exprima o acțiune începută în trecut și care
continuă în momentul vorbirii. Complinirile adverbiale de timp caracteristice pentru
această întrebuințare sunt cele care indică:
a)lungimea perioadei de timp: for a long time, for ten minutes, for two days.
Notă: Prepoziția for poate fi omisă în vorbire: He has lived in Bucharest ten years.
b) începutul perioadei de timp: since yesterday, since June, since he graduated, etc. He
has been a teacher since he graduated.
Perioada de timp redată printr-o propoziție temporală introdusă de since poate fi
exprimată:
a) printr-un verb la Past Tense, când se specifică momentul inițial al perioadei:
I have lived in Bucharest since I was born / since my parents came to live here / since I
last met you.
b) printr-un verb la Present Perfect, când cele două acțiuni sunt paralele. It hasn’t
stopped raining since I’ve been in this town. I have never come across my friends since
I’ve stayed in this hotel.
Atenție! Determinarea for.../ since... este obligatorie pentru această întrebuințare a
perfectului prezent. Utilizarea lui Present Perfect Simple fără determinare temporală cu
for.../since... se referă la o acțiune încheiată și nu la una care continuă și în momentul
vorbirii: She has lived in London (some time in her life, she may live there again but she
is not living there now). A locuit la Londra (cândva în viața ei; poate va mai locui acolo,
dar nu locuiește în Londra în momentul de față). He has worked as a mechanic (some
time in the past, so he knows the job, but he is not working as a mechanic now). A lucrat
ca mecanic (cândva în trecut, așa ca știe meseria, dar nu lucrează acum ca mecanic).
Notă: Diferența între cele două întrebuințări reiese și din modul în care se traduc în limba română:
acțiunea care continuă și în momentul vorbirii – prin prezent, iar cea încheiată, petrecută în trecut
într-un moment de timp nedefinit, deci nespecificat – prin perfectul compus: He has worked in
this factory. A lucrat în această fabrică. He has worked in this factory for ten years. Lucrează în
această fabrică de zece ani.
6. Present Perfect poate exprima o acțiune caracteristică, repetată în trecut, prezent și
poate și în viitor: He has written many poems. A scris multe poezii.
Această utilizare este marcată de adverbe de frecvență ca: often, always, never,
sometimes: He has often written poems.

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7. În propoziții subordonate temporale sau condiționale, Present Perfect este folosit
pentru a reda o acțiune anterioară acțiunii din propoziția principală, când aceasta este
exprimată printr-un verb la imperativ, indicativ prezent sau viitor: Call me when you have
reached the chalet. Sună-mă când ai ajuns la cabană. She will go out for a walk if the rain
has stopped. Va merge la plimbare după ce se va fi oprit ploaia.

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Present Perfect Continuous este alcătuit din forma de Present Perfect a verbului be
urmată de participiul prezent (în –ing) al verbului de conjugat:
I have been working for ten minutes. Lucrez de zece minute.
He has been working for ten minutes. Lucrează de zece minute.
Această formă verbală exprimă:
1) o acțiune începută într-un moment trecut, care continuă în prezent și poate și în viitor:
She has been playing the piano for an hour. (She began playing the piano an hour ago.
She is still playing the piano and she may continue doing so).
Această întrebuințare a lui Present Perfect continuu poate fi redată și cu ajutorul
lui Present Perfect simplu în cazul unor verbe ca live, stay, work, study, etc.
Folosirea aspectului continuu, prin contrast cu cea a aspectului simplu, scoate în
evidență continuitatea, caracterul neîntrerupt al acțiunii: He has lived in Bucharest for ten
years. He has been living in Bucharest for ten years.
Un alt contrast poate fi cel de acțiune tocmai încheiată – acțiune neîncheiată: I
have repaired this car since five o’clock (I’ve just finished it). I’ve been repairing this car
since five o’clock (and I’m still working).
2) o acțiune repetată frecvent, într-o perioadă de timp care se întinde din trecut până în
prezent. I have been riding a bicycle for three years. Merg cu bicicleta de trei ani. He has
been writing poems since he was a child. Scrie poezii de când era copil.
În această situație se folosește Present Perfect simplu (și nu continuu) dacă se
specifică de câte ori a fost săvârșită acțiunea repetată. I have ridden my bicycle hundreds
of times. Am mers cu bicicleta de sute de ori. He has written 50 poems. A scris 50 de poezii.
Întrebuințările (1) și (2) ale lui Present Perfect sunt marcate de compliniri
adverbiale indicând:
a) lungimea perioadei de timp: for ages (de multă vreme), for a few seconds (de câteva
secunde), for four days (de patru zile), etc.
b) începutul perioadei de timp: since January 1st (din 1 ianuarie), since Monday (de luni),
since last year (de anul trecut).
3) o acțiune trecută, încheiată recent, care este cauza unui efect simțit în prezent: A: Why
are your hands dirty? B: I have been repairing my bike. A: De ce ai mâinile murdare? B:
Mi-am reparat bicicleta.

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Past Perfect (Mai-mult-ca-perfectul)
1.8.1. Definiție. Past Perfect este un timp folosit când vorbitorul se plasează psihologic
pe o axă a trecutului, pentru a desemna un eveniment anterior unui moment sau unui
eveniment trecut, care este amintit în momentul vorbirii:
I had gone to bed by ten o’clock / by the time she called me.

1.8.2. Formă. Mai-mult-ca-perfectul se formează din forma de Past Tense a auxiliarului

have + participiul trecut al verbului de conjugat:
I had (’d) gone to bed by the time she called me. Mă culcasem înainte să mă sune ea.
He had already left by the time you arrived. El plecase înainte să sosești tu.

1.8.3. Întrebuințare. Mai-mult-ca-perfectul este utilizat pentru a exprima:

1. o acțiune trecută, finalizată înaintea unui moment trecut: We had got home by eight
o’clock. Ajunseserăm acasă înainte de ora 8.
2. o acțiune trecută, finalizată înaintea altei acțiuni trecute: She had made the cake by the
time the guests arrived. Făcuse prăjitura înainte să sosească oaspeții.
3. o acțiune trecută finalizată imediat înaintea unei alte acțiuni trecute: I had just entered
the room when somebody knocked at the door. No sooner had I entered the room than
somebody knocked at the door. Abia / tocmai intrasem în cameră când cineva a bătut la
ușă.
4. o acțiune trecută, săvârșită într-o perioadă de timp anterioară unei alte acțiuni trecute,
dar ajungând până la aceasta (cu compliniri adverbiale de tipul for sau since). He had
been married for two years when he moved to Bucharest. Era căsătorit de doi ani când s-a
mutat la București.
Notă: 1. Mai-mult-ca-perfectul este un timp utilizat mai frecvent în limba engleză decât în limba
română pentru exprimarea anteriorității. (În limba română se folosește adeseori perfectul compus
cu valoare de mai-mult-ca-perfect). Father came home after Dick had done his homework. Tata a
venit acasă după ce Dick și-a făcut temele.
2.În limba engleză se poate folosi Past Tense în loc de Past Perfect în următoarele situații:
a) după conjuncția after, care indică prin sensul ei raportul de anterioritate, nemaifiind necesară și
o formă verbală specială: He locked the door after he turned off the light. A încuiat ușa după ce a
stins lumina.

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b) în propozițiile subordonate temporale transformate în vorbire indirectă când verbul din
principală este la un timp trecut: She said she had visited Paris when she was fifteen. Mi-a spus că
a vizitat Parisul când avea cincisprezece ani.
3. În propozițiile subordonate introduse de after sau until, folosirea mai-mult-ca-perfectului, prin
contrast cu folosirea lui Past Tense, subliniază raportul de anterioritate, faptul că acțiunea din
principală nu a avut loc decât după ce acțiunea din subordonată a fost încheiată: The pupil on duty
left the classroom AFTER she had turned off the lights. Eleva de serviciu a părăsit clasa (numai)
după ce a stins lumina.
Mai-mult-ca-perfectul mai poate fi folosit:
5. în vorbirea indirectă, pentru a înlocui Present Perfect sau Past Tense, când verbul din
propoziția principală este la un timp trecut:
“I saw this film last week,” Nick said.
Nick said he had seen that film a week before.

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Past Perfect Continuous (Mai-mult-ca-perfectul continuu) se formează din verbul be la
mai-mult-ca-perfect și din participiul în –ing al verbului de conjugat. El are aceleași
valori ca și Present Perfect continuu, momentul de referință fiind însă axa trecutului.
Această formă verbală poate exprima:
1) o acțiune trecută, începută înaintea altei acțiuni trecute și continuând până la ea.
The plane had been flying since 8 o’clock / for three hours when the storm burst.
Avionul zbura de la ora 8 / de trei ore când a izbucnit furtuna.
2) o acțiune trecută începută înaintea unui moment sau a unei acțiuni trecute, continuând
până în acel moment sau până la acea acțiune și poate și după aceea: The girl was still
doing her homework. She had been doing her homework since 8 o’clock / all morning.
Fetița își făcea încă tema. Începuse să își facă tema la ora 8 / își făcuse tema toată
dimineața.
3) o acțiune repetată frecvent într-o perioadă de timp trecută, anterioară unui moment sau
unei acțiuni de asemenea trecute: He had been writing poems for two years when I met
him. Scria poezii de doi ani când l-am cunoscut.
Atenție: Dacă se face o precizare numerică, se folosește Past Perfect simplu: He had
written fifty poems when I met him. Scrisese cincizeci de poezii când l-am cunoscut.
4) o acțiune anterioară unei alte acțiuni, de asemenea trecută, terminată cu puțin timp
înaintea ei, și fiind cauza acesteia: He was carrying a hammer and nails because he had
been mending the fence. Avea în mână un ciocan și cuie pentru că reparase gardul.
5. Present Perfect și Past Tense continuu devin Past Perfect Continuous în vorbirea
indirectă, după un verb trecut în propoziția principală: “I have been working for hours.”
He said he had been working for hours.
Atenție: Timpul Past Tense Continuous devine Past Perfect Continuous numai dacă se
referă la o acțiune încheiată: “I was thinking of going away, but I have changed my
mind.” He said he had been thinking of going away but he had changed his mind.
Altminteri, Past Tense Continuous rămâne neschimbat în vorbirea indirectă, mai
ales dacă el apare într-o propoziție subordonată temporală: “When I was attending the
secondary school in Craiova, I often met Dan.” He said that when he was attending the
secondary school in Craiova, he (had) often met Dan.

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 Mijloace de exprimare a viitorului

În limba engleză există mai multe posibilități de redare a ideii de timp viitor:

Future Tense Simple (viitorul simplu)

Definiție. Viitorul simplu desemnează un eveniment posterior față de momentul vorbirii.
Formă. În structura viitorului simplu intră verbul auxiliar shall la persoana I singular și
plural, will la persoana a II-a și a III-a singular și plural, și infinitivul scurt al verbului de
conjugat:
I / we shall visit the British Museum tomorrow. Voi / vom vizita Muzeul Britanic mâine.
You / he / she / they will come here on Sunday. Vei / veți / va / vor veni aici duminică.
În engleza britanică vorbită și în engleza americană în general se folosește will și la
persoana I singular și plural, fără nicio schimbare de sens:
I / we will visit the British Museum tomorrow. Voi / vom vizita Muzeul Britanic mâine
Forma contrasă a viitorului este ’ll + infinitiv la toate persoanele: I’ll visit, he’ll visit.
Această formă este întrebuințată cu precădere în engleza vorbită, mai ales când subiectul
este exprimat printr-un pronume personal.
Întrebuințare.
1) Viitorul simplu este un viitor pur, indicând doar că acțiunea are loc într-un moment
viitor, mai apropiat sau adeseori mai îndepărtat, de momentul vorbirii.
I shall go on a trip next week. Voi merge în excursie săptămâna viitoare.
2) Viitorul simplu nu este de obicei întrebuințat în propozițiile subordonate, fiind înlocuit
de prezentul simplu. She will read the book if she finds it at the library. Va citi cartea
dacă o va găsi la bibliotecă. Viitorul simplu apare numai în propozițiile subordonate
completive directe sau prepoziționale, după verbele think, suppose, expect, believe, doubt,
assume, hope, wonder, be sure, be afraid, pentru a exprima opiniile sau presupunerile
vorbitorului despre o acțiune viitoare: I’m afraid I’ll not be able to join you. Mi-e teamă
că nu o să pot să mă alătur vouă.
3) Viitorul simplu poate fi folosit și cu valori modale.
Viitorul simplu reprezentat prin will + infinitiv, de exemplu, poate fi folosit, la persoana I
singular și plural pentru a exprima:

24
a) neaccentuat, o intenție nepremeditată, spontană, apărută în momentul vorbirii. A: It’s
hot in here. B: I’ll open the window. A: E cald aici. B: Am să / mă duc să deschid
fereastra.
b) accentuat, hotărârea, determinarea, de a înfăptui acțiunea: A: Don’t sell the washing
machine. It is very useful. B: I will sell it no matter what you are saying. A: Nu vinde
mașina de spălat. E foarte utilă. B: Am să o vând / sunt hotărât să o vând, indiferent ce
spui.
4) Will + infinitivul poate fi folosit și cu valoare de prezent habitual (frecventativ): Every
Monday she will go to the theatre. În fiecare luni obișnuiește / are obiceiul să meargă la
teatru.
Children will be children. Copiii tot copii.
5) La forma negativă, la persoana I și a III-a singular și plural, won’t + infinitiv exprimă:
a) neaccentuat, refuzul: I won’t talk to him. Nu vreau să vorbesc cu el.
b) accentuat, refuzul absolut: I won’t talk to him. Nici nu mă gândesc să vorbesc cu el.
6) Will + infinitiv este folosit, la forma interogativă, pentru a exprima:
a) o întrebare despre o acțiune viitoare: Will they open the museum tomorrow? Vor
deschide muzeul mâine?
b) o invitație la persoana a II-a: Will you come in, please? Vreți să intrați, vă rog?
c) o rugăminte (de asemenea la persoana a II-a): Will you help me? Te rog să mă ajuți.
7). La interogativ, shall + infinitiv exprimă:
a) viitorul simplu: Shall I sing a song at the party? Să cânt un cântec la petrecere?
b) solicitarea unei opinii: Shall I buy this watch? Să cumpăr acest ceas?
Datorită, în mare parte, implicațiilor modale pe care le prezintă, viitorul simplu nu este
frecvent folosit în vorbirea curentă, fiind o formă caracteristică limbii scrise (limbajul
jurnalistic, emisiuni de știri, anunțuri oficiale, limbajul literar, etc). În vorbire se preferă
viitorul cu going to pentru exprimarea ideii de viitor apropiat sau viitorul continuu pentru
redarea ideii de acțiune neutră, obișnuită, în desfășurarea normală a evenimentelor
viitoare.

Future Continuous Tense

1) cu verbe de activitate durativă fără scop, viitorul continuu exprimă:

25
a) o acțiune în desfășurare într-un moment viitor, posterior momentului vorbirii:
I shall / will be watching TV at 8 o’clock in the evening / at this time tomorrow.
Mă voi uita la televizor deseară, la ora 8 / mâine, la ora asta.
b) o acțiune în desfășurare în viitor întreruptă de o acțiune momentană:
When he comes, I will be eating. Când va veni, eu voi fi în mijlocul mesei.
c) o acțiune în desfășurare în viitor, în paralel cu altă acțiune în desfășurare, de asemenea
în viitor. She will be cooking while he is resting. Ea va găti în timp ce el se va odihni.
Atenție! A doua acțiune viitoare în desfășurare nu poate fi pusă tot la viitorul continuu deoarece
face parte dintr-o propoziție subordonată temporală (în care nu se folosește viitorul în limba
engleză).
2) cu verbe de activitate durativă care implică atingerea unui scop, o acțiune neîncheiată:
She will be having her piano lesson when you come.
3) Viitorul continuu exprimă și ideea de acțiune viitoare care va avea loc în desfășurarea
firească a evenimentelor: I’ll be seeing him tomorrow morning. (This happens every
morning). Îl văd mâine dimineață. (Îl văd în fiecare dimineață). I’ll be passing the
grocery on my way to school. Trec prin fața băcăniei în drum spre școală.

The Future Perfect Simple (Viitorul perfect)

Definiție. Viitorul perfect desemnează un eveniment anterior unui moment sau eveniment
care este la rândul său posterior momentului vorbirii.
Formă. Viitorul perfect conține în structura sa viitorul simplu al verbului have, urmat de
participiul trecut al verbului de conjugat: I shall / will have done my housework by the
time you come back home. Îmi voi fi terminat treburile casei până când te întorci tu.
Întrebuințare. Viitorul perfect este folosit pentru a exprima:
1) o acțiune viitoare care va avea loc înaintea unui moment viitor:
She will have typed the letters by 6 o’clock. Ea va fi terminat de scris scrisorile la
calculator până la ora 6.
2) o acțiune viitoare care va avea loc înaintea unei alte acțiuni viitoare: He will have
travelled to Italy by the time you return from England. El va fi călătorit în Italia până
când te întorci tu din Anglia.

26
3) O acțiune viitoare care va avea loc într-o perioadă de timp anterioară unei acțiuni
viitoare, dar ajungând până la aceasta: She will have worked as a nurse for thirty years
when she retires. Va fi lucrat ca asistentă timp de treizeci de ani când se va pensiona.
Notă: Viitorul perfect este o formă verbală caracteristică limbii scrise fiind rar folosită în vorbirea
curentă.

Future Perfect Continuous (Viitorul perfect continuu) se formează din viitorul perfect al
verbului be și din participiul in –ing al verbului de conjugat.
Viitorul perfect continuu exprimă o acțiune în desfășurare în viitor, înainte și până
la o altă acțiune viitoare (și poate și după aceea): By the end of May, Lucy will have been
taking swimming lessons for three months. Până la sfârșitul lui mai, Lucy va fi urmat
cursuri de înot de trei luni.
Atenție! Acțiunea săvârșită în această perioadă de timp viitoare, anterioară unui moment
sau unei acțiuni de asemenea viitoare, este la viitorul perfect continuu dacă se specifică
lungimea perioadei de timp sau începutul ei: By 9 o’clock she will have been writing
letters for one hour. Până la ora 9, ea va fi scris scrisori timp de o oră; și la viitorul
perfect simplu dacă este prezentă o precizare numerică în legătură cu acțiunea: By 9
o’clock she will have written five letters. Până la ora 9, ea va fi scris cinci scrisori.

The Future-in-the-Past Simple

Formă. Se formează cu should / would urmat de infinitivul scurt al verbului de conjugat.
Definiție. Exprimă o acțiune sau stare viitoare văzută dintr-o perspectivă trecută. Se
întâlnește în propoziții completive directe.
He said he would leave soon. A spus că va pleca curând.

The Future-in-the-Past Continuous

Formă. Se formează cu should / would urmat de auxiliarul be urmat de participiul prezent
al verbului de conjugat.
Definiție. Exprimă o acțiune în desfășurare într-un anumit moment viitor, acțiune văzută
din perspectivă trecută:

27
She thought I would be watching TV at that time on Monday. Credea că mă voi uita la
televizor luni, la ora aceea.

B) Be about + infinitiv
Be about + infinitiv exprimă un viitor imediat: We are about to leave. Suntem pe punctul
de a pleca.

Be + Infinitiv
Be + Infinitiv exprimă:
1) un aranjament: I am to move house soon. Urmează să mă mut în curând.
2) un ordin: You are to return before nightfall. Trebuie să vă întoarceți înainte de căderea
nopții.

Going to – future
Viitorul cu going to se formează cu ajutorul formei be going to la prezent, urmată de
infinitivul scurt al verbului de conjugat: I am going to pay her a visit tomorrow. Îi voi
face o vizită mâine.
Întrebuințare. Viitorul cu going to este întrebuințat pentru a exprima:
1) o acțiune viitoare apropiată de momentul vorbirii:
He is going to have lunch soon. Va lua prânzul curând.
Notă: Verbele go și come nu pot fi precedate de going to. Pentru a reda ideea de viitor apropiat,
ele sunt întrebuințate la prezentul continuu: Where are you going? Unde te duci? He is coming
tonight. El vine deseară.
2) O acțiune viitoare ce va avea loc ca urmare a unei intenții prezente: We are going to
spend our holiday in the mountains (We’ve already booked a room in Poiana Brașov).
Avem de gând / intenționăm să ne petrecem vacanța la munte (Am rezervat deja o cameră
la Poiana Brașov).
Notă: O intenție spontană, nepremeditată, se exprimă cu ajutorul verbului auxiliar will + infinitiv:
I’m thirsty. (Mi-e sete). B: I will fetch you a glass of water. (Mă duc să îți aduc un pahar cu apă).
3) o acțiune viitoare care va avea loc ca rezultat al unei cauze prezente: It’s going to rain.
Look at the clouds. Cred că o să plouă. / Are să plouă. Uită-te la nori.

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4) viitorul cu going to nu este folosit de regulă în propozițiile principale, când ele sunt
urmate de o propoziție subordonată condițională sau temporală (se folosește infinitivul cu
shall / will). Totuși, această formă poate să apară în propoziții temporale, când vrem să
subliniem intenția vorbitorului: He is going to be a pilot when he grows up. Are de gând /
intenționează să se facă pilot când va crește.

Present Tense Continuous

Poate exprima o acțiune viitoare care a fost planificată sau proiectată într-un moment
prezent: She is leaving tomorrow morning. (This is her plan). Ea pleacă mâine dimineață
(Acesta este planul ei).
Prezentul continuu exprimând o acțiune viitoare este de obicei însoțit de un
adverb de timp viitor: We are visiting the museum at 5 o’clock / tomorrow/ later. Vizităm
/ vom vizita muzeul la ora 5 / mâine / mai târziu.

Present Tense Simple

Exprimă:
a) o acțiune viitoare definită, care va avea loc ca parte a unui program oficial, orar
stabilit, etc.: The bus leaves at 6 a.m. Autobuzul pleacă la ora 6 dimineața. School begins
in September. Școala începe în septembrie.
b) o acțiune viitoare în propoziții subordonate temporale și condiționale. We will pay him
a visit before he leaves for Italy.
Atenție: Atât prezentul continuu cât și cel simplu exprimă o acțiune viitoare conform
unui plan sau aranjament când sunt folosite cu verbe de mișcare ca go, leave, arrive,
come, etc. Deosebirea este următoarea: We are leaving tonight. Plecăm deseară (Acesta
este planul nostru personal). We leave tonight. Plecăm deseară (Acesta este programul
oficial, stabilit, al excursiei, etc).

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Verbe care nu pot fi folosite la aspectul continuu. Există mai multe categorii de verbe
care, datorită sensului lor lexical, nu pot fi folosite la aspectul continuu.
Acestea sunt:
A) verbe de activitate non-durativă, care sunt considerate a fi încheiate, în momentul în
care au fost inițiate: kick, slam, bang
B) verbe care exprimă acțiuni desfășurate atât de rapid sub ochii vorbitorului, încât pot fi
considerate non-durative: score, shoot, place in the oven. Aceasta se întâmplă, de obicei,
în comentarii sportive sau demonstrații practice (așa numitul prezent simplu instantaneu).
C) verbele care exprimă un adevăr universal sau o caracteristică generală: Fish swim.
Cows give milk. The Danube flows into the Black sea.
D) verbe care exprimă o percepție senzorială (verbs of inert perception): see, hear, smell,
feel, sound. The material feels soft. Materialul e moale la atingere.
Atenție! Verbele de percepție se folosesc cu verbul modal can pentru a reda o acțiune
unică, concretă, în desfășurare: I can hear the dog now. Aud câinele acum. I hear the
dog every morning. Aud câinele în fiecare dimineață.
Verbele care redau percepția senzorială pot fi folosite la aspectul continuu dacă
ele indică o folosire conștientă a simțurilor:
a) prin folosirea unor perechi sinonimice: listen to, look at, watch:
I (can) hear music. DAR I am listening to music.
I (can) see him. I am looking at him.
I (can) see the TV set. I am watching TV.
b) prin folosirea tranzitivă (ca activități) a unor verbe care exprimă o calitate permanentă
(folosite intranzitiv): The soup tastes salty. I am tasting the soup.
c) verbele de percepție pot avea forme ale aspectului continuu când sunt folosite cu alte
sensuri: She is seeing things. Are halucinații. I am seeing her tomorrow. Mă întâlnesc
mâine cu ea. We have been hearing from him a lot. Am primit o mulțime de vești de la el.
E) verbele care exprimă o activitate mentală (verbs of cognition): believe, think, know,
imagine, mean, mind, remember, recollect, recall, suppose, forget, suspect, guess,
presuppose, realize, understand.

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 Aceste verbe sunt urmate, de obicei, de o propoziție subordonată introdusă de that
sau de un cuvânt relativ începând cu wh-: I think (that) you are right. Cred că ai dreptate.
I do not remember what he said. Nu îmi amintesc ce a spus.
Unele din ele pot fi folosite la aspectul continuu dacă sunt folosite ca verbe de
activitate: A: What is he doing? B: He is thinking of his future. A: Ce face el? B: Se
gândește la viitor.
F. verbe care exprimă sentimente, stări sufletești: love, like, care for, adore, hate, dislike,
detest, regret, prefer, wish. I dislike science fiction. Îmi displace literatura științifico-
fantastică. I adore children. Ador copiii. Dar și: How are you liking the trip? Cum îți
place călătoria / Cum te distrezi?
G. verbe care exprimă o relație: apply to, be, belong to, concern, consist of, contain, cost,
depend on, deserve, include, involve, lack, matter, need, owe, own, possess, have,
require, resemble, seem: I do not lack anything. Nu-mi lipsește nimic. She needs a new
car. Are nevoie de o mașină nouă. He resembles his father. Seamănă cu tatăl lui.
Aceste verbe nu pot fi folosite la aspectul continuu, cu excepția lui be și have
când ele nu exprimă starea, respectiv posesia: She is clumsy. Ea este neîndemânatică (în
general). Why, she is being clumsy today! De ce va fi așa neîndemânatică azi? (este o
situație necaracteristică, temporară). She has a new dress. Are o rochie nouă. She is
having a shower now. Face duș acum.
În vorbirea curentă, verbe ca resemble, cost, etc, sunt uneori întrebuințate la
aspectul continuu dacă exprimă o intensificare treptată a acțiunii: Susan is resembling her
mother so much more. Susan seamănă tot mai mult cu mama ei. Groceries in Britain are
costing more and more these days. În Anglia, prețul articolelor de băcănie a crescut așa
de mult în zilele noastre!
H. verbe care exprimă o senzație fizică (verbs of bodily sensation). Aceste verbe pot fi
folosite la aspectul continuu sau simplu, cu mici diferențe de sens:
How do you feel / are you feeling today? Cum te simți azi?

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Voice (Diateza)
Definiție. Diateza este categoria gramaticală specifică verbului care exprimă raportul
dintre verbul predicat, pe de o parte, și subiectul și obiectul (complementul direct sau de
agent) al verbului predicat, pe de altă parte.
În limba engleză există două diateze marcate formal: diateza activă și diateza
pasivă.
Active Voice (Diateza activă). Verbul este la diateza activă când subiectul gramatical
săvârșește acțiunea, care, la verbele tranzitive, se răsfrânge asupra subiectului: Jane
(subiect) has made (predicat) a cake (obiect). Jane a scris o scrisoare.
Passive Voice (Diateza pasivă). Verbul este la diateza pasivă când subiectul gramatical
suferă acțiunea săvârșită de obiect.
This cake (subiect) has been made (predicat) by Jane (obiect). Această prăjitură a fost
făcută de Jane.
Be + participiul trecut. Indicii formali ai diatezei pasive sunt:
a) verbul be sau uneori get
b) complementul de agent introdus de prepoziția by.
a) Verbul be marchează categoriile de mod, timp, persoană și număr la diateza activă. El
este urmat de un verb noțional la participiul trecut: He was called by the director. El a
fost chemat de director.
(Was – modul indicativ, Past Tense, persoana a III-a singular).
Conjugarea unui verb la diateza pasivă, modul indicativ este:
Aspectul simplu:
Present: I am reminded. He is reminded. We are reminded.
Past: I was reminded. We were reminded.
Present Perfect: I have been reminded. He has been reminded.
Past Perfect: I had been reminded.
Future: I shall be reminded. He will be reminded.
Future Perfect: I shall have been reminded. He will have been reminded.
Aspectul continuu este folosit la diateza pasivă doar la Present și Past Tense.
Forma continuă la diateza pasivă are în structura sa verbul be la aspectul continuu (timpul
Present sau Past) și participiul trecut al verbului de conjugat.

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The buildings are being demolished now. Clădirile sunt demolate acum. The house was
being painted when we stopped by. Își zugrăveau casa când am trecut pe la ei.
Get/Become + participiul trecut. În afară de verbul be se mai poate folosi și verbul
get pentru formarea diatezei pasive.
Verbul get + participiul trecut este utilizat, mai ales în vorbirea curentă, pentru a
indica trecerea dintr-o stare în alta: Her skirt got caught in the door. I s-a prins fusta în
ușa. All our glasses got broken when we moved. S-au spart toate paharele când ne-am
mutat.
Un sinonim al verbului get cu sensul de schimbare treptată este verbul become,
însoțit deseori de more and more, increasingly: The production of this factory is
becoming increasingly specialized. Producția acestei fabrici devine din ce în ce mai
specializată.
Complementul de agent. Complementul de agent introdus de prepoziția by indică
cine a săvârșit acțiunea suferită de subiectul gramatical al propoziției: The song was sung
by Jane (not by Susan or Iris). Cântecul a fost cântat de Jane (nu de Susan su Iris).
Notă: Complementul de agent este considerat subiectul logic sau real al propoziției,
deoarece el săvârșește acțiunea.
Complementul de agent nu este menționat în majoritatea propozițiilor pasive. El
se omite când:
a) nu se cunoaște subiectul real, cel care a săvârșit acțiunea: All villages in Romania are
supplied with electricity. Toate satele din România sunt alimentate cu curent electric. A
doctor has been sent for. Au / s-a trimis după doctor.
b) vorbitorul nu dorește să menționeze subiectul real al acțiunii: This subject will be
treated fully in the next chapter. Această problemă va fi tratată pe larg în următorul
capitol.
c) subiectul real al acțiunii se poate deduce din context: We didn’t have too much work to
do in the kitchen because all the dishes had been washed up. Nu am avut prea multă
treabă în bucătărie pentru că toate vasele fuseseră spălate.
În aceste cazuri, subiectul verbului la diateza pasivă este de obicei exprimat
printr-un pronume personal cu valoare generică: you, they, one, printr-un pronume
nehotărât: everybody, somebody, all, sau printr-un substantiv ca people.

33
Activ Pasiv
They / people eat rice all over the world. Rice is eaten all over the world.
Atenție! Complementul de agent se omite și când forma pasivă este get + participiul
trecut: The little girl got hurt while playing in the schoolyard. Fetița s-a lovit în timp ce se
juca în curtea școlii.
Întrebuințarea diatezei pasive. În limba engleză, ca și în limba română, se folosesc
construcții pasive și nu active când intenția vorbitorului este de a sublinia acțiunea și nu
pe cel care a săvârșit-o:
Activ: Millions of people have visited the Sistine Chapel.
(Accentul cade pe subiect: Milioane de oameni au vizitat Capela Sistină.)
Pasiv: The Sistine Chapel has been visited by millions of people.
(Accentul cade pe verb: Capela Sistină a fost vizitată de milioane de oameni.)
Construcțiile pasive sunt întrebuințate mai frecvent în limbajul științific și în cel
jurnalistic, caracterizate printr-o exprimare impersonală, obiectivă.
Diateza pasivă se folosește cu majoritatea verbelor tranzitive și cu unele verbe
intranzitive cu prepoziție obligatorie în care verbul formează o unitate semantică cu
prepoziția, devenind practic echivalent cu un verb tranzitiv.
Verbele cele mai frecvent folosite din această categorie sunt: care for / look after
= tend, to charge with = to accuse, come to = reach, deal with = analyse, laugh at =
ridicule, listen to = hear, look upon = regard, rely on = trust, send for = call, talk of =
discuss, think of = consider.
He was laughed at by everybody. Toată lumea a râs de el. He was charged with
treason. A fost acuzat de trădare.
Pe plan sintactic, trecerea unei propoziții de la diateza activă la cea pasivă aduce
cu sine mai multe modificări:
Diateza activă: My cousin has offered me this wrist-watch.
Diateza pasivă:
a)subiectul activ al acțiunii devine complement de agent pasiv (care poate fi omis): This
wrist-watch has been offered to me by my cousin.

34
b) obiectul activ (complementul direct sau indirect) devine subiectul verbului pasiv: This
wrist-watch has been offered to me by my cousin. Sau: I have been offered this wrist-
watch by my cousin.
c) prepoziția by este introdusă înaintea agentului: I have been offered this wrist-watch by
my cousin.
Traducerea construcțiilor pasive în limba română. Un verb englezesc la diateza pasivă se
traduce de obicei tot printr-o construcție pasivă: The washing machine was mended last
week. Mașina de spălat a fost reparată săptămâna trecută.
În cazul verbelor urmate de un complement direct și unul indirect, se pot folosi și
construcții reflexive cu valoare pasivă când complementul indirect al persoanei devine
subiect: He was told the truth. I s-a spus adevărul.
Verbele intranzitive cu prepoziție obligatorie se traduc prin diateza pasivă, diateza
activă sau prin forme reflexiv-pasive, de la caz la caz: The house was built in no time.
Casa a fost construită rapid. A doctor has been sent for. Au / s-a trimis după un doctor.
Notă: În limba engleză există o categorie aparte de verbe intranzitive folosite la diateza
activă cu valoare pasivă și care se traduc în limba română fie prin construcții reflexive pasive, fie
prin verbe la diateza pasivă: The book has sold very well. Cartea s-a vândut foarte bine. The cake
cuts easily. Prăjitura se taie ușor. The clause reads both ways. Clauza poate fi interpretată în două
feluri.

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Exerciții:
I.Traduceți în limba engleză:
1. Plecăm din Paris joia aceasta la 12 și sosim la București sâmbătă la 12. 2. Ea trece pe
la biroul meu în fiecare marți dimineața. 3. Această sticlă conține vin. 4. Rinul curge prin
mai multe țări. 5. Ai grijă de copil cât timp voi fi eu plecat. 6. Deseori îi aud pe vecini
certându-se. 7. Dacă va fi vreme frumoasă vom merge la plimbare. 8. Toți ghizii noștri
vorbesc trei-patru limbi străine deoarece foarte mulți turiști vin aici vara să-și petreacă o
parte din vacanță. 9. “Deranjează franchețea mea?” “Cred că da. Omului de rând nu îi
place întotdeauna să audă o părere sinceră”. 10. Toată lumea știe că Dunărea se varsă în
Marea Neagră.

II. Alegeți între Present Tense Simple și Present Tense Continuous:

1. The pupils (to understand) now the use of the two present tenses? 2. As soon as John
(to find) Patricia’s phone number, he will call her. 3. Everybody (to know) that water (to
freeze) at 0 degrees Celsius. 4. My sisters (to work) very hard. Alice (to study) for an
exam and Mary (to practice) the violin for her first concert. 5. What your brother read
when he is on holiday? He (to read) science-fiction books but now he (to read) a thriller.
6. You can’t talk to Michael now. He just (to see) some experts at the moment. 7. Mother
(to cook) in the kitchen now; she always (to cook) in the morning. 8. My cousin usually
(to play) the violin, but today she (to play) the guitar. 9. Five times twenty (to equal) a
hundred. 10. Look out! Something (to burn) over there. 11. That little girl (to walk) past
our gate (live) next door. 12. They (to spend) this week-end at the seaside. They (to go) to
the seaside nearly every week. 13. On his way to work, father usually (to meet) many
pupils who (to hurry) to school. 14. You always (to forget) to lock the door! 15. My sister
(to wear) sunglasses because the sun (to shine) brightly. 16. Planes fly from Bucharest to
Viena in about 2 hours. 17. I (not to know) why now you just (to be) clumsy.

III. Transformați în vorbire indirectă:

1. “We have a beautiful garden,” the children said.
2. “I am not good at Mathematics,” said Mary.
3. “We do not like milk,” the patients explained.

36
 4. “She does not live here,” the man said.
5. “I am very tired today,” said Jack.
6. “My mother lives in a new apartment,” I told him.
7. “I am mad about soccer,” Peter told his friend.

IV. Traduceți în limba engleză:

1. Când John era tânăr, alerga timp de o jumătate de oră în fiecare zi. 2. Mi-am dat seama
atunci cât de mult își iubea fratele. 3. Când ai vorbit cu el ultima oară? 4. E timpul ca ei
să afle adevărul. 5. De-aș ști numărul lui de telefon! 6. Aș dori să fiți mai grijulii. 7. Câte
zile i-a luat ca să repare mașina? 8. Motorul nu a pornit. 9. John a dat o petrecere grozavă
de ziua lui. 10. Am coborât la stația de pe strada Manchester și mi-am luat bilet de la un
automat. 11. Obișnuiam să beau mult lapte când eram copil. 12. Au ajuns la o înțelegere
înainte să plece. 12. M-a întrebat unde locuiesc.

V. Alegeți între Past Tense și Past Tense Continuous, în funcție de sens:

1. He (to come) out to the living room where I (to sort) books into one of the big
bookcases. 2. I (to walk) in the park yesterday when I (to see) a house on fire. 3. She (to
meet) them as she (to climb) the stairs. 4. I (to tell) her she should not (to listen) to music
while she (to do) her homework. 5. He (to jog) when he (to fall) and (to break) his leg. 6.
When I (to get up) this morning, it (to be) so late that the sun (to shine) in the sky. 7. I (to
feel) sick when you (to drop in) to see me, but I (to feel) better when you (to leave). 8.
Kate (explain) to us that her parents (sleep) then. 9. They (to have) to go round the back
door because father (have) his front door painted. 10. When they (get engaged), he (find)
a job as an engineer in a large company. 11. While I (to wonder) whether to buy the scarf
or not, someone else (to come) and (buy) it. 12. While the teacher (to write) on the
blackboard, she (not to notice) that one of the boys (to steal out) of the room on tiptoe.
13. The storm (burst) as we (to wander) the streets.

VI. Alcătuiți propoziții care să înceapă cu since when și răspundeți conform modelului:
You / not to visit / them / April
Since when haven’t you visited them?

37
 I haven’t visited them since April.

1. The girl / not to go to school / Thursday

2. Your neighbour / not to do any skiing / 2015
3. My friend / not to drive a car / January
4. The postman / not to come / the day-before-yesterday
5. The cleaning woman / not to dust the furniture / yesterday morning
6. The patient / not to drink wine / since he had the surgery
7. You / not to talk to her / since she left town
8. John / not to play soccer / since he broke his leg
9. Uncle / not to eat pineapple / since he was ill.

VII. Folosiți verbele din paranteză la Past Tense Simple sau Past Perfect:
1. It (to be) difficult to know an exact date in ancient times because the calendar not yet
(to be fixed). 2. The pupils (to finish) their homework by 6 o’clock.3. More than a month
(to pass) since he first (think) of the idea. 4. He no sooner (to enter the room) than the
light (to go) out. 5. When John (to stamp) and (to seal) the envelope, he (to go) back to
the window and (to draw) a long breath. 6. If her washing machine (not to break down),
she wouldn’t have called the repairman. 7. The policeman (to want) to know why she (to
go) there. 8. As soon as the doctor (to leave), the sick man (want) to see him again. 9. The
fire (spread) to the other houses before the firemen (to arrive). 10. About ten patients
already (to arrive) when the doctor (enter) the room.

VIII. Folosiți verbele din paranteză la Present Perfect Simple sau Continuous:
1. You (run)? You seem quite exhausted. 2. Someone (eat) my bar of chocolate. 3. What
the children (do)? Their room is all topsy-turvy. 4. He (start) his car. 5. Somebody (to
smoke) in this room. There’s a lot of cigarette ash on the floor. 6. John (to live) in this
city for several years. He (to come) here to study at the University and (to remain) here
after graduation. 7. Lunch (to be) ready yet although I (to cook) since morning. 8. Jim (to
watch) TV since he came home from school. I think you should tell him to stop doing it
since he (to learn) little this month. 9. What (to do) to your sister to make her cry?

38
IX. Folosiți verbele din paranteză la Past Tense Simple sau Present Perfect:
1. I (write) five letters this morning, and I must write another one before I start preparing
lunch. 2. I’m sorry, you can’t speak to Mr Brown. He (just go) out. He (go) out ten
minutes ago. 3. Since when (see) him? 4. Jim (to be) a member of the volleyball team for
five years. Then he started playing basketball. 5. Jane (be) busy making this pizza all last
night. 6. Open the door for me, please, I (lose) my key. 7. Mary (live) in London before
marriage. 8. This is the best wine I (ever drink). Can I have some more? 9. When you
(visit) your grandparents? 10. Help! The child (fall) from the second storey.

X. Transformați vorbirea directă în vorbire indirectă:

1. “Where are you from?” she wanted to know.
2. “I was born in Cluj-Napoca,” I retorted.
3. “Where do you live?” she asked me.
4. “I live in Sibiu,” I said.
5. “I am a teacher,” I informed her.
6. “Do you speak German?” she further asked.
7. “I do not speak German,” I answered.
8. “Do you have brothers or sisters?” she wanted to know.
9. “I have one sister,” I answered.

XI. Folosiți verbele din paranteză la Past Perfect Simple sau Continuous:
1. He (to work) for three hours when Jim (drop in) on him. 2. She (wait) for that letter for
five days when it (arrive) at last. 3. Everybody (pack) until the last minute and no time
(be left) to water the flowers. 4. Yesterday afternoon Jane (go) to the library and (return)
the books she (read). 5. She (go) back home after she (borrow) another book. 6. As soon
he (take) a shower, he (have) breakfast. 7. It was midnight. I (to study) for five hours. No
wonder I was getting tired. 8. The telephone (to ring) for almost a minute when I got into
the room. I wondered why nobody (to answer) it. 9. We (to write) for forty minutes when
the bell rang. Then we stopped writing and handed our papers in. 10. Why was the grass
wet? Because it (rain).

39
XII. Traduceți în limba engleză:
1. Vaporul s-a scufundat ore întregi după ce a lovit icebergul. 2. Profesorul l-a întrebat pe
elev de ce nu și-a făcut tema. 3. Mașina nu mersese mai mult de un km când a făcut pană.
4. Erau căsătoriți de cinci ani când au reușit să își cumpere locuință. 5. Se întreba dacă și-
a lăsat portofelul acasă. 5. Mi-a spus că studiază de câteva ore bune. 6. De câți ani lucra
d-na Popescu în momentul în care s-a pensionat? 7. Mike o aștepta pe prietena lui de mai
bine de o jumătate de oră când aceasta apăru. 8. Telefonul suna de un minut când am
intrat în cameră. M-am întrebat de ce nu a răspuns nimeni. 9. Cine plecase de-acasă azi
dimineață când te-ai trezit? Nimeni.

XIII. Folosiți verbele din paranteză la forma potrivită pentru exprimarea viitorului:
1. I (to see off) Jane at the airport at 5 o’clock p.m. 2. I (to tell) him to ring you up as
soon as he (to arrive) in London. 3. I promise this never (happen) again. 4. Jake (have)
his tooth taken out today. 5. I never (forgive) you, unless you apologize. 6. Grandfather
(to retire) when he (to be) 65. 7 I hope you (find) this apartment comfortable. 8. I have an
idea: we (to sell) the apartment and buy a cottage in the countryside. 9. Shut up or you (to
wake) the baby! 10. I’m sure the terrorists eventually (surrender). 11. I expect he (be late)
again. 12. I don’t think he (to be) all right. 13. I doubt you (to be able) to find a better
mechanic than Mike. 14. I need more salt; this (to do).

XIV. Traduceți în limba engleză:

1. Mâine pe vremea asta verii tăi vor dormi. 2. Ei se vor juca în parc toată după-masa. 3.
Elevii vor rezolva încă exercițiile când va suna clopoțelul. 4. Ea va cânta la pian toată
dimineața. 5. Nu-mi vine să cred că poimâine dimineața vom zbura peste oceanul
Atlantic. 6. La ora 5 ei vor asculta muzică. 7. Va ploua când se vor întoarce ei. 8. Dacă
veniți înainte de 5, noi vom face curat în casă. 9. El va da de mâncare la animale când
veți ajunge voi. 10. Ea va lua cina dacă veți veni la ora 7 p.m. 11. Vrei să te căsătorești cu
mine, Sandra?

XV. Alegeți între viitorul simplu si forma going to, în funcție de sens:

40
1. I ... call you if I need any help. 2. If you ... faint, you’d better wait outside in the fresh
air. 3. If it ... rain, my hair will be absolutely ruined. 4. We ... grateful if you can send us
the books.5. I ... wash my blouse today. ‘What, again?’ 6. ‘Are you sure we … get in?’
‘Of course we …’ 7. ‘Why are you carrying the guitar?’ ‘I … play the guitar this
afternoon.’ 8. If you … smoke, use an ash tray. 9. There … be thousands of journalists in
the city. 10. Tom … leave tomorrow. 11. I wonder when this storm … end. 12. I am sure
she … recognize you.

XVI. Alegeți forma de viitor potrivită:

1. Jim (live) in Paris for four years soon. 2. Come back in an hour. By then, I (wash) and
(dry) my hair and we (can) go out for a walk together. 3. Jane (take) violin lessons this
year. I hope she (learn) some Mozart pieces before she destroys the violin. 4. She (study)
French for eleven years when she finishes high school. 5. The famine has already caused
400 deaths in Africa. About 400 more victims (die) by the end of the month. 6. Simon
and Susan are wonderful dancers. By next Sunday, they (dance) together for five years. 7.
Don’t talk to these guys. By the time you realize what is going on they (rob) you of all
your money. 8. They started to climb in the morning. I expect they (reach) the top by
noon. 9. Judith has bought some cloth; she (make) herself a dress. 10. The traffic is
terrible; we (be) late. 11. By next year, John (teach) grammar for twenty years. 12. Unless
you see a dentist, you (lose) all your teeth by the time you are 40. 13. If you keep buying
such expensive clothes, you (waste) your entire fortune by the time you get a job.

XVII. Alcătuiți întrebări și răspunsuri la diateza pasivă:

1.Jim found a bag on the bus. (where) 2. My uncle caught a big spike yesterday. (when)
3. The police caught the murderer in the park. (where) 4. They repaired the house on
Monday. (when) 5. He saw a lot of children in the schoolyard. (where) 6. She read the
book in a hurry. (how) 6. He talked to them at the railway station (where). 7. The little
girl played the piano carefully. (how) 8. She wrote the letter carelessly. (how) 9. My son
saw the movie last week. (when)

XVIII. Traduceți în engleză folosind construcții pasive:

41
1.Nu au putut traversa râul pentru că nu se reconstruise podul. 2. Jim nu era acasă pentru
că fusese invitat la petrecere. 3. Cu toate ca i s-au dat sfaturi foarte bune, el nu a ținut
cont de ele. 4. Petrecerea s-ar fi ținut în grădină dacă nu ar fi plouat. 5. Copilul era atât de
slăbit încât era acum hrănit cu lingurița de mama lui. 6. Vi se vor pune multe întrebări în
timpul interviului. 7. Patul fusese făcut înainte să sosească musafirii.

42
 BIBLIOGRAFIE

Bantaș, Andrei. Essential English. Limba engleză în 60 de zile. București: Teora, 1992.
Broughton, Geoffrey. Penguin English Grammar. A-Z. Exercises for Advanced Students.
London: Penguin Group, 1990.
Budai, Laszlo. Gramatica engleză. Teorie și exerciții. București: 1999.
Gălățeanu-Fărnoagă, Georgiana și Ecaterina Comișel. Gramatica limbii engleze. .
București: Omega Press & RAI, 1993.
---. Sinteze de gramatică engleză. București: Editura Albatros, 1987.
Iarovici, Edith & Liliana Mareș. Lecții de limba engleză pentru nivel mediu și avansat.
București: Teora, 1993.
Levițchi, Leon. Gramatica limbii engleze. București, Editura Teora, 2005.
Paidos, Constantin. English Grammar. Theory and Practice. București: All Educational,
1999.
Pawlowska, Barbara și Zbigniew Kempinski. Teste de limbă engleză. București: Teora,
1999.
Vianu, Lidia. English with a Key. Exerciții de traducere și retroversiune. București:
Teora, 1998.
Zdrenghea, Mihai și Anca Greere. A Practical English Grammar (with Exercises). Cluj-
Napoca: Editura Clusium, 1997.

43
PARTEA II (PENTRU INTERMEDIARI ȘI AVANSAȚI)

BUILDING A BETTER TEACHER

By ELIZABETH GREEN

ON A WINTER DAY five years ago, Doug Lemov realized he had a problem. After a
successful career as a teacher, a principal and a charter-school founder, he was working
as a consultant, hired by troubled schools eager — desperate, in some cases — for Lemov
to tell them what to do to get better. There was no shortage of prescriptions at the time for
how to cure the poor performance that plagued so many American schools. Proponents of
No Child Left Behind saw standardized testing as a solution. President Bush also
championed a billion-dollar program to encourage schools to adopt reading curriculums
with an emphasis on phonics. Others argued for smaller classes or more parental
involvement or more state financing.

Lemov himself pushed for data-driven programs that would diagnose individual students’
strengths and weaknesses. But as he went from school to school that winter, he was
getting the sinking feeling that there was something deeper he wasn’t reaching. On that
particular day, he made a depressing visit to a school in Syracuse, N.Y., that was like so
many he’d seen before: “a dispiriting exercise in good people failing,” as he described it
to me recently. Sometimes Lemov could diagnose problems as soon as he walked in the
door. But not here. Student test scores had dipped so low that administrators worried the
state might close down the school. But the teachers seemed to care about their students.
They sat down with them on the floor to read and picked activities that should have
engaged them. The classes were small. The school had rigorous academic standards and
state-of-the-art curriculums and used a software program to analyze test results for each
student, pinpointing which skills she still needed to work on.

But when it came to actual teaching, the daily task of getting students to learn, the school
floundered. Students disobeyed teachers’ instructions, and class discussions veered away
from the lesson plans. In one class Lemov observed, the teacher spent several minutes

44
debating a student about why he didn’t have a pencil. Another divided her students into
two groups to practice multiplication together, only to watch them turn to the more
interesting work of chatting. A single quiet student soldiered on with the problems. As
Lemov drove from Syracuse back to his home in Albany, he tried to figure out what he
could do to help. He knew how to advise schools to adopt a better curriculum or raise
standards or develop better communication channels between teachers and principals. But
he realized that he had no clue how to advise schools about their main event: how to
teach.

Around the country, education researchers were beginning to address similar questions.
The testing mandates in No Child Left Behind had generated a sea of data, and
researchers were now able to parse student achievement in ways they never had before. A
new generation of economists devised statistical methods to measure the “value added” to
a student’s performance by almost every factor imaginable: class size versus per-pupil
funding versus curriculum. When researchers ran the numbers in dozens of different
studies, every factor under a school’s control produced just a tiny impact, except for one:
which teacher the student had been assigned to. Some teachers could regularly lift their
students’ test scores above the average for children of the same race, class and ability
level. Others’ students left with below-average results year after year. William Sanders, a
statistician studying Tennessee teachers with a colleague, found that a student with a
weak teacher for three straight years would score, on average, 50 percentile points behind
a similar student with a strong teacher for those years. Teachers working in the same
building, teaching the same grade, produced very different outcomes. And the gaps were
huge. Eric Hanushek, a Stanford economist, found that while the top 5 percent of teachers
were able to impart a year and a half’s worth of learning to students in one school year, as
judged by standardized tests, the weakest 5 percent advanced their students only half a
year of material each year.

This record encouraged a belief in some people that good teaching must be purely
instinctive, a kind of magic performed by born superstars. As Jane Hannaway, the
director of the Education Policy Center at the Urban Institute and a former teacher, put it
to me, successful teaching depends in part on a certain inimitable “voodoo.” You either

45
have it or you don’t. “I think that there is an innate drive or innate ability for teaching,”
Sylvia Gist, the dean of the college of education at Chicago State University, said when I
visited her campus last year.

That belief has spawned a nationwide movement to improve the quality of the teaching
corps by firing the bad teachers and hiring better ones. “Creating a New Teaching
Profession,” a new collection of academic papers, politely calls this idea “deselection”;
Joel Klein, the New York City schools chancellor, put it more bluntly when he gave a
talk in Manhattan recently. “If we don’t change the personnel,” he said, “all we’re doing
is changing the chairs.”

The reformers are also trying to create incentives to bring what Michelle Rhee, the
schools chancellor in Washington, calls a “different caliber of person” into the
profession. Rhee has proposed giving cash bonuses to those teachers whose students
learn the most, as measured by factors that include standardized tests — and firing those
who don’t measure up. Under her suggested compensation system, the city’s best
teachers could earn as much as $130,000 a year. (The average pay for a teacher in
Washington is now $65,000.) A new charter school in New York City called the Equity
Project offers starting salaries of $125,000. “Merit pay,” a once-obscure free-market
notion of handing cash bonuses to the best teachers, has lately become a litmus test for
seriousness about improving schools. The Obama administration’s education department
has embraced merit pay; the federal Teacher Incentive Fund, which finances
experimental merit-pay programs across the country, rose from $97 million to $400
million this year. And states interested in competing for a piece of the $4.3 billion
discretionary fund called the Race to the Top were required to change their laws to give
principals and superintendents the right to judge teachers based on their students’
academic performance.

Incentives are intuitively appealing: if a teacher could make real money, maybe more
people would choose teaching over finance or engineering or law, expanding the labor
pool. And no one wants incompetent teachers in the classroom. Yet so far, both merit-pay
efforts and programs that recruit a more-elite teaching corps, like Teach for America,

46
have thin records of reliably improving student learning. Even if competition could coax
better performance, would it be enough? Consider a bar graph presented at a recent talk
on teaching, displaying the number of Americans in different professions. The shortest
bar, all the way on the right, represented architects: 180,000. Farther over, slightly higher,
came psychologists (185,000) and then lawyers (952,000), followed by engineers (1.3
million) and waiters (1.8 million). On the left side of the graph, the top three: janitors,
maids and household cleaners (3.3 million); secretaries (3.6 million); and, finally,
teachers (3.7 million). Moreover, a coming swell of baby-boomer retirements is expected
to force school systems to hire up to a million new teachers between now and 2014.
Expanding the pool of potential teachers is clearly important, but in a profession as large
as teaching, can financial incentives alone make an impact?

Lemov spent his early career putting his faith in market forces, building accountability
systems meant to reward high-performing charter schools and force the lower-performing
ones to either improve or go out of business. The incentives did shock some schools into
recognizing their shortcomings. But most of them were like the one in Syracuse: they
knew they had to change, but they didn’t know how. “There was an implementation gap,”
Lemov told me. “Incentives by themselves were not going to be enough.” Lemov calls
this the Edison Parable, after the for-profit company Edison Schools, which in the 1990s
tried to create a group of accountable schools but ultimately failed to outperform even the
troubled Cleveland public schools.

Lemov doesn’t reject incentives. In fact, at Uncommon Schools, the network of 16

charter schools in the Northeast that he helped found and continues to help run today, he
takes performance into account when setting teacher pay. Yet he has come to the
conclusion that simply dangling better pay will not improve student performance on its
own. And the stakes are too high: while student scores on national assessments across
demographic groups have risen, the percentage of students at proficiency — just 39
percent of fourth graders in math and 33 percent in reading — is still disturbingly low.
And there is still a wide gap between black and white students in reading and math. The
smarter path to boosting student performance, Lemov maintains, is to improve the quality
of the teachers who are already teaching.

47
But what makes a good teacher? There have been many quests for the one essential trait,
and they have all come up empty-handed. Among the factors that do not predict whether
a teacher will succeed: a graduate-school degree, a high score on the SAT, an extroverted
personality, politeness, confidence, warmth, enthusiasm and having passed the teacher-
certification exam on the first try. When Bill Gates announced recently that his
foundation was investing millions in a project to improve teaching quality in the United
States, he added a rueful caveat. “Unfortunately, it seems the field doesn’t have a clear
view of what characterizes good teaching,” Gates said. “I’m personally very curious.”

When Doug Lemov conducted his own search for those magical ingredients, he noticed
something about most successful teachers that he hadn’t expected to find: what looked
like natural-born genius was often deliberate technique in disguise. “Stand still when
you’re giving directions,” a teacher at a Boston school told him. In other words, don’t do
two things at once. Lemov tried it, and suddenly, he had to ask students to take out their
homework only once.

It was the tiniest decision, but what was teaching if not a series of bite-size moves just
like that?

Lemov thought about soccer, another passion. If his teammates wanted him to play better,
they didn’t just say, “Get better.” They told him to “mark tighter” or “close the space.”
Maybe the reason he and others were struggling so mightily to talk and even to think
about teaching was that the right words didn’t exist — or at least, they hadn’t been
collected. And so he set out to assemble the hidden wisdom of the best teachers in
America.

LEMOV WAS NOT the first educator to come to the conclusion that teachers need
better training. In the spring of 1986, a group of university deans sat in an apartment near
the University of Illinois at Chicago, tossing bets into a hat. They had come together to
put the final touches on a manifesto that would denounce their own institutions — the
more than 1,200 schools of education — for failing to adequately train the country’s
teachers.

48
They planned to mail the document to about 100 universities, along with an invitation to
join their crusade, a coalition they named the Holmes Group, after a Harvard education-
school dean from the 1920s and ’30s who pushed to prioritize teacher training. The bets
they scribbled on pieces of paper were their guesses as to how many of their colleagues
might agree to join them.

“People were saying, ‘Well, you’re lucky to get 30,’ ” Frank Murray, the dean of the
University of Delaware’s school of education, and one of those present, recalled recently.

By the end of the year, nearly every invited dean had signed on. The process of studying
their own sins was “painful,” Judith Lanier, the chairwoman of the Holmes Group and
then the dean of Michigan State University’s education school, wrote in an introduction
to the final report. But the consensus was inescapable. Three years before, a report from a
presidential commission declared the nation to be “at risk” because of underperforming
schools, citing dipping test scores and frightening illiteracy. “Our own professional
schools are part of the problem,” the Holmes Group’s report declared.

Though the Holmes report stirred controversy in some quarters — the dean of the College
of Education at the University of Cincinnati denounced it as “divisive” and
“exclusionary” — almost nobody denied the need for change. Yet reform proved difficult
to implement. The most damning testimony comes from the graduates of education
schools. No professional feels completely prepared on her first day of work, but while a
new lawyer might work under the tutelage of a seasoned partner, a first-year teacher
usually takes charge of her classroom from the very first day. One survivor of this trial by
fire is Amy Treadwell, a teacher for 10 years who received her master’s degree in
education from DePaul University, one of the largest private universities in the Chicago
area. She took courses in children’s literature and on “Race, Culture and Class”; one on
the history of education, another on research, several on teaching methods. She even
spent one semester as a student teacher at a Chicago elementary school. But when she
walked into her first job, teaching first graders on the city’s South Side, she discovered a
major shortcoming: She had no idea how to teach children to read. “I was certified and

49
stamped with a mark of approval, and I couldn’t teach them the one thing they most
needed to know how to do,” she told me.

The mechanics of teaching were not always overlooked in education schools. Modern-
day teacher-educators look back admiringly to Cyrus Peirce, creator of one of the first
“normal” schools (as teacher training schools were called in the 1800s), who aimed to
deduce “the true methods of teaching.” Another favorite model is the Cook County
Normal School, run for years by John Dewey’s precursor Francis Parker. The school
graduated future teachers only if they demonstrated an ability to control a classroom at an
adjacent “practice school” attended by real children; faculty members, meanwhile, used
the practice school as a laboratory to hone what Parker proudly called a new “science” of
education. But Peirce and Parker’s ambitions were foiled by a race to prepare teachers en
masse. Between 1870 and 1900, as the country’s population surged and school became
compulsory, the number of public schoolteachers in America shot from 200,000 to
400,000. Normal schools had to turn out graduates quickly; teaching students how to
teach was an afterthought to getting them out the door. Thirty years later, the number was
almost 850,000.

In the 20th century, as normal schools were brought under the umbrella of the modern
university, other imperatives took over. Measured against the glamorous fields of history,
economics and psychology, classroom technique began to look downright mundane.
Many education professors adopted the tools of social science and took on schools as
their subject. Others flew the banner of progressivism or its contemporary cousin
constructivism: a theory of learning that emphasizes the importance of students’ taking
ownership of their own work above all else.

At the same time, well-educated women and racial minorities who once made up a core
of teachers began to see that they had other career options, and in increasing numbers,
they took them. That left the ever-growing number of teaching jobs to a cohort with
weaker academic backgrounds. The labor pool was especially shallow in cities, which,
abandoned by the middle class, faced perpetual teacher shortages. Nancy Slavin, the head
of teacher recruitment for the Chicago public schools, described to me a phone call in

50
2001 that particularly alarmed her. A prospective substitute teacher wanted to know why
she hadn’t been selected for an assignment. Slavin explained that her conviction for
prostitution made her ineligible. “Well,” the woman replied, a bit indignant, “I’m in a
teacher-training program.”

Traditionally, education schools divide their curriculums into three parts: regular
academic subjects, to make sure teachers know the basics of what they are assigned to
teach; “foundations” courses that give them a sense of the history and philosophy of
education; and finally “methods” courses that are supposed to offer ideas for how to teach
particular subjects. Many schools add a required stint as a student teacher in a more-
experienced teacher’s class. Yet schools can’t always control for the quality of the
experienced teacher, and education-school professors often have little contact with actual
schools. A 2006 report found that 12 percent of education-school faculty members never
taught in elementary or secondary schools themselves. Even some methods professors
have never set foot in a classroom or have not done so recently.

Nearly 80 percent of classroom teachers received their bachelor’s degrees in education,

according to the U.S. Department of Education. Yet a 2006 report written by Arthur
Levine, the former president of Teachers College, the esteemed institution at Columbia
University, assessed the state of teacher education this way: “Today, the teacher-
education curriculum is a confusing patchwork. Academic instruction and clinical
instruction are disconnected. Graduates are insufficiently prepared for the classroom.” By
emphasizing broad theories of learning rather than the particular work of the teacher,
methods classes and the rest of the future teacher’s coursework often become what the
historian Diane Ravitch called “the contentless curriculum.”

When Doug Lemov, who is 42, set out to become a teacher of teachers, he was painfully
aware of his own limitations. A large, shy man with a Doogie Howser face, he recalls
how he limped through his first year in the classroom, at a private day school in
Princeton, N.J. His heartfelt lesson plans — write in your journal while listening to
music; analyze Beatles songs like poems — received blank stares. “I still remember
thinking: Oh, my God. I still have 45 minutes left to go,” he told me recently. Things

51
improved over time, but very slowly. At the Academy of the Pacific Rim, a Boston
charter school he helped found, he was the dean of students, a job title that is school code
for chief disciplinarian, and later principal. Lemov fit the bill physically — he’s 6-foot-3
and 215 pounds — but he struggled to get students to follow his directions on the first try.

After his disappointing visit to Syracuse, he decided to seek out the best teachers he could
find — as defined partly by their students’ test scores — and learn from them. A self-
described data geek, he went about this task methodically, collecting test-score results
and demographic information from states around the country. He plotted each school’s
poverty level on one axis and its performance on state tests on the other. Each chart had a
few outliers blinking in the upper-right-hand corner — schools that managed to squeeze
high performance out of the poorest students. He broke those schools’ scores down by
grade level and subject. If a school scored especially high on, say, sixth-grade English, he
would track down the people who taught sixth graders English.

He called a wedding videographer he knew through a friend and asked him if he’d like to
tag along on some school visits. Their first trip to North Star Academy, a charter school
in Newark, turned into a five-year project to record teachers across the country. At first,
Lemov financed the trip out of his consulting budget; later, Uncommon Schools paid for
it. The odyssey produced a 357-page treatise known among its hundreds of underground
fans as Lemov’s Taxonomy. (The official title, attached to a book version being released
in April, is “Teach Like a Champion: The 49 Techniques That Put Students on the Path to
College.”)

I first encountered the taxonomy this winter in Boston at a training workshop, one of the
dozens Lemov gives each year to teachers. Central to Lemov’s argument is a belief that
students can’t learn unless the teacher succeeds in capturing their attention and getting
them to follow instructions. Educators refer to this art, sometimes derisively, as
“classroom management.” The romantic objection to emphasizing it is that a class too
focused on rules and order will only replicate the power structure; a more common view
is that classroom management is essential but somewhat boring and certainly less
interesting than creating lesson plans. While some education schools offer courses in

52
classroom management, they often address only abstract ideas, like the importance of
writing up systems of rules, rather than the rules themselves. Other education schools do
not teach the subject at all. Lemov’s view is that getting students to pay attention is not
only crucial but also a skill as specialized, intricate and learnable as playing guitar.

At the Boston seminar, Lemov played a video of a class taught by one of his teaching
virtuosos, a slim man named Bob Zimmerli. Lemov used it to introduce one of the 49
techniques in his taxonomy, one he calls What to Do. The clip opens at the start of class,
which Zimmerli was teaching for the first time, with children — fifth graders, all of them
black, mostly boys — looking everywhere but at the board. One is playing with a pair of
headphones; another is slowly paging through a giant three-ring binder. Zimmerli stands
at the front of the class in a neat tie. “O.K., guys, before I get started today, here’s what I
need from you,” he says. “I need that piece of paper turned over and a pencil out.”
Almost no one is following his directions, but he is undeterred. “So if there’s anything
else on your desk right now, please put that inside your desk.” He mimics what he wants
the students to do with a neat underhand pitch. A few students in the front put papers
away. “Just like you’re doing, thank you very much,” Zimmerli says, pointing to one of
them. Another desk emerges neat; Zimmerli targets it. “Thank you, sir.” “I appreciate it,”
he says, pointing to another. By the time he points to one last student — “Nice . . . nice”
— the headphones are gone, the binder has clicked shut and everyone is paying attention.

Lemov switched off the video. “Imagine if his first direction had been, ‘Please get your
things out for class,’ ” he said. Zimmerli got the students to pay attention not because of
some inborn charisma, Lemov explained, but simply by being direct and specific.
Children often fail to follow directions because they really don’t know what they are
supposed to do. There were other tricks Zimmerli used too. Lemov pointed to technique
No. 43: Positive Framing, by which teachers correct misbehavior not by chiding students
for what they’re doing wrong but by offering what Lemov calls “a vision of a positive
outcome.” Zimmerli’s thank-yous and just-like-you’re-doings were a perfect execution of
one of Positive Framing’s sub-categories, Build Momentum/Narrate the Positive.

53
“It’s this positive wave; you can almost see it going across the classroom from right to
left,” Lemov said. He restarted the clip and asked us to watch the boy with the binder. At
the start his head is down and he is paging slowly through his binder. Ten seconds in, he
looks to his left, where another boy has his paper and pencil out and is staring at
Zimmerli. For the first time, he looks up at the teacher. He stops paging. “He’s like,
‘O.K., what’s this?’ ” Lemov narrated. “ ‘I guess I’m going to go with it.’ ” After 30
seconds, his binder is closed, and he’s stowing it under his desk.

All Lemov’s techniques depend on his close reading of the students’ point of view, which
he is constantly imagining. In Boston, he declared himself on a personal quest to
eliminate the saying of “shh” in classrooms, citing what he called “the fundamental
ambiguity of ‘shh.’ Are you asking the kids not to talk, or are you asking kids to talk
more quietly?” A teacher’s control, he said repeatedly, should be “an exercise in purpose,
not in power.” So there is Warm/Strict, technique No. 45, in which a correction comes
with a smile and an explanation for its cause — “Sweetheart, we don’t do that in this
classroom because it keeps us from making the most of our learning time.”

The J-Factor, No. 46, is a list of ways to inject a classroom with joy, from giving students
nicknames to handing out vocabulary words in sealed envelopes to build suspense. In
Cold Call, No. 22, stolen from Harvard Business School, which Lemov attended, the
students don’t raise their hands — the teacher picks the one who will answer the
question. Lemov’s favorite variety has the teacher ask the question first, and then say the
student’s name, forcing every single student to do the work of figuring out an answer.

All the techniques are meant to be adaptable by anyone. To illustrate cold-calling in

Boston, he showed clips of four very different teachers: Mr. Rector, whose seventh
graders stand up next to their chairs as he paces among them, lobbing increasingly
difficult geometry problems; Ms. Lofthus, who leans back in a chair, supercasual, and
smiles warmly when she surprises one second grader by calling on him twice in a row;
Ms. Payne, whose kindergartners jump in their seats, clap and sing along when she
introduces “in-di-vid-u-al tuu-urrns, listen for your na-aame”; and Ms. Driggs, a petite

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blonde with a high voice who calls the process “hot calling” and tells her fifth graders
that the hardest part will be that they are not allowed to raise their hands.

But perhaps the greatest master of the techniques in the taxonomy is Lemov himself.
When I first met him during the lunch break at the Boston workshop, he spent most of
our conversation staring at the floor. He was perched on a windowsill in a small side
room, hugging his large body close to him. “I’m a huge introvert,” he told me, explaining
how, at Harvard Business School, he took a Myers-Briggs personality test that labeled
him more introverted than all his other classmates. “It’s strange to me that I do what I do
and that I like it as much as I do,” he said.

After lunch he returned to the main room to teach, and it was as if he had left the shy
Lemov on the windowsill. A different man stood up tall and square-shouldered, with a
presence that made all 30 of the teachers crane their necks toward him. When he told a
joke, they laughed; when he pointed to the screen, their eyes raced after his finger. One
teacher at my table, Zeke Phillips, from Harlem’s Democracy Prep Charter School, raised
his eyebrows at a colleague and whispered, “This stuff is good.”

When Lemov began his project, he was working in the relative obscurity of Uncommon
Schools. His decision to spend half his time building the taxonomy meant he had less
time to carry out the network’s main business, opening schools. But his fellow managing
directors made a calculation that the time spent building a vocabulary for teachers would
be worth the slower pace. They were beginning to expand beyond their handful of
schools, and they needed a hiring plan. Their first schools often relied on experienced
teachers like Zimmerli, plucked from other public schools. They could continue to buy
the best talent away from other schools, but as more charter-school networks emerged,
the competition for the obviously great teachers was growing fierce.

They decided that rather than buy talent, they would try to build it. Today, Lemov’s
taxonomy is one part of a complex training regime at Uncommon Schools that starts with
new hires and continues throughout their careers. Lemov began expanding the taxonomy
beyond Uncommon Schools only recently, offering workshops, like the one I attended in

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Boston, to a wider audience. His main clients are other charter schools, but they also
include Teach for America and an immersive training program in Boston called the
Match Teacher Residency that uses medical school as the model for preparing educators.
His methods are also used at Teacher U, a new teacher-training program in which
Uncommon Schools is a partner. Lemov is interested in offering teachers what he
describes as an incentive just as powerful as cash: the chance to get better. “If it’s just a
big pie, then it’s just a question of who’s getting the good teachers,” Lemov told me.
“The really good question is, can you get people to improve really fast and at scale?”

ANOTHER QUESTION IS THIS: Is good classroom management enough to ensure

good instruction? Heather Hill, an associate professor at Harvard University, showed me
a video of a teacher called by the pseudonym Wilma. Wilma has charisma; every eye in
the classroom is on her as she moves back and forth across the blackboard. But Hill saw
something else. “If you look at it from a pedagogical lens, Wilma is actually a good
teacher,” Hill told me. “But when you look at the math, things begin to fall apart.”

In the lesson I watched, Wilma is using a word problem to teach her class a concept
called “unit rate.” The problem has to do with a boy named Dario who buys seven boxes
of pasta for $6. How expensive is a box of pasta? The correct answer, 86 cents, is found
by dividing six by seven, but in the quickness of the moment, Wilma wrongly divides
seven by six. This produces the number of boxes Dario can buy for a dollar, not how
much money it takes to buy a box. As a result, students spend the rest of the class with
the wrong impression that the pasta costs $1.17, as well as the wrong idea of how to think
about the problem.

Hill is a member of a group of educators, who, like Lemov, are studying great teachers.
But whereas Lemov came out of the practical world of the classroom, this group is based
in university research centers. And rather than focus on universal teaching techniques that
can be applied across subjects and grade levels, Hill and her colleagues ask what good
teachers should know about the specific subjects they teach.

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The wellspring of this movement was Michigan State’s school of education, which, under
the direction of Judith Lanier, one of the original Holmes Group members, took the lead
in rethinking teacher education. Lanier overhauled Michigan State’s teacher-preparation
program and helped open two research institutes dedicated to the study of teaching and
teacher education. She recruited innovative scholars from around the country, and almost
overnight East Lansing became a hotbed of education research.

One of those researchers was Deborah Loewenberg Ball, an assistant professor who also
taught math part time at an East Lansing elementary school and whose classroom was a
model for teachers in training. In 1990, Ball filmed her third-grade math class at the
Spartan Village Elementary School, and those videos became the foundation for a great
deal of teacher-training research.

On one tape from that year, Ball started her day by calling on a boy known to the
researchers as Sean.

“I was just thinking about six,” Sean began. “I’m just thinking, it can be an odd number,
too.” Ball did not shake her head no. Sean went on, speaking faster. “Cause there could
be two, four, six, and two — three twos, that’d make six!”

“Uh-huh,” Ball said.

“And two threes,” Sean said, gaining steam. “It could be an odd and an even number.
Both!”

He looked up at Ball, who was sitting in a chair among the students, wearing a black-and-
red jumper and oversize eyeglasses. She continued not to contradict him, and he went on
not making sense. Then Ball looked to the class. “Other people’s comments?” she asked
calmly.

At this point, the class came to a pause. I was watching the video at the University of
Michigan’s school of education, where Ball, who has traded in her grandma glasses for
black cat’s-eye frames, is now the dean — and one of the country’s foremost experts on

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effective teaching. (She is also on the board of the Spencer Foundation, which
administers my fellowship.) Her goal in filming her class was to capture and then study,
categorize and describe the work of teaching — the knowledge and skills involved in
getting a class of 8-year-olds to understand a year’s worth of math. Her somewhat
surprising conclusion: Teaching, even teaching third-grade math, is extraordinarily
specialized, requiring both intricate skills and complex knowledge about math.

The Sean video is a case in point. Ball had a goal for that day’s lesson, and it was not to
investigate the special properties of the number six. Yet by entertaining Sean’s odd idea,
Ball was able to teach the class far more than if she had stuck to her lesson plan. By the
end of the day, a girl from Nigeria had led the class in deriving precise definitions of even
and odd; everyone — even Sean — had agreed that a number could not be both odd and
even; and the class had coined a new, special type of number, one that happens to be the
product of an odd number and two. They called them Sean numbers. Other memorable
moments from the year include a day when they derived the concept of infinity (“You
would die before you counted all the numbers!” one girl said) and another when an 8-
year-old girl proved that an odd number plus an odd number will always equal an even
number.

Dropping a lesson plan and fruitfully improvising requires a certain kind of knowledge
— knowledge that Ball, a college French major, did not always have. In fact, she told me
that math was the subject she felt least confident teaching at the beginning of her career.
Frustrated, she decided to sign up for math classes at a local community college and then
at Michigan State. She worked her way from calculus to number theory. “Pretty much
right away,” she told me, “I saw that studying math was helping.” Suddenly, she could
explain why one isn’t a prime number and why you can’t divide by zero. Most important,
she finally understood math’s secret language: the kinds of questions it involves and the
way ideas become proofs. But still, the effect on her teaching was fairly random. Much of
the math she never used at all, while other parts of teaching still challenged her.

Working with Hyman Bass, a mathematician at the University of Michigan, Ball began to
theorize that while teaching math obviously required subject knowledge, the knowledge

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seemed to be something distinct from what she had learned in math class. It’s one thing
to know that 307 minus 168 equals 139; it is another thing to be able understand why a
third grader might think that 261 is the right answer. Mathematicians need to understand
a problem only for themselves; math teachers need both to know the math and to know
how 30 different minds might understand (or misunderstand) it. Then they need to take
each mind from not getting it to mastery. And they need to do this in 45 minutes or less.
This was neither pure content knowledge nor what educators call pedagogical knowledge,
a set of facts independent of subject matter, like Lemov’s techniques. It was a different
animal altogether. Ball named it Mathematical Knowledge for Teaching, or M.K.T. She
theorized that it included everything from the “common” math understood by most adults
to math that only teachers need to know, like which visual tools to use to represent
fractions (sticks? blocks? a picture of a pizza?) or a sense of the everyday errors students
tend to make when they start learning about negative numbers. At the heart of M.K.T.,
she thought, was an ability to step outside of your own head. “Teaching depends on what
other people think,” Ball told me, “not what you think.”

The idea that just knowing math was not enough to teach it seemed legitimate, but Ball
wanted to test her theory. Working with Hill, the Harvard professor, and another
colleague, she developed a multiple-choice test for teachers. The test included questions
about common math, like whether zero is odd or even (it’s even), as well as questions
evaluating the part of M.K.T. that is special to teachers. Hill then cross-referenced
teachers’ results with their students’ test scores. The results were impressive: students
whose teacher got an above-average M.K.T. score learned about three more weeks of
material over the course of a year than those whose teacher had an average score, a boost
equivalent to that of coming from a middle-class family rather than a working-class one.
The finding is especially powerful given how few properties of teachers can be shown to
directly affect student learning. Looking at data from New York City teachers in 2006
and 2007, a team of economists found many factors that did not predict whether their
students learned successfully. One of two that were more promising: the teacher’s score
on the M.K.T. test, which they took as part of a survey compiled for the study. (Another,

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slightly less powerful factor was the selectivity of the college a teacher attended as an
undergraduate.)

Ball also administered a similar test to a group of mathematicians, 60 percent of whom

bombed on the same few key questions. Wilma, incidentally, scored near the bottom on
the M.K.T. test, in the 12th percentile.

Inspired by Ball, other researchers have been busily excavating parallel sets of
knowledge for other subject areas. A Stanford professor named Pam Grossman is now
trying to articulate a similar body of knowledge for English teachers, discerning what
kinds of questions to ask about literature and how to lead a group discussion about a
book.

Ball is very clear that she doesn’t think knowledge alone can make a teacher effective,
and as part of her efforts to transform the University of Michigan’s teacher-training
program, she has begun to classify the particular classroom actions that are also crucial.
She and the faculty have settled on 19 practices they want every student to master before
graduation. These include some skills related to special knowledge for teaching, but they
also include some broader skills, even some that seem to belong in the classroom-
management arena, like an ability to “establish norms and routines for classroom
discourse.”

Ball and Lemov have never met, and Ball had not heard of Lemov’s taxonomy until I told
her about it over a late dinner last December in Ann Arbor. We were joined by Bass, the
mathematician, and Francesca Forzani, an alumnus of Teach for America who is
managing the university’s teacher-training overhaul. Ball had just declared that teaching
“is decidedly not about being yourself,” but the other two were having trouble
articulating just how teachers should behave. “That’s one thing our program doesn’t
address right now,” Forzani said. “How to get and hold the floor.” To answer that
question, they began to dissect Ball’s methods. What did she do to capture her audience’s
attention? Bass mimicked how Ball brings order at faculty meetings. “Oh, I notice
Deborah is paying attention, and Francesca, and Elizabeth,” he said, going through our

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names. Ball laughed. “That’s a joke!” she said, explaining that she is mocking a common
classroom technique that she finds manipulative — a way of embarrassing talkers by not
addressing them. Her preferred approach, she said, is to say something like, “Elizabeth,
I’m a little worried you might not have heard what Hy is saying.” Bass shook his head,
still thinking about the faculty meetings. “But it works!” he said.

Watching their conversation was like witnessing Lemov’s taxonomy in the act of
creation. The slightly manipulative narration of this-person-is-paying-attention is a
version of something Lemov calls Narrate the Positive; Ball’s preferred approach, acting
as if the distracted student was actually just not able to hear was Lemov’s Assume the
Best; and getting and holding the floor by adopting a different persona — that was what
Lemov calls Strong Voice. The more I talked about the taxonomy with Ball and her
colleagues, the more it became clear that she was just as much a master of the 49
techniques as Bob Zimmerli. There were just two small differences. First, whereas
Lemov’s taxonomy is content-neutral, Ball connects hers to math. The second difference
was that, while these practices were so ingrained they seemed imprinted on Ball’s soul,
when it came to talking about them, to passing them onto her students, she had no words.

THESE DAYS LEMOV is almost single-mindedly focused on the mechanics of

teaching, the secret steps behind getting and holding the floor whether you’re teaching
fractions or the American Revolution. The subject-free focus is a deliberate decision. “I
believe in content-based professional development, obviously,” he told me. “But I feel
like it’s insufficient. . . . It doesn’t matter what questions you’re asking if the kids are
running the classroom.”

But of course, content comes up for every teacher that uses the taxonomy. I met one such
teacher, Katie Bellucci, this winter when I visited Troy Prep in Troy, N.Y., just outside
Albany. She had been teaching for only two months, yet her fifth-grade math class was
both completely focused on her and completely quiet. Pacing happily in front of a
projector screen, she showed none of the false, scripted manner so common among first-
year teachers. She moved confidently from introducing the day’s material — how to
calculate the mean for a set of numbers — to a quick cold-call session to review what

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they had already learned and finally to helping students as they tackled sample problems
on their own. She even sent a disobedient student to the dean’s office without a single
turned head or giggle interrupting the flow of her lesson. Her cold calls perfectly satisfied
Lemov’s ideal. First, she asked the question. Then she paused a slightly uncomfortable
second. And only then did she name the student destined to answer.

Bellucci, the daughter of two teachers, is a slim brunette with natural presence and a calm
confidence. But her control of the classroom, she says, is thanks to the taxonomy, which
she began to learn last summer, practicing different techniques in classroom simulations
with her fellow teachers. The simulations were specific and practical; Bellucci told me
she spent several hours practicing how to tell a student he was off task. “Without it, I’d
be completely on my own,” she said. “I’d be in the dark.”

Like a good lesson, the taxonomy includes both basic and advanced material. Lately
Bellucci and her mentor teacher, Eli Kramer, a dean of curriculum and instruction at Troy
who also splits fifth-grade math responsibilities with Bellucci, have advanced to a
technique called No Opt Out. The concept is deceptively simple: A teacher should never
allow her students to avoid answering a question, however tough. “If I’m asking my
students a question, and I call on somebody, and they get it wrong, I need to work on how
to address that,” Bellucci explained in February. “It’s easy to be like, ‘No,’ and move on
to the next person. But the hard part is to be like: ‘O.K., well, that’s your thought. Does
anybody disagree? . . . I have to work on going from the student who gets it wrong to
students who get it right, then back to the student who gets it wrong and ask a follow-up
question to make sure they understand why they got it wrong and understood why the
right answer is right.”

Part of the challenge with the higher-level techniques is that they involve not just
universal teaching practices but actual math. Bellucci doesn’t just have to remember to
return to the student who made the mistake; she has to figure out some way to correct that
mistake in the student’s brain. For these kinds of challenges, Bellucci leans on Kramer’s
seven years of experience teaching math, plus her own applied math degree from nearby
Union College. She also improvises.

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In other words, she could use help explaining content — the kind of thinking Ball is
trying to teach education students with Math Knowledge for Teaching. Lemov and other
Uncommon Schools administrators are unfamiliar with M.K.T., but some are recognizing
that content can’t be completely divorced from mechanics. This fall, Uncommon Schools
administrators began building new taxonomy-like tools around specific content areas.
Among the subjects under analysis are elementary- and middle-school reading, upper-
grade math and all levels of science.

Lemov and Ball focus on different problems, yet in another way they are compatriots in
the same vanguard, arguing that great teachers are not born but made. (The Obama
administration has also signaled its hopes by doubling the budget for teacher training in
the 2011 budget to $235 million.) A more typical education expert is Jonah Rockoff, an
economist at Columbia University, who favors policies like rewarding teachers whose
students perform well and removing those who don’t but looks skeptically upon teacher
training. He has an understandable reason: While study after study shows that teachers
who once boosted student test scores are very likely to do so in the future, no research he
can think of has shown a teacher-training program to boost student achievement. So why
invest in training when, as he told me recently, “you could be throwing your money
away”?

Indeed, while Ball has proved that teachers with M.K.T. help students learn more, she has
not yet been able to find the best way to teach it. And while Lemov has faith in his
taxonomy because he chose his champions based on their students’ test scores, this is far
from scientific proof. The best evidence Lemov has now is anecdotal — the testimony of
teachers like Bellucci and the impressive test scores of their students. (Among the
taxonomy’s users are a New Orleans charter school that last year had the third-highest
ninth-grade English scores in the city behind two selective public schools; the highest-
rated middle school on New York City’s school report card; and top schools in Boston,
Milwaukee, Denver and Newark.)

THOMAS KANE, a Harvard economist who studies education, used to belong to

Rockoff’s skeptical camp. But he is one of several researchers who told me recently that

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he now has a more open mind. “I still think tenure review is important,” he said. “It’s
just, I don’t think we should throw in our towel on the other things.” There is simply too
much potential in improving the vast number of teachers who neither drag their students
down nor pull them ahead.

By figuring out what makes the great teachers great, and passing that on to the mass of
teachers in the middle, he said, “we could ensure that the average classroom tomorrow
was seeing the types of gains that the top quarter of our classrooms see today.” He has
made a guess about the effect that change would have. “We could close the gap between
the United States and Japan on these international tests within two years.”

Kane is serious about finding the answers. He took a leave from Harvard in 2008 to work
on a $335 million Gates Foundation project that will identify and support effective
teaching practices. One study involves filming some 3,000 classrooms across the country
and measuring them against a variety of practices, including an M.K.T.-based rubric
created by Hill and her colleagues.

Lemov, for his part, finds hope in what he has already accomplished. The day that I
watched Bellucci’s math class, Lemov sat next to me, beaming. He was still smiling an
hour later, when we walked out of the school together to his car. “You could change the
world with a first-year teacher like that,” he said.

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 The impact of social media on student life

• Abhishek Karadkar, Correspondent, Sep 13, 2015

Today’s world is a global village. Everyone is connected to one another in this vast
network generated by the Internet. As said by Marshall McLuhan, a philosopher of
communication theory, “The new electronic independence re-creates the world in the
image of a global village.” This electronic independence is inherently dependent upon the
Internet. It illuminates the lives of thousands of people by spreading knowledge
internationally, thereby making us global citizens.

In the past, the communicating and free sharing of thoughts among people were restricted
by long distance, nationality and/or religion. But now, even these barriers cannot stop the
flow of information and knowledge. The new world of social networking allows free
sharing of thoughts. Online social networks are created by websites such as Facebook,
which has emerged as a giant in this social world. So how do these networks affect our
education? How do they influence the lives of students?

Humans are social animals. We always like to remain in some group or another, and we
prefer to follow what this group does. All of our traditions and cultures are the product of
this group-oriented facet of human nature. A well-known American psychologist,
Abraham Maslow, stated in his “Theory of Motivation” that the social need of human
beings is the third most important requirement after our physical and safety needs — the
third tier in his hierarchy of needs. Even our self-esteem comes after this social
dependence. This is the main reason billions of people use social networking to stay
connected, make friends and satisfy their social needs.

As of 2015 the world’s largest social networking company, Facebook, has 1.49 billion
active users, and the number of users is increasing every year. One of the most interesting
things to look at is the increasing number of student users on such social networking
sites. As per the survey conducted by Pew Research Center, 72 percent of high school
and 78 percent of college students spend time on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc.

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These numbers indicate how much the student community is involved in this virtual
world of social networking.

Actually, many reasons exist that explain why students love to spend time socializing.
Firstly, social networks provide them the freedom to do whatever they want — to upload
what they want and talk to whom they want. They like to make new friends and comment
on the lives of different people. Students can create other online identities that the real
world does not allow. The freedom it gives them to act just by sitting in front of a
computer enthralls them, and they then demand for more freedom. Never before has it
been so easy for young minds to create a digital image of their actions through such a
spontaneous medium.

But this has a darker side that has gained the attention of many parents, and even eminent
psychologists, all over the world. One of the biggest problems is the identity crisis
constant social networking produces. As said by Professor S. Shyam Sunder, a renowned
researcher at Penn State, “The types of actions users take and the kinds of information
they are adding to their profiles are a reflection of their identities.”

Many psychologists are worried about the identity crisis that our present generation may
face today. The lives of people, especially students, are largely influenced by what is
posted by other people on their profiles. The habits that students learn are decided more
by what their friends do and less by the teachings of parents or professors.

Our students have become prone to frequent fluctuations in mood and self-control. If one
of a student’s friends posted about his or her present relationship with someone, then
other friends are pressed to do the same thing. Actions that attract more public attention
hold more value, even despite some of them being immoral or illegal. We even see that
many students are worried about their looks, and so they always try to upload nicer
pictures than their friends. A recent survey has stated that whenever someone uploads a
profile picture, it immediately affects the moods of friends. It often produces stress,
anxiety or fear about their identities as people. Consistently thinking in this way can
sometimes lead to depression.

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The most important things in a student’s life are studying, learning good habits and
gaining knowledge to become a person with moral character. But today, as we see in
various studies, this optimal learning process is seriously jeopardized by students
becoming entrapped by the ploys of social networking. Students neglect their studies by
spending time on social networking websites rather than studying or interacting with
people in person. Actively and frequently participating in social networking can
negatively affect their grades or hamper their journeys to their future careers.

Getting too involved in social media can lead to an addiction that inculcates bad habits.
Students prefer to chat with friends for hours, and this leads to a waste of time that could
have been used for studying, playing or learning new skills. It is often said that a long-
term friendship or relationship is developed when people meet each other, spend time and
share their experiences. But this virtual way of communicating with each other does not
lead to a natural, friendly experience and hence cannot produce a healthy relationship
with those friends. Also, these relationships tend to terminate easily due to a lack of
personal contact.

The system generates a competition to make as many new friends as possible and the so-
called “social quotient” of a person is decided by how many friends they have and not on
how good-natured and congenial the person really is. Often, students who are not old
enough to accurately analyze the world “like” or comment on social or political issues,
and this leads sometimes to serious controversies.

Considering all of the above pros and cons, it is necessary to develop certain regulations
over the use of such social networking sites, especially for high school and college
students. But still, students should get the choice to spend time socializing in an effective
way. It should not hamper their school or college performance, and it should be kept in
mind that social networking sites create virtual worlds that drastically differ from reality.
Students should develop the cognitive and intuitive ability to analyze how much time
they want to spend on social media. It is left up to the students to decide what really
matters in their life and how much of this virtual life translates to real life.

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