Live by Faith,not by sight: Maret 2016

1. A. Simple Present

The simple present tense is the one which we use when an action is happening right now, or when it happens regularly (or unceasingly, which is why it’s sometimes called present indefinite). The simple present tense is formed by using the root form or by adding ‑s or ‑es to the end, depending on the person.

THE SIMPLE PRESENT TENSE IS USED:

To express habits, general truths, repeated actions or unchanging situations, emotions and wishes:
I smoke (habit); I work in London (unchanging situation); London is a large city (general truth)
To give instructions or directions:
You walk for two hundred meters, then you turn left.
To express fixed arrangements, present or future:
Your exam starts at 09.00
To express future time, after some conjunctions: after, when, before, as soon as, until:
He'll give it to you when you come next Saturday.

Be careful! The simple present is not used to express actions happening now.

NOTES ON THE SIMPLE PRESENT, THIRD PERSON SINGULAR

In the third person singular the verb always ends in -s:
he wants, she needs, he gives, she thinks.
Negative and question forms use DOES (= the third person of the auxiliary 'DO') + the infinitive of the verb.
He wants ice cream. Does he want strawberry? He does not want vanilla.
Verbs ending in -y : the third person changes the -y to -ies:
fly --> flies, cry --> cries
Exception: if there is a vowel before the -y:
play --> plays, pray --> prays
Add -es to verbs ending in:-ss, -x, -sh, -ch:
he passes, she catches, he fixes, it pushes

EXAMPLES

He goes to school every morning.
She understands English.
It mixes the sand and the water.
He tries very hard.
She enjoys playing the piano.

B. Present continous

The present continuous tense is formed from the present tense of the verb be and the present participle (-ing form) of a verb:

Use

1. We use the present continuous tense to talk about the present:

· for something that is happening at the moment of speaking:

I’m just leaving work. I’ll be home in an hour.
Please be quiet. The children are sleeping.

· for something which is happening before and after a given time:

At eight o’clock we are usually having breakfast.
When I get home the children are doing their homework.

· for something which we think is temporary:

Michael is at university. He’s studying history.
I’m working in London for the next two weeks.

· for something which is new and contrasts with a previous state:

These days most people are using email instead of writing letters.
What sort of clothes are teenagers wearing nowadays? What sort of music are they listeningto?

· to show that something is changing, growing or developing:

The children are growing quickly.
The climate is changing rapidly.
Your English is improving.

· for something which happens again and again:

It’s always raining in London.
They are always arguing.
George is great. He’s always laughing.

Note: We normally use always with this use.

2. We use the present continuous tense to talk about the future:

· for something which has been arranged or planned:

Mary is going to a new school next term.
What are you doing next week?

3. We can use the present continuous to talk about the past:

· When we are telling a story:

· When we are summarising the story from a book, film or play etc.:

C. Past Simple

We use the Past Simple tense to talk about an action or a situation - an event - in the past. The event can be short or long.

Here are some short events with the Past Simple:

The car exploded at 9.30am yesterday.
She went to the door.
We did not hear the telephone.
Did you see that car?

Here are some long events with the Past Simple tense:

I lived in Bangkok for 10 years.
The Jurassic period lasted about 62 million years.
We did not sing at the concert.
Did you watch TV last night?

Notice that it does not matter how long ago the event is: it can be a few minutes or seconds in the past, or millions of years in the past. Also it does not matter how long the event is. It can be a few milliseconds (car explosion) or millions of years (Jurassic period). We use the Past Simple tense when:

the event is in the past
the event is completely finished
we say (or understand) the time and/or place of the event

Examples:

I lived in that house when I was young.
He didn't like the movie.
What did you eat for dinner?
John drove to London on Monday.
Mary did not go to work yesterday.
Did you play tennis last week?
I was at work yesterday.
We were not late (for the train).
Were you angry?

D. Past Continuous

The past continuous describes actions or events in a time before now, which began in the past and is still going on at the time of speaking. In other words, it expresses an unfinished or incomplete action in the past.

It is used:

Often, to describe the background in a story written in the past tense, e.g. "The sun was shining and the birds were singing as the elephant came out of the jungle. The other animals were relaxing in the shade of the trees, but the elephant moved very quickly. She was looking for her baby, and she didn't notice the hunter who was watching her through his binoculars. When the shot rang out, she was running towards the river..."
to describe an unfinished action that was interrupted by another event or action, e.g. "I was having a beautiful dream when the alarm clock rang."
to express a change of mind: e.g. "I was going to spend the day at the beach but I've decided to get my homework done instead."
with 'wonder', to make a very polite request: e.g. "I was wondering if you could baby-sit for me tonight."

EXAMPLES

They were waiting for the bus when the accident happened.
Caroline was skiing when she broke her leg.
When we arrived he was having a bath.
When the fire started I was watching television.

2. Subject Verb Agreement

Subject verb agreement simply means the subject and verb must agree in number. This means both need to be singular or both need to be plural.

Subject/Verb Agreement Examples

Here are some examples of subject verb agreement (the subject is bolded and the verb underlined) :

· My dog always growls at the postal carrier.

· Basketballs roll across the floor.

· I don’t understand the assignment.

· These clothes are too small for me.

· Peter doesn’t like vegetables.

Compound Subjects

Compound subjects (two subjects in the same sentence) usually take a plural verb, unless the combination is treated as singular in popular usage or the two subjects refer to the same thing or person. Here are some examples of subject verb agreement with compound subjects:

· Sugar and flour are needed for the recipe.

· Neither my dad nor my brothers know how to ski.

· Pepperoni and cheese are great on a pizza.

· Corned beef and cabbage is a traditional meal in Ireland. (popular usage)

· The creator and producer is arriving soon. (both refer to same person)

When using “or” or “nor” in a compound subject containing a singular and plural subject, the verb agrees with the closest subject. Examples of compound subjects using or, neither-nor, or either-or include:

· My mom or dad is coming to the play. (singular)

· Neither gray nor white is my favorite color. (singular)

· Either Grandpa or my sisters are going to the park. (closest subject is plural)

· Either my sisters or Grandpa is going to the park. (closest subject is singular)

· Neither she nor I am going to college. (closest subject is singular)

Singular Indefinite Pronouns

Here are some examples of subject verb agreement with singular indefinite pronouns:

· Each gets a trophy for playing.

· Somebody will pay for this.

· Anybody is more fun than you.

· Something is very wrong here.

· Everybody enjoys a good book.

· Nothing has been determined as of yet.

Plural Indefinite Prounouns

Here are some examples of subject verb agreement with plural indefinite pronouns:

· Both are qualified for the job.

· Many went to the beach and got sunburned.

· Few know what it really takes to get ahead.

· Several are already on location.

· Some sugar is required for taste. (sugar is uncountable so singular verb used)

· Most of the cookies were eaten. (cookies are countable so plural verb used)

Midsentence Phrase or Clause

Here are some examples of subject verb agreement with a phrase or clause between the subject and verb:

· A theory of physics ascertains that a body in motion stays in motion.

· A virus in all the company’s computers is a real threat to security.

· The causes of this prevalent disease are bad diet and lack of exercise.

· The couch and chair I got at the store look really nice in here.

· The members of the choir are very happy with the performance.

Collective Nouns

Collective nouns can be singular or plural depending on meaning. Here are some examples of subject verb agreement with collective nouns:

· The committee meets here every Thursday. (singular)

· The crowd is getting angry. (singular)

· The jury has finally reached a decision. (singular)

· The majority rules most of the time. (plural)

· The staff have gone their separate ways for the holidays. (plural)

Inverted Subjects

Here are some examples of subject verb agreement with inverted subjects where the subject follows the verb:

· There are seven clean plates in the dining room.

· There is a hair in my lasagna.

· Over the rainbow flies a bird.

· How are the employees enjoying the new building?

· A good gift is a gift card.

3. Pronoun

Pronouns are words that we use in place of Nouns (or other Pronouns) in a sentence to make it less repetitive and less awkward. Some of the most common Pronouns are - he, she, you, they, it, etc. These Pronouns are divided into different categories based on their use .

Personal Pronouns

These pronouns are used for a specific object or person and they change their forms to indicate the different genders, numbers, case and persons speaking -

- Tanya told him to take the food to them as soon as possible as it was urgently needed.

- ‘Him’ is a Pronoun of gender.

‘Them’ is a Pronoun of number showing that there is more than one person, and it is also a Pronoun of case as it is referring to a specific group in an objective manner.

‘It’ is also a Pronoun of gender showing the object (food).

So we can see that the Personal Pronouns can be based on -

Gender –

- He went to the market.

He is used for the male gender. Other examples are - His, Him, He, etc.

- She is doing the laundry.

She is used for the female gender. Other examples are - Her, Hers, etc.

- It is important to them.

It is gender neutral as it shows an object, them is also gender neutral as them can consist of both genders. Other gender neutral pronouns are - Their, They, Its, etc.

Number –

Singular Pronouns - Where the pronoun is only referring to one specific noun.

- That book belongs to me.

Me refers to one singular person only.

Plural Pronouns - Where the pronoun is used to refer to a number of nouns.

- That is their book, not yours.

Their shows a number of people, hence it’s a plural personal pronoun. Whereas the ‘yours’ in this sentence is another example of singular personal pronoun.

Cases -

Subjective Case -

- She is at work.

‘She’ is the main subject of the sentence, hence in this sentence, ‘she’ is the subjective personal pronoun. You can ask the question ‘who/what is doing ______?’ to recognize whether a pronoun is subjective or objective.

Objective Case -

- He will meet us later.

‘Us’ is the objective personal noun as it the object of the verb meet. ‘He’ is the subject as he is the person who will be doing the action of meeting.

Possessive Case -

- That is our clubhouse.

‘Our’ shows the possession of the object ‘clubhouse’. Possessive pronouns can also be used to show possession over people.

Demonstrative Pronouns

Demonstrative Pronouns are used to show or identify one or a number of nouns that may be far or near in distance or time. They are only four in number - This, That, These and Those. This and That are singular demonstrative pronouns and These and Those are plural demonstrative pronouns. They can also be used to show an unspecified quantity in a sentence.

- That is a beautiful house.

That is a demonstrative pronoun that is referring to a specific noun (house). This is a singular pronoun as it is referring to only one house.

These were made by me. - These is showing an unspecified quantity of something that was made by a person. This is a plural demonstrative pronoun as it’s referring to a number of objects.

Everyone remembers those days. - Those is showing a particular time or period of days in the past; it is being used in place of a noun that could be - school, summer, college, etc. Here also those is a plural demonstrative pronoun as it’s indicating a number of days.

This is what he is charging? - This is used as pronoun in place of a number and it is also acting as a quantifier by referring not only to the noun but to the amount/number of the noun as well. This is a singular demonstrative pronoun.

Interrogative Pronouns

Who, Whom, Which and What are Interrogative Pronouns as they are used to ask questions about a person or object that we do not know about. Compounds of these words are made by attaching ‘-ever’ to the words to strengthen the emphasis on the word.

Which one would you like? - Here, ‘which’ is being used to ask someone to make a choice between different things, instead of naming every single choice that is available.

What is your name? - What is used to ask a personal noun that the speaker doesn’t know.

Who will be managing the buffet? - Who is used to ask about a specific person related to a task.

Whom did you tell about this? - Whom is showing/asking the person who was told something by ‘you’.

Whoever could have done this? - Whoever is the compound of ‘Who’ and it is used here to emphasise the feeling of confusion in the sentence while still asking a question.

Whichever one will you choose? - Whichever is used here to show strong emotion while asking a person’s choice.

In the case of Who and Whom -

Who is always the subject of the verb. The emphasis is on the identity of the person who did the action.

Who rang the bell? Here, we can see that the verb phrase rang the bell is secondary and the main emphasis is on the identity of the person ringing the bell.

Whom is never the subject of the verb. It is used to show the person to or for whom the action is being done. In other words, it is the object of the verb.

Whom were you meeting with? Here, we can see that the subject of verb or the person who was meeting someone is ‘you’. Whom is the object of the verb or the person ‘you’ were ‘meeting’.

Relative Pronouns

Relative Pronouns are used to join or relate two different clauses together by referring to the noun in the previous clause using the pronouns - Who, Whom, Whose, Which andThat.

Which and That are generally used for objects; while Who and Whom are used for people, and Whose is used to show possession.

She will choose the colour which looks good on everyone.

Here, which is joining the two related clauses about choosing a colour and a colour which would look good on everyone.

She is complaining to whoever she comes across nowadays.

Here, the whoever is the object of the verb ‘complaining’ and it is linking the two clauses about someone complaining and the frequency of their complaints.

There is a car in the parking lot that someone has painted a bright pink.

That is joining the two sentences related to the object and its location in the first and its appearance in the second.

She needs to know by tomorrow who will be accompanying her on the trip.

Who here stands for the unknown person and it also joins the two different clauses together.

Is there anyone here whose mobile phone has a signal?

Whose is used here to ask if anyone has possession of something that the speaker needs.

Indefinite Pronouns

These pronouns are used to show unspecified objects or people, whether in plural or in singular. They are used to indicate the entire noun or some of the noun or none of the noun. They are used when we want to refer to group of nouns without actually specifying who or how much.

Some common indefinite nouns are - anyone, someone, none, everything, many, few,etc.

If anyone has seen my notebook please return it to me. – Here, we see the pronounanyone is being used to refer to everyone without any specification.

A few of the members were not satisfied with the service. - Few means a small number of people/objects. Hence, it is a plural indefinite pronoun.

Nobody was answering when I called them last. – Here, we see a pronoun nobody being used to show no one at all. It is a singular indefinite pronoun.

Reflexive and Intensive Pronouns

Reflexive Pronouns are those which are used to indicate a noun which has been used in an earlier part of the same sentence. These pronouns are - Myself, Themselves, Yourself,Ourselves, Herself, Himself and Itself.

Rosa was going to take it to the shop but ended up fixing it herself one afternoon. – Here, we can see that herself is being used to refer to ‘Rosa’ again at the end of the sentence.

He prefers to be by himself after a game. – Here, himself is used to refer to ‘him’.

Apart from ordering in, they cooked a few snack themselves. – Here themselves is used to show that ‘they’ cooked something.

The horse hurt itself while trying to escape. - Since itself is a gender neutral pronoun, it is used to show the nouns that have no definite gender. E.g. : material things or ideas, etc.; or whose gender is unknown. E : animals.

These same words are also called Intensive Pronouns, which are used to lay emphasis on the pronoun that comes before them in the sentence.

They themselves knew that the prank was in bad taste. - Here, the pronoun themselves is used to emphasise ‘they’.

Avoid reporting things that you yourself haven’t witnessed. - Here yourself is used to emphasise the pronoun ‘you’.

Reciprocal Pronoun

There are just two Reciprocal Pronouns - Each other and One another. They are used when two or more nouns are doing or being the same to one another. Both of these pronouns are plural in nature as they can only be used in situations where there is more than one noun.

Jamie and Jack always sit beside each other in break. – Here, the reciprocation is between the children as they both sit together.

They haven’t seen one another since last year. – Here, neither of the two parties has seen each other in some time.

The trees seem to reach towards each other in a strong wind. – Here, we have an unspecified amount of trees bending towards the others in a strong wind.