English Lectures / 1
st
year
Asst. Pof. Dr. Sura Abbas
L1: English Tenses
•
Structure: How do we make the tense?
•
Use: When and why do we use the tense?
Some lessons look at additional matters, and most of them finish with a quiz to
check your understanding.
•
I do, I do do
•
I am doing
•
I have done
•
I have been doing
•
I did, I did do
•
I was doing
•
I had done
•
I had been doing
•
I will do
•
I will be doing
•
I will have done
•
I will have been doing
Many English learners worry too much about tense. If you stopped 100
native English speakers in the street and asked them about tense, 1 of them
might give you an intelligent answer - if you were lucky. The other 99
would know little about terms like "past perfect" or "present continuous".
And they would know nothing about aspect, voice or mood. But they can
all speak fluent English and communicate effectively. Of course, for ESL
it helps to know about tenses, but don't become obsessed with them. Be
like those native speakers! Speak naturally!
Lec.
2 20 Rules for Good Grammar
Here are 20 simple rules and tips to help you avoid mistakes in English grammar.
For more comprehensive rules please look under the appropriate topic (part of
speech etc) .
1. A sentence starts with a capital letter and ends with a period/full stop, a
question mark or an exclamation mark.
•
T
he fat cat sat on the mat
.
•
W
here do you live
?
•
M
y dog is very clever
!
2. The order of a basic positive sentence is Subject-Verb-Object. (Negative
and question sentences may have a different order.)
•
John loves Mary
.
•
They were driving their car
to Bangkok.
3. Every sentence must have a subject and a verb.
An object is optional. Note that an imperative sentence may have a verb only,
but the subject is understood.
•
John teaches
.
•
John teaches
English.
•
Stop! (ie
You stop
!)
subject and verb must agree in number
that
is a singular subject needs a singular verb and a plural subject needs a
plural verb.
•
John
works
in London.
•
That monk
eats
once a day.
•
John and Mary
work
in London.
•
Most people
eat
three meals a day.
5. When two singular subjects are connected by or, use a singular verb. The
same is true for either/or and neither/nor.
•
John or Mary
is
coming tonight.
•
Either coffee or tea
is
fine.
•
Neither John nor Mary
was
late.
Adjectives usually come before a noun
(except when a verb separates the adjective from the noun).
•
I have a
big
dog.
•
She married a
handsome Italian
man.
•
(Her husband is
rich
.)
7. When using two or more adjectives together, the usual order is
opinion-
adjective + fact-adjective + noun. (There are some additional rules for the
order of fact adjectives.)
•
I saw a
nice French
table.
•
That was an
interesting Shakespearian
play.
(eg committee, company, board of directors) as
singular OR plural. In BrE a collective noun is usually treated as plural,
needing a plural verb and pronoun. In AmE a collective noun is often treated
as singular, needing a singular verb and pronoun.
•
The committee
are
having sandwiches for lunch. Then
they
will go to
London. (typically BrE)
•
The BBC
have
changed
their
logo. (typically BrE)
•
My family
likes
going to the zoo. (typically AmE)
•
CNN
has
changed
its
logo. (typically AmE)
are two different words with different meanings.
•
The dog has hurt
its
leg.
•
He says
it's
two o'clock.
10. The words your and you're are two different words with different
meanings.
•
Here is
your
coffee.
•
You're
looking good.
11. The words
there
, their and they're
are three different words with different
meanings.
•
There
was nobody at the party.
•
I saw
their
new car.
•
Do you think
they're
happy?
12. The contraction he's can mean he is OR he has. Similarly, she's can
mean she is OR she has, and it's can mean it is OR it has, and John's can
mean John is OR John has.
•
He is
working
•
He has
finished.
•
She is
here.
•
She has
left.
•
John is
married.
•
John has
divorced his wife.
13. The contraction he'd can mean he had OR he would. Similarly, they'd can
mean they had OR they would.
•
He had
eaten when I arrived.
•
He would
eat more if possible.
•
They had
already finished.
•
They would
come if they could.
14. Spell a proper noun with an initial capital letter.
A proper noun is a
"name" of something, for example Josef, Mary, Russia, China, British
Broadcasting Corporation, English.
•
We have written to
Mary
.
•
Is
China
in
Asia
?
•
Do you speak
English
?
15. Spell proper adjectives with an initial capital letter. Proper adjectives are
made from proper nouns, for example Germany → German, Orwell →
Orwellian, Machiavelli → Machiavellian.
•
London is an
English
town.
•
Who is the
Canadian
prime minister?
•
Which is your favourite
Shakespearian
play?
indefinite article a/an for countable nouns in general. Use
for specific countable nouns and all uncountable nouns.
•
I saw
a bird
and
a balloon
in the sky.
The bird
was blue and
the
balloon
was yellow.
•
He always saves some of
the money
that he earns.
17.
Use the indefinite article a with words beginning with a consonant sound.
Use the indefinite article an with words beginning with a vowel
sound. see When to Say a or an
•
a c
at,
a g
ame of golf,
a h
uman endeavour,
a F
renchman,
a u
niversity (
you
-
ni-ver-si-ty)
•
an a
pple,
an e
asy job,
an i
nteresting story,
an o
ld man,
an u
mbella,
an
h
onorable man (
on
-o-ra-ble)
18. Use many or few with countable nouns. Use much/a lot or little for
uncountable nouns.
How many dollars
do you have?
•
How much money
do you have?
•
There are
a few cars
outside.
•
There is
little traffic
on the roads.
19. To show possession
(who is the owner of something
) use an apostrophe +
s
for singular owners, and s + apostrophe for plural owners.
•
The boy
's
dog. (one boy)
•
The boy
s'
dog. (two or more boys)
20. In general, us
e the active voice (Cats eat fish) in preference to the passive
•
We
use
active in preference to passive.
•
Active
is used
in preference to passive.