Transcript A brief revision on basics of Grammar


Words that name:
(a) People
(b) Places
(c) Things
(d) Events
(e) Ideas
eg. Friends, Conrad
eg. Hall, canteen
eg. Tables, cakes, fishes
eg. Meeting, discussion
eg. Experiences
They can also take:
(a) –tion
eg. Celebrate + -tion = celebration (Noun)
(b) -ity
eg. Electric + -ity = Electricity (Noun)
(c) -ing
eg. Read + -ing = Reading (Noun/verb)

1. Reading is my hobby. (Reading = Noun)
2. I was reading in the library (Reading = Verb)
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1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Words that tells us:
Action verbs = Run, jump, play, grow
Mental verbs = Imagine, feel, know
Sensing verbs (5 senses) = Hear, feel, touch
Saying Verbs = Shout, scream, promise, yell
Linking verbs (they are like equal signs) = is,
become eg. She is pretty  She = pretty

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
They can take:
No suffix (base form): Run, Swim, Teach
-ing (Continuous): Running, Swimming,
Teaching
-ed (past tense): Ran, Swam, Taught
-s (singular/present tense): Runs, Swims,
Teaches
-ed/en (past participle): Had taken, had
eaten, had given


Words that describes NOUNS
Therefore they describe people, places, things,
ideas
Eg. ‘Spongebob’ is an interesting cartoon
Adjective
Noun
Why?
Because ‘interesting’ describes ‘cartoon’ to us
telling us more about ‘cartoon’. If ‘cartoon’ is a
noun, and ‘interesting’ tells us about it,
‘interesting’ must have been an adjective,
since an adjective describes a noun

One way to test if a word is an adjective:
The “very” test:
1. Add ‘Very’ to the front of the word
Eg. A pretty girl  A VERY pretty girl
2. If the word can be put together with “very”
It is an ADJECTIVE
4. IF it cannot be put with ‘very’, it is a VERB
Eg. She ran quickly  She VERY ran quickly
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Words that replace nouns
They are like general terms used to refer to
nouns
Eg. She, He, It, They, We, Them, Us
They are used to help reduce repeats and
make GOOD sentences.
Sally loves to cook. Sally cooks three times a
week
Sally loves to cook. SHE cooks three times a
week
After ‘to’, NO suffixes (–ing, -ed, -s etc.) can
be added to the following verb
Conrad loves to play basketball
Conrad loves to playing basketball
Singular verbs are only used with singular
subjects
Eg. Sally is a pet lover
 Plural verbs are only used with plural
subjects
Eg. They are going to East Coast Park

Read carefully before answering grammar
questions!!

Before answering the questions, check if it is in
the past or present tense
Eg. She _______ a movie yesterday when I called her.
(a)
(b)
(c)
(d)
Was watching
Is watching
Was watched
Has been watched
The answer is (a). ‘Yesterday’ tells us it is a PAST event, thus past Tense.
‘When’ gives me a clue that the verb I should choose has -ing
because it describes a continuous action. Then I ask myself, Who is
doing the ‘watching’ action (Subject)? ‘She’ is, thus the subject. So the
answer cannot be C or D because they describe Objects. For example,
She ‘was watched by…’ This tells us that someone else is doing the
watching, not ‘she’.
Not all verbs take –ed when in their past
tense form
 They are called IRREGULAR VERBS
Eg. Run  Ran (Not Runned)
Eg. Drink  Drank (Not Drinked)
Eg. Swim  Swam (Not Swimmed)
Eg. Sing  Sang (Not Singed)
Eg. Fly  Flew (Not Flyed)

After can, could, shall, should, may,
might, will, would, must
 The following VERB must NOT take suffixes
 This is the same rule as the ‘to’ rule

You should wash the dishes after every meal
You should washing the dishes after every meal
Conrad will score well for his English exam
Conrad will scored well for his English exam
The ‘BE’ Verb rules
- ‘BE’ verbs = is, are, was, were, be, been,
being
- After ‘BE’ verbs, the following VERBS can
take:
(a) –ed or –en
eg. Was taken, were given, being eaten
(b) –ing
eg. are taking, is going, were eating

Perfective ‘Have’ rules
 Perfective ‘Have’ = Have, has, had
 After Perfective ‘Have’, the following
VERBS take –ed or –en suffix
eg. Have eaten, had grown, has seen

-en suffix
eg. Spongbob’s pants has ripped
-ed suffix
Sometimes, a ‘BE’ verb can come after
the perfective ‘Have’
 Then, the verb AFTER the ‘BE’ verb can
follow the ‘BE’ verb rules (-ing or –ed/-en)
HAVE
BEEN
SLEEPING

(Perfective ‘have’)
HAS
(Perfective ‘have’)
(‘BE’ verb)
BEEN
(‘BE’ verb)
(Verb + -ing)
ROBBED
(Verb + -ed)