Grammar

Active and Passive Voice Exercise

Active and Passive Voice Exercise Find the verbs in the following sentences and state whether they are in the active voice or the passive voice. 1. The tiger killed the deer. 2. The boy is learning his lessons. 3. This house was built by my grandfather. 4. Alice has been waiting for a long time. 5. Mother was making a cake. 6. The postman was bitten by the dog. 7. The thief was caught. 8. The accused were sent to jail. 9. The......

Synthesis of sentences Synthesis means the combination of a number of simple sentences into one new sentence – simple, compound or complex. The following are the chief ways of combining two or more simple sentences into one large simple sentence. By using a participle He sprang up to his feet. He ran away.springing up to his feet, he ran away. She was tired of trying. She decided to quit.Tired (or, being tired) of trying,......

Common errors in the use of tenses Incorrect: It is raining for two days. Correct: It has been raining for two days. Incorrect: The baby is sleeping for three hours now. Correct: The baby has been sleeping for three hours now. Here the error lies in using the present continuous instead of the present perfect continuous. We use the present perfect continuous tense to talk about an action which started in the past, has gone......

Repetition of the article Read the sentence given below: I have a black and white cow. This sentence means that I have a cow which is partly white and partly black. But If I say ‘I have a black and a white cow’, I have two cows – one black and the other white. Hence when two or more adjectives qualify the same noun, the article is used only before the first adjective; but when the reference is to different nouns, expressed or understood,......

Omission of the articles Before uncountable nouns We do not use articles before uncountable and abstract nouns used in a general sense. Honey is sweet. (NOT The honey is sweet.) Sugar is bad for your teeth. Wisdom is better than riches. Virtue is its own reward. Note that uncountable nouns take the article the when used in a particular sense. Would you pass the sugar? (= the sugar on the table) Before......

What are articles? The words a or an and the are called articles. Articles come before nouns. There are two articles – a/an and the The article a or an is called the indefinite article because it doesn’t state which person or thing we are talking about. For example, a doctor means any doctor. A child means any child. The article the is called......

The phrase and the clause When we make a sentence, we name a person or thing and say something about that person or thing. Every sentence has two parts – The part which names the person or thing we are speaking about is called the subject of the sentence. The part which says something about the subject is called the predicate. The subject of a sentence usually comes first, but occasionally it is put after the predicate. Sweet......

Verb – Moods The simplest use of a verb is to make a statement or to ask a question. I got up early in the morning. Who wrote that story? A verb may also be used to express a command. Shut up! Or a verb may be used to express a mere supposition. If I were you, I would not do it. These different modes or manners in which a verb may be used are called moods. There are three moods in English: indicative, imperative, subjunctive. Indicative......

Tenses different forms Now read the following sentences: * I write.* I am writing.* I have written.* I have been writing. The verbs in all of these sentences refer to the present time, and are, therefore, said to be in the present tense. In sentence 1, however, the verb simply talks about the action. It doesn’t state whether the action is complete or not. The verb is therefore said to be in the simple present tense. In sentence 2, the......

Tenses – introduction Read the following sentences: I write the letter. I wrote the letter yesterday. I will write another letter tomorrow. In sentence 1, the verb write refers to present time. In sentence 2, the verb wrote refers to past time. In sentence 3, the verb will write refers to future time. Thus a verb may refer: to present time to past time to future time A verb that refers to the present time......

Combine using relative pronouns Relative pronouns are words used to combine two clauses into one. Besides combining the two clauses, the relative pronoun acts as the subject or object of the verb in the relative clause. An example is given below. The boy solved the puzzle. He was praised by the teacher. We can combine these two clauses using a relative pronoun. The boy who solved the puzzle was praised by the teacher. Combine the following......

Common phrasal verbs May 4, 2015 - Here is a list of phrasal verbs with their meaning. Ward off To ward something off is to prevent it from happening. Wear off When something wears off, it disappears gradually. Walk off To walk something off is to get rid of it by walking. Make off To make off is to leave a place in a hurry. Put off To put off is to postpone. Make after To make after somebody is to chase them. Make away To make......

Prepositions before question words Prepositions are dropped before common question words. This usually happens after common verbs like tell, ask, depend, sure, idea and look. This is especially common in indirect questions. Tell me about your plans. (Here we use the preposition about before the noun ‘your plans’.) Tell me what you intend to do. (More natural than ‘Tell me about what you intend to do’.)......

Prepositions before that-clauses Prepositions cannot normally be followed by conjunctions. Of course, this is possible in a few cases, but prepositions are normally dropped before that-clauses. This usually happens after words referring to saying, writing, thinking etc. Compare: I knew about his illness. (Here the preposition about is followed by a noun.) I knew that he was ill. (NOT I knew about that he was ill.) I heard about......

Difference between as and like These two words are often confused. Use ‘like’ to state that someone is very similar to another. Like is a preposition and should be followed by a noun or pronoun. She is like her mother. (= They are very similar.) She plays the piano like her sister. As is used to describe the function of a person or object. He works as a bartender. Examples are given below. My......

Prepositions: some problems areas A preposition is word used to describe the relationship between other words in a sentence. Prepositions are almost always combined with other words. In grammars, these structures are called prepositional phrases. A prepositional phrase consists of a preposition followed by an article or another determiner and an adjective or two, followed by a pronoun or noun. Here the adjective modifies......

Compare to and compare To show likeness, compare is usually used with to. Life is often compared to a dream. She likes to compare herself to her mother. My mother always compared me to my brother. To show differences, compare is usually used with ‘with’. We can’t compare dogs with cats. (There are far more differences between them than there are similarities.) My mother......

Idiomatic expressions with prepositions Verbs often combine with prepositions. These combinations are called phrasal verbs. There are numerous phrasal verbs in English and they cause a great deal of difficulty for ESL students. It is nearly impossible for a non-native speaker to learn all of these idiomatic expressions. Still, you must be familiar with the most important ones. Interestingly, sometimes the same verb takes different......

Grammar

Active and Passive Voice Exercise

Synthesis of sentences

Common errors in the use of tenses

Repetition of the article

Omission of the articles

What are articles?

The phrase and the clause

Verb – Moods

Tenses different forms

Tenses – introduction

Combine using relative pronouns

Common phrasal verbs

Prepositions before question words

Prepositions before that-clauses

Difference between as and like

Prepositions: some problems areas

Compare to and compare

Idiomatic expressions with prepositions

Most Read Articles

Latest Post

Visitors

Followers

Advertise on our site

Place your Advert Here

Thanks For Visiting