A Remedial English Grammar

CHAPTERS ARTICLES AGREEMENT OF VERB AND SUBJECT CONCORD OF NOUNS, PRONOUNS AND POSSESSIVE ADJECTIVES CONFUSION OF ADJECTIVES AND ADVERBS DIFFICULTIES WITH COMPARATIVE AND SUPERLATIVES CONFUSION OF PARTICIPLES: ACTIVE & PASSIVE PREPOSITIONS NEGATIVE VERBS TENSES 1, 2 & 3 THE INFINITIVE

CONFUSION OF PARTICIPLES: ACTIVE & PASSIVE Rules of usage 1. With transitive verbs the present participle is active and the past participle is passive. The meaning for active form is ‘it tells us something that a person or a thing does’. The meaning for passive form is ‘it tells us something that is done to a person or thing’. E.g. A drying fruit: a wind that dries things. Dried fruit: fruit that has been dried.

CONFUSION OF PARTICIPLES: ACTIVE & PASSIVE 2. To say what it is that is to be done, past participle is used. E.g. I want this exercise written in ink. The verbs need and want can be followed by a verbal form ending in –ing, which is equivalent in meaning to a passive infinitive. E.g. My shoes need mending. This dress wants washing.

CONFUSION OF PARTICIPLES: ACTIVE & PASSIVE 3. The present participle can take only be as an auxiliary and not have. E.g. He is writing a book about his travels. The past participles of transitive verbs can take both be and have. E.g. The fruit is ripened by the sun. The sun has ripened the fruit. The past participle of most intransitive verbs can take only have. E.g. The girl has fainted.

CONFUSION OF PARTICIPLES: ACTIVE & PASSIVE 4. Special care is necessary when the auxiliary is have been, has been, or had been. It is a mistake to place the past participle after it thinking that have is a pure auxiliary (such as have been played). Have been is a compound tense of the auxiliary be, not have. To become active it must therefore be followed by the present participle and by the past participle to become passive. E.g. We have been playing cricket. (A) All the food has been eaten. (P)

CONFUSION OF PARTICIPLES: ACTIVE & PASSIVE 5. There are some verbs which can be used either transitively or intransitively. In the intransitive use have, has, had can be followed by the present participle. In the transitive use, it can be the present or past participle. E.g. They have been working very hard today. (Intr) You have been working that horse very hard. (tr) That horse has been worked very hard. (tr)

CONFUSION OF PARTICIPLES: ACTIVE & PASSIVE 6. The verbs happen, occur, belong, and depend are never used in the passive. E.g. The accident happened at 11 pm. The price depends on the quality. An explosion occurred in the factory. That car belongs to my father.

CONFUSION OF PARTICIPLES: ACTIVE & PASSIVE 7. Verbs such as ‘excite’, ‘interest’, ‘surprise’, ‘fascinate’, ‘frighten’, ‘satisfy’, etc can be used in the past participle for living creatures only. E.g. She is interested in music. We were surprised by the news. The present participles of such verbs is used of the thing that provokes feelings. E.g. The book is very interesting. The film was most exciting.