A Remedial English Grammar

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

The Articles Definite Article: THE Rules of Usage
Do not put the before the names of substances if used in a general sense. E.g. Lead is very heavy. But the must be used if the reference is to a particular kind or specimen of the substance. E.g. Thieves have stolen the lead from the roof.

The Articles 2. Do not put the before the names of meals which means part of daily routine. E.g. Have you had lunch yet? But the must be used, when the meal is a particular one taken as part of social function. or, when the name of the meal refers to the food and not the occasion. E.g. The dinner will be held at the Grand Hotel. The dinner was not properly cooked.

The Articles 3. Do not put the before plural nouns when they are used in a universal sense. E.g. Apples are grown in many different countries. But if the reference is to particular ones then the must be used. E.g. The apples you gave me were not yet ripe.

The Articles 4. Do not put the before the names of games.
E.g. I play cricket. Do not put the before the names of countries unless the name suggests that the country is made up of smaller units or parts. E.g. They come from Italy. They come from the United States.

The Articles 6. Put the before nouns which name the inhabitants of a country collectively or as a community but not before the names of their languages. E.g. The Russians have done a lot of space research. Plural nouns standing for the people of a particular country are not preceded by the if taken individually. E.g. Russians drink vodka.

The Articles 7. Put the before the names of mountain ranges but not before the names of single mountains or hills. E.g. The Himalayas continue to attract Indian mystics. Mount Everest still fascinate mountaineers. 8. Use the before the names of rivers, canals, seas, oceans, valleys, deserts and forests. E.g. The Sahara was once a plain full of vegetation. The Periyar has now become polluted.

The Articles 9. Use the before the names of ships and trains, even if they do not form part of the name itself. E.g. The Day Express is late today. But when the name of particular type of vehicle is used to name the means of travel, there is no definite article. E.g. We are going by train.

The Articles 10. The is left out of the expressions ‘all day’ and ‘all night’ but it should be used in similar adverbial expressions for all other divisions of time. E.g. They have worked all day. It has been raining all the morning. The work should continue all the week.

The Articles The is used before a singular noun to express ‘generic singular’ i.e. the generic singular (one thing mentioned is taken to represent all of that kind) E.g. The elephant is very strong. An exception to this rule is the noun ‘man’ when the word denotes the human race as a whole. E.g. Man does not live by bread alone.

The Articles The is not used in expressions such as ‘go to school’, ‘go to church’, ‘go to hospital’. There is an ‘inherent’ connection between the speaker/ listener with the place such as student, believer, patient respectively. If not, the reference is to just the building and in that case it should be ‘the school’, ‘the hospital’ etc. E.g. The children go to school. The mechanic went to school for repair work. The only exception to the above rule is ‘go to the office’.

The Articles The Indefinite Article (A and An)
1. A is used before words beginning with a consonantal sound and an with words beginning with a vowel sound. E.g. An elephant, a book The sound of ‘h’ should be used carefully. Heir, honest, honour, hour do not have a sounded ‘h’

The Articles 2. A is used and not an when words which begin with /j/ sound such as Europe, uniform, unique, universal, usual etc. Do not omit a, an before a singular countable noun E.g. Rice is a cereal A must be used when the noun precedes an adjective E.g. A lion is a dangerous animal. 4. A is not normally used before uncountable nouns but may be used if refers to a particular thing or quantity.

The Articles 5. The names of profession and occupations take the indefinite article. E.g. My brother is a teacher. 6. The indefinite article always follows the word such when it is applied to countable forms. E.g. I have never seen such a wet summer. 7. If an adjective is preceded by so then indefinite article should be placed between the adjective and the noun. E.g. I have never known so wet a summer.

The Articles 8. The use of a few and few as well as a little and little have to be understood. ‘Few’ means only a small number when more might have been expected; ‘a few’ means a small number when none might have been expected. Similar difference exists between little and a little. E.g. Few students gave the right answer. A few students gave the right answer.

CHAPTERS AGREEMENT OF VERB AND SUBJECT
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

S-V Concord A verb must agree with its subject in number and person.
For present tense forms most English verbs end in –s in the third person singular, but there is no –s on the third person plural. E.g. He walks ; They walk. In forms of primary auxiliary be (where different words are used), do, the singular ending can also be –es. Modal auxiliaries can, may, must, ought, will, shall do not attach –s form. E.g. He goes; They go; He can do it ; They will do it.

S-V Concord 2. When the subject is one of, followed by plural noun, the verb is singular. E.g. One of my teachers lives next door to my aunt. 3. If a clause (a long group of words) which separates the subject from the verb, care is necessary to remember the actual subject-word so as to make the verb agree with it. E.g. The radio which you gave my children works perfectly.

S-V Concord 4. When the subject consists of two or more nouns, it has the force of a plural and hence a plural verb. E.g. John and Mary have gone for a holiday. But if the item given suggests a compound of one thing or one unit, then the subject is taken as singular and hence a singular verb. E.g. Bread and butter is a wholesome food. Cow and calf was once a party symbol.

S-V Concord 5. When a plural number applies to distances, weights, heights or amounts of money (which represent a single figure or quantity) it is treated as a singular. E.g. Ten kilometers is not a great distance. 6. Titles of books, hotels, house which indicate plural meaning, however do take only singular since the reference is to a book, building etc. E.g. The Spencers is a big shop.

S-V Concord 7. The introductory ‘there’ in a sentence is just a dummy subject. The verb actually agrees with real subject in the statement. E.g. There are some apples in the basket. There is an apple in the basket.

Concord of nouns, pronouns and possessive adjectives (third person)
Rules of usage 1. For singular noun forms, persons of the male sex are referred to by he, him, his, himself and persons of the female sex by she, her, hers, herself. Non living things and most animals are referred to by it, its, itself.

2. As per the norms of the existing society, if the noun could refer to persons of either sex such as person, pupil, scholar, reader, pedestrian,etc, the pronouns of the masculine are generally used. But if the reference is clearly to a woman, then the feminine form is used. The words baby, child are usually referred to by it.

3. If the number is plural, persons of either sex are referred to by thy, them, their, theirs, themselves. 4. An animal is usually referred to by the neuter it. But if there is something in this context which draws attention to the sex of the animal then he/she can be used. Pet animals are usually referred to by the pronoun appropriate to their sex such as he/she.

5. Every and words beginning with every- are singular and must therefore be referred to by the singular pronouns. 6. Possessives derived from forms of his/her must agree in gender with the words to which they refer back and it does not depend on the gender of the noun that follows it or that it qualifies.

Nominative Accusative P.Adjective P.Pronoun Reflexive I me my mine myself you your yours yourself he him his himself she her hers herself it its itself one one's oneself we us our ours ourselves yourselves they them their theirs themselves

Confusion of adjectives and adverbs
Adjectival Complements The verbs to be, to seem, to become and verbs which suggest ‘become’ are followed by an adjective. (Other verbs include appear, feel, look, grow, turn) E.g. Oranges are scarce this year. He became very angry. The milk turned sour. The sky grew dark. The structure is S + v + adj

Some of the earlier mentioned verbs can be used in a different sense when they need an adverb. E.g. He turned quickly (means move around) Those rose trees have grown rapidly (means increase in size) Here the structure is S + v + adv

An adjective is used after verbs indicating fundamental physical senses such as feel, sound, taste, smell. E.g. The fruit tastes bitter The surface of this table feels rough Here the structure is S + v (sense) + adj

Words ending in –ly Adverbs of manner can be formed from adjectives by adding –ly to the suffix E.g. foolishly, quickly, slowly But if the adjective itself carry an –ly suffix then it cannot be converted as stated above. They are of two categories.

Those which are used both as adjectives and adverbs without any change. E.g. daily, early, hourly, only, weekly, yearly. Those which can be used as adjectives only. E.g. brotherly, friendly, homely, likely, lovely, manly, seemly, womanly. The adverbial equivalent of kindly (adjective) is in a kindly manner.

Use of hard/hardly, late/lately, most/mostly Hard means strenuously E.g. You should work hard for attaining success. Hardly means scarcely at all E.g. I could hardly recognize my old friend.

Late means After the time expected Towards the end of the specified period of time She has arrived late to the class She did not marry until late in life Lately means recently Have you read any good novels lately (It makes use of only perfect tense unlike ‘recently’ which can be used with perfect or past)

Most means to the greatest extent or degree E.g. The food I like the most is milk porridge. Mostly means for the most part E.g. The audience consisted mostly of children.

Comparatives & Superlatives
Rules of Usage Some adjectives and adverbs are made comparative and superlative by adding -er and –est to the positive. Others use more and most before the positive. E.g. big-bigger-biggest; fast-faster-fastest. beautiful-more beautiful-most beautiful Never should more and most be used along with the suffixed positive forms.

2. When two different things are compared with a third and one wishes to express that one the of the two is superior to the third to an even greater degree, then still is used. E.g. William is taller than John, but James is taller still. The word than must be preceded by a comparative adjective or adverb, never by a positive one, since than implies that two things are being compared. E.g. He receives a bigger salary than anyone else in the office.

4. Very should be followed by a a positive adjective or adverb, but much always takes the comparative. E.g. I am not feeling very well today. (p) I am feeling much better today. (c) An exception to this is the word different, though it is positive. The word different implies comparison. Hence it is always positive. In the construction ‘very much’ much modifies the comparative and very modifies much. E.g. My wife is very much better today.

The superlative (s) is used if the comparison goes beyond two. E.g. Geography is the most interesting subject. (s) Anne is the tallest of the three daughters. (s) Anne is the taller of the two girls. (c) If the comparison is between one thing with all the others of its kind that we know, then we are comparing amongst many things and hence we need a superlative. E.g. This is the most interesting novel I have ever read.

CONFUSION OF PARTICIPLES: ACTIVE & PASSIVE
Rules of usage 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.

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.

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.

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)

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)

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.

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.

PREPOSITIONS Making use of at, on, in, during, by, for At:
THE EXPRESSION OF TIME Making use of at, on, in, during, by, for At: It is used to express for a certain moment or point in time. The train leaves at 2.45 p.m. For festivals which mark a point in the year. We have a holiday at Christmas and at Easter.

PREPOSITIONS On For a specific day expressed as date, e.g. on June 5th
day of the week, e.g. on Friday a special day in the year with a name of its own, e.g. on Christmas morning For a specific part of any such day e.g. on Christmas morning, (but on the afternoon/evening of Christmas day) on Wednesday morning, on Friday morning.

PREPOSITIONS In Used before words which denote a period of time.
E.g. in the summer, in September, in the year 1948, in the morning, in the dinner-hour, in the summer holidays. To show a total length of time taken for completion of activity. E.g. in three hours, in two hours, thirty five minutes and twenty seconds. To state a period at the end of which something will happen. E.g. in a few minutes, in an hour’s time.

PREPOSITIONS During To express the idea which continues throughout the whole of a specified period. E.g. During the war food was rationed. To express an idea wherein which an event took place within a specified period of time (“in the course of”) E.g. The house was burgled during the night.

PREPOSITIONS By To denote the latest time by which something was or is to be done. It implies it may be done before then but not after. E.g. You must be home by ten o’ clock. Applications for the post should be received by April 25th. Used before the words day and night (same as “during”) E.g. Some motorists prefer to travel by night.

PREPOSITIONS For To show the lapse of time during which something takes place or a state of affairs persists. E.g. It rained continuously for 20 hours. We have been waiting for over an hour. Note: We stayed a week. (sum total of the time) We stayed for a week. (time as it goes day by day)

PREPOSITIONS Additional notes:
1. at, on, in are not used if the noun giving a time is preceded by an adjective. 2. yesterday, today, and tomorrow are also used as adverbs and do not take a preposition. ‘today’ cannot be followed by morning, afternoon, evening. ‘night’ can be used only after tomorrow. Hence ‘yesterday night’ or ‘today night’ is not possible.

PREPOSITIONS B. THE EXPRESSION OF PLACE Place of Residence:
(a) In is used for a general reference to the place E.g. in the town, in the desert (b) In is used for the names of countries, continents, capital cities of large towns In Paris, in China, in Delhi (c) At is used for villages and smaller towns at Aluva, at Marampally

PREPOSITIONS THE EXPRESSION OF PLACE Place of Residence:
In is used when no specific type of residence is mentioned E.g. in a cottage, in a flat (b) At is used for a particular place of residence E.g. at Manor house, at Buckingham palace (c) In is used for names of streets and roads E.g. in Palace road, in Dalal street

PREPOSITIONS THE EXPRESSION OF PLACE Place of Work
In is used if it is a building E.g. in a factory, in a bank At is used if the reference is to particular place E.g. at the public library, at BARC In is used for a particular room or department E.g. in the Manuscripts department, in the auditing department.

PREPOSITIONS THE EXPRESSION OF PLACE Chief Exceptions:
At the seaside, on an island (place of residence) On a farm, on the railway, on an estate, on a rubber plantation (place of work with no reference to a building)

PREPOSITIONS PREPOSITIONS ATTACHED TO VERBS
Many intransitive verbs are followed prepositions and its objects. It is incorrect to make statements like: He pointed the tree We listened the music I am looking a book

PREPOSITIONS PREPOSITIONS ATTACHED TO VERBS Combinations of v+prep
E.g. agree to, apply to, care for, hope for, object to, rely on, depends on, stared at, succeed in, talks of, think of, think about, write to etc.

PREPOSITIONS PREPOSITIONS ATTACHED TO VERBS
In interrogative forms beginning with what, who, when, which etc prepositions should be put at the end of the sentences What are you looking at? Where has this bus come from? Whom do you wish to speak to?

Negative verbs Changing a verb into negative Statements
Do and did, with infinitive without to, inserting not between them E.g. I like chocolates I do not like chocolates They came for the dinner They did not come for the dinner

Negative verbs Exceptions For to be put not after the positive verb
E.g. This room is very warm This room is not very warm For have (showing possession) put not after the positive form E.g. I have not seen him recently

Negative verbs When have expresses some other idea other than possession, do is used in the negative E.g. I didn’t have indigestion any longer In compound tense forms, not is placed after the first auxiliary E.g. Those exercises have not been marked Auxiliary verbs such as can, may, must, ought and need take not immediately after them. E.g. You ought not to waste your time

Negative verbs Questions
In question forms, the subject is placed after not and the contracted form of the negative verbs are used. E.g. Doesn’t he eat meat? Haven’t you seen him? Imperatives The do form is used, with not following do. E.g. Do not open the window In the infinitive negative form not must be placed before the to. E.g. I told him not to laugh

Tenses 1 Present tense: Simple and Continuous Simple Universal truth
E.g. The earth moves round the sun Habitual/recurrent action The school starts functioning at 9.30 am For permanent situations This river flows to the Arabian sea

Tenses 1 Continuous Activity happening at the time of speaking
E.g. The bell is ringing at the temple Temporary situations E.g. Boniface is standing near the bridge

Tenses 1 Exceptions For verbs come and go, if the sentences begin with here and there, simple present tense is used E.g. Here they come. There goes the bus. Verbs denoting physical senses use simple form E.g. I see a tram coming

Tenses 1 When ‘feel’ means ‘experience a sensation’ and ‘think’ means ‘be of the opinion’, then simple tense is used. E.g. I feel tired. I think you should reconsider your decision. Simple and continuous can refer to future in the active form E.g. The PM visits Kerala next month. The PM is visiting Kerala next month.

Tenses 1 Past tense: Simple and Continuous
Activity as in progress in the past E.g. When we arrived they were having lunch. Habitual activity/past belief E.g. We had our lunch at in those days

Tenses 1 Activity on one particular occasion viewed retrospectively
E.g. The train arrived ten minutes late Activity viewed in its entirety after its completion E.g. I slept for three hours

Tenses 2 The Perfect tense
Used to express an idea that some activity that originated in the past is connected in some with the present. It may be distant past, recent past, or an indeterminate past. E.g. I have completed my work I have worked in the North-east They have done it successfully every time

Tenses 2 Four main uses Continuative use: E.g. We have lived in this house since 1997. The Inclusive use: E.g. There have been two major wars during the present century. The Resultative use: E.g. It has rained during the night. The perfect of experience: E.g. I have known it rain in March.

Tenses 2 The perfect tense must not be accompanied by an adverb or adverbial expression denoting past time. E.g. He has slept for eight hours. If the activity is assigned a definite time in the past, then the simple form of the past tense must be used. E.g. He slept for eight hours last night.

Tenses 2 Perfect progressive
Used to indicate (a) the action that has been going on continuously over a period of time starting in the past, extending right up to the present (b) the action connected with the present that is now complete, but felt within the present time sphere. E.g. The door bell has been ringing for the past ten minutes. I have been washing my car.

Tenses 2 Tenses with since Must be preceded by perfect tense
Indicating an activity that has been going on since the time specified Past point of time using adverb clause of time with since (The verb of the main clause is in the perfect tense and since is followed by a word or phrase denoting past time or a clause in which the verb is in the past tense)

Tenses 2 Exceptions It is fourteen years since I saw him
How long is it since you had a rise in salary? He has never been to visit me since I have been ill

Tenses 3 Adverb clauses: future Main clause + subordinate clause
(Future time) (present tense) E.g. I shall call and see you when I come to London You will fail unless you work harder I am going to buy a new car when the price comes down

Tenses 3 Adjective clauses: Future
It may either take future tense or present tense E.g. We shall award the prize to the person who gets the highest marks. We cannot consider applications that are received after 31 March.

Tenses 3 Condition I If + Present tense + future (open)
If it rains I shall stay at home Condition II If + Past tense + would/should (imaginary) If he was present there he would surely protest Condition III If + past perfect + would have (rejected) If he had studied harder, he would have passed the test

The Infinitive Verbs + Infinitive with to E.g. Advise to see
Allow to see Enable to retire Expect to be Like to be Require to sign Wish to call

The Infinitive Verbs + Infinitive without to E.g. Hear Notice Let See
Watch

The Infinitive Must, may, can take infinitive without to
Ought takes to for expressing obligation Know is never followed by a simple infinitive and it should be preceded by how (same rule applies to tell and show) E.g. He showed me how to work that machine. Adjective easy, hard, difficult, good, comfortable are followed by an active E.g. His speeches were difficult to follow

The Infinitive ‘Feel’ (equivalent of ‘think’) takes to infinitive
‘Know’ and ‘help’ take both forms Verbs which do not take to, can accommodate to in passive constructions E.g. We heard the teacher give the instruction. (A) The teacher was heard to give the instruction. (P)

The infinitive Infinitive and gerund (-ing forms)
Slight difference in meaning We prefer to go by air (particular) We prefer going by air (general) Adjectives + prepositions Verbs + prepositions Verbs + adverbs (REFER phrasal verbs) Verbs (without prepositions or adverbs) with gerunds

A Remedial English Grammar

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