Grammar is one of the essential parts of language learning. An enthusiastic learner should start with the basic grammar rules to enhance language proficiency. The precision of a language will come in handy once you learn the basic grammar rules. If you want to communicate without any hesitation, you need to have mastery over the rules that govern the structure of a language.

Proper Use of Prepositions

Prepositions can be placed before a noun or pronoun. You should use the correct preposition to have clarity in speaking.

Examples

• Manu is fond of cricket
• She lives with her grandmother
• He is waiting for her brother
• The sky is above our heads.

Common propositions are,

in, at, in, of, for, over, under, from, with, on, into, onto, within, from among, towards, across, beside, beneath, by dint of, instead of, in the course of, regarding, considering,

Proper use of Adjectives

The words that can qualify as noun or Pronoun is called an adjective. Once you start talking, make sure you use the most appropriate adjective. There are different kinds of adjectives.

Proper adjectives

• Indian
•  Chinese
• European
•  American

Adjective of quality

• Good
• Bad
• Noble
• Dishonest
• rich
• poor
• hot
• warm

Adjective of quantity

• huge
•  full
• enough
•  whole
•  little
• all

Numerical adjectives

• one
•  two
•  three
• third
• fourth
•  several
• few

Demonstrative adjective

• this
•  that
• these
• those
•  such

Distributive adjective

• each
• every
• either
• neither
• interrogative adjective
• whose
• which
•  what

Possessive adjective

• my
• your
• our
• her
• his

The adjective also includes a degree of comparison like positive, comparative, and superlative.

Mind the Use of Tense

Tense can define the time of action. The tense is classified into simple, continuous, perfect, and perfect continuous. They are further classified into the present, past, and future.

Simple Tense

The simple Present Tense

The simple Present Tense show a permanent truth, habitual action, or present action.

Examples

• Megha eats bread and butter
• Sun rises in the east
• He cooks his meal
• Laura watches webtoons every day.
• She eats bananas every night before going to bed.
• I go to the gym daily.

Simple Past Tense

Expresses an action completed in the past or mention a habitual action in the past

Examples

• He took my wallet yesterday
• Veena stayed in New York for five years.
• She learned to play the violin five months ago.
• I got the appointment letter yesterday
• Mona went to the market yesterday
• My beloved saw a thriller movie yesterday.
• Last year, I traveled to San Francisco
• I washed the clothes
• She bought a dress for me.

Simple Future

Emphasizes an action or event which is still to take place.

Examples

• They shall tell him the best news
• He shall tell him the truth
• She will return tomorrow
• They will get access the next day
• You will receive a promotion.

Continuous Tense

It is used to denote a continuous action

Present Continuous Tense

Shows an action that is going on at the time of the speaking. A future action especially in spoken English.

Examples

• They are going to school.
• Children are playing in the park.
• She is crying out loud.
• It is raining now.
• I am doing laundry.
• Lovely is teaching maths now.

Past Continuous Tense

Shows an action going on sometime in the past.

Examples

• They were watching a horror movie.
• I was learning science yesterday for the test.
• It was outpouring on Wednesday.
• The baby was crying all night.
• They were driving the car.
• We were waiting for the bus.

Future Continuous Tense

denotes an action as going on at some time in the future

Examples

• I will be joining the club from tomorrow.
• I will be watching the movie tonight.
• We will be staying at Renu’s.
• The message will be arriving soon.
• The doctor will be visiting the day after tomorrow.
• They will be arriving at the museum tomorrow.

Perfect Tense

Present Perfect Tense

Denotes an action that is just completed or a past action when we think of its effect in the present tense.

Examples

• They have trained as teachers for two years
• Astronauts have traveled to the Moon.
• Nobody has ever visited them
• They have seen that video many times.
• She has sent the letter

Past Perfect Tense

Shows an action that is completed at some point in the post before some other action began.

Examples

• She played football yesterday
• I had done my tasks when she came
• He had played football on the team
• They had eaten the luxurious lunch last afternoon

Future Perfect Tense

Shows an action that will be completed by a certain future time.

• I will have received my degree by next July
• At six o’clock Meenu will have left
• They will not have finished telling the story

Perfect Continuous Tense

Present Perfect Continuous Tense

Denotes an action that began in the past and is continuing.

Examples

• Lucky has been working since four o’clock
• Madhu has been working here since 2004
• He has been watching the series since yesterday night
• I have been falling ill more often

Past Perfect Continuous Tense

Describes an action that began before a certain point in the past and continued up to that time.

Examples

• She had been waiting there for three days
• They had been playing football
• We had been working in that office until last September

Future Perfect Continuous Tense

It is used to show an action that is in progress and which will continue until a certain point in time in the future.

Examples

• He will only have been waiting for a few minutes when Jani’s car arrives.
• Leena will only have been taking care of the cat for a couple of hours when Deepa arrives.

Make Sure to Use the Past Form of the Verb Right

In English, conversing in past is not a tedious job. But you need to pay extra attention to the past tense of the verb to convey the apt meaning that you wish to communicate. Not all the verbs are following the regular form for making their past tense. It’s not always the -ed form. But many past forms are also belonging to the category of irregular verbs regular verbs and irregular verbs should be handled carefully. Regular verbs are formed by adding -ed in their V2 and V3 form, or past and past participle form. Regular verbs are also known as weak verbs. There are three kinds of Irregular verbs. Some verbs have the same three forms. Some verbs have altogether different forms. Some verbs can be considered regular and irregular at the same time.

Examples

Regular Verbs

Examples-Irregular Verbs

• Cut-cut-cut
• Put- put- put
• Thrust-thrust-thrust
• Read-read-read
• Spread-spread-spread
• Beat-beat-beaten
• Spin-spun-spun
• Sit-sat-sat
• Stick-stuck-stuck
• Hang-hung-hung
• Cling-clung-clung
• Freeze-froze-frozen
• Blow-blew-blown
• Thrive-throve-thriven
• Drink-drunk-drunk
• Arise-arose-arisen
• Dream – dreamed – dreamed (regular)
• Dream – dreamt – dreamt (irregular)
• Spoil – spoiled – spoiled (regular)
• Spoil – spoilt – spoilt (irregular)
• Lean – leaned – leaned (regular)
• Lean – lent – lent (irregular)
• Leap – leaped – leaped (regular)
• Leap – leaped – leaped (irregular)

Use of Conjunction

If you wish to connect two ideas, arguments, or phrases, you have to use a conjunction.

The common Conjunctions that can help you to be precise include.

• and
• but
• so
• or
• because

Examples

• Rekha is visiting today so I’m cleaning my room.
• Would you like ice cream or cake?
• We’re going for a walk because we’re exhausted
• She likes football and she plays with her team daily

 

Proper Use of Adverbs

Adverbs are used to qualify a verb, adjective, or another adverb. There are several kinds of adverbs namely,

• Attribute Adverb
• Adverb Particles
• Predicative Adverb
• Introductory Adverb.

Examples

• Rahul shouted loudly
• They are here
• He ran fast
• Here is a call for Hema
• We raised our hands.

 

Mind the use of homophones

Homophonic words should be handled with precision and care. Homophones are words with the same pronunciation but different meanings and spelling. Understand the meanings of the words before using them in spoken language.

Examples

• Berth-Birth
• it’s – its
• here – hear
• you’re – your
• our – hour
• Cast- Caste
• I – eye
• break – brake
• flower – flour
• Days- Daze

 

Apt Use of Singular and Plural Nouns While Conversing

Nouns are the naming words. Nouns can be singular or plural. Plural denotes multiple people, things, names, locations, etc whereas the singular noun is used to denote a single person, object, or thing. Mind the situation before using a singular or plural noun.

Example

• chef – chefs
• cactus – cacti
• focus – foci
• bus – buses
• truss – trusses
• Person- people
• marsh – marshes
• Lady- Ladies
• class – classes
• fez – fezzes
• Doctor – Doctors
• chief – chiefs

Whereas some words retain their singular and plural form

• Homework- homework
• Sheep- sheep
• Jewelry- Jewelry

 

Subject Verb Agreement

The agreement between subject and verb should be maintained while constructing sentences. The subject in a sentence is the person who acts as a verb. When the subject is singular the verb the follows should be singular. When the subject is plural, the verb that follows should compulsory be plural. When you use “I or You” as the subject, make sure to use the plural form as a verb.

Examples

• Devika runs15 kilometers daily
• Devika and Meena run 5 kilometers every day.
• I run across the paddy field
• You need to improve your language

Learn to Use Articles Without Error

In the English language, we have 2 indefinite articles and one definite article. The definite article “the” is used with uncountable nouns and the indefinite article “a/an” with countable nouns.

Examples

• a cat
• a University
• an easy task
• an interesting session
• the bluebird
• the money