Past Tense - 22

     Visiting the past - Past Tense- 22

                                                                                                

In English language there are six different tenses to indicate past action (Please remember we are not talking about the  past state in this topic.)

1-Simple present perfect tense ( I have read.) – Already discussed in session -17

2-Simple past tense (  I read.)

3-Past progressive tense ( I was reading)

4-Present perfect progressive  tense ( I have been reading.)

5-Simple past perfect tense. ( I had read.)

6-Past perfect progressive tense (I had been reading)

                                 Simple past tense - Function

Simple past tense  is used in narration, account of a visit, story telling, report writing etc.

Simple past and Present perfect -  Difference

Both these tenses are used for the actions that  took place in the past period. They don’t serve the same purpose. The simple past tense doesn’t have any link with the present, while the present perfect verb has link with the present time.

It rained last yesterday. (Past Tense)

It has rained – see the wet ground. (Past activity is linked to the present observation) - (Past Perfect Tense)

Just is used with present perfect for an activity that took place a short while ago.

My boss has just arrived.

They have just gone out.

Simple past tense contains (mostly) Time adverbial (last month, last August, in 2003 etc .)

Present perfect is used with adverbials like so far, before, already, ever never, yet,

I visited Texas last week/in 2003

I haven’t visited Texas so far.

I have already seen this machine.

The team hasn’t arrived yet.

I think I have seen him before.

I met Clara in Perth./She didn’t see me – (Some times in  Past tense sentence time adverbial is omitted.)

Past perfect tense is used for an activity that began in the past and still continuing (at the time of speaking)

 She has worked here for five years. (She is still working.) - Past perfect tense

She worked here for years. (She no longer works.) - Past tense

For indicating past habits. (We usually use used to for this purpose )

She   always travelled in train.

They always blocked the passage of budget/bill.

He always invited friends to his parties.

Past action and past state – difference

She visited the University last week –action

She was in the university last week - state

Difference between present tense and past tense. 

She reads the news paper in the morning. - Present

She read the news paper in the evening yesterday.- past

                          Simple Past Tense- Structure

PRIOR KNOWLEDGE

Subject           

What we speak about, in a sentence is called subject. Subject = I, we, you, they, he, she, it, noun phrase etc. He/she/it include all singular nouns, pronouns, collective nouns, etc. They includes all Plural nouns.

Action Verb

Verb that indicates some action is called action verb (e.g. Go, come, write etc. )

Verb forms

Go – Present form of the verb, Went – past form of the verb go          

  

STRUCTURE    (The structure  is same for all subjects ,I we , you, they, he she, it etc.)                         

Subject + Action Verb (past form) + message/news/information etc. – Simple sentence

e.g. He went to London yesterday.

Subject + didn’t +action verb (Present form) + information –  Negative sentence.

e.g. He didn't  go to London yesterday. He did no went to London

(Didn't = did not)

Did +  subject + action verb (Present form) + information – ‘yes/no’ question

e.g.  Did he go to London yesterday. Did he went to London yesterday.

Didn’t + subject + action verb (Present form) + information – ‘yes/no’ negative question

e.g. Didn’t he go to London yesterday.= Did he not go London yesterday.

“wh’ word + did + subject + action verb (Present form) + matter -  ‘wh’ question

e.g. When did he go to London./Where did he go yesterday. (Where did he go to yesterday.)

Present – past - contrast

She Teaches English – She taught English.

The thief runs away – The thief ran away.

They have a car (now) – They had a car some time back.

She wakes up at six (always)– She woke up at six (yesterday)

He does the trick – He did the trick.

More Sentences - Past Tense

Jim worked in a bank from 2003 to 2010

I rained all the morning yesterday.

We enjoyed the movie.

The event cam to an end at midnight.

‘Didn’t you see the dentist last night?’ No, I was busy.

‘Where did you see Susan?’ At Marines.

He didn’t answer my call, I didn’t expect that.

‘When did you meet Mary?'. Last night.

'Did he go away in the morning?' Yes he went away in the morning.

‘Did you go for shopping yesterday?’ No, I didn’t have time.

‘Did it rain last week?’ not much.

‘Did your friends have a nice party?’ Yes, they enjoyed a lot.

Short conversation

 A- The table is broken.

B- Who broke it?/How did it happen?/How did that happen?

A- I don’t know.

A- I went to Paris last  week

B- Where did you stay?

A-  At Bays.

A- I returned home by a cab.

B- How much did it cost?

A- 15 dollars.

Past Tense in the news head lines (Virtual)

The new tax regime spared the rich.

Obama – Putin summit, (on new arms treaty), failed once again

Greek Government unveiled new health insurance policy.

Cameron agreed to revive ailing auto  industry.

Canberra refused to grant amnesty to extremists.

Dollar nosedived on speculation

Past Tense in Ads (Not real)

Our jets  never rested since their first voyage – At your service round the clock- Blue jet

Did you experience  paradise on earth?  Visit Bon voyage cottage, Sydney.

Churchill, Regan Tatcher Saadat Mandela,  stayed  with  us, Make your visit a historical one – Royal inn Ottawa.

Disappointed with your insurer? Feel relaxed, Visit Max Flexi Insurance – Dubai.

We outpaced others in car production – Your reliable partner on the move – Delta Motors , Washington.                                                                                                                                                                    

ENGLISH SKILL-21

                  Subject-Verb  agreement
                                        

Subject : In a sentence we speak about someone or something,  the someone or something

 is called subject

Verb : Ther are two types of verbs, main or action verb ( go, come, sit etc.) and auxiliary  or

 helping verb , here we deal with auxiliary/helping  verb, they are called helping verb

 because they help main verb to form a sentences. ( She is doing well,  here  is = helping verb

 and doing = main verb. Am, is, are, was, were, been ,have, has, had, etc. are the helping 

verbs.). A sentence would appear shabby if it’s subject and verb don’t  agree with each

 other.

My friends is coming tomorrow

(Here my friends = subject and is = verb, the subject doesn’t agree with the verb, there is no 

action verb here.), the correct form of the sentence is.

My friends are coming.

Rules

1 Two or more subjects joined by conjunction and, takes plural verb form.

Jill and Jim are/were friends.

Jill and Jim  the cricketers,have arrived.

Factories and workers are part of big cities.

But, Joe with his wife and children, is in city. (The subject to be taken in to account is Joe.)

Please note that when two nouns represent the same concept, singular verb is used.

 Bread and butter is their main demand.

High and low is a  part of the share market.

2 When two  singular nouns indicate the same person or thing, singular verb is used

The founder and  architect of this nation is dead. (Refers to the same person)

The poet and playwright is visiting the city  tomorrow.

Honor and glory was  his motto.

3 Relative pronoun like who should agree with the number (of person)

He  is the man who seeks blood. (not seek)

She is one of those actress who were awarded Oscar.

4. When plural noun(Noun phrase)  describes some amount or quantity 

(Considered as a whole), the verb takes singular form.

A Ten thousand Yen is not a small sum.

Judge said, “ fifteen minutes’ is allowed for the argument.”

Three months is a good period (for some purpose)

Fifteen hundred miles is a long distance.

Note: When plural noun represents proper noun.

Big dreams is a good novel

United states has promised F16s to South Korea.

Gulliver’s Travels is my favorite  book.

5.  Error due to proximity  (of a verb) of  the nearest noun

The quality of the apples is not satisfactory. ( is should agree with quality not with apples.)

Neither the chairman nor the managers were present.

Either you or he is telling a lie.

She is not to blame nor are you.

Not one of his lectures were printed.

6.   Some nouns in plural form have singular meaning.

Politics, news, Each, media, Mathematics, Physics etc.

Politics is not interesting these days.

Five dozen is  too much.

Wages of  sin is death.

7.Collective nouns like staff, family, audience, committee etc. take either singular or plural verb.

The audience was large.

The audience were unhappy with the organizers.

Greek government is unyielding on austerity measures.

NOTE: Collective nouns like Police, people, Jury etc. take  plural form

The Police are investigating the case. But we should say policeman is investigating…...

The Jury (many) were divided.

The jury (a group ) has elected its head.

If we think that collective noun represent many people/things, then the verb takes plural 

form. The audience have become restless, due to the late start of the concert.

8.With relative pronoun  like who , should agree with number and person

 The man who is sitting there, is my friend.

She is one of those women who are music lovers.

9.Scissors, Trousers, Spectacles, pants are treated as two things.

These scissors are not sharp enough.

Your pants are dirty.

10. Paper, ice ,soap, furniture etc. are uncountable nouns

Paper sheet is/ice cube is/soap cake is.

11. Pains and means take either singular or plural form.

Fighters suffered great pains.

Pains is not a barrier for a true adventurer.

His means have improved considerably.

The austerity means employed by the planners is not in the right direction.

12. Subjects joined by or nor should agree with the nearer verb.

Either he or she is present.

Neither you nor she is to blame.

Neither My cousin nor I am interested.

No nook or corner was spared in the search.

13.Each,every,many a , wither, neither are followed by singular verb.

Neither of the two parties was willing.

Each of these minerals is found in the  Gobi desert.

Every one of the students likes to have chocolate.

Many a man doesn’t know his potentials.

14 With and as well as

The building with its assets was sold.

Gold as well as wheat has taken a beating.

                                                                                                                                                                              

 

ENGLISH SKILL -20

                               

            Possessives and Apostrophe

                  

                                            

POSSESSION means ownership, Possessive apostrophe (‘)   indicates ownership

POSSESSIVE FORM OF NOUN  is formed by using possessive apostrophe (‘)

James’s car, cat’s tail, Jane’s office etc.

NOTE:  (‘s) is not used with life less things, instead we use ‘of’

We can say teacher’s keys but not cupboard’s keys, we should say keys of the cup board.

Similarly we can say name of the city, roof of the building etc.

POSSESSIVE FORM OF  PERSONAL  PRONOUN – It has two possessive forms

Personal pronoun	Possessive pronoun	Possessive determiners
I	Mine	my
We	Ours	our
You	yours	your
He	his	his
She	hers	her
it	its	its
they	theirs	their

NOTE  ‘you’ is used both as singular and plural pronoun. The old form of singular ‘you’ is 

‘thou’ it is out of use now. Some call possessive determiner as adjective, according 

to Michael Swan It’s not correct.

Changing determiner to possessive pronoun

Possessive pronoun	Possessive determiner
This is my shirt	This shirt is mine
This is my pen and That is your pen	This pen is mine and that is yours (your's is incorrect)
That is your cabin	That is  yours (Your's is incorrect)

Changing possessive form of noun to possessive form of pronoun or simply 

changing noun to pronoun

 Jim’s car is white (Noun form)

His car is white (pronoun form)

NOTE: Don’t be scared of so many grammatical terms you don’t need to 

remember neither the names nor their definitions, It’s more than enough if 

you are just aware of  their practical usage.While speaking English don’t be 

afraid of minor grammatical slips, these slips are common, because speech is 

spontaneous and  the neuro-muscular (thought-speech) coordination may not 

be in pace . Some people pace their speech in such a way that their slips 

are hardly noticed by the listener. Usage of appropriate  words and  correct 

pronunciation is indispensable. Incorrect pronunciation and improper word 

order might change the whole context, look at following sentence

Mispronounced/Misspelt

Julia said that she received an important massage from her boss the day before. (She 

mispronounced/misspelt message), Imagine the damage the misspelt word would  cause 

to her career.

Improper word order

Joe thought of marrying Julia several times. (Without any sense)

Joe thought several times of marrying Julia. (Correct)

  

RULES TO ADD POSSESSIVE APOSTROPHE (‘)

1  If it is a noun add  (‘s) at the end of the noun

e.g. his sister’s car, My father’s friend etc.

2. If it is a plural noun add just (‘) at the end of the noun

e.g.  Students’ hostel (Many students), Doctors’ car (many doctors) etc.

3. If it is a irregular noun (not ending with ‘s’) add (‘) before ‘s’

e.g. children’s park, men’s club etc.

4. Two or more related nouns indicating separate possession

e.g. Cathy’s and Pope’s Novels.

5.  Two closely related nouns

e.g. Putin and Medvedive’s rule.

6 When noun has more connected words add apostrophe to the last word.

e.g. Harry potter the  acclaimed actor’s home. The woman next door’s husband. etc.

7  when nouns are in apposition.

That is Rowling the novelist’s house.

8 When two nouns are closely related.

  Laurel and Hardy’s plays.

USAGE OF APOSTROPHE IN DIFFERET CONTEXTS

 With personified things (Fortune’s call, nature’s way duty’s call etc.)

Time, space and quantity noun.( A foot’s length, a pound’s weight, a week’s holiday etc.)

For God’s sake, at her fingers’ tips. He ate to his heart’s content, The ship’s crew etc.

Note: The word fingers always used as plural.

How many 2’s are there in ten?

He was born in ’61 (’61 = 1961)

In early 1950’s or 1050s

The Boss’s wife.

She was educated at St. Anne’s (St. Anne’s = School/college)

Where is St. Paul’s (St. Paul’s = Church/School/College)

There is a party at my nephew’s to night.( nephew’s house)

Homers’ ideas, Oedipus’ Plight. (With the names of legends s’ is used)

Charles’s terrible wife. (In general). Mr. Ross’s  car. Dickens’s novel.

He’s  a cousin of Joseph’s (He’s = his , Joseph’s = of Joseph)

I saw a boy friend of Jane’s last week.

‘Whose is this?’ ‘John’s’

Janet is at hairdressers (‘s is dropped )

William is at butchers. (for buying meat)

Jim is at gold smith’s (gold smith = Profession/business)

They bought it at Jims ( Jim = Jim cookware)  – apostrophe is avoided from the names of 

shops , business houses etc.

Whose is that car? (Who’s is that car)

Maria’s house is bigger than Jane’s.

It’s = it is, Its = of it.

She spells b’s instead of p’s.

9 O’ clock = 9 of the clock.

It is a nice  proposal, but there are lot of if’s and but’s (doubts/clarifications)

The President met some MPs. (Apostrophe is optional)

How’s that brother of yours/hers/his.

I met an old boyfriend of Cathay’s last night.

Affairs  of others seem more interesting than one’s own.

Apostrophe in contractions

Contraction	meaning
I’m	I am
I’ve	I have
I’d	I  would/had
I’ll	I will
You’re	You are
You’ll	You will
You’ve	You have
You’d	You would/had
he’s	He is/had
he’d	He would/had
he’ll	He will
She’s	She is/has
She’d	She would/had
She’ll	She will
We’re	We are
We’ll	We will
We’ve	We have
We’d	We had/would
they’re	They are
they’ll	They will
they’ve	They have
they’d	They had/would
there’s	There is/has
there’ll	There will
there’d	There would/had
It’s	It is

 
Contractions– Negatives

Contraction	Meaning
aren’t	Are not
can’t	cannot
couldn’t	Could not
daren’t	Dare not
don’t	Did not
doesn’t	Does not
didn’t	Did not
haven’t	Have not
hasn’t	Has not
hadn’t	Had not
isn’t	Is not
mustn’t	Must not
mightn’t	Might not
needn’t	Need not
oughtn’t	Ought not
shouldn’t	Should not
shan’t	Shall not
usedn’t	Used not
wasn’t	Was not
weren’t	Were not
wouldn’t	Would not
won’t	Will not

News head lines (Not related to real life)

 Obamas  in Moscow, to inaugurate US cultural fest,

We’re safer in sea than on land: Captain of  Odyssey, after Tsunami strike off Sumatra.

Dr. Rex’s drug  gets EU nod. (EU = European Union)

Putin’s and Medvedev's  rule comes under sharp criticism after the recent election.

The Queen met commoners at Buckingham, People watched each gesture of hers.

Ads/slogans

In the early 60s, want to be in early 40s – Try 40 Plus, free from after effects. RX Herbal 

wonders.

BSS Insurance and securities- Your hearts’ choice since 1901.

It rains gold at Christis – Egypt antiques go under hammer tomorrow.

Savour every moment of you stay – Bays, Alaska. (Bays = Bay water front resort)

Laural and Hardy’s plays at full swing - Globe theater.