Common Errors(2) - 48

      Common Errors(2) in English - 48  
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   

A. Most of the English users in Asian regions specially in India are fond of ‘ing’  verbs (Present participle form of the verb) like writing, watching, eating etc. because these  structures are easy to frame, however there are some verbs that cannot be or rarely used as continuous( Progressive) verb.

He is looking happy

He looks happy.

Bill is having a large Estate in Log angles.

Bill has a large Estate in Los angles.

Shane is having a large family.

Shane has a large family.

The verb list includes

Be, see, trust, know, understand, wish, consist, concern, belong etc. For more information on non-continuous verb please paste this URL  on your browser http://esl.about.com/od/grammarlessons/a/l_pastcont.htm

B. Past  and Past participle verb – Difference in usage

Many  non native English users don’t differentiate between past and past participle verb, but there is a   difference in the usage of these  verbs.

They have finished the work last night.

They finished the work last night/yesterday/last week etc.

They have finished the work (The sentence means that the state of finished work is visible, there is no need to mention about the time adverbial like yesterday last week etc.)  just now/just a few minutes ago may be added at the end of the sentence.

More Model Sentences

She saw me at Café Paradise yesterday.

She has seen me at Café Paradise.

I have cleaned the room. ( jut now)

I cleaned the room in the morning.

It has rained. ( The roads are wet.)

It rained yesterday.

NOTE: The auxiliary verb have/has always comes before Past participle verb like, seen, slept, gone etc. Your should also note that some verbs like call, talk, walk etc. have same spelling in past and  past participle form.

C. MORE COMMON ERRORS.

When the president will arrive he will address the students.

When the president arrives he will address the students.

We can’t enter the movie theater unless we will purchase the entry ticket.

We can’t enter the movie theater unless we purchase the entry ticket.

The Teacher roared “ you will be sent out, if you will come late from tomorrow.”

The Teacher roared “ you will be sent out if you come late from tomorrow.”

When have you arrived from Texas?

When did you arrive from Texas?

We are waiting for the bus since seven O’ clock.

We have been waiting for the bus since seven O’ Clock. (or)

We have been waiting for the bus for three hours.

How long are you staying in this house?

How long have you been staying in this house? (Since 2003)

I wish I have wings.       

I wish I had wings.

If I am you I wouldn’t accept the offer.

If I were you  I wouldn’t accept the officer. ( With all subject  I, we, you, they, he, she, it were is used.)

It’s time the government take action against the rebels.

It’s time the government took action against the rebels.                                                                                                                                                                                            

             

Common Errors in English (1) - 47

         Common Errors in English - 47                                                                                                     

             Common  Errors in English - 1    

Prior Knowledge

What is a preposition? The small words like  to, for, about, below, across etc. are used with nouns or verbs to form prepositional phrases, these words  are called prepositions

She wants to buy a pen.

They are waiting for the train.

The following verbs are not followed by prepositions

She discussed about her career plan with the Career officer.

She discussed her career plan with the Career officer.

The Captain described about his new strategy to his men.

The Captain described his new strategy to his men.

The President has ordered for immediate relief to the quake Victims.

The president has ordered immediate relief to the quake victims.

The UN has requested for immediate aid to the  poor countries.

The UN has requested immediate aid to the poor countries.

The Police made  him to wait for two hours.

The Police made him wait for two hours.

(Both the sentences are acceptable, but the first one is old fashioned.)

NOTE:

He was ordered to pay for the damages. – Correct (passive form)

She was requested to attend the board meeting. – Correct (passive form)

Nouns that  don’t have singular form

Where is my  pant?

Where are my pants?

Where is my Spectacle?

Where are my spectacles.

Please bring my scissor.

Please bring my scissors.

Singular noun used in plural sense

The Police has  have arrived after some time.

The Staff  have not reported. ( ‘staff ’ can be used in singular or plural sense, with appropriate auxiliary verb.)

                                

The following words are uncountable  nouns (in a broader sense), hence they wouldn’t  be preceded by a/an.

The words are;  paper, wood, ice, Scenery, soap, bread, business, advice glass etc.

He gave me a wood

He gave me a piece of wood.

Give me a paper to write.

Give me a sheet of paper to write.

She brought a good news.

She brought good news.

He sold the old furnitures.

He sold the old furniture.

Jim has brought two breads.

Jim has brought two loaves/pieces of breads.

Please give  me a soap.

Please give  me a soap cake .

Put some ice into the glass of water.

Put some ice cubes into the glass of water.

My friend gave me a good advice.

My friend gave me good advice.

Take out this glass.

Take out this glass piece.

End of the Post - 47                                                                                                                                                 

   

Negative Question-46

                 Making Negative Questions - 46                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               

Prior knowledge

A. Auxiliary verbs (helping verbs). These Verbs  are used with the main verbs  to form Tenses, passive forms,negatives and questions. 

The forms of Auxiliary are be  forms   (am, is, are, was, were,  shall/will. e.g I am a teacher.)

Do forms   do, does, did, done. e.g. Do you Speak French.

Have forms  have, has, had. e.g. She has done the job 

Subject 

Subject often describes the doer of an action, subject shows what  the sentence is about. All the nouns and pronouns can also be used as subjects. Subject  usually comes at the beginning of a sentence.

Jane gave a book to Jim (Jane = Subject)- Noun used as a subject

She gave a book to Jim (She = pronoun) – Pronoun used as a subject

SUBJECT PRONOUN

Person	Singular	Plural
First	I	We
Second	You	You
Third	He She It	They

TYPES OF QUESTIONS

The two important  types of questions in English are ' wh' question and 'yes/no'  question. In this session we shall see 'yes/no' type.

1. 'Wh' question begins with  'wh' word  like what, when,where etc. ''Wh' question requires a complete response. e.g. Where is John// How is Shane?

2. 'Yes/no' type -  The response to this type of question is either 'yes' or 'no' , a complete response is not required in this case. e.g. Are you tired? ,  Does she work in a bank?

Note:  Subject ---->         Auxiliary Verb (For Making negatives/questions.)

        I/We/you/they           Do+I/we/you/they--> Present,

                                           Did + I/we/you/they--> Past

        He/she/it                    Does+ he/she/it --> present

                                           Did + he/she/it--> past

                            TOPIC- NEGATIVE QUESTIONS          

Negative Questions have two different meanings, ( The meanings depend on the situation and the context.). Generally negative questions have two structures.

A. Yes/no  Type question –

I Structure = Auxiliary verb + not + Subject

1. Doesn’t he know the manners?     

2.  Hasn’t she come                             

II Structure = Auxiliary verb + subject + not

1.  Does he not know the manners?

2.  Has she not come?

B.  ‘wh’ Type question.

I Structure = ‘Wh’ question word + auxiliary + not  subject

Why haven’t you come yesterday?

Why didn’t she see the doctor this morning?

II  Structure = “Wh’ question word + auxiliary verb + subject  + not

Why have you not come yesterday?

Why did she not see the doctor this morning?

Negative Question – Confirmatory - Positive 

Isn’t his argument illogical? – ( Every one will agree that his argument is illogical)

Isn’t it a lovely picture?

Wouldn’t it be better to wait for some more time?

Wasn’t it a boring movie? ( That we saw yesterday.)

Negative question – Confirmatory à Negative

Haven’t the guests arrived yet? ( Guests have not yet arrived.)

Can’t you come next week? (Why?)

Haven’t you received the check yet? (I will find the cause.)

Negative questions in other situations

Won’t you wait for me some more time?

Why don’t you spend some time at a hill resort?

Wouldn’t you like to have your favorite drink now?

The Professor yelled, “ Don’t you pay your attention to what I say?”

Excuse me,  can you lend me your trolley for some time?

Can’t you help your sister when she is in distress?

                                                                         ****************************

          

Odd questions-45

                       Odd questions in English - 45                                                                                                                                                                                                             

I. Questions in Statement/sentence/declaration form

Statements can be converted into questions by rising the intonation. The question can have
positive or negative bias. These type of questions are called Declarative question

Note: Intonation = The rise or fall of the  Pitch of the Voice (of Speech)

Model declarative questions.

You haven’t paid the tax? (The Implied meaning  is - Why haven’t you paid the tax?)

She is in the office? (The implied meaning  is – Why is she still in the office?)

They are Germans? (= Are they Germans?.)

Joe isn’t in the town?( = Isn't Joe in the town?)

The schools open tomorrow? (= Do schools Open tomorrow?)

NOTE: The positive or negative bias depends on the tone, intonation and body language of the speaker.

II. Echo question

In this type the key words of the sentence spoken by the  speaker are repeated (Echoed) as a question.

A. They left for Berlin – Statement

     They left for Berlin? (or) Left for Berlin? (or) Left? (or)  Berlin? - Echo question

B. He Speaks Five Languages – Statement

     He Speaks five languages? (or) speaks five languages? (or) five languages? - Echo question

C. She visits office once in a month?

    She visits office once in  a month? (or) Once in a month? (or) a month etc. - Echo question 

III.  Formulaic Utterance

A. In an informal chat the following statements serve as questions.

When you are busy with your friend in a café the waiter may ask you,

One more drink?/  more fries?/ another cigarette?

B. In college campus a group of students  may ask another group,

Joining us now?   

Coming tomorrow at Butlers? etc.

IV Multiple ‘wh’ question

In a casual talk sometimes we may utter multiple ‘wh’ question type question words, out of anxiety.

A. The children escaped. – Statement

When? How? Whose children? Where? etc.

B. Bill got married.

Who with? When? Where? etc.

V. What is a Tag Question? 

Tag questions are added at the end of a statement In a tag question if the statement is positive the tag is negative and if the statement is negative the tag is positive

e.g. She is a teacher –  Statement à Positive

        Isn’t She – Tag question à negative

        They aren’t Americans  - Statement à negative

        Are they – Tag question  à positive

Tag question with positive Statement and Positive tag question

They are Musicians. – Statement

Oh, they are, are they? – Positive Tag question

She is in Moscow – Statement 

She is, Is she? – Positive Tag question

NOTE: Some times this type of questions are used as Sarcastic Comments.

                                                                            

   

Question Like Sentences (3) - 44

                                                                                                                                                                                                                          

              Question like statements

                                                                                                                                          

In this session we shall see the sentences that appear as questions but may or may not have answers.  These sentences don’t have the standard questions format.

Generally the questions have the following format.

Is Jack a teacher? – ‘yes/no’ Question (Answer to this question is either ‘yes’ or ‘no’)

Who is Jack? – ‘wh’ question. (‘Wh’ question -  ‘wh’ question starts with ‘wh’ question word e.g. ‘when’, ‘what’, ‘why’ etc.)

More examples 

Does she visit the office every day? – ‘yes/no’ Question

Where does she visit everyday? – ‘Wh’ question

What is your ID number? 'Wh' Question

In English language  some sentences  start with 'wh' word, but may not  be questions. 

A. Exclamatory sentences

Generally exclamatory sentence starts with ‘wh’ question word, (What/how) the subject and auxiliary verb are not inverted as we saw in question making session. Exclamatory sentence ends with ‘!’ mark.

What a beautiful place it is! (What a beautiful place is it!)

How generous Mr. Gate is!

What a horrible site it is!

What a cute baby! (It is/was/were optional)

What a pleasant weather!

What a blunder to ignore the Government appeal!

What a pity to waste the precious resource!

B. Questions in Directed and  Reported Speech

What is a reported speech?

Reported speech is also know as indirect speech. Read the following,

Jack asked Jim, “ Where is the post office?” – Direct speech

Shane  hears the above words and reports the matter to her friend .Shane won’t repeat the exact words spoken by Jack, she will speak the following words to her friend.

Jack asked Jim, Where the post office was. – Indirect/Reported speech (is becomes was)

 NOTE: Where is the post office? in direct speech is a question.

            Where the post office was in reported speech is not a question 

More sentences (Reported Speech)

David asked his teacher, “Can I submit the record now?” - Direct

David asked his teacher, if he could submit the record then. (now becomes then, can becomes could) – Reported

 

She enquired “ What is the time now?” – Direct

She enquired what the time was then. – Reported

 

Bill asked Joe, “Do you like to dine with me?” - Direct

Bill asked Joe whether/if he like to dine with him. ( Me  becomes him) – Reported

 

The Policeman asked Shane, “May I help you?” - Direct

The policeman asked Shane whether/if he might help her (You become her, may becomes might) - Reported

The following  ‘wh’ questions play the role of suggestions (negative or positive bias)

Why stop him now? (Let him continue.)

Why  be dejected and depressed? (Come on dude  relax.)

Why give your rivals an opportunity? (Beware of them.)

Why are you going mad after her? (There are so many girls in the town.)

How will the new government bridge the budget deficit without taxing the rich?

C. The following  ‘wh’ questions play the role of suggestions (negative or positive bias)

Why stop him now? (Let him continue.)

Why  be dejected and depressed? Come on dude  relax.

Why give your rivals an opportunity? Beware of them.

Why are you going mad about her? There are so many girls in the town.

How will the new government bridge the budget deficit without taxing the rich?

Note: The above questions may or may not elicit answers, (Answering or not answering, depends upon the context of the speech.)