For beginners

A simple way to understand the various sentence formations for different tenses is as follows:-

They are Simple Past, Past Continuous, Past Perfect, and Past Perfect Continuous.

Simple present, Present Continuous, Present Perfect, Present Perfect Continuous.

Simple Future, Future Continuous, Future Perfect, Future Perfect Continuous.

The different forms a verb would take for these tenses are explained with a simple verb ‘Go’. See how the sentences change with respect to the tenses by looking at the table.

	Simple	Continuous	Perfect	Perfect Continuous	Remarks
Past	Only verb (Went) for eg: I went home	‘ing’(was going) for eg: I was going home.	Had (had gone) For eg: I had gone home.	had been For eg: I had been going home.	Root Verb used as example is ‘Go’
Present	Only verb (Go)	‘ing’ (am going, is/are going etc.)	Has/have (has gone, have gone)	has been/have been + ‘ing’ form	--- Do----
Future	Will/shall + verb (will go, will eat )	Will be+ verb(will be going, will be eating)	Will/shall+ have+ verb in past participle form such as given+eaten	Will /shall have been	Seldom used

Note that ‘ing’ form follows ‘am’ and ‘be’, in present continuous and future continuous respectively. Beginners may read the ensuing paragraph about the word 'would', which I have written for middle/advanced levels.

For middle/advanced levels

The usage of the word ‘Would’ has a wide range of application during construction of sentences. The word is used in the following ways:-

• As a past tense for the word ‘will’

• Expressing politeness

• To express an action in the near future ( ‘going to’)

• To talk about a future action in the past.

Let’s take the first case.

I would rise by 5.00 AM early in the morning and would leave for my school at 6.00 AM during my school days. (This explains an action done in the past implying the action ‘used to’ usually referred to routine actions. While writing it is preferable to use ‘would’ than ‘used to’.)

He would see that the poor always benefited. (This is again an action done in the past, where you convey the good nature of the person spoken about)

Negatives of would

I wouldn’t agree to the proposal (indicates a negative of would in the past)

“He wouldn’t be irritated even if somebody tried to annoy him deliberately” (indicates a negative in the past)

Expressing politeness

“Would you like to have a cup of coffee?”

“Would you mind carrying this for me?”

“Would you please look into the matter?”

Expressing an action in the future

The department would shortly initiate disciplinary proceedings against the erring official (going to)

The management would like to place on record the hard work of all the employees (going to - in the immediate future

I would be at pleasure to host you next week.

There wouldn’t be any break in the alliance parties (in the immediate future).

To talk about future in the past

I knew it would meet him later. (There is a combination of past and a ‘future in the past’)

Results of the previous jumble

BUXOM

TOPAZ

BALLET

COMPLY

THE NEW PARENTS LEARNED HOW TO TAKE CARE OF THE BABY FROM THE----

Solution: BOTTOM UP.

Meanings of the words

Buxom- attractive with a bigger size

Topaz- A yellow precious stone

Ballet- A form of dance

Comply- to obey, abide by some order, adhere with some instruction

Trivia of the day

Name the house in which Mahatma Gandhi lived at Johannesburg.

Answer: The Kraal.

Thought of the day

Do not follow where the path may lead. Go instead where there is no path and leave a trail

-Ralph Emerson.

Are you ready for the next set of jumbled words?

Go to the Top.

English today.

For Beginners

Let’s make a table with the verb ‘Go’ and coin words in properly with different tenses. Tenses indicate the time of action, whether the action was performed in the present period (now), in the past (a completed action) or would be performed in the future (a period yet to come)

	Present Tense	Past Tense	Future Tense
First Person ‘I’	Go	Went	Will go
Second Person ‘You’	Go	Went	Will go
Third Person ‘He’/ ‘She’	Goes	Went	Will go
Third Person plural ‘They’	Go	Went	Will go

The combinations formed are as follows:-

I go there, I went there, I will go there (I’ll in contracted form)

You go there, You went there, You will go there (You’ll in contracted form)

He/ she goes there, He/she went there, He/she will go there (He’ll/ She’ll in contracted form)

They go there, They went there, They will go there (They’ll in contracted form)

If you remember the table, it’ll e easy to frame sentences easily.

The other form of common usage in daily English is the application of the words has, have, had etc.

Taking the same verb ‘Go’ for instance, the first person, second person, and third person combinations would be as follows:-

I have gone there, I had gone there.(First person)

You have gone there, you had gone there. (Second person)

He/ she has gone there, He/ She had gone there. (Third person ‘Singular’)

They have gone there, They had gone there. (Third person plural)

You may find that when we used the words have, has, and had the verb ‘Go’ changed to the word ‘gone’, which is known as the ‘participle’. Thus verbs that follow these words change into their participle forms. For example:-

I have seen the movie

I had taken the loaf of bread

I have given the money.

The show has begun.

Please find that see, take, give, and begin have changed to their participle forms seen, taken, given, begun respectively. As a thumb rule, the letter ‘n’ adds to change verbs into their participle forms. Hold on! This is not the case with all the verbs. There are many verbs, which retain their tense without changing. More on it later.

For middle/advanced levels

There is some common confusion with usage of some words, which arise in the event of daily English conversation and drafting. The confusion is so tricky that we need to be extra cautious during their presentation to avoid any embarrassment.

Consider the word ‘He hanged the overcoat on the wall’. This is a wrong sentence since ‘hanged’, means to hang somebody in the gallows. The correct sentence would be ‘He hung the overcoat on the wall’.

Words such as all ready, already, all together, altogether, all ways, always are also tricky.

All ready - ready for start, completely prepared.

Example:- The players were all ready but the match was yet to start.

Already- beforehand, previously.

Example:- The attorney was already present in the court even before the arrival of the client.

All ways- all possible avenues/ways.

Example:-The player explored all ways to win the match.

Always- Existing at all times without exclusion.

Example:- I always check my wallet before I leave my home.

We’ll discuss more on this subject later.

Results of the previous jumble

AGILE, QUAIL, ELIXIR, UNIQUE

Solution: QUEUE.

Let me give the meaning of the above words

Agile- able to move quickly and easily

Quail- a small brown bird whose meat and eggs are edible.

Elixir- a magic potion believed to cure all illnesses.

Unique- only one of its kind, matchless, having no equals.

For today’s exercise view at the top.