AM or p.m.? Capitalizing Abbreviations.

by esltime2 on July 31, 2011

Abbreviations save you time, but they also present you with a couple of annoying problems, namely whether to capitalize or lowercase and whether a period is needed. The world of abbreviations, I must confess, is prime real estate for turf wars. Some publications and institutions proudly announce that “we don’t capitalize a.m.” whereas others declare [...]

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Getting By with a Little Help from Some Other Verbs

by esltime2 on July 29, 2011

In addition to has, have, had, and the be verbs (am, is, are, was, were, and so on) you can attach a few other helpers to a main verb, and in doing so, change the meaning of the sentence slightly. Helpers you need to consider hiring include: Should and must add a sense of duty. [...]

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Shining a Light on Not-So-Perfect Tense

July 29, 2011

The perfect tenses tack has, have, or had onto a verb. Each perfect tense — present perfect, past perfect, and future perfect — also has a progressive form, which includes an -ing verb. The difference between plain perfect tense and progressive perfect is subtle. The progressive perfect is a bit more immediate than the plain [...]

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TENSES

July 21, 2011

TENSES FUTURE FORMS Introduction There are a number of different ways of referring to the future in English. It is important to remember that we are expressing more than simply the time of the action or event. Obviously, any ”future” tense will always refer to a time ”later than now”, but it may also express [...]

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”- ING” FORM

July 21, 2011

”- ING” FORM INTRODUCTION The ”-ing” form of the verb may be a present participle or a gerund. The form is identical, the difference is in the function, or the job the word does in the sentence. The present participle: This is most commonly used: l as part of the continuous form of a verb, [...]

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RELATIVE CLAUSE

July 21, 2011

RELATIVE CLAUSE WHERE TO PUT THE PREPOSTITION IN A RELATIVE CLAUSE There are often prepositions in relative clauses, and the relative pronoun is the object of the preposition. This means that the preposition can sometimes be omitted. 1. The preposition is normally placed at the end of the relative clause: Is that the man (who) [...]

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REPORTED SPEECH

July 21, 2011

REPORTED SPEECH QUESTIONS 1. Normal word order is used in reported questions, that is, the subject comes before the verb, and it is not necessary to use ”do” or ”did”: “Where does Peter live?” She asked him where Peter lived. 2. Yes / no questions: This type of question is reported by using ”ask” + [...]

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MAKING WORDS ”AGREE”

July 7, 2011

As well as the pronouns in the previous chapter there are a number of other pronouns. Because some of these are singular and some are plural, the verb is often incorrectly used with singular pronouns. Look at the following examples: Each of you have been given a pencil. Each of you has been given a [...]

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WRITING A SUMMARY Selecting the points

July 7, 2011

Whether you have to write a summary or precis for an exam or whether you need to summarise a report for convenience, it is essential that you first thoroughly understand the mean¬ing of the passage. Jot down the main points – using your own words. It is then a good idea to put away the [...]

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Making use of the active and passive voice

July 7, 2011

The active voice is more positive than the passive voice.In the active voice a subject does something. In the passive voice something is done to him. Active voice The father struck his son. The teacher gave the class a detention. Passive voice The son was struck by his father. The class was given a detention [...]

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