The Simple Present Tense (Part 3)

     Finally, we have reached the 3rd and final part of the Simple Present Tense. Before this, we have discussed on: 

• How it is used as an habitual action
• How it is used to express a general truth

      The final part of the Simple Present Tense is used to talk about thoughts and feelings at the present moment, or about the immediate reactions to something. 

For example,

• I am busy.

• He looks awful.

• My stomach hurts.

The Simple Present Tense (Part 2)

     In the previous post, The Simple Present Tense (Part 1), it expresses a habitual action done in our daily lives, such as sleeping, eating, walking, etc. Now let us talk about the 2nd usage of the Simple Present Tense. 

    The 2nd usage of the Simple Present Tense is used to express a general truth. For example,

• The sun rises in the east and sets in the west.
  
  

• The earth revolves round the sun.
  
  

• Plants make food with the help of sunlight.
  
  

Note: The subject, plants, is in a plural form. The verb, make, does not need to add a 's' to the subject. 

The Simple Present Tense (Part 1)

• I eat an apple
• She eats an apple.
• You eat the apple.
• We eat apples.

     The verb "eat" and "eats" is the simple present tense. The simple present tense describes the subject is doing the action everyday. It is called as habitual action.

Singular Subject refers to one person/object/animal

Singular Subject + verb + s + Article + Object

He + eat + s + an + apple.

He eats an apple.

Plural Subject refers to more than one person/object/animal

Plural Subject + verb + Object

We + eat + apples.

We eat apples.

Exception

Pronouns (Part 2)

Let's continue from part 1 where I described the need to use pronouns and how to use its most basic form, the Personal Pronouns.

In part 2 here, I shall describe the other forms of pronouns.

Previously, 'He, She, It, I, You, We, They' are used as subjects, which means they are the ones who start a sentence. They are at the beginning of a sentence. And they are usually before the verb in the sentence.

For example,
He walks to school every morning.
'He' is at the beginning and placed before the verb 'walks'.

Therefore, 'He' is the subject form of personal pronouns.

What if the pronouns are the objects of the sentence? In other words, the pronouns are near the end of the sentence or after the verb in the sentence? Well, we can no longer use the same set of personal pronouns.

When used as objects,
I becomes me
He -> him
She -> her
We -> us
They -> them
'It' remains as 'it'
'You' remains as 'you'

For example,
I adore Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sylvester Stallone. I've always loved Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sylvester Stallone. My brother also likes Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sylvester Stallone.

Too hard and long to write Arnold's and Sylvester's long names, isn't it?

Therefore, we'll address Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sylvester Stallone as 'them' as the objects of the sentence. 

I adore Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sylvester Stallone. I've always loved them. My brother also likes them.

It's at the end of the sentence. Check!
It's also after the verb. Check!

Therefore, remember not to use the wrong pronoun when it's at the end of the sentence and after the verb. Make sure you can differentiate between the subjects and the objects.

Well, that's it for part 2. Stay tuned for part 3 where we explore more forms of pronouns!

Pronouns (Part 1)

Let's look at this paragraph :

"Jennifer Lawrence is a famous actress. Jennifer Lawrence acted in many movies. Jennifer Lawrence is best known for her role as Katniss Everdeen in Hunger Games. Jennifer Lawrence..."

If I were to describe who Jennifer Lawrence is and if I were to continue to write 'Jennifer Lawrence' in every sentence I write, wouldn't it sound repetitive and kind of redundant? By the way 'Jennifer Lawrence' is not a short name either. There's got to be a way to address 'Jennifer Lawrence' better.

Luckily, we have pronouns! 

Pronouns are exactly the words we need to replace the many-letter nouns like 'Jennifer Lawrence'. Otherwise, our fingers will be sore just writing her name. Now, the pronoun we can use here is 'She' so let's replace the 2nd Jennifer Lawrence onwards with the pronoun 'She'.

''Jennifer Lawrence is a famous actress. She acted in many roles. She is best known as Katniss Everdeen in Hunger Games. She...''

Sounds better right? And it's much shorter too!

'She' is just one of the many pronouns in English. It's only used to refer to a girl or woman. What about the others? Let's look at the table below:

• He - to refer to a boy or man
• It - to refer to an animal or non living thing
• We - to refer to a group of people including oneself
• They - to refer to a group of people other than oneself
• You - to refer to the person you're talking to
• I - well, that's you yourself!

These are the most basic form of pronouns, called personal pronouns. There are other forms, which we shall ponder in the next post. Stay tuned!

Sentences

     In English, there are 3 types of sentences. They are the simple sentence, complex sentence and compound sentence. 

1. Simple Sentence
Simple Sentence is a sentence which only consists of a subject and a verb (predicate).
-> He has a dog.
-> She is dancing.
-> I was gazing out of the window.
-> Mary entered the room.
-> The horse fell.
-> The men were walking quickly.

2. Complex Sentence
Complex Sentence is a sentence which consists of a dependent clause and an independent clause. (We shall talk about clauses in the next post)

-> Everyone who knows you acknowledge, when he considers the case calmly, that you have been wronged.
= Everyone acknowledge (Independent clause/Simple sentence)
= Who knows you (Dependent clause)
= When he considers the case calmly (Dependent clause)
= That you have been wronged. (Dependent clause)

-> The man who can play most heartily when he has the chance of playing is generally the man who can work most heartily when he must work,
= The man is generally the man. (Independent clause/Simple sentence)
= Who can play most heartily (Dependent clause)
= When he has the chance of playing (Dependent clause)
= Who can work most heartily (Dependent clause)
= When he must work. (Dependent clause)

3. Compound Sentence
Compound Sentence consists of two independent clauses connected with a conjunction (and, but, so, etc.)

-> He is slow, but he is sure.

= He is slow (Independent clause/Simple sentence)

= but (Conjunction)

= He is sure (Independent clause/Simple sentence)

-> He is unwell, so he cannot attend office.

-> She must weep or she will die.

-> He is rich, yet he is not happy.

*To note: Dependent clause is a group of words consisting of a subject and a verb but cannot stand on its own. Independent clause is a sentence consisting of a subject and a verb and can stand on its own (simple sentence).

Parts of Speech

     Every English word has its own part or category in the sentence to make sense in a certain order. There are eight parts of speech in English. They are:

1. Nouns

Nouns are what you call a person, animal, plant, object, place, abstract stuff etc.
-> John, tiger, school, Mount Everest, honesty, time, pen, cow, Kuala Lumpur, thought, sweetness, friendship, length, speed.

2. Verbs

Verbs are the "action"words. Words that describe what you DO. 
-> eat, think, write, cry, work, laugh, continue, throw, forget, take, buy, sell.

3. Pronouns

Pronouns are word that takes the place of a noun so that you don't have to repeat writing a person's name. 
-> they, we, I, you, he, she, it.

4. Adjectives

Adjectives are words that describe a noun or a pronoun. Words that help tell us more about something or someone. 
-> good, fine, red, rich, round, fast, cold, strong, tall, short, broken.

5. Adverbs
 Unlike adjectives, adverbs are words that describes a verb. They tell us more about how somebody does something. 
-> walk (verb) quietly (adverb), come here, fall suddenly, answer correctly, did well, never fail.

6. Prepositions

Prepositions are words that show relation between one thing and another. 
-> against, in, on, above, under, below, from, to, around, since, during, except, until, over, among, across.

7. Conjunctions

Conjunctions are words that join words, phrases and clauses.
-> for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so
* FANBOYS = For, And, Nor, But, Or, Yet, So

8. Interjections

Interjections are words that expresses emotions and feelings.
-> Hello! Oh! Stop! Whut! Hi! Ah!

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     To clearly express the eight parts of speech in a sentence, this is an example.

-> Hey! I just bought these apples and oranges from that huge supermarket.

~ Hey! (Interjections) I (Pronoun) just (Adverb) bought (Verb) these apples (Noun) and (Conjunction) oranges from (Preposition) that huge (Adjective) supermarket.

Article II

     In the previous post about articles part 1, we're introduced to the three articles ('A', 'An' and 'The') and explained with their usages. In this post, article part 2 we shall look into when the articles mentioned are not used. The unused article will be displayed as '-' or dash in the sentence. 

     There are fives uses of using a dash when the article is not used. To understand it more clearly, the sentences below will show examples of how to use the dash.

1. Before a proper noun

-> Singapore has the largest port in Asia.

~ - Singapore has the largest port in - Asia

2. Before an abstract noun

-> Honesty is the best policy.

~ - Honesty is the best policy.

3. Before the names of materials, sports and meals

-> Iron is a useful metal.

~ - Iron is a useful metal

-> James loves to play badminton. 

-> Mary had breakfast at the cafe this morning. 

4. In phrases which consist of a preposition followed by its object

-> This is the greatest show on earth.

~ This is the greatest show on - earth.

-> You can travel by air, by sea or by rail.

~ You can travel by - air, by - sea or by - rail.

5. In phrases which consist of a transitive verb followed by its object

-> The ship will set sail tomorrow.

~ The ship will set - sail tomorrow.

-> Do not give ear to such a person.

~ Do not give - ear to such a person. 

Articles I

     The articles are words such as 'A', 'An' and 'The'. They are used before a noun. Some examples of articles are a book, an elephant, the boys, etc.

     Firstly, let's talk about 'a'. There are three notes to remember when using this article.

1. 'a' is used before a common noun.
-> He is a boy.
-> James bought a book.

2. 'a' is used before a word beginning with a consonant sound (bee, chili, donkey, etc.)
-> This is a pen.
-> Tin is a useful metal.
-> Arnold is a European.
* The words 'useful' and 'European' begins with a consonant sound 'yu'.

3. 'a' is used as one or a certain. 
-> Her father gives her a dollar. (In this case, a dollar means one dollar.)
-> She bought these flowers from a woman. (In this case, a woman means a certain woman.)

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     Secondly, let's talk about 'an'.

1. 'an' is used before a word beginning with a vowel sound (airplane, egg, umbrella, etc.)
-> Timmy saw an elephant in the zoo. 
-> Jane is an honest girl. 
-> There is only an hour left before Christmas ends.
-> This is an important letter.
* The words 'honest' and 'hour' begins with a vowel sound 'on' and 'our' respectively. 

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     Finally, let's talk about 'The'. 

1. 'The' is used before the names of a noun.
-> The Pacific Ocean is very large.
-> The United State of America has a new president. 
-> This is the Samsung Note 7. 

2. 'The' is used before a particular person or thing which the speaker knows.
-> The principal was angry during the assembly.
-> Mom threw away the rotten apple.

3. 'The' is used when there is only one (sea, earth, star, sky, etc.)
-> The sun shines brightly today.
-> I always like to see the moon.

4. 'The' is used before a superlative (tallest, shortest, highest, strongest, etc.)
-> He is the best boy in the school.
-> She is the prettiest girl in the class.
-> You are the laziest boy in the class.

5. 'The' is used before an adjective when the noun is not mentioned.
-> The rich people must help the poor people.

6. 'The' is used before a noun representing a class or kind.
-> The lion is the king of the beasts.

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     To sum up, Articles are used to refer to a noun (person, object, place, etc.) and put emphasis on that noun.