English Learning Made Easy & Simple
English Grammar Lessons in a Simple and Easy Way - Devised with a view to help Students, Beginners and Proficients. Discussion Board for English Grammar usage.
Wednesday, 24 March 2021
CONDITIONAL SENTENCES - FORMATION-- EXAMPLES-- EXERCISES WITH SOLUTIONS
Thursday, 25 February 2021
ERROR SPOTTING (SUPERFLUOUS WORDS)- SENTENCES OF COMPETITIVE EXAMINATION QUESTIONS PATTERN
ERROR SPOTTING
Following sentences illustrate this fact.
Today he returned back from his office very late.
This sentence appears to be correct but returned back is incorrect. Returned in itself contains the meaning of back. Return means to come back. So the word back is superfluous and is not required here.
The man is mortal.
16. The culprit went scot-free unpunished.
INCORRECT USE OF ARTICLES
1. I know man who stole your box.
2. The selection committee will select better one.
3. He drank little water that was in the jug.
4. He gave little money he had in his pocket to the beggar.
5. Only few students came to attend the class today.
6. Only small number of students paid their fee.
7. He did not listen to me as he was in hurry.
8. Both brothers are at daggers drawn with each other.
9. This plan will benefit rich as well as poor.
10. He is better clerk than teacher.
11. This is so difficult sum that I cannot solve it.
12. She took the offence of his remarks.
SOLUTION
16. The culprit went scot-free. Scot-free itself means to go unpunished. Here unpunished with scot-free is superfluous.
INCORRECT USE OF ARTICLES
1. I know the man who stole your box.
2. The selection committee will select the better one.
3. He drank the little water that was in the jug.
4. He gave the little money he had in his pocket to the beggar.
5. Only a few students came to attend the class today.
6. Only a small number of students paid their fee.
7. He did not listen to me as he was in a hurry.
8. Both the brothers are at daggers drawn with each other.
9. This plan will benefit the rich as well as the poor.
10. He is better a clerk than teacher.
11. This is so difficult a sum that I cannot solve it.
12. She took (the) offence of his remarks.
EXERCISE
Fill in appropriate articles in blanks.
........ more I try to please him....... more he gets angry. Sometimes he says he is busy at ..........moment or something of ......... sort. He is ............officer of .........Government and ........important person, but he is ........ill-tempered fellow. He does not lend ........helping hand to ..........poor.
TWO
Fill in appropriate articles in blanks.
........ girl was playing in the street, when ......... wild bull came and frightened her. .......... girl ran hastily to ....... neighbouring house where ......... elderly man was sitting in ...... chair with ...... thick stick in his hand. ......... man took up ......... stick, ran to ......... bull and drove him out of ....... street. ........ girl thanked .....man and again went to play in .......street.
SOLUTION
The more I try to please him the more he gets angry. Sometimes he says he is busy at the moment or something of the sort. He is an officer of the Government and an important person, but he is an ill-tempered fellow. He does not lend a helping hand to the poor.
TWO
A girl was playing in the street, when a wild bull came and frightened her. The girl ran hastily to the neighbouring house where an elderly man was sitting in a chair with a thick stick in his hand. The man took up the stick, ran to the bull and drove him out of the street. The girl thanked the man and again went to play in the street.
Saturday, 20 February 2021
ERROR SPOTTING (INVERSION)- SENTENCES OF COMPETITIVE EXAMINATION QUESTIONS PATTERN
ERROR SPOTTING
Going by the roadside , he was hit by a car.
OR
He going by the roadside was hit by a car.
Sometimes to emphasise a particular action in a sentence, verb, helping verb and adverb are used in the beginning of the sentence before its subject. This is called Inversion.
Words or adverbs like Hardly, Scarcely, never, Not, Either..or, neither ..nor, Not only.. but also, No sooner ....than etc., when used before subject, take inversion with them.
But there is no need of inversion when these are used in the middle of the sentence in normal form of the sentence.
For example :
In case of either..or and neither.. nor or Not.. not, neither etc
there is inversion.
She does not know him nor her mother does.
12. No sooner she saw a lizard on the wall than she started crying.
13. Down the building went like a pack of cards.
14. So far the old man went that he was not visible to us.
15. So well planned the arrangement was that the guests did not feel any difficulty in staying there.
1. Never I have read such a beautiful book as this.
In this sentence , I is subject, Have read is verb and never is adverb. But to put emphasis on the action, Never has been shifted to the position before Subject in the beginning of the sentence. For this change inversion is required. This sentence should be -
Never have I read such a beautiful book as this.
This sentence is similar to that at Sr. no. 1. This sentence will be
Never has she gone to see her parents living in the village.
3. Not only he helped him with money but also he gave him food.
In this sentence, adverb Not has been used in the beginning of the sentence before subject. For this inversion of verb 'helped' is required. 'Helped' will break into 'Help' and 'Did'. The sentence will be - Not only did he help me with money but also he gave me food.
4. Seldom he visits them to enquire about their welfare.
In simple form this sentence is -
He seldom visits them to enquire about their welfare.
But adverb 'seldom' is used in the beginning of the sentence before Subject to put emphasis on the action. For this inversion is required.
Seldom does he visit them to enquire about their welfare.
5. He did not attend the meeting today nor his friend did.
This sentence describes activities of two persons. So 'He' and 'His friend' are Subjects of two parts of the sentence.
He did not attend the meeting is the sentence in simple form but the other part with 'nor' before subject 'his friend' requires inversion. This part will be 'nor did his friend.'
6. His friend did not attend the office today neither he did.
This sentence is similar to that at Sr. no 5. There are two Subjects, 'His friend' and 'he'. First part of the sentence in simple form is correct but the part with 'neither' requires inversion. It should be 'neither did he.'
7. No sooner the child saw the dog it started crying.
This sentence in its simple form is 'The child no sooner saw the dog it started crying.' But with 'no sooner' before subject, inversion is required in the sentence. It will be -
No sooner did the child see the dog it started crying.
8. He does not like sweets nor his brother does.
This sentence is similar to that at Sr, no 5. It will be -
He does not like sweets nor does his brother.
9. So difficult was the question that no student could solve it.
In its simple form this sentence is -
The question was so difficult that no student could solve it.
But with 'so difficult' before subject, inversion is required in the sentence. This sentence is correct as 'was' has been used before subject.
10.Gone the days are when the children used to play outdoor games.
This sentence in its simple form is-
The days are gone when the children used to play outdoor games.
With verb 'gone' used before subject, inversion is required. It will be
Gone are the days when children used to play outdoor games.
11.So happy was she on his son's success that she could hardly utter a word even.
This sentence in its simple form is -She was so happy on his son's success that she could hardly utter a word even. But with inversion it will be - So happy was she on his son's success that she could hardly utter a word even.
12. No sooner she saw a lizard on the wall than she started crying.
With 'No sooner' in the beginning of the sentence before subject inversion is required in this sentence. It will be-
No sooner did she see a lizard on the wall than she started crying.
13. Down the building went like a pack of cards.
In this sentence verb 'down' is used in the beginning of the sentence before subject. Inversion is required for this. This sentence will be -
Down went the building like a pack of cards.
14. So far the old man went that he was not visible to us.
This sentence in its simple form is -The old man went so far that he was not visible to us.
But with 'so far' in the beginning of the sentence, inversion is required. This sentence will be -
So far went the old man that he was not visible to us.
15. So well planned the arrangement was that the guests did not feel any difficulty while staying there.
In its simple form this sentence is -
The arrangement was so well planned that the guests did not feel any difficulty while staying there. But with verb and adverb shifting to the beginning of sentence before subject, inversion is required in the sentence. This sentence will be -
So well planned was the arrangement that the guests did not feel any difficulty while staying there.
Thursday, 21 January 2021
ERROR SPOTTING (Tense Sequence)- SENTENCES OF COMPETITIVE EXAMINATION QUESTIONS PATTERN
ERROR SPOTTING
ERRORS DUE TO USE OF TENSE
EXERCISE NO 1
1.He does not want to seek any undue favour from that lady
but his father advised him that he should meet her if she invites him to visit her.
2. We had planned to reach there much earlier so that we
could help him but by the time we reach there, he had completed his project.
3.The young man had been working with this company for the
last ten years or so but a couple of months back he had left the job.
4.My friend opined that he would ensure that his son gets a
good job by the end of this month although his son did not like doing any job
rather he preferred to start his own business.
5.Her daughter is working hard to get through the entrance
examination and she hopes that by this time next year she will take admission
in a medical college.
6.Yesterday I went to the market to purchase a pen that I
wanted to purchase for some time but I chose a cheap one with the result that
it is leaking since I purchased it.
7. When they had arrived two hours ago, we had already done most of our work, sent messages to friends and arranged a sweet cake for them.
8.Having amass a huge online following of art lovers, she decided to hold an exhibition of her art pieces in the Art Gallery of the city.
9. The girl was frightened when all of a sudden she saw a snake near her feet but she gathering her courage and killed the snake with a stone.
10. Generally the Chief Manager comes to the office late but on that day when we went to see him and congratulate him on his promotion we were surprised to find that he arrived before time.
8
8.Having amass a huge online following of art lovers, she decided to
hold an exhibition of her art pieces in the Art Gallery of the city.
In this sentence, 'she' is subject, 'decided' is verb in past tense, 'to
host' infinitive, 'an exhibition' is an object. In 'following of art
lovers' of is a conjunction, followers and lovers are noun. art is adjective describing lovers. 'A huge' is an adverb describing an adjective online which in turn describes following a noun a gerund. 'Having' is perfect participle with this a third form of verb is used. In the case of a perfect participle, an action takes place and another action follows that. But here with perfect participle 'Having' 'amass' is incorrect it should be third form of verb 'amassed'.
9. The girl was frightened when all of a sudden she saw a snake near her feet but she gathering her courage and killed the snake with a stone.
In this sentence, the girl is subject, was a verb and 'frightened' is adjective, she is subject, 'saw' is verb 'a snake' is object. In the part, 'she gathering her courage and killed the snake with a stone' 'She' is subject, 'killed' is verb in past tense but 'gathering' is verb in continuous form, 'and' is a conjunction but with this on both sides of it there should be verb in past tense. 'Gathering' should also be in past tense as 'killed'. It should be '..but she gathered her courage and killed the snake with a stone.'
10. Generally the Chief Manager comes to the office late but on that day when we went to see him and congratulate him on his promotion we were surprised to find that he arrived before time.
In this sentence there are two actions one happening after the other,
namely 'we went' and 'he arrived'. In such a case the first action is in
perfect tense and the second in indefinite tense. So the first action 'he
arrived' should be in perfect tense and the other'we went' in indefinite
tense. So instead of 'he arrive' it should be 'he had arrived.'