Having a good grasp in the basics of grammar is crucial in improving English. Although educational institutions have been imparting these to us since young, several errors still appear in our essays. One of the most common errors that I make would be the simple and progressive verb forms. For the simple tenses, they can be further separated into the present, past or future time frames. All these dicate complete actions that occur only for a very short interval. Generally, the simple past tense is used to express facts or habits that occur very frequently. For instance, ice melts at zero degrees celsius. Next, simple past usually has "-ed" added behind the main verb and it is used to show past events. As for the simple future tense, it can varies in two forms, either with "will" or "be and going to" (Berlitz grammar handbook, 2004). Both are used when we predict something will happen. Next, we move on to progressive tense and it consists of "be" and "-ing" to the main verb. Simple progressive tense talks about something that is happening now. As for past progressive, it differs from simple past as it is used to talk about a continuing action that stetches over a past interval. Lastly, the two forms of the future progressive are the same as its simple tense but with the addition of the auxiliary be and "-ing" to the verb. It is used to show actions that are continuing in the future. To end this, although this may look easy, it still require some time and effort to master it.
Exercises: (State whether the following sentences are used with the
correct verb forms.)
1) Mr Leong usually took the first bus from his house to Clementi.
2) Our physics tutor is going to give us a surprise test this Tuesday.
3) The government invests more on the area of education in the
next few years since the people are Singapore's main valuable
resources.
4) Sam reads his maths lecture notes when I saw him a moment ago.
5) Jonny is going on vacation with his family this coming December.
References: Berlitz grammar handbook, Fredrik Liljeblad (2004),
Simple and progressive verb forms, page 37. Retrieved on 14
September 2008
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2 comments:
Hmmm... Not bad. I can see the organisation between the categories of your topic, though not very clearly. Personally, it would be best if you can add one example to each category, due to the fact that I am quite dull and dense towards the area of English language. Further explanations will be appreciated. Thanks,
^~^...very good explanation of different types of common grammar mistakes in your essay. I also learn a lot from your essay.....However, I think the 1st paragraph is too long and it is very hard to read. I suggest you to break it into several parts. Thank you.
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