english grammar

THE PAST Simple Past Tense The Simple Past is used to indicate an action completed in the past. It often occurs with adverbs or adverb phrases of past time. The steamer sailed yesterday. I received his letter a week ago. She left school last year. Sometimes this tense is used without an adverb of time. In such cases the time may be either implied or indicated by the context. I learnt Hindi in Nagpur. I didn't sleep well (i.e, last night). Babar defeated Rana Sanga at Kanwaha. The Simple Past is also used for past habits; as, He studied many hours every day. She always carried an umbrella. Past Continuous Tense The Past Continuous is used to denote an action going on at some time in the past. The time of the action may or may not be indicated. We were watching TV all evening. It was getting darker. The light went out while I was reading. When I saw him, he was playing chess. As in the last two examples above, the Past Continuo...

THE USES OF THE PRESENT TENSE THE PRESENT Simple Present Tense The Simple Present is used: - (1) To express a habitual action; as, He drinks tea every morning. I get up every day at five o'clock. My watch keeps good time. To express general truths; as, The sun rises in the east. Honey is sweet. Fortune favours the brave. In exclamatory sentences beginning with here and there to express what is actually taking place in the present; as, Here comes the bus ! There she goes ! In vivid narrative, as substitute for the Simple Past; as, Soharab now rushes forward and deals a heavy blow to Rustam. Immediately the Sultan hurries to his capital. To express a future event that is part of a fixed timetable or fixed programme The next flight is at 7,00 tomorrow morning. The match starts at 9 o'clock. The train leaves at 5.20. When does the coffee house reopen? Note also the other uses of the Simple Present Tense. (1) It is used to...

THE FUTURE There are several ways of talking about the future in English: The Simple Future Tense, the going to form, the Simple Present Tense, etc. Simple future tense The Simple Future Tense is used to talk about things which we cannot control. It expresses the future as fact. I shall be twenty next Saturday. It will be Diwali in a week. We will know our exam results in May. We use this tense to talk about what we think or believe will happen in the future. I think Pakistan will win the match. I'm sure Helen will get a first class. As in the above sentences, we often use this tense with I think, and I'm sure. We also say I expect ---, I believe ---, Probably ---, etc. We can use this tense when we decide to do something at the lime of speaking It is raining. I will take an umbrella. “Mr. Sinha is very busy at the moment.” – “All right. I'll wait.” Going to We use the going to form (be going to + base of the verb) when we ha...