Tenses ထဲမွာ Simple Present Tense အသုံးၿပဳပုံ ကို ေလ့လာၿခင္း

Simple Present Tense

The simple present tense can be used under these four conditions:


1. To express a present action:
2. To express a habitual action:
3. To express general truths or facts:
4. To show previously-scheduled actions:

1. To express a present action (မ်က္ေမွာက္ ကာလ ၿပဳလုပ္ခ်က္ကို သာမန္ ေဖာ္ၿပၿခင္း)

e.g. 1. I know that girl. She is my friend’s roommate.
ငါ အဲဒီေကာင္မေလးကို သိတယ္။ သူ က ငါ့ သူငယ္ခ်င္း ရဲ့ အခန္းေဖာ္ေလ။

2. Try hard to fulfill your wish.
မင္း ဆုေတာင္း ၿပည့္ဖို. ႀကိဳးစားပါ။

3. Stand up, all the students. Read out what you see on the board.
ေက်ာင္းသားအားလုံး မတ္တပ္ထပါ။ Board ေပၚတြင္ မင္းတို. ၿမင္ တဲ့ အရာေတြကို ဖတ္ပါ။

2. To express a habitual action – it’s typical, usual, and predictable (အေလ.အထၿဖစ္ေနေသာ ၿပဳလုပ္ခ်က္မ်ားကို ေဖာ္ၿပၿခင္း - ပုံစံေပါက္ေသာ၊ ထုံးစံၿဖစ္ေသာ၊ ႀကိဳတင္ေပာာကိန္းထုတ္ႏိူင္ေသာ)


e.g 1. Gary is very punctual.
Gary သည္ အခ်ိန္မွန္သူၿဖစ္သည္။
2. This book is interesting to read.
ဒီစာအုပ္က ဖတ္ခ်င္ေလာက္ေအာင္ စိတ္ဝင္စားဖို.ေကာင္းတယ္။
3. He smokes.
သူ ေဆးလိပ္ေသာက္တယ္။
4. They eat in the company cafeteria.
သူတို.ေတြ က ကုမၸဏီထဲမွာရွိတဲ့ စားေသာက္ဆိုင္မွာပဲစားတယ္။

Simple Present Tense ကို အေလ.အထအၿဖစ္ အသုံးၿပဳ ုေဖာ္ၿပရာတြင္ Adverb of Frequency မ်ားကိုထည့္သြင္း အသုံးၿပဳရတတ္ေသာေႀကာင့္ ေအာက္ေဖာ္ၿပပါ ႀကိယာဝိေသသန မ်ားကို က်က္မွတ္ထားပါ။

Always = အစဥ္အၿမဲ
Usually = လုပ္ရိုးလုပ္စဥ္
Generally = ေယဘုယ်အားၿဖင့္
Often = Frequently = မႀကာခဏ
Sometimes = Occasionally = တစ္ခါတစ္ရံ
Hardly = Rarely = Seldom = ႀကာမွတစ္ခါ
Daily = every day = ေန.စဥ္
Weekly = အပတ္စဥ္
Once a month = တစ္လတစ္ခါ
Twice a year = တစ္ႏွစ္ ႏွစ္ႀကိမ္
Every other day = Each alternate day = တစ္ရက္ၿခား

e.g. 1. Annie is never on time.
Annie သည္ ဘယ္ေတာ့မွ အခ်ိန္မမွန္ပါ။

2. Bob’s parents are generally at home by 5:30 PM.
Bob ၏ မိဘမ်ား သည္ မ်ားေသာအားၿဖင့္ ညေန ငါးနာရီခဲြမွ ွအိမ္မွာရွိသည္။

3.Dr. Jones is in her office from 9:00 AM until 4:00 pm five days a week.
ေဒါက္တာ Jones သည္ သူမ၏ ရုံးခန္းတြင္ မနက္ ၉ နာရီ မွ ညေန ၄ နာရီ အထိ တစ္ပတ္လွ်င္ ငါးရက္ ရွိသည္။

4. Ahmed seldom gets up before 9:00 AM.
Ahmed သည္ မနက္တြင္ ၉နာရီ မတိုင္ ခင္ အိပ္ရာႏိူး ခဲသည္။

5. He frequently calls on his cousins in Pusan.
သူသည္ Pusan ၿမိဳ.ရွိ ဝမ္းကဲြေမာင္ႏွမမ်ားသို.မႀကာခဏ သြားေရာက္လည္ပတ္သည္။

6. They take a break every three hours.
သူတို.သည္ သုံးနာရီႀကာတိုင္း တစ္ခါနားသည္။

အထက္ပါဝါက်မ်ားတြင္ သတိၿပဳရန္မွာ Adverbs of frequency မ်ား သည္

(i) Verb to be ၏ အေနာက္တြင္ ထားေလ.ရွိၿပီး
(ii) အၿခားေသာ ႀကိယာမ်ား၏ အေရွ.တြင္ ထားရသည္ကို သတိၿပဳမိေပလိမ္.မည္။

သို.ေသာ္ Adverbs of frequency မ်ား သည္ phrase ( more than one word) စကားစု ( စကားလုံး တစ္လုံးထက္ပိုၿခင္း) မ်ားၿဖစ္ပါက ဝါက်၏ အဆုံးတြင္သာ ထားရသည္ကို သတိၿပဳမိေပမည္။

3. To express general truths and facts (ေယဘုယ်ၿဖစ္ေသာ အမွန္တရားမ်ား ႏွင့္ အခ်က္အလက္မ်ား ကို ေဖာ္ၿပၿခင္း)

1. A nickel equals five cents.
နီကယ္ၿဒပ္စင္ တစ္ၿပားသည္ ငါးဆင့္ၿပားဝိုင္းတစ္ၿပားႏွင့္ ညီမွ်သည္။

2. The bodies of insects have three parts.
အင္းဆက္ပိုးမ်ား၏ ကိုယ္ထည္မ်ားသည္ အပိုင္းသုံးပုိင္းရွိသည္။

3. Bronze contains both copper and tin.
ေႀကးညိဳတြင္ ေႀကးနီ ႏွင့္ သံၿဖဴၿဒပ္စင္ တို.ပါဝင္သည္။

4.The chemical symbol for iron is Fe.
သံ၏ ဓာတုေဗဒ သေကၤတမွာ Fe ၿဖစ္သည္။

5. The earth rotates around the sun.
ကမာၻသည္ ေနကို ပတ္ၿပီ လွည့္လည္သြားသည္။

6. The cow gives us milk.
ႏြားသည္ ကြ်ႏု္ပ္တို.အား ႏြားႏို.ကိုေပးသည္။

4. To show previously-scheduled actions (အရင္ တစ္ခ်ိန္က စီစဥ္ခ်မွတ္ထားသည့္ လုပ္ေဆာင္ခ်က္ ကိုၿပရန္)

1. Jose leaves at 9:30 tomorrow morning.
Jose သည္ မနက္ၿဖန္ မနက္ ၉း၃၀ တြင္ ထြက္ခြါမည္။ (ႀကိဳတင္စီစဥ္ထားသည္)

2. Andrea can’t go with us next Tuesday. She has a meeting then.
Andrea သည္ လာမည့္ အဂၤါေန.တြင္ ကြ်န္ေတာ္တို.ႏွင့္ မလိုက္ႏိူင္ပါ။ သူမသည္ အဲဒီေန.မွာ အစည္းအေဝး ရွိသည္။

3. Hurry up! The meeting beings in five minutes!
ၿမန္ၿမန္လုပ္! အစည္းအေဝး က ငါးမိနစ္ ၿပည့္လွ်င္ စမည္။

အထက္ပါ ဝါက်ကို ေလ.လာႀကည့္လွ်င္ အနာဂတ္အဓိပၸါယ္ကို ရည္ညြန္းသည့္ အေႀကာင္းအရာမ်ားပါ ေသာ္လည္း ႀကိဳတင္စီစဥ္ေရးဆဲြထားသည့္ လုပ္ေဆာင္ခ်က္မ်ားၿဖစ္ေသာ ေႀကာင့္ Simple Present Tense ကို အသုံးၿပဳႏိူင္ပါသည္။

Answers for Reading Practice (1)

1. B
2. E
3. B
4. E
5. C
6. C
7. E

Tag questions

A tag question is a question added at the end of a sentence. A tag question following an affirmative statement generally has the form of a negative question, with the meaning: Isn't that true? In some languages, such tag questions are invariable. However, in English, tag questions vary, depending on the verbs and subjects of the preceding statements.

In the following examples, the tag questions are underlined. Contractions are usually used in negative tag questions. For example:

Affirmative statement

Are you not awake?
I am awake.
You are awake.
She is awake.
We are awake.
They are awake.

Affirmative statement with tag question

Aren't you awake?
I am awake, am I not?
You are awake, aren't you?
She is awake, isn't she?
We are awake, aren't we?
They are awake, aren't they?


These examples illustrate how the subjects and verbs of the preceding statements are repeated in tag questions. For instance, in the first example, the subject I and the verb am are repeated in the tag question. In the second example, the subject you and the verb are are repeated in the tag question.

In spoken English, the expression aren't I? is often used as a tag question. However, this is not considered to be grammatically correct in formal, written English.

Reading Practice (2)

By the time a child is six or seven she has all the essential
avoidances well enough by heart to be trusted with the care of a
younger child. And she also develops a number of simple
techniques. She learns to weave firm square balls from palm
5 leaves, to make pinwheels of palm leaves or frangipani blossoms,
to climb a coconut tree by walking up the trunk on flexible little
feet, to break open a coconut with one firm well-directed blow of
a knife as long as she is tall, to play a number of group games
and sing the songs which go with them, to tidy the house by
10 picking up the litter on the stony floor, to bring water from the
sea, to spread out the copra to dry and to help gather it in when
rain threatens, to go to a neighboring house and bring back a
lighted faggot for the chief's pipe or the cook-house fire.
But in the case of the little girls all these tasks are merely
15 supplementary to the main business of baby-tending. Very small
boys also have some care of the younger children, but at eight or
nine years of age they are usually relieved of it. Whatever rough
edges have not been smoothed off by this responsibility for
younger children are worn off by their contact with older boys.
20 For little boys are admitted to interesting and important activities
only so long as their behavior is circumspect and helpful. Where
small girls are brusquely pushed aside, small boys will be
patiently tolerated and they become adept at making themselves
useful. The four or five little boys who all wish to assist at the
25 important, business of helping a grown youth lasso reef eels,
organize themselves into a highly efficient working team; one boy
holds the bait, another holds an extra lasso, others poke
eagerly about in holes in the reef looking for prey, while still
another tucks the captured eels into his lavalava. The small girls,
30 burdened with heavy babies or the care of little staggerers who are
too small to adventure on the reef, discouraged by the hostility
of the small boys and the scorn of the older ones, have
little opportunity for learning the more adventurous forms of work
and play. So while the little boys first undergo the
35 chastening effects of baby-tending and then have many
opportunities to learn effective cooperation under the supervision
of older boys, the girls' education is less comprehensive. They
have a high standard of individual responsibility, but the
community provides them with no lessons in cooperation with one
40 another. This is particularly apparent in the activities of young
people: the boys organize quickly; the girls waste hours in
bickering, innocent of any technique for quick and efficient
cooperation.

Adapted from: Coming of Age in Samoa, Margaret Mead (1928)


1. The primary purpose of the passage with reference to the society under discussion is to
A. explain some differences in the upbringing of girls and boys
B. criticize the deficiencies in the education of girls
C. give a comprehensive account of a day in the life of an average young girl
D. delineate the role of young girls
E. show that young girls are trained to be useful to adults

2. The word 'brusquely' (line 22) most nearly means
A. quickly
B. gently
C. nonchalantly
D. abruptly
E. callously

3. The list of techniques in paragraph one could best be described as
A. household duties
B. rudimentary physical skills
C. important responsibilities
D. useful social skills
E. monotonous tasks

4. It can be inferred that the 'high standard of individual responsibility' (line 38) is
A. developed mainly through child-care duties
B. only present in girls
C. taught to the girl before she is entrusted with babies
D. actually counterproductive
E. weakened as the girl grows older.

5. The expression 'innocent of' (line 42) is best taken to mean
A. not guilty of
B. unskilled in
C. unsuited for
D. uninvolved in
E. uninterested in

6. It can be inferred that in the community under discussion all of the following are important except
A. domestic handicrafts
B. well-defined social structure
C. fishing skills
D. formal education
E. division of labor

7. Which of the following if true would weaken the author's contention about 'lessons in cooperation' (line 39) ?

I Group games played by younger girls involve cooperation
II Girls can learn from watching boys cooperating
III Individual girls cooperate with their mothers in looking after babies
A. I only
B. II only
C. III only
D. I and II only
E. I, II and III

8. Which of the following is the best description of the author's technique in handling her material?
A. Both description and interpretation of observations.
B. Presentation of facts without comment.
C. Description of evidence to support a theory.
D. Generalization from a particular viewpoint.
E. Close examination of preconceptions.

The use of All, Both and Each

In addition to being used as attributive adjectives and as pronouns followed by of, the words all, both and each can also be used in apposition. A word used in apposition immediately follows the subject of a verb, or the object of a verb or preposition, and refers to the same thing as the subject or object. In the following examples, the words in apposition are printed in bold type.
e.g. We both wondered what would happen next.
The boys all looked forward to seeing the circus.
I sent them each an invitation.

In the first two examples, both and all are used in apposition to the subjects we and the boys. In the third example, each is used in apposition to the object them.

Words used in apposition can be referred to as appositives. Like relative clauses, appositives can be defining or non-defining. Non-defining appositives must be preceded and followed by commas.

e.g. Our leader, Tom Smith, was prepared for any emergency.
In this example Tom Smith is a non-defining appositive, in apposition to our leader.

Defining appositives such as all, both and each are not preceded and followed by commas.

e.g. We each have our own ideas.
In this example, the defining appositive each is in apposition to we. It should be noted that although each is singular, the verb have must be plural to agree with the subject we.

When used in clauses with auxiliary verbs or with the Simple Present or Simple Past of the verb to be, all, both and each generally follow the first auxiliary or the verb to be, rather than being used in apposition to the subject of the verb.

e.g. The boys had all been looking forward to seeing the circus.
We are both very happy to see you.
In the first example, all follows the first auxiliary had. In the second example, both follows the Simple Present of the verb to be.

Money

There was a man who worked all of his life and saved all of his money. He was a real miser when it came to his money. He loved money more than just about anything, and just before he died, he said to his wife, "Now listen, when I die, I want you to take all my money and place it in the casket with me. I wanna take my money to the afterlife."

So he got his wife to promise him with all her heart that when he died, she would put all the money in the casket with him.

Well, one day he died. He was stretched out in the casket, the wife was sitting there in black next to her closest friend. When they finished the ceremony, just before the undertakers got ready to close the casket, the wife said "Wait just a minute!"

She had a shoe box with her, she came over with the box and placed it in the casket. Then the undertakers locked the casket down and rolled it away. Her friend said, "I hope you weren't crazy enough to put all that money in the casket."

"Yes," the wife said, "I promised. I'm a good Christian, I can't lie. I promised him that I was going to put that money in that casket with him."

"You mean to tell me you put every cent of his money in the casket with him?"

"I sure did. I got it all together, put it into my account and I wrote him a check."


(Thanks Jessica)

The Blind Girl

There was a blind girl who hated herself just because she's blind. She hated everyone, except her loving fiance. He is always there for her. Blind girl said that if she could only see the world, she would marry her fiance.

One day, someone donated a pair of eyes to the blind girl and then she can see everything, including her fiance.

Her fiance asked her, "now that you can see the world, will you marry me?" The girl was shocked when she saw that her fiance is blind too, and refused to marry him.

Her fiance walked away in tears, and later wrote a letter to girl saying. "Just take care of my eyes dear."

Moral: This is how human brain changes when the status changed. Only few remember what life was before, and who's always been there even in the most painful situations."You learn to love, not by finding a perfect person, but by learning to see an imperfect person perfectly."

Reading Practice (1)

The pioneers of the teaching of science imagined that its
introduction into education would remove the conventionality,
artificiality, and backward-lookingness which were characteristic;
of classical studies, but they were gravely disappointed. So, too, in
5 their time had the humanists thought that the study of the classical
authors in the original would banish at once the dull pedantry and
superstition of mediaeval scholasticism. The professional
schoolmaster was a match for both of them, and has almost
managed to make the understanding of chemical reactions as dull
10 and as dogmatic an affair as the reading of Virgil's Aeneid.
The chief claim for the use of science in education is that it
teaches a child something about the actual universe in which he is
living, in making him acquainted with the results of scientific
15 discovery, and at the same time teaches him how to think logically
and inductively by studying scientific method. A certain limited
success has been reached in the first of these aims, but practically
none at all in the second. Those privileged members of the
community who have been through a secondary or public school
20 education may be expected to know something about the
elementary physics and chemistry of a hundred years ago, but they
probably know hardly more than any bright boy can pick up from
an interest in wireless or scientific hobbies out of school hours.
As to the learning of scientific method, the whole thing is palpably
25 a farce. Actually, for the convenience of teachers and the
requirements of the examination system, it is necessary that the
pupils not only do not learn scientific method but learn precisely
the reverse, that is, to believe exactly what they are told and to
reproduce it when asked, whether it seems nonsense to them or
30 not. The way in which educated people respond to such quackeries
as spiritualism or astrology, not to say more dangerous ones such
as racial theories or currency myths, shows that fifty years of
education in the method of science in Britain or Germany has
produced no visible effect whatever. The only way of learning the
35 method of science is the long and bitter way of personal
experience, and, until the educational or social systems are altered
to make this possible, the best we can expect is the production of a
minority of people who are able to acquire some of the techniques
of science and a still smaller minority who are able to use and
40 develop them.
Adapted from: The Social Function of Science, John D Bernal (1939)


1. The author implies that the 'professional schoolmaster' (line 7) has
A. no interest in teaching science
B. thwarted attempts to enliven education
C. aided true learning
D. supported the humanists
E. been a pioneer in both science and humanities.

2. The author’s attitude to secondary and public school education in the sciences is
A. ambivalent
B. neutral
C. supportive
D. satirical
E. contemptuous

3. The word ‘palpably’ (line 24) most nearly means
A. empirically
B. obviously
C. tentatively
D. markedly
E. ridiculously

4. The author blames all of the following for the failure to impart scientific method through the education system except
A. poor teaching
B. examination methods
C. lack of direct experience
D. the social and education systems
E. lack of interest on the part of students

5. If the author were to study current education in science to see how things have changed since he wrote the piece, he would probably be most interested in the answer to which of the following questions?
A. Do students know more about the world about them?
B. Do students spend more time in laboratories?
C. Can students apply their knowledge logically?
D. Have textbooks improved?
E. Do they respect their teachers?

6. Astrology (line 31) is mentioned as an example of
A. a science that needs to be better understood
B. a belief which no educated people hold
C. something unsupportable to those who have absorbed the methods of science
D. the gravest danger to society
E. an acknowledged failure of science

7. All of the following can be inferred from the text except
A. at the time of writing, not all children received a secondary school education
B. the author finds chemical reactions interesting
C. science teaching has imparted some knowledge of facts to some children
D. the author believes that many teachers are authoritarian
E. it is relatively easy to learn scientific method

"Rather"

A) We use rather as an adverb of degree:

Modifying an adjective:

• The film was rather good.


Modifying an adverb:

• It happened rather quickly.


Notes:

1. It is stronger than fairly, but not as strong as very.

2. It can modify a noun, often coming before the article:

3. It's rather a problem.

4. It can modify some verbs: I rather like it.

B) To express preference

Rather than:

Rather than is normally used to compare parallel structures:

• Let's take the train rather than the bus.

• Rather you than me!

• I decided to write rather than email.


Would rather:

Would rather + infinitive without 'to':

• I'd rather leave now.

Would rather + pronoun + past tense:

• I'd rather he came early.

Used to

Used to do

We use 'used to' for something that happened regularly in the past but no longer happens.

•I used to smoke a packet a day but I stopped two years ago.
•Ben used to travel a lot in his job but now, since his promotion, he doesn't.
•I used to drive to work but now I take the bus.
We also use it for something that was true but no longer is.

•There used to be a cinema in the town but now there isn't.
•She used to have really long hair but she's had it all cut off.
•I didn't use to like him but now I do.

'Used to do' is different from 'to be used to doing' and 'to get used to doing'

to be used to doing

We use 'to be used to doing' to say that something is normal, not unusual.

•I'm used to living on my own. I've done it for quite a long time.
•Hans has lived in England for over a year so he is used to driving on the left now.
•They've always lived in hot countries so they aren't used to the cold weather here.

to get used to doing

We use 'to get used to doing' to talk about the process of something becoming normal for us.

•I didn't understand the accent when I first moved here but I quickly got used to it.
•She has started working nights and is still getting used to sleeping during the day.
•I have always lived in the country but now I'm beginning to get used to living in the city.

Five Speaking Rules you need to know!

1. Don't study grammar
This rule might sound strange to many ESL students, but it is one of the most important rules. If you want to pass examinations, then study grammar. However, if you want to become fluent in English, then you should try to learn English without studying the grammar.

Studying grammar will only slow you down and confuse you. You will think about the rules when creating sentences instead of naturally saying a sentence like a native. Remember that only a small fraction of English speakers know more than 20% of all the grammar rules. Many ESL students know more grammar than native speakers. I can confidently say this with experience. I am a native English speaker, majored in English Literature, and have been teaching English for more than 10 years. However, many of my students know more details about English grammar than I do. I can easily look up the definition and apply it, but I don't know it off the top of my head.

I often ask my native English friends some grammar questions, and only a few of them know the correct answer. However, they are fluent in English and can read, speak, listen, and communicate effectively.

2. Learn and study phrases
Many students learn vocabulary and try to put many words together to create a proper sentence. It amazes me how many words some of my students know, but they cannot create a proper sentence. The reason is because they didn't study phrases. When children learn a language, they learn both words and phrases together. Likewise, you need to study and learn phrases.

If you know 1000 words, you might not be able to say one correct sentence. But if you know 1 phrase, you can make hundreds of correct sentences. If you know 100 phrases, you will be surprised at how many correct sentences you will be able to say. Finally, when you know only a 1000 phrases, you will be almost a fluent English speaker.

So don't spend hours and hours learning many different words. Use that time to study phrases instead and you will be closer to English fluency.

Don't translate

When you want to create an English sentence, do not translate the words from your Mother tongue. The order of words is probably completely different and you will be both slow and incorrect by doing this. Instead, learn phrases and sentences so you don't have to think about the words you are saying. It should be automatic.

Another problem with translating is that you will be trying to incorporate grammar rules that you have learned. Translating and thinking about the grammar to create English sentences is incorrect and should be avoided.

3. Reading and Listening is NOT enough. Practice Speaking what you hear!
Reading, listening, and speaking are the most important aspects of any language. The same is true for English. However, speaking is the only requirement to be fluent. It is normal for babies and children to learn speaking first, become fluent, then start reading, then writing. So the natural order is listening, speaking, reading, then writing.

First Problem
Isn't it strange that schools across the world teach reading first, then writing, then listening, and finally speaking? Although it is different, the main reason is because when you learn a second language, you need to read material to understand and learn it. So even though the natural order is listening, speaking, reading, then writing, the order for ESL students is reading, listening, speaking, then writing.

Second Problem
The reason many people can read and listen is because that's all they practice. But in order to speak English fluently, you need to practice speaking. Don't stop at the listening portion, and when you study, don't just listen. Speak out loud the material you are listening to and practice what you hear. Practice speaking out loud until your mouth and brain can do it without any effort. By doing so, you will be able to speak English fluently.


4. Submerge yourself
Being able to speak a language is not related to how smart you are. Anyone can learn how to speak any language. This is a proven fact by everyone in the world. Everyone can speak at least one language. Whether you are intelligent, or lacking some brain power, you are able to speak one language.

This was achieved by being around that language at all times. In your country, you hear and speak your language constantly. You will notice that many people who are good English speakers are the ones who studied in an English speaking school. They can speak English not because they went to an English speaking school, but because they had an environment where they can be around English speaking people constantly.

There are also some people who study abroad and learn very little. That is because they went to an English speaking school, but found friends from their own country and didn't practice English.

You don't have to go anywhere to become a fluent English speaker. You only need to surround yourself with English. You can do this by making rules with your existing friends that you will only speak English. You can also carry around an iPod and constantly listen to English sentences. As you can see, you can achieve results by changing what your surroundings are. Submerge yourself in English and you will learn several times faster.


5. Study correct material
A common phrase that is incorrect is, "Practice makes perfect." This is far from the truth. Practice only makes what you are practicing permanent. If you practice the incorrect sentence, you will have perfected saying the sentence incorrectly. Therefore, it is important that you study material that is commonly used by most people.

Another problem I see is that many students study the news. However, the language they speak is more formal and the content they use is more political and not used in regular life. It is important to understand what they are saying, but this is more of an advanced lesson that should be studied after learning the fundamental basics of English.

Studying English with a friend who is not a native English speaker is both good and bad. You should be aware of the pro's and con's of speaking with a non native speaking friend. Practicing with a non native person will give you practice. You can also motivate each other and point out basic mistakes. But you might pick up bad habits from one another if you are not sure about what are correct and incorrect sentences. So use these practice times as a time period to practice the correct material you studied. Not to learn how to say a sentence.

In short, study English material that you can trust, that is commonly used, and that is correct.

Say or Tell?

Say and tell have similar meanings. They both mean to communicate verbally with someone. But we often use them differently.

The simple way to think of say and tell is:

* You say something
* You tell someone something

More Examples:
You say something
You tell someone something
Ram said that he was tired.
Ram told Jane that he was tired.
Anthony says you have a new job.
Anthony tells me you have a new job.
Tara said: "I love you."
Tara told John that she loved him.

But, of course, it is not always so easy. Here are a few rules to help you.

Personal object
We usually follow tell with a personal object (the person that we are speaking to). We usually use say without a personal object:

* She told me that she loved John.
* She said that she loved John.
* He told everybody that he had to leave.
* He said that he had to leave.

Say "to someone"
With say, we sometimes use "to someone":

* He said to me that he was tired.
* Tara said to Ram that he had done very well.
* Anthony said to her, "I hope you come soon."
* "I'd like to sleep," she said to him quietly.

Direct speech
We can use say with direct speech. We use tell only with direct speech that is an instruction or information:

* Amanda said, "Hello John. How are you?"
* "That's great'" she said.
* He told her: "Open the door quietly."
* She told me, "I have never been to England."

We can use say with direct questions, but we cannot use tell:

* She said: "Do you love me?"
* The policeman said to the prisoner, "Where were you at 8pm?"

Reported speech
We can use say and tell to talk about reported information:

* She said that it was raining.
* She told me that she would call at 2pm.

We cannot use say or tell to talk about reported questions. We must use ask (or a similar verb):

* She asked if I had ever been there.
* They asked what I wanted to eat.
* She asked where he lived.
* He asked if she wanted to go home.

Orders, advice
We use tell + object + infinitive for orders or advice:

* She told him to sit down.
* They told me not to wait.
* Tell Neil to have a holiday and forget her.

Phrases
Here are a few fixed phrases with tell. We cannot use say with these phrases:

* tell (someone) a story
* tell (someone) a lie
* tell (someone) the truth
* tell the future (= to know what the future will bring)
* tell the time (= know how to read a clock)

Right and wrong
Read these examples of correct and incorrect usage:

Causative Verbs

When a subject does not do a work himself/herself, and takes the help of some other person or force that person to do that work, then we need to form a sentence with the help of a causative verb.

1. GET
Use get according to tense, B. Place object after the causative verb, C. Main verb always in 3rd form::

CV + Object + V 3rd (main verb).

1. I have got the sums solved.
2. She will get the letter written by Ravi.
3. Are you getting your house pained?

2. MAKE
Use make according to tense, 2. Object is the person who is compelled, 3. Main verb always in first form::

CV + Object + V 1st form (main verb)

1. He made me laugh.
2. She made the children clean the room.
3. Who is making her cry?
4. Please don't make him tell a lie.

3. HELP
Use help according to tense, 2. Object is the person who is helped, 3. Main verb always in first form::

CV + Object + V 1st form (main verb).
(In these sentences a person is helped to do a certain things).

1. Help the guests wash their hands.
2. She helped the children do the work.

4. HAVE

(Same as get in use and meaning)

1. I have had the sums solved.
2. He will have the letter written by Merry.
3. They had the tiger killed by the hunter.

5. KEEP

CV + Object (person) + V 1st form + ing.
There is generally a period of time in these sentences.

1. They kept her washing the clothes for 2 hours. (They compelled her to wash the clothes for 2 hours)
2. Did you kept him waiting for one hour?

6. CAUSE

CV + Object (person) + V 1st form.
Instead of a person there are circumstances, things etc. which compel a person to do a certain thing.

1. Fatigue caused him to sleep. (Due to fatigue he slept)
2. Does poverty cause people to commit crime?

Children (by Kahlil Gibran)

"Your children are not your children.

They are the sons and daughters of Life's longing for itself.

They come through you but not from you, And though they are with you, yet they belong not to you.

You may give them your love but not your thoughts. For they have their own thoughts.

You may house their bodies but not their souls, For their souls dwell in the house of tomorrow, which you cannot visit, not even in your dreams.

You may strive to be like them, but seek not to make them like you. For life goes not backward nor tarries with yesterday.

You are the bows from which your children as living arrows are sent forth.

The archer sees the mark upon the path of the infinite, and He bends you with His might that His arrows may go swift and far. Let your bending in the archer's hand be for gladness; For even as he loves the arrow that flies, so He loves also the bow that is stable."

What's a parable?

A parable is a short story that illustrates a religious, spiritual or ethical situation.

These types of stories are excellent to learn from, often simplifying a complex situation and allowing you to learn the concept via a simple story.

Some important rules every writer should know

1. Agreement – Agreement in a sentence refers to all of the parts of the sentence corroborating with each other. For example, you wouldn’t say “John have two pieces of toast and I has three.” You would instead say, “John has two pieces of toast and I have three.” The subjects and verbs need to be in agreement. Without sentence agreement you have all-out civil war in your sentence and no one knows what is going on. If your sentence parts don’t agree with each other you will have to jump in and mediate, causing hard feelings all around.

2. Tense – Tense refers to time. What time is it in your sentence? Whatever time it is it should remain consistent throughout your whole piece of writing. If it was last week you are talking about, stay there. There are three tenses in writing, past tense, present tense and future tense. Here is an example of writing with mixed tenses: “Carrie wondered how she is going to finish in time, but Joe will help her.” This sentence contains all three tenses, past in “wondered”, present in “is” and future in “will”. Pick a tense and stick to it! The sentence could read “Carry wonders how she will finish in time, but Joe will help.”

3. Spelling – One of the most important things, and without it, you can kiss your credibility goodbye. Spell checkers are poor substitutes for knowing how to spell and can leave behind more errors than you realize. There are many different forms of words and your spell checker does not know which form you wanted to use. For example, “When Mark washed they’re care, he forgot too putt on the wax.”

4. Run-On Sentences – A run-on sentence is one that is just too darned long! Not only is it too long, it is incorrect. Usually, a run-on sentence can be made into two or more sentences with a little punctuation and style. An example of a run-on sentence might be: “We walked over to the commissary to get something to eat but it was closed so we didn’t know what to do so we kept walking until we saw a restaurant and decided to go in and get something to eat but Andrew didn’t want to eat there so we kept going for another mile.” This sentence could have gone on for another mile too! Break up the sentence into smaller, more coherent parts.

5. Punctuation – It is very important to know your punctuation, even if you never plan on using a semicolon for the rest of your life. The most important thing to learn is where to put your commas, a common mistake among writers. Commas are used to separate parts of sentences that stand alone, such as those that are parenthetical. For example “There were too many flowers, not that I minded, but they took up most of the room.” Avoid using commas after conjunctions like “but” and “and.” Semi-colons and colons take up an entire chapter, read about them in your style book!

6. Usage – If you are going to use a word, you really ought to know how to use it. Some writers think big words look impressive but actually the reverse is true if the word is used incorrectly. Words don’t have to be big to be misused, consider its vs. it’s.

7. Capitalization – Words at the beginning of sentences aren’t the only ones worthy of capital letters. Always capitalize proper names such as people and places. Titles of all kinds deserve capital letters and so do acronyms.

8. Point of View – The point of view refers to whoever is telling the story or “speaking.” When you write a letter you are writing in “first person” which includes I, me, my, we and our. Second person writing occurs when we talk about you and yours and third person includes he, she, they and theirs. In third person writing, the author does not interject himself into the story.

9. Sentence Fragments – A sentence fragment is an incomplete sentence that does not include both noun and verb. An example of a sentence fragment might be, “Really dumb.” Make sure your sentences reflect a complete thought unless you are writing dialog.

10. Wasted Words – A big no-no. Sometimes we throw in words just to round out our sentences, or we over-describe something, like, “The really ugly puke-green dress was hanging on the wall.” Do we really need to point out that a puke-green dress was really ugly? Economize your words and you will have fewer chances for grammatical errors.

Difference between a curriculum vitae (CV) and a resume

What is the difference between a curriculum vitae (CV) and a resume?
The primary differences between a resume and a curriculum vitae (CV) are the length, what is included and what each is used for.

A resume is a one or two page summary of your skills, experience and education. While a resume is brief and concise - no more than a page or two, a Curriculum Vitae is a longer (at least two page) and more detailed synopsis.

A Curriculum Vitae includes a summary of your educational and academic backgrounds as well as teaching and research experience, publications, presentations, awards, honors, affiliations and other details. In Europe, the Middle East, Africa, or Asia, employers may expect to receive a curriculum vitae.

So when can we use a CV and a resume?

The difference between CV and resume does not only affect the length and the amount of information present but also the purpose to apply for a job post. Those job seekers in the US who are applying for an academic position will more likely to use a CV but for all other job types, a resume is enough. Meanwhile, employers from Europe, Asia and Latin America all prefer a CV over a resume.

Basic Guide to Essay Writing(1)

An essay can have many purposes, but the basic structure is the same no matter what. You may be writing an essay to argue for a particular point of view or to explain the steps necessary to complete a task.

Either way, your essay will have the same basic format.


If you follow a few simple steps, you will find that the essay almost writes itself. You will be responsible only for supplying ideas, which are the important part of the essay anyway.
These simple steps will guide you through the essay writing process:

1.Decide on your topic.

2.Prepare an outline or diagram of your ideas.

3.Write your thesis statement.

4.Write the body.
(a)Write the main points.
(b)Write the subpoints.
(c)Elaborate on the subpoints.

5.Write the introduction.

6.Write the conclusion.

7.Add the finishing touches.

Preposition Usage

* Place (in, on, under, over, near, beside, etc.)

“Your book is on the table.”

* Direction (to, toward, into, through, etc.)

“The football player ran through the stadium to the other end.”

* Time (in, on, at, etc.)

“We can meet at five o’clock.”

* Agent (by)

“This book was written by a famous author.”

* Instrument (by, with)

“I heard the news by television. (Communication)

“She came by bus.” (Transportation)

“He opened the door with a key.” (Instrument or tool)

TIP:

We use by + no article for communication and transportation.

Examples: by phone, by radio, and by bus, by car

* Accompaniment (with)

“I like spaghetti with white sauce.”

“Mrs. Vajiona went to Thassos Island with her husband Georgios.”

* Purpose (for)

“He went to the store for milk and bread.

TIP:

Never, Never use for + verb + ing to express the purpose of the verb.

Example: “He went to the store for buying milk and bread.” This is wrong usage and a common mistake!

* Partition / Possession (of)

“They painted the front of the building white and green.”

“He broke the top of the table with his fist.”

* Measure (by, of)

“We buy our olive oil by the 16 kilo container.”

“Please buy a quart of milk from the market.”

* Similarity (like)

“Mary walks like her mother.”

* Capacity (as)

“Bill worked as a fireman until a year ago.”

Glossary of English Grammatical Terms - 3

Preposition
Prepositions indicate relationships between different parts of the sentence. Common prepositions are:

from, toward, in, about, over, above, under, at, below

Examples:
Clouds are over the earth and below the moon.
John went toward the mountain at 3:00 O'clock.

Pronoun
Pronouns are words used instead of a noun.

Demonstrative pronouns are this, that, and such.

Example:
That is pretty.

Pronouns like who and which are interrogative pronouns when they introduce questions.

Example:
Which is pretty?

Pronouns like who and which are called relative pronouns when they introduce clauses.

Example:
The flower, which is on the table, is pretty.

Indefinite pronouns are each, either, some, any, many, few, and all.

Example:
Some are pretty.