Common mistakes with verbs
Incorrect: I am living in Bangalore. Correct: I live in Bangalore. Incorrect: He is working in a factory. Correct: He works at a factory. Use the simple present tense to talk about facts or...
Category: Learn English
Need as an ordinary verb and a modal auxiliary verb
Use ‘need’ carefully. It can be an ordinary verb or a modal auxiliary verb. When need is used as an ordinary verb, it takes the marker –s. Also, it is followed by a to-infinitive....
Irregular verbs list
Infinitive Past tense Past participle Arise Arose Arisen Awake Awoke Awoken Bear Bore Borne Beat Beat Beaten Become Became Become Begin Began Begun Bend Bent Bent Bet Bet, betted Bet, betted Bind Bound Bound...
How to avoid sentence fragments
Sentence fragments are a common problem. They occur when a sentence does not have a main clause. Study the sentence given below: In countries like India, where the grades of the children have always...
Use modal auxiliaries correctly
In English, we use the modal auxiliary verbs to express a variety of ideas. They are especially common in conditional sentences. Using modal auxiliaries we can express ideas such as probability, ability, possibility, necessity,...
Correct use of the verb ‘Explain’
Different verbs are followed by different kinds of words and structures. There are no simple rules for this kind of problem; therefore it is necessary to learn what kind of structures can follow each...
How to express the same idea in different ways
You should be able to express an idea in different forms. In other words, you should be good at paraphrasing. This requires an ability to change the part of speech. Study the example given...
When to use commas to separate words and phrases
Use comma in the following situations. a) In lists I study physics, chemistry and mathematics. I went to Australia, New Zealand and France. He was tall, dark and handsome. b) After linking expressions like...
Expressing condition using if-clauses
The words when, as long as, if and unless are often used in sentences to refer to a condition – something which must happen first so that something else can happen. If-clauses can refer...
Using not only/but also
Many students have difficulty using the correlative conjunction not only/but also. When you use ‘not only/but also’, you have to use the same kind of words after ‘not only’ and ‘but also’. So, if...
