F.Y.

Demonstrative Determiners
You use this and these to point to people or things near you.
You use that and those to point to people or things that are farther from you.
You use this and that before singular nouns.
You use these and those before plural nouns.

Verb Tenses
The simple present tense expresses a general truth or facts (e.g. The sun rises every morning) or a
customary action. (e.g. reads, lives, bakes). If the action happens regularly, sometimes or never, use the
simple present tense. Use the simple present tense also to talk about things that are planned for the
future (e.g The bus leaves in ten minutes.)
When do you use the present progressive tense? To talk about actions in the present, or things that are
still going on or happening now or continuing to happen. (e.g. I am eating my lunch) (e.g. is knitting, is
writing, are swimming). Use the present progressive tense to talk about things you have planned to do,
or things that are going to happen in the future. (We are having a barbeque on Sunday) To form the
present progressive tense, use am, is and are as helping verbs or auxiliary verbs.
Use the present perfect tense to talk about happenings in the past that explain or affect the present.
The verbs have and has are used as helping or auxiliary verbs to form the present perfect tense. To
form the present perfect tense join have or has to the past participle of the verb: have + past participle;
has + past participle. (e.g. has lost, have found, has made). The past participle of a regular verb usually
ends in -ed, just like the simple past tense. But the past participles of irregular verbs dont follow this
rule.
Use the simple past tense to talk about things that happened in the past. The simple past tense is also
used to talk about things that happened in stories. (e.g. bought, learned, drove).
NOTE: Words that base form and simple past is the same: beat, burst, cost, cut, hit, hurt, put,
read, split, shut.
Use the past progressive tense to talk about actions that were going on at a certain moment in the past;
things that were happening in the past and had not stopped happening. They were continuing. (e.g. was
cleaning, was cooking, were fighting).
Use the past perfect tense (had + past participle of the verb) to indicate an action completed in the past
before another action completed in the past (e.g. After I had called you ten times, I asked the operator to
check your number.) (e.g. He had been sober for a year when the accident happened.)
Use the future tense for things that have not happened yet, but are going to happen. Use the verbs shall
and will as helping verbs or auxiliary verbs to form the future tense.
There are other ways of talking about future actions and happenings. You can use going to.
If the subject of a verb is a plural noun, such as Mom and Dad or our teachers, use a plural
verb. Do not add s, es or ies to plural verbs. Plural verbs are also used with the pronouns I, we,
you and they. (e.g. Mom and Dad love us.)
Use the future perfect tense (will have + past participle of the verb) for action that will be completed in
the future before another future action. (e.g. By next week, I will have called you more than a hundred
times. He will have been sober for a year by the time his daughter arrives.)

NOTE: Choice of tense.

Esther worked at the department store for a year. (past tense, completed action, Esther no
longer works at the department store.)
 Esther has worked at the department store for a year. (present perfect, past action is
continuing in the present. Esther still works at the department store.)
Esther had worked at the department store for a year. (past perfect, something else
happened after Esthers year. Esther had worked at the department store for a year when she
was asked to take over sporting goods.)

Have/ Has
Use has with he, she, it, and with singular nouns. Use have with I, you, we, they, and with plural nouns.

Was/Were
The verbs was and were are also forms of the verb be. Was is the simple past tense of am and is. Use as
with the pronouns I, he, she and it, and with singular nouns.

May/Might
Use may to ask if you are allowed to do something, or to give someone permission to do something.
May is also used to talk about things that are likely to happen.
Was is the simple past form of am and is. Use was with singular nouns like my dad and the teacher,
and with the pronouns he, she and it. Were is the simple past form of are. Use were with plural nouns
like my parents and Jenny and Mary, and with the pronouns we, you and they.
Might is used as the past tense of may. (I knew my teacher might find out.)

Subject-Verb Agreement
Singular noun, singular verb. (e.g. The earth moves round the sun.) Plural noun, plural verb. (e.g. The
children are playing on the swing.) Some plural nouns, such as people, cattle, police, dont end with -s.
Always use a plural verb with these nouns.
Collective nouns may be used with either singular or plural verbs. (e.g. a family, a crew, a team, a club, a
community, a committee, a choir, a company, a band, a gang, an orchestra, the government, an
audience, the army, panel, platoon, class, crowd) If the group members are all acting together as one,
use a singular verb. If the members of the group are acting as individuals, use a plural verb.
Singular
That family has moved to Texas.
The team is coached by Mr. Clark.
Plural
The family were giving their opinions.
The team are sharing new ideas.

Uses of Comma
Use a comma between nouns and noun phrases in a list. (e.g. I bought two apples, three oranges and
some grapes.)
Use commas between adjectives when you use several of them to describe something. (e.g. A giraffe is a
tall, long-necked, long-legged animal.)
Use a comma after yes and no, and before please in sentences. (Yes, I do. Tell me, please.) You also use a
comma before or after the name of the person you are speaking to. (Hi, Jenny. Don, hello).

Indefinite Pronouns
An indefinite pronoun does not refer directly to any other word. Most indefinite pronouns express he
idea of quantity. (e.g. all, each, most, other, another, either, neither, several, any, everybody, nobody,
some, anybody, everyone, none, somebody, anyone, few, no one, someone, both, many, one, such)

Quantifying Determiners
Some quantifying determiners are used only with plural nouns. They are few, a few, fewer, many, several
and both. (e.g. Few people have been to the moon.)
Some quantifying determiners can only be used with singular nouns. They are another, every and each.
(e.g. Another one bites the dust. Every body loves Raymond.)