All over the world language serves the purpose of expressing one’s idea effectively. Someone asks and somebody answers. In short, a language means a set of questions and answers. It is same in English also. In order to learn English you should learn to ask questions and should be ready to give answers. These saying or asking is to be done in sentence which is an arrangement of words in a meaningful way. There is a particular way arranging words in English. This order is Subject + Verb + Object, S V O for short.
In case of questions, they are easy to frame and use. A direct question always begins with a helping verb or a question word.
A word about the subject, verb and object: when we speak we always speak about someone or something. This ‘someone’ or ‘something’ is called the subject. What we speak about the subject is generally called verb. It is an action showing word. Eg. Do, come, sleep, play, eat, drink ….
What we speak of the action done by the doer is called object. Every verb need not have an object. It is the answer to the question whom or what asked to the verb of a sentence. Eg. Revathi ate a mango. When we ask, Revathi ate what? We get the answer ‘mango’. This ‘mango‘ is the object of the sentence. Let’s consider another example. ‘I gave her a gift. (I gave her what? – a gift –) object is gift. (I gave whom? – her –) so in this sentence both gift and her are objects. You may also notice that an object is always a noun
It would be better to have some knowledge about the helping verbs before we proceed further.
There are 24 (twenty four) helping verbs (auxiliary verbs).
Anomalous auxiliaries / Present tense / Past tenseStatus of the verb / singular / plural / singular / plural
Forms of the verb ‘be’ / am, is / are / was / were
Forms of the verb ‘do’ / does, / do, / did / did
Forms of the verb ‘have’ / has, / have, / had / had
Modal auxiliaries / will / would
shall / should
Can / could
may / Might
must, need, dare, ought to, used to.
TENSE
Tense plays an important role in our day-to-day life. It notifies the time in which a verb shows the action.
There are three tenses viz. past, present and future.
TIME LINE
Simple Present Tense.
This tense is used to speak about:
1.the things we do regularly as habit or practice.
2.things that happen naturally without any change like sun rises in the east.
3. common truth like the sky is blue, fire burns etc.
Formula for the sentence in present tense affirmative (stating something as ‘is’)
Radha + likes + cricket.
Munnaf + drinks + boost.
Johny + sleeps + early.
Here verbs end in an ‘s’ sound because the the subjects Radha, Munnaf and Johny are singular.
Formula for the sentence in present tense negative (stating something as ‘is not’)
Radha + doesn’t/does not + like + cricket.
Munnaf + doesn’t /does not + drink + boost.
Johny + doesn’t +/does not sleep + early.
Ø Note that here the verbs do not have the ‘s’ sound in the end. It is because they are already used in the helping verb ‘does’.
Ø ‘doesn’t is used in normal conversations whereas ‘does not’ is used for formal communications and in writing.
Formula for the sentence in present tense affirmative questions starting with helping verbs.
Does + Radha + like + cricket? (situation)
Does + Munnaf + drink + boost?
Does + Johny + sleep + early?
(Note that here verbs do not have ‘s’ sound.)
The answers to the above questions can be framed as follows.
Yes, she does./ No, she doesn’t.
Yes, he does./ No, he doesn’t.
Yes, he does./ No, he doesn’t.
Formula for the sentence in present tense negative questions starting with helping verbs.
Doesn’t + Radha + like + cricket? Does + Radha + not + like + cricket?
Doesn’t + Munnaf + drink + boost? Does + Munnaf + not + drink + boost?
Doesn’t + Johny + sleep + early? Does + Johny + not + sleep + early?
Plural subject:
Formula for the sentence in present tense affirmative where the subject is plural.
They + help +us in our difficulties.
We + eat + rice
Dhoni and his team + play splendidly.(no object)
Unlike the singular subjects here verbs do not end in ‘s’ sound
Formula for the sentence in present tense negative where the subject is plural.
They + don’t + help +us in our difficulties. (no object)
We + don’t + eat + rice
Dhoni and his team + don’t + play splendidly. (no object)
Formula for the sentence in present tense (affirmative) questions starting with helping verbs where the subject is plural.
Do + they + help + us in our difficulties?
Do + we + eat + rice?
Do + Dhoni and his team + play splendidly? (no object)
Formula for the sentence in present tense (negative) questions starting with helping verbs where the subject is plural.
Don’t + they + help + us in our difficulties? Do + they + not + help + us in our difficulties?
Don’t + we + eat + rice? Do + we + not + eat + rice?
Don’t + Dhoni and his team + play splendidly? (no object) Do + Dhoni and his team+ not + play splendidly? (no object)
Formula for simple present sentences that have a ‘BE’ form as verb.
Affirmative where subject is singular.
I + am + a teacher.
He + is + my friend.
She + is + my sister.
Formula for simple present sentences that have a ‘be’ form as verb.
negative where subject is singular.
I + am + not+ a teacher.
He + is + not+ my friend. / He + isn’t+ my friend.
She + is + not+ my sister. / She + isn’t+ my sister.
Formula for simple present sentences that have a ‘be’ form as verb.
Affirmative questions where the subject is singular.
Am + I + a teacher?
Is + he +my friend?
Is + she + my sister?
Formula for simple present sentences that have a ‘be’ form as verb.
negative questions where the subject is singular.
Am + I + not + a teacher?
Is + he + not + my friend?
Is + she + not + my sister?
Plural subject:
Formula for simple present sentences that have a ‘be’ form as verb.
Affirmative statement where the subject is plural.
They + were + my cousins
We + were + tired
Dhoni and his team + were + in the town.
Formula for simple present sentences that have a ‘be’ form as verb.
Negative statement, where the subject is plural.
They + are + not + my cousins
We + are + not +tired
Dhoni and his team + are + not + in the town.
Formula for simple past sentences that have a ‘be’ form as verb.
Affirmative questions where the subject is plural.
Are + they + my cousins?
Are + we + tired?
Are + Dhoni and his team + in the town?
Formula for simple past sentences that have a ‘be’ form as verb.
Negative questions where the subject is plural.
Aren’t + they + my cousins? Are + they + not + my cousins?
Aren’t + we + tired? Are + we + not + tired?
Aren’t + Dhoni and his team + in the town? Are + Dhoni and his team + not + in the town?
Formula for simple present sentences that have a ‘HAVE’ form as verb.
Affirmative where subject is singular.
She + has+ a car.
Chandra + has + a daughter in LKG.
Ananya + has + a brother
Formula for simple present sentences that have a ‘HAVE’ form as verb.
Affirmative question where subject is SINGULAR.
Has +She + a car?
Has +Chandra + a daughter in LKG?
Has +Ananya + a brother?
Formula for simple present sentences that have a ‘HAVE’ form as verb.
Negative sentence where subject is SINGULAR.
She + has+ no + car.
Chandra + has + no + daughter in LKG.
Ananya + has + no + brother.
Formula for simple present sentences that have a ‘HAVE’ form as verb.
negative questions where subject is SINGULAR.
Hasn’t +She + a car?
Hasn’t +Chandra + a daughter in LKG?
Hasn’t +Ananya + a brother?
Formula for simple present sentences that have a ‘HAVE’ form as verb.
Affirmative where subject is PLURAL
We + have+ a car.
They + have + a daughter in LKG.
You + have + a brother
Formula for simple present sentences that have a ‘HAVE’ form as verb.
Affirmative question where subject is SINGULAR.**
Have +we + a car?
Have +they + a daughter in LKG?
Have +you+ a brother?
Formula for simple present sentences that have a ‘HAVE’ form as verb.
Negative sentence where subject is SINGULAR.
We + have+ no + car.
They + have + no + daughter in LKG.
you+ have + no + brother.
Formula for simple present sentences that have a ‘HAVE’ form as verb.
negative questions where subject is SINGULAR.**
Haven’t +we + a car?
Haven’t + they + a daughter in LKG?
Haven’t +you + a brother?
WH Questions
We would also ask questions that begin with a question word such as ‘How are you? How many pets do you have? Where are you going? Where are you coming from? When is your birthday? Which is your book? What is your hobby? Who is your favorite cricket player? These kinds of questions are known as ‘WH’ questions. The following are the formulae for framing such questions.
A sentence that asks question (formula):( interrogative )there are eight interrogative words those are “what, how, swhen, where, which, whom, who and why”. So this kind of sentence must starts with any one of these.
· Question-(wordsWhy/what/where/who/when/how/which) +Do +S+ V1 + O?
· Question-words (Why/what/where/who/when/how/which) + Do + they + help + us in our difficulties?
§ Why do they help us in our difficulties?
§ How do they help us in our difficulties?
§ When do they help us?
· Question-words (Why/what/where/who/when/how/which)+Do + we + eat + rice?
§ Why do we eat rice?
§ When do we eat rice?
§ How do we eat rice?
· Formula for WH Questions where the subject is SINGULAR.
· Why + does + Radha + like + cricket?
· When + does + Munnaf + drink + boost?
· Why + does + Johny + sleep + early?
Ø (Note that here verbs do not have ‘s’ sound.)
(Negative Questions)
· (Why/what/where/who/when/how/which)+don’t +S+ V1 + O?
· (Why/what/where/who/when/how/which)+don’t + they + help + us in our difficulties?
· (Why/what/where/who/when/how/which)+don’t + we + eat + rice?
· (Why/what/where/who/when/how/which)+don’t + Dhoni and his team + play + splendidly?
PRESENT CONTINUOUS TENSE
Sentences using ‘be’ forms
The verb ‘be’ is used in different forms in sentences according to the number (singular or plural) and tense (past, present, future) It means the auxiliary verbs am (with I only), is (with singular subjects) & are (with plural subjects) in the present tense, was (with singular subjects)& were (with plural subjects) in the past and ‘be’ itself in the future tenses.
When we use he, she or it as the subject in the present tense we should use ‘is’ as helping verb. ‘am’ should be used only with ‘I’ ; ‘are’ should be used with plural subjects.
Here are a few examples.
1. He is studying with us.
2. She is dancing.
3. It is raining very heavily now.
4. I am going to Bangalore.
5. We are playing Kho Kho.
6. They are coming to meet us.
7. You are talking sweetly.
They have the formula in affirmative:
1. He + is + studying +Chemistry.
2. She +is + dancing.(No object)
3. It +is+ raining very heavily now.(No object)
4. I+ am+ going to Bangalore.(No object)
5. We + are + playing +Kho Kho.
6. They + are + coming + to meet us.
7. You + are +talking +sweetly. (No object)
Practice: Frame sentences of your own changing subject, verb and object
Questions:
1. Is +he + studying +Chemistry?
2. Is + she + dancing?(No object)
3. Is +It + raining very heavily now?(No object)
4. Am + I+ going to Bangalore ?(No object)
5. Are +we + playing +Kho Kho?
6. Are +they + coming + to meet us?
7. Are + You+ joking? (No object)
Exercise: Frame sentences of your own changing subject, verb and object
Negative :
1. He + is not+ studying +Chemistry.
2. She +is not + dancing.(No object)
3. It +is not+ raining very heavily now.(No object)
4. I+ am not+ going to Bangalore.(No object)
5. We + are not + playing +Kho Kho.
6. They + are not + coming + to meet us.
7. You + are not +talking +sweetly. (No object)
Exercise: Frame sentences of your own changing subject, verb and object
Negative Questions:
1. Is +he + not + studying +Chemistry?