CHAPTER 7: REVIEW

OF GRAMMAR, STYLE
& VOCABULARY

ACADEMIC WRITING & RESEARCH (DAW 12073)

Sub-topic
7.1 Tenses
7.2 Subject and Verb Number Agreement
7.3 Vocabulary and Usage
7.4 Lab-Clarity (Tense Buster)
7.1 What is tenses?
a form of the verb that allows you to express time. The
tense of the verb tells us when an event or something
existed or when a person did something. Past, present,
and future are the three main types of tenses.
Types of tenses
Past, present and future
Past tense
The past tense is used to describe an activity or
an event that has happened in the past or a
past state of being and needs to include a time
marker for when the event or action took place.

Structural formula:
Subject + verb (2nd form) + object.
Examples:
We met yesterday.
He bought a new laptop last week.
Present tense
The simple present tense or present tense is one of
the most basic tenses in English. We use present
tense to talk about something that is currently
going on, something that is habitually performed, or
a state that generally or currently exists.

Structural formula:
Subject + verb (s/es) + object.
Examples:
She lives in Spain.
Bob drives a taxi.
Future tense
The future tense is a verb tense used to
describe an event or action that has not yet
happened and is expected to happen in the
future.

Structural formula:
Subject + shall/will+ verb (s/es) + object.
Examples:
He will be here soon.
The subtypes of tenses
Past continuous tense
The past continuous tense is used to describe events
or actions that have already occurred in the past. It's
employed to describe any action which has happened
in the past.

Structural formula:
Subject + helping verb (was/were) + verb (ing) + object.
Examples:
I was watching TV.
We were sleeping.
She wasn’t eating her lunch.
The subtypes of tenses
Past perfect tense
The past perfect tense is used to describe an event
that occurred before a completed action in the past.

Structural formula:
Subject + had + verb (ed) + object.

Examples:
He had gone when she became ill.
She had not lived in New York.
They had not been married long when I was
born.
The subtypes of tenses
Past perfect continuous tense
The past perfect continuous tense represents any action or
event that started in the past and sometimes continued into
another action or another time.

Structural formula:
Subject + had been + Verb (ing) + object (optional) + time of
action.

Examples:
We had been playing games for 6 hours when Dad came
home.
She had been reading magazines for 1 month before she
decided to apply for the job.
Had she been washing dishes all day?
The subtypes of tenses
Present continuous tense
The present continuous tense is used to talk about the
ongoing actions, events, or conditions that are still not
finished.

Structural formula:
Subject + helping verb (is / am/ are) + main verb (ing) +
object.

Examples:
She is playing basketball.
Birds are flying in the sky.
I’m learning English.
The subtypes of tenses
Present perfect tense
The present perfect tense is used to describe a situation or
event that has already occurred but has immediate
ramifications. The present perfect tense can be used to
describe experiences, and situations that occurred in the past
but still have an influence on the present. We don't use it with
time markers.

Structural formula:
Subject + helping verb (have/has) + verb (ed) + object.

Examples:
She has not finished her work yet.
I have seen that movie twice.
We have visited LA several times.
The subtypes of tenses
Present perfect continuous tense
The present perfect continuous tense shows a situation
that has started in the past and continues in the
present.

Structural formula:
Subject + helping verb (have/has) + been + verb (ing) +
object (optional) + since / for + time duration + object.

Examples:
I have been learning English for many years.
He has been working here since 2010.
We have been saving money.
The subtypes of tenses
Future continuous tense
The future continuous tense is used to describe an
ongoing action that will occur or occur in the future.

Structural formula:

Subject + shall/will be + verb (ing) + object.

Examples:
He will be coming to visit us next week.
She will be watching TV.
He will be writing a letter to Mary.
The subtypes of tenses
Future perfect tense
The future perfect is used to describe an action that will
be completed between now and a certain point in the
future.

Structural formula:

Subject + shall/will + have + verb (3rd form) + object.

Examples:
They will have finished the film before we get home.
She will have cleaned the house by 9pm.
The subtypes of tenses
Future perfect continuous tense
We use the future perfect continuous to focus on the
duration of an action before a specific time in the future.

Structural formula:

Subject + shall/will + have been + verb (ing) + object

(optional) + time instant.

Examples:
He will have been studying hard for 2 weeks before the
exam.
By the time the alarm goes off, we will have been
sleeping for 8 hours.
Examples of tenses
Examples of tenses
7.2 Subject and Verb Number Agreement
Usage - Subject-Verb Agreement
Subjects and verbs must AGREE with one another in number (singular or
plural). Thus, if a subject is singular, its verb must also be singular; if a
subject is plural, its verb must also be plural.
In present tenses, nouns and verbs form plurals in opposite ways:
nouns ADD an s to the singular form,
BUT
verbs REMOVE an s from the singular form.
 Here are nine subject-verb agreement rules.

1. A phrase or clause between subject and verb does not change the number of the subject.

Examples:
2. Indefinite pronouns as subjects
Singular indefinite pronoun subjects take singular verbs.
SINGULAR each, either, neither, ono, no one, nobody, nothing, anyone, anybody, anything,
someone, somebody, something, everyone, everybody, everything

Examples:
Plural indefinite pronoun subjects take plural verbs.

PLURAL: several, few, both, many

Examples:
Some indefinite pronouns may be either singular or plural: with uncountable, use singular; with
countable, use plural.
EITHER SINGULAR OR PLURAL: some, any, none, all, most

Examples:
3. Compound subjects joined by and are always plural.

Examples:
4. With compound subjects joined by or/nor, the verb agrees with the subject nearer to it..

Examples:
5. Inverted Subjects must agree with the verb.

Examples:
6. Collective Nouns (group, jury, crowd, team, etc.) may be singular or plural, depending
on meaning.
Examples:
7. Titles of single entities (books, organizations, countries, etc.) are always singular.

Examples:
8. Plural form subjects
Plural form subjects with a singular meaning take a singular verb. (e.g. news, measles, mumps, physics, etc.)

Examples:

Plural form subjects with singular or plural meaning take a singular or plural verb, depending on meaning. (e.g.
politics, economics, etc.)

Examples:
8. Plural form subjects
Plural form subjects with a plural meaning take a plural verb. (e.g. scissors, trousers)

Examples:

Note: In this example, the subject of the sentence is pair; therefore, the verb must agree with it. (Because scissors is the
object of the preposition, scissors does not affect the number of the verb.)
9. With subject and subjective complement of different number, the verb always agrees
with the subject.

Examples:
10-A. With one of those ________ who, use a plural verb

Examples:

The above example implies that others besides Hannah like to read comic books.
Therefore, the plural verb is the correct form to use.
10-B. With the only one of those ________who, use a singular verb.

Examples:

The above example implies that no one else except for Hannah likes to read comic books.
Therefore, the singular verb is the correct for to use.
11-A. With the number of _______, use a singular verb.

Examples:

11-B. With a number of _______, use a plural verb.

Examples:
12. With every ______ and many a ________, use a singular verb.

Examples:
Exercise 1
Fill in the blanks with the correct form of the verb.

1. Each of the girls ____ her own dress. (has/have)

2. Five miles____ long distance. (is/are)
3. Many a man ____ tried hard to climb the treacherous mountain range. ( have/has)
4. The furniture of the house ____ quite impressive. (is/are)
5. Few students ______ coming to the party. (is, are)
6. Uma, my childhood friend ____ leaving for Delhi next month. (is/are)
7. Most of my friends _____ government employees. (is/are)
8. The level of pain tolerance ____ from person to person. (vary/varies)
9. Either Tina or Rohit ____ telling lies. (is/are)
10. A number of people _____reported to have fallen sick after drinking the water from the tubewell. (was/were)
11. The government ____ criticised by the Supreme Court for their actions. (was/were)
12. No one ____ a greater collection of books than my friend Reeshav. (has / have)
13. Somebody ____ waiting at the door for you. (is / are)
14. Two ____ ago, here is the place where the accident took place. (year/years)
15. Fast food, like burgers and street food, ____ harmful to our health. (is/are)
16. All the students ____ excited to visit the museum after school. (is/are)
17. Neither Joseph nor his family ____ French. (speaks/speak)
18. Either Ross or Joey ____ broken the glass. (has/have)
19. If anybody _____ for me, do let me know. (calls/call)
20. The plumber, along with his helper ____, expected to come soon. (is/are)
21. Several neighbours _____ complained about the loud sound coming from that house. (has/have)
22. Neither Penny nor Amy ____ went to work. (has/have)
23. The Olympics ____ held every four years. (is/are)
24. The people ___ lived without electricity for many years. (has/have)
25. The dog _____ chasing the cat. (is/are)
Exercise 2
Go through the following sentences and use the right form of the verb in the blanks to complete the sentences.
1. Mr Simon, the great painter and philanthropist, ____ arrived. (has/have)
2. Bread and butter ___ his daily food. (is/are)
3. Yusuf and Rahul ____ gone to the school fair. (have/has)
4. Slow and steady ____ the race. (win/wins)
5. The players ___ preparing for the big game tonight. (were/was)
6. The jury ____ unanimous in their decision. (was/were)
7. The little boy _______ mangoes. (like/likes)
8. The teachers ________ asked to attend a conference today. (were/was)
9. I _______ it is good for you. (thinks/think)
10. Neenu and Anu _____ twins. (are/is)
11. Rahul ______ English and Spanish. (speak/speaks)
12. Caro _______ in a bank. (works/work)
13. Mathan, Tovino and Boban _____ best friends. (are/is)
14. Every one of us ____ here. (is/are)
15. None of them _______ completed their assignments. (have/has)
16. Jithu _______ a BMW car. (has/have)
17. What do you ______ about wasting food? (think/thinks)
18. Veena ______ that it would not be okay for us to go out at this time. (feels/feel)
19. ______ anyone seen the movie? (has/have)
20. We ______ at the park yesterday. (were/was)
21. The movie _____ great. (was/were)
22. The curtains _____ the wall colours perfectly. (matches/match)
23. Boney and Heera ______ moving to Bangalore. (are/is)
24. Preetha _____ a son and a daughter. (has/have)
25. Their daughter, Sheela, ____ a grade X student. (is/are)
to be continue...