Parts of Speech- Verbs

The majority of the verbs express physical action. These are known as doing words popularly called as action verbs. Some examples are: to run, to swim, to eat, to dance, to eat, to hit, to jump, to sit, etc.
There are three forms of verbs that are used to talk about the past, present and future in the English language. Consider the following sentences:

• Tom runs fast. (Present)
• Tom ran fast. (Past)
• Tom will run fast. (Future)

There are three forms of the verb "to run", run (present tense), ran (past tense), will run (future tense).

Let's look at some more examples.

Present: study, sing, dance, cook, walk.

Past: studied, sang, danced, cooked, walked.

Future: will study, will sing, will dance, will cook, will walk.

Verbs also express mental action. This simply refers to anything related to the cognitive state of mind. Examples: to think (thought), to consider (considers), to guess (guessed), to surprise, to promise, to love, to hate, to know, to hope, to wish, to forget, to remember, etc.

Consider the following sentences:

• I think I like it.
• Did I surprise you?
• I promise I will work hard.

Verbs also express the state of being. These are the, "to be" verbs. These are mainly is, am, are, was, were. These small sets of verbs do not express physical action at all. These act as linking verbs. Linking verbs connect the subject to other words in the sentence without expressing any action. They are usually, followed by a noun, an adjective or an adverb.

Consider the following sentences:

• I am a teacher. 
• She is a beautiful lady.
• I am fully prepared.

These verbs also act as helping verbs, also known as auxiliary verbs. Helping verbs are verbs that cannot function as the main verb, but come before the main verb.

Consider some examples,

• Sarah is eating a pizza.
• Sarah was eating a pizza.
• Sarah will eat pizza.

Below is a table showing the "to be" verbs in different persons and tenses form.

Verbs also express possession, such as " to have" verbs. They are mainly, have, had, has. These can be either used as an action verb or as an auxiliary verb (helping verb). "have" acts as the irregular main verb, with both "had" and "has", serving as inflections. They show possession.

Consider the following sentences:

• I have a bag.
• They had a car.
• Tom has a pen. 

The "to have" verbs also act as auxiliary or helping verbs. They come before the main verb.

Consider the following sentences:

• Sarah has eaten a pizza.
• They have written a book.

Below is a table showing the "to have" verbs in different persons and tenses form.

Another form of verbs that we would like to mention here is the, "to do" verbs. These are mainly, "do, did and does". Like the "to have" verbs, these are used both as either an action verb or as an auxiliary verb.

Consider the following sentences,

• He does his taxes on time.
• They do a lot of work.
• She did well.

In the above sentences, the "to do" verbs act as the main irregular verb.

The "to do" verbs also act as auxiliary or helping verbs. They come before the main verb.

Consider the following sentences:

Below is a table showing the "to do" verbs in different persons and tenses form.

Look at the table below:

The above table shows us the linking and helping (auxiliary) verbs.

It is noteworthy to see, that the "to be verbs" act as both, linking and helping (auxiliary) verbs. The "to have" and "to do" verbs act as either action verbs or helping (auxiliary) verbs. The words will, would, shall, should, can, could, may and might, act as only helping (auxiliary) verbs, also known as "true auxiliary". 

On the other hand, the sensory words, look, sound, smell, taste, and feel as well as the words grow, prove turn, remain, stay and appear act as either action verbs or linking verbs. The words become and seem, act as only linking verbs, also known as "true linking". 

Reported Speech

Direct and Indirect Speech
Sometimes we wonder 

Writing a Letter (Friendly and Business Letter)

Writing a Friendly letter: A friendly letter is written to someone you know and who is close to you. The letter may be written to family members, friends and parents. This letter is usually written to casually tell about yourself, to give a piece of advice or write some of your experiences, feelings or emotions. While writing a friendly letter, keep these things in mind:

Find below, Sarah’s letter to her Grandmother.

Write the date at the top right corner. November 2, 2018 Greeting begins with a Dear and write a comma after the person’s name. Dear Grandma, The body includes a set of paragraph text.        How are you? I am doing well. Mom told me that you were having a bad cold. I hope and pray that you get well soon. Maybe your delicious chicken soup might help.        I am a part of my school band and am rehearsing to play at the school’s Christmas concert this year. I hope that you will come home for Christmas. We will have great fun and also don’t forget your yummy Christmas cake!         I hope you get well soon! Add a comma after the closing. Love, Sarah Write the person’s name writing the letter.

Writing a business letter: A business letter is a formal letter written to an organization, institution, places of authority or a company. It is written to people whom you either do not know or have a professional or formal relationship with them. This letter is usually written to request something, share a concern about something, to complain about something or to provide information.

The heading includes the sender’s address and the date. 5643 Cottonwood Dr Lone Tree, CO 76123 November 2, 2018 The second address includes the recipient's address. Goodwill Donations 657 Parker Avenue Lone Tree, CO 76342 A colon follows the greeting and a subject is written below. Dear Goodwill Donations:                          Subject: Need used school supplies. The body includes a set of paragraph text.        My name is Peggy Alexander, and I am the secretary at Acres Brown Elementary School. We came to know about your company through our partners Ben and Jill Hemings.        Our school requires some used supplies, which could be used in classrooms as helpful materials for teaching our students. We primarily need some audio-visual equipment such as a projector, computer, and whiteboards.         We request you if you could provide our school with the above. I can provide you with transportation and can personally come to pick up the items. Please let me know if you may have any questions at my phone number (234) 165-7243. Add a comma after the closing. Thank You, Peggy Signature is always put before the name. Peggy Alexander

Process of Writing

Some are born writers, yet others fear from the thought of writing even a few words. Writing, therefore, is a most difficult subject to understand for English language learners.  The fear of grammatical errors. The fear of not diverting from the main topic makes many students drift away from this beautiful yet simple form of expressing themselves to the world.

For beginners, start with writing simple sentences using pictures:

Use the terms such as First, Next and Last.

Use the above terms to describe seasons:

First comes summer. Next comes fall. Last comes winter.

Write a “What am I”

What am I?

I swim in the water

I have gills

Answer: Fish

The above terms are widely used in writing a “How to?”

What is “How to?”

A “How to” tells us how to do something in methodical steps.

How to make a cake? First, get some flour, sugar, butter, eggs, vanilla, and baking powder in the right proportions. Next, mix all of the above together till you get a smooth batter. Last, bake the batter at 350 degrees for 45 minutes.

Story:

1.     A story has a title or a topic. It tells you what the story is about.

2.     A story always has a beginning, middle and an end.

3.     A story widely uses time order words such as, first, next, last, before, after, finally, and suddenly.

4.     A story has characters who are people in the story. Compare the characters (How are they alike) and contrast them as well (How they differ?).

5.     A story has a setting. A story happens at a place. Write about what you saw or did in that place.

6.     A story has one or many events. These are something that happened in the story. Events of a story are connected with each other. They always have a cause. A cause is something that leads to an event in a story.

Cause	Event
It was snowing.	Tom put on his jacket
Jill was hungry,	She ate a carrot.
It was Christmas.	Jill decorated a Christmas tree

7.     A story is well explained by using illustrations which are nothing but pictures.

Use of the 5 W’s and How?

The 5 W’s are :

Who? What? When? Why? and Where?

What happened?

Who was there?

When did it happen?

Where did it happen?

Why did it happen?

What happened?	I see a cow sleeping as she was unwell.
Who was there?	A farmer and a doctor.
When did it happen?	yesterday
Where did it happen?	In the barn.
Why did it happen?	The cow got hurt.

Process of Writing:

1.     Brainstorming: Always keep a plan before attempting to write anything. A story has an idea behind it so brainstorming should be the first step in the writing process. Brainstorming helps you to come up with an idea for your story. You may have multiple ideas in your mind but brainstorming will help you to reduce them down to one or two great ones. For this process sit down with a peaceful mind. Have a pen and paper om your hand. Make a list of all the things you know or are good

Playing the piano

Badminton

Taj Mahal

Beaches

Teaching

2.     Idea Chart: Make a chart of ideas. Choose from the above, which topic you would be most interested to write about? Once you chose your topic, it would become essential to research on that topic. Either you could do that by going to the library or simply browsing the internet to gather your facts. Once you have got all your information about the topic you selected, make an idea chart. This can help you place all your ideas in the proper sequence.

3.     Rough Draft: When you have collected all your ideas that you would be using in your writing start writing a rough draft. Do not worry at this stage about ay mistakes. This is a step in which you jot down all the ideas that are flowing in your mind, on paper. Start writing the process of writing sentences and also paragraphs. While writing the rough draft ensure that you do not drift away from the topic. Ensure to give details to your ideas.

Let’s write our rough draft from the above idea web we have,

Taj Mahal, is an interesting place. It is among the seven wonders of the world. It was built in Agra, India. It was built by the emperor Shahjahan. Beside the Taj Mahal is the red fort. It is also a famous tourist place. It is also called as a symbol of love as Shah Jahan built it for his wife after her death. It is very beautiful and is made of pure marble. However the great monument is loosing its pure white color due to pollution. We should do something to preserve this heritage piece of spectacular beauty.

4.     Re-Visit: Now is the time to re-visit your rough draft:

Check if all the sentences are talking about the main topic and not getting drifted from the it. Gather any details that could be added to make your writing more detailed. Do sentences have correct punctuation?

Taj Mahal, is an interesting place. It is among the seven wonders of the world. It was built in the year 1632 in agra, india. It was built by the emperor Shah Jahan. Beside the Taj Mahal is the red fort. It is also a famous tourist place. It is also called as a symbol of love as Shah Jahan built it for his wife, Mumtaz after her death. It is very beautiful and is made of pure marble. However the great monument is loosing its pure white color due to pollution. We should do something to preserve this heritage piece of spectacular beauty.

Corrections:

It is important to add some details what you have written. For example, the writer added the date, in which the monument was built.

He removed the extra sentences that were not speaking about the monument, but were speaking of a monument adjacent to the monument, diverting our writing from the main topic.

5.     Proof reading: This is a step which helps to make your writing look more refined and clear to understand as you re-check your writing for any errors.

Check for common mistakes:

Do all sentences start with a capital letter and with a correct punctuation mark?

Is the letter “I” capital any where in the sentence?

Are proper nouns capitalized?

Check for the subject-verb agreements.

Are commas used in the right places?

Check for spellings.

Proof reading check points

Insert something	^
Capitalize	m M
Period	Write “.” and circle it.
Lowercase	M  m
Comma	,

Let’s look at our revised draft.

Taj Mahal, is an interesting place. It is among the seven wonders of the world. It was built in the year, 1632 in Aagra, Iindia. It was built by the emperor Shah Jahan. It is also called as a symbol of love as Shah Jahan built it for his wife, Mumtaz after her death. It is very beautiful and is made of pure marble. However, the great monument is losing its pure white color due to pollution. We should do something to preserve this heritage piece of spectacular beauty.

6.     Share: We made the above changes, and once you are finished doing that, you are ready to share your piece of art!

The process of sharing involves sharing the writing with your friends and family or your teacher.

Final version:

Taj Mahal, is an interesting place. It is among the seven wonders of the world. It was built in the year, 1632 in Agra, India. It was built by the emperor Shah Jahan. It is also called as a symbol of love as Shah Jahan built it for his wife, Mumtaz after her death. It is very beautiful and is made of pure marble. However, the great monument is losing its pure white color due to pollution. We should do something to preserve this heritage piece of spectacular beauty.

Paragraph Writing

Paragraph Writing:

A paragraph starts by leaving two finger spaces from the left margin of the paper. This is known as indentation. It is necessary to indent before starting any new paragraph. A paragraph is made up of a group of several sentences. Different sentences in the paragraph tell the reader about one main idea. For a different idea, start a new paragraph. Combining these different paragraphs together leads to the formation of a story or a letter.

There are three parts to a paragraph:

1.     Beginning: The beginning sentence should introduce the readers to the topic of the paragraph. It is like the morning when one gets up and plans for the day. We decide what is the main thing that will be done in the day. The same way the introduction of the paragraph tells the readers about the main idea of the paragraph and what to expect.

2.     Middle: The middle of the paragraph talks about a few details and comprises of 2 to 3 sentences. These sentences describe in detail about the main topic. It is like the time between morning and evening when we do multiple tasks to cover up for the main goal we had in the morning.

3.     End: It is very important to have a conclusion in the paragraph as it sums up all that we have written. It is like the evening and the end of the day when we sum up and recall all that we did throughout the day. 

In the paragraph below, all the important markers are highlighted.

Taj Mahal is an interesting place. It is among the seven wonders of the world. It was built in the year, 1632 in Agra, India. It was built by the emperor Shah Jahan. It is also called as a symbol of love as Shah Jahan built it for his wife, Mumtaz after her death. It is very beautiful and is made of pure marble. However, the great monument is losing its pure white color due to pollution. We should do something to preserve this heritage piece of spectacular beauty. ·       The one in blue is the beginning of the sentence. It talks about the topic or the main idea, “The Taj Mahal” ·       The one in the green is the body of the paragraphs. It tells us a few details about Taj Mahal. ·       The one in purple is the conclusion of the paragraph. It sums up the entire paragraph. ·       Remember to indent the paragraph as we have done in the beginning.

Let’s write another paragraph:

1.     First chose a topic. So say we chose to write about ourselves, The topic, therefore, should be, “All about Myself”.

2.     Remember to talk about the main topic in the beginning sentence, and then provide some details about yourself. Finally, conclude your paragraph with a sentence that would some up your paragraph.

3.     Do not forget to indent.

Let’s begin:

All About Me

My name is Jennifer Fernandes. I am six years old. I am a girl. I study in Acres Brown Elementary School. I live in Lynchburg, Virginia. I have a pet named Ben. I love to eat pizza. My favorite fruit is banana, I can eat bananas any time of the day. I love to play on the swing. My Mom and Dad love me a lot. I have two friends. Their names are Keara and Jane. I love to swim. So, now you know all about me.

Now answer the following questions:

1.     Can you mark the beginning sentence of the paragraph?

      My name is Jennifer Fernandes.

2.     Can you mark the middle of the paragraph?

I am six years old. I am a girl. I study in Acres Brown Elementary School. I live in Lynchburg, Virginia. I have a pet named Ben. I love to eat pizza. My favorite fruit is banana, I can eat bananas any time of the day. I love to play on the swing. My Mom and Dad love me a lot. I have two friends. Their names are Keara and Jane. I love to swim.

3.     Can you mark the closing of the sentence?

So, now you know all about me.

Now let’s write another paragraph. This time we write to convince. This is a concept to let people see things your way.

Writing to Convince:

1.     First, choose a topic, this topic should be the one you want to convince people on what you think about it is right. (Topic) 

a.      Taj Mahal should be Free

2.     Next, jot down a couple of sentences you fell would be sufficient to convince people of your thinking. (Body)

a.      It’s a public place. 

b.     Headcount will increase if it is free. 

c.      People could donate money out of goodwill. 

d.     People might volunteer to help maintain the monument.

e.      Reduce the government’s burden

3.     Last, write your conclusion that sums up your paragraph.

Considering all the points above, let's write our paragraph:

Admittance to Taj Mahal should be free.  It is a public place, like a library or a museum.  By making the entry fee free many more people will come to visit the great monument. People might even donate some money out of goodwill. Since a variety of people will come, some might even volunteer to help maintain the monument. This will reduce the burden that the government would have faced, otherwise. Taj Mahal is a heritage which is for everyone to see and should be free for everyone to experience and enjoy.

Now answer the following questions:

1.     Can you mark the beginning sentence of the paragraph?

      Admittance to Taj Mahal should be free.

2.     Can you mark the middle of the paragraph?

It is a public place, like a library or a museum.  By making the entry fee free many more people will come to visit the great monument. People might even donate some money out of goodwill. Since a variety of people will come, some might even volunteer to help maintain the monument. This will reduce the burden that the government would have faced, otherwise. 

3.     Can you mark the closing of the sentence?

Taj Mahal is a heritage which is for everyone to see and should be free for everyone to experience and enjoy. 

Writing a paragraph is a basic skill in understanding how to write. Remember, that a paragraph talks about a single idea. A new idea should always be expressed in a new paragraph. By joining such multiple paragraphs together leads to a story, a letter, or even a novel.

Therefore, paragraph writing is a cornerstone on which all the other complex writing is based on.