? What is a verb in English

.A verb is a word that is used in a sentence to show an action

.There are many types of verbs in English 

. Action Verbs 

. Stative Verbs 

. Dynamic Verbs 

. Linking Verbs 

. Modal Verbs

. Transitive Verbs 

. Intransitive Verbs 

. Regular Verbs 

. Irregular Verbs 

. Phrasal Verbs

Common Mistakes in Using Verbs in English

Rule 1. ‘To’ is a part of the phrasal verb, “look forward to”. So using a bare infinitive (meet) in the following example is wrong 

Examples 

Wrong: I am looking forward to meet you 

Right: I am looking forward to meeting you

Rule 2. Some certain verbs in English are followed by a gerund, and not by an infinitive. So “Avoid to make” is wrong in the following example

Examples

Wrong: I avoid to make mistakes in English

Right: I avoid making mistakes in English 

Rule 3. Some certain verbs are followed by an infinitive, and not by a gerund. So “want eating” in the following example is wrong

Examples

Wrong: I want eating pizza

Right: I want to eat pizza

(Rule 4. Some verbs are followed by a bare infinitive (infinitive without ‘to

So “make students to work hard” in the following example is wrong

Examples

Wrong: Some teachers make students to work hard for their examinations

Right: Some teachers make students work hard for their examinations

Rule 5. Some certain verbs are not generally used in present progressive tense. So “believing in God” and  “thinking” in the following examples are wrong

Examples 

Wrong: I'm believing in God

Right: I believe in God

Wrong: I am thinking he is right

Right: I think he is right

Exercise 1

Find out the error in the following examples

. I'm thinking he is wrong

. I am used to take milk in the morning 

. I try to avoid to make mistakes in grammar

. I've decided going with you 

. Let him to work

Answer keys

. I think he is wrong

. I am used to taking milk in the morning 

. I try to avoid making mistakes in grammar

. I've decided to go with you

. Let him work

Word Families reading module

 Having to teach the year 1 students on reading English is one difficult task especially when your students are the Malay-speaking students

 Being provided by textbook and activity books is an advantage but at a certain point, it could be a restriction. In my honest opinion, the emphasized words introduced in the textbook are not really suitable in the sense that they are giving the students a hard time to understand the relation in terms of phonemes arrangements between the words

For examples, in the English Year 1 Textbook (2017),Unit 3, the words given under the /s/ phoneme are sun, snail, soup, soap, shine and etc.The students could identify the /s/ phoneme but to read those words will be difficult to them since the sounds of the letters that follow after the /s/ phoneme are different. Teaching a child to read through the vowel first, then add on the last sound can be counterproductive and lead to confusion. The students need to sound out every letter. This is slow and breaks up the flow of the words, making it hard to figure out the meaning

Based on some readings that I’ve made, I found out that the teaching of reading through WORD FAMILIES could help the students to apply decoding skills to unknown words. When learning families of words, children are able to read familiar patterns of letters quickly and fluently. Word family patterns help children’s spelling. They are able to recognize spelling patterns and apply these to other words of the same family

For instances, in the words “pat”, “mat” and rat, the students will learn to identify the “at” sound as chunk, instead of needing to sound out the letters individually

 

I realised that I need to do something for my students instead of solely depending my teaching on textbook. Therefore, I develop a very simple reading module which I think will be effective to my students based on the word families’ technique and I am sharing to all of you here in my blog. The words stated in my module wouldn’t be hundred percent from the textbook but they are selected based on what I feel suitable to my students

 word family reading module

Sentences

Sentence Definition

A sentence is a group of words, having a subject and a predicate and conveying a statement, question, order, exclamation, or prayers

Explanation:- A sentence consists of a subject and a predicate. It makes a statement, asks a question, gives an order, shows surprise or uses prayers. And this is clearly expressed respectively in the given below examples

Examples

(a) He is a good guy. (Statement) 

(b) Do you love it? (Question) 

(c) Come here. (Order) 

(d) What a beautiful house it is! (Exclamation)

(e) Have a good day. (Wish or Prayer)

Types of Sentence 

Sentences are mainly classified into five kinds based on what they convey. They're as follows

. Declarative or Assertive

. Interrogative

. Imperative

. Exclamatory

. Optative

1. A declarative or assertive sentence makes a statement and shows ‘it is’ or ‘it is not’. We use a full stop (.) after a declarative sentence

Examples

a) She goes to school regulrly

b) He is not good at English

Note:- A declarative sentence can be positive (affirmative) or negative

. An interrogative sentence asks a question. It ends with a question mark

Examples

  a)  Do you like tea

b) Will you not get ready for the party

Note:- An interrogative sentence also can be positive (affirmative) or negative

3. An imperative sentence gives an order or makes a request. It ends with a full stop

Examples

a) Do as we say

b) please give me your phone

Note:- An imperative sentence has a hidden subject that's understood. As such, the confusion that a sentence has a subject and a predicate, and there is no subject present in an imperative sentence gets cleared

 An exclamatory sentence expresses a strong feeling. It ends with exclamation mark (!)

Examples

a) How cute my baby is

b) What a beautiful house this is 

5. An optative sentence expresses a wish or prayer. It ends with an exclamation mark or sometimes with a full stop

Examples 

a) Good luck

b) happy Independence Day

c) May you live long

Types of Sentence  

Sentences are also categorised into the following four types based on structure

. Simple 

. Compound

. Complex 

. Compound-complex 

To understand the four types of sentence, simple, compound, complex and compound-complex, learners need to first learn the definition of clause and its types. The definition of clause and its types are given below

Clause Definition 

A clause is part of a sentence that has a subject and a predicate

Important Note:- Independent Clauses are in Black Colour and Dependent Clauses are in Blue

Examples

a) He gave it and I took it

b) She told me and I told him.l

Types of Clauses 

. Principal Clause  

. Sub-ordinate Clause 

. Co-ordinate Clause

1. Principal Clause (Independent or Main Clause) is an independent clause, has a subject and a predicate and can make complete sense by itself

2. Sub-ordinate Clause is a dependent clause, has a subject and a predicate, but can't make complete sense by itself 

3. Co-ordinate Clause is a combination of two independent clauses. Both the two can alone make complete sense

‘I asked’ is a principal/independent/main clause, ‘why he was shouting’ is a sub-ordinate/dependent clause in the first sentence, and ‘She went to school’ and ‘I went to market’ in the second example are the two independent clauses that form a sentence

Examples

(a) I asked why he was shouting

(b) She went to school and I went to market

Now Understand the Four Types of Sentence 

1. A simple sentence contains an independent clause, and makes complete sense by itself

Examples

a) She went to India last year

b) They helped the poor

2. A compound sentence consists of two independent clauses

Examples

a) She studies and I work

b) We write articles and you read them

3. A complex sentence contains an independent clause and atleast one dependent clause

Examples

a) She cried when I went to see her

b) I told him because he asked me

4. A compound-complex sentence consists of two independent clauses and atleast one dependent clause 

Examples

a) Because he worked hard, he got the first rank in the test and he was happy

Exercise

Identify the type of the sentences based on what they convey

. I will call you tomorrow

? Do you love her

. What a big building this is

. Improve your English with our Blog

 God bless you

Answer key

. Declarative

. Interrogative

. Exclamatory

. Imperative

. Optative 

Gender in English

You're going to learn the gender meaning and types in the English language with example sentences in this lesson

The Meaning of Gender in English 

In English, the gender means the words that refer to biological sex: male sex, female sex and other sex

Examples 

Boy= male sex 

Girl =female sex 

The impotance of learning  Gender in English 

As a learner of English, you need to learn the gender system of the English language so that you can avoid making grammatical errors related to gender. For instance, if you are not aware that the word, ‘Girl’ is a feminine gender, it is possible that you use ‘Himself’ for the same. In other words, as you don't know what the gender of the word, ‘Girl’ is, you can say “The girl talked to himself.” in place of ‘Herself’. Likewise, you can possibly say “The girl took his bag and left for his house.” in place of ‘her’. so you are required to learn the gender of nouns and pronouns used in English 

Types of Gender

There are four types of gender in English. They are as follows 

. Male gender  Masculine gender

 Female gender = Feminine gender

. Common gender

. Neuter gender

. Male gender refers to male or male figure

Examples

My son went to the market with his wife.Son→ Male... ‘His’ used for this 

My stallion is really nice. Stallion → Male horse

Female gender refers to female or female figure

Examples 

My daughter is coming to our house with her husband

Daughter →female, ‘her’ used for this

The mare is sitting with her babies. Mare→ female horse  

 Common gender refers to livings that don't specify the gender

Examples 

Every student opened their book.... Student → Common gender 

A friend will always stand with their friend...... Friend → Common gender 

Note:- When there's a common gender word, ‘They’ or ‘their’ is used for it. But traditionally, ‘his/her’ is used for it 

. Neuter gender refers to those things that have no gende 

Examples 

I've recently bought a table. It is a nice table......Table → neuter gender, ‘It’ used with table 

My pencil is red, but its cap is white..... Pencil → neuter gender, ‘Its’ used with pencil

Exercise 1

Read the following words and decide their genders

. Woman

. Hen 

. Actor

. Actress

. Girl 

. Man 

. Lady 

. Doctor

. Student

. Father

Answer key 

. Feminine gender

. Feminine gender

. Masculine gender

. Feminine gender

. Feminine gender

. Masculine gender

. Feminine gender

. Common gender

. Common gender

. Masculine gender

Exercise 2

Fill in the blanks with appropriate pronouns according to the gender of the words used 

1. Every student will go to......... class. (their or his) 

2. My daughter came with.... husband. (her or his) 

3. My son practises speaking English with..... friends. (his or her) 

4. My mom will go to.....own house. (his or her) 

5. The baby is sleeping with.....mom. (his, her or its ) 

Answer key

. Their 

. Her 

. His 

. Her 

. Its