TENSES

Tense is a form of a verb which shows the time of an action and its degree of completeness.

TYPES OF
TENSES

Present tense Past tense Future tense

• It shows that the action is done in the present time. For example,
Present
• I see an aeroplane in the sky.
Tense

• It shows that the action was done in the past time. For example,

Past Tense • I saw an aeroplane in the sky.

• It shows that the action will be done in the future time. For example,
Future
• I will see an aeroplane in the sky.
Tense
 Each of the three main tenses has four forms.

1. Simple / Indefinite
tense

2. Continuous tense /
FORMS progressive tense

3. Perfect tense

4. Perfect continuous
tense / perfect
progressive tense

Simple • It simply states

Tense an action.

Continuous • It indicates that the action is

Tense incomplete or in process.

Perfect
• It indicates that the action is complete.
Tense

• It indicates that the action has been continuous. It can be

Perfect said that the action was started in the past time, it is still
Continuous going on and will go on in the future time also. It usually
Tense emphasizes duration or the amount of time that an action
has been taking.
 PRESENT TENSE

(i) Simple present tense / present indefinite tense

S + V1st form + O

For example,
 I sing a song.
 We sing a song.
 You sing a song.
 She sings a song.
 They sing a song.

(ii) Present continuous / present progressive tense

S + is/am/are + V1st form + ing + O

For example,
 I am singing a song.
 We are singing a song.
 You are singing a song.
 She is singing a song
 They are singing a song.

(iii) Present perfect tense

S + has/have + V3rd form + O

For example,
 I have sung a song.
 We have sung a song.
 You have sung a song.
 She has sung a song.
 They have sung a song.

(iv) Present perfect continuous / present perfect progressive tense

S + has/have + been + V1st form + ing + O

For example,
 I have been singing a song.
 We have been singing a song.
 You have been singing a song.
 She has been singing a song.
 They have been singing a song.

PAST TENSE

(i) Simple past tense / past indefinite tense

S + V2nd form + O

For example,
 I sang a song.
 We sang a song.
 You sang a song.
 She sang a song.
 They sang a song.
 (ii) Past continuous / past progressive tense

S + was/were + V1st form + ing + O

For example,
 I was singing a song.
 We were singing a song.
 You were singing a song.
 She was singing a song
 They were singing a song.

(iii) Past perfect tense

S + had + V3rd form + O

For example,
 I had sung a song.
 We had sung a song.
 You had sung a song.
 She had sung a song.
 They had sung a song.

(iv) Past perfect continuous / past perfect progressive tense

S + had + been + V1st form + ing + O

For example,
 I had been singing a song.
 We had been singing a song.
 You had been singing a song.
 She had been singing a song.
 They had been singing a song.
 FUTURE TENSE

(i) Simple future tense / future indefinite tense

S + shall/will + V1st form + O

For example,
 I shall sing a song.
 We shall sing a song.
 You will sing a song.
 She will sing a song.
 They will sing a song.

(ii) Future continuous / future progressive tense

S + shall/will + be + V1st form + ing + O

For example,
 I shall be singing a song.
 We shall be singing a song.
 You will be singing a song.
 She will be singing a song
 They will be singing a song.

(iii) Future perfect tense

S + shall/will + have + V3rd form + O

For example,
 I shall have sung a song.
 We shall have sung a song.
  You will have sung a song.
 She will have sung a song.
 They will have sung a song.

(iv) Future perfect continuous / future perfect progressive tense

S + shall/will + have + been + V1st form + ing + O

For example,
 I shall have been singing a song.
 We shall have been singing a song.
 You will have been singing a song.
 She will have been singing a song.
 They will have been singing a song.

VOICE – ACTIVE AND PASSIVE

Voice is the term used to describe whether a verb is active or passive. The voice of a verb describes
the relationship between the action (and state) that the verb expresses and the participants identified
by its arguments (subject, object, etc.)
A transitive verb has two voices:
i. Active voice
ii. Passive voice

Active voice: The verb is active when the subject performs an action. For example,
 I write a letter.
 She reads a book.

Passive voice: The verb is passive when the subject receives an action. For example,
 A letter is written by me.
 A book is read by her.
 1. Subject becomes
object and object
becomes subject in
passive voice.

RULES

4. There is no future
continuous tense in
passive voice. (But
according to some
scholars, there is future
continuous tense also in
passive voice.)

Change of pronouns from active to passive voice

Active voice Passive voice

I Me
We Us
You You
She Her
He Him
They Them
Who By whom
 PRESENT TENSE

(v) Simple present tense / present indefinite tense

Active voice – S + V1st form + O

Passive voice – S + is/am/are + V3rd form + O

For example,

S.No. Active voice Passive voice

1. I sing a song. A song is sung by me.

2. We eat mangoes. Mangoes are eaten by us.

3. You knit your cardigan. Your cardigan is knitted by you.

4. She feeds animals. Animals are fed by her.

5. He sells sugar. Sugar is sold by him.

6. They catch birds. Birds are caught by them.

7. My mother scolds me. I am scolded by my mother.

 (vi) Present continuous / present progressive tense

Active voice – S + is/am/are + V1st form + ing + O

Passive voice – S + is/am/are + being + V3rd form + O

For example,

S.No. Active voice Passive voice

1. I am singing a song. A song is being sung by me.

2. We are eating mangoes. Mangoes are being eaten by us.

3. You are knitting your cardigan. Your cardigan is being knitted by you.

4. She is feeding animals. Animals are being fed by her.

5. He is selling sugar. Sugar is being sold by him.

6. They are catching birds. Birds are being caught by them.

7. My mother is scolding me. I am being scolded by my mother.

(vii) Present perfect tense

Active voice – S + has/have + V3rd form + O

Passive voice – S + has/have + been + V3rd form + O

For example,

S.No. Active voice Passive voice

1. I have sung a song. A song has been sung by me.

2. We have eaten mangoes. Mangoes have been eaten by us.

3. You have knitted your cardigan. Your cardigan has been knitted by you.

4. She has fed animals. Animals have been fed by her.

5. He has sold sugar. Sugar has been sold by him.

6. They have caught birds. Birds have been caught by them.

7. My mother has scolded me. I have been scolded by my mother.

PAST TENSE

(v) Simple past tense / past indefinite tense

Active voice – S + V2nd form + O

Passive voice – S + was/were + V3rd form + O

For example,

S.No. Active voice Passive voice

1. I sang a song. A song was sung by me.

2. We ate mangoes. Mangoes were eaten by us.

3. You knitted your cardigan. Your cardigan was knitted by you.

 4. She fed animals. Animals were fed by her.

5. He sold sugar. Sugar was sold by him.

6. They caught birds. Birds were caught by them.

7. My mother scolded me. I was scolded by my mother.

(i) Past continuous / past progressive tense

Active voice – S + was/were + V1st form + ing + O

Passive voice – S + was/were + being + V3rd form + O

For example,

S.No. Active voice Passive voice

1. I was singing a song. A song was being sung by me.

2. We were eating mangoes. Mangoes were being eaten by us.

3. You were knitting your cardigan. Your cardigan was being knitted by you.

4. She was feeding animals. Animals were being fed by her.

5. He was selling sugar. Sugar was being sold by him.

6. They were catching birds. Birds were being caught by them.

7. My mother was scolding me. I was being scolded by my mother.

(i) Past perfect tense

Active voice – S + had + V3rd form + O

Passive voice – S + had + been + V3rd form + O

S.No. Active voice Passive voice

1. I had sung a song. A song had been sung by me.

2. We had eaten mangoes. Mangoes had been eaten by us.

3. You had knitted your cardigan. Your cardigan had been knitted by you.

4. She had fed animals. Animals had been fed by her.

5. He had sold sugar. Sugar had been sold by him.

6. They had caught birds. Birds had been caught by them.

7. My mother had scolded me. I had been scolded by my mother.

 FUTURE TENSE

(v) Simple future tense / future indefinite tense

Active voice – S + shall/will + V1st form + O

Passive voice – S + shall/will + be + V3rd form + O

For example,

S.No. Active voice Passive voice

1. I shall sing a song. A song will be sung by me.

2. We shall eat mangoes. Mangoes will be eaten by us.

3. You will knit your cardigan. Your cardigan will be knitted by you.

4. She will feed animals. Animals will be fed by her.

5. He will sell sugar. Sugar will be sold by him.

6. They will catch birds. Birds will be caught by them.

7. My mother will scold me. I shall be scolded by my mother.

 (i) Future continuous / future progressive tense (Only according to some scholars)

Active voice – S + shall/will + be + V1st form + ing + O

Passive voice – S + shall/will + be + being + V3rd form + O

For example,

S.No. Active voice Passive voice

1. I shall be singing a song. A song will be being sung by me.

2. We shall be eating mangoes. Mangoes will be being eaten by us.

3. You will be knitting your cardigan. Your cardigan will be being knitted by you.

4. She will be feeding animals. Animals will be being fed by her.

5. He will be selling sugar. Sugar will be being sold by him.

6. They will be catching birds. Birds will be being caught by them.

7. My mother will be scolding me. I shall be being scolded by my mother.

(i) Future perfect tense

Active voice – S + shall/will + have + V3rd form + O

Passive voice – S + shall/will + have + been + V3rd form + O

For example,

S.No. Active voice Passive voice

1. I shall have sung a song. A song will have been sung by me.

2. We shall have eaten mangoes. Mangoes will have been eaten by us.

3. You will have knitted your cardigan. Your cardigan will have been knitted by you.

4. She will have fed animals. Animals will have been fed by her.

5. He will have sold sugar. Sugar will have been sold by him.

6. They will have caught birds. Birds will have been caught by them.

7. My mother will have scolded me. I shall have been scolded by my mother.

Important Points

1. In imperative sentences (request/advice/order), the verb in active voice is changed into

passive voice by making the sentence with the word ‘let’ and adding ‘be’ with the past
participle or third form of the verb. ‘Should be’ can also be used. For example,

Help the poor. (A.V.)

Let the poor be helped. (P.V.)
The poor should be helped. (P.V.)

Do this work. (A.V.)

Let this work be done. (P.V.)
This work should be done. (P.V.)

Imperative sentences are also changed into passive voice like this –

Please sit down. (A.V.) (Request)

You are requested to sit down. (P.V.)

Stand up. (A.V.) (Order)

You are ordered to stand up. (P.V.)

Work hard. (A.V.) (Advice)

You are advised to work hard. (P.V.)
2. In interrogative sentences, the character of question sentences is retained in the passive
voice, that is, the auxiliaries and question words do not change their beginning position.

Are you doing your work? (A.V.)

Is your work being done by you? (A.V.)

May I take your pencil? (A.V.)

May your pencil be taken by me? (A.V.)

3. In sentences with the infinitive only, the infinitive ‘to’ is changed into passive voice as –

It is time to close the shop. (A.V.)

It is time for the shop to be closed. (P.V.)

It is time to stop writing. (A.V.)

It is time for the writing to be stopped. (P.V.)

4. Sometimes the subject in the active voice is vague or unknown, it remains unexpressed in
the passive voice if the agent with ‘by’ is not needed.

People speak English all over the world. (A.V.)

English is spoken all over the world. (P.V.) (Do not write by people)

Someone has broken my dinner plates. (A.V.)

My dinner plates have been broken. (P.V.) (Do not write by someone)

5. There are certain verbs which take two objects. They are called transitive verbs. In such
like sentences one of the objects is made the subject in the passive voice and the other is
retained as an object. For example,

He gave me a book. (A.V.)

I was given a book by him. (P.V.)
A book was given to me by him. (P.V.)

She teaches us English. (A.V.)

We are taught English by her. (P.V.)
English is taught to us by her. (P.V.)

6. While changing a prepositional verb from active to passive, the preposition should not be
dropped, as it is a part of the verb. For example,

Mothers bring up children. (A.V.)

 Children are brought up by mothers. (P.V.)

They laughed at the old man. (A.V.)

The old man was laughed at by them. (P.V.)

7. While changing auxiliary verbs into the passive voice, add ‘be’ with the past participle. For
example,

Our team may win the match. (A.V.)

The match may be won by our team. (P.V.)

We should always speak the truth. (A.V.)

The truth should always be spoken by us. (P.V.)

8. Sometimes there are clauses in a sentence. In that case both the clauses are changed into
passive voice. For example,

You asked Ravi why he accepted the money. (A.V.)

Ravi was asked why the money was accepted by him. (P.V.)
 AGREEMENT OF THE VERB WITH ITS SUBJECT
1. Two or more singular subjects joined by ‘and’ usually take a verb in the plural. For
example,

 Iron and steel are found in India.

 Raman and Harry work hard.

2. If two nouns suggest only one idea, or refer to the same person or thing, the verb must be
singular. For example,

 My friend and master has come.

 The horse and carriage is at the door.

3. Words joined to singular subject by ‘with’ or ‘as well as’ do not affect the number of the
verb. The verb therefore is in the singular. For example,

 Ashok as well as Anil likes tea.

 The captain with all his men was drowned.
 The master as well as his servant is guilty.

4. When two or more subjects in the singular are joined by ‘or’, ‘nor’, ‘either…..or’,
‘neither…….nor’, the verb is put in the singular. For example,

 Either Raman or Anil was absent.

 Jack or Tom is to blame.

5. But, if one of the subjects is in the plural, the verb must be in the plural. The plural
subject is placed nearer the verb. For example,

 The farmer or his servants were caught.

6. When the subjects joined by ‘or’ or ‘nor’ are of different persons, the verb agrees with
the subject nearest to it. For example,

 Either he or I am to blame.
 Neither I nor my friend is guilty.

7. ‘Either’, ‘neither’, ‘each’, ‘every’, ‘every one’, ‘many a’, must be followed by a verb in
the singular. For example,

 Either of the two boys has done this.

  Every man, woman and child was happy.

8. Some nouns which are plural in form but singular in meaning take a singular verb. For
example,

 No news is good news.

9. When a plural noun is the name of one thing (say, a book or a country), it takes a singular
verb. For example,

 The ‘Arabian Nights’ is an interesting book.

 The ‘United States’ has a big army.

10. A collective noun (like committee, assembly, jury etc.) may take a singular or a plural
verb. If the collection is thought of as a whole, the verb is singular, if the individuals or
members of the group are thought of separately, the verb is plural. For example,

 The committee has decided this.

(It means all the members of the committee have decided this.)

 The jury has given its verdict. (It means judges are unanimous in their
judgement.)
 The jury have given their verdict. (It means judges are divided in their
judgement.)
 The jury were divided in their verdict.
 PHRASES AND CLAUSES
Phrase: A group of words that makes sense, but not complete sense is called a phrase. It has
neither a subject nor a predicate. For example,
 He left in the morning.
 Before eating, she washed her hands.

TYPES OF PHRASES

Noun Adjective Adverb

Phrase Phrase Phrase

Note: There are more types of phrases but in this lesson we will discuss only the three mentioned
above as our main focus is clauses.

Clause: A group of words which has a subject and a verb (or predicate) of its own and forms part
of a sentence is called a clause. For example,
 He left when the morning came.
The morning – subject
Came – verb
 Before she ate, she washed her hands.
She – subject
Ate – verb
 TYPES OF CLAUSES

Principal/ Subordibate/
Co-ordinate
Independent/ Dependent clause
clause
Main clause

Noun clause

Adjective
Clause

Adverb
Clause

• The clause which makes good sense by itself and stands by itself as a
complete sentence is called the principal clause. For example,
Principal
• I do not know where he lives.
clause

• The clause which does not stand by itself and depends on the principal
clause for its full meaning is called a subordinate clause. For example,
Subordinate
• I do not know where he lives.
clause

• A co-ordinate clause is one of two or more clauses in a sentence that are

of equal importance and are joined by co-ordinating conjunctions . For
Co-ordinate example,
clause • i know him and I like him.
 DIFFERENCE

NOUN PHRASE NOUN CLAUSE

The phrase which does The clause which does

the work of a noun. the work of a noun.

They expected to win the They expected that they

match. would win the match.

He seems to be a spy. It seems that he is a spy.

ADJECTIVE ADJECTIVE
PHRASE CLAUSE

The phrase which does The clause which does

the work of an adjective. the work of an adjective.

He likes a story with a He likes a story which has a

moral in it. moral in it.

The boy playing the piano is The boy who is playing the
Ben. piano is Ben.

ADVERB PHRASE ADVERB CLAUSE

The phrase which does The clause which does

the work of an adverb. the work of an adverb.

He returned when the Sun

He returned at sunset.
set.

Peter went to bed after Peter went to bed after he

fininshing his homework. had finished his homework.
 FUNCTIONS OF SUBORDINATE CLAUSES

Nouns clause can be – Adjective clause answers the Adverb clause shows –
question which –

1. Person 1. Time
1. Subject of the verb.
 God helps those who  Do not talk while you
 Why she left is a
mystery. help themselves. are eating.
 This is the boy who  Wait here till I return.
 When she will return
is not know. won the first prize.
2. Thing 2. Place
2. Object of the verb.
 This is the house  I make friends
 I do not know where
which John built. wherever I go.
he lives.
 the time when the  He fled where no one
 He spends whatever
train leaves is not could find him.
he earns.
known.
3. Object of the 3. Manner
participle.  You may do as you
 Thinking that he please.
would fail he ran away  He screamed as if he
from home. had seen a ghost.
 He went away saying
that he would revenge
himself on me.

4. Object of the 4. Purpose

preposition.  We eat that we may
 I never believe in what live.
he says.  We exercise so that we
 My success depends may become strong.
on how you help me.

5. Complement to an 5. Reason / cause

incomplete verb.  I could not come
 It seems that we have yesterday because I
taken a wrong turn. was ill.
 Life is what we make  Since you are my
of it. friend, I shall help
you.
6. In apposition to the 6. Result / effect
noun or pronoun.  He worked so hard
 The report that he was that he fell ill.
killed is untrue.  They made such a
 It is clear that he will noise that I could not
not come. work.

7. Condition
 I shall attend the party
in case I get leave.
 If it rains we shall not
play.

8. Comparison
 She is younger than
she looks.
 He is as tall as I am.

9. Contrast
 Though he is poor, he
is honest.
 Whatever you may
say, I do not believe a
word of it.

10. Extent / proportion

 The higher you go, the
cooler it is.
 As far as I know, he is
a fine gentleman.