MASTER YOUR

GRAMMAR !
By Teacher Syamini
◦ Articles
◦ Pronouns
◦ Conjunctions
◦ Simple Present Tense
◦ Simple Past Tense
◦ Simple Future Tense
◦ Present Continuous Tense
◦ Past Continuous Tense
◦ Future Continuous Tense
◦ Subject-Verb Agreement

English PT3 | Teacher Syamini

ARTICLES
A AN
◦ Used before words beginning with a ◦ Used before words beginning with a
consonant sound (b, c, d, etc.) vowel sound (a, e, i, o, u).
◦ Examples: a soldier, a buffalo ◦ Examples: an angel, an eagle, an uncle
◦ Used before words beginning a vowel ◦ Used before words beginning with the
which sounds like a consonant. silent ‘h’.
◦ Examples: a university, a European ◦ Examples: an honour, an heir, an hour

English PT3 | Teacher Syamini

 THE
◦ (i) to refer to a particular person or thing.
◦ Example: You are the one I like.
◦ (ii) to refer to someone or something which is
mentioned a second time.
◦ Example: I caught a mouse. The mouse
was.white in colour.
◦ (iii) with the superlative degree
◦ Example: It is the largest flower.
◦ (iv) before nouns that are the only one of their
kind
◦ Example: The sun is high above our heads.
ZERO ARTICLE
◦ (i) to refer to an object in the plural
◦ Example: Tigers are wild animals.
◦ (ii) when we talk about diseases
◦ Example: My dad died of lung cancer ten
years ago.
◦ (iii) to refer to an academic subject or name of
language
◦ Example: Mathematics is a difficult subject.
English PT3 | Teacher Syamini
EXERCISE
◦ Fill in the blanks with ‘a’, ‘an’, ‘the’ or ‘–’.

1. _________ Canada is a big country.

2. She is wearing a __________ uniform to school.
3. _________ bat lives in __________ cave.
4. Annie and her sister are leaving for ___________ United States soon to study neurology.
5. Mr Ramasamy is _________ richest man in this village. He owns ________ five bungalows
in town.

English PT3 | Teacher Syamini

PRONOUNS
Pronouns Function

I, You, He, She, They, We, It Used as the start of a sentence as a subject.

My, Your, His, Her, Their, Our, Its Used together with object.

Mine, Yours, His, Hers, Theirs, Ours, The To show possession and used at the end of the
dog’s sentences.
Me, You, Him, Her, Them, Us, It Used after verbs and prepositions.

Myself, Yourself (singular)/ Yourselves To show action that is done by itself without
(plural), Himself, Herself, Themselves, any help.
Ourselves, Itself

English PT3 | Teacher Syamini

EXERCISE
◦ Choose the correct answer.
1. My parents are fine. How are ______ ? ◦ 2. Lizards and snakes are reptiles. ______
A you are cold-blooded animals.

B ours A It

C your B They

D yours C Their
D Them

English PT3 | Teacher Syamini

CONJUNCTIONS
Uses Examples
To join similar ideas and, both...and, not only...but also, as well as, besides
To show contrast but, although, though, even though, nevertheless, however, in
spite of, despite, yet, still
To show purpose in order, in order that, so that, lest, that
To show result therefore, as a result, consequently, so
To show reason because, for, since, as, due to, owing to
To express choice either...or, neither...nor, or, or else
To express condition if, unless, as long as
To express time before, after, until, when, as soon as

English PT3 | Teacher Syamini

EXERCISE
◦ Underline the correct conjunction in the sentences below.

1. (Both / Either) Hamidah and Zarin are friends of mine.

2. I was fast asleep (because / when) the telephone rang.
3. I will ask (either / neither) Samy or Muthu to give me a lift home today.
4. The children were extremely rude, (and / so) they were punished.
5. (Unless / Although) we stayed back late, we could not complete our project.

English PT3 | Teacher Syamini

SIMPLE PRESENT TENSE
◦ (a) to show habitual actions
◦ Example: She always comes here.
◦ (b) to show the truth
◦ Example: The sun rises in the morning.

◦ Singular nouns take the singular form of the verb in the simple present tense.
◦ Plural nouns take the plural form of the verb in the simple present tense.

English PT3 | Teacher Syamini

 He is

She eats
Singular
Ali has

The cat plays

We have

They eat
Plural
I am

You are

English PT3 | Teacher Syamini

SIMPLE PAST TENSE

◦ (a)to talk about actions, states, and situations in the past.

◦ Example: Yesterday, Ali walked to school.
◦ (b)to show habitual action in the past
◦ Example: My grandfather could swim very well when he was younger.

◦ Regular verbs – Verbs that only add ‘ed’ or ‘ied’

◦ Irregular verbs – Verbs that have no changes / a complete changes / a bit of changes.

English PT3 | Teacher Syamini

 REGULAR VERBS IRREGULAR VERBS

Present Tense Past Tense Present Tense Past Tense

cut cut
play played
(no changes)
buy bought
fry fried (complete changes)
drink drank
(a bit of changes)
cook cooked
go/goes went
(complete changes)
pray prayed
catch caught
(complete changes)

English PT3 | Teacher Syamini

SIMPLE FUTURE TENSE

◦ (a) The Simple Future Tense is used to show a future action or happening.
◦ Example: If it stops raining, we shall go shopping.
◦ (b) The phrase ‘going to’ is used to describe a future action which has been planned in
advance.
◦ Example: We are going to put up an item for the concert at the end of the month.

English PT3 | Teacher Syamini

◦ The Simple Future Tense is formed in this way:
◦ (a) will/ shall + base form verb

Will Used with second & third pronouns:

You, they, he, she, it
Shall Used with first pronouns: I , we

◦ (b) is / am / are + going to + base form verb

◦ Examples: He is going to play golf on Saturday.
◦ I am going to swim in the evening.
◦ Oil prices are going to rise next week.

English PT3 | Teacher Syamini

EXERCISE
◦ Fill in the blanks with the correct form of verbs.

1. Ali _________________ (wash) his car every Saturday.

2. The man _______________ (drive) his car to work yesterday.
3. We had to stop the game yesterday because it __________ (rain) heavily.
4. We ________________________ (fail) our test if we do not study hard.
5. Danny _________________ (travel) to Melbourne next week.
6. The girls ________________ (climb) Mount Kinabalu tomorrow.
7. I _______________________ (attend) the extra class next Saturday.
8. The soldiers ______________ (return) home after the war.

English PT3 | Teacher Syamini

PRESENT CONTINUOUS TENSE

◦ (a) to show an action at the time of speaking

◦ Example: The doctor is examining the patient.
◦ (b) to show a future action that has been planned
◦ Example: Alice is leaving for Seoul tomorrow.
◦ (c) to show an action that is performed so often that it
becomes a habit am / is / are + verb
◦ Example: Farah is always eating ice cream. + ing

English PT3 | Teacher Syamini

PAST CONTINUOUS TENSE

◦ (a) to describe an action which was happening at a certain

time in the past
◦ Example: I was having breakfast when he telephoned.
◦ (b) to describe two actions going on at the same time in the
past
◦ Example: I was laughing when John was telling his story.
was / were + verb +
ing

English PT3 | Teacher Syamini

FUTURE CONTINUOUS TENSE

◦ To describe an action which will take place in the future.

◦ Examples: Leela will be singing at a concert next Monday.
◦ He will be passing by my house on his way to school.
◦ We shall be stopping at Time Square if we travel north.

will be / shall be +
verb + ing

English PT3 | Teacher Syamini

EXERCISE
◦ Fill in the blanks with the correct form of verbs.

1. The baby ____________ (cry) because she is hungry.

2. Sariah and her brother _______________ (visit) their aunt.
3. Hamid _________________ (watch) television when a car crashed into his house.
4. I _________________ (talk) with my friends when suddenly the principal walked into the
classroom.
5. We noticed that they ___________________ (act) strangely.
6. Yee Lian ________________________ (attend) a Mandarin class tomorrow.
7. I _____________________ (watch) a football match on television at 12.00 a.m. tomorrow.

English PT3 | Teacher Syamini

SUBJECT-VERB AGREEMENT
(a) A singular subject takes a singular verb.

• Example: The woman often visits my mother.

(b) A plural subject takes a plural verb.

• Example: Sam and John live in Bangsar.

c) The singular verb is used when the subject comes after every, each, much and one of the.
It is also used when the following expressions are used: anybody, anything, someone,
somebody, nobody, everybody and everyone.
• Example: Each boy and girl has a book.

English PT3 | Teacher Syamini

(d) Nouns or words which are considered as one singular quantity or entirety, take
singular verbs.
• Example: Five years is a long time to wait.

(e) When either...or and neither...nor are used, the verb should agree with the subject
closest to it.
• Examples: Neither they nor Amin is looking for me.
• Either Joe or the boys are right.

(f) A singular subject joined to a phrase with words like together with, like, as well as,
takes a singular verb.
• My bag, together with its contents, is lost.

English PT3 | Teacher Syamini

EXERCISE
◦ Let’s play Kahoot !

1. Go to https://kahoot.it/
2. Enter Game PIN.
3. Enter your short name.
4. Let’s play the game!
5. You will have to read the questions on my screen.
6. Choose the correct answer based on the shapes for each answer that will appear on your
screen.

English PT3 | Teacher Syamini

ANY QUESTIONS?
By Teacher Syamini