Of Understanding the Tense Forms

Target Audience: First Year Polytechnic English teachers and students in Tamilnadu.
Subject: Communication English-1, M scheme, I semester
Objective: To enable the students understand and identify different tense forms in English.
 Question pattern in Exam: I.6. Identify the tense forms used in the following sentences. (3 marks) 
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Understanding Tense Forms:
What happens in the world?  Either actions or events. What man does is action.  What happens to man or what nature does is event.  How can we talk about an action or an event without the use of tense form?  It is impossible, except in the case of non- verbal communication.  Even to explain tense forms (that is an action!) one needs to use tense forms.

Time is generally divided into present,  past and future.  Tense forms are those forms purposely created by man to talk about the time and state of all actions and events taking place in the world. Tense forms are actually time- forms used to describe four states of an action or event in all the three time divisions-present, past and future. The four states are: 1. Incomplete state 2. completed state,  3. Progressive or long progressive state 4. Probable state
Got it?  No?  See the images below:

Exercises for you:
Identify the tense forms used in the following sentences.
1. India had won the match.
2. We enjoyed our holidays in Ooty.
3. I will submit my Record Note tomorrow.
4. Mobile had stolen much of our time.
5. Money plays a vital role in everybody’s life.
6. He is cheating you.
7. We have been living here since 2005.
8. The teacher had almost finished her lesson.
9. They were discussing the recent movie Kolamavu Gokila.

10. I will be waiting for you.

Find the Odd word based on the verb forms

Target Audience: First Year Polytechnic English teachers and students in Tamilnadu.
Subject: Communication English-1, M scheme, I semester
Objective : To identify and understand different verb forms in English.
Question pattern in Exam: I.5. Find the Odd word based on the  verb forms. (3 marks) 

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Introduction to Verbs :

Just try to form any sentence in English without the use of verb.   Can you?  You can’t.  Because verb is the soul of a sentence and no sentence can function without at least one verb.  “Can you make the shortest sentence in English with one word?” that was the question in an interview. Of course,  the answer is simple and you can make thousands of such sentences: Come,  Go,  Turn, Wait… …

What do you do?  What do you have?  How are you? How do you feel?  A word that answers these four questions is called a verb.  Now check it with the answers : 1. I speak truth.  2. I have her photo with me.  3. I am beautiful. (why to say always fine!)  4. I can lift even this mountain.
Understanding the Verb Forms through a  Simple Table:

                                                      
Examination  Patterns (find the Odd word)
Model – 1
Three past tense verbs and one present tense verb or the vice  versa will be given .

Examples :
1.Became,  completed,  worked,  take. (Odd word : take)
2.Bring,  sleep,  wrote,  think (Odd word : wrote)

Model 2
Three regular verbs and one irregular verbs or the vice versa will be given. 

Examples :
1.Call,  buy,  open,  connect (Odd word : buy because it is irregular while the  other three are regular verbs)
2.Prepare,  send,  come,  leave (Odd word : prepare because it is regular while the  other three are irregular verbs) 

Model 3
Mixture of main verb and auxiliary verb will be given and you have to find the Odd word. 

Examples :
1.Decide,  are,  have,  can (Odd word : decide because it is a main verb while the  other three are auxiliary verbs)
2.Ring,  clear,  argue,  would (Odd word : would because it is an auxiliary verb while the  other three are main verbs) 

Model 4
Mixture of one kind of auxiliary and other kinds will be given and you have to find the Odd one. 

Examples :
1.Was,  are,  should,  is (Odd word : should because it is a modal auxiliary verb while the  other three are be form auxiliary verbs)
2.Will,  may,  must,  have (Odd word : have because it is a have form auxiliary verb while the  other three are modal auxiliary verbs)

Beware of the common mistakes done by many students! : Students try to find the Odd word by pronouncing each word,  perhaps, getting confused with the first grammar exercise in the question paper.  Remember that here odd word should be found based on verb forms only not based on pronunciation .

Exercises for you:
Find the Odd word based on the  verb forms.
1.Look,  learn,  lift,  left
2.Sang,  rang,  sing,  failed
3.Read,  advise,  kill,  bill
4.Run,  slip,  bring,  lay
5.Tear,  was, has,  must
6.Can,  could,  ought,  thought
7.Do,  did,  could,  does
8.Shall,  should,  may,  am
9.Repaired,  finished,  submitted,  left
10.Sit,  stand,  jump,  go

Use of Plurals in English

Target Audience: First Year Polytechnic English teachers and students in Tamilnadu.
Subject: Communication English-1, M scheme, I semester
Objective: To enable the students recognize, form and use Plurals in English.
Question pattern in Exam: I.4. Write the Plurals in the blanks (3 marks)
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Why plurals?
We generally use plurals to refer to countable nouns which are more than one in number.  Example : boy-boys,  city – cities and message – messages .  If everything ends with one,  then Maths has to lose its entire property.  Imagine the world without plurals :A man has to remain a bachelor (singular) with the ego “I”, not with love to say “we”.  A wife can make only a complaint,  not Complaints. People will have worry,  not worries.  There will be only God,  not gods.

Regular and Irregular  Plurals :
Most of the English singular nouns become plurals by just adding -s to them. These plurals  are called regular plurals. Yes,  chair-chairs,  girl-girls and chance-chances.

Irregular plurals are those which are formed not just by adding -s but in different ways and sometimes in mysterious ways like sages without any change both in singular and plural: tax-taxes,  wife-wives,  strawberry -strawberries,  child-children,  man-men and fish-fish.

Rules for changing singular into plural:
Rule 1
Add -es if a word ends in -ch,  -x,  -s or -ss

Examples : watch -watches,  batch-batches,  box-boxes,  fox-foxes,  bus-buses, gas-gases  kiss-kisses

Rule 2
Change the -fe and -f endings into –ves

Examples: life- lives,  knife-knives,  leaf-leaves,  shelf-shelves

Rule 3
A vowel + y ending just adds -s but a consonant +y changes the -y into -ies.

Examples : boy-boys, ,toy -toys , way-ways but lorry-lorries,  baby-babies,  lady-ladies

Rule 4
Certain nouns become plurals with internal vowel change.

Examples : man-men,  woman-women,  foot-feet,  tooth-teeth,  mouse-mice,  goose-geese

Rule 5
Nouns ending in -o are careless guys since they take -s or -es or both sometimes to form their plurals.

Examples : (-es only) hero-heroes,  potato -potatoes,  echo-echoes,  tomato-tomatoes
                    (-s only)  auto-autos,  photo-photos,  video -videos,  memo -memos,  piano -pianos
                    (both -s and -es are correct)  motto -mottos and mottoes,  mosquito -mosquitos and mosquitoes, zero -zeros and zeroes,  volcano -volcanos and volcanoes

Rule 6
Some words totally change in plural forms.

Examples : person – people , child -children , ox-oxen,  penny -pence,  die-dice , he - they,  I - we

Rule 7
Some words never change both in singular and plural.

Examples : fish, deer,  sheep,  swine,  aircraft and spacecraft , you - you

Rule 8
Some nouns have no plural at all and they are only used as singular.

Examples : Information,  luggage,  baggage, furniture, equipment

Rule 9
Foreign plurals are formed differently in the following ways :

A. -is ending into -es: axis-axes,  basis-bases,  synopsis -synopses,  thesis -theses
B.Change -us ending into -i : alumnus-alumni,  syllabus. -syllabi,  nucleus -nuclei,  stimulus -stimuli
C.Change -um and -on ending into -a : bacterium -bacteria,  medium -media,  datum-data, symposium -symposia , criterion -criteria

Rule 10
Beware of some problematic singular nouns that will tempt you to change their adjectives into plurals not the nouns.  If both words are nouns in a compound word,  change both into plural as in the fourth example given below.

A. Brother-in-law ----- brothers-in-law (not brother-in-laws)
B.Passerby ------- passersby (not passerbys)
C.Poet laureate ------ poets laureate (not poet laureates)
D.Man- servant ------- men -servants
(Sister-in-law ,  father-in-law  and mother-in-law follow the same way as given for the first example above.)

Exercise for you:
Write the plurals in the blanks.

1._________(kid)  like ice-cream,  don’t they?

2.They were punished for hunting _________ (deer).

3.The fight between _________(mother-in-law)  and _________ (daughter-in-law )is an eternal issue in India.

4.These engineers are actually _________(alumnus)  of our college.

5.The dentist replaced my ________ (tooth) with artificial ones.

6.Some ________ (lady) are like ________ (lorry) and are likely to be met with accident but some others are like _______ (baby) who teach you innocence.

7.________(wife)  are _______ (knife) and need to be handled with utmost care.

8.The _______ (syllabus)  framed by experts nowadays are substandard or impractical.

9.Downloading _______ (photo)  and _______(video) more brings your data balance into zero soon.

10._______ (person)  with ______(penny)  are without _______ (child)  and vice versa.

The Tale of Melibee by Chaucer

Summary of the tale with criticism:

The Tale of Sir Topaz by Chaucer

After the tragic tale told by Prioress in Canterbury Tales, the host invites Chaucer the pilgrim to tell a tale of mirth. Chaucer begins his tale of Sir Topaz in rhymes.

There was a fair and brave knight called Sir Topaz in Flanders. He was the son of a Lord and skilled at archery, hunting and wresting.  All women of his place pined for him with love but he liked none of them. He dreamed of an Elf Queen who could be his best match.  It so happened that one day as usual he went through a forest for hunting animals. He was so tired of a long ride and fell asleep in a drowsy place. When he woke up, his longing for a fairy queen was more. His search for the elf queen brought him to an unknown fairy land where a mighty giant threatened him to flee from the place lest he should smash his horse with his club. He cast thrones at him and the knight challenged him to kill after coming back with full armour. 

Sir Topaz prepared himself in fine armour for his battle with the giant and was cheered by his men to win the laurel.  Now Sir Topaz, the flower of royal chivalry flew from his place like sparks out of the flame.  The host being greatly disappointed, interrupts Chaucer and yells,
“No more of this for God’s great dignity!...
Your idle rhyming is not worth a turd!
You do nothing else but waste our time.”
He asks Chaucer to try something in prose rather than in poetry that does not suit him well. This the Tale of Sir Topaz thus falls incomplete.

Criticism:
The tale is told in three fits in a grand manner but it doesn't fit to Chaucer. Why does Chaucer the greatest poet make fun of himself allowing the host Harry Bailey to ridicule at him? The tales by all pilgrims are in fact told by Chaucer only but why should he assign such a worthless incomplete story with long tedious descriptions with little action to him? The host has insisted him to tell a tale of mirth but why does Chaucer proceed to tell a tale of chivalry? All remains a mystery. Chaucer's excuse cannot belittle his worth since the tale is a new try in the mock-heroic sense. Thomas Warton says that the whole tale is a parody and the character of Chaucer should not be confused with Chaucer the author.

The Shipman's Tale by Chaucer

Summary and Review:

The Pardoner's Tale by Chaucer

This fourteenth tale in Canterbury Tales has a “physician-pardoner link" in which the host reviews the physician's tale as the most striking one arousing pity in everyone and says that the very beauty of Virginia has turned the Judge mad and has brought death to her as the gifts of fortune and nature always cause death to many good people. The host invites the Pardoner to tell a merry tale now to ease the pilgrims. But the pilgrims are afraid that the Pardoner may tell a quite obscene tale and so they insist him to tell a moral tale to which he agrees and begins his prologue to his tale. 

The Prologue throws a good deal of light on the character of the Pardoner and his way of preaching. He says that his theme of all preaching is “the love of money is the root of all evil", but he himself confesses that he commits that very sin. He is skilful in selling his relics to his folks. He shows a brass shoulder-bone of a holy jew's dead sheep and convinces people that if it is washed in a well, the well water will get the power to cure the cattle stung by snake. He also has a glove that will empower the user to multiply his grain. He reserves such relics not for sinners or cuckold but for good people, especially the unlettered ones.   Since he is drunk now, he unfolds his heart that he must have money, wool, cheese, wheat, wine and a jolly young woman in every town.  He thus begins his tale:
“For though myself, I’m a sinful man,
Tell you a moral tale? Well, that I can"

There was a wicked city named Flanders with full of gamblers, drunkards, thieves, lechers, gluttons and liars.  There, a company of three young friends sat in a tavern and indulged in drinking.  They could see a coffin carried to the grave and knew from their servant boy that the dead man is none other than one of their old friends and was slain at drunken state last night by a thief called Death who then stole his breath.  Both the boy and the innkeeper revealed that the thief had killed thousands of people in the nearby village of pestilence and his habitation must probably be there.  The three friends swore to join together and kill the thief.  They rushed to the village and found an old man who was ever wandering and looking for someone  who is young and may exchange the youth for his old age.  Asked upon the whereabouts of the thief, the old man directed them to reach the end of the lane nearby and find the thief under a tree there. 

The three profligates found but eight bushels of fine gold coins under the tree.  The most wicked of them suggested to enjoy the time with bread and wine and carry the gold home late at night without the knowledge of others. They drew a lot and sent the youngest one to go to the city for fetching food and wine. The Two friends safeguarding the gold plotted to kill the other one on his return in a pretended game.  But the one who brought wine added poison it to kill the remaining two so as to possess the entire gold. Thus all the three encountered Death.

After telling the story, as he used to do with his folk, now the Pardoner begs for money showing his relics.  He asks the host first to try his relics or bull (pope's order of pardon) to clear of his sins. The raged host bursts,
“I would I had your bollocks in my hand,
Instead of relics or some reliquary!
Have them cut off, them I’ll help you carry,
And they shall be enshrined in a hog's turd.”
The Knight intervenes them and ease the situation by bringing them near and kiss each other friendly.

Criticism:
We can forgive the Pardoner for his greed and hypocrisy but how can we, when he says, he “must have jolly wench in every town!”?  There bursts a hilarious laughter when the Pardoner starts begging from his own fellow pilgrims with his so called relics.  Who can  portray and ridicule at the corrupt Pardoner better than Chaucer? The tale is but a widespread moral story for children often making its presence nowadays in hints development exercise and the theme is ‘sin of avarice' – money is the root of all evil. The story of three brothers in the Harry potter universe and Rudyard Kipling's “the King's Ankus” in the Second Jungle Book are modelled on this Pardoner's tale.

As for pardoner's character, he who preaches against what he practices is an antithesis to Parson who preaches what he practices.  In the beginning of the tale, or even in the prologue, the Pardoner is simply making a mountain out of the molehill and to a greater portion, it is full of morals: to condemn drunkenness, he quotes Seneca and to deplore gluttony, he quotes Paul. Thus a long lecture frequents to elucidate each wickedness. The allegorical significance of the story is another aspect worth mentioning. Death is personified as a thief who steals one's breath and the three so called friends, being hungry for money, are stolen of their breath by the thief under the tree.  Their drunkenness, gluttony and avarice join together and bring their fatal end. Some critics have seen the old man as Death’s messenger as well.