English Grammar Lesson No 2
In the Name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful
English Grammar.
Lesson No. 2.
Preface:
Dear Student,
We hope that you are doing well with our lessons. This is the second lesson of English grammar. We follow the same method, with the same division of items.
Part A: Comprehension Passage:
At eight o'clock the children went to school. Feeling hungry, I decided to make a
cake for my tea as there was enough milk and flour. My wife was not at home to help me make this cake. In a short time I was busy mixing butter and flour and my hands were soon covered with sticky pastry. At exactly this moment, in the sitting-room, the telephone rang. I went there and picked up the receiver between two sticky fingers, and was dismayed when I recognized the voice of Mrs. Bates. She burst out enquiring, "Why have you been late to answer my call, Tom ?" It took me ten minutes to persuade her to ring back later. At last I hung up the receiver. What a mess ! There was pastry on my fingers, on the telephone, and on the door-knob. I had no sooner got back to the kitchen, than the door-bell rang enough to wake the dead. This time it was the postman, and he wanted me to sign for a registered letter.
Comprehension Questions:
1. At what time did the children go to school ?
.............................................................................................................................................................................................
2. How much milk was there to make a cake ?
.............................................................................................................................................................................................
3. Who helped Tom to make a cake ?
.............................................................................................................................................................................................
Part B: Grammar Questions
Make a circle round the best answer from a , b , c or d.
1. She helped her mother ............. the room.
a. to cleaning b. in clean c. clean d. cleaned
2. There ............. quite a lot of milk in these tins.
a. be b. is c. were d. are
3. ............. half past nine we must go to see them.
a. At b. In c. On d. To
Part C: Correct Your Mistakes
1. Don't say:There was a fight among the two boys.
Say: There was a fight between the two boys.
2. Don't say:Divide the apple between the three boys.
Say: Divide the apple among the three boys.
"among" is used for more than two persons.
"between" is used for two persons.
3. Don't say:Abdu was standing just besides me.
Say: Abdu was standing just beside me.
"beside" means by the side of.
"besides" means as well as = in addition to.
e.g. I have other shirts besides these.
Part D - 1: Model answers for Part A (Comprehension).
1. The children went to school at eight o'clock.
2. There was enough milk to make a cake.
3. Nobody helped Tom make a cake.
Part D: 2: Model answers for Part B (Grammar).
1. Correct Answer: c. (clean): We usually say: we help somebody do / to do something. Either
we use "bare infinitive" (do) or "to-infinitive" (to do).
Rejected Answers:
All the other answers are not applicable because they are either in the past tense (cleaned), or with a preposition followed by a bare infinitive (in clean), or gerund preceded by "to".
2. Correct Answer:b. (is) "milk" is uncountable, so it takes the verb of the third person singular.
Rejected answers:
(c. were and d. are) are used for the subject which is plural.
a. be: is "bare-infinitive" verb, and it does not alone follow any subject. It must be preceded by an auxiliary verb such as (must, can, will, .... etc).
3. Correct Answer:a. (At). For specific time-hours we use "at".
Rejected answers:
b. (In) is used for months, seasons and years: in June; in Winter; in 1986.
c. (On) is used for days: on Monday.
d. (To) does not apply for time in such sense.
(( The End ))