Author: Manjusha Nambiar

Adjective vs. Adverb

An adjective is a word used to modify a noun. An adverb is a word used to modify a verb. Note that adverbs can also modify adjectives and other adverbs. The team did not play (verb) well (adverb) last season. (NOT …...

When To Use The Passive Verb

Choice of passive structures We use passive structures when we want to talk about an action, but are not interested in stating who or what does/did it. Promises should be kept. (passive) Smoking must be banned. (passive) This house was built in...

15 Grammar Terms You Should Know

1. Adjective An adjective is a word that describes a noun. For example, in ‘She is a beautiful girl’, the adjective beautiful describes the noun girl. 2. Adverb An adverb is a word used to say something about...

10 Tips For Learning English

1. Use of Articles A proper noun (e.g. John, India, Alice, and Chicago) does not take an article. It always begins with a capital letter. My name is John. (NOT My name is john.) He lives in Chicago....

Modal Auxiliary Would

Would is a modal auxiliary verb. There is no -s in the third person singular. Would is followed by an infinitive without to. He said he would try his best to help me. I would like to know what my duty is....

Would vs. Used To

Would Use would to talk about repeated actions and events in the past. The old man would sit in a corner talking to himself for hours. After dinner we all would sit in the drawing room and chat. Use used to talk...

Yet

Yet has several uses. Yet can mean ‘in addition’. That was yet another cause for trouble. Yet can mean ‘up to this time’. Has the postman come yet? Yet can mean ‘at some time in the future’. The prophet said...

Zero Conditional

A conditional clause expresses a condition – something which must happen first so that something else can happen. Conditional clauses are also called if-clauses because they are introduced by the subordinating conjunction if. Zero...