0 Connector

Connectors A connector is a word that is used to join words or sentences. And, as well as, but, or, yet, nevertheless, however, so that, as long as, while, until, as if, because, when, after, though, before. A boy and a girl An elephant and a giraffe A toy or a book The music was loud nevertheless it was enjoyable. Types of connectors Coordinating conjunctions Coordinating conjunctions join together clauses of equal importance. Some examples of coordinating conjunctions are - and, but, or, Use of 'and' 'And' is used as a conjunction when the words or phrases are of equal importance and both conditions exist. Other words that can be used in place of and are: moreover, in addition to, along with, plus, as well as, further more Tom and Harry play hockey. A lion and a fox live in this cave. We need some gloves and a ball in addition to bats. The soldiers rose moreover they cheered the leader. We found the thief along with the bags. The gurgling stream along with the howling wind added to the charm of the place. Use of 'but' The conjunction 'but' is used to show a contradiction between two phrases. Let's say the first phrase leads you to expect a certain event and the second phrase tells you quite a contradictory outcome. In such an event, but, is used. Other words like: nevertheless, yet, however, can be used in place of 'but' He ran, but he missed the bus. She studied hard but could not score well in the test. The hill was very steep but the old man could climb it easily. Sharon fell from the horse nevertheless she did not cry. The lion was hungry yet it did not attack Androcles. He is from England however he speaks Chinese very well. Use of 'Or' When we need to express a choice between two words or phrases we use 'or'. Here only one of the two conditions exists. Example: Would you take a cup of tea or coffee? Shall we buy a book or a toy? Sit on the bench or on the grass. Are you tired or shall we go out for a walk? We can learn to talk English or we can depend on sign language. Correlative conjunctions: Back to Top Conjunctions used in pairs are correlative conjunctions Back to Top Either..... or Either Peter or John has taken the book. Neither.....nor It is neither hot nor tasty. Both.....and My sister is both smart and intelligent. Whether..... or Tell me whether you know the route or not. Not only..... but also Not only is she stupid but also stubborn. Compound conjunctions Compound conjunctions are groups of words that behave like conjunctions. In order that, on condition that, provided that, as soon as Conjunction Usage In order that I bought all the books in order that you may study On condition that The teacher excused him on condition that he would not repeat the mistake. Even if Sarah would not marry him even if he proposed to her. So that I kept away my work so that I could spend time with my daughters Provided that You can take leave provided that you work overtime later As though Rex behaves as though he is the boss. As well as Monica as well as veronica was present there As soon as Mr. Ford plans to pay off his loan as soon as he gets his bonus. As if It looks as if there is going to be a storm. Subordinating conjunction A subordinating conjunction joins a clause to another on which it depends for its full meaning. The chief subordinating conjunctions are after, because, if, that, though, although, till, before, unless. I will not go to the market if it rains. The situation 'I will not go to the market' is dependant on the condition 'if it rains'. You could go and play after you have done the dishes. King Midas was unhappy because his daughter turned to gold. You must dig the earth till you find water. Observe the use of connectors in these sentences. Lydia likes to sing and dance when she is happy. We can paint our house red or white but we must select a good painter. Harry is intelligent however he is lazy. He must wake up or he will regret it. I left the party because I was bored, moreover it was quite late. He was sad and tired along with being very hungry when a wizard appeared and offered him food however he laid down some conditions. He is cheerful though he has worked the whole day. I allowed him in as I thought he was a friend but he tried to rob me. You will do well if you study hard. My daughters either watch TV or sleep on Sundays. Susan is very fat but very active. I met by friend in the park and invited her to tea. A student must obey or he may leave. Jane and Peter have been chosen to receive the guest. After the trip Sam came to work but he was very tired. Bring some sandwiches or you will be hungry. They jumped over the stream and ran home. The dog ran after the rabbit but could not catch him. My aunt is ill so I will visit her tomorrow. The show started as soon as the chief guest arrived. You will enjoy the concert since you love music. This horse will take you to the village you even if he is tired. He was rowing the boat while I slept. The bridge fell though it was made of stones. You will pass if you work hard. He will not try unless he is forced to. We will come after we complete the work. The old man cared for the puppy as though she was his baby.

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0 Passive Verbs

Using the active and passive voice An active sentence like I drank two cups of coffee has the subject first (the person or thing that does the verb), followed by the verb, and finally the object (the person or thing that the action happens to). So, in this example, the subject is I, the verb is drank and the object is two cups of coffee. But, we don't always need to make sentences this way. We might want to put the object first, or not say who did something, for lots of reasons (see the explanation further down the page). In this case, we can use a passive, which puts the object first: for example, two cups of coffee were drunk. We can add by me if we want, but it isn't necessary. How to make the Passive in English We make it by putting the verb 'to be' into whatever tense we need and then adding the past participle. (For regular verbs, we make the past participle by adding 'ed' to the infinitive - play becomes played, click here to learn about irregular verbs) The Passive Using the active and passive voice An active sentence like I drank two cups of coffee has the subject first (the person or thing that does the verb), followed by the verb, and finally the object (the person or thing that the action happens to). So, in this example, the subject is I, the verb is drank and the object is two cups of coffee. But, we don't always need to make sentences this way. We might want to put the object first, or not say who did something, for lots of reasons (see the explanation further down the page). In this case, we can use a passive, which puts the object first: for example, two cups of coffee were drunk. We can add by me if we want, but it isn't necessary. How to make the Passive in English We make it by putting the verb 'to be' into whatever tense we need and then adding the past participle. (For regular verbs, we make the past participle by adding 'ed' to the infinitive - play becomes played, click here to learn about irregular verbs) tense active passive present simple I make a cake A cake is made present continuous I am making a cake A cake is being made past simple I made a cake A cake was made past continuous I was making a cake A cake was being made present perfect I have made a cake A cake has been made pres. perf. continuous I have been making a cake A cake has been being made past perfect I had made a cake A cake had been made future simple I will make a cake A cake will be made future perfect I will have made a cake A cake will have been made Practise with these exercises Verbs with two objects Some verbs that have two objects can make two different passive sentences: For example: ‘give’ - Active: He gave me the book / He gave the book to me. You can choose either of the two objects to be the subject of the passive sentence. Passive: I was given the book (by him)/ The book was given to me (by him) Other verbs like this are: ask, offer, teach, tell, lend, promise, sell, throw. Try an exercise about this here When should we use the Passive? When we want to change the focus of the sentence: The Mona Lisa was painted by Leonardo Da Vinci. (We are more interested in the painting than the artist in this sentence) When who or what causes the action is unknown or unimportant or obvious or ‘people in general’: He was arrested (obvious agent, the police). My bike has been stolen (unknown agent). The road is being repaired (unimportant agent). The form can be obtained from the post office (people in general). In factual or scientific writing: The chemical is placed in a test tube and the data entered into the computer. In formal writing instead of using someone/ people/ they (these can be used in speaking or informal writing): The brochure will be finished next month. In order to put the new information at the end of the sentence to improve style: Three books are used regularly in the class. The books were written by Dr. Bell. (‘Dr. Bell wrote the books’ sound clumsy) When the subject is very long: I was surprised by how well the students did in the test. (More natural than: ‘how well the students did in the test surprised me')

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0 Causative Verbs

English has a few idioms for expressing causative actions which are similar to Hindi causative verbs, such as “to have X do Y”, “to get X to do Y”, etc. Examples I had him fix the chair. I got my eyeglasses repaired. I had my car cleaned. I got him to move the furniture. I got my house cleaned by the cleaners. Note that in each of the preceding examples, the subject’s participation is not direct, but indirect – the subject causes the action of the verb somehow (perhaps by asking or gesturing or some other solicitation), but does not directly perform the action of the verb. If the agent that performs the action of a causative verb in English is explicitly expressed, it is either marked with the preposition “by”, or else indicated syntactically, by placing the agent as the object of the verb “to have”, followed by the stem of the main verb, or by placing the agent as the object of the verb “to get”, followed by the infinitive of the main verb.

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