What I will be doing on this thread, is bringing out the rules that guide simple sentences to avoid any simple mistake.
Once you know these rules, you won't be committing simple blunder in English.
After I graduated, I still commit a lot of blunders in English not until I sat down, studied and digested all these rules.
Don't mind those who will say after all English isn't our mother's tongue.

If anybody tells you, "after all English is not your mother's tongue". Ask the person, what is wrong in having an in-depth understanding of what isn't my mother's tongue?

RULE No. 1 Simple Present Tense: SPT

The simple present says that:
1. Something was true in the past, is true in the present, and will be true in the future.
2. It expresses general statements of fact and general truth.
3. It's used to express habitual or everyday activities.
Examples: i. Water consists of Hydrogen and Oxygen
ii. I get up at seven every morning.
iii. I always drink Garri for launch.
iv. The moon travels around the earth.
NOTE: Some of the SPT added 'S' and some don't, you will know why!

How do I make SPT?
1. If the subject is I, You, We, or They. Use the simple form of the Verb. That is, you don't add 'S' to the verb.
i.e I go to bed at 10:00, They need your assistance e.t.c
2. If the subject is He, She, or It, add 'S' or 'es' to the simple form of the verb.
i.e Tunde(He) goes to bed at 10:00, Sandra(She) usually walks to the store.

Negative Statement of SPT
Rule: Do/Does + NOT + form Verb
i.e Nigerians usually do not eat soup for breakfast, John doesn't play tennis, Ralph often doesn't drive to work.

Questions
Rule: (Question word) + Do/Does + subject + form verb
i.e Does your Dog bite? Do you buy your phone at slot? What do Segun and Seyi usually do on Tuesday? When does Amina eat dinner?

To be cont...

Following

Emusan:

If anybody tells you, after all English is not your mother's tongue. Ask the person, what is wrong in having in-depth understanding of what isn't your mother's tongue?.

BOOOOM, you hit the nail there bro!

Good job!

jagugu88li:
[/color]

BOOOOM, you hit the nail there bro!

Good job!

Thanks ma

WHAT YOU SHOULD KNOW ABOUT SPT
The Verb 'BE' is commonly appeared in day to day statement we make. In fact we can't do without it.

RULE 1: If the subject is 'I' use 'AM'
Examples: I am a teacher, I'm often absent-minded, I am in class every Wednesday at 9:00.

NOTE: Some people don't know the different between "I'm" & 'am'. "I'm" is the short form of 'I am', you only use 'AM' at the beginning of a question statement of Verb 'BE'.

RULE 2: If the subject is 'We', 'You', or 'They' use 'ARE'
Examples: You are or You're a teacher, 'We are or we're' so happy that you're here.

NOTE: People do confuse "We're" with the verb 'Were' Take note!

RULE 3: If the subject is 'She', 'He', or 'It' use 'IS'
Examples: She is a teacher, Buhari(He) is the President of Nigeria, My Car(It) is in the parking lot.

NOTE: People do confuse "IT'S" with the pronoun 'ITS' Take note!

QUESTION with Verb 'BE' (Question word + verb BE + subject + statement)
>>Am I taller than your cousin Seun?
>>Are Bola and Jude married?
>>Where are my car keys?
>>Why is the sky blue?

SPT in Future time clauses and If-clauses
Future time clauses and Future If-clauses do not use future tenses; instead, they use one of the present tenses, usually SPT.
Examples: >>Before Tunde (will go) 'leaves' for school next Tuesday, she's going to do her Maths homework.
>>After I (will go) 'go' to the store tomorrow, I'll give you a call.
>>When Shola (will get) 'gets' home tonight, he will cook dinner.

NOTE: Initially, the future words inside the bracket are the ones we suppose used but we use the SPT underlined.

Lastly, what we're going to look at in SPT is; USING SPT WHEN DISCUSSING LITERATURE
In academic situations, especially when writing papers, it's traditional to us SPT as the main tense to tell the story of a work of fiction like novel, a play, or a short story, even if the work itself is written in the past tense.

Example: Romeo and Juliet tells the tragic story of two young lovers. Two families in the town of Verona, the Capulets and the Montagues, hate one another. Romeo is the son of Montagues family and Juliet is the daughter of the Capulets family. Romeo and Juliet meet] at a party, fall in love, and secretly make plans to get married. Soon after young couple marry, Juliet's cousin, Tybalt, kills Romeo's closest friend. Romeo, in a blind range, kills Tybalt. This starts a series of events that ends in the two lovers death.

Sir, i sent you a pm. pls reply its important. thanks

Still here! Learning like crazy and I noticed two of my everyday mistakes . Thank you Emusan, Sir.

analice107:
Sir, i sent you a pm. pls reply its important. thanks

I have done that!

Let's continue...

PRESENT PROGRESSIVE TENSE, (PrPT)

RULE: 1. This action is happening RIGHT now (More generally)
2. The action is unfinished and still continuing
NOTE: Don't use PrPT with STATIVE Verb. This will be expounded later!

Example: i. You're reading a booklet about verb tenses.
ii. This is my friend Joe. He is writing a book titled 'who let the dog out?'

On a serious note, people do not make much mistake with PrPT because is one of the simplest Verb tenses but what we're going to look at in PrPT is when people used it with STATIVE VERB.

What is STATIVE Verb?
Answer: Stative verbs are verbs that do not refer to a physical action; they express a state or condition (things which are permanent or things which don't have a beginning, or end).

Example: To Adore, To agree, To believe, To promise, To image e.t.c you can get more of STATIVE verbs on net.

Now, let me say this. Some verbs can be both stative and dynamic i.e Have, Think e.t.c

You don't say for instance: I am agreeing with you, You are believing what he told you e.t.c

Emusan:

I have done that!

I sent another one sir.

Nice Thread. Lemme park here

Following

SIMPLE PAST TENSE (SPaT)

The SPaT usually means that this action ended in the past.

RULE: Actions that are: -
1. Happened Quickly
2. Happened Overtime or,
3. Were habits in the past.

Example: In this examples, how these actions appear will be indicated in a bracket.
i. I arrived home at five. (Action 1)
ii. Yesterday, I worked on my Math homework for three hours. (Action 2)
iii. When he was six, my son Tolu watched the video tape '3 Idiot' every day. (Action 3)

HOW DO I MAKE SPaT statement?
Simple verb + ed or Irregular past form (if the verb is irregular)

Example: 1. Ralph called his mother to wish her happy Birthday
2. I taught (irregular verb) high school for seven years before teaching at Ben's high school.
3. Blessing and Joy studied French in college.

NEGATIVE STATEMENT & QUESTION on SPaT
NOTE: The only word used for negative statement and question of SPaT is 'DID' and under this is where simple mistakes do occur
RULE: Did + not + simple form of verb

Example on Negative: 1. I did not see Betty at the mall
2. The kids didn't eat their food at dinner tonight.

Question Example: 1. Did you wash the dishes?
2. Why did you pour oil on my cloth?

THINGS TO AVOID
Like I said earlier, people do make simple mistakes with SPaT in its negative statement and question, how?

We see people using the past verb "DID" with the same past tense of simple verb
For instance, you don't say; I didn't SAW her there, SAW is the past tense of SEE.

How to use it: i. Did I TELL (told) you about the party that Joe is having next week?
ii. I didn't DRINK (drank) coffee in college, but I DRANK it a lot in grad school.

ANOTHER WAY OF MAKING MISTAKE WITH SPaT
Another way people do make mistake with SPaT is confusing it with SIMPLE PRESENT TENSE (SPT) our first treated Tense.
For instance, QUE: when DID she arrive? ANS: She arrives around five.

Here we see a question being asked in SPaT and an answer is being given in SPT. The best answer to this question would be, She arrived around five.

^^

I learnt about this before the last general election when GEJ in one of his campaign outing said "how much DID Jim Nwobodo STOLE?. Few weeks later someone came out to point out the blunder in the statement, that it should've been "How much DID Jim STEAL"

Well done OP

Rilwayne001:
^^

I learnt about this before the last general election when GEJ in one of his campaign outing said "how much DID Jim Nwobodo STOLE?. Few weeks later someone came out to point out the blunder in the statement, that it should've been "How much DID Jim STEAL"

Well done OP

That's our ex-president for us!

Sorry for the long break guys!

Let's continue our study.

Today we're going to look at Past Progressive Tense (PaGT)

Rule: PaGT means that the action happened over time in the past

Example: I was studying all night for that history test.
Were you sleeping when I called?

How do I make PaGT?
If the subject is I, It, He or She: use WAS and if the subject is You, We, and They: use WERE

E.g Norton was watching TV when the microwave exploded.
Mary and I were sleeping when he came in.

Negative statement of PaGT
Was/Were + not + verb-ing
E.g When I woke up, I knew that it was still night time because the sun was not shinning.
It wasn't late before I discovered it was him.

Question statement of PaGT
(Question word) + was/were + subject + verb-ing
E.g Was Sunny cooking dinner when you called him last night?
What were you doing last night?

---

[ /hr]

Present Perfect Tense (PrPT)

Rule: Means the action started in the past and has continued until now with length of time.

How to make PrPT statements?
If the subject is You, We, I, They: use HAVE and if the subject is He, She, It: use HAS

Example: Raphael has won many football trophies.
I have often wondered why Lekan is always late.

Negative statement of PrPT
Have/Has + not + verb past participle
E.g I have not washed the dishes yet
Festus and Seun haven't seen each other since 2009
Malvin hasn't had an easy life

Uestion statement with PrPT
(Question word) + have/has + subject + verb past participle
Example: Have you seen the coach of super eagle?
Where have all the flowers gone?
Where was she, when the boy left home?

[size=14pt]NOTE:[/size] *If you see PrPT used with a phrase that shows a length of time, then it must always mean that the action started in the past and has continued until now*

E.g Ralph and Alice have lived in their apartment since 2012
Lola has worked in the company for eleven years.
Have you lived in Calabar a long time?

I'm watching this threads with owl eyes.

Present Prefect Progressive PrPG)

RULE: PrPG always means this action started in the past and has continued until now or almost until now. In other word it means the action has been happening overtime until now.

Example: I've been cleaning my house since 8:00 this morning
Segun has been writing a term paper titled "Wave"

John and Sodiq's hair is wet because they have been walking in the rain

How to make PrPG statement
Subject + have/has + been + verb-ing

E.g: Joseph has been thinking about getting another job
We've been studying verb tenses for so long that now we're going weird.

Negative statement of PrPG
Subject + have/has + NOT + been + verb-ing
E.g: I'm going to stay home from work today, I haven't been feeling well lately.
My car hasn't been running smoothly, I think I'll take it to the mechanic.

Question statement of PrPG
(Question word) + have/has + subject + been + verb-ing
E.g: Has freed been working all night? He looks tired.
Why have you been avoiding me?

NOTE: Simple rule for using PrPG.
*When an action started in the past and has continued until now:
1. Use PrPG for most verbs
2. Use PrPT + a length of time for STATIVE Verbs.

Example: Mrs. Murray has been teaching (not stative) SSS1 since she was 35 (PrPG)
Ever since he was child, Jim has believed (believe is a stative) in treating others kindly (PrPT)
Olu has been trying (not stative) to fix the microwave for hours
I have known(stative) Tolu since we were both twelve.

---

Past Perfect Tense PaPT
RULE: *This simply means that this action finished BEFORE something in the past*
Example: Joe had eaten dinner before he started his homework.
When Alice got home, Ralph had finished the food

How do I make PaPT statement?
Subject + had + verb past participle

E.g: Luck and Ester had worked at the Dangote sugar factory for only three years before they quit.
Bose and Lawal invited me to a dinner, but I said no because had already eaten.

Negative statement of PaPT
Subject + had + NOT + verb past participle
E.g: I felt nervous when I got to class because I had not done my homework
Maria was overjoyed to see her mother because she hadn't seen her for three months
Some stole Ralph's car because he had forgotten to lock the doors.

Question statement of PaPT
(Question word) + had + subject + verb past participle
E.g: Had you ever eaten Calabar food before coming to Cross River state?
William saw that Betty was crying after she talked to Bunmi, what had she told her?

NOTE: Simple Past Tense SPaT can replace PaPT, if it's already obvious that the action happened first.
*AFTER & BEFORE* show the action that happened first while *WHEN* doesn't really show that one action happened first.
Example: Seun had washed the dishes BEFORE Alice got home
Alice got home AFTER Seun washed the dishes.

Seun washed the dishes BEFORE Alice got home
Alice got home AFTER Seun had washed the dishes.

Seun washed the dishes WHEN Alice got home

NOTE: There's another time that we need to use PaPT instead of SPaT *when we use the word "by the time"* but it's not too common.
E.g: Joel had reached his office by the time the accident occurred.

jagugu88li:
I'm watching this threads with owl eyes.

That eyes must be very big

A lot of APC and PDP supporters need this thread!

Correct grammar is your crucial to speaking English assuredly and surely. Knowing your grammar will help you avoid errors that make your English complete bizarre to natural speakers. https://www.divinedesignupholstery.com/

taylorwatson:
Correct grammar is your crucial to speaking English assuredly and surely. Knowing your grammar will help you avoid errors that make your English complete bizarre to natural speakers. https://www.divinedesignupholstery.com/

Very correct!