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Q1.

What is Language and what are the characteristics and functions


of language?

LANGUAGE

The word "language" has two meanings: language as a general concept, and
"a language" a specific linguistic system - e.g. "French". Languages other
than English often have two separate words for these distinct concepts;
French for example uses langue for language as a concept and langue as the
specific instance of language.
When speaking of language as a general concept several different definitions
can be used that stresses different aspects of the phenomenon.
Language is a systematic means of communicating by the use of sounds or
conventional symbols; "he taught foreign languages"; "the language
introduced is standard throughout the text"; "the speed with which a program
can be executed depends on the language in which it is written".
The word Language can be used as a general concept about the specifically
human capacity for acquiring and using complex systems of communication,
or as a specific instance of such a system of complex communication. The
study of language in any of its senses is called linguistics.
CHARACTERISTICS AND FUNCTIONS OF LANGUAGE
Different people describe different characteristics of language.
According to one thinking language has the five characteristics of language
are that it is a system, it is dynamic, has dialects, is sociolect, and idiolect. A
language is systemic in that it has different linguistic levels, is syntactical,
conversational, and sociolinguistic. It is dynamic in that the words and
phrases may change meaning from one generation to the next. Dialects are
variations of the same language spoken amongst people of the same or

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different countries. Language may vary based on the speaker's social class,
and human individuality.
According to Hockett language has the following features.
a) Language involves the use of vocal organs of the speaker and the
hearing mechanism of the listener.
b) Language is Semantic. Semantic means “having leaning”. Thus
language uses verbal symbols, to refer to objects and actions.
c) The symbols we use for transmission of language are arbitrary. In this
case, arbitrary means not chosen for any special reason.
d) Language is culturally transmitted. Although children seem to be
born with the ability to acquire language, they are not equipped with
the ability to acquire one particular language more than any other. In
other words one child is not born with an inbuilt ability to speak
Punjabi rather than Sindhi.
e) Language is Spontaneous. We do not necessarily use it because we
are forced to by circumstances. We use language when we want to do
so and because we want to do so. Language is perhaps the greatest tol
of our wish to be sociable.
f) Interchangeability. This means that the speaker can both receive and
broadcast the same signal. This is distinctive from some animal
communications such as that of the sticklefish. The sticklefish make
auditory signals based on gender (basically, the males say "I'm a boy"
and the females say "I'm a girl"). However, male fish cannot say "I'm
a girl," although they can perceive it. Thus, sticklefish signals are not
interchangeable.

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g) Total feedback. This means that the speaker can hear themself speak
and can monitor their language performance as they go. This differs
from some other simple communication systems, such as traffic
signals. Traffic signs are not normally capable of monitor their own
functions (a red light can't tell when the bulb is burned out, i.e.).
h) Arbitrariness. This means that there is no necessary connection
between the form of the signal and the thing being referred to. For
example, something as large as a whale can be referred to by a very
short word. Similarly, there is no reason that a four-legged domestic
canine should be called a dog and not a chien or a perro or an anjing
(all words for 'dog' in other languages). Onomatopoeic words such as
"meow" or "bark" are often cited as counter-examples, based on the
argument that they are pronounced like the sound they refer to.
However, the similarity if very loose (a dog that actually said "bark"
would be very surprising) and does not always hold up across
languages (Spanish dogs, for example, say "guau"). So, even
onomatopoeic words are, to some extent, arbitrary.
i) Discreteness. This means that the basic units of speech (such as
sounds) can be categorized as belonging to distinct categories. There
is no gradual, continuous shading from one sound to another in the
linguistics system, although there may be a continuum in the real
physical world. Thus speakers will perceive a sound as either a [p] or
a [b], but not as blend, even if physically it falls somewhere between
the two sounds.

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j) Displacement. This means that the speaker can talk about things
which are not present, either spatially or temporally. For example,
human language allows speakers to talk about the past and the future,
as well as the present. Speakers can also talk about things that are
physically distant (such as other countries, the moon, etc.). They can
even refer to things and events that do not actually exist (they are not
present in reality) such as the Easter Bunny, the Earth having an
emperor, or the destruction of Tara in Gone with the Wind.
k) Productivity. This means that human languages allow speakers to
create novel, never-before-heard utterances that others can
understand. For example, the sentence "The little lavender men who
live in my socks drawer told me that Elvis will come back from Mars
on the 10th to do a benefit concert for unemployed Pekingese dogs" is
a novel and never-before-heard sentence (at least, I hope it is!), but
any fluent speaker of English would be able to understand it (and
realize that the speaker was not completely sane, in all probability).
l) Traditional Transmission. This means that human language is not
something inborn. Although humans are probably born with an ability
to do language, they must learn, or acquire, their native language from
other speakers. This is different from many animal communication
systems where the animal is born knowing their entire system, e.g.
bees are born knowing how to dance and some birds are born knowing
their species of bird-songs (this is not true of all birds).

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Q2. What language theory is offered by BF Skinner and how it is
different from the other theories offered by other linguistics?
B.F. SKINNER'S VIEW ON LANGUAGE

Behaviorists view the process of language acquisition as a building process


that results from interaction with the environment. In outlining his assertion
that humans acquire spoken language as a result of behavioral conditioning.
B.F. Skinner writes:
A child acquires verbal behavior when relatively unpattterned
vocalizations, selectively reinforced, gradually assume forms
which produce appropriate consequences in a given verbal
community. In formulating this process we do not feed to
mention stimuli occurring prior to the behavior to be reinforced.
It is difficult, if not impossible, to discover stimuli which evoke
specific vocal responses in the young child. There is no
stimulus which makes a child say b or a or e, as one may make
him salivate by placing a lemon drop in his mouth or make his
pupils contract by shining a light into his eyes. The raw
responses from which verbal behavior is constructed are not
"elicited." In order to reinforce a given response we simply wait
until it occurs.
Skinner views the child as the "passive subject of operant conditioning in
whom randomly occurring behavior is selectively reinforced"
Skinner's seminal work, Verbal Behaviour (1957), begins with a chapter
called, "A functional analysis of verbal behaviour". However, you should be
aware that his theory is very far from the functional, or sociocultural,
approach to language, which is followed in this subject. You will also

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become aware that the antecedents of the sociocultural approach to language
which underpin this subject, preceded the work of B. F. Skinner by several
decades. Nevertheless, this section begins with an introduction to B. F.
Skinner's theory of language as 'verbal behaviour' (1957). This is partly
because his learning theory was transposed into language teaching
methodologies prior to that transposition of the work of linguistic
anthropologists and linguists to language pedagogies; and partly because
Skinner's theory has had such definite, and enduring, influences on language
teaching. The residual echoes of his theory can be heard every time one of us
mentions 'positive reinforcement' (or 'negative reinforcement', for that
matter) and his theory is operational every time one of us includes a teaching
practice which begins with drills and grammar study decontextualised from
meaning. Skinner rejected the very idea of 'meaning'.
DIFFERENCE OF BF SKINNER BY OTHERS
As Jespersen [a significant linguist and grammarian whose major work,
Language, was published in 1922] said many years ago, "The only
unimpeachable definition of a word is that it is a human habit."
Unfortunately, he felt it necessary to add, "an habitual act on the part of one
human individual which has, or may have, the effect of evoking some idea in
the mind of another individual." Similarly, Betrand Russell asserts that "just
as jumping is one class of movement...so the word 'dog' is [another] class,"
but he adds that words differ from other classes of bodily movements
because they have "meaning". In both cases something has been added to an
objective description (Skinner 1957: 13).

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CHOMSKY & THE COGNITIVE REVOLUTION

During the 1950’s, Noam Chomsky wrote his first major work, The Logical
Structure of Linguistic Theory, which would not to be published for another
20 years. However, a European publisher, who was excited about
Chomsky’s ideas, published a set of his lecture notes under the title
Syntactic Structures in 1957. The book, after having received a positive
review by Robert Lees in Language, was read by several influential people,
including George A. Miller, whose work on information theory and short-
term memory of the 1950’s are legend, and also key to the Cognitive
Revolution.
In 1958, Bernard Bloch, editor of Language, asked Chomsky to write a
review of B.F. Skinner’s new book, Verbal Behavior, which had been
published in 1957. Chomsky’s review, published in 1959, was highly
critical. He argued that there is more to language learning than imitation and
reinforcement. Important observations he offered were:
1.) There are an infinite number of sentences in any language; all possible
sentences would be impossible to learn through imitation and reinforcement.
2.) Children acquire language quickly and effortlessly, and at identical
stages across cultures.
3.) Words like goed, thinked, and eated are not spoken by parents; instead,
children say these things because they over-generalize rules, such as this one
for past tense.
Chomsky asserted that children learn the rules of language, not just specific
responses, as Skinner had proposed. He asserted that human beings are born
biologically equipped to learn a language, and proposed his theory of a
Language Acquisition Device (LAD) – an inborn mechanism or process that

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facilitates the learning of a language. According to the theory, the LAD
consists of brain structures and neural wiring that are unique to human
beings. In this nativist theory, humans are born with the ability to
discriminate among phonemes, to fast-map morphemes, and to acquire the
rules of syntax, and more.
Chomsky’s assertion that important aspects of language learning can only be
explained adequately by innate mental processes forever shattered the
empirical stronghold of behaviorism, which had dominated psychology for
nearly 50 years. Chomsky’s critique of Skinner’s Verbal Behavior, and
pivotal work by George Miller, Jerome Bruner, Ulric Neisser, and others
brought mind and thought back into the study of psychology.

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Q3. What are different languages learning methods and what you
think is the best method to use in language classroom? Deivce
three activities by using that method in classroom.

Language education is the teaching and learning of a language. It can


include improving a learner's mastery of her or his native language, but the
term is more commonly used with regard to second language acquisition,
which means the learning of a foreign or second language and which is the
topic of this article. Language education is a branch of applied linguistics.

METHODS OF TEACHING FOREIGN LANGUAGES

Language education may take place as a general school subject or in a


specialized language school. There are many methods of teaching languages.
Some have fallen into relative obscurity and others are widely used; still
others have a small following, but offer useful insights.
While sometimes confused, the terms "approach", "method" and "technique"
are hierarchical concepts. An approach is a set of correlative assumptions
about the nature of language and language learning, but does not involve
procedure or provide any details about how such assumptions should
translate into the classroom setting. Such can be related to second language
acquisition theory.

There are three principal views at this level:

1. The structural view treats language as a system of structurally related


elements to code meaning (e.g. grammar).

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2. The functional view sees language as a vehicle to express or
accomplish a certain function, such as requesting something.
3. The interactive view sees language as a vehicle for the creation and
maintenance of social relations, focusing on patterns of moves, acts,
negotiation and interaction found in conversational exchanges. This
view has been fairly dominant since the 1980s.

A method is a plan for presenting the language material to be learned and


should be based upon a selected approach. In order for an approach to be
translated into a method, an instructional system must be designed
considering the objectives of the teaching/learning, how the content is to be
selected and organized, the types of tasks to be performed, the roles of
students and the roles of teachers. A technique is a very specific, concrete
stratagem or trick designed to accomplish an immediate objective. Such are
derived from the controlling method, and less-directly, with the approach

THE GRAMMAR TRANSLATION METHOD

The grammar translation method instructs students in grammar, and provides


vocabulary with direct translations to memorize. It was the predominant
method in Europe in the 19th century. Most instructors now acknowledge
that this method is ineffective by itself[citation needed]. It is now most
commonly used in the traditional instruction of the classical languages,
however it remains the most commonly practiced method of English
teaching in Japan[citation needed].

At school, the teaching of grammar consists of a process of training in the


rules of a language which must make it possible to all the students to

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correctly express their opinion, to understand the remarks which are
addressed to them and to analyze the texts which they read. The objective is
that by the time they leave college, the pupil controls the tools of the
language which are the vocabulary, grammar and the orthography, to be able
to read, understand and write texts in various contexts. The teaching of
grammar examines texts, and develops awareness that language constitutes a
system which can be analyzed. This knowledge is acquired gradually, by
traversing the facts of language and the syntactic mechanisms, going from
simplest to the most complex. The exercises according to the program of the
course must untiringly be practiced to allow the assimilation of the rules
stated in the course.[citation needed] That supposes that the teacher corrects
the exercises. The pupil can follow his progress in practicing the language
by comparing his results. Thus can he adapt the grammatical rules and
control little by little the internal logic of the syntactic system. The
grammatical analysis of sentences constitutes the objective of the teaching of
grammar at the school. Its practice makes it possible to recognize a text as a
coherent whole and conditions the training of a foreign language.
Grammatical terminology serves this objective. Grammar makes it possible
for each one to understand how the mother tongue functions, in order to give
him the capacity to communicate its thought.

THE DIRECT METHOD

The direct method, sometimes also called natural method, is a method that
refrains from using the learners' native language and just uses the target
language. It was established in Germany and France around 1900 and are
best represented by the methods devised by Berlitz and de Sauzé although
neither claim originality and has been re-invented under other names.[2] The

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direct method operates on the idea that second language learning must be an
imitation of first language learning, as this is the natural way humans learn
any language - a child never relies on another language to learn its first
language, and thus the mother tongue is not necessary to learn a foreign
language. This method places great stress on correct pronunciation and the
target language from outset. It advocates teaching of oral skills at the
expense of every traditional aim of language teaching. Such methods rely on
directly representing an experience into a linguistic construct rather than
relying on abstractions like mimicry, translation and memorizing grammar
rules and vocabulary.

According to this method, printed language and text must be kept away from
second language learner for as long as possible, just as a first language
learner does not use printed word until he has good grasp of speech.
Learning of writing and spelling should be delayed until after the printed
word has been introduced, and grammar and translation should also be
avoided because this would involve the application of the learner's first
language. All above items must be avoided because they hinder the
acquisition of a good oral proficiency.

The method relies on a step-by-step progression based on question-and-


answer sessions which begin with naming common objects such as doors,
pencils, floors, etc. It provides a motivating start as the learner begins using
a foreign language almost immediately. Lessons progress to verb forms and
other grammatical structures with the goal of learning about thirty new
words per lesson.

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THE SERIES METHOD

In the 19th century, Francois Gouin went to Hamburg to learn German.


Based on his experience as a Latin teacher, he thought the best way to do
this would be memorize a German grammar book and a table of its 248
irregular verbs. However, when he went to the academy to test his new
language skills, he was disappointed to find out that he could not understand
anything. Trying again, he similarly memorized the 800 root words of the
language as well as re-memorizing the grammar and verb forms. However,
the results were the same. During this time, he had isolated himself from
people around him, so he tried to learn by listening, imitating and conversing
with the Germans around him, but found that his carefully-constructed
sentences often caused native German speakers to laugh. Again he tried a
more classical approach, translation, and even memorizing the entire
dictionary but had no better luck.

When he returned home, he found that his three-year-old nephew had


learned to speak French. He noticed the boy was very curious and upon his
first visit to a mill, he wanted to see everything and be told the name of
everything. After digesting the experience silently, he then reenacted his
experiences in play, talking about what he learned to whoever would listen
or to himself. Gouin decided that language learning was a matter of
transforming perceptions into conceptions, using language to represent what
one experiences. Language is not an arbitrary set of conventions but a way
of thinking and representing the world to oneself. It is not a conditioning
process, but one in which the learner actively organizes his perceptions into
linguistics concepts.

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THE AUDIO-LINGUAL METHOD

The audio-lingual method was developed around World War II when


governments realized that they needed more people who could conduct
conversations fluently in a variety of languages, work as interpreters, code-
room assistants, and translators. However, since foreign language instruction
in that country was heavily focused on reading instruction, no textbooks,
other materials or courses existed at the time, so new methods and materials
had to be devised. For example, the U.S. Army Specialized Training
Program created intensive programs based on the techniques Leonard
Bloomfield and other linguists devised for Native American languages,
where students interacted intensively with native speakers and a linguist in
guided conversations designed to decode its basic grammar and learn the
vocabulary. This "informant method" had great success with its small class
sizes and motivated learners.

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Q4. Write a pre-requisites for writing a good essay? Discuss them in
detail and then write an essay on any topic of your choice
following all pre- requisites.

When we are writing an essay we must divide it into three parts.

a) Introduction
b) Body
c) Conclusion

The following are the pre-requisite for writing a good essay.

LOOK FOR THE ESSAY STATEMENT

Whether it is a dissertation or a thesis paper, the statement gives the gist of


the whole essay in a few sentences. Hence, students should look for the
question that is being discussed in the samples provided. Further, the
question should have a direct relation with the topic of the essay and the
statement of the essay should be in the form of an answer to such question.
Therefore, the introduction part of the essay should be read carefully to find
if the same is completely informative about the essay theme. Thereafter the
wordings of the introduction should be checked to find if they are interesting
and absorbing for the reader to go through the whole essay.

THE ESSAY TEXT SHOULD BE FOCUSED AND FREE FLOWING

It is essential for the student to find in the samples and other works provided
by the company, that the essay text is focused on the theme selected. The
issues related to the chosen topic should flow smoothly from one point to

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another, so that the reader is not confused at any stage, while reading the
whole essay.

The central theme of each paragraph should be relevant to the main essay
topic. While each sentence should support this central theme, within a
paragraph, the flow of points from one paragraph to another should be in
such a manner that is tempts the reader to go through the complete paper.

CHECK FOR THE BEST QUALITY WRITING STYLE

While checking the samples provided by the essay writing service company,
students should find about the writing style and format adopted by its
writers. The essays should be written in a clean and reader-friendly simple
language, while maintaining the required writing style like font size and line
spacing etc.. The writers should do the spell and grammar check, as well as
the punctuation and proofreading jobs, manually. It is essential for the
students to remember that merely depending on such auto checks provided
by the software tools available, is always dangerous.

Students can also go through personal essay for getting the knowledge of
writing different essays.

CHECK FOR CORRECT CITATION REFERENCES

This quality of any essay help company is of paramount importance as


proper reference of in-text-citations gives the reader full details of the
information sources used while writing the essay contents. It also saves the
writer from serious allegation of plagiarism.

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ESSAY

SOCIALISM AND HISTORY

The history of socialism finds its origins in the French Revolution of 1789
and the changes brought about by the Industrial Revolution, although it has
precedents in earlier movements and ideas. The term 'socialism' is variously
attributed to Pierre Leroux in 1834, who called socialism "the doctrine
which would not give up any of the principles of Liberty, Equality,
Fraternity" of the French Revolution of 1789 or to Marie Roch Louis
Reybaud in France, or in England to Robert Owen, who is considered the
father of the cooperative movement. The Australian Labor Party was the
world's first elected socialist party when the party won the 1899 Queensland
state election, with Anderson Dawson its Premier and first head of a socialist
government anywhere in the world.

The appearance of the term "socialism" is variously attributed to Pierre


Leroux in 1834, or to Marie Roch Louis Reybaud in France, or else in
England to Robert Owen, who is considered the father of the cooperative
movement.

The first modern socialists were early 19th century Western European social
critics. In this period, socialism emerged from a diverse array of doctrines
and social experiments associated primarily with British and French
thinkers—especially Robert Owen, Charles Fourier, Pierre-Joseph
Proudhon, Louis Blanc, and Saint-Simon. These social critics criticised the
excesses of poverty and inequality of the Industrial Revolution, and
advocated reforms such as the egalitarian distribution of wealth and the

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transformation of society into small communities in which private property
was to be abolished. Outlining principles for the reorganization of society
along collectivist lines, Saint-Simon and Owen sought to build socialism on
the foundations of planned, utopian communities.

According to some accounts, the use of the words "socialism" or


"communism" was related to the perceived attitude toward religion in a
given culture. In Europe, "communism" was considered to be the more
atheistic of the two. In England, however, that sounded too close to
communion with Catholic overtones; hence atheists preferred to call
themselves socialists.

The International Workingmen's Association (IWA), also known as the First


International, was founded in London in 1864. Victor Le Lubez, a French
radical republican living in London, invited Karl Marx to come to London as
a representative of German workers. The IWA held a preliminary conference
in 1865, and had its first congress at Geneva in 1866. Marx was appointed a
member of the committee, and according to Saul Padover, Marx and Johann
Georg Eccarius, a tailor living in London, became "the two mainstays of the
International from its inception to its end". The First International became
the first major international forum for the promulgation of socialist ideas.

The Social Democratic Workers' Party of Germany was founded in 1869


under the influence of Marx and Engels. In 1875, it merged with the General
German Workers' Association of Ferdinand Lassalle to become what is
known today as the German Social Democratic Party (SPD). Socialism
became increasingly associated with newly-formed trade unions. In
Germany, the SPD founded unions. In Austria, France and other European

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countries, socialist parties and anarchists played a prominent role in forming
and building up trade unions, especially from the 1870s onwards. This stood
in contrast to the British experience, where moderate New Model Unions
dominated the union movement from the mid-nineteenth century, and where
trade unionism was stronger than the political labour movement until the
formation and growth of the Labour Party in the early twentieth century.

Socialist groups supported diverse views of socialism, from the gradualism


of many trade unionists to the radical, revolutionary theory of Marx and
Engels. Anarchists and proponents of other alternative visions of socialism,
who emphasized the potential of small-scale communities and agrarianism,
coexisted with the more influential currents of Marxism and social
democracy. The anarchists, led by the Russian Mikhail Bakunin, believed
that capitalism and the state were inseparable, and that one could not be
abolished without the other.

As the ideas of Marx and Engels took on flesh, particularly in central


Europe, socialists sought to unite in an international organisation. In 1889,
on the centennial of the French Revolution of 1789, the Second International
was founded, with 384 delegates from 20 countries representing about 300
labour and socialist organizations. It was termed the "Socialist International"
and Engels was elected honorary president at the third congress in 1893.

Just before his death in 1895, Engels argued that there was now a "single
generally recognised, crystal clear theory of Marx" and a "single great
international army of socialists". Despite its illegality due to the Anti-
Socialist Laws of 1878, the Social Democratic Party of Germany's use of the
limited universal male suffrage were "potent" new methods of struggle

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which demonstrated their growing strength and forced the dropping of the
Anti-Socialist legislation in 1890, Engels argued. In 1893, the German SPD
obtained 1,787,000 votes, a quarter of votes cast. However before the
leadership of the SPD published Engels' 1895 Introduction to Marx's Class
Struggles in France 1848-1850, they removed certain phrases they felt were
too revolutionary.

Marx believed that it was possible to have a peaceful socialist transformation


in England, although the British ruling class would then revolt against such a
victory. America and Holland might also have a peaceful transformation, but
not in France, where Marx believed there had been "perfected... an
enormous bureaucratic and military organisation, with its ingenious state
machinery" which must be forcibly overthrown. However, eight years after
Marx's death, Engels argued that it was possible to achieve a peaceful
socialist revolution in France, too.

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Q5. Keeping in mind the four stages of teaching/learning, plan a
lesson of an hour to teach different between simple present and
simple past tense.

The lecture will be as under:

HOW DO WE MAKE THE SIMPLE PRESENT TENSE?

subject + auxiliary verb + main verb


do base

There are three important exceptions:

1. For positive sentences, we do not normally use the auxiliary.


2. For the 3rd person singular (he, she, it), we add s to the main verb or
es to the auxiliary.
3. For the verb to be, we do not use an auxiliary, even for questions and
negatives.

Look at these examples with the main verb like:

subject auxiliary verb main verb


+ I, you, we, they like coffee.
He, she, it likes coffee.
- I, you, we, they do not like coffee.
He, she, it does not like coffee.
? Do I, you, we, they like coffee?
Does he, she, it like coffee?

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Look at these examples with the main verb be. Notice that there is no
auxiliary:

subject main verb


+ I am French.
You, we, they are French.
He, she, it is French.
- I am not old.
You, we, they are not old.
He, she, it is not old.
? Am I late?
Are you, we, they late?
Is he, she, it late?

HOW DO WE USE THE SIMPLE PRESENT TENSE?

We use the simple present tense when:

• the action is general


• the action happens all the time, or habitually, in the past, present and
future
• the action is not only happening now
• the statement is always true

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John drives a taxi.
past present future

It is John's job to drive a taxi. He does it every day. Past, present and future.

Look at these examples:

• I live in New York.


• The Moon goes round the Earth.
• John drives a taxi.
• He does not drive a bus.
• We meet every Thursday.
• We do not work at night.
• Do you play football?

Note that with the verb to be, we can also use the simple present tense for
situations that are not general. We can use the simple present tense to talk
about now. Look at these examples of the verb "to be" in the simple present
tense - some of them are general, some of them are now:

Am I right?
Tara is not at home.
You are happy.
past present future

The situation is now.

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They are also shown the following table for examples.

The simple present tense is used to discuss permanent situations and the
frequency of events.

To have Short form Other Verbs (to work)


I have I've I work
he has he's He works
she has she's She works
it has it's It works
you have you've you work
we have we've we work
they have they've they work

Statements Statements QuestionsShort Short


+ - answer answer
+ -
I work. I don't work. Do I work? Yes, I do. No, I don't.
He works. He doesn't Does he Yes, he No, he
work. work? does. doesn't.
She works. She doesn't Does she Yes, she No, she
work. work? does. doesn't.
It works. It doesn't Does it Yes, it No, it
work. work? does. doesn't.
You work. You don't Do you Yes you No, you
work. work? do. don't.
We work. We don't work. Do we work? Yes we do. No, we
don't.
They work. They don't Do they Yes they No, they
work. work? do. don't.

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SIMPLE PAST TENSE

The simple past tense is sometimes called the preterite tense. We can use
several tenses to talk about the past, but the simple past tense is the one we
use most often.

1. The simple past tense is expressed with the past form of the verb and
nothing else.

My grandfather died last year. (Correct)


My grandfather was died last year. (Incorrect)
My grandfather has died last year. (Incorrect)

2. The simple past tense refers to


a. action which occurred at a specific time in the past
b. completed action
c. past status
Examples

Specific past action Completed action Past status

I ate lunch at noon today. She finally mailed the John was still
He drove to work letter. single in 1995.
yesterday. Jan finished her report on Jane was a
time. movie star.

Note the usage of the past tense in the following story.


Yesterday Mrs. Hubbard had a very rough day. In the morning, she went to
the kitchen and looked in the cupboard for some food for her dog, but the
cupboard was empty. Her poor dog stared up at her with its hungry eyes,

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and she knew she had to do something quickly. She hurried to the grocery
store to buy some dog food, but unfortunately the store was out of her dog's
favorite brand, so she had to catch a bus downtown. After buying the food,
she waited for a half hour in the rain to get a taxi. When she finally got
home, her dog was sound asleep on the living room sofa.

Common problems with the past tense

1. Using the present tense when the past tense is required.

Last week, Tonya fix her neighbor's car.


(Incorrect)
Last week, Tonya fixed her neighbor's
(Correct)
car.

2. Using "was" with verbs in the past tense.


It was happened one night in
(Incorrect)
September.
(Correct)
It happened one night in September.

Exercises

Change the verbs in the following sentence into past tense.

1. Yesterday, I go to the restaurant with a client.

2. We drive around the parking lot for 20 minutes in order to find a parking
space.

3. When we arrive at the restaurant, the place is full.

4. The waitress asks us if we have reservations.

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5. I say, "No, my secretary forgets to make them."

6. The waitress tells us to come back in two hours.

7. My client and I slowly walk back to the car.

8. Then we see a small grocery store.

9. We stop in the grocery store and buy some sandwiches.

10. That is better than waiting for two hours.

Correct the mistakes in the following sentences:

1. Last night, Samantha have pizza for supper.

2. My pet lizard was died last month.

3. Yesterday I spend two hours cleaning my living room.

4. This morning before coming to class, Jack eats two bowls of cereal.

5. What was happened to your leg?

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