English for Today - COLLOCATIONS

Words are said to collocate when they are used regularly together in a language. Certain words must go together and if one is used and the other is omitted, the sentence becomes wrong. 

The following are examples:

1. No sooner had- than(not when): No sooner had I opened the door than the thief fled.

2. Prefer-to(not than): She prefers Engineering to Biochemistry

3. Hardly had-when(not than): Hardly had the journey started when the car engine developed a fault.

   To be continued

English for Today - PERSONAL PRONOUNS (2)

4. The subjective form of the personal pronouns is used in the subject complement position: It was I(who did it). It will be wrong to say 'me did it'. So, it is wrong to say 'It was me'. However, 'It was me' is allowed in informal or casual talk.

5. The subjective form is also used after conjunctions like 'as' and 'than': He's as tall as I. You are shorter than she. Again, depending on context, both may be correct as in: He likes her more than I/me. More than I will mean: He likes her, I like her, but he likes her more than I like her. More than me will mean: He likes her, he likes me, but he likes her more than he likes me.

English for Today - PERSONAL PRONOUNS

PERSONAL PRONOUNS

Subjective forms: I, we, he, she, it they, you

Objective forms: me, us, him, her, it, them, you

RULES

1. Subjective forms are used in subject position: Esther and She came here.
2. Objective forms are used in object positions: I saw Titi and them.
3. The objective form is used when the pronoun comes after a preposition: This is between you and me.
 
To be continued

EXCEPTIONS TO SUBJUNCTIVES

English for Today: Still on Tense
EXCEPTIONS TO SUBJUNCTIVES
1. When 'to' infinitive comes immediately after the subjunctive forms, the tense of the verb will remain in present tense: It is time to EXPEL this irresponsible member.
2. 'Had better' should not be mistaken for a subjunctive form so it should not be given the past tense: If you want Peace, you had better GET prepared for war.
3. When there is no subject after the subjunctive form, the verb should remain in the present tense: I would rather GO to the theatre than to the cinema.

SUBJUNCTIVES

English for Today: Still on Tense
Hypothetical Past or Subjunctives
The subjunctive is the form of verb that is often used to express wishes, uncertainty, possibility or condition or imagined situation:
a. It's time/ it's high time/it's about time
b. As if
c. I wish
d. I would rather/ I'd rather
e. If only
f. Suppose/ Supposing
If the sentence refers to an action in the present, the verb is given the past tense, e.g.:
It's time we STOPPED
I would rather you COOKED
If only I COULD see him

English for Today: Still on Tense

Verbs that do not take -ing.
See, hear, feel, taste and smell do not attract -ing. However, they can, when they take up certain meanings
1. When 'see' means an arrangement to meet with someone: I am seeing my lawyer by Saturday.
2. When 'hear' means court adjudication: The court is hearing his case tomorrow.
3. When 'feel' means some kind of medical care: The doctor is feeling her temperature
4. When 'smell' means to sniff at: The rat must be smelling something.

English for Today: Still on Tense

Verbs that do not take -ing.

1. Verbs of the mind like: understand, believe, etc, do not attract -ing.
2. Emotional verbs like: like, want, desire, do not attract -ing
3. The five senses of man- hear, see, taste, smell, feel, do not attract -ing

 However, these verbs can attract -ing on the following grounds:

1. When used as gerunds(verbal nouns) and participles (verbal adjectives), e.g.,
Seeing is believing. It is wrong however to say: I am seeing you or I am believing you.

 To be continued.

English for Today - Present Continuous Tense

Present Continuous Tense: This tense performs the following functions:

1. It is used for an action that is going on at the moment and which is still continuing: I am eating.

2. It is used for an action which is going on at about a period but not at the moment of speaking: I am writing a 
book on Fatherhood

3. It is used to talk about a future action: I am seeing my doctor.

Tomorrow's lecture will discuss verbs that do not take -ing and their exceptions.

English for Today - TENSE

TENSE: This is the linguistic concept for handling time. The major forms of tense in English will be discussed.

1. Present tense: The present tense performs seven functions:
1. It talks about ongoing actions: I am hungry.
2. It talks about habitual actions: I read daily
3. It expresses eternal truth: Honey is sweet.
4. It expresses fixed future actions: Arsenal plays Man City tomorrow by 4pm
5. It is used for sport commentaries: Ronaldo dribbles Kaka and passes the ball to Benzema
6. It is used for literary analysis: Okonkwo kills Ikemefuna
7. It is used for news headlines: Mandela dies at 92.

TAG QUESTIONS: NEED

6. When 'need' is used before a main verb, it forms the tag: He needs to see you, needn't he?
7. When 'need' is preceded by an auxiliary verb, the auxiliary verb forms the tag: He can also need me someday, can't he?
8. When 'must' and 'ought to'  are used in sentences, need can form the tag: He ought to see his supervisor, needn't he?

QUESTION TAG: HAS, HAVE, HAD

English for Today
TAG QUESTIONS: HAS, HAVE, HAD
4. When 'has' have' and 'had' are used in the company of a main verb, they form the tag: he has arrived- hasn't he? They haven't finished- have they? They had had dinner- hadn't they?
5.When 'has', 'have' and 'had' are used without any other verb in the sentence, does, do and did will form the tags respectively: He has money- doesn't he? They have a big house- don't they? They had my number- didn't they?
To be continued...

HE CAME- *CAMEN'T HE?

English for Today
TAG QUESTIONS
3. When there is no auxiliary verb in a sentence, DO, DOES or DID forms the tag.
DO forms the tag when the sentence is in present tense and the subject is plural: Benson and Felix come often, don't they? Do is also used for 'you' and 'I'.
DOES forms the tag when the sentence is in present tense and the subject is singular: Kunle dances well, doesn't he?
DID forms the tag when the sentence is in past tense and the subject is either singular or plural: Bola and Ronke finished early, didn't they? Wole came here yesterday, didn't he?
To be continued

TAG QUESTIONS

English for Today
TAG QUESTIONS
The following rules must be borne in mind when forming tag questions:
1. A positive statement takes a negative tag and a negative statement takes a positive tag(for the purpose of this topic, a sentence is negative when it contains negators like, no, not, never), e.g., She is happy- isn't she? She is not fit- is she?
2. When there is an auxiliary verb in a sentence, the auxiliary verb forms the tag: You can cook, can't you? I don't lie, do I?
So what happens when there is no auxiliary verb?
To be continued

QUESTIONS

English for Today
QUESTIONS
There are four types of question in English:
1. Polar Questions: These are yes or no questions: Are you happy? Yes.
2. Non-polar Questions: These are questions that demand information: Who are you?
3. Rhetorical Questions: These are questions that do not call for response but reflection or meditation: Where do you want to spend your eternal life?
4. Tag Questions: These are short questions attached to statements for clarification: He is happy- isn't he?
Subsequent lectures will discuss Tag Questions in details.

USING THE APOSTROPHE TO INDICATE POSSESSION

English for Today
USING THE APOSTROPHE TO SHOW OWNERSHIP.
8. When there is possession within possession, each possession is reflected: Kunle's brother's wife
9. The ending 's can also be used with non-living things which are thought of as if they were living: Nigeria's terrorist group, the earth's surface
10. The ending 's may also be used with nouns referring to units of time: a day's work, a week's delay
11. The ending 's is used with a few idioms: a stone's throw, your money's worth

USING THE APOSTROPHE TO SHOW OWNERSHIP contd.

4. A plural noun that ends in 's' takes apostrophe alone: boys' bag, ladies' shoes
5. A plural noun that does not end in 's' takes apostrophe and an 's': Children's wear, Oxen's food
6. When an item belongs to two or more persons, the last of the persons to be mentioned reflects the ownership: Kunle and Dami's flat
7. When individuals separately own items, each individual reflects ownership: Kunle's, Moses' and Jude's flats

USING THE APOSTROPHE TO SHOW OWNERSHIP

The following rules should be borne in mind:

1. A singular noun which does not end in 's' takes apostrophe and an 's': Kunle's bag, the boy's book
2. A singular noun that ends in 's' takes apostrophe alone or apostrophe and an 's': James' bag or James's bag
3. A singular noun that has two s's, with one at the middle and the other at the end takes apostrophe alone: Moses' shoes, in Jesus' name.

THE APOSTROPHE

THE APOSTROPHE(')
The punctuation mark, apostrophe,
performs three main functions in English:
1. It is used to indicate the omission of a letter or letters in a word, e.g., Int'l
2. It is used to pluralise items, especially numbers and letters, e.g., Circle the 3's in the solution. Count the f's in the sentence.
3. It is used to show ownership, e.g., Professor Fakoya's car. Using the apostrophe to indicate ownership is rule-governed. The rules shall be discussed in subsequent lectures.

PLURALISING COMPOUND NOUNS

English for Today
PLURALISING COMPOUND NOUNS
Few nouns can also be pluralised on both the first and last constituents. These are:
1. Man student- Men students
2. Man friend- Men friends
3. Woman doctor- Women doctors
4. Gentleman farmer- Gentlemen farmers
5. Woman pilot- Women pilots
6. Woman driver- Women drivers
These two nouns can be pluralised either way:
Spoonful/ Spoonsful or Spoonfuls
On-going/ On-goings or goings-on

PLURALISING COMPOUND NOUNS

English for Today
PLURALISING COMPOUND NOUNS
The following compound nouns(and many others) are pluralised on the last words
1. Major General/ Major Generals
2. Grown-up/ Grown-ups
3. Spoonful/ Spoonfuls
4. Fountain pen/ Fountain pens
5. Post office/ Post offices
6. Face-cloth- Face-clothes
7. Breakdown- Breakdowns
8. Boyfriend- Boyfriends
9. Deaf-mute- Deaf-mutes
10. On-looker- On-lookers
11. Bye-law- Bye-laws
12. Boy-Scout- Boy-Scouts
13.On-going- On-goings
14. Bread-crumb- Bread-crumbs
15. Boy Brigade- Boy Brigades
16. Call Girl- Call Girls
17. Bookcase- Bookcases
18. Workman- Workmen
19. Male Student- Male Students
20. Lady Driver- Lady Drivers