A Remedial English Grammar

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A Remedial English Grammar
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CHAPTERS

• ARTICLES
• AGREEMENT OF VERB AND SUBJECT
• CONCORD OF NOUNS, PRONOUNS AND POSSESSIVE
  ADJECTIVES
• CONFUSION OF ADJECTIVES AND ADVERBS
• DIFFICULTIES WITH COMPARATIVE AND SUPERLATIVES
• CONFUSION OF PARTICIPLES ACTIVE PASSIVE
• PREPOSITIONS
• NEGATIVE VERBS
• TENSES 1, 2 3
• THE INFINITIVE

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PREPOSITIONS

• THE EXPRESSION OF TIME
• Making use of at, on, in, during, by, for
• At
• It is used to express for a certain moment or
  point in time.
• The train leaves at 2.45 p.m.
• For festivals which mark a point in the year.
• We have a holiday at Christmas and at Easter.

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PREPOSITIONS

• On
• For a specific day expressed as
• date, e.g. on June 5th
• day of the week, e.g. on Friday
• a special day in the year with a name of its
  own, e.g. on Christmas morning
• For a specific part of any such day e.g. on
  Christmas morning, (but on the afternoon/evening
  of Christmas day) on Wednesday morning, on Friday
  morning.

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PREPOSITIONS

• In
• Used before words which denote a period of time.
• E.g. in the summer, in September, in the year
  1948, in the morning, in the dinner-hour, in the
  summer holidays.
• To show a total length of time taken for
  completion of activity. E.g. in three hours, in
  two hours, thirty five minutes and twenty
  seconds.
• To state a period at the end of which something
  will happen. E.g. in a few minutes, in an hours
  time.

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PREPOSITIONS

• During
• To express the idea which continues throughout
  the whole of a specified period.
• E.g. During the war food was rationed.
• To express an idea wherein which an event took
  place within a specified period of time (in the
  course of)
• E.g. The house was burgled during the night.

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PREPOSITIONS

• By
• To denote the latest time by which something was
  or is to be done. It implies it may be done
  before then but not after.
• E.g. You must be home by ten o clock.
• Applications for the post should be
  received by April 25th.
• Used before the words day and night (same as
  during)
• E.g. Some motorists prefer to travel by night.

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PREPOSITIONS

• For
• To show the lapse of time during which something
  takes place or a state of affairs persists.
• E.g. It rained continuously for 20 hours.
• We have been waiting for over an hour.
• Note
• We stayed a week. (sum total of the time)
• We stayed for a week. (time as it goes day by
  day)

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PREPOSITIONS

• Additional notes
• 1. at, on, in are not used if the noun giving a
  time is preceded by an adjective.
• 2. yesterday, today, and tomorrow are also used
  as adverbs and do not take a preposition.
• today cannot be followed by morning,
  afternoon, evening.
• night can be used only after tomorrow. Hence
  yesterday night or today night is not
  possible.

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PREPOSITIONS

• B. THE EXPRESSION OF PLACE
• Place of Residence
• (a) In is used for a general reference to the
  place
• E.g. in the town, in the desert
• (b) In is used for the names of countries,
  continents, capital cities of large towns
• In Paris, in China, in Delhi
• (c) At is used for villages and smaller towns
• at Aluva, at Marampally

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PREPOSITIONS

• THE EXPRESSION OF PLACE
• Place of Residence
• In is used when no specific type of residence is
  mentioned
• E.g. in a cottage, in a flat
• (b) At is used for a particular place of
  residence
• E.g. at Manor house, at Buckingham palace
• (c) In is used for names of streets and roads
• E.g. in Palace road, in Dalal street

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PREPOSITIONS

• THE EXPRESSION OF PLACE
• Place of Work
• In is used if it is a building
• E.g. in a factory, in a bank
• At is used if the reference is to particular
  place
• E.g. at the public library, at BARC
• In is used for a particular room or department
• E.g. in the Manuscripts department, in the
  auditing department.

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PREPOSITIONS

• THE EXPRESSION OF PLACE
• Chief Exceptions
• At the seaside, on an island (place of residence)
• On a farm, on the railway, on an estate, on a
  rubber plantation (place of work with no
  reference to a building)

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PREPOSITIONS

• PREPOSITIONS ATTACHED TO VERBS
• Many intransitive verbs are followed
  prepositions and its objects. It is incorrect to
  make statements like
• He pointed the tree
• We listened the music
• I am looking a book

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PREPOSITIONS

• PREPOSITIONS ATTACHED TO VERBS
• Combinations of vprep
• E.g. agree to, apply to, care for, hope for,
  object to, rely on, depends on, stared at,
  succeed in, talks of, think of, think about,
  write to etc.

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PREPOSITIONS

• PREPOSITIONS ATTACHED TO VERBS
• In interrogative forms beginning with what, who,
  when, which etc prepositions should be put at the
  end of the sentences
• What are you looking at?
• Where has this bus come from?
• Whom do you wish to speak to?