Day: January 5, 2010

Use of has/have

  • Read  the following sentences:
  1. I have a pet dog.
  2. Rita has a kitten.
  3. Ann has a doll.
  4. We have colourful kites.
  5. I have a red balloon.
  6. He has a toy-cart.
  7. We have a big house.
  8. They have a big car.
  9. I have a new book.
  10. She has many clothes.
  11. We have two eyes, two ears and a nose.
  12. A cow has four legs and a tail.

 Has and have are also Verbs. They show what somebody has i.e. they point out possession. We use has when we speak about one person or thing. We use have when we speak about more than one person or thing or with pronouns you, we, they and I.

 

Use of is, am are, was, were

Look at the following sentences:

  1. I am a girl.
  2. He is a lazy boy.
  3. She is a teacher.
  4. It is a ball.
  5. This is her purse.
  6. That is his bat.
  7. Molly is in the kitchen
  8. We are sisters.
  9. You are late.
  10. These boys are hungry.
  11. Those girls are tall.
  12. There are many birds on the tree.
  13. There were ten students in the class.
  14. They are very rich.
  15. Mary and Anne are friends.

 

The words is, am, are, was, were, help us to say something about the noun or pronoun. These words are also called Verbs. They say or tell what a person, animal or thing is. Was/were show past activity i.e. what happened in the past. We use was as the past form of am and is. We use were as the past form of are.

 

Study this:

I am  

ten years old.
We

You

They

The girls

The boys

  

are
She

He

Mary

Jack

  

is

 

  • We use is with he, she, it, this, that and singular nouns like Mary, Jack, boy, girl, etc. We write is for one.
  • Am is always used with I.
  • We use are with we, you, they, these, those and plural nouns like boys, students, children, animals etc. We write are for many.
  • Are/were is also used with you when it is singular. Example:

Teacher: Mary, you are a good girl.

Teacher: Mary, why were you absent yesterday?