Use of ‘So’ and ‘Because’

  • We use ‘so’ to show the result of something and ‘because’ to show the reason for something. Look at the following examples: 
  1. It was a bright, sunny day, so we went for a picnic.
  2.  It was raining so we did not go out.
  3. Nimmi got a prize, so she gave a party.
  4. I was bored so I went for a movie.
  5. He was hungry so he ate the whole cake.
  6. I was tired so I went off to sleep.
  7. John was putting on a lot of weight so he started exercising.
  8. I did not have money to buy a book so I borrowed it from the library.
  9. Because he was not feeling well, Mark did not go to school.
  10. Harry switched on the light because it was very dark.
  11. The child is crying because he is hungry.
  12. Meera is happy because she is going to meet her grandmother.
  13. He cannot walk because he has hurt his leg.
  14. Because she tried hard, she succeeded.
  15. Because I have lost my purse I can’t buy anything today.
  16. Sam’s father left his job because he was transferred to a remote place.

Will

Will

Look at the following sentences:

  1. Tia is five years old. She will be six next year.
  2. Tia’s grandfather is 58 years old. He will retire at 60.
  3. Teacher to students: Tomorrow, we will go for a picnic. We will go to the fort by bus. But once at the fort we will walk around and see all the old buildings, the museum and even the ruins.  It will be a long walk. We will start at 8 o’clock, so be sure to reach the school in time. And we will be return by 5 o’clock. Breakfast and lunch will be provided by the school. You must remember to bring your water bottles with you. We will have a great time there.

Will in these sentences denotes simple future.

Let us look at some other uses of will:

Will is used in the sense of a request:

  1. Will you keep these fruits in the refrigerator, please?
  2. Will you help me clean the house today?

Will is used to denote invitations:

  1. Will you have dinner with us, tonight?
  2. Will you come with us to Goa?

Will is used to express determination/intention/promise/ threat:

  1. I will clear my Civil Services Exam this year. (Determination)
  2. I will go to Delhi on Sunday. (Intention)
  3. He will be rewarded for his bravery. (Promise)
  4. Stop teasing or I will report you to the officer. (Threat)

Will is used to express command:

  1. “You will finish this work before you go”, said the officer to the clerk.
  2. “All the students will reach the school by 7.30 a.m. tomorrow”, said the teacher.

Will is used to indicate characteristic habits:

  1. When they got a new telephone, their son will talk for hours on the telephone.
  2. They will sit for hours in the garden on sunny days.

 Will in conditional sentences:

  1. You will fail, if you do not work hard.
  2. You will be late for school, if you do not hurry up.

Use of Let

Use of Let
  • When we want to do something, or we want to be allowed to do something, we may start the sentence with Let me……
Example:
1.  Tina wants to carry her mother’s purse.
Tina: Let me carry your purse.
2.  Jack wants to go for a picnic with his friends.
Jack: Let me go for a picnic with my friends.
3.  Sheena wants to learn music.  
Sheena: Let me learn music.
4.  Ron is bored with his toys and wants to play outside.
Ron: Let me play outside.
  • We use Let to offer to do something for others.
Example:
5.  Mark to his teacher: Let me carry your books.
6.  A blind man is trying to cross the road. Ruth comes to his aid: Let me help you cross the road.
7.  Mark’s friend has a bad cold. He offers to take her to the doctor: Let me take you to the doctor.
8.  Rita’s grandmother is looking for her  knitting needles. She offers to find them: Let me find your needles.
  • We use let’s to suggest an idea or a plan that includes the speaker. Let’s is a short form of Let us.
1.  I am tired. Let’s rest for sometime.
2.  I am hot. Let’s have a cool drink.
3.  I am hungry. Let’s have some cookies.
4.  The car is very dirty. Let’s clean the car.

William Wordsworth’s “She was a Phantom of Delight” – Audio Analysis

William Wordsworth’s She was a Phantom of Delight – Audio Analysis

She was a Phantom of delight
When first she gleamed upon my sight;
A lovely Apparition, sent
To be a moment’s ornament;
Her eyes as stars of Twilight fair;
Like Twilight’s, too, her dusky hair;
But all things else about her drawn
From May-time and the cheerful Dawn;
A dancing Shape, an Image gay,
To haunt, to startle, and waylay.

I saw her upon nearer view,
A Spirit, yet a Woman too!
Her household motions light and free,
And steps of virgin-liberty;
A countenance in which did meet
Sweet records, promises as sweet;
A Creature not too bright or good
For human nature’s daily food,
For transient sorrows, simple wiles,
Praise, blame, love, kisses, tears, and smiles.

And now I see with eye serene
The very pulse of the machine;
A Being breathing thoughtful breath,
A Traveller between life and death;
The reason firm, the temperate will,
Endurance, foresight, strength, and skill;
A perfect Woman, nobly planned,
To warn, to comfort, and command;
And yet a Spirit still, and bright
With something of angelic light.

The Tiger by William Blake – Audio Lecture 1

     TheTiger by William Blake – Audio Lecture 1

TIGER, tiger, burning bright
In the forests of the night,
What immortal hand or eye
Could frame thy fearful symmetry?

In what distant deeps or skies
Burnt the fire of thine eyes?
On what wings dare he aspire?
What the hand dare seize the fire?

And what shoulder and what art
Could twist the sinews of thy heart?
And when thy heart began to beat,
What dread hand and what dread feet?

What the hammer? what the chain?
In what furnace was thy brain?
What the anvil? What dread grasp
Dare its deadly terrors clasp?

When the stars threw down their spears,
And water’d heaven with their tears,
Did He smile His work to see?
Did He who made the lamb make thee?

Tiger, tiger, burning bright
In the forests of the night,
What immortal hand or eye
Dare frame thy fearful symmetry?

The Perfect Continuous Tenses

The Present Perfect Continuous Tense

Form: have/has + been + present participle. Has is used with third person singular number subject i.e. he, she or it.

We use this tense for an action that began in the past, continues in the present and may continue in the future.

Study these examples:

I have been working in this college for the past ten years. (I am still working here).

I have been trying to solve this problem for an hour. (I am still trying to solve it)

We sometimes use the present perfect continuous even when the action is over. Then we want to emphasize that the activity continued without intermission. Or we are giving a reason or excuse for something.

Study these examples:

He has been reading since morning and now he has a headache.

I have been working in the garden the whole morning. Now I am tired and dirty and need a bath.

Adverbs commonly used in this tense form are: since, for, ever, never, always, often etc. remember since is used with a point of time and for with a period of time.

Verbs like lie (down), rest, sleep, sit are used more often in the present perfect continuous than in the present perfect, e.g.

The football has been lying under the bed the whole day (rather than has lain).

The cat has been sitting under my chair all this time (rather than has sat).

The Past Perfect Continuous Tense

Form: had + been + present participle.

The past perfect continuous tense is used for an action which began at some time in the past and was in progress at some time later in the past. This tense indicates that the earlier of the two actions in the past was continuous.

Study these examples:

She had been writing a novel for the past one year when I visited her last year.

Mr. Fernandez had been teaching in this college for 15 years when I joined in 1995.

The past perfect continuous in indirect speech:

The old woman said, “I have been waiting for my son for seven years.”

The old woman said that she had been waiting for her son for seven years.

The Future Perfect Continuous Tense

Form:  shall/will + have + been + present participle.

It denotes an activity partly completed but still in progress over a period of time in future, e.g.

I shall have been working here for 30 years next month.

She will have been talking on the phone for two hours by the time her father arrives.

The Perfect Tenses

The Perfect tenses

Perfect tenses are formed with the helping verb to have and the past participle.

  • Why are they called perfect? Study these examples:

At 8 o’clock we say: “The news will come on the television at 8.30.”

At 8.30 we say: “The news is coming on the television.”

When the news broadcast is over we say: “The news has come on the television.” The action is finished, complete or perfect.

The Present Perfect Tense

  • Form: have/has +past participle (3rd form of verb).

 

  • We use the present perfect tense for an action that is just completed, e.g.

I have just finished my lunch. (It implies that I am not hungry and cannot have anything more).

They have just reached home. (It implies that they are perhaps tired and need rest).

  • We use the present perfect tense for an action that took  place in the past but we are more interested in the present consequences of the action than in its definite time in the past, e.g.

I have completed my work. (It implies that now I am free to play/watch television etc.).

  • We use the present perfect very often with indefinite adverbials of time. e.g. yet, already, often, never, always, sometimes, etc. We do not use a definite adverbial of time, e.g. ago, a minute ago, long ago, last night, yesterday, on Monday etc. With these we use the simple past.

 

  • We use the present perfect sometimes for an action which began in the past, continues in the present and may continue in the future, with adverbial phrase beginning with for and since, e.g.

 

I have been here for the past 15 years.

He has worked here since 1990.

I have not met him since Friday.

  • But we use the present perfect continuous more often for this purpose.

 

The Past Perfect Tense

  •  Form: had + past participle (3rd form of verb). 

 

  • The past perfect tense is used for an action begun and completed before another action. It is used for the earlier of the two actions in the past. So we usually need it  only in a sentence with two clauses and not in a simple sentence, e.g.

 The bus had left before we reached the bus-stop.

As we had missed the bus we waited an hour for the next,

I had finished the work before the guests arrived.

He had left for his office when I got to his house.

  • It is used in indirect speech to replace both the simple past and the present perfect in direct speech, e.g.

 She said, “I waited for you for an hour and then I went away.”

She said that she had waited for him for an hour and then she had gone away.

He said, “I have done this work.”

He said that he had done that work.

  • Notice that the present perfect is used in sentences which use after, before, when, until etc. in them.

 

Future Perfect Tense

  • Form: shall/will + have + past participle (3rd form of verb). 

 

  • It is used for an action beginning and ending at some given time in the future. So it is usually followed by a phrase like by this time or a clause like before something happens, e.g.  

 You will have reached Delhi by 9 o’clock tomorrow morning.

Mother will have prepared the lunch before we reach home.

The painters will have painted the building before the school re-opens.

My little sister will have gone to school by 8 o’clock.

  • Note that we use this tense when we are thinking of a point in the future time and looking back from it to what happened before.
  • Also note that if there is a second clause it is in the present tense, as is usual after conjunctions of time.

The Little Red Hen – Audio Story

The Little Red Hen

  1. Listen to the story of The little Red Hen and answer the questions given below:

How many chicks did the little red hen have?

What did she find one day?

Did her friends help her plant the wheat?

Who planted the wheat?

When was the wheat harvested?

Did the little red hen’s friends help her harvest the wheat?

 Who harvested the wheat?

Who would grind the wheat?

Did the little red hen’s friends help her take the harvested wheat to the miller?

Who took the wheat to the miller?

What did they bring home?

What did the little red hen plan to do with the flour?

Did her friends help her bake the cake?

Who prepared the cake?

How did they prepare the cake?

When the cake was ready, what did the little red hen ask?

How did the dog, the cat and the duck respond to the hen’s question?

What did the little red hen tell them?

Who ate the delicious cake?

What do you learn from the story? Do you think the little red hen should have shared the cake with her lazy friends?

The Cock, The Cat and The Mouse – Audio Story

 The Cock, The Cat and The Mouse

Listen to and read the story, The Cock, The Cat and The Mouse and answer the questions given below:

   Once upon a time . . . a little mouse decided to go and see the world.
Packing some food for the journey, he carefully locked his door and set off
for the unknown. And what a wonderful world he saw! Tall trees, rolling
countryside, flowers and butterflies he had never set eyes on before. On he
hiked till, tired out, he came to a peasant’s cottage. After eating some of
his packed lunch, he thought he would inspect what, to him, was a peculiar
sort of building. He entered the farmyard and his eyes grew round as saucers:
there in front of him were two strange animals he had never seen before. One
was large and handsome, with four legs, covered all over with soft fur, and
sporting splendid white whiskers that gave it a solemn respectable air. It was
dozing against the wall. The other, a two-legged creature, had red, yellow and
green feathers and a fierce, bad-tempered look. A pair of cruel eyes in a
red-crested head glared at the little mouse.
   “How do you do, sir! How do you do…” began the mouse’s greeting, as he
felt foolish at not knowing the stranger’s name. But the feathered creature
simply puffed out its chest, screeched a loud “Cocka-doodle-doo!” and strutted
towards the mouse, now paralyzed with fear. The little mouse saw the big
yellow beak hovering over him. “I must run!” he squeaked, turning tail and
fleeing as fast as his legs would carry him. He spied a hole in the wall and
dived into it. Inside, three faces stared at him in amazement.
   “Where did you appear from?” they asked.
   “I’ve come . . .” gasped the little mouse breathlessly, “. . . from far
away! Where am I now?”
   “This is our home. We’re field mice. What happened?” And the little mouse
told them about the animals he had met in the farmyard: one handsome and
harmless, the other brightly coloured and ferocious. The three field mice
laughed. “Calm down,” they said. “Have a cup of coffee. Don’t you realize the
danger you were in? The creature that frightened you is only a cock, but the
nice harmless one is our deadliest enemy, the cat! If he’d seen you, you
wouldn’t be here to tell the tale. As you see, you can’t always judge by
appearances!”

  1. What did the little mouse decide one day?
  2. What did he see during his journey?
  3. What strange creatures did he see in the farmyard?
  4. Describe the two animals the mouse saw there?
  5. Why was he paralyzed with fear?
  6. Where did he dive into to save himself?
  7. What did he find inside the hole?
  8. Why did the field mice laugh when the mouse told them about the animals he had met in the farmyard?
  9. What did the field mice tell him about the two animals?
  10. Find the meaning of the underlined words in the story.( You can take the help of the dictionary given here).