ENGLISH NOTES FOR HIGH SCHOOLS

ENGLISH NOTES

NOUNS

These are words that name things ,people, ideas, qualities ,state and places.

Examples:

People-John, Jack
Ideas-stone, desk, laptop
Qualities-bravery, kindness, greed, diligence
State-sickness, laziness, poverty, wealth, love.
Places-Nairobi, Mombasa, Kisumu

Nouns can be divided into different categories.

Types of nouns

Proper nouns
Common nouns
Concrete nouns
Abstract nouns
Collective nouns
Countable nouns
Uncountable nouns

Common nouns

These are names of ordinary things. They include;

Boy
Girl
Locker
Desk
Water

Some common nouns have antonyms. They include:

shepherd-shepherdess buck-doe(goat,rabbit)
Bullock-heifer wizard-witch )
Drone-bee heir-heiress
Horse-mare manager-manageress
jack-jennet(donkey) tomcat-queen
Bachelor-spinster jew – jewess
monk-nun ram-ewe(sheep
cock-hen stallion-mare(horse)
Nephew-niece poet-poetess

Proper nouns

These are names given to specific people, places or things. They are always used with capital letters as follows;

Names of people ; Winston, Jacob, Melvin.
Months of the year; January, February, March.
Days of the week; Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday.
Seasons of the year; Winter, Spring, Autumn, Summer.
Names of countries and continents ; America, Kenya, Australia, Europe.
Names of regions, states and districts; Mombasa County, Nyanza , Califonia
Names of cities towns and villages; Naivasha, Nairobi, Kochia.
Geographical areas; The North, The North.

Concrete nouns

These are nouns naming things that can be seen and touched. The refer to:

People-boy, girl, teacher
Animals- cat, elephant, cow
Things-table, phone, cup
Geographical features-mountain, rivers, valleys

Abstract nouns

Abstract nouns are nouns naming things one cannot see or touch.

They refer to:

States; pain sickness, pity, poverty, wealth, success
Quality; honesty, greed, cruelty,
Ideas; education, corruption, love, hatred, justice

Count nouns/countable nouns

These are names of things which can be counted.

They have singular and plural forms.

They can be used with articles and numerals.

A Pen- pens
A Book-books
Paper-papers
Chair-chairs
Flower-flowers

f)Non-count /uncountable nouns

These are nouns of things that cannot be counted.

They cannot be used with articles such as a/an or the.

They can be used with expressions like some, a handful of, a bit of, a lot of, much .

Examples

Substances ;salt, food, dust
Liquids; milk, water, oil, juice
Ideas; music, knowledge, information, education, advice
Concrete objects; bedding, luggage, furniture, hair ,grass
Qualities; happiness, kindness, courage, obedience

Regular and Irregular nouns

Regular nouns

Regular nouns are nouns are nouns that form their plural by adding s or es to their singular forms.

Examples

Desk-desks

Pen pens

Box-boxes

Buffalo-buffaloes

Irregular noun

These are nouns that form their plural by changing their forms or certain letters.

Examples

Nouns that change oo to ee

Tooth-teeth
Goose-geese
Foot-feet

Nouns that omit us and add i

Radius-radii
Cactus-cacti
Stimulus-stimuli
Syllabus-syllabi/syllabuses
Alumnus-alumni

Nouns that omit um and replace it with a

Agendum-agenda
Addendum-addenda
Curriculum-curricula
Stratum-strata
Stimulus-stimuli

Nouns that change I to ee

Basis-bases
Oasis-oases
Thesis-theses
Crisis-crises

Nouns that change on/n to a

Criterion-criteria
Phenomenon-phenomena

Nouns that add ee

Larva-larvae
Formula-formulae

Nouns that change x to -ces

Matrix-matrices
Index-indices

Collective nouns

These are names of groups of people, animals or things.

They take a singular verb since each individual making up the group is seen as part of a single unit.

Examples

A brood of chickens a clan of hyenas
A dole of doves a cohort of zebras
A mews of hawks a bike of bees
A parliament of owls a flight of butterflies
A flight of pigeons a cloud of grasshoppers
A battery or journalists a colony of wasps
A run of poultry a clutter of spiders
A congress baboons a troupe of performers
A leap of leopards a house of senators
A pride of lions a panel of experts
A troop of monkeys a herd of harlots
A gang of buffaloes a gaggle of women
A coalition of cheetahs a clutch of eggs
A flink of cows a bed/bouquet of flowers
A pack of dogs a plague of locusts
A colony of rabbits a scourge of mosquitoes
A herd of donkeys a den of snakes
A herd of elephants an army of frogs
A stable of horses a nest of vipers
a school of whales a cast of actors
a bench of bishops an orchestra of musicians
a crowd of people a band of robbers
a crew of sailors a board of directors
a flock of tourists a fleet of cars
a galaxy of stars a cache of jewels

Compound nouns

These are nouns made up of more than one word.

They may be written as single words, two separate words, that have to be used together to give the right meaning and they may also be hyphenated.

Single words

Kickback Shopkeeper
Necklace Toothpaste
Sunshine Airport
Heartburn Nosebleed
Football Breakthrough
Classmate Takeaway
Workshop Teapot
Dressmaking Cupboard

Two/three separate words

Leather jacket dining hall
Tap water driving license
Bank account cow dung
Ice cream frying pan
Assistant minister ladies’ shoes
Deputy head children’s wear
Coat of arms

Hyphenated words

Mother-in-law
Commander-in-chief
Table-mat
Father-in- law
Sergeant-at-arm
Attorney-general
Passer-by
Door-bell

Plurals of Compound nouns

Plurals of compound nouns are formed in various ways:

Adding a plural marker to the last part of the compound noun

Shopkeepers
Necklaces
Workshops
Teapots
Bank accounts
Leather jackets
Deputy heads

Adding the plural ending after the first part of the compound noun

Coats of arms
Mothers-in-law
Commanders-in-law
Passers-by
Attorney-generals/attorneys-general
Sergeants-at-arm

NOUN PHRASES

A noun phrase is a group of words that functions as as a noun(unit)

It may comprise of a noun, a pronoun or a noun and other words modifying it.

These modifiers may include:

Article; a/an and the
Demonstratives; this, that, these, those
Possessive adjectives; my, his, their, our
Quantifiers; all, some, many, few, a lot, no
Numerals; two, three, four
Adjectives; good, handsome, beautiful

Examples of noun phrases

Noun

Corruption

Poverty

John

Nouns +articles

The cow

An umbrella

A dog

Noun + demonstrative

This cow

That jug

Noun + possessive adjective

My vehicle

His book

Noun +quantifiers

Some people

Many students

Noun + numerals

Two students

Three ladies

Noun + adjective

Handsome boys

Dirty pigs

Article + adjective + noun

The lonely pig

Article + numeral + adjective

The three dirty pigs

Functions of noun phrases

As a subject

A noun phrase is used as a subject if:

-it appears before the main verb

-it refers to the initiator of the action stated by the verb.

As complement

A subject complement is a word/phrase that describes/defines the subject of a sentence. They follow copular/ linking verbs. These verbs include ;am, was, are, were, been, become, appear, seen, sound and feel.

As an object

a)Direct object

A direct object is a word, phrase or clause that follows a transitive verb and answers the question ”who” or “what?”

A direct object receives the action of the of the verb.

b)Indirect object

An indirect object is a word/phrase that answers the question “to whom?” or “for whom” or for what is the action of the verb performed. Indirect object is the beneficiary/receives something or benefits from something.

CLAUSES

A clause is a group of words contain a subject and a verb(predicate)

It can form either a sentence on its own, or be part of a longer sentence.

Types of clauses

i) Independent clause

These are also called main clauses, they are clauses that can stand on their as sentences.

Examples

Susan likes reading.
The guest speaker spoke for only 20 minutes.
We saw our local M.P at baraza.
Literature courses are offered at the university.

ii) Coordinating clause

If two or more independent clauses are joined to make a sentence , each sentence is called a coordinating clause. This clause comprises sentences of equal importance but they work together.

Each coordinating clause is connected to the other using a coordinating conjunction(fanboys)

Examples

John likes to play football but Joseph plays volleyball.

iii) Dependent/subordinate clause

These are clauses that depend on independent clauses to be meaningful.

They do not express a complete thought and cannot stand on their own.

These clauses are used with subordinate conjunctions such as : if, although, before, while, as, until unless, despite ,since etc

Examples

Unless you read newspapers, you cannot be informed.

Although I revised well, I failed terribly.

NOUN CLAUSES

A noun clause is a subordinate clause that does the same work as that of a noun phrase.

It has a subject and a verb and may be used as a subject or an object of a sentence.

Noun clause are introduced by words such as when, that, whoever, how, where, whoever, which, who, how, why and whatever.

Examples

Whoever finishes the race will get the reward.
Whoever ordered the books is not in today.
She told me to give the guests whatever they needed.
He understood what we discussed.
When to vote will be decided on by the commission.
That they failed irritates them.
How you spend the money is up to you.
He said that the teacher had arrived.

Types of noun clauses

That noun clause

That the world is round is known.
I know that you can pass.
That I love football is known.
That we shall die is known.

Wh-noun clauses

What she did was seen.

Functions of noun clauses

Subject of a sentence

Object of a sentence

Complement

NOUN DERIVATIONS

Noun derivation is the process of forming nouns from other lexical categories(words) by adding affixes(prefixes, suffixes, infixes)

Nouns are formed by adding prefixes to verbs ,adjectives or nouns

Prefixes are elements added at the end of words

Examples

-er -ment -less
-ee -ion -ive
-ness -tion -able
-ship -ence -ation
-ism -dom
-ity -ize/ise -or

Nouns derived from verbs

By adding –er

Dance-dancer
Write-writer
Drive-driver
Winner-winner

By adding –ee

Retire-retiree
Escape-escapee
Train-trainee
Pay-payee
Refer-referee
Absent-absentee

Divorce-divorcee

By adding –or

Guarant-guarantor
Act-actor
Stress-stressor
Donate-donator
Educate-educator
instruct-instructor

By adding –ation/-ition

Educate-education
Attend-attention
Repeat-repetition
Admit-admission
Discuss-discussion
Receive-reception

By adding –ment/ent

Require-requirement
Involve-involvement
Acknowledge-acknowledgement
Employ-employment

By adding –ance/ence

Accept-acceptance
Admit-admittance
Allow-allowance
Assure-assurance
Comply-compliance
Defy-defiance
Guide-guidance
Maintain-maintenance
Clear-clearance
Adhere-adherence
Patient-patience
Exist-existence

By adding –al

Survive-survival
Deny-denial
Bury-burial
Dismiss-dismissal
Rehearse-rehearsal

By adding –age

Marry-marriage
Waste-wastage
Break-breakage
Use-usage

By adding –ery

Deliver-delivery
Bribe- bribery

Nouns derived from adjectives

By adding –ness

Kind-kindness
Stubborn-stubbornness
Shy-shyness
Happy-happiness
Keen-keenness
Open-openness

By adding –ism

Tribe-tribalism
Material-materialism
Critic-criticism
Race-racism
Skeptic- skepticism

By adding –ery

Brave-bravery

By adding –ity

Equal-equality
Similar-similarity
Sane-sanity
Curious-curiosity
Brief-brevity

By adding

Nouns derived from nouns

By adding-ship

Friend-friendship

King-kingship
Relation-relationship
Leader-leadership
Friend-friendship
Author-authorship
Owner-ownership

Censor-censorship

By adding –dom

King-kingdom
Martyr-martyrdom
Chief-chiefdom

By adding –ery

Slave-slavery

PRONOUNS

Pronouns are words used in place of pronouns.

Person and number

Personal pronouns are divided into three classes:

First person pronouns

These are pronouns that refer to the person who is speaking/writing

They include:

singular	plural
I	we
me	us

Second person pronouns

These are pronouns that refer to person who is listening or reading.

They include:

singular	plural
you	you

Third person pronouns

These pronouns that refer to the person being spoken about.

They include:

singular	plural
He/him	They/them
She/her	They/them
it	They/them

Pronouns that refer to the doer of the action are called subject pronouns. They include:

I, we, you, he, she, it and they.

Pronouns that refer to the recipient/receiver of the action are called object pronouns. They include:

Me, us, you, him, her, it and them.

Indefinite Pronouns

Indefinite pronouns are pronouns which do not refer to definite number of things or people. They refer to things in general without identifying them.

Examples

everybody several
Everyone one
Nobody either
Anyone all
Nobody many
Somebody few
None both
Someone some

Indefinite pronouns can be categorized into:

Singular indefinite pronouns

Plural indefinite pronouns

i)singular indefinite pronouns

These are indefinite pronouns that refer to one person/thing.

Examples

Nobody everybody
Someone none
Anyone someone
Somebody another
Another each
Everybody neither

Singular indefinite pronouns take singular verbs such as has, is, and says.

ii) Plural indefinite pronouns

These are indefinite pronouns that refer to more than one person or thing.

Examples

All
Many
Few
Both
Several

These take plural verbs such as are, were, have

Indefinite pronouns can be made to be gender sensitive by using his/her.

Pronouns and Case

A case is different positions that pronouns take in a sentence. They can take the subject or the object position.

i) Subjective Case

A pronoun is said to be in subjective case when it appears before/precedes a verb.

Examples

He will always remember this.
She teaches Geography.
They are in college.

Pronouns used in subjective case include: I, we, you, he, she, it and they.

Person	singular	plural
1^st	I	we
2^nd	you	you
3rd	He/she
	it

NB: Pronouns in subjective case are also used in comparison after than.

She is taller than he.

ii) Objective case

A pronoun is said to be in the objective case when it appears/comes after the verb or preposition.

Examples

John loves her
I am waiting for him.

Pronouns used in objective case are:

Person	singular	plural
1^st person	me	Us
2^nd person	You	you
3^rd person	Him
	Her	They
	it

NB: Relative pronouns also take either subjective case.

Who is used in the subjective case; it refers to the doer of the action.

Example

This man who gave me a gift.

Whom is used as an object; it refers to the recipient of the action.

It can also be used with prepositions.

Example

The man whom I wanted to see is in Narok.
The woman to whom I wished to speak was away.
I saw the people for whom you work.

The student whom you sent home has returned.

ADJECTIVES

Adjectives are words that give more information about nouns. When two or more adjectives are used in a sentence, there is an order in which they should appear.

Order of Adjectives

Opinion adjectives

These are adjectives that express the speaker’s opinion on something or somebody.

Examples

Beautiful
Handsome
Useful
Ugly
Exciting
boring

Fact /descriptive adjectives

These are adjectives that give us factual information about a thing. They give us more information about:

Size-large
Shape-round, oval, rectangular
Age-young, old
Colour-red, black
Nationality-Kenyan, Chinese
Material-plastic, metallic, woolen
Use-coffee

When opinion and descriptive adjectives are used together in a sentence, the opinion adjectives come first. The rest then follow the order below.

Opinion-impressive, beautiful, wonderful
Size-large, small,
Shape- circular, rectangular, oval
Age- young, new, old
Colour-black, green
Origin- Kenyan, Chinese, Uganda
Material/make-wooden, fibre
Use-dining, shopping, coffee

Adjectival Phrases

An adjectival phrase is a group of words that does the work of an adjective/modifier/modifies/describes a noun or a pronoun.

They are of two types:

Made up of an adjective and an intensifier

Intensifiers are words that show degree(adverbs of degree) eg very, too, so, enough, completely, entirely, really.

Examples

His story was quite interesting.
The porridge is very hot.
Thank you for being so kind.
Our classroom floor is very clean.
The students are really happy.

Made up of a preposition and a noun phrase or pronoun

When a prepositional phrase is used as a modifier of a noun/pronoun, it is also called adjectival phrase.

Examples

The girl in red shirt is my sister.
The picture at the beginning of the book is very appropriate.
The loud music from that house must stop.
The applicant with the least chance of success complained the most.

Adjectival Clause

These are clauses that give more information about nouns or pronouns.

They are introduced by relative pronouns- who, which, that, whom, whose, whichever, whatever.

Who, whom- people

That- ————-things

That, which—–things and animals

Whose————possessives

Types of adjectival clauses

Defining adjectival clauses

These clauses tell us exactly which person or thing the speaker is referring to;

The person who built that church has died.

Rukia works for a firm that repairs mobile phones.

The man whom I was speaking to is my neighbour.

NB: That can be used instead of whom/which.
Who, that and which can be left out when the relative pronoun stands for an object in the adjectival clause.

No-defining adjectival clauses

Are adjectival clauses that give additional information about the subject.

They are separated from the main clause by commas.

Only who and which are used and cannot be omitted.

Examples

Mandela, who is the first black president of South Africa, won the Nobel Peace prize.

NB; A non- defining adjectival clause is only used to give additional information and can be left out without affecting the meaning of the main sentence.

Adjectival clauses reduced to phrases

The sheep which had black spots were mine.
The sheep with black spots were mine.
The voters who had no I.Ds were turned away.
The voters with no I.Ds were turned away.

Participles as adjectival clauses

The verb in the relative clause can be replaced

Formation of adjectives

i) From nouns

Adjectives are formed by adding suffixes to nouns.

Some of these include:

-al; environmental, societal, seasonal, brutal
-ial; influential, partial, facial
-ual; factual, actual; conceptual
-less; hopeful, jobless, dustless
-en; woolen
-ese; Chinese, Japanese, Portuguese, Beninese, Nepalese
-ful; faithful, dutiful, eventful
-ly; friendly, cowardly, deadly
-some; troublesome
-ish; foolish, feverish
-ry; hairy
-ous; glorious, joyous
-ic; historic

ii) From verbs

-able; manageable, desirable,

-less; relentless,

-ful; relentful

-ive; active, preventive

-ious; rebellious, envious, marvelous

VERBS

Primary Auxiliary Verbs

Auxiliary verbs are verbs that can be used as main verbs and helping verbs in sentences.

Forms of primary auxiliary verbs

VERBS

HAVE

Has

Have

Having

had

are

was

were

being

been

does

doing

did

done

Functions of primary auxiliary verbs

Express tense

Simple present tense

He is intelligent
He does homework.

Past tense

He was intelligent
He had money.

Express aspect

Perfective aspect

She had talked.
He has danced.

Progressive aspect

She is talking.
He is dancing

To show emphasis

The girls’ netball team did win all the matches.
I do care for you.

Formation of questions

Did the girls’ netball team win all the matches?
Do I trust her?

Show subject-verb agreement

Primary auxiliary verbs change their forms depending on whether the subject is singular or plural. When the subject is singular, the auxiliary verb used is singular.

My sister does her work daily.
Our sisters do their work daily.

VERB PHRASES

This is part of a sentence that indicates the action or state.

It may comprise of a verb, two or more helping verbs and one main verb or a helping verb an adverb and the main verb.

A single verb

She sang beautifully.

A helping verb and a main verb.

He had killed a rat.
He was killing a rat.
A rat is killed.
He has killed a rat.
He will kill a rat.
Two main verbs
He likes killing a rat.
He prefers taking tea.
He enjoyed reading a novel.
He wanted to go home.

Two or more helping verbs and a main verb

He will have killed a rat.
He will be killing a rat.
A rat had been killed.
A rat is being killed.
A rat will be killed.
A rat will be being killed.
A rat will have been killed.

A helping verb, an adverb and a main verb

He will hardly kill a rat.

ASPECT

The continuous aspect/progressive aspect

The progressive aspect is used to show that an action is continuing or is in progress.

It can be used with past tense, present tense and future tense.

Present continuous aspect

The present continuous aspect is used when talking about an action or a feeling which is still going on.

The aspect is formed by using the present tense of the verb ‘be’- am, are, is and adding -ing to the main verb

Examples

a) Majority of verbs that and in ‘e’ drop the final e before adding -ing.

Write-writing
Smoke-smoking
Drive-driving

b) Some retain e and add –ing

dye-dyeing
eye-eyeing
see-seeing
agree-agreeing

Agree-agreeing

c) Some verbs that end in ‘ie’, replace the ‘ie’ with y before adding -ing

tie-tying
lie-lying
die-dying

d) If the verb ends in a consonant preceded by a single vowel, double the final consonant and add –ing.

Stop-stopping.
Plan-planning
Begin-beginning
Clap-clapping
Nod-nodding

NB: The present continuous aspect is also used to explain the future arrangement that have already been made

My mother is flying to Garisa next month.

Robert is completing his studies in November.

Future Time

Future time refers to the time that will come after the moment of speech. It can be expressed in various ways.

Using the present simple tense

Simple present tense is used to express future when talking about timetables or programmes.

Examples

Schools close for holidays every three months.

The bus leaves the police station at 9.00 a.m.

The BOG meeting starts at 8.00 am tomorrow.

Using shall/will

Shall is used with the first person pronouns only (I, We)

Will is used with all classes of pronouns.

Using the present continuous tense

This takes the auxiliary verbs am/is/are and –ing verbs. This aspect is used to talk about future arrangement or plan.

Examples

Jane is visiting her grandmother tomorrow.

I am having a wedding next Saturday.

They are joining campus in August.

Going to is used with a verb in the infinitive to express the future.

The participle

A participle is a form of verb that is used in a sentence to play the role of other words such as nouns, adjectives other than the verb alone.

Active and Passive voice

Active voice

An active sentence is used to tell what the subject does; a sentence in which the subject is the performer of the action stated by the verb.

A n active voice has an active verb; a verb that is used with a subject and an object.

Examples

Admire write
Discuss lend
Many buy
Kill tell
Like want
Give value
Buy take

Passive voice

A passive sentence/voice is used to tell what happens to the subject. Passive verb is used to indicate the passive voice.

To change an active verb into a passive one;

The object of the active sentence takes the position of the subject.

The verb changes into the past participle and is used with auxiliary verbs(am, are, was, were, is)

ASPECT	ACTIVE VOICE	PASSIVE VOICE
Simple present	He kills a rat.	A rat was killed
Present perfect	He has killed a rat.	A rat has been killed.
Present contin.	He is killing a rat	A rat is being killed.
Simple past	He killed a rat.	A rat was killed.
Past perfect	He had killed a rat	A rat had been killed.
Past continuous	He was killing a rat.	A rat was being killed.
Simple future	He will kill a rat.	A rat will be killed.
Future perfect	He will have killed a rat	A rat will have been killed.
Future continuous	He will be killing a rat.	A rat will be being killed.

The original subject (doer) is sometimes omitted when the sentence is changed into passive voice.

Active and passive voice can be used with modal auxiliary verbs; can, may, should, ought.

A cat kills a rat.

Passive voice used with ditransitive verbs

A ditransitive verb is one used with two objects;

Give
buy
Write

When an active sentence has two objects, two passive sentences can be derived.

John bought Khadija a dress.
A dress was bought for Khadija.
Khadija was bought a dress.

Transitive and Intransitive Verbs

Transitive verbs

These are verbs that are followed direct objects. The object follows the verb immediately; there is no preposition between them.

Examples

Used kill
Keep marry
Close love
Admire

Some transitive verbs take more than one object; a direct object and indirect object. They are called ditransitive verbs.

Examples

Buy make
Tell lend
Sell bake

The object that follows the verb immediately is called indirect object and it answers the question ‘for whom’ or ‘to whom’ while the last object is called direct object. The direct object may follow the verb immediately if the indirect object is used with a preposition e.g.

Kalulu bought a guitar for Kagame.

Transitive verbs take both passive and active voice.

The county education officer gave the students an inspiring speech.(active)
The students were given an inspiring speech..(passive)
An inspiring speech was given to the students…(passive)

Intransitive verbs

These are verbs that do not require direct objects. They may be followed by adverbs or prepositional phrases.

Examples

Die weep
Sleep yawned
Run arrive
Bark sit
Stay

NB: Some verbs can be used both transitively and intransitively based on how they have been used.

Examples

Eat taste
Drive cook
Leave drink
Grow

The Infinitives

The infinitive is formed by use of ‘to’ followed by the root or bare form of a verb.

Examples

To learn
To go
To give
To sell
To have
To teach
To protect
To sing
To plan
To forget

The infinitive can be used as a verb, a noun, an adjective or an adverb.

As a noun

The to infinitive ca act as a subject, a direct object or a subject complement.

Examples

T o exercise is healthy.(subject)
To err is human.(subject)
I want to go now(object)
She likes to read.(object)

As an adjective

The infinitive functions as an adjective if it modifies a noun.

I bought a book to read.
They have got eggs to sell.
Students have a right to read in the school library.
Ronaldo is the player to watch.

As an adverb

The infinitive functions as an adverb if it modifies a verb, an adjective or another adverb.

We must sow to reap.
The bird arrived to grab the leftovers.
He bought enough food to feed a battalion.

Types of participle

The present participle (-ing participle)

This is formed by adding –ing suffix to the infinitive/base form of a word

Examples

Cooking
Boring
Eating
Knitting

Functions of the present participle

As a verb

The –ing participle is used with the past, present and future tense to show a progressive aspect. It is used with auxiliary verbs like is, was, are, were, am, be

Examples

He is cooking
He was cooking.
He will be cooking.

As an adjective

The –ing participle can be used to give more information about a noun or pronoun. Used as an adjective, the participle can be placed in front of the noun it modifies or after a linking/copular verb like is, was are, were.

Examples

I read an amazing book.
I read a book which was boring.

As a noun

The –ing participle can function as a noun, a subject, indirect object. When used as a noun, it is called a gerund.

Examples

Cooking excites me.
She likes cooking.

The past participle.

This is formed by adding -ed/d/en/t to the infinitives

Example

Written
Taken
Walked
Knocked
Spent
Learnt

Function of the past participle

As a verb

The past participle is used with auxiliary verbs such as has, have or had to indicate the perfect aspect.

Phrasal verb

A phrasal verb is a multi-word verb that consists of a verb with a preposition or an adverb or both. The meaning of the phrasal verb is different from the meaning of its separate parts.

Phrasal verbs may consist of two or three words.

Examples

Look up-check
Put off-postpone
Show off-boast
Take after-resemble
Eat into-erode/deplete
Grow up-mature
Make for-try to reach
Give in-yield/surrender
Make of-understand
Pass out-faint
Call at-visit
Take after-resemble

Phrasal verbs may consist of two or three words.

Examples

Two words

Make up-prepare, compensate for something, create a story
Bring up-raise a child, introduce an idea
Take off-remove something, run away, fly, succeed
Put on-wear clothes, switch, organize an event.
Bump into-meet
Drop by-visit

Three words

Catch up with-keep abreast
Check up on-examine, investigate
Come up with-contribute
Get along with- have a good relationship
Get away with-escape, blame
Get rid of-eliminate
Look down on-despise
Look up to-respect
Put up with-tolerate
Run out of-exhaust
Get through with-finish
Walk out on-leave somebody

In some phrasal verbs, the object may come after or may separate the two parts. These include

Call off-cancel
Do away-repeat a job
Find out-discover
Hold up-delay
Make up
Look up
Put off-postpone
Put out-extinguish
Turn down-reject
Turn up-raise the volume
Turn up
Lay off-sack
Pull down –demolish

NB: When the object of the following phrasal verb is a person, the two parts of the phrasal verb must be separated.

They called off this afternoons meeting.

They called this afternoons meeting off.

Some phrasal verbs cannot be separated.

Call on-visit
Get over-recover from sickness/disappointment
Look after
Look into
Take after
Bump into-meet accidentally

Phrasal verbs can be used transitively or intransitively.

Break down-stop functioning
Drop by-visit without appointment
Get by-survive
Grow up-get older.

Idiomatic expression

Idioms are expressions whose meaning is difficult or sometimes impossible to guess by looking at the meaning of the individual word it contains.

Have butterflies in your stomach-feel nervous
An icing on the cake-
Bitter pill to swallow-
waste not want not-warning against wastage
a rocket science-not difficult
keep one’s head above water-manage
give somebody a run for his money-not allow somebody easily
Throw the spanner in the works-prevent something from happening
Throw a tantrum-get angry
Take a French leave
Extend an olive branch
Fish in troubled water
Water under the bridge
Tip of the iceberg- small part of something
A storm in a cup of tea-
Hit below the belt
Bring to book-punish for wrong doing
Lend a hand-help
Throw in a white towel-surrender
Bite more than you can chew-do more than ability
Borrow a leaf-copy
Steal the show-attract attention
Bury the hatchet-stop being unfriendly and become friends
Bite the bullet-deal with a difficult situation

Phrasal verb

A phrasal verb is a multi-word verb that consists of a verb with a preposition or an adverb or both. The meaning of the phrasal verb is different from the meaning of its separate parts.

Phrasal verbs may consist of two or three words.

Examples

Look up-check
Put off-postpone
Show off-boast
Take after-resemble
Eat into-erode/deplete
Grow up-mature
Make for-try to reach
Give in-yield/surrender
Make of-understand
Pass out-faint
Call at-visit
Take after-resemble

Phrasal verbs may consist of two or three words.

Examples

Two words

Make up-prepare, compensate for something, create a story
Bring up-raise a child, introduce an idea
Take off-remove something, run away, fly, succeed
Put on-wear clothes, switch, organize an event.
Bump into-meet
Drop by-visit

Three words

Catch up with-keep abreast
Check up on-examine, investigate
Come up with-contribute
Get along with- have a good relationship
Get away with-escape, blame
Get rid of-eliminate
Look down on-despise
Look up to-respect
Put up with-tolerate
Run out of-exhaust
Get through with-finish
Walk out on-leave somebody

In some phrasal verbs, the object may come after or may separate the two parts. These include

Call off-cancel
Do away-repeat a job
Find out-discover
Hold up-delay
Make up
Look up
Put off-postpone
Put out-extinguish
Turn down-reject
Turn up-raise the volume
Turn up
Lay off-sack
Pull down –demolish

NB: When the object of the following phrasal verb is a person, the two parts of the phrasal verb must be separated.

They called off this afternoons meeting.

They called this afternoons meeting off.

Some phrasal verbs cannot be separated.

Call on-visit
Get over-recover from sickness/disappointment
Look after
Look into
Take after
Bump into-meet accidentally

Phrasal verbs can be used transitively or intransitively.

Break down-stop functioning
Drop by-visit without appointment
Get by-survive
Grow up-get older.

Idiomatic expression

Idioms are expressions whose meaning is difficult or sometimes impossible to guess by looking at the meaning of the individual word it contains.

Have butterflies in your stomach-feel nervous
An icing on the cake-
Bitter pill to swallow-
waste not want not-warning against wastage
a rocket science-not difficult
keep one’s head above water-manage
give somebody a run for his money-not allow somebody easily
Throw the spanner in the works-prevent something from happening
Throw a tantrum-get angry
Take a French leave
Extend an olive branch
Fish in troubled water
Water under the bridge
Tip of the iceberg- small part of something
A storm in a cup of tea-
Hit below the belt
Bring to book-punish for wrong doing
Lend a hand-help
Throw in a white towel-surrender
Bite more than you can chew-do more than ability
Borrow a leaf-copy
Steal the show-attract attention
Bury the hatchet-stop being unfriendly and become friends
Bite the bullet-deal with a difficult situation

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