Past Perfect

The past perfect, also called the pluperfect, is a verb tense used to talk about actions that were completed before some point in the past.

We were shocked to discover that someone had graffitied “Tootles was here” on our front door. We were relieved that Tootles had used washable paint.

The past perfect tense is for talking about something that happened before something else. Imagine waking up one morning and stepping outside to grab the newspaper. On your way back in, you notice a mysterious message scrawled across your front door: Tootles was here. When you’re telling this story to your friends later, how would you describe this moment? You might say something like:

I turned back to the house and saw that some someone named Tootles had defacedmy front door!

In addition to feeling indignant on your behalf, your friends will also be able to understand that Tootles graffitied the door at some point in the past before the moment this morning when you saw his handiwork, because you used the past perfect tense to describe the misdeed.

The Past Perfect Formula

The formula for the past perfect tense is had + [past participle]. It doesn’t matter if the subject is singular or plural; the formula doesn’t change.

When to Use the Past Perfect

So what’s the difference between past perfect and simple past? When you’re talking about some point in the past and want to reference an event that happened even earlier, using the past perfect allows you to convey the sequence of the events. It’s also clearer and more specific. Consider the difference between these two sentences:

We were relieved that Tootles used washable paint. We were relieved that Tootles had used washable paint.

It’s a subtle difference, but the first sentence doesn’t tie Tootles’s act of using washable paint to any particular moment in time; readers might interpret it as “We were relieved that Tootles was in the habit of using washable paint.” In the second sentence, the past perfect makes it clear that you’re talking about a specific instance of using washable paint.

Another time to use the past perfect is when you are expressing a condition and a result:

If I had woken up earlier this morning, I would have caught Tootles red-handed.

The past perfect is used in the part of the sentence that explains the condition (the if-clause).

Most often, the reason to write a verb in the past perfect tense is to show that it happened before other actions in the same sentence that are described by verbs in the simple past tense. Writing an entire paragraph with every verb in the past perfect tense is unusual.

When Not to Use the Past Perfect

Don’t use the past perfect when you’re not trying to convey some sequence of events. If your friends asked what you did after you discovered the graffiti, they would be confused if you said:

I had cleaned it off the door.

They’d likely be wondering what happened next because using the past perfect implies that your action of cleaning the door occurred before something else happened, but you don’t say what that something else is. The “something else” doesn’t always have to be explicitly mentioned, but context needs to make it clear. In this case there’s no context, so the past perfect doesn’t make sense.

How to Make the Past Perfect Negative

Making the past perfect negative is simple! Just insert not between had and [past participle].

We looked for witnesses, but the neighbors had not seen Tootles in the act. If Tootles had not included his own name in the message, we would have no idea who was behind it.

How to Ask a Question

The formula for asking a question in the past perfect tense is had + [subject] + [past participle].

Had Tootles caused trouble in other neighborhoods before he struck ours?

Common Regular Verbs in the Past Perfect Tense

Common Irregular Verbs in the Past Perfect Tense

*The past participle of “to get” is “gotten” in American English. In British English, the past participle is “got.”

Passive Sentence

What Is a Passive Sentence? (with Examples)

In a passive sentence, the subject does not perform the action in the sentence. In fact, the action is performed on it. For example:

More Examples of Passive Sentences

Here are some more examples of passive sentences:

Anita was driven to the theater. (In this example, Anita did not perform the action of the verb to drive. The action was done to her. She was the recipient of the action.) 

Nowadays, black kites are protected.

(The action is being done to the subject, black kites.)

The olives are stoned and crushed in this room.

(The action is being done to the subject, The olives.)

With a Passive Sentence, Use By to Show the Actor

In a passive sentence, the person or thing doing the action (the actor) is usually preceded by the word by. For example:

• Anita was driven to the theater by Carla.
• Nowadays, black kites are protected by law.
• The olives are stoned and crushed in this room by my son.

The opposite of a passive sentence is an active sentence, in which the subject does perform the action of the verb.

Some Interactive Examples

Here are some interactive examples:

• My cousin tackled the shoplifter. 
• Heidi smashed the vase. 
• Carl sounded the alarm in a panic. 
• Carl sounded the alarm due to the panic. 

Passive Sentences Are Useful

Passive sentences are quite useful if you’re trying not to apportion blame.

 The document had been released into the public domain.
(passive sentence – no blame)

Look at the active version:

 Jackie released the document into the public domain.
(Jaaaaackiiieeeeeeeeeeeeee!)

Here are some good reasons to use a passive sentence:

When you don’t want to reveal who was responsible (some more examples)

 Bad advice was given. 
 A serious failing in standing operating procedures had occurred.

When the doer of the action is general, unknown or obvious

 Pistachio nuts are grown in Iran.
 His parade uniform was stolen.
 English and German are spoken in many Cornish campsites.
 The windows must be secured.
 Divorces are made in heaven. (Oscar Wilde)

To put something you want to emphasize at the start of your sentence

 An estimated 258,000 people were injured in alcohol-related crashes.

To use the same subject twice (e.g. once in an active clause and once in a passive one)

 Martin crashed into the barrier and was tossed in the crowd.

Modal verbs

What are modal verbs?

Modals (also called modal verbs, modal auxiliary verbs, modal auxiliaries) are special verbs which behave irregularly in English. They are different from normal verbs like "work, play, visit..." They give additional information about the function of the main verb that follows it. They have a great variety of communicative functions.
Here are some characteristics of modal verbs:

•  They never change their form. You can't add "s", "ed", "ing"...
• They are always followed by an infinitive without "to" (e.i. the bare infinitive.)
• They are used to indicate modality allow speakers to express certainty, possibility, willingness, obligation, necessity, ability

List of modal verbs

Here is a list of modal verbs:

can, could, may, might, will, would, shall, should, must

         The verbs or expressions dare, ought to, had better, and need not behave like modal auxiliaries to a large extent and my be added to the above list

Use of modal verbs:

Modal verbs are used to express functions such as:

1. Permission
2. Ability
3. Obligation
4. Prohibition                                                 
5. Lack of necessity
6. Advice
7. possibility
8. probability

Examples of modal verbs

Here is a list of modals with examples:

Modal Verb	Expressing	Example
must	Strong obligation	You must stop when the traffic lights turn red.
	logical conclusion / Certainty	He must be very tired. He's been working all day long.
must not	prohibition	You must not smoke in the hospital.
can	ability	I can swim.
	permission	Can I use your phone please?
	possibility	Smoking can cause cancer.
could	ability in the past	When I was younger I could run fast.
	polite permission	Excuse me, could I just say something?
	possibility	It could rain tomorrow!
may	permission	May I use your phone please?
	possibility, probability	It may rain tomorrow!
might	polite permission	Might I suggest an idea?
	possibility, probability	I might go on holiday to Australia next year.
need not	lack of necessity/absence of obligation	I need not buy tomatoes. There are plenty of tomatoes in the fridge.
should/ought to	50 % obligation	I should / ought to see a doctor. I have a terrible headache.
	advice	You should / ought to revise your lessons
	logical conclusion	He should / ought to be very tired. He's been working all day long.
had better	advice	You 'd better revise your lessons

Remember

Modal verbs are followed by an infinitive without "to", also called the bare infinitive.

Examples:

• You must stop when the traffic lights turn red.
• You should see to the doctor.
• There are a lot of tomatoes in the fridge. You need not buy any.

Collective Nouns

Collective nouns are names for a collection or a number of people or things. Words like group, herd, and array are collective noun examples. Here, we’ll take a closer look at collective nouns, and provide even more examples, placing them in context so you can gain a greater understanding of how they work.

What is a Collective Noun

You might not know it, but you encounter collective nouns in everyday speech. Collective nouns are words for single things that are made up of more than one person, animal, place, thing, or idea. You can’t have a team without individual members; even so, we discuss a team as a single entity.

Collective Noun Examples

Remember that nouns are words naming people, animals, places, and things. Collective nouns are in a class all their own. Once you’ve read these examples, you’ll find it much easier to recognize collective nouns when you see them.

• Our class took a field trip to the natural history museum.
• The herd of bison ran across the prairie, leaving a massive dust cloud in its wake.
• We waited anxiously for the jury to come to a verdict.
• This year’s basketball team includes three players who are over six feet tall.
• Napoleon’s army was finally defeated at Waterloo.
• The town council has approved plans to create a new park.
• He comes from a huge family: he’s the oldest of eleven kids.
• The rock group has been on tour for months.
• Everyone in the audience applauded loudly when Elvis appeared on stage.

How to Use Collective Nouns

People who are new to writing often encounter some trouble with sentence agreement when using collective nouns. This is understandable, because a collective noun can be singular or plural, depending on a sentence’s context. How do you know if a collective noun is singular? How can you tell if it’s plural? What pronouns and verbs are best for pairing with the collective noun you’ve chosen?

Here’s a simple trick you can use to decide how to use collective nouns in sentences: Imagine a herd of zebras grazing peacefully on the savanna. Suddenly, a lion jumps out of a clump of tall grass. What do the zebras do? They run away as a single unit as they attempt to make a getaway, galloping across the savanna in the same direction.

Often, people behave in the same way, engaging in a single activity in unison with everyone else in their group. When individuals are in a team, a choir, a committee, or part of any other collective noun, that noun is singular and is paired with singular pronouns and singular verbs. As you read the examples that follow, notice that each individual who is part of the collective noun is doing the same action at the same time as others who are part of that collective noun.

Collective Noun Exercises

Each of these sentences contains a collective noun. Select the correct answer from the options that follow the sentence:

1. Keys, marbles, and rubber bands were just a few of the things in the pile of objects in his drawer.
   A – marbles, B – things, C – pile
2. The boys decided to join the navy after graduation.
   A – boys, B – navy, C – graduation
3. After the performance, all the actors joined hands and bowed toward the audience.
   A – performance, B – actors, C – audience
4. The team celebrated heartily after scoring a winning goal.
   A – team, B – winning, C – goal
5. Most of the students on the council are also on the honor roll.
   A – students, B – council, C, – honor roll
6. The boat’s crew worked all night to stop the leak.
   A – boat’s, B – crew, C – leak
7. The talent show featured several individual performers, along with three bands.
   A – show, B – performers, C – bands
8. Our extended family includes great-grandparents and second cousins.
   A – family, B – great-grandparents, C – cousins
9. All of the students are attending a school assembly on Friday.
   A – students, B – school, C – assembly
10. The senate will be voting on three education funding bills tomorrow.
    A – senate, B – bills, C – tomorrow
11. The teachers and administrators held a meeting in the faculty office.
    A – teachers, B – administrators, C – faculty
12. The sheep clustered in a tight flock to ward off the cold weather.
    A – sheep, B – flock, C – weather

Answer key: 1 – C, 2 – B, 3 – C, 4 – A, 5 – B, 6 – B, 7 – C, 8 – A, 9 – C, 10 – A, 11 – C, 12 –B

Nouns

What is a noun?

A noun is a part of speech that is used to name a person, place, thing, quality, or action. A noun can function as a subject, object, complement, appositive, or object of a preposition.

Plural vs singular

Nouns can be singular or plural. The plural form of a noun is usually formed by adding s at the end of the noun. But this is not always the case. There are exceptions to the rule. Some plurals are irregular:

Singular	Plural
fish	fish
tooth	teeth
man	men
woman	women

Different types of nouns

There are different types of nouns:

1. An abstract noun names an idea, event, quality, or concept (freedom, love, courage...) Concrete nouns name something recognizable through the sense (table, dog, house...)
2. Animate nouns refer to a person, animal, or other creature (man, elephant, chicken...) An inanimate noun refers to a material object (stone, wood, table...)
3. A collective noun describes a group of things or people as a unit (family, flock, audience...)
4. Common noun is the name of a group of similar things (table, book, window...) Proper nouns, however, refer to the name of a single person, place or thing (John, Joseph, London...)
5. Compound nouns refer to two or more nouns combined to form a single noun (sister-in-law, schoolboy, fruit juice)
6. Countable (or count) nouns have a singular and a plural form. In plural, these nouns can be used with a number- they can be counted. (friends, chairs, houses, boys...) Uncountable (or non count) nouns, however, can only be used in singular. They can't be counted. (money, bread, water, coffee...)

Subject-Verb Agreement

We will use the standard of underlining subjects once and verbs twice.

Basic Rule. A singular subject (she, Bill, car) takes a singular verb (is, goes, shines), whereas a plural subject takes a plural verb.

Example: The list of items is/are on the desk.

If you know that list is the subject, then you will choose is for the verb.

Rule 1. A subject will come before a phrase beginning with of. This is a key rule for understanding subjects. The word of is the culprit in many, perhaps most, subject-verb mistakes.

Hasty writers, speakers, readers, and listeners might miss the all-too-common mistake in the following sentence:

Incorrect: A bouquet of yellow roses lend color and fragrance to the room.

Correct: A bouquet of yellow roses lends . . . (bouquet lends, not roses lend)

Rule 2. Two singular subjects connected by or, either/or, or neither/nor require a singular verb.

Examples:
My aunt or my uncle is arriving by train today.
Neither Danny nor Carmen is available.
Either Kiana or Casey is helping today with stage decorations.

Rule 3. The verb in an or, either/or, or neither/nor sentence agrees with the noun or pronoun closest to it.

Examples:
Neither the plates nor the serving bowl goes on that shelf.
Neither the serving bowl nor the plates go on that shelf.

This rule can lead to bumps in the road. For example, if I is one of two (or more) subjects, it could lead to this odd sentence:

Awkward: Neither she, my friends, nor I am going to the festival.

If possible, it's best to reword such grammatically correct but awkward sentences.

Better:
Neither she, I, nor my friends are going to the festival.OR
She, my friends, and I are not going to the festival.

Rule 4. As a general rule, use a plural verb with two or more subjects when they are connected by and.

Example: A car and a bike are my means of transportation.

But note these exceptions:

Exceptions:
Breaking and entering is against the law.
The bed and breakfast was charming.

In those sentences, breaking and entering and bed and breakfast are compound nouns.

Rule 5.1. Sometimes the subject is separated from the verb by such words as along with, as well as, besides, not, etc. These words and phrases are not part of the subject. Ignore them and use a singular verb when the subject is singular.

Examples:
The politician, along with the newsmen, is expected shortly.
Excitement, as well as nervousness, is the cause of her shaking.

Rule 5.2. Parentheses are not part of the subject.

Example: Joe (and his trusty mutt) was always welcome.

If this seems awkward, try rewriting the sentence.

Rule 6. In sentences beginning with here or there, the true subject follows the verb.

Examples:
There are four hurdles to jump.
There is a high hurdle to jump.
Here are the keys.

The word there's, a contraction of there is, leads to bad habits in informal sentences like There's a lot of people here today, because it's easier to say "there's" than "there are." Take care never to use there's with a plural subject.

Rule 7. Use a singular verb with distances, periods of time, sums of money, etc., when considered as a unit.

Examples:
Three miles is too far to walk.
Five years is the maximum sentence for that offense.
Ten dollars is a high price to pay.BUT
Ten dollars (i.e., dollar bills) were scattered on the floor.

Rule 8. With words that indicate portions—e.g., a lot, a majority, some, all—Rule 1 given earlier in this section is reversed, and we are guided by the noun after of. If the noun after of is singular, use a singular verb. If it is plural, use a plural verb.

Examples:
A lot of the pie has disappeared.
A lot of the pies have disappeared.
A third of the city is unemployed.
A third of the people are unemployed.
All of the pie is gone.
All of the pies are gone.
Some of the pie is missing.
Some of the pies are missing.

NOTE

In recent years, the SAT testing service has considered none to be strictly singular. However, according to Merriam-Webster's Dictionary of English Usage: "Clearly none has been both singular and plural since Old English and still is. The notion that it is singular only is a myth of unknown origin that appears to have arisen in the 19th century. If in context it seems like a singular to you, use a singular verb; if it seems like a plural, use a plural verb. Both are acceptable beyond serious criticism." When none is clearly intended to mean "not one," it is followed by a singular verb.

Rule 9. With collective nouns such as group, jury, family, audience, population, the verb might be singular or plural, depending on the writer's intent.

Examples:
All of my family has arrived OR have arrived.
Most of the jury is here OR are here.
A third of the population was not in favor OR were not in favor of the bill.

NOTE

Anyone who uses a plural verb with a collective noun must take care to be accurate—and also consistent. It must not be done carelessly. The following is the sort of flawed sentence one sees and hears a lot these days:

The staff is deciding how they want to vote.
Careful speakers and writers would avoid assigning the singular is and the plural they to staff in the same sentence.

Consistent: The staff are deciding how they want to vote.

Rewriting such sentences is recommended whenever possible. The preceding sentence would read even better as:

The staff members are deciding how they want to vote.

Rule 10. The word were replaces was in sentences that express a wish or are contrary to fact:

Example: If Joe were here, you'd be sorry.

Shouldn't Joe be followed by was, not were, given that Joe is singular? But Joe isn't actually here, so we say were, not was. The sentence demonstrates the subjunctive mood, which is used to express things that are hypothetical, wishful, imaginary, or factually contradictory. The subjunctive mood pairs singular subjects with what we usually think of as plural verbs.

Examples:
I wish it were Friday.
She requested that he raise his hand.

In the first example, a wishful statement, not a fact, is being expressed; therefore, were, which we usually think of as a plural verb, is used with the singular subject I.

Normally, he raise would sound terrible to us. However, in the second example, where a request is being expressed, the subjunctive mood is correct.

Note: The subjunctive mood is losing ground in spoken English but should still be used in formal speech and writing.

Adverb Clauses of Time

An adverb clause of time shows when something happens.  It is usually introduced by time adverbs, such as: before, after, as, when, while, until, as soon as, since, no sooner than, as long as etc. Note that all adverb clauses are subordinate clauses. They cannot stand on their own and must be attached to an independent clause.

 The examples given below.

• I always take a bath before I go to bed.
• Will you wait here until I am ready?
• I was not at home when he came to see me.
• Do not disturb me when I am busy with my work.
• As soon as she finished that project, she started working on the next.
• After I have finished my work, I will accompany you to the park.

Tense

If you are talking about something that is yet to happen in the future, use a present tense in the adverb clause and a future tense in the main clause.