Past perfect tense.

The Past perfect is used to describe an action that occurred earlier in the past before another action that also occurred in the past. It is also used to describe 2 or more actions in the past. Past perfect tense is used to tell stories. The structure of a past perfect tense is Had + Past participle. E.g

Tola had eaten.

Sola had gone to school.

Tola cooked dinner after she had bought food.

In the last example; ‘cooked’ is the simple past tense while ‘had bought’ is the past perfect tense. ‘had bought’ is the past perfect tense because it is the action that occurred earlier in the sentence. The past perfect is the earlier action in time.

Simple past tense.

Simple past tense is used to describe an action that occurred in the past. It is used to tell stories. E.g

I cooked the meat.

Wale went to school.

I went to school and I played football.

Present perfect simple tense.

The present perfect simple tense is an action in the past that has an effect in the present. The structure of present perfect simple tense is as follows;

Pronoun + have/has + past participle.

The present perfect simple tense also tells two or more actions in the past that are the same. It is also used to tell achievement.

Examples:

I have eaten bread. ‘have eaten‘ is the present perfect simple tense.

I have been to Nigeria four times.

The football match has ended and everyone has gone home.

Past perfect continuous.

The past perfect continuous has the structure, had been + (verb) ing.

Past perfect continuous is used to tell two or more actions in the past, emphasising how long one action took before the other one started.

It is also used to state how long an action has continued in the past.

Examples:

I had been working for 5 hours. In this example, ‘had been working’ is the past perfect continuous tense. It tells us that a work which started in the past, has continued for 5 hours.

I had been sitting outside for 5 minutes when I was called in. This example tells of an action in the past that continued for 5 minutes before another action began.

Present continuous tense

The present continuous tense is used to describe an action happening now or at the moment. It’s structure is as follows;

Pronoun + am,is are,+ (verb) ing.

Examples:

I am washing clothes.

They are reading.

Present perfect continuous tense.

The present perfect continuous tense is used to state an action that happened in the past that may continue into the future. Its structure is as follows;

Pronoun + Have/has + been + past participle.

Examples;

We have been living together for 3 months.

You have been eating.

Dangote company has been producing sugar for 5 years

Passive tense

A sentence is passive when the subject or person doing the verb is not known or is not necessary. The structure of passive tense is;

Be + past participle

Examples;

• The laptop was opened.
• Rice is being cooked.
• Large meetings are held in this room.
• The match was watched by thousands of people.

Nouns
Nouns are simily refered to as Naming words.Nouns name things e can ee a well as things we cannot see. Types of nouns include:
⦁ Proper nouns; are the names of people, places, organizations, days, months, or titles.
⦁ Abstract nouns; describe qualities or states of being.
⦁ Common nouns; are names used for general classes of people, places, or things.
⦁ Collective nouns; are names used for groups of animals, people, or things. eg. a herd of cattle,

Verbs
Verbs are action words. They also show being or apperance. Verbs can take various forms like nouns and the form they take is determined by who is doing the action and when the action occurred.
Example: You play football every Sunday. The word ‘play is the verb and it i an action word.
Example of verbs showing being or appearance include: ‘is’ ‘be’, ‘becomes’, ‘seem’, ‘were’ and ‘appear’
eg. My brother is very fit.
We were happy yesterday.
Tense, in English is used to indicate time something occurred or will occur. There are even tense in English;
i. Present
ii. Present perfect
iii. Present continuous
iv. Future
v. Future perfect
vi. Past
vii. Past perfect

When the action is happening now.. eg. She walks on the pavement. It is called present tense.
When the action was completed in the past.. eg. she walked on the pavement. It is called past tense.
When the action started in the past and has continued.. eg. She has walked on the pavement. it is called present perfect tense.
When the action occurred in the past before an action that also occurred in the past.. eg. She had walked on the pavement. It is called past perfect tense.
When the action will occur in the future.. eg. She will walk on the pavement. It is called future tense.
When the action will be completed by some time in the future.. eg. She will have walked on the pavement. It is called future ferfect tense.
If the action is continuing in the present.. eg. She is walking on the pavement. It is called present continuous tense.
Type of verbs
Auxiliary verbs; include, ‘do’, ‘me’ and ‘have’
Main verbs ; include, eat, talk, drink, walk etc. eg. we walk together. Talk to him.

Adjectives
Adjectives are words that discribe the quality or tell us something about a noun or pronoun.
eg. 1. Nice girl

2. Bad friend

3. Sweet potatoe
Adjectives come in 3 forms; they are:
i. positive
ii. comparative
iii. superlative
The positve form just states the quality, the comparative form compares the quality of two things while the superlative compares the quality of 3 or more things
eg.
Positive : My car is neat.
Comparative: My car is neater than yours.
Superlative: My car is the neatest.

Adverbs
Adverbs modify verbs and usually end in – ly, but there are exceptions. adverbs also modify other adverbs and adjectives.
adverbs answer questons such as how?, how often? where? when?, they also show time , space and manner.
eg.
I need to run quickly if i’m to get there first.
Sola can drive the car really well

Preposition
Preposition is a word used to show the relationship of nouns, pronouns or other words in a sentence. preposition cab tell time, position and means.
eg.
we should meet by 12pm.
I was at school all day
I traveled by car to Oyostate.
Common prepositions are: about, above, across, after, along, among, around, as, at, before, behind, below, beneath between, by, concerning, despite, during, for, from, into, like, of, off, outside, past, regarding, since, till, to, under, until, with.

Pronouns
Pronouns are used in place of nouns to avoid repetition. The three main types of pronouns are, personal,relative and indefinite pronouns.
Personal pronouns
I/my/mine/me
you/your/yours
Relative pronouns
he/his/him
she/her/hers
it/its
Indefinite pronouns
we/our/ours/us
they/their/theirs/them

Punctuation is used to make sense of what we read. It is used to convey the true meaning of what we write. punctuation is about how words relate to each other. it helps us know when to pause, stop, become exited, lift voice etc within a sentence. it also helps us know when to begin a sentence.

Punctuation marks.

Full stop (.)

Full stop ends a sentence. It is also used at the end of an abbreviation.

Comma (,)

Comma is used to separate words, clauses or phrases. It is also used to indicate a short pause withing a sentence. Commas are used to separate independent statements which are linked by; for, and,nor,but,or,yet and so.

Semi colon (;)

Words that need a stronger pause within a sentence requires a semicolon. example of words used after semicolon is; however, therefore, also, more over, furthermore, have, separately and consequently.

Colon (:)

Colons is used to introduce new information within a sentence. It can also be used before quotations or a list of things. colons makes the reader focus on whats happening next as he reads on.

Apostrophes (‘)

Apostrophe is used to show possession or ownership.

Speech marks (” “)

Are quotation marks used to record what somebody has said.

Exclamation mark (!)

The exclamation mark gives a lot of oomph. it tells us if a statement or work is made in anger or disgust.

Question mark (?)

It is put at the end of a sentence or word to indicate that it is a question.

Ellipsis (…)

An ellipsis is used to show that the writer has left something out deliberately.

Asterisk (*)

Asterisk is used to replace letter or words within a sentence. often used to replace letters of words that are too vulgar to pronounce.

Bullet points ()

It is used to tell us important points of what we are reading.

Stroke or Forward slash (/)

It is used to tell us that we have a choice to make or that we are reading lines of poetry