Utme English With Mr. Damilare

📚 LEARN GRAMMAR 📚

Do you know that the expression "don't fall me down" is wrong? Instead you say "don't push me down" OR "don't let me fall down". The reason is because "fall" is an intransitive verb - doesn't take an object (noun or pronoun) after it. Other examples of such verbs are "sleep, sit, cry, swim, go", etc.

Examples:

📚 Gently! Don't fall him down the stairs. ❌

📚 Gently! Don't push him down the stairs. ✔️

📚 Gently! Don't let him fall down the stairs. ✔️

📚 LEARN GRAMMAR 📚

Do you know that there is nothing known as "should in case"? This is because it combines "should" and "in case" which have overlapping meanings. Use either of them to communicate your intention, not both.

Examples:

📚 Should in case it rains, I won't go to school. ❌

📚 In case it rains, I won't go to school. ✔️

📚 Should it rain, I won't go to school. ✔️

🔆 JAMB ENGLISH PRACTICE QUESTION & EXPLANATION 🔆

Suara needn't come with us, ______?

A) does she
B) will she
C) can she
D) need she

Ans: D ✨✅

📚 EXPLANATION 📚

The structure of the sentence "Suara needn't come with us" uses "needn't" (a form of "need not"), which is a modal verb indicating necessity or obligation in the negative form.

Note that your question tag must take the form of the original verb used in the statement. "Needn't" is the negative form, and the corresponding positive tag would be "need she."

🔆 JAMB ENGLISH PRACTICE QUESTION & EXPLANATION 🔆

If he arrived late, everyone ______ him.

A) would have blamed
B) will blame
C) would blame
D) must blame

Ans: C ✨✅

📚 EXPLANATION 📚

"Would blame" agrees with "arrived" because both are in the past tense, maintaining tense balancing.

Note that if-clauses obey tense balancing.

In this question, the if-clause uses the past tense (arrived), and the main clause uses "would + base verb" (would blame). Would blame is also in the past. This ensures grammatical consistency.

Will blame = present tense
Would blame = past tense
Would have blamed = perfect tense

🔆 JAMB ENGLISH PRACTICE QUESTION & EXPLANATION 🔆

I don't like _______ cheating the poor.

A) us
B) our
C) we
D) ourselves

Ans: B ✨✅

📚 EXPLANATION 📚

The correct answer is "our" because a possessive adjective is required before a gerund to indicate who is performing the action described by the gerund. A possessive adjective is a word that shows ownership or possession and is used before a noun to indicate who or what it belongs to. Examples include my, your, his, her, its, our, and their.

In the sentence, "cheating" is a gerund (a verb form acting as a noun), and "our" is the possessive adjective that shows ownership of the action.

The rule is that possessive adjectives (e.g., "my," "your," "his," "her," "our," "their," "its") must be used before gerunds, not pronouns like "us" or "we." Using a possessive adjective ensures the sentence is grammatically correct and clear.

Examples:

📚 I appreciate his helping with the project. ✅

📚 I appreciate him helping with the project. ❌

🔆 JAMB ENGLISH PRACTICE QUESTION & EXPLANATION 🔆

Ismail is the _______ of the two kids.

A) smallest
B) small
C) smaller
D) smaller than

Ans: C ✨✅

📚 EXPLANATION 📚

Two kids are being compared here. The comparative form of the adjective ("smaller") should be used to indicate that one kid is being compared to the other. The comparative form is used when comparing two people or things.

The superlative form ("smallest") is only used when comparing three or more people or things, so it is not appropriate in this case.

Examples:

📚 Ismail is the smallestof the three kids. ✅

📚 Ismail is the smaller of the two kids. ✅

🔆 JAMB ENGLISH PRACTICE QUESTION & EXPLANATION 🔆

Sada and Segun offended _______

A) Me and them
B) I and they
C) Them and me
D) Them and I

Ans: C ✨✅

📚 EXPLANATION 📚

The rule of consistency states that only two pronouns in the same position should be used together in the same position.

The gap obviously tells that it is an object position and it needs to be filled by only object pronouns. The object pronouns which are in option C are therefore required to fill the gap with the mention of the speaker last.

Examples of subject pronouns are "he, she, they, we" while that of object pronouns are "him, her, them and us".

It is also a law that when two pronouns are used in the same position, the other person should be mentioned first with the pronoun of the speaker mentioned last. That is why option C is the correct choice.

🔆 JAMB ENGLISH PRACTICE QUESTION & EXPLANATION 🔆

One can no longer take for granted today what ______ enjoyed in the university some years ago, can _____?

A) you/you
B) one/one
C) he/he
D) one/you

Ans: B ✨✅

📚 EXPLANATION 📚

The sentence uses "one" in a formal, general sense to refer to people in general. To maintain consistency, the pronoun "one" must be repeated for the second reference.

Using different pronouns (e.g., "one/you" or "one/he") would break the grammatical consistency and make the sentence less formal.

One collocates (or is used together with) one anytime, anywhere and in any expression. No other pronoun should take its place.

🔆 JAMB ENGLISH PRACTICE QUESTION & EXPLANATION 🔆

The words _______ divided between the end of one line.

A) Have been
B) Have being
C) Has been
D) Has being

Ans: A ✨✅

📚 EXPLANATION 📚

The subject of the sentence is "words," which is plural. In English, plural subjects take the auxiliary verb "have", not "has" (used for singular subjects).

The verb "been" however is only used together with the anomalous verbs (has, have and had).

Being is used with the primary auxiliary verbs, e.g., am, is, was, are, were.

Hence, A is the right answer.

🔆 JAMB ENGLISH PRACTICE QUESTION & EXPLANATION 🔆

He is richer than _______

A) Me
B) I
C) Myself
D) Me myself

Ans: B ✨✅

📚 EXPLANATION 📚

When two pronouns are compared, they should both be subject pronouns. In other words, only subject pronouns should be used in a comparison, and subject pronouns should not be compared with object pronouns. Similarly, object pronouns should not be used for comparison.

Examples of subject pronouns include: he, she, I, they, we.

Examples of object pronouns include: him, her, me, them, us.

Therefore, option B is correct because it uses subject pronouns.

The full version of the statement is: He is richer than I am. 📌

📚 LEARN GRAMMAR 📚

Do you know that the phrase "used to" is used to express something which was done in the past but not anymore now. Hence it is wrong to use it when talking about an action that you still engage in.

Examples:

📚 Nowadays, I wake up early. ✔️

📚 Nowadays, I used to wake up early. ❌

📚 Last year, I used to visit my aunt every week (but now, I don't anymore). ✔️

📚 LEARN GRAMMAR 📚

Do you know that there is nothing like "next tomorrow"? Instead of that, you say "a day after tomorrow". "Next tomorrow" is not an expression in the English Language and it is considered incorrect.

Examples:

📚 I will visit grandma a day after tomorrow. ✔️

📚 I will visit grandma next tomorrow. ❌