Ajtrikz Phonics Lounge

It's been more than a thousand days since I last made a post.

Did anyone miss me here?

Lesson 6

The present Perfect Tense - 1
The present Perfect Tense always contains "have" or "has" as an auxiliary verb followed by a past participle - this form is usually the same as the past simple, but about common irregular verbs have past participles which are different from the past simple. These special verbs fall into two groups namely:

1. Those which have -a- in the past simple but -u- in the past participle. They are as follows:
I have begun (began)
I have drunk(drank)
I have sung(sang)
I have run(ran)
It has sunk(sank)
It has shrunk(shrank)
The flowers have sprung (sprang)
We have swum(swam)

2. Those whose past participle end in -n- or -en (occasionally spelt -ne)
They are as follows:
Borne beaten hidden blown sworn woven written eaten flown risen seen drawn spoken etc.

Note: some of the verbs above cause some special difficulty such as these:
He has borne the pain like a man (This verb bear, bore, borne means to suffer bravely) On the other hand, the word "born" without the final -e is very common in expression like the child was born yesterday.

A madman has just lain down on the main road. (This is from the verb to "lie" ( lie, lay, lain) and it is different from the verb to "lay"(lay, laid, laid) - The woman lay the book on the shelf).

Regards
Justice Olowu

This page has been quiet for some time now and the reason is because we are rebranding and repositioning to better serve you. So, please bear with us as we promise to be back soon with new concepts that would better enrich your stay with us. Have a good night rest or a wonderful day ahead of you, for our fans from a different time zone.

Do you want to...

✔ improve your English speaking skills

✔ want better job opportunities, to study abroad, pass the IELTS/TOEFL or an English proficiency test

✔ to be able to understand vocabulary, grammar, expressions and slang

✔ want to be a confident English speaker

✔ want English speakers to be able to understand you when you speak in English!
It takes a lot of time and hard work to became a fluent English speaker, and if you want to remain consistent in your English learning journey, you have to understand WHY you are learning English!

There is one thing which can keep you on track during the whole process.

It’s goal setting!

If you have a clear goal, no matter how hard or confusing it gets, it will always remind you that you need to finish you tasks and keep going.

It takes a lot of time and hard work to became a fluent English speaker, and if you want to remain consistent in your English learning journey, you have to understand WHY you are learning English!

There is one thing which can keep you on track during the whole process.

It’s goal setting!

If you have a clear goal, no matter how hard or confusing it gets, it will always remind you that you need to finish your tasks and keep going.
So, let me ask you now.... would you like to set goals this week to improve your English?

Get the support, guidance and right resources to help you drastically improve your confidence speaking in English.

5
Nominalization of Verbs and Adjectives

The use of a word which is not a noun (e.g. a verb or adjective) as a noun, with or without morphological transformation, so that the word can now act as the head of a noun phrase.
To understand this topic You must know what are. Suffix One or more letters or sounds added at the end of a word to modify the word's meaning.The suffix "-able" changes "read" into "readable".

Verbs and adjectives become nouns by taking certain suffixes such as:

or, er, ant, ee, tion, ment, al, age, ce, ance.


ness, y, ty, ity, ism, ist, cy, hood, th.

They also become nouns by conversion as follows:

1. Base form
Slap: He gave her a hard slap.
2. Progressive form
Writing: My writing is poor.
3. Definite article+past participle
Unknown: The unknown keeps inventors on their toes.


1. DefiniteArticle+BaseForm+PluralVerb
Wicked: The wicked got punished
2. DefiniteArticle+BaseForm+SingularVerb
Evil: The evil that men do lives with them.
3. DefiniteArticle+Comparative/SuperlativeForm+SingularVerb
Taller: The taller of the two has died.
Tallest: The tallest of them is a good player.

Exercise: List out 1word each that is formed by adding the suffixes mentioned above.

Regards,
Justice Olowu


Do well to search for my previous lessons by searching for my name or Ajtrikz Phonics Lounge. Drop your comments below and share the post to your friends who might be interested to join our growing team of learners.

Remember, beginning next week, I will be holding live sessions.
See you at the next lesson 🕺🗣️🚴

A modifier is a word or phrase added to another word or phrase to give a clearer picture of the latter. Modifiers are usually adjectives and adverbs.

Look at the following sentences and note how modifiers add extra piece of information and additional meaning.


1. He surrendered his car.
2. He showed her love.
3. She served us chicken.
4. She pays us a visit.
5. He took a journey to the north.


1. He reluntantly surrendered his car.
2. He showed her unfailing true love.
3. She served us rotten, putrid, grilled chicken.
4. She regularly pays us a visit.
5. He took a long adventurous journey to the north.

A varied and apt use of modifiers (adjectives and adverbs) will make your descriptive and narrative essays more interesting and attention grabbing for your readers and listeners. So use them generously to spice up your statements.

Exercise: In 20 words describe your school or work place.

Regards,
Justice Olowu
(English language Tutor)

Stay tuned for more lessons and don't miss any moment of the action.
Feel free to drop your favorite topics and areas of difficulty.

Ajtrikz Phonics Lounge Send a message to learn more

What areas do you find a challenge in your English language learning journey? Please drop your comments below and I will do my best to provide you free training and resources to help.

This is the exercise for 👇

continued


10. In a sentence beginning with 'there is' or 'There are', the Subject follows the verb. Since 'there' is not the subject, the verb agrees with what follows the verb.
Example:
There are many rivers in my country.
There is a bucket in the bathroom.

11. Collective nouns are words that imply more than one person but are considered singular and take a singular verb.
Example:
The committee meets on Thursday.

However, the plural verb is used if the focus is on the individuals in the group.
Example:
The committee help create awareness for Covid-19.

Exercise: 👇

Please begin to provide your answers and hope to see you in class tomorrow!
If there are specific topics you will like to learn about, do well to let me know in your comments.
Best regards,
Justice Olowu
(English language tutor and coach)



.

Subject like has been previously stated is the performer of the action stated by the verb.

Subjects and verbs must agree in number and to do that you follow these rules:
1. If the subject is singular, the verb must be singular or if the Subject is plural, the verb must be plural too.
Examples:
She plays the piano beautifully.
They play the piano beautifully.

2. When the subject is composed of two or more nouns, connected by "and", use a plural verb.
Example:
My mother and I love to dance.

3. When there is one Subject and more than one verb, the verbs throughout the sentence must agree with the subject.
Example:
Hassan is my friend but he hates to play with me.

4. When a phrase comes between the subject and the verb, the verb still agrees with the subject not the noun or pronoun in the phrase following the subject of the sentence.
Example:
The boy, as well as the teachers is excited by the news.

5. When two or more singular nouns or pronouns are connected by 'or' or 'nor' use a singular verb.
Example:
The president or his secretary delivers a speech every morning.

6. When a compound subject contains both a singular and a plural noun or pronoun joined by 'or' or 'nor' , the verb should agree with the part part of the subject that is closest to the verb. This is called the rule of proximity.
Example:
The chairman or the board members arrive early to work.

7. The words and phrases 'each', 'each one', 'either', 'everyone', 'anyone', 'anybody', 'nobody', 'somebody', 'someone', and 'no one' are singular and require singular verb.
Examples:
No one is in the room now.
Everybody has a choice.

9. Noncount nouns take a singular verb.
Example:
Diabetes has killed so many men.
9. Some countable nouns such as: goods, earnings, proceeds, odds, surroundings, valuables, contents, only have a plural form and take plural verbs.
Example:
The goods have arrived.

2 more rules to follow and the accompanying exercises.
Stay tuned

Let's welcome
Rizwi
Ousman A