ENGLISH PROFICIENCY Verbs are action words: that’s a rather simplified
explanation, but it’s the clearest one. Verbs tell
Parts of Speech
In English grammar, the eight major parts of
speech are noun, pronoun, adjective, verb,
adverb, preposition, conjunction, and
interjection.
Nouns
The easy way to remember nouns is that they
refer to people, places, or things. Even
intangible or abstract concepts like ideas or
thoughts are things. In the following sentences,
the nouns are highlighted:
Sally doesn’t use an iPhone . Jared doesn’t eat
subs . The Earth is not the center of the
universe .
Pronouns
Pronouns are words that replace nouns: I, me,
she, we, they, who, that, yours, his, her, etc.
Pronouns need antecedents. That means that the
thing (or person, or place) that the pronoun
refers to needs to have been mentioned already
by name somewhere earlier in the sentence or
paragraph. If it’s not clear which thing the
pronoun refers to, the reader can get quite
confused.
I swam in the ocean. You swam in the ocean. He
swam in the ocean. She swam in the ocean. It
swam in the ocean.
Adjectives
Adjectives are descriptive words that add detail
to a sentence. They can give important or
necessary information (e.g., Please hand me the
blue paper), or they can just make the sentence
more interesting (e.g. A frigid wind blew around
the icy town). Adjectives describe nouns. Please
sew the red dress. The weather is hot and
humid . The stuffed toy is fuzzy and round .
Verbs
you what the subject of the sentence is up to.
He ran into the wall. She buys new shoes. The
cat licks its fur.
Adverbs
Adverbs describe verbs, adjectives, or even a
whole sentence. Adverbs often end with the
suffix -ly (for example, badly, hungrily), but
some look the same as their adjective forms (for
example, the word fast is used as both an
adjective and adverb).
Prepositions
Prepositions are little words that tell where or
when (among other things) something is. The
monkey is on his back. The glue is behind the
board. The dreamcatcher is above the bed.
Conjunctions
Conjunctions are words like and, but, and or that
connect concepts, clauses, or parts of sentences.
I wanted to meet her there on time, but I got
stuck in traffic. You can’t wear socks and
sandals.
Interjections
Interjections are words like wow and yay.
They’re sounds we make to convey extreme
emotion or to create emphasis when we’re
talking, sometimes when we can’t think of a
good way to express ourselves. The problem
with interjections is that they require a great deal
of context to be understood. For instance, hey
can mean hello, or that’s great, or stop doing
that. Hey! How’s it going? Wow! Those
fireworks are impressive. Yay! I passed
calculus!
Verb Tenses
Verbs come in past, present, and future tenses.
The past is used to describe things that have
already happened (e.g., earlier in the day,
yesterday, last week, three years ago). The
present tense is used to describe things that are
happening right now, or things that are
continuous. The future tense describes things
that have yet to happen (e.g., later, tomorrow,
next week, next year, three years from now).
Past tense I lived here when I was ten. Present
tense I live here now. Future tense I will live
there when I am retired.
Subject-Verb Agreement
Singular subjects take singular verbs and plural
subjects take plural verbs.
(In this example, the subject is in bold and the
verbs are italicized.)
My brother is a doctor. My parents are yoga
teachers.
Pronoun-Antecedent Agreement
When a pronoun replaces a noun, the noun is
called an antecedent. On Michael’s first day of
work, he was a little nervous. Michael is the
antecedent and he is the pronoun.
The antecedent doesn’t have to go before the
pronoun, but in longer sentences it can be
confusing to introduce the pronoun before the
antecedent. On his first day of work, Michael
was a little nervous.
Subjunctive Mood
The subjunctive is a form verbs can take to
express conditions that are hypothetical or not
true. It’s not a verb tense. The subjunctive form
usually uses the third-person form of the verb
with the s dropped. When using the verb “to be”
in the subjunctive, the present tense is be and the
past tense is were.
The subjunctive is used with certain expressions
that imply a good or bad quality or an
imperative. Often, the subjunctive verb is
preceded by the word that (as in the phrases “it
is best that,” and “it is essential that”).
The subjunctive mood can express conditions
that are not true:
If I were queen for a day, I would eat cake for
breakfast, lunch, and dinner.
It can express hypothetical situations:
If I were to design a dresser, it would be made of
teak.
It can be used to express wishes:
I wish I were able to go on vacation with you.
It can express commands or demands:
The boss demanded that he complete the project
or be fired.
It can express suggestions:
I suggest that she cut back on refined sugar to
improve her health.
Past Tense vs. Past Participle
Talking about time is pretty important in
English. Especially when talking about what’s
happened in the past.
As an English teacher, there’s a really simple
trick I use to teach my students this concept.
I try to get my students to talk about themselves,
such as the things they did the day before. I ask
them easy questions like:
What did you eat for breakfast/dinner yesterday?
What did you do in your free time?
What’s the nicest thing that happened to you the
day before?
Did you enjoy your day at work/school?
These answers don’t require much thinking and
while listening to their answers, I can correct
their mistakes and show them how to construct
sentences.
This exercise is also an excellent way to learn
the past tense and past participles.
If you’re reading this post, chances are you’re
confused about these two terms.
Well, I’m here to help you out and I promise by
the time you finish reading, these concepts will
be clear in your head.
Here’s a bonus tip: before reading further, I
suggest you grab paper and a pencil to try
writing down the answers to the questions I
asked, in full sentences.
The Past Tense: A Brief Overview
Most likely, you already know that there are
three tenses in English:
Past tense
Present tense
Future tense
This concept of tenses is reflected in the way we
use verbs. Depending on which tense we’re
using, the verbs we use become modified or
conjugated.
These tenses can further be divided into four
distinct forms (simple, continuous, perfect and
perfect continuos). For the past tense, they are:
Simple past
Past continuous
Past perfect
Past perfect continuous
Simple Past Tense
The easiest form, we use this when the action
has already happened or has been completed.
Example: “I ate a chicken sandwich.”
Past Continuous
We use this to refer to something in the past that
has already happened, but as though it were still
happening (usually in the context of another
event).
Example: “I was eating a chicken sandwich
when he called me.”
The “-ing” verb gives us the impression of an
action that is happening, while the “was” means
that it took place in the past.
Past Perfect
We usually use this to talk about events that
have already been completed before a specified
time or another event.
Example: “I had eaten a chicken sandwich that
my mother had made for me.”
The use of the verb “had” along with the specific
verb form “eaten” (which is the participle form)
tells us that it’s in the past perfect.
Past Perfect Continuous
Finally, we use this verb form to refer to an
action that was still happening until another
event occurred.
Example, “I had been eating chicken sandwiches
from the local diner until I learned to cook on
my own.”
This is a very brief guide but for now, just focus
on the Simple Past and the Past Perfect. The
more comfortable you get with these formations,
the deeper you can go.
Past Tense vs. Past Participle: What’s the
Difference?
What Is the Past Tense?
In English, we use the concept of tenses to talk
about time—to refer to an action that happened
in the past, is happening in the present or will
happen in the future.
According to the Oxford Dictionary, “past
tense” is defined as “A tense expressing an
action that has happened or a state that
previously existed.”
In other words, we use the past tense to talk
about something that happened in the past.
Let me explain this with the help of the first
question from the introduction: “What did you
eat for breakfast yesterday?”
The word “yesterday” tells us that the event
(eating breakfast) happened already (yesterday).
Therefore, your answer should be in the past
tense.
For example, your answers could be:
I ate a chicken sandwich for breakfast yesterday.
I had eaten buttered toast and scrambled eggs by
10 AM yesterday…and I was still hungry!
The verb “to eat” has been conjugated (changed)
to “ate” or “had eaten,” which tells us the
sentence is in the past tense.
For example:
I had lived in the United States for seven years
before coming back home.
I have listened to this song five times now.
The Difference Between Past Tense and Past
Participle
So, what’s the difference between the past tense
and the past participle?
Basically, the past tense is a tense while the past
participle is a specific verb form used in the past
and present perfect tenses.
The past participle is not a tense. It’s a form of a
verb and can’t be used on its own. You need an
auxiliary verb, such as “have” or “had.” Because
of this, the past participle is commonly used as a
compound verb.
Let’s take a look at two words in the past tense
and then the past participle.

What Is the Past Participle?

Past tense:
“Past participle” is defined by the Oxford
Dictionary as “the form of a verb, typically I lived in the United States for seven years.
ending in -ed in English, which is used in
I listened to this song five times.
forming perfect and passive tenses and
sometimes as an adjective.” We talked about this book.
This means that verbs in the past participle form I ate breakfast at 10 o’clock yesterday.
usually end in the letters “ed.” For example, the
word “talked.”
These words can also be used as adjectives. For Past participle:
example, “the book has already been talked I had lived in the United States for seven years.
about.” Here, the word “talked” is used as an
adjective. I have listened to this song five times.

The definition also tells us that the past The book has been talked about.
participle is most often used when forming the
I had eaten breakfast by 10 o’clock yesterday.
perfect forms of tenses. (Past perfect, for
example.)
In the perfect form, we use the words “have”
and “had” followed by the verb conjugated in
the past tense.