SOME IMPORTANT ASPECT OF ENGLISH

EVERY RULE
1.When every comes before a singular noun,the verb that will come after that
singular noun should be a singular verb. Examples of singular verbs are: is,has
and likes.
Examples: Every man LIKES women.
Every orange TASTES nice.
2.When every comes before a plural noun, the verb that will come after that
plural noun should be a plural verb. Examples of plural verbs are: are,have and
like.
Examples: Every men LIKE women.
Every ten jerrycan of paints bought CARRY….
Note: When, however, “and”joins two or more subjets with every or each, the
verb you are to use should be a singular verb.
Examples: Every student and teachers COMES to school early.
Note: When two subjects are joined by “and”, the verb to be used should be
plural verb, e.g. Yemi and Olu ARE here.
John and James KNOW the truth.
Note: When two subjects refer to one person or thing, and these two subjects
are joined by“and”, then the verb to use should be a singular verb.
Examples: H.O.D of Science Department and Home Economics teacher IS coming
or HAS come or KNOWS me.
OR
H.O.D of Science Department and THE Home Economics teacher ARE coming or
HAVE come or Know me.
ACCOMPANIMENT CONCORD
 The markers for accompaniment are: with,like,including,as well as,as much
as,alongside,in association with,together with, no less than, in collaboration
with.
Note: The noun that comes before any of the above listed markers is what
will determine the verb you are to use.
Example: KOLADE as well as his friends IS pretty.
You will notice that KOLADE is the noun that comes before AS WELL AS and that
is why the verb IS was used.

PRINCIPLE OF PROXIMITY
If Steven passes his examination, his friends,Joy,father,cousin and I ----- going
to celebrate the success.( A).is ( B).am (C).are (D).we
Note:The correct answer is option B.
MANDATIVE SUBJUNCTIVE CONCORD
Note: Mandative subjunctive concord always contains Modal Auxiliary verbs
such as: should,could,would, e.t.c. in its full version statement. Note:The Modal
Auxiliary verbs go with plural verb. So, this means that anytime you use the
Mandative Subjuntive Concord, the verb that follows must be a plural verb
whether the subject of the sentence is singular or plural does not matter.
Markers for Mandative Subjuntive Concord are:
recommendation,resolution,suggestion,demand,wish or prayer.
Examples: It has been demanded that he-----. The full version of the statement
is:
It has been demanded that he should------.
Options:( A).goes( B).go (C)).prays. The correct option is B.
Example2: I pray that God-----us. The full version of this statement is: I pray that
God should----us. Options are: (A).helps (B).help (C).saves.
Note: The correct option is B.
 COLLECTIVE NOUN CONCORD

Note: If you use a collective noun to perform an action ,then use a plural verb.
Note: If you use a collective noun without an action done by it, then use a
singular verb. Examples: The bevy of ladies ARE dancing over there.
Example2: The bevy of ladies IS here now.

ONE-OF, EACH-OF, AND EACH RULES

One- of or each- of goes with plural noun but a singular verb. Examples:
One of the STUDENTS LIKES Mathematics.
Example2:Each of the STUDENTS LIKES English.
Note: Each goes with singular noun and a singular verb.
Examples are: Each student likes to dance.
Example2: Each orange tastes good.

HAS, HAVE AND HAD

Note: Has, have and had are used in one sentence when you talk of possession.
Examples are: I have a watch. (i.e I possessed a watch).
He has a watch. (i.e he possessed a watch).
We had a watch yesterday.(i.e we possessed watch yesterday).

RULE TWO
Note: Anomalous verb does not go with a definite time at the adjunct level.
However, if you insist that you want to use the Anomalous verb with a definite
time, then you must use a barrier to separate them. Note, the barriers are:
SINCE and FOR.
ALTERNATIVELY
You can simply replace the Anomalous verb with simple past tense such as:
“went”.
Examples: He has gone yesterday (wrong).
He WENTyesterday (correct).
He has gone SINCE yesterday (correct).
He has gone SINCE four days (wrong).
He has gone FOR four days (correct).

HAD AND ITS USES

In a conditional sentence (i.e a sentence that involves “if”), had is preferred to
has/have. Example: If I HAD known, I would have done it. (correct).
If I HAVE known, I would have done it (wrong).
Also in reported speech HAD is preferred to has/have. Examples of markers for
reported speech are: opined, suggestion, said, asked,e.t.c.
Example: Olu asked if Joy HAD done the work.(correct).
Olu asked if Joy HAVE done the work.(wrong).
In Time Keeping Function, HAD is used as compound sentence together with
ADVERB OF TIME.
Examples of Adverb of time are:
Hardly had goes with when. Or I had hardly goes with when.
After, before goes with when.
No soona goes with than.
Examples: I HAD HARDLY gone to the market WHEN I lost my key.
HARDLY HAD I gone to the market WHEN I lost my key.
NO SOONA had I gone to the market THAN I lost my key.

EACH OTHER AND ONE ANOTHER

EACH OTHER is used to refer to two persons or people only, while ONE
ANOTHER is used to refer to more than two persons or people. Examples:
The two girls share the cake between EACH OTHER.
The four girls love ONE ANOTHER.

BEING, BEEN, (IS, AM, ARE, WERE, WAS), HAS, HAVE, AND HAD THEN PAST
PARTICIPLE
PRIMARY AUXILIARY VERB + BEING + PAST PARTICIPLE (correct).
PRIMARY AUXILIARY VERB + BEING + PRESENT CONTINOUS VERB “ING” (wrong).
Note: The only verb that can come before BEING is the PRIMARY AUXILIARY
VERBS which are: IS, AM, WAS,ARE, WERE. While the only verb that can come
after BEING is the PAST PARTICIPLE VERBS such as: verbs that end with “ed”or
“en”.
ANOMALOUS VERBS + BEEN + “ING” VERB or PAST PARTICIPLE VERB.
Note: The only verb that can come before BEEN is the ANOMALOUS VERBS
while the only verb that can come after BEEN is either the “ING” VERB or PAST
PARTICIPLE VERB.

SIX IMPORTANT ASPECTS OF QUESTION TAG

1.When MUST, OUGHT TO, or SHOULD is used to mean necessary, the following
question or statement will be replied with: Need or Need not.
Example: Must you always tell lies? Answer: No, I need not.
2.If THERE is the subject of the clause, THERE should be returned in the second
part, e.g. THERE are four boys here. Answer: Aren’t THERE?
3.If the statement starts with LET US, the second part will be SHALL + SUBJECT.
Example: Let us go Answer: Shall we?
4.If the statement involves USED TO, then DID or DID NOT should be used in
your reply. Example: We used to cry before. Reply: Didn’t we?
5.In a polar question (i.e Yes or No question), YES goes with positive reply while
NO, goes with negative reply. Example: You don’t know him? DO you know
him? Reply: No, I don’t or Yes, I do.
6.DO YOU MIND means do you think it is bad if I …….
Example: Do you mind 500? The full version of the statement means----- do you
think it is bad if I give you 500?
WHEREAS OR CALL IT CONTRAST
Contrast means something different from something. This means that there
may be two different sentences in which you have two different subjects. In one
of the sentences, you will have a subject and a word while in the other
sentence, you have a subject also and then the opposite of the word used in the
first sentence. Example: I am very tall, whereas my wife is very short.
Note: Anytime you use whereas, there must be a pause (i.e comma) before the
whereas.
WHILE: When while is used as whereas , there will be comma (i.e pause) before
the while. But if there is no comma before the while and is a contrasting
statement, then you should know that the WHILE in this case is not used as
WHEREAS but it is only used as TIME.
The Time of While Are: (1).During the time
(2).As the same time as.
This shows that WHILE is somewhat complicated. Example:
Jolo parents died while he was still at school.
His parents died during the time when he was still at school.
His parents died, while he was still at school.
His parents died, whereas he was still at school.

DO, DOES, DID, TO, SHOULD, COULD, CAN,MAY, MIGHT,WILL,WOULD,SHALL

Note: Anytime you use any of the above words, you are to use a simple present
tense verb with it. Example: He does COME.
John should TAKE the cake.
IS, ARE, BE, HIGH TIME or IT IS TIME or WHENEVER AN ACTION HAS BEEN DONE
Note: Anytime you use any of the above words, a past tense verb is required to
go with it. Examples: It is HIGH TIME we ATE. (correct). OR IT IS TIME we ATE.
(correct).
Felix IS SUPPOSED to be here.(correct).
We ARE PREPARED to fight. (correct).
John IS SUPPOSE to sing. (wrong).
They ARE PREPARE to fight. (wrong).
What is your name John?
He asked John “what WAS his name”. (correct)
He asked John what is your name.(wrong)

TRANSITIVE VERB, INTRANSITIVE VERB, ACTIVE VOICE AND PASSIVE

VOICE
A Transitive verb is that verb that transfers its action on an object. This simply
means that, there must be a receiver of the action done. Example: The police
man slaps John. Note, the police is the subject of the sentence because he is the
one doing the action. Again, the police is found at the beginning of the the
sentence. So, this type of sentence is called ACTIVE VOICE because the doer of
the action is found at the beginning of the sentence. If the doer of the action is
found at the end of the sentence or not at the beginning of the sentence, it is
called PASSIVE VOICE.
“SLAPS” as used in the sentence is a TRANSITIVE VERB because it is performed
on John.

ALTHOUGH AND ITS USE

Although: Must not be placed as a last word in a clause/event/sentence.
Examples: She is beautiful although. (wrong)
She is beautiful though. (correct)
Note: Although is used at the beginning of a sentence to introduce a fact and in
most cases, it makes the rest of the sentence somewhat surprising.
Example: Although he is a Mathematician, he does not know how to solve
integral.
Although as a Supplementary Information:- A Supplementary Information is an
information that partly negates what has been previously said before. In this
case, you basically replace although with “but”. Example:
It was hard, although it was not as hard as we had thought.
It was hard, but it was not as hard as we had thought.
Although is used in a Contrasting Statement with Yet:- Although is used in a
contrasting statement and it can be used with “yet”. However, when using
although in a contrasting statement, it must not be used with “but”. Example:
The father is rich, the mother is poor.
Although the father is rich, the mother is poor.
Although the father is rich, but the mother is poor.(wrong).
 ALTHOUGH,
EVENTHOUGH,NEVERTHELESS,NONETHELESS,AFTER,BEFORE,WHEN,WHILE,BECA
USE,IMMEDIATELY,AS IF, IF, HOWEVER,MORESO,ANYWAY,E.T.C
Note: Anytime you use any of the above words to make a sentence, that
sentence or clause can be regarded as a Subordinate Clause and at the end of
such clause you put a comma. Examples: If I catch you, because you don’t know
me,
MAIN CLAUSE
A Main clause is that clause that contains a simple subject and a predicate and
then makes a complete sense. Example: The angry dog ran violently. Note: The
simple subject is” the dog”, while the predicate is “ran”. So, the Main clause
will be “the dog ran”.

STRUCTURAL SENTENCE
Structural sentence consists of the following:
1.Simple sentence
2.Compound sentence
3.Multiple sentence
4.Complex sentence
Note: It will be good if you can master the examples under each sentence.
SIMPLE SENTENCE
A Simple sentence is that which contains one main clause only. This means that
a clause is a simple sentence. Example: Mary is a good girl.
COMPOUND SENTENCE
A Compound sentence is that which contains two main clause only and which
can be separated using semi-colon. Example: The man is old; he may die soon.
It is 5p.m; the sun will soon set.
 MULTIPLE SENTENCE
A Multiple sentence is that which contains more than two main clauses.
Examples: Joy woke up early this morning, she swept the floor, and prepared
herself for school.
Femi saw the advertisement for work, he went for it, but he was not considered
for employment.
COMPLEX SENTENCE
A Complex sentence is that which contains of one or more subordinate clauses
with one main clause. Examples: If I catch you, I will beat you.
If I catch you, because you don’t know me, I will pardon
you.

TENSE BALANCE
In Tense Balance, you are to observe the tense of verbs in the two different
sentences. If one of the sentence has a past tense verb, then the second
sentence should also contain a past tense verb. Example:
She CALLED me and I ANSWERED her. (correct)
Van GREETS me and I ANSWERED him. (wrong).