English for AP Exams · Chapter 2

Grammar I: Tenses, Agreement, Articles and Prepositions

What to remember

The verb must agree with its true subject in number and person, and the tense must match the time words in the sentence.
"A" goes before a consonant sound, "an" before a vowel sound; "the" is for a particular, known thing.
Prepositions follow fixed patterns; learn them in pairs such as "good at", "afraid of" and "different from".

1. Tenses

A tense shows the time of an action and its type. There are three times (present, past, future) and four types (simple, continuous, perfect, perfect continuous).

Tense	Form	Example
Simple present	V1 (s/es with he, she, it)	She walks to school.
Present continuous	is/am/are + V-ing	She is walking now.
Present perfect	has/have + V3	She has walked two miles.
Present perfect continuous	has/have been + V-ing	She has been walking for an hour.
Simple past	V2	She walked yesterday.
Past continuous	was/were + V-ing	She was walking when it rained.
Past perfect	had + V3	She had walked before he came.
Past perfect continuous	had been + V-ing	She had been walking for an hour.
Simple future	will/shall + V1	She will walk tomorrow.
Future continuous	will be + V-ing	She will be walking at six.
Future perfect	will have + V3	She will have walked by noon.

Main uses:

Simple present: habits, general truths and fixed timetables. "The sun rises in the east." "The train leaves at six."
Present perfect: an action finished at an unstated time, with a link to now. "I have finished my work." Do not use it with a definite past time. Wrong: "I have seen him yesterday." Right: "I saw him yesterday."
Present perfect with since and for: "since" is for a point in time (since 2020, since Monday); "for" is for a period (for two years).
Past perfect: the earlier of two past actions. "The train had left when we reached the station."
Future time in "if" and "when" clauses: use the present tense. Right: "If it rains, we will stay home." Wrong: "If it will rain, we will stay home."
Verbs not used in continuous form: know, understand, like, love, want, believe, belong, own. Wrong: "I am knowing him." Right: "I know him."
Sequence of tenses: if the main verb is past, the subordinate verb is usually past too. "He said that he was tired." A universal truth stays in present: "The teacher said that the earth moves round the sun."

2. Subject-verb agreement

A singular subject takes a singular verb; a plural subject takes a plural verb.

Key rules:

1. Words between the subject and the verb do not change the verb. "The box of mangoes is on the table."
2. Subjects joined by "and" take a plural verb: "Rama and Sita are here." But if "and" joins two names of one person or one idea, the verb is singular: "Bread and butter is my breakfast." "The poet and critic is here" (one person).
3. "Either...or", "neither...nor", "or", "nor": the verb agrees with the nearer subject. "Neither the boys nor the teacher is late." "Either the teacher or the boys are late."
4. "As well as", "along with", "together with", "with", "in addition to": the verb agrees with the first subject. "The captain, along with his players, is here."
5. Each, every, either, neither, one of, none (singular use), everyone, someone, anybody: singular verbs. "Each of the boys has a pen." "One of my friends is ill."
6. A number of takes a plural verb; the number of takes a singular verb. "A number of students are absent." "The number of students is large."
7. Collective nouns (team, committee, jury, class, family) take a singular verb when seen as one unit, and a plural verb when members act separately.
8. Plural-form nouns with singular meaning: news, mathematics, physics, economics, politics, measles, innings. "The news is good." "Mathematics is a difficult subject."
9. Nouns that are always plural: scissors, trousers, spectacles, clothes, people, police, cattle. "The police are searching." "The trousers are new."
10. Amounts, distances and periods of time treated as one unit take a singular verb. "Ten kilometres is a long way." "Two hundred rupees is enough."
11. "Many a" takes a singular verb: "Many a student has failed."
12. In "there is/are" sentences, the verb agrees with the noun after it. "There are five books on the shelf."
13. Relative pronouns: "who", "which", "that" take the number of the noun they refer to. "He is one of the boys who are honest."

3. Articles

There are two kinds: the indefinite articles "a" and "an" and the definite article "the".

A / An

Use "a" before a consonant sound: a book, a university, a one-rupee note, a European.
Use "an" before a vowel sound: an apple, an hour, an honest man, an MLA.
Use them with singular countable nouns that are mentioned for the first time. "I saw a cat."
Use them to mean "one" or "any": "A dog is a faithful animal."
Use them after "such" and "what" with singular nouns: "What a beautiful sight!" "Such a thing."

The

Use "the" for a thing already mentioned, or known to both speaker and listener: "I saw a cat. The cat was black."
Use "the" for one-of-a-kind things: the sun, the moon, the earth, the sky.
Use "the" before superlatives: the best, the tallest.
Use "the" before rivers, seas, oceans, mountain ranges, island groups and deserts: the Godavari, the Bay of Bengal, the Himalayas, the Andamans.
Use "the" before names of holy books and newspapers: the Gita, the Hindu.
Use "the" before ordinal numbers: the first, the second.
Use "the" before a nationality or a class in the plural sense: the Indians, the poor, the rich.

No article

Before names of persons, cities, countries (most), single mountains and languages: Ravi, Hyderabad, India, Mount Everest, Telugu.
Before abstract nouns used generally: honesty, love, time.
Before meals, games and subjects: breakfast, cricket, history.
Before "school", "college", "hospital", "church", "bed", "prison" when used for their main purpose: "He goes to school." "She is in hospital." If you mean the building, use "the": "He went to the school to meet the headmaster."

Special cases:

"A" is not used before uncountable nouns: information, advice, furniture, luggage, news, knowledge, scenery. Wrong: "a good advice." Right: "a piece of good advice."
"The" is not used before "last night" or "next week", but is used in "the previous week".
"Many a" and "such a" take the article after the word.

4. Prepositions

A preposition shows the relation of a noun or pronoun to another word. Learn the groups.

Time and place

Word	Use	Example
at	a point of time or place	at six, at the station
on	days and dates; on a surface	on Monday, on the table
in	months, years, seasons; inside a space	in June, in 2020, in the room
since	a point in time	since Monday
for	a period of time	for two years
by	not later than; by means of	by five o'clock; by bus
during	within a period	during the holidays
between / among	between two; among more than two	between the two, among the many

Verb, adjective and noun with fixed prepositions

With	Examples
of	afraid of, proud of, fond of, jealous of, capable of, aware of, full of, die of (disease)
at	good at, bad at, clever at, surprised at, laugh at
with	angry with (a person), pleased with, satisfied with, busy with, familiar with
to	married to, similar to, superior to, inferior to, senior to, junior to, prefer ... to, accustomed to
from	different from, free from, absent from, differ from, prevent ... from, suffer from
in	interested in, rich in, succeed in, believe in, disappointed in (a thing)
on	depend on, insist on, rely on, congratulate ... on, based on

More points:

Beside means next to; besides means in addition to.
Besides / except: "Besides him, three others came" (including him). "Everyone except him came" (excluding).
Die of a disease; die from an injury or cause. Die by violence.
Different from (not "different than" or "different to" in careful English).
Prefer A to B: "I prefer tea to coffee." Not "prefer ... than".
A preposition is followed by a noun, pronoun or gerund (V-ing): "She is fond of singing."
In / into: "in" shows position; "into" shows movement. "He jumped into the pool."
On / upon, over / above: "over" can mean covering or crossing; "above" means at a higher level without touch.

Exam traps

1. Since vs for: "since 2015" but "for ten years".
2. Present perfect with yesterday: wrong; use the simple past with a definite past time.
3. "A number of" vs "the number of": plural verb vs singular verb.
4. "Neither...nor" and "either...or": the verb goes with the nearer subject.
5. "A university" and "an hour": sound decides, not the letter.
6. Uncountable nouns: "advice", "furniture", "information" take no "a" and have no plural.
7. "Prefer ... to": never "prefer ... than".
8. "Each", "every" and "one of": singular verbs, even if a plural noun follows.

One-liners

1. Habits and general truths use the simple present.
2. The earlier of two past actions uses the past perfect.
3. After "if" and "when", future meaning uses the present tense.
4. "Know" and "like" are not used in the continuous form.
5. "News" and "mathematics" take singular verbs.
6. "Scissors" and "trousers" take plural verbs.
7. "Along with" does not make the subject plural.
8. "The number of" takes a singular verb.
9. "An" is used before the sound of a vowel, as in "an hour".
10. "The" is used before rivers and seas.
11. "Different from" is the correct form.
12. "Interested in" is followed by "in", and "good at" by "at".

Practice questions

Choose the correct form: "The news ___ good."
1. have been
2. are
3. were
4. is
Answer
D. is
"News" is singular in meaning.
Choose the correct form: "She has been working here ___ 2018."
1. during
2. for
3. since
4. from
Answer
C. since
"Since" is used with a point in time.
Choose the correct form: "He has lived here ___ ten years."
1. by
2. from
3. since
4. for
Answer
D. for
"For" is used with a period.
Fill in the blank: "___ hour has passed."
1. A
2. An
3. No article
4. The
Answer
B. An
"Hour" begins with a vowel sound.
Fill in the blank: "He is ___ university student."
1. an
2. no article
3. a
4. the
Answer
C. a
"University" begins with a consonant sound /ju/.
Fill in the blank: "She is afraid ___ snakes."
1. of
2. at
3. with
4. from
Answer
A. of
"Afraid of" is the fixed form.
Fill in the blank: "I prefer tea ___ coffee."
1. than
2. to
3. from
4. over
Answer
B. to
"Prefer ... to" is correct.
Choose the correct sentence.
1. I knowing him.
2. I am know him.
3. I am knowing him.
4. I know him.
Answer
D. I know him.
"Know" is not used in the continuous form.
Choose the correct form: "Mathematics ___ a difficult subject."
1. were
2. are
3. is
4. have
Answer
C. is
Mathematics is singular.
Fill in the blank: "He is good ___ drawing."
1. in
2. on
3. at
4. for
Answer
C. at
"Good at" is the fixed form.
Fill in the blank: "She goes to ___ school every day to study."
1. no article
2. a
3. the
4. an
Answer
A. no article
"School" for its main purpose takes no article.
Fill in the blank: "___ Godavari is a long river."
1. An
2. No article
3. A
4. The
Answer
D. The
Rivers take "the".
Choose the correct form: "The train ___ when we reached the station."
1. leaves
2. had left
3. has left
4. left
Answer
B. had left
The earlier of two past actions uses the past perfect.
Choose the correct form: "A number of students ___ absent today."
1. is
2. are
3. was
4. has
Answer
B. are
"A number of" takes a plural verb.
Choose the correct form: "The number of students ___ large."
1. are
2. have
3. is
4. were
Answer
C. is
"The number of" takes a singular verb.
Choose the correct form: "Neither the boys nor the teacher ___ late."
1. were
2. have
3. are
4. is
Answer
D. is
The verb agrees with the nearer subject, "teacher".
Choose the correct form: "The captain, along with his players, ___ here."
1. is
2. are
3. were
4. have
Answer
A. is
"Along with" does not change the verb; the subject is "captain".
Choose the correct form: "Each of the boys ___ a pen."
1. have
2. are
3. has
4. were
Answer
C. has
"Each" is singular.
Choose the correct form: "The scissors ___ on the table."
1. was
2. are
3. is
4. has
Answer
B. are
"Scissors" is always plural.
Choose the correct form: "Many a student ___ failed."
1. has
2. have
3. are
4. were
Answer
A. has
"Many a" takes a singular verb.
Fill in the blank: "He died ___ cancer."
1. by
2. with
3. from
4. of
Answer
D. of
A disease takes "die of".
Fill in the blank: "She is married ___ a doctor."
1. to
2. by
3. from
4. with
Answer
A. to
"Married to" is the fixed form.
Fill in the blank: "The teacher congratulated him ___ his success."
1. at
2. on
3. about
4. for
Answer
B. on
"Congratulate ... on" is the fixed form.
Fill in the blank: "The bag is different ___ mine."
1. with
2. to
3. from
4. than
Answer
C. from
"Different from" is the correct form.
Fill in the blank: "He sat ___ the two girls."
1. beside
2. among
3. besides
4. between
Answer
D. between
"Between" is for two.
Consider these statements. 1. "A" is used before the sound of a consonant. 2. "An" is used before the letter "u" always.
1. 1 only
2. 2 only
3. Both 1 and 2
4. Neither 1 nor 2
Answer
A. 1 only
Sound decides: "a university", "an umbrella".
Consider these statements. 1. "Since" is used with a period of time. 2. "For" is used with a period of time.
1. 1 only
2. 2 only
3. Both 1 and 2
4. Neither 1 nor 2
Answer
B. 2 only
"Since" is for a point of time.
Consider these statements. 1. "Each" takes a singular verb. 2. "A number of" takes a singular verb.
1. 1 only
2. 2 only
3. Both 1 and 2
4. Neither 1 nor 2
Answer
A. 1 only
"A number of" takes a plural verb.
Consider these statements. 1. "Furniture" is an uncountable noun. 2. We say "a furniture".
1. 1 only
2. 2 only
3. Both 1 and 2
4. Neither 1 nor 2
Answer
A. 1 only
Uncountable nouns take no "a".
Consider these statements. 1. "Beside" means next to. 2. "Besides" means in addition to.
1. 1 only
2. 2 only
3. Both 1 and 2
4. Neither 1 nor 2
Answer
C. Both 1 and 2
Both are correct.
Consider these statements. 1. Rivers take "the". 2. Names of cities take "the".
1. 1 only
2. 2 only
3. Both 1 and 2
4. Neither 1 nor 2
Answer
A. 1 only
City names take no article.
Consider these statements. 1. Verbs like "love" and "want" are not used in continuous tenses. 2. "I am wanting a pen" is correct.
1. 1 only
2. 2 only
3. Both 1 and 2
4. Neither 1 nor 2
Answer
A. 1 only
Stative verbs avoid the continuous form.
Match the verb with its preposition.
1. interested - of
2. depend - at
3. proud - to
4. prevent - from
Answer
D. prevent - from
We say "prevent ... from".
Match the tense with its form.
1. Future perfect - will + V1
2. Past continuous - has + V3
3. Present perfect - had + V3
4. Past perfect - had + V3
Answer
D. Past perfect - had + V3
Past perfect is "had + V3".
Choose the correct form: "Bread and butter ___ my usual breakfast."
1. were
2. is
3. have
4. are
Answer
B. is
Two items forming one idea take a singular verb.
Choose the correct form: "He is one of the boys who ___ honest."
1. is
2. has
3. are
4. was
Answer
C. are
"Who" refers to the plural "boys".
Choose the correct form: "Either the teacher or the students ___ responsible."
1. was
2. are
3. is
4. has
Answer
B. are
The nearer subject is plural.
Choose the sentence that is correct.
1. He is senior over me.
2. He is senior than me.
3. He is senior to me.
4. He is senior from me.
Answer
C. He is senior to me.
"Senior to" is the fixed form.
Fill in the blank: "By next June, she ___ her course."
1. will finish
2. finished
3. has finished
4. will have finished
Answer
D. will have finished
Future perfect is used for an action complete by a future time.
Fill in the blank: "She is ___ honest girl."
1. a
2. the
3. no article
4. an
Answer
D. an
"Honest" begins with a vowel sound because the "h" is silent.

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1.Fill in the blank with the correct preposition: They succeeded _____ finishing the project on time.
2.Select the appropriate preposition/phrasal verb combination: He is popular _____ his students.
3.Select the appropriate preposition/phrasal verb combination: He is good _____ mathematics.
4.Select the appropriate preposition/phrasal verb combination: She is angry _____ him for being late.
5.Fill in the blank with the correct preposition: They arrived _____ the airport an hour early.
6.Select the appropriate preposition/phrasal verb combination: He was absent _____ the meeting yesterday.
7.Fill in the blank with the correct preposition: The two brothers quarrelled _____ the property.
8.Choose the option that correctly completes the sentence: I am waiting _____ the bus.
9.Fill in the blank with the correct preposition: He is good _____ mathematics.
10.Fill in the blank with the correct preposition: He differs _____ his brother in opinion.

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