Learning English Grammar for Bank Exam – Easy Tips to Score Better
In our previous post on General English Grammar for Bank Exam (Part I), we discussed Parts of Speech, Types of Sentences and Subject-Verb Agreement. Here we will talk to you about Tenses, Voices, Reported Speech and use of Articles.
A. Tenses:
There are 3 types of tenses
Taking a sentence as an example: Anita eats food.
Past:
Simple: Anita ate food.
Continuous: Anita was eating food.
Perfect: Anita had eaten food.
Perfect Continuous: Anita had been eating his food.
Present
Simple: Anita eats food.
Continuous: Anita is eating food.
Perfect: Anita has eaten food.
Perfect Continuous: Anita has been eating food
Future
Simple: Anita will eat food.
Continuous: Anita will be eating food.
Perfect: Anita will have eaten food.
Perfect Continuous: Anita will have been eating food.
NOTE: Many of the above-mentioned sentences are not used commonly in the English language but have been used here as a reference.
B. Active and Passive Voice
Active: It is the verb that expresses the action done by the subject. E.g. Ram helps me.
Passive: It is the verb that expresses what is done to the subject. E.g. I am helped by Ram
Conversion examples:
The man shot the woman- The woman was shot by the man.
The child will be taught- He will teach the child.
C. Direct and Indirect Speech
In Direct speech, we quote the actual words of the speaker like:
“The Earth revolves around the Sun”, said the teacher.
In Indirect speech, we give the exact meaning of a remark or speech, without quoting the speaker.
Rules for changing the speech from direct to indirect:
D. Articles
There are 3 articles in the English language:
A: It is used to describe anyone indefinite thing and is used before words beginning with consonants(eg. a table) or with sounds like ‘yu’, ‘wu’ or ‘h’ (a eulogy, a one-eyed man, a horse )
An: It is used in the same context as ‘a’ but before words beginning with vowels (an apple), or where a word/letter is pronounced like a vowel even though it may start with a consonant (an honor, anA.)
The: It is used to denote a definite, particular thing like the book, the road, the
Articles are omitted in certain cases like when describing some nouns (London), meal-time (dinner, supper) or phrases that use ‘kind of’ (What kind of flower)
In our previous post on General English Grammar for Bank Exam (Part I), we discussed Parts of Speech, Types of Sentences and Subject-Verb Agreement. Here we will talk to you about Tenses, Voices, Reported Speech and use of Articles.
A. Tenses:
There are 3 types of tenses
Taking a sentence as an example: Anita eats food.
Past:
Simple: Anita ate food.
Continuous: Anita was eating food.
Perfect: Anita had eaten food.
Perfect Continuous: Anita had been eating his food.
Present
Simple: Anita eats food.
Continuous: Anita is eating food.
Perfect: Anita has eaten food.
Perfect Continuous: Anita has been eating food
Future
Simple: Anita will eat food.
Continuous: Anita will be eating food.
Perfect: Anita will have eaten food.
Perfect Continuous: Anita will have been eating food.
NOTE: Many of the above-mentioned sentences are not used commonly in the English language but have been used here as a reference.
B. Active and Passive Voice
Active: It is the verb that expresses the action done by the subject. E.g. Ram helps me.
Passive: It is the verb that expresses what is done to the subject. E.g. I am helped by Ram
Conversion examples:
The man shot the woman- The woman was shot by the man.
The child will be taught- He will teach the child.
C. Direct and Indirect Speech
In Direct speech, we quote the actual words of the speaker like:
“The Earth revolves around the Sun”, said the teacher.
In Indirect speech, we give the exact meaning of a remark or speech, without quoting the speaker.
Rules for changing the speech from direct to indirect:
- If the Reporting verb is in the present tense, the tense of the verb in the reported speech is changed to the corresponding past tense (eg. Simple present becomes simple past, present continuous becomes past continuous).
- If the Reporting verb is in the future tense, the tense of the verb is changed as follows: Simple future tense becomes future conditional and future conditional becomes conditional continuous tense. (eg.’“I will become a doctor”, said Reena’ becomes ‘Reena said she would become a doctor’.)
- If the Reporting verb is in the past tense, the tense of the verb in the reported speech is changed into an earlier form of the past tense. (eg. ‘“I went to Disneyland,” said Ben’ becomes ‘Ben said he had gone to Disneyland’.)
- Pronouns and possessive adjectives of the First and Second Persons in Direct Speech are changed into the Third Person in Indirect Speech.
- In the Reported Speech, the words expressing nearness of time or place are changed into words showing distance. (for eg. ‘here’ becomes ‘there’ and ‘now’ becomes ‘then’.)
D. Articles
There are 3 articles in the English language:
A: It is used to describe anyone indefinite thing and is used before words beginning with consonants(eg. a table) or with sounds like ‘yu’, ‘wu’ or ‘h’ (a eulogy, a one-eyed man, a horse )
An: It is used in the same context as ‘a’ but before words beginning with vowels (an apple), or where a word/letter is pronounced like a vowel even though it may start with a consonant (an honor, anA.)
The: It is used to denote a definite, particular thing like the book, the road, the
Articles are omitted in certain cases like when describing some nouns (London), meal-time (dinner, supper) or phrases that use ‘kind of’ (What kind of flower)
