EngQuizzitive - 15 (grammar)

Topic : Verbs - II (tenses : Present)

A verb is a word denoting action (derived from the latin word verbum : word).The concept of tenses helps us indicate the time regarding the action.

Depending on the time frame one needs to communicate tenses have to be used.Tenses are classified as :
Primary and Secondary

Primary tenses are also known as Simple tenses and are of the following three types :
Simple Present tense
Simple Past tense
Simple Future tense

Secondary tenses are also of three types :
Perfect [Present,Past,Future]
Continuous also called as the progressive [Present,Past,Future]
Perfect-Continuous/Progressive [Present,Past,Future]


This quiz was based on all the present tenses i.e. Simple Present/Present Perfect/Present Continuous/Present-Perfect Continuous

An example to illustrate the usage of these tenses:

Simple Present : I run
Simple Past : I ran.
Simple Future : I shall run.
Present Perfect : I have run.
Past Perfect : I had run.
Future Perfect : I shall have run.
Present Continuous : I am running.
Past Continuous : I was running.
Present Continuous : I shall be running.
Present Perfect Continuous : I have been running.
Past Perfect Continuous : I had been running.
Future Perfect Continuous : I shall have been running.

Present tenses

Usage of the Simple present tense: A simple present tense is used in the following instances :

• to indicate a present action
• to indicate a planned future activity
• for all sensory actions
• for all habitual actions
• used with all the verbs related to understanding,perception etc
• actions indicating universal truths

Usage of the Present Continuous tense: A present continuous tense is used to indicate any activity happening at the present moment.

Usage of the Present Perfect tense: A present perfect tense is used to indicate any activity started in the past and that has just ended.[ a present perfect tense is indicated by the usage of the primary auxillary has and have]


Usage of the Present Perfect Continuous tense: A present perfect continuous tense is used to describe any action that began in the past and which has continued even in the present.

Answers

1. She baked a fairly good cake./She has baked a fairly good cake.[ usage of a present perfect tense]
2. Harem releases next week.[planned future activity hence the usage of simple present tense] or Harem will release next week.
3. The breeze feels good in this hot weather.[sensory action hence the usage of the simple present]
4. Animals hibernate in winter. [habitual action and hence the usage of the simple present tense]
5. She plays/played the guitar very well.

Please feel free to post any queries in the comments section of this post.

EngQuizzitive - 14 (vocab) : Quiz

EngQuizzitive - 14 (vocab): Answers

Hi guys,

This week's vocab quiz was based on words derived from number prefixes.

As most of you know that a word has a structure.There are three parts of a word.These are as follows:

prefix+root+suffix

A prefix (pre - before + fixus - attach) is a part that is attached before a root.It helps one understand the connotation of a word.A prefix helps one understand whether a word has a positive or a negative connotation.

On this basis we can classify prefixes as positive,negative and neutral.As we go ahead with our quizzes we'll cover these in detail.This quiz was based on neutral prefixes:those that indicate number.

The following are all the number prefixes I could think about.

1 : uni [unity,universe,unicorn]
    mono [monolithic,monotheism,monotony]
    prima [primary,primitive,prima donna]
    proto [protozoa,proton,prototype]

2: bi [bissect,bilateral,biped]
   di [dilemma,diploma]
   du [duet,dual.duplex]

3: tri [trivial,trinity,trilateral]
4: quadri [quadrilateral,quadrangle,quadruped]
5: penta [pentagon,pentacle]
6: hexa [hexagon]
7: septa [septagon,september]
8: octa [octave.octagon,october]
9: nova [novenber,novina] /'noon' is also derived from Latin word 'novem'(nine) meaning ninth hour from sunrise (old english usage) [ contributed by Shradha Mallya]
10: deca [decmeber,decimal,decimate,decagon]
100: centum [century,centennial,centipede]
1000: milli [million,millionnaire,millennium]
1/2: semi,hemi [semester,semicolon,semi conductor,hemisphere]
all : pan,omni [pandora,panacea,pantheism,omniscient,omnipotent]

If you guys have come across any other number prefixes please post it in the comments section of this blog.

Answers

1. the first sight
2. a four legged animal
3. number of sides
4. year
5. having all knowledge

EngQuizzitive -13 (quiz)

EngQuizzitive -13 (grammar) : Answers

Kia ora friends,

This week's grammar quiz was based on helper verbs also called as Auxillaries.These verbs are called helper verbs coz they help in changing the tense and also help indicate the tense [we would begin with our tense quizzes next week onwards].

There are two types of Auxillaries:

• Primary Auxillaries
• Modal Auxillaries

Primary Auxillaries (PA) : there are three primary auxillaries :

1. to be [ am,is,are,was,were]
2. have [has,had]
3. do [does,did]

PA are tense indicators and can be used as main verbs and helper verbs.
eg She is playing in the garden.[here 'is' is a helper verb]
    She is in the garden.[here 'is' is the main verb]

Modal Auxillaries (MA) : they are used to indicate the mood of the verb in a sentence.They help identify the relationship between the speaker and the listener or writer and the reader.

The meanings that the modals convey depend on their usage.The following table would help you differentiate among the different meanings conveyed by different modals.

Modal Auxiliaries              Basic meaning                                  Derived meaning


May                                 Probability (AE)*                                 Permission, polite conversation
Might                               Past probability                                   Indicates negativity
Shall                                Future tense (BE)/used for first            Probability (BE)*

                                       person: I/We
Should                            Past of shall Advice                             past probability, if
Can                                Ability (animate)                                  Authority
Could                             Past ability                                          Request (informal)
Will                                Future tense (AE)                                Surety
Would                            Past of will                                          Request (formal)
Needs to                        Necessity
Ought to                        Obligation
Must                             Compulsion
Has to                           Present compulsion
Had to                          Past compulsion
Had better                    Threat/warning

*AE:American English BE: British English
 
Answers
 

1. One ought to help the needy. [since it is a moral obligation]
2. May I come in ? [ if you are asking for permission] / Can I come in ? [if you want to indicate authority] {answer both 1 and 2}
3. John should study tonight .[advice been given to John] / John must study tonight.[compulsion]/John had better study tonight.[threatening John] {answer all the above depending on the meaning to be conveyed}
4. Should / If you have a problem let me know.
5. Would you like to have a cup of coffee? [ formal conversation]

If you have any queries do post them in the comments section of this post.

Auf Weidersehen.

Spelling Bee would shed tears over this .......

another version of 'CARRIEAR' ...... on a maruti van in Borivli (Mumbai)

Indian English --- Hinglish

This was an advertisement in Mumbai's lifeline : the local train.Just to prove my point we Indians are just not language conscious.Yahan sab chalta hain ....that's the spirit of India :)

EngQuizzitive -12 (vocab)

EngQuizzitive -12 (vocab) : Answers

Hello hoipolloi,

This quiz was based on a few commonly misused words.There are a lot of words that we use without even knowing the exact difference between them.These kind of words are a part of the substitution based category questions in CAT.

Here are a few of the pairs that you can try finding the difference between.

1. simple/simplistic
2. practical/practicable
3. gracious/graceful
4. equable/equitable
5. older/elder
6. sensual/sensuous
7. credible/credulous
8. incredible/incredulous
9. climatic/climactic
10. laudatory/laudable
11. between/among
12. each other / one another
13. primary/primarily
14. perceptive/perceptible
15. loyal/faithful
16. luxurious/luxuriant
17. biennial/biannual
18. economic/economics/economical
19. underline/undermine
20. toward/towards
21. upon/on
22. though/although
23. war/fight
24. mistake/error
25. epidemic/endemic
26. uninterested/disinterested
27. distrust/mistrust
28. auspicious/opportune
29. careful/cautious
30. cause/reason
31. clothes/clothing
32. discover/invent
33. dual/double
34. ground/earth
35. hire/rent
36. shore/coast
37. delusion/illusion
38. inured/immured
39. gantlet/gauntlet
40. disprove/disapprove
41. factitious/factious
42. premier/premiere
43. presumptive/presumptuous
44. fortuitous/fortunate
45. instantaneously/instinctively
46. ambiguous/ambitious
47. diversity/divergent
48. gratified/grateful
49. corrode/corrupt

Answers

1. further [ further : in addition to /farther : distance]
2. distrust [distrust : curiosity/ mistrust : not to trust]
3. true [ real : Being or occurring in fact or actuality/true : Consistent with fact or reality; not false or erroneous]
4. disinterested [disinterested : neutral / uninterested : not interested]
5. eldest [older can be used for both animate and inanimate objects but elder is used only for animate and preferably among family members]

You can add many more such words to the list by posting them in the comment section.

Finally the search ends ......... a name for our weekly quizzes

Hello people,

I am glad to announce that I have finally been able to give a name to these weekly mailers (which seem to have become quite popular :) ).Thanks to Priyanaka,Arun ,Namrata and Krunal for suggesting a few names.The best I found was the one suggested by Aditya Ranade (a student from TIME Dadar).The above is the logo he has designed and the following is his explanation for the name and the logo:

• EngQuizzitive = Eng(lish) + Quiz + Inquisitive (Showing curiosity).
• The "Eng" has been taken in the traditional calligraphic font to symbolize the language 
• The logo is in the form of a bookmark. This symbolizes that the quizzes "Mark" a step forward in the path to learning English

Hey Aditya thanx a lot for creating EngQuizzitive !!!!!!

Grammar Quiz - VI (Subject - Verb Concord)

Answers to Grammar Quiz - VI (Subject - Verb Concord)

Subject-verb agreement

 This is one of the most important errors tested in CAT and other entrance exams.There are 7 variations under S-V agreement.These are as follows:

• SN-SV/PN-PV [ a singular noun takes a singular verb and a plural noun takes a plural verb]
• SPr-SV/PPr-PV [ a singular pronoun takes a singular verb and a plural pronoun takes a plural verb]
• CN -SV/PV [ a collective noun can take either a singular or a plural verb depending on the activity it performs , refer the post on collective nouns for more info]
• IPr-SV [ indefinite pronouns like none,one,each etc would always take a singular verb]
• N and N -PV [ when two nouns are joined by cordinating conjunctions like and,but etc the number of the verb would always be plural;except when the two nouns refer to the same person {The President and Treaurer was invited for the party} and when the two nouns convey the same idea {Time and tide waits for none.}
• N as well as /along with N -SV [when two nouns are joined by subordinating conjunctions like along with,as well as,with etc the number of the verb would always depend on the number of the first noun]
• Double conjunctions : when two nouns are joined by double conjunctions like either-or,neither-nor etc the verb number depends on the number of the noun the verb is close to.So if the verb is placed near a singular noun the verb would be singular and so on....

In short the conjunctiion conundrum can be made simple with an example :

The king and the minister are invited for the wedding.
The king and minister is invited for the wedding.
The king along with the minister is invited for the wedding.
The king along with the ministers is invited for the wedding.
The kings along with the minister are invited for the wedding.
Neither the king nor the minister is invited for the wedding.
Neither the kings nor the minister is invited for the wedding.[for double conjunction the following formula can be used :
SN-SN-SV
PN-PN-PV
SN-PN-PV
PN-SN-SV]

Answers

1) Neither Ram nor his sons have attended the wedding .[double conjunction rule]

2) Ram along with his sons has attended the wedding.

3) None of the candidates was selected. [indefinite pronoun rule]

4) The scissors that he has bought are in the drawer.

5) If I were the Prime minister I would attend every cabinet meeting. [ If + I = were; this combination is used to indicate an hypothetical situation and denotes the subjunctive mood of the verb]

If you have any queries do post it in the 'comments' section of this blog.

Name for the weekly quizzes

Salut ca va !


It has almost been a month thatI have been mailing all the students these weekly quizzes on grammar and vocab.I am really surprised and quite happy that the response to these quizzes has been really good rather I should say phenomenal.


To take this initiative forward I thought of giving these quizzes a name.We could form a weekly quizzing community or group exclusively for time students.I wanted your suggestions on branding this quizzing activity. 

Post the name in the comments section of this post.If you are a verbomaniac this is an opportunity to invent words and be a budding lexicographer.

Looking forward to your comments.

Vocab Quiz - V (chronots)

Answers to Vocab Quiz - V (chronots)

Hello people ,

This week's vocab quiz was based on all the roots related to time.For my convinience I call them chronots [chrono-time + ots (from roots)].The quiz covered the following three roots:

• chrono (from the Titan king Chronus,the father of Zeus according to Greek Mythology) ; other words from the same root : chronic,chronology,chronomancy,chronicle,synchronise,anachronism
• tempor (time ) : other words from this root : temporal.temporary,contemporary
• archae (ancient) : other words related to this root : archives,archivist,archaeology,archaic,archetype

Answers

1. ancient
2. lasting only for a time
3. time
4. both 1 and 3 (ante - before + diluvian (flood) [ according to the bible there was this huge flood which destroyed mankind.The only person who God wanted to save was Noah.The same story also exist in Hindu mythology where Manu was saved by God.Just proves a point how all the ancient stories and different mythologies are related.There is a unifying thread that binds all religions in the world yet the world fights in the name of religion .....gyaan ho gaya na :) ]
5. all the above

Learnings from this quiz

Roots related to time : chrono,archae,tempor
Prefix : ante (before) other words from the prefix ante : antecedent,anterior

Grammar Quiz - V (Personal Pronouns)

Grammar Quiz - V (Personal Pronouns)

Pronouns are words used in place of nouns.There are different types of pronouns,this quiz covers personal pronouns (called so coz they are used to indicate individuals only).

Since a pronoun is a word used in place of a noun the usage of a pronoun depends on three aspects of the noun.These three aspects are as follows:

• number ( SN takes SPr ; PN takes PPr) e.g Ram will be replaced by a he/him/his but Ram and Shyam will be replaced by we/us/our/they/them/their
• gender (Ram [M] takes a he , Sita [F] takes a she , bench [N] takes a it and students [ common] takes a he/she)
• case : the case of a pronoun depends on the position of the noun in a sentence i.e whether a noun is used as a subject,object or used to indicate possession

In the usage of personal pronouns we also have to take into consideration the person of the pronouns.

first person singular : I
second person singular : you
third person singular : he/she/it
first person plural : we
third person plural : they

All these pronouns have four forms depending on their position in the sentence.The following table will help you understand the concept better:

Subjective case       Objective case       Possessive Adjective   Possessive Pr

[used in the subject  [used in the object            [used to indicate possession]
position]                   position]

         I                             me                              my                                    mine
        you                        you                              your                                 yours
         he                          him                               his                                    his
        she                         her                                her                                  hers
         it                            it                                   its                                     its
        we                          us                                 our                                  ours
        they                        them                             their                                 theirs
        who                       whom                           whose                              whose

Hence it can be said that the noun and the pronouns should agree with each other in terms of  number,case and gender.This error is referred to as Pronoun-Antecedent agreement.

Answers

1) Raghav likes Priya more than me or I (like her is implied with the usage of I) [ either can be used with a change in meaning]

2)  Rahul and I would be attending the party tonight. [ When two or more personal pronouns with different persons are used in the same sentence they follow an order.This order depends on the positive or negative meaning conveyed by the sentence.If the sentence conveys a positive meaning the order is : II,III,I and when it conveys a negative meaning the order is : I,II,III]

3) She is taller than I am.[ since we are comparing two subjects here both the pronouns would remain in the subjective case]

4) The hen lay on her eggs. [ hen is a feminine gender and hence her,it is used for an animate beings when the sex is unspecified]

5) Ram and Shyam are good friends. Ram or Shyam stays in the hostel. [In this sentence we cannot use a pronoun as it would lead to ambiguity.]

If you have any queries do post it in the 'comments' section of this blog.

Vocab Quiz - IV (Homophones)

Vocab Quiz- IV (homophones)

Hello friends,

This quiz was based on homophones [ homo-similiar + phonos-sound].Homophones are words with the same sound but different meanings.Such words at times occur as pairs, at times as triplets or also as quadruplets

eg of homophone pairs : its/it's,of/off,stationery/stationary,discreet/discrete etc......
eg of triplets :  bite/byte/bight,censor/censure/sensor,cite/sight/site etc .......
eg of quadruplets : rite/write/right/Wright,year/ear/hear/here etc .......

In CAT these words are evaluated through a question category called substitution based questions.This quiz was created to help you work on these type of words.

Answers

1) advice [ advice is a noun/advise is a verb]*

2) effect [ affect means influence/effect means a result]

3) rites

4) practise [ practice is a noun/practise is a verb]

5) censorious [ censure - critical/censor - edit]

* [words ending in -ice are nouns and those in -ise are verbs]

Here is a list of a few homophones I could think of :

• compliment/complement
• proscribe/prescribe
• council / counsel
• confident/confidant
• opposite/apposite
• canvas/canvass
• altar/alter
• access/excess
• accessory/accessary
• augur/auger
• broach/brooch
• coarse/course
• cousin/cozen
• creek/creak
• hangar/hanger
• grate/great
• gamble/gambol
• license/licence
• mall/maul
• foreword/forward
• freeze/frieze
• rote/wrote
• whit/wit
• whine/wine
• root/rout
• program/programme (these have been contributed by Priyanka)
• hoard/horde
• knot/not
• knotty/naughty
• price/prize
• reck/wreck
• bear/bare (contributed by Namrata)
• ax/axe
• awed/odd
• cot/caught
• marry/Mary/merry
• would/wood
• tail/tale
• ascent/accent
• bough/bow
• sea/see
• chalk/chock
• ad/add
• air/err
• aisle/isle/i'll
• allowed/aloud

If you can think of any interesting homophones do post it in the comment section of this post.Let's try and compile a list of homophones that would help you guys with your preparation.This would be an ongoing activity for the next 4 months.Hopefully, by October end we would have a comprehensive list of homophones and often misused words.

So get,set and go !!!!!!

Hope you guys wont disappoint me.

List of slang and abbreviations used in modern communication

Hey guys,

I am trying to collate all the slang and abbreviations used and invented by people belonging to the new age world.These would include all the short forms used by people while chatting,sending messages etc.A few of them are as follows:

r - are
v - we
u - you
d - the
4 - for
b4 - before
y - why
t - tea
k - ok
f9 - fine (d weirdest of all)
fyi - for your information
pfa - plz find attached
gtg - got to go
brb - be right back
lol - laugh out loud
bau - business as usual
paw - parents are watching
adb - all the best
asap - as soon as possible
gm - good morning
gn - good night
coz - because
mos - mom over shoulders
ge - good evening
rwt - return with thanks
np - no problem
ty - thankyou
tw - thats wat
hand - have a nice day
oder - other
wid - with
gnsd - good night sweet dreams
1ce - once
dat - that

I am sure you guys who use this medium of conversation more than me would know many more.Please add the ones not mentioned above in the comments section of this post.Will include them in the list eventually.

Hope you guys would enjoy this excercise.

Chao !!!!

Grammar Quiz -III (Articles)

Vocab Quiz - III (root:ped)

Grammar Quiz-IV

Grammar Quiz - IV (Apostrophe)

Answers

1) Due to heavy rains the CET achievers'/achievers's meet was postponed to the next weekend.

2) India should not play a second fiddle to the US but protect its interest.[it's is an abbreviation for it is]

3) One must learn to keep one's promise.

4) It is so far the biggest party in the 2000s. [ Plural of number should be without an apostrophe.However single digit number plural is expressed with an apostrophe 2's,3's etc]

5) Some of his children have Ph.Ds [abbreviations do not take an apostrophe to show the plural unless written as Ph.D where also it takes the 's' without the apostrophe sign]

Theory for the usage of the apostrophe

Generally students attribute the usage of the apostrophe sign to indicate possession. But a closer look at the placement of the apostrophe reveals something else.

Carefully look at what the apostrophe connotes in the following examples:

It’s means it is; here the apostrophe stands for a missing i
I’m means I am ; here the apostrophe stands for a missing a
Ma’am means madam; here the apostrophe stands for a missing d
2o’clock means 2 of the clock ; here the apostrophe stands for a missing f

In all these cases an apostrophe simply means a word or a letter missing [traditionally an apostrophe was always used to indicate a letter missing]. So possibly in the usage Sneha’s bag the apostrophe could mean a missing word. Since this phrase means the bag belongs to Sneha it could mean a missing her. How?

This can be traced to a different word order that was a characteristic of old English. Sneha’s bag was written as Sneha her bag/John’s bag was written as John his bag.So an apostrophe with Sneha or John was used to indicate a missing his/her.Since his and her indicate possession the apostrophe with a noun getst its current meaning that of indicating possession.

On this basis all the rules regarding the usage of the apostrophe can be explained. Here are few of them:

Inanimate objects do not take an apostrophe (possessive pronouns can be used only for animate objects because only animate objects can possess)
Possessive pronouns like hers, yours do not take an apostrophe (would lead to duplication)
Words ending in the sound ‘s’ are followed only by the sign [‘] ( to prevent the hissing sound during pronunciation) e.g. Keats’, Charles’

Vocab Quiz- III (on the root ped)

Etymology is the study of words by splitting the word into its components prefix,root and suffix has many facets to it which can make the study of words slightly confusing.

One such facet is one root having multiple meanings.This quiz looks at one such root in detail i.e. 'ped'.The root 'ped' has three meanings : feet,child and information.

Answers
1) both 2 and 4 [ both the spellings are valid.paedophile is basically used in the American system but in India both the spellings are accepted.This word has a negative connotation]

2) information [ wiki in Hawaii language means fast and hence wikipedia the search engine is fast information.While encyclopedia;en-into+ cyklos around or circle+ pedia,means inside this there is information of things around you]

3) ped - feet [other words having the root ped with the meaning feet are;pedestal,pedigree,centipede,millipede,stampede.moped etc]

4) impediment [ usage :The Right to information act raises no legal impediment to charging for access to public records]

5) to take care of [other words from the same root: manicure,curator,curate,secure]

Note : if you have come across with roots having multiple meanings plz post them in the comment section of this post.will elaborate them for the benefit of the other students.