Marvelous English Grammar: 180 English Grammatical Mistakes

Copyright © 2013 by Prof. Avtar S. Virdi.

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Rev. date: 07/18/2013

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Index

Acknowledgement

Section One

Chapter 1 (spelling, numbers)

Chapter 2 (letters, words, spellings, sentences)

Chapter 3 (noun)

Chapter 4 (pronouns)

Chapter 5 (verbs)

Chapter 6 (adjectives)

Chapter 7 (adverbs)

Chapter 8 (the prepositions)

Chapter 9 (simple tenses (a new concept)

Chapter 10 (simple-what …)

Chapter 11 (past indefinite)

Chapter 12 (present indefinite)

Chapter 13 (future tenses)

Chapter 14 (perfect continuous tenses)

Chapter 15 (compulsions in the past)

Chapter 16 (special use of ‘keep’ in the past, present and future)

Chapter 17 (what, which …)

Chapter 18 (active voices & passive voices)

Section Two

How to Learn these Grammar Rules

Rule 1 - Subject pronouns as subjects

Rule 2 - Subject pronouns in the complement position

Rule 3 - Object Pronouns

Rule 4 - Object pronouns after prepositions

Rule 5 - Reflexive, Emphatic or Intensive pronouns.

Rule 6 - Possessive pronouns before actions

Rule 7 - Possessive pronouns before parts of body.

Rule 8 - Infinitives and gerunds as subjects

Rule 9 - Count nouns

Rule 10 - Non-count nouns

Rule 11 - Nouns with both count and non-count meanings

Rule 12 - Count and non-count nouns with similar meanings

Rule 13 - some troublesome non-count nouns

Rule 14 - singular and plural expressions of non count nouns

Rule 15 - There and Here

Rule 16 - Missing auxiliary verbs

Rule 17 - Tag questions - be and other verbs

Rule 18 - Modals

Rule 19 - Modals - expressing the past

Rule 20 - Tag questions - modals and modal related forms

Rule 21 - Tag questions - Ambiguous abbreviations

Rule 22 - Tag questions (compulsions/plannings)

Rule 23 - Tag questions

Rule 24 - What, Which, When, Where, Why, Who, Whose, Whom, How.

Rule 25 - raise and rise

Rule 26 - lay and lie

Rule 27 - fall and fell

Rule 28 - Borrow and lend

Rule 29 - leave and let

Rule 30 - subjects -ing form

Rule 31 - Determiners - a and an

Rule 32 - Determiners - a and an

Rule 33 - Non-count nouns with qualifying phrases - the

Rule 34 - Ø means All

Rule 35 - no means not any

Rule 36 - One of the and Some of the

Rule 37 - A large (small) number of and A large (small) amount of

Rule 38 - few and little

Rule 39 - A few and few and A little and little

Rule 40 - only a few and only a little

Rule 41 - many and much

Rule 42 - Almost all of the, Almost all, Most of the, Most

Rule 43 - Emphasis - very/so

Rule 44 - Excess - so… . that

Rule 45 - Planned result - so or so that

Rule 46 - Excess - too

Rule 47 - Places - at, in, on

Rule 48 - Time - at, on, in

Rule 49 - On the side of - beside

Rule 50 - Addition - besides

Rule 51 - Cause - from

Rule 52 - Near - by

Rule 53 - Agent - by

Rule 54 - Not later than - by

Rule 55 - Degree/amount - by

Rule 56 - (Used before some nouns without the) - by

Rule 57 - Means - by

Rule 58 - Purpose - for/to

Rule 59 - In support/reason of sb*/sth* - for

Rule 60 - Duration and Point of time - for and since

Rule 61 - Infinitives (group 1) - purpose/result

Rule 62 - Gerunds (group 2) - intention/event

Rule 63 - Infinitive/Gerunds (group 3)

Rule 64 - A special Rule of the past tense

Rule 65 - A special Rule of the future tense

Rule 66 - A probable guess in the present - will be

Rule 67 - A probable guess in the present - will have

Rule 68 - Past repeated actions - used to

Rule 69 - habits - be used to

Rule 70 - Knowledge and Ability - know and know how to

Rule 71 - Negative imperatives - polite requests

Rule 72 - Necessity for repair/improvement-need

Rule 73 - Belief and knowledge - anticipatory it

Rule 74 - not any more - no longer

Rule 75 - sometime and sometimes

Rule 76 - Unfulfilled desires - had hoped

Rule 77 - Relative pronouns referring to persons and things.

Rule 78 - Relative pronouns which refer to persons.

Rule 79 - Conditional results for the future

Rule 80 - Conditional results for the future with past verbs

Rule 81 - Conditional possibilities for the past

Rule 82 - Duration - have/has + past participle

Rule 83 - Past perfect passive activity - have/has + been + past participle

Rule 84 - A conditional action - unless

Rule 85 - up to a point or event - until

Rule 86 - Reflexive pronouns

Rule 87 - Reciprocal pronouns

Rule 88 - That clause

Rule 89 - Exact similarity - the same as and the same

Rule 90 - General similarity - similar to and similar

Rule 91 - General similarity - like and alike

Rule 92 - General difference - to differ from

Rule 93 - General difference - different from and different

Rule 94 - more than and less than

Rule 95 - Cardinal numbers

Rule 96 - Ordinal numbers

Rule 97 - Important days and their dates

Rule 98 - Hyphenated adjectives

Rule 99 - Logical conclusions - events in the past

Rule 100 - Logical conclusions - events in the present

Rule 101 - Logical conclusions - events that repeat

Rule 102 - The strongest Causative - make

Rule 103 - Moderate causative - get

Rule 104 - The least strong causative - have/has

Rule 105 - Permission - let

Rule 106 - Help

Rule 107 - Wish - For a different past.

Rule 108 - Wish - for the present and the future.

Rule 109 - Wish - something to happen repeatedly

Rule 110 - Wish - Contrary to facts or something impossible

Rule 111 - Wishful results for conditions contrary to facts

Rule 112 - Cause - such and so (for singulars)

Rule 113 - Cause - such and so (for plurals)

Rule 114 - Comparative estimate - as many as

Rule 115 - Comparative estimate - as much as

Rule 116 - Advice - had better (should/must)

Rule 117 - Preference for self - would rather

Rule 118 - Preference for others - would rather that

Rule 119 - Time - to take some action

Rule 120 - Indirect questions - What, Which, When, Where, Why, Who, Whose, Whom, How, How long, How many, How much.

Rule 121 - -ever

Rule 122 - -while

Rule 123 - Pseudo comparatives

Rule 124 - but and except

Rule 125 - Replacement - Instead and Instead of

Rule 126 - in spite of and despite

Rule 127 - because of and because

Rule 128 - nouns functioning as adjective

Rule 129 - Conjunctions - not… but

Rule 130 - Conjunctions - not only… but also

Rule 131 - Conjunctions - both… and

Rule 132 - Conjunctions - as well as

Rule 133 - Negative emphasis

Rule 134 - As a whole and wholly

Rule 135 - Sufficiency - enough with nouns

Rule 136 - Sufficiency - enough with adjectives

Rule 137 - Adjectives with verbs of senses

Rule 138 - comparing two things by quality nouns

Rule 139 - comparing two things by quality adjectives

Rule 140 - Degrees of comparison - irregular adjectives

Rule 141 - Degrees of comparison - regular adjectives.

Rule 142 - Degrees of comparison - superlative adjectives

Rule 143 - Degrees of comparison - comparative adverbs.

Rule 144 - Degrees of comparison - superlative adverbs

Rule 145 - Double comparatives

Rule 146 - Illogical comparatives - similarity and difference

Rule 147 - subjunctive verbs - some wishful verbs

Rule 148 - nouns derived from subjunctive (wishful) verbs

Rule 149 - Importance - Impersonal expressions

Rule 150 - Consecutive orders - One, another, the other

Rule 151 - Consecutive orders - some, other, the other some, others, the others(the rest)

Rule 152 - Adverbs of manner

Rule 153 - special adverbs - fast, late, hard and opposite

Rule 154 - Affirmative agreement - so and too

Rule 155 - Negative agreement - neither and either

Rule 156 - Agreement - verb-subject order

Rule 157 - Agreement - subject with companions and verb

Rule 158 - Agreement - subject with appositive and verb

Rule 159 - Agreement - modified subject and verb

Rule 160 - Agreement - an indefinite singular subject and verb

Rule 161 - Agreement - an indefinite subject and verb

Rule 162 - Agreement - a collective subject and verb

Rule 163 - Agreement - activities of the past

Rule 164 - one/one’s - impersonal pronouns

Rule 165 - dangling modifiers

Rule 166 - parallel structure - series

Rule 167 - misrepresentation (By correlative conjunctions)

Rule 168 - Redundancy - unnecessary phrases

Rule 169 - Redundancy - repetition of similar words

Rule 170 - Redundancy - repetition of a noun by a pronoun.

Rule 171 - Agreement - noun and pronoun

Rule 172 - Agreement - subject and possessive pronoun

Rule 173 - Agreement - Indefinite subject pronouns and possessive pronoun

Rule 174 - Agreement - tenses

Rule 175 - Agreement - indirect reported speech

Rule 176- Agreement - verbs and adverbs

Rule 177 - DOs and MAKEs

Rule 178 - verb phrases that need -ing form in the complement.

Rule 179 - parts of speech and their derivatives.

Rule 180 - prepositional idioms & phrasal preposition

Section Three

Brain Teasers

Some Commonly Used Three Forms Of Verbs

Brain-teaser answers

Vocabulary

This book is dedicated to my beloved family:

Late Mrs. Nasib Kaur Virdi (my mom)

Mr. Kehar singh Virdi (my dad)

Mrs. Ranjit Kaur Virdi (my wife)

Andy and Noris (my sons)

This is a very special book which will cater to the needs of a gigantic section of learners around the world who want to excel in English grammar. Readers will find this book as a golden treasure; very handy, simple and clear because this has been written in a completely new, simple and the most appropriate way to help the learnes. This book is the work of my nineteen year research and teaches readers the highest level of grammar. Despite several proof-readings of published material, some spelling and grammatical errors creep in. Such errors are called devil’s errors. Therefore, the best efforts are being made at our end to give you the best of the best available in the world with every new edition. Your feedback will be highly appreciated. This is absolute original work and copy-right of the author.

Prof. Avtar S. Virdi (Author)        ph.1-604-725-3340

www.EnglishIsVeryEasy.com        email:[email protected]

Acknowledgement

Quotations have enormous power hidden in them. But some quotations are wisdom bombs. Once they explode on someone’s mind, they provoke one’s thoughts. There are some sayings and quotations which inspired me so much that they transformed my attitude and life completely positive forever. I became rock confident to take up any sort of challenge in my life.

Some of the quotations I love are:

1.   Work like a labourer and live like a king.

2.   They can who think they can.

3.   Small minds discuss people, medium minds discuss events, and great minds discuss ideas.

4.   One man with courage is majority.

5.   He, who dreams the most, does the most. But keep working while you dream.

6.   Failure means not to give up, but try harder.

7.   We don’t plan to fail, but we fail to plan.

8.   Your each expression leaves an impression.

9.   Hold fast to your dreams, for if dreams die Life is a broken winged bird that cannot fly.

10.   No matter how great your words may be, you will be judged by your actions.

Sometimes we say that he/she is well-educated and well-read. Being well-educated means one has several degrees or diplomas, but a well-read person is who has read and learnt a great deal of stuff and has a wide knowledge of almost all fields. For taking exams such as IELTS, TOEFL, LPI, or any challenge English exam, one must be well-educated and well-read. This book has been compiled after my nineteen-year long, deep and consistent research in English grammar, and is going to cater to the needs of all learners who want to become proficient in English from academic point of view. Though this first edition has not been endorsed by any recognised institute, this has recommendation from hundreds of educators and learners. We are sure this book will bring in a revolution in the field of learning English, and soon most esteemed institutions will endorse this golden treasure. This book is also available online on our website www.englishisveryeasy.com. Please don’t hesitate to send your valuable feedback to us at [email protected] or 1-604-725-3340.

This book is available at Xlibris bookstore online.

Wishing you all the best and great success

Prof. Avtar S. Virdi

Author

Director: GTP Marvellous college, Surrey, BC, Canada

Director: GTP North America publishing house, Surrey, BC, Canada.

Some standard notations in this book

P=Positive, N=Negative, NI=Negative interrogative,

PI=positive interrogative, BrE = British English,

NAmE = North American English, Sb=Subject, Obj=object

SECTION ONE

Chapter 1

There are two systems of English spelling: British and American.

Some examples are given below.

Chapter 2

Letters, Words, Spellings, Sentences

English alphabets are of two types - Capital and small alphabets

Capital alphabets - A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

Small alphabets - a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z

Each alphabet is also called a letter.

Word: A group of letters (two or more) is called a word.

Spelling: Organising letters in a particular way to mean something is called spelling.

The sentence: A group of words that makes complete sense is called a sentence.

For example: 1. We go to work. 2. I paid the bill.

Kinds of sentences

Sentences are of four kinds:-

1 )   Those which express orders, commands, requests or instructions are called imperative sentences.

Example: 1) Keep quiet. 2) Speak the truth.

2