DEVELOPING A SENSE OF PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE

DEVELOPING A SENSE OF

 PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE

According to Palmer (1974), ‘For almost any language the part that concerns with the verb is the most difficult’ (p.1).

When speak any language, we either speak about past time, present time or future time. We make references to time through the use of appropriate forms of verbs and other lexical items (adverbs and prepositions of time).

For example,

1. When we want to talk about something that we do everyday, we use present simple

 ( I/ we/ you/ they/ students  come

   He/ She / It/ Reena comes)

I come to college everyday.

He comes to college everyday.

2. When we want to talk about something that we did in the past (e.g. yesterday), we change the verb into its past tense form.

I came to college yesterday.

3. When we want to talk about something we will do in future (e.g. tomorrow), we change the verb into its future tense form.
I will come to college tomorrow.

Time = Simple

	Past	Present (habit)	Future
Question	When did you come yesterday? When did she come yesterday?	When do you come everyday? When does he come everyday?	When will you come tomorrow? When will Tina come tomorrow?
Signal words	Yesterday, on Monday, ago.	Everyday, always, usually, sometimes, never.	Tomorrow …
Sentence	I came at 10 o’clock yesterday. She came at 10 o’clock yesterday	I come at 10 o’clock everyday. He comes at 10 o’clock everyday.	I will come at 10 o’clock tomorrow. Tina will come at 10 o’clock tomorrow.
Negative	I didn’t come at 10 o’clock yesterday.	I don’t come at 10 o’clock everyday. He doesn’t come at 10 o’clock everyday.	I will not come at 10 o’clock tomorrow.

Regular Verbs	Present Simple	Past simple	Future simple
Walk	walk / walks	walked	will walk
Play	play / plays	played	will play
Ask	ask / asks	asked	will ask
Finish	finish / finishes	finished	will finish
Work	work / works	worked	will work
Watch Irregular Verbs	watch/watches Present Simple	watched Past simple	Will watch Future simple
Speak	speak / speaks	spoke	will speak
Buy	buy / buys	bought	will buy
Eat	eat / eats	ate	will eat
Send	send / sends	sent	will send
See	see / sees	saw	will see

      Following are the most commonly used verbs in English. Try to change them into their present tense, past tense and future tense forms.

accept allow ask believe borrow break bring buy cancel change clean comb complain cough count cut dance draw drink drive eat explain fall fill find

finish fit fix fly forget give go have hear hurt know learn leave listen live look lose make/do need open close/shut  organise pay play put

see rain read reply run say sell send sign sing sit sleep smoke speak spell spend stand start/begin  study succeed swim take talk teach tell

think translate travel try turn off turn on type understand  use wait wake up want watch work worry write

      Speaking on the following topics:

1. What do you do everyday?
2. What did you do yesterday?
3. What will you do tomorrow?

Say it Right!...

Say it Right!

It is very difficult to utter a sentence without using English nowadays. We use many English words in our day-to-day conversations. E.g. pen, pencil, fan, glass, notebook, time, dress, shirt, shoes, calendar, chalk, tie, train etc. That shows the importance English language has acquired. No matter which field you are in, knowledge of English is of paramount importance. So I would like to share a few important concepts that would help people who want to improve their expertise in English language. A person is said to have mastered a language if he/she has mastered the three subsystems of the language: 

1) Grammar
2) Pronunciation 
3) Vocabulary

So when one wants to improve his language skills, he/she has to work in all the above areas. In this article, I am going to concentrate on the area of pronunciation. When we speak, our pronunciation creates the first impression. Then come the areas of sentence structure (grammar) and use of words (vocabulary). The pronunciation system needs to be dealt in three levels moving from simple to complex:

1) Sound level
2) Word level
3) Sentence level

In this article, I am going to concentrate on the sound level problems faced by the learners. We should pronounce each and every sound clearly and distinctly. While producing vowel sounds, we should be very careful about the length of the vowel sounds. If it is a short sound (as in fit), we should keep it short and if it is a long sound (as in feet), we should make it sufficiently long. Change in the length of the vowel sound can lead to the change in the meaning of the whole sentence.

For example, 
I can’t live without it. ( Meaning: I will die without it)

In the above sentence, the vowel sound in the word ‘live’ is short and should be kept short. If by mistake anyone elongates the vowel sound in ‘live’, it becomes ‘leave’ and it changes the meaning of the whole sentence.

I can’t leave without it. (Meaning: I can’t go without it.)

While uttering consonant letters, one has to take care of the silent letter words. Some letters are silent i.e. they are not pronounced in certain words. For example, in the word ‘card’ , letter ‘r’ is silent. In fact letter ‘r’ is pronounced only if it is followed by a vowel sound. E.g. very, rain etc. Some of more examples of silent letter words are as follows.

B comb dumb climb lamb doubt debt
L could calm half talk walk chalk
H honour honest hour heir 
T whistle castle listen fasten soften often
batch catch fetch witch wrestle
K knee knife know knob knot knit
R card park work sister teacher water
G gnat campaign design foreign sign resign 
D Wednesday badge dodge handsome handkerchief edge
W write wrist wrinkle wrestle wrath wrong 
N autumn column condemn damn solemn

Watch the consonant sounds, particularly when they appear at the end of the words. They can be sometimes weakly pronounced. Many Indians, especially Maharashtrians, face difficulty in pronouncing the sound of ‘f’ in the word ‘fan’. Instead, they tend to pronounce the combination of the first sound in ‘pan’ and the first sound in ‘hat’. So they pronounce ‘ph’ instead of ‘f’. When we pronounce ‘f’ in ‘fan’, our upper teeth should touch our lower lips. But many Indians pronounce it by using both the lips i.e. their upper lip touches their lower lip and it results in wrongly producing ‘ph’ sound. Another difference lies in the production of the sound of ‘w’ and ‘v’. The ‘w’ in the word ‘wall’ should be pronounced with rounded lips. On the contrary, many Indians touch their upper teeth to their lower lips and wrongly produce the ‘v’ sound instead of ‘w’. So ensure that you produce your vowel and consonant sounds clearly and rightly. 


Exercise:

1. Try to read the following paragraph allowed with correct pronunciation of silent letter words.
Next Wednesday is the eighth of January, and I promised my grandfather very solemnly that I would visit the castle with him on that day. He asked me at Christmas, and I might have gone then, but I had an accident, when I cut my wrist and my thumb. I wrapped my handkerchief around my wrist, fastened it tightly with a knot and hastened to the doctor as fast as I could, but the sight of blood made me feel quite ill, so  I was honest with my grandfather, and he thoroughly agreed that I oughtn’t to go out till my limbs stopped shaking and I felt calmer.

2. Practicing vocal Skills

Read the above paragraph silently and then aloud as if you were trying to speak to someone sitting next to you. Repeat the reading standing up and imagine you are communication to fifty people in a large space. 

Written by-
Dr. Leena Jadhav