 Assalamu alaikum viewers, welcome to English. In the past couple of lessons, we have been looking at how to write a paraphrase, how to write summaries. Now we shall look at areas which pose problems for Pakistani learners of English. And in today's lesson, we shall first discuss verb tenses and the problems that they pose for learners of English. And next, we shall examine passive sentences. Now you know that in an English sentence, the verb is the most important word. This is through the action described by the verb that the sentence becomes alive. As a result, I would say that the verb is the lifeblood of a sentence. Now among other properties, verbs tell time. They tell time by specifying when the action occurred, when the action took place. This time feature is known as tense. All verbs have different tenses indicated, all verbs have different tenses that indicate the time the sentence is referring to. Let me repeat that all verbs have different tenses that indicate the time the sentence is referring to. We will begin with the four principle verb parts that are the basis for all the other tenses, for all tenses. Then we will go on to describe the most common verb tenses in English. Now the four main parts of regular verbs. All the verbs, all the verb tenses come from one of the four main parts of verbs. These main parts are the base form, the past tense form, the present participle and the past participle. We look at the base form first. The base form is the form in which verbs are listed in the dictionary. It is used for the present tense for all subject except the third person singular subject. For instance, in the sentence I eat kebabs for lunch, I eat and then you say Saima eats kebabs for lunch, right? That is the base form which changes for the third person. It is used for the present tense for all subjects except third person singular subject. The second is the past tense form. The past tense form of most verbs is formed by adding e ed, e d or d to the basic form. You already know this. Take the sentence, they praise the president for his bold speech. It is the e ed, e d sorry, the e d at the end of the word praise that tells you the past time, the past tense and in the word I asked, it is again the e d ending of ask that tells you that it is the past tense form, right? Now, let us look at the third form, the present participle. It is the ing form of a verb. The present participle is the form that is used with the helping verbs am is are was were. It is used with these examples. This is used to show continuing action. For example, you say Joe is spreading the sheet on the ground by adding ing. You show the action is continuing. It is a continuing action, Joe is spreading the sheet on the ground or you say as I was gathering the clothes, the wind blew some of them. As I was gathering the clothes on the line, the wind blew away some of them. And the fourth one is the past participle. The past participle of a verb is usually the same as the past tense form. The past participle is the form that is used with the helping verbs have has had and with am is are was were. For example, the girl has asked the boss for a raise. The girl has asked the boss for a raise and have asked is the past participle over there. In the sentence, the kitchen door was jammed tight. Was jammed is the past participle form, right? Now on your screen, you will see the main parts of the regular verbs. Three regular verbs are given you, jump, smile and hope and look at the four basic parts. The first is the basic form, next is the past tense form followed by the present participle and then the past participle. You have jump, jumped, jumping, jumped, smile, smiled, smiling, smiled, hope, hoped, hoping, hoped. Now, there are six main tenses in English. They are present, past, future, present perfect, past perfect and future perfect. There are six main tenses in English and there is a chart on your screen that shows the basic tenses of the verb jump. Present tense, I jump, past tense, I jumped, future, I will jump, present perfect, I have jumped, past perfect, I had jumped and future perfect, I will have jumped. These are the six basic main tenses of English. Now, we shall look at these tenses in greater detail. Let us take the first one, the present tense. The present tense is used to describe an action that is happening in the present or it is used to describe a condition that exists at the present time regardless of the other verbs in the sentence. For example, Susan works in children's toys on the third floor. This is something that she does every day. It is almost an habitual action. Then you have got the neighbour's dog smells our plants. That is, he is doing it now. He smells it. It is a present action. And then the second one is that the present tense is used to express a universal truth, a continuing truth or a relatively permanent truth regardless of when the truth was stated. For example, despite what he said, his old car averages only 10 miles a litre, averages. Another sentence, the main point of the principal's address last night indicated moral standards are still important. Now although there is the words last night indicated, it is something that took place in the past, this address, but he is talking about something which is a relatively permanent truth. So, these were the two main uses of the present tense. Now, we look at the third one. The historical present. This is the third use of the present tense. It is called the historical present. The present tense is used to make more vivid the description of some past action through a statement or a summarization of the facts from a book or a report. You usually state things that are stated in a report or in a book or in a play and you report it as if it is in the present action, in the present time. For example, in his report, Mr. Farooq states that the president will call candidates for interview in a year's time, right? Example, another example, revenge says the Lord is mine. This is a quotation from the Bible. Revenge says the Lord. Now, that is, it is again stated in the present tense. This historical present is used when we write about events or happenings in a work of literature. The rationale for using the present tense is that the happenings of literature are unchangeable and therefore are permanently true. Now, that was the present tense. We look at the past tense now and the past tense is used to describe an action or state of being that occurred sometime in the past. For example, you have the sentence, at yesterday's party the host made a rude remark. You are talking about something that took place in the past. Another example, the goods were delivered late last night. The past tense is very easy to identify. The third tense is the future tense and there are different uses of the future tense. The first one is to indicate an action which is to take place in the future or in a state or condition that will exist sometime in the future. For instance, in the sentence, according to the college schedule, the examinations will be held in the basement at 9 am. You are talking about something that is going to be held sometime in the future. Another example, if you are to succeed, you will need to set realistic goals, will need you will need again something referring to an action that will take place in the future. The second use of the future tense is that you can form the future tense by placing will or shall before the verb. Now, in the past, if you look up old grammars, the use of will and shall was prescribed. Garmarian said that you can use will in such a situation and shall in another situation. But in today's language usage, will is typically used to express ordinary future tense, right? Will is used to express future tense and shall is used to express a demand or is used with laws, policies or contracts. You get the difference, a lot of people think they still follow what old grammarians said. But nowadays in today's language, today's language usage, will is typically used to express ordinary future tense. We will go out tonight, we will be doing this etcetera etcetera and shall is used to express a demand or it is used with laws, policies or contracts. For example, you shall have this term paper submitted on time, this is almost a demand. In vigilators shall ensure that the examination rules are fully implemented. For example, if you meet the deadline, you will reap the benefits, right? Now, we shall turn to three the three the perfect tenses. Now, there are three perfect tenses. The first one, the perfect tenses are formed by help by using the helping verb have has or had and you add them to the past participle of the verb and you know the past participle of a regular verb is simply the form that ends in E D. Let us look at the present perfect tense. That is the first of the three perfect tenses. This is the first one, the present perfect tense. This is used to describe an action that started in the past and either has been finished or is continuing at the present time. The present perfect tense is formed when we add has or have plus the past participle. Marina has worked at a number of jobs over the year, has worked. This is the present perfect tense. It is something that started in the past and is continuing at the present time. For example, after great efforts by the police, the building has been evacuated, something that took place in the past and has finished recently. The second perfect tense is the past perfect tense. It describes an action that was completed in the past before another past action. The past perfect tense is formed when we add had plus the past participle. Example, Marina had worked in a number of TV programs before she joined the company. Now over there had worked, describes an action that was completed in the past before another past action, before she joined the company. She had worked. Another example, before I reached my office, my friend Leila had returned my call and the sixth tense or the third perfect tense is the future perfect tense. It describes an action that will be completed before sometime in the future and this perfect tense, the future perfect tense is formed when we add shall have or will have to the past participle. For example, in the sentence, by the end of the year the contractors will have completed the new block. You are describing an action that will be completed before sometime in the future. Mr. Saeed will have been employed by the printing firm for 25 years in December because December is still to come and we are talking about an action that will be completed before sometime in the future. Our secretary shall have entered all data of your report by Saturday, shall have entered. Now these were the perfect tenses. Now there are three more, the three progressive tenses, first we had the perfect tenses. Now we are going to look at the progressive tenses. Now as their name suggests, these tenses express actions which are still in progress at a particular time and they are made by adding a form of the helping verb, the helping verb B to the ING form of the verb. Now all this sounds very technical, you do not have to bother about it. The more you read you will pick up these tenses. The first progressive tense is the present progressive tense. It expresses an action taking place at this moment or that will occur sometime in the future. For example Marina is working at the office today, is working ING and is which means that she is the action is taking place right now. I am going to the bookstore, the second one is the past progressive tense and that expresses an action that was in progress at a certain time in the past. Again, we have got Marina today and we are using Marina in all the examples. Marina was working yesterday, I was practicing my speech last night. And the third progressive tense is the future progressive tense and it expresses an action that will be in progress at a certain time in the future. Example again Marina will be working tomorrow, the visitors will be pacing in the reception hall all expressing an action that will be in progress at a certain time in the future. Now when you write you must avoid unnecessary shifts in tense. For example if you are writing something with the action in the past tense, do not suddenly shift to the present for no reason. Look at the example that you have on your screen. In my dream a snake slithered along the side of my bed and slips quickly on to my pillow. Now if you look at that sentence there are two verbs, the first verb slithered is in the past tense and the second one slips is in the present tense. Now there is no need for the writer to slip from one tense to the other, there is no need for the sudden shift from the past tense slithered to the present tense slips. It is not only in writing but in conversation also that people shift from one verb tense to another. Now in speaking it does not pose a problem but in writing it just shows that you do not have a command over the language. Now we shall have a quick practice, there are a number of sentences before you on your screen, you spot the wrong tense word. Number one, when my sister saw flames and smoke coming from her room she reacted quickly, she picks up her handbag and some pictures of her family then she rushed out into the open. Now in that passage which wrong tense word has been used, you have the word the verb saw and you have got reacted and then you have got the verb rushed, it is the verb picks that is wrongly used, it should have been she picked up, the sudden swift shift from past to present that is wrong. Number two, pink flowers blossom on this peach tree every spring, then tiny green buds appeared, finally the peaches grow into sweet red fruit. Now which tense word is wrong, you have got the word blossom and then you have got the word appeared and it is the word appeared that is wrong, it should have been then tiny green buds appear. Now this is a longer passage, some more practice for you to spot the tense shifts. In this passage you will notice that the writer shifts from one tense to another. In his oversized t-shirt the little boy looked even smaller than he was, his skinny arms stretch out of the flopping sleeves that reach down to his wrists, he needed a haircut, he has to push his hair out of his eyes to see, his eyes fail to meet those of the people passing by as he asked them, can you give me five rupees? Now you will notice that the writer continuously shifts from the past tense to the present. Now which words, which verbs are in the past tense? The verbs looked, was, needed, asked, they are all in the past tense and you notice that the writer switches from the past to the present, the words, the verb stretch, the verb reach, the verb has to push and again the verb fail. The writer is continuously shifting and the tense shifts, they confuse the reader who will not know when the events happened. So in the passage that you have just seen the verbs should be in the past tense. So when you write shift tense is only when for some reason the time of the action actually changes, it is only when the action that you are describing, the time of the action actually changes. Now another practice for you, you spot the verb in each sentence that is not in the same tense as the others. Now all these practice sessions should help you to pick out the wrong tenses. Number one, Hafiz rang the doorbell and waited for several minutes. Finally, when no one answers, he turned away disappointed. Which is the wrong tense? It is the verb answers, it should have been answered, Hafiz rang the doorbell and waited for several minutes. Finally, when no one answered, he turned away disappointed. Number two, as the campers drove away, they look back and saw their dog running after them. Now notice the first verb is drove and that is in the past tense and suddenly the next verb look, it is in the present tense and the third verb is saw, which is again in the past tense. So there is this unnecessary shift from one tense to the other. It should have been as the campers drove away, they looked back, E.D. looked back and saw their dog running after them. Sentence number three, he came home early because he was not feeling well. Then he discovers his wife had the door key, came is in the past, discovers the verb discovers is in the present. It should have been discovered, he came home early because he was not feeling well, then he discovered his wife had the door key, so he was locked out. Number four, our children love going to the school library because they can take out any book they wanted, even if they cannot read it yet, very easy to spot and it is the verb wanted. It should have been want, right. Now before we move on to the next part of the lesson, let us just check your knowledge of verb tenses, a short quick review of what we have done so far. Look at the first one, there are six basic tenses in English, true or false. Number two, they are present, past, dash, you have to fill in the blank over there, fill in the blank with the correct word, you just say it aloud. Number two, they are the tenses, we are talking about the tenses. Number two, they are present, past, dash, present perfect, dash, future perfect. So it has to be, they are present, past, future, present perfect, past perfect. In the blanks that you have over there, the first blank will be filled in with the word future and the second one with past perfect. The past tense is formed with regular verbs by adding to the basic form of the verb, what has to be added to make the past tense, simple, ed or d. Number four, which tense is formed by adding the word will before the basic form of the verb and it is the future, you have to fill in the blank with the word future. Number five, which tense, the tenses are formed by adding a form of the helping verb have, has, had to the past participle of the verb and it is the perfect tense. Number six, what words will you fill in there? The dash, dash, tense describes an action that was completed in the past before another past action and that would be the past perfect tense and the last one, the present progressive tense is formed by adding the correct form of the helping verb, b to the s form of the verb or the ing form of the verb or the ed form of the verb, which one is it and we are talking about the present progressive tense. So it has to be the ing form, now that was a review of the lesson so far. Now, tense as you have learned is the verb property that describes when in time an action took place. Now, we shall look at another property of the verb, which is known as voice. This is another property of verbs and it is known as voice. To understand voice, you must know the distinction between active and passive voice, right? Active and passive voice and you must avoid this mistake of thinking that every verb is either passive or active. Some verbs are neither active nor passive but they are known as linking verbs. Now, what does voice do? Voice indicates whether the subject of the verb is performing the action or is receiving the action which is described by the verb, right? Now there are two points that you must keep in mind. The first is that use active voice to emphasize the performer of an action. When you want to emphasize who is doing the action, then you must write the sentence in the active voice. You must use the passive voice to deemphasize the performer of the action and in this way you emphasize the object of the action. Now if you look at, I will show you a chart and it will become very clear. Sentences are either written either in the as active or in the passive voice. Now let us look at the structure of the active voice sentence and the structure of the passive voice sentence. Now on the chart notice there are four columns. The first one is subject, second is verb, third is direct object and the fourth is complement. Now an active voice sentence, the verb has an object, a direct object. The first sentence, the state management will prosecute, the verb will prosecute and the verb has a direct object. The object is trespassers, trespassers, right? Number two, passengers may purchase tickets at any airline office. The verb is may purchase and may purchase requires a direct object which happens to be tickets. Number three, students use computers in the laboratory, right? Use the verb use in that active sentence has a direct object which is computers. Therefore you should take the medicine once daily. You is the subject, look at all the four subjects in that chart. Look at the verbs and look at the direct objects. The verbs in the active sentence need a direct object, right? They may or may not take compliments but they do take direct objects. Now you notice that in these sentences the subject performs the action of the verb. In passive sentences the subject receives the action of the verb. The direct object of the active sentence becomes the subject of the passive sentence. Because every sentence in English must have a subject, passive sentences can be formed only by transitive verbs. Transitive verbs take direct objects. Therefore you cannot say he was died because die is an intransitive verb. Now look at the next chart which is the structure of passive voice sentences and notice the change. Here the verbs are trespassers, tickets, computers, the medicine, right? Trespassers will be prosecuted, tickets may be purchased, computers are used, the medicine should be taken. Notice how the whole thing is inverted, the formation of passive sentences. A passive sentence is composed of the following parts. Subject plus some tense of the B form of the verb plus the past participle plus agent. Number one you have to keep in mind there are four things in the formation of the passive sentence. The object of an active sentence becomes the subject of the passive sentence. What is the object in an active sentence? It becomes the subject of the passive sentence, that is number one. Number two in the passive sentence the tense is formed by the B form of the verb. Number three the subject of the active sentence becomes the agent of the passive sentence. And number four in a passive sentence the agent or the doer of the action may sometimes be omitted. Now it will all become clear if you look at the verb tenses in passive sentences. Look at the present tense tenses in passive sentences. The simple present. Jewels are bought by ladies are bought right present continuous jewels are being bought by ladies. Past perfect ladies have been advised to declare their jewelry in their wealth tax forms and the use of models steps must be taken to educate the public about filling up tax forms. The past tenses in a passive sentence this is how the past tense is used. Maps of the rebels the rebels hide out were shown to the press. Past continuous until recently handcrafted jewelry was not being designed locally. Past perfect Pakistani carpets had always been designed by local artists and with perfect models the textile industry might not have been required by the government to pay taxes. The future tenses teaching assistants will be used to assist teachers in evaluating students examination scripts will be used. This is a passive sentence using the future tense will be used. Number 1 factories are going to be built in the new export promoting zone are going to be the going to form which is the future and the future perfect by 2010 the new canal system will have been put into regular use will have been put into regular use. Now all these sentences were in the passive and you were shown how the different tenses are used in the passive. The agent in the passive sentence a passive sentence can be written with an agent a passive sentence can be written without the agent by agent we mean the doer of the action. Now let us look at samples where a passive sentence is written with the agent the agent in the passive sentence answers the question by whom or by what the action is performed. Number 1 you have to remember two things the first thing is that the agent is named if it is important or if it is necessary to complete the meaning or understanding of the sentence for example, take the sentence the accident was caused by a cyclist this is a passive sentence the accident was caused by a cyclist. Now by a cyclist is the agent noise in our neighborhood is produced by trains here the agent is named the man was killed by his neighbor by his neighbor. Now in all these three sentences these they were passive sentences, but they were with the agent the agent was specified. Now let us look at sentences passive sentences which are without the agent here the agent is not named you can have a passive sentence where the agent is not named well there are certain conditions. The first condition is when the identity of the agent is understood and it does not have to be mentioned. Example the president has been re-elected for another year now in that passive sentence the agent has not been mentioned that sentence is without the agent and the agent over there is may be it is the council may be it is the voters may be it is the syndicate whatever, but that sentence is without the agent the agent is not named. The president has been re-elected for another year who did the election who elected him it is not mentioned. Another sentence Sheena is spoken in many parts of northern areas of Pakistan by whom Sheena is spoken now in that sentence the agent is not named because Sheena is spoken by people in many parts of northern areas of Pakistan. Now the second condition when you can have a passive sentence without the agent is when the identity of the agent is unimportant for example Pakistan television newscasts are translated into both English and Arabic. Now over there who translates them it is not important Pakistan television newscasts are translated it is understood that they are translated by someone. So the identity of the agent is unimportant. Another condition when you can have a passive sentence without naming the agent when the is when the identity of the agent is unknown for example take this sentence an error has been made in the computer input data an error has been made in the computer input data it is understood that that error has been made by someone. So you can have passive sentences without the agent number one when the identity is unimportant number two when the agent is unknown. Now at the end we will talk about the uses of the passive when you want to give your writing an objective or an impersonal tone you use the passive and it is very often used in scientific writing in business writing and in newspaper reports why because it takes away the responsibility of the writer. Number one when you want to give your writing an objective or an impersonal tone. Number two when you want to focus attention on the receiver of the action now for instance if you were writing a paper about a discovery the use of the passive will focus on the discovery but if you were to write your paper with active verbs the reader might think your paper is about the person who made the discovery and not the discovery itself. So you will use the passive in today's lesson we looked at the different tenses of the verb and we looked at passive sentences. So with that we come to an end Allah Hafiz see you next time.