GNDU B.Com (Bachelor of Commerce)

Chapter 3: English-I: Grammar in Use — Tenses, Modals and Articles

Summary

This unit covers the foundational areas of English grammar drawn from the early units of the prescribed grammar course, with an emphasis on accurate everyday use. The largest topic is the system of tenses, which shows the time of an action. The present tenses include the simple present (for habits and general truths, such as "She works in a bank"), the present continuous (for actions happening now, "She is working"), the present perfect (for actions completed in a period up to now, "She has worked"), and the present perfect continuous. The past tenses include the simple past (a finished action at a definite past time, "She worked"), the past continuous and the past perfect (an action completed before another past action). The future is expressed with "will", "going to" and present forms. The unit also covers modal verbs, which are helping verbs that express ability, possibility, permission, obligation and advice, such as can, could, may, might, must, should, will and would. A further key area is the use of articles: the indefinite articles "a" and "an" introduce a singular countable noun for the first time, while the definite article "the" refers to something specific or already known; some nouns take no article. Mastery of tenses, modals and articles is essential for grammatically correct speaking and writing, and learners practise these through gap-filling, error correction and sentence construction.

Key terms

Important questions

Practice quiz