Fill in the blanks using proper verb forms:

1. I ————— school last year.

a) left
b) have left
c) had left
d) was leaving

Read the following sentences:

Active: Do the children play football?
Passive: Is football played by the children? (NOT Do football played by the children?)
Active: Did Alice invite you?
Passive: Were you invited by Alice? (NOT Did you invited by Alice?)

There are as many clauses in a sentence as there are finite verbs. A finite verb has a subject. Infinitives, participles and gerunds are not finite verbs.

For and because

Constructing a sentence having a noun clause is very simple. One of the easiest ways is to begin a sentence like this:

He said that…

A noun clause acts like a noun. It can serve all the purposes a noun serves in a sentence. In the following examples we are comparing the five functions of a noun with that of a noun clause. The sentences are patterned on a similar fashion, but in the first one we have used a noun and in the second one we have used a noun clause.

Expressions with prepositions and particles

A few words which are followed by a certain preposition or adverb particle in British English is followed by a different preposition or particle in American English.

The structure be + infinitive is used to talk about official plans and arrangements in a formal style.

The Prime Minister is to visit Africa next month.
We are to get a wage rise in May.