Published on
4 April 2023
by
Eoghan Ryan.
Revised on
25 September 2023.
The simple present tense is a verb form used to talk about habits, unchanging situations, facts, and planned events in the near future.
The simple present tense of most verbs is the infinitive form (e.g., “sing”). However, the third person singular (e.g., “he,” “she,” and “it”) takes an “s” at the end of the verb (e.g., “write” becomes “writes”).
Any time and anytime are pronounced the same, but they have different grammatical functions.
Any time (two words) is a noun phrase meaning “any amount of time”. It can also be used as part of the prepositional phrase “at any time” (meaning “whenever”).
Anytime (one word) is an adverb meaning “whenever” or “at any time”. It can also be used as a subordinating conjunction to introduce a dependent clause.
Published on
14 March 2023
by
Eoghan Ryan.
Revised on
11 September 2023.
A conditional sentence refers to a hypothetical situation and its possible consequence.
Conditional sentences always contain a subordinate clause that expresses a condition (e.g., ‘If it snows tomorrow’) and a main clause indicating the outcome of this condition (e.g., ‘school will be cancelled‘).
There are four main types of conditionals in English, each of which expresses a specific level of likelihood or possibility.
Into and in to are pronounced the same, but they have different grammatical functions.
Into is a preposition used to indicate entry, insertion, collision, or transformation. It can also be used to say that someone is interested in or involved with something. Write ‘into’ as one word when you mean it in one of these senses.
In to is a combination of two separate words: the prepositions ‘in’ and ‘to’. The words should remain separate when the sense is separate. For example, in the phrase ‘call in to see you’, the phrasal verb ‘call in’ is separate from the infinitive verb phrase ‘to see you’
Because the prepositions despite and in spite of mean the same thing and can be used interchangeably, people sometimes mistakenly combine the words and write ‘despite of’. However, this is never correct.
Examples: Despite of, despite and in spite of
Despite of the tasteless humour, I enjoyed the film.
Despite the tasteless humour, I enjoyed the film.
In spite of the tasteless humour, I enjoyed the film.
