The two indefinite articles in English are a and an. The indefinite article an is used to make pronunciation easier when reading a text aloud. The general rule is to use a when the indefinite article precedes a word beginning with a consonant sound and an when it precedes a word starting with a vowel sound.

To make a plural of a word ending in -f, change the f to a v and add es. Similarly, if a word ends in -fe, change the f to a v and add an s. The result for both types is a plural that ends in -ves.

Making plurals from singular nouns ending in ‘f’ and ‘fe’ Usually, when a word ends in ‘f’ or ‘fe’ we change the ‘f’ to ‘v’ and add ‘es’ or ‘s’ to make it plural.

The difference between singular and plural nouns is easy to spot. When a noun indicates one only, it is a singular noun. When a noun indicates more than one, it is plural.

Using Singular and Plural Nouns

1. Example: A cow eats grass. The noun cow is singular. The verb form eats is for the singular.
2. Example: Cows eat grass. The noun cows is plural. The verb form eat is for the plural.

While the verb to have has many different meanings, its primary meaning is “to possess, own, hold for use, or contain.” Have and has indicate possession in the present tense (describing events that are currently happening). Have is used with the pronouns I, you, we, and they, while has is used with he, she, and it.

Have is the root VERB and is generally used alongside the PRONOUNS I / You / We / Ye and They and PLURAL NOUNS. Generally, have is a PRESENT TENSE word. Has is used alongside the PRONOUNS He / She / It and Who and SINGULAR NOUNS.

When you need to talk about two things that happened in the past and one event started and finished before the other one started, place “had” before the main verb for the event that happened first. Here are some more examples of when to use “had” in a sentence: “Chloe had walked the dog before he fell asleep.”

Had had is the past perfect form of have when it is used as a main verb to describe our experiences and actions. We use the past perfect when we are talking about the past and want to refer back to an earlier past time, Madiini.

“Had been” is used to mean that something happened in the past and has already ended. “Have been” and “has been” are used to mean that something began in the past and has lasted into the present time.

Which one is correct? “have/has” is present tense: I have a headache. “had” is past tense: I had a headache last night. BUT, your question here is about compound tenses, using the helping verb + the past participle of the main verb.

Generally, “was is used for singular objects and “were” is used for plural objects. So, you will use “was” with I, he, she and it while you will use “were” with you, we and they. There is a tip you might want to consider. Even though you are singular, you must use “were”.

Many people use if I was and if I were interchangeably to describe a hypothetical situation. The confusion occurs because when writing in the past tense, I was is correct while I were is incorrect. However, when writing about non-realistic or hypothetical situations, if I were is the only correct choice.

Meaning – Were is the past tense of the verb are. Look at this example of were used in a sentence. In present tense, this sentence would say. Since were means the same as the past tense of are in this sentence, it is the correct word to use.

If the verb in the if clause is “to be,” use “were,” even if the subject of the clause is a third person singular subject (i.e., he, she, it). See the examples below for an illustration of this exception: If I was a rich man, I would make more charitable donations.

Conditional

In the second conditional, when the verb in the if-clause is a form of be, we use were instead of was. Note that this use of were is possible and recommended with all subjects. Was is also becoming acceptable, but many grammarians still insist that you should use were.

With the phrase “If I were / if she were… etc.” you are changing the “mood” of the verb from indicative to subjunctive (see quick grammar tip below). Therefore, whenever you use the second conditional to talk (or write) about a hypothetical situation, use were instead of was in the if clause.

The second conditional is a structure used to talk about impossible or imaginary situations. If I won a lot of money I’d travel the world. Where would you live if you could live anywhere in the world? If he didn’t argue with everyone all the time, he would have a more relaxed life.

Second conditional is used in situations/actions in the present or future which are not likely to happen or are imaginary, hypothetical or impossible. If I won the lottery, I would travel around the world and buy a castle.

1. The first conditional describes something that is possible, and could really happen. 2. The second conditional describes something that is possible, but will almost certainly not happen.

There are 4 basic types of conditionals: zero, first, second, and third. It’s also possible to mix them up and use the first part of a sentence as one type of conditional and the second part as another.

The first conditional is a structure used for talking about possibilities in the present or in the future. The second condtional expresses unreal situations in the present or future. First condtional: If the weather is nice, we’ll go swimming. Second condtional: If I had a million pounds, I would buy a big yacht.

When to use the second conditional

1. If I won the lottery, I would travel around the world.
2. If I had more free time, I would play more sport.
3. If I lived in a big city, I would go out more often.
4. If I lived in a big city, I wouldn’t need a car.
5. I’d go out more often if I lived in a big city.