Degree of Comparison + Simple Past Tense

8.1.          Degree of Comparison

Degrees of Comparison are used when we compare one person or one thing with another.

There are three Degrees of Comparison in English.

They are: 

1.      Positive degree. 

2.      Comparative degree. 

3.      Superlative degree. 

Let us see all of them one by one.

1.Positive degree.

When we speak about only one person or thing, We use the Positive degree.

Examples:

• This house is big.

In this sentence only one noun “The house" is talked about.

• He is a tall student.

• This flower is beautiful.

• He is an intelligent boy.

Each sentence mentioned above talks about only one noun. 

The second one in the Degrees of Comparison is...

2.      Comparative degree. 

When we compare two persons or two things with each other,

We use both the Positive degree and Comparative degree.

Examples:

a. This house is bigger than that one. (Comparative degree)

This house is not as big as that one. (Positive degree)

The term “bigger" is comparative version of the term “big".

Both these sentences convey the same meaning.

b. This flower is more beautiful than that. (Comparative)

This flower is not as beautiful as that. (Positive)

The term “more beautiful" is comparative version of the term “beautiful".

Both these sentences convey the same meaning.

c. He is more intelligent than this boy. (Comparative)

He is not as intelligent as this boy. (Positive) 

The term “more intelligent" is comparative version of the term “intelligent".

Both these sentences convey the same meaning.

d. He is taller than Mr. Hulas. (Comparative)

He is not as tall as Mr. Hulas. (Positive)

The term “taller" is comparative version of the term “tall".

Both these sentences convey the same meaning.


When we compare more than two persons or things with one another,

We use all the three Positive, Comparative and Superlative degrees.

Examples:

a. This is the biggest house in this street. (Superlative)

This house is bigger than any other house in this street. (Comparative)

No other house in this street is as big as this one. (Positive)

The term “biggest" is the superlative version of the term “big".  All the three sentences mean the same meaning.

b. This flower is the most beautiful one in this garden. (Superlative)

This flower is more beautiful than any other flower in this garden. (Comparative)

No other flower in this garden is as beautiful as this one. (Comparative)

The term “most beautiful" is the superlative version of the term “beautiful".  All the three sentences mean the same meaning.

c. He is the most intelligent in this class. (Superlative)

He is more intelligent than other boys in the class. (Comparative)

No other boy is as intelligent as this boy. (Positive)

The term “most intelligent" is superlative version of the term “intelligent".  Both these sentences convey the same meaning.

d. He is the tallest student in this class. (Superlative)

He is taller than other students in this class. (Comparative)

No other student is as tall as this student. (Positive)
The term “tallest" is superlative version of the term “tall".

8.2.          Simple Past Tense

With most verbs the past tense is formed by adding -ed:

call >> called; like >> liked; want >> wanted; work >> worked

But there are a lot of irregular past tenses in English. Here are the most common irregular verbs in English, with their past tenses:

infinitive	irregular past
be begin break bring buy build choose come cost cut do draw drive eat feel find get give go have hear hold keep know leave lead let lie lose make mean meet pay put run say sell send set sit speak spend stand take teach tell think understand wear win write	was/were began broke brought bought built chose came cost cut did drew drove ate felt found got gave went had heard held kept knew left led let lay lost made meant met paid put ran said sold sent set sat spoke spent stood took taught told thought understood wore won wrote

1)    Use

We use the past tense to talk about:

·         something that happened once in the past:

I met my wife in 1983.
We went to Spain for our holidays.
They got home very late last night.

·         something that happened again and again in the past:

When I was a boy I walked a mile to school every day.
We swam a lot while we were on holiday.
They always enjoyed visiting their friends.

·         something that was true for some time in the past:

I lived abroad for ten years.
He enjoyed being a student.
She played a lot of tennis when she was younger.

·         we often use phrases with ago with the past tense:

I met my wife a long time ago.

2)    Questions and negatives

We use did to make questions with the past tense:

When did you meet your wife?
Where did you go for your holidays?
Did she play tennis when she was younger?
Did you live abroad?

But look at these questions:

Who discovered penicillin?
Who wrote Don Quixote?

For more on these questions see question forms

We use didn’t (did not) to make negatives with the past tense:

They didn’t go to Spain this year.
We didn’t get home until very late last night.
I didn’t see you yesterday. 

      Source :

      http://www.english-for-students.com/Degrees-of-Comparison.html

     http://learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/en/english-grammar/verbs/past-tense/past-simple

Gerunds and Infinitives + Polite Request

7.1.          Gerunds and Infinitives

We use gerunds (verb + ing):

·         After certain verbs - I enjoy singing

·         After prepositions - I drank a cup of coffee before leaving

·         As the subject or object of a sentence - Swimming is good exercise

      We use 'to' + infinitive:

• After certain verbs - We decided to leave
• After many adjectives - It's difficult to get up early
• To show purpose - I came to London to study English

We use the bare infinitive (the infinitive without 'to'):

• After modal verbs - I can meet you at six o'clock
• After 'let', 'make' and (sometimes) 'help' - The teacher let us leave early
• After some verbs of perception (see, watch, hear, notice, feel, sense) - I watched her walk away
• After expressions with 'why' - why go out the night before an exam?

7.2.          Polite Request

a.     Asking to do things – asking for permission

There are many different ways of making polite requests in English. If you don't want to sound rude when speaking English, then you need to know how to make a request in a polite way.Requests in English are usually made in the form of questions

Asking	Saying Yes	Saying No
Can I...?	Yes, sure	Well, I'm afraid...+ reason
Could I...? Could I possibly...? Is it all right if I...? Do you think I could...?	Yes, of course. Yes, that's fine. Certainly.	Well, the problem is...
Do you mind if I...?	No, not at all. No, of course not.	Sorry, but...

b.    Asking others to do things – making requests

Asking	Saying Yes	Saying No
Can you...?	Yes, sure.	Well, I'm afraid + reason
Could you...? Is it all right if you...? Do you think you could...? Will you...? Would you...?	Yes, of course. Certainly.	Well, the problem is Sorry, but...
Do you mind -ing...? Would you mind -ing...?	No, not at all. Of course not.

Use 'Would you mind if I...? Could I possibly...? Could you possibly...? Do you think you could...? to sound more polite.

Remember that 'Do you mind...?' and 'Would you mind...?' mean 'Is it a problem for you?' so the polite answer when we 'say yes' is 'No'.

Source :

http://www.perfect-english-grammar.com/gerunds-and-infinitives.html

http://www.ecenglish.com/learnenglish/lessons/polite-requests

Relative Clause, Modal Auxiliary Permission, Because and So

6.1.                      Relative Clause

Relative clauses are clauses starting with the relative pronouns who*, that, which, whose, where, when. They are most often used to define or identify the noun that precedes them. Here are some examples:

·                     Do you know the girl who started in grade 7 last week?

·                     Can I have the pencil that I gave you this morning?

·                     A notebook is a computer which can be carried around.

·                     I won't eat in a restaurant whose cooks smoke.

·                     I want to live in a place where there is lots to do.

·                     Yesterday was a day when everything went wrong!

* There is a relative pronoun whom, which can be used as the object of the relative clause. For example: My science teacher is a person whom I like very much. To many people the word whom now sounds old-fashioned, and it is rarely used in spoken English.

Relative pronouns are associated as follows with their preceding noun:

Preceding noun	Relative pronoun	Examples
a person	who(m)/that, whose	- Do you know the girl who .. - He was a man that .. - An orphan is a child whose parents ..
a thing	which†/that, whose	- Do you have a computer which .. - The oak a tree that .. - This is a book whose author ..

Note 1: The relative pronoun whose is used in place of the possessive pronoun. It must be followed by a noun. Example: There's a boy in grade 8 whose father is a professional tennis player. (There's a boy in grade 8. His father is a professional tennis player.)

Note 2: The relative pronouns where and when are used with place and time nouns. Examples: FIS is a school where children from more than 50 countries are educated. 2001 was the year when terrorists attacked the Twin Towers in New York.

Some relative clauses are not used to define or identify the preceding noun but to give extra information about it. Here are some examples:

• My ESL teacher, who came to Germany in 1986, likes to ride his mountain bike.
• The heavy rain, which was unusual for the time of year, destroyed most of the plants in my garden.
•    Einstein, who was born in Germany, is famous for his theory of relativity.
•  The boy, whose parents both work as teachers at the school, started a fire in the classroom.
•  My mother's company, which makes mobile phones, is moving soon from Frankfurt to London.
• In the summer I'm going to visit Italy, where my brother lives.

Note 1: Relative clauses which give extra information, as in the example sentences above, mustbe separated off by commas.

Note 2: The relative pronoun that cannot be used to introduce an extra-information (non-defining) clause about a person. Wrong: Neil Armstrong, that was born in 1930, was the first man to stand on the moon. Correct: Neil Armstrong, who was born in 1930, was the first man to stand on the moon.

There are two common occasions, particularly in spoken English, when the relative pronoun is omitted:

1. When the pronoun is the object of the relative clause. In the following sentences the pronoun that can be left out is enclosed in (brackets):

·         Do you know the girl (who/m) he's talking to?

·         Where's the pencil (which) I gave you yesterday?

·         I haven't read any of the books (that) I got for Christmas.

·         I didn't like that girl (that) you brought to the party.

·         Did you find the money (which) you lost?

Note: You cannot omit the relative pronoun a.) if it starts a non-defining relative clause, or, b.) if it is the subject of a defining relative clause. For example, who is necessary in the following sentence: What's the name of the girl who won the tennis tournament?

2. When the relative clause contains a present or past participle and the auxiliary verb to be. In such cases both relative pronoun and auxiliary can be left out:

·         Who's that man (who is) standing by the gate?

·         The family (that is) living in the next house comes from Slovenia.

·         She was wearing a dress (which was) covered in blue flowers.

·         Most of the parents (who were) invited to the conference did not come.

·         Anyone (that is) caught writing on the walls will be expelled from school.

6.2.          Modal Auxiliary Permission

a.       We use can to ask for permission to do something:

·         Can I ask a question, please?

·         Can we go home now?

b.      could is more formal and polite than can:

·         Could I ask a question please?

·         Could we go home now?

c.       may is another more formal and polite way of asking for permission:

·         May I ask a question please?

·         May we go home now?

d.      We use can to give permission:

·         You can go home now if you like.

·         You can borrow my pen if you like.

e.       may is a more formal and polite way of giving permission:

·         You may go home now, if you like.

f.       We use can to say that someone has permission to do something:

·         We can go out whenever we want.

·         Students can travel free.

g.      may is a more formal and polite way of saying that someone has permission:

·         Students may travel free.

6.3.          Because and So

Because is a subordinating conjunction. It shows the cause. So is a coordinating conjunction. It shows the effect.

We can combine two clauses using because and so.

Study the example given below.

Susie didn’t attend the party. She was not invited.

We can combine these two clauses in two different ways.

Susie didn’t attend the party because she was not invited.
Susie was not invited, so she did not attend the party.

Source :

http://esl.fis.edu/grammar/rules/relative.htm

https://learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/en/english-grammar/verbs/modal-verbs/ability-permission-requests-and-advice

http://www.englishgrammar.org/because-and-so/