CAT Calling : Part IV

Tenses

There are three types of tenses
1. Present
2. Past and
3. Future

1. Present Tense

Present Indefinite

Rules :

• Permanent truths and Habits

The sun rises in the east.

• Events that will take place in future but have been planned beforehand

The train leaves at 8 pm in the evening.

• In Exclamatory sentences beginning with 'here' and 'there'

Here comes Mr Sharma.

There goes the shuttlecock.

• Official Announcements

PM arrives on Sunday.

• In Affirmative(Declaring) Sentences with the first and second person, and third person plurals

we use first or basic form of the verb For eg I go to Switzerland during vacations.

• But with third person singulars we use s or es with the basic form of verb

He goes to Switzerland during vacations

• Negative Sentences : Do not and Does not(third person singular)
• Interrogative Sentences : Do + subject + first form of verb

Present Continuous

For actions going on at the time of speaking 

Rules

• Affirmative: Is, am are + present participle

He is going to the shopping mall

• In negative sentences, not is inserted between the auxiliary and main verb

He is not singing the song

• Interrogative Sentences

Is, am, are + (not) + first form of verb + ing

Aren't you studying ?

Present Perfect Tense(has/have, just)

For events completed in recent past or whose effect is felt in present

The keyword JUST or its essence is compulsory

I have          They have    You have

He has          We have

Present Perfect Continuous (has been/have been, for/since)

For events that started in past and has continued up until now

I have been   They have been     You have been

He has been   We have been

Past Tense

Past Indefinite

For a completed action in the past

He watched a movie yesterday.

Rules

• Affirmative Sentences : Always use first or second form of the verb. It rained heavily throughout the night.
• Negative Sentences : Did not + first form of verb. It did not work properly yesterday.
• Interrogative Sentences : Did + subject + first form of verb.Did the guard wake you up last night. 

Past Continuous Tense (was/were+ present participle)

To denote an action going on some time in the past.

We were roaming around in the mall throughout the evening.

Always follow was/were + present participle

Past Perfect Tense (Before/When,had + past participle)

Can't be complete without mentioning two events and specifying which of them occurred earlier.

   

                       1                              2

When I got married                  I had taught English.

So completion of english teaching before an event.

Past Perfect Continuous Tense(had been+ present participle, since/for)

It shows an action that began in the past before a certain point and also has continued up to that 

time

I had been writing for 2 years.

Future Tense

Future Indefinite Tense(shall/will)

To express the future as a fact or something expected to happen in the future

I shall be 25 next month.

I think India will win the Samsung Series.

Can is the word of ability.

May is the word of permission.

Future Continuous 

For actions taking place at some time in future

I will be playing cricket in the evening.

• Will/Shall be + Present participle
• Affirmative : I shall be going.
• Negative : I shall not be going.
• Interrogative : Shall I be going ?

Future Perfect (By, shall/will have)

To show completion of an action by a certain time in future.

By the month end, we shall have completed the process.

• Negative : She will not have played. Will she have played ?

Future Perfect Continuous(By Specific date, shall/will have been)

For an action that will be in progress over a period of time and will continue in the future.

By next March, we shall have been studying here for one year.

Tense should remain same throughout the sentence.
Remove otiose words from sentences 
Follow Parallelism.

No Action Mean No Tenses

1. Fact Based - I am a student
2. Imperative Sentences - 

• Requests
• Wishes God Bless You
• Commands Get Out

     3. Subjunctive Sentences (Hypothetical)

If I were Barack Obama, I would have spoken.

CAT Calling : Part III

Verbs

Two types of verbs are there :
Transitive Verbs and Intransitive Verbs
Transitive Verbs have subjects or objects that are receivers of action
Intransitive Verbs have none.

These are just some of the freaking definitions one should know but not very helpful while attempting sentence correction.

Verbals is a word form used as some other part of speech. They are of three types :
1. Gerunds : These are verb + ing form used as a noun.
2.Participles : A participle is used as an adjective and can be of two types
Present Participle : Ending in ing
Past Participle : Ends in ed, n, or irregularly.

Regular and Irregular Verbs
Regular Verbs are those that can be conjugated easily to learn the rules
For eg past tense of look id looked

Irregular Verbs have no rules for conjugation
Base Form                 Past Tense                  Past Participle
arise                             arose                            arisen

and the like everybody mugs up in the primary.

3. Infinitives are another form of verbals which can be used as nouns adjectives and adverbs.
to +  verb form

Typical Rules

1. Subject should not be left without a verb For

For eg He who has suffered most in the cause, let him speak.(wrong)

Let him who has suffered most in the cause speak.(correct)

      

      2. Verb should agree with the subject not the complement as

What is wanted is(not are) not large houses with modern conveniences but small cottages.

       3. An infinitive(to + verb - noun, adjective, or an adverb) should be in the present tense unless it
represents action prior to that of governing verb.

I should have liked to go.

He seems to have enjoyed his stay at Delhi.

     4. Use of make

Active : She made the boy do whole work.

Passive : The boy was made to do whole work.

So to not used in active voice.

      5. Verbs to be used only with gerunds not infinitives.

        Wrong                           Right

      to swim                           swimming

      to enjoy                           enjoying

       to postpone                    postponing

     to miss                              missing

      to avoid                           avoiding

     to suggest                          suggesting

    to see                                  seeing

 Technique to remember- Code SEPMASS

So the use in sentences would be as follows :

He enjoys swimming (not to swim)

She avoids meeting people (not to meet )

We missed seeing the Prime Minister( not to see)

Abstract verbs do not have an ing form 

Abstract Verbs : love, like, hate, reject, accept, hear, doubt, approve

So loving, liking, rejecting, accepting, hearing, doubting, and approving are wrong forms of verbs.

CAT Calling: Part II

Nouns and Pronouns

Noun as we all know is a word used to name a person, animal, place, thing and abstract idea.
Pronoun is a word used in the place of a noun.
Some pronouns are aliases for nouns used as subjects - called subjective
....................................................................objects - called objective
.......................................................that show possessiveness - called possessives
John threw a stone. Here John is the subject and stone is the object
Possessive Case : Rama's play, Children's Playground

              Subjective                   Objective               Possessive

                 He                              Him                        His
     
                 She                             Her                         Her

                 It                                  It                      Its(not It's which is It is)

               They                            Them                    Their, Theirs      

                 I                                 Me                          Mine

              You                              You                   Your, Yours

              We                               Us                      Our, Ours

              Who                           Whom                    Whose

Rules for nouns

• a/an can be used only with singular countable nouns and you cannot use singular countable nouns alone.

The sea, a girl, a suitcase

I went to see the movie (Correct)

I went to see movie.(Incorrect)

• You cannot use a/an with uncountable nouns

a bag of gravel

an oxygen cylinder

Use with

                  Plural Countable Nouns                                                          Uncountable Nouns

                    Some, any                                                                            Some, any

We bought some CDs                                                                    We bought some coffee

Are there any pencils in the box?                                            Can you get some syrup for me ?

               Many, few                                                                                 Much, Little

There were many people in the bookshop.                             The boys were looking a little off colour

I have a few pictures in my album.                                          There wasn't much to do.

Rules for Possessive Case 

• To be confined to names of living beings & personified objects

A governor's bodygaurds

the lion's mane

Nature's laws Fortune's favorite

• few stereotyped phrases

For conscience's sake, for god's sake, at his finger's ends, the boat's crew

• When one noun is qualified by 2 possessive nouns both must have possessive sign unless joint possession is indicated.

Joint Possession - Charles Dickens the novelist's penchant for the poignant portrayal of human emotions has earned him immense respect in the literary world.

Here portrayal of human emotions is jointly qualified by Charles Dickens and novelist so the apostrophe comes with the last one.

Had the two been different entities both would have had an apostrophe.

Object should be in objective case and subject in subjective case

• Object of a verb or preposition when it is pronoun should be in objective form.

Her(objective case, not she), who had been the apple of his eye, he now began to regard with something like distinct.

Him(objective case, not He), who had always inspired in her a respect which almost overcame her affection, she now saw the object of open pleasantry.

• In definite pronoun 'one' should be used throughout if used at all

One cannot be too careful about what one says.

Some uncountable nouns are

Accommodation, permission, scenery, traffic, behavior, weather, work, information, travel, chaos, luck

bread, advice, baggage, damage......\

He gave me an advice (wrong).

He gave me a piece of advice(correct)

As we had discussed above , uncountable nouns may or may not take an article.

But a/an are used only for singular countable nouns and nothing else.

Collective Nouns They refer to a single unit,(single word nouns like family, army, jury etc)

Collective Noun take the same type of persons or things and regard them as one entity.

Inanimate collective nouns take singular verb only

People : A faculty of academicians, A babble of barbers, A bench of bishops, A shuffle of bureaucrats

A conjunction of grammarians, A worship of writers

Reptiles : A quiver of cobras, A bask of crocodiles, A nest of vipers

Fish : A flock of dolphins, A hover of trout, A swarm of eels, A shiver of sharks, A troop of dogfish,

Insects : An intrusion of cockroaches, A plague of locusts, A clutter of spiders, A flight of butterflies

Birds : A murder of crows, A wake of buzzards, A parliament of owls, A run of poultry, A descent of woodpeckers

Rules for pronouns

1. Check whether the pronoun used is correct in terms of being subjective, objective and possessive
2. Check for the precedent noun pronoun is referring, Is the pronoun correct in gender, number, tense et al
3. After 'than' or 'as' we use objective case. X is better than him
4. Gerunds(verb + ing) always take possessive case.

I hope you don't mind my/ me asking ?

It should be my asking (see table at the top) Gerunds always take possessives.

You doing or Your doing ? should be your, as it it the possessive case

Who/Whom and Whoever or Whomever ?

Who is used as a subject and whom as an object 

When in doubt try to answer the question.

Who do you think is the most promising candidate ?

I think he(subjective since who is subjective) is

Whom do you consider the most promising candidate ?

I consider him ( Objective case since whom is objective)

CAT Calling: Part I

This post is for all my friends preparing for the CAT 2012 window for which is to start from 11th Oct 2012. In this and subsequent posts I ll be sharing important study material for all serious takers.

1. Articles

a, an and the are the three articles

• a is used with singular nouns when noun is general. a rat
• when general noun is plural some is used. some rats
• an is used with singular noun beginning with a vowel. an elephant
• the is used with more specific nouns.THE CAR in the garage. that particular car.

Rules for the :

Do not use the before :

• names of countries except the Netherlands, the US, the United Kingdom etc
• names of cities, towns, states and streets (the Hague being an exception)
• names of lakes and bays(Lake Chilika, Lake Mahakam) except with a group of lakes like the Great Lakes
• names of mountains(Mount Everest, Mount Fuji) except the Andes, the Rockies, the Wular
• names of continents
• names of islands except the Andamans

Use the before

• names of rivers, oceans, and seas(the Nile, the Pacific)
• points on Globe(the Equator, the North Pole)
• geographical areas(the Middle East, the East)
• deserts, forests, gulfs, and peninsulas (the Sahara, the Persian Gulf, the Black Forest)
• names of countries that include republic or kingdom. the UK, the US, the Irish Republic, 
• names of great books and epics. the Ramayana, the Illiad
• names of things unique of their kind. the sun, the moon etc
• As an adverb with comparatives. the bigger, the better

Indefinite article is used in the vague sense of a certain.

A Sushil Kumar was declared the winner of the fight(Not the boxer Sushil Kumar)

Omission of Articles :

• before names of substance and abstract nouns used in general sense. Sugar is bad for teeth, Honesty is the best virtue.
• before plural countable nouns used in general sense. Girls like chocolates.
• before names of meals used in general sense. lunch, dinner
• words like schools, colleges, universities, prisons, etc, places that are used for primary purposes, such as ; People go to church on Sundays.
• names of relations, like father, mother, brother etc

Difference between a little and little, a few and few

A little means some but little means negligible 

Similarly for few

2. Demonstratives Used to tell location (spatial, temporal or discourse)
these, those, this, that
Used to modify nouns. This cake is excellent, Those paintings look beautiful

3. Quantifiers Include cardinals, ordinals, and fraction numbers
In formal academic writing it is better to use many and much rather than phrases such as a lot of, lots of and plenty of
Most of must include definite article the when it modifies a specific noun whether it is a count or a non count
Most of the students at this college have a car


First v/s Subsequent Mention

When the noun is not specific a/an is used, and thereafter the is used.

A boy was out on a ramble in Chicago. While he was going around in his rhythm, a speeding car hit THE BOY but he was miraculously saved.  

The Consumer Wins

"Euphoria.....Cloud Nine.....Seventh Heaven" all that could be put up here to describe my state of mind would suffice regardless of its contextual meaning, as all the words of happiness are sounding like my kinsman.
It is said that "A penny saved is a penny earned", but what could be the adage when a penny departed snaps back. It would definitely keep anyone on this planet in high spirits for the days to come.

A month ago, I went to a mobile recharging vendor near the doorstep to get the power, that had been lost many days ago, and my sluggishness was keeping me from recharging. Soon it started taking a heavy toll on my daily proceedings, and finally I decided to get a recharge of one hundred and fifty rupees. I had the habit of recharging with the same amount since I got my first cellphone in college. As the pockets of college students are always leaking, so paying taxes is the worst way to go. This 150 recharge option was a way to circumvent taxes as under a scheme, you could have gotten full talk time compared to the conventional one with 14.86% service tax.

But that was a different day.

As soon as I got the recharge done, I left the vendor's shop hoping to get a confirmation message while on the way back. I was very elated to see the confirmation message and did'nt bother to read, rather dialed for my first call. Wait...they said that my balance is zero. I was amazed. I went back to the guy whom I had paid to revitalize my account. He told me that the credit has been deducted from his account and I may talk to the customer service representative.

I called.

The guy told me to check the message I had received. He told that a 3G internet pack worth 150 had been credited to my account and when I persisted on why, he retorted by saying that the 150 recharge is for special customers only and that I would have to go with it.And then

"Thank You for calling on the Customer Care. I hope that XYZ.......blaaaaah...blaaah...blaaaah"

This thing happened to me for the first time, but I was not going to sit back. I had heard my friends saying in my early days that 5000 bucks is the penalty if a shopkeeper sells a bread which has fungus. And that one person in the colony had gone consumer court with the fungi stricken bread and had for the amount for a five rupee bread after winning the case in Consumer Court.

I searched on the web for ways to get that pelf transferred from the 3G pack to my talktime balance. And wonder what I got, rather felt, that it was no use complaining and I had to go with it. Meanwhile the website of Akosha team looked like something could be done. It is an NGO working towards dealing in cases pertaining to consumer cheating, and I read a number of previews of the successful cases wherein full amount plus some compensation had been reimbursed. I registered my complaint with the NGO and unable to find any other passage halted there.

Minutes after I got a mail from them, which had details of how, for whom and why they work in the said arena. The next day and for some days after that, I used to get mails that my complaint had been forwarded to my cellular connection company.

It was four days back that I got a call from the customer care again, but from one of their senior level officer, asking me to share my grievance. He assured me of highest possible measure that could be taken to undo the  loss. The next minute I got a message regarding the full recharge to my talk time balance.

I had'nt and could'nt ever thought that things in India could get this smooth. But hats off to the Akosha team for their support and method of working which enables even those who cannot or do not have the time to go through the hassles of fighting for their RIGHTS OF CONSUMERISM.

The Soothing One

It was my first day in Gurgaon, rather I should say first night stay in the village of sugarcane, as I had planned to shift to the corporate hub to reduce the time that was spent travelling. As usual, and as is my habit which I so strongly resent, i.e. sluggishness and add to that procrastination and being late every time, I did'nt prepare well in advance, the baggage that was to be taken to the rented place. And then in the morning, hashed my attire and the daily use items that the bag was light, but still could no more be filled. I reached the office on time reading Learn to Earn, which has made Peter Lynch my favorite, and then it was a normal day. The mentor giving me the work, which I tried to finish in the evening just to know that I had wrongly interpreted the work to be done, and had effectively done nothing. But that's the part of daily routine. What happened the next day evening was far more interesting and on which my story would revolve in the ideas to come. I started from the office for home as it was Friday, the most soothing experience, reading Peter Lynch and then as was the run of the mill on other Fridays, so was this. A comedy happened to me that morning. As I was new to the place and did'nt knew the way, I did'nt even bother to ask one, and went 2 kilometers off way. When I told this at the office they all were lol.

I was exhausted after the day's work and decided to take a rickshaw towards home. The price was decided after a word with the rickshaw puller, who these days have inflated their rates with the falling stock markets, weakening rupee, rising petrol and edible food prices, and above all the new trend, the robberies that some of the parsimonious ones have resorted to. We had just traveled a kilometer that a crossing came wherein he stopped at the red light. While he was crossing with the signal, a speeding scooter came and hit in the the wheel of the rickshaw, its kick(from where the two wheeler gets started), inter wined into the spokes of the wheel two to three times. I got of the rickshaw so did the rickshaw puller and the driver of the motor vehicle fell down. He was not hurt, rather upset over the accident. He and I struggled for 15 minutes to get the kick out of the wheel of the rickshaw. At that time no one would have thought of the time ahead, but three of us worked in unison to separate the two carriers. After it was done, the wheel got damaged completely and the poor guy was in tears. The two wheeler who was at fault tried to start his scooter and run away before he could have been asked for compensation. As the rumbling sound of the vehicle was heard by the rickshaw puller he went and stood in front of the scooter.He roared,"If you can't give any then Kill Me".And I was all emotional to hear that.

The guy who tried to avoid an eye contact was asked by the puller to reimburse for the losses. He refused. The slovenly clad poor man asked on him to ride the scooter over him as he would not be able to pay for the loss.

Actually the rickshaw pullers are the BPL of UP and Bihar who come to metros, borrow the rickshaw on rent and have to pay a part of their earnings to the capitalists of today. If anything goes wrong with the rickshaw, the rickshaw puller is solely responsible and has to pay for it. If he is unable to, he loses the rickshaw and has to do work without pay for the owner till he has labored enough to tantamount for the amount spent on repairs. Since the guys have to do hard labor earning 250 bucks a day, and above that feed a family of 6-10 in the days when the purchasing power of the money is going down, and only 3-4 members can survive with that amount eating only one time meal, working without pay is equivalent to starving their family for 15 days in a stroke. And since they are already meek due to unhealthy and noxious eating habits, a situation such as that can even mean death.

As tensions arose, I tried to calm down the guys and requested with folded hands to the driver to at least pay half. But he was adamant and refused to pay a penny. A period of silence prevailed, and the rickshaw puller started again. But this time he tried to run away, warning the rickshaw puller to do anything to take the pelf out of his pockets. A group of young children who were playing by the side had seen everything, came and surrounded the guy, and asked him to pay for humanity. The guy was now surrounded by more and more people. He asserted that when he had'nt done anything wrong, why should he pay for it. Then it clicked me and I tried to recapitulate the whole scene. It was actually he who was speeding up and hit in the rickshaw. After he had tried to vindicate the out of pocket guy, I apprised him of how, it was his mistake, and even if it was'nt his, it would be of no bearing on him to pay the fellow 50-100 bucks. He ignored me and invited more people to join the cause of the rickshaw puller.

I was amazed to see a guy who refused to 30-40 people's requests until a goon type guy came and took the keys off his scooter. It was then that he realized that he was in great danger with the crowd at the back warning him of serious consequences. He agreed.

But only for 20 bucks, which was a give away. The goon gave the keys to the rickshaw puller and asked him to take that away, so that the scooterist may loose 100 making new ones and the gullible one agreed.

It was then, when he was leaving, I told him that it could serve no one good if he takes the keys. He would have lost 1 hour of fight plus the two wheeler guy would also loose something. Instead, if he agrees to give money, both could losses their losses. He contemplated on my words and came back.

Now a geriatric uncle came and he was able to convince him to pay 50 and get away. Both sides agreed. He gave the keys and got 50.

Afterwards when the scooterist was gone, people realized that the rickshaw puller had to spend 300-400 bucks in repairs and so they started giving 10-20 bucks each. I felt that since I was the one who was in the rickshaw and indirectly involved in the events, I gave him 50 bucks.

He was very happy and thanked me. That was the most soothing experience of my life wherein I felt that I had done a humane act and was so proud of it      

The First Interview : A Harrowing Experience

I was like the opening song of That Show, "Hanging Out, Down The Street, The Same Old Thing We Did Last Week, Nothing to do, Put out to you" And it came.

Here goes the anecdote...

It was the second week of August 2012 that I applied to this company, which could be otherwise called the pelf generating firm which earns in millions of $ and also makes its employees take home the share of its profit. A unique one of its kind, and the best in this country.
It was just, that I came to know of these things just hours after having a tormenting interview, after which I was dead sure that, I won't be shortlisted.

Although, now I am aplomb, at that time, it was like 100 tonnes on my head. The entry wasn't perfect, that lowered the morale, secondly, (afterwards I was like cursing myself for doing that before a pal counterpoised me) just sat down even without permission, and he was just like (or I don't know, but I feel) giving me gloomy looks for that.
"After a pause, he asked, "So what's your name, Gentleman"
And I had come from a sleepless night travelling for six hours, reaching the college at 3 am in the morning, and having no idea, that it would be me, who would be shortlisted in the 17 from the whole kit and caboodle of 300. Woke up at six and got ready for the presentations and tests, that would have been conducted throughout the day.

It was five in the evening and the sun was setting, and I was exhausted of the last smidgen of glucose that could have enabled me to take more load. But the game had just started, I had been shortlisted in the top 17, and I was blank.

Blank in the sense, that I hadn't done any background study of the company, nor had studied much about the work it did. Fear began to encompass me and I was trying, to show a countenance that, "All is Well ". But somewhere, in the hearts of hearts I knew it wasn't.

As I sat down I was trembling, shivering, and vacillating with nervousness. The nervousness of the first interview, of the fear of not being able to speak well, and the fear of not preparing enough of what I thought.

Then he started and bowled me on the first ball
"So why are you considering switching majors, don't you wan't to go in real estate".
 I had no clue of what to say. They had given a questionnaire before the interview which had about 20 questions,(such as what skills would you bring to our company, tell us about a time you worked hardest in your life, your greatest strengths and weaknesses, why do you want to come to our company et al )and I was thinking about them only, and had prepared myself for those ones. This one never even came to my mind before.

And I did the faux pas, I started criticizing my branch and it was all over. He told me that, today you are coveting to shift from one field to another, a problem may come in future and you'll leave us also. So our money spent in training you to succor us will go in the drain. I tried to convince but I was fighting a lost battle.
(SHIVERING)

And then came rather easy one, in which also I made a gaffe. Afterwards I realised that, that answer should have been given in a calm manner and one lasting longer than ten minutes. But then, it was not my day.

Finally he showed the signs...

Are you nervous ?
And I had heard that you should always tell the truth in interviews, so admitted, and came the sixer from his end.
Oh... you are so nervous in an interview, so how'll you handle our clients and the million dollar business of our company. I just couldn't make him believe.

And thus it ended in a somber tone...

Two days have passed and I have achieved my presence of mind. Life moves on.....