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Road Map to Basic Communication
For Example: He spoke to me.
He did not speak to me.
Did he speak to her father?
Road Sign V: Special action words One more step in the process of acquiring very essential basic communication skill, some worlds play an important role and require some special attention to understand them. Generally, any ‘going on activity’ needs an action word with ‘-ing’ form which shows the continuity of activity. But in the case of some words, even the first forms (Eg: understand, understands) can provide this idea of progressiveness. These words are generally said to be involuntary actions that happen without any involvement and also words related to process of mind such as: think, understand, love, hate, forget and remember. Some illustrative sentences are provided to prove this.
I think you are on the way. (Here, ‘I think’ implies the sense of ‘I am thinking’ and no –ing form is required.)
I still remember those college days. (Here also the activity is continuous but is not expressed with ‘-ing’ form.)
I hear a strange noise. (This is a going on activity but used with the first form.) Even words like ‘have’ and ‘feel’ sometimes are not used in continuous form. For Example: 1. I have many friends. 2. I have an English class now. 3. She feels confident right now. / She is feeling confident. ‘Have’ is also used with ‘-ing’ form when the meaning is other than ‘possess’ or ‘own.’ For Eg: 1. I am having a great time. 2. She is having supper. 3. They are taking head bath.
Road Sign VI: Essential Practice The basic communication learning ends with the practice of all these ideas in an easy approachable manner recapitulating all that has been taught for better grasping and easy assimilation of the whole communication process. It is easy to practice first by introducing ‘future activity’, next an ‘ongoing activity’ and a ‘finished activity’. The practice goes like this: Step One: I am going to teach you a grammar topic. / I will teach you a grammar topic. Step Two: I am teaching you the lesson. Step Three: I have taught you the lesson. Step Four: I taught you the lesson a few minutes ago. The following examples give the sequence of activities that are thought to happen one after the other and the learner is strongly advised to do it to recap his basic communication abilities in the initial stages and later the learner will be able to communicate an idea or thought effortlessly.