VCE Vault

VCE English as an Additional Language (EAL) (Year 11) · Language, Listening and Speaking · 14m read

Grammar for Writing — Tenses, Articles, Agreement and Complex Sentences

Accurate grammar makes your ideas clear. These are the errors that appear most often in EAL writing — fix them now and every future task benefits.

Learning objective: Control the grammar that matters most in VCE writing: verb tenses, articles, subject–verb agreement, sentence boundaries and complex sentences.

By the end of this lesson you can:

  • I can choose the right tense for analysis (present) and for narrative (usually past).
  • I can use a/an/the correctly in common situations.
  • I can write complex sentences with although, because, when and which.

Grammar is how the puzzle pieces fit. The words are the pieces. Grammar decides whether they click together into a clear picture.

Tenses and agreement

TENSES
• ANALYSIS of texts → present tense: "The writer argues…", "Ana decides…".
• NARRATIVE writing → usually past tense: "She opened the door."
• Do not switch tense without a reason.

SUBJECT–VERB AGREEMENT
• Singular subject → singular verb: "The government IS…", "Everyone HAS…".
• Plural subject → plural verb: "The students ARE…".
• Watch out: "One of the reasons IS…"; "The number of people IS…"; "A number of people ARE…".

Articles and complex sentences

ARTICLES
• A / AN — one of many, mentioned for the first time: "a student", "an idea".
• THE — something specific or already mentioned: "the student I met", "the government of Australia".
• No article with general plural or uncountable nouns: "Students need sleep." "Education is important."

SENTENCE BOUNDARIES
• A sentence needs a subject and a verb and a complete idea.
• Do not join two sentences with just a comma ("It was late, we went home") — use a full stop, "and", "so" or a semicolon.

COMPLEX SENTENCES
• "ALTHOUGH it was raining, we walked to school."
• "The author uses a storm, WHICH reflects the character's anger."
• "BECAUSE she feels ignored, Lina stops speaking at home."

Worked example (Easy)

Correct: "In the novel, the main character feel lonely, she missed the her country."

  1. Agreement. character (singular) → feels.
  2. Run-on and tense. Split with "because" and keep present tense: misses.
  3. Article. "the her country" → "her country".

Answer: "In the novel, the main character feels lonely because she misses her country."

Common mistakes

  • Leaving out articles ("I went to library") Many languages do not use articles, so they are easy to forget. Fix: Check every singular countable noun: does it need a, an or the?
  • Using -ing forms as main verbs ("She going to school") A sentence needs a full verb. Fix: "She is going" or "She goes".

Practice questions

  1. Choose the correct sentence.

    1. The number of students are growing.
    2. The number of students is growing.
    3. The number of student is growing.
    4. Number of students growing.

    (1 marks)

  2. Join with "although": "The family is poor. They are generous to their neighbours."

    (2 marks)

Summary

  • Present tense for analysis; usually past tense for narrative.
  • Match singular and plural subjects and verbs.
  • Check a/an/the on every singular countable noun.
  • Avoid comma splices; use although, because, which and when for complex sentences.

More from VCE English as an Additional Language (EAL) (Year 11)