Accurate sentence foundations

A sentence should communicate a complete idea. First find who or what the sentence is about: this is the subject. Then find the verb. In “Nimali reads every evening”, Nimali is the subject and reads is the verb. A normal statement begins with a capital letter and ends with a full stop. Questions usually end with a question mark.

Some groups of words leave the idea unfinished. “Because the library was closed” makes us ask, “What happened?” Add the missing main idea: “Because the library was closed, we studied at home.” When the because-part comes first, a comma normally separates the two parts. “We studied at home because the library was closed” does not usually need that comma.

Do not join two complete statements with only a comma. “The visitors arrived, the organiser welcomed them” needs a repair. You can use two sentences, or add and after the comma. Read your answer aloud, but also check its structure: a pause by itself does not tell you where a comma belongs.

වැඩි විස්තර අවශ්‍ය විට පමණක් මෙම කොටස කියවන්න.

Use have or has with the past participle to connect the past with now. Use has with he, she, it or a singular name; use have with I, you, we and they. For example, “She has written three invitations” tells us about a completed result. Written is the past participle of write; wrote is its past simple form.

Compare “I visited Kandy last Saturday” with “I have visited Kandy twice.” Last Saturday is a finished past time, so use the past simple. The second sentence describes experience up to now without naming a finished time. The present perfect does not always mean something happened recently.

For a situation continuing now, since gives its starting point and for gives its length: “She has lived here since 2022” and “She has lived here for four years.” Ask yourself whether the sentence names a finished past time or connects with the present. Then check have/has and the past participle separately.

වැඩි විස්තර අවශ්‍ය විට පමණක් මෙම කොටස කියවන්න.

First decide whether you can count the noun in this meaning. We can count chairs: one chair, two chairs. Use many or a few with plural countable nouns. We normally do not count water, advice or information as separate items. Use much or a little with these uncountable nouns. “How many chairs?” and “How much water?” show the difference.

Compare “We have few volunteers” and “We have a few volunteers.” Few suggests that the number is small and may be insufficient. A few says that some are available. Little and a little make a similar difference for an amount: “There is little time” sounds more negative than “There is a little time.”

Use a unit when you need to count an uncountable thing: two bottles of water or three pieces of advice. Much is especially common in questions and negative sentences. In a positive sentence, “We have a lot of information” is often more natural than “We have much information.” Choose the form that preserves your intended meaning.

වැඩි විස්තර අවශ්‍ය විට පමණක් මෙම කොටස කියවන්න.