Conditional sentences

Learners of English often have problems with conditional sentences. One problem is knowing which conditional to use. We may then have difficulties with the construction of the conditional sentence.
Here are all four conditional forms in English, with examples and explanations of when and how to use them.
Zero conditional
If people eat too, much they get fat.
Zero conditional – examples, structure, usage

First conditional
If I have time, I will visit you.
First conditional – examples, structure, usage
Second conditional
If I had more time, I would travel the world.
Second conditional – examples, structure, usage
Third conditional
If I had had time, I would have gone to the football match.
Third conditional – examples, structure, usage
See also: Stuart’s article Common mistakes in conditional sentences.

List of all English tenses

A list of all English tenses, including:

- the structure of each tense
- explanations of usage
- examples of common errors and how to avoid making them.

Present tenses

• Structure of present simple
• Structure of present continuous

Past tenses

• Structure of past simple
• Structure of past continuous

Present perfect tenses

• Structure of present perfect (simple)
• Structure of present perfect (continuous)

• Past perfect tenses

• Structure of past perfect (simple)
• Structure of past perfect (continuous)

Future tenses

• Structure of future simple
• Structure of future continuous
• Structure of ‘going to’ future
• Present tenses used for the future
• Structure of future perfect (simple)
• Structure of future perfect (continuous)

Passive tenses

• Structure of passive forms
• Structure of all past tense passive forms

 

Jalpaiguri bifurcation takes the number of districts in Bengal to 20

A new district is being carved out by bifurcating Jalpaiguri district of West Bengal with a view to expedite government services. The new district will be Alipurduar. This will be state’s 20^th district and will get status of district on June 25, 2014.
People were facing delays in delivery of government services for being far from the district headquarters. It took a lot of time to reach district headquarters. The creation of new district through bifurcation will help the people in availing government services.

Magnus Carlsen becomes first man to hold the Chess Triple Crown; but he is not the first player

World Champion Magnus Carlsen has become the first man in the history of Chess to hold the Chess Triple Crown by holding the World Blitz, Rapid, and Classic titles consecutively. 
However, he is not the first player to have achieved this feat. Before him, Ms. Susan Polgar did it back in 1996.  Polgar was the first chess player in the world to hold all three world titles in a row, reasonably making her the first player to hold a chess Triple Crown.
Ms Susan Polgar was the first chess player in the world to hold all three world titles successively, fairly making her the first player to hold a chess Triple Crown.
However, there are some dissimilarities between Carlsen’s newly achieved Triple Crown and Polgar’s. First, Polgar won FIDE’s Women’s World Blitz, Rapid, and Classic titles while Carlsen won the Men’s. While, Carlsen won all three titles in one 12-month period, Polgar held her titles contemporaneously, but won them in different years.

Pen Pinter prize to novelist Salman Rushdie

Eminent novelist Salman Rushdie (67), author of Midnight’s Children and The Satanic Verses, has been named the winner of Pen Pinter prize for 2014. The award was instituted in 2009 by writers’ charity English Pen in memory of British writer Harold Pinter.The prize will be presented on October 9, 2014 at an event at the British Library in London.
Rushdie went into hiding in 1989 after The Satanic Verses triggered extensive protests by Muslims and a fatwa was released from Iran’s Ayatollah Khomeini.
He was conferred Knighthood in 2007 contributions to literature. His other noted books include Haroun and the Sea of Stories and The Moor’s Last Sigh.

Iraq crisis could impact oil prices in India

Indian government is keeping a close watch on the ongoing crisis in Iraq where terrorist groups led by ISIS (Islamic State in Iraq and Syria) are attacking and capturing regions in the country. Though the crisis hasn’t yet caused any disruption in the country’s crude oil supplies to India, it has the potential to push up global crude prices. In FY14, India imported around 13% of its crude oil from Iraq, the most after Saudi Arabia, which provided for about 20% of the country’s oil imports of 190 million tonnes in the year. India’s dependence on Iraq crude oil surged since FY12 after US sanctions on Iran.

Understanding the collusion between El Nino and Monsoon

Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) is anticipating an El Nino developing in the Pacific and so there is considerable worry over its impact on this year’s monsoon. These concerns seem to escalate with the delayed arrival of rains over Kerala and a retarded monsoon progression towards north.
Around a century back Sir Gilbert Walker, then Director-General of Observatories in India, found indications that changes in the Pacific affects the monsoon. With more studies, scientific understanding of the ‘El Nino Southern Oscillation’ (ENSO) has increased significantly in recent decades.
It must be noted that not every El Nino hinders the monsoon. But when the Pacific Ocean becomes exceptionally warm the probability of monsoon turning deficient rises sharply. When the Pacific is neither too warm nor cool, there is only a 16% chance of a monsoon ending in a drought. As per rainfall data for 126 years, the possibility of a drought soars to over 40% when there is an El Nino.
Some cases of El Nino’s impact: 

• 1997 was a year of one of the most powerful El Nino events in the last century. The waters of the equatorial Pacific Ocean had warmed sharply even before the onset of monsoon. As such a phenomenon typically stymies monsoon rains over India, a severe drought was widely predicted. However, the monsoon that year ended with above average rains.
• In 2002, a moderate El Nino surprisingly broke down the monsoon which resulted into a massive drought.