A moral story on Honesty

Chintu and Banti were good friends. They had great confidence in each other. Banti was very honest boy. Once they decided to enjoy their holidays together. They went out to a hill station for week.

Both enjoyed their stay at the hill station. After seven days, they planned to return. When they reached the station to board the train, they found a bag lying at the station platform.

Chintu noticed it first and picked it up. He opened it and saw that it contained a lot of cash and jewelry in it.

Chintu tried to hide it in his suitcase. But Banti suggested, “Chintu, we are honest people. We should not keep it with us. Somebody has missed it. We should ask people at the station. If someone claims and is able to tell the exact details, we shall handover this bag to him”.

“No, No, you are a fool. Everybody will come to claim it as his own bag. I have fond it, so this is mine”, Chintu, said.

Banti said, “What are you talking? In case you do not want to give it to its owner, we should divide it into two equal parts. Both of us have found it. We have shared every moment, every food, and every joy here together. Therefore, we should divide the cash and jewellery also into two parts to enjoy together”.

“I don’t agree with you. I saw it first, and so it is mine”. Saying so Chintu kept the bag in his possession.

Meanwhile the train arrived at the station. Chintu and Banti boarded it. Once they occupied their seats, they were at ease and began talking to each other. Time was rolling on. When the night fell, they began feeling sleepy.

After sometime the train halted at the next station. Suddenly they saw some policemen entering their compartment. Chintu was frightened to see them. He tried to put his suitcase behind his back.

Chintu whispered in Banti’s ear, “We are in great trouble. The police have come. They would arrest us and put us behind bars. You know, we have not stolen the bat”.

Banti said in a low voice, “Why do you say – ‘us’ – and not – ‘me’? Please don’t try to involve me. I have got nothing to do with the bag. You did not listen to me when I asked you to find out the owner and hand over the bag to him far from handing it over to the real owner, you even refused to share it with me., and now when you feel that you are going to land in an unpleasant situation, you want to share the unpleasantness with me. Very clever”!

The police saw lines of terror in Chintu’s face and became suspicious about him. They searched his belongings and found the bag. This was the bag they had come searching for. They arrested him and sent him to jail.

Now Chintu was repenting that he should have listened to his friend’s advice.

The Moral of the Story is “Honesty is the Best Policy”.

So... that

Some sentences with so...that, such...that



1- The music was so loudly  that I couldn´t sleep.

2- My mother  spoke so quickly that I couldn´t understand her.

3- Ana has such a beautiful body that she got a job as a model.

4- The e xam was so hard that I was not able to finish it.

10 common verb followed by gerunds

gerund or infinitive?

using infinitives

Verb fallowed by to/ing

Verb patterns: verb + infinitive or verb + -ing?

from English Grammar Today

Verbs followed by a to-infinitive

Some verbs can be followed immediately by a to-infinitive:

afford	demand	like	pretend
agree	fail	love	promise
arrange	forget	manage	refuse
ask	hate	mean (= intend)	remember
begin	help	need	start
choose	hope	offer	try
continue	intend	plan	want
decide	learn	prefer

I can’t afford to go on holiday.

It began to rain.

She hopes to go to university next year.

My mother never learnt to swim.

Did you remember to ring Nigel?

See also:

• Help somebody (to) do
• Want
• Verbs followed by a direct object and a to-infinitive

Verbs followed by -ing

-ing but not to-infinitive

Some verbs are normally followed by the -ing form, not the to-infinitive:

admit	deny	finish	mind
avoid	dislike	give up	miss
(can’t) help	enjoy	imagine	practise
(can’t) stand	fancy	involve	put off
consider	feel like	keep (on)	risk

I always enjoy cooking.

Not: I always enjoy to cook.

We haven’t finished eating yet.

Not: We haven’t finished to eat.

She keeps changing her mind about the wedding.

New subject before -ing

Some of these verbs (e.g. can’t stand, dislike, imagine, involve, mind, miss, put off and risk) can be used with a new subject before the -ing form (underlined in the examples below). If the new subject is a pronoun, it is in the object form (me, him, her, us, them):

We just couldn’t imagine Gerry singing in public.

Do you mind me being here while you’re working?

I don’t want to risk him losing his job.

See also:

• Verbs followed by -ing

Verbs followed by a to-infinitive or -ing

Hate, like, love, prefer

Hate, like, love and prefer can be followed either by -ing or a to-infinitive. The difference in meaning is often small. The -ing form emphasises the verb itself. The to-infinitive puts the emphasis more on the preference for, or the results of, the action.

Compare

-ing form	to-infinitive
I love cooking Indian food. (emphasis on the process itself and enjoyment of it)	I like to drink juice in the morning, and tea at lunchtime. (emphasis more on the preference or habit)
She hates cleaning her room. (emphasis on the process itself and no enjoyment of it)	I hate to be the only person to disagree.(emphasis more on the result: I would prefer not to be in that situation.)
Most people prefer watching a film at the cinema rather than on TV.(emphasis on the process itself and enjoyment of it)	We prefer to drive during the day whenever we can. (emphasis more on the result and on the habit or preference. The speaker doesn’t necessarily enjoy the process of driving at any time of day.)

Hate, like, love, prefer with would or should

When hate, like, love and prefer are used with would or should, only theto-infinitive is used, not the -ing form:

She’d love to get a job nearer home.

Not: She’d love getting a job nearer home.

Would you like to have dinner with us on Friday?

To-infinitive or -ing form with a change in meaning

Some verbs can be followed by a to-infinitive or the -ing form, but with a change in meaning:

go on	need	remember	try
mean	regret	stop	want

Compare

-ing form	to-infinitive
Working in London means leaving home at 6.30. (Because I work in London, this is the result or consequence.)	I didn’t mean to make you cry. (I didn’t intend to make you cry.)
He went on singing after everyone else had finished. (He continued singing without stopping.)	She recited a poem, then went on tosing a lovely folk song. (She recited the poem first, then she sang the song.)
I tried searching the web and finally found an address for him.(I searched the web to see what information I could find.)	I tried to email Simon but it bounced back. (I tried/attempted to email him but I did not succeed.)
She stopped crying as soon as she saw her mother. (She was crying, and then she didn’t cry anymore.)	We stopped to buy some water at the motorway service area. (We were travelling and we stopped for a short time in order to buy some water.)

See also:

• Mean
• Need
• Remember or remind?
• Stop + -ing form or to-infinitive
• Want

Verbs followed by an infinitive without to

Let, make

Let and make are followed by an infinitive without to in active voice sentences. They always have an object (underlined) before the infinitive:

Let me show you this DVD I’ve got.

They made us wait while they checked our documents.

Not: They made us to wait …

Help

Help can be followed by an infinitive without to or a to-infinitive:

She helped me find a direction in life.

Everyone can help to reduce carbon emissions by using public transport.

See also:

• Help somebody (to) do
• Let, let’s
• Make

Verbs followed by -ing or an infinitive without to

A group of verbs connected with feeling, hearing and seeing can be used with -ing or with an infinitive without to:

feel	notice	see
hear	overhear	watch

When they are used with -ing, these verbs emphasise the action or event in progress. When they are used with an infinitive without to, they emphasise the action or event seen as a whole, or as completed.

Compare

-ing	infinitive without to
She heard people shouting in the street below and looked out of the window. (emphasises that the shouting probably continued or was repeated)	I heard someone shout ‘Help!’, so I ran to the river.(emphasises the whole event: the person probably shouted only once)
A police officer saw him runningalong the street. (emphasises the running as it was happening)	Emily saw Philip run out of Sandra’s office. (emphasises the whole event from start to finish)

Verbs followed by a direct object and a to-infinitive

Some verbs are used with a direct object (underlined) followed by a to-infinitive. These verbs include:

advise	hate	like	persuade	request
ask	help	love	prefer	teach
challenge	instruct	need	recommend	tell
choose	intend	order	remind	want
forbid	invite

I advised him to get a job as soon as possible.

Did Martin teach Gary to play squash?

They want me to go to Germany with them.

(“Verb patterns: verb + infinitive or verb + - ing ?” from English Grammar Today © Cambridge University Press.)

Verbs fallowed by to/infinitive

verbs followed by to + infinitive

1 Some verbs are followed by the to-infinitive:

I decided to go home as soon as possible.
We all wanted to have more English classes.

Common verbs followed by the to-infinitive are:

Verbs of thinking and feeling:

• choose
• decide
• expect
• forget
• hate
• hope
• intend
• learn
• like
• love
• mean
• plan
• prefer
• remember
• would like
• would love

Verbs of saying:

• agree
• promise
• refuse

Other common verbs are:

• arrange
• attempt
• fail
• help
• manage
• tend
• try
• want

2 Some verbs are followed by a noun and the to-infinitive:

She asked him to send her a text message.
He wanted all his friends to come to his party.

Common verbs with this pattern are:

Verbs of saying:

• advise
• ask
• encourage
• invite
• order
• persuade
• remind
• tell
• warn *

*Note: The verb warn is normally used with not
The police warned everyone not to drive too fast.

Verbs of wanting or liking:

• expect
• intend
• would
• prefer
• want
• would like

Other verbs with this pattern are:

• allow
• enable
• force
• get
• teach

3. Passive infinitive

Many of these verbs are sometimes followed by a passive infinitive
(to be + past participle):

I expected to be met when I arrived at the station.
They wanted to be told if anything happened.
I don’t like driving myself. I prefer to be driven.

so vs such

so...that vs such...that

So–that vs. Such–that

SO [ADVERB / ADJECTIVE]  THAT
So is paired with that + a clause to express emphasis. So, a degree adverb, modifies or intensifies an adjective or adverb in the main clause.This expression is followed by a subordinated clause (that + clause) which expresses a surprising or remarkable effect.  (Note that may be omitted, and very cannot be used in place of so.)
CAUSE	EFFECT
The meteor storm was so beautiful	that we watched it all night.
The meteor storm passed so quickly	that it went by in one week.

SUCH ADJECTIVE  NOUN  THAT
Such is part of an adjective phrase [such + (determiner) + adjective] which modifies a noun phrase. This expression is followed by a subordinated clause (that + clause) which expresses a surprising or remarkable effect. (Such is one of the few adjectives that occurs before the article of the noun.¹)
CAUSE	EFFECT
It was [such a beautiful] meteor storm	that we watched it all night.
It was such a quick meteor storm	that it passed by in one week.
It was such an amazing sight	that we'll never forget it.