Nouns: -
Noun is the name given to a
► Person► Place► Animal► Thing► Idea / Emotion
Nouns can be classified into 3 parts:-
◙ Common Noun:-
Nouns that are used for all people, places, things & animals are called Common Nouns
E.g. I saw a movie today (can be any movie, English or Hindi, any kind)
◙ Proper Noun:-
Nouns that are used for one particular person or one place, animal or thing are called Proper nouns.
E.g. I saw Titanic today (specific movie, the name of the movie gives you the details)
◙ Abstract Noun:-
There can be no kinds or types of feeling. Hence the names of feeling and ideas are called Abstract Nouns. They have no shape, size form or color.
E.g. anger, hunger, greed, pain etc.
A noun that denotes one person or thing is said to be in the Singular number.
E.g. bat, book, girl, chair
A noun that denotes more than one person or thing is said to be in the Plural numbers
E.g. bats, books, girls, chairs.
1. To show that something belongs to somebody, we add apostrophe’s (s) to form the possessive case, if the noun is singular.
E.g. Anil’s book was on the table.
2. To form the possessive case of a plural noun ending in `s’, we simply add an apostrophe (‘) to the noun. If the plural dose not end in `s’ then we must add’s.
E.g. The boys’ books are on the table.
Note: - This possessive form can be used with people and animals, but normally it is NOT used with things.
E.g. Usha’s book but not room’s door.
When we talk about things we use “of”
E.g. Keys of the car
◙ Articles: -
Articles can be classified as
◙ Indefinite articles: -
A/an is used before a countable singular noun. We use an in front of a word that begin with a consonant sound and an in front of a word that begin with a vowel sound.
E.g. A church an apple
◙ Definite articles: -
The definite article is used with singular and plural count nouns as well as with mass nouns. It is used with singular count nouns where the reference is to something specific
E.g. This is the house that jack built.
◙ Pronoun: -
A pronoun is word that is used instead of a noun.
E.g. He, she, it, they, them, I, my, mine etc.
Read the following passage: -
Raj was a student of Bishop’s School. Raj was very intelligent and he always stood first in his class. Raj’s father was a poor farmer but was careful to ensure that Raj had good education, and that Raj worked hard so that Raj would have a good chance in life when Raj grew older. But although Raj was intelligent Raj was lazy. And when the examinations came, Raj failed in all subjects because Raj had not done enough work.
Raj was a student of Bishop’s School. He was very intelligent and he always stood first in his class. His father was a poor farmer but was careful to ensure that Raj had good education, and that he worked hard so that he would have a good chance in life when he grew older. But although Raj was intelligent, he was lazy. And when the examinations came, he failed in all subjects because he had not done enough work.
In the above passage, you will see that instead of the word “Raj”, the pronoun he has been used whenever possible, that is when there is no risk of confusion between Raj and his father.
Pronoun is a word used instead of a noun. Personal Pronouns are used or substituted for the name of a person or object and they change their form according to the way they are used in a sentence.
1st Person
Singular:
Plural:
|
I
We
|
Me
Us
|
My, Mine
Our, Ours
|
2nd Person
Singular:
Plural:
|
You
You
|
You
You
|
Your, Yours
Your, Yours
|
3rd Person
Singular:
Masculine
Feminine
Neuter
|
He
She
It
|
Him
Her
It
|
His
Her, Hers
Its, Of It
|
Common
Plural:
|
Only
They
|
One
Them
|
One’s
Their, Theirs
|
◙ Gender: -
► Masculine- the nouns and pronouns referring to males are masculine.
E.g. boy, man, father, he, him
► Feminine: - nouns and pronouns referring to females are feminine.
E.g. girl, woman, mother, she, her.
► Neuter: - nouns and pronouns referring to things or objects are neuter.
E.g. book, table, chair, tree, it.
◙ Adjective: -
Adjectives are describing words. They describe nouns. They give quality to nouns.
E.g. Ram is a boy.
Ram is a good boy
The second sentence tells us the quality of the noun Ram. Therefore good is an adjective.
To speak with clarity, and to convey our thoughts clearly, we need to know the right words. Hence we need to know as many adjectives as possible to make our description as exact as possible.
◙ Verbs: -
Verbs are important is any language because it is impossible without them to make proper sentence. Verbs usually tell us about what a person is doing. In other words the describe an action
E.g. The young boy ate his lunch.
The girl bought a new dress.
Sometimes the verb is two part or more.
E.g. The old man is singing a song
He has been trying.
There are one or two verbs that do not say what people are doing. They describe what they are or the state they are in.
The most common of these is the verb “to be” which has the following parts: be, am, are, is, was, were, being, been.
► Be: -
Pronoun
|
Verb form
|
Present tense
|
Past tense
|
Future tense
|
I
YOU
We\they
Ram\Sita
He\she
It
|
Be
Be
Be
Be
Be
Be
|
Am
Are
Are
Is
Is
Is
|
Was
Were
Were
Was
Was
Was
|
Will be
Will be
Will be
Will be
Will be
Will be
|
► Have: -
Pronoun
|
Verb form
|
Present tense
|
Past tense
|
Future tense
|
I
YOU
We\they
Ram\Sita
He\she
It
|
Have
Have
Have
Have
Have
Have
|
Have
Have
Have
Has
Has
Has
|
Had
Had
Had
Had
Had
Had
|
Will have
Will have
Will have
Will have
Will have
Will have
|
► Do: -
Pronoun
|
Verb form
|
Present tense
|
Past tense
|
Future tense
|
I
YOU
We\they
Ram\Sita
He\she
It
|
Do
Do
Do
Do
Do
Do
|
Do
Do
Do
Does
Does
Does
|
Did
Did
Did
Did
Did
Did
|
Will do
Will do
Will do
Will do
Will do
Will do
|
► Examples: -
The verb to “to be” is used with a lot of adjectives which describe the state: -
E.g. He was sad.
She is pretty.
They are old.
He has been sick.
E.g. He reads magazines.
He – Singular subject, reads – Plural verb
A plural subject takes a singular verb.
E.g. We dance
We – Plural subject, dance – Singular verb
You in spite of being a singular subject take a singular verb.
E.g. You talk too much.
You – Singular subject, talk – Singular verb
◙ Adverbs: -
Just as we have adjectives that describe a noun or tell us more about a noun. There are words called ADVERBS that tell us how an action is performed. In other words ADVERBS tells us more about a verb.
E.g. Ram dances (verb)
Ram is dancing happily (dancing – verb, how is Ram dancing? – happily – adverb.)
Adverbs not only tell us how an action is performed but also where and when an action is performed.
E.g. He arrived today. (arrived – verb; when did he arrive – today – adverb.)
In English an Adjective is usually placed before the noun it is describing, Adverbs are generally placed after the verb.
E.g. Ram is a good boy (noun)……..good - adjective
Ram is dancing happily (adverb)………dancing - verb
It is essential to know as many adverbs as possible, as it ensures a good vocabulary with the help of which one can communicate and express one’s idea’s fluently and with clarity in English
◙ Prepositions: -
Prepositions are small words or phrases like “in”, “of”, “out” and “in front of” that are put before noun groups to show the relationships between the participants of an action in the sentence.
They also open up the possibilities of saying more about a thing or an action, because you can choose any appropriate noun or group after it as its object.
E.g. “About”
The children are plying about the house. (around the house)
I didn’t know anything about the house (know of that)
Do you see that the preposition “about” in the sentences above, followed by different types of noun groups, takes different meaning?
Prepositions are placed before a noun or a pronoun.
They show the relationships in place, position, time, method etc.
◙ Place or Destination prepositions: -
Here is a list of common one word prepositions which are used to talk about a place or destination:
About, above, across, alongside, among, around, before, behind, below, beneath, beside, between, by, down, from, in, inside, into, on, opposite, outside, over, past, round, towards, under, underneath, up, within, at, beyond, near, through, off, through out.
E.g. I’ll be waiting for you at the ticket counter. (where? – At the ticket counter)
They rushed into the auditorium (where? – but as the verb rushed shows movement, into indicates destination)
There are some more prepositions which consists of more than one word and which are used to talk about a place or destination – ahead of, allover, away from, close by, close to, in between, in front of, near to, on top of, out of, next to.
English has a large number of prepositions and some of them – such as, beside, by, near, and next to, are very similar in meaning.
Q: Where is your house?
Ans: It is next to the grocers.
It is adjacent to the grocers
It is beside the grocers shop
All mean the same but are said differently
The following prepositions are used to specify position:
Aboard, about, above, across, against, ahead of, all over, along, alongside, amidst, among, around, astride, at, away from, before, behind, below, behind, below, beneath, beside, between, beyond, by, close by, close to, down, in, in between, in front of, inside, near, near to, next to, off, on, on top of, opposite, out of, outside, past, through, under, underneath, up, upon, with, within.
E.g. The man behind the desk didn’t understand anything.
◙Time prepositions: -
There are some prepositions that indicate time:
After, at, before, behind, during, for, from, in, into, under, on, pending, since, through, throughout, till, to, towards, until, with, within
E.g. The train is running four hours behind the schedule.
You must answer this within five minutes.
I had not seen him for many years.
The show continued late into the night.
Now you may have noticed that many prepositions are common and also appear in the list of place and position prepositions. The meaning depends on the verb and also the noun following the preposition.
Apart from place, destination, time, prepositions also show relationships such as:
E.g. Abhi fought with courage, (manner)
Gandhiji fought for the freedom of India
She took medicine for stomach ailment.
The temples of India
Nehru was a man of great vision
► Some basic applications:
In and into
In indicates the presence and into indicates the movement.
E.g. There are forty passengers on the bus. ( presence, passengers are already there, so in)
Get into the bus. ( into shows the movement of getting into the bus.)
Of and off
Of indicates the presence and off indicates the movement
E.g. What is the name of your dog?
The marble rolled off the table.
With and by
With indicates movement and by indicates presence
E.g. Write with a pencil.
I traveled by bus to school.
For and from
For indicates presence and from indicates movement
E.g. I got a present for you.
She has come from America
◙ Conjunctions: -
They are joining words. That is to say that they are used to link together words, phrases and sentences.
The most common examples is “and”.
Conjunctions are used when some word, phrase or sentence is to be added to enhance the meaning of the sentence.
E.g. Roop and Paul went to see a movie
He lives over the hills and far away.
Other useful conjunctions are: - but, although, because, or, until, since, so etc.
◙ Interjections: -
An interjection is a word that is used to show a reaction or the way you feel about something.
E.g. Hi! Hello! Wow! Really! How sad! Oh my god! Gosh! Never! How dare you! Hurray! Oh! Ah! Ouch! No way! Never!
◙ Word order: -
We have learnt all the parts of speech. So now we should be comfortable with sentences. Isn’t it?
Identify the correct sentence from the following sentences: -
Raj market went to.
Sonia playing a ball with.
Veer is shouting loudly.
Anita clothes was washing.
Looking at these sentences, we come to know that knowing the parts of speech is not enough to speak English. Just like knowing the algebra figure is not enough. To solve the sums one must know the correct formula.
Every sentence comprises a subject, about which we are talking, and a predicate which gives information about the subject.
E.g. Raj is playing the guitar.
Raj – subject, is playing guitar – predicate.
Rahul has gone to the theater.
Rahul – subject, has gone to the theatre – predicate.
In most cases the sentence always beings with the subject, followed by a word that indicates tense (when required), which again is followed by verb or noun. (STV/N)
E.g. Rahul is crying.
S T V
Rita has a car
S T N
Now you know the subject is followed by the tense indicator which is followed by a verb or noun. It so happens that sometimes the word after the subject does the work of the tense as well as the verb
E.g. Smita sings well.
Smita – subject
Sings – verb + word indication the present tense as otherwise it would be “sang”. Now you know that a regular sentence construction formula is subject + tense indicate + verb/noun.
When you are saying something that happens on a regular basis, or is factual then you normally refer to such a sentence. And when you are describing something that is happening continuously then you say Smita is singing or was singing. Then you have a separate word which describes the tense, and a separate.
Word indicating the verb.
Some more examples: -
Arjun danced flexibly.
Sonia irritates me.
Raj dislikes her.
In all the above sentences you will see that the verb is placed right after the subject which is originally the place of the tense indicator. So those verbs are not only playing the role of verb but also of tense indicator past or present.
Now you must be thinking that6 every sentence must follow the formula explained. So let’s see how you would make this sentence.
E.g. You are why crying?
Is this right?
The subject “you” is placed right in the beginning as per the rule, and the word indication tense is right after followed by the verb. So it should be right, isn’t it?
Questions have a different formula. They mostly being with “why, what, who, when, where.” Followed by the tense indicator, followed by the subject, followed by the verb or noun in maximum cases.
E.g. why are you crying?
Why
Are – tense indicator (t)
You – subject (s)
Crying – verb (v)
E.g. When will Raj come?
When
Will – tense indicator (t)
Raj – subject (s)
Come – verb (v)
So, the basic formula for questions (TSV/N) can be taken as reverses of the regular statement formula (STV/N)
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