Month: January 2010

Nouns – Common and Proper

  • Look at the following sentences:

 

  1. Jack is boy.
  2. Tom is a boy.
  3. John is a boy.
  4. Dick is a boy.

 

  • The word boy occurs in all the four sentences. It is a common name used for all the boys. But all boys have special names too. Jack, Tom, John and Dick are special names of these four boys.
  • Pets and places also have special names. Cat and dog are common names used for all cats and dogs. But we often give special names to our pets:

       1.   My cat’s name is Silky. 

      2.   I call my dog, Naughty.

  • Jackie, Jimmy, Buddy, Molly, Rover, Rustam, Rosebud, Tiger, Pussy, Snowy, Snowball, Rocky, Jumbo, Appu, are some special names of our pets.
  • Places also have both common and special names. The words village, city, town, country, school, college, hospital, park, street are common names. But India, Australia, Delhi, Aton School, Sony Hospital, White Park are special names of places.
  • Similarly books, newspapers, magazines, days, months, festivals, institutions, companies, products etc. also have special names .The Bible, The Gita, Great Expectations, Harry Potter, The Times, Femina, Sunday, January, Christmas, Diwali, are all special names.
  • These special names are called Proper Nouns and common names are called Common Nouns.
  • Special names or Proper nouns always begin with a capital letter.
  • Some examples:
  1. Susan is a good girl.      
  2.  Peter is a smart boy.
  3. Bombay is a big city.
  4. Jackie is my dog.     
  5. Ganga is a holy river
  6. Femina is a woman’s magazine.

 

Susan, Peter, Bombay, Jackie, Ganga and Femina are Proper Nouns and girl, boy, city, dog, river, woman, magazine are Common Nouns.

 

  • A Proper Noun is the special name of a particular person, place or thing.
  • A Common Noun is a name given in common to all persons or things of the same class or kind.

 

 

 

Nouns

Nouns – Naming Words

  • Look  at the following words:

Apple, airplane, bat, ball, butter, bread, balloon, bus, banana, bag, car, cat, crow, cow, cap, chair, chocolate, doll, dog, donkey, egg, elephant, fan, fish, flower, goat, grass, gun, hen, helicopter, ice-cream, ink, jam, jug, kite, kangaroo, lion, lamp, monkey, mango, orange, owl, parrot, peacock, park, queen, rat, shoes, school, ship, tap, tiger, umbrella, van, watch, zoo, mummy, papa, uncle, aunt, Mary, John, etc.

 

  • All these words are names of something, somebody or someplace.
  • Names are usually the first words which small children learn.
  • These naming-words are called Nouns.

 

  • Read the following  sentences carefully:

 

  1. James is a good boy.
  2. The cat ran after the rat.
  3. India is in Asia.
  4. The book is on the table.
  • The words James and boy are the names of persons.
  • The words cat and rat are the names of animals.
  • The word India and Asia are the names of places.
  • The words book and table are the names of things.
  • Words which are used as the names of persons, animals or birds, places or things are called Nouns.

 

Adjectives

Adjectives: Describing Words

Read the following sentences:

  1. The elephant is a large animal.
  2. The giraffe is a tall animal.
  3. Thomas lives in a big house.
  4. Jimmy is an active dog.
  5. The baby has curly hair.
  6. Vani has two pencils.
  7. Reena is wearing a pink dress.
  8. I like red tomatoes.
  9. It is a wet day.
  10. Rocky is wearing a dirty dress.

 

The above sentences have a number of nouns/pronouns. The sentences also have some describing words.

 These describing words tell us something more about these nouns/pronouns.

The words large, tall, big, active, curly, two, pink, red, wet, dirty are describing words. They tell us something about the size, colour, number and quality of a noun or pronoun.

Words which describe something are called adjectives. All describing words are Adjectives.

Describing words describe persons, animals or birds, places or things etc.

 

Notice that adjectives usually come before a noun; as,

  1. A pink flower
  2. Black shoe
  3. Sour grapes
  4. Ripe mangoes
  5. Old man
  6. Smart boy

 

But sometimes adjectives are placed after a noun; as,

  1. The clouds are white.
  2. The sky is blue.
  3. The knife is sharp.
  4. The tea is hot.
  5. An ice-cream is cold.  
  6.  The food is tasty.

Verbs

Verbs – Doing words

  • Study the following sentences:
  1. The sun shines.
  2. Birds fly.
  3. Dogs bark.
  4. Fish swim in water.
  5. The horse runs fast.
  6. The spider spins a web.
  7. Rocky plays football.
  8. Shelly writes neatly.
  9. They study together.
  10. I eat healthy food.
  11. I go to school everyday.
  12. The cow gives us milk.
  13. They went for a picnic.
  14. The horse kicked the cat.
  15. 15.   The snake bit the boy.

 

The bold italicized words in the above sentences are doing words.

They tell us what people, animals or things do.

They express actions.

These words are called Verbs.

A Verb is a word which says something about a person or thing.

The Verb is the most important word in a sentence.

We cannot make a sentence without a Verb.

 

  • A Verb is not always one word. It often consists of more than one word; as,
  1. Alice is dancing.
  2. The students are reading.
  3. They will come tomorrow.
  4. I have found the keys.
  5. He was bitten by a snake.

 

 

  • Now read the following  sentences:
  1. I am a student.
  2. The cap is blue.
  3. The oranges are sweet.
  4. He was a leader.
  5. They were happy.
  6. Mary has a doll.
  7. I have a red pen.

 

Here, the words am, is, are, was, were, has, have, help to say something.

These words are also called Verbs.

The 3 idiots

The Three Idiots – First Impression

The Three Idiots is a blast – breathlessly exhilarating. Hat’s off to Rajkumar Hirani, Vidhu Vinod Chopra and the cast. Amir Khan is a magician, a puppeteer. He holds the strings to people’s heart or let me say he puts his heart and soul in what he does. And it shows. After a long time I have come across a movie which I’d like to see again. Besides entertaining in a superb way, the movie playfully conveys a lot of messages – Be Optimistic; Trust your intuitions; Follow your heart; Do not succumb to pressure; Voice yourself; Education, Knowledge, Learning is more important than marks and degrees; Don’t run after success, it will run after you if you have the ability and most importantly Make others happy; Be kind and compassionate.

Well, do not get a wrong impression by this list. Go and watch the movie – it makes you laugh, it makes you cry, it makes you think. You roll with laughter when Chattur gives the welcome speech on teacher’s day, you cry when the boys discover their attitude, you sit on the edge of the chair during the delivery and marvel when everything turns out well and you come out of the cinema hall thinking on a lot of matters.

All in all – The Three Idiots is a must watch – excellent, contemporary story, direction, cinematography, music and acting.