Author: Jyoti

Conversation – About School

Conversation: About School

Jane returns home after her first day in her new school and tells her mother about her school.

Jane: I am back from school, mamma.

Mother: How is the school Jane?

Jane: The school is good mamma.

Mother: How are your classmates?

Jane: My classmates are friendly and helpful.

Mother: And your teachers?

Jane: The teachers are very good. Mrs. Joseph teaches us English and Social Studies. Mrs. Andrews teaches Math’s and Science.

Mother: Is there a good library in school?

Jane: Yes, mom, the library is very good, big and rich. Every week, our class teacher will give us a new book.

Mother: That’s nice. Is there a playground?

Jane: Yes, ma, the playground is huge. There are swings, slides, see-saw and a merry-go-round in one corner. There is a basketball court, volleyball and a badminton court as well. There are many big neem and tamarind trees in the school compound. The students told me that sometimes the teachers take their classes under those trees. Isn’t it wonderful mother?

Mother: I’m happy that you like your school, Jane. Do you have a games period everyday?

Jane: No, mamma, only twice a week. On other days we have dance, drawing and craft classes.

Mother: That’s really interesting.  Jane, you should make the best use of all the opportunities that are provided in your school.

Jane: I will do my best, mamma.

Learn to speak about yourself

Learn to speak about yourself

This is Daisy. See what she says about herself. She is telling about herself, her family, her home, her school and her hobbies. Read it and practice by filling in your own details. Soon you will be able to speak about yourself confidently.

I am daisy. I am eight years old. I live in Delhi, India. I study in St. Paul’s School. I read in class three. My father is a banker and my mother is a teacher. I have an elder brother. He is ten years old. He studies in class fifth. Our house is situated in Preet Vihar. It has four rooms – a drawing-cum-dining room, two bedrooms and a study room. It has a small lawn in front of it and a small kitchen garden at the back. I help my mother in cleaning the house. I also water the plants in the garden. In the kitchen garden we grow seasonal vegetables. It is simply wonderful to see these plants grow. I go to school regularly and do my homework properly. I get good marks in the exams. My teachers and parents are happy with me.

But like all children I also love to play and watch television. I like to watch cartoon serials. Mowgli, Mickie Mouse and Donald Duck are my favourite cartoons. I also love all the Barbie movies. My parents are fond of reading and so we have loads of books at home. Lots of children’s books too. I have read all the fairy tales and Panchatantra tales. My parents say that books can be a person’s best friend.

Conversation

Conversation: Introduction in School

Jane: Hello, I am Jane and it is my first day in school.

Mary: Hello Jane, I am Mary. In which class do you study?

Jane: I study in class 4th-A.

Mary: I’m also a student of 4th class, 4th– B.

Mary: Where do you live?

Jane: I live in House No. 5, Park Street.

Mary: We’re neighbours then. I live in an apartment near Park Street.

Mary: What’s your father’s name?

Jane: My father’s name is John Smith.

Mary: What’s your father?

Jane: My father is a Pediatrician.

Mary: What is a Pediatrician?

Jane: A pediatrician is a children’s doctor.

Mary: Oh, that’s great! I have a little brother who is suffering from a bad cough. I will ask my mother to consult your father.

Jane: Sure. How many brothers and sisters do you have?

Mary: I have an elder brother and a younger brother. Have you any brother or sister?

Jane: I have an elder brother. He is 12 years old.

Just then the bell rings. The lunch break is over and both go to their respective classes.

Jane: Nice to meet you Mary.

Mary: Same here Jane.

Possessive Determiners

Possessive Determiner

A determiner used in front of a noun to express possession or belonging, e.g. my book, his coat, our house, your car, its colour, their culture.

The possessive determiners in English are my, your, his, her, its, our and their.

Possessive Determiners are sometimes called Possessive Adjectives or Possessive Pronouns.

They are called Possessive Adjectives as they are used with nouns and do the work of adjectives, e.g.

This is my pen.

 Those are your pens.

That is his pen.

In the following sentences the words in italics are Possessive Pronouns:-

This notebook is mine.

Those notebooks are yours.

That notebook is hers.

That plan of yours is wonderful.

Demonstrative Determiners

Demonstrative Determiners

Demonstrative Determiners are used to indicate things or people in relationship to the speaker or writer in space or time.

This, that, these, those are the Demonstrative Determiners in English. 

This and these indicate nearness to the speaker, as in –

This is a beautiful drawing.

These chocolates are for you.

That and those indicate distance from the speaker, as in –

That girl is very smart.

Those flowers, over there, are beautiful.

This and that are used before singular countable and uncountable nouns, e.g.

This pen is expensive. (Countable noun)

This water is dirty. (Uncountable noun)

That boy is handsome. (Countable noun)

That rice is good. (Uncountable noun)

These is plural of this.

Those is plural of that.

 

Articles

Articles: Indefinite and Definite: a, an, the

A, an (before vowels), and the, are the commonest words in the English language and are a form of adjectives.

 A /an is a weak form of one and is used before a singular countable noun which is not proper, nor definite. Its function is not to define but to generalize. Example: a book, an orange etc.

 The is a weak form of that and is used before singular and plural, countable and uncountable nouns, provided they are identified or definite. It is generally not used before proper nouns.

a/an is indefinite, any, one of many, not one particular thing.

the points out a particular thing.

The choice between a and an is decided by the sound of the word which is used after them. When it is a vowel sound, an is used and if it is a consonant sound, a is used, e.g. an hour, an umbrella, an apple, an elephant, a table, a horse, a door, a goat. Remember it is the sound of the initial letter that matters and not the spelling. Thus a is used before vowels beginning with a u when they are pronounced with a y /j/ sound  as though it were a consonant, as a unit, a unicorn, a university, a useful animal. Similarly, an is used , for example before words beginning with the letter h where this is not pronounced, as in an hour, an heir, an honest officer, an honourable man.

The is spoken as /thi: /, when it is followed by a word beginning with a vowel sound and as /the /, when it is followed by a word beginning with a consonant sound.

The is used to refer back to a person that has already been mentioned, as in –

  • I met a young man in the college yesterday. The man was very smart and efficient.
  • We’ve bought a new car. The car is very luxurious.

The can be used to make a general statement about all things of a particular type, as in –

  • The industries are responsible for environmental pollution.
  • The television and the computer have reduced our physical activity.

The can be used to refer to a whole class or group, as in ‘the Indians’, ‘the French’, ‘the Smiths’, ‘the dog’, ‘the rich’, ‘the poor’ etc.

The indicates a person or thing to be the only one, as in the sun, the moon, the sky, the earth, the Bible, the Gita, the Prime Minister, the President, the Speaker etc.

The can also be used to refer to services or systems, as in –

  • The Browns are not on the phone.
  •  I prefer to travel by the train.

The is used in front of superlative adjectives, as in ‘the tallest boy’, ‘the longest river’, ‘the most beautiful woman’ etc.

The can be used instead of a possessive determiner to refer to parts of the body, as in –

  • He caught her by the hair.
  • The dog bit him on the leg.

Determiners

Determiners

Determiner is a word used in front of a noun or a pronoun to tell us something about it. Unlike an adjective, it does not, ‘describe’ a noun or pronoun.

Determiners are divided into the following categories:

  • Articles (a, an, the) as in a dog, an aero plane, the chocolates.
  • Demonstrative Determiners (this, that, these, those) as in this pen, that house, these girls, those boys.
  • Possessive Determiners (my, your, his/her/its, our, their) as in my friends, your house, her dress, its colour, our duty, their plans.
  • Numbers (one, two, three, four etc., first, second, third, fourth etc.) as in two roads, four boys, second child)
  • General Determiners (all, another, any, both, each, either, enough, every, few, fewer, less, little, many, most, much, neither, no, other, several, some) as in all students,  enough food, both parents, few people, little water, no money).

Basic Sentence Patterns

Basic Sentence Patterns

To learn a language (in our case English), it helps if we know the basic sentence patterns. And if we are able to make basic sentences, transformations become easy i.e. from affirmative to negative and interrogative; active to passive or simple to compound and complex (use of more than one finite verb).

A Basic Sentence is the smallest grammatical structure that can make sense. It is affirmative in form and has only one finite verb. Negative, interrogative, imperative and exclamatory sentences are simply not basic sentences. Similarly, sentences in passive voice are not basic. A basic sentence can be expanded into any imaginable length or changed into any other forms. It has a fixed word order i.e. noun phrase comes first and then verb phrase.

Pattern 1: Noun Phrase (NP) + Verb (intransitive)

  1. Birds fly.
  2. Dogs bark.
  3. Stars twinkle.
  4. Snow falls.
  5. The water level increased.

Pattern 2: NP + Verb (be-type & become-type) + NP

  1. Raj is a doctor.
  2. Sheila became a nurse.
  3. She turned an artist.
  4. He remained a clerk.
  5. Mr. Brown looks a gentleman.

Pattern 3: NP + Verb (be-type & become-type) +Adjective Phrase

  1. Rene is honest.
  2. He became mad.
  3. Minnie looked beautiful.
  4. John appeared handsome.
  5. The crowd turned nasty.

Pattern 4: NP + Verb (be-type) + Adverbial

  1. Bob is here.
  2. The monkey is on the tree.
  3. They are all upstairs.
  4. Nobody is there.
  5. The cat is under the table.

Pattern 5: NP +Verb (have-type) + NP

  1. My mother has a beautiful umbrella.
  2. Mr. Mehta has a car.
  3. The pen costs ten rupees.
  4. Students lack discipline.
  5. He has a fit body.

Pattern 6: NP + verb (transitive) + NP

  1. The horse kicked the cat.
  2. The hunter killed the lion.
  3. Children like chocolates.
  4. A barber cuts hair.
  5. I play chess.

Pattern 7: NP + Verb (transitive) + NP (Indirect Object) + NP (Direct Object)

  1. My friend wrote me a letter.
  2. They sent us a gift.
  3. He taught us English.
  4. My grandmother told me a story.
  5. We showed them our house.

Pattern 8: NP + Verb (transitive) + NP (Direct Object) + NP (Object Complement)

  1. The people elected her the Prime Minister.
  2. The manager appointed her secretary.
  3. They named their daughter ‘Sweetie’.
  4. The war made him a millionaire.
  5. Everybody considers him a gentleman.

Pattern 9: NP + Verb (transitive) + NP + Adjective Phrase

  1. She likes her tea hot.
  2. Exercise keeps our body fit.
  3. He opened the door wide.
  4. The Sun keeps us warm.
  5. They painted the house white.

USE of ‘OR’

‘Or’ (conjunction) – It connects two or more possibilities i.e. when we are stating or asking about two possibilities we use ‘or’. Example:

  • Would you like tea or coffee?
  • Is it a boy or a girl?
  • Are you coming or not?
  • Is it day or night?

Either-or: to say that there are two alternatives and no other alternatives are possible. Example:

  • I will either buy that book or borrow it from the library.
  • We can take either the bus or the train.
  • That is either Polly or her twin sister Molly.
  • Either we stay here or we don’t.

Not-or: to include two or more things in a negative statement. Example:

  • Jenny has never been to school. She cannot read or write.
  • Grandmother has lost her stick. Now she cannot stand or walk.
  • There isn’t any soap or toothpaste or shampoo in the bathroom.
  • I have a very sore throat. I cannot have a cold drink or an ice- cream.

Whether-or: to report or ask indirectly, questions about alternatives. Example:

  • I don’t know whether to go for the wedding or not?
  • I don’t know whether they eat non-vegetarian food or not?
  • Call the manager and ask whether the guests have arrived or not?
  • I can’t remember whether their house is on this road or that one.

Prepositions

Prepositions

Prepositions are words which relate two elements of a sentence, phrase or clause together.  Prepositions usually indicate how the elements relate in time and space.

Prepositions generally precede the words which they ‘govern’. A preposition normally governs a Noun or a Pronoun.

Prepositions are often very short words, as – at, in, on, to, before, after, before, behind, below etc.

Some complex prepositions consist of two words, as ahead of, instead of, agree with, agree to. Instead of, and some consist of three, as – with reference to, in accordance with, in addition to etc.

Although prepositions are small, they are important and also tricky. Basic grammar books tell about prepositions that refer to time and place. But there are other prepositions where no rules can help, e.g. you laugh at someone; you are angry with someone; you are sorry for someone; you are afraid of something. And there is no reason why you use these. You must just learn the preposition with the word (noun, adjective and verb) that it goes with.

Let us look at some of these common prepositions illustrated in the sentences below:

About:

She walked about (around) the room.

They are always about the place.

There are about (nearly) a dozen apples in the basket.

Grandmother, tell me a story about a fairy.

She told me all about you.

I sent him about his business (sent him away).

 What about some coffee? (Shall we have it?)

Above:

The blue sky is above our heads.

The airplane flew above the skyscrapers.

 Her character is above suspicion.

Above all, don’t forget the salt.

After:

She takes after her mother (resembles).

She was named after her grandmother.

Everybody left, one after another.

The debate went on day after day.

Against:

He married against his father’s wish.

He was made to work against his will.

 She was feeling weak and leaned against the wall for support.

They are saving money against a rainy day.

The soldiers defended the city against attack.

He struggled against great difficulties in his life.

He was against the proposal.

At:

at the top of the stairs, at a distance

 at four o’clock, at Christmas, at night, at the end of the class

 at work, at play, at school, at lunch

 at war, at peace, at rest

I looked at the old man.

The little boy threw a stone at the bird.

We laughed at his actions.

Before:

He reaches office before nine o’clock.

It rained day before yesterday.

I will see you again before long.

The thief was brought before the magistrate.

Behind:

The girl is hiding behind the door.

The moon has gone behind the clouds.

It was wrong to do it behind my back.

What are you hiding behind you?

Beside:

There came a big spider and sat down beside her.

My house is beside the river.

She was beside herself with anxiety when she heard about the accident (wild with).

What you say is beside the question (has nothing to do with it).

Beyond:

The river lies beyond those hills.

We should not live beyond our means.

She is beyond the doctor’s help.

His behavior is beyond description.

But:

She took nothing but water for five days.

All but one of these students speak English.

War brings nothing but misery.

By:

She sits by me at school.

Our camp was by the lake.

We must get to school by 9 o’clock.

You must finish this work by tomorrow.

The parcel must have arrived by now.

They came to Goa by air.

One by one, step by step, drop by drop, little by little.

You must learn this poem by heart.

He dropped the glass by mistake.

 He took me by surprise.

We use by for all passive constructions with agents, e.g.

This work was done by John.

The cake was eaten by the rats.

Machines are driven by steam or electricity.

The cake was cut by the newly wedded couple.