Author: Jyoti

Adverbs

  • Study the following sentences:
  1. Arun runs fast.
  2. The old man walked slowly.
  3. The dog barked loudly.
  4. She spoke rudely.

The words fast, slowly, loudly and rudely add something to the meaning of the verbs runs, walked, barked and spoke. They tell us how actions are done. Such words are called Adverbs.

When we ask the question:

How does Arun run?

We get the answer –

Arun runs fast.

The word fast tells us how Arun runs. Therefore fast is an Adverb.

  • Now read these sentences:
  1.    Ben came late.
  2.    Sam gets up early.
  3.    They play chess everyday.
  4.    Reena will come tomorrow.

 

The words late, early, everyday and tomorrow add something to the meaning of the verbs came, gets up, play and will come. They tell us when the action is done. Such words are also called Adverbs.

  • Now read these sentences:
  1.  Please sit here.
  2. The students looked up.
  3. The sky is above.
  4. The books are there.

The words here, up, above and there add something to the meaning of the verbs sit, looked, is and are. They tell us where the action is done. Such words are also called Adverbs.

  • Look at the sentences given below carefully:
  1. Rose is a very beautiful flower.
  2. I like Mary because she is so pretty.
  3. These oranges are too sour.
  4. These mangoes are almost ripe.

The words very, so, too and almost add something to the meaning of the adjectives beautiful, pretty, sour and ripe. They show the degree of the quality expressed by the adjective. Such words which add something more to the meaning of adjectives are also called Adverbs.  When we ask:

How beautiful or how pretty………?

We get the answer:

Very beautiful/so pretty.

  • Now study the following  sentences carefully:
  1. Mohan runs very quickly.
  2. He walks rather slowly.
  3. She sings quite sweetly.
  4. He works too noisily.

In the above sentences the adverbs quickly, slowly, sweetly and noisily have words added to them – very, rather, quite and too. They too are Adverbs. They add to the meaning of other adverbs.

An Adverb is a word that adds to the meaning of verb, adjective or another adverb. It tells us how a thing is done, when it is done or where it is done.

Slumdog Millionaire

After three attempts I was finally able to see the complete movie – Slumdog Millionaire. The movie initially turned me off with its portrayal of stark reality but it turns out to be an incredible love story. This is the redeeming feature of the film apart from the rags to riches story. The first part appalls you – makes your hair stand on end. It is perhaps the reality of India but it nauseates – it is outrageous, it is frightening. Is this really happening in our country? Are the children going through such inhumane brutality? Is someone doing anything to save orphaned, street children or are they left uncared for to become victims of criminals/ underworld? The movie is a celebration of India’s sordidness.

Articles

Use of a, an and the

Read the following aloud:

A ball, a cup, a mango, a lion, a rose, a goat, a tree, a pen, a deer, a chair, a horse…….

An apple, an orange, an elephant, an egg, an onion, an ice-cream, an umbrella, an eye……

We know that there are 26 letters in the English alphabet – ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ.

Say the following aloud – a, e, i, o, u. These can be spoken alone and are called Vowel Sounds.

All the other letters usually produce Consonant Sounds.

  • Now  look at the above examples again:

A is used before words beginning with a consonant sound and an is used with words beginning with a vowel sound.

Remember: A and an stand for one –  a book means one book; an orange means one orange.

‘H’ in hour and honest is silent. These words begin with a vowel sound.

 

  • Now read the following sentences:
  1. The Earth is round.
  2. The Bible is a holy book.
  3. The boys are playing cricket.
  4. The Sun gives us light.
  5. The flowers in the vase are red.

 

We use a or an while speaking of any one person or thing.

We use the while speaking of a particular (definite) person or thing.

We use the with the special names of places, rivers, mountain ranges, books, etc. as, the museum, the White Hall, the Thames, the Bible.

We use the with unique objects; as, the Sun, the moon, the Earth, the sky, the world, the President etc.

Nouns – Singular and Plural

Nouns – Singular and Plural (One and More than one)

  • Study the following pairs of sentences:
  1.     Please show me your book.

                   Please show me your books.

     2.         There is a tree in my garden.

                 There are many trees in my garden.

   3.      A bird is sitting on the branch.

            Many birds are sitting on the branches.

  4.         A boy is running in the park.

           Boys are running in the park.

 5.         This box is very heavy.

             These boxes are very heavy.

 

  • The nouns book, tree, bird, branch, boy, box in the first sentence of each pair stand for only one thing. We, therefore say that they are in the singular number. (Singular suggests ‘one’).
  • The nouns books, trees, birds, branches, boys, boxes in the second sentence of each pair stand for more than one thing. We, therefore say, that they are in the plural number.(Plural suggests ‘More than one’)
  • Any noun standing for one person, animal, place or thing is said to be in the singular number.
  • A noun standing for more than one person, animal, place or thing is said to be in the plural number.

 

  • Formation of plurals:

 

  •     Most nouns form their plurals by adding ‘s’ to the singular; as,

 

Singular

Ball

Chair

Toy

Bag

Cat

 Plural

Balls

Chairs

Toys

Bags

Cats

   Singular

Pencil

Table

Window

Eye

Cup

 Plural

Pencils

Tables

Windows

Eyes

Cups

 

  •       Nouns ending with s, ss, sh, ch and o (after a consonant) form their plural by adding ‘-es’ to the singular; as,

 

Gas

Bus

Class

Glass

Brush

Dish

Bench

Match

 Gases

Buses

Classes

Glasses

Brushes

Dishes

Benches

Matches

   Box

Fox

Tomato

Hero

Zero

Buffalo

Mosquito

 Boxes

Foxes

Tomatoes

Heroes

Zeroes

Buffaloes

Mosquitoes

 

  • There are however certain exceptions to this rule; as,

 

Photo

Kangaroo

Bamboo

Radio

 Photos

Kangaroos

Bamboos

Radios

 

  •      Nouns that end in’ f ‘or’ fe ‘ form  their plurals by changing ‘f’ or ‘fe’ to ‘ves’; as,

 

Leaf

Wolf

Wife

knife

Thief

Loaf

Scarf

Calf

 Leaves

Wolves

Wives

Knives

Thieves

Loaves

Scarves

Calves

 

  • Exception:  Roof – Roofs; Chief – Chiefs; Dwarf – Dwarfs.

 

  •      Some nouns ending in ‘y’ form their plural by changing the ‘y’ into ‘ies’; as,

 

Baby

Army

Enemy

City

 Babies

Armies

Enemies

Cities

   Lady

Fly

Story

Country

 Ladies

Flies

Stories

Countries

 

  •  If the final vowel comes just after  a vowel, the plural is formed by simply adding  ‘-s’ to the singular; as,
Boy

Toy

Tray

Ray

 Boys

Toys

Trays

Rays

   Key

Day

Valley

Monkey

 Keys

Days

Valley

Monkeys

 

  •     Some nouns do not follow any of the rules mentioned above, so we have to simply remember them:

 

Man

Woman

Foot

Tooth

Goose

Mouse

 Men

Women

Feet

Teeth

Geese

Mice

 Sheep

Deer

Fish

Ox

Child

Fruit

 Sheep

Deer

Fish/fishes

Oxen

Children

Fruit/fruits

is, am, are + ing form of the Verb

  • Read the following sentences:
  1. I am watching television.
  2. My sister is playing outside.
  3. Father is reading a newspaper.
  4. Mother is cleaning the cupboard.
  5. He is watering the plants.
  6. They are playing football.
  7. The bees are buzzing.
  8. The dog is barking.
  9. The cat is running after a mouse.
  10. The children are praying to God.

 

When we use is/am/are + doing word (Verb) + ing, we tell what is happening now i.e. at the time of speaking, as:

Mother: What are you doing, John?

John: I am reading a story, mother.

 Activity: Look around you and describe what different people are doing.

Use of has/have

  • Read  the following sentences:
  1. I have a pet dog.
  2. Rita has a kitten.
  3. Ann has a doll.
  4. We have colourful kites.
  5. I have a red balloon.
  6. He has a toy-cart.
  7. We have a big house.
  8. They have a big car.
  9. I have a new book.
  10. She has many clothes.
  11. We have two eyes, two ears and a nose.
  12. A cow has four legs and a tail.

 Has and have are also Verbs. They show what somebody has i.e. they point out possession. We use has when we speak about one person or thing. We use have when we speak about more than one person or thing or with pronouns you, we, they and I.

 

Use of is, am are, was, were

Look at the following sentences:

  1. I am a girl.
  2. He is a lazy boy.
  3. She is a teacher.
  4. It is a ball.
  5. This is her purse.
  6. That is his bat.
  7. Molly is in the kitchen
  8. We are sisters.
  9. You are late.
  10. These boys are hungry.
  11. Those girls are tall.
  12. There are many birds on the tree.
  13. There were ten students in the class.
  14. They are very rich.
  15. Mary and Anne are friends.

 

The words is, am, are, was, were, help us to say something about the noun or pronoun. These words are also called Verbs. They say or tell what a person, animal or thing is. Was/were show past activity i.e. what happened in the past. We use was as the past form of am and is. We use were as the past form of are.

 

Study this:

I am  

ten years old.
We

You

They

The girls

The boys

  

are
She

He

Mary

Jack

  

is

 

  • We use is with he, she, it, this, that and singular nouns like Mary, Jack, boy, girl, etc. We write is for one.
  • Am is always used with I.
  • We use are with we, you, they, these, those and plural nouns like boys, students, children, animals etc. We write are for many.
  • Are/were is also used with you when it is singular. Example:

Teacher: Mary, you are a good girl.

Teacher: Mary, why were you absent yesterday?

Pronouns

Pronouns – Words Used in Place of Nouns

Look at the following sentence groups:

1. Alice is a little girl.

Alice is pretty.

Alice has an umbrella.

The umbrella is very colourful.

2. Listen to Alex.

Alex is singing.

John and Alan are Alex’s friends.

John and Alan have come to hear Alex.

Alex is glad to see John and Alan.

We can write these sentences as:

1. Alice is a little girl.

She is pretty.

She has an umbrella.

It is very colourful.

2. Listen to Alex.

He is singing.

John and Alan are his friends.

They have come to hear him.

He is glad to see them.

In sentence group 1, we have used she for Alice and it for Umbrella.

In sentence group 2, we have used he, his and him for Alex; they and them for John and Alan.

By writing like this we avoid repetition and make our sentences better.

Such words which are used for or in place of a noun are called Pronouns.

The word Pronoun means ‘for a noun’.

Now read the following sentences carefully and note that the words in bold italics are Pronouns:

Teacher: Lucy, show me the drawing book

Lucy: I forgot to bring it, sir.

Here, me stands for the teacher. I stands for Lucy, and it stands for the drawing book. Teacher, Lucy and drawing book are Nouns. Me, I, and it are used in place of Nouns.

Jack and Jill: We want to go to the park. Will you allow us, mother?

Mother: Yes, but come back soon, else your father will get angry.

Here, we, us, and your stand for Jack and Jill and You stands for mother.

Jack, Jill and mother are nouns. We, us, you, your, are words used in place of Nouns.

A Pronoun is a word used instead of a Noun.

I, Me, my, you, your, he, him, his, she, her, it, its, we, us, our, they, them, there are some common Pronouns.

Kinds of Nouns

Kinds of Nouns

There are four kinds of nouns:

  1. Proper Nouns
  2. Common Nouns
  3. Abstract Nouns
  4. Collective Nouns

 

Notice the difference between these two lists of nouns:

  1. Jack   Mary   London   India   The White House   Alice in Wonderland
  2. Boy     girl         city          country          building                            book

 

The nouns in list 1. are special names of persons, places and things. They begin with a capital letter. They are called Proper Nouns.

 

The nouns in list 2. are Common Nouns, as they are not special names. They can be used for any person, place or thing. ‘Boy’ can be any boy –Alec, Bob, George, John, William etc.  

A noun which names a particular person, place or thing is called a Proper Noun.

 Proper Nouns include the names of persons, cities, towns, villages, countries, parks, libraries, historical buildings, streets, schools, colleges, universities, hills, mountains, days of the week, months of the year, books, festivals, newspapers, etc.

A proper noun always begins with a capital letter.

 

A noun that gives a common name to persons, places, or things of the same kind is called a Common Noun.

The words city, country, school, river, mountain, book, boy, girl, woman, man, bird, animal, are all common nouns. England, France, India, China, Japan are the names of countries. The word country is a common noun. It is common to all the five named here. But the words England, France, India, China, and Japan are particular names. They are Proper Nouns.  

 

Now look at the following sentences:

  1. Honesty is the best policy.
  2. Laughter is the best medicine.
  3. Poverty is a great curse.   
  4. The soldiers were awarded for their bravery.

The words in bold italics name Quality (honesty, bravery), Action (laughter), and State (poverty). Such a name given to some state, quality, feeling, or action that we can only think of is called an Abstract Noun.

Abstract Nouns are formed:

  1. From Adjectives, as Kindness from kind, Bravery from brave.(Most abstract nouns are formed thus.)
  2. From Verbs, as Obedience from obey, Laughter from laugh, Growth from grow.
  3. From Common Nouns, as Childhood from child, Slavery from slave.

 

Now read the following sentences:

  1. Our team won the match.
  2. The army fought bravely.
  3. Our class consists of fifty students.
  4. A flock of sheep was grazing in the field.
  5. She gave me the bunch of keys.

The words team, army, class, flock and bunch are used for a collection of persons or things. Such a name given to a collection of things taken as a whole/ group is called a Collective Noun.

Crowd, mob, team, army, family, committee, flock, herd, swarm, fleet, jury etc are some Collective Nouns.