Day: January 1, 2010

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.

Nouns – Gender

Gender (He and She)

  • Look at the following sentences:
  1. Joe is a boy. He is Helen’s brother.
  2. Helen is a girl. She is Joe’s sister.
  3. David is a man. He is their father.
  4. Alice is a woman. She is their mother.
  5. John is their uncle. Mary is their aunt.
  • The words boy, brother, man, father, uncle, belong to the he-group.
  • The words girl, sister, woman, mother, aunt, belong to the she-group.
  • Nouns in the he-group are the names of male persons or animals. They are said to be of the Masculine Gender.
  • Nouns in the she-group are the names of female persons or animals. They are said to be of the Feminine Gender.

 

  • Now look at the following sentences:

       1.  The table is made of wood.  

       2.    The purse is made of leather.

  • Table, wood, purse, leather are things without life. They are neither males nor females. They are, therefore, said to be of the Neuter Gender, that is, of neither gender.

 

  • Now read the following sentences:
  1. This child is very active.
  2. Students should work hard.
  • The nouns child and students can be used for both males and females. They are, therefore, said to be of the Common Gender.
  • So nouns in English may be Masculine, Feminine, Common or Neuter. People and animals are male or female. Their names or the nouns have Masculine and Feminine Gender.

 

Nouns – Use of Apostrophe (‘) to show possession

  • Look at the following sentences:
  1. Tina is wearing a new frock.

              Tina’s frock is very pretty.

          Tina’s frock means the frock belonging to Tina.

 

2.         Peter bought a cap.

         Peter’s cap is blue in colour.

        Peter’s cap means the cap belonging to Peter

 

  • We use ‘s to show belonging or possession.

 

  •      We also use ‘s to show that someone or something is related to another; e.g.
  1. Peter’s father is a teacher.
  2. Mary’s school is very far. (The school in which Mary reads.)
  •       If  a plural noun ends in s, we do not use ‘s, we just use ‘; e.g.
  1. Rama lives in the boys’ hostel.
  2. The soldiers’ uniforms were very smart.

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.