GRAMMAR in a nutshell Vividh Pawaskar vividhpawaskar@gmail.com 9822988918
NOUN A noun may be defined as the name of a person, place or thing. e.g. Bipasha is beautiful.
PRONOUN A pronoun may be defined as a word used instead of a noun. It helps us to avoid the repetition of the noun. e.g. Shilpa is a woman. She is beautiful.
ADJECTIVE An adjective can be defined as a word which qualifies a noun or adds something to its meaning. e.g. Himesh is a good singer.
VERB A verb is a word which describes the action or condition of the subject. It describes what the subject is, what it does or what happens to it. e.g. Ravan was killed by Ram.
ADVERB The word which modifies the verb is called adverb. It can also add something to the meaning of an adjective or an adverb. e.g. The boy spoke loudly.
PREPOSITION A preposition is a word which generally comes before a noun or a pronoun to show its relation to some other word in the sentence. e.g. My computer is on the table.
CONJUNCTION A conjunction is a word which joins together words, phrases or sentences. e.g. Harshal gave me tea and biscuits.
INTERJECTION An interjection is a word which is used to express sudden feelings or excitement. e.g. Oh! I have lost my girlfriend.
NUMBER: SINGULAR & PLURAL • By adding ‘s’ e.g. boy-boys • By adding ‘es’ [nouns that end in ‘y, sh, ch, x or z] e.g. gases, dishes, branches, topazes • When the noun ends in ‘y’ and there is a consonant before ‘y’ add ‘ies’ e.g. cities, cries • When the final ‘y’ has a vowel before it, the ‘y’ is not changed and only ‘s’ is added to the noun. e.g. keys, boys • When the noun ends in ‘o’ and there is a consonant before ‘o’ add ‘es’ e.g. radios, studios
• Nouns which end in ‘f’ or ‘fe’ add ‘ves’ e.g. wives, thieves • Nouns ending in ‘ff, rf, oof, eef’ add ‘s’ e.g. roofs, beliefs • [Exception: café-cafes, strife-strifes, staff-staffs or staves, wharf-wharfs or wharves] • Few nouns form their plurals by changing their internal vowels only: ‘Irregular Plurals’ e.g. manmen, foot-feet, goose-geese, mouse-mice • Add ‘en’ e.g. child-children, ox-oxen
• Compound nouns use plural of main word: Brothers-in-law • Some compound nouns take double plurals e.g. Man-servant = Men Servants • ‘Foreign Plurals’ e.g. larva-larvae, Fungus-Fungi, Criterion-Criteria • Some nouns cannot be put into plural forms e.g. Imagery, Machinery • Some nouns are always in plural forms e.g. Trousers, News, Pants • Same for in singular & plural e.g. Deer, Fish
GENDER • • • •
Masculine: man, king, lion Feminine: woman, queen, lioness Common: teacher, child, servant Neuter: chair, crowd, room
PRONOUNS PERSONAL First Person: I, We etc. Second Person: You, Your, Yours etc. Third Person: He, She, It etc. REFLEXIVE Myself, Himself, Herself, Ourselves, Themselves etc. RECIPROCAL Each other [for two], one another [more than two]
DEMONSTRATIVE This, that, these, those INTERROGATIVE Who [persons], what [things], which [persons & Things] RELATIVE Interrogative pronouns used in statements and pronouns like ‘that’ and ‘but’ used in complex sentences e.g. He is the man who saved a girl from drowning.
UNIVERSAL Pronouns: each, all, every Compounds: each one, everyone PARTITIVE Pronouns: Some, any, no Compounds: something, anything, nothing POSSESSIVE Mine, his, hers etc. INDEFINITE Refer to persons or things in general e.g. one should be faithful to one’s country
ADJECTIVES ADJECTIVES OF NUMBER: All men are mortal. DEMONSTRATIVE ADJECTIVES: These grapes are sour. DISTRIBUTIVE ADJECTIVE: Whose house is that? ADJECTIVES OF QUALITY: Amitabh is a good actor. ADJECTIVES OF QUANTITY: There is little water in the well.
DEGREE POSITIVE: Sandra is a clever girl. COMPARATIVE: Sandra is cleverer than Jessica. SUPERLATIVE: Aditi is the most beautiful girl in my class.
VERBS Main Verb or Lexical Verb: This is the verb which can make a meaningful sentence on its own. e.g. Sweety reads books. Helping Verb or Auxiliary Verb: This verb cannot form a meaningful sentence on its own. But it helps the main verb to get more meaning. e.g. I can speak English.
Transitive Verb: A verb which has an object e.g. Ram killed Ravan . Intransitive Verb: A verb that has no object e.g. Birds fly in the sky. Finite Verb: limited by person, number & tense e.g. Boys go to school. Non-Finite Verb: not affected by tense & number e.g.I saw an apple falling on the ground.
REGULAR VERBS: can be turned into the past tense by the addition of ‘-ed’. e.g. kill killed IRREGULAR VERBS: verbs that are turned into the past tense by other than ‘-ed’. e.g. go went
AUXILIARIES OR HELPING VERBS PRIMARY AUXILIARIES: can be used both as Main Verb & the Helping Verbs. Forms: Be, Do, Have Vividh is a lecturer. [is-Main Verb] Vividh is singing a song. [is-Auxiliary] Vividh has many books. [has-Main Verb] Vividh has killed a tiger. [has-Auxiliary] They do right things. [do-Main Verb] They do not work hard. [do-Auxiliary]
MODAL AUXILIARIES SHALL future action[command, promise, threat] You shall go at once. You shall get a medal, if you stand first. Shall I call the police? WILL future action[promise, threat, willingness] I will do anything for you. I will teach you a lesson. I will come with you.
MODAL AUXILIARIES SHOULD, OUGHT TO, MUST ‘should’ is used as the past tense of ‘shall’ ‘should’ is used for moral obligation ‘ought to’ is just like ‘should’ ‘must’ is used for compulsion We should help the blind. We ought to be faithful to our country. We must learn to earn.
MODAL AUXILIARIES WOULD: used as the past tense of ‘will’ He said that he would come soon. CAN & COULD: ‘can’ expresses ability ‘could’ is the past tense of ‘can’ I can speak English. Till last year, I could read without glasses.
MODAL AUXILIARIES MAY: indicates future time Used to express permission, possibility, wish May I come in, sir? He may come tomorrow. May god bless you. MIGHT: past tense of ‘may’ Indicates more doubtful possibility than ‘may’ I might pass. The boy said that he might stand for election.
MARGINAL MODAL AUXILIARIES These, like Primary Auxiliaries, can function as both Main or Principal Verbs and Auxiliaries.
NEED You need not take the medicine now. DARE He dare not meet his father. USED TO In my childhood, I used to sell pots.
VOICE: ACTIVE & PASSIVE STATEMENTS/SIMPLE SENTENCES Take the object first Take the proper form of ‘be’ according to the tense form of the verb in the sentence Take ‘being’ if the verb has ‘-ing’ form Take the third form of the verb [verb-3] Take the word ‘by’ Then take the subject Use the remaining words, if any, properly
STATEMENTS/SIMPLE SENTENCES [Object + be + (being) + verb -3 + by + subject + (remaining words) Atul is writing a novel. A novel is being written by Atul.
ORDERS OR REQUESTS Start the answer with the word ‘Let’ Take the object Use the word ‘be’ Take the third form of the verb Use the remaining words, if any, properly Let + Object + be + Verb -3 + (remaining words) Open the door. Let the door be opened.
QUESTIONS A question should be turned into a passive question. First write the answer to the given question. Then turn the answer which is a simple sentence or a statement into the Passive voice. Then turn the passive statement into a question. Does he like coffee? Yes, he likes coffee.=Coffee is liked by him. Is coffee liked by him?
ADVERBS
SIMPLE ADVERBS Adverbs of Time: late, early, daily etc. Adverbs of Place: here, out, in etc. Adverbs of Number: always, seldom, secondly etc. Adverbs of Manner: slowly, seriously, bravely etc. Adverbs of Degree: enough, very, too etc. Adverbs of Reason: therefore, hence etc. Adverbs of affirmation or negation: indeed, surely not etc.
ADVERBS INTERROGATIVE ADVERBS These are adverbs used for asking questions: When did he come? How did he behave? Why did he resign? RELATIVE ADVERBS These are wh- words used as adverbs. They connect adjectival clause to the main clause. That was the reason why I called you.
ARTICLE INDEFINITE ARTICLE: A OR AN ‘a’ or ‘an’ is used for countable and singular nouns e.g. a table, an orange etc. The nouns which begin with any of ‘A,E,I,O,U’ take ‘an’ e.g. an apple Exception: The noun which starts with a vowel letter but the pronunciation of its first vowel letter is like a consonant, takes ‘a’ and not ‘an’ e.g. a one-eyed boy
DEFINITE ARTICLE: THE For the thing which is only one of its kind in the world e.g. The earth For the superlative degree e.g. The tallest For the names of mountains, deserts, oceans, rivers forests, etc. e.g. The Himalayas For the names of religions and holy books e.g. The Hindus, The Bible For the names of inhabitants of a country but not for the languages they speak e.g. The Indians speak Hindi
DEFINITE ARTICLE: THE For the name of a country when it is in plural. This name shows that the country is not a federal nation but made up of several states or parts e.g. The U.S.A. When a noun is repeated in a paragraph, the is not used for the first time but consequently e.g. A man and a dog were friends. The man‌ For the singular noun which is used to represent the whole class of things to which it belongs e.g. The camel is the ship of the desert.
For a proper noun when it is used as a common noun e.g. Kalidasa is the Shakespeare of India. For the names of inhabitants of a country but not for the languages they speak e.g. The Indians speak Hindi