A noun is a word that denotes a person, place, or thing.

For example: Tom, apple,

laughter, Phoenix.

Example Sentence 1 -Tom went around the world, from California to Cairo, by ship.

All the underlined words are nouns.

• Tom = name of a person
• world= a place
• California = name of a place
• Cairo = name of a place
• ship = a thing
Concrete & Abstract Nouns

Nouns can be either concrete or abstract, depending upon what type of entity they denote.

Concrete Nouns denote items that one can identify using any of the five senses –
sight, touch, taste, smell, & sound.

For example: all nouns in the example sentence 1 (Tom went…ship.) are concrete nouns.

Abstract Nouns denote items that cannot be detected by the five senses.
For example: love, truth, pain, skill.
Proper & Common Nouns

Nouns can be either proper or common, depending upon whether they express specific
names or generic entities.

Proper Nouns name specific persons, places, or things. They are capitalized.

In the example sentence 1, the nouns ‘Tom’, ‘California’, and ‘Cairo’ are all proper nouns
since each of these nouns is the name of a person or a place.

Common Nouns are general nouns.

In the example sentence 1, the nouns ‘world’ and ‘ship’ are common nouns.
Singular and Plural Nouns
Nouns have a number associated with them. Since they express entities, they can either
express a single entity or a plural entity. Thus, nouns can be singular or plural.
• Singular means one. A noun in its native form is singular: e.g. – ship.
• Plural means more than one. Typically, most nouns can be made plural by adding –s, –es or
–ies after the noun. For example:
• ship is singular; ships is plural
• injury is singular; injuries is plural
Certain other nouns have distinct plural forms. For example:
• man is singular; men is plural
• child is singular; children is plural
• mouse is singular, mice is plural
Countable and Un-Countable Nouns
Classification of nouns as countable and uncountable nouns is important because it governs
the use of certain adjectives with these nouns, as explained below.
What is a countable noun ?
A countable noun is a word that can be counted and has a plural form.
For example: the word ‘onion’ is a countable noun because:
• It can be counted as one onion, two onions, three onions, etc.
• It has a plural form (onions).
Likewise, the word ‘reason’ is a countable noun because:
• It can be counted as one reason, two reasons, three reasons, etc.
• It has a plural form (reasons).
Along the same reasoning, words such as ‘thing’, ‘job’, ‘coin’, ‘story’, etc. are countable
nouns.
What is an un-countable noun?

An un-countable noun is a word that cannot be counted and that usually* does not have a
plural form.

For example: the word ‘garlic’ is an un-countable noun because:

• It cannot be counted as one garlic, two garlics, three garlics, etc.
• It does not have a plural form - garlics.
Likewise, the word ‘knowledge’ is an uncountable noun because:
• It cannot be counted as one knowledge, two knowledges, three knowledges, etc.
• It does not have a plural form - knowledges.

Along the same reasoning, words such as ‘stuff’, ‘furniture’, ‘money’*, ‘rice’, ‘anger’ etc. are
un-countable nouns.

*The noun ‘money’, which is usually an un-countable noun, has a plural form ‘moneys’,
which is used in a very different context and not in the context of ‘one moneys’, ‘two
moneys’, etc.
How can I determine whether a noun is countable or un-
countable?
A noun is a countable noun if:
• It can be counted as 1 (noun), 2 (nouns), 3 (nouns).
• It has a plural form.
A noun is un-countable noun if
• It cannot be counted as 1 (noun), 2 (nouns), 3 (nouns)
• It does not have a plural form.
What adjectives can be used with countable and un-
countable nouns?

Quantity adjectives such as ‘few’, ‘many’, etc. can only be used with countable nouns.

For example, you can say ‘few songs’ because here ‘songs’ is a countable noun, but you
cannot say ‘few music’ because ‘music’ is an uncountable noun.

Similarly, you can say ‘many songs’; but you cannot say ‘many music’.

Quantity adjectives such as ‘less’, ‘amount’, etc. can only be used with uncountable nouns.

For example, you can say ‘less music’ because here ‘music’ is an uncountable noun, but you
can’t say ‘less songs’ because songs is a countable noun, and ‘less’ cannot be used with
countable nouns.

Similarly the expression ‘amount of music’ is correct, while the expression ‘amount of
songs’ is incorrect idiomatic usage.

Pronouns take the place of a noun to avoid repetition and to clearly express the meaning
of the sentence. For example:
• Sentence 1: The teacher walked in to the class and saw that the studentsdoing the group
assignment were too loud, so the teacher told the studentsthat the group assignment would
have to end if the students did not control students’ volume.
• Sentence 2: The teacher walked in to the class and saw that the studentsdoing the group
assignment were too loud, so he told them that the group assignment would have to end
if they did not control their volume.

Notice how in sentence 1, the nouns are repeated, and therefore, the sentence is clumsy and
difficult to comprehend. On the other hand, in sentence 2, pronouns are used in place of the
nouns, and the sentence becomes much more precise and clear.

Since pronouns replace nouns, they also express the name of a person, a place, or a thing.
For example:
• Tom was angry at Sheila for not taking Tom to Central Park, as Tom loves to go to Central
Park for picnics with Sheila.
• Tom was angry at Sheila for not taking him to Central Park, as he loves to go there for
picnics with her.
Types of pronouns
There are five types of pronouns.

Type 1. Personal Pronouns

These pronouns refer to specific people or things.
 For example: he, she, they, etc.

When you use personal pronouns, you should take care to use them in the correct case or
form as explained below.
A. Subject Case Pronouns – I, You, She, He, It, We, They
Be sure to use a subject case pronoun when the pronoun acts as a subject in the sentence. For
example:
• Sheila slept before the sunset.
She slept before the sunset.

• Tom and Sheila left the meeting early to attend a gala event.
They left the meeting early to attend a gala event.
B. Object Case Pronouns – Me, You, Her, Him, It, Us,
You, Them
Likewise, use object case pronouns when the pronoun acts as an object in the sentence. For
example:
• Assign the task to Sheila.
Assign the task to her.
• Tom needs to meet Sheila and James.
Tom needs to meet them.
C. Possessive Case Pronouns – My, His, Her, Their, Its
Likewise, use possessive case pronouns when you need to show ownership. For example:
• Sheila’s share of chocolate is almost over.
Her share of chocolate is almost over.
• The students’ books are torn.
Their books are torn.

Type 2. Relative Pronouns

These pronouns connect group of words to specific nouns. They are called relative pronouns
because they relate to the word that they modify.

For example: that, which, where, whose, etc. are relative pronouns.
• The book that contains the details of the experiment was
stolen. Here that relates to the noun book.
• The barren land, which has not been cultivated since ages, belongs to an old
couple, who cannot hire any
help. Here which relates to the
noun land and who relates to the noun old couple

Type 3. Indefinite Pronouns

These pronouns refer to people and things that are not specific.

For example: all, everyone, each, everything, anyone, anything, etc. are indefinite pronouns.
• Everyone has the right to vote in this country.
• Each student needs to sign the attendance sheet.

Type 4. Demonstrative Pronouns

These pronouns refer to the nouns that follow them.

For example: this, those, etc. are demonstrative pronouns.

• These shoes are mine.
• This box contains several antique items.

Type 5. Reflexive Pronouns

These pronouns are used when the subject of the sentence does something to itself. These
pronouns end in –self or –selves
• I cut myself while chopping the vegetables.
We also use these pronouns to emphasize the subject.
• They themselves cannot handle the situation.

Singular and Plural Pronouns

Like a noun, a pronoun can be either singular or plural. Some singular pronouns are he, it, I,
her, this, etc. Some plural pronouns are they, we, us, them, those, etc.

A verb is an essential component of a sentence. A sentence is not complete without a verb

and its subject. Typically, verbs denote the action performed by the subject.

For example:
• The clock ticks all day long.
“ticks” is an action verb here as the clock is the doer of the action. The clock does the action
of ticking.
• The beggar sat down by the side of the road.

“sat” is the action verb here, and the doer of this action is the subject of the sentence – “the
beggar”.

On several occasions, verbs, instead of presenting the action of the subject, simply connect
the subject to some other additional information about the subject. In such cases, they are
called linking verbs. Let’s take a closer look at such verbs.

Linking verbs
Verbs can also connect or link the subject to additional information about this subject. Such
verbs are called linking verbs.
For example:
• My mother is a great cook.
The verb “is” does not denote an action. But it connects the subject of the sentence – “My
mother” – to some additional information about her – a great cook.

• Richard seems sad today.

 The verb “seems” does not denote any action, but it connects the subject of the sentence
“Richard” with the additional information – that he looks sad.
• After getting the news that she had made it to her dream college, Rachael wasvery happy.

The verb “was” does not denote any action, but it connects “Rachael”, the subject of the
sentence, with the remaining information about her.

How to recognise linking verb?

If you can replace a verb in the sentence with is, am, or are and the sentence still makes
sense, then those verbs are linking verbs.
For example:
• The question looked difficult to everybody in the class.
Let’s replace “looked” with “is” – The question is difficult. This replacement makes
complete sense. Hence “looked” is a linking verb in this sentence. Furthermore, it will not
make sense to consider the question actually performing the action of “looking”. The sense
of the sentence here is that the question actually appeared difficult to everyone in the class.
• Josh looked at the question until he solved it in his brain.
Let's replace "looked" with "is" - Josh is at the question. This replacement does not make any
sense at all. Hence, “looked” in this sentence is an action verb. In fact, in this sentence, it
will make complete sense to say that Josh is actually performing the action of “looking”.
Base form of Verb

The base verb is the simplest form of a verb, a form without any special ending. You can
easily recognize these verbs from the manner in which they are used in “to + verb” forms.

For example: dance, do, cook, sing, play, read, etc. (to dance, to do, to cook, to sing, to play,
to read)
All verb tenses are created from the base form of the verb.

They can be created either by adding some helping verbs before the base form of the verb or
by making some changes to the verb form itself or both.

For example:
• run – will run, is running, ran
Here, to create the future tense, we added the helping verb “will” to the base form of the verb,
but to make the present continuous form, we added the helping verb “is” and modified “run”
to “running”. Furthermore, to create the simple past tense, we changed the form of the verb to
“ran”.
• laugh – will laugh, is laughing, laughed

Here again, we added helping verbs to create the first two tenses. For the second tense, we
also modified “laugh” to “laughing”. To create past tense, we added “ed” after the base form
of the verb.

Base verbs are also used with pronouns I and you and all plural subjects.
• I cook food.
• You dance well.
• You play all the time.
• They do the work.
Singular form of verbs can be formed by adding “s” or “es” to the base verb. For example:
• She cooks food.
• She dances well.
• She plays all the time.
• He does the work.
Understanding of base form of verb is very important. Once you have this understanding
then by understanding how different tenses work and how you can write verbs in different
tenses, you will get a good handle on verbs.
Helping verbs
A verb can consist of more than one word. In such cases, there is one main verb and the rest
are called auxiliary or helping verbs. Following is the list of the auxiliary verbs:

is, are, am, was, were, has, have, had, has been/have been/had been, can/could, may/might,
will/would, shall/should

Let’s take a few sentences to understand helping verbs:

• The president is deliberating on the issues of economic crisis.
In this sentence, “deliberating” is only part of the verb. It alone does not form a verb in this
sentence. The preceding helping verb “is” makes them together the verb.
• Mike has been working on his project since yesterday.

In this sentence, “working” is only part of the verb. But the complete verb here is “has been
working” in which “has been” are the helping verbs without which the -ing form of the verb
cannot be regarded as a verb.

Also, notice that when we use do/does/did, it is always followed by a base verb. And when
that happens, the number of the helping verb depends upon the number of the subject.

For example:
• The flower does not bloom well in windy weather.

Notice that “the flower” is the singular subject. That is why the helping verb used for this
subject is singular “does”. Since we have already used one singular verb in the sentence, the
verb that follows the helping verb is in the base form. Even if the subject is singular, we
cannot say “does not blooms”.

Now if this sentence is written without the helping verb, then the main verb will follow the
number of the subject. For example:
• The flower blooms in windy weather.
Likewise, in past tense sentences, if the helping verb “did” is used, then it is also followed by
the base verb. We cannot use the past tense of the main verb with “did”. For example:
• The flower did not bloom in windy weather. Correct
• The flower did not bloomed in windy weather. Incorrect
Now that we understand the base form of verb and the helping verbs, let’s understand how
the tenses govern the timing of the action presented by the verb.
 Verb Tenses
The tense of the verb denotes the time of the action. The tense can be divided into three
categories – Present Tense, Past Tense, and Future Tense. This topic has been discussed in
detail in the verbs module of the course.

Adjectives are words that describe or modify nouns or pronouns. They do so by answering
certain questions about the entity they modify. For example - What kind is it? How many are
there? Which one is it? For example:
• Incessant anxiety has undermined his health.
In this sentence, “incessant” is the adjective that describes the noun “anxiety”. What
kind of “anxiety” are we talking about? We are talking about the anxiety that never
stopped. So anxiety has been modified by “incessant”.
• Every cloud has a silver lining.
This famous proverb contains the adjective “silver” that modifies the noun “lining”.
This word defines the color of the lining.
• Maria has to prepare two dishes for dinner.
In this sentence, “two” is the adjective that describes the noun “dishes”. How many
dishes? Two dishes.
• Tom takes pleasure in working on challenging projects.

In this sentence, “challenging” is the adjective that describes the noun “projects”.
What kind of projects? Challenging projects.

So, as you saw in the above three example sentences, adjectives provide a little more
information about the entity they describe. Now in the examples above we saw single
words that act as adjectives. However, phrases and clauses can also act as adjectives.

Adjectives – Words, Phrases, and Clauses

In addition to words, phrases and clauses can also act as adjectives. This topics has been
covered in detail in the module dedicated to modifiers.
Adjectives – for comparisons
When a comparison between 2 entities is made, the comparative form of adjective is used.
Comparative form
This form should be used when an adjective is used to compare 2 entities. It can be formed
in two ways. We can add either “er” to the end of the adjective or “more” or “less” before
it. Remember that we cannot use more/less + er adjective.
• Jacob has a bigger villa than Jack does.
• My cat is certainly lazier than my dog.
• The salary offered in corporate organizations is more handsome than that offered in
governmental firms.
• Some flowers are more colorful than others even if all of them belong to the same family.
Superlative form
 This form should be used when an adjective is used to compare more than 2 entities. Like
comparative adjectives, superlative adjectives can be formed in two ways. We can add either
“est” or “iest” to the end of the adjective or “most” or “least” before it. Remember that we
cannot use most/least + est/iest adjective
• Jason has the biggest villa in this block.
• Gina’s is the thickest exercise book in the class.
• For Jason, his grandmother is the most gorgeous woman in the world.
• This is the most colorful rainbow I have even seen.
• The stories that Harry tells are the least believable of all.
So always be sure to use adjectives in their correct form. Use the comparative form of the
adjective when you compare 2 entities. Construct the comparative form
appropriately. Likewise, use the superlative form of the adjective when you compare more
than 2 entities. Construct the superlative form appropriately.

Adverbs are words that describe or modify verbs, adjectives, other adverbs or clauses.
They can be a single word, a phrase or a clause. Adverbs generally answer one of these four
questions about the entity they modify: How? When? Where? and Why?

For example:
• Kim quickly grabbed the last cookie left on the plate.
In this sentence, the adverb “quickly” modifies the verb “grabbed” by defining the
'how' aspect of the action. How did Kim grab the last cookie? She grabbed it
“quickly”.
• In the game of hide and seek, Amy decided to hide in a completely dark room in the
basement.
Here, the adverb “completely” modifies the adjective “dark”. How dark was the
room? It was completely dark.
• Ria happily accepted the new project.
In this sentence, the adverb “happily” describes the verb “accepted”. How did Ria
accept the new project? She did so happily.
• Ria very happily accepted the new project.
In this sentence, the adverb “very” describes the adverb “happily”. How happily did
Ria accept the new project? She did so very happily. So here the adverb presents the
extent or degree of happiness.
• Surprisingly, our Indian food stall had the maximum footfall in the World Gourmet Fest.
Here, “Surprisingly” describes the entire main clause.
How are Adverbs formed?

Most of the single-word adverbs end with “ly”. For example, “quickly”, “completely”,
“happily”, and “surprisingly” are all adverbs ending with “ly”.

However, there are a few words that are not adverbs despite ending with “ly”. For example,
“lonely”, “lively”, “lovely”. Even if they end with “ly”, these words are adjectives that
modify nouns or pronouns. So you must not blindly consider any “ly” ending word an
adverb. Always go by the meaning and role of the word!
 Furthermore, there are many adverbs that do not have a specific ending. For example: next,
often, very, seldom, etc.

So as you saw above, adverbs can describe any entity in the sentence except nouns and
pronouns. They can describe verbs, adjectives, other adverbs, and even complete
clauses. You also saw that the adverbs in these examples are single words. Now, apart from
single words, phrases and clauses can also act as adverbs.
Adverbs – for comparisons

We learned that adverbs are used to describe other verbs, other adverbs,
adjectives, or clauses. While describing these entities adverbs can also present
comparison. And when they do so, they should be used in the appropriate comparative or
superlative forms.

When we compare an aspect of two entities, we add “more” or “less” before the adverb to
make it a comparative adverb. For example:
• Jack goes to swim more frequently than his sister Jill.
• Jill understood the concept of probability less quickly than that of coordinate geometry.
When we compare an aspect of more than two entities, then we use adverbs in the superlative
form. In order to make an adverb superlative, we need to add “most” or “least” before the
adverb. For example:
• The quality of the project showed that Amy’s was the most hastily done project in the class.
• Prof. Roy always raises the least frequently discussed topics in philosophy.
So always be sure to use adverbs in their correct form. Add the word “more” or “less” when
you compare two entities. Likewise use the word “most” or “least” when you compare more
than two entities.

Prepositions are words that link or connect a noun or a pronoun to other words to show
the relation of that noun or pronoun with other words. Prepositions always appear in
prepositional phrase, that is, they begin with a preposition and end with a noun or a noun
phrase.
Prepositions are always followed by Noun
They generally describe place (in, out, above), time (during, by, at), and movement (to,
towards). For example:
• Generally, the family sits by the fire place.
Here, “by” describes the place where the family sits during winters.
• Many Siberian birds fly to warmer countries during winter.

Here “to” presents movement of the Siberian birds from one place to warmer countries.
Preposition “during” shows which time of the year do Siberian birds fly to warmer countries.

Notice that “to” is sometimes followed by a verb. For example: I like to sing. In this usage,
“to” is NOT a preposition; it is an infinitive.
• Below is the list of prepositions divided according to what they describe. Note
that this table is not an exhaustive list of prepositions and that one preposition
may fall in more than one category:

Conjunctions are words that join different parts of sentences together. There are
following types of conjunctions:
1. Coordinating Conjunctions
These conjunctions join nouns, pronouns, verbs, adjectives, clauses, and propositional
phrases. These conjunctions are – For, And, Nor, But, Or, Yet, So. The popular acronym for
these conjunctions is FANBOYS.
• Mary wanted to perform at the concert tonight, but her health did not permit her. (joining two
independent clauses)
• Samuel went to Paris to see the Eiffel Tower and to write his thesis. (Joining two “to verb”
phrases)
2. Subordinating Conjunctions
These conjunctions join a clause to another to communicate the full meaning of the
sentence. They may provide a necessary transition between the two ideas in two clauses in
the sentence. This transition can indicate a time, a place or a cause and effect relationship
• The teacher will announce the date of assessment once all the students submit their projects.
• John watched his favorite TV show after he finished his project.
• Since Amy was getting late for the concert, she asked her friends to meet her directly at the
venue.
They may also reduce the importance of one clause to make the more important idea of the
two obvious. The more important idea lies in the main clause, while the less important idea
lies in the clause followed by the subordinating conjunction.
• Although the day is pleasant, it does not look apt for a picnic.
• As he saw his father approaching, Joe hung up the phone.
3. Correlative Conjunctions
Some conjunctions are used in pairs. They connect two equal grammatical entities. These
conjunctions are Either…Or, Neither…Nor, Not Only…But Also, Both…And, etc. Always
make sure that the entities following the two conjunctions are grammatically and logically
parallel to each other.
• Amy not only baked the cake but also cooked the sumptuous meal.
Parallel Entities – Verb phrases = “baked the cake” and “cooked the sumptuous meal”.
• The teacher cares both about the physical development of the students andabout their mental
development.
Entities parallel – prepositional phrase = “about the physical development of the students”
and “about their mental development”.

Articles are a kind of modifier that modifies noun entities. Their modification denotes
whether we are talking about a specific entity or a non-specific entity and hence can be
divided into two categories:
Indefinite Article
‘A’ and ‘an’ are called the indefinite articles because they each refer to an object that is not
specific. These two articles are used only with singular noun entities. For example:
• My mother gave me an apple and a banana for breakfast today.
• Toby has a cat whom he calls Riki.

Whether to use “a” or “an” before a noun entity depends upon the sound of that entity. If the
noun entity begins with a vowel sound, we use “an” before it. For example: an apple, an
ocean, an honest man, an MBA, etc.

If the noun entity begins with a consonant sound, we use “a” before it. For example: a bat, a
horse, a university, a useful article, etc.
Definite Article
“The” is called the definite article as it refers to a specific noun entity. “The” can be used
with both singular and plural noun entities. For example:
• The man in the blue shirt is my school friend.
• The pens that you gave me yesterday are not there in my bag.
Definite article is used in several cases. Here are a few of the most commonly used
scenarios:
• When we talk about a particular person or thing, or one already referred to. Note that the
context clearly indicates this specific noun.
For example:
a. The book you want is not available now.
b. The movie is doing really well.
• When a singular noun is meant to represent a whole class/species.
For example:
a. The dog is a very faithful pet.
b. The bamboo is a kind of grass.
• Before some proper names, such as the names of oceans and seas, rivers, deserts, mountain-
ranges, groups of islands, a few countries that have “republic” or “kingdom” in their names.
For example:
a. The Himalayas have some very difficult trekking tracks.
b. The Nile is the longest river of the world.
• Before the names of certain books. For example: the Iliad, the Bible, etc.
• Before the names of things that are unique. For example: the sun, the earth, etc.
• With superlatives. For example: the best presentation, the most extraordinary game, etc.
• Before musical instruments. For example: Krishna plays the flute.
• With words representing the rank of a number with respect to some order, in particular order
or position (i.e. first, second, third, etc.).
For example:
a. Neil Armstrong, the first man to walk on the moon, died a few days ago.
b. I love the eighth chapter of this novel.
• Before the adjective when the noun is understood.
For example:
a. In this country the rich (people) get richer and the poor (people) get poorer
• As an adverb with comparatives.
For example:
a. The more, the merrier.
• Before the adjectives when they are followed by a proper noun. For example: the holy
Bible, the great Caesar, etc.

Introduction

In this section, we will list down a few rules that you need to keep in mind while analyzing
punctuation aspects in a sentence.

In Master Comprehension course, we learned how a simple sentence can be converted into a
long sentence by adding more information. Now there are some specific grammar rules that
govern how some specific connections should be made. This is what we will discuss in this
section.

Connect two sentences that communicate complete

meaning

Two sentences that communicate complete meaning (technical term - independent clause)
can be connected in two common ways. Let's take up these two sentences for
demonstration.

1. Tom loves his job in the corporate office.

2. His job is challenging.

First Way to Connect

Here is the first way of connecting these two sentences.

Tom loves his job in the corporate office; his job is challenging.

As you can see, we have connected them using a semi colon. So, this is the first way.

Second Way to Connect

Now here is the second way of connecting these two sentences.

Tom loves his job in the corporate office, for his job is challenging.

As you can see, by adding the word "for", we have added some more context to the complete
sentence since now the two parts are linked in a causal relationship. But that is beside the
point.

The main aspect to note here is that how the connection has been made.
Observe the combination - comma + for.

This construction is part of what is commonly known as Comma + FANBOYS, where

• F stands for For

• A stands for And
• N stands for Nor
• B stands for But
• O stands for Or
• Y stands for Yet
• S stands for S

As is clear, each of these connecting words provides context between the two complete
sentences. Note that we covered these in the previous section on Coordinating
Conjunctions.

Once again, keep in mind the punctuation aspect - the complete connector includes the
comma as well. i.e. it is comma + FANBOYS.

Takeaway

So the two ways in which we can connect two independent thoughts are by using ;
(semicolon) and by using ,FANBOYS (comma + FANBOYS).