NOUN

RULE: Nouns are names of persons, animals, things and places.

EXAMPLE: This is a story about a child called Lily and a crocodile called Dill.

EXERCISE: Underline the nouns in the following sentences:

1. Disa was a frog which lived in the field. P C C
2. The women were washing their clothes in the river. C C C
3. Bour was the king whose beloved daughter had drowned. P C C
4. The child called Guddy had gone to collect wood near the grassland. C P C C
5. Lalu asked Nadim to take the basket from Hyderabad for his parents. P P C P C

RULE: Proper and Common Nouns—A person’s/animal’s name or a specific place is a proper
noun while a noun which names a general category of persons, places, animals or things is a
common noun.

EXERCISE: Say whether the nouns you have underlined above are proper nouns or common
nouns.

RULE: Collective noun is a single word representing a group.

EXAMPLE: A flock—meaning a group of sheep
A herd—meaning a group of animals

EXERCISE: Match the collective nouns with their groups.

1. Crowd A group of sailors in a ship 4

2. Swarm A group of sportspersons 3
3. Team A group of people 1
4. Crew A group of lions 5
5. Pride A group of bees/insects 2

EXERCISE: Give suitable collective nouns:

1. A group of cattle Herd
2. A group of wolves Pack
3. A group of ants colony
4. A group of people watching a play audience
5. A group of angry people mob

EXERCISE: Make sentences with all the above collective nouns.

RULE: Abstract Nouns express feelings, emotions or name those things which cannot be seen.
EXAMPLE: Hunger is the best sauce.
EXERCISE: Underline the Abstract Nouns in the following Sentences
1. You should aim for personal growth.
2. He is well-known for his intelligence.
3. Laughter is the best medicine.
4. People admire wisdom and bravery.
5. This is a very serious illness.

RULE: Noun: Number—Nouns can be used as singular (one) and plural (more than one):
EXAMPLE: Student (singular) – students (plural)
Box (singular) – boxes (plural)

RULE: Irregular Nouns: Nouns which do not follow the regular pattern (addition of ‘s’ or ‘es’)
of forming plurals.
EXAMPLE: Given below are 10 categories of plural formation applicable to irregular nouns.

I. ‘-us’ changes to ‘-i’

a. Alumnus – alumni
b. Fungus – fungi
c. Stimulus – stimuli
II. ‘-is’ changes to ‘-es’
a. Analysis – analyses
b. Basis – bases
c. Crisis – crises
III. ‘-ix’ changes to ‘-ices’
a. Appendix – appendices
b. Index – indices
c. Matrix – matrices
IV. ‘-a’ changes to ‘-ae’
a. Antenna – antennae
b. Formula – formulae
c. Vertebra – vertebrae
V. ‘-ouse’ changes to ‘-ice’
a. Mouse – mice
b. Louse – lice
VI. ‘-en’ is added
a. Child – children
b. Ox – oxen
c. Man – men
VII. End is altered to ‘a’
a. Curriculum – curricula
b. Medium – media
c. Stratum – strata
VIII. Same form for both singular and plural
 a. Sheep – sheep
b. Fish – fish
c. Deer – deer
IX. Inner vowels ‘oo’ change to ‘ee’
a. Foot – feet
b. Goose – geese
c. Tooth - teeth

EXERCISE: Rewrite the following using the plural forms of the nouns given in brackets:

1. Poetry is a part of the (curriculum) at different levels. Curricula

2. Ivory is made from the elephant’s (tooth). Teeth
3. Do you know to which (stratum) of society the workers belong? Strata
4. The grain has been eaten by the (mouse).mice
5. Have you mastered all the mathematical (formula)? Formulae
RULE: Count and Non-count Nouns: Nouns which have a singular and plural form—that which
can be counted as one or more are called count nouns. Nouns which cannot be so counted are
non-count. All nouns in the Noun Number exercise are Count nouns.
EXAMPLE: (Non-count): water, milk, oil, money, work, kindness, etc.

EXERCISE: Make a list of 10 non-count nouns and make sentences with them.

RULE: Noun-Case: Possessive Case is when two nouns come side by side to indicate that one
noun belongs to the other
EXAMPLE: This is a student’s notebook.

EXERCISE: Write the following in the possessive form:

1. A hostel where girls stay girls’ hostel

2. A life like that of a dog dog’s life
3. The birthday of my friend friend’s birthday
4. Poetry written by Keats Keats’ poetry
5. A house belonging to the brothers of my father Father’s house

RULE: Noun-Gender—Masculine, feminine, neuter and common are the 4 genders in English
nouns.
EXAMPLE: Father and mother took the children and the pet to their cousin’s house.
Father—Masculine
Mother—Feminine
Pet—Neuter
Children, cousin—Common
EXERCISE: Identify the Gender of the underlines nouns:
1. Students should not come late. common
2. Some boys are needed to complete this work. masculine
3. I have invited my friends today.common
4. Plants do not grow without water. Neuter
5. The lady needs a doctor urgently.feminine, common

EXERCISE: Change the Gender of the Underlines from Masculine to Feminine or visa-versa

1. The lion is the king of the forest. Lioness, queen

2. They were very fond of their daughters. sons
3. Their uncle lives in London.aunt
4. He brings gifts for his nephews. Nieces
5. My brother is returning today. sister

PRONOUN

RULE: Personal Pronoun—Words used for replacing nouns or for performing the function of
nouns in a sentence.
EXAMPLE: This story describes a new place.
It describes a new place.
People live on the sea coast.
They live on the sea coast

EXAMPLE: List of personal pronouns:

Person Subj- Subj - Obj - Obj – Poss Poss Poss Poss

Singular Plural Singular Plural Adj - Adj - Pron - Pron -
Singular Plural Singular Plural
First I We Me Us My Our Mine Ours
Second You You You You Your Your Yours Yours
Third-
Mas He Him His His
Fem She They Her Them Her Their Hers Theirs
Neut It It Its Its

EXERCISE: Replace the underlined with suitable personal pronouns:

1. Ghana was the first country in Africa to get independence. It

 2. The citizens rejoiced when they got independence. They
3. Gold Coast was the rulers’ way of describing it.their
4. The tribal chief wanted the country to be free. He
5. The country’s resources are very rich. Its
6. Most families trusted their leader.They, him
7. Nelly’s ideas were very good. Her
8. A woman does the job of cooking in this hotel. She
9. A bullock helps the farmer in the field. It, him
10. Hilton is the best place for this group of tourists. It, them

RULE: Possessive Pronouns: pronouns which are used to replace nouns in the possessive case
are called possessive pronouns.
EXAMPLE: This poem is Shelley’s poem.
This poem is his poem.

EXPLANATION: (Here ‘his’ replaces the possessive noun but since it is followed by another
noun it’s function is like an adjective and not like a pronoun—therefore it is a possessive
pronoun used as an adjective)

EXAMPLE: This poem is his.

EXPLANATION: (Here ‘his’ replaces both the possessive noun and the object noun and
functions as the object of the sentence—therefore it is a possessive pronoun used as a pronoun)

EXAMPLE: List of possessive pronouns:

Person Pronoun used Pronoun used Pronoun used Pronoun used

as Adjective as Adjective as Pronoun as Pronoun
(singular) (plural) (singular) (plural)
First person My Our mine ours
Second person Your Your yours Yours
Third person
Masculine his his
Feminine
Neuter
her
its
}their hers
---
}theirs
EXERCISE: Choose the correct pronoun from those given in brackets:

1. (My/mine) dog is (my/mine) companion.

2. I have lost (my/mine) pet; can I borrow (your/yours)?
3. (It/Its) tail is shaggy.
 4. The pet owners have a meeting to discuss the diseases of (their/theirs) pets.
5. Pope’s poem is better than (her/hers).

RULE: Reflexive and Emphasizing Pronouns: pronouns which have the same structure but two
different functions

Person Singular Plural

First person myself ourselves
Second person Yourself yourselves
Third person
Masculine himself
Feminine
Neuter
herself
itself
} themselves
RULE: Reflexive: when the subject and object refer to the same noun—like a reflection in the
mirror—the pronoun used is called a reflexive pronoun.
EXAMPLE: The old man hurt himself.

RULE: Emphasizing: when the pronoun is used to emphasize a noun or pronoun and is usually
placed immediately behind the word it emphasizes unlike the reflexive pronoun which is
separated from its noun or pronoun by a transitive verb.
EXAMPLE: The girl herself caught the thief by jumping over the wall.

EXERCISE: Identify whether the underlined are Reflexive or Emphasizing:

1. She completed the work by herself. R

2. She herself wants to do all the work. E
3. We enjoyed ourselves at the party.R
4. We ourselves went to the party very late. E
5. They themselves admitted their fault.E
6. They helped themselves when everyone refused to help them.R
7. You must know yourself before you can make any progress.R
8. You yourselves must complete the assignment.E
9. God helps those who help themselves.R
10. The poets themselves have written about this. E

RULE: Relative Pronoun—Often two sentences with a common subject or object can be joined
using a relative pronoun and then the words which have been added form the relative clause.
EXAMPLE: Pinky travelled to Lasa. She was accompanied by her brother-in-law.
Pinky who travelled to Lasa was accompanied by her brother-in-law.
RULE: Relative pronouns and their usage:

Relative pronoun Function example

Who For replacing subject noun, The man who travelled in
relating to subject nouns the bus is very old. (sub)
referring to human beings, We met a man who was
(colloquial usage for object missing for many days.
nouns too) (obj)
Whom For replacing object nouns, The travelers came to visit
relating to object nouns Nanak whom they had
referring to human beings never met before.
Whose Possessive for people The cook whose wife had
given him the news told
everyone about it.
Which / that Used for both subject and This is the house that looks
object non-human nouns very queer. (sub)
He burnt the clothes which
he was ironing. (obj)
Whose Possessive for non-human He heard a word whose
nouns meaning he did not know.

EXERCISE: Join the following pairs of sentences using suitable relative pronouns:

1. The cook saw the strangers. They looked very tired. WHO
2. Anne got a letter. It was from her village. WHICH
3. He was an old man. His ignorance made everyone laugh at him. WHOSE
4. The master lived in the big house. He worked in the Forensic Laboratory. WHO
5. The guests were welcomed. They spoke English. WHO
6. Dr. Meers was reading the paper. He smiled at his companion. WHO