BASIC ENGLISH GRAMMAR

MODULE-I

NOUNS : A noun is a word used as the name of a person, place, animal or a thing. E.g., Ashoka was a great king Here Ashoka is a proper noun and king is a common noun. India is a big country. India is a proper noun , while country is a common noun. A common noun is a name given in common to every person or thing of the same class or kind. A proper noun is the name of some particular person or place. Proper nouns are always written with a capital letter at the beginning. Collective noun is the name of a number (or collection) of persons or things taken together and spoken of as one whole as; Army, crowd, family, parliament, committee. An abstract noun is usually the name of a quality, action, or state considered apart from the object to which it belongs as Quality : Goodness, kindness, whiteness, hardness, brightness, honesty, wisdom, bravery. Action :laughter, movement, judgement. State : childhood, boyhood, youth, sleep etc. Countable nouns are the names of objects, people etc. that we can count. For e.g, book, pen, apple, boy, sister, doctor, horse. Uncountable nouns are the names of things which we cannot count, e.g., milk, oil, sugar, gold, honesty.

THE NOUN : GENDER All living beings are of either the male or the female sex. E.g.,Boy-girl, lion-lioness, hero-heroene. A noun that denotes a male is said to be masculine gender and a noun that denotes a female is said to be of feminine gender. E.g., Parent, child, friend, pupil relation, cousin, person. A noun that denotes a thing that is neither male nor female (i.e without life) is said to be of the Neuter gender.

Masculine Boy Brother Father Gentleman Horse King Man Son Uncle

Feminine Girl sister Mother Lady Mare Queen Woman Daughter Aunt

By adding a syllable (-ess, ine, trix, a etc.) Masculine Author Count Heir Feminine Authoress Countess Heiress

Manager Mayor Steward

Manageress Mayoress Stewardess

Ess is added after dropping the vowel of the masculine ending. Masculine Actor Founder Instructor Emperor Prince Tiger Waiter Master Some more examples: Masculine Hero Sultan Fox Grandfather Landlord Peacock How are plurals formed : Feminine Heroine Sultana Vixen Grandmother Landlady Peahen Feminine Actress Foundress Instructress Empress Princess Tigress Waitress Mistress

Plurals of nouns is formed by adding s Boy Boys

Book Books Desk Desks Pen Pens Plural is formed by adding es Class classes

Brush Brushes Branch Branches Dish Box Match Dishes Boxes Matches

A few nouns ending in o merely adding s, as Photo Stereo Ratio Piano Kilo Logo Photos Stereos Ratios Pianos kilos Logos

Changing y into and adding -ies Army City Story Armies Cities Stories

Lady

Ladies

By adding -es Life Calf Leaf Self Loaf Lives Calves Leaves selves Loaves

PRONOUN A pronoun is a word used instead of a noun. E.g., I am young You are young We are young They are young He (she, it) is young Here I, we, you, he she, it are personal pronouns. The following are the different forms of the personal pronouns. First person ( Masculine or Feminine)

Singular Nominative Possessive Accusative I my, mine Me

Plural We Our, Ours Us

Second person ( Masculine or feminine) Singular/Plural Nominative Possessive Accusative Third person Singular Plural You Your, Yours You

Masculine Nominative Possessive Accusative He His Him

Feminine She Her, Hers Her

Neuter It Its It

All genders They Their, theirs Them

Possessive case : This is my book. Those are your books. That is her book. This book is mine. These books are yours. Reflexive Pronouns I hurt myself. We hurt ourselves. She hurt herself. The horse hurt itself. They hurt themselves.

Emphatic pronouns: I will do it myself. We will see it ourselves. You yourself can best explain. He himself said so.

She herself said so.

Distributive Pronouns Each of the boys gets a prize. Each took it in turn. Either of these roads leads to the railway station. Either of you can go. Neither of them was correct.

Relative pronouns Who Whose Whom/Who That What Which Compound Relative Pronouns Whoever, Whose, Whosoever, Whichever, Whatever, Whatsoever. Interrogative pronouns: Who Who is there? Who are you? Whom - Whom do you want? Whose - Whose is this book?

Which - Which do you prefer, tea or coffee? What What is the matter?

Whoever - Whoever told you so? Whatever - Whatever are you doing?

Verb A verb is a word that tells or asserts something about a person or thing. A verb may tell us What a person or thing does, as 1.Ram laughs. The clock strikes. 2.What is done to a person or thing, as Hari is scolded. The window is painted. 3.What a person or thing is, as The grass is green. Glass is brittle. I feel happy. E.g., The girls were singing. I have learnt my lesson. The book has been found. The boy kicks the football. The boy laughs loudly. Transitive verb : A transitive verb is a verb that denotes an action which passes over from the doer or subject to an object. Intransitive verb: An intransitive verb is a verb that denotes an action which does not pass over to an object, or which expresses a state or being, as

He rang a long distance The boy sleeps

(action)

(sleeps)

There is a flaw in this diamond (being) Verbs can be regular or irregular. Base form Walk Laugh Paint Sit Ring Come Bet Read Spread Let Become Bring Build Buy Feed Feel Fight Find Past tense walked laughed painted Sat Rang Came Bet Read Spread Let Became Brought Built Bought Fed Felt Fought Found Past Participle Walked laughed Painted Sat Rung Come Bet Read Spread Let Become Brought Built Bought Fed Felt fought Found

Get Hear Hold Learn Leave Light Mean Pay Shine Spend Stand Teach Think Understand Win Be Begin Bite Blow Do Drink Eat Forget

Got Heard Held Learnt/learnt left Lit Meant Paid Shone spent Stood Taught Thought Understood Won Was/were Began Bit Blew did Drank Ate Forgot

Got Heard Held Learnt/learnt left Lit Meant Paid Shone Spent Stood Taught Thought Understood Won been Begun Bitten Blown Done Drunk Eaten Forgotten

Forgive Go Grow Know Mistake Ride Rise Sing Speak Take Write

Forgave went grew knew Mistook Rode Rose Sang Spoke Took wrote

Forgiven gone grown known Mistaken Ridden Risen Sung Spoken Taken written

The Adverb Rama runs quickly. This is a very sweet mango. Govind reads quite clearly. An adverb is a word which modifies the meaning of a verb, an adjective or another adverb. Kinds of adverb 1.Adverbs of time (which show when) I have heard this before. We shall now begin to work. He comes here daily. I have spoken to him already. Wasted time never returns. 2.Adverbs of frequency (which show how often) I have told you twice. I have not seen him once. He seldom comes here. He frequently comes here. 3.Adverbs of place (which show where) Stand here. He looked up. The horse galloped away. The little lamb followed Mary everywhere.

Come in. Adverb of manner (which show how or in what manner) Govind reads clearly. The story is well written. The boy works hard. You should not do so. Adverbs of degree or Quantity (which show how much, or in what extent) He was too careless I am fully prepared. The sea is very stormy. I am so glad. You are altogether mistaken. She sings pretty well. Is that any better? You are quite wrong. You are partly right. He is as tall as Rama. Adverbs of affirmation and negation. Surely you are mistaken. He certainly went. I do not know him. Adverbs of reason He is unable to refute the charge.

He therefore left school. Some of the above adverbs may belong to more than one class. She sings delightfully. (Adverb of manner)

The weather is delightfully cool. (Adverb of degree) Dont go far. (Adverb of place) (Adverb of degree)

He is far better now.

Adjectives
Adjective is a word that qualifies a noun. Adjectives are often used as nouns. E.g., Rich, good, beautiful, handsome, bad, ugly, wicked. Some adjectives actually become nouns. Those derived from proper nouns: Americans, Canadians, British, Italians. Some denoting persons as: juniors, seniors, superiors, nobles, elders, minors. The correct use of some adjectives. Some, anyTo express quantity or degree some is used normally in affirmative sentences, any in negative or interrogative sentences. I will buy some mangoes. I will not buy any guavas. Have you bought any mangoes? But can be used after if in affirmative sentences. If you need any money, I will help you. Some is used in questions which are really offers/requests or which expect the answer yes Will you have some ice-cream? (offer) Could you lend me some money? (Request) Each and every : Every seat was taken. Ten boys were seated on each bench.

Each one of these chairs is broken. Leap year falls in every fourth year. It rained everyday during my holiday. Little, a little, the little : There is a little hope of his recovery. He showed little concern for his friend. He has appreciation of good poetry. A little : There is a little hope of his recovery A little knowledge is a dangerous thing. A little tact would have saved the situation. The little : The little information he had was not quite reliable. The little knowledge of Hindi that he possessed stood him in good stead. Few, a few, the few. Few persons can keep a secret. Few towns in India have public libraries. Few men are free from faults. A few : A few words spoken in earnest will convince him. A few Parsees write Gujrati correctly. The few : The few friends he has are all very rich.

The Preposition
The preposition is a word placed before a noun or a pronoun to show in what relation the person or thing denoted by it stands to something else. There is a cow in the field. He is fond of tea. The cat jumped off the chair. Kinds of preposition 1.Simple prepositions: At, by, for, from, in, off, on, out, through, till, to, up, with, over. 2.Compound prepositions: About, above, across, along, among, amongst, around, before, behind, below, beneath, beside, between, beyond, inside, outside, underneath, within, without. 3.Phrase prepositions: According to Agreeably to Along with Away from Because of By means of By virtue of By way Conformably to For the sake of in accordance with in addition to in (on) behalf of in case of in comparison to in course of in favour of in front of in lieu of in order to in place of in reference to in regard to in regard to in the event of owing to with a view to with an eye to with reference to with regard to

The conjunction
A conjunction is a word which merely joins together sentences and sometimes words. e.g., Ashok and Vikas are good friends. Two and two make four. Hari and Rama are brothers. This is the road that jack built. This is the place where he was seen. Take this and give that. Some conjunctions are used in pairs as; Either Or Neither nor Though Yet Whether or Not only but also

Compound prepositions: In order that On condition that Even if So that Provided that As though in as much as as well as as soon as as if

Chief coordinating conjunctions are : And, but, for, or, nor, also, either-or, neither-nor,. The chief subordinating conjunctions are : After, because, if, that, though, although, till, before, unless, as, when, where, while, since, or, if, that, than, lest, while, wheras, only, except, without, because, for.

The Interjection
An interjection is a word which expresses some sudden feeling or emotion. Interjections may express. 1.joy as Hurrah! Huzza! 2.Grief as alas! 3.Surprise ; as ha! What! 4.Approval as bravo! 5.Ah me 6.Well done 7.Good gracious. 8.Oh God.

Tense
Present tense: Is, are, am Use is with singular subjects. Ramesh is my friend. He is a good friend. My name is Ramesh. Are Use are with you and plural subjects. You are an honest person. Are you an honest person? They are rich people. Are they rich people? Am Use AM only with I I am good at English. I am an honest person. I am not late for the interview. Am I good in English? Am I an honest person?

Past tense Was , were

Use was with I and third person singular (he,she,it) subjects. Use were with you and plural subjects. Mahatma Gandhi was a great leader of the world. He was a great leader of the world. Ramesh was angry yesterday. It was raining in the morning. Once upon a time, there was a good king. There were many people on the park. Ramesh and suresh were good friends. The question paper was easy. All the questions were easy. I was in the park. You were in the park.

Was working, were working Use was, were + ing form to represent some continuous happening in progress in the past. He was playing cricket. Ramesh was playing cricket. I was playing cricket. You were playing cricket. They were playing cricket

Future tense
Will work, shall work In grammar the rules for will and shall are difficult. We have developed a very simple way to speak and write correctly. For speaking: Use only will. It is not necessary to use shall. People simply use will. That is perfectly correct to speak. I will come to school tomorrow. The teacher will not come to school tomorrow. She will not come to school tomorrow. Will you come to school tomorrow. Has, have, for, since I have seen that film. He has seen that film. Has been working, Have been working. Present tense Singular number 1st person 2nd person 3rd person I love You love He loves Plural number We love You love They love

Past tense Singular number 1st person 2nd person 3rd person I loved You loved He loved Plural number We loved You loved They loved

Future tense
Singular Number 1st person 2ndperson 3rd person I shall/will love You will love He will love Plural number We shall/will love you will love They will love Present continuous tense I am speaking You are speaking He is speaking We are speaking They are speaking Present perfect continuous I have been speaking You have been speaking He has been speaking

Simple present tense I speak You speak He speaks We speak They speak Present perfect tense tense I have spoken You have spoken He has spoken

They have spoken speaking Simple past tense I spoke You spoke He spoke We spoke They spoke Past perfect tense tense I had spoken You had spoken He had spoken We had spoken They had spoken Simple future tense I shall/will speak You will speak He will speak We shall/will speak They will speak Future perfect tense tense I shall/will have spoken been speaking

They

have

been

Past continuous tense I was speaking you were speaking We were speaking we were speaking They were speaking Past perfect continuous

I had been speaking You had been speaking He had been speaking We had been speaking They had been speaking Future continuous tense I shall/will be speaking You will be speaking He will be speaking We shall/will be speaking They will be speaking Future perfect continuous I shall/will have

You will have spoken He will have spoken We shall/will have spoken speaking They will have spoken speaking

you will have been speaking He will have been speaking He shall/will have will have been been

They

Some of the important words in English language

About Above After All Any As Before Better Both But Either Else Enough Even : There is something pleasing about him. : The heavens are above. : They arrived soon after. : He was all alone when I saw him. : Is that any better. : We walked as fast as we could. : I have seen you before. : I know better. : You cannot have it both ways. : We tried hard, but did not succeed. : Wither bat is good enough. : I have something else for you. : I have had enough of this. : The chances are even.

Except For Less Like Little More Much Near Needs Next No Once One Only Over Right Round Since So Some Still Such That

: Except him everybody came. : I can do anything for you. : The population of India is less than that of China. : Do not talk like that. : There is a little danger in going there. : You should talk less and work more. : Much of it is true. : His house is near the temple. : It needs to be done with care. : I shall see you next Saturday. : He is no joke. : Please help him for once. : one day I met him in the street. : It was his only chance. : Read it over carefully. : He is the right man for the position. : The earth revolves round the sun. : Since that day I have not seen him. : I am so sorry. : We must find some way out of it. : He is still in business. : Such was not my intention. : That I what I want.

The Till Up Well What While Why Yet

: The cat loves comfort. : Never put off till tomorrow what you can do today. : Prices are up. : I hope you are well now. : What evidence have you got. : Sit down and rest a while. : Why did you do it? : There is more evidence yet to be offered.

GREETINGS AND SALUTATIONS

Good morning Good afternoon Good evening Good night Good morning Mr. Ramesh, how are you doing today? Good morning Mr. Harish, I am very well, thank you. Good afternoon Sir, shall we go out for lunch? Yes, I think its time for lunch. Good evening ladies and gentlemen, please welcome our chairman Mr.Ramesh Kumar. Goodnight everybody, see you tomorrow. Goodnight daddy, I am going to bed. Hello Hello Mr. Aadesh, how are you? Oh I am fine, thank you. Bye All right then, Ill see you tomorrow, bye. See you See you tomorrow, bye. Thank you: I am very pleased to meet you, thank you.

Two friends meeting

Friends often say "Hi" to each other. Then they often ask a general question, such as "How are you?" or "How are things?" or "How's life?" The reply to this question is normally positive. "Fine thanks, and you?" "Fine thanks, what about yourself?" "Not bad." Or "Can't complain." Greeting people you don't know You can use "Hello" with people you don't know, but a more formal greeting is "Good morning / afternoon / evening." The other person normally replies with the same greeting as you have used and then makes polite conversation, such as "How was your trip?" or "Did you find our office easily?"

Introducing yourself
At an informal party "Hello, I'm Maria." Or "Hello, my name's Maria." The reply could be: "Hi, I'm Sarah." Or "Hello Maria, I'm Sarah." Or "Nice to meet you, I'm Sarah." At work-related events "I'd like to introduce myself. I'm Maria, from english@home." Or, "Let me introduce myself. I'm Maria from english@home."

The reply could be: "Nice to meet you. I'm Peter Mitchell, from Mitchell Creations." "Pleased to meet you. I'm Peter Mitchell, from Mitchell Creations." "How do you do? I'm Peter Mitchell from Mitchell Creations."

Introducing other people

Introducing a friend to a work colleague "Sarah, have you met my colleague John?" "Sarah, I'd like you to meet my colleague John." Sarah says: "Pleased to meet you, John." Or "Nice to meet you, John." John could say: "Nice to meet you too, Sarah." Or "Hello, Sarah."

Introducing clients
"Mr Mitchell, I'd like to introduce you to my manager, Henry Lewis." Mr Mitchell could then say: "How do you do?" and Henry Lewis also says "How do you do?" Or Mr Mitchell could say: "Pleased to meet you." Or "Good to meet you."

Speaking Tip
"How do you do?" is quite formal for British English speakers and the reply to this question is to repeat the phrase, "How do you do?" (as strange as that may sound!) At a more informal party When you introduce two of your friends to each other, you can simply say, "John, this is Sarah." Cultural considerations At work, one person may have higher status your boss, or a client, for example. It's polite to address them as Mr / Ms until the situation becomes more informal. If someone says, "Please call me (Henry)", you know you can use first names. If someone uses your first name, you can use their first name too. People in European and English-speaking cultures often shake hands when they meet someone for the first time. *( Don't forget to smile! :-) It costs nothing.

Additional Greetings
For the dance-pop album, see Greeting (album). "Greetings" redirects here. For the comedy film, see Greetings (film). Greeting (also called accosting) is a way for human beings (as well as other members of the animal kingdom) to intentionally communicate awareness of each other's presence, to show attention to, and/or to affirm or suggest a type of relationship or social status between individuals or groups of people coming in contact with each other. As with many forms of communication, greeting habits are highly cultureand situation-specific and may change within a culture depending on social status and relationship; the [phenomenon] as such exists in all known human cultures, though. Greetings can be expressed both audibly and physically, and often involve a combination of the two. This topic excludes military and ceremonial salutes but includes rituals other than gestures. Greetings are often, but not always, used just prior to a conversation. Some epochs and cultures have had very elaborate greeting rituals, e.g., greeting of a king. Secret societies have clandestine greeting rituals that allow members to recognize common membership.

Spoken English Greetings

Spoken greetings are customary or ritualised words or phrases used to introduce oneself or to greet someone. In English, some common verbal greetings are:

"Hello" the most common verbal greeting in English-speaking countries, and related to "Hullo" (UK English, now old-fashioned) and "Hallo". Suitable for formal and informal usage. "Hi", related to "Hiya", both being less formal for 'hello' but very widely used nowadays. It is classified in dictionaries as a sentence substitute. "Hi" is relatively new, having become popular in the 1920s in the USA and then spread throughout English-speaking populations around the world, and even into other languages. "Hey", has become fairly commonplace as a greeting in informal USA English, but is considered impolite in UK English to use as a greeting (Cambridge English dictionary says "used as a way of attracting someone's attention, sometimes in a way which is not very polite"; its standard usage in the UK is to express a mixture of surprise and displeasure/indignation/protest/reprimand, or else to shout (specifically not at standard spoken volume) at someone from afar prior to greeting them or else warning them about danger. According to the Cambridge English and Collins English dictionaries "hey" is not used as a greeting, but an interjection used to express surprise (sometimes with indignation or displeasure, e.g. "Hey, stop that!" or "Hey, stop making a noise! or "Hey, what do you think you're doing?!"), inquiry (as a prelude, thus catching attention, e.g. "Hey, have you seen this?"), interest (especially sudden, e.g. "Hey, what's going on?!"), and to call attention from a distance (e.g. across the street, or when someone's back is turned - "Hey, didn't see you there!" or "Hey, over here!"). It is also used in popular song lyrics, and in idiomatic phrases such as 'Hey presto!' 'Hey Ho!' and 'What's-a matter you? Hey!...Ah, shaddap-a you face!'. "Good morning", "Good afternoon", "Good evening" More formal verbal greetings used at the appropriate time of day. Note that the similar "Good night" and "Good day" are more commonly used as phrases of parting rather than greeting. These are often abbreviated by those wishing to be less formal, e.g. amongst friends or family, to 'Morning!', 'Afternoon!', 'Night!' or 'G'night!' "How do you do?", along with variations such as "How are ya?" (Ireland) and "Hiya"

"Howdy" Informal greeting. Derived from "How do you do," it is common in the rural regions of the United States. This is also the official greeting of the Texas A&M Aggies of Texas A&M University in College Station, Texas. "What's up?", "Whassup", "Sup?", "How's it going?", "Yo", and "What's happenin?" United States. "How's tricks?" and "How's it going?" are popular in UK English, but note that 'What's up?' in UK English means 'What's wrong?' and is therefore not a greeting.

Written (English) By convention, formal letters in English commence with the salutation "Dear" followed by the name or title of the recipient. If the name or title of the recipient is unknown, then it is conventional to write "Dear Sir," or "Dear Madam," or where the sex of the recipient is also unknown, "Dear Sir/Madam," or "Dear Sir or Madam" is used. In other forms of written communication (such as fax or email), or in informal messages the salutation is often absent or replaced with a personal variant.