English Grammar Basics Flashcards
How would you decide to which part of speech does a word belong to?
Simply ask yourself -
“What work does this word do in this sentence?”
How to make possessive form of any noun?
For singular nouns, add apostrophe “s” (‘s) after the noun. Ex., Mary becomes Mary’s
For plural nouns ending with “s”, just add apostrophe (‘) after the noun. Ex., boys become boys’
For plural nouns not ending with “s”, add apostrophe “s” (‘s) after the noun. Ex., men becomes men’s
Do you use possessive form of nouns that name “things”?
No.
We use possessive forms of nouns that name people & most animals. It is not generally used for nouns that name things, because things generally can’t “possess”.
For e.g., we say -
the teacher’s lesson
the dog’s foot
But we do not say -
the book’s colour (correct: the colour of the book)
the house’s roof (correct: the roof of the house)
What is the difference between “much” and “many”?
Much is used with singular nouns.
Ex., We didn’t have much rain this morning.
Many is used with plural nouns.
Ex., I don’t have many friends in Cairo
How do you classify adjectives?
Adjectives are of 5 types:
1) Qualitative
2) Quantitative
3) Demonstrative
4) Interrogative
5) Possessive
“Qualitative” adjectives describe “quality” of the noun, i.e., they tell us “what kind”. Ex., red apple, big book, old man, thin lion, etc.
“Quantitative” adjectives describe the “quantity” of the noun, i.e., they tell us “how much or how many”. Ex., ten bottles, eight apples, no book, many friends, much rain, all Indians, etc.
“Demonstrative” adjectives are used to “point out” or demonstrate people, things, etc. Ex., this car, these cars, that car, those cars.
“Interrogative” adjectives are used with nouns to ask questions. Ex., which book, what price, whose house, etc.
“Possessive” adjectives are used with nouns to show possession. Ex., my, your, her, his, its, our, their, etc.
NOTE about Demonstrative adjectives:
- “This” and “these” are generally used for things that are near.
- “That” and “those” are generally used for things that are further away.
- “This” and “that” go with singular nouns.
- “These” and “those” go with plural nouns.
Examples:
- This car is old (singular, near)
- That car is old (singular, further)
- These cars are new (plural, near)
- Those cars are new (plural, further)
NOTE about Possessive adjectives:
- Singular forms: my, his, her, its
- Plural forms: our, their
- Your is singular as well as plural
- Singular/plural forms depend on whether possessor is singular or plural; doesn’t matter whether the thing that is possessed is singular or plural
- His: masculine; her: feminine
- My, your, our, their: both genders
- Its: neutral gender singular
- Their: neutral gender plural
How do you classify sentences?
Sentences are of 3 types:
1) Statement: tells us something, provides some information, e.g., “John has a bicycle.”
2) Question: asks for information, e.g. “Does John have a bicycle?” Answers to questions are usually statements.
3) Command: neither gives information, nor asks for it, e.g., “Open the door.”, “Shut up!”, “Please come here.”
Sentence vs Phrase
1) A sentence is a group of words that makes “complete sense”. A phrase is a group of words that makes sense, but not “complete sense”, e.g., into the house, for 10 rupees.
2) A sentence has a verb in it; a phrase hasn’t. You can turn a phrase into a sentence by adding words to it, one of which must be a verb, e.g., “John went into the house.”, “He bought the book for 10 rupees.”
3) A sentence starts with a capital letter & ends with a full stop (or “?” or “!”); a phrase doesn’t.
Subject vs Object
Subject: a word or a group of words that we are talking about in the sentence. The subject is the “doer” of the action. There is generally a noun or a pronoun in the subject.
Object: a noun or a pronoun to which the action of the verb happened. The object is the “receiver” of the action.
Predicate: part of the sentence which doesn’t contain the subject. It can be one or several words, which tell us something about the subject. There is always a verb in the predicate.
For e.g., In “Henry opened the door.” -
- “Henry” is the subject
- “the door” is the object
- “opened the door” is the predicate
To find out the subject & object, first pick out the verb. Then ask - “Who?/What?” + verb + “What?”
Asking “Who?/What?” before the verb gives subject.
Asking “What?” after the verb gives object.
For e.g., apply this to the above statement -
“Who” opened — Henry — subject
opened “What” — the door — object
Transitive vs Intransitive verbs
As you know, verbs say what people/things do, i.e., express an action. They can be 1 or more words.
E.g., I walk, I was walking, etc.
When a verb describes an action that “goes over” from subject to object, it is called “transitive” (from Latin that means “going over”).
For e.g., in “the dog killed the rat”, action of killing goes from dog to rat, so it is transitive.
When a verb describes an action that doesn’t need to “go over” from subject to object, it is called “intransitive”.
For e.g., in “the rat died”, action of dying doesn’t go over to anything else, so it is intransitive.
Transitive verbs always need an object; intransitive don’t.
What is a complement?
Some verbs don’t express an action, but just say people or things are something, i.e., state of being. For e.g., be, am, is, are, was, were, seem, become, etc.
They often have an adjective after them, e.g., “he was sad”.
Words or phrases which complete a sentence after verbs like these are called “complements”, since they impart meaning to an incomplete sentence.
For e.g.,
in “your mother seems old”, ‘old’ is a complement;
in “that man is a detective”, ‘is a detective’ is a complement.
What do you mean by 1st, 2nd & 3rd person?
The 1st person is the person speaking.
The 2nd person is the person spoken to.
The 3rd person is the person spoken about.
Adverbs vs Adjectives
Adjectives modify nouns, limiting their meaning & explaining more about them. Adverbs modify verbs, limiting their meaning & explaining more about them.
Adjectives usually come before the noun they go with; adverbs usually follow the verb they go with.
Adverbs are often formed by adding the suffix “-ly” to an adjective, e.g., slow —- slowly, quick —- quickly.
“Adjective phrase” or “Adverb phrase” are phrases that work like an adjective or an adverb, respectively.
For e.g.,
The soldier fought bravely (adverb) in the war.
The soldier fought with great bravery in the war.
(with great bravery — adverb phrase)
A dirty (adjective) boy opened the door. A boy with a dirty face opened the door. (with a dirty face --- adjective phrase)
What are the types of adverbs?
Adverbs of manner: tell how an action is done.
For e.g., the old man walked slowly, the boy ran quickly, etc.
Adverbs of time: tell when an action was/is/will be done. For e.g., i will come tomorrow, he fell today, he is studying now, etc.
Adverbs of place: tell where an action is done.
For e.g., i sat down there, the car is here, etc.
How do you classify nouns?
A noun is a nam of anything.
Common nouns: names for all people, places, things of same kind, e.g., town, teacher, etc.
Proper nouns: special names of people, places or things, e.g., London, John, etc. Always start with a capital letter.
Singular & Plural form of nouns: used to show 1 or more than 1 quantity, respectively.
Possessive form of nouns: used to show possession by people & animals
Abstract nouns: names of qualities or ideas - things you can’t touch or see, e.g., kindness, speed, health, pain, courage, beauty, toothache, etc.
Countable nouns: names of people or things that can be counted, e.g., apples, boys, bicycles, etc.
Uncountable nouns: names of things that can’t be counted, e.g., air, rain, water, bread, wool, smoke, etc.
Collective nouns: names of collection of people or things (countable nouns) considered as one, e.g., team, flock, herd, committee, jury, etc.
Usually, nouns make plurals by adding suffix “-s”. Do you know any outliers?
4 outliers:
1) Nouns that have same singular & plural.
For e.g., sheep, deer, fish, etc.
2) Nouns that have no plural.
For e.g., news, information, advice, furniture, etc.
3) Nouns that have no singular.
For e.g., scissors, trousers, clothes, riches
4) Others:
man — men
woman — women
penny — pence
