Grammar LessonsPage No.

Lesson 1- Nouns13

Lesson 2- Verbs16

Lesson 3- Adjectives21

Lesson 4- Adverbs

Lesson 5- Indirect Speech

Lesson 6- Articles

Lesson 7- Pronouns

Lesson 8- Prepositions

Lesson 9- Conjunctions

Lesson 10- Agreement

Lesson 11- Punctuation

Lesson 12- Modals

Lesson 13- Conditionals

Lesson 14- Modifiers

Lesson 15- Determiners and Quantifiers

Lesson 16- The Passive

Lesson 17- Verbs + -ing (Gerunds, Participles and Adjectives)

Lesson 18- Clauses

Lesson 19- Phrasal Verbs

Lesson 20- EITHER and NEITHER

Grammar Exercises

Exercise 1- Nouns

Exercise 2- Verbs

Exercise 3- Adjectives

Exercise 4- Adverbs

Exercise 5- Indirect Speech

Exercise 6- Articles

Exercise 7- Pronouns

Exercise 8- Prepositions

Exercise 9- Conjunctions

Exercise 13- USED TO

Exercise 16- Correct English Usage

Exercise 18- DURING and WHILE

Exercise 20- EITHER and NEITHER

Useful Lists

List 1 - Forming Nouns

List 2 - Forming Adjectives

List 3 - Forming Verbs

List 4 - Forming Adverbs From Adjectives

List 5 - Collective Nouns

List 6 - Gender

List 7 - Forms of the Verb

List 8 - Objects and Sounds

List 9 - Antonyms

List 10 - Synonyms

List 11 - Homonyms

List 12 - Parents and Young

List 13 - Homes of People/Creatures

List 14 - Places

List 15 - Forming Abstract Nouns

List 16 - The Plurals of Nouns

List 17 - Comparison of Adjectives

List 18 - Prepositions

List 19 - Irregular Verbs

List 20 - Foreign Phrases in English

Proverbs and Expressions

No: 001 - 100

No: 101 - 200

No: 201 - 300

No: 301 - 400

Phrasal Verb Usage

A - C

D - G

H - O

P - R

S - T

U - Y

Phrases and Idioms

0001 - 0200 (A - C)

0201 - 0400 (C - H)

0401 - 0600 (H - M)

0601 - 0800 (M - R)

0801 - 1000 (R - W)

Two-word Phrases

Part 1: A - E

Part 2: E - L

Part 3: L - R

Part 4: R - Y

Lesson 20- EITHER and NEITHER

IntroductionPARTS OF SPEECH Eight Parts of Speech - English Grammar

VerbsNouns

AdjectivesAdverbs

ConjunctionsInterjections

PronounsPrepositions

Parts of Speech Game

Eight Parts of Speech - English Grammar

Nouns: A Noun is a name; as in pencil, London, Robert, beauty.

Verbs:A verb is a word whichtellsus something about a person or thing. It is a telling word or a saying word. It tells us what a person or thingdoes. It also tells us what a person or thingisor suffers (i.e. has done to it).Adjectives: An Adjective is a word whichaddsto the meaning of a Noun, that is, it tells something more about the Noun; as inblackcat.Adverbs: An Adverb is a word whichaddssomething to the meaning of a Verb, an Adjective or another Adverb.Examples:He speaksloudly.

She isverygood.

He talkstooloudly.

Indirect Speech: We use Indirect Speech to repeat what another person says.The Articles: We use theIndefinite Article(a or an) before asingular countable nounand theDefinite Article(the) for something which is mentioned for thefirst time.Pronouns: A Pronoun is a word usedfororinsteadof a Noun; it shows the person or thing without actually giving the name of the person or thing; as inhe,she,it, andthis.Prepositions: A Preposition is a word whichjoins Nouns andPronounsto other words.Examples:The book isonthe table.

Conjunctions:A conjunction is a word used tojoin words or groups of wordstogether; asExamples:Twoandtwo makes four.

He is badbutyou are good.

Possession: Possession orownershipmakes use ofPossessiveNouns(e.g. adding the apostrophe or s),Possessive Adjectives(e.g. my) andPossessive Pronouns(e.g. mine)to show that something belongs to someone or something.

QUICKREFERENCEActive voice: In an active sentence, the subject, either a person or thing does the action of the verb. (This is in contrast to a passive sentence, in which the subject receives the action.) For example, He drew the graffiti is an active sentence, and the verb drew is active.

Adjective:An adjectiveis a word or words that are used to describe or modify a noun (e.g. abighouse) or a pronoun (e.g. he istall)

Adjective clause: An adjective clause describes or tells us more about a noun (e.g. I have a friendwho is a heavy drinker.) The adjective clause (in bold) acts as an adjective. It is a dependent clause that cannot stand alone; it must be connected to an independent clause to form a sentence.

Adjective phrase: An adjective phrase is a group of words that modifies a noun (e.g. Tommy is the managerresponsible for the activities of the performers.) The adjective phrase (in bold) does not contain a subject and a verb.

Adverb: An adverb is a word that modifies a verb (e.g. Shecriedloudly), adjective (e.g. You are aphysicallystrongman.), or another adverb (e.g. He playedvery badlyin yesterdays final.)

Adverbial clause:An adverbial clause is a dependent clause that must be attached to an independent or main clause to form a sentence. It acts as an adverb (e.g.After we had finished our discussion, we went for a meal.) and is an adverb clause of time (in bold.)

Adverbial phrase:An adverbial phrase is a group of words that is used as an adverb. It tells us when, how, where, etc. something happens (e.g.I fell down the stairs about a month ago.) The adverbial phrase in bold consists of a preposition, article and a noun, and they function together as an adverbial phrase.

Agreement: The number and person of the subject must agree with its verb. This means that a plural noun must have a plural verb (e.g. Thedogs arefighting over a bone) and a singular noun requires a singular verb (e.g. A tinyspider isspinning a big web.) Or the pronoun must show the number, person, and gender of the noun it replaces.

Antecedent: An antecedent can be a noun, phrase or clause that is represented by a following pronoun (e.g. I met Jill, and she took me to a restaurant for a special treat.) In this example,Jillis the antecedent ofshe. (Another example: Jack misplaced his car keys and he looked everywhere for them.) Here,Jackis the antecedent ofheand keysis the antecedent ofthem.

Antonym:Antonym is a word which means the opposite of another word. For example,goodis the antonym ofbad. The antonyms of many words are formed by using a prefix such as un-, dis-, in-, mis-, im-, etc. and also by changing -ful to-less as follow: kind unkind; like dislike; active inactive; spell misspell; mobile immobile; careful careless.

Apostrophe:An apostrophe is a punctuation mark () used to indicate that you have omitted letters or numbers (e.g. cant, July, 99). It is also used to show who or what something belongs to (e.g. Charles wife, or monkeys tail.)

Appositive: Where two or more nouns or noun phrases are used, and clarify or describe the same thing. The second of the two nouns renames or identifies with the first. (e.g. Her aunt, a public speaker, talks about her meeting with an alien from another world.) In this example, her aunt and a public speaker are in apposition.

Article:We use an article (a, an, the) before a noun to show whether the noun refers to a particular or general thing.Aandanare known as the indefinite article, andtheis thedefinite article. We useaas an article for nouns beginning with a consonant (e.g. a building, a donkey, a car, etc.), andanarticle for nouns beginning with a vowel (e.g. an egg, an eagle, an uncle) or for nouns which begin with a vowel sound such as the h in hour (e.g. an hour, an honour, an heir).

Auxiliary verb: An auxiliary verb is a verb (to be, to do or to have) that is used with a main verb to show tense, moods, voices (active and passive), or to form questions, and the negatives which is not given by the main verb of a sentence. The words in bold in the following sentences are auxiliary verbs: Iwouldlike to go with you. / Whydid you do such a stupid thing? / Shehasfinished dressing.

Clause: A clause is a group of words that has a subject and a verb. A clause can be a complete sentence known as the main clause or a part of a sentence called a dependent or subordinate clause.The main clause can stand alone as a sentence, while a dependent clause has to be connected to the main or independent clause to form a sentence. For example: After we had eaten our dinner, we went for an hours drive. Dependent clause: After we had eaten our dinner; independent clause: we went for an hours drive)

Collective noun.A collective noun (e.g. bunch, flock, herd,) is a singular noun that describes a group of people, animals or things. Here, the group is treated as a single unit and the items that formed the group are not thought of individually.

Colon: A colon is a punctuation mark (:) used in writing to introduce a list of things, clauses, an example, etc.

Comma: The punctuation mark ( , ) that is used in writing to separate the single items in a list, show a slight pause or for dividing parts or clauses in a sentence.

Common noun: A common noun is any noun and does not refer to a particular person, place, or thing. For example, car and pen are common nouns. These nouns are not capitalized.

Comparative: The form of an adjective or adverb expressing a greater amount, number, quality, size, etc., but not the highest possible in comparing two related nouns: persons, places, or things.For example,strongerandmore carefulare the comparative forms ofstrongandcareful.

Complement:A complement is one or more words that follows a verb and completes the predicate of a sentence.A complement describes or explains the subject (e.g. My uncleis abullfighter.) or the object (e.g. He foundher beautiful.) It is also known as apredicate complement. The nounbullfighteradded to the verbisis known as predicate noun, and the adjectivebeautifuladded to the verbfoundis called predicate adjective.

Complex sentence.Sentence containing one independent clause and one or more dependent clauses.

Compound adjective:Acompound adjectiveconsists of two or more words together, and is used as an adjective (e.g. ill-fated mission).

Compound noun:Acompound nounis usually formed from a noun + noun combination to make a new noun, and give more specific information about a person or thing (e.g. country house, cousin brother). Some compound nouns are written as one word (e.g. headlight) while some consist of more than two nouns (e.g. milk chocolate bar)

Compound sentence:A compound sentencehas two or more simple sentences or independent clauses. These sentences or clauses are joined by using a coordinating conjunction such asand,but,for,nor,or,so,yetand a comma, or with a semicolon (;)

Compound-complex sentence:A compound-complex sentence has two or more independent clauses and at least one dependent clause. For example: We want to go overseasbut we dont have the timeuntil the summer holiday.Independent clauseindependent clausedependent clause

Conditional: A conditional clause that expresses the condition that a situation must exist before something else can happen (e.g. If you dont have the determination, you wont succeed in it).

Conditional sentence: A conditional sentence is one that begins withiforunless. We useifin a sentence when we talk about possibilities. Here is an example of a conditional sentence with theif-clausein bold:If we dont set off early, we will arrive late. We use a simple present tense in the if-clause and simple future tense in the main clause. We can put the if-clause after the main clause as follow: We will arrive lateif we dont set off early.(The latter arrangement does not require a comma.) Other conditional sentences are possible. For example: Had you not said it, I wouldnt have remembered.

Conjunction: A conjunction is the part of speech that is used to connect words, phrases, clauses or sentences.The most common conjunctions are:Coordinating conjunctionjoins phrases or clauses of equal value.Subordinating conjunction joins dependent clauses to independent clauses. Words such asalthough,and,as, because,but,if,or, andwhileare conjunctions.

Coordinating conjunction: A word that is used to connect words, phrases, clauses, or sentences of equal or same type, such as nouns or adjectives. It uses such words as: and, but, for, nor, or, so, yet).

Correlative conjunction:A correlativeconjunction consists of two parts that are frequently used together but not necessarily placed next to each other to join sentences. Correlative conjunctions include such words as:either . . . or, neither . . . nor, both . . . and, not only . . . but also,such as, etc.

Countable noun: Acountable nouncan be both singular and plural (e.g. ball/balls).A countable noun can be counted with numbers such asevery page,one monkey,two girls. It is preceded bya/anin the singular: a hen, an egg. It has a plural form ending in s or es: four cups, five boxes.Some common nouns can be countable or uncountable depending how it is referred to. For example, in I boil an egg, egg is a countable noun as indicated by the an that comes before it. However, in I like egg, the reference is not so specific. It refers to egg in general, and so egg is uncountable in the second example.

Dangling modifier:A dangling modifier is a word or phrase that does not relate to the noun that it should modify. It exists mostly at the beginning of a sentence, but fails to modify the subject of the sentence. For example, Arriving home, the clock began to strike twelve.This sentenceis wrong grammatically. The wordarrivingis a dangling modifier, because the sentence reads as if it is the clock which is arriving home.

Dash: A dash is a punctuation mark ( ) used to enclose or separate parts of a sentence for the purpose of adding extra information, marking a pause or representing omitted letters or words.

Demonstrative adjective:A demonstrative adjective acts as a determiner and identifies the person or thing that is being referred to. For example, this boy, that house, these apples, those flies.

Demonstrative pronoun:A demonstrativepronounisa pronoun such as this, that, these or those. It is used to indicate specific people or things. For example, in the sentence These are my oranges, these is a demonstrative pronoun. It is also used to indicate whether a person/s or a thing/s is/are here (this, these) or over there (that, those).

Dependent clause:A dependentclause is subordinate to the main clause. It provides additional information related to the main clause, and cannot form a sentence by itself. But it can form a sentence when joined with a main clause to complete its meaning. For example, After he had finished his homework, he went to bed. The dependent clause in bold cannot exist alone as a complete sentence.

Determiner: A determiner is a word that is used before a noun to show how the noun is being used. For example, in these sentences, Julia is my third girlfriend and That girl over there is my second girlfriend the words my and that are determiners. Other words used as determiners include:a,an,the,some, andall.

Direct object:The direct object of a transitive verb illustrates the person or thing that receives the action of the verb. The direct object, which may be a noun, pronoun, or noun/pronoun phrase, generally comes after the verb, just as the subject comes before the verb. For example, in Beckam kicked the ball the direct object is the ball.

Direct speech: Direct speech is the reporting of speech by repeating the words actually spoken, not reported. For example, I have just returned fromTimbuktu, she said.

Either: Either can be used as adverb, determiner, pronoun or as conjunction.Used asadverbin negative sentences to mean too or also: My mother doesnt like to go to the dentist and my father doesnt either.Used asdeterminerwhen referring to a choice between two possibilities: Either one of you will have to wash the car.Used aspronounbetween two options: Either of the sons will help the father to paint the house.Used asconjunction: We can either go now or later. It doesnt really matter. Either can also be used to mean both: It was a memorable flight with beautiful girls sitting on either side of me.

Exclamation mark:A punctuation mark (!) that is written immediately after a sentence or word that expresses surprise, anger or excitement.

Finite verb: A finite verb form shows the tense (e.g. Theyarrived. / Theyare arriving soon.), and changes with the person (e.g. Iam/ Youare/ Heis) and number of the subject (e.g.We goto school. /She goesto school.) Every sentence must have a finite verb.

Feminine:Feminine is used to refer to the female gender form of a noun in English, such aswaitress,princessandnun.

Full stop/period:This sign is placed at the end of a sentence to mark the end of the sentence, or at the end of a word that has been shortened.

Future tense:The tense of a verb that we use when referring to something yet to happen or exist. Other divisions of the future tense are: simple future tense, future continuous tense, future perfect tense, future perfect continuous tense, and future tense in the past (e.g. We decided we would meet again next week.)

Gerund:Aform of a verb used as a noun by adding ing to the end of the verb. A gerund appears like the present participle form of a verb (verb plus ing). But it is a verbal that performs a noun function (e.g.Pullingthis load is a lot easier than pushingit. / I resent hiscallingme big boy)

Gender: Gender refers to the classification of masculine, feminine and neuter, and the division of nouns, pronouns, etc. into these different classes. For example, personal pronouns in English have gender in third person singular:he,she, andit.

Homonym:A homonym is a word that has the same spelling or pronunciation as another, but is different in meaning or origin. For example, the noun bear and the verb bear are homonyms; new and knew are homonyms.

Hyphen:A hyphenis a punctuation mark (-) used to join syllables (e.g. hi-tech), two words (e.g. left-handed) or words (mother-in-law) together, or to show that a word has been divided into two parts, one of which is at the end of one line and the other part at the beginning of the next line.

If-clause:An if-clause is a conditional clause introduced by the wordif. It expresses a condition that must be fulfilled before another action can take place.

Imperative:The imperative form of a verb expresses a command or an order to someone to do something that should be obeyed. For example, in Hurry up!, the verb hurry is in the imperative.

Indefinite pronoun: A pronoun that does not mention any person or thing in particular. For example, it refers to unspecified person such as anyone, anybody or everyone; or unspecified thing such as anything or something.

Independent clause:An independent clause is a group of words which can stand alone. It forms part of a sentence or can form a complete sentence by itself because it has a subject and verb. For example, I was dreaming of buying a big carwhen the phone rang. The independent clause in bold can form a separate sentence.

Indicative: The indicative shows the verb mood expressing a statement of fact. For example, Pitt loves tall girls, the verb loves is in the indicative.

Indirect object:Anindirect object tells us to whom or for whom the action of the verb is done. It always appears with a direct object, and is usually a noun or pronoun receiving the direct object of the verb with two objects. In the sentence, The teacher awarded her a book, her is the indirect object (to whom the book was awarded). Book is the direct object.

Indirect speech: Another term forreported speech

Infinitive:The basic form of a verbthat usuallycomes after the wordto. For example, be,doorhaveusually used withtoin the formto be,to doorto have.An infinitive can also be used withoutto. For example, Let me do it for you (Not: Let me to do it for you

Interjection:A word or a phrase used to show a short sudden expression of emotion such as surprise, pain, pleasure, shock, etc. Interjections are followed by an exclamation mark. Ah!, Hey!, Oh!, or Wow! are interjections.

Intransitive verb:An intransitive verb has a subject, and is used without needing an object to clarify its meaning. For example, the baby cries; she smiles; her chocolate bar broke.

Irregular verb:An irregular verb is a word that does not follow the usual rules of grammar. The past tense and past participle are not formed by adding the usual ed ending. For example, go is an irregular verb as its past tense is:went, and past participle is:gone. Other examples of irregular verbs are: hurt (hurt, hurt); fight (fought, fought); begin (began, begun).

Linking verb: A linking verb connects the subject with its qualities, or the adjective or noun that describes it. She is intelligent (subject with a quality); Kate looks gorgeous (subject with an adjective); Bozo is a clown (subject with a noun)..

Main clause:A main clause is one that can form a complete sentence on its own, and has a subject and a predicate. This principal clause of a sentence is also called an independent clause. In the sentence I am very thin but I eat like a horse, both I am very thin and I eat like a horse are main/independent clauses. They can each exist as a separate sentence.

Main verb:The main verb describes the action or state of the subject, and is usually the only verb in the sentence. The main verb is used with an auxiliary verb to provide information, for example about tense, which is not given by the main verb of a sentence.(e.g. He has finished his homework). The main verb is also used with a modal verb such as can, might and must to express an idea such as possibility that is not expressed by the main verb of a sentence (e.g. He can go home now.)

Masculine: A masculine noun, pronoun, etc. belongs to a class of words that refer to the male sex or gender of people or animals. For example, He is a masculine pronoun.

Misplaced modifier:Misplaced modifiers are those modifiers not easily identifiable with the word, phrase or clause that they modify. For example:Having eaten his dinner, there was homework to do. The phraseHaving eaten his dinneris a modifier, but has nothing to modify. It is therefore a dangling modifier.Correction: Having eaten his dinner, he had homework to do.

Modal verb: A modal verb is an auxiliary verb that is used with another verb to express necessity, possibility, permission, obligation or intention that is not expressed by the main verb of a sentence. Modal verbs include:can, could, dare, had better, may, might, must, need, ought to, shall, should, will, would, used to

Modifier:A modifier is a word or a phrase that is used with another word or phrase to describe, limit or add to its meaning, or make the meaning of the words modified more precise. A modifier can be a noun (dogcollar), an adjective (beautifulsunset), or an adverb (jogsteadily).

Non-finite verb:A non-finite verb is not limited by person, tense or number. It can be used in an independent clause only when combined with an auxiliary verb (e.g. Hecan crawl. / Sheshould mustwatch the horror movie.)The verb forms of non-finite verb are: infinitive (e.g. I wentto flya kite); gerund (e.g.Swimminghas reduced my weight); or participle (e.g. We arewaitingto meet the new female boss)smile more. / We

Non-restrictive:A non-restrictive relative clause does not add to the meaning of the word it modifies, it merely gives additional information, which if taken out of the sentence, does not seriously affect the meaning. We use commas before and after this clause. For example, in Our washing machine, which is exported to various countries, is the latest model.

Noun:A noun is a word we use to name a person (barber), place (Antarctica), thing (puppet), substance (gold) or quality (intelligence). There are different kinds of noun: common noun (mother, garden, toy), proper noun (Tom), and abstract noun (courage). Other nouns include collective noun (herd), countable noun (car) and uncountable noun (water). Nouns function as subjects, objects and adjectives.

Noun clause:A noun clause is one that behaves as a noun as a subject or object in a sentence. The most common noun clause is the that-clause which is a clause that begins with that. An example of a noun clause: that it will rain soon is very likely.

Noun phrase:A noun phrase is a group of words consisting of a noun or pronoun, and its modifiers and determiners. It functions as a subject, object, or prepositional object. For example, in the following sentences: We have bought the return ticket and Everyone could hear the boss shouting down the telephone, the noun phrases are:the return ticketand the boss shouting down the telephone.

Object: Anobjectis anoun,noun phrase, orpronounrepresenting the person or thing that is: affected by the action of a verb (e.g. She baked the cake,cakeis the object of the verbbake.) or joined by a preposition to another word or phrase (e.g. shoulderas in A chimpanzee stood on his shoulder,There aredirect objectandindirect object. A direct object is the person or thing that something is done to, for example: in He wrote the letter, the direct object isthe letter; in Santa Claus gave them the toys, the indirect object isthem.

Parallelism:Parallelism is about keeping the series of parts of speech, words, phrases, or clauses in a sentence or list in the same form. If a parallel structure begins with a particular form of verb such as infinitive, it must stick to similar verb form for the other parts that follow.For example, Eve likes to sew, to read, and to cook. (This sentence is correct as to sew, to read, to cook are all infinitives.)NOT:Eve likes to sew, to read, and cooking. (This sentence has two infinitives and one gerund, and so lacks parallelism.)Lacking parallelism: After the rescue work, we were very tired, very hungry and feeling great thirst.Parallel: After the rescue work, we were very tired, hungry and thirsty.

Participle:A participle is a word that is formed from a verb and is used to form tenses of the verb by adding ing for present participle (continuous tenses: climbing, running) or adding ed, etc. to form past participle (perfect tenses: kicked, given, lent), or as adjectives by adding ing or ed, etc. (rotting eggs, escaped prisoner, hidden treasure). It can also be used to make compound forms of verb (e.g. is playing, have taken)

Passive voice: In a passive sentence, the subject, either a person or a thing, receives the action of the verb (that is, he was attacked), rather than the person or thing which causes the action (that is, it attacked him). For example: He was attacked by a shark is a passive sentence, and the passive form of the verb was attacked.

Past participle: A past participle is used to indicate time gone by, or a past action or state, and is formed by adding ed to a regular verb, or en etc to an irregular verb. It is used with the verb have to form perfect tenses in the active voice to express completed action such as My granddadhasjustfallendown the stairs. The past participle is also used with the verb be to create all tenses in the passive voice such as The letteris writtenby her. / The letterwas writtenby her. / The letterwill be writtenby her. Past participles are also sometimes used as adjectives, for example Thebannedcigarette adverts were never shown again.

Period:A period is a punctuation mark in the form of a dot (.) used in a piece of writing to mark the end of a sentence or an abbreviation, or to show a word that has been shortened or the finality of a statement (e.g. Im not going, period).

Personal pronoun:Personal pronoun is a word used to replace a person or persons (which is/are also subject/s or object/s) in speech or in writing. The person or persons can be the first person (I, me, we, us), second person (you) or third person (he, him, she, her, they, them)

Phrasal verb: A phrasal verb is a phrase which consists of a verb and an adverb or preposition, or both that gives a special meaning. Examples of phrasal verb:bump into,hang up, andget on.

Phrase: A phrase is a group of words which forms part rather than the whole of a sentence. It does not have a subject or a verb, and so cannot stand alone as an independent unit. A phrase can serve as an adjective, adverb or noun.

Plural:We use a plural word when we write or speak about more than one person or thing, etc. For example, they is a plural pronoun of he or she, and women is the plural of woman. When we use a plural noun, it is followed by a plural verb as follow: They are or They have

Positive:Positive expresses a simple quality of an adjective or adverb without comparison. For example: clever or beautiful. Not cleverer or more beautiful (both are comparative) or cleverest or most beautiful (both are superlative)

Possessive: A possessive denotes possession: apossessive adjective(e.g. my, his, our, elephants),noun(uncles, Peters, princesses) orpronoun(e.g. mine, hers, ours, theirs) is used to show ownership.

Possessive adjective: Possessive pronouns have an adjective form such asmy,your, his,her,its,our,their, Alexanders, monkeys or countries(countries borders)which expresses who or what someone or something belongs to. For example,your(is used as singular or plural) is a possessive form ofyou; andtheiris the possessive case ofthey. All these possessive adjective forms are used before a noun.

Possessive noun:We use a possessive noun to show possession. Possessive nouns usually end in s (e.g. Billys beard) or s (boys parents). In the boys parents, boys is a possessive noun.

Possessive pronoun:Possessive pronoun is derived from the personal pronoun, and indicates possession.Mine,yours,his,hers,its,ours, andtheirsare possessive pronouns that show to whom or what someone or something belongs to. For example, yours(is used in the singular or plural) which means belonging to you is a possessive form ofyou: My dog has a long tail;yourshas no tail. This bicycle isyours. /Theirswhich means belonging to them is a possessive form ofthey: Our cat is black;theirsis white. These books aretheirs.

Predicate:The predicate is the rest of the sentence except for the subject. So in He fell into the river, the predicate is fell into the river. The predicate provides information about the subject.

Predicate adjective:SeeComplementPredicate complement:SeeComplement

Predicate noun:SeeComplement

Preposition:A preposition is a word or phrase usually placed before a noun, pronoun, or gerund to show time, place, direction, etc. It is connected to another word in the sentence, as in He arrivedbeforewe are ready. In the sentence, before in bold is a preposition. At, in, into, with etc. are prepositions.

Prepositional phrase: A prepositional phrase is a group of words that begins with a preposition, and the noun or pronoun that follow it.Examples of prepositional phrase are: after death,at war,in hospital, ornear the cemetery.

Present participle:A form of a verb that ends in -ing and follows another verb to show an action is continuing such as He isflyinghis kite. It is used to form continuous tense such as She is asleep in a chair andsnoringloudly. It can also be used as adjective as in The passageway is full ofstinkingdustbins or a noun, e.g. in My grandmother is charged with recklessdriving.

Pronoun:A pronoun is a word that takes the place of a noun or a noun phrase such asshein place ofJuliaorthat woman.A pronounis also oftenused to refer to someone who has already been mentioned. This is to avoid repeating his/her name (e.g.Adamis a physically strong man.Hedoes boxing in his spare time.)

Proper noun:Proper noun refers to the name of a particular person, place, thing, title, or organization and is spelt with a capital letter. Examples of proper nouns are: Buddha,Mali,UnionJack, War and Peace or United Nations.

Punctuation:The use of marks such as commas, full stops, etc. to separate sentences, phrases, or introduce a question, etc. in writing.

Quantifier: A quantifier is a word such as some, many or much, or a phrase such as a little, a few or a lot of that we place before a noun or noun phrase to show its quantity that we are talking about.

Question mark:The punctuation mark (?) that is put at the end of a sentence to show that it is a question.

Quotation mark:A pair of punctuation marks, either single ( ) or double ( ) used to enclose what someone has written or said, quoted words, or a title.

Reciprocal pronoun: A pronoun that expresses mutual relationship by the subjects of the verb. Examples are: each other, one another, etc.

Reflexive pronoun:A reflexive pronoun shows that the action affects the person who does the action that is the object of a verb in a sentence is the same as its subject. In the sentence, She poured herself a bowl of soup,pouredis a reflexive verb and herselfis a reflexive pronoun.

Regular verb:A regular verb follows the usual way in changing its forms, especially the ending to express a tense, etc. For example, a regular verb forms its past tense and past participle by addinged: added, added; jumped, jumped; laughed, laughed. To add,to jumpandto laughare therefore regular verbs. The following verbs are not regular (irregular) verbs: to hit, hit, hit; to catch, caught, caught; to drink, drank, drunk.

Relative clause: A relative clause is a subordinate clause that cannot exist independently. It is connected to the rest of the sentence by a relative pronoun such as who,which,that,whomandwhose. The relative clause describes the noun that comes before it in the sentence. For example, in The man whose car was stolen made a police report, the relative clause iswhose car was stolen.

Relative pronoun: We use a relative pronoun such aswho,which,that,whomand whoseto begin a relative clause. We replace a noun with one of these relative pronouns in the relative/dependent clause, and connect it to the rest of the sentence. In the sentence The rabbit that we bought has escaped into the forest,thatis the relative pronoun, andthat we boughtis a relative/subordinate clause.

Reported speech: Reported speech refers to the act of reporting what someone has said without repeating the exact words of the speaker. Sometimes known asindirect speech, reported speech involves changes of pronoun (person) and tense, and the reported words of the speaker are in the subordinate clause. For example, Ill meet you later for lunch. In reported speech, it becomes: He saidthat he would meet me later for lunch. The subordinate clause is in bold.

Restrictive clause:We add the restrictive clause as a part of a sentence to specify which particular person or thing is meant. It gives us essential information which we cannot ignore. We do not generally use commas in this clause. For example, in The man who is wanted by the police is still at large, the restrictive relative clause is who is wanted by the police

Run-on sentence:A run-on sentence has two independent clauses incorrectly joined without any connecting words such as conjunctions, or without the correct punctuation, as the following examples show:Run-on sentence: This guy has some flaws, hes not the most awful person around here.Correction: This guy has some flaws, but hes not the most awful person around here.Run-on sentence: I like to listen to frogs croak, I dont know why.Correction: I like to listen to frogs croak; I dont know why.

Semicolon:Semicolon is a punctuation mark (;) that is used in writing for separating independent parts of a sentence, or words or items in a list.

Sentence:A sentence is a group of words that has two parts: a subject and a predicate. Together, they express a complete thought, and convey a statement, question, exclamation, or instruction. A sentence begins with a capital letter and ends with a full-stop or a question mark. The subject includes the noun or pronoun that indicates what the subject is about. The predicate is the rest of the sentence and begins with the main verb. The predicate describes the state of the subject or what the subject is doing.In the sentence The ostrich is the fastest animal on two legs, the subject is The ostrich and the predicate: is the fastest animal on two legs.

Sentence fragment:A sentence fragment occurs when a phrase, a dependent clause or an incomplete sentence is allowed to stand on its own. A sentence fragment, like a sentence, may have a subject and a verb, but unlike the sentence, it does not express a complete idea. The fragments happen in the following ways:Fragment: This beautiful golden beach stretching for miles. (A phrase that should form part of a sentence.)Complete: This beautiful golden beach stretching for miles is one of the most popular beach resorts in the country.Fragment: Someone broke into my room and stolen my wallet. (Wrong form of a verb is used.)Complete: Someone broke into my room and stole my wallet.Fragment: Because the weather was so awful. (A dependent clause incorrectly used as a sentence.)Complete: We didnt enjoy the day because the weather was so awful.

Singular: When we write or speak about one person or thing, we use a singular noun and a singular verb. The singular form of a verb refers to just one person or thing. For example, the singular of feet is foot.

Subject:A subject usually comes before a main verb and represents the person or thing that does the action described by the verb (e.g. Sheslaps her boyfriend) or about which something is expressed (e.g. Giraffesare tall), or is joined to a description by a verb (e.g. Kitflies his new kite). In each of the examples, the subject is in bold, and the rest of the sentence tells us what the subject is or does. In a passive sentence, the subject receives the action of a passive verb (e.g. His catwas bitten by her dog)

Subjunctive: The form of verb that is used to express doubts, wishes, or possibilities. For example, in I wish I were an astronaut, were is in the subjunctive.

Subordinate clause:A subordinate clause is a dependent clause which is dependent on a main clause to form a complete sentence. It adds information to the main clause, and serves as an adjective, adverb, or noun in the sentence. For example, He had to give up his jobbecause of his injured back, the subordinate clause is in bold.

Subordinating conjunction:It is a conjunction that connects a subordinate clause to the main clause. Words that begin the subordinate clause include: although, because, that, which, while, or who. For example: He drank three glasses of waterbecause he was very thirsty. The subordinate clause which is in bold begins with a subordinating conjunction because.

Superlative:The superlative form of an adjective or adverb expresses the highest degree of quality when comparing three or more persons or things of the same type. Examples of superlative: the funniest clown, the wettest season, the eldest daughter, the largest population, the most haunted castle, the most enjoyable evening, the best movie.

Synonym:Synonym is a word or phrase which has the same or nearly the same meaning as another word or phrase. For example, big and large are synonyms.

Tense:Tense is a form of a verb that is used to show when something happens in the past, present or future; or to show the time, continuance or completion of an action or state at the time of speaking. For example, I am is the present tense; I was is past tense; and I will be is in the future tense.

Transitive verb:A transitive verb must have a direct object to complete the sense. For example, the transitive verb broke in the sentence I broke my leg.

Uncountable noun: Uncountable noun means something that cannot be counted. It has only a singular form and is not preceded by the indefinite articles ofaoran. Examples of uncountable noun: beauty, blood, bread, electricity, furniture, gold, happiness, information, luggage, milk, money, water. Some common nouns can be countable or uncountable depending how it is referred to. For example, in I boil an egg, egg is a countable noun as indicated by the an that comes before it. However, in I like egg, the reference is not so specific. It refers to egg in general, and so egg is uncountable in the second example.

Verb:A verb is a word or group of words that is used to indicate an action, a state or that something happens. For example: He goes by bus (action); Those creatures exist in the wild (state); Someone fired the gun (something happens).

Verbal:A verbal is a word that is formed from a verb, and used as another part of speech. It does not act as a verb, but functions as a noun, adjective or modifier. For example, Swimming is great exercise. In this example, swimming is a verbal (or verbal noun) as it is derived from the verb swim. Examples of verbal are: gerunds, infinitives, and participles.

Voice active/passive: The form of a verb that shows whether a sentence is active (the subject does an action) or passive (the subject has an action done to it). For example, We fed the elephants is in the active voice. The elephants were fed by us is in the passive voice.

Lesson- 1 NOUNSTypes of Nouns

Nouns

ProperCommonCollective

AbstractPluralConcrete

PossessiveCompoundSingular

Noun ClauseGender NounsPredicate Nouns

Noun PhraseIrregular Nouns

(1) Kinds of Nouns(2) Singular and Plural Nouns(3) Countable and Uncountable Nouns(4) Nouns have Four Genders(5) Forming Nouns

Nouns -are naming words for people, animals, places, things, and qualities. They can be recognized by the articles - the, a, an - that we place in front of them.

Nouns can be divided intoproper nounsandcommon nouns. The names of particular people, animals, places and things are called proper nouns. We begin a proper noun with a capital letter. Nouns that do not refer to particular persons, animals, places and things are calledcommon nouns. The first letter of a common noun is not capitalized unless it is the first word in a sentence.

There are other kinds of nouns. A word that stands for a group of things is called a collective noun. Nouns can besingularorplural. When you refer to one person, animal, place, or thing, you use asingular noun. When you talk about two or more people, animals, places, or things, you want to useplural nouns.

There arecountableanduncountable nouns. Countable nouns are things that can be counted like book, car and house. Uncountable nouns cannot be counted such as milk, water, and flour.

Other nouns are names we use to refer to quality, idea, condition, etc. that are not concrete objects, and they are known asabstract noun.

(1) KINDS OF NOUNS:Common nouns -are names of people (e.g. man, aunt), things (e.g. book, car), animals (e.g. monkey, armadillo) and places (church, beach).Common Nouns Definition: A Common noun always begins with a small letter (unless it is at the beginning of a sentence). A common or general word. An example of the common noun - A girl and her dog played in the park.List of Common Noun:catgirlboytablechairdogParkcakechoclate

Proper nouns -are special names of people (George Bush, Obama), things (Financial Times, Eiffel Tower), animals (King Kong, Lassie) and places (London, Central Park). A proper noun begins with a capital letter. Proper nouns also refer to times or dates on the calendar: Saturday, April. We can use plurals for propre nouns in exceptional cases: "There are three Johns in my class." We can also use 'the' for a proper noun in special circumstances: "It is no longer the London I had once visited."

Proper Nouns Definition: A Proper noun always begins with a capital letter, such as John or London - those that NAME specific things, people or places

List of Proper Noun:JohnJanuaryFridayBuddhismFrank SinatraMormons

LondonSeptemberRiver ThamesDef LeppardNew YorkRepublican

ParisMondayMexicanNew OrleansSt. ChristopherUnited Nations

Abstract nouns -An abstract noun is a quality or something that we can only think or rather than something that we can see or touch (e.g. beauty, friendship). We can form abstract nouns from common nouns (child - childhood); form verbs (know - knowledge); and from adjectives (happy - happiness).

Abstract Nouns Definition: An abstract noun means the opposite to a concrete noun. If you cannot taste, touch, hear, smell or see something it is an abstract noun. Examples of abstract nouns are honesty, courage and loyalty.BeautyLoyaltyAnnoyanceEducationCreativityNatureLonelinessFairnessRevenge

PleasureSkillLoveCourageFreedomHateWisdomThoughtCommunication

Collective nouns -A collective noun is a name we use for a number of people, animals or things which we group together and speak of as a whole. For example, a bunch of bananas, a litter of puppies.

Collective Nouns Definition: Collective nouns are the words used to define a group of people, animals or inanimate things. For example, in the phrase a "flock of geese" or a " pride of lions", flock and pride are collective nouns. There are many collective nouns that refer to animals. A group of people can be described as an army, company or audience.

A company of actorsA swarm of beesA herd of cowsA panel of expertsA colony of ants

A host of angelsA deck of cardsA banner of knightsA coven of witches

(2) SINGULAR and PLURAL NOUNSMost nouns are either singular or plural. Plural nouns are easily recognized by their ending with an '-s'. But many plural nouns do not follow this same ending. The lists below show what different endings or suffixes are added to the words to make them plural nouns.A noun that shows only one person (e.g. a girl), thing (pencil), animal (tiger) or place (market) is called a singular noun.A noun that shows more than one person (e.g. girls), thing (pencils), animal (tigers) or place (markets) is called a plural noun.

The following nouns are always plural and take a plural verb.Police arecharging him with the murder of the princess.

Peoplein generalare notvery approachable.

Football team Liverpoolarea very successful football team. (BUT:Liverpoolisa great city.)

Jeans*, knickers*, panties*, pants*, pyjamas*, shorts*, tights*, trousers*, and underpants*

These trousers arenot mine

Clogs*, sandals*, slippers*, and sneakers*.

Glasses* (= spectacles), binoculars*

Myglasses areused only for reading.

Pincers*, pliers*, scissors*, shears*, tongs*

Pliers area handy tool.

My gardenshears trimthe hedge very well.

Clothes Myclothes needto be washed but I don't have the time.

Earnings Earningsin the agricultural sectorhaveincreased by 5% in the fourth quarter.

Cattle Cattle arereared for their meat or milk.

* "a pair of" can be used with these plural nouns.+Peopleswhen used in the plural (i.e. with 's') refers to peoples from more than one race or nation.Example:the peoples ofAsia.

How plural nouns are formedBy adding -es to nouns ending in -ch, -s, -sh and -x:beach = beaches / peach = peaches / ditch = ditches / speech = speechesboss = bosses / chorus = choruses / lens = lenses / pass = passesbush = bushes / dish = dishes / lash = lashes / wish = wishesfax = faxes / hoax = hoaxes / six = sixes / tax = taxes

By adding -es to nouns ending in -o:buffalo = buffaloes / cargo = cargoes / echo = echoes / mosquito = mosquitoesBy adding -s to nouns ending in -o:banjo = banjos / radio = radios / photo = photos / video = videosBy replacing 'y' with 'ies':fly = flies / hobby = hobbies / lorry = lorries / puppy = puppiesBy adding 's' to nouns ending in -y:donkey = donkeys / key = keys / toy = toys / turkey = turkeysBy replacing 'f' or 'fe' with '-ves':calf = calves / half = halves / life = lives / wife = wives

By adding 's' to nouns ending in -f:chief = chiefs / dwarf = dwarfs / reef = reefs / roof = roofsBy changing vowels:foot = feet / goose = geese / tooth = teeth / woman = womenSome nouns have same words for plural and singular:aircraft = aircraft / deer = deer / music = music / sheep = sheepExceptional plural:child = children / mouse = mice / ox = oxen / passer-by = passers-by

(3) COUNTABLE and UNCOUNTABLE NOUNS: Countable nounsare nouns that can be counted (e.g. oranges).Uncountable nounsare those that cannot be counted (e.g. smoke). So how do we know whether or not a noun is countable or uncountable?The noun iscountable: if we can usea/anbefore it.Example: I own a pony. / I play with an ostrich. if we can use the word 'many' (and not 'much') to describe it.Example: She has manyboyfriends. (It's wrong to say: 'She has much friends.') if we can express its quantity by using a number before it.Example: I have seven sisters. if it takes on singular as well as plural.

The noun isuncountable: ifa/anis not normally used in front of it.Example: He is eatingsome rice. (NOT: He is eating a rice.) Rice is treated as not countable, sosome(which can be used for both countable and uncountable nouns) is used with it. if the wordmuchcan be correctly used with it.Example: Howmuch ricehave you eaten? (NOT: How many rice have you eaten?) if it is not possible to be counted (e.g. milk, oil, sand, sugar). However, we can make it countable by having aquantityfor it.Example: I have just boughttwo cartonsor litres/litersof milk. (NOT: I have just bought two milk.) if it takes only a singular form

Some nouns can be used as countable or uncountable nouns. It depends on how we use them.Example: I boil an egg. (Countable noun = one egg) / I like egg. (Uncountable noun, as it refers to egg in general.)

Countable and Uncountable Nouns are used with the following:Countable NounsUncountable Nouns

a, an, a few, several, manya little, much, some, plenty of

some, plenty of, a lot ofa lot of, a large amount of

a large number ofa great deal of

(4) NOUNS HAVE FOUR GENDERS1. Masculine Gender:The masculine gender is used for all males. Example: boy, man2. Feminine Gender:The feminine gender is used for all females. Example: girl, woman3. Common Gender:The common gender is used where the noun can be both male and female. Example: child, cousin, friend, person, student4. Neuter Gender:The neuter gender is used for things which have no life or sex. Example: table, chair

(5) FORMING NOUNS: Nouns can be formed fromnouns,verbsandadjectives. They are formed by adding certain letters to them.NounsNouns

widowwidowhood

friendfriendship

kingkingdom

AdjectivesNouns

cleancleanliness

sadsadness

beautifulbeauty

VerbsNouns

addaddition

failfailure

givegift

Concrete Nouns Definition: A Concrete noun is classified by its ability to reach the senses. Concrete nouns are something physical. If you can taste, touch, hear, smell or see an item the word is a concrete noun. Examples of concrete nouns are water, air or pizza.BreadJuiceHyacinthCarWaterPizza

FishPerfumeCakeMusicPieToast

possessive Nouns Definition: A possessive noun shows ownership (having or owning). Possessive nouns are formed by adding an apostrophe and "s" or only an apostrophe. Examples are John's car or the car belongs to John it is not Mark's. Mark is Johns' brother.The possessive noun is also used to refer to restaurants, churches, shops and colleges combined with the job title or name of the owner. Examples are the doctor's, the dentist's, the grocer's or St. Saviour's or Smith'sCommon expressions such as Sunday's newspaper or the water's edge also use this type of nounark'sgrocer'sdoctor'sdentist'sJohn'schemist's

St. Saviour'sSt Jude'sbaker'snewsagent'sJohns' brotherSt. Paul's

Compound Nouns Definition: Compound nouns are formed by joining two simple nouns together. Examples are boyfriend (made from boy and friend) or girlfriend. A hyphen might also be used to form a compound noun such as dining-table. A different meaning can be created when using two separate nouns such as in fish tank or mineral water.blackboardblackboardblue-greenover-ripeseafoodtumbledownNew Year's Day

breakwaterbrother-in-lawbrowbeattwelve-year-oldundercutunderworldlove-in

freeze-drygrasshopperhighlightwallpaperwithoutwitchcraftIceland

Noun Clause : A noun clause does the work of a noun in a sentence or phrase. It is a group of words containing a subject and a finite verb of its own.Some Rules: noun clauses usually begin with words like how, why, what, where, when, who, that, which, whose, whether, etc. Also words like whoever, whenever, whatever and wherever

There are therefore just three basic types of noun clauses: those that start with a question word such as where, how, who, when and why those that start with whether, whatever etc or if those that start with that.

Examples of the noun clause: Where does John live? If John buys a Ferrari That Mr. Smith is a good teacher You really do not want to know what Mrs. Smith gives her husband for dinner (what "Mrs. Smith gives her husband for dinner" is the noun clause)

Predicate Nouns: A predicate noun is used to predicate a description or identification of the subject.In simple terms IT is an alternate word for the subject of the sentenceExamples : Mrs. Smith will be governor ( Mrs. Smith is the subject and the predicate noun is governor ) I am a botanist ( the subject is I, and the predicate noun is candidate ) Mr. Smith is a teacher ( Mr. Smith is the subject and teacher is the predicate noun )All of the above examples clarify how an alternative word is used for the subject of the sentence

Noun Phrase : A group of words used to form a basic name when it is: impractical to employ a single noun word when a single noun would have too broad a concept if used as a basic name for example, 'machine' and 'board'

Examples of the noun phrase : The Chairman of the Board of Governors The new vitamin packed high calcium low fat breakfast cereal The crimson, ermine trimmed, velvet gown with gold trimmings was worn by Anne Boleyn at her coronation

Lesson-2 Verb

1. Transitive and Intransitive VerbsTypes ofVerbs

Verbs

Verb TensesVerb Tense ChartHelping Verbs

Action VerbsIrregular VerbsLinking Verbs

2. Linking Verbs3. Auxiliary Verbs4. The Finite Verb and The Infinitive5. Action Verb/State Verb6. Regular and Irregular Verbs

Helping Verbs: There are many auxiliary or helping verbs: Be, have, am, are, is, was, were, has, had, do, shall, will, may, can, ought, and must. They are called helping verbs, because it is by their aid the compound tenses are formed.List of Helping Verbsamisaredohadhascouldmay

waswerebecandiddoesmustwill

beingbeenhavewouldought toused toshouldmight

List of Linking Verbs: The following table details a list of Linking verbs:List of Linking VerbsBeLookFeelSeemAppearGetKeepTurnProveLie

TasteSmellSoundBecomeGrowStayGoRemainResembleRun

Averbis a word or more than one word that is used to express an action or a state of being. Every sentence cannot be complete without a verb, thus making the verb the most important word as far as sentence construction is concerned. In a sentence, a verb has a subject who does the action and an object who receives the action.It shows what action has taken place whether the subject performs the action, called active voice (Example: Somebody stole my wallet) or receives the action called passive voice (Example: My wallet was stolen.).Verbs express tense, that is the time the action happens, and also the continuance or completion of the action at the time of speaking. The verb tenses are past, present, and future. These tenses have continuous and perfect forms.

1.TRANSITIVE AND INTRANSITIVE VERBSA transitive verb needs an object to complete the meaning of the sentence. An intransitive verb does not require an object to make its meaning clear.

The Transitive verb: Atransitive verbmust have anobject. Without an object, it does not convey a clear meaning.Example: He bought.The question inevitably arises: What did he buy? No one knows the answer to this question as there is no direct object to receive the action of the verb bought. The meaning becomes clear when anobjectis added as follows:Example: He bought a cake.Thesubjectof the verb He performs the action:bought. Theobjectof the action verb bought is a cakeAtransitive verbmay take anindirect object. An indirect object is something or someone for whom the action is carried out.Example: He bought her a cake.Theindirect objectis her as its for her that the cake was bought. Theindirect object usually precedes thedirect object.

The Intransitive verb: Anintransitive verbdoes not require anobject.Without an object, its meaning is not affected.Example: She swims.The intransitive verb swims does not need an object to make the meaning clear.Example: The villagers caught a boar yesterday but it escaped this morning.The verb caught istransitiveas it has thedirect object: boar;the other verb escaped isintransitivesince it is not followed by anobject.

2.LINKING VERBSLinking verbslink a subject to a word or phrase that describes or identifies the subject. They help to complete the expression about the subject. Linking verbs do not take on adirect objectbut are followed by anadjective.Any verb that expresses an action is not a linking verb.

The following are the characteristics of a linking verb:Linking verbs are not action words.He looked at me. (It tells us what he did = action verb)She looked as if she was going to cry. (It doesnt tell us what she did, only how she appeared to be = linking verb)Linking verbs tell us what state the subject is in, what the subject is, etc.He looked tired.She is a nurse.Linking verbs are followed by anadjective, but not a direct object; action words are modified by adverbs.He feels fine. (feels is not an action verb; it is followed by an adjective.)He feels the fine sand of the beach. (feels is an action verb.)Apronounfollowing a linking verb should be in thesubjective, notobjective.It washethey were looking for. (he = subjective pronoun)Not: It washimthey were looking for. (him = objective pronoun)Linking verbs can be identified by replacing the verb with to be and see if it makes sense. If it does, it is a linking verb. Otherwise, it isnt.Lets use the following two sentences and replace the verb feels with is.Hefeelsfine. = Heisfine.(The verb is a linking verb.)Hefeelsthe fine sand of the beach. = Heisthe fine sand of the beach. (Not a linking verb.)

Using adverbs instead of adjectives with linking verbs will result in incorrect sentences, as shown here:Example:Some common linking verbs: appear, become, feel, grow, look, seem, smell, sound, taste.Andy appears calm. (NOT:Andy appears calmly.)He became anxious about working for the first time.(NOT:He became anxiously about working for the first time.)She feels sad. (NOT:He feels sadly.)Cindy grew impatient with his strange behaviour. (NOT:Cindy grew impatiently with his strange behaviour.)Diane looked beautiful in her new dress. (NOT:Diane looked beautifully in her new dress.)Eddy seemed angry to me. (NOT:Eddy seemed angrily to me.)The pizza smelled delicious. (NOT:The pizza smelled deliciously.)The idea sounds bad. (NOT:The idea sounds badly.)The drink tastes sweet. (NOT:The drink tastes sweetly.)

3.AUXILIARY VERBSAuxiliary verbsare used to combine with other verbs to form tenses, moods, questions, negative and passive forms. The most common auxiliary verbs are: be (Iamreading), have (Theyhavearrived.), and do (Wedontwant to go.)SingularPlural

Iam/have/toWeare/have/do

Youare/have/doYouare/have/do

Heis/has/doesTheyare/have/do

Sheis/has/doesTheyare/have/do

Itis/has/doesTheyare/have/do

In most sentences, you will have noticed that each one has two verbs.Example: Jillis ridingan elephant.Example: Jackhas gonewith Jill to the zoo.In the two examples, there are two verbs in each sentence ridingandgoneare known as theMAIN VERBS, and they each has another verb before it. They areisand has, and these two verbs are known asAUXILIARY VERBS.Auxiliary verbs are also calledhelping verbs. The wordauxiliarymeansproviding help. They help the main verbsridingandgoneby combining with them to show their tenses.In the first example,is ridingin Jill is riding an elephant tells us that the action is still going on, that is Jill is still riding the elephant.

Auxiliary verbs do not normally exist alone in a sentence without the main verb.CORRECT: I would like to be rich. /INCORRECT: I would to be rich. (Without auxiliary verb)CORRECT: He should talk to her. /INCORRECT: He should to her. (Without auxiliary verb)CORRECT: You must be joking. /INCORRECT: You must joking. (Without auxiliary verb)However, auxiliary verbs without the main verbs are commonly used when the meaning is understood. This is often found in replies or responses.Will he help me? Yes, hewill. / Can you do this? Yes, Ican. / Does she know you? Yes, shedoes.Here, the auxiliary verbs (will, can, does) are used without the main verbs (help, do,know)

The following are types of auxiliary verbs:Passive: This is used to show the passive form.Example: The elephantwas givena quick bath.Progressive: This shows the action is in progress.Example: The old ladyis smilingat the elephant.Perfective: This expresses an action completed in the past.Example: The monkeyhas eatena banana.Modal: Modals are used to express ability, permission or prediction.Example: Youcan usethe car if you want.Example: Shemay feedthe monkeys.Example: Hewill bea zoo-keeper some day.Example: We reallyshould comehere again.Question: This is used to form questions.Example: Doyoulikethose chimpanzees?Negativestatement: This is used to form negative statements.Example: Ido notlike those noisy monkeys.

Auxiliary verbs are often used in contracted forms. For instance,haveis shortened to ve;is/hastos; andhad/would/should/couldtod. In the latter case, care must be exercised to distinguish them correctly. Imquite sureIvelost my way. (= I am / = I have) Itsthe biggest dog in the neighbourhood. (=It is) Shesnaturally curly hair. (= She has) Theydalready gone home. (=They had) Wedlike to go now. (= We would) Hedstop thinking every girl dislikes him. (= He should) Idspeak seven languages. (= I could)We can use auxiliary verb foremphasis.Example: Idolike you.

4.THE FINITE VERB AND THE INFINITIVEThe Finite Verb: The finite verb is the verb that changes with the person and number of the subject. It also has tenses.Note the following:PersonPresent Tense

SingularPlural

First PersonI playWe play

Second PersonYou playYou play

Third PersonHe playsThey play

She playsThey play

It playsThey play

The verb play changes with the subject (person). When the subject is in the third person singular, that ishe, she, orit, the verb changes into plays. It does not change when the subject is in the first and second person, that isIoryouand in the plural subject, that is, we, you, orthey.The verbplayis a finite verb.Example of finite verb:We go to the library.He goes to the library.They go to the library.She goes to the library.I go to the library.(The finite verb is go)

The InfinitiveThe infinitive is a verb that comes after the word to Note the infinitive does not change with the subject or person.Example: to eat, to run, to see, to take:My fat sister likesto eatspaghetti.I have decidedto runaway from home.We loveto seeyour face.She wantsto takeall my candy.Infinitives are also used without to.

Example: Let himeatthe bigger piece.I think you had bettergoalone.Weseeeach other only on weekends.Pleasetakethis along with you.Infinitives are used without to after helping verbs called auxiliary verbs such as be, have, do, can, could, will, would, shall, should, ought, may, might and must

Example: Hecan driveme to the airport.Weshould eatour dinner earlier tonight.Hemay comeover later this evening.Wemust visithim at the hospital.

Where more than one infinitive is used in a sentence, consistency in using the infinitives is essential. The first infinitive is always used with to. If the next infinite is preceded by to, the following infinitives must likewise have to preceding them, or if it is used without to, the rest must be without to as well. See the following examples.Correct:Each competitor has to paddle across the lake, cycle five kilometres, climb the steep hill and run down to the finishing line.Correct:Each competitor has to paddle across the lake, to cycle five kilometres, to climb the steep hill and to run down to the finishing line.Incorrect:Each competitor has to paddle across the lake, to cycle five kilometres, climb the steep hill and run down to the finishing line.

5.ACTION VERB / STATE VERBA verb can be an action verb or a state verbAn action verb can be used for an action that has happened or that is still taking place at the time of speaking or that is done habitually.Hecycledto the shopping mall.Heiscyclingto the shopping mall.Hecyclesto work.

An action verb conveys the same meaning when used in the simple or continuous tense.Johnreadthe newspaper. / Johnwasreadingthe newspaper.The Queenwill meetthe President. / The Queenwill be meetingthe President.

Some action verbs cannot be used in the continuous tense.My fatherownsthat building. (NOT: My father is owning that building.)That bookbelongsto me. (NOT: That book is belonging to me.)

A state verb, also knownas non-action verbs, refers to the condition of someoneor thestate they are in, and is not normally used in the continuous tense. The two neighbourshatethe sight of each other. (NOT: The two neighbours are hating the sight of each other.)Shebelieveseverything that is told to her. (NOT: She is believing everything that is told to her.)

Some state verbs when used in the continuous refer to feelings that occur briefly.Werelikingwhat we are doing.Imregrettingnow what I did just now.Werewishingthe rain stops suddenlyAs usual, hesbeingprovocative.

There are words which we can use for action as well as state.Iseeyoure very happy with your new glasses. (state)The doctor is notseeingany more patients. (action)Ihavetwo dogs, one cat and a goldfish. (state)What are wehavingfor dinner tonight? (action)Shethinksyou are getting the wrong idea about her. (state)Werethinkingof going with you. (action)Shelooksgorgeous in this new dress. (state)She islookingat a dress on sale. (action)

6.REGULAR AND IRREGULAR VERBSThere are two groups of verbs, termedregularorirregular, and are identified by how their simple past tense and past participle are formed.

vRegular verbs in this group of verbs, the simple past tense and past participle end in d or ed.Example: simple present tense touch; kill; pass; stop; rub.simple past tense touched; killed; passed; stopped; rubbed.past participle touched; killed; passed; stopped; rubbed.

vIrregular verbs a verb that does not follow the usual pattern of grammar. If a verb is irregular, the simple past tense and past participle do not end in d or ed. They vary as follow:Where all three forms of an irregular verb are the same.Example: simple present tense cost; hurt; put; read; shut.simple past tense cost; hurt; put; read; shut.past participle cost; hurt; put; read; shut.Where only the simple past tense and past participle are the same.

Example: simple present tense carry; die; fit; jump; try.simple past tense carried; died; fitted; jumped; tried.past participle carried; died; fitted; jumped; tried.Where all three forms are different.

Example: simple present tense begin; choose; do; go; seesimple past tense began; chose; did; went; saw.past participle begun; chosen; done; gone; seen.

There are verbs which can beregularorirregularas follow: simple present tense burn; dream; spell. simple past tense burned/burnt; dreamed/dreamt; spelled/spelt. past participle burned/burnt; dreamed/dreamt; spelled/spelt.

Lesson 3- Adjectives

Types of Adjectives

AdjectivesList of AdjectivesPersonality Adjectives

Adjective GameSuperlativesComparatives

(1) Kinds of Adjectives(2) Comparison of Adjectives(3) Forming Adjectives(4) Correct Usage of Adjectives

Adjectivesare words which tell us something about nouns, that is about a person, an animal, a thing or a place. They usually come before the nouns they describe. But sometimes they come after the nouns as the following examples show:

Everyone knows a giraffe has alongneck.Myoldcar didn't have air conditioning.My grandpa is quitetalland ratherthin.None of my tables isround.

The words 'long', 'old', 'tall', 'thin' and 'round' tell us something about the nouns: giraffe, car, grandpa and tables. These words called adjectives tell us about theirshape, condition, andsize. An adjective is therefore a word added to describe a noun so that we are better informed about the noun.

Some words can be bothadjectiveandadverbs. Examples are:early,fast, andlate. It is important to distinguish how they are used.We arrived a littleearlyfor lunch. (Adjective)We arrivedearlyso we still had time before lunch. (Adverb)You are afastdriver these days. (Adjective)You drivefastthese days. (Adverb)I overslept and so I waslate. (Adjective)I overslept and so I got uplate. (Adverb)

(1) KINDS OF ADJECTIVES An adjective that tells us about the quality of the noun. Known asDescriptive AdjectiveorAdjective of Quality, it tells us about the colour, shape, size or condition of a noun. Example: I lovebluesky. / Look at hisbig,fatdog. / Thissquaretable has roundlegs.

An adjective that tells us about the quantity of the noun.This adjective is called anAdjective of Quantity. An adjective of quantity tells us the quantity or amount, and that is 'how many' or 'how much'. Example: I have eatenfiveapples. / The zoo hasmany monkeys. / He has somuchmoney to buy sofewthings.

An adjective that tells us about the ownership of the noun.This adjective is called aPossessive Adjective. A possessive adjective showsownershipor possession.It indicates that something belongs to a person or thing. Example: That is herplastic duck floating in the bath. / Look at that elephant.Itstusks curve upwards.

An adjective which poses questions in an 'interrogative' manner.It is called an Interrogative Adjective. Like most adjectives, an interrogative adjective comes before a noun. Example:Whichmonkey bit you?Whosetrousers are torn?Whatgirl do you like? In the example, 'which', 'whose' and 'what' come before the nouns 'monkey', 'trousers' and 'girl' respectively. They refer to the nouns and are therefore adjectives.

An adjective which specifies a noun.CalledaDemonstrative Adjective, it is one that points out a fact about a person or thing. Example:Thisboyentered the eating contest for fun. /Thatpiglet is looking for its mother. /Thesespiders have long legs. /Thosefaces are truly beautiful. In the example, 'this', 'that', 'these' and 'those' come before the nouns 'boy', 'piglet', 'spiders' and 'faces'. They tell us something about the nouns and so are adjectives.

Adjectives which end in '-ing',e.g. aninterestingfilm,anamazingplayer, an annoyinghabit. Adjectives which end in '-ed',e.g.the damaged goods, the escaped prisoners, improved version.

(2) COMPARISON OF ADJECTIVESWe use thePositive degreeto comparetwo equal nouns.Example: His head isas big asmy head.We use theComparative degreeto comparetwo unequal nouns.Example: His head isbigger thanmy head.We use theSuperlative degreeto comparethree or more nouns.Example: His head isthe biggestin the family.

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PositiveComparativeSuperlative

boldbolderboldest

deepdeeperdeepest

nearnearernearest

richricherrichest

talltallertallest

PositiveComparativeSuperlative

carefulmorecarefulmostcareful

enjoyablemoreenjoyablemostenjoyable

forgetfulmoreforgetfulmostforgetful

usefulmoreusefulmostuseful

wonderfulmorewonderfulmostwonderful

PositiveComparativeSuperlative

badworseworst

goodbetterbest

littlelessleast

(3) FORMING ADJECTIVESThere are various ways to form adjectives from nouns and verbs as follow:Add '-al' : music=musical; nation=national; person=personalAdd '-ful' : care=careful; doubt=doubtful; peace=peacefulAdd '-ic' : acrobat=acrobatic; artist=artistic; photograph=photographicAdd '-ive' : attract=attractive; effect=effective; act=active; instruct=instructiveAdd '-ous' : mountain=mountainous; danger=dangerous; peril=perilousAdd '-y' : greed=greedy; oil=oilyChange 'y' to 'i' and add '-ful' : beauty=beautiful; pity=pitifulChange 'y' to 'i' and add '-ous' : mystery=mysterious; glory=gloriousDrop 'e' and add 'y' : anger=angry; ease=easy; ice=icyDrop 'e' and add 'al' : nature=natural; agriculture=agricultural

1.Adjectives can be formed from NounsNounAdjective

accidentaccidental

dangerdangerous

lengthlong

starstarry

windwindy

2.Adjectives can be formed from VerbsVerbAdjective

enjoyenjoyable

helphelpful

obeyobedient

playplayful

talktalkative

3.Adjectives can be formed from AdjectivesAdjectiveAdjective

comiccomical

correctcorrective

elderelderly

redreddish

sicksickly

(4) CORRECT USAGE OF ADJECTIVESWe use some in a positive statement and any in a negative statement or a question. Example: I have some money to buy a couple of lollipops. (Positive statement)Example: I haven't any money to lend you. (Negative statement)Example: Do you need to go to the toilet? (A question)We use some with countable nouns and uncountable nouns.Example: "I have caught some fish for you to cook", he said to her. (Countable noun)Example: There is some rabbit stew in the pot. (Uncountable noun)We can use some in a question if it is an invitation or a request.Example: Would you like to have some goose soup? (Invitation)Example: Will you please give me some medicine for my cough? (Request)We can join some or any with one, body or thing to form compound words.Example: He believed somebody has run away with his wife.Example: The police are looking for someone with three gold teeth.Example: He is hiding something under his bed.Example: There wasn't anyone in the cemetery.Example: It hasn't anything to do with you, so please stop asking.Example: Has anybody seen my grandmother?Lesson 4- Adverbs

1. Types of Adverbs2. Comparison of Adverbs3. Forming Adverbs from Adjectives

Types of Adverbs

AdverbsAdverb Clauses

Anadverbis a word that adds more to the meaning of averb, anadjectiveor anotheradverb.I dreamt about youlast night. (dreamt=verb; last night=adverb)The monster wasincredibly ugly. (ugly=adjective; incredibly=adverb)The heart patient collapsedquite suddenly. (suddenly=adverb; quite=adverb)

Anadverbis usually placed after theverbwhen it is used in a sentence as follow: He calledyesterday. The train will arrivesoon. They struggledhardto reach the top. The patient is sleepingsoundly.Unlikeadjectives,adverbsdo not modifynouns.CORRECT: The woman has abeautifuldaughter. (Adjective)INCORRECT: The woman has abeautifullydaughter. (Adverb)CORRECT: She was still sad about it. (Adjective)INCORRECT: She was still sadly about it. (Adverb)

Some words can be bothadverbsandadjectivesas follow:far,hard, andlong.It is important to distinguish how they are used.I don't livefaraway from here. (Adverb)Where I live isn'tfarfrom here. (Adjective)She worked quitehard. (Adverb)She found the work quitehard. (Adjective)If we exercise regularly, we may livelonger. (Adverb)If we exercise regularly, we may livelongerlives. (Adjective)

1.TYPES OF ADVERBS Adverb of Time This shows when an action or something is done or happens. It answers the question "When?" It is either placed at thebeginningor at theendof a sentence. When they are at the beginning, they are oftenemphasized.Example: I phoned youyesterday.Example: I saw hera few months ago.Example:Last weekI saw them walking together.

Adverb of Place This shows where an action or something is done or happens. It answers the question "Where?" Such adverbs are placed after the verb.Example: I livehere. / He felldown. / They are talkingoutside. / He walkedin.Example: We met herin the zoo.Example: They like to walkalong the river.

Adverb of Manner This shows how an action or something is done. It answers the question "How?" The adverb is placed just after the verb when it is used in a sentence.Example: She criedloudly. / He drivesquickly. / She speakssoftly.

Adverb of Degree or Quantity This answers the questions, "To what degree?" or "How much?" It is usually placed before theadjectiveand theadverb.Example: It istoo darkfor us to see anything. (Before adjective)Example: Last night it rainedvery heavily. (Before adverb)

Adverb of Frequency This answers the question "How often?"Adverbs of frequencyare very important because we often use them. Examples of these adverbs include:never, rarely, seldom, hardly ever, occasionally, sometimes, generally, usually, frequently, nearly always, oftenandever.Also included are: quite, just, already, almost and nearly.Example: He willneverhave finished in time.Example: Jane israrelylate for work.Example: Peterseldomreads the Bible.Example: Suehardly everwore lipstick.Example: We only write to each other veryoccasionally.Example:Sometimeshe stays late in the office to complete his work.Example: The proposal is notgenerallyacceptable to the public.Example: It isusuallythe man who proposes marriage.Example: While overseas, hefrequentlyphoned home.Example: She's notnearlyalways right although she thinks she's always right.Example: Wealwaysgo to school by bus.Example:Sharonhasoftenforgotten her books.Example: Does heevercome to play chess? Affirmative Adverb(yes) andAdverb of negation(No) - examples of this adverb includes: yes,surely,certainly,indeed,by all means,no,not at all,by no means.Example: I hope my parent just for once will sayyesto my latest idea.Example: You must have heard about the haunted housesurely?Example:Certainlywe'll try to rid this place of the foul odour.Example: It wouldindeedhelp if I had a bodyguard.Example:By all meanseat whatever you want, but I think you will not be able to finish all the food.Example: Ohno, not another breakdown at the traffic lights?Example: It isnot at allcertain that the match will take place.Example: It isby no meanseasy that we will finish it soon. Interrogative Adverb(Question): When? Where? How? Why? How much/often?Example:Whenwas the last time you saw the accused?Example:Wherehave you been all the while?Example:Howcould you have overlooked all these mistakes?Example:Whydo you have to do such a stupid thing? Relative Adverb: when, where, how, whyThese words are the same in form as Interrogative Adverbs; but they are not questions.Example: The timewhenhe arrived is still unknown.Example: The scenewherethe accident occurred is close to the hospital.Example: He is the only one who knowshowto do it.Example: Nobody knowswhyhe left in such a hurry.

2.COMPARISON OF ADVERBS: Similar to the comparison ofadjectives,adverbshave three degrees of comparison thePositive, theComparativeand theSuperlative. Mostadverbswhich end in '-ly' form theComparativewith 'more' and theSuperlativewith 'most'.PositiveComparativeSuperlative

comfortablymorecomfortablymostcomfortably

happilymorehappilymosthappily

kindlymorekindlymostkindly

loudlymoreloudlymostloudly

noisilymorenoisilymostnoisily

3.FORMINGADVERBS FROM ADJECTIVES: Adverbsare formed fromadjectivesby addingly.However, not all words ending in ly are adverbs. The following words are good examples of adjectives ending in ly: costly, deadly, friendly, kindly, likely, lively, lowly, manly, sickly, and timely. Adverbscan be formed from nouns, adjectives and verbs. They end in '-ly' as follow:NounsAdjectivesVerbsAdverbs

beautybeautifully

successsuccessfully

angryangrily

foolishfoolishly

continuecontinually

knowknowingly

Lesson 5- Indirect Speech

1. Direct speech or quoted speech2. Indirect speech or reported speech3. Changing Direct Speech into Indirect Speech4. Changes made when converting Direct to Indirect Speech5. Reporting a questionThere are two ways to report what a person says:Direct speechandIndirect speech. In Direct speech, we use the exact words that someone says with the use of quotation marks. In Indirect speech, we report what someone says without using their exact words. We dont use quotation marks with indirect speech, but we have to change the pronouns and the tense of the verb.

1.DIRECT SPEECH: Direct speech is the repeating or quoting the exact words spoken by someone. When we use direct speech, we use quotation marks to enclose the words spoken without changing any of them.

Example:He said to me, "Be careful!"This is theDirect Speech. We merely repeat the exact words used by the speaker and keep the exact words within quotation marks.EXAMPLE: Quoting exactly what someone said: He said, Im going to hunt a tiger.

2.INDIRECT OR REPORTED SPEECHIndirect speech refers to repeating what another person says. When we report what someone says, we do not repeat exactly every word that was said. We normally change the tense of the words spoken as what has been said is already in the past. We also make changes to pronouns and other changes where necessary. Quotation marks are not used. We use our own words to repeat what the speaker said.Example:Hesaidto me, "Stop singing the same old song!" (Direct speech)Hetoldme to stop singing the same old song. (Indirect speech)This is the Indirect or Reported Speech. We use the past tense when the main verb used by the speaker is in the past tense. Here, we do not use the quotation marks. We use an infinitive (to be) and we repeat the pronoun (He).

3.CHANGING DIRECT SPEECH INTO INDIRECT SPEECHWhen we change Direct Speech into Indirect Speech, it is necessary to: change all Present and Future Tenses in the Direct Speech into the Past Tenses in the Indirect Speech when the main verb (e.g. said, told) is in the Past Tense.Example:Direct:Write carefully!" he said to me.(Present Tense)Indirect: He told me to write carefully. (Past Tense)Example:Direct:Hesaid, "Iam eating."(Present Continuous Tense)Indirect: He said that hewas eating. (Past Continuous Tense)Example:Direct: He said, "Ihave foundthe keys." (Present Perfect Tense)Indirect:He said that hehad foundthe keys. (Past Perfect Tense)Example:Direct:He said, "Ishall callyou tonight." (Future Tense)Indirect:He said that hewould callme tonight. (Future in Past Tense) change the pronoun from first person and second person to third person.Example: Direct: Ihave finishedmyhomework.Indirect:Hesaid that he had finishedhishomework.(First persontothird person)Example: Direct: Youhave finishedyourhomework early.Indirect: He told them thattheyhad donetheirhomework early.

(Second persontothird person) sometimes we use more than one speech verb if the Direct Speech contains more than one sentence.Example: Direct: Dont fight with your sister, my mother said. Get on withyour school homework.Indirect: My mothertoldme not to fight with my sister.Shetold/askedme to get on with my school homework. In most cases, we do not change the tense of the verbs in the Indirect Speech when:the reporting verb is in the Simple Present tense (he says), the Present Perfect tense (she has told us) or the Simple Future tense (I will tell him).Example: Direct: Im tired, he says every evening. (present tense)They are late, she has already told us.(present perfect)I will tell him, The shop is shut. (future tense)

Indirect: Every evening he says (that) heistired.She has already told us (that) theyarelate.I will tell him (that) the shopisshut. We do not change the tense of verbs in Indirect Speech if they make a statement which is always true or if the action is still continuing and a change of tense would give the wrong meaning.Example: Direct: He told us, The world is round.Indirect: He told us that the world is round. Direct: She said, My brother is living inAustralia.Indirect: She said that her brother is living inAustralia. (She said that her brotherwasliving inAustralia would indicate her brother is no longer living inAustraliawhich is not true.)

4.CHANGES MADE WHEN CONVERTING DIRECT TO INDIRECT SPEECHThe following changes are made when we convert Direct to Indirect Speech. shalltoshouldwilltowouldmaytomightcantocouldhastohad

The pronoun is changed in person from first and second to third.Ibecomeshe or sheWebecomestheyYoubecomeshe, him, her or them

Changes are made to the following adjectives and adverbs:thistothatthesetothosenowtothentodaytothat daylast nighttoon the previous night or the night beforetomorrowtothe next day or the day afterheretothereyesterdaytothe previous day or the day beforethustoso; (in) that way

5.REPORTING A QUESTION: When reporting a question, ensure the question ends with a period rather than a question mark.Example:The reporter asked, Why no one has been arrested? (direct question)The reporter asked why no one has been arrested (indirect question)

Lesson 6- Articles

1.Definite Article2. Indefinite Article3. When articles are not used4. Difference in meaning with use of articles5. Difference in meaning with or without the use of articles

The articles are the words: a, an, the, and are of two kinds:Definite ArticleTheIndefinite ArticleAorAnThere are rules governing the usage of a, an and the. By learning the rules, we may still not fully understand their usage. However, there are ways to better understand how to use them and one effective way is to read as much as we can.

1. DEFINITE ARTICLE: Theis thedefinite articleas it identifies a definite or particular noun that we know of. It is not about a noun that has not been mentioned beforehand or a noun that we are unaware of.Example:I received a letter. The letter is from a former classmate.(CORRECT)NOT:I received the letter. The letter is from the former classmate.First sentence: I received the letter. Which letter is referred to?Second sentence: The letter is from the former classmate. We know 'The letter' as it refers to the letter I received (in the first sentence). / the former classmate There are many former classmates, which one?)This shows how easily we can confuse the reader if we do not exercise care in using the.

'The'is used:1. when the same thing or person is mentioned again, that is, a particular thing or person.Example: I bought an orange.Theorange is sweet.

2. when there is only one such thing.Example:theearth,thesun,themoon.

3. before the names of famous buildings, etc.Example:TheEiffelTower,TheGreat Wall of China.

4. when a singular noun is used to point out a whole class, race, group, etc.Example:Thebear is a strong animal.

5. before the special names of a rivers, seas, oceans, mountain ranges, groups of islands, certain organizations, political parties, and countries such as the U.S.A., the U.K., the U.S.S.R. and the U.A.R.Example:TheNile,TheDead Sea,ThePacific Ocean,TheHimalayas,TheUnited Nations,TheRepublican Party, etc.

6. before the names of holy or important books.Example:TheKoran,TheBible.

7. before an adjective when the noun is understood.Example:Thepoor need help.Example: No one seems to care forthehomeless in the city.

More examples: This istheboy you are looking for. (This means this is the particular boy you are looking for, not any other boy.) That isthecinema I went to yesterday. (I remember and am sure that is the cinema I went to and not another cinema.) While they were there, they visitedthescience museum. (They visited the particular museum which is the only one in the country.)

2. INDEFINITE ARTICLE: Theindefinite articlesareaandan. We use them to show an unspecified noun, and not a special one, or when we are speaking in general.

Ais used: before a word which begins with a consonant.Example: There isa womanwaiting for you.

before a singular, countable noun.Example:A bananawas all I had for lunch.

when we mention something for the first time.Example: I sawa dog.

before a word with a long sound ofu Example: a university, a uniform, a useful book, a European, a unique opportunity.Example: It would bea uniqueopportunity to travel in space.

before the wordonebecauseoneis pronouncedwun, as if it began withW.Example: a one-way street, a one-eyed man, a one-year course, a one-day holiday, etc.Example: I havea one-wayticket to travel from one place to another as I don't intend to visit a place twice.

Anis used: before a noun which begins with a vowel.Example: They sayan applea day keeps the doctor away.

befo