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BASICS OF GRAMMAR
PARTS OF SPEECH

NOUNS
Nouns are divided into common and proper nouns.
Common nouns are names for people, things, animals or ideas.
e.g. dancer, pear, pea, gorilla, clock, and temple.
Proper nouns are special names given to people places or things.
e.g. Charles, Christmas, March, China.

Abstract Nouns

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Abstract nouns are words for ideas, feelings, and intangible objects e.g. appearance, truth, wickedness, joy, death, delight.
Remember: Abstract nouns can be formed by adding ness, - ion, y, - ty, - ity to the form of the adjective; however there would be
some spelling changes! e.g. dryness, decision, ability, loyalty, robbery.
Collective Nouns
Collective nouns are words for groups of people, animals or things. They are generally used with a singular verb, but sometimes they
can be used with a plural verb too.
Look at these sentences: The team is playing in Bangalore today - The staff are on leave today. Some examples: A board of directors A suite of rooms - A team of players - A brood of chickens
Countable and uncountable nouns
Countable nouns are those which can have the word a, an, or the before them in their singular form and can also be used in the plural.
e.g. park/parks, orange/oranges, parcel/parcels Uncountable nouns are not used with a, an or the. They are always used in the singular
and never take on the plural. They are quantified using modifiers like some or much. Remember an uncountable noun always takes on
a singular verb.
List of uncountable nouns: homework equipment - information weather music information - baggage jewellery advice
work poetry news pollution money - cash
PRONOUNS
Pro means acting for and therefore a pronoun implies a word that takes the place of a noun.
Personal pronouns
Personal pronouns are generally used as the subject of the sentences. The subject is the doer of the action while the object is the
receiver of the action.

Possessive Pronouns
You use words like mine, yours ours, his, hers, theirs, when talking about things belonging to people.
e.g. This bat is mine but that sandwich is yours.
Reflexive Pronoun
A reflexive pronoun is used generally for emphasis and is also called emphatic pronouns. Here the action of the doer goes back to
himself so that the subject of the sentence is the same as the object of the sentence.
Words like himself, herself and ourselves are used only to stress on the subject and never as the subject.
Dont say, Myself Susan.
You can however say, Susan has hurt herself.
Relative Pronoun
Who, which, that, whom, these

Who and whom refer to people - The girl who is an actor danced for an hour.

Whose can refer to people or things. The pronoun whose is used to show possession - The girl whose father is a minister is
studying in my college.

Which and that refer to people or things - This is the camera which he bought.

Which can be followed by a noun, pronoun or verb - The package which he gave was heavy.

Whom is used only as the object - They have found the man whom they want to interview.

Demonstrative Pronouns
This that these those none neither

Interrogative Pronouns
Questioning words starting with wh what whom which who
Indefinite Pronouns
These pronouns refer to people or things without making a mention of who or what they are.
Singular - another, anybody, anyone, anything, each, every, everybody, everyone, everything, many a/an, neither, no one, nothing, one,
other, somebody, someone
Plural - both, few, many, others, several
ADJECTIVES
Adjectives describe nouns. They can come before or after the noun they describe, or even later in the sentence.
e.g. a dirty floor - Honey is sweet
Adjective endings: - ful, - less, - ous, - ic, - y, - ish, - ible, - able, - ly, - en, - ed, - ing, - ive, - al
E.g -Edible, washable, sickly, adhesive, tragic, feverish, daring, added, rotten, magical, dusty, glorious,
harmful, spotless
COMPARITIVE

You add er to the adjectives to make the comparative form

Comparatives are followed by than

e.g. greater than, bigger than, smaller than

SUPERLATIVE

You add the est to make the superlative form.

superlative forms are preceded by the

e.g. the best, the worst, the least

ADVERBS
An adverb describes action or verbs. You can find out whether a word is an adverb or not by addressing the wh questions to the verb.
A lot of adverbs end in ly. You form these by adding ly to adjectives. E.g: - Brave/bravely Quick/quickly Noisy/noisily

Kinds Of Adverbs

MANNER - answers the question How Skillfully, freely, closely

PLACE - answers the question- Where near, somewhere, away
FREQUENCY - answer the question- How often- always, seldom, never
TIME answers the question When Yesterday, today, still

Comparison of Adverbs
Adverbs like adjectives also have a comparative and superlative form. You use them for comparing the way people do things.
You use more to make the comparative form and most to make the superlative form.
e.g. The wolf runs swiftly - The deer runs more swiftly - The cheetah runs most swiftly.
Positive Clearly, Happily
Comparative more clearly, more happily
Superlative most clearly, most happily
PREPOSITIONS
Prepositions show relationship between nouns, pronouns and other words. A preposition helps to connect the object with the rest of the
sentence. The preposition usually helps establish the chronological, spatial or logical relationship of its object to the rest of the
sentence.
E.g: The book is on the desk - The book is beside the table - She read the book during class
Examples of Prepositions
Above, among, onto, next to, between, after, out of, outside by, close to, against, around, near, underneath, below, beside, opposite,
off, in, from
Prepositions Of Place And Direction
Above, through, among, aboard, Across, opposite, Near, Below, after, beside, inside, behind, next to, outside, against, inside
Prepositions with Adjectives, Nouns & Verbs
With Adjectives

Afraid of, careless about, familiar with, accustomed to

With Nouns
Precautions against, insight into, example of, faith in
With Verbs
Complain about, protest against, stare at, think about
Prepositions Of Place And Direction
Prepositions of Time
In, at, on, up to, by, Ago, before, between, within, to, during, For, Past, From-till, after, until, since, From-to,till/until
CONJUNCTIONS
Conjunctions are linking words. Coordinating Conjunctions For/And/No/But/Or/Yet/So
Subordinating Conjunctions
It joins two unequal parts of the sentence E.g:
After, although, As, as if, as long as, if, if only, in order that, now that, once, though, Till, unless, until, when
Correlative Conjunctions
These can be used only in pairs.
Both and, Neither.nor, Not only . but also, Either .or, Hardlywhen
VERBS

Verbs are that part of speech which denotes action or an idea of existence or state of being.

A verb always has a subject. A verb tells you what the subject is doing.

Verbs change form

A verb must agree with the subject in terms of number- singular and plural.

E.g: Ashwin speaks English - The subject in this sentence is Ashwin and the verb speaks
SUBJECT AND VERB AGREEMENT

The subject in a sentence is the doer of the action which is represented by a part of speech - the noun or the pronoun. Some sentences
will also have an object. This is the receiver of the action - again a noun or a pronoun.
The verb signifies the transmission of the action from the doer to the receiver.
Golden Rule Singular subject takes a singular verb and a plural subject takes a plural verb.
Attention!!!
The boy reads a book.
The boys read books.
RULE 1
If both your subjects are singular and connected by or, nor, either/or or neither/nor you use a singular verb. If both your
subjects were in the plural form and connected by or, nor, either/or or neither/nor then the verb that follows will naturally be
a plural form of the verb.
- My brother or my sister is arriving today.
RULE 2
If one of your subjects is singular and the other is plural, identify the noun that is placed closest to the verb. Your verb has to agree
with the subject that is closest to it.

- The textbooks or the pencil is on the table. If the two subjects in your sentence are joined by and, it takes on the plural verb.
- The parents and the children are attending the concert today.
RULE 3
If the subject is followed by prepositional phrases or expressions such as along with, as well as, besides, together with, the verb
agrees with the noun that precedes the intervening phrase and not the noun that follows it.
- My cousin along with her children has flown to Spain
RULE 4
Singular Indefinite Pronouns always take on a singular verb.
- Anyone has the right to offer an opinion. Attention!!!
A word that ends in one, thing or body can only be a singular form -everybody, everything, everyone!
RULE 5
Plural indefinite pronouns like several, few, both and many take on plural verbs.
- Several were called to the stage. - A few were opposed to the idea. - Both were anxious to receive the award.
RULE 6
Remember that if a pronoun refers to an uncountable noun or a quantity or mass then it takes on a singular verb and if it
refers to a countable noun or a number it takes on a plural verb.
- Some of the officers are going by plane. (More than one - plural)
- Some of the ice cream is left. (Mass or uncountable quantity)
RULE 7
None can be used to mean both singular and plural. Use the appropriate form of the verb by basing it on the context of the sentence.
- None of these mangoes are ripe (more than one - plural)
- We needed a book but none was available. (only one - singular)
RULE 8
With neither and either remember to use a singular verb even though they may seem to refer to two things. Neither and either are
singular indefinite pronouns and take on a singular verb. - Neither of the bags is useful. - Either of the coats is fine.
RULE 9
Words that indicate parts or portions percent, part, majority, some and half are singular or plural according to the meaning of the
sentence.

- Fifty percent of the cake has been eaten. (Cake is the object of the preposition of and you are referring to a single unit of cake.)
- Fifty percent of the cakes have been eaten. (Cakes is the object of the preposition of and you are referring to a number of units of
cake)
RULE 10
In other words a number refers to a countable quantity and the number refers to an uncountable mass.
- A number of men were working on the project. (Plural - countable)
- The number of men present was small. (Singular refers to one group)

RULE 11
A plural noun which shows weight, quantity or extent is always singular and takes a singular verb. Alternately you could say that units
of measurement are always expressed in the singular.
- Ten miles is a long distance to walk.
- Five hundred pounds is a big price to pay for this.
- Ten inches is the correct length.
RULE 12
Words like scissors, pants tongs, spectacles indicate a unit that has two parts.
Attention!!
If the word pair is used to denote the subject, it is then considered as singular subject and takes a singular verb.
- The scissors are very sharp. (Plural)
- A pair of scissors was left on my table. (Singular)
RULE 13
RULE 13 Words like here and there are not the subjects of the sentence. They are adverbs of place. In such sentences the subject
normally follows the verb.
- Ten members are there on the committee. (Plural subject plural verb)
- Here comes the teacher with her staff. (Singular subject singular verb)

RULE 14
RULE 14 Collective noun represents a collection of objects and is considered as one unit. Collective nouns agree with a singular verb.
- The team is playing. If the collective noun is used to indicate individual members of the group, use the plural verb. - The staff is in a
meeting. (Acting as a unit- a group of personnel) - The staff are in disagreement about the project. (As individual members of staff)
RULE 15
Subjects like Mathematics and Physics or diseases like measles and mumps are plural in form but singular in meaning. - Physics is a
very interesting subject.
Measles is an infectious disease.
EXCEPTION:
- Politics is an interesting subject. (Subject name) - The politics of the ABZ party are pro democracy. (Political views)
RULE 16
Relative pronouns who, that, or which can at times become the subject of a verb in the middle of the sentence.
The pronouns who, that, and which become singular or plural according to the noun directly in front of them. If that noun is singular,
use a singular verb. If it is plural, use a plural verb.
- Harsha is the scientist who writes the reports. - He is one of the men who do the work.
TENSES
Using a noun and a verb watch what happens!
PRESENT TENSE
Simple Present Tense

When referring to actions which are part of a routine or those that happen at regular intervals
- Helen works in an airline office. (Habitual action)

To express general truths like proverbs and accepted facts

- The sun rises in the East. (Accepted truth)

Newspaper headlines, commentaries

- Cement companies see dip in profit margins

Talking about things arranged for the future.

- I leave for Mumbai tomorrow night.

To give instructions
- Open the door.

Present Continuous Tense

Indicates that the action is continuing at the time stated.

The progressive form of the verb is made by using the form of the verb to be with the - ing form of the principle verb.

This form is called the present participle: I am studying.

To express an action that is continuing to happen at the moment.

- I am cooking breakfast.

Can be used to express a future event

- I am going to America next week.

Present Perfect Tense

Perfect tense implies that an action has been perfected or completed at the time of the action.
- I have done the assignment.

To talk about experiences

- Arpita has never broken a bone

To talk about an action in the past that has a result in the present.

- I have lost my identity card.

Present Perfect Continuous Tense

This form of the tense is used to express continuous actions which have already been completed.
- The cab has been waiting for two hours.

The present continuous tense uses two auxiliaries

- have or has and been.

PAST TENSE
Simple Past Tense

The simple past states actions that have occurred at regular intervals in the past.
- Last year I drove to Electronic city every day.

To describe situations that existed for a span of time in the past.

- Millions of years ago the mammoth inhabited the earth.

To talk about certain actions, which happened at a definite time in the past.
- I graduated from school in 1998.

Used to list a series of actions completed in the past

- I finished reading, walked to the market and bought some books.

Past Continuous Tense

Indicates a continuous action in the past:

- They were playing billiards last afternoon.
- He was holidaying in Mauritius last summer.

Can also be used to indicate an ongoing action which was happening when something else occurred in the past.
- I was cleaning the room when the doorbell rang.

Past Perfect Tense

Used to indicate an action in the past which was already completed by the time or before another action took place in the past:
- She had seen the car before I saw her.

Used to talk about a past conditional:

- If she had studied harder, she would have passed the exam.
Past Perfect Continuous

Refers to a continuous action in the past, already completed by the time another action also in the past took place.
- I had been waiting for two weeks before I received the offer letter.

FUTURE TENSE
Simple Future Tense

Used to express actions which may take place in the future

- They will finish the test tomorrow.

The simple future is formed from the auxiliary verb - will and shall, followed by the simple present form of the verb.

Future Continuous Tense

Used to express ongoing actions which may take place in the future:
- She will be waiting for them.