| First person | Singular: I me mine Plural: We me your | Used for males and female |
| Second person | Singular: you yours Plural: you yours | Used for males and females |
| third person | more...
Verb
A verb is a word which indicates an action in present, past or future tense as performed by a subject or acted upon an object.
Object of a verb
Look at the following sentences and the questions that follow:
1. Ruchi likes ice-cream.
What does Ruchi like? (ice-cream)
We say "ice-cream" is the object of the verb "likes.
2. Monu wastes money?
What does Monu waste? (money)
"Money" is the object of the verb "wastes."
3. I love Rakesh.
Whom do I love? (Rakesh)
"Rakesh" is the object of the verb "love."
Transitive and Intransitive Verbs
Transitive verb
A verb that requires an object to complete its sense is called a Transitive Verb.
For example:
(a) Sania eats an apple.
(b) Peter flies a kite.
(c) He speaks English.
Intransitive verb
A verb that does not require an object to make sense but makes good sense by itself is
Called an Intransitive Verb.
For example:
(a) Mohan walked.
(b) Mary laughed.
(c) The child cried.
Incomplete verbs
(a) John is
(b) Aim seems
(c) The father appears
These verbs do not make complete sense by themselves. They need some words to complete the sense.
For example:
(a) John is sad.
(b) Ami seems happy
(c) The father appears pleased.
The verbs in these sentences do not express an action and do not show possession. We call them incomplete verbs. The word added to them to complete the meaning and to from a complete predicate is called complement to the verb.
Subject-Verb Agreement
A singular subject takes a singular subject and a plural subject takes a plural verb. Example: The pen is on the desk.
In case of 'either/or, neither/nor' the verb agrees with the noun or pronoun closet to it.
Example: Neither Lily more...
Articles
A', an' and 'the' are called articles Articles are
Adjective. 'A' and 'AN' are called identifinite
Articles. 'the' is called definite article. Article are used with noun.
'A, an':
1. 'A and an' mean one. 'A and an' are placed before counted noun in the singular number:
A book, a pen, an apple, an umbrella
2. We use 'A' before words beginning with a consonant sound.
A girl, a map, a one rupee'note, a uniform
The girl 'O' in one is pronounced as letter
'W' and the letter 'U' in uniform is pronounced as 'yoo' constant sound.
3. We use 'an' before words beginning with a vowel sound.
An orange, an apple, an egg, an honest person, an hour.
'The'
1. We use 'the' when we mean a particular person on thing:
A Take the chair lying near the window.
B The man you wanted to meet is waiting at the door.
2. When we speak of a person or thing for the first time, we use 'a or an'. But when we speak of it again, we use 'the'.
A stranger came to our house. The stranger wanted to meet my father.
B He showed me a box. The box was full of toys.
Preposition
A preposition is a word which shows the relation between a noun or a pronoun and some other word in a sentence.
1. The books are in the bag.
2. The hunter shot the bird with a gun.
Look at these sentences:"
1. The rat is on the table.
2. The rat is under the table.
3. The rat is near the table.
In these sentences, we have used three different prepositions - on, under and near with the noun table. These prepositions show the relation between the rat and the table. We should be careful in the choice of prepositions. If we use a wrong preposition, we will be saying something totally different from what we wanted to say. If the rat is under the table, we cannot say it is on the table.
Conjunction
A conjunction is a word that joins words, sentences, phrases and clauses together.
(a) Cricket and tennis are my favourite games.
(b) I need some coloured papers and a bottle of glue.
1. We use 'and' to join two words of the same part of speech, or a noun and a pronoun, or two short sentences:-
(a) She is sincere and hardworking'.
(b) Salim and I study together.
2. We use 'but' to join contrasting words or sentences:"
(a) Anil is intelligent but careless.
(b) John fell off a running bus but was not hurt.
3. We use 'or' whenever there is choice:"
(a) You should hurry up or you will miss the bus.
4. We use 'because' if one sentence says something and the second sentence gives a reason for it:-
Harjit is absent because he has fever.
The use of some more conjunctions:
1. I have heard that the school is closed tomorrow.
2. Don't start moving until the light turns green.
3. If you take a glass of warm milk, you feel better.
4. You will not get the money unless you sign this letter.
5. It is Sunday today, therefore the markets are closed.
6. We rented this house so that we could live near the school.
7. Although, he is quite rich, he is leading a simple life.
8. Juhi was still doing her homework when the lights went out.
Voice
Active Voice
In sentences written in active voice, the subject performs the action expressed in the verb; the subject acts.
In each example above, the subject of the sentence performs the action expressed in the verb.
Passive Voice
In sentences written in passive voice, the subject receives the action expressed in the verb; the subject is acted upon. The agent performing the action may appear in a "by the ..." phrase or may be omitted.
(agent performing action has been omitted.)
Choosing Active Voice
In most non-scientific writing situations, active voice is preferred over passive for the majority of your sentences. Even in scientific writing, overuse of passive voice or use of passive voice in long and complicated sentences can cause readers to lose interest or to become confused. Sentences in active voice are generally?though not always?clearer and more direct than those in passive voice.
Passive (indirect) active (direct):
Sentences in active voice are also more concise than those in passive voice because fewer words are required to express action in active voice than in passive.
PASSIVE (MORE WORDY) ACTIVE (MORE CONCISE)
Changing Active to Passive
If you want to change an active voice sentence to passive voice, consider carefully who or what is performing the action expressed in the verb, and then make that agent the object of a "by the../' phrase. Make what is acted upon the subject of the sentence, and change the verb to a form of be + past participle. Including an explicit "by the..? phrase is optional.
In each these example, the passive voice in useful for highlighting the action and whate is acted upon instead of the agent.
Direct and Indirect Speech
Direct and Indirect Speech
When using indirect or reported speech, the form changes. Usually, indirect speech is introduced by the verb \say\ as in I said, Bill said or they said. Using the verb say in this tense indicates that something was said in the past. In these cases, the main verb in the reported sentence is pat in the past. If the main verb is already in past tense, then flip tense changes to another past tense; it can almost be seen as moving even further into the past.
Changes in verb tense also characterise other situations using indirect speech. With indirect speech, the use of that is optional.
"Note that when a Yes/No question is being asked in direct speech, then a construction with 'if or whether/ is used. If a whether/ If question is being asked, then use the whether/ it' to introduce the clause. Also note that with indirect speech, these are examples of embedded questions.
The situation changes if instead of the common 'said' another part "to say is used. In that case, the verb tenses usually remain the same. Some examples of this situation are given below.
Another situation is the one in which modal constructions are used. If the verb 'said? used, then the form of the modal, or another modal that has a past meaning is used. While not all of the possibilities have been listed here, there are enough to provide samples of the main rules governing the use of indirect or reported speech. For other "situations, try to extrapolate from the examples here or better still, refer to a good grammar text or reference book.
Some other verbs that can be used to introduce direct speech are: ask, report, tell, announce, suggest and enquire. They are not used interchangeably; check a grammar or usage book for further information.
Direct Speech
When the actual or exact words of a speaker are presented, it is called direct speech (sometimes called quoted speech).
Here what a person says appears within quotation marks ("...? and should be word to word.
For example: She said, 'Today's lesson is on presentations."
or
'Today's lesson is on presentations," she said.
Indirect Speech
Indirect speech (sometimes called reported speech) doesn't use quotation marks to enclose what the person said and it doesn't have to be word to word.
When reporting speech the tense usually changes. This is because when we use reported speech, we are usually talking- about a time in the more...
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