Current Affairs 5th Class

       Introduction   Presenting the words of a speaker is called narration. Narration may be of two types: (i) Direct Speech (ii) Indirect Speech            Direct Speech   When the actual or exact words of a speaker is presented, it is called Direct Speech.

•   Monu said, "Mamta lives in London."
•   Monu said that Mamta lived in London.

These two sentences refer to the two ways of reporting the words of a speaker. In sentence 1, the actual or exact words of the speaker is presented. This speech is called Direct Speech. NOTE:

•   In Direct Speech the actual words of the speaker are put within inverted commas (" ")                                                    
•   The sentence within inverted commas begins with a capital letter.  

  There are two parts of a sentence in direct speech.                 Reporting Verb The first part of the sentence in Direct Speech is called Reporting Verb. For Example: In the sentence, Monu said, "Mamta lives in London", 'Monu said' is the reported verb.                 Reported Speech The actual words of the speaker put within inverted commas are called Reported Speech. For Example: "Mamta lives in London."  

       Practice Exercise   Change the following sentences into Passive Voice.       John posts the letter.   Answer: The letter is posted by John.         Mary writes a story.   Answer: A story is written by Mary.     Change the following sentences into Active Voice.         This poem was written by Tagore   Answer: Tagore wrote this poem.         Hindi is spoken all over India.   Answer: People speak Hindi all over India.         Change the following into passive voice. Choose the correct ones from the following.       Carpenter makes furniture. (A) Furniture is made by carpenter          (B) Furniture is being made by carpenter (C) Furniture are made by carpenter       (D) All of these (E) None of these   Answer: (A) Explanation: Furniture is made by carpenter.           Shyam eats mangoes. (A) Mango is eats by Shyam                        (B) Mango is eaten by Shyam (C) Mango is eating by Shyam                    (D) Mango is ate by Shyam (E) Mango is eaten Shyam   Answer: (B) Explanation: Mango is eaten by Shyam.    

       Passive voice   When the subject (Person or thing) is the receiver of an action, the form of the verb is said to be in Passive Voice.

•   Rocky helps Maya.
•   Maya is helped by Rocky  

See the difference between these two sentences In the second sentence, the form of the verb shows that the subject Maya is the receiver of the action or something is done to the subject. In other words it can also be said that the subject is not Active hut Passive. So the Verb form is helped is said to be in passive voice. Therefore, active voice is a direct way to show an action whereas passive voice is an indirect way to show action.                            NOTE:

•   Voice is that form of verb which shows whether the subject is doer of the action or receiver of the action.
•   Voice change is the change in the structure of a sentence.
•   There is no change in the meaning of the sentences in their Active and Passive Voice form.  

                Changing of Active Voice into Passive Voice Rules to change Active sentence into Passive. (i)            The subject of active voice becomes object of passive voice and object of active voice becomes subject of passive voice. Active                   :      Rahul eats mango. Passive                :      Mango is eaten by Rahul. Rahul becomes object and mango becomes the subject in the passive voice. (ii)           The form of the Verb changes according to its tense. It becomes : Be + Past Participle of the verb; Active                   :      Rahul eats mango. Passive                :      Mango is eaten by Rahul. (iii)          The number of the Verb changes according to the Subject of the Passive Voice. Active                   :      Rahul eats mangoes. Passive                :      Mangoes are eaten by Rahul. (iv)          The subject ofthe Verb in the Active Voice becomes the Object in the Passive Voice which is expressed as:- by + agent. This agent is the Subject of the verb in the Active Voice. Active                   :      Rahul eats mango. Passive                :      Mango is eaten by Rahul.                  Steps to Change Active Voice into Passive Voice Following are the steps taken to change active voice into passive one: Step 1 :      Replace the subject by object and object by subject. Step 2 :      Make subject an agent to the verb. Step 3 :      Use 'by' before agent to the verb. Step 4 :      Use Helping verb as per tense. Step 5 :      Put the IIIrd form of the verb. Changing of 'verb form' from active to passive in more...

       Active voice   When the subject (person or thing) is the doer of an action/the form of the verb is said to be in active voice.                 

•   Rocky helps Maya.
•   Riya is helped by Robin.  

See the difference between these two sentences. In the first sentence, the form of the verb shows that the subject Rocky is doing something. He is the doer of the action. In other words, it can also be said the subject is active. So the verb form 'help' is said to be in active voice.  

        Introduction   Definition: The voice is the form of verb which indicates whether a person or ' thing does something, or whether something has been done to a person or thing.                Look at the following sentences:  

•   I write a letter.
•   A letter is written by me.

Both the sentences given above have the similar meaning. But in the first example subject works itself, whereas in second example the object is used as subject.                There are two kinds of voice.  

•   Active voice
•   Passive voice  

       Introduction   In English language and grammar there are three articles. They are, 'a', 'an' and 'the'.   These three articles are divided into two parts. (i) Indefinite articles: 'a' and 'an' (ii) Definite article: 'the'. Articles are used with nouns.  

           Indefinite articles - A and An   'A' and 'an' are the indefinite articles. They refer to something which is not specific.                 Use of Indefinite Article   1.  'A' and 'an' are used before countable nouns in the singular number.      For example: "I saw an elephant this morning." "I ate o banana for lunch." 2.  'A' and 'an' are also used with a noun complement.      For example: "I am an English teacher." "I am o builder."                Specific Rules of Use   1.       'A' is used when the noun begins with a consonant (b, c, d, f, g, h, j, k, I, m, n, p, q, r, s, t, v, w, x, y and z).           For example : 'a city', 'a factory', and 'a hotel' etc. 2.       'An' is used when the noun begins with a vowel (a, e, i, o, u).           For example : 'an inkpot', 'an apple', 'an egg' etc.           Pronunciation changes this rule. It's the sound that matters, not the spelling. 3.       If a word begins with a consonant but gives a vowel sound, 'an' will be used.           For example : "an hour".           Explanation : 'When we say' hour' it sounds like "our". So,"an hour" is correct. 4.       If a word begins with a vowel but gives a consonant sound, 'a' will be used.           For example : 'a university'.           Explanation: When we say "university" it gives a "y" sound at the beginning as if it has been spelt "youniversity".           So, "a university" is correct.         Fill in the blanks with Indefinite Article       Mr. Johnson is ___________ European. (A) A                                                                      (B) An (C) The                                                                 (D) None of these (E) All of these     Answer: (A)                                          Explanation: Pronunciation of European starts with 'y' sound. Therefore, (A) is used before it.         Maria is ________ intelligent girl. (A) A                                                                      (B) The (C) An                                                                   (D) None of these (E) All of these.   Answer: (C) Explanation: The first letter in Intelligent is vowel and sounds like vowel. Therefore, 'an' is used with it.  

       Practice Exercise   Fill in the blanks with either A or An: 1.       This is ________ useless thing. 2.       She has_______ black cap. 3.       Allahabad is _________holy city. 4.       New York is _______costly city. 5.       This is________ very costly book. 6.       Scoring goal is not __________ easy task. 7.       I got ____________ orange, ____________  banana and two mangoes. 8.       Mr. Sam is _____________European. 9.       I had ___________ bag in which there was ____________ letter. 10.    Julley faced ____________ awkward situation.     Answer: 1. (A)                    2. (A)                     3. (A)                     4. (A)                     5. (A) 6. (An)                  7. (An, A)             8. (A)                     9. (A, A)                 10. (An)    NOTE: (i) Indefinite articles are not used with uncountable noun.                 (ii) Article is not used before the name of games. Such as-She pays ludo.   (iii) Article is not used before some diseases like Cholera, Malaria, Fever and Typhoid etc. (iv) Article is not used before the name of festivals. (v) Article is not used before plural countable nouns when they indicate a class (vi) No article is used before the names of language.               (vii) No article is used before proper noun, material noun and abstract noun.  

       Definite Article 'The'   A definite article indicates that its noun is a particular one (or ones), identifiable to the listener. It may be something that the speaker has already mentioned, or it may besomething uniquely specified. The definite article in English, for both singular and plural nouns, is 'the'.                     Use of Definite Article   1.       We use the when we know that the listener knows or can work out the particular person/thing we are talking about.          For example : "The apple you ate was rotten." "Did you lock the car?" 2.       We also use the when we have already mentioned the thing we are talking about.          For example : "She's got two children; a girl and a boy. The girl's eight and the boy's fourteen." 3.       We use the to talk about geographical points on the globe.          For example : The North Pole, the Equator 4.       We use the to talk about rivers, oceans and seas.          For example : The Nile, the Pacific, the English channel 5.       We also use the before certain nouns when we know there is only one of a particular kind.          For example : The rain, the Sun, the wind, the world, the Earth, the White House, etc.           However if we want to describe a particular instance of these we should use a/an.          For example :"I could hear the wind."/ "There's a cold wind blowing."           "What are your plans for the future?"/ "She has a promising future ahead of her." 6.       The is also used to say that a particular thing being mentioned is the best, the most famous, etc.                               For example : "Chandni's Bar is the place to go." "You don't mean you met the Tony Blair, do you?"                Some other Uses of Definite Article   The is also used before the following:

•   A class of noun. e.g. The dog is a faithful animal.
•   The Superlative Degrees of Adjective. e.g. The best.
•   A noun which was already mentioned earlier.
•   Eg.- Ashoka was a king. He was the great king.
•   The names of famous buildings-The Red Fort.
•   The names of sea, river or valley. E.g. the Pacific, the Ganga, the Bay of Bengal.
•   The names of few countries. - The U.S.A., The UK
•   The names of religious books - The Bible, The Ramayana, The Gita
•   The names of heavenly bodies: The Sun
•   The names of mountains and peaks: The Alps, more...

         Practice Exercise   Fill in the blanks with Definite Articles.       ________ Ganga is a holy river.   Answer: "The" Definite Article (the) is used with the name of river.'         ________ Quran is a holy book of Islam.   Answer: "The" Definite Article (the) is used with the name of a religious book.           Give me _____ pen which I bought yesterday.   Answer: The Definite Article (the) points to a particular 'pen'.         _______ Sun shines brightly.   Answer: The Definite Article (the) is used before havenly bodies.           Fill in the blanks with suitable article A, An and The       _______ Geeta is a holy book for the Hindus. (A) A                                                                      (B) The (C) An                                                                   (D) None of these (E) All of these   Answer: (B) Explanation: The is used before holy book like The Ramayan, The Geeta, The bible mahabharat, Quran, etc.         _______moon shines at night. (A) The                                                                 (B) A (C) An                                                                   (D) None of these   Answer: (A) Explanation: The is used before the names of heavenly bodies.                Practice Exercise   Fill in the blanks with A, An or The wherever necessary.

  _______ Sun rises in ________ sky.

  I have __________ one rupee note.

  _________Principle rewarded Saha Nawaz.

  I eat __________apple ________.apple is sweet.

  He is____________ M.L.A.  

  Answer:         1.   (The, The)      2.   (A)           3.   (The)             4.   (An, The)        5.   (An)        

•   A is used before a noun beginning with a consonant sound.
•   An is used before a noun beginning with a vowel sound.
•   The is used before a noun to particularize it.
•   Indefinite Articles are not used with uncountable noun.
•   Article is not used before the name of games. Such as - She plays chess.
•   Article is not used before some diseases like Cholera, Malaria, Fever and Typhoid etc.
•   Article is not used before the name of festivals.
•   Article is not used before plural countable nouns when they indicate a class.
•   No article is used before the names of language.
•   No article is used before proper noun, material noun and abstract noun.