Introduction

to
Grammar
Parts of speech
 Mood structure (2)
Clause type + / − Subject Order Example

Declarative + Subject Subject + Finite Jane sings.

Interrogative + Subject Finite + Subject Does Jane sing?

(yes/no)
Interrogative (wh-) + Subject Wh + Finite + What does Jane
Subject sing?

Exclamative + Subject Wh + Subject + How well Jane

Finite sings!
Imperative − Subject No subject, base Sing!
form of verb
 SENTENCE
• Basic unit of a language, comprising
at least one independent verb with
its subject
• The most elementary form of a
sentence is Noun-verb
Flowers grow.
Ram bought Sita flowers.
Requisites of a good
sentence

Economy

consistency

Clarity
COMPOUND SENTENCE
A compound sentence contains two or
more independent clauses

• He is a poet and she is a novelist.

• He is sick, therefore, he could not
attend the class.
 COMPLEX SENTENCE
A complex sentence is a sentence that
contains one independent clause and
one or more dependent clauses.

• Ram could not attend the class today

because he was not feeling well.
• Walk slow lest you should fall.
 Sentence
• English has four main sentence types:
Declarative Sentences are used to form statements.
Examples: "Mary is here.", "My name is Mary."

• Interrogative Sentences are used to ask questions.

Examples: "Where is Mary?", "What is your name?"

• Imperative Sentences are used for commands.

Examples: "Come here.", "Tell me your name."

• Conditional Sentences are used to indicate dependencies

between events or conditions.
Example: "If you cut all the trees, there will be no forest."
 Common Issues

• i. Common Errors in English

• ii. Subject-Verb agreement
• iii. Use of Articles
• iv. Prepositions
• v. Tense and aspect
 Subject – Verb Agreement
The verb and subject must agree with each
other
If a singular subject is separated by a
comma then the following sentence remains
singular:
• 1. The child, together with his grandmother
and his parents, is going to the beach. (Right)
• 2. Ram, accompanied by his students, were at
the studio. (Wrong)
• 3. Ram, accompanied by his student, was at
the studio. (Right)
 2
• Collective nouns, such as family,
majority, audience, and committee are
singular when they act as one group.
They are plural when they act as
individuals.

1. A majority of the shareholders wants

the merger.
2. The jury were in disagreement
 3
Neither/nor and either/or are an exceptional
case. If two subjects are joined by or or
nor, the verb should agree with the
subject that is near to it.
1. Neither the supervisor nor the staff
members were able to calm the distressed
client.
2. Neither the staff members nor the
supervisor was able to calm the distressed
client.
 4
• Some nouns which seem to be plural with S
ending are always singular (i.e Economics,
Statistics, measles, mumps etc,) and take
singular verbs
1.Measles is a disease. (Right)
2.Measles are a disease. (Wrong)
3.Phonetics is a difficult subject. (Right)
4.Phonetics are a difficult subject. (Wrong)
 5
• Nouns like pants, scissors, tongs,
tweezers, trousers, and shears require
plural verbs.

1.These tongs are not good.

2.Those scissors are made of steel.
 6
• Advice, information, luggage, business,
mischief, abuse, vacation, evidence,
employment, alphabet, poetry, food,
furniture, baggage, equipment and all
material nouns are used in singular
forms only
 7
Offspring, deer, sheep, fish (Singular
& Plural)
 8
• Cattle, gentry, peasantry, poultry,
clergy, police, people, (Plural)

1. Cattles are not allowed to enter this

ground.(x)
2.Cattle are not allowed to enter this
ground.
 9
• Day, month, minute, mile etc. are singular
when clubbed with a number
• A/one/five/twelve + hundred/thousand
• Hundred/ thousand of for general idea of
how much/ how many
1 A six-minute wait…
2 A ten-second silence…
3 More than three thousand people…
4 There were thousands of…
 Prepositions
• Prepositions function as conjunction
words but they form a separate group
• They usually precede a noun or
pronoun
• They indicate direction, attachment,
detachment, continuity, position and
relation
 There are altogether 28 prepositions
1. About 2. Above
3. After 4. Against
5. At 6. Away
7. Below 8. Beside
9. By 10. Down
11. For 12. From
13. In 14. Into
15. Of 16. Off
17. On 18. Out
19. Over 20. Round
21. Since 22. Through
23. To 24. Up
25. Upon 26. With
27. Within 28. Without
 Some usage of Prepositions
1. At and In: At refers to a place and In to a-position within the place.
For eg. He is at Ashok Nagar in Kanpur.
2. At and On: At refers to nearness and On to close contact.
For eg. (a) He is at his table.
(b) The castle is on the river.
3. In and Into: In shows things at rest and into motion.
For eg. (i) They are sitting in the hail.
(ii) The frogs jumped into the well.
4. By and With: By is used with an agent and with an instrument.
For eg (i) This table was bought by Sita
(ii) Sita is writing with a ball pen.

To be contd.
5. For and From : For is used to indicate a period of time
and From is used to mean separation
For eg. (i) Mr. Shrivastava has been a teacher for fifteen years.
(ii) He has come from a long distance.
6. On and Onto: On indicates things at rest and Onto in motion.
For eg (i) There is a dog on the bench.
(ii) The cat jumped onto the roof of the house.
7. On and Over: On indicates contact and over above the object.
For eg. (i) There is a monkey on the tower.
(ii) A bird flew over the tower.
8. Out and Away: Away indicates distance and out does not so,
normally.
For eg. (i) He is out of home.
(It means he is not far away and may return after Some time.)
(ii) He is away from home.
(It shows distance and may not return soon.)
 •______ •______ •____
_ _ _

•_______ •___ •__________

 •____ •_____ •______ •______
_

•__________ •__________ •________

•________ •_____ •It ıs ……the box.

 •Where is the ball ?
•It is ……..the table

•Where is the plane ?

• The plane is ………the clouds.
 •POSTERS
•CLOCK •FLOWERS
•LAPTOP
•TELEVISION •BOOKS
•VASE
•GUITAR
•TABLE
•BED

•CHAIR
•CARPET
•Where is the television ?
•It is ___________ the chair.
•Where is the computer ?
•It is ________ the table.
•Where are the books ?
•They are ________ the table.
•Where are the flowers ?
•They are ________ the vase.
•Where is the vase ?
•It is ________ the table.
•Where is the guitar ?
•It is _________ the bed.
•Where is the ball ?
•It is _______ the chair.
 ARTICLES

A, AN & THE
 ARTICLES
• There are three Articles
• A and An are indefinite articles
• The is the definite article
• A occurs before the words that begin
with a consonant (sound)
• An before the words which begin with
a vowel (sound)
 Usage of “A/An”
• Before a singular class noun which is referred to for the
first time and which is not known to the reader/listener
beforehand:
(a) I saw a bird.
(b)He left this place an hour ago.
• Before a singular class noun to refer to the whole class:
(a) An owl can see in darkness.
(b) A camel can live without water for many days.
• Before a proper noun in figurative use
(a) He wanted to be an Einstein.
• In certain expressions of quantity and number:
• He ate a lot of sweet
• She spent a couple of days in Nainital.
 Usage of “The”
• Before a class noun which is already known to the
listener/reader.
For eg. I saw a snake. The snake was a cobra.
• Before a class noun to refer to the whole class. In such a
case the article a/an can also be used.
For eg. The elephant has a trunk.
• Before a proper noun in figurative sense:
For eg. Kalidas is the Shakespeare of India.
• Before surnames when more than one person is referred to:
For eg.The Smiths live next to my brother’s house.
• Before the nouns that are only one. (unique reference):
• The Sun, the Moon, the Sky, the Primeminister, the Milky way.
 Usage of “The”
• Before material noun in specific sense. In other words, the
definite ‘article the is used before material noun when it is
specified and excluded from the rest.
For eg. The water of the Ganga.
• Before names of rivers, lakes, seas, oceans, groups of islands,
mountain ranges, newspapers, ships and some classical books.
For eg. The Thames, The Nile. The Volga
• Before a noun which is followed by the preposition “of”.
For eg. The front of my house.
For eg. The pages of my diary.
• Before an adjective in superlative degree:
For eg. She is the brightest girl in the class.
• With comparative degree when there is increase or decrease in
activity:
• For eg. The more he received the more he wanted.
• For eg. The sooner you start the better for you.
(a) Little over.......... year ago Rama Rao went out of
work when................... gramophone company, of which
he was................. Malgudi agent, went out of
existence. He has put into that agency ....................
little money he had inherited, as security.
(b) There is ................... enemy beneath our
feel,................ enemy more deadly for his complete
impartiality. He recognize no national binderies,
political parties. Every one in ............... world is
threatened by him ................ enemy is ...................Earth
itself. When..........................earthquake comes,
....................... whole world trembles .................. power
of ......... 'quake is greater that anything man himself
can produce.
 Modal Auxiliareis and Modal verbs
There are 10 modal verbs in English:

will, would, must, can, could, may, might, shall, should, ought to

All of these can be negated, either grammatically (‘will not’) or

morphologically (won’t):

won't, wouldn’t, mustn’t, can’t, couldn’t, mayn’t (rare), mightn’t,

shan’t (marked),
shouldn’t, oughtn’t

Additionally, there are semi-modals (need, dare) and lexical

auxiliary forms which
express modality:
be able to, be about to, be going to, be bound to, be to, be
supposed to
• have to, have got to
• had better, would rather, would sooner
 Verb
Agreement
(a) When two singular nouns are joined by “and”, the
verb is always plural.
For eg. (i) John and I are planning to go to Darjeeling this
summer.
(b) But if two third person singular nouns refer to only
one concept or object, the verb will be singular.
For eg. (i) Bread and butter is my usual breakfast.
(c) The verb is singular, when the subject is a plural
noun referring to a totality.
For eg. (i) Ten miles is a short distance.
(d) When two nouns are joined by “as well as”, “with”
“together with” or “along with”, the verb agrees with
the number and person of the first noun.
For eg. (i) She as well as he is ready to help
me.
To be contd.
(e) “Many a” is a phrase and it means “many” but it
always takes a singular noun and a singular verb.
For eg. (i) Many a man was present in the meting (nowadays
many a” is not in regular use)
(f) “Each and “every” are distributive words. As a quantifiers
they take a singular noun and a singular pronoun and a
singular verb.
For eg. (i) Every boy went to his room.
(g) “Neither”, “either”, “Neither ... nor” and “either ... or”
join two nouns. When either/neither is the subject of a
verb, the verb is singular.
For eg. (i) Either of us is responsible for the accident.
(ii) Neither of the two is acceptable to me.
(f) When two nouns are joined by “either .... or” neither
.... nor”, the verb agrees with the nearest subject.
For eg. (iii) Neither he nor she was willing to pay
the fare of the taxi.
(iv) Either you or I am to face the music.
Tenses
• Tense is a subsystem of grammar to
indicate the time of an action or event
For eg. (a) She is knitting a sweater.
(b) They came back home.
(c) I will go home tomorrow.
• The first sentence indicates actions in the
present time
• The second sentence indicates actions in
the past time
• The third sentence indicates actions in the
future time
Simple Present Tense Simple Past Tense Simple Future Tense

I am I was I shall be

We are We were We will be

You are You were You will be

He, She, It is He, She, It was He, She, It will be

They are They were They will be

A. Fill in the blanks with appropriate forms of the verbs given at
the end of each sentence.
(a) I .................. home yesterday. (go)
(b) It .................. since morning. (rain)
(c) He .................. like her. (not like)
(d) We .................. one thousand rupees till today. (save)
(e) You .................. it inspite of my request. (not do)

B. (a) Why .................. you .................. in time? (not help)

(b) ..................you .................. him ? (know)
(c) How may times .................. you .................. this book? (read)
(d) .................. you .................. the stars in the sky (can, count)
(e) .................. they .................. me ? (cheat)
 Trouble shooting
• When he entered the classroom the lecture already was
beginning.
• Rama has returned back her book in the library.
• If Peter will work hard, he will get distinction in the exam.
• The mother was pray for her ailing child.
• The boy, together with his teachers and friends, are going
to the ground.
• One should respect your motherland.
• The earthquake has caused many damages.
• This job can not be entrusted to anyone except he.
• I shall visit to him, I will disclose the matter.
• She said me where do you live.
• Neither the party leader nor the party workers was able to
calm the distressed people.
• She is a real good singer.
• I will take care of your luggages.
• The summons have been served on the defaulters.
• My grandmother does not wear spectacle.
• The road is closed for repair.
• I found him sleeping in quarter.
• My circumstance does not allow me to leave home at this time.
• Where are you going to spend your summer vacations this year?
• A group of people are rushing into the hall.
• Children is plucking flowers in the garden.
• They purchased a new air conditioner next month.