NOUN Definition: A noun is a word used to refer to people, animals, objects, substances, states, events and feelings.

Nouns can be a subject or an object of a verb, can be modified by an adjective and can take an article or determiner. For example:

y y y y

Table Pencil The dog A white house

Nouns also denote abstract and intangible concepts. For example:

y y y y

birth happiness evolution technology, etc.

Noun Plurals We are going to explain some rules that will help you to form the plural forms of the nouns. The general rule is to add "-s" to the noun in singular. For exaample:

y y y

Book - Books House - Houses Chair - Chairs

When the singular noun ends in: -sh, -ch, -s, -ss, -x, -o we form their plural form by adding "-es". For exaample:

y y y y y

sandwich - sandwiches brush - brushes bus - buses box - boxes potato - potatoes

When the singular noun ends in "y", we change the "y" for "i" and then add "-es" to form the plural form. But do not change the "y" for "ies" to form the plural when the singular noun ends in "y" preceded by a vowel. For exaample:

y y y

nappy - nappies day - days toy - toys

However, there are many Irregular Nouns which do not form the plural in this way:

For exaample:

y y y

Woman - Women Child - Children Sheep - Sheep

Nouns may take an " 's " ("apostrophe s") or "Genitive marker" to indicate ossession. If the noun already has an -s ending to mark the plural, then the genitive marker appears only as an apostrophe after the plural form. For example:

y y y y

my girlfriend's brother John's house The Browns' house The boys' pens

The genitive marker should not be confused with the " 's " form of contracted verbs, as in John's a good student = John is a good student. Noun Gender Many common nouns, like "engineer" or "teacher", can refer to men or women. Once, many English nouns would change form depending on their gender. For example: A man was called an "author" while a woman was called an "authoress". For example:

y y y

David Garrick was a very prominent eighteenth-century actor. Sarah Siddons was at the height of her career as an actress in the 1780s. The manager was trying to write a want ad, but he couldn't decide whether he was advertising for a "waiter" or a "waitress"

Types of Nouns

y y y y y y

Proper nouns are the names of specific things, people, or places, such as Jhon, France. They usually begin with a capital letter. Common nouns are general names such as person, mansion, and book. They can be either concrete or abstract. Concrete nouns refer to things which you can sense such as clock and telephone. Abstract nouns refer to ideas or qualities such as liberty and truth. Countable nouns refer to things which can be counted (can be singular or plural) Uncountable nouns refer to some groups of countable nouns, substances, feelings and types of activity (can only be singular)

PRONOUN
Definition: A pronoun usually refers to something already mentioned in a sentence or piece of text. A pronoun is a word that substitutes a noun or noun phrase used to prevent repetition of the noun to which they refer. One of the most common pronouns is it. Rule for Pronouns A pronoun must agree with the noun it refer. Therefore, if the noun is singular, therefore the pronoun must be singular; if the noun is plural, use a plural pronoun; if the noun is feminine, use a feminine pronoun, and so on.

For example:

y y

The train was late, it had been delayed. The trains were late, they had been delayed.

Types of pronouns English Pronouns are divided into sub-categories. These are Demonstrative, Personal, Reflexive, Possessive, Interrogative, Negative, Reciprocal, Relative and Quantifier Type Personal Pronoun Reflexive Pronoun Demonstrative Pronoun Relative pronoun Interrogative Pronoun Possessive Pronoun Negative Pronoun Reciprocal pronoun Express an interchangeable or mutual action or relationship. About Takes the place of a specific or named person or thing. Adds information by pointing back to a noun or another pronoun. Points out a specific person, place, or thing. Begins a subordinate clause and relates the clause to a word in the main clause. Is used to ask a question. Used to substitute a noun and to show possession or ownership. Example I, you, he, she, etc.. myself, yourself, etc.. this, that, these, those who, whose, which, that, etc.. who, what, where, etc.. mine, yours, his, etc.. nothing, no, nobody, etc.. each other, one another

VERB
Definition: Verbs are a class of words used to show the performance of an action (do, throw, run), existence (be), possession (have), or state (know, love) of a subject. To put it simply a verb shows what something or someone does. For example:

Paul rides a bicycle. * Here, the verb rides certainly denotes an action which Paul performs - the action of riding a bicycle. We buy some books to learn English verbs. * In this example, the action word is "to buy". It tells us that the subject "we", that is the person who performs the action of the verb is "buying some books".

The verb tense shows the time of the action or state. Aspect shows whether the action or state is completed or not. Voice is used to show relationships between the action and the people affected by it. Mood shows the attitude of the speaker about the verb, whether it is a declaration or an order. Verbs can be affected by person and number to show agreement with the subject. Most statements in speech and writing have a main verb. These verbs are expressed in "tenses" which place everything in a point in time. Verbs are conjugated (inflected) to reflect how they are used. There are two general areas in which conjugation occurs; for person and for tense.

Conjugation for tense Conjugation for tense is carried out on all verbs. All conjugations start with the infinitive form of the verb. The infinitive is simply the to form of the verb For example, to begin. The present participle form (the -ing form), is formed by adding ing to the bare infinitive. For example, to begin - beginning. There are two other forms that the verb can take, depending on the tense type and time, the simple past form and the past participle. The form of the verb or its tense can tell when events take place. For example, the verb kiss:

Present Simple kiss/kisses Present Perfect has/have kissed Present Continuous(Progressive) is/am/are kissing Present Perfect Continuous (Progressive) has/have been kissing

Past Simple kissed Past Perfect had kissed Past Continuous (Progressive) was kissing Past Perfect Continuous (Progressive) had been kissing

Future Simple will kiss Future Perfect will have kissed Future Continuous (Progressive) will be kissing Future Perfect Continuous (Progressive) will have been kissing

Conjugation for person Conjugation for person occurs when the verb changes form, depending on whether it is governed by a first, second, or third person subject. This gives three conjugations for any verb depending on who is acting as the subject of the verb. For example: we have I begin, you begin , and he begins. Note that only the third conjunction really shows a difference. In English, we distinguish between regular and irregular verbs. Regular verbs are those ones which form their past simple and past participle just by adding "-ed" to the base of the verb. The rest are irregular. Examples:

y y y y

Dracula bites his victims on the neck. In early October, Giselle will plant twenty tulip bulbs. She travels to work by train. We walked five miles to a garage.

Prepositions

Definition: Prepositions are a class of words that indicate relationships between nouns, pronouns and other words in a sentence. Most often they come before a noun. They never change their form, regardless of the case, gender etc. of the word they are referring to. Some common prepositions are: about above

by despite

outside over

across after against along among around at before behind below beneath beside between beyond but

down during except for from in inside into like near of off on onto out

past since through throughout till to toward under underneath until up upon with within without.

Prepositions typically come before a noun: For example:

y y y y y y

after class at home before Tuesday in London on fire with pleasure

A preposition usually indicates the temporal, spatial or logical relationship of its object to the rest of the sentence. For example:

y y y

The book is on the table. The book is beside the table. She read the book during class.

In each of the preceding sentences, a preposition locates the noun "book" in space or in time. Prepositions are classified as simple or compound. Simple prepositions Simple prepositions are single word prepositions. These are all showed above. For example:

The book is on the table.

Compound prepositions Compound prepositions are more than one word. in between and because of are prepositions made up of two words - in front of, on behalf of are prepositions made up of three words. For example:

y y

The book is in between War and Peace and The Lord of the Rings. The book is in front of the clock.

Examples:

y y y

The children climbed the mountain without fear. There was rejoicing throughout the land when the government was defeated. The spider crawled slowly along the banister.

The following table contains rules for some of the most frequently used prepositions in English: Prepositions of Time: English Usage Example

on

y y y y y

days of the week months / seasons time of day year after a certain period of time (when?) for night for weekend a certain point of time (when?) from a certain point of time (past till now) over a certain period of time (past till now) a certain time in the past earlier than a certain point of time telling the time telling the time marking the beginning and end of a period of time

on Monday

in

y y y y

in in in in

August / in winter the morning 2006 an hour

at

y y y

y y y

at night at the weekend at half past nine

since

since 1980

for

for 2 years

ago

y y

2 years ago

before

before 2004

y y y

to past to / till / until till / until

y y y

y y

ten to six (5:50) ten past six (6:10)

from Monday to/till Friday

in the sense of how long

He is on holiday until Friday.

English

Usage something is going to last

Example

by

y y

in the sense of at the latest up to a certain time

y y

I will be back by 6 oclock. By 11 o'clock, I had read five pages.

Prepositions of Place: English Usage Example

y y
in

y y y y

room, building, street, town, country book, paper etc. car, taxi picture, world meaning next to, by an object for table for events place where you are to do something typical (watch a film, study, work) attached for a place with a river being on a surface for a certain side (left, right) for a floor in a house for public transport for television, radio left or right of somebody or something on the ground, lower than (or covered by) something else lower than something else but above ground covered by something else meaning more than getting to the other side (also across) overcoming an obstacle

y y y y

in in in in

the the the the

kitchen, in London book car, in a taxi picture, in the world

at

y y y

y y y y

at the door, at the station at the table at a concert, at the party at the cinema, at school, at work

on

y y y y y y y y

y y y y y y y y

the picture on the wall London lies on the Thames. on the table on the left on the first floor on the bus, on a plane on TV, on the radio Jane is standing by / next to / beside the car.

by, next to, beside

under

the bag is under the table

below

the fish are below the surface

over

y y y y

y y y y

put a jacket over your shirt over 16 years of age walk over the bridge climb over the wall

English

Usage

Example

above

higher than something else, but not directly over it getting to the other side (also over) getting to the other side something with limits on top, bottom and the sides movement to person or building movement to a place or country for bed

a path above the lake

y y
across

y y

y y

walk across the bridge swim across the lake

through

drive through the tunnel

y y
to

y y

y y y

go to the cinema go to London / Ireland go to bed

into

enter a room / a building

go into the kitchen / the house

y y
towards

movement in the direction of something (but not directly to it) movement to the top of something in the sense of where from

go 5 steps towards the house

onto

jump onto the table

from

a flower from the garden

ARTICLE

Definition: English has two types of articles: definite (the) and indefinite (a, an.) The use of these articles depends mainly on whether you are referring to any member of a group, or to a specific member of a group: Indefinite articles - a and an (determiners) A and an are the indefinite articles. They refer to something not specifically known to the person you are communicating with. A and an are used before nouns that introduce something or someone you have not mentioned before: Examples:

y y

I ate an apple this morning I bought a pet for my son

You use a when the noun you are referring to begins with a consonant (b, c, d, f, g, h, j, k, l, m, n, p, q, r, s, t, v, w, x, y or z), for example, "a city" and "a factory You use an when the noun you are referring to begins with a vowel (a, e, i, o, u) Pronunciation changes this rule: If the next word begins with a consonant sound when we say it, for example, "university" then we use a. If the next word begins with a vowel sound when we say it, for example "hour" then we use an. Examples:

y y

We say "university" with a "y" sound at the beginning as though it were spelt "youniversity". So, "a university" is correct. We say "hour" with a silent h as though it were spelt "our". So, "an hour" is correct.

Definite Article - the (determiners) You use the when you know that the listener knows or can work out what particular person/thing you are talking about. Example:

y y

The dog (that specific dog) The apple (that specific apple)

You should also use the when you have already mentioned the thing you are talking about. Example:

She's got two children; a girl and a boy. The girl's eight and the boy's fourteen.

We use the to talk about geographical points on the globe. Example:

the Middle East, the West

We use the to talk about rivers, oceans and seas Example:

the Nile, the Pacific

We also use the before certain nouns when we know there is only one of a particular thing. Example:

the rain, the sun, the wind

However if you want to describe a particular instance of these you should use a/an. Example:

"I could hear the wind." / "There's a cold wind blowing."