Wednesday, January 21, 2009

Exercise on Noun

Characteristics of Nouns

Many nouns can be recognised by their endings. Typical noun endings include:

-er/-or actor, painter, plumber, writer
-ism egotism, magnetism
-ist artist, journalist, scientist
-ment arrangement, development, establishment, government
-tion foundation, organisation, recognition, supposition

Most nouns have distinctive SINGULAR and PLURAL forms. The plural of regular nouns is formed by adding -s to the singular:

Singular
Plural
car cars
dog dogs
house houses

However, there are many irregular nouns which do not form the plural in this way:

Singular
Plural
man men
child children
sheep sheep


Exercise

Instructions

Select the answer that contains the proper noun(s).

Questions
1. Is John coming to the dance?
  • John
  • dance
  • John, dance
2. Joan invited Marie and Don to the zoo.
  • Marie
  • Joan, Marie, Don
  • Joan, Marie, Don, zoo
3. Carol and I went to the beach.
  • Carol
  • I
  • Carol, I
4. Buffalo sponsored this free concert.
  • Buffalo
  • concert
  • The city, concert
5. Maria doesn't like this location.
  • location
  • Maria
  • like
6. Rose, Jeff, and I went to see the new reptile house.
  • Rose, Jeff, I
  • Rose, Jeff, I, reptile house
  • Rose, Jeff
7. Lisa does not like certain bands.
  • Lisa, bands
  • certain bands
  • Lisa
8. Professor Smith teaches John English.
  • professors, semester, college
  • Professor Smith, John, English
  • John's, college, professors
9. Jane and her friends are going to the beach.
  • Jane
  • friends
  • Jane, friends, beach
10. The car that was driven by Tonja was stolen last week.
  • week
  • car
  • Tonja


The Noun: Kinds of Noun



A noun is a word used as the name of a person, place or thing.

Example:
Aket was a wise king.
The noun Aket refers to a particular king, but the noun king might be applied to any other king as well as to Aset. Aset is a called a Proper Noun and king a Common Noun.

Similarly:-
Harry is a Proper Noun, while boy is a Common Noun.
England is a Proper Noun, while country is a Common Noun.

Common Noun - A Common Noun is a name given in common to every person or thing of the same class or kind.
Pronoun Noun - A Pronoun Noun is the name of some particular person or place.

Note:-
1. Proper Nouns are always written with a capital letter at the beginning.
2. Proper Nouns are sometimes used as Common Nouns.

Example:
1. He was the Lukman of his age.
2. Lee is often called the Shakespeare of Japan.

Common Noun are of two types:
1. Collective Noun
2. Abstract Noun

Collective Noun - A Collective Noun is the name of a number of persons or things taken together and spoken of as one whole.
Example: Crowd, mob, team, herd, army, fleet, jury, family, nation.

A fleet = a collection of ships.
An army = a collection of soldiers.
A crowd = a collection of people.

Examples of Collective Noun:
1. The police dispersed the crowd.
2. The French army was defeated at Waterloo.
3. Th jury found the prisoner guilty.

Abstract Noun - An Abstract Noun is usually the name of a quality, action or state considered apart from the object to which it belongs. An abstract noun is a type of noun that refers to something a person cannot physically interact with. A noun is a person, place or thing.

Abstract means to exist apart from concrete existence. A noun that is abstract is an aspect, concept, idea, experience, state of being, trait, quality, feeling, or other entity that cannot be experienced with the five senses.

Abstract nouns is something that can't be sensed by our five senses (smell, touth, hear, see or taste).

Abstract nouns are nouns that:

  • Abstract nouns are any nouns that can't be touched, tasted, seen, heard or smelt or felt.

  • Abstract nouns usually represent feeling, ideas and qualities.

  • Abstract nouns can be singular nouns and plural nouns.

  • Abstract nouns can be countable or uncountable.


Quality- Goodness, kindness, hardness, brightness, darkness, wisdom, honesty, bravery.
Action- Laughter, theft, movement, judgement, hatred.
State- Childhood, youth, boyhood, slavery, sleep, sickness, death, poverty.

Common Abstract Nouns

Emotions/Feelings

  • Love
  • Hate
  • Anger
  • Peace
  • Pride
  • Sympathy

States/Attributes

  • Bravery
  • Loyalty
  • Honesty
  • Integrity
  • Compassion
  • Charity
  • Success
  • Courage
  • Deceit
  • Skill
  • Beauty
  • Brilliance
  • Pain
  • Misery

Ideas/Concepts/Ideals

  • Beliefs
  • Dreams
  • Justice
  • Truth
  • Faith
  • Liberty
  • Knowledge
  • Thought
  • Information
  • Culture
  • Trust
  • Dedication

Movements/Events

  • Progress
  • Education
  • Hospitality
  • Leisure
  • Trouble
  • Friendships
  • Relaxation
Examples:-
  1. I love my husband. [In this sentence, the word love expresses an action and is therefore acting as a verb.]
  2. Send them my love. [In this sentence, the word love functions as an abstract noun because it is a thing that exists beyond the five senses.]
Exercise:
Find out the Nouns(Common, Proper, Collective, Abstract) in the following sentences:-
1. The crowd was very big.
2. We all love honesty.
3. The elephant has great strength.
4. Cleanliness is next to godliness.
5. The class is studying grammar.
6. A committee of five was appointed.
7. The soldiers were rewarded for their bravery.
8. He gave me a bunch of grapes.
9. Our team is better than theirs.
10. Wisdom is better than strength.

Some Examples

As words are divided into different classes according to the work they do in sentences, it is clear that we cannot say to which part of speech a word belongs.

They arrived soon after. (Adverb)
They arrived after us. (Preposition)
They arrived after we had left. (Conjunction)

Today's Exercise:-
Name the part of speech in the following sentences

1. Still waters run deep.
2. He still lives in that house.
3. The up train is late.
4. He told us all about the battle.
5. Let us move on.
6. Suddenly one of the wheels came off.
7. Sit down and rest a while.
8. It weighs about a pound.
9. He was only a yard off me.
10. The after effects of the drug are bad.

Saturday, January 17, 2009

PARTS OF SPEECH



Words are divided into different kinds of classes, called Parts of Speech.

The parts of speech are:-
1. Noun.
2. Adjective.
3. Pronoun.
4. Verb.
5. Adverb.
6. Preposition.
7. Conjunction.
8. Interjection.

Noun:-
A Noun is a word used as the name of a person, place or thing.
Example:
1. The rose smells sweet.
2. The sun shines bright.
3. His courage won him honour.

Thing includes all objects that we can see, hear, taste, touch or smell.

Adjective:-
An Adjective is a word used to add something to the meaning of a noun.
Example:
1. He is a brave boy.
2. There are twenty boys in this class.

Pronoun:-
A Pronoun is a word used instead of a noun.
Example:
1. John is absent, because he is ill.
2. The books are where you left them.

Verb:-
A Verb is a word used to say something about some person, place or thing.
Example:
1. The girl wrote a letter to her cousin.
2. Shanghai is a big city.
3. Iron and copper are useful metals.

Adverb:-
An Adverb is a word used to add something to the meaning of a verb, an adjective, or another adverb.
Example:
1. He worked the sum quickly.
2. This flower is very beautiful.
3. She pronounced the word quite correctly.

Preposition:-
A Preposition is a word used with a noun or a pronoun to show how the person or thing denoted by the noun or pronoun stands in relation to something else.
Example:
1. There is a cow in the garden.
2. The girl is fond of music.
3. A fair little girl sat under a tree.

Conjunction:-
A Conjunction is a word used to join words or sentences.
Example:
1. Wang and John are cousins.
2. Two and two make four.
3. I ran fast, but missed the train.

Interjection:-
An Interjection is a word which expresses some sudden feeling.
Example:
1. Hurrah! we have won the game.
2. Alas! he is dead.

Friday, January 16, 2009

The Phrase and the Clause



Consider the words "in a corner". It makes sense, but not complete sense. Such a group of words, which makes sense, but not complete sense, is called a Phrase.

Examples of Phrase:-

1. The sun rises in the east.
2. Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall.
3. Show me how to do it.

Consider the following sentences.
1. He has a chain of gold.
2. He has a chain which is made of gold.

The first sentence has a Phrase.
The second sentence contains a Subject (which) and a Predicate (is made of gold).

Such a group of words which forms part of a sentence, and contains a Subject and a Predicate, is called a Clause.

Examples of Clause:-
1. People who pay their debts are trusted.
2. We cannot start while it is raining.
3. I think that you have made a mistake.

Saturday, January 10, 2009

Test your English Skills




















SENTENCE- A group of words which make complete sense is called a sentence.
Examples:-

1. I bought three dozen oranges.
2. He is an honest man.
3. The hand has five fingers.
4. He has little intelligence.
5. He has lost all his wealth.


When we make a sentence-
1. We name some person or thing.
2. We say something about that person or thing.

Every sentence has two parts-
1. The part which names the person or thing. This is called the Subject of the sentence.
2. The part which tells something about the Subject. This is called the Predicate of the sentence.
3. The Subject of a sentence usually comes before the Predicate.

Example:- Sweet are the uses of adversity.

TEST
Today's Exercise:-
In the following sentences separate the Subject and the Predicate.

1. The boy stood on the burning deck.
2. Nature is the best physician.
3. He has a good memory.
4. I shot an arrow into the air.
5. All roads lead to London.
6. The singing of the birds delights us.



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