Fundamentals of English Grammar for beginners

Farrukh Aziz · #1 Wednesday, July 17, 2013

I am going to post some very useful material on English Grammar that, I think, will go a long way towards beginners' improving and enhancing their grammar. The following stuff is particularly helpful for those that intend to learn the basics of English & its Grammar.

Important Note: Don't rely merely on these notes, rather consult them along with an authentic book esp. "High School English Grammar and Composition by Wren and Martin" on the relevant topic/area.
Moreover, the notes I myself have been making are in pending: I will try to post them here too as soon as possible.

I Hope my this initiative & little endeavour will prove helpful................

Regards
Farrukh Aziz

Farrukh Aziz · #2 Wednesday, July 17, 2013

The SENTENCE:
A group of words that gives or conveys complete sense or meaning is known as a sentence. Or
A combination of different words which expresses a meaningful idea is sentence.
It always begins with a Capital letter and ends with a Period/Full Stop,etc.
It can’t be begun with a numeral.

KINDS OF SENTENCES:
Sentences are of five kinds which are as follows:
1) Assertive Sentences: Those which make assertions and statements. Sentences making positive statements are Affirmative while those ones which show negative statements are Negative Sentences.
The Assertive sentences are also called “Declarative Sentences”.

2) Imperative Sentences: Such sort of sentences express commands,requests, advice,orders,etc.
For instance: Don’t waste your precious time. (Advice)
Please, give me a hand in lifting this burden.(Request)
Go out and leave me alone.(Order)

3) Interrogative Sentences: We use these sentences to ask questions.
For instance: Do you know me? What is your name?

4)Exclamatory Sentences: They’re used in order to express some sudden or strong feelings and emotions just like sorrow,joy,surprise,pity,etc.
For instance: What a pretty baby Noor Fatima is!
How gallant Hassaan and Surhan are!
Aha! I qualified my B.A with flying colours.

5) Optative Sentences: They express wish/desire or prayer.
For instance: May you live long!(Prayer)
Oh that I were a king!

Phrase or Fragment: A group of words which gives incomplete idea or sense.It doesn’t contain subject-verb combination.There’re noun,verb,prepositional phrases,etc. For instance: My new car. Will go. On the table.

The Clause: A group of words which doesn’t give complete meaning.Although it has subject and predicate yet it cannot state or convey a meaningful idea.

Principal Clause: It is a sentence comprising subject & predicate and has the ability to give complete sense.It’s also known as “Main Clause or Independent Clause”.

Subordinate Clause: It depends on the main clause to give meaning.It is also called “Dependent Clasuse.
Simple Sentence: It contains just one subject and predicate, i.e. Surhan plays cricket.

Compound Sentence: It consists of two or more main or independent clauses. (For instance: Surhan ate bananas and Noor Fatima ate Apples.) Here, two sentences are used which contain their subject and predicate. They can stand on their own and can be used separately as Surhan ate bananas.
Complex Sentence: It is consisted of one main clause and one or more dependent clauses.(For instance: When Farrukh bought Aas a doll, she became very happy.) This sentence comprises two parts namely dependent and independent clauses.The used dependent clause cannot stand on its own hence it is dependent on the independent clause.

The Subject:The part that names the person or thing we’re talking about. (For instance: Sarwaich is very intelligent.) Here,we’re talking about Sarwaich who is the subject of our talk.

The Predicate: It tells something about the subject. As in the above sentence “is very intelligent is predicate.

The Complement: It does the work of completion.It can be an adjective or a noun phrase.
1)Subjective Complement:Intransitive verbs require complement to describe their subject. Example:I am Farrukh. It is heavy.
2)Objective Complement: Transitive verbs require complement to describe their obj.
for example: Zardari willingly made Gillani PM of PK.

Adverbial: It can be an adverb or a prepositional phrase.It performs the function of an Adverb. For example: i) I definitely love her. ii)Yesterday,I went there. iii)It is on my foot.

The Simple Subject: The subject can either be of one word or more than one.It’s usually of several words .Among these words,there is a chief word which is popularly known as “Subject Word

Farrukh Aziz · #3 Wednesday, July 17, 2013

THE WORD CLASSES/Parts of Speech

Explanation: Words are different.It is upto our usage how we use them in sentences.They are divided into different kinds or classes according to their use,the work they do in a sentence.Therefore, they’re simply referred to as “Parts of Speech or Word-Classes”

There’re usually eight (8) parts of speech.However,some of the grammarians include articles in them.
As far as I am concerned and from the point of my experience and study of different authentic books of English Grammar,there must be eight word classes not nine; I’ll prefer eight to nine.

1) NOUN 2) PRONOUN 3) ADJECTIVE 4) VERB 5) ADVERB 6) PREPOSITION 7) LINKING WORD OR CONJUNCTION 8) INTERJECTION.

Farrukh Aziz · #4 Wednesday, July 17, 2013

The Noun:

Explanation: i) it is a naming word.
ii) it is the name of a person, place or thing.
iii) it is a word used as a name of a person,place or thing.

Function of a Noun: It can function as,
1) Subject 2) Object 3) After a preposition 4) Complement 5) Possession

Kinds of a Noun: There are five kinds of a Noun:

1.Common Noun: It is the name of any common person,place or thing, i.e. City,Book,etc.

2.Proper Noun: It is the name of some particular or specific person or place, i.e. Thul, Farrukh,etc.

3.Collective Noun: It is the name of a collection of persons or things which is called as one whole.
For instance: Army,Family,etc.

4.Material Noun: It’s the name of material,i.e. Milk,food,etc.

5.Abstract Noun: It’s the name of feelings,states,emotions,etc.We can only think of them are unable to see or touch. For example: Love,Hatred,childhood,Honesty,etc.

The names of arts and sciences are also abstract nouns. > Physics,Biology,Grammar,etc.

Countable & Uncountable Nouns:

Such nouns that can be counted are referred to as “Countable Nouns”. A pen,two pens,three pens,etc.

Such nouns that can not be counted are Non-count or uncountable nouns. Hair,Milk,Water,etc.

Concrete Nouns: Such nouns physically exist and can be seen or touched.They’re opposite to Abstract Nouns.

The Noun Gender:

It shows the difference of sex. There’re four genders which are as follows:

Masculine: It refers to a male person or animal.
Feminine: It refers to a female person or animal.
Common: It refers to either a male or a female. Student,Teacher,Doctor,etc
Neuter: It refers to neither a male nor a female. Pen,Book.etc.

The Noun Number: There are two numbers.

i.Singular: It shows just one person or thing.
ii.Plural: It shows more than one person or thing.

The Noun Case:

(1)Subjective Case: It’s also called Nominative Case. It is used as a subject Of a verb. Surhan is my sister.
(2) Objective Case: In this case, a noun is used as a object. Surhan beat Aas.
(3) Accusative Case: A noun comes ater a preposition. I gave a pen to Umar.
(4) Possessive Case: A noun shows possession,ownership or authorship.
(5) Vocative Case: When a noun is directly called out as, Noor,Come here.
(6) Causative Case: The case of indirect subject.
The Noun in Apposition: It implies that something that is near or it means “Placing Near”. When one noun follows another to describe it, the noun which follows is said to be in*apposition*to the noun which comes before it.Commas are used after both nouns. For example:
Noor Fatima, my sister, loves me very much.

Farrukh Aziz · #5 Wednesday, July 17, 2013

PRONOUN

Explanation: It means For-a-noun. It is used in place of a noun Or Pronoun is a word used instead of a noun.

Read the following passage:
“Surhan is my sister.Surhan is six.Surhan studies at Surhan Public School.Surhan is a very intelligent student.Surhan also goes to mosque to recite Holy Quran.” Here the word,Surhan,is coming again and again and the repetition of the word seems very odd.The revelant pronoun,She,will be suitable in place of Surhan.

Kinds of a Pronoun:
There are seven kinds.

(1) Personal Pronoun: It stands for the three persons.
a) First Person: The person speaking: I & We.
b) Second Person: The person spoken to: You.
c) Third Person: The person spoken of: He,She,It,They,etc
Note:2nd+3rd +1st Person+ Plural verb: You,he and I are/have,etc.
(1) Subjective Case: I We You He She It They Thou
(2) Objective Case: me us you him her it them thee
(3) Possessive Case: mine ours yours his hers its theirs thine

My,Our,your,etc aren’t pronouns,but they are Possessive Adjectives.They are also called Pronominal Adjectives.

(2) Compound Personal Pronouns: They are formed by adding –self.
a)Reflexive Pronoun: When an acton done by the subject turns back reflects upon the subject is Reflexive pronoun. In short, We can say when the subject and the object are the same persons, is known as “Reflexive Pronoun”, as, He cut herself.
b)Emphatic Pronoun: It is used for the purpose of emphasis.as, I myself saw Qari Fasihuddin.

(3) Demonstrative Pronoun: It is used to point out the subject. This-That-These-Those.

(4) Indefinite Pronoun: It refers to persons & things in general but doesn’t in particular.
Somebody-Something-Everybody someone,etc.

(5) Relative Pronoun: It refers to some nouns going before and it also performs the work of joining two sentences together. i. Which (for Things only)
ii. Who (for People only)
iii. That (for both)

(6) Distributive Pronoun: It refers to persons and things one at a time that is why it is always singular and followed by a singular verb. i. Each of ii. Either of iii. Neither of

(7) Interrogative Pronoun: It can be used to ask questions. Who-What-Which
Type of Questions There are two types:
Yes/No Questions: They are answered by Yes or No. Do you go to school?
Wh-word or Information Questions: They’re asked by using Wh-words. For example: Where does Noor live? What is your name?

Difference b/w Each other & Themselves

1. Surhan and Fatima are laughing at each other.It means that Surhan is laughing at Fatima & Fatima at Surhan.
2.Surhan and Fatima are laughing at themselves. It means that Surhan is laughing at herself while Fatima is laughing at herself.

Farrukh Aziz · #6 Wednesday, July 17, 2013

Be familiar with these terms too!!!

Intensive Pronouns

"Intensive" means "giving force or emphasis."

An intensive pronoun is a pronoun used for emphasis. In other words, Intensive pronouns emphasis the subject of the sentence. They are written exactly the same way as the reflexive nouns, but their function is different.

I myself baked the cake.
The queen herself recommended this restaurant.
Have you yourself been there?
The project itself wasn't difficult.
We will do it ourselves.

Reciprocal Pronouns

Reciprocal means that two people or groups do the same thing to each other. They treat each other in the same way.

For example, Joe loves Kate, and Kate loves Joe. So we can say, "Kate and Joe love each other."

Another example, "Mike helps Lucy, and Lucy helps Mike. So we can say "Mike and Lucy help each other."

There are two reciprocal pronouns in English:
Each other and one another.

The cat and the dog like each other.
The two politicians hate each other.
We must stop fighting one another.
They gave each other Christmas presents.
They can't hear one another.

Farrukh Aziz · #7 Wednesday, July 17, 2013

The Adjective

An adjective is a word that describes a person or thing.

Examples:
Big, pretty, expensive, green, round, French, loud, quick, fat.

Example sentences:
He has big blue eyes.
The new car broke down.
The old lady was talking in a quiet voice.

The word "adjective" comes from the Latin word jacere, which means "to throw."

Different Types of adjectives
Adjectives can be divided into several types:

Opinion
Nice, pretty, stupid, original, expensive, etc.

Size
Big, small, large, tiny, enormous, little, etc.

Age
Young, old, new, ancient, antique, etc.

Shape
Round, square, flat, straight, etc.

Color
Blue, red, white, black, dark, bright, yellowish, etc.

Origin
Italian, British, Mexican, western, southern, etc.

Material
Metal, wooden, plastic, golden, etc.

Determiners

A determiner is a word that comes before a noun to show which person or thing you are talking about.

Examples:
A, an, the, my, your, some, any, several, enough, any.

Example sentences:
I have a red hat.
Please give me my bag.
Some people decided to leave.
She doesn't want any money.
They watched several movies.

Some people consider determiners to be a type of adjective. What's special about determiners is that you usually can use only one determiner at a time.

Incorrect: He has the my ticket.
Correct: He has my ticket / He has the ticket.

Nouns that act like adjectives

Sometimes nouns function as adjectives. In other words, they come before another noun and describe it.

Examples:
Sports car
Orange juice
Television station
Coffee shop
Book cover

The order of adjectives

A noun can have several adjectives describing it.

Examples:
"She bought a new red Italian table."
"He is a great, successful father."

There are certain rules on the correct order of those adjectives.

This is the order you should generally follow:

Determiner -> opinion -> size -> age -> shape -> color
-> origin -> material -> a word describing purpose/function

Examples:
A nice little coffee shop
(Determiner -> opinion -> size -> purpose/function word)

My huge new swimming pool
(Determiner -> size -> age -> purpose/function word)

Several Chinese plastic cups
(Determiner -> origin -> material)

The round yellow ball
(Determiner -> shape -> color)

Adjectives from the same type:
When you have several adjectives from the same type, you should separate them with commas or a conjunction (and, but).

Examples:
A cheap, good meal
A happy, smart man
The beautiful, original painting
My nice and sweet cat
An expensive but important trip

Comparative adjectives

"Comparative" means "comparing something to something else."

Comparative adjective show us which thing is better, worse, stronger, weaker, and so forth.

Examples:
Better, worse, bigger, smaller, nicer, fatter, thiner, more dangerous.

Example sentences:
She is a better student than her brothers.
The test was worse than I've expected.
You are stronger than me.
He seems healthier.
You are more beautiful than her.

Superlative adjectives

"Superlative" means "of the highest degree."

Superlative adjectives show us which thing is the best, the strongest, and so forth.

Examples:
Best, worst, strongest, smallest, cheapest, most expensive.

Example sentences:
You are my best friend.
This is the worst day of my life.
Even the smallest donation helps.
This is the most expensive restaurant I've ever heard of.

Farrukh Aziz · #8 Wednesday, July 17, 2013

Types of Adjectives

Adjectives are words that are used to describe (what kind of?) nouns and pronouns and to quantify (how much of?) and identify (which one?) them. In a nutshell, Adjectives are what define nouns and give them characteristics to differentiate them from other nouns. For example:

He was wearing a blue shirt.

Here ‘blue’ is an adjective as it is describing the noun ‘shirt’ by answering the question ‘what kind of shirt?’

There are seven rooms in the house.

Here ‘Seven’ is also an adjective as it’s telling the quantity/the number of the noun ‘rooms’, answering the question ‘how many rooms?’.

There are different types of adjectives based upon their effect on a noun and what do they tell about the noun. There are five categories of adjectives

1. Adjectives of Quality - These adjectives are used to describe the nature of a noun. They give an idea about the characteristics of the noun by answering the question ‘what kind’.

o Honest, Kind, Large, Bulky, Beautiful, Ugly etc.

New Delhi is a large city with many historical monuments.

Sheila is a beautiful woman.

2. Adjectives of Quantity - These adjectives help to show the amount or the approximate amount of the noun or pronoun. These adjectives do not provide exact numbers; rather they tell us the amount of the noun in relative or whole terms.

o All, Half, Many, Few, Little, No, Enough, Great etc.

They have finished most of the rice.

Many people came to visit the fair.

3. Adjectives of Number - These adjectives are used to show the number of nouns and their place in an order. There are three different sections within adjectives of number; they are -

o Definite Numeral Adjective - Those which clearly denote an exact number of nouns or the order of the noun.

One, Two, Twenty, Thirty-Three etc. also known as Cardinals.

First, Second, Third, Seventh etc. also known as Ordinals.

o Indefinite Numeral Adjective - Those adjectives that do not give an exact numerical amount but just give a general idea of the amount.

Some, Many, Few, Any, Several, All etc.

E.g.: There were many people present at the meeting.

o Distributive Numeral Adjective -Those adjectives that are used to refer to individual nouns within the whole amount.

Either, Neither, Each, Another, Other etc.

Taxes have to be paid by every employed citizen.

4. Demonstrative Adjectives - These adjectives are used to point out or indicate a particular noun or pronoun using the adjectives - This, That, These and Those.

o That bag belongs to Neil.

o Try using this paintbrush in art class.

o I really like those shoes.

o These flowers are lovely.

5. Interrogative Adjectives - These adjectives are used to ask questions about nouns or in relation to nouns, they are - Where, What, Which and Whose.

o Where did he say he was going?

o What assignment did I miss out on?

o Which is your favorite author?

o Whose pen is this?

In some instances, we find that we need to use more than one adjective to describe a noun in a satisfactory manner. In these cases, commas are used to separate the adjectives but some series of adjectives do not require a comma. Therefore, we need to know the difference between Coordinate and Non-coordinate Adjectives -

Coordinate Adjectives - Are those words which can be re-arranged in the series easily and are still grammatically sound. This kind of series makes use of commas. This series can also insert ‘and’ between them and still be correct.

She was a kind, generous, loving human being.

She was a generous, loving, kind human being.

She was a loving, kind and generous human being.

Here we can see that all three sentences are grammatically correct. In this case, the adjectives only need to be separated by commas.

Non-coordinate Adjectives - These are those adjectives which cannot be rearranged in the series. These do not use commas to separate the adjectives. Also, this kind of series do not make sense if we insert ‘and’ between them.

She has two energetic playful dogs.

She has playful two energetic dogs.

She has energetic and playful and two dogs.

Here we see that only the first sentence makes sense and is grammatically correct. The second and third ones are incorrect. Hence, the sentence uses non-coordinate adjectives and does not need commas.

There are certain rules regarding the placement of different kinds of adjectives in a sentence. The general order followed is -

1. Determiners – These are the various articles (the, a, an), demonstratives (this, that, these, those), possessives (my, mine, your, yours, -‘s), quantifiers (all, many etc.), numerals (one, twenty, thirty-seven etc.) and distributives (each, every, neither, either)

2. Observations/Quantity and Opinion - Then come the adjectives that give a quantity (also known as post-determiners) and subjective opinion to the noun, telling ‘how much’ and ‘how was’ the noun.

Few, Most, One, Three/ Beautiful, Ugly, Difficult etc.

The beautiful house.

3. Size - The position after Observations is for the adjectives that tell about the size of the noun, they can be used for an object as well as living thing.

Huge, Little, Bulky, Thin, Vast, Tiny, Lean etc

The beautiful little house.

4. Age -Then is the turn of the Adjectives that tell about the age of a noun either by itself or in relation to another noun.

Young, Old, Teenage, Mature, Recent, Bygone etc.

The beautiful little old house.

5. Shape - Next are the adjectives that tell about the shape or appearance of the noun.

Circular, Crooked, Triangular, Oval, Wavy, Straights etc.

The beautiful little old square house.

6. Colour - After that are the adjectives that tell the shade and hue of a noun.

Pastel, Red, Blue, Metallic, Colourless, Translucent etc.

The beautiful square blue coloured house.

7. Origin - Next are the adjectives that show the different geographical locations associated with a noun.

Southern, Northern, Lunar, Mexican, French etc.

The beautiful blue coloured Mexican house.

8. Material - Next are the adjectives that talk about the raw material or texture of the objects or the behaviour of the living nouns.

Wooden, Plastic, Steely, Metallic, Cottony etc.

The beautiful Mexican limestone house.

9. Qualifier – Lastly, the qualifier or the grammatical modifier comes, which is an additional word or phrase provided to change the meaning of the noun in a sentence.

Pink + eye, Royal + treatment, Hot + fudge etc.

The beautiful Mexican limestone doll house.

Ahmedmalik · #9 Wednesday, July 17, 2013

yar good effort but level itna bhi low nahe its more help full if you give Rules to us these are only defintions.

Farrukh Aziz · #10 Wednesday, July 17, 2013

Yea! But I reckon what you are talking about are the "Rules for sentences Correction" I will also try to add its portion too.

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