Learn English Grammar and Vocabulary
Nouns
Nouns in Apposition
Mar 14th
Read the following sentence. Alice, my sister, lives abroad. Here the nouns Alice and my sister refer to the same person. The noun my sister follows the noun Alice to simply explain which Alice we are talking about. When one noun follows another to describe it, the noun which follows is said to be in [...]
Uses of the Possessive Case
Mar 12th
The possessive case is now chiefly used with nouns denoting living things. The boy’s mother The baby’s toys With lifeless objects we form the possessive case by using a structure with of. The leg of a table (NOT The table’s leg) The roof of the house (NOT The house’s roof) Note that the possessive case [...]
Formation of the Possessive Case
Mar 12th
When the noun is singular, the possessive case is formed by adding ’s to it. John’s umbrella Peter’s father King’s crown Note that only the apostrophe (’) is added to some nouns which have too many hissing sounds. Examples are: Moses’ law For goodness’ sake For Jesus’ sake When the noun is plural in number [...]
Possessive Case
Mar 11th
Read the sentence given below: This is John’s umbrella. John’s umbrella = an umbrella that belongs to John Here the form of the noun John is changed to John’s to ownership or possession. The noun John’s is therefore said to be in the possessive or genitive case. A noun in the possessive case answers the [...]
Nominative Case and Objective Case
Mar 10th
Read the sentence given below: John killed the spider. Here the noun John is the subject. It is the answer to the question, ‘Who killed the spider?’ The group of words ‘killed the spider’ is the predicate. The predicate contains the verb killed. What/whom did John kill? – The spider. Spider is the object which [...]
Formation of Plural Nouns Part II
Mar 10th
Compound nouns form their plurals by adding –s to the principal word. Examples are given below: Commander-in-chief (singular), commanders-in-chief (plural) Son-in-law, sons-in-law Daughter-in-law, daughters-in-law Stepson, stepsons Maidservant, maidservants Passer-by, passers-by Notes The plural of manservant is menservants and not manservants or menservant. Spoonful and handful are regarded as one word and their plural forms are [...]
Nouns with Different Meanings in the Singular and the Plural
Mar 8th
Some nouns have different meanings in the singular and the plural. Examples are given below: Air – atmosphere Airs – affected manners Good – beneficial, suitable, skilled, kin, virtuous etc. Goods – merchandise, portable property Respect – state of being admired, esteem Respects – compliments, regards Physic – medicine Physics – natural science Iron – [...]
Nouns with Identical Singular and Plural Forms
Mar 8th
Some nouns have identical singular and plural forms. Examples are: sheep, swine, deer, cod, trout, salmon, aircraft, spacecraft, series and species. The shepherd took his sheep to the forest. NASA plans to send two spacecraft to the Jupiter. The following nouns have no plural forms when used after numerals: pair, dozen, score, gross, hundred, thousand [...]
Formation of Plural Nouns
Mar 8th
Plural nouns are generally formed by adding –s to singular nouns. Examples are: Boy (singular), boys (plural) Girl, girls Book, books Pen, pens Tree, trees Cow, cows Nouns ending in –s, -sh, -ch or –x form their plurals by adding –es to the singular. Glass, glasses Fox, foxes Kiss, kisses Dish, dishes Match, matches Tax, [...]
Noun: Number
Mar 7th
There are two numbers in English – singular and plural. A noun that represents one person or thing is said to be in the singular number. Examples are: apple, mango, cat, cow, cock, book, pen, table, chair etc. A singular noun can be used with the indefinite article a/an. A noun that represents more than [...]