-English Grammar Class #10

#EnglishGrammar

-Dear Friends! We are going to learn about the Cases of a Noun. Noun has three cases, namely:

1. Subjective or Nominative Case
2. Objective or Accusative Case.
3. Possessive or Genitive Case.

In this class today, we will learn about Subjective or Nominative Case of a Noun only. We will learn about the two other cases in our next two classes.

So, let's begin with the Subjective or Nominative Case of a Noun. Consider the following sentence.

-Maria cooked a delicious meal.

In the sentence above, the Noun 'Maria' is used as a Subject because it is the answer to the question: Who cooked a delicious meal? The answer is, Maria. The group of words, 'cooked a delicious meal' is a Predicate (For getting a comprehensive understanding about a Subject and a Predicate, study our English Grammar Class #01  .  Therefore, whenever a Noun or a Pronoun is used as a Subject in a sentence, it is said to be in the Subjective or Nominative Case.

-To find the Subjective or Nominative Case of a Noun in a sentence, put 'who' or 'what' before a Verb. For example, by putting 'who' before the Verb 'cooked' in the above sentence: Who cooked a delicious meal, the answer we get is Maria. Therefore, Maria is the noun which is used as a Subjective or Nominative Case in the sentence.







-Objective or Accusative Case of Noun.




In our class today, we will discuss about Objective or Accusative Case of a Noun. Let's begin our discussion by considering the following sentence.


-Marina is fixing the bicycle.


As we know that every sentence has two parts, a Subject part and a Predicate part. In the sentence above, the Noun 'Marina' is the Subject part and ' is fixing the bicycle' is the Predicate part. There are two nouns used in the sentence above. One is in the Subject part(Marina) and the other in the Predicate part (bicycle) as an Object. When a Noun is used as an Object in the Predicate part of a sentence, it is called the 'Objective or Accusative Case of a Noun.


-To find an Objective or Accusative Case of a Noun in a sentence put 'Who' or 'What' before the Verb and its subject. For example: What Marina is fixing? The answer is: the bicycle. Therefore, 'the bicycle' is the Objective or Accusative Case of a Noun in the given sentence.




-Possessive or Genitive Case of a Noun.


Consider the following sentences.


1. This is Elizabeth's car.
2. These are Nestle's products.


In the sentences above you will notice that the Nouns (Subjects) 'Elizabeth' and 'Nestle' are mentioned with an apostrophe 's'. This apostrophe 's' denotes something that is possessed or produced by the Subject of a sentence.


For example:


1. Elizabeth's car = the car that is possessed by Elizabeth.
2. Nestle's products = the products which are produced by Nestle.


The Possessive or Genitive Case of a Noun answers the question 'whose'. For example:


-Whose car? The answer is: Elizabeth's car.
-Whose products? The answer is: Nestle's products.


-The Possessive or Genitive Case of a Noun does not always denote possession. It is also used to denote authorship, origin, kind, etc. For example:


-John Milton's essays = essays written by John Milton.


-A father's affection = affection felt by a father.


-The President's speech = the speech delivered by the President.


-Araf's school = the school where Araf goes.


-A children's playground = a playground for children.


-A week's holiday = a holiday which lasts for a week.


We hope that today's tutorial have been of great advantage. If you have any questions or confusion about our class today, you can put them in the comments or drop them into our inbox of our Facebook page English Speaking Club.

Best of luck.

English Grammar Class #06

Hello!


Dear friends!

In our English Grammar Class today we are going to discuss about Kinds of a Noun. As we know that, Noun is a name of any person, place or thing. It has five (5) kinds.


1. Proper Noun
2. Abstract Noun
3. Collective Noun
4. Common Noun
5. Countable and Uncountable Nouns.


Let's examine each one of them with simple and easy examples.


1. Proper Noun--------------- The word, 'proper' means, 'one's own'. Therefore, a Proper Noun is the name of some particular person, place or thing. Such a person place or thing is unique within it self.


For example:


1. Marilyn has two daughters and a son.
2. Eiffel tower is famous round the world.


In the first example, 'Marilyn' is a Proper Noun. Because there might be tens of hundreds of Marilyns in the world but here we are talking about a particular Marilyn in a given time who has two daughters and a son.


In the second example, 'Eiffel' is a Proper Noun. Because there might be tens of hundreds of towers in the world but here we are talking about a particular tower which is 'Eiffel'.


Other examples might include: Philippines, Taj Mahal, Peter, God, Taj Mahal etc.


-Proper Nouns are always written with a Capital letter in the beginning.


2. Abstract Noun----------------- The word, 'Abstract' means something that does not exist in a 'physical form'. Something that we can only think of or feel for. Therefore, an Abstract Noun is usually the name of a quality, action, or state which has no physical existence itself.


Let's understand this situation with easy and simple examples.
(a) Quality: Goodness, whiteness, darkness, hardness, honesty, wisdom etc.


(b) Action: Laughter, movement, judgment, hatred, etc.


(c) State: Childhood, youth, slavery, sickness, death, poverty etc.


Other examples might include: Kindness, theft, sleep etc.


-The names of the Arts and Sciences (e.g. grammar, music, chemistry, etc. are also Abstract Nouns.


3. Collective Noun------------- The word, 'Collective' means 'something taken as a whole'. Therefore, a Collective Noun is the name of a number (or collection) of persons or things taken together as one whole.


For example, look at the following collections.


-A fleet------------- a collection of ships and vessels.


-An army----------- a collection of soldiers


-A crowd---------- a collection of people etc.


Other examples might include: Herd, flock, pack etc.


4. Common Noun-------------- The word 'common' means 'shared by all'. Therefore, a Common Noun is a name given in common to every person or thing of the same class or kind.


Let's understand this situation with easy and simple examples.


For example:


1. Dhaka is a busy city.
2. Little Josephine is a princess to her father.


In the first example above, 'Dhaka' is a Proper Noun because it is the name a particular city, while 'city' is a Common Noun because it can be applied to all the other cities of the world also.


In the second example, 'Josephine' is a Proper Noun because it is a particular name of a Person, while 'princess' is a Common Noun which can be applied to all the other kids of the world.


Other examples might include: king, queen, boy, girl, child, tower etc.


-Common Nouns include what are called Collective Nouns and Abstract Nouns.


5. Countable and Uncountable Nouns---------The word 'countable' means ' that can be counted in the numbers one, two, three so on. And the word ' uncountable' means 'something that cannot be counted in the numbers one, two, three so on.


For example:


(a) Countable Nouns: Book, pen, apple, boy, sister, etc.


(b) Uncountable Nouns: Milk, oil, sugar, honesty, truth.


-Countable Nouns have plural forms i.e books, pens, apples etc.


-Uncountable Nouns have no plural forms i.e you cannot say, milks, golds, honesties etc.


We hope that the above tutorial provides you with a handy learning about Kinds of a Noun. If you have any questions, feel free to contact us in our inbox of our Facebook page English Speaking Club


Best of luck.

English Grammar Class #05 (Part-1)

Dear Friends!


Today we are going to discuss about the Parts of Speech. Keeping in view the length of this Class, we have divided this class into two equal parts. Each part will cover four Parts of Speech.

Before going to the main topic, let's discuss briefly: What role is played by Parts of Speech in a language? Let's try to understand this point. Have you ever heard about a post mortem of a dead body? A post mortem is performed on a dead body to examine the exact cause of a death. Likewise, when we become experts in Parts of Speech, it helps us to examine each and every word to know its proper place and meaning in a grammatically accurate sentence. This is what makes a language scientific.

Now let's focus on the main topic. We will begin with a Noun.

1.Noun-------- used as a name of anything I.e person, place or thing or a gender.

For example:

I) Martha travelled to Canada three years ago with her two young boys.

In the above example:

'Martha' is the name of a person
'Canada' is the name of a place
'years' is the name of a thing, and
'boys' is the name of a gender.



2. Pronoun------- is used in the place of a Noun to avoid Noun's unnecessary and awkward repetition in a sentence.

Consider the following example.

-Safina travelled to Russia last year to see her aunt Sarah. Safina stayed with Sarah for two weeks. Sarah loved Safina so much. Safina and Sarah adored each other.

You can notice that there is an awkward and unnecessary repetition of the nouns 'Safina' and 'Sarah'. To avoid this unnecessary and awkward repetition of the two nouns, we can rewrite the above paragraph in this way:

-Safina travelled to Russia last year to see aunt Sarah. She stayed with her aunt for two weeks. Her aunt loved her so much. They adored each other.

You can observe that the Pronouns 'She', 'her' and 'they' is used to avoid the unnecessary and awkward repetition of the nouns 'Safina' and 'Sarah'.

I, We, You, He, His, She, Her, They etc. are all Pronouns.


3. Adjective--------used to tell the quality, quantity, vice and virtue of a Noun or a Pronoun.

For example:

-Strong, broad etc. ( Quality)
-Little, more, many or a number etc. (Quantity)
-Honest, good (Virtue)
-Dishonest, bad (Vice)

Let's have a look at the following sentences.

I). His strong character was admired by everyone. ( 'strong character' defines a quality)

II). There are twenty five students in this class. ( 'twenty five' defines a quantity)

III). Honest people leave noble example. ('Honest people' and 'noble example' define virtue)

IV). Bad thoughts beget evil actions. ('Bad thoughts' and ' evil actions' define vice).


4. Verb---------- used to express an action or state of a Noun or a Pronoun.

For example:

-They are running hard to catch the train.

In the above example, 'are' is a Verb of state and defining an action of 'running' which is also a Verb.

Note: All the auxiliary verbs (is, am, are, was, were, have, had, can, could, will, would etc.) are Verbs of state.

All the main Verbs (write, fight, run, wrote, drive, loved, worked etc.) are verbs of the action.


We hope today's class has provided you with a valuable tutorial on the first four Parts of Speech. If you have any difficulty in understanding them properly, you can ask for our help by messaging us into the inbox of our page English Speaking Club


Best of luck.