Cont. Skill 5: Cont.

Nouns in Number: Countable Vs Uncountable Nouns: Countable nouns are individual objects, people, places, etc. which can be counted. e.g. books, Italians, pictures, stations, men, etc. A countable noun can be both singular - a friend, a house, etc. or plural a few apples, lots of trees, etc. Use the singular form of the verb with a singular countable noun: There is a book on the table. That student is excellent! Use the plural form of the verb with a countable noun in the plural: There are some students in the classroom. Those houses are very big, aren't they? Uncountable nouns are materials, concepts, information, etc. which are not individual objects and cannot be counted. e.g. information, water, understanding, wood, cheese, etc. Uncountable nouns always take singular verbs: There is some water in that pitcher. That is the equipment we use for the project. Adjectives with Countable and Uncountable Nouns. Use a/an with countable nouns preceded by an adjective(s): Tom is a very intelligent young man. I have a beautiful grey cat. Do not use a/an with uncountable nouns preceded by an adjective(s):
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That is very useful information. There is some cold beer in the fridge. List of common uncountable nouns: accommodation advice baggage bread equipment furniture garbage information knowledge luggage money news pasta progress research travel work Nouns with Irregular Plural: Some nouns have irregular plural form. One needn't by all means memorise the nouns and their plurals, but one should only observe the ending of each group of irregular nouns.
US -> I SINGULAR alumnus cactus focus fungus nucleus radius stimulus alumni cacti foci/focuses fungi/funguses nuclei radii stimuli PLURAL

IS -> ES SINGULAR axis analysis basis crisis diagnosis ellipsis hypothesis oasis paralysis parenthesis synthesis synopsis thesis axes analyses bases crises diagnoses ellipses hypotheses oases paralyses parentheses syntheses synopses theses IX -> ICES SINGULAR appendix index matrix PLURAL appendices indeces/indexes matrices/matrixes EAU -> EAUX SINGULAR beau bureau tableau beaux bureaus/bureaux tableaux/tableaus *** -> EN SINGULAR child man ox woman children men oxen women *** -> A SINGULAR bacterium PLURAL bacteria PLURAL PLURAL PLURAL

corpus criterion curriculum datum genus medium memorandum phenomenon stratum

corpora criteria curricula data genera media memoranda phenomena strata NO CHANGE

SINGULAR deer fish means offspring series sheep species deer fish means

PLURAL

offspring series sheep species OO -> EE

SINGULAR foot goose tooth feet geese teeth A -> AE SINGULAR antenna formula nebula vertebra vita

PLURAL

PLURAL antennae/antennas formulae/formulas nebulae vertebrae vitae

OUSE -> ICE SINGULAR louse mouse lice mice PLURAL

Nouns in Person: Common nouns could animate i.e. refer to a person or inanimate i.e. refer to a thing. Animate Nouns: They usually end in ist, or, er, ant or ian. e.g. scientist, artist, actor, writer, accountant, defendant, techinician, politician, Inanimate Nouns: They usually end in ism, ce, cy, y,s, tion, ing or que. e.g. nationalism, finance, policy, nationality, politics, generation, acting, critique,. 6. Pronouns: a. Personal Pronouns: Subject Pronouns: They fall into the position of the subject; they serve its function. (I, You, He, She, It, We, You and They). e.g. She killed her cat. e.g. Bill and she are in my class. e.g. The Smiths and we are neighbors. e.g. It was he who broke the vase. Object Pronouns: They fall into the position of the object; they serve its function. (Me, You, Him, Her, Us, You and Them). e.g. David killed her. e.g. Bill saw Cory and her at the park. e.g. My aunt gave Ann and them a ride. e.g. The teacher spoke to Joanne and him. e.g. This secret is between you and me.

b. Possessives: Possessive Adjectives: They never stand alone; they must accompany a following noun. They are mere modifiers. (My, Your, His, Her, Its, Our, Your and Their). e.g. Its my purse. Possessive Nouns: They come alone as they serve as nouns. (Mine, Yours, His, Hers, Its, Ours, Yours and Theirs). e.g. Its mine. Since we use pronouns as substitutes for nouns, pronouns must agree with their nouns in "number" and "gender". Number (singular/one or plural/more than one) Gender (male, female or neutral) e.g. The young girl sits on the bench. She is selling honey-nut peanuts. e.g. The boys are going to the movies. It is a sure bet that they will buy popcorn there. e.g. Elvis sightings have occurred more abundantly in the last two years; they have been occurring at the rate of ten per month. e.g. I know a woman who likes Elvis Presley's music so much, she trained her dog (named Elvis) to thump his tail and bark in rhythm to all of her tapes. 7. Adjectives Vs Adverbs: Adjectives are words that describe nouns or pronouns. They may come before the word they describe (That is a cute puppy.) or they may follow the word they describe (That puppy is cute.). Whereas, Adverbs are words that modify everything but nouns and pronouns. They modify adjectives, verbs, and other adverbs. A word is an adverb if it answers how, when, or where. e.g. "That woman is extremely nice." Nice is an adjective that modifies the noun woman. Extremely is an adverb that modifies nice.

e.g. "It was a greatly terribly hot afternoon." Hot is an adjective that modifies the noun afternoon. Terribly is an adverb that modifies the adjective hot and greatly is an adverb that that modifies the adverb terribly. *Note that after linking verbs, adjectives are used. List of Linking Verbs: be become get grow keep remain seem sound stay turn Irregular Adverbs:

adjective

adverb (meaning)

adverb (meaning)

good

well

difficult

with difficulty

public

publicly

deep

deep (place)

deeply (feeling)

direct

direct

directly (=soon)

hard

hard

hardly (=seldom)

high

high (place)

highly (figurative)

late

late

lately (=recently)

most

most

mostly (=usually)

near

near

nearly (=almost)

pretty

pretty (=rather)

prettily

short

short

shortly (=soon)

The following adjectives daily, enough, early, far, fast, hourly, little, long, low, are also used as adverbs monthly, much, straight, weekly, yearly, (without modification):

In a nutshell, adjectives come either after linking verbs or before nouns while adverbs come either before another adverb, before adjectives or before or after verbs. *With compound verb forms (has/had taken or is/am/are/was/were taking), the adverb comes either at the very beginning or end of the sentence or before the main verb. Types of Adjectives a. Adjectives ending in ly: These adjectives end originally in ly so they retain their form on conveyance into adverbs. bodily chilly cowardly disorderly easterly ghastly ghostly
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heavenly homely hourly jolly kindly manly nightly northerly oily orderly quarterly scholarly smelly southerly stately surly timely unruly unsightly untimely westerly yearly costly curly deadly unfriendly b. Participial Adjectives: An adjective that ends in -ING is used to describe: the characteristic of a person or a thing.(Production) An adjective that ends in -ED is used to describe: a feeling.(Reception) Compare the difference:

My girlfriend is bored. - (My girlfriend feels bored) My girlfriend is boring. - (My girlfriend is a boring person)

You can use these adjectives to describe people or situations but be careful that you are using the correct adjective. For example, there is a big difference in meaning between:
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I am confused. - (I don't understand something) I am confusing. - (I will cause you to be confused)

Of course, you could also find both adjectives in the same sentence. Then you really need to concentrate on the intent / context of the sentence. Examples:

I was shocked by how shocking the accident was last night. They were frightened by the frightening roller-coaster ride! I am annoyed by how annoying that person in front of us is. Sally was confused by the confusing street signs in the city. c. Predicate Adjectives:

A predicative adjective never come before the noun it modifies; rather, it is the complement of a copulative function (verb to be) that links it to the noun. It is part of the sentence predicate. e.g. The book is big. The predicative adjective big is linked by the verb is to the noun book, which it modifies. Easily observable predicate adjectives start with an additional a-. afloat afraid aglow alive alone asleep alike aloof Other Vs Another: These words refer to something different, remaining, or additional. They are placed before the noun. Another is used with singular nouns.(indefinite ones) Other with singular or plural. (definite ones)

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e.g. There are other jobs you could try. e.g. Where's the other packet of cereals? e.g. Is there any other bread? e.g. Have another cup of tea. *The form Others can be used only when there is no following noun. e.g. Some designs are better than others. 8. Articles: There are only three articles in English: a, an and the. There are two types of articles indefinite 'a' and 'an' or definite 'the'. 1) Indefinite articles - a and an: 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:e.g. I saw an elephant this morning. e.g. I ate a banana for lunch. A and an are also used when talking about your profession: e.g. I am an English teacher. 2) Definite Article the: You use the when you know that the listener knows or can work out what particular person/thing you are talking about. e.g. The apple you ate was rotten. e.g. Did you lock the car? You should also use the when you have already mentioned the thing you are talking about.

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e.g. 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. e.g. the North Pole, the equator We use the to talk about rivers, oceans and seas. e.g. the Nile, the Pacific, the English channel We also use the before certain nouns when we know there is only one of a particular thing. e.g. the rain, the sun, the wind, the world, the earth, the White House etc.. The is also used to say that a particular person or thing being mentioned is the best, most famous, etc. e.g. Harry's Bar is the place to go. e.g. You don't mean you met the Tony Blair, do you? No article: We usually use no article to talk about things in general e.g. Inflation is rising. e.g. People are worried about rising crime. e.g. My son plays football. You use no article with unspecified plural nouns; the doesn't mean all. e.g. The books are expensive." = (Not all books are expensive, just the ones I'm talking about.) e.g. Books are expensive. (All books are expensive.)

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You do not use an article before the names of countries except where they indicate multiple areas or contain the words (state(s), kingdom, republic, union). Kingdom, state, republic and union are nouns, so they need an article. No article - Italy, Mexico, Bolivia, England. Use the - the UK (United Kingdom), the USA (United States of America), the Irish Republic. Multiple areas! the Netherlands, the Philippines, the British Isles. 9. Phrasal Verbs: Phrasal Verbs are multi-word verbs; they are composed of verbs and prepositions. The overall meaning of them does not coincide with that of their consistent verbs. One can deduce the right preposition from the nature of the verb itself, the object and overall sentential context. Common Prepositions: with for after on off in 10. Collocations: (Make Vs Do): 'Do' for General Ideas Use the verb 'do' when speaking about things in general. In other words, when we do not exactly name an activity. do one's best do good do harm
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do a favour do business do homework do housework do the ironing do the dishes do a job 'Make' for Constructing, Building, Creating Use 'make' to express an activity that creates something that you can touch. make food make a cup of tea / coffee make a mess make plans make an exception make arrangements make a telephone call make a decision make a mistake make noise make money make an excuse make an effort

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