Noun and Case

The Case is of 3 types,

1. Nominative Case (Subjective Case)
2. Accusative Case (Objective Case)
3. Possessive Case 

Now have a look at an example for proper understanding,

1. Sachin is a Cricket player (Nominative)
2. We like Sachin (Accusative)
3. This is Sachin's Bat (Possesive)

Possessive Case :

• 'S (apostrophe)  --- This is used for Human-beings / Living Things
• Of    -------- Non Living / Living Things

Note : Usually we don't use 'S(apostrophe S) for Non Living Things.

• ✔  This is Ravi's Book
• ☓  The building's roof needs to be repaired
• ✔ The roof of the building needs to be repaired

Exceptions : 

• There are some exceptions for the above mentioned case. We can use  'S(apostrophe S) for Time, Distance, Weight etc
• An Hour's Time
• A Ton's weight

Note : When a singular noun, which doesn't end in S (Hissing sound), The possessive case takes "S"

• Kamal's Pen
• Karthik's Watch
• Ramu's Dress

Note : When a singular noun, ends in S(Hissing Sound), the possessive case takes only apostrophe ( ' ) at the end (no need to add S)

• Keats' Poetry
• Lotus' Petals

When a plural noun doesn't end in S, the possessive case takes apostrophe S ('S)

• Children's specialist
• Women's college
• Men's single

When a plural noun ends in 'S', the possessive case takes only apostrophe at the end.

• Boys' Hostel
• Girls' College

When two persons and one possession in the sentence, the possessive case should be added to the latter

• ☓  I went to Raju's and Rani's house but i found the couple absent
• ✔  I went to Raju and Rani's house, but i found the couple absent (Whats the difference? here Raju and Rani are couple. So obviously they live in the same house :) so two persons and one possession, so we should use 'S to the latter (Rani)

When two different things are referred to, the possessive case should be added to both 

• ☓ India and China's problems are different
• ✔  India's and China's problems are different (because, here india and china are different countries and cant be same)

The comparison should be made between the same cases

• ☓   India's problems are the same as Pakistan 
• ✔  India's problems are the same as Pakistan's 

In apposition, the possessive case should be added to the latter

• ☓   This is Prime minister's manmohan singh's speech
• ✔  This is Prime minister manmohan singh's speech

Both of and apostrophe cannot usually be used i none sentence

• ☓ This is the house of Gandhi's 
• ✔ This is the house of Gandhi 

Note : But the following expression is an exception

• Its ----->  Of  It
• It's ----->  It is, It Was, It Has

• Hers ---> Of  Her
• ☓  Her's --> Her was, Her is (but these are wrong expressions)

• yours ---> Of Your
• ☓ Your's ----> Your Is, Your Was (How horrible it is... so thats the reason why, our teachers tell us dont use apostrophe while writing yours faithfully at the end of letter. But we neglect it ;)

Note : Dont use apostrophe for pronouns

• He is my friend
• He is a friend of mine
• He is her friend
• He is a friend of hers

• He is a friend of my brother  ✔
• He is a friend of my brother's   ☓

Care should be taken while using a relative pronoun

• I have seen many of amitabh's movies who is considered a great actor  ☓
• I have seen many movies of amitabh, who is considered a great actor   ✔

• I have read Shakespeare's four great tragedies who is the greatest writer in English  ☓
• I have read four great tragedies of Shakespeare who is considered the greatest writer in English  ✔
• I have read the four great tragedies of Shakespeare which are worth reading  ☓
• I have read Shakespeare's four great tragedies which are worth reading  ✔

In compound nouns the possessive case should be added to the last word

• He is my brother's-in-law friend  ☓ 
• He is my brother-in-lwas's friend  ✔

In the sentences with "One of These" the possessive should be used carefully

• I met, the minister at one of my friend's house   (this means, I have number of friends, and i met the minister in one of those friend's house)
• I met the minister at one of my friend's house  (this means, my friend have number of houses and i met the minister in one of those houses)

Thats all for now Friends. All The Best

07:21 - By Unknown 0

 Noun and Number

All of us know what is noun and what is number. But there are some issues in Noun and Number which makes us confused often. Lets discuss them

• Some nouns always singular  in number, so they take the singular verb
• Scenery, Luggage, Information, Advice, Machinery, Stationary, Poetry, Issue (Children), Rice, Soap, Bread, Brick etc
• (There are no plural forms for the above words)
• Two cakes of Soap (Not Two Soaps)
• Two Pieces of brick (Not Two Bricks) 
• ☓ The sceneries of Kashmir are beautiful 
• ✔ The scenery of Kashmir is beautiful
• Some nouns are always plural in number. So, they take a plural verb.

• Alms, Thanks, Goods, Regards, Wishes, Proceeds, Premises, Credentials, Riches, Pants, Pantaloons, Jeans, Tights, Shorts, Pajamas, Scissors, Forceps, Spectacles, Binaculars ets
• ☓  Convey my regard and wishes to your parents
• ✔ Convey my regards and wishes to your parents
• ☓  I have never used such a scissors in my life
• ✔ I have never used such scissors in my life
• ✔ I have never used such a pair of scissors in my life
• Some nouns appear plural. But they are singular in number. So we should take a singular verb
• Wages, Summons, Gallows, News, Politics, Electronics, Billboards, Measles, Mathematics etc
• ☓  The court has issued two summons to the minister, but he hasn't turned up yet
• ✔ The court has issued two summonses to the minister, but he hasn't turned up yet
• ☓ I have a good news to tell you 
• Here there is no plural for News. We shouldn't use articles for these type of words.
• ✔ I have good news to tell you 
• ✔  Measles is a disease (not are)
• Some nouns appear singular but they are plural in number. So, they take a plural verb.
• Cattle,  Infantry,  Police,  Poultry,  Swine,  Artillery,  Peasantry,  Gentry etc
• ☓ This cattle is mine
• ✔  These cattle are mine
• Some nouns can be used either as singulars or as plurals without changing their form
• Sheep, Deer, Offspring, Species, Aircraft, Space Craft, Salmon, Yoke etc
• ☓  These are many sheeps in the fields 
• ✔ There are many sheep in the fields

Formation of Plurals :

• Boy   -------------  Boys
• Man    -------------  Men
• Tooth    -------------  Teeth
• Dog    -------------  Dogs
• Ox    -------------  Oxen
• Child    -------------  Children
• Belief    -------------  Beliefs
• Sheaf    -------------  Sheaves
• Leaf    -------------  Leaves
• Datum    -------------  Data
• Stratum    -------------  Strata
• Matrix    -------------  Matrices
• Brother    -------------  Brothers 
• Brother - In - Law     -------------  Brother - in - Laws  ☓ 

                                                                                       Brothers - in - Law   ✔ 

• Man - Servant     -------------  Men - Servants

Thats all for now friends, see you tomorrow

07:18 - By Unknown 0

 Omission of Articles

Till now we have learnt where should we use A , An and where should we use THE. Now we shall learn where shouldn't we use these articles. Following are the conditions where we shouldn't use any article.

• Before the common nouns man, woman, god, heaven, hell, when used in general sence
• Man is mortal but God is immortal
• Man proposes but god disposes
• Everybody wants to go to heaven but nobody wants to die
• Note : But when particularized 'the' definite article is used.
• The man who is standing at the door is my uncle
• When it means one, the indefinite article is used.
• There is a man at the door
• Before abstract nouns, when generalized 
• Honesty is the best policy
• Beauty should lie in one's heart
• Bravery is the sign of man
• Note : But when these are particularized, THE is used
• The honesty the auto-driver showed was finally rewarded
• Before material nouns when Generalized
• Water is essential for all
• Sugar is sweet
• Wood is used for making furniture
• Gold is a precious metal
• But when particularized, THE definite article is used
• The water in this pond is pure
• The gold used for making this chain was 22 carat
• Before places like Church, Temple, Mosque, School, College, University, Hostel, Library, Class, Hospital, Jail (Prison) etc. When they are visited for their primary purpose
• ☓  He was an atheist, but now a days he is going to the church
• ✔ He was an atheist, but now a days he is going to church
• ☓   You should go to the school regularly in-order to get good marks
• ✔  You should go to school regularly in-order to get good marks
• ✔ I went to the church to meet my friend (here i dint go for the primary purpose(prayer))
• ✔  The man was put in jail for killing a woman
• ✔  The injured were taken to hospital
• ☓   The injured were taken to the hospital
• But when these places are visited for their secondary purpose the definite article should be used.
• He went to the temple to meet the priest
• My father came to the school to talk to my class teacher
• I went to the hospital to see and console a patient
• But when it means one, the indefinite article is used
• There is a school at the end of the street
• Before Breakfast, Brunch, Lunch, Dinner etc, when used in general sense
• we usually take lunch at 1
• Breakfast is served between 7 and 9
• But when these are particularized, by an adjective, the indefinite article is used.
• We had a delicious lunch yesterday (here the lunch is particularized, so we used an indefinite article "a")
• We are going to have a healthy breakfast
• Before plural nouns, when generalized
• Tigers are ferocious animals
• Cows are domestic animals 
• Children like chocolates
• Note : Here if we represent singular instead of plural, then we should use articles
• The tiger is a ferocious animal
• A tiger is a ferocious animal
• Tigers are ferocious animals
• In expressions like Go to bed, Take heart, Lose heart, Send word, Set fire
• Please switch off all the lights before going to bed (not going to the bed)
• Dont lose heart when you are on the verge of danger (not lose the heart)
• The house was set on fire (not on the fire)

That's all for now friends, prepare well. Good day

07:15 - By Unknown 0

 Articles - The

The Usage of the "THE"     :P

Ok, first of all sorry for the confusing title. In this blog we shall discuss where we should use the article "The". Some of these statements are really make you confuse and seems they are opposing each other. Please try to read this for two or three times. so that you can understand THE concept easily. 

• Before superlative forms
• Ex :
• The Tallest
• The Best
• The most beautiful
• Before double comparatives
• Ex:
• ✔ The higher you go, the colder you gets
• ✔ The harder you work, the better rank you get in Bank Exams
• ✔The more you earn, the more you want
• When the comparison is between the two and either of the subjects is Highlighted
• Ex:
• ✔ Sachin is the greater of the two cricketers
• ✔ Of the two cricketers sachin is the greater
• Note :
• ☓ Sachin is the greater than  lara 
• Now whats the difference between the first statement and the third? why the first one is correct and third one is wrong? because in the 3rd statement, we have mentioned the Person's name. But in the first statement we didnt.
• Before positive form in apposition 

• EX:
• Alexander, the great
• Manmohan Singh, the prime minister etc
• Before musical instruments
• The Guitar
• The Tabla
• The voilin etc
• Before a Proper noun when used as a Common noun
• Nelson mandela is The Gandhi of South Africa
• Kalidasa is The Shakespeare of India 
• Before some adjectives to make them nouns
• Ex:
• The Blind
• The Dead
• The Rich
• The Poor
• Usage :
• The doctor restored sight to the blind (Here there is no need to mention "The Blind Person" because, the term Blind itself represents the Blind person, so its the adjective which is used as the noun.)
• The rich should not mock at the poor
• ✔ Jesus rose from the Dead
• ☓  Jesus rose from Dead
• Before some Languages, to make them PEOPLE.
• ☓ English ruled over India for many Years
• ✔ The English Ruled over India for Many Years
• ☓  French are good at heart
• ✔ The French are good at heart
• When a noun's quality is STRESSED
• ☓ We cannot remove warrior in him
• ✔ We cannot remove the warrior in him
• ☓ Mother in her aroused when she saw a Crying Baby
• ✔ The mother in her aroused when she saw a Crying Baby
• Before Ordinal numbers
• The First
• The Third
• The Tenth, etc
• Ex:
• The first and the second posts of this blog
• Note : Little clarification for those people who have no idea about Ordinal numbers
• One, Two, Three, Four  →  Cardinal Numbers
• First, Second, Third  →  Ordinal Numbers
• Before the names of Oceans, Seas, Rivers, Canals, Deserts, Groups of Mountains and Groups of Islands
•  Note :  Dont use "The" for single mountain or single Island (Thats the reason why we've underlined these two statements)
• Ex :
• ✔ The Pacific
• ✔ The Red Sea
• ✔ The Sahara
• ✔ The Himalayas 
• Usage :
• ✔ Kolkata is on the banks of the Hoogli 
• ☓ Kolkata is on the banks of the River Hoogli
• ✔ Kolkata is on the banks of river Hoogli
• ✔ Kolkata is on the banks of the Hoogli river
• Dont be confued, please read the above sentences properly and understand them
• Before Holy Books
• The Ramayana
• The Quran
• The Bible 
• Usage:
• My father reads the Bible everyday
• Before the names of the Things, which are unique in nature
• The Sun
• The moon
• The Sky 
• The ________ (You can add your name here :P kidding)
• Before the names of Planets and  Satellites 
•  The Mars
• The Earth
• Note :  Little clarification for those people who confuses between the words Planet and Satellites
• Planets rotates around the Sun
• Satellites rotates around Planets 
• In apposition, when name precedes the position (Important)
• Manmohan singh, the prime minister is on a two day tour to srilanka
• In correction of sentences, they've given this model for a number of times. The above sentence means, Manmohan singh, who is the prime minister is on a two day tour to srilanka.
• Some time they will give like this
• The X, the Y is on a two day tour to srilanka
• Whats wrong with this sentence? You can remove THE at the begining or, just put ARE in the place of IS, so that the sentence tells about TWO different persons one is X and the second one is Y
• Before the names of News Papers
•  The Indian Express
• The Hindu etc
• Before the names of some countries
•  The U.S.A
• The UAE
• The Netherlands
• The Congo etc

Thats all for now Friends. Tomorrow we shall discuss "Where shouldn't we use the article THE" .


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07:11 - By Unknown 0

 Articles

Articles are of TWO types. They are

1. Indefinite article  ----      A / An
2. Definite article   ----      The

What's the difference?

If you want to say about ANY item, you should use the articles A / An. If you want to say about a SPECIFIC item, you should use the article THE.

Confused? Lets see an example. Assume that you've selected for a Bank Exam. You have a stupid friend like me. So obviously She will ask you a party.
Suppose if She says

• Lets go to a Restaurant, that means She doesn't have any specific restaurant in Her mind. So you can give her party in ANY cheap restaurant.  But,
• If she says Lets go to THE restaurant, that means She has some SPECIFICATIONS. I mean she have a specific restaurant in her mind. So you cant escape ;)

Well, this is the basic difference between A/An and The. There are so many differences and usages of these articles. We shall discuss them later.

Ok, lets discuss about the Indefinite articles first.

Indefinite Articles :

A : The indefinite article 'a' is used before singular countable nouns that start with a Consonant sound.

An : The indefinite article 'an" is used before singular countable nouns that start with a Vowel sound. 

Wow, Nice definitions. No?

Have a look at some examples,

A :

• A Bat
• A Cat
• A Rat
• A Jug

An :

• An Apple
• An Egg
• AN Ink-Bottle
• An Orange
• An Umbrella

Great,

Now tell me, what should I use before the words European, One-Eyed Beggar, University, Useful Website?

Can I say, Guide4BankExams is an Useful site to know about Banking Exams? 

NO

why ?

Please Re-Read the definitions. Here we are talking about Vowel and Consonant SOUNDS. Not the Letters. People often confuse with this. They blindly put A before a word, if it starts with a Vowel letter (A, E, I, O, U) and put An before the word which starts with the consonant letter. 

Consider the SOUND, not the LETTER.

Confusing?  Lets see a short cut for this. 

• If a word starts with a SWAR (Any of the Indian Language) sound, then we should use An before it.
• If a word starts with a Vyanjan (An of the Indian Language) sound, then we should use A before it.

Have a look at this picture,

so, now see these examples,

A :

• A European
• A One-Eyed beggar
• A University
• A Useful Website

An:

• An hour
• An Honest Man
• An honourable person

Thats it.

Now lets see some more TRICKY examples in English.

Suppose , if you want to say about the Member of Parliament, you can say a Member of Parliament, But if you use shorter form as M.P, Then you should say, He is an M.P

Lets see another example, He is an NRI but He is a Non Resident Indian

Thats all for now friends, tomorrow we shall discuss about the article THE.

Good Day

Read more English Shortcuts Here >>

07:09 - By Unknown 0

Noun and Verb and Pronoun Agreement

 Noun and Verb / Pronoun Agreement

Noun and Verb Agreement :

In this Post we shall discuss about the Noun and Verb agreement of the sentences. Have a look at the following points. These points will help you to use correct verbs while writing sentences.

• In the sentences, with " One of The" and a relative clause, the verb should be Plural. Confused??? see the example.
• Aamir is one of the students who has paid the fee   ☓ 
• Aamir is one of the students who have paid the fee  ✔ 

• In the sentences with the "Only one of The" and a relative clause, the verb should be Singular.
• Aamir is the only one of the students who have paid the fee.  ☓  :P
• Aamir is the only one of the students who has paid the fee. 

                               Got the difference???

• When two nouns joined by "and" have their own articles, it is plural in number. 
• The lecturer and the Principal is on the leave.  ☓ 
• The lecturer and the principal are on the leave.  ✔

                       What is the difference? We are saying THE lecturer and THE principal. So they are TWO people. So we should use ARE instead of IS. Have a look at another Rule. So that you can get the rule in detail.

• But, when two nouns joined by "and" with an article before the first are treated as Singular.
• The lecturer and principal are on leave.  ☓ 
• The lecturer and principal is on leave.  ✔

                   Here, we are joining TWO nouns with and and using a Sing article (THE) before them. Simply, we are using one THE for two nouns. So, we are talking about a single person. So we should use IS instead of ARE. 

Check the following examples

• I have a black and a white dogs. (Two dogs)
• I have a black and white dog. (One dog)

• When two nouns are joined by "and" refers to one thing, singular verb can be used.
• Bread and butter is a healthy food.
• The horse & carriage is at the door. 

Noun and Pronoun Agreement :

• When a collective noun is unanimous, it takes a singular verb. 
• The committee has taken its decision unanimously.

• But when a collective noun is NOT unanimous, it usually takes a plural verb & plural pronoun (adj) 
• The committee are divided in their opinion. 

• The expression "many a" takes everything in singular, but it express a plural meaning.
• Many students have passed their test  ✔
• Many a students has passed this test  ✔

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07:25 - By Unknown 0

English Grammar Shortcuts

Lesson 1 : Usage of Articles

• Basics of Articles (Part 1 - A and An)
• Basics of Articles (Part 2 - The)
• Basics of Articles (Part 3 - Article Omission)

Lesson 2 : Usage of Nouns

• Basics of Nouns (Part 1 - Noun and Number)
• Basics of Nouns (Part 2 - Noun and Case)
• Basics of Nouns (Part 3 - Noun and Verb / Pronoun Agreement)

Lesson 3 : Some Common Errors of English

Lesson 4 : Important Shortcut rules of English for Competitive Exams

• Nouns Shortcut Rules
• Pronouns - Shortcut Rules 
• Verbs - Shortcut Rules 
• Adjectives - Shortcut Rules
• Articles - Shortcut Rules  
• Adverbs - Shortcut Rules  
• Conjunctions - Shortcut rules  (new update)      
• Prepositions - Shortcut Rules  (new update)     
• Parts of Speech - Shortcut Rules

Lesson 5 : Important topics of English Section for Competitive Exams

• Tenses - Explained with Examples (new update)   
• Sentence Re-arrangement / Re ordering Tips   (new update)    
• Correction of Sentences - Short notes
• Correction of Sentences (Example Problems)
• Spotting Errors Practice Papers
• Basic English Grammar for Competitive Exams - Pdf Download
• Voice
• Tenses
• Irregular Verbs - Shortcut Rules
• Parallelism - Shortcut Rules
• Conditionals - Shortcut Rules
•  Tenses - Table
• Idioms and Phrases
• Comparatives and Superlatives
• Either or / Neither nor Usage
• A Little / A Few / Little / Few Usage
• Too and Enough Usage
• Much and Many Usage
• I wish - If Only Usage
• Used to - Be Used to and Get Used to Usage
• One Word Substitution    
• R. S. Aggrawal's Objective English (Pdf) Download

Lesson 6 : Reading Comprehension :

• How to get Good Marks in Reading Comprehension ?

 Lesson 7 : Descriptive Paper :

• Precis Writing Tips

1.  Introduction
2. How to write Good Precis for SBI PO Exams ?
3. Approach to Precis Writing
4. Important Techniques to Compress the given data for Precis Writing  
5. Precis Writing Examples 

• Letter Writing Tips
•  Introduction
•  Personal and Informal Letter Writing
• Examples of Informal Letters
• Essay Writing Tips
• Lesson 1 : Introduction
• Lesson 2 : How to Write Essays for Bank and Other Competitive Exams Here
• Lesson 3 : Preparation of Essay Here
• Lesson 4 : Writing Plan of Essays Here 
• Lesson 5 : Drafting and writing Conclusion Here

07:07 - By Unknown 0