Grammar material for the English at home Course (part of Virtual Library)

1. ENGLISH AT HOMEGrammar syllabus Theme 1: Frenchv. English 1 www.spanishsouthamerica.org

2. accents in many words ------only in foreign words agreement yes -----no articles more common----less common capitalization less common -----more common conjugations different for each grammatical person----- different only for third person singular contractions required----- optional and informal gender for all nouns and most pronouns -----only for personal pronouns liaisons yes ------no negation two words -----one word prepositions certain verbs require prepositions -----many phrasal verbs rhythm stress at end of each rhythmic group -----stressed syllable in each word, plus stress on important word Roman numerals more common, often ordinal ----less common, rarely ordinal subjunctive common -----extremely rare From http://french.about.com/od/lessons/a/differences.htm Comparison of characteristics 2 www.spanishsouthamerica.org

3. As previouslyshownbriefly, Englishnouns and adjectiveshave no gender http://www.edufind.com/English/Grammar/NOUNS1.CFM Gender 3 www.spanishsouthamerica.org

4. Definition: A noun is a word used to refer to people, animals, objects, substances, states, events and feelings. Nouns can be a subject or an object of a verb, can be modified by an adjective and can take an article or determiner Forexample: Table Pencil Thedog A whitehouse Let’sfocusonNouns 4 www.spanishsouthamerica.org

5. Nouns also denote abstract and intangible concepts. Forexample: birth happiness evolution technology, etc. 5 www.spanishsouthamerica.org

6. The general rule is to add "-s" to the noun in singular Forexample: Book - Books House - Houses Chair - Chairs NOUN PLURALS 6 www.spanishsouthamerica.org

7. When the singular noun ends in: -sh, -ch, -s, -ss, -x, -o we form their plural form by adding "-es". Forexample: sandwich - sandwiches brush - brushes bus - buses box - boxes potato - potatoes 7 www.spanishsouthamerica.org

8. When the singular noun ends in "y", we change the "y" for "i" and then add "-es" to form the plural form. But do not change the "y" for "ies" to form the plural when the singular noun ends in "y" preceded by a vowel. Forexample: nappy - nappies day - days toy - toys 8 www.spanishsouthamerica.org

9. However, there are many Irregular Nouns which do not form the plural in this way: Forexample: Woman - Women Child - Children Sheep - Sheep 9 www.spanishsouthamerica.org

10. http://www.englisch-hilfen.de/en/exercises/nouns_articles/plural.htm http://www.usingenglish.com/quizzes/71.html Plural 10 www.spanishsouthamerica.org

11. Forchildrenbutnice: http://www.englishexercises.org/makeagame/viewgame.asp?id=723 (Let’s use thetimerto do theexercises and seehowitworks!!) Playinggames 11 www.spanishsouthamerica.org

12. Proper nouns are the names of specific things, people, or places, such as Jhon, France. Theyusuallybeginwith a capital letter. Common nouns are general names such as person, mansion, and book. They can beeither concrete orabstract. Concrete nouns refer to things which you can sense such as clock and telephone. Abstract nouns refer to ideas or qualities such as liberty and truth. Countable nouns refer to things which can be counted (can be singular or plural) Uncountable nouns refer to some groups of countable nouns, substances, feelings and types of activity (can only be singular) Types of Nouns 12 www.spanishsouthamerica.org

13. Proper nouns (also called proper names) are the words which name specific people, organisations, places, titles, cities, countries, calendar times, etc. They are always written with a capital letter. They represent unique entities; In English and most other languages that use the latin alphabet, they are capitalized. For example: Janet; Simon; John Wesley; London; The President; Tuesday; Christmas; Thanksgiving; Atlantic Ocean; Spain. Examples: Peter lives in Spain. Many people dread Monday mornings. Beltane is celebrated on the first of May. Abraham appears in the Talmud and in the Koran. Proper nouns 13 www.spanishsouthamerica.org

14. A common noun is a word that names people, places, things, or ideas. They are not the names of a single person, place or thing. A common noun begins with a lowercase letter unless it is at the beginning of a sentence.Examples: People: man, woman, girl, baby, son, dughther, policeman, teacher Animals: cat, dog, fish, ant, snake Things: bear, book, boat, table, chair, phone Places: bank, school, city, building, shop Ideas: love, hate, idea, pride Examplesentences: apple: I love a good red apple after dinner. dog, yard: The black dog is in my yard. book, table: The red book is on the table. call: Give me a call when you arrive. Commonnouns 14 www.spanishsouthamerica.org

15. Concrete nouns refers to objects and substances, including people and animals, physical items that we can perceive through our senses, that means concrete nouns can be touched, felt, held, something visible, smelt, taste, or be heard.They can be countable nouns or uncountable nouns, and singular nouns or plural nouns. Concrete nouns can also be a common noun, proper nouns and collective nouns. Example: Thisis my house. * In this example the noun "house" names a building where I live. That building is an individual object and can be seen and touched by everyone. Other examples: Common Concrete Nouns: snake, cat, table, girl, water Countable Concrete Nouns (Singular): table, computer, book, door Countable Concrete Nouns (Plural): tables, computers, books, doors Uncountable Concrete Nouns: sugar, rice, water, air, oil, salt, cheese Proper Nouns: Mrs. Jones, Tom Cruise, Max Ryan * "Time" is a concept that has no physical existence; it is not a Concrete Noun Concrete nouns 15 www.spanishsouthamerica.org

16. An abstract noun refers to states, events, concepts, feelings, qualities, etc., that have no physical existence. Examples: Friendship; peace; romance; humor are all abstract nouns that have no physical existence. An abstract noun can be either a countable noun or uncountable noun. Abstract nouns that refer to events are almost usually countable: a noise; a meeting. In English many abstract nouns are formed by adding suffixes (-ness, - ity. – tion ) to adjectives or verbs. For examples: Happiness = Happy ( adj.) , circulation = to circulate (verb) Abstractnouns 16 www.spanishsouthamerica.org

17. Nouns Common Proper Abstract Concrete Count. Uncount. 17 www.spanishsouthamerica.org

18. http://www.ucl.ac.uk/internet-grammar/exlist/exlist.htm Identifyingnouns 18 www.spanishsouthamerica.org

19. http://www.ucl.ac.uk/internet-grammar/exlist/exlist.htm Countable and Uncountablenouns 19 www.spanishsouthamerica.org

20. Countablenouns 20 www.spanishsouthamerica.org

21. Uncountablenouns 21 www.spanishsouthamerica.org

22. Plural, Type of nouns http://www.edhelper.com/language/pluralnouns2106.html Revision 22 www.spanishsouthamerica.org

23. This is sample material butgivesan overall idea Hope it is useful Thanks for yourinterest Feelfree to contact us salavirtual1@hotmail.com www.spanishsouthamerica.org www.spanishsouthamerica.org 23