English language club

Active and passive voice:-

Only TRANSITIVE VERB has two voices - Active and Passive Voices

Subjects, Verb and Objects

• Subjects - One who does an action.
  
• Verb - Action is called verb.
  
• Objects - One who is affected by the action of subject.
  

Example

• The teacher punished the boy.
• Subject - teacher
• Verb - punished
• Object - boy

The teacher punished the boy. (Active Voice)
When this sentence is converted to passive voice the 'object' act as 'subject' and vice-versa.
The boy was punished by the teacher. (Passive Voice)

• Subject - boyTeacher
  
• Verb - punished
• Object - teacher

Example

• The dog bit the man. (Active Voice)
• The man was bitten by the dog. (Passive Voice)

I gave him a rupee. (Active Voice)
A rupee was given to him by me. (Passive Voice)
He was given a rupee by me. (Passive Voice)

When Active Voice contains two object the passive voice can be written in 2 forms such as..

Example

• The teacher gave me two books. (Active Voice)
• Two books were given to me by the teacher. (Passive Voice)
• I was given two books by the teacher. (Passive Voice)

Here 'two books'(Direct Object) and 'me'(Indirect Object) are the two objects.
I gave him a rupee. (Active Voice)
A rupee was given to him by me. (Passive Voice)
He was given a rupee by me. (Passive Voice)
If Active Voice contains 'Continous Form Of Verb(verb showing a continous action) then use 'being' with verb in Passive Voice

Example

• Juli is writing a letter. (Active Voice)
• A letter is being written by juli. (Passive Voice)

If Active Voice is in 'Perfect Tense' then use 'been' in Passive Voice

Example

• John has killed a snake. (Active Voice)
• A snake has been killed by John. (Passive Voice)

If Active Voice is in 'Future Tense' then use 'been' in Passive Voice

Example

• He will have brought some oranges. (Active Voice)
• Some oranges will have been brought by him. (Passive Voice)

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Adverbials:-

Adverbials modify or tell us something about the sentence or the verb. It may be a single adverb, a phrase, or a prepositional phrase, or clause element.

When an adverbial modifies a verb, it changes the meaning of that verb.

Example

• The people looked at me.
• The people looked at me anxiously. (The verb looked suddenly has a very different meaning).

When an adverbial modifies a sentence, the meaning of the sentence changes.

Example

• I passed all of my exams.
• Surprisingly, I passed all of my exams.

Word groups that are also considered to be adverbials can also modify verbs: a prepositional phrase, a noun phrase, a finite clause or a non-finite clause.

Multi-word adverbials are sometimes called adverbial phrases.

Example

• I ran as quickly as I could, but I missed the bus.

If a whole clause acts as an adverbial, it's called an adverbial clause.

Example

• I'll go to bed when the film ends.

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Articles:-

Adjective a,an the are called articles.

Example

• Everest,London,Mumbai,New york

Type of Articles

INDEFINITE ARTICLES

'a or an' are indefinite articles and are used when to say about not a definite person, place or thing.

Example

• I saw a girl.(any girl --not definite)
• He gave me an orange.

DEFINITE ARTICLES

'the' is called definite article and is used when to say about a definite person, place or thing.

Example

• I saw the girl who secured the first rank.(girl --is definite)

Usage of Definite Articles

'the' is used before the following common noun.

Example

• the sun, the moon, the planet, the sky, the earth

'the' is used before a particular person or thing already referred to.

Example

• The boy whom I met yesterday.
• The book that I gave you.

'the' is used before some books.

Example

• The Ramayana
• The Koran.
• The Bible.

'the' is used before name of rivers,mountain,seas,oceans,islands..etc.

Example

• The Ganges
• The Nile.
• The Laccadive.

'the' is used before a singular noun that represents the whole class.

Example

• The cowis a domestic animal.
• The rose smells sweet.
• The parrotis a beautiful bird.

'the' is used before superlatives.

Example

• The highest mountain in the world.
• The best picture I have ever seen.

'the' is not used before proper noun.

Example

• Mumbai is a major port in India.
• Pacific is the deepest ocean.

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Capitalization:- 

means using a capital letter (for example, A instead of a). The use of capital letters helps readers read your writing without confusion.

Always capitalize the following:

The first word in a sentence.

• I grew up in India.
• S he left a message on my phone.

The pronoun I.

• This country is where I dreamed of.

The first letter of a proper noun (specific name).

• D avid wants to play soccer with us.
• This letter is from C hang.
• I graduated from the U niversity of N ew Y ork.
• I like C oca- C ola.
• She likes G odiva chocolates.

The first letter of months, days, and holidays (but not seasons).

• Today is J une 8, 2011.
• Susie's birthday is this T hursday.
• The shops are closed on E aster.
• This summer is going to be very hot.

The first letter of nationalities, religions, races of people, and languages.

• We often eat I talian food.
• I want to master many languages, such as S panish, K orean, C hinese, and R ussian.
• There is one C hristian church in my town.

The first letter in a person's title.

• This is D r. Simon.
• I got it from M r. Tom.

Geographic areas: cities, states, countries, mountains, oceans, rivers, etc.

• My destination is P aris, F rance.
• Hawaii is in the middle of the P acific O cean.

Historical periods.

• The R enaissance began in the 14th century.
• The Q ing D ynasty is the last dynasty in China.

The first letter of each major word in the title of a book, movie, article, etc.

• Tolstoy's W ar and P eace is my favorite novel.
• I found the article " H ow to W rite a G ood C over L etter" in this magazine.

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Correctly write each sentence using proper Capitalization.

1) i was born in shanghai, china, but grew up in the united states.
2) mrs. ohana gave me the bible.
3) if you walk two more blocks, you will be able to see mt. rocky.
4) my family will have a summer vacation in hawaii.
5) I didn't want to cook tonight, so I just ordered thai food for dinner.

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Cases:-

Case is the grammatical function of a noun or pronoun. There are only three cases in modern English, they are subjective (he), objective (him) and possessive (his). They may seem more familiar in their old English form - nominative, accusative and genitive. There is no dative case in modern English.

The pronoun cases only three:-

• 1. Subjective case: pronouns used as subject.
• 2. Objective case: pronouns used as objects of verbs or prepositions.
• 3. Possessive case: pronouns which express ownership.

PERSONAL PRONOUN

Subjective/Nominative	Objective/Accusative	Possessive/Genitive
Referring to the subject in a sentence	Referring to the object in a sentence	The apostrophe form of the word ("Lynne's).
I	Me	Mine
You	You	Yours
He	Him	His
She	Her	Hers
It	It	Its
We	Us	Ours
They	Them	Theirs
Who	Whom	Whose

These pronouns, and who and its compounds, are the only words that are inflected in all three cases (subjective, objective, possessive). In nouns the first two cases (subjective and objective) are indistinguishable, and are called the common case. One result of this simplicity is that, the sense of case being almost lost, the few mistakes that can be made are made often, even by native speakers, some of them so often that they are now almost right by prescription.

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Common mistakes (confused words)

1 Accept ,Except

The words, 'accept' and 'except' are homophones which are often confused by English speakers. 'Accept' is a verb which means 'to receive' or 'to agree'. Most of the time 'except' is used as a preposition which means 'excluding'.

The following examples will make the usage clear.

Accept (VERB)	Except (PREPOSITION)
Amit accepted the job offer.	I can come with you on all days except Sunday.
Sanjiv accepted the allegation that he had cheated.	All the athletes except Anjali finished the race.
He accepted the invitation to the party.	Everyone except Shantanu was invited to the party.

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2. Bought, Brought

The difference between these two words is a very simple one. They are the past tenses of two different verbs.

'Bought' is the past tense of 'buy'.

Example

• I bought a new car last week.

'Brought' is the past tense of 'bring'

Example

• I brought him a glass of water.

The difference can be remembered easily too, as 'bring' shares its first two letters with 'brought' ('br').

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3.Can , May

 Many English speakers are confused about the usage of the words 'can' and 'may'. For e.g., 'Can I drink water?' is incorrect. 'May I drink water?' is the correct phrase to use in this case.

The key difference between 'can' and 'may' is that 'can' talks about ability and 'may' talks about permission.

CAN

Can is used in two cases:

To talk about ability.

Example

• I can finish my homework by 5 pm.
• Can you finish your homework tonight?

To ask or give permission informally.

Example

• Can I use your pen? (To a friend)
• You can use my pen. (To a friend)

MAY

May is generally used to ask or give permission formally.

Let us take a situation between a student and a teacher.

Example

• May I drink water?
• Teacher: Yes, you may.

Let us take a situation between two strangers.

Example

• May I borrow your pen?
• Yes, you may.

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4. Affect, Effect

Two words commonly confused by English speakers are 'effect' and 'affect'. 'Affect' is used as a verb and means 'to have an influence on' and 'Effect' is used as a noun and means 'the result'.

AFFECT

Example

• The dropped catch did not affect the result of the game.
• The heavy rainfall affected the grains kept in the old warehouse.

EFFECT

Example

• The effect of the tsunami was devastating.
• The side effect of the cough syrup was drowsiness.

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5. Have, Has

'Have' and 'has' are both used to denote possession, form the perfect tense, and the past tense of both is 'had', but they are used differently.

Have

'Have' is used with the following pronouns: I, you, we, they.

Example

• I have a pencil.
• We have a big house.

Pluralised nouns

Example

• Doctors have a rough time, dealing with illnesses all the time.

Has

'Has' is used with the third person singular ( he, she, it) .

Example

• She has your money.
• Amit has the book.

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6. There, Their, They're

Many speakers tend to get confused between 'There', 'Their' and 'They're' and knowing how to use these three words correctly is an important step in learning English.

The words 'There' and' Their' are homophones. Homophones are words that are spelt differently but pronounced the same. It is a common mistake to replace one for the other.

'There' always refers to a place, whether concrete or abstract, whereas 'Their' shows belonging or possession. 'They're, on the other hand, is the short form of they are

Let's look at these examples for each of them

THERE

Example

• How can anyone live there?
• Let's go there.
• There will be a party tomorrow,

THEIR

Example

• Let us buy their car.
• Let us not go to their house.
• Return their books tomorrow.

THEY'RE

Example

• They're sitting there in their car.

In this sentence, notice how 'there' is used to signify a place whereas 'their' is used to show possession. The word 'they're' is a contraction of the word 'they' and 'are' and should not be confused with 'their' and 'there'.

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✍️T. A Chandrashekhar 👨