ENGLISH LANGUAGE GRAMMAR FOR NOVICES VOL 1
Learning a new language is always challenging. Mastering it is not easy. In fact it may take one a life time to master any language. In our everyday life mastering a language is not the ultimate goal unless you are planning to teach or use it extensively. The most important thing for any person who is learning a new language is to use that language as soon as possible. These include: reading, speaking and writing. In this paper one will be taking a look at the main elements of English language.
These are the elements that one will come across most often when reading, writing or speaking English. Learning these elements may help one to quickly get acquainted with English language. One in this paper will try to keep everything as simple as possible. This means that some terminology used in English language to describe the elements that will be studies will not be used unless they carry a significant meaning.
Personal pronouns
A pronoun is a word that takes the place of a noun(Grammar Revolution, 2021)
✓ Personal pronouns are divided into two: subject pronouns and object pronouns.
✓ Later on one will take a look at sentence structure and the concept of object and subject will be unveiled.
✓ Now all one needs to know is that the basic sentence structure in English is as follows: Subject + Verb + object.
✓ Subject -> is the person, place, thing or idea that the sentence is about. It is what performs the action (Merrel, 2020).
✓ Verb -> is the action that is being performed by the subject. It explains what the subject is doing (Merrel, 2020).
✓ Object -> a person or a thing that that receives the action of the verb (Merrel, 2020).
Example:
Musa is kicking the ball.
Musa -> subject
Kicking -> verb
Ball -> object
SUBJECT PRONOUNS: I, you (singular), he, she, it, we, you (plural),and they
Examples:
a) Lungile is cleaning the house. She is a good girl.
b) Musa is studying. He is a responsible young man.
c) The dog is not good. It ate all the eggs.
d) Musa and Themba are friends. They are here.
e) We will go soon.
f) You are late.
g) I am very happy to see you.
h) You are both late.
OBJECT PRONOUNS: me, you, him, her, it, us, you, and them
Examples
• I want to see you.
• Can you help me?
• It will speak to them.
• I saw her in town today.
• We saw them in town today.
• If you find him, let me know.
• Give it to me.
• Let us know if you change your mind.
Quick notes:
A). (British Council, 2021)
✓ ‘she or her ’ -> refers to women.
✓ ‘he or him’ -> refers to men.
✓ ‘it’ -> to talk about ourselves.
✓ ‘they or them’ -> refers to institutions and organizations.
✓ ‘you’ -> refers to people in general.
B) (Elzu, 2008)
• ‘it’ - > is always used for non-living things when it is singular.
• ‘she’ -> is always use as singular noun when it is singular.
• ‘he’ -> is always use as singular noun when it is singular.
• ‘they’ -> is for living and non-living things that comes as plural noun.
• First Person: I, me, us, we.
• Second Person: you, your/yours.
• Third Person: he, she, it, one, they, his, her, hers, its, ones, their/theirs, him, them.
• If personal pronoun comes together then we use the formula of “2nd person, 3rd person, and 1st person”. E.g. You, He and I are students.
1. ‘is’ and ‘are’( Aron, 2011), (7ESL,2021)
a) ‘is’
➔ Is the singular form of verb ‘to be’.
➔ Is used for singular nouns.
Examples:
✓ He is a good boy.
✓ Thoko is a good girl.
b) ‘are’
- It is the plural form of verb ‘to be’.
➔ Is used for plural nouns.
Examples:
✓ They are going to school.
✓ Musa and Thoko are friends.
2. ‘there is’ and ‘there are’ (Trusler , 2017)
✓ ‘There is’ is used for singular nouns.
✓ ‘There is’ is used when the first noun in the series is singular or non-count.
✓ ‘There are’ is for plural nouns.
✓ ‘There are’ is used when the first noun in the series is plural.
Examples:
✓ There is no food in the house.
✓ There are two girls in the house.
✓ There is a book and a pen in my bag.
✓ There is cream and sugar on the table.
✓ There are flowers and herbs in my garden.
✓ There are chips and popcorn at the party.
3. ‘was’ and ‘were’ (Dictionary.com, 2021)
✓ ‘was’ is the past tense of ‘is’.
✓ ‘were’ is the past tense of ‘are’.
✓ ‘was’=> use it to talk about known facts or as a helping verb.
✓ Note: was => I, she/he/it
✓ Note: were => you, we, they
a) I was sick last night.
b) You were supposed to call me.
c) It was a very cold morning.
d) They were happy.
e) I was going to call you later on.
4. ‘a’ , ‘an’, and ‘the’( Cambridge dictionary, 2021)
- ‘a’ and ‘an’ go before a noun.
- ‘a’ and ‘an’ shows that what is referred to is not already known to the speaker, listener, write and/or reader (it is the indefinite article).
- ‘a’ is used before a consonant sound.
- ‘an’ is used before a vowel sound.
- ‘a’ and ‘an’ is used with singular countable nouns.
a) Do you have a car.
b) Do you live in a house.
c) She is a good girl.
d) I ate an apple last night.
- ‘the’ go before noun.
- ‘the’ shows that what is referred to is already know to the speaker, listener, write and/or reader.
- ‘the’ with singular and plural countable nouns.
a) The house was empty.
b) The boy stole all my belongings.
c) Would you like to try the apple pie?
References:
Grammar Revolution (2021) what is a pronoun?
Retrieved: https://www.english-grammar-revoultion.com/what-is-a-pronoun.html
Merrell S. (2020), what is the Object of a sentence definition & Examples, Study.com
Retrieved: https://study.com/academy/lesson/what-is-the-object-of-a-sentence-definition-examples.html
British Council (2021) Personal pronouns, Learn English
Retrieved:https://https://learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/english-grammar-reference/personal-pronouns
Elzu (2008), Pronoun and Personal Pronoun Hot tips, English Language Learning Education for Career & Job
Retrieved: http://englishlearningpractices.blogspot.com/2008/12/pronoun-and-personal-pronoun-hot-tips.html?m=1
Aron (2011), Difference Between is and are in English grammar, Difference Between.com.
Retrieved: https://www.differencebetween.com/difference-between-is-and-are-in-english-grammar/
7ESL(2021), Is vs. Are: When to use are vs. is (with useful examples)
Retrieved: https://esl.com/is-vsare/
Trusler(2017), There is/There are +nouns in a series, ESLlibrary
Retrieved: https://esllibrary.com/blog/there-is-there-are
Dictionary.com (2021), “Was” Vs. “Were” : Use Cases And Examples
Retrieved: https://www.thesause.com/e/grammar/was-vs-were-use-cases-and-examples/
Cambridge dictionary (2021), A/am and the
Retrieved: https://dictionary.cambridge.org/grammar/british-grammar/a-an-and-the