TV
English Grammar
Question Tags
We use question tags to confirm the information. It is very small, may be contains 2 or 3 words. We write positive tag to negative statement and negative tag to positive statement.
Ex: Kiran is a doctor.
Question Tag: Isn't he.
Steps to write question tags:
1. Write auxiliary verb of the sentence as a beginning word (am, is, are, was, were, will, would, shall, should, can, could, do, does, did, has, have, had, may, might, need, ought to etc.)
2. If there are no auxiliaries use "do, does, did" depend on the tense of the verb.
3. Do not write no, not & never if they are in the sentence.
4. Write no, not & never if they are not in the sentence.
5. Write subject or reflexive pronoun (I, we, you, he, she, it, they) as the last word. Use question mark (?) at the end.
6. Use positive tags only for the negative words "few, little, never, rarely, scarcely, hardly, seldom".
Examples:
Statement Question Tag
Sita sings well. Doesn't she?
They came yesterday. Did they?
I like sweets. Don't I?
Raju cannot swim. Can he?
I am right. Aren't I?
You will help me. Won't you?
Vocabulary:
The knowledge of words is called vocabulary. Generally synonyms (same meaning words), Antonyms (opposite meaning words), Spellings, Silent letters will be given in TET.
Synonyms:
Abandon: leave, relinquish, forsake, resign
Appreciate: estimate, value, recognize
Bliss: happiness, joy, delight, facility, rapture
Capital: chief, principal, pre-eminent, excellent
Antonyms:
Abstract × concrete
Barren × fertile
Cheerful × gloomy
Dawn × dusk
Expand × contract
Foreign × native
Silent Letters:
The letters in brackets are not pronounced. They are silent.
l clim(b), com(b), dum(b), dou(b)t, de(b)t
l mus(c)le
l han(d)kerchief, san(d)wich, we(d)nesday
l champa(g)ne, forei(g)n, si(g)n
l bou(gh)t, brou(gh)t, cau(gh)t, thou(gh)t, borou(gh), dau(gh)ter, hei(gh)t, hi(gh), li(gh)t, mi(gh)t, kni(gh)t, nei(gh)bour, ni(gh)t, ri(gh)t, strai(gh)t, throu(gh), ti(gh)t, wei(gh)
l w(h)at, w(h)en, w(h)ere, w(h)ether, w(h)ich, w(h)ip, w(h)y
l (h)onest, (h)onour, (h)our
l (k)nee, (k)nife, (k)nob, (k)nock, (k)now and similarly in other words beginning kn
l ca(l)m, cou(l)d, ha(l)f, sa(l)mon, shou(l)d, ta(l)k, pa(l)m, sta(l)k, wa(l)k, wou(l)d, autum(n), hym(n)
l (p)neumatic, (p)sychiatrist, (p)sy-chology, (p)sychotherapy, (p)tero-dactyl and similarly in other words beginning pn, ps or pt.
l cu(p)board
l i(r)on
l (w)rap, (w)rite, (w)rong
l (w)ho, (w)hom, (w)hose, (w)hole
Phrasal Verbs:
Phrasal verbs are verbs followed by prepositions and adverbs which give them special idiomatic meanings. Here is a list of important phrases.
1. Break down = collapse
Ex: The woman broke down when she heard the news of her husband's death.
2. Call in = bring in
Ex: Please call in your friend.
3. Draw out = take out from his pocket
Ex: He drew out the knife.
4. Fall off = declined
Ex: The demand for scooters has fallen off.
5. Get over = recover from
Ex: She got over the shock.
Sentences:
There are 4 types of sentences depend on no. of clauses they have. They are
Simple sentence:
A simple sentence is one which has only one subject and one predicate. That means it has only one clause.
Ex: Ramu is a doctor.
Compound sentence: Compound sentence is made up of two or more clauses and combined by coordinating conjunctions like "and, so, but".
Ex: He ran fast but missed the train.
'He ran fast' is one clause and
'missed the train' is another clause.
Complex sentence:
Some clauses cannot stand independently. They depend upon main clauses. Complex sentence is one which has one main clause and one or more subordinate clauses.
Ex: He told me that he was a doctor.
He told me- main clause
That he was a doctor - subordinate clause.
Compound-Complex sentence: If there are more than one main clauses and at least one subordinate clause it becomes Compound-Complex sentence.
Ex: When Sachin completed the century the audience clapped and the cheer girls danced.
The audience clapped - main clause 1
The cheer girls danced - main clause 2
When Sachin completed the century - subordinate clause
Transformation of sentences
1. Simple to compound: Change the phrase as another main clause and combine them with conjunction.
Ex: I praised him for his intelligence (simple)
Change the phrase as clause.
For his intelligence => he was an intelligent
Use conjunction 'so'.
He was an intelligent, so I praised him. (Compound)
2. Compound to Complex: Change one main clause as subordinate clause.
Ex: He was sick and so he could not come to school. (Compound)
As he was sick, he could not come to school. (Complex)
3. Compound to Simple: Change a main clause into a phrase.
Ex: Ravi felt hungry, he had his lunch. (Compound)
Being hungry, Ravi had his lunch. (Simple)
4. Complex to Simple: Change the subordinate clause into phrase and use it along with main clause.
Ex: He doesn't know where she works. (Complex)
Where she works (sub. Clause) => her working place. (Phrase)
He doesn't know her working place. (Simple)
5. Complex to Compound: Change the subordinate clause into main clause and combine with conjunction (and, or, but).
Ex: Though Ravi is irregular, he is a bright student. (Complex)
Ravi is irregular but he is a bright student. (Compound)
Letter writing:
We can divide the letters into Personal and business. In multiple choice questions few things only can be asked from this.
Salutations of the Personal letters: Dear father, My dear mother, Dear Ravi, Dear friend.
Salutations of the Business letters: Sir, Madam, M/s
Subscriptions of the personal letter: Yours affectionately, Yours sincerely (only for friends), Yours lovingly, Your
Subscriptions of the business letters: Yours faithfully, Yours truly.
No apostrophe in subscriptions.
Often confused phrase:
Your's faithfully (wrong)
Yours faithful (wrong)
Yours faithfully (correct)
-ly comes compulsory at the end, if it started with 'yours'.
-ly doesn't come if it is 'your'
Yours loving son (wrong)
Your loving son (correct)
Comprehension passage:
Read the passage once carefully before reading the questions corresponding. Again read the paragraph. Then you can get central idea of the passage. Finally answer the questions. Model passage is given here.
Louis Braille lost his sight accidentally as a child. Nevertheless, he was able to complete his education at a school for the blind in Paris and became a teacher. In his days, the few books that were available for blind people were printed in big, raised type, the letters used were those of the ordinary alphabet. The reading of such books required immense effort. Writing was almost impossible for a blind person was still restricted to an alphabet which was extraordinarily difficult to reproduce on paper.
Braille's idea was to use raised dots instead of raised letters. He evolved a system which used only six dots in all. By various combinations of these dots, it not only proved possible to represent each letter in the alphabet, but punctuation marks, numbers and musical notations as well. Reading and writing have thus been enormously simplified. The sensitive fingers of a blind person can travel rapidly over the dots.
Choose the correct answer from the given four alternatives:
1. Louis Braille
1.was blind by birth
2. lost his sight gradually
3. became blind accidentally
4. became blind after he com pleted his education
2. The books for blind before Braille were
1. printed in raised letters
2. used raised dots
3. used a special alphabet
4.were not available
3. Braille's new system:
1. introduced a new alphabet for the blind
2.used six dots in different
combinations
3. introduced a new typewriter
4. trained the blind to use their fingers
4. His new system can represent
1. alphabets & numbers 2. punctuation marks
3. musical notations 4. all of the above
5. Where did he complete his education?
1. New York 2. Paris
3. London 4. Russia
Answers:
1. 3 2. 1 3. 2
4. 4 5. 2
