Grammar : The Units of English

Grammar 

Let us see these Units of English individually.

1. Letter:

There are twenty six letters in English language.

They are:

A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, J, K, L, M, N, O, P, Q, R, S, T, U, V, W, X, Y and Z .

These letters have been written in Capital forms.

The same letters can also be written in Small forms.

They are:

a, b, c, d, e, f, g, h, i, j, k, l, m, n, o, p, q, r, s, t, u, v, w, x, y and z.

All these twenty-six letters are collectively called ALPHABET.

So the alphabet of English language has twenty-six letters.

These twenty-six letters can be classified into two groups.

They are:

I. Consonants

b, c, d, f, g, h, j, k, l, m, n, p, q, r, s, t, v, w, x, y and z. are called CONSONANTS. That means there are 21 consonants.

II. Vowels

a, e, i. o and u are called VOWELS. That means there are five vowels.

2.Word:

A word converts the group of letters into a meaningful one. A word plays a pivotal role in the Units of English.

A word is a group of letters with a meaning.

Ball, nation, ocean, boy, courage, install, save and organization are words.

The word ball is having four letters b..a..l..l.

The word organization is having twelve letters o..r..g..a..n..i..s..a..t..i..o..n.

In this way all the words are collective forms of few letters.

Every word carries a meaning.

Let us see few more words which we use regularly in our daily lives.

3.Phrase:

This is another important Unit in the Units of English.

A phrase is a group of words without a subject and a predicate but with a meaning.

(What are meant by subject and predicate? Let us see later.)

The basics of English language should be understood in a comprehensive manner. keep on reading till all the lessons in the basics are over. Then begin once again from this Units of English, that will give you better understanding of the Basics of English language.

Let us see few phrases.

i. The leader of the group

ii. The red ball

iii. Your class-mates

iv. Our family-members

v. A very distant place

vi. Business people

vii. To make up

viii. To get away with

ix. To score more marks

x. To attain fame

If the most important word in a phrase is a noun (what is noun? Let us see later.), it is called a Nominal phrase or a Noun phrase.

In the foloowing sections, you will understand these pharses very well.

In the examples given above, the first six phrases have nouns as the most important words.

“The leader of the group” has the noun “leader” as the most important word in that phrase.

“The red ball” has the noun “ball” as the most important word in that phrase.

So they are called Nominal phrase or Noun phrase.

Few more examples for Nominal phrases:

i. All the admitted students

ii. Tax-payers from that state

iii. The primary colors

iv. Safe web-sites

v. Only English teachers

If the most important word in the phrase is verb (what is verb? Let us see later.), that phrase is called Verbal phrase.

In the above-mentioned examples, vii, viii, ix and x have the verbs make-up, get away, score and attain as the most important words. So they are called Verbal Phrases.

Few more examples for Verbal phrases:

i. To cultivate the lands

ii. To study into night

iii. To go around the city

iv. To donate liberally

v. To be there in time

  Subject Object Predicate is the combination of three words which form any sentence.

SUBJECT:

Subject is the person or a thing who or which carries out the action of the verb.

Examples:

• Mr. Clinton is teaching Algebra to the students.

• Monkeys are playing around in the garden.

In the first sentence, the action is “teaching”. That action is carried out by Mr. Clinton. So, “Mr. Clinton” is the subject of the verb.

In the second sentence, the action is “playing”. That action is carried out by the monkeys. So, “The monkeys” is the subject of the verb.

The subject of sentence may be a simple noun or a simple pronoun as in the following sentences.

Examples:

1. Oxygen is essential for life on earth.

2. John F. Kennedy was elected as US President in 1960.

3. Honesty is the best policy.

4. Horses are majestic animals.

5. When students travel to US, they usually go by air.

The subject may be also noun-phrase as in the following cases.

Examples:

1. The Earth revolves around the sun.

2. Borrowed-garments never fit well.

3. All matter is destructible.

4. No man can serve two masters.

5. The greatest similarity between India and China is that they both have huge population.

The subject may also be an infinitive or an infinitive phrase as in the following sentences.

Examples:

1. To err is human, but to forgive is divine.

2. To retreat was difficult; to advance was impossible.

3. To seek admission in a US college is the purpose with which I take TOEFL.

4. To bribe a public servant is a penal offence.

5. To score high marks in this examination means to have bright future.

The subject may be gerund or a gerund phrase as in the following sentences.Examples:

1. Reading French is easier that speaking it.

2. Looking after children requires patience.

3. Hunting of tigers was a favorite sport of Indian Kings.

4. Bribing of public servant is a penal offence.

5. Scoring high marks in this examination is not as easy as you think of.

The subject may be a full subordinate clause as in the following cases.
1. How he reached home after the accidents was mystery to himself.

2. Why the people voted against the ruling party can be easily explained

.3. What the minister spoke was not audible because of the failure of the microphone.

4. Where the prisoners went after escaping from jail was not known to the police.

5. How he scored high marks is open secret.

A sentence may also have “it” as the subject as in the following sentences.

Examples:

1. It was raining heavily when I reached home.

2. It was in 1970 that man first landed on moon.

3. It is possible that scientists will one day release the energy that is stored in water.

4. It was already dark when they started studying.

5. It is not he who came here as invigilator.

OBJECT:

The object is the person or a thing upon whom or upon which the action of the verb is carried out.

Examples:

• Monkeys are destroying the garden.

In this sentence the action is “destroying”. That action is carried by the monkeys. But the action (destroying)is carried upon the garden. So “Monkeys” is the SUBJECT and “GARDEN” is the object of the verb.

• Mr. Clinton is teaching Algebra to the students.

In this sentence, the action is “teaching”. That action is carried out by Mr. Clinton. That action is carried upon ‘Algebra’. So “Mr. Clinton” is the SUBJECT of the verb whereas “algebra” is the OBJECT of the verb. The word “The students” is the INDIRECT OBJECT of this sentence.

PREDICATE:

The predicate in a sentence is what tells about what a person or a thing does or did or what happened to a person or to a thing?

The predicate must (1) agree in number with subject, (2) have the correct tense and (3) be in the proper voice {active or passive}.

Examples:

• Monkeys are destroying the garden.

In the above sentence, the word “monkeys” is subject. Whereas the phrase “are destroying” is the predicate.And the word “the garden” is the object.

• Mr. Clinton is teaching Algebra to the students

In the above sentence, the word “Mr. Clinton” is the subject. The phrase “is teaching” is the predicate. The words “Algebra & The students” are objects.

Words (or participles) such as “coming”, “eating”, can not form full predicates of a sentence.

Similarly, Phrases (or infinitives) such as “to come”, “to eat” also can not form full predicates of a sentence.

Phrases involving participles and infinitives with auxiliary verbs such as “will to come”, “will to go”, “may expecting”, “must starting” etc… can not form the predicates of the sentence.