English Lesson 3 - Prepositions

A preposition is a short word that is employed in sentences to show the relationship nouns, pronouns or phrases have with other parts within the respective sentences. Prepositions are normally found positioned in the latter part of the sentence, but before a noun or pronoun.

Prepositions are seen to show some key characteristics and perform some vital functions when used in sentences. Let us look at the various uses of prepositions in English.

• They are used to show the direction of something.
• They can refer to the time of something happening.
• They can be used to denote the position or location of an object in the sentence.
• They are also used to represent spatial relationships.
• Prepositional phrases, in particular, can be used to do all of these when used in sentences.

Types of Prepositions

Based on the different uses and functions of prepositions, they can be divided into four main types. They are as follows:

Prepositions of time: used to show when something is happening.

For example:

• • We will be meeting on Friday.
  • The supermarket will be closed from 9 p.m. to 9 a.m.
  • Can you come after some time?
  • We have been asked to work from home until the end of May.
  • The whole country was asked to stay home during the pandemic to ensure safety and well-being.

• Prepositions of Place – indicate the place or position of something.

For example:

• • I have kept the book I borrowed from you on the table.
  • Henry hid behind the door.
  • The dog jumped over the fence.
  • Can you place the red roses in between the white daisies?
  • He was waiting in front of the EB office.
• Prepositions of Direction – used to denote the direction in which something travels or moves.

For example:

• • The girl ran toward her father the moment she saw him.
  • Jerry jumped into the river to help his sister.
  • Veena passed the book to Priya.
  • When will Salvia be returning from London?
  • Neena lives across the street.
• Prepositions of Location – employed to denote the location of a particular object.

For example:

• • Kenny would be staying at his cousin’s place for the weekend.
  • Make sure you keep all the toys back in its place after you play.
  • I lay on the floor for a really long time.
• Prepositions of Spatial Relationship – used to denote an object’s movement away from the source and towards a source.

For example:

• • Navya sat leaning against the wall.
  • The circus was stationed opposite the children’s park.
  • Lakshmi sat beneath the trees.
  • Shankar sat beside the stairs.
  • We spent the evening walking around the lake.
  • Prepositional Phrase: a combination of a preposition and a noun(the object it is affecting).

For example:

• • See to it that you reach the venue on time.
  • The medicines you asked for are out of stock.
  • Why don’t we try taking classes outside for a change.
  • Make sure you fill in all the forms at once.
  • Salmaan was able to finish it only with the help of his friends.

Examples of Prepositions Used in Sentences

To know how exactly prepositions can be used in sentences, check out the following sentences.

• I will be going to church in the morning.
• She placed the plates on the dining table.
• Baskar found the cat hiding under the bed.
• Will you be with Raimy or Mazeeka?
• I love sitting on the beach at night.
• Rachel met Phoebe by the lake.
• Finn stood opposite Lisa.
• The grocery store is right in front of the bus stop.
• My brother climbed onto the roof.
• It feels great to sit beneath the trees and read.

English Lesson 2 - Pronouns

Pronouns are words that can be used as a 'placeholder' for a noun. Pronouns can refer to people, places, things, or ideas.

There are seven types of pronouns. 

• Personal pronouns 

  Personal pronouns refer to people or objects. They can directly replace the noun in a sentence.

  I, you, he, she, it, we, they, me, him, her, us, them

• Demonstrative pronouns 
  

  Demonstrative pronouns are words that show distance (in time or space) between a noun and the speaker. They can also show whether the noun is singular or plural.

  this, that, these, those

• Interrogative pronouns 

  Interrogative pronouns allow a question to be asked about a noun.

  who, whom, whose (Refer to people)

  which, what (Refer to things)

• Reflexive pronouns

  Reflexive Pronouns are words ending in -self or -selves and are used when the subject and object of a sentence are the same.

  myself, yourself, himself, herself, itself, oneself, ourselves, yourselves, themselves

• Indefinite pronouns 
  
  Indefinite pronouns are used when the noun is not specific.

  anything, anybody, anyone, something, somebody, someone, nothing, nobody, none, no one

• Relative pronouns

  that, which, who, whose, whom, where, when are words that begin a relative clause and add extra information to a sentence.

• Possessive pronouns 
  

  Possessive pronouns are used to show who owns, or can be linked to, an item.

  mine, yours, his, hers, ours, theirs

English Lesson 1 - Nouns

A noun is a word that functions as the name of something. Nouns are the most common class of word in English. There are lots of types of nouns as you can see down below:

Common Nouns

Common nouns are used to name a GENERAL type of person, place or thing.

Common nouns can be divided into smaller classes such as countable and uncountable nouns, concrete and abstract nouns and collective nouns.

Examples of common nouns: girl, city, animal, friend, house, food

Proper Nouns

Proper nouns are used to name a SPECIFIC person, place or thing. In English, proper nouns begin with a capital letter. Proper nouns do not normally have a determiner before them (e.g. the London, the Mary etc.) though there are some exceptions (e.g. Is she the Mary that we met at the conference?).

Examples of proper nouns: John, London, Pluto, Monday, France

Compound Nouns

Compound nouns are two or more words that create a noun. Compound nouns are sometimes one word (haircut), words joined by a hyphen (son-in-law) or as separate words (bus stop). The main stress is normally on the first part of the compound word (sunglasses, swimming pool)

Examples of compound nouns: toothbrush, rainfall, sailboat, mother-in-law, well-being, alarm clock, credit card

Countable Nouns

Countable nouns are nouns that CAN be counted. They have a singular and a plural form and can be used with a number. Sometimes countable nouns are called count nouns.

Examples of countable nouns: car, desk, cup, house, bike, eye, butterfly

Uncountable Nouns

Uncountable nouns are nouns that CANNOT be counted. These are sometimes called Mass Nouns. Uncountable nouns often refer to:

• substances: paper, wood, plastic
• liquids: milk, oil , juice
• gases: air, oxygen
• abstract ideas: happiness, time, information

Examples of uncountable nouns: water, coffee, cheese, sand, furniture, skin, wool, gold, fur

Collective Nouns

Collective nouns are words that refer to a set or group of people, animals or things.

Examples of collective nouns: staff, team, crew, herd, flock, bunch

Concrete Nouns

Concrete nouns are nouns which refer to people and things that exist physically and that at least one of the senses can detect (can be seen, felt, heard, smelled/smelt, or tasted).

Examples of concrete nouns: dog, tree, apple, moon, coin, sock, ball, water

Abstract Nouns

Abstract nouns are nouns that have no physical existence and are not concrete. They refer to ideas, emotions or concepts so you CANNOT see, touch, hear, smell or taste something that is an abstract noun. Many abstract nouns are uncountable.

Examples of abstract nouns: love, time, happiness, bravery, creativity, justice, freedom, speed

Gerunds

A gerund, sometimes called a verbal noun, is a noun formed from a verb. Since all gerunds end in -ing, they are sometimes confused as being a verb (present participle).

Example: Running is good for you.
Here running looks like a verb because of its -ing ending but it is a noun (gerund) because we are talking about the concept of running, we are talking about a thing.

Examples of gerunds: reading, writing, dancing, thinking, flying