Grammar Essentials (Handbook)
🔒 Log in to trackParts of speech: nouns, pronouns, adjectives, adverbs
🔒 Log in to trackEvery word in a sentence does one of eight jobs. An error in grammar usually means a word is doing the wrong job. For example, a noun may stand where an adverb is needed. First find the job the slot needs. Then pick the word that does that job.
The eight jobs of a word
| Part of speech | Job | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Noun | names a person, place, thing or idea | Honesty pays. |
| Pronoun | replaces a noun | She called us. |
| Adjective | describes a noun or pronoun | a brave soldier |
| Verb | shows an action or a state | He writes. She is tired. |
| Adverb | describes a verb, adjective or adverb | runs fast, very tall |
| Preposition | links a noun to the rest of the sentence | sat on the wall |
| Conjunction | joins words or clauses | tea or coffee |
| Interjection | shows sudden feeling | Alas! He is gone. |
Rule: Ask what the slot needs: noun, adjective, adverb or verb. Then choose the word of that type.
Nouns that break the usual rules
| Group | Words | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| No plural (uncountable) | information, advice, furniture, luggage, baggage, equipment, machinery, scenery, poetry, jewellery, evidence, knowledge, traffic, bread | singular verb; count with a piece of: two pieces of advice |
| Always plural | scissors, trousers, spectacles, tongs, pliers, thanks, alms, premises, riches, outskirts, surroundings, belongings, proceeds | plural verb; a pair of scissors takes a singular verb |
| Singular form, plural meaning | cattle, police, people, poultry, clergy, gentry, vermin, peasantry | plural verb: The police are here. |
| Plural form, singular meaning | news, mathematics, physics, economics, civics, measles, mumps, billiards | singular verb: The news is good. |
| Same in singular and plural | sheep, deer, swine, series, species, aircraft | the verb or a / two shows the number |
Collective nouns and the possessive
A collective noun names a group: team, committee, jury, family, audience, crowd, army.
- Group acts as one unit: singular verb. The committee has approved the plan.
- Members act separately: plural verb. The jury were divided.
The possessive shows ownership.
- Living things take 's: the minister's car. Non-living things take of: the leg of the table.
- Exceptions: time, distance, weight and personified things: a day's leave, a stone's throw, the nation's pride.
- One shop owned by both: Ram and Shyam's shop. Two shops: Ram's and Shyam's shops.
Pronouns
| Situation | Use | Example |
|---|---|---|
| After a preposition (between, for, with, like) | object form | between you and me |
| After than / as | the form the hidden verb needs | taller than I (am); likes you more than him |
| After let | object form | Let him and me try. |
| Complement of be (formal) | subject form | It is I. |
| Subject one | one's, oneself | One must keep one's word. |
| Order of persons | normal: 2nd, 3rd, 1st; admitting a fault: 1st, 2nd, 3rd | You, he and I / I, you and he |
- Words like avail, absent, pride need a -self pronoun: He availed himself of the offer.
- A -self pronoun is never a subject: My friend and myself went is wrong. Say My friend and I went.
- Who = subject (people). Whom = object (people). Whose = owner. Which = things.
- Use that after superlatives and after all, only, same, none, nothing, everything.
- Either / neither speak of two. Any / none speak of more than two. Traditional rule: each other (two), one another (more than two).
- A pronoun needs one clear owner and agrees with it: Each of the girls brought her bag.
Adjectives
| Pair | Rule | Example |
|---|---|---|
| few / a few / the few | hardly any / some / all of the small number | The few books he had were old. |
| little / a little / the little | same idea, uncountable | There is little hope. |
| many / much | countable / uncountable | many chairs, much furniture |
| fewer / less | countable / uncountable | fewer people, less sugar |
| elder / older | elder is for family, before a noun, never with than | my elder sister; older than me |
| latest / latter | time / order | the latest news; the latter half |
| farther / further | distance / extra | two km farther; further details |
Adverbs and word forms
- too = more than needed: too weak to walk. very = a high degree. enough comes after the word: old enough.
- Hardly, scarcely, barely, seldom, rarely are already negative: I can hardly hear.
- Look-alikes: hard (with effort) and hardly (almost not); late and lately (recently); near and nearly (almost); high and highly (very much). Match the slot to the word type. A noun follows the, his, of. An adjective sits before a noun. An adverb follows an action verb.
After an action verb use an adverb: She sings beautifully. After a linking verb (be, seem, look, feel, smell, taste, sound, appear, become, grow) use an adjective: The soup tastes good.
Watch: Look works both ways. He looked sad (seemed). He looked sadly at the dog (gazed).
Question types you will see
Each type: how to recognise it, the method step by step, and one question to try.
Uncountable noun trap
A no-plural noun appears with -s (advices, furnitures, informations), or with many instead of much.
Ask: can I count this noun one by one?
If not, drop the -s and use a singular verb.
Use much, little or some with it, not many.
Pick the option with the singular form.
The exam reuses the same short list of no-plural nouns every year.
She gave me many useful advices before the interview. Which part is wrong?
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'Advice' cannot be counted.
It has no plural form.
Correct: 'some useful advice'.
many useful advices -> some useful advice
Word-form family choice
A blank sits before a noun, after a preposition or after an action verb. The four options are forms of one word.
Decide what the slot needs: noun, adjective, adverb or verb.
Find the signal: the, his or of before it means noun.
Before a noun means adjective. After an action verb means adverb.
Pick the option with that form.
Only one member of the family fits the job of the slot.
Hard work is the key to ___. (succeed / success / successful / successfully)
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'Key to' is followed by a noun.
The noun of this family is 'success'.
success
Linking verb + adjective
The verb is be, seem, look, feel, smell, taste or sound, and one option is an -ly adverb.
Test the verb: can 'is' or 'seems' replace it?
If yes, it is a linking verb.
A linking verb takes an adjective.
Reject the -ly adverb.
The adjective describes the subject, not the way the action is done.
The flowers smell ___. (sweet / sweetly)
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'Smell' here means 'are sweet to the nose'.
That is a linking verb.
It takes the adjective 'sweet'.
sweet
Pronoun case and owner
A pronoun follows a preposition (between you and ___), acts as a subject, or must agree with its owner (its, their).
Find the job of the pronoun: doer, receiver or owner.
Receiver or after a preposition: me, him, them.
Doer: I, he, they.
Owner: its, his, their, never it's.
The job of the pronoun fixes its form, not the way it sounds.
Between you and ___, the plan is weak. (me / I)
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'Between' is a preposition.
After a preposition use the object form.
me
many / much and fewer / less
The blank sits before a noun, and the options mix many, much, fewer, less.
Can you count the noun? Chairs, people, errors: yes.
Countable: many or fewer.
Uncountable: much or less (furniture, sugar, time).
Match the option.
Each word is fixed to one kind of noun.
There is ___ sugar in the tea than in the coffee. (fewer / less)
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Sugar cannot be counted.
An uncountable noun takes 'less'.
less
Look-alike adverbs and hardly
The options are hard / hardly, late / lately, near / nearly, high / highly. Or a negative word sits next to hardly.
Say the meaning: with effort, almost not, recently, almost, very much.
hard = with effort; hardly = almost not.
Hardly, scarcely and barely already mean 'almost not'.
Never add not or n't to them.
The -ly form is not always the adverb of the plain form; it often has a new meaning.
The old man could ___ walk without a stick. (hard / hardly)
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The meaning is 'almost not'.
'Hardly' means almost not.
'Hard' would mean 'with great effort'.
hardly
Verb after news, police, cattle
The subject is news, mathematics, police, people, cattle or scissors, and the options are is / are.
Match the noun to its group.
news, mathematics, measles: singular verb.
police, people, cattle, scissors: plural verb.
Choose is or are to match.
The shape of the word (with -s or without) does not decide the number.
The news ___ good for the farmers. (is / are)
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'News' looks plural but is singular.
A singular subject takes 'is'.
is
Possessive: 's or of
A noun shows ownership, and the options mix 's forms with of forms.
Is the owner a living being? Use 's.
Is the owner a non-living thing? Use of.
Time, distance and weight take 's: a day's leave.
Two owners of one thing: 's on the last name only.
English marks ownership by 's for living things and by of for lifeless things.
Which is correct? (a) the table's leg (b) the leg of the table
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A table is not a living thing.
Non-living things take 'of'.
(b) the leg of the table
Shortcuts that save time
When a pronoun sits next to a noun (Ravi and I / Ravi and me), cover the noun. Read the sentence with the pronoun alone. The form that sounds right is the answer.
The award was shared by Meena and ___. (I / me)
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Cover 'Meena and'.
'Shared by ___' needs an object form after the preposition 'by'.
Say it: 'shared by me'.
me
In an error-spotting sentence, circle each noun. Ask two questions. Can I count it? Is it one of the special groups (no plural, always plural, cattle-type)? Words like informations, furnitures and advices are favourite errors.
He gave me some useful advices before the interview.
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'Advice' has no plural.
Write 'some useful advice'.
To count it, say 'two pieces of advice'.
advice
Few and little mean the glass is nearly empty (a negative feeling). A few and a little mean there is something (a positive feeling). Let the rest of the sentence show the feeling.
He had ___ friends in the new city, so he felt lonely. (few / a few)
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Feeling lonely is a negative result.
A negative feeling needs 'few' (hardly any).
few
Adjectives follow the order OSASCOMP: Opinion, Size, Age, Shape, Colour, Origin, Material, Purpose. Example: a beautiful small old round brown Indian wooden table. Some adjectives have no degrees: unique, perfect, ideal, complete, entire, round, square, supreme, universal. So more unique is wrong. Learn word families: succeed, success, successful, successfully; courage, encourage, courageous; strength, strengthen, strong; beauty, beautify, beautiful; anger, angry, angrily.
After a definite number, dozen, hundred, thousand, million, score, lakh, crore and pair take no -s: three dozen eggs, five hundred rupees. But dozens of eggs and hundreds of people keep the -s. A number + noun used as an adjective takes a hyphen and the noun stays singular: a five-year plan, a ten-rupee note, a two-hour delay.
Frequency words go before the main verb but after be: He always comes late. He is always late. Use very with the plain adjective and with -ing adjectives (very tall, very interesting). Use much with comparatives and many -ed words (much taller, much obliged).
Mistakes to avoid
Where most students lose marks on this subtopic.
Making a no-plural noun plural: furnitures, informations, luggages, sceneries.
Keep it singular: furniture, information, luggage, scenery.
Using myself as a subject: Ravi and myself will attend.
Use I: Ravi and I will attend.
Writing elder than.
With than, say older than: she is older than me.
Using less with countable nouns: less mistakes.
Use fewer with countable nouns: fewer mistakes.
Adding a second negative to hardly or scarcely: I could not hardly breathe.
Hardly is already negative: I could hardly breathe.
Adding -s to dozen, hundred or lakh after a number: five hundreds rupees.
Keep it plain after a number: five hundred rupees.
Quick revision
Read this the night before the exam.
Slot decides the word: noun after the, his, of; adjective before a noun; adverb after an action verb.
No plural: information, advice, furniture, luggage, news, machinery, scenery.
much + uncountable; many + countable plural; less + uncountable; fewer + countable.
Linking verbs (seem, look, feel, taste) take an adjective: tastes good.
Between you and me. Its has no apostrophe; it's means it is.
each other for two, one another for more than two (traditional exam rule).
Living things take 's; non-living things take of (leg of the table).
Practice: 12 questions
Sets of 10, mixed across the question types above. Every answer has a step-by-step explanation.
Topic test · 12 questions
Suggested time 5 min · wrong answers go to your mistake notebook automatically.