2nd lesson: Nouns

First of all, I would like to recall what are nouns. Nouns according to Longman English Dictionary Online are a word or group of words that represent a person (such as 'Michael', 'teacher' or 'police officer'), a place (such as 'France' or 'school'), a thing or activity (such as 'coffee' or 'football'), or a quality or idea (such as 'danger' or 'happiness'). In simpler words, it is a name given to person, place, thing, activity, or situation.

However, there are a few types of nouns. They are:

• Common nouns
• Proper nouns
• Abstract nouns
• Concrete nouns
  
• Collective nouns
• Countable/non-countable nouns

Common Nouns are general name given to people (ie: man), things (ie: shoes) and places (ie: shopping mall).
Proper Nouns are specific names given to people (ie: Mark), things (ie: Platform Shoes), and places (ie: Pavillion).
Abstract Nouns are name given to things that we can not see but we can think of it (ie: God, friendship)
Concrete Nouns are nouns that we can touch, see, hear, taste and feel (ie: brick, table)
Collective Nouns are name given to group of things (ie: flock of birds)
Countable and non-Countable Nouns are nouns that we can count (ie: boxes, bottles) and nouns that we can not count (ie: sand, smoke)

Now, try these exercises:Common nouns

• Common nouns
• Proper nouns
• Abstract nouns
• Concrete nouns
  
• Collective nouns
• Countable/non-countable nouns

Here is a video for you guys for a recap. :)

1st lesson: What is Grammar?

Longman English Dictionary Online defines 'grammar' as the rules by which words change their forms and are combined into sentences, or the study or use of these rules. In another word, grammar is basically how to form a sentence. A sentence, most of the time, will consists of Subject (noun), Verb (verb) and Object (noun) This is called Subject-Verb Agreement (SVA or SVO).

For example:

'Dog' in this case is the subject, 'ate' is the verb and 'homework' is the object.


There are a few rules in SVA. The first rule is:

• Subject must agree with verb, and vice versa, in term of number or quantity (singular/plural).

· If subject is singular, verb must be singular as well (except for I and You)

Ø He likes the cat.

· If subject is plural, verb must be plural as well

ØThey love the principal

• However, this only apply in Simple Present Tense. In Simple Past Tense, the are no helping verbs; you still need to change the main verbs; is-are, was-were, has-have, does-do.

Now, try this exercise.