BHAI PARMANAND VIDYA MANDIR

CLASS IV

GRAMMAR RULES

SENTENCE- PARTS AND KINDS

A sentence is a group of words which makes complete sense. A sentence begins

with a capital letter and ends with a full stop, exclamation mark or question

mark.

PARTS OF A SENTENCE- A sentence has two parts- Subject and Predicate.

Subject tells us about whom or what we are talking.

Predicate tells us what are we talking about the subject.

Example- Paris is the capital of France.

Subject- Paris

Predicate- is the capital of France

(All sentences don’t have an object but if a sentence has an object, you can

identify it by using the verb and asking the questions ‘what’ or ‘whom’.

Example 1- Yuvraj kicked the football. Ask yourself, ‘What did Yuvraj kick?’

Answer: football. So ‘football’ is the object.

Example 2- My dad loves me. Ask yourself, ‘Whom does dad love?’

Answer: me. So ‘me’ is the object.

KINDS OF SENTENCES- A sentence is of the following kinds-

a) Assertive/Declarative Sentences- They tell or state something. These

sentences begin with a capital letter and end with a full stop.

Eg- Paris is the capital of France.

b) Interrogative Sentences- They ask a question. These sentences end with a

question mark.

Eg- How do you come to school?

c) Exclamatory Sentences- They show a high degree of expression. It can be

an expression of pain, sadness or joy. These sentences contain an

exclamation mark.

Eg- Alas! He is no more.

Eg How rude of her to talk to me like this!

d) Imperative Sentences- They make a request, give an order or advice.

These sentences

Eg- Please give me a pen.

Eg- Stand straight.

Eg- Take your medicines on time.

e) Negative Sentence- A sentence which contains the word(s) ‘no, not, never,

nay’ is a negative sentence. Any assertive/interrogative/exclamatory and

imperative sentence can be negative too if it contains these words.

Eg- She doesn’t know the way to her school.

(Basically, this is an assertive sentence but it is negative, too.)

Punctuation

Important Points to Remember:

a) All sentences begin with a capital letter.

b) Assertive and Imperative sentences end with a full stop(.).

c) Interrogative sentences end with a question mark(?).

d) Exclamatory sentences use an exclamation mark(!).

e) All proper nouns always start with a capital letter.

f) The pronoun ‘I’ is always capitalized.

g) The ‘G’ of God is always capital. Even the pronouns used for God

are always capital. Example- God always showers upon us His

blessings.

h) Commas are used to separate words of the same series.

(Example-Susan bought apples, mangoes, bananas and cherries.)

Commas are also used to separate the names of people when we

are addressing their name and talking to them.

(Example- Aarav, come here.)

i) Use of apostrophe- Apostrophe is used to show

belonging/ownership/possession. We add an ‘s’ after the

apostrophe. (Example- This is Rahul’s guitar.)

In case of plural nouns which end with an ‘s’, we only add the

apostrophe, no ‘s’ is to be added. (For example, The girls’ trial room

is vacant.)

When a word already ends with an ‘s’ we only add the apostrophe,

no ‘s’ is added. (For example, Vikas’ hat is lost.)

Apostrophe is also used in short forms. (Example- I don’t know the

way to my house from here.)

Nouns- Kinds

A noun is the name of a person, animal, place or thing. It may also name a

feeling or idea.

Nouns are of the following kinds-

a) Common Nouns- are the names given to things, animals, places or

people which are of the same kind. For example: girl, boy, pencil,

park

b) Proper Nouns- are the names of particular persons, places, animals

and things. For example: Indira Gandhi, India, New Delhi, Mt

Everest (Proper Nouns are always written in capital.)

c) Collective Nouns- are the names of groups of people, animals and

things taken as one unit. (For example: a herd of cows)

d) Abstract Nouns- are the names given to qualities, feelings or ideas

which we can only feel but can never touch or see.

e) Material Nouns- are the names of materials or substances from

which something is made. Rather than being classified as a

different kind, they are mostly put under the category of common

nouns. For example: plastic, steel, gold)

Nouns- Number

Number in nouns - Singular number is used when the noun refers

to one item. Plural number is used when the noun refers to more

than one item. Countable nouns have both singular and plural

forms. Uncountable nouns and mass nouns do not normally have a

plural form.

How to change number

Rule 1:

In general “s” is used at the end of a singular noun to make it plural

Example:

Singular Plural

Pencil Pencils

Cow Cows

House Houses

Dog Dogs

Mobile Mobiles

Rule 2:

If there exist s, sh, ch, x and z in the end, “es” gets to be used.

Examples:

Singular Plural

Bus Buses

Dish Dishes

Branch Branches

Fox Foxes

Fez Fezes

Rule 3:

When pronunciation of ch is like “k”, just “s” is added at the end

Example:

Singular Plural

Monarch Monarchs

Patriarch Patriarchs

Matriarch Matriarchs

Stomach Stomachs

Hierarch Hierarchs

Part 1: when there’s a “y” in the end and a Consonant before that “y”, “i” substitutes

it and an “es” thereafter.

Example:

Singular Plural

Story Stories

Hobby Hobbies

Army Armies

Fly Flies

Baby Babies

Part 2: but if there’s a vowel ahead of that “y”, no need to change it, only “s” to add.

Example

Singular Plural

Donkey Donkeys

Toy Toys

Day Days

Joy Joys

Play Plays

Rule 4:

“v” replaces f or fe and then adds an “es” to finish it.

Example:

Singular Plural

thief Thieves

Wife Wives

Knife Knives

Wolf Wolves

Leaf Leaves

Part 1: “es” to be added if the noun is finished by “o” and a consonant places ahead.

Example:

singular Plural

Hero Heroes

Mango Mangoes

Zero Zeroes

Potato Potatoes

Echo Echoes

Part 2: but when there’s a vowel before that “o”, only “s” is enough.

Example

Singular Plural

Cuckoo Cuckoos

Bamboo Bamboos

Studio Studios

Portfolio Portfolios

Cameo Cameos

Exception 1: though there’s an “o” and a consonant ahead of it, some nouns use only

“s”.

Example:

Singular Plural

Photo Photos

Piano Pianos

Radio Radios

Canto Cantos

Memo Memos

Exception 2: for some, “s” and “es” both are correct.

Singular Plural

Mosquito Mosquitos/mosquitoes

Commando Commandos/commandoes

Portico Porticos/porticoes

Calico Calicos/calicoes

Memento Mementos/mementoes

Rule 5:

Some require changing the middle-vowel of the word to make it plural.

Example:

Singular Plural

Man Men

Woman Women

Foot Feet

Mouse Mice

Tooth Teeth

Rule 6:

Some require en, ren and ne to add at last.

Example:

Singular plural

Ox Oxen

Child Children

Brother Brethren (brothers also correct)

Cow Kine (cows also correct)

Sister Sistren (sisters also correct)

Part 1: if “man” means human being in a compound noun(a noun that contains two or

more words that jointly make a single noun), “men”replaces that “man”.

Example:

singular plural

Fisherman Fishermen

Workman Workmen

Boatman Boatmen

Man-of-war Men-of-war

Salesman salesmen

Part 2: but when “man” is just a part of the word, or it refers to any ethnic

group, race or civilian, there comes “s”.

Singular Plural

Mussalman Mussalmans

Brahman Brahmans

German Germans

Norman Normans

Rule 7:

“s” to be added when there’s a “ful” in the end.

Example:

singular plural

Handful Handfuls

Mouthful mouthfuls

Spoonful Spoonfuls

armful Armfuls

cupful cupfuls

Part 1: If compound noun contains several words, “s” comes to join with the main part

of that noun.

Example:

Singular Plural

Brother-in-law Brothers-in-law

Passers-by Passers-by

Step-brother Step-brothers

Commander-in-chief Commanders-in-chief

Maid-servant Maid-servants

Part 2: in some cases,“s”comes in every part to make it so.

Example:

Singular Plural

Lord-justice Lords-justices

Man-servant Men-servants

Woman-servant Women-servants

Rule 8:

Besides, adding “s” only in the end gets it done for few.

Example:

Singular Plural

Book-shelf Book-shelves

Book-case Book-cases

Major-general Major-generals

Poet-laurete Poet-lauretes

Forget-me-not Forget-me-nots

Rule 9:

Some singular nouns have no plural form, only used in singular.

Example:

Furniture

Scenery

Issue

Bread

expenditure

Rule 9:

Adversely, some are always used as a plural form.

Example:

Mumps

Scissors

Trousers

Spectacles

Assets

Rule 10:

Though some nouns seem like singular, but actually they are plural.

Example:

Government

Peasantry

People

Cattle

Mankind

Rule 11:

Similarly, some nouns seem like plural though they are singular.

Example:

Physics

Politics

Ethics

News

Wages

Rule 12:

Some have the same singular and plural form.

Example:

Deer

Sheep

Species

Corps

Canon

Rule 12:

In case of letters, numbers and other symbols, it takes an apostrophe and s to change it.

Example:

Sam, write your g’s and y’s clearly.

John, add two 5’s and three 8’s.

Nouns- Gender

Nouns can be of the following kinds as per the gender-

masculine e.g. policeman, man, dog, etc.

feminine e.g. waitress, woman, bitch, etc.

neuter e.g. chair, table, idea, etc.

common e.g. doctor, baby, etc. (i.e. nouns which can be either male of female):

My baby is only half-a-year old and he already has three teeth.

Is it your baby? How old is she?

Masculine – Feminine

Father – Mother

Son – Daughter

Brother – Sister

Man – Woman

Cock – Hen

Bull – Cow

Drone – Bee

Gander – Goose

Stag – Hind

Gentleman – Lady

Count – Countess

Husband – Wife

Lord – Lady

King – Queen

Monk – Nun

Sir – Madam

Uncle – Aunt

Nephew – Niece

Wizard – Witch

Hart – Roe

Drake – Duck

Lion – Lioness

Priest – Priestess

Prophet – Prophetess

Patron – Patroness

Host – Hostess

Viscount – Viscountess

Shepherd – Shepherdess

Steward – Stewardess

Heir – Heiress

Baron – Baroness

Peer – Peeress

Abbot – Abbess

Emperor – Empress

Traitor – Traitress

Actor – Actress

Benefactor – Benefactress

Hunter – Huntress

Tempter – Temptress

Master – Mistress

Tiger – Tigress

Duke – Duchess

Enchanter – Enchantress

Songster – Songstress

Hero – Heroine

Sultan – Sultana

Czar – Czarina

Signor – Signora

Manservant – Maidservant

He-goat – She-goat

Cock-sparrow – Hen-sparrow

Bull-calf – Cow-calf

Grandfather – Grandmother

Landlord – Landlady

Milkman – Milkmaid

Peacock – Peahen

Giant – Giantess

Count – Countess

Topic- Adjectives

Adjectives are words that describe the qualities or states of being of

nouns: enormous, doglike, silly, yellow, fun, fast. They can also describe the

quantity of nouns: many, few, millions, eleven.

Adjectives are words that are used to describe or modify nouns or pronouns. For

example, red, quick, happy, and obnoxious are adjectives because they can

describe things—a red hat, the quick rabbit, a happy duck, an obnoxious

person.

Adjectives take many forms. Some common adjectives are formed when we add

a suffix to a noun or verb. For example, when we add the suffix -ful to the

noun beauty, makes the adjective beautiful, and adding the suffix -able to the

verb read makes the adjective readable. Other suffixes often used to create

adjectives include -al, -ary, -able and –ible, –ish, -ic, -ical, -less, -like, -ous, -some,

and -y. Some adjectives take the form of participles (verbs ending in -ed or -ing),

and many others are not formed from nouns or verbs but are original in

themselves—for example, close, deep, slow.

Kinds of Adjectives

a) Adjectives of Quality- They tell about the kind of nouns. They answer the

question ‘What kind of noun?’ Example- This is an airy room.

b) Adjectives of Number- They tell about the number of nouns. They answer

the question ‘How many nouns?’ Example- I have five pencils. (Adjectives

like ‘second’, ‘third’, ‘fourth’ are also adjectives of number.)

c) Adjectives of Quantity- They tell ‘how much’ of a noun. They answer the

question ‘How much of a noun?’ Example- I will have some rice.

(Note- Some adjectives may be both adjective of quantity or number

depending on their use. For example: I have enough work for the day.

(Quantity)

: I have enough story books to read over the weekend.

(Number)

Adjectives- Degrees of Comparison

There are three degrees of comparison of adjectives-

Positive

Comparative

Superlative

Note- Only adjectives of quality can have degrees of comparison.

Positive Degree of an adjective is used when no comparison is

made.

Examples- Veena is young.

The green box is large.

(For suggesting equality, we use ‘as _____ as’ in the positive degree.

Example- The girl is as innocent as a lamb.)

Comparative Degree is used when we compare two persons or

things.

Examples- Juhi is younger than Veena.

The red box is larger than the green one.

With Comparative Degree we use ‘than’.

Superlative Degree is used when we compare more than two

groups of people or things. Examples- Nita is the youngest of all her

sisters.

The black box is the largest of all the boxes in my

house.

With Superlative Degree, we use ‘the’.

Topic- Articles

The words ‘a’, ‘an’ and ‘the’ are articles. There are two types of articles- definite

and indefinite.

‘a’ and ‘an’ are indefinite articles

‘the’ is the definite article

‘a’ and ‘an’ mean one. They are placed before countable nouns in the

singular number.

Examples- a boy, a bag, an ant, an egg

We use ‘a’ before words beginning with a consonant sound. (So we say ‘a

utensil’, ‘a used car’, ‘a useful animal’, ‘a one rupee coin’)

We use ‘an’ before a word beginning with a vowel sound. (So we say ‘an

honest man’, ‘an hour’, ‘an honour’)

We use ‘a’ and ‘an’ when we mean any person or thing.

‘The’ is used when we mean a particular person or thing.

‘The’ is also used when we are talking of the same thing in the

conversation again.

We also use ‘the’ with the titles of holy books and newspapers (the Gita,

the Ramayana, the Statesman)

We use ‘the’ with names of well-known monuments (the Taj Mahal, the

India Gate)

With directions (the east, the west, the north, the south)

We also use ‘the’ with the names of heavenly bodies (the earth, the stars,

the moon, the sky, the sun)

With Superlative Degree of Adjectives we use ‘the’.

With phrases like ‘the only son’, ‘the last’ , ‘the next’, ‘the first’

With names of some countries which contain a common noun, we use

‘the’. (the United States of America, the United Kingdom)

Topic- Pronouns

A pronoun is a word used in place of a noun. Pronouns are of the following

kinds-

Possessive Pronouns- ‘mine’, ‘yours’, ‘ours’, ‘his’, ‘hers’ and ‘theirs’ are

called possessive pronouns. They show that something belongs to

somebody.

(Example- The book is mine.

These toys are ours.)

Personal Pronouns- are the pronouns used in place of people, animals

and things. Personal pronouns can take the following forms-

Persons

First Person Second Person Third Person

The speaker The person we are

speaking to

The person about

whom we are talking

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

them, it

Singular and Plural Pronouns

Singular Pronouns Plural Pronouns

I, me we, us

you you

she, her, he, him, it they, them

Genders

Masculine Feminine Common Neuter

he, him she, her I, we, me, us,

you

it

(Note- Pronouns ‘they’, ‘them’ are used for males, females and even

neuter genders.)

Topic- Verbs

Verbs show what a person or thing does, what a person or thing is

or what a person or thing has. So, verbs show doing, being or

possession.

Verbs show doing-

Examples-

a) The boy plays in the garden.

b) Jyoti goes to school.

c) She studies very hard.

Verbs show being –

Examples-

a) Meena is a student.

b) Rahul will be happy to hear the news.

c) Mrs Verma was a kind lady.

Verbs show possession-

Examples-

a) Rina and Tina have a pet.

b) The dog has a small tail.

Verbs are of two types- Helping (Auxillary Verbs) and Linking (Action

words)

Some important points-

A verb is the most important part of a sentence. Without it, we cannot

form a sentence.

A verb can be made of-

A single word (Example- She writes good stories.)

Two words (Example- I have made pizza for you.)

Three words (Example- He will be leaving for Canada today.)

Verbs- Singular and Plural

With singular nouns or pronouns, we use singular verbs.

With plural nouns or pronouns, we use plural verbs.

If the subject in a sentence is singular, the verb should also be

singular.

(Example- The dog lives in the park.)

Singular Singular

subject verb

If the subject in a sentence is plural, the verb should also be plural.

(Example- The dogs live in the park.)

Plural Plural

subject verb

‘You’ always uses a plural verb.

When we join two singular nouns or pronouns with ‘and’ they

become plural and therefore they take a plural verb. (Example-

Mona and Sona are sisters.)

Collective nouns like ‘band’, ‘bouquet’, ‘class’ are treated as single

units so they take singular verbs.

Even if a singular subject end with ‘s’ like in ‘news’ or names of

books such as ‘ Around the World in 80 Days’ , the verb will be

singular.

Helping Verbs- is/am/are

Singular Verbs Plural Verbs

I - am we- are

he- is you-are

she-is they-are

it-is

Helping Verbs- was/were

Singular Verbs Plural Verbs

I – was we- were

he- was you-were

she-was they-were

it- was

Helping Verbs- has/have

Singular Verbs Plural Verbs

he- has I –have

she- has we- have

it- has you- have

they- have

Tenses

1. Simple Present Tense- It talks about habitual actions and permanent

truths.

Examples- a) The sun rises in the east.

b) We go to play every day.

Forming Simple Present Tense

With ‘I’, ‘we’, ‘you’, ‘they’ and all other plural subjects, we use:

Subject + original form of the verb

With , ’he’, ‘she’, ‘it’ and all other singular subjects in the third

person, we use:

Subject + original form of the verb +‘s’ or ‘es’

2. Present Continuous Tense – It tells us about actions that are going on at

the time of speaking.

Examples – a) I am walking.

b) She is riding a bicycle.

c) The boys are playing in the garden.

Forming Present Continuous Tense

We use is/are/am + ing form of the verb

3. Simple Past tense – It tells us about actions which took place at sometime

in the past or talks about some past habitual action.

Examples – a) I went to the fair yesterday.

b) We usually studied in the library before exams.

Forming Simple Past Tense

We always use the simple past tense form of the verb.

4. Past Continuous Tense – It tells us about actions that were going on at

some time in the past.

Examples – a) I was walking in the garden.

b) They were watching a movie.

Form of the Past Continuous Tense

We use was/were + ing form of the verb

5. Simple Future Tense- It tells us about actions that will take place in the

time to come.

Examples- a) He will visit us tomorrow.

b) We will stay in Shimla till Friday.

Form of the Simple Future Tense

We use: shall/will + original form of the verb

6. Future Continuous Tense – It tells us about actions that will be in progress

at a given point of time in the future.

Examples – a) We will be going to Delhi during our vacation.

b) She will be inviting us to the party.

Form of Future Continuous Tense

We write: will be/shall be + ing form of the verb

Adverbs

An adverb is a word that tells us more about a verb, adjective or another

adverb.

Examples – a) Ram swims fast.

b) Sudha is a very beautiful girl.

c) Ram swam too fast and won the championship.

Types of Adverbs

1. Adverb of Manner – It tells us how or in what manner an action is

done.

Reena danced gracefully.

Lata sang melodiously.

2. Adverb of Place – It tells us where or at what place an action is done.

I looked for my pet there.

The party is held downstairs.

3. Adverb of Time – It tells us when or at what time an action is done.

They will reach Delhi tomorrow.

The plane will land soon.

4. Adverb of Frequency – It tells us how often or how frequently an action

is done.

I go for morning walk regularly.

I do yoga daily.

Prepositions

A preposition is a word that which shows the relation between a noun or

a pronoun and some other words in a sentence.

Examples- The books are in the bag.

She washed the clothes with soap.

Preposition showing the place of a noun or a pronoun

On suggests on the surface

Above means at a higher level

Over means vertically above

Below means at a lower level

Under means vertically below

Use of At and In

At is used with villages, small towns.

In has the idea of a larger area and is used while speaking of bigger towns,

states, countries.

Prepositions of time

At – This preposition of time is used to discuss clock times, holidays and festivals,

and other very specific time frames including exceptions, such as “at

night.”Examples:

a) The meeting will begin at 3 p.m.

b) We shall shift to our new house at Diwali.

In – This preposition of time is used to discuss months, seasons, years, centuries,

general times of day, and longer periods of time such as “in the past.” Examples:

a) The examinations are held in March.

b) I will meet you in the afternoon.

On – This preposition of time is used to discuss certain days of the week or

portions of days of the week, specific dates, and special days such as “on New

Year’s Day.” Examples:

a) I am going to Jaipur on Monday.

b) I was born on 27th October.

Use of Between and Among

Between is used with two persons or things

Among is used with more than two.

Examples

a) There is no difference between the two drawings.

b) She shared the chocolates among her classmates.

Use of into and in

In shows position in one place.

Into shows a movement from one place to another

Examples

a) Jyoti is in her room.

b) The cat is going into the kitchen.

Use of beside and besides

Beside means at the side of (or near to)

Besides means in addition to

Examples

a) Come and sit beside me.

b) Besides singing, I also like to dance.

Conjunctions

Conjunctions are joining words. They help in joining words, group of

words and even sentences. Examples:

a) I will stop crying if you give back my pen.

b) They ran after the thief but could not catch him.

Use of And

We use and to join two words of the same part of speech or a noun

and a pronoun or two short sentences expressing similar ideas.

a) She is sincere and hardworking.

b) She went to the market and bought some ribbons.

Use of But

We use but to join contrasting words or sentences.

a) Anil is intelligent but careless.

b) John fell off a running bus but was not hurt.

Use of OR

We us or whenever there is a choice.

a) You should hurry up or you will miss the bus.

Use of Because

We use because if one sentence says something and the second

sentence gives a reason for it.

a) Harijit is absent because he has fever.

Some more conjunctions

a) Both is used for two persons or things.

Example – Both my brother and sister are doctors.

b) Until is used to show a point of time

Example – They study until their parents return from the office.

c) When is used to show two events happening at the same time.

Example – They play football when it rains.

d) So is used to show the purpose of something.

Example – I exercised daily so I lost wait.

e) If is used to show a condition