CLAUSES (PART I)

 

CLAUSES

(PART I)

What is a clause?

A clause is a group of related words. It has a subject and verb combination and it has a complete meaning by itself. We can consider a simple sentence as a clause. For example, “He plays cricket regularly.”

Clauses are mainly divided into two parts based on their usage. They are:

Independent Clause and Dependent Clause.

Independent Clause:

An Independent Clause is actually a complete sentence by itself. It doesn’t need any other clause for its existence. For example, “You may sit.”

Dependent Clause:

A Dependent Clause has a subject and verb but it doesn’t have complete thought by itself and it depends on an independent/main clause to give complete meaning by itself. For example, “Wherever you like.”

Now, if we add the main clause/independent clause to this dependent clause, the sentence would become, “You may sit wherever you like.”

The Dependent Clause is mainly divided into three types. They are:

Noun clause

Adjective clause and

Adverb clause

 

AUTHOR

 Dr L Suresh 

Assistant Professor o English

Sri Ramakrishna Mission Vidyalaya College of Arts and Science

Coimbatore - 641020

Contact: 9944138137

e-mail ID: sureshenglit@rmv.ac.in

PHRASES

 

PHRASES

What is a phrase?

Phrase is a group of words.

It has no subject verb combination.

It gives no meaning when used alone but when it is used in a sentence, it has a unique meaning.

Examples:

A beautiful home – I built a beautiful home.

Types of phrases:

There are five different kinds of phrases.

Each of them is from the five parts of speech that we have already discussed.

The five different kinds of phrases are:

Noun phrase

Verb phrase

Adjective phrase

Adverb phrase

Prepositional phrase

Noun Phrase:

A phrase that acts like a noun in the sentence is called as noun phrase.

It contains a noun and other associated words which modifies the noun.

Example:

A woman in the window shouted for help.

(Here, “a woman” is a noun and “in the window” is just describing the noun)

Verb Phrase:

A verb phrase is a group of main verbs and helping verb within a sentence.

Example:

She has finished her work.

(Here, “has finished” is a main verb and “has” is a helping verb)

Adjective Phrase:

One or more words work together to give more information about an adjective.

Adjective phrase modifies noun.

Example:

I am very happy with his work.

(Here, “happy” is an adjective and “very” is just helping word for an adjective happy)

Adverb Phrase:

In an adverb phrase, one or more words work together to give more information about an adverb.

Adverb phrase modifies verb.

Example:

They ran really fast.

(Here, “fast” is an adverb and “really” is providing more information about the adverb fast)

Prepositional Phrase:

In prepositional phrase, one or more words work together to give information about preposition.

Gives information about time/location/possession/condition.

Example:

He is sleeping phrase on the carpet.

(Here, “on” is the preposition and “on the carpet” is the prepositional phrase)

 

AUTHOR

Dr L Suresh

Assistant Professor of English

Sri Ramakrishna Mission Vidyalaya College of Arts and Science

Coimbatore - 641020

Contact: 9944138137

e-mail ID: sureshenglit@rmv.ac.in

 

 

 

COMMON ERRORS IN EVERYDAY LIFE: KEY EXPRESSIONS- I

 

COMMON ERRORS IN EVERYDAY LIFE: 

KEY EXPRESSIONS- I

Dear readers, in the previous post, we discussed the common errors in terms of “Travel and Places” that we commit in our daily conversations. In this post, let us explore more about some key expressions used in daily conversation. Some of the important errors that tend to occur naturally in our conversation are briefed below:

Look at the following statements:

About / On

1.   About is a preposition that means related to a particular topic.

Do you know about the College Day Celebrations of our college?

Sanjay worries about his semester results.

 Both about and on are prepositions but the former is used generally.

2.   On is more formal than about and is used for giving specific and in-depth information.

My teacher wrote a book about Basic English Grammar.

My teacher wrote a book on Basic English Grammar.

About is specifically used with the following words: excited, worry, happy, concern, and complain.

i.            Guna is much excited about his selection in the Indian Army.

ii.           My parents are worried about my future.

iii.         Teachers are concerned about students’ performance.

iv.          I am very happy about my recent achievement.

v.           The public is complaining about irregular power supply.

About should not be used with the following words: discuss, aware, consider, description, mention, and experience.

i.            We are discussing digital resources to learn English. (‘Discussing about’ is a common mistake.)

ii.           I am not aware of my errors. (NOT aware about)

iii.         Principal has considered our proposal to implement.

iv.          The press reported a detailed description of the union budget.

v.           Malar has not mentioned her recent achievement in her self-introduction. (NOT mention about)

vi.          Our family has vast experience in weaving cotton saree.

 

With this understanding, hereafter let us follow the key expressions appropriately in our daily conversations to sound fluent in English. In the next post, let’s discuss some important key expressions.

 

Reference:

Saumya Sharma. (2017). Common Errors in Everyday English

 

Author:

Dr. K. Nandhakumar

Assistant Professor of English

Sri Ramakrishna Mission Vidyalaya College of Arts and Science (Autonomous)

Coimbatore- 641 020