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Rules of s, es and ies

Many of the students have confusion in when to use s or es or ies while working
with verbs.
Here are some simple rules by which you can remove your confusion.

When to use es?

es is used in two cases.
When the word ends with vowel ‘o’.
Ex:
 Do: does
 Go: goes
When the word ends with ch, sh, ss, zz, x
Ex:
 Assess: Assesses
 Teach: Teaches
 Buzz: Buzzes
 Wash: Washes
 Fix: Fixes

When to use ies?

When the word ends with consonant + y then replace y with ies.
Ex:
 Fly: Flies (here l is consonant and the word ends with l + y)
 Apply: Applies (consonant l + y)
 Copy: Copies (consonant p + y)
 Carry: Carries (consonant r + y)
But there is an exception in this case.
If the word ends with vowel + y then simply s is added to the word.
Ex:
 Boy: Boys (here o is vowel and the word ends with o + y)
 Play: Plays (vowel a + y)
 Enjoy: Enjoys (vowel o + y)

When to use s?
For all the cases other than above shown, we use s after the word.
Ex:
 Rain: Rains
 Eat: Eats
 Start: Starts.
 Etc etc etc……

Rules of Noun
Noun is a word used to name a person, animal, place or thing. Here are some
rules of nouns which should be used while making sentences.
These rules will be very helpful in common error problems.

Rule: Some nouns are always singular. These are uncountable nouns. Articles
A/An are not used with these nouns.
These nouns are:
Machinery, Work, Wood, Dust, Traffic, Electricity, Scenery, Poetry, Furniture,
Advice, Luggage, Information, Luggage, Hair, Money, Language, Business,
Mischief, Knowledge, Bread, Stationery, Crockery, Baggage, Postage, Wastage, ,
Jewellery, Breakage etc.
Ex:
 He gave me information.
 Sachin transported his furniture by Truck.
 Rishma has good knowledge of grammar.
Rule: Some nouns are always in plural form they don’t have singular form. Plural
verb is used with them.
These nouns are:
Cattle, Assets, Alms, Police, Amends, Annals, Archives, Ashes, Arrears,
Athletics, Wages, Auspices, Species, Scissors, Gentry, Trousers, Pants,
Clippers, Shambles, Bellows, Gallows, Fangs, Measles, Eyeglasses, Tidings,
Goggles, Belongings, Breeches, Braces, Binoculars, Dregs, Entrails, Embers,
Fireworks, Lees, Odds, Outskirts, Particulars, Proceeds, Proceedings, Riches,
Bowels, Remains, Shears, Spectacles, Surroundings, Tactics, Tongs, Vegetables,
Valuables, Etc.
Ex:
 Cattle are not allowed to enter that ground.
 These pants are good.
 These poultry are mine.

Rule: Some nouns have the same form in singular as well as in plural form.
These nouns are:
Sheep, Fish, Crew, Family, Team, Carp, Pike, Trout, Deer, Aircraft, Counsel,
Swine, Vermin, Species Etc.
Ex:
 A deer is grazing in the field.
Deer are grazing in the field.
 Sparrow is now a rare species.
There are many species of cow.

Rule: Nouns expressing number like hundred, dozen, score etc are used in
singular with numerical adjectives.
These nouns are:
Hundred, Pair, Score, Stone, Dozen, Thousand, Million, Billion, Gross, Etc.
Ex:
 Sumit bought four dozen apples.
 Samir got five hundred rupees.
 Deepika has two pair of sandles.

Rule: Plural noun is used after One of, Neither of, Either of, and Each of.
Ex:
 One of my friends is an Engineer.
 Either of them will come.
 Neither of the students hasRu failed.

Rule: Some nouns look plural but have singular meaning. Singular verb is used
with them.
These nouns are:
Summons, News, Politics, Physics, Economics, Mechanics, Mathematics, Measles,
Ethics, Rickets, Billiards, Draughts, Innings, etc.
Ex:
 I have a good news.
 Economics is my favourite subject.
 It was a good innings by India.

Rule: Some nouns look singular but have plural meaning. Plural verb is used with
them.
These nouns are:
Infantry, Children, Cattle, Cavalry, Poultry, Peasantry, Gentry, Police, Clergy,
Etc.
Ex:
 Children are playing in the ground.
 Cattle are not allowed to enter in the ground.
 Police are coming.

Rules for Using Definite Article

Article 'the' is known as definite article. Here are some rules for using definite
articles. These rules can be very useful while solving common error problems in
competitive exams.

Rule: Definite article ‘the’ is used when we talk about the person or thing which
was mentioned earlier.
Ex:
 Shruti drew a picture. The picture was beautiful.
 I met a boy. The boy was intelligent.
 Give me the ball which you bought yesterday.

Rule: Definite article ‘the’ is used when a singular noun is representing a whole
class.
Ex:
 The cow is a friendly animal.
 The rose is a beautiful flower.
 The lion is a dangerous animal.

Rule: Before the names of mountain ranges, group of islands, rivers, oceans,
gulfs, desserts, forests etc.
Ex:
 The Himalayas
 The Ganga
 The Andamans
 The Amazon
 The Pacific Ocean
 The Sahara
 The Vrindavan Forest

Rule: Before the names of newspapers and magazines.

Ex:
 The Hindu
 The Times of India

Rule: Before the names of religious and mythological books.

Ex:
 The Ramayana
 The Mahabharat
 The Bibal

Rule: Before the name of historical places.

Ex:
 The Tajmahal
 The Lalkilla

Rule: Before the name of religious community, political party, nationality, trains,
ships, government departments.
Ex:
 The Hindus
 The BJP
 The Shatabdi Express
 The Income Tax department
 The Army
 The Indian

Rule: Before the words showing position.

Ex:
 The top
 The bottom
 The inside
 The back
 The front

Rule: ‘The’ is used in superlative degree.

Ex:
 She is the most beautiful girl in the college.
 Usain Bolt is the fastest person on the planet.
 He is the most sincere student in the class.

Rule: ‘The’ is used before the names of natural things.

Ex:
 The Sun
 The Moon
 The Planet
 The River
 The Mountain

Rule: ‘The’ is used before the ordinals.

Ex:
 The first
 The second
 The last

Rules For Using Indefinite Article

Articles A/An are known as indefinite articles. Here are some rules for using
Indefinite articles. These rules can be very useful in solving common errors
problems in competitive exams.

Rule: Article A is used before a word beginning with a consonant sound.

Ex:
 He is a European.
 He has a brief case.
 She has a bicycle.

Rule: Article An is used before a word beginning with a vowel sound.

Ex:
 He is an MLA
 He has an umbrella
 He has an exe.

Rule: Indefinite article A/An is used before a singular countable noun when it is
mentioned for the first time and it does not represent specific person or thing.
Ex:
 Kamal lives in a bunglow.
 Yogeshwar is a lecturer.
 This is a river.
Rule: Indefinite article is used when a singular countable noun represents class
of things or persons.
Ex:
 A vehicle should be parked properly. (Vehicle = any vehicle, class of
vehicles.
 A student needs guidance. (Student = any student, class of student)
 A cow is a friendly animal.

Rule: Indefinite article is used when a proper noun is used as common noun.
Ex:
 He is a Hitler.
 She is a Lata Mangeshker
 You are a Beauty.

Difference Between Definite And Indefinite Articles

Many people have doubt about when to use definite articles and when to use
indefinite articles.
To clear this doubt we should know the difference between these two types of
articles.
Indefinite articles are used when you are not talking about something specific
or certain.
Ex: Give me a ball.
Whereas definite article is used when you are talking about something specific
or certain.
Ex: Give me the red ball.
Above examples show that we are talking about specific thing which is red ball.
Whereas in the example of indefinite article, we are talking about ball which can
be of any colour.

Article
The adjectives a, an and the are called articles.
There are two types of articles.
 Indefinite article – A/An
 Definite article – The

Indefinite Article
The words 'a' and 'an' are called indefinite articles. You can use them with
singular nouns to talk about any single person or thing.
The article a is used before words beginning with consonants.
Ex:
 This is a car.
 This is a uniform. ( Uniform’s pronunciation does not start with vowel
sound)
 This is a bat.
The article an is usually used before words beginning with vowels (a, e, i, o, u).
In simple words, article an is used before words whose pronunciation starts with
vowel sound.
Ex:
 Sunil is an intelligent boy.
 He is an MLA. (MLA’s pronunciation start with vowel sound)
 He is an honest man. (Honest’s pronunciation start with vowel sound)
Rules for using Indefinite article.

Definite article 'The'

The word 'the' is called definite article. Use 'the' before a noun when you are
talking about a certain or specific person or thing.
Definite article 'the' is also used when talking about the thing which is already
mentioned earlier.
 Virat has won the match
 The mobile is ringing.
 The train has arrived.

Rules of Subject - Verb Agreement

Here are some rules of subject verb agreement which can be very useful in
finding errors sentence in competitive exams.
Subject is shown in bold and verb is shown in colour in examples of rules.

Rule: If the subject is singular, the verb must be singular. If the subject is
plural, the verb must also be plural.
Ex:
 Simran plays chess.
(Here subject ‘Simran’ is singular so verb ‘plays’ is also in singular form.)
(verb + s/es = singular,
here play + s = plays)
 They play cricket.
(Here subject ‘They’ is plural so verb ‘play’ is also in plural form.)
 Mom and Dad love us.
(Here subject ‘Mom and Dad’ is plural (more than one) so verb ‘love’ is also in
plural form.)

Rule: If two singular noun refer to the same person or thing then the verb must
be in singular form.
Ex:
 The director and producer loves this food.
(Here the director and producer refers to the same person so verb is in
singular form.)
(Here same person is the producer as well as the director of the film.
We can say that The director and producer Karan Johar.
Here Karan Johar is diractor of the film and he is also producer of the film.
So director and producer refers to the same person.)
 The captain and wicket keeper plays here.
(Here the captain and wicket keeper refers to the same person so the verb
is in singular form.)
(MS Dhoni is captain and wicket keeper of Indian cricket team)
If you observe above examples, article is used only once in the sentence. If the
article is used more than once than it does not refer to same person and verb
must be in plural form.
Ex:
 The director and the producer love this food.
(Here article ‘the’ is used more than once so it does not refer to same
 person so there are two different persons ie the director and the producer
so verb ‘love’ is in plural form.
 The captain and the wicket keeper play here.
(Here the captain and the wicket keeper refers to two different persons so
verb is in plural form)

Rule: If two or more subjects are joined by with, like, besides, as well as,
together with, along with, in addition to etc, the verb is used according to first
subject.
Ex:
 The captain as well as team members loves this food.
(Here two subjects ‘the captain’ and ‘team members’ are joined with ‘as well
as’ but first subject, the captain, is singular so the verb ‘loves’ is also in
singular form.)
 The team members as well as captain of the team love this food.
(Here two subjects ‘the team members’ and ‘the captain of the team’ are
joined with ‘as well as’ but first subject, the team members’ is in plural so
the verb ‘love’ is also in plural form.)

Rule: When two subjects are connected by either...or, neither...nor, not

only...but also, or, nor, the subject which is nearest to the verb decides whether
the verb will be singular or plural.
Ex:
 Neither Sumitra nor her family members were present in the party.
(Here two subjects ‘sumitra’ and ‘her family members’ are joined with
neither... nor. And subject ‘her family members’ is nearest to the verb
‘present’. Subject ‘her family members’ is plural so the verb ‘were’ is also in
plural)
 Either you or I am driving the car.
(Here two subjects ‘you’ and ‘I’ are joined with either … or. And subject ‘I’ is
nearest to the verb ‘driving’. So verb has taken the form ‘am driving’
according to the subject ‘I’.)

Rule: Plural verb is used to show wish, regret, unlikely condition etc.
Ex:
 I wish I were a soldier.
(Here ‘I were’ is used instead of ‘I am’ because it is a wish)
Rule: Singular verb must be followed by each, every, anyone, someone, either,
neither, etc.
Ex:
 Neither of this city knows you.
 Each of this class is a scholar.

Rule: Collective nouns like Team, Family, Jury, Crowd, Class, Committee, Army,
Assembly, Fleet, Majority, Mob, Government, Parliament Council, Staff, etc.,
the verb used can be singular or plural according to the meaning of the
sentence. If the collective noun is used as a unit then the verb will be singular,
but if the collective noun is not working as unit then the verb used will be plural.
Ex:
 The committee has arrived.
(Here subject ‘the committee’ is used as a unit so verb ‘has’ is in plural form)
 The committee have different opinions.
(Here subject ‘the committee’ is divided and does not work as a unit so verb
‘have’ is in plural form)

Rule: Some nouns like glasses, shoes, pants, trousers, spectacles etc take plural
verb.
Ex:
 My pants are not ready to wear.
 My spectacles are missing.

Rule: Some nouns like News, Gallows, Billiards, Innings, Wages, Alms, Physics
etc sounds like plural noun but they are singular in meaning and take singular
verb.
Ex:
 Physics was my favourite subject.
 The news is very good.

Adverb
An adverb is a word which adds meaning to the verb. Adverbs can modify
adjectives, nouns and other adverbs also. Adverbs tell us how, when, where etc
something was done.
According to their meaning, there are following types of adverbs.

Adverbs of Manner
Adverb of manner tell us how an action takes place.
Carefully, badly, quickly, bravely, friendly way, etc are adverbs of manner.
Ex:
 You must drive carefully.
(How? = carefully)
 The teacher teaches us in a friendly way.
(How? = in a friendly way)

Adverbs of Place
Adverb of place tell us where an action takes place.
Abroad, down there, everywhere, here, there, downstairs etc are adverbs of
place.
Ex:
 It is raining everywhere.
(Where? = everywhere)
 He is going abroad.
(Where? = abroad)

Adverbs of Time
Adverb of time tell us when an action takes place.
Now, then, Monday, yesterday, daily, tonight etc are adverbs of time.
Ex:
 Simran went to Delhi yesterday.
(When? = yesterday)
 We are going to watch a movie tonight.
(When? = tonight)

Adverbs of Frequency
Adverb of frequency tell us how often an action takes place.
Always, often, sometimes, twice a month, monthly etc are adverbs of frequency.
Ex:
 I always do yoga.
(How often? = always)
 I eat chocolate sometimes.
(How often? = sometimes)

Adverbs of Quantity or Degree

Adverb of Quantity or Degree tell us how much or in what degree something has
happned.
Very much, only, almost, quite, hardly etc are adverbs of quantity or degree.
Ex:
 He hardly comes to the ground.
(How much? = hardly)
 I like mangos very much.
(How much? = very much)

Adverbs of Duration
Adverb of duration tell us how long an action takes place.
For three days, for a moment, over an hour, for ages, all night etc are adverbs
of duration.
Ex:
 He has been the king of this area for ages.
(How long? = for ages)
 The rain lasted for two days.
(How long? = for two days)

Adverb of Reason
Adverb of Reason tell us why an action takes place.
Hence, therefore, so etc are adverb of reason.
Ex:
 Therefore he went to clinic.
(Why? = therefore)
 He was hence going to that way.
(Why? = hence)

Rules of Adverbs
Here are some rules for using adverb which can be very useful for finding
errors in competitive exams.

Rule: The adverb ‘too much’ is used with nouns and adverb ‘much too’ is used
with adjective.
Ex:
 His elbow injury gives him too much pain.
(Here pain is a noun)
 He is much too careless.
(Here careless is adjective)

Rule: Generally fairly is used with positive sense and rather is used with
negative or unfavourable sense.
Ex:
 Garima is fairly smart.
 This is rather boring movie.

Rule: Enough should be preceded by an adjective.

Ex:
 Richa is now strong enough to lift this bag. (Correct)
Richa is now enough strong to lift this bag. (Incorrect)
 Sudha is intelligent enough to clear this exam. (Correct)
Sudha is enough intelligent to clear this exam. (Incorrect)

Rule: Adverb ‘very’ is used in positive degree while adverb ‘much’ is used in
comparative degree.
Ex:
 Hardik is very intelligent.
 Cheetah is much faster than elephant.

Rule: Late shows period of time and lately shows recently.

Ex:
 You should not come late. (Correct)
You should not come lately. (Incorrect)
 Sumitra lately had an elbow surgery. (Correct)
Sumitra late had an elbow surgery. (Incorrect)

Rule: If the sentence is beginning with hardly, never, seldom, scarcely, rarely,
no sooner etc. then the verb is used in inverted form.
Ex:
 No sooner had they entered the theatre than the movie started.
(Correct)
No sooner they had entered the theatre than the movie started. (Incorrect)
 Hardly does he go to gym. (Correct)
Hardly he goes to gym. (Incorrect)

Rules For Using Apostrophe

Here are some rules for the use of Apostrophe 's' or possessive nouns.

Rule: Possessive case is used with the nouns of living things.

Ex:
 This is Sachin’s bat.
 The car’s wheel is punctured (Wrong)
The wheel of the car is punctured (Correct)

Rule: Non-living things are used in possessive case when they are personified.
Ex:
 Ramu is at deth’s door.
 This is earth’s surface.
Rule: Possessive case is used with nouns denoting space, time or weight.
Ex:
 I want a day’s leave.
 Shila will be back in a month’s time.

Rule: If two or more noun jointly possess something then possessive sign is put
on the latter only.
Ex:
 Sachin and Saurav’s partnership was awesome.
 This is Rahul and Sonam’s shop.

Rule: If else is used after somebody, anybody, nobody etc then apostrophe is
used with else.
Ex:
 I obey your orders and nobody else’s.
 This watch is not mine, it is somebody else’s.

Rule: Apostrophe is not used with possessive pronouns like; his, hers, yours,
mine, ours, its, theirs, etc

Rule: Apostrophe is not used with two consecutive nouns.

Ex:
 Sonal’s car’s colour is very nice. (Wrong)
The colour of Sonal’s car is very nice. (Correct)