CHAPTER 1

GRAMMAR

Parts of Speech

Objective: To be able to identify and use the following Parts of Speech ⮚

Nouns
⮚ Pronouns
⮚ Verbs

NOUNS

➢A noun is the name of a person, animal, place, thing, an idea or emotion.

Nouns Examples

Persons husband Ahmad

boy the Managing Director woman the
crowd
artiste Salbiah

Places restaurant Pasir Panjang

mosque Negeri Sembilan river the
National Science Centre
hall Tiara Beach Resort

Things watch fruit

pen motorcycle
book newspaper
flower watermelon

Animals cat giraffe

dog camel
sheep bird

Ideas / Emotions thirst love

freedom courage
poverty patience

➢A noun can be used as the subject (S) of a sentence.

Examples: Ahmad likes fried chicken.

(S)

The woman washed the clothes.

(S)
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The cat ate the fish.

(S)

➢A noun can be used as the object (O) of a sentence.

Examples: Ahmad likes fried chicken.

(O)

The woman washed the clothes.

(O)

The cat ate the fish.

(O)

EXERCISE A

Underline the nouns in the following sentences.

1 Johan rides to college every day.

2 The baby drinks milk every three hours.
3 The boy ran when the dog chased him.
4 A lot of tourists visit the zoo every month.
5 Seremban is the biggest town in Negeri Sembilan.

6 The students handed in their assignments on time.

7 People admire the beauty of the park.

8 All contestants need to sing two songs.
9 The Petronas Twin Towers are the tallest twin towers in the world. 10
My mother waters the plants every morning.

EXERCISE B

Fill in each blank with an appropriate noun.

1 The audience watched the game.

2 The chefs prepared an omelette.
3 There are a lot of swimmers swimming in the pool. 4 They had their
English test in the classroom yesterday.

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5 Sungai Rajang is the longest river in the world.

6 The ball rolled down the hill.
7 The students stopped the bus.
8 The fans attended the concert.
9 It is going to rain. You should take an umbrella with you.

10 The plane landed on schedule.

Countable and Uncountable Nouns

➢ Countable Nouns: nouns that we can count e.g.: desk, girl, class, parent,
house, book

➢ Uncountable Nouns: nouns that we cannot count e.g.: flour, milk, hair, money,
knowledge,
information

➢ Most countable nouns have singular and plural forms.

Singular refers to one noun.
Plural refers to more than one noun.
Singular Plural Rules
 boy boys Add „s‟
file files
animal animals

box boxes Add „es‟ to nouns ending in

class classes match matches „sh‟, „ch‟, „s‟ and „x‟

city cities
country countries university If a noun ends with a „y‟ and there
universities is a vowel (a,e,i,o,u) before it,
change the ending to „ies‟ except:
boys, days, guys, donkeys.
wife wives
knife knives If a noun ends with „fe‟ and
leaf leaves „f‟, change the ending to „ves‟
shelf shelves except: roofs, chiefs, beliefs.

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Singular Plural Rules

man men These are irregular nouns. The

tooth teeth plural forms do not follow any of
child children ox oxen the rules given above.

sheep sheep
deer deer These nouns have the same
singular and plural forms.
people cattle
These nouns do not have
singular forms.

Examples: Many students are playing in the field.

The boxes were arranged neatly on the shelves.
Malaysia has a lot of universities.
My brother has two wives.
He has bad teeth.
There are a lot of sheep grazing in the field.

EXERCISE C

Underline the nouns in each sentence and then write C for countable or UC for
uncountable nouns.
 C
e.g.: My watch is expensive.
C
1 Father bought a few revision books for me.
UC
2 The girls made a lot of noise during dinner.
UC
3 The more people read, the more knowledge they get.
C
4 Most universities are well equipped.
UC
5 We don‟t want sadness in our lives.
C
6 The architect designed the building.
C
7 I want to earn a lot of money.
UC
8 The police need this information for the case.
C
9 The children were abandoned by their father.
C
10 Two knives were found at the crime scene.

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EXERCISE D

Change the singular nouns that are underlined in the following sentences into plural
nouns.

e.g.: The car is dirty.

The cars are dirty.

1 There is a plate in the sink.

There are plates in the sinks_.

2 My child is staying with my sister.

My children are staying with my sister.

3 Please buy me an orange.

 Please buy me some oranges_.

4 There is a helicopter in the sky.

There are helicopters in the sky.

5 I will buy a souvenir for my friend.

I will buy some souvenirs for my friend.

6 I have a pen.
I have three pens_.

7 The frame belonged to my late aunt.

The frames belonged to my late aunt.

8 There is a knife in the kitchen drawer.

There are several knives in the kitchen drawer.

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9 My sister is very untidy.

My sisters are very untidy.

10 Please feed the baby before you leave.

Please feed the babies before you leave.

Possessive Forms of Nouns

➢ The possessive form of the noun is used to show that something belongs to a person or
an animal.

Examples: Razali‟s car (car belonging to Razali)

 the tiger‟s cubs (cubs belonging to the tiger)

➢ The possessive form of the noun is not generally used for places or things.
We say or write:
the cover of the book NOT the book‟s cover
the leg of the table NOT the table‟s leg
the top of the hill NOT the hill‟s top
the people of the valley NOT the valley‟s people

➢ The possessive form of the nouns has different rules for singular and plural forms.

Singular: Add „s‟ to the noun after the apostrophe.

Examples: It is Taufik‟s MP3 player.

We brought the girl‟s dolls.
My friend‟s mother is a good cook.

Plural: Do not add „s‟ if the plural form ends with an „s‟.

Examples: My father collected the boys‟ uniforms.

The children pulled the cats‟ tails.
The workers‟ hostel was on fire.

Add „s‟ after the apostrophe if the plural form does not end with an „s‟.

Examples: The men‟s work finished at 6:00 p.m.

The children‟s clothes are new.
The policewomen's shoes were big.

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EXERCISE E

Underline the possessive form of the noun and then write SG for singular and PL for
plural above the underlined noun.

SG
e.g.: The child‟s toys are expensive.
SG
1 A thief stole my brother‟s bicycle last night.
SG
2 They found the money in Salleh‟s pocket.
PL
3 The men‟s trousers were dirty.
 PL

4 The police found the ladies‟ purses in the car.

PL

5 The lecturers‟ computers arrived yesterday.

SL

6 A van hit the postman‟s motorcycle.

SL

7 The boy took the girl‟s ruler.

SL

8 My brother bought my uncle‟s sports car.

SL

9 The little girl found someone‟s gold ring on the playground.

PL

10 The headmistress checked the students‟ lockers to make sure they were clean.

EXERCISE F

Fill in each blank with possessive form of the noun given in brackets.

e.g.: ____________ (Ahmad) car is expensive.

Ahmad‟s car is expensive.

1 Everyone enjoys the acrobat‟s(acrobat) performance. 2 My sister broke the

neighbour‟s(neighbour) flower pot. 3 The maid cleaned the children‟s (children)
bedrooms yesterday. 4 The nurses‟ (nurses) uniforms were at the laundry. 5
Azlin‟s(Azlin) father is a businessman.

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