English Grammar


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Category: Linguistics


Here is the basic and important 120 rules for finding error in GOVT EXAMS like SSC BANK etc.
And Short Notes, Tips, Quizzes are freely available.

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✔️ Rule 19 : There are three cases of pronouns

The Subject Object Posse Posse
cases ive ive ssive ssive
of Pro Pro Adj. Pro
Perso nouns nouns nouns
nal
Pronoun
First I Me My Mine
Person We Us Our Ours

Second You You Your Yours
Person

Third She Her Her Hers
Person He Him His His
It It Its ---
they them their theirs

✔️ Rule 20 : Who vs. Whom?
“Who” is used as a subjective pronoun,
and, “Whom” is used as an objective pronoun.


Revise once again

✔️ Rule 01 : Difference between “Each” and “Every”. They are always followed by a singular verb.

✔️ Rule 02 : “Both” and “not” cannot be used together.

✔️ Rule 03 : Usage of Relative Pronouns - who, whom, which and that.
Who/Whom 👉 Living things
Which 👉 Non-living things
That 👉 Living & Non-living
(Both)

✔️ Rule 04 : There are three types of conditional sentences -

TYPE IF CLAUSE MAIN CLAUSE
I Simple will-future or
Present (Modal +
infinitive)
shall/can/may/must
+ V1

II Simple would + V1 or,
Past could/might/should
+ V1

III Past would + have +
Perfect past participle
(V3) or,
could/might/ should
+ have + past
participle (V3)

✔️ Rule 05 : The general rule for usage of the phrase "one of the" is -

🔵 “One of the + Plural Noun + + Singular Verb” [ If "One of the Nouns Subject of the verb ]
🔵 “One of the + Plural Noun + THAT/WHO etc. + Plural Verb” [ "One of the Nouns" is not Subject of the verb ]
🔵 “The only one of the + Plural Noun + WHO/THAT etc.”, a Singular verb is required.

✔️ Rule 06 : If there is a combination of “Number + Unit + Noun” or, “Number + Unit + Adjective” in a sentence, we always use the singular form of the Unit.

✔️ Rule 07 : Expressions of time, money, speed, weight, height and distance, when used or covered in one way, usually take a Singular verb.
However, when these expressions are used or covered in various ways, a Plural verb is used.

✔️ Rule 08 : Certain cases of comparisons ( Comparisons are usually done between the same things).

✔️ Rule 09 : Prepositions of Time: “Since” and “For”.
🟡 Since is used to denote “Point of start”
🟣 For is used for “duration”

✔️ Rule 10 : When two actions occurred in past, the action which happened earlier is denoted by using Past Perfect Tense.

And, the action which happened later is denoted by using Simple Past Tense.

✔️ Rule 11 : We use a Possessive Adjective (my, our, his, her, their, your) before a Gerund.

✔️ Rule 12 : Law of Inversion -
Two types of Inversion:
(1)Partial Inversion
[ Adverb + Helping Verb + Subject + Main Verb + … ]

(2)Complete Inversion
[ Adverb + main verb +… ]

✔️ Rule 13 : Whenever we use normal places like school, college, church, bed, table, hospital, market, prison, jail, court, temple, mosque, university etc. for primary purpose
(for which they are being made), the article “The” is not used before them.
But when these places are used for secondary purpose(any other than for which are they are being made), the article “The” is used before them.

✔️ Rule 14 : Whenever adverbs like “No sooner”, “Hardly”, “Scarcely”, etc. are used in the beginning of a sentence, they are always followed by a helping verb.

✔️ Rule 15 : Use of Reflexive Pronoun as the Object of a sentence.

✔️ Rule 16 : There are certain words which are never followed by Reflexive pronoun - hide, keep, stop, turn, shave, bathe, etc.

✔️ Rule 17 : Whenever the two subjects are connected by “as well as, together with, along with, and not, in addition to, like, unlike, with, rather than, except, no less than, nothing but, more than one”, the verb agrees with the first Subject.

✔️ Rule 18 : Difference between Noun and Verb for similar sounding words, like Advice (N), Advise( V).


120 Rules of Grammer

RULE20: Who vs. Whom?

“Who” is used as a subjective pronoun,
and
“Whom” is used as an objective pronoun.

That simply means that “who” is always as a subject to a verb, and that “whom” is always working as an object in a sentence.

As simple and important as that distinction is, many people have difficulty deciding on the proper usage of “who” and “whom” in sentences.

To clear this doubt, simply substitute the personal pronoun “he/him” or “she/her”
for “who/whom.”

If he or she would be the correct form, the proper choice is “who”.

Example:-

🟣 Jyoti is the girl who got the job. [She got the job.] ✅

If “him” or “her” would be correct, use “whom.”

Example:-

🟣 He is the man whom everyone admires. [ He is him.] ✅


120 Rules of Grammer

RULE19: There are three cases of pronouns

The Subject Object Posse Posse
cases ive ive ssive ssive
of Pro Pro Adj. Pro
Perso nouns nouns nouns
nal
Pronoun

First I Me My Mine
Person We Us Our Ours

Second You You Your Yours
Person

Third She Her Her Hers
Person He Him His His
It It Its ---
they them their theirs

Comparisons are usually done between the same things. So whenever we compare, we compare

(I) Subjective case to Subjective case

Example:-

✔️ My parents scold me more than he. [ My parents 👉 he ] ✅

(II) Objective case to objective case.

✔️ My parents scold me more than
him. [ me 👉 him ] ✅


120 Rules of Grammer

RULE18: Difference between Noun and Verb for similar sounding words, like

1. (a)Advice – Noun
(b)Advise – Verb

2. (a)Practice – Noun
(b)Practise – Verb

3. (a) Belief-- Noun
(b) Believe-- Verb

Example:-

✔️ I advise you to practise a lot since practice makes a man perfect. ✅

Advise 👉 (Verb)
Practise 👉 (Verb) [ 'to' always followed
by 'V¹' ]
Practice 👉 ( Noun)

#NOTE: To locate noun in the sentence, we generally try to find the answer of ‘what’, ‘who’, or ‘whom’.


120 Rules of Grammer

RULE17: Whenever the two subjects are connected by “as well as, together with, along with, and not, in addition to, like, unlike, with, rather than, except, no less than, nothing but, more than one”, the verb agrees with the first Subject.

Examples:-

🔵 John, as well as Mary, wants to drop the course. ✅
🟣 The teachers, along with the Principal, are entering the class. ✅

#NOTE: We follow the same rule (i.e. the verb agrees with the first Subject) when two subjects are connected by “governed by”, “accompanied by”, “but”, “besides”, “led by”, “run by”, etc.


120 Rules of Grammer

RULE16: There are certain words which are never followed by Reflexive pronoun: hide, keep, stop, turn, shave, bathe, etc.

Examples :-

⚫️ He hid himself in the cave and thus saved his life. 🔠

🟢 He hid in the cave and thus saved his life. ✅


120 Rules of Grammer

RULE15: Use of Reflexive Pronoun as the Object of a sentence.

The object of a sentence is the person or thing that receives the action of the verb. It answers the question “whom” or “what”?


There are certain words which are always followed by an object: enjoy, avail, absent, pride, adjust, reconcile, acquit, amuse,
resign, avenge, exert, apply, adapt, etc. When these words are not followed by an object in the sentence, we use the reflexive pronouns as their object.

Examples:-

⚫️ He enjoyed himself at the party.✅

🟡 She availed herself of the opportunity and thus got a promotion. ✅


#NOTE: There are certain words which are not followed by reflexive pronouns as their object: “keep, stop, turn, qualify, bathe, move, rest, hide, etc.”


120 Rules of Grammer

RULE14: Whenever adverbs like “No sooner”, “Hardly”, “Scarcely”, etc. are used in the beginning of a sentence, they are always followed by a helping verb.

Example:-

🟣 Hardly had I begun to speak when I was interrupted. ✅

#NOTE: Note that adverbs “hardly, scarcely and barely” are always followed by “when”, while “No sooner” is followed by “than”.


120 Rules of Grammer

RULE13: Whenever we use normal places like school, college, church, bed, table, hospital, market, prison, jail, court, temple, mosque, university etc. for primary purpose
(for which they are being made), the article “The” is not used before them. But when these places are used for secondary purpose, the article “The” is used before them.

Example:-

🟠 He goes to temple. [Primary] ✅

🟡 His home is just beside the temple. [Secondary] ✅

#NOTE: It is important to understand the difference between primary purpose and secondary purpose. The primary purpose refers to work for which they are being made while secondary purpose refers to any work other than for which are they are being made.


120 Rules of Grammer

RULE12: Law of Inversion

Inversion means putting the verb before the subject. It is a literary technique in which the normal order of words is reversed, generally for emphasis or special effect.

Two types of Inversion:
(1)Partial Inversion
(2)Complete Inversion

Structure of Sentence
(Normal Sentence):
“Subject + helping verb + Main verb + …”

Example:-

🟠 I have never seen such a beautiful place. ✅

Structure of Sentence
(Inversion):
“Helping verb + Subject + Main Verb + …”

Example:-

🟠 Never have I seen such a beautiful place. [Inversion] ✅

We generally use Inversion when we begin the sentence with an Adverb.
[Adverb + helping verb + subject + main verb + …]

Example:-

🟠 Rarely did he go there. ✅


Whenever the Adverb is followed by a helping verb, we call that a Partial Inversion.

Example:-

🟠 Seldom have I seen such a beautiful view. ✅

In the case of Complete Inversion, a main verb is used after the Adverb.

Example:-

🟠 Here comes the King! [Adverb + main verb +…] ✅

In the case of “No sooner…than…”

Example:-

🟠 No sooner had I entered the class than it began to rain. ✅


#Note: It is to be noted that “No sooner” always comes with “than” and not with “when”.


120 Rules of Grammer
RULE11: We use a Possessive Adjective (my, our, his, her, their, your) before a Gerund.

Example:-

🟡 I hope you don’t mind my borrowing your car. ✅

“Gerund” as a noun When V1+ING is used.


120 Rules of Grammer

RULE09: Prepositions of Time: “Since” and “For”.


🔵 For is used for “duration”.

Example:-

🟠 He has been here for 6 months and still cannot speak a word of German. [for + a period of time] ✅


🔵 Since is used to denote “Point of start”.

Example:-

🟠 I've only known her since the beginning of last week. [since + a particular point in time] ✅

#NOTE: “for” is used to specify a period of time while “since” is used to specify a particular point in time.


#NOTE: Only the Perfect Tense or Perfect Continuous Tense is used before “since” and “for” when they denote time.

Example:-

🟠 I have had this watch since 1965. [Present Perfect Tense] ✅

#NOTE: “since” is always followed by “Simple Past” tense.

Example:-

🟠 I had been waiting for him since the time I completed my graduation. ✅


120 Rules of Grammer

RULE 08: Certain cases of comparisons :

Examples:-

(I) Gold is more precious than all
metals. [Incorrect] ❌

🔴 “Gold” is itself a metal and
is being compared with all metals which include even gold as a metal. Thus, at a point of time, the meaning of the sentence becomes
– “Gold is more precious than gold”, which makes the sentence wrong.

(II) Gold is more precious than any
other metals. [Correct] ✅

🟢 Gold is compared with any other metals, which means gold is precious than any metal other than gold. This makes the statement meaningful and logical.

(III) Diamond is more precious than
all metals. ✅

🟣 Diamond being a non-metal is compared to all metals. This makes the statement is correct.


120 Rules of Grammer

RULE07: Expressions of time, money, speed, weight, height and distance, when used or covered in one way, usually take a Singular verb. However, when these expressions are used or covered in various ways, a Plural verb is used.

Examples:-

(I)Ten miles needs to be covered
completely on foot. [Singular verb] (One way) ✅

(II)Ten mile need to be covered partly by car and rest on foot. [Plural verb] (Various way) ✅


120 Rules of Grammer

RULE06: If there is a combination of “Number + Unit + Noun” or, “Number + Unit + Adjective” in a sentence, we always use the singular form of the Unit.

Examples:-

(I) He saw a ten inch snake. [Unit – Singular] (Noun) ✅

(II) She gave me two five hundred rupee notes. [Unit – Singular] (Adjective) ✅

#NOTE: If there is a combination of “Number + Unit” in a sentence, a singular Unit will be used if the sentence is not self explanatory , otherwise a plural Unit will be used if the sentence is self explanatory.

Examples:-

(I) He had five dozen. [Singular Unit] { Not self explanatory, hence we have used a singular noun} ✅

(II) I have five rupees. [Plural Unit] {Self explanatory; hence we have used a plural noun} ✅

#NOTE: In a sentence, if there is more than one Unit, Units are always arranged in ascending order.

Example:-

(I) Thousands of lakhs of students took the test. [Units arranged in ascending order] ✅


120 Rules of Grammer

RULE05: The general rule for usage of the phrase "one of the" is:

“One of the + PLURAL NOUN + that/who etc. + SINGULAR/PLURAL VERB”


(1) When the relative pronoun “who/that” is not used – i.e. if "one of the NOUNs" is actually the SUBJECT of the verb - then we use a singular verb.

Example :-

🟥 There are many birds on the tree. One of the birds is red. [“One of the birds” is used as the Subject] ✅


(2) When the relative pronoun “who/that” is used – i.e. if "one of the NOUNs" is not actually the SUBJECT of the verb - then we use a plural verb.

Example:-

🟥 She is one of the mothers who are really working hard to make both ends meet. ✅


(3)If the sentence follows the form, “The only one of the + PLURAL NOUN + WHO/THAT etc.”, a SINGULAR verb is required.

Example:-

🟥 Rina is the only one of the girls who has ever been to India. [Singular verb] ✅


120 Rules of Grammer

RULE04: There are three types of
conditional sentences:


TYPE CONDITION

I. Condition possible to fulfill
II. Condition in theory possible to
fulfill
III. Condition not possible to fulfill ( too late )

Let’s understand their form:

TYPE IF CLAUSE MAIN CLAUSE
I Simple will-future or
Present (Modal +
infinitive)
shall/can/may/must
+ V1

II Simple would + V1 or,
Past could/might/should
+ V1

III Past would + have +
Perfect past participle
(V3) or,
could/might/ should
+ have + past
participle (V3)

Examples:-

(I) If I study, I will pass the exam. [Type I] ✅

(II) If I studied, I would pass the exam. [Type II] ✅

(III) If I had studied, I would have passed the exam. [Type III] ✅

#NOTE: The given rule is not applicable in the case of universal truth.

Example :-

🟥 If water reaches 100 degree celcius, it boils. [Universal truth] ✅


120 Rules of Grammer

RULE03: Usage of Relative Pronouns –
who, whom, which and that.


(1) “Who” and “whom” are mainly used for people. However, these pronouns can also be used to refer Domestic Animals.

Examples:-

(I) The people who just boarded the plane are in a rock band. [Used for people] ✅

(II) The vacuum scared our dog Rocky, who was sleeping on the rug.
[Used for a pet/domestic animals] ✅


(2) “Which” is used for animals in general or things (i.e. Non- domestic Animals and Non- living things).

Examples:-

(I) Vinita visited the park with a dog, which likes to chase squirrels. [Used for an animal] ✅

(II) The bomb, which killed 15 people, was the worst of a series of terrorist outrages.
[Used for a non-living thing] ✅


(3) “That” can be used for people, animals or things (i.e. No restrictions)

Examples:-

(I) The car that Jasprit bought runs on electricity and gas. [Used for a thing] ✅

(II) The musician that won the award is Indian. [Used for a person] ✅

(III) The dog that is chasing the squirrels belongs to Brijesh. [Used for an animal] ✅

#NOTE: All, any, the only , the same, none, much, no, the little, the few, something, anything, nothing and superlative degrees are all followed by “that” only. They cannot be followed by “who” or “which”.

Example :-

🌟 This is the same book that you were reading. ✅


#NOTE: “Whoever” vs. “Whomever”:

(1) Whoever is a subjective pronoun. It serves as a subject of a verb.

Examples:-

🌟 Whoever is hungry can have the leftover pizza. (Whoever is the subject of the verb is, like "He is hungry.")✅


(2) Whomever is an objective pronoun. It serves as an object of a verb or a preposition.

Example :-

🌟 Please invite whomever you choose. (Whomever is the object of the verb choose, like "You choose him.") ✅


120 Rules of Grammer

RULE02: “Both” and “not” cannot be used together. In such case, we can use “Neither…nor” which is used when we want to say that two or more things are not true.

Examples:-

(I) Neither Ram nor Shyam is going to visit this place. ✅

(II) This is a war which neither side can win. ✅

#NOTE: “Neither” allows use to make a negative statement about two people or things at the same time. “Neither” goes before singular countable nouns. We use it to say “not either” in relation to two things.

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