Grammar Proficiency can be acquired by knowing the nuances of Grammar'.From the rule of substitute reduce split to knowing the parts of speech is crucial. The key lies in the function .How is it used is important.Thata decides whether a word would be a verb or a verbal.

2. Its all about the function
•The key to grammar is function
•Meaning is king, arrangement of words is syntax,
using variety to create emotions is literature,
Manipulation of syntax for rhythm is poetry.

3. Summary of the earlier lesson
• Parts of speech and their extended functions.
• Abstract noun is also about feelings, ideas, institutions. Phrases have no verbs, clauses have verb and
subject. How to id a noun (determiner/object of preposition/ will take an adjective/ ing noun is called
gerund and behaves like a noun) Gerunds come in subject or object positions and answer the question
What? Answer: someone or something
• Adjectives are always attached to nouns. They can be attributive (before noun) or predicative (after noun)
Order: DOSASCOMP. Present participles are –ing forms. They make continuous tenses, without helpers they
are participle adjectives. They modify nouns like all adjectives. Exception. The show was boring. The
lectured was boring her.
• Adjectives and pronouns share the same words. Difference pronouns have no nouns. They answer which or
what kind put to the noun
• Adverbs answer how, why, when where, what condition, although what, compared to what, if what – put to
the verb.
• Prepositions and adverbs share the same words. Preposition take nouns as objects – always.
• Nest of boxes – an adjectival phrase inside a noun phrase, inside a prepositional phrase. Prepositional phrases
can be adjectival (describing nouns) or adverbial (modifying verbs) ask questions which/what kind? For
adjectives and all the adverbial questions put to the verb for adverbials.

4. Substitute. Reduce. Split.
• Example: The wagging of the dog’s tail made the baby laugh.
• Reduce (simplify): Something made the baby laugh. What? The
wagging made the baby laugh. (not the tail) Without the wagging the
tail itself won’t make the baby laugh.
• Substitute (with another common noun): Grandpa made the
baby laugh. Grandpa = noun. Wagging = noun (gerund)
• Split the ideas. The dog’s tail was wagging. It made the baby
laugh. The wagging (tail) (something) made the baby laugh. What
made the baby laugh? The wagging of the tail. Clearly a gerund.

5. Questions to be asked⁉️
• Gerund answers the questions: Who? or What? put to the verb.
When such sentences are in the negative or in the interrogative they
can confuse, so remove the negative or the question to understand
better.
• The nominal (noun) answer: Who? Or what? Put to the verb = noun.
This can be substituted with someone or something.
• The relative/adjectivals answer: Which? What kind? To the noun =
adjective. This can be substituted with another simple adjective.
• The adverbials answer : MRTP2C4 questions to the verb = adverb.
This can be substituted with an ordinary adverb.

6. Prepositional Adjectives and Prepositional Adverbs
• A prepositional phrase is one that begins with a preposition
• E.g. in the intensely deep and dark forest; near the beautifully serene yet exhilarating temple shores; over the steep
and craggy hill, under the despairing rubble and ruin.
• Let’s take the first one. Into the intensely deep and dark forest.
• The path in the intensely deep and dark forest is scary. Ask the question to the noun ‘path’ Which path? Yes.
• The children hid under the despairing rubble and ruin. Here if we ask to the noun ‘children’ which children? Do we
get an answer? But if we ask the verb: hid where. We have our answer. Thus adverbial.
• Adjectival: The mountain near the beautifully serene yet exhilarating temple shores is majestic. Which mountain?
• Adverbial: My mother’s house stands near the beautifully serene yet exhilarating temple shores. Stands where?
• Adjectival: The nest over the steep and craggy hill was blown off in the storm. Which nest?
• Adverbial: The eagle nested over the steep and craggy hill. Nested where?

7. Conjunctive adverbs
• A conjunctive adverb has two
flavours. The conjunction which
joins and the adverb which shows
time, consequence, reason,
contrast etc.

8. Exercise 1 – Prepositional phrases – adjectival or
adverbial?
• Say whether the underlined prepositional phrases are adjectival or adverbial.
Some have 3 prepositional phrases.
1. The manager of the newly opened, large, up-market department store was not
available for comment
2. The tall, imposing monument was made from cool white marble with little
flecks of emerald green running through it.
3. You can’t walk to the station on Lilavati Road several kilometers away
4. You are late for work due to oversleeping and extreme carelessness the night
before
5. The books were hidden in the disgustingly damp basement.
6. They went to the funeral in the morning, at the crack of a dawn, under the
crimson-streaked skies of Brimingham

9. Appositives
An appositive is a noun or noun phrase that renames the noun next to it.
• Monu, Radha’s infant son, slowly crept up the stairs.
• The bed, an antique family heirloom, was the center of the skirmish.
• The spider, a large mottled arachnid, scared the women who ran screeching.
• My brother, a human food dispenser, consumed ten dosas in one sitting.
• Mina’s diamonds, a display of her wealth, spoke louder than her attempt at
simplicity
• A Sunday treat, a gigantic strawberry ice cream was waiting for the kid.
• Jasmine was the belle of the ball in her new dress, a turquoise ball gown.

10. Phrases Revision
• Noun Phrases
• Adjectival Phrases
• Adverbial phrases
• Prepositional phrases

11. Clauses Revision
• A clause is a group of words with a verb in it. Because it has a verb, it needs a
doer. So the subject is the doer of the action.
• A clause may be main. (I went to the market.)
• A clause may be coordinating (I went to the market and I bought some eggs.)
• A clause may be subordinating ( I said that I went to the market/ I went to the
market which is crowded/ I went where the market is located to buy eggs./ I
went when I got home/ I went because I wanted eggs/ I went on my bike / I went
even thought I had a headache/ if I went to the market, I’d have got eggs/ I went
although I was tired.)

12. Clauses can be of 4 types
• A noun clause has a verb. It is a subordinate clause. A noun clause can be
substituted with someone, something or it.
• Asks the question What? Who? Whom? To the verb. To find the doer or the
receiver. The answer is someone or something – a noun. (The marker is that.) A
marker heralds a subordinate or coordinate clause.
• Adjective clauses ask the question – who? Which? Whom? (marker which or that
or whom)
• Adverbial clauses ask why when where why? On what condition? Despite what?
So what? (markers: when where if although because as if etc)
• Prepositional Clause.

13. How to Identify a Noun Clause?
• You can identify a noun clause in two steps:
• First, check if there is a noun and a verb.
• Then, analyse if it plays any of the functions of a noun
(subject, direct object, indirect object, subject complement and
object of a preposition).
• Let us look at a famous dialogue from the story Aladdin and the
Magic Lamp – “Your wish is my command.”
• ‘Whatever you wish is my command’. Can you find the
difference between the two? Both sentences mean the same.

14. What Is a Noun Clause? – Meaning and
Definition
• A noun clause is a dependent clause that works just like a noun
in a sentence. The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Linguistics
explains a noun clause as “a clause whose syntactic role is seen
as like that of a noun or noun phrase”, and the Collins Dictionary
Dictionary defines it as “a clause that fulfils the same function as
a noun”.

15. Functions of a Noun Clause
• Works as the subject by performing or constituting the action in
a sentence.
• Takes the place of the object in a sentence by receiving the
action.
• Acts as the subject complement by identifying or describing the
subject.
• Functions as the object of a preposition.

16. Examples of Noun Clause
• Noun Clauses as Subjects
• What amuses my son is always surprising.
• How we would finish the assignment on time is still a question.
• Noun Clauses as Objects
• I have been wondering if I should take an auto.
• Does anyone know where I could find a clinic?
• Noun Clauses as Subject Complements
• This was exactly what I was looking for.
• A tub of tender coconut ice cream is what I need now.
• Nouns Clauses as Objects of Prepositions
• You will have to be ready to face the consequences of whatever decision you make.
• Priya would be happy with anything we give her.

17. Defining and non-defining Clauses
• Defining clauses are important and the information in them is critical. They are
not separated from the main sentence by commas.
• The man who is wearing a red shirt is the thief.
• But where the information is extraneous to the main clause, we separate the
clause by commas and the clause can be dropped without affecting the main
purpose of the sentence.
• The man, who lives in my building, is the President of the Environment
Association.
• The article which is causing a lot of controversy is about a cure for covid.
• Suma’s article, which she wrote when I was with her, was submitted late.

18. Exercise 2 – Defining and non-defining
Adjectival clauses
• His Majesty’s cars which cost a fortune were made in Japan.
• Her husband whom I met for the first time works in Toronto as an engineer.
• The earrings which were left in the bathroom were stolen.
• The report which I left on your desk last evening was my sister’s wedding
invitation.
• The man in the red shirt with the earring in his left ear is the thief.
• The papers that were printed on the new printer are important.

19. Answers
• Are these defining or non-defining clauses? (note the commas)
• His Majesty’s cars, which cost a fortune, were made in Japan. - ND
• Her husband, whom I met for the first time, works in Toronto as an engineer. - ND
• The earrings which were left in the bathroom were stolen. D
• The report, which I left on your desk last evening, was my sister’s wedding
invitation. ND
• The man in the red shirt with the earring in his left ear is the thief. - D
• The papers, that were printed on the new printer, are important D

20. Subordinating conjunction list
• (after, as, as___ as, although, because, before, by the time, even if,
even though, every time, if, in case, just in case, like, now that, once,
only if, rather than, since, so that, than, that, therefore, though, thus,
until, unless, when, wherever, where, whereas, wherever, whether,
whether or not, while, who, why)
• Adverbial clauses – MRTP2C4 – Manner, reason, time, place, purpose,
condition, concession, comparison, consequence
• If you begin a sentence with a subordinate clause, always put a
comma after it.

21. Exercise 3 – Clauses – kinds and types
• What kind of Clause is this? Noun, adjectival or adverbial?
• He asked where I was going
• He went where no one went before
• The place where the grass grows is sacred.
• I told him why I was sad
• The reason why I was sad is unknown.
• She fell because she tripped.

22. All are adverbial. What type is each?
• I didn’t go on a holiday because I don’t have money.
• She ate as if she was starving for a week.
• I arrived before it was assembly time.
• I went where we had lived after marriage.
• If you do not sign, we will lose the deal
• I will go so that you can speak in private.

23. Answers to Exercise 3
• What kind of clause is this?
• He asked where I was going - Noun
• He went where no one went before Adverbial
• The place where the grass grows is sacred – adjectival
• I told him why I was sad - Noun
• The reason why I was sad is unknown. – adjectival
• She fell because she tripped. – adverbial

24. • B) All adverbial – what type?
I didn’t go on a holiday because I don’t have money. – reaso
She ate as if she was starving for a week.- manner
I arrived before it was assembly time. – time
I went where we had lived after marriage. – place
If you do not sign, we will lose the deal –condition
I will go so that you can speak in private - purpose

25. Pronouns
• Pronouns replace nouns and acts like nouns.
• Must have a noun reference first.
• Must follow sub verb agreement with number and gender
• Beware of contractions its/it’s. A pronoun has no apostrophes
• Don’t confuse with possessive pronouns (its) with possessive adjective. (its tail)
• You will never find a noun/gerund/ infinitive after a pronoun

26. Swimming in the sea, the girl felt a cramp in her foot.
Swimming in the sea was invigorating until the girl felt a
cramp