Hello, friends!
Did you know that every language has its own set of letters called an alphabet?
Remember, the word alphabet doesn’t refer to a single letter but rather
the entire set of letters in a language. So, it isn’t proper to say “alphabet
A”; instead, it’s just “letter A,” which is one part of the English alphabet.
Here’s something fascinating: The word alphabet
comes from the first two letters of the Greek alphabet—alpha and beta—which
correspond to a and b in English. That’s why alphabet
means the entire sequence of letters, like a, b, c, and so on.
When we combine some of these letters
to form a meaningful group, we get a word. And here’s where the fun
begins—words can play different roles, just like characters in a story:
- Nouns are the stars of the show—they name people, animals, places,
or things. Think of them as the who or what of any sentence. For example, dog,
mountain, or Emma.
- Adjectives are like artists, painting pictures of
those nouns. They tell us if the dog is playful, the mountain is tall,
or Emma is curious.
- Verbs bring the action! They’re the doers—jumping, singing,
thinking, or even sleeping (yes, that’s an action too!).
- Adverbs add flair to the verbs, showing how, when, or where something
happens. A dog can bark loudly, Emma can climb a mountain quickly,
and the sun can shine brightly.
- Conjunctions are the glue holding everything together.
They link words and ideas, like bridges between thoughts. For instance, and,
but, or because.
- Prepositions are your navigators, pointing out where
things are or when they happen. The book on the table, the cat under
the bed, or the party at noon—all use prepositions to make
sense.
Language is truly amazing, isn’t it?
Now that we’ve introduced these parts of speech, let’s explore how they work
together to create beautiful sentences!
As we’ve seen,
some words are naming words, which we call nouns. Let’s take an example:
Emma is a girl.
In this sentence, there are two nouns: Emma and girl.
Emma is the name of a particular girl. Since it is
a specific name, we call it a proper noun.
The word girl
can refer to any girl. It is a name that is common to all girls, so we call it
a common noun.
Here’s another
example:
Canada is a country.
In this sentence:
- Canada is a specific name, so it is a proper
noun.
- Country can refer to any country, making it a common
noun.
In short:
- A name common
to every person or thing of the same class is a common noun (e.g.,
boy, chair, country, city, girl).
- The name of a
specific person or place is called a proper noun (proper
meaning "one’s own") (e.g., Canada, India, Emma, Tom).
There are a couple
of things to take note of here:
- Proper nouns
always start with a capital letter (or uppercase), like India.
- A proper noun
can become a common noun when used
with an article (a, an, the).
For example:
a) Sachin is the Bradman of India. (Here, Bradman is not
referring to a specific individual but is used to mean "any excellent
batsman.")
b) Rahim is a Kalidasa in his village. (Here, a Kalidasa means
"any great poet.")
Before we call it
a day, here is a brief recap:
The naming words
are called nouns. When a noun refers to a thing or a person of the same class,
it is called a common noun; when it refers to a specific person or place, it is
called a proper noun and it starts with a capital letter.
Alright, friends?_______________________________________________________________________
EXERCISE:
a) A single letter
b) A group of letters forming a word
c) The entire set of letters in a language
d) A single language
2. From which language does the word
"alphabet" originate?
a) Latin
b) Greek
c) English
d) Sanskrit
3. Which of the following is true?
a) It is proper to say “alphabet A”
b) Proper nouns start with a capital letter
c) Proper nouns can never be common nouns
d) All common nouns start with an upper case
4. Choose the
correct sentences from the following options.
a) Mumbai is
the Manchester of India
b) Mumbai is
Manchester of India
c) Alappuzha
is Venice of Kerala
d) Alappuzha
is the Venice of Kerala
5. Which of
the following uses a proper noun as a common noun?
a) Shakespeare
is one of the greatest dramatists of all times
b) The Taj
Mahal is a historical monument
c) It takes
great genius to become an Einstein these days
d) Wherever
you travel in Kozhikode, you meet people of warmth.
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ANSWERS
1.
c) Alphabet refers to the entire set of
letters in a language, not any individual letter
2.
b) The word “alphabet” originates from the
Greek language
3.
b) All proper nouns start with a capital
letter
4.
b) & d). Since “Manchester” (a city of
textiles) and “Venice” (a port city) are used as common nouns they need to be
prefixed with the article “the”.
5.
c) Since “an Einstein” is used in the
sentence, it works as a common noun.
________________________________________________________________________
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