Studies in English Language and Literature

  Today, in our discussion, we shall learn about Countable Nouns and Uncountable Nouns. As we see, the root word of these two words—‘Countable’ and ‘Uncountable’—‘count’. Hence, those nouns that we can count in number (like 1, 2, 3 etc.) are called Countable Nouns. Again, those nouns that we cannot count are called Uncountable Nouns. Why not look at the following examples? Examples of Countable Nouns: man, boy, sheep, ship, egg, star, sheet of paper, grain of sand, a bottle of water, an act of kindness, a glass of milk, a drop of water, etc. Examples of Uncountable Nouns: rice, sand, water, honesty, modesty, dust, milk, paper, some egg, etc. Let’s take a glance at the following sentences: 1.      Add two eggs to this batter. ( Countable ) There is some egg on your frock. ( Uncountable ) 2.      Give me some water , please. ( Uncountable ) Little drops of water make the mighty ocean. ( Countable ) 3.      We...

Collective Nouns: Thorough Study with Examples Today, let us have a brief idea about what collective noun is. Well, before that, let us remember that a noun, no matter what kind of a noun it is, is actually a nomenclature of a person or an object or of something else. In other words, we can say that a noun is a name. That is to say, for example, as and when we utter the word "dog", the picture of the mentioned domestic animal comes into our visualisation. Again, if we utter the word "sky", the endless blue canopy above our heads flashes upon our vision. So, it goes like this. There are five kinds of noun in English grammar. They are the following: 1. Common Nouns 2. Proper Nouns 3. Collective Nouns 4. Material Nouns 5. Abstract Nouns Again, in the respect of countability, there are two types of nouns. They are mentioned below: 1. Countable Nouns 2. Uncountable Nouns Well, now we shall plunge into our mentioned topic and try to explore more and eve...

  Today, we shall discuss about Gerund in a nutshell. Gerund is actually derived from a verb. However, it is used as a noun. Hence, we may say that gerund is a verbal noun. Gerund is formed by adding ‘-ing’ to the base form of the verb. Well, we must still keep in mind that it conveys the sense of a noun. Let us take a glance at an example. So, when we say, “Where can I find some drinking water?”, we are actually using a gerund. It is conspicuous to note that the word written in bold font is actually used as a noun in this sentence, even though it appears to be different, perhaps. It will become easy indeed for us to understand the matter if we analyse the sentence in this way. Does the word qualify the noun ‘water’? The answer is “No”. Why? It is so because the water is needed for the sake of or for the purpose of drinking. Note that the water is not drinking; that is to say, the word ‘drinking’ does not modify the word ‘water’; it is not used as an adjective. However, the...