Bahasa Inggeris notes, unit 3
Grammar: nouns, articles, pronouns and quantifiers
Textbook English Form 1 KSSM (2016, older edition) — skills-based units for the UASA, pages Skills unit (UASA Paper format)
What this chapter covers
- I can tell countable nouns (a chair, two chairs) from uncountable nouns (water, rice, information) (3.1)
- I can spell plural nouns correctly, including -es, -ies, -ves and irregular plurals like children and feet (3.2)
- I can choose a, an, the or no article, as in "an honest boy", "the sun" and "I go to school by bus" (3.3)
- I can use subject pronouns, object pronouns, possessive adjectives and possessive pronouns, such as he, him, his and mine (3.4)
- I can use some, any, much, many, a lot of, a few and a little with the right kind of noun (3.5)
- I can say what is in a place with there is and there are, not "there have" (3.6)
- I can find and correct noun, article and pronoun errors in a UASA Paper 1 Part 2 text (3.7)
Nouns, articles, pronouns and quantifiers are small words, but they appear in almost every sentence. In the UASA, Paper 1 Part 2 (error correction) usually has one or two of them, and you need them in every piece of writing in Paper 2. This unit explains each point with a pattern table, shows the mistakes Malaysian students often make, and ends with a method for spotting these errors in the exam.
3.1Countable and uncountable nouns
A noun is a word for a person, place, thing or idea: Aiman, Ipoh, pencil, happiness. A countable noun can be counted (one book, two books). An uncountable noun cannot be counted one by one, so it has no plural and we cannot put a or an in front of it.
| Countable nouns | Uncountable nouns | |
|---|---|---|
| Examples | apple, student, chair, egg, bottle, idea | water, rice, sugar, money, homework, information, advice, furniture, news, equipment, luggage, bread, music, traffic |
| a / an? | a chair, an egg | no: |
| Plural? | two chairs, three eggs | no: |
| Verb | The eggs are fresh. | The rice is hot. The news is good. |
Counting uncountable nouns
To count an uncountable noun, use a container or unit word + of. The unit word becomes plural, not the noun.
| Unit word | Examples |
|---|---|
| a bottle of / a glass of / a cup of | a bottle of water, two glasses of milk, a cup of teh tarik |
| a kilo of / a packet of / a bowl of | a kilo of sugar, three packets of rice, a bowl of soup |
| a piece of | a piece of advice, a piece of information, two pieces of furniture, a piece of cake |
| a slice of / a loaf of | a slice of bread, two loaves of bread |
These words are uncountable in English even though they feel countable: homework, information, advice, furniture, equipment, luggage, news. Never add -s.
I have many homeworks. I have a lot of homework.
Can you give me some informations? Can you give me some information?
She gave me an advice. She gave me some advice / a piece of advice.
Countable (C) or uncountable (U)? (a) orange juice (b) banana (c) equipment (d) idea (e) bread
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(a) U (b) C (c) U (d) C (e) U. We say "a slice of bread", not "a bread".
3.2Plural nouns
| Rule | Singular | Plural |
|---|---|---|
| Most nouns: add -s | book, stall, girl | books, stalls, girls |
| Ends in -s, -ss, -sh, -ch, -x: add -es | bus, glass, dish, watch, box | buses, glasses, dishes, watches, boxes |
| Consonant + y: y → ies | family, city, baby, story | families, cities, babies, stories |
| Vowel + y: add -s | day, boy, key | days, boys, keys |
| Many -f / -fe: → ves | knife, leaf, wife, shelf, half | knives, leaves, wives, shelves, halves (but: roofs, chefs) |
| Some -o: add -es | tomato, potato, hero | tomatoes, potatoes, heroes (but: photos, radios, pianos) |
| Irregular | man, woman, child, person, foot, tooth, mouse | men, women, children, people, feet, teeth, mice |
| Same in both | sheep, fish, deer | sheep, fish, deer |
Irregular plurals are already plural, so do not add -s again: childrens children, peoples people, teeths teeth.
After one of, use a plural noun:one of my friend one of my friends.
After every and each, use a singular noun:every students every student.
After one of, use a plural noun:
After every and each, use a singular noun:
After a number bigger than one, the noun is plural: two weeks, ten ringgit coins, fifty students. Watch for plurals in the exam after words like many, a few, a lot of, several, these, those, both.
Write the plurals: box, lorry, life, person, tooth, toy.
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boxes, lorries, lives, people, teeth, toys (vowel + y, so just add -s).
3.3Articles: a, an, the and no article
| Article | When we use it | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| a | one countable thing, first time we mention it; the next word begins with a consonant sound | a cat, a uniform (/j/ sound), a university, a one-way street |
| an | the same, but the next word begins with a vowel sound | an apple, an egg, an hour (h is silent), an honest boy, an old friend, an MRT station |
| the | a thing we already know about, or there is only one | I bought a book. The book is about pandas. / the sun, the moon, the sky, the Prime Minister, the best student, the Petronas Twin Towers |
| no article | plural or uncountable nouns in general; names of most countries, towns, meals, sports, school subjects; school, home, bed for their normal purpose | Cats like fish. Water is important. I live in Malaysia. We play football after lunch. Science is fun. I go to school by bus. |
Listen to the sound, not the letter. University starts with a "yoo" sound, so it is a university. Hour starts with an "ow" sound, so it is an hour.
First mention, then "the"
Last Saturday, Hafiz found a kitten near a drain. The kitten was hungry, so he gave it some milk. Now the kitten sleeps in a box in his kitchen.Common article mistakes:
Missing article before a singular countable noun:My father is doctor. My father is a doctor.
a apple, a hour, an uniform: an apple, an hour, a uniform.
Extra "the":I love the nature. I love nature. We play the football. We play football. She lives in the Malaysia. She lives in Malaysia.
But musical instruments take "the": I play the guitar.
Missing article before a singular countable noun:
Extra "the":
But musical instruments take "the": I play the guitar.
Fill in a, an, the or nothing (–): (a) Puan Siti is ___ English teacher. (b) ___ moon is bright tonight. (c) I have ___ breakfast at 6.30 a.m. (d) We waited for ___ hour.
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(a) an (vowel sound) (b) The (only one) (c) – (meals take no article) (d) an (silent h)
3.4Pronouns and possessives
A pronoun takes the place of a noun so we do not repeat it. Choose the form by its job in the sentence.
| Subject pronoun (does the action) | Object pronoun (after a verb or preposition) | Possessive adjective (+ noun) | Possessive pronoun (no noun after it) |
|---|---|---|---|
| I | me | my bag | mine |
| you | you | your bag | yours |
| he | him | his bag | his |
| she | her | her bag | hers |
| it | it | its bag | – |
| we | us | our bag | ours |
| they | them | their bag | theirs |
All four forms
She lent me her ruler because I forgot mine.We told them that the blue tent is ours and the red tent is theirs.
In Malay, dia means both he and she. In English, a man or boy is he / him / his; a woman or girl is she / her / hers. My father said she is tired. My father said he is tired.
A possessive pronoun never has a noun after it:This is mine book. This is my book. / This book is mine. ours money our money.
After a verb or preposition, use the object form:between you and I between you and me; She helped we. She helped us.
its = belonging to it (The cat licked its paw). it's = it is (It's raining). Possessive words have no apostrophe:your's, our's.
A possessive pronoun never has a noun after it:
After a verb or preposition, use the object form:
its = belonging to it (The cat licked its paw). it's = it is (It's raining). Possessive words have no apostrophe:
Put yourself last and use the subject form for the doer: Ravi and I went to the library. (not "Me and Ravi went").
Choose the correct word: (a) Is this pencil (your / yours)? (b) Mr Tan gave (we / us) a quiz. (c) The bird built (its / it's) nest. (d) Aisyah and (I / me) are cousins.
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(a) yours (no noun after it) (b) us (after the verb gave) (c) its (belonging to the bird) (d) I (part of the subject)
3.5Quantifiers: some, any, much, many, a lot of, a few, a little
| Quantifier | With countable (plural) | With uncountable | Where we use it |
|---|---|---|---|
| some | some eggs | some rice | positive sentences; offers and requests: Would you like some tea? |
| any | any eggs | any rice | negatives and questions: There isn't any rice. Are there any eggs? |
| many | many students | – | mostly questions and negatives: How many students are there? |
| much | – | much time | mostly questions and negatives: How much money do you have? I don't have much time. |
| a lot of / lots of | a lot of friends | a lot of homework | any sentence, especially positive ones |
| a few | a few apples | – | a small number, but enough |
| a little | – | a little sugar | a small amount, but enough |
Ask yourself: can I count it? If yes, use many / a few. If no, use much / a little. Some, any and a lot of go with both.
A few or few?
A few students came to the meeting, so we could start. (a small number, but enough: positive)Few students came to the meeting, so we cancelled it. (almost none: negative)
The same is true for a little (some) and little (almost none).
Fill in much, many, a few or a little: (a) How ___ ringgit do you need? (b) Add ___ salt to the soup. (c) There isn't ___ traffic today. (d) I have ___ sweets. Do you want one?
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(a) many (ringgit can be counted: one ringgit, two ringgit) (b) a little (c) much (d) a few
3.6There is and there are
Use there is / there are to say that something exists or is in a place.
| Singular or uncountable | Plural | |
|---|---|---|
| Positive | There is a clinic near my house. There is some water in the jug. | There are two clinics in my town. There are a lot of trees. |
| Negative | There isn't a canteen here. There isn't any milk. | There aren't any buses after 10 p.m. |
| Question | Is there a toilet on this floor? | Are there any empty seats? |
| Past | There was a storm last night. | There were many people at the stadium. |
In Malay we say ada, so many students write "there have". This is wrong in English.
There have many stalls at the pasar malam. There are many stalls at the pasar malam.
There is three cats. There are three cats. There are a lot of rice. There is a lot of rice (rice is uncountable).
Don't mix up there (place), their (belonging to them) and they're (they are).
Don't mix up there (place), their (belonging to them) and they're (they are).
Correct the sentences: (a) There have a new library in our school. (b) There is many books in it. (c) Is there any students in the hall?
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(a) There is a new library in our school. (b) There are many books in it. (c) Are there any students in the hall?
3.7Exam skill: spotting these errors in Part 2
In Paper 1 Part 2 you read a text with eight underlined words. Each one is wrong. You write one correct word for each. The errors in this unit are very common in Part 2: a wrong pronoun (she for her), a wrong plural (ways for way), a wrong article (the for a) or a wrong quantifier.
Step by step
| Step | What to do |
|---|---|
| 1 | Read the whole sentence, not just the underlined word. |
| 2 | Decide what kind of word it is: noun, article, pronoun, quantifier, verb … |
| 3 | Ask the right question. Noun: one or more than one? countable? Article: first mention? vowel sound? Pronoun: subject, object or owner? man or woman? one or many? Quantifier: countable or uncountable? |
| 4 | Write only the corrected word, spelled correctly. Do not copy the whole sentence. |
| 5 | Read the sentence again with your word in it. It should sound right and keep the same meaning. |
Worked example
Mr Kumar is my neighbour. Every morning, (1) him waters (2) her plants. He grows (3) an mango tree and so (4) much chillies that he often gives some to us.(1) him is the doer of "waters", so it must be a subject pronoun: he.
(2) her shows who owns the plants. The owner is Mr Kumar (a man): his.
(3) an: "mango" starts with a consonant sound: a.
(4) much: "chillies" is plural and countable: many ("so many chillies").
Answers: (1) he (2) his (3) a (4) many.
If the word is a noun, look left for a clue: a, one, every, each need a singular noun; two, many, a few, these, both, one of need a plural noun. If the word is a pronoun, look back to find the person it stands for.
Correct the underlined words: "My sister and I share a room. (a) Our's room is small, but there (b) is two windows. We keep (c) a umbrella behind the door and the (d) furnitures is old."
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(a) Our (possessive adjective before a noun) (b) are (two windows is plural) (c) an (vowel sound) (d) furniture (uncountable, so no -s)
Summary
| Point | Remember |
|---|---|
| Countable / uncountable | Uncountable nouns have no plural and no a/an: information, advice, homework, furniture, equipment, luggage, news, money, rice. Count them with a piece of, a bottle of, a kilo of. |
| Plurals | -s; -es after s, sh, ch, x; consonant + y → ies; f/fe → ves; irregular: children, people, men, women, feet, teeth, mice; same: sheep, fish. one of + plural; every / each + singular. |
| Articles | a + consonant sound, an + vowel sound (an hour, a uniform). the = known or only one. No article for meals, sports, subjects, most countries and general plurals. |
| Pronouns | Subject I/he/she/we/they; object me/him/her/us/them; possessive adjective + noun my/his/her/our/their; possessive pronoun alone mine/yours/his/hers/ours/theirs. he for a man, she for a woman. its ≠ it's. |
| Quantifiers | many / a few + countable; much / a little + uncountable; some in positives; any in negatives and questions; a lot of with both. |
| There is / are | There is + singular or uncountable; there are + plural. Never "there have". |
| Part 2 method | Read the sentence, name the word type, ask the right question, write one corrected word, read it again. |