Practical tools for learning and teaching grammar

Masculine 
Feminine 
Neuter 
Either
king 
queen 
throne 
monarch
Others may include tyrant, master, leader, princess, ancestor, mech-
anic, pilot, uncle, blessing, conductor.
Some words have a technical definition of neuter but carry a gender 
by custom, for example: a ship is often referred to as ‘she’. These 
provide an interesting subject for discussion.
3. Exercises 1 and 2 can be done orally.
4. Students are given sentences in the singular which they then trans-
late into plural.
Reminder: It should still make sense!
a. The old woman (women) carried her (their) bag (bags) across the 
street (streets).
b. A mouse (mice) ate a hole (holes) in my (our) Dad’s sock (socks).
c. I (we) still have a bit (bits) of glass in my (our) foot (feet).
d. His (their) brother (brothers) is (are) painting the roof (roofs) of 
my (our) house (houses).
e. A fly (flies) fell in her (their) glass (glasses) of juice.
5. Students are given sentences in the plural which they then translate 
into singular.
a. The ladies (lady) still have (has) our (my) buckets (bucket) weeks 
(a week) after the fires (fire).
b. John’s friends (friend) are (is) going to school on their (his/her) 
horses (horse).
c. Naughty children (a naughty child) pushed them (he/she/it) into 
the puddles (puddle).
d. Our (my) sisters (sister) bought ice-creams (an ice-cream) with 
their (her) pocket money.
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nouns

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Case
Case is a term which classifies all nouns and pronouns according 
to the function that each one has in a given sentence. As this 
classification is relevant only for discussing such functions in 
advanced language study and for the study of foreign languages, 
case will be discussed at a later stage (see page 150).
Checklist: nouns
Can the student now:
• define the term noun in clear and simple words
• give an explanation of each category of nouns so far studied
• give examples of each type of noun
• state one way by which you can recognise a noun
• differentiate confidently between the categories
• correctly select nouns from a list of words or a passage and name 
the kind
• state things that can be said about a noun and give appropriate 
examples
C
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GrAMMAr for eVerYone

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Pronouns