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English Basics

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Uses Of Noun:
Nouns are words you use to talk about people, places, and things.

Singular
This is a book.
This is a singular noun. That means that it stands for one of something.

Plural
And these are books.
This is a plural noun. That means that it stands for more than one of something.

English usually forms the plural by adding an "s" to the singular noun. Sometimes, though, the plural looks like a completely different word:

There aren’t that many words in English that form the plural this way. It’s much more common to form the plural by adding "s."

Here are some more examples of English nouns:

Count And Noncount Nouns
Count nouns are nouns that can be counted (e.g., a book, two friends, three cars, etc.). A count noun may be preceded by a or an in the singular; it takes a final -s or -es in the plural.
Noncount (or mass) nouns refer to things that cannot be counted (e.g., money, rain, snow, butter, wind, air, clothing, etc.). Noncount nouns are not preceded by a or an and have no plural form.
COMMON NONCOUNT NOUNS

Some nouns can be both count and noncount nouns:
--We drank some wine. (Noncount)
--We ordered three wines. (Count)
(It is implicit that three different wines were ordered.)

Indefinite and Definite Articles
There is no need to worry about whether a noun is masculine, feminine, or neuter in English. Normally, a noun is preceded by a definite article (THE) or an indefinite article (A, AN) as follows:

DEFINITE ARTICLE

the tourist
the area
the card
the hotel
the restaurant
the people
the signs

INDEFINITE ARTICLE

a tourist
an area
a card
a hotel
a restaurant
some people
some signs

Note that definite articles refer to something specific, while indefinite articles refer to something non-specific. Use an in front of words beginning with vowels and some with plural nouns.

Possessive Adjectives

Here are the possessive adjectives in English:

1st person, singular -- my

3rd person, singular -- his, her, its

1st person, plural -- our

2nd person, sing./pl. -- your

3rd person, plural -- their

In English, the gender and number of the possessor determines the form of the possessive adjective:

--I have a credit card. It's my credit card.

--She has some money. It's her money.

NOTE: Often the subject of the verb is not the person who owns the noun. Be careful about this. You must know the gender and number of the owner to be able to use possessive adjectives correctly:

--Are you buying his ticket or her ticket?

--I'm buying his ticket.

Possessive Pronouns
Here are the possessive pronouns in English:
1st person, singular -- mine
3rd person, singular -- his, hers, its
1st person, plural -- ours
2nd person, sing./pl. -- yours
3rd person, plural -- theirs

In English, the gender and number of the possessor determines the form of the possessive pronoun:
--I have a bicycle. It's mine.
--They have some bread. It's theirs.

NOTE: Often the subject of the verb is not the person who owns the noun. Be careful about this. You must know the gender and number of the owner to be able to use possessive pronouns correctly:
--Are you driving his car or hers?
--We're driving hers.

Object Pronouns
Remember, a pronoun is used in place of a noun. Subject pronouns come in front of verbs, and object pronouns follow them:

EXAMPLES:

--We see our friends.
-->We see them. (them takes the place of our friends)

--Call the waiter.
-->Call him. (i.e., the waiter)

--They like coffee.
-->They like it. (i.e., coffee)

Reflexive Pronouns

The following are reflexive pronouns:

A reflexive pronoun usually refers to the subject of a sentence:

--We looked at ourselves in the mirror.
(We and ourselves are the same persons.)

Sometimes reflexive pronouns are used for emphasis:
--I washed my clothes myself.

The Relative Pronouns Whom/Which/That

Follow the same rules for using who(m), which, and that, as you do with other relative pronouns. The only difference is that now these pronouns are functioning as objects:

--The movie that we saw last night was terrible.
--The movie, which we saw last night, was terrible.

For people, you will use either who or whom. Who is usually used instead of whom in colloquial speech, even though it is technically incorrect:

--The person who they saw was sick. (informal)
--The person whom they saw was sick. (formal)
--There's the driver who the police arrested. (informal)
--There's the driver whom the police arrested. (formal)

Prepositions
Prepositions are used in phrases and as parts of verbs. Here are some common English prepositions:

Two-Word Verbs
The term two-word verb refers to a verb and a preposition which together have a special meaning. Two-word verbs are common in informal English. Here is a list of some of these verbs.

There are two categories of two-word verbs:
1.) Separable:
--I handed my paper in.
In separable two-word verbs, a noun or pronoun may come between the verb and preposition
2.) Non separable:
--She gets off the train

Troublesome Verbs
Here are some verbs that you, like many native speakers, may find troublesome: