Grammar Skills Overview

Overview

This lecture covers essential grammar skills, focusing on sentence transformation, use of prepositions, and common phrasal verbs with examples.

Change active to passive: "They ruthlessly cut down the trees."
Convert direct to indirect speech: The old man asked Rahul if he could help him cross the street.
Express preference: "I prefer eating fruits to a lot of unhealthy junk food."
Transform "so...that" to "too...to": "Rima was too tired to keep her eyes open."
Use "unless" for conditionals: "Unless Akashi catches the first bus, she will not be on time for her meeting."
Use "very few" for comparisons: "Very few Indian rulers were as great as Ashoka."
Change exclamatory to declarative: "The scene is extremely beautiful."
Passive voice for unknown subject: "The light has been switched off."
Use "no sooner...than" for immediate actions: "No sooner does the alarm ring than mother gets up."

"In" for ink colors: "Write your answers in blue ink."
"At" for locations: "They are sitting at the dining table."
"To" for comparisons: "I am senior to your sister."
"By name" for recognition: "The teacher knows her students by name."
"To" for marital status: "Jagan is married to Roshni."
"Out" for calling names: "The principal called out the names of the winners."
"With/at" for vexed: "He was vexed with Seema"; "He was vexed at Seema's behavior."
"Of" for avoidance: "Keep clear of wicked boys."
"Against" for rebellion: "The soldiers rebelled against the king."
"After" for inheritance: "The boy takes after his father."
"From" for exemption: "Nobody is exempt from paying taxes."
"Under" for ongoing actions: "The building is under construction."
"Of" for accusations: "The officer was accused of receiving a bribe."
"For/since" for illness: "I have been ill for 7 days" (for), "since last week" (since).
"On/upon" for persuasion: "She prevailed on/upon me to join the picnic."
"On" for congratulations: "Arundhati Roy was congratulated on receiving the Booker."
"For" for struggling: "He gasped for breath."
"By" for measurement: "Cloth is sold by the meter."
"Off/away" for cleaning: "Please wash off/away the curry stain."
"Down" for rejection: "She turned down the offer to work at the factory."

Active Voice — A sentence where the subject performs the action.
Passive Voice — A sentence where the subject receives the action.
Direct Speech — Reporting someone's exact words using quotes.
Indirect Speech — Reporting what someone said without quoting directly.
Preposition — A word showing the relation of a noun/pronoun to another word.
Phrasal Verb — A verb combined with a preposition or adverb, altering its meaning.