CBSE Class 11 English Grammar Concepts and Assignments

Example 2:
Being the sports secretary of your school write a letter to your Principal requesting for the need of proper maintenance and requirement of sports equipment for the upcoming Annual Sports Day. You should write at least 150 words. In your letter:

State the present condition of the sports field and sports equipment Tell about the problems faced by the players Demand for special coaches for swimming, aerobics and hockey.

Questions for Practice

a. You are Arman/Aarti, a student of class XII. You ordered for a set of postal course books for preparation of entrance exams for engineering courses. A demand draft for the required amount was also sent, but you have not yet received the material. Write a letter in about 150 words to the Manager, Perfect Success Publications, 25, M.G. Road, New Delhi enquiring about the whereabouts of your ordered books. Invent all other details.

b. On this Foundation Day of your school you want to donate a set of useful books to the school library. Write a letter stating your demand of books to the Scholastic Publications, detailing your requirement and giving a list of the title of the books. Invent all other details. Write in about 150 words.

SECTION C

Grammar - 10 Marks

Different grammatical structures in meaningful contexts will be tested. Item types will include gap filling, sentence re-ordering, dialogue completion and sentence transformation. The grammar syllabus will include determiners, tenses, clauses, modals and Voice. These grammar areas will be tested using the following test types.

Question 6: Error Correction 04 Marks

Question 7: Editing Task 04 Marks

Question 8: Re - Ordering of Sentences 02 Marks

DETERMINERS :

Determiner is a word that is used before a noun in order to show which thing you mean. In the phrases ‘the car’ and ‘some cars’, ‘the’ and ‘some’ are determiners.

-A word such as the, some, my etc. that comes before a noun to show how the noun is being used.

List of the Determiners:

i) Articles (a, an & the)

ii) Distributives (each, every, either), Demonstrative (this, that, these, those), Quantifiers (little, some, any, few), Possessive (our, your, my), Interrogatives (what, which, whose), all, both, half, many, one fifth, one tenth, two third, cardinal numbers & ordinal numbers.

Examples:

The indefinite article (Before Noun = singular, countable & common).

-> The form ‘a’ is used before a word beginning with a consonant, or a vowel with a consonant sound:

* A man

* A hat

* A European

* A one-way street

-> The form ‘an’ is used before words beginning with a vowel or words beginning with a mute h:

* An apple

* An onion

* An hour

* An L-plate

* An MP

* An SOS

* An M.A.

-> Before a singular, countable noun.

* I need a visa.

* He bought an ice-cream.

-> Before a singular noun which is used an example of a class.

* A car must be insured = All cars/Any cars must be insured.

* A child needs healthy nourishment = All children need/ any children needs healthy nourishment.

-> With a noun complement.

* It is an earthquake.

* She’ll be a dancer.

-> In certain expressions of quantity.

A lot of, a couple, a great many, a great deal of, a dozen etc.

-> With certain numbers.

a hundred, a thousand, a kilo and a half, a third, a quarter.

-> In expressions of price, speed, ratio etc.

5p a kilo, L 1 a meter, 10p a dozen, for times a day (Here a/an = per)

-> In exclamations before singular, countable nouns:

Such a long queue!

What a pretty girl !

-> A Mr. Shaw (= a man called ‘Shaw’ and implies that he is a stranger to the speaker.) Without ‘a’ implies that the speaker knows Mr. Shaw or knows of his existence.

-> The: (the definite article)

-> The object or group of objects is unique:

- The earth, the sea, the sky, the equator.

-> Before a noun which has become definite as a result of being mentioned a second time:

- His car struck a tree; you can still see the mark on the tree.

-> Before a noun made definite by the addition of a phrase or clause:

- The girl in blue.

-the boy that I met.

- The man with the banner.

-> Before superlatives:

- The first week.

- The best day.

- The only way.

-> The + singular noun = a class of animals or things.

- The whale is in danger of becoming extinct.

-The deep-freeze has made life easier for housewives.

-> The old = old people in general.

-> Before the names of seas, rivers, groups of islands, chains of mountain, plural names of countries, deserts, and regions.

- the Atlantic, the Netherlands, the Thames, the Himalayas, the Sahara, the Bay Of Bengal, the Arabian sea, the United States of America.

-> The + plural surname = the …… family

The Clintons = Mr. and Mrs. Clinton (and children)

-> ‘The’ is not used before bed, church, court, hospital, prison, school/ college/university, when these places are visited or used for their primary purpose.

- We go to bed/in bed.

- We go to school/at school.

 Demonstratives :

i) This beach is quite beautiful.

ii) That ground is nearest to our school.

iii) These people come from Latin America.

 Distributives :

i) Each child assembles his or her project.

ii) She had a bottle in each hand.

iii) You can park on either side of the street.

iv) I could hear every word they said.

 Interrogatives :

i) Whose car broke down?

ii) Which horse won?

iii) What paper do you read?

 Possessives :

i) The girls are with their brother.

ii) Mary’s father is her father.

iii) She changed her shoes.

iv) Hand your papers in.

 Quantifiers: Little, Few, Some, Any.

A) Little : before uncountable (Not much, almost nothing)

Examples:
i) There is little doubt in my mind. (Not much), have almost the force of a negative.
ii) Sugar? ~ A little, please (A small amount)

B) Few: before countable & plural (Not many, almost none)
Examples:
i) Few people understand the plan. (Not many).
ii) We’ve had a few replies. (a small number)

C) Some :
i) I ate a date/ some dates.
ii) They bought some honey. (affirmative)
iii) Do some of you sleep on the floor? (I expect so)
iv) Would you like some wine? (offers/requests)

D) Any :
i) I haven’t any matches. (negative)
ii) I have hardly any spare time. (almost negative)

* Others:
i) One more, please!
ii) There’s only room for one person.
iii) It was the first time they had ever met.
iv) All the men had weapons.
v) All the people are ready.
vi) Both doors were open.
vii) Half of the fruit was bad.
viii) He has a half share in the company.
ix) Many people feel that the law should be changed.

TENSES
Time Structures Uses Examples

VOICE
Active tenses and their passive equivalents (tbl)

V1=base form of the verb. V2=past tense of the verb
V3=past participle V-ing=present participle
Form of to be=am, is, are (present); was, were (past); will be/shall be(future)
Form of to have=have, has (present); had (past); will have/shall have (future) (tbl)

Kinds of sentences & their structures

A. Based on meaning :
I. Assertive /statement :
I write a letter. S+v+o /c+ .
ii. Interrogative /Question:
Do you complete your work?
Where have they been living for a decade?
(Helping verb +S+V+O+?)
(Wh word +h.V.+S+V+O+?)
iii. Exclamatory –
How wonderful it is!
What a great king Ashoka was!
(How + adj./adv. + S+V+!)
(What + det + adj/adv + S+V+!)
iv. Imperative -
Open the door.
V+O/A

B. Based on the structure :
1. Simple = consists of only one predicate
I am living in New Delhi.
2. Complex = consists of one main clause and sub-ordinate clause/s.
e.g. If I come to you, I will give a book to you.
3. Compound = consist of two or more than two clauses of equal importance.
e.g. We came in first but we did not win the race.

CLAUSES
Clause is a group of words that includes a subject and a verb, and forms a sentence or part of a sentence.
e.g. They often go to Italy because they love the food Main clause subordinate clause
Simple sentence – only one main clause
Complex – one main clause +one or more than one subordinate clause.
Compound – two or more than two main clauses.
Subordinating conjunction : - A subordination conjunction joins a clause to another on which it depends for its full meaning.
- After, till, no sooner---- than, when, as soon as, as , since, before, while = time
- In order that, so that, lest =purpose
- Where, wherever = place
- Because, since, that, as, = reason, cause
- If, whether, unless, on condition that = condition
- That, = result or consequence
- Than, as-as = comparison
- Though, although, even if = supposition, concession
Coordinating conjunction = A coordinating conjunction joins together clauses of equal rank.
- And, but, for, or, nor, also, either---or, neither---nor.

GRAMMAR EXERCISES
1. Which sentences below are incorrect because 'the’ is not needed
2. The sun was shining.
3. She rushed out of the room.
4. We grow the potatoes and the carrots.
5. One of the men stood up.
6. How long have you been learning the English?
7. He loves playing the tennis.
8. Could you pass me the butter?
9. I was born in the June.
10. She was amazed at the beauty of the island.
11. My mother has a sleep after the lunch every day.

2. Read the passage below and decide whether a, the, or no articles needed to fill each gap correctly.
Spanish is one of ------ most widely spoken languages in ------- world. It is spoken all
over--------- South America except for -------- Brazil. Like Italian and Portuguese, -------
Spanish language is related to Latin. ----------- recent report stated that -------number of
Spanish speakers in -------United State of America will be higher than -------number of
English speakers by ----------year 2090. As ----------result of this, nearly all North
American schools teach Spanish. -------- language with ----------most speakers in -------- world is Mandarin Chinese.

3. Fill in the blanks by using a or an
He was wearing --------hat. I have just bought------new computer. What -------interesting
life you’ve had! Do you have to wear ------- uniform? The book was given to me by ------
uncle. This should only take half -----hour. ------ plane flew overhead. He took me to ---
expensive restaurant. This is ------- one-way street. She wanted to be---- MP.

4. Complete this narration using suitable determiners.
damage, but fortunately------- was hurt. It was a calm night and I was reading in the hall.
I smelt------ burning and heart ------ shouting down the road. I saw a house on fire with --
----------flames leaping from one roof to another. I immediately phoned the police and
fire department, and -------of us rushed out.

5. Use the appropriate modal to fill in the blanks.
(Meaning of the modal are given in the bracket)
1. Teacher to student : you -----------study at least three hours a day.(Speaker’s authority)
Student to his classmate: I -------study at least three hours a day (external authority)
His classmate: you -------study for more three hours. (Moral obligation)
2. -------------- I read your newspaper? (informal permission)
-----------I come in ? (formal permission)
3. She -------- speak Spanish. (present ability)
She ------swim when she was 11 years old. (Past ability)
4. --------you babysit for us on Friday? (polite request)
--------you close the door? (Formal request)
5. The stadium -----= be emptied in four minutes. (possibility)
I --------- do it now, if you like. (Less possible)
They------ well win. (Something is possible)
6. They------ burn coal; now they burn fuel oil only. (Expresses a past habit or routine)
7. You ------ not begin until I tell you. (formal prohibition)
Reference books ------ not be taken out of the Library. (Written prohibition)

6. JUMBLED SENTENCE
REARRANGE THE WORDS SO THAT THEY ARE IN THE CORRECT ORDER.
1. attention. Babies need constant
2. author? Is who your favourite
3. the team’s the place victory guarantees final. Tonight’s
4. highlights a of number instances The of injustice. Report
5. on contains museum interesting rural some The exhibits Spanish life
6. She a on in in tower an estate block London. Lives
7. The on today’s Flights the displayed are of monitor. Details
8. What the school. Wear fairly take to I towards kids a relaxed attitude
7. The following passage has not been edited. There is one error in each line. Write
the incorrect word and the correction in your answer sheet. Remember to underline
the word that you have supplied.
1.
I would welcome the chance to working as part -----------
of a small dynamic team how I could make -----------
an significant contribution while developing -----------
my skills yet further. I must be happy to -----------
show you a portfolio of mine work -----------
I am available with interview next week and -----------
look forward to hear from you. -----------
2.
Could you tell me where many
hours the week of language
tuition are offer and how
large the groups is ?
I would also like with know
whether special diets is
catered with, as
one of my friends are
a vegetarian.

9. Tenses
Put the verbs in brackets into the correct tense.
Dear Mr. Jones,
My family and I (suffer)a good deal lately from the noise made by your guests
when they (leave) your house on Saturday nights. They (stand) in the street, (laugh)
loudly and (call) goodbye to you and to each other. Then they (get) into their cars (bang)
the doors loudly, and finally they (reverse) their cars on to the road.

9. Complete the utterances in the most suitable way using a variety of ways to express future time e.g. “It’s getting too cold. I’m going to get a sweater.”
1. “Thanks a lot for lending me your Mathematics book. I __________________ it on Monday.”
2. “Somebody has broken into our house. I ________________the police immediately.”
3. “I’m feeling very hungry. I think I ________________some snaks.”
4. “It’s 7.00p.m. They___________ here any moment, now.”
5. “This circular announces that school____________ on 1st September.”
6. “The dolphin _____________ through the hoop. Just watch it.”
7. “When__________you give us a treat for your birthday?”
8. “Who ______________the phone now? I have answered it twice already.”
9. “Office __________open this Sunday. So, you may submit the documents then.”
10. “__________________the computer much longer? I need to use it soon.”

Q.10 Transform the sentences by using appropriate conjunctions.
1. Hardly had the teacher entered the class, the students stood up.(As soon as)
2. He is too weak to walk properly.(use that)
3. Search the room. You will find the pen. (if)
4. The soldier was wounded. He was not killed. (Although)

Q.11 In each sentence you find an error. Rewrite the sentence with a correct alternative.
1. He will stay. If you asked him to.(conditionals)
2. Having doing his duty, he felt satisfied. (participle)
3. I have usually a cold shower in the morning. (place of adverb)
4. The number of people attending the meeting was quite small. (subject verb agreement)

Q.12. Use the following linking words and fill in the blanks.
(and, while, because, then, although, or, however, otherwise, so, if)
A few weeks ago, I did some ironing ______ _______ went out to do some
shopping. __________ I was out, I realised that I couldn’t remember whether I had switched the
iron off _________ left it on. __________I had left it on; the house might be on Fire! I was
really worried _________ I ran home at once. ___________, I needn’t have worried______,
________ I had left the iron on, everything was all right. It was a good thing I got home in time, _________ things could have turned out very differently.

DETERMINERS-SOLVED EXERCISE
In the passage given below, one word has been omitted in each line. Write the missing word along with the word that comes before and the word that comes after it against the correct blank number.
Have you ever seen banyan tree? The banyan a)
must be biggest tree found in India. A full b)
grown banyan is as high as three storeyed building. c)
We don’t see banyan trees in cities. They are so huge that d)
they can only grow in open places. Banyan looks like e)
palace standing on pillars. It doesn’t have f)
just main trunk like others do. It has many g)
roots coming down. These hanging roots enter ground h)
and look like smaller trunks.
Answers-
a) seenabanyan b) be the biggest
c) asa three d) see many banyan
e) a banyan f) a palace
g) justone main h) enter the ground

DETERMINERS-UNSOLVED EXERCISE
In the passage given below, one word has been omitted in each line. Write the missing word
alongwith the word that comes before and the word that comes after it against the correct blank
number.
It was not new emotion. Doubt was my a)___
oldest enemy. I knew well. Yet I b)___
had never expected to come, to c)___
arrive so suddenly. There was feeling d)___
that I would be free from it. But was e)___
not so. More I tried, the more I f)___
felt confused. But way had to be found at any cost. g)___
I could not start work without tension. h)___

TENSESOLVED
EXERCISE
Rewrite the following passage using the verbs (in brackets) in their correct form:
For a while I 1)___ (can) not decide whether I should speak to her or not. I did not have the guts
to tell her that her mother 2)___ (die) before the doctor 3)___ (arrive). She 4)___ (turn) her eyes
towards me. She 5)___ (anxious) to know about her mother. I 6)___ (collect) courage and 7)___
(move) my lips and silently told her that her mother 8)___ (pass away).
Answers-
1) Could not 2) had died 3) arrived
4) turned 5) was anxious 6) collected
7) moved 8) had passed away

UNSOLVED EXERCISE
The following passage has not been edited. There is one error in each line. Write the incorrect word and the correction in your answer sheet.

The general elections were to be hold next month e.g. hold….held The polling booth was set up. All the a)____
Polling officer could be appointed.The b)____
task of appointing observers might completed c)____
Ballot papers will be sent to their proper d)____
places. In fact all the arrangements had e)____made.
The general elections must be sold smoothly. f)_____ 

CLAUSES- SOLVED EXERCISE
Complete the following sentences with proper clauses.
1) God helps those ……………………
2) You should act……………………….
3) She cannot convince her husband……………..
4) There are many places………………
Clues:- 1)……. who help themselves.
2)……. as you are told.
3)……. however hard she may try.
4)…….which we haven’t visited.

UNSOLVED EXERCISE
1) I want to know ……….
2) She did not attend the school………
3) Let us consider…………
4) The first thing……………

MODALS - SOLVED EXERCISE
There is an error concerning ‘modals’ in each line of the following passage. Find the error and write the correct word in your answer sheet against the correct blank number.
One ought to say that man has not made e.g. ought to… can/may/might Much progress from the other animals .It should (a)
be that in many ways animals are
superior to man still. All dare agree (b)
that ants have a great social organisation
which shall have wandered many. Ants (c)
work ceaselessly and for others. We have learn (d)
from them so many things and these shall (e)
teach us lessons of civilization .In no case may we (f) late other lining beings.

UNSOLVED EXERCISE
Fill in the blanks with appropriate modals:
1) …...I see you in the morning?
2) It……rain. I am not sure.
3) We……improve our lot.
4) I……to express my views on pollution.
5)……his soul rest in peace!
6) I did all that I……do for my son.

EDITING-SOLVED EXERCISE
The following passage has not been edited. There is a word missing in each line. Find the missing word that comes before and after it.
An Inter House Debate Competition will held (a) next Sunday.
All the House Incharges requested to enlist (b)
teams from their houses by tomorrow.
The topic and the time limit have already put up (c)
On the notice board. The student advised to note (d)
down the topic from the notice board .
It expected that proper decorum would be made. (e)
Proper seating arrangement have already made. (f)
Clues: a) will be held
b)inchargesare requested
c)alreadybeen put
d)studentsare advised
e)itis hoped
f)alreadybeen made

JUMBLED WORDS SOLVED EXERCISE WORDS:
1) In India/grown/is/coffee/the farmers/by
Ans= coffee is grown by the farmers in India.
2)by her/not being/the flowers/are / plucked.
Ans= The flowers are not being plucked by her.
3)the student/is/by/sung /national anthem/ the
Ans= The national anthem is sung by the students.
4)has come/the/the/is glad/baby/that/mother
Ans= the baby is glad that the mother has come.

UNSOLVED EXERCISE
1) oil/was found/in the/North sea/1960s/the/under
2)world/country/finest/is/the/in/the/India/our
3) they/in the hall/for/ two hours/watching/had been/television
4) blessing/you/all/on/may/showered/be

Questions for Practice
1. Put the verbs in bracket in the correct tense and rewrite the following:
India (have) many calendars which Indians (use) since very early times. More than thirty (be) still in use. One difficulty about having so many calendars (be) that the same date (fall) of different days according to each.

KEY:

i. has ii. have been using iii. are iv. is v. falls
2. Put the verbs in bracket in the correct tense and rewrite the following:

i. The efficiency of a truck__________by the load it can take.
(a) knows (b) is known (c) has been known (d) has known

ii. Last week every day my maid _______ a plate.
(a) breaks (b) was broken (c) broke (d) has broken

iii. If I ___________ one more question, I would have passed.
(a) had answered (b) would answer (c) has answered (d) would have answered

iv. The minister promised ____________ me a post in his department.
(a) to have given (b) having given (c) have given (d) to give

v. Please don’t _____________ when you go out.
(a) leave opening the door (b) leave the door open
(c)leave the door opened (d) leave open the door

KEY:i.(b) ii. (d) iii. (a) iv. (d) v. (b)

3. The following passage has not been edited. There is an error in each line against which a blank is given. Write the incorrect word and the correction in your answer sheet against the correct blank number as given in the example. Remember to underline the word that you have supplied.
Nothing, they say, was more constant than change. e.g. was – is
Science, being a dynamic subject, was regularlywitness (a) ________
to changes, as old theories periodically gets discarded (b) ________
and new ideas regularly pop up. We are living at very (c) _________
interesting times. A scientific temper, having lain (d) _________
quiescent for some years, is get charged with a slew of (e) _________
new discoveries tumbling in of laboratories around the globe. (f) _________
Key:
(a)was – is (b) gets – get (c) at – in (d) A - The (e) get – getting (f)in – out

4. Correct the following sentences using proper tense forms:
(a) I am liking it very much.
(b) Madhu is always writing beautiful poems.
(c) If you will go to Ludhiana, buy a good shawl for me.
(d) Where you got this pen from?
(e)Rohit is working in this film for ten years.
(f) These students prepare for their exams these days.
Key:
(a) I like it very much
(b) Madhu writes beautiful poems
(c) If you go to Ludhiana, buy a good shawl for me.
(d) Where did you get this pen from?
(e) Rohit has been working in this firm for ten years.
(f) These students are preparing for their exams these days.