Noun

This lesson covers the fundamentals and types of nouns, knowledge of which will help you in B-school entrance exams like the NMAT, SNAP and IIFT.

So, let’s get started!

Noun: A noun is a word that is used to name a person, animal, place, thing, or an abstract idea. Nouns tell you about the ‘what’s’ ‘who’s’ and ‘where’s’ of a sentence. Let’s see an example: TG and Dagny went to Maxims to order a chocolate truffle cake.

TG and Dagny are persons, Maxims is a place and chocolate truffle cake is a thing.

Nouns can be broadly classified into

  • Common nouns
  • Proper nouns
  • Concrete Nouns
  • Abstract Nouns
  • Countable Nouns
  • Non-Countable Nouns
  • Collective Nouns
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What Are Modifiers

Hello World!! Now that you are well set on your journey of grammar, here’s a small lesson for you on one of the most frequent error zones in grammar- Modifiers.

Oh, by the way! Do you like coffee? It might not be a bad idea to keep a steaming mugful by your side as you read the lesson. Sip along!

 

Grammar Bytes-Grammatical modifier-Modifiers

Modifiers- Dangling and Misplaced:
A modifier describes, clarifies, or gives more detail about a word or a word group. A dangling modifier is a phrase that modifies the wrong word or phrase because of the absence of the word or phrase it is supposed to modify. In other words, the modifier is left “dangling”. A misplaced modifier is placed incorrectly in the sentence such that it modifies the wrong word and makes the sentence sound illogical.

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Syllogisms

 

This chapter deals with reasoning through premises. It is called syllogisms.

Broadly, you need to understand two types of arguments. We have already come to see what arguments look like. Now it is time to comprehend some ‘categories’ of arguments.

 

 

Analyse this, (P1= Premise 1, P2= Premise 2, C= Conclusion)

P1 – All men are buffoons.

P2 – Ravi (poor chap) is a man.

C – Ravi is a buffoon.

This kind of argumentation is known as deductive reasoning. Here, the conclusion arrived at, is a logical ‘necessity’, which you will find me referring to henceforth as an LN. The structure of the deductive argumentation is simple. We picked a set, gave it a characteristic (P1), picked an element from the set (P2), and with certainty, arrived at the conclusion that the element shall show the same characteristic.

P.S. I hope you understand that my sympathies with Ravi have nothing to do with the argument.

Now, the second type,

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Grammar

  1. A NUMBER VS THE NUMBER

As a stand-alone word and as a collective noun, “number” can take a singular or a plural form.

e.g. Two hundred persons were at the party; the number(s) is (are) just astounding.

However, when preceded by an article and followed by the preposition “of”, “number” is singular and the verb that follows “number” will be conjugated singular or plural depending on whether there is a definite or indefinite article in front. The expression ‘the number of . . .’ is singular, while ‘a number of . . .’ is plural.

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Grammar
Grammar

. If a Singular object is separated by a comma from an accompanying phrase it remains singular.

Correct: Ricky, accompanied by his wife was at the party.

Incorrect : Rickey, accompanied by his wife were at the party.

. A relative pronoun should be placed as close to its antecedent as possible.

Correct : I have read writings of Plato, who was a disciple of Socrates.

Incorrect : I have read Plato’s writing who was a disciple of Socrates.

Antecedent- The noun for which the pronoun is used.

Plato is the noun and its antecedent is who (relative pronoun)

. A reflexive pronoun cannot be used alone as a subject of the verb. It must be preceded by some other noun or pronoun.

Correct : Her mother and I were standing there.

Incorrect : Myself and her mother were standing there.

Reflexive pronoun- Formed by adding self/selves to the pronoun.

  1. An intransitive verb will always be followed by a subject pronoun.

Correct : It must have been she at the door.

Incorrect : It must have been her at the door.

Correct : I wish I were he.

Incorrect : I wish I were him.

Correct : He didn’t know that it was I who did it.

Incorrect : He didn’t know that it was me who did it.

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One question that will never stop coming from the students who prepare for CAT is “how to increase the vocabulary?” Suggestions such as read a lot, mug up words lists, make flash cards, subscribe to word a day etc. have always poured in from human race. Since I am the Queen of the Gadha Land, I am quite allergic to the advices that mortals always keep giving me. I like to make my own rules – Gadha Rules.

Each one of us must have followed some comic strip when we were kids but a few like me got addicted, and waste at least an hour each day even when we have left childhood at least 2 decades back. My day doesn’t complete without taking my daily dose of Archie, Peanuts, Nancy, Calvin and Hobbes, Dilbert, Garfield, Dennis etc.

But have you ever thought that these comics are a rich source of vocabulary and learning new words can really come with an incentive of laughter? Let me prove myself:

This strip is from Peanuts:

Vocabulary

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critical reasoning basics
Critical reasoning

Sometimes it is necessary to ask ‘Big Hairy Audacious Goals (BHAG)’ questions to put your goalposts and milestones in perspective. For example, a CAT 2010 aspirants should regularly question himself “Am I a 100 percentiler yet?” This question has lot more to it than it seems. First, half of you would not even dare to ask this question as you do not possess the belief that you can be a 100 percentiler. That means you would not be even 99 percentiler and the race for CAT is already over for you. For those who DO believe that they can be a 100 percentiler, the question would really make you ask yourself if you are doing enough to become one. You would realize the slackness that you have fallen into or the weak areas that you need to look into. In short, it would bring back the steel that you need so badly. The catch is that if you are not stupid enough to dream to be supreme, the biggest, and the best, do not dare to dream at all. Once you decide to be the best, biggest, or the most famous at what you want, everything else will fall into place.Today’s chapter is a continuation of the critical reasoning series that Kumar Sir has agreed to write. I am loving his simple and lucid way of explanation. I sincerely hope you would too. Please do attempt the subjective questions at the end of the lesson. Good Luck!-

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bhasad

Today’s article comes from another founding father of TathaGat, Mr. Kumar Abhishek, popularly known as ‘Kumar’ and hands down the best verbal instructor in Delhi. Though he is great fun in his classes, he is a terror if you cross his rules, i.e. forget to submit your weekly book reviews, come without flashcards or The Hindu newspaper in the class, or arrive late for your class. But if you follow all that, you would forget about the time during his classes. He regales the students with his command in both Hindi and English. To quote a student “kumar sir is tough only in the first few classes……then it’s a smooth ride……and keeps the mood of the class light and interactive with his wisecracks and sudden outbursts of unadulterated hindi….like “mera abir balak kahan hai”………and “yatharth ka dharatal”……..”prabal sambhavana” and many more…” For those who would like to know, his favourite words are “Bhasad” and “Hawabaz” which he can be seen quoting once in every 5 sentences. Even his fan club on TG Town is known as ‘Bhasad’. Not to mention that he is extremely famous among his students. Once we were so full of reading his praises on the internet that we started pulling his leg “Aap hi to kahin jakar nahin likhte rahte hain internet par apne bare mein?” 

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