Uil-Keypoint 2021 PDF

P-UTME KEYPOINT P-UTME KEYPOINT
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P-UTME
KEYPOINT
University of Ilorin
2021 Edition
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CHARTING A COURSE OF EXCELLENCE FOR UNIVERSITY OF ILORIN POST-UTME EXERCISE

You must count yourself lucky to be part of the privilege few, who are qualified to be part of the University of Ilorin Post-Utme
exercise.
Without doubt, this book will anchor you to the point of success, this is the last step towards the process of your admission and
it’s expected that you put in your best.
Much energy and resources may have been invested to bring you to this point in your career. This only hints at your undaunted
zest for excellence. A million congratulations ahead, if you study this resource well enough and treat the past questions
carefully, you are by all means going to score above average on the main exam.
Textbooks can be boring, tedious, and full of detail. Jumping right into a textbook without having a general idea of the central
topics can make textbook reading that much more challenging. We learn best when we move from general to specific, this is
the idea behind this resource.
We have pointed out the specific things you need to know to be prepared for this screening exercise across the topics to be
treated.
This includes topics from Use of English, GNS 111 and 112, Mathematics and Current affairs.
Your success is of paramount concern to us. Hence we implore you to handle this edition of “P-UTME Key points for University
of Ilorin” with high regards as it shows you with unusual clarity all you need for excellence in your POST-UTME exercise.
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UNIT 1
THIS IS HOW UNIVERSITY OF ILORIN CONDUCTS HER CBT EXAM
University of Ilorin became one of the first to start organizing post-JAMB test as far back as 2005, using the Pen-and Paper
Testing (PPT) format, up till 2007. As the 2007/2008 academic session of the University ended May 2008, prospective
candidates for admission into the university for 2008/2009 academic session were notified that the senate of the university has
decided that admission exercise would be by CBT
CBT has been used at the University of Ilorin since then, not just the post-UTME examinations, but also other University-based
examinations.
“The University of Ilorin sets questions for candidates using a computer adaptive test method.”
Computer adaptive test method is one in which the computer selects the range of questions based on individual‟ performance
level. These questions are taken from a very large pool of possible questions categorized by content and difficulty from three
categories.
 Use of English
 General Paper (comprising current affair questions)
 Mathematics
When you take a paper-based test, you will find that you are asked to answer questions ranging from easy to hard. In Unilorin
computer-based adaptive test, each student will receive questions that are at the right level of difficulty for his or her ability.
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These tests begin with a question that is of medium level of difficulty for most students. After each question is answered, the
computer uses the answer and all previous answers to determine which question will be answered next.
The next question is one that best follows the previous performance.
This means that different students-even in the same room on the same day-will receive different questions.
Since adaptive test questions are selected according to performance on previous questions, less time is spent than on a
paper-based test on questions that are either too easy or too hard.
The University of Ilorin Post-JAMB Screening Examination is a competitive examination, in which candidates compete for a
limited number of admission places into the different academic programmes of the university.
Before the 2021/2022 session, two well–equipped test centers were provided at Ilorin and Lagos, having two and four halls,
respectively. However, only one test center was provided in the 2021/2022 session being Ilorin.
There are different sets per day to take their test at 30 minutes intervals, starting from 8:30am., and candidates are to arrive
one hour before the scheduled time, at the University CBT hall.
After being checked in into the CBT hall, the procedures for the test will be demonstrated to the candidates with technical men
and invigilators at the hall. The technical men are to assist candidates to log on to the computer and correct any computer
malfunctioning, while the invigilators are to give incidence reports on the examination.
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The examination consists of 50-numbered questions in multiple choice formats. Responses in form of letters A to D were
entered into the computer by clicking the responses, with opportunity to skip questions and answer them later, and review
responses by clicking next or previous.
To end the test, finish icon will be clicked, after which the candidates are barred from regaining entry
CALCULATION AND SCORING

There will be an automated scoring of the answers provided. The test scores will be sent into the e-mail boxes of candidates,
however in most years the result was purposely delayed for a day or two to forestall commotions that could occur at the test
centers in the event of failed scores, but in recent years results are released on same day toward the end of the day the test
was taken.
The cut-off mark for admission into all University programmes in past years was 50% while the normal grading of 40% as
minimum pass mark (E) to 70% and above (A) applies to undergraduate courses.
At the early stage, the CBT was under the office of Deputy Vice-chancellor (Academics). Later, a committee was set up known
as Committee on Development and Management of CBT, comprising a chairman and members from Educational
Measurement and Evaluation, Educational Technology, Science Education, Engineering, University Examination Chairman
and a Secretary from Communication Information Technology Centre.
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In 2021/2022 the Post-UTME the score of candidates will be aggregated as 30% which will be added to other of the criteria.
UTME/DE result will be calculated as a total aggregate of 50% the school would use a pattern to calculate the score of
candidate UTME or D.E result, and 20% is allotted to O’level result.
From 2009, the use of CBT was extended to some undergraduate courses of the University, made compulsory for core
courses. These include the General Studies (GNS) courses, provided questions are set and submitted. On the average, 88
courses have their examinations conducted through CBT at the University.
HOW MANY STUDENTS WILL BE IN THE HALL ON THE SAME DAY
Initially, there were two CBT halls accommodating 250 computer systems each, built by the eTC on the basis of Build –
Operate- and- Transfer (BOT) arrangement. The joint partnership was for ten years on 75:25 ratio by the eTC and University of
Ilorin, respectively. So, starting in 2009, four additional CBT rooms built by the University and equipped with systems by eTC
were completed in 2010. Each room accommodates 250 computer systems.
Theoretically, a total of 1,500 computer systems were available for use each time. But considering system breakdown and non-
allocation of candidates to cubicles where there are joint (one joint per row of 50 seats totaling five joints per CBT room), on
the average only 1,420 systems are functioning for each batch of examination at the University CBT.
This number has increased in recent years, and this may not specifically be the case for scheduling in the POST-UTME
screening exercise for the 2021/22 session, at present there are about 8 halls and candidates are scheduled in up to 5 batches
per day.
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CBT INSTRUCTIONS TO ALL CANDIDATES

The following instructions will guide you on the day of your exam.
1. Please, arrive at the examination venue on time, be there before your examination time at least 1 hour ahead
2. You are to print your scheduling slip, and bring along with a pencil, if you forgot your schedule slip, this can be printed at
any café around the school premise.
3. When you have been checked into the hall, sit before your computer in an upright position, and ensure you are calm.
4. Always check remaining time you have for the examination, and do not waste any second.
5. You should make sure, that you put the heel of your hand on the table in front of the mouse. Then Hold the mouse
between the thumb and the ring fingers. If you do not know how to use the mouse, use the keyboard and select your
choice ranging from the options lettered A-D
When writing the examination, something very similar like the question below will show on your screen:
Example:
Solve for y. if y – 2 + 3y = 10
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o A.6
o B. 5
o C. 4
o D. 3
You select one of the best answers by: Pressing the letter on the keyboard.
Further instructions would be given to you when you are checked into the hall.
Success!
UNIT 2
UNILORIN GNS 111 & 112 SUMMARY
Before presenting you with the most likely and carefully selected Unilorin General studies (GNS 111 & 112) Past/practice
questions, we will give you summary of the various aspects to learn in preparation of the exam.
Since the inception of the University of Ilorin Post-UTME, the University selects question from this aspect (GNS, an
undergraduate course of the University) of Use of English from the bank of questions that will be given to candidates as
explained in the first section.
In other words, it’s possible for candidates to get questions from this aspect as well as other angles of Use of English; we are
going to give you specific details to know on this aspect.
Let’s start learning.
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OVERVIEW OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE
WHAT IS LANGAUGE AND OTHER KEY POINTS
Language has been variously defined and described; Longman Active Dictionary says language is a “System of words,
phrases and grammar, used by people who live in a country or area to communicate with each other.”
Encarta Dictionaries defines language as “The human use of spoken or written words as a communication system.” It submits
further that as a system of communication, a given language has “its own set of conventions or special words.”
Key points:
 Language is a system of communication
 “System” implies that the concept/thing has various parts, but the parts are related and are “organized into a complex
whole”.
 The whole essence of a book on the use of English is to point out what is acceptable or not acceptable.
 One of the Importance of Language is its structure i.e. language is a structured phenomenon.
 English Language in the world today is seen as an International Language, take note of the acronym EIL (English as an
International Language) also called English as Global language.
 EFL (English as a Foreign Language).
 ESL meaning: English as a Second Language is learning English in a country where English is dominantly spoken or
where English is the official language. The following countries are countries where English is a second language ESL;
Nigeria, Ghana, India and Singapore.
 CALL means Computer Assisted Language Learning,
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This International English cannot easily be associated with one specific country or culture. This International English has
evolved through the long history of international business in the region...with other European countries, and also with North
Americans.
Let us examine the following examples of usages that may obstruct intelligibility
1. The teacher made us to crack our brains to answer the hard question. ❌
2. I sit down for Lagos for two years. ❌
3. Never I have heard of such a thing. ❌
4. All people are not hard-working. ❌
5. Last week visited our school a man. ❌
6. The half month is nearly finished. ❌
7. Every one of the two girls was wrong. ❌
8. The woman has beautiful hairs. ❌
9. His father will not let him to go. ❌
10. The man took his woman with him. ❌
The above sentences are incorrect, try to find out what the sentences intend to say.
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ANSWERS TO THE WRONGLY WRITTEN SENTENCES
1. The teacher made us to rack our brains to answer the hard questions. ✔
2. I was in Lagos for two years. ✔
3. I have never heard such a thing. ✔
4. Not all people are hard-working. ✔
5. Last week a man visited our school. ✔
6. Half the month is nearly finished. ✔
7. Each one of the two girls was wrong. ✔
8. The woman has beautiful hair. ✔
9. His father will not let him go. ✔
10. The man took his wife with him. ✔
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LISTENING AND READING SKILLS
Listening Skills Outline
 What is Listening
 Process of Listening
 Importance of Listening
 Basic Types of Listening
 Barriers to effective listening
 How to Listen Effectively?
 Benefits of Effective Listening
Key points: What Is Listening?
 Listening is the ability to accurately receive and interpret messages in the communication process.
 Listening is key to all effective communication, without the ability to listen effectively messages are easily
misunderstood.
 Listening is one of the most important skills you can have.
 An active process of getting information, ideas.
 “Listening is the process of receiving, constructing meaning from, and responding to spoken
 Listening is not just about being Quiet while someone else is speaking; listening is with the mind while hearing with the
senses.
 Listening is conscious to improve our interpersonal & oral exchange.
 Just Listening to words is not enough; a good Listener has to pay attention to the non-verbal communication of the
speaker.
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Key points: Importance of Listening

 We show that we are serious
 We display respect to other’s view point
 Helps us to learn
 Helps us to adapt and understand
 Empathize
 To avoid communication errors.
 Helps to learn something new.
 It is the key to success
Key points: Types and Levels of listening
 Attitudinal listening
 Appreciative Listening
 Analytical/Critical Listening
HOW TO LISTEN EFFECTIVELY?
1. Stop Talking
2. Be Silent
3. Empathize
4. Ask Questions
5. Maintain Eye Contact
6. Take notes
7. Listen Creatively
8. Be patient
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9. Send feedback
10. Avoid or eliminate distraction
11. Try to gather information about the topic to develop interest and familiarity
12. Watch out for Non-Verbal Communicational aspects
KEYPOINTS: READING SKILLS

The following are the three types of reading skills
1. Skimming: This is also known as selective reading, a process of searching through a book for main ideas that means
you have to refer to the part of the text containing the contents by quickly reading the topics.
2. Scanning: The next activity after skimming us scanning. This involves reading through parts of relevant pages already
identified during skimming. This process will enable you to decide whether the material is worth being read further or not.
3. SPEED READING: Speed reading has to do with flexibility of a reader’s movement of his/her eyes. The best reading
speed is between 200 and 50
Things to remember;
 Skimming and scanning are the most important skills in extensive reading.
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CONCORD IN ENGLISH SENTENCE
In the study of the English language and any other language, concord simply refers to the agreement existing between
the various parts of the sentence.
A sentence traditionally is divided into a subject and a predicate; where the subject is the performer of the action and the
predicate refers to the verb and the other elements that come after it.
We are going to consider mainly the agreement between a subject and the predicate in the sentence.
In the sentence, the subject is the performer of the action or what is being talked about; the action is the predicate in its
simplest terms.
The two parts (subject and predicate) need to agree for a grammatically correct sentence.
For example:
The teacher …….. is teaching.

Subject - predicate
The student………is playing

Subject - predicate
As you can see above, the teacher and the student are the ones performing the actions of teaching and learning that is
why they are the subjects and the action is the predicate in the sentences.
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Another thing to learn is the object.
The object of a sentence is the person or thing that receives the action of the verb. It is the who or what that the subject does
something to.
Example: Terry carried out the trash.
'Carried' is the verb: it is the action being performed by the subject. 'trash' is the object: it is 'what' is being carried and it is
'what' the subject is doing something to.
Now that we understand what a subject and a predicate are, let us now focus on their agreement.
In the use of concord in English language, there are many rules governing the topic. So let analyze the rules one by one.
 Rule 1: Subject and verb concord
When the subject in a sentence is singular, the verb should also be singular.
For example, She (singular subject) goes (singular verb), not: She go ( plural verb).
Also, when the subject is plural, the verb should also be plural. The girls (plural subject) go (plural verb), not The girls (plural
subject) goes (Singular verb).
 Rule 2 Subject and Object concord
When everybody, everyone etc. are used, the object must be singular not plural.
For example Everybody knows his or her name, not : Everybody knows their name
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 Rule 3 Mandative subjunctive concord
When prayer, suggestion, wish, demand, recommendation or resolution is used in a sentence, the verb that follows must
be plural, whether the subject is singular or plural.
For example;
1. It has been suggested that he go not goes away.
2. The board has recommended that the manager resign not resigns.
3. I Pray that God help me on my upcoming examination not God helps.
 Rule 4 The Principle of proximity
This principle states that when there is a list of nouns or pronouns at the level of the subject, it is the nearest noun or
pronoun to the position of the verb that will determine the choice of the verb.
E.g If James fails his examination, his teachers, his parents, his friends or John _____to be blame.
The correct option to fill that blank is, is not are because at the subject level, we have his teachers, his friends, his parents and
John ( four different people) In order to choose the correct verb, we will need to choose the nearest subject to the gap as the
subject which is John.
Note: what make us consider the only one noun or pronoun used in this sentence is because of the use of or, but if the
conjunction used is and, all the nouns or pronouns used in the sentence will be considered as the subject. I'll explain better
when I get to the type of such concord.
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Back to james. But if the question comes in this manner, the answer will be different.
E.g If James fails his examination, his teachers, his parents, his friends or I ______to be blame.
The correct answer here is, am, because, I is the nearest subject to the gap, so if I is the subject, the verb that goes with it, is
am.
 Rule 5 Many - a concord
When many - a is used, the verb and the noun that follows must be Singular E.g
1. Many a candidate (not candidates) speaks ( not speak) bad English expressions.
2. Many a girl (not girls) is (not are) here.
 Rule 6 A pair of concord
When a pair of ........ is used, the verb must be singular.
E.g
1. A pair of trousers (not trouser) lies(not lie) on the bed.
2. A pair of scissors lies (not lie) on the table.
 Rule 7 National Concord
National concord is also called collective noun concord. A collective noun : is a noun which stands for many unit that constitute
that single word.
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E.g
1. Audience which means people who watch programme.

2. Congregation which means worshipers.
3. Clergy which means religion officers.
4. Club which means association of members.
So whenever, you use a collective noun, the verb that follows must be a plural verb For example, Let use club, Club is a
collective noun for members, so, we can also say, members of this association Our club meet ( not meets) ones in a
week.
But in some situations, singular verb goes with a collective noun.
Here is the principle; If the collective noun performs an action, a plural verb follows, but if not, a singular verb follows.
E.g
1. Our Club is celebrating its twentieth anniversary today.
In the above statement, you can see that, Our Club performs no action; hence, we use a singular verb.
2. The audience are (not is) partial in their judgment of the winner.
The answer is are because the collective noun (audience) perform an action "judgment".
 Rule 8 Parenthesis
Parenthesis statement is additional statement to what has already been said before.
Note: A parenthetical statement should not be considered in choosing the verb that will follow.
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E.g
1. The teacher, not her students is in the class.
The correct answer is, is because ( not her students) is just parenthesis, and parenthesis has nothing to do with choosing the
verb.
2. The manager, not many of his workers, is (not are) here now.
Not many of his workers is just a parenthesis, therefore, the parenthesis should be totally ignored.
The manager is a singular noun, hence a singular verb.
 Rule 9 Accompaniment Concord
When any of these following words are used, the subject of the clause would be the Join Tutorial Classes that comes before
the marker of accompaniment. Words like, as much as, alongside, as well as, together with, no less than, in association with,
including, like, with, and in collaboration with, etc
Example
1. Mary, as well as her friends is ( not are) beautiful.

The answer is, is because mary is the noun that comes before as well as, hence mary is the subject and it is a singular
noun hence a singular verb.
2. The little kids alongside their parents are (not is) here. The answer is are not is because the little kids comes before
alongside.
The subject is plural hence a plural verb.
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 Rule 10 More than concord
When more than is used, the word or number that comes after more than will determine the next verb.
For example
1. More than two apples are ( not is) here.
2. More than one oranges is (not are) here.
In the first statement, the answer is are not is because two attracts are but in the second statement, the correct option is, is
not are because one attracts is.
Note: Do not think because more than one means at least two, that you will use a plural verb after, no you will use a singular
verb.
 Rule 11 Indefinite pronoun concord
When any of the following words is used, you should use a Singular verb. Such words as; Everybody, everything, everyone,
everywhere, no one, nothing, nobody, nowhere, something, someone, somebody, anyone, anything, anybody, anywhere and
each, the next verb must be singular.
For example
1. Nothing goes ( not go).
2. Everybody likes (not like) him.
3. Everybody thinks (not think) he stole the money.
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 Rule 12 Relative Concord
When who, whose, which and that refers to a previously mentioned noun or pronoun, such noun is a Relative noun
E.g
One of the farmers who plant (not plants) on the farm has (not have) been asked to withdraw.
 Rule 13 Uncountable nouns of concord
Countable nouns are nouns that can be quantified in units and numbers, that is, are nouns that can be counted.
E.g. chairs, tables, phones etc.
Uncountable nouns are nouns that cannot be quantified in units and numbers.
E.g. water, information, equipment.
Note all uncountable nouns will avoid s at the back.
It is very wrong to use any of these words below;
E.g, clothes, equiments, furnitures, machineries, datas, advices, evidences, wealths, etc.
Instead, you say a piece of, information, evidence, data, cloth, equipment, advice, etc It is wrong to say machineries instead,
you say a machine or two machines.
Other examples of nouns that attracts plural verbs are;
1. The police work hard (not works), but, that policeman (not policemen) works (not work) hard.
Police and policemen are collective nouns that is why they attract a plural verb from the seventh rule.
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But policeman is not collective noun but a singular noun, hence a singular verb
2. The headquarters look (not looks) palatial.
3. Cattle give (not gives) bad odour, and a cow gives bad odour.
4. Aircraft make (not makes) travelling easier but, that chopper, airbus, or aeroplane makes travelling easier.
All the four examples attract plural verb because the subject in each example is a collective noun.
 Rule 14 Pluralia tantums
Pluralia tantum are nouns that come in plural forms.
Some of these words have final s, while some do not. However, whenever any of the following forms appears, it must be
followed by a singular verb.
a) School Subject : Mathematics, Economics, Civics, Physics, Statistics etc. you can see that all of them end with s but it does
not show plurality.
b) Games : Darts, Snakes and Ladders, Draugths, Billiards, Bowls and Skittles etc, all end with s but do not show plurality.
c) Diseases : Measles, Tuberculosis, Shingles, Mumps etc, all end with s but do not show plurality.
d) Others : titles, news, series means
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E.g
1. The series of incidents makes (not make) me shudder. 2. The means of transport hastens (not hasten) travelling.
Note: There are some nouns that do not appear as singular at all but as plurals and they often attract plural verbs.
Such words are : Funds (money), annals, spirits, surroundings, guts, earnings, arms (weapons), auspices, the middle ages,
entrails, bowels, quarters ( headquarters), banns, means, holidays, stars, suds, wages, thanks, riches, writs, savings, remains,
ashes, goods ( product), arrears, outskirts, pains, particulars, fireworks etc.
All these nouns not verbs cannot appear without s and, hence they attract plural verbs.
E.g
1. His manners are (not is) good
2. The remains (corpse) of the boy have ( not has) been buried.
 Rule 15 Double title subject concord
When two subjects are joined together by and but the two subjects refer to only one person or thing, a singular verb should be
used.
E.g Our principal and mathematics teacher knows me.
If there are two different subjects because of the use of and, use a plural verb.
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But if the subject refers to one person a singular verb should be used.
 Rule 16 Co-ordinate concord
When two subjects are joined together by and , the verb to be used should be plural.
e.g.
1. James and John are (not is) here.
2. Elizabeth and Johnson know (not knows) me.
 Rule 17 Categorization concord
When a collective name, denoting category (not a collective noun) is used, the verb to be used must be plural.
Categories like : the poor, the rich, the wealthy, the successful, the gifted, the weak, the young in spirit, the handicapped, the
helpless etc.
The verb to be used should be plural.
For example
1. The poor need help (not helps or needs) from the government.
2. The young are (not is) disobedient.
3. The weak are (not is) left to their fates.
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 Rule 18 Plural number concord
When amount or unit is mentioned in a statement, unit like, five thousand, three hundred, percent, twenty meters, five times,
etc.
The next verb must be singular.
1. Two pounds of flour is (not are) too few to bake a cake.
2. Ten percent of my earns goes (not go) to my wife.
 Rule 19 Mathematical facts
When mathematical facts are used, such as subtraction, multiplication, addition, division, etc. are used, the verb will be any of
Singular and plural, that is, a singular or plural verb can be used when mathematical facts are used.
For example
1. Ten plus ten is or are ( are and is are both correct) twenty.
2. Ten multiplied by two is or are twenty. Both singular and plural are correct.
 Rule 20 Every + plural number concord
When every precedes a plural, the next verb is plural.
E.g Every ten liters of oil bought come (not comes) with a bonus of an extra liter.
But when every appears without any plural number, the verb is singular.
E.g
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1. Every boy (not boys) likes girls.
2) Every man (not men) likes football.
When and joins two or more subjects with every or each , the verb should be singular.
E.g
1. Every man and woman speaks ( not speak) good English here.
2. Every student and teacher comes ( not come) to school early.
 Rule 21 Most or much concord
When most is used, the verb will either be singular or plural, depending on whether the referent is a countable or uncountable
noun,
E.g
1. Most of the boys (countable noun) are tall.
2. Most of the time (uncountable noun), John has (not have) always been there for her.
When Much is used in a statement, the verb to be used must be singular.
E.g
Much of the water has (not have) been spilled.
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 Rule 22 All concord
When all appears, it means either everything or all the people. When all means everything, the verb to be used should be
Singular but when all means all the people, the verb to be used should be plural.
E.g
a) All are already seated in the hall. In the above sentence, All means all the people are already seated in the hall, hence a
plural verb. But;
b) All is well with me. In the above sentence, All means Everything is well with me hence a singular verb.
When all but is used, the following verb should be plural E.g
All but John are (not is) in the bus. That means, only John is absent.
 Rule 23 Either or neither concord
When either or neither joins two singular nouns together, the following verb should be Singular
E.g
1. Either John or Jackson knows (not know) me.
2. Neither Mary nor her friend was (not were) here.
But, when either or neither joins two subjects (one singular and the other plural), the verb should be chosen by considering the
nearer of the two subjects.
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E.g
1. Either James or his friends know me. You can see that a friend is nearer to the verb gap than it is near James.
These rules is also applied, when but joins two subjects.
E.g
Not only Sola but even teachers laugh in school.
2. Not Lawrence but James speaks good English. You can see that James is nearer to the verb gap than it is near Lawrence,
hence, you use singular verb.
 Rule 24 Each and one of concord
When each appears in a concord, a singular noun + a singular verb will be chosen.
E.g
1. Each boy (not boys) has a car. But, when each of or one of appears, the next noun should be plural but the next verb should
be singular.
2. Each of the candidates (not candidate) stands (not stand) a good chance to win a scholarship.
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MORPHOLOGY
Morphology is the study of word formation, of the structure of words.
Some observations about words and their structure:
 Some words can be divided into parts which still have meaning
 Many words have meaning by themselves. But some words have meaning only when used with other words
 Some of the parts into which words can be divided can stand alone as words. But others cannot
 These word-parts that can occur only in combination must be combined in the correct way
 Languages create new words systematically
What is inferred? Key points:
 The meaningful parts into which words can be divided—e.g., boldest can be divided into bold+est--are called the
morphemes of the language. These are considered the basic units of meaning in a particular language.
 Words that have meaning by themselves—boy, food, door—are called lexical morphemes. Those words that function
to specify the relationship between one lexical morpheme and another—words like at, in, on, -ed, -s—are called
grammatical morphemes.
 Those morphemes that can stand alone as words are called free morphemes (e.g., boy, food, in, on). The morphemes
that occur only in combination are called bound morphemes (e.g., -ed, -s, -ing).
 Bound grammatical morphemes can be further divided into two types: inflectional morphemes (e.g., -s, -est, -ing) and
derivational morphemes (e.g., - ful, -like, -ly, un-, dis-).
 Processes of word-formation can be described.
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MORPHEMES
A morpheme can be defined as a minimal unit having more or less constant meaning and more of less constant form. (‘More or
less’ because... see below.) For example, the word buyers is made up of three morphemes {buy}+{er}+{s}.
The evidence for this is that each can occur in other combinations of morphemes without changing its meaning. We can find
{buy} in buying, buys, and {er} in seller, fisher, as well as buyer.
And {s} can be found in boys, girls, and dogs.
The more combinations a morpheme is found in, the more productive it is said to be. Note the terminology: Braces, { } indicate
a morpheme. Square brackets, [ ] indicate a semantic characterization. Italics indicate a lexical item.
Please take note of the following:
1. Morphemes can vary in size: neither the number of syllables nor the length of a word can indicate what is a morpheme
and what isn’t.
For example, Albatross is a long word but a single morpheme, -y (as in dreamy ) is also a single morpheme.
2. Two different morphemes may be pronounced (and even sometimes spelled) the same way. For example, the –er in
buyer means something like ‘the one who,’ while the –er in shorter means something like ‘to a greater degree than.’ The
first –er always attaches to a verb, while the second –er always attaches to an adjective. It makes sense to consider
these two different morphemes that just
happen to sound the same. (The first is called the agentive morpheme {AG} since it indicates the agent of an action; the
second is called the comparative morpheme {COMP} since it indicates the comparative degree of an adjective.
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3. We can’t always hold to the definition of a morpheme as having unchanging form. For example, when we consider words
like boys, girls, shirts, books, we conclude that –s is the plural morpheme (symbolized {PLU}.) But what about words
such as men or women?
Here plurality is indicated not by adding –s but by changing the vowel in the stem. Yet we still want to say that men is,
morphologically, {man} + {PLU}, even
though the form of {PLU} is quite different in this case. In the same way, it seems sensible to say that went = {go} +
{PAST}, just as walked = {walk} + {PAST}, even though in the first case {PAST} involves a morphological change in form
quite different from the usual adding of –ed.
4. Sometimes it is very difficult to identify morpheme boundaries. For example, the word hamburger originally meant
{Hamburg} = ‘a city in Germany’ +
{er} = ‘originating from.’ But probably most people now understand the word as meaning {ham} = ‘ham’ + {burger} = ‘hot
patty served on a round bun.’
Lexical and Grammatical Morphemes
Lexical morphemes are those that having meaning by themselves (more accurately, they have sense).
Grammatical morphemes specify a relationship between other morphemes. But the distinction is not all that well defined.
Nouns, verbs, adjectives ({boy}, {buy}, {big}) are typical lexical morphemes. Prepositions, articles, conjunctions ({of},
{the}, {but}) are grammatical morphemes.
Free and Bound Morphemes
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Free morphemes are those that can stand alone as words. They may be lexical morphemes ({serve}, {press}), or
grammatical morphemes ({at}, {and}).
Bound morphemes can occur only in combination—they are parts of a word.
They may be lexical morphemes (such as {clude} as in include, exclude, preclude) or they may be grammatical (such as
{PLU} = plural as in boys, girls, and cats).
Inflectional and Derivational Morphemes
We can make a further distinction within the set of morphemes that are both bound and grammatical. Bound
grammatical morphemes (those that don’t have a sense by themselves and, additionally, always occur in combinations)
are commonly known as affixes.
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BASIC SYNTACTIC CLASSES

To understand this topic, we have to begin by first understanding the 8 parts of speech in English language.
Syntax is roughly about word order. Grammar has two overlapping meanings:
 Everything about how a language works, including syntax as a subset.

 How words are inflected, conjugated, declined according to aspect, degree, gender, mood, number, person, tense, etc.
One part of grammar is called Morphology. It has to do with the internal economy of words. So a word like bookkeepers
has
four morphemes (book, keep, -er, -s) and is put together with morphology.
The other part is called Syntax. It has to do with the external economy of words, including word order, agreement; like the
sentence below:
For me to call her sister would be a bad idea and its syntactic transform It would be a bad idea for me to call her sister.
That's syntax. English grammar is mostly syntax.
From the other perspective, the syntax is defined as the study of arrangements of words into phrases, clauses, and sentences
or syntactical constructions.
The smallest units of syntax are words.
When two or more words are arranged in a certain way, the result refers to syntactical construction. In other words, it can be
said that a syntactical construction is a construction in which its immediate constituents (IC-a) are words (or free morphemes).
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An immediate constituent (IC) refers to a constituent (or element) that directly forms the construction.
As mentioned before, the smallest units of syntax are words.
Then, words will be discussed in the following. Based on one perspective, grammarians classify the words into eight types of
parts of speech in the English language: noun, pronoun, verb, adjective, adverb, preposition, conjunction, and
interjection.
The part of speech indicates how the word functions in meaning as well as grammatically within the sentence. An individual
word can function as more than one part of speech when used in different circumstances.
Understanding parts of speech is essential.
1. Noun: A noun is a word for a person, place, thing, or idea. Nouns are often used with an article (the, a, an), but not
always. Proper nouns always start with a capital letter; common nouns do not. Nouns can be singular or plural, concrete
or abstract.
Nouns show possession by adding 's. Nouns can function in different roles within a sentence; for example, a noun can
be a subject, direct object, indirect object, subject complement, or object of a preposition.
Example: The young girl brought me a very long letter from the teacher, and then she quickly disappeared.
2. Pronoun: A pronoun is a word used in place of a noun. A pronoun is usually substituted for a specific noun, which is
called its antecedent.
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In the sentence above, the antecedent for the pronoun she is the girl.
Pronouns are further defined by type: personal pronouns refer to specific persons or things; possessive pronouns
indicate ownership; reflexive pronouns are used to emphasize another noun or pronoun; relative
pronouns introduce a subordinate clause; and demonstrative pronouns identify, point to, or refer to nouns.
3. Verb: The verb in a sentence expresses action or being.
There is a main verb and sometimes one or more helping verbs. ("She can sing." Sing is the main verb; can is the
helping verb.)
A verb must agree with its subject in number (both are singular or both are plural). Verbs also take different forms to
express tense.
4. Adjective: An adjective is a word used to modify or describe a noun or a pronoun.
It usually answers the question of which one, what kind, or how many. (Articles [a, an, the] are usually classified as
adjectives.)
5. Adverb: An adverb describes or modifies a verb, an adjective, or another adverb, but never a noun.
It usually answers the questions of when, where, how, why, under what conditions, or to what degree. Adverbs often end
in -ly.
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6. Preposition: A preposition is a word placed before a noun or pronoun to form a phrase modifying another word in the
sentence. Therefore a preposition is always
part of a prepositional phrase.
The prepositional phrase almost always functions as an adjective or as an adverb. The following list includes the most
common prepositions:
7. Conjunction: A conjunction joins words, phrases, or clauses, and indicates the relationship between the elements
joined. Coordinating conjunctions connect grammatically equal elements: and, but, or, nor, for, so, yet.
Subordinating conjunctions connect clauses that are not equal: because, although, while, since, etc. There are other
types of conjunctions as well.
8. Interjection: An interjection is a word used to express emotion. It is often followed by an exclamation point such as: Oh!
Wow! Oops!
We have to further discuss about the word classes by looking into specific details of 6 parts of speech of the ones we have
mentioned.
NOUNS AND THE BASIC NOUN PHRASE
A. A proper functional discussion of the noun of English cannot but examine nouns within the context of the basic noun phrase
(NP). An NP is a phrase which can function as, subject, object, or complement of a sentence, or as prepositional complement.
Such a phrase is, called an NP because the word which is its main part (HEAD) is typically a noun.
For example
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Raphael found the new typist in his office a very hardworking man
The subject is Raphel
Typist is the Object
Very hardworking is the Object complement
B. Noun Classes:
The subclasses of the noun can be best examined from grammatical and semantic perspectives. The following subclasses can
be identified.
(a) Proper Nouns: These indicate particular objects E.g. James; Ilorin; Government High School, Ilorin.
(b) Common Nouns: These denote persons or objects generally. E.g. boy, biro, chair, bottle.
(c) Collective Nouns: These refer to a set of objects. E.g. a crowd (of people); a pack (of cards); and an army of soldiers.
(d) Abstract Nouns: These refer to states, events or feelings and notions which cannot be understood in a physical sense. E.g.
hate, love, idea, wisdom etc. They can be either count or mass nouns.
(e) Concrete Nouns: These denotes material or tangible objects, i.e. objects that have physical existence. E.g. book, table,
man.
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(f) Countable Nouns: This category of nouns can be counted and there is a clear marking of the plural form by adding a plural
marker (-s). Star/stars, biro/biros, school/schools, cup/cups.
(g) Uncountable or Mass Nouns: This is the opposite of (f) above. The plural forms of the nouns in this category are expressed
in very special ways. E.g. water, butter, furniture, hair, etc. These are expressed as: a cup of water, pieces of furniture, strands
of hair, grains of com, and pile of rubbish. Mass Nouns can be sub-divided semantically in the following categories.
(i) Unit Nouns: a block of ice; a piece of land; a speck of dust; piece and bit are general purpose unit nouns which can be
combined (informally) with most mass nouns.
(ii) Nouns of Measures: it could be of depth, length, weight, area or volume; a yard of cloth, a gallon of gasoline, a ton of coal.
(iii) Species Noun: Nouns like type, kind, sort species, class, variety can divide a mass of objects into “types”.
A Toyota is a maker of car
A cat is a species of animal
A strange kind of fish.
Pronouns
I. Pronouns generally function either to replace a whole noun phrase (NP) as subject of a clause, or as the main component
(Head) of an.NP. Pronouns are thus generally perceived as performing the function of substitutes or ‘replacements’ for noun
phrases. Where a pronoun functions to replace an NP, no determiner is usually needed
Verbs
There are two types of verbs, Lexical and Auxiliary.
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Examples of lexical verbs are talk, play, classify, sweep etc. Two classifications of verbs are identified in English: Primary (do,
have be) and Modal (can, may, shall, will: could, might, should, would; must, ought to, used to, need, dare). The Lexical verbs
are open, while the modal auxiliaries are closed system verbs.
Study the following Key points
There are 5 basic forms of the Lexical verbs
1. Base (V): Walk, sing, cut

2. –s forms (3rd person singular present) (V –s): walks, sings, cuts
3. Past (V –ed1): walked, sang, cut
4. –ing Participle (present participle) V—ing: walking, singing, cutting
5. –ed Participle (Past participle) V –ed2: walked, sung, cut
AUXILIARY VERBS
Auxiliary verbs in English (do, have, be also presents an interesting picture. They can function as lexical verbs especially when
they occur in the sentence as the only verb form.
For instance, in: I have the book. Have is a lexical verb because it is the only verb in the sentence: The boys have written the
essay. Have is the auxiliary, while written is the lexical verb.
FINITE VERBS – KEY POINTS
The main difference between finite and nonfinite verbs is that finite verbs act as the main verb whereas nonfinite verbs or
verbals don’t act as a verb in a sentence. Since finite verbs act as the main verb of a sentence, they indicate person, number,
and tense. Nonfinite verbs do not indicate person, number, and tense and they do not indicate any infections.
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A finite verb is a verb that has a subject and shows inflections. A finite verb shows tense (past/present), number
(singular/plural) and person(I, you, it etc.). It is often the main verb of a sentence and can be changed according to the subject.
For example,
He promised me to send a letter.
(Here, promised act as the main verb in the sentence; therefore, it is in its finite form.)
The promised letter never arrived.

(Here, promised does not act as a verb. It merely describes the letter. The main verb of this sentence is arrived.)
Observe the following sentences and see if you can identify the finite verb in them.
 He loves to eat popcorn.

 I waited for him to come.
 The postman distributed all the letters but one.
 Everyone wanted to buy the new book, but there were only 10 copies.
NON-FINITE VERBS – KEY POINTS
Nonfinite verbs are the verb forms that do not indicate tense, person or number. Nonfinite verb forms are never used as
the main verb of a sentence. In fact, non-finite verbs do not act as a verb; they are often used as nouns, adjectives,
and adverbs. Non-finite verbs are also called verbals. There are three types of nonfinite verb forms or verbals.
Gerunds: A gerund is formed by adding –ing to the verb. It functions as a noun.
I love reading.
Reading helps you to learn.
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Participles: Participles are classified into two groups: past participles (formed by adding –ed to regular verbs) and present
participles (formed by adding –ing to the verbs). They act as adjectives.
The injured man was rushed to the hospital.

Dancing girls were the next to perform.
Infinitives: An infinitive is a verb in its base form.It is often preceded by to. An infinitive can function as a noun, adjective, and
adverb.
I love to read.
He was asked to leave the room.
Observe the flowing sentences and try to identify the verbals or nonfinite verbs.
 Mary wanted to buy a new book.

 By the time the police arrived, the thief had vanished.
 Collecting stamps is one of her hobbies.
 They are going on a date tonight.
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KEY POINTS
 Finite verb forms act as a verb.

 Nonfinite verb forms do not act as a verb.
 Finite verbs act as the main verb of a sentence or a clause.

 Nonfinite verbs act as nouns, adjectives and adverbs.
 Finite verbs indicate number, person and tense.

 Nonfinite verbs do not indicate number, person and tense.
 Finite verbs are marked by inflections.

 Nonfinite verbs remain unchanged.
 Finite verbs are used in the present tense and past tense.
 Nonfinite verbs are infinitive, gerunds and participles.
Transitive & Intransitive Verbs
Transitive verbs transfer action from the actor to the direct object; e.g verbs such as kick, sweep, buildm play, write, etec.
Ade kicked the ball. In this sentence, we recognize that the actor Ade, performed action on the ball, which is the direct object.
Intransitive verbs do not transfer the action in this way; i.e these verbs do not need a direct object to realize their meaning and
make complete sense. Examples are sleep, dance, and arrive. Etc.
Note that, some verbs can take more than one object; they are called ditransitive verbs, e.g. give.
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Ade gave Sammy the book. Both Sammy and the book are objects of the verb gave. While the book is the direct object,
Sammy is the indirect object.
ADJECTIVES
In this section, we introduced ourselves to the adjective, which comes in a one-word form that either precedes or follows the
noun it modifies.
When the adjective precedes the noun, it’s in the attributive position.
When it follows the noun, it’s in the predicative position.
Most one-word adjectives have positive, comparative, and superlative forms. As a rule, we add -er or -est to
the positive form of adjectives of one or two syllables to form their comparative (-er) or superlative (-est) forms.
For adjectives with three or more syllables, we ordinarily use more for the comparative and most for the superlative.
These rules, like all rules in grammar, have their exceptions, so that we would not use the two-syllable adjective careful and
say, He was carefuller. Instead, we’d say, He was more careful.
We also met those hard-to-classify words—a, an, and the. We call them articles, but they don’t constitute their
own separate part of speech.
Since we use articles to modify nouns, in much the same way we use adjectives.
We also took a brief look at other words acting as adjectives: demonstrative pronouns (this, that, these,
those), possessive pronouns (my, his, her, their, etc.), quantifying words like many, much, and some, and nouns that act as
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adjectives.
We introduced ourselves to expressions called compound (or phrasal) adjectives. These multiword forms enable us
to invent terms like the how’d-ya-like-to-hyphenate-this-adjective exercise.
Other multiword adjectives include the adjectival phrase, which savvy writers use all the time.
Finally, we took a quick look at the adjectival role played by five phrases (prepositional, present participial, past participial,
infinitive, and adjectival) and by two basic kinds
of clauses (restrictive and nonrestrictive). The point is this: A chunk of words must always be serving some function in a
sentence. If that chunk is not acting as a verb, a noun, or an adverb, then chances are good it’s acting as an adjective.
Now we move on to adverb.
ADVERB
Adverbs are words used to modify verbs. Adverbs can also modify adjectives and other adverbs. There are several different
types of adverbs.
Adverbs of time
Time adverbs answer the question ‘when’. Examples are: before, now, already, then, late, early, yesterday, tomorrow etc.
I have seen him before.

You should start now.
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I haven’t heard anything from him lately.
I have already discussed this with him.
Adverbs of frequency
Frequency adverbs answer the question ‘how often’. Common examples are: twice, once, always, often, seldom, again,
frequently etc.
He often visits his grandmother.

I will not invite him again.
I met him only once.
He is seldom late for work.
Adverbs of place
Adverbs of place answer the question ‘where’. Examples are: here, there, up, down, in, out.
He looked up.
He is not in at the moment.
Put it there.
Come here
Get out.
Come in.
Adverbs of manner
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Adverbs of manner answer the question ‘how’. Most adverbs ending in –ly are examples of adverbs of manner. Examples
are: kindly, cruelly, pleasantly, softly, cleverly, bravely, slowly, sadly, well, hard etc.
I can see clearly.

Our soldiers fought bravely.
The child wept bitterly.
She speaks English well.
You must work hard.
Adverbs of degree
Degree adverbs answer the question ‘to what extent’ or ‘in which degree’. Examples are: too, very, almost, any, quite, enough,
pretty etc.
You are too late.

She was very happy.
You are partly right.
She sings pretty well.
I am rather busy.
She was so happy.
Preposition
Preposition is a word or several words that express place, time, reason and other logical relationships between different parts
of the sentence.
There are over 100 prepositions in English.
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Although most prepositions are single words, some pairs and groups of words operate like single prepositions:
 They were unable to attend because of the bad weather in Ireland.

 Jack’ll be playing in the team in place of me.
Prepositions are always followed by a noun or a pronoun (or sometimes a gerund).

 I’ll meet you in the cafe opposite the cinema.
 It was difficult to sleep during the flight.
 Give that to me.
 They were talking about their trip.
CONJUNCTION
Conjunctions are known as connective or linking words.
They join thoughts, actions and ideas, as well as clauses and phrases. Each of the three different types of conjunctions joins
different parts of a sentence together.
Let’s take a look at some of the most commonly used forms.
 COORDINATING CONJUNCTIONS
Coordinating conjunctions like "and," "nor," or "so" link equal parts of a sentence, be it words, phrases, or independent
clauses. For example:
 He was late for school, so he took a shortcut.

 Her favorite colors were purple and red.
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 She doesn't like coffee, nor does she like tea.
 SUBORDINATING CONJUNCTIONS
Subordinating conjunctions such as "because", "since" and "after" link a dependent clause to an independent clause,
helping to show the relationship between the two clauses and emphasize the main idea of the freestanding/independent
clause.
For example:
 Because it was raining, we had to cancel the class picnic.

 The house was a mess after the crazy party we had last night.
 He doesn't go skiing any more, since he had the accident.
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SYNTACTIC UNITS
PHRASES
A phrase is a group of related words that neither contains a finite verb nor makes some sense independently.
A phrase is a dependent constituent of a sentence because it is bound on its own. Both a phrase and a clause perform the
functions that open class words perform.
The open class words are nouns, verbs, adverbs and adjectives and that is the reason why phrases and clauses are named
in relation to the functions these classes of words perform in sentences. Hence, phrases are so called by the grammatical
element they bear in a stretch of sentence. For a given phrase like Noun Phrase (also known as Nominal Phrase NP), there is
always a key word which is usually a lexical item that is the agent being referred to. This is known as the head word. The
element (head word) determines the grammatical name of the unit.
If the headword is a noun, then it is a noun phrase; and if it is a word from another syntactic category, it goes on in that
manner. It is however important to state that phrases consist of other elements such as which means modifier and q-which
means qualifier.
It is not in all cases that these elements must appear in a phrase but the head,word is a constant element as only
lexical item can assume the position of a phrase in a sentence. For example,
The man, in the room, my neighbor
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Noun phr. Prep. Phr. Noun phr.
In the first and second examples above, each phrase type has no complete meaning independently but when joined together,
a complete sentence is derived thus: “The man in the room is my neighbor”’,
“The beautiful young tall lady from Ghana in the garden is her sister” respectively.
There are various forms of phrases.
These include:
i. The Noun phrase.

ii. The Adjectival phrase
iii. The Adverbial phrase
iv. The Prepositional phrase
v. The Infinitive phrase
vi. The Gerund phrase
Noun Phrase For a phrase to be described as a noun phrase, it is expected to perform one of the syntactic functions of a
noun. These include:
- NP as Subject of a sentence:
1. The beautiful young girl is from my village.
2. The tall man over there came here while you were away:
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- NP as Object:
3. Akin drove his new car.
4. The politicians praised the leader.
- NP as Complement
5. Alabi’s wife is a nurse.

6. Her cousin is a very disciplined and industrious fellow.
- NP as Object of preposition
7. I kept the noodles for everyone of you.

8. He jumped overthe bridge.
ADJECTIVAL PHRASE
An adjectival phrase like an adjective modifies a noun or a pronoun. A phrase that performs or behaves like an adjective is an
adjectival phrase. An adjectival phrase like an adjective qualifies a noun, a pronoun or an adjective. However, an adjectival
phrase consists of an adjective as head, hence by joining sub-modifiers with adjectives.
Examples are ‘quite unbelievable’, ‘beautifully done’, ‘unexpectedly disappointing’, “very relevant’, ‘very good’ as in the
following examples;
1. The story is quite unbelievable.
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2. The work was beautifully done
3. The end of the plot was unexpectedly disappointing.
4. The contribution was very relevant.
5. The accommodation is very good.
All the underlined expressions are adjectival phrases.
ADVERBIAL PHRASE
Adverbs provide additional information to the stretch of information in a sentence. Phrasal expressions that perform functions
that adverbs do are adverbial phrases.
These expressions are equally mobile like adverbs. Adverbial phrases modify verbs
Examples of adverbial phrases are “very gently’, ‘creditably intelligent’, ‘extremely early', 'Very Late', ‘legibly well’, etc. Let us
use the phrases above in sentences:
1. The child was touched very gently.

2. Mohammed Ikram is creditably intelligent
3. He came to my house extremely early.
4. The policeman arrived very late.
5. Akindele writes legibly well.
It is equally important to state that there are different types of adverbs such as:
- Adverbs of place ‐E.g down the hill, above the roof, in the kitchen, behind the door, Zaria, Lagos, etc.
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- Adverb of manner - E.g controversially, beautifully, Introvertly, positively, away, etc.
- Adverbs of time - E.g One hour ago, tomorrow, two days' time, soon etc.
- Adverbs of degree - E.g generously, excellently, quickly, very, sluggishly, etc.
- Adverbs of frequency -E.g rarely, often, steadily, etc.
PREPOSITIONAL PHRASE
A prepositional phrase is a phrase with a preposition as its head word. It comprises Prepositional element which may be any
of the following:
- in the kitchen
- on the roof
- through the window
- Inside his compound
It is pertinent to note that prepositional phrase differs from other phrase types because a preposition cannot stand alone as
the headword of a phrase.
Even though a preposition is still the head in a prepositional phrase, it has to be accompanied by another element which is
prepositional complement.
If the phrase is to be complete, the prepositional complement will be a noun.
Examples
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19. The cylinder is in the kitchen.

20. There are lots of birds perching on the roof
21. The old man peeps through the window
22. His visitor resides inside his compound.
INFINITIVE PHRASE
This phrase type consists of an infinitive (to) plus other modifier(s) such a noun, an dverb or an adjective. In infinitive phrases,
the verb goes with the infinitive ‘to’, e.g. to run, to ride, to call, to eat, etc.
23. We were asked to go home.

24. I intend to plant cassava this year. . .
GERUND PHRASE
The gerund phrase is an “-ing” form of a verb which acts like a noun. Every gerund is determined is determined via its
function as a noun in a sentence. It consists of a gerund, its modifiers and/or its objects. E.g.
25. Computing results requires great energy.
Gerund phrase as obj.
26. She passed her examinations by working diligently
gerund phrase as obj.
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27. Ibukun won by driving excellently well in the competition.
gerund phrase as obj. of preposition
QUICK WORK FOR YOU
Identify the underlined phrasal types in the sentences below:
1. He promised to attend the meeting by 2pm today.

2. He told me to hand it over to the security personnel at the entrance.
3. The story is too good to be correct.
4. He carried out the task meticulously well.
5. The tall beautiful light-complexioned young lady in the garden is married.
6. Bolakale ran to meet the stranger.
7. Flying airplane is dangerous.
8. My brother was given the car by our father.
9. The Faculty Arts lecture theatre was constructed by the Central Bank of Nigeria.
10. There are lots of birds nesting under the eaves.
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CLAUSES
A clause is a group of words that contains a finite verb and performs a grammatical function.
In other words, a clause has some level of meaning. The difference between a phrase and a clause is the presence or
absence of a finite verb. In a phrase, the finite verb is absent but, in a clause, the finite verb is present.
A clause comes in two major types namely:
Main or Independent clause and Subordinate or Dependent clause.
A main clause is a type of clause that can stand on its own without assistance.
Examples are:
- He ate the food.
- Heran away,
- Adele sat down.
- Jibola arrived.
All these expressions above can stand alone and as a result of this, they are independent clauses.
A Subordinate or dependent clause cannot stand alone. It has to be attached to a main sentimental structure for it to be clearly
understood.
Dependent clause lacks individual functionality. They only function meaningfully in relation to main or independent clauses.
Examples of dependent clauses are:
- Where nobody would see him.

- Like he had not slept for days.
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- Because he stole the money.
- Despite that he was not satisfied
- When his parents had gone to the cinema.
Each of these expressions cannot function independently; they have to be attached to an independent clause to have a full
sense of a clause as in the following examples;
1. He ate the food, where nobody would see him.

Main Cl. Subor. Cl.
2. He ran away, because he stole the money.

Main CL. Subor. Cl.
3. Adele sat down, despite that he was not satisfied
Main Cl. Subor. Cl.
4. Jibola arrived, when his parents had gone to the cinema.

Main Cl. Subor. Cl.
TYPES OF (SUBORDINATE) CLAUSES
Noun/ Nominal Clause
Clauses that occupy the position of nouns and perform the functions of nouns in sentences are noun clauses.
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It is not necessary that a noun clause has a noun as its headword, it is only referred to as such as a result of the subject or
object position it occupies in a sentence.
Examples include:
1. That I will attend the programme today is doubtful.

2. That you went to our in-law’s place is good.
3 . What I need now is a good job.
4. Where I come from is none of your business.
5. They should consider what he told them.
6. I will say what he told me.
Note that just like noun phrases, noun clauses also function as subjects or objects of the verb.
In the first four sentences above, the noun clauses function as subject to their respective verbs, while the last two sentences,
they function as object to their respective verbs.
ADJECTIVAL CLAUSE
Clausal expressions that perform the functions of adjectives are adjectival clauses. Just like adjectives, adjectival clauses also
described or qualify nouns and noun phrases. Below are examples of adjectival clauses:
1. The boy that came here yesterday is my friend.

2. The boy that directed you that I am here used to be my student.
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3. The boy whose father you saw yesterday bought a new car.
4. I have spent the money which you gave to me.
5. The boy whose camera got missing lost his mobile handset.
ADVERBIAL CLAUSE
An Adverbial clause is a clause that performs the functions performed by adverbs. Adverbial clauses modify verbs like adverbs
and they are named in relation to the types of adverbs whose functions they perform in sentences. Examples are:
1. He left the venue when she came in. (TIME)

2. I read the book because it was compulsory. (REASON)
3. He speaks too fast as our English teacher does (MANNER)
4. He read hard although he failed the examination (Concession)
5. She treats me kindly as if I am her colleague. (Concession)
6. He sat down where his mother told him to (Place.)
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SENTENCE STRUCTURE
SIMPLE SENTENCES
A simple sentence has only one clause, which must be an independent clause. The word “simple” does not necessarily
mean “easy”; simple sentences can also contain phrases, so they are often long and complicated. However, they still have
only one subject and one finite verb.
KEY POINT:
1. Take note that a clause means a group of words that contains a verb (and usually other components too). A clause may
form part of a sentence or it may be a complete sentence in itself.
2. An independent clause is a clause that can form a complete sentence standing alone, having a subject and a predicate.
The diagram below illustrates the basic elements of a simple sentence.
Simple sentence
subject predicate
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verb or verb phrase completer = optional extra information (Can be at the beginning, middle,
or end of the sentence)
COMPOUND SENTENCE
A compound sentence has two or more independent clauses.
Compound sentence
Independent Clause + Independent Clause
e.g. The bus stopped, and we got out.
I enjoy playing tennis, but I hate playing golf. Learning a language is difficult ; however ,
it is worth the effort.
In this type of sentence, each clause has equal (or nearly equal) importance
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The clauses can be joined in three ways:
1. With a coordinating conjunction
ie. and, but, or, for, nor, yet, so
e.g. Diversity has become a strategic imperative for corporations, and the term has already entered the corporate
vocabulary.
or with a correlative conjunction
e.g. not only ... but also
e.g. Not only have conservationists been successful in bringing issues to the attention of governments, but they
have also achieved considerable success in having policies and institutions introduced or changed to meet their
demand.
2. With a semi-colon (;)
e.g. Astute depositors could see what was happening to the value of the land that was supporting the assets of the
banks; they moved quickly to remove their deposits for cash.
3. With a semi-colon and another kind of link word called a conjunctive adverb
e.g. furthermore, however, therefore, in contrast, similarly
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e.g. These obvious contamination problems have long been known; however, what is not often realised
is the organic matter carried in ground water can contaminate samples
COMPLEX SENTENCES
A complex sentence has one independent clause and one or more dependent clauses.
Complex sentence Complex sentence
Independent + Dependent OR Dependent Independent

Clause Clause Clause Clause
E.g Because she did not know E.g She drove slowly because she did not know the route well
the route well, she drove slowly.
In this type of sentence, the clauses do not have equal importance. The independent (or main) clause contains the most
important idea, and the dependent clause adds extra information.
The two clauses are linked by a subordinate conjunction placed at the beginning of the dependent clause.
e.g. although, because, just as, whereas, unless, even though
e.g. Today, New Zealand lacks crocodiles, goannas, freshwater turtles and land turtles, even though all were
probably part of its Gondwanan heritage
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COMPOUND-COMPLEX SENTENCES
A compound-complex sentence has two or more independent clauses and at least one dependent clause.
e.g. When the new structure was proposed in 2003, the Council at first refused to discuss the plans with community
groups, but the Environment Court over-ruled the decision and insisted on a full consultation process.
PUNCTUATION MARKS IN ENGLISH AND THEIR USES
There are 14 punctuation marks that are commonly used in English grammar. They are the period, question mark,
exclamation point, comma, semicolon, colon, dash, hyphen, parentheses, brackets, braces, apostrophe, quotation marks,
and ellipsis. Following their correct usage will make your writing easier to read and more appealing.
SENTENCE ENDINGS
Three of the fourteen punctuation marks are appropriate for use as sentence endings.
They are the period, question mark, and exclamation point. The period (.) is placed at the end of declarative sentences,
statements thought to be complete and after many abbreviations.
 As a sentence ender: Jane and Jack went to the market.
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 After an abbreviation: Her son, John Jones Jr., was born on Dec. 6, 2008.
Use a question mark (?) to indicate a direct question when placed at the end of a sentence.
 When did Jane leave for the market?
The exclamation point (!) is used when a person wants to express a sudden outcry or add emphasis.
 Within dialogue: "Holy cow!" screamed Jane.

 To emphasize a point: My mother-in-law's rants make me furious
COMMA, SEMI COLON AND COLON

The comma, semicolon, and colon are often misused because they all can indicate a pause in a series. The comma is used
to show a separation of ideas or elements within the structure of a sentence.
Additionally, it is used in numbers, dates, and letter writing after the salutation and closing.
 Direct address: Thanks for all your help, John.

 Separation of two complete sentences: We went to the movies, and then we went out to lunch.
 Separating lists or elements within sentences: Suzi wanted the black, green, and blue dress.
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Whether to add a final comma before the conjunction in a list is a matter of debate. This final comma, known as an Oxford
or serial comma, is useful in a complex series of elements or phrases but is often considered unnecessary in a simple
series such as in the example above. It usually comes down to a style choice by the writer.
The semicolon (;) is used to connect independent clauses. It shows a closer relationship between the clauses than a
period would show.
 John was hurt; he knew she only said it to upset him.
A colon (:) has three main uses. The first is after a word introducing a quotation, an explanation, an example, or a series.
 He was planning to study four subjects: politics, philosophy, sociology, and economics.
The second is between independent clauses when the second explains the first, similar to a semicolon:
 I didn't have time to get changed: I was already late.
The third use of a colon is for emphasis:
 There was one thing she loved more than any other: her dog.
A colon also has non-grammatical uses in time, ratio, business correspondence and references
DASH AND THE HPYPENS
Two other common punctuation marks are the dash and hyphen. These marks are often confused with each other due to
their appearance but they are very different.
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A dash is used to separate words into statements. There are two common types of dashes: en dash and em dash.
 En dash: Twice as long as a hyphen, the en dash is a symbol (–) that is used in writing or printing to indicate a
range, connections or differentiations, such as 1880-1945 or Princeton-New York trains.
 Em dash: Longer than the en dash, the em dash can be used in place of a comma, parenthesis, or colon to
enhance readability or emphasize the conclusion of a sentence. For example, She gave him her answer — No!
Whether you put spaces around the em dash or not is a style choice. Just be consistent.
A hyphen is used to join two or more words together into a compound term and is not separated by spaces. For example,
part-time, back-to-back, well-known.
BRACKET, BRACES AND PARANTHESES
Brackets, braces, and parentheses are symbols used to contain words that are a further explanation or are considered a
group.
Brackets are the squared off notations ([]) used for technical explanations or to clarify meaning. If you remove the
information in the brackets, the sentence will still make sense.

He [Mr. Jones] was the last person seen at the house.
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Braces ({}) are used to contain two or more lines of text or listed items to show that they are considered as a unit. They are
not commonplace in most writing but can be seen in computer programming to show what should be contained within the
same lines. They can also be used in mathematical expressions. For example, 2{1+[23-3]}=x.
Parentheses ( () ) are curved notations used to contain further thoughts or qualifying remarks. However, parentheses can
be replaced by commas without changing the meaning in most cases.
 John and Jane (who were actually half brother and sister) both have red hair.
APOSTROPHE QUOTATION MARKS & ELLIPSIS

The final three punctuation forms in English grammar are the apostrophe, quotation marks, and ellipsis. Unlike previously
mentioned grammatical marks, they are not related to one another in any form.
An apostrophe (') is used to indicate the omission of a letter or letters from a word, the possessive case, or the plurals of
lowercase letters. Examples of the apostrophe in use include:
 Omission of letters from a word: I've seen that movie several times. She wasn't the only one who knew the answer.
 Possessive case: Sara's dog bit the neighbor.
 Plural for lowercase letters: Six people were told to mind their p's and q's.
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It should be noted that, according to Purdue University, some teachers and editors enlarge the scope of the use of
apostrophes, and prefer their use on symbols (&'s), numbers (7's) and capitalized letters (Q&A's), even though they are not
necessary.
Quotations marks (" ") are a pair of punctuation marks used primarily to mark the beginning and end of a passage attributed
to another and repeated word for word. They are also used to indicate meanings and to indicate the unusual or dubious
status of a word. "Don't go outside," she said. Single quotation marks (' ') are used most frequently for quotes within quotes.
Marie told the teacher, "I saw Marc at the playground, and he said to me 'Bill started the fight,' and I believed him." The
ellipsis is most commonly represented by three periods (. . . ) although it is occasionally demonstrated with three asterisks
(***). The ellipsis is used in writing or printing to indicate an omission, especially of letters or words. Ellipses are frequently
used within quotations to jump from one phrase to another, omitting unnecessary words that do not interfere with the
meaning. Students writing research papers or newspapers quoting parts of speeches will often employ ellipsis to avoid
copying lengthy text that is not needed.
 Omission of words: She began to count, "One, two, three, four…" until she got to 10, then went to find him.
 Within a quotation: When Newton stated, "An object at rest stays at rest and an object in motion stays in motion..." he
developed the law of motion.
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UNIT 3
UNILORIN GNS 112 – CAREFULLY SELECTED PAST QUESTIONS
1. One of these is not a characteristics of an effective writing

A. simplicity
B. correctness
C. economy
D. accessibility
2. The type of reading that is suitable for reading newspaper may be …..
A. scanning
B. skimming
C. critical reading
D. cramming
3. Vowels can generally be ………… and ……………

A. monothongs and diphthongs
B. monothongs and voiceless
C. voice and diphthongs
D. voice and voiceless
4. The primary skill of oracy is ……………..

A. writing
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B. speaking
C. listening
D. reading
5. “The wall were covered with red spot the red army was everywhere on the wall on the floor”. This sentence can be
written correctly as………………
A. The walls were covered with red spot. the red army was everywhere, on the wall, on the floor.
B. The wall were covered with red spot. The red army was everywhere on the wall, on the floor.
C. The wall were covered with red spot. the red army was everywhere on the wall, on the floor.
D. The walls were covered with red spot. The red army was everywhere, on the wall, on the floor.
6. “The drawback is that it prevent people from thinking for themselves and causes political hysteria rather than logical
thinking. “The phrase political hysteria as used in the passage means…………
A. hatred and rivalries
B. anxiety and misunderstanding
C. crisis and confusion
D. tension and ill feeling
7. One of these is not a language skills

A. studying
B. reading
C. speaking
D. writing
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8. Learning may require all but none of the following activities

A. thinking
B.relecting
C. organizing
D. none of the above.
9. Which of these represent the required tools for effective comprehension and practice
A. reading skill
B. learning skill
C. none of the above
D. none of the above
10. Which of these represent a receptive level of language skills

A. writing
B. speaking
C. reading
D. Writing skill.
11. We have received ……. from him

A. few information
B. sufficient information
C. an information
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D. some information
12. The principal bought………….. for the chemistry laboratory
A. some equipment
B. an equipment
C. many equipment
D. plenty equipment
13. I can’t attend the dance with you when I have ……….to do
A. many work
B. a work
C. a great deal of work
D. so much work
14. The recent rainstorm did ……. To our farms.

A. much damage
B. many damages
C. plenty damage
D. many more damages
15. ………… yet about the principal?
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A. are there news
B. are there some news
C. is there any news
D. is there some news
16. There is not ……… sense in what that politician has just said
A. many
B. lot of
C. much
D. more
17. Don’t listen to any of the ………….

A. fool
B. fools
C. foolses
D. fooled.
18. My neighbour’s children always make ……........ when he is not at home

A. noises
B. Plenty noise
C. A lot of noise
D. A lot of noises.
19. The expression ………… sincerely, is written at the end of a letter

A. your’s
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B. your
C. yours
D. yours
20. My work is neater than ……………

A. your’s
B. your
C. yours
D. yours’.
21. Neither Musa nor Idris ………….the examination

A. fail
B. fails
C. failed
D.failure.
22. Nigeria, like most other African countries………… fertile land for
A. have
B. has
C. had
D. is.
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23. The evidence of the two witnesses ………… noted by the principle
A. were
B. was
C. none of the above
D. are
24. I will get ……………. the train at the next station

A. off
B. down
C. over
D. of
25. I am disappointed ……….. the way he conducted himself at the party

A. in
B. by
C. at
D. on
26. She can’t sing ………………

A. is she?
B. isn’t she?
C. can she?
D. she can.
27. He has gone hasn’t he?

A. no, he hasn’t
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B. yes, he had
C. yes, he has
D. yes, he hasn’t
28. He ran ………… than I expect

A. fast
B. faster
C. fastest
D.fasts
29. The student………… the story vividly

A. narated
B. naratted
C. narrated
D. narrated
30. I bid him ………… before I travelled to lagos.

A. farewell
B. farewel
C. fearwell
D.fearwel
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31. …...... was provided for him in the hotel
A. accomodation
B. accommodation
C. accommdation
D. accommodation
32. A ………….. was appointed to discuss the matter

A. committee
B. comittee
C. commitee
D. comitee
33. /I/
A. market
B. Time
C. Steel
D. Raid
34. /p/
A. appear
B. Photo
C. receipt
D. coup
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35. /n/
A. King
B. harvest
C. Having
D. Heaven
36. /j/
A. jest
B. unit
C. city
D grudge
37. ………… is the key to a library’s collection

A. catalogue
B. artifact
C. cards
D. Books
38. The 4 language skills are ……………

A. Listening, speaking, reading, writing
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B. Listening , writing , reading, scanning
C. Speaking, learning, listening, skimmimg
D. Talking, speaking, listening, hearing
39. ………………. Is a phonological unit

A. intonation
B. sound
C. stress
D. homophones
40. All of these except one isn’t goal of reading

A. listening
B. speaking
C. communicating
D. comprehension
41. ……… is an interaction between author and reader

A. writing
B. reading
C. skills
D. sound
42. The central idea of a paragraph is summed up in the sentence called

A. Headline
B. First sentence
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C. First positioned sentence
D. Topic sentence.
43. The topic sentence can take any of the following position in a sentence
A. 1 , 2nd and 3rd of a 5 paragraph writing
st
B. 1st, 2nd and last

C. 2nd, 3rd and 4th of 4 paragraph writing
D. 1st, last and middle
44. What is today’s date using this format mm/yy/dd?

A. 29/05/2013
B. 2013/29/05
C. 05/2013/29
D. 29/2013/05
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UNIT 4
GRAMMATICAL NAMES AND THEIR FUCNTIONS
This is one the topics (in English) English teachers shy away from due to its complexity; thus, the University of Ilorin has in
recent years carefully crafted out questions from this aspect of English. If you are reading this book and part of those who have
little or no understanding of the topic, I advise you pay rapt attention as we sail.
THE MEANING OF GRAMMATICAL NAMES AND GRAMMATICAL FUNCTION(S)
A Grammatical name is the name given to a word, phrase or clause depending on its function in a given clause or sentence.
There are different grammatical names such as noun phrase, adverbial phrase, adjectival phrase, prepositional phrase, noun
clause, adverbial clause and adjectival/relative clause.
On the other hand, grammatical function is the syntactic role played by a word, phrase or clause in the context of a given
clause or sentence. In English, the grammatical function of a word, phrase or clause is determined by the position of that
word, phrase or clause in a particular clause or sentence.
Examples
1. Tammy slapped the man.
2. The man slapped Tammy.
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Whereas in example 1 Tammy (which is a noun) functions as the subject of the verb, "slapped", in example
2, Tammy functions as the object of the verb, "slapped". Therefore, in determining the grammatical function of a word , phrase
or clause, one must take into cognizance the position of that word, phrase or clause in a given clause or sentence.
Let's now discuss these grammatical names and their grammatical functions.
NOUN CLAUSE
A noun clause or nominal clause is a dependent or subordinate clause that does the work of a noun in a sentence. It generally
functions as an appositive, the subject or the object of a transitive verb, complement of subject, object and preposition.
Forms of a noun clause

A noun clause can take either of these forms:
i. The TH-clause (or that clause).

Example:
He said that he was coming.
ii. The WH-clause.

Examples:
What he said propelled me.
How he did it surprised everyone.
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iii. The to-infinitive clause.

Example
To say the truth is very important.
Please note that the expressions in bold are the noun clauses.
Functions of a noun clause

A noun or nominal clause plays the following functions in a clause or sentence:
1. A noun clause functions as the subject of a verb in a given clause or sentence.

Examples:
i. What the students did is quite appalling.
ii. How he passed his exam remains a mystery.
In example 1, "What the students did" is a noun clause functioning as the subject the verb, "is", in the main clause. The
complete statement, What the students did is quite appalling, is the main/independent clause housing the noun clause
(which is also a dependent clause), "What the students did".
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Similarly, in example 2, "How he passed his exam" is a noun clause functioning as the subject of the verb, "remains". This
noun clause is housed by the main clause, How he passed his exam remains a mystery.
2. A noun clause functions as the object of a verb in a given clause.

Examples
i. I don't know why I am here.
"Why I am here" is a (WH) noun clause functioning as the object of the verb phrase, "don't know".
ii. The man said that he was coming.

"That he was coming" is a noun clause functioning as the object of the verb, "said".
3. A noun clause functions as a subject complement.

Examples
i. The point is what caused the fire.
ii. The most important thing is how I get home.
A subject complement follows a linking verb and modifies or refers to the subject. In the examples above, "what caused the
fire" and "how I get home" are noun clauses which function as the complement of the subjects, "The point" and "The most
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important thing", respectively. It is obvious that each of these noun clauses follows the linking verb, "is", and refers to the
subject which it complements.
Providing the correct answers to these questions will let you know that each of these noun clauses in the examples above
refers to the subject which they complement:
Q1: What caused the fire?

A: The point.
Q2: How I get home is what?

A: The most important thing.
4. A noun clause functions as an object complement.

Example:
They made her husband what she liked.
"What she liked" is a noun clause functioning as the complement of the object of the sentence, "her husband".
5. A noun clause functions as a complement or an object of a preposition.

Example
I am responsible for what happened yesterday.
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"What happened yesterday" is a noun clause functioning as the object/complement of the preposition, "for".
When a noun clause functions as the complement/object of a preposition, it comes immediately after the preposition. Here is
another example:
"It depends on where he wants to go."
"Where he wants to go", as a noun clause, functions as the object/complement of the preposition, "on".
6. A noun clause functions as an appositive. When a noun clause functions as an appositive, it further explains a noun or noun
phrase which precedes it.
Example
My question, what happened yesterday, has not been answered.
"What happened yesterday" is in apposition to the noun phrase, "My question".
ADVERBIAL CLAUSE AND ITS GRAMMATICAL FUNCTION

An adverbial clause is a dependent clause that functions as an adverb; that is, it modifies a verb or verb phrase, an adjective
and a fellow adverb. Like every other clause, an adverbial clause has a subject and a predicate although sometimes its subject
is implied.
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There are different types of adverbial clause: adverbial clause of time, place, manner, reason, condition, concession, etc.
Examples
1. It was raining when I woke up.
"When I woke up" is an adverbial clause of time.

Grammatical function: It modifies the verb phrase, "was raining".
2. He died because he was stabbed.
"Because he was stabbed" is an adverbial clause of reason.

Function: It modifies the verb, "died".
3. The incident occurred where three roads meet.

"Where three roads meet" is an adverbial clause of place.
Function: It modifies the verb, "occurred".
4. Tammy sang as if he was hungry.

"As if he was hungry" is an adverbial clause of manner.
Function: It modifies the verb "sang".
5. I will never leave you unless you bless me.

"Unless you bless me" is an adverbial clause of condition.
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Function: It modifies the verb phrase, "will leave".
6. Although he had the time and space, he didn't do his assignment.
"Although he had the time and space" is adverbial clause of concession. This type of adverbial clause shows a contrast
between the main clause and the subordinate clause.
Function: It modifies the verb phrase, "did do".
ADJECTIVAL CLAUSE AND ITS GRAMMATICAL FUNCTION

An adjectival or relative clause is a subordinate clause which gives more information about the noun or pronoun it refers to in
the main clause. The marketers of an adjectival clause are relative pronouns such as who, that, whose, which, whom, which,
what and compound words such as whosoever, whichever and whatever. Adjectival clause chiefly functions as a modifier of a
noun or noun phrase.
Please note that an adjectival clause is usually close to the noun it describes. Aside taking note of its marketers, this is another
way one can easily identify an adjectival clause.
Examples
1. I know the place where they hid the book.
"Where they hid the book" is an adjectival clause.
Function: It modifies the noun phrase, "the place".
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2. This is the boy whose result was stolen.

"Whose result was stolen" is an adjectival clause.
Function: It modifies the noun phrase, "the boy".
3. I like eating oranges that are sweet.

"That are sweet" is an adjectival clause.
Function: It modifies the noun, "oranges".
In sum, to correctly and easily identify the grammatical name and function of a given expression, one must always look at the
position of the subordinate clause in the main clause. As regards this topic, position plays a vital role. It is not just enough
knowing the meaning and functions of these grammatical names.
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Having explained clauses (noun clause, adjectival clause and adverbial clause) and their grammatical functions, we shall be
discussing phrases (noun phrase, adjectival phrase adverbial phrase, verb phrase and prepositional phrase) and their
grammatical functions in this book.
Unlike a clause, a phrase is a group of words (or possibly a word) without a subject, and it does not make complete sense. A
phrase is a constituent of a sentence. In other words, a sentence is made up of phrases. For example, the sentence, "The boy
behind the door is my brother," is made up of a noun phrase (The boy), a prepositional phrase (behind the door) and
another noun phrase (my brother).
Phrases are of different types:

i. Noun Phrase (NP).
ii. Adjectival (or Adjective) Phrase (AdjP).
iii. Adverbial (or Adverb) Phrase (AdvP).
iv. Verb Phrase (VP).
v. Prepositional Phrase (PP).
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NOUN PHRASE
A noun phrase is a phrase that is made up of only a noun, a noun with a determiner, or a noun with a post modifier. A noun
phrase has a noun or pronoun as its headword and can be premodified by an article/determiner and an adjective. The
adjective can be possessive or demonstrative.
Examples
i. The book.
ii. Your pen.
iii. That watch.
In example one, the noun phrase is modified by the definite article (the). In example two, it is modified by the possessive
adjective (your). And in example three, it is modified by the demonstrative adjective (that).
PLEASE NOTE: A modifier can come before or after the word it modifies. For the purpose of clarity, henceforth, the term
"premodify" will be used when a modifier precedes the word it modifies, and the term "post modify" will be used when a
modifier comes after the word it modifies.
A noun phrase can also be post modified by adjectives, prepositional phrases, or adjectival/relative clauses. Please note that
the words in bold in the examples below are the noun phrases while the modifiers are underlined.
Examples
i. Something terrible (has happened).
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"Terrible" is an adjective and a post modifier of the noun phrase, Something terrible. In this case, we have a pronoun
(something) as the headword of the noun phrase. As earlier stated, a noun phrase can either have a noun or a pronoun as its
headword.
ii. The boy in the room (is my nephew).

In this case, the noun phrase, The boy, is post modified by the prepositional phrase, "in the room."
iii. The boy who came in (is my uncle's son).

In this case, we have an adjectival (or a relative) clause, who came in, functioning as a post modifier in the noun phrase.
Functions of a Noun Phrase (NP)

A noun phrase performs the following grammatical functions:
1. As subject of a sentence
A noun phrase functions as the subject of a clause/sentence. A subject is a word, phrase or clause which performs the action
or acts upon the verb. The group of words in bold in each of the examples below is the noun phrase functioning as the subject
of the sentence.
Examples
i. The armed robbers have invaded the city.
ii. The boy in the room is my friend.
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2. As object of a verb
A noun phrase can function as object of a verb in a sentence.
Examples
i. I met the new English teacher.
"The new English teacher" is the noun phrase functioning as the object of the verb, "met."
ii. His dad suspended the programme.
iii. The man bought a T-shirt.
3. As complement of a preposition
When a noun phrase functions as a complement of a preposition, it comes immediately after the preposition. This helps you to
easily detect a noun phrase that functions as a complement of a preposition.
Examples
i. The boy behind the door is a thief.
In this example, you have the noun phrase, the door, functioning as the complement of the preposition, "behind."
ii. The little girl gave her pen to her brother.

"Her brother" is the noun phrase complementing the preposition, "to."
4. As object complement
An object complement is a word, phrase or clause that directly follows and describes the direct object of a sentence.
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Examples
i. We made him our class representative.
"Our class representative" is the noun phrase functioning as the complement of the object of the sentence, "him."
5. As complement of a sentence
Examples
i. The brilliant girl is my friend.
"My friend", which is a noun phrase, is functioning as the complement of the sentence.
ii. John is a student.
6. As an appositive
An appositive is a word, phrase or clause that modifies or explains another noun or noun phrase.
Examples
i. Mr Tammy, our new English teacher, is a good teacher.
"Our new English teacher," which is a noun phrase, is in apposition to the noun phrase, "Mr Tammy."
ii. 2baba, the musician, is very rich.

"The musician" is in apposition to the noun, "2baba."
ADJECTIVAL PHRASE
An adjectival phrase is a phrase that has an adjective as its headword.
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Functions of an Adjectival Phrase (AdjP)
An adjectival phrase performs the following grammatical functions in sentences:
1. An adjectival phrase can function as a complement to a finite or nonfinite clause.

Examples
i. To speak in class is very difficult (for some children).
"Very difficult" is an adjectival phrase functioning as a complement to the nonfinite clause, "To speak in class."
ii. What he did is totally unacceptable.

"Totally unacceptable" is an adjectival phrase which complements the finite clause, "What he did."
2. Adjectival phrases "premodify" nouns.

Examples
i. Extremely loud sound.
ii. Very intelligent young men.
Note: In the examples below, the adjectival phrases are in bold while the nouns they modify are italicized.
3. Adjectival phrases function as subject complements and object complements.

Examples
i. The singer is exceptionally good.
"Exceptionally good" is an adjectival phrase complementing "The singer," which is the subject of the clause/sentence.
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ii. He made his children very useful.
"Very useful" is an adjectival phrase complementing "his children," which is the object of the clause/sentence.
ADVERBIAL PHRASE
An adverbial phrase (or adverb phrase) is a phrase that has an adverb as its headword. An adverb phrase consists of one or
more words. The adverb is the head of the phrase and can appear alone or it can be modified by other words. An adverb (or
adverbial phrase) can modify a verb, an adjective, a fellow adverb, or even an entire sentence or main clause.
Functions of an Adverb or Adverbial Phrase (AdvP)

An adverbial phrase performs the following grammatical functions:
1. As a modifier in an adjectival phrase

An adverb (or adverbial phrase) functions as a modifier in an adjectival phrase. In the examples below, the adjectival or
adjective phrases are in bold. The adverbs that modify the adjectives are underlined.
Examples
i. Your piercingly loud scream has broken the silence.
ii. Employees who are regularly absent will be disciplined.
2. As a head in an adverbial phrase

An adverb (or adverbial phrase) functions as a headword in an adverbial phrase. The headwords are underlined.
Examples
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i. Quite separately.
ii. Incredibly quickly.
iii. Quickly enough
3. As a modifier in an adverbial phrase

An adverb (or adverbial phrase) functions as a modifier in an adverbial phrase. The modifiers in the following adverb phrases
are underlined:
i. Quite separately (e.g., We kept the money quite separately.)
ii. Really carefully (e.g. He drives really carefully.)
4. As a modifier of a verb
An adverb (or adverbial phrase) modifies a verb in a sentence.
Examples
i. He sings very well.
"Very well" is an adverbial phrase modifying the verb, "sings."
ii. I eat quite healthily.

"Quite healthily" is an adverbial phrase modifying the verb, "eat."
5. As Adverbial
An adverbial is a word, phrase or clause that modifies a verb, an adjective or an entire clause by providing information such as
time, place, manner, condition, frequency, reason or purpose.
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Examples
i. Husbands should speak for their wives adoringly.
ii. Ade drove the car very carefully.
iii. They almost never invite people to their house these days.
VERB PHRASE
A Verb Phrase (VP) is headed by a verb. It functions primarily as a predicate in the structure of a clause. A verb phrase, like
any other phrase, has a modifier and a headword. The modifier is an optional element while the headword is an obligatory
element in verb phrase structure. Lexical verbs function as headwords in the structure of a verb phrase whereas auxiliary verbs
(if present) function as modifiers in the structure of a verb phrase.
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Examples of a verb phrase

Please, note that the modifiers in the following verb phrases are underlined while the headwords are not:
i. Choose. (No modifier)
ii. Come. (No modifier)
iii. am writing.
iv. were sleeping.
v. have eaten.
vi. am going to attend.
vii. has been done.
viii. would have died.
ix. was being beaten.
x. would have been done.
xi. decides to marry.
xii. wants to go.
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PREPOSITIONAL PHRASE
A prepositional phrase is a phrase that is headed by a preposition. It is made up of a preposition (which is its headword) and a
noun/pronoun/noun phrase (which is its object). Examples of prepositional phrases are: in the room, behind the door, in front of
the house etc.
Functions of a Prepositional Phrase (PP)

A prepositional phrase performs the following functions in sentences:
1. As a post modifier of a noun/noun phrase

Examples
i. The book on the desk is the one I want to buy.
"On the desk" is the prepositional phrase modifying the noun phrase, The book.
ii. The bag beside you is mine.

"Beside you" is a prepositional phrase modifying the noun phrase, The bag.
2. As a modifier of a verb/verb phrase in a sentence.

When a prepositional phrase modifies a verb/verb phrase in a sentence, it functions as an adverb/adverbial phrase. It provides
information such as where, when, how etc.
Examples
i. It annoys me when people sleep during prayers.
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"During prayers" is a prepositional phrase modifying the verb, sleep.
ii. I kept it under the bed.
"Under the bed" is a prepositional phrase modifying the verb, kept.
From the examples above, it is obvious that prepositions and prepositional phrases provide important details about the words
they modify.
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UNIT 5
QUESTION TAGS – KEY POINTS
After the completion of this unit, you would be able to−
• learn what tag questions are.
• classify different types of tag questions.
• use tag questions.
Overview:
Lesson 1: Tag Questions
Lesson 2: Rules for Making Tag Quesitons.
TAG QUESTIONS
Tag Questions OR Question tags are the small questions that come at the end of sentences. We use question tags to check
whether something is true or to ask for agreement.
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Read the sentences in the passage below and answer the questions that follow:
Nafiz is sitting alone in the field. He looks around and speaks to himself. "Birds are free, aren't they? They can fly at large
can't they? They are not the best of creations like man are they? Man is the best creation of God, isn't he? He cannot fly in
the sky, can he? Birds are a part of our environment. But they do not pollute our environment, do they?
It is man who pollutes his environment, doesn't he? We should not pollute our environment, should we? Our people are not
educated. If they are educated they will become conscious, won't they? Our people must be educated, mustn't they? Oh! The
sun is already set. I am late for home, am n't I? I have to return now, haven't I?
• Do most sentences in the passage end with a question? Pick out the questions.
• Does an affirmative sentence end with a negative question?
• Does a negative sentence end with an affirmative question?
Now look at the following examples of question tags to get more ideas about them:
1. You don't like me, do you?

2. It isn't raining, is it?
3. You've done your homework, haven't you?
4. I'm not late, am I?
5. You like Chinese food, don't you?
6. You remembered to feed the cat, didn't you?
7. There's a problem here, isn't there?
8. You think you're clever, don't you?
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SOME BASIC RULES FOR TAG QUESTIONS:
 Question tags are used after affirmative and negative sentences, but not after questions.
 We most often put negative tags after affirmative sentences, and non-negative tags after negative
sentences.
Examples: We are busy, aren’t we? You haven’t done your assignment, have you?
 Negatives are usually contracted, but full forms are possible in formal speech.
Example: They promised to repay us by the end of this month, did they not?
 If the main sentence has an auxiliary verb (or non-auxiliary be), this is repeated in the question tag.
 If the main sentence has no auxiliary, the question tag has do. Non-auxiliary has may have both forms.
Examples: John has passed the exam, hasn’t he?

You smoke, don’t you?
Linda has a set of blue eyes, hasn’t she?
You have a car, don’t you?
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RULES FOR MAKING TAG QUESTIONS
Basic Rules for Tag Questions:
 Positive/negative:
Usually, if the main clause is positive, the question tag is negative, and if the main clause is negative, the tag question is
positive.
For example:
It's cold (positive), isn't it (negative)?

And: It isn't cold (negative), is it (positive)?
He’s a doctor, isn’t he?

You work in a bank, don’t you?
You haven’t met him, have you?
She isn’t coming, is she?
 With/without auxiliary verbs:
If the main clause has an auxiliary verb in it, we use the same verb in the tag question.
If there is no auxiliary verb (in the present simple and past simple), do / does / did is used (just like when you make a normal
question).
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There is one exception: the question tag after I am, is aren't I.
For example:
I'm in charge of the food, aren't I?

They’ve gone away for a few days, haven’t they?
They weren’t here, were they?
He had met him before, hadn’t he?
This isn’t working, is it?
I said that, didn’t I?
You don’t recognize me, do you?
She eats meat, doesn’t she?
 With modal verbs:
If there is a modal verb in the main part of the sentence, the question tag uses the same modal verb.
They couldn’t hear me, could they?

You won’t tell anyone, will you?
Examples: Positive sentences with negative tags:
Present simple 'be' She's Italian, isn't she?
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Present simple other verbs They live in London, don't they?
Present continuous We're working tomorrow, aren't we?
Past simple 'be' It was cold yesterday, wasn't it?
Past simple other verbs He went to the party last night, didn't he?
Past continuous We were waiting at the station, weren't we?
Present perfect They've been to Japan, haven't they?
Present perfect continuous She's been studying a lot recently, hasn't she?
Past perfect He had forgotten his wallet, hadn't he?

Past perfect continuous We'd been working, hadn't we?
Future simple She'll come at six, won't she?
Future continuous They'll be arriving soon, won't they?
Future perfect They'll have finished before nine, won't they?
Future perfect continuous She'll have been cooking all day, won't she? Modals He can help, can't he?
Modals John must stay, mustn't he?
Negative sentences with positive tags:
Present simple 'be' We aren't late, are we?

Present simple other verbs She doesn't have any children, does she?
Present continuous The bus isn't coming, is it?
Past simple 'be' She wasn't at home yesterday, was she?
Past simple other verbs They didn't go out last Sunday, did they?
Past continuous You weren't sleeping, were you?
Present perfect She hasn't eaten all the cake, has she?
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Present perfect continuous He hasn't been running in this weather, has he?
Past perfect We hadn't been to London before, had we?
Past perfect continuous You hadn't been sleeping, had you?
Future simple They won't be late, will they?
Future continuous He'll be studying tonight, won't he?
Future perfect She won't have left work before six, will she?
Future perfect continuous He won't have been travelling all day, will he?
Modals She can't speak Arabic, can she?
Modals They mustn't come early, must they?
Imperatives
After imperatives, won’t you? is often used to invite people to do things, and will/would/can/can’t/could you? to tell or ask
people to do things.
Do sit down, won’t you?

Shut up, can’t you?
After a negative imperative, we use will you?

Don’t forget, will you?
Let’s
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Let’s have a party, shall you?
There’s
There’s something wrong, isn’t there?
There weren’t any problem, were there?
Negative adverbs
The adverbs never, rarely, seldom, hardly, barely and scarcely have a negative sense. Even though they may be in a
positive statement, the feeling of the statement is negative. We treat statements with these words like negative statements,
so the question tag is normally positive.
You never care for people, do you? (Not, don’t you?)

There’s little we can do about it, is there?
Nobody phoned, did they?
I barely know you, do I?

You hardly ever came late, did you?
Exercise: A Use appropriate tag questions in the following sentences:
1. None can do it, …………?

2. Neither of them went there, ……….?
3. Nobody went there, ………..?
4. Everybody saw you, ………….?
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5. There is no pond in this village, ……..?
6. It is good idea, ……….?
7. We ought to love our country, ………..?
8. He is a brilliant student, …………?
9. I am not ready, ………..?
10. I am well, …………?
Exercise: B
Add question tags to the following sentences.
1. It’s very hot today, ………..?

2. You like him, ………….?
3. Kamal will come, …………?
4. We must hurry, ………….?
5. He will never give up, …………….?
6. Your father is a doctor, ……………..?
7. You have tea for breakfast, …………….?
8. I didn’t hurt you, ………………?
9. You aren’t going out, …………….?
10. They have sold the house, …………..?

11. I needn’t get up early tomorrow, …………..?
12. It isn’t ready yet, ……………?
13. Hasan hasn’t passed the examination, ……………?
14. They will go home soon, ………………?
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15. He didn’t paint it himself, …………….?
Exercise: C Complete the following sentences with appropriate tag questions:
1. She is collecting stickers, ________?

2. We often watch TV in the afternoon, __________ ?
3. You have cleaned your bike, __________?
4. John and Max don't like maths, _________?
5. Peter played handball yesterday, __________?
6. They are going home from school, __________?
7. Mary didn't do her homework last Monday, _________?
8. He could have bought a new car, ___________?
9. Kevin will come tonight, ____________?
10. I'm clever, _________?
11. He won't mind if I use his phone, __________?
12. She is enjoying herself, _________?
13. You weren't listening, _________?
14. I'm too impatient, _________?
15. Tom knows that his father is in the hospital, _________?
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Exercise A:
1. can they? 2. did they? 3. did they? 4. didn’t they? 5. isn’t there? 6. isn’t it? 7. shouldn’t we? 8. isn’t he? 9. am I? 10. aren’t
I?
Exercise B:
1. isn’t it? 2. don’t you? 3. won’t he? 4. mustn’t we? 5. will he? 6. isn’t he? 7. don’t you? 8. did I? 9. are you? 10. haven’t
they? 11. do I? 12. is it? 13. has he? 14. won’t they? 15. did he?
Exercise C :
1. isn't she? 2. don't we? 3. haven't you? 4. do they? 5. didn't he? 6. aren't they? 7. did she? 8. couldn't he? 9. won't he? 10.
aren't I? 11. Will he? 12. Isn’t she? 13. Were you? 14. Aren’t I? 15. Doesn’t he?
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UNIT 6
NEAREST AND OPPOSITE IN MEANING
First Let us understand, what actually Synonyms & antonyms are.
What are Synonyms?
When two pair of words mean exactly same in their meaning or nearly same or similar are termed as Synonyms. Thereby a
single word can carry many synonyms. For example; Simple, Smooth, Easy are Synonyms of each other.
The formations of synonyms changes as per the changing form, let it be either verb, adjective, adverb, preposition etc. On can
understand better with the help of examples.
Verb: Walk and Stroll
Adjective: Beautiful and Charming
Adverb: Easily and Comfortably
Preposition: On and Upon
Given below are a few handful tips which shall be helpful to you to solve synonyms.
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Tips & Tricks to solve Synonyms correctly in exam:
1. If one does not know the exact meaning of the word, try understanding it in the context of the paragraph.
2. In case the meaning of the word is not clear, going through all the available options can certainly be considered as a good
idea. By doing so, one can start getting idea about the given question & start negating the available options one after the other.
3. Sometimes it so happens that a particular word sounds more like a tongue twister, so try & break it into meaningful parts.
Chances are there that the full word might start making more sense in this way.
4. One of the effective ways of knowing & scoring well in this section is to keep a regular tab & enough involvement of reading
synonyms & making one’s own list. Revising the list regularly helps one in remembering the synonyms more often.
5. While replacing a particular word in sentence, using its synonym, please see to it that the context does not change nor the
whole meaning of the sentence.
Example: What is the synonym of Philanthropy?

a) injury
b) misappropriate
c) charity
d) endaemonism
e) cling
The correct answer is option c) charity.
Moving on to Antonyms. Let us understand what do we mean by saying Antonyms.
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What are Antonyms?
Antonyms are the words, which mean opposite to the given word. Example: Antonym of Benevolent is Malevolent or Unkind.
Given below are a few types of antonyms for better understanding of the students.
Types of Antonyms:
1. Gradable Antonyms: Both the words lie in a continuous spectrum. eg: hard and soft.
2. Complementary Antonyms: Over here, both the words do not lie in a continuous spectrum. eg: push and pull
3. Relational Antonyms: Few kinds of antonyms are the ones, who make sense only when they are read together. eg:
teacher and pupil
In context of the examination, antonyms are being asked directly & at times based on the paragraph.
Tips & Tricks to solve antonyms shall remain same as that of synonyms except with the point below
1. For antonyms prefixes like im, dis, mis, de, un and in can be used.
Let us take a look at the following passage for better understanding:
The railroad was not the first institution to impose regularity on society, or to draw attention to the importance of precise
timekeeping. For as long as merchants have set out their wares at day break & communal festivities have been celebrated,
people have been in rough agreement with their neighbours as to the time of day. The value of this tradition is today more
apparent than ever. Were it not for public acceptance of a single yardstick of time, social life would be unbearably chaotic: the
massive daily transfers of goods, services, information, would proceed in fits & starts the very fabric of modern society would
begin to unravel.
Question: In the above passage find out the antonym for the word stated in bold.
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a) lawless
b) untidy
c) jumbled
d) calm
The answer to the above question is d) calm.
Thus a regular study & revisions of both synonyms & antonyms can give an answer to your long lasting question on how to
crack synonyms & antonyms questions in exams. Keep in mind the above tips & techniques for better performance.
The tricks can be unreliable but if you want, you can use your guess and answer the question. Like for antonyms, many times it
is just “un” or “in” before the actual word.
For synonyms, it is a bit harder but you can try to find a similar sounding word which feels like having a similar meaning. But
it's quite dangerous to guess these so dictionary reading and improving vocabulary is advised.
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UNIT 7
IMPORTANT SPELLINGS TO TAKE NOTE OF
 IDIOSYNCRASY
 MISCELLANEOUS
 EXTREMELY
 BALLOON
 EMBARRASSED
 LIAISON
 OCCASIONALLY
 PROSPECTIVE
 INTELLIGENT
 IMMEDIATELY
 PRESCRIPTION
 RECEIVE
 COMPLEMENT
 FAZE
 MINIATURE
 BEGINNING
 TRANSFERRED
 BROCCOLI
 PROMINENT
 HYPOCRISY
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 IMPLEMENT
 DISAPPEAR
 UNANIMOUS
 RESEMBLES
 DEFINITE
 AMATEUR
 CALENDAR
 GRATEFUL
 MINUSCULE
 PRIVILEGE
 THEIR/THEY’RE/THERE
 LOSE/LOOSE
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UNIT 8
LIST OF PHRASAL VERBS TO TAKE NOTE OF
ask somebody out

invite on a date
Brian asked Judy out to dinner and a movie.
ask around
ask many people the same question
I asked around but nobody has seen my wallet.
add up to something
equal
Your purchases add up to $205.32.
back something up
reverse
You'll have to back up your car so that I can get out.
back somebody up
support
My wife backed me up over my decision to quit my job.
blow up
explode
The racing car blew up after it crashed into the fence.
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blow something up
add air
We have to blow 50 balloons up for the party.
break down
stop functioning (vehicle, machine)
Our car broke down at the side of the highway in the snowstorm.
break down
get upset
The woman broke down when the police told her that her son had died.
break something down

divide into smaller parts
Our teacher broke the final project down into three separate parts.
break in
force entry to a building
Somebody broke in last night and stole our stereo.
break into something

enter forcibly
The firemen had to break into the room to rescue the children.
break something in
wear something a few times so that it doesn't look/feel new
I need to break these shoes in before we run next week.
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break in
interrupt
The TV station broke in to report the news of the president's death.
break up
end a relationship
My boyfriend and I broke up before I moved to America.
break up
start laughing (informal)
The kids just broke up as soon as the clown started talking.
break out
escape
The prisoners broke out of jail when the guards weren't looking.
break out in something

develop a skin condition
I broke out in a rash after our camping trip.
bring somebody down

make unhappy
This sad music is bringing me down.
bring somebody up
raise a child
My grandparents brought me up after my parents died.
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bring something up
start talking about a subject
My mother walks out of the room when my father brings up sports.
bring something up
vomit
He drank so much that he brought his dinner up in the toilet.
call around
phone many different places/people
We called around but we weren't able to find the car part we needed.
call somebody back

return a phone call
I called the company back but the offices were closed for the weekend.
call something off

cancel
Jason called the wedding off because he wasn't in love with his fiancé.
call on somebody
ask for an answer or opinion
The professor called on me for question 1.
call on somebody
visit somebody
We called on you last night but you weren't home.
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call somebody up
phone
Give me your phone number and I will call you up when we are in town.
calm down
relax after being angry
You are still mad. You need to calm down before you drive the car.
not care for somebody/ something

not like (formal)
I don't care for his behaviour.
catch up
get to the same point as somebody else
You'll have to run faster than that if you want to catch up with Marty.
check in
arrive and register at a hotel or airport
We will get the hotel keys when we check in.
check out
leave a hotel
You have to check out of the hotel before 11:00 AM.
check somebody/ something out

look at carefully, investigate
The company checks out all new employees.
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check out somebody/ something
look at (informal)
Check out the crazy hair on that guy!
cheer up
become happier
She cheered up when she heard the good news.
cheer somebody up
make happier
I brought you some flowers to cheer you up.
chip in
help
If everyone chips in we can get the kitchen painted by noon.
clean something up
tidy, clean
Please clean up your bedroom before you go outside.
come across something

find unexpectedly
I came across these old photos when I was tidying the closet.
come apart
separate
The top and bottom come apart if you pull hard enough.
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come down with something
become sick
My nephew came down with chicken pox this weekend.
come forward
volunteer for a task or to give evidence
The woman came forward with her husband's finger prints.
come from some place

originate in
The art of origami comes from Asia.
count on somebody/ something

rely on
I am counting on you to make dinner while I am out.
cross something out

draw a line through
Please cross out your old address and write your new one.
cut back on something

consume less
My doctor wants me to cut back on sweets and fatty foods.
cut something down

make something fall to the ground
We had to cut the old tree in our yard down after the storm.
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cut in
interrupt
Your father cut in while I was dancing with your uncle.
cut in
pull in too closely in front of another vehicle
The bus driver got angry when that car cut in.
cut in
start operating (of an engine or electrical device)
The air conditioner cuts in when the temperature gets to 22°C.
cut something off

remove with something sharp
The doctors cut off his leg because it was severely injured.
cut something off

stop providing
The phone company cut off our phone because we didn't pay the bill.
cut somebody off

take out of a will
My grandparents cut my father off when he remarried.
cut something out

remove part of something (usually with scissors and paper)
I cut this ad out of the newspaper.
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do somebody/ something over
beat up, ransack (BrE, informal)
He's lucky to be alive. His shop was done over by a street gang.
do something over
do again (AmE)
My teacher wants me to do my essay over because she doesn't like my topic.
do away with something

discard
It's time to do away with all of these old tax records.
do something up
fasten, close
Do your coat up before you go outside. It's snowing!
dress up
wear nice clothing
It's a fancy restaurant so we have to dress up.
drop back
move back in a position/group
Andrea dropped back to third place when she fell off her bike.
drop in/ by/ over

come without an appointment
I might drop in/by/over for tea sometime this week.
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drop somebody/ something off
take somebody/ something somewhere and leave them/it there
I have to drop my sister off at work before I come over.
drop out
quit a class, school etc
I dropped out of Science because it was too difficult.
eat out
eat at a restaurant
I don't feel like cooking tonight. Let's eat out.
end up
eventually reach/do/decide
We ended up renting a movie instead of going to the theatre.
fall apart
break into pieces
My new dress fell apart in the washing machine.
fall down
fall to the ground
The picture that you hung up last night fell down this morning.
fall out
separate from an interior
The money must have fallen out of my pocket.
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fall out
(of hair, teeth) become loose and unattached
His hair started to fall out when he was only 35.
figure something out

understand, find the answer
I need to figure out how to fit the piano and the bookshelf in this room.
fill something in
to write information in blanks, as on a form (BrE)
Please fill in the form with your name, address, and phone number.
fill something out

to write information in blanks, as on a form (AmE)
The form must be filled out in capital letters.
fill something up
fill to the top
I always fill the water jug up when it is empty.
find out
discover
We don't know where he lives. How can we find out?
find something out

discover
We tried to keep the time of the party a secret, but Samantha found it out.
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get something across/ over
communicate, make understandable
I tried to get my point across/over to the judge but she wouldn't listen.
get along/on
like each other
I was surprised how well my new girlfriend and my sister got along/on.
get around
have mobility
My grandfather can get around fine in his new wheelchair.
get away
go on a vacation
We worked so hard this year that we had to get away for a week.
get away with something

do without being noticed or punished
Jason always gets away with cheating in his maths tests.
get back
return
We got back from our vacation last week.
get something back

receive something you had before
Liz finally got her Science notes back from my room-mate.
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get back at somebody
retaliate, take revenge
My sister got back at me for stealing her shoes. She stole my favourite hat.
get back into something

become interested in something again
I finally got back into my novel and finished it.
get on something
step onto a vehicle
We're going to freeze out here if you don't let us get on the bus.
get over something

recover from an illness, loss, difficulty
I just got over the flu and now my sister has it.
get over something

overcome a problem
The company will have to close if it can't get over the new regulations.
get round to something

finally find time to do (AmE: get around to something)
I don't know when I am going to get round to writing the thank you cards.
get together
meet (usually for social reasons)
Let's get together for a BBQ this weekend.
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get up
get out of bed
I got up early today to study for my exam.
get up
stand
You should get up and give the elderly man your seat.
give somebody away

reveal hidden information about somebody
His wife gave him away to the police.
give somebody away

take the bride to the altar
My father gave me away at my wedding.
give something away

ruin a secret
My little sister gave the surprise party away by accident.
give something away

give something to somebody for free
The library was giving away old books on Friday.
give something back

return a borrowed item
I have to give these skates back to Franz before his hockey game.
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give in
reluctantly stop fighting or arguing
My boyfriend didn't want to go to the ballet, but he finally gave in.
give something out

give to many people (usually at no cost)
They were giving out free perfume samples at the department store.
give something up
quit a habit
I am giving up smoking as of January 1st.
give up
stop trying
My maths homework was too difficult so I gave up.
go after somebody
follow somebody
My brother tried to go after the thief in his car.
go after something
try to achieve something
I went after my dream and now I am a published writer.
go against somebody
compete, oppose
We are going against the best soccer team in the city tonight.
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go ahead
start, proceed
Please go ahead and eat before the food gets cold.
go back
return to a place
I have to go back home and get my lunch.
go out
leave home to go on a social event
We're going out for dinner tonight.
go out with somebody

date
Jesse has been going out with Luke since they met last winter.
go over something
review
Please go over your answers before you submit your test.
go over
visit somebody nearby
I haven't seen Tina for a long time. I think I'll go over for an hour or two.
go without something
suffer lack or deprivation
When I was young, we went without winter boots.
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grow apart
stop being friends over time
My best friend and I grew apart after she changed schools.
grow back
regrow
My roses grew back this summer.
grow into something

grow big enough to fit
This bike is too big for him now, but he should grow into it by next year.
grow out of something

get too big for
Elizabeth needs a new pair of shoes because she has grown out of her old ones.
grow up
become an adult
When Jack grows up he wants to be a fireman.
hand something down

give something used to somebody else
I handed my old comic books down to my little cousin.
hand something in
submit
I have to hand in my essay by Friday.
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hand something out
to distribute to a group of people
We will hand out the invitations at the door.
hand something over

give (usually unwillingly)
The police asked the man to hand over his wallet and his weapons.
hang in
stay positive (informal)
Hang in there. I'm sure you'll find a job very soon.
hang on
wait a short time (informal)
Hang on while I grab my coat and shoes!
hang out
spend time relaxing (informal)
Instead of going to the party we are just going to hang out at my place.
hang up
end a phone call
He didn't say goodbye before he hung up.
hold somebody/ something back

prevent from doing/going
I had to hold my dog back because there was a cat in the park.
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hold something back
hide an emotion
Jamie held back his tears at his grandfather's funeral.
hold on
wait a short time
Please hold on while I transfer you to the Sales Department.
hold onto somebody/ something

hold firmly using your hands or arms
Hold onto your hat because it's very windy outside.
hold somebody/ something up

rob
A man in a black mask held the bank up this morning.
keep on doing something

continue doing
Keep on stirring until the liquid comes to a boil.
keep something from somebody

not tell
We kept our relationship from our parents for two years.
keep somebody/ something out

stop from entering
Try to keep the wet dog out of the living room.
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keep something up
continue at the same rate
If you keep those results up you will get into a great college.
let somebody down

fail to support or help, disappoint
I need you to be on time. Don't let me down this time.
let somebody in
allow to enter
Can you let the cat in before you go to school?
log in (or on)

sign in (to a website, database etc)
I can't log in to Facebook because I've forgotten my password.
log out (or off)

sign out (of a website, database etc)
If you don't log off somebody could get into your account.
look after somebody/ something

take care of
I have to look after my sick grandmother.
look down on somebody

think less of, consider inferior
Ever since we stole that chocolate bar your dad has looked down on me.
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look for somebody/ something
try to find
I'm looking for a red dress for the wedding.
look forward to something

be excited about the future
I'm looking forward to the Christmas break.
look into something

investigate
We are going to look into the price of snowboards today.
look out
be careful, vigilant, and take notice
Look out! That car's going to hit you!
look out for somebody/ something

be especially vigilant for
Don't forget to look out for snakes on the hiking trail.
look something over

check, examine
Can you look over my essay for spelling mistakes?
look something up
search and find information in a reference book or database
We can look her phone number up on the Internet.
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look up to somebody
have a lot of respect for
My little sister has always looked up to me.
make something up
invent, lie about something
Josie made up a story about why we were late.
make up
forgive each other
We were angry last night, but we made up at breakfast.
make somebody up
apply cosmetics to
My sisters made me up for my graduation party.
mix something up
confuse two or more things
I mixed up the twins' names again!
pass away
die
His uncle passed away last night after a long illness.
pass out
faint
It was so hot in the church that an elderly lady passed out.
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pass something out
give the same thing to many people
The professor passed the textbooks out before class.
pass something up
decline (usually something good)
I passed up the job because I am afraid of change.
pay somebody back

return owed money
Thanks for buying my ticket. I'll pay you back on Friday.
pay for something

be punished for doing something bad
That bully will pay for being mean to my little brother.
pick something out

choose
I picked out three sweaters for you to try on.
point somebody/ something out

indicate with your finger
I'll point my boyfriend out when he runs by.
put something down

put what you are holding on a surface or floor
You can put the groceries down on the kitchen counter.
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put somebody down
insult, make somebody feel stupid
The students put the substitute teacher down because his pants were too short.
put something off

postpone
We are putting off our trip until January because of the hurricane.
put something out

extinguish
The neighbours put the fire out before the firemen arrived.
put something together

assemble
I have to put the crib together before the baby arrives.
put up with somebody/ something

tolerate
I don't think I can put up with three small children in the car.
put something on
put clothing/ accessories on your body
Don't forget to put on your new earrings for the party.
run into somebody/ something

meet unexpectedly
I ran into an old school-friend at the mall.
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run over somebody/ something
drive a vehicle over a person or thing
I accidentally ran over your bicycle in the driveway.
run over/ through something

rehearse, review
Let's run over/through these lines one more time before the show.
run away
leave unexpectedly, escape
The child ran away from home and has been missing for three days.
run out
have none left
We ran out of shampoo so I had to wash my hair with soap.
send something back

return (usually by mail)
My letter got sent back to me because I used the wrong stamp.
set something up
arrange, organize
Our boss set a meeting up with the president of the company.
set somebody up
trick, trap
The police set up the car thief by using a hidden camera.
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shop around
compare prices
I want to shop around a little before I decide on these boots.
show off
act extra special for people watching (usually boastfully)
He always shows off on his skateboard
sleep over
stay somewhere for the night (informal)
You should sleep over tonight if the weather is too bad to drive home.
sort something out

organize, resolve a problem
We need to sort the bills out before the first of the month.
stick to something
continue doing something, limit yourself to one particular thing
You will lose weight if you stick to the diet.
switch something off

stop the energy flow, turn off
The light's too bright. Could you switch it off.
switch something on
start the energy flow, turn on
We heard the news as soon as we switched on the car radio.
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take after somebody
resemble a family member
I take after my mother. We are both impatient.
take something apart

purposely break into pieces
He took the car brakes apart and found the problem.
take something back

return an item
I have to take our new TV back because it doesn't work.
take off
start to fly
My plane takes off in five minutes.
take something off

remove something (usually clothing)
Take off your socks and shoes and come in the lake!
take something out

remove from a place or thing
Can you take the garbage out to the street for me?
take somebody out

pay for somebody to go somewhere with you
My grandparents took us out for dinner and a movie.
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tear something up
rip into pieces
I tore up my ex-boyfriend's letters and gave them back to him.
think back
remember (often + to, sometimes + on)
When I think back on my youth, I wish I had studied harder.
think something over

consider
I'll have to think this job offer over before I make my final decision.
throw something away

dispose of
We threw our old furniture away when we won the lottery.
turn something down

decrease the volume or strength (heat, light etc)
Please turn the TV down while the guests are here.
turn something down

refuse
I turned the job down because I don't want to move.
turn something off

stop the energy flow, switch off
Your mother wants you to turn the TV off and come for dinner.
149
turn something on
start the energy, switch on
It's too dark in here. Let's turn some lights on.
turn something up
increase the volume or strength (heat, light etc)
Can you turn the music up? This is my favourite song.
turn up
appear suddenly
Our cat turned up after we put posters up all over the neighbourhood.
try something on
sample clothing
I'm going to try these jeans on, but I don't think they will fit.
try something out

test
I am going to try this new brand of detergent out.
use something up
finish the supply
The kids used all of the toothpaste up so we need to buy some more.
wake up
stop sleeping
We have to wake up early for work on Monday.
150
warm somebody/ something up
increase the temperature
You can warm your feet up in front of the fireplace.
warm up
prepare body for exercise
I always warm up by doing sit-ups before I go for a run.
wear off
fade away
Most of my make-up wore off before I got to the party.
work out
exercise
I work out at the gym three times a week.
work out
be successful
Our plan worked out fine.
work something out

make a calculation
We have to work out the total cost before we buy the house.
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UNIT 9
MATHS: PERMUTATION & COMBINATION
Permutation and combination are the ways to represent a group of objects by selecting them in a set and forming subsets. It
defines the various ways to arrange a certain group of data. When we select the data or objects from a certain group, it is
said to be permutations, whereas the order in which they are represented is called combination. Both concepts are very
important in Mathematics.
Permutation and combination are explained here elaborately, along with the difference between them. We will discuss both
the topics here with their formulas, real-life examples and solved questions. Students can also work on Permutation And
Combination Worksheet to enhance their knowledge in this area along with getting tricks to solve more questions.
What is Permutation?
In mathematics, permutation relates to the act of arranging all the members of a set into some sequence or order. In
other words, if the set is already ordered, then the rearranging of its elements is called the process of permuting.
Permutations occur, in more or less prominent ways, in almost every area of mathematics. They often arise when different
orderings on certain finite sets are considered.
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What is a Combination?
The combination is a way of selecting items from a collection, such that (unlike permutations) the order of selection
does not matter. In smaller cases, it is possible to count the number of combinations. Combination refers to the combination
of n things taken k at a time without repetition. To refer to combinations in which repetition is allowed, the terms k-selection or
k-combination with repetition are often used. Permutation and Combination Class 11 is one of the important topics which helps
in scoring well in Board Exams.
Permutation and Combination Formulas

There are many formulas involved in permutation and combination concepts. The two key formulas are:
Permutation Formula
A permutation is the choice of r things from a set of n things without replacement and where the order matters.
n
Pr = (n!) / (n-r)!
Combination Formula
A combination is the choice of r things from a set of n things without replacement and where order does not matter.
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Solved Examples on Permutation and Combinations
Example 1: Find the number of permutations and combinations if n = 12 and r = 2.
Solution: Given,
n = 12
r=2
Using the formula given above:
Permutation:
n
Pr = (n!) / (n-r)! =(12!) / (12-2)! = 12! / 10! = (12 x 11 x 10! )/ 10! = 132
Combination:
nCr=n1r!(n−r)!nCr=n1r!(n−r)! 12!2!(12−2)!=12!2!(10)!=12×11×10!2!(10)!=6612!2!(12−2)!=12!2!(10)!=12×11×10!2!(10)!=66
Example 2: In a dictionary, if all permutations of the letters of the word AGAIN are arranged in an order. What is the
49th word?
Solution:
Start with the letter A The arranging the other 4 letters: G, A, I, N = 4! = 24 First 24 words
Start with the letter G arrange A, A, I and N in different ways: 4!/2! = 12 Next 12 words
Start with the letter I arrange A, A, G and N in different ways: 4!/2! = 12 Next 12 words
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This accounts up to the 48th word. The 49th word is “NAAGI”.
Example 3: In how many ways a committee consisting of 5 men and 3 women, can be chosen from 9 men and 12
women?
Solution:
Choose 5 men out of 9 men = 9C5 ways = 126 ways
Choose 3 women out of 12 women = 12C3 ways = 220 ways
The committee can be chosen in 27720 ways.
Permutation and Combination – Practise Questions

Question 1: In how many ways can the letters be arranged so that all the vowels come together? Word is “IMPOSSIBLE.”
Question 2: In how many ways of 4 girls and 7 boys, can be chosen out of 10 girls and 12 boys to make the team?
Question 3: How many words can be formed by 3 vowels and 6 consonants taken from 5 vowels and 10 consonants?
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UNIT 10
MATHS: PROBABILITY
Introduction
Probability is the likelihood or chance of an event occurring.
Probability = the number of ways of achieving success
the total number of possible outcomes
For example, the probability of flipping a coin and it being heads is ½, because there is 1 way of getting a head and the total
number of possible outcomes is 2 (a head or tail). We write P(heads) = ½ .
 The probability of something which is certain to happen is 1.

 The probability of something which is impossible to happen is 0.
 The probability of something not happening is 1 minus the probability that it will happen.
Single Events
Example
There are 6 beads in a bag, 3 are red, 2 are yellow and 1 is blue. What is the probability of picking a yellow?
The probability is the number of yellows in the bag divided by the total number of balls, i.e. 2/6 = 1/3.
Example
There is a bag full of coloured balls, red, blue, green and orange. Balls are picked out and replaced. John did this 1000 times
and obtained the following results:
 Number of blue balls picked out: 300
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 Number of red balls: 200
 Number of green balls: 450
 Number of orange balls: 50
a) What is the probability of picking a green ball?
For every 1000 balls picked out, 450 are green. Therefore P(green) = 450/1000 = 0.45
b) If there are 100 balls in the bag, how many of them are likely to be green?
The experiment suggests that 450 out of 1000 balls are green. Therefore, out of 100 balls, 45 are green (using ratios).
Multiple Events
Independent and Dependent Events
Suppose now we consider the probability of 2 events happening. For example, we might throw 2 dice and consider the
probability that both are 6's.
We call two events independent if the outcome of one of the events doesn't affect the outcome of another. For example, if we
throw two dice, the probability of getting a 6 on the second die is the same, no matter what we get with the first one- it's still
1/6.
On the other hand, suppose we have a bag containing 2 red and 2 blue balls. If we pick 2 balls out of the bag, the probability
that the second is blue depends upon what the colour of the first ball picked was. If the first ball was blue, there will be 1 blue
and 2 red balls in the bag when we pick the second ball. So the probability of getting a blue is 1/3. However, if the first ball was
red, there will be 1 red and 2 blue balls left so the probability the second ball is blue is 2/3. When the probability of one event
depends on another, the events are dependent.
Possibility Spaces
When working out what the probability of two things happening is, a probability/ possibility space can be drawn. For example, if
you throw two dice, what is the probability that you will get: a) 8, b) 9, c) either 8 or 9?
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a) The black blobs indicate the ways of getting 8 (a 2 and a 6, a 3 and a 5, ...). There are 5 different ways. The probability
space shows us that when throwing 2 dice, there are 36 different possibilities (36 squares). With 5 of these possibilities, you
will get 8. Therefore P(8) = 5/36 .
b) The red blobs indicate the ways of getting 9. There are four ways, therefore P(9) = 4/36 = 1/9.
c) You will get an 8 or 9 in any of the 'blobbed' squares. There are 9 altogether, so P(8 or 9) = 9/36 = 1/4 .
Probability Trees
Another way of representing 2 or more events is on a probability tree.
Example
There are 3 balls in a bag: red, yellow and blue. One ball is picked out, and not replaced, and then another ball is picked out.
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The first ball can be red, yellow or blue. The probability is 1/3 for each of these. If a red ball is picked out, there will be two balls
left, a yellow and blue. The probability the second ball will be yellow is 1/2 and the probability the second ball will be blue is 1/2.
The same logic can be applied to the cases of when a yellow or blue ball is picked out first.
In this example, the question states that the ball is not replaced. If it was, the probability of picking a red ball (etc.) the second
time will be the same as the first (i.e. 1/3).
The AND and OR rules (HIGHER TIER)
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In the above example, the probability of picking a red first is 1/3 and a yellow second is 1/2. The probability that a red AND
then a yellow will be picked is 1/3 × 1/2 = 1/6 (this is shown at the end of the branch). The rule is:
 If two events A and B are independent (this means that one event does not depend on the other), then the probability of
both A and B occurring is found by multiplying the probability of A occurring by the probability of B occurring.
The probability of picking a red OR yellow first is 1/3 + 1/3 = 2/3. The rule is:
 If we have two events A and B and it isn't possible for both events to occur, then the probability of A or B occuring is the
probability of A occurring + the probability of B occurring.
On a probability tree, when moving from left to right we multiply and when moving down we add.
Example
What is the probability of getting a yellow and a red in any order?
This is the same as: what is the probability of getting a yellow AND a red OR a red AND a yellow.
P(yellow and red) = 1/3 × 1/2 = 1/6

P(red and yellow) = 1/3 × 1/2 = 1/6
P(yellow and red or red and yellow) = 1/6 + 1/6 = 1/3
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UNIT 11
MATHS: PERCENTAGE
In mathematics, a percentage is a number or ratio that can be expressed as a fraction of 100. If we have to calculate percent
of a number, divide the number by whole and multiply by 100. Hence, the percentage means, a part per hundred. The word
per cent means per 100. It represented by the symbol “%”.
Examples of percentages are:
 10% is equal to 1/10 fraction

 20% is equivalent to ⅕ fraction
 25% is equivalent to ¼ fraction
 50% is equivalent to ½ fraction
 75% is equivalent to ¾ fraction
 90% is equivalent to 9/10 fraction
Percentages have no dimension. Hence it is called a dimensionless number. If we say, 50% of a number, then it means 50 per
cent of its whole.
Percentages can also be represented in decimal or fraction form, such as 0.6%, 0.25%, etc. In academics, the marks obtained
in any subject are calculated in terms of percentage. Like, Ram has got 78% of marks in his final exam. So, this percentage is
calculated on account of total marks obtained by Ram, in all subjects to the total marks.
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Percentage Formula
To determine the percentage, we have to divide the value by the total value and then multiply the resultant to 100.
Percentage formula = (Value/Total value)×100
Example: 2/5 × 100 = 0.4 × 100 = 40 per cent
How to calculate the percentage of a number?

To calculate the percentage of a number, we need to use a different formula such as:
P% of Number = X
where X is the required percentage.
If we remove the % sign, then we need to express the above formulas as;
P/100 * Number = X
Example: Calculate 10% of 80.
Let 10% of 80 = X
10/100 * 80 = X
X=8
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Percentage Difference Formula
If we are given with two values and we need to find the percentage difference between the two values, then it can be done
using the formula:
Percentage Difference=|N1−N2|[(N1+N2)2]×100Percentage Difference=|N1−N2|[(N1+N2)2]×100
For example, if 20 and 30 are two different values, then the percentage difference between them will be:
% difference between 20 and 30 = Percentage Difference=|20−30|[(20+30)2]×100Percentage Difference=|20−30|[(20+30)2]×100
Percentage Increase and Decrease

The percentage increase is equal to the subtraction of original number from a new number, divided by the original number and
multiplied by 100.
% increase = [(New number – Original number)/Original number] x 100
where,
increase in number = New number – original number
Similarly, percentage decrease is equal to subtraction of new number from original number, divided by original number and
multiplied by 100.
% decrease = [(Original number – New number)/Original number] x 100
Where decrease in number = Original number – New number
So basically if the answer is negative then there is percentage decrease.
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Solved Example
Two quantities are generally expressed on the basis of their ratios. Here, let us understand the concepts of percentage through
a few examples in a much better way.
Examples: Let a bag contain 2 kg of apples and 3kg of grapes. Find the ratio of quantities
present, and percentage occupied by each.
Solution: The number of apples and grapes in a bag can be compared in terms of their ratio,
i.e. 2:3.
The actual interpretation of percentages can be understood by the following way:
The same quantity can be represented in terms of percentage occupied, which is given as:
Total quantity present = 5 kg
Ratio of apples (in terms of total quantity) = 2525
= 25×10010025×100100
From the definition of percentage, it is the ratio that is expressed per hundred,
1100=11100=1%
Thus, Percentage of Apples = 25×100=4025×100=40
Percentage of Grapes = 35×100=6035×100=60
Percentage Chart
The percentage chart is given here for fractions converted into percentage.
Fractions Percentage
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½ 50%
1/3 33.33%
¼ 25%
1/5 20%
1/6 16.66%
1/7 14.28%
1/8 12.5%
1/9 11.11%
1/10 10%
1/11 9.09%
1/12 8.33%
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1/13 7.69%
1/14 7.14%
1/15 6.66%
Converting Fractions to Percentage

A fraction can be represented by abab.
Multiplying and dividing the fraction by 100, we have
ab×100100ab×100100
=(ab×100)1100=(ab×100)1100 ………………(i)
From the definition of percentage, we have =1100=1100 = 1%
Thus equation (i) can be written as:
=ab×100=ab×100%
Thus fraction can be converted to percentage simply by multiplying the given fraction by 100.
Also, read: Ratio To Percentage
Percentage Questions
Q.1: If 16% of 40% of a number is 8, the number is?
Solution: Let the required number be X.
Therefore, as per the given question,
(16/100) x (40/100) x X = 8
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So, X = (8 x 100 x 100) / (16 x 40)
= 125
Q.2: What percentage of 2/7 is 1/35 ?
Solution: Suppose X% of 2/7 is 1/35
∴ (2/7 x X) / 100 = 1/35
⇒ X = 1/35 x 7/2 x 100
= 10%
Q.3: Which number is 40% less than 90 ?
Solution: Required number = 60% of 90
= (90 x 60)/100
= 54
Therefore, the required number is 54.
Q.4: The sum of (16% of 24.2) and (10% of 2.42) is equal to what value?
Solution: As per the given question ,
Sum = (16% of 24.2) + (10% of 2.42)
Required value = (24.2 × 16)/100 + (2.42 × 10)/100
Required value = 3.872 + 0.242
Therefore, required value = 4.114
Word Problems
Q.1: A fruit seller had some apples. He sells 40% apples and still has 420 apples. Originally, he had how many apples?
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Solution: Let he had N apples, originally.
Now as per the given question,
(100 – 40)% of N = 420
⇒ (60/100)x N = 420
⇒ N = (420 x 100/60) = 700
Q.2: Out of two numbers, 40% of the greater number is equal to 60% of the smaller. If the sum of the numbers is 150,
then the greater number is?
Solution: Let us assume, greater number be X.
∴ Smaller number = 150 – X
According to the question,
(40 x X)/100 = 60(150 – X)/100
⇒ 2p = 3 × 150 – 3X
⇒ 5X = 3 × 150
⇒ X = 90
Difference between Percentage and Percent

The word percentage and percent are related closely to each other.
Percent ( or symbol %) is accompanied by a specific number.
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E.g., More than 75% of the participants responded with their positive response to abjure.
The percentage is represented without a number.
E.g., The percentage of the population affected by malaria is between 60% and 65%.
Fractions, Ratios, Percents and Decimals are interrelated with each other. Let us look on to the conversion of one form to
other:
S.no Ratio Fraction Percent(%) Decimal
1 1:1 1/1 100 1
2 1:2 1/2 50 0.5
3 1:3 1/3 33.333 0.3333
4 1:4 1/4 25 0.25
5 1:5 1/5 20 0.20
6 1:6 1/6 16.667 0.16667
7 1:7 1/7 14.285 0.14285
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8 1:8 1/8 12.5 0.125
9 1:9 1/9 11.111 0.11111
10 1:10 1/10 10 0.10
11 1:11 1/11 9.0909 0.0909
12 1:12 1/12 8.333 0.08333
13 1:13 1/13 7.692 0.07692
14 1:14 1/14 7.142 0.07142
15 1:15 1/15 6.66 0.0666
Percentage in Maths
Every percentage problem has three possible unknowns or variables :
 Percentage
 Part
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 Base
In order to solve any percentage problem, you must be able to identify these variables.
Look at the following examples. All three variables are known:
Example: 70% of 30 is 21
70 is the percentage.
30 is the base.
21 is the part.
Example: 25% of 200 is 50
25 is the percent.
200 is the base.
50 is the part.
Example: 6 is 50% of 12
6 is the part.
50 is the percent.
12 is the base.
Percentage Tricks
To calculate the percentage, we can use the given below tricks.
x % of y = y % of x
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Example- Prove that 10% of 30 is equal to 30% of 10.
Solution- 10% of 30 = 3
30% of 10 = 3
Therefore they are equal i.e. x % of y = y % of x holds true.
Marks Percentage
Students get marks in exams, usually out of 100. The marks are calculated in terms of per cent. If a student has scored out of
total marks, then we have to divide the scored mark from total marks and multiply by 100. Let us see some examples here:
Marks obtained Out of Total Marks Percentage
30 100 30%
10 20 50%
23 50 46%
13 40 32.5%
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90 120 75%
Problems and Solutions
Example- Suman has a monthly salary of $1200. She spends $280 per month on food. What percent of her monthly salary does she save?
Solution- Suman’s monthly salary = $1200
Savings of Suman = $(1200 – 280) = $ 920
Fraction of salary she saves = 92012009201200
Percentage of salary she saves = 9201200×100=92012=76.6679201200×100=92012=76.667 %
Example- Below given are three grids of chocolate. What percent of each White chocolate bar has Dark chocolate bar?
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Solution- Each grid above has 100 white chocolate blocks. For each white chocolate bar, the ratio of the number of dark chocolate boxes to
the total number of white chocolate bars can be represented as a fraction.
(i) 0 dark and 100 white.
i.e. 0 per 100 or 0%.
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(ii) 50 dark and 50 white.
I.e. 50 per 100 or 50%.
(iii) 100 dark and 0 white.
I .e., 100 per 100 or 100%.
We have covered some of the key important Math topics in this edition.
Below are some other topics to research on and to be treated in next edition of this key point:
1. Proportion
2. Binaries
3. Logarithm
4. Number series
5. Sequence and series
6. Other logical reasoning questions.
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P-UTME KEYPOINT P-UTME KEYPOINT

CHARTING A COURSE OF EXCELLENCE FOR UNIVERSITY OF ILORIN POST-UTME EXERCISE

CALCULATION AND SCORING

HOW MANY STUDENTS WILL BE IN THE HALL ON THE SAME DAY

CBT INSTRUCTIONS TO ALL CANDIDATES

Let’s start learning.

OVERVIEW OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE

WHAT IS LANGAUGE AND OTHER KEY POINTS

ANSWERS TO THE WRONGLY WRITTEN SENTENCES

Listening Skills Outline

Key points: What Is Listening?

Key points: Importance of Listening

Key points: Types and Levels of listening

HOW TO LISTEN EFFECTIVELY?

KEYPOINTS: READING SKILLS

CONCORD IN ENGLISH SENTENCE

The teacher …….. is teaching.

The student………is playing

Another thing to learn is the object.

Example: Terry carried out the trash.

 Rule 1: Subject and verb concord

 Rule 2 Subject and Object concord

 Rule 3 Mandative subjunctive concord

 Rule 4 The Principle of proximity

 Rule 5 Many - a concord

 Rule 6 A pair of concord

When a pair of ........ is used, the verb must be singular.

1. A pair of trousers (not trouser) lies(not lie) on the bed.

2. A pair of scissors lies (not lie) on the table.

 Rule 7 National Concord

1. Audience which means people who watch programme.

But in some situations, singular verb goes with a collective noun.

1. Our Club is celebrating its twentieth anniversary today.

1. The teacher, not her students is in the class.

The manager is a singular noun, hence a singular verb.

 Rule 9 Accompaniment Concord

1. Mary, as well as her friends is ( not are) beautiful.

 Rule 10 More than concord

1. More than two apples are ( not is) here.

2. More than one oranges is (not are) here.

 Rule 11 Indefinite pronoun concord

1. Nothing goes ( not go).

2. Everybody likes (not like) him.

3. Everybody thinks (not think) he stole the money.

 Rule 13 Uncountable nouns of concord

E.g. chairs, tables, phones etc.

E.g. water, information, equipment.

Note all uncountable nouns will avoid s at the back.

It is very wrong to use any of these words below;

Other examples of nouns that attracts plural verbs are;

2. The headquarters look (not looks) palatial.

 Rule 14 Pluralia tantums

Pluralia tantum are nouns that come in plural forms.

d) Others : titles, news, series means

1. His manners are (not is) good

 Rule 15 Double title subject concord

E.g Our principal and mathematics teacher knows me.

 Rule 16 Co-ordinate concord