Tag: grammar

Plurals For IELTS Listening

No matter how easy they seem to be, plurals are very important for IELTS listening. Even more, it is quite obvious that you will get questions, answers to which will be plural. This is because IELTS is an English test and will surely check if you can listen for plurals.

There are no half points in IELTS, so even if you write the correct answer but forget the ‘s’ you will be marked wrong. For instance, if the answer is books and you wrote book, you will not get any marks for it. Let us now understand plurals in English.

When you want to change the number of a particular thing, you change them from singular to plural. There are two types of plural nouns –

  1. Regular – If by adding ‘s’ to the singular noun, you are able to change the noun from singular to plural, it is said to be a singular noun. For instance, plural of book is books.
  2. Irregular – The nouns which do not follow the rule of simply adding ‘s’ are known as irregular nouns. Example, plural of fish is fish.

Rules For Making Plural –

  1. Nouns that end in -ch, x, s, z or s-like sounds are made plural by adding es. Example-
    witch witches
    box boxes
    gas gases
    bus buses
  2. Nouns that end in a vowel + y take the letter s. Example – plural of boy is boys.
  3. Nouns that end in a consonant + y drop the y and take ies. Example – plural of baby is babies.
  4. Plurals of nouns that end in f or fe usually change the f sound to a v sound and add s or -es. Example- plural of knife is knives.

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Irregular Plural Nouns

Irregular plural nouns are the ones, which don’t follow the general rule of merely adding a ‘s’. There are no easy ways to remember them, so they generally have to be memorized.

 

Latin-ate Plurals

Words ending in –is usually follow the original Latin form (basis/bases, crisis/crises) for reasons of euphony.

 SINGULAR  PLURAL
 addendum addenda
alga algae
alumnus alumni
amoeba  amoebae
 antenna antennae
bacterium bacteria
 cactus cacti
 curriculum curricula
 datum data
 fungus fungi
 genus genera
 larva larvae
 memorandum memoranda
radix radices
 referendum  referenda
 stigma  stigmas
 stratum  strata
 thesis  theses
 vortex  vortexes
 vertebra  vertebrae

OTHERS

 SINGULAR  PLURAL
 echo  echoes
embargo  embargoes
 tomato tomatoes
 hero  heroes
 torpedo torpedoes
 potato  potatoes

Types Of Modal Verbs

We have already talked about modal verbs. You can go through it here.
Let us have a look at the types of modal verbs.

Probability
Probability verbs are used when we want to say how sure we are that something happened / is happening / will happen. These are also called ‘modals of deduction’ or ‘speculation’ or ‘certainty’ or ‘probability’.
Example – 1. They should be there by now.
2. Prices can be high in London.
Ability
Modal verbs such as can and could to talk about skill and ability.
Example – 1. She can speak English.
2. I couldn’t open the window.
Obligation And Advice
We use modal verbs such as ‘must’ or ‘should’ to say when something is necessary or unnecessary, or to give advice.
Example – 1. I had to wear a school uniform when I was a child.
2. You shouldn’t smoke so much.
Permission
Modal verbs such as can, could and may to ask for and give permission. They are also used to say, something is not allowed. Example – 1. You may not use the laptop today.
2. Can I leave early today?
Habits
You can talk about will and would to talk about habits that have been a part of you since a very long time or you will be doing them in near future.
Example – 1. She will always be late.
2. We would often go out for party on Saturdays.

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Modal Verbs # Grammar For IELTS

Showing a varied range of grammar in IELTS helps in scoring high band in IELTS. For today, let us have a look at one of the most used topic in IELTS, modal verbs.
Examples of modal verbs –

can could
may might
shall should

Modal verbs are used to show that you are certain about something, sure that it will happen.We also use modals to do things like talking about ability, asking permission making requests and offers.
Modal verbs behave very differently from the normal verbs. Let us have a look at some of its distinguishing factors –
1. Modal verbs do not take ‘s’ in the third form.
Example- He can speak english.
2. You use not to make the modal verbs negative, even in simple past or simple present.
Example – He should not be late
3. Modal verbs cannot used with past or future tense.
Example – He will can come with us.
4. They make questions by inversion.
5. They are followed directly by the infinitive of another verb.

QUESTION TIME

Fill in the blank with modal verbs.
1. He ________ be exhausted after a long journey.
a.must
b.can
c. had better
2. There are many things people will ask you to do. But you _________ do it if you don’t like.
a. must not
b. can not
c. will not.
3. The lamp ________ be broken. Maybe the light bulb just burned out.
a. could not
b. must not
c. might not
4. _____________ you please bring me my notebook?
a. will
b. may
c. should
5. To score high in IELTS, you ______ study lot.
a. must
b. should
c. can

ANSWERS

1. a
2.a
3.c
4.a
5.a
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