A Complete Guide (With Practice) is a series of 6 books from Primary 1 to Primary 6. They can be used both as a basic course and as supplementary material for classroom teaching. The books are designed to help children learn independently. However, they would be able to develop their language skills better with parental help and encouragement.

This book provides a comprehensive coverage of essential areas, namely:

(a) Grammar

Brief explanatory notes and examples are provided to help children master the basic rules. They are intended to guide and encourage learning rather than to forcibly instil grammatical discipline.

(b) Vocabulary

Comprehensive coverage of words pertaining to tools, occupations, etc. Variety of tests to enhance knowledge.

(c) Cloze Passage

A variety of Cloze Passages – Grammar cloze and Vocabulary cloze of different standards are given.

(d) Editing and, Synthesis and Transformation

Exercises to strengthen students’ editing skills. Variety of exercises to provide the skills and knowledge that are useful in answering synthesis and transformation questions.

(e) Comprehension

There are Visual Text Questions and Free Response Questions.

(f) Composition

There are pictures to encourage thinking and writing. The helping words will guide pupils in forming sentences. A few Model Compositions are provided.

PREFACE

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ContentsContents

Unit Title Page No.

Section 1 Language Usage and Grammar

1. Nouns 1

Common Nouns 1

Proper Nouns 3

Collective Nouns 3

Abstract Nouns 4

Countable and Uncountable Nouns 15

Singular and Plural Nouns 23

2. Pronouns 43

Personal Pronouns 44

Possessive Pronouns 47

Indefinite Pronouns 49

Reflexive and Emphatic Pronouns 49

Demonstrative Pronouns 50

Relative Pronouns 50

3. Verbs 63

Finite and Non-finite verbs 64

Verbs of Being 66

Transitive and Intransitive Verbs 66

Auxiliary Verbs 67

Irregular Verbs 71

Forming Verbs 76

4. Subject-Verb Agreement 82

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Unit Title Page No.

5. Tenses 96

Simple Present Tense 96

Simple Past Tense 97

Simple Future Tense 99

The Past Participle 99

The Present Continuous Tense 109

The Past Continuous Tense 113

The Present Perfect Tense 116

The Past Perfect Tense 124

The Past Perfect Continuous Tense 125

The Future Perfect Tense 125

6. Gender 133

7. Verbals 141

The Gerund 141

The Infinitive 145

The Participle 152

8. Modals 155

9. Adjectives 163

Adjective Patterns 163

Different Types of Adjectives 165

Comparison of Adjectives 172

Formation of Adjectives 181

10. Adverbs 189

Adverbs of Time 190

Adverbs of Place 190

Adverbs of Manner 191

Adverbs of Reason 191

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Unit Title Page No.

Adverbs of Degree 191

Adverbs of Frequency 192

Interrogative Adverbs 192

Relative Adverbs 192

Sentence Adverbs 192

Formation of Adverbs 196

Comparison of Adverbs 205

11. Prepositions 212

12. Articles 222

Indefinite Articles 222

Definite Articles 224

13. ‘Some’ and ‘Any’ 232

14. Subjects and Predicates 237

15. Phrases 244

16. Clauses 252

17. Punctuation 263

Capital Letters 263

Full Stop 264

Question Mark 265

Comma 265

The Semi-colon 267

The Colon 267

Exclamation Mark 268

The Dash 268

The Apostrophe 268

The Quotation Marks 270

The Hyphen 270

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Unit Title Page No.

18. About Sentences 274

19. Joining Sentences 287

20. Conjunctions 293

21. Active and Passive Voice 297

22. Direct and Indirect Speech 302

23. Question Words and Question Tags 312

24. Exercises for Practice 322

25. Vocabulary 337

26. Cloze Passages 407

27. Synthesis and Transformation 427

28. Continuous Writing: Picture Stimulus and Situational 437

29. Comprehension 448

Visual Text Comprehension 448

Open-Ended Comprehension 468

30. Situational Writing (Contd.) Note Postcard And Message 488

Answers 491

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A noun is a naming word. In a sentence, the noun identifies or names a person, a place, an animal, a thing, an idea or a feeling.

Examples:teacher, woman, school, field, zebra, parrot, table, pen, friendship, freedom, pain, happiness

1. Common Nouns

A common noun is a name given to every person or thing of the same class or kind.

1. Mr Hamsah is a doctor. He is at his clinic.

There are many patients waiting to see him.

English 6Primary Nouns • 1

NounsUnit 1

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2. Lions, jaguars, cheetahs and tigers are fierce animals.

They are also known as man-eating animals.

It is dangerous to go near them unarmed.

3. There are many things in the basket. I can see some apples, a pair of scissors, two flowers, a jug and a book.

I wonder who put all those things in the basket.

Wouldn’t it be better to put them all in a very big box?

English 6Primary2 • Nouns

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2. Proper Nouns

A proper noun refers to a particular person, place or thing. It begins with a capital letter.

1. Have you been to Suntec City in Singapore before?

It is near the Esplanade.

Many visitors from overseas such as Malaysia, Indonesia, Japan and Hong Kong have visited these two famous landmarks in our country.

3. Collective Nouns

A collective noun refers to a collection or a group of things taken together and spoken of as one whole; it is singular in form.

Below is a list of collective nouns.

a flock of birds a clutch of eggs a swarm of ants

English 6Primary Nouns • 3

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an army of soldiers a litter of cubs

a bench of magistrates a pack of wolves

a board of directors a pride of lions

a brood of chickens a staff of teachers

a flock of sheep a team of players

a gang of labourers (thieves) a troop of monkeys

a herd of cattle a troupe of dancers

a bundle of rags a library of books

a chest of drawers a pack of cards

a clump of trees a suit of clothes

a fleet of ships a tuft of grass

4. Abstract Nouns

An abstract noun names a quality, idea, feeling or a general characteristic. Your five senses cannot detect this group of nouns.

Word Abstract Noun Word Abstract Noun

act action refuse refusal

boy boyhood relieve relief

child childhood secure security

coward cowardice see sight

owner ownership speak speech

young youth able ability

hero heroism accurate accuracy

friend friendship broad breadth

admit admission capable capability

English 6Primary4 • Nouns

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Word Abstract Noun Word Abstract Noun

advise advice protect protection

arrive arrival prove proof

believe belief false falsehood

choose choice generous generosity

compel compulsion happy happiness

deny denial hot heat

depart departure humble humility

fly flight noble nobility

obey obedience poor poverty

offend offence real reality

predict prediction safe safety

pretend pretence strong strength

sweet sweetness

English 6Primary Nouns • 5

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Exercise 1: Underline the nouns in the following sentences.

Example:The paper packages were tied up with strings.

The paper packages were tied up with strings.

1. Birds of a feather flock together.

2. Sundarbans is a vast swamp.

3. The dog is a faithful animal.

4. The loss caused him much pain.

5. The President has promised to introduce democracy.

6. In some countries, people are denied freedom.

7. Girls performed better than boys.

8. John spent more time on Maths.

9. Man pollutes his environment.

10. The river has its source in the mountain.

English 6Primary6 • Nouns

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Exercise 2: Fill in the blanks with suitable nouns.

Example:The Earth is a .

The Earth is a planet .

1. The ____________________ stopped at the pedestrian ____________________.

2. You must always speak the ____________________.

3. Our ____________________ consists of forty pupils.

4. The river overflows its ____________________ when it rains heavily.

5. The soldiers were rewarded for their ____________________.

6. She recognised him by his ____________________.

7. ____________________ is the best policy.

8. We were delayed because the ____________________ was heavy.

9. ____________________ is more important than wealth.

10. The ____________________ found landing the plane difficult because the ____________________ was bad.

English 6Primary Nouns • 7

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