A glance at the world of Nouns!

What is your name?

Where are you from?

What is your favourite fruit?

The answers to all these questions will be Nouns. How can you tell? It’s simple, really! Nouns are words to 

name animals, places or things.

There are a few things we must keep in mind while learning nouns, though. You shouldn’t get confused while trying to trying to tell the difference between the genders of the noun. Take a look at this sentence, for instance.

“My English teacher in the tenth grade was my favourite!”

In this sentence, the noun is ‘teacher’ (you guessed that right!) However, the word ‘teacher’ could be 

referring to a male or a female teacher. It is still a noun, nonetheless.

The same is the case in this sentence: “Who is the artist who painted this beautiful picture?” The noun, that is, artist could again either be male or female. We’re just making sure you don’t get confused about it in the future!

Nouns can be broadly categorized into: Common Nouns and Proper Nouns. Let’s take a look at them closely.

Proper nouns are the specific names of a place or a person or a thing.

Look at this sentence: “Romeo took Juliet for a vacation to Rome in January.”

What are the proper nouns in this sentence? Romeo, Juliet, Rome and January. Remember to always keep in mind- specific names of places, people or things.

Now we’ll look at common nouns. These are words naming places, people or things in the general sense. So for instance if we said: “There are many trees in our school’s garden.” We’re sure you can tell what the common nouns in this sentence are!

Now as a fun exercise why don’t you re-read this blog post and try to list all the nouns- proper and common!

And don’t forget to enroll yourself at ELTIS SIFIL’S English learning courses today!  

An Article on Articles!

Let’s take a look at articles used in the English language! We use articles in our day to day life. Articles are present in every sentence we speak. But does everyone know what articles are and when we use them while 

speaking?

The articles in English language are “a, an, the”. They are used before nouns and occasionally adjectives. Articles can be categorized as ‘definite’ and ‘indefinite’ articles. Definite being ‘the’ and indefinite being ‘a, an’.

Let’s take a closer look at indefinite and definite articles.

A definite article identifies a particular noun. For example: “The tree outside my window.” Here, we are talking about a particular tree and giving its location. Hence, we can say that the article “the” can be used 

when we talk about a specific object, person or place.

An indefinite article is used in more general terms. Let’s take a look at two examples of indefinite articles: “I have an apple tree in my backyard.” Here, we are talking about one of the many kinds of trees in the backyard. We use ‘an’ before words that begin with vowels- ‘a, e, i, o, u’. (Note: Sometimes the alphabets ‘h’ and ‘y’ are also considered vowels in their silent form. Examples: An hour.)

Now take a look at this sentence: “We have a swimming pool in my school.” In this sentence, we use the word ‘a’ to indicate a swimming pool in the school. We use ‘a’ before consonants. Consonants are letters excluding a, e, i, o, u.

Here is a fun exercise for practice!

• ·         There is ____ gym on the way back from work. (a, an, the)
• ·          ____ boy on the street was looking for his mother. (a, an, the)
• ·         ____ apple a day, keeps ____doctor away. (a, an, the)
• ·         Can I have ____ slice of pie? (a, an, the)
• ·         It takes me ____ hour to get to work. (a, an, the)

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Yummy in your tummy!

A new place means a new cuisine, no?

But it is hardly like that these days. Of course, the authenticity of a country’s cuisine comes only when you’re having their food in their country. Pizzas are better eaten in Italy, and tacos are best enjoyed in Mexico, but that said, most countries have gone the multi-cuisine way and serve food from all over the world.

Pune for instance has restaurants which are dedicated to serving foreign cuisines. One will find Italian, Thai, Greek, Chinese, Mexican, and also multi-cuisine restaurants. Not only does Pune see restaurants serving food from other countries, but also, it has some excellent places serving food from other states. North Indian and South Indian food is served at large, and if provided you know the right place, the food is brilliant.

The best way to learn about a country is to immerse yourself in its culture, music, history, art and most importantly, its cuisine. If you ever stepped into a traditional Maharashtrian household, you will be served the ‘kanda poha’ with tea. North Indians will make sure you’re stuffed with two bites of their ‘samosas’, and they’ll make it a point to hold you down for dinner too (let’s just say, they are generous with the quantities they serve). A south Indian house hold cannot welcome you without steamy ‘idlis’ and ‘chuttney’. In the far out east, the Bengalis quite enjoy treating their fish as the part of a vegetarian meal. They are also known for their delicious sweets.

Imagine having all these delicacies in one city. Did you think of Pune? Once in Pune, you need not travel all around the country to try out the dishes they serve. You’ll get it all, right here.

So, come take a bite of exquisite Indian and international cuisines here in Pune!

Click here to enroll at SIFIL while you indulge in mouth watering delicacies from all over India!

Pune- Largest hub for German companies in India

Pune has established itself as the centre for German companies to set camp in. As per statistics, Pune is home to 197 wholly-German owned companies. Also, Pune has established in it, over 200 Indo-German joint ventures. Further, over 80 local companies are doing business with German companies.

It’s safe to say the Indo-German Chamber of Commerce (IGCC) is doing a superb job at integrating German and Pune-based business. The IGCC, which was established a mere two years ago, has organized many events such as the Oktoberfest to bring German business to India. Such events give the firms a platform to present ideas and views on business, hence promoting the idea of collaborating businesses. Moreover, the IGCC has given the local firms a chance to exhibit their products in Germany on several occasions.

What is interesting is that not only are German companies investing in India, but many small and big businesses are looking to invest in Germany as well. The reciprocal reaction is of course expected, and hugely appreciated by German firms. The emergence of Pune as an engineering and automotive hub has contributed largely to why German companies are attracted to investing in Pune.

These German companies bring with them huge opportunities for Indians, in terms of understanding new business methodologies, and the very obvious aspect of introducing jobs to the people. Jobs as translators are fast expanding. The pay is brilliant, and all that is really required is the expertise in a language. That’s what German companies are bringing to India. Job offers, foreign exchange, and business expansion opportunities.

This is one of the best breaks that India can get in terms of expanding its business prospects to Europe. Germany, with companies like Volkswagen, is a huge asset for Indian companies to do business with. After establishing a firm relation with one country after the other like so, there will be nothing that can stop India from reaching heights which are only imaginable as of now. The sky is the limit, no?

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Re-acquaintance: The Western Culture, the Indian Style

India has always been under the influence of foreign nations. This could be meant in the literal sense from the time of independence, to a more superficial sense today, when India’s generation next is influenced by the way they dress, their lifestyle, or even their appreciation for more diverse cuisine.

The youth is of course highly influenced by the foreign culture. But by what are they influenced exactly?

If one is to look at the surface of it, the clothes, the music and the food is what one would notice. The dressing sense is getting more and more westernized. The music has gone from Bollywood music, to exploring rap, jazz, hip-hop and pop. Food is one of the older influences that countries have on each other. India serves food from Italy, Thailand, Mexico, China, and so many more countries. On a global perspective, Indian culture seems to have left a mark on other countries too. They’ve got out spices, yoga, and cuisine. Even Indian dances have become very popular abroad! Sports and entertainment too have always played a pivotal role in this globalised India.

A development however, is that through the Indian culture spreading rapidly in foreign countries, the youth is getting re-acquainted with these Indian ways. Is that really the ideal way to get through to the youth? No. Is it the worst way? Definitely not! In fact, it’s probably the most efficient way to get them to get back in touch with what they seem to have forgotten. More and more people are turning to Indian cuisine, because it’s been now known to have all the nutrients on the food pyramid. They are looking to take up Indian dance and music, because the rhythms are actually known to be healthy. These changes would not have come about with parents and grandparents trying to keep children aware of their roots. If they are under the foreign influence, and the foreign influence now means, just Indian culture with a wee bit of a foreign touch, it’s completely healthy. And the only foreign influence that comes to the more sensible youth is a kind of smartness in their approach to career and lifestyle, and this change is in good taste.

This shadow of foreign culture has a cons list too, but the pace at which the world is progressing; the cons can be sidelined at the moment. What one needs to ensure is that the pros are altered to a more Indian touch.

All in all, globalization in any form is only a plus point!

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On Your First Day.

Your first day at learning a new language will obviously be a little daunting. It is very natural to feel that way because its going to be an entirely different experience to be able to speak in a new tongue.

That is why learning a language is so much more different than learning any other course. While learning a new language, it is entirely natural to not understand or follow things clearly and make tons of mistakes. In the beginning, it is only normal that you do so.

In the initial stages of learning a new language, your mind is just about to start getting exposed to a completely different sound and rhythm system . However, the human mind is so amazing, slowly you’ll see that you can make sense of a bit of what you hear on the first day of your class!
The main thing to remember before learning a new language is to have an open mind and keep practicing as much as possible. You’ll never regret it!

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Turn Those Bad Habits Around!

One of the tricks that language student needs to eventually master is the art of developing and turning a certain study plan into a proper habit. Once it becomes a habit, it is really hard to get rid of. Therefore, instead of associating the word ‘habit’ with a lot of negative aspects, you turn it around by implementing a good study ‘habit’. It should be something like how you brush your teeth every morning without giving it a second thought. It’s a motorized action. This is what you need to turn your study plan into – a motorized action.

There are ways in which you can turn all these into good habits. For example, if you have been slacking off on exercise, you can trick your mind by wearing your gym clothes the night before and then when your alarm rings the next morning, you feel motivated to go. The same way, a little bit of prior preparation helps a lot!

Plan beforehand what exactly you’re going to study the next day. This way, you don’t waste any time the next day trying to figure out what exactly it is that you need to do.

Start revising what you’re going to study the next day, a day before. This way, it gives you a heads up on what you’re going to do and it will give you a start up the following day. It’ll be much easier to relate to what you’ve already read. Thus, planning ahead is always beneficial. With languages, it’s harder to form a habit because you learn something new everyday. But when you plan a day in advance, it makes things much easier for you.

Start this good habit and enroll at ELTIS-SIFIL TODAY!