Learn English with Free Lessons & Tips

Introduction to the syllabus of UGC NET English paper 2

Unit 1: Literary Theory and Criticism

- Major literary theories and movements (e.g., Formalism, Structuralism, Postcolonialism, Feminism)

- Key concepts in literary criticism (e.g., authorship, textuality, intertextuality)

- Understanding different approaches to analyzing literary texts

Unit 2: British Literature

- Old English and Middle English Literature

- Renaissance and Elizabethan Literature

- Restoration and 18th-Century Literature

- Romantic and Victorian Literature

- Modernist and Postmodernist Literature

Unit 3: American Literature

- Colonial and Early American Literature

- Transcendentalism and Romanticism

- Realism and Naturalism

- Modernist and Postmodernist Literature

- Contemporary American Literature

Unit 4: Literary Movements and Genres

- Symbolism and Imagism

- Modernism and Postmodernism

- Harlem Renaissance and African American Literature

- Existentialism and Absurdism

- Postcolonial Literature and Diaspora Writing

Unit 5: Indian Writing in English

- Early Indian English Literature

- Post-Independence Indian Literature

- Contemporary Indian Literature

- Dalit Literature and Feminist Writing

- Regional Literature in English Translation

Unit 6: Literary Forms and Techniques

- Poetry: Major poets, forms, and poetic devices

- Drama: Major playwrights and dramatic techniques

- Fiction: Novel and short story analysis, narrative techniques

- Non-Fiction: Essays, memoirs, and literary non-fiction

Unit 7: Literary Criticism and Theoretical Approaches

- Reader-response theory

- Poststructuralism and Deconstruction

- Postcolonial theory and subaltern studies

- Gender and feminist theory

- Ecocriticism and environmental literary studies

Unit 8: Literary History and Movements

- Literary movements and their characteristics (e.g., Romanticism, Modernism, Postcolonialism)

- Historical and cultural contexts of different literary periods

- Notable authors, works, and themes associated with specific literary movements

Unit 9: Comparative Literature

- Comparative approaches to literature

- Comparative studies of different cultures and literary traditions

- Literary themes and motifs across different literatures

- Influences and intertextuality between different literary traditions

Unit 10: Research Methodology

- Approaches to literary research

- Formulating research questions and objectives

- Research design and methodology

- Analyzing and interpreting literary texts

- Writing research papers and academic essays

What Is An Adjective?

Simply put adjectives are descriptive words. Adjectives are used to describe or give information about things, ideas and people: nouns or pronouns.

For Example:

• The black dog barked. (The adjective black describes the noun "dog".)
• The most common question an adjective might answer is "What kind of ...?"

The good news is that in English the form of an adjective does not change, once you have learnt it that's it and it does not matter if the noun being described is male or female, singular or plural, subject or object. 

Some adjectives give us factual information about the noun - age, size colour etc (fact adjectives - can't be argued with).

Some adjectives show what somebody thinks about something or somebody: nice, horrid, beautiful etc (opinion adjectives: not everyone may agree).

If you are asked questions with which, whose, what kind, or how many, you need an adjective to be able to answer.

There are different types of adjectives in the English language:

• Numeric: six, one hundred and one etc.

• Quantitative: more, all, some, half, more than enough etc.

• Qualitative: colour, size, smell etc.

• Possessive: my, his, their, your etc.

• Interrogative: which, whose, what etc.

• Demonstrative: this, that, those, these etc.

Note - The articles a, an, and the are a special kind of adjective called articles, and the possessives my, our, your, and their are sometimes known as possessive adjectives.

A clause is a part of a sentence. There are two main types: independent (main clauses), dependent (subordinate clauses).

1. Independedent Clauses:

• An independent clause is a complete sentence; it contains a subject and verb and expresses a complete thought in both context and meaning.
• For example: The door opened.
• Independent clauses can be joined by a coordinating conjunction to form complex or compound sentences.

•  For example: Take two independent clauses and join them together with the conjunction and: " The door opened." "The dog jumped in." = The door opened and the dog jumped in.

Dependent Clauses:

A dependent (subordinate) clause is part of a sentence; it contains a subject and verb but does not express a complete thought. They can make sense on their own, but, they are dependent on the rest of the sentence for context and meaning. They are usually joined to an independent clause to form a complex sentence.

Dependent clauses often begin with a a subordinating conjunction or relative pronoun (see below) that makes the clause unable to stand alone.

Subordinating Conjunctions

For example:

The door opened because the man pushed it.

Dependent clauses can be nominal, adverbial or adjectivial.

A nominal clause (noun clause) functions like a noun or noun phrase. It is a group of words containing a subject and a finite verb of its own and contains one of the following: that | if | whether

For example:

• I wondered whether the homework was necessary.

Noun clauses answer questions like "who(m)?" or "what?"

An adverbial clause (adverb clause) is a word or expression in the sentence that functions as an adverb; that is, it tells you something about how the action in the verb was done. An adverbial clause is separated from the other clauses by any of the following subordinating conjunctions: after | although | as | because | before | if | since | that | though | till | unless | until | when |where | while

For example:

• They will visit you before they go to the airport.

Adverbial clauses can also be placed before the main clause without changing the meaning.

For example:

• Before they go to the airport, they will visit you.

Note - When an adverb clause introduces the sentence (as this one does), it is set off with a comma.

Adverb clauses answer questions like "when?", "where?", "why?"

An adjectival clause (adjective clause or relative clause) does the work of an adjective and describes a noun, it's usually introduced by a relative pronoun: who | whom | whose | that | which

For example:

• I went to the show that was very popular.

This kind of clause is used to provide extra information about the noun it follows. This can be to define something (a defining clause), or provide unnecessary, but interesting, added information (a non-defining clause).

For example:

• The car that is parked in front of the gates will be towed away. (Defining relative clause.)

Information contained in the defining relative clause is absolutely essential in order for us to be able to identify the car in question.

• My dog, who is grey and white, chased the postman. ( Non-defining relative clause)

A non-defining relative clause is separated from the rest of the sentence by commas. If you take away the non-defining clause the basic meaning of the sentence remains intact.

For example:

• My dog chased the postman.

Adjective clauses answer questions like "which?" or "what kind of?"

Summary:

An adjective clause functions as an adjective (modifies a noun or pronoun); an adverb clause functions as an adverb (describes a verb, adjective or other adverb); a noun clause is used as a noun (subject of a verb, direct object, indirect object, predicate nominative or object of the preposition).

Note : The difference between a clause and a phrase is that a phrase does not contain a finite verb.

Relative Clauses:

A relative clause follows the noun it modifies. It is generally indicated by a relative pronoun at the start of the clause, although sometimes you can tell simply by word order. The choice of relative pronoun, or choice to omit one, can be affected by the following:-

Human Or Non-Human?

We make a distinction between an antecedent that is a human, who(m) and an antecedent which is a non-human, which.

Who(m) is used when the antecedent is a person.
That is used to refer to either a person or thing. 
Which is used to refer to anything exept a person.

• I met a man and a woman yesterday. The woman, who had long blonde hair, was very pretty.
• The man she was with, was the man that / who won the race.
• The race was the one that I lost.
• The man, to whom the winnings were given, was with the woman who was very pretty. 

Note : Whom is not used much in spoken English.

Restrictive Or Non-Restrictive?

Restrictive relative clauses are sometimes called defining relative clauses, or identifying relative clauses. Similarly, non-restrictive relative clauses are called non-defining or non-identifying relative clauses.

In English a non-restrictive relative clause is preceded by a pause in speech or a comma in writing, unlike a restrictive clause.

For example:

The builder, who erects very fine houses, will make a large profit.
This example, with commas, contains a non-restrictive relative clause. It refers to a specific builder, and assumes we know which builder is intended. It tells us firstly about his houses, then about his profits.

The builder who erects very fine houses will make a large profit.
This second example uses a restrictive relative clause. Without the commas, the sentence states that any builder who builds such houses will make a profit.

1. Gerund And Infinitive:

What is a Gerund?

A gerund (often known as an -ing word) is a noun formed from a verb by adding -ing. Not all words formed with -ing are gerunds.

What Is The Infinitive?

• An infinitive is to + the verb.
• The most famous infinitive quote has to be, "To be or not to be. That is the question."
• Gerunds and infinitives are forms of verbs that act like nouns. They can follow adjectives and other verbs. Gerunds can also follow prepositions.
• When a verb follows a verb it either takes the gerund or infinitive form.
• Some verbs can take either the gerund or the infinitive with no loss of meaning.
• For example:

• With the verb start - "It started to rain." or "It started raining." Both sentences have the same meaning.

• Sometimes the use of the gerund or infinitive changes the meaning of the sentence.
• For example:

• With the verb remember - "I remembered to do my homework" or "I remembered doing my homework."

In the first sentence (I remembered to do my homework), the person speaking remembered they had some homework first and then carried out the action and did it. In the second sentence (I remembered doing my homework.), the person speaking carried out the action (their homework) first and then remembered doing it.

Other verbs only take one or the other, unfortunately there is no rule as to which form the verb takes. The same is true when the verb follows an adjective.

2. Gerunds after Prepositions:

When a verb is used after a preposition the verb takes the -ing form.

For example:-

• You can't make an omelette without breaking eggs.

There are several different types of noun:

• There are common nouns such as dog, car, chair etc.
• Nouns that refer to things which can be counted (can be singular or plural) are countable nouns.
• Nouns that refer to some groups of countable nouns, substances, feelings and types of activity (can only be singular) are uncountable nouns.
• Nouns that refer to a group of people or things are collective nouns.
• Nouns that refer to people, organisations or places areproper nouns, only proper nouns are capitalised.
• Nouns that are made up of two or more words are called compund nouns.
• Nouns that are formed from a verb by adding -ing are called gerunds.