SansSans

Determiners are words which come at the beginning of the noun phrase.
They tell us whether the noun phrase is specific or general.
Determiners are either specific or general

Specific determiners:

The specific determiners are:

• the definite article: the
• possessives: my, your, his, her, its; our, their, whose
• demonstratives: this, that, these, those
• interrogatives: which

We use a specific determiner when we believe the listener/reader knows exactly what we are referring to:

General determiners:

The general determiners are:

• a; an; any; another; other; what

When we are talking about things in general and the listener/reader does not know exactly what we are referring to, we can use an uncount noun or a plural noun with no determiner:
… or you can use a singular noun with the indefinite article a or an:
We use the general determiner any with a singular noun or an uncount noun when we are talking about all of those people or things:
We use the general determiner another to talk about an additional person or thing:
The plural form of another is other:

English is a West Germanic language that originated from Anglo-Frisian dialects brought to Britain in the fifth to seventh centuries by Germanic invaders and settlers from what is now northwest Germany and the Netherlands.
The Old English of the Anglo-Saxon era developed into Middle English, the language as spoken between the Norman Conquest and the late 15th century. A significant influence on the shaping of Middle English came from contact with the North Germanic languages spoken by the Scandinavians who conquered and colonised parts of Britain during the 8th and 9th centuries; this contact led to much lexical borrowing and grammatical simplification. Another important influence came from the conquering Normans, who spoke a form of French called Old Norman, which in Britain developed into Anglo-Norman. Many Norman and French loanwords entered the language in this period, especially in vocabulary related to the church, the court system and the government. The system of orthography that became established during the Middle English period is by and large still in use today – later changes in pronunciation, however, combined with the adoption of various foreign spellings, mean that the spelling of modern English words appears highly irregular.
Early Modern English – the language used by Shakespeare – is dated from around 1500. It incorporated many Renaissance-era loans from Latin and Ancient Greek, as well as borrowings from other European languages, including French, German and Dutch. Significant pronunciation changes in this period included the ongoing Great Vowel Shift, which affected the qualities of most long vowels. Modern English proper, similar in most respects to that spoken today, was in place by the late 17th century. The English language came to be exported to other parts of the world through British colonisation, and is now the dominant language in Britain and Ireland, the United States and Canada, Australia, New Zealand and many smaller former colonies, as well as being widely spoken in India, parts of Africa, and elsewhere. Partially thanks to United States influence^{[citation needed]}, English has taken on the status of a global lingua franca.
Old English consisted of a diverse group of dialects, reflecting the varied origins of the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms established in different parts of Britain. The Late West Saxon dialect eventually became dominant; however, a greater input to Middle English came from the Anglian dialects. Geographical and social variation between English dialects and accents remains significant today. Scots, a form of English traditionally spoken in parts of Scotland and the north of Ireland, is often regarded as a separate language.

Cultural  Heritage Sites of the world


Dear friends,
There are 3 types of sites :-
cultural, natural and mixed. Cultural Heritage Sites include hundreds of historic buildings and town sites, important archaeological sites, and works of monumental sculpture or painting. Natural Heritage Sites provide excellent examples of ongoing ecological and biological evolutionary process and contains natural phenomenon etc. Mixed Heritage Sites contains elements of both natural and cultural significance. A list of selected World Heritage Sites is mentioned below:

Mahabodhi Temple (Gaya)




Mahabodhi Temple, spread over an area of 4.86 hectares, was inscribed in the UNESCO World Heritage list as a unique property of cultural and archaeological importance. This temple was built by the emperor Asoka in 3rd century B.C. , built entirely in bricks. The present temple comprises the 50 meter high Grand temple, the Vajrasana, sacred Bodhi tree and other 6 sacred sites of Buddha’s enlightment surrounded by Votive Stupas, Lotus pond.

Jantar Mantar (Jaipur)




It is an astronomical observation site built in the early 18th century. It includes a set of some 20 main fixed instruments. It has been inscribed as cultural property on the UNESCO World Heritage List as “an expression of the astronomical skills of a scholarly prince at the end of the Mughal Period.

Kaziranga Wildlife Sanctuary (Assam)



It was declared a World heritage Sites by UNESCO in 1985 for its unique natural environment. It is the oldest park in Assam, covers an area of 430 sq. km along the river Brahmaputra. It is famous for the Great Indian one horned Rhinoceros, the landscape of Kaziranga is a sheer forest, tall elephant grass, rugged seeds, marshes and shallow pools.

Humayun’s Tomb (Delhi)




This tomb, built in 1570 by the 2nd Mughal Emperor’s Humayun’s widow Biga Begum,  was inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Sites in 1993 for cultural significance as it was the 1st garden-tomb on the Indian Subconitent.The tomb is built with charbagh (fourfold) layout with 2 gates and has a number of water channels, a pavilion and a bath.

Champaner Pavagadh Archaeological Park (Gujarat)


It was inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Sites in 2004. This site includes other vestiges, fortifications, palaces, religious buildings, agricultural structures and water installations from 8th to 14th centuries.

Pyramids of Giza (Egypt)



This complex  ancient monument, inscribed as UNESCO World Heritage Sites in 1979, includes the Great Pyramids, the Great Sphinx cemeteries and more. It is located 9 km from the old town of Giza on the Nile, southwest of Cairo.

Taj Mahal (Agra)



A giant mausoleum of white marble, built between 1632 and 1653 by the Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan in memory of his wife, was inscribed as UNESCO World Heritage Sites in 1983.

The Great Wall of China (China)



Built in the 14th century, 8,850 km long the Great Wall of China, was inscribed as UNESCO World Heritage Sites in 1987. The wall was built to protect the northern borders of the Chinese Empire from the attack of nomadic tribes.

Machu Picchu (Peru)



This site, also known as “The Lost City of the Incas”, was inscribed as UNESCO World heritage Sites in 1983. It is 15th century site located on a mountain 2,430 above sea-level, some 80 km of Cusco. Most archaeologists believe that Machu Picchu was built as an estate for the Inca Emperor Pachacuti.

Banking in India

• The first bank established in India was
Bank of Hindustan, which was started in
1770. Second was The General Bank of India,
which started in 1786.

• The oldest bank still in existence in India is
the State Bank of India. It was originated in
the Bank of Calcutta in June 1806. Bank of
Bengal, Bank of Bombay and Bank of
Madras, these three banks merged in 1921 to
form the Imperial Bank of India, which was
converted as State Bank of India in 1955.

• The first Indian bank to have been started
solely with Indian capital investment is
Punjab National Bank.

• The first Indian bank to open overseas
branch is Bank of India. It established a
branch in London in 1946.

• The oldest existing Public Sector Bank in
India is Allahabad Bank.

• The first Indian commercial bank owned
and managed by Indians is Central Bank of
India.

• Lala Lajpat Rai was
the founder of Punjab
National Bank.

• Union Bank of India
(UCO) bank was inaugurated by Mahatma
Gandhi in 1919.

• The Reserve Bank of India was instituted in
1935.

• The first bank in India with an ISO
Certification is Canara Bank.

• The first time banks were nationalized in
India was on 19 July, 1969.

• Osborne Smith was the first governor of
the Reserve Bank.

• CD Desmukh was the first Indian to be the
governor of Reserve Bank.

• Savings account system in India was started
by Presidency Bank, 1833.

• Bengal Bank, established in 1784, was the
first bank to introduce cheque system.

• ICICI Bank was the first Indian bank to
provide internet banking facility.

• First bank to
introduce ATM in
India was HSBC in 1987, Mumbai.

• Central Bank of India was the first public
bank to introduce Credit card.

• ICICI is the first bank to provide mobile
ATM.

• Bank of Baroda has the maximum number
of overseas branches.

• When it comes to the total number of
maximum branches in the world, State Bank
of India holds 2nd Position.