CHAPTER
I
INTRODUCTION
a. Background
Communicative grammar is based on the communicative approach
to the Teaching of second/foreign languages. Language structures must not be
taught in isolation but integrated to the four skills of language: listening,
speaking, reading and writing. In this way a structure is practiced orally and
In written form. Grammatical patterns must not only be learned at the utterance
level but at the discourse level; the main objective focuses on the development
of communicative grammatical competence, which is understood as the ability to
use and understand a structure in a variety of situations spontaneously.
Then approach calls for a certain balance between
pre-communicative and communicative activities: the first prepare the learner
to handle the language rules for actual communication and the latter enable him
to use the structures in real communication. The students must not only do
drills and precommunicative exercises in class, but they must interact and
communicate with other speakers when they use the patterns they are studying.
Classes are planned in a way that the students use the structures naturally and
not artificially, and they require time and practice to internalize those
patterns by using a process in which grammatical structures are recycled with
more complex variations.
This course provides a systematic description of
English grammar. There is both a theoretical and a practical aim of the course.
The theoretical aim is that you should gain a better understanding of English
grammar as a system. The practical aim is that by using your theoretical
knowledge of grammar you should become considerably more proficient in writing
and speaking English. To describe and analyze grammar, we need terminology.
Some of the terms used in the course you will probably recognize immediately,
for example noun, verb, subject, object, and sentence, others may be new to
you, for instance antecedent, restrictive clause and partial inversion. The use
of this terminology is, of course, meant to facilitate the understanding of the
concepts in question. So, what kind of questions should you be able to answer
at the end of the course?
examples:
Why can the definite article not be used with coffee
in Coffee has gone up?
Why is there used
as an Anticipatory Subject in There seem to be other problems as well?
What kind of word order
is the underlined part of the following sentence and why is it used? Not
until yesterday did I realize my mistake. Before you set about studying .
English grammar in earnest, it is a good idea to
browse through the course material to form a rough idea of the contents of the
course. You will certainly find many things that you are already familiar with
to some extent, but you will also come across things you did not know
before or only had little knowledge about. Organize your studies from the very
beginning and do not postpone revising what you have read until the course is
over.
b.
Formulation
Of The Problem
1. What
is adjectives?
2. What
the different adjective and adverb?
3. What
is determiner ?
4. What
is the meaning of the modal auxiliary should in You should eat more
fruit?
c.
The
Purpose Of Writing
1. To
know the defenition of adjectives.
2. To
know the different between adjectives and adverb.
3. To
know the defenition of determiner.
4. to
know the meaning of the modal auxiliary should in you
should eat more fruit.
CHAPTER II
DISCUSSION
How to use Compendium
This
grammatical Compendium covers all the important areas of English grammatical
form and structure, and is arranged alphabetically under topic headings. The
arrangement is alphabetical because the Compendium is primarly meant to be used
for reference.
Even
so, some students may wish to study the structures of English grammar
systematically and many others may find it generally helpful to see how the
topics relate to one another in an overall logical plan. For this reason, we
present a visual guide to the Compendium, showing related topics grouped in
boxes and dependences of one topic on another by arrows. You can, if you wish,
see the diagram as a suggested plan for reading the Compendium in a logical
order. If you do, notice that diagram offers you a chooice of orders, since
often two or more topics lead equally naturally to or from another topic. For
example, after reading ‘sentence’and ‘Clauses’, you could go to any of the
groups containing ‘suborination’ and ‘Coordination’; ‘Negation’, ‘Questions’,
etc. ‘Verb Phrases’, etc. There is no single ‘best way’ of putting the topics
in a natural sequence.
Another
thing to bear in mind is that the diagram attempts to show only the more
important relations between topics. Some connections have not been indicated; others, it could be argued,
might be just as well shown by arrows pointing in the opposite direction. We
have simplified the ‘map’ in order to
make it reasonably easy to follow. Each entry in the Compendium has a reference
to the most relevant sections of R Quirk et
al, A Grammar of Contemporary English, (Longman 1972), so that if required,
a more detailed treatment of the topic can be consulted in that book.
1. Adjective
Pattern
Adjective can have three type of
complement (A) Prepositional phrase, (B) that-Clause, and (C) to-infinitive.
Adjectives with a prepositional phrase
Adjectives can have
different prepositional complement : good at, afraid of, ready for, keep on,
etc. Usually, a particular adjectives requires a particular preposition. Here
are some examples :
1. They were terribly
worried about you.
2. She was awfully bad
at mathematics.
3. We were all annoyed
at his behaviour.
A. Adjectives
with a that-clause
a personal subjects
some adjectives and
adjectival pariciples have a finite that-clause
as complement (where that can usually
be omitted) :
I’m
sure (that) he’ll be late.
We’re
glad (that) you can come.
When the that-clause expresses a ‘putative’ idea,
it contains should :
We’re
surprised that he shoul resign.
I’m
amazed that he should get the post.
B. Adjectives
with a to-invinitive
There are different
types of adjectives with to-infinitive
constructions, for example :
He was spelndid to wait.
He is hard to convine.
He was furious to hear about it.
He was slow to react.
2. Adjectives
a. Most
adjectives can be both attributive (acting as premodifiers of nouns, and
predicative (acting as complements of verbs).
She’s a pretty girl. (Attributive)
All the girls here are
pretty (predicative)
b. Most
adjectives can be modified by degree adverbs like very, quite, rather, etc.
She looks quite young for her age.
c. Most
adjectives can take comparative and superlative forms. Regular comparason may
be expressed a by adding the endings –er and
–est to the adjective :
The Browns seema lot happier now than they used to.
They are the kidnest people I know, too.
Attributive Adjective
Although
most adjectives can be either attribute or predicative, some can only be used
in attributivve position. One group of them can be related to adverbials :
Adjectives adverbials
My
former friend he was formerly my friend
An
occasional visitor she was occasionally a visitor
The late president he was till lately the president
(now dead)
A
hard worker a worker
who works hard
A
big eater someone who
eats a lot
Other
adjectives are derived from nouns, for example :
Criminal law = ‘law
concerning crime’
An alomic scientic
= ‘a scientist specialising in atomic science’
A
medical school = ‘a school for student’s of medicine’
Predicate adjectives
Adjectives
can be used predicatively as subject complement after linking verbs like be, seem, look, fell.
I
feel awful this morning.
Or
a subject complement after verbs like consider,
believe, find.
we
found the place absolutely delightful. (= we found that the place was
absolutely delightful.
Adjectives
can be complement to a subject which is a finite clause, wheter the minister
will resign is still uncertain.
Or
a noun infinitive clause.
Driving
a bus isn’t so easy as you may think.
Similiarly
adjectives can be object complement to clauses :
They
considered follish
working so hard
whereas
the adjectives like awful, delightful,
uncertain, easy, and foolish can
be used coth attributively and predicatively, some groups of adjectives are
usually restricted to predicative position. One such group is ‘health
adjectives’:
she felt faint.
You
look well.
He’s
seriously ill (sick)
In
attributive, however, sick is common in both (BrE) and (AmE) :
He’s a very sick man.
Another
group of predicative adjectives includes the following, many of which are
regular followed by phrases or clauses.
We are very fond of her = we like her very much
He is ready to do it = he is
prepared to do it.
I’m afraid that you’re mistakem. = I
fear that you’re mistaken.
Most of the committee members were present at the meeting.
Postmodifier adjectives
Adjectives especially predicative
adjectives are sometimes postmodifiers, ie
they follow the item they modify. Such an adjectives can usually be
regarded reduced relative clause :
The people (who were) inrolred were
reported to the police.
The man (who were) present were his
supporters.
Is the anything (which is) interesting in the papers?
Adjectives participles
there
are many adjectives that have the sam form as-ing or –ed participles.
He seems quite satisfied with his new job.
These
adjectives can also be attributive :his
surprising views. The –ed participle
of intransitive verbs can also be used attributively
;
the escaped prisoner = the prisoner who has (had) escaped).
Sometimes a verb corresponding to
the adjective has a different meaning. We can therefore have ambiguous
sentences like they were relieved, where
we cannot tell wheter relieved is a
participle or an adjective. The ambiguity disappears with more context :
ADJECTIVE they were very relieved to
find her at home.
PARTICIPLE They were soon rellieved
by the next group of sentrics.
The difference between the
adjectives and the participle is not always obvious. It is clear that an –ing form is a present participle and
not an adjective when a direct object is present :
He was entertaining the guests with
his stories.
Similiarly,
the verbal force is explicit for the –ed form
when a personal by agent is present :
The man was offended by the policeman.
For
both –ed and –ing participles, modification by the adverb very clearly indicates
that the forms are adjectives :
His views were very alarming
The
man was very offended
But
sometimes we find a construction with both very
and a by-agent :
I was very irritated by the man in
the blue suit.
She was very shaken by the news.
In
these ‘mixed’ constructions, we cannot say whether the –ed form is a participle or an adjectives.
3. Adjectives or
adverb ?
Many
adverb in English are derived from adjectives by the addition of –ly; quick,, quickly.,, careful-carefully,
etc. Some adverbs, however, do not end in –ly but with a different meaning :
Adjective adverb
An
early train the
train arrived early;
A
hate dinner I’ve
been working late
A
straight line he
went straight to the door
A
hard task we
tried hard to convince them
A
direct hit we
flew direct to stuttgart
A
wrong answear you
have got it all wrong (informal)
A
short distance the
arrow fell short of the target
These
adverbs are mostly connected with time, position and direction. In some cases,
there is also an adverb in –ly (lately,
harly, directly, shortly, etc.) but with a different meaning :
He
drove home directly after arriving = immediately
I
haven’t seen him lately =recently
4. Adjectives as
heads
Adjectives
can function as heads of noun phrases. Such adjectives normally tak a definite
determiner, usually the definite article, and they have no plural inflection.
There are two kinds of such adjectives both with generic reference, those
denoting a class of people, and those denoting an abstract quality.
a.
class of people (plural) : the rich = those who are rich.
There is often a lack communication
between the young and the old.
The
unemployed cannot be expected to live on their savings.
For
the difference between the English and Englishmen
b.
an abstract quality (singular) : the absurd = that which is absurd.
Some people enjoy the mystical and
the supernatural in literature
He went from the sublime to the
ridiculous
c.
but the article is sometimes omitted before adjective heads in paralel phrases
where the adjectives are linked by a conjuction or a preposition :
education should be for both young
and old
things went from bad to worse.
5. Adverbials
Adverbials
can heve a number of different structure. They can be
(A) ADVERBS
: peter was playing well.
(B) PREPOSITIONAL
PHRASES : peter was playing with great skill.
(C) FINITE
CLAUSES : peter was playing well, althogh he was very tired.
(D) NON-FINITE
CLAUSES , in which the verb is
a
an infiniteve :
peter was playing to
win.
b
an -ing participle :
being captain of the
tem, peter played to win.
c an
-ed partiiple :
when urged by his
friends, he agreed to play again.
(E) VERBLESS
CLAUSES : pEter was playing , unaware of
the danger.
(F) NOUN
PHRASES : peter was playing last week.
(G) NOUN
PHRASES FOLLOWED BY ago, long, etc :
Three
years ago, peter was playing football regularly.
Adverblias
usually tell something extra about the action , happening , or state described
by the rest of the sentence. For example, the time, place, manner :
TIME My father is working today
PLACE My father is working in the
kitchen
MANNER
My father is working hard
A sentence can have
more than one adverbial :
My father is working hard in the kitchen
today.
Adverbial position
Although
some adverbials can only occur in fixed position, most adverbials are mobile,
ie they can come at different places in the sentence. We need to distinguish
three main positions :
FRONT-POSITION Now susan is very happy.
MID-POSITION Susan is now very happy.
END-POSITION Susan is very happy now.
Long
advebials rarely occur in mid-position , which is usually restriced to certain
short adverbs such as almost, hardly, just , never :
The chairman almost resigned.
We’ve just returned from Italy.
Advebials denoting
manner, means, and instrument
Manner , means, and
instrument adverbials usually have end-position :
They live frugally.
The children go to school by bus.
They examined the specimen microscopically.
In the passive,
however, mid-position is common :
Discussions were formally opened here today on the
question of international disarmament.
Contrast the position
of well in the following active and passive sentence :
He put the point well The
point was out well.
He well put the point the
point was well put.
Place adverbials
Place
adverbials, both those denoting location and those denoting derection,usually
have end-position :
The meeting will be upstairs.
He managed to kick the ball into the gol.
Some location advebials
, particulary prepositional phrases and cluses, can easily apper in
front-position :
They boys were jumping and skipping outside.
To place adverbials can
occur together in end-position , usually with the smaller unit before the large
unit :
Many people eat in chinese restaurants in London.
Only the large unit can
be moved to front-position :
In london many people eat in chinese restaurant.
In chinese restaurant many people eat in London.
Time adverbials
Time
adverbials can be divided into three classes accordinng to their meaning : adverbials denoting time-when, duration and
frequency.
Time –when adverbials
We
may distinguish two groups of time-when adverbials .
Group A adverbials
denote a point or period of time :
Do come and see us again.
We lived in Baltimore last year.
The meeting starts tomorrow at 8 o’clock.
Group
B adverbials denote a point of time but also imply the point from which that
time is measured. Most of these adverbials occur either in front, mid, or
end-position :
They resently had an accident.
They had an accident recently.
Time duration adverbials
Time
duration adverbials denote (A) length of time or (B) durtion from some
preceding point of time. Both groups normally heve end-position :
(A)
I’ll be in California for the summer.
They
were on duty all night long.
(B)
Britain has had decimal currency since
1971.
I’ve
been staying here since last Saturday.
Time frequency adverbials
There
are two groups : (A) Those denoting definite frequency and (B) those denoting
idenfinete frequency.
(A)
Definite frequency adverbials usually
heve end-position :
Committee meetings take place weekly.
(B)
Idenfinite frequency adverbs normally
have mid-position :
He generally leaves home at seven in the morning.
Degree adverbs
Degree
adverbs have a heigtening or lowering effect on some part of the sentence. Many
of them occur in mid-position :
He’s definitely going to emigrate.
So they really want him to be elected ?
I much prefer the old methods.
End-position is also
possible for many of these adverbs :
He completely ignored my request.
He ignored my request completely.
Mid-position can come ,
for positive or negative emphasis , before the operator :
I simply don’t believe what she said.
You really will have to be more careful.
Sentence adverbials
The
adverbials we have discussed so far are integrated to some extent in the
structure of the sentence . for example , they can modify the verb , and be
affected by negation .
I alwasy drive carefully.
I don’t always drive carefully.
6.
Adverbs
Most
adverbs are formed from djective with the suffix -iy : frank, frankly.
Adverbs have two
typical funtions :
(A)
As adverbial: he always drive carefully
.
(B)
As modifinier of a adjectives, b
adverbs, or c a member of other contructions :
a
He
is an exremely careful driver.
b
He drives extermely carefully.
c
He lives in a house just outside the town.
(C)
As a complement of a preposition : I
haven’t been here before NOW.
7.
Apposition
Two
or mor noun phrases which occur next to each other and refer to the same person
or thing are said to be in APPOSITION :
A neighbour of yours, fred long, will be visiting us this
evening .
The elements in
apposition can also occur in a diferent order :
Fred long, a neighbour of yours, will ......
Restrictive and non-restrictive
apposition
A
distinction similar to that between restrictive and non-restrictive relative
clauses can be applied to apposition :
( Which Mr smith do you mean ? ) Mr smith the architect
or Mr smith the electrician ? ( RESTRICTIVE ).
8. Articles
The
articles are a subclass of the delerminers, There are two articles in English,
the definite and the infinite. Sometimes nouns require no article at all.
The forms of the articles
The
spelling of the indefinite article and the pronunciation of both the definite
and indefinite articles
depend on the initial sound of the following word. Articles are normally unstressed, but may be stressed for
special emphasis.
The
untressed definite article is always written the but is pronounced /öə/
before consonants and
/öI/ before vowels. The indefinite article is a /ə/ before consonants and an /ən/ before vowels.
Article Usage
The general grammatical
rules are as follows :
The
definite article can be used with all kinds of noun except most proper nouns:
SINGULAR
COUNT NOUNS the
ball/child/exam
PLURAL
COUNT NOUNS the
balls/children/exams
(SINGULAR)
MASS NOUNS the gold/milk/knowledge
The
indefinite article, on the other hand, can normally only be used with singular
count nouns; for other nouns the zero article (or unstressed some/səm/) is used
for indefinite meaning.
The
general rules of meaning for the use of
articles with common nouns discussed in part three. Here we shall add to that
information by discussing some groups of common nouns, and the use of count
nouns as complement.
Common nouns without article
-
*Institutions*
Go to bed = lie down on the bed
-
Means of transport
Travel by bus = sit in the bus
-
Times of the day an night
They met at night, by night = wake up in
the night
-
Meals
She arrived at dinner = she was
preparing the dinner
-
Paralel phrase
They walked hand in hand = what have you got in your
hand
Count nouns as
complement
Unlike
many other languages. English requires an article with singular count nouns as
complements. With indefinite reference, the indefinite article is used :
Bill
become a successful businesman
But no article is
required after turn :
He
has turned traitor.
9. Auxiliary Verbs
Auxiliary
verbs are as their name suggest, ‘’helping verbs’’. They do not maku up a verb
phrase on their own,but must usually be accompanied by a following main verb.
Auxiliary verbs are a small class of words, made up of primary auxiliaries like
be and modal auxiliaries like can.
Auxiliary
verbs are structurally necessery for certain constructions ( especially
negative and question clauses ), and these constructions enable us to
distinguish them from main verb :
(A) Auxiliary
verbs can be placed before the negative word not :
I
am not working today.
(B) Auxiliay
verbs can be placed before the subject in question :
Can
I help ?
An auxiliary verb can occur without a main
verb, but only where the main verb is omitted because it is supplied by earlier
context :
I can speak french as well as
she can.
Some auxiliary
verbs have contracted positive forms which can be used after a pronoun ( He’s leaving tomorrow, what’ll you have ?
etc ), a short noun ( The dog’s
borking, The soup’ll be cold ), or the words here, there and now ( There’s going to be trouble, Now’s the time
). In addition, most auxiliary verbs
have contracted negative forms, isn’t, can’t, etc . Contracted forms frequently
occur in ( spoken ) and ( informal ) English.
The
primary auxiliary verbs ( can, have, be
)
Do
The auxiliary do
has the following forms :
Non-negative
|
Uncontracted
Negative
|
Contracted
Negative
|
|
past
other
|
Do
Did
|
Do not
Did not
|
Don’t
Didn’t
|
Note : Do is
also a a main verb (=’perform’) and b a subtitute verb with the full range
of forms like other main verb, including the present participle doing and the
past participle done :
a What heve you been doing today ?
b (A) You said you would finish it.
(B) I
have done .( I heve done so )
Have
The modal auxiliares
The
modal auxiliaries do not have –s forms
–ing forms , or –ed participles. Can,may,shall,will have special past
forms ( could,etc), but the remainder ( sush as must ) do not.
Non-negative
|
Uncontracted
Negative
|
Contracted
Negative
|
Could
might
should
would,’d
must
ought to
used to
need
dare
|
Cannot,can not
Could not
May not
Might not
Shall not
Should not
Wiil not,’ll not
Would not,’d not
Must not
Ought not to
Used not to
Need not
Dare not
|
Can’t
Couldn’t
(mayn’t)
Mightn’t
Shan’t
Shoudn’t
Won’t
Wouldn’t
Mustn’t
Oughtn’t to
Usedn’t to
Needn’t
Daren’t
|
Note
(a)
Sometimes there is a choice between
two contracted forms , eg won’t and ‘ll not
(b)
Mayn’t is restricted to < BrE
>, where it is rare
(c)
Shan’t is rare in < AmE
>
(d)
Ought regulary has the
to-infinitive,but occasionally in < AmE > THE bare infinitive is used in
negative sentences and in questions ( although should isbcommoner in both cases):
You oughtn’t
smoke so much.
Ought you smoke so much ?
10. Case
In
English, the personal pronoun I,he,she,we,they
have three case
forms,subjective,objective, and genitive. But nouns and other pronouns have only
two cases : the common case ( the boy
) and the genitive case ( the boy’s )
. which has no special ending, is the case which is found in all circumstances
except where the genitive is requered .
11. Clauses
Clauses
are the principal structures of which sentence are composed. A sentence may
consist of one, or more than one clause. There are three infortant ways in
which clauses my be described and clasified :
(A) In
terms of the CLAUSES ELEMENT ( subject, verb,etc ) from which they are
constructed, and the VERB PATTERNS which are formed from these elements.
(B) In
terms of the amount of use which a clause makes of verb phares structure. On
this ground , we distinguish between FINITE CLAUSES, NON-FINITE CLAUSES, and
VERBLESS CLAUSES.
(C)
In terms of CLAUSES FUNCTION , the
function a clause performs in a sentence ; eg whether it is a NOMINAL CLAUSE (
acting as an noun phrase ), an ADVERBIAL CLAUSE ( acting as an adverbial
element ).
12. Cleft Sentences
(A) The it –type cleft sentences
A
single clause, for example,
John bought an old car last week.
Can
be divided into two separate parts , each with its own verb :
It was John who bought an old car
last week.
Sentences
John bought an old car last week can be changed into different cleft sentences
depending on what element is considered
the most impoetant in the sentence :
|It was an old car | that
John bought last week.|
|It was last week| that John
bought an old car.|
The
second part of a cleft sentence is very similar of a restrictive relative
clause : the relative pronouns are also used in cleft sentences.
(B)
The wh-type cleft sentence
Besides
the it-type , there is also a wh-type of cleft sentence.
|What John bought last week|
was an old car.|
Cleft
sentences are to be contrasted with sentences with introductory there and
introductory it . in introductory it-sentences ,in introduces a clause, and
there is no emphasised clause element to act as focus :
It’s no use trying to wake him up.
13. Commands
2nd person command
A command is
usually a sentence with an imperative
verb, ie the base form of the verb,
without endings for number or tense.
Come here
Commands are apt
to sound abrupt unless they are toned down by signals of politeness such as please :
Please eat
up your dinner.
Shut
the door, please.
There are no
auxiliary verbs in commands except do, which must occur in negative commands,
and may also occur in positive commands:
Don’t
stay too late, John. (
NEGATIVE COMMAND )
Do
sit down. ( EMPHATIC OR PERSUASIVE COMMAND )
Notice that in
commands,but not elsewhere, do can be followed by be:
Don’t be
noisy.
But : they weren’t noisy.
Do be careful. But : they are careful.
Although commands usually have no subject , we can say that, when the subject is missing, there is an IMPLIED subject you . This is evident when a reflexive pronoun or tag is used :
Although commands usually have no subject , we can say that, when the subject is missing, there is an IMPLIED subject you . This is evident when a reflexive pronoun or tag is used :
Be quiet, will
you!
Be heve your
self .
However , a subject you
does sometimes occur in commands :
You just listen to me.
you go ahead.
Here you is always
stressed, wheres in statements it is not stressed:
‘ you’ put it down. ( COMMAND)
You ‘ put it down. ( STATEMENT )
Its and 3rd person commands
Its person 3rd person
commands also occur, but less frequently than 2nd person commands.
A its person commands begins with let followed by me in the singular, or us ( normally abbreviated to’s) in the
plural :
Let me have a look at
your essay.
Let’s heve dinner. (
informal )
A
3rd person command has a 3rd person subject, which is precedetd by let in ( fomal ), often ( elevated )
style :
Somebody let me
out. ( informal )
Let somebody else attempt
this task.
14. Comment clauses
Comment
clauses are so called because they do not so much add to the information in a
sentence as comment on its truth, the manner of saying it, or the attitude of
the speaker. They are only loosely related
to the rest ofthe main clause they belong to, and function as sentence
adverbials, They are usually marked of' from the other clause, in
(written)-English by commas, and in <speech> by having a separate tone
unit. Comment clauses can freely occur in front-, mid- and end-positions in the
clause, but the end-position is mainly restricted to <informal speech).
At the time, I believe, bill worked as a mechanic.
What’s
more, we lost all our belongings.
Comment
clauses are of varied types, as these examples show. The most frequent types is
probably that of finite clauses without any introductory word : you see, you know, i think, etc. These are
closely parallel to main clauses introducing a that-clause. Compare :
I see that the joneses
have a new pet.
The joneses have new
pet, I see.
15. Comparison
Comparison
is expressed either by the endings –er
and –est or by the words more and most :
|
ADJECTIVES
|
|
ADVERBS
|
|
tall
beautiful
|
|
soon
easily
|
|
taller
more beautiful
|
|
sooner
more easily
|
|
tallest
most beautiful
|
|
soonest
most easily
|
|
COMPARATIVE
|
|
SUPERLATIVE
|
Comparison
of adjectives
The
endings are generally used with
a. Adjectives consisting of one syllable :
grent greater greatest
b. Adjectives
consisting of two syllables and ending in –y,
-ow, -le, -er, and –ure :
funny (funnier, funniest), friendly, lively, etc
hollow (hollower, hollowest), narrow, shallow, etc
c. Some
common two syllable adjectives, for example common,
handsome, polite, quiet, which can have either type of comparison :
|
common
|
|
commoner
more
common
|
|
commonest
most
common
|
Comparison
of adverbs
Adverbs
have the same general rules comparison as adjectives. (This is of course true
also for adverbs that are identical in form with adjectives, early, etc) :
early earlier earliest
Comparison
of quantifiers
The
quantifiers much, many, little and few (see 766, 733) also have special
comparative and superlative forms, as follow :
much more most
many more most
Comparative
clauses
The comparative form of adjectives and
adverbs is used when we want to compare one thing with another in order to
point out some difference .For this purpose, a subclause beginning with than can be added after the comparative
word :
His
most recent book is more interesting
than his previous ones
were [1]
|
worse
less
well
|
Bill speaks French that be writes it. [3]
Comparative
phrases
In addition,
other elements of a subclause can be omitted if they repeat the information in
the main clause.
There are more pubs than shops in this village
|
I. <formal>
me <informal>
|
|
they. <formal>
them <informal>
|
We scored three more goals than
In <informal> English such clauses can be ambiguous :
Mr
Pettigrew is fonder of his secretary than his wife
The most likely meaning is :
Mr
Pettigrew is fonder of his secretary than he is (fond) of his wife
But another possible meaning is :
Mr
Pettigrew is fonder of his secretary than his wife is
Adverbials (Such as ever,
usual, in the water) can follow than in
comparative phrases :
|
ever
usual
in the
water
|
There were more people on the beach than
One type is illustrated
in :
There
were fewer than twenty people at the meeting.
Another type of construction is not so
much concerned with comparison of degree and amount as with comparison of
descriptions :
They pulled him out of
the water more dead than alive.
The
performance was more good than bad
(not
. . . better than bad)
The constructions we have discussed here
are found not only with unequal comparisons (more, less), but with ‘equal’
comparisons (as much as etc)
16.
Complements
We distinguish three
types of complement : (A) CLAUSE COMPLEMENTS, (B) ADJECTIVE COMPLEMENTS, and
(C) PREPOSITIONAL COMPLEMENTS.
(A) Clause Complements
The complement of a clause can be
a
a noun phrase : Mary is a capable
girl.
b
an adjective : Mary
is capable
c
a nominal clause
the complement can be distinguished from
the subject of a clause in that it normally comes after the verb. The
complement normally comes after the object :
Bad
jokes make John angry.
The complement cannot normally by
omitted. If we take away the complement, the remaining part does not make a
good English sentence :
Bad
jokes make John angry.
Bad jokes make John.
(B) Adjective
Complements
|
glad
glad (that) you are coming. (that-CLAUSE)
glad to hear the good news. (to-INVINITIVE)
glad of your success. (PREPOSITIONAL
PHRASE)
|
She’ll be
(C) Prepositional
Complements
|
The
charge
What
was to be changed.
Changing
the agreement
|
She’ll be
17.
Concord
(A) Concord
of number
a. Subject-verb
concord
In English, the question of number
concord arises only with present tense verb, and with the past tense of be : He KNOWS / They KNOW ; He WAS / They WERE. A clause acting as subject
counts as singular:
To tread them as hostages is criminal.
b. Pronoun
concord
A pronoun which refers back to singular
noun phrase is in the singular and a pronoun which refers back to a plurar noun
phrase is in the plural :
The boy likes HIS toys
The boy likes THEIR toys
National concord
We find for example that the singular
form of a group noun like government
can be treated as plural in
|
HAVE
has
|
|
THEIR
its
|
Concord
with group nouns
Group nouns occur with either
grammatical or national concord in examples such as :
The
public IS/ARE tired of demonstrations
The
audience WAS/WERE enjoying every
minute of the show
Our
Planning Committee HAS/HAVE
considered your request
The
yast majority of the students
NEEDS/NEED increased financial support
When the group is being considered as a
single undivided body, the singular is used.
The
public CONSIST of you and me
Concord
with coordinated subjects
When a subject consist of two or more
noun phrases coordinated by and, the
verb is usually in the plural if the coordination is taken to be a reduction of
two difuses:
Tom and Mary ARE ready
(=
‘Tom is ready and Mary is ready.’)
But a singular verb is used
The hammer and sikle WAS flying from a
tall flagpole.
When two noun phrases are joined by or or either . . . or, the general rule is that the number of the verb is
determined by the number of the last noun phrase (PROXIMITY) :
Either your brakes or your eyesight IS at fault [1]
Either your eyesight or your brakes ARE at fault [2]
To avoid the awkwardness,
it is usually possible to use an auxiliary verb which has the same form in the
singular and the plural, for example :
Either your brakes or your eyesight MUST
be at fault.
Concort with indefinite expressions
of amount
Indefinite
expression of amount, especially no, none and any, often cause concord problems :
So far no money HAS been spent on repairs (MASS)
No
person of that name LIVES here (SINGULAR
COUNT)
No
people of that name LIVE here (PLURAL
COUNT)
I’ve ordered the cement, but none (of it) HAS yet arrived (MASS)
I’ve ordered the shrubs, but none (of them)
HAVE/HAS yet arrived (SINGULAR
OR PLURAR CONT)
In
the last example, grammatical concord insist that none is singular, but notional concord invites a plural verb. Has
is typical of <written, formal> style, whereas have is more idiomatic in <informal> English.
The
same rule also aplies to neither and either :
I
sent card to Mavis and Margery but neither
(of them) HAS/HAVE replied. In fact. I doubt if either (of them) IS/ARE coming.
The
plural pronoun they is often used in
<informal> style as a replacement of everyone,
everybody, someone, somebody, anyone, anybody, no one, nobody :
Everyone thinks they have the answer.
Has
anybody brought their camera?
In <formal> English, the tendency
is to use he when the sex is not
stated :
Everyone thinks he has the answer.
(B) Concord
of person
Be (the present tense) : I AM, he is,
they ARE
He (our friend, etc) COMPLAINS
I (you. \ we \ they, \ our
friends, etc) COMPLAIN
MODAL AUXILIARIES : I
(we, you, he, our, friend, our friend, etc) CAN come
18.
Coordination
Coordination of clauses
Clauses or phrases may
be linked together (coordinated) by the conjunctions and, or, but. In these examples, the conjuntions are used to link
clauses :
John plays the piano and his sister plays the guitar [1]
They may complain but (they) haven’t said anyting yet [2]
Here are some
further examples of coordinated clauses, with the parts that are usually
omitted in brackets :
He found his key and (he) opened the door
I’m selling the car and (I’m) buying a new one
He may have received the letter but (he may have) forgotten to replay.
Coordination can
be used to link parts of clauses (eg
subjects, verb phrases, objects) rather than whole clauses. We can say, as
above, that these are cases of clause coordination in which repeated elements
are omitted. For example, the meaning of [4] can be expanded as in [5] :
I bought some bacon and a loaf of
bread [4]
I bought some bacon and I bought a
loaf of bread [4]
But in other
cases we cannot reconstruct two complete clauses :
My closest friends are Fred and his
wife
This does not
mean
My closest friend is Fred and my
closest friend is his wife
In addition,
there are cases of coordination which may indicate a ‘reciprocal’ relationship
:
Roderick and Mabel are in love (= Roderick is in love
with Mabel, and Mabel is in love with Roderick.’)
Because of these
different functions of coordination in phrases we shall treat coordination of
phrases in therms of what elements are linked,
rather then what moments are omitted.
Coordination of clause elements
Some example are
:
SUBJECTS Fred
and his wife are my closest friend.
VERB PHRASES
He speaks, or used to speak,
with a very strong accent.
COMPLEMENTS
The hotel was very expensive but rather dirty.
ADVERBALS
You can wash this sweater by hand or in the washing machine.
PREPOSITIONAL
COMPLEMENTS
Our learn plays in red shirts and white shorts.
Coordination of words
Coordination can
also link two words of the same word class.
For example :
NOUNS
Many boys and girls prefer to
dress in the same way nowadays.
ADJECTIVES
The house was so old and dirty that no one wanted to buy it.
CONJUCTIONS
If and when the agreement is signed, we can
look forward to a period of peace and coorperation.
Coordination of combinations and
parts of phrases
In addition,
coordination can link combinations of phrases (eg combinations of sentence elements). Even where these do not
occur next to one another in the sentence :
SUBJECT AND VERB
PHRASE
The
papers say, and most people believe,
that Democrats will win the next election
SUBJECT AND
COMPLEMENT
Martha
is secretary and John chairman.
Also
combinations of words which do not make a complete phrase can be linked :
The fund gives help to many orphan children and unmarried mothers.
In this example,
we have a single noun phrase (many . . .
mothers) within wich the adjective + noun sequences are coordinated.
Another example, in which parts of and adjective phrase are linked, is :
He is very friendly and willing to
help
Here very modifies (we assume) both friendly and willing to help.
But
notice that sentences can be ambiguous, depending on what parts are understood
to be coordinated :
She’s
wearing a while scarf and gloves.
Omission of conjuctions
When more than
two items are coordinated, the conjuction is normally amitted before each item
except the last :
I would like a ham sandwich, an
ice-cream and a cup of tea.
Elsewhere the
conjuction can be omitted especially in a rather <literary> style, or
where the list of items is understood to be incomplete :
The woods were alive with the call
of blackbirds, thrushes, finches, wood-pigeons.
Correlative coordination
Sometimes the
coordination of two structures is made more emphatic by the addition of a word
at the beginning of the first structure : both x and y, either x or y, etc.
This is called CORRELATIVE coordination. The most important correlatives in
English are illustrated in these examples :
Both America and Russia realise the
need for an arms agreement.
Either the pump’s broken or there’s
a blockage in one of the pipes.
His doctor allows him neither to
drink nor to smoke.
She’s not only an excellent
housewife, but (also) a first class mathematician.
19.
Demonstratives
The words this, that, these and those are called DEMONSTRATIVE. They
have number contrast (singular and plural) and can function both as determiners
and as pronouns The general meanings of the two sets can be stated as ‘near’
and ‘distant’) :
. Singular Plural
‘near’ this these
‘distant’ that those
|
This book /
these books
That book /
those books
|
Like
20.
Determiners
Determiners are words which specify
the range of reference of a noun in various ways, by making it definite (the
boy), indefinite ( a boy), or by indicating quantity (many boys).
Determiners always precede the noun
they determine, but they have different positions relative to one another. The
most important category is that of CENTRAL DETERMINERS, including articles
these may be preceded by PREDETERMINERS and/or followed by POSTDETERMINERS (see
Table 1).
Table
1
DETERMINERS
PREDETERMINERS
|
CENTRAL
DETERMINERS
|
POSTDETERMINERS
|
a.
All,
both, half (see 559)
b.
Double,
twice, etc (see 560)
c.
One-third,
etc (see 561)
d.
What,
such, etc (see 562)
|
a.
Articles : the, a(n) (see 492-6)
b.
Demonstratives : this, these,
that, those (see 548-9)
c.
Possesives : my, your, etc (see 688-9) and
genetives (see 570-2)
d.
Quantifiers : some, any, no,
every, each, either, neither, enought, much (see 765-76)
e.
Wh- determiners :
What
(ever), which (ever), whoever, whose
|
a.
Cardinal numerals :
One,
two, etc (see 564)
b.
Ordinal numerals :
First, second, etc
(see 565)
c.
General ordinals :
Next, last, others, etc
(see 565)
d.
Quantifiers : many, few, little, several, more, less,
etc
|
Central determiners
The
central determiners form six groups (A-F) as follows :
(A)
DETERMINERS WITH ALL THREE CLASSES OF
NOUN (Singular or plural count nouns and mass nouns) :
a.
The
:
I’ve lost the pen / the gloves / the money
b.
Possessives:
Have you seen my pen / my gloves / my money?
c.
Whose, which (ever), what (ever:
Whose
pen / whose gloves / whose money did you borrow?
d.
Stressed some and any
Any pen / any pens / any
information will do
e.
no
He’s
got no friend / no friends / no news at
all.
|
the girl’s
her
|
I liked new dress.
(B)
DETERMINERS WITH PLURAL COUNT NOUNS OR
MASS NOUNS ONLY :
a zero article
they need tractors/help from us.
(C)
DETERMINERS WITH SINGULAR COUNT NOUNS OR
MASS NOUNS ONLY
a.
this
this
lecture / this (type of) research is very interesting
b.
that
i
find that poem / that (type of) poetry difficult to
understand.
(D)
DETERMINERS WITH SINGULAR COUNT NOUNS
ONLY :
a.
a(n) (see 492-3)
Wait a minute!
b.
Every (see 62, 766-7)
He comes here almost every day
c.
Neither (see 633, 766)
Neither
method is right
(E)
DETERMINERS WITH PLURAL COUNT NOUNS ONLY
a.
These
(see 548) :
I
dislike all these meetings
b.
Those
(see 54 :
In
those days life was enjoyable.
(F)
DETERMINERS WITH MASS NOUNS ONLY :
Much
(see 769) :
We don’t have much news of him.
21. Exclamations
An
exclamation is a type of sentence which is used to express the speaker’s feeling
or attitude. Notice, however, that the exclamation type of sentence is only one
way of showing enthusiasm, etc. The exclamation as a sentence type begins with
what as determiner in noun phrases or how as a degree word with adjectives or
adverbs. To form an exclamation, put the element of the sentence containing
what or how al the front of the sentence, as with wh-questions, but do Not
alter the order of subject and operator:
She
cooked such a good diner. SVO
What
a good dinner she cooked OSV
Your
son is clever. SVC
How
clever your son is! CSV
He
tells such awful lies. SVO
What
awful lies he tells! OSV
22. Gender
Gender in
english applies strictly only to certain pronouns, where the categories
masculine/feminie and personal/non-personal can aply, for example :
Noun, Adjectives, and articles, have no genderndistinctions,
although in asmall number of words the femine ending –ess marks a noun having
female reference: actors/actress, manager/manageress.
23. Genitive
In
<spoken> english, the genetive case of regular nouns is pronounced only
in the singular, where it takes one of the forms /Iz/, /z/, /s/ following the
rules for s inflection generally.
In
<written> english, the inflection of regular nouns is written in the
singular’s, and in the plural s’ by putting an apostprophe after the plural s.
In the plural, the genitive is pronounced.
Regular –s plural
An irregular plural
In addition to its use with regular plurals, the ‘zero’ form occurs
with some singular nouns ending in –s :
a with greek names of more tah only
syllable, as in euripides’ /-di;z/ plays.
b with certain fixed expressions as for
goodness’ sake, for conscience’ sake.
The of-constrction
In many insances a noun in the genetive case in similar in function
to the same noun as head of a noun phrase following of:
What’s the ship’
name?
What’s the name of
the ship?
Usually either the –s
genetive or the of-phrase is preferred in a given case : with people and
things, respectively. In numerous context only one one construction is
grammatically acceptable; eg we can say the
leg of the table but not a table’s leg. We can say john’s car of john.
The
genetive as a feature of noun phrase
Although the genetive is generally
discussed as a case of nouns, in some respects it is better to regard it as an
ending belonging to noun phrase rather than of nouns. In the following
examples, preceding determiners and premodifiers belong to the genetive noun
phrase rather than to the noun which is head of the whole phrase:
The genetive noun phrase
occupies determiner position in the main noun phrase. This is seen more clearly
when we compare equivalent of-phrases:
The hind leg of a horse
The oppinions of some
people
The
Group genetive
In postmodified noun phrase
it is necessary to add an –s genetive to the end of the postmodification
(rather than to the head noun itself):
UNMODIFIED NOUN: the
cairman’s business
POSTMODIFIED NOUN: the
cairman of the finance committe’s business
Also: someone’s house
The genetive with
ellipsis
The noun modified by the –s
genetive may be ommited if the context makes its identity clear:
My car is faster than John’s car, too.
But john’s ia a car, too.
An of-phrase can be combined
with an –s genetive into a double genetive. The noun with the –s genetive must
be both definite and personal:
This is an opera of verdi’s ( =’one of verdi’s operas)
24. Interrogatives
Interrogatives are words which introduce wh-questions
and interrogative subclauses. The interrogative words of English are who,whom,whose,which,what,where,when,how,
why, whether, if(=’whether’). They belong, with relative pronouns, to the class of words we call
for convenience wh-Words. Whether and if are restricted to interrogative
subclauses.
25. Introductory it
The regular word order in english is subject +
verb :
Her appearance doesn’t mattter.
When the subject is a clause,
however, the order is normally changed:
What she looks like doesn’t matter.
It
doesn’t matter what she looks like.
The subject clause is
placed at the end of the sentence, and the subject position is filled by the introductory it.
The
new sentence contains two subjects: the introductory subject (the pronoun it)
and the postponed subject (the clause what she Iooks like),
Here
are some more examples of sentences with introductory it:
it’s said that she slipped arsenic into
his tea.
It’s actually been suggested that income
tax should be abolished.
It a pity make a fool of yoursef
It surprised me to hear him say that,
It makes her happy to see otherr
enjoying themselves.
It was considered impossible for anyone to
escape.
it was easy getting the equipment loaded.
it's no use telling him that.
it would be no good trying to catch the
bus now.
Sentence
with introductory it must be distinguished from sentence where it is a personal
pronoun which acts a replacement for a noun phrase in the contex, for example:
I don’t like the look of this fish,
but it’s good to eat.
Where
it refers back to fish. Similarly:
It’s too wet to play tennis.
Where
the infinite clause is the complement of the adjectives phrase too wet.
26. Introductory
there
In english
sentence like A book in on the desk is possible but uncommon. The natura; way
of putting it to begin the sentence with an unstressed three and thus postpone
the indefinite subject (a book):
There is a book on the desk.
This
is called a sentence with introductory there. All main verb patterns can be
turned into such sentences with there, so long as the subject is indefinite and
the verb phrase contains be:
Pattern [I] : A bus is coming
There’s
a bus coming
Pattern [L]: Something must be wrong
There
must be something wrong
Pattern [L]: Was anyone around?
Was
there anyone around?
Pattern [T]: Plenty of people are getting promotion.
There
are plenty of people are going to promotion.
Pattern [X]: Two bulldozers have been knocking the place flat.
There
have been two bulldozers knocking the palce
flat.
Pattern [D]: Something is causing her distress.
There
is something causing her distress.
Passive
sentences sometimes occur:
A
whole box has been stolen.
There’s
been a whole box stolen.
Introductory
there differs from there as a front-placed adverb both in lacking stress, and
in behaving in most ways like the subject of the sentence:
a In
<informal> English, there often determines concord so that the verb is
singular even when the postponed subject is plural:
There`s Two Patiens in the waiting room.
informal
occurs
alongside the regular <formal> plural:
There are Two PATIENTS in the waiting
room.
b
There can act as subject in yes-no
questions and tag questions.
Is there ANY MORE soup?
There’s NOTHING wrong, is there?
c
There can act as subject in infinitive
and -ing clauses:
I don‘t want there to be any misunderstanding.
He was disappointed at there being so
little to do.
There
is another type of introductory-there sentence which consists of there+be+ a
noun phrase+a clause which is like a relative clause. Here the verb need not be
a form of be (and, although there must be an indefinite clause element, it need
not be the subject):
Something keeps upsetting him.
There
is something that keeps upsetting him.
Is there anyone that you want to speak
to?
Another
common sentence pattern with introductory rhere is'there+be+noun phrase + to-infinitive
clause:
There was No one for us to talk to.
There
is also another type which is most likely to occur in <literary> contexts
where there is followed by a verb other than be (such as lie, stand, exist):
There
may come A TIME (= 'A time may come`) when Europe will be less fortunate.
With
a place adverbial in front-position, there may be omitted in <lilerary>
style:
In
front of the carriage (there) rode Two MEN in magnificent uniforms.
27. Irregular verbs
The
irregular main verbs of English form a rather sma|l,'but important group of verbs.
They are like regular verbs in having regular -s and -ing forms, for
example,
walks, walking and spends, spending. But they differ from regular verbs in that
we cannot predict their past form and or their past participle from the base ,
We distinguish three types of irregular verbs:
(l) Verbs
in which all these three parts (the base, the past, the past participle) are
identical, for example, cut-cut-cut.
(ll) Verbs
in which two of the three parts are identical, for example, spend-spent-spent
and come—came-come.
(Ill) Verbs
in which all three parts are different, for example, speak-spoke-spoken
Within
each type, the verbs are here arranged according to similarity, for example,
‘the spend-group‘, `the speak group`, etc.
28. Main Verbs
Regular and Iregular Verbs
There are two types of
verbs : Main verbs and Auxiliary Verbs. Main Verbs are either regular or
Irregular.
A regular English
Verbs has the following four forms :
The Base Call The –ing form Calling
The –s Form Calls The –ed Form Called
The vast majority of
english verbs are regular. Furthermore, all new verbs that coined or borrowed
from other languages adopt this pattern, for example : xerox, xeroxes,
xeroxing, xeroxed.
The –s Form
The –s form, also
called the 3rd person singular present, of both regular and irrregular verbs is
formed in <written> english by adding s or es to the base. In
<Spoken> English, the –s form is pronounced /Iz/,/z/, or /s/,
Base -s
Form
Press /pres/ presses
/ pressIz/
Play /pleI/ plays
/ pleIs/
Help / help/ helps
/ helps/
The –Ing Form
The –ing form, or the
present participle, of both regular and irregular verbs is formed by adding
–ing / Iŋ/ to the base :
Press /pres/ pressing
/ pressIŋ/
Play playing
Help Helping
On change in spelling,
for example beg/ begging
The –ed Form
The –ed Form of
regular verbs is formed by adding –ed to
the base. It corresponds to two forms of many irregular verbs : The past form
and the past participle (for –ed participle) Compare :
Regullar verbs
Base Past Form Past Participle
Press Pressed Pressed
Play Played Played
Help Helped Helped
Irregular Verbs
Base Fast Form Past Participle
Drink Drank Drunk
Know Knew Known
Hit Hit hit
The –ed form is
pronounced / Id/ , /d/ , or / t/:
Pat Patted
Praise Praized
Push Pushed
The Uses of the verb
forms
After Stating what the
form of english verbs are, we shall now the describe how they are used. The
uses are further discussed in the sections referred to below.
The Base form is used
a in all persons
of the present tense except the 3rd person singular
b in the
imparative :
Phone him at once
c in the present
subjunctive :
It is necessary that every member inform him
self of these rules
d in the
invinitive
We saw them leave an hour ago
I want you to type this letter
The –s form is used in
3rd person singular of teh present tense, ie the only person where the base
form is not used :
He/She/It (the boy, the
cat. Etc.) likes milk
The –ed form
corresponds to both the past tense and the past participle of many irregular
verbs. Unlike the present tense, the past tense has only one form in all person
:
I/ you/ he liked milk.
29.
Nationally Words
When speaking
about english people in general we can say either the english (Adjective as
head) or englishmen (plural noun witout teh article) :
The English drink beer
in pubs
Englishman drink beer
in pubs
We referring to same
particular English person we say :
The Englishman (who
lived here) drink tea in the garden every day.
Wa call these two types
of reference Generic adn Specific, resvectively. In some cases, such as with
English/Englishman there are different
forms for different types of reference. Where nationality words have no
sevarate generic form, the +plural can be both generic and specific
The Germans are musical
The Germans that I know
are musical
The following table
show the name of same countries and continents and the corresponding adjectives
and nouns :
Name of country of continet
|
Adjective
|
Specific singular
|
Specipfic Plural
|
Generic plural
|
China
Japan
Portugal
Iraq
Wales
|
Chinese
Japanese
Portuguese
Iraqi
Welsh
|
A Chinese
A japanese
A portuguese
An iraqi
A waleshman
|
Chinese
Japanese
Portuguese
Iraqis
Waleshman
|
The Chinese
The
Japanese
The
Portuguese
The
Iraqis
The
Waleshman
|
30. Negation
Not-negation
To negate a finite
clause, you place not (or, in <informa|> use, its contracted form -n’t)
immediately after the operator
Positive Negative
He
is Coming. He
is not/ isn`t Coming.
We
may win the match. We may not win
the match,
We
have been defeated. We have not/
haven’t been defeated.
ln
these instances, there is an auxiliary (be, may, have) in the positive sentence
that can serve as operator. When there is no such operator present, the
auxiliary do has to be introduced. This ia called the do constructio. Like
modal auxiliaries, do is followed by the bare infinitive :
She enjoys reading. She does not /
doesn`t enjoy reading.
They understood the
problem. They did not/ / didn't understand the problem.
(On the constructions
with be and have as main verbs in negative sentences and on the forms of the
modal auxiliaries.
Contarcted Negation
As
well as the contracted negative, English has contracted verb forms, which can
be tagged on to the subject, There are thus two forms of (informal) negation
possible, one with a contracted verb, and one with a contracted negative :
Contracted Verb Contracted
Negative
He`s
not coming. He
isn’t coming.
We‘re
not ready. We
aren’t ready.
Both
sets of contracted forms are used in <informal> English, In
<formal> English, the full forms are used: he is not coming, etc.
AS
there is no widely acceptable contraction for am not, only the verb contraction
is possible in a sentence like l`m not ready,
In
questions with inversion, not can be placed either after the auxiliary in its
contracted form –n’t, or after the subject in its full form not.
Haven’t
you heard the news? informal
Have
you not heard the news?
Negative Pronouns and Determiners
lnstead of the
following sentence with not-negation:
There
isn’t any butter left.
we may equally well
say:
There
is no butter left.
No is a negative
determiner, and is one of a number of negative items in English with different
functions,
Other negative items
Other
negative items beginning with n- are:
nowhere
(adverb of place)
never
(adverb of time when or frequency)
neither
(adverb of additio)
(neither)
..... not (coordinating conjunction)
Also, there are certain
words which are negative in meaning and behaviour, although they do not appear
negative in form:
hardly,
scarcely, barely.
few,
Iittle
rarely,
seldom
The grammatical behaviour of
negative items
The
usual effect of all these negative items is to make the whole clause in which
they occur negative, This means that certain characteristics of negative
clauses are found not only with not, but also with other negative items:
(A) After a negative
item, normally any-words occur instead of some-words.
No
one has any doubts about his ability
I
seldom get any sleep after the baby wakes up
l’ve
spoken to hardly anyone who desagrees with me on this point.
(B) A negative item at the beginnig of a clause
brings about the inversion of subjec\ and operator, ie the order is
operator+subject (unless the negative item belongs to the subject. Thus
construction can sound rather <elevated> and <rhetorical>
Only
afler along argument did he agree to our
plan,
(C) Negative words are
followed by positive rather than negative tag-questions :
|she
never/scarcely seems to care| does she?\
You
won't forget the shopping | will you?|
Com pare :
You’ll remember the shopping | Won’t You?
Negation in phrases and non-finite
clauses
Sometimes
the word no is attached not to the verb phrase of a clause, but to another
element of the clause, such as a noun phrase. Not then comes before the word or
phrase which it negates. There is no inversion when the negated noun phrase is
itself subject :
Not
all of the passengers escaped unhurt,
Not
a single word did he uttter.
To negate non-finitee
clauses, we place the negative before the verb
phrase:
Not having read the book. I can‘t tell you
whether it is worth buying.
I
asked him not to interfere.
He
told her never to do it again.
Transferred Negation
After some verbs like
believe, suppose, and think, a not which belongs, in terms of meaning, to a
that-clause is usually transferred to the main clause :
I don’t believe (that)
you two have met, have you?
(=`I believe you two
haven't met`)
I don’t suppose (that)
anyone will object to my absence.
(=’ I suppose no one
will object)
I don’t think (that)
you need worry’
(=’ i think you needn’t
worry)
31. Nominal Clauses
Nominal
clauses function like noun phrases . Just as noun phrases may occur as subject,
object, complement, appositive, and prepositional complement, so every nominal
clause may occur in some or all of these roles:
SUBJECT Whether we need it is a
different matter
OBJECT I don’t know whether we
need it.
COMPLEMENT The problem is whether we need it.
APPOSITIVE That, Question, Whether we need it,
has not yet been
Considered.
PREPOSITIONAL The
dicison must depend on whether we need it.
COMPLEMET
There are five main
types of nominal clause;
That
clauses
lnterrogative
subclauses
Nominal
relative clauses
Nominal
to-infinitive clauses
Nominal
-ing clauses
That-Caluses
That clauses can
occur as :
Subject That
she’s still alive is sheer luck.
Direct
Object I told him that he was
wrong
Subject
Complemet The assumption is that
things will improve
Appositive Your assumption, that things
will improve, is not well-founded
Complemet
of an
Adjective I’m sure that things will
improve.
When the that-Clause is
object or complement or postponed subject that is frequently omitted in
<informaI> use:
I told him he
was wrong
I’m sure he
was wrong
Wh-Introgative Subclauses
Interrogative
subulauses are introduced by wh- introgative words. and occur in the whole
range of functions available to that-clauses, ln addition they can act as
prepositional complement.
Wh-interrogative
clauses are like wh-questions in that the wh-word is placed first. We have in
the wh-interrogative subclause, the same choice between intial and final
prepositions where the prepositional complementis the wh-elemet.
An
Infinitive Wh-clauses can be formed with all wh-words except by:
Yes-No Interrogative Subclauses
Yes-no interrogative
subclauses are formed with or whether :
Do you know if/whether the shops are open now?
The Alternative
questions has if/whether .... or :
I don’t care if/whether your car breaks down or not.
Only Whether can be
directly followed by or not :
I don’t care whether or not your car breaks down.
Nominal Relative Clauses
Nominal relative
clauses, also introduced by a wh-word, can act as
SUBJECT What
john realy needs is a wife.
DIRECT OBJECT I
want to see whoever deals with complaints.
INDIRECT OBJECT She
gave whoever came to the door a winning smile
SUBJECT COMPLEMENT Home is where your friends and family
are.
OBJECT COMPLEMENT You can call me what(ever) names you
like.
APPOSITIVE Let us know your college adress, that is where you
live
during the term.
COMPLEMENT OF You
should vote for which(ever) candidate you like
A PREPOSITION best
These
clauses are introduced by a wh-pronoun or wh-determiner. which combines the functions of the relative pronoun with that of
the determiner and/or head of the whole noun phrase. For example, the proverb
Whoever
laughs last, laughs longest.
can be put in the form:
Those
who laugh last, laugh longest.
in which whoever is
replaced by a demonstrative pronoun and a relative pronoun.
Who
hardly occurs in contemporary English in this nominal relative function:
Who told you that was lying.. Other expressions are used:
The
Person Who told you that was
lying
Anyone
who
As
these examples show, a nominal relative clause can be introduced by a wh-word ending
in -ever (whatever, etc). These words have general or inclusive meaning. Thus
the pronoun whatever means roughly 'anything which’.
Nominal to-invinitive Clauses
Nominal
to-invinitive Clauses can occur as :
SUBJECT for a bridge to collapse like that is
unlikely
DIRECT
OBJECT He likes everyone to be happy
SUBJECT
COMPLEMET His ambition is to be a pilot
APPOSITIVE
His ambition, to be a pilot, was never fulfilled
COMPLEMENT
OF AN
ADJECTIVE
I’m glad to be of help.
The subject of a
to-infinitive is normally introduced by far. A pronoun subject is here in the
objective case.
Nominal ing-clauses
The nominal –ing
participle clause can act as :
Subject Telling
lies is wrong
Direct object no one enjoys being disturbed in
the middle of the
night
Subject Complement What he likes best in playing practical
jokes.
Appositive He
was absorbed in his hobby, collecting stamps
Complement of
A Preposition I’m
tired of being treated like a child
Complement of
An Adjective The
children were busy building sand castles.
When the -ing clause
has a subject there is sometimes a choice bctwecn genitive case in <formal>
style:
l`m
surprised at his|John`s making that mistake.
and, In
<informal> style, objective case (for personal pronouns) or common case
(for nouns):
l`m
surprised at him/john making that mistake.
32.
Noun Phrases
A
noun phrase is a phrase which can act as subject, object, or complement of a clause,
or as prepositional complement. it is called a noun phrase because the word
which is its head (ie main part) is typically a noun, In the following
sentence:
John
found the new secretary in his officce a very atractive woman.
John,
secretary, office, and woman are nouns. The subject john, the object the new
secretary in his office, the object complement a very atractive woman are noun
phrase. Also part of the object, his office, is a prepositional complement,
constituting yet another noun phrase.
The
head noun can be accompanied by determiners (the, his, etc) and one or more
modifiers. Modifier which precede the head are called premodifiers (eg new,
very atractive), and those which follow the head are called postmodifiers (eg
in his office).
33. Numbers
Singular and Plural Number
ln
English, number is a feature of nouns, demonstratives, personal pronouns and
verbs. Nouns have singular or plural number and verbs in the 3rd person vary
for singular and plural agreement with the subject noun. The nouns which, according to the main rule, are
singular are
a
singular count nouns. ie nouns
denoting ‘one': a boy, the table, etc.
b
mass nouns : advertising, our
music, etc.
C proper nouns : John, Cairo, Marx, etc.
The
only nouns which normally occur in the PLURAL. are plural count nouns, ie nouns
denoting `more than one’: the boys, the table, etc.
The
regular plural is formed by adding -s or -es to the singular. But
special mention must be
made of :
(A) some nouns which
end in –s but are singular, and
(B) some nouns which
occur only in the plural.
(On the number of
adjectives as head, as in the. Supernatural and the rich, )
a. A singular nouns ending in –s
-
News
-
Some diseases
-
Subject namesnin –ics
-
Some Games
-
Some proper nouns
b. Noun
which occur only in the plural
a. Cattle
:
Many cattle have died in the drought.
People
as the plural of person :
There were a great many people
waiting at the airport.
(people
is however regular in the sense of ‘natio’ : the peoples of Afrika.)
b. Some
nouns denoting a tool, instrument or
article of dress consisting of two equal part which are joined together.
These are always plural, but can be turned into ordinary count nouns by means
of pair of:
(A) ‘ where are my trousers ? (B) They are here
‘I’d
like a pair of scissors, please.
There
are two pairs of glasses on the table. Which pair do you want?
c. There
are also many other nouns which. In a given sense, only occur in the plural,
for example contents :
Have
you stadied the contents of the book?
In many cases they have
a singular form (without –s), with a different meaning ( which a dictionary
will explain), for example :
What
is the silver content of this coin?
Here are further
examples of plural nouns :
The
middle ages
Archieves
Odds
(in betting)
Thanks (‘Many
Thanks?’)
34. Numerals
Cadinals and Ordinals
The
cardinal numerals (one, two, etc) and the ordinal numerals (first, second, etc)
are shown in the following list. Both types can function as pronouns or as
determiners. The ordinal are normally proceded by another determiner, usually
the definite article:
They are ten on the list, so you are the eleventh.
They are have five children already, so this will be
their sixth child.
CARDINALS ORDINALS
0 nought 1st first
1 one 20th twentieh
21 twenty-one 50th fiftieh
200 two hundred 200th two hundred
1,000,000 one million 1,000,000th (one) millionth
Fraction and Decimals
Fractions are read out
in full as follows :
½ a half
¼ a quarter
1
½ one and a half
Decimals are read out
in full as follows :
3.5 two point
five
3.14 three point
one four
Times of the clock are
read out in full as fellows :
At 5 at
5 (o’clock)
At 5.15 at
five fiftinth, at a quarter past five, at a quarter after five
Date are written and
read out as fellows :
<writtten> He
died on : - 5 May 1974.
- May 5th 1974.
<Spoken> : - on the fifth of May, nineteen
seventy-four
- on my May the fifth, nineteen seventy-four
- on May fifth, nineteen seventy-four
CHAPTER III
CLOSING
Conclusion
Grammar can be defined as a systematic description
of a language. It is traditionally divided into twobranches, morphology and
syntax.
Morphology is the study of the structure or forms of
words. For example, in English the ending –s may be used to form the
plural of nouns (teacher vs teachers) or the present
tense, 3rd person singular, of verbs (I play vs she plays).
Another ending, -ed, is added to verbs to form the past tense (I play
vs I played) or the so-called past participle (The role of
Dracula was played by Christopher Lee).
Syntax is the study of the rules governing the way
words are combined to form sentences. One such rule says that in English (and
many other languages including Swedish) the normal word order should be Subject
+ Verb + Object (Elvis has left the building, not *Elvis the building
has left (an asterisk is used to show that the sentence is ungrammatical)).
We should distinguish between descriptive grammar on
the one hand, and prescriptive grammar on the other. Descriptive grammar, which
this course is about, attempts to describe how the forms and constructions in
spoken and written language are actually used, and avoids rules of correctness.
The latter is, instead, the concern of prescriptive grammar, which states what
is ‘right’ and ‘wrong’ in language use. For example, in prescriptive grammar of
English, the so-called split infinitive, a construction with a word between to
and a verb (To boldly go where no man has gone before)
is branded as incorrect and should therefore be avoided. (In actual fact, this
construction is very common and is sometimes the only natural choice.)
REFERENCE
Leech,
geoffrey and Jan svartvik. Communicative Grammar of English
Tidak ada komentar:
Posting Komentar