THE ESSENTIAL ENGLISH GRAMMAR TEXTBOOK
Produced in affiliation with The Capitol Institute for Research and Extension (CINREX). For an extensive list of publications and research, go to http://cinrex.plilcom.com. Essential English Grammar is presented in four sections. Click on the section you want to go to and then click on the chapter links on that page.
Section 1: Understanding Parts of Speech 150KB, 2 min 40 sec at 28.8
Section 2: Combining Words Into Groups 112 KB, 2 min 10 sec at 28.8
Section 3: Conventions and Standard Usage 124 KB, 2 min 20 sec at 28.8
Section 4: Appendix to Essential Grammar 128 KB, 2 min 30 sec at 28.8
The materials contained in these web pages are copyrighted and are the property of the author. You are welcome to use any materials on this web site for your own personal, academic non-commercial use. However, commercial production or printing of these materials without the author's permission is a serious criminal offence. If you are an instructor or teacher, reproduction and dissemination of these materials for your student's use is considered personal, academic and non-commercial use.
COMBINING WORDS INTO MEANINGFUL GROUPS
1. Subject and Predicate 10. Dependent Adverb Clauses
2. The Phrase & Clause 11. Practice with Clause Types
3. Types of Clauses 12. The Phrase
4. Relationships between Phrases & Clauses 13. Prepositional Phrases
5. Independent Clauses 14. Verb Phrases
6. Dependent Clauses 15. Noun Phrase
7. Dependent Noun Clauses 16. Verbals & Verbal Phrases
8. Dependent Adjective Clauses 17. Phrase & Clause review
9. Restrictive & Nonrestrictive Clauses 18. Main Table of Contents
SUBJECT
AND PREDICATE
A sentence can be
divided into two parts – a subject and a verb.
(Some grammar books use the word predicate, but we will use verb.)
In most sentences, the subject comes before the verb.
The subject tells us “who” or “what”, and the verb tells us
something about the subject. For a sentence to be a sentence, it must contain a
minimum of two words - a subject and a verb.
For simple sentences, it is easy to find the subject and the verb.
In the sentence Rain falls, we can easily see the subject and the
verb. Falls tells us the action,
and rain tells us what it is that falls. There
is a simple rule to remember this:
Mr.
subject does what Mr. Verb says
Now
let’s think of the subject as the person or thing that is receiving the main
action of the verb. Let’s start
with a simple rule for finding the subject and the verb.
Always find the main verb first, and then ask “who” or
“what” is followed by that verb. The
word that answers who or what is the subject
*
Remember, we can usually find the main verb by using the pattern test -
[something (did or is) something else]. Now
let’s look at the following sentence:
Mary baked a cake. We
know the verb is baked because it is an action word. The
subject tells us “who” or “what” and the verb tells us what
happened. We can find the
subject by asking “who or what [the verb]?”
So we will ask “who baked?
The answer is Mary baked because it was
We
now know that Mary is the subject and baked is the verb, but what is the
relationship to the cake? In this
sentence, cake is the direct object. Let’s
try to put this all into a simple formula.
The verb expresses an action which is performed by the subject and which
affects someone or something else called the direct object. So
Somebody
or something / does something / which resulted in something else
Subject
Verb
Direct object
Mary
baked a
cake
Dodong
loves
Mary
Cats
eat
mice
Soldiers
carry
guns
The farmer
painted the
barn
Remember: the subject is responsible for the action of the
verb
Remember: the direct object receives the action of the
verb
Now
lets look at something called the indirect object.
Sometimes a verb of action has two complements – a direct object that
receives the action of the verb and an indirect object that receives the direct
object. This isn’t as hard as it
sounds – let’s look at some examples.
Subject
Verb
Indirect object
Direct object
Mary baked
me
a cake
He
bought
John
lunch
Dodong gave
Jose
Money
Jose
painted
the farmer’s
barn
It
is easy to see that the direct object and the indirect object do not refer to
the same thing. It is also easy to
tell the difference between the direct object and the indirect object. In sentence 1, simply ask “what did (subject) (verb)” or
“what did Mary bake”? Did Mary
bake me, or did Mary bake a cake? Mary
bake a cake, so cake is the direct object.
To find the indirect object, ask “who or what received the direct
object”? In other words, who
received the cake? “Me”
received the cake, so me is
the indirect object.
Now, we are going to look at a special kind of complement.
The object complement adds information to the object by giving us extra
information. Look at the following
examples:
Subject Verb
Indirect object Direct
object Object
complement
Jose painted
the farmer’s
barn
red
Dodong gave
Jose
money
yesterday
He bought
John
lunch
today
Of course, some sentences will be longer and will have a lot more words.
But we can still find these parts in a more complex sentence.
Look at this example:
This is the basic way we combine words into meaningful groups. Phrases, clauses and sentences are meaningful groups of words, and this will be the focus of this section.
The
Phrase and the Clause
Let’s start out with a
few definitions.
A phrase is a group of words
that does not contain a subject and a verb.
The most common type of phrase is the prepositional phrase.
Phrases can function as a noun, adjective, verb, or adverb.
They can also function as a infinitive,
gerund, or a participial, but we won’t cover these verbals until later (but
don’t worry – their not as bad as they sound)
We will talk about phrases after we have discussed the clause.
A clause is a group of words with
a subject and a verb. Every
sentence must contain at least one clause, because a sentence must contain a
subject and a verb. However, all
clauses are not sentences. Some
clauses make sense, or stand alone as sentences while others do not.
Because of this, there are two types of clauses – the independent
clause and the dependent clause
- An independent clause can stand alone
– it makes sense by itself.
-
A dependent clause can not stand alone – it must be attached to an
At this point, we need
to establish a few simple relationships. Earlier,
we learned that nouns, adjective and adverb are words that represent special
relationships. In fact, a noun, an
adjective or an adverb can be a single word, a phrase, or a clause.
BE
CAREFUL! Clauses and phrases can
involve complex structure. Once you
see the relationships, it is easy to understand.
We will take some time to go over these important relationships.
Many people have difficulty visualizing these concepts, but I have some
special ways of explaining phrases and clauses that make it understandable for
most students. We will explore
these concepts several different ways and give you lots of examples, but if you
don’t understand, say something!!! This
is the point at which many aspiring English students “loose it” and fall
into the abysmal black pit of “grammarless-ness”!
Make
sure you understand the difference between an independent clause, a dependent
clause and a phrase.
INDEPENDENT
CLAUSES
- An independent clause is a group if two or more grammatically linked words
- An Independent clause
contains both a subject and a verb
- An independent clause can
stand alone – it makes sense by itself.
- Every sentence must
contain an independent clause.
- A
sentence may contain more than 1 clause, but a sentence will always
DEPENDENT
CLAUSE
- A
dependent clause is a group if two or more grammatically linked words.
- A
dependent clause contains both a subject and a verb.
- A
dependent clause can not stand alone – it does not make sense by
- A
dependent clause is connected to an independent clause by a
THE PHRASE
- A
phrase is a group of two or more grammatically linked words
- A
Phrase does not contain a subject and a verb
- A phrase can not stand alone – it does not make sense by itself.
RELATIONSHIPS
BETWEEN PHRASES AND CLAUSES
Now that we have
looked at the rules for independent clauses, dependent clauses and phrases, we
will try to look at the relationships between clauses and phrases.
There are five relationships that we must consider: sentences, clauses,
subjects, verbs and phrases. We
will start with a sample sentence:
Although they had no money, the students went to the
office to
- Although
they had no money is a dependent clause. This clause is a group of words that contains a subject and a verb.
- The
students went to the office to convince the president to give them an exam
Phrases
are parts of clauses.
Although there are
different kinds of phrases, at this point, we are going to look at a few sample
phrases so we can start to understand the phrase concept.
The phrases we are going to look at should be relatively easy to
identify. In the above example, (1)
to the office, (2)to convince the president and (3)to
give them an exam permit are
the sample phrases we are going to look at.
Look at the following diagram. By
now, you should be able to identify the parts of the sentence that are labeled
in the diagram.
Although they had no money, the students went to the
office to
 |
In
the sentence, there are two clauses – a dependent clause and an independent
clause. The dependent clause is although
they had no money. The
dependent clause subject is they and the dependent clause verb is had.
The independent clause is the students went to the office to convince
the president to give them an exam permit.
The independent clause subject is students and the independent
clause verb is went. You
might recognize the first phrase (1) to the office as a
prepositional phrase. To is
the preposition and office is the object of the preposition.
The other two groups of grammatically linked words you should notice are
(2)to convince the president and (3)to give them an exam
permit. These are phrases
because they do not contain a subject. Remember,
the subject performs the action of the verb.
INDEPENDENT
CLAUSES
Most simple sentences are independent clauses.
Look at the examples bellow. These
sentences are independent clauses because they are (1) a group of grammatically
linked words, (2) they contain a subject and a verb, and (3) they stand alone
and make sense by themselves. Identify
the subject and the verb.
Today is Tuesday.
My lolo will visit on Wednesday.
I need to shop for food.
I am leaving now.
George finished his paper on time.
He also got a 1.0.
This is one of my classes.
Filipino Literature is my other class.
She received the assignment.
It is to be turned in next Friday.
We can join two independent clauses together in the same sentence by
using several different methods. In
this illustration, we will take the independent clauses above and join them
together. We can do this by using:
1.
A coordinating
conjunction:
Today
is Tuesday and
my lolo will visit on Wednesday.
2.
A conjunctive
adverb or another transitional expression:
I
need to shop for food;
in fact I am leaving
now.
3.
A correlative
conjunction:
George
not only finished his paper on time, but he
also got a 1.0.
4.
A Semicolon:
This
is one of my classes; Filipino Literature is my other.
5.
Colon
(sometimes):
She received the assignment: it is to be turned in next
Friday.
Most of the time, you will join independent clauses together with conjunctions. However, as your English and writing skills improve, you will start to use some of these other methods. For right now, it is especially important that you understand the process of joining independent clauses together using conjunctions.
Dependent
Clauses
So
far, things have gone pretty smoothly.
We have had a few difficulties along the way, but we have managed to find
our way through our lessons fairly well. However,
this next section will be difficult. We
will go slowly, and we will use a lot of examples. Don’t be discouraged if it
doesn’t make sense the first time you look at it. It usually takes a little practice before students understand
dependent clauses. However, this is
important, so let’s do it!
Lets‘s start by reviewing what dependent clauses are.
- A
dependent clause is a group of two or more grammatically linked words.
- A
dependent clause contains both a subject and a verb.
- A
dependent clause can not stand alone – it does not make sense by
-
A dependent clause must be attached to an independent clause in order
Dependent
Noun Clause
A
noun clause is an entire clause which takes the place of a noun or
pronoun in another clause or phrase. Like
a noun, a noun clause acts as the subject or object of a verb or the object of a
preposition, answering the questions ``who(m)?'' or ``what?''. Look carefully at
the following examples
Noun:
Their destination is unknown.
Noun clause: Where
they are going is unknown.
The clause where they are going is the subject of the main verb is.
Where
Noun: He will have
to pay for it.
Noun Clause:
Whoever broke the dish will have to pay for it.
The
clause Whoever broke the dish is the subject of the verb will have to
Noun:
The
Manila fans want victory
Noun Clause: The Manila fans want their
team to win again.
This noun clause is the object of the verb ``want,'' and answers the question ``what do the fans want?''
Dependent
Adjective Clauses
An adjective clause is an entire clause
which takes the place of an adjective in another clause or phrase. Like an
adjective, an adjective clause modifies a noun or pronoun, answering questions
like ``which?'' or ``what kind of?'' Let’s
look at these examples:
Adjective: the
blue coat
Adjective clause:
The coat which I bought yesterday
Like
the word ``blue'' in the first example, the dependent clause ``which I
Adjective:
The canned meat was spoiled
Adjective clause:
The meat which they ate was
This clause modifies the noun meat and
answers the question “which
Adjective: We
talked about that girl.
Adjective phrase: We
talked about the girl who made him cry
This
clause modifies the noun ``girl'' and answers the question “which
Adjective:
They are searching for the guilty boy.
Adjecttive phrase:
They are searching for the boy who broke the window.
The
clause modifies the pronoun boy and answers the question “which
Adjective:
Did I tell you about the famous author?
Adjective phrase:
Did I tell you about the author whom I met?
The
clause modifies the noun ``author'' and answers the question ``which
In
formal writing, an adjective clause begins with the relative pronouns who(m),
that, or which. In informal writing or speech, you may leave out
the relative pronoun when it is not the subject of the adjective clause, but you
should usually include the relative pronoun in formal, academic writing:
Informal:
The book Filipinos read most is the Bible.
Formal:
The book that Filipinos read most is the Bible.
Informal:
Some politicians never meet the people they serve.
Formal: Some politicians never meet the people whom they serve.
RESTRICTIVE
& NONRESTRICTIVE CLAUSES
Restrictive
and Non-Restrictive Clauses are classes of adjective clauses.
A restrictive modifying clause (sometimes called an essential
clause) is an adjective clause that is essential to the meaning of a
sentence. The meaning of the sentence would change if the clause were deleted. Because
restrictive clauses are essential, they are not set off by commas.
Look at these examples:
All students who do their work should pass easily.
The ring that I want is out of my price range.
This is the one which I like best.
Is he the one whose car was hit?
A nonrestrictive modifying clause (sometimes called a nonessential
clause) is an adjective clause that adds extra or nonessential
information to a sentence. The meaning of the sentence would not change if the
clause was omitted. Nonrestrictive modifying clauses are usually set off by
commas.
Jose Rizal, who wrote "Noli Me Tangere", is a great Filipino
hero.
The orange jeepney, which is my favorite, has a great stereo system.
The English student, whose wallet was lost, just went to lunch.
It is interesting to note that some sentences
may contain clauses that could be either restrictive or non-restrictive
depending on the context. For example: My cousin who has a broken leg was
at the picnic. If the phrase who
has a broken leg is important to your meaning, don’t use commas and say My
cousin who has a broken leg was at the picnic.
If the phrase who has a broken leg is incidental, or extra
information, use commas and say My cousin, who has a broken leg, was at the
picnic.
IMPORTANT TIP:
To
help decide whether a clause is restrictive or nonrestrictive, think of pairs of
commas as handles. If you can lift out the information between the commas and
the sentence still makes sense, then it is a nonrestrictive clause, and the
commas are necessary. If you lift out the information and the meaning of the
main clause changes, the information is a restrictive clause, and no commas are
needed.
Dependent
Adverb Clauses
An adverb clause is a dependent clause
which takes the place of an adverb in another clause or phrase. An adverb clause
answers questions such as ``when?'', ``where?'', ``why?'', ``with what
goal/result?'', and ``under what conditions?''. Notice how an adverb clause can replace an adverb in the
following example:
Adverb: The
President gave a speech here.
Adverb clause: The
President gave a speech where the workers were
Usually,
a subordinating conjunction like because, when(ever), where(ever),
since, after, and so that will introduce an adverb clause. When this happens, we are often (but not always) combining
two independent clauses into one sentence with an independent clause and a
dependent clause. In each of the following examples, the first line of each
example shows the two independent clauses which can easily stand alone as a
sentence. In the second line of
each example, the dependent clause with the subordinating conjunction is
highlighted. The highlighted
dependent clause can not stand alone - the reader will ask what or why because
of the subordinating conjunction. Remember,
adverb clauses express a relationships of cause, effect, space,
time, and condition, and a dependent adverb clause can never
stand alone as a complete sentence.
Cause: (1) The EDSA
Revolution occurred. Many
Filipinos resented the
(2)
The EDSA Revolution occurred because many Filipinos resented the
. Marcos
administration.
The
highlighted adverb clause answers the question “why”?.
Effect: (1) Benigno Aquino
returned to the Philippines. He
could participate in
(2)
Benigno Aquino returned to the
Philippines so that he could
The
highlighted adverb clause answers the question with what “goal?”.
Time:
(1) Benigno Aquino returned to the Philippines.
An assassin shot him.
(2) After Benigno Aquino returned to the Philippines, an assassin
shot
The
adverb clause answers the question ``when?''. Note the change in word order --
an adverb clause can often appear either before or after the main part of the
sentence.
Place: (1)
Many Filipinos were willing to go. Benigno
Aquino led them
(2)
Many Filipinos were willing to go where ever Benigno Aquino led them.
The
adverb clause answers the question ``where?''.
Condition:
(1) Benigno Aqiono survived the assassination attempt.
He surely
would
have been elected president.
(2)
If Benigno Aquino had survived the assassination attempt, he
surely
would have been elected president.
The adverb clause answers the question ``under what conditions?''.
ARE
THESE NOUN, ADVERB OR ADJECTIVE CLAUSES?
See if you can identify the function of
the highlighted dependent clauses in each of the sentences bellow.
Remember that a noun clause answers questions like who(m) or what. An adjective clause answers questions like which (one)?
An adverb clause answers questions like when?, where?, why?, and goals or
results? Following the questions,
you will find the answers and explanations
Question 1:
Some people buy expensive cars simply because they desire
Question 2:
Many people hope that the Philippines can resolve its economic
Question 3: The
students need to know what they should say.
Question 4:
Which one is the person who stole the jeepney?
Question 5:
Wherever there is a large urban population, there will be
Question 6: The
books which the professor assigned were very expensive.
Question 7:
The Philippines might give up its marketing boards if the
Question 8: That is the
place where Bonifacio’s and Ernesto de Aguirre’s
Question 9: Unless the
government lawyers can make a better case, the
Question
10: It is important to ask whether the girl is single or married.
Answers and
Explanations:
1. This is an adverb clause
because it answers the question why, showing cause.
2. This is a noun clause
because it answers the question ``what?'', and acts as
3. This is a noun clause because it tells what the students need
to know. Since
4. This is an adjective clause.
The relative pronoun “who” might have confused
5. This clause is an adverb clause because it tells where
poverty will exist, and
6.
This is an adjective clause. This
clause modifies the noun “books”, and
7.
This clause provides the conditions under which the Philippines might give up
its marketing boards, and it is an adverb or an adverb clause which
answers
8.
This is an adjective clause. This
is a very tricky example, and the
9. This is an adverb
clause. This clause provides the
conditions under which the
10.This is a noun clause.
This clause is the direct object of the verb “to ask”,
THE
PHRASE
- A
phrase is a group of two or more grammatically linked words.
- A
Phrase does not contain a subject and a verb.
- A
phrase can not stand alone – it does not make sense by itself.
- A
phrase is a group of grammatically linked word.
-
Phrases are parts of clauses
In
other words, a Phrase is a group of two or more grammatically linked
words without a subject and a verb that is contained in a clause.
This
is a good time to discuss what a group of “grammatically linked words”
really is. If we were to take the words boys girls all and, it
would not be a phrase because the words have no grammatical relationship.
Similarly, the words window the out would not be a phrase either.
However, by rearranging the word order so they are grammatically linked,
we can create phrases. The word
combination all boys and girls, and the combination out the window
are phrases because they are grammatically linked words that can be placed in a
clause or a sentence to create a complete thought.
The most common type of phrase is the prepositional phrase. We have already discussed prepositions and the object of the
preposition, so this will be a good place to start in our study of phrases.
Prepositional
Phrases
A prepositional phrase is a group of two or more words that includes a preposition and an object of the preposition.
They are sentence fragments that usually do not stand on their own. There are a few exceptions such as in the commands “on your
feet! Or At once!, but these are special exceptions and are explained by special
rules which we won’t worry about right now.
Lets look at some examples of prepositional phrases.
In the following sentences, the prepositional phrases are underlined.
Remember that the first word in the prepositional phrase is the
preposition, the last word in the phrase is the object of the preposition, and
the words in between are modifiers that give extra information.
- Our
father who is in heaven
- There
are many social problems in Mindanao.
- The
boy ran out the house and down the path
- The
dog jumped over the fence and through the bushes before running across
the road.
- The
book that was on the table by
the window fell onto the floor.
Now,
let’s take a closer look at prepositional phrases.
There are two kinds of prepositional phrases: adjective prepositional
phrases and adverb prepositional phrases.
Adjective prepositional phrases
modify a noun or pronoun, and it always comes immediately after the noun
or pronoun it modifies. Let’s
look at a few examples of adjective prepositional phrases.
Mary is the student with the highest grade.
(Which student? The student
The book on the table is mine.
(Which book? The book on the
table)
Natural resources in Mindanao are being depleted.
(which resources?
Adverb prepositional phrases
modify verbs, adjectives or adverbs, and it may come
anywhere in the sentence. An
adverb prepositional phrase tells when, where, how or to
what extent. Most prepositional phrases modify a noun (or pronoun) or a
verb.
Verb:
Dodong put the rooster in the cage.
(in the cage refers to the verb
Verb:
The complement was intended for you.
(for you
refers to the verb
Adjective:
Dodong was ready for a change.
(for a change refers to the adjective
.
Adverb:
They responded favorably, for the most part.
(for the most part refers
In
some of the above examples, you probably noticed that prepositional phrases can
follow each other. When two or more
prepositional phrases follow each other, they may modify the same word or
different words. Look at the
following examples and you will see how this works.
Modifying
the same word
They
arrived at the barangay hall on
time. One
prepositional phrase directly
Modifying
different words
Manila
is in the southern part of
Luzon.
One prepositional phrase directly follows the other, and each
prepositional phrase modifies a different word.
In the southern part modifies the verb is,
and of Luzon modifies the object of the preposition in the first
prepositional phrase part.
When two prepositional phrases directly follow each other,
the second prepositional phrase will always modify the object of the preposition
in the first
Caution:
Is it a prepositional phrase or an adverb?
Many words can be
either prepositions or adverbs depending on how they are used.
We have covered this before, but we will review this important concept
again. A preposition has a noun
object. An adverb modifies or adds
information to the verb.
Preposition: We went out the window.
Window is the object of the preposition
Adverb: We went out last
night. Out does not have
an object.
An easy way to check this is to ask if the phrase (preposition)(object)
or (preposition)(article)(object) makes sense.
In other words, does the phrase out window or out the window
make sense? If one if these phrase
combinations makes sense, it is a preposition.
In the adverb example, out night or out the night doesn’t
make sense, so we know that out is an adverb.
Also remember that to is commonly used as a preposition and as a
relationship word to a verb (this is called an infinitive).
If the word to is followed by a verb, it is an infinitive verb, but if to
is followed by a noun, it is a preposition.
We are going to look at two more common types of phrases
which you should be able to identify. These
are the verb and noun phrase.
The
Verb Phrase
A verb phrase is a group of related words that consists of a main verb
and one or more helping verbs. If
you forget what a helping verb is, look at the section on verbs.
We devided the helping verbs into three groups:
Group 1: is, am, are, was, were, be, being, been
Group 2: Has, have, had
Group
3: do, does, did
Group
4: Shall, will, should, would
Group
5: may, might, must, can, could
Helping verbs add meaning to other verbs . Some helping verbs change the
time expressed by the key verb. Others, such as should and might, are used to
indicate obligation, possibility, ability, or permission. Here
are some examples:
The student is going to Camiguin Island for summer break.
You should eat before you go to school.
Mary has gone with Dodong to the library.
The school will not hire a security officer today.
The
Noun Phrase
A noun phrase is made up of a noun and all its modifiers.
A noun phrase can function as a subject, an object, or a complement.
Some noun phrases start with an infinitive (to + a verb such as to go) or
a gerund (a verb + ing as in going).
To
join the dance troupe was her lifelong dream. (subject)
Dieters
prefer Diet Coke. (object)
Dinuguan
is a popular lunch. (complement)
Verbals
and Verbal Phrases
Before we can finish
with phrases, we have to discuss one more important class of phrases – verbal
phrases. A verbal is a verb form
that is used as a noun or adjective. There
are three types of verbals – gerunds, participles and infinitives.
This isn’t as bad as it sounds. Look
carefully and these examples and explanations.
Gerunds: A gerund is a verb with ing added to it. When the word is
used as a noun, it is a gerund. For
example, start with the verb swim. Now
add ing to form the word swimming. Now, use the word swimming as a noun and you have a gerund.
Swimming
is fun.
Running strengthens the heart.
Working
is financially rewarding.
Good writing is a pleasure to read.
Seeing is believing.
Participles: A
participle is a verb with ed or ing added to it.
When the word is used as an adjective, it is a participle.
For example, start with the word swim.
Now add ing to form the word swimming.
Now use the word swimming as an adjective and you have a participle.
The swimming fish jumped
out of the water.
Running water is a modern convenience.
The working student is responsible.
The writing pad is on the desk.
Note examples like “known fact, run, gone”
Infinitives: An
infinitive is a verb with “to” in front of it.
When the word is used as a noun, adjective or adverb, it is an
infinitive. For example, start with
the verb swim. Now add the word
“to” in front of the word swim. Now
use the phrase to swim as an noun, adjective or adverb and you have an
infinitive. Remember, the word
“to” is always paired with the present form of the verb.
As a
noun: To swim is healthy.
(noun subject)
I like to read (noun complement)
As an
adjective: The man to beat
is John.
This is the time to laugh
As an
adverb: I am ready to swim.
I am ready to go.
He came to stay.
Infinitive and Gerund Phrases:
Infinitives and gerunds can have an object. The object of a gerund or infinitive will answer the question
whom or what. Let’s consider the
following sentence:
Driving a jeepney is hard work.
Driving a jeepney is the subject of the
Cooking the lechon took more time than we had expected.
Cooking the
To know her is to love her. To
know her is the subject of the sentence.
In the following examples, The verbal is highlighted and it
is identified as a gerund, participle or infinitive. The object if the infinitive or gerund is underlined.
A broken bolo was found at the murder scene.
Participle, Adjective. A
A shattered dream is the fear of every love.
Participle, Adjective. A
To read, to study and to learn are reasons for being
at Cagayan Capitol
A major challenge is solving terrorism in
Mindanao.
Participle, Adjective.
A major challenge is to solve terrorism in
Mindanao.
Infinitive, Adverb.
Studying nature is a rewarding occupation.
Gerund. Studying what?
PHRASE
AND CLAUSE REVIEW
Telling
Clauses And Phrases Apart
Clause:
children sing songs. This
is an example of a clause because it contains the subject “boys”, the verb
“love”, and it is a complete thought that stands on its own.
Phrase:
Children singing songs. This is
a noun phrase. It could be a
subject, but it has no verb attached to it.
We are left asking the question “what about children singing songs?”
because there is nothing here to show what the relationship is.
Clause:
Children singing songs were heard in the barangay hall.
This is a complete clause again. It
contains the subject children singing songs and the verb phrase were
heard, and it is a complete thought that stands on its own.
Clause:
Run! This single-word
command is also a clause, even though it doesn’t seem to have a subject. With
a direct command, it is not necessary to include the subject, since the subject
is understood. What the clause
really means is “you" run
Identify the following as
clauses or phrases. The answers and
explanations follow after the questions.
1.
I love to eat lumpia
2.
the big, bad man
3. rode the bus to Manila
4.
they were thinking about the land reform issue
5.
the student considering everything written on this subject
6. stay on the National Highway through Butuan
7.
after the morning class
8. they hate politics
9. when the bus arrived at the terminal
1. This is a clause because it contains the subject I and
the noun love. to
eat lumpia tells us what I love,
so it is a complete thought that stands on its own.
2. This is a phrase.
This passage names the man, but does not tell the reader
3. This is a phrase. Who
rode the bus to Manila? This passage has a verb, but
4. This passage is a clause because it expresses a grammatically
complete
5. This
is a phrase. Both the word considering and the word written
are
6. This is a clause although you might have thought it was a
phrase because it
7. This is a phrase. This
passage consists of the preposition after followed by its
8. This is a
clause. The pronoun they is
the subject and hate is the verb. This
9. This is a clause. You
might have though that this is a phrase because it is not
CONGRATULATIONS!!!
We have now completed essential English grammar and sentence structure. One of the interesting things about learning a language is that you never seem to notice any big improvement yourself. This is because your mind constantly adjusts to newly learned language by accepting it as a normal part of your subconscious thought process. It may seem like you haven’t learned much, but you have accomplished a great deal. Your understanding of English is developing quickly. With a good understanding of basic grammar, you are well on your way to becoming a proficient speaker of English.