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 the Parts of Speech 150KB, 2 min 40 sec at 28.8
Section 2: Combining Words Into Groups 112KB, 2 min 10 sec at 28.8
Section 3: Conventions and Standard Usage 124KB, 2 min 20 sec at 28.8
Section 4: Appendix to Essential Grammar 128KB, 2 min 30 sec at 28.8
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1. Introduction 5. The Pronoun 9. The Preposition
2. The Noun 6. The Adjective 10. Conjunctions & Interjections
3. The Article 7. The Verb
4. Making Nouns Plural 8. The Adverb Return to Main Table of Contents
Introduction
to Parts of Speech
As a college student, you should already
know the parts of speech. However,
this is often a problem for students, so we will begin with a close look at the
foundation of language and how words are organized. Although we call it “grammar”, we are really studying the
art of communication and self expression, so let’s look at this as an
opportunity to learn the skills you will need to become a literate adult and a
professional person.
English has eight parts of speech - the
noun, pronoun, adjective, verb, adverb, preposition, conjunction and
interjection. We will start by
looking at the noun, pronoun and adjective because they are directly related to
each other.
Return to Parts of Speech Contents List
The Noun
As we all know, a noun is a person, place
or thing. However, this traditional
definition is confusing for many students, so let’s look at nouns a different
way. A noun is anything in this
room that you can point to. You can
point to a desk, so desk is a noun.
You can point to a book, so book is a noun.
Can you point to your friend? Yes,
so friend is a noun. Can you
point to your arm? How about your
leg or your stomach? Yes you can,
so body parts are also nouns.
Rule number 1: if you can point to it, it is a noun.
A noun can also be a word that represents an idea.
Many students have difficulty identifying this type of noun, so let’s
look at some examples. The words greed,
ambition and democracy are “idea nouns”.
There is a simple way to identify this type of noun.
Put the words a, an, the (articles) in front of a
word and see if it makes sense. If
it does make sense, that word will be a noun.
For example: the rain, a road, an apple, an ideal, the feeling, a
freedom, a love, the government, the affair, a dislike, the thought, a
democracy, an ambition, the greed. This
method also works with another class of words called adverbial pronouns. These include my, our and their.
Put one of these words in front and see if it makes sense.
If it makes sense, it is a noun. For
example: my idea, your thought, our relationship.
Rule
number 2: Put an article (a, an, the) or an adverbial pronoun (my, our, their)
in front of a word and see if it makes sense.
If it makes sense, the word is a noun.
Here
are some other convenient ways to help you recognize nouns.
Many nouns are count nouns, which means that you can have one or more of
them. If you are unsure about a
noun, ask yourself “can I have more than one of them”?
If the answer is yes, the word is a noun.
Can you have more than one idea? Yes,
so idea is a noun. Can you have
more than one democracy? Yes, you can have a democracy in the U.S. and a
democracy in the Philippines, so democracy is a noun.
You
can often identify a noun by its word ending, or the suffix.
We will explore this more in the chapter on affixes, but here are three
word endings that always indicate a noun. When
a word ends in “ist” or “er”, the word refers to a person, so the word
is a noun. For example: scientist,
biologist, racist, philanthropist, guitarist, baker, driver, teacher, carpenter,
lover. Another suffix that wil;l
always indicate a noun is “ology”, which means “the study of”.
For example, biology, mythology, theology, cardiology, physiology.
There is another kind of noun called a proper noun.
A proper noun identifies someone or something that is unique by name.
Your name is a proper noun because it names something unique – you.
Friday is a noun because it is the name of the 6th day of the
week, and June is a noun because it is the name of the 6th month of
the year. Don’t try to memorize
the following list but look at the examples and try to get the general idea.
Proper nouns include persons, countries, cities, regions and their
derivatives (a derivative is a variation of another word).
For example:
- Mary, Dodong, Reyes, Acquino, Ramos
-
Plato, Platonic, Platonism (Platonic & Platonism are derivative of Plato)
- England, English, Englishman (English and Englishman are derivatives)
- Philippines, Filipino, Filipina (Filipino and Filipina are derivatives)
-
Cebu, Cebuano (Cebuano is a derivative of
Cebu)
Proper nouns also include (1) organizations, (2) institutions, (3) addresses, (4) months, days, seasons, holidays, (5) events in history and (6) the names of specific places (called place nouns). For example:
1.
Liberal Party, Pi Beta Phi Sorority, Land Bank, Catholic Church
2.
Cagayan Capitol College, Polymedic General Hospital, Dept. of Labor
3.
Rizal Avenue, Bonifacio Street, Forty-fourth Avenue, Sixth Street
4.
January, Tuesday, spring, Labor Day, Christmas, Easter
5.
Edsa Revolution, Battle of Manila, Spanish – American War
6.
Gaisano Mall, Misamis Oriental, Pasig River, Fort Santiago
Rule number 3: Words that identify someone or something by name are nouns.
Return to Parts of Speech Contents List
The Article
An article is not a part of speech, but they are important because they
are relationship indicators for nouns.
There are only three articles: a, an, and the.
The traditional explanation for articles is that they signal that a noun
will follow shortly. However,
articles serve a much greater function. The
article tells us if the noun is a general noun or a specific noun.
Although this sounds difficult, it is really very simple.
Lets look at some examples. Read
the following two sentences. The
sentences are the same except that the first sentence uses the article the
and the second sentence uses the article a.
However, their meanings are very different.
Please sit down in the chair.
Please sit down in a chair.
The
is a specific article. When we see the
in front of a noun, we know that we will be talking about one special or
specific item. A and an
are general article. When we see a
or an in front of a noun, we know that we will be talking about something
that is not specific or unique. Let’s
look at our examples again.
Please sit down
in the chair. This means “sit in this
chair” – not that chair
Please sit down in a chair.
This means “sit down in any chair” – this chair,
Articles may be used to introduce common nouns or idea nouns.
The article you choose will depend in the context of your sentence.
In other words, when you use an article, you will choose the article
based on the meaning you want to express. If
you want to express the noun in a specific context, you will use the article the.
If you want to express the noun in a general context, you will use either
a or an. If the word after the article starts with a vowel, use the
article an. If the word
after the article starts with a consonant, use the article a.
Look at the following examples.
an apple, an egg, an idea, an onion, an umbrella
a
boat, a dog, a goat,
a table, a very big table
If
you are using a noun of plurality – that is a noun that expresses two or more,
always use the specific article the.
When you make a noun plural, you automatically identify the quantity or
extent of the items you are describing via the noun. If you were to say “take the books to the library”, we
are limiting the number of books you are going to take to the library.
After all, you are not going to take all the books in the world to the
library – just certain books – the books we are referring to in the
sentence. It is understood that we
are identifying which books you will take to the library, so you should use the
specific article the.
Rule
number 4: When you use an article
to introduce a noun, use the to describe the specific context and a
or an to describe the general context.
Rule
number 6: When you use an article
to introduce a plural noun, always use the specific article the.
Rule number 7: When you use a article to introduce a noun using the general context, use an if the next word starts with a vowel and a if the next word starts with a consonant.
Return to Parts of Speech Contents List
Making Nouns Plural
We
have already talked about common nouns (also sometime called concrete nouns) and
idea nouns (sometimes called concept or abstract nouns).
Nouns are also divided into groups based on how you make them plural.
Plural means two or more. There
are four ways of expressing the plural noun in English, and it is important for
you to be able to use the correct plural form.
(Actually, there are at least 9 methods, but we will only discuss the
four main ways of forming plurals.
#1
Ending
in “s” or “x”
Ending in “y”
Ending in other letters
1 glass, 2 glasses
1
baby, 2 babies
1 boat, 2 boats
1 dress, 2 dresses
1 dictionary, 2 dictionaries 1 dog, 2 dogs
1 box, 2 boxes
1 lady, 2 ladies
1 idea, 2 ideas
#2
#3
#4
Fortunately, almost all
count nouns in English are regular, so except for a few common words, method 1
will be the normal way to pluralize nouns in English.
Return to Parts of Speech Contents List
The Pronoun
Sometimes we refer to a person without
saying their name. We might
describe your classmate by saying “he is very handsome” or “she is
very pretty” The words he
or she refer to a certain person. Sometimes
we refer to a group the same way. We
might say they seem very happy. The
word they refers to a certain group of people.
In these examples, he and she are pronouns because they take the place of
a noun. Some common pronouns are
words like I, me, he, she, you, they, them,
those, these, his, hers, their, whom
and whom. Read the following
two sentences. In the second
sentence, the pronoun she takes the place of the noun Mary.
Mary
is very pretty. She always
wins the beauty contest.
She
refers to Mary because it is Mary who wins all the beauty contests.
She takes the place of the noun Mary, so She is a pronoun.
Lets take a look at some
common pronouns in sentence form.
I love her.
I is a pronoun because it takes the place of a noun - which is
my name. Her is also a pronoun because it takes the place of a
noun –
the name of the person I love.
Do
you want me?
You is a pronoun because it takes the place of a noun
-
which is your name. Me is
also a pronoun because it takes the place
of a noun - which is my name.
This
book is mine and this book is yours.
Mine is a pronoun because it
takes the place of a noun - which is my name.
Yours is a pronoun
because
it takes the place of a noun - which is your name.
If
you don’t go with us, you will have to go with them.
This sentence has
four pronouns. In both cases, you is a pronoun because you takes the
place of a noun – which is your name.
Us is a pronoun because it takes
the place of the names of the people who make up the group “us”.
Them is a pronoun because it takes the place of the names of the
people who make up the group “them”.
In these examples, the pronoun has referred to a person or persons. Sometimes, a pronoun will refer to a common noun. In the following examples the pronoun is underlined. Try to identify what the pronoun is referring to.
Put
the meat in a pan and fry it until it is cooked.
In this sentence, the
pronoun it occurs twice, and both refer to the noun meat.
We could also
say: Put the meat in the pan and fry the meat until the meat is cooked.
Clean
the pots and put them on the shelf. In this sentence, them
refers to
pots. We could also say: Clean the pots and put the pots on the shelf.
The
noun that the pronoun takes the place of is called the antecedent.
In other words, whatever he or she or it refers to
is the antecedent. The antecedent
is the noun that the pronoun refers to. The
proper term for this relationship is “co-referential” because they refer to
the same thing. To find the
antecedent, simply ask the question “who or what does the pronoun refer to?” In other words, who is she?
If the pronoun she refers to Mary, then Mary is the
antecedent. Look at the following
examples. Try to identify the
pronoun and their antecedent.
The
girls thought they were right.
The pronoun is they and the antecedent
is girls. The antecedent is
simply the noun that the pronoun refers to.
Even
though they looked good, the apples were rotten.
In this sentence,
the pronoun comes first and the antecedent follows.
The pronoun is
they and the antecedent is apples, because they
refers to apples.
Put
the books in a box and take them to the library.
This is a tricky
sentence because there are two nouns – books and box.
We know that
the pronoun is them, but what does them refer to – books
or box. The
pronoun them is plural, so the antecedent must also be plural. Books is
plural, but there is only one box. Therefore,
the pronoun them refers to
books, and the antecedent of them is books.
Put
the books in a box and take it to the library.
This sentence is almost
the same as the last one, but there is a big difference.
We know that the
pronoun is it, but what does it refer to – the books or
the box. It is
singular, so the antecedent must also be singular.
Books is plural, but
box is singular. Therefore,
the pronoun it refers to box and the
antecedent of it is box.
Sara
is a simple girl who loves her family.
This is a difficult example, and
it will really test your understanding of pronouns and antecedents.
There are two pronouns and each refers to, or takes the place of a
different noun. The pronouns
are who and her. What
does who refer
to? Who refers to girl,
so the antecedent of who is girl.
Who does her
refer to? Her refers
to Sara, so the antecedent of her is Sara.
We could
rewrite this sentence as: Sara is a simple girl and the girl loves
Sara’s
family.
You may be tempted to “so what – is this really important?
Actually, antecedents are very important, because without an antecedent,
your sentence will not make sense. Look
at the following example and you will see what I mean.
Make
sure they don’t fall.
This sentence is unclear because we don’t
know what it is we don’t want to fall.
It could be books, children, blocks,
apples, or just about anything else.
The problem with this sentence is
that it doesn’t have an antecedent.
Now look at the next sentence and
see if it makes more sense.
Place
the dishes on the shelf. Make sure
they don’t fall.
Now the
sentence is clear because the pronoun has an antecedent.
The
pronoun they refers to and takes the place of the noun dishes.
We
could rewrite this as: Place the dishes on the shelf. Make sure the
dishes don’t fall. Even
though the pronoun and the antecedent are in
different sentences, the context, or the arrangement of the words makes
the meaning clear.
Rule number 6:
Whenever you use a pronoun, make sure the antecedent is clearly stated.
As you can see from the above
examples, pronouns are sensitive to number and gender.
Pronouns can also show ownership or possession.
You must make sure that the pronoun you choose is in agreement with the
antecedent (noun it is replacing).
First,
let’s take a look at number or quantity relationships in pronouns:
It,
you, he and she refer to one person or one thing.
These pronouns
refer to a singular noun.
Them,
those, these and they refer to more than one person or thing.
These pronouns and pronouns like them refer to a plural noun.
Look
at the following examples where the pronoun takes the place of book
or
books.
Put this on the shelf.
This refers to a book – singular.
Put these on the shelf.
These refers to books – plural.
Put it in the car. It
refers to a book – singular.
Put them in the car. Them
refers to books – plural.
Now
let’s look at pronouns of gender.
He, him and his refer to the male gender. If you are talking about a man
or a boy, the pronoun you use to replace the noun must agree. Look at
the following sentence and notice the gender agreement. John is large
but he is fast. John
is a male, so we must use a male pronoun. John
is a he, and Mary is a she.
You should never say “John is large but she
is fast” because that would
mean that John is a girl. Likewise,
you
should never say something like “Mary is pretty and he
comes from a
good family” because that
would mean that Mary is a boy. Instead,
you
should say “Mary is pretty and she comes from a good
family” because
the noun Mary and the pronoun she agree that Mary is a girl.
Now
let’s look at the possessive pronoun.
Words like his, hers, mine, yours and theirs
show possession or
ownership.
Look at the following sentence and identify the possessive
relationship.
I thought this book was mine, but it is yours.
This sentence shows
possession or ownership because of the pronouns.
We could rewrite
this sentence by saying “I thought this book was owned by me,
but it is
owned by you.
Rule
number 7: The pronoun must agree
with its antecedent in number and gender.
Return to Parts of Speech Contents List
Now
that we understand what a noun is and how it works, we can look at a special
group of words that help to describe nouns.
An adjective can be thought of as a noun-helper, because it helps to
describe the noun by providing important information about the noun.
In other words, an adjective is a word, or group of words, that modify or
add information to a noun. An
adjective clarifies or strengthens a noun.
Adjectives answer questions like how many, which ones, what kind and what
color. Adjectives can be a single word, a phrase or a clause
(we will cover adjective clauses under the clause section).
Single
word adjectives are one or more
single word modifiers that precede, or come before the noun.
Look at the following example:
The
fast, blue, 1998 Honda was stolen.
In this sentence, fast, blue and
Adjective
phrases are groups of words that
usually follow the noun and modify the noun. Look at the following example:
The
man with the torn shirt threw the ball.
With the torn shirt modifies, or
Adjectives
give extra or additional information. They
can be removed and the sentence will still make sense.
This serves as the first of two tests for identifying an adjective.
In some sentences, you may replace the adjective with a determiner to
accomplish this test. (We will
discuss this aspect later.)
Adjectives
always describe the noun by giving additional information about the noun.
This serves as the second of two tests for identifying an adjective.
Let’s
look at our examples again.
The
fast, blue, 1998 Honda was stolen.
The
man with the torn shirt threw the ball.
Technically, the articles a, an and the are
adjectives because they modify or give information about the noun by identifying
it as general or specific in function. There
are also four pronouns (my our, their and our) that are also classified as
adjectives because they can not function without a noun to modify.
Whenever you use one of these seven words, you must use it in conjunction
with a noun.
This is the part that makes adjectives tricky for many students, so you must pay attention to this. Nouns, verbs and pronouns can all be adjectives depending on how they are used in a sentence. The important thing is to identify the noun and then determine a word’s relationship to the noun. Let’s look at some examples where nouns are used as adjectives:
Jim’s boat was damaged in
the storm.
We could easily conclude that
The
winter storm caused severe flooding. Again, we could
easily
Now, let’s look at some
examples where verbs are used as adjectives:
A
crying child kept everyone awake.
You probably recognize crying as a
Return to Parts of Speech Contents List
Verbs are the most important word in a
sentence You probably think of
verbs as “action” words, and this is a good place to start. The general rule is that the verb asserts the action in the
sentence, so action verbs are easy to identify. Action verbs are words that describe things we can do.
In other words, action verbs describe activities.
We can sleep, think, run, jump, digest, shout,
study, exist, exit, cry, laugh and give,
so these words are action verbs. However,
there are some other kinds of verbs we need to talk about.
Linking verbs are sometimes called state
of being verbs because they do not show action.
These verbs show that something exists.
Linking verbs include words like am, is, are, was,
were, be, been, being, became, seem
and appear.
There is another type of verb called a sense verb.
Sense verbs are a lot like action verbs because they describe sensations
that we feel. Sense verbs are words
like tastes, feels, looks, hears, smells.
A close examination will demonstrate the “sense” aspect of this type
of verb. Look is an action verb because it is something we can
do – we can look at the girl. However,
looks follows a different pattern. Consider
the sentence “The girl looks beautiful”.
In this case, looks is not an action word or a state of being –
it is an opinion or perception as to what someone is feeling or thinking.
When you analyze a
sentence, the first thing you should always do is identify the verb.
In simple sentences, this is easy because the sentence follows the
predictable pattern that [<something> does or causes or is <something>].
For example, in the sentence “John ran quickly”, we can see this
pattern clearly. Let’s look at
some other examples:
Example 1: Eating three pieces of cake gave Mary a stomachache. (action verb) (--------------something--------)(caused)(-----something-----)
Example 2: Cake and cookies are my favorite snack. (linking verb) (-------something---) (is) (----something----)
Example 3: This casserole tastes like dog food. (sense verb) (--something-(a sense)(-something-)
When sentences become a little more
complex, the relationship of the verb may also get more complex. You must pay close attention to this next part because it is
absolutely necessary to understanding English grammar.
If you do not understand this next section, you should not go on until
you do understand it. Without understanding this fundamental concept, you will
never be able to master English.
Sometimes a verb can be
more than one word. When a verb is
more than one word, it is called a verb phrase.
A verb phrase can be two, three or four words.
A verb phrase is made up of a main verb and auxiliary or helping verbs.
We will refer to them as helping verbs.
There are 23 helping verbs in the English language.
They are normally classified in five groups.
Knowing them will make understanding verbs much easier.
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
Some of
these helping verbs can also be used alone as the main verb.
1)
The helping verbs is, am, are, was and were
can be used alone as linking
2)
The helping verbs has, have, had, do, does
and did can be used alone as action verbs .
3)
The helping verbs be, being and been can be used as
main verbs with other helping verbs.
4)
The remaining helping verbs were, shall, will, should,
would, may, might, must, can and could can
not be used alone or as main verbs – they can only be used as helping verbs.
Remember, helping verbs and linking verbs are different types of verbs.
Example 1: You are going to Manila. Are going is the verb phrase. What
Example
2: You have been resting
too much. Have been is
the verb
Example
3: The party is being planned
for Saturday. Is being planned is
You should see a pattern in these three
sentences. You will notice that in
all three sentences, the main verb is the last verb in the verb phrase.
This is usually (although not always) the case, and remembering this
regularity will help you to identify the main verb.
The use of helping verbs can cause a major change in the verb phrase and
the sentence structure. You need to
be able to recognize these structures because you will use them a lot in both
speaking and writing English. The
first change is the ability to create contractions.
Contractions are word pairs that are shortened by combining them into one
word. These include words like I’ve,
She’s, He’s, we’ve, we’ll, don’t, aren’t,
weren’t, won’t, and can’t.
These words represent two words – one which is a helping verb and
another which is either a pronoun or the adverb “not”.
Pronoun-helping verb contractions make statements.
Look at the following pronoun – helping verb examples.
I have = I’ve I have been to Manila = I’ve been to Manila.
She is = She’s She
is very pretty = She’s very pretty.
We have = we’ve We have seen the movie = We’ve seen the movie.
We will = we’ll
How we will go is uncertain = How we’ll go is uncertain.
Now
let’s look at the helping verb + “not” combination.
These contractions turn a positive into a negative by adding “not”
and function as adverbs.
Do not = don’t
I do not know the answer = I don’t know the answer.
Can not = can’t
I can not go = I can’t go.
Was not = wasn’t She
was not ready = She wasn’t ready.
--
There is one irregular combination that you must be aware of:
Will
not = won’t
She will not go = She won’t go.
Now that we understand the types of verbs and how they work, we will look
at another very important aspect of verbs.
Because verbs express an action, we are able to change the form of the
verb. In other words, the action
that the verb describes could have taken place yesterday, or could take place
tomorrow, or might be taking place right now.
In English, we make small changes in how we say the verb on order to
describe when the action is taking place. Using
the proper verb form indicates the past tense, present tense, future tense, and
sometimes a neutral tense.
When we look at a verb, the word we find in the dictionary is the base
form of the verb. The base form is the simple verb without any
“inflections” added that give us information about the action of the verb.
There are actually twenty-four different “tenses” in English –
twelve for the active form and twelve for the passive form.
You will be happy to know, however, that we are only going to study four.
(If you are interested in looking at examples of all 24 English verb
tenses, go to the appendix under Verb Tenses In English at the back of
this book, and you can explore the rules for forming each type.)
Before we go further, we will have to understand a few simple terms
related to the conjugation of verbs. Look
at the following table, and then we will discuss each classification
Singular
refers to one person or thing only. Plural refers to two or more
things or persons.
1st
person refers to yourself – the person who is talking
Now,
lets see how this works with a base verb like run.
The important thing is that you understand what 1st person, 2nd
person ands 3rd person means. The
rest will come easily once we understand the tense relationships we are about to
discuss.
The four verb tenses we are going to study are called the present
tense, the past tense, the progressive tense and the future
(modal-base) tense. Lets start with a description of each of the four types of
verb tenses we will study.
The present tense (sometimes called the simple present tense) is
actually a neutral tense that describes activities that are based on habit, or
which take place all the time – in the past, the present and the future.
This form of the verb is the same as the base form except for the third
person singular, in which case you add an “s”.
If I were to say “I walk to school”, I would be talking in the
neutral tense – It is my habit to walk to school. I walked to school yesterday, I walked to school today and I
will walk to school tomorrow. It is
my normal habit to walk to school. If
I was talking about someone else who was not part of the conversation (3rd
person singular), I would add a “s” to the verb and I would say “he walks
to school”. In other words,
it is his normal habit to walk to school.
The Past tense describes an activity or event that began and ended
in the past. The action described by the verb is no longer taking place.
To describe the action of the verb in the past tense, we take the base
form of the verb and add “ed”. If
I were to say “I walked to school”, I would be saying that in the
past, I walked to school. I am not
walking to school now, and I may not walk to school tomorrow, but at some point
in the past, I walked to school. Normally,
we will use an additional word like “yesterday” to tell when you walked to
school – I walked to school yesterday.
In other words, the event occurred yesterday and is no longer taking
place.
The progressive tense (also called a present participle or a
gerund depending on how it is used) describes an activity that is taking place
right now or something that took place at the same time as something else you
are talking about. To describe the action of a verb using the progressive tense,
we take the base verb and add “ing” to it.
You must put a helping verb in front of the progressive tense to show the
tense relationship – in the action happening right now or is the action
happening at the same time as something else.
If I were to say “He is walking to school” the helping verb is
would tell you that he is doing it now (see his legs move.
He is walking to school now. He
is on his way!) If we use the progressive tense to indicate something that
happened in the past or will happen in the future, we must explain the
relationship of walking to another event.
(This is because the progressive form changes the word form, but we will
not worry about that now.) In the
sentence “He was walking to school when it started to rain”,
two things happened at the same time – the act of walking and it
starting to rain. So we can
use the progressive or “ing” form when something is happening now, or
when two things happen at the same.
If we put a present tents helping verb in front of the progressive form,
it means the action is happening now. If
we put a past or future tense helping verb in front of the progressive form, we
are describing two events taking place at the same time.
The future tense (sometimes
called the modal-base tense) describes an activity that will take place in the
future, but which has not started to happen yet.
To use this form of the future tense, we put the helping verb will
in front of the base form of the verb. If
I were to say “He will walk to school”, I would be saying that he has not
started to walk to school yet, but he will walk to school.
When he leaves for school, he will walk to school.
Lets
review the examples we have studied.
Present
tense: “I walk to school”.
It is my normal habit to walk to school. I walked to school yesterday, I walked to school today and I will walk to
school tomorrow.
Past Tense: “I
walked to school”. At some point
in the past, I walked to
Progressive
Tense: “He is walking to
school”. He is walking to school
Or
“He was
walking to school when it started to rain.”
Two things
happened at the same time – the act of
walking and it starting to rain.
Future Tense: “He
will walk to school”. He has not
left yet, but when he does, he will walk to school.
Verbs and their relationships are often difficult for English students. Verbs are also the most important words in a sentence because they control the sentence. Although verbs can be very complex, these forms of verbs we have studied will be a good start for you to build a basic understanding on. Don’t be discouraged if you have some problems understanding verbs. Ask your instructor to explain and give more examples if you don’t understand anything. And keep asking until you do understand!
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Now
that we understand what a verb is and how it works, we can look at a special
group of words that add information to, or modify verbs. Adverbs are similar in
many ways to adjectives, which we have already studied.
The adverb may be thought of
as a verb-helper, because it helps to describe the action of the main verb by
providing important information about the action of the main verb.
In other words, an adverb is a word, or group of words, that modify or
add information to a main verb. An
adverb clarifies or strengthens a verb. Adverbs
answer the questions how, when, why, where and how
much. Adverbs that tell how,
when, where and why modify the verb. Adverbs
that tell how much are called quantifiers and they modify adjectives or other
adverbs. Adverbs may take the form
of single word adverbs or adverbial phrases.
Many adverbs end in “ly”, so many students use this as a rule.
You must be careful though because some words like daily, yearly and
hourly can function as adverbs or adjectives.
The
most common adverb is not and its contractions that end in ‘nt.
These are words like don’t, aren’t, weren’t, won’t,
and can’t. These words
really modify the entire sentence, but they are considered verb modifiers
because the verb is the most important word in the sentence,
Single word adverbs
are one or more single word modifiers that usually precede, or come before the
verb. Look at the following
example:
Mary
carefully answered the question. First,
let’s find the main verb. Mary
Adverb phrases
are groups of words that usually follow the verb and modify the action of the
verb. Look at the following
example:
Mary
Moved to the other side. Moved
is the only verb, so moved is the
Single word adverbs and
adverb phrases may be used together. Look
at the following example:
Mary
moved quickly to the other side.
Quickly tells how Mary moved, and
Adverbs
give extra or additional information. Because
they give extra information, they can be removed and the sentence will still
make sense. This serves as the
first of two tests for identifying an adverbs.
Adverbs
always describe the action of the verb by giving additional information about
the verb. They will answer the
question how, when, where or why. This
serves as the second of two tests for identifying an adverbs.
Let’s
look at our examples again.
Mary
carefully answered the question.
Mary
moved to the other side. Test
1: Remove the adverb phrase to the
other side. Does the sentence still make sense? Mary moved. Yes,
the sentence still makes
Sometimes, you may see adverbs compounded.
This is done by joining
We
will go to Gaisano’s today or tomorrow.
We is a pronoun, Gaisano’s is
Here
are some other examples of compound adverbs.
This
is a trick to help you identify adverbs that answer the questions how, when and
where. Adverbs that answer these
questions can shift positions in a sentence.
Look at the following examples.
Go quickly and quietly to
the library. = Go to the library quickly and quietly.
You
must do your work quickly and accurately. = You must quickly and
I often go to Manila. = I
go to Manila often.
Here are some common rules for
adjectives. You probably don’t
want to memorize all these rules, but they can serve as a reference if you need
help on a word you are not sure of.
-
Adverbs tell us how, when, where,
why and how much.
-
Adverbs modify verbs, adjectives or other
adverbs.
-
Most adverbs are formed from adjectives.
-
Many adverbs are formed by adding
“ly” to the adverb. For
example, quick – quickly, large – largely, equal – equally.
-
For adjectives that end in “y”,
change the “y” to “ily” to form the adverb. For example, happy – happily, busy, busily, angry –
angrily.
-
For adjectives of two or more syllables
that end in “le”, change the “e” to “y” to form the adverb.
For example, noble – nobly, horrible – horribly, comfortable –
comfortably.
-
For adjectives that end in “ic”, add
“ally” to form the adverb. For
example, artistic – artistically, realistic - realistically, electric –
electrically,
-
Some adverbs are not formed from
adjectives. Some common examples
are never, not, here, there, then, when,
where, always, too, now and very.
-
Adverbs can be comparative.
For example, quietly – more quietly – most quietly, soon – sooner
– soonest, fast – faster – fastest, little – less – least
-
Comparative adverbs are formed from
verbs.
Review
The following sentences
have adverbs that tell us how. They
modify the verb.
-
Mary was frantically looking for a
policeman.
Frantically modifies the verb was looking
-
The hall was decorated beautifully for
the reception.
Beautifully
modifies
the verb was decorated.
-
The students happily accepted their
grades.
Happily modifies the verb accepted.
-
The money was carefully hidden under
the mat.
Carefully modifies the verb hidden.
The following sentences
have adverbs that tell us when. They
modify the verb.
-
I walk daily for exercise.
Daily modifies the verb walk.
-
We will now finish the assignment.
Now modifies the verb finish
-
Your assignment will be done tomorrow.
Tomorrow modifies the verb will be done.
-
We will go to the park later in the
afternoon. Later modifies
the verb will go.
The following sentences
have adverbs that tell us where, They
modify the verb.
-
The student moved forward to accept his
award. Forward modifies the
verb moved.
-
You may sit here on the sala set.
Here modifies the verb may sit.
-
The team is waiting outside.
Outside modifies the verb is waiting.
-
Where have you been?
Where modifies the verb have been.
These sentences have
adverbs that tell us how much. They
modify adjectives.
-
Mary is an unbelievably good cook.
Unbelievably modifies the adjective good.
-
Dodong is very hungry.
Very modifies the adjective hungry.
-
All men want an incredibly beautiful
wife. Incredibly modifies
the adjective beautiful.
-
This course is an extremely difficult
one. Extremely modifies the
adjective difficult.
These
sentences have adverbs that tell us how much. They modify other adverbs
-
The engineer worked very cautiously.
Very modifies the adverb cautiously which modifies the verb
worked.
-
This project is moving rather slowly.
Rather modifies the adverb slowly which modifies the verb moving.
-
Bus drivers drive much too fast for
safety. Much modifies the
adverb too which modifies the adjective fast which modifies the verb drive.
-
The park was too far away for Mary to
walk. Too modifies the
adverb far which modifies the adverb away which modifies the verb was.
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The Preposition
First, you must be able
to recognize and identify a preposition in a sentence.
The traditional definition of a preposition is a word that begins a
prepositional phrase and which shows a relationship between its object and
another word in the sentence. Another common definition explains a preposition as a
relationship word that expresses a connection to place, time, possession,
accompaniment or comparison. With
definitions like this it is no wonder that so many students hate grammar!
Let’s try to make this a little easier.
Because most prepositions express a connection to place, we can start by
saying a preposition in anything a rabbit can do to a hollow log.
A rabbit can run through a hollow log, so through can be a preposition.
A rabbit can also run around a hollow log, under a hollow log or across a
hollow log. Test these words
the same way: by, beside, near, to, from, into, over, in, along, upon,
about, above, at, behind, beneath, beside, between, beyond, down, inside, on,
out, outside, past and toward. This
simple rule will help you identify about 90% of the prepositions.
There
are also prepositions that express a connection to time and include such words as before,
after, during, between, until. Still
other prepositions express a relationship to possession (of), accompaniment
(with), comparison (like, about, for) and function (as).
Prepositions are used with a few other
words which make up the prepositional phrase.
The first word of the prepositional phrase is the preposition and the
last word of the prepositional phrase is the object of the preposition.
Example
1: The dog ran through the house.
Find the preposition. Can a
Many of the words we described as prepositions can also be used as other parts of speech. Whether or not a word is a preposition depends on how it is used in a sentence. Many of the common words that are used as prepositions can also be used as adverbs or adjectives. However, it is fairly easy to identify the preposition. These words are prepositions if they have an object (a noun or pronoun) to complete them. If it is a preposition, the word will be followed by a noun or pronoun that describes who or what. Let’s look at some examples of sentences with prepositional phrases. The prepositional phrases are underlined. Take careful note of two things: a sentence may have more than one prepositional phrase and if the relationship word is not followed by a noun or pronoun object, it is not a preposition.
John wrote a note on the paper.
On the paper is a prepositional phrase
The
dog jumped over the fence, behind the house and into the street.
I
like to sit in the shade of the mango tree and talk with my
friends. Again,
My
sister worked as a maid in Hong Kong and Singapore before she
From these examples, we have learned two important things about prepositions. (1) Sentences may have several prepositional phrases, and each prepositional phrase starts with a preposition and ends with an object in the form of a noun or a pronoun. (2) The same word can be a preposition or an adverb depending on how it is used in the sentence. They are only prepositions if they have an object to complete them. This is important, so let’s look at one more example.
The
boy stood up and ran down the street.
When we look for words that
Now
that we know what a prepositional phrase is, we can identify its function.
A prepositional phrase is a special kind of modifying phrase.
A prepositional phrase gives additional information in a sentence.
A prepositional phrase may be used as an adjective in which case it tells
which or what kind, and modifies a noun or a pronoun.
A prepositional phrase may also be used as an adverb in which case it
tells how, when, where, why, or how much, and modifies a verb.
Adverb prepositional phrases can come anywhere in a sentence, while
adjective prepositional phrases always come directly after the noun or pronoun
that it modifies.
First,
lets look at some examples of prepositional phrases that function as adjectives.
The
man in the other room is the mayor.
In is a preposition and room is
I
know that man in the formal barong and the black shoes .
In
this
Do
you remember the name of the movie about the EDSA Revolution?
Now, lets look at some
examples of prepositional phrases that function as adverbs.
Dodong
walked over the roar on the pedestrian overpass and went to the
Of course, a sentence may have a
combination of adjectival and adverbial prepositions as well.
In the following example, you will see that the sentence has one
adverbial and one adjectival preposition.
We
are going to remove the bougainvillea bush with sharp thorns that
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Conjunctions
and Interjections
Conjunctions
We are only going to study the basics of
conjunctions, so this will be fairly easy.
In fact, after the last sections on verbs and prepositions, this will
seem like a vacation!
A
conjunction is a word that connects groups of words together.
There are two kinds of conjunctions.
Coordinating conjunctions join sentence elements that are equal and
include the words for, and, nor, but, or, yet,
so. (FAN BOYS)
Subordinating conjunctions join sentence elements that are unequal and
include words like although, because, after, as, if,
before, since, so, that, than, unless,
until, when, where and while.
Remember, when you use these words as conjunctions, they must join two
ideas together in one sentence. Let’s
take a look at some examples of coordinating conjunctions first.
The coordinating conjunction is underlined.
-
Dodong and Mary are planning a
wedding!
-
The girls ran down the path and
into the village.
-
He would not listen, nor would he
explain.
-
I love humba but I am not fond of
ballot.
-
We went to the library but Dodong and
Mary went home.
-
The guest speaker will be priest or a
nun
-
Mary was upset, yet she remained calm.
-
I hate math, so I won’t go to class!
- He failed to show up, so we went without him
NOTE!
These conjunctions join groups of words together.
This is a common feature of all conjunctions. Conjunctions join two different ideas or things into one
complete thought. For example, if
we were to say “she is so pretty”, so wound not be a
conjunction because so is not joining two different elements together. If we were to say “we are not ready to go yet”, yet
would not be a conjunction for the same reason.
Remember, conjunctions join separate sentence elements together into a
compound idea.
Now let’s look at some subordinating conjunctions. Remember that subordinating conjunctions join sentence elements that are unequal, and include words like although, because, after, as, if, before, since, so, that, than, unless, until, when, where and while.
- If you don’t mind, I will stay at home tonight.
- I will stay at home tonight if you don’t mind.
-
I study hard because my father
will get mad if I don’t.
-
If
I don’t study hard, my father will get mad because he wants me to be
successful.
-
I will not go until it stops
raining.
-
Unless
it stops raining, I will not go.
-
I will not go unless it stops raining.
-
You can do this exercise better than
I can.
Interjections
Interjections are words that express some
abrupt emotion that stands alone grammatically.
A mild interjection is followed by a coma and a strong interjection is
followed by a exclamation mark. Interjections
include words like Oh! Gosh! Heavens! Dear me! Ouch!
Phooey! Sh! Wow! well,
Nonsense, and many profanities.
Here are a few examples:
-
Darn!
I forgot my wife’s birthday again.
-
Well,
I’ll try not to forget it next year.
-
Ouch!
That hurt.
-
Dear me!
She sure gets mad when I forget her birthday.
-
Oh well,
she’ll get over it in a few weeks.
-
Wow!
Mary looks beautiful.
-
Dear me!
Mary colored her hair orange.
-
Oh my God!
It makes her look like a giant papaya.
-
Nonsense,
.Mary still looks beautiful.
-
Sh!
Be quiet or she might hear us.
CONGRATULATIONS!
You have successfully navigated your way through the parts of speech. Although you may not realize it yet, your understanding of English has improved greatly over the past few weeks. As we go on, remember this:
Your
education is the most valuable thing you will ever possess.
There is
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