University Sidi Mohamed Ben Abdellah S1 grammar

Faculty of Letters and human sciences A. Fassi Fihri:

Department of English L. Ammari; N. Bouhout

Nouns

I. Types of nouns
A noun is a word used to name a person, a thing, a place etc.
Person John, Ahmed
Thing/Object radio, car
Place Fez, London, Morocco
Quality courage, endeavour
Action Talk, walk

We can identify different types of Ns:

Human (man, doctor) Unhuman (cat, window)
Animate (rat, bird) Inanimate (car, glass)
Concrete (tree, television) Abstract (wisdom, love)
Common (city, boy) Proper (Fez, Ahmed)
Countable (Dirham, tree) Uncountable (milk, oil)

In terms of form, Ns can be one-word (table), derived from other words (player, actor), or
compound (Timetable, blackboard)
Ns in English usually have one form for masculine and feminine (gender). However, there are
some exceptions: Actor-actress, waiter-waitress, lion-lioness.
There are some Ns which refer to either the masculine or feminine case.Examples: Man -woman,
boy- girl, husband – wife, son – daughter, nephew – niece, King – queen, bull – cow.
II. The plural of nouns
In general, when a countable noun refers to two or more persons, things etc. it must be put in the
plural. In English, the plural of most count Ns is formed by adding ‘s’. e.g. Cats, pens, rooms,
studios.

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Remember that a noun should agree with the verb in terms of number: The cat is pregnant – The
cats are pregnant; the number is wrong – A number of students are present. This is referred to in
grammar as subject-verb agreement or concord.
III. Some spelling rules to remember
‘s’ of the plural sometimes changes, according to the ending of the noun.
Ns ending in ‘s’, ‘sh’, ‘ch’, ‘x’ or ‘z’ (and beach – beaches; bus – buses; ax – axes; dish
some Ns ending in ‘o’) take “es”. – dishes; buzz – buzzes; tomato – tomatoes.
In Ns ending in ‘y’ preceded by a consonant story – stories; country – countries
(e.g. lady, city), we change ‘y’ into ‘i’ and we
add ‘es’.
In some Ns which end in ‘f’ or ‘fe’, we f: self-selves; loaf-loaves; wolf-wolves; half-
replace ‘f’ by ‘v’, and we add ‘es’, and the ‘f’ halves.
of ‘fe’ by ‘v’ and we add only ‘s’.
fe: : life-lives; knife-knives; wife-wives.
cliff-cliffs; proof-proofs; chef-chefs; safe-
safes.
Ns ending in ‘ief’, ‘oof’’, ‘eef’, ‘ff’ or ‘rf’ >> Belief-beliefs; chief-chiefs.
add ‘s’ Hoof-hoofs; proof-proofs; roof-roofs
Reef-reefs, turf-rurfs.
Ns ending in consotant+o >> es buffalo-buffaloes; cargo-cargoes; echo-
echoes; hero-heroes
Ns ending in vowel+o >> s. bamboo- bamboos; cameo-cameos; folio-
folios; portfolio-portfolios; radio-radios.
Short forms/appreviations >> s kilos, photos, logos, typos, memos, pros.
Other Ns engine in o take both ‘s’ and ‘es’ cargo - cargos / cargoes
mango - mangos / mangoes
motto - mottos / mottoes
memento - mementos / mementoes

A few other nouns ending in ‘f’ allow the two forms of plural. Examples: scarf-scarfs-scarves;
dwarf-dwarfs-dwarves.
IV. Irregular and invariable nouns:
The form changes mouse-mice; foot-feet; child-children; ox-
oxen; louse-lice.
The form remains the same sheep-sheep; deer-deer; fish-fish.
Singular invariable Ns which take ‘s’, but are series, means, and some names of scientific
used as singular Ns subjects, games, diseases and some proper

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 Ns: Linguistics, Mathematics; Cards,
Billiards; Mumps, Measles; Tangiers, Athens.
Uncountable nouns used with a singular form
of verb
Plural invariable Ns which take ‘s’ and are headquarters, trousers, outskirts, pants,
only used in the plural scissors, fireworks, glasses, pliers. (A pair of
shoes are …)
Some collective Ns have a singular forms but family, crew, group, cattle, police, offspring.
plural meaning.
My famly live/lives in Fes.

V. Plural of Compound nouns

A compound N is a word formed from two or more other words, (e.g. bedroom, dining table,
desktop). Compound Ns can be written as one word (e.g. roommate) or as separate words,
sometimes joined by a hyphen (e.g. living room, mother-in -law). Some Compound Ns can be
written in two ways (e.g. grownup, grown-up).
As a general rule, it is the principal (head) word in the compound is pluralized: Knight
templar/Knights templar. Full moon/ Full moons, bus stop / bus stops.
The plural of Compound Ns is formed in different ways:
Final elements is a count noun, make that a bookshelves, door keys, stepfathers, step
plural noun. brothers,
Final element is a mass (uncountable), the sunshine, moonlight
compound is also a mass noun.
Man + count N, make both elements plural manservant- menservants, woman-farmer-
women-farmers. Exceptions: manhole-
manholes, woman hater – woman haters
N + preposition, make N plural passers-by, lookers-on, brothers-in-law.
Verb + preposition, add ‘s’ Check-in/Check-ins; love-in/love-ins; take-
out/take-outs; sit-in/sit-ins.
N + adjective, make N plural. secretaries-general, courts-martial
verb + preposition, add ‘s’ pullovers, sit-ins, forget-me nots, hand-me
downs

If there is no principal (head) word, an ‘s’ is used added to the end of the compound. (forget-me-
not, merry-go-rounds.

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 VI. Plural of borrowed words
Latin nouns:
Ns ending in ‘a’ >> ae, s, or both alumna – alumnae, larva- larvae,
areas, dilemmas, diplomas
nebula: nebulas or nebulae
Ns ending in ‘us’ >> i, s, both or irregular. stimulus-stimuli, bacillus-bacilli.
virus-viruses, campus-campuses, bonus-
bonuses.
cactus-cacti -cactuses, focus-foci-focuses,
nucleus-nucluei fungus-fungi-funguses.
Corpus-corpora, genus-genera.
Ns ending in ‘um’ >> a, s, or both bacterium-bacteria, curriculum-curricula,
erratum-errata, datum-data.
album-albums, museum-museums, stadium-
stadiums.
symposium- symposiums- symposia,
aquarium- aquariums- aquaria

Greek nouns:
Ns ending in ‘ix’ or ‘ex” >> ices, or regular index-indices, appendix-appendices, matrix-
matrices (or index-indexes- indices, apex-
apexes-apices
Most Ns ending in ‘is’ >> ‘es’ analysis-analyses, basis-bases, oasis-oases,
thesis-theses
Ns ending in ‘on’ > ‘a’ . criterion-criteria, phenomenon-phenomena,
automaton-automata- or automatons (but
‘ganglion-ganglions’).

Ns from other languages:

• A few French Ns written with a final ‘e(a)u’ keep the French plural’s’ or ‘x’, which are
pronounced as a regular /z/, irrespective of spelling (tableaux, adieux, bureaux).
• Some Italian Ns take the English regular plural (e.g. pianos, sopranos), but others take ‘i’
(e.g. graffiti, tempi).

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University Sidi Mohamed Ben Abdellah S1 grammar
Faculty of Letters and human sciences Teachers: A. Fassi Fihri,
Department of English M. El Biadi, S. Madani Alaoui,
N. Bouhout

PRONOUNS
1. What is a pronoun?
A pronoun (Pr) is a word used to refer to a noun, a noun phrase, or any other structure used as a
noun equivalent. The N stands for the antecedent of the Pr e.g. Tom is our next-door neighbour;
he is from Germany.
In most cases, the Pr makes it unnecessary to repeat the N mentioned in an earlier sentence, or
understood from the context.
Other pronouns may be used in different ways: to point out to things, people or ideas (this, that
etc.) e.g. This book is interesting; to refer to indefinite people, things etc. (someone, anything
etc.) e.g. someone broke into my house yesterday.
Thus, pronouns may be classified into various types and categories. In general, they are used
with nominal functions, e.g. subject, he is a doctor, or adjectival functions, before nouns and
noun phrases e.g. his old car broke down.
2. Types of pronouns
• Personal pronouns
Personal Prs are associated primarily with a particular grammatical person. They take various
forms according to number (singular, plural), person (first, second, third), case
(possessive) and gender (masculine, feminine). Other Prs, like myself, themselves etc. can also
be included in the list of personal Prs. (see table below).
Note that there are 2 types of possessive Prs, used either as noun- equivalents (Nominal function)
or adjective- equivalents (Adjectival function).
Examples: I can lend you my car if yours is not working.
Sarah forgot her phone, so I gave her mine to make a few calls.

• Reflexive pronouns
A reflexive pronoun refers back k to a noun or pronoun (its antecedent) within the same
sentence, where the subject and object refer to the same person or thing (e.g. She cut herself,
where the subject- doer of the action- is the same as the object- receiver of the action).
Examples: The kids stayed by themselves all morning.
The cat jumped out of the window and hurt itself.
The queen herself named the ship.
(a reflexive Pr used with ‘by’ means ‘alone’; after a noun, it is used for
emphasis).

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The pronouns ‘you’, ‘they’ and ‘we’ can be used as indefinite pronouns, referring to a person in
general (not known, not specified), to make general reference in sentences where there is no
antecedent. A more formal equivalent is the indefinite pronoun one, which has a subjective form
(one), an objective form (one), a possessive form (one's) and a reflexive form (oneself). For
example, you should keep your secrets to yourself may be used in place of the more formal, one
should keep one's secrets to oneself.

subject Object possessive possessive Reflexive

Adjectives Pronouns pronouns

I Me My Mine Myself
Singular

You You Your Yours Yourself

He Him His His Himself
She Her Her Hers Herself
It It Its -------- Itself
Plural

We Us Our Ours Ourselves

You You Your Yours Yourselves
They Them Their Theirs Themselves

The pronoun ‘it’ is sometimes used to fill the place of a subject (it has no antecedent), when
it refers to one of the following:
✓ Time/date: It is ten o’clock, it is the second of December.
✓ Weather: It’s hot/cold/ raining.
✓ Identity: It is John.
✓ Emphasis: It is John who called me. If a Pr is used here, we should pay attention
to whether it stands for subject or object. E.g. subjective form: It is we who
accused them; objective form: It is us whom they accused. (notice that the relative
Pr also changes). Moreover, the subject-verb agreement must be respected in such
constructions: e.g. It is you who are responsible, but not *it is you who is
responsible, which is common and somewhat acceptable in informal language.
‘It’ is identified as an ‘empty subject’, especially when the subject is moved to another
position in the sentence: e.g. we would say it is quite common nowadays to see couples dress
alike, instead of to see couples dress alike is quite common nowadays.
Another related pronoun, used as object, is the reciprocal pronoun, each other, used for mutual
reference, e.g. They love each other, the old couple care for each other. The Pr ‘one another’ is
used instead when more than two members are involved, e.g. All the passengers were looking
strangely at one another.

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 • Demonstrative pronouns:
Demonstrative Prs are usually used before nouns and noun phrases, with an adjectival function;
hence, they are included and will be dealt with as determiners. They have both a singular and a
plural form: this/these, that/those and may indicate a distance distinction: this/that, these/those.
Examples: This book must be put on that shelf over there.
These toys belong to those kids, who are playing in the backyard.

• Interrogative pronouns:
Interrogative pronouns, what, which, who, whom, when, where, whose, why and how, (also called
interrogative words, question words or wh-words) are considered as function words, used to
introduce wh-questions. They may be used in both direct questions (Where have you been?)
and in indirect questions (I wonder where you have been). In English, The same forms are also
used as relative pronouns in relative clauses (I still remember the day when we first met ) and as
subordinate conjunctions in adverbial clauses (stay where you are!). The wh-word used in a
question tells us about the information sought, or wanted.
Examples:
Who are you? (person)
What are you doing? (thing, activity etc.)
When are you leaving? (time)
where are you going? (place)
How did you do it? (manner)

• Relative pronouns:
A relative Pr is a word that is used to introduce relative (adjective) clauses in complex
sentences (to be studied in S3 grammar). In simple terms, a relative clause is a sentence that
contains modifying information about a noun or noun phrase (also pronouns and determiners)
previously mentioned (antecedent), e.g. Have you read the book that/which I gave you last week?
Since the relative Pr replaces a noun in the relative clause, the choice of the Pr depends on the
type of N and its function in the original sentence.
Examples:
This is the officer who interviewed the new recruit
(who replaces a person used as subject).
This is the new recruit whom the officer interviewed.
(whom replaces a person used as object)
When the antecedent has an adverbial meaning (time, place etc.), a relative adverb is used,
e.g. This is the house where my grandfather was born.

We can summarize the different uses of relative pronouns and adverbs in the following table:

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 Relative
Usage Examples
Prs
The man who called you yesterday is a human- rights
who subject/object (people)
activist.
subject/object (not My friend’s car, which was parked on a hill, slowly
which
people) rolled down the street.
The woman whose husband passed out called an
whose possession (all)
ambulance.
object (people) The man whom we talked to (or, to whom we talked)
whom
on the bus was a retired army officer.
The car crashed into a traffic sign that stood on the
subject/object (all)
street.
That
I had never met the man that you introduced to me
(replaces who/which)
yesterday.
Where Place This is the motel where the dead body was found.
When Time Peter got married in 1990, when his father died.
Why Reason Do you know the reason why all the shops are closed?

• Indefinite pronouns:

While most of the above Prs have a clear reference, Indefinite pronouns, such as
something/somebody, anything/anybody, everything/everybody and nothing/nobody are used to
refer to unknown, unspecified persons and things (no antecedent). In other words, we use these
Prs to speak generally about something rather than mentioning a specific person, place or thing.

We can classify Indefinite pronouns into three categories and forms:

✓ some- compounds (someone, somebody, something) are used in affirmative sentences,

e.g. I asked somebody to help me.
✓ any-compounds (anyone, anybody, anything) are used when the verb is negative, e.g. I
don’t need anything.
✓ no-compounds (no one, nobody, nothing) are used in negative sentences when the verb
has an affirmative form, e.g. I need nothing.

Note that the use of no-compounds with a negative verb results in double negation, which is
wrong in English, * I don’t need nothing, *we didn’t meet no one (the use of * before a sentence
means that it is a deviant, wrong sentence)

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2. Usage of Indefinite pronouns

Things or People
To refer to things, we use the indefinite pronouns that end in -thing.
Example: everything, something, anything, nothing
For people, we use the indefinite pronouns that end in -body or -one.
Example: everybody/everyone, somebody/someone, anybody/anyone, nobody/no one

Difference between every-, some-, any-, no-

indefinite pronoun usage examples

everything every individual in a group, Everything looks different.

everybody/everyone all together It seems that everyone has
disappeared.

something an unspecified person or thing I would really like to

somebody/someone ask someone.
I think I heard something.

anything one random person of a group, I am sure anyone could help

anybody/anyone one random thing me to get back to the city
centre.
I would do anything to get back
to the city centre.
in negative sentences, But there isn’t anyone here I
in the sense of nothing/nobody could ask.

in questions, whether there is Is there anyone there?

something/something

nothing not one single thing or person Nothing looks familiar. There
nobody/no one is nobody in the street.

Instead of nothing/nobody/no one we can also use not anything/anybody/anyone.

Examples:
Nothing looks familiar.
I don’t see anything that looks familiar.

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 There is nobody here I could ask.
There isn’t anyone here I could ask.

Everything/everybody or anything/anybody

For foreign learners of English it is sometimes difficult to know whether to use any- or every-.

If we are referring to any person or thing from a group, we need to use any-. To help us
remember this rule, we can imagine various people or things and put an or in between them.

Examples:
Anyone could help me: the man or the woman or the child or the old lady.
I will do anything if you help me: I will give you money or I will help you do the
washing up or I will go to the cinema with you.

However, if we truly mean every single individual or the entire group together, we have to
use every-. To help us remember this rule, we can imagine various people or things and put
an and in between them.

Examples:

Everyone has disappeared: the man and the woman and the child and the old lady.
I will do everything if you help me: I will give you money and I will help you do the
washing up and I will go to the cinema with you.
Indefinite pronouns + they

The indefinite pronouns that end in -body/-one indicate a person. If we replace these pronouns
with personal or possessive pronouns, we use the third person plural.

Examples:
I would really like to ask someone if they knew the way.
Everybody should know their way home.

However, the indefinite pronouns that end in -thing do not refer to people and are therefore
replaced with the pronoun it.

Example: Nothing looks the way it used to.

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University Sidi Mohamed Ben Abdellah S1 grammar
Faculty of Letters and human sciences Teachers: A. Fassi Fihri,
Department of English M. El Biadi, S. Madani
Alaoui, S. Dib, N. Bouhout

I. a/an (the indefinite article)

A. Form
The form a is used before a word beginning with a consonant, or a vowel with a consonant
sound: a man a hat a university a European a one-way street
The form an is used before words beginning with a vowel (a, e, i, o, u) or words beginning with a
mute h: an apple an island an uncle an egg an onion an hour
a/an is the same for all genders: a man a woman an actor an actress a table
B. Use of a/an
Before a singular noun which is I need a visa. They live in a flat. He bought an ice-
countable (i.e. of which there is more cream.
than one) when it is mentioned for the
first time and represents no particular
person or thing
Before a singular countable noun A car must be insured = All cars/Any car must be
which is used as an example of a class insured.
of things A child needs love = All children need/Any child
needs love

With a noun complement. This It was an earthquake. She’ll be a dancer. He is an

includes names of professions actor.

In certain expressions of quantity a lot of, a couple, a dozen (but one dozen is also
possible), a great deal of
With certain numbers a hundred a thousand

Before half when half follows a whole 11/2 kilos = one and a half kilos or a kilo and a half.
number With 1/3 1/4, 1/5 etc a is usual: a third, a quarter etc ,
but one is also possible
In expressions of price, speed, ratio 5p a kilo, £1 a metre, sixty kilometres an hour ,10p a
etc dozen, four times a day.
The rent is £100 a week (a/an = per )
In exclamations before singular, Such a long queue! What a pretty girl!
countable nouns:
a can be placed before Mr/Mrs/Miss + a can be placed before Mr/Mrs/Miss + surname (UK)
surname (UK) or Mr./Mrs./Miss. + or Mr./Mrs./Miss. + family name (US)
family name (US) a Mr Smith means (= stranger to the speaker)

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C. Omission of a/an
Before plural nouns a/an has no plural form. a dog: dogs, an egg:eggs
Before uncountable nouns
Before names of meals, except when We have breakfast at eight. He gave us a good
these are preceded by an adjective breakfast.
I was invited to dinner. (at their house, in the
ordinary way) but
I was invited to a dinner given to welcome the new
ambassador.

D. a/an and one

- a/an and one (adjective)
1. When counting or measuring time, distance, weight etc we can use either a/an or one for the
singular: £1 = a/one pound £1,000,000 = a/one million pounds
In other types of statement a/an and one are not normally interchangeable, because one + noun
normally means ‘one only/not more than one’ and a/an does not mean this
A shotgun is no good. (It is the wrong sort of thing )
One shotgun is no good. (I need two or three )
2. Special uses of one:
a. one (adjective/pronoun) used with another/others:
One (boy) wanted to read, another/others wanted to watch TV.
One day he wanted his lunch early, another day he wanted it late.
b. one can be used before day/week/month/year/summer/winter etc. or before the name of
the day or month to denote a particular time when something happened:
One night there was a terrible storm. One winter the snow fell early.
One day a telegram arrived.
c. one day can also be used to mean ‘at some future date’.
One day you’II be sorry you treated him so badly. (Some day would also be possible)

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- a/an and one (pronoun)
one is the pronoun equivalent of a/an: Did you get a ticket? ~ Yes, I managed to get one. The
plural of one used in this way is some: Did you get tickets? ~ Yes, I managed to get some.
II. the (the definite article)
A. Form:
the is the same for singular and plural and for all genders: the boy the girl the day
B. Use
Object is unique the earth, the sea, the sky, the equator, the stars
Object mentioned a second time His car struck a tree; you can still see the mark on the
tree.
Before a noun made definite by the girl in blue the man with the banner
the addition of a phrase or clause
Unique referent Ann is in the garden. (the garden of this house)
Please pass the wine. (the wine on the table)
Before superlative, ordinal the first (week), the best day, the only way
numbers and only
The + singular to represent a The whale is in danger of becoming extinct.
class/group of animal or things
Before a member of a certain The small shopkeeper is finding life increasingly
group difficult
The first-class traveller pays more so he expects some
comfort
The + adjective to represent a class the old = old people in general
of persons
the is used before certain proper the Atlantic, the Netherlands, the Thames, the Sahara,
names of seas, rivers, groups of the Crimea, the Alps.
islands, chains of mountains,
plural names of countries, deserts,
regions
+ plural surname (= the family of ) the Smiths = Mr and Mrs Smith (and children)

C. Omission of the
Games He plays golf.
She hate football.

2. Home
a. When home is used alone, i.e. is not preceded or followed by a descriptive word or phrase, the
is omitted: He is at home.

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b. home used alone can be placed directly after a verb of motion or verb of motion + object, i.e.
it can be treated as an adverb: He went home. I arrived home after dark. I sent him home.
But when home is preceded or followed by a descriptive word or phrase it is treated like any
other noun: They went to their new home. We arrived at the bride’s home.
3. bed, church, court, hospital, prison, school/college/university
a. the is not used before the nouns listed above when these places are visited or used for their
primary purpose. We go: to bed to sleep or as invalids to hospital as patients to church to pray to
prison as prisoners:
Example: in bed (= sleeping or resting), in hospital (as patients) at church (as worshippers).
We can leave school, leave hospital, be released from prison
b. When these places are visited or used for other reasons the is necessary:
I went to the church to see the stained glass.
4. work and office
work (= place of work) is used without the: He’s on his way to work. He is at work.
office (= place of work) needs the: He is at/in the office.
To be in office (without the) means to hold an official (usually political) position. To be out of
office = to be no longer in power.
5. town
the can be omitted when speaking of the subject’s or speaker’s own town: We go to town
sometimes to buy clothes. We were in town last Monday.
Exercises
A) Read the text and fill in the gaps with a, an, the or ø for no article. Derek Wadlow’s company
does __ 1 __ kind of __2__ jobs other people find boring. They may be boring, but they are not
ordinary, that’s for sure. Here are __ 3 __ few of __ 4 __ company’s more recent jobs. They have
provided __5 __ 500 artificial but realistic corpses at __6 __ short notice for __ 7 __ horror film;
they have rubbed __ 8 __ small printing error of 10,000 Arabic banknotes; they’ve made __ 9 __
holes in several hundred eggs, blown out _ 10__ inside and stuffed __ 11__ shells with __ 12__
rolled - up advertising leaflet. Derek Wadlow’s next project could be __ 13__ equally
challenging one. “We’ve got to set up a quarter of __ 14__ million dominoes in __15__ shape of
__ 1 6__ company’s name. Then our client will film them falling down.” Explains Derek
Wadlow. “I am afraid about not being able to find _ 17 __ area large enough to accommodate all
__18 __ dominos.”

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B) In the following text the is missing eight times and a is missing twice. Insert them in the
correct places.
Dead Sea, which lies between Jordan and Israel, is lowest lake in world. It is about 397 metres
below sea level and it contains saltiest water in world. This is because several rivers carrying
minerals (including salt) flow into lake, but none flow out of it. Surface water evaporates, but all
the minerals remain behind. Salt makes it easy for swimmers to float – you can even read book
while floating on your back. In fact, lake contains six times more salt than ordinary sea water so
swimmer’s body is six times more buoyant than usual.
C) Complete the paragraphs by using a, an, the or X.
Last night there was (1)___ film on TV. (2) ___ film was about (3) ___ police officer who was
investigating (4) ___ homicide. (5) ___ murder was committed in (6) ___apartment of (7) ___
victim. (8) ___ murderer used (9) ___knife; (10) ___ knife was found in (11) ___ rubbish bin.
There were no (12) ___ witnesses, but (13) ___ blind man said that he heard some (14) ___ noise
which was coming from (15) ___ apartment of (16) ___ victim. (17) ___ police officer took (18)
___ knife as (19) ___ evidence. One week later (20) ___ very similar murder was committed.
(21) ___ victim was (22) ___ actor who was very popular in (23) ___ society. In this (24) ___
murder (25) ___ bigger knife which was found in (26) ___ package close to (27) ___ victim’s
apartment was used. In (28) ___ end, (29) ___ police officer caught the murderer when he was
about to kill (30) ___ woman who was (31) ___ famous singer.

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University Sidi Mohamed Ben Abdellah S1 grammar
Faculty of Letters and human sciences Teachers: A. Fassi Fihri,
Department of English M. El Biadi, S. Madani
Alaoui, N. Bouhout

Adjectives

1. Definition
Adjectives are used almost exclusively to modify nouns, as well as any phrase or part of
speech functioning as a noun.
• “John wears red glasses.” (Red modifies the noun glasses.)
• “A loud group of students passed by.” (Loud modifies the noun phrase group of students.)
• “Excellent writing is required for this job.” (Excellent modifies the gerund writing.
2. Position of adjectives: Attributive vs. Predicative
Adjectives are broken down into two basic syntactic categories:
Attributive adjective Predicative adjective
These can appear anywhere in a sentence, always appear after the noun they modify,
and can modify parts of either the subject or connected to it by a linking verb. (subject
the predicate. complement)
The black dog is unhappy The dog was black

Sometimes, though, attributive adjectives come after the noun the modify.
In borrowed expression secretary-general, poet laureate, attorney
general, princess royal, and professor
emeritus
After indefinite pronouns I wish I could find somebody perfect for the
job.
We can give these jeans to anybody tall.
After superlative attributive adjectives Let’s find the best hotel possible.
She’s the worst singer present.
Attributive adjectives ending in “-able/-ible It’s the only time available.
After expressions of measurement He’s only one year old
She’s five feet tall.

1
 3. Modifying pronouns:
While adjectives usually modify nouns, they can also modify pronouns. This most commonly
occurs when adjectives are predicative.

Predicative Attributive adjective modifying indefinite

pronouns
That was great A happy few were able to attend the show
She is very nice They were the lucky ones.

4. Kinds of adjective
Demonstrative this, that, these, those
Distributive each, every; either, neither
Quantitative some, any, no ; little/few; many, much; one, twenty
Interrogative which, what, whose
Possessive my, your, his, her, its, our, your, their
Of quality clever, dry, fat, golden, good, heavy, square
Compound adjective Italian, Shakespearean, Alaskan, Middle Eastern,
Proper adjective top-right, last-minute, sugar-free, record-breaking,
Nominal adjectives The best, the strongest, the blue (He wants the blue car, but I want
the blue
Collective adjectives A subgroup of nominal adjective. The rich, the poor, the innocent.
Participial adjectives His views seemed very surprising. His surprising view are
ludicrous. The offended man left the room. The man was very
offended.

5. Order of cumulative adjectives:

The standard order of adjectives in English is the following
1. Opinion (good, bad, strange, lovely) 7. Pattern (checked, striped, plaid,
2. Measurement (big, small, tiny, huge) flowered)
3. Shape (curved, straight, round, square) 8. Origin (American, British, eastern,
4. Condition (wet, dry, clean, sad, happy) western)
5. Age (old, young, new, ancient) 9. Material (wooden, plastic, steel, cloth)
6. Color (red, yellowish, transparent, blue)

2
10. Purpose (sleeping, shopping, work,
gardening)

6. Comparison
Three degrees of comparison
Positive Comparative Superlative
Dark/tall/useful Darker/taller/more useful Darkest/

One syllable adjective Three or more syllables Two syllables

Add ‘er’ or ‘est’ More/most Either rule.
‘ful’/re + er/est (usually)
‘er’/ ‘y’/ ‘ly’ + er/est (usually
Large, larger, larger Interesting, more interesting, Doutful, more doubtful, most
Bright, brighter, brightest most interesting. doubtful.
Clever, cleverer, cleverest

Exceptions
Positive Comparative Superlative Positive Comparative Superlative
Bad Worse Worst Far Farther Farthest
Good Better Best Little Less Least
Many/much More Most Old Elder Eldest
Old Older oldest

7. Adjective phrases
In addition to the single-word adjectives we looked at above, we can also use adjective
phrases and relative clauses (also called adjective clauses) to modify nouns.
An adjective phrase is an adjective and any additional information linked to it that work
together to describe a noun or pronoun in a sentence. The adjective around which an adjective
phrase is formed is known as the head word or head adjective of the phrase
• You have a beautiful voice.” (head word beautiful plus the determiner a)
• “He is a very good swimmer.” (head word good plus the determiner a and the adverb very)
• “The helicopters are controlled remotely.” (head word controlled plus the adverb remotely)

3
• “I am perfectly content on my own.” (head word content plus the adverb perfectly and the
adverbial •prepositional phrase on my own)
• “They felt relieved to return home.” (head word relieved plus the adverbial infinitive phrase
to return home)
8. Adjective clauses (Relative clauses)
Relative clauses (also known as adjective or adjectival clauses) are dependent clauses that
provide descriptive information about a noun or noun phrase. If the information it presents is
essential to the meaning of the sentence, it is known as a restrictive clause; if it is extra
information that is not essential, it is known as a non-restrictive clause.

Restrictive Non-restrictive
There’s the woman who always sits next to The escaped giraffe, which had been on the
me on the bus. loose for weeks, was finally captured.

9. Adjective formation suffixes:

The following suffixes often form adjectives:
-able -ible -ful -less -ous -ual -ic -ish -en -y -ive -ant -ent –ate.
Noun or Verb Adjective Noun or verb Adjective
Envy Enviable Wood Wooden
Response Responsible/responsive Fog Fog
Help Helpful Attract Attractive
Penny Penniless Home Homeless
Glory Glorious Danger Dangerous
grade Gradual act actual

10. Exercises:
I. Use the correct form of the word in capitals at the end of each sentence to fill in the
gap. You will need to use suffixes and prefixes forming adjectives.
1. It’s very ___________ to go climbing without a helmet, because you could get hurt badly.
RESPONSIBLE
2. My brother is a fantastic swimmer but he’s ___________ at diving. HOPE
3. It’s not ___________ to go swimming after a heavy meal because you could drown.
SENSE
4. Don’t be so ___________ I’ll be ready in a minute. PATIENCE
5. My sister is not very ___________ about the idea of an adventure holiday. ENTHUSIASM
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6. It was such a ___________ day that we couldn’t go out at all. RAIN
7. The climber broke his leg and was ___________ of walking without help. CAPABLE
8. That man was very courageous when he ran to help the drowning boy without thinking of
his own safety. COURAGE

II. Underline the adjective in the following sentence and state whether they are used
they type and position.
1. That was an incredible sight.
2. It was a stupid thing to do.
3. She is cleverer than I thought.
4. 4. Do you know any shop that sells coconuts?
5. She seems to be very intelligent.
6. He was a mischievous boy who always landed himself in trouble.
7. She looked gorgeous in that gown.
8. This is the eighth chocolate you have eaten today.
II. Complete the following sentences using the appropriate form of the adjective given in
the brackets.
1. He is ………………… than his neighbors. (rich)
2. The brides were much ……………… than the grooms. (young)
3. He is too ………………… to be taught. (intelligent)
4. He is ………………… than I thought him to be. (clever)
5. When the old woman became …………………, she began to move about. (trong)
6. He is much ………………… now. ( good)
7. The offer was too ………………… to be true. (good)
8. He fishes with ………………… success than I do. (great)
9. Shakespeare is the ………………… playwright in English. (great)
10. The pain was ………………… than he could bear. (much)
III. A. Describe the nouns using compound adjectives.
a walk that takes ten a building that has a boy who is five a report that is thirty
minutes twelve stories years old pages long

students in high a monster with green a man who has children who behave
spirits eyes short hair well

5
Sidi Mohammed Ben Abdellah University S1 Grammar
Faculty of letters-Dhar Al Mahraz
Department of English
Quantifiers
Quantifiers are words which show how many things or how much of something we are talking
about. They are much, many, (a) little, (a) few, a lot (of), some, any, no, none, both, all, either,
neither, each, every, (the) other(s), another.

I. Some, any, no, none, one

A. Some (several)
1. Affirmatives: There are some people waiting outside.
2. Questions +”yes”: Would you like some orange juice?
3. Requests: May I have some tea?
4. (=certain): Some people believe everything
5. Some=several: I haven’t phoned my uncle for some years.

Any (= It doesn’t matter who or which)

1. Negatives: I don’t want any sugar.
2. Uncertain questions: Do you have any money on you?
3. With “hardly”, etc.: There’s hardly any rain.
4. With “at all”: I haven’t any idea at all.
5. After “if”: Buy some apples if you see any.

B. Not...any, no, none

1. We can use no when we mean not any. We use an affirmative verb with no.
There aren’t any buses after midnight. = There are no buses after midnight.
There aren’t any plates left. = There are no plates.
2. We can also use no in place of not a/an: I’m not an expert. = I’m no expert.
3. None stands on its own as a pronoun: We have no bananas. We have none.
4. We do not use no of. Instead we use none of or none on its own.
None of the films that are shown in town look very interesting.
I’ve seen none of them = I’ve seen no one.

II. Much, many, (a) few, (a) little, a lot (of)

A. Much and many
We use much with singular uncountable nouns: much money.
We use many with plural countable nouns: many trees.

Negative statement There isn’t much space in this flat.

There aren’t many pandas in China
Interrogatives Is there much demand for silk stoking?
Will there be many guests at the party?
In formal statements Much money is spent for shopping.

1
 Many teachers retire early.
In time references I’ve lived here for many years.
With “aa much/many Take as much as you like.
as”
In sentence beginning Not many know about this.
Not much happens around here in winter.

B. A lot of (lots of)

We use a lot of with plural countable or singular uncountable nouns: a lot of books.

Affirmative statements She spends a lot of money on clothes. There were such a lot of
people in the shops.
Negative statements I haven’t got a lot of time for people like him

If we use a quantifier on its own (not in front of a noun or pronoun) we do not use of: Did you
buy any fruit? – Yes, I bought a lot/lots. (*Not a lot of)

C. “little/a little” and “few/a few”

We use few and a few with plural countable nouns. A few means “a small number”: We are
going away for a few days.
Compare
I’ve got a little money (=some, but not much) I’ve got little money (= nearly no)
I’ve got a few friends (=some, but not many) I’ve got few friends (=nearly no)

We sometimes use only with a few and a little: I’ve got only a little time.

III. Both, all, each, every

A. Both and all
1. We use both and all the in exactly the same way to refer to two particular people or things
(plural countable nouns): Both children /both the children are in bed.
2. We use all+noun to refer to things in general (=the whole number or amount): All children
like to play (plural countable). All advice is useless at this critical moment (uncountable nouns).
3. All the the refers to particular people or things:
All the children in our street like to play (= all the+ plural countable nouns).
All the advice you gave me was useless (= all the+ uncountable noun)

Three basic positions of “both” and “all” in affirmative sentences

1. After be when it is the only verb in a sentence:
The girls are both ready (= Both girls/Both the girls are ready).
The girls are all ready (= All the girls are ready)
2. After auxiliaries or the first auxiliary when there is more than one:
The boys can both speak French (= Both boys/Both the boys can speak French).
The committee should all have resigned (=All the committee should have resigned)
3. Before the main verb when there is only one verb:
2
The girls both left early (= Both girls/Both the girls left early)
The girls all left early (=All the girls left early)

We/you/they both/all
We/you/they both = both of us/you/them
We/you/they both ready = both of us/you/them are ready
We/they all = All of us/them
We/they all left early = All of us/them left early
Us both/all = to both/all of us
He gave us both/all some money = He gave some money to both/all of us

Negative sentences with ‘both’ and ‘all’

Both → neither Both the girls left early = Neither of the girls left early
All → none All the girls left early = None of the girls left early

B. Each and every

1. We often use each and every to refer to two people or things. When referring to more than to
we can use both each and every. Each suggests ‘one by one’, ‘separately’; every suggests ‘all
together ’:
My wife and I each ordered avocado to start with.
Each child at the party had a piece of cake (Every is possible)
Every child in the world loves ice-cream
2. We must use every after nearly and after not: Nearly every shop is shut today. Not every
shop is shut.
3. We cannot use of after every and we cannot use every at the end of a sentence:
Each of the children received a present. They received a present each.

VI. Another, (the) other(s), either, neither, all, (a/the) whole

A. Another, (the) other(s)
Quantifier Meaning Example
Different Come another day. (= any other day, no particular
Another day)
Additional We need another day to finish this. (= one more day,
no particular day)
Some…other Contrast things in Some holidays are cheap and others are expensive. (=
general holidays in general)
One…the other Contrast particular This one is mine and the other one is yours. (Or:... the
things other is yours)
This one is mine and the other ones are yours. (Or:...
the others are yours
For people John went cycling and the other boy/the other boys
The other went with him.
+ day (can mean ‘a I met your father in the street the other day. (= a few
few days ago’) days ago)

3
B. 'Either' and 'neither' + singular nouns
Either and neither refer to two people, things, etc. only.
Either means 'one or the other': Which pot will I use? - Either (of them). It doesn't matter
which.
Neither means 'not one and not the other': Which pot will I use? - Neither (of them). Use this
frying pan.

C. All (the), (a/the) whole All (the) compared with (a/the) whole
1. We use the whole and a whole with singular countable nouns:
Не ate the whole loaf. He swallowed a whole banana. The whole film was boring.
We do not use the whole/a whole with plurals or uncountable nouns. (Not 'the whole
books/bread).

2. Some nouns combine only with all:

He spent all the money. She's 90 and she’ s still got all her teeth.
Some nouns combine only with whole:
You must tell me the whole truth. I'd like to know the whole history.
Some nouns combine with all or whole: I've waited all my life/mу whole life for such a moment
as this.

D. All compared with everyone/everybody and everything

1. We rarely use all on its own to mean 'everyone/everybody':
Everyone/Everybody wanted Marilyn's autograph. (Not *AII wanted*).
2. All means 'everyone/everybody' when we use other words with it:
All of us/We all agreed to sign the contract. All those who were present were in favor.
(= Everyone/Everybody agreed to sign. Everyone/Everybody present was in favor.
3. We often use all and everything with other words to refer to things:
All/Everything I have belongs to you. He taught me all/everything I know. But note: He gave
me everything.

V. Quantifiers + countable/uncountable nouns

Some quantifiers combine with countable nouns; some with uncountable and some with both
kinds.
+ conutable noun + Uncountable noun + uncountable + uncountable
+ plural countable + singular
countable
Both books A (small) amount of, a some books each book
(a) few, fewer, the bit of, a great deal of, a some ink all (of) the,
fewest, a/the majority good deal of, (a) little, any (of the) , enough, a any/some (of the) ,
of, (not) many, a less, (not) much, the lot of/lots of, hardly each, either, every,
minority of, a number least any, more/most (of most of the,
of/several the) , plenty of, no, neither, no, none
none of the of the

4
Exercises:
I. FILL IN THE BLAN WITH some, any, or ø (blank = no answer)
1. We can’t do without ... bread. 8. Go and ask him for ... paper. I haven’t ...
2. There isn’t ... life in that girl. in my desk.
3. Buy ... bread and cheese for the picnic, if 9. Can we have ... milk?
you want to help. 10. What material do you need? – ... that is
4. I like ... biscuits and ... sweets. available.
5. ... doctor will tell you that it is harmful. 11. Put ... spices into the soup. 12. I hate ...
6. There’s hardly ... milk in the bottle. bad news.
7. If you have ... news call me back.

II. Circle the correct answer

1. Give me ... milk, please.
1 any 2 some 3 no 4 ø.
2. We have ... rivers but have... lakes.
1 some 2 any 3 no 4ø
3. There is ... taxi when you need ....
1 any 2ø 3 one 4 no
4. You can find ... time between six and nine.
1 some 2 any 3 no 4ø
5. When I needed help, he didn’t ask ... questions.
1 no 2 some 3ø 4 any
6. You may have ... tea without milk because there isn’t ... at home.
1 any 2 no 3 one 4 some

III. FILL IN THE BLANC WITH ‘no one’ or ‘none’

1. ... of us is perfect; we all make mistakes. 6. Of all the girls he phoned ... were at
2. That is ... of your business. home.
3. ... had anything to gain by his death. 7. ... answered his question, silence fell in
4. I invited all of them but ... have come. the room.
5. I looked around the room, expecting to
see piles of books; ... were visible.

IV. FILL IN THE BLANC WITH “much/many” or “a lot of” .

1. I know old Mr. Higgins has ... money. 4. Take as ... of these tiles as you want.
2. There aren’t ... portraits of Shakespeare. 5. ... was said about it. 6. How ... frames are
3. Don’t be discouraged! ... have failed to you going to buy?
run the marathon. 7. If you have ... news call me back.

V. FILL IN THE BLANC WITH “few/a few”, “little/a little”.

1. Hurry! We’ve got ... time.
2. I saw Tom ... days ago.
3. If what you say is true, there is ... we can do about it.

5
4. I can’t let you use much of this perfume. There’s only ... in the bottle.
5. This town isn’t very well-known and there isn’t much to see, so … tourists come here.
6. I don’t think Jill would be a good teacher. She’s got ... patience with children.
7. “Would you like some more cake?’ – “Yes, please, but only ....

VI. FILL IN THE BLANK WITH a little, a lot of, a few, few, fewer, many and much.
DON’T CALL US, WE’LL CALL YOU!
Two years ago I moved to a new neighborhood. There seem to be very _____ people in this area
who are without telephones, so I expected to get a new phone quickly. I applied for one as soon
as I moved into my new house. ‘We aren’t supplying _____ new phones in your area’, an
engineer told me. ‘_____ people want new phones at the moment and the company is employing
_____ engineers that last year so as to save money. A new phone won’t cost you _____ money,
but it will take _____ time. We can’t do anything for you before December. ‘You need _____
patience if you’re waiting for a new phone and you need _____ friends whose phones you can
use as well. Fortunately, I had both. December came and went, but there was no sign of a phone.
I went to the company’s local office to protest. ‘They told me I’d have a phone by December,’ I
protested. ‘Which year?’ the assistant asked.
VII. FILL IN THE BLANC WITH us, them, both, both the, all or all the.
ALL ON BOARD?
_____ of _____ who travel by plane probably find reasons to complain about airlines, but it is
less common for airlines to complain about _____! At 2.35 p.m. Flight 767 was ready to leave
for Ibiza and nearly _____ passengers were on board. At 6.10 p.m. the plane was still on the
runway. Two passengers hadn’t boarded. If people check in but don’t board _____ the luggage
must be unloaded. _____ passengers had to get off the plane and _____ of _____ identified their
luggage. At the end there were two pieces of luggage left. Just then, _____ missing passengers
appeared. “We _____ went to the bar and we had something to drink and a sandwich,” they
explained. _____ of _____ had been sitting in the bar for hours! The captain scolded _____
severely and the other passengers were very angry with ____ .

VIII. FILL IN THE BLANK WITH each or every. Sometimes both are possible
1. Nearly ... home in the country has 5. The admission ticket cost us $5 ....
television. 6. They seem to be repairing ... road in the
2. Here is something for ... of you. country.
3. Not ... student is capable of learning 7. … road is clearly signposted.
English. 8. There’s a fire extinguisher on … floor of
4. Our monitoring organization will give the building.
you ....

IX. FILL IN THE BLANK WITH every, both and each.

1. ... day he comes here, and ... time he asks me the same question.
2. There was a huge building on ... side of the square, ... having a massive arched gate.
3. He shook hands and had a few minutes’ talk with ... of us.
4. I see him ... day.

6
5. … his legs were broken in the accident.
6. You’ve been given ... opportunity to do well in this company.
7. I’ve phoned him twice, but he’s been out on ... occasion.
8. Not ... train driver is on strike today.

X. FILL IN THE BLNAK WITH another, other, the next, the other, the others, others,
either or neither.
1 John came to see me … day. It was last Friday, I think.
2You can't use those screwdrivers ... of them is suitable for the job.
3 I met two strangers on the way to work. One of them greeted me and … don’t.
4 Some people like to have the windows open all the time; … don't.
5 I met John a year ago, but I've ... seen him nor heard from him since.
6 Say what you like about those two applicants. I didn't like ... of them!
7 I can't see him today. I'll have to see him ... day.
8 I don't know who's on the phone. It's ... your mother or your aunt.

XI. REWRITE THE SETNENCES USING either, all, or whole.

1. I'm losing my hair … .
2. He explained the situation to me … .
3. The money was spent … .
4. You didn't tell me the truth … .
5. I heard the story …
XII. FILL IN THE BLANC WITH all, everyone or everything
1. When the famous actress appeared ... wanted to speak to her
2. ... I invited came to my party.
3. I'm not buying anything ... is too expensive.
4. ... those who know me can be sure I'm telling the truth.
5. ... of us felt that it had been a wonderful experience.
6. ... stood up when the President came into the room.
7. ... talked about the elections, but I'm not sure they ... voted.

XIII. FILL IN THE BLANC WITH A APPROPRITAE QUANTIFIEER. MOE

THAN ONE IS POSSIBLE

1. We have imported … videos this year than last year.

2. There has been … demand for videos this year than last year.
3. ... vehicles have just been recalled because of a design fault.
4. ... effort has been put into this project.
5. There isn't ... hope of finding the wreck.
6. There aren't ... dictionaries that can compare with this one.
7. … book was written by someone else.
8. ... magazines carry advertisements.
9. ... metal is liable to rust.

7
10. I'd like ... milk in this coffee, please.
11. This room needs ... pictures to brighten it up.
12. … businesses have gone bankrupt this year.
13. There aren't ... chocolates left!
14. There isn't ... time to waste.
15. We've had … trouble with this machine already.
16. There have been … accidents on this corner this year.
17. We can't accept the estimates ... estimate is low enough.
18. … examples prove that I am right.
19. There have been ... changes in the new edition.
20. There has been ... change in the new edition

Exercise: Choose the correct answer

Marianne is doing a weekend painting course in Sardinia. She is talking to Gustav as they
paint. Read their conversation and choose which of the quantifiers in brackets is best in
each gap.

Marianne: I love these courses. I come (0) (all / every)…every….summer for a week or two.
Have you been here before?
Gustav: Yes, I've been here (1) (several / lots) ________ times. Last time I came at Easter and
there weren't (2) (some / many) ________ other people. It was very quiet and I got (3) (many /
lots of) ________ work done. When there are (4) (too much / too many) ________ people, I find
it hard to concentrate. People just talk (5) (most / all) ________ the time.
Marianne: Oh, I know! Some people only come here to make friends. It's really so annoying! I
have (6) (so little / too few) ________ time back in England to paint, I really want to take
advantage of the opportunity while I'm here.
Gustav: Have you got any more Prussian Blue paint? I haven't got (7) (a few / any) ________
left.
Marianne: Oh yes, I've got (8) (a lot of / plenty) ________ here. I find I use more cobalt here. Of
course, it depends when you work. If you work late into the evening, the sky changes colour. It
changes to (9) (lots of / few) ________ different shades of blue.
Gustav: I prefer to stick to one shade and mix it with (10) (a bit / a few) ________ other colours -
(11) (a few / a little bit) ________ bit of black, or (12) (some / much) ________ white, a spot of
red ... you know.
Marianne: Oh gosh! I haven't got (13) (every / enough) ________ confidence to do that yet. I'd
love to see how you do it. I suppose you go through (14) (litres / dozens) ________ of paint!
Gustav: I go through (15) (many / lots of) ________ paper, too. Yes, it does take (16) (much /
lots and lots) ________ of practice, but it's my hobby so I don't mind at all.
Marianne: I'm afraid I do hardly (17) (some / any) ________ practice at home. I do a life-
drawing class just once a week and (18) (a few / a little) ________ sketching at the weekends.
I'm never going to learn how to use colour that way, am I!

8
Gustav: No you're not. You have to be brave and try (19) (lots of / too much) ________ different
techniques. I'll give you (20) (plenty / a few) ________ tips if you like. Now, for example, the
blue you are using here is much too bright. ... You really should mix it with (21) (a bit of / most)
________ white ...like this.
Marianne: Oh, you're so kind! I can see that I still have (22) (little / many) ________ things to
learn about painting.

9
University Sidi Mohamed Ben Abdellah S1 grammar
Faculty of Letters and human sciences Teachers: A. Fassi Fihri,
Department of English M. El Biadi, S. Madani
Alaoui, N. Bouhout
The Verb
Definition: Verbs are used to indicate the actions, processes, conditions, or states of beings of
people or things. Verbs play an integral role to the structure of a sentence. They constitute the root
of the predicate, which, along with the subject (the doer of the verb’s action), forms a full clause
or sentence—we cannot have a sentence without a verb.
When we discuss verbs’ role in the predicate, we usually divide them into two fundamental
categories: finite and non-finite verbs.
I. Finite and Non-Finite Verbs
1. Finite verbs are verbs that have subjects and indicate grammatical tense, person, and
number. These verbs describe the action of a person, place, or thing in the sentence. Finite verbs
do not require another verb in the sentence in order to be grammatically correct.
• They went to the mall today.
• The outfielder leaped for the baseball.
• Many people travel to the ocean in the summer.
• The sailboat glides over the water.
• The lion is the king of the jungle.
2. Non-finite verbs, on the other hand, are verbs that do not have tenses or subjects that they
correspond to. Instead, these verbs are usually infinitives, gerunds, or participles. Gerunds and
present participles end in -ing, while past participles usually end in -ed,
3. Importance to sentence structure
Sentences need a finite verb in order to be complete. Without a finite verb, a sentence would simply
be a subject, or a subject and other parts of speech that do not express action and are not linked
together properly. In other words, sentences do not function correctly without finite verbs. To
illustrate this point, consider the following examples:
• The car.
• The car on the road.
• The car on the road through the mountains.
In the above examples, car is the subject. In order to make complete sentences, a finite verb must
be used to describe the action of the car, as well as show how the other parts of the sentence relate
to it. In the following examples, a finite verb is used to form complete sentences:
• The car drove.
• The car drove on the road.
• The car drove on the road through the mountains.
Simply adding the finite verb drove makes all three of these sentences complete. This is because
it lets the reader know what the car is doing, and it connects the subject to the other parts of the
sentence.
We can also see how a using a non-finite verb instead of a finite one would render the sentence
incomplete again. For example:

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• The car driving on the road through the mountains.
Because we used the present participle driving, the sentence is now disjointed—the action is not
fully expressed by the sentence. We would need to add a finite verb to complete it, as in:
• The car was driving on the road through the mountains.
II. Transitive and Intransitive Verbs
English verbs are split into two major categories depending on how they function in a sentence:
transitive and intransitive. Transitive verbs take one or more objects in a sentence, while
intransitive verbs take no objects in a sentence.
The verb is transitive if a word or words in the sentence answer the question Who or what did the
action of the verb happen to?
• The people watched the game from the bleachers. (The game is what the people watched.)
• They met your brother at the airport in Dubai. (Your brother is who they met.)
1. Ambitransitive Verbs
Some action verbs can be both transitive and intransitive, depending on the context of the
sentence or what information the speaker wishes to include. These are sometimes known as
ambitransitive or ergative verbs.
• She eats before going to work. (Intransitive—no direct object receiving the action of the verb
eats.)
• She eats breakfast before going to work. (Transitive—has a direct object (breakfast) receiving
the action of the verb eats.)
• I’ve been trying to read more. (intransitive)
• I’ve been trying to read more novels. (transitive)
2. Monotransitive, Ditransitive Verbs
2.1. Monotransitive verbs
A verb that acts upon a single object in a sentence is referred to as monotransitive. This single
object is called its direct object.
• I rode my bike to get here.
• Jim just told a funny joke.
2.1. Ditransitive Verbs
Verbs that take two objects: a direct object and an indirect object are ditransitive. The direct
object relates to the person or thing that directly receives the action of the verb, while the indirect
object relates to the person or thing that indirectly receives or benefits from the action as a result.
The indirect object in a ditransitive verb can either come immediately before the direct object in a
sentence, or it can form the object of a prepositional phrase using to or for that follows and modifies
the direct object.
• He gave Mary a pen. (The indirect object, Mary immediately follows the direct object, pen.)
• He gave a pen to Mary. (The indirect object, Mary, forms the object of the prepositional phrase
to Mary, which follows and modifies the direct object, pen.)
Factitive Verbs
Factitive verbs serve the purpose of helping to answer the question of how a person, place, or thing
was changed. Examples of factitive verbs include elect, appoint, make, choose, deem, assign,
name, select, judge, and designate.

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Factitive verbs are or appear to be ditransitive as well. Instead of having a direct object that impacts
on an indirect object, factitive verbs describe a status, category, quality, or result that the direct
object is becoming due to the action of the verb.
• The American people elected her the president of the United States. (object complement)
• He was appointed Supreme Court justice.
• The committee selected Mrs. Fuller chairman of the board.

III. Regular and Irregular Verbs

All English verbs are either regular or irregular, depending on how they are conjugated. The
majority are regular verbs, which means that -d or -ed is added to their base form (the infinitive of
the verb without to) to create both the past simple tense and past participle.
The past simple tense and past participles of irregular verbs, on the other hand, have many different
forms that do not adhere to a distinct or predictable pattern. Much of the time, their past tense and
past participle forms are completely different from one another. Unfortunately, this means that
there is no way of determining how to conjugate irregular verbs—we just have to learn each one
individually.
1. Regular verbs
Base Past simple Past Base Past simple Past
participle participle
climb climbed climbed Listen listened listened
walk walked walked approach approached approached
arrive arrived arrived gather gathered gathered
bolt bolted bolted bake baked baked
In some cases, though, we have to modify the verb slightly further in order to be able to add -d or
-ed. For instance, with verbs that end in a short vowel followed by a consonant, we double the
final consonant in addition to adding ‘-ed’; when a verb ends in a consonant + ‘y,’ we replace the
y with i and add -ed; and when a verb ends in -ic, we add the letter k in addition to -ed.
Base Past simple Past
participle
chop chopped chopped
copy copied copied
panic panic ked panic ked
• I walk around the park each evening. (base form)
• I walked around the park in the afternoon. (past simple tense)
• I have walked around the park a few times this morning. (past participle)
2. Irregular verbs
Irregular verbs, by their very definition, do not have spelling rules that we can follow to create the
past simple tense and past participles. This means that the only way of knowing how to spell these
forms is to memorize them for each irregular verb individually.
• I drive to work every morning. (base form)
• I drove for nearly an hour yesterday. (past simple tense)
• I had already driven halfway to the office when I realized I forgot my briefcase. (past participle)
• I would love to grow vegetables in my garden. (base form)
• I grew some juicy tomatoes last summer. (past simple tense)

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• He has grown a lot of different vegetables already. (past participle)

IV. Verb forms

All verbs are either finite or non-finite and transitive or intransitive in a given sentence, depending
on their form and function. There are many different forms and categories of verbs that we’ll be
looking at in this lesson on verbs.
1. Auxiliary Verbs
Auxiliary verbs (also called helping verbs) are verbs that add functional meaning to other main
or full verbs in a clause. They are used to create different tenses or aspects, to form negatives
and interrogatives, or to add emphasis to a sentence. However, they do not have semantic
meaning unto themselves.
1.1. Types of Auxiliary Verbs
The primary auxiliary verbs are be, do, and have, and they are the most commonly occurring
auxiliaries in English. Each can also be used as a main verb in a clause, and each is able to
conjugate to reflect plurality, tense, or aspect.
The verbs can, could, will, would, shall, should, must, may, and might are known as modal
auxiliary verbs. These are distinguished by the fact that they are unable to conjugate into
different forms, and they are only followed by a verb in its base form.
The remaining verbs—ought to, used to, need, and dare—are known as semi-modal verbs, since
they do not share all the characteristics of the modal verbs above and only function as auxiliary
verbs in certain ways.
1.2. Subject-auxiliary inversion
Inversion refers to the reversal of the normal position of the subject and the auxiliary verb of a
clause. Subject-auxiliary inversion is commonly used to create interrogative sentences.
Additionally, subject- auxiliary inversion can be used to create conditional sentences, as well as
for emphasis in negative sentences when negating phrases are used.
When a sentence is in the present simple tense or past simple tense, we use the auxiliary verb do
to form it into a question word. Do is inverted with the subject, coming before it in the sentence.
• John works across town. (declarative sentence)
• Does John work across town? (interrogative sentence)
If the verb is in a continuous tense (present, past, or future) or the future simple tense, then the
auxiliary verb used to create the tense is inverted with the subject; if the verb is in a perfect
continuous tense (present, past, or future), then the first of the two auxiliary verbs is inverted.
Present continuous tense:
• John is working across town. (declarative)
• Is John working across town? (interrogative)
Present perfect continuous tense:
• John has been working across town. (declarative)
• Has John been working across town? (interrogative)
This inversion holds true even when a question word is used, as in:
• Where will John be working across town?
• Why had John been working across town?
• When was John working across town?

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Modal auxiliary verbs can also be used to create questions with specific meanings, as in:
• Can you work a forklift? (question of ability)
• May I watch television for an hour? (question of permission)
• Must we sit through another boring play? (question of obligation)
We can also achieve conditional clauses by using subject-auxiliary inversion, although the
sentence sounds a bit more formal as a result:
• Were I to move to Florida, I would be warm all year round.
• Had they trained a little harder, they would have won.
Finally, the verb be is able to invert when it functions as a linking verb (meaning it is a main verb)
as well as when it functions as an auxiliary. For example:
• I am cold.
• Are you cold?
• They were all present.
• Were they all present?
2. Infinitives
An infinitive is the most basic form of a verb. It is unmarked (which means that it is not conjugated
for tense or person), and it is preceded by the particle to.
Infinitives are known as non-finite verbs, meaning they do not express actions being performed
by the subjects of clauses. Infinitives are used to express an action as a concept, rather than what
is being done or performed by the subject of a clause. In this way, they can function as nouns,
adjectives, or adverbs—that is, nearly any role in a sentence except that of a main verb.
2.1. Making infinitives negative
To make an infinitive or infinitive phrase negative, we use the word not before the infinitive. We
can also put greater emphasis on not by placing it after to. This creates what is known as a split
infinitive—an infinitive that has an adverb between to and the base form of the verb. While some
traditional grammar guides state that this should never be done, in reality there is no such rule in
English; it is perfectly grammatical to split an infinitive, and in many cases it sounds more natural
to do so.)
2.2. Infinitives as nouns
As Subjects
The subject performs, occupies, or controls the action of the verb.
• To err is human; to forgive is divine.
• To study mathematics at Harvard was her ultimate dream.
As direct objects
A direct object is a person or thing that directly receives the action of the verb in a clause.
• I’m not going unless you agree to go with me.
• You appear to be correct.
• Please be quiet; I’m trying to study.
• They’re attempting to solve the equation.
As objects in reported speech
When we use reported speech, we often use infinitives as the direct object of a reporting verb to
express what was said or asked in the past.
• He asked to help us fix the car.

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• She said not to answer the phone.
• He demanded to speak to the manager.
As object complements
Certain verbs do not make sense with only a direct object, especially when that direct object is a
person. More information is required about the object’s relationship with the verb to form a
complete thought. This extra information is known as the object complement.
An infinitive can also act as an object complement, which is word or group words that describe,
rename, or complete the direct object of the verb.
• I don’t expect you to approve of my decision.
• She’s forcing me to work through the weekend.
• We need you to make a few more copies.
• Janet’s father wants her to go to Harvard.
As subject complement:
A subject complement renames or re-identifies the subject after a linking verb (usually a form
of the verb be).
• All I want is to be left alone.
• The best thing in life is to spend time with those you love.
• The best we can hope for is to break even.
2.3. Infinitives as adjectives
When infinitives are used as adjectives, they function in a similar way to relative clauses (also
known as adjective clauses), providing more information about a noun or pronoun that they appear
directly after.
• This is a good place to start reading. (To start reading modifies the noun place.)
• Give your brother something to play with. (To play with modifies the pronoun something.)
• Find a friend to help you study. (To help you study modifies the noun friend.)
2.4. Infinitives as adverbs
We can also use infinitives as adverbs to modify the main verb in a sentence, describing a reason
why an action is, was, or will be done. Infinitives used in this way are often known as infinitives
of purpose.
• I started running to improve my health.
We can also use the phrases in order to and so as to add formal emphasis to an infinitive of
purpose, as in:
• We must leave now in order to catch our train.
• He’s been studying all week so as to improve his grades.
2.5. Infinitives vs. Base Forms (Bare infinitives)
The base form of a verb is simply the infinitive without the particle to— like an infinitive, it is
uninflected for tense and person. Because of this similarity, the base form of a verb is often known
as a bare infinitive, and some grammar guides and writers make little distinction between the two
forms.
However, infinitives and base-form verbs function differently, so it is important to distinguish
between them. An infinitive can be used in a sentence as a noun, an adverb, or an adjective,
but it cannot act as a true verb that expresses the action of a subject.

6
The base form of a verb, on the other hand, can be used in conjunction with the auxiliary verb
do to become negative or to form questions. They are also used with modal auxiliary verbs to
express things like possibility, necessity, obligation and permission, as well as to create the simple
future tense.
Verbs that take bare infinitives
The base form is also used after the direct object of certain action verbs, such as let, help, and
make, as well as after verbs of the senses, such as hear, see, and feel.
• Please let me go to the party, mom. (Please give me permission to go.)
• His father makes him study. (His father forces him to study.)
• Jack is helping me clean the garage. (Jack is cleaning the garage with me.)
After had better
The base forms of verbs are also used after the phrase had better, which acts like the modal verb
should to suggest a required or desirable action.
• You had better clean this up before your father gets home.
• I think we’d better go home soon.
After why
Bare infinitives can also follow the word why to form questions, as in:
• Why study when I already know the material by heart?
• Why watch TV when we could play outside?
These types of questions are called elliptical, which means that part of the sentence has been left
out because it is implied. The full questions might read:
• Why should I study when I already know the material by heart?
• Why would we watch TV when we could play outside?

3. Participles

3.1. The present participle

The present participle is the -ing form of a verb. This verb form is always the same, whether the
verb is regular or irregular
Apologize Close Eat Run
apologizing closing Eating Running

3.2. The past participle

Unlike the present participle, the past participle form changes depending on the verb. The past
participle of regular verbs ends in -ed, and is generally the same as the simple past tense of the
verb.
The past participle form of irregular verbs has a variety of endings that must be memorized.

verb Past simple Past verb Past simple Past

participle participle
apologize apologized apologize hand handed handed
run ran run break broke broken

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3.3 Perfect participle phrase (Having + past participle)
When we want to emphasize that one event happened before another, we can use the structure
having + past participle, also known as the perfect participle. For example:
• Having seen the movie before, I wouldn’t want to see it again.
• Having done a lot of exercise this morning, we should eat a big lunch.
• She was exhausted, having stayed up all night watching TV.
3.4. Participles as adjectives
When we form an adjective using the present participle, we imply action on the part of the noun
being modified.
• She soothed the crying baby. (The baby is crying).
• The speeding car crashed into the tree. (The car was speeding.)
• Hugging, the two sisters said goodbye to each other. (The sisters were hugging.)
When we form an adjective using the past participle, on the other hand, we don’t imply action on
the part of noun that it modifies. Instead, we describe a characteristic of that noun. For example: •
I picked up the broken bottle. (The bottle is broken.)
• The jumbled puzzle pieces were all over the floor. (The puzzle pieces are jumbled.)
• Please get me a bag of frozen vegetables. (The vegetables are frozen.)

3.5. Participles as gerunds

The present participle is also used to create gerunds. A gerund is a form of a verb that can be
used as a noun, functioning as a subject, complement, or object of a sentence.
• Swimming is my favorite sport. (subject)
• My brother’s favorite sport is cycling. (complement)
• Do you enjoy running? (object)

Types of verbs

1. Action verbs
Action verbs (also known as dynamic verbs) are verbs that are used to explain what the subject of
a sentence is actively doing. For example, ran, swim, jump, move, look, and catch are all action
verbs. Here are some examples of action verbs being used in sentences:
• The man stretched his arm before he threw the baseball.
• The kittens leaped from the table to the chair.
2. Stative verbs, unlike action verbs, stative verbs indicate the state or condition of the subject,
such as thoughts or opinions (agree, recognize, doubt), possession (own, possess, belong, have),
emotion (love, hate, like, fear, enjoy), or senses (seem, look, hear, taste, feel).

3. State verbs
Unlike action verbs, stative verbs indicate the state or condition of the subject, such as thoughts or
opinions (agree, recognize, doubt), possession (own, possess, belong, have), emotion (love, hate,
like, fear, enjoy), or senses (seem, look, hear, taste, feel).
• I own 10 cars.

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• The kids love to play outside in the summer.
• Janet feels that we should go home.
Some verbs, however, can function as both state and action verbs. In this case, a simplified rule
for identifying if a verb is stative or active is to conjugate the verb into one of the continuous tenses
(by using its present participle) and see if the sentence still makes sense. For example:
✔ I own 10 cars.
✖ I am owning 10 cars. (incorrect—stative verb)
✔ I see your point. ✖ I am seeing your point. (incorrect—stative verb) However:
✔ I am seeing a movie later. (correct—action verb)

4. Linking verbs
Linking verbs Linking verbs are a subset of the stative verbs we looked at above—they also
describe condition or state as opposed to an action. Linking verbs are used to connect a subject to
an adjective or phrase that describes it.
• She is smart.
• They seem very strong.
• This soup tastes funny.
• The crowd grew quiet.
• I hope you get well soon.

Exercise 1 Underline the verb in each sentence. In the blank, write T if the verb is transitive.
Write I if the verb is intransitive.
T Jaelyn followed the recipe carefully.
____1. Kathleen Battle, the opera star, sings amazingly well.
____2. The red ants fought the black ants.
____3. My aunt plays rugby every Sunday.
____4. The hawk flew slowly over the forest.
____5. Everyone saw the horse with the beautiful saddle.
____6. Twenty-thousand people watched in amazement.
____7. Beth finally heard that new song by the Ooglies.
____8. The members of the chess club elected Janelle president.
____9. The sound engineer recorded the bass and guitars first.
____10. Dogs hear much better than humans.
____11. I never watch game shows on television.
____12. Robin finished early.
____13. The dolphin turned quickly and smoothly.
____14. I finished my homework during study hall.
____15. I turned the pages of the old book with care.
____16. Hummingbirds eat almost constantly.

Exercise 2 Place a check in the blank next to each sentence whose main verb is a linking verb.
✔ Fiona is Irish.

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_____ 1. Irish Americans are one of this country’s largest immigrant groups.
_____2. About 40 million Americans claim Irish ancestry.
_____3. This total is almost ten times the number of people in the country of Ireland today.
_____4. Among the states with the largest number of Irish Americans are Massachusetts,
Delaware, New Hampshire, and Rhode Island.
_____ 5. Irish immigrants came to this country very early in its history.
_____6. Ireland was a country with a large population.
_____7. The large number of people caused a rise in the poverty level.
_____8. Many Irish felt hopeful about the endless job opportunities in America.
_____9. In 1845 a terrible potato famine struck Ireland.
_____10. The first big wave of Irish immigrants started in the 1840s.
_____11. Most Irish immigrants settled in the large cities of the Northeast.
_____12. Irish immigrants were important in building the famous Erie Canal and many
highways, railroads, and cities.
_____13. The Irish had an advantage over other immigrants because they could speak English.
_____14. In spite of this, however, many Irish suffered discrimination.
_____15. Irish Americans have made important contributions in many areas of American life and
society.
_____16. One well-known Irish American was President John F. Kennedy.
_____. Irish American Eugene O’Neill, an outstanding dramatist, won the Nobel Prize in
literature for his plays.

Exercise 3: Underline the linking verb (or verbs) in each sentence. Then circle the word or
words after the linking verb that identify or describe the subject.
This is the story of an American hero.
1. John Fitzgerald Kennedy was the thirty-fifth president of the United States.
2. When he was a child, his life seemed easy.
3. Joseph and Rose Kennedy appeared eager to give their children every opportunity to succeed.
4. John became an author when an expanded version of his senior thesis was published as a
book.
5. Why England Slept is an account of Great Britain’s difficulty in trying to react to military
events.
6. Events grew bleaker in Europe as World War II advanced.
7. The United States stayed neutral for a time but eventually sent troops to Europe and Asia.
8. John Kennedy felt confident that he could command a Navy motor torpedo boat.
9. His mission grew dangerous when a Japanese destroyer sank his boat.
10. He became a hero when he led his men back to safety.

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University Sidi Mohamed Ben Abdellah S1 grammar
Faculty of Letters and human sciences Teachers: A. Fassi Fihri,
Department of English M. El Biadi, S. Madani
Alaoui, N. Bouhout

Adverbs

1. Definition:
An adverb refers to any element in a sentence used to modify a verb, adjective, or another
adverb.
• The child smiled sweetly. (The adverb sweetly modifies the verb smiled.)
• She walked slowly. (The adverb slowly modifies the verb walked.
• He talked politely. (The adverb politely modifies the verb talked.)
Sometimes adverbs modify adjectives.
• It was a very important question. (The adverb very modifies the adjective important.)
• You are so sweet. (The adverb so modifies the adjective sweet.)
Adverbs can also modify other adverbs.
• He walked very slowly. (The adverb very modifies the adverb slowly.)
• She sang extremely well. (The adverb extremely modifies the adverb well.)
2. Formation of adverbs
Most adverbs are formed by adding ly to an adjective. Examples are: able, ably; cheerful,
cheerfully; wise, wisely; clever, cleverly; modest, modestly; kind, kindly; probable, probably,
earnest, earnestly etc.

Adjective Adverbs
He is a strange (adjective) person. She is a He behaved strangely (adverb).
beautiful (adjective) girl. She sang beautifully (adverb).

The suffixes wise, ways, ward and wards are also used to form adverbs.

• She glanced sideways at the strangers.

• She looked upwards.
• They marched onward.
• She walked backwards.

3. Types of Adverbs
There are many different categories of adverbs, which provide specific kinds of descriptions
and which behave slightly differently in a sentence. The table below provides a quick

1
breakdown of the different categories and how they are used to describe something in a
sentence.

Adverb (examples) Function Example

Time (now, tomorrow, Describe when or for how long We are eating now.
yesterday, still, yet, later, something happens or is the case.
etc.)
Frequency (always, usually, Describe how frequently something “I rarely eat
sometimes, often, rarely, happens or is the case. A subset of breakfast in bed.
daily, weekly, monthly, etc.) Adverbs of Time.
Place (north, here, up Describe the direction, distance, “I absolutely hate
everywhere, there, forward, movement, or position involved in running uphill.
downward, uphill, behind) the action of a verb.
Manner (beautifully, Describe how something happens or He walked slowly
wonderfully, slowly, how someone does something. toward the bar.
deliberately, happily) Usually formed from adjectives.
Degree (undoubtedly, truly, Describe the intensity, degree, or I'm fairly certain this
very, quite, pretty, extent of the verb, adjective, or is correct.
somewhat, fairly) adverb they are modifying.
Purpose (thus, Describe why something happens or The clothing is
consequently, hence) is the case. handcrafted and
hence/thus
expensive.
Negative adverbs (not, Used to modify the meaning of a “He does not work
hardly, barely, never, verb, adjective, other adverb, or on Mondays.
seldom) entire clause in a negative way. Used
in many of the other categories
above.
Evaluative (apparently, Used by the speaker to comment or Clearly, we're going
astonishingly, clearly, give an opinion on something. to have to work
frankly, obviously, Evaluative adverbs modify the entire harder.
presumably) clause.

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 Point of view (personally, in Used to indicate whose point of view Personally, I don’t
my point of view, according we are expressing, or to specify what believe it’s true.
to you, scientifically, aspect of something we are talking
biologically) about.
Relative Adverbs (where, Used to introduce relative clauses, I don’t know why he
when, why) when the information relates to a got angry.
place, time, or the reason an action
took place.
Focusing adverbs (also, as to draw attention to information that Tom didn’t turn up
well, too, chiefly, is being added, information that is to the party, and
exclusively, exactly, just, being limited or partially limited, neither did James.
mainly, especially, neither, information that is negative, They played mostly
either/or, even) information that presents a choice, or techno music at the
information that is considered party
surprising.
Adverbial nouns Nouns or noun phrases that function Heidi starts school
grammatically as adverbs to modify this autumn
verbs and certain adjectives, usually I can barely see a
specifying time, distance, weight, foot in front of me in
age, or monetary value this fog.
Comparative adverbs comparative adverbs make An airplane moves
comparisons between two verbs— faster than a car.
that is, they describe how, when, how I work more
often, or to what degree an action is carefully than I used
done. to
Sam finished as
quickly as his
brother.”

4. Adverb placement
Adverbs are flexible. They can come at the beginning, in the middle, or at the end of a
sentence. The natural placement of adverbs is as near as possible to the verbs they modify.
When the verb is intransitive, place the adverb immediately after it.

• They played (verb) well (adverb).

3
 • She worked (verb) hard (adverb).

When the verb is transitive, place the adverb immediately after the object.

• He gave (verb) his reply immediately (adverb).

• He drew (verb) the picture nicely (adverb).
• She suffered (verb) the pain bravely (adverb).
• She accepted (verb) the offer reluctantly (adverb).

Adverbs of time and frequency are placed before the verb. Examples are: seldom, always,
often, before, never etc.

She seldom writes to me. They never visit us. We always try to help them.
When the sentence consists of an auxiliary verb and a main verb, the adverb is placed
between the two. If there are two auxiliaries, the adverb is placed between them.

• I have always wanted to become famous. (Auxiliary verb + adverb + main verb)
• I should never have thought it possible. (First auxiliary verb + adverb + second
auxiliary verb + main verb)
• He was greatly praised for his contribution to the field.

An adverb is placed before an adjective or another adverb which it modifies.

• She is very (adverb) beautiful (adjective).

• You are absolutely (adverb) right(adjective).
• He is a rather (adverb) careless (adjective)fellow.

5. The order of adverbs

Adverbs can appear almost anywhere in a sentence If more than one adverb is used to
describe a verb, though, there is a general order in which the different categories of adverbs
should appear—this is known as the order of adverbs (sometimes called the royal order of
adverbs): 1. Adverbs of Manner 2. Adverbs of Place 3. Adverbs of Frequency 4. Adverbs of
Time 5. Adverbs of Purpose

Sub + Verb Manner Place Frequency Time Purpose

Beth swims enthusiastically in the every before dusk to keep in
pool evening shape.
Dad walks impatiently into every before work to get a
town morning newspaper.
Joe naps in his every after lunch.
room afternoon

6. Adverb or adjective?

Some words ending in -ly are adjectives, and not normally adverbs.

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Common examples are: costly, cowardly, deadly, friendly, likely, lively, lonely, lovely, silly,
ugly and unlikely.
• She has a lovely daughter.
• Don't be silly.
• It was a lively discussion.
Some adverbs and adjectives have the same form.
Examples are: fast, hard, high, late, near, straight, wrong, daily, early, leisurely etc.
• It is a fast (adjective) car.
• A fast (adjective) car goes fast (adverb).
• He drove fast (adverb).
• Hard (adjective) work pays.
• You must work hard (adverb).
• He is an early (adjective) riser.
• I got up early (adverb) today.
• It is easy (adjective).
• Take it easy (adverb)

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 Prepositions and prepositional phrases
Teachers: Fassi Fihri, El Biadi, Madani Alaoui, Dib, Bouhout
1. What are prepositions?
A preposition is a word or group of words used before a noun, pronoun, or noun phrase to show direction,
time, place, location, spatial relationships, or to introduce an object. Some examples of prepositions are
words like "in," "at," "on," "of," and "to."
Examples:
• The last time I saw him he was walking down the road.
• I always buy my milk from the convenience store on Main Street.
• I will set next to you.
Prepositions in English are highly idiomatic. Although there are some rules for usage, much preposition
usage is dictated by fixed expressions. In these cases, it is best to memorize the phrase instead of the
individual preposition
2. Classes of prepositions:
Prepositions are generally classified into three classes: simple preposition, compound preposition, and
complex prepositions.
Simple prepositions in, on, of, at, from, among, between, over,
They are the most common prepositions with, through, without, etc

Compound Prepositions Into, out of , outside, inside, on top of , apart

are usually a combination of two from, due to etc
prepositions used together as one.

Complex prepositions according to, as well as, except for, in favor

These are two or three word phrase that of, etc
functions in the same way as a simple
preposition

3. Types of prepositions:
We commonly use prepositions to show a relationship in space or time or a logical relationship between two
or more people, places or things.

Types Uses Examples

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 ✓ He reads in the evening.
Prepositions of time ✓ Use "in" with parts of the day ✓ The weather is
(the morning, the afternoon, cold in December.
tell the reader or listener about etc), months, years, and ✓ She was born in 1996.
when something happens or seasons ✓ We rake leaves in the fall
happened. ✓ Use "at" with specific time. ✓ I go to work at 8:00.
with noon, night, and midnight, ✓ He eats lunch at noon
expressions (at the moment ✓ He does
etc) laundry on Wednesdays
✓ Use "on" with days ✓ He works part time during the
✓ To refer to extended time, use summer.
the prepositions "since," "for," ✓ He will be in Toronto for 3
"by," "during," "from…to," weeks
"from…until," "with," and
"within."
✓ They will meet in the
Prepositions of Place ✓ use the prepositions "in" (the lunchroom.
point itself) ✓ She was waiting at the corner.
tell the reader or listener about the ✓ "at" (the general vicinity) ✓ He left his phone on the bed.
position of someone or ✓ "on" (the surface) ✓ Place the pen inside the
something. ✓ "inside" (something drawer
contained) ✓ The bird flew over the house.
✓ To refer to an object higher ✓ The plates were on the
than a point, use the shelf above the cups
prepositions "over" and ✓ There is hard
"above” wood beneath the carpet
✓ To refer to an object lower ✓ The gas station is by the
than a point, use the grocery store.
prepositions "below," ✓ The park is near her house.
"beneath," "under," and ✓ Park your bike next to the
"underneath." garage
✓ To refer to an object close to a
point, use the prepositions
"by," "near," "next to,"
"between," "among," and
"opposite."
✓ The post office is across the
Prepositions of Spatial To refer to a spatial relationship, street from the grocery store.
Relationships use the prepositions "above," ✓ We will stop at many
"across," "against," "ahead of," attractions along the way.
Talk about the location of objects "along," "among," "around," ✓ The kids are hiding behind the
in the environment and relations "behind," "below," tree.
between them
"beneath," "beside," "between," ✓ She glanced towards the
"from," "in front of," "inside," mirror
"near," "off," "out of," "through,"
"toward," "under," and "within." ✓ He leaned against a tree

4. Prepositions Following Verbs and Adjectives

Some verbs and adjectives are followed by a certain preposition. Sometimes verbs and adjectives can be
followed by different prepositions, giving the phrase different meanings

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Some Common Verb + Preposition Combinations
About: worry, complain, read
• The recipe consists of three basic
• He worries about the future. ingredients.
• She complained about the homework. • The basement smells of mildew.
At: arrive (a building or event), smile, look On: concentrate, depend, insist

• He arrived at the airport 2 hours early. • He is concentrating on his work.

• The children smiled at her. • They depend on each other.
From: differ, suffer To: belong, contribute, lead, refer

• The results differ from my original idea. • Bears belong to the family of mammals.
• She suffers from dementia. • I hope to contribute to the previous
In: occur, result, succeed research.
With: (dis)agree, argue, deal
• My recruitment strategies resulted
in finding 10 participants. • I (dis)agree with you.
• She will succeed in completing her degree. • She argued with him.
Of: approve, consist, smell • They will deal with the situation.

5. Some Common Adjective + Preposition Combinations

About: happy, sorry
• The boy is happy about the result. Of: aware, composed, proud, ashamed
At: good, expert • It is supper cool to be proud of yourself.
• Salim is good at teaching. To: grateful, similar, accustomed, beneficial
For: good, grateful, happy, sorry • He acts similar to his brother
• They are really sorry for the delay. With: familiar, disappointed
In: interested, disappointed • The children are too familiar with their
• The rich should be interested in helping teacher
the poor.
6. Prepositional phrases
Structure:
Preposition + Noun Phrase: I went to the store.
Preposition + Pronoun: I bought the book for him
They may be adjectival or adverbial, according to what they modify
For example:

• The girl in my science class invited me to her party.

Here, in my science class qualifies girl, and it is adjectival
For example:

• The girl invited me to her party in my science class.

in my science class modifies invited, indicating where the invitation took place, and it is therefore
adverbial

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University Sidi Mohamed Ben Abdellah S1 grammar
Faculty of Letters and human sciences Teachers: A. Fassi Fihri,
Department of English M. El Biadi, S. Madani
Alaoui, N. Bouhout

The Phrase

Definition
Grammatical phrases are groups of two or more words that work together to perform a single
grammatical function in a sentence.
Phrases from the parts of speech. Most of the parts of speech can be made into phrases by adding
information that is directly associated with them. Below, we’ll look at a breakdown of each type
of phrase that is formed from a part of speech.
Types of phrases

1. Noun phrases
Noun phrases have the following basic structure:
Determiner Pre-modifier Noun (head) Post modifier
The young boy who live next door

Determiners: The most common determiners are the articles the definite article the and the
indefinite article a/an. Other determiners include possessive adjective, demonstrative adjectives
and quantifiers.
Pre-modifiers: include adjectives, genitive’s and other nouns:
Noun pre-modifier Genitive pre-modifier Adjective pre-modifier
The science museum Samira’s book Cold weather

Post-modifiers in a noun phrase occur after the noun, and are most commonly prepositional
phrases, to infinitive phrases and relative clauses.
Prepositional post-modifier To infinitives Relative clause
A piece of cheese. the first man to walk on the the film that I enjoyed most
moo

2. Verb phrases
A verb phrase is made up of an auxiliary verb plus the main verb that follow its.

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 Aux + verb Main verb alone
We were running late I eat lunch at 7 pm.
They may call you tomorrow
I have been learning Arabic.
When two or more auxiliary verbs occur in a verb phrase, they observe the following relative
order: Modal – Perfective – Progressive
3. Adjective Phrases
An adjective phrase is made up of an adjective along with constituents (parts) that modify or
complete the adjective’s meaning. Adjective phrases have the following basic structure
Pre-modifier Adjective (head) Post modifier
Very Reluctant To leave
The pre-modifier in an adjective phrase is most commonly an adverb: very useful extremely
cold. In expressions of measurement and age, a noun phrase may function as a pre-modifier in an
adjective phrase: three months old, a meter long. Post-modifiers occur after the adjective: glad
you could come guilty of murder.
Adverb pre-modifier Noun pre-modifier Post-modifier
So happy Three meters long Happy to see you
10 centimeters wide Glad you could come
Reluctant to leave

4. Adverbial Phrases
Adverb phrases have the following basic structure
Pre-modifier Adverb Post-modifier
Very quickly Indeed
The pre-modifier in an adverb phrase is always an intensifier: very gradually too slowly
extremely badly.
Post modifiers in adverb phrases are quite rare. Apart from indeed, only enough is commonly
used: funnily enough, oddly enough, naturally enough, strangely enough.
5. Gerund phrases
A gerund phrase is formed when a gerund (the “-ing” form of a verb used as a noun) is
accompanied by any modifiers and/or objects.
Swimming every day is good for your health. I wouldn't recommend reading books in the
dark.
6. Infinitive Phrases
Infinitive phrases are composed of the infinitive of a verb (the base form + the particle to) along
with any objects or modifiers associated with it.

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This is a good place to stop for today.
To read a book everyday is a healthy habit.
7. Participial phrases
Like gerunds and infinitives, participles are formed from verbs, so participle phrases are created
when participles are accompanied by any modifiers. Unlike the gerund, which work like nouns,
participial phrase work like adjective.
My car, destroyed in the accident, was taken away by the tow truck.
Participants breaking the rules will be removed from the competition.
8. Prepositional phrases
The preposition phrase always begins with a preposition and noun and pronoun are its objects.
Such as, in the room, from the shop, to the library, etc.
The object of a preposition can possess its own modifiers, which also are part of the prepositional
phrase.
• The women in suffocating attire looked tired and annoyed.
• He sat by the rushing river to write his poem.
• Let me go to the room.

Pre-modifier Preposition (head) Complement

Just After the game
Pre-modifiers in a prepositional phrase are quite rare, but here are some examples: just after the
game straight across the road right around the building

9. Phrases within phrases

As you might have noticed in the examples above, there are many instances in which one type of
phrase has one or more other phrases within it. Take the following sentence:
The very lovely orange cat lives in the shed in the garden.
The very lovely oranges cat is lying in the garden of our neighbors
The lovely bright is lying in the garden of our neighbors
very lovely orange
very lovely in the garden of our neighbor
the garden our neighbors
The very lovely orange cat is lying in the garden of our neighbor

Exercise 1: Circle each prepositional phrase in the following sentences.

We met in the lobby after school.
1. My sister took her books off the table at dinner time.
2. At the party, we met students who did not go to our school.
3. Which of the movies is your favorite?

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4. Tim sat motionless for a long time.
5. We ran toward the water when we reached the beach.
6. Sheila always gets nervous before a performance.
7. Inside the auditorium people talked loudly until the end of the show.
8. I ran around the table and hid beneath the chair.
9. Sue promised me her recipe for stew.
10. Cheers filled the stadium throughout the football game.
Exercise 2: Circle each prepositional phrase in the sentences below and draw an arrow to
the word or words it modifies.
1. The captain slipped on the wet deck.
2. We went to the movie at the last minute.
3. Which of the barbells is heavier?
4. Melissa earned the money for her new dress.
5. When Jo forgot her key, she knocked on the window.
6. The boy in the red jacket plays on my soccer team.
7. The doctor told him that joining the track team would be healthful for him.
8. She was taught table manners at a young age.
9. We found sticky paw prints on the kitchen floor.
10. Let’s meet the new coach at four o’clock.

Exercise 3: Circle the participle or participial phrase in each sentence.

1. Being a good kicker, Carla tried out for the football team.
2. She wanted to be the team’s leading kicker.
3. Playing for her middle school team, she felt ready to compete.
4. However, many other students, having equal experience, also decided to try out for the team.
5. Startled by the number of competitors, Carla grew nervous.
6. Did all of them have a winning record?
7. Glancing at her competitors, she discovered that three of them were female.
8. Considered unique in middle school, Carla was not prepared to meet other female kickers.
9. A girl named Molly introduced herself to Carla.
10. She had been a celebrated middle school kicker, too.

Exercise 4: Circle the gerund or gerund phrase in each sentence.

1. I like eating healthful foods.
2. Recycling gives our family a sense of accomplishment.
3. Quitting is almost never the best solution.
4. Cheryl’s delicious cooking keeps her restaurant popular.
5. Leafing through photos is a good way to remember old times.
6. We enjoyed painting the barn.
7. Doing the yard work made us tired.
8. The whistling of the wind makes the house seem lonely.
9. Constant bickering was making the twins a nuisance.
10. Pacing the floors can relieve tension for some people.

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Exercise 5: Above each infinitive, write n if it is used as a noun, adj. if it is used as an
adjective, and adv. if it is used as an adverb.
1. An author must choose the right setting to make a novel memorable.
2. For some writers, it was easy to find the best setting.
3. To live in London is to have the perfect setting.
4. A novelist can find it interesting to create plots based on the city’s rich history
5. As the center of government, it is the place to witness politics in action
6. To see a great opera, one would also travel to London.
7. To shop, a character would head for Oxford Street.
8. There are many parks for a hero or heroine to walk through.
9. To visit the oldest royal park, one would go to St. James’s.
10. At Regent’s Park it is fun to view the Zoological Gardens.

10. Other types of phrases

10.1. Appositive phrase:
An appositive is a noun or noun phrase (appositive phrase) that gives another name to the noun
right next to it. It adds descriptive words about a specific thing (the noun), which helps make a
sentence more detailed; or, it adds essential information to make the sentence’s meaning clear.
An appositive noun or phrase can come before or after the main noun. It can be at the beginning,
middle, or end of a sentence, as long as it is right next to the noun it describes. In the
examples, appositives are red, and nouns are green.

• The smallest state in the US, Rhode Island is in the northeast.

• The dog, a beagle, is great at following a scent.
• The apartment had bugs, big brown cockroaches!
10.2. Absolute phrases
An absolute phrase is a phrase that modifies a whole independent clause (a full sentence); not
just one word. It generally combines a noun and a participle, so it can be as short as two words,
or sometimes have other modifiers and objects, too.
Absolute phrases are not full sentences on their own, but they can add very important details to
sentences that make them more informative or relevant.

• Sally waited for her friends to arrive, muffins baking in the oven.
• Muffins baking in the oven, Sally waited for her friends to arrive.
• Her muffins freshly baked, Sally waited for her friends to arrive.
• Sally waited for her friends to arrive, her muffins freshly baked and ready.
Absolute phrases always have a noun (as the subject), but don’t have a finite verb. Usually,
they also have a participle, plus other modifiers and objects.

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University Sidi Mohamed Ben Abdellah S1 grammar
Faculty of Letters and human sciences Prs: A. Fassi Fihri,
Department of English M. El Biadi, S. Madani
Alaoui, N. Bouhout

Sentences and Clauses

I. Sentence structure: Subject and predicate
Sentences must always include both a subject and a predicate. The subject of a sentence is the
word or group of words (a person, place, or thing) that performs, controls, or is responsible for
the action of a verb. The predicate is made up of at least one finite verb, the action of which is
performed or controlled by the subject.
The subject usually appears before its verb and is made up of at least one noun, any grammatical
element functioning as a noun, or a pronoun standing in place of a noun.
Subject Nature
Computers can process numbers very quickly. Noun
A boy from our owns a motorcycle. Noun
neighborhood phrase
Someone ate my cake! Pronoun
Swimming is great exercise. Gerund
Swimming in the lake is fun Gerund phrase
To do practice activities makes learning effective Infinitive phrase

Predicate
I Fell (intransitive verb)
My family loves going to the beach each summer.
In school, We are learning about the American Revolution.

1. The simple subject and the simple predicate

The simple subject is the main noun or pronoun that tells what the sentence is about.
The batter swung at the third ball. main noun as simple subject
She hit a high pop foul. main pronoun as simple subject
My grandmother lived in Poland as a girl main noun as a simple subject

A simple predicate is the verb or verb phrase that expresses action or being about the
subject.
The crowd cheered after the touchdown. main verb as simple predicate
The team will practice on Saturday. main verb phrase as simple predicate

Exercise 1: Draw one line under the simple subject and two lines under the simple
predicate of each sentence below.
1. Our family traveled through Africa last summer.
2. At the airport we joined a sightseeing tour.
3. The guide loaded us into a huge old van.
4. He drove the van to a nearby game preserve.
5. Unfortunately, the ancient vehicle lacked good shock absorbers.
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6. Our bodies were jolted with every turn of the wheels.
7. Clouds of dust around the van obscured our vision.
8. The driver slowed the van to a stop. 9. Mom started loading her camera in anticipation.
2. The complete subject and the complete predicate
Most sentences have additional words that tell more about the simple subject and the simple
predicate. The complete subject is made up of the simple subject and all the words that tell
about it.
The members of the team voted to buy new uniforms. NP as complete subject

The complete predicate is made up of all the words that tell what the subject is or does,
including the simple predicate.
The principal of the school invited us to a board meeting next Saturday.

Once you have located the simple subject and predicate, then you can divide the entire sentence
into complete subject and complete predicate.
The president of our class | won the election by a landslide.

Exercise 2: Draw one line under the simple subject. Draw two lines under the simple
predicate. Draw a vertical line (|) between the complete subject and the complete predicate.
1. Several photos of the fire were in the paper.
2. Gabriella will take her science project to the fair.
3. The nature documentary showed the life of a coral reef
4. Miguel’s bicycle was stolen from the school bike rack.
5. Many people on our block have dogs and cats.
6. We are learning about the Arctic tundra in geography.
7. Rita kicked four goals in her soccer game yesterday.
3. The compound subject and the compound predicate
A compound subject consists of two or more simple subjects that share the same verb. The
two subjects are joined by a conjunction (Coordinating conjunction or correlative conjunction)
Andrea and Rick entered the relay race.
Neither the teachers nor the students favor the new schedule.
Either cinnamon or nutmeg is used in this recipe.
Exercise 3: Draw one line under each compound subject and two lines under the simple
predicate they share. Circle the conjunction or conjunctions.
1. Clubs and sports are two of Lani’s favorite hobbies.
2. Neither Chris nor Juan shares her interest.
3. Lani and her other friends belong to the drama club.
4. Either Tuesday or Wednesday is the day of their next meeting.
5. Sets, costumes, and props will be discussed.
6. Scripts and audition forms will be passed out.
A compound predicate consists of two simple predicates that share the same subject. The
two simple predicates are connected by a conjunction.
Harold picked the flowers and arranged them.

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The well-trained dogs will neither bark nor bite.
The angry customer has either called or written five times.
A flock of birds swooped behind the hill but reappeared above the trees.

Exercise 4: Draw one line under each simple subject and two lines under each compound
predicate in the following sentences.
1. Plays entertain and inform audiences.
2. New plays often open the mind and spark new ideas.
3. Regional theaters either commission new works or read submissions.
4. Playwrights improve and refine their dialogue during rehearsal.
5. Directors can add elements but cannot save a weak script.
6. Actors often try different approaches and choose the most effective one for the character.

4. Order of subject and predicate

In most sentences that you read and write, the subject comes before the predicate.
The red-tailed hawk | soared high overhead.
For variety or special emphasis, some sentences are written in inverted order. In such cases, the
predicate comes before the subject.
High overhead soared | the red-tailed hawk.
The subject also follows the verb in any sentence that begins with there or here.
There sit | the missing books!
Here is | your birthday present.

5. Clause and sentence types

There are two types of clauses: main (or dependent) and subordinate (or dependent).
An independent clause contains a subject and a predicate and can stand alone as a sentence.
The baby cried.
Andrea and Her friend Fatima go to the gym every Saturday.
A subordinate, or dependent, clause contains a subject and predicate but cannot stand alone.
This type of clause must be used with a dependent clause clause to make sense. It usually begins
with a subordinating conjunction, such as after, although, as, as if, because, if, since, so that,
than, unless, until, when, where, or while; a relative pronoun such as who, whose, whom, which,
that, or what; or a relative adverb, such as when, where, or why.

The baby cried when the dog barked loudly. The baby whose mother left him on the street
(* When the dog barked loudly: dependent cried.
and cannot stand alone as a sentence) (* Whose mother left him: dependent and
cannot stand alone as a sentence)

Exercise 5: Draw one line under the subordinate clause or clauses in each sentence.
1. After the storm cleared, the flight took off.
2. You will learn to speak Spanish if you practice.
3. I know a girl who sings in the chorus.
4. Although English is my favorite subject, I also like algebra.
5. We can go to the mall unless you are too busy.
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6. Madeline is from a part of France where few people speak English.
7. The judge, who was angered by the outburst, slammed her gavel down.
8. When we arrived at the hotel, we discovered that our reservation had been canceled.

II. Types of dependent clauses

Noun clauses perform nine functions: subject, direct object, indirect object, object of
preposition, subject complement, object complement, nount complement, adjective
complement, and appositive. Just like adjective, adjective phrases, adjective clauses primarily
perform the single function of noun phrase modifier (adjectival). Adverbs perform the single
function of adverbial.
What she found about him shocked her What she found about him Sub
A mother gives whatever she can to her childen Whatever she can DO
The judge with give what you said some thought what you said IO
I will write whoever atteneded the meeting a thank-you Whoever attend the meeting IO
note
She laughed at what I had done. What I had done Obj of
Prep
The problem is that you never think before you speak. That you never think. SC
The winners are whomever you pick from the box
Whomever you pick from the box
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 - You may call you husband whatever you wish. - whatever you wish. OC
- I declare the problem that you don’t want to learn. - that you do not want to learn
- The committee has announced the winner whoever - whoever wrote the essay on
wrote the essay on noun clauses noun clauses
The fact that you he refuses to get a job baffle me. That he refuses to get a job NC
- We are all afred that the strom will be severe. - that the storm will be severe. AdjC
- Our professor is angry that another students snuck in - that another student snuck in late
late.
The problem, that you did not pick the package, delays
the entire production schedule.
I think the solution, that he hired a replacement, was the That he hired a replacement Appo
best decision he has even taken.

III. Clause constituents

Clauses can contain 5 different components: Subject, Verb, Object, Complement, and Adverbial
1. The subject
The person or thing which performs the action of a verb
Students [subject] must write in an academic style.
Academic writing [subject] is difficult.
The purpose of this essay [subject] is to discuss the advantages and disadvantages of the
Internet.
What are telling me now [Subject] does not make sense.

2. The verb:
A word or phrase that describes an action, condition or experience.
This essay will discuss [Action Verb] the role of the monarchy in the UK today.
The monarch is [state verb] the figurative head of state in the United Kingdom.
3. The direct object:
A person, place, or thing that is affected by the action of a verb, or involved in the result of an
action.
John took the matter [Direct Object] very seriously.
Maria always gives what she can [Direct Object] to the poor.
4. The indirect object
A person , place, or thing that benefits from the action of a verb
I gave what you told me yesterday [Indirect Object] a thought.
Jill make John [Indirect Object] a cup of coffee
5. The complement
Part of a clause that completes information about a subject or object that appears earlier in the
clause.
Academic writing [subject] is difficult [subject complement]
John [Subject] is a writer [Subject complement]
Academic writing makes students [object] feel stressed [object complement]
The people elected him [Object] president [Object complement]
6. The adverbial
A word or phrase in a clause that answer questions ‘where’, ‘when’, ‘why’, and ‘how’.
The course is offered at the University of Glasgow [adverbial]
Many students graduate when they are in their early twenties [adverbial]

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Psychology is important because little is known about the workings of the mind [adverbial

7. Clause patterns
There are FIVE main clause patterns in English

Subject + verb A book fell.

Subject + verb + object A student read the book
Subject + verb + complement The book seems interesting.
Subject + verb + object + complement The student found the book interesting.
Subject + verb + indirect object + direct object The student gave his professor some notes.

Some clauses contain 'adverbials': words or phrases about 'where’, ‘when’, ‘how’, or why'.
Subject + verb + adverbial: A book fell on the floor [Adverbial]
Subject + verb + object + adverbial: A student read the book with interest [Adverbial]
Adverbial clauses are not usually essential to the meaning of the sentence, but they are
essential for the grammar and meaning of some verbs.
I placed the book on the table. The meaning of the verb 'placed' requires an adverbial to be
grammatically correct.

IV. Types of sentences

Clauses can be added together to form a sentence. Based on the types of clauses it contains, a
sentence can be either a simple, compound, complex, or compound-complex sentence.
1. The simple sentence
A simple sentence contains one independent and no dependent clauses.
The simple sentence may have a compound subject and/or a compound predicate. It may also
contain modifiers. As long as it has only one main clause, it is a simple sentence.
Li-Ching and Maria sang aduet
Li-Ching and Maria sang a duet and danced together

2. The compound sentence

A compound sentence contains two or more main clauses that are usually joined by a comma and
a coordinating conjunction.
Maria sang one of her own songs, and Robert danced.
Maria sang, Robert danced, and Li-Ching played the piano.

3. The complex sentence

A complex sentence contains one main clause and one or more subordinate clauses.
When she heard the applause, Beth felt proud.
When she hear the applause, Beth felt proud because eveybody seemed to like her
performance

4. The compound-complex sentence

A compound-complex sentence is comprised of at least two independent clauses and
one or more dependent clauses.

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 Though Mitchell prefers watching romantic films [DEP], he rented the latest spy thriller
[IND], and he enjoyed it very much [IND].
Laura forgot her friend's birthday [IND], so she sent her a card [IND] when she finally
remembered. [DEP]

Exercise 6: Write ‘S’ if the sentence is simple or ‘C’ if it is compound.

___ 1. The polio vaccine was developed by Jonas Salk and Albert Sabin.
___ 2. My little brother Jake got a toy in his breakfast-cereal box.
___ 3. We watched the baseball game, and we went for ice cream afterward.
___ 4. A red car pulled up to the house, and a girl climbed out.
___ 5. One of the remotes controlled the stereo, and another controlled the television.
___ 6. The doctor determined the cause of Gina’s health problem.
___ 7. Collin played well, but Andrea had the highest score.
___ 8. The rescue helicopter landed on top of the hospital.
___ 9. Jim didn’t take good notes, but Mary helped him study for the test.
___ 10. The battery was dead, and the gas tank was almost empty.

Exercise 7: Circle the number in front of each complex sentence.

1. Frederick Douglass, who fought to end slavery, was a leader in the abolitionist movement.
2. Born Frederick Bailey in 1817, he grew up as a slave on a Maryland plantation.
3. Unlike most slaves, Douglass learned to read and write.
4. He escaped to the North in 1838, where he changed his name to avoid being caught.
5. After he spoke at a meeting of the American Anti-Slavery Society in 1841, Douglass became a
spokesman for the society.
6. In his speeches, Douglass recalled life as a slave, and he called for an immediate end to
slavery.
7. His autobiography, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, was published in 1841.

Exercise 8: Draw one line under each main clause and two lines under each subordinate
clause. Then write c if the sentence is complex or cc if the sentence is compound-complex.
___ As we neared the hot-air balloon festival, the sky looked like a fairyland.
___ 1. Until they were called home, the children played happily.
___ 2. When we went to the opera, we saw Luciano Pavarotti, but we didn’t get to see Placido
Domingo.
___ 3. Although I didn’t brew it long, the coffee tastes bitter, and I will not drink it.
___ 4. As the morning bell rang, the students rushed quickly into class.
___ 5. I have always volunteered at the hospital because I enjoy helping others.
___ 6. After the election is over, I will call you with the results, and hopefully, our candidate will
have won.
___ 7. Dr. May was the only doctor who was available in the middle of the night.
___ 8. Kelsey will finish her paper by noon, which is the deadline for the project.
___ 9. My journalism teacher, whose opinion I respect, told me my article was good.
___ 10. Since no one had a question for the speaker, the lecture ended early, and we went out
for hamburgers.