APPEHDIX

I- ESSENT1AI5 Of THE SYNTAX

For EEL STUDENTS

1- Simple sentences are sentences like these:

a) The dog barks at the moon.

b) Mr. Peters was the teacher.

c) He is handsome .

d) Everybody came early.

A simple sentence is one that contains one finite verb.

It does one of four things

1-makes a statement { Mr. brown teaches this class}

2-asks a question {Do you understand me?}

3- Gives a command or makes a request {Open the

door.

4-makes an exclamation {how cold is it!}

Simple sentences have two main parts, or structures —

a noun phrase and. a verb phrase. The noun phrase is used as
the subject of the sentence and the verb phrase is used as the
predicate. The subject comes first. It is a word or a group of
words denoting the person or thing about which something is
said. The predicate of the sentence is what is said about the
subject.

Subject Predicate

a) The dog barks at the moon.

b) Mr. Peters was the teacher.

c) He is handsome.

d) Everybody came early.

(f) The boy hit the dog.

Some verbs are called transitive verbs. They express

an action that passes over from the subject to someone else.
In sentence (f) the action of hitting passes over from the boy
to the dog. The receiver of the action is called object.

Phrases or words other than an object may accompany

both a transitive or an intransitive verbs in a sentence. These
enlargements of the verbs are of various types.

He walked slowly( Manner)

The dog jumped through the window( Place)

They arrived on Christmas day ( time)

My train was late because of the fog( reason)

My work is nearly finished ( degree)

He is saving up to buy a bicycle( purpose)

 He worked like a madman( manner) in the
garden( place) on Saturday( time)

Similarly there may be enlargements of the noun or

pronoun forming the subject or the object. Thus the
sentence:

*A bright little boy with rosy cheeks put three metal-

topped bottles of milk quietly on my doorstep before seven
o'clock. Could be analyzed like this.

*A sick huge elephant with a grey trunk killed four

wild furred rabbits savagely in the forest yesterday.

Subject Subject verb Enlargement of Object Enlargement

word enlargement verb word of object

boy A bright put Quietly(manner),on bottles Three, metal

little, with my door topped, of
rosy cheeks step(place),before milk
seven o'clock(time)

elephant A sick huge, killed Savagely( manner) rabbits Four wild

with a grey in the forest (place) furred
trunk yesterday( time

Many verbs express an idea intelligibly without an

object or an extension.

The sun shines

 Fishes swim.

But this is not the case with examples like

Today is. The plant seems. The man became.

Something must be added before these become

meaningful.

Today is my birthday. This plant seems dead. The man

became violently angry.

The added words are not objects. They are words that
complete the meanings of the verbs and they are called
complements. The difference between an object and a
complement can be seen in the following examples.

The girl smelt the flowers.( object) The girl smelt sweet.
(complement) I grow strawberries.( object) His face grew pale.
(complement)

A complement may be:

1- a noun Mr Smith is a dentist

2-a pronoun. It was you

3-an adjective. This milk tastes sour

4-an adverb The baby is awake

5-a gerund The soldier continued fighting

6-a verb He seems to fall

7- a phrase The book is in two parts

8- a clause That is what I wanted to

know.
9-A participle
It is annoying to be
interrupted.

2. Different kinds of words occur in noun phrases. One kind

is a noun. Nouns are words like dog, moon, Mr. Peters,
umpire. Usually nouns name people or things.

There are two kinds of nouns, proper nouns and common

nouns. Proper nouns are particular names like Mr. Peters,
Joseph, Sally, Denver. They refer to particular people or
things. Common nouns are nouns like man, boy, town, table.
They do not refer to particular people or things.

Common nouns may be either countable or non-

countable. A countable noun is one that refers to something
that can be counted, like girl, sheep, feather. Non-countable
nouns refer to things that cannot be counted, like furniture,
gloom, blood.

Countable nouns form their plural by adding 's'.

Dog---dogs

Bird---birds
 Day---days

or 'es' with words ending in s, sh, ch, x, z, and with most

words that end in 'o'

glass---glasses

brush----brushes

church----church

box---boxes

bus---buses

negro----negroes

hero---heroes

potato---potatoes

volcano---volcanoes

An exception to this rule comes with foreign words.

Piano---pianos

Photo---photos

Dynamo---dynamos

Kilo----kilos

Memento—mementos

All nouns ending in 'o' preceded by a vowel take only 's' for
their plural.
Cuckoo----cuckoos

Cameo---cameos

Bamboo-bamboos

Portfolio---portfolios

Studio---studios

Radio---radios

Words ending in 'y' preceded by a consonant change the 'y'

to ies

Lady---ladies

Story---stories

Army---armies

Fly---flies

But words ending in 'y' preceded by a vowel letter simply

ass's' to form their plurals

Valley---valleys

Monkey----monkeys

Donkey----donkeys

Boy---boys

Key---keys

The ending 'f' or 'fe' in most nouns is changed to 'ves'

Leaf---leaves

Wife----wives

Thief---thieves

Loaf---loaves

Half---halves

But there are many words ending in 'f' or 'fe' that simply
add 's' to form their plurals

Roof---roofs

Gulf---gulfs

Cliff---cliffs

Chief---chiefs

Hoof---hoofs

Dwarf---dwarfs

Belief--- beliefs

There is another group of totally irregular plurals

Tooth---teeth

Foot---feet

Mouse---mice

Man---men

Woman---women
Goose---geese

Louse—lice

Dormouse—dormice

Child-children

Ox-oxen

Some nouns have the same form for both the singular and the
plural

Sheep, swine, deer, fish( but also fishes), Barracks, species,

series, means, Swiss, Japanese, Portuguese.

To these we may add the unchanged plural in some words

showing the measurement or weight

Two dozen eggs

Three hundred dollars

Four thousand pounds

Three million people

Two gross of pencils

But these words still take 's' when not preceded by numerals

Thousands of people died.

Hundreds of pounds were spent.

Foreign plurals is another tough category of English nouns.

They are usually found to be Latin or Greek.
Axis—axes, bacillus—bacilli, medium—media, stratum—
strata, bacterium—bacteria, locus—loci, erratum—errata,
nebula—nebulae, larva—larvae, analysis—analyses, basis—
bases, crisis—crises, hypothesis, hypotheses, thesis, theses,
phenomenon, phenomena, criterion, criteria, oasis, oases.

The longer the words have been in the English Language, the
more they tend to conform to the English rules of forming the
plurals. So we have these words.

Appendix---appendices, appendixes

Formula---formulae, formulas

Fungus—fungi, funguses

Focus—foci, focuses

Aquarium—aquaria, aquariums

Maximum—maxima, maximums

Minimum—minima, minimums

Curriculum—curricula, curriculums

Vortex—vortices, vortexes

Bureau—bureaux, bureaus

Tableau—tableaux, tableaus

Subject/verb agreement. A singular subject takes a singular

verb while a plural subject takes a plural verb.
The boy is here. The boys are here.

But difficulties arise in the case of Collective Nouns in the

singular. A collective noun is defined as a noun denoting a
group or a collection of similar individuals considered as one
complete whole.

The football team is playing well

The Government has decided to pass the bill.

That family is a very happy one.

But when parts or members that compose the thing denoted

are thought of individually, a plural verb might be used.

*The football team are having baths and then are coming
back here for tea.

*The Government have discussed the matter for a long time

but they have shown no sign of reaching agreement.

The words people, police, clergy, cattle, public always take a

plural form of the verb.

*The people of Egypt are called Egyptians

*The Police are investigating the matter.

*The public are requested not to leave litter in the woods.

When two or more subjects are connected by and, they take

a plural form of the verb.

 The boy and his dog are here.

But sometimes the two subjects joined may mean the
same thing, so a singular form of the verb is used.

 Brown bread and butter is usually eaten with smoked

salmon

 Whisky and soda is his favourite drink.

So, too in such sentences as

 Ten years is a long time.

 Five thousand pounds is a lot of money.

Where the subject, though plural in form, is really

singular in meaning (ten years= a period of time,
5000L.E.=a sum of money.)

If the second noun is merely a part of a phrase qualifying

the first singular noun, the verb is singular,

 The boy with his dog is here.

 Mr. Hany, with his wife and daughters, has just

arrived..

Singular subjects joined by 'or' or 'neither…nor' take a

singular form of the verb.

A cigar or a cigarette is very enjoyable.

Neither George nor Henry has come yet.

But if one subject is singular and the other is plural, the

verb agrees with the nearest subject.
  Either the teacher or the students are responsible for
the bad results.

 Neither he nor they are right.

The distributives take a singular verb and a singular

possessive adjective.

 Every boy in the class is present.

 Each of the boys has gained a prize

 Neither answer is correct

 Everybody is doing his/her best.

None may take a plural or a singular verb

 None of us is perfect.

 None of the children in the class are bored.

 I have checked your answers and none of them are

correct.

The verb agrees with the pronoun 'it' in identifying or

emphatic sentences.

 It was Henry and William who broke the window.

 It is they who are wrong.

If the formal subject there is used, the verb agrees with

the real subject
  There is an apple tree in my garden.

 There are apple trees in my garden.

Proper nouns are one kind, of noun phrase.

Here are some different kinds of proper nouns :

Names of people: Joha, Mr. Curtis, Sally

Names of pets: Rover, Spot

Names of cities: San Diego, Chicago

names of countries: Mexico, the United States

Name of states: Virginia, South Dakota

Days of the year: Tuesday, Sunday

Months of the years: May, November

4. Proper nouns often include the words Mr. Mrs., or Miss :

Mr. Curtis, Mrs. Tones Miss Wilkins Mr. and Mrs. are
abbreviations. Like other parts of proper nouns, they are
written with capital, letters. We put period after Mr. and
Mrs. to show they are abbreviations.

There is another category of derived nouns called the

compound nouns. English compounds in general may be
almost any part of speech.

Noun+ noun Schoolmaster, hairpin,

postcard, newspaper.
Adjective+noun Quick-silver

Adjective+verb Whitewash

Verb+noun pickpocket

Adverb+verb Overlook

Gerund+noun Walking-stick,writing-paper,
dining-room.

Miss is not an abbreviation, so we do not put a period

after it.

5- Another kind of noun phrase is a personal pronoun.

A personal pronoun is one of the seven words I, he, she, it,
we, you, they.

Like other noun phrases, personal pronouns may be

used as subjects:

I am glad. They are here.

6- Personal pronouns take the place of other noun

phrases. In Sentence (a) below, the subject is the noun phrase
some kittens. In Sentence (b), the subject is the personal
pronoun they. The personal pronoun they take the place of
the noun phrase 'some kittens', not of the noun kittens,

a) Some kittens live in that box.

 b) They are outdoors now.

In sentence (c) the subject is the proper noun Mrs.

Jones. In Sentence (d), the personal pronoun she takes the
place of Mrs. Jones.

c) Mrs. Jones visited our class.

d) She talked to us.

7. Proper nouns and personal pronouns are two kinds

of noun phrases. Indefinite pronouns are a third kind.

There are twelve indefinite pronouns:

Someone anyone everyone no one

Somebody anybody everybody nobody

Something anything everything

nothing

All of the indefinite pronouns except no one are written

as single words.

In the sentences below, the noun phrases used as

subjects are indefinite pronouns.

Everyone enjoyed it. No one left early.

Indefinite pronouns do not refer to definite people or

things.
 8. A fourth kind of noun phrase is a determiner
followed by a common noun. Determiners are words that
come before common nouns and tell, or determine something
about them. The words the, a, an, some, this, that, several,
many are determiners.

In these sentences, the noun phrases that are used as

subjects are made up of determiners and common nouns:

The dog barks at the moon.

Some kittens live in that box.

9. These words are articles the, a, an, some. The articles

a and an are just two forms of the same word.

The article 'the' is called the definite article because it

indicates that a particular person or thing is referred to :

the boy the dog the books

The other articles are non-definite articles :

a boy fog some books

A common noun in a noun phrase always has a

determiner before it. The common noun fog doesn't seem to
have a determiner in this sentences "Fog is unpleasant"- But
according to the rule it has one, and we call the determiner
that doesn't seem to be there the null article. We show the
null article with this sign 0. The null article in "Fog is
unpleasant" doesn't indicate any particular fog. The null
article is nondefinite.

Definite article: the

Nondefinite articles; a (n), some, 0

We use the nondefinite articles in the following way:

a (n) with singular count nouns, a flower, an insect

a with plural count nouns, some flowers, some insects

b. with noncountable nouns some furniture, some

courage

a. with plural count nouns, flowers, insects

b. with noncountable nouns -furniture, courage

There are several kinds of determiners beside simple

articles. Here are some of them with examples of each:

demonstratives (this, those) numbers (one, four)

quantifiers (many, a few) possessives (his, its)

10- Noun phrases of the determiner + common noun

type are either singular or plural, They are singular if they
mean one person or thing, or if the noun is a noncountable
noun. They are plural if they mean more than one,

Singulars : The dog barks at the moon.

Plurals : The dogs bark at the moon.

 The common nouns in such noun phrases are also
singular or plural. Dog is singular. Dogs is plural.

11. Only countable nouns have plurals. The most usual

way to write the plural of a noun is to add the letter (s) to the
singular form; dog, boy, boys; book, books.

When the singular form ends in ch, sh, ss, or x, we add-

es: matches, crashes, masses, buses, boxes, churches.

When the singular form ends in consonant -y, change y

to i and add –es : sky, skies. If a vowel letter precedes y, we
just add –s boy, boys.

About a dozen common nouns that end in the letters f

or fe make their plurals in irregular ways. They change f to v
and add –es: leaf, leaves wife, wives.

Some common nouns form their plurals by changing

the vowel or making other changes in sound and spelling :

Man-men foot-feet goose-geese

Mouse-mice tooth-teeth woman-women

Child, children, ox, oxen

A few nouns have the same form in the plural that they
do in the singular : sheep, sheep; deer, deer.

12. Instead of saying that noun phrases are used as

subjects, we may say that they function as subjects. The noun
phrase John functions as subject of the sentence "John likes
pancakes".

Noun phrases also have certain functions in the

predicate.

13. A predicate of a simple sentence may contain a

noun phrase or other kinds of words or groups of words. But
it must contain either a form of the word be or a verb.

The word be is itself used in predicates:

The rain may be over.

If we take away the word may, we use another form of

be – the word is :

The rain is over.

The following sentence also contains be :

The girls can be ready.

If we take away the word can, use a different form of

be, the word are :

The girls are ready.

Besides be itself, the forms of be, are is, are, am, was,
were. Each of the following sentences has a form of be in the
predicate.

John is here. The girls are ready.

I am afraid. He was near me.

 They were quiet.

14. If a predicate does not have a form of be in it, it

must have a verb. Verbs are words like look, walk, see, teach,
drive, they help tell what the subject does.

In a simple sentence that has a verb, the verb may be

the first word in the predicate :

Jim walks to school.

The verb walks is the first word in the predicate walke

to school. In predicates that have verbs, other words or
groups of words usually follow the verb. But the predicate
may also be made up of just a verb alone :

Jenny sings.

15. Predicates that have forms of be instead of verbs

must have other words too after the forms of be. One thing
they may have is a noun phrase. In the following sentence the
noun phrase the umpire is used after a form of be :

Mr. Peters was the teacher.

A noun phrase used this way after a form of be is said

to function as a complement. In the sentence above, the noun
phrase Mr. Peters functions as a subject, the predicate begins
with the was form of be, and the noun phrase the umpire
functions as a complement.
 Here are the different kinds of noun phrases
functioning as complements after forms of be :

Proper noun : The principal is Mr. Stevens.

Personal pronoun : It was she.

Indefinite pronoun : That is nothing.

Determiner + common noun : The girls were the

winners.

16. A noun phrases is one thing that may follow a form

of be in a predicate. Another is a kind of word called an
adjective. Adjectives are words like happy, large, cold, rainy,
and playful. Adjectives describe people and things. They tell
what they are like. The word very may be used before
adjectives, but not before noun phrases.

In the following sentences, forms of be are followed by

adjectives :

I am happy.

The school is large.

The kittens are playful.

17. Forms of be in predicates may be followed by noun

phrases or by adjectives. They may also be followed by
adverbials of place :

The boy is upstairs.

 He is in the bedroom.

In the first sentence, the word upstairs tells where the

boy is. In the second, the group of words in the bedroom tells
where he is. Upstairs and in the bedroom are adverbials of
place.

Single words that are adverbials of place, like upstairs,

outside, there, are called adverbs.

Groups of words that are adverbials of place, like in the

bedroom, are called phrases. They begin with words called
prepositions, like in, on, under, near, behind. Since these
phrases begin with prepositions, they are called prepositional
phrases.

The word very can used before an adjective but not

before most adverbials of place. We can put very before
happy in "They are happy", and say "They are very happy".
But we can't say "They are very upstairs". This shows that
upstairs is not an adjective.

18- verbs, as well as forms of be, may be followed by

adverbials of place. An adverbial of place tells where
something is or is done:

The boy played outside.

The girl waited in the hall.

 19- Another kind of adverbial is an adverbial of
manner, which tells how something is done:

prepositional phrases: she talks with a lisp.

Adverb: She sings beautifully.

Adverbials of manner occur in predicates with verbs,

but not in predicates with forms of be.

Most adverbs of manner are formed by adding-ly to

adjectives:

Quiet-quietly angry-angrily

A few words have the same form as adverbs that they

have as adjectives:

Fast The train is fast. It goes fast.

Other such words are straight, high, hard. The word

good is an adjective : “the music is good” we do not make an
adverb of good by adding ly. Instead, we use an entirely
different word- the adverb well:

The band plays well.

However, there is also an adjective well

She was sick, but now she is well.

20- Single – word adverbials, like outside or

beautifully, are called adverbs. Groups of words, like the
adverbials in the hall and with a lisp are prepositional
phrases.

21- Most noun phrases have the same sound and the
same spelling no matter what their function is. But five
personal pronouns have special forms when they function as
objective. We say “I sit near sally”, but not “Sally sits near
me”.

Here are the five personal pronouns with special forms

for the objective function:

Subject: I he she we they

Object: me him her us them

22-A verb in a predicate may have no other words after

it, as in “Jenny sings”. But usually there are other words or
groups of words after verbs in predicates. One thing that may
follow a verb is a noun phrase:

George found a button. Alice cooks the

breakfast.

Here the noun phrases a button and the breakfast

follow verbs in the predicate. These noun phrases are said to
function as the objects of the verbs. Personal pronouns used
as objects of verbs have the object forms(me, you, him, her,
it, them).
 Here are the different types of noun phrases
functioning as objects of verbs:

Proper noun: we saw John.

Personal pronoun: we saw them.

Indefinite pronoun: we saw

someone.

Determiner + common noun: we saw a cat.

23- Adjectives may follow forms of be, as in “He is

happy”. They also may follow certain verbs:

He seems happy. They felt playful.

In these sentences, seems and felt are verbs, and happy

and playful are adjectives.

24- Forms of be or verbs like is, are, walk, walks are

called present tense forms, Forms used to mean time in the
past are called past tense forms.

Be has three present tense forms – am, is and are. It

has two past tense forms – was and were.

Verbs have two present tense forms, such as walk nad

walks, and one past tense form, such as walked or rode.

25- The two present tense forms of verbs are called the
's form' and the 'simple form', walks, hopes, teaches are 's
forms'. Walk, hope, teach are 'simple forms'.
 We usually write the 's form' by just adding the letter s
to the simple form:

Run-runs play-plays write-writes

When the simple form ends in ch, sh, ss, s, or, x, we add
the letters es:

Touch – touches smash – smashes miss –

misses

When the simple form ends in the letter y with a

consonant letter before the y, we change the y to i and add –
es:

Carry – carries fly – flies hurry –

hurries

A very few verbs make the s form in irregular ways:

'Simple form' 's form'

Have, go, do has, goes, does

The 's form' of say is made by adding – s in the regular

way: says. But the 's form' does not have the same vowel
sound as the simple form.

26- The 's form' of the present tense of verbs is used

when the subject is a singular noun phrase.

The dog barks at the moon.

A boy rings the bell

 The personal pronouns he, she, and it stand for
singular noun phrases, and so the s form is used after them
too:

It barks at the moon.

He rings the bell.

When the noun phrase that functions as subject is an

indefinite pronoun, the 's form' is also used:

Everyone likes Jimmy

Most proper nouns are followed by the 's form':

Susie comes to school with her father.

27- The simple form of verbs is used in the present

tense when the subject is a plural noun phrase:

The dogs bark at the moon.

Some boys ring the bell

The personal pronoun 'they' stands for plural noun

phrases, and so the simple form is used after they too.

They bark at the moon.

The simple form of verbs is used also after the

remaining personal pronouns – I , we, and you:

I work. We work. You work.

 28- The present tense forms of be are am, is, and are.
The form am is used when the subject is I:

I am hungry.

The form 'am' is used with I, the form 'is' is used after
subjects that take the s form of verbs and 'are' after those
that take the simple form:

Is

Singular noun phrase: The boy is happy.

He, she, or it: He is happy.

Indefinite pronoun: Every one is happy.

Proper noun: James is happy.

Are

Plural noun phrase: The boys are happy.

We, you, they: we are happy.

29- when we say or write a sentence with a personal

pronoun as subject and a present tense form of 'be' in the
predicate, we often put the pronoun and form of 'be' together
as a contraction:

She is late. She’s late.

The form 'she’s' shows that something has been left out
– the 'i' of is.
 Here are the contractions of the personal pronouns
with is, are, and am:

He is he’s she is she’s it is

it’s

We are we’re you are you’re they

are they’re

I am I’m

30-The past tense forms of be are 'was' and 'were'.

We use 'was' when the subject is a singular noun

phrase: or he, she, it, or I : or indefinite pronoun: or, usually,
a proper noun:

Present past

The boy is busy now. The boy was busy then.

He is busy now. He was busy then.

Mr. Clark is busy now. Mr. Clark was busy then.

I am busy now. I was busy then.

We use 'were' when the subject is a plural noun

phrases or we, you, or they:

The boys are busy now. The boys were busy then.

We are busy now. We were busy then.

 31- Verbs have just one past tense form. Each verb has
the same form in the past tense, no matter what the subject
is.

Regular verbs make the past tense by adding either a

/t/ sound or a /d/sound. Both sounds are spelled ed:

/t/sound: walk – walked /d/sound: seem – seemed

If the verb ends in e, only the letter d is added:

Care – cared hope – hoped

If the verb ends in consonants – y, we change y to 'i'

before adding –ed:

Study – studied hurry – hurried

Here are examples of verbs used in the present and in

the past tense:

Present past

They jump every day. They jumped every day.

He jumps every day. He jumped every day.

He does today. He did yesterday.

I study every day. I studied yesterday.

32- a good many verbs have irregular past tense forms:

see – gave eat – ate drink –

drank
 give – gave come – came speak - spoke

some irregular verbs have the same form in the past

tense as the simple form of the present tense: shut

a. He shuts it every day. He shut it yesterday.

b. They shut it every day. They shut it

yesterday.

33- We usually express actions that are happening at

the present moment with a present tense form of be and the
'ing' form of a verb:

get, getting I am getting wet.

Save, saving we are saving money.

Try, trying He is trying hard.

Jump, jumping The dog is jumping into

the water.

Forms like these are called the “be + ing" form because
we make them by adding a form of be and – ing to the
predicate.

Verbs that end in 'e' drop it before adding the 'ing'

Have---having

Take---taking

Make—making
 Verbs that have vowels before the last consonant need
to have it doubled before adding the 'ing'.

Dig---digging

Shut---shutting

Put---putting

Cut---cutting

Get---getting

34- The principal parts of verbs are the simple form,

the past tense form, and the participle form:

a. The simple form: look, bring, throw,

put

b. The past tense form: looked, brought,

threw, put

c. The participle form: looked, brought,

thrown, put

All regular verbs and some irregular ones have the

same form in the past tense as in the participle form. Many
irregular verbs, however, have past tense and participle
forms that are different. Some verbs do not change their
form.

The principal parts of lie are lie, lay, lain. The verb
means rest or stretch out.
 The dog may lie by the fire. He lay there yesterday.

He has lain there every day all winter.

The principal parts of lay are lay, laid, laid. The verb
'lay' means 'put'. The verb lay takes an object, but the verb
lie does not:

He can lay his coat there. I laid mine there yesterday.

Someone had laid his coat there first.

Infinitive Past tense past participle

Bid bid bid

Bid bade, bid bidden, bid

Blow blew blown

Burst burst burst

Choose chose chosen

Come came come

Deal dealt dealt

Dig dug dug

Dive dived, dove dived

Do does done

Fall fell fallen

Fly flew flown

Freeze froze frozen

Give gave given'

Grow grew grown

Hang hanged hanged

Hang hung hung

Know knew known

Lead led led

Lend lent lent

Ring rang rung

Run ran run

See saw seen

Shine( to give light) shone shone

Shine( to polish) shined shined

Shrink shrank, shrunk shrunk, shrunken

Sing sang sung

Swim swam swum

Swing swung swung

Take took taken

Write wrote written

 Another thing we may add to a predicate to change the
meaning of a verb or be is a modal- a word like may:

He walks to school. He may walk to

school.

Modals do not have an 's form', and they are followed

by the simple form of verbs or 'be'.

There are five modals: may, can, will, shall, must.

These are the present tense forms of the modals, but the
present form of a modal gives a future meaning to the
predicate rather than a present time meaning.

He may win. (His victory isn’t certain)

The modal 'must' has no past tense form – only a

present tense form. But the other four modals do have past
tense forms: might, could, would, should.

Tense and time are not always the same. In "You

should win" the victory will come in the future, even though
the tense is past.

36. Possession means having. "The boy has a coat"

means that the boy possesses a coat. The verb that shows
possession is have. This verb has the irregular past tense
'had':

He has a pony now. He has a horse last week.

 We can also express the meaning of having by using the
possessive form of a noun phrase. By doing this, we can give
the meaning of two sentences in one :

a. George has a football. George's football leaks.

b. The football leaks.

First we put the subject of a sentence into the

possessive from : George's.

Now we have the transformation. Here are more

examples with proper nouns :

a. Sally has a cat. a. Mr. Clark has a pen.

b. The cat is sick. b. I found the pen.

c. Sally's cat is sick. c. I found Mr. Clark's pen.

37. The possessive transformation can be applied to

any noun phrase that can be the subject of have. That is, any
such noun phrase can be made into the possessive form, to
express the meaning of having. It is then called a possessive
noun phrase.

Here is an example with an indefinite pronoun :

a. Somebody had a ring.

b. I found the ring.

c. I found somebody's ring.

 Here is a possessive transformation in which the noun
phrase is a determiner + common noun :

a. The girl has a book.

b. The book is in the desk.

c. The girl's book is in the desk.

38. When the noun phrase is a proper noun, an

indefinite pronoun, or a determiner + common noun in the
singular, we write the possessive form by adding an
apostrophe and s :

George + possessive – George's.

Somebody + possessive – somebody's

The girl + possessive – the girl's

A plural noun phrase which does not end in s forms the

possessive in the same way :

The children + possessive – the children's but plural

noun phrases which already end in s, as all regular plurals
do, do not add another s:

The girls + possessive – the girls'

a. The girls have some candy.

b. The candy is in the drawer.

c. The girls' candy is in the drawer.

 The plural, singular possessive, and plural possessive of
regular noun phrases all sound a like : the girls, the girl's, the
girls'. But they are all spelled differently.

39. The personal pronouns have special forms for the

possessive. We do not use the apostrophe with them but show
the possessive by using different words :

I + possessive --- my we + possessive ---- our

He + possessive ---his you + possessive ---- your

She + possessive ---- her they + possessive --- their

It + possessive ---- its

Here are some examples in which the noun phrase put

into the possessive is a personal pronoun :

a. I had a cat. a. She has a father,

b. The cat was sick. b. I spoke to the father.

c. My cat was sick. c. I spoke to her father.

40. Five of the personal pronouns have special forms

that are used to show possession when the following noun is
omitted. For instance, the regular possessive when the
following noun is omitted. For instance, the regular
possessive from of I is my, but we use instead the form mine
in sentences like to :

a. That is my coat.
 b. That is mine. Or that coat is mine.

The other special possessive forms are hers, yours,

theirs, and ours.

41. The personal pronouns have a form called the

reflective form, the reflective forms refer to the same person
or thing that the subject does :

I hurt myself. They stuffed themselves.

These are the reflective pronouns :

Myself himself herself itself

Ourselves yourself yourselves themselves

42. Whenever the subject of a sentence is a determiner

plus a noun, and an adjective follows be or a verb in the
predicate, we can make a new noun phrase by putting the
adjective between the determiner and the noun.

The girls are pretty. – The pretty girls

Daisies are pretty. – Pretty daises

The new noun phrase that we make by moving the

adjective can then be used in another sentence :

a. The girls are pretty.

b. The girls are smiling.

c. The pretty girls are smiling.

 Sentence 'c' expresses all the meaning of two sentences,
a and b.

43. We can make nouns of most verbs by adding the

morpheme er:

Make + er – maker The maker guarantees the toy.

Worry + er – worrier A worrier is often unhappy.

44. The 'ly' morpheme makes adverbs of manner from

adjectives, but there is another 'ly' morpheme that is added
to certain nouns or other adjectives to make adjectives :

Friend + ly – friendly lone + ly + --- lonely

45. The 'er' morpheme makes nouns meaning "one who

does" : drive + er – driver (one who drives).

But there is another er morpheme called the morpheme

of comparison :

Cold + er --- colder (more cold) fat + er --- fatter (more

fat)

Often we compare the description of two things by

adding this new er morpheme to an adjective and using
than :

a. The boy is short.

b. The girl is short.

c. The girl is short + er + than + the boy is.

 d. The girl is shorter than the boy is.

e. Or. The girl is shorter than the boy.

This is called the comparison transformation. Both 'd'

and 'e' sentences are finished forms of the comparison
transformation. Unlike the two simple sentences we started
with, 'a' and 'b', sentences 'd' and 'e' are complex sentences.
The noun phrases the girl and the boy function as subjects in
the complex sentence just as they did in the two simple
sentences.

46. The adjective transformation applies also to

adjectives which are comparatives :

Sparrows are noisier. ---- noisier sparrows

We can form a complex sentence from two simple

sentences, one of which contains the comparative form of an
adjective :

a. Milk may be colder.

b. I want milk.

c. I want cold + er + milk.

47. With some adjective, such as beautiful, useful,

nervous, we don 't use the morpheme 'er' to form the
comparative. Instead, we use the word more :

a. A hammer is useful.
 b. A saw is useful.

c. A saw is + more + useful + than a hammer is useful.

d. A saw is more useful than a hammer is.

Many adjectives can form the comparative with either

'er' or more : more sweet or sweeter; more happy or happier.

48. We use the word as in making comparisons to show

that something is the same as something else :

a. John is clever.

b. Ellen is clever.

c. Ellen is + as + clever + as + John is clever.

d. Ellen is as clever as John is.

Often we leave out more words in making comparisons

than are omitted in sentence d as shown in h below :

e. The clouds are pretty in April.

f. The clouds are pretty in October.

g. The clouds are + as + pretty in October + as + the

clouds are pretty in April.

h. The clouds are as petty in October as in April.

49. Affirmative sentences, like "He is the captain", say

that someone or something does or is something.
 A sentence like "He is not the captain", which tells that
something is not so or that someone is not something, is a
negative sentence.

When the predicate of an affirmative sentence begins

with a modal, a form of be, or a form of have, we make the
sentence negative by putting not after the modal, be, or have.
This is the negative transformation.

Modal : Mary might sing . --- Mary might not sing.

Be : Jack is late. --- Jack is not late.

Have : She had gone. --- She had not gone.

When the modal is 'can', we spell the modal and not as

a single word : "Jerry cannot join us".

When the predicate begins with a verb, we put a form

of do and not before the verb, and then we use the simple
form of the verb:

Verb : We knew it. --- We did not know it.

He wants it. --- He does not want it.

50. We usually contract modals, have, be, and do with

the word don’t in negative sentences. Here are the most
commonly used contractions of not with be :

Is + not ---- isn't are + not ---- aren't

Was + not --- wasn't were + not --- weren't

 Sometimes 'is' and 'are' are contracted with personal
pronouns :

He's not going. They 're not well.

The only contracted form of 'am not' is 'ain't', which is

not felt to be good English. Instead of contracting am and
not, we contract 'am', "I 'm not ready".

The contractions of have, do, and the modals with not

are these

Have + not --- haven't has + not ---- hasn't

Had + not --- hadn't don + not --- don't

Does + not --- doesn't did + not --- didn't.

Can + not ---- can't could + not ---- couldn't

may + not ---- mayn't might + not ---- mightn't

shall + not ---- shan't should + not ----

shouldn't

will + not --- mustn't would + not ---- wouldn't

must + not --- mustn't

the forms mayn't and mightn't, shan't are seldom used.

55. Some questions can be answered by yes or no, and

so they are called yes/no questions. But some questions
cannot be answered so simply. For instance, to answer the
question "Where is Edna?" you would have to say "At
school" or "Downtown with Mother" or something similar.
Questions like this are related to simple sentences that have
adverbials of play in the predicate. We make these simple
sentences into questions by using where at the beginning,
followed by the tense + be, have, or a modal, and then the
subject. The adverbial of place is omitted:

Alice was upstairs. Where was Alice?

Jack has been here. Where has Jack been?

Mary could be in the boat Where could Mary be?

If the tense is followed by a verb instead of a form of

'be', have or modal, we simply start with where, switch the
subject and tense, and put do after tense, just as in a yes/no
question:

Elmer walked to the gate. Where did Elmer walk?

54. Besides adverbials of place and manner, we can

have adverbials of time like in the evening or tomorrow in the
predicate. Sentences that contain adverbials of time in the
predicate can be transformed into questions with when. We
put when at the beginning, sixth the subject with a temped,
tense hood to be, or just tense, and omit the adverbial of time.

We use do when we switch tense alone.

He goes on Tuesday. When does he go?

We could leave early when could we leave?

 55. Adverbials of manner can be transformed into
questions, too. The transformation is just like that which
makes where and when questions, except that we begin with
how when the statement contains an adverbial of manner.
Then we change the positions of the subject and the following
tense-model, tense-have, tense-be, or just tense. If we switch
just tense, of course, we put in do

They played poorly. How did they play?

He has done this work slowly. How has he done the

work

56. It is possible to have all three kinds of adverbials in

the same statement, and so make three questions from it:

Statement : Jim walked to school happily yesterday.

Question a : Where did Jim walk to school yesterday.

Question c: When did Jim walk happily to school ?

57. A statement that contains an object of a verb in the

predicate can be transformed into a question with what or
whom. We make what or whom questions just as we do
questions with where, when, and how. If the object of the
verb does not refer to a person, we use what :

Ted sold the books. What did Ted sell ?

Jean has lost the time. What has Jean lost ?

But if the object does refer to a person, whom is used :

 A snowball struck the man. Whom did the snowball
strike?

We might ask Harry. Whom might we ask?

58. Questions are transformed from statements.

Another kind of sentence is the request. Requests are also
transformed from statements, those that have the subject
you.

Statement Request

You bring the sandwiches. --- Bring the sandwiches.

You are fair. --- Be fair.

You are ready at six. --- Be ready at six

We use the simple form of verbs and be in requests. We

do not use modals in simple requests, and seldom use have.

We make a request negative by putting do not or don 't

before it :

You are sad – Be sad. – Don't be sad.

You take medicine Take the medicine Don't take the

medicine.

We often add please to request :

You go. --- Please go. ---- Please don 't go.

59. A fourth kind of sentence is the exclamation. To

transform a statement into an exclamation, we take a noun
phrase or adjective or adverb from the predicate and put it at
the beginning of the sentence. We use exclamation mark at
the end of an exclamation mark at the end of an exclamation.

If what we take is a noun phrase, we use what before

it :

He is an actor. What an actor he is

If what we take is an adjective or an adverb, we use

how:

She was pretty. How pretty she was

They played skill fully. How skillfully they played.

Exclamation marks are sometimes used after other

kind of sentences, too, when the sentence is thought to
express strong feeling of some kind :

Statement : He really did arrive on time !

Question : Wasn't that terrible storm !

Request : don't ever do that again !

50. We can combine sentences into more complex ones

by a process called compounding. We join two structures by
using a conjunction between them. The most common
conjunction is the word and. In the following illustration, the
prednisone smiled of a and the predicate walked away of b
are put together with the conjunction and between them.
 a. The teacher smiled.

b. The teacher walked away.

c. The teacher smiled and walked away.

The compound verb phrase smiled and walked away

functions as the predicate of sentence.

Not only verb phrases, but structures of all kinds can

be compounded, so long as the compounded structures are of
the same kind. Adjectives, for example, can be compounded.

a. The bear was savage.

b. The bear was hungry.

c. The bear was savage and hungry.

a. A small dog attacked him.

b. A courageous dog attacked him.

c. A small and courageous dog attacked him.

Noun phrases may also be compounded :

a. A man arrived.

b. A women arrived.

c. A man and a woman arrived.

a. Harold lost a watch.

b. Harold lost some money.

 c. Harold lost a watch and some money.

Adverbials of place, time, and manner may be compounded

a. We lived in the South.

b. We lived in the East.

c. We lived in the South and in the East.

a. We worked yesterday.

b. We worked last Tuesday.

c. We worked yesterday and last Tuesday.

a. The children played quietly.

b. The children played happily

c. The children played quietly and happily.

61. The transformation that produces compounds is a

recursive transformation. This means it can recur, or occur
again and again, in a single sentence :

The band played in the park.

An orchestra played in the park.

The band and an orchestra played in the park.

The band and an orchestra played at City Hall.

The band and an orchestra played in the park and at

City Hall.
 Or course, if the transformation is allowed to recur too
often, the sentence can become too long and awkward.

62. The conjunction 'and' has the meaning of adding

things together, another conjunction is the word 'or', which
means a choice between the structures that are compounded.

a. Harry will go.

b. Mabel will go.

c. Harry or Mabel will go.

a. We worked in the barn.

b. We worked near the house.

c. We worked in the barn or near the house.

63. When we compound two singular subjects with

'and', the compounded subject is plural.

a. Jack is at the door.

b. Bob is at the door.

c. Jack and Bob are at the door.

Or does not make two singular noun phrases plural,

the way 'and' does.

a. Jack is at the door.

b. Bob is at the door.

c. Jack or Bob is at the door.

 64. Another conjunction used to compound structures
is 'but'. But has something of the meaning of surprise :

a. The fox was very young.

b. The fox was very smart.

c. The fox was very young but very smart.

In (c) we mean that it is somewhat surprising that a

very young fox was also very smart.

We do not use 'but' by itself to compound noun phrases

that function as subjects. We do not say "Jane but Bill
brought the candy". To say something like this we would
have to use the word not before the first noun phrase : "Not
Jane but Bill brought the candy".

However, we may compound noun phrases with 'but'

when the noun phrases function as complement :

a. Harry was a good player.

b. Harry was a poor loser.

c. Harry was a good player but a poor loser.

65. When the compounded structures verb phrases,

noun phrases, adjectives, or other parts of sentences, we
usually do not put a comma before the conjunction, However,
it is possible to compound whole sentences as well as
structures which form parts of sentence. When we compound
whole sentences, we use a comma before the conjunction.
 a. Mary is coming.

b. Helen declined the invitation.

c. Mary is coming, but Helen declined the invitation.

66. Another way to put two sentences together is to

make one of them into a relative clause and insert the relative
clause in the other sentence to make a third sentence :

a. A boy fell ill.

b. A boy was shivering on the bank.

c. A boy how fell ill was shivering on the bank.

The clause 'who fell in' begins with the relative

pronoun who.

The noun phrase that the relative pronoun 'who'

replaces must be the same in both sentences, but it doesn't
have to have the same function in both sentences :

a. The girl cried.

b. We knew the girl.

c. We knew the girl who cried.

The noun phrase 'the girl' is the same in both

sentences, but in sentence (a) it functions as subject and in
sentence (b) it functions as object of the verb.
 67. We use the relative pronoun 'who' when we replace
a noun phrase that refers to a person and is subject of the
sentence. But we may also use the relative pronoun that :

a. The child stumbled.

b. The child hurt its foot.

c. The child that stumbled hurt its foot.

68. When the noun phrase does not refer to a person we

cannot use who. We can use either that or another relative
pronoun, 'which' or 'that' :

a. The ant was carrying a fly.

b. A bird ate the ant.

c. A bird ate the ant that was carrying a fly.

a. An arrow hit the window.

b. An arrow dropped on the rug.

c. An arrow which hit the window dropped on the rug.

69. When a relative pronoun replaces a noun phrase

which functions as objects, the relative pronoun comes before
the subject of the sentence. The relative pronoun 'that' or
'which' is used if the noun phrase does not refer to a person :

a. Bob hit the ball.

b. The ball went into the brook.

 c. The ball that Bob hit went into the brook.

70. When a relative pronoun replaces a noun phrase

which functions as object and refers to a person, we use the
object form of who. This is the word whom.

a. They entertained the scouts.

b. The scouts were lost.

c. The scouts whom they entertained were lost.

We can use the relative pronoun that instead of whom :

c. The scouts that they entertained were lost.

71. When a relative pronoun replaces a noun phrase

which function as objects, the relative pronoun may be
omitted. When the relative pronoun is omitted, the position of
the other words show that the structure is a relative clause:

a. He bought the paper.

b. His wife burned the paper.

c. His wife burned the paper( which) he bought.

a. We saw the fisherman.

b. The fisherman was a stranger.

c. The fisherman(who) we saw was a stranger.

72. The relative clause transformation, likes the

transformation that compounds structures, is recursive.
 a. A girl sang the song.

b. This is the girl.

c. This is the girl who sang the song.

a. The song was a ballad.

b. This is the girl who sang the song.

c. This is the girl who sang the song that was a ballad.

a. A ballad told the story of Casey Jones.

b. This is the girl who sang the song that was a ballad.

c. This is the girl who sang the song that was a ballad
which told the story of Casey Jones.