English Grammar Guide for Teachers

Introduction




Firstly, this manual does not pretend to be an exhaustive excursion into English grammar. The intended readers of this short book are teachers of English as a second language who either have never really studied the mechanics of grammar, or who studied it at school but have since forgotten the meaning of much grammatical terminology.




All grammatical terms which are deemed useful are included in the pages which follow. There is a short explanation attached to each one and, in most cases, some examples of usage. The reader need only browse through this pamphlet once or twice to be reminded of the essentials of English grammar. This basic knowledge should aid the teacher when he or she comes to explain certain features of English to students who are studying English as second language.










R. P. Hopwood,

Tainan City,

Taiwan,

April 1997




















































Contents




Page

1-2 Linguistic Devices




3-4 Syntax




5 Adverbial Clauses




6 Sentence, Clause or Phrase?




7-8 Adjectives, Pronouns and Adverbs




9 Agreement of Plurals, Comparative

Degree, Superlative Degree, The Verb




10 Subject, Object of the Verb, Transitive and

Intransitive Verbs




11 Indirect Object, Verbs of Incomplete

Predication




12 Verb Tenses




13 Perfectives, Modals




14 Indicative, Imperative and Subjunctive

Moods




15 The Infinitive




16-18 Non-Finite Verbs













Linguistic Devices




Alliteration: Use of the same initial letter. “You little liar!”

Anaphora: commencement of successive sentences with the same words. Anaphoric phrase.

Anthropomorphism:

Ascribing human qualities to something not human.

Apposition: “You, the public” , “The Queen, Elizabeth II....”

Assonance: Employing identical vowel sounds. “Hate” and “Bake”.

Bathos: Linguistic let-down or ludicrous anticlimax, usually because of textual

incongruity. The sudden descent from the sublime to the ridiculous.

Caesura: A sense pause or break in poetry

Enjambment: (Poetry) The running of an idea from one line to the next without a

syntactical break.

Euphemism: A term used to avoid a more explicit or distasteful expression.

E.g. ‘Pass on’ = ‘die’

Heavy Postmodification:

A list of related adjectives placed after a noun.

Heavy Premodification:

A list of adjectives placed before the noun which they

modify.

Hyperbole: Exaggeration or overstatement, usually used for emphasis.

Litotes: Ironic understatement in which a positive statement is made by

denying its opposite. E.g. “I shan‘t be sorry.” , “She’s not a bad driver.”

Metaphor: Describing an object or situation in a way which is not literally

applicable.

E.g. The sun smiled down upon all creation.

The wind howled outside.

Oxymoron: Paradoxical or contrasting lexis. E.g. ‘bitter-sweet’

Palindrome: A word which is the same read backwards as forwards. E.g. ‘Hannah’.

Parallelism: Use of the same words or grammatical constructions in successive

sentences or paragraphs. This device is often used in poetry and

advertising.

Pathos: Language evoking a feeling of pity, compassion or sorrow.




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Phrasal Verb:

A simple verb followed by a preposition or adverb. The meaning of

a phrasal verb can be very different from the root verb. In fact, the meaning is often idiomatic.

E.g. give up go in for carry out

Simile: A direct comparison made using ‘like’ or ‘as’.

Transferred Epithet: (Also called ‘Synecdoche’)

A linguistic device in which a part is used for the whole or the whole for a part. An often cited example is ‘ten sail’ for ‘ten ships’ . Another example is: ‘Many cities are trying to solve the problem of urban poverty’ meaning that the members of many cities’ governments are trying to solve this problem.

Three-Part Build-Ups:

“Friends, Romans, Countrymen....”

Two-Part Contrasts:

“To be or not to be.”


























































2




Syntax

Simple Sentence

A simple sentence has one finite verb (subject and tense).




I read the book. You eat dinner




Compound Sentence

A compound sentence contains two finite verbs in two simple sentences joined by

a conjunction

.

The cat pounced and caught its prey. (‘and’- coordinating conjunction)




Complex Sentence

A complex sentence must contain at least two finite verbs. It consists of a simple

sentence and a subordinate clause.




The man who was walking near the lake was impressed by the sunset.




Relative/adjectival clause in subordination to the main clause:




The man was impressed by the sunset.




The relative clause adds information about the man. The sequence can be rearranged to produce a different kind of sentence:




Walking near the lake, the man was impressed by the sunset.




‘Walking’ is now non-finite. (i.e. has no subject / is not indicative of tense / is

not affected by any other verbs in the sentence. If the tense of the main clause

changes, ‘walking’ remains the same.)

Here ‘walking’ is a PARTICIPLE, or verbal adjective. In some languages the

adjectival nature of the participle is more obvious. For example, Chinese can express

this idea as ‘The walking-near-the-lake man’ or ‘The walking man’, where ‘walking near the lake’ is clearly adjectival in function.

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Noun Clauses:

These define nouns, unlike relative clauses which simply add information about a

noun.




Fear that he might be seen kept him in hiding.




The theory that the earth is flat was eventually proved wrong.




Syntactical Analysis:




The eerie light was shining faintly through the misty night.




Definite Article/Adjective/Noun/Auxiliary Verb/Verb. Present Participle/Adverb/

Preposition/Definite Article/Adjective/Noun.




Aspect

The action of a sentence can be perfect (complete) or imperfect (incomplete) in aspect. The participle is an indicator of aspect.




I am going.(Present Participle) I am gone.(Past Participle)




Adjectival Clause: Adds information about a noun.

Adverbial Clause: Adds information about a verb.





































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The Eight Kinds of Adverbial Clause




These add information about the verb in the main clause.




1) TIME: I am going to do it after I eat my dinner.

‘After’ is a subordinating conjunction.




2) PLACE: You will find the book where you left it.




3) RESULT: The dinner was left in the oven so / therefore it burned.




4) MANNER: Peter turned bright red as though he were about to cry.




5) PURPOSE: I went to bed early so that I would not be tired next day.




6) REASON: He failed his exams because he did not revise his work.




7) CONDITION: I will do it if I have time.




8) CONCESSION: He did very well even though he did not do any work.











































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Sentence, Clause or Phrase?

1. Sentence: Contains a finite verb. Is complete in itself and makes perfect sense

standing alone.

2. Clause: Includes a finite verb and a part of a sentence, but cannot stand alone.

3. Phrase: A group of words not containing a finite verb.




Examples:

1. Sentence: She has a pleasant personality.




2. Clause: She has a personality which is pleasant.




3. Phrase: Having a pleasant personality, she is popular with everyone.

‘Having’ = non-finite verb. This is an ADJECTIVAL PHRASE. ‘Having’ is a participle relating to ‘she’.







Having a pleasant personality makes her popular.



Here, ‘Having’ has nothing to relate to, therefore cannot be adjectival. ‘Having’

is not a participle. This is a NOUN PHRASE. ‘Having’ is a nominal infinitive or

gerund.




Abstract Nouns:

Abstract nouns are words which function grammatically as nouns, although being abstract in nature. Examples are words like ‘kindness’ , ‘cruelty’, and ‘generosity’.



Concrete nouns are objects which have form and shape, such as ‘house’, ‘table’,

‘dog’ and ‘computer’.

















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Adjectives:

Phrases such as ‘twenty-four hours’ and ‘third day’ contain the numerical

adjectives ‘twenty-four’ and ‘third’ which describe the nouns ‘hours’ and ‘day’.




Interrogative Adjective: Adjective + noun

Which way?

What impressions did you get?

Whose car is this?

Demonstrative Adjective:

This man That house

These women Those dictionaries

Demonstrative Pronoun:

This is the one I mean.



Note that interrogatives occurring with verbs are not adjectives. They are

interrogative adverbs.




What are you doing? When does it happen? Why is he angry? How does it work?

Where are my keys?



The answers to these questions all add information about the verb. This is also because interrogatives occurring with verbs include the prepositional element or adverbial phrase.



When? = at what time? How? = in what way?

Where? =in which place? Why? = for what reason?




Interrogative Pronoun

An interrogative pronoun is a question word which can be replaced by a pronoun or noun when answering the question.



What is in the box? It is in the box.

What do you want? I want it.

Where do you come from? I come from there / that place.

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‘There’ - adverb or noun?:



That man there is my boss. there = in that place (ADVERB)




I left there in a hurry. there = that place (NOUN)






Relative Pronoun: This is what I do best. what = that which

(I do it best.)



Relative Adverbs: Where = the place in which

Why = the reason for which

When = the time at which

How = the way in which



This is where I like to be.

That‘s why I did it.

Six-thirty is when I get up.

This is how it should be done.




Adjectival Equivalents:

Nouns sometimes can function as adjectives.

E.g. Chocolate cake spring sunshine corner shop



Emphatic Adjectives:

Used to describe and emphasize a noun.

This is his own work. I study every day.





















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Agreement of Plurals

To say ‘I like those kind of magazines’ is incorrect. ‘Kind’ should agree with the plural nature of ‘those’.



‘I like those kinds of magazines.’ is correct.

Or ‘I like that kind of magazines.’




Another common mistake occurs when using ‘less’ and ‘fewer’.

‘Less’ can only be used with uncountable nouns, whereas ‘fewer’ should only

qualify countable nouns.




I earned less money this year.

I have fewer coins in my pocket than I did yesterday.



Comparative Degree

This is used to compare two objects or people.

Who is the older of the two brothers?

Who is the more intelligent of the two sisters?




Superlative Degree

This is used to compare three or more objects or people.

Who is the oldest of these three children?

Who is the most diligent amongst you?




The Verb:

Subject and Predicate



Subject Predicate

The man fed his dog.

John walked to school



Predicate Subject

At the back of our house is a small garden.

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The Subject of the Verb:



He likes candy. (Here, ‘he’ is in the subjective case)



The sun in its magnificence shone forth over the land.







The Object of the Verb:

Receives the action of the verb.



She hit him. (Here, ‘him’ is in the nominative case)







Verbs which can take objects are called TRANSITIVE VERBS.

‘To hit’ is a transitive verb because its action can be carried over or ‘transferred’ to an object.




She hit him.




The actions of some verbs cannot be carried over to an object. These verbs are called INTRANSITIVE VERBS. Many verbs can be transitive or intransitive depending on where they appear. ‘To sleep’ is an intransitive verb. It cannot take an object. You cannot ‘sleep’ something. ‘To burn’ and ‘to melt’ can be transitive or intransitive.



I burned the cake. The cake burned.

He melted the ice. The ice melted.




Verbs which can take two objects are called DITRANSITIVE VERBS.



I gave my friend some money.

(See Indirect Object)










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Indirect Object



The man grabbed the woman’s purse.

= The man grabbed from the woman her purse.



What did the man grab? He grabbed the purse. Therefore, ‘purse’ is the direct object of the verb. However, his action also affected the woman. So ‘the woman’ is the indirect object of the verb ‘to grab’.






Other examples are :

They gave me the keys. = They gave to me the keys.

The indirect object in this sentence is ‘me’.




She asked them the reason. = She asked from them the reason.

The indirect object in this sentence is ‘them’.




Some verbs are called Verbs of Incomplete Predication.

This expression is used to describe verbs which are incomplete in themselves.

They must take adjectives or adverbial phrases in order to make sense.

For instance, ‘I think’, ‘He runs’, ‘They talk’, though not being complete

sentences, still make sense standing alone. However, ‘It seems’, ‘It becomes’, or ‘I was’ are not complete concepts. These latter verbs are Verbs of Incomplete Predication.



Verb of Incomplete Predication Complement

The summer was at an end.

He seems strange.

I became angry.
















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Simple Tenses:

Present: I eat

Past: I ate

Future: I will eat

(Subjunctive: I should eat / He would eat)




Continuous Tenses:

Present: I am writing (present participle)

Past: I was writing

Future: I shall* be writing

(Subjunctive: I should be writing / He would be writing)



Perfect Tenses:

Present: I have written (past participle)

Past (Pluperfect): I had written

Future: I shall have written

Past in the future#: I should have written




*According to traditional English grammar, the pronouns ‘I’ and ‘We’ take

‘shall’ in the future form, all other pronouns taking ‘will’. However, in modern

spoken English this ‘rule’ is not commonly observed.

#This describes an action which, at some time in the past, was regarded as

future.

e.g. By next week I should have finished this work.


































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Present Perfective:

This describes an action which is completed at the present time.

E.g. I have done it.

He has finished the book.




Pluperfect:

This means ‘more than perfect’ and is sometimes called the ‘past in the past’

form. It describes an action which was completed in the past.

E.g. I had done it.

He had finished the book.




Sentences can be in either the passive or the active voice. In an active sentence

the subject performs the action of the verb.




I finished the work.

She ate the cake.




In a passive sentence the subject is the recipient of the action of the verb.




The work was finished.

The cake was eaten.




The passive is formed from the any form of the verb ‘to be’ plus the past

participle of the verb. Here, the verb ‘to be’ is called the passive auxiliary.




























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Modals:

Modals are auxiliary verbs which express the mood of a sentence.

Modals can express necessity, permission, requests, suggestions, invitations,

ability, certainty, probability, possibility, questions or negatives.

Some examples of modal auxiliaries are listed below:




I must (have to) finish this work tonight. (necessity)

May I come in? (permission)

Could you help me for a moment? (requests)

You could try John’s method. (suggestions)

Would you like to come for dinner? (invitations)









She was able to complete her last novel before she died. (ability)

That must be the Eiffel Tower over there. (certainty)

We ought to tell them where we’re going. (probability)

It could be very dangerous. (possibility)

That might be a good idea. (possibility)

Would you come with me? (question/request)

They couldn’t understand what he meant. (negative)




Indicative Mood:

The indicative mood simply states a fact or asks a question.

E.g. He is clever. Is he clever?




Imperative Mood:

The imperative mood expresses a command.

E.g. Do as you are told! Don’t do that!

Tell me your name, please.
















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Subjunctive Mood:

The subjunctive mood states a wish, condition, purpose or doubt based on

certain facts. It often employs the third person plural indicative verb form.

E. g. If I were rich…..

May you prosper!

If she were a little younger……..

God save the Queen.

I require that he send me his documents.

Statements in the subjunctive mood are hypothetical.

If he should pass by my home…….

I would if I could, but I can‘t.

If only I were a young man again......

I wish that he were here.

The verb ‘to be’ is also sometimes used in the subjunctive sense.

I demand that I be allowed to see the prisoner.




























































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The Infinitive:

The infinitive form of the verb has no subject and no tense. It is unaffected

by any other verbs in the sentence.




e.g. I want to go. I wanted to go.

He is going. He will be going.




Present Infinitive:

He likes to eat fish. I want to see it.

I forced him to admit his mistake.

I made it happen.

I made him do it. I will make him understand it.

I saw her go.

Perfect Infinitive:

‘To have’ + Past Participle of the Verb.

I want to have finished it by Friday.

I wanted to have read it by Friday.

I will want to have seen it by Friday.

Passive Infinitive:

‘To be’ + Past Participle of the Verb.

I would be nice to be helped.

It will be nice to be driven to the airport.

It is appropriate for him to be honoured.

Future Infinitive:

English has no proper future infinitive form.

However, events which are to take place in the immediate future can

be expressed by means of ‘about’ + infinitive.

I am about to go.






















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Non-Finite Verbs:

Non-finite verbs can be explained as parts of verbs which possess no subject.

There are three kinds of non-finite verb:




1. INFINITIVE: The infinitive can be verbal(see above) or nominal (see the third

kind of non-finite verb).




2. PARTICIPLE: The participle is a verbal adjective which modifies a substantive

or noun. True to the nature of non-finite verbs, the participle has

no subject BUT MUST RELATE TO ONE. The participle

indicates ASPECT, whether an action is progressive (continuous)

or perfective (completed).




Eating the banana, he looked like a monkey.



The subject ‘he’ belongs to the phrasal verb ‘to look like’.

The participle ‘eating’ has no subject, but relates to ‘he’ in that

it describes or adds information about why he looked like a

monkey. To demonstrate that ‘eating the banana’ is adjectival

a relative clause can be used to express the same idea.



He (who was eating the banana) looked like a monkey.




The PRESENT PARTICIPLE is identifiable by its ‘ing’

ending. The PAST PARTICIPLE is the form produced by

perfects and passives.

I have done it. He has looked at it.

It is/was done. It was looked at.





Fallen on the battlefield, he was left to die.

He (who had fallen on the battlefield) was left to die.




The past participle ‘fallen’ relates to the subject ‘he’ in the

main clause.

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Eaten in the morning, the food was not available for supper.

The food (which had been eaten in the morning) was not

available for supper.




Some languages can actually express the idea this way:

The eaten-in-the-morning-food was not available for supper.

(在早上已被吃完的食物)



Since a participle is relative or adjectival in function it must

be clearly related to a noun or a word functioning as a noun.

Thus,

Fallen on the battlefield, they left him for dead.



exhibits incorrect use of a participle. ‘Fallen’ cannot relate to

‘they’, since ‘they’ left the man who had fallen on the battlefield.

Since ‘him’ is the object of the sentence, ‘fallen’ cannot relate to ‘him’ either. Unrelated participles are sometimes carelessly used

in everyday speech, but in written work can cause much confusion. A useful rule to remember is that the participle should

be as close to the noun it modifies as possible.



Another example of an unrelated participle is:



Being rainy, we could not go out.



‘We’ cannot possibly be described as ‘rainy’, so the writer

must be thinking of the weather.






A sentence containing a participle must also include the noun it describes

Being rainy, the weather was not suitable for hiking.

Feeling happy, I went over to visit them.



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In some sentences the noun and the participle can appear in the

same phrase.




The weather being rainy, we decided not to go out.



Here the participle phrase is called an ABSOLUTE CONSTRUCTION because it contains an idea complete and

separate from the rest of the sentence.




3. The third form of non-finite verb is the NOMINAL INFINITIVE (noun infinitive) or GERUND.



Stealing is wrong.

Studying a foreign language is difficult.



In these sentences the non-finite verb forms function as nouns.




It should be noted that possessives must be used with gerunds.




Often people will say things like:




He doesn‘t like John talking to you like that.




If strict grammatical rules are applied, this sentence should be rendered as




He doesn‘t like John’s talking to you like that.



Here, ‘talking’ functions as a gerund. What he doesn‘t like is John’s speech, not

John himself.
















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