GRAMMAR

NOUNS
Nouns are what someone or something is called, they answer the questions Who? Or
What?

We can make nouns from other words like verbs, by adding suffixes. For example the
verb PLAY, we add –er and forms the noun PLAYER

Nouns may be…

THE SUBJECT OF A VERB

“Our agent in Cairo sent an email this morning”

THE DIRECT OBJECT OF A VERB

“Frank sent an urgent email from Cairo”

THE INDIRECT OBJECT OF A VERB

“Frank sent his boss an email”

THE OBJECT OF A PREPOSITION

“I read about in the paper”

THE COMPLEMENT OF “BE” OR RELATED VERB LIKE “SEEM”

“TOMAS IS OUR FRIEND”

USED IN APPOSITION*
“JK ROWLING, A BRITISH WRITER ASKED FOR AN INTERVIEW”
*apposition: a word, phrase or clause used to rename or re-describe a nearby noun.

WHEN WE SPEAK DIRECTLY TO SOMEBODY

“CAROLINE, SHUT THAT WINDOW PLEASE”
NOUN / VERB CONTRASTS
Some verbs and nouns can have the same writing but differentiate each other in the way
they are stressed in the sentence.

COMPOUND NOUNS
When a noun has TWO OR MORE parts, we call it a compound noun. They are
sometimes written with a hyphen, and sometimes not.

- Single-word compound nouns: cupboard, raincoat

- Nouns formed with adjective + noun: redhead, heavyweight

- Nouns formed with gerund + noun: drinking water, frying pan

- Nouns formed with noun + gerund: horse-riding, sunbathing

- Nouns formed with adverb particles: breakdown, income, make up

- Nouns formed with noun + noun: car key, kitchen sink, Oxford road, meeting

point, seat belt, Ford car, saleswoman, self-respect

We use apostrophe S with people and some living things like a dog’s bark to show

possession,

However, with nonliving things, we use compound nouns.

COUNTABLE AND UNCOUNTABLE NOUNS

COUNTABLE NOUNS

- We can use a o an in front of them

- It has a plural form and can be used in the question how many?

- we can count using these nouns, for example: one book, two books, three

books…
UNCOUNTABLE NOUNS

- we don’t usually use a/an in front of them

- it doesn’t have a plural form, and it cant be used in the question how many?

- We cant use numbers with it, its uncountable. For example, milk can’t be counted.

CONCRETE NOUNS

Many countable nouns are concrete:

- People, animal, plants: girl, horse

- Objects: a bottle, a desk

- Groups: an army, a crowd

- Units of measurement: a kilo, a metre

- Parts of a mass: a bit, a packet, a piece

Concrete UNCOUNTABLE nouns

- Materials, liquids: cotton, milk, air

- Grains and powder: rice, flour

- Activities: camping, drinking, eating

- Languages: Arabic, Italian, Japanese

A few Countable nouns are abstract

a solution, a denial, an idea, a proposal, a chance, a discussion, a situation, a mistake

Many Uncountable nouns are abstract

Anger, knowledge
NOUNS THAT CAN BE WITHER COUNTABLE OR UNCOUNTABLE:

Single items / objects  countable nouns

- Had a boiled egg for breakfast

- Broke a glass yesterday

Substances / material  uncountable

- There is egg on your face

- The table was made of hardened glass

NORMALLY UNCOUNTABLE NOUNS USED AS COUNTABLE

They are preceded by an adjective (a nice wine)

There is some kind of specification (a wine of high quality)

Nouns ending in ING

-ing forms are usually uncountable, but a few can refer to a specific thing

Specific –> countable nouns

- He has a painting by van gogh

General  uncountable nouns

- Painting is one of my hobbies

PARTITIVES

They are structures that are used to quantify mostly uncountable nouns like

- A loaf of bread

- A slice of pizza

- A packet of biscuits

NUMBER: SINGULAR AND PLURAL FORMS OF NOUNS

Regular spelling

-s after most nouns: pen / pens

-es after nouns ending in –o,-s,-x,-ch: box/boxes, watch/watches

Consonant + y becomes –ies: country/countries, daisy/daisies

Vowel Y alone adds –s: day/days

Irregular spelling

Some endings in –f, -fe take –ves: wife/wives

Internal vowel change: man/men, mouse/mice, louse/lice

Nouns with plurals in –en: ox/oxen

No change: sheep/sheep, Chinese/Chinese, fish/fish

Foreign plurals: analysis/analyses

Proper nouns: the Kennedys, The Potters

GENDER

There is almost no grammatical gender for Nouns in English. It is the pronouns, not the

nouns that tell us whether if it’s male or female.

Describing people: men/women, brother/sister

Describing animals: bull/cow, cock/hen

-ess endings indicating gender: actor/actress, prince/princess

THE GENITIVE

We normally use ‘s and s’ only for people and some living things, and the possessive

appears before the noun it refers to:

- I’ll go in Frank’s car so I get there faster

With non living things, we prefer to use compound nouns instead of apostrophe s.

The leg of the chair  the chair leg

ARTICLES

USES OF A / AN / ZERO / THE

THE INDEFINITE ARTICLES A/AN

A is used before consonant singular sounds

An is used before vowel plural sounds

H is not pronounced at all in a few words: an honest man, an hour

THE DEFINITE ARTICLE “THE”

THE never varies in form whether it refers to people or things, singular or plural:

It is pronounced /da/ before consonant sounds

It is pronounced /di/ before vowel sounds.

When we wish to draw attention to the noun that follows, we use the pronounciation /di/:

the one and only

We have two basic facts when using THE:

- It normally has a definite reference

- It can combine with singular countable, plural countable, and uncountable nouns.

THE ZERO ARTICLE

We use it with three types of nouns:

- Plural countable nouns

- Uncountable nouns

- Proper nouns
THE PRONOUNS

PERSONAL / REFLEXIVE PRONOUNS AND POSSESSIVES

PRONOUNS VS. DETERMINERS

Pronouns: words that can be used in place of a noun or a noun phrase. When some and

this stand on their own they function as PRONOUNS

Determiners: are always followed by a noun. Some and this followed by a noun function

as DETERMINERS

PERSONAL PRONOUNS

They refer to “grammatical people”

- We use it to say who is: a) who’s at the door?

b) it’s my friend

- We use it when we don’t know the sex of a baby

OBJECT PRONOUNS: replace nouns in object positions.

- Direct objects: Have you seen Tom? I haven’t seen HIM

- Indirect Objects: If I see Carla, I’ll let her know

- Objects of prepositions: I really feel sorry for them

ONE

One as a pronoun meaning “everyone/anyone”

It is sometimes used formally in general statement.

A: is it easy to go camping in this country?

B: yes, but one is not allowed to camp where one likes.

One and Ones are frequently used as substitution words after a determiner.

- We can’t use one with uncountable nouns.

- When we are identifying people and things, particularly after Which, this/that and

adjectives

- Sometimes omitted after superlatives and in short answers.

REFFERENCE TO TWO: “THE ONE…THE OTHER”

The one…the other, the first… the second.

IT

As an empty subject

We often use it in sentences referring to time, the weather, temperature or distance.

When used this way, we often call it empty subject because it carries no real information.

Time: it’s five o’clock

Temperature: it’s thirty degrees outside.

Weather: it is raining outside

As a preparatory subject

We sometimes begin with it, continue with an infinitive, a gerund or a noun clause.

“It’s a shame that Tom isn’t here”

It as a preparatory subject often combines with:

- Adjectives: it’s easy for me to make mistakes

- Nouns: it’s so fun to be here

- Verbs: it looks like it’s raining outside

It in cleft sentences

We can begin with it was + subject + that when we want to emphasize the word or phrase

that follows. We call it cleft sentence because it is a simple sentence split up in two

clauses, using the it construction.

Freda phoned Jack last night (simple sentence)

It was Freda who phoned Jack last night

It was Jack who Freda phoned last night

It was last night when Freda phoned Jack.

Specific it/they, etc and non specific one/some

Obligatory subjects: it, they, one, some (for things:

- If the reference is specific:

A: did the letter I’ve been expecting come?

B: yes, it came this morning

- If the reference is non specific:

A: did a letter come for me?

B: yes, one came/some came for you.

Or

A: did any letter come for me?

POSSESIVE ADJECTIVES/POSSESIVE PRONOUNS

Adjectives:

- Must always be used in front of a noun (my book)

- Their form is regulated by the possessor, not by the thing possessed

Pronouns:

- Are never used in front of nouns (mine book is wrong)

- Can come at the beginning of a sentence.

REFLEXIVE PRONOUNS

They are really compounds formed from:

- Possessive adjectives + self

- Object pronouns + self

A few verbs must always be followed by a RP: absent, avail, pride

Other Verbs are commonly followed by RP:

Amuse, blame, cut, dry, enjoy hurt. (ive hurt myself)

DEMONSTRATIVE ADJECTIVES AND PRONOUNS

INDEFINITE PRONOUNS
THE SENTENCE

KEY TERMS

A finite verb:

- Subject: may be hidden “(you) open the door”

- A tense: They have finished

A non finite verb:

- Grounds: playing / cooking

- Participles: playing / cooking

- Infinitives: to play / to cook

A phrase:

group of words that can be part of the sentences:

- Noun phrase: a tube of toothpaste

- A prepositional phrase: Over the bridge

- A verb phrase: single verb: “studied”, a combination of verbs “will tell”

- A question-word + infinitive: what to do, when to go

A clause

Group of words that form a sentence

Subject + finite verb + complement or object.

TYPES OF SENTENCES

Simple sentence:

- A subject and a predicate

- Expresses a complete thought

“I cooked pasta”

Five patterns of the Simple Sentence:

1) Subject + verb → “My sister runs”

2) Subject + verb + complement → “My sister is tired / a teacher”

3) Subject + verb + direct object → “My sister bought a car”

4) Subject + verb + indirect object + direct object → “My sister bought me a cake”

5) Subject + verb + object + complement → “They called her a liar”

Compound sentence

- Two or more independent clauses

- Clauses are joined by a COORDINATING CONJUNCTION (word that connects

two or more elements of the same grammatical type)

• The two simple sentences can be linked by:

- a semi-colon: “He studied hard; he failed his exams”

- a semi-colon, followed by a connecting adverb: “He studied hard; however, he failed

his exams”

- a coordinating conjunction often preceded by a comma: “He studied hard, but he failed

his exams”

C. conjuntions can be used in the purpose of:

- addition

- choice

- contrast

- reason

- consequence of result

The Complex sentence

- One independent clause, one dependent clause (don’t make sense on their own)

- Joined by subordinating conjuntions (word that joins together a dependent clause

and an independent clause)

• Complex sentences can be formed in two ways

1) by joining subordinate clauses to the main clause with conjunctions

“She passed her exams because she studied hard”

“Although she was considered smart, she failed the exam”

2) by using infinitive or participle constructions.

“To get to school you have to take the 501 bus”

“Seeing it was 3 a.m in the morning, Jane left the party”

They don’t make sense on their own, and they will always have a subject and a verb

within them.

Noun clauses

A dependant clause that functions as a noun. It has three types:

- That – clauses: are introduced by the word that. “it was concluded that lack of

attention caused the accident”

Verbs followed by that – clauses:

- Wh-word clauses: a subordinate clause that is introduced by one of the wh-

words: “when he left, he forgot his glasses”

- If/whether clauses: are formed from yes/no questions and are introduced by the

word whether or if. “whether he signed the contract or not”

ADVERBIAL CLAUSES