Grammar I

What is gramar?

Its the science that studies the arrangement of words into sentences.

Is a system of rules for making and putting together the expressions that
belong to the language. There are two types of grammar.

a) Descriptive: Its a language system that underlies ordinary use. (it

describes how the words of the language are actually used). It gives
patterns to follow and makes reference to the words.
b) Prescriptive: Its the form of language that lays down the rules for
English language usage. It says how language should be used and
describes the rules for speaking and writing.

Parts of speech

There are different parts of speech. Theyre: Verbs, nouns, adjectives, adverbs,
determiners, conjunctions, prepositions and pronouns. They can be grouped
into two major families depending on the function and their grammatical
behavior.

Content or lexical words: they are verbs, nouns, adjectives and adverbs. They
describe concepts such as objects, actions, attributes and ideas that we can
think about. They are sometimes regularly adding new words to this group.
Theyre the most numerous and the number is growing all the time. They often
have complex internal structures and are composed of several parts.

Eg: under/stimat/ed= adj. composed by 3 morphemes (under+ happy+ ness)

Function or structure words: Theyre determiners, conjunctions, prepositions

and pronouns. They dont have clear lexical meaning or obvious concepts
associated with them. They have a grammatical function because they indicate
different relations. Theyre sometimes called close-class words because its
difficult to think of new prepositions or pronouns.

Morphemes

Its the smallest meaningful unit of language that cannot be separated without
losing its meaning. It can be a word or part of a word. Eg.: boy= boyish=
boy/she/ness, etc.

There are two types of morphemes:

Free forms
Bound forms

a) Free forms: they are morphemes that can stand alone as a word without
any other morpheme. They dont need anything attached to them to
make a word. Eg.: dog, chair, table, etc.
b) Bound forms: ( inflectional/ derivational) morphemes that can not stand
alone as a word because they need to be attached to a free form =
over, anti, ness, ful, ed, er, ir,

Inflectional:

They are usually suffixes, elements added a free form. All inflectional
morphemes express grammatical factors.

a) Prefixes: anti-, inter, mis, pro, il, im, multi, semi, co, in, over, sub, dis, ir,
out, trans, en, micro, post, under, ex, mini, pre. Eg: anti-hero, co-writer,
trans-form, ex-president, anti-oxidant, co-producer, under-rated, il-legal.
b) Suffixes: we normally use them to change a word to a different part of
speech. Sometimes they produce a change in meaning after a free form.
i. Noun suffixes: age, am-ian, ance/ence, cy, ar/ir/or, ing/ation, ship,
ist/im, ty/ity, ee, ment/ness, ure
ii. Verb affixes: preffixes and suffixes: be, ish, en, ing/ise, de, ate,
miss, en, dis, ty
iii. Adjective suffixes: able/ible, ful, ing, al/ial, less, ont/ent, ed, ar/ary,
y, en/ir, ist
iv. Adverb affixes: a, ly, ward (s), ursel/ ways

Inflectional morphemes and new meaning to the free form without changing
the part of a speech, eg: new (adj), newest, look (verb) looked

VERBS

They are words that express actions or physical activities, mental or intellectual
activities and others express states and feelings. Theyre usually the most
important word in the predicative. Verbs have the following forms:

A base form: look-go

An s form (third person singular) looks-goes
A past form: looked-went
An ing form: looking-going
A passive /participle form: looked-gone

Its important to make a clear distinction between tense and time.

Eg: hes playing tennis tomorrow (tense: present continuous/ time: future)
I wish you were here (tense: past simple/ time present)

The rain leaves at 8:00 on Saturday (tense: present simple/time: future)

The time of an action is the particular point when it happens. This can be
present, past or future and it is a universal concept, so, it doesnt vary
across languages. Time can be indicated by adverbs or adverbials such
as, yesterday, tomorrow, today, now, two thousand years, at ht moment,
etc
On the other hand tense can be defined as the form of the verb adopts
to indicate time. Its a grammatical concept, so, it varies across
languages. Tense may also indicate (aspect/mood/voice)
a) Aspect: it shows if the action is complete or not. In English we
have three aspects: simple/progressive/perfect)
i. Simple aspect: it refers to the whole of an activity or an
event
ii. Progressive aspect: describes an event at some point
between its beginning and its end
iii. Perfect aspect: it gives information about a duration of an
event and the relationship of events to one another in time.
b) Mood: it reflex speakers attitude towards and action. It refers to
the factual or non-factual status of events. In English we have 3
moods( indicative/imperative/subjunctive)
I. Indicative: its a factual mood, its the most frequent and
shows person, tense, number, aspect, and voice. Eg: -Sally
watches TV at night/- She had already left home
II. Imperative: its a non-factual mood, its used to give orders.
Eg: - sit down! / - Dont eat in class! /- Shut up!
III. Subjunctive: its a non-factual mood. Its the least frequent
and its refers to whishes or desires. Eg: -if I were you, Id
do it/- They instead tht she consult a doctor /- If only I were
taller
c) Voice: it gives information about the roles of different participants
in an event. It shows who or what is performing or reciving an
action. Therere two voices (active/ passive). Eg: The gardener is
watching the plants-active/ -the plants are being watched by the
gardener- passive)

CLASSIFICATION OF VERBS

1) According to the function : in the verb phrase

a) Lexical verbs: Its the main verb in a sentence. It shows action,
states or events. Its an open-class, because new verbs are
frequently created. Its has meaning in ITSELF and it can be
(regular/irregular)
 i. Regular verb: the dont chnge the form to show the
different tenses. We just add -ed for the past and
participle form
ii. Irregular verb: the have a regular s and ing forms, but
they change in the past and participle forms. Therere 3
types. 3 forms equal (eg: put-put-put)/ 2 forms equal-1
different (eg: win-won-won)/ 3 forms different (eg: do-
did-done)
b) Auxiliary verb: they add information to lexical verbs and help
them to make up phrases. They help to form the question,
negation, emphatic form and questions tags (or eco-questions)
therere 2 types of auxiliary verbs (primary/ secondary)
i. Primary auxiliaries: be-do-have. They help to form
tenses. They show close type (interrogative, negative,
etc) aspect (progressive, perfect, simple) and voice
(active, passive)
-Be: it is used to form the continuous tense and passive
voice (eg: he is watching TV/ the bronze was destroyed
by the storm
-Do: its used to form present and past simple tenses.
For negative and interrogatives (eg: Do you like pizza?
Yes, I do/did you go to dance last week? Yes, I did
-Have: Its used to form the perfect tenses. (eg: he has
never eaten Thai food)
ii. Secondary or modal auxiliary: there are 3 types ( care
modal v./semi modal v./ modal expression
a) Care modal verbs: (can- could- shall- will- would-
should- might)
b) Semi modal verbs: (done-need-ought to- used to)
c) Modal expression ( be-able to have to)

-s/-ing/ participative

Modal auxiliaries dont have: -s form( 3 rd pers. Sing, except has to)./ -ing form /
participative form.

They are function is to add new meaning to main verbs. (eg: Alice should go to
the dentist advice/ Alice (has to/must) go to the dentist- obligation/ Alice will
go to the dentist- predication-certainly)

PRIMARY AND MODAL AUX: ARE PLACED BEFORE MAIN VERBS. A modal and
primary aux. can occur together in the same sentence; in that case the modal
comes first. More than one modal is NOT PERMETTED but there may be several
primary aux. verbs. Eg: he can play tennis/

-he cantt have robbed the bank/ they should have been punished
- she could have died in that accident / he will have finished his project for the
Saturday

- they have been working hard

2) according to their complementation

a) transitive verbs: theyre verbs that take objects. Eg: he plays rugby / theyre
watching TV/ she stole a lot of money

(question WHAT? the answer is the direct object

Transitive verbs express actions, feelings, perceptions and possession

b- mono transitive verbs: they take only one object. The object can be

a noun: he cuts the cake

a noun phrase: they have a lot of money

a to infinitive construction: she has decided to stay he agreed to go

c- ditransitive verbs: they take 2 objects: direct and indirect objects

eg:- he gave me an Ipad / They bought their mum a present

we can change this sentences using the construction S+ TV+ DO + TO/FOR +

IO

-he gave an Ipad to me/ they bought a present for their mum

Ex: of ditransitive verbs: beg, hand, grant, offer, promise, read, send, should,
teach, write, cook, make, order

d- intransitive verbs: theyre verbs that dont take objects. Therere 2 types of
intransitive verbs: IVCP/ IVIP

IVCP: intransitive verbs of complete predication or (IV)

IVIP: intransitive verbs of incomplete predication or (LV)

IVCP: Ex: (the man is laughing in the cinema/ the children are sleeping).
Theyre verbs DONT take objects or complements although there can be a
prepositional phrase or an adverbial after them. They usually express actions
and events. They can be followed by: a preposition phrase ( he was waiting in
the car)/ a to infinitive( they lived to be rich )/ an ing form ( she wont running)

IVIP or LV: ( the man is my father- sally looks sick-he seems happy). Theyre
verbs that link the subject and complement. The common LV is TO BE, but
other LV are : (verbs for appearance and sensation: appear, look, smell, sound,
taste/ verbs of becoming: became, get turn, fall)

LV can be followed by: complement( noun, noun phrase) and (adjective)/ or

adverbial (of time, place, manner, etc), eg: my birthday party will be tomorrow/
he looks happy

A COMPLEMENT: relates to the subject, it describes or identifies the subject

between the subject and the complement there must be a LV there are some
idiomatic expressions with the pattern LV+ COMPLEMENT ( some true- fall ill-
fall asleep- fall silent)

3- according to the form---VERB: finite/ Non finite

Finite form: theyre verbs that show tenses, mood, aspect and voice.
Theyre conjugated verbs and the main verb in the sentence.
Non finite form: they dont show tense or mood BUT they can indicate
aspect and voice. Theyre NOT conjugated verbs. Theyre verbs: in the
infinitive/ the ing form/ the ed participle. Eg:
-they are watching TV/ paul has been to Mexico/ the house is cleaned
every day
-come here, Tom!/ I want to go / It was a bad idea to come here
- people living in the country arent used to so much noise

TRANSFORMATIONS

Its the first time+ present perfect ( Its the first time/ Ive eaten Thai
food
The last time+ past simple ( the last time I saw John was in 2010)
Since + past simple ( since she got her degree, he has helped many
people

Past perfect simple (the past of the past)

Future: will { simple/continuous/perfect) / going to / present

continuous / present simple} {will + infinitive verb } / {wont +
infinitive verb ( for promises, offers and requests, threatens, warning,
predication } ---complex sentences, eg: as soon as I finish my coffee/
Ill go to work= clause S.V.O.
Going to: TO BE+ GOING TO + V. INF.
Actions that we intent to do. Predications based in evidence
Decisions already taken ( Im going to buy a sweater for my
father
 Future present continuous: for fixed arrangements eg: you have an
agenda with the days/ what are you doing next weekend? / I have a
party or I dont know
Future present simple: TIMETABLES- SCHEDULES, eg: the train arrives at
7 tomorrow morning
Future continuous: WILL + BE+ V. ING, eg: tomorrow evening Ill be
taking a language exam
Future perfect simple: WILL + HAVE+ PAST PARTICIPLE, eg: by 2020 you
will have finished your career/ by the time I retired youll have become
teachers

SET II

NOUNS

Nouns: are words used to refer to people, animals, objects, events,

substances, states, ideas and feelings. Can be the Subject or the Object of
the verb; they can be modified by an adjective and can take determiners. In
this case a noun phrase is formed. Eg: car- noun / a car- noun phrase / a
new yellow car noun phrase

NOUNS DONT HAVE SPECIAL ENDINGS TO SHOW IF THEY ARE THE SUBJECT
OR THE OBJECT OF THE VERBS. For that reason word order is important in
English, the subject verb object ( S.V.O.) is fixed eg: the cat chases the
mousse.

WORD ORDER

Word order: Position of the noun in a sentence.

Nouns may be have 3 positions in a sentence

1) Before the verb as subject of the sentence ( SVO)

2) After the verb : a-