GRAMMAR & STRUCTURES

MODULE 01
Grammar Review - 01
Shield Library, University of California
Prof. Salengke, Ph. D.
Agricultural Engineering, Hasanuddin University
Quote of the day
Time is life because time is the most
precious thing we have.

Wasting time is wasting life !!!
Normal Sentence Pattern
Subject + verb + complement + modifier
Subject
Subject is the agent of the sentence in
active voice.
The person or thing that performs the
action.
It normally precedes the verb.
Note: Every sentence in English must have a subject
Examples:

Coffee is delicious.

Milk contains a lot of calcium.

Those books are very good.

The girls are gorgeous and smart.

The bank closed at three oclock.
Subject can act as a pronoun for a
noun:

It rains quite often here in
December.

It is hard to believe that Bill Gate
dropped out of school.
There can act as a pseudo-subject. The
true subject appear after the verb and the
number of the true subject controls the
verb.


There was a big fire in Makassar last month.

Was there a big fire in Kalimantan forests last
month?

There were many students in this room.

Were there many students in other rooms?
Verb
In a declarative sentence, the verb follows the
subject.
It generally shows the action of the sentence.
The verb may be a verb phrase which consist of
one or more auxiliaries and one main verb.

Note: Every sentence must have a verb.
The verb may be a single word:

Lazy professors hate to teach class.

We walked around Unhas campus
yesterday.

Many students ride motor cycle to campus.

Students at Hasanuddin University have
protested rectors policy of no Ospek.
The verb may be a verb phrase which
consists of one or more auxiliaries and
one main verb

Agriculture students will go to Malino for
a camping trip.

My lazy professor has gone home for a
long afternoon nap.

He has been sleeping for four hours.

Complement
A complement completes the verb
It usually a noun or noun phrase
It generally follows the verb when the
sentence is in the active voice
Complement cannot begin with a
preposition
It answers the question what? Or whom?

Examples of complement:

This class will cover a new subject
each week.

The dumb professor always teaches
lousy subjects.

I will meet an old friend on the way
to heaven.

Einstein proposed The Theory of
Relativity.
Modifier
A modifier tells time, place, or manner of the
action
Very often it is a prepositional phrase (a group of
words that begins with a preposition and ends
with a noun).
A modifier of time usually comes last if more
than one modifier is present.
A modifier can be an adverb or an adverbial
phrase.
It answers the question when?, where?, or
how?
Examples of Modifiers:

Some professors like to write lecture
materials in their offices in the morning.

Most students ride their motor cycle very
fast on the street.

The English class meets in this room every
Wednesday.

The hikers climbed to the top of the
mountain carefully.

Noun Phrase
A group of words that ends with a
noun.
It can contain determiners (the, a,
this, that, etc.), adjectives, adverbs,
and noun.
It cannot begin with a preposition.
Count noun
Noun that can be counted
book one book, ten books,
tooth one tooth, two teeth
person one hundred people
man one man, two men,
professor one bad professor, a lot
of good professors
Irregular Count Noun
Nouns that do not end with s in the
plural form.


person
child
tooth
foot
mouse
man
woman
people
children
teeth
feet
mice
men
women
Singular Plural
Non-count noun
Noun that cannot be counted

milk, coffee, sugar, sand, soap, air,
meat, homework, money, honey,
food, information, advertising, news,
measles, mumps, economics,
physics, mathematics, politics.
Note: Although advertising is a non-
count noun, advertisement is a count
noun. If you want to speak of one
particular advertisement, you must
use this word!!

Example:

There are too many advertisements
during television shows.

There is too much advertising during
television shows.
It is possible to count some non-
count nouns If the substance is
placed in a countable containers

Glass of milk one glass of milk, two
glasses of milk,

Bag of sugar one bag of sugar, five bags of
sugar,


To indicate different types, some
non-count noun such as food,
meat, money, and sand may be
used as count nouns

Examples:

This is one of the foods that my
doctor has forbidden me to eat.

He studied meats in college.


The word time can be either
countable or non-countable
depending on the context. When it
means an occasion, it is
countable. When it means a
number of hours, days, years,
etc., it is non-countable.

Examples:

We have spent too much time on this homework. (non-
count)

She has been late for class six times this semester.
(count)
Determiners
a(n)
the
some, any
this, that
these, those
one
one, two, three, .
many
a lot of
a large number of
a great number of
(a)few
fewer than
morethan
count nouns: non-count nouns:
the
some, any
this, that
none

much (usually in negatives
or questions),

a lot of
a large amount of

(a)little
lessthan
morethan
Determiners a and an
a or an can precede only singular count
nouns; they mean one.
They can be used in a general statement.
They can be used to introduce a subject
which has not been previously mentioned.
a must be used when the noun it precedes
begins with a consonant or consonant sound.
an must be used when the noun it precedes
begins with a vowel or vowel sound.
Examples
A soccer ball is round.
I was approached by a thug last weekend and offered me
an apple.
A friend of mine bought a house in the suburb.
The reality show on TV last night lasted for an hour.
Youd better take an umbrella with you since there will be a
thunderstorm late in the afternoon.
A university graduate is likely to get better salary than a
high school graduate.
He gave a eulogy at General Yusufs funeral.
An heir to the late King donated millions of dollars to an
orphanage.
The following words begin
with a consonant sound and
thus must always be preceded
by a

European house uniform
eulogy home university
euphemism heavy universal
eucalyptus half union


The following words begin
with a vowel sound and
thus must always be
precedes by an

hour uncle
heir umbrella
herbal unnatural
honor understanding

The
The is used to indicate something that
we already know about or something
that is common knowledge.

The moon is much smaller than the earth.
The girl in the latest James Bond movie is
gorgeous.
The Statue of Liberty was a gift of
friendship from French to The United States.



For non-count noun, use the article the
if speaking in specific terms, but uses no
article if speaking in general.

Sugar is sweet.
The sugar sold at Carrefour is imported from Cuba.
Water is the best solvent for most chemicals.
The water that they gave us was produced by Aqua.
Coffee is delicious.
The coffee I bought from Starbuck was very strong.

Plural nouns are not preceded by the
when they mean everything within a
certain class.

Oranges are green until they ripen. (all oranges)
Students are required to attend classes. (all students)
Doctors must complete their residency before they are
allowed to practice medicine. (all doctors)
Words such as breakfast, lunch, dinner,
school, church, mosque, home, college,
and work does not need any article
unless to restrict the meaning.

We usually eat breakfast at eight oclock.
We will go to student cafeteria for lunch.
The lunch sold at the cafeteria is quite good.
Dinner will be served at 7:30.
The dinner served at the dorm dining hall is good.
Americans attend college at younger age.
He goes to mosque regularly.
Asrul came home late.

Use the with:
oceans, rivers, seas, gulfs, plural lakes, mountain, earth,
and moon.
school, colleges, universities (when the phrase begins with
school, colleges or universities).
ordinal numbers (first, second, etc.) before nouns, wars
(except world wars).
certain countries or group of countries with more than one
word (except Great Britain).
Historical documents (the Constitution, the Magna Carta).
Ethnic groups (the buginese, the javanese, the bataknese,
the dayak, the maduran, the Indian, the Aztecs, the
Aborigine, the Papuas).
GENERALIZATION
Do not use the with:
Singular lakes, mounts, planets,
constellations.
Schools, colleges, or universities (when the
phrase begins with a proper noun).
Cardinal numbers (1, 2, 3, etc.) after nouns.
Countries preceded by New or an adjective
such as a direction.
Countries with only one word.
Continents, states, sport, abstract nouns,
general area of subject matters, holidays.