Grammar 1// Compiled by Ngo Quynh Hoa, MA COURSE OUTLINE Subject GRAMMAR Units of credit (30 periods) Suggested self- study 90 periods Instructor NGO QUYNH HOA Contact details ngoquynhhoa_ac@yahoo.com.vn Cell phone: 0983791306 The subject outline contains important information Please ensure that you read it carefully It is also strongly recommended that you keep this copy of your subject outline for future reference Course Description: Understanding and utilizing the proper parts of speech in writing is often difficult for students because there is less focus on it The purpose of this course is to focus on the basics of identifying, using with the correct parts of speech Learning Goals: By the end of the course, students will be able to: - Master their knowledge and understanding of parts of speech - Identify, describe and explain the different parts of speech - Identify, describe and explain the formation, functions and classification of each part of speech - Use kinds of parts of speech properly in writing and speaking Assignments: Students will write exams, participate in small group activities, and give oral presentations Grades will be assigned according to the following percentages: Assessment for the subject will be on the basis of: (a) Class attendance Required assessment Yes 10% Yes 10% (> absences in the tutorial sessions: FAIL) (b) Oral presentation Required assessment Grammar 1// Compiled by Ngo Quynh Hoa, MA (c) Participation/small group activities Required assessment Yes 15% (d) Mid –term tests Required assessment Yes 15 % (e) Final Exam Required assessment Yes 50% Proposed schedule Time Week Week Week Week Week Week Week Week Week Week 10 Week 11 Week 12 Week 13 Week 14 Week 15 Contents Course introduction Unit 1: Nouns Unit 1: Nouns (cont.) Unit 2: Articles Unit 3: Pronouns Unit 4: Prepositions Unit 5: Adjectives Unit 5: Adjectives (cont.) Unit 6: Conjunctions Unit 7: Verbs Unit 7: Verbs (cont.) Unit 7: Verbs (cont.) Unit 8: Adverbs Unit 8: Adverbs (cont.) Revision Textbooks: - Developing grammar in context (Mark Nettle and Diana Hopkins) - Oxford Practice Grammar- Advanced (George Yule) Reference books: - Exploring Grammar in Context (Ronald Carter, Rebecca Hughes and Michael McCarthy) - A Practical English Grammar (A.J.Thomson & A.V.Martinet) Grammar 1// Compiled by Ngo Quynh Hoa, MA UNIT 1: NOUNS IN ENGLISH A Definition  A noun is a word used to refer to people, animals, objects, substances, states, events and feelings Nouns can be a subject or an object of a verb, can be modified by an adjective and can take an article or determiner For example: - Table Pencil The dog A white house  Nouns also denote abstract and intangible concepts For example: - Birth Happiness Evolution Technology, etc B Functions of Nouns I Subject (S) - a noun or pronoun partnered with a predicate verb A subject does an action with an action verb exists with a verb of being Grammar 1// Compiled by Ngo Quynh Hoa, MA is renamed or described after a verb of being or a linking verb is acted upon with a passive verb II Object of Preposition (OP) - a noun or pronoun answering "whom" or "what" after a preposition in a prepositional phrase III Direct Object (DO) - a noun or pronoun answering "whom" or "what" after an action verb A direct object "receives" or is the "object" of the action IV Retained Object (RO) - a noun or pronoun answering "whom" or "what" after a passive verb V Indirect Object (IO) - a noun or pronoun answering "to whom/what" or "for whom/what" after an action verb An indirect object   always precedes a direct object never has the word “to” or “for” stated Grammar 1// Compiled by Ngo Quynh Hoa, MA VI Subjective Complement (SC) - a noun, pronoun, or adjective that renames or describes (equals) the subject after a linking verb VII Objective Complement (OC) - a noun, pronoun, or adjective that renames or describes (equals) the direct object Test for OC: insert "to be" between the DO and the OC VIII Appositive (App) - a noun or pronoun that renames another noun; An appositive is usually placed next to the noun it renames Gourmet renames the noun Joe Therefore, gourmet is an appositive of Joe Grammar 1// Compiled by Ngo Quynh Hoa, MA C Noun Plurals  We are going to explain some rules that will help you to form the plural forms of the nouns The general rule is to add "-s" to the noun in singular For example: - Book - Books House - Houses Chair - Chairs  When the singular noun ends in: -sh, -ch, -s, -ss, -x, -o we form their plural form by adding "-es" For example: - sandwich - sandwiches brush - brushes bus - buses box - boxes potato - potatoes  When the singular noun ends in "y", we change the "y" for "i" and then add "-es" to form the plural form But not change the "y" for "ies" to form the plural when the singular noun ends in "y" preceded by a vowel For example: - nappy - nappies day - days toy - toys  However, there are many Irregular Nouns which not form the plural in this way: For example: - Woman - Women Child - Children Sheep - Sheep  Nouns may take an “s” ("apostrophe s") or "Genitive marker" to indicate possession If the noun already has an -s ending to mark the plural, then the genitive marker appears only as an apostrophe after the plural form Grammar 1// Compiled by Ngo Quynh Hoa, MA For example: - my girlfriend's brother John's house The Browns' house The boys' pens  The genitive marker should not be confused with the “„s " form of contracted verbs, as in John's a good student = John is a good student D Noun Gender  Many common nouns, like "engineer" or "teacher", can refer to men or women Once, many English nouns would change form depending on their gender For example: A man was called an "author" while a woman was called an "authoress" For example: - E David Garrick was a very prominent eighteenth-century actor Sarah Siddons was at the height of her career as an actress in the 1780s The manager was trying to write a want ad, but he couldn't decide whether he was advertising for a "waiter" or a "waitress" Types of Nouns Proper nouns are the names of specific things, people, or places, such as John, France They usually begin with a capital letter Common nouns are general names such as person, mansion, and book They can be either concrete or abstract Concrete nouns refer to things which you can sense such as clock and telephone Abstract nouns refer to ideas or qualities such as liberty and truth Countable nouns refer to things which can be counted (can be singular or plural) Uncountable nouns refer to some groups of countable nouns, substances, feelings and types of activity (can only be singular) I COUNTABLE NOUNS  Definition: A Count Noun is a noun which can be modified by a numeral and occur in both singular and plural form, as well as co-occurring with Grammar 1// Compiled by Ngo Quynh Hoa, MA quantificational determiners like every, each, several, most, etc Countable nouns are individual objects, people, places, etc which can be counted Count nouns can be made plural, usually by adding -s or -es at the end For example: - She saw seven cows in the garden There is a cow in the garden Every cow is an animal Examples: Usually count nouns Persons child/ren teacher/s student/s plumber/s lawyer/s psychologist/s historian/s economist/s biologist/s reporter/s dean/s coordinator/s researcher/s Places store/s mall/s park/s bar/s office/s school/s home/s station/s church/es deli/s cafeteria/s shop/s airport/s Things shoe/s car/s door/s house/s key/s letter/s chair/s box/es cow/s poster/s glass/es ball/s  Some nouns, like the word time, beauty, fire, death, gossip can be used as either a count noun, or a non-count noun For example: - - - How much time did it take for you to drive to school? Here, time is a non-count noun, because it refers to a category that contains smaller items (think of it as a "group" of minutes) How many times did you take the test before you passed? Here, time is a count noun; because you can count exactly how many separate times you took the test They had a death in the family Death is a tragic thing Supermarkets have aisles for different foods The animals at the zoo wanted food Grammar 1// Compiled by Ngo Quynh Hoa, MA  The "much" and "many" Rule Many is used with count nouns For example: - How many papers you have to write? There were too many books required for that class Much is used with non-count nouns For example: - How much homework did you have last night? I had to read so much literature for my English class  You can use "some" and "any" with countable nouns For example: - Some dogs can be dangerous I don't use any computers at work  You only use "many" and "few" with plural countable nouns For example: - Many elephants have been hunted There are few elephants in England  You can use "a lot of" and "no" with plural countable nouns For example: - No computers were bought last week A lot of computers were reported broken the week before II UNCOUNTABLE NOUNS  Definition: An uncountable noun (or non-count noun) is a type of common noun that cannot be modified by a number without specifying a unit of measurement In general, non-count nouns are considered to refer to indivisible wholes (which are not individual objects and cannot be counted) For this reason, they are sometimes called MASS nouns Uncountable nouns are used to describe a quality, action, thing or substance that can be poured or measured Non-Count nouns also refer to a whole category made up of different varieties or a whole group of things that is made up of many individual parts Uncountable nouns are always singular Use the singular form of the verb with uncountable nouns Grammar 1// Compiled by Ngo Quynh Hoa, MA For example: - There is some water in that pitcher That is the equipment we use for the project Examples: Usually non-count nouns Things Qualities water dependability stuff honesty money loyalty advice sincerity proof integrity equipment dust homework fun information ink luck Actions Fields of Study walking/to walk psychology typing/to type history jumping/to jump social work thinking/to think economics swimming/to swim biology English anatomy philosophy religion theology  Some nouns, like the word time, beauty, fire, death, gossip can be used as either a count noun, or a non-count noun For example: - - - How much time did it take for you to drive to school? Here, time is a non-count noun, because it refers to a category that contains smaller items (think of it as a "group" of minutes) How many times did you take the test before you passed? Here, time is a count noun; because you can count exactly how many separate times you took the test They had a death in the family Death is a tragic thing Supermarkets have aisles for different foods The animals at the zoo wanted food  The "much" and "many" Rule Many is used with count nouns For example: - How many papers you have to write? 10 Grammar 1// Compiled by Ngo Quynh Hoa, MA - narrow → the narrowest/most narrow - simple → the simplest/most simple  Exception: The following adjectives have irregular forms: E  good → the best  bad → the worst  far → the furthest Gradable and Non-gradable Adjectives  Adjectives describe qualities (characteristics) of nouns  Some qualities can vary in intensity or grade (for example: rather hot, hot, very hot; hot, hotter, the hottest) The adjective hot is gradable  Other qualities cannot vary in intensity or grade because they are: a extremes (for example: freezing) b absolutes (for example: dead) c classifying (for example: nuclear) The adjectives freezing, dead and nuclear are non-gradable Gradable Adjectives  A gradable adjective can be used with "grading adverbs" that vary the adjective's grade or intensity Look at these examples: gradable adjectives grading adverbs angry, big, busy, clever, cold, deep, fast, a little, dreadfully, extremely, fairly, + friendly, good, happy, high, hot, important, hugely, immensely, intensely, rather, long, popular, rich, strong, tall, warm, weak, reasonably, slightly, unusually, very young  A gradable adjective can also have comparative and superlative forms:  big, bigger, the biggest  hot, hotter, the hottest  important, more important, the most important - My teacher was very happy with my homework - That website is reasonably popular But this one is more popular - He said that Holland was a little cold and Denmark was rather cold But Sweden was the coldest Non-gradable Adjectives  A non-gradable adjective cannot be used with grading adverbs: - It was rather freezing outside - The dog was very dead 48 Grammar 1// Compiled by Ngo Quynh Hoa, MA -    He is investing in slightly nuclear energy Non-gradable adjectives not normally have comparative and superlative forms: - freezing, more freezing, the most freezing - dead, deader, the deadest - nuclear, more nuclear, the most nuclear Often, non-gradable adjectives are used alone: - It was freezing outside - The dog was dead - He is investing in nuclear energy However, a non-gradable adjective can be used with "non-grading adverbs" (which usually just give the adjective extra impact), for example: non-grading adverbs non-gradable adjectives  absolutely Awful Utterly Excellent completely Terrified Totally dead Nearly Impossible virtually Unique essentially Chemical Mainly Digital Almost Domestic extreme absolute classifying Here are some example sentences with non-gradable adjectives: - Her exam results were absolutely awful She will have to take the exam again - Is there anything like it in the world? It must be virtually unique - It starts an essentially chemical reaction Adjectives that can be gradable and non-gradable  Some adjectives may have more than one meaning or sense It's possible for the same adjective to be gradable with one sense and non-gradable with another sense For example: 49 Grammar 1// Compiled by Ngo Quynh Hoa, MA Adjective common = He's got a very old car Gradable not young I saw my old boyfriend yesterday non-gradable former, ex- He has some dreadfully common habits Gradable vulgar "The" is a very common word in English Gradable prevalent The two countries' common border poses problems non-gradable shared Adverbs used with gradable and non-gradable adjectives  The adverbs really (very much) and fairly and pretty (both meaning "to a significant degree, but less than very") can often be used with gradable and non-gradable adjectives: Gradable non-gradable Please don't forget! It's really important He was really terrified He's a fairly rich man It's a fairly impossible job He's pretty tall It's pretty ridiculous when you think about it "Quite" with gradable and non-gradable adjectives  The meaning of the adverb "quite" changes according to the type of adjective we use it with: Adjective quite = It's quite warm today Gradable fairly, rather Are you quite certain? non-gradable completely, absolutely 50 Grammar 1// Compiled by Ngo Quynh Hoa, MA UNIT 6: CONJUNCTIONS - Conjunctions are words used as joiners - Different kinds of conjunctions join different kinds of grammatical structures - The following are the kinds of conjunctions: A COORDINATING CONJUNCTIONS (FANBOYS) for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so  Coordinating conjunctions join equals to one another: words to words, phrases to phrases, clauses to clauses  Coordinating conjunctions usually form looser connections than other conjunctions  Coordinating conjunctions go in between items joined, not at the beginning or end 51 Grammar 1// Compiled by Ngo Quynh Hoa, MA Punctuation with coordinating conjunctions:  When a coordinating conjunction joins two words, phrases, or subordinate clauses, no comma should be placed before the conjunction  A coordinating conjunction joining three or more words, phrases, or subordinate clauses creates a series and requires commas between the elements  A coordinating conjunction joining two independent clauses creates a compound sentence and requires a comma before the coordinating conjunction B CORRELATIVE CONJUNCTIONS either .or neither nor both and not only but also  These pairs of conjunctions require equal (parallel) structures after each one 52 Grammar 1// Compiled by Ngo Quynh Hoa, MA C CONJUNCTIVE ADVERBS  These conjunctions join independent clauses together after all also as a result besides consequently finally for example furthermore hence however in addition incidentally indeed in fact in other words instead likewise meanwhile moreover nevertheless next nonetheless on the contrary on the other hand otherwise still then therefore thus  Punctuation: Place a semicolon before the conjunctive adverb and a comma after the conjunctive adverb D SUBORDINATING CONJUNCTIONS After Although As as far as as soon as as if as though Because Before in order (that) insofar as in that Lest no matter how now that Once provided (that) Since 53 Unless Until When Whenever Where Wherever Whether While Why Grammar 1// Compiled by Ngo Quynh Hoa, MA even if even though How If so that supposing (that) In as much as in case (that) Than That Though Till  Subordinating conjunctions also join two clauses together, but in doing so; they make one clause dependent (or "subordinate") upon the other  A subordinating conjunction may appear at a sentence beginning or between two clauses in a sentence  A subordinate conjunction usually provides a tighter connection between clauses than coordinating conjunctions does  Punctuation Note: When the dependent clause is placed first in a sentence, use a comma between the two clauses When the independent clause is placed first and the dependent clause second, does not separate the two clauses with a comma 54 Grammar 1// Compiled by Ngo Quynh Hoa, MA UNIT 7: VERBS IN ENGLISH A Definition  Verb is a word which shows action or state of something Write, run, eat, drink, catch, clean, speak, laugh, weep are some verbs He is writing a letter  In the above example, the verb “write” tells us about the action (writing) of the subject (he) A verb has its subject in sentence and verb tells us what its subject does, did or will Verbs describe action or state  Most verbs describe action, such verbs are called “dynamic verb”, for example write, eat, run, speak Some verbs describe state of something, such verbs are called “stative verb” and are not usually used in continuous tense for example be, impress, please, surprise, belong to, consist of, resemble, seem Examples: He works in a factory(action) I bought a computer (action) John seems happy (state) He resembles his brother (state)  Some verbs can be used as dynamic verb as well as stative verb 55 Grammar 1// Compiled by Ngo Quynh Hoa, MA Example: She looks very beautiful (“look” as stative verb) She looked at black board (“look” as dynamic verb) B Classifications Main Verbs and Auxiliary or Helping verbs  Main verb: A verb which has major meaning in terms of action are called main verb, i.e write, buy, eat etc  Main verb has real meaning and tells more about action while helping verb has no (or little) meaning if it is alone but it adds time information about action if used with main verb to specify the tense or time of the main verb  Helping verb: A verb which supports the main verb to form the structure of sentence, according a specific tense, is called helping verb or auxiliary verb, i.e is, am, have, was, had, is, will etc She is eating an apple (“eat” is main verb while “is” is helping verb) She was eating an apple (“eat” is main verb while “was” is helping verb)  The main verbs in these sentences “eat” convey the information about the action which is done on an apple, while the helping verbs in these sentences "is, and was" tells us the about the time of action by referring to specific tense In first sentence with helping verb "is" action (eating an apple) is being done right now in the present time while in the second sentence with helping verb "was" action (eating an apple) was being done in past  It means the MAIN VERB CONVEYS the meaning of action with a little information about its time, but the HELPING VERB (also called auxiliary Verb) tell us more about the time of action Helping verbs and main verbs together make a structure of sentence of a specific tense (action and its time) c Use of helping verbs There are three primary helping verbs, be, do, and have, which are majorly used in tenses  Be (am, is, are) Forms of “be” are used for continuous tenses She is laughing (Present Continuous tense)  Have (have, has, had) Forms of “have” are used in perfect tense He has completed his work (Present prefect tense) He had bought a car (Past perfect tense) 56 Grammar 1// Compiled by Ngo Quynh Hoa, MA  Do (do, does, did) Forms of “do” are used in indefinite (simple) tenses i.e present simple tense or past simple tense They not play chess (Present simple tense) I did not see him (Past simple) Modal Verbs (Modal auxiliaries)  Modal verbs are used to express ideas such as ability, possibility, intention or necessity       Can, could (ability) May might (possibility) Will, shall, would (intention) Should (necessity) Must (necessity) Ought to  Modal verbs can be used before main verb as helping verbs I can play violin It may rain today You must learn the test-taking strategies I will call you Transitive and intransitive verbs a Transitive Verbs  A verb which needs to have object in sentence is called transitive verb Transitive verbs should have an object in sentence because without subject it does not covey complete meaning He bought ……………… There should be some object in this sentence for verb “buy” Without an object, the verb “bought” does not give complete meaning To make it more meaningful we use some object for verb “bought” i.e “a book or computer or car.” He bought a book or He bought a computer or He bought a car b Intransitive sentence 57 Grammar 1// Compiled by Ngo Quynh Hoa, MA  A verb which does not need to have object in sentence is called intransitive Intransitive verb can give complete meaning with an object in sentence for it He slept She is laughing It has rained He is running They arrived 58 Grammar 1// Compiled by Ngo Quynh Hoa, MA UNIT 8: ADVERBS IN ENGLISH A Definition  An adverb is a part of speech that describes or modifies a verb, an adjective, another adverb, clause, or sentence  Adverbs answer the questions "How?", "When?", "Where?", "Why?", "In what way?", "How much?", "How often?", "Under what condition", "To what degree?"  The easiest adverbs to recognize are those that end in -ly Some adjectives end with -ly also but remember that adjectives can modify only nouns and pronouns Adverbs modify everything else  An adverb can be placed anywhere in a sentence B Functions of Adverbs (adverbs in adverbial functions) An adverb modifies a verb - He walked quickly ('quickly' modifies verb 'walked') - I accepted new task willingly ('willingly' modifies verb 'accepted') - Mike snored melodically ('melodically' modifies verb 'snored') An adverb modifies an adjective - They were really unhappy ('really' modifies adjective 'unhappy') - My brother is completely fearless ('completely' modifies adjective 'fearless') - I know she is very careful ('very' modifies adjective 'careful') An adverb modifies an adverb - He is almost always hungry ('almost' modifies adverb 'always') - John plays tennis very well ('very' modifies adverb 'well') - You never can work too carefully ('too' modifies adverb 'carefully') An adverb modifies a clause - Perhaps you are correct, but not at first glance ('perhaps' modifies clause 'you are correct') - Surely he will be on time, but I hope not ('surely' modifies clause 'he will be on time') An adverb modifies a sentence - Suddenly, she went home ('suddenly' modifies a whole sentence) - Finally, he will be on time ('finally' modifies a whole sentence) - Today, we can take a vacation.('today' modifies a whole sentence) C Adverb Formation  Adverbs that end in -ly are formed by adding -ly to an adjective, a present participle, or a past participle from an adjective 59 Grammar 1// Compiled by Ngo Quynh Hoa, MA    D - careful - carefully - beautiful - beautiful - fitting - fittingly from a present participle - willing - willingly - glowing - glowingly - surprising - surprisingly from a past participle - assured - assuredly - affected - affectedly - surprised - surprisedly When adjective ends in -able or -ible, the adverb is formed by replacing final -e with -y - horrible - horribly - terrible – terribly When adjective ends in -y, the adverb is formed by replacing final -y with -ily - happy - happily - lucky - luckily When adjective ends in -ic, the adverb is formed by replacing final -ic with -ically - economic - economically - ironic - ironically Adverbs Position  Adverbs can be placed anywhere in a sentence At the front (prior to the subject) - Today we will study adverbs - Lately, I have had lots of phone calls At the center of the sentence (between the subject and the verb) - He seldom goes to movies - I hardly noticed her At the end of the sentence - I learn English slowly - I study adverbs now E Classifications: I Adverbs as intensifiers as emphasizers - I really like him I literally wrecked my car as amplifiers - They completely abandoned the city - I absolutely refuse to leave 60 Grammar 1// Compiled by Ngo Quynh Hoa, MA as down toners - I somewhat like this movie - Peter almost quit that job - Adverb lists that follow each category are only partial ones II Adverbs of manner - answer the question How? - I watch them closely - I play well - I walk carefully List: cheerfully, fast, quickly, slowly, inadequately, healthy III Adverbs of time - answer the question When? - He has not played chess recently - I arrive late for most appointments - Lately, I have had many sleepless nights List: early, never, now, often, soon, then, today, tomorrow IV Adverbs of place (location, direction) - answer the question Where? - I walked downstairs - Have you ever gone there? - I will meet you outside List: above, away, below, down, here, inside, there, up V Adverbs of degree - answer the question How much? - He is totally prepared for his birthday - I am too tired to play tennis tonight - He is completely tired from the journey List: almost, entirely, little, much, rather, very, too VI Adverbs of frequency - answer the question How often? - He rarely goes by himself - She constantly finishes her job first always, never, usually, frequently, sometimes, occasionally VII Conjunctive (connecting) adverbs - connect the ideas expressed in different clauses or sentences  Use of conjunctive adverb between two independent clauses requires a semicolon before the adverb and comma after it - I want to sleep; however, I need to study  If conjunctive adverb is used at the beginning of a sentence, comma is used to set it off Note that the period takes the place of a semicolon - The day was over Therefore, I went to sleep  If conjunctive adverb is placed within a clause, commas are used to set it off - The day is over I will, therefore, go to sleep 61 Grammar 1// Compiled by Ngo Quynh Hoa, MA  Some of the most common conjunctive adverbs: accordingly, also, anyhow, furthermore, however, moreover, otherwise, still, therefore VIII Interrogative adverbs - used at the beginning of questions - Why are you so angry? - When does the movie start? List: why, where, how, when 62