some grammar books use the word
TRANSCRIPT
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Some grammar books use the word progressive instead ofcontinuous.They are exactly the same.
The use of tenses in English may be quite complicated, but the structure ofEnglish tenses is actually very simple. The basic structure for a positive
sentence is:
subject + auxiliary verb + main verb
An auxiliary verb is used in all tenses. (In the simple present and simplepast tenses, the auxiliary verb is usually suppressed for the affirmative, butit does exist for intensification.) The following table shows the 12 tenses forthe verb to work in the active voice.
structure past present future*
auxiliary main verb
simple
normal I worked I work I willwork
intensive Do base I didwork
I do work
perfectHave past
participleI hadworked
I haveworked
I willhave
worked
continuousBe present
participle
-ing
I wasworking
I amworking
I will beworking
continuousperfect
havebeen
presentparticiple-ing
I hadbeenworking
I havebeenworking
I willhavebeenworking
* Technically, there are no future tenses in English. The word will is a modalauxiliary verb and future tenses are sometimes called "modal tenses". Theexamples are included here for convenience and comparison.
Regular Verbs
Basic Tenses: Regular Verb
Regular verbs list
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This page shows the basic tenses with the regular verb work. It includes theaffirmative or positive form (+), the negative form (-) and the interrogativeor question form (?).
The basic structure is:
positive: +subject + auxiliary verb + main verbnegative:- subject + auxiliary verb + not+ main verbquestion:? auxiliary verb + subject + main verb
These are the forms of the main verb that we use to construct the tenses:
base verb Past past participle present participle -ing
work Wor vcked worked working
past present future
SIMPLEdo + baseverb(except
future:
will + baseverb)
+ I did workI worked
I do workI work
I will work
- I did notwork I do notwork I will notwork
? Did I work? Do I work? Will I work?
SIMPLEPERFECThave+ pastparticiple
+ I had worked I have worked I willhave worked
- I had notworked I have notworked Iwill nothave worked
? Had I worked? Have I worked? Will I have
worked?
CONTINUOUSbe + ing
+ I was working I am working I will be working
- Iwas notworking
I am notworking Iwill notbe working
? Was I working? Am I working? Will Ibe working?
CONTINUOUS + I hadbeen working I havebeen working I will havebeen working
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PERFECT
have been+ ing
- Ihad notbeenworking
I
have notbeenworking
I will nothave
beenworking
?Had Ibeen working?
Have Ibeen working?
Will I havebeenworking?
Irregular VerbsBasic Tenses: Irregular Verb
Irregular verbs list
This page shows the basic tenses with the irregular verb sing. It includes the
affirmative or positive form (+), the negative form (-) and the interrogativeor question form (?).
The basic structure is:
positive: +subject + auxiliary verb + main verbnegative:- subject + auxiliary verb + not+ main verbquestion:? auxiliary verb + subject + main verb
These are the forms of the main verb that we use to construct the tenses:
base verb past past participle present participle -ing
sing sang sung singing
past present future
SIMPLEdo + base
verb(exceptfuture:
will + baseverb)
+ I did singI sang
I do singI sing
I will sing
- I did notsing I do notsing I will notsing
? Did I sing? Do I sing? Will I sing?
SIMPLEPERFECThave+ pastparticiple
+ I had sung I have sung I will have sung
- I had notsung I have notsung Iwill nothave sung
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? Had I sung? Have I sung? Will I havesung?
CONTINUO
USbe + -ing
+ I was singing I am singing I will be singing
- I was notsinging I am notsinging Iwill notbe singing
? Was I singing? Am I singing? Will Ibe singing?
CONTINUO
USPERFECT
have been+ -ing
+ I hadbeen singing
I have
been singing
I will have
been singing
-I
had notbeensinging
I
have notbeensinging
I will nothave
beensinging
? Had Ibeen singing?
Have Ibeen singing?
Will I havebeen singing?
The basic structure of tenses for regular verbs and irregular verbs is exactly
the same (except to be). The only difference is that with regular verbs thepast and past participle are always the same (worked, worked), while with
irregular verbs the past and past participle are not always the same (sang,
sung). But the structure is the same! It will help you a great deal to reallyunderstand that.Be
Basic Tenses: Be
This page shows the basic tenses with the verb be. It includes the affirmativeor positive form (+), the negative form (-) and the interrogative or question
form (?).
The basic structure is:
positive (+): subject + auxiliary verb + main verbnegative (-): subject + auxiliary verb + not+ main verbquestion (?): auxiliary verb + subject + main verb
But for simple past and simple present tenses, the structure is not thesame. In fact, it's even easier. There is no auxiliary verb. Here is the
structure:
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positive (+): subject + main verbnegative (-): subject + main verb + notquestion (?): main verb + subject
These are the forms of the main verb be that we use to construct the tenses:
base past simple past participle present participle present simple
be was, were been being am, are, is
past present future
SIMPLE
presentsimple or past simple(exceptfuture: will+ be)
+ I was I am I will be
- I wasnot I amnot I will notbe
? Was I? Am I? Will I be?
SIMPLEPERFECThave + been
+ I had been I have been I will have been
- I had notbeen I have notbeen Iwill nothave be
en
? Had I been? Have I been? Will I havebeen?
CONTINUOUSbe + being
+ I was being I am being I will be being
- I was notbeing I am notbeing I
will notbe being
? Was I being? Am I being? Will I be being?
CONTINUOUSPERFECThave been+ being
+ I had been being I have been being I will havebeen being
- Ihad notbeenbeing
Ihave notbeenbeing
I will nothavebeenbeing
? Had Ibeen being?
Have Ibeen being?
Will I havebeen being?
In the following table, we see be conjugated for 12 basic tenses.
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SIMPLE past present future
singular I was am will be
you were are will be
he/she/it was is will be
plural we were are will be
you were are will be
they were are will be
PERFECT past present future
singular I had been have been will have been
you had been have been will have been
he/she/it had been has been will have been
plural we had been have been will have been
you had been have been will have been
they had been have been will have been
CONTINUOUS past present future
singular I was being am being will be being
you were being are being will be being
he/she/it was being is being will be being
plural we were being are being will be being
you were being are being will be being
they were being are being will be being
CONTINUOUSPERFECT
past present future
singular I had beenbeing
have beenbeing
will have beenbeing
you had beenbeing
have beenbeing
will have beenbeing
he/she/it had been has been being will have been
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being being
plural we had beenbeing
have beenbeing
will have beenbeing
you had beenbeing
have beenbeing
will have beenbeing
they had beenbeing
have beenbeing
will have beenbeing
What are Verbs?
The verb is king in English. The shortest sentence contains a verb.You can make a one-word sentence with a verb, for example:"Stop!" You cannot make a one-word sentence with any other type
of word.
Verbs are sometimes described as "action words". This is partly true. Many
verbs give the idea of action, of "doing" something. For example, wordslike run, fight, do and workall convey action.
But some verbs do not give the idea of action; they give the idea of
existence, of state, of "being". For example, verbs like be, exist,seem and belong all convey state.
A verb always has a subject. (In the sentence "John speaks English",John isthe subject and speaks is the verb.) In simple terms, therefore, we can saythat verbs are words that tell us what a subject doesor is; they describe:
action (Ram plays football.) state (Anthony seems kind.)
There is something very special about verbs in English. Most other words(adjectives, adverbs, prepositions etc) do not change in form (althoughnouns can have singular and plural forms). But almost all verbs change inform. For example, the verb to workhas five forms:
to work, work, works, worked, working
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Of course, this is still very few forms compared to some languages whichmay have thirty or more forms for a single verb.
In this lesson we look at the ways in which we classify verbs, followed by aquiz to test your understanding:
Verb Classification Helping Verbs Main Verbs Verb Classification Quiz
Verb Classification
We divide verbs into two broad classifications:
1. Helping Verbs
Imagine that a stranger walks into your room and says:
I can. People must. The Earth will.
Do you understand anything? Has this person communicated anything toyou? Probably not! That's because these verbs are helping verbs and haveno meaning on their own. They are necessary for the grammatical structureof the sentence, but they do not tell us very much alone. We usually usehelping verbs with main verbs. They "help" the main verb. (The sentences inthe above examples are therefore incomplete. They need at least a mainverb to complete them.) There are only about 15 helping verbs.
2. Main Verbs
Now imagine that the same stranger walks into your room and says:
I teach. People eat. The Earth rotates.
Do you understand something? Has this person communicated something toyou? Probably yes! Not a lot, but something. That's because these verbsare main verbs and have meaning on their own. They tell us something. Ofcourse, there are thousands of main verbs.
In the following table we see example sentences with helping verbs and main
verbs. Notice that all of these sentences have a main verb. Only some ofthem have a helping verb.
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helping verb main verb
John likes coffee.
You lied to me.
They are happy.
The children are playing.
We must go now.
I do not want any.
Helping verbs and main verbs can be further sub-divided, as we shall see on
the following pages.
Helping Verbs
Helping Verbs
Helping verbs are also called "auxiliary verbs".
Helping verbs have no meaning on their own. They are necessary for thegrammatical structure of a sentence, but they do not tell us very muchalone. We usually use helping verbs withmain verbs. They "help" the mainverb (which has the real meaning). There are only about 15 helping verbs in
English, and we divide them into two basic groups:
Primary helping verbs (3 verbs)
These are the verbs be, do, and have. Note that we can use these threeverbs as helping verbs or as main verbs. On this page we talk about them ashelping verbs. We use them in the following cases:
beo to make continuous tenses (He is watching TV.)o to make the passive (Small fish are eaten by big fish.)
have
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o to make perfect tenses (I have finished my homework.)
doo to make negatives (I do not like you.)o to ask questions (Do you want some coffee?)o to show emphasis (I do want you to pass your exam.)o to stand for a main verb in some constructions (He speaks faster
than she does.)
Modal helping verbs (10 verbs)
We use modal helping verbs to "modify" the meaning of the main verb insome way. A modal helping verb expresses necessity or possibility, and
changes the main verb in that sense. These are the modal verbs:
can, could may, might will, would, shall, should must ought to
Here are examples using modal verbs:
I can't speak Chinese. John may arrive late. Would you like a cup of coffee? You should see a doctor. I really must go now.
Main Verbs
Semi-modal verbs (3 verbs)
The following verbs are often called "semi-modals" because they are partly
like modal helping verbs and partly like main verbs:
need dare used to
Main Verbs
Main verbs are also called "lexical verbs".
Main verbs have meaning on their own (unlikehelping verbs). There arethousands of main verbs, and we can classify them in several ways:
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Transitive and intransitive verbs
A transitive verb takes a direct object: Somebody killed the President. Anintransitive verb does not have a direct object: He died. Many verbs,like speak, can be transitive or intransitive. Look at these examples:
transitive:
I saw an elephant. We are watching TV. He speaks English.
intransitive:
He has arrived. John goes to school. She speaks fast.
Linking verbs
A linking verb does not have much meaning in itself. It "links" the subject towhat is said about the subject. Usually, a linking verb shows equality (=) or achange to a different state or place (>). Linking verbs are always intransitive
(but not all intransitive verbs are linking verbs).
Mary is a teacher. (mary = teacher) Tara is beautiful. (tara = beautiful) That sounds interesting. (that = interesting) The sky became dark. (the sky > dark) The bread has gone bad. (bread > bad)
Dynamic and stative verbs
Some verbs describe action. They are called "dynamic", and can be used withcontinuous tenses. Other verbs describe state (non-action, a situation). Theyare called "stative", and cannot normally be used with continuous tenses
(though some of them can be used with continuous tenses with a change inmeaning).
dynamic verbs (examples):
hit, explode, fight, run, gostative verbs (examples):
be
like, love, prefer, wish impress, please, surprise
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hear, see, sound belong to, consist of, contain, include, need appear, resemble, seem
Regular and irregular verbs
This is more a question of vocabulary than of grammar. The only realdifference between regular and irregular verbs is that they have differentendings for their past tense and past participle forms. For regular verbs, thepast tense ending and past participle ending is always the same: -ed. Forirregular verbs, the past tense ending and the past participle ending isvariable, so it is necessary to learn them by heart.
regular verbs: base, past tense, past participle
look, looked, looked work, worked, worked
irregular verbs: base, past tense, past participle
buy, bought, bought cut, cut, cut do, did, done
Here are lists ofregular verbsandirregular verbs.
One way to think of regular and irregular verbs is like this: all verbs areirregular and the so-called regular verbs are simply one very large group of
irregular verbs.
Often the above divisions can be mixed. For example, one verb could beirregular, transitive and dynamic; another verb could be regular, transitiveand stative.
Now check your understanding
Nouns
It's not easy to describe a noun. In simple terms, nouns are "things" (and
verbs are "actions"). Likefood. Food (noun) is something you eat (verb).Or happiness. Happiness (noun) is something you want (verb). Or human
being. A human being (noun) is something you are (verb).
What are Nouns?
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What are Nouns?
The simple definition is: a person, place or thing. Here are someexamples:
person: man, woman, teacher, John, Mary place: home, office, town, countryside, America thing: table, car, banana, money, music, love, dog, monkey
The problem with this definition is that it does not explain why "love" is anoun but can also be a verb.
Another (more complicated) way of recognizing a noun is by its:
1. Ending2. Position3. Function
1. Noun Ending
There are certain word endings that show that a word is a noun, forexample:
-ity > nationality -ment > appointment -ness > happiness -ation > relation -hood > childhood
But this is not true for the word endings of all nouns. For example, the noun"spoonful" ends in -ful, but the adjective "careful" also ends in -ful.
2. Position in Sentence
We can often recognise a noun by its position in the sentence.
Nouns often come after a determiner (a determiner is a word like a, an, the,this, my, such):
a relief an afternoon the doctor this word my house such stupidity
Nouns often come after one or more adjectives:
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When a countable noun is singular, we must use a wordlike a/the/my/this with it:
I want an orange. (notI want orange.) Where is my bottle? (notWhere is bottle?)
When a countable noun is plural, we can use it alone:
I like oranges. Bottles can break.
We can use some and any with countable nouns:
I've got some dollars. Have you got any pens?
We can use a few and many with countable nouns:
I've got a few dollars. I haven't got many pens.
"People" is countable. "People" is the plural of "person". We can count
people:
There is one person here. There are three people here.
Uncountable Nouns
Uncountable nouns are substances, concepts etc that we cannot divide into
separate elements. We cannot "count" them. For example, we cannot count"milk". We can count "bottles of milk" or "litres of milk", but we cannot count
"milk" itself. Here are some more uncountable nouns:
music, art, love, happiness advice, information, news furniture, luggage rice, sugar, butter, water electricity, gas, power money, currency
We usually treat uncountable nouns as singular. We use a singular verb. Forexample:
This news is very important. Your luggage looks heavy.
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We do not usually use the indefinite article a/an with uncountable nouns.We cannot say "an information" or "a music". But we can say a somethingof:
a piece ofnews a bottle ofwater a grain ofrice
We can use some and any with uncountable nouns:
I've got some money. Have you got any rice?
We can use a little and much with uncountable nouns:
I've got a little money. I haven't got much rice.
Uncountable nouns are also called "mass nouns".
Here are some more examples of countable and uncountable nouns:
Countable Uncountable
dollar money
song music
suitcase luggage
table furniture
battery electricity
bottle wine
report information
tip advice
journey travel
job work
view scenery
When you learn a new word, it's a good idea to learn whether it's countableor uncountable.
Nouns that can be Countable and Uncountable
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Nouns that can be Countable and Uncountable
Sometimes, the same noun can be countable anduncountable, often with achange of meaning.
Countable Uncountable
There are two hairs in my coffee! hair I don't have much hair.
There are two lights in ourbedroom.
lightClose the curtain. There's toomuch light!
Shhhhh! I thought I heard anoise.There are so many differentnoises in the city.
noise
It's difficult to work when there istoo much noise.
Have you got a paper to read?(newspaper)Hand me those student papers.
paperI want to draw a picture. Have yougot some paper?
Our house has seven rooms. room Is there room for me to sit here?
We had a great time at theparty.How many times have I told youno?
time
Have you got time for a coffee?
Macbeth is one of Shakespeare'sgreatest works.
work I have no money. I need work!
Drinks (coffee, water, orange juice) are usually uncountable. But if we arethinking of a cup or a glass, we can say (in a restaurant, for example):
Two teas and one coffee please.
Proper Nouns (Names)Do we say "Atlantic Ocean" or "the Atlantic Ocean"? Should I write "february"or "February"?Shirley, Mr Jeckyll, Thailand, April, Sony
Proper Nouns (Names)
A proper noun is the special word (or name) that we use for a person, placeor organization, like John, Marie, London, France or Sony. A name is a noun,but a very special noun - a proper noun. Proper nouns have special rules.
common noun proper noun
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man, boy John
woman, girl Mary
country, town England, London
company Ford, Sony
shop, restaurant Maceys, McDonalds
month, day of the week January, Sunday
book, film War & Peace, Titanic
In this lesson we look at the uses of proper nouns, followed by a quiz tocheck your understanding:
Using Capital Letters with Proper Nouns Proper Nouns without THE Proper Nouns with THE Proper Nouns Quiz
Using Capital Letters with Proper Nouns
We always use a Capital Letter for the first letter of a proper noun (name).This includes names of people, places, companies, days of the week andmonths. For example:
They like John. (not*They like john.) I live in England. She works for Sony. The last day in January is a Monday. We saw Titanicin the Odeon Cinema.
Proper Nouns without THE
We do not use "the" with names of people. For example:
first names Bill (not*the Bill)
Hilary
surnames Clinton
Gates
full names Hilary Gates
We do not normally use "the" with names of companies. For example:
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Renault, Ford, Sony, EnglishClub.com General Motors, Air France, British Airways Warner Brothers, Brown & Son Ltd
If the full (registered) name of a company starts with "The", then we use
"The" if we use the full name, for example:
The Post Publishing Public Co., LtdWe do not normally use "the" for shops, banks, hotels etc named after afounder or other person (with -'s or -s). For example:
shops Harrods, Marks & Spencer, Maceys
banks Barclays Bank
hotels, restaurants Steve's Hotel, Joe's Cafe, McDonalds
churches, cathedrals St John's Church, St Peter's Cathedral
We do not normally use "the" with names of places. For example:
towns Washington (not *the Washington), Paris, Tokyo
states, regions Texas, Kent, Eastern Europe
countries England, Italy, Brazil
continents Asia, Europe, North America
islands Corsica
mountains Everest
Exception! If a country name includes "States","Kingdom", "Republic" etc,we use "the":
states the United States, the US, the United States of America, the USA
kingdom the United Kingdom, the UK
republic the French Republic
We do not use "the" with "President/Doctor/Mr etc + Name":
the president, the king President Bush (not*the President Bush)
the captain, thedetective
Captain Kirk, Detective Colombo
the doctor, the Doctor Well, Dr Well, Professor Dolittle
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professor
my uncle, your aunt Uncle Jack, Aunt Jill
Mr Gates (not*the Mr Gates), Mrs Clinton, Miss
Black
Look at these example sentences:
I wanted to speak to the doctor. I wanted to speak to Doctor Brown. Who was the president before President Kennedy?
We do not use "the" with "Lake/Mount + Name":
the lake Lake Victoria
the mount Mount Everest
Look at this example sentence:
We live beside Lake Victoria. We have a fantastic view across thelake.
We do not normally use "the" for roads, streets, squares, parks etc:
streets etc Oxford Street, Trenholme Road, Fifth Avenue
squares etc Trafalgar Square, Oundle Place, Piccadilly Circus
parks etc Central Park, Kew Gardens
Many big, important buildings have names made of two words (for example,Kennedy Airport). If the first word is the name of a person or place, we do
not normally use "the":
people Kennedy Airport, Alexander Palace, St Paul's Cathedral
places Heathrow Airport, Waterloo Station, Edinburgh Castle
Proper Nouns with THE
We normally use "the" for country names that include "States","Kingdom","Republic" etc:
States the United States of America/the USA
Kingdom the United Kingdom/the UK
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Republic the French Republic
We normally use "the" for names of canals, rivers, seas and oceans:
canals the Suez Canal
rivers the River Nile, the Nile
seas the Mediterranean Sea, the Mediterranean
oceans the Pacific Ocean, the Pacific
We normally use "the" for plural names of people and places:
people (families, for example) the Clintons
countries the Philippines, the United States
island groups the Virgin Islands, the British Isles
mountain ranges the Himalayas, the Alps
Look at these sentences:
I saw the Clintons today. It was Bill's birthday. Trinidad is the largest island in the West Indies. Mount Everest is in the Himalayas.
We normally use "the" with the following sorts of names:
hotels, restaurants the Ritz Hotel, the Peking Restaurant
banks the National Westminster Bank
cinemas, theatres the Royal Theatre, the ABC Cinema
museums the British Museum, the National Gallery
buildings the White House, the Crystal Palace
newspapers the Daily Telegraph, the Sunday Post
organisations the United Nations, the BBC, the European Union
We normally use "the" for names made with "of":
the Tower of London the Gulf of Siam the Tropic of Cancer the London School of Economics the Bank of France
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the Statue of Liberty
Possessive 's
Adding 's or ' to show possession.John's car, my parents' house
Possessive 's
When we want to show that something belongs to somebody or something,we usually add 's to a singular noun and an apostrophe ' to a plural noun, forexample:
the boy's ball (one boy) the boys' ball (two or more boys)
Notice that the number of balls does not matter. The structure is influencedby the possessor and not the possessed.
one ball more than one ball
one boythe boy's ball the boy's balls
more than one boythe boys' ball the boys' balls
The structure can be used for a whole phrase:
the man next door's mother (the mother ofthe man next door) the Queen of England's poodles (the poodles ofthe Queen of
England)
Although we can use ofto show possession, it is more usual to use
possessive 's. The following phrases have the same meaning, but #2 is more
usual and natural:
1. the boyfriend of my sister2. my sister's boyfriend
Proper Nouns (Names)
We very often use possessive 's with names:
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This is Mary's car. Where is Ram's telephone? Who took Anthony's pen? I like Tara's hair.
When a name ends in s, we usually treat it like any other singular noun, andadd 's:
This is Charles's chair.But it is possible (especially with older, classical names) to just add theapostrophe ':
Who was Jesus' father?Irregular Plurals
Some nouns have irregular plural forms without s (man > men). To showpossession, we usually add 'sto the plural form of these nouns:
singular noun plural noun
my child's dog my children's dog
the man's work the men's work
the mouse's cage the mice's cage
a person's clothes people's clothes
Noun as Adjective
Sometimes we use a noun to describe another noun. In that case, the firstnoun is "acting as" an adjective.love story, tooth-brush, bathroom
Noun as Adjective
As you know, a noun is a person, place or thing, and an adjective is a wordthat describes a noun:
adjective noun
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clever teacher
small office
black horse
Sometimes we use a noun to describe another noun. In that case, the firstnoun "acts as" an adjective.
noun
as adjective noun
history teacher
ticket office
race horse
The "noun as adjective" always comes first
If you remember this it will help you to understand what is being talked
about:
a race horse is a horse that runs in races a horse race is a race for horses a boat race is a race for boats a love story is a story about love a war story is a story about war a tennis ball is a ball for playing tennis tennis shoes are shoes for playing tennis a computer exhibition is an exhibition of computers a bicycle shop is a shop that sells bicycles
The "noun as adjective" is singular
Just like a real adjective, the "noun as adjective" is invariable. It is usually in
the singular form.
Right Wrong
boat race boat races NOT boats race, boats races
toothbrush toothbrushes NOT teethbrush, teethbrushes
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shoe-lace shoe-laces NOT shoes-lace, shoes-laces
cigarette packet cigarette packets NOT cigarettes packet, cigarettes packets
In other words, if there is a plural it is on the real noun only.
A few nouns look plural but we usually treat them as singular (for examplenews, billiards, athletics). When we use these nouns "as adjectives" they areunchanged:
a news reporter, three news reporters one billiards table, four billiards tables an athletics trainer, fifty athletics trainers
Exceptions:When we use certain nouns "as adjectives" (clothes, sports, customs,accounts, arms), we use them in the plural form:
clothes shop, clothes shops sports club, sports clubs customs duty, customs duties accounts department, accounts departments arms production
How do we write the "noun as adjective"?
We write the "noun as adjective" and the real noun in several different ways:
two separate words (car door) two hyphenated words (book-case) one word (bathroom)
There are no easy rules for this. We even write some combinations in two orall three different ways: (head master, head-master, headmaster)
How do we say the "noun as adjective"?
For pronunciation, we usually stress the first word:
shoe shop boat-race bathroom
Can we have more than one "noun as adjective"?
Yes. Just like adjectives, we often use more than one "noun as adjective"together. Look at these examples:
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car production costs: we are talking about the costs of producing cars
noun as
adjective
noun as
adjective
noun
costs
productioncosts
carproductioncosts
England football team coach: we are talking about the coach who trainsthe team that plays football for England
noun as
adjective
noun as
adjective
noun as
adjective
noun
coach
teamcoach
football teamcoach
England football teamcoach
Note: in England football team coach can you see a "hidden" "noun asadjective"? Look at the word "football" (foot-ball). These two nouns(foot+ball) have developed into a single noun (football). This is one way thatwords evolve. Many word combinations that use a "noun as adjective" areregarded as nouns in their own right, with their own dictionary definition. Butnot all dictionaries agree with each other. For example, some dictionaries list
"tennis ball" as a noun and other dictionaries do not.
government road accident research centre: we are talking about acentre that researches into accidents on the road for the government
noun as
adjective
noun as
adjective
noun as
adjective
noun as
adjective
noun
centre
researchcentre
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accidentresearchcentre
roadaccidentresearchcentre
government roadaccidentresearchcentre
Newpapers often use many nouns together in headlines to save space. Lookat this example:
BIRD HEALTH RESEARCH CENTRE MURDER MYSTERY
To understand headlines like these, try reading them backwards. The aboveheadline is about a MYSTERY concerning a MURDER in a CENTRE forRESEARCH into the HEALTH of BIRDS.
Note, too, that we can still use a real adjective to qualify a "noun asadjective" structure:
emptycoffee jar honestcar salesman delicious dog food rising car production costs famous England football team coach
Compound Nouns
A compound noun is a noun that is made with two or more words.tennis shoe, six-pack, bedroom
Compound Nouns
A compound noun is a noun that is made with two or more words. Acompound noun is usually [noun + noun] or [adjective + noun], but thereare other combinations (see below). It is important to understand and
recognize compound nouns. Each compound noun acts as a single unit andcan be modified by adjectives and other nouns.
There are three forms for compound nouns:
1. open or spaced - space between words (tennis shoe)2. hyphenated - hyphen between words (six-pack)3. closed or solid - no space or hyphen between words (bedroom)
Here are some examples of compound nouns:
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nouns are always stressed). In the compound noun "golf ball", the first wordis stressed more (even though both words are nouns, and nouns are alwaysstressed). Since "golf ball" is a compound noun we consider it as a singlenoun and so it has a single main stress - on the first word. Stress isimportant in compound nouns. For example, it helps us know if somebody
said "a GREEN HOUSE" (a house which is painted green) or "a GREENhouse"(a building made of glass for growing plants inside).
British/American differencesDifferent varieties of English, and even different writers, may use the open,
hyphenated or closed form for the same compound noun. It is partly amatter of style. There are no definite rules. For example we can find:
container ship container-ship containership
If you are not sure which form to use, please check in a good dictionary.
Plural forms of compound nounsIn general we make the plural of a compound noun by adding -s to the "baseword" (the most "significant" word). Look at these examples:
singular plural
a school teacher three school teachers
one assistant headmaster five assistant headmasters
the sergeant major some sergeants major
a mother-in-law two mothers-in-law
an assistant secretary of state three assistant secretaries of state
my toothbrush our toothbrushes
a woman-doctor four women-doctors
a doctor of philosophy two doctors of philosophy
a passerby, a passer-by two passersby, two passers-by
Note that there is some variation with words like spoonful or truckful. The old
style was to say spoonsful or trucksful for the plural. Today it is more usualto say spoonfuls or truckfuls. Both the old style (spoonsful) and the new style
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(spoonfuls) are normally acceptable, but you should be consistent in yourchoice. Here are some examples:
old style plural
(very formal)
new style plural
teaspoonful 3 teaspoonsful of sugar 3 teasponfuls of sugar
truckful 5 trucksful of sand 5 truckfuls of sand
bucketful 2 bucketsful of water 2 bucketfuls of water
cupful 4 cupsful of rice 4 cupfuls of rice
Some compound nouns have no obvious base word and you may need to
consult a dictionary to find the plural:
higher-ups also-rans go-betweens has-beens good-for-nothings grown-ups
Note that with compound nouns made of [noun + noun] the first noun is likean adjective and therefore does not usually take an -s. A tree that has appleshas many apples, but we say an apple tree, notapples
tree; matchbox not matchesbox; toothbrush not teethbrush.
With compound nouns made of [noun + noun] the second noun takes an -sfor plural. The first noun acts like an adjective and as you know, adjectives inEnglish are invariable. Look at these examples:
long plural form becomes plural compound noun
[noun + noun]
100 trees with apples 100 apple trees
1,000 cables for telephones 1,000 telephone cables
20 boxes for tools 20 tool boxes
10 stops for buses 10 bus stops
4,000 wheels for cars 4,000 car wheels
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