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Module 01Grammar & Vocabulary

Nouns, Verbs, Adverbs, Tenses, Idioms, Punctuations

Definition

A nounis the name of a person, place, thing, or idea. Whatever exists, we assume, can be named, and that

name is a noun. A proper noun, which names a specific person, place, or thing (Carlos, Queen Marguerite, Middle

East, Jerusalem, Malaysia, Presbyterianism, God, Spanish, Buddhism, the Republican Party), is almost always

capitalized. A proper noun used as an addressed person's name is called a noun of address.Common nounsname

everything else, things that usually are not capitalized.

A group of related words can act as a single noun-like entity within a sentence. ANoun Clausecontains a

subject and verb and can do anything that a noun can do:

What he does for this town is a blessing.

ANoun Phrase,frequently a noun accompanied by modifiers, is a group of related words acting as a noun: the oil

depletion allowance; the abnormal, hideously enlarged nose.

There is a separate section on word combinations that becomeCompound Nounssuch as daughter-in-law,

half-moon, and stick-in-the-mud.

Categories of Nouns

Nouns can be classified further as count nouns, which name anything that can be counted (four books, two

continents, a few dishes, a dozen buildings); mass nouns(or non-count nouns), which name something that can't Be

counted (water, air, energy, blood); and collective nouns, which can take a singular form but are composed of more

than one individual person or items (jury, team, class, committee, herd). We should note that some words can be

either a count noun or a non-count noun depending on how they're being used in a sentence:

a. He got into trouble. (non-count)

b. He had many troubles. (countable)

c. Experience (non-count) is the best teacher.

d. We had many exciting experiences (countable) in college.

Whether these words are count or non-count will determine whether they can be used with articles anddeterminersor not. (We would not write "He got into thetroubles," but we could write about "The troubles of

Ireland."

Some texts will include the category of abstract nouns, by which we mean the kind of word that is not

tangible, such as warmth, justice, grief,andpeace. Abstract nouns are sometimes troublesome for non-native writers

because they can appear with determiners or without: "Peace settled over the countryside." "The skirmish
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disruptedthe peace that had settled over the countryside." See the section onPluralsfor additional help

with collective nouns, words that can be singular or plural, depending on context.

Forms of Nouns

Nouns can be in the subjective, possessive, and objective case. The word casedefines the role of the noun in

the sentence. Is it a subject, an object, or does it show possession?

The English professor [subject] is tall.

He chose the English professor [object].

The English professor's [possessive] car is green.

Nouns in the subject and object role are identical in form; nouns that show the possessive, however, take a different

form. Usually an apostrophe is added followed by the letter s(except for plurals, which take the plural "-s" ending

first, and then add the apostrophe). See the section onPossessivesfor help with possessive forms. There is also

atable outlining the cases of nouns and pronouns.

Almost all nouns change form when they become plural, usually with the simple addition of an -sor -es.

Unfortunately, it's not always that easy, and a separate section onPluralsoffers advice on the formation of plural

noun forms.

Assaying for Nouns*

Back in the gold rush days, every little town in the American Old West had an assayer's office, a place where

wild-eyed prospectors could take their bags of ore for official testing, to make sure the shiny stuff they'd found was

the real thing, not "fool's gold." We offer here some assay tests for nouns. There are two kinds of tests: formal and

functionalwhat a word looks like (the endings it takes) and how a word behaves in a sentence.

Formal Tests

1. Does the word contain a noun-making morpheme? organization, misconception,

weirdness, statehood, government, democracy, philistinism, realtor, tenacity,

violinist

2. Can the word take a plural-making morpheme? pencils, boxes

3. Can the word take a possessive-making morpheme? today's, boys'

Function Tests

4. Without modifiers, can the word directly follow an article and create a grammatical

unit (subject, object, etc.)? the state, an apple, a crate

5. Can it fill the slot in the following sentence: "(The) _________ seem(s) all right." (or

substitute other predicates such as unacceptable, short, dark, depending on the word's

meaning)?

Testing the Tests:
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With most nouns, the test is clear. "State," for example, can be a plural ("states"), become a possessive

("state's"), follow an article ("a/the state"), and fit in the slot ("the state seems all right"). It doesn't have a noun-

making morpheme, but it passes all the other tests; it can pass as a noun. (The fact that "state" can also be a verb

"We state our case"is not relevant.) "Greyness" cannot take plural ending nor can it be possessive, but it does

contain a noun-making morphene and it can follow an article and fit in the slot sentence. Can the word "grey,"

which is obviously also an adjective, be a noun? It's hard to imagine it passing any of the formal tests, but it can

follow an article and fill the slot: "The grey seems acceptable." And what about "running," which is often part of a

verb (He is running for office)? Again, it won't pass the formal tests, but it will fit the slot sentence: "Running is all

right." (It can also follow an article, but in rather an odd way: "The running is about to begin.") "Grey" and

"running" are nouns, but just barely: one is an adjective acting like a noun, and the other is a verb acting like a noun

(agerund).

Additional Help With Nouns

A simple exercise inNaming Nounswill help answer any questions you might have about count and non-

count nouns and help you distinguish between plural and singular forms.

The categories of count and non-count nouns can be confusing, however, and we suggest further review,

especially for writers for whom English is a second language. The second section we offer is called Count and

Non-Count,a basic review of those concepts and their uses in sentences, with many examples. Third, we

offerWORKING WITH NOUNS,a more extensive (and somewhat more advanced) review of the count and non-

count distinction, along with exercises. Finally, just when you thought you couldn't stand such riches, we suggest

you review the uses ofArticles, Determiners, and Quantifierswith count and non-count nouns.

Plural of Nouns

The plural form of most nouns is created simply by adding the letter s.

more than one snake = snakes

more than one ski = skis

more than one Barrymore = Barrymores

Words that end in -ch,x,sors-likesounds, however, will require an -esfor the plural:

more than one witch = witches

more than one box = boxes

more than one gas = gases

more than one bus = buses

more than one kiss = kisses

more than one Jones = Joneses
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Note that some dictionaries list "busses" as an acceptable plural for "bus." Presumably, this is because the plural

"buses" looks like it ought to rhyme with the plural of "fuse," which is "fuses." "Buses" is still listed as the

preferable plural form. "Busses" is the plural, of course, for "buss," a seldom used word for "kiss."

There are several nouns that have irregular plural forms. Plurals formed in this way are sometimes

called mutated (or mutating) plurals.

more than one child = children

more than one woman = women

more than one man = men

more than one person = people

more than one goose = geese

more than one mouse = mice

more than one barracks = barracks

more than one deer = deer

And, finally, there are nouns that maintain their Latin or Greek form in the plural. (See media and data and

alumni, below.)

more than one nucleus = nuclei

more than one syllabus = syllabi

more than one focus = foci

more than one fungus = fungi

more than one cactus = cacti (cactusesis acceptable)

more than one thesis = theses

more than one crisis = crises*

more than one phenomenon = phenomena

more than one index = indices (indexesis acceptable)

more than one appendix = appendices (appendixesis acceptable)

more than one criterion = criteria

*Note the pronunciation of this word, crises: the second syllable sounds like ease.More than one base in the game

of baseball is bases,but more than one basisfor an argument, say, is also bases,and then we pronounce the word

basease.

A handful of nouns appear to be plural in form but take a singular verb:

The news is bad.

Gymnastics is fun to watch.

Economics/mathematics/statistics is said to be difficult. ("Economics" can sometimes be a plural

concept, as in "The economics of the situation demand that . . . .")

Numerical expressions are usually singular, but can be plural if the individuals within a numerical group are

acting individually:

Fifty thousand dollars is a lot of money.


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One-half of the faculty is retiring this summer.

One-half of the faculty have doctorates.

Fifty percent of the students have voted already.

And another handful of nouns might seem to be singular in nature but take a plural form and always use a

plural verb:

My pants are torn. (Nowadays you will sometimes see this word as a singular "pant" [meaning one

pair ofpants]especially in clothing ads, but most writers would regard that as an affectation.)

Her scissors were stolen.

The glasses have slipped down his nose again.

When a noun names the title of something or is a word being used as a word, it is singular whether the word

takes a singular form or not.

Facesis the name of the new restaurant downtown.

Okies,which most people regard as a disparaging word, was first used to describe the residents of

Oklahoma during the 1930s.

Chelmsley Brothers is the best moving company in town.

Postcardsis my favorite novel.

The term Okieswas used to describe the residents of Oklahoma during the 1930s. (In this sentence,

the word Okiesis actually an appositive for the singular subject, "term.")

Plural Compound Nouns

Compound words create special problems when we need to pluralize them. As a general rule, the element

within the compound that word that is pluralized will receive the plural -s, but it's not always thatsimple.Daughters-in-lawfollows the general rule, but cupfulsdoes not. See the special section onCompound

Nouns and Modifiersor, better yet, a good dictionary, for additional help.

Problem Children

Many careful writers insist that the words dataand mediaare Latin plurals and must, therefore, be used as

plural words. The singular Latin forms of these words, however, are seldom used: datumas a single bit of

information or mediumas a single means of communication. Many authorities nowadays approve sentences like My

data is lost. and The media is out to get the President. Even textbooks in computer science are beginning to use

"data" as a singular.

Alumniand alumnaeremain problematic. The plural of masculine singular alumnusis alumni; the plural of

feminine singular alumnais alumnae.In traditional Latin, the masculine plural form, alumni,could include both

genders. This does not go over well with some female alums. We note, furthermore, that Vassar College, which now

has both, has lists of alumni and alumnae. Hartford College for Women, we assume, has only alumnae. In its
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publication style manual, Wesleyan University approves of alumni/ae. The genderlessgraduateand the truncated

and informal alumhave much to commend them.

Special Cases

With words that end in a consonant and ay,you'll need to change theyto an iand add es.

more than one baby = babies

more than one gallery = galleries

(Notice the difference between this andgalleys,where the final y is not preceded by a consonant.)

more than one reality = realities

This rule does not apply to proper nouns:

more than one Kennedy = Kennedys

Words that end in ocreate special problems.

more than one potato = potatoes

more than one hero = heroes

. . . however. . .

more than one memo = memos

more than one cello = cellos

. . . and for words where another vowel comes before the o . . .

more than one stereo = stereos

Plurals of words that end in -for -feusually change thefsound to a vsound and addsor -es.

more than one knife = knives more than one leaf = leaves

more than one hoof = hooves

more than one life = lives

more than one self = selves

more than one elf = elves

There are, however, exceptions:

more than one dwarf = dwarfs

more than one roof = roofs

When in doubt, as always, consult a dictionary. Some dictionaries, for instance, will list

both wharfsand wharvesas acceptable plural forms of wharf.It makes for good arguments when you're playing

Scrabble. The online version ofMerriam-Webster's WWWebster Dictionaryshould help.

Collective Nouns, Company Names,

Family Names, Sports Teams
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There are, further, so called collective nouns, which are singular when we think of them as groups and plural

when we think of the individuals acting within the whole (which happens sometimes, but not often).

audience

band

classcommittee

crowd

dozen

family

flock

groupheap

herd

jury

kind

lot

[the] numberpublic

staff

team

Thus, if we're talking about eggs, we could say "A dozen is probably not enough." But if we're talking

partying with our friends, we could say, "A dozen are coming over this afternoon." The jury delivers its verdict.

[But] The jury came in and took their seats. We could say the Tokyo String Quartet is one of the best string

ensembles in the world, but we could say the Beatles were some of the most famous singers in history. Generally,

band names and musical groups take singular or plural verbs depending on the form of their names: "The Mamas

and the Papas were one of the best groups of the 70s" and "Metallica is my favorite band."

Note that "the number" is a singular collective noun. "The number of applicants issteadily increasing."

"A number," on the other hand, is a plural form: "There are several students in the lobby. A numberarehere to see

the president."

Collective nouns arecount nounswhich means they, themselves, can be pluralized: a university has several

athletic teams and classes. And the immigrant families kept watch over their herds and flocks.

The word following the phrase one of the(as an object of the preposition of) will always be plural.

One of the reasons we do this is that it rains a lot in spring.

One of the students in this room is responsible.

Notice, though, that the verb ("is") agrees with one,which is singular, and not with the object of the preposition,

which is always plural.

When afamily name(a proper noun) is pluralized, we almost always simply add an "s." So we go to visit the

Smiths, the Kennedys, the Grays, etc.When a family name ends in s, x, ch, sh,orz,however, we form the plural by

added -es,as in the Marches, the Joneses, the Maddoxes, the Bushes, the Rodriguezes. Do notform a family name

plural by using an apostrophe; that device is reserved for creating possessive forms.

When a proper noun ends in an "s" with a hard "z" sound, we don't add any ending to form the plural: "The

Chambers are coming to dinner" (not the Chamberses); "The Hodges used to live here" (not the Hodgeses). There

are exceptions even to this: we say "The Joneses are coming over," and we'd probably write "The Stevenses are

coming, too." A modest proposal: women whose last names end in "s" (pronounced "z") should marry and take the

names of men whose last names do not end with that sound, and eventually this problem will disappear.
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The names of companies and other organizationsare usually regarded as singular, regardless of their

ending: "General Motors has announced its fall lineup of new vehicles." Try to avoid the inconsistency that is almost

inevitable when you think of corporate entities as a group of individuals: "General Motors has announced their fall

lineup of new vehicles." But note that some inconsistency is acceptable in all but the most formal writing: "Ford has

announced its breakup with Firestone Tires. Their cars will no longer use tires built by Firestone." Some writers will

use a plural verb when a plural construction such as "Associates" is part of the company's title or when the title

consists of a series of names: "Upton, Vernon, and Gridley are moving to new law offices next week" or "Shadrach,

Meshach, Abednego & Associates have won all their cases this year." Singular verbs and pronouns would be correct

in those sentences, also.

The names of sports teams, on the other hand, are treated as plurals, regardless of the form of that name. We

would write that "The Yankees have signed a new third baseman" and "The Yankees area great organization" (even

if we're Red Sox fans) and that "For two years in a row, the Utah Jazz have attempted to draft a big man." When we

refer to a team by the city in which it resides, however, we use the singular, as in "Dallas has attempted to secure the

services of two assistant coaches that Green Bay hopes to keep." (This is decidedly not a British practice. In the UK,

the city or country names by which British newspapers refer to soccer teams, for example, are used as plurals a

practice that seems odd and inconsistent to American ears: "A minute's silence will precede the game at Le Stadium

today, when Toulouse play Munster, and tomorrow at Lansdowne Road, when Leinster attempt to reach their first

European final by beating Perpignan" [report in the online London Times].)

In a rare dictum-making mood, William Safire (inNo Uncertain Terms,2003) declares that pluralized names like

Packers and Yankees should take plural verbs (obviously), but that team names like the Jazz, the Heat, the

Lightning, the Connecticut Sun should take singular verbs. This dictum seems to prevail in Safire's ownNew York

Times:"The [Miami] Heat, typical of its resilience at home, was far from through. " But just about everywhere else

in the world of sports reporting, this is not the case. Even in the Times, an AP report asserts that "The Heat, down 2-

0 in the East Conference semifinal series, have won 16 straight home games." The Boston Globesays that "the [New

England] Revolution are reestablishing their reputation for resourcefulness and spirited play." and "the Heat were init in the first half." TheHartford Courantwrites that "When the Connecticut Sun play an exhibition game tonight in

Houston, coach Mike Thibault will have two more players." Finally, NBA Media Ventures writes that "The Utah

Jazz were expected to follow the rebuilding mode ." [All quotations are from May 10th and 20th, 2004, online

sources.)

Plurals and Apostrophes

We use an apostrophe to create plural formsin two limited situations: for pluralized letters of the alphabet

and when we are trying to create the plural form of a word that refers to the word itself. Here we also should italicize

this "word as word," but not the 's ending that belongs to it. Do notuse the apostrophe+s to create the plural of

acronyms (pronounceable abbreviations such as laser and IRA and URL*) and other abbreviations. (A possibleexception to this last rule is an acronym that ends in "S": "We filed four NOS's in that folder.")

Jeffrey got four A's on his last report card.

Towanda learned very quickly to mind herp's and q's.

You have fifteen and's in that last paragraph.


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Notice that we do not use an apostrophe -sto create the plural of a word-in-itself. For instance, we would refer to the

"ins and outs" of a mystery, the "yeses and nos" of a vote (NYPL Writer's Guide to Style and Usage), and we

assume that Theodore Bernstein knew what he was talking about in his bookDos, Don'ts & Maybes of English

Usage. We would also write "The shortstop made two spectacular outs in that inning." But when we refer to a word-

as-a-word, we first italicize itI pointed out the use of the word outin that sentence.and if necessary, we

pluralize it by adding the unitalicized apostrophe -s"In his essay on prepositions, Jose used an astonishing three

dozen out's." This practice is not universally followed, and in newspapers, you would find our example sentence

written without italics or apostrophe: "You have fifteen ands in that last paragraph."

Some abbreviations have embedded plural forms, and there are often inconsistencies in creating the plurals of

these words. The speed of an internal combustion engine is measured in "revolutions per minute" or rpm(lower

case) and the efficiency of an automobile is reported in "miles per gallon" or mpg(no "-s" endings). On the other

hand, baseball players love to accumulate "runs batted in," a statistic that is usually reported as RBIs(although it

would not be terribly unusual to hear that someone got 100 RBIlast yearand some baseball commentators will

talk about "ribbies," too). Also, the U.S. military provides "meals ready to eat" and those rations are usually

described as MREs(not MRE). When an abbreviation can be used to refer to a singular thing a run batted in, a

meal ready-to-eat, a prisoner of warit's surely a good idea to form the plural by adding "s" to the abbreviation:

RBIs, MREs, POWs. (Notice that no apostrophe is involved in the formation of these plurals. Whether abbreviations

like these are formed with upper- or lower-case letters is a matter of great mystery; only your dictionary editor

knows for sure.)

Notice, furthermore, that we do notuse an apostrophe to create plurals in the following:

The 1890sin Europe are widely regarded as years of social decadence.

I have prepared 1099sfor the entire staff.

Rosa and her brother have identical IQs, and they both have PhDsfrom Harvard.

She has over 400 URLs* in her bookmark file.

Authority for this last paragraph:Keys for Writers: A Brief Handbookby Ann Raimes. Houghton Mifflin: New

York. 1996.

Singular Subjects, Plural Predicates, etc.

We frequently run into a situation in which a singular subject is linked to a plural predicate:

My favorite breakfast is cereal with fruit, milk, orange juice, and toast.

Sometimes, too, a plural subject can be linked to singular predicate:

Mistakes in parallelism are the only problem here.

In such situations, remember that the number (singular or plural) of the subject, not the predicate, determines the

number of the verb. See the section onSubject-Verb Agreementfor further help.
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A special situation exists when a subject seems not to agree with its predicate. For instance, when we want

each student to see his or her counselor (and each student is assigned to only one counselor), but we want to avoid

that "his or her" construction by pluralizing, do we say "Students must see their counselors" or "Students must see

their counselor"? The singular counseloris necesssary to avoid the implication that students have more than one

counselor apiece. Do we say "Many sons dislike theirfatherorfathers"? We don't mean to suggest that the sons

have more than one father, so we use the singularfather.Theodore Bernstein, inDos, Don'ts and Maybes of English

Usage, says that "Idiomatically the noun applying to more than one person remains in the singular when (a) it

represents a quality or thing possessed in common ("The audience's curiosity was aroused"); or (b) it is an

abstraction ("The judges applied their reason to the problem"), or (c) it is a figurative word ("All ten children had a

sweet tooth") (203). Sometimes good sense will have to guide you. We might want to say "Puzzled, the children

scratched their head" to avoid the image of multi-headed children, but "The audience rose to their foot" is plainly

ridiculous and about to tip over.

In "The boys moved their car/cars," the plural would indicate that each boy owned a car, the singular that the

boys (together) owned one car (which is quite possible). It is also possible that each boy owned more than one car.

Be prepared for such situations, and consider carefully the implications of using either the singular or the plural.

You might have to avoid the problem by going the opposite direction of pluralizing: moving things to the singular

and talking about what each boy did.

COMPOUNDS

Definition

In English, words, particularly adjectives and nouns, are combined into compound structures in a variety of

ways. And once they are formed, they sometimes metamorphose over time. A common pattern is that two words

fire fly, saywill be joined by a hyphen for a time fire-flyand then be joined into one wordfirefly. In

this respect, a language like German, in which words are happily and immediately linked one to the other, might

seem to have an advantage. There is only one sure way to knowhow to spell compounds in English: use an

authoritative dictionary.

There are three forms of compound words:

the closed form, in which the words are melded together, such as firefly, secondhand, softball, childlike,

crosstown, redhead, keyboard, makeup, notebook;

the hyphenated form, such as daughter-in-law, master-at-arms, over-the-counter, six-pack, six-year-old,

mass-produced;

and theopen form, such as post office, real estate, middle class, full moon, half sister, attorney general.

How a word modified by an adjective"a littleschool," "theyellowbutter"is different from a compound word

" a high school," "the peanut butter"is a nice and philosophical question. It clearly has something to do with

the degree to which the preceding word changes the essential character of the noun, the degree to which the modifier

and the noun are inseparable. If you werediagramming a sentencewith a compound word, you would probably

keep the words together, on the same horizontal line.
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Modifying compounds are often hyphenated to avoid confusion. The New York Public Library's Writer's

Guidepoints out that an old-furniture salesman clearly deals in old furniture, but an old furniture salesman would be

an old man. We probably would not have the same ambiguity, however, about a used car dealer. When compounded

modifiers precede a noun, they are often hyphenated: part-time teacher, fifty-yard-wide field, fire-resistant curtains,

high-speed chase. When those same modifying words come after the noun, however, they are not hyphenated: a

field fifty yards wide, curtains that are fire resistant, etc. The second-rate opera company gave a performance that

was first rate.

Comparative and superlative forms of adjectives are hyphenated when compounded with other modifiers: the

highest-priced car, the shorter-term loan. But this is not always the case: the most talented youngster. Adverbs,

words ending in -ly,are not hyphenated when compounded with other modifiers: a highly rated bank, a partially

refunded ticket, publicly held securities.

Sometimes hyphenated modifiers lose their hyphens when they become compound nouns: A clear decision-

making process was evident in their decision making. The bluish grey was slowly disappearing from the bluish-grey

sky. This is not always so, however: your high-rise apartment building is also known as a high-rise.

When modifying a person with his or her age, the compounded phrase is hyphenated: my six-year-old son.

However, when the age comes after the person, we don't use a hyphen. My son is six years old. He is, however, a

six-year-old.

Plurals and Possessives

Most dictionaries will give variant spellings of compound plurals. When you have more than one truck filled

with sand, do you have several truckfuls or trucksful? The dictionary will give you both, with the first spelling

usually preferred. (And the same is true of teaspoonfuls, cupfuls, etc.) The dictionary will help you discover that

only one spelling is acceptable for some compoundslikepassersby.

For hyphenated forms, the pluralizing -sis usually attached to the element that is actually being pluralized:

daughters-in-law, half-moons, mayors-elect. The Chicago Manual of Stylesays that "hyphenated and open

compounds are regularly made plural by the addition of the plural inflection to the element that is subject to the

change in number" and gives as examples "fathers-in-law," "sergeants-in-arms," "doctors of philosophy," "and

courts-martial" (196). The NYPL Writer's Guideputs it this way: "the most significant word generally the noun

takes the plural form. The significant word may be at the beginning, middle, or end of the term" (396). And then

we get examples such as "attorneys at law," "bills of fare," chiefs of staff," notaries public," assistant attorneys

general," "higher-ups," "also-rans," and "go-betweens."

Note: some dictionaries will list "attorney generals" along with "attorneys general" as acceptable plurals of

that office. Whether that's a matter of caving in to popular usage or an inability to determine the "significant word"

is unknown.


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As a general rule, then, the plural form of an element in a hierarchical term belongs to the base element in the

term, regardless of the base element's placement:

first sergeants

sergeants major

sergeants first class colonel generals [Russian]

lieutenant generals

lieutenant colonels

apprentice, journeyman, and master mechanics

deputy librarians

deputy assistant secretaries of state

The possessive of a hyphenated compound is created by attaching an apostrophe -s to the end of the compound

itself: my daughter-in-law's car, a friend of mine's car. To create the possessive of pluralized andcompounded

forms, a writer is wise to avoid the apostrophe -sform and use an "of" phrase (the "post genitive") instead: the

meeting of the daughters-in-law, the schedule of half-moons. Otherwise, the possessive form becomes downright

weird: the daughters-in-law's meeting, friends of mine's cars.

One of the most difficult decisions to make about possessives and plurals of compound words occurs when

you can't decide whether the first noun in a compound structure is acting as a noun that ought to be showing

possession or as what is called an attributive noun, essentially an adjective. In other words, do we write that I am

going to a writers conference or to a writers' conference? The Chicago Style Manualsuggests that if singular nouns

can act as attributive nounscitygovernment, taxreliefthen plural nouns should be able to act as attributive

nouns: consumers group, teachers union. This principle is not universally endorsed, however, and writers must

remember to be consistent within a document.

This section does not speak to the matter of compounded nouns such as "Professor Villa's and Professor

Darling's classes have been filled." See the section onPossessivesfor additional help.

Compounds with Prefixes

With a handful of exceptions, compounds created by the addition of a prefix are not hyphenated:

anteroom, antisocial, binomial, biochemistry, coordinate, counterclockwise, extraordinary, infrastructure,

interrelated, intramural, macroeconomics, metaphysical, microeconomics, midtown, minibike, multicultural,

neoromantic, nonviolent, overanxious, postwar, preconference, pseudointellectual, reunify, semiconductor,socioeconomic, subpar, supertanker, transatlantic, unnatural, underdeveloped

Exceptions include

compounds in which the second element is capitalized or a number:

anti-Semitic, pre-1998, post-Freudian

compounds which need hyphens to avoid confusion

un-ionized (as distinguished from unionized), co-op

compounds in which a vowel would be repeated (especially to avoid confusion)

co-op, semi-independent, anti-intellectual (but reestablish, reedit)

compounds consisting of more than one word
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non-English-speaking, pre-Civil War

compounds that would be difficult to read without a hyphen

pro-life, pro-choice, co-edited

Also, when we combine compound nouns, we would use a hyphen with the first, but not the last: when under- and

overdeveloped nations get together. . . .

Spelling

The following table presents a mini-dictionary of compound modifiers and nouns. Perhaps the best use of a

very partial inventory like this is to suggest the kinds of words that a writer would be wise either to memorize or to

be at least wary of. It is sometimes enough to know when we should get the dictionary off the shelf.

2-year education

one-week vacation

A-frame

African AmericanAir Force

all-city tournament

attorney general

blood pressure

blue-green dress

bull's-eye

database

daughter-in-law

English-speaking person

ex-wife

first-rate accommodations

football

grandmothergrant-in-aid

great-aunt

half sister

high-level officials

I-beam

Italian-AmericanItalian-American club

jack-in-the-box

lifelike

light year

mayor-elect

salesperson

secretary-treasurer

stockbroker

T-square

threefold

up-to-the-minute

V-formation

vice presidentwell-made clothes

worldwide inflation

X-ray

Notice that African American contains no hyphen, but Italian-American does. There are no hard and fast rules

about this, and social conventions change. (There is no hyphen in French Canadian.) Some groups have insisted that

they do not want to be known as "hyphenated Americans" and resist, therefore, the use of a hyphen, preferring that

the word "American" be used as an adjective. Some resources even suggest that a term like Italian-American should

be used only when the individual thus referred to has parents of two different nationalities. That's probably a stretch,

but a writer must be aware that sensibilities can be aroused when using nationalities of any description. Consistency

within a document is also important.

Suspended Compounds*


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With a series of nearly identical compounds, we sometimes delay the final term of the final term until the last

instance, allowing the hyphen to act as a kind of place holder, as in

The third- and fourth-grade teachers met with the parents.

Both full- and part-time employees will get raises this year.

We don't see many 3-, 4-, and 5-year-old children around here.

Be careful not to overuse this feature of the hyphen; readers have to wait until that final instance to know what

you're talking about, and that can be annoying.

FOR ADDITIONAL HELP

The Chicago Manual of Stylecontains an extensive section devoted to compounded modifiers and nouns. That

book's table of compounds categorizes compounds into various types, and helps us discover principles of spelling

(and some really strange exceptions). Styles of compounding words change over the years, however, and writers

might even find different versions in different dictionaries. The Chicago Manualis especially helpful because it tries

to define the principles by which such decisions are made.

CASES OF NOUNS

AND PRONOUNS

Select f rom the follow ing

Definition

Nouns and pronouns in English are said to display caseaccording to their function in the sentence. They can

be subjectiveor nominative(which means they act as the subject of independent or dependent

clauses), possessive(which means they show possession of something else), or objective(which means they

function as the recipient of action or are the object of a preposition).

Except for thepossessive forms(usually formed by the addition of an apostrophe and the letter s), nouns do

not change form in English. (This is one of the few ways in which English is easier than other languages.) Pronouns,

however, do change form when they change case; these changes are most clearly illustrated among the personal

pronouns. The chart below illustrates the different forms among the cases.
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Subjective Possessive Objective

Nouns

Singular

frog frog's frog

Mary Mary's Mary

Plural

frogs frogs' frogs

witches witches' witches

Personal Pronouns

Singular

1st person I my, mine me

2nd person you your, yours you

3rd person he

she

it

his

her, hers

its

him

her

it

Plural

1st person we our, ours us

2nd person you your, yours you

3rd person they their, theirs them

Relative and interrogative pronouns


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who whose whom

whoever whomever

which/that/what which/that/what

Indefinite pronouns

everybody everybody's everybody

Jayden and I versus Jayden and Me

For some writers and speakers, the case of a pronoun becomes especially troublesome when that pronoun is

compounded with something or someone else. When the pronoun is being used as a subject, there is usually no

problem:

Jayden and I are playing tennis this afternoon.

Jayden and she are playing tennis this afternoon.

We learn this lesson so wellgetting cuffed on the ears and being forced to stand in the corner when we say

"Jayden and me are playing tennis. . . "that when the object form of the pronoun is truly called for, we're apt to

come up with the subject form instead, as in "Grandma left Jayden and I her rocking chair," which is bad form,

indeed.

There is a simple rule here that seems to work very well, at least in writing. Ask yourself what pronoun form

you would use without adding the other person"Grandma left me her rocking chair" (coming up with the correct

form for the indirect object)and then, when you add the other person, don't change the form of the

pronoun:"Grandma left Jayden and me her rocking chair."

This rule works whether the pronoun is being used as an indirect object, as above, as a direct object "The

policeman stopped Jayden and me"or as the object of a preposition"Grandma gave her rocking chair to

Jayden and me." Some writers and speakers will mistakenly say "This is just between Jayden and I," not realizing

that the preposition "between" calls for the object form of both pronouns, including "me."

The rule also pertains to sentences in which a pronoun is compounded with yet another pronoun: "Grandma

gave her rocking chair to him and me, but that's just between you and me."

Notice that when "I" is compounded with another subject, the "other person" or people get first billing:

"Jayden and I are playing," not "I and Jayden." This is one of the very few polite forms in English.


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Choosing Cases after Linking Verbs

and after But, Than,and As

In formal or academic text, we need the nominative or subject form of the pronoun after a linking verb: "It

was he who represented the United Nations during the 1960s," "That must be she on the dock over there." In casualspeech and writing, however, that sounds awfully stuffy. Imagine the detective who's been looking for the victim's

body for days. He jimmies open the trunk of an abandoned car and exclaims, "It's she!" No self-respecting detective

since Sherlock Holmes would say such a thing.

When the personal pronoun follows except, but, than,or as,you've got an argument on your hands.

Traditionally, these words have been regarded asconjunctionsand the personal pronoun that follows has been

regarded as the subject of a clause (which might not be completed). Thus "No one could be as happy as I." (If you

provide the entire mechanism of the clause"as I [am]"you see the justification for the subject form.) The

same goes for these other conjunctions: "Whom were you expecting? who else but he?" "My father is still taller than

she" [than she is].

Many grammarians have argued, however, that these words are often used asprepositions,not conjunctions

(and have been used that way for centuries by many good writers). In a structure such as "My mother is a lot

like her," we have no trouble recognizing that "like" is acting as a preposition and we need the object form of the

pronoun after it. Why, then, can't we use "than" and "but" as prepositions in sentences such as "Dad's a lot taller

than him" and "No one in this class has done the homework but me"? Such usage is now widely regarded as

acceptable in all but the most formal writing. The same argument is sometimes used for the object form after as

"The coach is not as smart as me"but this argument does not enjoy the cogency of using the object form

after butand than.

Garner* argues that when the pronoun precedes the butphrase, the objective case should be used ("None of

the students were interested but him"); when the butphrase precedes the verb, the subject case is appropriate ("None

of the students but he were interested"). The argument goes that in the former case butis behaving as a preposition,

in the second as a conjunction.

Choosing Cases in the Appositive Position

Anappositiveis the renaming or amplification of something earlier in the sentence. In the sentence "Ronald

E. Pepin, translator of several Latin texts, will speak at our symposium on translating dead languages tomorrow," the

phrase "translator of several Latin texts" is a re-identification of the person's name, an appositive. Occasionally,pronouns can fall into the appositive slot of a sentence and that can create questions about case. If the appositive is

renaming something that functions as asubject,the pronoun should take the subject form; if the appositve is

renaming something that functions as anobject,the pronoun must take the object form.

The two people in charge of the symposium, Micki and I, will help pay for the damages. (where

"Micki and I" renames the subject, "two people")
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Nobody in the auditorium, not even he, expected that a riot would break out. (where "he" agrees with

the subject "nobody")

My favorite professors, Dr. Pepin and she, gave interesting talks. (where "she" corresponds to the

subject "professors")

Great Grandmother Etherea left her money to her favorite people, Jayden and me. (where "me"

agrees with the object of the preposition "people") The bank credited two different groups, the Stamp Club and us, with making deposits on the same

day. (where "us" agrees with the object "groups")

When a sentence with compounded pronouns sounds intolerably klutzy, the sentence will have to be rewritten.

"The group gave certificates of recognition to the two oldest members, him and me" might sound better as "The

group gave certificates of recognition to him and me [or 'to both of us'], the two oldest members" or "He and I, the

two oldest members of the group, received certificates of recognition."

Choosing Cases When Pronouns Are Combined

with Other Subjects/Objects

Occasionally pronouns are connected to other subjects or objects in the sentence. In that case, the case of the

pronoun can be important and errors are apt to be made, especially in the object position. Generally, the choice

becomes obvious when you drop the noun or noun phrase that the pronoun is combined with.

We students can no longer tolerate the administration's mismanagement of funds. [We can no longer

tolerate ]

The administration has given us students no alternative. [ has givenus no alternative.]

In the second person, this is not really a problem, because the form of "you" remains the same whether it is singular

or plural, subject or object.

You students need to take care of this situation on your own.

I'm giving you students three months to come up with a solution.

Choosing Cases in Exhortations Beginning with Let

When a pronoun follows "let" in a mild exhortation, we use the object form of the pronoun. We say "Let us go

then," but we're apt to slip in the subject form, especially when the pronouns are compounded: "And now, let you

and I take the first step toward reconciliation." (It should read "let you and me ") And in the Biblical admonition,

we read "Let he who is without guilt cast the first stone." (It should read "Let him who is without guilt cast the first

stone.")

Choosing Cases in Captions

Let's say you're putting together a photo album, and there's a nice photo of you and Grandpa, fishing. Should

the caption read "Grandpa and Me, Fishing on Lake Pymatuning" or "Grandpa and I, Fishing"? The nominative


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form, "Grandpa and I," sounds awfully formal and highfalutin for this purpose, and we can reasonably argue that the

objective form, "Grandpa and Me," is a kind of shorthand for "This is a photo of Grandpa and Me. " The choice

between formal-stuffy and casual-acceptable is up to you.

VERBS AND ADVERBS

Definitions

Verbscarry the idea of being or action in the sentence.

I ama student.

The studentspassedall their courses.

As we will see on this page, verbs are classified in many ways. First, some verbs require an objectto complete their

meaning: "She gave _____ ?" Gave what? She gave money to the church. These verbs are called transitive. Verbs

that are intransitivedo not require objects: "The building collapsed." In English, you cannot tell the difference

between a transitive and intransitive verb by its form; you have to see how the verb is functioning within the

sentence. In fact, a verb can be both transitive and intransitive: "The monster collapsed the building by sitting on it."

Although you will seldom hear the term, a ditransitive verbsuch as causeorgiveis one that can take a

direct object and an indirect object at the same time: "That horrid music gave meaheadache." Ditransitive verbs are

slightly different, then, fromfactitive verbs(see below), in that the latter take two objects.

Verbs are also classified as either finiteor non-finite. A finite verb makes an assertion or expresses a state of

being and can stand by itself as the main verb of a sentence.

The truck demolished the restaurant.

The leaves were yellow and sickly.

Non-finite verbs (think "unfinished") cannot, by themselves, be main verbs:

The broken window . . .

The wheezing gentleman . . .

Another, more useful term for non-finite verb is verbal. In this section, we discuss various verbal forms: infinitives,

gerunds, and participles.

For WebCT Users

The "-s" Problem Icon means that the verb requires an -sending because it's a third-person(he/she/it) verb in the present tense. See theTable of Verb Tensesfor help in identifying

present tenses requiring the -s.
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The "-ed" Problem Icon probably means that the verb requires an -ed ending because it's inthe past tense or that an -edending has been used inappropriately. The -edending is

particularly problematic when it occurs just before a "d" or "t" sound as in "We are used to doingthings the way we're supposed to: like in the old-fashioned days." See theTable of Verb Tensesforhelp in identifying past tenses requiring the -ed.

The "Verb" Problem Icon probably means that the verb tenses in this sentence areinconsistent or incorrect. See the section onSequencingfor help in using the correct

sequence of verb tenses. See the section onConsistencyfor help in maintaining a properconsistency in verb tense.

Four Verb Forms

The inflections (endings) of English verb forms are not difficult to remember. There are only four basic forms.

Instead of forming complex tense forms with endings, English uses auxiliary verb forms. English does not even have

a proper ending for future forms; instead, we use auxiliaries such as "I am going to read this afternoon." or "I will

read." or even "I am reading this book tomorrow." It would be useful, however, to learn these four basic forms of

verb construction.

Name of verb Base form Past form Present participle Past participle

to workI can work.

I work.I worked. I am working. I have worked.

to writeI can write.

I write.I wrote. I am writing. I have written.

Linking Verbs

A linking verbconnects a subject and itscomplement.Sometimes called copulas, linking verbs are often

forms of the verb to be, but are sometimes verbs related to the five senses (look, sound, smell, feel, taste) and

sometimes verbs that somehow reflect a state of being (appear, seem, become, grow, turn, prove, remain). What

follows the linking verb will be either a noun complement or an adjective complement:

Those people are all professors.

Those professors are brilliant.

This room smells bad.

I feel great.

A victory today seems unlikely.

A handful of verbs that reflect a change in state of being are sometimes called resulting copulas. They, too, link a

subject to a predicate adjective:
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His face turned purple.

She became older.

The dogs ran wild.

The milk has gone sour.

The crowd grew ugly.

"This is he."

A Frequently Asked Question about linking verbs concerns the correct responsewhen you pick up the phone and someone asks for you. One correct response wouldbe "This is he [she]." The predicate following the linking verb should be in thenominative (subject) formdefinitely not"This is him." If "This is he" sounds stuffy to you, tryusing "Speaking," instead, or "This is Fred," substituting your own name for Fred's unlessit's a bill collector or telemarketer calling, in which case "This is Fred" is a good response foreveryone except people named Fred.

Active and Passive Voice

There is now a separate section dealing with issues raised by a verb'sVOICE(active/passive).

Mood

Moodin verbs refers to one of three attitudes that a writer or speaker has to what is

being written or spoken. The indicative mood, which describes most sentences on this page,

is used to make a statement or ask a question. The imperative moodis used when we're feeling sort of bossish and

want to give a directive, strong suggestion, or order:

Get your homework done before you watch television tonight.

Please include cash payment with your order form.

Get out of town!

Notice that there is no subject in these imperative sentences. The pronounyou(singular or plural, depending

on context) is the "understood subject" in imperative sentences. Virtually all imperative sentences, then, have a

second person (singular or plural) subject. The sole exception is the first person construction, which includes an

objective form as subject: "Let's (or Let us) work on these things together."

The subjunctive moodis used in dependent clauses that do the following: 1) express a wish; 2) begin

with ifand express a condition that does not exist (is contrary to fact); 3) begin with as ifand as thoughwhen such

clauses describe a speculation or condition contrary to fact; and 4) begin with thatand express a demand,

requirement, request, or suggestion. A new section on the uses of theConditionalshould help you understand the

subjunctive.

She wishes her boyfriend were here.
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If Juan were more aggressive, he'd be a better hockey player.

We would have passed if we had studied harder.

He acted as if he were guilty.

I requested that he be present at the hearing.

The subjunctive is not as important a mood in English as it is in other languages, like French and Spanish,which happen to be more subtle and discriminating in hypothetical, doubtful, or wishful expressions. Many

situations which would require the subjunctive in other languages are satisfied by using one of several auxiliary

verbs in English.

The New York Public Library's Writer's Guide to Style and Usagehasthis important note on the subjunctive: "The words if, as if, or asthoughdo not always signal the subjunctive mood. If the information insuch a clause points out a condition that is or was probable or likely, theverb should be in the indicative mood. The indicative tells the readerthat the information in the dependent clause could possibly be true"

(155). Cited with permission.

The present tense of the subjunctive uses only the base form of the verb.

He demanded that his students usetwo-inch margins.

She suggested that we beon time tomorrow.

The past tense of the subjunctive has the same forms as the indicative except (unfortunately) for the verb to be,

which uses wereregardless of the number of the subject.

If I wereseven feet tall, I'd be a great basketball player.

He wishes he werea better student.

If you were rich, we wouldn't be in this mess.

If they were faster, we could have won that race.

An excellent resource for learning more about the subjunctive is available in the onlineAmerican HeritageBook of English Usage.

Auxiliary or Helping Verbs

The issues raised by Helpingor Auxiliary Verbsand Modal Auxiliariesare covered in a separate section.

Click here for help withAuxiliary Verbs and Modal Auxiliaries.

Phrasal Verbs
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Phrasal verbsconsist of a verb and another word or phrase, usually apreposition.The resulting combination

creates what amounts to a new verb, whose meaning can sometimes be puzzling to non-native speakers. Phrasal

verbs often arise from casual uses of the language and eventually work themselves into the mainstream of language

use. Phrasal verbs can be both intransitive (The children were sitting around, doing nothing. The witness

finally broke down on the stand.) and transitive in meaning (Our boss called off the meeting. She looked up her old

boyfriend.) The word that is joined with a verb in this construction (often a preposition) is called a particle.

The problem with phrasal verbs is that their meaning is often, at first, obscure, and they often mean several

different things. To make out, for instance, can mean to perceive or to see something; it can also mean to engage in

light sexual play. If someone chooses to turn up the street that is a combination of a verb and a preposition, but it is

not a phrasal verb. On the other hand, if your neighbors unexpectedly turn up (appear) at a party or your

brother turns up his radio, those are phrasal verbs. To come out, we are told, has eighteen different meanings.

Verbs can be combined with different prepositions and other words, sometimes with dizzying effect: stand

out, stand up, stand in, stand off, stand by, stand fast, stand pat, stand down, stand against, stand for. Further, the

verb and the word or phrase it connects to are not always contiguous: "Fill this out," we would say, but then we

would say, "Fill out this form."

You can clickHEREfor an extensive list ofphrasal verbs,broken down into categories of transitive and

intransitive, separable and inseparable. The list of verbs is accompanied with brief definitions and examples. Printed

out, the list will be five or six pages long, depending on the size font you are using, the width of your browser

window, etc. Understand, however, that the list is a mere sampling of the hundreds of phrasal verb combinations.

For beginning language learners, the challenge of mastering phrasal verbs is so great that only intensive instruction

and practice in an ESL program and a great deal of time spent listening and reading carefully can address the

problem. Having a good dictionary at hand is also helpful.

Causative Verbs

Causative verbsdesignate the action necessary to cause another action to happen. In "The

devil made me do it." the verb "made" causesthe "do" to happen. Here is a brief list of causative verbs, in no

particular order: let, help, allow, have, require, allow, motivate, get, make, convince, hire, assist, encourage, permit,

employ, force. Most of them are followed by an object (noun or pronoun) followed by an infinitive: "She allows herpet cockatiel to perch on the windowsill. She hired a carpenter to build a new birdcage."

Three causative verbs are exceptions to the pattern described above. Instead of being followed by a

noun/pronoun and an infinitive, the causative verbs have, makeand letare followed by a noun/pronoun and the base

form of the verb (which is actually an infinitive with the "to" left off).

Professor Villa had her students read four short novels in one week.
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She also made them read five plays in one week.

However, she let them skip the final exam.

Factitive Verbs

Verbs like make, choose, judge, elect, select, name. are called factitive verbs. These transitive verbs can take

two objects, or seem to:

They judged Philbert's dog Best of Show. (where "dog" is the direct object and "Best of Show" is the

second complement).

The faculty elected Dogsbreath the new Academic Dean. (where Dogsbreath is the direct object and

"Academic Dean" is the second complement).

U.S. News and World Reportnamed our college the best in the northeast. (where "our college" is the

direct object and "the best" is the second complement).

Tenses

Tenseshows the time of a verb's action or being. There are three inflected forms reflected by changes in the

endings of verbs. The present tenseindicates that something is happening or being now: "She is a student. She

drives a new car." The simple past tenseindicates that something happened in the past: "She was a student. She

drove a new car." And the past participleform is combined with auxiliary verbs to indicate that something

happened in the past prior to another action: "She has been a student. She had driven a new car."

Unlike most other languages, English does not have inflected forms for the future tense. Instead, English

future forms are created with the use of auxiliaries: "She will be a student. She is going to drive a new car." English

can even create the future by using the present tense, "The bus arrives later this afternoon," or the present

progressive, "Heis relocating to Portland later next month."

For an extensive discussion of the future tense in English, clickHERE.

Progressive Verbs

The progressive tenses, which indicate something being or happening, are formed with the present

participle form (ending in -ing) along with various auxiliaries. "She is driving. She was driving. She will

be driving. She has been driving. She had been driving. She will have been driving." ClickHEREfor

more on the progressive forms. Some verbs, called stative verbs, (including, sometimes, the verb to be)

do not normally create the progressive. Click here for a discussion of the difference betweenstative and

dynamic verbs.
http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/future.htmhttp://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/future.htmhttp://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/future.htmhttp://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/progressive.htmhttp://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/progressive.htmhttp://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/progressive.htmhttp://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/progressive.htm#stativehttp://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/progressive.htm#stativehttp://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/progressive.htm#stativehttp://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/progressive.htm#stativehttp://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/progressive.htm#stativehttp://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/progressive.htm#stativehttp://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/progressive.htmhttp://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/future.htm


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The Directory contains descriptions, conjugations (for both regular andirregularverbs), and sample sentences for

the twelve tenses of active voice verbs. For a greatly simplified one-page summary of these tenses, clickHERE.

Colin Mahoney, a teacher of English as a foreign language,

has a considerable page devoted to thePresent Perfect Tense

(and related issues),which we recommend. For ESL learnersand students wanting a thorough review of verbs, we also

recommend the tutorial on English tenses

atEnglishpage.com(expect ads).

Irregular Verbs

Most verbs in English form their various tenses consistently: add -edto the base of a verb to create the simple

past and past participle: he walked; he has walked. There are, however, a number of so-calledirregular verbs

,

(including, unfortunately, some very common verbs such as to beand to have) whose various forms must be

memorized. An alphabetized list ofCommon Irregular Verbsis available in the Guide that you can copy or print

out and then try to memorize or at least use in practice sentences. You should take the quizzes on irregular verbs,

below, after you've looked at this list.

Sequence of Tenses

Sequence of Tenses:The relationship between verbs in a main clause and verbs in dependent clauses is

important. These verb tenses don't have to be identical as long as they reflect, logically, shifts in time and meaning:

"My brother had graduatedbefore Istartedcollege." "My brother will have graduatedbefore Istart."

ClickHEREfor a chart describing various time relationships and how those relationships determine the appropriate

sequence of verb tenses.

Verbals

Verbalsare words that seem to carry the idea of action or being but do not function as a true verb. The aresometimes called "nonfinite" (unfinished or incomplete) verbs. Because time is involved with all verb forms,

whether finite or nonfinite, however, following a logical Tense Sequence is important. ClickHEREfor a chart

describing the time elements involved in choosing the correct verbal form. Verbals are frequently accompanied by

other, related words in what is called a verbal phrase.
http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/verbs.htm#irregularhttp://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/verbs.htm#irregularhttp://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/verbs.htm#irregularhttp://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/tenses.htmhttp://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/tenses.htmhttp://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/tenses.htmhttp://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/2527/presentperfect.htmlhttp://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/2527/presentperfect.htmlhttp://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/2527/presentperfect.htmlhttp://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/2527/presentperfect.htmlhttp://www.englishpage.com/verbpage/verbtenseintro.htmlhttp://www.englishpage.com/verbpage/verbtenseintro.htmlhttp://www.englishpage.com/verbpage/verbtenseintro.htmlhttp://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/irregulars.htmhttp://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/irregulars.htmhttp://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/irregulars.htmhttp://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/sequence.htmhttp://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/sequence.htmhttp://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/sequence.htmhttp://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/sequence.htm#modal_sequencehttp://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/sequence.htm#modal_sequencehttp://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/sequence.htm#modal_sequencehttp://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/sequence.htm#modal_sequencehttp://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/sequence.htmhttp://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/quizzes/cross/verbs.htmhttp://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/quizzes/irregular_verbsII.htmhttp://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/quizzes/irregular_verbs.htmhttp://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/irregulars.htmhttp://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/quizzes/tenses/tenses_frame.htmlhttp://www.englishpage.com/verbpage/verbtenseintro.htmlhttp://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/2527/presentperfect.htmlhttp://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/2527/presentperfect.htmlhttp://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/tenses.htmhttp://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/verbs.htm#irregular


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There is a whole section on how verbals connect with otherwords to form phrases. Be sure to visit the alwayspleasantGARDEN OF PHRASES.

Participle:a verb form acting as an adjective. The runningdog chased theflutteringmoth. A present

participle (like runningorfluttering) describes a present condition; a past participle describes something that has

happened: "The completely rottedtooth finally fell out of his mouth." The distinction can be important to the

meaning of a sentence; there is a huge difference between a confusingstudent and a confusedstudent. See the

section onAdjectivesfor further help on this issue.

Infinitive:the root of a verb plus the word to. To sleep, perchance to dream. A present infinitivedescribes a

present condition: "I like to sleep." The perfect infinitivedescribes a time earlier than that of the verb: "I would

like to have won that game." See the section onSequencebelow for other forms as well.

The Split Infinitive

If there is one error in writing that your boss or history prof can and will pick up on, it's thenotorious split infinitive. An infinitive is said to be "split" when a word (often an adverb) orphrase sneaks between the toof the infinitive and the root of the verb: "to boldly go," being themost famous of its kind. The argument against split infinitives (based on rather shaky historicalgrounds) is that the infinitive is a single unit and, therefore, should not be divided. Because itraises so many readers' hackles and is so easy to spot, good writers, at least in academicprose, avoid the split infinitive. Instead of writing "She expected her grandparents to not stay,"then, we could write "She expected her grandparents not to stay." Sometimes, though,avoiding the split infinitive simply isn't worth the bother. There is nothing wrong, really, with asentence such as the following:

He thinks he'll be able to more than double his salary this year.

The Oxford American Desk Dictionary, which came out in October of 1998, says that the ruleagainst the split infinitive can generally be ignored, that the rule "is not firmly grounded, andtreating two English words as one can lead to awkward, stilted sentences." ("To BoldlyGo," The Hartford Courant. 15 Oct 1998.) Opinion among English instructors and others whofeel strongly about the language remains divided, however. Today's dictionaries allow us tosplit the infinitive, but it should never be done at the expense of grace. Students would be wiseto know their instructor's feelings on the matter, workers their boss's.

Gerund:a verb form, ending in -ing, which acts as a noun. Running in the park after dark can be dangerous.

Gerunds are frequently accompanied by other associated words making up agerund phrase("running in the park

after dark").

Because gerunds and gerund phrases are nouns, they can be used in any way that a noun can be used:

as subject:Being king can be dangerous for your health.
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as object of the verb:He didn't particularly like being king.

as object of a preposition:He wrote a book about being king.

Infinitives and Gerunds and Sequence

Although they are not, strictly speaking, verbs, infinitives and gerunds carry within them the idea of action.

Combined with auxiliary verb forms, like verbs, they also express various shades of time.

Simple

Forms

We had planned to watchall the events of

the Olympics

Seeingthose athletes perform is always a

great thrill.

Perfective

Forms

The women's hockey team hopedto have

wona gold medal before they were done. We were thrilled about theirhaving beenin

contention in the world championships

before.

Passive

Forms

To be chosenas an olympian must be the

biggest thrill in any athlete's life.

Being chosen, however, is probably not

enough.

Perfective

Passive

Forms

The women did not seem satisfiedsimply to have been selectedas players.

Having been honoredthis way, they went

out and earned it by winning the gold.

Perfective

Progressive

Infinitive

To have been competingat that level, at

their age already, was quite an

accomplishment.

Actual and Potential Meanings

Although a gerund and an infinitive will often have practically the same meaning ("Running in the park after

dark can be dangerous" and "To run in the park after dark can be dangerous"), there can be a difference in meaning.

Gerunds are used to describe an "actual, vivid, or fulfilled action" whereas infinitives are better used to describe


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"potential, hypothetical, or future events" (Frodesen & Eyring 297). This is especially true with three kinds of verbs:

verbs of emotion, verbs of completion/incompletion, and verbs of remembering.

EMOTION

Actual Event Potential Event

I hated practicing my violin while the

other kids were playing outside.

I prefer to work during the day.

COMPLETION/INCOMPLETION

Actual Event Potential Event

We began working on this project two

years ago. We finished working on this

project a month ago. (Finishalways

takes a gerund.)

We will continue to work on this

project for the next four months. I

wonder when we will start to wrap

up this project.

REMEMBERING(such as remember, forget, regret)

Juanita forgot to do her homework.

(meaning that Juanita failed to do her

homework because she didn't

remember to do it)

Juanita forgot doing her homework.

(meaning that Juanita did her

homework but that she forgot she had

done so)

Implementation of Grammar in sentence formation

Building Vocabulary.

Module 02 Communication - Part 1

Barriers of Communication

Speaking & Listening Effectively

Idioms, Phrases & Proverbs

Comprehension & Composition

Module 03Communication - Part 2

Writing Skills ( Email, Business Correspondence)

Reading Skills (focus on voice modulation)

Extempore & Group Discussions

Smart English V/S Normal English

Testing & Evaluation

Course Highlights

Systemised Approach

Enhanced Vocabulary


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Emphasis on Verbal Communication

through Role play, GD , Extempore

Accent Neutralisation

Email Drafting

Bussiness Communication

Placement Assistance with over 100 MNCS ( Banking & Finance, Retail,BPO / KPO )

Free Assistance after Completion of Course

Module 04Accent Neutralisation

Diction Analysis

Pronunciation Power Guide

Introduction to Vowel & Consonants

Intonation Syllable Stress

Module 05Personality Enhancement

Attitude Management

Killing Nervousness & Building Confidence

Body language & Dress Code

Role Play ( Real life Conversation- 30 )

Module 06Interview Skills

Resume format

Personal Interview Techniques

spoken english.docx

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