English Grammar
English Grammar
1. Sentence
2. Clause
3. Phrase
4. Word
5. Morpheme
Types of phrases:
● NP (noun phrase - it refers to the head - elementul principal)
● VP (verb)
● ADJP
● ADVP
● PREPP
Verb Patterns:
1. John died. ― SV (subject + verb)
2. John is reading a book. ― SVO (subject + verb + object/direct object)
3. Everybody was feeling hungry. ― SVC (subject + verb + complement)
4. Your boss is on the phone. ― SVA (adverbial)
5. I wished him a Merry Christmas. ― SVOO
6. His behaviour is driving me mad. ― SVOC
7. He put the book on the shelf. ― SVOA
Verbal Categories.
A. TENSE:
- an important grammatical category which correlates with distinctions of time;
- the form taken by a verb to show the time.
B. ASPECT:
- describes the way in which the speaker sees the event;
- describes the quality of an event, while it is observed by the speaker.
PROGRESSIVE NON-PROGRESSIVE
C. MOOD:
- is a grammatical category which expresses the kind, the type, the degree of reality, of a
proposition, as perceived by the speaker.
D. VOICE:
- is a grammatical category which, in English, provides two different ways (ACTIVE and
PASSIVE) of viewing the action/activity expressed by the verb.
E. TRANSITIVITY:
Transitive verb:
- main verb which requires an object to complete its meaning.
(mono-transitive verbs, complex-transitive verbs)
Intransitive verb:
- main verb which requires no object to complete its meaning.
MAIN VERB:
= a verb which is not an auxiliary; a verb which occurs in any normal sentence.
= LEXICAL VERB
AUXILIARY VERB:
= a helping verb which cannot occur without a main verb.
LINKING VERB:
- also known as “cópula”, “copular”, “copulative”;
- the verb “be” is the most known/used;
- it links, connects a Subject to a Subject Complement.
e.g.: John is a teacher. (Subject + Linking Verb + Subject Complement)
- there are other linking verbs in English: look, feel, smell, taste, turn etc.
STATE VERB:
- a verb whose meaning expresses a state rather than an event;
- like, know, understand, look, want;
- they usually do not occur in the progressive form.
FINITE VERB:
- refers to the form of the verb which varies for past and present. (“having tense”)
- both auxiliary and lexical verbs have finite forms.
NON-FINITE VERB:
- does not vary for present and past;
- there are 3 non-finite forms:
○ the infinitive;
○ EN forms;
○ ING forms.
DUMMY WORD/OPERATOR:
- it has grammatical position, but no meaning of its own:
e.g.: It’s raining. ―> it = “empty it”
CLEFT SENTENCE:
- a construction where the sentence is divided into two clauses.
- S -> C1 + C2
e.g.: John gave the book to Mary. -> It was John who gave the book to Mary.
Subpoints:
- the so-called “timeless present” or “generic present” expresses
○ general/eternal truths: “Oxygen is a chemical element.”
○ proverbs: “Birds of a feather flock together.”
○ geographical statements: “London stands on the river Thames.”
Used in:
- sports comments:
e.g.: Hagi passed the ball to Popescu who scores the first goal.
- tricks made by magicians;
- demonstrations (e.g.: recipes)
The verbs are event verbs. The event doesn’t happen exactly when mentioned. The simultaneity is
subjective.
- exclamations:
e.g.: Here comes the train!
- stage directions:
e.g.: “door opens, boy comes in”.
- declarations:
e.g.: I give you my word.
I swear on my honour.
I accept your proposal.
A person who demonstrates something to somebody is primarily attending to each step of the process
as unit, as a whole. The progressive form means focus on the demonstrator’s actions rather than on
each step.
In stage directions, the character does not perform the action everyday, but here, again, we have to
focus on the process (i’m not sure about this part) as a unit, as a whole.
Sports comments: The use of the Simple Present is to make the game seem more dramatical. The
progressive form is used when commentators want to show that the action lasts for a longer period.
3. HABITUAL:
1. He begins the letter for half an hour. X ― the action has to be repetitive.
2. I am taking swimming lessons this summer. OK ― limited duration
3. I take swimming lessons this summer. OK ― implies a longer period of time.
4. Whenever I see him, he’s smoking and drinking Coke. OK ― the notion of “limited duration” is
not characteristic of the habit, but it applies to the individual events of which the habit is
composed.
5. John is playing the piano in the afternoon. X ― the progressive is incompatible with the idea of
repetition.
6. John is playing the piano in the afternoon this week. OK ― the limited duration meaning applies
to a period of time, no to the activity.
4. HISTORIC:
- used to refer to an event that took place in the past;
- in this context, past events/happenings are described as if they were taking place at the present
time.
- the present simple is used for the vividness of the narrative (it implies the narrator in the action).
e.g.: Last night, I am in my room…
- another type of historic present occurs with verbs of communication:
e.g.: John tells me that you are getting married.
The CNN news says that President Obama…
- 3rd case:
e.g.: In “Romeo & Juliet”, Shakespeare describes…
1. When John comes (dependent temporal clause, present tense), I will tell him the truth.
2. If John comes (dependent clause, present tense), I will tell him the truth (independent clause).
- the action mentioned in the two dependent clauses is a fact taken for granted.
- the simple present tense is used for future only when it represents future as a fact. (future is
assigned the degree of certainty normally accorded to present and past events)
1. We start for London tonight. ― the present plan may not be altered. ― the plan is impersonal, made
collectively.
2. We are starting for London tonight. ― the plan may be altered/changed. ― the arrangement is
assumed to have been made by the speaker.
3. The Sun is rising at 6 o’clock tomorrow. X ― present progressive implies previously made
arrangements, you can’t arrange the rising of the Sun.
4. We are visiting our friends tomorrow. OK ― progressive is restricted to verbs that show a conscious
human activity.
The morpheme –ED shows that the event specified by the verb took place before the moment of
speech.
The meaning of completeness has to be understood in relation to the present moment, not to another
past moment.
The morpheme –ED is in a relation of exclusion with the morpheme WILL and the morpheme –S.
An event can be described as taking place only at one time, only on one occasion.
Within the period of time that is anterior to the present moment, the meaning of the Simple Past Tense:
- comes into opposition with the present perfect, which shows indefinite occurrence in the past;
- comes into opposition with the meaning of WOULD (which shows repeated occurrences in the
past);
- comes into opposition with the KEPT ON verb –ING, which shows continuous occurrence in the
past.
1. John walked to school. ― the meaning is indefinite; the event took place in either an indefinite number
of times or on one indefinite occurrence.
2. Did you sleep well? ― the situation shows a definite past moment to which sleeping is related. The
definite moment is last night.
An action in progress at a certain point in the past is marked by WAS verb –ING.
This marker makes the past definite, that is the event took place on a definite occasion in the past.
The marker WAS –ING is not compatible with adverbials of indefinite time.
This is due to the fact that these adverbials refer to a period of time within which a certain action takes
place and the meaning of the progressive form refers to a time point between the past and present. The
definite character of the occasion does allow indefinite time specifications.
3. John was playing football on Sunday. John was playing football on April 16th .
― the progressive form gets its definiteness by being related to a specific past moment. That is why an
adverbial of definite time is necessary.
4. For a few minutes, John was leaving as we ... X ― do not use adverbs of durations.
John was leaving the room as we... OK ― acceptable.
There is a class of verbs that behave differently according to the type of subject they take.
We can have:
“Sometimes the boys would help one another”
but we cannot have
“I would smoke 20 cigs a day.”
because would cannot replace used to for discontinued habits.
There is a convention of using the Simple Past even when the events are supposed to take place in the
future. That is because we look at the events from an even further point in the future.
There is another convention, namely the use of the Simple Past to refer to Present as in: “Mary says: I
hoped you would help me.” The difference here is that the simple past tense makes the request indirect
and more polite. The simple present seems to be rather demanding.
Problems:
- verbs of inert perception can show either perception or active perception.
- verbs of inert cognition can function as activity verbs in some case (“I’m thinking about what I
saw.”)
- verbs of BEING and HAVING can be used in the P.A only with activity meaning. There are
special “x is y” cases (“John is being Hamlet.”; “My wife is having a headache.”; “John is always
losing his cell phone.”)
event-now-in-progress:
● usually used with activities;
● refers to temporary situations and activities;
● the temporary activity includes the present moment stretching into the past and the future;
● with state verbs, the present progressive acquires side-meanings, like doubt.
habitual use:
● “habit-in-existence-over-a-limited-period”;
● adverbials are necessary ;
● “Trains are arriving late everyday this winter.”
polite use:
● “I am hoping you will give me your aid.”
habitual use:
● “In those days, we were getting up at 6 a.m.” ― the connotation is that of limited duration;
polite use:
● same as present progressive.
THE PRESENT PERFECT.
Present Perfect:
= past time related to present time, past with present relevance or past involving the present.
There are 4 important, different senses of the present perfect ― one with state verbs and three with
event verbs:
1. state-up-to-the-present:
“John has lived in London since last June.”; “This room has been empty for years.”
― the verbs used are state verbs;
― the state extends over a period of time that lasts from past up to the present moment;
― the state may extend into the future;
― adverbial of duration are necessary;
― there are cases when the period of time leading up to the present is implied by context (“John has
lived a good life.”);
― predications expressed by state verbs are true all the time in the period expressed by time adverbials.
2. habit-up-to-the-present:
“John has always walked to school.”; “John has played for Manchester United for 5 years/since June.”
― the verbs are event verbs;
― here, we have a repetition of events/activities that are completed;
― the idea of repetition is expressed by the adverbials;
― a habit is a condition, a state that consists of repeated events;
3. indefinite past:
― with event verbs, the present perfect may also refer to some indefinite event in the past;
― “This is one of the most interesting books that I have ever read.”; “I have often met him in London.”;
― by indefiniteness we mean that the number of occurrences is not specified.
Future Time in English is expressed by meanings of Modal Auxiliaries, Simple Present, Present
Progressive, Be going to, Be about to.
Scale of certainty:
1. the Simple Present;
2. shall/will + infinitive
shall/will + progressive infinitive
3. Be going to + Present Progressive
A. BE GOING TO:
- the general meaning of “be going to” is future fulfillment of the present.
e.g.:
Look at the clouds, it is going to rain!
Mary is pregnant, she’s going to have a baby.
- in the two examples, we can see that the factors which give rise to the future even are present;
(what we have here is a present cause)
- subjects can be animate or inanimate.
- it refers to a near future.
X mistakes:
If you follow my advice, you are not going to regret it.
I am going to be thirty next week.
- the condition shouldn’t be somewhere in the future for us to use “be going to”.
B. PRESENT PROGRESSIVE:
- this use implies present arrangement;
- the meaning is: a future event, anticipated by a present arrangement, a present plan or a
present programme.
- the element of arrangement implies conscious human subject.
- “be going to” and “present progressive” are interchangeable, but there is a difference: the
intention (the part of one’s state of mind);
e.g.:
I would like to stay with you, but:
I’m taking my wife out for dinner. ✓
I am going to take my wife out for dinner. X
X mistakes:
It is raining tomorrow.
The Sun is rising at 6 o’clock tomorrow.
e.g.:
I am seeing John tomorrow. ― planned beforehand.
I’ll be seeing John tomorrow. ― no arrangement. (I will meet John in the normal course of events.)
Label: future-as-a-matter-of-course.
1. Mood;
2. Modality;
3. Defective;
4. Proposition;
5. Epistemic;
6. Deontic.
MOOD:
― a grammatical category which expresses the kind (or degree) of reality of a proposition, as perceived
by the speaker.
― in English, mood distinctions are expressed either by the inflection of the verb or by the specialised
lexical items for modals:
● the indicative
● the imperative
● the subjunctive
MODALITY:
― is a synonym for mood.
― is the prefered expression of mood distinction by lexical items.
PROPOSITION:
― refers to the unit of meaning which forms the subject matter of a statement.
DEFECTIVE:
― the term “defective” denotes a lexical item which lacks some of the grammatical forms usually
exhibited by members of its class.
e.g.: “must” has no past form, it is defective
EPISTEMIC MODALITY:
― is the area (field) of mood concerned with knowledge and belief;
― it is concerned with possibility, probability and certainty.
DEONTIC MODALITY:
― is the area of mood concerned with permission, obligation and prohibition.
Characteristics:
- followed by short infinitive (bare infinitive);
- modal verbs are not inflected in the 3rd person;
- negative interrogative forms (e.g.: Should I go?)
- they cannot occur in non-finite functions (e.g.: “To err is human.”, you can’t have “To can err is
human.”) or -ing forms.
- modal verbs do not take direct objects:
e.g.: I can’t do it.
You can it! X
- modal verbs do not normally co-occur:
e.g: You must can.
You must may.
You shall can.
He:
1. must be there already. ― logical conclusion
2. cannot/couldn’t be there already. ― logical conclusion
3. will/would be there already. ― belief
4. may/might be there already. ― possibility
5. could be there already. ― possibility
6. should/ought to be there already. ― probability
He:
1. must go immediately. ― obligation
2. needn’t go immediately. ― absence of obligation
3. should/ought to go immediately. ― advice, recommendation
4. shall go immediately. ― promise
5. will go immediately. ― willingness
6. may go immediately. ― permission
7. can go immediately. ― permission/ability
- A, B refer to potential performance of the action, the two examples do not refer to an actual
performance of the action;
- if you want to refer to an actual performance of the action use “to be able to”;
2. Permission:
- can is used to give/ask for permission:
e.g.: They may/might not reach an agreement. (It is possible that they will not reach an agreement)
e.g.: They couldn’t reach an agreement. (It is not possible that they will reach an agreement)
4. Strong recommendation:
- this use has impolite or sarcastic overtones: You can (go) and jump in the lake.
5. General characteristic:
- this use refers to a quality that may show itself from time to time.
- e.g.: Learning English can be difficult.
6. Order/suggestion:
- this use is a polite or democratic imperative;
- e.g. You can do it tomorrow.
MAY:
1. Permission:
- given by the speaker
- can and may are used interchangeably (may is more formal)
- we can also use might (more tentative)
2. General permission:
- e.g.: Students may visit the museum for… (He said so)
3. Authority:
- almost imperative (so in direct address);
- e.g.: You may sit (3 and 2 ext to 1)
4. Possibility:
- e.g.: Students and teachers may come to a conclusion.
- e.g.: Be careful, the engine of the car may be… (Possibility rather than fact)
5. Concessive use:
- usually in everyday speech.
- e.g.: “He may be intelligent, but…”
6. Benediction:
- occurs in exclamative sentences, it is very formal;
- e.g.: “May God grant you happiness.”
MUST
1. Obligation or compulsion
- imposed by the speaker
- it expresses the authority of the speaker: You must do it right now!
- when external factors are involved use have to
- for absence of obligation use needn’t
2. Prohibition:
- (in negative forms)
- e.g.: You must not open the door.
3. Logical conclusion:
- “John has a driving license” -> the logical conclusion is “John must be at least 18 years old”
- “John must be at home” (Cred ca era ceva de genul “nicio concluzie (una anume) nu reiese de
aici”)
4. Necessity:
- Any dog must have a master.
SHALL:
1. Prediction:
- this use is not very frequent.
- e.g.: We shall never know the truth.
2. Promise:
- and 3rd
with the 2nd person.
- e.g.: (He guaranteed that) You shall go to the zoo.
3. Willingness:
- on the part of the speaker, the speaker is conferring a favour.
- e.g.: John shall be rewarded.
WILL:
1. Prediction:
- is associated with future time reference.
- e.g.: “I will finish it.”
2. Intention:
- decision, even promise.
- e.g.: “We will celebrate tonight.”
3. Willingness:
- weak volition;
- “Will you open that door for me?”
- (Would is more polite)
4. Insistence:
- will is always stressed and it is not contracted (short form) to ‘ll.
- “I will go there, you cannot stop me.”
5. Presumption:
- “That will be the postman.”
6. Predictability (previsibility):
- “Oil will float on water.”
7. Characteristic behaviour
- “A lion will attack a man.”
- “A cat will kill a mouse.”
- “Whenever he has time he will stay in a pub”.
- for progressive, use present simple.
Would/used to:
- would -> is used for past habits, characteristic behaviour. “Sometimes he would write poems.”
- used to -> for states, actions. “I used to have…”
- these two cannot be used to say how often something happened.
Ought to:
- past subjunctive of modesty of to owe
- “You ought to do it.” (I think you owe the…)
Need
- both regular and modal verb.
- “You needn’t have done it.” (not necessary but performed)
- “You didn’t need to do it” (not necessary, not performed)
Dare
- less modal than the modals mentioned so far;
- both regular and modal, the meaning is “have the courage to”;
- can have a special meaning, “to challenge”.
- “I dared him to ask the question.”
THE ARTICLE
DEFINITE ARTICLE
- is used with singular and plural countable nouns,
- used with uncountable nouns.
Functions:
- it’s derived from demonstrative pronouns,
- it has demonstrative function/deictic: “At the/this/that moment”, “Under the circumstance”
- in English we distinguish between situational specific reference and linguistic specific reference:
2. Anaphoric reference:
- the definite article “the” has backward reference to a noun already mentioned.
- “An old man lived in a small village. One day the old man…”
Cataphoric reference:
- the reference is forward, shows that the noun is something new.
- “This is the most interesting book.”
3. Generic reference:
- the noun it determines is used in its most general sense
- has a generic function:
-
A) Before a singular countable noun. “The dog cat dragon is my favourite animal.”, “The article is a part
of speech.”
B) Before collective generic nouns: the public, the nobility etc.
C) Before nationality names: the Chinese, the Swiss, the Romanians etc.
D) Before substantivized adjectives denoting abstractions: the sublime, the beautiful etc.
4. Distributive function:
- when used with nouns expressing a unit.
- “He is paid by the hour.”
- also used in phrases.
- “On the one hand… on the other hand…”
The definite article is used with nouns that have unique reference with proper nouns.
INDEFINITE ARTICLE:
- is used before singular countable nouns
- it’s also used before nouns that are plural in form but singular meaning “a means of…”
- is derived from an Old English numeral adjective
Functions:
A) Numerical function:
- “There is a boy.”
B) Specific reference:
- that is, the noun it determines is considered as a single (specimen/one of a) class.
- “Give me a book to read.”
IF CLAUSES
1. Present subjunctive
2. Past subjunctive
3. Past perfect subjunctive
1. Present subjunctive
- is identical in form with the short infinitive
- person singular which
formally it is exactly as the present tense indicative, except for the 3rd
does not take “s”
- the verb “be” is always “be”
- may be used reference into: present, past and future
A. Mandative subjunctive
- is used in subordinate clauses following an expression of command, suggestion, possibility
- use the verbs: suggest, propose, ask, advice, insist, order
B. Formulaic/optative
- is used mainly in expressions (wish, prayer)
- “God save the Queen”,
- “God bless you”,
- “The Devil take him!”
2. Past subjunctive
- is identical in form with the past tense indicative (A.K.A. were subjunctive)
- it is used in clauses of hypothetical condition, reference is to present and future “If I were you, I
would go…”
- past subjunctive is also used after “I wish I were…”
- suppose (that John caught us smoking here)
!!! Do not use the verb “to do” in negative statements!!!
- “It is desirable that he not leave school.”
MAIN CLAUSE (can use any tense required by meaning)
- the “sit” (??? Sorry) in the main clause is conditioned by that of the conditional clause (IF
clause),
- the truth of the statement in the main clause is a consequence of the fulfilment of the condition
in the if clause.
Type:
0 (cause and effect)
1 (real or open condition)
2 (improbable condition) {past and future}
3 (impossible condition)
0
- the tenses in the main and if clauses are the same
- if can be replaced by whenever
- “If I make a promise, I keep it”
Made kept it
1
- “You will find the books tomorrow, if you left them there.”
- “He will come if you call him.”
- “Why don’t you buy it if you really like it?”
- “Why didn’t you buy it if you really liked it?”
- “We shall go there if you will buy tickets”
- “Should you need…”
- “… if we should miss the train.”
2 (present conditional):
- “He would come, if you called him.”
- (La tipul 2) Will/would
Should/were to
- “We wouldn’t get there in time, if we were to miss the train.”
3 (conditional perfect):
- “He would have come, if you had called him.”
Should—were to have
- “We wouldn’t have got there in time, if we were to have missed the train.”
- Mixed types: “If we had taken a map, we would know which way to go.” (type 3 and 2)
Ceva ce am făcut și la început, posibil să ne vină ceva de genul:
Indirect speech:
- “If I came into a fortune, I would give up teaching” -> John said that if he had come… he would
have…
- If I knew the answer, I would tell what to do.” -> John said that if he had known the answer, he
would have told you…
1. Groups of Islands:
● The British Islands
● The Channel Islands
● The Orkney Islands / The Orkneys
2. Mountain ranges:
● the Alpes
● the Himalayas
● the Rocky Mountains / The Rockies
3. Geographical regions:
● the South of England
● the Midlands
4. Deserts:
● the Sahara Desert (the Sahara)
● the Gobi Desert
7. Other sea-features:
● The Gulf of Mexico
● The English Channel
II. Geographical and place names WITHOUT an article.
1. Continents:
● Africa
● Asia
● Europe
- if you add a common noun, we add the definite article (e.g.: The African continent)
2. Countries:
● Italy
● Spain
● Germany
- special snowflakes:
- The United States of America, The United Kingdom (they have a common noun, we have to use
a definite article)
- The Netherlands, The Philippines -> these names are plural, the definite article is necessary
The tendency, today, is to use these names without the definite article.
5. Bays:
● San Francisco Bay
● The Bay of Pigs, The Bay of Bengal -> the nouns are separated by “of”, always use the definite
article
6. Lakes:
● Lake Michigan
exceptions:
- The Great Salt Lake
- Lake Geneva or The Lake of Geneva
7. Individual Islands:
● Ireland
● Sicily
8. Individual Mountains:
● Everest
● Mont Blanc
exception: Marco’s -> restaurants or pubs whose name are in the possessive form of a person’s name
have no article.
exceptions: The University of Wales, UCLA (when abbreviated, there is no article -> the University of
California at Los Angeles)
in some cases, there are two possibilities: London University and The University of London
1. ships:
VI Sporting Events:
exceptions:
● Wimbledon
● Ascot
● Henley
- names of sporting events which are taken from the place where the event occurs do not take the
definite article
VII names of festivals:
3. no article for:
● Sony
● Nissan
● General Motors
● KLM
● IBM
- names of most political institutions have the definite article: The Senate, The Cabinet, The
Kremlin, The House of Lords etc.
- but: Parliament, Downing Street, Whitehall.
SEMINAR:
Structure:
1. Head alone -> man, boy
2. determiner + head -> the, my, this boy
3. determiner + modifier + head -> the young man
Predeterminer:
- those words that are used before central determiners;
- e.g.: all my friends
- both, half, double, twice, such etc
Postdeterminer:
- those words that are used after central determiners:
- e.g.: the same story
- same, other, next, last etc
Modifiers:
- a word that affects the meaning of another element in the head;
- e.g.: The young man -> premodifier, The man in the corner -> postmodifiers
the (determiner) nature (head) [of this (determiner) part (head) [of Shakespeare’s(premodifier)
Sonnet(head)] (postmodifier)] (postmodifier).
Head:
- noun
- pronoun
- adjective
Determiner:
- predeterminer
- central determiner
- postdeterminer
Premodifier:
- adjective
- noun
- non-finite forms
Postmodifier:
- relative clause
- non-finite forms
● trade unions
● forget-me-nots
● spoonfuls
● knock outs
● passers by
● comings in
● maids-of-honor
in compounds with “man” and “woman” that show gender distinctions, both elements turn to plural.
● ins-and-outs
● ups-and-downs
● gin-and-tonics
Case
- the relation in which a noun stands to some other words.
Genitive
- expresses the idea of possession.
in English, we identify:
1. Possessive genitive -> "John's car"
2. Genitive of origin (authorship) - > who the author is. "John's essay" (John wrote an essay)
3. Descriptive genitive - > describes the head noun. "Children's toys" (Toys for/of the children)
4. Subjective genitive - > "The doctor's arrival" (The doctor arrived),"The crying of the baby" (The
baby cried)
5. Objective genitive- "The child's education" (Somebody educated the child), "The translocation of
the paragraph" (...), "John's beating" can be both, subjective or objective.
6. Partitive genitive- A loaf/slice, a part of, five of my books
7. Genitive of gradation- The king of kings. The song of songs. The poem of poems.
The synthetical genitive is used frequently with inanimate nouns because of its concision.
Elliptical genitive
- the head noun has been mentioned before
B. Analytical genitive
- is characteristic of neuter nouns, both animate and inanimate. "The colour of the dress.", "The
barking of the dog"
- is referred to the synthetical genitive.
With proper and animate nouns that occur in complex noun phrases or coordinate phrases.
- use the analytical genitive when you want to emphasize the head noun
- use the analytical genitive with the objective genitive ex: The murder of...
The Adjective
Central adjective
- has to meet four conditions:
1. Attributely - > it can be used attributively in a noun phrase: "An old man"
2. Predicatively - > it can be used predicatively with a verb: "He is/looks old"
3. Intensifiers -> it can be modified by intensifiers, ex: very, too, extremely etc.
4. Comparative/superlative - > they (adjectives) have comparative/superlative forms, ex: old, older
(comp), oldest (sup)
The adjective's order:
General remarks:
● the noun is a part of speech that names things, beings, objects, which can be described by
means of grammatical categories of number, gender and case.
● the origin of the word: Plato -> onoma (name), was translated into latin as “nomen”.
● a noun can function as an Object, as an Attribute, as a Direct Object, as an Indirect Object, as a
Subject Complement (John is a doctor), as an Object Complement (We elected John president.)
Classification of nouns:
1. According to form:
➔ simple: all primary nouns
➔ compound: blackboard, bathroom
➔ phrasal nouns: mother-in-law, Alexander the Great
ST = singularia tantum
PT = pluralia tantum
Singularia:
- includes nouns which refer to substances, concepts, notions, which cannot be counted, they
have no plural.
- the agreement with the verb is in the singular.
Pluralia:
- have plural meaning
- the agreement with the verb is in the plural
- summation plurals (nouns that denote objects made of two parts: scissors, shorts, pyjamas) are
included, as well as parts of body, names of nationalities etc.
back to adjectives:
● Gradable adjectives;
● Non-Gradable adjectives;
Adjectives are gradable when we can modify them, when they have comparative and superlative forms.
Adjectives are non-gradable when we cannot modify them and they do not have comparative and
superlative forms.
● Attributive adjectives
● Predicative adjectives
Attributive adjectives - they come before a noun and are part of the noun phrase
e.g.: an old man
Predicative adjectives - come after a verb (be, taste, smell, look etc)
e.g.: he looks old
● Adjective order:
e.g:
1. the
2. city’s
3. last
4. five
5. large
6. old
7. square
8. black
9. gothic
10. stone
buildings
compound adjectives - ill, low, intelligent etc. have its own meaning and keep it as distinct from
the other’s element.
13. up-to-date - more - most
narrow-minded - more - most
short-sighted - more - most
old fashioned - more - most
● as
● so
● how
● too
● this
- + ADJ + ART + NOUN:
too polite a person
how good a pianist he is
too expensive a car
! whenever we compare 2 things, we should use the comparative: the taller of the two brothers.