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ENGLISH
HANDBOOK
Webster University, Vienna
English Booklet
This handbook contains the key points and rules of grammar etc. you need to learn to do well
at Webster and beyond. Remember, good English is the foundation for academic success, or
good grades!
It is designed especially for those for whom English is their second language.
Text by Andrew Horsfield.
It covers five main sections:
A.
B.
C.
D.
E.
GRAMMAR
SENTENCE STRUCTURE
SPELLING
PUNCTUATION
CLASSIC ESL BLIND SPOTS
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Note: Anything highlighted red is an example.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
A. GRAMMAR
1) Parts of speech
2) Verbs and their tenses
3) Articles and how to use them
4) Indirect speech
5) Quantifiers
6) Word order
7) The conditionals
8) The passive voice
9) Relative and subordinate clauses
10) Modal verbs
B. SENTENCE STRUCTURE
1) Types of sentences
2) Run-on sentences
3) Comma splices
4) Sentence fragments
C. SPELLING
1) Rules
2) Exceptions
3) List of commonly misspelt words
D. PUNCTUATION
1) The full stop
2) The comma
3) The colon
4) The semi-colon
5) The question mark
6) The exclamation mark
7) Inverted commas or quotation marks
8) The apostrophe
9) The dash or hyphen
E. CLASSIC ESL BLIND SPOTS
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SECTION A.
GRAMMAR
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A. GRAMMAR
Why bother with grammar? Is it something we need or something invented by nasty teachers to
make life difficult for students? Of course we need it, for making sense, for communicating.
Grammar is the structure that makes words make sense. It is like the chassis of a car.
Look at this sentence:
He will be working the oak tree so that the teacup would have made sense not.
Wow! Clearly nonsense. Gobbledygook1. But why? Almost everything is wrong, the grammar,
the syntax2, the word usage (diction), the word order. We need grammar to make sense of the
world and our interpretation of it, to express ourselves meaningfully.3
Grammar sections covered:
1) Parts of speech
2) Verbs and their tenses
3) Articles and how to use them
4) Indirect speech
5) Quantifiers
6) Word order
7) Conditionals
8) The passive voice
9) Relative and subordinate clauses
10) Modal verbs
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A humorous word meaning a jumbled, nonsensical sentence. It sounds like what it means!
Syntax is basically the way words are arranged in a sentence, and the way words agree with each other.
Though of course in poetry, rules are suspended; grammar and syntax are often deliberately altered or
abandoned, for poetic effect, but that is something different, and need not concern us here.
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1. Parts of speech
“Parts of speech” is another way of saying, what function does this word have in this sentence?
Just like a cooker has knobs, gas flames, a grill, an oven, and a door, and so on, so a sentence
has typically got a noun, a verb, an adjective, a preposition, and so on.
So every word has got a function. You can’t mix them up without confusion being the result.
And as literate people, we need to know those various functions. It is all very logical.4
Parts of Speech
There are EIGHT basic parts of speech. We need to know them all and how to use them.
Maybe you rather think you know them, but can you say what they do grammatically? Here
they are:
NOUN
VERB
ADJECTIVE
ADVERB
PRONOUN
PREPOSITION
CONJUNCTION
INTERJECTION
Each one has a clear function:
1) Noun – the noun is used to name a person, animal, place, thing, or an abstract idea. It can
either serve as the subject or object of a verb. In simple terms, the subject “dictates events”, it is
the “initiator” or “do-er”; the object is “dictated to” or affected in some way.
e.g. Bill Clinton was branded a liar by the radical journalist Christopher Hitchens.
Note: four nouns in this sentence, of which two are so-called proper nouns (names).
2) Verb – the verb asserts (states) something about the subject of the sentence. It expresses
events, actions, states of being. It is the central axis of a main sentence.
e.g. Nelson Mandela had to wear short trousers in prison as a form of humiliation.
3) Adjective – the adjective describes a noun. It therefore adds to our knowledge of that noun,
or our impression of it. It may be informative or descriptive.
e.g. The poor weather spoiled the event.
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Overall the grammar in English is logical, and so is the syntax. The spelling and of course pronunciation less so...
But for good historical reasons.
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4) Adverb – the adverb describes a verb. It can also describe an adjective, or even another
adverb. Formed by adding –ly in most cases.
e.g He plays football aggressively.
e.g. She plays the violin very well. (note: both very and well are adverbs; very describes the
adverb well here)
5) Pronoun – the pronoun literally “stands for” a noun. There are various types, of which the
most important include the personal pronoun (I, you, he etc. as subject; me, you, him etc. as
object; mine, your, his etc. as the possessive variant), and the relative pronoun (who, whom,
which etc.). We use the pronoun to avoid repetition of the noun.
e.g. I don’t agree with you; your opinions have an undercurrent of prejudice.
e.g. How dare you touch those chocolate muffins. They’re mine, not yours!
6) Preposition5 – the preposition tells us something about the verb and a noun. It helps establish
a relationship between its object and the rest of the sentence. That relationship may be
temporal, e.g after the football match, or spatial, e.g. on top of the wardrobe, or logical, e.g. I
am working towards a theory, but I am not there yet.
7) Conjunction – a conjunction literally joins together, as the word suggests. It joins different
clauses6 or phrases, and creates flow, as well as logic.
There are two main types, the coordinating conjunctions, and the subordinating conjunctions.
Examples of coordinating conjunctions: and, but, or, neither, nor, yet, for, so etc. This type
links independent clauses.
e.g. He is working and I am playing football.
Examples of subordinating conjunctions: although, while, because, since, as long as, after, as,
before etc.
e.g. Although England has good football players individually, it never does well at international
tournaments. Why, I wonder?
8) Interjection – An interjection is a word or phrase added to a sentence to convey emotion,
surprise, horror, mockery etc. It is not grammatically related to any other part of the sentence.
It usually has an exclamation mark after it. It is somehow different, therefore, from all the other
parts of speech. And of course, very common!
e.g Hey!
e.g. Wow!
e.g. Ouch!
e.g Oh no!
e.g. Yikes!
e.g. Whoah!
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Prepositions are tricky in English, and need to be learned off by heart, rather like the spelling. No short cuts, I’
afraid!
A clause is “a group of words containing a subject and predicate” it always contains a verb, e.g. I don’t like sushi is
a clause; a phrase has no verb, so is shorter usually, e.g. in the morning, on the telephone, over the moon (= very
happy) etc.
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GLOSSARY OF TERMS
Other useful words to remember and understand:
clause: a group of words containing a subject and predicate
vowel: a, e, i, o, u
consonant: all letters other than the vowels
past participle: the part of the verb used in the present perfect, and past perfect,
known as the “3rd form”
infinitive: to + base form of the verb; follows the auxiliary verb usually.
phrasal verb: a verb made up of the base form and a preposition, changing its
meaning oftentimes
reflexive verb: a verb that takes no direct object
gerund: when a verb functions as a noun (with –ing as the ending)
compound: indicates two parts to something, e.g. a compound sentence, or a
compound noun
affirmative: a statement in the positive
interrogative: a question
inversion: when the order (of words) is reversed
declarative statements: a statement declaring something
standard English: correct English without slang, without use of dialect etc.
to omit: to leave out
hypothetical: theoretical, unproven
clause: a group of words containing a subject and predicate
predicate: the group of words making up the verb
antecedent: that which came before, the word referred to
syntax: the way a sentence or clause is contructed, according to certain rules
suffix: an ending on a word, to tell us what part of speech it is, e.g. description, the
suffix is “-tion” telling us it is a noun
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2. TENSES
Tenses matter! They tell us when someone said or did something. They locate our actions
within the flow of time7. See tenses like a buoy (a floating marker) in the ocean giving us a
location, something to hold on to.
Two things to remember up front:
1. In English we make a distinction between:
SIMPLE
and
CONTINUOUS
actions.
It is the difference between talking about something that happens once, and something that
happens all the time. It is, for example, the difference between HABIT and an ACTION
TAKING PLACE JUST NOW BUT NOT ALWAYS.
e.g. I smoke vs. I am smoking.
Obviously there is a huge difference here. In the first example, I am a habitual smoker. I buy
cigarettes and have submitted to the (health-endangering) habit of puffing away. I may even be
an addict to nicotine.
In the second example, it is merely a moment in time in which I am telling someone else what I
am doing. I could even be telling that person simply because it is so unusual for me to smoke,
i.e. the opposite situation to the first example. This is a simple illustration of how tense affects
meaning.
Or look at this:
e.g. I twisted my ankle vs. I have twisted my ankle.
In the first case we don’t know when it happened. Possibly it was yesterday, but it could have
been ten years ago. In the second case, we know that it has happened recently. We know that
the ankle is still twisted, and we know that this is therefore a piece of news that has an effect on
the present. Once again, tense affects meaning.
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Indeed in German, for example, they are called “Zeiten”, literally “times”.
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2. In English we also make a distinction between:
TRANSITIVE
and
INTRANSITIVE
verbs.
The transitive verb has a direct object. It does something to something else.
The intransitive verb has no object, or an indirect object. It can “stand alone”.
e.g. He ate his dinner.
Here “ate” is a transitive verb. He does something to his dinner – chews it and swallows it!
e.g. He is sleeping.
Here “is sleeping” is an intransitive verb. It has no direct object. The “sleeping” doesn’t do
anything to any person or object. An indirect object would be “on the couch”.
WE NEED TO UNDERSTAND THESE TWO KEY POINTS BEFORE WE CARRY
ON.
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TENSES
In English there are 16 tenses.
Some languages don’t have tenses at all... The language of Indonesia8, for example, has one
word for each verb which remains unchanged. Time is indicated by a special word, one for the
past, one for the future etc. English is different. Sorry!
Here is a list of the tenses:
1. Present Simple
2. Present Continuous
3. Present Perfect
4. Present Perfect Continuous
5. Simple Past
6. Past Continuous
7. Past Perfect
8. Past Perfect Continuous
9. Future Simple
10. Future Continuous
11. Future Perfect
12. Future Perfect Continuous
13. Future Simple in the past
14. Future Continuous in the past
15. Future Perfect in the past
16. Future Perfect Continuous in the past
That looks like a shopping list, I agree.
Let’s look at them in more detail. They are not easy, but by no means complicated.
And vital for a speaker of proper English.9
Bahasa Indonesia is its name. Re. tenses, “Saya makan nasi” means “I eat rice”, and “Saya telah makan
nasi” means “I have eaten rice”. “Telah” (or “sudah”) indicates a completed action. Wonderfully easy. To teach
grammar in an Indonesian school must be almost relaxing.
When native speakers make fun of a foreigner speaking their language, it is nearly always the tense they
deliberately get wrong.
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1. The Present Simple
The easiest of all. Two uses:
-
to express a habit
e.g. He smokes.
to express a permanent or constant situation; an unchanging state of affairs
e.g. Smoking in excess damages your health.
The typical mistake is to confuse it with the present continuous, resulting in some amusing
mistakes occasionally10.
2. The Present Continuous
Here we come to the first case of the difference I pointed out earlier between simple and
continuous in English tenses. The question behind it is: Do I always do this? Or just now?
To be precise, this tense has two uses:
-
to express an activity or event going on right now
e.g.
to express an activity or even happening round about now; it could be a trend, for example
3. The Present Perfect
This is a bit more tricky, but very important. This tense has two main uses:
-
to express an event in the recent past
e.g. The Olympics Games have ended with the USA winning the most medals.
to express a state of affairs that has continued over a longer period of time
e.g. I have lived in Vienna since I was 25.
What matters here is to realise that this tense always expresses some form of connection to the
present. I have broken my leg, therefore I cannot walk without the use of crutches. I have lost
my wallet, therefore I cannot pay for these groceries. I have lived in Vienna for 25 years, and
still do, I have not moved away.
Another way to understand it, is to think of finished versus unfinished time.
so: I have eaten three ice creams today! (Today is unfinished. Maybe I will manage a fourth!)
or: I have never liked whisky. (The period of time of disliking whisky is unfinished; I still don’t
like whisky and never will, presumably.)
For finished time, see point 5.
Typically found in: letters, emails, news reports; anything newsy or up-to-date; has a hot-off-thepress feel to it.
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For example, the classic “I am coming from Vienna” when the speaker (typically native German) means, “I come
from Vienna”. The former means, I am travelling from Vienna to somewhere else; the latter means, I live in
Vienna, this is my home, where I belong; this is my identity even. Quite a difference!
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4. The Present Perfect Continuous
This is very similar to no. 3, the Present Perfect, but with the emphasis on the continuous
nature of the action or the event, or its duration. When I use this tense, I want to say how long I
have been doing something. If I am complaining, for example, I would use this tense:
e.g. I have been waiting in the rain for you, and all you do is shrug your shoulders!
or:
e.g. I have been working on Mr. Horsfield’s essay all morning and still cannot achieve the level
of perfection I am aiming for and that he surely expects11.
This tense definitely “continues into the present”, it clearly expresses unfinished time.
5. The Simple Past12
Now we come to the second tense expressing a “simple” idea. This tense is used:
- to express an event, action or state of affairs in the past which is over and done with, finito!
e.g. Last week I painted my living room red.
This tense is easy13 because it is so clear cut. It is obviously finished time. It is the second of the
three words you learn when sitting down and memorising irregular verbs… e.g. eat – ate – eaten
Typically used to tell a story, this is the tense for the born raconteur14!
6. The Past Continuous
Back to the continuous again. Back to the idea of duration, something ongoing.
This tense is used:
- to express a continuous action or event or state of affairs that began and ended in the past.
e.g. It was raining all night; my front lawn is flooded.
Often this is taught in the context of interruption. One action is interrupted by another:
e.g. While he was taking a shower, the phone rang.
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Don’t give up! Haste makes waste, as they say.
Interestingly, this is often used in the United States for the Present Perfect, so you could theoretically live in
America and not use the Present Perfect at all! Not in Britain, though. By the way, in (Austrian) German, the
present perfect can be used instead of the simple past, e.g. Ich habe gestern Dein Konzert gehört: I heard your
concert yesterday. (Keep on practising!) So at some point the Austrians lost the distinction that we in England have
kept.
Not that all English people get it right. Read this true story of a Swiss man who applied for British citizenship:
“Yet despite the Home Office’s [government’s] obsession with language qualifications, each official I have come
into personal contact with in this process – the test staff, the council official who checked my form, the Home
Office call centre staff, the officers presiding over my naturalisation ceremony – all demonstrated a striking
difficulty in structuring a grammatical English sentence, making the whole exercise descend into farce. I remember
being asked, ‘Is you here for the English test?’ and ‘Was you able to pass an English test, and can you talk proper?’
without a trace of irony. Seth Alexander Thvoz, The Independent, online, July 3, 2012
Raconteur means story-teller; comes from the French (like so many words in English) raconter, meaning to tell or
narrate.
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True, but also we can use this tense simply to describe an ongoing situation in the past.
e.g. It was raining when I stepped off the plane in England. I knew I was home.
7. The Past Perfect
Again, this is a “simple” tense. It is used:
- to express an event or action or state of affairs that began in the past before another event in
the past.
e.g. After the company had closed, ex-employees began to realise they had been cheated out of
their company pensions.
Here there is a need for a second event that follows the first event in the past perfect. This is
what you might call a double-vision view of events...
e.g. I had never known true love until I met Sally.
Well, without the beautiful moment of meeting the gorgeous Sally, the first part of the sentence
would be redundant (useless or meaningless). So this tense needs another event to “orient
itself” by.
8. The Past Perfect Continuous
Once again, a “simple” tense is also available in the continuous form. The only difference,
again, from the previous tense, is the emphasis again on duration, on an event going on for
some time. It is the difference between a one-off, and a period of time, or visually between a
line, and a cross intersecting that line.
The use of this tense:
- to express a period of time that began and ended in the past, before some other event etc.
that took place in the past.
e.g. The company had been trying to improve its safety record when the second disaster
struck, and three men were killed working on a roof.
I typically use this tense when telling a story:
“I had been working in London two years when a sizzling pizza (Margherita with extra
pepperoni) fell off the balcony above me and missed my head by a couple of inches. I had been
rushing to work, but that event put everything into perspective…”
That kind of typical story…
9. Future Simple
Back to simple (although the future is not so simple in English). The “simple” form of the
future is by using the word “will”. But this has specific uses that need to be learned:
-
to express predictions
e.g. Barack Obama will win the election a second time, believe me.
to express offers or invitations (an invitation is a kind of offer anyway)
e.g. Will you give me a lift to the supermarket?
to express a simultaneous decision
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-
e.g. I’ll make a pot of tea.
to follow the words I think, I believe, I assume etc., i.e. after introductory verbs of thought.
e.g. I think I’ll read that book after all.
So it turns out it is not so simple.
The future has TWO MORE COMMON FORMS which I am adding here for completeness’
sake – and because they are important.
9b) Future in the form of present simple
Yes, the present simple is also used to express the future, specifically:
- to express an official event or action to take place at a specific time, no element of doubt.
e.g. The ESL meeting takes place on Thursday at 12 noon. Don’t be late!
Think timetables….
9c) Future in the form of present continuous
Another way to express the future is by means of the present continuous:
-
to express events or actions in the future – no element of doubt.
e.g. On Friday he is meeting the President of the company to present his new idea.
Think appointment diary…
9d) Future in the form of “going to” plus infinitive
This is very common. It is used:
- to express an intention or a firm plan
e.g. I am going to change my name to Elvis Dean.
(Of course, never ever write “gonna” in any kind of academic context…)
10. Future Continuous
This is a bit more tricky if only because there is more thought or calculation behind it. The
future continuous is used:
-
to express a future continuous event that begins at a designated (pre-set) period or date in
the future. No element of doubt.
e.g. Elvis Presley will be appearing in Mistelbach on August 23, 2012.
This tense I associate with making plans. It expresses a continuous action, of course.
11. Future Perfect
This tense combines the past with the future… It is used:
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to express actions that will be finished before some point in the future.
e.g. Don’t worry – by the time they arrive, we will have found your wallet.
to express situations that will last for a specified period of time at a definite moment in the
future.
e.g. By 2017 I will have lived in Vienna 30 years. Do I get a medal from the Mayor?
So it is a tense in the future that needs another event as a marker.
12. Future Perfect Continuous
Again, similar to the previous tense, except for the sense of the continuous, the duration of it.
So:
- to express continuous actions that will be finished before or by some point in the future.
e.g. 2013? I will have been living here for five years by then. A long time!
The remaining tenses are less common, though of course still occur. They
13. Future Simple in the past
This can be seen as the future seen from the past which is in turn seen from now.
The tense is used:
-
to express the idea that in the past you thought something was going to happen (whether
correct or not)
e.g. I told you she would not come to the party.
14. Future Continuous in the past
Same idea, but with the continuous sense stressed. SO it is used
-
to express the idea that in the past you thought something continuous was going to happen
(whether correct or not)
e.g. He believed he would be meeting her later on.
15. Future Perfect in the past
- to express an event that takes place in the future when viewed from the perspective of the
past. The speaker is talking about a past event. Less common, I admit.
e.g. John went to work. It was to be a fateful day. By the time he got home, his house would
have burned down and all his wonderful photos would have been destroyed.
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The burning of the house is in the future relative to John’s leaving, but is in the past relative to
his returning. All these events are in the past relative to the moment of utterance (speaking).
Also used as a conditional (see later section):
-
to express something that might have been, a hypothetical situation
e.g. If I had sensed where this conversation was heading, I would have changed the subject.
16. Future Perfect Continuous in the past
Again, this tense is used:
- to express a continuous event that takes place in the future when viewed from the perspective
of the past. The speaker is talking about or describing a past event. Also, rather less common.
Imagine an interview:
e.g. Question: Describe to us a typical scene when you came home.
Answer: Well, my mother would been sewing and my father would have been playing the
piano. That was what they would typically have been doing in the evening.
And as a conditional (see later Conditionals section):
-
to express something continuous that might have been under certain circumstances, a
hypothetical situation
e.g. If they had given her her visa earlier, she would surely have been working by now and
earning a decent salary.
Summary:
So it turns out we have 16 tenses, plus 3 extra uses of existing tenses to express the future in
different ways.
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3. Articles
Articles are: the, a or an. They are important in English and cannot just be ignored (as many
foreign students of English seem to do.) Like tenses, they express certain ideas about words, in
this case nouns. To be exact, they tell us about the specificity of a noun, and whether it is used
countably or uncountably. It is in the widest sense to do with generality vs. particularity.
What is being asked is: Is this the case always? Or just in this one example?
Here there are rules to learn – clear and logical. But as usual, practice makes perfect.
Countable vs. uncountable:
We all know the difference between a countable and an uncountable noun. But it is not quite
so straightforward.
Here are some (only) countable nouns in the room around me as I write: computer, table,
chair, monitor, mobile phone, book, letter, file, window, lamp, picture, floor, box, television
and cup.
All those nouns take “s” in their plural form.
Here are some (only) uncountable nouns, some around me, some not: air, plastic, love, wood,
physics, medicine, milk, sugar, bread, jealousy, money, patience etc.
And then there are many words that can be either countable or uncountable, depending on the
context: chicken (I don’t eat chicken, chicken is on the menu), glass, ambition (Macbeth
suffered from too much ambition, I have two chief ambitions for the future), hope, fruit, paper,
television, cinema, radio etc.
The rules about articles depend on whether you are using a noun in a countable or uncountable
sense.
Specific vs. general:
A noun used in a specific sense means a noun that is describing one particular person, object,
emotion, etc. Give me the book means give me one particular book we both know about.
A noun used in a general sense means a noun which is describing a general situation that
applies to that noun. Students like to party and have fun makes a general statement about all
students. It is not referring to specific students.
The rules about articles also depend on whether you are using a noun in a specific or general
sense.
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So here are the rules:
A) THE
The article THE is used:
-
before any noun – whether countable or uncountable – used in a specific sense.
e.g. The love he felt for his parents was profound.
Note that love is an uncountable noun yet we use THE because it is used in a specific
sense.
e.g. The man was still waiting for me outside the bank because I owed him money.
Here man is a countable noun, and we have THE again because it is specific.
So you see THE goes with BOTH countable AND uncountable nouns.
b) A or AN
The article A or AN (before a vowel) is used:
-
before a countable noun in a general sense
e.g. A teacher needs patience.
This refers to all teachers, not just one individual.
-
before a countable noun in a non-specific sense.
e.g. Give me a cigarette
Here it means “any” cigarette, I have not specified any particular one, it doesn’t matter
which.
e.g. A man was waiting outside the bank. He soon identified himself. He was my wife’s
long-lost brother, by the name of James Dean.
Here this is the so-called first time of mention. As soon as we know who he is, he becomes
THE man.
So you see, A or AN are found ONLY with countable nouns. You never find it with
uncountable nouns, nor of course with nouns in the plural.
c) NO ARTICLE
What situations require no article? We do have several:
-
before uncountable nouns in a general sense
e.g. Patience and determination were his great strengths15.
-
before countable nouns in the plurals used in a general sense
e.g. Pop stars receive more attention than they perhaps deserve.
e.g. Football stars certainly earn more money than is good for them.
Both pop star and football star are countable nouns used here in a general sense. We are
making (critical) comments about all famous pop stars and footballers.
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“Strength” is another example of a word that can be either countable or uncountable, depending on context. e.g.
Roger Federer counts on his physical strength to win matches. And: You must build on your strengths.
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4. Indirect Speech
Indirect speech, also known as reported speech, is when we “report” what someone or we
ourselves said or wrote. It is putting direct speech (what was really said or written) into the
frame of a reporting sentence, giving it a certain distance.
Various changes have to be made to the original sentence for it to be grammatically correct.
We all use indirect speech all the time, telling one person what another person said. It is
part of the fabric of everyday speech, including gossip…
Indirect speech is also typically used by students for quoting. Look at these two sentences:
Rupert Shark-Finne: “I deny any knowledge of insider trading.” Yet his share dealing tell
another story.
Rupert Shark-Finne, Chief Executive of Predator Mining Inc., said he denied any
knowledge of insider trading yesterday. Yet his share dealing tell another story.
The second sentence is the first sentence rendered in indirect speech.
These are the rules to follow:
i) Always use a correct introductory verb of reporting; there are many, of which: say, claim,
report, deny, accept, assert, ask, inquire, tell, recount, admit, and concede are some of the most
common.
ii) Put the verb one tense “back”, like this using the above example:
“I deny …”
Rupert Shark-Finne said he denied …
“I will deny …”
Rupert Shark-Finne said he would deny …
“I have denied …”
Rupert Shark-Finne said he had denied …
“I denied …”
Rupert Shark-Finne said he had denied …
“I was denying …”
Rupert Shark-Finne said he had been denying …
BUT: note some tenses do not (cannot) change, e.g. would + infinitive, would have + past
participle, had + past participle etc. “I would have liked to travel to Africa some day.” is: He
said he would have liked to travel to Africa some day.
iii) Put time words or phrases one tense back, so to speak, hence:
today
becomes
that day
yesterday
becomes
the previous day, the day before
tomorrow
becomes
the next day, the following day
etc.
iv) Do not use inverted commas (quotation marks). These are only for direct speech, for the
very words that were said.
v) Change the word order as follows:
A question in the direct speech which is inverted word order, becomes the “regular” word
order.
e.g. Where do you live?
He asked me where I lived. (NOT where did I live)
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English Booklet
So here are some more examples, with the introductory verb in parentheses:
“What are you doing this evening?” (inquire into)
She inquired into what I was doing that evening.
“I like chocolate cake and cream.” (admit)
He admitted that he liked chocolate cake and cream.
“Will you come to the party tonight?” (ask)
She asked (me) if I would go to the party that night.
“Freedom comes at a cost.” (state)
Mandela stated that freedom came (or comes) at a cost.
“She is joining the African National Congress to try and change South African society for
the better.” (announce)
She announced that she was joining the African National Congress to try and change South
African society for the better.
“I have never cheated and never will.” (claim)
He claimed that he had never cheated and never would.
“I have never worked for the Secret Service.” (deny)
He denied ever having worked for the Secret Service.
(or: He denied that he had ever worked…)
Please note that the last example requires rewriting the original sentence to make use of the
word “deny” correctly, or rather most idiomatically (deny + -ing form of the verb).
Also, please note that in the example “freedom comes at a cost”, one can also leave the indirect
statement in the present simple tense because it is a general statement which remains true
(whether in a direct or indirect statement). Like this: “The sun sinks in the west.” He pointed
out that the sun sinks in the west (not: …the sun sank in the west).
Foreign students typically forget to change the word order back to the “regular” order (as
for affirmative sentences).
Right: He asked me where my native wit and easy charm came from. I said my father.
Wrong: He asked me from where came my native wit and easy charm. I said my father.
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English Booklet
5. Quantifiers
“Quantifiers” is a technical term for all words which are used in English to express quantity
in some shape or form. Like articles, this area requires understanding of the difference
between countable and uncountable nouns.
This is basic grammar but important, and often used wrongly.
1. Countable noun quantifiers
A few
Several
A number of
A large number of
A great number of
A majority of
Many
Not many
Here are some examples:
e.g. a few friends came for dinner
e.g. several hitmen were waiting to despatch the gangster
e.g. a number of reasons occur to end this relationship
e.g. a large number of football fans perished at Hillsborough in 1989
e.g. a great number of people came to the funeral to pay their tributes
e.g. a majority of Englishmen seem to want to leave the EU sooner or later
e.g. many will claim to have done that, few will have done so
e.g. not many people watch the films of Ingmar Bergman these days… I wonder why.
Few
Note the difference between “a few” and “few”. The addition – or dropping – of the article
“a” changes the meaning. “A few” means several, while “few” means not enough, less than
is good or right or healthy. Look at this typical example:
e.g. He has a few friends (several)
e.g. He has few friends (he is lonely or isolated, poor chap)
2. Uncountable noun quantifiers
A little
A bit of
A great deal of
A large amount of
Much
Not much
e.g. A little courage would go a long way in this situation.
e.g. He had a bit of chocolate but wouldn’t share it.
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English Booklet
e.g. A great deal of animosity16 resulted from that decision.
e.g. He consumed a large amount of vodka and could barely walk home.
e.g. Much is made of Mandela’s time in prison but his courage goes back much earlier in
his life.
e.g. Joanna offer you any support? Not much hope of that, I’m afraid!
Little
The same difference we saw with “few” goes for “a little” vs. “little”. Here we see:
e.g. He has a little intelligence which he puts to good use. (Not much but some)
e.g. He has little intelligence. (He is unintelligent, in fact “thick”17)
3. Quantifiers that go with both countable and uncountable nouns:
Some
A lot of
Lots of
Plenty of
e.g. Some protesters against the military regime were arrested for public disorder.
e.g. A lot of dissent within Burma itself goes unnoticed by the outside world due to the lack
of communication.
e.g. Lots of political prisoners in Burma look to Aung San Suu Kyi for moral and political
support.
e.g. He had plenty of ideas how to raise awareness for persecuted ethnic minorities in
Burma.
Don’t forget the comparative (more) and superlative (most) forms of important quantifiers:
Quantifier
16
17
comparative form
superlative form
many
more
most
much
more
most
few
fewer
fewest
little
less
least
A nice word meaning hostility.
A British word meaning stupid; dumb would be the American equivalent
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English Booklet
6. Word Order
Word order is quite simple and sensible in English though – as usual – one has to learn the
exceptions.
6A.) WORD ORDER IN DECLARATIVE STATEMENTS
1. Main rule
The first and foremost rule that should be imprinted on every student’s mind is:
SUBJECT - VERB - OBJECT
or simply:
S-V-O
e.g. Work gives his life meaning.
This rule is almost18 unshakeable. For example, if the sentence begins with a time phrase,
that has no effect on the S-V-O rule.
e.g. On Friday we went to Mr. Smythe’s lecture. He didn’t recognise us!
NOT On Friday went we...19
Note that by the subject, we mean not just a single word, but the subject noun or pronoun
plus descriptive phrases that go with it.
2. Indirect object rule
Remember on page 9 we learned about indirect objects? In word order, the direct object
comes before the indirect object:
e.g. I gave the book to my mother.
Here “book” is the direct object, “to my mother” the indirect object.
Exception: an indirect object without “to”
e.g. I gave the beggar some loose change.
3. Rule with verbs
In standard English usually nothing comes in between the subject and verb.
e.g I like you a lot.
18
Almost... See point 7.
…which would be the case in German, for example: Am Freitag habe ich den Vortrag von Herrn Smythe
besucht. No inversion of subject and verb in English here.
19
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English Booklet
4. Rule with verbs: exception
- with adverbs of frequency, however, this basic rule is “broken”:
e.g. I often run in the early morning.
e.g. She sometimes rings me when she is lonely.
5. Rule with verbs in several parts
Often the adverb comes between the two (or more) parts of a verb that has, for example, an
auxiliary verb and infinitive, or auxiliary verb with past participle.
e.g. I have often wished for an ocean-going yacht but the cost was always prohibitive.
e.g I have profoundly changed since discovering The Simpsons.
e.g. She will rarely admit the truth about her feelings for him.
or even:
e.g. She would seldom have been impressed by that kind of behaviour – she can’t stand
show-offs.
6. Words that have their own rules
These words are highly individualistic, they have their own rule: they usually come at the
end of a sentence:
o
o
o
o
as well
too
any more
yet (sometimes also between aux. verb and past participle)
e.g I like sushi as well
e.g. Bonhoeffer sacrificed the chance of family life, too
e.g. Mandela doesn’t make public appearances anymore.
e.g. Have you seen Aung San Suu Kyi yet?
7. Inversion for style
Look at these examples of inversion (switching words around in the sentence), usually for
stylistic effect. Do you feel ready to use them?
e.g. Never had he seen such a beautiful looking butterfly.
After “never” or “never before”, subject and verb are usually inverted.
e.g. Hardly had his soul departed his body, than his angel floated up into the ether20.
When a sentence starts with “hardly”, subject and verb must be inverted
e.g. Had I known young children were there, I’d never have taken my short-tempered
Alsatian with me.
Inversion occurs in unfulfilled hypothetical conditional structures when “if” is omitted.
20
Ether is a nice old word meaning the regions of space beyond the earth's atmosphere; the heavens.
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English Booklet
6B.) WORD ORDER IN QUESTIONS
1. Main rule
The main rule for word order in questions is
question word (if there is one) – auxiliary verb – subject – other verb
Which may be reduced to: Q – A – S – OV21
e.g. How do you do?
or
e.g. What do you do?
2. The subject rule
You don’t use the question word if you ask for the subject. In this case the question word
takes the place of the subject.
e.g. Who asked you? (You did!)
e.g. Where are you from? (I am from the North of England22.)
e.g. What works best? (Learning from dawn to dusk works best.)
Note in the last example that grammatically the phrase “learning from dawn to dusk” is the
subject; “learning” is a gerund which we shall learn about later.
3. The two-part verb rule
All verbs in English in questions have two or more parts, using “do” in the present simple
tense, for example:
e.g. Do you work?
e.g. Have you seen her?
e.g. Would the dog have helped to reduce her loneliness? (note: 3 parts here)
The ONLY exception to this rule is with the verb “to be” in certain tenses where there is
just one word:
e.g Are you the new teacher?
(NOT Do you be the new teacher?
e.g. Is Nelson Mandela still a political force in South Africa?
21
22
Not to easy to memorise, I admit, but think of Quasimodo.
I am, and it’s grand!
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)
English Booklet
e.g. Were you at the political meeting last night?
7. Conditionals
Conditionals seem more difficult than they really are. They are a way of expressing what may or
might be – under certain conditions. They are, if you like, the logical mind at work. We use
them all them, every time we use the word “if”, for example. There are three main types to
learn, plus some hybrid forms.
Do you know the phrase in English “on condition that…”? Here is an example: I will pay for
your driving lessons this summer on condition that you find a job for the next six weeks.
That is what this is all about – what might occur or not, and even more distantly, what might
have occurred in the past.
The following conjunctions are found with conditionals IF and WHENEVER.
The conditional clause can of course go before or after the main clause.
1. Conditional Type I
Use:
- to express what will happen under certain circumstances.
It is formed by:
Conditional clause in the present simple + main clause in the future tense with “will”, or
sometimes with a modal verb.
e.g. If you work hard, you will do well.
This is a prediction. This has an air of certainty to it.
e.g. Unless you change your attitude, you will continue to fight with your teachers.
This is another way of saying, “If you don’t change your attitude…”
e.g. The department will win the company bonus for profitability if it
cuts down on unnecessary costs.
Note here the conditional clause comes second.
or:
If you visit New York, you should see Ground Zero. It's amazing.
2. Conditional Type II
Use:
- to express would happen under certain circumstances, which are still possible but less likely
than in Conditional Type I.
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English Booklet
It is formed by:
Conditional clause in the simple past tense + main clause in the present conditional tense with
“would”, or sometimes with a modal verb.
e.g. If you worked hard, you would do well.
e.g. Unless you booked by internet, you would have difficulty getting a ticket.
3. Conditional Type III
Use:
- to express would have happened under certain circumstances, which are completely
hypothetical. The condition was not fulfilled. This type of conditional expresses such
situations as lost opportunities, regret etc.
It is formed by:
Conditional clause in the past perfect tense + main clause in the past conditional tense with
“would have” plus the past participle.
e.g If you had worked hard, you would have done well.
e.g. If we had married, we would have soon realised that we were not suited to one another.
So to sum up, here are the three main types with the same example:
- If I wait to buy an apartment, I will lose the chance to invest while prices are
quite low.
If I waited to buy an apartment, I would lose the chance to invest while prices are
quite low.
If I had waited to buy an apartment, I would have lost the chance to invest while
prices were quite low.
Sometimes we mix the conditionals. It depends on the sense. I call them hybrid conditionals.
4. Hybrid Conditionals
Look at these examples:
e.g. If I had won the lottery, I would be a racehorse owner by now.
...But I didn't win the lottery in the past so I am not.
e.g. If I had taken Spanish in high school, I would have more job opportunities.
...But I didn't take Spanish in high school so I don't have many job opportunities.
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English Booklet
e.g. If she had been born in the United Kingdom, she wouldn't need a visa to work there.
...But she wasn't born in the United kingdom so she does need a visa now to work here.
All three are examples of a hybrid of Cond. III and Cond. II.
Or here:
e.g. If Sam spoke Russian, he would have translated the letter for you.
But Sam doesn't speak Russian and that is why he didn't translate the letter.
This sentence combines Cond. I with Cond. II.
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English Booklet
8. The Passive Voice
The passive voice is often used in English – sometimes to avoid saying who did something,
sometimes because we don’t know who did something.
The passive turns the subject and verb around – it inverts the main clause and there are almost
philosophical aspects to this23.
All tenses are either in the active or passive voice.
e.g. I closed the shop at 6pm. The shop was closed at 6pm.
We interchange naturally depending on what we want to say:
We use the active voice when the subject is important, when we want to say who did something.
e.g. Hitler quickly assumed leadership of the Nazi party.
This sentence without the identity of Hitler would serve no purpose.
Sometime in the passive, the subject “by....” is written, sometimes not. It depends. And there
are sentences where it sounds clumsy if it is written.24
So when do we use the passive?
1. Four major uses of the passive voice:
i) when we don’t know the identity of the subject
e.g. The house was burgled last night (= we don’t know who did the burglary, the police have
not caught the thief)
ii) when we prefer not to reveal the identity of the subject for some reason
e.g. The young family was evicted from their home in the early hours of yesterday.
iii) for formal communication in which the organisation or company or authorities etc. matter,
not the individual concerned.
e.g. The decision to remove your licence has been made at the highest level.
iv) to describe processes or procedures of some kind.
e.g. Sugar is blended with wine over a pre-set period of time to create the delicious drink known
as champagne.
2. Forming the passive voice:
- make the subject the object
23
Occasionally the passive voice is used, it seems, to avoid stating an unpleasant truth. Interestingly, the historian
Daniel Goldhagen in his book Hitler’s Willing Executioners points out that the very sentence “Six million Jews
were murdered in the Holocaust” is, by its use of the passive voice, a problem. They were killed. But by whom?
Why is the subject almost always left out? Do we not know who killed the Jews? If we do, then why do we not state
as much in history books, in common English spoken all the time? (For Goldhagen, it was the Germans who
should be the subject, not just “the Nazis”, and certainly not just “the SS”.) Goldhagen is suggesting we are being
dishonest, even cowardly here – mass evasion of the unacceptable truth.
The great English writer George Orwell, for example, was against over-use of the passive voice on stylistic
grounds: “Never use the passive where you can use the active,” was his advice in the outstanding essay Politics and
the English Language (1946)
24
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English Booklet
-
only say who did the action if that is necessary or required
turn the verb into the verb to be (same tense as in the active voice)
add the past participle form
TABLE OF
ACTIVE
vs.
PASSIVE VOICE
Presentsimple
I build houses all the time.
Houses are built all the time.
Present
continuous
Present perfect
I am building houses in that part
of town.
I have built my own house.
Houses are being built in that part of
town.
My own house has been built.
Past Continuous
I was building a house
throughout that period.
I built three houses in that valley.
A house was being built throughout that
period.
Three houses were built in that valley.
Before I made my fortune, I had
built a small house in the woods.
I will build a house within five
years.
I will have built ten houses by
then.
Before my fortune was made, a small
house had been built in the woods.
Within five years a house will be built.
Simple past
Past Perfect
Future simple
Future perfect
Ten houses will have been built by
then.
You can see from these examples how the meaning of the sentence changes distinctly from the
same sentence in active to that in passive.
In the first column, it is like a report by the speaker on his achievement in building a house or
several houses.
In the second column, the passive voice, statements are made about the building of a house or
houses. However, whoever built the house remains unmentioned, because presumably that
information is unimportant.
And if one included that information by using “by me”, it would sound clumsy:
“My own house has been built by me,” sounds awful.
Note for several tenses you cannot form the passive voice:
The past perfect continuous
The present perfect continuous etc.
Note: you need to master the passive voice also because it is so commonly used in
English.
Look at these two sentences:
The department has been closed down to reduce personnel costs.
vs.
I have closed down the department to reduce personnel costs.
Why do you think we almost always find the first version in the business world, not the second?
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English Booklet
9a. Relative Clauses and Subordinate Clauses
Let’s remind ourselves what exactly a clause is: a group of words containing a subject and
predicate.
Beginning with the relative clause, the word relative will be linked, we can assume, to the verb
“to relate”. So the relative clause relates. To what though?
1. Main clause and relative clause.
The main clause tells us the main information about something.
e.g The lion generally hunts by night or in the early mornings.
The relative clause joins two clauses or gives us extra information which relates to that main
clause.
e.g. The lion, which is otherwise the most laid-back of animals, generally hunts by night or in
the early mornings.
Here we gain extra information from the relative clause. The term used in grammar is
“modify”. The relative clause modifies or alters slightly the main clause. The link between the
relative clause and what is being modified is called the relative pronoun.
In the above example the word “which” is the relative pronoun.
2. The relative pronoun.
Here are the most common relative pronouns in English. We need to get them right, and know
when to use them correctly.
Subject (nominative)
Object (accusative)
Genitive (of….)
who
whom
whose
which
which
which
that
that
that
Here are examples with the relative pronoun as the subject of the relative clause:
e.g. The man, who often goes jogging in the early morning, was not home when the police
called.
e.g. The student, who has improved the Student Council in many ways, has been hired by a
well-known consulting company.
Here are some examples where the relative pronoun is the object of the relative clause:
e.g. The dog, which I take for walks every morning, is now undergoing an operation.
e.g. The house, which we used to love so much, has changed in character beyond recognition.
And lastly, here some examples where the relative pronoun is in the genitive case (showing
possession) (see also end of section):
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English Booklet
e.g. The man whose house burned down was on a business trip at the time.
e.g. Dietrich Bonhoeffer, whose family was so renowned in his native Germany before the rise
of Hitler, was executed for nothing more than believing in freedom and the right to worship.
There are actually two types of relative clause: the defining, and the non-defining. Let's look at
them more closely.
3. The defining relative clause.
This kind of relative clause is “important” in the sense that the information it holds defines the
sentence, the meaning of it. Look at this:
e.g. She has a son who is a doctor.
If you said just “She has a son” that would not be enough to convey the meaning. The relative
clause defines the sentence, it is essential to the meaning of the sentence.
Features of the defining relative clause:
- no comma
- use “that” for things
More examples:
e.g. The man who stole my camera has been arrested. (here the relative pronoun is the subject
of the relative clause)
e.g. Take a suit that travels well.
e.g. I want the curry that John just ordered! . (here the relative pronoun is the object of the
relative clause)
In each case, I have underlined the relative clause.
Now look at this point in visual terms:
Both these men - doing the ironing! – are the same size.
So it is with the main and relative clause; they are both the same size in the sense that one is as
important as the other.
3. The non-defining relative clause.
Here the relative clause offers extra information. We could have the sentence without it, and
the sense would not be significantly altered.
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English Booklet
e.g. The house, which overlooked the cliff, was bought up by a wealthy entrepreneur.
e.g. My sister, who is a nurse, lives 45 minutes from London by train.
In each case, if you remove the relative clause (underlined) the fundamental meaning of the
sentence remains unchanged:
The house was bought up by a wealthy entrepreneur.
My sister lives 45 minutes from London by train.
Features of the non-defining relative clause:
-
must be framed with commas
use “which” with things, not “that”
More examples:
e.g. The company, which was once so famous, now exists only with state support.
e.g. The bank robber, who once declared he had invented the “perfect crime”, was found
literally with his hand in the till.
e.g. The teacher, who usually kept his temper, found himself snapping at students on that
unlucky day.
And now visually again:
As you can see the figure on the left – still doing the ironing25 – is bigger than the one on the
right. The figure to the left is the main sentence, the figure to the right is the non-defining
relative clause.
4. Relative clauses with prepositions
In modern English we usually put the preposition that is required with a relative pronoun at the
end of the clause. It depends on the style; we can put the preposition in front of the relative
pronoun in more formal style.
e.g. The girl I used to go out with is now married to David Cameron, the Prime Minister.
25
One of the most revealing ways of testing whether a household is really egalitarian – do the man and the
woman share household tasks? – is to ask who does the ironing. Another way, even more hard-core, is ask who
cleans the toilet...
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English Booklet
Notice here that the relative pronoun has been left out. You can do this when the relative
pronoun acts as an object.
NOT: The girl with whom I used to go out is now....
It sounds very old fashioned and clumsy.
Here are a range of examples. In the left column I have written the preposition concerned.
There are others too: I have taken some of the most common.
Those relative pronouns in parentheses can be left out.
Preposition
in
about
Example of sentence with relative clause
He walked into the house in which he was born.
I am glad to meet the man (whom) I have heard so much about.
(or:.... about whom I have heard so much. (more formal)
to
The conversation (that) I am referring to is the one about plagiarism that we had
last night.
(Note: two relative clauses in that sentence!)
on
She’s a person (whom) I wouldn’t rely on.
without
for
with
over
May I thank my father without whom none of this would have been possible.
(more formal)
Then there is her temper which we have her mother to blame for.
(or: Then there is her temper for which we have her mother to blame. (more
formal))
May I introduce David who I set the company up with.
(Or: ... with whom I set up the company. (more formal))
The hotel has a grand swimming pool over which a glass bridge stretches.
5. Whose
Finally, don’t forget “whose” which is the only relative pronoun that is the combination of a
relative pronoun – who – and a preposition – of.
“Whose” expresses possession or belonging to:
e.g. The girl whose father won the lottery has flown off to Australia for a long holiday26.
e.g. The man whose car was broken into has now reported the incident to the police.
Always remember the difference between “whose” and “who’s”:
Whose = relative pronoun expressing possession etc.
26
Where she doubtless burned thousands or more of pounds: lottery winners soon fritter away their sudden wealth.
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English Booklet
Who’s = the contraction of who is
9b. Subordinate Clauses
Like relative clauses, these are clauses or sentences which have special rules. They are always
introduced by the subordinating conjunctions.
Back to roots: what does the word “subordinate” mean? It means “lower”, like in the army:
e.g. Subordinates must always salute officers.
or: e.g. Your personal ambitions should be subordinate to the interests of the country as a
whole.
These are the subordinating conjunctions, 29 in all:
After
although
as
as soon as
because
before
by the time
even if
even though
every time
if
in case
in the event that
just in case
now that
once
only if
since
since
the first time
though
unless
until
when
whenever
whereas
whether or not
while
while
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English Booklet
All of them are as common as can be.
1. Relation to the main clause.
The main clause can stand on its own. The subordinate clause cannot. This is because it is
lower, or “subordinate”, to the main clause. See it like a child and a parent:
A child cannot live on her own, she needs an adult to look after her. An adult can look after
himself. And so it is with the subordinate and the main clauses.
e.g. He works at night. CORRECT – main clause
e.g. Because he works at night. WRONG
fragment”.
– subordinate clause, and known as a “sentence
e.g. Because he works at night, he finds it hard to have a proper family life. CORRECT –
subordinate clause followed by main clause.
2. Comma or no comma? That is the question.
Should there be a comma between the main clause and the subordinate clause? This depends
on which clause comes first.
If the sentence begins with the subordinate clause, then there must be a comma (as in this
sentence!).
e.g. If you like sushi, then London is the city to live in.
Here the sentence begins with the subordinate clause, and we must have a comma therefore
between the subordinate and main clause.
Usually when the subordinate clause follows the main clause, there is no comma.
e.g. I went for a drink while waiting for the plane to land.
No comma needed here.
3. Use of subordinate clauses
We use subordinate clauses to combine two ideas in a simple sentence.
e.g. I jumped on the tram. It began to rain.
...becomes: I jumped on the tram when it began to rain.
More on this topic later on...
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English Booklet
10. Modal Verbs
Modal verbs are verbs that express modality, which is a technical word to mean ability,
obligation, permission etc. Modal verbs are used all the time in English and are “auxiliary”
verbs, like “have” or “will”.
Usually formed by modal verb + base form; no “to”.
The best way to categorise, and learn, modal verbs is by dividing them up by what they express.
Here are the main categories:
1. Permission
2. Obligation
3. Likelihood
4. Ability
5. Recommendation
It may help to think in terms of the first letters = POLAR as in polar bear, or the polar region.
Let’s look at each one in turn.
1. Permission
Allowing someone to do something.
may .... e.g. May I leave the room? Yes. You may.
can ... e.g. Can I read your diary? Most certainly not!
(Allowed to e.g. Students are allowed to smoke in the rooms set aside for that purpose.)
2. Obligation
Being obliged or required to do something.
have to ... e.g. I have to make sure my mother is well looked after.
must ... e.g. I must remember to pick up the medication my sister needs.
should ... e.g. I should mark these essays; they are already late.
ought to ... e.g. I ought to ring my parents more often.
supposed to... e.g. I am supposed to make notes at this meeting, am I?
3. Likelihood
Expressing how probable something is.
may ... e.g. I may go to the party tonight.
might ... e.g. I might go to the party tonight (less likely than the first example)
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English Booklet
could ... e.g. I could turn up at the party; it depends on my mood.
4. Ability
Expressing one’s ability to do something.
can e.g. I can speak three languages.
able to e.g. I am able to balance a tennis ball and recite Shakespeare at the same time.
5. Recommendation (or advice)
Telling someone what you think they should do.
should ... e.g. Oh my gosh! You should see a doctor about that!
ought to ... e.g. We ought to recheck our house insurance after that break-in next door.
Modals in the past
So far, so good. When we get into the past tense, it gets a bit more tricky.
This table just needs to be learned:
Formulation
Expresses...
Example:
Must have + p.p.
Logical conclusion
She is never late usually. She must have
got lost.27
Should have / ought
to have + p.p.
Lost opportunity or an
event that cannot be
changed; a sense of regret
perhaps
I should have studied history. It is my
favourite subject after all.
Could have + p.p.
A possible event in the
past; one of several
possibilities
You could have told me!28
May have + p.p.
A possible explanation;
seeking to explain
something
She may have tried to ring us and had
no signal on her mobile phone up in the
mountains.
Might have + p.p.
Again a possible
explanation, though less
likely than “may have”
She might have tried to ring us...
Would have + p.p.
A situation conditional
upon something else... (if
she had been alive, she
would have wanted ...)
She would have wanted us to go.
p.p. = past participle
27
This is a case of “putting two and two together”, of inferring c from a and b. A is that she is never usually late,
b is that she is late now, and c is the conclusion drawn that some other reason unrelated to her reliable
character will have caused her lateness.
28
Here there is also a tone of reproach – the speaker is angry or at least hurt.
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English Booklet
SECTION B.
SENTENCE STRUCTURE
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English Booklet
Ba. SENTENCE STRUCTURE
As already discussed, sentences are built using the building blocks of the parts of the speech.
We shall now look at more complicated sentences, which you need to write to create interesting
work and successful essays.
Types of sentences:
1. A simple sentence.
This has one subject and one predicate (=verb) and is the simplest form of sentence.
e.g. He works for Bank Austria.
He is the subject, works is the predicate, and Bank Austria the (indirect) object.29
2. A compound sentence.
This kind of sentence has two independent clauses which are connected by a coordinating
conjunction (and, or etc)
e.g. George Orwell died of tuberculosis at the age of just 46, but his books live on.
Here we can see two clauses, one concerning the writer Orwell, with Orwell as the subject, the other
about his books, with the word books as the subject.
3. A complex sentence.
This consists of an independent clause and one or more dependent clauses.
29
Indirect because here the verb “to work” is used intransitively.
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English Booklet
Bb. SENTENCE STRUCTURE
The sentence structure has to be correct for a text to be literate. There are three main types of
faulty sentence structure that are commonly found.
1. Run-on sentence
2. Comma splice
3. Sentence fragment
We shall deal with each one in turn.
1. The run-on sentence.
A run-on sentence is one that ignores punctuation, just pretends it doesn’t exist. This is clearly
wrong. We need punctuation to give sense to the sentence.
e.g. We want to make a contribution to your institution we are very anxious to make a
difference would you prefer a regular amount donated every month or a lump sum?
…which should read:
We want to make a contribution to your institution. We are very anxious to make a difference.30
Would you prefer a regular amount donated every month or a lump sum?
Ways to solve a run-on sentence:
- the right punctuation (more on this later in the booklet)
- the right conjunction
e.g. We chose to buy that house it was near the main road but had all the space I needed for
setting up my new business, a sound studio.
...which should read:
We chose to buy that house although it was near the main road, as it had all the space I needed
for setting up my new business, a sound studio.
The right conjunctions have been underlined.
30
Even here, however, the style is a bit jerky or choppy, with the repeated “We” at the beginning of each
sentence. Try: We want to make a contribution to your institution, as we are very anxious to make a
difference.”
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English Booklet
2. The comma splice.
The comma splice is essentially a sentence in which the comma is used wrongly. Commas have
particular uses but they are not meant to separate two main clauses. Look at this sentence:
e.g. We went for a walk last night, the air was cool and towards the end, rain fell lightly.
This is wrong because it has two main clauses which cannot be separated by a comma.
To correct the comma splice (to splice means to join something, so it means joining two clauses
with a comma – wrongly), there are again two possible solutions:
-
the right punctuation
the right conjunction
Let’s rework the example above:
Either:
We went for a walk last night. The air was cool and towards the end, rain fell lightly.
...which is simply putting the full stop between the two main clauses.
Or:
When we went for a walk last night, the air was cool and towards the end, rain fell lightly.
...which is simply a case of putting the right conjunction at the start of the sentence.
3. The sentence fragment.
We already learned about the subordinate clause, which is defined as such by the subordinate
conjunction that starts it.
The sentence fragment is when there is, literally, only a part or a fragment of a sentence. It is
not complete. Just as we can have a fragment of a vase, say, so we can have a fragment of a
sentence. It needs to be completed, as does the vase.
Here are examples of sentence fragments:
e.g. Because I love you.31
e.g. Charlie showed maturity beyond his years. Such as giving tips to younger players.
31
This is nice, but incomplete. What is the speaker going to say?
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English Booklet
e.g. Frank exemplified this fine behaviour by encouraging others to stand up against the
heartless authorities. Insisting on seeing that the child in need was given proper medical
treatment.
e.g. The new legislation ignores the rights of ethnic minorities. Which is why we believe it is
undemocratic and needs redrafting.
Ways to correct sentence fragments:
-
Correct the punctuation.
This could just mean changing the full stop to a comma:
Frank exemplified this fine behaviour by encouraging others to stand up against the
heartless authorities, insisting on seeing that the child in need was given proper medical
treatment.
-
Add the right conjunction.
Please note that journalists often use a dependent clause for emphasis.
e.g. Usain Bolt said he was “looking to move fast in the finals tomorrow.” Which is putting it
mildly.
The journalist wants to emphasise that the sprinter Bolt is the fastest in the world, that he moves
more than just “fast”.
But in academic writing, you should avoid this kind of style.
ALL THESE THREE KINDS OF FAULTY SENTENCE STRUCTURE MUST BE
AVOIDED. WRITE SENTENCES GRAMMATICAL BASED ON THE
SUBJECT – VERB – OBJECT
MODEL...
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English Booklet
SECTION C.
SPELLING
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English Booklet
C. SPELLING
In English the spelling is often inconsistent, irregular. There are historical reasons for this, going
right back to earliest days of English history32, including the fact that French came with the
Norman33 Invasion of 1066 giving us many French words that were spelled in the French way34.
There are rules in spelling that we must learn. And there are many words that simply have to be
learned without obeying any rule.
Unfortunately, the surest rule is: no rule is without an exception.
4 important rules for spelling:
1. Doubling the final consonant.
You need to double a final single consonant before a suffix35 beginning with a vowel
when both of these conditions exist:
(a) a single vowel precedes the consonant;
(b) the consonant ends an accented syllable or a one-syllable word.
e.g. to hop becomes
He was hopping mad (= very angry)
e.g. to admit becomes
He admitted he was wrong.
e.g. to submit becomes
He submitted a false tax return.
Exceptions:
2. Dropping the final E.
You need to drop the final e before a suffix beginning with a vowel (a, e, i, o, u) but not before a
suffix beginning with a consonant.
e.g. to guide becomes
32
To quote Dr. Suzanne Kemmer of Rice University: “If there was ever consistency at the start of the use of the Roman
alphabet for representing Anglo-Saxon, it began to lessen immediately. The novelty of the alphabetic system as a technology, the
lack of fixed norms for written representations, and the changes over time of the language were all forces that led to greater
divergence of the written forms from the spoken string. Add to that dialect variation: Some of the scribes came from
outside Wessex, and even when they tried to write so as to approximate Wessex sounds, their own local
pronunciations often affected the characters they wrote.” Source:
http://www.ruf.rice.edu/~kemmer/Histengl/spelling.html Access the link to read a fascinating essay on the origins
of the English language.
The Normans, ironically, were of Viking origin.
E.g. chef meaning cook, spelt with “ch” as in French, but pronounced in English with the “sh” sound.
Reminder: a suffix is an ending on a word, e.g. conversation. Here the suffix is “-tion” which indicates a noun.
33
34
35
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English Booklet
he was guiding her through the steps to become a professional accountant
e.g. to hope becomes
I was hoping to inherit some money from my Auntie Agatha
but:
entire changes to
entirely (keeps the “e” because the suffix begins with “l”, a consonant
Exceptions:
3. I before E.
We have a saying in English, “i before e, except after c” which is easy to memorise.
Classic examples include:
e.g. to deceive
e.g. to receive
while we write:
e.g. to achieve (the letter i here follows h not c)
Exceptions:
4. Changing a final Y to I.
You need to change a final y to i before a suffix, unless the suffix begins with i.
e.g. try becomes
He was trying his best.
e.g. pity becomes
pitiful
but:
e.g. try turns to
trying (the suffix begins with i)
Exceptions:
Tip:
Even more useful than learning these rules (which you should definitely learn) is to keep a
notebook with words you write down that you tend to spell wrongly. This way you can
constantly refer back to the notebook and slowly the right spelling will “sink in”.
I have compiled a long list of words that are often misspelt, to be found in the appendix.
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English Booklet
SECTION D.
PUNCTUATION
48
English Booklet
D. PUNCTUATION
To “punctuate” means to interrupt or break up. And this is indeed what punctuation does, it
breaks up sentences or phrases. As with so many points of grammar covered in this booklet, it
does so to convey meaning.
Without punctuation, a sentence runs on without end, and the reader is confused. The reader
will have to start guessing where thoughts begin and end, and that hinders effective
communication.
In terms of sound, punctuation (especially the comma, full stop, dash and semi-colon)
represents the pause as we use it in speech.
All punctuation is easy to understand and use in English, with the exception perhaps of the
comma.
Here are the various types of punctuation, and what they look like. You need to
know these terms, all nine of them.
1. The full stop
2. The comma
3. The colon
4. The semi-colon
5. The question mark
6. The exclamation mark
7. Inverted commas or quotation marks
8. The apostrophe
9. The dash or hyphen
.
,
:
;
?
!
“ ”
’
-
1. The full stop or period (American English).
This is the easiest of all. It ends a sentence.
e.g. The owl hunts nocturnally36.
It also is found at the end of abbreviations.
2. The comma.
The comma is the one item of punctuation that is a little more tricky.
36
This adverb means “at night”.
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English Booklet
Here are the six most important uses:
a) To separate items in a series.
e.g. I like curry, sushi, hamburgers, shepherd’s pie and Wiener Schnitzel. But not all together!
b) Between independent clauses joined by a coordinating conjunction (and, but etc.)
e.g. She spoke to the human resources staff, and he spoke to the marketing staff.
c) To separate a dependent clause at the beginning of a sentence from an independent clause
e.g. Because we tried so hard, it was all the more disappointing when the experiment failed.
d) We use a comma after an introductory phrase or word
e.g. Working from home, he amassed a small fortune investing in Brazilian hardwood.
Though the comma is often left out with short introductory phrases
e.g. After December 21st no more orders are taken for Christmas pudding.
e) Paired commas are used to set off non-defining clauses and phrases. (A defining clause is one
that cannot be omitted without changing the meaning of the main clause, a non-defining clause
is one that just gives additional information)
e.g. The Huffington Post website, which is owned and run by Arianna Huffington, has become
America’s most popular political site.
f) Generally, use a comma when it is needed to avoid confusion or an unintended meaning.
e.g. Eats shoots and leaves.
e.g. Eats, shoots and leaves.37
Can you guess what the difference in meaning is between these two phrases?
3. The colon.
a) The colon, which looks like this : , is used for introducing text which explains or illustrates
what came before.
e.g. James Bond was always a fantasy figure: even in the 1950s, when he was created, he
represented an impossibly successful and heroic figure.
b) In American business letters, the colon is also found after the salutation.
e.g. Dear Mr Smythe:
We have repeatedly asked you not to play music too loud after 10 p.m. However, … etc.
4. The semi-colon.
a) The semi-colon is used to separate two related main clauses.
37
This is a famous example – not my own – with two radically different meanings hinted at.
50
English Booklet
e.g. He worked on the painting all night; the next morning, short on sleep but high on
inspiration, he took up his brush again.
b) Also, we use the semi-colon to separate independent clauses when the second one starts with
a conjunctive adverb such as therefore, however, or nevertheless.
e.g. His work was clearly his own; however, the poor grammar pulled his grade down.
5. The question mark.
The question mark follows a direct question.
e.g. Do you like sushi?
e.g. Has she seen the latest Bond movie?
e.g. Did Nelson Mandela ever doubt his choice of career?
No question mark after an indirect question.
e.g. He asked me why I had taken so long to reply to his hostile email.
(Original question : Why did you take so long to reply to my email?)
6. The exclamation mark.
The exclamation mark is used after emotional language or interjections, see p.
e.g. Crikey! He’s as dull as dishwater!
As you are writing academic texts, you will have little cause to use the exclamation mark, I
presume.
7. Inverted commas or quotation marks.
Quotation marks are used to surround words that repeated exactly as they were said.38
e.g. He said that John was a “disaster waiting to happen.”
a) Position of quotation marks:
- surprisingly, full stops and commas go inside the quotation marks.
e.g. He mentioned that the city was “full of spies and spivs.”39
Yet colons and semi-colons go outside the quotation marks.
e.g. He claimed that the city was “buzzing with life”; what I saw contradicted that starkly.
8. The apostrophe.
The apostrophe is used to express possession or (grammatically) the genitive case. It stands for
the preposition “of”.
e.g. Ann’s mother has passed away.
e.g. The school’s reputation has gone from strength to strength.
We use the apostrophe after proper nouns (names) and for people and institutions. Anything
more abstract calls for “of”.
e.g. The dawn of civilisation was long in coming, and happened in different places on earth at
different times.
a) Before or after the s?
We put the apostrophe before the s if the noun is singular.
38
39
Verbatim, as we say.
A spiv is an untrustworthy character who is trying to do something illegal for personal gain.
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English Booklet
e.g. The student’s essays were poor.
But the apostrophe comes after the s if the noun is plural.
e.g. The students’ essays were poor.
The first example refers to one student only, while the second example refers to a number of
students (we don’t exactly how many, but we know there is more than one). So the placing of
the apostrophe changes the meaning.
9. The dash and the hyphen.
We use the dash when we wish to surround a comment that indicates a sudden turn of thought.
e.g. The company – what a year it has been for all concerned! – has closed down, restarted
operations, and closed down again, all within seven months.
The hyphen is rather different to the dash. The hyphen is used mostly to separate the two parts
of a compound noun.
e.g. Self-confidence is a pre-requisite for effective leadership. (Two hyphens in that example.)
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English Booklet
SECTION E.
CLASSIC ESL TROUBLE SPOTS
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English Booklet
ESL TROUBLE SPOTS
There are just certain mistakes that turn up again and again when non-native speakers write
English.
These are mistakes that need consciously to be corrected, as they often come from aspects of
the student’s own language., e.g. if the first language has no articles, then the student may well
have problems with this area.
Remember: do not translate literally from your own language! It doesn’t work.
Much better to read English a lot and spend time around English speakers to develop a fine
sense of what is really the language spoken and written by the “natives”.
Here are ten real “clangers”40.
1. Subject verb agreement (SVA).
Every verb must agree with the subject. This is an absolute principle of grammar.
Classic errors:
e.g. He work for a bank.
e.g. She like coffee occasionally.
should be… He works for a bank.
should be… She likes coffee occasionally.
2. Articles that are wrong.
Typically non-native writers make one of two article errors:
a) They don’t use any article at all when they should, especially forgetting to use “a” or “the”
with a countable noun in the singular.
e.g. Writer shows us a world of corruption and intrigue.
us a world of corruption and intrigue.
should be… The writer shows
The writer because we are writing about one particular writer, and the article “the” is needed to
express that.
b) They confuse “a” and “the”, mixing them up.
Remember: “a” is for
- Countable nouns used in a non-specific way, e.g. Show me a way out of this place.
- Countable nouns used in a general way, e.g. A teacher must always look for new methods
of teaching to keep fresh and interesting.
And remember: “the” is for
- Nouns (whether countable or uncountable) used in a specific sense, e.g. The best fencer in
the world comes from Japan at present.
- To express a type, species of animal etc., e.g. The tiger is a natural swimmer or The Jaguar
is the world’s classiest executive car.
40
A clanger is a glaring mistake, a blunder, also known as a “blooper” or a “howler”. Many teachers even keep
a notebook with clangers in it, for their own amusement. (I don’t.)
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English Booklet
3. Auxiliary and main verbs that don’t match.
e.g. We will making this a better country.
should be….We will make this etc.
e.g. There is nothing in the world that TV has not deal with.
in the world that TV has not dealt with.
should be…. There is nothing
e.g. Did the landlord told you that he’s going to find new tenants?
landlord tell you… etc.
should be…. Did the
4. Mixing up conditionals.
Conditionals need to be learned; they are not so obvious.41
e.g. If I work hard, I would earn more money.
should be… If I worked hard, etc.
5. Pronoun soup.42
This is when pronouns are mixed up in a way that the reader does not really know which
pronoun belongs to which noun, and so must make a guess.
e.g. John told Frank to leave the room, otherwise he would do so. Later he did leave the room
and he was upset.
(Who left the room and who was upset?)
Cure this problem either by repeating the name or re-arranging the word order / re-writing the
sentence to make it clearer. So two possible ways to correct the above example:
John told Frank to leave the room, otherwise he would do so. Later Frank did leave the room
as he was upset.
Or: John told Frank to leave the room, otherwise he would do so. Later when Frank got upset,
he left the room.
6. Double negatives.
This may be a popular slang way of speaking that appears in pop songs etc., but it is incorrect
English.
e.g. I don’t know nothing.
Should be…
I don’t know anything.
Or: I know nothing.
7. Omissions and repetitions.
Often words are left out or repeated unnecessarily. Take care!
e.g. In this city is difficult to find a high-paying job.
Should be
In this city it is difficult to find a high-paying job.
41
42
One simple rule to remember: No “would” with “if”.
This is my name for it. It comes from “alphabet soup” which is given to children.
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English Booklet
Or even more frequent:
The president he is the most popular leader in my country.
Here the subject is repeated, “president” followed by “he”.
Just leave out the word “he” to correct this sentence.
8. Mixing up parts of speech.
Quite often students mix up parts of speech, e.g. adjectives with adverbs, or nouns with
adjectives, or adjectives which are close visually, but very different in meaning. Again, be careful!
e.g. The meeting last night was very interested.
should be…
e.g. The meeting last night was very interesting.
9. Over-doing the comparative.
Many times students “double” the comparative by writing more and then the comparative form
of the adjective. Unnecessary!
e.g. He was more cleverer than me.
should be…
e.g. He was cleverer than me.
56