Download Forms of Nouns

Nouns
In love with nouns? We also have sections on
Plural forms of nouns
Possessive forms of nouns
An exercise in recognizing nouns
Count versus non-count nouns
An exercise in categorizing count- and non-count nouns
Compound nouns (and adjectives)
Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens
Bright copper kettles and warm woolen mittens
Brown paper packages tied up with strings
These are a few of my favorite nouns
Cream colored ponies and crisp apple streudels
Doorbells and sleigh bells and schnitzel with noodles
Wild geese that fly with the moon on their wings
These are a few of my favorite nouns
Girls in white dresses with blue satin sashes
Snowflakes that stay on my nose and eyelashes
Silver white winters that melt into springs
These are a few of my favorite nouns
When the dog bites
When the bee stings
When I'm feeling sad
I simply remember my favorite nouns
And then I don't feel so bad.
Apologies to Oscar Hammerstein II,
lyricist of "My Favorite Things"
from The Sound of Music
Definition
A noun is the name of a person, place, thing, or idea. Whatever exists, we assume, can be named, and that name is a
noun. A proper noun, which names a specific person, place, or thing (Carlos, Queen Marguerite, Middle East,
Jerusalem, Malaysia, Presbyterianism, God, Spanish, Buddhism, the Republican Party), is almost always capitalized. A
proper noun used as an addressed person's name is called a noun of address. Common nouns name everything else,
things that usually are not capitalized.
A group of related words can act as a single noun-like entity within a sentence. A Noun Clause contains a subject and
verb and can do anything that a noun can do:
What he does for this town is a blessing.
A Noun Phrase, frequently a noun accompanied by modifiers, is a group of related words acting as a noun: the oil
depletion allowance; the abnormal, hideously enlarged nose.
There is a separate section on word combinations that become Compound Nouns — such as daughter-in-law, halfmoon, and stick-in-the-mud.
Categories of Nouns
Nouns can be classified further as count nouns, which name anything that can be counted (four books, two continents,
a few dishes, a dozen buildings); mass nouns (or non-count nouns), which name something that can't be counted
(water, air, energy, blood); and collective nouns, which can take a singular form but are composed of more than one
individual person or items (jury, team, class, committee, herd). We should note that some words can be either a count
noun or a non-count noun depending on how they're being used in a sentence:
a.
b.
c.
d.
He got into trouble. (non-count)
He had many troubles. (countable)
Experience (non-count) is the best teacher.
We had many exciting experiences (countable) in college.
Whether these words are count or non-count will determine whether they can be used with articles and determiners or
not. (We would not write "He got into the troubles," but we could write about "The troubles of Ireland."
Some texts will include the category of abstract nouns, by which we mean the kind of word that is not tangible, such
as warmth, justice, grief, and peace. Abstract nouns are sometimes troublesome for non-native writers because they can
appear with determiners or without: "Peace settled over the countryside." "The skirmish disrupted the peace that had
settled over the countryside." See the section on Plurals for additional help with collective nouns, words that can be
singular or plural, depending on context.
Forms of Nouns
Nouns can be in the subjective, possessive, and objective case. The word case defines the role of the noun in the
sentence. Is it a subject, an object, or does it show possession?



The English professor [subject] is tall.
He chose the English professor [object].
The English professor's [possessive] car is green.
Nouns in the subject and object role are identical in form; nouns that show the possessive, however, take a different
form. Usually an apostrophe is added followed by the letter s (except for plurals, which take the plural "-s" ending first,
and then add the apostrophe). See the section on Possessives for help with possessive forms. There is also a table
outlining the cases of nouns and pronouns.
Almost all nouns change form when they become plural, usually with the simple addition of an -s or -es. Unfortunately,
it's not always that easy, and a separate section on Plurals offers advice on the formation of plural noun forms.
Assaying for Nouns*
Back in the gold rush days, every little town in the American Old West had an assayer's office, a place where wild-eyed
prospectors could take their bags of ore for official testing, to make sure the shiny stuff they'd found was the real thing,
not "fool's gold." We offer here some assay tests for nouns. There are two kinds of tests: formal and functional — what
a word looks like (the endings it takes) and how a word behaves in a sentence.


Formal Tests
1. Does the word contain a noun-making morpheme? organization, misconception, weirdness, statehood,
government, democracy, philistinism, realtor, tenacity, violinist
2. Can the word take a plural-making morpheme? pencils, boxes
3. Can the word take a possessive-making morpheme? today's, boys'
Function Tests
4.
5.
Without modifiers, can the word directly follow an article and create a grammatical unit (subject,
object, etc.)? the state, an apple, a crate
Can it fill the slot in the following sentence: "(The) _________ seem(s) all right." (or substitute other
predicates such as unacceptable, short, dark, depending on the word's meaning)?
Testing the Tests:
With most nouns, the test is clear. "State," for example, can be a plural ("states"), become a possessive ("state's"),
follow an article ("a/the state"), and fit in the slot ("the state seems all right"). It doesn't have a noun-making morpheme,
but it passes all the other tests; it can pass as a noun. (The fact that "state" can also be a verb — "We state our case" —
is not relevant.) "Greyness" cannot take plural ending nor can it be possessive, but it does contain a noun-making
morphene and it can follow an article and fit in the slot sentence. Can the word "grey," which is obviously also an
adjective, be a noun? It's hard to imagine it passing any of the formal tests, but it can follow an article and fill the slot:
"The grey seems acceptable." And what about "running," which is often part of a verb (He is running for office)? Again,
it won't pass the formal tests, but it will fit the slot sentence: "Running is all right." (It can also follow an article, but in
rather an odd way: "The running is about to begin.") "Grey" and "running" are nouns, but just barely: one is an adjective
acting like a noun, and the other is a verb acting like a noun (a gerund).
Additional Help With Nouns
A simple exercise in Naming Nouns will help answer any questions you might have about count and non-count nouns
and help you distinguish between plural and singular forms.
The categories of count and non-count nouns can be confusing, however, and we suggest further review, especially for
writers for whom English is a second language. The second section we offer is called Count and Non-Count, a basic
review of those concepts and their uses in sentences, with many examples. Third, we offer WORKING WITH
NOUNS, a more extensive (and somewhat more advanced) review of the count and non-count distinction, along with
exercises. Finally, just when you thought you couldn't stand such riches, we suggest you review the uses of Articles,
Determiners, and Quantifiers with count and non-count nouns.
Pronouns
Definition
Generally (but not always) pronouns stand for (pro + noun) or refer to a noun, an individual or individuals or thing or
things (the pronoun's antecedent) whose identity is made clear earlier in the text. For instance, we are bewildered by
writers who claim something like

They say that eating beef is bad for you.
They is a pronoun referring to someone, but who are they? Cows? whom do they represent? Sloppy use of pronouns is
unfair.
Not all pronouns will refer to an antecedent, however.

Everyone here earns over a thousand dollars a day.
The word "everyone" has no antecedent.
The problem of agreement between a pronoun and its antecedent and between a pronoun and its verb is treated in
another section on Pronoun-Antecedent Consistency. The quizzes on pronoun usage are also listed at the end of that
section.
This section will list and briefly describe the several kinds of pronouns.
KINDS OF PRONOUNS: Personal || Demonstrative || Indefinite || Relative ||
Reflexive || Intensive || Interrogative || Reciprocal
Personal Pronouns
Unlike English nouns, which usually do not change form except for the addition of an -s ending to create the plural or
the apostrophe + s to create the possessive, personal pronouns (which stand for persons or things) change form
according to their various uses within a sentence. Thus I is used as the subject of a sentence (I am happy.), me is used as
an object in various ways (He hit me. He gave me a book. Do this for me.), and my is used as the possessive form
(That's my car.) The same is true of the other personal pronouns: the singular you and he/she/it and the plural we, you,
and they. These forms are called cases. An easily printable chart is available that shows the various Cases of the
Personal Pronouns.
Personal pronouns can also be characterized or distinguished by person. First person refers to the speaker(s) or writer(s)
("I" for singular, "we" for plural). Second person refers to the person or people being spoken or written to ("you" for
both singular and plural). Third person refers to the person or people being spoken or written about ("he," "she," and "it"
for singular, "they" for plural). The person of a pronoun is also demonstrated in the chart Cases of the Personal
Pronouns. As you will see there, each person can change form, reflecting its use within a sentence. Thus, "I" becomes
"me" when used as an object ("She left me") and "my" when used in its possessive role (That's my car"); "they"
becomes "them" in object form ("I like them") and "their" in possessive ("That's just their way").
When a personal pronoun is connected by a conjunction to another noun or pronoun, its case does not change. We
would write "I am taking a course in Asian history"; if Talitha is also taking that course, we would write "Talitha and I
are taking a course in Asian history." (Notice that Talitha gets listed before "I" does. This is one of the few ways in
which English is a "polite" language.) The same is true when the object form is called for: "Professor Vendetti gave all
her books to me"; if Talitha also received some books, we'd write "Professor Vendetti gave all her books to Talitha and
me." For more on this, see cases of pronouns.
If one is interested in the uses of one as a numerical and impersonal pronoun, one should click the enter button.
When a pronoun and a noun are combined (which will happen with the plural first- and second-person pronouns),
choose the case of the pronoun that would be appropriate if the noun were not there.


We students are demanding that the administration give us two hours for lunch.
The administration has managed to put us students in a bad situation.
With the second person, we don't really have a problem because the subject form is the same as the object form, "you":


"You students are demanding too much."
"We expect you students to behave like adults."
Among the possessive pronoun forms, there is also what is called the nominative possessive: mine, yours, ours, theirs.



Look at those cars. Theirs is really ugly; ours is beautiful.
This new car is mine.
Mine is newer than yours.
Demonstrative Pronouns
The family of demonstratives (this/that/these/those/such) can behave either as pronouns or as determiners.
As pronouns, they identify or point to nouns.



That is incredible! (referring to something you just saw)
I will never forget this. (referring to a recent experience)
Such is my belief. (referring to an explanation just made)
As determiners, the demonstratives adjectivally modify a noun that follows. A sense of relative distance (in time and
space) can be conveyed through the choice of these pronouns/determiners:




These [pancakes sitting here now on my plate] are delicious.
Those [pancakes that I had yesterday morning] were even better.
This [book in my hand] is well written;
that [book that I'm pointing to, over there, on the table] is trash.
A sense of emotional distance or even disdain can be conveyed with the demonstrative pronouns:


You're going to wear these?
This is the best you can do?
Pronouns used in this way would receive special stress in a spoken sentence.
When used as subjects, the demonstratives, in either singular or plural form, can be used to refer to objects as well as
persons.


This is my father.
That is my book.
In other roles, however, the reference of demonstratives is non-personal. In other words, when referring to students, say,
we could write "Those were loitering near the entrance during the fire drill" (as long as it is perfectly clear in context
what "those" refers to). But we would not write "The principal suspended those for two days"; instead, we would have
to use "those" as a determiner and write "The principal suspended those students for two days."
Relative Pronouns
The relative pronouns (who/whoever/which/that) relate groups of words to nouns or other pronouns (The student who
studies hardest usually does the best.). The word who connects or relates the subject, student, to the verb within the
dependent clause (studies). Choosing correctly between which and that and between who and whom leads to what are
probably the most Frequently Asked Questions about English grammar. For help with which/that, refer to the
Notorious Confusables article on those words (including the hyperlink to Michael Quinion's article on this usage and
the links to relevant quizzes). Generally, we use "which" to introduce clauses that are parenthetical in nature (i.e., that
can be removed from the sentence without changing the essential meaning of the sentence). For that reason, a "which
clause" is often set off with a comma or a pair of commas. "That clauses," on the other hand, are usually deemed
indispensable for the meaning of a sentence and are not set off with commas. The pronoun which refers to things; who
(and its forms) refers to people; that usually refers to things, but it can also refer to people in a general kind of way. For
help with who/whom refer to the section on Consistency. We also recommend that you take the quizzes on the use of
who and whom at the end of that section.
The expanded form of the relative pronouns — whoever, whomever, whatever — are known as indefinite relative
pronouns. A couple of sample sentences should suffice to demonstrate why they are called "indefinite":



The coach will select whomever he pleases.
He seemed to say whatever came to mind.
Whoever crosses this line first will win the race.
What is often an indefinite relative pronoun:

She will tell you what you need to know.
Indefinite Pronouns
The indefinite pronouns (everybody/anybody/somebody/all/each/every/some/none/one) do not substitute for specific
nouns but function themselves as nouns (Everyone is wondering if any is left.)
One of the chief difficulties we have with the indefinite pronouns lies in the fact that "everybody" feels as though it
refers to more than one person, but it takes a singular verb. (Everybody is accounted for.) If you think of this word as
meaning "every single body," the confusion usually disappears. The indefinite pronoun none can be either singular or
plural, depending on its context. None is nearly always plural (meaning "not any") except when something else in the
sentence makes us regard it as a singular (meaning "not one"), as in "None of the food is fresh." Some can be singular or
plural depending on whether it refers to something countable or noncountable. Refer to the section on Pronoun
Consistency for help on determining the number of the indefinite pronouns (and the number [singular/plural] of the
verbs that accompany them). There is a separate section on the uses of the pronoun one.
There are other indefinite pronouns, words that double as Determiners:
enough, few, fewer, less, little, many, much, several, more, most, all, both, every, each, any, either, neither, none, some


Few will be chosen; fewer will finish.
Little is expected.
See the section on Pronoun Consistency for help in determining the number (singular/plural) characteristics of these
pronouns.
Intensive Pronouns
The intensive pronouns (such as myself, yourself, herself, ourselves, themselves) consist of a personal pronoun plus self
or selves and emphasize a noun. (I myself don't know the answer.) It is possible (but rather unusual) for an intensive
pronoun to precede the noun it refers to. (Myself, I don't believe a word he says.)
Reflexive Pronouns
The reflexive pronouns (which have the same forms as the intensive pronouns) indicate that the sentence subject also
receives the action of the verb. (Students who cheat on this quiz are only hurting themselves. You paid yourself a
million dollars? She encouraged herself to do well.) What this means is that whenever there is a reflexive pronoun in a
sentence there must be a person to whom that pronoun can "reflect." In other words, the sentence "Please hand that
book to myself" would be incorrect because there is no "I" in that sentence for the "myself" to reflect to (and we would
use "me" instead of "myself"). A sentence such as "I gave that book to myself for Christmas" might be silly, but it
would be correct.
Be alert to a tendency to use reflexive pronoun forms (ending in -self) where they are neither appropriate nor necessary.
The inappropriate reflexive form has a wonderful name: the untriggered reflexive. "Myself" tends to sound weightier,
more formal, than little ol' me or I, so it has a way of sneaking into sentences where it doesn't belong.



Bob and myself I are responsible for this decision.
These decisions will be made by myself me.
If you have any questions, please contact myself me or Bob Jones.
When pronouns are combined, the reflexive will take either the first person

Juanita, Carlos, and I have deceived ourselves into believing in my uncle.
or, when there is no first person, the second person:

You and Carlos have deceived yourselves.
The indefinite pronoun (see above) one has its own reflexive form ("One must have faith in oneself."), but the other
indefinite pronouns use either himself or themselves as reflexives. (There is an entire page on the pronoun one.) It is
probably better to pluralize and avoid the clumsy himself or herself construction.


No one here can blame himself or herself.
The people here cannot blame themselves.
Interrogative Pronouns
The interrogative pronouns (who/which/what) introduce questions. (What is that? Who will help me? Which do you
prefer?) Which is generally used with more specific reference than what? If we're taking a quiz and I ask "Which
questions give you the most trouble?", I am referring to specific questions on that quiz. If I ask "What questions give
you most trouble"? I could be asking what kind of questions on that quiz (or what kind of question, generically, in
general) gives you trouble. The interrogative pronouns also act as Determiners: It doesn't matter which beer you buy.
He doesn't know whose car he hit. In this determiner role, they are sometimes called interrogative adjectives.
Like the relative pronouns, the interrogative pronouns introduce noun clauses, and like the relative pronouns, the
interrogative pronouns play a subject role in the clauses they introduce:


We know who is guilty of this crime.
I already told the detective what I know about it.
Reciprocal Pronouns
The reciprocal pronouns are each other and one another. They are convenient forms for combining ideas. If Bob gave
Alicia a book for Christmas and Alicia gave Bob a book for Christmas, we can say that they gave each other books (or
that they gave books to each other).

My mother and I give each other a hard time.
If more than two people are involved (let's say a whole book club), we would say that they gave one another books.
This rule (if it is one) should be applied circumspectly. It's quite possible for the exchange of books within this book
club, for example, to be between individuals, making "each other" just as appropriate as "one another."
Reciprocal pronouns can also take possessive forms:


They borrowed each other's ideas.
The scientists in this lab often use one another's equipment.
Adjectives
Definition
Adjectives are words that describe or modify another person or thing in the sentence. The Articles — a, an, and the —
are adjectives.






the tall professor
the lugubrious lieutenant
a solid commitment
a month's pay
a six-year-old child
the unhappiest, richest man
If a group of words containing a subject and verb acts as an adjective, it is called an Adjective Clause. My sister, who
is much older than I am, is an engineer. If an adjective clause is stripped of its subject and verb, the resulting modifier
becomes an Adjective Phrase: He is the man who is keeping my family in the poorhouse.
Before getting into other usage considerations, one general note about the use — or over-use — of adjectives:
Adjectives are frail; don't ask them to do more work than they should. Let your broad-shouldered verbs and nouns
do the hard work of description. Be particularly cautious in your use of adjectives that don't have much to say in the
first place: interesting, beautiful, lovely, exciting. It is your job as a writer to create beauty and excitement and interest,
and when you simply insist on its presence without showing it to your reader — well, you're convincing no one.
Consider the uses of modifiers in this adjectivally rich paragraph from Thomas Wolfe's Look Homeward, Angel.
(Charles Scribner's, 1929, p. 69.) Adjectives are highlighted in this color; participles, verb forms acting as adjectives,
are highlighted in this blue. Some people would argue that words that are part of a name — like "East India Tea House
— are not really adjectival and that possessive nouns — father's, farmer's — are not technically adjectives, but we've
included them in our analysis of Wolfe's text.
He remembered yet the East India Tea House at the Fair, the sandalwood, the turbans, and the robes, the cool interior
and the smell of India tea; and he had felt now the nostalgic thrill of dew-wet mornings in Spring, the cherry scent, the
cool clarion earth, the wet loaminess of the garden, the pungent breakfast smells and the floating snow of blossoms. He
knew the inchoate sharp excitement of hot dandelions in young earth; in July, of watermelons bedded in sweet hay,
inside a farmer's covered wagon; of cantaloupe and crated peaches; and the scent of orange rind, bitter-sweet, before a
fire of coals. He knew the good male smell of his father's sitting-room; of the smooth worn leather sofa, with the gaping
horse-hair rent; of the blistered varnished wood upon the hearth; of the heated calf-skin bindings; of the flat moist plug
of apple tobacco, stuck with a red flag; of wood-smoke and burnt leaves in October; of the brown tired autumn earth; of
honey-suckle at night; of warm nasturtiums, of a clean ruddy farmer who comes weekly with printed butter, eggs, and
milk; of fat limp underdone bacon and of coffee; of a bakery-oven in the wind; of large deep-hued stringbeans smokinghot and seasoned well with salt and butter; of a room of old pine boards in which books and carpets have been stored,
long closed; of Concord grapes in their long white baskets.
An abundance of adjectives like this would be uncommon in contemporary prose. Whether we have lost something or
not is left up to you.
Position of Adjectives
Unlike Adverbs, which often seem capable of popping up almost anywhere in a sentence, adjectives nearly always
appear immediately before the noun or noun phrase that they modify. Sometimes they appear in a string of adjectives,
and when they do, they appear in a set order according to category. (See Below.) When indefinite pronouns — such as
something, someone, anybody — are modified by an adjective, the adjective comes after the pronoun:
Anyone capable of doing something horrible to someone nice should be punished.
Something wicked this way comes.
And there are certain adjectives that, in combination with certain words, are always "postpositive" (coming after the
thing they modify):
The president elect, heir apparent to the Glitzy fortune, lives in New York proper.
See, also, the note on a- adjectives, below, for the position of such words as "ablaze, aloof, aghast."
Degrees of Adjectives
Adjectives can express degrees of modification:

Gladys is a rich woman, but Josie is richer than Gladys, and Sadie is the richest woman in town.
The degrees of comparison are known as the positive, the comparative, and the superlative. (Actually, only the
comparative and superlative show degrees.) We use the comparative for comparing two things and the superlative for
comparing three or more things. Notice that the word than frequently accompanies the comparative and the word the
precedes the superlative. The inflected suffixes -er and -est suffice to form most comparatives and superlatives,
although we need -ier and -iest when a two-syllable adjective ends in y (happier and happiest); otherwise we use more
and most when an adjective has more than one syllable.
Positive
rich
lovely
beautiful
Comparative
richer
lovelier
more beautiful
Superlative
richest
loveliest
most beautiful
Certain adjectives have irregular forms in the comparative and superlative degrees:
Irregular Comparative and Superlative Forms
good
better
bad
worse
little
less
much
more
many
some
far
further
best
worst
least
most
furthest
Be careful not to form comparatives or superlatives of adjectives which already express an extreme of comparison —
unique, for instance — although it probably is possible to form comparative forms of most adjectives: something can be
more perfect, and someone can have a fuller figure. People who argue that one woman cannot be more pregnant than
another have never been nine-months pregnant with twins.
Grammar's Response
According to Bryan Garner, "complete" is one of those adjectives that does not admit of comparative degrees. We could
say, however, "more nearly complete." I am sure that I have not been consistent in my application of this principle in
the Guide (I can hear myself, now, saying something like "less adequate" or "more preferable" or "less fatal"). Other
adjectives that Garner would include in this list are as follows:
absolute
impossible
principal
adequate
inevitable
stationary
chief
irrevocable
sufficient
complete
main
unanimous
devoid
manifest
unavoidable
entire
minor
unbroken
fatal
paramount
unique
final
perpetual
universal
ideal
preferable
whole
Be careful, also, not to use more along with a comparative adjective formed with -er nor to use most along with a
superlative adjective formed with -est (e.g., do not write that something is more heavier or most heaviest).
The as — as construction is used to create a comparison expressing equality:


He is as foolish as he is large.
She is as bright as her mother.
Premodifiers with Degrees of Adjectives
Both adverbs and adjectives in their comparative and superlative forms can be accompanied by premodifiers, single
words and phrases, that intensify the degree.




We were a lot more careful this time.
He works a lot less carefully than the other jeweler in town.
We like his work so much better.
You'll get your watch back all the faster.
The same process can be used to downplay the degree:


The weather this week has been somewhat better.
He approaches his schoolwork a little less industriously than his brother does.
And sometimes a set phrase, usually an informal noun phrase, is used for this purpose:


He arrived a whole lot sooner than we expected.
That's a heck of a lot better.
If the intensifier very accompanies the superlative, a determiner is also required:


She is wearing her very finest outfit for the interview.
They're doing the very best they can.
Occasionally, the comparative or superlative form appears with a determiner and the thing being modified is
understood:



Of all the wines produced in Connecticut, I like this one the most.
The quicker you finish this project, the better.
Of the two brothers, he is by far the faster.
Authority for this section: A University Grammar of English by Randolph Quirk and Sidney Greenbaum. Longman
Group: Essex, England. 1993. Used with permission.
Less versus Fewer
When making a comparison between quantities we often have to make a choice between the words fewer and less.
Generally, when we're talking about countable things, we use the word fewer; when we're talking about measurable
quantities that we cannot count, we use the word less. "She had fewer chores, but she also had less energy." The
managers at our local Stop & Shop seem to have mastered this: they've changed the signs at the so-called express lanes
from "Twelve Items or Less" to "Twelve Items or Fewer." Whether that's an actual improvement, we'll leave up to you.
We do, however, definitely use less when referring to statistical or numerical expressions:





It's less than twenty miles to Dallas.
He's less than six feet tall.
Your essay should be a thousand words or less.
We spent less than forty dollars on our trip.
The town spent less than four percent of its budget on snow removal.
In these situations, it's possible to regard the quantities as sums of countable measures.
Taller than I / me ??
When making a comparison with "than" do we end with a subject form or object form, "taller than I/she" or "taller than
me/her." The correct response is "taller than I/she." We are looking for the subject form: "He is taller than I am/she is
tall." (Except we leave out the verb in the second clause, "am" or "is.") Some good writers, however, will argue that the
word "than" should be allowed to function as a preposition. If we can say "He is tall like me/her," then (if "than" could
be prepositional like like) we should be able to say, "He is taller than me/her." It's an interesting argument, but — for
now, anyway — in formal, academic prose, use the subject form in such comparisons.
We also want to be careful in a sentence such as "I like him better than she/her." The "she" would mean that you like
this person better than she likes him; the "her" would mean that you like this male person better than you like that
female person. (To avoid ambiguity and the slippery use of than, we could write "I like him better than she does" or "I
like him better than I like her.")
More than / over ??
In the United States, we usually use "more than" in countable numerical expressions meaning "in excess of" or
"over." In England, there is no such distinction. For instance, in the U.S., some editors would insist on "more
than 40,000 traffic deaths in one year," whereas in the UK, "over 40,000 traffic deaths" would be acceptable.
Even in the U.S., however, you will commonly hear "over" in numerical expressions of age, time, or height: "His
sister is over forty; she's over six feet tall. We've been waiting well over two hours for her."
The Order of Adjectives in a Series
It would take a linguistic philosopher to explain why we say "little brown house" and not "brown little house" or why
we say "red Italian sports car" and not "Italian red sports car." The order in which adjectives in a series sort themselves
out is perplexing for people learning English as a second language. Most other languages dictate a similar order, but not
necessarily the same order. It takes a lot of practice with a language before this order becomes instinctive, because the
order often seems quite arbitrary (if not downright capricious). There is, however, a pattern. You will find many
exceptions to the pattern in the table below, but it is definitely important to learn the pattern of adjective order if it is not
part of what you naturally bring to the language.
The categories in the following table can be described as follows:
I.
II.
III.
IV.
V.
VI.
VII.
VIII.
Determiners — articles and other limiters. See Determiners
Observation — postdeterminers and limiter adjectives (e.g., a real hero, a perfect idiot) and adjectives subject
to subjective measure (e.g., beautiful, interesting)
Size and Shape — adjectives subject to objective measure (e.g., wealthy, large, round)
Age — adjectives denoting age (e.g., young, old, new, ancient)
Color — adjectives denoting color (e.g., red, black, pale)
Origin — denominal adjectives denoting source of noun (e.g., French, American, Canadian)
Material — denominal adjectives denoting what something is made of (e.g., woolen, metallic, wooden)
Qualifier — final limiter, often regarded as part of the noun (e.g., rocking chair, hunting cabin, passenger car,
book cover)
THE ROYAL ORDER OF ADJECTIVES
Determine
r
Observatio
n
Physical Description
Size
a
an
beautiful
expensive
Shape
Origin
Age
old
antiqu
Materia
l
Qualifie
r
Noun
touring
car
mirror
Colo
r
Italian
silver
e
four
gorgeous
her
our
longstemme
d
short
big
those
that
several
dilapidated
some
delicious
red
silk
black
old
English
square
little
enormou
s
roses
wooden
young
America
n
Thai
hat
hunting
basketbal
l
hair
sheepdo
g
boxes
cabin
players
food
It would be folly, of course, to run more than two or three (at the most) adjectives together. Furthermore, when
adjectives belong to the same class, they become what we call coordinated adjectives, and you will want to put a
comma between them: the inexpensive, comfortable shoes. The rule for inserting the comma works this way: if you
could have inserted a conjunction — and or but — between the two adjectives, use a comma. We could say these are
"inexpensive but comfortable shoes," so we would use a comma between them (when the "but" isn't there). When you
have three coordinated adjectives, separate them all with commas, but don't insert a comma between the last adjective
and the noun (in spite of the temptation to do so because you often pause there):
a popular, respected, and good looking student
See the section on Commas for additional help in punctuating coordinated adjectives.
Capitalizing Proper Adjectives
When an adjective owes its origins to a proper noun, it should probably be capitalized. Thus we write about Christian
music, French fries, the English Parliament, the Ming Dynasty, a Faulknerian style, Jeffersonian democracy. Some
periods of time have taken on the status of proper adjectives: the Nixon era, a Renaissance/Romantic/Victorian poet
(but a contemporary novelist and medieval writer). Directional and seasonal adjectives are not capitalized unless they're
part of a title:
We took the northwest route during the spring thaw. We stayed there until the town's annual Fall Festival of Small
Appliances.
See the section on Capitalization for further help on this matter.
Collective Adjectives
When the definite article, the, is combined with an adjective describing a class or group of people, the resulting phrase
can act as a noun: the poor, the rich, the oppressed, the homeless, the lonely, the unlettered, the unwashed, the gathered,
the dear departed. The difference between a Collective Noun (which is usually regarded as singular but which can be
plural in certain contexts) and a collective adjective is that the latter is always plural and requires a plural verb:




The rural poor have been ignored by the media.
The rich of Connecticut are responsible.
The elderly are beginning to demand their rights.
The young at heart are always a joy to be around.
Adjectival Opposites
The opposite or the negative aspect of an adjective can be formed in a number of ways. One way, of course, is to find an
adjective to mean the opposite — an antonym. The opposite of beautiful is ugly, the opposite of tall is short. A
thesaurus can help you find an appropriate opposite. Another way to form the opposite of an adjective is with a number
of prefixes. The opposite of fortunate is unfortunate, the opposite of prudent is imprudent, the opposite of considerate is
inconsiderate, the opposite of honorable is dishonorable, the opposite of alcoholic is nonalcoholic, the opposite of
being properly filed is misfiled. If you are not sure of the spelling of adjectives modified in this way by prefixes (or
which is the appropriate prefix), you will have to consult a dictionary, as the rules for the selection of a prefix are
complex and too shifty to be trusted. The meaning itself can be tricky; for instance, flammable and inflammable mean
the same thing.
A third means for creating the opposite of an adjective is to combine it with less or least to create a comparison which
points in the opposite direction. Interesting shades of meaning and tone become available with this usage. It is kinder to
say that "This is the least beautiful city in the state." than it is to say that "This is the ugliest city in the state." (It also
has a slightly different meaning.) A candidate for a job can still be worthy and yet be "less worthy of consideration"
than another candidate. It's probably not a good idea to use this construction with an adjective that is already a negative:
"He is less unlucky than his brother," although that is not the same thing as saying he is luckier than his brother. Use the
comparative less when the comparison is between two things or people; use the superlative least when the comparison
is among many things or people.


My mother is less patient than my father.
Of all the new sitcoms, this is my least favorite show.
Some Adjectival Problem Children
Good versus Well
In both casual speech and formal writing, we frequently have to choose between the adjective good and the adverb
well. With most verbs, there is no contest: when modifying a verb, use the adverb.
He swims well.
He knows only too well who the murderer is.
However, when using a linking verb or a verb that has to do with the five human senses, you want to use the adjective
instead.
How are you? I'm feeling good, thank you.
After a bath, the baby smells so good.
Even after my careful paint job, this room doesn't look good.
Many careful writers, however, will use well after linking verbs relating to health, and this is perfectly all right. In fact,
to say that you are good or that you feel good usually implies not only that you're OK physically but also that your
spirits are high.
"How are you?"
"I am well, thank you."
Bad versus Badly
When your cat died (assuming you loved your cat), did you feel bad or badly? Applying the same rule that applies to
good versus well, use the adjective form after verbs that have to do with human feelings. You felt bad. If you said you
felt badly, it would mean that something was wrong with your faculties for feeling.
Other Adjectival Considerations
Review the section on Compound Nouns and Modifiers for the formation of modifiers created when words are
connected: a four-year-old child, a nineteenth-century novel, an empty-headed fool.
Review the section on Possessives for a distinction between possessive forms and "adjectival labels." (Do you belong to
a Writers Club or a Writers' Club?)
Adjectives that are really Participles, verb forms with -ing and -ed endings, can be troublesome for some students. It is
one thing to be a frightened child; it is an altogether different matter to be a frightening child. Do you want to go up to
your professor after class and say that you are confused or that you are confusing? Generally, the -ed ending means that
the noun so described ("you") has a passive relationship with something — something (the subject matter, the
presentation) has bewildered you and you are confused. The -ing ending means that the noun described has a more
active role — you are not making any sense so you are confusing (to others, including your professor).
The -ed ending modifiers are often accompanied by prepositions (these are not the only choices):

We were amazed at all the circus animals.





















We were amused by the clowns.
We were annoyed by the elephants.
We were bored by the ringmaster.
We were confused by the noise.
We were disappointed by the motorcycle daredevils.
We were disappointed in their performance.
We were embarrassed by my brother.
We were exhausted from all the excitement.
We were excited by the lion-tamer.
We were excited about the high-wire act, too.
We were frightened by the lions.
We were introduced to the ringmaster.
We were interested in the tent.
We were irritated by the heat.
We were opposed to leaving early.
We were satisfied with the circus.
We were shocked at the level of noise under the big tent.
We were surprised by the fans' response.
We were surprised at their indifference.
We were tired of all the lights after a while.
We were worried about the traffic leaving the parking lot.
A- Adjectives
The most common of the so-called a- adjectives are ablaze, afloat, afraid, aghast, alert, alike, alive, alone, aloof,
ashamed, asleep, averse, awake, aware. These adjectives will primarily show up as predicate adjectives (i.e., they come
after a linking verb).



The children were ashamed.
The professor remained aloof.
The trees were ablaze.
Occasionally, however, you will find a- adjectives before the word they modify: the alert patient, the aloof physician.
Most of them, when found before the word they modify, are themselves modified: the nearly awake student, the terribly
alone scholar. And a- adjectives are sometimes modified by "very much": very much afraid, very much alone, very
much ashamed, etc.
Adverbs
Definition
Adverbs are words that modify



a verb (He drove slowly. — How did he drive?)
an adjective (He drove a very fast car. — How fast was his car?)
another adverb (She moved quite slowly down the aisle. — How slowly did she move?)
As we will see, adverbs often tell when, where, why, or under what conditions something happens or happened.
Adverbs frequently end in -ly; however, many words and phrases not ending in -ly serve an adverbial function and an ly ending is not a guarantee that a word is an adverb. The words lovely, lonely, motherly, friendly, neighborly, for
instance, are adjectives:

That lovely woman lives in a friendly neighborhood.
If a group of words containing a subject and verb acts as an adverb (modifying the verb of a sentence), it is called an
Adverb Clause:

When this class is over, we're going to the movies.
When a group of words not containing a subject and verb acts as an adverb, it is called an adverbial phrase.
Prepositional phrases frequently have adverbial functions (telling place and time, modifying the verb):



He went to the movies.
She works on holidays.
They lived in Canada during the war.
And Infinitive phrases can act as adverbs (usually telling why):


She hurried to the mainland to see her brother.
The senator ran to catch the bus.
But there are other kinds of adverbial phrases:

He calls his mother as often as possible.
Adverbs can modify adjectives, but an adjective cannot modify an adverb. Thus we would say that "the students
showed a really wonderful attitude" and that "the students showed a wonderfully casual attitude" and that "my professor
is really tall, but not "He ran real fast."
Like adjectives, adverbs can have comparative and superlative forms to show degree.


Walk faster if you want to keep up with me.
The student who reads fastest will finish first.
We often use more and most, less and least to show degree with adverbs:




With sneakers on, she could move more quickly among the patients.
The flowers were the most beautifully arranged creations I've ever seen.
She worked less confidently after her accident.
That was the least skillfully done performance I've seen in years.
The as — as construction can be used to create adverbs that express sameness or equality: "He can't run as fast as his
sister."
A handful of adverbs have two forms, one that ends in -ly and one that doesn't. In certain cases, the two forms have
different meanings:


He arrived late.
Lately, he couldn't seem to be on time for anything.
In most cases, however, the form without the -ly ending should be reserved for casual situations:



She certainly drives slow in that old Buick of hers.
He did wrong by her.
He spoke sharp, quick, and to the point.
Adverbs often function as intensifiers, conveying a greater or lesser emphasis to something. Intensifiers are said to
have three different functions: they can emphasize, amplify, or downtone. Here are some examples:


Emphasizers:
o I really don't believe him.
o He literally wrecked his mother's car.
o She simply ignored me.
o They're going to be late, for sure.
Amplifiers:
o The teacher completely rejected her proposal.
o I absolutely refuse to attend any more faculty meetings.

o They heartily endorsed the new restaurant.
o I so wanted to go with them.
o We know this city well.
Downtoners:
o I kind of like this college.
o Joe sort of felt betrayed by his sister.
o His mother mildly disapproved his actions.
o We can improve on this to some extent.
o The boss almost quit after that.
o The school was all but ruined by the storm.
Adverbs (as well as adjectives) in their various degrees can be accompanied by premodifiers:


She runs very fast.
We're going to run out of material all the faster
This issue is addressed in the section on degrees in adjectives.
For this section on intensifiers, we are indebted to A Grammar of Contemporary English by Randolph Quirk, Sidney
Greenbaum, Geoffrey Leech, and Jan Svartvik. Longman Group: London. 1978. pages 438 to 457. Examples our own.
Using Adverbs in a Numbered List
Within the normal flow of text, it's nearly always a bad idea to number items beyond three or four, at the most.
Anything beyond that, you're better off with a vertical list that uses numbers (1, 2, 3, etc.). Also, in such a list, don't use
adverbs (with an -ly ending); use instead the uninflected ordinal number (first, second, third, fourth, fifth, etc.). First
(not firstly), it's unclear what the adverb is modifying. Second (not secondly), it's unnecessary. Third (not thirdly), after
you get beyond "secondly," it starts to sound silly. Adverbs that number in this manner are treated as disjuncts (see
below.)
Adverbs We Can Do Without
Review the section on Being Concise for some advice on adverbs that we can eliminate to the benefit of our prose:
intensifiers such as very, extremely, and really that don't intensify anything and expletive constructions ("There are
several books that address this issue.")
Kinds of Adverbs
Adverbs of Manner
She moved slowly and spoke quietly.
Adverbs of Place
She has lived on the island all her life.
She still lives there now.
Adverbs of Frequency
She takes the boat to the mainland every day.
She often goes by herself.
Adverbs of Time
She tries to get back before dark.
It's starting to get dark now.
She finished her tea first.
She left early.
Adverbs of Purpose
She drives her boat slowly to avoid hitting the rocks.
She shops in several stores to get the best buys.
Positions of Adverbs
One of the hallmarks of adverbs is their ability to move around in a sentence. Adverbs of manner are particularly
flexible in this regard.



Solemnly the minister addressed her congregation.
The minister solemnly addressed her congregation.
The minister addressed her congregation solemnly.
The following adverbs of frequency appear in various points in these sentences:



Before the main verb: I never get up before nine o'clock.
Between the auxiliary verb and the main verb: I have rarely written to my brother without a good reason.
Before the verb used to: I always used to see him at his summer home.
Indefinite adverbs of time can appear either before the verb or between the auxiliary and the main verb:


He finally showed up for batting practice.
She has recently retired.
Order of Adverbs
There is a basic order in which adverbs will appear when there is more than one. It is similar to The Royal Order of
Adjectives, but it is even more flexible.
THE ROYAL ORDER OF ADVERBS
Verb
Manner
Place
Frequency
Time
Purpose
Beth
enthusiastically
in the pool
every morning
before dawn
to keep in shape.
swims
Dad
impatiently
into town
every afternoon
before supper
to get a newspaper.
walks
Tashonda
in her room
every morning
before lunch.
naps
In actual practice, of course, it would be highly unusual to have a string of adverbial modifiers beyond two
or three (at the most). Because the placement of adverbs is so flexible, one or two of the modifiers would
probably move to the beginning of the sentence: "Every afternoon before supper, Dad impatiently walks
into town to get a newspaper." When that happens, the introductory adverbial modifiers are usually set off
with a comma.
More Notes on Adverb Order
As a general principle, shorter adverbial phrases precede longer adverbial phrases, regardless of content. In the
following sentence, an adverb of time precedes an adverb of frequency because it is shorter (and simpler):

Dad takes a brisk walk before breakfast every day of his life.
A second principle: among similar adverbial phrases of kind (manner, place, frequency, etc.), the more specific
adverbial phrase comes first:


My grandmother was born in a sod house on the plains of northern Nebraska.
She promised to meet him for lunch next Tuesday.
Bringing an adverbial modifier to the beginning of the sentence can place special emphasis on that modifier. This is
particularly useful with adverbs of manner:


Slowly, ever so carefully, Jesse filled the coffee cup up to the brim, even above the brim.
Occasionally, but only occasionally, one of these lemons will get by the inspectors.
Inappropriate Adverb Order
Review the section on Misplaced Modifiers for some additional ideas on placement. Modifiers can sometimes attach
themselves to and thus modify words that they ought not to modify.

They reported that Giuseppe Balle, a European rock star, had died on the six o'clock news.
Clearly, it would be better to move the underlined modifier to a position immediately after "they reported" or even to
the beginning of the sentence — so the poor man doesn't die on television.
Misplacement can also occur with very simple modifiers, such as only and barely:

She only grew to be four feet tall.
It would be better if "She grew to be only four feet tall."
Adjuncts, Disjuncts, and Conjuncts
Regardless of its position, an adverb is often neatly integrated into the flow of a sentence. When this is true, as it almost
always is, the adverb is called an adjunct. (Notice the underlined adjuncts or adjunctive adverbs in the first two
sentences of this paragraph.) When the adverb does not fit into the flow of the clause, it is called a disjunct or a conjunct
and is often set off by a comma or set of commas. A disjunct frequently acts as a kind of evaluation of the rest of the
sentence. Although it usually modifies the verb, we could say that it modifies the entire clause, too. Notice how "too" is
a disjunct in the sentence immediately before this one; that same word can also serve as an adjunct adverbial modifier:
It's too hot to play outside. Here are two more disjunctive adverbs:


Frankly, Martha, I don't give a hoot.
Fortunately, no one was hurt.
Conjuncts, on the other hand, serve a connector function within the flow of the text, signaling a transition between
ideas.


If they start smoking those awful cigars, then I'm not staying.
We've told the landlord about this ceiling again and again, and yet he's done nothing to fix it.
At the extreme edge of this category, we have the purely conjunctive device known as the conjunctive adverb (often
called the adverbial conjunction):


Jose has spent years preparing for this event; nevertheless, he's the most nervous person here.
I love this school; however, I don't think I can afford the tuition.
Authority for this section: A University Grammar of English by Randolph Quirk and Sidney Greenbaum. Longman
Group: Essex, England. 1993. 126. Used with permission. Examples our own.
Some Special Cases
The adverbs enough and not enough usually take a postmodifier position:



Is that music loud enough?
These shoes are not big enough.
In a roomful of elderly people, you must remember to speak loudly enough.
(Notice, though, that when enough functions as an adjective, it can come before the noun:

Did she give us enough time?
The adverb enough is often followed by an infinitive:

She didn't run fast enough to win.
The adverb too comes before adjectives and other adverbs:


She ran too fast.
She works too quickly.
If too comes after the adverb it is probably a disjunct (meaning also) and is usually set off with a comma:

Yasmin works hard. She works quickly, too.
The adverb too is often followed by an infinitive:

She runs too slowly to enter this race.
Another common construction with the adverb too is too followed by a prepositional phrase — for + the object of the
preposition — followed by an infinitive:

This milk is too hot for a baby to drink.
Relative Adverbs
Adjectival clauses are sometimes introduced by what are called the relative adverbs: where, when, and why. Although
the entire clause is adjectival and will modify a noun, the relative word itself fulfills an adverbial function (modifying a
verb within its own clause).
The relative adverb where will begin a clause that modifies a noun of place:
My entire family now worships in the church where my great grandfather used to be minister.
The relative pronoun "where" modifies the verb "used to be" (which makes it adverbial), but the entire clause ("where
my great grandfather used to be minister") modifies the word "church."
A when clause will modify nouns of time:
My favorite month is always February, when we celebrate Valentine's Day and Presidents' Day.
And a why clause will modify the noun reason:
Do you know the reason why Isabel isn't in class today?
We sometimes leave out the relative adverb in such clauses, and many writers prefer "that" to "why" in a clause
referring to "reason":



Do you know the reason why Isabel isn't in class today?
I always look forward to the day when we begin our summer vacation.
I know the reason that men like motorcycles.
Authority for this section: Understanding English Grammar by Martha Kolln. 4rth Edition. MacMillan Publishing
Company: New York. 1994.
Viewpoint, Focus, and Negative Adverbs
A viewpoint adverb generally comes after a noun and is related to an adjective that precedes that noun:


A successful athletic team is often a good team scholastically.
Investing all our money in snowmobiles was probably not a sound idea financially.
You will sometimes hear a phrase like "scholastically speaking" or "financially speaking" in these circumstances, but
the word "speaking" is seldom necessary.
A focus adverb indicates that what is being communicated is limited to the part that is focused; a focus adverb will tend
either to limit the sense of the sentence ("He got an A just for attending the class.") or to act as an additive ("He got an
A in addition to being published."
Although negative constructions like the words "not" and "never" are usually found embedded within a verb string —
"He has never been much help to his mother." — they are technically not part of the verb; they are, indeed, adverbs.
However, a so-called negative adverb creates a negative meaning in a sentence without the use of the usual
no/not/neither/nor/never constructions:



He seldom visits.
She hardly eats anything since the accident.
After her long and tedious lectures, rarely was anyone awake.
Verbs and Verbals
auxiliary || gerunds || infinitives || irregular || linking || mood || auxiliary || participles || phrasal || causative ||
factitive ||sequence || tense
There are separate sections on




The Passive Voice
Progressive, Stative, and Dynamic Verbs and
Conditional Verb Forms
The "To Be" Verb
Definitions
Verbs carry the idea of being or action in the sentence.


I am a student.
The students passed all their courses.
As we will see on this page, verbs are classified in many ways. First, some verbs require an object to complete their
meaning: "She gave _____?" Gave what? She gave money to the church. These verbs are called transitive. Verbs that
are intransitive do not require objects: "The building collapsed." In English, you cannot tell the difference between a
transitive and intransitive verb by its form; you have to see how the verb is functioning within the sentence. In fact, a
verb can be both transitive and intransitive: "The monster collapsed the building by sitting on it."
Although you will seldom hear the term, a ditransitive verb — such as cause or give — is one that can take a direct
object and an indirect object at the same time: "That horrid music gave me a headache." Ditransitive verbs are slightly
different, then, from factitive verbs (see below), in that the latter take two objects.
Verbs are also classified as either finite or non-finite. A finite verb makes an assertion or expresses a state of being and
can stand by itself as the main verb of a sentence.


The truck demolished the restaurant.
The leaves were yellow and sickly.
Non-finite verbs (think "unfinished") cannot, by themselves, be main verbs:


The broken window . . .
The wheezing gentleman . . .
Another, more useful term for non-finite verb is verbal. In this section, we discuss various verbal forms: infinitives,
gerunds, and participles.
For WebCT Users
The "-s" Problem Icon means that the verb requires an -s ending because it's a third-person (he/she/it) verb in
the present tense. See the Table of Verb Tenses for help in identifying present tenses requiring the -s.
The "-ed" Problem Icon probably means that the verb requires an -ed ending because it's in the past tense or
that an -ed ending has been used inappropriately. The -ed ending is particularly problematic when it occurs just
before a "d" or "t" sound as in "We are used to doing things the way we're supposed to: like in the oldfashioned days." See the Table of Verb Tenses for help in identifying past tenses requiring the -ed.
The "Verb" Problem Icon probably means that the verb tenses in this sentence are inconsistent or incorrect. See
the section on Sequencing for help in using the correct sequence of verb tenses. See the section on Consistency for
help in maintaining a proper consistency in verb tense.
Four Verb Forms
The inflections (endings) of English verb forms are not difficult to remember. There are only four basic forms. Instead
of forming complex tense forms with endings, English uses auxiliary verb forms. English does not even have a proper
ending for future forms; instead, we use auxiliaries such as "I am going to read this afternoon." or "I will read." or even
"I am reading this book tomorrow." It would be useful, however, to learn these four basic forms of verb construction.
Name of verb
to work
to write
Base form
I can work.
I work.
I can write.
I write.
Past form
I worked.
Present participle
I am working.
Past participle
I have worked.
I wrote.
I am writing.
I have written.
Linking Verbs
A linking verb connects a subject and its complement. Sometimes called copulas, linking verbs are often forms of the
verb to be, but are sometimes verbs related to the five senses (look, sound, smell, feel, taste) and sometimes verbs that
somehow reflect a state of being (appear, seem, become, grow, turn, prove, remain). What follows the linking verb will
be either a noun complement or an adjective complement:





Those people are all professors.
Those professors are brilliant.
This room smells bad.
I feel great.
A victory today seems unlikely.
A handful of verbs that reflect a change in state of being are sometimes called resulting copulas. They, too, link a
subject to a predicate adjective:




His face turned purple.
She became older.
The dogs ran wild.
The milk has gone sour.

The crowd grew ugly.
"This is he."
A Frequently Asked Question about linking verbs concerns the correct response when you pick up the phone and
someone asks for you. One correct response would be "This is he [she]." The predicate following the linking verb
should be in the nominative (subject) form — definitely not "This is him." If "This is he" sounds stuffy to you, try using
"Speaking," instead, or "This is Fred," substituting your own name for Fred's — unless it's a bill collector or
telemarketer calling, in which case "This is Fred" is a good response for everyone except people named Fred.
Active and Passive Voice
There is now a separate section dealing with issues raised by a verb's VOICE (active/passive).
Mood
Mood in verbs refers to one of three attitudes that a writer or speaker has to what is being written or spoken. The
indicative mood, which describes most sentences on this page, is used to make a statement or ask a question. The
imperative mood is used when we're feeling sort of bossish and want to give a directive, strong suggestion, or order:



Get your homework done before you watch television tonight.
Please include cash payment with your order form.
Get out of town!
Notice that there is no subject in these imperative sentences. The pronoun you (singular or plural, depending on context)
is the "understood subject" in imperative sentences. Virtually all imperative sentences, then, have a second person
(singular or plural) subject. The sole exception is the first person construction, which includes an objective form as
subject: "Let's (or Let us) work on these things together."
The subjunctive mood is used in dependent clauses that do the following: 1) express a wish; 2) begin with if and
express a condition that does not exist (is contrary to fact); 3) begin with as if and as though when such clauses describe
a speculation or condition contrary to fact; and 4) begin with that and express a demand, requirement, request, or
suggestion. A new section on the uses of the Conditional should help you understand the subjunctive.





She wishes her boyfriend were here.
If Juan were more aggressive, he'd be a better hockey player.
We would have passed if we had studied harder.
He acted as if he were guilty.
I requested that he be present at the hearing.
The subjunctive is not as important a mood in English as it is in other languages, like French and Spanish, which
happen to be more subtle and discriminating in hypothetical, doubtful, or wishful expressions. Many situations which
would require the subjunctive in other languages are satisfied by using one of several auxiliary verbs in English.
The New York Public Library's Writer's Guide to Style and Usage has this important note on the
subjunctive: "The words if, as if, or as though do not always signal the subjunctive mood. If the
information in such a clause points out a condition that is or was probable or likely, the verb should be in
the indicative mood. The indicative tells the reader that the information in the dependent clause could
possibly be true" (155). Cited with permission.
The present tense of the subjunctive uses only the base form of the verb.


He demanded that his students use two-inch margins.
She suggested that we be on time tomorrow.
The past tense of the subjunctive has the same forms as the indicative except (unfortunately) for the verb to be, which
uses were regardless of the number of the subject.




If I were seven feet tall, I'd be a great basketball player.
He wishes he were a better student.
If you were rich, we wouldn't be in this mess.
If they were faster, we could have won that race.
An excellent resource for learning more about the subjunctive is available in the online American Heritage Book of
English Usage.
Auxiliary or Helping Verbs
The issues raised by Helping or Auxiliary Verbs and Modal Auxiliaries are covered in a separate section. Click here
for help with Auxiliary Verbs and Modal Auxiliaries.
Phrasal Verbs
Phrasal verbs consist of a verb and another word or phrase, usually a preposition. The resulting combination creates
what amounts to a new verb, whose meaning can sometimes be puzzling to non-native speakers. Phrasal verbs often
arise from casual uses of the language and eventually work themselves into the mainstream of language use. Phrasal
verbs can be both intransitive (The children were sitting around, doing nothing. The witness finally broke down on the
stand.) and transitive in meaning (Our boss called off the meeting. She looked up her old boyfriend.) The word that is
joined with a verb in this construction (often a preposition) is called a particle.
The problem with phrasal verbs is that their meaning is often, at first, obscure, and they often mean several different
things. To make out, for instance, can mean to perceive or to see something; it can also mean to engage in light sexual
play. If someone chooses to turn up the street that is a combination of a verb and a preposition, but it is not a phrasal
verb. On the other hand, if your neighbors unexpectedly turn up (appear) at a party or your brother turns up his radio,
those are phrasal verbs. To come out, we are told, has eighteen different meanings.
Verbs can be combined with different prepositions and other words, sometimes with dizzying effect: stand out, stand
up, stand in, stand off, stand by, stand fast, stand pat, stand down, stand against, stand for. Further, the verb and the
word or phrase it connects to are not always contiguous: "Fill this out," we would say, but then we would say, "Fill out
this form."
You can click HERE for an extensive list of phrasal verbs, broken down into categories of transitive and intransitive,
separable and inseparable. The list of verbs is accompanied with brief definitions and examples. Printed out, the list will
be five or six pages long, depending on the size font you are using, the width of your browser window, etc. Understand,
however, that the list is a mere sampling of the hundreds of phrasal verb combinations. For beginning language learners,
the challenge of mastering phrasal verbs is so great that only intensive instruction and practice in an ESL program and a
great deal of time spent listening and reading carefully can address the problem. Having a good dictionary at hand is
also helpful.
Causative Verbs
Causative verbs designate the action necessary to cause another action to happen. In "The devil made me do it." the
verb "made" causes the "do" to happen. Here is a brief list of causative verbs, in no particular order: let, help, allow,
have, require, allow, motivate, get, make, convince, hire, assist, encourage, permit, employ, force. Most of them are
followed by an object (noun or pronoun) followed by an infinitive: "She allows her pet cockatiel to perch on the
windowsill. She hired a carpenter to build a new birdcage."
Three causative verbs are exceptions to the pattern described above. Instead of being followed by a noun/pronoun and
an infinitive, the causative verbs have, make and let are followed by a noun/pronoun and the base form of the verb
(which is actually an infinitive with the "to" left off).


Professor Villa had her students read four short novels in one week.
She also made them read five plays in one week.

However, she let them skip the final exam.
Factitive Verbs
Verbs like make, choose, judge, elect, select, name. are called factitive verbs. These transitive verbs can take two
objects, or seem to:



They judged Philbert's dog Best of Show. (where "dog" is the direct object and "Best of Show" is the second
complement).
The faculty elected Dogsbreath the new Academic Dean. (where Dogsbreath is the direct object and
"Academic Dean" is the second complement).
U.S. News and World Report named our college the best in the northeast. (where "our college" is the direct
object and "the best" is the second complement).
Tenses
Tense shows the time of a verb's action or being. There are three inflected forms reflected by changes in the endings of
verbs. The present tense indicates that something is happening or being now: "She is a student. She drives a new car."
The simple past tense indicates that something happened in the past: "She was a student. She drove a new car." And
the past participle form is combined with auxiliary verbs to indicate that something happened in the past prior to
another action: "She has been a student. She had driven a new car."
Unlike most other languages, English does not have inflected forms for the future tense. Instead, English future forms
are created with the use of auxiliaries: "She will be a student. She is going to drive a new car." English can even create
the future by using the present tense, "The bus arrives later this afternoon," or the present progressive, "He is relocating
to Portland later next month."
For an extensive discussion of the future tense in English, click HERE.
Progressive Verbs
The progressive tenses, which indicate something being or happening, are formed with the present participle form
(ending in -ing) along with various auxiliaries. "She is driving. She was driving. She will be driving. She has been
driving. She had been driving. She will have been driving." Click HERE for more on the progressive forms. Some
verbs, called stative verbs, (including, sometimes, the verb to be) do not normally create the progressive. Click here for
a discussion of the difference between stative and dynamic verbs.
The Directory contains descriptions, conjugations (for both regular and irregular verbs), and sample sentences for the
twelve tenses of active voice verbs. For a greatly simplified one-page summary of these tenses, click HERE.
Colin Mahoney, a teacher of English as a foreign language, has a considerable page devoted to the Present Perfect
Tense (and related issues), which we recommend. For ESL learners and students wanting a thorough review of verbs,
we also recommend the tutorial on English tenses at Englishpage.com (expect ads).
Irregular Verbs
Most verbs in English form their various tenses consistently: add -ed to the base of a verb to create the simple past and
past participle: he walked; he has walked. There are, however, a number of so-called irregular verbs, (including,
unfortunately, some very common verbs such as to be and to have) whose various forms must be memorized. An
alphabetized list of Common Irregular Verbs is available in the Guide that you can copy or print out and then try to
memorize or at least use in practice sentences. You should take the quizzes on irregular verbs, below, after you've
looked at this list.
Sequence of Tenses
Sequence of Tenses: The relationship between verbs in a main clause and verbs in dependent clauses is important.
These verb tenses don't have to be identical as long as they reflect, logically, shifts in time and meaning: "My brother
had graduated before I started college." "My brother will have graduated before I start." Click HERE for a chart
describing various time relationships and how those relationships determine the appropriate sequence of verb tenses.
Verbals
Verbals are words that seem to carry the idea of action or being but do not function as a true verb. The are sometimes
called "nonfinite" (unfinished or incomplete) verbs. Because time is involved with all verb forms, whether finite or
nonfinite, however, following a logical Tense Sequence is important. Click HERE for a chart describing the time
elements involved in choosing the correct verbal form. Verbals are frequently accompanied by other, related words in
what is called a verbal phrase.
There is a whole section on how verbals connect with other words to form phrases. Be sure to visit the
always pleasant GARDEN OF PHRASES.
Participle: a verb form acting as an adjective. The running dog chased the fluttering moth. A present participle (like
running or fluttering) describes a present condition; a past participle describes something that has happened: "The
completely rotted tooth finally fell out of his mouth." The distinction can be important to the meaning of a sentence;
there is a huge difference between a confusing student and a confused student. See the section on Adjectives for further
help on this issue.
Infinitive: the root of a verb plus the word to. To sleep, perchance to dream. A present infinitive describes a present
condition: "I like to sleep." The perfect infinitive describes a time earlier than that of the verb: "I would like to have
won that game." See the section on Sequence below for other forms as well.
The Split Infinitive
If there is one error in writing that your boss or history prof can and will pick up on, it's the notorious split infinitive.
An infinitive is said to be "split" when a word (often an adverb) or phrase sneaks between the to of the infinitive and the
root of the verb: "to boldly go," being the most famous of its kind. The argument against split infinitives (based on
rather shaky historical grounds) is that the infinitive is a single unit and, therefore, should not be divided. Because it
raises so many readers' hackles and is so easy to spot, good writers, at least in academic prose, avoid the split infinitive.
Instead of writing "She expected her grandparents to not stay," then, we could write "She expected her grandparents not
to stay." Sometimes, though, avoiding the split infinitive simply isn't worth the bother. There is nothing wrong, really,
with a sentence such as the following:
He thinks he'll be able to more than double his salary this year.
The Oxford American Desk Dictionary, which came out in October of 1998, says that the rule against the split infinitive
can generally be ignored, that the rule "is not firmly grounded, and treating two English words as one can lead to
awkward, stilted sentences." ("To Boldly Go," The Hartford Courant. 15 Oct 1998.) Opinion among English instructors
and others who feel strongly about the language remains divided, however. Today's dictionaries allow us to split the
infinitive, but it should never be done at the expense of grace. Students would be wise to know their instructor's feelings
on the matter, workers their boss's.
Both gerunds and infinitive phrases can function as nouns, in a variety of ways. Noun uses are covered in a separate
document, a section that should be helpful to students who want to understand why some verbs take gerunds, others
take infinitives, some take either. (In addition, there is a section on the use of the infinitive as adjective complement —
free at no extra charge.) Click the button to enter.
Gerund: a verb form, ending in -ing, which acts as a noun. Running in the park after dark can be dangerous. Gerunds
are frequently accompanied by other associated words making up a gerund phrase ("running in the park after dark").
Because gerunds and gerund phrases are nouns, they can be used in any way that a noun can be used:



as subject: Being king can be dangerous for your health.
as object of the verb: He didn't particularly like being king.
as object of a preposition: He wrote a book about being king.
Infinitives and Gerunds and Sequence
Although they are not, strictly speaking, verbs, infinitives and gerunds carry within them the idea of action. Combined
with auxiliary verb forms, like verbs, they also express various shades of time.
Simple
Forms


We had planned to watch all the events of the Olympics
Seeing those athletes perform is always a great thrill.
Perfective
Forms


The women's hockey team hoped to have won a gold medal before they were
done.
We were thrilled about their having been in contention in the world
championships before.
Passive
Forms


To be chosen as an olympian must be the biggest thrill in any athlete's life.
Being chosen, however, is probably not enough.
Perfective
Passive
Forms


The women did not seem satisfied simply to have been selected as players.
Having been honored this way, they went out and earned it by winning the
gold.
Perfective
Progressive
Infinitive

To have been competing at that level, at their age already, was quite an
accomplishment.
Actual and Potential Meanings
Although a gerund and an infinitive will often have practically the same meaning ("Running in the park after dark can
be dangerous" and "To run in the park after dark can be dangerous"), there can be a difference in meaning. Gerunds are
used to describe an "actual, vivid, or fulfilled action" whereas infinitives are better used to describe "potential,
hypothetical, or future events" (Frodesen & Eyring 297). This is especially true with three kinds of verbs: verbs of
emotion, verbs of completion/incompletion, and verbs of remembering.
EMOTION
Actual Event
I hated practicing my violin while the other kids were
playing outside.
COMPLETION/INCOMPLETION
Actual Event
We began working on this project two years ago. We
finished working on this project a month ago. (Finish
always takes a gerund.)
REMEMBERING
(such as remember, forget, regret)
Potential Event
I prefer to work during the day.
Potential Event
We will continue to work on this project for the next four
months. I wonder when we will start to wrap up this
project.
Juanita forgot to do her homework. (meaning that Juanita
Juanita forgot doing her homework. (meaning that Juanita
failed to do her homework because she didn't remember to did her homework but that she forgot she had done so)
do it)
For the various noun functions of both gerunds and infinitives, click on
the button.
These distinctions for the various kinds of verbs (above) are based on those found in Grammar Dimensions: Form,
Meaning, and Use. 2nd Ed. Jan Frodesen and Janet Eyring. Heinle & Heinle: Boston, 1997. Examples our own.
For additional help recognizing and working with verbs and verb forms, see
Chapter 2 of Sentence Sense: A Writer's Guide.
Conjunctions
Definition
Some words are satisfied spending an evening at home, alone, eating ice-cream right out of the box, watching Seinfeld
re-runs on TV, or reading a good book. Others aren't happy unless they're out on the town, mixing it up with other
words; they're joiners and they just can't help themselves. A conjunction is a joiner, a word that connects (conjoins)
parts of a sentence.
Coordinating Conjunctions
The simple, little conjunctions are called coordinating conjunctions (you can click on the words to see specific
descriptions of each one):
Coordinating Conjunctions
and
but
or
yet
for
nor
so
(It may help you remember these conjunctions by recalling that they all have fewer than four letters. Also, remember
the acronym FANBOYS: For-And-Nor-But-Or-Yet-So. Be careful of the words then and now; neither is a coordinating
conjunction, so what we say about coordinating conjunctions' roles in a sentence and punctuation does not apply to
those two words.)
When a coordinating conjunction connects two independent clauses, it is often (but not always) accompanied by a
comma:

Ulysses wants to play for UConn, but he has had trouble meeting the academic requirements.
When the two independent clauses connected by a coordinating conjunction are nicely balanced or brief, many writers
will omit the comma:

Ulysses has a great jump shot but he isn't quick on his feet.
The comma is always correct when used to separate two independent clauses connected by a coordinating conjunction.
See Punctuation Between Two Independent Clauses for further help.
A comma is also correct when and is used to attach the last item of a serial list, although many writers (especially in
newspapers) will omit that final comma:

Ulysses spent his summer studying basic math, writing, and reading comprehension.
When a coordinating conjunction is used to connect all the elements in a series, a comma is not used:

Presbyterians and Methodists and Baptists are the prevalent Protestant congregations in Oklahoma.
A comma is also used with but when expressing a contrast:

This is a useful rule, but difficult to remember.
In most of their other roles as joiners (other than joining independent clauses, that is), coordinating conjunctions can
join two sentence elements without the help of a comma.




Hemingway and Fitzgerald are among the American expatriates of the between-the-wars era.
Hemingway was renowned for his clear style and his insights into American notions of male identity.
It is hard to say whether Hemingway or Fitzgerald is the more interesting cultural icon of his day.
Although Hemingway is sometimes disparaged for his unpleasant portrayal of women and for his glorification
of machismo, we nonetheless find some sympathetic, even heroic, female figures in his novels and short
stories.
Beginning a Sentence with And or But
A frequently asked question about conjunctions is whether and or but can be used at the beginning of a sentence. This
is what R.W. Burchfield has to say about this use of and:
There is a persistent belief that it is improper to begin a sentence with And, but this prohibition has been cheerfully
ignored by standard authors from Anglo-Saxon times onwards. An initial And is a useful aid to writers as the narrative
continues.
from The New Fowler's Modern English Usage
edited by R.W. Burchfield. Clarendon Press: Oxford, England. 1996.
Used with the permission of Oxford University Press.
The same is true with the conjunction but. A sentence beginning with and or but will tend to draw attention to itself
and its transitional function. Writers should examine such sentences with two questions in mind: (1) would the
sentence and paragraph function just as well without the initial conjunction? (2) should the sentence in question be
connected to the previous sentence? If the initial conjunction still seems appropriate, use it.
Among the coordinating conjunctions, the most common, of course, are and, but, and or. It might be helpful to explore
the uses of these three little words. The examples below by no means exhaust the possible meanings of these
conjunctions.
AND
a.
b.
c.
d.
e.
f.
To suggest that one idea is chronologically sequential to another: "Tashonda sent in her applications and
waited by the phone for a response."
To suggest that one idea is the result of another: "Willie heard the weather report and promptly boarded up his
house."
To suggest that one idea is in contrast to another (frequently replaced by but in this usage): "Juanita is brilliant
and Shalimar has a pleasant personality.
To suggest an element of surprise (sometimes replaced by yet in this usage): "Hartford is a rich city and suffers
from many symptoms of urban blight."
To suggest that one clause is dependent upon another, conditionally (usually the first clause is an imperative):
"Use your credit cards frequently and you'll soon find yourself deep in debt."
To suggest a kind of "comment" on the first clause: "Charlie became addicted to gambling — and that
surprised no one who knew him."
BUT
a.
To suggest a contrast that is unexpected in light of the first clause: "Joey lost a fortune in the stock market, but
he still seems able to live quite comfortably."
b.
c.
To suggest in an affirmative sense what the first part of the sentence implied in a negative way (sometimes
replaced by on the contrary): "The club never invested foolishly, but used the services of a sage investment
counselor."
To connect two ideas with the meaning of "with the exception of" (and then the second word takes over as
subject): "Everybody but Goldenbreath is trying out for the team."
OR
a.
b.
c.
d.
e.
f.
To suggest that only one possibility can be realized, excluding one or the other: "You can study hard for this
exam or you can fail."
To suggest the inclusive combination of alternatives: "We can broil chicken on the grill tonight, or we can just
eat leftovers.
To suggest a refinement of the first clause: "Smith College is the premier all-women's college in the country,
or so it seems to most Smith College alumnae."
To suggest a restatement or "correction" of the first part of the sentence: "There are no rattlesnakes in this
canyon, or so our guide tells us."
To suggest a negative condition: "The New Hampshire state motto is the rather grim "Live free or die."
To suggest a negative alternative without the use of an imperative (see use of and above): "They must approve
his political style or they wouldn't keep electing him mayor."
Authority used for this section on the uses of and, but, and or: A University Grammar of English by Randolph Quirk
and Sidney Greenbaum. Longman Group: Essex, England. 1993. Used with permission. Examples our own.
The Others . . .
The conjunction NOR is not extinct, but it is not used nearly as often as the other conjunctions, so it might feel a bit odd
when nor does come up in conversation or writing. Its most common use is as the little brother in the correlative pair,
neither-nor (see below):


He is neither sane nor brilliant.
That is neither what I said nor what I meant.
>It can be used with other negative expressions:

That is not what I meant to say, nor should you interpret my statement as an admission of guilt.
It is possible to use nor without a preceding negative element, but it is unusual and, to an extent, rather stuffy:

George's handshake is as good as any written contract, nor has he ever proven untrustworthy.
The word YET functions sometimes as an adverb and has several meanings: in addition ("yet another cause of trouble"
or "a simple yet noble woman"), even ("yet more expensive"), still ("he is yet a novice"), eventually ("they may yet
win"), and so soon as now ("he's not here yet"). It also functions as a coordinating conjunction meaning something like
"nevertheless" or "but." The word yet seems to carry an element of distinctiveness that but can seldom register.


John plays basketball well, yet his favorite sport is badminton.
The visitors complained loudly about the heat, yet they continued to play golf every day.
In sentences such as the second one, above, the pronoun subject of the second clause ("they," in this case) is often left
out. When that happens, the comma preceding the conjunction might also disappear: "The visitors complained loudly
yet continued to play golf every day."
Yet is sometimes combined with other conjunctions, but or and. It would not be unusual to see and yet in sentences like
the ones above. This usage is acceptable.
The word FOR is most often used as a preposition, of course, but it does serve, on rare occasions, as a coordinating
conjunction. Some people regard the conjunction for as rather highfalutin and literary, and it does tend to add a bit of
weightiness to the text. Beginning a sentence with the conjunction "for" is probably not a good idea, except when you're
singing "For he's a jolly good fellow. "For" has serious sequential implications and in its use the order of thoughts is
more important than it is, say, with because or since. Its function is to introduce the reason for the preceding clause:


John thought he had a good chance to get the job, for his father was on the company's board of trustees.
Most of the visitors were happy just sitting around in the shade, for it had been a long, dusty journey on the
train.
Be careful of the conjunction SO. Sometimes it can connect two independent clauses along with a comma, but
sometimes it can't. For instance, in this sentence,

Soto is not the only Olympic athlete in his family, so are his brother, sister, and his Uncle Chet.
where the word so means "as well" or "in addition," most careful writers would use a semicolon between the two
independent clauses. In the following sentence, where so is acting like a minor-league "therefore," the conjunction and
the comma are adequate to the task:

Soto has always been nervous in large gatherings, so it is no surprise that he avoids crowds of his adoring fans.
Sometimes, at the beginning of a sentence, so will act as a kind of summing up device or transition, and when it does, it
is often set off from the rest of the sentence with a comma:

So, the sheriff peremptorily removed the child from the custody of his parents.
The Case of Then and Than
In some parts of the United States, we are told, then and than not only look alike, they sound alike. Like a teacher with
twins in her classroom, you need to be able to distinguish between these two words; otherwise, they'll become
mischievous. They are often used and they should be used for the right purposes.
Than is used to make comparisons. In the sentence "Piggy would rather be rescued then stay on the island," we have
employed the wrong word because a comparison is being made between Piggy's two choices; we need than instead. In
the sentence, "Other than Pincher Martin, Golding did not write another popular novel," the adverbial construction
"other than" helps us make an implied comparison; this usage is perfectly acceptable in the United States but careful
writers in the UK try to avoid it (Burchfield).
Generally, the only question about than arises when we have to decide whether the word is being used as a conjunction
or as a preposition. If it's a preposition (and Merriam-Webster's dictionary provides for this usage), then the word that
follows it should be in the object form.


He's taller and somewhat more handsome than me.
Just because you look like him doesn't mean you can play better than him.
Most careful writers, however, will insist that than be used as a conjunction; it's as if part of the clause introduced by
than has been left out:


He's taller and somewhat more handsome than I [am handsome].
You can play better than he [can play].
In formal, academic text, you should probably use than as a conjunction and follow it with the subject form of a
pronoun (where a pronoun is appropriate).
Then is a conjunction, but it is not one of the little conjunctions listed at the top of this page. We can use the
FANBOYS conjunctions to connect two independent clauses; usually, they will be accompanied (preceded) by a
comma. Too many students think that then works the same way: "Caesar invaded Gaul, then he turned his attention to
England." You can tell the difference between then and a coordinating conjunction by trying to move the word around
in the sentence. We can write "he then turned his attention to England"; "he turned his attention, then, to England"; he
turned his attention to England then." The word can move around within the clause. Try that with a conjunction, and
you will quickly see that the conjunction cannot move around. "Caesar invaded Gaul, and then he turned his attention to
England." The word and is stuck exactly there and cannot move like then, which is more like an adverbial conjunction
(or conjunctive adverb — see below) than a coordinating conjunction. Our original sentence in this paragraph —
"Caesar invaded Gaul, then he turned his attention to England" — is a comma splice, a faulty sentence construction in
which a comma tries to hold together two independent clauses all by itself: the comma needs a coordinating conjunction
to help out, and the word then simply doesn't work that way.
Subordinating Conjunctions
A Subordinating Conjunction (sometimes called a dependent word or subordinator) comes at the beginning of a
Subordinate (or Dependent) Clause and establishes the relationship between the dependent clause and the rest of the
sentence. It also turns the clause into something that depends on the rest of the sentence for its meaning.



He took to the stage as though he had been preparing for this moment all his life.
Because he loved acting, he refused to give up his dream of being in the movies.
Unless we act now, all is lost.
Notice that some of the subordinating conjunctions in the table below — after, before, since — are also prepositions,
but as subordinators they are being used to introduce a clause and to subordinate the following clause to the independent
element in the sentence.
Common Subordinating Conjunctions
after
if
although
if only
as
in order that
as if
now that
as long as
once
as though
rather than
because
since
before
so that
even if
than
even though
that
though
till
unless
until
when
whenever
where
whereas
wherever
while
The Case of Like and As
Strictly speaking, the word like is a preposition, not a conjunction. It can, therefore, be used to introduce a prepositional
phrase ("My brother is tall like my father"), but it should not be used to introduce a clause ("My brother can't play the
piano like as he did before the accident" or "It looks like as if basketball is quickly overtaking baseball as America's
national sport."). To introduce a clause, it's a good idea to use as, as though, or as if, instead.



Like As I told you earlier, the lecture has been postponed.
It looks like as if it's going to snow this afternoon.
Johnson kept looking out the window like as though he had someone waiting for him.
In formal, academic text, it's a good idea to reserve the use of like for situations in which similarities are being pointed
out:

This community college is like a two-year liberal arts college.
However, when you are listing things that have similarities, such as is probably more suitable:

The college has several highly regarded neighbors, like such as the Mark Twain House, St. Francis Hospital,
the Connecticut Historical Society, and the UConn Law School.
Omitting That
The word that is used as a conjunction to connect a subordinate clause to a preceding verb. In this construction that is
sometimes called the "expletive that." Indeed, the word is often omitted to good effect, but the very fact of easy
omission causes some editors to take out the red pen and strike out the conjunction that wherever it appears. In the
following sentences, we can happily omit the that (or keep it, depending on how the sentence sounds to us):



Isabel knew [that] she was about to be fired.
She definitely felt [that] her fellow employees hadn't supported her.
I hope [that] she doesn't blame me.
Sometimes omitting the that creates a break in the flow of a sentence, a break that can be adequately bridged with the
use of a comma:


The problem is, that production in her department has dropped.
Remember, that we didn't have these problems before she started working here.
As a general rule, if the sentence feels just as good without the that, if no ambiguity results from its omission, if the
sentence is more efficient or elegant without it, then we can safely omit the that. Theodore Bernstein lists three
conditions in which we should maintain the conjunction that:



When a time element intervenes between the verb and the clause: "The boss said yesterday that production in
this department was down fifty percent." (Notice the position of "yesterday.")
When the verb of the clause is long delayed: "Our annual report revealed that some losses sustained by this
department in the third quarter of last year were worse than previously thought." (Notice the distance between
the subject "losses" and its verb, "were.")
When a second that can clear up who said or did what: "The CEO said that Isabel's department was slacking
off and that production dropped precipitously in the fourth quarter." (Did the CEO say that production dropped
or was the drop a result of what he said about Isabel's department? The second that makes the sentence clear.)
Authority for this section: Dos, Don'ts & Maybes of English Usage by Theodore Bernstein. Gramercy Books: New
York. 1999. p. 217. Examples our own.
Beginning a Sentence with Because
Somehow, the notion that one should not begin a sentence with the subordinating conjunction
because retains a mysterious grip on people's sense of writing proprieties. This might come about
because a sentence that begins with because could well end up a fragment if one is not careful to
follow up the "because clause" with an independent clause.

Because e-mail now plays such a huge role in our communications industry.
When the "because clause" is properly subordinated to another idea (regardless of the position of the
clause in the sentence), there is absolutely nothing wrong with it:

Because e-mail now plays such a huge role in our communications industry, the postal
service would very much like to see it taxed in some manner.
Correlative Conjunctions
Some conjunctions combine with other words to form what are called correlative conjunctions. They always travel in
pairs, joining various sentence elements that should be treated as grammatically equal.



She led the team not only in statistics but also by virtue of her enthusiasm.
Polonius said, "Neither a borrower nor a lender be."
Whether you win this race or lose it doesn't matter as long as you do your best.
Correlative conjunctions sometimes create problems in parallel form. Click HERE for help with those problems. Here
is a brief list of common correlative conjunctions.
both . . . and
not only . . . but also
not . . . but
either . . . or
neither . . . nor
whether . . . or
as . . . as
Conjunctive Adverbs
The conjunctive adverbs such as however, moreover, nevertheless, consequently, as a result are used to create
complex relationships between ideas. Refer to the section on Coherence: Transitions Between Ideas for an extensive
list of conjunctive adverbs categorized according to their various uses and for some advice on their application within
sentences (including punctuation issues).
Prepositions:
Locators in
Time and Place
A preposition describes a relationship between other words in a sentence. In itself, a word like "in" or "after" is rather
meaningless and hard to define in mere words. For instance, when you do try to define a preposition like "in" or
"between" or "on," you invariably use your hands to show how something is situated in relationship to something else.
Prepositions are nearly always combined with other words in structures called prepositional phrases. Prepositional
phrases can be made up of a million different words, but they tend to be built the same: a preposition followed by a
determiner and an adjective or two, followed by a pronoun or noun (called the object of the preposition). This whole
phrase, in turn, takes on a modifying role, acting as an adjective or an adverb, locating something in time and space,
modifying a noun, or telling when or where or under what conditions something happened.
Consider the professor's desk and all the prepositional phrases we can use while talking about it.
You can sit before the desk (or in front of the desk). The professor can sit on the desk (when he's being informal) or
behind the desk, and then his feet are under the desk or beneath the desk. He can stand beside the desk (meaning next
to the desk), before the desk, between the desk and you, or even on the desk (if he's really strange). If he's clumsy, he
can bump into the desk or try to walk through the desk (and stuff would fall off the desk). Passing his hands over the
desk or resting his elbows upon the desk, he often looks across the desk and speaks of the desk or concerning the desk
as if there were nothing else like the desk. Because he thinks of nothing except the desk, sometimes you wonder about
the desk, what's in the desk, what he paid for the desk, and if he could live without the desk. You can walk toward the
desk, to the desk, around the desk, by the desk, and even past the desk while he sits at the desk or leans against the
desk.
All of this happens, of course, in time: during the class, before the class, until the class, throughout the class, after
the class, etc. And the professor can sit there in a bad mood [another adverbial construction].
Those words in bold blue font are all prepositions. Some prepositions do other things besides locate in space or time —
"My brother is like my father." "Everyone in the class except me got the answer." — but nearly all of them modify in
one way or another. It is possible for a preposition phrase to act as a noun — "During a church service is not a good
time to discuss picnic plans" or "In the South Pacific is where I long to be" — but this is seldom appropriate in formal
or academic writing.
Click HERE for a list of common prepositions that will be easy to print out.
You may have learned that ending a sentence with a preposition is a serious breach of grammatical etiquette. It
doesn't take a grammarian to spot a sentence-ending preposition, so this is an easy rule to get caught up on (!). Although
it is often easy to remedy the offending preposition, sometimes it isn't, and repair efforts sometimes result in a clumsy
sentence. "Indicate the book you are quoting from" is not greatly improved with "Indicate from which book you are
quoting."
Based on shaky historical precedent, the rule itself is a latecomer to the rules of writing. Those who dislike the rule are
fond of recalling Churchill's rejoinder: "That is nonsense up with which I shall not put." We should also remember the
child's complaint: "What did you bring that book that I don't like to be read to out of up for?"
Is it any wonder that prepositions create such troubles for students for whom English is a second language? We say we
are at the hospital to visit a friend who is in the hospital. We lie in bed but on the couch. We watch a film at the theater
but on television. For native speakers, these little words present little difficulty, but try to learn another language, any
other language, and you will quickly discover that prepositions are troublesome wherever you live and learn. This page
contains some interesting (sometimes troublesome) prepositions with brief usage notes. To address all the potential
difficulties with prepositions in idiomatic usage would require volumes, and the only way English language learners can
begin to master the intricacies of preposition usage is through practice and paying close attention to speech and the
written word. Keeping a good dictionary close at hand (to hand?) is an important first step.
Prepositions of Time: at, on, and in
We use at to designate specific times.
The train is due at 12:15 p.m.
We use on to designate days and dates.
My brother is coming on Monday.
We're having a party on the Fourth of July.
We use in for nonspecific times during a day, a month, a season, or a year.
She likes to jog in the morning.
It's too cold in winter to run outside.
He started the job in 1971.
He's going to quit in August.
Prepositions of Place: at, on, and in
We use at for specific addresses.
Grammar English lives at 55 Boretz Road in Durham.
We use on to designate names of streets, avenues, etc.
Her house is on Boretz Road.
And we use in for the names of land-areas (towns, counties, states, countries, and continents).
She lives in Durham.
Durham is in Windham County.
Windham County is in Connecticut.
Prepositions of Location: in, at, and on
and No Preposition
IN
AT
ON
(the) bed*
class*
the bed*
the bedroom
home
the ceiling
the car
the library*
the floor
(the) class*
the office
the horse
the library*
school*
the plane
school*
work
the train
* You may sometimes use different prepositions for these locations.
NO PREPOSITION
downstairs
downtown
inside
outside
upstairs
uptown
Prepositions of Movement: to
and No Preposition
We use to in order to express movement toward a place.
They were driving to work together.
She's going to the dentist's office this morning.
Toward and towards are also helpful prepositions to express movement. These are simply variant spellings of the same
word; use whichever sounds better to you.
We're moving toward the light.
This is a big step towards the project's completion.
With the words home, downtown, uptown, inside, outside, downstairs, upstairs, we use no preposition.
Grandma went upstairs
Grandpa went home.
They both went outside.
Prepositions of Time: for and since
We use for when we measure time (seconds, minutes, hours, days, months, years).
He held his breath for seven minutes.
She's lived there for seven years.
The British and Irish have been quarreling for seven centuries.
We use since with a specific date or time.
He's worked here since 1970.
She's been sitting in the waiting room since two-thirty.
Prepositions with Nouns, Adjectives, and Verbs.
Prepositions are sometimes so firmly wedded to other words that they have practically become one word. (In fact, in
other languages, such as German, they would have become one word.) This occurs in three categories: nouns,
adjectives, and verbs.
NOUNS and PREPOSITIONS
approval of
fondness for
awareness of
grasp of
belief in
hatred of
concern for
hope for
confusion about
interest in
desire for
love of
ADJECTIVES and PREPOSITIONS
afraid of
fond of
angry at
happy about
aware of
interested in
capable of
jealous of
careless about
made of
familiar with
married to
VERBS and PREPOSITIONS
apologize for
give up
ask about
grow up
ask for
look for
belong to
look forward to
bring up
look up
care for
make up
find out
pay for
need for
participation in
reason for
respect for
success in
understanding of
proud of
similar to
sorry for
sure of
tired of
worried about
prepare for
study for
talk about
think about
trust in
work for
worry about
A combination of verb and preposition is called a phrasal verb. The word that is joined to the verb is then called a
particle. Please refer to the brief section we have prepared on phrasal verbs for an explanation.
Idiomatic Expressions with Prepositions




agree to a proposal, with a person, on a price, in principle
argue about a matter, with a person, for or against a proposition
compare to to show likenesses, with to show differences (sometimes similarities)
correspond to a thing, with a person


differ from an unlike thing, with a person
live at an address, in a house or city, on a street, with other people
Unnecessary Prepositions
In everyday speech, we fall into some bad habits, using prepositions where they are not necessary. It would be a good
idea to eliminate these words altogether, but we must be especially careful not to use them in formal, academic prose.







She met up with the new coach in the hallway.
The book fell off of the desk.
He threw the book out of the window.
She wouldn't let the cat inside of the house. [or use "in"]
Where did they go to?
Put the lamp in back of the couch. [use "behind" instead]
Where is your college at?
Prepositions in Parallel Form
(Click HERE for a definition and discussion of parallelism.) When two words or phrases are used in parallel and
require the same preposition to be idiomatically correct, the preposition does not have to be used twice.
You can wear that outfit in summer and in winter.
The female was both attracted by and distracted by the male's dance.
However, when the idiomatic use of phrases calls for different prepositions, we must be careful not to omit one of them.
The children were interested in and disgusted by the movie.
It was clear that this player could both contribute to and learn from every game he played.
He was fascinated by and enamored of this beguiling woman.
Interjections
Interjections are words or phrases used to exclaim or protest or command. They sometimes stand by themselves, but
they are often contained within larger structures.




Wow! I won the lottery!
Oh, I don't know about that.
I don't know what the heck you're talking about.
No, you shouldn't have done that.
Most mild interjections are treated as parenthetical elements and set off from the rest of the sentence with a comma or
set of commas. If the interjection is more forceful, however, it is followed with an exclamation mark. Interjections are
rarely used in formal or academic writing.
You can find a list of mild interjections, with examples of their usage and punctuation, at the English Club.
Sample Sentences
The following 900 sentences are correctly handled by the parser. They represent many of the phenomena captured by
our grammar. All sentences beginning with a ``*'' are judged as incorrect (that is, no complete linkage is found for
them). Unlabelled sentences are judged as correct.
This list of sentences is available at our ftp directory, under the name "4.0.batch". This file can be run as a batchfile, and
should parse with 0 errors. (See the Introduction, section 3.6, for an explanation of batchfiles.)
NOUNS
The fact that he smiled at me gives me hope
*The event that he smiled at me gives me hope
But my efforts to win his heart have failed
*But my presents to win his heart have failed
Failure to comply may result in dismissal
*Absence to comply may result in dismissal
The question is who we should invite
*The party is who we should invite
The big question on everybody's mind is who killed OJ
*The big mind on everybody's question is who killed OJ
Do it the way you've always done it
I really like the way you do your hair
*I really like the fashion you do your hair
He made a request that there be an investigation
*He stated the fact that there be an investigation
He is the kind of person who would do that
*He is the character of person who would do that
An income tax increase may be necessary
*A tax on income increase may be necessary
Last week I saw a great movie
*Last dog I saw a great movie
The party that night was a big success
*The party that dog was a big success
John Stuart Mill is an important author
The Richard Milhous Nixon Library has been a big success
The mystery of the Nixon tapes was never solved
High income taxes are important
Oil company stock prices rose in heavy trading today
Metals futures prices rose in heavy trading today
U.S. economic indicators fell sharply last month
Columbia medical and administrative workers continued their strike today
Janet, who is an expert on dogs, helped me choose one
*Janet who is an expert on dogs helped me choose one
The dog that we eventually bought was very expensive
*The dog, that we eventually bought, was very expensive
*The dog, we eventually bought, was very expensive
Have you ever seen the Pacific
The new David Letterman is a happy, relaxed David Letterman
Actress Whoopi Goldberg and singer Michael Jackson attended the ceremony
We are from the planet Gorpon
This is my friend Bob
John's family is renovating their kitchen
*A man I know's family is renovating their kitchen
The boys' bedrooms will be enlarged
*The boys's bedrooms will be enlarged
My uncle's mother's cousin is visiting us
*Emily's my cousin is visiting us
We ate at Joe's Diner last week
The buy-out caused a free-for-all in the mid-afternoon
Joan Smith is president of the company
*Joan Smith is tourist
Alfred Baird, formerly vice president of Beevil Corp., has been appointed as president
*Alfred Baird, man I know, has been described as good gardener
A bunch of dogs are in the yard
*A picture of dogs are in the yard
DETERMINERS & PRONOUNS
Many people were angered by the hearings
*Many person were angered by the hearings
Many were angered by the hearings
My many female friends were angered by the hearings
*My some female friends were angered by the hearings
Many who initially supported Thomas later changed their minds
The stupidity of the senators annoyed all my friends
*The stupidity of the senators annoyed many my friends
I need to buy a present, but I want something inexpensive
*I need to buy a present, but I want a gift inexpensive
Anyone who thinks this will work is crazy
Their program is better than ours
Those that want to come can come
I read everything I could about the subject
I read whatever I could about the subjetc
*I read several books I could about the subject
the best costumes got prizes
*a best costume got prizes
*some best costumes got prizes
the best five costumes got prizes
the five best costumes got prizes
*the five best five costumes got prizes
*the hundreds of best costumes got prizes
*five best costumes got prizes
*best costumes got prizes
*best five costumes got prizes
five other costumes got prizes
the other five costumes got prizes
*other five costumes got prizes
the other candy was really disgusting
*the five other candy was really disgusting
other candy is really disgusting
*other piece of candy was really bad
other costumes were really bad
some other costumes were really bad
NUMBERS
2 million attended
2863764 attended
2 million people attended
*2 million person attended
a million attended
a million people attended
about 2 million people attended
about 2 million attended
*about people attended
a million such people attended
*a million such attended
5 million of the people attended
5 thousand invited by Bob attended
The 5 thousand invited by Bob attended
The thousands of people who attended enjoyed it
The 5 thousand people invited by Bob attended
The nearly 5 million people who attended enjoyed it
a few attended
a few million people attended
a few people attended
few attended
*few million people attended
millions attended
*5 millions attended
millions of people attended
hundreds of millions of people attended
5 million years ago, the earth was covered with ice
millions of years ago, the earth was covered with ice
*dogs of years ago, the earth was covered with ice
*the five million years ago, the earth was covered with ice
*the other five million years ago, the earth was covered with ice
*5 million ago, the earth was covered with ice
The city of New York contains over one hundred million billion brain cells
Almost one third of the people in the country have no health insurance
Of all the people in this country, almost one third have no health insurance
Three quarters of a million people in this city have no health insurance
The price of the stock rose three tenths of one point
*The price of the stock rose three tenths of one dog
The nearest drug store is about three quarters of a mile away
The nearest drug store is about 3/4 of a mile away
Every morning I walk 3 1/2 miles
*Every morning I walk 1/2 3 miles
Nearly 1/2 million people work here every day
Nearly 1 1/4 million people work here every day
*Nearly 1 million 1/4 people work here every day
Between 500 and 1000 people pass through here every minute
They are the Number 3 auto maker and a Fortune 500 company
I live at 805 West Indiana Street
TIME EXPRESSIONS
We're thinking about going to a movie this evening
*We're thinking about going to a movie this theater
I've been grading these stupid exams all day
*I've been grading these stupid days all exam
We're having a big party Tuesday
*We're having a big party our house
*There is going to be an important meeting January
There is going to be an important meeting in January
There is going to be an important meeting next January
The party last week was a big success
John last week threw a great party
Until recently, these fossils were believed to belong to different species
*Until initially, these fossils were believed to belong to different species
*Until for many years, these fossils were believed to belong to different species
Until last week, these fossils were believed to belong to different species
*Until last meeting, these fossils were believed to belong to different species
I'm quite excited about next week
Monday sounds good for the meeting
Tomorrow might be a good time for the meeting
Last Tuesday was really fun
*Three days ago was really fun
Almost three years after our first date, I saw Ruth again
Almost three years after I first met her, I saw Ruth again
*Almost three years, I saw Ruth again
Almost three years later, I saw Ruth again
*Almost three years for our first date, I saw Ruth again
I saw her again a year and a half later
*I saw her again a year and a dog later
He left here a quarter of an hour ago
*He left here a quarter of a dog ago
*He left here a picture of an hour ago
I still remember the day I kissed him
*I still remember the room I kissed him
I'm going to Europe the day I graduate
Clinton is expected to return to Washington Thursday morning
*Clinton is expected to return to Thursday Washington office
Clinton is expected to return to Washington on Thursday morning
Clinton is expected to return to Washington late Thursday morning
Clinton is expected to return to Washington next Thursday morning
She walked out of the room the minute I saw her
*She walked out of the room two minutes I saw her
I was crazy about him the first time I saw him
*I was crazy about him the first party I saw him
In January 1990, a historic new law was passed
*In Washington 1990, a historic new law was passed
On January 15, 1990, a historic new law was passed
*On January 320, 1990, a historic new law was passed
He was convicted under an obscure 1990 law
*He was convicted under an obscure 50 law
I wish I could see him 100 times a day
*I wish I could see him 3 meals a day
*I wish I could see him 100 times a dog
*I wish I could see him 100 times 2 days
It's good to eat three big meals a day
Someone is mugged in New York every five minutes
Her career lasted almost thirty years
*Her career lasted almost thirty books
Every morning at 5 a.m., Ken gets up and runs for five miles
At 4:52 p.m., on Monday, December 26, 1997, nothing happened
VERBS
Abrams does like programming
*Abrams does be a good programmer
He is being hired by another company
He is looking for another job
Fred has had five years of experience as a programmer
*Fred has had been a programmer for five years
I gave my mother the present I bought for her
I gave her the present I bought for her
*I gave my mother it
We picked out some beautiful flowers for her
We picked some beautiful flowers out for her
We picked them out for her
*We picked out them for her
Did you put the milk in the refrigerator
*Did you put the milk
Where did you put the milk
I hope he comes to the party tomorrow
I hope that he comes to the party tomorrow
*I hope him to come to the party tomorrow
I expect him to come to the party tomorrow
I expect to go to the party tomorrow
*I expect
*I expected who would come to the party
I knew who would come to the party
*I expected he go to the party
I suggested he go to the party
*He knew me how to use the program
He asked me how to use the program
*He disputed our program was superior
He disputed that our program was superior
Anne told me I would almost certainly be hired
*Anne expected me I would almost certainly be hired
*We argued adding new features to the program
We discussed adding new features to the program
*I thought terrible after our discussion
I felt terrible after our discussion
I made him make some changes in the program
*I encouraged him make some changes in the program
I helped him make some changes in the program
I helped make some changes in the program
*I saw make some changes in the program
*I made him telling her about the party
I saw him telling her about the party
Phil gave me a sweater which he bought in Paris
*Phil chose me a sweater which he bought in Paris
Alan bet me five dollars Clinton would lose the election
*Alan offered me five dollars Clinton would lose the election
She said she didn't approve of my behavior
*She said she didn't like of my behavior
The results are in, the game is up and the truth is out
*The in results show the out truth about the up game
*The results became in and the truth seemed out
He sold for five dollars the ring his mother had given him
Clinton announced on Tuesday a bold new proposal
*Clinton announced on Tuesday it
I gave my brother an expensive present
I gave him an expensive present
I gave an expensive present
I gave it
*I gave my brother it
I gave him for his birthday a very expensive present
*I gave him for his birthday it
I gave for his birthday an expensive present
*I gave for his birthday it
The President announced on Monday that several more bases would be closed
He had attempted for years to make a career as a concert pianist
*He had attempted for years
I asked him when I saw him at the party yesterday what he was working on
*I talked to him when I saw him at the party yesterday what he was working on
I wondered for a long time why everyone liked her so much
*I thought for a long time why everyone liked her so much
I told Margaret that I thought she would probably be hired
*I told on Tuesday Margaret that I thought she would probably be hired
I told Margaret on Tuesday that I thought she would probably be hired
We discussed at the meeting hiring a new secretary
*We discussed at the meeting
We informed the new employees that no salary increase would be possible
We informed at the meeting the new employees
*We informed at the meeting the new employees that no salary increase would be possible
They were asked that he be allowed to go
If his calculations were correct, Copernicus reasoned, the earth must revolve around the sun
The earth, Copernicus reasoned, must revolve around the sun
The earth must revolve around the sun, Copernicus reasoned
*The earth must revolve around the sun, Copernicus was happy
*The earth must revolve around the sun, Copernicus destroyed
*The earth, the pope cringed when Copernicus reasoned, revolves around the sun
Abortion was legal until the third month, the court ruled
If the pregnancy was within the first three months, the court ruled, abortion was legal
Nobody, it seems, wants to be a liberal
*Nobody, John seems, wants to be a liberal
Business is booming, Joe Smith, a car dealer, says
Business is booming, says Joe Smith, a car dealer
You can do anything you want, I told her
In the last few years, it seems, nobody wants to be a liberal
Also invited to the meeting were several prominent scientists
*Also invited to the meeting invited several prominent scientists
Also awarded the prize was Jean Smith, a prominent computer scientist
Chosen to lead the commission was Fred Schultz, a former Federal judge
*Chosen to lead the commission seemed likely to be Fred Schultz, a former Federal judge
*Chooses to lead the investigation Fred Schultz
*Choose to lead the investigation did Fred Schultz
Also recommended in the report was a new initiative to combat crime
*Also chosen the leader for the commission was Fred Schultz
Included in our paper is a summary of the features of our program
Also performing in the concert were members of the Budapest Quartet
*Were performing in the concert members of the Budapest Quartet
Voting in favor of the bill were 36 Republicans and 4 moderate Democrats
Glaring coldly at Sarah, he walked out of the room
He walked out of the room, glaring coldly at Sarah
*Glaring coldly at Sarah, walking out of the room
Finding that it was impossible to get work as a waiter, he worked as a janitor
He had hoped to get work as a waiter, but, finding this was impossible, he worked as a janitor
*He said that, finding that it was impossible to get work as a waiter, he would work as a janitor
Used by some of the finest pianists in the country, Baldwin pianos are technical marvels
Using specially designed parts, Baldwin pianos are technical marvels
*Used specially designed parts, Baldwin pianos are technical marvels
Sending a message of discontent to Washington, voters overwhelmingly rejected the Clinton administration
She's a really good player
John's coming to the party tonight
He's usually gone to Boston for Thanksgiving
*Do you know where John's
Who's afraid of the big bad wolf
That's just the kind of person he is
*That's just the kind of person he's
There's no reason to get so upset about it
I didn't think he would do it, but he did
*I didn't think he would invite her, but he invited
If you don't want to do it, you should find someone who will
If you don't want to do it, you should find someone who does
Find someone who does
*Find someone who wants to do
I don't like programming, and someone who does may be difficult to find
The price of the stock more than doubled in two days
*The price of the stock more than increased in two days
I finally figured out why this program is so slow
*I finally flipped out why this program is so slow
It turns out that Clinton didn't actually kiss Monica
If you go around doing that, you're going to end up making people mad
The lawyer pointed out that Clinton didn't actually kiss Monica
A party is taking place, so if you'd like to show up, you should do so
PREPOSITIONS
I have doubts about inviting him
*I have doubts during inviting him
I prevented her from doing it by praising her for not doing it
From your description, I don't think I would enjoy it
We had an argument over whether it was a good movie
*We had an argument at whether it was a good movie
Because of the rain, we decided to stay home
They're having a party in front of the building
The man with whom I play tennis is here
The man I play tennis with is here
*The man whom I play tennis is here
*The man with whom I play tennis with is here
With whom did you play tennis
Who did you play tennis with
The data on file will be used for the project at hand, which is already under way
*The data on project will be used for the file at program
The project was finished on schedule, as usual
*The project as usual and the report on schedule were finished
I told him by telephone that I was coming by car
From in back of the shed, I heard a scream that seemed to come from on top of the garage
The university spends $5 per student
*The university spends $5 per the student
They're building a gigantic mall five miles from here
*They're building a gigantic mall five mistakes from here
The 7-11 is half a mile up the road, but the supermarket is a long way away
I'm sure things will get done with Janet running the company
*I'm sure things will get done by Janet running the company
*I'm sure things will get done because Janet running the company
With Janet in charge, I'm sure things will get done
ADJECTIVES
You are lucky that there is no exam today
*You are stupid that there is no exam today
You are lucky I am here
*You are right I am here
This is something we should be happy about
*This is something we should be happy
*The happy about it man kissed his wife
Is he sure how to find the house
*Is he correct how to find the house
You should be proud of your achievement
*You should be happy of your achievement
He is the smartest man I know
*They are some smartest men I know
I've seen a lot of programs, but ours is the fastest
Ours is the fastest of the programs we have seen
I've seen a lot of programs, but ours runs the most quickly
*This is our the fastest program
Voters angry about the economy will probably vote for Clinton
*Voters angry will probably vote for Clinton
Many Democrats unhappy about the economy but doubtful that Clinton can be elected probably won't vote at all
*Many Democrats unhappy but doubtful probably won't vote at all
*Many Democrats likely that Bush will be reelected probably won't vote
Hundreds of young men, furious about the verdict in the Rodney King case, looted stores in Los Angeles today
*Hundreds of young men, furious, looted stores in Los Angeles today
We need a programmer knowledgeable about Lisp
*We need a programmer knowledgeable
Any program as good as ours should be useful
*Any program good should be useful
Let us know if you have a program capable of parsing this sentence
*Let us know if you have a program capable
It is believed that even the troops loyal to Hussein will soon be forced to surrender
*It is believed that even the troops loyal will soon be forced to surrender
Republican policies only benefit the rich and powerful
Republican policies only benefit the rich and the powerful
*Republican policies only benefit a rich and a powerful
*Republican policies only benefit some rich and some powerful
The meek will inherit the earth, and the best is the enemy of the good
They're building a skyscraper over 1000 feet tall
*They're building a skyscraper tall
The river is half a mile wide here and 300 feet deep
*The river is half a mile beautiful and 300 feet dangerous
Mr. John Smith, 66 years old, will succeed him as president
*Mr. John Smith, old, will succeed him as president
A big black ugly dog chased me
A big, black, ugly dog chased me
The former astronaut was alone and afraid
*The alone astronaut was former
ADVERBS
He is apparently an expert on dogs
*He knows apparently an expert on dogs
Mary quickly walked out of the room
Mary just walked out of the room
Quickly, Mary walked out of the room
Mary walked out of the room quickly
*Mary walked out of the room just
He told them about the accident immediately
*He told them about the accident presumably
He told them about the accident, presumably
She is very careful about her work
She works very carefully
*She very works carefully
Is the piece easy enough for you
Is the piece too easy for you
*Is the piece enough easy for you
She is apparently an excellent pianist
*She married apparently an excellent pianist
Only after the movie did he realize his mistake
*After the movie did he realize his mistake
I may have taken cocaine a few times, but at no time did I inhale
*A few times may I have taken cocaine, but I inhaled at no time
Never have I seen such a grotesque display of incompetence
*Often have I seen such a grotesque display of incompetence
We like to eat at restaurants, particularly on weekends
We like to eat at restaurants, usually on weekends
*We like to eat at restaurants, fortunately on weekends
Such flowers are found mainly in Europe
*Such flowers are found apparently in Europe
*Such flowers are found mainly particularly in Europe
*Such flowers are found mainly
Many people, particularly doctors, believe there is no health care crisis
*Many people, strongly doctors, believe there is no health care crisis
I found a house that even John thinks we should buy
He told me that even his mother likes me
*He told me that even, his mother likes me
We put the pie straight in the oven
*We put the pie quickly in the oven
We put the pie straight in
*We put the pie straight
He lives high in the mountains
He lives over by the lake
He lives out down by the lake
*He lives out down by
The apparently angry man walked out of the room
The often underpaid administrators resent the invariably rude students and the understandably impatient professors
The delicately lyrical tone of the cello contrasted with the fiercely percussive piano chords
The always delicately lyrical tone was really beautiful
*The delicately always lyrical tone was really beautiful
*The delicately very lyrical tone was really beautiful
Biochemically, I think the experiment has a lot of problems
I think the experiment has a lot of problems biochemically
It is biochemically an interesting experiment
I'm not sure the results are biochemically valid
QUESTIONS AND RELATIVE CLAUSES
Which dog did you chase
*Which dog you chased
Which dog did you say you chased
*Which dog you said you chased
*Which dog did you say did you chase
I wonder which dog he said you chased
*I wonder which dog did he say you chased
*I wonder which dog did he say did you chase
What did John say he thought you should do
*What did John say did he think you should do
*What John said he thought you should do
What Alice did really annoyed me
*Who Alice did really annoyed me
Whoever designed this program didn't know what they were doing
*Who designed this program didn't know what they were doing
Invite John and whoever else you want to invite
The dog which Chris bought is really ugly
*The dog what Chris bought is really ugly
I wonder whether we should go
*Whether should we go
We can't decide whether to go to the party
*We can't decide who to go the party
*We can't decide whether to go the the party with
I am wondering who to go to the party with
I am wondering who to invite to the party
*I am wondering whether to invite to the party
*I am wondering the people to invite to the party
*Whether to go to the party
*Who to invite to the party
Do you think we should go to the party
*What do you think we should go to the party
How do you operate this machine
How fast is the program
How certain are you that John is coming
*How tired are you that John is coming
How likely is it that he will come
*How likely is John that he will come
How certain does he seem to be that John is coming
How efficient a program is it
*Efficient a program is it
*How fast programs are they
*How fast the program is it
How fast a program does he think it is
*How fast a program he thinks it is
*How fast programs does he think they are
*How big a dog chased you
I wonder how fast a program he thinks it is
*I wonder how fast a program does he think it is
How much money did you earn
*How much money you earn
I wonder how much money you earned
*I wonder how much money have you earned
How much oil spilled
How much do you swim
*How much you swim
I wonder how much you swim
*I wonder how much do you swim
*I don't have how much money
I don't have very much money
I don't have much money
How much did you read
*How much of the book you read
How much of the book did you read
I wonder how much of the book you read
How many people died
How many people did you see
*How many people you saw
I wonder how many people you saw
I wonder how many of the people you saw were students
How did John do it
I wonder how John did it
How long will it last
*How big will it last
How many years did it take to do it
How big is the department
*How big the department is
*I wonder how big is the department
I wonder how big the department is
*I wonder how big departments they are
*I wonder how a department it is
I wonder how big a department it is
How important is it to turn the computer off
I wonder how important it is to turn off the computer
*I wonder how important is it to turn off the computer
How quickly did Joe run
*How quickly Joe ran
I know how quickly you ran
*I know how quickly did you run
*He ran I know how quickly
*Quickly did Joe run
*Very quickly did Joe run
*I know very quickly did Joe run
*I know quickly did John run
How much more quickly did you run
*How much more quickly you run
*I wonder how much more quickly did he run
I wonder how much more quickly he ran
How much more quickly did he run than Joe
How much more should we work on this
How much further do you think we should drive tonight
I don't know how much longer I can tolerate this
How much bigger is the dog
*How much bigger dogs are they
*How much bigger dogs ran
*How big dogs run
How much further did you run
How much more oil spilled
How much more spilled
How much more oil did they spill
How much more did they spill
*How much more they spilled
I wonder how much oil spilled
I wonder how much oil they spilled
*How much more efficient programs are available
How many dogs ran
How many ran
How many dogs did you see
How many more people did you see
How many more people do you think will come
I wonder how many more people he thinks will come
*I wonder how many more people does he think will come
How many times did you do it
*How many times you did it
I wonder how many times you did it
*How many more stupid times did you do it
How many years ago did you do it
*Many years ago did you do it
*How many years did you do it
I wonder how many years ago you did it
*How many years ago you did it
I'll show you the house where I met your mother
*I'll show you the house which I met your mother
This is the man whose dog I bought
*This is the man which dog I bought
I wonder where John is
*I wonder where John hit
The dogs, some of which were very large, ran after the man
The dogs, some of which I had seen before, ran after the man
*The dogs some of which were very large ran after the man
The box contained many books, some of which were badly damaged
*Some of which were badly damaged
*The box contained many books, some were badly damaged
*The box contained many books, some of the books were badly damaged
The dogs, some of them very large, ran after the man
*The dogs, some of the dogs very large, ran after the man
*Some of them very large ran after the man
The man was chased by dogs, some of them very large
I believe it was John who stole the priceless documents
*I believe Fred was John who stole the priceless documents
It seems to have been Einstein who first came up with the idea
*There seems to have been Einstein who first came up with the idea
*It hopes to have been Einstein who first came up with the idea
*The book discussed Einstein who first came up with the idea
*Stravinsky was in Paris that Debussy first heard Balinese music
It was in Paris that Debussy first heard Balinese music
It must have been there that he realized his destiny
*It tried to have been there that he realized his destiny
*He composed some good music that he realized his destiny
*It was quickly that he wrote his first symphony
Wasn't it in 1955 that Sally first met Joe
Whatever the outcome, I'm sure he'll still be popular
*Whatever an outcome, I'm sure he'll still be popular
Whatever the outcome is, I'm sure he'll still be popular
*What the outcome is, I'm sure he'll still be popular
IT-THERE-THIS
There is a dog in the park
*There is chasing dogs
*There are a dog in the park
Does there seem to be a dog in the park?
*Does there want to be a dog in the park?
There seems to appear to have been likely to be a problem
*There seems to appear to have been likely to be problems
*There seems to appear to have been likely to be stupid
There was an attempt to kill Rod
The man there was an attempt to kill died
There was a problem, but we solved it
It is likely that Rod died
*Joe is likely that Rod died
It is clear who killed Rod
*Joe is clear who killed Rod
It may not be possible to fix the problem
Grace may not be possible to fix the problem
It is important that women be ready when they make these choices
*It is clear that women be ready when they make these choices
*Joe is important that women be ready when they make these choices
flowers are red to attract bees
I made it clear that I was angry
*I made Anne clear that I was angry
Dick is easy to hit
*Dick is black to hit
It is important to fix the problem
Dick is important to fix the problem
The man it is likely that John hit died
*The man Joe is likely that Dick hit died
Does it seem likely that Ann will come
Does Ann act glad that Joe came
*Does it act likely that Joe came
It doesn't matter what Ted does
*Joe doesn't matter what Ted does
I want it to be possible to use the program
I want Joe to be possible to use the program
I want it to be clear that it was my idea
*I asked it to be clear that it was my idea
I want it to be obvious how to use the program
*I want Emily to be obvious how to use the program
I want Joe to be easy to hit
It is likely they will come
*Joe is likely they will come
This is because he is extremely famous
The trial is because he is extremely famous
The excitement over the trial is because he is extremely famous
This seems to have been because he is extremely famous
COMPARATIVES
Our program works more elegantly than yours
Ours works more elegantly than yours does
Ours works more elegantly than yours works
*Ours works more elegant than yours
*Ours is more elegant than yours works
Our program works more elegantly than efficiently
Our program is more elegant than efficient
Our program works better than yours
We do this more for pleasure than for money
He is more likely to go than to stay
*He is more likely than to stay
*He is more black to go than to stay
He is more likely to go than he is to stay
He is more likely to go than John is
It is more likely that Joe died than that Fred died
It is more likely that Joe died than it is that Fred died
*John is more likely that Joe died than it is that Fred died
*It is more likely that Joe died than John is that Fred died
It is easier to ignore the problem than to solve it
It is easier to ignore the problem than it is to solve it
*Greg is easier to ignore the problem than to solve it
Our program is easier to use than to understand
*Our program is easier to use it than to understand
I am more happy now than I was in college
*I am more happy now than I earned in college
He is more a teacher than a scholar
I make more money in a month than John makes in a year
I make more money in a month than John dies in a year
I hit more the dog than the cat
I have more money than John has time
I have more dogs than John has five cats
I have more money than John has a dog
She interviewed more programmers than were hired
*She interviewed more programmers than was hired
I am as intelligent as John
I earn as much money as John does
I am as intelligent as John does
I earn as much money in a month as John earns in a year
*I earn as much money in a month than John earns in a year
Our program was better than had been expected
*Our program was better than had been argued
*Our program was better than had been responded
Our program was better than was expected
*Our program was better than were expected
More people came to the party than were expected
More people came to the party than was expected
Our program did not run as quickly as expected
*Our program did not run as quickly as said
How much faster is our program than theirs
*How much faster our program is than theirs
The more quickly we write the program, the more money we will earn
*The more people like the program
*The people like the program, the more money we will earn
The better the program is, the more people will like it
The better the program, the more people will like it
*The better a program, the more people will like it
The less likely it is that we can parse this, the easier it is to understand
"SO THAT", "SUCH...THAT"
The shuttle is so big that it has to be carried on the back of a jet
*The shuttle is big that it has to be carried on the back of a jet
So many people attended that they spilled over into several neighboring fields
*Many people attended that they spilled over into several neighboring fields
The program has so many problems that you should probably just rewrite it
*The program has many problems that you should probably just rewrite it
I love her so much that I can't let her go
*I love her very much that I can't let her go
He ran home so quickly that his mother could hardly believe he had called from school
*He ran home quickly that his mother could hardly believe he had called from school
She presented her case with such eloquence that we could only admire her
*She presented her case with eloquence that we could only admire her
SUBORDINATING CONJUNCTIONS
The man we saw when we went to Paris is here
*The man we saw but we went to Paris is here
You should see a play while in London
*You should see a play after in London
I left the party after seeing Ann there
*I left the party because seeing Ann there
*I left the party despite I saw Ann there
Because I didn't see Ann, I left
*Therefore I didn't see Ann, I left
I left, therefore I didn't see Ann
But I really wanted to see her
*After I really wanted to see her
As I suspected, he had already left
*Because I suspected, he had already left
*I suspected, he had already left
*I suspected
Some grammars are better than others, as we have proved
As had been expected, the party was a big success
*As had been green, the party was a big success
*As had wanted to be expected, the party was a big success
*As had expected the party to be a success, it was a success
In the event that the case goes to trial, I'm sure Clinton will be acquitted
*In the scandal that the case goes to trial, I'm sure Clinton will be acquitted
He should be acquitted, on the grounds that there's no evidence
The public seem to love him, no matter what he does
*The public seem to love him, no matter the stupid things he does
COORDINATING CONJUNCTIONS
I went to the store and got a gallon of milk
*I got and went a gallon of milk
I got a gallon of milk and some eggs
I went to the store, got a gallon of milk, and returned the eggs
*I went to the store, got a gallon of milk, and some eggs
Mary, Joe and Louise are coming to the party
Neither Mary nor Louise are coming to the party
I am ready and eager to go to the party
She handled it skillfully and with compassion
I told him that I hated him and that I never wanted to see him again
He told me why he was here and what he was doing
*He told me why he was here and that he hated me
Although he likes me and he respects me, he says he needs some privacy
Your house and garden are very attractive
I am in New York and I would like to see you
This is not the man we know and love
*This is not the man we know and love him
The coverage on TV and on the radio has been terrible
*The coverage on TV and I have seen has been terrible
The sky is blue, so it is likely that Joe will come
*It is blue and likely that Joe will come
That is the man for whom and with whom Joe works
*That is the man for whom and with Janet Joe works
*When did Joe and John did leave the party
My dog, cat, and cousin's friend came
*My dog, cat, horse, mouse, and his cow left
My dog, cat, horse, and mouse, and his cow left
you should not only ask for your money back, but demand it
I was both angry and sad at the same time
PLURALIZATION IN CONJUNCTIONS
There is neither a dog nor a cat here
*There are neither a dog nor a cat here
There is a dog or a cat here
*There are a dog or a cat here
*There are a dog and a cat here
There is a dog and a cat here
He and I are friends
neither I nor my friend knows what happened
neither I nor my friend know what happened
Either I or my friend knows what happened
Either I or my friend know what happened
The dog and cats know what happened
*The dog and cats knows what happened
Are a dog and a cat here
*Is a dog and a cat here
*Is John and I invited
Are John and I invited
Is John or I invited
Are John or I invited
Is neither John nor I invited
Are neither John nor I invited
GERUNDS
Playing the piano bothers John
Releasing the program at this point would annoy our competitors
The playing of the piano really bothers John
*The playing the piano really bothers John
Telling Joe about the party would create a real problem
*The telling Joe about the party could create a real problem
Your telling Joe about the party could create a real problem
Telling Joe that Sue was coming to the party would create a real problem
Telling would create a real problem
I want her to know about it, but the telling won't be easy
*The telling her won't be easy
*Some children like to tease
Teasing can be very cruel
Your telling John to leave may have destroyed your relationship
The graduating of Fred changes the situation
The sleeping of students is becoming a big problem
The sleeping of students can ruin a lecture
Buying of shares was brisk on Wall Street today
The sleeping in class is becoming a big problem
*The telling John to leave was stupid
*The inviting your mother was stupid
*The showing how to use the program seemed to interest people
*The attempting to go to the party angered Joe
The showing of the program seemed to impress people
The sleeping of students described by Fred is a big problem
The sleeping of students I told you about is a big problem
The frequent sleeping of students is a big problem
His hitting of the dog didn't help matters
Some hitting of dogs will solve the problem
the drug running here has become a massive problem
He made a mistake in inviting John
He made a mistake in the inviting of John
I should have talked to you before inviting John
I should have talked to you before the inviting of John
SPECIAL SUBJECTS: INFINITIVES, CLAUSES, AND INDIRECT QUESTIONS
To pretend that our program is usable in its current form would be silly
*To pretend that our program is usable in its current form would be happy
That our program will be immediately accepted is hardly likely
*That our program will be immediately accepted wrote the program
*Is that our program will be accepted likely
*That our program will be accepted seems likely that our program will be accepted
Whether we should go to the party is the important question
*Whether we should go to the party annoys me
LONGER CONSTRUCTIONS, PUNCTUATION, AND CAPITALIZATION
Using the conventional Minuet form, Beethoven produced a piece of great originality
Written in 1820, the symphony shows a new level of maturity for the composer
Abandoned by his friends, he left Vienna three years later
In Vienna, Beethoven met someone who would later be greatly influenced by him: Franz Schubert
*In Vienna, Beethoven met someone who would later be greatly influenced by him; Franz Schubert
Today I did something very important: I bought a dog
*The store where I did something very important: I bought a dog was closed today
It has been said that Schubert ran out of the room when he met Beethoven; but we now know this is untrue
An important question remains: did Beethoven know about Schubert's music
She just wanted one thing: to be a professional skater
She knew one thing: that she would be a professional skater
I agree that, in some ways, your program is better
I agree that in some ways, your program is better
*I agree that, in some ways your program is better
That is the man who, in Joe's opinion, we should hire
*That is the man, in Joe's opinion, we should hire
*That is the man who, in Joe's opinion we should hire
I know you hate Bill, but why did you send him that nasty note
*I know you hate Bill, because why did you send him that nasty note
But why did you send him that nasty note
If John was with Lisa last night, who went to the movie with Diane
*Although John was with Lisa last night, who went to the movie with Diane
We need a President who understands us
We need a president who understands us
*We need a Melvin who understand us
The Zongle of Bongle Dongle resigned today
*A Zongle with a Bongle Dongle resigned today
The National Association of Linguists is meeting here
*An Association that many Linguists belong to is meeting here
An association that many linguists belong to is meeting here
If you were a middle-class American without a job, who would you vote for
Many Croats who had fled their homes are now returning to them
*Many Croat who had fled their homes are now returning to them
Chinese is a wonderful language, Chinese food is nice, and the Chinese are nice people
*Armenian is a wonderful language, Armenian food is great, and the Armenian are nice people
Armenian is a wonderful language, Armenian food is great, and the Armenians are nice people
Danish is a wonderful language, Danish food is great, and the Danish are nice people
The Danes are nice people
Dr Jane Smith lives on Main St
Dr. Jane Smith lives on Main St.
*Dr. Jane. Smith. lives on Main. St.
Dr. J.G.D. Smith lives on Main St.
*A Dr. lives on this St
Mr. Smith (a lawyer for Kodak) refused to comment
Mr. Smith -- a lawyer for Kodak -- refused to comment
We left (carrying the dog) and Fred followed
I have $50, but I want a $50000 car
10 of the employees here do 90 of the work
Zangbert stock fell 30 to $2.50 yesterday, but jumped 10 today in heavy trading
*Zangbert stock fell , but jumped to $ today
With a 5 raise, I can get a $50000 car
"What are you doing?" she asked.
"This is what I'm going to do," he replied.
"This is what I'm going to do!" he replied.
*"This is what I'm going to do." he replied.
*"This is what I'm doing to do" he replied.
"On second thought," he said, "this is what I'm going to do".
"Quotation marks" are simply "ignored" by our "program"
Sometimes, people do this: They follow the colon with a capital letter.
*However, they never do this; They don't follow a semi-colon with a capital letter.
John said: "This is another use of colons one sometimes sees".
Formerly, he had worked for Brody, McGill & Demson
*He was unhappy & underpaid
The rally, at 6:00 last night, was attended by 1.1 million people
Helping and
Modal Auxiliary
Verbs
Helping verbs or auxiliary verbs such as will, shall, may, might, can, could, must, ought to, should, would, used to,
need are used in conjunction with main verbs to express shades of time and mood. The combination of helping verbs
with main verbs creates what are called verb phrases or verb strings. In the following sentence, "will have been" are
helping or auxiliary verbs and "studying" is the main verb; the whole verb string is underlined:

As of next August, I will have been studying chemistry for ten years.
Students should remember that adverbs and contracted forms are not, technically, part of the verb. In the sentence, "He
has already started." the adverb already modifies the verb, but it is not really part of the verb. The same is true of the 'nt
in "He hasn't started yet" (the adverb not, represented by the contracted n't, is not part of the verb, has started).
Shall, will and forms of have, do and be combine with main verbs to indicate time and voice. As auxiliaries, the verbs
be, have and do can change form to indicate changes in subject and time.






I shall go now.
He had won the election.
They did write that novel together.
I am going now.
He was winning the election.
They have been writing that novel for a long time.
Uses of Shall and Will and Should
In England, shall is used to express the simple future for first person I and we, as in "Shall we meet by the
river?" Will would be used in the simple future for all other persons. Using will in the first person would express
determination on the part of the speaker, as in "We will finish this project by tonight, by golly!" Using shall in
second and third persons would indicate some kind of promise about the subject, as in "This shall be revealed to
you in good time." This usage is certainly acceptable in the U.S., although shall is used far less frequently. The
distinction between the two is often obscured by the contraction 'll, which is the same for both verbs.
In the United States, we seldom use shall for anything other than polite questions (suggesting an element of
permission) in the first-person:


"Shall we go now?"
"Shall I call a doctor for you?"
(In the second sentence, many writers would use should instead, although should is somewhat more tentative
than shall.) In the U.S., to express the future tense, the verb will is used in all other cases.
Shall is often used in formal situations (legal or legalistic documents, minutes to meetings, etc.) to express
obligation, even with third-person and second-person constructions:


The board of directors shall be responsible for payment to stockholders.
The college president shall report financial shortfalls to the executive director each semester."
Should is usually replaced, nowadays, by would. It is still used, however, to mean "ought to" as in


You really shouldn't do that.
If you think that was amazing, you should have seen it last night.
In British English and very formal American English, one is apt to hear or read should with the first-person
pronouns in expressions of liking such as "I should prefer iced tea" and in tentative expressions of opinion such
as


I should imagine they'll vote Conservative.
I should have thought so.
(The New Fowler's Modern English Usage edited by R.W. Burchfield. Clarendon Press: Oxford, England. 1996.
Used with the permission of Oxford University Press. Examples our own.)
Uses of Do, Does and Did
In the simple present tense, do will function as an auxiliary to express the negative and to ask questions. (Does,
however, is substituted for third-person, singular subjects in the present tense. The past tense did works with all persons,
singular and plural.)




I don't study at night.
She doesn't work here anymore.
Do you attend this school?
Does he work here?
These verbs also work as "short answers," with the main verb omitted.

Does she work here? No, she doesn't work here.
With "yes-no" questions, the form of do goes in front of the subject and the main verb comes after the subject:


Did your grandmother know Truman?
Do wildflowers grow in your back yard?
Forms of do are useful in expressing similarity and differences in conjunction with so and neither.


My wife hates spinach and so does my son.
My wife doesn't like spinach; neither do I.
Do is also helpful because it means you don't have to repeat the verb:


Larry excelled in language studies; so did his brother.
Raoul studies as hard as his sister does.
The so-called emphatic do has many uses in English.
a.
b.
c.
d.
e.
f.
To add emphasis to an entire sentence: "He does like spinach. He really does!"
To add emphasis to an imperative: "Do come in." (actually softens the command)
To add emphasis to a frequency adverb: "He never did understand his father." "She always does manage to
hurt her mother's feelings."
To contradict a negative statement: "You didn't do your homework, did you?" "Oh, but I did finish it."
To ask a clarifying question about a previous negative statement: "Ridwell didn't take the tools." "Then who
did take the tools?"
To indicate a strong concession: "Although the Clintons denied any wrong-doing, they did return some of the
gifts."
In the absence of other modal auxiliaries, a form of do is used in question and negative constructions known as the get
passive:


Did Rinaldo get selected by the committee?
The audience didn't get riled up by the politician.
Based on descriptions in Grammar Dimensions: Form, Meaning, and Use 2nd Ed. by Jan Frodesen and Janet Eyring.
Heinle & Heinle: Boston. 1997. Examples our own.
Uses of Have, Has and Had
Forms of the verb to have are used to create tenses known as the present perfect and past perfect. The perfect tenses
indicate that something has happened in the past; the present perfect indicating that something happened and might be
continuing to happen, the past perfect indicating that something happened prior to something else happening. (That
sounds worse than it really is!) See the section on Verb Tenses in the Active Voice for further explanation; also review
material in the Directory of English Tenses.
To have is also in combination with other modal verbs to express probability and possibility in the past.




As an affirmative statement, to have can express how certain you are that something happened (when
combined with an appropriate modal + have + a past participle): "Georgia must have left already." "Clinton
might have known about the gifts." "They may have voted already."
As a negative statement, a modal is combined with not + have + a past participle to express how certain you
are that something did not happen: "Clinton might not have known about the gifts." "I may not have been there
at the time of the crime."
To ask about possibility or probability in the past, a modal is combined with the subject + have + past
participle: "Could Clinton have known about the gifts?"
For short answers, a modal is combined with have: "Did Clinton know about this?" "I don't know. He may
have." "The evidence is pretty positive. He must have."
To have (sometimes combined with to get) is used to express a logical inference:


It's been raining all week; the basement has to be flooded by now.
He hit his head on the doorway. He has got to be over seven feet tall!
Have is often combined with an infinitive to form an auxiliary whose meaning is similar to "must."



I have to have a car like that!
She has to pay her own tuition at college.
He has to have been the first student to try that.
Based on the analysis in Grammar Dimensions: Form, Meaning, and Use 2nd Ed. by Jan Frodesen and Janet Eyring.
Heinle & Heinle: Boston. 1997. Examples our own.
Modal Auxiliaries
Other helping verbs, called modal auxiliaries or modals, such as can, could, may, might, must, ought to, shall, should,
will, and would, do not change form for different subjects. For instance, try substituting any of these modal auxiliaries
for can with any of the subjects listed below.
I
you (singular)
he
we
you (plural)
they
can write well.
There is also a separate section on the Modal Auxiliaries, which divides these verbs into their various meanings of
necessity, advice, ability, expectation, permission, possibility, etc., and provides sample sentences in various tenses. See
the section on Conditional Verb Forms for help with the modal auxiliary would. The shades of meaning among modal
auxiliaries are multifarious and complex. Most English-as-a-Second-Language textbooks will contain at least one
chapter on their usage. For more advanced students, A University Grammar of English, by Randolph Quirk and Sidney
Greenbaum, contains an excellent, extensive analysis of modal auxiliaries.
The analysis of Modal Auxiliaries is based on a similar analysis in The Scott, Foresman Handbook for Writers by
Maxine Hairston and John J. Ruszkiewicz. 4th ed. HarperCollins: New York. 1996. The description of helping verbs on
this page is based on The Little, Brown Handbook by H. Ramsay Fowler and Jane E. Aaron, & Kay Limburg. 6th ed.
HarperCollins: New York. 1995. By permission of Addison-Wesley Educational Publishers Inc. Examples in all cases
are our own.
Uses of Can and Could
The modal auxiliary can is used



to express ability (in the sense of being able to do something or knowing how to do something):
He can speak Spanish but he can't write it very well.
to expression permission (in the sense of being allowed or permitted to do something):
Can I talk to my friends in the library waiting room? (Note that can is less formal than may. Also, some writers
will object to the use of can in this context.)
to express theoretical possibility:
American automobile makers can make better cars if they think there's a profit in it.
The modal auxiliary could is used

to express an ability in the past:



I could always beat you at tennis when we were kids.
to express past or future permission:
Could I bury my cat in your back yard?
to express present possibility:
We could always spend the afternoon just sitting around talking.
to express possibility or ability in contingent circumstances:
If he studied harder, he could pass this course.
In expressing ability, can and could frequently also imply willingness: Can you help me with my homework?
Can versus May
Whether the auxiliary verb can can be used to express permission or not — "Can I leave the room now?" ["I don't know
if you can, but you may."] — depends on the level of formality of your text or situation. As Theodore Bernstein puts it
in The Careful Writer, "a writer who is attentive to the proprieties will preserve the traditional distinction: can for
ability or power to do something, may for permission to do it.
The question is at what level can you safely ignore the "proprieties." Merriam-Webster's Dictionary, tenth edition, says
the battle is over and can can be used in virtually any situation to express or ask for permission. Most authorities,
however, recommend a stricter adherence to the distinction, at least in formal situations.
Authority: The Careful Writer by Theodore Bernstein. The Free Press: New York. 1998. p. 87.
Uses of May and Might
Two of the more troublesome modal auxiliaries are may and might. When used in the context of granting or seeking
permission, might is the past tense of may. Might is considerably more tentative than may.


May I leave class early?
If I've finished all my work and I'm really quiet, might I leave early?
In the context of expressing possibility, may and might are interchangeable present and future forms and might + have +
past participle is the past form:



She might be my advisor next semester.
She may be my advisor next semester.
She might have advised me not to take biology.
Avoid confusing the sense of possibility in may with the implication of might, that a hypothetical situation has not in
fact occurred. For instance, let's say there's been a helicopter crash at the airport. In his initial report, before all the facts
are gathered, a newscaster could say that the pilot "may have been injured." After we discover that the pilot is in fact all
right, the newscaster can now say that the pilot "might have been injured" because it is a hypothetical situation that has
not occurred. Another example: a body had been identified after much work by a detective. It was reported that
"without this painstaking work, the body may have remained unidentified." Since the body was, in fact, identified,
might is clearly called for.
Uses of Will and Would
In certain contexts, will and would are virtually interchangeable, but there are differences.
Notice that the contracted form 'll is very frequently used for will.
Will can be used to express willingness:


I'll wash the dishes if you dry.
We're going to the movies. Will you join us?
It can also express intention (especially in the first person):

I'll do my exercises later on.
and prediction:



specific: The meeting will be over soon.
timeless: Humidity will ruin my hairdo.
habitual: The river will overflow its banks every spring.
Would can also be used to express willingness:

Would you please take off your hat?
It can also express insistence (rather rare, and with a strong stress on the word "would"):

Now you've ruined everything. You would act that way.
and characteristic activity:


customary: After work, he would walk to his home in West Hartford.
typical (casual): She would cause the whole family to be late, every time.
In a main clause, would can express a hypothetical meaning:

My cocker spaniel would weigh a ton if I let her eat what she wants.
Finally, would can express a sense of probability:

I hear a whistle. That would be the five o'clock train.
Uses of Used to
The auxiliary verb construction used to is used to express an action that took place in the past, perhaps customarily, but
now that action no longer customarily takes place:

We used to take long vacation trips with the whole family.
The spelling of this verb is a problem for some people because the "-ed" ending quite naturally disappears in speaking:
"We yoostoo take long trips." But it ought not to disappear in writing. There are exceptions, though. When the auxiliary
is combined with another auxiliary, did, the past tense is carried by the new auxiliary and the "-ed" ending is dropped.
This will often happen in the interrogative:

Didn't you use to go jogging every morning before breakfast?

It didn't use to be that way.
Used to can also be used to convey the sense of being accustomed to or familiar with something:


The tire factory down the road really stinks, but we're used to it by now.
I like these old sneakers; I'm used to them.
Used to is best reserved for colloquial usage; it has no place in formal or academic text.
Sentence Subjects
The subject of a sentence is the person, place, thing, or idea that is doing or being something. You can find the subject
of a sentence if you can find the verb. Ask the question, "Who or what 'verbs' or 'verbed'?" and the answer to that
question is the subject. For instance, in the sentence "The computers in the Learning Center must be replaced," the verb
is "must be replaced." What must be replaced? The computers. So the subject is "computers." A simple subject is the
subject of a sentence stripped of modifiers. The simple subject of the following sentence is issue:
The really important issue of the conference, stripped of all other considerations, is the morality of the nation.
Sometimes, though, a simple subject can be more than one word, even an entire clause. In the following sentence —
What he had already forgotten about computer repair could fill whole volumes,
—the simple subject is not "computer repair," nor is it "what he had forgotten," nor is it "he." Ask what it is that "could
fill whole volumes." Your answer should be that the entire underlined clause is the simple subject.
In English, the subject of a command, order, or suggestion — you, the person being directed — is usually left out of the
sentence and is said to be the understood subject:


[You] Step lively there or I'll leave you behind!
Before assembling the swingset, [you] read these instructions carefully.
For purposes of sentence analysis, the do-er or the initiator of action in a sentence is referred to as the agent of the
sentence. In an active sentence, the subject is the agent:


The Johnsons added a double garage to their house.
The jury returned a verdict of manslaughter.
In a passive sentence, the agent is not the subject. In fact, sometimes a passive sentence will not contain an agent.


The dean's report was reviewed by the faculty senate.
Three cities in the country's interior were bombed.
Subject-Verb Inversion
The normal English order of subject-verb-completer is disturbed only occasionally but under several circumstances.
Burchfield* lists about ten situations in which the subject will come after the verb. The most important of these are as
follows (subjects in blue):
1.
2.
3.
In questions (routinely): "Have you eaten breakfast yet?" "Are you ready?"
In expletive constructions: "There were four basic causes of the Civil War." "Here is the book."
In attributing speech (occasionally, but optionally): "'Help me!' cried Farmer Brown."
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
To give prominence or focus to a particular word or phrase by putting the predicate in the initial position:
"Even more important is the chapter dealing with ordnance."
When a sentence begins with an adverb or an adverbial phrase or clause: "Seldom has so much been owed by
so many to so few."
In negative constructions: "I don't believe a word she says, nor does my brother. Come to think of it, neither
does her father."
After so: "I believe her; so does my brother."
For emphasis and literary effect: "Into the jaws of Death, / Into the mouth of Hell / Rode the six hundred."**
There are other uses of inversion, but most of those result in a strained or literary effect.