Subject - Verb Agreement

l though you are probably already familiar with basic subject-verb agreement, this chapter begins with a quick review of basic agreement rules.

Subjects and verbs must AGREE with one another in number (singular or plural).  Thus, if a subject is singular, its verb must also be singular; if a subject is plural, its verb must also be plural.

In the present tense, nouns and verbs form plurals in opposite ways: nouns ADD an s to the singular form; verbs REMOVE the s from the singular form.

ACTIVE / PASSIVE VOICE

Active voice
In most English sentences with an action verb, the subject performs the action denoted by the verb.
    These examples show that the subject is  doing the verb's action.
           
Because the subject does or "acts upon" the verb in such sentences, the sentences are said to be in the active voice.

Passive voice
One can change the normal word order of many active sentences (those with a direct object) so that the subject is no longer active, but is, instead, being acted upon by the verb - or passive.
    Note in these examples how the subject-verb relationship has changed.
           
Because the subject is being "acted upon" (or is passive), such sentences are said to be in the passive voice

Tense

A tense is a grammatical category that locates a situation in time, to indicate when the situation takes place. Some typical tenses are present, past, and future.

Tense can make finer distinctions than simple past-present-future; past tenses for example can cover general past, immediate past, or distant past, with the only difference between them being the distance on the timeline between the temporal reference points. Such distinctions are not precise: an event may be described in the remote past because it feels remote to the speaker, not because a set number of days have passed since it happened; it may also be remote because it is being contrasted with another, more recent, past event. This is similar to other forms of deixis such as this and that.

In absolute tense, as in English, tense indicates when the time of assertion, time of completion, or time of evaluation occurs relative to the utterance itself (time of utterance). In relative tense, on the other hand, tense is relative to some given event.

The number of tenses in a language may be disputed, because the term tense is often used to represent any combination of tense proper, aspect, and mood. In many texts the term "tense" may erroneously indicate qualities of uncertainty, frequency, completion, duration, possibility, or whether information derives from experience or hearsay (evidentiality). Tense differs from aspect, which encodes how a situation or action occurs in time rather than when. In many languages, there are grammatical forms which express several of these meanings (see tense–aspect–mood).

In languages which have tenses, they are normally usually indicated by a verb or modal verb. Some languages only have grammatical expression of time through aspect; others have neither tense nor aspect. Some East Asian isolating languages such as Chinese express time with temporal adverbs, but these are not required, and the verbs are not inflected for tense. In Slavic languages such as Russian a verb may be inflected for both tense and aspect together.

Verbs

Regular and irregular 

To make the past tense or past participle form of most verbs (regular verbs) we simply add “ed” at the end.

Examples using the verb “walk”:
Past Tense: I walked through the maze.
Past Participle: I have walked through the maze.
(The past participle form is used in the present perfect, past perfect, and future perfect tenses. The above example is written in the present perfect tense.)
Irregular verbs are not that simple. We sometimes need a dictionary to help us write the different forms of irregular verbs.
Examples using the verb “see”:
Past Tense: We saw the secret maps.
Past Participle: We have seen the secret maps.
Look up the word “see” in the dictionary. Notice that the different forms of the word are given. Look up “walk.” Notice that the dictionary doesn’t bother to give the different forms of regular verbs.

Nouns

A common noun is a general name for a class of objects ,people or places
A proper noun is name of a specific person,place or thing, A proper noun always begins with a capital letter 

Direct and indirect object

The direct object tells us who or what receives the action of the verb

An indirect object tells us to whom or for whom an action is done .

Subject and predicate

Every complete sentence contains two parts: a subject and apredicate. The subject is what (or whom) the sentence is about, while the predicate tells something about the subject. In the following sentences, the predicate is enclosed in braces ({}), while the subject is highlighted.

Adjective

Definition of Adjective

Adjectives are describing words. Large, grey and friendly are all examples of adjectives. In the examples below, these adjectives are used to describe an elephant. 

Examples:

 Large elephant
 Grey elephant
 Friendly elephant

Adjectives Modify Nouns

The word elephant is a noun. Adjectives are added to nouns to state what kind, what colour, which one or how many. Adjectives are said to modify nouns and are necessary to make the meanings of sentences clearer or more exact.

Examples:

 Follow the yellow cab.
(In this example, the adjective 'yellow' modifies the noun 'cab'.)

 Craig caught another large bass.
(In this example, the adjective 'large' modifies the noun 'bass'.)

 It is the girl with the pale face again.

 The principal words should be in bold.
(Beware of the adjective 'principal' - see right)

 The rusty nail he stood on was the cause of the infection.

 Please put the old documents in the shredder.

 There is an essential matter we need to discuss.

 Peter guessed the right number.

Adjectives Modify Pronouns

Although less common, adjectives can also modify pronouns.

Examples:

 It is a blue one.
(In this example, the adjective 'blue' modifies the pronoun 'one'.)

 Only a brave few have received a recommendation.

Comparison of Adjective & Adverb

Comparison of Adjective & Adverb

adjective หรือ adverb ที่เเสดงลักษณะ ปริมาณ เเละอาการต่างๆ อาจเปรียบเทียบเเสดงความมากน้อยกว่ากันได้ แบ่งการเปรียบเทียบออกเป็น 3 ขั้น คือ  1. ขั้นธรรมดา ( positive degree ) เพื่อแสดงความเท่าเทียมกัน บอกลักษณะหรือปริมาณโดยทั่วไป เช่น beautiful สวย long ยาว much มาก (ใช้กับนามนับไม่ได้) little น้อย (ใช้กับนามนับไม่่ได้) few น้อย (ใช้กับนามนับได้) many มาก (ใช้กับนามนับได้) quickly อย่างเร็ว easily อย่างง่าย  2. ขั้นสูงกว่า ( comparative degree ) เพื่อเเสดงความมากน้อยกว่ากัน เช่น more beautiful สวยกว่า longer ยาวกว่า more มากกว่า less น้อยกว่า (ใช้กับนามนับไม่่ได้) fewer น้อยกว่า (ใช้กับนามนับได้) more quickly อย่างเร็วกว่า more easily อย่างง่ายกว่า 3. ขั้นสูงสุด ( superlative degree ) เพื่อแสดงความมากที่สุด เช่น  ( the ) most beautiful สวยที่สุด ( the ) longest ยาวที่สุด ( the ) most มากที่สุด ( the ) least น้อยที่สุด (ใช้กับนามนับไม่่ได้) ( the ) fewest น้อยที่สุด (ใช้กับนามนับได้) ( the ) most quickly อย่างเร็วที่สุด ( the ) most easily อย่างง่ายที่สุด   การใช้ Adjective ในการเปรียบเทียบ       เมื่อใช้ประกอบหน้านาม ( attributive use ) ขั้นธรรมดา She is a beautiful girl. ขั้นมากกว่า She is a more beautiful girl than the other one. ขั้นมากที่สุด She is the most beautiful girl in our class.       เมื่อใช้หลัง verb to be ( predicative use ) หรือกริยาอื่นซึ่งเทียบเท่า verb to be ( เช่น become, look, seem ,  etc. ) ขั้นธรรมดา She is beautiful. ขั้นมากกว่า She is more beautiful than her sister. ขั้นมากที่สุด She is the most beautiful in our class.   การใช้ Adverb ในการเปรียบเทียบ ขั้นธรรมดา My car runs quickly. ขั้นมากกว่า My car runs more quickly than his car. ขั้นมากที่สุด My car runs the most quickly in town.   การเปลี่ยนแปลงรูปของ Adjective และ Adverb ในการเปรียบเทียบ    1. คำพยางค์เดียวเตืม er และ est ขั้นธรรมดา ขั้นกว่า ขั้นสูงสุด คำเเปล Positive Comparative Superlative   ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- tall taller tallest สูง small smaller smallest เล็ก high higher highest สูง hard harder hardest แข็ง,หนัก fast faster fastest เร็ว slow slower slowest ช้า loud louder loudest ดัง    2. คำพยางค์เดียวมีสระตัวเดียว ตัวสะกดตัวเดียว ต้องเพิ่มตัวสะกดอีกตัวหนึ่ง ก่อนเติม er และ est big bigger biggest ใหญ่ fit fitter fittest เหมาะ thin thinner thinnest บาง    3. ถ้ามี e ลงท้ายอยู่เเล้ว ให้เติมเฉพาะ r และ est  เช่น large larger largest ใหญ่ late later latest ช้า,สาย    4. คำลงท้ายด้วย y เปลี่ยน y เป็น i แลัวจึงเติม er และ est happy happier happiest สุข่ pretty prettier prettiest สวย lovely lovelier loveliest น่ารัก easy easier easiest ง่าย heavy heavier heaviest หนัก    5. คำ 2 พยางค์ซึ่งลงท้ายด้วย er, ow หรือ y อาจเติม more, most ข้างหน้า หรือเติม er, est ข้างท้ายก้ได้ slender slenderer slenderest เอวบางร่างน้อย   more slender most slender   shallow shallower shallowest ตื้น   more shallow most shallow       6. คำ 2 พยางค์ซึ่งไม่ลงท้ายด้วย er, ow หรือ y โดยปกติเติม more, most ข้างหน้า selfish more selfish most selfish เห็นแก่ตัว่ fluent more fluent most fluent พูดคล่อง useful more useful most useful มีประโยชน์ honest more honest most honest ซื่อสัตย์     7. คำ 3 พยางค์ขึ้นไป ต้องเิติม more, most เสมอ difficult more difficult most difficult ยาก intelligent more intelligent most intelligent ฉลาด beautiful more beautiful most beautiful สวย     8. คำ Adverb ที่ลงท้ายด้วย ly เตืม more, most เสมอ slowly more slowly most slowly อย่างช้า loudly more loudly most loudly อย่างดัง quickly more quickly most quickly อย่างเร็ว คำ Adjective และ Adverb เปรียบเทียบที่ไม่เป็นตามกฏ ( Irregular Comparison ) ขั้นธรรมดา ขั้นกว่า ขั้นสูงสุด คำเเปล Positive Comparative Superlative   ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ good better best ดี bad, badly worse worst เลว much, many more most มาก little less least น้อย far farther farthest ไกล (ระยะทาง) far further furthest ไกล,เหนือ         ใช้    as + adjective, adverb + as        เมื่อต้องการแสดงความเท่าเทียมกัน This boy is as big as that one. You are as tall as I am.        เมื่อต้องการเเสดงความไม่เท่าเทียมกัน This boy is not as big as that one. You are not as tall as I am. I do not work as hard as you do. ใช้   not so + adjective, adverb + as แทน as..........as ก็ได้ This boy is not so big as that one. You are not so tall as I am. I do not work so hard as you do.

Adverb

An adverb can modify a verb, an adjective, another adverb, a phrase, or a clause. An adverb indicates manner, time, place, cause, or degree and answers questions such as "how," "when," "where," "how much".

While some adverbs can be identified by their characteristic "ly" suffix, most of them must be identified by untangling the grammatical relationships within thesentence or clause as a whole. Unlike an adjective, an adverb can be found in various places within the sentence.

In the following examples, each of the highlighted words is an adverb:

The seamstress quickly made the mourning clothes.

In this sentence, the adverb "quickly" modifies the verb "made" and indicates in what manner (or how fast) the clothing was constructed.

The midwives waited patiently through a long labour.

Similarly in this sentence, the adverb "patiently" modifies the verb "waited" and describes the manner in which the midwives waited.

The boldly spoken words would return to haunt the rebel.

In this sentence the adverb "boldly" modifies the adjective "spoken."

We urged him to dial the number more expeditiously.

Here the adverb "more" modifies the adverb "expeditiously."

Unfortunately, the bank closed at three today.

In this example, the adverb "unfortunately" modifies the entire sentence.

Conjunctive Adverbs

You can use a conjunctive adverb to join two clauses together. Some of the most common conjunctive adverbs are "also," "consequently," "finally," "furthermore," "hence," "however," "incidentally," "indeed," "instead," "likewise," "meanwhile," "nevertheless," "next," "nonetheless," "otherwise," "still," "then," "therefore," and "thus." A conjunctive adverb is not strong enough to join twoindependent clauses without the aid of a semicolon.

The highlighted words in the following sentences are conjunctive adverbs:

The government has cut university budgets; consequently, class sizes have been increased.

He did not have all the ingredients the recipe called for; therefore, he decided to make something else.

The report recommended several changes to the ways the corporation accounted for donations; furthermore, it suggested that a new auditor be appointed immediately.

The crowd waited patiently for three hours; finally, the doors to the stadium were opened.

Batman and Robin fruitlessly searched the building; indeed, the Joker had escaped through a secret door in the basement.

Pronoun

Kind of Pronouns

The term 'pronoun' covers many words, some of which do not fall easily under the description given in the section What are Pronouns? There are many different kinds of pronouns. In general, these do not cause difficulties for native English speakers. The list below is mainly for reference purposes.

Demonstrative Pronouns

These pronouns are used to demonstrate (or indicate). This, that, these andthose are all demonstrative pronouns.

Examples:

This is the one I left in the car.
(In this example, the speaker could be indicating to a mobile phone, in which
case, the pronoun "this" replaces the words "mobile phone".)

Shall I take those?

Indefinite Pronouns

Unlike demonstrative pronouns, which point out specific items, indefinite pronouns are used for non-specific things. This is the largest group of pronouns.All, some, any, several, anyone, nobody, each, both, few, either, none, oneand no one are the most common.

Example:

Somebody must have seen the driver leave.
(somebody - not a specific person)
We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars. (Oscar Wilde)
I have nothing to declare except my genius. (Oscar Wilde)

Interrogative Pronouns

These pronouns are used in questions. Although they are classified as pronouns, it is not easy to see how they replace nouns. Who, which, what, where and how are all interrogative pronouns.

Example:

Who told you to do that?

Possessive Pronouns

Possessive pronouns are used to show possession. As they are used as adjectives, they are also known as possessive adjectives. My, your, his, her, its, our andtheir are all possessive pronouns.

Have you seen her book?
(In this example, the pronoun "her" replaces a word like "Sarah's".)

Relative Pronouns

Relative pronouns are used to add more information to a sentence. Which, that,who (including whom and whose) and where are all relative pronouns.

Examples:

Dr Adam Sissons, who lectured at Cambridge for more than 12 years, should
have known the difference.
(In this example, the relative pronoun "who" introduces the clause "who studied
at Cambridge for 12 years" and refers back to "Dr Adams Sissons".)

The man who first saw the comet reported it as a UFO.
(In this example, the relative pronoun "who" introduces the clause "who first
saw the comet" and refers back to "the man".)

Absolute Possessive Pronouns

These pronouns also show possession. Unlike possessive pronouns (see above), which are adjectives to nouns, these pronouns sit by themselves. Mine, yours, his, hers, ours and theirs are all absolute possessive pronouns.

Examples:

The tickets are as good as ours.

Shall we take yours or theirs?

Reciprocal Pronouns

Reciprocal pronouns are used for actions or feelings that are reciprocated. The two most common reciprocal pronouns are each other and one another.

Examples:

They like one another.

They talk to each other like they're babies.

Reflexive Pronouns

A reflexive pronoun ends ...self or ...selves and refers to another noun or pronoun in the sentence. The reflexive pronouns are: myself,yourself, herself, himself, itself, ourselves, yourselves andthemselves.

Example:

John bakes all the bread himself.
(In this example, the reflexive pronoun "himself" refers back to the noun "John".) 

Preprosition

A preposition is a word which shows relationships among other words in the sentence.  The relationships include direction, place, time, cause, manner and amount.  In the sentence She went to the store, to is a preposition which shows direction.  In the sentence He came by bus, by is a  preposition which shows manner.  In the sentence They will be here at three o'clock, at is a preposition which shows time and in the sentence It is under the table, under is a preposition which shows place.

A preposition always goes with a noun or pronoun which is called the object of the preposition.  The preposition is almost always before the noun or pronoun and that is why it is called a preposition.  Thepreposition and the object of the preposition together are called a prepositional phrase.  The following chart shows the prepositions, objects of the preposition, and prepositional phrases of the sentences above.
 

Preposition	Object of the Preposition	Prepositional Phrase
to	the store	to the store
by	bus	by bus
at	three o'clock	at three o'clock
under	the table	under the table

Prepositional phrases are like idioms and are best learned through listening to and reading as much as possible.   Below are some common prepositions of time and place and examples of their use.

Prepositions of time:
at two o'clock
on Wednesday
in an hour, in January; in 1992
for a day

Prepositions of place:
at my house
in New York, in my hand
on the table
near the library
across the street
under the bed
between the books

Conjuntion

A conjunction is a word that connects other words or groups of words.  In the sentence Bob and Dan are friends the conjunction and connects two nouns and in the sentence  He will drive or fly,  the conjunction or connects two verbs.  In the sentence It is early but we can go, the conjunction but connects two groups of words. 
Coordinating conjunctions are conjunctions which connect two equal parts of a sentence.  The most common ones are and, or, but, and so which are used in the following ways: 
and is used to join or add words together in the sentence They ate and drank.
or is used to show choice or possibilities as in the sentence He will be here on Monday or Tuesday.
but is used to show opposite or conflicting ideas as in the sentence She is small but strong.
so is used to show result as in the sentence I was tired so I went to sleep. 
Subordinating conjunctions connect two parts of a sentence that are not equal and will be discussed more in another class.  For now, you should know some of the more common subordinating conjunctions such as: 
    after                before                unless
    although          if                        until
    as                   since                   when
    because          than                    while 

Correlative conjunctions are pairs of conjunctions that work together.  In the sentence Both Jan and Meg are good swimmers, both . . .and are correlative conjunctions.  The most common correlative conjunctions are: 
    both . . .and
    either . . . or
    neither . . . nor
    not only . . . but also

Article

Using Articles

Indefinite Articles: a and an

"A" and "an" signal that the noun modified is indefinite, referring to any member of a group. For example:

• "My daughter really wants a dog for Christmas." This refers to any dog. We don't know which dog because we haven't found the dog yet.
• "Somebody call a policeman!" This refers to any policeman. We don't need a specific policeman; we need any policeman who is available.
• "When I was at the zoo, I saw an elephant!" Here, we're talking about a single, non-specific thing, in this case an elephant. There are probably several elephants at the zoo, but there's only one we're talking about here.

Remember, using a or an depends on the sound that begins the next word. So...

• a + singular noun beginning with a consonant: a boy; a car; a bike; a zoo; a dog
• an + singular noun beginning with a vowel: an elephant; an egg; an apple; an idiot;an orphan
• a + singular noun beginning with a consonant sound: a user (sounds like 'yoo-zer,' i.e. begins with a consonant 'y' sound, so 'a' is used); a university; a unicycle
• an + nouns starting with silent "h": an hour
• a + nouns starting with a pronounced "h": a horse
  
  • In some cases where "h" is pronounced, such as "historical," you can use an. However, a is more commonly used and preferred.
    A historical event is worth recording.

Remember that these rules also apply when you use acronyms:

Introductory Composition at Purdue (ICaP) handles first-year writing at the University. Therefore, an ICaP memo generally discusses issues concerning English 106 instructors.

Another case where this rule applies is when acronyms start with consonant letters but have vowel sounds:

An MSDS (material safety data sheet) was used to record the data. An SPCC plan (Spill Prevention Control and Countermeasures plan) will help us prepare for the worst.

If the noun is modified by an adjective, the choice between a and an depends on the initial sound of the adjective that immediately follows the article:

• a broken egg
• an unusual problem
• a European country (sounds like 'yer-o-pi-an,' i.e. begins with consonant 'y' sound)

Remember, too, that in English, the indefinite articles are used to indicate membership in a group:

• I am a teacher. (I am a member of a large group known as teachers.)
• Brian is an Irishman. (Brian is a member of the people known as Irish.)
• Seiko is a practicing Buddhist. (Seiko is a member of the group of people known as Buddhists.)

Definite Article: the

The definite article is used before singular and plural nouns when the noun is specific or particular. The signals that the noun is definite, that it refers to a particular member of a group. For example:

"The dog that bit me ran away." Here, we're talking about a specific dog, the dog that bit me.

"I was happy to see the policeman who saved my cat!" Here, we're talking about aparticular policeman. Even if we don't know the policeman's name, it's still a particular policeman because it is the one who saved the cat.

"I saw the elephant at the zoo." Here, we're talking about a specific noun. Probably there is only one elephant at the zoo.

Count and Noncount Nouns

The can be used with noncount nouns, or the article can be omitted entirely.

• "I love to sail over the water" (some specific body of water) or "I love to sail over water" (any water).
• "He spilled the milk all over the floor" (some specific milk, perhaps the milk you bought earlier that day) or "He spilled milk all over the floor" (any milk).

"A/an" can be used only with count nouns.

• "I need a bottle of water."
• "I need a new glass of milk."

Most of the time, you can't say, "She wants a water," unless you're implying, say, a bottle of water.