MAJOR: ENGLISH

FOCUS: STRUCTURE OF ENGLISH

LET Competencies:

 Demonstrate understanding of grammatical

concepts by being able to describe and analyse,
meaning, and use of various English language
structures

BASIC SENTENCE PATTERNS

Below are basic patterns around which most English

sentences are built.

1. N be Adj
where the adjective is a SUBJECT
COMPLEMENT, in particular a PREDICATE
ADJECTIVE. The adjective refers back to the
subject. The copula verbbe means “may be
described as.”

Roses are sweet. (subject complement =

predicate adjective)

2. N be UW (= uninflected word)
where the uninflected word is an ADVERBIAL
such as here, there, up, down, in, out, inside,
upstairs, downstairs, on, off, now, then,
yesterday, and tomorrow. Be has the meaning
of “be located” or “occur.”

The meeting was yesterday. (adverbial)

3. N1 be N1

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 where the superscript means that the two
nouns have the same referent. The second
noun following the be verb is also a SUBJECT
COMPLEMENT, in particular a PREDICATE
NOUN or PREDICATE NOMINATIVE.

Her neighbor is my cousin. (subject

complement = predicate nominative)

4. N InV (= intransitive verb)

where the INTRANSITIVE VERB does not
require an object. The verb being self-
sufficient can stand alone with its subject.

Glasses break.

5. N1 TrV (= transitive V) N2
where N2 does not have the same referent as
N1. N2 is called the DIRECT OBJECT of the
verb, “the receiver of the action.”

The girl buys yellow roses.

6. N1 TrV N2 N3
where the superscripts 1, 2, and 3 indicate
that each noun has a different referent.

Mother gave a gift to the orphan.

(usually reads as Mother gave the orphan a
gift.)

Two noun objects occur after the verb. Still N2 is the

direct object and N3 is the INDIRECT OBJECT. If we
omit the last noun, the pattern is identical to that in
item 5. Note that the indirect object is preceded by the
preposition to (sometimes for or of). If the two objects
are inverted, the preposition disappears.

He made a toy house forher.

He made her a toy house.

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 The teacher asked a question of her.
The teacher asked her a question.

7. }N2
}Adj
}Pronoun
N1 TrV N2 }Adv (of place), uninflected
}Verb, present participle
}Verb, past participle

There are choices of different forms in sentence

final position. These are illustrated as follows:

(object complement) The class voted Henry

secretary.
(adjective) The principal found the
gardener efficient.
(pronoun) We considered the writer you.
(adverb of place) The teacher directed them
outside.
(present participle) She saw them praying.
(past participle) I imagine my father
overworked.

The most common illustration of this sentence

pattern is one with the occurrence of a final N2.

NOUNS

Nouns can be recognized by means of the following

characteristics:

1. They are names of entities -- a person, place,

thing, of idea.

2. They have two INFLECTIONS, the PLURAL{-es}

and the POSSESSIVE (sometimes called the
GENITIVE) {-‘s}. Both inflections have various
ALLOMORPHS

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 /əz/ appears after morphs ending in sibilants or
affricates / s, z, š, ž, č ǰ /
/s/ appears after morphs ending in voiceless
consonants / p, t, k, f, Ɵ /,
except the sibilants and affricate / s, š, č /
/z/ appears after morphs ending in vowels and
voiced consonants / b, d, g, v, ð, m, n, ŋ, l, r. y,
w /, except the sibilants and the affricate / z, ž,
ǰ/

3. They may be marked by noun-forming

DERIVATIONAL SUFFIXES added to bases or
stems, usually belonging to other parts of speech,
e.g.
 added to verbs
{-age} breakage
{-ee} employee

 added to adjectives
{-ity} facility
{-ness} happiness

 added to other nouns

{-cy} advocacy
{-ian} librarian
{-ship} friendship

4. They fill certain characteristic positions in relation

to other parts of speech in phrases and
sentences.
 just before a verb

Red rosesbloom in my garden.

 after determiners such as articles,

demonstratives, and possessive adjectives,
e.g., the examination, these reviewees, my
handouts

5. Unlike other languages, gender is not an

important feature of English grammar. Gender is
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 only marked in certain pairs of nouns, e.g.,
waiter/waitress, host/hostess

6. Certain SUPERFIXES/STRESS PATTERNS

occasionally identify nouns from other parts of
speech as in: récòrd and rècórd. These two
words are morphemically alike; however, we
identify the stress pattern / ˊ ˋ / as a noun.

7. Nouns can serve as HEADS in a noun phrase. As

heads they may be preceded by one or more
single-word modifiers and followed by a phrasal
or clausal modifier or both

thesmallstudytablein my roomwhich my
father bought

Functions of Nouns

 subject of verbs Several items have

ambiguous stems.
 direct objects of They administered the test.
verbs
 indirect objects The lecturer provided the
of verbs participants handouts.
 subject noun We are LET reviewers.
predicates/
 predicate nouns
 object noun The reviewees chose him
predicates/ their representative.
 object
complements
 objects of in our review class
prepositions
 appositives The LET, a professional
examination, is conducted
every year.
 vocatives/nouns Anne, how did you find the
of address exam?

Noun Types
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 1. COMMON NOUNS refer to a kind of person,
thing, or idea
 COUNT NOUNS which take the plural
inflection
 MASS/NONCOUNT NOUNS which don’t take
the plural inflection

2. PROPER NOUNS are names for unique

individuals or places

3. COLLECTIVE NOUNS are able to take either

singular or plural verbs forms, depending on
the interpretation given to the noun, i.e.,
whether it is seen as a unit or as a collection of
individuals
The teamhaswon all its games.
The teamhave won awards in their
respective events.

ARTICLES

ARTICLES are a subclass of DETERMINERS, which are

noun-marking words. They usually come before the nouns
they modify.

a/an (indefinite the (definite article) no/zeroarticle

articles)
Only before Before Identifies certain
singular (sg) uncountable/mass indefinite
countable nouns (UNs) and meanings of
nouns (CNs) countable plural (pl) nouns
nouns
1 Before an Backward reference Refers to all
unidentified sg to a N already members of a
CN, one mentioned class
example of its A dog . . . and here is øDogs are
class the dog now. domestic animals.
a chair
(furniture)
2 Before an Forward reference to Distinguishes one
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 unidentified sg an identification soon class from another
CN that is to be made, often by øMen, not
representative modifiers following a women, are
of its class noun protectors.
a dog (a The history of his
domestic town
animal)
3 Before a Before superlatives Refers to an
predicate N and before ordinal indefinite number
after a be verb numbers, except but not
if no ordinal numbers used necessarily to all
determiner is alone (first in her members of a
used batch) class.
. . . is a good The best cake I have øSeedlings are
neighbor ever seen beginning to
The first person to fly sprout. (many)
in space
4 With UNs to Content know to both With plural nouns
mean akind of, writer and reader after be.
or withkind of, Thechapel in the His brothers are
or certain village (only one øengineers.
a smile chapel)
an insight
5 Before few and Identification of a With institutions
little to mean class, especially in a and practices felt
some but not generalization, to be unique
many followed by a noun, øOffices open at
afew friends or an adjective 7 o’clock.
alittle salt The youth is the hope øDinner is
of the future. usually late.
the physically
challenged
6 When using a Beginning of a phrase With set phrases,
proper noun to containing an usually pairs
indicate the appositive øHeaven and hell
characteristics Interpret this item,
of the person the one with an
named illustration
She is a Sister
Teresa. (a
saintly person)

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7 To name “a With
certain person prepositional
whose name phrases
is.” At ørest, in
AMr. Alba ødanger,
came to see on øtime
you.
8 With nouns used
in headlines in
newspapers,
captions in books,
signs, labels and
the like
øMURDERER
ESCAPES
BEWARE OF
øDOG
9 For a family name With common
in the plural nouns used as terms
TheBasas have of address and
arrived. therefore
capitalized.
We are ready to go,
øMother.
1 Distinguishes
0 people who have
the same name
TheJessica Reyes
who joined the
beauty pageant is
notthe Jessica Reyes
who is my cousin.
1 When the article is
1 part of a
geographical name
ThePhilippines
TheUnited States
TheRed Sea
1 When the article is
2 accepted as part of
any kind of proper

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 name
ThePhilippine Star
The Princess of
Negros
The Hilton
TheUniversity of St.
Tomas
The United Nations

PRONOUNS

Most pronouns stand for, refer to, or replaces a noun

or a noun phrase within a text; hence, they occupy the
same position as a noun or noun phrase does. The
word or words that a pronoun stands for are its
ANTECEDENT or REFERENCE.

My brother holds dual citizenship. He is not only a

Filipino but also a Canadian citizen.

I and me stand for the speaker or writer.

I am a Filipino, but I am living in Australia now.

Pronouns can also be a direct reference to an outside

situation (e.g., “What is that?” in response to a sound
or noise).

Kinds of Pronouns

There are many different kinds of pronouns:

SUBJECT, OBJECT, POSSESSIVE, REFLEXIVE,
DEMONSTRATIVE and others. The forms within each
category are distinguished by number
(singular/plural), person (first/second/third) gender
(masculine/feminine/neuter), and in the case of
demonstratives, by number and proximity.

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Personal and Related Pronouns

Person Personal Possessive

/ Reflexi
Numbe ve/
r Intensiv
Subje Obje Noun Determi e
Singul ct ct replacem ner/
ar Form For ent Adjectiv
m e
+I I me mine my myself
+ II you you yours your yourself
+ III
he him his his himself
Masculi
ne
she her hers her herself
Femini
ne
it it - its itself
Neuter
Plural
+I we us ours our ourselve
s
+ II you you yours your yourselv
es
+ III they them theirs their themsel
ves

Things to Remember:

1. Animals closely related to people can be referred

to by he, him, and his or she, her, and hers.

The dog loves his/her/its master.

2. Use it and its to refer to inanimate objects except

ships, which are always referred as she.

3. Countries and schools are sometimes referred to

by she or her.
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 4. Traditionally, the pronouns he, him, and his have
been used for mixed groups or groups in which
the sex is unknown. Many people now object to
this use, so they use both the masculine and
feminine forms or the plural forms to avoid the
problem.
Everybody submitted his or her assignment.
(awkward)
All the students submitted their assignments.
(acceptable)

5. If I, me, my or mine or their plural counterparts

are part of a pair or a series, put them last.
The teacher confiscated his toy and mine,
too.
Father helped Tony with his project, and he
will help my sister and me with ours
tomorrow.

Reflexive Pronouns

1. Use the reflexive pronoun as the object of the

verb form or preposition to refer to the subject of
the sentence.

The baby is able to feeditself.

Luis cut himselfwith a razor blade.

2. The phrase by + self or its emphatic form all by +

self means alone or without any help.

I crossed the river (all) by myself.

Intensive Pronouns

The intensive form occurs directly after the word it

modifies or at the end of the clause.

The mayorherselfdistributed the relief goods.

The mayordistributed the relief goods herself.

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Reciprocal Pronouns

1. The reciprocal pronoun forms are each other and

one another. They mean that each part of the
subject did the action and also received the
action.

2. They must be objects of verb forms or objects of

prepositions.

3. Some prefer to use each other for two people or

things and one another for more than two.
The two finalists congratulated each other for
making it to the top.
The class members prepared surprise gifts for
one another during the Christmas party.

Demonstrative Pronouns

1. Demonstrative pronouns occur alone. They do

not precede nouns.
Thisis my favorite movie.

2. Demonstrative pronouns can show distance or

contrast not connected with distance.

(distance) This is mine; thatis yours over

there.
(contrast) Which ones do you prefer,
these or those?

Indefinite Pronouns

Person none anoth

al anyone everyon no someon er
anybod e one e other
y everybo nobod somebo ones
dy y dy others
Non- anythin everythin nothin somethin anoth
Person g g g g er

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al every none other
one ones
others

Use singular verbs with compound pronouns and use

singular pronouns to refer to them in formal writing.

Formal: Nobody brought his book today.

Informal: Nobody brought their books today.

Interrogative Pronouns

Who, whom, whose, which, and what can begin

questions.

1. Use who, whom, whose and which to refer to

persons..
2. Use what and which to refer to things and events.
3. In formal writing, use who for the subject of a
clause and whom for the object of the verb or
preposition.

Relative Pronouns

1. RELATIVE PRONOUNS (sometimes called

CLAUSE MARKERS) introduce dependent
clauses (also called RELATIVE CLAUSES).

2. Relative pronouns used in adjective clauses are

who, whom, whose, which and that.

3. Who, whom, and whose are used for persons

while which is used for non-persons.
The guestwho came to dinner is the
governor.
The bookwhich I bought is a best seller.

4. That is a neutral form. It can be marked

+humanor–human. In other words, it can be a

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 substitute for both who (+human) or which (-
human).
The guestwho/that came to dinner is the
governor.
The bookwhich/that I bought is a best seller.

5. In informal writing, whom is optional; in formal

writing, whom must be used
(informal)Nora is the girl you saw in the party
last night.
(formal)Nora is the girl whom you saw in the
party last night.

6. That, which and whom are the only relative

pronouns that can be left out.
The instrumental music (that) I like to hear
often is that of Zamfir.
The house pests (which) I hate to see are
the rodents and the cockroach.

7. Who, whom, and whose can be used in both

essential/RESTRICTIVE and nonessential/NON-
RESTRICTIVE clauses.
The man, who came to dinner, is the mayor.
(nonessential/non-restrictive, bounded by
commas)
The man who came to dinner is the mayor.
(essential/restrictive, without commas)

8. That instead of which is used only in essential or

restrictive clauses, so do NOT put commas
around clauses beginning with that.
The poster that won first prize pleased both
the judges and the viewers.
*The poster, that won first prize, pleased
both the judges and the viewers.
(*means ungrammatical)

9. Use which in nonessential or nonrestrictive

clauses. Separate nonessential clauses from the
rest of the sentence by commas.

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 Our car, which has been running for three
days, should be brought to the machine shop
for check-up.

10. Relative pronouns used in noun clauses are

that, what, whatever, whoever,
whomever, and whichever.
(noun clause as subject) Whatever you
offer will be appreciated.
(noun clause as direct He will befriend
whoever he gets
object) acquainted with.

11. Look at the antecedent of who, that or which

when used as subject to decide
whether the verb following should be singular or
plural.
The paintingwhichis exhibited is the painter’s
masterpiece.
Thefarmerswhoown orchards earn much
from their harvest.

VERBS

A verb can be recognized by means of the following

characteristics:

 Denotes an action (e.g., read) or a state of being

(e.g. know). ACTION VERBS are dynamic.
STATE OF BEING VERBS (or STATIVE VERBS)
include the copula or linking verbs, e.g. the be-
verbs, remain, appear, and become.

 Has four inflections

{-s} of third person singular present tense
verbs
{-ed} of simple past tense verbs
{-en} of the past participle
{-ing} of the present participle

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 The third person singular –s has the same
allomorphs as the noun plural and the noun
possessive.

The –ed past tense inflection has three

allomorphs:
/əd/ after morphs which end in / t / or /
d / as in planted, raided
/t/ after morphs that end in voiceless
sounds except / t / as in
brushed, jumped, walked
/d/ after morphs which end in voiced
sounds except / d / as in cleaned,
grabbed, agreed

 Follows a subject noun and may be followed in

turn by adjectives

}______ eager [to enhance

their knowledge].
The reviewees }______ seriously.
}______ their handouts.

 May fall under one more or more of these types

o INTRANSITIVE VERBS which does not take
an object (direct)
Flowers bloom.
o TRANSITIVE VERBS which require an
object (direct)
Flowers needwater and sunlight.
o DITRANSITIVE VERBS which take two
objects (direct and indirect)
Alexgavehis girlfriend three red roses.
o LINKING/COPULA VERBS where what
follows the verb relates back to the subject
(subject complement -- a predicate noun or a
predicate adjective)
Roses are lovely Valentine’s Day gifts.
Roses are sweet.

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 o COMPLEX TRANSITIVE VERBS where
what follows the object (direct) relates to the
object
They chose Niña, muse of the team.
o PREPOSITIONAL VERBS which requires a
prepositional phrase to be complete
We looked at the pictures taken during
our graduation

 Have tense and aspect qualities. Tense and

aspect have to do with form. TENSE is “the
grammatical marking on verbs that usually
indicates time reference relative to either the time
of speaking or the time at which some other
situation was in force” (Jacobs 1995). Time
reference has to do with meaning. Events and
situations are located in time, perhaps to our
speaking about them, perhaps while we are
speaking about them, or perhaps at some later
time. English has three tenses – present, past,
and future. The present and the past tenses have
inflectional markings, while the future is marked
by the inclusion of the modals will or shall. Simply
put, tense is a set of verb forms that indicate a
particular point in time or period of time in the
past, present, or future.

ASPECT is a general name given to verb forms

used to signify certain ways in which an event is
viewed or experienced. Aspect can view an event
as completed whole (simple), or whether or not it
has occurred earlier (perfect aspect) or is still in
progress (progress).

Noel has attended the review classes.

(perfect)
Now he is studying for the LET exam.
(progressive)

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 The tenses in combination with aspects make up
the following 12 tense-aspect categories. These
make up the traditional 12 tenses.

Tense-Aspect Combinations

Simple Perfect Progressive Perfect

Progressive
ø have + - be + -ing have + -
en enbe + -ing

Present dream/dreams has/have am/is/are has/have

dreamed dreaming been
dreaming
eat/eats has/have am/is/are has/have
eaten eating been eating
Past dreamed had was/were had been
dreamed dreaming dreaming
ate had was/were had been
eaten eating eating
Future will/shall will/shall will/shall be will/shall
dream have dreaming have been
dream dreaming
will/shall eat will/shall will/shall be will/shall
have eating have been
eaten eating

Sometimes, if we want to draw attention to the

time of the action, we use an ADJUNCT OF
TIME, which can be an adverb, a noun group, or
a prepositional phrase, e.g.:

(adverb) She’s coming tomorrow.

(noun group) Results of the examination
were released last week.
(prepositional phrase) He will feel relieved
after the exam.

VERB TENSES: Their Meanings and Common

Uses

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SIMPLE ASPECT: complete wholes; unchanging

1. SIMPLE PRESENT: the present in general

 To talk about our thoughts and feelings at the
present moment or about our immediate
reactions to something
I’m terribly busy.
He looks excited.

 To talk about a settled state of affairs which

includes the present moment
He lives in Sagada now.
Our teacher is very competent and
considerate. We like her very much.

 To say something is always or generally true

There are 24 hours in a day.
The earth revolves around its axis.

 To talk about something that a particular person

or thing does regularly or habitually.
I get up early to take a bath.
Every Sunday, I attend church services.

 To discuss what happens in a book, play or film

In the movie, he plays the character of Juan
Tamad.
In those early chapters, he keeps himself
isolated to other people in the village.

 To describe an event such as a sports match or a

ceremony at the time it is happening as radio and
TV commentators do
Doods takes the ball, then passes it quickly
to Alfie. Alfie turns, shoots, and scores two
points.

2. SIMPLE PAST: Stating a definite time in the

past

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 An adjunct of time or other time expression is
necessary to specify the particular time in the
past we are referring to.

 To say that an event occurred or that something

was the case at a particular time in the past.
The university officials flew into Jakartalast
week to sign a memorandum of agreement
with a sister school.

 To say that a situation existed over a period of

time in the past.
He lived in his ancestral home in the
countryside during his last years.

 To talk about an activity that took place regularly

or repeatedly in the past, but which no longer
occurs
We swam in the river a great deal in my
childhood.

3.SIMPLE FUTURE: An expression of what we

think might happen or what we intendto
happen
 To say that something is planned to happen, or
that we think it is likely to happen in the future
What do you think Ella will do to fix it?

 To talk about general truths and to say what can

be expected to happen if a particular situation
arises
An attack of dengue fever can keep a man
off work for a few days. He will earn nothing
and he have trouble paying his hospital bills.

PERFECT ASPECT: prior

1. PRESENT PERFECT: the past in relation to the

present
We cannot use adjuncts or expressions which
place the action at a definite time in the past. But
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 we can use adjuncts of duration, e.g. forever,
always.
*I have watched it the other day.
I ate raw vegetables, which I always avoided,
and there was no other choice.
To mention something that happened in the
past but we do not want to state a specific time.
I have read the book several times.

2. PAST PERFECT: Events before a particular time

in the past
To talk about a past event or situation that
occurred before a particular time in the past
By noon, students had gathered at the
quadrangle with their placards.

3. FUTURE PERFECT
To refer to something that has not happened yet,
but will happen before a particular time in the
future.
By the time he graduates, his parents will
already have left for New Zealand

PROGRESSIVE ASPECT: incomplete action;

changing

1. PRESENT PROGRESSIVE: Accent on the

present
 To talk about something that is happening at the
moment we are speaking
I’m already feeling bored and hungry.

 To emphasize the present moment or to indicate

that a situation is temporary
She’s spending the summer in her
hometown.

 To indicate changes, trends, developments, and

progress
He’s performance in class is improving.
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  To talk about a habitual action that takes place
regularly, especially one which is new or
temporary
She’s spending a lot on clothes these days.

2. PAST PROGRESSIVE: accent on the past

 To talk about continued states or repeated
actions which occurred in the past
His body was trembling; his fever was rising.

 To contrast a situation with an event which

happened just after that situation existed. We use
the past continuous to describe the first event
and the simple past to describe the event which
occurred after it.
We were standing at the main gate waiting to
welcome the guest speaker. He arrived
20 minutes later.

3. FUTURE PROGRESSIVE
 To say something will surely happen because
arrangements have been made
They will be sending their students regularly
to the University for English proficiency
enhancement.

 To emphasize the duration of a recent event

She’s been crying bitterly.

PERFECT-PROGRESSIVE ASPECT

1. PRESENT PERFECT PROGRESSIVE

 To talk about an activity or situation that started
at some time in the past, continued, and is still
happening now.
The economy has been declining in many
parts of the world.

2. PAST PERFECT PROGRESSIVE

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  To emphasize the recentness and duration of a
continuous activity which took place before a
particular time in the past.
The old woman had been living alone in that
dilapidated house.

 To say that something was expected, wished for,

or intended before a particular time in the past.
I had been expecting a phenomenal rise in
his political career.

3. FUTURE PERFECT PROGRESSIVE

 To emphasize the duration to an event at a
specific time in the future
By January 2011, she will have been serving
this university for 38 years.

AUXILIARY/HELPING VERBS

1. VERB PHRASE/VERB COMPLEX: consists of an

auxiliary + a main verb, e.g., mustwork, have
been reading, will be informed. The underlined
word or words are the auxiliary or helping verbs.

2. AUXILIARY/HELPING VERBS

A.MODAL AUXILIARIES and their related

phrasal forms

True Modals Phrasal Modals

can, could be able to
will, shall be going to, be about
to
must have* to, have got to
should, ought be to, be supposed
to
would (= past used to
habit)
may, might be allowed to, be
permitted to

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 *The verb betakes several forms such as is,
are, was, were, and will be.Havetakes the
forms has, have, and had

 NON-MODAL AUXILIARIES : be, do, and

have verbs
Of all the auxiliaries, only the non-modals
can change form.

Distinguishing Characteristics Between

True Modals and Phrasal Modals

True Modals Phrasal Modals

1 Do not inflect, Inflect like other
i.e., the forms ordinary verbs
remain am/is/are/was/were/will
unchanged be able to pass
canpass
2 Lack tense and a Subject-agreement
resultant lack of rule applies except the
subject-verb form used to
agreement We are able to pass
We can pass the the LET.
LET. He is able to pass the
He can pass the LET.
LET.
3 Do not require Requires an infinitive
an infinitive marker toto precede
marker to the main verb
precede the has/have/had to study
main verb hard
must study hard

3. OPERATORS/OPERATOR VERBS

 The OPERATOR is a verb that has three

main functions: 1) It precedes the negative
and combines with it when the negative is
contracted to n’t; 2) It is the verb that moves
around the subject to the sentence initial
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 position in yes-no questions; and 3) It is also
the verb that appears in the tag phrases of
interrogative sentences or tag questions.
My father will not approve your marriage
proposal.
My father won’t approve your marriage
proposal.
Will your father approve my marriage
proposal?
Willyour father not approve my marriage
proposal?
Won’t your father approve my marriage
proposal?
Your father will approve my marriage
proposal, won’the?

 When a clause contains no verb eligible to

be an operator, do is introduced.
He attends the graduation ball tonight.
 He doesattend the graduation ball
tonight.
 He doesnot attend the graduation ball
tonight.
 Does he attend the graduation ball
tonight?
 He attends the graduation ball tonight,
doesn’t he?

 If there are two or more auxiliary verbs

present in the VERB PHRASE, the first
auxiliary serves as the operator.
He has been reading the Obama
autobiography.
 Hehas not been reading the Obama
autobiography.
*He has been not reading the
Obama autobiography.
 Has he been reading the Obama
autobiography.
He has been reading the Obama
autobiography, hasn’t he?

25
SUBJECT-VERB AGREEMENT/CONCORD RULES
WHICH OFTEN CAUSE ERRORS

1. Collective nouns may take either a singular or

plural verb inflection depending on the meaning.
 Conceived of as one entity – takes a singular
verb
Our school teamhas won its games.
 Conceived of as more than one entity or refers to
individual membership – takes plural verb
Our school teamhave won all their games.

2. Some common and proper nouns ending in –s,

including –ics nouns and certain diseases are always
conceived as single entity – take a plural verb.
The recent newsisexciting.
Mathematicsis repelling to many students.
Measlesisa contagious disease.
The United Statesis still a powerful country.

3. Titles of works even when plural in form are

conceived of as single entitles.
The Ten Commandmentsis a beautiful
movie.
The Syntax Filesis good reading for those in
linguistics.
The song Greenfieldsbringsnostalgia to
people of my generation.

4. Nouns occurring in sets of two take the singular

when the noun pair is present but take the plural when
pair is absent.
That pair of Lee jeans is expensive.
My glassesaremissing.

5. Fractions and percentages takes a singular verb

inflection when modifying a noncount noun and a
plural verb when they modify a plural noun. Either a
singular or plural verb inflection may be used when

26
they modify a collective noun, depending on the
speaker’s meaning.
More than half of the cakeis eaten.
Twenty percent of the studentsare not joining
the field trip.
One-fourth of the audienceis/are teachers.

6. A number normally takes the plural. The number

takes the singular.
A number of parents are coming for the
meeting.
The number of signatories is substantial to
merit approval of the motion.

7. When we use a number and a plural noun to talk

about two or more things, we usually use a plural
verb. We use a singular verb with ‘one’.
Seven daysmake up a week.
One solid evidence is enough to prove his
dishonesty.

8. When we are talking about an amount of money or

time, or a distance, speed, or weight, we usually use a
number, a plural noun, and a singular verb.
Five hundred dollarsisa lot of money.
Three yearsisa long time to wait for a family
member from abroad to come home.
Eighty kilometers per hour of travelis quite
risky on slippery roads.
Seventy-five poundsis all she weighs now.

9. Arithmetic operations take the singular because

they are perceived as reflecting a single numerical
entity on both sides of the equation or equal sign.
Two plus twois/equalsfour.

10. The quantifiers a lot (of), lots of, and plenty of take
a singular verb if the subject noun is noncount by
plural verb if the subject head noun is plural.
A lot of sound viewswere advanced during the
discussion.

27
 A lot of nonsenseis evident from uninterested
participants.

11. Traditional grammar states that when used as a

subject, none (meaning not one) is always singular
regardless of what follows in a prepositional phrase.
None of the boysjoinsthe mountaineering
group.
None of the riceis eaten at all.

12. Traditional grammar maintains that the antecedent

of the relative pronoun is the noun before.
Alice is one of the graduate students who
havefinished her master’s degree in a short
period of time.

13. For correlatives either . . . or and neither . . . nor,

traditional grammar argues for a proximity rule, i.e.,
subject-verb agreement should occur with the subject
noun nearest to the verb.
Either my friend or my classmatesareexpected to
help me with my project.
Neither my classmates nor my friendvolunteers to
lend support.

14. A singular noun or pronoun should take a singular

verb inflection regardless of what else occurs between
the subject and the verb.
Jimmy, along with his co-teachers, conducts a
cleanliness campaign in the barangay.

15. In questions, subjects don’t always come before

verbs. Identify accurately the subject before deciding
on the proper verb to use.
Does your father usually go jogging?
What are the pages our teacher wants us to
read?

VOICE

28
VOICE pertains to who or what serves as the subject
in a clause. In the ACTIVE VOICE, the subject of a
clause is most often the agent, or doer, of some
action. In the PASSIVE VOICE, the subject of a
clause is the receiver or undergoer of the action. The
passive “defocuses” the agent. (Shibitani 1985 in
Celce-Murcia and Larsen-Freeman 2001)

The lifeguard savedthe child. (active)

The child was saved [by the lifeguard]. (passive)

The passive voice is more limited than the active in

that it requires only the transitive verbs – verbs that
take direct objects.

The passive morphology is be . . . –en, i.e., a form of

the be verb + the past participle. Usually in passive
sentences the agent is not mentioned at all, referred
to as the AGENTLESS PASSIVE. If the agent is
mentioned (= AGENTED PASSIVE), it appears in a
prepositional phrase marked by the preposition by.

Some passive sentences have no active counterparts.

Justin was born in Canada.

Advantages of the Active Voice

1. An active clause can give more information in

fewer words.
2. An active verb makes writing livelier and more
vivid.

Uses of the Passive Voice

1. A passive construction emphasizes the result in

an impersonal style. This use is sometimes
desirable in scientific and technical writing.
A new strain of malaria was discovered.

29
 2. A passive verb emphasizes a victim or the result
of a disaster.
Active: The child broke the antique vase.
Passive: The antique vase was broken.

3. Use the passive when the agent or the actor is so

unimportant or is obvious that you do not need to
mention it.
Rica was born in Seychelles.

4. Use a passive verb if you want to hide the name

of the person who is responsible for an
unpleasant decision or result.
An increase in tuition fees was proposed.

Forms of the English Passive

We usually form simple passives like these:

Paper is produced from trees. (simple present)

Paper was produced from trees. (simple past)

Here are other possible forms:

1. With modals
Paper can be produced from trees.

2. With present perfect

Paper has been produced from trees.

3. With present progressive

Paper is being produced from trees.

4. With past progressive

Paper were being produced from trees.

5. With be going to for future

Paper is going to be produced from trees.

PHRASAL VERBS

30
These are verbs which consist of two or three words.
They consist of:

1. a verb followed by an adverb;

go up, spill over, and push through
2. a verb followed by a preposition;
come upon, reckon with, and bank on
3. a verb followed by an adverb and a preposition
break out of, look forward to, and go along
with

Just like ordinary verbs, phrasal verbs may be used:

1. intransitively
Why don’t you speak up?
2. transitively
Let’s cut down pollution to conserve our
environment./
Let’s cut pollution down to conserve our
environment.

Note that some phrasal verb may be separable.

This is further explained below.

3. both intransitively and transitively

A plane took off.
She took off her coat because it was warm./
She took her coat off because it was warm.

31
Meaning of Some Phrasal Verbs

A two-word verb often has a one-word synonym,

which is generally more formal. Here are some
examples:

Phrasal Synonym Phrasal Synonym

Verb Verb
call up telephone give surrender
in/up
keep on continue leave omit
out
pick out choose put off postpone

Separable and Inseparable Verbs

 Parts of inseparable phrasal verbs cannot be

separated. If there is a direct object, it follows the
phrasal verb.

Look after your baby brother.

*Look your baby brother after.
Look after him

 On the other hand, the object of separable

phrasal verbs is movable. A pronoun object
comes between the first and second part. A short
noun object can come between the two parts or
can follow the second part.

Donna turned it on.

Donna turned the light on.
Donna turned on the light.

 Some phrasal verbs can be either separable or

inseparable according to their meanings in a
certain context.

She passed out. (fainted)

She passedthe brochuresout. (distributed)
32
 The car broke down. (stopped running)
The polite broke the door down. (opened by
force)

Separable Phrasal Verbs with Their Objects

Object
back it/the car up
blow it/the candle out
it/the balloon up
break them/the down
statistics down
them/the off
negotiations
bring it/the change about
it/the subject up
burn it/the building down
them/the papers up
clear them/the dishes away
it/the up
misunderstanding
close it/the business down
draw it/the agreement up
fill it/a form in/out
it/the cup up
find it/the answer out
give it/this old bag way
it/eating candy up
it/the news out
hand it/the work in/out
keep them/expenses down
it/the radio on
leave it/the question out
let them/our friends in/out
lock them/the up
prisoners
look them/our up
relatives in
Manila
make it/the handwriting out
33
 it/a story up
mix it/food being up
prepared
them/people up
pass it/the on
responsibility
pay it/the money back
them/my enemies back
pick it/a new shirt out
point it/the problem out

ADJECTIVES

An adjective –

1. Is a word which describes or denotes the

qualities of something

2. Commonly occurs between a determiner and a

noun, or after be or other linking verbs or
immediately following the intensifier very
the _____ baby seems (very) _____
the hungrybaby seems (very) hungry

3. Is associated with certain derivational

morphemes
{-y} healthy, leafy
{-al} racial, normal
{-able} understandable, visible
{-ed} aged, learned
{-ful/-less} hopeful, hopeless
{-ish} childish, boyish
{-ive} active, native
{-ous} famous, marvellous

4. Has inflectional morphemes for comparative and

superlative forms
pretty prettier prettiest

5. Modifies or complements nouns

34
 the honest man (modifier)
The man is honest. (complement)

6. Has various types in terms of characteristic

positions: ATTRIBUTIVE which precede nouns,
and PREDICATIVE which follow linking verbs
The diligentstudents pass the toughexam.
(attributive)
They arehappywith their high scores.
(predicative)

Other Related Concepts

1. Restrictive/Nonrestrictive adjectives
RESTRICTIVEadjectives are necessary for
defining which noun is being referred to while
NON-RESTRICTIVE adjectives merely add
information without being essential for
identification.
A concrete house. (restrictive)
My uncle owns a house, built of concrete
materials. (non-restrictive)

2. Polarity
POLARITY refers to positive and negative
contrasts in a language.
Positive polarity Negative polarity
big small, little
old young
long short
good bad
fast slow

Adjectives with positive polarity are UNMARKED

FORMS because they are used more frequently
in a given language, learned earlier by children,
and used in neutral contexts. Adjectives of
negative polarity are MARKED. They are less
frequently used.

3. GRADABILITY

35
  Adjectives can be placed in continuum of
intensity, with the intensity increasing or
decreasing depending on the intensifier chosen.

[Less [More
intense] intense]
Somewhat rare, rare, quite rare,
very rare, extremely rare

 Adjectives that can be compared are also

called gradable adjectives. Comparative forms
(adjectives marked by -er, more, or less) show
differences/contrasts between two things or
groups. Superlative forms (marked by –est, most,
or least) show differences in three or more things
or groups.

 Comparison do nor apply to absolutes such

as unique, possible, impossible, horizontal,
round, square, and fatal. They can co-occur with
words like nearly and almost.
The accident was fatal.
The accident was nearly fatal.
The accident was almost fatal.

 The as . . . as construction is used to show that

two things or groups are similar.
Ella is as tall as her mother.

Order of Adjectives in Noun Groups

When two or more adjectives are used in a structure,

they usually occur in a particular order or sequence as
follows:

DE opini siz sha condit age col origi NO

T on e pe ion or n UN
ma prett sm rou chippe antiq blu Chin vas
ny y all nd d ue e ese es

36
ADVERBS
ADVERBS modify or change the meaning of other
words such as verbs, adjectives, another adverb, or
even a whole sentence.

(verb modifier) The athlete can run fast.

(adjective modifier) Sailboats are really
beautiful to watch.
(adverb modifier). The athlete can run very fast.
(sentence modifier) Perhaps, Nena’s family will
give a party

Adverbs or adverbials vary in form as follows:

Adverbial clause: The child cried because he was

hungry.
Adverbial phrase: Diane sang very sweetly.
Prepositional phrase: She sang during our class
reunion.
Word: We eagerly look forward to
your graduation.

Adverbs can be readily recognized through certain

affixes. For example:

1. Suffix –ly hopefully, popularly

2. Prefix a- aloud, adrift, anew
3. Suffix –wise lengthwise, clockwise
4. Suffix –wards backward(s), forward(s)

Kinds of Adverbs

1. Adverbs of frequency: answer the question how

often?
(always, never, usually, rarely)
2. Adverbs of relative time can be used with all tenses
as meaning permits
(just, still, already, lately)
3. Adverbs of manner answer the question how?
orhow well?

37
 (carefully, eagerly, clearly, quickly)
4. Adverbs of place answer the question
where?
(here, in the city)
5. Adverbs of time answer the question
when?
(today, on April 15)
7. adverbs that emphasize only and even

Where we put only makes a big change in the

meaning of a clause. To illustrate:

(no one else) 1. Onlyhe invited Alex to join

the team this year.
(not ordered) 2. He onlyinvited Alex to join the
team this year this year.
(no one but Alex) 3. He invited only Alex to join the
team this year.
(to join, not to do 4. He invited Alex only to join the
team this year.
anything else)
(recently as or 5. He invited Alex to join the
team only this year.
at no other time)

Positions of Adverbials

While some adverbials are fixed in their positions in

the sentence, others are movable. They can occur
sentence initially, medially, or finally.

Sentence-initial: Doubtlessly, we must conclude that

the findings are correct.
Sentence-medial: We, doubtlessly, must conclude that
the findings are correct.
Sentence-final: We must conclude that the findings
are correct, doubtlessly.

Order of Adverbials

38
When two or more adverbials co-occur in final position
in the same sentence, ordering should be observed.

{direction} + position↔ manner + time ↔ frequency

+ {purpose}
{goal } {reason}

He walks homeleisurely at 5:30 PMevery

daybecause he wants to feel relaxed.

He walks homeleisurelyevery dayat 5:30 PM

because he wants to feel relaxed.

CONJUNCTIONS

Coordination
COORDINATION is the process of combining ideas.
Two constituents of the same type can be put
together to produce another larger constituent of the
same type. Traditional grammar calls this process
COMPOUNDING.

Compound sentence: The boys sangandthe girls

danced last night.
Compound subject: The teacher andher
students will join the parade.
Compound verb: The children playandeat during
recess.
Compound object: We boiled
cornandcassava.

Conjoining like constituents as shown above is

referred to as SIMPLE COORDINATION. Here are
other ways of coordinating ideas:

1. ELLIPSIS: Omission or elision of the first verb

phrase in the second and adding the word too or
either (for UNINVERTED FORMS), and so or
neither (for INVERTED FORMS).

Affirmative forms

39
 My friends like to read storybooks and I, too.
(uninverted)
A horse runs fast, and so does an ostrich.
(inverted)

Negative forms
Donna can’t climb a tree, and his little
brother can’t, either. (uninverted)
Ducks can’t fly high, andneither can
chickens. (inverted)

2. Use ofPRO-FORM, i.e., the substitution of

pronoun for a repeated noun.
Luis plays the guitar andhe plays the harp,
too.

3. COMPLEX orCORRELATIVE CONJUNCTIONS

like both . . . and..
My father is both kind andsincere.

Forms of Coordinating Conjunctions

Other than and, simple coordinating conjunctions

include: for, nor, but, or, yet, and so. Note the
following examples:
milk or chocolate
small but/yet terrible
He came late, so he missed the fun. (clausal)
They accepted the verdict, for they failed to
counter the charges against them. (clausal)

Other forms of correlative conjunctions are either . . .

or, not only . . . but also, and neither . . . nor. These
pairs are used together
Either Tony orNico will top the test.
Anna is neither friendly nor generous.
Our teacher is not only competent but also very
understanding.

Use of Coordinating Conjunctions

40
Below is a straightforward account of the simple
conjunctions:

Conjunction Meaning Conjunction Meaning

for because or one or the
other of two
alternatives
is true
and plus yet but at the
same time
nor conjoins so therefore
two
negative
sentences,
both of
which are
true
but shows
contrast

A deeper and thorough study of each conjunction,

however, reveals certain properties beyond the given
straightforward account. To illustrate, here are the
other meaning and uses of and.

1. As LOGICAL OPERATOR (the truth-conditional

meaning)
The entire conjoined statement is true so long as
each conjunct that makes it up is true. If one
conjunct is false, then the statement is false.

2. As MARKERof many meanings

Celce-Murcia and Larsen-Freeman (2001) citing
Posner (1980) provides these illustrations:
 (and there . . .)
Annie is in the kitchen, and she is making
doughnuts.
 (and during this time . . .)
Annie fell into a deep sleep, and her facial
color returned.
 (and coming from it . . .)
41
 The window was open, and there was a
draft.
 (and after that . . .)
Peter married Annie, and she had a baby.
 (and thereby . . .)
Paul pounded on the stone, and he shattered
it.
 (If you give me your picture, I’ll give you
mine.)
Give me your picture, andI’ll give you mine.

3. As INFERENTIAL CONNECTIVE

A reader/listener can draw an inferential

connection from sentences like Susan jumped
and hurt her ankle. The use of and invites the
listener/reader to seek some other implicit
relevant connection between stated conjuncts.

4. As MARKER OF SPEAKER CONTINUATION

In conversational discourse, sometimes a
speaker uses and to signal that the utterance to
follow is in some way connected with what has
come before. This particular use of and goes
beyond the usual content conjunctive use; rather
it places and into the category of discourse
markers like oh and well.

Subordination
SUBORDINATION means putting less important
ideas in less important grammatical structures like
dependent clauses. One means of subordination is
SENTENCE COMBININGorREDUCING.

Sentence combining

Melissa topped the test.

Melissa was late by twenty minutes.

42
 Although late by Melissa topped
twenty minutes, the test.
dependent clause independent
clause

Reducing


Although Melissa
late, topped the
test
dependent independent
clause clause

Subordinating Conjunctions

Subordinating conjunctions do the job of connecting

dependent clauses to independent clauses. Shown
below are different types.

Type Conjunction Type Conjunction

time when, conditional if, unless
before, after,
since, while,
until, as
purpose in order to, reason because,
so that since, as
result so that concessive although,
though,
while,
despite
place where, manner as, like
wherever

Time Her father died when she was

young.
Conditional IfI could afford it, I would buy a car.
Purpose They had to extend the session in order
to discuss all concerns raised.
Reason I couldn’t ignore him because he was
my childhood playmate

43
Result She reviewed very hard so that she
would pass the LET.
Concessive While I did well in class, I was a poor
performer at club activities.
Place Wherever I stayed, I found troublesome
neighbors.
Manner Is she often rude and cross likeshe’s
been this past week?

Relative Clauses

Another form of subordination involves the

EMBEDDING of one clause within another. For
example:

The lady came into the room.

The lady was small and slender.
 The lady [the lady came into the room] was small
and slender.
The lady who came into the room was small and
slender.

The most common relative pronouns which mark

relative clauses are: that, which, who, whom, and
whose. Their uses are presented earlier in the section
on pronouns

PREPOSITIONS

Prepositions are notoriously difficult for ESL learners

for several reasons.

1. Several English prepositions are realized as a

single form in the learner’s first language.

Pumunta kami sapalengke. (We went to

the market).
Lumangoy kami sailog. (We swam in the
river.)

44
 Sakalyeanggulo. (The commotion
occurred on the street.)
Antayinmoakosakanto. (Meet me at the
street corner.)

2. The English preposition is not necessarily

realized by a single word. There are complex
forms like because of and in spite of or coalesced
forms like into and onto.

3. Certain prepositions co-occur with verbs,

adjectives, and nouns to form clusters.
to substitute for to be afraid of
infavorof awareness of

4. English prepositions are polysemous. They bear

varied meanings.
(space) Throw the at the wall.
(time) It rains at night.
(degree) Water freezes at 00 C.
(idiomatic) She’s good at dancing.

Meanings of Prepositions

1. Many prepositions prototypically deal with

locating objects in space involving two or more
entities. One entity is for foregrounding, while the
other serves as background. The former is the
figure and the latter is the landmark. In

Throw the ballat the

wall.
figure landmark

2. Note the following figure

at on in
by ↕ ↕ ↕ through
with about
under over
from off out

45
 of

Adapted - Dirven 1993

 At, on, and in are the basic and most general
place prepositions. At denotes place as a point
of reference, on denotes physical contact
between the figure and landmark, and in
denotes the enclosure of the trajector in the
landmark.

They met at the main gate.

Put the box on the table.
The ball is in the box.

 From, off, and out of are source prepositions

involving the notion of separation from
place.From denotes separation from a point of
orientation, off denotes separation from contact
with line or surface, and out of, separation from
inside a landmark.

We walked from the gate to the waiting shed.

The box fell off the table.
Take the ball out of the box.

 By and with are proximity prepositions, which

locate the figure in relation to a point of
orientation marked by the preposition at. By
denotes the idea of “connection” while with
denotes both a point of orientation and the idea
of connection. In its spatial sense, with can
occur only with animate nouns as landmark.

He stood by me in all throughout the

campaign.
He rides withme to our place of work.

 Through and about require the landmark to the

seen as a surface or a volume and are
positioned in the diagram above next to in.
Through structures space as a tunnel or
46
 channel. About denotes spatial movement in
any direction.

Move the other side of the mountain through

the tunnel.
He walked briskly about the yard for his
morning exercise.

 Under and over are vertical space preposition.

Under denotes a figure at a lower point than
the landmark. Over denotes a figure that is at a
higher point than the landmark.

Don’t keep your shoes under the table.

We watched the game over the fence.

Selected Meanings and Uses of Common

Prepositions

1. at (exact) We left at2:00 pm.

2. about (approximate) We left about 2:00
pm.
3. against (contact) to lean against the wall
4. around (approximate) around 2:00
5. by (nearness) bed by the window
(no later than) by 2:00
6. from (source) paper is made from wood
7. of (before) a quarterof ten
8. on (contact) on the wall
(day, date) on Sunday, on November
8th
(communication) onradio, TV
(concerning) a round-table discussion
on language policy
9. over (spanning time) over the weekend
(communication) over the radio, TV
10. through (penetrate) through the forest
(endurance) through thick and thin
11. to (until) work from 8 to 5
(before) a quarter to 11:00
(degree) He is honest tosuch extent.

47
 12. under (less than) in under an hour
(condition) under stress
13. with (together) He grew smarter with
the years.
(equal standing
or ability) rank with the best
(manner) delivered his speech with
ease

Variations in Use of Prepositions

1. spatial proximity a house near/by the

lake
2. time/degree approximation cost about/around
Php1,500.00
3. telling time a quarter of/to ten
a quarter after/past ten
4. location along something the houses
on/along the river
linear
5. in a time period It occurred in/during 1901.
6. temporal termination studied from 8
until/till/to 5
7. location lower than something
below/beneath/under/underneath the bed
8. location higher than something above/over the
piano
9. location in/at the rear of behind/in back of the
cabinet
something
10. location adjacent next to/beside the
cave

NEGATION

In English, negation affects words, phrases, and

sentences.

Forms to Express Negation

48
The following forms mark negation in English (Celce-
Murcia and Larsen-Freeman, 2001.):

Affix-Negation No- Not-Negation

Negation
a- (atypical) no (no not, n’t
dis- (dishonest) plans) (I
in/im/ir/il- nothing cannot/can’t)
(inadequate/impossible/ nobody play the
irrelevant/illegal) no one piano.)
non- (non-formal) nowhere never (not +
un- (uncomfortable) ever)
-less (useless) (My aunt
-free (fat-free) hasnever left
our town.)
neither (not +
either)
nor (and +
not)
Neither his
brothernor his
sister helps
support him in
his studies.

Negation at the lexical or word level can simply use

the negative affix. For example:

untidy untidily
impossible impossible
inadequate inadequately
illegally illegally
dishonest dishonestly
atypical atypically

Determining which affix to use is not always

predictable. However, the choice of im-, in-, il- or ir- is
PHONOLOGICALLY CONDITIONED by the
consonant which follows it, i.e., im- is used if the
following consonant is bilabial (b, p, m), il- goes with a

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stem beginning with l, and ir- with a stem beginning
with r. The prefix in- is the most common.

Nothing, nobody, and no one are indefinite pronouns

while nowhere is an adverb.

Other negative items include never (negative adverb

of frequency), nor (negative coordinating conjunction,
and neither . . . nor (negative correlative conjunction.

The basketball players neveradmitted their

mistake.
The pre-schoolers can neither read nor write, nor
can they comprehend do mathematical
computations yet.

At the phrase level, no can function as a negative

determiner in a noun phrase.

No agreement has been reached yet.

No may also be followed by a gerund as in no

reading, no parking, or no littering.

Not is used before infinitive verbs to make the phrase

negative.

She reminded her friendsnotto forget their

bathing suits.

At the sentence level, not or its contraction n’t is the

main NEGATOR. This applies to different sentence
types.

(statement) Mgrs. Palma is not/isn’t our

teacher.
(question Are you not/Aren’t we meeting
today?
(command) Do not/Don’t laugh.
(exclamation) Was itnot/Wasn’t it
exciting!

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No and not are negative substitutes. No can be a
negative substitute for a whole sentence while not for
a subordinate clause.

A: Is she coming with us?

B: No. She’ll do library work for an hour.

A: Is Pepito interested in the post?

B: I’m afraidnot. He’d rather be a plain member.

Are you joining us on Friday? If not, please let me

know by tomorrow.

Placement of not

1. Not usually follows the be-verb, whether functions

as a main verb (copula) or an auxiliary/helping verb.

(main) Surprisingly today, the birds

are not noisy.
(auxiliary verb) I’m wondering why they are not
chirping.

2. Other thanbe, not follows the auxiliary verb if one is

present or the first auxiliary (modal, phrasal modal, or
have) if there are two or more.

I cannot swim well.

The principal mustnot have been joking when he
said that.
We havenotbeenanalyzingthe data since we
received them.

3. With other main verbs, a do-verb is introduced

before negation can take place.

The child swims in the pool. The child

doesswim in the pool.
The child doesnot swim in the pool.

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YES/NO QUESTIONS

Inverted and Uninverted Yes/No Questions

YES/NO QUESTIONS are often defined as questions

for which either “yes” or “no” is the expected answer.
They are produced with a rising intonation.

Yes/no questions are formed by inverting the subject

and the operator.

Lucy is your cousin. IsLucy your cóusin?

She can speak fluently. Can she speak
flúently?
Shehasbeen a consistent debater. Hasshe
been a consistent debáter?
She loves (= does love) to read opinion columns.
Does she love to read opínion columns?

Yes/no questions may have a statement word order,

i.e., the word order is uninverted. This sentence,
however, is likewise said with a rising intonation.
2
Lucy is your 3cousin3↑
2
She can speak 3fluently3↑

Answers to Yes/No Questions

Yes/no questions usually take short answers using

the operator. The operator is underlined below.

1. Is your sister fond of sweets? Yes, she is.

No, she isn’t.
*Yes, she’s.

2. Can you speak Chinese? Yes, I can.

{No, I can’t.

3. Are we supposed to attend? Yes, we are.

No, we aren’t

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4. Have they eaten? Yes, they have.
No, they haven’t

5. Does the baby walk? Yes, it does.

No, it doesn’t.

If the sentence contains more than one auxiliary verb,

the short answer may also contain an auxiliary verb in
addition to the operator.

Will they have joined? Yes, they will have.

No, they won’t have.

If the second or third auxiliary is a be form, it is usually

omitted.

Will she be able to pass? Yes, she will.

No, she won’t.

Negative Yes/No Questions

Semantic problems may arise for many ESL learners

who react to a negative yes/no question in a literal
manner in their language. This means that they agree
or disagree with the form of the yes/no question, thus
causing miscommunication.

Don’t you feel sorry? Yes (I don’t feel

sorry).
No (I feel sorry).

Among native speakers of English, the expected

response is:

Don’t you feel sorry? Yes, (I feel sorry).

No, I don’t feel sorry}.

Focused Yes/No Questions

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While neutral yes/no questions, as in the preceding
cases, query on the whole state, activity or event, this
query can be more focused sometimes.

Does Álex plan a foreign trip with Melly? (or did

someone else?)
Does Alex plán a foreign trip with Melly? (or did
he only suggest?)
Does Alex plan a foreign tríp with Melly? (or is it
something else?)
Does Alex plan a foreign trip with Mélly? (or is it
with someone else?)

The focused sentence element gets the primary

stress as shown above.

Some Versus Any in Questions

Some and any can both occur with different question

types depending on the meaning.

 In open or unmarked questions, any is used in

questions as well as in negatives.

(question) Is there any sugar?

(negative) There isn’t any sugar.

 However, some is used in questions that expect a

positive response, e.g., an offer:

Would you like some cold drink? (encourages a

“yes” answer)

 Here are questions to consider:

Is there some relief? (expects a “yes”

answer)
Is there any relief? (neutral question/no
special meaning involved)
Isn’t there some relief? (Surely there is.)

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 Isn’t there any relief? (hopeful that there
would be)
Is there no relief? (hopeful that there would
be)

Other Functions of Yes/No Questions

1. Direct request: Can I borrow your notes on

phonology?
2. Less direct request: Could I borrow your notes on
phonology?
3. Polite request: I wonder if I could borrow your
notes on phonology.
4. Offers or invitations: Would you like to have a
cup of coffee?
5. Commands Would you please pay
attention?
6. Reprimands Don’t you have enough sense
to do such a thing?
7. Complaints Have you ever tried using
this gadget at all?

WH-QUESTIONS

WH-QUESTIONS are used to seek specific

information so they are also referred to as
INFORMATION QUESTIONS. Except for how, these
words begin with wh- : who, whose, whom, what,
which, where, when, why, and how.

A variety of constituents can be queried in awh-

question. Consider this sentence:

Liza bought a beautiful house for her parents

before she went to Canada.

Subject NP: Whobought a beautiful house?

(Liza)
Object NP: What did Liza buy?
(a beautiful house)

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Object of the For whom did Liza buy a beautiful
house?
preposition: (her parents)
Who(m) did Liza buy a beautiful house
for?
(her parents)
Verb phrase: What did Liza do when she came
home?
(She bought a beautiful house).
Determiner: Whoseparents did Liza buy a beautiful
house for when she came home?
(her parents)
Adjective: What kind of house did Liza buy?
(a beautiful house)
Adverbial: Whendid Liza buy a beautiful house?
(before she went to Canada)
Adverbial: Wheredid Liza go?
(to Canada)

Wh-questions elicit specific kinds of information.

What? The answer is non-human.

Who? The answer will be human.
Which? The answer is one of a limited group.
When? The answer will be a time or an
occasion.
Where? The answer will be a place or situation.
Why? The answer will be reason.
How? The answer will show manner, means,
or degree.
How much? The answer will be connected with
an uncountable noun.
How many? The answer will be connected with
a countable noun.
How often? The answer will indicate frequency.

Forming Wh-Questions

If who, what, or which is the subject of the sentence, it

is followed by the normal word order of a statement.

56
Statement: Grammar study is exciting.
Question: What is exciting?

Statement: Those big dogs chased the cat.

Question: Which dogs chased the cat.

Statement: Their teacher gave a test.

Question: Who gave a test?

Whom/who, what and which as objects form

questions by putting the wh-words first, and do, does,
or did next.

Statement: He planted fruit trees.

Question: Whatdid he plant?

Statement: Mothers bathes my baby sister.

Question: Who(Whom) does my mother bathe?

Statement: The children catch yellow butterflies.

Question: Which butterfliesdo the children catch?

A modal (e.g., can) cannot be replaced by do, does,

or did. The do-verb replaces the main verb.

Statement: My three-year-old sister canread.

Question: What can my sister do?

Social Uses of Wh-Questions

Certain fixed formulaic wh-questions serve social

functions (Celce-Murcia and Larsen Freeman 2001).
Among them are:

Introductions: How do you do?

Greetings: How are you?/ How have you
been?/
What’s up?/ What’s new?
Eliciting personal reactions: How was the test?
Making suggestions: Why don’t you seek advice?
How about a trip?

57
Responding positively Why not?
to a suggestion:
Expressing exasperation: What now?
Seeking another’s opinion: How about you?/
What do you think?
Challenging another’s opinion: What for?/ How
come?/ Since when?
Expressing perplexity: What to do?
Asking for clarification/expansion: What about it?

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