Webster's Word Power Better English Grammar - Betty Kirkpatrick - E-Book

Webster's Word Power Better English Grammar E-Book

Betty Kirkpatrick

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Beschreibung

With questions and answer sections throughout, this book helps you to improve your written and spoken English through understanding the structure of the English language. This is a thorough and useful book with all parts of speech and grammar explained. Used by ELT self-study students.

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Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2014

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CONTENTS

BETTER ENGLISH GRAMMAR

GRAMMAR

THE SENTENCE AND THE PARAGRAPH

The sentence

Minor sentences

Major sentences

Subject and predicate

Subject

Predicate

Object

Direct object

Indirect object

Complement

Punctuation of sentences

Types of sentence

Statements

Negative sentences

Questions

Yes-no questions

Tag questions

Wh-questions

Alternative questions

Exclamatory questions

Rhetorical questions

Question by tone of voice

Directives

Exclamations

Kinds of sentence

Simple sentences

Multiple sentences

Compound sentences

Complex sentences

The paragraph

EXERCISES 1

ANSWERS 1

CLAUSES, PHRASES AND PHRASAL VERBS

Clauses

Main clause

Punctuation and main clauses

Subordinate clause

Adverbial clause

Types of adverbial clause

adverbial clause of time

adverbial clause of place

adverbial clause of purpose

adverbial clause of reason

adverbial clause of result

adverbial clause of condition

adverbial clause of manner

adverbial clause of concession

Comparative clause

Relative clause

Types of relative clause

Defining relative clause

Non-defining relative clause

Punctuation in relative clauses

Prepositions in relative clauses

Noun clause or nominal clause

Comment clause

Phrases

Noun phrase

Adjective phrase

Adverb phrase

Preposition phrase

Participial phrase

Phrasal verbs

Position of object in phrasal verbs

EXERCISES 2

ANSWERS 2

PARTS of Speech I

Main parts of speech

Nouns

Common and proper nouns

Concrete and abstract nouns

Countable and uncountable nouns

Verbal noun

Collective nouns

Singular and plural forms of nouns

Regular singular forms of nouns

Regular plural forms of nouns

Irregular plural forms of nouns

Foreign plural forms of nouns

Unchanging plural form

Nouns used only in the plural form

Gender of nouns

Dual gender

Feminine forms

Person in compound nouns

Compound nouns

Plural forms of compound nouns

Nouns and noun phrases in apposition

Pronouns

Personal pronouns

I and we: the first person personal pronoun

You: the second person personal pronoun

He, she, it and they: the third person personal pronoun

Possessive pronouns

Reflexive pronouns

Reciprocal pronouns

Demonstrative pronouns

Indefinite pronouns

Distributive pronouns

Interrogative pronouns

Relative pronouns

EXERCISES 3

ANSWERS 3

PARTS OF SPEECH II

Adjectives

Gradable and non-gradable adjectives

Position of adjectives

Attributive adjectives

Predicative adjectives

Post-modifiers

Qualitative adjectives

Classifying adjectives

Colour adjectives

Number adjectives

Emphatic adjectives

Interrogative adjectives

Demonstrative adjectives

Possessive adjectives

Compound adjectives

Order of adjectives

Adjectives used as nouns

Adjective or adverb?

Comparative forms of adjectives

Comparative and number of syllables

Irregular comparatives

No comparative form

Superlative forms

Irregular superlatives

No superlative form

Determiners

Types of determiner

Definite and indefinite articles

Definite article

Indefinite article

Demonstrative determiners

Possessive determiners

Indefinite determiners

Number determiners

EXERCISES 4

ANSWERS 4

PARTS OF SPEECH III

Verbs

Regular verbs

Irregular verbs

Categories of irregular verbs

Tense

Present tense

Simple present tense

Continuous present tense

Past tense

Simple past tense

Continuous past tense

Perfect tense

Continuous present perfect tense

Past perfect tense

Future tense

Traditional grammar

Modern usage

Other ways of referring to the future

Mood

Indicative mood

Imperative mood

Subjunctive mood

Voice

Active voice

Passive voice

Transitive verb and intransitive verb

Linking verb

Auxiliary verb

Modal auxiliary verb

Concord

Parts of a verb

Infinitive

Participles

Present participle

Past participle

EXERCISES 5

ANSWERS 5

PARTS OF SPEECH IV

Adverbs

Types of adverb

Adverbs of time

Adverbs of frequency

Adverbs of duration

Adverbs of place

Adverbs of manner

Adverbs of degree

Adverbs of emphasis

Interrogative adverbs

Prepositions

Simple prepositions

Complex prepositions

Conjunctions

Coordinating conjunctions

Subordinating conjunctions

Subordinating conjunctions introducing adverbial clauses

EXERCISES 6

ANSWERS 6

PUNCTUATION

THE IMPORTANCE OF PUNCTUATION

Full stop

The full stop and abbreviations

The full stop in email and website addresses

Question mark

Exclamation mark

Capital letter

EXERCISES 7

ANSWERS 7

Comma

The comma as separating device in lists

The comma as a separating device in a list of adjectives

Commas and relative clauses

Commas and subordinate clauses

The comma as a separating device in clauses joined by coordinating conjunctions

The comma as separating device with initial phrases

The comma with terms of address

The comma with question tags

The comma with interjections

The comma used in pairs as a means of separation or parenthesis

The comma with nouns or phrases in apposition

The comma and numbers

EXERCISES 8

ANSWERS 8

Brackets

Dash

Semicolon

The semicolon as a link

The semicolon as a separation device in lists

The semicolon as separation device in lists of word groups already containing commas

The semicolon as a separation device before certain adverbs

Colon

The colon as a separating device in a two-part sentence

The colon as a linking device or introduction

EXERCISES 9

ANSWERS 9

Hyphen

The hyphen in word-breaks

EXERCISES 10

ANSWERS 10

Quotation marks

Quotation marks and direct speech

Quotation marks and paragraphs

Quotation marks and dialogue

Other uses of quotation marks

Quotation marks and titles

Quotation marks and a direct quotation

EXERCISES 11

ANSWERS 11

Other punctuation marks

Apostrophe

Asterisk

Three-dot ellipsis

Oblique

EXERCISES 12

ANSWERS 12

DEVELOPING YOUR OWN STYLE

STYLE

Sentence style

Sentence length

The middle way

Sentence structure

Compound sentences

Complex sentences

Vocabulary

Active and passive vocabulary

Increasing your word power

Dictionaries and thesauruses

Register

Keep it simple

Adding variety

EXERCISES 13

ANSWERS 13

EXERCISES 14

ANSWERS 14

WORDS THAT MAY CONFUSE

IDIOMS, CLICHÉS AND EVERYDAY PHRASES

Common idioms

Clichés

Everyday phrases

Homophones

Homonyms

Homographs and heteronyms

BETTER ENGLISH GRAMMAR

Never has there been a greater need to make sure that you write and speak ‘good’ English. This is true of people in countries such as the UK where English is the native language and of people in countries where English is a second or foreign language. In countries where English is the language of business, a marked emphasis is now being placed on the need for competent communicative skills in the workplace. Although life in the modern world is generally less formal than it was and people in personal, academic and business contexts write considerably fewer letters than formerly, they are often still required to demonstrate their powers of written communication in the classroom and the workplace. For example, they might have to write a report for presentation to their work colleagues.

When it comes to correspondence, emails may have taken over from formal letters to a large extent but it reflects badly on a person if their emails are sloppily written and full of errors. The computer spell checker can only help you out to some extent. Many employers complain that a significant number of the people whom they recruit for jobs are sadly lacking in these skills. This is true even of young people who have just graduated from some of the top universities.

You might think that grammar and spelling are trivial matters, that they’re just not that important in your line of work. You might think that as long as the facts are correct, what does it matter if the grammar is bad? However, poor grammar reflects badly on you—you might miss out on a job opportunity, you might not be taken seriously when making a complaint, you could even put off a potential Internet date—all because of terrible grammar and sloppy spelling. Any public display of poor language skills can give a very bad impression of even the most intelligent person.

At the same time, the importance of English as a world language continues to grow. In fact, there are many versions of Standard English spoken around the world: British, American, Canadian, Australian, Indian, South African, New Zealand and more. All have rich variations in vocabulary, syntax, semantics and grammar. More and more people in other countries are anxious to learn English and there is an ever-increasing demand both for teachers of English as a second or foreign language and for effective teaching materials in these areas.

But what is ‘good’ English or even correct English? Don’t those of us who learn it as a native tongue at our mother’s knee automatically speak and write it correctly? Alas, the answer to that is no. Native speakers obviously have much less of a struggle learning to speak good English than learners of English as a foreign or second language do, but the process is not effort-free.

Good or correct English is often regarded as grammatical English. Grammar has been variously described as the framework on which ideas are hung, and the cement that binds words together. Basically, grammar refers to the rules that govern the way a language works. Society cannot operate without rules and neither can language.

The prospect of learning grammar is more likely to depress those whose native tongue is English. Learners of English as a second or foreign language are used to having to come to grips with the grammar of their own languages and will not protest so much.

Often, the first time that people come into contact with written rules of grammar is when they come to learn a foreign language. The language is broken up into vocabulary, parts of speech, regular and irregular verbs, tenses, agreements and structures, etc. The rules of this foreign language seem more explicit, more ‘grammatical’ than that of our own, but, of course, our own language has such rules, it’s just that we don’t notice them.

It might be surprising to hear that, if your first language is English, you do already know some English grammar. You can speak the language, you understand others, you can respond and make yourself understood. For example, we automatically know the difference in structure between a question (Can I have that?) and a command (Give me that!).

You started to learn English grammar as an infant without consciously knowing you were doing so. You learned what were the correct structures and combinations of words through hearing others speak and—once you learned how to read—through the written word. Perhaps what you don’t know about are the prescriptive rules that have been devised to describe English grammar. They used to be taught by rote in schools but emphasis on this side of teaching English has long since died out.

Spoken and written English are enormously different in structure and formality. Spoken discourse is often disjointed, with sentence fragments used in preference to complete sentences that would perhaps sound uncomfortably formal, yet it is easily understood. Even the world’s most articulate and witty people do not always speak using perfect, prescriptively ordered, ‘grammatically correct’ English. Speech also employs stress, rhythm and intonation as an important part of conveying meaning.

However, our written words need structure and formality to convey meaning as accurately and unambiguously as possible; and our spoken words can still sound ‘wrong’ and give a bad impression if the formal rules are not followed.

Grammar has, over the years, got rather a bad press. At one point, in the UK, it was set aside by the educational powers-that-be as being largely unnecessary. Although it is now often seen as something valuable that should be brought back into prominence, it is also often seen as something essentially difficult and boring. This is not the case. It is logical and can be of great interest. Furthermore, you really have to get to grips with it if you want to improve your English.

In conclusion, in order to speak and write effectively and confidently in English, you must know something about the structure of the language. This book gives a clear explanation of the nuts and bolts of English grammar as well as hints on how to create a better personal writing style incorporating ‘good’ English.

WEBSTER'S WORD POWER

Betty Kirkpatrick, a graduate of Edinburgh University, has a long career in reference publishing. She has edited Chambers Twentieth Century Dictionary, Roget’s Thesaurus, the concise edition of Brewer’s Phrase and Fable, and was language consultant to the Encarta World English Dictionary. She has compiled various other reference books, including the Oxford Paperback Thesaurus and the Bloomsbury Dictionary of Clichés. She acts as a consultant to the Bloomsbury Good Word Guide. Betty is author of an extensive list of publications on various aspects of the English language for learners of English.

GRAMMAR

THE SENTENCE AND THE PARAGRAPH

The sentence

The most important unit of structure is the sentence. Most of the other grammatical units are parts that go together to form a sentence. However, that leaves us with the question ‘What is a sentence?’ and there has been some dispute about the definition. The traditional view of the sentence seems as good a jumping-off point as any—a unit of language that can stand alone and make sense.

The following are all complete in themselves, make sense and are, therefore, all sentences:

We ran.

The boy kicked the ball.

They played hard and they won.

Look over there!

Minor sentences

The following examples are also all complete in themselves and make sense and are, therefore, sentences. They are known as minor sentences or irregular sentences.

They are called minor sentences because they lack some of the other usual grammatical features of a sentence. For example, a minor sentence often lacks a subject and a predicate.

Minor sentences are most common in spoken English and in conversation in literary fiction. They are also common in certain kinds of written English such as notices, labels and adverts. The following are examples of minor sentences:

No!

Nonsense!

How terrible!

What a view!

Good try!

No way!

Taxi!

Poison!

No entry.

Well done!

Once bitten, twice shy.

Major sentences

Other sentences are known as major sentences or regular sentences. A major sentence usually has a subject (see 1) and predicate (see 1). The following are examples of major sentences:

We ran.

The boy kicked the ball.

Mother baked a cake.

She leaves tomorrow.

They are coming to town.

She studied hard, but she failed the exam.

I called him when I arrived.

Subject and predicate

Basically, a sentence is a combination of two grammatical units—the subject (see 1, 2, 3) and the predicate (see 1, 2, 3).

Subject

The subject (see 4) of a sentence refers to what the sentence is about, often the person or thing that carries out the action of the verb. The subject usually gives a clear idea of what the sentence is about.

The subject can be a noun—either a common noun or a proper noun or a verbal noun;

a noun phrase;

a pronoun;

a subordinate clause;

an infinitive.

In the following sentences the underlined words form the subject of the sentence and the subjects are nouns:

Dogs need a lot of exercise.

Children play in the park.

Money is extremely important to him.

Marriage is not for him, he says.

Accommodation is expensive in that area.

People are beginning to leave.

Jane is giving a party.

Jim has resigned.

Paris is the capital of France.

Mountaineering can be dangerous.

Dancing is her favourite pastime.

Painting can be a form of relaxation.

In the following sentences the underlined words form the subject of the sentence and the subjects are noun phrases:

A heatwave has been forecast.

Several unhappy employees have complained to the management.

The large black dog bounded up to the child.

Those terrible floods affected many people.

Representatives from the firm have issued a statement to staff.

James, my brother-in-law and dear friend, has just died.

In the following sentences the underlined words form the subject of the sentence and the subjects are pronouns:

They were found guilty.

We won the battle.

You have passed the exam.

He denied the charge.

She lost her wedding ring.

It has broken down again.

In the following sentences the underlined words form the subject of the sentence and the subjects are subordinate clauses:

Who she was remained a mystery.

Why he left has not yet been revealed.

What he says is not true.

When he will go has not yet been decided.

In the following sentences the underlined words form the subject of the sentence and the subjects are infinitives:

To do that would be unforgivable.

To get there is going to be very difficult.

To marry young is her main aim.

To get through your exams should be your principal concern.

NB: Dummy subject

A dummy subject sometimes has no intrinsic meaning but is inserted to maintain a balanced grammatical structure.

In the sentences

It has started to rain.

and

It is nearly midnight.

the word It is a dummy subject.

In the sentences

There is nothing else to say.

and

There is no reason for his behaviour.

the word There is a dummy subject.

NB: Directives

In sentences which are directives the subject often does not appear, but is implied, as in:

Get this out of here.

and

Lend me that pen for a minute, please.

The implied subject is you.

Predicate

The predicate refers to the part of a sentence or clause that gives information about the subject. It is basically all the parts of a clause or sentence that are not contained in the subject. It can either be a single verb or a number of elements.

Thus in the sentence

The little girl fell.

the word fell is the predicate of the sentence.

Similarly, in the sentence

The tired old man slept soundly.

the words sleptsoundly form the predicate of the sentence.

And in the sentence

The tired old man slept like a log.

The words slept like a log form the predicate of the sentence.

In the following sentences the underlined words form the predicate of the sentence:

Jane fainted.

Peter was rich and powerful.

Children screamed loudly.

The lights went out all of a sudden.

Workers protested long and loudly at the factory gates.

They are leaving at the end of next week.

We took the stray kittens home.

The students celebrated their exam results all night long.

The child threw the red ball to the dog in the park.

Object

Very often the predicate contains an object(see 1). The object of a sentence is the part of a sentence that is acted upon or is affected by the verb. It usually follows the verb to which it relates.

There are two possible forms of object in a sentence or clause—a direct object or an indirect object.

Direct object

A direct object (see 1) refers to the person or thing that is directly affected by the action described by the verb.

The direct object can be a noun, and in the sentence

The girl hit the ball.

the word ball is a noun and the direct object.

A direct object can also be a pronoun, and in the sentence

She hit him.

the word him is a pronoun and the direct object.

A direct object can also be a noun phrase, and in the sentence

He has bought a large Victorian house.

the phrase a large Victorian house is a noun phrase and the directobject.

A direct object can be a noun clause, and in the sentence

I know what he means.

the clause what he means is a noun clause and the direct object.

In the following sentences the underlined words form a direct object:

The dog bit the child.

He dislikes cats.

We loved them.

People admire her.

He wanted a comfortable city-centre flat.

She lost her diamond engagement ring.

I don’t know what you mean.

I asked why you did that.

Indirect object

An indirect object usually refers to the person who benefits from the action described by the verb, often by receiving something.

In the sentence

Her father sent the school a letter.

the school is the indirect object and a letter is the direct object.

NB: Direct and indirect objects

If there is a direct object and an indirect object in a sentence or clause, the indirect object is almost always placed before the direct object, as in:

I gave the boy the sweets.

where the boy is the indirect object and the sweets the direct object.

However, if both the direct and indirect objects are pronouns the direct object is sometimes placed first, especially in informal speech, as in:

That is my book. Give it to me, please.

NB: Verbs and indirect objects

Some verbs commonly take an indirect object as well as a direct object. These include bring, buy, give, send, show, tell.

In the following sentences the underlined words form an indirect object.

I sent you the book.

She showed her mother the letter.

We had to tell her the bad news.

They gave the children some sweets.

Mary bought them some magazines for the journey.

Pass me the salt, please.

An indirect object can be preceded by the word to or for.

So the sentence

Her sent the school a letter.

could be rephrased as

Her father sent a letter to the school..

And in this case the direct object would come before the indirect object.

Complement

In a sentence where the verb is a linking verb, such as be, become, seem, etc, what follows the verb in a predicate is called not an object, but a complement.

In the sentence

Mark is a policeman.

the words a policeman form the complement of the sentence.

Similarly, in the sentence

Jane became a heart surgeon.

the words a heart surgeon form the complement of the sentence.

In the following sentences the underlined words form a complement:

He seems an honest man.

She became a huge fan.

They are nice enough people.

It appears a good bargain.

Punctuation of sentences

A sentence begins with a capital letter and ends with a full stop or an equivalent punctuation mark, such as a question mark or exclamation mark.

Thus, the following are all sentences:

They did not like the house.

He lives in the country.

He designed and built the house.

We will leave when he gets here.

Where did he go?

Why did she leave?

Get out of here!

Help me!

(SeePunctuation.)

Types of sentence

Traditionally five types of sentence are recognized. These are statements, negative sentences, questions, directives or commands and exclamations.

Statements

Statements are sentences that ‘state’ something or give information. They are sometimes called declarative sentences because they ‘declare’ something. In most statements the subject comes before the verb. The following sentences are all declarative sentences:

The boy hit his sister.

The man attacked the old woman.

We serve evening meals.

The weather was dreadful.

Negative sentences

A negative sentence is one that makes a negative, rather than a positive, statement. This is usually created by the inclusion of a word such as not, nothing or never. The word not is sometimes contracted to n’t. When not or n’t is used it is accompanied by an auxiliary verb. The following sentences are negative sentences:

We did not invite her.

I didn’t see him.

I don’t like it.

I don’t know the man.

I heard nothing unusual last night.

They did nothing about it.

She has never been here.

We have never denied that.

NB: The double negative

The occurrence of two negative words in a sentence or clause is known as a double negative. If taken literally, this actually conveys the opposite sense to that which is intended.

Thus

He didn’t say nothing.

literally conveys the idea that he said something.

However, this is rarely what is intended by the speaker or writer and the double negative should be avoided in standard English, although it is a feature of some regional dialects.

Words such as hardly and scarcely, which can be regarded as semi-negative forms, are incorrectly used with a negative. When this happens it creates a double negative.

Thus, a sentence such as

We didn’t hardly have time to catch the train.

is an example of incorrect usage.

You should say

We hardly had time to catch the train.

Questions

Questions (see 1) are sentences that seek information of some kind. They are followed by a question mark (?) and they often involve the inversion of the subject and an auxiliary (see 1) or modal verb, as in:

Do you play the piano?

Did you pass the exam?

Have you written to him?

Didn’t you like it?

There are three main types of questions: yes-no questions, wh- questions and alternative questions.

Yes-no questions

Yes-no questions are designed to seek a reply in the affirmative or negative, whether the reply is just ‘yes’ or ‘no’ or whether this is amplified in some way, as in:

Is the house occupied just now?

No.

Has the doctor arrived yet?

Yes. He’s just arrived.

Are we ready to begin?

Let’s get started. Yes.

Tag questions

Some yes-no questions are tag questions in which the questioning part is in the tag at the end of the sentence. The following are examples of tag questions, with the tags in bold:

She’s a lawyer, isn’t she?

He’s not here yet, is he?

You won’t tell her, will you?

Wh- questions

Wh- questions begin with a word beginning with wh, such as why, where, when, who and what, as in:

What do you want?

Where did he go?

When did you last see her?

Who gave you that?

Alternative questions

Alternative questions require a reply that refers to the options given in the sentence. They contain the conjunction ‘or’. The following are examples of alternative questions:

Did you come by bus or train?

By train.

Is the party on Friday or Saturday?

It’s on Saturday.

Is she younger or older than him

She’s a few years younger.

Exclamatory questions

Exclamatory questions are sentences which have the structure of questions but which are actually used as exclamations and end with an exclamation mark. They are really seeking the listener’s agreement rather than seeking an answer. The following are examples of exclamatory questions:

Wasn’t that a wonderful meal!

Hasn’t she changed!

Isn’t it a dreadful day!

Rhetorical questions

Rhetorical questions are also sentences that have the structure of questions and they end in a question mark. However, the speaker does not require an answer to these questions.

The following are examples of rhetorical questions:

Why should I care?

Who does she think she is?

How should I know?

Question by tone of voice

A yes-no question can have the structure of a statement, rather than a question, uttered in a questioning tone of voice and ending with a question mark.

The following are examples of this:

Anne told you I was going?

Yes, she did.

Tom has actually left her?

He went today. Yes.

The house is no longer for sale?

No. It’s been sold.

Directives

Directives (see 1), which are also called commands (although they are not all actually commands), are sentences that instruct someone to do something.

In some directives an actual command is being given and this is followed by an exclamation mark, as in:

Keep quiet!

There is usually no subject in a directive and the verb is in its basic or infinitive form. In this kind of structure the verb is said to be in the imperative mood.

The following are examples of directives in the imperative mood:

Stand up!

Help me, please!

Have a piece of cake.

Take two of these pills after meals.

Turn left here.

Some directives begin with the word ‘let’ or the word ‘do’, as in:

Let me help.

Let’s go.

Do come in.

Don’t worry.

Exclamations

Exclamations are sentences expressed by someone who is impressed, excited or roused by something. Exclamations sometimes take the form of a single word or a minor sentence but they can also be major sentences, often beginning with ‘what’ or ‘how’. Exclamations always end with an exclamation mark (!).

The following are examples of exclamations:

Ouch!

What a day!

How pretty you look!

NB: Sentence length

As we have seen above, sentences, particularly minor sentences, can be extremely short. They can even be one word. On the other hand, sentences can be extremely long.

There is no restriction on the length of sentences, except, of course, that they should not be so long that they are confusing or unintelligible. Usually, relatively short sentences make for greater clarity. However, a series of sentences should not all be so short that the effect is too abrupt or jerky.

Apart from clarity, there is the question of style when it comes to sentence length. From the point of view of good style, it is important to vary the length of your sentences. A mixture of sentence lengths makes a piece of prose seem more interesting.