Grammar 1

1st Year Private

Prepared & compiled by

Dr Amel Salah Eldin

Introduction to the Course
“Grammar is the means through which linguistic creativity is ultimately achieved…”
-WILKINS
Grammar is the total mechanism which a language possesses and through which its
users are able to communicate with each other.
Grammar refers to the formal analysis and description of the rules of the language.
This is known as ‘Descriptive grammar’. Grammar also refers to the rules for the
correct use of a language which may be prescribed for its users.
Analysis of Modern English structure using the methods of traditional grammar. Topics
studied: parts of speech, grammatical functions, phrase, clause, and sentence types,
and nominal and verbal categories. Nature and usefulness of prescriptive rules of
grammar. How to teach traditional grammar as presented in the secondary English
curriculum. Instruction will encourage students to demonstrate critical understanding of
traditional grammar, of contemporary syntactic analysis, and of the strengths and
weaknesses of those systems in secondary education.

Objectives of Teaching Grammar:

1. It helps to use the language effectively.

2. Knowledge of the underlying ‘rules’ of grammar is provided.

3. To develop students insight into the structure of English language.
4. To enable the students to assimilate the correct patterns of the language.
5. To teach grammar as a rule governed behaviors'.
6. To develop the mental abilities of reasoning and correct observation.
7. To develop a scientific attitude in students.

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Table of contents
1. What is a Sentence?
2. The Basic Elements of a Sentence
3. Subjects, Predicates and Verbs
4. Sentence Functions and Parts of Speech
5. Subject-Verb Agreement
6. Direct and Indirect Objects / Transitive and Intransitive
Verbs
7. Complements, Linking Verbs and Complex Transitive
Verbs
8. Adverbials
9. Tenses
10. Sentences Structure and Grammatical Correctness
11. Vocatives and Exclamations
12. Phrases and their Functions
13. Prepositional Phrases
14. Adjective Phrases And Adjectival Phrases
15. Noun Phrases
16. Adverb Phrases and Adverbial Phrases
17. Verb Phrases and Phrasal Verbs
18. Clauses and their Functions
19. Co-ordinate Clauses, Main Clauses and Subordinate
Clauses
20. Relative Clauses
21. Adverbial Clauses
22. Noun Clauses

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 1. What is a Sentence?

What is a Sentence?
A sentence is a group of words that is used to say something, to
ask something, or to tell somebody to do something:

The old man sighed.

I don't understand what you're telling me.
A cry of horror went up from the crowd.
What shall we do now?
Have you got any change?
Get out of my way!
A sentence should give enough information to the person hearing it
or reading it for them to form a complete idea in their mind of the
message that is being communicated to them.

A sentence should begin with a capital letter, and end with either a
full stop, a question mark or an exclamation mark:

The girl looked at him and frowned.

Aren't you coming with us?
Stop doing that!

Sentences
A sentence is a group of words that is used to make a statement,
to ask a question, or to give an order or make a request. A sentence
should provide the person hearing it or reading it with enough
information for them to form a complete idea in their mind of the
message that is being communicated to them.

The following groups of words are sentences:

My new house is very small.
Their son doesn't want to go on holiday with them.

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 The wedding was a great success.
It was raining heavily when we arrived.
The local team's performance last Saturday was abysmal.
Tel! me what you think of it.
Are you going into town this afternoon?
What a lovely day it has been!
How did she manage to do that?
Where do you think she's going?

A group of words that does not convey a complete message is not a

complete sentence:

the boy along the road

we cannot have with us
watched the big green insect in amazement
their new car yesterday

Types of Sentences
A. Sentences Classified according to Structure
Sentences are classified according to structure as simple, compound,
complex, or compound-complex.

Simple Sentence: A simple sentence contains one finite verb. It is

made up of one main clause only, e.g.
The boy eats a lot.
Do you eat beans?

Compound Sentence: This is when two or more sentences are

joined by a conjunction (or conjunctions). It contains two or more
main clauses without a subordinate clause, e.g
I am teaching you English and you are listening to me.

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Bring your book here and open it at page 4; but don’t read.
Stay there or you'll be punished.

Complex Sentence: A complex sentence is one that has one or

more subordinate clauses and a main clause. The subordinate clause
functions as adjective, adverb or noun. Examples:
That is the house which I want (adjectival clause).
The thief ran away when he saw the policeman (Adverbial
clause of time).

Compound-Complex Sentence: A compound-complex sentence is

one which is a compound sentence made up of two or more main
clauses. Then, one or more of the main clauses have one or more
subordinate clauses.
MAIN SUBORDINATE MAIN
The thief ran away when he saw the policeman, but he was shot
dead.

B. Sentences Classified according to Structure

There are four main types of sentences.
A. Sentences that make statements are called declarative sentences:
That isn't the way to do it.
Lions and tigers belong to the cat family.
I have two brothers and one sister.
Canada and the United States are neighbours.
This hat only cost me $ 15.
These shoes are too tight.
I don't really want to be here.
My father doesn't like chocolate ice-cream.

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B. Sentences that ask questions are called interrogative sentences:

What are you doing?

Am I too late?
Where did you put the spade?
Can you see anything?
Why doesn't she just tell him what she thinks?
How old is your daughter?
Who's that they are talking to?
Would you tike a cup of coffee?

C. Sentences that give orders or make requests are called

imperative sentences:
Come back!
Do be reasonable.
Don't ever do that again!
You sit over there, Jack.
Sit up straight!
Come and have a cup of tea.
Mind your own business!

D. Sentences that express opinions or feelings with force or strong

emotion, like exclamations, are called exclamatory sentences:

What a fool I've been!

How I hate maths!
You silly boy!
What glorious weather we're having!
How marvellous!
What pretty shoes!
What is a Sentence?

How to Punctuate Sentences

A written sentence must begin with a capital letter and end with
a full stop (.), a question mark (?) or an exclamation mark (!).

Declarative sentences usually end with a full stop:

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 I don't feel very well.
She's scared of dogs.
You can use an exclamation mark instead of a full stop at the end of
a declarative sentence if you want to show that you are expressing
strong feelings. Compare these sentences:

Harry's coming.
Harry's coming!

The first sentence is a simple statement. The second sentence,

however, not only conveys the same information but also expresses
strong emotion such as surprise, pleasure or fear.

Interrogative sentences end with a question mark:

How did she do that?

Which house is yours?
Can you tell me where they are?

Sometimes a question mark is the only way you can tell whether a
sentence is a question or a statement:

John's leaving this afternoon, (statement)

John's leaving this afternoon? (question)

Even if only part of a sentence asks a question, the whole sentence is

still treated as an interrogative sentence:
If you won't do it now, then when will you do it?
When will you do it, if you won't do it now?
Exclamatory sentences end with an exclamation mark:
What a wonderful day!
How very sad!
Off with his head!
Was I frightened!
Isn't that tree beautiful!

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Imperative and optative sentences generally end with a full stop, but
again, if you want to show that the words are being spoken with
great force or emotion, then use an exclamation mark:
Please sit down.
Sit down at once!
May you have all your heart desires.
May he suffer as I have suffered!

Do come and visit us again.

Come back here!

Notice that some exclamatory sentences look like questions, but are
in fact comments or commands:
Isn't that a beautiful flower!
Will you stop that noise!
Come back here!
Since such sentences are not asking questions but expressing
opinions or making requests, they are punctuated with exclamation
marks rather than question marks. Compare the following sentences:
Will they ever stop the fighting in Palestine? (question)
Will you stop fighting with your sister!
(exclamation, expressing an order)
Isn't Tim's wife the woman in the white dress? (question)
Isn't Tim's wife looking lovely in that dress!
(exclamation, expressing an opinion)
Am I the only one who thinks she's crazy? (question)
Am I glad to see you! (exclamation)

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 Important Hints

(Did You Know?)

The word 'sentence' comes from Latin sententia, meaning 'an
opinion' or 'a thought'.

(Handy Hint)
Always check in your own writing that your sentences are
conveying a complete message.

(Grammar Help)
Notice that many optative sentences use a special-form of the verb,
called the subjunctive , in which there is no –s ending on the verb:

God save the Queen (not God saves the Queen)

Long live the President (not Long lives the President)

Similarly, you say Peace be upon him rather than Peace is upon him.

(Did You Know?)

It is not just in English that sentences begin with capital letters and
end with full stops, question marks or exclamation marks. In fact,
this is true of all languages that are written in the Roman alphabet,
and of many other languages too.

(Grammar Help)
In American English a full stop is called a period

(Grammar Help)
Some grammarians recognize a fifth sentence type, the optative
sentence. Optative sentences express wishes:
God save the Queen!
Long live the President!
Peace be upon him.
God forbid that that should ever happen.
May you live a long and happy life together.

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May she never know a day's peace as long as she lives!

Optative sentences are not as common as the other four types of

sentence. Some occur as fixed sayings:
God save ...!
Long live ...!

Optative sentences formed with may are found mainly in very

formal or rather dated language.

(Handy Hint)
Always check in your own writing that all your sentences start with
a capital letter and end with either a full stop, a question mark or an
exclamation mark. Make sure that your question sentences end with
a question mark.

(Handy Hint)
Be careful not to overuse the exclamation mark. Writing with
exclamation marks is like shouting at people - useful sometimes, but
very annoying if you do it all the time!

(Did You Know?)

When the French writer Victor Hugo sent a telegram to his
publishers to ask how well his latest book was selling, all he wrote
was '?'. The publishers' reply was just as short: '.''.

(Handy Hint)
Look carefully at the meaning of each sentence - is it stating
something, asking something, giving a command, making an
exclamation or expressing a wish?

(Handy Hint)
There may be more than one correct choice, depending on the
degree of emotion you want to express.

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 Exercises

Which of the following groups of words are sentences, and

which are not? Put a capital letter at the beginning and a full
stop at the end of the examples you think are complete
sentences.
1. closed the door
2. the little girls sang beautifully
3. had a pain in her back
4. big grey woolly
5. she went into the garden
6. like cake tomorrow
7. we saw her last week
8. was crying bitterly in her bedroom
9. big and very strong
10. the teacher was very cross
11. the boys laughed
12. laughed out loud
13. for breakfast every day
14. your nice new is
15. he lost his lovely new watch
16. she opened the
17. climbed up the hill
18. the door opened

(B) Decide whether the following sentences are declarative,

interrogative, imperative, exclamatory or optative, and mark
them 'Dec', 'Int', 'imp', 'Exc' and 'Opt' as appropriate.
1. He is leaving tomorrow.
2. Are you coming with us?
3. Don't move!
4. Cod bless this ship and all who sail in her.
5. How much does it cost?
6. There's been a nasty accident in Oxford Street.
7. Who were you speaking to just now?
8. The birds flew from the nest.

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 9. May I go to the party? 10. May the best man win.
11. Peter cut his foot on a sharp stone.
J2. I ought to leave now.
13. May I leave now?
14. Don't leave yet.
15. What a silly idea!
16. What is the highest mountain in the world?
17. Shut that door!
18. I was at a meeting all morning.
19. Do have some more wine.
20. Would you like some more juice
21. How did you get here so soon?
22. How right you are!

(C) Decide whether the following sentences should end with a

full stop, a question mark or an exclamation mark, and add the
appropriate punctuation mark to the end of the sentence.
1. When did you last see her
2. I don't know what to do
3. Please come in
4. I don't really like cheese
5. Do you like cheese
6. I absolutely hate cheese
7. Down with all traitors to the party
8. Why did she get so upset about it
9. May I say something
10. Long live rock'n'roll
11. What an awful woman she is
12. How stupid I've been
13. Doesn't he live somewhere near here
14. May you always be a credit to your parents
15. Should I say something to her about it
16. How could you not see that you were being fooled
17. That's not what I meant to do
18. How I wish I had never ever gone there
19. It doesn't seem likely that he'll come now
20. There's no speed limit on this stretch of road

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Quick Summary
This section summarizes the main points of what has been said
about sentences. Before studying any further units of this book, read
over these notes and make sure that you fully understand what you
have learnt in this unit. If there is something you are still not sure
about, check back to the relevant section of the unit.
1. Sentences are groups of words that are used to make statements,
ask questions, give orders or make requests. They should provide
enough information for a person to get a complete idea of what is
being said to them.

2. There are four main types of sentence: declarative,

interrogative, imperative and exclamatory. Some grammarians
also distinguish a fifth type, the optative sentence.
Declarative sentences make statements.
Interrogative sentences ask questions.
Imperative sentences make requests or give orders.
Exclamatory sentences make statements with strong feeling.
Optative sentences express wishes.

3. Sentences should begin with a capital letter, and end with a full
stop, a question mark or an exclamation mark.

Declarative sentences usually end with a full stop, but may end with
an exclamation mark if they express strong emotion.
Interrogative sentences end with a question mark.

Imperative sentences generally end with a full stop, but may end
with an exclamation mark if they express strong force or emotion.
Exclamatory sentences end with exclamation marks.
Optative sentences generally end with a full stop, but may end with
an exclamation mark if they express strong emotion.

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 2. The Basic Elements of a Sentence

The subject of a sentence is the word or group of words that

names the person or thing being talked about in the sentence:

Tom stared at his friend in amazement.

The man spoke with an American accent.
I've got a sore head.

The predicate of a sentence is everything that is not part of the

subject of the sentence:

Tom stared at his friend in amazement.

The man spoke with an American accent.
I've got a sore head.

The verb in a sentence is the word or group of words that says

something about what the subject of the sentence is doing, what is
happening to the subject of the sentence, etc:

Tom stared at his friend in amazement.

The man spoke with an American accent.
I've got a sore head.

The direct object of a sentence is the person or thing that is most

directly affected by the action or state described by the verb, for
example, what the subject of the sentence has, or gets, or does
something to, or does something with:

I've got a sore head

She was holding a large carving-knife in her hand.
I saw him again yesterday.

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The word or word-group that describes the person or thing that the
direct object is given to or done for, etc is the indirect object of the
sentence.
Loud music gives me a headache.
She lent the man her bicycle.
The tooth fairy takes your tooth and leaves you $3.

A complement is a word or group of words that says something

about the subject or object of a sentence.
The trees were bare.
Sheila became a teacher.
They elected him mayor.
The girl pushed the door open.

An adverbial is a word or group of words that provides information

about when, where, why, how, etc the action or state described in a
sentence takes place, or that makes some comment about what is
said in the rest of the sentence:
Come quickly!
Tell me honestly what you think.
I'll tell her tomorrow.
The hoys are both at school.
Honestly, from the way she behaves you'd think she was the
queen.
To be frank, I don't think that is the right way to solve the
problem.

A vocative is a word or group of words used to address someone or

something directly:

Do you want to come with us, John?

Quickly, girls, Form a line over here.

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An exclamation is a word or group of words that expresses strong
emotion, such as surprise or pain or pleasure, or that is used to
attract someone's attention:
God, that's a big car!
My goodness, this is a heavy box.
Look, I'm not giving you any more money, and that's final.

The function of a word or word-group in a sentence is the role it

plays in that sentence, e.g. subject, verb, direct object, adverbial, etc.
A part of speech is a class of words that have the same grammatical
characteristics, e.g. noun, verb, adjective, adverb, preposition, etc.

(Did You Know?)

The unexpressed subject of an imperative sentence is 'you', even
though the word 'you' doesn't appear in the sentence. This can be
seen from cases in which the 'you' is expressed, for example for
emphasis or to distinguish between the people being spoken to:
Don't you ever do that again!
You sit here, Charles, and Mary, you sit over there.

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 3. Subjects, Predicates and
Verbs

Subjects
The word or group of words that names the person or thing being
talked about in the sentence is the subject of the sentence.

Jean arrived yesterday.

She can't come this afternoon.
My mother likes gardening.
Her eldest daughter lives in London.
The door suddenly opened.
Cats and dogs make good pets.

Imperative sentences usually have no expressed subject:

Sit down, please.
Run for it!
Tell me everything.
Don't say that!
Come back again next week.

In questions, exclamatory sentences and optative sentences, the

subject of the sentence usually does not come at the beginning of the
sentence:

Are you coining along?

Where are you going?
How did he do that!
What an idiot I am! (= I am an idiot)
What a great day this is! (= This is a great day)
Long live the President!
Long may he reign!

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(Grammar help)
It is wrong to think that the subject of a sentence is always the
person who performs the activity described in the sentence.
Compare these sentences:
Charles gave Caroline a book.
Caroline got a hook from Charles.
Caroline was given a hook by Charles.

In all three sentences, it is Charles who performed the action of

giving the book. In the first sentence, Charles is the subject of the
sentence: the sentence is describing what Charles did. However, in
the other two sentences, while Charles is still the person who
performed the action, Caroline is the subject of the sentences: the
sentences are describing what happened to Caroline.

Predicates
The predicate of a sentence is everything that is not part of the
subject of the sentence.

Bill is a teacher.
Bill teaches mathematics.
My grandfather does physical exercises every morning.
Mr. and Mrs. Wang have a beautiful garden.
Mummy's upstairs in the bedroom.
The boys ran all the way home.
I'll teach him a lesson!
The old couple next door have been married for more than
sixty years.

Predicates may appear in two parts in a sentence, 'sandwiching' the

subject:
Is your aunt coming tomorrow?
Have you ever been to India?
Where are you going now?

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 In Britain, the weather can be cold even in summer.
Sadly they said good-bye.
What a beautiful dress that is!

When it is not necessary to express the subject of the sentence, as is

the case with most imperative sentences, then a sentence may
consist of a predicate alone:
Please speak more slowly.
Don't do that!

(You Know?)
The word 'predicate' comes from Latin praedicare, meaning 'to
assert'. A predicate asserts or says something about the subject of the
sentence.

(Grammar Help)
In English, declarative and interrogative sentences must have a
subject as well as a predicate. So wherever there is no person or
thing to act as the subject of the sentence, for example when talking
about the weather, when telling the time, or when describing a
situation, English grammar forces us to put in a word to fill the
subject position. The word most often used for this purpose is the
pronoun it:
It was raining heavily.
It was very misty this morning.
It's getting dark now.
It's about half past five, I think.
It was very quiet in town today.

Similarly, when the 'real' subject of the sentence is moved from in

front of the verb to a position in the predicate, the empty subject
position is again filled by it.

What you think doesn't matter. —> It doesn't matter what you
think.
That she is writing a book is well known. —> It's well known
that she is writing a book.

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A similar function is sometimes performed by there:
Something is worrying him. —>There is something worrying
him.
Plenty of people believe in astrology. —> There are plenty of
people who believe in astrology.

Verbs
The verb in a sentence is the word or group of words that says
something about what the subject of the sentence is doing, what is
happening to the subject of the sentence, etc.
John always sings too loudly.
No-one laughed.
The boys were playing football in the garden.
That dress really suits you.
I think I have lost my umbrella.
She shut her eyes tightly.
I may arrive late.
Ali was hit on the head by a golf ball.
Ronald got a punishment exercise for being rude to his
teacher.

(Grammar Help)
The verb in a sentence is in some grammar books referred to as the
predicator.

(Grammar Help)
In a question, the verb is very often split into two parts:
Has he arrived yet?
When are you leaving?
Why did you kick her?
Will she be coming with us?

Sometimes a single word may contain both the subject (or part of it)
and the verb (or part of it):

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 Dad's asleep. (= Subject Dad + Verb 's)
The baby's crying. (= Subject The baby + Verb 's crying)
I'd do it at once. (= Subject I + Verb 'd do)
I've had a terrible dream. (= Subject I + Verb 've had)

In other cases, a single word may contain both the verb (or part of it)
and another word, such as not:
I don't know. (= Verb do know + Adverb not)
She wasn't sure where she was. (= Verb was + Adverb not)
I can't do it at once. (= Verb can do + Adverb not)
The bell won't work! (= Verb will work + Adverb not)

Exercises

1. Find the subject in the following sentences:

1. You get a lovely view from the top of that hill.
2. Bill stared at her in amazement.
3. 1 am inclined to agree with you.
4. What shall we do next?
5. My arm hurts.
6. The day started badly and got steadily worse.
7. Perhaps we should leave now.
8. My love for her will last forever.
9. What have you two been doing all day?
10. It was a cold, wet morning.
11. Why does performing in a concert worry you so much?
12. Memories of last year's holiday came flooding back to her.

2. Pick out the subjects in each of the following sentences. Is the

subject the doer of the action or not? i.e. is it performing the
activity described in the sentence or not?
(Handy Hint: Look at sentences 2 and 3 together, sentences 4 to 7, and
sentences 9 and 10.)

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1. She looked at herself in the mirror.
2. Michael punched James on the nose.
3. James was punched on the nose by Michael.
4. My aunt gave me a watch for my birthday.
5. I got a watch from my aunt for my birthday.
6. This watch was given to me by my aunt.
7. I was given a watch by my aunt for my birthday.
8. Esther told me the latest news.
9. He banged the door behind him.
10. The door banged shut behind him.

3. Pick out the predicates of the following sentences.

1. Her books are very popular in Britain.
2. Do you speak Spanish?
3. What an expense children's clothes are nowadays!
4. I just do not understand your reasoning.
5. What harm has she ever done to you?
6. The car had been abandoned by the thieves several miles away.
7. Suddenly, down came the rain.
8. I'll see you home after the meeting.
9. Which room is she in?
10. Traffic moves very slowly along these roads during the rush
hour.
4. Write down the subjects and verbs of the following sentences.
1. She made him very happy.
2. The old lady chased the dog out of her garden.
3. My uncle's coming for tea.
4. Where are the children?
5. Where are the children going?
6. The rain never stops at this time of the year.
7. What a beautiful dress that is!
8. How on earth did she do that?
9. That isn't a very common mistake.
10. That mistake is very common.
11. That would be awful!
12. Do you know where we're going?

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5. Pick out the verbs in the following sentences:
1. I wouldn't have done that.
2. Isn't she coming?
3. Shouldn't we be on our way by now?
4. You can't say that to him!
5. Sorry we couldn't be with you.
6. It just won't work!
7. Isn't that a lovely little dog!'
8. You shan't stop me!

6. Using the words in brackets, convert the sentences in the way

shown in the example.
Example
Question: Someone must be at home. (there)
Answer: There must be someone at home.

1. No-one was waiting for them. (there)

2. What you think is of no importance. (it)
3. That we were alone in the house came as no surprise. (it)
4. A time may come when racial prejudice no longer exists. (there)
5. Something's wrong. (there)
6. Telling her that would be a waste of time. (it)
7. Two men were standing in the doorway. (there)
8. Was anyone I know at the meeting? (there)

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 4. Sentence Functions and
Parts of Speech

Parts of Speech
Words in a language can be grouped into different classes
according to how they are used grammatically. These word-classes
are known as parts of speech.
The nine main parts of speech in English are:
noun, for example book, cat, stone, truth, beauty, warmth, opinion,
Singapore, Tom
pronoun, for example I, me, you, myself, themselves, this, those,
hers
verb, for example sit, run, eat, think, laugh, sew, come, add, be,
have, do
adjective, for example green, big, silly, extreme, childish, loud,
mere, two
determiner, for example a, the, some, any, which, my
adverb, for example finally, surprisingly, extremely, very,
yesterday, sometimes, often, there, inside, never, perhaps
preposition, for example by, with, from, at, to, in
conjunction, for example and, but, because, if, when, while, or,
although
interjection, for example alas, oh, gosh, ouch, hello, good-bye

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Grammar Help
Yes and no are traditionally classed either as interjections or as
adverbs, but in some modern dictionaries and grammar books they
are given other names such as discussed later on.
Did You Know?
Conjunctions are sometimes called connectives or connectors.
sentence substitutes.
Some other parts of speech will be

Parts of Speech and Sentence Functions

It is important not to confuse the parts of speech (such as noun,
pronoun, verb, adjective and adverb) and their different functions in
a sentence (such as subject, verb, direct object and adverbial).

Words belonging to a single part of speech may have different

functions in different sentences.
For example, a noun may function as the subject of a sentence, or as
the direct object, or the indirect object, or complement:

Kim saw John in the park.

Boys do woodwork and girls learn cookery.
Milk is good for you.
Gran brought Tom books to read when he was ill.
Both of them are teachers.
They elected him president.

A Pronoun too may function as the subject of a sentence or the

direct object, or the indirect object, or the complement:
Who did that?
Pass me that screwdriver, please.
I'm me and you're you - and we'll simply never agree about politics.

Looking at things the other way round, we can equally see that the
same function slot may be filled in different sentences by words
belonging to different parts of speech.

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For example, the subject slot in a sentence may be filled by a noun
or a pronoun:
Sugar is sweet.
I love dogs.
The direct object slot may also be filled by a noun or a pronoun:

We hate maths.
Your mother loves you.
The complement slot may be filled by a noun, a pronoun or an
adjective:
Her parents are teachers.
These shoes aren't mine.
This medicine tastes awful.

Grammar Help
Notice that the word Verb' is used to denote both a sentence function
and a part of speech.
In most cases, sentence functions and parts of speech have different
names, and are therefore easy to distinguish. Unfortunately, the
word 'verb' is used in grammar to denote both a sentence function
(subject, verb, direct object, complement, ...) and also a part of
speech (noun, verb, adjective, adverb, ...).
Inevitably, this can sometimes lead to confusion in grammatical
analysis. Some grammarians have therefore suggested that the word
'verb' should be used only to designate the part of speech and that
there should be a different word for the verb function in a sentence.
One word that is sometimes used for this purpose is predicator.
One would then have the sentence functions subject, predicator,
direct object, complement, etc, and the parts of speech noun, verb,
adjective, adverb, etc.
Unfortunately this proposal has not been generally accepted, and in
most grammar books, 'verb' is still used to describe both a sentence
function and a part of speech. In what follows in this book,

27
therefore, the term 'predicator' will be used only where there is a
danger of confusion between sentence functions and parts of speech.
Otherwise we will, in common with most other grammar books,
speak only of verbs.
Of course, function slots in sentences can be filled by groups of
words as well as by single words:

All dogs chase cats. (subject slot)

Running away won't solve your problem. (subject slot)
She could hear people's voices in the distance. (direct object slot)
Would you like some milk in your coffee? (adverbial slot)

How to analyse and describe groups of words like these will be

discussed later.

It follows from what has been said above that any given word or
group of words can have different functions in different sentences:

I'll get the job done today. (adverbial)

Today is your lucky day. (subject)

The teacher told the students to be quiet. (subject)

I am the teacher here. (subject-complement)
If you want to know the answer, ask the teacher. (direct object)
The children gave the teacher a present. (indirect object)

Sub-categories of the Parts of Speech

Just as some of the sentence functions have sub-categories, so
also do some of the parts of speech.
The part of speech noun has a number of sub-categories, such as:
common nouns (general words for people, animals, things, ideas or
states: man, girl, dog, horse, eagle, stone, house, anxiety, pleasure,
warmth, etc) and proper nouns (the names of particular people,
animals, places, etc: Tom, Mary, Rover, Paris, Japan, etc)

28
concrete nouns (the names of things you can see, touch or feel: cat,
man, house, ground, stone, wind, chair, etc) and abstract nouns
(words for ideas, feelings and states: anxiety, danger, fear, truth,
beauty, jealousy, etc)
countable nouns (nouns that can be used both in the singular and
the plural: boy, bird, flower, desk, book, wall, idea, problem, etc)
and uncountable nouns (nouns that can only be used in the
singular: electricity, music, information, furniture, calmness, anger,
etc)
In the same way, the pronoun part of speech has a number of sub-
categories:
personal pronouns (such as I, me, you, we, us, etc)
reflexive pronouns (such as myself, yourself, themselves, etc)
possessive pronouns (such as mine, yours, hers, etc)
interrogative pronouns (such as who?, whose?,what?, which?, etc)
relative pronouns (such as who, whom, which, that, etc)
Of greater importance in this book, however, are the sub-categories
of adverb and verb.

Adverbs
Adverbs may be classified according to their meaning. For example:
adverbs of time, such as now, soon, then, yesterday
adverbs of place, such as here, there, somewhere, away
adverbs of manner, such as quickly, carefully, fast, well, badly
adverbs of negation, such as not, -n't
adverbs of degree, such as very, extremely, slightly
adverbs of comparison, such as more, less adverbs of reason, such
as therefore, so

29
Grammar Help
Adverbials can be classified in the same way as adverbs. For
example, adverbials of time.
I'm too busy at the moment.
I'll do it later on.
The parcel arrived the day before yesterday.

adverbials of place:
George was in the house.
The boys are at school.
I've left my umbrella on the bus.

adverbials of manner:
She spoke in a whisper.
I did the whole job on my own.

Grammar Help
Adverbials such as these are all adjuncts.

Verbs
Main verbs (or lexical verbs) describe actions, activities, events,
feelings, etc: get, learn, run, talk, ask, work, buy, clean, fall, move,
find, make, become, play, teach, etc.
Auxiliary verbs (or helping verbs) are used to make different
tenses or to express ideas such as possibility, necessity and
permission: be, have, do, can, could, may, might, shall, should, will,
would, must.

Main verbs are further divided into a number of subgroups:

Action verbs describe actions, activities, events and happenings or
mental processes such as thinking, knowing or wanting: say, know,
come, find, get, give, like, live, need, want, smile, stare, throw, etc.
Linking verbs link subjects and subject-complements: be, become,
get, seem, feel, smell, taste, etc.

30
Transitive verbs have a direct object: own, have, say, describe, hit,
make, buy, love, etc. (Complex transitive verbs have both a direct
object and an object-complement.)

Intransitive verbs do not have a direct object: laugh, come, kneel,

live, sleep, etc.

Grammar Help
Remember that all these different sub-categories of verb are sub-
categories of the part of speech 'verb', not the sentence function
verb'. Whatever sub-category they belong to, they all have the same
function in a sentence: they are all predicators.

Auxiliary verbs are divided into two subgroups:

The primary auxiliaries are the ones used to make tenses: be, have,
do.
The modal auxiliaries, or modal verbs or simply modals, are used
to express permission, possibility, etc: can, could, may, must, etc.

Grammar Help
Notice that many verbs can belong to more than one sub-category of
verb. For example, be is both a primary modal and a linking verb:
I am coming back.
I am Susan's father.
Have is both a primary modal and a transitive verb:
I have come back.
I have a lovely surprise for you.
Get is both a linking verb and a transitive verb:
He got very angry.
He got a lovely surprise.
Feel can be a linking verb, a transitive verb, or an intransitive verb:
He felt a bit silly.
He felt a lap on his shoulder.
He felt in his pocket for his key.

31
Handy Hint
In order to avoid confusion, use 'predicator' rather than 'verb' to
denote the sentence function, and use 'verb' to denote the part of
speech.

Exercises

State what part of speech (noun, pronoun, verb, adjective or adverb)

the words in bold in the following sentences belong to, and what
functions (subject, predicator, direct object, etc) each one has.

Example: The noise grew louder.

Answer The word louder is an adjective and is acting as a subject
complement
1. Sheila screamed in terror.
2. Her parents are doctors.
3- Can you smell gas?
4. Don't be silly.
5- I still have nightmares about failing my exams.
6. Mrs. Wang pinned her granddaughter's pictures on the kitchen
wall.
7. That's odd.
8. Otto searched desperately for the key.
9. I never thought of that!
10. It's time to leave.
11. When did she arrive?
12. Open this door now!
13. What are you doing?
14. Breakfast will be ready in a minute.
15. My wife will soon be here.

32
 5. Subject-Verb Agreement

Agreement
The subject of a sentence controls the form of the verb in that
sentence. This is called agreement: a verb must agree with its
subject. (Did You Know? Another word for 'agreement' is concord).

If the subject of the sentence is in the first person, for example, I or

we, the verb must also be in the first person:
I am really angry,
We were, very pleased to be there.
I love Chinese food.
We Scots love Chinese food.
I have something to tell you.
Both of us have something to tell you. ('both of us' = 'we')

Similarly, if the subject of the sentence is in the second person (that

is, you), the verb must be in the second person, and if the subject of
the sentence is in the third person (for example he, she, it, they,
John, a dog, the teachers, etc), the verb must also be in the third
person:
You are silly.
You two were late again this morning.
You boys have no right to say that!
Both of you are at fault.
She is my daughter's teacher.
Tom is at school.
They are Japanese, I think.
Both of the boys were here yesterday.

33
Similarly, if the subject of the sentence is singular, the verb must be
singular, and if the subject of the sentence is plural, then the verb
must be plural:

I am on holiday.
We are on holiday.
The bread is mouldy.
The apples are mouldy.
Her dog barks a lot.
Her dogs bark a lot.

(Grammar Help)
a. The noun or pronoun immediately in front of the verb is not
always the subject, or not the whole subject, of the verb. Care
must be taken to identify the real subject, or the complete
subject, of a sentence, and to make the verb agree with it:

She and I are both on holiday. (The subject is 'she and I', and so
the verb agrees with 'she and I', not just "I"; 'she and I" = 'we')
You and he have been chosen for the task. (The subject is 'you and
he', and so the verb agrees with 'you and he', not just 'he': 'you and
he' = 'you')
A box of fireworks was lying on the table. (= 'A box was lying on
the table'; the verb agrees with 'box', not 'fireworks')
Ten hags of sugar have gone missing. (= 'Ten bags have gone
missing'; the verb agrees with 'bags', not 'sugar')

b. With here is/are and there is/are, the verb agrees with the
words that follow it:
Here is the book you lent me.
Here are the books you lent me.
There is a big black bird in that tree.
There are two big black birds in that tree.

Similarly, in questions with who and what, the verb agrees with
what follows it:

34
Who is that mar?
Who are those men?
What is that?
What are they?
And in statements with what:
What was once an important port is now a village nearly a mile
from the sea.
What were once warehouses are now just empty ruins.

Some Problems with Subject-Verb Agreement

When making a verb agree with its subject, what is important is
whether the subject is grammatically singular or plural, not how
many people or things the subject refers to:
Every student has a personal locker. (singular subject)
Each student has a personal locker. (singular subject)
All the students have a personal locker. (plural subject)

(Handy Hint: Always check in your own writing that verbs agree
with their true subjects.)

(Grammar Help)
In informal English, there's and here's may be followed by a plural
noun or phrase:
There's hundreds of ants crawling over our picnic basket.
Here's three good reasons why you shouldn't smoke
Similarly:
Everyone is here. ('Everyone' is singular although it refers to
several people)
Everybody knows that. ('Everybody' is singular)
Nobody was listening to her. ('Nobody' is singular)

35
 When the subject of a sentence refers to a quantity of something,
it should be followed by a singular verb; when the subject refers to a
number of separate items, it should be followed by a plural verb:
All the bread is mouldy.
All the apples are mouldy.
Some money has been stolen.
Some books have been stolen.
No damage has been done.
No losses have been incurred.

However, plural nouns denoting quantities or amounts are usually

treated as singular.
There kilos of carrots is far too much.
Six thousand dollars seems a lot of money to pay for a painting.
Ten shillings is the same as fifty pence.
Twenty-five miles is a long way to walk in one day.
Five days is a long time to wait.

Care must be taken with phrases consisting of two or more nouns

linked by and. If the nouns are considered as separate things, then
the phrase is plural:
Tea and coffee are popular drinks.
Carrots and potatoes are vegetables.

But if the nouns linked by and are considered to be one single thing,
then the phrase is singular and the verb must be singular:
Tea and milk is a popular drink.
Mince and potatoes is my favourite meal.

Sometimes both singular and plural verbs are considered correct:

Two and two make (OR makes) four.

36
(Grammar Help)
Although it looks as if it ought to be singular, a number of is in
fact treated as plural and should be followed by a plural verb:
A number of passengers were injured when the bus crashed.
A number of animals have escaped from the zoo.

Majority and minority, when followed by plural nouns, are also

followed by plural verbs:
The majority of our students go on to study at university.
Only a small minority of our members have voted against
strike action.

Similarly, when a lot of and the rest of are followed by a plural

noun or pronoun, they are also followed by a plural verb:
A lot of strange things have been happening recently.
A lot of us are not sure why we're here.
The rest of us have to stay here.
The rest of the children were rescued by the fire crew.

But when a lot of and the rest of are followed by a singular noun or
pronoun, the verb is also singular:
A lot of the work has already been done.
The rest of it is to be finished by tomorrow.
Again, with lots, heaps (plenty), tons, etc, it is the following noun
that determines whether the verb must be singular or plural:
There was lots of rubbish tying in the street.
There were lots of children playing in the street.
Heaps of money has been wasted on this project.
Heaps of mistakes have been made.

37
Singular Nouns that appear to be Plural
When verbs are made to agree with their subjects, particular care
must be taken with nouns that are plural in form but which are
usually treated as singular:
Maths is not as interesting as history.
Billiards is a very similar game to snooker.
Measles was a common childhood disease.
Metaphysics is a branch of philosophy.
Tiddlywinks is played with small round plastic counters.
Numismatics is a fancy word for the study of coins and medals.

Words in this category are nouns referring to:

subjects of study, such as economics, electronics, ethics,
linguistics, mechanics, phonetics, physics, politics and semantics;
activities, such as aerobics, athletics and gymnastics;
games, such as charades, darts, dominoes, musical chairs,
noughts and crosses, quoits, rounders and snakes and ladders;
diseases, such as mumps, rabies, rickets and shingles.

Some of the words in the 'subjects of study' list can also be used in
the plural when they are not referring to a single subject:
Politics is boring. (= subject of study)
Her politics are quite beyond me. (= political beliefs)
Mechanics is one of the subjects I studied at university.
(= subject of study)
The mechanics of this process are quite complex.
(= mechanical operations)
Mathematics is her favourite subject. (= subject of study)
The mathematics are clear: the cost of a refill can be as low as a
tenth of the cost of a new cartridge. (= mathematical facts)
I think your mathematics is/are wrong.
(= mathematical calculations)

38
Plural Nouns that appear to be Singular
There are some nouns in English which appear to be singular but
which are in fact plural and must be followed by a plural verb.
Common examples are people, folk, youth, police, clergy and cattle:
People are silly, aren't they?
Folk do things like that, don't they?
The youth of today are less interested in playing sport than we
were at their age.
The police are on their way.
The clergy are forever complaining about the morals of young
people today,
The cattle were in the barn,

(Grammar Help)
Some of these nouns can also be used in the plural form:
The aboriginal peoples of Canada (= tribes, races)
There were several youths at the end of the street.
(= young men, young people)
I'm going home to visit my folks this weekend.
(= family; an informal, mostly American, usage)
Hello, folks! (used as an informal form of address)

Collective Nouns
Collective nouns are nouns denoting groups of people or animals,
such as aristocracy, army, audience, class, club, committee, family,
flock, government, group, herd, jury, public, staff, team, etc. They
can be thought of as referring either to a number of individuals or to
one single body.

When such nouns are felt to be referring to single entities rather

than numbers of separate individuals, they are usually treated as
singular nouns and followed by singular verbs:

The audience was larger than I had expected.

The committee has decided not to accept your resignation.

39
 Our class has been chosen to represent the school.
The public is all too easily fooled.
The jury finds the defendant not guilty.
The government has no right to act without consulting
parliament.

However, when they are thought of as referring to a number of

individuals, they are in British English treated as plural nouns and
followed by plural verbs:
The audience were obviously enjoying the performance.
The committee have decided not to accept your resignation.
Our class have all had flu.
The general public know very little about the causes of inflation,
He could see that the flock were getting restless.

(Grammar Help)
Once a choice has been made as to whether to treat a collective noun
as singular or plural, it may be necessary to make the same choice
with regard to other words in the sentence:

The committee has (singular) decided that it does not want to

accept your resignation.
The committee have (plural) decided that they do not want to
accept your resignation.

(Grammar Help)
In American English, it is more usual to treat collective nouns as
singular nouns than as plural nouns.

40
 Exercises

A. In some of the following sentences, the verbs do not agree

with their subjects. Find the subject of each sentence, decide
which of the verbs show incorrect agreement with their subjects,
and correct them.
1. The dog was chased out of the garden.
2. She were really angry about it.
3. Who were you with last night?
4. Is these two boys your sons?
5. They became increasingly worried.
6. The two of us are going on a trip.
7. What do they want?
8. They was soon friends again.
9. It gives me a lot of pleasure to be here.
10. We doesn't often turn up late for school.

B. Find the true or complete subject of each of the following

sentences, decide whether it is singular or plural, and select the
correct form of the verb to agree with it.
1. She and I __ close friends. (was, were)
2. Both Jenny and May____ice-cream. (likes, like)
3. Several bars of chocolate_____been stolen. (has, have)
4. Tom and his brother. like football. (doesn't, don't)
5. You and she____. very alike. (is, are)
6. One set of exam papers_____gone missing. (has, have)
7. Tea and coffee _ popular drinks. (is, are)
8. Gin and tonic _ a popular drink. (is, are)

C. Choose the correct verb from the brackets to complete the

following sentences:
1. A lot of women____their hair. (dyes, dye)
2. Everybody____somebody to love. (needs, need)
3. A squadron of fighters__ _ been sent to the Middle East.
(has, have)

41
4. Three squadrons of fighters___been sent to the Middle East.
(has, have)
5. Five pounds____a lot of money when I was young. (was, were)
6. No-one ____ you. (believes, believe)
7. A lot of paint____been wasted. (has, have)
8. The rest of the players_____to be chosen tomorrow. (is, are)
9. A thousand of his supporters_____planning to march through
the town in protest. (is, are)
10. None of the bread_____mouldy. (was, were)
11. A dozen eggs — needed for this recipe. (is, are)
12. A dozen eggs ____ far too much. (seems, seem)
13. A large number of children_____found to be suffering from
Malnutrition. (was, were)
14. There------- $ 100 in that envelope. (was, were)
15. There--------a hundred angry women waiting to see him.
(was, were)
D. Choose the correct form of the verb to complete the following
sentences:
1. People like her — really infuriating. (is, are)
2. Shingles____very unpleasant. (is, are)
3. Snakes ____ me. (terrifies, terrify)
4. A member of the clergy ____seen entering the building.
(was, were)
5. His politics____very right-wing. (is, are)
6. Physics and chemistry_____the two science subjects I chose.
(was, were)
7. The police _ called to the scene. (was, were)
8. Our ladders _ in the garage. (is, are)
9. Draughts ------played on the same type of board as chess.
(is, are)
10. There-------a plate of biscuits on the table. (was, were)
11. Snakes and ladders — a favourite game of ours. (is, are)
12. The draughts in this room_____dreadful. (is, are)
13. A number of protesters____arrested. (was, were)
14. Mathematics ____merely a tool. (is, are)
15. Some of the plants — killed by the frost. (was, were)

42
 6. Direct and Indirect Objects
Transitive and Intransitive Verbs

The direct object of a sentence is the person or thing that is most

directly affected by the action or state described by the verb. For
example, the direct object may refer to what the subject of the
sentence has, or gets, or does something to, or does something with.
The direct object normally follows the verb in a sentence.
They have two sons and two daughters.
The boy was holding a piece of string in his hand.
He was reading a book.
She cradled the baby in her arms,
They built their own house.
Pour some water into the pot.
Does she like cheese?
I don't know them very well.
He got $5 from his uncle.
I've lost my car keys.
Swans eat water plants and insects.
Bertrand Russell wrote a history of philosophy.
I don't smoke cigars.
Have they said anything to you about next week's meeting?
I'd love a cup of tea.
A friend of mine had a heart attack when he was only thirty-
three.
She still loves you.

(Did you know?)

Like English, many languages have a basic declarative sentence pattern of
Subject + Verb + Object.
Not all languages do, however: in some, the normal declarative sentence
pattern is Subject + Object + Verb, and in others it is Verb + Subject +
Object.

43
Indirect Objects
The word or word-group that describes the person or thing that
the direct object is given to or done for, etc is the indirect object of
the sentence.
The indirect object usually stands between the verb and the direct
object in a sentence.

I gave [verb] her [indirect object] a book [direct object].

He bought his nephew a new bicycle.
She gave her little brother a kick on the ankle.
David showed Mary his stamp collection.
Will you keep me a seat?
Can you lend him $ 10?
Find the company a solution to this problem and you will be well
rewarded.
Fetch me a bucket of water, please.
This project offers unemployed people a chance to train for new
jobs in information technology.

(Grammar Help)
The indirect object of a sentence can usually be replaced by a
group of words beginning with a preposition such as to or for.

He bought his nephew a new bicycle.

He bought a new bicycle for his nephew.
David showed Mary his stamp collection.
David showed his stamp collection to Mary.
Will you keep me a seat?
Will you keep a seat for me?
Can I ask you a favour?
Can I ask a favour of you?

However, this is not always the case. For example, it is not

possible to do this with the verb give when what is given is not an
object but an action or an activity.

44
 I gave Mary my book. OR I gave my book to Mary. (A book is
an object)
He gave his bike a clean. BUT NOT He gave a clean to his bike.
(A clean is an activity, not an object)
Can you give me a push, please? BUT NOT Can you give a
push to me, please? (A push is an action, not an object)

Transitive and intransitive Verbs

A verb that has a direct object is a transitive verb.
George kicked the ball angrily.
I saw her in town yesterday.
She held the puppy in her arms.
My father does the crossword in the paper every day.
I know that.
I need three volunteers.
Do you love her?
Where did you buy that book?

(Did You Know?)

Mono- means 'one : monotransitive verbs have one object.
Di- means 'two': ditransitive verbs have two objects.

(Grammar help)
A transitive verb that can only be followed by a direct object is
monotransitive:
She really hates injustice.
He summoned his servants
The waiter wiped the table.
A verb that is followed by both an indirect object and a direct object
is ditransitive:

I'll take her a present.

Show Jane the photograph.
Save us a couple of seats in the front row, will you?

45
 I've brought you some flowers.

A ditransitive verb can, however, be used without an indirect object.

For example, the indirect object may be replaced by a group of
words beginning with a preposition such as to or for.
Show the photograph to Jane.
I've brought some flowers for you.
We paid the money to the girl at the door.

When there is only one object in the sentence, the verb is

monotransitive:
I've brought some flowers.
We paid the money.
We paid the girl at the door.

A verb that does not have a direct object is an intransitive verb.

A friend of mine lives in Delhi.
The girl nodded.
The old man frowned.
My aunt is coming next weekend.
The baby was sleeping quietly.
Don't cry.
There's a spider crawling across the floor.

(Grammar Help)
Some verbs can be both transitive and intransitive, depending on
whether or not they have a direct object:
John ate quickly. (intransitive)
John ate the biscuit. (transitive)
The door suddenly opened. (intransitive)
John opened the door. (transitive)

Although an intransitive verb does not take a direct object, it may

(like some ditransitive verbs) be followed by a word-group
beginning with a preposition such as to:

46
 Are you listening?
Are you listening to me?
Don't interrupt when I'm talking.
Don't interrupt when I'm talking to someone.

Exercises
A. Circle the direct objects and underline the indirect objects in
the following sentences.
1. Janet lent Sarah her pencil.
2. I will give you my answer tomorrow.
3. Tell me a story.
4. Get me some new pens when you're in town, please.
5. Have you given James the money yet?
6. Margaret baked her grandmother a beautiful cake.
7. Mr. Lee showed the doctor his spots.
8. There are plans to teach schoolchildren first aid.
9. Don't forget to take your wife some flowers.
10. She promised me that book.
B. Replace the indirect objects in the following sentences, using
the prepositions given in brackets.
Example
Question: He bought his son a bike. (for)
Answer: He bought a bike for his son.
1. Janet lent Sarah her pencil. (to)
2. Have you given James the money yet? (to)
3. Margaret baked her grandmother a beautiful cake. (for)
4. She promised me that book. (to)
5. He once bought his wife an egg-separator. (for)
6. The police gave the rioters a warning. (to)
7. This proposal offers the government a way out. (to)
8. Could you get me a cup of tea, please? (for)
9. Feel free to ask our experts questions. (of)
10. Apparently you shouldn't feed hedgehogs bread and milk. (to)

47
C. Pick out the verbs in the following sentences and say whether
they are transitive or intransitive. (Notice that in some sentences
there are two verbs, not just one.)
1. Are you coming with us?
2. She had learnt her lesson well.
3. Do you speak Japanese?
4. She was speaking to someone on the phone when I saw her.
5. Why are you singing?
6. What are you singing?
7. Mum's working in the garden and Dad is painting a picture of
her.
8. Where are they all going?
D. Say whether the verbs in the following sentences are
monotransitive or ditransitive.
1. Can you lend me $50?
2. My wife never eats chocolate.
3. Most children like lemonade.
4. Could you do me a favour?
5. I haven't seen anyone there all day.
6. I've to write him a report on this morning's meeting.
7. Can anyone help us?
8. Bring us the menu, please.
E. Choose a suitable object to make the intransitive verbs in the
following sentences transitive.
Example
Question: Karen ate quickly.
Answer: Karen ate her breakfast quickly.
May was reading.
Peter watched carefully.
I used to teach in a high school.
Simon is upstairs writing.
We won!
Mum's in the kitchen baking.
Have you finished yet?
Don't play in the street!

48
 7. Complements, Linking Verbs and
Complex Transitive Verbs

Complements
A complement is a word or group of words that says something
about the subject or object of a sentence.
A complement is always a noun or an adjective or a word-group that
functions like a noun or an adjective.
I am an old man now.
She was so tired after working all day in the garden.
Her eyes are blue.
Someday I will prove you wrong!
We always thought her very reliable.

Did You Know?

A 'complement' is called a complement because it 'completes' the
sense of a sentence by saying what someone or something is or is
like.
Beware: The word 'complement' is used in grammatical descriptions
of English in a number of different ways, referring to various
categories of word or word-group that are needed to complete the
sense of a sentence. Other uses of the word 'complement' wilt be
described in later units of this book.
Did You Know?
Linking verbs are also known as intensive verbs or copulas. Copula
is a Latin word meaning 'link'.

Subject-complements
A subject-complement says something about the subject of the
sentence, for example what it is or what it is like.

Her daughter seems very happy in her new job.

49
 This cheese is nice.
They felt realty stupid when they saw what they had done.
You'll get wet if you go out in the rain.
Three years later he became a priest.
That girl's my daughter and that's her boyfriend over there.
His reaction was a bit over the top.

The verb that links a subject and a subject-complement is called a

linking verb:
Some plums are green and some are purple.
Her parents are doctors.
She seems very happy.
That tastes nice.
That smells good.
She got angrier and angrier.
She became an American citizen in 1981.
Joan felt a bit silly.
Leaves turn brown in autumn.
The weather has turned out fine again today.

Grammar Help
It can be difficult to distinguish a sentence consisting of Subject
+ Verb + Direct Object from one consisting of Subject + Verb +
Subject-complement. However, a 'Verb + Object' construction says
what somebody does to something, whereas a 'Verb + Complement'
construction says what somebody or something is or is like:

She tasted the juice. (direct object - the verb describes what she
did)
The juice tasted sweet. (subject-complement - describing what the
juice was like)
They weighed the parcel. (direct object - the verb describes what
they did)
The parcel weighed five kilos. (subject-complement - describing
what the parcel was like)

50
 A word or word-group can be a subject-complement even if there
is no expressed subject in the sentence, as is the case with most
imperative sentences:
Don't be so silly.
Please stay calm.

In exclamatory sentences, the subject-complement often comes

before the subject and the linking verb:
What a lovely day it is!
How stupid of us that was!
How lovely you look in that dress!
The angrier she became, the more she stuttered.
Lonely was the life I led in those days.

An exclamatory sentence may even consist of a subject-complement

alone:
What a lovely day!
How stupid of us!

Or it may consist of a subject and subject-complement without a

verb:
You silly boy! (= You are a silly boy!)

Object-complements
An object-complement says something about the direct object of
a sentence.
They made him chairman.
They anointed Solomon king.
They've painted the walls green and the ceiling blue.
I like my coffee black.
I don't find this very satisfactory.
The court finds you not guilty.

51
Grammar Help
Some verbs can be both transitive verbs and linking verbs. One such
verb is got: e.g. She got a fright. (transitive verb)
She got very scared. (linking verb)
Did You Know?
Many jokes are based on the different ways in which sentences that
can be interpreted grammatically.
This is a joke based on the similarity between Subject + Verb +
Indirect Object + Direct Object and Subject + Verb + Direct
Object + Object-complement:
Two men were walking along the street when one fell into a hole
and broke his leg. 'Quick, 'he said to his friend. 'Call me an
ambulance.' 'Okay,' said the other man. 'You're an ambulance.'
Grammar Help
There are three ways of distinguishing between sentences
containing a direct object and an indirect object and sentences
constructed with a direct object and an object-complement:
1. A direct object and an object-complement always refer to the
same person or thing:
They elected Stella chairman. (Stella - chairman)
We've appointed Susan the union rep. (Susan = the union rep)
Direct and indirect objects, on the other hand, always refer to
different people or things:
She lent me her new pen. (me # her new pen)
Did you show her the photos? (her # the photos)

2. An indirect object precedes a direct object, whereas an object-

complement follows the direct object:

They gave her a present. (direct object 'a present'; indirect

object 'her')
They elected her chairman, (direct object 'her': object-
complement 'chairman')

52
3. An indirect object can generally be replaced by a word-group
beginning with to or for, whereas the direct object in front of an
object-complement cannot be replaced in this way:
She lent her new pen to me.
Did you show the photos to her?

BUT NOT
We've appointed the union rep to Susan.
Sometimes sentences with these two different constructions look
very similar, but they can always be distinguished in the three ways
suggested above:
She called him a taxi. (verb + indirect object + direct object)
She called him an idiot. (verb + direct object + object-
complement)
He made his children a tree house. (verb + indirect object +
direct object)
He made his wife his business partner. (verb + direct object +
object-complement)

Notice that make may sometimes be followed by an indirect object

and a subject-complement:
Mary will make him a good wife. ('a good wife' describes 'Mary':
'him' = for him')

Complex Transitive Verbs

A verb that has a direct object and an object-complement is called
a complex transitive verb.

sentences with object-complements, since such sentences describe

many different possible actions performed by the subject of the
sentence:
Someday I will prove you wrong!
He filed the wood smooth.
I hereby declare this bazaar open.

53
 Leave the windows open, please.
They consider him a total liability.
I find the whole project absolutely pointless.
They have appointed Susan the new union representative.
She wiped her face dry with a towel.
Pour the mixture into the dish and pat it flat.
Could I have made my explanation any simpler?
Scrub the floor clean.
I would judge this project a failure.
Make both lines equal.
We must presume her dead.
Rinse the cardigan free of soap.
Are you calling me a liar?
You should count yourself lucky.

Exercises
A. Underline the subject-complements in the following
sentences.
1. The proposals seem sensible.
2. The rumours proved false.
3. You must be crazy!
4. Aren't some people absolutely ridiculous!
5. The price of petrol these days is a disgrace.
6. Everyone thinks she's gone completely mad.
7. What a silly idea!
8. The girl next door is a dedicated follower of all the latest
fashions and fads.
9. He remained a soldier for the next twenty years.
10. How much does the packet weigh?

B. State whether the following sentences have a direct object or

a subject-complement.
1. The fete was a complete disaster.
2. She sniffed the flowers carefully,
3. I felt extremely silly

54
4. That jam smells nice.
5. First measure out 500 grams of flour.
6. The mirror measures 40 centimetres by 65 centimetres.
7. Getting a replacement for her has proved extremely difficult.
8. You can prove anything with statistics.
9. You can taste the ginger in the marmalade.
10. The chocolate tasted slightly bitter.

C. Underline the objects and circle the object-complements in

the following sentences.
1. The president named his own son prime minister.
2. My wife makes me very happy.
3. Rub the plaster smooth before it dries.
4. My daughter wants to dye her hair red.
5. Do you want your hair shorter?
6. Everyone thinks her completely mad.
7. I don't find that very funny!
8. We'll need to build the wall about two metres high.
9. They varnished the hail floor a greeny-blue colour.
10. Go round and wipe all the tables clean, please.

Handy Hint:
First find the direct object and then decide whether this direct object has a
complement or whether it is accompanied by an indirect object.

D. State whether the following sentences have a direct object

and an indirect object or a direct object and an object-
complement.
1. Tom and Nancy built Nancy's parents a bungalow in their back
garden.
2. Are you calling me a liar?
3. I like my curries hot.
4. Kim had to tell her parents the sad news.
5. Do you think they'll offer you a job?
6. Can you lend me a pen?
7. They made Carlos the shop steward.
8. That made Carlos very angry.

55
 8. Adverbials

Adverbials
An adverbial is a word or word-group that provides information
about when, where, why, how, etc the action or state described by
the verb in a sentence is taking place.
An adverbial may equally make some comment about what is being
said in the rest of the sentence.
I'll see you tomorrow morning. (states when I will see you)
The children were sitting on the floor. (states where they were
sitting)
'Run quickly' (states how to run)
To be honest, I think you're completely mistaken. (makes a
comment)
She has obviously forgotten to come.
I'm not going to apologize.
I've got blisters on both feet,
Frankly, I'm not too happy about this.
Toby shook the man's hand warmly.
She always achieved top grades, both at school and at university.
The man then gave a hideous laugh.
We can do that next week.

There are three main types of adverbial: adjuncts, disjuncts and

conjuncts.

Grammar Help
Single words that function as adverbials are adverbs:
Susan suddenly ran Out of the room.
She'll probably come tomorrow.
I wasn't thinking clearly.
Wisely, she refused to talk to the reporters.

56
Adjuncts
An adjunct is a word or group of words that describes where,
when, why, how, for whom, with what, how much, etc the action
described in the sentence is carried out.
I'll see you at the match.
Are you coming this evening?
Sue sings beautifully.
You'll have to cut it with a knife.
He bought some chocolates for her.
You did that on purpose!
I can't find my coat.
You must have left it somewhere.
It's amazing what you can buy on the Internet.
She behaved with commendable restraint.
Come and see me tomorrow.

An adjunct may come at the beginning of the sentence, especially

in questions:
Here I am.
Off you go.
When will you be leaving?
To whom should I give the book?
For what possible reason would she leave her children?
Or it may be split into two parts:
Who should I give the book to?
What should I mend the hole with?

There may, of course, be more than one adjunct in a sentence:

Miki didn't like his attitude at all. (2 adjuncts)
She sometimes wears pyjamas in the office for fun. (3 adjuncts)
We always go to France with friends for our holidays.
(4adjuncts)

57
Grammar Help
Adjuncts may be confused with complements. Note that adjuncts
give information about the action or state described by the verb of
the sentence, whereas complements give information about the
subject or object of the sentence:
You have behaved foolishly. (adjunct - that is how you have
behaved)
You have been foolish. (subject-complement - that is what you
have been)
Rona paints beautifully. (adjunct - that is how she paints)
I find Rona's paintings disturbing. (object-complement - that is
what the paintings are like)

Most adjuncts are optional elements in a sentence:

She wears pyjamas. (no adjunct).
She sometimes wears pyjamas in the office. (two optional
adjuncts).

Sometimes, however, there must be an adjunct in the sentence, for

example with verbs such as put or be that indicate movement or
position or a change of condition:

He put his bike in the garage. NOT He put his bike.

The boys were in the garden. NOT The boys were.
He put his affairs in order. NOT He put his affairs.

Beware:
These obligatory adjuncts are sometimes called complements.

How to punctuate Adjuncts

Since adjuncts are closely connected to the rest of their sentence,
they are usually not separated off by commas in writing:
She sings like a bird.
I almost died laughing.
Yesterday we all went to the cinema.

58
Adjuncts may, however, be separated off by commas if there is
intended to be a pause between them and the rest of the sentence:
In Britain, it can be very cold in the wintertime.
Reluctantly, Charles and Andy said good-bye to their friends.
There they were, in the garden as usual.

Disjuncts
A disjunct is an adverbial that makes a comment about what is being
said in the rest of the sentence.

A disjunct may describe the way in which the speaker is speaking:

To be frank, that was a mistake. (= I, the speaker, am being
frank when 1 say that that was a mistake)

Confidentially, he's not the right man for the job. (= I am

speaking confidentially when I say that he's not the right man
for the job)
Strictly speaking, we shouldn't even he here.

Or a disjunct may express the speaker's opinion on what is being

said or talked about in the rest of the sentence:
Wisely, John decided not to say anything. (= I - the person
speaking - think it was wise)
Fortunately, she didn't hurt herself badly when she fell. (= I
think it is fortunate)

She was, unfortunately, not as good as we had hoped.

It was, admittedly, a very difficult job. (= I admit it was a very
difficult job)
She'll possibly arrive tomorrow. (= I think it is possible)
Perhaps she isn't coming at all.

59
 They had obviously no right to park there. (= I think it is
obvious)
To my relief the ambulance was not long in coming.
Of course I didn't forget it was your birthday.

Grammar Help:
Some adverbials can be both adjuncts and disjuncts:
She told me frankly what she thought. (adjunct - she was
speaking frankly)
Frankly, she's out of her mind. (drsjunct - I am speaking
frankly)
You have behaved foolishly. (adjunct - you were foolish)
Foolishly, she left her front door wide open. (disjunct I think
it was foolish)
He looked at them hopefully. (adjunct - he was being hopeful)
Hopefully, we can do better next time. (disjunct - I am being
hopeful)

How to punctuate Disjuncts

Disjuncts are less closely related to the rest of their sentence than
adjuncts are, and are therefore often separated off by commas.
Disjuncts that express how the speaker is talking are always
separated off in this way:
It was, frankly, a mistake.
To be honest, we were wrong.

Disjuncts expressing the speaker's opinion may be separated off by

commas, or may not be, depending on whether or not there are
meant to be slight pauses before and after the disjunct:
Understandably, Sheila was rather upset about what had
happened. (with a pause)
Sheila was, understandably, rather upset about what had
happened. (with pauses)

60
 Sheila was understandably rather upset about what had
happened. (without pauses)
Perhaps she won't come after ail.
She is perhaps Britain's best-known actress.
She is, perhaps, Britain's best-known actress.
He will probably be back again tomorrow.
He will, probably, be back again tomorrow.

Conjuncts
A conjunct is an adverbial that serves as a link between
sentences.

I don't want to go shopping. Besides, I don't have time to.

I don't want to take you to the pictures. I don't have time to,
anyway.
I don't really have time to go with you. However, I will if you
want me to.
We've sold all the paintings and made record profits. All in all,
it's been a most successful exhibition.
I'm not buying you a new bike for two reasons. Firstly, we can't
afford it. Secondly, you don't deserve it.
For a start, you don't deserve a new bike.
I missed my train. I therefore had to stay another night.
On the one hand, we could go abroad for our holiday. On the
other hand, it might be better to stay in Britain.

Other common conjuncts are anyhow, after all, all the same, by the
way, else, for example, for instance, furthermore, hence, in other
words, instead, moreover, nevertheless, on the contrary, so and thus.

Did You Know?

Disjuncts and conjuncts are sometimes known collectively as
sentence adverbs.

A conjunct may equally act as a link within a sentence:

The baby was crying, so I picked her up.
The dog was obviously friendly, yet it was afraid of us.

61
 I think, therefore I am.
I'm not buying you a new bike, firstly because we can't afford it
and secondly because you don't deserve one.
If you're ready, then I'll start.

Conjuncts may appear in sentences along with conjunctions such as

and or or.
The dog was obviously friendly, and yet it was afraid of us.
We could go to France for our holidays or, on the other hand,
we could go to Spain.
You'd better leave now or else you might miss the bus.

Grammar Help
Not all grammar books make a distinction between conjuncts and
conjunctions. In many books, conjuncts such as so and yet are
simply treated as one type of conjunction.
There will be more about conjunctions in the following units.

A pair of conjuncts frequently used together is so therefore:

I was late for work, so therefore I didn't have a shower.
While very common, this is acceptable only in informal English. In
formal English, use and so, and therefore or simply so or
therefore alone.

Some adverbials (such as equally, hence, otherwise, similarly, then

and thus) can be both adjuncts and conjuncts:
I'll he back tomorrow. I'll do the job then. (adjunct, saying when)
Are you ready? Then I'll begin. (conjunct, linking the two
statements)
You couldn't have done otherwise. (adjunct, saying how)
I did the job myself. Otherwise, it would never have got done.
(conjunct)

Both conjuncts and conjunctions (words like and, or and but) can
function on their own as linking words. The important difference

62
between a conjunction and a conjunct is that, while there can be two
conjuncts in a sentence or a conjunct and a conjunction, there can
never be more than one conjunction in a sentence:
The dog was obviously friendly, but it was afraid of us.
(conjunction)
The dog was obviously friendly, yet it was afraid of us. (conjunct)
The dog was obviously friendly, yet all the same it was afraid of
us. (two conjuncts)
The dog was obviously friendly, and yet it was afraid of us.
(conjunction + conjunct)
BUT NOT The dog was obviously friendly, and but it was afraid
of us. (two conjunctions)
Similarly:
It was getting late, and therefore we were in a hurry.
The girl was frightened, and so she started to run.

How to punctuate Conjuncts

Conjuncts are generally separated off by commas:
By the way, have you seen Jean recently?
In that case, I'll leave at once.
I could, however, stay if you want me to.
Commas are not, however, always needed - for example with for
example, so, then, yet and therefore:
The baby was crying so I picked her up.
So that's what they're trying to do!

63
 Exercises

A. Underline the adjuncts in the following sentences.

Handy Hint
Look for the words or groups of words that ask or could answer questions
such as 'Where?', 'When?', 'How?', 'With what?', etc. (And remember that
there may be more than one adjunct in a sentence.)

1. He spoke in a very pompous manner.

2. He carved their names on a tree with a knife.
3. My brother lived in India for several years.
4. You're eating far too quickly.
5. She phones her mother every day.
6. When do you think they'll get here?
7. I love working in the garden on balmy summer evenings.
8. You can hear the noise five miles away.
9. We've been trying to persuade her to change her mind, but so
far without success.
10. What'll I carry the food in?

B. Underline the adverbials in the following sentences and say

whether they are adjuncts or disjuncts.
Handy Hint
Does the adverbial say something about the action or state descried by the
verb of the sentence or does it say something about the attitude, opinion, etc of
the person speaking? Remember that there may be more than one adverbial in
a sentence.

1. The children watched her in silence.

2. Naturally, we'll be going by car.
3. Suddenly he began to feel sick.
4. She slapped his face angrily
5. Briefly, what happened next was that someone started a fight.
6. Can you tell us briefly what happened?
7. I'll definitely be here tomorrow.
8. To be perfectly honest, I don't care if I win the prize.
9. I take my responsibilities very seriously.
10. Seriously, do you expect to be finished by next week?

64
C. Say what questions (for example 'When?', 'Where?', 'How?',
etc) the adjuncts in the following sentences answer.
1. We could hear footsteps in the other room.
2. We lay awake in bed all night wishing the rain would stop.
3. Answer all the questions to the best of your ability.
4. You have behaved very foolishly.
5. I hope to have finished this by the end of the month,
6. Fragile. Handle with care.
7. I so badly wanted to go to the party.
8. All over town, you see beggars in the street.
9. She does drive rather fast, but very carefully.
10. Normally I travel by bus.

D. Pick out the adverbials in the following sentences and insert

commas where necessary.
1. Admittedly the decision was not unanimous.
2. I entirely agree.
3. Stupidly I forgot to tell her where I was.
4. You did that intentionally!
5. There were to be exact five people at the meeting,
6. Sue didn't like that at all.
7. To our surprise our dog won first prize.
8. We don't mind in the least that you are coming with us.
9. I'll deal with the matter personally.
10. Personally I wouldn't believe her.

E. Say whether the underlined adverbials in the following

sentences are adjuncts or conjuncts.
Handy Hint
Does the adverbial say something about the action or state described by the verb of
the sentence or is it simply a linking word?

1. The thieves divided the money equally between them.

2. Alison sings better than Moira.
3. If you come round to our house tonight, we can talk about the
wedding then.

65
4. If you come to my office, then we can discuss the matter face
to face.
5. Equally, I could come to your office.
6. As Doctor Johnson said while kicking a stone, I prove the
existence of the stone thus.
7. He kicked the stone, so he knew the stone existed.
8. That was a good throw, but I think I could throw the stone
even further.
9. The government has made several mistakes, and furthermore,
it has been desperately trying to cover them up.
10. Incidentally, who was that man I saw you talking to over
there?

66
 9. Tense
Tense is the form verbs take to indicate time. We have time
present, time past and time-future. In English, verbs have only two
forms to indicate time. For example, the verb 'ask' has the form 'ask'
for present time and 'asked' for past time. There is no specific form
to show future time, unlike in some other languages.

To form the future tense in English, the auxiliary 'shall' or ‘will' is

combined, with the infinitive e.g. shall love. Also, such expressions
as 'next', 'tomorrow' 'going to' are used to show futurity, e.g. 'I am
going to see you tomorrow'. Because of this absence of a special
inflection (form) of the verb to show future time, modern linguists
maintain that English has two tenses.

In Traditional Grammar, however, English is said to have three

major tenses called the simple tenses: simple present tense, simple
past tense and simple future tense. In addition to these, there are
other sub-tenses. These sub-tenses are what the modern linguists
regard as aspect. We have perfective aspect which corresponds with
Traditional Grammar’s perfect tenses. There is the progressive
aspect which corresponds with the continuous tenses.
However, what we shall study here is the Traditional Grammar
model which runs thus:

67
SIMPLE TENSES:
Simple Present Tense:
The simple present tense is used to indicate a habitual action
(something we do all the time although we may not be necessarily
doing it now). It is also used to express a general statement about
something that remains true all the time.
I always ask questions.
He takes good care of his family.
Nigeria produces oil.
We depend on water to live.
The .third person singular (he/she/it/Nigeria, etc.) takes the -s form
of the verb when the sentence is in the simple present tense, e.g.
'takes,' and 'produces.'

Simple Past Tense:

The simple past tense indicates an action in the past, e.g
I asked a question in the class yesterday.
You embarrassed the teacher this morning.
He took good care of his mother.
The children ate all the food I kept for you.

To form the past tense of regular verbs, we add –ed to the base of
the word, e.g. ask + -ed (asked), irregular verbs have their peculiar
ways of forming their past tense, e.g. take—took

68
Simple Future Tense:
The simple future tense indicates an action in the future, e.g.
I shall see you tomorrow.
You will go with me to see the president.
He will assist us greatly.
We shall travel abroad next year.
They will miss us terribly.

To form this tense, we use 'shall' for the first person pronouns (I, we)
and use 'will' for the second and third persons (you, he, she, it, they).
However, in informal spoken language 'will' is used with the first
person, e.g. I will see you in a while (or the contracted form: I’ll see
you in a while). Nowadays, the use of 'shall' in forming the Future
Tense sounds outdated and stilted.

PERFECT TENSES:
Present Perfect Tense:
The present perfect tense indicates an action that has been concluded
as at the moment of speaking or writing. It does not indicate past
time. Examples of this tense are:
I have done the assignment.
You have taken your book.
He has rushed his meal.
We have learned that topic.
You have disgraced yourselves.

69
They have seen us.

To form this tense, the verb 'have' combines with the past
participle, e.g. done, taken, learned. Note that the third person
singular takes the form 'has' to form the present perfect tense while
others take 'have'. Remember that the third person singular includes
not only the pronouns he/she/it but also nominals such as the man,
John, the dog, etc. The man has left the premises.

Past Perfect Tense:

The past perfect tense indicates an action that had been concluded at
a particular time in the past. Here we are thinking of two actions in
the past, one happening before the other. We use the past perfect
tense for the first action and the simple past for the later, e.g.
I had finished the work before you came.
The man had washed the car by the time we got there.
The women had swept the streets long before the first vehicle
appeared.

To form this tense the verb 'had' is combined with the past
participle, e.g. finished, washed, and swept.

Future Perfect Tense:

The future perfect tense indicates an action that will have been
concluded at a time we are looking forward to in the future, e.g.

70
By 8p.m. I shall have finished writing this story.

CONTINUOUS TENSES
Present Continuous Tense:
The present continuous tense indicates an action in progress as at the
time of speaking or writing, e.g.
I am writing this book.
You are reading this book.
John is crossing the road.
We are receiving a lecture.
The boys are walking to school.

The forms of the verb 'be' (am, are, is) are used together with
the present participle (e.g. writing, reading) to form the present
continuous tense. Continuous tenses correspond with modern
grammar's progressive aspect

Past Continuous Tense:

The past continuous tense indicates an action that was in progress at
a particular time in the past before another happened.
The dog was crossing the road when a fast car hit it.
You were writing on the board.
Amaka was waiting for the bus when a car splashed water on
her.

71
The past forms of the verb 'be' (was, were) combine with the
present participle (e.g. drawing) to form this tense.

Future Continuous Tense:

This indicates an action that will be in progress at a particular time
in the future, e.g.
(a) I shall be watching my favourite programme by the time you
come this evening; so you may not get much attention from
me.
(b) The police will arrest the man very late this night. He will be
sleeping by the time they come.

VOICE:
Transitive verbs have both the active voice and passive voice.
Active Voice: John killed a goat yesterday.
Passive Voice: A goat was killed by John yesterday.
In the passive voice, the object of the active verb becomes the
subject. Sometimes the by-phrase after a passive verb is omitted,
especially when the performer of the action is not known or is not
the focus of attention, e.g.
The gutters were cleared yesterday.
Offenders should be punished severely.
A new provost has been appointed.
The passive verb is always a verb phrase consisting of a form of the
verb 'be' (am, is, are, was, were, been, be, being) plus the past

72
participle form of verbs, e.g. killed, eaten, seen, beaten, swum etc.
examples:
The fowl is killed every time that 'is killed' -
ritual is performed.
They were seen by the police 'were seen' -
He was beaten by criminals. 'was beaten' -
The corpse has been removed. - 'has been removed'
The examination was being written - 'was being written'
when the light suddenly went
off.

73
 10. Sentences Structure and
Grammatical Correctness

Functions
The function of a word or word-group in a sentence is the role it
plays in that sentence.
We have seen, so far, seven functions that a word or word-group can
have in a sentence. Two of these are subject and predicate:

No-one told me anything. (subject)

No-one told me anything. (predicate)

She seemed all right yesterday. (subject)

She seemed all right yesterday. (predicate)

And within the predicate we have in addition the functions verb,

direct object, indirect object, complement and adverbial:

No-one told me anything. (verb)

No-one told me anything. (indirect object)
No-one told me anything. (direct object)
She seemed all right yesterday. (complement)
She seemed all right yesterday. (adverbial)

Structure and Analysis

To describe the structure of a sentence is to state what the
various parts of the sentence are and what their functions are.
To describe the structure of a sentence in this way is to analyse the
sentence.

74
 Jane screamed. (Structure: subject + verb)
Jane saw her uncle. (Structure: subject + verb + direct object)
Mrs. James took her grandchildren to the zoo. (Structure: subject
+ verb + direct object + adverbial)
Harry gave Sally a kiss. (Structure: subject + verb + indirect
object + direct object)

Different types of sentence (declarative, imperative, etc) have

different structures. A declarative sentence, for example, might
have any of the following structures:
subject + verb
The man laughed.
subject + verb + adverbial
The boys were playing in the garden.
subject + verb + direct object
I like ice-cream.
subject + verb + direct object + adverbial
He kissed her on the cheek.
subject + verb + indirect object + direct object
He gave her a kiss.
subject + verb + complement
I feel silly.

subject + verb + complement + adverbial

You looked great yesterday.

adverbial + subject + adverbial + verb + direct object

Frankly, I never liked him.

Similarly, an imperative sentence might have any of these

structures:
verb
Run!

75
 verb + direct object
Stop that!
verb + complement
Be quiet!
verb + adverbial
Speak more slowly.
verb + direct object +adverbial + adverbial
Cook the meat for two hours at gas mark 4.
verb + indirect object + direct object + adverbial
Give me that book at once!
subject + verb + adverbial
You sit there.
adverbial
Down!

An exclamatory sentence, on the other hand, might have any of

these structures:
complement + subject + verb
What a lovely surprise that was!
direct object + subject + verb
What a pretty dress she 's wearing!
complement
What a lovely surprise!
subject + complement
You little rascal!
(These are, of course, not all of the possible structures for
declarative, imperative and exclamatory sentences.)
Grammar Help
In addition to the seven basic sentence functions, we have also
distinguished two sub-categories of complement (subject-

76
complements and object-complements) and three sub-categories of
adverbial (adjuncts, disjuncts and conjuncts).
If we want to be even more precise, therefore, we can describe
sentence structures in terms of these sub-categories as well:
subject + verb + subject-complement + adjunct
You looked great yesterday.
disjunct + subject + adjunct + verb + direct object
Frankly, I never liked him.
subject-complement + subject + verb
What a lovely surprise that was!
subject + verb + direct object + object-complement:
They painted the house pink.

Note:
The four categories of verb that have been established (transitive
verbs, intransitive verbs, complex transitive verbs and linking
verbs) will be discussed further later on.

Function Slot
Any word or word-group that has a function in a sentence can be
said to be filling a function slot in that sentence. A 'function slot'
can simply be called a 'slot' for short.

A function slot is simply the section of a sentence that is filled, or

could be filled, by a word or word-group with a particular function.
So, in the sentences No-one told me anything and She seemed all
right yesterday,
no-one and she are the subjects of the sentences and therefore fill
the 'subject' slots,
told and seemed are the verbs in the sentences and therefore fill the
'verb' slots,

77
me is an indirect object and therefore fills the 'indirect object' slot,
anything is a direct object and therefore fills the 'direct object' slot,
all right is a complement and therefore fills the 'complement' slot,
and
yesterday is an adverbial and therefore fills the 'adverbial' slot.

A function slot can be thought of as an 'empty space' that has to be

filled by one or more words in order to make a sentence. Together,
function slots make a sort of sentence framework or 'skeleton' that
has to be filled out with the words and word-groups that make
sentences.
Look again at the examples of declarative, imperative and
exclamatory sentences given on the previous sections. If the actual
example sentences are taken away, what is left are sets of possible
sentence frameworks for each of the three sentence types, consisting
not of actual words but of slots that could be filled by words.

Grammar Help
Every word or word-group in a sentence has a function and fills a
function slot.
Functions and slots are simply two ways of looking at the same
thing: if a word or word-group has a particular function in a
sentence, then it fills that slot in the sentence; and if a word or word-
group fills a particular slot in a sentence, then it has that function in
the sentence.
Functions and function slots always have the same names: subject,
verb, direct object, etc.

Declarative sentences
subject + verb
subject + verb + adverbial
subject + verb + direct object
subject + verb + direct object + adverbial
subject + verb + indirect object + direct object
subject + verb + complement

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subject + verb + complement + adverbial
adverbial + subject + adverbial + verb + direct object

Imperative sentences
verb
verb + direct object
verb + complement
verb + adverbial
verb + direct object + adverbial + adverbial
verb + indirect object + direct object + adverbial
subject + verb + adverbial
adverbial

Exclamatory sentences
complement + subject + verb
direct object + subject + verb
complement
subject + complement

The empty slots can, of course, be filled in many different ways to

make real sentences. Consider, for example, a declarative sentence
skeleton consisting of the four function slots 'subject', 'verb', 'direct
object' and 'adverbial'.

subject + verb + direct object + adverbial

Each of these slots can be filled by one or more words to make
sentences:

Subject Verb Direct object adverbial

The girl was holding a pen in her right hand
We Needed more help Yesterday
You must drive the car for her granny
Mary Made A treacle tart For her granny
She Accepted the challenge with enthusiasm

79
Similarly, an imperative sentence skeleton could have the three slots
'verb', 'direct object' and 'adverbial':
Verb + direct object + adverbial
Each of these slots can be filled by one or more words to make
sentences:

Verb Direct object Adverbial

Drink your Tea
Treat Her Kindly
Study the questions Carefully
Plant the bulbs under trees

Grammar Help
Notice that a declarative sentence always has a 'subject' slot and a
Verb' slot, whereas an imperative sentence usually has a 'verb' slot
but usually doesn't have a 'subject' slot (though it may have); and an
exclamatory sentence needn't have a 'subject' slot or a 'verb' slot
(though it may have).
Some function slots, therefore, are obligatory for certain types of
sentence whilst others are optional: a 'subject' slot is obligatory in a
declarative sentence, for example, but is optional in an imperative
sentence or an exclamatory sentence.
A function slot may also be obligatory in a sentence when it is
required by the verb in that sentence.
For example, if the verb in a sentence is a transitive verb, then there
must always also be a direct object in the sentence:
He persuaded her. NOT He persuaded.
Have you got any money? NOT Have you got?
If the verb in a sentence is a linking verb, then there must also be a
complement in the sentence:

Her mouth went dry. NOT Her mouth went.

She got very angry. NOT She got.

80
And if the verb in a sentence is a complex transitive verb, there must
be both a direct object and a complement in the sentence:
I will prove them all wrong. NOT I will prove them all.
NOR I wilt prove wrong.
They consider Mm the best man for the job.
NOT They consider him. NOR They consider the best man for
the job.
In these cases, therefore, it is not the type of sentence but the
category of verb in the sentence that makes certain other function
slots obligatory.
Some verbs, such as put, must be followed by an adverbial:
Put that box over there. NOT Put that box.
Grammatical Correctness
To be grammatically correct or complete, a sentence must have
some word or word-group in each of the function slots that are
obligatory for that particular type of sentence or for the particular
type of verb in the sentence.
Any sentence that does not have some word or words in any of its
obligatory function slots is either incomplete or grammatically
incorrect.
Handy Hint
Always check your written work to make sure that every sentence
has all its obligatory slots filled. Don't miss out subjects or verbs
where they are needed.

The following are therefore not grammatical declarative sentences:

Was absolutely terrible. (= verb + complement - 'subject'
slot not filled)
Stood in the doorway. (= verb + adverbial - 'subject' slot not filled)
Jan bitterly. (= subject + adverbial - 'verb' slot not filled)
Harry almost off his seat. (= subject + adverbial + adverbial - 'verb'
slot not filled)

81
Mary reached. (= subject + transitive verb - 'direct object' slot not
filled)
My mother was wearing. (= subject + transitive verb - 'direct object'
slot not filled)
Tom seemed. (= subject + linking verb - 'complement' slot not filled)
She put the books. (= subject + verb + direct object - 'adverbial' slot
not filled)

Exercises
A. The following are not grammatical sentences, because some
obligatory function slots have not been filled. For each sentence,
state which slot or slots have not been filled.
Handy Hint
There may be more than one correct answer, depending on what function slots
you think have not been filled.
1. My grandmother to church every Sunday morning.
2. Was in a foul mood.
3. Sue bought yesterday.
4. Sam put his bike.
5. The two girls often by bus.
6. Roberta likes,
7. Rained last night.
8. Tom always a newspaper to read on the bus.
9. Computers very useful.
10. Did the dog catch?
11. The coffee cup was.
12. He often seemed.

B. Rewrite the above sentences, filling the empty function slots

with some suitable word or words.

82
C. Write two sentences in English corresponding to each of the
following sentence frameworks.
Declarative sentences:
subject + verb
subject + verb + adverbial
subject + verb + direct object
subject + verb -+- direct object + adverbial
subject + verb + indirect object + direct object
subject + verb + complement
subject + verb + complement + adverbial

Imperative sentences:
verb
verb + direct object
verb + complement
verb + adverbial
verb + direct object + adverbial
verb + indirect object + direct object + adverbial

83
 11. Vocatives and Exclamations

Vocatives
A vocative is a word or group of words used to address someone or
something directly.
Vocatives may be found at the beginning, at the end, or in the
middle of sentences:
Ladies and gentlemen, it is a great pleasure to be here today.
It's been a fine day, hasn't it, Mrs. Jones?
Look at that, Jim.
You wait there, Jack, and I'll get a ladder.
You, boys, are just not working hard enough.

In poetry vocatives are often preceded by O.

O Mary, go and call the cattle home. [Charles Kingsley]
Break, break, break, on thy cold grey stones, O Sea!
[Alfred, Lord Tennyson]
O wild West Wind, thou breath of Autumn's being.
[Percy Bysshe Shelley]
Grammar Help
'Thy' is an old word for 'your', and 'thou' is an old word for 'you'.
Both of these old words are often used in poetry.

How to punctuate Vocatives

Vocatives are always separated off from the rest of the sentence by
commas:
Tony, could you give me a hand with this?
Listen to me, my friends!
Listen, everyone, to what this man is saying.

84
One exception is when a vocative is preceded by a conjunction such
as and, when there is no comma between the conjunction and the
following vocative:
You stand there, Jack, and Mary, you stand over there.

Grammar Help:
Notice the difference between
You, boys, are not working hard enough.
in which You is the subject of the sentence and boys a vocative, and
You boys are not working hard enough.
in which You boys is the subject of the sentence, and there is no
vocative.

Exclamations
A word or group of words that expresses strong emotion, such as
surprise or pain or pleasure, or that is used to attract someone's
attention, is an exclamation.
Gosh, that's a big car!
My goodness, this is a heavy box.
Look, I'm not giving you any more money, and that's final.
Whoopee! I'm going to the circus tonight!
Ouch! That was sore!
Good heavens! Who told you that?
Damn it! I've left my umbrella on the bus.
Hey, you! Come here a minute. ('you' is a vocative)

Grammar He1p
Exclamations such as gosh, ouch, whoopee and phew clearly have
no meaning other than the expression of an emotion or to attract
attention:
Phew! That's a relief! I thought she'd recognize us.

85
 Wow! Look at that cake!
Ugh! That's disgusting!
Hoy! What do you think you're doing?

Notice, however, that this is equally true of exclamations that ant

made up of recognizable English words, such as my goodness, good
heavens, look here, oh dear, dear me, damn it and so on. As
exclamations, these words do not have their normal meanings, but
serve only to express emotion or to attract attention:

Now took here, this won't do at all.

Good Lord, is that true?
Dear me, we seem to be lost.

Grammar Help
Notice that many of the words that have the 'exclamation' function
in a sentence belong to the 'interjection' part of speech: gosh,
whoopee, ouch, etc.

Greetings such as goodbye, cheerio, hello, good evening, etc are also
exclamations:
Hello! My name's Ivor.
I'll have to be going now. Goodbye.
How do you do? I'm very pleased to meet you.
Yet another set of words that can be classified as exclamations are
yes, no, OK, please, thanks, thank you, etc.
They can either stand as part of a sentence or as a separate and
complete sentence:
'Can you all hear me?' 'Yes.' OR 'Yes, we can hear you.'
'Did you see anything?' 'No.' OR 'No, I didn't see anything.
'Do you need any help?' 'Yes, please.'
'No thank you.'

86
How to punctuate Exclamations
Exclamations are sometimes punctuated as if they are part of a
sentence, and sometimes as if they are separate sentences:
Good heavens, it's only three weeks till Christmas.
Good heavens! It's only three weeks till Christmas.

Gosh, that's a lot of money.

Gosh! That's a lot of money.

OK, let's get started.

OK! Let's get started!

The greater the pause between the exclamation and what follows it,
the more likely it is that the exclamation will be treated as a separate
sentence.
If there is an expression of strong emotion, an exclamation standing
on its own will usually be followed by an exclamation mark:

I've had enough of this nonsense! Goodbye!

But if there is no strong emotion, a full stop is sufficient:

I'm sorry, but I have to go now. Goodbye.

How do you do is punctuated as a question (even though no answer

is expected):

'How do you do? I'm Alec'

'How do you do? Delighted to meet you. I'm Ted.'

87
 Exercises

Punctuate the following sentences.

Handy Hint
There may be more than one correct answer for some of the sentences.

1. I've got to go now Mum

2. Yes I'm OK
3. Look can we talk for a moment
4. No thank you
5. Thank you for coming with me
6. Look over there it's Madonna
7. I'm really sorry Katy to have to ask you to do this
8. Wow that's amazing
9. Well jim I thought you wouldn't come
10. My goodness what a mess

Quick Summary
This section summarizes the main points of what has been said so
far about verbs.

1. The subject of a sentence is the word or group of words that

names the person or thing being talked about in the sentence.

2. The predicate of a sentence is everything that is not part of the

subject of the sentence. The verb in a sentence is the word or group
of words that says something about what the subject of the sentence
is doing, what is happening to the subject of the sentence, etc. The
verb in a sentence agrees with its subject.

88
A verb that has a direct object is a transitive verb. A verb that has
no direct object is an intransitive verb. A verb that has both a direct
object and a complement is a complex transitive verb.

3. The direct object of a sentence is the person or thing that is

most directly affected by the action or state described by the verb,
for example, what the subject of the sentence has, or gets, or does
something to, or does something with.

4. The word or word-group that describes the person or thing

that the direct object is given to or done for, etc is the Indirect
object of the sentence.

5. A complement is a word or group of words that says something

about the subject or object of a sentence. A complement that says
something about the subject of a sentence is a subject-complement;
a complement that says something about the direct object of a
sentence is an object-complement.

6. An adverbial is a word or group of words that provides

information about when, where, why, how, etc the action or state
described in a sentence takes place, or that makes some comment
about what is said in the rest of the sentence. The three types of
adverbial are adjunct, disjunct and conjunct. An adjunct is an
adverbial that describes where, when, why, how, for whom, with
what, how much, etc the action described in the sentence is carried
out. A disjunct is an adverbial that makes a comment about what is
being said in the rest of the sentence. A conjunct is an adverbial that
serves as a link between sentences or parts of sentences.

7. A vocative is a word or group of words used to address

someone or something directly.

8. An exclamation is a word or group of words that expresses

strong emotion, such as surprise or pain or pleasure, or that is used
to attract someone's attention.

89
9. The function of a word or word-group in a sentence is the role it
plays in that sentence, e.g. subject, verb, direct object, adverbial, etc.
A function slot, or simply slot, is any part of a sentence that is, or
could be, filled by a word or word-group that has a particular
function.

10. A part of speech is a class of words that all have the same
grammatical characteristics, e.g. noun, verb, adjective, adverb,
preposition, etc. Words belonging to one part of speech may have
different functions in a sentence, and on the other hand words
belonging to different parts of speech may fulfill the same function
in a sentence.

90
 12. Phrases and their Functions

A phrase is any group of two or more words that can occupy the
same function slot in a sentence as a single word:

Mary sings. (word)

Mary is singing. (phrase)

Michael is here. (word)

Mary's father is here. (phrase)

a fast car. (word)

a very fast car. (phrase)

A prepositional phrase is a phrase that begins with a preposition:

in the water
on the table

An adjective phrase is a phrase that can occupy the same position

in a sentence as a single adjective:

a big dog (adjective)

a very big dog (adjective phrase)
an irritating man (adjective)
an extremely irritating man (adjective phrase)

A noun phrase is a phrase that can occupy the same position in a

sentence as a noun or pronoun:

John is here again. (noun)

He is here again. (pronoun)
That old man is here again. (noun phrase)

91
An adverb phrase is a phrase that has an adverb in it and that can
fill the same slot in a sentence as an adverb:

Drive carefully! (adverb)

Drive very carefully! (adverb phrase)

A verb phrase is a phrase that can function in the same way as a

single verb:

She sings beautifully. (verb)

She is singing beautifully. (verb phrase)
She can sing beautifully. (verb phrase)

A phrasal verb is an expression consisting of a lexical verb

followed by an adverb, a preposition, or both an adverb and a
preposition:

She came back.

This belongs to me.
How do you put up with all that noise?

Did You Know?

The word 'phrase' comes from Creek phrasis, meaning 'a way of
speaking'.

Note:
We have to use 'predicator' here in order to avoid confusion between
the sentence function 'verb' and the part of speech 'verb'.

92
What is a Phrase?
Phrases
A phrase is any group of two or more words that can occupy the
same slot in a sentence as a single word.

Bruce laughed. (noun as subject)

My grandfather laughed. (noun phrase as subject)
The old man laughed. (noun phrase as subject)

She kicked John hard. (noun as direct object)

She kicked John's leg hard. (noun phrase as direct object)
She kicked John's sore leg hard. (noun phrase as direct object)

He bought Kim some flowers. (noun as indirect object)

He bought his mother some flowers. (noun phrase as indirect
object)

He bought his girlfriend's mother some flowers. (noun phrase

as indirect object)

Sandra laughed. (verb as predicator)

Sandra was laughing. (verb phrase as predicator)
Sandra will be laughing. (verb phrase as predicator)

She sings beautifully. (adverb as adverbial)

She sings absolutely beautifully. (adverb phrase as adverbial)
She sings so very beautifully. (adverb phrase as adverbial)

Note, however, that a prepositional phrase is a phrase that begins

with a preposition, NOT one that fills the same slot as a preposition:

Why aren't you at school today?

Most owls sleep during the day.
Your wife has been in an accident.
She stepped back in horror.
Under the circumstances, I think we should leave now.

93
Like adverb phrases, prepositional phrases most often fill adverbial
slots in sentences.

A phrase is not just any string of words that happen to be next to

each other in a sentence. In order to be a phrase, words must occupy
or belong to one single slot (subject, or verb, or direct object, etc) in
a sentence. Words that belong to two or more slots in a sentence are
not phrases.

The following groups of words are therefore not phrases, because

they run across the boundary between two slots (marked by '/') in the
sentences they are taken from:

old man laughed (The old man / laughed. - subject + verb)

kicked John's (She / kicked / John's leg. - subject + verb +
direct object)
bought his mother (He / bought / his mother / some flowers. –
subject + verb + indirect object + direct object)
sings like (She /sings / like an angel. - subject + verb +
adverbial)

On the other hand, the old man, John's leg, his mother and like an
angel are phrases because they do occupy single slots in their
sentences.

Grammar Help
A phrase need not always correspond exactly to one of the main
sentence slots (subject, verb, direct object, etc). Though it cannot be
larger than a single slot, a phrase may not on its own completely fill
a whole slot: it may be part of a larger phrase. That is to say, there
can be phrases within phrases.

For example, an adjective phrase is a group of words that can

occupy the same position in a sentence as a single adjective:

94
 big dogs (adjective)
surprisingly big dogs (adjective phrase)
quite surprisingly big dogs (adjective phrase)

But the adjective phrase quite surprisingly big is itself part of the
larger noun phrase quite surprisingly big dogs.

Therefore, in the sentence

Although he lives in a very small flat, Tom owns quite
surprisingly big dogs.
the words quite surprisingly big dogs form a noun phrase filling
the direct object slot. But within that noun phrase there is an
adjective phrase quite surprisingly big, describing the dogs. The
adjective phrase does not, therefore, completely fill the direct object
slot, although the noun phrase does.

In another sentence, however, the same adjective phrase may well

fill a complete slot:
Tom's dogs are quite surprisingly big. (= subject- complement)

On the other hand, in yet another sentence the noun phrase quite
surprisingly big dogs could itself be part of a larger prepositional
phrase filling the adverbial slot:

Tom lives in a very small flat with quite, surprisingly big dogs.

There can, therefore, be phrases within phrases within phrases - in

this case an adjective phrase (quite surprisingly big) within a noun
phrase (quite surprisingly big dogs) within a prepositional phrase
(with quite surprisingly big dogs).

Although the words that form phrases usually stand next to one
another, they may not always do so. Phrases can be found split into
separate parts:

95
 Are you coming with us? (split verb phrase)
How did you do that? (split verb phrase)
She will almost certainly not come. (split verb phrase)
Tom's - how shall I put it? - partner is my sister. (split noun
phrase)
Who should I give this letter to? (split prepositional phrase)
Where did you gel that from? (split prepositional phrase)
She looked at me with, I felt, intense hatred. (split
prepositional phrase)

Although split into parts, such phrases still fill single slots in their
sentences, not two slots.

Heads
The head of a phrase is the word in the phrase that defines what
sort of phrase it is.

For example, the head of a noun phrase is the noun that is being
described in that phrase:

hot water
John's new puppy
a very silly mistake

The head of an adjective phrase is the adjective in the phrase:

very silly
quite surprisingly good
big enough

The head of an adverb phrase is the main adverb in the phrase:

very foolishly
well enough

96
The head of a verb phrase is the main verb in the phrase:

should have known

will be coming

The head of a prepositional phrase is the preposition that introduces

the phrase:

in the garden
with a knife
between you and me

Phrases are named after the part of speech (noun, verb, adjective,
etc) that the head of the phrase belongs to.

Exercises

A. Which of the underlined groups of words in the following

sentences are phrases?
Handy Hint
Check whether the words do or do not cross the boundaries between sentence
slots.

1. These books are entirely suitable.

2. I've looked everywhere for my hiking boots.
3. Television is dreadful these days.
4. My cousin's wife went on holiday to Peru.
5. Sadly, she died of her injuries.
6. The plumber's bill should have been paid last week.
7. There's a terrible draught in this room.
8. My parents are very keen on sailing.
9. You are making too much noise.
10. A copper bracelet is said to be a cure for rheumatism.
11. She left home at the age of sixteen.
12. They saw various strange objects on the table.

97
13. A removal van pulled up outside the house.
14. Do you take sugar?
15. He pulled some coins out of his pocket.
16. Their daughter plays the piano and the harp.

B. In the sentences in the above exercise, look at the word-

groups that are phrases and say what their functions are in the
sentence (subject, verb, direct object, complement, etc).
At the same time, say why the underlined words that are not
phrases aren't phrases.

C. Say what sort of phrases (noun phrase, verb phrase, etc) the
underlined word-groups in the following sentences are, and
circle the word that is the head of each phrase.

1. We will consider your suggestion carefully.

2. There were some lovely little calves in the field.
3. Her criticisms were totally unjustified.
4. We stared at her in amazement.
5. By evening they had still not reached the farmhouse.
6. The hole needs to be just a little hit nigger.
7. Tim sat down and poured himself a very large drink.
8. You must take a lot more exercise.
9. I was completely exhausted by the time I got home.
10. There were two small hoys standing on the doorstep.
11. The bull's death could have been caused by any of a number of
things.
12. That is a very serious accusation.
13. Have you ever been to France?
14. He was leaning against the wall when suddenly it collapsed.
15. An even more worrying thought occurred to her.
16. I ran home very quickly indeed after that.
17. There's no point in making yet another unsuccessful attempt.
I8. How could you believe such nonsense?
19. The hole isn't quite big enough.
20. Luckily I was wearing my steel-toed boots.

98
 13. Prepositional Phrases

Prepositional phrases
A prepositional phrase is a phrase that consists of a preposition
followed by, for example, a noun, a pronoun, a noun phrase or an
adverb.
Who's that talking to George?
We saw her in town the other day.
They managed it between them.
Shona was playing with her new puppy.
Children have to learn to eat with a knife and fork.
In 1965 I was still at school.
To whom should I address my remarks?
Since when have you been in charge here?
What's in there?

A prepositional phrase may sometimes be split into two parts:

Who did you give it to?
What can I cut it with?
What are we standing here for?

The head of a prepositional phrase is the preposition it begins with:

in silence
on the bed
from a distance
with difficulty
to my room
The rest of the prepositional phrase is called the object or
complement of the preposition:
in silence
on the bed

99
 from a distance
with difficulty
to my room
Prepositional phrases may themselves be the complements of
prepositions in larger prepositional phrases:
There was a lot of noise coming from behind the door.
Some very odd-looking creatures crawled out from under the
stones.
And there are other word-groups that may be the complements of
prepositions:

In saying that, I don't wish to sound rude.

From what John said, I don't think he was very pleased.
A prepositional phrase may be modified (that is, emphasized or
limited in some way) by an adverb:
The dog was lying right beside the gate.
It is quite beyond belief that you could be so stupid.
The dungeons are directly beneath us.
I'm not doing this simply for my benefit.
Prepositional phrases sometimes come in pairs, especially in certain
idioms:
The dog was wagging its tail from side to side.
I see him from time to time.
We're going to clean this house from top to bottom.
Jenny was grinning from ear to ear.

Grammar Help
Some people believe that it is wrong to end a sentence with a
preposition. Although there is a tendency to avoid doing this in very
formal English, it is certainly not wrong in normal everyday English
to end a sentence with a preposition:
To whom should I give the book? (formal English)

100
Who should I give the hook to? (everyday English)
To which group do you belong? (formal English)
Which group do you belong to? (everyday English)

Beware
Objects and Complements
Up till now, we have looked only at the sentence functions
'object' and 'complement', describing the roles of words and word-
groups within whole sentences. Here, on the other hand, we are
dealing with a phrase function. 'Object of preposition' or
'complement of preposition' denotes a role played by words and
word-groups specifically within phrases rather than within
sentences. Therefore, in the sentence:
The books were lying on the table.
the words on the table are a prepositional phrase functioning as an
adverbial (a sentence function), and the table is a noun phrase
functioning as the object or complement of the preposition on (a
phrase function).
Grammar Help
Prepositional phrases should not be confused with complex
prepositions. Complex prepositions are groups of two or three
words that together act as a single preposition:
In spite of the rain, we still had a picnic.
The play had to be cancelled due to the illness of the leading
lady.
They were standing in front of the shop.
There's no-one here apart from me.

Other complex prepositions are because of, by means of, except for,
in case of, by way of on behalf of, on account of, owing to, with
respect to, with regard to and along with.

101
Functions of Prepositional Phrases
Two of the main functions of prepositional phrases in sentences
are as adverbials (adjuncts, disjuncts and conjuncts) and as
complements (both subject-complements and object-complements):
1. Prepositional phrases as adjuncts (saying where, when, how,
with what, for whom, etc):
The cat was on the table.
In Scotland it sometimes snows in summer.
I paint with great enthusiasm but with little skill.
I even baked a cake for her.

2. Prepositional phrases as disjuncts (making a comment on the

rest of the sentence):
To my surprise, there was no-one there.
To Mrs. Brown's relief, the storm hadn't damaged her fruit
bushes.
In all fairness, I don't think we can blame her for what
happened.

3. Prepositional phrases as conjuncts (linking sentences):

You're not going diving. For a start, you can't swim.

In the first place, you don't know how to dive. For another
thing, you can't afford it.
4. Prepositional phrases as subject-complements:
Your work is of great value.
His opinion is of little interest to me.

5. Prepositional phrases as object-complements:

We considered the information of little importance.
He found the work boring and beneath his dignity.

102
A prepositional phrase may modify (that is to say, describe or
identify) a preceding noun in much the same way as an adjective
does:
Who is that man with red hair? (= that red-haired man)
He is a man of honour. (= an honourable man)
They greeted us with screams of delight. (= delighted
screams)

The train at platform 6 is the 10.35 to London Euston.

The light at the, front door suddenly went out.
Who wrote 'The Man in the Iron Mask?

A prepositional phrase may equally modify a following noun:

He made a few off-the-cuff remarks and sat down again.

(= a few unprepared remarks, thought up at the time of
speaking)

Spelling Note
Note that when a prepositional phrase modifies a following noun, it is always
hyphenated.

These offences are subject to on-the-spot fines. (= immediate

fines)
I don't like his in-your-face style of speaking. (= his rather
aggressive style of speaking)
We need an in-depth survey of the state of the roads.
A prepositional phrase may also modify an adjective or the word
not or -n't (that is, it may emphasize them or weaken their force):
Your behaviour was foolish in the extreme. (= extremely
foolish)
We weren't worried in the slightest.
I am not in the least surprised.

103
A prepositional phrase may function as the complement of an
adjective, a verb, a noun or an adverb. The complement of an
adjective, verb, noun or adverb is a group of words that follows it
and provides further information relating to it:
Note
Note that this is yet another sense of the word 'complement.'
My parents are very keen on opera.
She is very fond of her grandchildren.
There's no need to be afraid of dogs.
The dog was very possessive about its puppies.
My daughter is very good with horses.
I've decided on the black dress.
Tom insisted on a vote.
I won't comment on that.
At this very moment there are people who are dying of
hunger.
There's no point in our being here.
What is the purpose of this visit?
Could we have a jug of water, please?
I think I got an unfair share of the blame.
She shows a remarkable aptitude for mathematics.
She quickly moved away from the wall.

How to distinguish between similar Prepositional Phrases

Prepositional phrases that function as adverbials can sometimes
look very similar to prepositional phrases that function as
complements of adjectives, verbs, etc.
Notice the differences between the following pairs of sentences:
Mary was sick on the bus. (adverbial - says where she was sick)
Mary was sick of waiting. (complement - says what she was
sick of)
She decided on the way home. (adverbial - says when she
decided)
She decided on the black dress. (complement - says what she
chose)

104
 She shows great skill for such a young girl. (adverbial -makes
a comment)
She shows great skill in tapestry. (complement - says what she
is skilful at)
Grammar Help
Notice that adverbials can usually move to the beginning of their
sentences:
On the bus, Mary was sick.
On the way home, she decided.
For such a young girl, she shows great skill.
Complements, however, cannot normally do this - they must follow
the words that they are complements of.
Another difference between adverbials and complements is that
prepositional phrases functioning as adverbials can have any of a
wide range of prepositions as their heads:
Mary was sick on the bus
in the car
at the bus-stop
over the floor
beside the telephone
With complements, however, the choice of preposition is much
more restricted
Mary was sick of waiting (BUT NOT sick at waiting, sick in
waiting, sick on waiting).

In fact, the prepositions in complements are determined by the

words that the complements are attached to. Nouns, verbs and
adjectives, in particular, usually have one, sometimes more than
one, preposition that they must be followed by:

Grammar Help
These prepositions are sometimes called customary prepositions.

105
 keen on, good at, tired of, angry with, annoyed at
think about, laugh at, sneer at
belief in, fear of, aptitude for, desire for, love of
and so on.
The choice of customary preposition may depend on the sense of the
word or on what follows the preposition:
She is good at maths.
She is good with children.
Fruit is good for you.
He was angry at the delay.
He was angry with you because you were late.
Prepositional phrases that modify (that is, describe or identify)
nouns are often hard to distinguish from ones that are complements
of nouns (that is, that give more information about what the nouns
relate to).
Notice the differences between these pairs of sentences:
The bag on the table is mine. (modification - identifies which
bag)
She was holding a bag of potatoes. (complement - says what
was in the bag)

The answer in the book is wrong, (modification - identifies

where the answer is)
The answer to your problem lies in yourself, (complement –
gives information about what the answer relates to)

The problems in the office can easily be sorted out.

(modification says where the problems are)
The problem with John is that he's too shy. (complement –
gives information about who the problem relates to)

106
Grammar Help
Here again, the choice of prepositions is much wider in phrases
that are modifying the preceding noun than in those that are
complements of the preceding noun:

the problems in the office

on the roads
under the sea

Two prepositional phrases may stand next to each other in a

sentence but with different functions:
Her grandmother was sitting in an armchair with her cat.
Her grandmother was sitting in an armchair with old, frayed
cushions.

In the first sentence, both in an armchair and with her cat are
adverbials, describing where and how the grandmother was sitting:

Her grandmother was sitting in an armchair.

Her grandmother was sitting with her cat.

In the second sentence, however, the phrase with old, frayed

cushions is not an adverbial but is modifying (describing) the chair.
There is, therefore, only one adverbial in the sentence:
in an armchair with old, frayed cushions.
Similarly, in the sentence
Who lives in that house on the hill?
the phrase on the hill is modifying (identifying) the house, so again
the structure of the sentence is subject + verb + adverbial:

Who / lives / in that house on the hill?

Of course, there may be more than two prepositional phrases
together in a sentence. Here is one with three:

107
 Her grandmother was sitting in an armchair with her cat
beside her.

In this sentence, beside her is an adverbial, saying where the cat

was.
In this next sentence, there are four prepositional phrases together:
Her grandmother was sitting in an armchair with a cup of
tea in her hand.

Here the phrases in an armchair, with a cup of tea and in her hand
are adverbials, and, in addition, of tea is the complement of 'cup'.

Exercises
A. Pick out the prepositional phrases in the following sentences.
Underline the head and circle the complement of each
prepositional phrase.
1. In the corner, on a blanket, lay a huge black cat.
2. The match was cancelled because of the weather.
3. In Britain such a thing would never have happened.
4. Where are we going to?
5. I waited anxiously for her reply.
6. Amongst other things, I'm a writer.
7. On behalf of my family, I would like to thank you all for your
good wishes.
8. We got the car started without much trouble.
9. Apart from the kitchen it's a lovely fiat.
10. With increasing alarm, she looked to see if the man was still
there.
11. She pulled out a box from under the bed.
12. He pressed a coin into the man's hand.

108
B. Pick out the prepositional phrases in the following sentences
and say what their function is in the sentence (i.e. is the phrase
an adjunct, a disjunct or a conjunct, or is it modifying
something?).
1. The meal was eaten in silence.
2. To their horror, the vase slipped from his grasp and fell to the
floor.
3. She studied the picture for a few minutes with great interest.
4. The man in front of me seemed to have lost his wallet.
5. This dress is meant to be worn off the shoulder.
6. She was wearing an off-the-shoulder dress.
7. The Smiths live in the house on the corner of the street.
8. I don't mind in the least.
9. The clothes were lying in a pile on the floor.
10. The clothes in that pile on the floor are mine.
11. In my opinion, we're lost.
12. If you pull and I push at the same time, we should manage to
move the car.
13. In that case, I'll let you decide what to do.
14. There's a bird with a broken wing in the garden.

C. Say whether the prepositional phrases in the following

sentences are functioning as adjuncts, functioning as
complements or modifying nouns.
1. He raised the cup to his lips and drank deeply.
2. This is an exception to the general rule.
3. I saw a strange man on the bus.
4. The man on the bus was wearing a tattered old coat.
5. Molly was rather surprised at Tom's behaviour.
6. The boat was heading away at full speed.
7. Mrs. Park wasn't pleased at the delay.
8. There's no doubt about it. That's the man I saw.
9. Gradually the noise behind them died away.
10. The house has rather suffered from neglect recently.
11. Put the toys in that box.
12. The little girl was glowing with pride.

109
 14. Adjective Phrases
And Adjectival Phrases

Adjective Phrases
An adjective phrase is any phrase that has an adjective as its
head and that can occupy the same position as a single adjective in a
noun phrase or fill the same slot as a single adjective in a sentence.

Her behaviour was unbelievable. (adjective)

Her behaviour was absolutely unbelievable. (adjective
phrase)
We considered her behaviour unacceptable. (adjective)
We considered her behaviour completely unacceptable.
(adjective phrase)
It was a happy marriage. (adjective)
It was a very happy marriage. (adjective phrase)

The head of an adjective phrase is the adjective in that phrase:

absolutely unbelievable
quite good
really easy
strong enough

Grammar Help
The words most commonly found along with adjectives in
adjective phrases are adverbs, such as very, slightly, extremely,
really, fairly, quite, pretty, so, enough, etc.

Adverbs in adjective phrases modify the adjectives, that is, they

increase or weaken their force:

110
 She was really angry.
I was very surprised.
She was slightly annoyed.
I was somewhat surprised.

Functions of Adjective Phrases

Like adjectives, adjective phrases have two main functions.
Adjective phrases modify nouns:
a very exciting proposal
a surprisingly easy exam
a good enough result

■ Adjective phrases function as subject-complements or object-

complements:
Her proposal was very exciting.
The results were good enough.
You've made us very proud.
That was awfully silly of you, wasn't it?
Let's consider the subject pretty well closed.

Adjective Phrases and Adjectival Phrases

Adjective phrases are sometimes called adjectival phrases but,
to avoid confusion, the two terms are best kept separate.

An adjective phrase is a phrase that has an adjective as its head:

I was absolutely amazed at what I saw.
The dog was extremely protective of the baby.
She was wearing quite ridiculous shoes.
Can't you find something more sensible to do?

An adjectival phrase, on the other hand, is any phrase that can

function like an adjective, for example by modifying a noun. Not
only adjective phrases, therefore, but also noun phrases,

111
prepositional phrases, and other types of phrase can be classed as
'adjectival phrases':
We had a five-hour delay at the airport.
It was very much a last-minute decision.
This is a good example of a 15th-century castle.
Our company believes in on-the-job training.
We've done an in-depth survey.
I must have reliable, up-to-date information.
I need a fast-acting medicine.

Grammar Help
An adjective or adjective phrase that precedes the noun it
modifies is said to be attributive:
a green car
a very large dog
An adjective or adjective phrase that functions as a complement is
said to be predicative:
His new car is green.
Their dog is absolutely enormous.
Spelling Note
Notice that adjective phrases preceding the nouns they modify do
not need hyphens:
an absolutely incredible idea
a strong enough piece of wood
a widely held belief
socially unacceptable behaviour
The other types of adjectival phrases are hyphenated when they
precede the nouns they are modifying:
an up-to-date report
a slow-moving vehicle

However, sometimes a hyphen is added between an adverb ending

in -ly and an adjective when what is being expressed is felt to be a
single idea:

112
 mentally-handicapped children
a lightly-boiled egg

And if the adverb is well, better, best, ill, worse or worst, or any
adverb (such as fast or little) that might be confused with an
adjective because it doesn't end in -ly, then there must be a hyphen:

a well-known writer
the best-loved make of car
an ill-conceived plan
a fast-acting medicine
a little-known fact
In other positions, hyphens are not needed:
She is well known as a writer.

Exercises

A. Underline the adjective phrases in the following sentences:

1. That wasn't very sensible, was it?
2. Exercise is very good for you.
3. We knew we were totally lost.
4. She's absolutely impervious to criticism.
5. The trees were completely covered in golden leaves.
6. We're very proud of our children.
7. I'm really surprised at your behaviour.
8. How on earth can you be feeling so calm about all this?
9. There is an extremely small risk of contamination.
10. We were utterly exhausted,

B. Some of the adjectives in the sentences above have

complements. Identify these complements.

113
C. Underline the adjectival phrases in the following sentences,
and add hyphens where necessary.
1. A first past the post voting system means that the candidate who
gets the most votes wins.
2. The most sensible way of going about this would be to borrow the
money from a bank.
3. This is the all in one solution to all your decorating problems.
4. The country has a serious balance of payments problem.
5. She's a totally normal teenager.
6. There was something strangely familiar about the man.
7. Meeting the president was a never to be forgotten experience.
8. She glanced at him with an oh my goodness look on her face.

114
 15. Noun Phrases

Noun Phrases
A noun phrase is any phrase that has a noun as its head and that
can occupy the same slot as a single noun or pronoun in a larger
phrase or in a sentence.
Dogs frighten me. (noun)
Big dogs frighten me. (noun phrase)

She ran outside to play. (pronoun)

The little girl ran outside to play. (noun phrase)

Don't touch that. (pronoun)

Don't touch those books. (noun phrase)

She came with Margaret. (noun)

She came with her older sister. (noun phrase)
Other examples of noun phrases are:
She gave him a great big kiss.
They're both excellent teachers.
There's a tall, good-looking man outside who wants to talk to
you.
They're in the back garden.
He had been watching her all evening.
He's such a kind man.
I started this project without very much enthusiasm.
He picked up the richly decorated juice-glass and took a
small sip.

The head of a noun phrase is the noun being described or referred to

in the phrase:

115
 her older sister
a great big kiss
many a pleasant day

Sometimes a pronoun can be the head of a noun phrase:

That's a big one.

I'd like those red ones.
They both knew the truth.
Are all these for me?
Have you anything new to tell me?

Grammar Help
Among the words that can be found with nouns and pronouns in
noun phrases are:
adjectives and participles:
empty boxes
small green apples
those silly little boys
a tall Spanish woman
a broken branch
a sadden blinding tight
descriptive nouns:
paper towels
a stone wall
an iron mask

determiners such as a/an, the, my, his, their, some, this, that:
an orange the president
her new car my job
some people these books
every right-minded citizen

predeterminers (words which precede determiners), such as all,

both, half:

116
 All the best seats were taken.
I need both these books.
Half the fruit was bad.
What a good idea!
He is such a nice person.
quantifiers, such as many, much, few, little, several, enough:
Many people consider him a hero.
I have read several books on the subject.
We don't have much food left and we don't have enough
money to buy any more.
We've had very little news of them lately.
numerals, such as two, three, first, second:
These four books are all I need.
The first three correct entries will win a prize.
and possessives:
That's John's car.

Word Order in Noun Phrases

The words that precede a noun or pronoun in a noun phrase
follow a certain order.
In first position in noun phrases come the predeterminers,
determiners, quantifiers and numerals, in that order:

She was carrying several large black books.

Who owns those two cars?
They own both these big yachts.

Ordinal numbers (first, second, third, etc, and also last) come
before cardinal numbers (one, two, three, etc):

the first six contestants

the last two riders

117
After this group of words come the adjectives and other descriptive
words.
It is important to note that the order of adjectives in a noun phrase is
not entirely free. Certain categories of adjective must always
precede or follow others within the phrase:

a big green car NOT a green big car

an old Russian car NOT a Russian old car

1. Closest to the determiners, etc come the general descriptive

adjectives:
a disturbing outlook on life
an amazing coincidence
a beautiful tapestry
an urgent telephone call

Grammar Help
When there are two or more descriptive adjectives of this type in
a noun phrase, there are certain tendencies with regard to order that
are worth noting.
For example, nice tends to come at the beginning of the group:
a nice comfortable house NOT a comfortable nice house
Adjectives expressing opinions usually precede adjectives
expressing facts:
a beautiful big house NOT a big beautiful house
('beautiful' expresses an opinion, 'big' states a fact)
Adjectives denoting size usually precede adjectives denoting shape
a small square box NOT a square small box
2. Continuing towards the head of the phrase, next again are
adjectives denoting age (new, old, young, etc) and then adjectives
denoting colour (for example black, brown, red, white, etc):
a beautiful old car
a pretty new blue dress

118
3. To the right again come participles (for example broken, cut,
laughing, singing, woven, etc), sometimes preceding and sometimes
following the colour adjectives:

a strange carved idol

a lovely green woven scarf OR a lovely woven green scarf

Grammar Help
Many adjectives in English end in -ing and -ed, such as
disturbing, interesting, surprising, frightened, offended, relieved,
surprised, worried, and therefore look like participles. (In fact, in
origin they were participles.) Such adjectives are found in the
'general adjective' position in the noun phrase, not the participle
position:
an interesting old rusting gate NOT an old rusting interesting
gate
a frightened young escaped prisoner NOT a young escaped
frightened prisoner

4. To the right again come adjectives denoting countries, peoples,

tribes, and so on, for example Californian, French, Japanese,
Roman, etc:
an excellent French perfume
a little Japanese doll
5. Nearest to the head of the phrase stand:
• adjectives and nouns that describe what the substance is made out
of or what it resembles (for example brass, cardboard, iron, leather,
metal, paper, steel, stone, wooden, woollen, etc):
a brass band
a long iron rod
a strange Celtic stone carving
• adjectives that mean 'relating to —T (for example atomic,
biological, criminal, historical, medical, moral, philosophical,
political, social, etc)
a new medical centre

119
Grammar Help
Participles are the parts of verbs used to form the continuous
tenses and the perfect tenses:
I am going home. (present participle)
We were singing loudly. (present participle)
They have mended the vase, (past participle)
an important social gathering
a boring political speech

• nouns being used descriptively (for example church, school, etc),

and other words that most closely define what the noun refers to:
a small church choir
a national economic recovery plan
a school choir

Putting all the above rules of word order together, we can see that
the following noun phrase is grammatically correct (though highly
unlikely!):

both the first two nice interesting small round old black
rusting French steel atomic reactors

Many of the adjectives in such a phrase could, of course, be

modified by an adverb, so instead of adjectives we would have
adjective phrases, but stilt in the same order (and notice that in order
to make the structure of the noun phrase dearer, it is helpful to insert
commas after every adjective phrase):

both the first two very nice, extremely interesting, quite small,
fairly round, rather old, depressingly black, badly rusting,
typically French, steel atomic reactors

Other examples of noun phrases with a number of descriptive

phrases are:
the last four new blue German plastic model aeroplanes
the next great British girl pop group

120
Other types of adjectival phrase can modify a following noun in a
noun phrase.

1. One common type of phrase that modifies a following noun or

noun phrase has the general structure adjective + noun + -ed:

a bad-tempered old man (= a man who has a bad temper)

a four-legged animal (= an animal that has four legs)
a good-natured laugh
a blonde-haired, blue-eyed little girl

2. Another type consists of a direct object or complement plus a

participle:
man-eating sharks (= sharks that eat people)
a good-looking boy (= a boy who looks good)
labour-saving devices

3. A third category of modifying phrase is the prepositional phrase:

an on-top-of-the-world feeling
a rather over-the-top suggestion

4. There are many other types of phrase that can modify nouns:

a four-page essay
a month-long wait
four-day-old chicks
a fifty-pence piece
a human-rights activist
mouth-to-mouth resuscitation
a one-woman show
an after-dinner speech
a world-famous composer
ten pin bowling
a hit-and-run accident
a make-or-break situation
an out-of-the-body experience

121
Spelling Help
Note that in all these phrases that modify following nouns or
noun phrases, the words are linked by hyphens:

a bad-tempered old man

a three-inch steel pin
a never-to-be-forgotten experience
out-of-date equipment

Phrases of the -ed and -ing type are also hyphenated when used
predicatively (that is, in complements):

He was very bad tempered this morning.

He's very good-looking, isn't he?

Other types of phrase are generally not hyphenated in complements:

The equipment was completely out of date.

His suggestions were rather over the top.
It was an experience that was never to be forgotten.

Words of the adjective + noun +-ed type that are very well
established as: compounds may be written as a single word rather
than with a hyphen:

Sue's so bigheaded!
How could you be so hardhearted?

Handy Hint
Hyphenation is often very important for making your meaning
clear. Compare the following sentences:

four day-old chicks (= four chicks that are a day old)

four-day-old chicks (= chicks that are four days old)
There were thirty odd people at the meeting. (= about thirty
people) There were thirty odd people at the meeting. (= thirty
strange people)

122
Extensions of the Noun Phrase
A noun or pronoun may be modified by a following word or
phrase.
Grammar Help
An adjective that follows the noun it modifies is called a post
positive adjective.

A noun or pronoun may be modified by a following adjective or

adjective phrase:

All the people concerned have been informed of the change

of plan.
The president elect will be addressing the meeting.
Those present knew that something important was
happening.
I need something even stronger.

A noun or pronoun may be modified by a following prepositional

phrase:
I see the house on the corner has been sold.
Her husband is a tail man with long black hair.

Nouns may equally be followed by complements:

What a beautiful vase of flowers!
There was a sudden gust of wind.
Do you realize the absurdity of our position?
I don't understand her enthusiasm for stamp-collecting.
A bird's life involves a constant search for food.
I had the satisfaction of doing something useful.
They had grasped the impossibility of escaping from the
island.

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Functions of Noun Phrases
Like nouns, noun phrases may fill the subject slot in a sentence:

More heavy rain is expected later.

A rather fat, middle-aged man was staring at her.
The entire male population of the village was in love with
her.

A noun phrase may occupy the direct object slot in a sentence:

The old lady was wearing a thick woollen coat.
I don't much like modern pop music.
The waiter brought two glasses of juice.
A noun phrase may also function as an indirect object:

I gave the old beggar money for a cup of tea.

Tom took his wife some flowers.
I've lent your brother my car.
She promised her children a trip to the zoo.
Noun phrases may be subject-complements:

John is a gifted teacher.

That's a very good idea.
The rain was a great relief.
She'll make him a good wife.

Or object-complements:

We consider John a very good teacher.

They've elected me chairman.
He made her his personal assistant.
We named our daughter Elizabeth.

A noun phrase may often function as an adverbial, for example

saying when or how something is done:

I'll see you tomorrow night.

124
 Next year we'll do things differently.
I'll show you how to fix it. You do it this way.

A noun phrase may be the complement (or object) of a preposition

in a prepositional phrase:

You're in great danger.

They watched the river level rising with growing alarm.
Do stop scraping your knife and fork on your plate.

And finally, a noun phrase can modify an adjective or adverb, in the

same way that an adverb does:
She is feeling a good deal better today, thank you.
It was a lot worse than I had expected.
I'm not the least bit worried about where she is.

Exercises
A. Describe the structure of the following noun phrases (i.e.
state the categories of words - determiners, numerals, adjectives,
etc - that form the phrases).
1. three very large pigs
2. doctors' signatures
3. a huge mahogany table
4. their first year
5. an old iron dustbin
6. a large rhubarb tart
7. two empty cardboard boxes
8. some good ideas
9. another stupid mistake
10. What a brilliant plan!
11. both those books
12. ten green bottles
13. such a gifted musician
14. the first six people

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B. The adjectives in some of the adjective phrases in the
following sentences are not in the correct order. Decide which
are not in the correct order and reorder them correctly.
1. There's a stone small statue in the garden.
2. Look at those beautiful big brown cows!
3. Come and look at my red new car.
4. She was carrying the eggs in a cardboard brown square box.
5. I've got all their names in my little black book.
6. That's a copy of a Spanish famous old painting.
7. Sue found a green big caterpillar in her salad.
8. You do have some ridiculous political ideas!
9. I bought a Peruvian leather drum when I was on holiday there.
10. I'm very interested in modern Chinese poetry.
11. They want to build a new medical school in the town.

C. Insert hyphens where necessary between the underlined

words in the following sentences.
1. It seemed to be a well cared for dog.
2. The dog had been well cared for.
3. Many trees had been badly damaged in the storm.
4. The house stands in a well laid out garden.
5. The house stands in a superbly laid out garden.
6. We sheltered in a hastily constructed hut.
7. We were well treated by our captors.
8. Rest known for her poetry, she is also an excellent sculptor.

D. Insert hyphens where necessary between the underlined

words in the following sentences.
1. She answered me in a very matter of fact way.
2. John was wearing his Sunday go to meeting suit.
3. The report was over fifty panes long.
4. I can't stand her holier than thou attitude.
5. The Prime Minister proposed that people found drunk should be
fined on the spot.
6. The police said that on the spot fines were not feasible.
7. Let's go over the plan again step by step.

126
8. Easy to follow step by step instructions.
9. This is a one off never to be repeated offer.
10. His mother had a What are you doing here? look on her face.
11. We're planning a three day protest.
12. My trip to Japan was a once in a lifetime experience.

E. Combine the following pairs of sentences into a single

sentence by converting the information in the second sentence
into a modifying phrase or a complement attached to the
underlined noun in the first sentence.
Handy Hint
You may want to use the words suggested in brackets.
Example
Question: The man dropped his wallet. The man was on the bus.
Answer: The man on the bus dropped his wallet.
1. The waiter brought them a jug. The jug was full of water, (of)
2. She was carrying a heavy box. The box had books in it. (of)
3. I'm looking for a girl. The girl has long fair hair and brown
eyes. (with)
4. The boys were playing football. The boys were in the garden. (in)
5. My little sister has an allergy. She's allergic to apples and pears.
(to)
6. Doctors have been searching for a cure for years. They want to
cure cancer. (for)
7. I need to find a way of expressing my admiration. 1 admire her
Work. (for)
8. The police asked for proof. I had to prove who I was. (of)
9. Governments are discussing ways of tackling the threat. The
environment is being threatened. (to)
10. The heavy tax caused a lot of protests. The government was
taxing petrol heavily. (on)
11. Her marriage was not a happy one. She was married to a rich
man. (to)
12. She was sacked for disloyalty. She had been disloyal to the
company. (to)

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F. State the function (subject, direct object, adverbial, etc) of the
underlined nouns and noun phrases in the following sentences.
1. Susan was being watched by a small green lizard..
2. I do like a nice cup of tea.
3. A few seagulls were circling slowly in the sky above,
4. With a smile, he checkmated his opponent.
5. Sean gave the elephant a banana.
6. Have you seen our holiday photos?
7. They appointed Lucy deputy managing director.
8. Lucy was appointed deputy managing director.
9. Mr. and Mrs. Lee went to New Zealand for their summer holiday.
10. What are you giving Kim for Christmas?
1 I. The bridesmaids were wearing pretty little white lace dresses.
12. We're in for some very unsettled weather.
13. I don't know all the details.
14. He could hear a strange moaning noise outside.

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 16. Adverb Phrases and
Adverbial Phrases

Adverb phrases
An adverb phrase is a group of words that has an adverb as its
head.

She got out of bed very slowly.

I get along very well with her.
There's such a demand, we can't make these pens fast enough.
She could so easily have believed what he was telling her.
Please walk more quickly.

The head of an adverb phrase is the adverb that carries the main
meaning of the phrase:
very slowly
very well
fast enough
so easily
more quickly

Grammar Help
The words most commonly found along with adverbs in adverb
phrases are also adverbs, such as very, slightly, extremely, really,
fairly, quite, pretty, so, enough, etc.
These adverbs modify the main adverbs (the heads of the phrases)
by increasing or weakening their force:

She was behaving extremely oddly.

I was walking very slowly.
She was laughing slightly uneasily.
His heart was beating rather irregularly.

129
Functions of Adverb Phrases
Adverb phrases mostly function as adverbials. For example, an
adverb phrase may be an adjunct, saying how, when, how much, etc
something happens or applies:
I don't think John is behaving entirely rationally.
She plays well but her brother plays even better.
I so often feel that no-one is listening to me.
You're not thinking very clearly, are you?
I don't think I have checked this thoroughly enough.

Adverb phrases also function as disjuncts, commenting on the rest

of the sentence:
Quite frankly, I don't want to know your reasons.
Oddly enough, Sue didn't seem to recognize us.
She is quite obviously lying.
Very sensibly, she didn't give the man her address.

An adverb phrase may be a conjunct, linking two sentences or two

parts of a sentence:
I know you only wanted to help. Even so, I don't think you
should have got involved in the argument.
She might agree. Then again, she might not.
She may not disapprove of what we're doing but even then she
may not actually help us.

Another function of adverb phrases is, like adverbs, to modify

adjectives, adverbs, and other word-groups, for example to say how
much or how little something is the case:

I know only too well how you feel.

You're singing far too loudly.
The holiday was over much too soon.
I know all too well the consequences of drug abuse.

130
Adverb Phrases and Adverbial Phrases
An adverb phrase is sometimes called an adverbial phrase but,
to avoid confusion, the two terms are best kept separate.
An adverb phrase is a phrase that has an adverb as its head:
You're not thinking very clearly.
Do you come here very often?
I know her quite well.
The traffic is moving awfully slowly.
I do think we're doing this unnecessarily carefully.

An adverbial phrase, on the other hand, is any phrase that can

function as an adverbial in a sentence. Adverb phrases can, of
course, function as adverbials, but so can prepositional phrases and
noun phrases:
Noun phrases that function as adverbials:
I'll visit Susan tomorrow morning.
She moved out the very next day.
We'll come back next week.
Are you going to sit there all day?
I feel tired all the time.
Every night she would go to sleep hoping never to wake up
again.
Prepositional phrases that function as adverbials:
Did you meet anyone interesting in town?
They stood watching from a safe distance.
School starts again on Tuesday.
Joe was sitting under a chestnut tree.
I've never felt so awful in my whole life.
I thought he behaved with great dignity.

Noun phrases and prepositional phrases can therefore be classed

along with adverb phrases as 'adverbial phrases'.

131
 Exercises
A. State what sort of phrase (noun phrase, prepositional phrase
or adverb phrase) the adverbial phrases in the following
sentences are.
1. Last year over 3000 people in Scotland died of flu.
2. I only decided to come at the last minute.
3. Sasha stretched out her arm very slowly.
4. This house was built in 1874.
5. You're talking far too loudly.
6. They stood there in silence.
7. We meet for coffee fairly often.
8. We go there every summer.
B. Using the modifying adverbs given in brackets to form
adverb phrases, answer the following questions.
Handy Hint
Apart from examples 1, 4 and 9, your answers should begin with 'yes'.
Examples
Question: How well do you know her? (quite)
Answer: I know her quite well.
Question: Do you know her well? (quite)
Answer: Yes, I know her quite well.
1. How soon do you think you'll be finished? (fairly)
2. Does she play the piano well? (very)
3. Did your mother recover quickly after her accident? (remarkably)
4. How well is the company doing at the moment? (really)
5. Do we need to finish this soon? (pretty)
6. Did he do the job well? (enough)
7. Does the tide come in quickly round here? (incredibly)
8. Is it raining heavily? (quite)
9. How quickly should I have reacted? (much more)
10. Did the two of them play better the next day? (even)
11. Were her parents waiting anxiously for her to come home?
(rather)
12. Was Violet driving fast at the time of the accident? (far too)

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 17. Verb Phrases and Phrasal Verbs

Verb Phrases
A verb phrase is a group of two or more words that can function
in a sentence in the same way as a single verb.
We looked for you everywhere. (verb)
We have been looking for you everywhere. (verb phrase)
I read some very interesting books. (verb)
I have read some very interesting books. (verb phrase)
Helga knew what to do. (verb)
Helga should have known what to do. (verb phrase)

The head of a verb phrase is the main verb or lexical verb in that
phrase, the word that carries the main meaning of the phrase:

I have been reading some very interesting books.

Helga should have known what to do.
My aunt might be coming tomorrow.
My uncle will definitely be here, though.
The other words in a verb phrase are auxiliary verbs or 'helping'
verbs:
I have been reading some very interesting books.
Helga should have known what to do.
I would tell you if I knew.
I don't know.
I haven't decided yet.
Auxiliary verbs are used to indicate tenses:
He is going. (present continuous tense)
We will go. (future tense)
They have gone. (present perfect tense)

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Auxiliary verbs are also used to indicate permission, intention,
possibility, necessity, emphasis, etc:

He can go. I shall go. We might go.

You must go. She should go. They did go.

Auxiliary verbs are usually divided into two groups: the primary
auxiliaries be, have and do, and the modal auxiliaries can, could,
may, might, shall, should, will, would and must.

Also usually included among the modal auxiliaries are dare, need,
ought to and used to:
I daren't tell her that.
You needn't leave.
We ought to be on our way.
They used to live next door to us.

Grammar Help
1. Notice that be, have and do can be both auxiliaries and lexical
verbs:
Maria was in the garden, (lexical verb, a 'linking verb')
Maria was singing, (auxiliary verb - the main verb is 'singing')

The Wangs have a new car. (lexical verb)

The Wangs have crashed their new car. (auxiliary verb - the
main verb is 'crashed')
We did lots of interesting things on our holiday. (lexical verb
describing an action)
We didn't see anything interesting, (auxiliary verb - the main
verb is 'see')
2. If there is an adverb in a sentence, it often stands between the
auxiliary verb and the main verb:
The Wangs have just crashed their new car.
People have often told me that it is hard to learn English.
I was only joking,

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A verb may be followed by a complement consisting of a
prepositional phrase:
They based the film on a true story.
Tom suffers terribly from flu.

Operators
The first or only auxiliary verb in a verb phrase is sometimes known
as the operator.
She was speaking to Jean.
They have spent all their money.
John has been wasting his time.
They should have come before breakfast.

The operator has a very important role in English grammar, as a key

element in the formation of interrogative sentences and negative
sentences (sentences formed with not or -n't).
In interrogative sentences, the operator moves to a position in front
of the subject:
Was she speaking to Jean?
Have they spent all their money?
Has John been wasting his time?
Should they have come before breakfast?
In negative sentences, not and -n't follow the operator (and -n't is in
fact attached to it):
She was not speaking to Jean.
They haven't spent all their money
John has not been wasting his time.
They shouldn't have come before breakfast.

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Functions of the Verb Phrase
The only function of a verb phrase is to fill the verb or predicator
slot in a sentence:
We could wait till tomorrow.
He had often seemed tired and withdrawn.
Why was she wearing sunglasses on a cloudy day?
Beware
Do not confuse 'phrasal verbs' with 'verb phrases'.
Grammar Help
In some grammar hooks, only the verb + adverb constructions are
called phrasal verbs. Verb + preposition constructions are called
prepositional verbs, and verb + adverb + preposition
constructions are called phrasal-prepositional verbs. The adverbs
and prepositions that go to form phrasal verbs are sometimes called
particles.
Handy Hint
Hyphenating phrasal verbs is a very common error and should be
avoided:
Are you going to clear up this mess?
NOT
Are you going to clear-up this mess?

Phrasal Verbs
A phrasal verb is an expression that consists of a lexical verb plus
an adverb or a preposition or both an adverb and a preposition.
Everybody please stand up. (verb + adverb)
Don't you want to go out and play? (verb + adverb)
The sound of their voices gradually died away. (verb + dverb)
This calls for immediate action. (verb + preposition)
Can we rely on him? (verb + preposition)
This hook deals with the essentials of English grammar.
(verb+ preposition)

136
 I get along with her very well. (verb + adverb + preposition)
I don't know why you put up with this noise every day.
(verb+ adverb + preposition)
We've all come out in spots! (verb + adverb + preposition)

Spelling Help
Phrasal verbs should not be hyphenated, but nouns derived from
them should be:
The plane will take off soon.
Please fasten your seat belts for take-off.
We felt he had rather let down the whole team.
It was rather a let-down.
In some cases, the noun is not hyphenated but written as a single
word:
The computers crashing set the project back a bit.
It was a bit of a setback.

Some phrasal verbs have meanings that are predictable from the
meanings of the words that form them:
Why don't you just go away?
Your mother phoned while you were out. She wants you to
call her back.
Let's swim as far as that rock and then swim back again.

Other phrasal verbs have quite unpredictable meanings:

We're going to have to fork out for a new car. (= spend
money)

Don't bottle up your feelings of anger. (= keep them to

yourself, not express them)

His speciality is sending up the Prime Minister. (= making fun

of, ridiculing)

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Grammar Help
Like other verbs, phrasal verbs may be transitive or intransitive:
Go away! (intransitive)
Take it away! (transitive)
Do cheer up. (intransitive)
Is there anything we could do to cheer her up? (transitive)
We get along very well. (intransitive)
I get along with her very well. (transitive)
The rules for positioning the direct objects of transitive phrasal
verbs are very important:
1. If a transitive phrasal verb is formed with a preposition, then the
direct object of the verb follows the preposition:
They fell in with our suggestion.
I was just looking at those lovely flowers.
You can always rely on Jean.

2. If a transitive phrasal verb comprises a verb and an adverb, then a

pronoun direct object must stand between the verb and the adverb:
Put them back at once!
Come in and dry yourself off.
Take that off.
But if the direct object is a noun or a noun phrase it may come
either before or after the adverb:
Take your coat off.
Take off your coat.
They always open the shop up at six o'clock.
They always open up the shop at six o'clock.
An indirect object always precedes the adverb (and often precedes
the direct object as well):
Give him back his hook.
Give him his book back.
Give your brother back his book.

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Phrasal Verbs and Verbs followed by Adverbials
Many intransitive phrasal verbs, which are always formed with
adverbs, are closely related to constructions consisting of a verb
followed by a prepositional phrase that is functioning as an
adverbial:
The boys ran past. (phrasal verb)
The boys ran /past my house. (verb + adverbial)
She walked out. (phrasal verb)
She walked / out of the house. (verb + adverbial)
They came in and sat down. (phrasal verb)
They came / into the house and sat down. (verb + adverbial)

How to distinguish between Phrasal Verbs followed by

Direct Objects and Verbs followed by Prepositional
Phrases
Constructions consisting of a phrasal verb with a direct object
look much the same as constructions consisting of a verb followed
by a prepositional phrase. Compare the following sentences:
He came / to me in a panic. (verb + prepositional phrase)
That book belongs to / me. (phrasal verb + direct object)
He said he would stand / by the door. (verb + prepositional
phrase)
He said he would stand by / his wife. (phrasal verb + direct
object)
She looked / up the road to see if her husband was coming.
(verb + prepositional phrase)
She looked up / the road in her street atlas of London.
(phrasal verb + direct object)

139
There are four ways in which you can decide what is a phrasal verb
and what isn't:
1. If the lexical verb cannot stand alone in a sentence without a
following preposition, consider the verb and preposition to be a
phrasal verb:

That book belongs to / me. (You can't say That book belongs)
We can always rely on / Pete. (You can't say We can always rely)
The king sent for / the chancellor. (You can't say The king sent)

On the other hand, if the lexical verb can stand on its own, treat the
preposition as the head of a following prepositional phrase:
He came / to me in a panic. (You can say He came)
I wouldn't like to comment / on that. (You can say / wouldn't like
to comment)

2. Phrasal verbs often have meanings that cannot be predicted from

the meanings of the words they consist of:
He promised to stand by / his wife. (= give her his support)
I must brush up on / my maths before the exam next week.
(= improve my knowledge of it, remind myself of the facts)

This is not the case with verbs followed by prepositional phrases -

their meanings are entirely predictable:
He was standing / by the door. (= standing at the door,
standing beside the door)

3. Prepositional phrases may begin with almost any preposition:

He was standing / by the door.
...at the door.
... beside the door.
... near the door.
... in front of the door.

140
 She looked up the road to see if her husband was coming.
... down the road ...
... across the road ...

Prepositions and adverbs in phrasal verbs are much more restricted,

and usually only one preposition or adverb is possible:
He can rely on /John. BUT NOT rely with or rely at or rely to
She looked up / the road in her street atlas. BUT NOT looked
down or looked across

If more than one preposition or adverb is possible, then the

meanings of the phrasal verbs change:
He is standing by /his wife. (= supporting)
These little crosses on the map stand for / churches. (= represent)

4. With transitive phrasal verbs formed with adverbs, if the direct

object is a noun or noun phrase then the adverb can come either
after the object or in front of it:
She looked up / the road in her street atlas. OR
She looked the road up in her street atlas.

This is not possible with a verb and a prepositional phrase:

She looked / up the road to see if her husband was coming.
BUT NOT She looked the road up to see if her husband was
coming.

141
 Exercises

A. Using the auxiliary verbs and lexical verbs provided in the

brackets, complete the following sentences.
Example
Question: I----- my umbrella, (have; forget)
Answer: I have forgotten my umbrella.

1. I-------------- my mother. (have; visit)

2. She------------the dishes. (have; do)
3. They ---------------to bed. (have; go)
4. The police------------------rioters. (do; arrest)
5. Mrs. Jones ----------- her keys somewhere. (have; lost)
6. The leaves------------------from the trees. (be; fall)
7. James--------------a much-needed haircut. (have; have)
8. You------------------ if you want. (can; go)
9. You---------------- off your bike. (might; fail)
10. We---------------the train. (are; catch)
11. Several trees ------------down in the storm. (have; blow)
12. The tiles ------------off the roof. (may; blow)
B. Say whether the underlined verbs in the following sentences
are auxiliary verbs or lexical verbs?
Handy Hint
Is the underlined verb carrying the main meaning? Is it a linking verb? Or is it
simply indicating tense, necessity, etc?
1. Pat was upset at losing her necklace.
2. I know all about that.
3. Lucy has done the washing-up.
4. She's making a good job of it,
5. Jan's puppy wagged its tail and barked happily.
6. I wondered why I didn't get a reply.
7. The problem won't be hard to solve.
8. Is she a good teacher?
9. He said he would come but he didn't.
10. Do you ever listen to what I am saying?

142
C. Replace the underlined words in the following sentences with
phrasal verbs having the same meaning, selected from the list
given in brackets. You may need to check the meanings of some
of the phrasal verbs in a dictionary. There may be more than
one correct answer.
Handy Hint
Do not forget to think about the correct position for the object of the phrasal
verb.
Example
Question: I don't know how you tolerate all these interruptions. (fall
for, put up with, bring on)
Answer: I don't know how you put up with all these interruptions.

1. That just increases our problems. (add to, gather together, size
up)
2. Miniskirts became popular in the 1960s. (carry on, catch on,
get on)
3. Why don't you just leave? (shove off, go away, push off)
4. We have a nanny to take care of the children. (rely on, look
after, look for)
5. I'm trying to get rid of this cold. (shake off, put down, get out)
6. I'm the one who has to pay for her wedding. (fork out, shell
out, cut out)
7. We can offer you accommodation for the night. (put up, put up
with, get up)
8. She was talking at great length about the environment. (doze
off, fall in, rabbit on)
9. It's pollution that has killed the fish. (put down, cut out, wipe
out)
10. You'll need to flatter her if you want her to help you. (buy off.
butter up, fill up)
11. I'll visit you tomorrow. (drop by, drop in, drop out)
12. I have great sympathy for her. (fall for, feel for, look for)
13. I fell in love with her when I first saw her. (fall for, pick on, send
for)
14. That was just some story they invented. (cook up, cover up,
mix up)
15. Will you wait for a minute, please. (hang up, hang on, go on)

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 18. Clauses and their Functions

Sentences may be linked by words such as and, but, when,

because, etc in larger structures that are also sentences:

She looked at him and they both smiled.

I don't know the answer but I'm going to find out.
I'll see you when I come.
I'm crying because I'm happy.
The smaller sentences that arc linked to form a larger sentence are
called clauses. A clause is a word-group which has the same
structure as a sentence but which is part of a larger sentence.

Clauses that are linked by words such as and and but, like links in a
chain, are called co-ordinate clauses:
I saw him and we discussed the matter but he disagreed with
our point of view.
Clauses that depend on other clauses are called subordinate clauses:
The house seems very empty when you aren't here.
Even if it's raining, I go for a walk because it's good for me.
The clauses that subordinate clauses depend on are called main
clauses or principal clauses:
The house seems very empty when you aren't here.
Even if it's raining, I go for a walk because it's good for me.
She knew that she shouldn't be alone with him.
A relative clause is a subordinate clause that identifies someone or
something or provides information about them:
Robert, who had been listening to their conversation,
suddenly laughed.
This is the house I was telling you about.
She was wearing a dress that was much too big for her.

144
The person or thing that is described or identified by a relative
clause is its antecedent:
Robert, who had been listening to their conversation,
suddenly laughed.
This is the house I was telling you about.
She was wearing a dress that was much too big for her.
An adverbial clause is a clause that has the function of an adverbial
in the main clause of its sentence:
We can talk about that when I get home.
Put that one where you put the others.
He was driving as if he was completely drunk.
If you don't have any tea, I'll drink coffee.

A noun clause is clause that can fill the same slot in a sentence as a
noun or pronoun:
I know that she can't hear us.
What you think is of no concern to me.
A non-finite clause is one that is formed with an infinitive, a
participle or a verbal noun:
To go there on your own would be very foolish. (with an
infinitive)
Being rather shy, she just stared at the man, saying nothing.
(with a present participle)
In saying that, I don't mean any harm to him. (with a verbal
noun)
A verbless clause is one that has no verb in it at all:
When on holiday, I like to go for long walks.
Ellipsis occurs when an element of a sentence is left unsaid because
it can be deduced from the context in which the sentence is spoken:
I've cleaned [the car] and polished the car.
[Are you] Coming?

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19. Co-ordinate Clauses, Main Clauses and
Subordinate Clauses

Co-ordinate Clauses
It is not only words and phrases that can be co-ordinated.
Sentences can be co-ordinated too.
I'm going.
You're not going.
I'm going but you're not going.

Sue is painting the kitchen.

Richard is painting the bedroom.
Sue is painting the kitchen and Richard is painting the bedroom.
John sings.
Mary dances.
John sings and Mary dances.
John sings but Mary dances.
Either John sings or Mary dances.
Tom was reading.
Julie was writing letters.
Fred was playing his guitar.
Tom was reading. Julie was writing letters, and Fred was
playing his guitar.

When sentences are linked in this way in larger structures that are
also sentences, the smaller sentences that form a larger sentence are
called clauses.

A clause is a word-group which has the same structure as a sentence

but which is part of a larger sentence: a clause is 'a sentence within a
sentence'.

146
Grammar He1p
A conjunction is always considered to be part of the clause that
follows it.
John sings but Mary dances therefore consists of two clauses:
John sings' and 'but Mary dances'.

Similarly, Tom was reading, Julie was writing letters, and Fred was
playing his guitar consists of three clauses:
'John was reading', 'Julie was writing letters' and 'and Fred
was playing his guitar'.

Since a clause is a 'sentence within a sentence', it normally has the

same range of possible structures as a sentence. For example,
clauses in a declarative sentence will normally have both a subject
and a verb:
You look in the garage and I'll try the garden hut.
I've looked everywhere but I just cannot find the spade.
However, when two or more clauses have the same subject, the
subject may often be omitted from all but the first clause:

The baby cooed and gurgled.

I bent down, patted the dog, and examined its paw.
The people either hid or ran away.

Clauses that function together as equal partners to form a sentence

are known as co-ordinate clauses.
A sentence that consists of two or more co-ordinate clauses is called
a compound sentence.
These are compound sentences:
John sings and Mary dances.
Anne lost her hat but I found it.
The lambs were gambolling in the field and the ewes were
grazing contentedly.

147
A sentence that is not linked to any other sentence to form a larger
sentence is a simple sentence. (You could say that a simple
sentence consists of only a single clause.)
These are simple sentences:
John sings.
Anne has lost her hat.
The lambs were gambolling in the field.

Main Clauses and Subordinate Clauses

A subordinate clause is a clause that depends on another clause.
A subordinate clause is also called a dependent clause.
I knew that she was very worried.
She screamed when she saw the body.
What he told me made no sense at all.
Leave the books wherever you like.
Do you ever listen to anything that anyone says to you?
I slipped on a patch of ice while I was running for the bus.
I'm more cautious now than I used to be.
The clause that a subordinate clause depends on is called the main
clause or principal clause.
I knew that she was very worried.
She screamed when she saw the body.
Show me what you're doing.
This is the house where I was born.
I wouldn't go to her party unless I was invited.
A sentence that consists of a main clause and one or more
subordinate clauses is called a complex sentence.

The word that links a subordinate clause to a main clause may be a

subordinating conjunction, such as although, as, because, before,
how. if, since, that, though, till, unless, until, when, whenever,
where, wherever, whether and while:
I knew that she was very worried.
She screamed when she saw the body.

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 How can I brush your hair if you won't stand still?
Although she is only two years old, she has a very large
vocabulary.
I'll come whenever I can.
You'd better leave before she gets here.
The linking word may, on the other hand, be a relative pronoun,
such as that, what, which, who, whom, whose, whatever, whichever
and whoever, an interrogative pronoun, such as who, whom,
whose, what and which, or a determiner, such as what, whatever,
which, whichever and whose:

Stand up the boy who made that rude noise.

I don't know who you're talking about.
Where have you put the book that was here on the table?
That's the man whose son is the local MP
Find out which route is the quicker.
Take whatever you want.
Take whichever book you want.
Sometimes there is no conjunction or relative pronoun linking the
clauses at all:
I knew she was very worried. (= ... that she was very worried)
Where have you put the book I left on the table? (= ... that I
left on the table)
Who was that girl you were talking to7
Lying is one thing I can't abide.

Grammar Help
In what way are co-ordinate clauses different from main clauses
and subordinate clauses?
Co-ordinate clauses are linked together as a series in a sentence,
like links in a chain:
I Sing / and Moira sings / and Peter sings / but Peter's brother
doesn't sing.
Either Mary sings /or Peter sings / but his brother never sings.

149
The only thing connecting these co-ordinate clauses is the presence
of the co-ordinating conjunctions. The clauses are of equal
importance in the sentence - none of them is more important than
the others.
With main clauses and subordinate clauses, however, the
relationship is quite different. Not only are the subordinate clauses
linked to the main clauses, they are in a way part of the main clauses
- that is to say, they actually occupy one of the sentence 'slots'
(subject, object, complement, adverbial, etc) in the main clause.

You can see this by comparing similar simple sentences and

complex sentences.
You can finish that tomorrow morning. (simple sentence,
with tomorrow morning as an adverbial)
You can finish that when we get back. (complex sentence –
the subordinate clause when we get back is functioning as the
adverbial in exactly the same way as tomorrow morning does
in the simple sentence)
Leave the books on the table. (simple sentence, with on the
table as an adverbial)
Leave the books wherever you like. (complex sentence - the
subordinate clause wherever you like is functioning as the
adverbial in the same way as on the table does in the simple
sentence)
Her behaviour surprised me. (simple sentence, with Her
behaviour as the subject)
That she came to the party at all surprised me. (complex
sentence - the subordinate clause That she came to the party at
all is functioning as the subject just as Her behaviour does in
the simple sentence)
I heard that. (simple sentence, with that as the direct object)
I heard what you said. (complex sentence - the subordinate
clause what you said is functioning as the direct object in the
same way as that does in the simple sentence)

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It is for this reason that subordinate clauses are said to be
'subordinate to' or 'dependent on' main clauses - in a way they
'belong to' the main clauses because they fill one of the slots in the
main clauses.
Co-ordinate clauses, on the other hand, are linked together, but you
cannot say that any co-ordinate clause 'belongs to' or 'depends on'
any other - they are equal partners in their sentences.
Sometimes a main clause could form a complete sentence on its
own:
You can come with us if you like.
The match was cancelled because it was raining.
But if the slot filled by the subordinate clause is an 'obligatory slot',
such as the subject of a verb in a declarative sentence or the direct
object following a transitive verb, then it would not be possible for
the main clause to form a complete sentence without the subordinate
clause:
What she did amazed me. (amazed me is not a complete
sentence because it has no subject)
Did you find what you had lost? (Did you find? is not a
complete sentence because there is no direct object for the
transitive verb find)
A complex sentence consists of a main clause and one or more
subordinate clauses. The subordinate clause may precede, follow, or
be in the middle of the main clause:
When we arrived, the concert had already started.
I'll send you a postcard when I get there.
Anyone who knows anything about computers knows that.
That would be, as I have said, a grave mistake.
There's something funny going on here, you know.
There may of course be more than one subordinate clause in a
sentence:
As I was walking home, I noticed (that) there was a queue
of people outside the newsagent's.

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 While we were in town, we bought a new car, because we
wanted one with four doors
If there is more than one subordinate clause in a complex sentence,
they may be linked either by subordinating conjunctions, relative
pronouns etc alone:
My neighbour was looking after our daughter while I was
visiting my husband, who's in hospital at the moment for an
operation because he has injured his back.
Or they may be linked by any of these words and by co-ordinating
conjunctions as well:
I'll go wherever I please and however I please.
I gave her the money both because she needed it and because
she deserved it.
A sentence that consists of two or more co-ordinate main clauses
along with at least one subordinate clause is called a compound-
complex sentence:
John'll help you because he's a helpful sort of guy, and
Joyce'll help you too.
I came because I had to but my wife is here because she
wants to be.

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 Exercises

A. Divide the following sentences into the clauses that form

them.
Handy Hint
Remember that, for the purposes of sentence division, a conjunction is
considered to be part of the clause that follows it.

1. It's one o'clock and we should be on our way by now.

2. I don't like him but I'll give him my support.
3. He put his hand on her arm and said nothing.
4. You go round to the back of the house and take a look and I'll try
the front door again.
5. It's Saturday so I needn't get up so early
6. I've tried and I've tried but I've never managed it.
7. She both loves him and hates him.
8. The government promised reforms but has done nothing.

B. Combine the following sentences using the words in brackets,

making any other necessary changes. Note: There may be more than
one possible answer.
Example
Question: The children were playing. The children were watching
television. (either ... or)
Answer: Either the children were playing or they were watching
television.

1. You are crazy. I am crazy. (either ... or)

2. I don't want to go. I must go. (but)
3. You broke the vase. The dog broke the vase. (either ... or)
4. Fred plays the guitar. I play the guitar. (and so ...)
5. My mother is very keen on opera. My father is very keen on
Opera. (and so ...)
6. I didn't make that mess. She didn't make that mess. (nor)
7. I've been searching for my boots. I can't find my boots. (but)
8. She fell down. She was pushed. (either ... or)

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9. John is taller than his brother. I am taller than John. I must be
taller than his brother. (and; so)
10. Cats can climb trees. Dogs can't climb trees. (but)

C. Pick out the main clauses and subordinate clauses in the

following sentences:

1. I could see that she was worried.

2. As I drove towards his house, I was hoping that he would be out.
3. I'll come whenever I can.
4. Do you know what she did when I told her what you'd said?
5. Why don't we have a cup of tea while we're waiting?
6. I don't know whether we should be doing this.
7. The children laughed at the antics of the clowns.
8. The children laughed as the clowns poured water over each
other.
9. Stay where you are until I come.
10. If you go, I will go too.
11. Whenever I run, my leg hurts.
12. I didn't like what I was doing but I had no choice.

D. Describe the functions (subject, direct object, adverbial, etc)

of the subordinate clauses in the above sentences.

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 20. Relative Clauses

Relative Clauses
A relative clause is a subordinate clause that identifies someone
or something or provides information about them.
A mole is an animal that lives underground.
We were driving along a rough jungle track that was never
meant for cars.
Patrons who arrive late may not be admitted to the concert.
A psychiatrist is a doctor who treats disorders of the mind.
He was a man whose greatest pleasure was looking after his
garden.
She was someone on whom you could always rely.
That is an option which I have always rejected.
This is a list of people who were abducted by the terrorists
and about whose fate nothing is yet known.
Grammar Help
Relative clauses are sometimes called adjectival clauses because, like
adjectives, they identify or describe nouns.

The noun, pronoun, phrase or clause that is identified, described or

commented on by the relative clause is called the antecedent:

Voters whose names begin with the letters M to Z should go

to Room 2.
That photo is a reminder of someone who was very important
to me.
Hands up everyone who would like a drink.
A mole is an animal that lives underground.
He was accused of being drunk in charge of a vehicle, which
is a serious offence.

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Grammar Help
The verb in a relative clause is the antecedent that makes the verb singular or
plural:
The boy who was playing outside is my son.
The boys who were playing outside are my sons.
Where is the book that was here on the table?
Where are the books that were here on the table?

The word that links the relative clause to its antecedent is a relative
pronoun. The words that, which, who, whom and whose are
relative pronouns:
A mole is an animal that lives underground.
I have a friend who once sailed across the Pacific in a small
yacht.
You're starting down a path which can only lead to
unhappiness.
You'd be surprised at the number of children in this school
whose parents are divorced.
The conjunctions where, when and why can also be used to form
relative clauses whose antecedents are nouns referring to places,
times and causes respectively:
I often walk past the house where I was born.
Do you remember that time when you fell into the swimming
pool?
I don't remember the reason why I went there.

Grammar Help
When referring to people, the relative pronouns to use are who,
whom, whose and that:
the man who spoke OR the man that spoke ('Who' is preferred
as a subject pronoun, though both are correct.)
the man whom I saw OR the man that I saw ('That' is
preferred as an object pronoun, though both are correct.)
the man whose son is an MP
the man to whom I spoke

156
When referring to animals or things, the pronouns to use are which,
that and whose:
the cat which was at sitting on the mat OR the cat that was
sitting on the mat
the book which I mentioned OR the book that I mentioned
the book whose cover was torn
a book to which I often refer
When referring to things, you can use of which instead of whose:
a book the cover of which was torn
The relative pronouns who/whom, which and that can generally be
omitted:
Have you still got the book I gave you? (= the book that I
gave you)
Is that the man you saw? (= the man that you saw)
Is that the man you were sneaking to? (= the man that you
were speaking to, or the man to whom you were speaking)
Who was the girl I saw you with last night?
She was someone you could always rely on.
That is an option I have always rejected.
But if they are the subject of the clause, they cannot be omitted:
Is that the man who saw you?
Is that the man who was speaking to James?
Who was the girl who was with you last night?
Grammar Help
Strictly speaking, who is a subject pronoun and whom an object
pronoun, comparable to he and him, they and them, etc:
the man who was there (compare 'he was there)
the man whom I saw (compare 'I saw him)
However, whom is nowadays used only in rather formal English. In
everyday speech and writing whom is generally replaced by who:
the man who I saw
the man who you were speaking to

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Whom cannot be replaced by who when it immediately follows a
preposition (but again, this is really only found in formal language):
the man to whom you were speaking
They elected Smith chairman, than whom there could have
been no better choice.

Notice that the relative pronoun may not always be the first word in
its clause. Sometimes it is preceded by a preposition:
the man to whom you were speaking
a job for which I was paid handsomely
the hammer with which the woman was bludgeoned to
death

And the pronoun may be preceded by both a preposition and also a

word such as some, several, all, both, most, etc or a number:
The men, both of whom are lorry-drivers, were charged with
theft.
She was attacked by a group of boys, most of whom were in
their teens.
He has a large collection of photographs, some of which are
very old.
I bought half a dozen eggs, four of which were broken by the
time I got home.

Nominal Relative Clauses

Did You Know?
'Nominal' means 'like a noun'. A nominal relative clause is a 'noun-like'
relative clause.

In some relative clauses, the relative pronoun does not follow an

antecedent but in a sense includes the antecedent in itself. This
applies to what, whatever, whichever and whoever.

As pronouns, for example, what, whatever and whichever may mean

'the thing that ...', 'anything that ...' or 'everything that ...', and

158
whoever may mean ' the person who ...', 'anyone who ...' or
'everyone who ...':
What I want to know is where she hid the money. (= the thing
that I want to know ...)
I'm throwing all these old dresses out. You can keep whatever
you want. (= ... anything that you want)
You can have either of these cakes. Take whichever you want.
(= ... the one that you want)
Whoever said that must be crazy! (= the person who said that ...)
I'm very grateful to whoever found my keys and handed
them in to the police. (= ... to the person who found my keys ...)
What, whatever and whichever can also be used as determiners in
nominal relative clauses, that is, they can be followed by a noun or a
pronoun:
The villagers took what possessions they could carry with
them when they fled into the forest. (= ... took all the possessions
that they could carry ...)
They built shelters in the forest with whatever suitable
materials they could find. (= ... with anything suitable that they
could find)
Take whichever one you like. (= ... the one that you like)

Restrictive and Non-restrictive Relative Clauses

Relative clauses that identify, pick out or describe a particular
person or thing are called restrictive or defining relative clauses.

Have you still got the book I gave you? (This identifies one
particular book.)
I have a neighbour who comes from Italy. (This identifies one
particular neighbour.)
Who is that man you were talking to? (This identifies a
particular man.)
He's engaged to a girl who's the daughter of an MP.

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Grammar Help
In this unit we are looking at these clauses as a type of relative clause; in Unit
20 (on Noun Clauses), we shall look at them again, to see how they behave
like nouns.

Relative clauses whose purpose is not to identify a particular person

or thing but simply to provide some further information about them
are called non-restrictive or non-defining relative clauses.
My neighbours, who come from Italy, make wonderful pasta
dishes. (The relative clause does not identify the neighbours
but makes a comment about them.)
'The Hobbit', which was written by Tolkien, is the story of
the adventures of Bilbo Baggins.
He's engaged to Daisy Smith, who's the daughter of an MP.
The book, which was lying on the table, was something to do
with UFOs.

Who and which can be used in both restrictive and non-restrictive

relative clauses, but that can only be used in restrictive relative
clauses:
Is this the book that you lent me?
These are the plants that I was talking about.
And it is only in restrictive relative clauses that the relative pronoun
can be omitted altogether:
Is this the book you lent me?
These are the plants I was talking about.
Punctuation of Restrictive and Non-restrictive Relative Clauses
A restrictive relative clause is not separated from its antecedent and
the rest of the sentence by commas:
The book that was on the table was mine.
She had lost the diamond ring that I had given her for
Christmas.

160
A non-restrictive relative clause, on the other hand, is separated off
by commas:
The book, which was on the table, was mine.
She had lost her diamond ring, which I had given her for
Christmas.

That as a Subordinating Conjunction and as a Relative Pronoun

That can be both a subordinating conjunction and a relative
pronoun. There are, however, several ways of distinguishing
between the two uses of the word:
1. If that is a relative pronoun, it will have an antecedent:
She had lost the ring that I had given her for Christmas.
Penguins are birds that swim.
If that is a conjunction, there will be no antecedent:
I know that she doesn't like me.
I don't believe that she is telling the truth.
2. If that is a relative pronoun, it can be replaced by which; if it is a
conjunction, it cannot be replaced by which:
She had lost the ring that I had given her for Christmas.
OR She had lost the ring which I had given her for Christmas.
I know that she doesn't like me.
BUT NOT I know which she doesn't like me.
3. If that is a conjunction, then what follows it in the subordinate
clause can make a complete statement on its own:
I don't think that she is coming with us.
We found out that Ricardo had won the prize.
Bart told me that Janet's looking for a new job.

If that is a relative pronoun, then what follows it in the clause will

not be a complete statement:

161
She had lost the ring that she had been given for Christmas.
Where's the book that I left on the table?
(She had been given for Christmas and I left on the table are not
complete statements - they don't say what she had been given for
Christmas or what I left on the table.)

Appositive Clauses
Appositive clauses are clauses that are in apposition to the words
they relate to.
Appositive clauses provide information about a preceding noun such
as belief, thought, saying, possibility, feeling, etc:
The belief that the world is flat was widespread in the Middle
Ages. (the belief = that the world is flat)
The thought that my mother might find out horrified me.
(the thought = that my mother might find out)
The saying that absence makes the heart grow fonder is
absolute nonsense.
Appositive clauses look very similar to relative clauses, but there are
some differences between them:
1. In an appositive clause, that is a subordinating conjunction, not a
relative pronoun, so it cannot be replaced by which:
I have a feeling that something is wrong.
BUT NOT I have a feeling which something is wrong.
2. In an appositive clause, the words that follow that make a
complete statement on their own:
I have a feeling that something is wrong.
In a relative clause, the words that follow that do not make a
complete statement:
The feelings that I had for her amounted almost to an obsession.

162
 Exercises

A. State whether that is a subordinating conjunction or a

relative pronoun in the following sentences.
Handy Hints
Can that be replaced by which? Could what follows that make complete
sense on its own? Could that be omitted?
1. She prefers dictionaries that have pictures in them.
2. I can hardly believe that you said that.
3. You had better phone the office to say that I'm not well.
4. We walked down the path that led to the lake.
5. We did enjoy the fruit that you sent us.
6. The reason for the delay is that there is no driver for the train.
7. The company that she set up has gone bankrupt.
8. It is very surprising that she didn't come with us.

B. Combine the following pairs of sentences into a single

sentence by means of a relative pronoun, etc.
Example
Question: Cinderella had a wicked stepmother. The stepmother was
very unkind to her.

Answer: Cinderella had a wicked stepmother, who was very unkind

to her.
Handy Hint
There may be more than one correct answer to some of the questions.

1. Go and see the nurse. She will check your blood pressure.
2. That is the nurse. That nurse checked my blood pressure.
3. Penguins are birds. Penguins cannot fly.
4. My aunt is coming to visit us. She lives in London.
5. The coat was hanging in the hall. The coat was badly stained.
6. I want the spade. The spade is in the tool shed.
7. I'll catch the number 52 bus. The number 52 will take me right
to the theatre door.

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8. The professor of French was a tall thin man. I forget his name.
9. We visited the farm, Robert Burns once lived there.
10. The man is my daughter's father-in-law. The man won a prize
for the best chrysanthemums.
11. The man is my daughter's father-in-law. They gave the man the
prize for the best chrysanthemums.
12. People need their cars. People live in rural areas.

164
 21. Adverbial Clauses

Adverbial Clauses
An adverbial clause is a subordinate clause that functions as an
adverbial in the main clause.
An adverbial clause may, for example, say when or where or how
about the action described in the main clause.
I will come tomorrow.
I will come after I have been to the shops.
Leave the books there.
Leave the hooks wherever you like.
Do the job this way.
Do the job however you like.
Adverbial clauses can, like other adverbials, be modified by
adverbs:
Do exactly as you are told.
She left just before you came in.
Types of Adverbial Clause
As with adverbs and adverbials, adverbial clauses can be
categorized according to their meanings and uses.
1. An adverbial clause of time is a subordinate clause that says
when something happens.
Adverbial clauses of time are introduced by conjunctions such as
after, as, as soon as, before, once, since, till, until, when, whenever
or while:
I'll come when I'm ready.
I'm not leaving till I know the truth.
Always wash your hands before you handle food
You'll be all right once you get to the hotel.

165
2. An adverbial clause of place is a subordinate clause that
says where something happens.
Adverbial clauses of place are introduced by the conjunctions where
and wherever.
Put that rock where you put the other ones.
Put it wherever you tike.
3. An adverbial clause of manner is a subordinate clause that
says how something happens.
Adverbial clauses of manner are introduced by conjunctions such as
as, as if, as though, how, however and like:
Clue the pieces together as I showed you.
Say it as if you meant it.
You must do it exactly as I told you.
I'll do it however I like.
Mould the clay just how I showed you.
4. An adverbial clause of reason tells you why something
happens or why it should happen.
Adverbial clauses of reason are introduced by conjunctions such as
as, because, in case, seeing, seeing as, seeing that and since:
They didn't go on a picnic after all because it was raining.
As it was raining, we decided not to go.
Take an umbrella in case it rains.
Seeing that it's raining, you'll have to play indoors.
Grammar Help
Notice that certain conjunctions may introduce more than one type of clause:
As I was leaving my office, I heard an explosion in the street.
(time - says when)
As I am just leaving, you can have my seat. (reason - says
why)
Do as I do. (manner - says how)
He has been very depressed since his wife died, (time - says
when)
Since I have nothing better to do, I'll come with you. (reason –
says why)

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5. An adverbial clause of purpose also tells you why
something is happening, but states the aim or purpose of it rather
than the reason for it or cause of it.
Grammar Help
Conjunctions such as in order that, so that, as soon as, as long as,
on condition that and as if, which consist of more than one word,
are called complex conjunctions.
Adverbial clauses of purpose are introduced by conjunctions such
as so, so that and in order that:
Take an umbrella so you don't get wet.
My neighbour looked after the baby so that I could go
shopping on my own.

6. An adverbial clause of result tells you what results from

something happening.
Adverbial clauses of result are introduced by that and are linked to a
so or such in the main clause:
It rained so much that the garden was flooded.
She was so nervous that she spilt her drink.
There was such a demand for the tickets that they sold out
within half an hour.
7. An adverbial clause of concession is introduced by
conjunctions such as although, even if, even though, however, no
matter what/who/where etc, though, whatever, wherever, while,
whilst, whoever, whereas and whether... or.
Adverbial clauses of concession may imply that there is something
surprising about what is said in the main clause in the light of what
is being said in the subordinate clause:
Although I've known Peter for years, I've never met his
wife.
Even though the sun was shining, it was still very cold.
I'll be happy no matter where we go.
Whatever I do, I'm always in the wrong.
I'm going whether you come with rue or not.

167
Concession clauses may put forward a possible reason for doing
something, with the implication that it is not a good enough reason
for doing whatever is suggested in the main clause:
Even though he broke your camera, you had no right to hit
him. (= he broke your camera but that is not a good enough
reason for hitting him)
Even if the exam questions are simple, check your answers
carefully. (= the questions may be simple but that is not a good
enough reason for you not to check your answers)
Adverbial clauses of concession may make a contrast with
something said in the main clause:
She's a charming woman, whereas her husband is a
complete pain in the neck.
The main winter holiday in England was always Christmas,
whilst in Scotland it was New Year.
Adverbial clauses of concession that make contrasts are sometimes
called adverbial clauses of contrast.

8. Another type of subordinate clause is the comment clause. A

comment clause generally functions as a disjunct or a conjunct and
makes some comment on what is said in the main clause:
This is, as you can see, a specimen of 3rd-century Roman
pottery.
She was, as is well known, a member of the Republican Party.
What's more, she was an active member of the party.
As you know, her husband is a well-known television
personality.
What was worse, I was totally lost.
Foot-and-mouth disease is, as you probably already know, a
highly infectious disease of cattle, sheep and pigs.
As 1 say, there's no harm done and we'd best just forget about
it.

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The comment clause can come without an introductory conjunction:
He is, I believe, a Buddhist.
It was, you see, the very last thing I had expected to happen.

9. An adverbial clause of comparison is used to make a

comparison between something mentioned in the main clause and
something in the subordinate clause.
An adverbial clause of comparison is introduced by as or than. A
clause beginning with than is linked to a comparative word in the
main clause, and a clause beginning with as is linked to an as in the
main clause:
She plays chess better than her father does.
Dogs can run faster than cats can.
She eats less than I do.
She's not as stupid as she looks.
We ran as quickly as we could.
Eat as much as you like.

Grammar Help
What follows than may not have a verb in it:
She plays chess better than her father does.
OR She plays chess better than her father.
My dog can run faster than I can.
OR My dog can run faster than me.
In these cases, than is sometimes considered to be a preposition,
sometimes a conjunction:
1. When there is a verb present, than is clearly a conjunction
introducing a subordinate clause:
She eats less than I do.
I'm cleverer than he is.
No-one is more easily offended than she is.

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2. When what follows than is a pronoun without a verb, it is normal
in everyday English to use the object forms of the pronouns (me,
him, them, etc) rather than the subject forms (I, he, they, etc):
She eats less than me.
I'm cleverer than him.
No-one is more easily offended than her.
In this case, than is clearly a preposition (Prepositions in English
are always followed by the object form of pronouns: for me, with
him, without them, to us, etc.)
3. When what follows than is a noun (or a noun phrase), than is
again thought of as a preposition (although there is nothing to show
that it is a preposition, because nouns in English don't have different
subject and object forms):
Dogs run faster than cats.
She eats less than her sister.
4. In formal English, however, one can equally well use the subject
forms of pronouns instead of the object forms:
She eats less than I.
I'm cleverer than he.
No-one is more easily offended than she.
In this case, the question might be asked 'Is than a preposition or a
conjunction?'. If it is a preposition, then it is a rather odd one,
because it is followed by the subject forms of pronouns, not the
object forms.
So is it a conjunction? But if than is a conjunction when followed
by the subject forms of pronouns, then why is it a preposition when
followed by nouns and noun phrases?
The answer is, there is really no clear way of deciding. Different
grammarians may decide on one or the other. Here, as in many other
places, grammar is just a little less tidy than we might want it to be.
But nothing important hinges on the choice in any case.

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10. An adverbial clause of proportion indicates that the more,
or less, one thing happens so the more, or less, something else
happens.
In one construction, the conjunction as may be correlated with a so
in the main clause, and in another common construction, the linking
words are two the's, one in the subordinate clause and one in the
main clause:
Grammar Help
This is not the same word as the determiner the (though probably most
speakers of English think it is). This the is an adverb.

As the forests shrink, the deserts advance.

As she became more and more unhappy at school, so her
absences became more and more frequent.
The more unhappy she was, the more frequent her absences
became.
The more I know him, the less I like him.

11. A conditional clause, or adverbial clause of condition,

is a subordinate clause that states the conditions or circumstances
that are, or would be, necessary for what is talked about in the main
clause to happen or apply.
A sentence with a conditional clause in it is called a conditional
sentence.
Conjunctions that introduce conditional clauses are as long as, if, on
condition that, provided, provided that, providing, providing that, so
long as and unless:
I'll come if she invites me.
I won't come unless she invites me.
You won't pass your exams if you don't study.
You won't pass your exams unless you work harder.
So long as you don't forget your lines, you'll be fine.
You can stay providing you lend a hand.

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First, Second and Third Conditionals
Note the tenses of the verbs in the following sentences with
conditional clauses:
Did You Know?
First conditionals are sometimes called real conditionals. Second
conditionals are sometimes called unreal conditionals.
I will come if she invites me.
We will win if we play well.
I would come if she invited me.
We would win if we played well.
I would have come if she had invited me.
We would have won if we had played better.
These three forms of conditional sentence are called first
conditionals, second conditionals and third conditionals
respectively.
First conditionals state simple facts about what will or may
happen in the future if something else happens or unless something
else happens.
If I go to the shops tomorrow, I'll get you those books you want.
Those plants will die if you don't water them regularly.
Those plants will die unless someone waters them.
Unless you work a lot harder, you won't pass your exams.
If he has finished the crossword, I'll get a look at the paper at last.
If James isn't home yet, I can phone again later on.
If it doesn't stop raining soon, the match may be cancelled.
The main clauses in first conditionals may also be imperatives:
If she asks you where I am, tell her you don't know.
If the baby's asleep, don't waken her.

Second conditionals are used to describe what would happen in

the future if something else happened first.

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Second conditionals express greater uncertainty than first
conditionals about whether or not what is being spoken about will
ever actually happen: they are sometimes said to express unreal or
hypothetical conditions.
I would come if she invited me. (but she might not invite me)
I wouldn't come unless she invited me.
If you worked harder, you would pass your exams. (but t
know you may not work harder)
If we were asked to help, of course we would help. (but we
might not be asked)

Second conditionals are also used to describe something that would

be possible or true if only something else existed or was true (whilst
in fact it does not exist or is not true). Second conditionals therefore
express imagined situations:
If only we had wings, we could fly out of here. (but we don't
have wings, so we can't fly)
We could go to Japan for our holiday if only we had enough
money. (but we don't have enough money, so we can't go)

Third conditionals refer to the past and say what would have or
might have happened if something else had happened first or what
would have or might have been true if something else had been true.
Third conditionals therefore refer to something that has not
happened or was not the case.
We would have won if we had played better. (but we didn't
play better, so we didn't win)
I would have come if she had invited me.
If I had known that, I would never have helped them.
If you had been wearing more sensible shoes, you wouldn't
have fallen.
We could have escaped if only we had had a ladder.
We might have stayed longer if we had had more time.
If you hadn't lost the tickets, we would have been watching
the football by now.

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Grammar Help
A conditional clause with had, were or should may be formed
without a conjunction by putting the had, were or should in front of
the subject:
Had I known that, I wouldn't have come.
Had we played better, we might have won.
Had we had wings, we could have flown like birds.
Were they to be found guilty, it would be an appalling
injustice.
Should she ask you, tell her you don't know anything.
Did You Know?
Third conditionals are sometimes called contrafactual conditionals
(because they describe something that did not in fact happen).

Exercises

A. State what sort of adverbial clause (time, manner, place, etc)

the underlined clauses in the following sentences are.
1. I went to bed when I got home.
2. I went to bed though I wasn't feeling very tired.
3. I don't dance as well as you do.
4. Because they were late, they didn't get very good seats in the
cinema.
5. Come whenever you want.
6. He's more relaxed than he was before he retired.
7. I ate so much at the dinner that I was almost sick.
8. Since you're here, you can help me clean the house.
9. She's not as shy as she used to be.
10. When I'm doing the ironing, I like to watch television or a video.
11. As there was nobody at home, I left the parcel on the doorstep.
12. As I was walking along the street, a tile fell off a roof and nearly
hit me.

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B. Complete the following sentences by choosing one of the
conjunctions given in the brackets.
Handy Hint
Make sure that the conjunction you select allows you to make a sentence that
makes sense. There may be more than one possible choice
1. Take an umbrella with you -------- you don't get wet. (because,
until, so that)
2. Take an umbrella with you -------- it might rain. (because, until,
so that)
3. Don't go out -------- it stops raining. (because, until, so that)
4. Don't go out -------- it's raining. (whereas, if, while)
5. I'll come tomorrow -------- I can. (if, when, unless)
6. I'll come tomorrow -------- I can't for some reason. (if, when,
unless)
7. -------- the meeting finishes on time, I should be here by six.
(if, providing, so)
8. She was late home -------- she missed the bus. (as, because, that)
9. She was so late leaving the office ------ she missed the bus.
(when, that, as)
10. Ask him yourself -------- you want to know. (if, in order that,
until)
11. I found it exactly -------- it was supposed to be. (when, where,
because)
12. I've found out -------- the meeting is supposed to take place.
(when, where, because)

C. Complete the following sentences using the verb in brackets,

taking care to put the verb into the appropriate tense.
Example
Question: Although I-------- tired, I couldn't sleep. (be)
Answer: Although I was tired, I couldn't sleep.
1. Watch me while I -------- this. (do)
2. Plants won't grow unless you -------- them. (water)
3. Although she -------- only four, she could already read and write.
(be)
4. What will happen if the rainforests -------- all cut down? (be)
5. What would happen if the rainforests -------- all cut down? (be)

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6. If you -------- harder, you might have passed your exams. (work)
7. If you -------- harder, you might pass your exams. (work)
8. What would have happened if Napoleon ------- the battle of
Waterloo? (win)
9. Wherever she --------, she seemed to make friends. (go)
10. If you --------up all your vegetables, you can have some pudding.
(eat)
11. If you -------- all your vegetables, you would have got some
pudding. (eat)
12. Even if I-------- a lot, I'll never be a great pianist. (practise)
13. Even if I-------- a lot, I'd never be a great pianist. (practise)
14. There was a phone call for you while you ------ out. (be)
15. If you--------n't--------, you wouldn't have such a bad cough.
(smoke)

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 22. Noun Clauses

Noun Clauses
A noun clause is a subordinate clause that can have the same
function or fill the same slot in a sentence as a noun or pronoun.
Noun clauses are sometimes called complement clauses.
It was quite unforgivable. (pronoun)
What you did was quite unforgivable. (noun clause)
I didn't realize that. (pronoun)
I didn't realize that you were coming with us. (noun clause)
The problem is money. (noun)
The problem is that no one came to the party. (noun clause)
The prize will go to Raymond. (noun)
The prize will go to whoever answers the question correctly.
(noun clause)
Grammar help
There may of course, be no conjunction at all:
I know that he's here somewhere.
OR I know he's here somewhere.
I was sure that he would be here.
OR I was sure he would be here.
Noun clauses may begin with the subordinating conjunction that,
other subordinating conjunctions such as if, whether, how, when,
where and why, interrogative pronouns such as who, whose, what
and which, and interrogative determiners such as what, which and
whose:
I'm saying that we must look for new markets for our
products.
I'm sure that things will get better soon.
Are you aware that we've been waiting for more than an
hour?
I wonder if Iris will be coming with us.

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 Ask her whether she's coming.
Do you know why the rainbow has seven colours in it?
I wondered where he was.
I don't know who won the prize.
I wondered what he was doing.
Have you any idea which is John's?
She wants to know whose that is.
Which book I should choose is the big question.
I wasn't sure about what clothes I should be taking with me.
The police want to know whose car that is.

Noun clauses also include the nominal relative clauses that were
studied in earlier in this book, which are formed with the pronouns
and determiners what, whatever, whichever and whoever.
The price is what is most important. (= ... the thing that is
most important)
According to what she said, a lot of people are going to lose
their jobs.
She can do whatever she likes.
Take whatever books you need.
Take whichever ones you want.
Whoever answers the question correctly will win the prize.
(= the person who answers ...)
I'll give whoever answers the question correctly a prize.
Grammar Help
Remember that 'nominal' means 'noun like'. These clauses behave both like
relative clauses and like noun clauses.

Functions of Noun Clauses

A noun clause can have any of the same functions in a sentence as a
noun or pronoun. It can, for example, be the subject of the sentence:
That I forgot your birthday was quite unforgivable.
What you did was quite unforgivable.
Or the direct object:
I didn't realize that you were coming with us.

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 I didn't realize what I had done.
Or the indirect object:
I'll give whoever answers the question correctly a prize.
Or a complement:
The worry is that no-one might turn up at all.
The problem is who we should invite.
Or the complement of a preposition:
The money will go to whichever charity you choose.

Direct and indirect Speech

One common type of noun clause is known as indirect speech or
reported speech.
Indirect speech reports what someone has said, as opposed to direct
speech, which consists of the person's exact words.
She said, 'James is coming too.' (direct speech)
She said that James was coming too. (indirect speech)
'I'll be there,' she promised. (direct speech)
She promised that she would be there. (indirect speech)

Direct and indirect speech may involve questions rather than

statements. These are known as direct questions and indirect
questions respectively:
'Are you singing with us?' she asked me. (direct question)
She asked me if I was singing with them. (indirect question)
'When does the London train arrive?' I inquired. (direct
question)
I inquired when the London train would arrive. (indirect
question)

Grammar Help

179
When wh-words such as who, what, whose, etc occur in a question in direct
speech, there is a change of word order in indirect speech, with the verb
moving to the position behind the subject:
'Who is that man?'
She is asking who that man is.
'What is that noise?'
He asked what the noise was.
'Whose car is that?'
I wondered whose car it was.
'Where is the money?'
He asked where the money was.
With which there may be a change in word order, but most often there
is no change:
'Which car is yours?'
She asked which car was mine.

Tenses in Indirect Speech

The tense of the verb in the indirect speech clause depends on both
the tense of the verb in the main clause and the tense of the verb
used by the speaker in direct speech:
1. If the verb in the main clause is in the present tense (or the future
tense, which is, of course, formed with the present tense of the
auxiliary verbs will and shall), the tense of the verb in indirect
speech is the same as in direct speech:
'I'm frightened.'
She says that she is frightened.
She will say that she is frightened.
'I can do it.'
She says that she can do it.
She will say that she can do it.
'I was frightened.'
She says that she was frightened.
She will say that she was frightened.
Similarly, there is no change of tense in reported speech when the
verb in the main clause is in the present perfect tense:

180
 'Are you frightened?'
Someone has asked me whether I am frightened.
'I was frightened.'
I have said I was frightened.
2. If the verb in the main clause is in the simple past tense, a verb in
the present tense in direct speech becomes a past tense in indirect
speech; a verb in the future tense becomes a future in the past; and a
verb in the present perfect tense becomes a past perfect tense:
'I'm frightened.'
She said that she was frightened.
'I'm going mad.'
I thought I was going mad.
'I can do it.'
She said that she could do it.
'I will come to your wedding'
I said I would come to your wedding.
'I've finished washing the dishes.'
He said he had finished washing the dishes.
Grammar Help
Even when the verb in the main clause is in the simple past tense, a verb in
indirect speech may not change to a past tense but may remain in the present
tense if what was said was not only true at the original time of speaking but is
still true at the time when it is being reported:
'The universe is 20 million years old,' he said.
He said that the universe was 20 million years old.
OR He said that the universe is 20 million years old.

3. When the verb in the main clause is in the simple past tense, a
verb in the simple past tense in direct speech either remains a simple
past tense or else becomes a past perfect tense:
'I was frightened.' she said.
She said that she was frightened.
OR She said that she had been frightened.

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Modal auxiliaries in the past tense, however, always remain in the
same form:
'I might do it.'
She said she might do it.
'I could meet you next week.'
He said he could meet us next week.
'You must come and see us soon.'
She said we must come and see her soon.
4. A verb in the past perfect tense in direct speech remains as a past
perfect tense in indirect speech:
'I had never been so frightened in my life.'
I said I had never been so frightened in all my life.

Exercises

A. Convert the following examples of direct speech into indirect

speech, taking care to choose the correct tense for the verb.
Handy Hint
There may be more than one correct answer.
Example
Question: Are you coming?
Answer: He asked if I was coming.
1. I'm a doctor.
She says she___ a doctor.
2. I'm a Sagittarius.
She told me she_____a doctor.
3. Do you work at home?
I asked her whether she____at home.
4. Can you work with the television on?
She asked me if I____ work with the television on.
5. Where shall I put the vase?
She wondered where she_____put the vase.

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6. Where should 1 put the vase?
She wondered where she __ put the vase.
7. May I come in?
He asked if he __ come in.
8. When does the train leave?
Go and ask when the train--------.
9. Can I do that for you?
He asked if he____do that for us.
10. I have never been in Japan before.
She said she __ never been in Japan before.
11. Has the bus arrived yet?
She inquired whether the bus-------arrived yet.
12. Has the bus arrived yet?
I would like to know whether the bus_____arrived yet.

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