8/9/2019 Learn English Grammar Course 4 http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/learn-english-grammar-course-4 1/32 Nouns compound nouns countable & uncountable menu - nouns nationalities noun gender plurals use of capital letters NOUNS COMPOUND NOUNS Formation Words can be combined to form compound nouns. These are very common, and new combinations are invented almost daily. They normally have two parts. The second part identifies the object or person in question ( man, friend, tank, table, room. The first part tells us what !ind of object or person it is, or what its purpose is ( police, boy, water, dining, bed " What type / what purpose What or who police man boy friend water tan! dining table bedroomThe two parts may be written in a number of ways " #. as one word. $%ample" policeman, boyfriend . as two words joined with a hyphen. $%ample" dining-table '. as two separate words. $%ample" fish tank. There are no clear rules about this - so write the common compounds that you !now well as one word, and the others as two words. The two parts may be !"amp#es noun $ noun bedroom water tank motorcycle
This document is posted to help you gain knowledge. Please leave a comment to let me know what you think about it! Share it to your friends and learn new things together.
compound nouns countable & uncountable menu - nouns nationalities
noun gender plurals use of capital letters
NOUNS
COMPOUND NOUNS
Formation
Words can be combined to form compound nouns. These are very common,and new combinations are invented almost daily. They normally have two parts.
The second part identifies the object or person in question (man, friend,tank, table, room. The first part tells us what !ind of object or person it is,or what its purpose is ( police, boy, water, dining, bed "
What type / what purpose What or who
police man
boy friend
water tan!
dining table
bed room
The two parts may be written in a number of ways "
#. as one word.$%ample" policeman, boyfriend
. as two words joined with a hyphen.$%ample" dining-table
'. as two separate words.$%ample" fish tank.
There are no clear rules about this - so write the common compounds that you!now well as one word, and the others as two words.
%erb $ nounwashing machinedriving licenceswimming pool
%erb $ ad%erb&lookouttake-off drawback
ad'ecti%e $ noun greenhousesoftwareredhead
ad'ecti%e $ %erb dry-cleaning public speaking
ad%erb $ nounonlooker bystander
ad%erb $ %erb&
outputoverthrow upturninput
ompound nouns often have a meaning that is different from the two separatewords.Stress is important in pronunciation, as it distinguishes between a compoundnoun (e.g. greenhouse and an adjective with a noun (e.g. green house.)n compound nouns, the stress usually falls on the first syllable"
a *greenhouse + place where we grow plants (compound nouna green 'house + house painted green (adjective and nouna *bluebird + type of bird (compound nouna blue 'bird + any bird with blue feathers (adjective and noun& any common compound nouns are formed from phrasal verbs (verb adverbor adverb verb.$%amples" breakdown, outbreak, outcome, cutback, drive-in, drop-out, feedback, flyover, hold-up, hangover, outlay, outlet, inlet, makeup,output, set-back, stand-in, takeaway, walkover.
We cannot use a/an with these nouns. To e%press a quantity of one of thesenouns, use a word or e%pression li!e"some, a lot of, a piece of, a bit of, a great deal of...
$%amples"
There has been a lot of research into the causes of this disease.
e gave me a great deal of advice before my interview.
They*ve got a lot of furniture. an you give me some information about uncountable nouns/
0ome nouns are countable in other languages but uncountable in $nglish. 0omeof the most common of these are"
ountable and 5ncountable nouns ompound 2ouns 4roper 2ouns 2ationalities
NOUNS
2ouns answer the questions .What is it. and .Who is it. They give names tothings, people and qualities.
$%amples" dog, bicycle, man, girl, beauty , truth, world .
NOUN 0!ND!,
)n general there is no distinction between masculine, feminine and neuter in$nglish nouns. owever, gender is sometimes shown by different forms ordifferent words.
$%amples"
Different words"
Mascu#ine Feminine
manfatheruncleboyhusband
womanmotherauntgirlwife
Different forms"
Mascu#ine Feminine
actor
princeherowaiterwidower
actress
princessheroinewaitresswidow
0ome nouns can be used for either a masculine or a feminine subject"
relation colleague partner leader ary is a doctor. She is a doctor
4eter is a doctor. He is a doctor.
1rthur is my cousin. He is my cousin.
6ane is my cousin. She is my cousin.
)t is possible to ma!e the distinction by adding the words 'male' or 'female'.$%ample" a female student7 a male cousin8or professions, we can add the word *woman*$%ample" a woman doctor7 a woman journalist.)n some cases nouns describing things are given gender.$%amples"
) love my car. She (the car is my greatest passion. 8rance is popular with her (8rance*s neighbours at the moment.
) travelled from $ngland to 2ew 9or! on the :ueen $li;abeth, she (the
:ueen $li;abeth is a great ship.
NOUNS
T1! P*U,(* OF NOUNS
ost nouns form the plural by adding -s or -es2
Sin+u#ar P#ura#
boat boats
hat hats
house houses
river rivers
1 noun ending in -y preceded by a consonant ma!es the plural with -ies.
0ome nouns have a plural form but ta!e a singular verb.
$%amples"
news The news is on at =.'> p.m.athletics thletics is good for young people.linguistics !inguistics is the study of language.darts "arts is a popular game in $ngland2billiards #illiards is played all over the world.
0ome nouns have a plural form and ta!e a plural verb.
$%amples"
trousers y trousers are too tight.
$eans er $eans are blac!.glasses Those glasses are his.
2ote" We use the & nationality ad$ective ending in -ese or -ish with a pluralverb, to refer to all people of that nationality"he (hinese are very hard-wor!ing.he Spanish often go to sleep in the afternoon.
NOT!" *to be born' is a passive form and is most commonly used in the pasttense"
I was born in 1!". #hen were you born$ B5T" %round 1&& babies are born in this hospital every week.
-nfiniti%e form" infinitive of *to be* past participle" (to be cleaned This form is used after modal verbs and other verbs normally followed by aninfinitive, e.g.
9ou have to be tested on your $nglish grammar6ohn might be promoted ne%t year.0he wants to be invited to the party.
0erund or :in+ form being past participle" being cleaned
This form is used after prepositions and verbs normally followed by a gerund$%amples"
a. ost film stars hate being interviewed .b. ) remember being taught to drive.c. The children are e%cited about being taken to the ;oo.
NOT!" 0ometimes the passive is formed using the verb to get instead of theverb to be
a. e got arrested for dangerous driving.b. hey're getting married later this year.c. )*m not sure how the window got broken.
T1! P(SS-7! 7O-C!
P(SS-7!4 FUNCT-ON
The passive voice is used to show interest in the person or object thate%periences an action rather than the person or object that performs theaction, e.g.
)he passive is used ..."
We are interested in the passive, not who uses it.
)he house was built in 1"*+"
We are interested in the house, not the builder. )he road is being repaired "
We are interested in the road, not the people repairing it.
)n other words, the most important thing or person becomes the subject of thesentence.0ometimes we use the passive voice because we don*t !now or cannot e%presswho or what performed the action"
1n elephant is an animal that lives in hot countries.
The plums that were in the fridge were delicious. ) have eaten them.
Where are the plums that/ ) put in the fridge/
as anyone seen the book ) was reading/
2othing that anyone does can replace my lost bag.
Cet*s go to a country where the sun always shines.
They live in the house whose roof is full of holes.
,!*(T-7! C*(US!S
0ee also 4ronouns.
There are two different types of relative clause"
1 .definin+. or identifying clause, which tells us which person or thing
we are tal!ing about.
1 .non:definin+. or non-essential clause, which gives us more
information about the person or thing we are tal!ing about. This !ind
of clause could often be information included in brac!ets (...
$%ample"The farmer (his name was 8red sold us some potatoes.The farmer, whose name was 8red, sold us some potatoes.)t is important to see the difference between the two types of clause, as itaffects"a2 the choice of pronoun used to introduce the clause,b2 the punctuation - you must use commas with a non-defining clause.
,!*(T-7! C*(US!S
NON:D!F-N-N0 ,!*(T-7! C*(US!S
The information in these clauses is not essential. )t tells us more aboutsomeone or something, but it does not help us to identify them or it.ompare"
#. lephants that love mice are very unusual. (This tells us which elephantswe are tal!ing about.
. lephants, which are large and grey , can sometimes be found in 8oos. (Thisgives us some e%tra information about elephants - we are tal!ing about allelephants, not just one type or group.
'. 4ohn's mother, who lives in Scotland , has " grandchildren. (We !now who6ohn*s mother is, and he only has one. The important information is the numberof grandchildren, but the fact that she lives in 0cotland might be followed withthe words Hby the wayH - it is additional information.
Punctuation2on-defining relative clauses are always separated from the rest of thesentence by commas. The commas have a similar function to brac!ets"
5y friend 4ohn has 6ust written a best-selling novel. (e went to the sameschool as me 9 5y friend 4ohn, who went to the same school as me, has 6ustwritten a best-selling novel.
,e#ati%e pronouns in non:definin+ c#auses
Person Thin+ P#ace
Sub'ect who which
Ob'ect who<whom which where
Possessi%e whose
Notes
#. )n non-defining clauses, you cannot use $that$ instead of who, whom orwhich.
. 9ou cannot leave out the relative pronoun, even when it is the object of theverb in the relative clause"e gave me the letter, which was in a blue envelope.e gave me the letter, which I read immediately
'. The preposition in these clauses can go at the end of the clause, e.g. )his is2tratford-on-%von, which you have all heard about.
This pattern is often used in spo!en $nglish, but in written or formal $nglishyou can also put the preposition before the pronoun" e.g. 2tratford-on-%von,about which many people have written is 2hakespeare$s birthplace.
I. 2on-defining clauses can be introduced by e%pressions li!e all of, many of relative pronoun"
a. There were a lot of people at the party, many of whom ) had !nown foryears.
b. e was carrying his belongings, many of which were bro!en.
J. The relative pronoun which at the beginning of a non-defining relativeclause, can refer to all the information contained in the previous part of thesentence, rather than to just one word.
a. hris did really well in his e%ams, which was a big surprise. (+ the fact thathe did well in his e%ams was a big surprise.
b. 1n elephant and a mouse fell in love, which is most unusual. (+ the factthat they fell in love is unusual.
$%amples"
a. y grandmother, who is dead now , came from the 2orth of $ngland.b. ) spo!e to 8red, who explained the problem.c. The elephant loo!ed at the tree, under which she had often sat.d. We stopped at the museum, which we1d never been into.e. 0he/s studying maths, which many people hate.
f. )/ve just met 0usan, whose husband works in !ondon.g. e had thousands of boo!s, most of which he had read
,!*(T-7! C*(US!
W1!,! TO PUT T1! P,!POST-T-ON -N ( ,!*(T-7! C*(US!
There are often prepositions in relative clauses, and the relative pronoun is theob6ect of the preposition. This means that the preposition can sometimes beomitted.
The preposition is normally placed at the end of the relative clause"
)s that the man (who you arrived with$ ?o you !now the girl (that 6ohn is tal!ing to$
)n formal or written $nglish, the preposition is often placed before the
relative pronoun, and in this case the pronoun cannot be omitted"
)he person with whom he is negotiating is the ;hairman of alarge company.