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Maria English Society
Essential English Grammar Teaching Notes - Unit 1
Table of Contents
Nouns
- Nouns: singular and plural
- Common nouns and proper nouns
- Abstract nouns
- Collective nouns
- Countable and uncountable nouns
Adjectives
- Adjective of quality
- Adjective of quantity
- Demonstrative adjectives
- Interrogative adjectives
- Possessive adjectives
- Comparison of adjectives
- Determiners: the articles, a, an, the
- The order of adjectives
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Unit 1
Parts of speech
The ancient Greeks divided Greek words into eight categories and called them parts of speech.
Although modern linguists say that English words should be divided into more than eight
categories, grammar students have used these same eight categories for centuries, and you will find
them in most grammar texts, dictionaries, and style guides.
Nouns
Words that are names for things, people, places or ideas.
e.g., chair, sister, democracy, leisure, stress
My sister is sitting in a chair.
Pronouns
Words that are used in place of nouns.
e.g., I, me, you, she, it, them
I gave it to them.
Verbs
Words that tell an action, experience, or state.
e.g., walk, need, be, exist
Kim walks to school every day.
Students often need flexible schedules.
A monarch is a king or queen.
Adjectives
Words that are used to modify (describe) nouns
e.g., old, wise, small, efficient
Efficient machines use small amounts of fuel.
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Adverbs
Words that are used to modify verbs.
e.g., quickly, leisurely, fluently
She speaks fluently in English.
Words that are used to modify adjectives or adverbs.
e.g., very, really, entirely
He speaks very eloquently.
The television program is showing entirely new episodes
this season.
Words that are used to modify whole sentences.
e.g., fortunately, naturally
Fortunately, the accident occurred near a good medical
clinic
Prepositions
Words that begin phrases about time, location or relationship.
e.g., about, at, from, in, on, of, with, to, under
The museum exhibit is about American history from 1920
to 1945.
Conjunctions
Words that are used to connect words, phrases, or clauses.
e.g., and, but, or, nor, because, until, if
We sell domestic and imported cheeses, but we don't sell
any kind of alcohol.
You will learn if you work hard.
Interjections
Words and phrases that express sudden feeling.
e.g., Oh! Ouch! Wow!
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Nouns
A noun names anything.
Exercises
A. Pick out the nouns in these sentences.
Example: Those women are teachers in my school.
Answer: women, teachers, school
1. Our fax number has changed.
2. The previous agreement was signed in December 1997.
3. They have updated their website.
4. This will save our time.
5. The former chairman was forced to resign.
B. Pick out all the nouns in this story.
When Victor Hugo finished the first novel, he didn’t know if it was successful. He
wrote a letter to the publisher. There were not any words in the letter. Hugo only
drew a question mark ‘?’ in it.
A few days later Hugo received a letter from the publisher. There were no words,
either. An exclamation mark ‘!’ was the only answer Hugo got.
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Nouns: singular and plural Nouns that mean “only one” are singular. Nouns that mean “more than one” are plural. Singular Plural Exceptions Regular boy
girl dog
boys girls dogs
Nouns that end in a “hissing” sound (-sh,-ch,-x,-z)
brush inch box fox bus watch boss church
brushes inches boxes foxes buses watches bosses churches
Nouns that end in –o potato cargo hero mosquito photo kilo studio
potatoes cargoes heroes mosquitoes photos kilos studios
Nouns that end in –f or –fe leaf wife half knife wolf thief
leaves wives halves knives wolves thieves
proofs, beliefs, chiefs
Nouns that end in –y baby army lady city fly body
babies armies ladies cities flies bodies
trays, donkeys, boys
Nouns that don’t follow any of these rules
man tooth woman goose child mouse foot sheep ox deer
men teeth women geese children mice feet sheep oxen deer
Nouns that are foreign in origin
analysis datum memorandum formula criterion phenomenon
analyses data memoranda formulae criteria phenomena
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Exercise
Write the plural forms of these nouns.
(Notice that plural nouns do not have a or an.)
Example: A box and a carton came in the shipment.
Answer: Boxes and cartons came in the shipment.
1. The photocopy machine is too large for our room.
2. The newspaper report may not be true.
3. My brother is involved in a business project.
4. The man and woman went to their office.
5. The boss saw an employee in the restaurant.
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Here are some more points about plural nouns.
1. A few nouns have the same form for singular and plural.
Two common ones are sheep and deer.
There is a sheep in the field. (singular)
There are some sheep in that field. (plural)
I saw a deer in the woods. (singular)
I saw two deer in the woods. (plural)
Usually fish has the same form in the singular as in the plural.
How many fish have you caught today? (plural)
We have only caught one fish today. (singular)
2. Some nouns have no plural: information, advice, furniture, news. So we say,
I bought three pieces of furniture (never three furnitures).
He gave me two good bits of advice (not two advices).
The news is good (never the news are good).
News looks like a plural word, but it isn’t.
3. Some nouns have no singular: scissors, trousers, clothes, riches.
These scissors are not sharp. (or This pair of scissors is not sharp.)
Tommy’s trousers were torn as he was climbing the tree.
Her clothes are always very smart.
Riches do not always bring happiness.
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4. There are some nouns that are made up of two nouns:
Schoolroom, girlfriend, boyfriend, bookcase, workman.
In the plural, only the second part changes.
Singular Plural
classroom classrooms
girlfriend girlfriends
boyfriend boyfriends
bookcase bookcases
workman workmen
Exercise
Choose the correct answer.
1. The news (was, were) alarming to some of us.
2. Those theses (is, are) the result of many hours of research.
3. Politics (is, are) an exciting field for intelligent people.
4. The scissors (was, were) on my desk when I left the office.
5. His wages (was, were) raised considerably.
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Exercise
Identify one underlined word or phrase that should be corrected or rewritten.
1. Informations about the meetings can be obtained by calling the Berlin A B C D
Chamber of Commerce. 2. Passengers wishing to file a claim for lost or damaged luggages must do so
A B C before leaving the airport.
D
3. The laboratory equipments that you requested will be arriving by the end A B C D
of next week.
Did you know?
The following nouns are singular ONLY:
News (No news is good news.)
Aerobics (Aerobics is a form of exercise.)
Physics (Physics is a science subject.)
Rubbish
Equipment
Luggage
Baggage
Information
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Different kinds of nouns
Common nouns and proper nouns
Nouns that are the names for all people or things or place of the same kind are called common
nouns.
Nouns that are the special names of people or places or things are called proper nouns.
All proper nouns begin with capital letter. The names of days of the week (Monday, Tuesday,
Wednesday, etc.) and months of the year (January, February, etc.) are all proper nouns, and so
should begin with capital letters.
Exercise
Pick out the proper nouns in the following:
Example: Rome and Venice are cities in Italy.
Answer: Rome, Venice, Italy
1. My brother Michael used to be a manager.
2. The Red Sea is to the east of Egypt.
3. After 1997, Hong Kong is called the Hong Kong SAR.
Nouns
Common nouns Proper nouns
Countable Uncountable
Collective Concrete Material Abstract
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Abstract nouns
There are some other kinds of nouns. Look at these sentences:
The car went at a speed of 90 miles an hour.
Thank you for your great kindness.
Lloyd has toothache.
He bore the pain with great courage.
Health is better than wealth.
The nouns speed, kindness, toothache, etc. don’t name material things; they name abstract things. We
call nouns like these abstract nouns.
Collective nouns
There are some nouns that are the names not of just one person or thing, but of a whole collection
of people or things, considered as one.
For example, in the school’s hockey team there are eleven players but we think of it as a single team,
that is, as one thing. We call it a team. In this case, team is a collective noun.
Nouns that stand for a number of things considered as one are called collective nouns. Collective
nouns generally (but not always) take a singular verb.
The crowd is one of the largest I have ever seen.
A flock of sheep is coming down the hill.
The class has an English lesson every day.
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Exercises
A. Pick out the abstract nouns in these sentences.
Example: Some British people don’t like the heat.
Answer: heat
1. The soldiers fought with great courage.
2. He has always had very good health.
3. I want you to get the measurements of this room. Write down its length, breadth, and
height.
B. Pick out the collective nouns in these sentences.
Example: The team was chosen by a committee.
Answer: team, committee
1. That ship has a crew of a hundred men.
2. The audience listened in breathless silence to the singer.
3. The regiment of soldiers marched into battle.
4. The fishermen saw a big shoal of fish.
5. Men are wanted for the army, the navy and the air force.
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Countable and uncountable nouns
All common nouns can be divided into two classes: countable nouns and uncountable nouns
Countable nouns
Nouns like apples, boys, bicycles, airplanes are countable – that is to say, you can count the things they
name. You can have three bicycles, ten boys, twenty airplanes, fifty apples.
Uncountable nouns
But what about things like water, air, bread, money, wool, smoke, glass, rain? You don’t say : Count the
waters coming out of this tap or How many airs are there in this room? Or Please count these
moneys. You could, perhaps, count drops of water, slices of bread, pieces of money. The words (nouns)
drops, slices, pieces are countables, but water, bread, money are uncountables. Don’t you think you see
the difference?
The use of articles
You can use a (an) with a singular countable noun. You can’t use a (an) with uncountable
nouns.
You hardly ever use a singular countable noun without a determiner.
Glass is used for windows. (Glass is uncountable.)
I want a glass for my orange drink. (Glass is countable and it has the determiner a.)
Abstract nouns (courage, strength…) and material nouns (iron, air…) are uncountable nouns, so
they don’t have plural forms and can’t be used with a, an.
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Exercise
Arrange the nouns in the box in two columns: countable nouns in column 1 and uncountable
nouns in column 2. We have put the first two nouns in the correct columns for you.
1. Countable nouns 2. Uncountable nouns
machine gold
gold, machine, tree, silver, happiness, flower, flour, machinery, wool, spoon, milk,
electricity, tea, steam, book
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Exercise
Copy out these sentences putting a or an where necessary. Remember that only countable nouns
that are singular take a or an. Don’t put anything before a plural countable noun or an uncountable
noun.
1. That is _______ man.
2. These are _______ men.
3. _______ house can be built of _______ stone.
4. _______ cow is _______ animal.
5. _______ cows are _______ animals.
6. _______ cigarette is made of _______ tobacco and _______ paper.
7. _______ chair is made of _______ wood.
8. _______ chairs are made of _______wood.
9. _______ man must have _______air to live.
10. _______ hen can lay _______ egg.
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Measurement words
Measurement words for countable nouns
a bunch of grapes two bunches of grapes
a bunch of grapes a hand of bananas a box of eggs a basket of apple
a packet of cigarettes a box of books a bag of coins a bunch of flowers
Measurement words for uncountable nouns
a bar of soap two bars of soap
a bar of soap a block of ice a bottle of ink a bowl of rice
a drop of water a grain of sand a loaf of bread a lump of sugar
a piece of advice a piece of furniture a piece of news a piece of paper
a pool of blood a sack of cement a sheet of paper a slice of cake
a stick of chalk a sum of money a tube of toothpaste a glass of water
a cup of tea a jar of juice a kilo of meat a packet of gum
a pound of metal a can of paint a ton of garbage a box of gold
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Quantifiers for the countable and the uncountable
Countable nouns Uncountable nouns
I have
many
a few
a lot of
batteries
cookies
I have
much
a little
a lot of
water
money
Exercises
A. Fill in the blanks with “many’ or ‘much’.
1. How _______ people did you see?
2. How _______ food did they carry?
B. Fill in the blanks with “a few’ or ‘a little’.
1. Derek had _______ money. He had _______ coins and _______ notes.
2. There were _______ cows on the farm, and the farmer got _______ milk from them
every day.
3. After _______ time, Derek began to visit the animals, and after _______ days he knew all
of them well.
We use a few for people, animals or things which we can count (e.g. a few friends)
and a little for things which we cannot count (e.g. a little water).
A few and a little can be used as pronouns (e.g. “He brought some tea and gave me a
little.”), or as adjectives (e.g. “He brought me a few cakes.” and “He gave me a little tea.”).
A few is the opposite of many, and a little is the opposite of much. Both are the
opposites of a lot (of).
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Exercise
Identify one underlined word or phrase that should be corrected or rewritten.
1. There are some minor change that could be made to update this documentation.
A B C D
2. The laboratory equipments that you requested will be arriving by the end of next
A B C D
week.
3. Before working as a sales representative in our company, Frank Robert was a
A B
mechanical engineering in a large firm.
C D
4. Overseas visitor must register with the government office located on Central
A B C D
Avenue.
5. Each manager of each department is obliged to give advise to their subordinates.
A B C D
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Proofreading : Nouns
Correct the mistakes on the use of nouns.
Sometimes I wish I had proxys to take my quizzes in math. My score is average;
however, there is rooms for improvement. My scores in three other courseses –
accounting, music, and international business – are very good. For music I have
access to two pianoes – one at home and one at school – so I can practice many
houres a day. I know wishs cannot come true, so maybe I need to practice math
at home and at school also.
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Adjectives
We use an adjective with a noun to limit the meaning of the noun. The adjective qualifies the
noun. The adjective usually goes before the noun.
1. Adjectives of quality
a thin man a fat man
an old book a new book`
a heavy box a light box
a good egg a bad egg
a white rabbit a black rabbit
The words man, book, box, egg, rabbit are nouns. The words fat, thin, old, new, heavy, light, good, bad, white,
black all tell us something about these nouns. They tell us what kind of man, what kind of book,
what kind of egg, etc. They are adjectives of quality.
2. Adjectives of quantity
There are several other kinds of adjectives besides adjectives of quality. There are, for example,
adjectives that tell you “how much’ or ‘how many’.
I have two eyes.
There are twenty books on the desk.
These are called adjectives of quantity.
Much and many are also adjectives of quantity. They tell us the quantity but not so definitely as the
numbers one, two, three, etc.
Much is used with singular nouns; many with plural nouns and we almost always use them with not
or n’t.
I don’t have many friends in Cairo.
adjective noun
The adjective qualifies the noun.
thin man
two eyes
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We didn’t have much rain this morning.
There are not many apples on that tree.
I didn’t eat much breakfast this morning.
3. Demonstrative adjectives
There are also adjectives that ‘point out’ people, things, etc.
This and these are generally used for things that are near.
That and those are generally used for things that are farther away.
This and that go with singular nouns.
These and those go with plural nouns.
This car is old. (singular)
That car is old. (singular)
These cars are new. (plural)
Those cars are new. (plural)
This, that, these, those are demonstrative adjectives.
4. Interrogative adjectives
Interrogative adjectives are used with nouns to ask questions.
What book are you reading now?
What price are eggs today?
Which boy can answer this question?
Which house do you live in?
Whose house is that? Whose cat is this?
This car
What book
Did you know?
‘What’ is not always an adjective. It is an adjective when it is put before a noun.
In a sentence like “What are you reading now?” ’What’ is a pronoun.
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Exercise
Pick out the adjectives in the following and say what kind of adjective each one is.
Example: Whose car is that red Peugeot?
Answer: Whose - interrogative adjective
That - demonstrative adjective
Red - adjective of quality
1. We haven’t much time to write this long report.
2. I wish my boss would buy me that big, new car.
3. Which job do you want?
4. What price is that fax machine?
5. Those four salesmen are brothers.
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Possessive adjectives
my cat
your cat
his cat
These words (all qualifying the noun cat) are adjectives. Because they show possession, we call
them possessive adjectives. Let’s collect them and arrange them like this:
Determiners : possessive adjectives
Singular Plural
1st person my our
2nd person your your
3rd person his, her, its their
When we use a possessive adjective with a noun, the noun does not have any other determiner
(like a, an, the, this, some).
Exercise
A. In the blank spaces in the following, write first the possessive adjective and then the personal
pronoun (objective). The first one is done for you.
1. I have a book. This is my book. I have brought it with me.
2. You have a book. This is ______ book. You have brought it with _______.
3. He has a book. This is ______ book. He has brought it with _______.
4. She has a book. This is ______ book. She has brought it with _______.
5. It (the dog) has a bone. This is ______ bone. It has brought it with _______.
6. We have a book. This is ______ book. We have brought it with _______.
7. They have a book. This is ______ book. They have brought it with _______.
my cat
Did you know? In traditional grammar “my” is called “possessive pronoun, the possessive case”.
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Exercise Pick out the adjectives in the following story.
Mr. Grey was a biology professor, and he had a big collection of extremely rare bones
which he was very proud of. Then one year he managed to get a new and better job at
another university. Because Mr. Grey was very busy, his wife made the arrangements for all
their possessions to be taken in a moving van to their new home while he was away at
work.
The following week the men started taking the things out of Mrs. Grey’s house and
loading them into the van. One of the workmen brought out a large wooden box. He was
just about to throw it into the van with all the other things when Mrs. Grey ran out of the
house and said, “Please treat that box very gently! That one has all of my husband’s bones
in it.”
The man was so surprised that he nearly dropped the box on his feet.
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Comparison of adjectives
Mr Bingo is a strong man. Mr Jingo is stronger. Mr Stingo is the strongest man of the three.
Mr Bingo, Mr Jingo and Mr Stingo are all strong in different degrees, and we show that by three
different forms of the adjective : strong, stronger, the strongest.
In grammar, these three forms are called the positive degree, the comparative degree, and the
superlative degree.
A great many short adjectives form their comparative degree by adding –er, and their superlative by
adding –est to the positive.
Positive Comparative Superlative
tall taller the tallest
short shorter the shortest
quick quicker the quickest
old
older the oldest
Sometimes the last letter of the positive is doubled :
Positive Comparative Superlative
hot hotter the hottest
fat fatter the fattest
big bigger the biggest
thin
thinner the thinnest
If the positive ends in –e we only add –r and –st :
Positive Comparative Superlative
large larger the largest
fine finer
the finest
Adjectives that end in –y usually change the letter ‘y’ to –ier in the comparative and –iest in the
superlative :
Positive Comparative Superlative
pretty prettier the prettiest
happy happier the happiest
heavy heavier
the heaviest
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Comparison of long adjectives
Some adjectives form their comparative and superlative by using more and most.
This is an interesting
book.
This is a more interesting
book.
This is the most interesting
book of all.
The adjectives that do this are usually rather long words. All adjectives of three or more syllables,
e.g. ex-cit-ing, in-te-rest-ing, un-for-tu-nate, are compared like this.
Here are some more examples :
Positive Comparative Superlative
important more important the most important
dangerous more dangerous the most dangerous
valuable more valuable the most valuable
wonderful more wonderful the most wonderful
convenient more convenient
the most convenient
Irregular comparison
Unfortunately, ‘rules’ in English grammar always have ‘exceptions’, some disobedient words that
won’t obey the rules. Well, there are some ‘exceptions’ to these rules for comparison of adjectives.
Take good for example. We can’t say gooder and goodest. And we can’t say badder and baddest. We’ll
just gather these ‘disobedient’ words together.
Irregular comparatives and superlatives
Positive Comparative Superlative
good better the best
bad worse the worst
far (distance) farther the farthest
far (amount) Further
the furthest
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Look at these three ways of comparing one thing (or person) with another.
1. With the positive degree we use as before the adjective and as after it.
This stick is as long as that one.
John is not as fat as his father.
2. With the comparative we use … than after the adjective.
That stick is longer than this one.
This horse is better than that one.
This is a more comfortable chair than that chair.
3. After the superlative we often use of.
This is the best of the three knives.
But we may use a phrase that begins in, on etc.
That girl is the youngest in the class.
He’s the biggest boy on the field.
Exercise
Fill in the missing words.
1. This report is not ______ good ______ that.
2. This report is ______ best ______ the three.
3. That project is more difficult ______ this one.
4. The weather is worse today ______ it was yesterday.
5. It was not ______ bad yesterday ______ it is today.
6. Today’s weather is ______ worst ______ the week.
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Proofreading: adjectives
Correct the mistakes on the comparison of adjectives.
The happy day of my life was when I graduated from high school. My mother
stood and applauded louder than anyone else in the auditorium. I will never
forget her smile. It was the big smile that I had ever seen. She knew I had been
successfuler in high school than my older brother and she had confidence that I
would achieve greatest success after high school than my brother. My mom was
probably more happier than I on that graduation day.
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Determiners : the articles a, an, the
The determiners are a small number of words that we use with nouns. Here are most of the
determiners :
Definite article : the
Indefinite article : a, an
Demonstrative adjectives : this, that, these, those
Possessive adjectives : my, your, his, her, its, our, your, their
Determiners are often used with adjectives.
I’ve lost a big red book.
This is your big red book, isn’t it?
No. That red book isn’t as big as my book.
But determiners are never used with other determiners. You never say a this book or the my
book or my the book or each these books.
The definite article
We call a, an and the articles. The is the definite article. We use the with nouns that name:
1. people or things when the hearer or reader knows who or what we mean – when the meaning
is definite.
I have been talking to the head teacher. (We know which head teacher.)
He is going to the post office. (We know which post office.)
2. a person or thing that is the only one.
We get light from the sun and the moon.
The River Thames flows through London.
Pronounce the with an ee sound before a vowel sound: the Alps, the end, the index, the hour (we don’t
sound the h).
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The indefinite article
We call a or an the indefinite article. We use a or an with common nouns when we mention
somebody or something for the first time.
There’s a good film at the Odeon.
A man ran towards us with a knife.
If we mention the person or thing again andwe know which one, we use the.
There’s a good film at the Odeon. The film is about cowboys.
A man ran towards us with a knife. The knife was red with blood, and the man was shouting.
The difference between a and an
Common cases:
a boy an apple
a house an ear
a big egg an Indian song
a dog an orange
Special cases:
a uniform an hour
a university an honest man
a European an honor
Exercises
A. Put a or an before each of the following words:
1. cat 4. hour 7. horse
2. pen 5. telephone 8. ice-cream
3. eye 6. airplane 9. honor
B. Write a or an before these pairs of words – adjective and noun.
Example : old man, tall man, big orange
Answers: an old man, a tall man, a big orange
1. long road 6. nice egg
2. ugly man 7. hard question
3. easy answer 8. old person
4. easy question 9. young animal
5. enormous box 10. Jamaican friend
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C. Mark the determiners in this story. There are 14 of them.
We have learned the uses of ‘a, an, the’, but there are many fixed expressions that do not follow the
rules. Learners need to memorize them. The following are some examples:
In the morning (You don’t say ‘in morning’ or ‘in a morning’)
At noon (You don’t say ‘at the noon’ or ‘at a noon’)
In the evening (Not ‘in an evening’)
At midnight (Not ‘at the midnight’)
Sometimes two expressions mean the same thing :
It’s late, and I have to get over the work in a hurry = (in haste).
It is hard to read and listen to the radio at a time = (at the same time)
I think he’ll pay in the end = (at last)
The letter is full of mistakes, badly written, careless, incomplete, in short = (in a word = in
brief) quite useless.
The firemen are ready to leave the station at a moment’s notice = (at short notice)
Learners have to remember which expression has ‘a’ or ‘the’, and which doesn’t have.
A girl received a very nice ring from her boyfriend. She wore the ring to the office the
next day. Nobody noticed it. She moved her hand this way and that way, and still none
of the other girls in the office noticed the ring. At last she said, ‘It’s a very hot day, isn’t
it? I must take off my ring.’
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Exercise
Identify one underlined word or phrase that should be corrected or rewritten.
1. Anyone in need of the more office supplies should submit a request form by Friday.
A B C D
2. Cancellations must be made at least 24 hours in the advance.
A B C D
3. Because of the advice she was given and the excellent job prospects in the field, she
A B C
chose to become engineer.
D
4. Trading stocks is a excellent way for investors to make profits.
A B C D
5. Sales have greatly increased during the past year, so we will be expanding ______ profit-
sharing plan to include part-time employees.
(A) our (B) we (C) us (D) ourselves
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The order of adjectives
I want to buy a beautiful, big, new, blue, European car.
OPINION APPEARANCE AGE COLOR ORIGIN MATERIAL
good
bad
beautiful
ugly
smart
dumb
usually follows this order:
size/measure
big
small
high
low
shape
round
circular
square
condition
broken
cracked
ripped
fresh
rotten
new
antique
old
young
two-year-old
red
purple
pink
dark green
navy blue
Korean
Chinese
French
Italian
American
iron
brass
cotton
gold
wooden
vegetable
Exercise
Put the adjectives in correct order to describe the noun underlined.
1. Aunt Betty wants a coffee table. (stone, square, gray)
2. The king took a trip. (2-week, exhausting)
3. These are cookies! (chocolate chip, delicious, huge)
4. Alice prefers furniture. (leather, Italian, black)
5. Archeologists get very excited when they find bones. (animal, large, prehistoric)
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Rules to Remember
1 Use commas after each adjective except the last one (no comma between the last adjective and
the noun). For example,
Alice prefers black, Italian, leather furniture.
2 If an adjective has 2 words, do not put a comma between the words. For example,
These are delicious, huge, chocolate chip cookies!
3. Adjectives are never plural. Therefore, when the adjective contains a number and noun, the
noun associated with the number is singular.
This is a five-years plan INCORRECT
This is a five-year plan CORRECT
We welcome 4 years old children. INCORRECT
We welcome 4-year-old children. CORRECT