A DESCRIPTIVE GRAMMAR of ENGLISH BY EXAMPLE

Description

. Verbs 1.1. Verbs: definition, types, forms ................................................... 6 1.2. Verbs: the present tenses .........................................................10 1.3. Verbs: expressing the future .....................................................13 1.4. Verbs: past tenses ....................................................................16 1.5. Verbs: conditional structures – if and unless ..............................19 1.6. Verbs: the infinitive ...................................................................23 1.7. Verbs: the imperative ...............................................................29 1.8. Verbs: active and passive .........................................................31 1.9. Verbs: gerunds, participles and -ing forms ................................35 1.10. Consecutive verbs - whether to use -ing or an infinitive ..........41 1.11. To be: main verb, auxiliary, or modal ......................................43 1.12. To have: main verb, auxiliary or modal ...................................49 1.13. Do and make: uses and differences ......................................54 1.14. Get and got: usage and meanings .........................................58 1.15. Modal verbs 1 - must, should, ought to ..................................61 1.16 Modal verbs 2 - can, may and might... ....................................65 1.17. Verbs of enabling & permission - allow, let, prevent etc. ..........69 1.18. Phrasal & prepositional verbs .................................................71 1.19. Irregular verbs ........................................................................76 2. The Noun phrase 2.1. Nouns : nature, usage, formation .............................................77 2.2. Noun phrases ...........................................................................84 2.3. Count and non-count nouns .....................................................86 2.4. Pronouns 1: Personal pronouns and indefinite pronouns...........89 Pronouns 2: Relative pronouns ............................................93 Pronouns 3: Demonstrative pronouns ..................................97 2.5. Articles ................................................................................... 101 2.6. Quantifiers - some, any, no .................................................... 103 Other Quantifiers - many, few each, all, enough etc. ........... 106 5 2.7. Numbers and counting ........................................................... 116 Numbers: ordinals .............................................................. 120 Numbers: fractions, decimals ............................................. 122 2.8. Possession ............................................................................. 124 2.9. Adjectives in English, formation, use, ordering ........................ 128 3. Other parts of speech 3.1. Adverbs in English .................................................................. 136 3.2. Prepositions ........................................................................... 140 3.3. Conjunctions and connectors .................................................. 145 4. Sentences and clauses 4.1. Word order in statements ........................................................ 156 4.2. Word order in questions .......................................................... 159 4.3. Reported questions ................................................................. 161 4.4. Tag questions .......................................................................... 165 4.5. Negatve structures .................................................................. 169 4.6. Relative clauses ...................................................................... 173 4.7. Punctuation ............................................................................. 180 4.8. Language and style ................................................................. 186 5. Glossary of essential grammar terms .............................. 190