Demystifying French Grammar: Advanced French Grammar, Clarifying the Accents, Adjectives, Determiner

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They advised that even older children should not watch TV before bedtime. Instead, they said that parents should read to children, or children might read to themselves and with their parents. Label each verb present, past, or future. I will avoid plastic packaging as much as possible. My family turned off the lights all over the house. Toby decided to cycle to work. He eats lunch at the same time every day. Our three children will play together tomorrow. They ate lunch in the park. I collected shells on the beach.

I keep a scrapbook for each child. You will ask yourself some important questions before the election. David played the guitar in the band Neville Blues. Aidan will start school next year. The car stops at every yellow light. There is one additional consideration: That is, is the tense consistent throughout the paragraph?

Read the following paragraph, and decide if the writer was consistent. Then I gather my recent performance evaluations, and I reread them carefully to recall the list of my accomplishments. However, I still need to list accomplishments that have accrued since that evaluation. I always list higher sales, the number of sales calls, and the number of those calls that result in sales.

You probably realized that the writer was consistent in this paragraph. Some of the present tense verbs are decide, do, consult, gather, reread, and need. Now read this paragraph with the same task in mind. Is the tense consistent? Your company may not be in a position to offer you a raise.

If the company was laying people off, it is probably not a good idea to ask for a raise at this time. Asking for a substantial raise can only make you seem unrealistic and untouched by what is going on around you. Here are some verbs: Are they all in the same tense?

Clearly, the writer meant to write in the present tense, but one verb does not conform: Written Practice In the following paragraph, choose the correct verb for each sentence. Look at the following examples: The new computers save us so much time. In the second sentence, the subject is computers and it is plural, meaning there is more than one. A singular noun, such as one computer, does not have an s; but a plural noun, such as two or more computers, uses the s to show there is more than one. Now look at the verb.

One computer saves me so much time. The verb takes an s to accommodate a singular subject. With a verb, an added s means that it is singular, not plural. A desk and a chair plural subject stand plural verb—no s in the corner of the room. Two things stand in the room. A desk stands in the corner of the room. One thing stands in the room. Once again, a plural subject is followed by a verb with no s. A singular subject is followed by a verb with an s ending. Food and exercise plural subject comprise plural verb—no s an important part in any weight-loss program. The two candidates plural subject address plural verb—no s the crowd.

My son and daughter plural subject live plural verb—no s on their own now. Two cars plural subject vie plural verb—no s for that spot each morning. Written Practice For each of the following sentences, see if there is agreement in number between the subject and verb. Correct any errors in agreement. House prices changes every month. The Blake family go camping every summer.

The painter and his hired men takes time to do a very neat job. My friend, with his children in tow, take a one-mile walk each morning. Some of the advantages of bamboo fabric includes its strength and softness. Bamboo fabric also pay great dividends to the environment. As it grows, bamboo plants gives us clean air, consumes carbon dioxide, and returns oxygen to the environment. Lack of agreement between subject and verb e. We frequently hear these errors as well as see them in writing. He has some work to do on subjectverb agreement.

Your patience and consideration in waiting for their completion is very much appreciated. Please feel free to ask us about any item that is unclear to you. We look forward to working with you. Joe Hidalgo Did you see the subject-verb agreement errors in the e-mail? They occurred in the second and third sentences. Here are simple changes to correct the errors. Your patience and consideration. The subject patience and consideration is plural. You cannot use the singular is with a plural subject; you can use the plural form are. Carlos, Mark, and I, who have been assigned to this project, feel.

The subject Carlos, Mark, and I is plural. You cannot use the singular feels with a plural subject. You can use the plural form feel. A bully threatens the child. In the preceding sentence, the verb is clear: Who did the threatening? The bully, or subject, did the threatening. A singular verb threatens agrees with a singular subject bully. What happens when you add prepositional phrases, or interrupting words?

The sentence becomes more complicated, and unless you are very observant, agreement is easily lost. A bully who is in the same classes threaten the child. A bully who is in the same classes threatens the child. Some writers would be fooled by the closest word to the verb, that is, classes.

Classes is plural, so the verb must be plural: Is the word classes the subject? Do they threaten the child? Find the subject and the verb in the following example. Does the verb agree with the subject in number? What is the verb? Walk is the verb. Does the woman walk? Or do the clothes walk? Of course, the woman walks. Woman is the singular subject. That fact makes the original sentence incorrect. The following is the correct sentence: A woman in workout clothes walks into the gym.

When you are unsure if the verb should be singular or plural, use the following hint. Forget about all other elements of the sentence and do this: Today, forward-thinking organizations in this country focuses on customer service. Focuses is the singular verb.

Organizations is the plural subject. Do we have an agreement issue? The answer is yes. The phrase in this country comes between the subject and verb, and since the word country is singular, we fall into the agreement trap. In the next section of this book, you will learn much more about these prepositional phrases. Perfect Verb Tenses You have been working with verbs in the present, the past, and the future tense. Look at the verb complain: The complaining started in the past and continues into the present.

Look at one more example, using the verb prepare: I prepare three meals a day. Then identify the tense of the verb. Use the previous example sentences as your guide. I expect a raise in October. Last year I received less than the maximum. I have expected a larger raise for the past two years. I have read every document in the company. We wrote a list of safety instructions. We will implement the ideas shortly. I avoided a serious injury this time.

The spellings of these verbs change to a greater degree to indicate tense—and English has quite a few of them. I brung my lunch with me every day last week to save money. I hanged my hat on the hook. That dog will lay in the grass all day. Mike swum the entire way. The child reported that he had runned all the way home.

We usually learn the correct use of irregular verbs very naturally as we learn to speak English. For example, two of the most misused irregular verbs are lay to place and lie to recline , but if we establish some clues to their usage, it will help. Notice that the verb lay has an a in the middle and the clue word, place, is spelled with an a.

The verb lie has an i in the middle as does the clue word, recline. Those two clues will start you off correctly in the present tense. Now you need clues for the past and perfect tenses. Written Practice Choose the correct verb form for each sentence. I have never laid, lain in bed all day. Mort has swim, swum the canal each spring.

The hanger was raised, rose twenty feet to accommodate the new planes. I had payed, paid that bill long before it was due. I have swinged, swung on that gate since I was a child. We have chosen, chose a place for our wedding reception. I have drank, drunk too much at this party! The child threw, throwed a perfect strike. I had seen, seed him only one other time.

What should I do now? They may simply need to leave their new indoor toys, their computers, and the TV and went outside into open space. Many opportunities existed in the outdoors, from bike and sled riding to building snow forts. All of these activities give children the chance to use both large and small muscles and to focus on totally different tasks. QUIZ Identify and correct the errors in each of the following sentences, following the provided example. Assuming that we make the early train. If you decide on which route to take. Looking back at his childhood.

Mark and Amy runs a very organized household. Buying a new piece of clothing. If you had rode to work with us, you would have been on time. When my time on the meter ran out. Because I had written, word-processed, corrected, and approved the report. Look at the following sentence: The tennis ball hit the opponent on his head.

Part of Article Speech: The simple answer is that correct English usage depends upon it. The following examples will explain this. First, think of the pronouns he and him. The pronoun he functions as the subject of a sentence. Him functions as an object. The different function categories of pronouns are explained later in this chapter. He is the subject and hit is the verb. He hit him on the head.

He is the subject, hit is the verb, and him is the object who received the hit. As you can see in the following example, function is extremely important in choosing the correct pronoun. An object pronoun, him, cannot be used as a subject, and a subject pronoun, he, cannot be used as the object. You will have an opportunity to study the complete pronoun list and their functions later in the chapter.

For now, you just need to remember that I, he, and she are subject pronouns and that me, her, and him are object pronouns. The gift was for Michael and I. The gift was for Michael and me. Me and him are going to the movies.

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He and I are going to the movies. Written Practice Write your correction for each sentence on the lines provided. Him and me share a job. Tim and him share a job. This pizza is for Betsy and I. The argument is between Marcus and I. Tim and me are happy about the new arrangement. You have seen that subjects are either nouns or pronouns. James noun played the comical adjective part to perfection. He pronoun played the comical adjective part to perfection.

Can you simply decide to have an adjective function in place of the noun or pronoun? Comical played the James part to perfection. Comical did not play the part; James did. Interestingly, though, English words have great versatility. For example, consider the word play. How many different functions can it perform? The play takes two hours to perform. James will play the lead part. The verb will play tells what the subject will do. The children love the play area. Tom made the best play of the game. The noun play is the object of the verb made.

Now experiment with the word work. Work starts at 8 A. The verb works tells what Karra does. Karra does many hours of work each week. You should paint the room white. The paint comes in three shades of red. The salesperson gave us a paint chart from which we chose a color. Then she mixed the paint. Paint is an easy solution to a decorating problem. A comment appeared in our local newspaper. Then the losing candidate made a comment about the voting equipment.

You can nurse that bird back to health and then release it in the forest. A release regarding his decision appeared on his blog. Nouns You know nouns as words that stand for people, places, or things. People and places are easy enough to recognize: Things are easy, too: These are ideas or qualities such as honor, love, loyalty, and determination. A good rule of thumb for recognizing a noun is this: Psychologists now believe that people who get what they want are not necessarily as happy as they thought they would be.

Credit cards are a great convenience until we overspend! Check your credit at least once a year. A renowned designer of glass is Dale Chihuly. Carpet covered the entire space. Environmentalists in our area planted clams in local ponds and had great success. Verbs As you learned in Chapter 1, sentences are complete only if they contain both a subject and a verb. The verb is part of the backbone of any sentence, joining the noun or subject as one of two absolutely necessary elements of a complete sentence.

The verb gives the subject its action or expresses its state of being. The doctor suggested that I take much more calcium. The doctor is a believer in vitamin therapy. In the second sentence there is no action verb; rather, there is the linking or being verb is. In this case, it links believer to doctor. Later in this section, you will learn much more about linking or being verbs.

Written Practice Circle all the verbs—both action and linking—in each of the following sentences. The newly cleaned mirrors glitter and gleam. My house is cold in the winter. The child felt sad. I am the president of our social club. My bank will merge with a larger one. September 11, , is a date seared in most memories. A car sped down the highway. My cat caught a mouse. The moving truck lumbered on its way. What if the verb did not signal an action but worked to link the predicate the verb half of the sentence to the subject?

You can see this transformation in the following sentence: The moving truck was huge and lumbering. Now look at this example: The linking verb is the same—was. But what does it link? In fact, you can turn the sentence around and keep the same meaning: Either nouns or adjectives that link the predicate to the subject follow linking verbs. In the second sentence, grows is a linking verb that links the subject family to the adjective tired. Tired is an adjective that describes the family. Remember that each linking verb is subject to the same rules as action verbs: Here is a list of common linking verbs: In the present tense, the verb endings change.

You seem taller, also. Jethro He seems tired after all that yard work. Betsy She seems to have less back pain. Their cat It seems unable to sleep alone. Who seems the smartest in the group? Marcel and I We seem rested after our vacation. You and David You seem exhausted from your schedule. Aidan and Elias They seem able to go without sleep. You seemed taller, also.

Betsy seemed to have less back pain. Their cat seemed unable to sleep alone. Who seemed the smartest in the group? Marcel and I seemed rested after our vacation. You and David seemed exhausted from your schedule. Aidan and Elias seemed able to go without sleep. Indeed, one of them is the verb be.

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Be is more complicated than other verbs for two reasons: First, it has many different forms, depending upon tense and number am, is, are, was, were. Second, it combines with the helping words to, will, can, could, would, or should in the following ways: I would be grateful to you if you would vote for my candidate.

You should be more careful when you walk on the ice-covered streets. I can be ready at 1 P. Bess could be your greatest ally. My children wanted to be helpful. You will be expected to win. Your choice may be one word or two, depending upon the meaning of the sentence. Yesterday, the gray clouds a Pomeranian. I 35 rescheduled for sometime in June. The child expects that chair hers. As they bake, the cookies 8. Alex and Jenna always happy to eat dessert. Next year, those two my best friends. Can the linking verb be be any more complicated? Frequently, a linking verb combines with another word.

The combination, called a contraction, requires dropping a letter in the verb and replacing it with an apostrophe: She is the strongest runner I know. The i is dropped. Written Practice In the following sentences, convert the italicized words into contractions. We are more determined than you think. Here is your chance to shine. It is about time you took charge!

Ron said that you are his favorite sitter. I am your best friend. He is in our carpool, too. They are driving in front of us. It is time to go home.

The mother cat groomed its kitten. Notice that in such a case, the word not is contracted. The bird built its nest with twigs. There are two answers to that question. A playful beagle won the competition. Playful is the adjective that describes the noun, beagle. A playful, tan beagle won the competition. But adjectives may also come after the noun, as they do in the following sentence: A beagle, playful and tan, won the competition.

The commas are outside the two adjectives, and they are joined by and. Also notable is the fact that this form puts more emphasis on the adjectives. Adjectives can appear in a third place, which is after a linking verb. You will read much more about this in the section on linking verbs, but for now recall that a linking verb links to another word in the subject: The beagle is playful.

Playful, the adjective, describes the subject, beagle. Playful is linked to the subject by the linking verb is. Written Practice Circle all the adjectives in the following sentences. The smooth-haired dog is a beagle. I have a well-informed friend. Richard, tall and tan, returned from a long vacation. A sleek car arrived at the front door.

The strapping quarterback fell to the ground. His right knee was injured badly. The loud, pulsing music tore through the small space. An angry landlord rushed upstairs to complain. A friend, gesturing and smiling, left the auction. One house is near. A second house is nearer. A third house is nearest. The adjective near follows a linking verb, is, and describes the subject, house. In the third sentence, three houses are compared.

The spelling changes again: So the changes for comparisons are simple. Just add -er for a comparison of two or -est for a comparison of more than two. Describing Word soon funny loud short Comparison of Two sooner funnier louder shorter Comparison of More than Two soonest funniest loudest shortest The preceding transformations were quite simple.

The complication occurs when the adjective has more than two syllables: Most people would say these do. Describing Word good bad little size little amount much far Comparison of Two better worse smaller less more further Comparison of More than Two best worst smallest least most furthest Written Practice Correct the awkward forms in each of the following sentences. My car is valuabler than hers. Of all the grapes in the bunch, this is the worse. On the other hand, the green grapes are the goodest. This is the enormousest house in the neighborhood. In my family, I have the legiblist handwriting.

Ted is sympatheticer than Juan. That dress is the beautifulest in my closet. Adverbs Using adverbs is another way of adding interest and color to your sentences. Adverbs are frequently formed by adding -ly to an adjective. Add an -ly to the adjective sincere, and you have formed an adverb: However, not all adverbs end in -ly.

Very, almost, quite, always, and often are adverbs as well. The difference between the two is that the adverb describes a verb, an adjective, or another adverb. Adverbs usually follow the verbs they describe: The beam tilted slightly to the left. The adverb slightly describes the verb tilted. The slightly faded shirt lay on the dresser. The adverb slightly describes the adjective faded. The very slightly faded shirt could still be worn. The adverb very describes the adverb slightly. We are accustomed to changing adjectives into adverbs simply by adding -ly: That is a simple dress. Simple describes the noun dress.

I simply want to dress for the occasion. Simply describes the verb want. They keep the same spelling. The words that are often misused are fast and hard: Fast is an adverb in this sentence; it describes the verb run. Mel is a fast runner. Hard is the adverb that describes the verb runs. Mel loves hard tasks. Hard is the adjective that describes the noun tasks. Because it is an adjective, the word good describes people, places, or things—nouns. Good never describes an action. Well is the adverb form of good, so it describes an action. We heard a very well speaker Correct: We heard a very good speaker.

Chuck plays the guitar so good. Chuck plays the guitar so well. Pronouns Pronouns are small words that give people big problems. Pronouns cause some of the most common errors in English. Look back to the earlier Common Errors section for more examples: Me and Tad wait impatiently for summer. Wait is the plural verb. The pronoun me is wrong. Remember that the function of the pronoun in the sentence dictates the form you choose.

In this incorrect sentence, me is used as a part of the plural subject, but it is not a subject pronoun. How can you know that? Look at the following chart, which will solve most of your pronoun problems. Remember that function is key!

English Grammar Demystified: A Self Teaching Guide

What is the subject? It is Me and Tad. Look for the pronoun me in the previous chart. It is in the column titled Object Pronouns Receive the Action. Does the pronoun me receive the action of the verb wait? Object pronouns cannot do that. Tad and I wait impatiently for summer. Also, remember to mention yourself second. Written Practice Correct the pronoun errors in each of the following sentences. Me and my friends meet one night a month for dinner. Him and me are best friends. My boss gave he and I the same raise. Send the letter to he by express mail. That gift is from Alex and I.

However, this section serves as an excellent introduction to what is to come. Prepositions Prepositions link, or relate, nouns, pronouns, and phrases to other words in a sentence. The word or phrase the preposition introduces is called the object of the preposition. The child held the toy over her head.

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The preposition over introduces the phrase over her head. Head is the object of the preposition. You can see that the phrase over her head tells where the child held the toy, so it acts as an adverb that describes the verb held. The preposition in introduces the phrase in the boardroom. What part of speech describes a noun? An adjective does, and therefore this prepositional phrase acts as an adjective, describing a noun. We met in the boardroom. In the boardroom describes where we met. The prepositional phrase acts as an adverb, describing met.

We found termites under the porch. What does this prepositional phrase tell you? It tells you where the termites were found. The prepositional phrase describes the verb found; thus it acts as an adverb. Written Practice Find the prepositional phrase in each of the following sentences. Tell which word the prepositional phrase describes. A new bank opened in town. One bottle inside the carton was smashed. Please place the key between the doors. I opened the car door and left my coffee cup on top. Please tell me more about Larry. We heard children laugh at the park.

The new program on TV has a huge audience. They are often the source of common errors in sentences because they come between the subject and the verb. Does the verb match the subject in number? If not, correct the verb. The bottles inside the carton is all broken. The word bottles is the subject and it is plural. The verb is is a singular verb. Change the singular is to its plural form, are. The newspaper between the doors are old. The paint cans against the walls was left open. My friend, among all my classmates, are the smartest. The most exciting movies in the list is adventure movies.

Common conjunctions and, or, and but join or coordinate our thoughts. They connect words to other words: Lise and Gregor came to America a few years ago. The two parts of the subject, that is, Lise and Gregor, are connected by and. Which words are connected in the following sentences? The phrases read a book and clean the house are connected by or. The clauses before and after the comma are connected by but. For, and, nor, but, or, yet, and so all coordinate words, phrases, and clauses.

Because of their function, they are called coordinating conjunctions. There is another way of connecting equal parts of a sentence: The difference between correlative and coordinating conjunctions is CHAPTER 2 Introduction to the Parts of Speech 47 that correlative conjunctions come in pairs that relate to one another. Finally, subordinating conjunctions function to connect or link dependent and independent clauses. Zeke died a lonely man In the preceding sentences, the subordinating conjunctions are until, when, and because.

Here is a more complete list of subordinating conjunctions: Written Practice In each of the following sentences, circle the conjunctions and decide what kind it is—coordinating, correlative, or subordinating. Abby and Michael are siblings. I had to decide between having a big breakfast or saving room for lunch. Neither the new computer nor the old one is working now. Until the clock strikes 5 P. Your comment was neither funny nor helpful. Our relationship is not only warm, but also encouraging. Since the candidate addressed our issues, we voted for her. Interjections We emphasize and exclaim with interjections: Articles Articles a, an, and the point to nouns: The movie starts at 8 P.

The points to the noun movie. A fruit drink may or may not be good for your diet. A points to the noun drink. An old friend came by to visit. An points to the noun friend. The same is true of an old friend; an does not point out Harry, Lois, or Gabe, but any friend.

We often think of articles functioning as adjectives because they do what adjectives do—describe the nouns they introduce. QUIZ Find and correct the errors in the following sentences. Her and me share a healthful lunch every day. I run really good in a race. Me and Ted shares a locker at the gym. The gym gave a discount to Ted and I. Until you call me or I receive your message.

Youve broken the all-time record. My best friend visits us from time to time. She visited four times last year. She will visit us again next week. These are the simplest expressions of time, but as you read in Chapter 1, ideas are occasionally more complicated and require a different use of verbs. In Chapter 1, you learned this simple answer: You add a helping word has or have to the past tense of the verb. Take the previous example: My best friend has visited us from time to time. The verb has visited tells us that the visiting started in the past but continues in the present. I am writing business manuals for twenty years.

Remember that am is a form of be. The Tomkins owned the pharmacy for ten years and are now starting to renovate it. My friend had visited us from time to time before he moved to Seattle. Both verbs are in the past visited, moved , but the visiting took place in the past before the moving. The helping verb had makes that clear. Jackie had eaten alone before I invited him to join us. After we had bought the furniture, we had found a better sale.

Unbelievably, I had walked on that foot for days before I had realized it was broken. Only one verb should include the helping verb had. After we had bought the furniture, we found a better sale. Unbelievably, I had walked on that foot for days before I realized it was broken. Written Practice In each of the following sentences, indicate the present or past perfect tense by inserting a helping verb where needed.

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