P.O.S

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English Parts of Speech

There are thousands of words in any language. But not all words have the same job. For example, some words express "action". Other words express a "thing". Other words "join" one word to another word. These are the "building blocks" of the language. Think of them like the parts of a house. When we want to build a house, we use concrete to make the foundations or base. We use bricks to make the walls. We use window frames to make the windows, and door frames to make the doorways. And we use cement to join them all together. Each part of the house has its own job. And when we want to build a sentence, we use the different types of word. Each type of word has its own job.

We can categorize English words into 8 basic types or classes. These classes are called "parts of speech".

Some grammar books categorize English into 9 or 10 parts of speech. At EnglishClub, we use the traditional categorization of 8 parts of speech.

It's quite important to recognize parts of speech. This helps you to analyze sentences and understand them. It also helps you to construct good sentences.

Parts of Speech Table

This is a summary of the 8 parts of speech*. You can find more detail if you click on each part of speech.

part of speech	function or "job"	example words	example sentences
Verb	action or state	(to) be, have, do, like, work, sing, can, must	EnglishClub.com is a web site. Ilike EnglishClub.com.
Noun	thing or person	pen, dog, work, music, town, London, teacher, John	This is my dog. He lives in myhouse. We live in London.
Adjective	describes a noun	a/an, the, 69, some, good, big, red, well, interesting	My dog is big. I like big dogs.
Adverb	describes a verb, adjective or adverb	quickly, silently, well, badly, very, really	My dog eats quickly. When he isvery hungry, he eats reallyquickly.
Pronoun	replaces a noun	I, you, he, she, some	Tara is Indian. She is beautiful.
Preposition	links a noun to another word	to, at, after, on, but	We went to school on Monday.
Conjunction	joins clauses or sentences or words	and, but, when	I like dogs and I like cats. I like cats and dogs. I like dogs but I don't like cats.
Interjection	short exclamation, sometimes inserted into a sentence	oh!, ouch!, hi!, well	Ouch! That hurts! Hi! How are you? Well, I don't know.

* Some grammar sources categorize English into 9 or 10 parts of speech. At EnglishClub.com, we use the traditional categorization of 8 parts of speech. Examples of other categorizations are:

• Verbs may be treated as two different parts of speech:
  • Lexical Verbs (work, like, run)
  • Auxiliary Verbs (be, have, must)
• Determiners may be treated as a separate part of speech, instead of being categorized under Adjectives

Parts of Speech Examples

Here are some sentences made with different English parts of speech:

verb Stop!

noun verb John works.

noun verb verb John is working.

pronoun verb noun She loves animals.

noun verb adjective noun Animals like kind people.

noun verb noun adverb Tara speaks English well.

noun verb adjective noun Tara speaks good English.

pronoun	verb	preposition	adjective	noun	adverb
She	ran	to	the	station	quickly.

pron.	verb	adj.	noun	conjunction	pron.	verb	pron.
She	likes	big	snakes	but	I	hate	them.

Here is a sentence that contains every part of speech:

interjection	pron.	conj.	adj.	noun	verb	prep.	noun	adverb
Well,	she	and	young	John	walk	to	school	slowly.

Words with More than One Job

Many words in English can have more than one job, or be more than one part of speech. For example, "work" can be a verb and a noun; "but" can be a conjunction and a preposition; "well" can be an adjective, an adverb and an interjection. In addition, many nouns can act as adjectives.

To analyze the part of speech, ask yourself: "What job is this word doing in this sentence?"

In the table below you can see a few examples. Of course, there are more, even for some of the words in the table. In fact, if you look in a good dictionary you will see that the word "but" has six jobs to do:

• verb, noun, adverb, pronoun, preposition and conjuction!

word	part of speech	example
work	noun	My work is easy.
	verb	I work in London.
but	conjunction	John came but Mary didn't come.
	preposition	Everyone came but Mary.
well	adjective	Are you well?
	adverb	She speaks well.
	interjection	Well! That's expensive!
afternoon	noun	We ate in the afternoon.
	noun acting as adjective	We had afternoon tea.

Parts of Speech Quiz

1	I bought a beautiful  adverb preposition adjective noun  dress at the mall.	Click for answer adjective
2	What did she  verb conjunction preposition pronoun  ask you to do?	Click for answer pronoun
3	I left my shoes under  adverb adjective preposition pronoun  the kitchen table.	Click for answer preposition
4	If we finish our work quickly  adjective adverb conjunction verb  we can go to the movies.	Click for answer adverb
5	On Saturdays I work  noun verb preposition adverb  from nine to five.	Click for answer verb
6	I want to go to a university  verb adjective preposition noun  in the United States.	Click for answer noun
7	I'm sure I have met  noun verb preposition interjection  your girlfriend before.	Click for answer verb
8	Well,  conjunction interjection preposition pronoun  I don't think I will be here to answer the phone.	Click for answer interjection
9	Andy knocked on the door but  pronoun adverb adjective conjunction  nobody answered.	Click for answer conjunction
10	After  adverb pronoun preposition verb  lunch let's go out for a coffee.	Click for answer preposition

Verbs

What are Verbs?

The verb is king in English. The shortest sentence contains a verb. You can make a one-word sentence with a verb, for example: "Stop!" You cannot make a one-word sentence with any other type of word.

Verbs are sometimes described as "action words". This is partly true. Many verbs give the idea of action, of "doing" something. For example, words like run, fight, do and work all convey action.

But some verbs do not give the idea of action; they give the idea of existence, of state, of "being". For example, verbs like be, exist, seem and belong all convey state.

A verb always has a subject. (In the sentence "John speaks English", John is the subject and speaks is the verb.) In simple terms, therefore, we can say that verbs are words that tell us what a subject doesor is; they describe:

• action (Ram plays football.)
• state (Anthony seems kind.)

There is something very special about verbs in English. Most other words (adjectives, adverbs, prepositions etc) do not change in form (although nouns can have singular and plural forms). But almost all verbs change in form. For example, the verb to work has five forms:

• to work, work, works, worked, working

Of course, this is still very few forms compared to some languages which may have thirty or more forms for a single verb.

Verb Classification

We divide verbs into two broad classifications:

1. Helping Verbs

Imagine that a stranger walks into your room and says:

• I can.
• People must.
• The Earth will.

Do you understand anything? Has this person communicated anything to you? Probably not! That's because these verbs are helping verbs and have no meaning on their own. They are necessary for the grammatical structure of the sentence, but they do not tell us very much alone. We usually use helping verbs with main verbs. They "help" the main verb. (The sentences in the above examples are therefore incomplete. They need at least a main verb to complete them.) There are only about 15 helping verbs.

2. Main Verbs

Now imagine that the same stranger walks into your room and says:

• I teach.
• People eat.
• The Earth rotates.

Do you understand something? Has this person communicated something to you? Probably yes! Not a lot, but something. That's because these verbs are main verbs and have meaning on their own. They tell us something. Of course, there are thousands of main verbs.

In the following table we see example sentences with helping verbs and main verbs. Notice that all of these sentences have a main verb. Only some of them have a helping verb.

	helping verb		main verb
John			likes	coffee.
You			lied	to me.
They			are	happy.
The children	are		playing.
We	must		go	now.
I	do	not	want	any.

Helping verbs and main verbs can be further sub-divided, as we shall see on the following pages

Helping Verbs

Helping verbs are also called "auxiliary verbs".

Helping verbs have no meaning on their own. They are necessary for the grammatical structure of a sentence, but they do not tell us very much alone. We usually use helping verbs with main verbs. They "help" the main verb (which has the real meaning). There are only about 15 helping verbs in English, and we divide them into two basic groups:

Primary helping verbs (3 verbs)

These are the verbs be, do, and have. Note that we can use these three verbs as helping verbs or as main verbs. On this page we talk about them as helping verbs. We use them in the following cases:

• be
  • to make continuous tenses (He is watching TV.)
  • to make the passive (Small fish are eaten by big fish.)
  
  
  
  
• have
  • to make perfect tenses (I have finished my homework.)
  
  
  
  
• do
  • to make negatives (I do not like you.)
  • to ask questions (Do you want some coffee?)
  • to show emphasis (I do want you to pass your exam.)
  • to stand for a main verb in some constructions (He speaks faster than she does.)

Modal helping verbs (10 verbs)

We use modal helping verbs to "modify" the meaning of the main verb in some way. A modal helping verb expresses necessity or possibility, and changes the main verb in that sense. These are the modal verbs:

• can, could
• may, might
• will, would,
• shall, should
• must
• ought to

Here are examples using modal verbs:

• I can't speak Chinese.
• John may arrive late.
• Would you like a cup of coffee?
• You should see a doctor.
• I really must go now.

Semi-modal verbs (3 verbs)

The following verbs are often called "semi-modals" because they are partly like modal helping verbs and partly like main verbs:

• need
• dare
• used to

Main Verbs

Main verbs are also called "lexical verbs".

Main verbs have meaning on their own (unlike helping verbs). There are thousands of main verbs, and we can classify them in several ways:

Transitive and intransitive verbs

A transitive verb takes a direct object: Somebody killed the President. An intransitive verb does not have a direct object: He died. Many verbs, like speak, can be transitive or intransitive. Look at these examples:

transitive:

• I saw an elephant.
• We are watching TV.
• He speaks English.

intransitive:

• He has arrived.
• John goes to school.
• She speaks fast.

Linking verbs

A linking verb does not have much meaning in itself. It "links" the subject to what is said about the subject. Usually, a linking verb shows equality (=) or a change to a different state or place (>). Linking verbs are always intransitive (but not all intransitive verbs are linking verbs).

• Mary is a teacher. (mary = teacher)
• Tara is beautiful. (tara = beautiful)
• That sounds interesting. (that = interesting)
• The sky became dark. (the sky > dark)
• The bread has gone bad. (bread > bad)

Dynamic and stative verbs

Some verbs describe action. They are called "dynamic", and can be used with continuous tenses. Other verbs describe state (non-action, a situation). They are called "stative", and cannot normally be used with continuous tenses (though some of them can be used with continuous tenses with a change in meaning).

dynamic verbs (examples):

• hit, explode, fight, run, go

stative verbs (examples):

• be
• like, love, prefer, wish
• impress, please, surprise
• hear, see, sound
• belong to, consist of, contain, include, need
• appear, resemble, seem

Regular and irregular verbs

This is more a question of vocabulary than of grammar. The only real difference between regular and irregular verbs is that they have different endings for their past tense and past participle forms. For regular verbs, the past tense ending and past participle ending is always the same: -ed. For irregular verbs, the past tense ending and the past participle ending is variable, so it is necessary to learn them by heart.

regular verbs: base, past tense, past participle

• look, looked, looked
• work, worked, worked

irregular verbs: base, past tense, past participle

• buy, bought, bought
• cut, cut, cut
• do, did, done

One way to think of regular and irregular verbs is like this: all verbs are irregular and the so-called regular verbs are simply one very large group of irregular verbs.

Often the above divisions can be mixed. For example, one verb could be irregular, transitive and dynamic; another verb could be regular, transitive and stative.

Verb Classification Quiz

1	The grocery clerk will  helping main  carry your bags out for you.	Click for answer helping
2	The mail arrived  transitive intransitive  after I left.	Click for answer intransitive
3	I have already done  regular irregular  my homework.	Click for answer irregular
4	That book you recommended sounds  linking transitive  interesting.	Click for answer linking
5	I prefer  dynamic stative  cream rather than milk.	Click for answer stative
6	Jerry studies  helping main  for three hours every day.	Click for answer main
7	We looked  regular irregular  at all of the art in the museum.	Click for answer regular
8	Would you take  transitive intransitive  a picture for us?	Click for answer transitive
9	I don't want to fight  dynamic stative  about who gets the car.	Click for answer dynamic
10	She seemed  active stative  like an interesting person.	Click for answer stative

Nouns

What are Nouns?

The simple definition is: a person, place or thing. Here are some examples:

• person: man, woman, teacher, John, Mary
• place: home, office, town, countryside, America
• thing: table, car, banana, money, music, love, dog, monkey

The problem with this definition is that it does not explain why "love" is a noun but can also be a verb.

Another (more complicated) way of recognizing a noun is by its:

1. Ending
2. Position
3. Function

1. Noun Ending

There are certain word endings that show that a word is a noun, for example:

• -ity > nationality
• -ment > appointment
• -ness > happiness
• -ation > relation
• -hood > childhood

But this is not true for the word endings of all nouns. For example, the noun "spoonful" ends in -ful, but the adjective "careful" also ends in -ful.

2. Position in Sentence

We can often recognise a noun by its position in the sentence.

Nouns often come after a determiner (a determiner is a word like a, an, the, this, my, such):

• a relief
• an afternoon
• the doctor
• this word
• my house
• such stupidity

Nouns often come after one or more adjectives:

• a great relief
• a peaceful afternoon
• the tall, Indian doctor
• this difficult word
• my brown and white house
• such crass stupidity

3. Function in a Sentence

Nouns have certain functions (jobs) in a sentence, for example:

• subject of verb: Doctors work hard.
• object of verb: He likes coffee.
• subject and object of verb: Teachers teach students.

But the subject or object of a sentence is not always a noun. It could be a pronoun or a phrase. In the sentence "My doctor works hard", the noun is "doctor" but the subject is "My doctor".

Countable and Uncountable Nouns

English nouns are often described as "countable" or "uncountable".

Countable Nouns

Countable nouns are easy to recognize. They are things that we can count. For example: "pen". We can count pens. We can have one, two, three or more pens. Here are some more countable nouns:

• dog, cat, animal, man, person
• bottle, box, litre
• coin, note, dollar
• cup, plate, fork
• table, chair, suitcase, bag

Countable nouns can be singular or plural:

• My dog is playing.
• My dogs are hungry.

We can use the indefinite article a/an with countable nouns:

• A dog is an animal.

When a countable noun is singular, we must use a word like a/the/my/this with it:

• I want an orange. (not I want orange.)
• Where is my bottle? (not Where is bottle?)

When a countable noun is plural, we can use it alone:

• I like oranges.
• Bottles can break.

We can use some and any with countable nouns:

• I've got some dollars.
• Have you got any pens?

We can use a few and many with countable nouns:

• I've got a few dollars.
• I haven't got many pens.

"People" is countable. "People" is the plural of "person". We can count people:

• There is one person here.
• There are three people here.

Uncountable Nouns

Uncountable nouns are substances, concepts etc that we cannot divide into separate elements. We cannot "count" them. For example, we cannot count "milk". We can count "bottles of milk" or "litres of milk", but we cannot count "milk" itself. Here are some more uncountable nouns:

• music, art, love, happiness
• advice, information, news
• furniture, luggage
• rice, sugar, butter, water
• electricity, gas, power
• money, currency

We usually treat uncountable nouns as singular. We use a singular verb. For example:

• This news is very important.
• Your luggage looks heavy.

We do not usually use the indefinite article a/an with uncountable nouns. We cannot say "an information" or "a music". But we can say a something of:

• a piece of news
• a bottle of water
• a grain of rice

We can use some and any with uncountable nouns:

• I've got some money.
• Have you got any rice?

We can use a little and much with uncountable nouns:

• I've got a little money.
• I haven't got much rice.

Uncountable nouns are also called "mass nouns".

Here are some more examples of countable and uncountable nouns:

Countable	Uncountable
dollar	money
song	music
suitcase	luggage
table	furniture
battery	electricity
bottle	wine
report	information
tip	advice
journey	travel
job	work
view	scenery

When you learn a new word, it's a good idea to learn whether it's countable or uncountable.

Nouns that can be Countable and Uncountable

Sometimes, the same noun can be countable and uncountable, often with a change of meaning.

Countable		Uncountable
There are two hairs in my coffee!	hair	I don't have much hair.
There are two lights in our bedroom.	light	Close the curtain. There's too much light!
Shhhhh! I thought I heard a noise. There are so many different noises in the city.	noise	It's difficult to work when there is too much noise.
Have you got a paper to read? (newspaper) Hand me those student papers.	paper	I want to draw a picture. Have you got some paper?
Our house has seven rooms.	room	Is there room for me to sit here?
We had a great time at the party. How many times have I told you no?	time	Have you got time for a coffee?
Macbeth is one of Shakespeare's greatest works.	work	I have no money. I need work!

Drinks (coffee, water, orange juice) are usually uncountable. But if we are thinking of a cup or a glass, we can say (in a restaurant, for example):

• Two teas and one coffee please.

Proper Nouns (Names)

A proper noun is the special word (or name) that we use for a person, place or organization, like John, Marie, London, France or Sony. A name is a noun, but a very special noun - a proper noun. Proper nouns have special rules.

common noun	proper noun
man, boy	John
woman, girl	Mary
country, town	England, London
company	Ford, Sony
shop, restaurant	Maceys, McDonalds
month, day of the week	January, Sunday
book, film	War & Peace, Titanic

Using Capital Letters with Proper Nouns

We always use a Capital Letter for the first letter of a proper noun (name). This includes names of people, places, companies, days of the week and months. For example:

• They like John. (not *They like john.)
• I live in England.
• She works for Sony.
• The last day in January is a Monday.
• We saw Titanic in the Odeon Cinema.

Proper Nouns without THE

We do not use "the" with names of people. For example:

first names	Bill (not *the Bill)
	Hilary
surnames	Clinton
	Gates
full names	Hilary Gates

We do not normally use "the" with names of companies. For example:

• Renault, Ford, Sony, EnglishClub.com
• General Motors, Air France, British Airways
• Warner Brothers, Brown & Son Ltd

If the full (registered) name of a company starts with "The", then we use "The" if we use the full name, for example:

• The Post Publishing Public Co., Ltd

We do not normally use "the" for shops, banks, hotels etc named after a founder or other person (with -'s or -s). For example:

shops	Harrods, Marks & Spencer, Maceys
banks	Barclays Bank
hotels, restaurants	Steve's Hotel, Joe's Cafe, McDonalds
churches, cathedrals	St John's Church, St Peter's Cathedral

We do not normally use "the" with names of places. For example:

towns	Washington (not *the Washington), Paris, Tokyo
states, regions	Texas, Kent, Eastern Europe
countries	England, Italy, Brazil
continents	Asia, Europe, North America
islands	Corsica
mountains	Everest

Exception! If a country name includes "States","Kingdom", "Republic" etc, we use "the":

states	the United States, the US, the United States of America, the USA
kingdom	the United Kingdom, the UK
republic	the French Republic

We do not use "the" with "President/Doctor/Mr etc + Name":

the president, the king	President Bush (not *the President Bush)
the captain, the detective	Captain Kirk, Detective Colombo
the doctor, the professor	Doctor Well, Dr Well, Professor Dolittle
my uncle, your aunt	Uncle Jack, Aunt Jill
	Mr Gates (not *the Mr Gates), Mrs Clinton, Miss Black

Look at these example sentences:

• I wanted to speak to the doctor.
• I wanted to speak to Doctor Brown.
• Who was the president before President Kennedy?

We do not use "the" with "Lake/Mount + Name":

the lake	Lake Victoria
the mount	Mount Everest

Look at this example sentence:

• We live beside Lake Victoria. We have a fantastic view across the lake.

We do not normally use "the" for roads, streets, squares, parks etc:

streets etc	Oxford Street, Trenholme Road, Fifth Avenue
squares etc	Trafalgar Square, Oundle Place, Piccadilly Circus
parks etc	Central Park, Kew Gardens

Many big, important buildings have names made of two words (for example, Kennedy Airport). If the first word is the name of a person or place, we do not normally use "the":

people	Kennedy Airport, Alexander Palace, St Paul's Cathedral
places	Heathrow Airport, Waterloo Station, Edinburgh Castle

Proper Nouns with THE

We normally use "the" for country names that include "States","Kingdom", "Republic" etc:

States	the United States of America/the USA
Kingdom	the United Kingdom/the UK
Republic	the French Republic

We normally use "the" for names of canals, rivers, seas and oceans:

canals	the Suez Canal
rivers	the River Nile, the Nile
seas	the Mediterranean Sea, the Mediterranean
oceans	the Pacific Ocean, the Pacific

We normally use "the" for plural names of people and places:

people (families, for example)	the Clintons
countries	the Philippines, the United States
island groups	the Virgin Islands, the British Isles
mountain ranges	the Himalayas, the Alps

Look at these sentences:

• I saw the Clintons today. It was Bill's birthday.
• Trinidad is the largest island in the West Indies.
• Mount Everest is in the Himalayas.

We normally use "the" with the following sorts of names:

hotels, restaurants	the Ritz Hotel, the Peking Restaurant
banks	the National Westminster Bank
cinemas, theatres	the Royal Theatre, the ABC Cinema
museums	the British Museum, the National Gallery
buildings	the White House, the Crystal Palace
newspapers	the Daily Telegraph, the Sunday Post
organisations	the United Nations, the BBC, the European Union

We normally use "the" for names made with "of":

• the Tower of London
• the Gulf of Siam
• the Tropic of Cancer
• the London School of Economics
• the Bank of France
• the Statue of Liberty

Proper Nouns Quiz

1	Let's have lunch at McDonalds  proper noun common noun .	Click for answer proper noun
2	There are 12 months  proper noun common noun  in a year.	Click for answer common noun
3	My favourite movie is Greece  proper noun common noun .	Click for answer proper noun
4	Lisa works as a programmer at Microsoft  proper noun common noun .	Click for answer proper noun
5	I live in a small town  proper noun common noun  in England.	Click for answer common noun
6	My cousin lives in  the USA USA .	Click for answer the USA
7	I want to visit  the Asia Asia  when I finish school.	Click for answer Asia
8	Call me when you arrive at  hotel the hotel .	Click for answer the hotel
9	I have a check-up with  the Dr. Smith Dr. Smith  on Friday.	Click for answer Dr. Smith
10	We saw whales in  Pacific the Pacific  Ocean.	Click for answer the Pacific

Possessive 's

When we want to show that something belongs to somebody or something, we usually add 's to a singular noun and an apostrophe ' to a plural noun, for example:

• the boy's ball (one boy)
• the boys' ball (two or more boys)

Notice that the number of balls does not matter. The structure is influenced by the possessor and not the possessed.

	one ball	more than one ball
one boy	the boy's ball	the boy's balls
more than one boy	the boys' ball	the boys' balls

The structure can be used for a whole phrase:

• the man next door's mother (the mother of the man next door)
• the Queen of England's poodles (the poodles of the Queen of England)

Although we can use of to show possession, it is more usual to use possessive 's. The following phrases have the same meaning, but #2 is more usual and natural:

1. the boyfriend of my sister
2. my sister's boyfriend

Proper Nouns (Names)

We very often use possessive 's with names:

• This is Mary's car.
• Where is Ram's telephone?
• Who took Anthony's pen?
• I like Tara's hair.

When a name ends in s, we usually treat it like any other singular noun, and add 's:

• This is Charles's chair.

But it is possible (especially with older, classical names) to just add the apostrophe ':

• Who was Jesus' father?

Irregular Plurals

Some nouns have irregular plural forms without s (man > men). To show possession, we usually add 'sto the plural form of these nouns:

singular noun	plural noun
my child's dog	my children's dog
the man's work	the men's work
the mouse's cage	the mice's cage
a person's clothes	people's clothes

Noun as Adjective

As you know, a noun is a person, place or thing, and an adjective is a word that describes a noun:

adjective	noun
clever	teacher
small	office
black	horse

Sometimes we use a noun to describe another noun. In that case, the first noun "acts as" an adjective.

noun as adjective	noun
history	teacher
ticket	office
race	horse

The "noun as adjective" always comes first

If you remember this it will help you to understand what is being talked about:

• a race horse is a horse that runs in races
• a horse race is a race for horses
• a boat race is a race for boats
• a love story is a story about love
• a war story is a story about war
• a tennis ball is a ball for playing tennis
• tennis shoes are shoes for playing tennis
• a computer exhibition is an exhibition of computers
• a bicycle shop is a shop that sells bicycles

The "noun as adjective" is singular

Just like a real adjective, the "noun as adjective" is invariable. It is usually in the singular form.

Right		Wrong
boat race	boat races	NOT boats race, boats races
toothbrush	toothbrushes	NOT teethbrush, teethbrushes
shoe-lace	shoe-laces	NOT shoes-lace, shoes-laces
cigarette packet	cigarette packets	NOT cigarettes packet, cigarettes packets

In other words, if there is a plural it is on the real noun only.

A few nouns look plural but we usually treat them as singular (for example news, billiards, athletics). When we use these nouns "as adjectives" they are unchanged:

• a news reporter, three news reporters
• one billiards table, four billiards tables
• an athletics trainer, fifty athletics trainers

Exceptions:

When we use certain nouns "as adjectives" (clothes, sports, customs, accounts, arms), we use them in the plural form:

• clothes shop, clothes shops
• sports club, sports clubs
• customs duty, customs duties
• accounts department, accounts departments
• arms production

How do we write the "noun as adjective"?

We write the "noun as adjective" and the real noun in several different ways:

• two separate words (car door)
• two hyphenated words (book-case)
• one word (bathroom)

There are no easy rules for this. We even write some combinations in two or all three different ways: (head master, head-master, headmaster)

How do we say the "noun as adjective"?

For pronunciation, we usually stress the first word:

• shoe shop
• boat-race
• bathroom

Can we have more than one "noun as adjective"?

Yes. Just like adjectives, we often use more than one "noun as adjective" together. Look at these examples:

car production costs: we are talking about the costs of producing cars

noun as adjective	noun as adjective	noun
		costs
	production	costs
car	production	costs

England football team coach: we are talking about the coach who trains the team that plays football for England

noun as adjective	noun as adjective	noun as adjective	noun
			coach
		team	coach
	football	team	coach
England	football	team	coach

Note: in England football team coach can you see a "hidden" "noun as adjective"? Look at the word "football" (foot-ball). These two nouns (foot+ball) have developed into a single noun (football). This is one way that words evolve. Many word combinations that use a "noun as adjective" are regarded as nouns in their own right, with their own dictionary definition. But not all dictionaries agree with each other. For example, some dictionaries list "tennis ball" as a noun and other dictionaries do not.

government road accident research centre: we are talking about a centre that researches into accidents on the road for the government

noun as adjective	noun as adjective	noun as adjective	noun as adjective	noun
				centre
			research	centre
		accident	research	centre
	road	accident	research	centre
government	road	accident	research	centre

Newpapers often use many nouns together in headlines to save space. Look at this example:

BIRD HEALTH RESEARCH CENTRE MURDER MYSTERY

To understand headlines like these, try reading them backwards. The above headline is about a MYSTERY concerning a MURDER in a CENTRE for RESEARCH into the HEALTH of BIRDS.

Note, too, that we can still use a real adjective to qualify a "noun as adjective" structure:

• empty coffee jar
• honest car salesman
• delicious dog food
• rising car production costs
• famous England football team coach

Compound Nouns

A compound noun is a noun that is made with two or more words. A compound noun is usually [noun + noun] or [adjective + noun], but there are other combinations (see below). It is important to understand and recognize compound nouns. Each compound noun acts as a single unit and can be modified by adjectives and other nouns.

There are three forms for compound nouns:

1. open or spaced - space between words (tennis shoe)
2. hyphenated - hyphen between words (six-pack)
3. closed or solid - no space or hyphen between words (bedroom)

Here are some examples of compound nouns:

noun	+	noun	bus stop	Is this the bus stop for the number 12 bus?
			fire-fly	In the tropics you can see fire-flies at night.
			football	Shall we play football today?
adjective	+	noun	full moon	I always feel crazy at full moon.
			blackboard	Clean the blackboard please.
			software	I can't install this software on my PC.
verb(-ing)	+	noun	breakfast	We always eat breakfast at 8am.
			washing machine	Put the clothes in the red washing machine.
			swimming pool	What a beautiful swimming pool!
noun	+	verb(-ing)	sunrise	I like to get up at sunrise.
			haircut	You need a haircut.
			train-spotting	His hobby is train-spotting.
verb	+	preposition	check-out	Please remember that check-out is at 12 noon.
noun	+	prepositional phrase	mother-in-law	My mother-in-law lives with us.
preposition	+	noun	underworld	Do you think the police accept money from theunderworld?
noun	+	adjective	truckful	We need 10 truckfuls of bricks.

Pronunciation

Compound nouns tend to have more stress on the first word. In the phrase "pink ball", both words are equally stressed (as you know, adjectives and nouns are always stressed). In the compound noun "golf ball", the first word is stressed more (even though both words are nouns, and nouns are always stressed). Since "golf ball" is a compound noun we consider it as a single noun and so it has a single main stress - on the first word. Stress is important in compound nouns. For example, it helps us know if somebody said "a GREEN HOUSE" (a house which is painted green) or "a GREENhouse" (a building made of glass for growing plants inside).

British/American differences

Different varieties of English, and even different writers, may use the open, hyphenated or closed form for the same compound noun. It is partly a matter of style. There are no definite rules. For example we can find:

• container ship
• container-ship
• containership

If you are not sure which form to use, please check in a good dictionary.

Plural forms of compound nouns

In general we make the plural of a compound noun by adding -s to the "base word" (the most "significant" word). Look at these examples:

singular	plural
a tennis shoe	three tennis shoes
one assistant headmaster	five assistant headmasters
the sergeant major	some sergeants major
a mother-in-law	two mothers-in-law
an assistant secretary of state	three assistant secretaries of state
my toothbrush	our toothbrushes
a woman-doctor	four women-doctors
a doctor of philosophy	two doctors of philosophy
a passerby, a passer-by	two passersby, two passers-by

Note that there is some variation with words like spoonful or truckful. The old style was to say spoonsful or trucksful for the plural. Today it is more usual to say spoonfuls or truckfuls. Both the old style (spoonsful) and the new style (spoonfuls) are normally acceptable, but you should be consistent in your choice. Here are some examples:

	old style plural (very formal)	new style plural
teaspoonful	3 teaspoonsful of sugar	3 teasponfuls of sugar
truckful	5 trucksful of sand	5 truckfuls of sand
bucketful	2 bucketsful of water	2 bucketfuls of water
cupful	4 cupsful of rice	4 cupfuls of rice

Some compound nouns have no obvious base word and you may need to consult a dictionary to find the plural:

• higher-ups
• also-rans
• go-betweens
• has-beens
• good-for-nothings
• grown-ups

Note that with compound nouns made of [noun + noun] the first noun is like an adjective and therefore does not usually take an -s. A tree that has apples has many apples, but we say an apple tree, notapples tree; matchbox not matchesbox; toothbrush not teethbrush.

With compound nouns made of [noun + noun] the second noun takes an -s for plural. The first noun acts like an adjective and as you know, adjectives in English are invariable. Look at these examples:

long plural form becomes ›	plural compound noun [noun + noun]
100 trees with apples	100 apple trees
1,000 cables for telephones	1,000 telephone cables
20 boxes for tools	20 tool boxes
10 stops for buses	10 bus stops
4,000 wheels for cars	4,000 car wheels

Compound noun quiz

Using compound nouns, can you shorten the following phrases?

1.	a room for stores		click for answer..............................         a storeroom
2.	a tape for measuring up to 300 cms		click for answer..............................         a 300-cm tape measure
3.	the assistant manager of the restaurant		click for answer..............................         the assistant restaurant manager
4.	a station for express trains		click for answer..............................         an express-train station
5.	size of cables		click for answer..............................         cable size
6.	reduction in cost		click for answer..............................         cost reduction
7.	two periods of three months		click for answer..............................         two three-month periods
8.	plugs with 3 pins		click for answer..............................         3-pin plugs
9.	two steel boxes for the tools		click for answer..............................         two steel toolboxes
10.	the husband of my daughter		click for answer..............................         my son-in-law

Determiners

Determiners are words like the, an, my, some. They are grammatically similar. They all come at the beginning of noun phrases, and usually we cannot use more than one determiner in the same noun phrase.

Articles:

• a, an, the

Possessive Adjectives:

• my, your, his, her, its, our, their, whose

Other determiners:

• each, every
• either, neither
• some, any, no
• much, many; more, most
• little, less, least
• few, fewer, fewest
• what, whatever; which, whichever
• both, half, all
• several
• enough

Some grammarians do not consider determiners as adjectives, but give them a class of their own.

Determiners Quiz

1	Lisa saw  a an the  shooting star yesterday.	Click for answer a
2	Don't look directly at  a an the  sun.	Click for answer the
3	Is there any milk left in  a an the  fridge?	Click for answer the
4	I need to pack  a an the  apple for my lunch.	Click for answer an
5	The dogs were  each any every  given a bone.	Click for answer each
6	The police spoke separately to  every each some  suspect.	Click for answer each
7	She was wearing a bracelet on  each any every  wrist.	Click for answer each
8	She got her license without  some any every  problem.	Click for answer any
9	I don't think  everybody any anybody  is coming to the party, except Judy and Stan.	Click for answer anybody
10	I always keep  any every some  money in my wallet for emergencies.	Click for answer some

Adjective Order

There are 2 basic positions for adjectives:

1. before the noun
2. after certain verbs (be, become, get, seem, look, feel, sound, smell, taste)

		adj.	noun	verb	adj.
1	I like	big	cars.
2			My car	is	big.

In this lesson we look at the position of adjectives in a sentence.

Adjective Before Noun

We sometimes use more than one adjective before the noun:

• I like big black dogs.
• She was wearing a beautiful long red dress.

What is the correct order for two or more adjectives?

1. The general order is: opinion, fact:

• a nice French car (not a French nice car)

("Opinion" is what you think about something. "Fact" is what is definitely true about something.)

2. The normal order for fact adjectives is size, age, shape, colour, material, origin:

• a big, old, square, black, wooden Chinese table

3. Determiners usually come first, even though they are fact adjectives:

• articles (a, the)
• possessives (my, your...)
• demonstratives (this, that...)
• quantifiers (some, any, few, many...)
• numbers (one, two, three)

Here is an example with opinion and fact adjectives:

adjectives					noun
deter- miner	opinion	fact
		age	shape	colour
two	nice	old	round	red	candles

When we want to use two colour adjectives, we join them with "and":

• Many newspapers are black and white.
• She was wearing a long, blue and yellow dress.

he rules on this page are for the normal, "natural" order of adjectives. But these rules are not rigid, and you may sometimes wish to change the order for emphasis. Consider the following conversations:

Conversation 1

A "I want to buy a round table."

B "Do you want a new round table or an old round table?"

Conversation 2

A "I want to buy an old table".

B "Do you want a round old table or a square old table?"

Adjective After Certain Verbs

An adjective can come after some verbs, such as: be, become, feel, get, look, seem, smell, sound

Even when an adjective comes after the verb and not before a noun, it always refers to and qualifies the subject of the sentence, not the verb.

Look at the examples below: subject verb adjective

• Ram is English.
• Because she had to wait, she became impatient.
• Is it getting dark?
• The examination did not seem difficult.
• Your friend looks nice.
• This towel feels damp.
• That new film doesn't sound very interesting.
• Dinner smells good tonight.
• This milk tastes sour.
• It smells bad.

These verbs are "stative" verbs, which express a state or change of state, not "dynamic" verbs which express an action. Note that some verbs can be stative in one sense (she looks beautiful | it got hot), and dynamic in another (she looked at him | he got the money). The above examples do not include all stative verbs.

Note also that in the above structure (subject verb adjective), the adjective can qualify a pronoun since the subject may be a pronoun.

Adjective Order Quiz

1	Andrea had a  - a) nice yellow bow b) yellow nice bow c) bow nice yellow  in her hair yesterday.	Click for answer a)
2	She lost a  - a) small white cat b) cat small white c) white small cat .	Click for answer a)
3	I bought  - a) great some big b) big great some c) some great big  oranges.	Click for answer c)
4	We met  - a) very smart two b) two very smart c) very two smart  people at the conference.	Click for answer b)
5	The clown was wearing a  - a) big green-yellow b) big green and yellow c) yellow and green big  hat.	Click for answer b)
6	The cookies that you  - a) smell delicious baked b) baked smell delicious c) delicious smell baked .	Click for answer b)
7	Is it  - a) cold getting outside b) getting cold outside c) getting outside cold ?	Click for answer b)
8	The course you are  - a) taking sounds interesting b) sounds interesting taking c) interesting sounds taking .	Click for answer a)
9	My uncle wore a  - a) silk blue tie b) tie blue silk c) blue silk tie  to the wedding.	Click for answer c)
10	Have you met that  - a) cute boy new b) cute new boy c) new boy cute  next door?	Click for answer b)

Comparative Adjectives When we talk about two things, we can "compare" them. We can see if they are the same or different. Perhaps they are the same in some ways and different in other ways. We can use comparative adjectives to describe the differences. We can use comparative adjectives when talking about two things (not three or more things). In the example below, "bigger" is the comparative form of the adjective "big": A1 A2A1 is bigger than A2. In this lesson we will look first at how we make comparative adjectives, and then at how we use them: Formation of Comparative Adjectives There are two ways to make or form a comparative adjective: short adjectives: add "-er" long adjectives: use "more" Short adjectives 1-syllable adjectives old, fast 2-syllable adjectives ending in -y happy, easy Normal rule: add "-er" old → older Variation: if the adjective ends in -e, just add -r late → later Variation: if the adjective ends in consonant, vowel, consonant, double the last consonant big → bigger Variation: if the adjective ends in -y, change the y to i happy → happier Long adjectives 2-syllable adjectives not ending in -y modern, pleasant all adjectives of 3 or more syllables expensive, intellectual Normal rule: use "more" modern → more modern expensive → more expensive With some 2-syllable adjectives, we can use '-er' or 'more': quiet → quieter/more quiet clever → cleverer/more clever narrow → narrower/more narrow simple → simpler/more simple     Exception The following adjectives have irregular forms: good → better well (healthy) → better bad → worse far → farther/further Use of Comparative Adjectives We use comparative adjectives when talking about 2 things (not 3 or 10 or 1,000,000 things, only 2 things). Often, the comparative adjective is followed by "than". Look at these examples: John is 1m80. He is tall. But Chris is 1m85. He is taller than John. America is big. But Russia is bigger. I want to have a more powerful computer. Is French more difficult than English? If we talk about the two planets Earth and Mars, we can compare them as shown in the table below: Earth Mars Diameter (km) 12,760 6,790 Mars is smaller than Earth. Distance from Sun (million km) 150 228 Mars is more distant from the Sun. Length of day (hours) 24 25 A day on Mars is slightly longer than a day on Earth. Moons 1 2 Mars has more moons than Earth. Surface temperature (degrees Celcius) 22 -23 Mars is colder than Earth.  Although we use comparative adjectives when talking about two things (not three or more things), in fact one or both of the things may be a group of things. Mt Everest is higher than all other mountains. Here, we are talking about hundreds of mountains, but we are still comparing one thing (Mt Everest) to one other thing (all other mountains). Superlative Adjectives A superlative adjective expresses the extreme or highest degree of a quality. We use a superlative adjective to describe the extreme quality of one thing in a group of things. In the example below, "biggest" is the superlative form of the adjective "big": A B CA is the biggest. In this lesson we will look first at how we make superlative adjectives, and then at how we use them: Formation of Superlative Adjectives As with comparative adjectives, there are two ways to form a superlative adjective: short adjectives: add "-est" long adjectives: use "most" We also usually add 'the' at the beginning. Short adjectives 1-syllable adjectives old, fast 2-syllable adjectives ending in -y happy, easy Normal rule: add "-est" old → the oldest Variation: if the adjective ends in -e, just add -st late → the latest Variation: if the adjective ends in consonant, vowel, consonant, double the last consonant big → the biggest Variation: if the adjective ends in -y, change the y to i happy → the happiest Long adjectives 2-syllable adjectives not ending in -y modern, pleasant all adjectives of 3 or more syllables expensive, intellectual Normal rule: use "most" modern → the most modern expensive → the most expensive With some 2-syllable adjectives, we can use '-est' or 'most': quiet → the quietest/most quiet clever → the cleverest/most clever narrow → the narrowest/most narrow simple → the simplest/most simple Exception The following adjectives have irregular forms: good → the best bad → the worst far → the furthest Use of Superlative Adjectives We use a superlative adjective to describe one thing in a group of three or more things. Look at these examples: John is 1m75. David is 1m80. Chris is 1m85. Chris is the tallest. Canada, China and Russia are big countries. But Russia is the biggest. Mount Everest is the highest mountain in the world. If we talk about the three planets Earth, Mars and Jupiter, we can use superlative adjectives as shown in the table below: Earth Mars Jupiter Dia- meter (km) 12,760 6,790 142,800 Jupiter is the biggest. Dis- tance from Sun (million km) 150 228 778 Jupiter is the most distant from the Sun. Length of day (hours) 24 25 10 Jupiter has the shortest day. Moons 1 2 16 Jupiter has the most moons. Surface temp. (degrees Celcius) 22 -23 -150 Jupiter is the coldest. When we compare one thing with itself, we do not use "the": England is coldest in winter. (not the coldest) My boss is most generous when we get a big order. (not the most generous) Gradable and Non-gradable Adjectives Adjectives describe qualities (characteristics) of nouns. Some qualities can vary in intensity or grade (for example: rather hot, hot, very hot; hot, hotter, the hottest). The adjective hot is gradable. Other qualities cannot vary in intensity or grade because they are: extremes (for example: freezing) absolutes (for example: dead) classifying (for example: nuclear) The adjectives freezing, dead and nuclear are non-gradable. Gradable Adjectives A gradable adjective can be used with "grading adverbs" that vary the adjective's grade or intensity. Look at these examples: grading adverbs a little, dreadfully, extremely, fairly, hugely, immensely, intensely, rather, reasonably, slightly, unusually, very + gradable adjectives angry, big, busy, clever, cold, deep, fast, friendly, good, happy, high, hot, important, long, popular, rich, strong, tall, warm, weak, young A gradable adjective can also have comparative and superlative forms big, bigger, the biggest hot, hotter, the hottest important, more important, the most important Look at these example sentences: My teacher was very happy with my homework. That website is reasonably popular. But this one is more popular. He said that Holland was a little cold and Denmark was rather cold. But Sweden was the coldest. "Gradable adjectives" are also called "qualitative adjectives". "Grading adverbs" are also called "submodifiers" The adjective dead is non-gradable because it is anabsolute. Dead is dead. We cannot be more or less dead. One person cannot be "deader" than another. Other absolutes include: correct, unique, perfec Non-gradable Adjectives A non-gradable adjective cannot be used with grading adverbs: It was rather freezing outside. The dog was very dead. He is investing in slightly nuclear energy. Non-gradable adjectives do not normally have comparative and superlative forms: freezing, more freezing, the most freezing dead, deader, the deadest nuclear, more nuclear, the most nuclear Often, non-gradable adjectives are used alone: It was freezing outside. The dog was dead. He is investing in nuclear energy. However, a non-gradable adjective can be used with "non-grading adverbs" (which usually just give the adjective extra impact), for example: non-grading adverbs non-gradable adjectives absolutely awful extreme utterly excellent completely terrified totally dead absolute nearly impossible virtually unique essentially chemical classifying mainly digital almost domestic Here are some example sentences with non-gradable adjectives: Her exam results were absolutely awful. She will have to take the exam again. Is there anything like it in the world? It must be virtually unique. It starts an essentially chemical reaction. Adjectives that can be gradable and non-gradable Some adjectives may have more than one meaning or sense. It's possible for the same adjective to be gradable with one sense and non-gradable with another sense. For example: adjective common = He's got a very old car. gradable not young I saw my old boyfriend yesterday. non-gradable former, ex- He has some dreadfully common habits. gradable vulgar "The" is a very common word in English. gradable prevalent The two countries' common border poses problems. non-gradable shared Adverbs used with gradable and non-gradable adjectives The adverbs really (very much) and fairly and pretty (both meaning "to a significant degree, but less than very") can often be used with gradable and non-gradable adjectives: gradable non-gradable Please don't forget! It's really important. He was really terrified. He's a fairly rich man. It's a fairly impossible job. He's pretty tall. It's pretty ridiculous when you think about it. "Quite" with gradable and non-gradable adjectives The meaning of the adverb "quite" changes according to the type of adjective we use it with: adjective quite = It's quite warm today. gradable fairly, rather Are you quite certain? non-gradable completely, absolutely Reference  Non-gradable adjectives Although we don't recommend that you learn lists of non-gradable adjectives, here are some for reference. You can decide for yourself whether they are extreme, absolute or classifying. alive, awful, black, boiling, certain, correct, dead, domestic, enormous, environmental, excellent, freezing, furious, gigantic, huge, immediately, impossible, miniscule, mortal, overjoyed, perfect, pregnant, principal, ridiculous, superb, terrible, terrified, unique, unknown, white, whole Non-grading adverbs Again, no need to learn lists. Here are a few examples. There are many more. Remember that you cannot use all non-grading adverbs with all non-gradable adjectives. Some collocate (go together). Some don't. absolutely, almost, completely, entirely, exclusively, fully, largely, mainly, nearly, perfectly, practically, primarily, utterly, virtually Gradable and Non-gradable Adjectives Quiz 1 I am  virtually a little very  happy to see you.  Click for answer very  2 The cat was  extremely fairly completely  dead when the vet arrived.  Click for answer completely  3 To make tea, the water should be  slightly - very  boiling.  Click for answer -  4 Well done! Your homework is  very - almost  excellent.  Click for answer -  5 Don't see that film! It's  absolutely nearly extremely  awful!  Click for answer absolutely  6 The  completely extremely very  terrified people ran for their lives.  Click for answer completely  7 I am reading a  nearly completely -  good book.  Click for answer -  8 Are you sure? - Yes, I'm  nearly quite intensely  certain.  Click for answer quite  9 It's  quite really fairly  cold outside. In fact, it's nearly freezing.  Click for answer really  10 The world is in a  - very reasonably  ridiculous situation. I laugh so much!  Click for answer -  Adverbs Adverbs are an important part of speech. They usually answer questions such as how?, where?, when?,how often? and how much? What is an Adverb? An adverb is a word that tells us more about a verb. It "qualifies" or "modifies" a verb (The man ranquickly). In the following examples, the adverb is in bold and the verb that it modifies is in italics. John speaks loudly. (How does John speak?) Afterwards she smoked a cigarette. (When did she smoke?) Mary lives locally. (Where does Mary live?) But adverbs can also modify adjectives (Tara is really beautiful), or even other adverbs (It works verywell). Look at these examples: Modify an adjective: - He is really handsome. (How handsome is he?) - That was extremely kind of you. Modify another adverb: - She drives incredibly slowly. (How slowly does she drive?) - He drives extremely fast. Note that adverbs have other functions, too. They can: Modify a whole sentence: Obviously, I can't know everything. Modify a prepositional phrase: It's immediately inside the door. Adverb Form We make many adverbs by adding -ly to an adjective, for example: quick (adjective) > quickly (adverb) careful (adjective) > carefully (adverb) beautiful (adjective) > beautifully (adverb) There are some basic rules about spelling for -ly adverbs. See the table below: Adjective ending do this adjective adverb most adjectives add -ly quick nice sole careful quickly nicely solely carefully -able or -ible change -e to -y regrettable horrible regrettably horribly -y change -y to -ily happy happily -ic change -ic to -ically economic economically But not all words that end in -ly are adverbs. The words friendly, lovely, lonely and neighbourly, for example, are all adjectives. And some adverbs have no particular form. Look at these examples: well, fast, very, never, always, often, still Note that the form of an adverb can also change to make it comparative or superlative Kinds of Adverbs Here you can see the basic kinds of adverbs. Adverbs of Manner Adverbs of Manner tell us the manner or way in which something happens. They answer the question "how?". Adverbs of Manner mainly modify verbs. He speaks slowly. (How does he speak?) They helped us cheerfully. (How did they help us?) James Bond drives his cars fast. (How does James Bond drive his cars?) We normally use Adverbs of Manner with dynamic (action) verbs, not with stative or state verbs. He ran fast. She came quickly. They worked happily. She looked beautifully. It seems strangely. They are happily. Adverbs of Place Adverbs of Place tell us the place where something happens. They answer the question "where?". Adverbs of Place mainly modify verbs. Please sit here. (Where should I sit?) They looked everywhere. (Where did they look?) Two cars were parked outside. (Where were two cars parked?) Adverbs of Time Adverbs of Time tell us something about the time that something happens. Adverbs of Time mainly modify verbs. They can answer the question "when?": He came yesterday. (When did he come?) I want it now. (When do I want it?) Or they can answer the question "how often?": They deliver the newspaper daily. (How often do they deliver the newspaper?) We sometimes watch a movie. (How often do we watch a movie?) Adverbs of Degree Adverbs of Degree tell us the degree or extent to which something happens. They answer the question "how much?" or "to what degree?". Adverbs of Degree can modify verbs, adjectives and other adverbs. She entirely agrees with him. (How much does she agree with him?) Mary is very beautiful. (To what degree is Mary beautiful? How beautiful is Mary?) He drove quite dangerously. (To what degree did he drive dangerously? How dangerously did he drive?) Adverb Position When an adverb modifies a verb, there are usually 3 possible positions within the sentence or clause: 1. FRONT - before subject Now I will read a book. 2. MID - between subject + verb I often read books. 3. END - after verb/object I read books carefully. When an adverb modifies an adjective or another adverb, it usually goes in front of the word that it modifies, for example: adverb adjective She gave him a really dirty look. adverb adverb We quite often study English. The position of an adverb often depends on the kind of adverb (manner, place, time, degree). The following table gives you some guidelines for placement based on the kind of adverb. Warning: these are guidelines only, and not complete. There are many exceptions. kind of adverb mainly modifies sentence usual position adverb manner verbs She stroked his hair gently. END place verbs He was working here. END time definite verbs He finished the job yesterday. END frequency We often go to Paris. MID degree verbs, adjectives and adverbs I nearly died. MID It was terribly funny. before adjective He works really fast. before adverb Adverbs of Frequency Adverbs of Frequency are Adverbs of Time that answer the question "How frequently?" or "How often?". They tell us how often something happens. Here are some examples: daily, weekly, yearly often, sometimes, rarely You probably see a difference between a) and b) above. With words like daily we know exactly how often. The words in a) describe definite frequency. On the other hand, words like often give us an idea about frequency but they don't tell us exactly. The words in b) describe indefinite frequency. We separate them into two groups because they normally go in different positions in the sentence. In this lesson we will look in more detail at: Adverbs of definite frequency Examples: hourly, daily, weekly, monthly, yearly every second, once a minute, twice a year once, twice, once or twice, three times Adverbs of definite frequency, like all adverbs of definite time, typically go in END position. Look at these examples: Most companies pay taxes yearly. The manager checks the toilets every hour. The directors meet weekly to review progress. Sometimes, usually for reasons of emphasis or style, some adverbs of definite frequency may go at the FRONT, for example: Every day, more than five thousand people die on our roads. Adverbs of indefinite frequency Examples: never, seldom, sometimes, often, always 100% always, constantly usually, normally frequently, regularly often 50% sometimes occasionally rarely, infrequently seldom hardly ever 0% never Adverbs of indefinite frequency mainly go in MID position in the sentence. They go before the main verb (except the main verb "to be"): We usually go shopping on Saturday. I have often done that. She is always late. Occasionally, sometimes, often, frequently and usually can also go at the beginning or end of a sentence: Sometimes they come and stay with us. I play tennis occasionally. Rarely and seldom can also go at the end of a sentence (often with "very"): We see them rarely. John eats meat very seldom. Adverbs of Frequency Quiz 1 Nancy and I [30%]  - a) never b) frequently c) occasionally  go out for coffee together.  Click for answer c)  2 Andrea lives next door so we  - a) never b) often c) rarely  see her.  Click for answer b)  3 We meet  - a) never b) every day c) yearly  at the Annual General Meeting.  Click for answer c)  4 My doctor      -     a) yearly    checks my health  - b) yearly .  Click for answer b)  5 It [0%]  - a) never b) sometimes c) does not  rains here in the summer.  Click for answer a)  6  - a) Sometimes b) Never c) Rarely  we take the dog off his leash at the beach.  Click for answer a)  7 My sister  - a) often has missed b) has missed often c) has often missed  two days of school in a row.  Click for answer c)  8 My boyfriend and I take vacations together quite  - a) never b) hardly ever c) frequently .  Click for answer c)  9 Andy [10%]  - a) very frequently b) very rarely c) very often  gets to visit with his cousins.  Click for answer b)  10 I  - a) never  went to college    -   b) never .  Click for answer a)  Pronouns Pronouns are small words that take the place of a noun. We can use a pronoun instead of a noun. Pronouns are words like: he, you, ours, themselves, some, each... If we didn't have pronouns, we would have to repeat a lot of nouns. We would have to say things like: Do you like the president? I don't like the president. The president is too pompous. With pronouns, we can say: Do you like the president? I don't like him. He is too pompous. Personal Pronouns Personal pronouns represent specific people or things. We use them depending on: number: singular (eg: I) or plural (eg: we) person: 1st person (eg: I), 2nd person (eg: you) or 3rd person (eg: he) gender: male (eg: he), female (eg: she) or neuter (eg: it) case: subject (eg: we) or object (eg: us) We use personal pronouns in place of the person or people that we are talking about. My name is Josef but when I am talking about myself I almost always use "I" or "me", not "Josef". When I am talking direct to you, I almost always use "you", not your name. When I am talking about another person, say John, I may start with "John" but then use "he" or "him". And so on. Here are the personal pronouns, followed by some example sentences: number person gender personal pronouns subject object singular 1st male/female I me 2nd male/female you you 3rd male he him female she her neuter it it plural 1st male/female we us 2nd male/female you you 3rd male/female/neuter they them Examples (in each case, the first example shows a subject pronoun, the second an object pronoun): I like coffee. John helped me. Do you like coffee? John loves you. He runs fast. Did Ram beat him?  She is clever. Does Mary know her?  It doesn't work. Can the engineer repair it?  We went home. Anthony drove us.  Do you need a table for three? Did John and Mary beat you at doubles?  They played doubles. John and Mary beat them. When we are talking about a single thing, we almost always use it. However, there are a few exceptions. We may sometimes refer to an animal as he/him or she/her, especially if the animal is domesticated or a pet. Ships (and some other vessels or vehicles) as well as some countries are often treated as female and referred to as she/her. Here are some examples: This is our dog Rusty. He's an Alsation. The Titanic was a great ship but she sank on her first voyage. My first car was a Mini and I treated her like my wife. Thailand has now opened her border with Cambodia. For a single person, sometimes we don't know whether to use he or she. There are several solutions to this: If a teacher needs help, he or she should see the principal. If a teacher needs help, he should see the principal. If a teacher needs help, they should see the principal. We often use it to introduce a remark: It is nice to have a holiday sometimes. It is important to dress well. It's difficult to find a job. Is it normal to see them together? It didn't take long to walk here. We also often use it to talk about the weather, temperature, time and distance: It's raining. It will probably be hot tomorrow. Is it nine o'clock yet? It's 50 kilometres from here to Cambridge. Demonstrative Pronouns demonstrate (verb): to show; to indicate; to point to A demonstrative pronoun represents a thing or things: near in distance or time (this, these) far in distance or time (that, those) near far singular this that plural these those Here are some examples with demonstrative pronouns, followed by an illustration: This tastes good. Have you seen this? These are bad times. Do you like these? That is beautiful. Look at that! Those were the days! Can you see those? This is heavier than that. These are bigger than those. Do not confuse demonstrative pronouns with demonstrative adjectives. They are identical, but a demonstrative pronoun stands alone, while a demonstrative adjective qualifies a noun. That smells. (demonstrative pronoun) That book is good. (demonstrative adjective + noun) Normally we use demonstrative pronouns for things only. But we can use them for people when the person is identified. Look at these examples: This is Josef speaking. Is that Mary? That sounds like John. Possessive Pronouns We use possessive pronouns to refer to a specific person/people or thing/things (the "antecedent") belonging to a person/people (and sometimes belonging to an animal/animals or thing/things). We use possessive pronouns depending on: number: singular (eg: mine) or plural (eg: ours) person: 1st person (eg: mine), 2nd person (eg: yours) or 3rd person (eg: his) gender: male (his), female (hers) Below are the possessive pronouns, followed by some example sentences. Notice that each possessive pronoun can: be subject or object refer to a singular or plural antecedent number person gender (of "owner") possessive pronouns singular 1st male/female mine 2nd male/female yours 3rd male his female hers plural 1st male/female ours 2nd male/female yours 3rd male/female/neuter theirs Look at these pictures. Mine is the big one. (subject = My picture) I like your flowers. Do you like mine? (object = my flowers)  I looked everywhere for your key. I found John's key but I couldn't find yours. (object = your key) My flowers are dying. Yours are lovely. (subject = Your flowers)  All the essays were good but his was the best. (subject = his essay) John found his passport but Mary couldn't find hers. (object = her passport) John found his clothes but Mary couldn't find hers. (object = her clothes)  Here is your car. Ours is over there, where we left it. (subject = Our car) Your photos are good. Ours are terrible. (subject = Our photos)  Each couple's books are colour-coded. Yours are red. (subject = Your books) I don't like this family's garden but I like yours. (subject = your garden)  These aren't John and Mary's children. Theirs have black hair. (subject = Their children) John and Mary don't like your car. Do you like theirs? (object = their car) Notice that the following (with apostrophe [']) do NOT exist: her's, your's, their's Notice that the interrogative pronoun whose can also be a possessive pronoun (an interrogative possessive pronoun). Look at these examples: There was $100 on the table and Tara wondered whose it was. This car hasn't moved for two months. Whose is it? Interrogative Pronouns We use interrogative pronouns to ask questions. The interrogative pronoun represents the thing that we don't know (what we are asking the question about). There are four main interrogative pronouns: who, whom, what, which Notice that the possessive pronoun whose can also be an interrogative pronoun (an interrogative possessive pronoun). subject object person who whom thing what person/thing which person whose (possessive) Notice that whom is the correct form when the pronoun is the object of the verb, as in "Whom did you see?" ("I saw John.") However, in normal, spoken English we rarely usewhom. Most native speakers would say (or even write): "Who did you see?" Look at these example questions. In the sample answers, the noun phrase that the interrogative pronoun represents is shown in bold. question answer Who told you? John told me. subject Whom did you tell? I told Mary. object What's happened? An accident's happened. subject What do you want? I want coffee. object Which came first? The Porsche 911 came first. subject Which will the doctor see first? The doctor will see the patient in bluefirst. object There's one car missing. Whose hasn't arrived? John's (car) hasn't arrived. subject We've found everyone's keys. Whose did you find? I found John's (keys). object Note that we sometimes use the suffix "-ever" to make compounds from some of these pronouns (mainly whoever, whatever, whichever). When we add "-ever", we use it for emphasis, often to show confusion or surprise. Look at these examples: Whoever would want to do such a nasty thing? Whatever did he say to make her cry like that? They're all fantastic! Whichever will you choose? Reflexive Pronouns reflexive (adj.) [grammar]: reflecting back on the subject, like a mirror We use a reflexive pronoun when we want to refer back to the subject of the sentence or clause. Reflexive pronouns end in "-self" (singular) or "-selves" (plural). There are eight reflexive pronouns: reflexive pronoun singular myself yourself himself, herself, itself plural ourselves yourselves themselves Look at these examples: reflexive pronouns the underlined words are NOT the same person/thing the underlined words are the SAME person/thing John saw me. I saw myself in the mirror. Why does he blame you? Why do you blame yourself? David sent him a copy. John sent himself a copy. David sent her a copy. Mary sent herself a copy. My dog hurt the cat. My dog hurt itself. We blame you. We blame ourselves. Can you help my children? Can you help yourselves? They cannot look after the babies. They cannot look after themselves. Intensive pronouns Notice that all the above reflexive pronouns can also act as intensive pronouns, but the function and usage are different. An intensive pronoun emphasizes its antecedent. Look at these examples: I made it myself. OR I myself made it. Have you yourself seen it? OR Have you seen it yourself? The President himself promised to stop the war. She spoke to me herself. OR She herself spoke to me. The exam itself wasn't difficult, but exam room was horrible. Never mind. We'll do it ourselves. You yourselves asked us to do it. They recommend this book even though they themselves have never read it. OR They recommend this book even though they have never read it themselves. Reciprocal Pronouns reciprocal (adj.): given or done in return; [grammar] expressing mutual action We use reciprocal pronouns when each of two or more subjects is acting in the same way towards the other. For example, A is talking to B, and B is talking to A. So we say: A and B are talking to each other. The action is "reciprocated". John talks to Mary and Mary talks to John. I give you a present and you give me a present. The dog bites the cat and the cat bites the dog. There are only two reciprocal pronouns, and they are both two words: each other one another When we use these reciprocal pronouns: there must be two or more people, things or groups involved (so we cannot use reciprocal pronouns with I, you [singular], he/she/it), and they must be doing the same thing Look at these examples: John and Mary love each other. Peter and David hate each other. The ten prisoners were all blaming one another. Both teams played hard against each other. We gave each other gifts. Why don't you believe each other? They can't see each other. The gangsters were fighting one another. The boats were bumping against each other in the storm. You probably notice that each other is used in more examples above than one another. That's because in general we use each other more often than one another, which sounds a little formal. Also, some people say that we should use one another only for three or more people or things, but there is no real justification for this. Indefinite Pronouns An indefinite pronoun does not refer to any specific person, thing or amount. It is vague and "not definite". Some typical indefinite pronouns are: all, another, any, anybody/anyone, anything, each, everybody/everyone, everything, few, many, nobody, none, one, several, some, somebody/someone Note that many indefinite pronouns also function as other parts of speech. Look at "another" in the following sentences: He has one job in the day and another at night. (pronoun) I'd like another drink, please. (adjective) Most indefinite pronouns are either singular or plural. However, some of them can be singular in one context and plural in another. The most common indefinite pronouns are listed below, with examples, as singular, plural or singular/plural. Notice that a singular pronoun takes a singular verb AND that any personal pronoun should also agree(in number and gender). Look at these examples: Each of the players has a doctor. I met two girls. One has given me her phone number. Similarly, plural pronouns need plural agreement: Many have expressed their views. pronoun meaning example singular another an additional or different person or thing That ice-cream was good. Can I haveanother? anybody/anyone no matter what person Can anyone answer this question? anything no matter what thing The doctor needs to know if you have eaten anything in the last two hours. each every one of two or more people or things, seen separately Each has his own thoughts. either one or the other of two people or things Do you want tea or coffee? / I don't mind. Either is good for me. enough as much or as many as needed Enough is enough. everybody/everyone all people We can start the meeting becauseeverybody has arrived. everything all things They have no house or possessions. They lost everything in the earthquake. less a smaller amount "Less is more" (Mies van der Rohe) little a small amount Little is known about his early life. much a large amount Much has happend since we met. neither not one and not the other of two people or things I keep telling Jack and Jill but neitherbelieves me. nobody/no-one no person I phoned many times but nobodyanswered. nothing no single thing, not anything If you don't know the answer it's best to say nothing. one an unidentified person Can one smoke here? | All the students arrived but now one is missing. other a different person or thing from one already mentioned One was tall and the other was short. somebody/someone an unspecified or unknown person Clearly somebody murdered him. It was not suicide. something an unspecified or unknown thing Listen! I just heard something! What could it be? you an unidentified person (informal) And you can see why. plural both two people or things, seen together John likes coffee but not tea. I thinkboth are good. few a small number of people or things Few have ever disobeyed him and lived. fewer a reduced number of people or things Fewer are smoking these days. many a large number of people or things Many have come already. others other people; not us I'm sure that others have tried before us. several more than two but not many They all complained and several left the meeting. they people in general (informal) They say that vegetables are good for you. singular or plural all the whole quantity of something or of some things or people All is forgiven. All have arrived. any no matter how much or how many Is any left? Are any coming? more a greater quantity of something; a greater number of people or things There is more over there. More are coming. most the majority; nearly all Most is lost. Most have refused. none not any; no person or persons They fixed the water so why is nonecoming out of the tap? I invited five friends but none have come.* some an unspecified quantity of something; an unspecified number of people or things Here is some. Some have arrived. such of the type already mentioned He was a foreigner and he felt that he was treated as such. * Some people say that "none" should always take a singular verb, even when talking about countable nouns (eg five friends). They argue that "none" means "no one", and "one" is obviously singular. They say that "I invited five friends but none has come" is correct and "I invited five friends but none havecome" is incorrect. Historically and grammatically there is little to support this view. "None" has been used for hundreds of years with both a singular and a plural verb, according to the context and the emphasis required. Relative Pronouns A relative pronoun is a pronoun that introduces a relative clause. It is called a "relative" pronoun because it "relates" to the word that it modifies. Here is an example: The person who phoned me last night is my teacher. In the above example, "who": relates to "person", which it modifies introduces the relative clause "who phoned me last night" There are five relative pronouns: who, whom, whose, which, that* Who (subject) and whom (object) are generally only for people. Whose is for possession. Which is for things. That can be used for people** and things and as subject and object in defining relative clauses (clauses that are essential to the sentence and do not simply add extra information). Relative pronouns can refer to singular or plural, and there is no difference between male and female. Look at these examples showing defining and non-defining relative clauses: example sentences S=subject, O=object, P=possessive notes defining S - The person who phoned me last night is my teacher. - The person that phoned me last night is my teacher. That is preferable - The car which hit me was yellow. - The cars that hit me were yellow. That is preferable O - The person whom I phoned last night is my teacher. - The people who I phoned last night are my teachers. - The person that I phoned last night is my teacher. - The person I phoned last night is my teacher. Whom is correct but very formal. The relative pronoun is optional. - The car which I drive is old. - The car that I drive is old. - The car I drive is old. That is preferable to which. The relative pronoun is optional. P - The student whose phone just rang should stand up. - Students whose parents are wealthy pay extra. - The police are looking for the car whose driver was masked. - The police are looking for the car of which the driver was masked. Of which is usual for things, butwhose is sometimes possible non-defining S - Mrs Pratt, who is very kind, is my teacher. - The car, which was a taxi, exploded. - The cars, which were taxis, exploded. O - Mrs Pratt, whom I like very much, is my teacher. - Mr and Mrs Pratt, who I like very much, are my teachers. Whom is correct but very formal.Who is normal. - The car, which I was driving at the time, suddenly caught fire. P - My brother, whose phone you just heard, is a doctor. - The car, whose driver jumped out just before the accident, was completely destroyed. - The car, the driver of which jumped out just before the accident, was completely destroyed. Of which is usual for things, butwhose is sometimes possible *Not all grammar sources count "that" as a relative pronoun.  **Some people claim that we cannot use "that" for people but must use "who/whom"; there is no good reason for such a claim. Pronoun Case Pronouns (and nouns) in English display "case" according to their function in the sentence. Their function can be: subjective (they act as the subject) objective (they act as the object) possessive (they show possession of something else) The following table shows the different forms for pronouns depending on case. subjective case objective case possessive case personal pronouns singular 1st I me mine 2nd you you yours 3rd he she it him her it his hers its plural 1st we us ours 2nd you you yours 3rd they them theirs relative/interrogative pronouns who whom whose whoever whomever which/that/what which/that/what indefinite pronouns everybody everybody everybody's A problem of case: Mary and I or Mary and me? Mary and I are delighted to be here today. (NOT Mary and me) The letter was addressed to Mary and me. (NOT Mary and I) In 1, Mary and I are subjects, which is why the pronoun takes the subjective case ("I"). In 2, Mary and I are objects, which is why the pronoun takes the objective case ("me"). An easy way to check the correct case is to try the sentence without Mary. Would you say "I am delighted to be here" or "Me am delighted to be here"? Would you say "The letter was addressed to me" or "The letter was addressed to I"? Everybody, Somebody, Anybody, Nobody That's Not My Job! This is a story about four people named Everybody,Somebody, Anybody and Nobody. There was an important job to be done and Everybody was sure that Somebody would do it. Anybody could have done it, but Nobody did it. Somebody got angry about that, because it was Everybody's job. Everybody thought Anybody could do it, but Nobody realized that Everybody wouldn't do it. It ended up that Everybody blamed Somebody when Nobody did what Anybody could have done. English Prepositions A preposition is a word governing, and usually coming in front of, a noun or pronoun and expressing a relation to another word or element, as in: She left before breakfast. What did you come for? (For what did you come?) English Prepositions List There are about 150 prepositions in English. Yet this is a very small number when you think of the thousands of other words (nouns, verbs etc). Prepositions are important words. We use individual prepositions more frequently than other individual words. In fact, the prepositions of, to and in are among the ten most frequent words in English. Here is a short list of 70 of the more common one-word prepositions. Many of these prepositions have more than one meaning. Please refer to a dictionary for precise meaning and usage. aboard about above across after against along amid among anti around as at before behind below beneath beside besides between beyond but by concerning considering despite down during except excepting excluding following for from in inside into like minus near of off on onto opposite outside over past per plus regarding round save since than through to toward towards under underneath unlike until up upon versus via with within without English Preposition Rule There is one very simple rule about prepositions. And, unlike most rules, this rule has no exceptions. Rule A preposition is followed by a "noun". It is never followed by a verb. By "noun" we include: noun (dog, money, love) proper noun (name) (Bangkok, Mary) pronoun (you, him, us) noun group (my first job) gerund (swimming) A preposition cannot be followed by a verb. If we want to follow a preposition by a verb, we must use the "-ing" form which is really a gerund or verb in noun form. Quick Quiz: In the following sentences, why is "to" followed by a verb? That should be impossible, according to the above rule: I would like to go now. She used to smoke. Here are some examples: Subject + verb preposition "noun" The food is on the table. She lives in Japan. Tara is looking for you. The letter is under your blue book. Pascal is used to English people. She isn't used to working. I ate before coming. Prepositions of Place: at, in, on In general, we use: at for a POINT in for an ENCLOSED SPACE on for a SURFACE at in on POINT ENCLOSED SPACE SURFACE at the corner in the garden on the wall at the bus stop in London on the ceiling at the door in France on the door at the top of the page in a box on the cover at the end of the road in my pocket on the floor at the entrance in my wallet on the carpet at the crossroads in a building on the menu at the front desk in a car on a page Look at these examples: Jane is waiting for you at the bus stop. The shop is at the end of the street. My plane stopped at Dubai and Hanoi and arrived in Bangkok two hours late. When will you arrive at the office? Do you work in an office? I have a meeting in New York. Do you live in Japan? Jupiter is in the Solar System. The author's name is on the cover of the book. There are no prices on this menu. You are standing on my foot. There was a "no smoking" sign on the wall. I live on the 7th floor at 21 Oxford Street in London. Notice the use of the prepositions of place at, in and on in these standard expressions: at in on at home in a car on a bus at work in a taxi on a train at school in a helicopter on a plane at university in a boat on a ship at college in a lift (elevator) on a bicycle, on a motorbike at the top in the newspaper on a horse, on an elephant at the bottom in the sky on the radio, on television at the side in a row on the left, on the right at reception in Oxford Street on the way Prepositions of Time: at, in, on We use: at for a PRECISE TIME in for MONTHS, YEARS, CENTURIES and LONG PERIODS on for DAYS and DATES at in on PRECISE TIME MONTHS, YEARS, CENTURIES and LONG PERIODS DAYS and DATES at 3 o'clock in May on Sunday at 10.30am in summer on Tuesdays at noon in the summer on 6 March at dinnertime in 1990 on 25 Dec. 2010 at bedtime in the 1990s on Christmas Day at sunrise in the next century on Independence Day at sunset in the Ice Age on my birthday at the moment in the past/future on New Year's Eve Look at these examples: I have a meeting at 9am. The shop closes at midnight. Jane went home at lunchtime. In England, it often snows in December. Do you think we will go to Jupiter in the future? There should be a lot of progress in the next century. Do you work on Mondays? Her birthday is on 20 November. Where will you be on New Year's Day? Notice the use of the preposition of time at in the following standard expressions: Expression Example at night The stars shine at night. at the weekend* I don't usually work at the weekend. at Christmas*/Easter I stay with my family at Christmas. at the same time We finished the test at the same time. at present He's not home at present. Try later. Notice the use of the prepositions of time in and on in these common expressions: in on in the morning on Tuesday morning in the mornings on Saturday mornings in the afternoon(s) on Sunday afternoons in the evening(s) on Monday evening When we say last, next, every, this we do not also use at, in, on. I went to London last June. (not in last June) He's coming back next Tuesday. (not on next Tuesday) I go home every Easter. (not at every Easter) We'll call you this evening. (not in this evening) Conjunctions A conjunction is a word that "joins". A conjunction joins two parts of a sentence. Here are some example conjunctions: Coordinating Conjunctions Subordinating Conjunctions and, but, or, nor, for, yet, so although, because, since, unless We can consider conjunctions from three aspects. Form Conjunctions have three basic forms: Single Word for example: and, but, because, although Compound (often ending with as or that) for example: provided that, as long as, in order that Correlative (surrounding an adverb or adjective) for example: so...that Function Conjunctions have two basic functions or "jobs": Coordinating conjunctions are used to join two parts of a sentence that are grammatically equal. The two parts may be single words or clauses, for example: - Jack and Jill went up the hill. - The water was warm, but I didn't go swimming. Subordinating conjunctions are used to join a subordinate dependent clause to a main clause, for example: - I went swimming although it was cold. Position Coordinating conjunctions always come between the words or clauses that they join. Subordinating conjunctions usually come at the beginning of the subordinate clause. Coordinating Conjunctions The short, simple conjunctions are called "coordinating conjunctions": and, but, or, nor, for, yet, so A coordinating conjunction joins parts of a sentence (for example words or independent clauses) that are grammatically equal or similar. A coordinating conjunction shows that the elements it joins are similar in importance and structure: + Look at these examples - the two elements that the coordinating conjunction joins are shown in square brackets [ ]: I like [tea] and [coffee]. [Ram likes tea], but [Anthony likes coffee]. Coordinating conjunctions always come between the words or clauses that they join. When a coordinating conjunction joins independent clauses, it is always correct to place a comma before the conjunction: I want to work as an interpreter in the future, so I am studying Russian at university. However, if the independent clauses are short and well-balanced, a comma is not really essential: She is kind so she helps people. When "and" is used with the last word of a list, a comma is optional: He drinks beer, whisky, wine, and rum. He drinks beer, whisky, wine and rum. The 7 coordinating conjunctions are short, simple words. They have only two or three letters. There's an easy way to remember them - their initials spell: F A N B O Y S For And Nor But Or Yet So Subordinating Conjunctions The majority of conjunctions are "subordinating conjunctions". Common subordinating conjunctions are: after, although, as, because, before, how, if, once, since, than, that, though, till, until, when, where, whether, while A subordinating conjunction joins a subordinate (dependent) clause to a main (independent) clause: + Look at this example: main or independent clause subordinate or dependent clause Ram went swimming although it was raining. subordinating conjunction A subordinate or dependent clause "depends" on a main or independent clause. It cannot exist alone. Imagine that somebody says to you: "Hello! Although it was raining." What do you understand? Nothing! But a main or independent clause can exist alone. You will understand very well if somebody says to you: "Hello! Ram went swimming." A subordinating conjunction always comes at the beginning of a subordinate clause. It "introduces" a subordinate clause. However, a subordinate clause can sometimes come after and sometimes before a main clause. Thus, two structures are possible: + Ram went swimming although it was raining. + Although it was raining, Ram went swimming. Interjections Hi! That's an interjection. :-) Interjection is a big name for a little word. Interjections are short exclamations like Oh!, Um or Ah!They have no real grammatical value but we use them quite often, usually more in speaking than in writing. When interjections are inserted into a sentence, they have no grammatical connection to the sentence. An interjection is sometimes followed by an exclamation mark (!) when written. Interjections like er and um are also known as "hesitation devices". They are extremely common in English. People use them when they don't know what to say, or to indicate that they are thinking about what to say. You should learn to recognize them when you hear them and realize that they have no real meaning. The table below shows some interjections with examples. interjection meaning example ah expressing pleasure "Ah, that feels good." expressing realization "Ah, now I understand." expressing resignation "Ah well, it can't be heped." expressing surprise "Ah! I've won!" alas expressing grief or pity "Alas, she's dead now." dear expressing pity "Oh dear! Does it hurt?" expressing surprise "Dear me! That's a surprise!" eh asking for repetition "It's hot today." "Eh?" "I said it's hot today." expressing enquiry "What do you think of that, eh?" expressing surprise "Eh! Really?" inviting agreement "Let's go, eh?" er expressing hesitation "Lima is the capital of...er...Peru." hello, hullo expressing greeting "Hello John. How are you today?" expressing surprise "Hello! My car's gone!" hey calling attention "Hey! look at that!" expressing surprise, joy etc "Hey! What a good idea!" hi expressing greeting "Hi! What's new?" hmm expressing hesitation, doubt or disagreement "Hmm. I'm not so sure." oh, o expressing surprise "Oh! You're here!" expressing pain "Oh! I've got a toothache." expressing pleading "Oh, please say 'yes'!" ouch expressing pain "Ouch! That hurts!" uh expressing hesitation "Uh...I don't know the answer to that." uh-huh expressing agreement "Shall we go?" "Uh-huh." um, umm expressing hesitation "85 divided by 5 is...um...17." well expressing surprise "Well I never!" introducing a remark "Well, what did he say?"