1. Verb
phrases
Recognize a verb phrase when you see one.
Sometimes an action or condition occurs just
once—pow!—and it's over. Read these two short sentences:
Offering her license and
registration, Selena sobbed in the driver's seat.
Officer Carson was unmoved.
Other times, the activity or condition continues
over a long stretch of time, happens predictably, or occurs in relationship to
other events. In these instances, a single-word verb like sobbed or wascannot
accurately describe what happened, so writers use multipart verb phrases to
communicate what they mean. As many as four words can comprise a verb phrase.
A main or base verb indicates the type of action
or condition, and auxiliary—or helping—verbs
convey the other nuances that writers want to express.
Read these three examples:
The tires screeched as Selena mashed the accelerator.
Selena is always disobeying the speed limit.
Selena should have been driving with more care, for
then she would not have gotten her third ticket this
year.
In the first sentence, screeched and mashed, single-word verbs, describe the quick actions of both the tires
and Selena.
Since Selena has an inclination to speed, is disobeying [a two-word verb] communicates the frequency
of her law breaking. The auxiliary verbs that comprise should have been driving [a four-word verb] and would have gotten [a three-word verb] express not only time
relationships but also evaluation of Selena's actions.
Realize that an adverb is not part of the verb
phrase.
Since a verb phrase might use up to four words,
a short adverb—such as also, never, or not—might
try to sneak in between the parts. When you find an adverb snuggled in a verb
phrase, it is still an adverb, not part of the verb. Read these examples:
For her birthday, Selena
would also like a radar
detector.
Would like = verb; also = adverb.
To avoid another speeding
ticket, Selena will never again take her eyes off the road to fiddle
with the radio.
Will take = verb; never, again = adverbs.
Despite the stern warning
from Officer Carson, Selena has not lightened her foot on the accelerator.
Has lightened = verb; not = adverb.
2. Tenses
Although the various shades of time and sequence are
usually conveyed adequately in informal speech and writing, especially by
native speakers and writers, they can create havoc in academic writing and they
sometimes are troublesome among students for whom English is a second language.
This difficulty is especially evident in complex sentences when there is a
difference between the time expressed in an independent clause and the time
expressed in a dependent clause. Another
difficulty arises with the use of infinitives and participles, modals which
also convey a sense of time. We hope the tables below will provide the order
necessary to help writers sort out tense sequences.
As long as the main clause's verb is in neither the past
nor the past perfect tense, the verb of the subordinate clause can be in any
tense that conveys meaning accurately. When the main clause verb is in the past
or past perfect, however, the verb in the subordinate clause must be in the
past or past perfect. The exception to this rule is when the subordinate clause
expresses what is commonly known as a general
truth:
·
In the 1950s, English teachers still believed that a background in
Latin is essential for an understanding of
English.
·
Columbus somehow knew that the world is round.
·
Slaveowners widely understood that literacy among oppressed people is a dangerous thing.
The tables below demonstrate the correct relationship of
tenses between clauses where time is of the essence (i.e., within sentences
used to convey ideas about actions or conditions that take place over time).
Click HERE for a table describing the various
tenses of the active voice.
Click HERE for a table describing tense sequences
of infinitives and participles.
Tense in
Independent
Clause
|
Purpose of Dependent Clause/
Tense in Dependent Clause
|
Example(s)
|
Simple
Present
|
To show same-time action, use the present tense
|
I am eager to go to the concert because I love the Wallflowers.
|
To show earlier action, use past tense
|
I know that I made the right choice.
|
To show a period of time extending from some point
in the past to the present, use the present perfect tense.
|
They believe that they have electedthe right
candidate.
|
To show action to come, use the future tense.
|
The President says that he will vetothe bill.
|
|
|
Simple
Past
|
To show another completed past action, use the past
tense.
|
I wanted to go home because Imissed my parents.
|
To show an earlier action, use the past perfect
tense.
|
She knew she had made the right choice.
|
To state a general truth, use the present tense.
|
The Deists believed that the universeis like a giant clock.
|
|
|
Present
Perfect
or
Past
Perfect
|
For any purpose, use the past tense.
|
She has
grown a foot since sheturned nine.
The crowd had turned nasty before the sheriff returned.
|
|
|
Future
|
To show action happening at the same time, use the
present tense.
|
I will
be so happy if they fix my car today.
|
To show an earlier action, use the past tense.
|
You will surely pass this exam if youstudied hard.
|
To show future action earlier thanthe action of the
independent clause, use the present perfect tense.
|
The college will probably close its doors next summer if enrollmentshave not increased.
|
|
|
Future
Perfect
|
For any purpose, use the present tense or present
perfect tense.
|
Most students will
have taken sixty credits by
the time they graduate.
Most students will have
taken sixty credits by the
time they have graduated.
|
|
|
|
Sequence
of Tenses
With Infinitives and Participles
INFINITIVES
|
Tense
of
Infinitive
|
Role
of Infinitive
|
Example(s)
|
Present
Infinitive
(to see)
|
To
show same-time action or action later than the verb
|
Coach
Espinoza is eager to try out her new drills. [The eagerness
is now; the trying out will happen later.]
|
She would have liked to see more veterans returning. [The
present infinitive to see is in the same time as the past would have liked.]
|
|
|
Perfect
Infinitive
(to have seen)
|
To
show action earlier than the verb
|
The
fans would like to have seensome
improvement this year. ["Would like" describes a present condition;
"to have seen" describes something prior to that time.]
|
They consider the team to have been coached very well. [The perfect infinitive to have been coached indicates a time prior to the verb consider.]
|
PARTICIPLES
|
Tense
of
Participle
|
Role
of Participle
|
Example(s)
|
Present
Participle
(seeing)
|
To
show action occurring at the same time as that of the verb
|
Working on the fundamentals, the team
slowly began to improve. [The action expressed by beganhappened in the past, at
the same time the working happened.]
|
|
|
Past
Participle
or
Present
Perfect
Participle
|
To
show action occurring earlier than that of the verb
|
Prepared by last year's experience, the
coach knows not to expect too much. [The action
expressed byknows is in
the present; preparedexpresses
a time prior to that time.]
|
Having
experimented with several game plans, the
coaching staffdevised a
master strategy. [The present perfect participle having experimented indicates a time prior to the past
tense verb, devised.]
|
|
|
|
3. Singular
and plural
A noun
names a person, place, thing, or idea.
Usually, the first page of
a grammar book tells you about nouns. Nouns give names of
concrete or abstractthings in
our lives. As babies learn "mom," "dad,"
or "milk" as their first word, nouns should
be the first topicwhen you study a foreign language.
For the plural form of most nouns, add s.
·
bottle – bottles
·
cup – cups
·
pencil – pencils
·
desk – desks
·
sticker – stickers
·
window – windows
For
nouns that end in ch, x, s, or s sounds, add es.
·
box – boxes
·
watch – watches
·
moss – mosses
·
bus – buses
For
nouns ending in f or fe, change f to v and add es.
·
wolf – wolves
·
wife – wives
·
leaf – leaves
·
life – lives
Some
nouns have different plural forms.
·
child – children
·
woman – women
·
man – men
·
mouse – mice
·
goose – geese
Nouns
ending in vowels like y or o do not have definite rules.
·
baby – babies
·
toy – toys
·
kidney – kidneys
·
potato – potatoes
·
memo – memos
·
stereo – stereos
A few
nouns have the same singular and plural forms.
·
sheep – sheep
·
deer – deer
·
series – series
·
species – species
Sumber :
http://www.talkenglish.com/Grammar/singular-plural-nouns.aspx
