English Grammar Is A Body of Rules

English grammar is a body of rules (grammar) specifying how phrases and sentences are constructed in the English language.
Accounts of English grammar tend to fall into two groups: the descriptivist, which describes the grammatical system of English; and the prescriptivist, which does not describe English grammar but rather sets out a small list of social regulations that attempt to govern the linguistic behaviour of native speakers (see inguistic prescription and !escriptive linguistics). "rescriptive grammar concerns itself with several open disputes in English grammar, often representing changes in usage over time. #his article describes a generali$ed %tandard English, which is the form of speech found in types of public discourse including broadcasting, education, entertainment, government, and news reporting. %tandard English includes both formal and informal speech. #he many dialects of English have divergences from the grammar described here, which are only cursorily mentioned.
Contents
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( e)ical categories and phrasal synta) o (.( *ominals (.(.( *ouns (.(.(.( *on+inflectional morphology (.(.(., *umber (.(.(.- .embership (.(.(./ %ubclasses (.(.(./.( !ual membership, conversion (.(., *oun phrases (.(.,.( "re+modification (.(.,.(.( !eterminers (.(.,.(., *umber agreement, selectional restrictions (.(.,.(.- Articles (.(.,.(./ Ad0ectival modification (.(.,., "ost+modification (.(.- "ronouns (.(.-.( 1ender (.(.-., 2ase o (., 3erbs (.,.( 3erb classes (.,., 4nflectional morphology (.,.,.( 4rregular verb morphology (.,.,., !efective verbs (.,.,.- Au)iliary inflection (.,.,./ Agreement (.,.- %tructure of the verb 5comple)5 (.,.-.( 6perator (.,./ #ime, tense and aspect (
(.,./.( 3erb tense chart (.,.7 3oice (.,.8 .odals and modality (.,.8.( 4ndicative, or declarative, mood (.,.8., %ub0unctive mood (.,.8.- 4mperative mood (.,.8./ .odal forms (.,.9 *otes (.,.: 3erb phrases o (.- Ad0ectives (.-.( Ad0ective phrases (.-., %emantic ordering o (./ Adverbs (./.( !egree adverbs o (.7 "repositions (.7.( "repositional phrases , 2lausal synta) o ,.( ;ord order o ,., 4nterrogative sentences ,.,.( #ypes of 4nterrogative %entences ,.,., <es=*o >uestions ,.,.- 4nformation >uestions ,.,./ #ags ,.,./.( ?eversed polarity tags ,.,./., 2onstant polarity tags o ,.- #opicali$ation o ,./ *egation, negative polarity, and assertion o ,.7 2omparison ,.7.( %emantic gradability ,.7., #ypes of comparison ,.7.- 2omparative constructions o ,.8 Ellipsis - %ee also / *otes and references 7 @ibliography
8 E)ternal links
[edit] Lexical categories and phrasal syntax

[edit] Nominals
*oun phrases and pronouns both can have a referential function where they 5point5 (i.e. refer) to some person or ob0ect in the real world (or a possible world). Additionally, they share many of the same grammatical functions in that they can both act as sub0ects, ob0ects, and complements within clauses. *oun phrases may consist of only a single noun, or they may be comple) consisting of a noun (which functions as the head of the noun phrase) that is modified by different types of elements (such as ad0ectives, prepositional phrases, etc.).&(' "ronouns are words that can act as substitutions for noun phrases. Aor instance, in the following sentence Professor Plum kicked the very large ball with red spots over the fence. the noun phrase the very large ball with red spots can be substituted with the pronoun it as in Professor Plum kicked it over the fence. 4n spite of the name pronoun, pronouns cannot substitute for nouns B they only substitute for noun phrases. #his can be shown with the same sentence above: the noun ball cannot be substituted with the pronoun it (or any other pronoun) as in the ungrammatical&,' sentence *Professor Plum kicked the very large it with red spots over the fence. #he sections below describe English nouns (their morphology and synta)), the structure of noun phrases, and pronouns. [edit] Nouns *ouns are defined notionally (i.e. semantically) as generally describing persons, places, things, or ideas. #his notional definition does account for what are the central members of the noun le)ical category. Cowever, the notional definition fails to account for several nouns, such as deverbal nouns like jump or destruction (which are notionally more like actions). Aor this reason, many grammatical descriptions of English define nouns in terms of grammar (i.e. according to their morphological and syntactic behavior). *onetheless, traditional English grammars and some pedagogical grammars define nouns with a notional definition. *on+proper nouns, in general, are not marked for case or gender, but are marked for number and definiteness (when referential). -
[edit] Non-inflectional morphology
See also: English compound Please help improve this section by expanding it. Aurther information might be found on the talk page or at re>uests for e)pansion. ( une !""#$
English nouns may be of a few morphological types:

simple nouns nouns with derivational affi)es compound nouns compound nouns with derivational affi)es
%imple nouns consist of a single root which also acts as the stem which may be inflected. Aor e)ample, the word (or, more precisely, the le)eme) boy is a simple noun consisting of a single root (also boy). #he root boy also acts as the stem boy, which can have the inflectional plural suffi) %s added to it producing the inflectional word+form boys. .ore comple) nouns can have derivational prefi)es or suffi)es in addition to a noun stem. Aor e)ample, the noun archenemy consists of a derivational prefi) arch% and a root enemy. Cere the derived form archenemy acts as the stem which can be used to form the inflected word+form archenemies. An e)ample with a derivational suffi) is kingdom which is composed of root king and suffi) %dom. %ome English nouns can be comple) with several derivational prefi)es and suffi)es. A considerably comple) e)ample is antidisestablishmentarianism which has the root establish and the affi)es anti%, dis%, %ment, %ary, %an, and %ism. English compound nouns are nouns that consist of more than one stem. Aor e)ample, the compound paperclip is composed of the stem paper and the stem clip. 2ompounds in English can be usefully subdivided (following @auer (D:-) into different classes according to the le)ical category of the individual stems and according to a semantic classification into endocentric, e)ocentric, copulative, and appositional subtypes.
[edit] Number
&ain article: English plural English nouns are typically inflected for number, having distinct singular and plural forms. #he plural form usually consists of the singular form plus %s or %es, but there are many irregular nouns. 6rdinarily, the singular form is used when discussing one instance of the nounEs referent, and the plural form is used when discussing any other number of instances, but there are many e)ceptions to this rule. Cere are some e)amples: Number Example
'he girl talks.
ingular
Every girl talks.
(o girl talks.
'he girls talk.
Plural )ll girls talk.
(o girls talk.
[edit] !embership
;ords that belong to the noun le)ical category (or part of speech) can be simple words that belong primarily to the noun category. #hese include words like man, dog, rice, et cetera.
6ther nouns can be derived from words belonging to other le)ical categories with the addition of class%changing derivational suffi)es. Aor e)ample, the suffi)es %ation, %ee, %ure, %al, %er, %ment are attached to verb bases to create deverbal nouns. ve* (verb) appoint (verb) fail (verb) ac+uit (verb) run (verb) adjust (verb) F F F F F F ve*ation (noun) appointee (noun) failure (noun) ac+uittal (noun) runner (noun) adjustment (noun)
%till other suffi)es (%dom, %hood, %ist, %th, %ness) form derived dead0ectival nouns from ad0ectives: free (ad0ective) lively (ad0ective) moral (ad0ective) warm (ad0ective) happy (ad0ective) F F F F F freedom (noun) livelihood (noun) moralist (noun) warmth (noun) happiness (noun)
#hese derivational suffi)es can also be added to (compound) phrasal bases like in the noun stick%it%to%itiveness, which is derived from the phrase & stick it to it ' G %ive G %ness. @esides derivational suffi)ation, words from other le)ical categories can be converted straight to nouns (without any overt morphological indication) by a conversion process (also known as ,ero derivation). Aor e)ample, the word run is a verb but it can be converted to a noun run 5point scored in a baseball game (by running around the bases)5 as in the sentence: 'he team won with five runs in the ninth inning. Cere it is evident that run is a noun because it is plurali$ed with the inflectional plural suffi) %s, it is modified by the preceding >uantifier five, and it occurs as the head of the noun phrase five runs which acts as the complement of the preposition with in the prepositional phrase with five runs. 6ther le)ical categories can also be converted: if (subordinator) F if (noun) as in no ifs- ands- or buts about it &idiomatic' daily (ad0ective) F daily (noun) &H 5newspaper5' as in did you buy a daily for me. down (preposition) F down (noun) &in American football' as in they made a new first down Additionally, there are phrases which can be converted into nouns, such as jack%in%the% bo*, love%lies%bleeding (type of flower). #hese may be viewed as compounds (see noun morphology section). #here are also conversion processes that convert from one noun subclass to another subclass (see the noun subclass conversion section).
[edit] ubclasses
#hree basic noun classes in English can be distinguished according to syntactic criteria:

proper nouns (proper name) countable nouns (count nouns) uncountable nouns (noncount nouns)
#hese syntactic subclasses also correspond fairly well to semantic categories (as indicated by their names and e)plained below). 2ountable and uncountable nouns B such as dog (countable), rice (uncountable) B show article contrast: a dog, the dog, dogs, the dogs are all possible 0ust as rice, the rice are both possible. 2ountable nouns differ from uncountable nouns in that they cannot stand alone&-', cannot be modified by some unless they are in plural forms, can be modified by a, and can be plurali$ed. %emantically, they generally refer to easily individuated ob0ects. E)amples of countable nouns include the following: remark, book, bottle, chair, forest, idea, bun, pig, toy, difficulty, bracelet, mountain, etc. Incountable nouns, in contrast, can stand alone, can be modified by some, cannot be modified by a, and cannot be plurali$ed. %emantically, uncountable nouns refer to an undifferentiated mass. E)amples of uncountable nouns include: rice, furniture, jewelry, scenery, gold, bread, grass, warmth, music, butter, homework, baggage, sugar, coffee, luck, sunshine, water, air, /hinese (language), soccer, literature, rain, walking, etc. #he morphosyntactic differences between countable and uncountable nouns are displayed in the table below. Countable Noun "ncountable Noun
standalone
*remark
rice
some # N$"N
*some remark
some rice
a # N$"N
a remark
*a rice
plural
remarks
*rices
some # plural N$"N some remarks
*some rices
6n the other hand, proper nouns, which include personal names B such as Peter, Smith and placenames like Paris, 'okyo B do not show article contrast. #ypically, an article cannot precede them. #hus, *a Peter, *the Peter, *a 'okyo, *the 'okyo are all ungrammatical (only Peter and 'okyo without articles are possible). Although several proper nouns (e.g. Peter, Smith, Paris, 'okyo) cannot be preceded by an article, some proper nouns must obligatorily be preceded by an article. #hese include proper nouns like 'he 0ague, 'he 1alles, the (etherlands, the 2est 3ndies, and the )ndes. Cowever, like proper nouns without article modification, these proper nouns with preceding articles also lack article contrast. #hus, while 'he 0ague is grammatical, *a 0ague and *0ague are ungrammatical. %emantically, proper nouns have uni>ue reference. As seen above, the different subclasses affect grammatical number and >uantification.
[edit] %ual membership& conversion
2omplicating the membership of the basic subclasses described above is the e)istence of some nouns which have dual membership in more than one subcategory and the conversion of a noun from its basic subcategory to a different subcategory. (%ee the noun membership section.) *ouns like brick and cake have dual membership. Aor e)ample, observe the following sentences with brick: 'he house was made of brick. brick H uncountable 'he house was made of bricks. bricks H countable 4n the first sentence, brick is an uncountable noun. #his can be determined by the lack of an article preceding brick, which is a characteristic of uncountable nouns (and, thus, this sentence is parallel to a sentence like 'he ball was made of rice). 4n the second sentence, bricks is a countable noun because it is plural, which is a characteristic of only countable nouns (and, thus, this sentence is parallel to a sentence like 'he toy house was made of matches). 6ther nouns that have dual membership in both countable and uncountable subclasses are stone, paper, beauty, difficulty, e*perience, light, sound, talk, and lamb. As mentioned above, several nouns can undergo a conversion from one subclass to another. 6ne type of conversion is from a proper noun to a countable noun. A proper
name like Picasso may become a countable noun through metonymic e)tension, as in the sentence: 1id you see the Picassos hanging on the wall. Although Picasso usually has a uni>ue referent (which is the person "ablo "icasso), it can be used metonymically to mean, 5a painting created by "icasso5. #his converted noun can be seen as belonging to the countable subclass by the fact that it is plural and that the article the precedes it. #here are also two idiomatic constructions which involve the conversion of a proper noun to a countable noun: E*cuse me ma4am- a Mr. Smith is on the phone. 5ou don4t mean '0E Margaret Thatcher- do you. Cere the article a before &r. Smith indicates a meaning of 5a certain person called .r. %mith that is otherwise unknown to you5 in the first sentence while in the second sentence the article the with intonational stress (here indicated in caps) gives a reading of 5the well+known person called .argaret #hatcher5. [edit] Noun phrases
[edit] Pre-modification
Please help improve this section by expanding it. Aurther information might be found on the talk page or at re>uests for e)pansion. ( une !""#$
[edit] %eterminers
!eterminers&/'&7' include articles (like the- a6an), demonstratives (like this, these, that, those), >uantifiers (like all, many, some, any, each), numerals (like one, two, first, second), genitives&8' (like my, your, his, her, its, our, their), interrogatives (like which, what), and e)clamatives (like such, what) that modify noun heads in noun phrases. !eterminers function as words that 5determine5 other nouns, where 5determine5 is generally conceived of as indicating information about >uantification, grammatical (and=or semantic) number, issues involving reference, and noun subclass membership (i.e. count, noncount, and proper noun subclasses). #hese 5determining5 functions make determiners >uite distinct from ad0ectival modifiers which generally provide >ualitative information about nouns and cannot provide determining functions. ;ithin the noun phrase, determiners occur at the far left edge of the noun phrase before the noun head and before any optional ad0ective modifiers (if present):
%E'E(!)NE( # *%+EC'),E- . # N$"N

E)amples follow:
the balloon
!E# *6I*
the big red balloon

!E# A!J A!J *6I*
many balloons
!E# *6I*
many big red balloons

!E# A!J A!J *6I*
all balloons
!E# *6I*
all big red balloons

!E# A!J A!J *6I*
#he distinctness of the determiner and ad0ective positions relative to each other and the noun head is demonstrable in that ad0ectives may never precede determiners. #hus, the following are ungrammatical English nouns phrases: *big the red balloon, *big red the balloon (as well as *big many red balloons, *big red many balloons, *big all red balloons, *big red all balloons). !eterminers can be divided into three subclasses according to their position with respect to each other:

predeteminers central determiners postdeterminers
"redeterminers may precede central determiners but may not follow central determiners. "ostdeterminers follow central determiners but may not precede them. 2entral determiners must occur after predeterminers and before postdeterminers. #hus, a central determiner like the as in the red balloons
!E# A!J *6I*
can be preceded by a predeterminer like all as in all the

!E#
red balloons
A!J *6I*
"?E!E# 2E*#.!E#
or the central determiner the can be followed by a postdeterminer like many as in the many
!E#
red balloons
A!J *6I*
2E*#.!E# "6%#!E#
A se>uence of predeterminer G central determiner G postdeterminer is also possible as in
(K
all
the
!E#
many
red balloons
A!J *6I*
"?E!E# 2E*#.!E# "6%#!E#
Cowever, there are several restrictions on combinatory possibilities. 6ne general restriction is that only one determiner can occur in each of the three determiner positions. Aor e)ample, the postdeterminers many and two can occur in the following many smart children seven smart children the many smart children the seven smart children but both many and two cannot occur in postdeterminer position rendering the following noun phrases ungrammatical: *many seven smart children, *seven many smart children, *the many seven smart children, *the seven many smart children. Additionally, there are often other le)ical restrictions. Aor e)ample, the predeterminer all can occur alone (as the sole determiner) or before a central determiner (e.g. all children, all of the children, all of these children, all of my children); however, the predeterminer such can only occur alone or before central determiner a (e.g., such nuisance7, such a nuisance7). "redeterminers include words like all, both, half, double, twice, three times, one%third, one%fifth, three%+uarters, such, e)clamative what. E)amples with predeterminers preceding a central determiner: all of the big balloons both of his nice parents half a minute double the risk twice my age three times my salary one-third of the cost one-fifth of the rate three-quarters of the diameter such a big boy what a clever suggestion 2entral determiners include words like the, a6an, this, that, these, those, every, each, enough, much, more, most less, no, some, either, neither, which, what. E)amples of central determiners preceding ad0ectival modified noun heads: the big balloon a big balloon this big balloon
((
that big balloon these big balloons those big balloons every big balloon each big balloon no big balloon some big balloons either big balloon ;hile the, a6an, no, and every only function as determiners&9', the other central determiners can also function as members of other le)ical categories, especially as pronouns. Aor e)ample, that functions as a determiner in That item is our belonging. but as pronoun in That is our belonging. 4n additional to the above determiners, noun phrases with a genitive enclitic %8s&:' can have a determinative function like genitive determiners his, her, its, their. #hese genitive determinative noun phrases occur in the central determiner position: [ my stepmothers ] friendly children both of [ my stepmothers ] friendly children [ my stepmothers ] many friendly children all of [ my stepmothers ] many friendly children
[edit] Number agreement& selectional restrictions
[edit] *rticles
Articles are words like a6an, and the that modify nouns. #hey occur in the central determiner position. Articles have several functions including marking definiteness, specific=generic reference, given=new information in discourse, and noun subclass membership (i.e. count, noncount, and proper noun subclasses).
(,
#he definite article 5the5 is used to refer to a specific instance of the noun, often already mentioned in the conte)t or easy to identify. !efinite articles are slightly different from demonstratives, which often indicate the location of nouns with respect to the speaker and audience.

5 et us look for a good restaurant.5 5;hat about the restaurant we ate at last weekL5 5#hat restaurant was terrible. ;hat about this one on the corner hereL5
[edit] *d/ectival modification
[edit] Post-modification
ad0ectival modification (jokes galore) prepositional phrase modification (men in tights) clausal modification (planes flying overhead, jokes that 3 love, et cetera)
[edit] Pronouns See also: English relative clauses

[edit] 0ender
&ain article: 9ender in English A remnant of grammatical gender is also preserved in the third person pronouns. 1ender is assigned to animate ob0ects based on biological gender (where known), and to personified ob0ects based on social conventions (ships, for e)ample, are often regarded as feminine in English). 0e is used for masculine nouns; she is used for feminine nouns; and it is used for nouns of indeterminate gender and inanimate ob0ects. #he use of it to refer to humans is generally considered ungrammatical and impolite, but is sometimes used deliberately as a term of offence or insult as it implies the person is of indeterminate gender or, worse, sub+human + a thing. (%ee for e)ample: A 2hild 2alled 54t5) #raditionally, the masculine he was used to refer to a person in the third person whose gender was unknown or irrelevant to the conte)t; recently, this usage has come under (-
criticism for supporting gender+based stereotypes and is increasingly considered inappropriate (see 1ender+neutral language). #here is no consensus on a replacement. %ome English speakers prefer to use the slightly cumbersome 5he or she5 or 5s=he5; others prefer the use of they (third plural) (see singular they). #his situation rarely leads to confusion, since the intended meaning can be inferred from conte)t, e.g. 5#his person has written me a letter but they have not signed it.5 Cowever, it still is considered by some to be incorrect grammar. %pivak pronouns have also been proposed which are essentially formed by dropping the leading MthF from the plural counterpart, but their use is relatively rare compared to other solutions. Aor comparison, speakers of 1erman distinguish between the homophonous sie (5she5), sie (5they5), and Sie (5you5, polite) with little difficulty. #he categori$ation of nouns is typically e)pressed by one or more of the elements called deictic, numerative, epithet, and classifier. ;e shall consider each of these in turn.
[edit] Case
:urther information: English personal pronouns Cistorically, English used to mark nouns for case, and the two remnants of this case marking are the pronominal system and the genitive clitic (which used to be called the Sa*on genitive). #he genitive is marked by a clitic at the end of the modifying noun phrase. #his can be illustrated in the following manner: 'he president from the company8s daughter was married yesterday. #he 8s clitic attached to company does not modify company but rather modifies the entire noun phrase president from the company. #his can be shown more clearly using brackets: ['he president from the company]8s daughter was married yesterday. English pronoun forms vary with number, person, case, and notional gender (only in -rd person singular). *umber and case distinctions have collapsed in the ,nd person singular in the standard formal language, although informal dialectal forms have number distinctions (for e)ample singular you vs. plural y4all, youse, etc.). 1st Case sg. pl.
male female neuter
3rd 2nd
sg. pl. interrogative
(/
ub/ective
we you
he
she it
they
who
$b/ective
me
us
him her
them
who(m)
determiner
my our your his its hers
their whose theirs
0enitive
nominal
mine ours yours
*otes (. %ome dialects use different forms for the second person plural pronoun: they include you%all or y4all &D', you guys, yu4uns &(K', youse &((', or ye &(,'. #hese forms are generally regarded as collo>uial and non+standard. ,. #he pronoun thou was the former second person singular pronoun; it is considered an archaism in most conte)ts, although it is still used in some dialects in the north of England. 'hou was originally the informal form to the formal you, is very rare, and is confined to dialects and religious and poetic functions. 4n modern %tandard English, the second person plural you is used instead. -. &ine (and thine) were also previously used before vowel sounds to avoid a glottal stop. e.g., 5!o mine eyes deceive meLN 5Onow thine enemy.5 #his usage is now archaic. /. #he ob0ective form whom is most often found in formal English (as in writing) while the more common ob0ective who is found in less formal writing and most speech. "rescriptivists state that who when used in ob0ective conte)t is 5incorrect5. #he refle)ive pronouns are compounds consisting an genitive determiner pronoun and a following %self, with e)ception of the -rd person singular male form which consists of the ob0ective form him G %self and the -rd person plural form with consists ob0ective them G %self G %(e$s. 4n the plural, these refle)ives take the regular plural suffi) %s (with voicing of the f F v as with the free form of self F selves) along with the plural inflected pronoun form. 1st Case sg. pl. sg. pl.
male female neuter
2nd
3rd
sg. pl.
(7
(eflexiv mysel ourselves yourself yourselves himself herself itself themselves e f ;urself is used instead of ourselves for any semantically singular version of we, such as the royal we. 4n some dialects, the -rd person male and -rd person plural refle)ives are formed with the genitive determiner his F hisself and their F theirself. #hus, these dialects have regulari$ed the entire paradigm to genitive forms.
[edit] ,erbs
&ain article: English verbs [edit] ,erb classes English verbs fall into two main types:

main verbs (also full verbs) auxiliaries (also au*iliary verbs, helping verbs)
.ain verbs are verbs like jump, take, catch, and hit. #hey are le)ical in nature, carry the main semantic information within the verb comple), and are an open class (i.e. main verbs can be freely and productively created anew via word+formation processes). 4n the sentence 0alil is helping his brother. the verb helping is the main verb. Au)iliaries are verbs that typically precede the main verb in sentences. #hey are of limited number, contribute grammatical information to the verb comple), and are a closed class. 4n the sentence 0alil is helping his brother. the verb is is the au)iliary. #hree verbs in English B be, have, and do B may function as both main verbs and as au)iliaries.&(-' Puirk et al. ((D:7) refer to these verbs as primary verbs. #he following e)amples demonstrate their dual functionality: 0alil will be a student. (be as a main verb) 0alil is helping a student. (be as an au)iliary) (8
'he girls have many books. (have as a main verb) 'he girls have helped many students. (have as an au)iliary) 'he girls may do their homework. (do as a main verb) 'he girls do not help many students. (do as an au)iliary) @esides the three primary verbs, the other au)iliaries are modals which include can, could, may, might, must, shall, should, will, and would. 4n addition to their restriction to functioning only as au)iliaries, modals can only occur in finite clauses and cannot be inflected for tense, number, or person. .ore marginal to the class of modals are verbs like ought and in @ritish varieties also need and dare. #hese display many but not all properties of modals and are thus termed marginal modals by Puirk et al. ((D:7). Ainally, the verb used (as in She used to called me everyday) is considered to be marginal modal by Puirk et al. ((D:7), but Cuddleston Q "ullum (,KK,) find several differences between it and the other modals and marginal modals, concluding that it is an au)iliary of the most marginal type. %emantically, used has reference to time, which distinguishes it from modals, which have modality as their main semantic component. [edit] )nflectional morphology English verbs only have eight possible inflectional forms:
non+finite&(/' (or non+tensed) forms: (() base form (also called plain form) &(7' (,) -ing &(8' form (-) -en form &(9' finite (or tensed) forms: nonpast forms: (/) general nonpast form (7) 1st person singular nonpast form (8) 3rd person singular nonpast form past forms: (9) general past form (:) 1st43rd person singular past form
#he copula be has eight distinct inflectional forms as seen in the e)ample sentences below: 'he girl wants to be in school (base form: be) 'he girl is being a nuisance (%ing form: being) 'he girl has been a great help (%en form: been)
(9
'he girls are students 3 am a student 'he girl is a student 'he girls were students 'he girl was a student
(general nonpast form: are) ((st sg. nonpast form: am) (-rd sg. nonpast form: is) (general past form: were) ((st=-rd sg. past form: was)
Cowever, most verbs (which include all 5regular5 verbs and some 5irregular5 verbs) have only four distinct inflectional forms: 'he girl wants to ump in the lake 'he girl is umping in the lake 'he girl has already umped in the lake 'he girls ump in the lake every day 3 ump in the lake every day 'he girl umps in the lake every day 'he girls umped in the lake yesterday 'he girl umped in the lake yesterday (base form: jump) (%ing form: jumping) (%en form: jumped) (general nonpast form: jump) ((st sg. nonpast form: jump) (-rd sg. nonpast form: jumps) (general past form: jumped) ((st=-rd sg. past form: jumped)
Inlike copula be, the verb jump has the same syncretic word+form jump for the base, general nonpast, and (st. sg. nonpast forms (where the copula has be, are, am, respectively) and the same syncretic word+form jumped for the %en, general past, and the (st=-rd sg. past forms (where the copula has been, were, was, respectively). Ipon comparing other verbs with the copula, one finds that only the copula has a (st=-rd sg. past form that is distinct from the general past form, a (st sg. nonpast form that is distinct from the general nonpast, and a base form that is distinct from the general nonpast form B all other verbs display syncretism in these forms.&(:' #he copula and a regular jump can be compared with each other and three types of irregular verbs in the table below. English ,erb )nflectional Paradigm
Copula (egular be verb
)rregular verb )rregular verb )rregular verb 5ith 6 5ith 7 5ith 3 inflections inflections inflections
(:
-ing form being
jumping taking
building
hitting
3rd g. is Nonpast
jumps
takes
builds
hits
1st g. am Nonpast
0eneral are Nonpast
jump
take
build
8ase
be hit
0eneral were Past took 1st43rd was g. Past jumped built
-en form been
taken
All verbs (including the copula) form the %ing form with the addition of the %ing suffi) to the base form:
@A%E A6?.
G %ing
All regular verbs and most irregular verbs form the -rd singular form with the addition of the %e(s$ suffi) to the base form:
@A%E A6?.
G %(e$s
#he parenthetical (e$ above indicates that this suffi) is spelled as either %es or %s. #he %es form (pronounced [z]) occurs after sibilant consonants. #he %s spelling occurs after all other sounds.&(D' E)amples:
(D
push%es [p-z] (sh represents sibilant consonant []) catch%es [kt-z] (ch, dge represents sibilant consonant [t]) (judge%es) F judges [dd-z] (dge represents sibilant consonant [d]) fit%s, dig%s, bathe%s, pan%s, pay%s (t, g, the, n, ay represent non+sibilant sounds [t, , , n, e])
All regular verbs form the past=%en form (as well as the syncretic (st=-rd past) with the addition of the %ed suffi) to the base form:
@A%E A6?.
G %ed
[edit] )rregular verb morphology
4rregular verbs&,K' may have the same syncretism as regular verbs (like catch) or may show less syncretism with five distinct forms (like take) or more syncretism with only three distinct forms (like hit). (%ee also: English irregular verbs.) E)amples of the three types differing in the number of distinct inflectional forms:

irregular verbs with 7 forms: take, break, swim, grow, drive, do irregular verbs with / forms: catch, build, have, feel, tell, say irregular verbs with - forms: hit, put, hurt, bet, cut, cast
4rregular verbs with five distinct inflectional forms do not syncreti$e the general past and the %en forms. 4rregular verbs with only three forms have the syncretism involving all forms e)cept for the %ing form and the -rd sg. nonpast form.&,(' 4rregular verbs with five and four inflectional forms have different patterns of past formation and %en formation. .any of the patterns involve vowel ablaut (i.e. internal vowel changes) and=or the addition of suffi)es.&,,' %ome of the more common patterns are briefly mentioned below. *ote that the spelling does not always reflect pronunciation changes in the internal vowel, so the pronunciation is transcribed phonetically:
3oicing change in last consonant between base and past=%en forms (d is voiced, t is voiceless):
bend R bent build R built 3owel change and suffi)ation of t between base and past=%en forms: [slip R slept [slpt] (slep G %t) ] deal [dil] R dealt [dlt] (deal G %t) ?eplacing of vowel and final consonant(s) in base form with [t] in past=%en form:S sleep think [k] R thought [t ,K
] [kt catch R caught [kt] ] 3owel change between base and past=%en forms and %(e$n suffi)ation: break [brek] R broke [brok] R broken [brokn] (broke G %(e$n) steal [stil] R stole [stol] R stolen [stoln] (stole G %en) tear [tr] R tore [tr] R torn [trn] (tor(e$ G %n) 3owel change between base=%en and past forms and %(e$n suffi)ation: [dr [dru R drew R drawn [drn] (draw G %n) ] ] fall [fl] R fell [fl] R fallen [fln] (fall G %en) take [tek] R took [tk] R taken [tekn] (take G %(e$n) 3owel changes in base, past, Q %en forms: draw swim [swm] R swam [swm] R swum [swm] 3owel changes in base, past, Q %en forms with %(e$n suffi)ation: drive [drv] R drove [drov] R driven [drvn] (drive G %(e$n) fly [fl] R flew [flu] R flown [flon] (flow G %n) A few verbs also have irregular changes between the general present and the -rd sg. present forms: have [hv] R has [hz] (and not the e)pected -rd sg. *haves [hvz]) do [du] R does [dz] (and not the e)pected -rd sg. *dos [duz]) say [se] R says [sz] (and not the e)pected -rd sg. [sez]) #he copula paradigm also has suffi)ation and vowel ablaut, but it is additionally marked by suppletion.&,-' (%ee the table above for its eight inflected forms.)
[edit] %efective verbs
A final thing to mention is that a few verbs are defective in that they are not inflected or are missing some inflectional forms. #he verb beware has only the base form beware. 4t is usually found in imperative sentences: !eware of the dog. #he forms bewaring, bewares, bewared are not present in .odern English. #he verb used only occurs in past form, as in 2e used to go to the beach every day when 3 was young. ,(
or in the base form only following do, as in 2e did not use to go the beach every day. #his used verb indicates habitual action or states in the past and should not be confused with the other verb use which is a regular verb. #he verb stride is missing a past participle form in its inflectional paradigm for many speakers (for some speakers who do have a past participle form, the form may variously be stridden, strid, or strode). #he verbs rumored and reputed only occur in the %en form in passive sentences: 0alil is rumored to have participated in the scandal. 0alil is reputed to have connections with the scandal. All modals (can, could, should, might, etc.) are defective.
[edit] *uxiliary inflection
6f the au)iliaries, only be, have, and do are inflected for tense, number, and person. #he au)iliary be has the same eight inflectional forms as a main verb (the copula) and have and do likewise have the same five inflectional forms as when functioning as main verbs. 4n contrast, modals are uninflected au)iliaries with respect to these grammatical parameters (and are thus defective). Cowever, most au)iliaries share the additional inflection of negation. *egative inflection consists of a %n4t suffi) that is attached to the au)iliary. #hus, there are the following inflected au)iliary forms: be&,/' modals aren4t (are G %n4t) can4t (can G %n4t) isn4t (is G %n4t) couldn4t (could G %n4t) weren4t (were G %n4t) mayn4t (may G %n4t) &very rare' wasn4t (was G %n4t) mightn4t (might G %n4t) ain4t &dialectal, prescriptively 5incorrect5' mustn4t (must G %n4t) have shan4t (shall G %n4t) haven4t (have G %n4t) won4t (will G %n4t) hasn4t (has G %n4t) wouldn4t (would G %n4t) hadn4t (had G %n4t) do marginal auxiliaries don4t (do G %n4t) daren4t (dare G %n4t) &rare, mostly @ritish' ,,
doesn4t (does G %n4t) didn4t (did G %n4t)
needn4t (need G %n4t) &rare, mostly @ritish' oughtn4t (ought G %n4t) &ungrammatical in
some varieties'
usedn4t (used G %n4t) &ungrammatical in some

dialects, mostly @ritish'
#he negative forms don4t [dont] (and not the e)pected [dunt]) and won4t [wont] (and not the e)pected [wlnt]) are irregular in their changes in internal vowel, and shan4t [nt, nt] is irregular in its deletion of the final consonant (and in ?" its vowel has shifted from [] to []). #he forms mayn4t and shan4t are now rare (particularly so with mayn4t) and are virtually absent in standard varieties of American English. #raditional grammar views %n4t not as an inflectional suffi) but as simply a phonologically reduced form (in traditional terms contracted) of the grammatical word not. According to this view, haven4t is e>uivalent to non+contracted have < not, doesn4t H does < not, etc. #hese contracted negative forms are, thus, e>uated with the reduced (contracted) forms of some of the other au)iliaries, namely are F 8re, is F 8s, am F 8m, have F 8ve, has F 8s, had F 8d, does F 8s, will F 8ll, would F 8d. Although this is the historical origin of the negative forms, clearly in the modern language the %n4t in these words are suffi)es forming a single indivisible word as the negative au)iliaries display different syntactic behavior compared with constructions consisting of au)iliary G not: 1idn"t 0alil bring the coffee. *1id not 0alil bring the coffee. *1id 0aliln"t bring the coffee. 1id 0alil not bring the coffee. Sadaf brought the coffee- didn"t she. *Sadaf brought the coffee- did not she. *Sadaf brought the coffee- did shen"t. Sadaf brought the coffee- did she not. Additionally, it can also be shown that the reduced forms of the other au)iliaries do not behave similarly to the negative au)iliaries: Shouldnt 0alil go to the store. (cf. 0alil shouldnt go to the store.) *Shouldve 0alil gone to the store. (cf. 0alil shouldve gone to the store.) *0e8dnt go to the store if she asked him. 0e8dve gone to the store if she had asked him.&,7' Ainally, the negative inflection property applies generally to au)iliaries but not to main verbs. #here are two e)ceptions to this, however, involving the 5primary5 verbs. #he verb be as a main verb may also be inflected in the negative as the following e)amples show: 'he student wasn"t being considered fairly. (negative inflection as au)iliary) 'he student wasn"t a sophomore. (negative inflection as main verb)
,-
4n @ritish varieties, have may also have negative forms as a main verb while are ungrammatical for most American varieties: 'he student hasn"t been treated fairly. (negative inflection as au)iliary) 'he student hasn"t enough time. (negative inflection as main verb B @ritish) #he other 5primary5 verb, however, cannot have negative forms when acting as a main verb. #his case of properties of au)iliaries applying to be and have is also seen in other syntactic behavior, such as in the inversion of sub0ect and au)iliary operator. (%ee the operator section.) #hus, 8ve, 8m, 8s, etc. are phonologically reduced (i.e. contracted) forms of separate words whereas the negative %n8t is not a contracted separate word but rather a (inflectional) suffi). Albeit in e)tremely formal writing (where not would be preferable), the %n8t is acceptable in most writing.
[edit] *greement
.ost English verbs mark number (in agreement with their sub0ects) only in the non+past tense, indicative mood. 4n this conte)t, there is a contrast between the -rd person and all other persons (i.e., (st and ,nd): the -rd person is marked with a %(e$s suffi) while all other persons are unmarked (i.e. without overt marking). Aurthermore, the inflectional suffi) %(e$s also indicates singular number, i.e. %(e$s indicates a -rd person singular sub0ect. %imilarly, singular number is only indicated in the -rd person B number in the other persons are unmarked. #he plural in the -rd person is unmarked. #he -rd person singular suffi) is added to the general present tense form while the unmarked form is general present tense form. #here is, thus, only a distinction between a general present form and -rd person singular form. 0eneral 3rd ingular
listen
listen%s
push
push%es
2ombined with personal pronoun sub0ects, the following are the possible sub0ect+verb combinations:&,8' 0eneral 3rd ingular ,/
36we6you6they push
he6she6it pushes
#he copula be, however, makes additional distinctions of the (st person singular in the non+past and the (st or -rd person singular in the past. Inlike other verbs, these inflected forms of be lie in a suppletive relationship. Non-past Past
0eneral 1st ingular 3rd ingular 0eneral 1st43rd ingular
are
am
is
were
was
"ronoun sub0ect+verb combinations: Non-past Past
0eneral
1st ingular 3rd ingular
0eneral
1st43rd ingular
,7
we6you6they are
3 am
he6she6it is
we6you6they were
36he6she6it was
4n the sub0unctive mood, all person and number distinctions are neutrali$ed (see below). [edit] tructure of the verb 9complex9 Please help improve this section by expanding it. Aurther information might be found on the talk page or at re>uests for e)pansion. ( une !""#$
[edit] $perator
#he first au)iliary in the verb comple) is termed the operator. 4t is displays a number of distinct syntactic and morphological characteristics.
sub0ect+operator inversion & 'he large man with a cane ' has been coming your way. #as & the large man with a cane ' been coming your way. & 'he woman ' has been flying a kite- and & her son ' has been flying a kite- too. & 'he woman ' has been flying a kite- and so has & her son ' . (with coordination ellipsis)
[edit] 'ime& tense and aspect 'his article or section is in need of attention from an expert on the sub/ect.
"lease help recruit one or improve this article yourself. %ee the talk page for details. "lease consider using TTE)pert+sub0ectUU to associate this re>uest with a ;iki"ro0ect
&ain article: English=verb>'enses 2hanges in tense in English are achieved by the changes in ending and the use of au)iliary verbs 5to be5 and 5to have5 and the use of the au)iliaries 5will5, 5shall5 and 5would5. (#hese au)iliaries cannot co+occur with other modals like can, may, and must.) #he e)amples below use the regular verb to listen:
,8
Present tenses o imple present (or simply 5present5): 54 listen.5 #his tense typically e)presses habitual actions. ?arely, it is used to refer to present time in reportative style speech. o Present continuous (or 5present progressive5): 54 am listening.5 #his tense e)presses actions in the present taking place as the speaker is speaking or in the future. o Present perfect: 54 have listened.5 #his tense e)presses actions that began in the past but are still true in the present: 54 have known her for si) years5 (and 4 still know her). #his is also used to e)press a completed action that took place at a non-specific moment in the past. #his tense often e)presses actions that happen in the past, yet cannot be considered a past tense because it always has a connection to the present. o Present perfect continuous: 54 have been listening.5 #his is used to e)press that an event started at some time in the past and continuing to the present. o All forms of the present tense are often used in place of their future+tense counterparts. 4n particular, various kinds of subordinate clauses B especially if and when clauses B cannot generally use the future tense, so the present tense is used instead.
Past tenses o imple past: 54 listened.5 #his is used to e)press a completed action that took place at a specific moment in the past. (2onfusingly, in I% English, the simple past may sometimes be used for a non-specific moment in the past). o Past continuous (otherwise known as the imperfect or past progressive): 54 was listening.5 #his is used to e)press an incomplete action in the past. (#hus, an 5imperfect5 action, as opposed to a completed and therefore 5perfect5 action.) o Past perfect or pluperfect: 54 had listened.5 #his e)presses an action completed before some other action in the past (often e)pressed by the simple past). #he pluperfect is thus e)pressing an action even more in the past e.g. 5Ce realised that he had lost his way5, 54 was going to town because he had spoken to me5. o Past perfect continuous or simply 5perfect continuous5: 54 had been listening.5 Isually used with an e)plicit duration, this indicates that an event was ongoing for a specific time, e.g. 5;hen "eter entered my room, 4 had been listening to music for half an hour.5 :uture tenses ,9
o o o
imple future: 54 shall=will listen.5 #his is used to e)press that an event will occur in the future, or that the speaker intends to perform some action. :uture continuous: 54 shall=will be listening.5 #his is used to e)press an ongoing event that has not yet been initiated. :uture perfect: 54 shall=will have listened.5 #his indicates an action which will occur before some other action in the future: *ormally two actions are e)pressed, and the future perfect indicates an action which will occur in the future but will, at the time of the main future action e)pressed, be in the past (e.g. 54 will know the tune ne)t week because 4 will have listened to it5). :uture perfect continuous or future imperfect: 54 shall=will have been listening.5 E)presses an ongoing action that occurs in the future, before some other event e)pressed in the future. 54 am going to listen5 is a construction using 5to go5 as an au)iliary. 4t is referred to as going to future, futur proche or immediate future, and has the same sense as the simple future, sometimes with an implication of immediacy. 4t is not strictly a tense, and 5to go5 is not strictly a tense au)iliary verb, but this construction often is presented as a tense for simplicity. @y varying the tense of the au)iliary 5to go5, various other meanings can be achieved, e.g. 54 am going to be listening5 (future continuous), and 54 was going to listen5 (conditional perfect continuous).
Conditional tenses o Present conditional or simply conditional: 54 would listen.5 #his is used to e)press an event that occurred multiple times or was ongoing in the past (i.e. ;hen 4 was younger, 4 would listen. &multiple times'), or something that would be done now or in the future when predicated upon another condition (i.e. V4f 4 had the time, 4 would listen to you.N &#his condition could be known from conte)t and omitted from the conditional statement.') o Present continuous conditional: 54 would be listening.5 #his is used to e)press an ongoing event that had not yet been initiated. o Conditional perfect: 54 would have listened.5 4ndicates that an action would occur after some other event. o Conditional perfect continuous: 54 would have been listening5: E)presses an ongoing action that would occur in the future in the past, after some other event.
Au)iliary verbs may be used to define tense, aspect, or mood of a verb phrase. As mentioned above 5going to5 is used for some future pseudo+tenses:
,:
Aorms of 5do5 are used for some negatives, >uestions and emphasis of the simple present and simple past: (. 5!o 4 listenL5 54 do not listen.5 54 do listenW5 ,. 5!id 4 listenL5 54 did not listen.5 54 did listenW5
[edit] ,erb tense chart
&ain article: 9rammatical aspect English verb tenses can be better visuali$ed in the following chart, which shows the times of the English language and its three aspects, namely "rior, 2omplete, and 4ncomplete. *ote that this chart only represents actions truly happening, be it present, past, or future. %ince unreal conditionals are obviously assumptions, conditional structures with EwouldE are not included here. P* ' P(E EN' :"'"(E
P()$( * PEC'
"ast "erfect
"resent "erfect
Auture "erfect
C$!PLE'E * PEC'
%imple "ast
%imple "resent
%imple Auture
,D
)NC$!PLE'E * PEC' "ast 2ontinuous "resent 2ontinuous Auture 2ontinuous [edit] ,oice &ain article: English passive voice English has two voices for verbs: the active and the passive. #he basic form is the active verb, and follows the %36 pattern discussed above. #he passive voice is derived from the active by using the au)iliary verb 5to be5 and the %en form of the main verb. E)amples of the passive: Passive voice $ctive voice
4 am seen by John
ohn sees me
<ou will be struck by John
ohn will strike you
4t was stolen by John
ohn stole it
;e were carried by John
ohn carried us
#hey have been chosen by John ohn has chosen them Aurthermore, the agent and patient switch grammatical roles between active and passive voices so that in passive the patient is the sub0ect, and the agent is noted in an optional prepositional phrase using by, for e)ample: (. active: 3 heard the music. ,. passive: 'he music was heard (by me$. (*ote: me, not 3) #he passive form of the verb is formed by replacing the verb with to be in the same tense and aspect, and appending the %en form of the original verb. #hus: 'ense *ctive voice 'he same sense& expressed 5ith the passive
-K
voice
%imple present
4 hear the music.
#he music is heard by me.
"resent progressive
4 am hearing the music.
#he music is being heard by me.
"ast progressive
4 was hearing the music.
#he music was being heard by me.
"ast perfect
4 had heard the music. #he music had been heard by me.
%imple future
4 will hear the music. #he music will be heard by me.
#his pattern continues through all the composite tenses as well. #he semantic effect of the change from active to passive is the depersonalisation of an action. 4t is also occasionally used to topicali$e the direct ob0ect of a sentence, or when the agent is either unknown or unimportant even when included, thus: (. #he plane was shot down. ,. !o$ens were killed. -. @ill was run over by a bus. .any writing style guides including %trunk and ;hite recommend minimi$ing use of the passive voice in English; however, many others do not. #here is a third EvoiceE in English, related to the classic 5middle5 voice. 4n this, the patient becomes the sub0ect, as in passive, but the verb remains in apparently active voice, no agent can plausibly be supplied, and generally, an adverbial modifies the entire construction. #hus: (. %he does not frighten easily.
-(
,. #his bread slices poorly. -. Cis novels sell well. [edit] !odals and modality English has 5moods5 of verb. #hese always include the declarative=indicative and the sub0unctive moods, and normally the imperative is included as a mood. %ome people include conditional or interrogative forms as verbal moods.
[edit] )ndicative& or declarative& mood
#he declarative mood or indicative mood is the simplest and most basic mood. #he overwhelming ma0ority of verb use is in the indicative, which may be considered the 5normal5 form of verbs, with the sub0unctive as an 5e)ceptional5 form of verbs. (4f any other forms are considered a mood (e.g. imperative), they may also be considered other 5e)ceptional5 verb forms.)
E)amples are most commonly used verb forms, e.g.:

4 think 4 thought Ce was seen 4 am walking home. #hey are singing. Ce is not a dancer. ;e are very happy.
[edit] ub/unctive mood
#he subjunctive mood is used to e)press counterfactual (or conditional) statements, and is often found in if+then statements, and certain formulaic e)pressions. 4t is typically marked in the present tense by the au)iliary 5were5 plus the %ing form of the verb. (. ;ere 4 eating, 4 would sit. ,. 4f they were eating, they would sit. -. #ruth be told... /. 4f 4 were you... 4 would do that.
#he con0ugation of these moods becomes a significantly more comple) matter when they are used with different tenses. Cowever, casual spoken English rarely uses the sub0unctive, and generally restricts the conditional mood to the simple present and simple past. A notable e)ception to this is the use of the present sub0unctive in clauses of wish or command which is marked in one or two ways: (() if third person singular, the 5+s5 con0ugation called for by the declarative mood is absent, and (,) past tense is not used. Aor e)ample, 5#hey insisted that he go to chapel every morning5 means that they were re>uiring or demanding him to go to chapel. Cowever, 5#hey insisted that he went to
-,
chapel every morning5 means they are reasserting the statement that, in the past, he did attend chapel every morning. #he underlying grammar of this distinction has been called the 5American sub0unctive5. 6n the other hand, other constructions for e)pressing wishes and commands, which do not use the sub0unctive, are e>ually common, such as 5#hey re>uired him to go...5
[edit] )mperative mood
#he imperative mood is used for commands or instructions. 4t is not always considered a verbal mood per se. Ising the verb in its simplest, uncon0ugated form forms it: 5 istenW %itW EatW5 #he imperative mood in English occurs only in the second person, and the sub0ect (5you5) is generally not e)pressly stated, because it is implied. ;hen the speaker gives a command regarding anyone else, it is still directed at the second person as though it were a re>uest for permission, although it may be a rhetorical statement. (. et me do the talking. ,. 2ome here. -. 1ive him an allowance. /. et sleeping dogs lie.
[edit] !odal forms
&ain article: English modal au*iliary verb 2onditional forms of verb are used to e)press if+then statements, or in response to counterfactual propositions (see sub0unctive mood, above), denoting or implying an indeterminate future action. 2onditionals may be considered tense forms but are sometimes considered a verbal mood, the conditional mood. 2onditionals are e)pressed through the use of the verbal au)iliaries could, would, should, may and might in combination with the stem form of the verb. (. ,. -. /. Ce could go to the store. <ou should be more careful. 4 may try something else. Ce might be heading north.
*ote that for many speakers 5may5 and 5might5 have merged into a single meaning (that of 5might5) that implies the outcome of the statement is contingent. #he implication of permission in 5may5 seems to remain only in certain uses with the second person, e.g. 5<ou may leave the dinner table.5 #wo main conditional tenses can be identified in English: 3 would think H "resent 2onditional 3 would have thought H 2onditional "erfect
--
[edit] Notes (. 4n English, a long+standing prescriptive rule holds that shall denotes simple futurity in the first person, and will denotes simple futurity in the second and third persons. 4n American English, this distinction has largely vanished; will is normally used for both cases, and shall is rare. 4n @ritish English, adherence to the rule has declined during the ,Kth century (see Shall and will for a more detailed discussion), although use of shall remains for e)pressing the simple future in the first person. ,. #he distinction between tense, aspect, and mood is not clear+cut or universally agreed+upon. Aor e)ample, many analysts would not accept that English has twelve tenses. #he si) 5continuous5 (also called 5progressive5) forms in the list above are often treated under the heading of 5aspect5 rather than tense: the simple past and the past continuous are e)amples of the same tense, under this view. 4n addition, many modern grammars of English agree that English does not have a future tense (or a future perfect). #hese include two large recent grammars: (. @iber, !., %. Johansson, 1. eech, %. 2onrad Q E. Ainegan. (DDD. ?ongman grammar of spoken and written English. Carlow, ongman. ,. Cuddleston, ?. Q 1. "ullum. ,KK,. 'he /ambridge grammar of the English language. 2ambridge, 2I". #he main argument given by Cuddleston and "ullum (pp ,KD+(K) that English does not have a future tense is that 5will5 is a modal verb, both in its grammar and in its meaning. @iber et al. go further and say that English has only two tenses, past and present: they treat the perfect forms with 5have5 under 5aspect5. Cuddleston Q "ullum, on the other hand, regard the forms with 5have5 as 5secondary tenses5. [edit] ,erb phrases Please help improve this section by expanding it. Aurther information might be found on the talk page or at re>uests for e)pansion. ( une !""#$
[edit] *d/ectives
Ad0ectives are words that can be used attributively within noun phrases where they (pre+)modify noun heads and predicatively within verb phrase where they are the complement of copular verbs. Aor e)ample, in the sentence below the ad0ective tall occurs within the noun phrase the tall man modifying the noun head man. #he ad0ective nice occurs within the verb phrase is nice as the complement of the (copular) verb head is. & 'he tall man ' & is nice '
-/
#he ad0ectives also act as the head of ad0ective phrases as in the following: 'he & very tall ' man is & rather nice ' Cere the ad0ectives tall and nice are the heads of the ad0ective phrases very tall and rather nice. %emantically, ad0ectives provide more information about them. Ad0ectives are used to describe and identify their associated nouns. A further morphological characteristic of ad0ectives, which is also shared with adverbs, is their ability to be inflected in comparison: tall%er, tall%est. %ee also the comparison section. Please help improve this section by expanding it. Aurther information might be found on the talk page or at re>uests for e)pansion. ( une !""#$
[edit] *d/ective phrases Please help improve this section by expanding it. Aurther information might be found on the talk page or at re>uests for e)pansion. ( une !""#$
[edit] emantic ordering
[edit] *dverbs
#he term adverb originating from traditional grammar refers to a wide range of words that have different functions and different syntactic behaviors. #herefore, it is best to separate adverbs into different subclasses and discuss the grammar of each subclass separately. %ee also the comparison section.
-7
[edit] %egree adverbs Please help improve this section by expanding it. Aurther information might be found on the talk page or at re>uests for e)pansion. ( une !""#$
*dverbs of degree (or intensifiers) roughly >ualify a point on a gradable semantic property. @elow are some degree adverbs:

very &,9' e*tremely etc.
%yntactically, degree adverbs pre+modify either ad0ectives or adverbs: 'he very fast car is running smoothly. (very modifying ad0ective fast) 'he very kindly gentleman fi*ed my car. (very modifying ad0ective kindly) 'he fast car is running very smoothly. (very modifying adverb smoothly) 'he kindly gentleman is driving my car very fast. (very modifying adverb fast)
[edit] Prepositions
[edit] Prepositional phrases Please help improve this section by expanding it. Aurther information might be found on the talk page or at re>uests for e)pansion. ( une !""#$
"" H (.odifier G ) " G *" : (right$ on & the bus '
[edit] Clausal syntax

[edit] ;ord order
English is a sub0ect verb ob0ect (%36) language: it prefers a se>uence of sub0ectXverbX ob0ect in its simplest, unmarked declarative statements. #hus, 5#om &sub0ect' eats &verb' cheese &ob0ect'5 and 5.ary sees the cat.5
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Cowever, beyond these simple e)amples, word order is a complicated matter in English. 4n particular, the speaker or writerEs point of departure in each clause is a key factor in the organi$ation of the message. #hus, the elements in a message can be ordered in a way that signals to the reader or listener what the message concerns.

'he duke has given my aunt that teapot. (i.e., 4 am going to tell you about the duke). &y aunt has been given that teapot by the duke. (i.e., 4 am going to tell you about my aunt). 'hat teapot has been given to my aunt by the duke. (i.e., 4 am going to tell you about that teapot).
#he point of departure can also be set up as an e>uation, known as a thematic e>uative. 4n this way, virtually any element in a clause can be put first.

52hat the duke gave my aunt was a teapot5 (i.e., 4 am going to tell you what the duke gave my aunt). 52hat happened was that the duke gave my aunt a teapot5 (i.e., 4 am going to tell you what happened).
Isually, the point of departure is the sub0ect of a declarative clause; this is the unmarked form. A point of departure is marked when it is not the sub0ect B thus, occasionally it is the ob0ect (55ou 4 blame for this dilemma5) and more often an adverbial phrase (5'his morning 4 got up late5). 4n >uestions, point of departure is treated slightly differently. English >uestions come in two types: wh+>uestions and yes+no >uestions. 6rdinary (unmarked) >uestions of either type start with the word that indicates what the speaker wants to know.

52here is my little dogL5 (4 want you to tell me where.) &wh+>uestion' 53s John %mith insideL5 (4 want you to tell me whether he is or is not). &yes+no >uestion'
%pecial (marked) >uestions displace this key 5what 4 want to know5 word with some other element.

5After tea, will you tell me a storyL5 (%till 5will you or will not youL5) 54n your house, who does the cookingL5 (%till 5whoL5)
Either imperative clauses are of the type 54 want you to do something5 or 54 want you and me to do something.5 #he second type usually starts with let us; in the unmarked form of the first type, you is implied and not made e)plicit (54mprove your grammarW5), and included in the marked form (5<ou improve your grammarW5); another marked form is 5!o improve your grammar.5 4n the negative, 5!o not argue with me5 is unmarked, and 5!o not you argue with me5 is marked.
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4n spoken English, the point of departure is fre>uently marked off by intonation. 1enerally, English is a head%initial language, meaning that the 5anchor5 of a phrase (segment of a sentence) occurs at the beginning of the phrase.

?an >uickly (verb phrase) #o the store (prepositional phrase)
#he main e)ception is that simple modifiers precede the noun phrases:

A dog (article G noun) @lue house (ad0ective G noun) AredEs cat (possessive G noun) but man of the house (noun G prepositional phrase)
#his leads to a sentence like: 5AredEs sister ran >uickly to the store.5 As can be inferred from this e)ample, the se>uence of a basic sentence (ignoring articles and other determiners as well as prepositional phrases) is: Ad0ective( + %ub0ect + 3erb + Adverb + Ad0ective, + 4ndirect 6b0ect + Ad0ective- + !irect 6b0ect. 4nterrogative sentences invert word order (5!id you go to the storeL5). 2hanging a given sentence from active to passive grammatical voice changes the word order, moving the new sub0ect to the front (5John bought the car5 becomes 5#he car was bought by John5), and le)ical or grammatical emphasis (topicali$ation) changes it in many cases as well (see duke+aunt+teapot e)amples above). English also sees some use of the 6%3 (ob0ect+sub0ect+verb) word order, especially when making comparisons using pronouns that are marked for case. Aor e)ample, 54 hate oranges, but apples 4 will eat.5 Aar more rare, but still sometimes used is 63%, 54f it is apples you like, then apples like 4,5 although this last usage can sound contrived and anachronistic to a native speaker.
[edit] )nterrogative sentences

4nterrogative word order is used to pose >uestions, with or without an e)pected answer. .ost of the time, it is formed by switching the order of the sub0ect and the au)iliary (or 5helping5) verb in a declarative sentence, as in the following: (. ,. -. /. Are you going to the partyL 4s he supposed to do thatL Cow much do 4 owe youL ;here is the parking lotL
Cowever, when the information being re>uested would be the sub0ect of the answer, the word order is not inverted, and the interrogative pronoun takes the place of the sub0ect, as in the following:
-:
(. ;ho helped you with your homeworkL ,. ;hat happened hereL ;hen spoken, an intonation change is often used to emphasi$e this switch, or can entirely reflect interrogation in some cases (e.g. 5John ranL5). #he interrogative phrase can further be formed in this manner by moving the predicate of a declarative sentence in front of the helping verb and changing it to a demonstrative, relative pronoun, >uantifier, etc. Ending the sentence with a >uestion mark denotes the interrogative phrase MLF. ?hetorical >uestions can be formed by moving the helping verb+sub0ect pair to the end of the >uestion, e.g. 5<ou would not really do that, would youL5 [edit] 'ypes of )nterrogative entences #here are three types of interrogative sentences (>uestions) in English: (. <es=no >uestions re>uire V<es=*oN answers. Aor e)ample: !o you like modern musicL 4s he a driverL o Alternative >uestions e)press opposition and can be asked to any part of the sentence (like special >uestions). Aor e)ample: !o you prefer tea or coffeeL !id you or your mother tell him the truthL ,. 4nformation >uestions (or 2h+>uestions) re>uire special information while answering them. #hey are characteri$ed by the presence of an interrogative pronoun in the first place (;hyL ;henL Cow muchL etc.) and can be asked to any part of the sentence. Aor e)ample: ;here did you spend last summerL ;hy have you done itL o Puestions to the sub0ect re>uire mentioning the doer of the action in the answer. Aor e)ample: ;ho has broken the windowL ;ho was talking to you when 4 saw youL -. #ag >uestions (dis0unctive >uestions) represent statements with tags separated by a comma. Aor e)ample: <ou were at home yesterday, were you notL Ce will not come tomorrow, will heL [edit] <es4No =uestions <es4No =uestions re>uire an answer YyesZ or YnoZ. 4f there is a modal verb (can- mustshould- may), an au)iliary verb (will- shall- have) or a form of the verb Yto beZ in the sentence, put it in front of the sub0ect.

&ary is drinking tea. @ 3s &ary drinking tea. 'he friends have come. @ 0ave the friends come. 'he houses were built last year. @ 2ere the houses built last year. 5ou must do it. @ &ust you do it. She will come in ten minutes. @ 2ill she come in ten minutes. 'hey are from /anada. % )re they from /anada.
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4f there is no modal verb, au)iliary verb or the verb Yto beZ in the sentence, yes=no >uestions are formed with the help of the au)iliary verb YdoZ. #he au)iliary verb YdoZ has no meaning. 4t 0ust takes the form according to the main verb in the sentence. YdoZ X in the present tense: if the sub0ect of the sentence is the noun in the (st person singular or plural (3 or we), the ,nd person singular or plural (you), and the -rd person plural (they).

2e go to the country every weekend. @ 1o we go the country every weekend. 5ou like swimming. @ 1o you like swimming. 'hey play football. @ 1o they play football.
YdoesZ X in the present tense: if the sub0ect of the sentence is the noun in the -rd person singular (he, she, it).
She cooks well. @ 1oes she cook well.
YdidZ + in the past tense
'hey arrived yesterday. @ 1id they arrive yesterday.
Note: the main verb in yes=no >uestions comes without any endings (%es- %s- ed) or in case of the past tense X in its first form (arrived @ arrivecame @ come). #o form negative yes=no >uestions you have to put the negative modal verb, negative au)iliary verb or negative form of the verb Yto beZ in front of the sub0ect.

/an8t you help him. )ren8t you waiting for me.
4f you need to form the negative yes=no >uestion with the help of the au)iliary verb YdoZ, you have to use YdonZtZ (do not), doesnZt (does not), or didnZt (did not) instead of YdoZ does, or did.

1on8t you know him. 1idn8t you tell him the truth.
#he peraphrastic negative is used in more formal English:

/an you not help him. )re you not waiting for me. 1o you not know him. 1id you not tell him the truth.
[edit] )nformation =uestions
/K
4nformation or 2h+ >uestions re>uire additional information for the answer (as opposed to simply yes or no as with yes=no+>uestions). #o form such >uestions you have to put the >uestion word (whyL whenL whereL whatL howL whoL whomL) together with all of the words in the same phrase at the front of the sentence. 4f the >uestion word is part of the sub0ect you do not have to change the word order. #he word order remains as in the statement.

2ho is playing the piano in the room now. 2hich car is hers.
4f the >uestion word is not part of the sub0ect you have to use a modal verb (can- mustshould- may), an au)iliary verb (will- shall- have) or a form of the verb Yto beZ after the >uestion word and in front of the sub0ect.

2here is 'ommy. 2here will you be waiting for me tomorrow.
4f there is no modal verb, au)iliary verb or the verb Yto beZ in the sentence, you have to use the au)iliary verb YdoZ after the >uestion word and in front of the sub0ect.

2here do your parents live. 2hy did he do it.
Note: the main verb in information >uestions comes without any endings (goes @ goplays @ play- talked % talk) or in case of the past tense X in its first form (arrived @ arrivecame @ come). [edit] 'ags see also: [*egation, negative polarity, and assertion.
[edit] (eversed polarity tags
!is0unctive >uestions (tag >uestions) #ag >uestions are statements with tags at the end. #he tag consists of two or three parts. 1st part: a modal verb, an au)iliary verb, or a form of the verb Yto beZ (if they are in the sentence) in the form re>uired by the pronoun in the -rd part. 2nd part: the particle YnotZ if the statement is positive. 4f the statement is negative, the particle is omitted. 3rd part: the sub0ect of the statement e)pressed by a noun.

She is having a shower now- isn8t she. 5ou can8t swim- can you.
/(
4f there is no modal verb, au)iliary verb or the verb Yto beZ in the statement, you have to use the au)iliary verb YdoZ in the tag.

0enry played tennis well- didn8t he. 2e go to work by bus- don8t we.
Notes (a) 4n @rE the main verb Yto haveZ behaves as an au)iliary.

5ou have a brother and a sister- haven8t you. (ArE$ 5ou have a brother and a sister- don8t you. ()mE$
(b) 4f the sub0ect of the statement is the indefinite pronoun YsomebodyZ in the tag it is replaced by the pronoun YtheyZ.
Someone8s knocking at the door- aren8t they.
(c) %uch words like YnothingZ, YneverZ, YhardlyZ make the statements negative, so the tag should be positive.
5ou never listen to me- do you.
(d) 4f the statement starts with YthereZ, this word counts as a pronoun, so it is placed on the -rd place in the tag.
ZZ#here is nothing here, is thereL
(e) 4f the statement is an imperative, the tag will be Ywill youZ or YwonZt youZ.

Ae attentive- won8t you. 1on8t be la,y- will you.
(f) 4f the statement contains Y et usZ, the tag will be Yshall weZ.
ZZ et us go to the cinema, shall weL
(g) .ore formal English uses peraphrastic negation in the tags to positive sentences:

She is having a shower now- is she not. 5ou cannot swim- can you. 0enry played tennis well- did he not. 2e go to work by bus- do we not. 5ou have a brother and a sister- have you not. (ArE$ 5ou have a brother and a sister- do you not. ()mE$ Someone is knocking at the door- are they not. /,
Ae attentive- will you not.
!eaning of tags #he tag >uestion re>uires the person to respond to the statement. *egative tags re>uire a Y<esZ answer. "ositive tags re>uire a Y*oZ answer.

ZZ;e have done the pro0ect, have we notL X <es, we have. 2e have not done the project- have we. @ (o- we have not.
[edit] Constant polarity tags
So- they read my article- did they.
[edit] 'opicali>ation
#opicali$ation 'he book- 3 like. 'he movie- 3 do not. (cf. 3 like the book. 3 do not like the movie.) 'o ohn- 3 gave the book. (cf. 3 gave the book to ohn.) left dislocation 'he book- 3 like it. (cf. 3 like the book.) im- he is here. (cf. im is here.) cleft 3t is the book (that$ 3 like. (cf. 3 like the book.) pseudo+cleft 'he book is what 3 like. (cf. 3 like the book.)
[edit] Negation& negative polarity& and assertion

Please help improve this section by expanding it. Aurther information might be found on the talk page or at re>uests for e)pansion. ( une !""#$ /-
1rammatical polarity "olarity item 0alil is going with them. 0alil isnt going with them. (inflectional 5contraction5 negation) 0alil is not going with them. (periphrastic negation) 0alil went with them 0alil didn"t go with them. (do+support, inflectional 5contraction5 negation) 0alil did not go with them. (do+support, periphrastic negation) 0alil was receiving some help from his friends. *0alil was receiving any help from his friends. 0alil was receiving no help from his friends. *0alil was not receiving some help from his friends. 0alil was not receiving any help from his friends. 0alil was not receiving no help from his friends. (dialectal, prescriptively 5incorrect5) 0alil can drive a motorcycle and so can /herif. *0alil can drive a motorcycle and neither can /herif. *0alil cannot drive a motorcycle and so can /herif. 0alil cannot drive a motorcycle and neither can /herif. 0alil almost touched the bomb and so did /herif. *0alil almost touched the bomb and neither did /herif. *0alil hardly touched the bomb and so did /herif. 0alil hardly touched the bomb and neither did /herif. syntactic negation vs. le)ical negation (clausal vs. subclausal) 0alil was unable to go and so was /herif. *0alil was unable to go and neither was /herif. *0alil wasn"t able to go and so was /herif. 0alil was not able to go and neither was /herif. 3" negation vs. non+3" negation 1o not ever accept this job position7 (negation inside of 3") %ever ever accept this job position7 (negation outside of 3")
restrictions on not: 0e did not accept the position. (negation inside of 3") ?0e not accepted the position. (negation outside of 3") 3t is imperative & that he not accept the position '. (negation outside of 3" in sub0unctive)

//
scope of negation and ambiguity 'he streets are not & safe because of the flood ' interpretation [( H the flood is not the reason for the unsafe streets (there is another cause) 'he streets are not & safe ' because of the flood interpretation [, H the flood is causing the unsafe streets )ll of the streets are not flooded interpretation [( H (one of the streets are flooded interpretation [, H (ot all of the streets are flooded
&,:'
[edit] Comparison
[edit] emantic gradability Ad0ectives and adverbs typically have the semantic feature of being gradable, that is the >uality or state that they describe e)ists on a gradual scale between two opposite poles. Aor e)ample, there is a gradable scale between the antonyms cold and hot. 1radable words of this type can have several modifiers that >ualify where on the scale a particular >uality or state rests as in the following combinations: very +uick rather +uick +uite +uick too +uick +uick very +uickly rather +uickly +uite +uickly too +uickly +uickly
.ost ad0ectives&,D' are gradable but some ad0ectives are not. Aor e)ample, the ad0ective infinite is not gradable making the ad0ective phrases very infinite, rather infinite and more infinite semantically odd. [edit] 'ypes of comparison Please help improve this section by expanding it. Aurther information might be found on the talk page or at re>uests for e)pansion. ( une !""#$
/7
1radable ad0ective and adverbs can also be involved in comparison where to the positions of two or more entities on a gradable scale are compared with each other. %emantically, three types of comparison can be distinguished:

higher degree (superior) same degree lower degree (inferior)
2omparisons of the same degree use only the general base ad0ective form. 4n higher degree comparisons, the comparison is indicated either by inflectional suffi)ation, using %er, %est (morphological marking) or by periphrastic constructions involving more, most modifiers preceding the ad0ective (syntactic marking). #he three inflectional forms are known as

absolute (or positive) comparative superlative
ower degree comparisons only use periphrastic constructions involving less and least ad0ectival modifiers. E)amples: )nflectional Periphrastic
ame degree -*bsolute.
tall
beautiful
Comparative
taller
more beautiful
@igher degree
uperlative
tallest
most beautiful
X Lo5er degree X
less tall- less beautiful
least tall- least beautiful
/8
[edit] Comparative constructions
%he is taller than Calil is. %he is more tall than short. (note: *She is taller than short is ungrammatical) %he is as tall as Calil is. etc.
[edit] Ellipsis
#he phenomenon of ellipsis refers to omission of parts of sentences when those parts are readily recoverable in the conte)t of an utterance. %ome types of ellipsis are obligatory while other types of ellipsis are optional. %till other types are optional in certain grammatical environment but obligatory in other grammatical environments. Aor e)ample, in the following sentences the underlined words can optionally be omitted: 'he red sock and red shoe are in the hamper. 'he red sock and shoe are in the hamper. (red is omitted) 0alil can drink coffee and ohn can drink coffee- too. 0alil can drink coffee and ohn can- too. (drink coffee is omitted) 0alil borrowed one of my /1s but 3 cannot remember which /1. 0alil borrowed one of my /1s but 3 cannot remember which. (/1 is omitted) 'his boy always has done bad things and always will do bad things. 'his boy always has and always will do bad things. (done bad things is omitted) 0alil is drinking coffee at the table and ohn is drinking coffee at the bar. 0alil is drinking coffee at the table and ohn at the bar. (is drinking coffee is omitted) #he above e)amples involve ellipsis in the second component of a coordinated constituent. #his type of ellipsis is very common. 6ther types of non+coordinated optional ellipsis are the following: 1o you want a drink. 2ant a drink. (do you omitted) 1o you want a drink. 5ou want a drink. (do omitted)
/9
3t looks fine to me. ?ooks fine to me. (it omitted) 3s the machine still broken. &achine still broken. (is the omitted) 2e meet on 2ednesday mornings. 2e meet 2ednesday mornings. (on omitted)
2ertain kinds of ellipsis indicate a more informal or familiar style of language while other types are neutral in the aspect. A type of ellipsis that is always obligatory involves control constructions.&-K' #hese sentences are usually analy$ed as consisting of a main clause with the verb of the main clause taking a non+finite clause as a complement. 0alil tried & to paint his house ' . 4n the sentence above 0alil tried & B ' is the main clause and the embedded (i.e. subordinate) non+finite clause is to paint his house. #he non+finite clause is analy$ed as having a sub0ect which is obligatorily omitted in the surface sentence. 4n this case, the omitted sub0ect is 0alil (since it is Calil who making the painting attempt). #hus, the underlying structure is 0alil tried & 0alil paint his house ' . (underlying 0alil in the embedded clause is ungrammatical) which has a sub0ect that must be omitted (along with an infinitive marker to that must be added) to give: 0alil tried to paint his house. (0alil is omitted) #ypes of ellipsis that are obligatory in certain constructions but optional in others include the that complementi$er: "ost+nominal modification: 'he man that 3 love will be there. (that is optionally present) 'he man 3 love will be there. (that is optionally omitted) 6b0ect: 0e knows that 3 love him. (that is optionally present) 0e knows 3 love him. (that is optionally present) E)traposition: 3t is obvious that 3 love him. (that is optionally present) 3t is obvious 3 love him. (that is optionally omitted) %ub0ect: 'hat 3 love him is obvious. (that is obligatorily present)
/:
*3 love him is obvious. (omitting that is ungrammatical when the clause is in sub0ect position)
[edit] ee also

!isputes in English grammar 2apitali$ation English prefi)es *ominal group #hematic e>uative 1rammar checker
[edit] Notes and references

(. A 6ther more recent analyses of noun phrases posit that they are instead determiner phrases with a determiner acting as the phrasal head and the noun (and its modifiers) acting as a complement to the determiner. #his article will follow the older, traditional view of noun phrases being headed by nouns and determiners acting as modifiers of the noun head. ,. A Ingrammatical e)ample sentences are generally indicated with a preceding asterisk & in linguistic literature. #his convention will be used in this article. -. A 5%tanding alone5 (or 5bare5) refers to a syntactic conte)t like the following: (. 3 want &book. (book H countable) ,. 3 want rice. (rice H uncountable) %entence (,) with uncountable rice without a preceding article is grammatical, but sentence (() is ungrammatical because book in the singular cannot occur without a preceding article. 4n other words, rice can standalone in sentence (,) without an article but book cannot standalone. /. A #he term determiner has different meanings in works by different authors. 6ne usage uses the term determiner as the name of a syntactic le)ical category (i.e. part of speech) while the term determinative is used to refer to words that have a 5determining5 function. 6ther authors reverse the definitions with determiner referring to function and determinative referring to the le)ical category. A third usage uses the term determiner to refer to both the le)ical category and the function (and thus does not distinguish between the two). 4n this article, the first usage will be followed where determiner H le)ical category, determinative H function. 7. A .any traditional grammars refer to determiners with the term adjective. Cowever, determiners clearly have different syntactic behavior and are usually distinguished from ad0ectives in more linguistically+oriented grammatical descriptions. 8. A *ote that the genitive pronouns mine, yours, hers, ours, theirs are not determiners but are rather syntactically pronouns. (#he genitive pronoun his has the same form as the genitive determiner his, i.e. they are syncretic.) 9. A #he word no, however, can also function as an inter0ection, when used to give a negative answer to a yes+no >uestion as in %peaker A: 1o you want a pelican.
/D
%peaker @: %o- 3 don4t like them. :. A #he genitive enclitic is spelled simply %8 in certain situations... D. A 'he )merican 0eritage 1ictionary of the English ?anguage, Aourth Edition. %ee http:==www.bartleby.com=8(=88=<KK,88KK.html. (K. A 'he )merican 0eritage 1ictionary of the English ?anguage, Aourth Edition. %ee http:==www.bartleby.com=8(=D/=<KK,D/7K.html. ((. A 'he )merican 0eritage 1ictionary of the English ?anguage, Aourth Edition. %ee http:==www.bartleby.com=8(=D(=<KK,D(7K.html. (,. A 1ictionary of (ewfoundland English. %ee http:==www.heritage.nf.ca=dictionary=a$inde)=pages=77K7.html. (-. A As an au)iliary, do has a mostly empty semantic component. Cowever, it is re>uired in certain syntactic constructions that are referred to as do%support. (/. A %trictly speaking, the term non%finite refers to verbs (and their associated clauses) that are limited in their inflection according to person, number, and tense. %ince the base form of the verb is used in imperative sentences, the base form is not strictly non+finite as imperative sentences have a second person sub0ect (usually not present in the surface sentence). #hus, the terminology of non%tensed and tensed is more appropriate to a characteri$ation of .odern English. Cowever, this article will use the traditional terminology non%finite with the caveat that base form is finite in imperative sentences and truly non+finite in other constructions. (7. A 4n traditional grammar terminology, the base form is often split into three forms: infinitive, imperative, present subjunctive. Cowever, these forms are always identical morphologically in .odern English. (8. A #he %ing form is called by two terms in traditional grammar: present participle or gerund. Cowever, since these forms are never distinct morphologically, they have been referred to with the term participle%gerund. !espite its name present participle in traditional grammar, the %ing does not e)press tense and, in fact, is used in verbal constructions that indicate present, future, and past time frames. 4n finite clauses, its main function is aspectual. (9. A !espite the name past participle from traditional grammar, the %en form does not e)press tense or a past time frame. 4n finite clauses, it indicates either aspect or passive voice. #he %en form is named after the %enC%n suffi) that appears on several irregular verbs like beat : beaten (beat < %en$, sew : sewn (sew < %n$, give : given (give < %n$. (:. A *ote that if the copula is e)cluded from the analysis, the verb paradigm can be charted as
English ,erb )nflectional Paradigm -excluding copula.
(egular )rregular verb )rregular verb )rregular verb verb 5ith 6 inflections 5ith 7 inflections 5ith 3 inflections
-ing form jumping
taking
building
hitting
3rd g. jumps Nonpast
takes
builds
hits
7K
8ase
jump
take
build
Past jumped -en form
took built taken
hit
(D. A Actually, the %s spelling represents two different pronunciations: one as [s] (after voiceless nonsibilants), the other as [z] after voiced nonsibilants. ,K. A #here are appro)imately between ,7K and -KK irregular verbs in .odern English. Cowever, there is considerable dialectal variation in the number of irregular verbs in the language of an individual native speaker (i.e. idiolect). Even within so+called 5standard5 varieties of English, there is variation. Aor e)ample, some speakers say=write has been mowed with mow having the %en form of regular verbs while other speakers say=write has been mown with mow having an irregular %en form B here both the regular and irregular forms are considered acceptable by prescriptivists. Another e)ample is drag where some speakers say=write She dragged it yesterday (regular past) while others say=write She drug it yesterday (irregular past) B in this e)ample the irregular drug is re0ected by some prescriptivists. %everal irregular verbs are archaic and obsolete (such as smiteCsmoteCsmitten). 6thers have become converted to regular verb inflectional paradigms (such the irregular past form glode has become glided in most modern varieties). ,(. A #he irregular beat e)ceptionally distinguishes the general past ( beat) from the %en form (beaten) but has a syncretism involving the base, general nonpast, and (st. sg. nonpast forms as well as the general past and (st=-rd sg. past. ,,. A #here are two categories of irregular verbs based upon historical development: (. strong verbs (the 5transparently irregular5 of two historical types) ,. 5true5 irregular verbs. #he term 5transparently irregular5 is sometimes used to describe Jacob 1rimmEs 5strong5 verbs that appear irregular at first, but actually follow a common paradigm. #his group of verbs is a relic of the older 1ermanic ablaut system for con0ugation. #his is generally confined to atypical simple past verb forms, e.g.: swim R swam R swum sing R sang R sung steal R stole R stolen
7(
Another category of 5transparently irregular5 verbs dates back to .iddle English. %ome verbs, especially those with a stem ending in an alveolar consonant (=t=, =d=, or =s=), formed a geminate consonant or consonant cluster with the +d suffi). 4n .iddle English, vowels before a consonant cluster often became shorter. As the 1reat 3owel %hift obscured the connection between long vowels and the corresponding short vowels, transparent irregularities such as the following arose: meet R met lead R led read R read lose R lost keep R kept
4rregular verbs include eat, sit, lend, and keep, among many others. %ome paradigms are based on obsolete root words, or roots that have changed meaning. 6thers are derived from old umlaut patterns that changes in phonemic structure and grammar have distorted (keep C kept is one such e)ample). %ome are unclear in origin, and may date back to "roto+4ndo+European times. ,-. A #he reason for the suppletion is due to the historical development of the copula, which is a merging of the inflectional paradigms of three different verbs: am, are, is (and archaic art) are from one verb; be, been, being are from a second verb; was, were are from a third 6ld English verb. ,/. A #here is also the dialectal form amn4t (am G n4t) which is uncommon in standard varieties. ,7. A *ote that se>uences of reduced forms like 8d8ve (H would have) are often not found in written language. *evertheless, they are fre>uently attested in the spoken language. ,8. A #he archaic version second person singular has a %est suffi) as in thou listenest. #he archaic third person singular has a %eth suffi) as in he6she6it listeneth. ,9. A *ote that the degree adverb very is to be distinguished from the ad0ective very meaning 5actual, precise5 as in the sentence 'hat is the very woman of which 3 was speaking. ,:. A #he word anymore is similar to any in being grammatical only in sentences suggesting doubt, or >uestions. Cowever, in some Inited %tates dialects it can be heard used with the appro)imate meaning nowadays. Cowever, in such conte)ts there is often still an implication of negation or cessation. Aor e)ample, in the utterance, Anymore, people 0ust wear 0eans and t+shirts when they travel on a plane it may be implicit that "eople no longer dress up to fly. ,D. A All dynamic and most stative ad0ectives are gradable. Cowever, many nongradable ad0ectives can be used in a gradable sense often with an accompanying change in meaning. Aor instance, the stative ad0ective dead is usually not gradable since generally dead and its complementary alive are considered being mutually e)clusive states. @ut, in sentences like 3 felt very dead today the ad0ective being used as a gradable ad0ective. -K. A 2ontrol structures are also referred to as e+ui%(P%deletion in earlier transformational grammar.
7,
[edit] 8ibliography

Adams, 3alerie. ((D9-). )n introduction to modern English word%formation. ondon: ongman. @auer, aurie. ((D:-). English word%formation. 2ambridge: 2ambridge Iniversity "ress. @iber, !ouglas; Johansson, %tig; eech, 1eoffrey; 2onrad, %usan; Q Ainegan, Edward. ((DDD). ?ongman grammar of spoken and written English. "earson Education imited. 2elce+.urcia, ..; Q arsen+Areeman, !. 'he grammar book: )n ES?6E:? teacher4s course (,nd ed.). 4%@* K:-://9,7, 2urme, 1eorge 6. ((D-(). Synta*. @oston: Ceath. 2urme, 1eorge 6. ((D-7). Parts of speech and accidence. @oston: Ceath. Calliday, .. A. O. (,KK/). 3ntroduction to functional grammar (-rd. ed.). ondon: Codder Arnold. Calliday, .. A. O. ((D:7=D/). Spoken and written language. !eakin Iniversity "ress. Cuddleston, ?odney !. ((D98). )n introduction to English transformational synta*. ongman. Cuddleston, ?odney !. ((D:/). 3ntroduction to the grammar of English. 2ambridge: 2ambridge Iniversity "ress. Cuddleston, ?odney !. ((D::). English grammar: )n outline. 2ambridge: 2ambridge Iniversity "ress. Cuddleston, ?odney !.; Q "ullum, 1eoffrey O. (,KK7). ) student4s introduction to English grammar. 2ambridge Iniversity "ress. Cuddleston, ?odney !.; Q "ullum, 1eoffrey O. (,KK,). 'he /ambridge grammar of the English language. 2ambridge Iniversity "ress. Jespersen, 6tto. ((DKD+(D/D). ) modern English grammar on historical principles (3ols. (+9). Ceidelberg: 2. ;inter. Oruisinga, E. ((D,7). ) handbook of present%day English. Itrecht: Oemink en \oon. eech, 1eoffrey *. ((D9(). &eaning and the English verb. ondon: ongman. .archand, Cans. ((D8D). 'he categories and types of present%day English word% formation (,nd ed.). .]nchen: 2. C. @eck. .c2awley, James !. ((DD:). 'he syntactic phenomena of English (,nd ed.). /hicago: 'he Dniversity of /hicago Press. "almer, A. ?. ((D9/). 'he English verb. ondon: ongman. "almer, A. ?. ((D9D). &odality and the English modals. ondon: ongman. "lag, 4ngo. (,KK-). 2ord%formation in English. 2ambridge: 2ambridge Iniversity "ress. Puirk, ?andolph; 1reenbaum, %idney; eech, 1eoffrey; Q %vartvik, Jan. ((D9,). ) grammar of contemporary English. Carlow: ongman.
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Puirk, ?andolph; 1reenbaum, %idney; eech, 1eoffrey; Q %vartvik, Jan. ((D:7). ) comprehensive grammar of the English language. Carlow: ongman. %cheurweghs, 1ustave. ((D7D). Present%day English synta*: ) survey of sentence patterns. ondon: ongmans. %trang, @arbara .. C. ((D8:). &odern English structure (,nd ed.). ondon: Arnold. \andvoort, ?. ;. ((D9,). ) handbook of English grammar (,nd ed.). ondon: ongmans.
[edit] External linBs

English 1rammar, wikibook in English A Ariendly 1rammar of English by ?obert de @eaugrande .odern English 1rammar by !aniel Oies #he American Ceritage @ook of English Isage. @oston: Coughton .ifflin, (DD8. &!ate of "rintout'. #he 4nternet 1rammar of English. An easy to understand guide to grammar and writing with active community college classroom site and links to other writing, grammar sites. by ;ord ?ouges, eon an$bom. Ad0ectives, 2ompounds and ;ords ( aurie @auer)
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English Grammar Is A Body of Rules

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English Grammar Is A Body of Rules

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English grammar is a body of rules (grammar) specifying how phrases and sentences are constructed in the English language.

[edit] Lexical categories and phrasal syntax

[edit] Non-inflectional morphology

English nouns may be of a few morphological types:

'he girl talks.

Every girl talks.

'he girls talk.

Plural )ll girls talk.

some # plural N$"N some remarks

%E'E(!)NE( # *%+EC'),E- . # N$"N

the big red balloon

many big red balloons

all big red balloons

predeteminers central determiners postdeterminers

can be preceded by a predeterminer like all as in all the

A se>uence of predeterminer G central determiner G postdeterminer is also possible as in

"?E!E# 2E*#.!E# "6%#!E#

[edit] *d/ectival modification

[edit] Pronouns See also: English relative clauses

sg. pl. interrogative

my our your his its hers

their whose theirs

mine ours yours

Copula (egular be verb

-ing form being

0eneral are Nonpast

0eneral were Past took 1st43rd was g. Past jumped built

-en form been

[edit] )rregular verb morphology

doesn4t (does G %n4t) didn4t (did G %n4t)

usedn4t (used G %n4t) &ungrammatical in some

0eneral 1st ingular 3rd ingular 0eneral 1st43rd ingular

"ronoun sub0ect+verb combinations: Non-past Past

1st ingular 3rd ingular

[edit] ,erb tense chart

<ou will be struck by John

ohn will strike you

4t was stolen by John

;e were carried by John

4 hear the music.

#he music is heard by me.

4 am hearing the music.

#he music is being heard by me.

4 was hearing the music.

#he music was being heard by me.

4 will hear the music. #he music will be heard by me.

E)amples are most commonly used verb forms, e.g.:

[edit] ub/unctive mood

[edit] !odal forms

[edit] emantic ordering

very &,9' e*tremely etc.

"" H (.odifier G ) " G *" : (right$ on & the bus '

[edit] Clausal syntax

?an >uickly (verb phrase) #o the store (prepositional phrase)

[edit] )nterrogative sentences

She cooks well. @ 1oes she cook well.

YdidZ + in the past tense

'hey arrived yesterday. @ 1id they arrive yesterday.

/an8t you help him. )ren8t you waiting for me.

#he peraphrastic negative is used in more formal English:

[edit] )nformation =uestions

2here is 'ommy. 2here will you be waiting for me tomorrow.

2here do your parents live. 2hy did he do it.