Summary: Introducing English Grammar (2020)

Matías Damián Oliva

CHAPTER 1

Concrete

Countable Abstract

L./main verbs
Collective
Common
Nouns
Concrete
Proper
Uncountable
Lexical/content
Abstract
words Attributive

Adjectives Predicative

Adverbs Postpositive

Primary
Parts of speech

Secondary or
Auxiliary verbs
modals
Semi-modals or
idioms

Articles

Possessive
Noun determiners
Demonstrative

Quantifiers
Function/structu
re words
Subordinating
Conjunctions
Coordinating
Prepositions
Subject

Personal Object

Reflexive Possessive

Pronouns Indefinite

Reciprocal

Interrogative
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 Summary: Introducing English Grammar (2020)
Matías Damián Oliva

A) LEXICAL WORDS

1. Main verbs

 Actions or physical activities (do, break, walk)

 Mental or intellectual act. (think, believe)
 States and feelings (be, seem, like, love).

2. Nouns:

 Can be the subject or the object of a verb. E¡

 Modified by an adjective and can take a determiner.

3. Adjectives:

 Modifiers of nouns or pronouns.

 Attributive use: before nouns.
 Predicative u.: after linking verbs (be, become, seen, look, etc.)

4. Adverbs:

 Modifiers of adjectives and other adverbs, expressing different shades of meaning

related to degree and intensity.

B) FUNCTIONAL WORDS

1. Auxiliary verbs:

 Primary: be (progressive tenses and passive voice), have (perfect tenses and causative)
and do (simple tenses and emphatic forms). Can also work as lexical verbs.
 Secondary or modal: will/would, can/could, shall/could, may/might, must, need, dare.
 Semi-modals or modal idioms: ought to, have to, used to, be going to, had better, etc.

2. Noun determiners: restrict the meaning of a noun by limiting its reference. Some can work
as pronouns (that, this, those and these).

 Articles: definite (the), indefinite (a/an), zero.

 Possessive: my, your, his, her, its, our and their.
 Demonstrative: this, that, these, those.
 Quantifiers: some, much, many, (a) few, (a) little, a lot, half, three, second.

3. Conjunctions: link betweeen two clauses in a sentence.

 Coordinating: equal importante (and, but, or).

 Subordinating: one clause depends on the other (when, because, although).

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 Summary: Introducing English Grammar (2020)
Matías Damián Oliva

Connectors also link clauses,

sentences or paragraphs in a text.
When they are just one word they
are adverbs as a part of speech.
E.g. The bellboy answered gently.
However, he was punished by his
superior.

4. Prepositions: introduce prepositional phrases (e.g. prep. + noun/n. phrase). Preceeds the
noun phrase, not the finite verb.

 E.g. about, after, by, down, from, into, towards, around, without, because of, due to,
apart from, despite.

5. Pronouns: fill the position of a noun or a n. phrase.

 Personal subject: I, you, he/she/it, we, you and they.

 P. object: me, you him/her/it, us, you, them.
 P. possessive: mine, yours, his/hers/its, ours, yours, theirs.
 Reflexive: myself, yourself, himself/herself/itself, ourselves, yourselves, themselves.
 Indefinite: nobody, somebody, anybody, no one, anybody.
 Reciprocal: each other (two), one another (more than two)
 Interrogative: Who, which, whom, whose, what.


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 Summary: Introducing English Grammar (2020)
Matías Damián Oliva

CHAPTER 2

Tenses Uses Time expressions

Present  Repeated and permanent actions or Always, usually, often, seldom,
simple situations. never, everty day/week/month/year,
 Habits and daily routines. on Mondays/Tuesdays, in the
 General truths, laws of nature. morning/afternoon evening, at night,
 Short actions that have little or no the weekend…
duration.
Present  Actions taking place now. Now, at the moment, these days, at
continuous  Temporary actions. present, nowadays…
 Irritation or annoyance.
 Developing situations.
Present The difference is that the progressive Unfinished use: for + period of time,
perfect s. form is used to emphasize the duration since + specific time, until now/up to
and c. of the action or state. now/so far.
 Unfinished use: action which started Finished u.: before/ever/never/yet/
in the past and continues up to the Already, just/recently/lately,
present. today/this month, week…
 Finished u.: indefinite happening in
the past, present results, recent
completed activity and activity
complete during a present
incomplete period of time.
Past s.  A sequence of actions/events in the Yesterday, last
past. night/week/month/year/
 Past habits or states. Monday, two days/weeks/months
 Permanent actions or situations in ago, then, when, How long ago…?,
the past. in 1993…
Past c.  An action in progress at a stated When, while, as, all
time in the p. day/night/morning…
 Action which was in progress when
another action happened or
interrupted it.
 Two or more simultaneous p.
actions.
 Description in the introduction to a
story before the main events.
 Annoyance, irritation in the p.

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 Summary: Introducing English Grammar (2020)
Matías Damián Oliva

Predictions based on beliefs.

On-the-spot decisions and offers.

Will (f. simple)

Actions/events/situations which wil

definite happen in the future.

Promises, threats, warning, requests,

hopes.
Ways to refer to the future

Premeditated plans, intentions or

ambitions.

Be going to

Predictions based on evidence.

Actions that have been already

Present progressive
arranged (time and place settled)

Programmes or timetables (trains,

Present simple
buses, flights).

Time expressions:
Tomorrow, the day after tomorrow,
next, week/month/year, tonight, son,
in a week/month, year…
CHAPTER 3

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 Summary: Introducing English Grammar (2020)
Matías Damián Oliva

CATEGORY OF UNCOUNTABLE NOUNS

NOUNS
Liquids Tea, beer, soup, orange juice, milk
Many types of foods Spaghetti, flour, meat, cheese, butter
Materials Silver, porcelain, brick, wood, concrete
Sports and games Darts, chess, golf, dominoes, billiards
Fields of study Physics, linguistics, mathematics, astronomy
Diseases Mumps, measles, shingles
Natural forces Wind, snow, cold, weather
Other items News, fun, information, accommodation,
work, furniture, luggage, hair, equipment,
behaviour, rubbish

NOUNS THAT CAN BE UNCOUNTABLE AND COUNTABLE

Hair Glass Chicken
Light Government Wood
Noise Rubber Cake
Paper Education Coffee
Room Pepper Stone
Time Foods Fruit
Work Difficulty
Iron Experience

COLLECTIVE NOUNS (e.g. family, class, team, crew)

 Singular form: the group is perceived as a single undivided body, a unit. “The audience
was enormous.”
 Plural f.: as the sum of its members, a collection of individuals. “The audience were
enjoying every minute of the show.”

PLURAL FORMATION

 Irregular forms: foot (feet), mouse (mice), tooth (teeth), goose (geese), louse (lice),
woman (women), men (man), ox (oxen)
 Suffix –ves: wife, shelf, calf, loaf, Wolf, self, thief, knife, leaf, half
 Suffix –s: roof, cliff, proof, belief, radio, video, volcano
 Suffix –es: tomato, potato, hero, echo, embargo, volcano

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 Summary: Introducing English Grammar (2020)
Matías Damián Oliva

 Same singular and plural form: sheep, bison, deer, moose, series, swine, species,
means, billiards, aircraft
 Always plural  police, cattle, people

QUANTIFIER COUNT NOUN NON-COUNT N.

Some, lots of, plenty of √ √
Much √
Many √
A few √
Few (negative connotation) √
A little √
Little (negative connotation) √
Any √ √
A great deal/amount of √
A great/large number of √

SUBJECT-VERD CONCORD

 Everyone, everybody, everything, anyone, anybody, anything, no one, nobody,

nothing (indef. pronouns), each, neither, none take singular verb concord. E.g.
Everyone was listening carefully.

 Either (the one or the other), neither (not the one nor the other) and none can be used
as heads of pronominal groups. They usually take a singular verb. E.g. None of the
students was interviewed.

 A plural verb can follow either, neither, none in pronominal groups in informal
conversations. E.g. Hundreds were examined but none were accepted.

 All, enough and most can be used with both count and non-count nouns, so the noun
agrees in number with the verb. E.g. All our supporters were interviewed / All the
music was instrumental.

CHAPTER 4

FUNCIONS OF ADJECTIVES

 Attributive: premodify a noun, appearing between the determiner and the head of the noun
phrase. E.g. a n ugly painting.

 Predicative: subject complement or object complement. They come after linking verbs
(connect subject and complement). E.g. He seems careless.

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 Summary: Introducing English Grammar (2020)
Matías Damián Oliva

 Postpositive: postmodify a noun coming right after it. E.g. The question proper was not
answered.

ORDER (a noun is usually described by one, two or three adjectives at

the most)
GROUP EXAMPLES
OPINION ADJ. Wonderful, nice, great, awful, terrible,
horrible, comfortable
FACT ADJ. SIZE Large, small, long, short, tall
AGE New, old
SHAPE/STYLE Round, rectangular
COLOUR Red, blue, dark, black
ORIGIN American, British French
MATERIAL Stone, plastic, steel, paper
TYPE/CLASSIFYING Electric, political, road, country
PURPOSE A bread knife, a bath towel

Adj. + -er (than)

Superiority
More + adj. + (than)

Comparative degree
Equality As/so + adj. as
Types of comparison

Inferiority Less + adj. (than)

Adj + -est
Superiority
The most + adj (in +
Superlative d. place/of + plurals)

Inferiority The least + adj.

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 Summary: Introducing English Grammar (2020)
Matías Damián Oliva

CHAPTER 5

ADVERBS

 Two major roles: modifiers (of adjectives/adverbs) and adverbials (provide information
about time, place, manner…).

ADVERBIALS

STRUCTURE EXAMPLE
An adverb He seldom talks to me.
An adverb phrase The children acted very calmly.
A prepositional phrase Large cushions lay on the floor.
A noun phrase I’m going to handle this my way.
An adverbial clause I first visited this place when I was a child.

 Three major classes: circumstance adv. (time, place, manner), stance adv. (comments
or opinions) and linking adv. (lógico-semantic relationships between ideas).
 Circumstance adv. are the most common. They generally answer: Where? When? How?
How much? How long? How often?

POSITION OF CIRCUMSTANCE ADVERBIALS

 Three posible positions: initial (before the subject), mid (between S. and verbo or
immediately after be as a main verb) and end (at the end of the clause).

 The most common is at the end of the sentence:

MANNER  PLACE  TIME.
 This order can be altered for the sake of emphasis or cohesion. E.g. He enthusiastically
sang in class yesterday / Three years later, she wrote her first novel.

 Adv. of time can have initial position to show a contrast with a previous reference to
time. E.g. The weather will stay fine today, but tomorrow it will rain.

 Adv. of indefinite frequency (often one-word adv.) are usually placed in mid position.
Adv. of definite frequency (often prepositional phrases) are placed in end-position and
before adv. of time. E.g. I always call on my younger sister every time I go to London.

 When aux. verbs are used, frequency adverbs normally go between the aux. v. and the
main v. E.g. I have never been there.

 Adverbials of place/direction usually come immediately after verbs denoting

movement. E.g. Helen travelled to Spain by plane last year.

 When two adv. of the same type are placed together, the smallest comes first. E.g.
Andrew sat for that exam at 8 o’clock, on November 23rd last year.

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 Summary: Introducing English Grammar (2020)
Matías Damián Oliva

The rules used for the comparison of

adjectives apply to the comparison
of adverbs too.

CHAPTER 6

BASIC SENTENCE PATTERNS

Main types of
verbs

Linking or
Intransitive 10
Transitive copular (VL /
(Vi)
VC)
 (Vdt)

Summary: Introducing English Grammar (2020)

S + Vi + Adv S + Vmt + Od Groups Matías Damián
S + VLOliva
(to be) + Adv.

1) S + Vdt + Oi + Od
Linking verbs: S + Vdt + Od + (to) Oi
appear, look, seem, smell, taste,
become, get, grow, keep, remain,
stay, make, turn, feel, prove, stand,
2) S + Vdt + Oi + Od
die
S + Vdt + Od + (for) Oi

3) S + Vdt + Oi + Od
S + Vdt + Od + (to/for) Oi

G. 3: bring, leave, play, sing, take,

Group 1: give, hand, lend, offer, write
pass, pay, rent, sell, send, show, 4) S + Vdt + Oi + Od
teach, tell G. 4: ask, cost, charge

G. 2: book, build, buy, cook, cut, G. 5: explain, say, speak, suggest,

fetch, find, get, keep, make, order, introduce
paint, pour save, set 5) S + Vdt + Od + (to) Oi
G. 6: cash, close, open, change,
pronounce, prepare

6) S + Vdt + Od + (for) Oi

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