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 THE
AWFUL
GRAMMAR
BOOK
Other titles in this series include:
THE AWFUL SPELLERS DICTIONARY
THE AWFUL DRESSMAKER’S BOOK
THE AWFUL HANDYMAN’S BOOK
THE AWFUL MOTORIST’S BOOK
THE AWFUL COOK’S BOOK
THE AWFUL GARDENER’S BOOK
THE AWFUL MATHEMATICIAN’S BOOK
THE AWFUL SALESMAN’S BOOK
THE AWFUL SECRETARY'S BOOK
THE AWFUL BRIDE’S BOOK
THE AWFUL CARPENTER’S BOOK
THE AWFUL SLIMMER’S BOOK
THE AWFUL PUNTER’S BOOK
THE AWFUL GOLFER’S BOOK
THE AWFUL ANGLER’S BOOK
THE AWFUL YACHTSMAN’S BOOK
THE AWFUL BOSS’S BOOK

72340036 9
© Wolfe Publishing Limited 1968

Printed by Oxley Press Limited

 THE
AWFUL
GRAMMAR
BOOK
Sidney Ledson

WOLFE PUBLISHING LTD

10 EARLHAM STREET, LONDON WC2
Introduction
IF YOU HAVE a razor-sharp mind and a photographic memory, you
will be an English-language expert in three hours’ time; that is how
long it takes to read this book and do the exercises. But if you are
one of the army of Awful Grammarians (and aren’t most of us?)
you will need a little longer. Indeed, you will probably have to read
each section two or three times.
Unfortunately, the rules for grammar were not drawn up in
heaven. The rules have no greater authority than what has been
spoken—rightly or wrongly—in the past. However, these past
utterings have been sufficiently logical and consistent to form well-
defined paths of communication.
The grammarian’s job is not simply to stop linguistic novelty,
but rather to show where the breaking of new ground leads toward
a bog; to show which novel twist of usage will weaken the common
grid of understanding.
Then again, a grammar book can tell you what is technically
right or wrong, but it cannot tell you what is socially right or wrong.
Grammar, like karate, requires discretion in its use. ‘Wrong’ usage
changes to ‘right’ usage at some unmarked point between Bucking-
ham Palace and the local pub. The expression, ‘It is I,’ is appropri-
ate to one, ‘It’s me,’ is more suited to the other. While it is
admirable to use informal expressions in the interests of friendliness,
it is not admirable when they are spoken in ignorance.
When this book has been studied, the reader will be equipped to
understand grammar as expressed by its masters: Fowler, Partridge,
Vallins and Jespersen; or, if more practical material is desired, the
reader is urged to become acquainted with that excellent work
Plain Words by Sir Ernest Gowers.

SIDNEY LEDSON
Contents
INTRODUCTION 4

PART ONE
Sentence; Subject and Predicate; Noun; Verb; Object;
Complement; Pronoun; Adjective; Adverb; Preposi-
tion; Phrase; Sentence analysis.

PART TWO 24
Verb—person, tense, voice and mood.

PART THREE 33
Subject and Verb agreement; Object and Indirect
Object; Sentence analysis.

PART FOUR 37
Finite and Infinite Verbs; Participle; Infinitive;
Gerund; Verbal Phrases; Absolute Phrase; Describ-
ing and Commenting Phrases.

PART FIVE 46
Interjection; Conjunction; Clause; Relative Pronoun;
Relative Adverb; Sentence analysis; Punctuation;
Words and expressions commonly confused.

INDEX 63
Part One
THE SENTENCE
DEFINITION: A sentence is a group of words that expresses a complete
thought.
Sentences, like ladies, come in al) sizes, shapes and moods. Some
express a purpose, ‘Put two bob on Late Knight’; some express a
hope, ‘Dr. Buzzard’s fights tooth decay even while you’re sleeping’ ;
some are inquisitive, some dictatorial, others poetical. The most
common sort of sentence is the kind that makes a statement—as
this sentence is doing.
The rules for constructing a sentence are simple: begin with a
capital letter, express one complete thought, and end with either a
full-stop, a question mark or an exclamation mark. Yet people
commonly misunderstand what is meant by a complete thought.
Some advertising writers exploit this misunderstanding in the
belief that part-sentences seem friendlier and make reading easier.
The following examples were taken from a single advertisement :—
‘Of being the most reliable airline in the world’.
‘Also due in no small part to our reputation’.
‘Or rather, because it has a small population’.
These are not sentences; they are only parts of sentences. What
is missing? They have no subjects, no topics. Standing alone, each
makes an unusual comment about something, without telling us
what this something is. A few words added to these parts of
sentences can produce meaningful complete sentences :—
‘The title given us, namely that of being the most reliable airline
in the world, has been revoked following numerous complaints.’
‘It is surprising how the mere sight of a thundercloud can pro-
duce a run of passenger cancellations, though these are perhaps
also due in no small part to our reputation.’
‘Tristan da Cunha has a small birth-rate because the people are
small; or rather, because it has a small population.’
Sentences comprise two parts: the subject being discussed, and
a story about the subject. Consider a simple sentence:—
‘Henry swallowed a fly.’
Henry is the topic being discussed; Henry is called the subject. The
rest of the sentence tells a simple story about him. The story part
of a sentence is traditionally called the predicate. The following
6
sentences have been divided into subjects and predicates in that
order. Notice how the subjects increase in length:
Gunpowder/consists of potassium nitrate, charcoal and sulphur.
The island of Krakatau/exploded in 1883.
The sound of this mighty explosion near Sumatra/was heard four
hours later, 3,000 miles away.
A smaller explosion which we all experience, namely that of
sneezing/expels air at a speed of 100 m.p.h.
You will see that the subject of a sentence can be any length.
The longer subjects might appear to be telling a story but, technic-
ally, they are merely giving a fuller‘description of the subject.
Consider two sentences :—
The Egyptians/invented beer.
Beer/was invented by the Egyptians.
In the first sentence, Egyptians is the subject; but in the second,
it is part of the story, the predicate. This will serve to remind you
that the role of a word in a sentence is often determined by its
position in the sentence rather than by any special quality of the
word itself.
There are four kinds of sentences:
eat eae oa Elephants subsist on roots, twigs, leaves and young
shoots.
QUESTION: Why hadn’t Tarzan a beard?
COMMAND: Get off the flag, you imbecile!
EXCLAMATION: Triplets, you say!
Subjects or topics are not always found at the beginning of
sentences. This is particularly true when a question is asked. Such
sentences should be rearranged to form statements before deciding
what the subjects and predicates are:—
What are you doing? = You/are doing what.
Is there a doctor in the house? = A doctor/is there in the house.
When no subject is mentioned in a question-type sentence, the
question-word becomes the subject.
Who/will know?
What/is going on?
Which/is the best?
In command sentences (traditionally called imperative sentences),
the subject is normally understood to be ‘you’: Sit down = (You)
sit down; Open your mouth —(You) open your mouth; Say
‘Ah!’ = (You) say ‘Ah!’
When the subject consists:of several words, there is usually a
single word among them that tells what is being discussed. These
words are italicised in the following sentences :—
A well-educated person/employs about 5,000 words in speech.
A quick, brown frog/jumps over the crazy dog.
Perhaps you’d like to try your hand at judging groups of words.
Here are a few to practise on. Tick off those you think are sentences.
But be careful: don’t be fooled by the number of words used in any
7
one example; the real test is whether or not a complete thought is
expressed. (Answers; page 59).
1. But Martha is a fine name! 2. In the nick of time. 3. Wafted
by the breeze 2,000 miles to our foggy shores. 4. Make love, not
war. 5. Please "do not feed the ducks. 6. Having recorded the
amputation of a leg in thirty seconds by a surgeon in Scotland.
7. In the case of Otto Kretschmer, U-boat captain, who sank
no less than a quarter of a million tons—45 vessels. 8. To have
fiddled while Rome burned. 9. Go! 10: The Honourable Arbeit
Q. Smith awaits.

PARTS OF SPEECH
CONSIDERING the thousands of words we use, and the thousands of
uses we make of them, it is a wonder that there are only eight
distinct jobs for all these words to perform. The eight jobs are
called the Parts of Speech; they represent the nuts and bolts, as it
were, of every sentence we write or speak. The parts of speech are:
noun, verb, pronoun, adjective, adverb, preposition, conjunction and
interjection.

NOUNS
DEFINITION: A noun is the name of a person, place, thing, emotion
or state.
A noun is simply a name. Anything that has a name is a noun.
(The words noun and name come from the same Latin source—
nomen). Though you personally are not a noun, your name is.
Similarly, everything Man has troubled to name is, by that very
action, a noun. You are surrounded by nouns: e.g. wall, ceiling,
floor, window, table, book. Fully half of the words in your dictionary
are simply the names given to things. They are indicated there by
the letter x.
There are several types of nouns, grouped roughly as follows:—

UNCOMMON NOUNS
Uncommon nouns (traditionally called proper nouns) are the
names we give to special things—those things that require a capital
letter: Africa, Thursday, Putney, Lord Bertrand Russell, Atlantic
Ocean, Coca-Cola.

COMMON NOUNS
. ink, man, rope, cement, rice pudding, sawdust, petrol, kidney,
chewing gum. These names do not refer to any special item, but
rather to one thing in a class of items. For example: the name ‘man’
is shared in common by every adult male human in the world; so
it is a common noun.

COLLECTIVE NOUNS
Collective nouns are the names we give to collections of things:
8
e.g. a forest is a collection of trees; a fleet is a collection of ships.
Both forest and fleet are collective nouns. Others are: herd (a
collection of animals), mob, crowd, people, battalion, squad, crew,
staff, society, team, group, suite, flock.

ABSTRACT NOUNS
Just as abstract art is difficult to describe, so are abstract nouns.
They cannot be seen, heard, smelled, tasted or touched. Most
abstract nouns can be grouped loosely under these headings:
QUALITIES: beauty, patience, integrity, hardness, honesty,
durability. ,
EMOTIONS: anger, fear, love, contempt, pity, gratefulness,
anxiety.
STATES: bachelorhood, friendship, childhood, hunger, death.
PROCESSES: dry cleaning, book-binding, day-dreaming, bird-
watching.
When there is only one of a noun, it is said to be singular—boy,
friendship, fleet. When there is more than one noun, it is said to be
plural—boys, friendships, fleets. The terms singular and plural are
said to indicate the ‘number’ of a noun.
As you know, the plurals of nouns are formed in several ways.
Indeed, there are so many rules governing this, and there are so
many exceptions, that it is wiser to consult a dictionary when you
are in doubt. Here is the entry for a noun in the Concise Oxford
Dictionary: wharf (w6rf), n. (pl. —fs, —ves). As you see, the word is
followed by a pronunciation code, then the small n tells us it is a
noun: (pl. —fs, —ves) tells us the plural form may end with either
the letters fs or ves—wharfs or wharves.
Sometimes it is difficult to tell whether a word is a noun or not.
A simple test is to see if the word can be made plural; if it can, it
is a noun. For words that are rarely thought of in plural form, a
better test is to see whether or not they can provide a topic for
conversation; if they can, they are nouns. Fit any such word into
the expression ‘I’d like to talk about .. .’ e.g. I’d like to talk about
carelessness, courage, ugliness, ease, justice, fire-fighting. All fit; all
are nouns.
Of the following ten words, five cannot be nouns. Which are they?
(Answers: page 59.)
1. dread, 2. nickname, 3. monetary, 4. hard, 5. terrible,
6. summertime, 7. puzzle, 8. instantaneous, 9, corrupt, 10. micro-
phone.

VERBS
DEFINITION: A verb is a word that expresses action or a state of being.
Just as there is one word among all others in the subject that
names the topic, so there is a single word in the predicate that
describes the action of the subject. Consider the sentence, ‘Sound
travels at 750 miles per hour.’ Sound is the subject. What does
9
‘sound’ do in this sentence? It travels. ‘Travels’ then describes the
action of the subject. Words that tell what the subjects do are
called verbs.
Some verbs express violent action: shriek, wrestle, scream; others
are tranquil: pray, sleep, dream. Consider the diminishing amount
of observable action expressed by these verbs: fight, leap, shout,
run, trot, walk, shuffle, sit, rest, stare, think, wait, hope. The action
of the last few examples is more mental than physical, but this does
not lessen their role as verbs.
It might have occurred to you that some verbs could also
function as nouns. That is correct. Consider the word dream in
these sentences.
I dream of Jeannie with the light brown hair.
Coleridge wrote Kubla Khan following an opium dream.
‘Dream’ is the verb of the first sentence. In the second sentence,
‘wrote’ is the verb, ‘dream’ is a noun. Many words are similarly
able to work as more than one part of speech.

THE OBJECT
DEFINITION: The object is that thing which receives the action of the
verb.
The object is not a part of speech. Like the subject, it is a
‘position’ filled by a part of speech in a sentence. You have learned
that the verb expresses the action of the subject. This action is
directed toward one thing or object.
Consider the sentence, ‘John hit the target.’ John is the subject.
What did John do? John hit. ‘Hit’ then is the verb. Now, what did
John hit? John hit the target. ‘Target’ then is the object that receives
the action of the verb; it is called object to the verb.
Most sentences contain similar ‘targets’ or objects of the verb.
The object of the verb is always found by asking What or Whom
after the verb: e.g. I dream of whom?—VJeannie; Coleridge wrote
what?—Kubla Khan. Subjects of the verb and objects of the verb
are always nouns or the equivalent of nouns.

VERB HELPERS
DEFINITION: Verb helpers are verbs which are joined to other verbs
to give different shades of meaning—usually of time.
The following verbs are often added to other verbs to alter their
meanings: may, might, can, could, will, would, shall, should, do, did,
must and all forms of the verbs be and have. For example: I am
going there. She was talking to me. I might have tried harder. I had
been swimming in the sea. We shall have been married one week in
ten minutes’ time.

TRAVELLING VERBS
DEFINITION: Travelling verbs (or transitive verbs) are those which
act upon an object.

10
 Consider the sentence, ‘I repaired the car.’ ‘I’ is the subject,
‘repaired’ is the verb, and ‘car’ is the target or object. If the object
is removed from the sentence—I repaired—the result doesn’t make
sense. Now try this with another sentence, ‘I danced the tango.’
z we remove the object, tango, the result still makes sense—‘I
ance.’
Verbs that require an object are travelling verbs, or, as they are
traditionally called, transitive verbs. The action of the subject
‘travels over’ to an object. Non-travelling verbs—intransitive verbs
—do not require an object. Most verbs can be used both transitively
and intransitively. The verbs in the first three examples below
illustrate this. The next three verbs illustrate some of the few cases
where a verb can be used only transitively. The final three examples
show verbs that can only be used intransitively:—
VERB TRANSITIVE INTRANSITIVE
paint I paint pictures. I paint.
swim I swim the breast-
stroke. I swim.
run I run five miles a day. I run.
collect I collect stamps.
throw I threw the boxes away.
make I make furniture.
surface The submarine surfaced
mid-Atlantic.
smile She smiled instantly.
laugh We laughed heartily.
The last three verbs might appear to have objects, but remem-
ber, an object must answer the questions ‘what?’ or ‘whom?’.
Any words that follow the verbs surface, smile, and laugh will
answer the questions Where, When, Why or How. But in unusual
situations, even these three verbs might be used transitively: ‘We
surfaced the wall with gypsum,’ ‘We laughed a loud laugh,’ ‘She
smiled a sweet smile.’ Indeed, there are so few verbs that cannot be
used both transitively and intransitively, that it is wiser to speak
of a verb as being used transitively or used intransitively, rather
than saying a verb is transitive or is intransitive.
How can you put this information to use? Suppose you had
heard, and perhaps even used, the word procrastinate (to delay, to
put off) in the sense ‘I had the chance but I procrastinated’. As you
see, there is no object—procrastinated what?—nothing. You might
wonder if the verb can also be used transitively: e.g. ‘The judge
procrastinated his decision yntil next Thursday.’ ‘Decision’ is the
object of ‘procrastinated’—but is it correct to use it in this way?
By consulting your dictionary you would find an entry similar to
that in the Concise Oxford Dictionary, reproduced here in part:—
procras’ tin|Ate, v.i. & t. Defer action, be dilatory...
The letters v.i. & t. mean ‘verb intransitive and transitive.’ We
know then that ‘procrastinate’ can be used with or without an
object, so our test sentence is correct.
11
 A quick way to determine whether or not a verb can be used
~
intransitively is to place it in an intransitive position and see if it
stands. Place any verb in the following sentence: ‘I ... for a living.
Thus: I sing, dance, whistle, study, work, play for a living. They
all fit. Try a few others.

LINKING VERBS
For our purpose here, the term ‘linking verb’ will mean a verb
that links the subject to more information about the subject. A
linking verb will have two qualities: (1) it will express no action
that can be exerted upon an object, (2) it will not make sense unless
more words follow it.
Mount Everest is 29,028 feet | Christmas morning was a happy
high. occasion.
This soup tastes soapy. Southend seems a long way away.
The verbs is, tastes, was and seems are inactive; they are merely
linking the subject in each sentence to further information about
the subject. Notice in the second sentence that the soup itself does
no tasting. The linking verbs you will meet most often are the
forms of the verb ‘to be’—am, is, are, was, been, be, were—plus a
few other verbs such as: becomes, appears, looks, tastes. However,
these last are linking verbs only when the subject of the sentence is
not active: e.g. “The weather looks bad.’ The ‘weather’ is not
looking at anyone or anything. ‘Looks’ is an idiomatic equivalent
of ‘is’. Other transitive verbs are sometimes used as linking verbs:
e.g. ‘It smells delicious;’ ‘It feels wonderful’.
Because the verbs are inactive in this sort of sentence, the subject
can express no power on a target or object. In short, there can be
no object. Therefore the words that follow this type of verb are
given a special name; they are called the complement. Unfortu-
nately, this term is too easily confused with compliment. A better
term might be balance, because the information that follows a
linking verb, in a sense, balances the subject.
Mount Everest = 29,028 feet Christmas morning = a happy
high. occasion.
This soup = soapy. Southend = a long way away.
Sentences containing a linking verb can usually be inverted
(reversed) and still give a balanced meaning without the addition of
a verb-helper:—
Joshua Slokum was the first man to sail around the world alone.
The first man to sail around the world alone was Joshua Slokum.
In the following sentences, two verbs are used transitively, two
are used intransitively and two are linking verbs. Can you recognise
each? (Answers: page 59.)
1. 1am going home. 2. The ministers are in conference. 3. Dogs
bark for Bone-Biks. 4. The speed of the Atlantic sailfish is
almost 70 mph. 5. Win an expense-free trip to the North Pole.
6. Mild tobacco promotes mild cancer.
12
PRONOUNS
DEFINITION: @ pronoun is a word used in place of a noun.
Just as film-stars have stand-ins, so do nouns. A word that
‘stands-in’ for a noun is called a pronoun. How can a word stand-in
for another? Consider the sentence ‘I hear reindeer on the roof.’
We could also say, ‘Reindeer—I hear them on the roof.’ The word
them stands for reindeer; it has ‘stood-in’. Here are three more
examples: “The anaconda is the world’s longest snake; it is
found in S. America.’ (it = anaconda). ‘Henry has strange tastes:
he likes strawberry jam on his kippers.’ (he = Henry). ‘This
amazing new dentifrice not only protects your teeth, it protects
your tooth-brush too.’ (it = dentifrice).
Any word that can stand-in for a noun is a pronoun; that will
include the following: J, me, we, us, you, he, him, she, her, it,
they, them.

Two strange cases

You will recall that both the subject and the object in a sentence
must be a noun or its equivalent. Pronouns are noun-equivalents;
therefore they can act as subjects or objects. But a unique rule
governs the use of pronouns. Whereas a noun retains the same form
when working as a subject or object (The trees fell down. I fell
trees.), pronouns change their form. We say ‘He saw me,’ but we
cannot say ‘Me saw he.’ Why not?
The answer involves cases. But these are not like violin cases
or cigarette cases: they are the case of the subject and the case of
the object. However, the word ‘role’ would be clearer, for that is
the intended meaning—‘role’ or ‘position’. When a word is used
as the subject of a sentence, it is said to be in the subjective role: a
word used as the object is said to be in the objective role. Pronouns
are divided into two groups: those that may be used as subjects,
and those that may be used as objects. Here is how they are
divided :—
SUBJECTIVE OBJECTIVE
|(ieee coccpenceeceDHene
cme iene me
Sa ge OR a ee us
aifelie Ota tBopceces
ftos heer nae Oho you
[ECD lease etiasarsantacen
scat arenas him
Shei fase Ss keane her
Atte Ske deat Metta
hak «As tiie aeriine it
fheyal sehen. ge eiahe.
ae ttactts them
As you see, the pronouns you and it behave like nouns—they
remain unchanged in the subjective and objective roles. All the rest
must abide by the rules and be used only for the job allotted them.
You can test the correctness of this division by placing suitable
pronouns in the sentence ‘Subject saw Object’—IJ saw you, We saw
them, etc.—avoiding, of course, pairs that are related: I—me, I—us,
and such.
13
Exceptions
It was mentioned earlier that the linking verbs (am, is, are, was,
been, be, were, becomes, appears, looks, tastes) create special
difficulties. They do indeed—beginning now.
Unlike other verbs, linking verbs cannot be followed by an
object. Instead, they are followed by a balance or complement.
To maintain proper balance then, the balance must be subjective,
not objective; so while a normal verb takes an objective form of a
pronoun (It helps her), the linking verb requires that the pronoun
be in its subjective form (It is she). That is why the following expres-
sions are technically correct: I am he, It is I, It was she, It was they,
It was we. (This rule doesn’t apply when the linking verb is merely
helping a normal verb: e.g. We are going to see her; They are
visiting him; They were telling me, etc).
What are we to think about such expressions? G. H. Vallins has
this to say: ‘But the fact remains that few people would say or
write “It’s I,”’ ‘This is he,’ ““That’s she.” Usage, a trifle shame-
facedly, admits the object-form to such expressions, “It’s me,”
“This is him,” ‘“That’s her,’”’ perhaps because it can more easily
bear the stress. In any case, these expressions belong almost
entirely to the spoken tongue. They are rarely seen in writing, and
sO pass muster with those who, seeing them, might condemn them.’
One strange attempt at correctness occurs when two pronouns
are linked by and: ‘They gave her and I the afternoon off.’ Remove
the words ‘her and’ from the sentence, and it will become obvious
that ‘me’ is the correct form. This ‘and-me fright’ probably springs
from over-correction of childhood errors—‘Her and me are going
to the pictures’—where both ‘her’ and ‘me’ are objective pronoun
forms placed in a subjective role. As a result of this, many people
feel uncomfortable about the use of ‘and me’, ‘and her’, ‘and him’.
All the following sentences are correct. Where usage seems
questionable, remove one or other of the pronouns and test the
sentence.

He took her and me to London.

The harp belongs to her and him.
I saw him and her yesterday.
Herbert and she want a hippopotamus for Christmas.
She, he and I are going on holiday with them.

What about the sentence, ‘She, George and myself will be taking
tea together’? Pronouns such as myself, yourself, himself are called
reflexive—though reflective might be more readily understood.
Such pronouns reflect or ‘mirror’ the action of the verb back to
the subject: ‘I cut myself.” They have one other correct use: to
underline or intensify a noun or pronoun: ‘George himself dropped
the cake.’ However, ‘myself’ is not correct when used as a simple
substitute for me or, as in the opening sentence, as a substitute for J.
This same rule will apply to ‘you’, which should have been used in
the following sentence, ‘This is for yourself.’

14
DESCRIBERS
_ The job of some words is to describe other words. These descrip-
tive words form two separate groups; one group describes things
(nouns and pronouns), the second group describes verbs.

ADJECTIVES
DEFINITION: An adjective describes or limits the meaning of a noun
or pronoun. Adjectives tell ‘what kind of’, ‘which one’ or ‘how
many’.
By placing adjectives in front of a noun, we can change or limit
the noun’s meaning—a big house, a stall house, a new house, an
old house, a haunted house. The word ‘adjective’ is not an apt
name, but we must remember it because dictionaries refer to thing-
describers by the abbreviation adj.
The most common adjectives are ‘a’, ‘an’ and ‘the’. They have
special titles. ‘A’ and ‘an’ refer to no particular thing; accordingly,
they are called the indefinite articles—a seemingly long-winded
title for such short words. Perhaps this mis-match will make the
term easy to remember. ‘A house’ refers to any house: nothing
could be more indefinite than that. ‘A’ is used with words beginning
with a consonant sound; ‘an’ is used with words beginning with a
vowel sound. It is the sound alone which determines the aptness of
a or an, not the spelling; hence ‘a hero’; but ‘an honour’. ‘A’ and
‘an’ are forms of the numeral ‘one’; for this reason it is as correct
to say ‘a hundred’ as ‘one hundred’.
‘The’ is a very definite term: ‘the house’ is that one house we
have discussed or have seen; it cannot be confused with any other
house on earth. Accordingly, ‘the’ is called the definite article.
The words ‘this’, ‘that’, ‘these’, ‘those’ point to things. They are
called demonstrative adjectives. If the word ‘demonstrative’ can
help you think of ‘pointing’, then it is a useful one. Assuredly,
people who ‘demonstrate’ do a great deal of pointing. (Note:
sometimes these four words are not adjectives, but pronouns: e.g.
‘Those were the good old days.’ Here, the word ‘those’ is the
subject of the sentence—and the subject of a sentence must be a
noun or its equivalent. Again, ‘That is the way to do it’: ‘that’ is
the subject pronoun. But if we said “Those days ...’ or ‘That
way...’ then those and that would be adjectives again).
Some adjectives show ownership: my looks, your brains, our
talent, his money, her charm, their admiration, its suitability.
These are called, aptly enough, possessive adjectives. But these
should not be confused with mine, yours, ours, hers, theirs, which
are not adjectives but pronouns. (The forms his and its do not
change). Remember, an adjective describes, but a pronoun stands-
in. ‘Your car is new; mine is old’—mine is standing-in for ‘my
car’.
Numbers are sometimes used as adjectives: one horse, two cows,
three chickens. These indicate a definite quantity. Other words,
some, a few, either, each, both, all, every, many, most, are adjectives
15
used to express quantities. Colours are usually adjectives. We don’t
normally buy red or black, but rather red or black things—ted
paint, black silk, purple shirt. An exception is the ‘blue’ one buys
for washing; this is a noun.
Some adjectives are used for comparing one noun to another:
‘That spice is hot’ (notice the linking verb), “That spice is hotter,’
‘That spice is hottest.’ Hot, hotter and hottest are called positive,
comparative and superlative adjectives respectively. The comparative
form is used to show a relationship between only two things.
WRONG: He is the younger of the three brothers. (Use
youngest)
The superlative form is used between more than two things.
WRONG: Of the two fish, this is the largest. (Use Jarger)
Some adjectives show comparative and superlative forms by the
addition of more and most: e.g. hopeful, more hopeful, most hopeful.
The rule determining which form an adjective takes for comparison
is indefinite, but in general, words of one syllable—cold, big,
small—add a tail: e.g. cold, colder, coldest. Words of three syllables
employ more and most. Words of two syllables vary.
Some adjectives cannot sanely be compared. A thing can be
perfect, or it can be Jess than perfect, but it cannot be more than
perfect; therefore we can say almost or nearly perfect, but not
more perfect or most perfect. This same logic applies to the follow-
ing: basic, complete, empty, essential, fatal, final, full, fundamental,
ideal, impossible, obvious, pure, unique. As a diversion, you might
puzzle out better ways of expressing the ideas that prompt misuse
of these words, e.g. ‘more fatal’ wishes to convey ‘more toxic’ or
‘more poisonous’.
Sometimes even nouns can be used as adjectives—‘an apple tree’.
Here, apple is describing the tree. In ‘a summer day’, summer tells
us what sort of day it is; therefore it is an adjective. Other examples:
river’s bed (showing possession too!), mahogany table, banana peel,
office party, day’s end.
Adjectives are not always placed before the thing they describe.
This is particularly true when they are describing pronouns instead
of nouns. Not only do they follow the pronoun but they are
separated from it by a linking verb: “He is tall,’ ‘She is sweet,’ ‘They
are happy.’ Think of these expressions in the terms of ‘tall he’,
‘sweet she’ and ‘happy they.’
Adjectives can be strung together: e.g. ‘That great, hulking
brute is my husband.’ Here we have three adjectives telling the
particular brute in question: he is that brute, a great brute, and a
hulking brute. Notice that ‘that’ does not describe‘great,’ nor does
‘great’ describe ‘hulking’; they each act solely upon the noun.
If you turn back to the ten-word test following Nouns, you will
find that the five words which are not nouns, are adjectives.

ADVERBS
DEFINITION: An adverb describes or limits verbs, adjectives, and
16
 other adverbs. Adverbs tell Where, When, Why, How, and ‘to
what extent’.
Just as adjectives describe nouns and pronouns, so other words
describe or limit the action of verbs: e.g. ‘He swam quickly.
‘Quickly’ describes the swimming, tells how he swam. The root
meaning of the word adverb is ‘add-to-verb’; however, this is only
part of an adverb’s job.
Let us look at three sentences mentioned earlier: ‘The submarine
surfaced mid-Atlantic,’ “She smiled instantly,’ and ‘We laughed
heartily.’ It will be obvious now that the words following the verbs
are adverbs—‘mid-Atlantic’ tells where the submarine surfaced,
‘instantly’ tells when she smiled, ‘heartily’ tells how we laughed.
Were we to say, ‘The submarine surfaced mid-Atlantic to
recharge its batteries,’ we would add another adverb to the sentence
telling why the submarine surfaced. Or again, if we said ‘The
submarine partially surfaced mid-Atlantic to recharge its batteries,’
we would add still another adverb to the sentence—an adverb
which tells to what extent the submarine surfaced.
This then is the way adverbs describe or limit the action of a
verb—by answering the questions where, when, why, how and to
what extent. But adverbs are able to limit adjectives and other
adverbs as well as verbs.
Consider the sentence, ‘The iron is hot.’ Here, ‘hot’, following a
linking verb, is an adjective describing iron—‘hot iron’. Now if we
say, ‘The iron is very hot,’ ‘very’ cannot describe iron as a ‘very
iron’; it describes ‘hot’—tells how hot; therefore we have an
adverb describing an adjective.
Take the sentence ‘He walked slowly.’ ‘Slowly’ is an adverb tell-
ing how he walked. But if we say ‘He walked very slowly,’ the word
‘very’ has nothing to do with the verb ‘walked’—one cannot ‘very
walk’—‘very’ tells us to what extent or how slowly he walked. It
describes or limits ‘slowly’; therefore we have an adverb describing
another adverb.
In the sentence, ‘You were entirely correct,’ (linking verb),
‘correct’ is an adjective describing the subject ‘you’. ‘Entirely’ tells
to what extent the person was correct; therefore it is an adverb
describing an adjective. Other adverbs that tell ‘to what extent,’ or
‘to what degree’ are: almost, nearly, partly, completely, barely, very
much, once, four times.
The combination of adverb, adjective and noun is one we make
great use of in our daily conversations. The following examples
will serve to remind you of these relationships; they are adverb,
adjective and noun in that order: rather pleasant day; quite wet
weather; very high humidity; exceptionally dry month; wonderfully
warm day; truly fine summer; terribly short dress.
Many adverbs can be recognised by their -/y endings: sadly,
happily, separately, generally, presumably, rarely, usually, fully,
occasionally ; others are not so easily spotted: always, sometimes,
seldom, somewhat. Other adverbs have -ly endings that are some-
iy
times dropped: run quick(ly), smell sweetly), fight fair(ly), travel
light(ly), go slow(/y).
‘Not’ is a particularly important adverb—‘I have not seen him,’
== ‘I have seen him not.’ To what extent have 1 seen him?—xnot at

Adverbs change form for comparison in almost the same way as

adjectives do: fast, faster; intelligently, more intelligently, most
intelligently.

PREPOSITIONS
DEFINITION: A preposition joins a noun or pronoun to,some other
word in a sentence and telis what the relationship is between the
two joined words.
Consider the following two sentences: The natives made soup
for him. The natives made soup of him. The words ‘for’ and ‘ot’
are used to join the pronoun ‘him’ to the noun-object of the
sentence, ‘soup’. These joining words are called prepositions. A
preposition can join pronouns or nouns to other sentence-words:
1 nailed the lid with my landlord. | nailed the lid on my landlord.
Here, the prepositions ‘with’ and ‘on’ join the noun ‘landlord’ to
the noun-object ‘lid’.
This then is the main job of a preposition—to introduce and join
a noun or pronoun to some other word in a sentence. But as the
four examples show, prepositions do much more than introduce
and join, they also show the relationship between the words so
joined. This is the dual role of prepositions: to join nouns and
pronouns to other words, and to explain what the relationship is
between the joined words.
Some of the most common prepositions are also the shortest
words in our language: to, by, at, in, on, of, up—and they are easily
recognised. But shortness is not a necessary feature of prepositions;
indeed, some are composed of several words—in the middle of, at
the back of. The main common feature of prepositions is that they
express a relationship; sometimes it is a relationship of position,
or perhaps a relationship of time; or again, movement, ownership,
or attitude.
There are a great many prepositions—far too many to memorise
—and some of them occasionally work as another part of speech;
therefore a good number of examples will be given so you can
develop a sense of the preposition’s work. Go over the following
groups slowly, and study the relationships effected by the pre-
positions :—
back from the farm; going fo the circus; fell in the ocean; chip
off the block; boy with the dog; gift for his mother; holiday
during the winter; rolled under the table; disappeared over the
hill; race across the country; flew above the clouds; space
between the buildings; man beside the helicopter; house among
the trees; price beyond our means; step toward his goal; travel
along the street; look like a horse; mountain near the sea; shot
18
 through the heart; climbed into the cockpit; conduct beneath
his dignity; truth behind the story; lawn outside the castle.
Here are a few of the multiple-word prepositions: in front of,
ahead of, because of, by means of, contrary to, in addition to, in
place of, in spite of, as far as, according to.

PHRASES
DEFINITION: A phrase consists of a preposition and a noun or pro-
noun, e.g. ‘in the morning’; which, considered as a whole, can act
as a noun, adverb or adjective. ;
‘Phrase’ is the name given to the preposition and the noun or
pronoun it introduces: at the fair, by him, on the wagon. A phrase
may also contain words that describe its noun or pronoun: under
a wonderfully luminous moon; with long, white dangling tassels; at
an old, creaking, long-forgotten mill.
A preposition is said to govern the noun or pronoun in its phrase;
in fact, the noun or pronoun in the phrase is said to be the object
of the preposition. It stands to reason then that a pronoun-object
of a preposition will need be in its objective form; so whereas we
say ‘It is I,’ we say ‘It is for me.’ Me is the object of ‘for’. Again,
‘I believe they are with her and him.’ The preposition ‘with’
requires the objective form of pronoun be used rather than the
subjective form. Objects of a preposition answer the questions
What or Whom in the same way sentence objects answer these
questions for the verb.
The type of phrase we have covered, the prepositional phrase,
is used to describe. They are really no more than enlarged adverbs
and adjectives. Consider the sentence, ‘The person with the long,
blond hair is my father.’ Here, ‘with the long, blond hair’ describes
the noun ‘person’; it is acting like an adjective; therefore we say
it is an adjective phrase. Phrases are not always so easy to cate-
gorise, but there is a rule that can help us.
The rule says that a phrase is the equivalent of any word that can
replace it; therefore, if the meaning of a phrase can be expressed by
an adjective, it must be an adjective phrase; or if it can be replaced
by an adverb, it is an adverb phrase. Let us put this to the test:—
‘She smiled in a charming manner’—‘in a charming manner’ is
a phrase. The meaning of the phrase can be conveyed almost as
well by the word ‘charmingly’. ‘Charmingly’ answers the question
‘how’ for the verb ‘smiled’; therefore it is an adverb. And so, ‘ina
charming manner’ must be an adverb phrase. Try another:—
‘T will see you in the morning.’ ‘In the morning’ is a phrase. With
small licence, it could be replaced by the word ‘tomorrow’. “To-
morrow’ answers the question When for the verb ‘see’; therefore
it is an adverb. So the phrase ‘in the morning’ must be an adverb
phrase.
Sometimes, when there is a variety of descriptive material in a
phrase, it is difficult to settle on a single word that expresses the full
meaning of the phrase. ‘With the long, blond hair’ is such a phrase.
19
Here we need choose just one of the words as the basis for a des-
criber—‘The hairy man is my father.’ Try yet another:—
‘The girl in the slinky, black evening dress is Suzy.’ ‘In the
slinky, black, evening dress’ is the phrase. By substituting the single
word ‘slinky’, or ‘beautiful’, or ‘attractive’ we determine that it is
an adjective phrase. True, the black evening dress has not been
mentioned, but the spirit of the phrase is expressed, and that is all
we require.
A general sort of word is also needed to test phrases expressing
location: e.g. ‘He threw three coins and his wife into the fountain.’
‘Into the fountain’ is a phrase; but what single word can replace
it? Well, suppose you were standing beside the fountain; you could
point to the spot and say, ‘He threw three coins and his wife here
(or there).’ The word ‘here’ or ‘there’ will serve as a one-word
equivalent for any phrase expressing location. “There’ answers the
question Where for any verb, and so indicates an adverb phrase.
‘There’ will replace phrases such as: in the jungle; up the creek;
over the rainbow; down the spout ; into the breach; beyond the fringe.
Similarly, the word ‘then’ can become a one-word replacement
for any phrase expressing time: after the rain; until the winter; in
the evening; before Easter; between Christmas and New Year; on
my birthday ; for the moment; on time. And because ‘then’ answers
When to any verb, the phrase it replaces must be an adverb phrase.
Phrases describing manner may require some invention to
determine a one-word substitute.
He shut the door with a great slam.—‘loudly’, answers How.
She sings in an irritatingly forced manner.—terribly’, answers
How.
He ended the game in a rage.—‘angrily’, answers How.
Any word or phrase that answers How is, of course, adverbial;
the same applies to any word or phrase that expressed a reason;
but here, it isn’t possible to find a one-word substitute.
It’s said they married for income tax reasons.
He has begun weight-lifting for his health.
If the phrase answers Why, it is adverbial.
When phrases follow one another, it is sometimes difficult to
classify one or other of them. Consider the sentence, ‘We buy our
spirits at the shop at the corner.’ There are two phrases here: ‘at
the shop’ and ‘at the corner’. The first phrase is easy to identify;
it answers the question Where; therefore it is an adverb phrase.
However, it might be said that ‘at the corner’ also answers the
question Where and is, therefore, also adverbial. That is true; but
we need ask is this the intended meaning of the phrase, or is it
meant to tell us where the shop is—telling us, in effect, which shop?
This seems more likely; the sentence would convey the same
message thus: “We buy our spirits at the corner store’; therefore
‘at the corner’ is an adjective phrase.
What about the sentence, ‘Our friends live at the corner over the
shop’? An ‘over the shop’ corner seems absurd at first; but what
20
is the intended meaning? They live at the shop-corner, not the bank-
corner nor the petrol-station corner, nor the vacant-lot corner;
therefore ‘over the shop’ tells us which one—it is an adjective
phrase.
In the previous two sentences, both phrases seemed to answer
the question Where; however, it was decided that the intended
meaning of one was to narrow or limit the meaning of the other.
Consider this sentence: ‘She spoke with great speed in a low voice.’
Both answer the question How. Does one narrow or limit the
meaning of the other? Well, let us reduce the phrases to single
words and see: ‘She spoke quickly, quietly.’ It will be seen that each
phrase has its own effect upon the verb ‘spoke’—both are adverbial.
Let us consider some adjective phrases.
The Sunday morning cricket game is fun.
The game of cricket, on Sunday morning, is fun.
The two phrases in the second sentence, ‘of cricket’ and ‘on
Sunday morning’, are doing the same work as the noun-adjectives
(nouns used as adjectives) ‘Sunday morning’ and ‘cricket’ in the
first sentence; therefore they are both adjective phrases. Try to
determine the kinds of phrases found in the following sentences.
chao two phrases run together, they are separated by an oblique
stroke.
The girls from St. Trinian’s are arriving in a tank.
Light travels at a speed/of 186,000 miles per second.
The rain in Spain stays mainly in the plain.
Here are the answers along with the thinking that determined
them: ‘from St. Trinian’s’—what kind of girls?—St. Trinian
girls—adjective phrase; ‘in a tank’—arriving how?—in a tank—
adverb phrase; ‘at a speed/of 186,000 miles per second’—the
second phrase can be replaced by the word ‘phenomenal’, ‘at a
phenomenal speed’; therefore it is an adjective phrase describing
the noun ‘speed’. By helping to complete the meaning of the first
phrase in this way, ‘at a phenomenal speed’ can be replaced by
‘quickly’—an adverb answering How. ‘At a speed’ is therefore an
adverb phrase. ‘In Spain’—what sort of rain?—Spanish rain—
adjective phrase; ‘in the plain’—the rain stays mainly where?—in
the plain—adverb phrase.
Whenever you have difficulty determining what job a phrase
performs, stop and decide what its intended meaning is: e.g. what
kind of phrase have we in this sentence, ‘Your holiday resort has
been carefully selected by travel agents’? The phrase ‘by travel
agents’ means to tell you the resort has been selected by experts.
‘By experts’ is itself a phrase which can be replaced by ‘expertly’:
‘Your holiday resort has been selected carefully and expertly.’
‘Expertly’ answers ‘how’ to the verb ‘has been selected’. It is
adverbial, and so is the phrase ‘by travel agents’.

Diagrams : jae
Words and phrases are much easier to classify if we analyse
21
 them by use of diagrams. Besides, it’s fun.
>
.

subject

adjective

adjective

This is the basic grid. Obviously, if a verb takes an object, it will

not take a complement and vice versa; however, having separate
positions for each will serve to remind you to watch for the differ-
ences. All adjectives are connected by an oblique stroke running
to the left; adverbs are connected by an oblique stroke to the right.
Let us analyse a simple sentence: ‘A pint of milk contains 378
calories.”
What is the subject—‘pint’ or ‘milk’? The preposition ‘of’ makes
‘milk’ objective; therefore it cannot be the subject of the sentence.
‘Pint’ is the subject, ‘of milk’ is an adjective phrase telling us what
sort of pint it is. ‘A’ is another adjective telling us that only one
pint is being considered.
‘Contains’ is the verb. Is it a linking verb? Could we consider the
sentence thus: A pint of milk = 378 calories? We might be tempted.
Whenever you are in doubt, consult your dictionary. ‘Contain’ is
a transitive verb; therefore it requires an object.
A pint of milk contains what?—calories, the object; how many
calories ?—378, a number adjective. Here is the way the information
would be shown.

pint—————contains
‘|
Oy ans calories
(2) of milk
378

Try another: ‘There are over 700,000 recordings in the BBC

phono library.” The only word preceding the verb is ‘there’, but
this is obviously not the topic of the sentence. ‘Recordings’ is the
subject; ‘there’ merely tells where the recordings are. When a
sentence begins with ‘there’, re-arrange the sentence before analy-
ane it: thus, “Over 700,000 recordings are there in the BBC phono
ibrary.
‘Recordings’ is the subject; ‘700,000’ is a number adjective
telling how many recordings; ‘over’ is an adverb which adds greater
meaning to ‘700,000’. ‘Are’ is the verb—a linking verb—therefore
the sentence has a balance or complement. ‘There’ is an adverb
giving direction to the verb ‘are’. ‘In the BBC phono collection’ is
a phrase in balance. When the balance forms a single unit in this
22
way, it is not necessary to analyse its parts. Here is how the sentence
would be shown:
recordings———are——-in the BBC phono collection
a NS
700,000 there
~
over

Let us analyse a question-type sentence: ‘How do they get new

tube trains down the escalators?’ This sentence needs re-arranging
peter analysis: ‘They do get new tube’trains down the escalators
ow.
‘They’ is the subject; “do get’ is the combination verb; ‘tube
trains’ is the object. “New” is an adjective describing the tube’ trains.
‘Down the escalators’ is a phrase limiting the verb ‘do get’. It is
therefore adverbial. ‘How’ is another adverb limiting the meaning
of the verb. Here is the diagram:
they do get
|
tube trains ~(1) down the escalators
Wak (2) how
new

Note: Most expressions of exclamation cannot be analysed: e.g.

‘Blast!’ ‘The ruddy cheek!’ Such expression are only parts of a
sentence.
Here are eleven sentences for you to analyse by diagram. As you
finish each analysis, compare your diagrams with that on page 59.
1. The organ in Liverpool Cathedral has 10,936 pipes. 2. The
sun never sets on my Gin (from a spirit advertisement). 3. In
pre-Christian times, the traditional December celebration
marked the winter solstice. 4. The last pitched battle in England
was on Drummossie Moor, Inverness-shire, in 1746. 5. Dogs
are not allowed in the shop. 6. The world’s largest salt mine, in
Ohio, U.S.A., produces 12,000 tons per day. 7. The London
Transport two-hour circular tour of the landmarks of London
covers twenty miles. 8. Enjoy real Continental cooking with
local dishes. 9. Swedes consume, on the average, 26 pounds of
coffee per person per year. 10. Simply fill in the application
form below. 11. Watch the graceful progress of the timeless
gondolas along the legend-haunted canals of beautiful Venice.

SUGGESTION
IF YOU CONFUSE some of the terms that have been covered up to
this point, or mistake some of their applications, then you are
quite normal. Grammar is puzzling and complicated. You will
find Part Two much simpler if you undertake a review of all earlier
material before continuing.
23
Part Two
PERSON
Most OF THE PRONOUNS covered so far have been stand-ins for
persons—I, you, he, she, and etc. Because they represent persons,
they are called personal pronouns. Regarded thus, almost as people,
they are given names so we can tell what person is being referred to.
For example, the pronoun ‘I’ is considered to be the ‘first’ person,
and because it can refer to only one person rather than several,
‘T’ is called the first person singular form of the personal pronouns.
The pronoun ‘we’ refers to both ‘you’ and ‘I’. ‘We’ is called the
first person form too. But because two persons are referred to, ‘we’
is called the first person plural form.
The word ‘you’ is called the second person. Is ‘you’ singular or
plural? Well, it will depend on whether you are speaking to one
person or several, won’t it? At one time, the English language had
the word ‘thou’ for use when speaking to one person, and ‘ye’ for
speaking to more than one person; but now the word ‘you’ must
do both jobs. Technically, ‘you’ is a plural form; however, it sees
greater use in the one-person role, so ‘you’ will be called singular
here. (Confusion cannot arise from this novelty because there is no
other second-person pronoun to confuse it with).
‘He’ refers to a third person, usually absent; therefore ‘he’ is the
third person form. And because ‘he’ is just one person, ‘he’ is third
person singular. Similarly, ‘she’ is also third person singular.
The words ‘one’, ‘someone’, ‘somebody’, ‘everyone’, ‘no one’ are
all singular, and again, third-person in form. The word ‘it’, though
not normally used for referring to people, is also third person
singular.
When we speak of more than one absent person—‘they’—the
term is third person plural. Here are the personal pronouns with
their proper names.
I—first person, singular you—second person, singular
we—first person, plural he/she/one/it—third person,
they—third person, plural singular
However, these are the subjective forms of the personal pro-
nouns, aren’t they? These are the forms we would use for the
subject of a sentence, or in the balance (complement) of a linking
verb. For this reason, the words subjective role (or case) should
follow each of the above terms.
24
 Now consider the objective roles of the personal pronouns. ‘Me’
is called first person, singular, objective role. ‘Yow keeps the same
form for both roles. ‘Us’ is first person, plural, objective role. What
would the terms be for ‘him’, and ‘her’, and ‘them’?

ANOTHER LOOK AT VERBS

Verbs have always been considered the most important word in
sentences. In fact, the word ‘verb’ comes from the Latin verbum,
meaning simply ‘word’. Verbs are thus the sentence words; they
are the motors that give movement fo sentences; they are the
activators, the doing-words. It is perhaps fitting that so important
a group of words should have complicated works and workings.
Let us consider what these are.

Person
A personal pronoun lends its ‘person’ to the verb that suits it:
e.g. ‘I try’—the verb ¢ry is in the form suited for the first person
singular pronoun, so fry is called the first person singular form of
the verb. Here are the names for the other personalised verb
forms :—
Ist person singular—I try 3rd person singular—He/she/
1st person plural—We try one/it tries
2nd person singular—You 3rd person plural—They try
try
All verb forms are the same except that of 3rd person singular—
tries. This difference is normal with all verbs: e.g. I/you/we/they
see, but he/she sees; I/you/we/they go, but he/she goes. Third
person singular is also the form used for all singular nouns—
A root tries to anchor the plant securely while searching for food.
Plural nouns use the third person plural form—Birds try to find
protected spots for nesting.

Time
Verbs change their form for different time; they are said to have
‘tense’. The word tense comes from the Latin tempus—which means
‘time’. Strictly speaking, the word tense as it is used in grammar,
means more than ‘time’; but from a layman’s position, the differ-
ence doesn’t justify use of an obscure term where a familiar one
will do.
Verbs have three times: e.g. I saw; I see; I shall see. The first
expression tells what happened in the past: it is called the past
time of the verb. The second expression tells what is happening at
the present; it is called the present time of the verb. The third
expression tells what will happen in the future; it is called the
future time of the verb. Will and shall are the verb helpers that
make the expression of future time possible. (For correct use of
will and shall, see page 56). Now let us consider these three times
in detail.
25
Present time
I see it; 1am seeing it; I have seen it. The first sentence ‘I see it,’
is simple and straightforward; it is, in fact, called the present
simple time. The second sentence, ‘I am seeing it,’ emphasises the
fact that the ‘seeing’ is continuing even while it is being reported.
This is called the present continuing time.
In the third sentence, ‘I have seen it,’ the ‘seeing’, though again
simple, has been finished or completed; but completed when—ten
minutes ago? yesterday? last week? That part isn’t definite; the
degree of ‘pastness’ is uncertain. What is certain is the fact that the
‘seeing’ has been completed at the time the sentence is uttered.
For that reason, the verb-form is called present completed time (or
traditionally, present perfect tense). Note: simple action (as opposed
to continuing action) is ‘understood’ when it is not mentioned.

Past time
Now look at the sentences, J saw it; I was seeing it; I had seen it.
‘I saw it’ is past simple time. In the sentence ‘I was seeing it,’ we
get the impression that the speaker is going to tell us something
more, and that this unmentioned event occurred at the time the
‘seeing’ was still going on. In other words, the ‘seeing’ is a reference
point for something still to be mentioned. Let us test this with
another sentence: ‘It was snowing dreadfully when he called.’ His
‘call’ has been related to ‘snowing’ which was in progress or
continuing at the time of the call. This verb-form is past continuing
time.
In ‘I had seen it,’ the speaker is again going to tell us something
more, but he wants us to know that the ‘seeing’ had ended before
the other event occurred. ‘It had snowed dreadfully the night he
called;’ the snowing had ended—had been completed—before he
called. This verb form is past completed time (traditionally, past
perfect tense).

Future time
I shall see him; I shall be seeing him; I shall have seen him. The
first example is future simple time. The second sentence employs the
form we use to relate a future ‘happening’ to a future date, or to some
other future event: e.g. J shall be seeing him this afternoon, or
tomorrow, or next week. ‘Seeing’ will be continuous throughout
our meeting. This verb-form is the future continuing time.
In ‘I shall have seen him,’ the speaker is not telling us when the
‘seeing’ will happen; instead he is telling us when the seeing will be
completed: e.g. ‘I shall have seen him by Thursday.’ This might be
interpreted as ‘I may see him Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday—
I don’t know which—but by Thursday, the seeing will be finished.’
This is future completed time.
There they are, three times—past, present and future—each with
its three types of action: simple action, continuing action and
completed action. But there is one more type of action; it is a
mixture of continuing action and completed action—ZI have been
26
seeing him; I had been seeing him; I shall have been seeing him:—
I have been seeing him: The ‘seeing’ has occurred and been com-
pleted one or more times up to the present moment, and will
probably continue similarly in the future; therefore the action is
truly completed and continuing. This verb form is the present
completed continuing.
I had been seeing him: The speaker is going to tell us something
more—some information he wants to relate to the time of the
‘seeing’: e.g. ‘I had been seeing him for a week when the police
dropped in unexpectedly.’ The ‘seeing’ had occurred one or more
times up to the moment the police drapped in. This verb-form is
the past completed continuing.
I shall have been seeing him: Again, the speaker has more to add.
He is going to tell us what a succession of past ‘seeings,’ present
‘seeings’ and future ‘seeings’ will total at some future time when
they are added up: e.g. ‘I shall have been seeing him perform this
same trick fifty times by tonight.’ This verb form, future completed
continuing time, is commonly used to express length of residence,
i.e. “We shall have been living in England ten years next month.’
Here is a list of the verb forms now covered, shown, this time,
in 3rd person singular form.
SIMPLE CONTINUING
TE Sees ....¢2..cn00--- PRESSE NG irre ate se saseuecseen
He is seeing
II GSSAW fetta ais isco PA Todo es coactesie seas su 1-30
Le Was’ SEEING
He ‘will'see’ .2....... PUMURE seta. a sesteees.
He will be seeing
TIE AS SCCM em onions PRESENT COMPLETED He has been
seeing
He had'seen’.:2-. 27%. PAST COMPLETED ...... He had been
seeing
He will have seen FUTURE COMPLETED He will have
been seeing
The following exercise will help you sort out the various verb-
forms in your mind. Make certain you locate the true subject of
each sentence before attempting to name the verb-form. To find
the subject, ask Who or What plus the verb: e.g. ‘Frank swam the
Channel.’ ‘Swam’ is the verb. Who swam? Frank. Another: ‘His
opinion doesn’t count for much here.’ ‘Doesn’t count’ is the verb.
What doesn’t count? Opinion.
Give the person, number (singular or plural), time and action of
the italicised verbs: (EXAMPLE: If I kiss you good night, will you
please go home? verb: kiss (subject ‘I’)—I1st person singular,
present, simple. verb: will go (subject ‘you’)—2nd person singular,
future, simple). (Answers: page 61.)
1. Are you having any fun? 2. A stitch in time saves nine. 3. They
are only trying their best. 4. Have you taken your medicine?
5. It is estimated that buildings will one day rise to 400 storeys.
6. She had been having shock treatment to cure athlete’s foot.
7. The gut from Spanish silkworms provides material for surgical
stitching. 8. We had only been in the gallery ten minutes when
27
 ~ the painting vanished. 9. Where have all the young girls gone?
10. They have been trying to telephone us for an hour. 11. He
will have been speaking for an hour soon.
Active and Passive Voice
The use of the word ‘voice’ here is deceptive; the word ‘role’
again provides a better description. You will recall that transitive
verbs (travelling verbs) are those which express the action of the
subject on the object—as in ‘He gréeted me.’ The verb ‘greeted’ is
said to be in its active role or voice. And from your study of verb-
forms, you know that this action is simple rather than continuing.
Now, if we turn the sentence around—‘I was greeted by him’—
the direction of travel is reversed. The verb ‘was greeted’ is now
carrying action from the object to the subject. When a verb reverses
its action in this way, it is said to be in its passive role (or voice).
Let us turn a few more sentences around just for the practice:
‘I am donating ten shillings’-—‘Ten shillings is (or are) being
donated by me;’ ‘I will judge the dogs’—‘The dogs will be judged
by me.’ ‘The baby ate the candle’-—‘The candle was eaten by the
baby.’
Notice how the passive role is formed in each case. Aside from
minor changes in the normal verb-form, each verb has added a
verb-helper—and all of these helpers are the verb ‘be’ or forms of
it: was, being, are, is. Another important point to notice is that
when the verb is passive, the object takes the form of a phrase—
‘by him’, ‘by me’, ‘by the baby’.
Only those verbs which take an object can be made passive. It
stands to reason that there must be an object in order for it to
express action upon the subject. And because verbs take objects
only when they are used transitively, a verb used intransitively
cannot be made passive: e.g. ‘He works here’—‘here’ is an adverb
telling where he works, so there is no object which can act upon
the subject; we cannot say ‘Here is worked by him.’ Similarly,
linking verbs cannot be used passively: e.g. ‘She is nine years old’—
again there is no object to act upon the subject—‘Nine years old
is been by she,’ doesn’t make much sense.
A final point: Do not confuse the transitive or intransitive nature
of a verb with its ability to express simple or continuing action.
Even though a verb may not be able to have an object, it is still
capable of expressing both simple and continuing action: e.g. ‘The
house is old’—a linking verb expressing simple action or state of
being; ‘The house is becoming old,’ expresses a continuing or
progressive state of being.
Try your hand at reversing these sentences: ‘I bought the flowers;’
‘She lent the picture;’ ‘He dropped the chandelier;’ ‘Lightning
struck the tree; ‘A diamond drill dug the shaft;* ‘Paramount made
the film;’ ‘A new girl typed the letters.’
For many of the verb-forms you have learned, having simple and
continuing action, there is a corresponding passive form. Compare
the following list with that on page 27.
28
 SIMPLE CONTINUING
Hrelisisceni. Sey PRESENT _...He is being seen
Heowasseetinesscotss-aete PAST ...He was being seen
He! will be"seen\-...70% . FUTURE _....He will be being seen
He has been seen PRESENT COMPLETED
He had been seen PAST COMPLETED no form
He will have been seen FUTURE COMPLETED

The future continuing form sees little use; in most situations its
meaning is adequately expressed by the future simple; i.e. ‘He will
be interviewed on television,’ rather than ‘He will be being inter-
viewed on television.’
Some of the verbs in the following exercise are active, some are
passive. Name each italicised verb, telling its person, number, time,
action (simple or continuing) and its voice (active or passive).
EXAMPLES: 1: This extraordinary picture was painted by an ape.
[(picture) was painted—3rd person, singular, past, simple,
passive voice]. 2: Could I see your television licence, please?
{[() (could—helper) see—Iist person, singular present, simple,
active voice]. (Answers: page 61.)
1. Raw sienna is called an earth colour. 2. They will be having
their supper now. 3. Uranus can barely be seen by the naked
eye. 4. We had been carried ten miles in a dugout canoe. 5. Canal
travel was introduced into Britain by the Romans. 6. For six-
pence, a newspaper provides the same amount of reading as a
novel. 7. The earliest known dam was built in 2750 B.c. in
Egypt. 8. The ship will be named ‘Ibida’. 9. The car is being
re-painted.

Mood
Verbs are said to have ‘mood’. As used in grammar, however,
this word means little more than ‘manner’. There are three moods:
indicating mood, the command mood and the supposing mood.

Indicating mood
The indicating mood (traditionally called the indicative mood)
refers to verbs as they are used in the everyday give-and-take con-
versation, i.e. questions and answers— ‘Where is the boy who looks
after the sheep?’ ‘It’s his day off.’

Command mood
Verbs used in command-type sentences are said to be in the
mood of command (traditionally, the imperative mood). ‘Bring my
pipe, my bowl and two or three fiddlers,’ ‘Don’t drop your ash on
the carpet!’ ‘Stand at ease!’ The command mood is also that of
signs: ‘Keep to the left,’ ‘Dead slow.’
29
Supposing mood
The supposing mood (traditionally, the subjunctive mood) is used
for wishes—‘I wish I were in Spain now;’ for hopes—‘May you
both be very happy;’ for uncertain conditions—‘She looks as
though she were ill;’ for untrue conditions—‘If he were here
now ...;’ for impossible conditions—‘If I were you, ’'d...’
The verb-forms you have learned up to this point, both active
and passive, have been in the indicating mood. The mood of
command has only two verb-forms; for the verb ‘see’, they are
‘see’ and ‘be seen’: e.g. ‘(You) See that this mess is cleaned up
quickly,’ ‘(You) Stand up, Jones, and be seen!’
The verb-forms for the supposing mood are the same for all verbs
(but one) as the indicating mood, except for a small change for
3rd person singular, present time—‘If he have faith, he need not
fear’ (have instead of has); ‘Should she find this, we’d be doomed,’
(find instead of finds). However, the verb ‘be’ requires several
changes for the supposing mood. The following table shows the
differences between the two moods. The word ‘if’ is shown because
it so often introduces the supposing situation—‘If I were she,’ ‘If
you be he,’ and etc.
PRESENT PRESENT
INDICATING verb ‘be’ SUPPOSING
lam he is (if) I be (if) he be
we are they are (if) we be (if) they be
you are (if) you be

PAST PAST
INDICATING SUPPOSING
I was he was (if) I were (if) he were
we were they were (if) we were (if) they were
you were (if) you were

PRESENT PRESENT
INDICATING verb ‘see’ SUPPOSING
I see he sees Gf) I see (if) he see
we see they see (if) we see. (if) they see
you see (if) you see
As the table shows, all forms of the present supposing mood of
‘be’ are different from the indicating mood. In the past supposing
mood, there are just two changes—for first person singular and
third person singular. For all other verbs, the verb ‘see’ being
representative, the only change is in the third person singular of the
present time.
The use of ‘be’ is well-rooted in many stock expressions: If that
be true, So be it, Patience be damned, Be she victorious, happy and
glorious, Far be it from me to judge, Be that as it may, If the facts
be known. Be is still used in formal speech: ‘It is thought fitting
that the matter be discussed at an executive level,’ ‘I move that a
committee be formed to study the matter;’ though we tend now to
30
insert the word ‘should’ or perhaps rearrange the sentence to
eliminate ‘be’: e.g. ‘The pilot suggests the route be altered.” =
‘The pilot suggests altering the route.’
The use of ‘were’ can be confusing unless we realise that the
past supposing time is not really a time at all; it has nothing to do
with ‘pastness’. Consider the use of ‘was’ and ‘were’ in these two
sentences: ‘If he was at the party last night, I didn’t see him.’ ‘If
he were here now he could tell us if he was at the party.’ Where
‘was’ is used, it refers to an event that actually happened in the
past. On the other hand ‘were’ refers to nothing in the past; it
merely tells us he is not here; and if, by some magical power, he
could be produced instantly, he would be able to answer a question.
By this you will see that ‘were’ does not automatically follow
‘if’. Two conditions are necessary for the use of ‘were’—a supposing
situation, and no past happening. Compare the following:
‘If this were my car, I'd scrap it,’ ‘If your car was hit yesterday,
it isn’t noticeable.’ ‘If he were healthy, he’d be able to work,’
‘If he was healthy last week, he certainly isn’t healthy today.’
‘If she were a good skier, we’d take our holiday in Switzerland,’
‘If she was a good skier last year, she has forgotten a great deal
now.’
In the first sentence of each pair, there is no ‘pastness’. Also,
these sentences begin with an untrue condition: ‘If this were my
car’ means it isn’t my car. “If he were healthy’ means he isn’t healthy.
‘If she were a good skier’ means she isn’t a good skier. However, the
second sentence in each pair has genuine ‘pastness’; more, the
speaker is at least willing to believe the ‘if-condition’-—‘If your car
was hit yesterday (and I’m willing to believe you when you say it
was hit), it isn’t noticeable,’ ‘If he was healthy last week (and I’m
willing to believe this by what you have said about him), he
certainly isn’t healthy today,’ ‘If she was a good skier last year
(and I believe this by what I have heard), she has forgotten a great
deal now.’
Briefly, use ‘were’ for any untrue or impossible condition, i.e.
If I were you; if I were king ; if he were taller ; if she were a film star;
and use ‘was’ for a past event you are willing to accept as true, i.e.
If it was her birthday yesterday, then ..., If she was Miss England
of 1932, then. . ., If he was the top boy in his class last term, then...
Obviously, we need never worry about the correctness of ‘was’
or ‘were’ for you, we, they; the forms are the same for indicating
and supposing: e.g. ‘If you were a better swimmer, we could try
the deeper water,’ ‘If they were in London last week, they didn’t
call.’ We need not puzzle here whether the mood is indicating or
supposing because there is only one way to express both.
The word ‘if’ is not necessary to introduce a supposing condition;
it can be done equally well by expressions such as imagine... just
suppose ... as though. Which of the following examples are right
and which are wrong? (Answers: page 61.)
1. You’d think he was a monkey the way he jumps around.
31
2. Better she were dead than know this. 3. To hear him tell it,
you'd think I was a magician. 4. As a matter of fact, I was a
magician at one time. 5. I wish I were twins at a time ‘like this.
6. If this bar was stronger, I'd show you how I used to do somer-
saults. 7. If the car was waxed, they did a poor job. 8. Suppos-
ing it was Mother who telephoned last night. 9. If it was for
me to say, I’d drop the charge.

32
Part Three
MORE ABOUT SUBJECTS '
A SENTENCE may have more than one subject: e.g. ‘I, you and
Pancho should ride to Abilene.’ Here, there are three subjects:
I and you and Pancho. This is a multiple subject. But sometimes
there are two subjects equalling only one: e.g. ‘Frank, my friend,
smashed my motorbike.’ Here, ‘Frank’ and ‘friend’ indicate the
same person. They are said to be appositive though ‘in tandem’
might be more descriptive.
Agreement of subject and verb
The subject of a sentence must agree in number with its verb;
that is, both must be singular, or both must be plural. There is little
chance of confusion when working with the personal pronouns—
I, you, we, they have; he, she (and ‘it’) has; but the choice is rarely
so simple. Here are some general rules to help you in making your
decisions.
A double subject joined by ‘and’ requires a plural verb
WRONG: Design and construction is equally important. (are)
WRONG: John and Mary considers the house too large. (consider)
Note: When two words have, by association, become accepted
as a single thought, a singular verb may be used: e.g. Fish and
chips is a good cheap meal. The salt and pepper is on the table.
A double subject preceded by ‘every’ is singular: e.g. Every man
and woman wants (not want) security in their old age.
Verbs do not agree with the object or with words in the predicate
WRONG: The important thing to notice are the many varieties of
car design. (thing is the subject; verb should be is)
‘Here’ and ‘there’ cannot be the subjects of a sentence
Even though these words may appear at the beginning of a sent-
ence, they are adverbs of place; and though the verb usually follows
them, it must agree with the subject.
WRONG: Here’s the tickets for your parcels. (’s = is)
Sentence re-arrangement quickly shows the error: The tickets
for your parcels are here.
A prepositional phrase following the subject does not alter the
number of the verb
WRONG: The decision of labour representatives to hold general

33
 meetings every four months seem a major step toward better
understanding with the company. (decision is the subject; verb
should be seems)
WRONG: The difference between the boys’ and girls’ marks are
to be discussed. (difference is the subject; verb should be is)
Singular pronouns and adjectives require singular verbs
The following words require that a singular verb be used, regard-
less of whether they are the noun-subject or adjectives describing
the noun-subject: one, each, everyone, everybody, anyone, anybody,
someone, somebody, no one, another, either, neither. First, consider
them as nouns.
WRONG: One of the ships have been sunk.
(‘one’ is the subject; one has been sunk)
WRONG: Each of the children play some instrument well. (plays)
WRONG: Everyone concerned with personal freedom are watching
the court’s decision. (is)
WRONG: Neither of the political parties show much dynamic
thinking. (shows)
Note: the pronoun ‘none’ may be singular or plural depending
on whether it is referring to a quantity or to a number: e.g. ‘Have
we any beer? No, there is none. Have we any eggs? No, there
are none.’
‘Every one’ differs from ‘everyone’ in the same way ‘each’ differs
from ‘all’: e.g. ‘Every one of the girls was (not were) late;’? but
‘Everyone was late.’
Now consider them as adjectives :—
WRONG: Each type have different qualities. (has)
WRONG: Neither person were telling the truth. (was)
Words joined to a subject by ‘with’, ‘in addition to’, ‘as well as’,
‘including’, ‘not to omit’, ‘plus’ and similar expressions, do not affect
the verb
WRONG: The farm, including cattle, poultry, feed and crops
were insured. (farm is the singular subject; verb should be was)
WRONG: The tree as well as the shrubs around it were beginning
to die. (was)
A collective noun takes a singular verb if it is thought of as a whole,
but a plural verb if its parts are being consideped
RIGHT: The fleet is lying at anchor.
RIGHT: The fleet are composed of warships, cruisers and sub-
marines.
Nouns, plural in form, but singular in meaning, take a singular verb
The following nouns take a singular verb: measles, mathematics,
news, summons, mumps.
RIGHT: Mumps for an older person is more than a mere incon-
venience.
There are no definite rules for many other words, i.e. ethics,
politics, physics. It cannot be considered wrong to use either a
singular or plural verb.
34
Plural! subjects describing a unit of measurement are considered
singular
RIGHT: Ten miles is a long way to ski.
“peas Five thousand tons is the largest recorded cargo for this
ship
The word ‘number’ is plural when it means ‘many’ and singular when
it refers to a mathematical figure
ang A number of fish is washed up every day onto the beach.
are
RIGHT: A number is painted on the underside of every chair.
If two subjects are joined by ‘either—or’ or ‘neither—nor,’ the verb
agrees with the subject nearer it
RIGHT: Neither the committee members nor the chairman has left.
RIGHT: Either the baby or the dogs have taken the glove.
If one subject is used affirmatively and the other negatively, the verb
agrees with the subject used affirmatively
RIGHT: The canary, not the cats, is the nuisance.

MORE ABOUT OBJECTS

The object of a sentence answers What or Whom after a transi-
tive verb. The object can be double or multiple in form: e.g. He
read biographies, novels and poems in his spare time. Biographies,
novels and poems are equal objects to the verb ‘read’. Objects can
also be appositive—in tandem: e.g. Everyone liked Mr. Cargill, the
postman.

Indirect Objects
Sometimes a verb has two objects of which one is clearly more
important than the other. Consider the sentence, ‘He read stories
to his children.’ There are two objects: ‘stories’ and ‘children’.
Which is the more important of the two? Logically, he read stories,
and his children benefited from it—‘Children’ might be thought to
receive action as a consequence of ‘reading stories’—they received
the action indirectly, you might say. ‘Stories’ then is the main thing
‘he’ read; it is called the direct object. ‘Children’, the secondary
object, is called the indirect object.
Normally, we would write this sentence, ‘He read his children
stories.’ Here, the indirect object is placed ahead of the direct object.
This is usual. We say the preposition ‘for’ or ‘to’ is understood with
indirect objects. In other words, we take ‘for’ or ‘to’ for granted:
e.g. He read (to) his children, stories.
The distinction between direct and indirect objects iis clearer in
this sentence, ‘He gave his wife a box of chocolates.’ What did he
give? His wife? No, he gave a box of chocolates—and his wife
benefited from it. Of course the word ‘benefited’ becomes suspect
in a sentence like, ‘He kicked him in the head;’ but the position of
the objects is in no way changed. This is the general rule; indirect
objects usually follow the verb and precede the direct object.
35
 The following sentence should not be confused with what has
~ been covered: ‘They elected him shop-steward.’ ‘Him’ and ‘shop-
steward’ are not direct and indirect objects, nor are they objects in
tandem (apposite). They represent an elliptical (condensed) form
of ‘They elected him to be shop-steward.’ This form will be covered
later.
Here is how double subjects, double objects and indirect objects
can be shown in graphic analysis—‘Gerald and Martha taught him
to sing and (to) dance.’
him
Gerald
'

and taught

Martha

to sing - - - and - - - (to) dance

Another: She took them fresh fruit and a cut of meat.
them
|
she ————————————_ took

fruit - - - and - - - meat

fresh a cut of

Commit the following sentences to diagram form. As you finish

each, check the result against those on page 61:—
1. The butcher gave the dog a bone. 2. Give me a needle and
thread. 3. The postman brought you a packet and two letters
this morning. 4. Don’t give the baby buttons. 5. The prices of
fish and meat give one a shock. 6. The corvette and the sub-
marine collided off Portsmouth.

36
Part Four
VERBS OF UNLIMITED USE
Participle ‘
WE CAN SAY ‘He has a red nose,’ but we cannot say ‘I has a red
nose.’ For this reason we say the verb-form ‘has’ is of limited use.
It is limited in its use to third person singular. Again, we can say
‘It is cold,’ but we cannot say ‘It is cold yesterday;’ so the verb-
form ‘is’ also has limited use—limited in this situation by time.
All verbs in their simplest forms are limited in this way; go, goes,
went, shall go, see, sees, saw, will see—all simple present, past and
future verb-forms are limited in their use.
Now consider the second part of the combination verbs in these
three sentences: “They were singing a carol;’ ‘He is singing a carol;’
‘We shall be singing a carol.’ Though the time and person changes
in each sentence, the verb-form ‘singing’ remains the same. A verb-
form that remains the same under varying conditions is said to be
unlimited in its use; or stated traditionally, it has infinite use.
The word ‘singing’ is called a participle. Participles have three
forms; one form, the present participle, always ends with -ing: e.g.
standing, running, jumping, loving, going, seeing. Participles have
two jobs—one, as you have seen, gives the continuing-action form
to a verb: ‘He was singing off-key.’ But what is it doing in this
sentence, ‘He needs a singing lesson’? Here, ‘singing’ has nothing
to do with the action of the verb ‘needs’; it is telling us something
about the noun ‘lesson’; it is, in fact, an adjective. And that is the
second role of a participle.
Participles, then, can either form part of a combination verb—
to give a continuing action to the verb—or else they can work as
adjectives. Here are a few examples of present participles in the
role of adjectives: howling wind, running seas, screaming sirens,
standing order, leading question, jumping bean, vanishing cream,
rolling stone, tiring trip.
There are two other types of participles—the past participle and
the complete or perfect participle. While all present participles end
with -ing, the past and complete participles end in different ways,
depending on the nature of the verb.
The past time for the simple verb ‘sing’ is ‘sang’—they are both
limited or finite in their use—we cannot say ‘I sang tomorrow,’
or ‘I sing yesterday.’ The verb-form ‘sung,’ however, is unlimited
or infinite; it can be used for all persons and for all times: e.g. ‘I
had sung it,’ ‘They will have sung it.’ But even when it is used in the
3y/
future, as it is in the second sentence, it has a quality of pastness,
hasn’t it? ‘Sung’ is, in fact, called the past participle. Can it be used
as an adjective? Yes—‘It was a well-sung song.’
The past participles of some verbs are different in form from the
past time of the verb; with other verbs, both forms are the same.
Compare the following.
SIMPLE SIMPLE PAST
PRESENT TIME PAST TIME PARTICIPLE
break broke broken
eat ate eaten
rent rented rented
test tested tested
forget forgot forgotten
bite bit bitten
help helped helped
drive drove driven
see saw seen
walk walked walked
Past participles cannot be used as simple verbs are, though you
may have heard ‘I done it,’ or ‘I seen it.’ Nor can simple verb forms
be used as adjectives, though again, you may have heard of a ‘half-
ate cake.’ Whenever you want to recall the past participle form of
a verb, begin a sentence with ‘I have. . . eaten, rented, tested, for-
gotten, bitten, and etc.
Examples of past participles performing as adjectives are:
trained nurse, broken promise, tired feet, burnt toast, lost property,
dehydrated milk, wrinkled skin, exposed film, rusted bolt, worn path,
ploughed field, tested recipe.
The third and last form participles can take is the complete or
perfect participle. It is formed by adding ‘having’ to the past parti-
ciple, thus, having seen, having broken, having tried, having driven.
The complete participle is an adjective: ‘Having left, the train
could be heard whistling in the valley.’ ‘Having left’ describes the
train; a suitable one-word equivalent might be ‘departed’—‘The
departed train could be heard whistling in the valley.” Another:
‘The gun, having fired, was too hot to handle.’ A suitable one-word
equivalent would be ‘discharged’—‘The discharged gun was too
hot to handle.’
The following table shows the relationship between the three
participles:
Active Passive
present singing being sung
past — sung
complete having sung having been sung
The past participle is passive. We can test this by trying it in a
sentence: ‘The hymn was sung by a choir.’ It produces a typically
passive sentence. This is the only way ‘sung’ can be used in a
sentence; it cannot be used as an active verb—‘I sung a song’—
this is incorrect for ‘I sang a song.’ Similarly, the complete participle
38
cannot take the place of a verb in a sentence. It is unlimited or
infinite in its use. For it to be suitable for verb duty, it need be
made limited. This is done by using limited forms of ‘having’.
have seen had seen shall have seen
have broken had broken shall have broken
have driven had driven shall have driven
This is no different from the material you learned earlier in 3rd
person form—‘he has seen,’ ‘he had seen,’ and ‘he will have seen.’

Infinitives
You have learned of finite or limited Verbs (see, sees, saw) and
infinite or unlimited verbs (seeing, seen, having seen). Participles
are one kind of infinite verb; there are two others—the infinitive and
the gerund. The name infinitive is misleading; an infinitive is no
more infinite than a participle or a gerund; however, the name is
firmly anchored in traditional usage so it will be used here.
An infinitive is the role of a finite verb in an infinite manner.
Infinitives more often appear composed of two words: e.g. to find,
to see, to know. Infinitives are used as nouns, adjective or adverbs;
they never join with or form part of the verb of the sentence—even
though they might be situated next to it: e.g. ‘I would like to see
Mr. Smith.’ The verb is not ‘would like to see’—it is ‘would like’;
‘to see’ is introducing an infinitive phrase, object to the verb. Here
are examples of infinitives acting as nouns, adjectives and adverbs.
Where possible, one-word equivalents are given to help explain
the infinitive’s role.
noun To err is human. (to err—noun-subject = error)
I like to travel. (to travel—noun-object = change)
adjective He is the man to watch. (to watch = interesting or
suspected)
We have no time to wait. (to wait = extra or spare)
adverb He was glad to have come. (to have come—describes
adjective glad)
She is delightful to watch. (to watch—describes adjective
delightful)
Puzzle: Why is the word ‘to’ omitted from the second, fourth
and sixth sentences?
1. I taught her to dance. 2. I saw her dance. 3. I wanted him to
sing. 4. I heard him sing. 5. We asked them to go. 6. We watched
them go.
Answer: There is no logical reason. Through accepted usage,
certain verbs such as see, hear, need, know, observe, let, watch, feel
require that the ‘to’ be dropped from the infinitives that follow
them. The absence of the ‘to’ does not diminish their role as
infinitives, though it makes them more difficult to spot.
Sometimes there is a choice of including the ‘to’ or omitting it:
e.g. ‘Help me to pack,’ ‘Help me pack.’ The omission of words is
a common occurrence in English; it is called ellipsis—though this
39
means no more than ‘omission’. More will be said of ellipsis
later.
The complete (perfect) infinitives—to have done, to have seen,
to have been—have a quality of imagination about them: e.g. To
have administered the drug would have been dangerous. In other
words, the drug was not administered; the statement merely
imagines or supposes the outcome if such-and-such had been
carried out.

Gerunds
Gerunds are as easy to spot as present participles; they are, in
fact, identical in appearance—skiling, swimming, jumping, running.
The difficulty lies in telling which is a gerund and which is a parti-
ciple. The answer depends on the job being done. Participles are
adjectives; gerunds are nouns. Traditional teaching stressed the
different origins of the participle and gerund; but this tends to cloud
the issue. It is much simpler to think of a gerund as being a
‘participle acting as a noun’. Here are gerunds in use.
Skiing is fun—‘skiing’—noun, subject of the sentence.
She likes wrestling—‘wrestling’—noun, object of verb likes
It is too shallow for swimming—swimming’—noun, object of
preposition for
There is small chance of confusion here; a participle (an adjec-
tive) could not fill these three jobs.
Like nouns, a gerund can be plural: sightings, meetings, hap-
penings, awakenings. You will recall that nouns were sometimes
used to describe other nouns as in ‘apple tree’. This will provide a
clue to help you determine the difference between the following
two columns of words.
surprising sight knitting needles
penetrating glance modelling school
puzzling riddle juggling act
charming conversation boxing career
The left-hand column consists of participles and nouns. The
right-hand column consists of gerunds being used to describe nouns.
How can you tell the difference? On the right we have ‘needles for
knitting’, ‘school for modelling’, ‘act of juggling’, and ‘career of
boxing’. Both words in each expression are nouns; whereas the
-ing words in the left column are rarely thought of as being nouns
—though of course they could play this role: e.g. Puzzling is the
magician’s livelihood—meaning the magician earns a living by
puzzling people.
The unlimited or infinite verb-forms are called verbals to dis-
tinguish them from the ordinary limited or finite verbs (see, sees,
saw). Here are the verbals you have now learned, expressing the
verb ‘go’.
Infinitives
present to go—noun, adverb, adjective
complete to have gone—noun, adverb, adjective
40
 Gerund going—noun
Participles—active passive
present going—verb-form for con- being gone—adjective
tinuing action or
adjective
past St. BR eh che RO: gone—verb-form for
completed
action or ad-
jective
complete having gone—adijective having been gone—
, adjective
Verbal phrases
All the phrases you learned earlier began with a preposition:
e.g. under the bed, by me, in the river, for him. They are called
prepositional phrases. Prepositional phrases always have either a
noun or pronoun for an object.
Verbal phrases, i.e. phrases beginning with a participle, infini-
tive or gerund, may have a noun or pronoun object, or they may
instead have only an adverb—or indeed, they may have both at
once. Here are examples using the present, past and complete
participles, the infinitive, and the gerund.
Firing blindly, he heard one of his pursuers cry out. ‘He’ is the
only word in the sentence which the present participle ‘firing’ could
logically describe. ‘Firing’ is, in turn, described by the adverb
peey Together they form a present participle phrase describing

owe relentlessly, he began to ascend the glacier. The past

participle ‘driven’ describes ‘he’. The adverb Pasar ea Atesaa gels
‘driven’. They form a past participle phrase describing ‘h
Having spoken abruptly, she blushed and left the cone ‘Having
spoken,’ the complete participle, describes ‘she’; it is described in
turn by the adverb ‘abruptly’. ‘Having spoken abruptly’ is a
complete participle phrase describing ‘she’.
This is no time to walk slowly. ‘To walk’ tells us time-for-what ?—
it describes ‘time’. ‘Slowly’ is an adverb describing ‘to walk’. ‘To
walk slowly’ is an infinitive phrase acting as an adjective to describe
‘time’. This analysis might be clearer if the sentence were changed:
This is no time for walking slowly. Here, ‘walking’ is a gerund, a
noun-object to the preposition ‘for’. ‘For walking’ describes ‘time’
in the same way ‘to walk’ did. Switching from infinitive to gerund
in this way often shows a relationship more clearly.
To have refused might have been dangerous. Here, the complete
or perfect infinitive ‘to have refused’ is the subject of the sentence.
Living dangerously can be fun. The gerund ‘living’ is noun-subject
of the sentence; ‘dangerously’ is an adverb. Gerunds are usually
followed by an adverb, or preceded by an adjective, i.e. though we
wouldn’t say ‘living dangerous, we would say ‘dangerous living’ —
again, ‘mad living’, but ‘living madly’.
Phrases such as those above are often lengthened by the addition
of a prepositional phrase: e.g. Firing blindly through the bush,
4)
he ...; Driyen relentlessly by cold and hunger, he .. .; Having
spoken abruptly in front of the guests, she ...; This is no time to
walk slowly through the woods; Living dangerously at times, can be
fun. The prepositional phrase becomes part of the verbal phrase.
Again, verbals can simply take an object: e.g. Firing six quick
shots, he ...; Driven ten bitter miles, he ...; Having spoken non-
sense, She...
Tell him to mind his own business. ‘To mind’ plus the noun
‘business’ plus two adjectives form an infinitive phrase, object of
‘tell’—‘him’ being the indirect object.
What does she hope to find? ‘What’ is the pronoun object of ‘to
find’—‘She does hope to find what.’ ‘To find what’ is the object of
‘does hope’.
Sometimes verbals are immediately followed by a prepositional
phrase: e.g. Firing over the ridge, he ...; Driven by hunger and
cold, he ...; Having spoken for the younger generation, she ...
These are all participle phrases.
He saw a ship heading toward him. A present participle phrase—
one-word equivalent, ‘approaching’—an approaching ship.
They saw a large oval face covered with hair. A past participle
phrase—one-word equivalent, ‘bearded’.
To work by torchlight proved more dangerous than he expected.
The infinitive phrase ‘to work by torchlight’ is the subject of the
sentence.
He decided to surface under the ship’s hull. ‘To surface under the
ship’s hull’ is an infinitive phrase, object to the verb ‘decided’.
She heard the choir singing a hymn. A present participle phrase—
one-word equivalent, ‘harmonising.’ But now consider, ‘She heard
the choir sing a hymn.’ ‘Sing’ in this sentence might be mistaken
for a finite verb (sing, sings, sang) if we didn’t remember that ‘hear’
is one of the verbs requiring the omission of ‘to’ from any infinitive
which follows it. ‘Sing,’ then, is here an infinitive; ‘sing a hymn’
may or may not be considered a describer of ‘choir’. What is the
alternative?
Consider this sentence: ‘We asked him to play the cello.’ Is
‘him’ the indirect object and ‘to play the cello’ the direct object?
Omitting ‘him’, ‘We asked to play the cello,’ conveys an entirely
different meaning from what was intended. Instead, could ‘him’ be
the direct object with ‘to play the cello’ as an infinitive describer?
The equivalent of ‘to play the cello’ would be ‘cello-playing’. ‘We
asked cello-playing him.’ If this makes sense, it is certainly not near
the intended sense of the original sentence.
In a situation such as this—and this is peculiar to infinitives—
the infinitive is considered to have taken a subject—‘him’—and
‘him to play the cello’ is the infinitive phrase, object to the verb
‘asked’. The rule governing this novelty states that both the subject
and the object of an infinitive must be in the objective case; thus,
we have, “They asked me to meet her;’ ‘They told him to see me;’
“We watched her take him.’ All of the personal pronouns here are
42
in the objective case; each of the italicised groups, consisting of
subject, infinitive and object, is the object of the sentence.
Ellipsis (omission) can obscure this relationship: e.g. ‘They
elected him shop-steward.’ The complete sense is ‘They elected him
to be shop-steward;’ ‘him shop-steward’ then is an abbreviated
infinitive phrase, object of ‘elected’.
Sometimes a verbal phrase is preceded by a preposition: e.g. ‘He
is about to leave soon.’ Here, the infinitive phrase ‘to leave soon’ is
considered to be the noun-object of the preposition—or the equiva-
lent of ‘He is about leaving.’ Two more examples: ‘He stayed after
hearing the news,’ ‘By having told the truth, he escaped heavy
penalty.’

Unrelated, unattached or dangling participles

Participles are adjectives; participle phrases must also be adjec-
tives. To be an adjective phrase though, there must be a noun or
pronoun for the adjective or participle to describe. Sometimes
people forget to include the noun; when this occurs, the participle
is said to be unattached or dangling e.g., ‘Throwing several stones,
the squirrels sped away.’ The only word for the participle to
describe is ‘squirrels’. For this sentence to be correct as it stands,
the squirrels would have had to throw stones before running away.
This is not the intended meaning, of course, and so a person must
be mentioned. ‘Throwing several stones, he watched the squirrels
speed away.’
Sometimes the noun or pronoun is included in the sentence, but
placed too far from the participle: e.g. ‘Offering lumps of sugar,
the horse walked calmly toward her.’ Again, the horse would appear
to be offering lumps of sugar. Misunderstandings of this sort are
avoided by placing the noun or pronoun immediately before or
immediately after the participle phrase—‘Offering lumps of sugar,
she enticed the horse slowly toward her.’

Absolute phrase
The misunderstanding discussed above cannot happen in an
absolute phrase because the noun or pronoun described by the
participle is contained in the phrase: e.g. “The sky having cleared,
we all went home.’ Here, ‘sky’, the noun described by the complete
participle, is part of the phrase. ‘The sky having cleared’ is con-
sidered to be absolute or independent of the rest of the sentence—
a small self-contained expression that creates a setting for the
main part of the sentence ‘we all went home.’ As you see, the
requirements of an absolute phrase are: 1. that it contain a verbal,
2. that it include the noun or pronoun described by the verbal.
Other examples: A// things being equal, we'll go by train; Weather
permitting, he will sail on Sunday; That being the case, I'll detain
you no longer.
The following three sentences show how similar material would
be presented using a complete participle in 1. a participle phrase,
2. a dangling participle phrase, 3. an absolute phrase.
43
 Having rested, the troops continued the march.
Having rested, the march was continued. '
The troops having rested, the march was continued.
Through usage, certain participles may sometimes work as pre-
positions; they are: concerning, considering, pending, owing to,
failing. When these words are used as prepositions, they cannot be
regarded as dangling or unrelated participles, as in: ‘Considering
the trouble, the job yielded small profit.’ Here, ‘considering the
trouble’ is a sort of absolute comment equal to ‘in my opinion’.
It does not need attachment to the main part of the sentence.
However, if ‘considering’ is used as a participle, it must then be
related to a noun or pronoun, as it is in: ‘Considering every possible
escape, he tried the windows,’ and not left dangling as in: ‘Con-
sidering every possible escape, the windows were found to be
barred.’

Describing and commenting phrases

Consider the difference in meaning between these two sentences:
A—The boys wearing short pants felt cold.
B—The boys, wearing short pants, felt cold.
Sentence B would have us believe that of all the boys present,
those wearing short pants felt cold. “Wearing short pants’ limits
by description the boys being discussed.
Sentence B would have us believe that a// the boys were wearing
short pants, and all of them felt cold. The sentence could also be
written, ‘The boys (wearing short pants) felt cold.’ ‘Wearing short
pants’ is a general comment about all of the boys present.
Traditionally, the distinction between these two phrases is
termed limiting or non-limiting; defining or non-defining; restrictive
or non-restrictive; however ‘describing’ and ‘commenting’ express
this difference just as well in familiar terms. The phrase in sentence
A describes the particular boys being discussed; the phrase in
sentence B merely makes a casual comment—almost an aside—
about all of the boys.
As you see, the intent of a phrase can be changed by the inclusion
or omission of commas. The point is raised here because it can
have great bearing on the material just covered. Consider the
difference between these two sentences.
The dogs having been fed, we sat down and rested.
The dogs, having been fed, sat down and rested.
The phrase in the first sentence is absolute; it has no grammatical
link with the subject of the sentence ‘we’ nor with any other word
in the main part of the sentence. This is the normal relationship for
an absolute construction. In the second sentence, however, ‘having
been fed’ is a complete or perfect participle (in passive form)
describing the subject of the sentence, ‘dogs’. Both sentences are
correct for the meanings they intend to express.
But if a comma is placed after ‘dogs’ in the first sentence, we
44
would have nonsense. This will serve to remind you that absolute
constructions should not have commas within their phrases.
On the other hand, if the comma following ‘dogs’ in the second
sentence were removed, the comma following ‘fed’ would also
have to be removed to make sense—The dogs having been fed sat
down and rested. But now we have a sentence with a different
meaning; the sentence implies that there are other unfed dogs still
standing.

The split infinitive

For many years it was thought wrong to split an infinitive, but
now grammarians are trying to find who started the mischief. To
split an infinitive, simply place a word between the two parts of
the infinitive (if it has two parts): e.g. to briefly try. Here, an adverb
has been inserted between ‘to’ and ‘try’, the two parts of the infi-
nitive. Splitting the infinitive in this way is often the sanest and
most pleasant-sounding way to express a thought: e.g. ‘He failed
to completely understand what was being said to him.’ In this
sentence it might be further argued that the same sense could not
be conveyed without splitting the infinitive. H. F. Fowler says, in
the Dictionary of Modern English Usage, ‘We will split infinitives
sooner than be ambiguous or artificial.” Few would argue with
Fowler on this point.
Picking out phrases and identifying them correctly is not an
easy matter—far from it. You are advised to re-read Part Four at
least once more before proceeding with the following puzzles.
In the following twenty sentences there are a total of thirty-four
phrases to be identified. Pick out each phrase; determine what kind
it is, and what word, if any, it describes. Check the answer for each
sentence on page 62 before moving on to the next.
1. They wanted to see the king. 2. Girls wearing smart white
tunics met the train. 3. The train having left, we waited for
another. 4. He shouted a muffled answer through the window.
5. Having finished the letters, she went home. 6. Silver birches
will grow in even the poorest soil. 7. Having been timed flying
at 200 mph, the swift is probably the fastest bird in the world.
8. The use of the Mach scale for aircraft speeds was introduced
by Professor Acherer of Zurich. 9. All things considered, a
cruiser is just a fast, light battleship. 10. To find the area of a
circle we need first to know its radius. 11. We want to toast the
chestnuts. 12. Reading a book takes time. 13. Feeling sorry for
yourself will not help matters. 14. You’ve ruined these shoes by
wading in puddles. 15. Tired of saving money, buying a car was
put off. 16. There wasn’t much beer, shared between the eight.
17. I want you to find this man at all costs. 18. Help having
finally arrived, he sat down and wept. 19. Having tried every
other means, he began battering the door with a log. 20. Dashed
against rocks by the seething rollers, Meredith staggered onto
the beach.
45
Part Five
YOU HAVE COVERED six of the eight parts of speech: noun, pronoun,
verb, adjective, adverb and preposition. There remain but two
other parts of speech. One is simple, the interjection.

INTERJECTION
Interjections can be grunts, groans, gasps of surprise or a proper
word, as in ‘My! You are becoming a big girl, aren’t you?’ ‘O
where O where has my little lamb gone?’ ‘Good heavens! I think
I’ve lost my purse.’ An interjection has no grammatical relationship
with the other words in a sentence.

CONJUNCTION
DEFINITION: A conjunction joins words or groups of words together.
The most common conjunction is ‘and’. Other conjunctions are:
but, for, either/or, neither/nor, whether, if, that, who, which,
where, when, why, since, because, although, while, however, more-
over, nevertheless, therefore.
Some conjunctions can be used to join single words or groups of
words: e.g. ‘Jack and Jill went up the hill;’ ‘Jack went up the hill
and Jill went up the hill;’ ‘Fred or John will be here soon;’ ‘Fred
will be here soon or John will be here soon.’ Other conjunctions
join only groups of words: ‘He didn’t win although he should have.’
We will concern ourselves here with conjunctions that join
certain groups of words together, or clauses as they are called.

CLAUSE
DEFINITION: A clause is a group of words containing a subject and a
finite verb.
A clause is simply a part of a sentence. The difference between a
clause and a sentence is sometimes slight: e.g. ‘I am going,’ is a
sentence, but in ‘I am going and you are staying,’ the same group
of words is called a clause.—‘I am going,’ is now only a part of
the sentence.
Clauses are said to be either independent or dependent. An
independent clause makes complete sense by itself, a dependent
clause doesn’t. Here are some independent clauses:—
I swim and she plays tennis =I swim. She plays tennis.
I read but she writes =I read. She writes.
I will read or she will write =I will read. She will write.
The conjunctions and, but, or are the most common ones used
46
for joining independent clauses together. Now look at some
re containing one independent clause and one dependent
clause.
She’ll be unhappy if you don’t |,Dep. clause: (if) you don’t ¢
come. come
I don’t know whether I will et clause: (whether) I will
see him. im.
This is the plan that he drew. Dep. clause: (that) he drew.
It might be argued that,if the,three conjunctions if, whether and
that were to be detached from the clauses in the same way and, but
and or were in the earlier three sentences, the resultant clauses—
would be equally independent. That is true—they would be inde-
pendent; however, it is the character or nature of these later
conjunctions which make the clauses dependent. That is to say, the
nature of the conjunction ‘if’ is such as to introduce an adverbial
clause of condition or reason, which in turn, is going to limit the
verb in the main clause.
You will begin to see that conjunctions (except for and, or, but)
are, in a sense, similar to prepositions. They are indeed; and
dependent clauses are quite similar to phrases. Consider the follow-
ing sentence :—
The actor in the film played an outstanding role.
The actor who appeared in the film played an outstanding role.
In the first sentence, ‘in the film’ is an adjective phrase describing
‘actor’. In the second sentence, ‘who appeared in the film’ is a
clause performing the same role of adjective. Having a subject and
finite verb, the clause can be shown in diagram as—
who appeared

in the film
‘Who’ is considered to be the subject of the clause; ‘appeared’ is
the simple past tense of the verb ‘appear’; ‘in the film’ is an ad-
verbial phrase. Such a clause should not be confused with a par-
ciple phrase as in, “The actor appearing in the film played an out-
standing role.’ Here ‘ appearing in the film’ has no subject, no finite
verb; it is a phrase, not a clause.
Dependent clauses play the role of an adjective, adverb or noun.
Of the conjunctions used to introduce dependent clauses, two
groups are given distinction—relative pronouns and relative
adverbs.

RELATIVE PRONOUNS -
The words that, which and who (or whom) not only join clauses
together, but the words also stand-in for a noun or another pro-
noun. Consider their roles in the following sentences.
The girl whom you saw is my sister.
The idea that he presented was novel.
The car, which was rusted, fetched little.
47
 In the first sentence, ‘whom’ not only stands-in for ‘girl’, it also
introduces the dependent clause ‘whom you saw’—‘you’ being
the subject, ‘saw’ the verb, and ‘whom’ the object—‘you saw
whom’. (for use of who & whom, see index)
In the second sentence, ‘that’ stands-in for ‘idea’ while also
introducing the relative clause ‘that he presented’ (subject, ‘he’;
verb, ‘presented’). In the third sentence ‘which’ is a pronoun for
‘car’, and introduces the relative clause ‘which was rusted’. Here,
the word ‘which’ is itself subject of the verb ‘was rusted’.
Each of these dependent clauses is related to a noun in the main
clause by a pronoun—hence their name, relative pronoun. It might
have occurred to you that the relative pronouns could have been
omitted from the first two sentences with no loss of meaning, i.e.
‘The girl you saw is my sister,’ and ‘The idea he presented was
novel.’ This is often the case. It becomes a trick in analysing sent-
ences to see where the relative pronouns have been omitted
(ellipsis), and re-insert them so as to understand better the job of
various word-groups in the sentence.

RELATIVE ADVERBS
As you know, adverbs answer the questions Where, When, Why
and How, and so, if a clause begins with these words, we might
expect the clause to be adverbial in nature. But this is not so.
Consider the two following sentences :—
I will live where it is warm.
The place where I live is warm.
In the first sentence, ‘where’ introduces the relative clause ‘where
it is warm’. The clause does answer the question Where for the verb
‘will live’; therefore it is a dependent clause acting as an adverb.
In the second sentence, ‘where’ introduces the relative clause
‘where I live’, but here, it describes ‘place’-—which place?—where
I live. It is, therefore, an adjective clause.
Dependent clauses play the role of an adjective, adverb or noun.
By replacing a clause with a phrase (or better, a one-word equiva-
lent), it is simple to find the function of a clause in a sentence. And
to find the number of clauses in a sentence, we merely count the
number of finite verbs. Let us put some of this information to work,
first with the analysis of a sentence from the Guinness Book of
Records :—
There is evidence that life expectation in Britain in the 5th century
A.D. was 33 years for males and 27 years for females.
There are two finite verbs—‘is’ and ‘was’—so there must be two
clauses. Now let us simplify the sentence by omitting words and
phrases that do not alter the grammatical structure of the sentence.
There is evidence that early life expectation was 33 and 27.
Obviously, ‘There is evidence’ (or more properly, ‘Evidence is
there’) is an independent clause; the rest of the sentence is a depend-
ent clause, and as such, is the equivalent of an adverb, adjective or
48
noun. We might be led to believe that the clause ‘that early life
expectation was 33 and 27’ was the equivalent of an adjective
describing ‘evidence’; but it isn’t, it’s a noun clause and, what is
more, there is a simple way to tell. The dependent clause is a noun
clause in apposition to ‘evidence’. The whole sentence might be
reduced to ‘There is evidence, proof-positive.’
How can one immediately tell the difference between a noun
clause and an adjective clause? If the relative pronoun can be
replaced by another relative pronoun and still convey the same
meaning, it is an adjective clause; but if such a substitution is not
possible, it is a noun clause. Consider:—
The people whom I asked are friends = The people that I
asked are friends.
The house that Jack built is solid —The house which Jack
built is solid.
The clauses in each sentence are adjectival because another
relative pronoun can be substituted, but in the two following
sentences, no such substitution is possible—they are therefore noun
clauses. ‘I wish that he were here,’ ‘News that the king had died
was broadcast in every country.’ In the first sentence, ‘that he were
here’ is a noun clause, object of the verb ‘wish’; in the second
sentence, ‘that the king had died’ is a noun clause in apposition to
the subject, ‘news’. In both of these sentences the word ‘that’ is not
considered to be a relative pronoun, but merely a subordinating
Splines (a conjunction of the type that introduces a dependent
clause).
Back now to our original sentence. Regarding the dependent
clause as being a noun clause in apposition to the subject ‘evidence’,
a diagram would show the complete sentence thus:

evidence ——————— is
| \
that there 33 years

life expectation —————— was and

27 years
1. in Britain ,
2. in the 5th century A.D. for males
for females
Let us try another sentence from R. L. Stevenson’s Dr. Jekyll
and Mr. Hyde :— C
They mounted the stair in silence, and still, with an occasional
awestruck glance at the dead body, proceeded more thoroughly
to examine the contents of the cabinet.
The finite verbs are ‘mounted’ and ‘proceeded’; therefore we have
two clauses. ‘They mounted the stair in silence,’ is an independent
clause. ‘Proceeded more thoroughly to examine the contents of the
49
 cabinet,’ is another independent clause, which, through ellipsis—the
7 omitting of words that are ‘understood’—has lost its subject, ‘they’.
The intended meaning of the sentence then is, ‘They mounted the
stair in silence, and still, with an occasional awestruck glance at the
dead body, they proceeded...’ ;
‘Proceeded’ is an intransitive verb needing no object; therefore ‘to
examine the contents’ is an infinitive adverb phrase describing ‘pro-
ceeded’. ‘Still’ is another adverb—‘still proceeded’. Again, ‘with an
occasional awestruck glance’ tells how they proceeded—so does ‘more
thoroughly’; both are adverbs. ‘At the dead body’ describes ‘glance’,
and is therefore an adjective phrase. Check each point of the follow-
ing diagram.
they ——————mounted

\| wfstair in silence
and the
I
(they) ————— proceeded

1. still r
2. more thoroughly
3. to examine the contents

of the cabinet
4. with an occasional awestruck
glance
via
at the dead body
Try one more: The delightful people I met in Malaga, Spain,
will be staying at my house for a week or two this summer while their
daughter is being married.
The finite verbs are ‘met’, ‘will be staying’, ‘is being married’
(the last two express continuing action), so there are three clauses.
Let us reduce the sentence to manageable proportions: ‘People I
met in Spain will be staying here while their daughter is being
married.’ The three clauses are 1. people will be staying here, 2. I
met in Spain, 3. while their daughter is being married. But there
is something wrong. The second clause is obviously dependent; it
describes ‘people’, but it has no conjunction. The answer, once
amet, is ellipsis; ‘whom’ is to be understood—‘whom I met in
pain’.
As mentioned, ‘whom I met in Spain’ is an adjective clause; a
one-word equivalent would be ‘Spanish’. What kind of people?
te people, (though, of course, they might have been English
people).
‘While their daughter is being married’ could be reduced to the
phrase ‘during their daughter’s wedding’ and as such is seen to tell
when they will be staying—an adverb. Here is a diagram of the
entire sentence
:—

50
 people will be staying
the 1. at my house
delightful 2. for a week or two
this summer
(whom) while :
I——met daughter——is being
\ / Married
in Malaga, Spain their
Let us end clause analysis with a long sentence from Oliver
Twist :—
They had some cold meat for dinner; and sat there so long after
it, while Mr. Sikes indulged himself with three of four pipes, that
Oliver began to feel quite certain they were not going any further.
With a sentence of this length it would be wiser to diagrammatise
the parts separately rather than attempt to present them in a com-
bined form. Verify the following analysis.
they - had
: | ™. for dinner
meat
and—joins the two main clauses
(they) ———— sat

teathere
2. long after it
while—introduces adverb clause describing ‘sat’
Mr. Sikes indulged

hinlself with three or four pipes

so... that—‘so’ is an adverb describing ‘sat’ and helps intro-
duce the conjunction ‘that’, which, in turn, introduces a clause
of result limiting the verb ‘sat’.
Oliver —————— began
|
to feel

certain

quite :
The following clause with’or without ‘that’ understood, is a
noun clause object to the infinitive ‘to feel’.
they ————— were going

1. not
2. any further
Final test: Write out the preceding four sentences, then to-

ol
morrow, make your own diagrams of them. Compare your results
with those in the book.

Final notes on analysis

The analysis of long sentences is simple, provided you: 1. reduce
the sentence to a simple form, 2. put the words in their proper
order, 3. ‘shop around’ for equivalent words or phrases. A correct
analysis is one based on logic; but that doesn’t necessarily mean
two experts will come up with identical analyses. Any well-thought-
out analysis based on what you have learned up to this point will
be correct, or should be very close to it.

32
 Part Six
PUNCTUATION
PUNCTUATION IS OFTEN a matter of personal taste. Instead of a
lengthy list of rules, here are a few general words of guidance.
The full-stop or period is placed at the end of every sentence
(provided a question mark or exclamation mark is not required).
Full-stops follows abbreviations—etc., 10 o0z., B.A.—though they
are often omitted from Mr, Mrs, and Dr. Numbers 1, 2, 3 and etc.
are not regarded as abbreviations, nor are the ordinal numbers—
Ist, 2nd, 3rd—so no full-stop is required.
The comma is a brief pause which gives detachment to individual
words or groups of words: He sells the fish, and I sell the chips;
We have some nice, fresh, tasty, filleted cod; My father, who
started this shop, went out and caught the fish himself. The pre-
ceding sentences show detachment of words, detachment of groups
of words, and the detachment of a commenting clause (see page 44).
An absolute phrase (page 43) must not include a comma.
The semi-colon (;) provides a longer pause than the comma; it
permits the joining of short related thoughts; often makes a con-
junction unnecessary, and avoids a string of brief sentences—as
it has done in this sentence.
The colon (:) is used mainly to introduce a list of items: bread,
butter, chicken. A dash is used for an abrupt change in the con-
struction of a sentence: e.g. ‘Martha was having her hair done
when—but I think I’d better let her tell you herself.’ A pair of
dashes—as here—is used for parenthesis. A single dash at the end
of sentence is may be used for an example, a comment or a
summing up of the sentence—again, as here.
When words are enclosed in quotation marks—either ‘single’ or
“double’”—punctuation is placed within the quotation marks if it
serves the needs of both the quoted material and the main sentence:
The sentence ‘John is here,’ contains a linking verb. Notice the
linking verb in ‘John is here.’
As readers, we tend to take punctuation very much for granted.
‘ The best way to gain familiarity with the various marks and their
uses, is to study a printed page—this page, if you like—and
question each mark used.
The rest of this section deals with some of the:—
53
WORDS AND EXPRESSIONS FREQUENTLY
CONFUSED :
Who—Whom
These two words cause far too much trouble. Misuse of one for
the other as in ‘Who is it for?’ is acceptable usage; however, here
are the correct usages.
‘Who’ is in the subjective role or case, ‘whom’ is objective. This
means ‘who’ is suitable for use as a subject, ‘Who killed Cock
Robin? or as the balance (complement) of a linking verb, ‘Who
do you think you are?’ (You do think you are who). ‘Who is it?’
(It is who).
On the other hand, ‘whom’ is correct for object to the verb,
‘You told whom?’ or as the object of a preposition—to whom, for
whom, from whom, with whom, by whom. Confusion arises easily
however, when ‘whom’ is separated from the preposition governing
it, and so we hear, ‘Who is this for?’ ‘Who is it addressed to?’
The errors above can be avoided with a little forethought, but
the choice becomes more puzzling when it arises mid-sentence.
a italicised word in each of the following quotations should be
‘who’.
‘... to displace their leader by someone whom they imagined
would be a more vigorous President.’ (SIR WINSTON CHURCHILL)
*...acreature whom we pretend is already here.’ (E. M. FORSTER)
‘Bateman could not imagine whom it was that he passed off as
his nephew.’ (SOMERSET MAUGHAM)
When men of this stature confuse ‘who’ and ‘whom’, the rest of
us might well wonder if we are capable of mastering the difference.
In the first example, ‘whom’ is posing as the subject of the verb
‘would be’. Confusion arises because of the insertion of ‘they
imagined’. Remove these two words and it becomes immediately
obvious that ‘who’ is required rather than ‘whom’.
Similarly, in the second sentence, remove the words ‘we pretend’
and it is seen that ‘who’ is required as subject for the verb ‘is’. In
the third example, the clause is ‘it was who’—the linking verb
‘was’ requires the subjective form be used rather than the objective
form ‘whom’.
That—Which—Who—trelative pronouns (see page 47)
These three words are pronouns; they stand-in for nouns. ‘Who’
can represent only people; ‘which’ can represent only things;
‘that’ can represent either people or things.
‘Who’ (or ‘whom’) is used to introduce commenting clauses as
in: ‘My wife, who bought the dress, has good taste.’ ‘Who’
and ‘whom’ can also introduce describing clauses: e.g. ‘The man
who is there is her father.’ ‘The man whom you saw is her father.’
‘That? can replace ‘who’ or ‘whom’ in a describing clause: e.g.
‘The man that is there is her father.’ ‘The man that you saw is her
father;’ but it cannot replace ‘who’ or ‘whom’ in a commenting
clause, i.e. ‘My wife, that bought the dress, has good taste.’

34
 ‘Which’ is best suited for commenting clauses: e.g. ‘His in-
nocence, which has still to be proven, would establish a precedence
in murder cases;’ though it is rarely unsuitable for use in describing
clauses—as it is here: ‘All which I have is yours.’ Briefly: use ‘who’
to introduce commenting clauses for people; use ‘which’ mainly to
introduce commenting clauses for things; use ‘that’ to introduce
describing clauses for both people and things.

Plurals and possession

The words sheep, deer, reindeer, grouse, moose, salmon, trout are
both the singular and plural forms. ‘Fish’ may be singular or
plural; ‘fishes’ usually refers to varieties.
Compound nouns usually add S to their most important word;
thus, brother-in-law becomes brothers-in-law; court-martial be-
comes courts-martial; commander-in-chief becomes commanders-
in-chief.
Nouns form their possessive case by adding ’S. The bicycle
belonging to a boy is therefore ‘a boy’s bicycle’. When the noun
already ends with S, it adds an apostrophe; another S is optional;
thus James’ or James’s, princess’ or princess’s, boss’ or boss’s.
If a noun is plural but it does not end with an S, then again add
*S to show ownership: e.g. men’s, women’s, children’s, people’s. But
if the plural form ends with S, add only the apostrophe—neigh-
bours’, friends’, relatives’, lions’.
Some expressions of time and some idiomatic expressions may be
possessive: e.g. a day’s work, a week’s pay, a month’s holiday, for
goodness’ sake.
The possessive form should be used before gerunds.
WRONG: There’s small chance of John seeing him. (use John’s)
RIGHT: Your having a car is very handy.
WRONG: Do you mind me telling him this. (use my)

Whose and who’s

‘Who’s’ is a contraction of ‘who is’; ‘whose’ is a possessive pro-
noun.
RIGHT: Whose car is this?
RIGHT: Who’s the girl?

Its and it’s

‘It’s’ is a contraction of ‘it is’; ‘its’ is a possessive adjective.
RIGHT: It’s for you.
RIGHT: What is its name?’

Except and excepting

‘Excepting’ is for negative use—for a situation in fact which
' names something that is not to be excepted.
RIGHT: Every country in the world—not excepting even the
smallest—has right of voice concerning radioactive fallout.
55
 RIGHT: All the girls except Mary finished the project in time.
WRONG: All the apples are wormy excepting this one. (use
except) J
WRONG: Excepting the views expressed by the chairman, the
meeting was just an informal chit-chat. (use except for)

Than
‘Than’ is a conjunction, though ellipsis (omission) sometimes
makes it seem a preposition. If you add the verb in your mind, you
won’t confuse the case.
WRONG: She is taller than me. (than J am)
RIGHT: He is more intelligent than she (is).

Will—Shall
‘Shall’ expresses simple futurity for Ist person singular and
plural (T’ and ‘we’): e.g. ‘I shall go to London tomorrow if it is
nice,’ ‘We shall be married in August.’ ‘Will’ expresses simple
futurity for all other persons: e.g. ‘You/he/they will be very wel-
come.’ However, the roles of the words reverse for determination
or command: e.g. ‘I will go in spite of what you say,’ ‘He shall not
have his way in this matter.’

As if—as though
These expressions need be followed by a verb that expresses un-
certainty, not fact.
WRONG: He speaks as if he can help. (the verb ‘can’ does not
express uncertainty—use ‘could’)
RIGHT: She swam as if her life depended upon winning. (the
speaker has no guarantee that her life did not depend upon
winning. Only her psychiatrist knows for certain)
WRONG: It seems as though the squirrels know spring is near
and find it all the more difficult to wait. (substitute knew,
was and found)

Sit—Set
Present Past Past Participle
sit sat sat
set set set
The verb ‘sit’ expresses what humans do; the verb ‘set’ expresses
what humans do fo objects. See also ‘lay—lie.’
WRONG: [il just set a moment and rest my feet.
WRONG: Don’t sit that flower-pot on the window-sill.

Like
This word may be used as a preposition but not as a conjunction.
RIGHT: You make me feel like a fool.
WRONG: You make me feel like I was a fool.
56
Bad—Badly
‘Bad’ is an adjective, ‘badly’ an adverb. The adjective should be
used after a linking verb; thus, ‘He is bad,’ ‘Don’t feel bad.’
Lie—Lay
These are two different verbs having different meanings and
different forms.
Present Past Past Participle Present Participle
lie lay lain lying
lay laid laid laying
The verb ‘lie’ means to ‘rest’ or ‘recline’. It is an intransitive
verb. The verb ‘lay’ means to ‘place’ or ‘set’; it requires an object.
Confusion would be less if the past time of ‘lie’ were different in
form from the present time of ‘lay.’
WRONG: Lie it on the table. (use Jay)
ea ae I had just laid down when the telephone rang. (use
‘ain
RIGHT: I lay down this afternoon for a nap.
RIGHT: He laid the wood by the stove.
Note: there is no such word as ‘layed’.
RIGHT: Lying in bed is all he thinks about.
RIGHT: Having laid the last tile, he began to collect his tools.
Transpire means ‘to become known’, but it is often mistaken for
‘happen’: the first sentence is correct then, the second, impos-
sible.
RIGHT: The Minister’s response quickly transpired by radio
and television. :
WRONG: The secret attack did not transpire as planned.
Aggravate means ‘to make worse’ not ‘to annoy’.
WRONG: I have an aggravating cough. (annoying)
WRONG: She has an aggravating way of speaking. (annoying
or unpleasant)
RIGHT: Sometimes a bandage merely aggravates a wound.
RIGHT: Defeat was aggravated by cries of ‘Coward!’
As you see, one need already have an annoying condition before
it can be aggravated.
Individual should not be used as a mere substitute for man, woman
or person.
WRONG: What a strange individual!
WRONG: He’s a cheery enough individual when he’s had a
few drinks. ,
Its correct use is to indicate one person, or a few people among
many.
RIGHT: An individual has small voice against a mob.
RIGHT: Many members applauded, though individuals booed.
i.e. and e.g.
The abbreviation i.e. stands for id est, Latin, meaning ‘that is’.
37
Use it only where the words to follow it will refine, define or narrow
what it is you are referring to.
RIGHT: The most expensive cups, i.e. the bone china, were
broken first.
E.g. (exempli gratia) means ‘for the sake of example’ and intro-
duces illustrations or instances which bear out the truth of a
statement.
RIGHT: Often, the more delicate the item, the greater its cost;
e.g. bone china.
The subtle difference between the two is that i.e. introduces
something you had in mind from the beginning, whereas e.g.
introduces something which was not specifically in mind, but which
bears out the truth of the statement.

Historic and historical

A historical event is simply something that has happened. A
historic event is something of great importance that has happened.
When Bleriot flew across the English Channel in 1909, it was both
a historical and historic event. But when the next man flew the
Channel, it was only a historical event.

58
Answers to the
Questions ’

PAGE 8
The sentences are numbers 1, 4, 5, 9, 10
PAGE 9
The nouns are numbers 1, 2, 6, 7, 10
PAGE 12
1. v.i. 2. linking. 3. v.i. 4. linking. 5. v.t. 6. v.t.
PAGE 23
Q.1
organ ———_____-—. nt

1. the pipes
2. in Liverpool Cathedral A

Q.2
sun sets

ate 1. never
2. on my Gin
Q.3
celebration marked

inthe solstice in pre-Christian times

2. traditional
3. December 1.the
2. winter

battlek——was——on Drummossie Moor, Inverness-

shire
1. the in 1746
2. last
3. pitched
4. in England
AS)
dogs————————-are allowed

1. not
2. in the shop
59
Q.6 é
mine————-—— produces

. the per day

2. world’s largest ‘
3. salt 12,000 tons
Q.7
tour——————————__ covers

1% the twenty miles

2. London Transport
3. two-hour
4. circular
5. of the landmarks

of London
Q.8
you--_——_———enjoy

cooking

1. with local dishes

2. Continental

real
Q.9
Swedes————————consume

26 pounds 1. on the average

: 2. per person
of coffee 3. per year
Q.10
you-————___—_ fill in
|
application 1. simply
form 2. below
Note: If the sentence means to draw attention to a particular
application form (one of two, or one of several) then below could
be an adjective for application form.
Q.11
you-———__—_———_wattch
|
progress

1. the
2. graceful
3. of the timeless gondolas
/
along the legend-haunted canals

of beautiful Venice
60
PAGE 27
1. (you) are having—2nd p. sing. pres. cont. 2. (stitch) saves—
3rd p. sing. pres. simple. 3. (they) are trying—3rd p. plural,
pres. cont. 4. (you) have taken—2nd p. sing. pres. comp.
5. (buildings) will rise—3rd p. plural, future, simp. 6. (she) had
been having—3rd p. sing. past, comp. cont. 7. (gut) provides—
3rd p. sing. pres. simple. 8. (we) had been—Ist p. plural, past
comp. 9. (girls) have gone—3rd p. plural, past comp. 10. (they)
have been trying—3rd p. plural, pres. comp. cont. 11. (he) will
have been speaking—3rd p. sing. future, comp. cont.
PAGE 29 '
1. (raw sienna)—3rd p. sing. pres. simple, passive. 2. (they)
3rd p. plural, future, cont. active. 3. (Uranus) 3rd p. sing. pres.
simple, passive. 4. (we) Ist p. plural, past completed, passive.
5. (travel) 3rd p. sing. past, simple, passive. 6. (newspaper)
3rd p. sing. present, simple. active. 7. (dam) 3rd p. sing. past,
simple, passive. 8. (ship) 3rd p. sing. future, simple, passive.
9. (car) 3rd p. sing. pres. cont. passive.
PAGE 31
The following changes need be made: 1. were, 3. were, 6. were,
9. were.

PAGE 36
dog
= the” |

butcher-——————
gave

the bone

a
Q.2
me
(you) give

needle- - -and- - -thread

Q.3
you
postman ————————_ brought —
v4 this morning
the
packet- - -and- - -letters

a two

61
 Q.4
" baby

the |
(you) do give

| not

buttons
Q5
one
|
Rane) * svtye
the shock
wf -of fish

and
. a

- - -meat
Q.6
corvette
'
the :
and 1
ollided
submarine. off Portsmouth.
the”
PAGE 45
1. to... king—infin. noun object. 2. wearing ... tunics—pr.
participle—girls. 3. The ... left—absolute; for another—prep.
noun object. 4. through ... window—prep. adv.—shouted.
5. Having ... letters—comp. participle—she. 6. in ... soil—
prep. adv.—will grow. 7. Having ... MPH—comp. participle
(passive)—swift ; in the world—prep. adj.—bird. 8. of .. . scale
—prep. adj.—use; for ... speeds— prep. adj.—scale; by ...
Acherer—prep. noun-object; of Zurich—prep. adj.—Professor
Acherer. 9. All ... considered—absolute. 10. To ... area—
infin. noun-subject; of a circle—prep. adj.—area. 11. to...
chestnuts—infin. noun-object. 12. Reading a book—gerund,
subject. 13. Feeling sorry—gerund, subject; for yourself—prep.
adv.—sorry. 14. by wading—prep. adv.—have ruined; in puddles
—prep. adj.—wading. 15. Tired . . money—dangling part;
buying a car—gerund, subject. 16. ‘shared . . eight—past part.
—beer. 17. you ... man—infin. noun, object: at all costs
(urgently)—prep. adv.—want. 18. Help . . arrived—absolute.
19. Having ... means—comp. part.—he; battering the door—
gerund, object; with a log (destructively)—prep. adv.—batter-
ing. 20. Dashed ... rocks—past part.—Meredith; by rollers—
prep. adv.—dashed; onto the beach—prep. adv.—staggered.
62
 Index
Absolute construction ...... 43 Phrase 2ics.c0susaces eee 19
BMA ECHIVO noe ee seaeoeie
hsnace 15 Absolute: ccs tomers 43
Comparative 2... <a90.. 16 Commentins -7..c.eae 44
WeMONsiTauve --.--.-....- 15 Describing... ..sscs-ece 44
IROSSESSIVE |na eh nalecama 15 Prepositional! “ceece--race. 19
NCRel 0 cae RR ne 16 VETDAL icone ited atone ares 41
MCL ACEVG tre
cee nee nese 48 Plvinal is cairn ce Ae secer cos 9
RRRETC
LESmite ocs.50
diaetbiconwes 15 Predicate. fa ccconnecoc nen 6
BSN ATNCO Moe oats sacnsss ets n ae ale 14 PrepOsitiONn gacsqscre.cestee 18
ROASOMEE Ness csehfeccstiennivieisns
oot 13 Pronounten ccs be tee cee 13
CRTIS OS one eee nae 46 Reflective <5. ..csserse ens 14
Complement ...........:...... 14 Relative ticcactsu.co escece: 47
MEOBIUNCOM Goeiec-5 550520000 46 PUNCHUIATION Giessen cncice ess 53
SUDOLdINAtC. .-.-+. 60-2000 49 SENtENCO sc cecck eee 6
Definite article ............... 15 Sin gulanis mast .\sneccereee 9
Diagrams 22, 23, 36, 47, 49, Splitunfinitive: “ees. --ses-s.-7 45
50; 51 SUDIECE: cee van stolons
Meee 6, 33
MOUED SIS) ociniisie scnsieesinae 50, 51, 56 Subjunctive mood............ 30
COVETED oe eS 40 SDGNGE gosceni con sete enone os 25
Indefinite article ............ 15 AS)0 ae parton eaeet Reoo eda coe 9
_OTIN Ge 39, 40 Agreement .............45 33
DSP Clee tic hices aise neon 45 LELDTN
(2obaco Gna OoEFRC aE 39
Helpers: sic ccewesion ccenirnseise 10
BTILETICCHION sasecesscecacessee 46 lityitolkesh samaeneoneneronetones 39
BLOOMER cto sincicseoansiateers 29 Intratisitive> “asctenwessencs 11
BOUIMEE ois n sac uincectcuesas 8,9 MBIT Op eater
eens oennccns 12
BNREAIDOLD eae sioaieatec clsiinaie
wie 9, 33 iy Poveys ben eather Sonata eernee 29
BOD CCiat ccni aces cctaceeue 10, 35 IPEESOML ota wna ehee 25
MTEGINECH ouecnis csnanin 35 CHSC pet carn nchcer taro 25
Objective case ............... 14 MTANsitiVes wcaeiae.eceenwer 11
f BUAELICIPIO! cienedisSasiniccaseees 37 ViGICOm arena
cin diction 28
WNrelated |.ssesn2 sanesereote 43 WEED AIS i oetetaataiidsttencissscisis 41
Person IWiOICE seer cnnansee ieeesaiissaase 28
 Index of words and expressions commonly confused
AS SE CAD Fes cavianecused scietensces 15 Myself. G.cecenansecsoteeates 15
NGOTAVALG fore ea tec eee ST Plorals <cntnecssadsnccrtusees 55
As if & As though ......... 56 POSSESSION css nes tacn eee etees 55
Bad & Badly sqructecsincawavn Si Shale yor nea ean ee 56
CLPiasie gate tame maeeecereeremee 57 She: éaHer 0-8. -cen4-0esenes 14
Except & Excepting ......... 55 SI@G Set “xnceseoeccewecseeoee 56
He28 imjsccnaesancses seiees 14 Subject/Verb agreement ... 33
Historic & Historical ...... 58 Saat: 2.cg- ces eee aa eee 56
TRS Mie ie eter asta asn ae 13 TRAt <.:5.<0s.c00 ee eee eee 54
BG tint lslncti iseCereoineaice
ras sare ay/ MLANSPILE: see. cece secre ees 57
ndividialljesses.sasesseeerer Si NWiICIVe Hecate uc nesas cee 54
Tisr ac TCSieen eens ey cee: 55 Who: &-Whom) <¢.:<s2.scsese. 54
Wier Sc Wane a. ceece incccs
ote 57 Whose & Who’s ............ 55
TKO. eon eanticsun tear 56 A) Umes Arae ae RIES
oS 4 56
More: cc MOSt. .: eee eee 16 MOUISELE = cccrase ener 14
Less
 elm Gs

Do you split your infinitives?

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Now learn to speak ani
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