There are nine parts of speech.

There are nine parts of speech.

They are articles, nouns, pronouns, adjectives, verbs, adverbs, conjunctions, prepositions, and interjections. A word of caution, however, a word can be more than one part of speech. You can find out more information on the parts of speech by checking the sources listed at the bottom of this review.

Nouns
A noun is a word used to name something: a person/animal,

a place, a thing, or an idea. For example, all of the following are nouns.

Leah, Ignacio, Lan, Marek
Japan, Venezuela, Atlanta, Kroger, the Gap
pencil, store, music, air
biology, theory of Relativity, Pythagorean theory
Hint: They are sometimes preceded by noun markers. Noun markers are also called determiners and quantifiers. They are words like a, an, the, this, that, these, those, each, some, any, every, no, numbers (1,2,3,etc.), several, many, a lot, few, possessive pronouns (his, her, etc). See determiners for more information.
&Nouns are classified in several ways…

Nouns can be singular or plural.




Singular nouns name only one person, place, thing or idea.

One apple, a pencil, the book

Plural nouns name two or more persons, places, things or ideas. Most singular nouns (Not ALL) are made plural by adding –s. For example, (pencil is a singular noun. The word pencils is a plural noun.)

Exception #1: If a noun ends with the –s, sh, ch, or x like the words, kiss, church, ash or box, then they are made plural by adding –es (kisses, churches, ashes, and boxes). 


Exception #2:There are also irregular nouns that do not follow any rules. For example, the plural form of the word child is children. 



Nouns can be Proper Nouns or Common Nouns
A. Proper nouns refer to specific people, places, things and ideas. A person's name (Leah Graham) is a proper noun, for example. Other examples are names of places (Atlanta, Georgia) and names of things (the Navy). They are always capitalized!
People’s names and titles- King Henry, Mrs. Smith
Names for deity, religions, religious followers, and sacred books- God, Allah, Buddha, Islam, Catholicism, Christians
Races, nationalities, tribes, and languages- African American, Polish-American, Black, Chinese, Russian
Specific Places like countries, cities, bodies of water, streets, buildings, and parks
Specific organizations- Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), ….
Days of the week, months, and holidays,
Brand names of products
Historical periods, well-known events, and documents- Middle ages, Boston Tea Party, Magna Carta
Titles of publications and written documents
b. Common nouns are all other nouns. For example: cat, pencil, paper, etc. They are not capitalized unless they are the first word in the sentence.
Nouns can also be collective.

Collective nouns are nouns that are grammatically considered singular, but include more than one person, place, thing, or idea in its meaning. Words like team, group, jury, committee, audience, crowd, class, troop, family, team, couple, band, herd, quartet, and society.
Generally, collective nouns are treated as singular because they emphasize the group as one unit.

The committee is going to make a decision. 


Nouns can also be either count or non-count.
Nouns that are non-count cannot be counted. For example,
one cannot go outside to have two fresh airs. One goes outside for fresh air.

5. Nouns can be Abstract or concrete

Concrete nouns are nouns that you can touch. They are people, places, and some things. Words like person, court, Georgia, pencil, hand, paper, car, and door are all examples of concrete nouns.
Abstract nouns are nouns that cannot be physically held. For example, things like air, justice, safety, Democracy, faith, religion, etc.
6. Nouns can be Gerunds
A gerund is the –ing form of the verb and is used as a noun. For example,

Running is good for you. 
Running is the noun/gerund and is is the verb.

My crying upset him. 
Crying is the subject and upset is the verb

Note: A noun can fit into more than one of these categories. For example, the noun Angela is a singular, concrete, count, proper noun. 


Pronouns 

A pronoun is a word that replaces a noun. They eliminate the need for repetition. 
For Example:

Instead of Emma talked to Emma's child, you might say Emma talked to her child. 
Her is the pronoun. It renames the antecedent, Emma.

& There are several types of pronouns.

Personal Pronouns refer to specific persons or things. Personal pronouns can act as subjects, objects, or possessives.

Singular: I, me, you, she, her, he, him, it

Plural: we, us, you, they, them

I, you, she, he, it, we, and they are used as subjects of sentences.

For example, She knew the grammar rules very well.

The personal pronouns that can be used as objects are:

Me, you, him, her, it, them

For Example:

The teacher gave all of them good grades.
Tommy gave his poetry book to her.
Then, Azra gave it to me.
Them, her and me are personal pronouns used as objects. They are NEVER the subjects of the sentences.
Possessive Pronouns indicate ownership or possession.
Singular: my, mine, your, yours, hers, his, its
Plural: yours, ours, theirs,

For Example: She returned my pencil to me because it was mine. 


3. Reflexive Pronouns name a receiver of an action who is identical to the doer of the action.

Singular: myself, yourself, himself, herself, itself

Plural: ourselves, yourselves, themselves

For example: Manuela congratulated herself on her good grades.

Here, Manuela is both the doer and the receiver of the action.

Q: So, who did Manuela congratulate? A: Herself. 


4. Intensive Pronouns emphasize a noun or another pronoun.

Singular: myself, yourself, himself, herself, itself 
Plural: ourselves, yourselves, themselves
For Example: I saw Brad Pitt himself at the mall. 
Here, himself emphasizes the antecedent, Bradd Pitt.
5. Reciprocal Pronouns express shared actions or feelings. They are:

Each other One another
For Example:
Yan Ko and Tai help each other with their homework.

Leon and his girlfriend dance with one another when they go clubbing.

6. Indefinite Pronouns refer to non-specific persons and things.

All, another, any, anybody, anyone, anything, both, each, either, everybody, everyone, everything, few, many, neither, nobody, none, no one, nothing, one, several, some, somebody, someone, something
For Example:
Many believe that UFO’s exist, but nobody can prove it.

No one can be sure if aliens really exist, but only few wonder if Elvis is still alive.

The underlined indefinite pronouns do not refer to any one person. They are referring to people in general.

7. Demonstrative Pronouns are also considered noun markers. They "point" towards nouns.

this, that, these those
For Example: 
That woman attends Gainesville College. 
That points out which woman.

The woman attends Gainesville College.

Q: Which woman? A: That woman.

8. Interrogative Pronouns introduce questions.
Who, Whom, Whose, Which, What
For Example:

Who is going on vacation? To whom will the teacher give an "A"?

What are you doing?

9. Relative Pronouns introduce dependent clauses and refers to a person or thing already mentioned in the sentence (i.e. the antecedent).
Who, whoever, whom, whomever, whose, which, that
For Example:

The English that we learn in class will help us pass English 1101. 
that we learn in class is the adjective clause that describes English. And, that is the relative pronoun.

Q: Which English? 
A: The English that we learn in class—as opposed to the English we learn around our friends. 



Note: Adjectives clauses modify nouns or pronouns, and usually answer one of the following questions: Which one? What kind of? They begin with a relative pronoun or a relative adverb (when or where). 



Adjectives

An adjective modifies (describes) a noun or pronoun.

Normally in English, the adjective comes before the noun. For example:

The smart student earned an "A".

They also come after linking verbs. For example:

I feel happy.

Adjectives can be used to make comparisons.

For most adjectives of one or two syllables, you can add –er. For example, greater, faster, stronger.
For adjectives longer than two syllables, you should use the word more.
For example, He was more intelligent than his sister was. 


Adjectives can also be used as superlatives.

This is usually done by adding –est to the end of an adjective that is one or two syllables.
For example, the loudest, the coolest, the smartest.
If an adjective is three syllables or longer, you must use the words the most. For example:
Katsu is the most intelligent person in the world!
WARNING- Never use both an –er ending and the word more or an
–est ending and the word most.

For example, I am the most happiest when my students learn. Instead, it should be: I am the happiest when my students learn.

There are some irregular adjective and adverb forms. For example:

Adjective
Adverb
Comparing two
Comparing three or more
Bad badly Worse worst
Good Well Better Best
Little Less Least
Much Many More Most


Punctuation Note: Adjectives are not usually capitalized unless they are the first word in a sentence. BUT, nationalities are also adjectives and should be capitalized. For example:

Ricky Martin is Puerto Rican and Michelle Yeoh is Chinese.

These are called proper adjectives. And, like proper nouns, proper adjectives are always capitalized in English. They are derived from proper nouns and are words like: African-American, Vietnamese, Latino, Italian, Japanese, Korean, etc. They can also include adjectives like Catholic, Jewish, Republican, Democrat, etc.

When they are used together, they are arranged in a certain order. 

Determiner*
Opinion
Size
Age
Color
Origin
Material
Noun
The, This
Some

Pretty
Tall

Big
Thin

New
Old

Blue
Purple

Puerto Rican
Leather
Wood

Sofa
My
Expensive
Small
Ancient
Black
Chinese
Silk
Scarf
For Example:

I saw that tall, thin, old, blue, silk scarf at the store and I bought it.

Leon drives an expensive old Italian car. 



You wouldn’t ordinarily use so many adjectives in just one sentence.

*Note: Determiners include articles, demonstrative pronouns, indefinite pronouns and possessive pronouns.

Adverbs

An adverb is a word that modifies an action verb, an adjective or another adverb.
The teacher carefully graded the homework.
Carefully is an adverb that modifies the action verb to grade.
Tommy was extremely enthusiastic about doing his homework.
Extremely is an adverb that modifies the adjective enthusiastic.
Yan Ko ran out of the classroom very quickly.
Very is an adverb that modifies the adverb quickly.
Warning: You need an adjective after linking verbs…NEVER an adverb!
For example, Tai feels bad (guilty) when he has to leave class.

Here, bad is an adjective that modifies the proper noun Tai. It is an adjective because it follows the linking verb to feel. 


HOWEVER, verbs like look, sound, smell, feel, and taste can function as either an action verb or a linking verb.

Tai feels badly (to the touch) after swimming in a chlorinated pool. His skin is really dry.

Here, bad is used in its adverbial form since it follows an action verb, to feel.

Types of Adverbs:

Relative Adverbs introduce questions and dependent adverbial clauses. They answer the questions When? and Where? They are:
When Where
For Example: 
When I was young, I liked to play outside.

Q: When did I like to play outside? A: When I was young. 


Adverbs of Frequency indicate answer the question how often? They are:
Always, usually, often, sometimes, rarely, never
The students in ESOL 98 always study very hard.

They rarely forget to do their homework. 



NOTE: Generally, these adverbs come before the verb; however there is an exception. In the case of the verb to be, the adverb of frequency comes after the verb. For example:Azra is always on time for class. 





Conjunctions are the scotch tape of the grammatical world. They join together words and phrases. There are three kinds of conjunctions: coordinating conjunctions, correlative conjunctions, and subordinating conjunctions. 



1. Coordinating Conjunctions

There are seven coordinating conjunctions in English. You can use the mnemonic device fanboys to remember them.

For

And

Nor

But

Or

Yet

So

They can be used with commas to create compound sentences. For example:

Ignacio loves to dance, but Rocío has no rhythm.

Kyong Mee works hard, yet she still earns low grades.

Note: A compound sentence is a sentence made up of two independent clauses. That is, a compound sentence is simply two complete sentences joined by a comma and a coordinating conjunction (i.e. a fanboys).

Correlative Conjunctions also join ideas, but they work in pairs. They are:
Both…and
neither…nor

whether…or

either…or

not only…but also

For Example:

Not only am I happy about the grades, but I am also excited that you are learning!

3. Subordinating Conjunctions join an independent clause to a subordinate clause. That is, they join a clause that can stand alone with a clause that cannot stand alone. Some frequently used subordinating conjunctions are:

after, although, as, as if, because, before, even if, even though, if, since, so that, though, unless, until, when, whenever, where, wherever, whether, while. 



For Example:

Although the students were tired, they still came to class.

Interjections

Interjections are words used to express emotional states. They can usually be found in narrative writing, interviews, and in spoken English. They can stand alone. For example:

Oh!, wow!, Ouch! Oops! Hey!

Punctuation Note: They are punctuated with either commas or exclamation marks. Mild interjections are followed by a comma, but stronger interjections are punctuated with an exclamation mark (!) .

Oh, we’re late for the movie.

Generally, the movies is not an important destination. Therefore, the person making this statement will sound less urgent than the next example.

Oh! I’m late for work.

Work, unlike the movies, is generally considered a very important destination. If one doesn’t arrive on time, there is the possibility of being fired or of losing face. Here, the speaker will have a greater sense of urgency. 



Generally , you do not find interjections in academic writing. 



Prepositions

Prepositions are words that, like conjunctions, connect a noun or pronoun to another word in a sentence. Some common prepositions: 

About Before Down Into Through
Above Behind During Like To
Across Below Except Of Toward
After Beneath For Off Under
Among Beside From On Up
Around Between In Over With
At By Instead of Since Without
A prepositional phrase is a group of words that begins with a preposition and ends with a noun or pronoun. They can act as adjectives or as adverbs.

Manuela, the student from Germany, wrote an excellent paper on the computer.

Verbs

Verbs generally express action or a state of being. There are several classifications for verbs- action verbs,/linking verbs, main verbs/auxiliary verbs, transitive/intransitive and phrasal verbs.

1. Action verbs show action.

He runs. He plays. They study.

2. Linking Verbs link the subject to an adjective.

Ricky Martin is beautiful.

The linking verb is links the adjective beautiful with the subject Ricky Martin.

1. Main verbs can stand alone.

2. Auxiliary verbs, also called helping verbs, serve as support to the main verb.

The most common auxiliary verbs are:

Have, has, had

Do, does, did

Be, am, is, are, was, were, being, been

Should, could, will, would, might, can, may, must, shall, ought (to) 



For example:

Tai has runeveryday.

Run is an action verb. The subject can actually "do" it.

Has is the helping verb. It helps the main verb run to be present perfect tense.

Verbs can be transitive or intransitive.

Transitive Verbs require a direct object in order to make sense.

For Example:
Yolanda takes aspirin for her headaches. 
Here, takes is a transitive verb since the sentence Yolanda takes has no meaning without its direct object aspirin. 


Intransitive Verbs do not need direct objects to make them meaningful. For Example:
Julio swims. 
The verb swim has meaning for the reader without an object.
Caution: A verb can be either transitive or intransitive depending on its context. For Example:

The cars race. – Here, raceis intransitive. It does not need an object.

My father races horses. – Here, races is transitive. It requires the object horses in order to make sense.

Verbs can be phrasal.

Phrasal verbs are made up of a verb and a preposition. The preposition gives the verb a different meaning than it would have by itself. For example, the verb look has a different meaning from the phrasal verb look up (in the dictionary).
Some more examples:
call up, find out, hand in, make up, put off, turn on, write up 



WARNING: The base form of a verb is called the infinitive. It is to + verb. For example, to do, to win, to study, etc. Under no circumstance can a verb preceded by to be considered a verb. Infinitives are not verbs. 



Articlesare the, a, and an. 



Q: What do articles do in a sentence?

A: Articles signal that a noun is going to

follow.

Example:

Who invented the telephone? The wheel?
The refrigerator? The airplane?
A cat was chasing a mouse in my back yard.
Modifiers (adjectives & adverbs) can appear between an article and a noun.
Examples:

A sunset.
A spectacular sunset.
An exceptionally spectacular sunset.
The indefinite article ‘a’ can only appear before nouns that begin with a consonant sound: a hand, a book, a world, a computer…
The indefinite article ‘an’ can only appear before nouns that begin with a vowel sound: an apartment, an hour, an article… 



General Rules for the Use of Articles:

I. Use a/an with singular count nouns whose specific identity is not known to the reader either because it is being mentioned for the first time, or because its specific identity is unknown even to the writer. 



Examples:

Julia arrived in a limousine. (a = one among many. Not a specific one.)
We’re looking for an apartment. (an = any one.)
II. Do not use a/an with non-count nouns. Only use a/an with non-count nouns if you add a count noun in front of the non-count noun.
Example:

Anh asked her mother for an advice.
Anh asked her mother for apiece of
advice. 


III. Use the with most nouns whose specific identity is known to the reader because:

1. the noun has been previously mentioned:

Yesterday I saw a group of ESL students. The students were playing with a ball. The ball was white and blue. The ball rolled into a hole. The hole was small.
2. the noun is made specific by a superlative:
I bought thefastest computer they had.
3. the noun describes a unique person, place, or thing:
Please give this to themanager.
Thesun is bright today.
Rain is falling heavily in theNorth.
4. the context or situation makes the noun’s identity clear:
Please don’t slam the door when you leave.
Bob warned me that the dog playing in his yard is very affectionate and jumps on every person it meets.
IV. Do not use the with plural or non-count nouns meaning "all" or "in general" (i.e. generic reference nouns). Do not use the with most singular proper nouns.
The fountains are an expensive element of landscape design.
In some parts of the world, the rice is preferred to all other grains.
V. Do not use articles with other noun markers or determiners, i.e. possessive nouns (Helen’s) ; and some pronouns (his, her, its, ours, their, whose, this, that, these, those, all, any, each, either, every, few, many, more, most, much, neither, several, some).
Exceptions:

All the…

A few…

The most…

Examples:

The Helen’s book is on the floor.
A this book belongs to Trung.




A final caution- A word can be more than one part of speech. For example:

I sat on the sofa.

Above, sofa is used as a noun (object of the preposition).

I slept on the sofa bed.

But, here sofa is used as an adjective to modify the noun bed.

And, native speakers often take poetic license with words in conversation. For example:

It’s Sofa city for you!

Here, sofa acts as an adjective to describe the noun city. The meaning of the sentence is that the person will have to sleep on the sofa, not a bed.

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Difference:Noun

Difference:Noun
1-A point or way in which people or things are not the same.
2-The state or condition of being dissimilar or unlike.

1-[COUNTABLE/UNCOUNTABLE] something that makes one thing or person not the same as another thing or person
cultural/social/political differences
difference between: What's the difference between these two computers?
difference in: There's a big difference in the attitudes of town and country people.
slight/subtle/minor differences: There are subtle differences in their arrangement of the music.
significant/marked/major difference: the significant difference in sound quality between CDs and records
crucial/essential/fundamental difference: The fundamental difference between John and Jake is their attitudes to money.

2-[COUNTABLE] [USUALLY SINGULAR] the amount by which one thing is different from another thing
The same car costs £500 less here, which is quite a difference!
difference of: The winner received 2365 votes, and the runner-up 2348 – a difference of only 17 votes.
age/price/temperature difference: Despite this age difference, they fell in love.
There's a world of difference between liking someone and wanting to marry them.

3-differences [PLURAL] disagreements about something
trying to smooth out differences between them
have your differences: Joe and I have had our differences, but we work well together.
resolve/settle your differences: The two parties agreed to settle their differences.
irreconcilable differences (=disagreements that cannot be settled): Journalists were told the talks had broken down because of irreconcilable differences.

PHRASES

make a difference
1-to have an important effect on something, especially a good effect
make a difference to: This scheme will certainly make a difference to the way I do my job.

2-something that makes a lot of difference has a good effect on a person or situation
make a big/a great deal of/a lot of difference: The fact that I can now organize my own time makes a big difference.
make all the difference (to someone): Having someone to talk to made all the difference to my mother.
Thesaurus entry for this meaning of difference
make no/little difference
to not be important, or to not have any effect
Anybody can enjoy yoga, and your age makes absolutely no difference.
make no/little difference to: The news made little difference to his plans.

tell/see the difference

1-to notice what is different between similar people or things
tell/see the difference between: How do you tell the difference between the kittens?

2-to notice what has changed about someone or something
She said she'd had her hair cut, but I couldn't tell the difference.
Thesaurus entry for this meaning of difference
with a difference
used for saying that something is more interesting or unusual than other similar things
It was a wedding with a difference – the bride wore black.

Get It Right!: difference
Get it right: difference
When you are talking about a way in which two people or things are different, use the pattern a difference in something (not 'difference of' or 'difference about'):
? There is a big difference of grammar between Japanese and English.
? There is a big difference in grammar between Japanese and English.
? There are major differences about language and customs in various areas in Korea.
? There are major differences in language and customs in various areas in Korea.
You can use difference of with a number or percentage, when you are talking about the amount by which two things are different:
He secured 50.7 per cent of the vote against 49.3 per cent (a difference of 227 votes).
Difference of is also used in the phrase difference of opinion which means 'a disagreement':
On this issue there is a major difference of opinion between the British government and most business leaders.
Don't use the expression make a difference to mean 'recognize that two things are different'. Use make/draw a distinction:
? Children cannot always make the difference between fiction and reality.
? Children cannot always make the distinction between fiction and reality.
The expression make a difference (to) means to have an effect on someone or something, often a positive effect:
Changes to the age of retirement make a difference to the amount of savings people need.

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Verb Forms and Verb Tenses The Base Form

Verb Forms and Verb Tenses

The Base Form

English verbs have five basic forms: the base form, the - S form, the - ing form, the past form, and the past participle form. The base form is the verb "with no special endings"--no - s, - ing, past-tense ending, and so on. Here are the most common uses of the base form: 1. If the verb tense is simple present and if the verb is not BE, the base form is used with I, you, we, and they. Examples: I / you / we / they have a problem. I / you / we / they speak English. I / you / we / they like sports. 2. If the verb tense is simple present or past and if the verb is not BE, the base form is used after auxiliary verbs in questions and negatives. Examples: Do I / you / we / they have a problem? Does he / she / it have a problem? No, I / you / we / they don't have a problem. No, he / she / it doesn't have a problem. _______________________ Did I / you / he / she / it / we / they do what you wanted? No, I / you / he / she / it / we / they didn't do what you wanted. _______________________ Do I / you / we / they need anything? Does he / she / it need anything? No, I / you / we / they don't need anything. No, he / she / it doesn't need anything. _______________________ Did I / you / he / she / it / we / they need anything? No, I / you / he / she / it / we / they didn't need anything. 3. The base form is also used in commands. Examples: Leave! / Don't leave! Do the laundry tomorrow. / Don't do it tonight. Be quiet! / Don't be so noisy! Please stay longer. / Please don't leave now. Please help me. / Please don't ignore me. Please be on time. / Please don't be late. 4. The base form is also used directly after modal auxiliaries (can , could, may, might, must, will, would, shall, should, and their negative forms). Examples: I / You / He / She / It / We / They can, could, may, might, will, would, shall, should, must help you. I / You / He / She / It / We / They can't, couldn't, may not, might not, won't, wouldn't, shan't, shouldn't, mustn't help you. 5. In addition, the base form is used directly after to (the infinitive structure). Examples: They want to see the Grand Canyon. I prefer to leave early today. He needs to go to a meeting. 6. Another use for the base form is with make and have, an object, and another verb. Use a base form for the second verb when make and have show how the subject caused another thing to happen. Examples: The made us stay late today. Please make your dog be quiet! I'll have someone help you right away. Has he had someone wash his car? 7. Another use for the base form is in "that" clauses after certain verbs that show requests or commands. Examples: He asked that we be careful. The manager requested that Bob work late. The supervisor demanded that Jane finish the report before she left for the day. The ruler commanded that his subjects pay higher taxes. 8. Another similar use for the base form is in "that" clauses after adjectives that show urgency. Examples: It's important that we be careful. It's necessary that Bob work late in order to finish the project on time. It's urgent that she finish the report today because it needs to be faxed by 9:00 PM. It's madatory that the subjects pay higher taxes because the ruler can ask for whatever he wants. __________________________________________ Special Notes: 1. Notice that the base form and the "I / you / we / they" form for most verbs are the same, but that they are different for BE: Come to class on time. I / You / We / They always come to class on time. Be on time. I / You / We / They are always on time for class. 2. Notice that the negative form of a command with BE uses don't: Be on time. Don't be late. Please be quiet! Please don't be so noisy! 3. Most of the modal auxiliaries have past forms with have and a past participle (may have left, could have helped, would have known, should have done, etc.). In these combinations, have is a base form. 4. When to is part of a phrasal verb, an - ing form follows to, not a base form: I look forward to taking a vacation. Who put him up to doing that? We got to talking and forgot about the time. (There are very few phrasal verbs that end in to, however.)

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speak faster

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The main verb in English sentences

The main verb in English sentences

Look at the main verbs in the following sentences:

·         They always wait for the 6 o'clock train.

·         Every day the dog waits for the postman.

·         I am waiting for a friend.

·         We waited for three hours.

Notice that there are only four possible forms of the lexical verb wait:

·         The base form, wait, which is the word you would look up in a dictionary. This is sometimes also called the bare infinitive (the infinitive of an English verb is usually given as to + V e.g. to wait).

·         The V+s form - waits. This is restricted in use to just the third person singular (he, she, or it) of thePresent Simple tense as in the example the dog (it) waits... and in he likes and she looks.

·         The V+ing form - waiting. This is also known as the present participle and has a wider range of uses than form 2. In the Verb phrase it is invariably preceded by a form of the verb be (e.g. am, is, were,been).

·         The V+ed form - waited. This form has, in fact, not one use, but two depending on how and where it is used. The first denotes the Past Simple tense as in the example, while the second is used in the formation of the Perfect tenses (see part 2) and the passive voice (see part 3). In the second use it is also called the past participle.

English, then, relies on just four forms of the verb. If we know the base form of a verb (which we can find in the dictionary), we are able to predict the other three forms provided that the verb we are looking for is regular; that is, it obeys the normal rules for verb formation in English.

These changes to the endings of words are called inflections. There are some languages which have very few or no obvious verbal inflections (e.g. Chinese, Indonesian), while some can boast a bewildering number (e.g. Russian, Turkish, German, Finnish, Latin). Other languages have fewer verbal inflections than, say, Russian, but more than English (e.g. French).

There are, however, a fair number of what are known as irregular verbs in English and you may come across charts of these which show their various deviations from the regular verb changes. Unfortunately for students of English many of these verbs are very common and the forms need to be learned by rote if accuracy in the language is to be achieved. A selection of irregular verbs is given in the table below.

base verb (infinitive)	past tense form	past participle
tread	trod	trodden
come	came	come
take	took	taken
write	wrote	written
hit	hit	hit
swell	swelled	swollen
read	read	read
put	put	put
forget	forgot	forgotten
understand	understood	understood
bite	bit	bitten

Note: in American English dive is an irregular verb (dive, dove, dove), but regular in British English, and the older past participle of get (gotten) is still retained in American English.

What's an auxiliary verb?

Besides acting as the main verb of a sentence, verbs are also helpful in a number of other ways, which are not so obvious. There are also auxiliary or 'helping' verbs that are used in a variety of ways. The main auxiliary verbs are be, have and do.

They are used with main verbs to make specific tenses:

·         He is coming. present continuous

·         She wasn't driving. past continuous

·         We haven't seen an eclipse before. present perfect

·         She had dropped her keys. past perfect

The verb be + a past participle is also used to make passive forms:

·         The road is mended once a year.

·         The engines are made in Germany.

·         The votes are being counted in the hall.

·         The whales had been driven onto the shore.

The auxiliary verbs are used to make questions:

·         Do you want a drink?

·         Don't you like opera?

·         Have you finished the work yet?

·         Which train do you think you'll catch?

Auxiliary verbs are used to make exclamations:

·         Wasn't she awful!

·         Haven't you grown!

·         Didn't they do well!

·         Isn't it freezing!

To make questions tags:

·         We're very happy, aren't we?

·         It's cold, isn't it?

·         You don't like fish, do you?

·         You haven't had a happy childhood, have you?

Note that the verb to be is the most common verb in English and it is the only one that can operate as both a main verb and an auxiliary verb. It doesn't need any additional help to make questions or negatives.

·         I am very happy.

·         Am I very happy?

·         I'm not very happy.

Compare this with the verbs do and have which need additional help to make questions and negatives.

·         I have a very large nose. I don't have a very large nose.

·         I do my piano practice at 6 o'clock. I don't do my piano practice.

What's a modal auxiliary verb?

They are also 'helping' verbs because they are used to express a range of meanings, such as certainty, probability, possibility, suggestion, permission, instructions, requests, obligations, necessity, ability and so on. The main modal auxiliary verbs are:

·         can, could, may, might

·         shall, should, will, would

·         must, ought, to

·         also need to be able to, have (got) to

The main types of use of modal auxiliary verbs

certainty / probability (must, will, ought to, can't, should)

·         He must be feeling very unhappy at the moment.

·         She ought to forget him, and move on.

possibility (may, might, could, can)

·         She might arrive on the 5 o'clock train.

·         They may come on Sunday, but I'm not sure.

suggestion (may, could, shall, might)

·         Shall we start again?

·         You may want to read over your essay again.

permission (may, can, could)

·         Can I connect this wire now?

·         You may begin the examination.

instructions and requests (would, will, can, could)

·         Can you explain that in words of one syllable?

·         Could you close the door, please?

obligations / necessity (must, have to, have got to)

·         I must send my mother a card on her birthday.

·         I've got to re-write this essay.

ability (can, could, be able to)

·         I couldn't stop laughing!

·         He won't be able to shift that stone.

Modal auxiliary verbs

Modals auxiliary verbs are a very complex area of English grammar, so in this quick guide we will not be able to go into much detail, but we will at least get an overall idea of what their function is in a sentence. In an earlier section of this guide we looked at how the verb phrase can be broken down into its constituent parts and we noted that one of these parts was called a modal auxiliary verb. Just to remind you of the previous examples, a section of the chart has been reproduced below:

Subject	Modal auxiliary verb	Primary auxiliary verb(s)	Main verb	Object
Sarah	can	-	sing	opera
You	should	have been	watching	the baby

Examples of modal auxiliary verbs

Before we look at some of the possible meanings of modal auxiliary verbs we need to have some idea of what constitutes a modal in English and where they occur in a sentence. A few more examples should enable us to answer the second of these points fairly quickly and easily - the modals are in bold:

·         He should be here by now.

·         I could swim quite well when I was younger.

·         You mustn't blame yourself for this.

·         You might have discussed it with me first.

·         You can't be serious!

·         Could you open the window please?

·         Must you make so much noise?

·         She had to take her brother along with her.

·         We ought to be going.

It should be clear from these examples that the modal verb occupies the first position in verb phrase, coming before any other auxiliary verb (like have or be) and the main lexical verb.

In questions the modal verb is simply inverted with the subject of the sentence as in examples 6 and 7 and it also carries the negative particle not (3rd and 5th examples).

The subject of the sentence has no effect on the form of the modal since almost in all cases they do not change at all.

So, a modal verb is quite simple as far as its form and position in various types of sentence are concerned; but what exactly are the modal verbs in English? The chart below lists the main modal auxiliaries that you are likely to meet and divides them into two categories pure modals and semi-modals, although in most cases the distinction is merely formal and their meanings are not affected by this division.

Pure modals	Semi-modals
can	ought to
could	has/have (got) to
may	be able to
might
shall
should
will
would
need ***

*** need is a special verb since as an auxiliary it is almost always negative and it is also a lexical verb as in sentences like he needs to speak to you now, while it acts as a modal verb in sentences such as you needn't come to work tomorrow where it has the same meaning as don't have to.

The forms of pure modals

The main characteristics of the pure modals are:

·         they never change their form irrespective of the subject of the sentence
e.g. he can swim, not *he cans swim

·         following on from the above feature, they do not change to show past tense
e.g. she had to leave not *she musted leave

·         they all carry the negative of the sentence by the addition of not/n't
e.g. I can't remember not *I don't can remember

·         they all form questions by inversion with the subject of the sentence. 
e.g. should I stay?

·         they are all followed by the base form of the verb without the addition of to 
e.g. he can swim not *he can to swim

The forms of semi-modals

You will notice that this type of modal is made up of two or more separate words, the last one invariably beingto. They are all modal in meaning but not in form as they behave differently in a sentence from the pure modals. It is perhaps best to think of the semi-modals in the form with the to infinitive that is given in the table rather than thinking of them as modals that need to + base form. We need to look at the form of each individual semi-modal separately.

Be able to

We use this semi-modal to express possibility or the ability to do something, but unlike the pure modals, be able to has a full range of tenses and also needs to inflect to show agreement with its subject. For example:

·         He is able to offer you the best price possible.

·         We were able to get in to see the film.

·         They haven't been able to find the missing document.

·         So, you aren't able to help.

Notice that the negative is carried either by the be element or the auxiliary verb that is closest to the subject of the sentence. It can also be accompanied by any of the pure modals:

·         I will be able to see you after lunch.

·         They might not be able to put us up for the night.

Has/have (got) to

This is used to express necessity or obligation to do something and shares some of the features of be able todiscussed above. The have element of the form has to change to agree with its subject. Although it is normally used in the present tense, it also has its own past (had to) and can be used with pure modals to show the future or the attitude of the speaker:

·         They have to be more punctual.

·         He has to take responsibility for the accident.

·         I had to help my father repair his car.

·         We will have to put this off until tomorrow.

·         You shouldn't have to suffer in silence.

·         You don't have to come if you don't want to.

·         He didn't have to do all the shopping.

From these few examples it should be clear that the negative not again attaches itself to the auxiliary verb (modal or main) that comes immediately after the subject of the sentence.

Ought to

It is usually claimed that the meaning of ought to is the same as should whether it refers to giving advice or making a logical deduction. So, to most native speakers the following sentences with ought to and should feel the same:

·         You ought to see a doctor.

·         You should see a doctor.

·         They ought to have got back home by now.

·         They should have got back home by now.

In practice, most speakers tend to prefer should for negatives and questions because the ought to and oughtn't ... to forms can sound rather clumsy and awkward.

·         Ought you to be doing that?

·         They oughtn't to (ought not to) do that.

·         Oughtn't we to leave now?

Meanings of modal verbs

The main function of modal verbs is to allow the speaker or writer to express their opinion of, or their attitude to, a proposition. These attitudes can cover a wide range of possibilities including obligation, asking for and giving permission, disapproval, advising, logical deduction, ability, possibility, necessity, absence of necessity and so on. The problem with each modal verb is that it can have more that one meaning and the interpretation of a particular modal will depend heavily on the context in which it is being used. The following examples should help to illustrate this point.

·         It might take more than a week. (possibility)

·         You might have told me about it! (showing disapproval)

·         He must take his medicine three times a day. (obligation)

·         He must be French. (logical deduction)

·         I can't lift that suitcase by myself. (ability)

·         That can't be the right answer. (logical deduction)

·         May I look at the questions now? (asking for permission)

·         They say it may snow tomorrow. (possibility)

You probably also noticed from the examples that notions like permission and possibility can be expressed using different modal verbs - this, of course, only serves to complicate matters further since one modal verb can have more that one meaning, and one meaning can be expressed by more than one modal verb. In the space that we have available here it would be impossible to cover all the meanings of each of the modals, so as examples we will look at some of the ways that obligation and logical deduction can be expressed.

Obligation

The two main modals here are must and have to. The difference between them is usually given as follows: mustis used to express an internal obligation that is imposed by the speaker, while have to refers to rules and regulations that are imposed from outside the speaker. Again, as with many points of grammar this is only intended as a rough guide.

To express a lack of obligation we cannot just automatically add not to the modal verbs without thinking more carefully about it first. How do you feel about the following sentences for instance?

·         He must sing loudly.

·         He mustn't sing loudly.

In the first sentence you would probably agree that this is obligation originating from, say, a teacher or someone with authority. The second sentence, however, does not express a lack of obligation but a prohibition to do something. The form that we use to express a lack of obligation could be one of the following:

·         He doesn't have to get up early.

·         He doesn't need to get up early.

This lack of balance in the use of modals can cause many problems for people who are learning English since it is quite illogical.

Logical deduction

This is another area of modal use that is fraught with difficulties for reasons similar to those just discussed above. Look at the following sentences:

The telephone rings:

·         That'll be Frank.

·         That must be Frank.

·         That should be Frank.

·         That could be Frank.

·         That might be Frank.

·         That may be Frank.

The modal verbs used here have been listed in what many consider to be the order of likelihood of something being true. You may or may not agree with this listing, but it gives you some idea of some of the choices available for drawing logical conclusions from situations. If we look at the negatives of these sentences, however, you can see just how much more complex it can become:

·         That won't be Frank.

·         * That mustn't be Frank.
(To use musn't in this way as logical deduction is incorrect; we use can't instead.)

·         That shouldn't be Frank.

·         That couldn't be Frank.

·         That mightn't be Frank.

Many of these sentences now denote completely different attitudes to the situation and you may even agree that some of them are either not English or are only marginally acceptable. The sentence which has probably moved furthest from its original intention is the second one (mustn't) which sounds very odd. In fact, the negative of must when we talking about deduction is can't - one more example of how complicated and counter-intuitive the system of English modals can be.

Past time with modals

We noted earlier that the pure modals do not change to show tense. Most of these modals do in fact have either present or future reference, but sometimes we need to refer back to the past. With the semi-modals there is little problem, but how can we do this for pure modal verbs? You may have picked up from some of the previous examples that one way to do this is to insert have immediately after the pure modal. But this is not always the case since can has its own past tense could when it refers to general ability. Some examples should help:

·         I can speak German.

·         I could speak German when I was seven years old.

·         You should see this film.

·         You should have seen this film.

·         Indonesia must be hot.

·         Indonesia must have been hot.

·         He could find his wallet.

·         He could have found his wallet.

Notice that in the third pair of sentences the meaning of must is logical deduction not obligation. If we want to use must for obligation then the past tense is had to.

·         She must visit her mother.

·         She had to visit her mother.

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