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Grammar

Short notes
What is the difference between Inflectional and Derivational?
1- Inflectional suffixes are limited in number. In other words, there are eight
inflectional suffixes in English, they are as follows:
1. [-s pl]= noun plural, boys
2. [-s ps]= noun possessive, boy's.
3. [-s 3rd]= present 3rd person singular, plays.
4. [-ing vb]= present participle, discussing.
5. [-D pt]= past tense, played.
6. [-D pp] = past participle, walked.
7. [-ER cp]= comparative, smaller.
8. [-Est sp]= superlative, easiest.
On the contrary, the derivational suffixes are greater in number. Some of
these suffixes are as follows: 1- [-ment] e.g.. Government. 2- [-ing] singing.
3- [-acy] accuracy. 4- [-ship] membership. 5- [-th] truth. 6- [-hood] childhood.
7- [-ive] active. 8- [-er] player. 9- [-able] acceptable. 10- [tion] action.

2- Inflectional suffixes don’t change the part of speech or grammatical class of


the word to which it is added, whereas the derivational suffixes change the
part of speech or grammatical class of the word. e.g.. both "boys" and "boy"
are nouns, but the word "teach" is a verb, whereas the word "teacher" is a
noun.
3- Inflectional suffixes come last in a word, whereas the derivational suffixes
don’t come last in a word. e.g.. in "boy  boys", no other inflectional or
derivational suffixes could be added to this word. But in "govern" we can
add another derivational suffix. So, we can say "govern"  "government"
"governmental".
The combination of roots with inflectional suffixes tends to be regular. On the
other hand, the combination of roots with derivational suffixes tends to be less
regular.

1- Phrase: a group of words that includes no verb or a non-finite verb (the


infinitive with to or without to), (the present participle) and (the past
participle). For example, "leaving behind the dog" and "between ignorance and
intelligence" are phrases.
2- Clause: a group of words that includes a finite verb (has a tense). It cannot stand
alone. It also defined as a grammatical unit that has a subject and a finite verb
that agrees with the subject in number and in person.
For example, "since she laughs at diffident men" and " because she smiled at
him" are clauses.
3- Sentence: a group of words that includes a finite verb or can stand alone.
Traditionally, it is defined as a group of words that express a complete thought.
Formally, it is an independent grammatical unit which is composed of at least
one clause. Functionally, the sentence is composed of two basic elements: the
subject and the predicate. In English, all sentences are subject-initial. For
example, "I despise individuals of low character", "John speaks several
languages" and "If it rains, I will stay at home".

Form VS Function

At first, we should refer to sentence structure which means how words are put
together in a sensible way. It consists of three types: form, function and meaning.
In this regard, we will deal only with form and function. Form is defined as a way
of writing or saying a word that shows its number, tense etc. For example, ‘was’
is a past form of the verb ‘to be’. Also, Form is divided into two categories:
morphology as (cat), and phonology as / kᴂt/.

Function is defined as a word used mainly for expressing relationships between


other words in a sentence, for example a conjunction like "but" or a preposition
like "with". Following are examples that show different elements functioning as
subjects: John (noun) speaks several languages and He (pronoun) is a good
doctor.

Types of verbs

Traditionally, the verb is defined as a word that expresses an action, or a state.


Formally, a verb is a word that has tense inflection ( e.g.. the –ed) and the third
person singular –s ( e.g.. speaks). Functionally, the verb is the main element in
the predicate. There are two kinds of verbs in English: Lexical verbs and auxiliary
verbs. On one hand, lexical verbs are the majority of verbs. They are verbs with a
semantic content that can have a dictionary definition examples of lexical are go,
speak, like, give , visit ,etc. Auxiliary verbs, on the other hand, are limited in
number. They represent a closed set of items that cannot be added to or
increased. Auxiliary verbs do not have a semantic content of the same kind as
that of lexical verbs. An auxiliary verb cannot be used alone but require a lexical
verb, e.g.. "I am reading a book."

Auxiliary verbs that can be used as auxiliary and main verbs:

1- Verb to Be : is used as auxiliary in progressive tenses. John is studying


English since 2009.
2- Verb to Have: is used as auxiliary in perfect tenses. John has studied English
for six years.
3- Verb to Do: is used as auxiliary in three forms.
A- Negative sentences: John does not live in Londodn.
B- Interrogative: Does john live in London?
C- Emphasis: I do love you.

Adverbs: modify verb or an adjective. For example, "He studies hard (adverb)",
or "The food is extremely (adverb) delicious(adjective)". It can also modify only
part of the clause/sentence or the clause/sentence as a whole. In this latter case,
they are called sentence modifiers. An example is: Unfortunately, john
disappeared.

Kinds of adverbs
Adverb of Manner: bravely, fast, happily, hard, quickly, well.
Adverb of Place: by, down, here, near, there, up .
Adverb of Time: now, soon. still, then, today, yet .
Adverb of Frequency: always, never, occasionally.

We create an adverb by adding "ly" to an adjective. But there are some


exceptions. Such as fast(adj), fast(adv). late, late(adv). hard(adj), hard(adv). good
(adj), well(adv). early(adj), early (adv).
Modal verbs
The verbs can, could, will, would, should, may, might, must, ought and shall are
verbs which 'help' other verbs to express a meaning: it is important to realize
that these "modal verbs" have no meaning by themselves. Modal verbs express
the mood of the person, e.g.. I cannot do this. Modal verbs are never used with
other auxiliary verbs such as do, does, did etc. The negative is formed simply by
adding "not" after the verb; questions are formed by inversion of the verb and
subject:

You should not do that.


Could you pick me up when I've finished?

CAN / COULD

1- Talking about ability

Can you speak Chinese? (present)


She could play the piano when she was five. (past form)
2- Asking permission

Can I ask you a question?


Could I ask you a personal question? (more formal, polite or indirect)
3- possibility

You can drive when you're 17.


Women couldn't vote until just after the First World War.

May / Might
May and might are used for:

1- Possibility

The school may be closed.

The school might be closed. (the degree of possibility here is less than that
of may)
2- Permission

You may use a dictionary. May I write in pencil?

Might I Leave now? (the use of might for permission is rare, and it is more formal
than may).

Shall / Should

when shall is used to express future, it is used with I and we. Shall is less usual
than will In this sense and is restricted to British English. For example, I shall buy
the book tomorrow. We shall go to Alexandria in a week.

We use Shall for

1- Making offers
Shall I fetch you another glass of wine?
2- Making suggestions
Shall we go to the cinema tonight?

Whereas we use should for:

3- Giving advice
I think you should study hard for the exam.
4- Obligation: weak form of must
The university should provide more sports facilities.

Will / Would

Will expresses neutral futurity. An example is "She will be the first woman to won
that prize.

Will is used in the following cases:

1- Willingness : Will you repeat it again? "Will you kindly turn off the TV?
2- Intention: I will stay there for three months
3- Prediction: The city look much better after the elections.
4- Insistence: I will study photography, whatever you say.

Whereas would is used in the following cases:

1- Willingness: Would you switch off the TV?


2- Past habit: He would walked to school every morning?
3- Logical deduction: Someone is at the door; It would be Jack.

Must:

Must is mainly used to express obligation or compulsion in the present.

For example, In order to travel abroad, you must have a passport.

The past of must in this sense is had to. Example: "I had to stay until the end of
the exam last week."

There are two different ways of negating this must, first by must not, which
indicates prohibition or negative obligation, and second by need not, which
implies lack of obligation, whether positive or negative. Examples, you must stay
until the end of the exam (positive). You must not stay until the end of the
exam.(negative obligations).

Must is also used for logical deduction, indicating high probability. Example:
Someone is at the door. It must be Jack.

Gender In English nouns:

Gender in the category concerned with the distinction between masculine,


feminine, common gender and neuter nouns. Masculine nouns are those
denoting male people or animals, such as: man, brother and husband. Feminine
nouns are those denoting female people or animals, such as: woman, sister and
wife. Common gender nouns can refer to both males and females, such as: child,
which can refer to boy (masculine) or girl (feminine). Neuter nouns are those
denoting inanimate things and animals or babies whose sex is not known.

Collective nouns

A collective noun is a noun which is singular in form but refers to a collection of


entities (People, animals or things) regarded as one group. Examples of collective
nouns are "army", "team" and "government". Such nouns can be regarded as
singular or plural, which is reflected in the form of the verb and the pronouns that
refer to them. For example, both of the following are possible: The government
is revising its plans.
The government are revising their plan.
Attributive VS Predicative adjectives

Adjectives are words used to modify nouns. They are not pluralized. They may
occur after the nouns they refer to. They also can be used in the comparative or
the superlative degree.

An attributive adjective occurs before the noun it modifies such as: a rich man,
and the clever girl, whereas a predicative adjectives are used in the predicate of
a sentence in which the main verb is a linking verb (e.g. be, seem, look, feel). e.g..
This man is rich. This girl seems clever.

The adjectives that can be used only attributively are:

1- Demonstrative adjectives: This car, These boys, That building, those girls
2- Distributive adjectives: each student, every man, either side, neither one
3- Interrogative adjectives: Whose car is that? What time is it now?
4- Possessive adjectives: this is my favorite book.
5- Quantitative adjectives: some flowers, few people, many houses
6- Adjectives such as: chief, main, only, principle, cheer or utter. e.g.. This is
the only/main reason.

Whereas the adjectives that can be used only predicatively are: afraid, abroad,
afloat, alive, alone, ashamed, asleep, and upset. Example: the boy was asleep and
the girl was afraid. That woman looks very upset.

Grammatical categories VS Grammatical functions

The grammatical categories are a number of items (such as; tense, case, and
number) according to which the form of a word varies, without changing the part
of speech. For instance, the noun book has books as its plural; the pronoun he
has him as its objective case form; and the verb go has went as its past tense,
whereas the grammatical function is the role that a word or a group of words has
in the sentence. A noun, for example, can be the subject or the object of the
sentence, so "subject" and "object" are two grammatical functions of a noun.

Person and number in terms of English pronouns:

Person is a property of pronouns, and differentiates participants in a


conversation. Person has three values:

 first person: refers to the speaker. "I, We"


 second person: refers to the hearer. "You"
 third person: refers to all other people or things. "He, She, It, they"

Number is a property of pronouns, and indicates quantity. Number has two


values: singular: indicates one only "I". plural: indicates two or more "We".

Uses of comma

1- Use a comma to set off the elements of a series (three or more things),
including the last two. For example, "My favorite uses of the Internet are
sending e-mail, surfing the Web, and using chat rooms."
2- Use a comma and a coordinating conjunction (and, but, or, nor, for, yet, so)
to separate two independent clauses. For example: "The public seems eager
for some kind of gun control legislation, but the congress is obviously too
timid to enact any truly effective measures."
3- Use a comma to set off introductory elements. For example, "In the winter
of 1644, nearly half the settlers died of starvation or exposure."
4- Use a comma to separate coordinate adjectives. For example, "The designs
for an expensive, modern gym should make them happy."

Every sentence has two essential parts:


1- Subject : the subject of a sentence is the part about which something is being
said. The simple subject is the main word in the complete subject. For example,
The four new students (simple subject) arrived early. The complete subject is
the main word and all its modifiers. For example, The four new students
(complete subject) arrived early.

2-Predicate: the predicate of a sentence is the part which says something


about the subject. The simple predicate, or verb, is the main word or group of
words in the complete predicate. For example, Sara’s sister took (simple
predicate) us bowling yesterday. The complete predicate is the verb and all its
modifiers. For example, Sara’s sister took us bowling yesterday(Complete
Predicate).
Morphology is the study of word formation (affixation)

Morpheme is the smallest meaningful grammatical unit in the structure of


language. For example, the word "unfaithfulness" has four morphemes: un,
faith, ful, ness.

1- Types of morphemes: Free and Bound Morphemes:


1-Free morphemes can stand alone as independent words, e.g. "cat",
whereas bound morphemes cannot stand alone as independent words e.g.
the suffix "un" unhappy.

2- Content morphemes—with identifiable meaning or something that


indicates a change in meaning (e.g.. –homo in homogenous, homophone,
homonym, whereas function morphemes serve a grammatical “function”
in the sentence, but not necessarily with an identifiable meaning.

Root: the absolute form (one morpheme) e.g.. cat.

Stem: when you add inflectional or derivational (prefix, infix or suffix). A


stem may contain more than one morpheme. e.g.. catty.
Mohamed Mahmoud Adverbs (in English)Definition: English grammarians define the Adverb as a
word that is used to change or qualify the meaning of an adjective, a verb, a clause, another adverb, or
any other type of word or phrase with the exception of determiners and adjectives that directly modify
nouns.Form: Adverbs are often formed by adding the letters “-ly” to adjectives. This makes it very
easy to identify adverbs in sentences. There are many exceptions to this rule; everywhere, nowhere,
and upstairs are a few examples.Use: An adverb is used to change or qualify the meaning of an
adjective, a verb, a clause, another adverb, or any other type of word or phrase. An Adverb can be used
to modify an adjective and intensify the meaning it conveys. For example, He plays tennis well. (He
knows how to play tennis and sometimes he wins.)Types of Adverbs: Adverbs of manner: tell us how
something happens. They are usually placed either after the main verb or after the object, ex: he moves
quickly.Adverbs of degree tell us about the intensity or degree of an action, an adjective or another
adverb. Adverbs of degree are usually placed before the adjective, adverb, or verb, ex: She is running
very fast.Adverbs of frequency: tell us how often or how frequently something happens; ex he is often
late for work.Adverbs of time: tell us when an action happened, but also for how long, and how often,
ex I saw Sally today. Adverbs of place: tell us where something happens. They are usually placed after
the main verb or after the clause that they modify. Adverbs of place do not modify adjectives or other
adverbs, ex they built a house nearby.Adverbs in Arabic (‫)الحال‬Arabic has an equivalent construction,
in which adverbials modify adverbs and adjectives.Definition: In Arabic, Adverbs have a different
definition. Arabic Grammarians define the Adverb or (‫ )الحال‬as a description which shows the
appearance of the subject (‫ )صاحب الحال‬during the occurrence of the verb. Form: in Arabic there is no
abstract rule that shows how to form the Adverb. The Adverb in Arabic is an accusative word. Use:
the Adverb is used to show the appearance of the subject (‫)صاحب الحال‬.The subject (‫ )صاحب الحال‬may
be the subject, object, genitive …etc.This tells us the word (‫ )صاحب الحال‬is inclusive and not exclusive
in the subject.Types of Adverbs in Arabic:Derivative (‫)مشتقة‬: which is derived from the main verb like
(‫ )جاء الرجل ماشيا‬which means the man came on foot.Abstract refers to derivative (‫)حال جامدة مؤولة بالمشتق‬:
like (‫ )جاءت زينب بدرا‬which means Zainab looked like the moon when she came.Abstract (‫)جامدة‬: like
(‫)إليك حديثي جوابا صريحا‬

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